The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1889-08-01
What a Kentucky ProtectionistS Says


Of Free Trade 70 Years Ago.
1 10 the Editor Of The Bulletin:
DEAR SIR The advocates of '.un-
fettered trade and unlimited importa-
/ tom had things their own way from
1915 to 1924. The importation of foreign
goods jumped from $12, o19, S31 in 1914 to
$l06, 457,924 in 1916, and up to 1929, 964,
sA in1SJ6. In 1915 the average ad ootoren
rate of duty on all the free and dutiable
imports was 6.S4 per cent. What a glori-
Gus epoch for Free Trader to dream of
But how did American labor bask in
that sunshine? In your issue of Novem-
Der 81, 1888, you partly answered this
1 question. You showed that, in thirty
out of sixty branches of manufacture in
/ Philadelphia, the number of hands EN-
ployed fell off from 8 1926 in 1916 to 2131
in 1929, while their annual wages fell
from So, 0a3. $50 to 1886, IA; that, in cotton
manufacture, the hands were reduced
1 from 1895 in 1916 to 149 in 1919; that in
Pittsburg the number of hands employ
ed fell from 1 $50 in 1915 to 672 in 1919;
and SO on. The social condition of the
4 unemployed workingmen you passed
over with this remark: "In Rhode Is
land, Pennsylvania and New York the
suffering was most felt, although the de-
preston was universal
How widespread and how shocking
that suffering was will be best seen from
the following extracts, which | clip from
the very best authorities.
''In 1916 there We're forty societies in
the City OF New York for feeding her Idle
/ poor. One of these societies spent $780,,
053 during the year" The above is from
Warmers Statistical Account Of the IN
tied States, volume 1, page $50. The fol
lowing is from Palmer's Ta0Uels IN Inner
ica, page 81 ''The average number of
enaupers in the New York poor house
during the year 1917 was 1,4s9.n Here is
another. 1t caps the climax, and is from
Bristed's Amerdca and Her Resources,
page 1888 Sin 1917 the citizens of New
York addressed a petition to the Legisla
ture stating that $4,000 persons tone
seventh of the entire population) were
then fed at the public expense
These were the grand results of ''un-
fettered trade and unlimited importa-
tions''-1, 4S9 New York worl1ingmen
spending the Fourth OF July, 1917, in the
poor house, and one-seyenth OF her en-
| tire population picnicking on the charity
doled out by forty societies,
ariy g ,uara thoca borr1rc a a howe
! quoted authors tell us that "the work
ingmen were just as badly off in all the
other cities of the North Michael
Thomas Sadler wrote his very able work
I (Irela1d, It's HIS and Their Remedy) in
1927 At page s36 Mr.. Sadler proves that
one-sixth of the population of Philadel-
phia were paupers. He shows, from Pal
mer's IrdUels and from the Philadelphia
Gazette, of December 3, 1925, that, III
few years, the cost of supporting her
indoor Gaupers ran up from $49,66l to
$4,000,
One extract more from the history OF
''the good old Free Trade times and
am done 1t is from a petition, signed
by several thousands of Virginians i'll
1885, and addressed to the legislature of
that State, beseeching that steps be tax
Ell to keep English goods out of America
and to keep American money here at
home. Here it is;
sAs citizens OF the United States we
cannot remain unconcerned spectators of
the alarming picture of the universal
distress. The Confederate Constitution,
whilst it presents comedy to the rest Of
the world, is proving a tragedy to our
selves. Our distress and poverty will
{ soon be attended with so much ridicule
/ that we shall lose the consolation of pity.
Congress has power of emitting bills and
borrowing money, without any basis Of
credit; of raising an army and equipping
navy, without the means of building a
ship or feeding company of soldiers; of
] senlng ambassadors abroad to divulge
! our poverty, distress, and restitution
land render them more conspicuous; of
making treaties which, in our weakness,
we dan not enforce. Indeed we present
a spectacle so ludicrous that we can not
helpbeing diverted at our own mseries >
The whole text of the petition from
whifh | have taken the above will be
found in Porcupine's works, volume 1,
page74.
What picture ! have given you OF
the poverty OF Americans under Free
! Trade and tariff for revenue only; yet we
+ are bld that under Protection ''the poor
are Gs.OWintp pOorar - What ctuff What
!, trash What abominabIe nonsense,
!, Very truly yours, p c. CARROLL.
:, Louisville, Ky. June 8, 1889.