Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-03-19


race, mat this prosperity and protection
are Twin sisters, going hand in hand II
TINS be true, thsn the farmer, we repeat.
mas risot to arise and ask, where is nv
share OF this prosperity" fit be true, the
iaTml1g interests throughout the land
should be far IN advance of what they vera
when TINS theory became the law of the
lano, tnlriy years ago. For example. q
man who bought his farm of 200 acres. in
6O at 500 an acre, amounting to $40, coo,
since there has hesn such great advance
IN values, with sucn an increase in the
inches of the land, should be able TO tell
to-day Of the inc ease in the value of his
Investment corresponding with that In
others. In thirty years OF increase in val
ues, such as the world never saw. an in.
crease in his case of from 80 TO so per cent.
would not be out of place to lock for; 50
hat his $50 farm in 1860 should he worth
from 500 to S75 to-day, and his investment
Of $40 600 would amount to from Sl3 600
to $4,000. Instead of this, what is the
TACT? Ii is that such a farm il selling To-
day in many parts of this land for from
So, GOO to $1,000.
Aud this is prosperity! And this is the
outcome of the home market argument to
the farmer. He might have laid his money
up in napkin or digged in the earth and
hid it, and he would have had dollar for
dollar to-day Of what he started with. Or.
n not having enterprise to 20 into business
for himself, he might have let mis- money
out at interest, ard, supporting himself By
his own eXerticns, his $lO,0 at 6 per
per cent. simple interest would in Is years
have amounted to $4,000, and this latter
sum would now be approaching $4,000
Instead OF this see the value of his farm to-
day. From this we can get some inkling
of how it may be that Protection is costing
the country the enormous sums its Oppo-
merits allege.
It's advocates cannot say it has not had q
fair show. For we'll nigh thirty years il
has held sway unchecked. The power Of
the government has been maTshaled in its
enforcement. What are known as the war
tsXes, which furnished the government
with the means for putting down the most
gigantic rebellion in human history, re-
quiing srmies with probably million OF
men under arms at a time ard a great war
navy-those armies and that navy have
long $50 been disbandCd, but TIE war taxes
which enabled the government to sustain
them are IN q large measure on rs yet, and
even increased In some respects, the tariff
revenue az the close of the war being Sl79-
GOO 600 q year, and last year S2l1 600, 600.
That is to say, the financial help called for
from the people by the people to carry on
B .sr-rf haa ~
measure employed TO carry cut the policy
OF protection and push it upon the people
flour foreign commerce, instead of b7ing
almost snnihilatCd, were back to what il
was in 90, dividing well-nigh equally the
Isfiic Of the seas; If our manuiac. uTing
and mining employees, instead Of the strikes
and l0CkOuts and shut downs with their
suffering and abiect poverty,
were back TO what they were iu go, when
these things were unknown; were al our
back to what they were then,
still il would be right for our farming
to rise up and say, owe will
not he duped any longer There must be
something wrong in policy that has been
attended with such disastrous results TO
our interest " But when these Others
mentioned are in 3 VIGOROUSLY wretched
plight as compared with 1860, how great
must be the evil endured by the country
in order that g privileged few might grow
tremendously rich. How can it b expect
ed that q home market can be furnished
that Will consume the agricultural pro-
ducts OF this vast LARD? Where are yOu
goirg 20 get the people who viii come in
here and eat ard wear all that these hun
dreds of millions of acres Of this new land
producer Two pounds out of three of our
cotton crop, and from 100. 600, 600 to 200,
0OO. 600 bushels of our wheat have to be
sent abroad every year to find market.
We are the traders of the world. The
protected industries only want a home
market for their own commodities. The
interferes to give them this free
from competition. Why should 1t not IN
teriere to give the farmer a market free
from competition? The duty on farm
products is q mOckery in the face OF the
enormous surplus of them. Instead OF
this while he has to buy in the dearest
market in the world he is compelled to sell
in the cheapest, where all the farmers OF
the world are in competition with nm
This reacts upon and determines his prices
at home. The cry is raised against low
tariff that it makes our manufactured pro-
ducts compete with those of the pauper
labor of Europe and they must be protect
ed against it. Bat the farmer is left to
compele with the far more intense p2uper
labor employed in the farming OF India
and Egypt and Russia. No wonder that
he has grown poor when he has to buy
high and sell low. No wonder that mgniy
men have grown mighty in riches
when they buy low and sell high. The
farmer has TO sell low because of his great
surplus uncalled for by the home market,
and that surplus lies on our shores, slow OF
novemeu abroad because OF our hostile
attitude in trade towards foreign nations
An this by the enactment Of the govern
ment which is supposed to treat every man
alike and TO show favor to no man against
his fellow. The wonder is great how tins
could be brought about in a government
founded on a theory that ours Is. The
wonder is greater how the people, whose
voice is the government, could he 80 cupeo
as to treat themselves thus IN order 10
favor q small fraction Of the population,
and especially how the farming cOmmuni-
ties could thus victimize themselves.
There 81 ems, however, to be some poetic
iustice descending in spots on the land to-
dav. The Philadelphia papers met the
protection organs, lest assured have oeen
giving doleful accounts of the recent great
decline Of farm values in the once prosper
ons farming regions of Pennsy wanna. IL
would seem that in the case OF mat ola
onwealth, the mills of the GODS have
.gotten out Of gear and have taken to grlnu
Exceeding fast as well as exceeding hne, as
r,o,bt on the heels Of its $4,000 majority
f,7 protection in 81, repeated in 80, It's
III of distress is heard arising from IT'S
I'm, interests. Let them double tner
rosioTifv making it 100, 600, encouraging
tI,s advocates If protection 70 give the
screyVs another turn, which will BRING n
r,oTe nrosperitv that Will take away
smother one-third OF the value OF tner
lands. and by the light Of this they may
he able to see hog they have bsen g9lieo
nv fine home market argument, and nave
bsan IMPOVERISHED by it to the enrichment
of their great protected lords. Inc men
tion of the home market argument IN the
down condition Of the value Of his land
today is sn insult to the intelligence Oh
the American farmer.
'A'' -A--'N BERKELEY COUNTY.
IT MADE MOI