Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1890-04-23


| the American Mammon and his ignobl
conclave when they we're engaged in layin
deep and strong the foundations Of tb
plutocracy, the giant money power, whic
now governs and curses this country an
it's laboring people.
A system of finauce has been fastened O
the American people with more hands tina
the tabled Briarius, and each one with a
itching palm to clutch the fruits of homes
industry for the enrichment of those W.
toll not, and yet outve ip splendor many G
The crowned heads of Europe. OF this or
pressive system there are many parts AM
contrivances, all skillfully woven togethe
like great network, and having all th
time the same object in view, the taxation
of one class of citizens for the enrichment O
another class. 1t is sometimes said tha
certain old sins of the Government st3usl
not be recalled at this late day; that the.
have the sanction Of time, wear venerabl
aspect, and should be copdoned.
When ministers of the Christian religion
cease TO denounce the sins and crimes of tn
human race because they are old, "hoar,
and white with cid, "then. and not till then
will the fraudulent manner in which ou
bonded debt was doubled on the tax-paye
be forgotten; then, and not till then, viii
the decentralization ofsilver be forgiven, aut
then, and not till then, will high protec
tive tariff, existing not for revenue, but a
a machine with which to gorge, glut, ant
cram the privileged few at the expense O.
the many, cease to exasperate and lnhams
the indignation of the intelligent laborers o
the world.
The tariff, with all its overwhelming pro
minence and its overwhelming oppression
at this time, is but part of the vast system
devised more than quarter of a century
ago, whereby moneyed aristOcracy has
been created, labor degraded and deprived
of it's earnings, and the Government itsel
revolutiOnized in substance and in form. Il
is true that while the tariff is only part Of
the money-pOwer system of Government
yet it's place and agency in that system are
of the most vital and commanding influence
in it's execution. To take toll from all the
laboring meL, women, and children of the
United States on all their wants and neces
slties, not for Government revenue, but fol
the protection of the millionaire manufac
turers, powerful corporations, trusts, anG
syndicates, is the base function Of the tariff
laws now on our statute books.
Who has the hardihood to rise and say
that such laws are now Or ever have beer
or ever will be blessing to the farmer.
On the one hand behold the present con.
dition of the farmer, and on the other be
hold the towering peaks of the highest pro-
tective tariff ever known, with perhaps, the
exception of the Chinese wall. Will you
dare go before the distressed farmers Of the
country in the approaching political canvass
with the old, stale, worn out falsehood that
a high protective tariff is for them an ad.
vent of Joy, rich benefaction, season OF
prosperity. and of home markets at good
prices? Such Lick lie ia this year Of 1890, like
a mdrdeTer's prayer, will stick in the throat
of him who tries to utter it. When you
again push the tariff, with its enormous and
unnecessary taxation on every article OF
farming life, into the farmers weather
beaten and care worn face as a wise policy
for him, will he not exclaim in Indignation
at your fraudulent pretense-
Do men gather grapes of thorns. or figs OF
thistles?
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good
ruit; but q corrupt tree bringeth forth evil
fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit;
neither can corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit
Every tree that bringetb not forth good fruit
is hewn down and cast into the fire.
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know
them.
Are you willing to have your tariff treea
your protective policy, tried by this high
and immortal standard? The able and dis
tinguished Secretary of StaGe under the pre-
sent Administration, in recent magazine
article in reply to Mr.. Gladstone, has point
ed out certain periods in American affairs,
" hen, as he claims, there was general pros
perity in connection with protective tar.
if, and that therefore By virtue of the un-
repealable laws of cause and effect, prosper
ity was begotten by protection, and the Ia
boring people, the farmers especially. were
blessed in their homes aud at their firesldes
by being forced to buy what they needed in
a high priced market protected from COM
and to sell their products, what
ever they might be, according to the cheap
prices prevailing in the London markets
and in the other markets of the civilized
world where no protective policy is known,
and where the wheat and other great staples
of the United States are brought face to
face in competition for sale with the produc
tions of the serf labor of Russia, the Sepoy
of the Indies, and the practica
slavery of other portions of the globe
l will not stop to controvert, as others
have successfully done, the Secretary's ac-
curacy in his statement of historical facts;
I need not dwell on the past for the support
of my contention that d protective tariff ia
a curse and not a blessing. / am not deal.
ing with theory, but with a condition on
which even blind man, by brief, primary
can look with unclouGed vision
and reach an uuerring conclusion. What
is the issue this day between the farmer and
the restrictions, repressious, and extortions
of protective tariff That is the question
to consider; that is the question in which.
American farmers are now everywhere
most vitality interested. Are they gather
ing figs, are they plucking good fruits from
the po icy of their Government? I chal-
lenge the advocates of the present system
OF protection to ans Her on this floor or any
where else.
The farmers of the United States are this
hour realizing, upon general average, not
more than 10 cents per bushel for corn, sc
cents per bushel fer wheat, % to cents q
pound for hogs, cent and half to ceutl
for fat cattle, and even this low and almos,
nominal ratio OF prices would be reduced to
nothing at all, and the farmers would be
brought in debt if the expenses of produc-
tion as we'll as of transportation were tak er
into the account. The compensation to
the farmer for the enormous and internal
tax he has to pay under the tariff on all he
pseds and all he uses has always been the
loud, prolonged, and vehement promise o.
an eager, remuperative home market for al
be raised and wanted to sell Where ii
that home market? The farmer is looking
for it, and mourning because it is not to bG
found. Home market! What lies havs
been told in it's name!
The ignorant charlatan and the design
ing knave have alike poured falsehoods int
the ears of the paop'e, assuring the unsus
pscting, and those of easy faith in the direc
tion especially Of their party ties, that hnm.
markets are created and sustained by
protective tariff, until now, after all thest
years Of deception and lucrative mendacitl
Oh the part of the money power and its I'D
vocates, thousands of farmers, in differen
parts of the country, owning and tilline
lands richer far than the Delta of the Nile
are pointing in derIson and scorn of all tar
if protection to their stsves and hre- place
as their ly home market for corn. Th,
rich contents of corn cribs, the fruits of th,
years toll, have become cheaper as fue
than wood or coal, and as they mournfnllJ