Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1890-07-23

really doing is to strike down one branch {
home industry that they may add to tn
power and prosperity oflanother branch O
homo industry.
STRIKING ILLUSTRATION.
"Let me illustrate this economic truth b.
an example that comes home to the people
of Baltimore. The farmers of the Shenan
doah Valley, among whom was born an(
have always lived and who have filled my
life with kindness, are the producers of tht
great staple, wheat. No farmers have 6
more fertile soil. None surpass them in
the intelligent husbandry with which tkey
till that soil. From it they harvest crops
that ought to bring to them independence
if not wealth. The 65,000,000 people oi
this country cannot consume its wheat crop.
A fourth part of that crop. in years of plen
ty q third part, must look for consumers be.
yond the sea, where population has out
stripped the productive capacity of the soil.
The farmer of the valley sends wheat to
Baltimore over your great railroad. II
passes through your elevators to the for
eign merchantmen, who bear it across the
sea to bid for markets in London or Liver
pool. 1t is sold at rates fixed by the free
competition Of that foreign market. Un-
less the farmer is willing to pay freight
both ways there must be return cargo.
The proceeds of his wheat are invested in
tin plate, for which there is steady and
increasing demand in America. When he
reaches Baltimore on his return he has tin
plate, which he is able to sell at fair profit
to the timers and Gamers of Maryland at
three cents per pound. The custom.house
officer forbids him to land one pound of it
until he has paid two and two-tenths cents
per pound on it-almost as much as it's first
cost. The farmer protests against this ex.
action. He asks If the treasury of his coun-
try is so empty that it must impose-tbis
heavy tax to get revenue, -ssndd ks is told
that for years past past there has been an over.
flowing treasury; that the question has
been, not how to increase, b 1T how to lessen
that revenue. why, then,' he demands,
do you put this heavy tax on the products
for which I have exchanged my wheat?'
Because, he is answered, the government
has undertaken to protect certain gentle
men who desire to 20 into the manufacture
of tin-plate at Pittsburg. And as they
think they cannot carry on tho business
proftably at less than five cents per pound
for their product, the government under
takes to run up the price of all competing
tin plate to that figure But says the
angry farmer, the government does no.
thing and can do nothing to raise up the
price of my wheat for me. l must take
that to foreign markets at my own cost.
What right has the government to make a
difference between me and the man at Pitts
burg? On what ground does he claim to
have these heavy taxes laid on products
for which l have exchanged my wheat?'
The answer comes that if he is thus protect
ed he will establish new manufacture and
give employment to American laborers.
But retorts the farmer, edo not l give
with profitable markets for my wheat will
1 not give increasing employment to themP
AT THE EXPENSE OF THE PRODUCER.
'Do we not see, then, fellow citizens,
that the so. called protection of the tin plate
manufacturers is not against the tin-plate
makers of Wales, but against and at the ex-
pense of the wheat producer of the Shenan-
doah Valley. If you keep out the products
for which he can exchange his wheat or
check their Importation by heavy duties,
you are robbing him of his market OF max
ing it less profitable to him. l have des-
cribed what is really the course of trade of
my farmer neighbor. 1t is true the farmer
does not send abroad his own wheat and re-
turn with the exchange cargo, but commits
many steps in the transaction to others, but
the final and net return to the fraction of a
cent is the same to him, deducting the pro-
fits of these middlemen. It makes no diff
ference whether he exchange his grain for
tin-plate, or for crockery, or wool, or steel
rails, or wooden, cotton or silk goods. But
it is not alone to save the expense of an
empty ship on the return voyage that the
farmer must exchange his wheat for tin
plate or woOlen goods. There is another
and more general law of almost universal
application, and that is that in the long run
the exports and imports of country equal
each other. When you encourage the enc
you encourage the other; when you forbid
the one you forbid the other. When you
shut out $50, ,000, 900 worth of foreign tin
you shut IN on an already crowded and dis
tressed home market 500, 000, 900 worth of
our supply products. But there is another
man in this woolen or tin-plate transaction
who has been entirely forgotten, and that
is the consumer of wooden or tin-plate
goods.
"When you increase the prica of tin-plate
from to cents a pound you are increas-
ing to that extent the cost to the home pur-
chaser. If he buys a hundred pounds it is
So, or two days of labor out of his life, in
order that Pittsbnrg manufacturer may
carry on profitab,y an Improbable business.
If he buys thousand pounds it is 20 days
of labor taken out of his life, by law, for
the benefit of the manufacturer. This is
question in which the people of Maryland
have vital interest. Your bay, your
rivers, your gardens, your orchards, your
farms, produce in abundance the oysters,
the fish, the fruits, the vegetables, that can
easily find paying and expanding market
if the heavy hand of the tax gathsrer is
kept eff of them. But with two cents a
pound added to the first cost of the materi-
al in which you pack them you are put at
such disadvantage, both in the home and
foreign markets, that one of the most pro-
missing sources of prosperity of your entire
State is threatened with extinction.
FORGOTTEN MAN.
"But, Mr.. Chairman, i am not speaking
at random when I say that the consumer is
q forgotten man. l am using the very Ian
guage of the report with which the McKin-
ley bill was presented to the House. But
seven years ago the tariff commission, COM
posed entirely of representatives of the pro-
tected interests, declared that reduction
of 20 or % per cent. was not only a matter
of justice to the consumer, but would fav-
orably affect the industries of the country,
including those that leaned upon the tariff.
ssYou may be sure that these men did not
speak at random or without full regard to
their own interests. In the jugglery of the
so-called revision OF 1888 no reduction was
made, and now Mr.. Mckinley carries
through the House tariff bill not to reduce
rates 20 or 2s per cent, but actually and
boastingly to increase them more than %
per cent. This, indeed, is protection drunk
with insolence; sure of it's supremacy over
the people and throwing off all further dis
guises, it taunts them with their subjuga-
tion and helplessness.
Mr.. Wilson in closing showed that the
protective system had never brought indus
trial peace or prosperity to the country.
Endorsed by the Press.