Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1890-03-25
a Southern farmers View.

1 West Virginia farmer, who lives near
! ChaTlestown and who has been q reader OF the
/, Netos for some time, writes pointed letter TO
the editor, which contains considerable meat.
| He says " Your views on the tariff, on the
| race question, ON Blair's charity bill, when no
/ one in the South is asking for charity from the
/ federal. government, seem to be right, but I
can't understand why you support candidates
for Office who deepise your views. Can It be
sectional hate fear so. If your State and
| those back of you. where the bliZzards and
cold waves that we even feel here have their
origin, should ask of the government at Wash
iugton two Sx10 feet 1S-inch thick solid blank
cts for each member of family and plank
enough 20 build house and so many tons of
local for eaehfamily per year It would be more
reasonable than faYoring high tariffs and the
| sqnandering of public moneys illegally, unne-
| cessarlly and unrighteously taken out of the
pockets of those who earnit By hard labor and
patient toll. You never heard of farmer
who, like Carnegie, could give 81, 100000 to
| founding library. Tho hate of the North
| west for the South must be prodigious. Cleve-
land was so good, so fair, SO moderate and SO
lunsectional that he should have had the sup
port of the farmers of the West. am farm
er. and we all here can have some idea of tho
go The way of an eagle in the air the way of
a serpent upon a, rock the way-of a ship in
| the midst of the.sea. and the way of man
with u aid.'but j 'll:1e id if 1 or any of us
can even guess at the actuating principles of
the great West. JEFF Davis is dead So don't
E6e afraid any longer"
It Is bSrely possible that the gentleman's crit
/
| tinctured with race prejudice on his part. Il
has never been the policy of this paper to rec
ognize any section" nf tAis countTy'in po-
| litical way. a uaau who isn't broad minded
enough to recognize the rights of every citizen,
no matter what were his previous conditions
isn't worth the name of American. The New
| South and those men who have aided in its up
building have shown a coinmcndahle spirit of
regeneration since the war and deserve much
credit. hit there is yet a class of moss-grown
hre-entcrs in that section that will bear watch
ling.
| The people of the Northwest arc .proeres-
-sive. The Republican party has been the party
kof progression-the Democratic the party of
obstruction. This is the reason for the polit-
| ical motives of Northwestern people. They
prefer to entrust reforms in government to the
party that has really accomplished reforms in
the PAST. II is trueth many things asked by
l>the people of the South are earnestly. desired
I'ny those of the West hut the people here be-
licve that the Republican party VIII do the fair
lthing. However. parties like everything else,
arc constantly changing. IF the Republican
inarty gets into the hands nf a machine and
that machine is run in the interest of the few
ms against the many. then it will become the
party OF obstruction and the people will look
elsewhere for relief. The West has given warn
ing that it wants the tariff lowered and If the
Republican powers that be, do moth that
warning. the people here will not let sectional
hatred stand in.tllc way of their Joining hands
with the people of the SOnth or those of any
other section TO secure that reform.
[DUluLh. MINI. Weekly Nc1cs.
Alas when will the people of the
Northwest lay aside the spcctacles of
war preiud;ccs, and.Iooi5 at SIS through
the eyes of friendsllip'o Though twcn-
ty-fve yesrs since the reunion after
Appomattox, the Northern associa-
tons, with stubborn intention, con-
tinue to regard us Democrats as
dire foes, and seem still to consider
the Democratic party and estates
rights as the acme of rebellion
We are glad to see in the Duluth
Neacs bold disciple of tariff reform,
and we hope that section of the Union,
with its mighty energy and spirit of
fair trade and development will per-
sist in its efforts to bring relief to the
farming interests already suffering
ruinous depression under the onerous
burdens of the r0bber war-tariff.-
We commend to the sense of justice
and fair play OF the great Northwest,
the signs of the reawakened political
sanity lately disclosed by Senator
Hawley in his speech on the Blair bill,
revealing to his party associates a
turning point in the dangerous ac-
tions and assumptions of Federal
powers by the Republican party of
the past, and warning them of the
disruption threatened by their disre-
gard of rights reserved to the people
of the States. Protection as endorsed
by the Republican party is one of the
dangerous assumptions of power used
for picking the pockets of the many
to fill those of the few-rank inius-
tice to the needy, and favoritism to
the rich. The Ne,cs should not be
afraid to accept us as friends, for we
Democrats are fighting in the new
warfare" on the line of benefits to
the consumer, and such benefits are
not known so we'll anywhere as they
are to the people of the Northwest.