The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1891-01-01
What the Country has to Fear.

1t is one of the singular misfortanes |
of partisans that they cannot see both |
sides of a question, or recognize more
than the one issue about which they
have mania The Democrats are fe-
rocious over the Elections bill as q
measure directly aimed at the South as
they allege, and designed to operate
against Southern interests. They de-
nounce in unmeasured terms tho 81 who
are engineering that measure and brand
them as conspirators against their coun-
try and especially the Southern States.
AS we have before remarked, the Flee
tions bill finds ample warrant in the
Constitution as an abstract question.
but we have opposed its enactment be
cause of its inexpediency and for the
reason that no possible good could come
out of it, but infinite harm. In Virginia
it would affect us in no way, except as
pretext for blatant politicians to appeal
to race and sectional prejudices,a AMI thus
drive away capital and arrest progress.
So far as the naked principle is in
volved, the Senators sustaining it can
not in truth be accused OF bad motives
or assailed for wanton invasion Of
any ones legal rights. 1t is simply
measure to enforce Constitutional
right, as they maintain, and in that con
tention we have no reason TO question
their sincerity. The practical consid
Grafton is that they do not recognize or
appreciate the conditions in the South,
and that they would provoke to do the
very things that the bill designs should
not be done. 1t is not craftsmanship
to deal with conditions without consid-
ering results; nor is it craftsmanship to
enact laws which may not be enforced
for good, but which would cause agita
ton and angry contention to the great
injury of the material interests of the
people.
But there is greater danger to the
South and the whole country than the
Elections bill, assuming that it is all
that its opponents declare it to be. The
assault, by the Democratic party, upon
the whole fabric of our industrial life, the
destruction of the system upon which
our marvellous prosperity for quarter
of century is predicated, is not only a
greater danger to all the interests of all
the States than the Elections hill, but it
is u menace to the prosperity OF the ma
tion-an lnsidious warfare upon the la
Dor of the country, both in the shops
and on the farm, and is especially hurt
full to the interests of Virginia. In COM
parison with the effects of the Elections
bill, the enactment of Democratic no
tions Oh the tariff would rise in disas-
trous magnitude to ten times the pro
portions. Free trade, or legislation look
ing to ultimate free trade, as is the
ers, would prove an engine of absolute
destruction to Virginia's material inter
ests, and shock, if not fatally affect, the
whole industrial system of the country.
We have. too, recent exhibitions of the
insincerty of Democratic leaders in the
South. The Alliance has declared
against National Banks and il. savof of
converting the Treasury OF lie United
States into a brokers' Office t. negotiate
loans, the result of which would lie the
ests of the country. Gov. Gordu;,. Of
Georgia, had declared against the mon
etary resolution proposed by the ALI
ance, but when he found it necessary to
his election, he SO far modified his posi-
tion as to make it acceptable to those
who had declared against the National
Banks and fer the ub-treasury policy-of
loaning money to farmers at per cent,
with mortgage security on their farms.
Senator Vance, OF North Carolina, was
avowed convictions in order to secure
his reelection. Yet these prominent
leaders in the Democratic party have
the cheek to denounce Republican Sen
ators who favor the Elections bin as de-
void of principle and as hostile to the
South There could not possibly he
any greater calamity befall the South,
and the whole country for that matter.
than to abolish the National Banking
system and enact the Alliance sub treas
ury system. The whole monetary fabric
of the country would tumble to ruin,
and We would have recourse to the
shin-plaster. wild eat, and State bank
currency which prevailed before the
Republicans adopted the present wise
and successful banking system.
Tbara 70 top ti,no, tI,a fannar 10 tho
South in the loose, revolutionary propo-
sitions of the Democratic party on the
tariff, and the Alliance, endorsed by the
Democracy, as to finance, than there is
in the Elections bill. and more to fear
from the success or the elimination Of
those interests than there is from any
thing ever proposed by the Republicans
even among the most radical of them.
Why the Republican party should be
so severely and viciously denounced by
the Democrats cannot be explained from
any rational standpoint. That party
saved the country from the jaws of an
archy and ruin; it restored the ruined
credit of the government, banished
State banks and wild cat currency; es-
tablshed the best financial system ever
known to the world: built up American
industries; and thus transferred our
workshops from Europe to our own
country, to be operated by our own
labor and supply the demands of our
own people. Made a home market for
the farmers; spanned the continent with
railroads; made the desert to blossom as
a rose; opened up the hidden riches of
the mountains, and made the wealth
of the nation greater than that of any
power on the globe. Cannot fair minded
men-even if they are Democrats-re-
cognize these transparent facts, and give
credit to the party that has made them
facts?
The true policy of this country is to
protect American industries, and en-
courage and enlarge their operations,
that the $500, 600 600 manufactured goods |
from foreign countries may be
here, and the labor nee |
essary for it be fed from the products of |
our own farms. With reciprocity be-
tween the United States and the South /
American States, we would then hear /