The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1891-09-17

crosses the Rio Grande at Albergurque.
thence on to Fort Yuma and thence to
San Diego. There are now five railroads
crossing the American desert, construct
ed partly by the aid the government gave
! in alternates sections OF these worthless
1 public lands. These railroads We're built
| by private corporations, encouraged by
| Congress in land grants. What was then
! a barren waste of land has now become
populous districts, dotted with cities
built upon the plains, homes pregnant
with comfort and smiling under the La
! Dor of the husbandman, churches and
/ school houses everywhere to educate a
/ thrifty, intelligent Angio-Saxon people,
! with the government receiving millions
and millions of revenue from the sale OF
the once worthless alternate sections,
made valuable by the railroads, and by
them alone. Now when the govern
ment has been paid twenty fold back for
the land grants-in increase of values.
or the creation of new values by means
of these great arteries of commerce, Mr..
Tucker would inflame the people
against them, and demand that they
should surrender what they have so
richly paid for. He ought to know that
lean statesmen would ever be guilty of
such fragrant injustice-such a palpable
act of highway robbery. All the COM
pleted railroads will hold their land
grants, and only those corporations
which have never complied with the
terms of their agreement need have
apprehension. But it suits the purpose
of superficial disclaimers to rail against
land grants and to inf1ame the popular
mind against corporations, vii h u
stating the facts of the case and the ans
pie and large returns the government
has received for its wise and beneficent
policy-extending the lines of civilization
and making the desert blossom as the
rose.
And as to taxes-the mention of taxes,
which SO awfully Cypress the people.
Why there was not a man in the Court
House at Staunton last Monday, who
felt or knew that he paid federal tax
Every intelligent farmer knows that he
can buy now every article of necessity
cheaper than he ever bought it BEFORE
that his cotton cloth, his farm imple-
ments, his table supplies, can be pur-
chased for less than at any previous
period of his life; and that taking the
products of the farm as a whole he now
receives as much for them as in any
past period of his existence.
We mention these things to show the
resorts of the politicians on the eve of an
election to deceive the people for party
benefit. No people on the globe ever
received more from the operation of the
laws of their government for what
they pay than the American people. No
people ever increased in wealth and
abounded in prosperity to so great a de-
gree as have the American people under
present policies and laws. No people
ever had so safe and reliable currency
with which to carry on trade and ex-
change values as the people of the
United States under the present finan-
cial system. Why will men, presumed
make them believe that they are suffer
ing under oppression and wrongs that
do not exist?
Fortunately the people are not all
fools. They have an average intelli--
gence which discounts all such dema
goguism, and they do not lay awake at
nights tossing and tumbling on their
beds, because of the terrible nightmare
that Mr.. Tucker would make them be-
lieve presides over their slumbers and
haunts their waking hours.
We think it quite likely, from the
murmurs we heard whispered among
Democrats, at the close of his speech,
that Mr.. Ticker will find that he
has miscalculated the guage of the
public mind, and that in d u e
time he will find several large gaps i'll
his fences, that will require more than
idle defamation to mend. There is
music in the air for him, certainly, and
good Democratic music, which will
sound like funeral knell, when its notes
beat upon his ear. The knives are being
sharpened, in directions he does not
think, which may fall swift and fast,
when he least expects them.
Altogether Monday was an interesting
day in Augusta county to the poiti-
clans. Whether all will remain serene
as summers day until November no
one can tell, but judging from the con-
ditions existing and the awful setting
down upon that the bosses experienced,
we think it more than probable that the
Alliance candidates i'll have a clear field
and triumphant walkover, in that
county
A resolution was reported from the
regular committee endorsing Senator
John W. Daniel. but no instructions to
vote for him were Incorporated in it.
Another resolution declaring against
free railroad passes to members of the
Legislature was adopted.
Capt. Jno n Opie, Chairman of the
County Committee, acquitted himself du-.
ring the entire tumultuous proceedings
with conspicuous ability and good judg-
tire Convention
Col S. H. McCue, Chairman of the
Convention, made a most excellent, self
poised presiding officer.
The Grain Crop.
The London Financial Times esti-
mates the total net requirements of i'm
porting countries at 1853, 000,0O0 bushels
of wheat and the total net surplus of eX-
porting countries at 390,000,OO0 bushels
and concludes that the deficit in wheat,
as well as the still larger deficit in the
rye crop, must be made up by imports
of corn and provisions from America.
The result of this state of the crops, will
of course have serious effect on tho
movement and consumption of corn, and
it may be the means of introducing corn
as substitute for rye for the cOnsump-