Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1891-01-24
WHERE THE DANGER LIES.

There is a 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 greater
danger to all the interests of all the
States than the Elections bill, but it
is menace to the prosperity of the
nation-an insidious warfare upon
the labor of the country, both in the
shops and on the farm, and is espec-
tally hurtful to the interests of Vir.
ginia. In comparison with the effects
ofthe Elections bill, the enactment Of
Democratic notions on the tariff
would rise in disastrous magnitude
to ten times the proportions. Free
trade, or legislation looking to ulti-
mate free trade, as is the avowed
purpose of the Democratic leaders,
would prove an engine of absolute
destruction to Virginia's material
interests, and shock, if not fatally
affect, the whole industrial system
of the country.
We have, too, recent exhibitions
of the insincerity democratic lead
ers in the South. The Alliance has
declared against National Banks
and in favor of converting the Treas
ury of the United States into bro
ker's Office to negotiate loans, the
result of which would be the enslave-
ment of the Agricultural interests of
the country. Gov. Gordon, of Geor-
gia, had declared against the none
tary resolution proposed by the Alli-
ance, but when he found it neees.
sary to his election, he so far moci.
fed his position as to make it accep-
table to those who had declared
against the National Banks and for
the sub.treasury policy-of loaning
money to farmers at 2 per cent,
with mortgage security on their
farms. Senator Vance, of North
Carolina, was guilty of a similar base
surren der of avowed convictions in
order to secure his reelection. Yet
these prominent leaders in the Dem
ocratic party have the cheek to de.
nounce Republican Senators who IA
vor the Elections bill as devoid of
principle and as hostile to the South
There could not possibly be any
greater calamity befall the South,
and the whole country for that mat
ter, than to abolish the National
Banking system and enact the ALI
ance sub-treasary system. The
whole monetary fabric of the country
would tumble to ruin, and we would
have recourse to the shin plaster,
wild cat, and State bank currency
which prevailed before the Republi-
cans adopted the present wise and
successful banking system.
There is ten times the danger to
the South in the loose, revolution,
airy propositions of the Democratic
party on the tariff, and the Alliance,
endorsed by tae Democracy, as to
finance, than there is in the Elec-
tons bill, aud more to fear from the
success or the elimination of those
interests than there is from any
thing ever proposed by the Republi-
cans, even among the most radical
of them.
Why the Republican party should
beso severely and viciously denounc
ed by the Democrats cannot be ex.
planned from any rational standpoint.
That party saved the country from
the jaws of anarchy and ruin it re
stored the ruined credit of the gov.
erument, banished State banks aud
wild cat currency;establshed 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 PEG.
pie; made home market for the
farmers; spanned the continent with
railroads; made the desert to bios
som as rose opened up the hid
den riches of the mountains, and
made the wealth of the nation great
er than that of any power on the
SlOUCs OdlluOU Idll LiluhCu ultu-
even if they are Democrats-rccog
nize these transparent facts, and
give credit to the party that has
made them facts
The true policy of this country is
TO protect Americas industries, and
encourage and enlarge their opera
tions, that the S2O0,OOO,OO0 of manu-
featured goods imported from for
eign countries may be manufactured
here, and the labor necessary for it
be fed from the products of our own
farms. With reciprocity between
the United States and the South
American States, We would then
hear no more of surplus farm pro.
ducts, of congested markets and un-
remunerative prices. There would
be demand for everything the farm
produces. Factories and furnaces
would call for the raw material that
has lain dead and useless, and
in every avenue of trade and