The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1891-03-26
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The Spider and the Fly.

The Spider and the Fly.
| The Richmond Times, after exercising
/ its mind to demonstrate that it would
/ not be the proper thing for the Demo
/ ers Alliance to organize as u thire
party, but that it would be advisable OF
excusable for such a condition to exist
/ in the West, continues an article or
| Senator PETER at Annapolis Md, as
| follows:
/ Politically. it shonld give its undivided sup
/ port to the Democratic party, as the supreme
mission OF that party is to change the tariff sys
/ TEN which has done so much to bring agrcul-
ture to its present state Of depression by closing
! the markets of the world to our agriculture
| classes. and raising the cost Of every article
which their business compelS them to buy.
This is a polite invitation for the AL
I lance fly to walk into the parlor of the
! Democratic spider There was never, per
/ haps, more transparent deiusion than
| that embraced in the language we have
quoted, so far as benefit to the farmer is
concerned The mission of the Demo
/ cratic party is no doubt trnthfully sta
| ted, so far as changing the tariff is in
volved. That has been its mission and
! its purpose from time immemorial, and
always with disastrous results to the
farmer and the country. The ultimate
purpose of the Times is, no doubt, to
open the markets Of the United States
to the world, and compel this country
| to compete with the labor of all other
| nations, thus necessarily reducing wages
! to the level of the competing countries.
This would simply mean the destruc
| tion of the home market, which con
sumes IS per cent. Of the products OF
! the farm dislnantling and a practical
suppression of our industrial plants, and
of the United States.
The misleading statement that the
| pre- sent tariff policy raises the cost of
/ every article which the business of the
/ farmer c@mpels him to buy will not bear
4 inspection. On the contrary, every
/ thing the farmer has to buy is actually
ciles4 per than it has ever before been in
I the history of the country, and taking
! farm products in the aggregate, there is
more received for them than ever before.
Compare the prices of farm products in
! the manufacturing States with the pri-
ces in agricultural States, and it will be
| found that in the former the farmer rer
| allies more for his wheat, corn, bacon
and truck by 25 per cent. than in the
| latter. No better illustration could be
| furnished of the effects OF protection
than to point to the States which en-
| coulaged and established manufactures,
and those which adhered mainly to ag-
ricultural pursuits. The per capita
| wealth of the Eastern manufacturing
States is more than twice that of the
! Southern agricultural States. In what
ever way the question is viewed. it will
| be seen that where factories and fur
naces exist, there lands are higher, farm
! products bring better prices, and more
/ general thrift pervades than in the
! agricultural States The condition OF
! the country ia 1861, as the result of sub
I stantial free trade, when the government
| was practically bankrupt and could not
! borrow few millions of dollars even at
! exhorbitant rates Of interest, and the
| condition OF the country after thirty
! years of protection. when the credit of
| the government is higher than that of
/ any other in the world, the treasury
/ burthened with surplus, and interest at
| 9! to 3 per cent, illustrates the difference
between the two systems and may be east
ly understood. 1t is an object lesson that
cannot be ignored, and must impress all
impartial minds.
| No greater disaster could befall the
| farmers of this country than to put in
force the Democratic tariff policy, nor
could more pregnant danger to all the
interests of the people threaten.
| When it is proposed by demagogues,
| whether Democrats or members OF the
| Alliance to abolish the national bank
ing SYSTEM turn the public treasury in
! to brokers' establishment, and uproot
our whole financial and industrial sys-
| TEN, it will he found that sensible and
patriotic people, whether of one party
or the other, will call halt, and COM
bine their forces for the protection of
American credit, American industry,
American labor and American institu-
tions in every respect.
The South is Just beginning to avail
of the effects of the protective policy.
Her vast fields of minerals are respond
| ing to Eastern money and enterprise.
! Factories and furnaces and workshops
| of all kinds are springing up. the waste
places are beginning to blossom as the
rose the hum of industry and the wlHr
/ of machinery are making vocal our
| streams and eyeryw and from every
material source the signs come of a new
| life, of change, of progress and prosper
/ ity. The foundations of a great indus
trial future are being laid deep and
/ strong, and all directly traceable to the
protective policy. And yet it is proposed
to change the tariff policy, and the
Farmers Alliance is invited to unite with
the Democracy to do it,
We hardly think the Alliance fly will
feel disposed to walk into the parlor OF
! the Democratic spider. without a little
more thought than the fly is assumed to
be capable of giving the subject.
livery Home Should Have 1t.
1t is not always convenient to call Il