The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1892-04-14
Tragic Episode of Shirt Collar.

and high-tide OF his remarks, on the
tariff, his collar became loose, whereupon
some one in the audience said, you had
better get protection for your collar.
Mr. Tucker seized the offending linen.
wrenched it from his neck, and throwing
it away. exclaimed: ST it needs protec>
ton | will have none of it." Of course
this dramatic scene was accompanied by
a tragic attitude, and was met with the
cheers of the enraptured crowd, who al
ways admire heroics even if shown over
a shirt collar Whether this startling
episode was premeditatcd or one OF
those felicitious, if not premedltated In
cidents, which sometimes punctuate the
lives of great men, we cannot say. Yet
it is in keeping with other incidents, &C
cidental or designed, which have given
zestfu diversity and happy mirthfulness
to the monotony of political speeches of
Mr.. Tucker. as we'll as other distinguish
ed statemen who have preceded him. 1T
was an Inspiring, grand Democratic
scene, no doubt, this tearing the collar
from the neck and tossing it in the air,
to enforce an argument and adorn
period 1t will, doubtless, immOrtallze
the shirt collar rs a political factor IN
free trade argument and send rushing
down the corridors of time the name and
fame of the author of SO forceful and Ell.
fectiye an invention.
What, precisely, the shirt collar had
to do with the question OF free raw ma
teral, which is the feature of the tariff
that the Rhode Island Democracy is
now more particularly wrestling with,
the lay man finds it difficult to under
stand. 1t is one those labyrinthian Inys
teries which nothing but learned free
trader comprehends, but keeps hidden
in the resources of his own palpalatlng
bosom. 1t is, 600, singular kind OF
reform in the tariff that the Rhode
Island Democracy is agitating. 1t is a
reform that Mr.. Tucker would hardly
project and advocate in the mountains
of Virginia 1t is for free wool and pro-
tected industries. The wool industry OF
this Countrywide most profitable for
| the American farmer, to the extent that
it is engaged Unjust be destroyed for
the sake of getting woods from South
America and Australia free, while the
wooden goods-the most profitable indus
try for the Rhode Island manufacturer
are to be protected. In other words
the farmers sheep and their product
must be destroyed, his capital in them
wiped out, that. Australian and South
| American woods may come in free-whlle
the product of the wooden factories is
to be protected for the benefit OF the
manufacturer and ''robber barons,"
who cannot compete with the other
looms across the waters. And the same
with iron ore The Rhode Island De
mocracy, as explained in their resolution
and advocated by Mr.. Cleveland and
Mr.. Tucker, last week, want free iron
ores from Cuba and Spain and Africa,
while the tariff on the product of the
| furnaces, must remain at $3.50 per ton.
| That is to say the mines of Virginia
must be closed; the inexhaustible de-
posts of iron ores-the most abundant
source of wealth of the State, must re-
main where nature placed them-the
labor employed in getting them out dis
charged and relegated to idleness or the
farm, while the iron produced at the
furnace must continue to be protected,
to crafty the cupidity and greed OF the
e.,- ha cnn wi 1ar
foreign ores can be gotten as ballast, and
| consequently at minimum cost. They
have no raw material, to speek OF, in
Rhode Island and Massachusetts. where
! free trade sentiment has been growing
| ever since it was exhausted, and hence
they want raw material free, while the
crude and finished product of both wool
and iron ore must have protection to
put money in the pockets of the manu>
/ facturers at the expense of the wool
growers of this country and the mine
owners and mine workers of the United
States.
1t is no wonder that Mr.. Tucker tore
his shirt collar when wrestling with the
problem that the situation in Rhode
Island and Virginia and the South pre-
sents, and worked himself into a frenzy
in the attempt to reconcile the senti
ment and interests of his own district
with the sentiment and interests of the
Rhode Island manufacturers.
The people of Virginia, and especially
of this mountain district, want not only
wool and iron ore to share in the protec-
tive policy, but would favor even an in>
crease in the tariff rate. on both. There
is no reason, except the--periodical agita-
ton of the tariff question by superficial
demagogues, why every description
of wool raised in South America and
Australia should not. be raised in the
South and West. We have every tens
perature of climate and every character
of soil, and If the sheep industry were
not subjected to the assaults of free
traders every two years, capital would
go into sheep raising on an extensive
scale and furnish all the varieties of
wool that the wooden goods factories de-
mand
We have the ores to make every grade
of iron and steel, and if an impossible
wall of protection were erected around
them to keep out the cheaply mined
! foreign ores, we would have furnaces
and factories planted in every Southern
mineral district, giving employment
to labor and furnishing a home market
for every product of the soil.
Mr. Tucker knows and his free trade
colleagues know that no free raw material
measure can become law so long as
Harrison is President. All they can DO
by the agitation of the question is to
disturb business, Brighten capital and
arrest development. They are reckless.
impracticale theorists, who either thro
ignorance or design, are doing incalcu
liable damage to the business of the
country, and more especially injurious
ly affecting the interest of the South
They know, if they know anything, that
there is not an article that is in the cat