Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1896-02-21
HIGH PRICES.
ADVOCATED BY A PROrEorIoNIsT
ORGAN
It Matters Not That the Masses
Should Have to Pay Them If
They VIII Benefit the Classes.

~ HAotNOSo A'Ot thO 41laSbOS
Should Have to Pay Them IL
They VIII Benefit the Classes.
lnsolent and over-bearing az arc the
pap-fed organs OF the high tariff
trusts and monopolies in their esser-
tion OF the doctrine that tax burdens
should be laid on tho many for the
benefit of tho few, u is seldom that
that the protected interests have ac-
CURED the fright" to rob consumers
through high prices extorted by high
taxes on imports. Yet this is the
claim put forward in o recent issue of
the Philadelphia Manufacturer, the
organ of the protected manufacturers
of Pennsylvania.
The Ledger, u Republican paper,
having stated tho well.known fact that
to increase the duties on wool and
woolens would be ''to increase
the cost of all kinds of mems, women's
and ohildren's clothing, blankets and
other necessities" the Manufactures
replied: Surprising this result would
follow, might it not be justified on tho
ground that men, women and children
have no right to buy these articles
cheaper at the expense of the wool
growers aud wooden manufacturers of
the country?"
The brazen impudence of this pre-
tence that sixty-five million men, wo-
men and children "have no right to
buy articles cheaper" at the expense
of few thousand manufacture ers and
wool.growers may lead some people to
consider that the Manufactures was
simply joking. But it was in dead
earnest and proceeded to denounce
the popular desire to purchase things
Mt the lowest possible price in the
regulation McKinleyite style. Evi.
IDENTIFY its editor believes what he
wrote.
Whio this declaration of the
rights" OF the few to high prices at
the expense of tho whole.people is only
the logical outcome of the protection.
list policy, its brutal bluntness should
shock those aminble Republicans who
have chung to their party in spite of
its dogeneracy into n mere tool of
monopoly. So long rs high tariff
was cloaked under the pretence that
it was needed to raise large revenues,
OF that it tended to reduce prices by
encouraging domestic competition,
there was some excuse for men who
had not studied the tariff question I'D.
herring to tho party which once stood
for human freedom and popular rights.
But that time has gone by, and there
can now DO not tho slightest doubt
that rs whole the Republican party
is committed to the monstrous doe.
trine that the men who have been rob-
bling the public have Fright to con.
tinue their stealing undisturbed.
Against this absurd and unjust prop
osition every man possessing any SYM
patty or intelligence should protest.
The idea that the few men who grow
wool, or convert it into cloth. can
have a right to compel each man,
woman and child to add to the profits
OF these growers or manufacturers, is
n denial of the basis of American in.
stitutions and all civilized society.
The whole fabric of human rights pro.
ceeds from the universal agreement
that each man has the right to life,
liberty and the enjoyment of the prop
ertJ he produced. To take portion
OF their property away from the many
in order that the few may get richer.
is direct violation OF every principle
of morality.
If 1T be true that the manufacturers
have the right to charge higher prices
than would prevail under FREQ and
fair competition, where aud how did
fhnU nnt 40 WIZ
give the rights of the people into the
control of handful of mon? How
dare the advocates of McKinleysm
deny to the American consumers their
undeniable right to buy goods wher-
ever they can get them best and cheap
est? When was the principle of "the
greatest good to the greatest number"
changed to "the greatest good of the
wooden manufacturers? Who are the
protectionists, anyhow, that they
should presume to say that men,
women and children shall not buy
their winter woolens as cheaply as
possible?
An attempt to increase the cost of
clothing and other wooden necessaries
at this season of the year, is an illus.
tration of the inhumanity on which
the trade-haters and McKinleyites RELY
for support. But it is no more in.
human than the belief that n small!
privileged class havo more right to
consideration than the whole people
Both doctrines are worthy only of saw
ages.