Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1903-06-05
EhGLAnp,s NEW IARlEE.

ENGLAND'S NEW TARIFF.
England is about to adopt tariff
policy. AS strange as it may seem
the English people are to be made to
pay higher price for bread. condi-
tion forced on her by her brutal, short
sighted policy toward the Beers. AS
little iron or manufactured stuff is
imported to England, things of that
taxed, but inasmuch as We send wheat,
meat, eggs, butter. and thousand
and one things into England which
England cannot grow in quantities
Sufficient to meet her requirements.
and inasmuch as tax on these will
raise large revenue, these are the
first things to be placed on the list and
the first to be made to bear the bur
den. This is done in the hope of caus-
ing America to smart. Mr.. Chamber
lain and Mr.. Balfour already see
America writhing under this lash of
protection and this will be pleasant,
but they do not see what always fol
lows such laws, and that is that the
consumer pays the tax. American
shippers will simply add the tax to
their prices and the Englishman will
pay the price, and the revenues of the
English government will be increased
to that extent, and the patient ass, the
tax payer, will have another weight
laid upon his almost broken back.
There will then be an impression in the
minds of Mr.. Chamberlain and Mr..
BalfOur that they have become the
foremost statesmen in the Empire, and
all will be we'll until those who pay
for the bread at advanced prices are
heard from. 1t may follow, however,
that we who have borne the burden
of such class legislation, We may say
such legalized robbery, for 10 these
many years, may awaken to the fact
that inasmuch as We can raise and
furnish to all civilized countries food
as well as manufactured stuffs, that
we may see the wisdom of taking in
exchange some Of their stuffs and
thus establish commercial relations
with them, on the only basis upon
which commercial relations can be
establishe ed and maintained, that is
by lower tariffs in this country.
The seeming prosperity of the Uni
ted States under high tariff policy
has set Europe crazy. They look al
the money in our treasury. never
thinking that it is wrung from people
who should not be thus taxed. they
hear the campaign orator and believe
him. but they and we forget that under
the same conditions We have had pan.
les which have rent us as a wild beast
We are seeing the seeds of our tariff
policy bringing us fruit, dead sea fruit,
which is turning to ashes ON our lips.
We are awakening to find when we
have grown to such stature as to be
able to cope with the world, not with
navy and army in war alone, but with
those arts of peace which make ma.
ton really great, that the doors of all
nations with whom it is our interest
to trade, all those nations whose trade
is worth having, will be closed to us
and our stuffs will rot in our ware
houses and elevators, our herds dwin-
die because we have no foreign mar
ket, and our farming interests languish
and die. This is what our tariff will
bring to the agriculture of this coun-
try. The manufacturer can possibly
take care of himself if not the country,
that is those in power always take
care of him Free trade is natural,
all else artificial. When nature is
changed danger follows inevitably as
England will find.