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Show HOME INDUSTRY. A great many things that would be good for a pepple are always treated . in the abstract, and. when referred ' to are lauded to the skies; but prac- - tically are ignored by the parties : who are their strongest advocates. ! Whene er the subject of -'1101116 Industry'1 is mentioned, without a - dissenting voice, the jiniyesal verdict ver-dict is, that it is the basis of a people's peo-ple's independence and prosperity, imt candor forces us to admit thai in practice our theory does not get - the support which common sense iind self-protection calls for. I 'Suppose a poor woman makes a few paiis of socks and deposits them ' in one of our stores, in any settlement settle-ment in the county; what is the re-. re-. suit? are they purchased and thereby there-by the hands that are willing to labor supplied with the means of ' : gaining an honest livelihood, or are . they suffered to remain upon the shelves day in and day out; until . they are covered with the dust of .ages and forgotten, while, the imitation imita-tion article, which looks perhaps a , little, finer, is purchased and duplicated dupli-cated time and again and the means sent out of the county to keep up . the supply. What is true of the socks is true in a greater ratio of a great many ; other things; why we will buy the t Eastern broom and pick it up from beside the 'home-made" one. Who will patronize a tailor who is - frying to gain a living for himself . and family by plying the industrious . needle, so long as he can pick out a suit of clothes from among the . bundles on the merchant's table, which has the glamor of being . brought from the East, clinging to it? How many will pass by the genuine home produced honey, made , by the bee in their neighbor's gar- den, from the blossom and flowers, . perhaps in their own lots, and pick out the brand with the gaudy label , which is the only thing about it . which denotes that a bee had any-. any-. thing to do with its production. In f these and a great many other ways the ceaseless and senseless drain keeps up. Year after year we labor and work for means, so that tve might keep the flow going out enriching en-riching oihers at cur own expense; .jWhile all the time we are exponents ,fif ; theoretical "home industry." ,.V'l)ile wa have tailors in our midst without work we bring in our clothing cloth-ing ready made; while we have good -' -- ' ' : J ,, .boxed up in the shape of boots, ; shoes, harness, and saddles, pfter . having enjoyed the luxury of paying the freight iipoa them both ways and keeping countless workmen em-. em-. .ployed putting them in shape for our use, while our own workmen were sitting at home counting their lingers and ruminating on the benefits bene-fits of "home industries. How long .ran this last, and the people be prosperous? pros-perous? Not long. It is time that we as a people wake up to the fact that theory is good so long as it is (productive of works. To show that we believe in the theory of "home industries," we must foster them wherj we have the opportunity. It .wont do to say that these are small .items and would not make much t material difference in our condition. It would at least show that we had faith in our theories, and by attending attend-ing to these little things we would at least be gaining an education in this -.branch of political, or domestic .-economy, and make us more able , to branch out in great things. True we might by giving employment to our own sons and daughters at home ,and thereby helping to build up our jwtt community; deprive a few ,abroa4 of labor and cut away some of the revenue of some of our merchant mer-chant princes, but charity begins at .home. . |