The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-18
TOBACCO GROWERS.
Annual Meeting of the New England
 Association.

IHduueuS braves or f1dlIelu, MaSS., the vice-president. presided. Samuel c. Hardin of Glastonbury, Conn.,, kept the minutes of the meeting.
 There were about sixty members of the association present. Among the prominent members present were Colo mel Ellsworth N. Phelps of Windsor, ". F. Andross of South Windsor Elijah Ackley of East Hartford, H. A. Alvord of Windsor, H. H. Ellsworth of Wind sor, William Pinney of Suffield, Edward Dickenson of Glastonbury, Abner Trask of East Hartford, George Barne of Poquonock, A. H. Brown of Poquon- ock, E. Brown of Poquonock, J. N. Pierce of Enfield and H. H. Austin of Sufield
 Mr. s. c. Hardin, the secretary -treas- urer, read his report. The balance on hand at the beginning Of the year was $242.S1; cash received during the year, LIBBY. Bills paid amounted to $1,- 124.29 Balance in treasury at the end of the year, $23769. The bills were ap- proved by the auditors, Messrs Andross and J. N. Pierce.
 The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President, H. s. Frye of Poquonock; vice-president, T. S. Graves of Hatfield, Mass; secretary treasurer S. c. Hardin.
 The old board of directors were re- elected as follows: J. N. Pierce of En- | field, M. W. Frisbie of Southington, H. I H. Austin of Suff1eld W. S. Pinney of ] Suffield, H. W. Alvord of Windsor, H. | H. Ellsworth of Windsor, B. M. Warner of Hatfield Mass, w. c. Dickerson of Hatfield, Mass, Thomas Gerry of North Hadley, Mass, Charles Parsons of Conway, Mass, S. D. Phelps of Suffield, J. H. Lothrop of Suffield, George D. Fiske of Agawam, Mass, J. c. Capen o Bloomfield, w. K. Henry of Enfield.
 Auditors-W. F. Andross and J., N. Pierce.
 A letter was read from President Frye, who is in Washington. MT. Frye reviewed the tariff legislation regarding tobacco. The letter is as follows: Washington, D. C., Jan. 3, 1898.
 Secretary S. C. Hardin:
 | My Dear Sir-It is doubtful if I shall 1 be able to be at the next annual meet | ing of the association, but In any event I would earnestly urge the necessity of 1 keeping the organization intact. This
 was never more apparent than during the passage of the present Dingley ta- riff. Nothing is more certain than that had there been no New England associ- l ation the duty on Sunatra tobacco un- | der the present tariff would not have
 been over fifty cents per pound. With
 no organization elsewhere (except the Chemung valley, and that not being
 able to hold it's own republican senator I T. c. Platt) and practically no opposi- ton, it would have been an easy task for the combined Sumatra and cigar in-
 terests to have secured their demand for uniform fifty cents per pound duty on all tobacco.
 AS evidence of this, in the final strug- gle at the last session of the conference
 committee we were beaten down from $2 to $1S5 per pound by tobacco states. l Senator Platt of Connecticut having
 held the duty at two dollars up to the
 last five minutes, Senators Platt of New York, Quay and Penrose of Penn
 sylvania and Hanna of Ohio having then succeeded in winning Da1zell of Pennsylvania and Grosvenor of Ohio,
 we were beaten to the extent of fifteen
 cents per pound, beaten by the organ
 ized forces of the Cigarmakers' union
 The Sumatra importing interests alone
 could never have prevented our just
 demand for three dollars being acceded
 to, but the cigar interests are in every
 congressional district, and the personal
 letters by the thousand that came pour ing in from their constituents and the
 lobby they kept here, made many a western senator and congressman near
 ly frantic. No power, in congress or out
 of it, could withstand the personal ap-
 peals of their own constituents, backed
 as in this instance by the insatiate
 greed of the importers, and the most ' powerful and interruptions labor organ
 ization in the United States and planted in every congressional district.
 In this connection too much praise ; cannot be accorded Senator Platt of the finance committee and Congressman Russell of the ways and means commit : tee in the house for their heroic efforts in our behalf, and let us never forget
 the powerful aid given them by Sena- tors Hawley, Hoar and Lodge, and last
 but not least Senator Spooner of Wis. consin, the only tobacco state west ot Connecticut that stood by us Con
 gressmen Henry and Hill of Connecti cut, Gillett and Wright of Massachu.
 setts, too. You want to keep such mer in the house; they are the right men 1T the right place, and it would have done your souls good to have seen the ole war horse, Joe Hawley, pull off hi. 2 coat and pitch in when the fight wa. hottest. It is conceded by all, our op = ponents as we'll as our friends, that nc | such determined fight was ever pu up in congress as by the little congress = sional delegation of Connecticut. Sen 5 ator Spooner of Wisconsin made oul
 cause his cause, purely as a matter O
 justice to the farmers (the Wisconsin association having gone to pieces in tn = insane attempt to help the farmers by , entering into business relations witl , them and gone into packing and selling tobacco) could give him no aid, nor d, ', anything to protect their interests il congress, and l earnestly repeat forme l warnings, never to let the New Englan,
 association get mixed up in your busi
 ness affairs, but keep it purely confinet
 to protecting your interests against loy tariff on tobacco and fraudulent impor 5, tations of the same.
 d In this connection, if in future vol