The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1902-03-07
THE OWOSSO TIMES.
EDMUND o. DEWEY, EDITOR.
OWOSSO, FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 1909.
All of its life the republican party has

asked the farmer to vote for protection.
Many and many have been the years
when the arguments made by the free
traders of the country have seemed the
more alluring to him. 1t seemed to him
that protection did indeed help the
manufacturers of the articles which
were protected but he could not always
see that he was getting his share in the
protection. To-day the farmers of
Michigan are watching the development
of new and profitable industry in their
midst. More money has been made by
the farmers of Michigan in the past
year from sugar beets than was ever
before made from any crop during the
first few years of its cultivation. And
today the farmers of Michigan are be-
holding the strange spectacle of large
faction in Congress attempting to re-
move at least portion of the protective
tariff from the very crop from which
they have just begun to receive such
handsome returns. They see the party
which has always stood for the protec-
: ton of infant industries being urged to
forget one of the most promising infant
industries which ever was started in the
northern states, and one of the oldest of
SSfhe industries of the southern states,
under the pretext of helping Cuba.
They see this being urged in the face of
the fact that such legislation would
accrue only to the immediate benefit of
the American sugar trust and they are
rightly indignant. They do not doubt
the sincerity of the President of the
United States in the ground he has
taken but they do resent the way in
which he, and others who may be as
honest as they believe him to be, are
attempting to ignore their interests and
all Of the pledges and traditions of the
republican party by removing the duty
or a portion of the duty on sugar. If
the republicans in congress want to
have an unhappy day of reckoning with
the farmers Of the country just let them
leave the protective tariff on the pro-
ducts Of the steel trust and make the
sugar trust a present of a clean fifteen
millions of dollars, taken out of the
farmers pockets by removing the tariff
from an article produced by them, an
article which has been the means of
bringing better times to hundreds of
farmers in the last two or three years
than they have ever known before. Let
them ignore the promises and traditions
of the party and favor the trusts at the
expense of the farmers and then let them
come to the latter and make the bare
faced excuse that that was the only way
in which they could favor Cuba for
whom these same farmers gave their
sons to go into that fever infested island
to fight. If they think that they or the
President or any one else-except the
democrats can make any explanation
that will be satisfactory to the American
farmer let them go ahead But don't
let any Of them complain if the Ameri
can farmer does'not give any very great
sympathetic attention to their explana
tions. The matter is not yet settled and
the farmers can still help the Michigan
representatives and senators by giving
them letters AID telegraph dispatches
which they can show to the representa-
tives from other states who do not
appreciate what the protection of the
sugar industry means to the farmers of
the country. Let it be apparent that
the farmers now in turn expect the
party to he consistent and do what it
has asked them to do for years, "vote
for protection, and especially for infant
Industries