The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1907-11-01

WHICH tuo UOy PuAioN WV oASo -~
and broke his leg in an attempt to
get away.
Keep Sugar Money at Home.
eve are sending abroad more than
800, 900, 900 year tor sugar" was in
cluded in statement recently made by
Vice President Fairbanks before the
irrigation congress.
The statement is not only true, but
it is serious reflection against the
Republican party. which at the st.
Louis convention in 1896 placed in its
platform plank arraigning the Demo
cratic party for its neglect of the
American sugar industry, and pledged
the Republican party to effect such leg
islation as would foster and encourage
the home industry to the end "that the
800, 900, 900 now sent abroad to pay for
foreign sugar may be kept at home
That was the condition ten years ago.
How has it been kept? We all know
that the Dingley tariff carried out the
party pledges and under it the industry
came to the front with vlgor that
gave promise of an early realization OF
the hopes of the st. Louis platform
makers. But right on the verge Of
most extraordinary expansion OF the
industry the Cuban reciprocity treaty
was sprung upon the country and was
adopted in open and deliberate VIOLA
ton of the declared policy of the party
in its platform pledges, and we all
know how it has worked. The entire
sugar product of the island is thrown
upon the American market and here is
the condition as disclosed by official
statistics for the fiscal year 1907:
Bought from Cuba. ......... $97, AL, 600
Sold to Cuba. ............... Az, oOo,2i
Adverse trade balance. -. .S4S, 1876. 329
Revenue lost by Tariff con-
ceSs1OnS. ....'..'''' iO,ooV'Voo
Total lost in year trade. 1866, 1916, 329
1t is true we have greatly increased
our exports to Cuba in the three years
of reciprocity" Naturally our ex-
ports would increase when we pay such
a price for the increase. We could
greatly increase our exports to all the
world, if, as in the case of Cuba, we
should buy twice as much as we sold.
There is not country on earth that
would refuse to take more of our ex-
ports on those terms. But how long
could the country keep out of bank
ruptcy at that rateG
Instead Of keeping the 800, 900, 600
we pay for foreign sugar at home" we
are in every way conducting to the in
crease of foreign sugar by legislation to
open still wider our doors to its impor-
tation. We have so legislated that
since that st. Louis platform declara-
ton was enunciated $3.50, 100000 of
American capital has been invested
in sugar production outside of the
country and 100000 tons of sugar
brought in here yearly which, had the
Republican party adhered to its
pledges, would be produced at home.
The steel, iron, wool and other in
dustries in this country have been pro-
tected adequately, but the sugar indus
try has been singled out for attack, and
an effort is now being made to force it
to the wall.
One reason for this extraordinary
course on the part of the party is that
this legislation has been instigated and
promoted in every way by Americans.
It is not in the interest of foreigners
that the Republican administration and
party has abandoned its time honored
policy relative to the sugar industry.
Not at all. American capitalists at
once saw the advantage and profit OF
investing capital in sugar production in
Cuba, Hawaii, Porto Rico and the
Philippines and then brought their
powerful influence to bear upon con-
gressmen. The Cuban reciprocity
treaty was one of the instances. Hun
dreds of thousands of dollars Of eastern
capital was used in lobbying and liter
ature to bring about the adoption of
this treaty which has not resulted in a.
dollars worth of advantage to any save
the eastern capitalist, and more than
800, 600, 900 of American capital, which
should have been invested in sugar
production in the United States, has
been invested in Cuban plantations
producing sugar in a foreign land
which comes into competition with our
own home product. And now the bars
are to be let down and the product of
the Philippine islands permitted to
come in here to satisfy American CAPT
tai seeking investment in sugar lands
in those islands where the cheap labor
employed at a. 30 a month will enable
sugar to be manufactured at $1.75
ton.
Z 1t is remarkable that the policy of
the Republican party should have
changed 80 radically in few years.
Bay City, Mich, Tribune.
ST. Nicholas IN 1908.
Carolyn Wells has written series of
quaint and humorous verses, which