Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1907-06-06

HOW THE FARMERS WON.
Past Master Aaron Jones Greae Per-
sonal Victory In Washington.


1t may not be known to all readers
of this paper that last January in
! Washington there was held great
commercial convention which was os-
/ tensibly called for the advancement of
foreign commerce in the United States.
/ 1T was really a plan for the advance
ment Of the ship subsidy scheme which
some of the most influential men, even
those close to the president, were try
ing to put through congress. It was an
assembIage of 400 voting delegates rep
resenting the shipping, mercantile,
manufacturing and allied interests
| from all sections Of the country It
happened that the national grange leg
| islatiye and executive committees were
| in session at that time in Washington.
| They discovered that the farmers had
no representation in the convention
and asked that one Of their number be
| appointed to a position on the commit
tee on resolutions. Their request was
granted, and Hon. Aaron Jones, past
master of the national grange, was
appointed on that committee. The
| ablest lawyers and experts were pres
ent to assist in insuring the success of
| the scheme, and men who were worth
| their millions were there. Secretary
| of State Root made powerful speech,
| and the convention was to close in a
grand climax at a ten dollar q plate
| banquet which the president himself
| was to address We give the rest of
| the story in the words of one present
| as printed in the Pennsylvania Grange
| News:
| But the scheriers had reckoned without
| the grange delegates Hardly had the tu-
| nultuous cheers which greeted the con-
! clusion of Secretary Roots speech died
! away when the quiet, persistent work OF
| the farmers representatives began 70
/ show. and opposition to committing the
i convention to the Endorsement OF ship
/ subsidy legislation gathered strength. This
| opposition rapidly Increased as it became
/ known throughout the convention that the
resolutions committee could not agree and
that Jones, the grange representative In
| the committee, was leading vigorous OPP
position and gathering to him steadliy
1 increasing support. The friends OF SNIP
| subsidy began to grow anxious to get the
| convention to act before the opposition
4 could grow serious.
/ Finally, in the middle Of the afternoon
4 session, the resolutions committee. unable
| to agree reported both a majority and
/ minority report the ship subsidy majority
4 hoping to be able to carry their report
| through the convention. An attempt was
/ made to rule out the minority report on a
/ technicality, but this simply resulted ~
showing the entire convention that the
| ship subsidy advocates would, II they
i could. ride roughshod over all opposition.
i As the debate xaxed hot It showed plain
" that the resolution in favor Of ship
subsidy would be defeated, and defeat was
only averted by having both reports re-
ferred back to the committee for further
| consideration.
Once again the fight was on in the reso-
lutions committee. and from until II :se
j n. M. the battle ragged. The doors OF the
committee room were locked. and no one
but the forty odd members of the commit
tee was allowed in the room. How Jones
handled our end was shown, however, py
the fact that he was the acknowledged
Header tof the fight which resulted in the
utter rout of the ship subsidy forces. The
resolution finally adopted by the commit
tee was a Tofcomrnittal one to the effect
that the convention favors such Ieg1sla-
i ton as would most effectually build ur
our merchant marine, the understanding
being plainly l0dI5 tLtS diu ttoL AiieeltA = y
1 subsidies The grange and its friends lad
won a great victory.
On the floor the next morning, the laSl
of the convention, the battle ragged again
more fiercely than ever. Bitterly smart
1 ing under defeat. the advocates of ship
subsidies denounced the resolutions SUD
4 ulitted by the resolutions committee ano
4 fought hard to get the original ship sub
4 sides resolution adopted instead. The
4 five minute rule of debate was rigidly en-
/ forced, and the speeches for and against
were hot and even bitter. Excitement
was intense. From all parts of the hall
4 as many as twenty would clamor for rec
i IGNITION by the chair at one time And
i SO the fight went on. So far the grange
i representatives had been silent, content
to let the opposition that had been stirred
up show that it was not only the farmers
4 who were opposing. Then suddenly above
the din the clarion voice of Aaron Jones
compelled the instant recognition of the
chair. and dead hush settled on the
great assemblage while 1t anxiously
watched what was felt to be the farmers
ultimaturn.
And 1t camel Wasting no time in pre-.
lirninaries in a few forceful words thai
struck the assembled delegates ike ar
electric shock in the name of the Aneri-
can farmer and in the name of the greai
Order he was there to represent. Jones
registered his protest against the indorse-
ment of ship subsidy legislation by thai
convention 1t was the beginning OF the
end Ship subsidy Endorsement was plain
" doomed The leader of the ship sub
sidy forces made desperate effort te
ward off defeat in an impressive speech
but whatever of effect 1t might have hae
was completely nuIlifled by the brie1
speech Of state Master Derthfek whit
followed.
Il This ended the debate. And on a stand
ing vote the ship subsidy advocates who
had planned the convention with sucf
great hopes could muster only forty on'
votes III a meeting Of over 400 delegates
Dertlick's speech was magnificent. and
though less than five minutes long, !
was spoken Of by many prominent people
present as one Of the great speeches q
the convention.
The Question Box.