The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1908-07-10
Would Give Congressman Fordney a
Square Deal.
Editor of the Times:


AS a Republican, | wish to protest
against the harsh, uncalled for, and
untruthful criticism that is being
hurled at Mr.. Fordney. So far as !
am able to discover, his every act has
been solely in the interest of his con-
stituency. He has repeatedly stated
and no one has reason to doubt his
word, that the only difference exist
ing between the President, Mr.. Taft
and himself, was in relation to the
Cuban and Philippine policy. Mr..
Fordney objects to putting the cheap
labor of those islands upon a parity
with the high class labor of Ameri-
ca and there is great weight in his
argument He objects to the admit
ting of foreign sugars, produced by
that cheap labor, into the United
States free and in direct competition
| farms of this district, and he has
frequently contended, here in
| Owosso, that by dividing the acreage
here and elsewhere by the intro
duction of beets, the production of
the ordinary crops would be curtail-
ed to a considerable extent and prices
would have a better chance of being
sustained at a living level and surely
farm prices have been sustained
whether credit goes to Mr.. Fordney or
not. Hence, holding these views, he
should be expected to offer the OPP
position he did, and having finally
won, by forcing the Committee on
Resolutions to insert the plank
pledging adequate protection to
American sugar, he now tells us
that he will do all within his power
to promote the election of the nation
al ticket, and it seems to me this
should settle the matter to the salts
faction Of ALL We want a man who
fights for our rights, and Mr.. Ford
ney possesses that quality.
The Democratic papers are also
shouting against the Congress
man for they realize that a fight
within our own ranks is their only
a hope, but we should not allow them
t" fool us, lest it be said "Thou
makest a strife unto our neighbors,
while our enemies laugh amongst
themselves. Recently the Demo-
cratic Detroit Evening News printed
an article which stated as many I'M
truths as was possible in the space
taken. This article named a num-
Der of papers which it stated had
bolted Mr.. Fordney. Now If that
reporter had looked for the truth, he
would have told you that with two
or three exceptions, the editors of
these several papers have a personal
grievance against Mr.. Fordney;
some never have supported him;
others opposed him at various times
and were luke,warm at other times,
while a few are controlled by men,
whom Mr.. Fordney failed to land in
a postoffice. There were not enough
offices to go around and this is laid
at Mr.. Fordney's door. This article
intimated that the primary reformers
were opposed to Mr.. Fordney, but
failed to tell you that he was one of
the pioneer primary reformers of
told of Mr.. Fordney's ''chump poll
tics" in supporting Mr.. Cannon.
Now it may look like "chump poll
tics' to the Democrats, but it looks
good to me- 1t probably helped to
land him on the ways and means
committee, and it served sufficient
notice of beet sugar opposition, so
that protective plank was insert |
ed in the platform at Chicago. 1t |
has given him an influential standing |
in the National House, which influ-
ence, coupled with that which will |
accrue to him through the elevation |
of Mr.. Sherman to the vice-presi- |
dency, will make the present repre-
sentative from this district as strong |
as he possibly could be, and a change |
now means that we are willing to set |
the district back from six to ten |
years, as influence goes, and for the
sake of satisfying the demands of a
few, we will re-enter the
political A B G class
Another story which appeared in
the local paper stated that Mr.. Ford
ney fought all the policies of the
President and Mr.. Taft while serving
on the committee on resolutions in
Chicago. The convention records
brand this story absolutely false.
One of the. Chicago papers stated
that only two changes were made
litter the resolutions were submitted
% the committee, the Philippine
plank and the injunction plank, and
,hese changes were approved by Mr..
Taft, and this statement is borne out
by the announcement of Chairman
Hopkins to the effect that the reso-
utions were signed by all the MEM
,ers except Mr.. Cooper of Wisconsin,
who offered several amendments
which were rejected.
/ might refer to the damnable at
ack made upon Mr.. Fordney by the
1t. Johns News and other untruthful
which have appeared in
certain papers of late, but I think
he people have too much confidence
n Mr.. Fordney to allow their minds
o be thus poisoned and hope, and
'elieve, that they will resent these
Malicious attacks, as they should.