Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1909-03-28

there il cne. perhaps two streams
capablc of floating Il pole. pr"p"Il'i
bat,rau. provided the naviga;orS b"
skilled "uorgh to warp around me
',ortuous bends and avoid the jniting
r3cks.
There also arc dug-Out canoes II at
ing upon the surface Il various m!l''
! onds that lie placidiy in The shadows
! cas-: Over them Gy towering m"nh''
crags in tIc Firth district, which ter
rItory produces much tobacco hnl IS
destitute Of shipping interests other
| than these c,nirollGd principally by;
! the Southcrn Railway Company ana
partly by The Nort Tx a. Western
| The Fifth district member knows
all ahOut the ocean steamship SERVE"
and buckles on his armor and goes
oui to do battle against the diabOl
| ism of the ocean mail bill. The only
city in his distric; has r twenty
years been fighting oppr' ssion and ,
! Discrimination In the matter of ir"!GAt
rates inflicted by the Southern Rail
| way Company. But Judge Saunders
has not seen ft to deliver ""nc or
! ihc ablcst speeches" against this cor, !
poration which pcnetrates his district
in MANY different directions. and
which for twenty years or more wa"
the beneficiary Ct land mail sub
sidy. I,
Again, as has already been stated. |
The ccunilrs maxim" mp the Fii'h
congressional district rr2ducr prince
pally tobacco as the stale. or what
is called by The CORNERS in tat |
region. their money crop"
In the town OF MartinSvillr. III"
second in point of population in The
Fifth district. two years agI thcf
Amer lean Tobacco Company got con
troll OF the principal tobacco 'nanuta"-
tories of the tcwn and a. once closed
six of the largest industrial plants, ,
upon which at least fifteen hundred
f he three thousand odd inhabitants
of the town were dependent f2r sub |
Sistence
One by one. the Independents have
been either absorbed or driven out OF
business, until the trust now practi-t
cally dominates every tobacco market
in Judge Saunders district. Within
a decade prices at ,ac farmers barns |
or upon the floors cf the warehouses
have slumped 10 the extent of from
100 to 200 per cent.
The Fifth district congressman him
self halls from a tobacco raising
county He was reared there and
presumably is throughly cGnverSant
with the situation, Mt only in Frank
lin county. but throughout his distric'. |
His knowledge of the tobacco indus
try ought at least TO be equal to his
knowledge of the ocean tranSpOr,ati III
service.
Yet Congressman Judge Saunders
If he has prepared. ne certainly has
not delivered upon the floor OF the
! House "one Of the ableSt speeches. N
oppos ition TO the maintenance CT the
presen, protective ta:if duty upon to-
baccc, nor against the action OF the
LDanville Tobacco Board of Trade |
which sent delegation to Washing ]
ton 10 demand an increase in the
duty upon certain grades. which palpa. |
bly, was in the Interest OF the tobacco
| trust> which holds Judge Saunders {,
farmer constituents by the throat.
Ncr has the Fifth distric; congI ess-
! man VINO III tldt i.''''
the iniquitics of the ocean mail hill
yet lifted his voice In commentator
Il the decree by the United Sta.esl
district judges Nao pronounced the
American Tobacco Company an Cn-i
lawful organization. and declared that
the trust not only controlled ;hcl
American tobacco trade. but nearly,
the whole world traffic in that product
nCr in Condemnation e the monopoly
whose arbitrary action al enc tim"
threatened to depopuiaic one OF the
principle towns in his diSiriCt. anal