Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-02-28
An Insuraent's Views.

Representative Gardner Of Massa
chusetts, in speech recently delivered
in the House of Representatives., no
only defends the tariff bill now in force
but demonstrates that this bill is
not responsible for the high price o.
food stuffs in the United States. Rep
resc NATIVE Gardeners action IS pecu'
liarly significant because he is reck'
oned as an insurgent.
Mr.. Gardner asks a question which is
pertinent when he inquiries how it hap
pened that sugar Ohighly protected
has remained practically at the same
price since 1896 while raw cotton ;Ias
had d sensational rise maintained
through GOOD crors ard bad crops and
ha; been on the free list all the time
Commenting on this further he SAID
If the imposition of tariff raises
prices i, reduction of the tariff surely
must lower them. In vain we looked
for that result last summer when we
mt hides on the free list and reduced
the tariff on boots and shoes. How is
il that lowering of the duty on
those articles was followed by n rise in
their price, if you gentlemen on the
other side are correct in your premis-
esq The Payne act lowered the duty
n,,lxy I i.lr,
in this country amounts in value TO
81. 900. 900 900. 1t raised the duty on ar
amounts to $S50,O0O,00O and two-thirds
i'm value of the latter class of articles
were uxuries at that: $4,000, OOO, 900 on
the credit side, as against only SS5v,
600 600 on the debit side. Yet, whether
given article or whether it lowered the
duty on that article or whether it left
the duty untouched. since the passage
of the act. 50 far as | know, almost
every article mas risen in price. Mean
while the smiling retailer with Demo-
cratic leanings beguiles his customer
with apologies for raising his prices on
account of the wicked Payne act"
Nh Gardner also improved his OPP
pOrtunity to call attention to the stu
alton in Canada where the people are
facing high prices just as we're facing
them mere Concerning the situation he
said:
"Throughout this country. far and
wide our urban population is demand
ing to know the reason for the high
price Of food products. Not only is
this the case in this high-tariff coun-
try of ours, but in low-tariff Canada
an equally acrimonious debate is in
7 hold in my hand clipping
upon clipping from Canadian newspa-
pers, and l notice a singular resem-
blance to our own situation in that of
our northern neighbors. Nobody is
willing to acknowledge that he has got
away with the goods. In Canada, as
in the United States, the farmer puts
the responsibility on the retailer or on
the wholesaler or on the high rate of
wages. Retailers, wholesalers, and in
dustrial combinations hasten to turn
their pockets inside out while they
plead extreme poverty and sharply re-
Duke for their rapacity the farmer or
the wage or each other. There
as here, many persons believe that the
increased production Of gold has de-
creased the purchasing power of money
while others insist that the prosperity
Of the consumer has raisdd prices in
response to the prodigious demand
There is, however, one significant diff
ference between the dispute in Canada
and the dispute here at home. No one
in Canada credits the high prices of
food to the tariff, for the very good
reason that such a charge would hard
ly hold good in a ow-tariff country
personally. I do not believe that the
high tariff in the United States has
raised the price of food products, OK
cept in so far as it has brought us eX-
IRENE prosperity, but. if the tariff is
indeed responsible, ] wish to know it.
If it is so. / wish to face the fact if the
responsibility rests with the farmer. or
or. or with the middleman.'
VOICES OF THE PRESS,