Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-08-16
The Free Trade Misinformation.

The Free Iraoe MiSinToTmat'o"'
OF all the nonsensical gush that flows
from any direction the periodic over
flow of an up-river Editorial page
carries off the cherries. 1t first talks
as if the figures in its local market
controlled the American market as
whole, and then, in the same breath,
pictures Maine as barren, bankrupt,
man forsaken waste, its few remaining
humans and we'll nigh exhausted ami
nal life in the last gasps. Here is
what it says, in one of its characters
tic spurts OF nonsense:
But in 1910 Maine farmers did not have
any hay to exchange for coal or petro-
leum or barbed wire. On account OF the
scarcity of hay they were selling what
little live stock they had to avoid the
| call Of the cruelty to animals agent.
And of what use is barbed wire anyway
when the fields do not produce nay on
the pastures contain any live stock
And why should Maine farmer desire
stove coal when he usually cuts ms 1uel
upon his own land? In 1910 Maine far,
| mers had no hay to sell but they did
have a surplus of potatoes and were
glad to unload them at the starch fac
tories at IL cents a bushel. 1t is, then,
| somewhat difficult to understand just
| how the high tariff benefited Maine far
| mers so far as hay or potatoes are con-
cerned.
But the Journal does not mention what
| the farmers had to nay for corn or cot
| tonseed or for ginghams or for sheet
ings or for -four in March. 1910. as com
pared with that extraordinary low
priced year of 1896.
We are surprised that the editor OF
such sheet should admit that Maine
farmers could buy corn or flour or cot
tonseed. From fields that produce nc
hay and pastures that contain no live
stock that papers readers are perhaps
wondering where the money comes
from to pay for the product of the
| Western farmer.
Again it is surprising to note that
Maine farmers are raising an even lar
ger acreage of potatoes this year than
| in 1909 1t cannot be that they are eX-
| pecting a Democratic tariff that will
| raise the price of potatoes or fill thei1
| pastures and barns with stock to eat
the surplus this winter.
The up-river organ pretends to
have some sort of concealed
| weapon in the way of statistics
SLOWING sadly rundown state OF
| Names live stock--something that
c1nnot be accounted for in the diff
| ferent methods of farming in Maine in
| recent years. 1t is carrying to it's read
ers the idea at all times, and the Lew
iston Sun echoes the false impression
| that Maine is not raising so much
stock as formerly because the farms
will not supper. it. Or, perhaps they
| intend to convey the notion that the
tariff has so initiated against the east
only raise few cattle and horses and
sheep out of curiosity-family pets,
maybe.
OF course the editor of such an organ
does not know the difference in the
systems of farming of a quarter cen
fury ago and now. We would not ex-
pect him to and he has certainly never
given any indication of practical I'M
derstanding of anything, but Journal
readers know.
Farmers in Maine do not keep as
many oxen fer farm work as formerly.
because oxen are too slow. They do
not winter as much young stock as for
merly. Ito eat the fodder on the place.
because they buy more commercial fer
tilizer-it saves a vast amount of heavy
team work and other expenses over the
old methods.
Before the days of such freight trans
portation as now there was no other
way to dispose of the surplus hay crop
than to eat it on the farm and turn the
fertilizer back upon the soil. Now the
surplus crop is pressed and shipped at
good prices,
Ii is difficult to see how free potatoes
or free anything else would have bene-
fitted Maine farmers in 1909 if there was
10 market Tor potatoes and they raised
no hay.
According to custom the free trade
organ takes refuge in local conditions
ard specific periods to prove its doc
trine as a remedy for the whole coun-
try. The editor would probably sup