The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1911-06-01
|DEV|NE'S ADDRESS
TO THE SENATORS
Mnot Man Makes Rousing Address Against Rec
iprocity Before Senate Committee
At Washington

! Foilowirg is the Official rerurt O.
the statement and argument made by
J. M. Devine, one of the North Dakota
representatives, before the finance
committee Of the senate, against Ca
madam reciprocity. 1t is master
piece of logic, reason and facts:
| Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the
committee: l realize that the hour Is
late and must be brief, therefore l
shall not hold you very long, much as
| should like to do so in the discus
sion of this far-reaching question.
want to reiterate what Mr. TWichei!
has already said as regards the i'm
preston the North Dakota delegation
have as to the courtesy of this CON-
mittee. We appreciate this fully, and
shall 60 back to our homes with moth
ing but the very best words regarding
the fair treatment We have received
before the senate committee on fin
ance.
First l want to say that up to this
moment there has been perhaps
necessary discussion of the question
relative to the foreign cost of pr >duc
ton, transportation, and many things
necessary to reach an intelligent con-
clusicn as to prices and profits in 2r-
der to compare between Cana "a and
iEis country But the real thug, ami
to my mind more important, is the
condition of the man or the farm I
grew up south of Mason and Dixon's
line, and cannot forget that I am not
going to forget the conditions under
; wni III we lived forty years ago, there
tains. I can see a father toiling, to-
etl.er with his neighbors. under con-
ditions of almost abject poverty,
dreaming Of day and of time when
brighter and better things would
come | am not, therefore, going to
, forset in this hour the toll and hard
, ship of that period, neither do | want
the ate-eemmittee on finance to
overlook or forget tat the farmers OF
this country have been sacrificed in
order to build up the factories and
forges of this country to give us what
we finally have today, the greatest
, home market in the world By the
aid Of federal legislation everything
, has been developed, specially protect
q ed, and the farmer above them all has
had to bring this about. When
, tt inl Of the present up-to-date condi-
ton Of the f.im and farmer in North
q Dakota, and the conditions Of the farm
and the farmer at the base OF the Al
legheny mountains in Virginia, West
Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, 1t
would be easy to understand why we
, North Dakotans are here battlins
n against reciprocity, and for square
n deal. Given but half a chance, up
y we will blcze the way to a time not
l. far distant when the mother, standing
. on the threshold OF her farm home,
= viii see a high school and hear the
n bell of that school ringing its call to
= her children to the possibilities Of an
|. education beyond the dream of the
!. farmers of the states above mention
J. ed. We up our way will bring about
such conditions SO that we can keeI
the boy and girl on the farm and away
from the cities.
AS l measure and note the condi'
tions in this country today, am in
clined to believe that the greatest and
most serious problem in this country
is the congested conditions Of our
| cities. We North Dakotans want to
keep the children on the farm. To
do this we must have better farm
conditions and opportunities. There
is no better place where the youth
Ct this land can grow bigger, better
and more wholesome, and stronger
than on the farm. Today we are
spending In North Dakota after TWEEN
ty-two years Of statehood, to buiio
common schools, high schools, and
colleges, and maintain them, $1,000,
OO0 Today we have nine hundred
students in the agricultural college,
one Of the largest and best in the
United States; eight hundred students
in our state university; normal
schools crowded: experimental sta
tions in many places throughout the
different sections Of the state. Why
SO that the boy and the girl will be