Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1911-08-10
THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 1911.
Lemons And The Tariff.

The farmer and fruitgrower is like
" to feel that he is too often discrim-
mated against by the railroads, by
the tariff, by the commission m,n,
by almost everyone with whom he
comes into contact. He has so long
been pictured as 'rube" who read
lily buys green goods and gold bricks
that he is tempted to think, at timos,
that even Uncle Sam looks on him in
that light. For years the farmers
have been asking for the same meas
ure of protection in the tariff that
has been accorded freely to the labor
ing man and the manufacturer. Has
he got it? Not always. Occasionally
the man who tills the soil has got
something but it has been hard won,
and no sooner did he get it than
powerful forces were arrayed to snatch
it away from him.
Take a concrete case. In Florida
and California the innate was found
to be suitable for growing oranges and
lemons. Enterprising pioneers in
both states took up the new lines
with enthusiasm. They met with
discouragcmcnts and setbacks. There
were insect pests, frosts, droughts,
scarcity and high cost of labor, m,-
known problems to solve, years to
wait for returns, and competition
from foreign lands when other prob
lens had all been reduced and sue
cess achieved. Orange growing reach
ed stage where the home growers
controlled the market and c0mpeti-
ton was little feared. Lemon grow
ing continued to be hard fight, al
though the problem of producing a
better lemon than the imported had
been solved and so per cent. of the
home market was supplied by home
grown lemons. The extension of the
market was checked because the inn
porters, with cheap home labor and
cheap ocean freights could, and did,
keep the American fruit from reach
ing the seaboard whenever they wish
ed to do so. Congress wanted to give
the American growers an even break
and added one-half cent per pound
to the tariff on lemons, or about one
and one-third cents dozen, one
eighth of a cent on each lemon. Dur
ing the hottest portion of the summer
lemons sold in Washington at 10 and
20 cents a dozen. No one found any
complaint with this except the Italian
importers in New York City. They
started in at once to raise a slush
fund to fight the tariff. The grow
ers in Sicily and Italy agreed to pay
from to 10 cents on each box of
lemons imported into the United
States to help fight the tariff. They
began a campaign to arouse the
American public to belief that it
was being wronged, and to influence
Congress to remove the tariff on lem
ons. Congressman were appealed to
by the agents of the importers, the
pushcart men and the retail fruit
dealers. Untruthful petitions were
circulated, so untruthful that their
mendacity was evident at glance.
One form of petition refers to the
burdensome duty on lemons" al
legged to be for the purpose of doub-
ling the wealth of ten or dozen
millionaires of California, and also
for the purpose of paying the wages
of tens of thousands of Japanese SOL
diers who exclusively monopolize the
labor of the California lemon orchards
thus depriving American laborers of
opportunity of labor and wages"
This is very absurd, as we'll as false.
TO patronize the foreign lemon grow
ers and steamship rompani"s would
br better, the importers think, than
to patroniZc American railroads,
American orcllardists and American
labor. Japanese are employed to
very small extent in the region where
lemons grow. Ii there were enough
white labor they would not be en-
ployed at all. Moreover, oranges and
and lemons are now grown in Arizo-
ma, Texas, Florida, Alabama, Missis-
sippi and Georgia.
Such petitions as those just referred
to have been circulated at Atlantic
coast summer resorts by bankers,
such as those who attract attention