Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-02-06
A STRONG FIGHT
To Be Made on Canadian
Reciprocity by Grange.
Legislative Committee Takes
100000 Interested.
Claimed That Agreement Discrimi-
mates Against the Farmers.

ton claiming a membership OF l,00u,-
900 farmers in 80 states. has been
started to defeat the. ratification by
Congress of the Canadian reciprocity
agreement. The legislative committee
iof the Grange, at Il special meeting
Saturday at the Hotel Manhattan,
adopted a resolution protesting against
the enactment of the reciprocity bill.
called upon the membership to exert
pressure upon congressman from their
various districts to vote against the
measure and decided to go to Wash
ington to map out Il campaign there.
The legislative committee is com
posed of three members. EX-Gov
Nahum J. Bachelor of Concord, chair
man; Aaron Jones of south Bend, Ind
and T. G. Atkeson of Morgantown, w
Va.
| AS soon as the terms of the propos-
ed treaty became public they exchang-
| ed kilograms, agreed upon New York
as a meeting place and left their homes
without delay to head off any possible
campaign that might possibly be
started for the bill's enactment. Mr.
| Bachelor said that the national body
| was composed of 1900 Oranges scat
tered throughout the northern half OF
the United States from Maine to Cali
fornia. and that ii was his opinion
that the Oranges would support tn.
| committee unanimously.
we are not opposed to a general re-
| duction Of the tariff" Mr.. Atkeson
| said, but We are opposed to AIRY ar
| arrangement which will make fish of one
| industry and flesh of another. Reduce
| the tariff. yes: but do it all at once
and not by reciprocal treaty with q
country which exports agricultural
| products almost exclusively.
Remove the tariff on steel and iron
and manufactured articles along with
| farm products. and We won't object
But we don't think it fair to compel
the farmers to compete with foreign
products AID allow the manufacturers
to derive the benefits of u high pro-
tective tariff.
active along these lines. we have
decided to oppose the enactment of the
bill. The committee issued statement
Saturday which will be sent to
| everyone OF the 1900 Oranges in the
organization. These have Il membership
of from 80 to 1000 farmers each. We
shall ask every member to write his
representative i'll Congress, urging him
| to vote against the bill. | think we
! can defeat it in this manner, but We
are act going to take any chances, and
| the committee has decided to go to
Washington and work from that end"
The committee issued this statement
today:
THE legislative committee of the
National Grange, an organization OF
farmers with local branches in 80
states. having about 100000 members,
met in this city today to take action
on the proposed Canadian reciprocity
arrangement.
Acting in response to thousands Of
letters and kilograms, urging them to
protect the farmers interests in this
matter, they have issued this protest:
1.-The undersigned, representing the
principal organization of farmers in the
United States. earnestly protest against
the enactment of the Canadian reel
procity bill now pending in Congress
for the following reasons
1.-The bill provides for the admin
sion free of duty of all Canadian farm
products. Since Canada is the only
country from which any considerable
quantity of these products can under
any circumstances be imported, this
would result in practically free trade
in everything the farmer produces.
while putting farm products on
the free list, the reciprocity bill makes
no material reduction in the high tar
If rates on all the manufactured arti-
cles the farmer buys, and, therefore,
gives no relief from the heavy burden
of taxation imposed by these duties.
3-The theory on which our pro-
tectlVe policy has always been defend
ed is that all classes are equally en-
titled to protection. The farmers,
however, receive much less protection
than the manufacturers. for while
farm products are taxed on the aver
age about % per cent. manufactured
articles are taxed ON an average of
about As per cent
Il The enactment OF the Canadian
reciprocity bill will still further dis
criminate against the farmers, by abol-
ishing the comparatively slight protection
now given them, while leaving the high
protective duties on manufactures prac-
tically untouched.
.. The Canadian farmers, by reason
of their lower general tariff and their
preferential trade agreements, can buy
manufactured goods at lower prices than
those prevailing in this country. The
prices of farm lands i'm Canada are also
much lower than in the United States.
These conditions give the Canadian farm
ers an advantage over u.s. and the free
admission of their products will sub iect
us to unfair competition.
&c. We hold that the farmer should re-
ceive exactly the same measure of pro-
lection as is given the manufacturers,
and that Their must be no reduction of
duties on farm products, either by reci-
procity or tariff revision, unless the du-
ties on all manufactured articles are at
the same time correspondingly reduced.
-. To show that this reciprociety
measure Is not an honest effort to reduce
the cost of living in the interest of the
consumer, it is sufficient to point out
that while wheat is on the free list flour
is taxed so cents per barrel, and that
while cattle, sheep and hogs are free,
meats, both fresh and cured, are taxed
II cents per pound for the benefit of
the meat trust"