The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-29
TOSS DISCUSSES
 CANADIAN TREATY
The Governor of Massachusetts Favors Reciprocity Plans
TOO MANY ALARMISTS
Governor Foss Says No Industry in the United States Will Re Seriously Affected By the Proposed
 Treaty

Boston, January 2S.-(Special.) )-Ir the most important statement he Ina: vet made with reference to the reef procity programme of President Taft Governor Foss declared tonight in al exclusive interview that the present programme is only the entering wedge toward free trade between and among the nations of the North American con. tinent.
 Governor Foss also declared in favor of an extra session of Congress to be held in March.
 "The proposed reciprocity bill is bound to help conditions immensely said the governor. Everybody realizes this, because everybody knows that the American people today are ali walled in behind their high protective tariff.
 President Taft says. as many of us have been contending for pumber ot years, that at one point this Wall must now come down When 1t has come down the sunlight will pour in
 'It all means that we shall have a greater supply to draw from and the tendency of that increased supply will be to make right price. HIS III llStll M bt OHt cat dd vantage, but aside from that the coun- try up there is one of tremendous area, nearly as great as our own, and wonderfully and profusely productive of the very things needed in the states.
 Next to the United States Canada is the greatest wheat growing .coun try in the world. We need her wheat for our mills. We have got to have har bar .xFla fo Minnesota mills going. We need the products of her farms to sustain our people.
 Must Have Canadian Products
 Nor is this true alone of Canadian n wheat. It Is exactly the same with po- tatoes, with all the products of soil and sea. We hust have Canadian food products.
 There has been some alarm-need- less as l look at it-lest free fish might mean the death of our New Eng land fish industry. I look for the re- juvenation of that industry. I find this to be the attitude. too. of some very levelheaded business men in Glouces- ter and Provincetown.
 "The alarmists seem to have forgot ten that fish are migratory. This habit of the fish to change their abode from season to season has largely brought dbOut lHt COiluitiOHS tiiab NC ihu tO- day.
 gloucester and all the eastern ports used to be alive with fishing smacks. In the days of prosperity there were 53 fishing boats sailing out of Province town. Today I believe there are four. In those days Gloucester was the home of 450 vessels. Today the Gloucester fleet numbers less than 100 sails
 What is the trouble with the fish busi- s,, Nrte ei, hot xyo no fish to do business on. The fishermen have had to go out of business. Any man must go out of business if he cannot get I the raw material to do business on. If couldn't get pig iron for the Sturtevant works l should have to go where pig
 iron is
 This may be a rather homely way of saying it, but it explains just what the matter has been with the fish business. There have been no fish to do business on and a prohibitive tariff kept us from get ting any
 Will Not Hurt Fishermen
 Hence I say that instead of injurlng the fish industry at Gloucester. Canadian reciprocity is going to revive it as noth- ing else would in the world know or nothing that would do half as much for Gloucester. Her present establishments ought to grow tremendously New ones should be established. Gloucester should become the city that is, instead of city losing ground.
 "Injure Gloucester? Why Gloucester is only one of the two cities out of the 33 in Massachusetts that shows g decrease in population, according to the last cen- sus Instead of being in this condition, Gloucester today should be a city of loo, 0o0 people Gloucester can be such a city and under reciprocity she is more than likely to be.
 Gloucester can be built up by the fish industry. Fish should soon be, brought in there and prepared for market quite as hogs and beef are brought to Chicago and distributed over the country.
 Tn the fish business the name Glou- cester stands as a trade mark of great value
 And in like manner do we need the product of the Canadian forest. We are suffering for it, indeed Lumber is the building material of the American of moderate means, who cannot afford brick and stone.
 Cut or From Supply
 "Under this prohibitive tariff these Americans have found themselves cut off from the supply. This is true from one end of the land to the other.
 Our paper industry one of the greatest Of the time, is calling for pulp and pulp l wood of the Dominion. In another view of the case for reciprocity we are serving cur own forests dnd taking a long step for conservation when we take down the tariff wall before the trees of Canada. Governor Floss was asked If the Amer ican farmer can be greatly injured by reciprocity.
 "The American farmer will not bo hurt" said the governor. "Our people want to bear in mind that there is noth- ing cheap about Canada. We want .e remember that the Canadian people are of the same general stock as ourselves
 There is no cheap labor in Canada. We shall not have that problem to face In that quarter. They don't produce food or anything else up there any cheaper than we do. There is nothing for our farmer to fear But reciprocity will help to keep the trusts and great combina- tions down and bring about right pii' @ l for food products.
 Tt cannot be told now off hand to what degree prices will be lowered, but they ought to be reduced to at l least the level of prices in Canada, which have been lower than pr.cAs in the United States at least as much as