Daily Kennebec journal., 1911-04-24

VINO gets the great increases Do
tween the farmer and the consumer:
l see no evidence that the retail mer-
chant gets more than his necessities
as To rent, display, advertising, labor
ana service compel him to take. we
can conjecture as to the causes, Dut
we have not ascertained scientifically.
Tariff No Effect on Prices to Con-
sumner.
The price of coffee is estimated to in
crease five times from the producer
to the consumer: and as there is alb
solutely free trade in coffee. here is a
patent suggestion that the tariff, While
it has important bearing on the equi-
librium ot the farmers market, mas
very little influence on wha- the con-
sumer pays. In the very height o;
high prices last fall the minority
Democratic members of the inVestl-
eating committee of another distln-
Suished body came to tcis conclusion:
Notwithstanding the large increase in
the price Of farm products. the farmer
has realized small net return on ms
labor and investment.
Can not YOU leave the farmer this
small net return? Can not you do it
in consideration of the long dearth lie
has suffered There he stands, the
dampness Of honest toll on his brow.
in his heart the satisfaction that he
has lasted through the trial. He is a
hero. He has Won the long fight. He
has done it with brains as we'll as
muscle. When the onset was fiercest
he reduced his acreage and intensified
his culture: that is. he contracted the
wings and strengthened the center.
If he had been a man with a sword
We would have given him pension and
o:fice, and that exquisite American
adulatien of accepting every word
from his lips as the last thing in wis
dom. But as he is a farmer, and as
farmers are organized very imperfect
ly for unity of action, we pat him on
the back, say he is good fellow. and,
without investigation. without even
ali unscientfic investigation worthy
the name. We turn loose on him new
and unnumbered hordes. (Applause
on the Republican side)
Consumers of Coal Flour and Meat.
BY admitting that this question
should be settled on broad, national
grounds only. 10 not wish to be un-
derstoud as condoning in any way the
great injustiees committed on certain
industries and certain sections of the
country. 1t has been Il longing of
New England. stimulated bv the Dem
ocratic orators for more than half a
century, that she might buy coal at
those great and nearby mines of
Novo Scotia. Coy. FOss of Nassa-
chusetts told us last fall that free coal
was cne OF the great blessings of re-
ciproCity for us. But realizing the
benefit of the broad national policy of
protection, the better judgment of our
people has favored buying coal in the
distant fields of Pennsylvania and
West Virginia, although the freight
paid to the railroads is a burden on
industry. The old reciprocity treaty
of 1854 gave this Canadian coal tree
entrance and the official documents of
the time seem to show that it found a
large market on the Atlantic seabOard
This new treaty let's in over the bOr-
der lire freely every natural product
that New England produces herself;
bu. this one great commodity that she
does not produce, that her northern
climate makes so precious to her peo-
pie. is denied her. The cid treaty
wrcte in coal III bold, satisfying
black letters; this agreement, if it does
in this line, makes only a
penuriouS little concession by reducing
the duty on coal screenings to 10 cents
a ton, which it was in the Dngley law,
where it was intended to be in the
Payne law. That may help some big
mills, If they use these screenings, and
is good as far as it goes; but the most
sedata New England farmer, if he can
control his anger at the injustice, will
hardly control his mirth at the ridictl-
lousness of an arrangement that sets
in motion into his market free as air
all the potatoes. Eeets, turnips, hay,
cabbages, butter. cheese hoof- parting
and cud- chewing animals that Canada
can produce. and allow himself and his
such coal as will strain
a hole half an inch square
1t would be possible to go much
further in criticism of details of this
agreement. If duties between this
country and Canada are burdens.
which | do not admit, it may be point
ed ont that we are taking all burdens
off the flour makers and leaving much
on the flour consumers; that we are
taking all burden off the great incor-
porated butchers trust and leaving
much on the consumers of meat.
Fisheries and Other Industries.
If this were a council of national de-
fense l would recall that the two great
militant civilizations OF Europe, Ger
many and France. protect by ample
duties the hard-Won spoil of their
fishermen, that they may have those
fishermen in their hour of need. as we
have had ours in every crisis since
Washington crossed the Delaware.
After preserving in the field of diplo-
macy the fishing rights won by our
fathers on the field of battle, John
Quincy Adams transmitted to his pos
terity a seal intended to commemorate
the glory both of his country and his
family. And the legend on that seal
was such as you could not honestly
write across the face of this bill
'PiScemur, venemur. ut olim''-"Ne
Keep our fishing grounds and our
hunting grounds 1S of old "