News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1911-02-15
Reciprocity With Canada

Vermont was early in the fray with a
plank favoring downward revision and
reciprocity in the platform of each of the
major political parties. The people were
demanding larger opportunity in the
struggle for existence. 1t would seem to
be wholly within the range of reason for
one to expect that the Vermont delega-
ton in Washington could and shhuid
have accurate knowledge of the desnes
of the state, and it appears equally Tea-
sonable that consistency would guide
them to seek to obtain that which their
constituents desired. Reciprocity, how
ever, is in i'll favor with Vermont in the
nations capital, and Senators Page ana
I Dillingham; are characterized in press
dispatches as opposed to the agreement.
But why is this opposition to the ratiti-
| cation of the agreement? Some farmers
labor under the belief that our
markets would be oveTrun with Canadian
u oduce, entirely ignoring the fact that
| Canada is the greater purchaser They
| appear to think thai Canadians are gOln
| to stop eating that they may glut the
market in this country. Canada'S yearly
| surplus could not feed New York city tor
a week. But the farmer alone has no
right to expect the entire country Ia
bend the knee to him. How about HE
sixty millions OF our population wdo-e
life is constant struggle TO make both
ends mee?' Are they not WORTHY f
consideration? Have they not the great
est right to demand consideration? Is it
not from them. rather Than from tie
class with surplus wealth, that the COW
eminent draws its means of support?
Are they not the greatest sufferers under
the curse of indirect taxation that an
ultra-bgh tariff represents? Is the de-
mand that the % cents n bushel dug on
wheat, the S1.50 a barrel duty on iar,
the cents pound duty on butter, the
25 cents bushel duty on potatoes. he 5
cents a dozen duty on eggs, be removed
or lowered, a menace to the stability OF
the government Is it criminal for mem
to desire that the gap between them and
the ultra-rich be closed 10 the extent
that they may have on their tables the
necessities of life without paying tnbute
TO ignorance and avarice?
For ignorance aud avarice are response
BILE for the tariff inequiies that rtllct
their Injustice on the sixty millions of +
JDiltIS. Ii is dL tG''IpiIl'G law lli"h tbS
price of commodity is given its lowest
limit at price which viii give the most
ignorant, the most wastetul producer !
a living return. How does this effect |
the cost of food stuff? just this way.
If an unprogressive farmer averages but
80 bushels of corn to the acre when it Is
possible TO produce over 200 bushels, the .
consumer pays a living eturn 20 Ttfe far
ner Of 33 bushels. And, sad as it is the .
United States is overrun with 80 bushels
farmers and the Ioilers pay for their
ignorance Avarice comes from the rich
with their protected trusts. who make
more than they can spend and who spend
in year more than the tOiler Can make 4
in lifetime.
The republican party is face to face
with serious condition. Are the pledges
made to the sixty million t0ileTs to be
broken, is wealth TO continue to crush
and squeeze poverty, or promise to nom
or and faith kept? The fate Of the
is in the hands of the sixty mil
lions and some day, unless conditions
change, they will realize this fact and
there will be purging of the temple of :.
The money changers. And we would all
Of us prefer evolution to levoluton.-I
St. Adams Messenger.