Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1911-04-14

Pierce had secured for the Americans
equal rights in the navigation OF the St.
Lawrence and st. Johns river and the
canals of Canada, also important con-
cessions as to the fisheries, none of
which President Taft secures in the
latest effort to give farmers free trade
on what they have to sell while still
paying high protective duty on what
they have to buy.
This old treaty was strongly opposed
by Solomon Foote of this State, by
Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, and
by nearly all of the Wing senators of
the North. They predicted that the re-
suits of the treaty would be very I'M
favorable to northern farmers; they
said that with much lower lands, much
lower taxes and much cheaper labor in
Canada we could not compete with them
successfully.
Few persons now living have any per-
sonal recollection of the actual effects
of that treaty. My own remembrance
is that Senator Foote'S predictions were
realized. One farmer, over eighty
years old, writes me that the treaty
was hateful; others say that it was
everywhere in the North regarded as
Distinctly unfavorable, as indeed it must
have been. Edgar Nash, Esq, now
living in another state, was then far
mer in Shelburne, owning one of its best
farms. He lived here until within a
few years and was long called our best
farmer, and was highly intelligent,
observant, honorable and Independent
man. He writes me that farm products
began to fall in price in the fall of 1856
and that it required the very closest
economy to make buckle and straps
meet until prices increased as a result
of the Civil war.
Conditions have changed very much
since 1855. Our good neighbors, with
their great ruler, who inhabit the fringe
of frigidity on our northern boundary,
have become great people. We all
wish them success and prosperity. But
it seems proper that we should inquire
whether conditions have changed enough
to make free trade for farmers now de-
sirable We all know that land in
western Canada is much cheaper than
our own; we all know that taxes in
Canada are much lower than in Yer
mont. Congressman Plumley has shown
US that labor is 25 per cent lower in
Canada. On this latter point noted
apple buyer tells me that these figures
are correct so far as Ontario is con-
cerned, where he has been operating
this winter. A well known dealer in
hay writes me that he has been buying
hay in Quebec this winter and that he
gets his labor there for one-half what
it cost him in Vermont. 1t is notorious
that some farm machinery is bought at
a lower price in Canada than in the
States. In 1855 the blow fell heaviest
on the farmers of Vermont and northern
New York on account of their long CO.
termnous boundary of fertile land.
1t would seem, therefore, that Presi-
4 dent Taft's entire departure from the
f Republican platform of 1908 would re-
suit in injury to Vermont farmers.
|, That part of the platform which gives
promises to farmers and which Presi.
I dent Taft now throws aside, follows:
"In all tariff legislation the true
, principal of protection is best main
tanned by the imposition of such duties
as will equal the difference between the
cost of production at home and abroad,
! together with a reasonable profit tt
:. American industries. The aim anc
. purpose of the Republican policy being
= not only to preserve, without excessive
duties, that security against foreign
competition to which American manu-
0 facturers, farmers and producers are
] entitled, but also to maintain the high
v standard of living of the wage earners
of this country who are the most
, direct beneficiaries of the protective
system.
a JOHN l.. BARSTOW.
, Shelburne, March %, 1911.