The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1911-09-23
Reciprocity and
Mich. Agriculture.
interesting Article o. Important sub'
ject By Inornton A. Green.

Nr N
This whole matter Of reciprocity with
Canada is certainly most remarkable
affair. Like most questions Of national
Importance, few men are qualified to
discuss it understandingly. Personally,
] hesitated to take sides in the matter
at al, but j finally came to the conclu-
sion that it is al wrong to have this
reciprocity treaty with Canada. ] hes
itated to side against it largely because
it was fathefed by President Taft and
because Hon. James Wilson, Secretary
Of Agriculture, is first, last and all the
time for it: In matters affecting the
farmers, as this undoubtedly does,
would take Secretary Wilson's judg-
ment before ] would that Of almost
anyone else. / had the pleasure Of
spending good part Of two days with
him at Hancock, Houghton and Mar
quette. and upon the beautiful boat,
City of Cleveland, recently, when the
Detroit Board of Commerce visited the
Upper Peninsula. / did not hear any
arguments then, nor have l read or
heard any. before or since. that con-
vinced me that reciprocity with Cana
da is good thing to have.
Possibly should say for the benefit
of my readers that am interested in
the lumber business, but / do not think
that the cancellation Of the lumber tar
iff is Of much moment to my own par
ticular interests. D do think it is of
considerable Importance on the Pacific
coast and also, but Of legs Importance.
on the Atlantic coast. However. / feel
that it is altogether wrsng to single
out few manufacturing industries and
the farmers to bear the burden of the
Canadian treaty, and a burden ! be-
lieve it will be found to be.
There are many honest champions Of
this measure, but l feel certain that
there are few sound arguments in its
favor. For instance, President Taft in
his address at the Columbus, Ohio, corn
show last winter, said that one of the
principal reasons why he is in favor of
reciprocity is that there Is no good ag-
ricultural land left unoccupied in this
country, and that it is advisable, there
fore, for US to tear down the tariff bar
rier between the United States and
Canada and ''let an ever increasing ag-
ricultural population flow over into the
Canadian northwest" He also said It
had become necessary for us to spend
millions Of dollars yearly to reclaim the
arid regions of the west, presumably
to take care Of the increasing number
Of farmers. 1t il quite evident that
President Taft has limited knowledge
of the resources Of this country in some
respects, but, of course, we can hard
ly expect him to know everything.
Al matter Of fact, there are about
twenty-five million acres Of good agri-
cultural land crying for farmers to
come and use them in the three states
Of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Millions Of dollars are being spent an
nually in an effort to settle them.
While it is true that some Of them are
heavily infested with stumps, they are
no different than were the acres turned
into farms by our forefathers. Al far
a. the expense is concerned it IL not to
be compared with the cost Of irrigation
and as far as productiveness Is con-
cerned many Of these unoccupied acres
are the equal Of any lands on the conti-
nent. am strongly in favor Of filing
up our own waste places before we
start to help Canada populate hers. She
has shown remarkable ability to do it
in the past. Her advertising has been
very effective. Year after year we see
the lure of the wheat fields, where they
have frosts on the Fourth Of July and
blizzards in summer, tempt our middle
west farmers north of our boundary
line, to lands and conditions less desir-
able than Michigan has to offer. More
will 60 under the new treaty and why
shouldn't they? The President Of the
United States seems to think it is the
proper thing to do, or ct least newt
able.
The Upper Peninsula Of Michigan hss
about eleven million acres Of land. >
very large part Of II the best agricultu-
ri land. = LARGER parcentare Of 0ood