Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1911-02-17

the Canadian reciprocity agreement
before March 4, or be called together
in extra session. The House of Repre-
sentatives is prepared to act favorably
IN the matter, but the Senate was pre-
pairing to side step, SO the President
called in Senators Crane and Carter
and told them they might let their
fellow senators know that if they do
not at least vote on the proposition be-
fore the end of this session an extra
session will be called Immediately af-
ter March 4. He is pledged in the
agreement with the Canadian author
tiles, he said, to exert everyseffort 10
secure the enaction Of the agreement
into law in this country. The Cana
dams seem to be doing their part, and
the President holds that should he fail
to call Congress together in extra ses-
sion if the agreement is not acted
upon in this session, he would not be
ssexerting every effort" as he agreed
to do.
Good for Mr.. Taft. He seems to
have developed back bone since the
November elections. Had he been,
early in his term, as positive as he is
now, the Payne-Aldrich iniquity
would not have been saddled upon the
country, and there probably would
have been a real downward revision of
the tariff, as he had promised.
The reciprocity agreement seems to
have met with favor throughout the
country although the farmers are said
to feel that it discriminates against
them and in favor of the manufactur-
ers. They say it gives free trade to
Canada on what the farmer produces
but leaves high tariff on manufac-
tured articles he has to buy. That
may be SO, but we believe that the
"protectlon" afforded the farmer in
the present, and in other tariff meas
ures has been no protection at all.
Its purpose was solely TO catch the ag-
ricultural vote, which it succeeded in
doing in the west and northwest,
while giving the farmer nothing sub
stantial in return. The farmers we're
buncoed. We have been great ex-
porters of agricultural products and
the prices of these products have been
fixed in the market places of the world.
AS far as Canada is concerned, it is idle
to say that with her generally inhos-
pitable climate she can compete in
agriculture with the United States.
It Is true, she has made decided prog
ress in wheat raising in recent years,
but she will probably never be in posi-
ton to be real competitor of the
United States in this. The adoption
of the reciprocity agreement will prove
to the farmers that the protection that
has been given them has not aided
them one iota, and that they have
been goldbricked into supporting
measures by which they have been
compelled TO pay exorbitant prices for
every manufactured article used in
their homes and on their farms.
The farmers, however, are not max
ing anything like the howl that is
coming from the paper combine. This
piratical trust is working day and
night to defeat the agreement and say
ing the paper making industry will be
ruined if it should pass and Canadian
paper be allowed to come in free. The
Washington Herald points out that
they are now buying their pulp wood
cheaper than ever and are selling pa
per for more money than they receiv-
ed before the duty was reduced to the
extent of $1.25 ton by the Payne
Aldrich act, while they are selling
72,OOO,OOO pounds of paper year to
foreign consumers for less than they
are selling it in this country. Yet
they are singing the same old song
about the difference in the cost of
making paper here and making it in
Canada.
"Would the paper making industry
PERISH" asks the Herald, ssif this
reciprocity agreement should prevail?
No, not bit of it. Some reorganiza-
ton might be necessary, it might be
found advisable to squeeze something
like $50, 100000 of water out of the
stock of the great 'he-goat' of the news
paper makers trust, and upon which
the consumers IN this country-the
children who are compelled to use
school books, the men and women
v no find it comforting to read the
Holy scriptures, the plain people who
read the newspapers and magazines,
and the people who make them-have
had to pay the freight; but the in
dustry would survive"
The agreement ought to pass. 1t is
good thing, and is a decided step
toward lower tariff.
MR.. MoRcAN'S MISTAKE