St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-10-23
THE FARMER AND THE PRESIDENT
Some Comment on Canadian Openly Declared
For it at First
CIains Taft FnoIed Farmers

party papers are claiming that Taft
made votes by his visit to Vermont
last week, when he utterly disclaimed
and never attributed any political
significance, to the visit? The best
informed newspapers are sitting
down hard on this silly talk. As an
old farmer who had driven many
miles to st. Johnsbury, to "see the
president remarked, HE is a very |
pleasant looking man, but what has /
he ever done for us? He knitted US !
on the reciprocity law and has stood |
for it ever since. Wait till Novem- /
Der and We will show him just what !
we think of him and free trade on
all we raise to sell and high protec-
ton on all we have to buy. ~ Nor
risville Messenger.
What Farmers Consider
If President Taft favored recipro-
} city, so did Colonel Roosevelt at the
: time when it became burning is
sue. Reciprocity is dead now, they
; reason, and we farmers are pros
: lperous as we have never been be-
fore. If reciprocity was a mistake
: from our standpoint, why should we
endanger our continued prosperity,
+ take a chance on a change, when we
q are contented in other things? We
+ would not allow our desire to register
rebuke influence our action in a
v business deal if by so doing we stood
y a chance of suffering Indefinitely
!. greater injury to ourselves and our
: business by so doing. Then why
q should we take a chance in politics
4 that we would hesitate to take in
Z business?
If there is one class of people to
v whom the argument for change in
administration on the ground of the
4 increase in the cost OF living should
= not appeal it is the farmers.
- This fact is shown by a table pub
= lished by the department of agricul-
: ture, the crop report for November,
= 1911, in which it appears that the
u value of an acre of farm crops in 1909
was 1877 per cent. more than in
n 1899, and that the average cost of
IS 80 articles covering the ordinary list
n of purchases of farmer for all pur-
:. poses, increased but 12.1 per cent.
= In the same report it also appears
le that the purchasing power of one
t. acre in 1909 was about "a per cent.
.r greater than the purchasing power
= of the produce of one acre 10 years
previously, and that power is still
u greater at the present time.
IS There is an old saying that it is a
NJ foolish man who bites off his own
nose to spite his face. 1t is still
more foolish republican who would
bite off his own nose to spite the face
!, of some other man, in the person OF
= President Taft Burlington Free
$ Press.
III Roosevelt Once Favored it
e. The following excerpts are taken
- from. an address by Hon. N. J. Bach
= elder, former governor of New
TT. 4 AT1%
" ional grange relating to Theodore
Iy Roosevelt's attitude on Canadian
r. reciprocity. From letter of Roose-
y welt to President Taft. 1t is dated
A at the Office of Theodore Roosevelt
tie The Outlook, New York, January IL,
N 1911, and reads as follows:
Dear Mr.. President: 1 at >once
took in your letter and went over it
~ with the Outlook editors.
Of It seems to me that what you pro-
re pose to do with Canada is admirable
N from every standpoint. l firmly be-
lieve in free trade with Canada for
l. both economic and political reasons.
v AS you say, labor cost is substantially
is the same in the two countries, so
II that you are amply justified by the
platform. Whether Canada will &C
u cept such reciprocity l do not know,
p but it is greatly to your credit to
10 make the effort. 1t may damage the
N republican party for a while but it
will surely benefit the party in the
end, especially if you tackle wool,
cotton, ETC., as you propose.
This letter is signed: Ever yours,
Theodore Roosevelt" From this let
u ter we learn not only that Mr.. Roose-
" welt fully approved of Canadian re-
: ciprocity, but also that he favors en-
tire free trade with Canada. 1t is
important for us to know and re-
is member this, and while this knowl-
II edge may be a surprise to many it is
# not a surprise to the old associates
of Mr.. Roosevelt, who know him best,
= for it is we'll known among them that
p in his earlier years Mr.. Roosevelt, was
lie an outspoken free-trader and a men,
f Der of the New York Free Trade
: club.
Mr.. Roosevelt did not stop with
le his explicit approval of Canadian
t. reciprocity contained in his letter
e to President Taft. After the reci-
procity agreement was published Mr..
Roosevelt made speeches in which
i he expressed his warm commenda-
ton of the agreement and a hope
that it might be adopted. In a
speech at Grand Rapids, Michigan,
on February IL, 1911, he said, as
r reported by the Grand Rapids Her
aid:
Il Here, friends in Michigan, right
on the Northern frontier, l have the
! peculiar right to say word of con-
n graduation to you and to all of us
upon the likelihood that we shall
4 soon have closer reciprocal tariff
: and trade regulations with the great
nation to the north of US. CAP
lplause.) And / feel so pleased, pri-
marily because I wish to see the
n two peoples, the. Canadian and the
American peoples, drawn together by
: the closest tie on footing Of COM
Iplete equality of interest and mu7
:. tual respect. (Applause.) feel that
= it should. be one of the cardinal pol
icies of this republic to establish the
very closest relations of good will