The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1912-10-25

4 ~ SoGy GalQ JLnuAC' A
higher we sci bananas, the higher
wages we can pay, go tnat the pros
Iperity gets distributed ~
The old man chuckled abruptly.
"Don't be foolish. You just pray for
proper tariff to keep bananas out q
the country, and immigration and the
natural birth-rate I'll take care q
what wages we pay-thats the nat
ural state O. man in this world
competition"
"StilI, Dad, it's kind Of tough on
those that can't afford bananas, isn't
it %
the old man briefly. "When you go,
tell Ma I'll be home early" he added
signifcantly, and Jimmie took the
hint and left.
With a. score of able influences at
work, it was not long before visible
signs of the new business cou!d De
noted. The special Sunday editions
of the daily papers throughout the
country began to display blurred
half-tones showing typical abandoned
farms and desolate stretches Of burn
ed timber tracts with their blackened,
sprawling ghosts of dead trees. In
terspersed were imaginative drawings
of vast greenhouses, the whole en-
closed in a decoration Of palm leaves
and bananas. Later, the Sunday
specials became more definitely infor-
native; they were crowded with COM
parative statistics in a sugar-coated
forn-a ragged peon holding a bunch
Of fruit with q diminutive Uncle Sam
gazing longingly at it. This was the
present. The future showed the
comparative size reversed, while a
prosperous, square-capped workman
clasped the avuncular hand across a
colossal banana. Occasionally the
magazines drifted into the field, en-
blaZoned with banana half-tones.
Rapidly sentiment aroused itself on
the great issue of a national, Amer1-
can banana and the inevitable pros
perity that would follow the properly
tariff-taxed fruit.
In the rural districts farmers as
sociations Endorsed the banana and
it's protective tariff. In those same
districts justices of the peace, road
supervisors, school boards, pound
masters, and constables were elected
and occasionally defeated-on this
burning issue of national Industrial
patriotism. 1t was not long before
the sentiment for the American
banana seemed to spring from the
very bosom of the people and merely
to be reflected in the pages of the
daily press, from the stalwart met
ropolitan journals on down to the
little country sheet with its patent
Iinsides."
The tariff must be revised; a. tariff
tax must be placed on the foreign,
tropical banana that would effectua1-
| 1y prevent its competing with the
proposed national project; no longer
could the country submit to the de-
I moralizing effects Of the exotic, pau
per-grown fruit The demand was
specific, insistent, and there was no
doubt that Congress would be forced
to take up the question in response
to the popular will.
When Congress met, the old man
called Jimmie into his room. "You
, might as we'll 60 over to Washington
a SPELL" he remarked. Things are
going all right, but it won't do you
any harm to look on-and learn,
!: maybe"
So Jimmie packed up and hied him
to Washington and sat through the
slow hearings before the Ways and
Means Committee of the lower House,
the first preliminary. Foote, was
there, in the background, but mar
shaling the forces. Many of the
faces Jimie recalled from the memoir
able meeting in his fathers office
weeks before. These men were ex-
perts in trade and industry, and were
cheerfully bearing witness before the
committee to the benefits of an ade-
+n foy hon
ment to the existing tariff act would
place tariff tax of thirty-two cents
apiece on each banana-this amount
having been decided upon as sufficient
to afford the ordinary leeway.
1t was a foregone conclusion that
the bill would be reported favorably
out of the committee, as finally it was
Then came delay, though the bill
was advanced as rapidly as possible
on the House calendar. Its advo-
Gates knew that few chronic NAL
contents might oppose it on the floor,
but its passage was assured; in the
main was recognized by it's party
sponsors as an opportunity for some
oratorical efforts that might come in
handy back in their home districts
When the Banana Bill, as it was
popularity known, was moved, flood
Of minor oratory broke forth. Faith
fully Jimmie followed it from his
seat in the gallery. 1t was the Chair
man of the Ways and Means Commit
tee who was to make the closing
speech. When it was known that he
would speak, the old man himself
came over and sat next to Jimmie. 1t
was Jimmie's own business that was
being launched; it was the old mans
last project-he knew it; and to have
this foremost orator speak in this
case was, in a way, like his deliver
ing the salutatory for the opening of
Jimmie's' career in commerce. There
fore the old man was on hand.
The chairman began with review
of the history of the country; he read
the minds of the early fathers of the
Republic and praised their transcend
ent wisdom. Those first early taxes
on imports, he exclaimed, were but
the indication of the finger of Provi-
dence in our destinies.
I'm those early days of struggle,
Mr.. Speaker, our country was poor;
they dealt thriftily in small figures
and had but family grasped the full
principles of national prosperity.
And I call the attention Of the House,
MIR. Speaker-and also Of that small,
unpatriotic minority who oppose
progress and prosperity-to the in