Daily Kennebec journal., 1913-05-05
OPEN LETTER ON TARIFF.
Senator johnson Asked to Place HIM
self Concerning Maines Outlook.
New York City. May l, 1915.
Hon. Chas. f. johnson,
u. S, Senate

U. S. Senate,
Washington. d. c.
My dear Senator:
Although l am not Interested dl-
rectly or indirectly in the cotton IN
dustry, / was at one time and / nave
retained my associate membership IN
the National Association of Cotton
Manufacturers.
Today l telegraphed you in Washing
ton as follows:
Have you stopped to think what Tn
derwood bill means to Waterviile, Au-
gusta. Lewiston. Auburn. Biddeford'
and saeo and other 9th places if, ha .hpoaeH ppaeti-
caly no difference In the price OF
cotton goods to consumer; Number oi
American consumers Will be feaaeenu
and great disaster done to Maine, All
New England and southern teAuie
states In the years | have known
you. you have been pre,eminent IN
your fairness. Will not this lead you
to rise above partisanship and vote TO
protect your State, your section and
industries of your country. aih
writing you more, in detail,
The frankness Of my telegram was
due to long knowledge of you and your
knowledge which has
grown into strong friendship anu
warm admiration on my part. You
are essentially fair, and l beiieVe tsiat
when you will review the facts OF the
matter in the light of that personal
knowledge of the textile INDUSTRY
which must have come from your resi-
denca in Watervilie and your being so
active n citizen of Kennebee county
and the State Of Maine. that yeu Will
he ready to come to the aid OF your
civ county. State, and, indeed Of tile
whole nation.
In the first place, do you think that
it is fair to allege that the Democratic
marty received a mandate TO destfo4
American industries, or even a sihs'e
American industry? Is 1t not a Iacl
that the voters of this country. BY q
very large majority, declared in favor
of protection. and that the fact that
The Democratic rarty is i'll power Is
dua not to any belief i'll free trade on
tho part Of the people. but To the fact
that n minority had confidence IN the
personality and fairness oil the Demo-
cratic party. and preferred It's fhah-
dates to either of the Candidates pre-
sented by the majority or protection
party, which was divided on every
thing except that single issue
The Democratic party is on record
.as believing that the majority should
rule, and would it not be the part OF
fairness, and would it not be consistent
with the history of the democratic
party if that party would rise above
mere partisan advantage, anu say
frankly that the majority OF the Amer
lean people have voted for protection!
The next question is whether the cot
ton industry requires protection. Let
us. for the sake of argument, admit
that the industry, as such. is prosper
Gus, but at the same time, let us rec
|ognize that there would be practically
no reduction to the consumer in the
cost of cotton goods. or that there
would be SO small a reduction
that it would not be compensated
for by the loss of consumers in New
England and the new South.
The textile industry is peculiar in the
class of labor which it employs. f.you
will study it's history. / think you Will
find that there has been steady evolu-
ton. We began in this country with
native born Americans; then scotch,
English and Irish were employed, and
gradually change after change has
followed, the newest and less we'll
known, and often, alas. less well-es-
|teemed immigrants going into the tex
tile industry, and stage by stage those
less well esteemed have become es-
teemed, and have been absorbed into
the Industrial body, and the training
for citizenship of new peoples under
taken by the textile industry. Thus a
heavy strain has been thrown upon the
textile industry in doing work of great
Importance to the body polite and to
the American phase of modern civili-
Zation.
'rhis has been, and, thank Cod still
Is, a land of opportunity. and as Civ
en- race learns to know this land of
ours and to appreciate its opportuni-
ties. it has moved on from the textile
field into other fields. making room for
newcomers who will in turn, I believe,
prove themselves of value in building
up our race. BY it's nature, the textile
industry all over the world employs
labor content with smaller wages. in
comparison with wages paid in other