Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916, 1913-07-25
McCumber Hits
Tariff Measure
North Dakota Senator Declares Demo-
cratic Party Is Committing Great
Crime Against Farmers.

Democratic tariff revision bill in the
u. S. Senate defending the farmers Of
the country against the free listing or
great reduction in tariff rates on agri-
cultural products. and charging the
Democrats in Congress with deliberate
ly kicking the American farmer into
the gutter"
In thi. year, 1919" said Senator
McCumber, addressing the democrats,
You are about to commit greater
crime against the American farmer than
has ever been perpetrated by any pol
itical party against any class OF People
during any period of recorded history.
with violent hands you are about
to strip him of every advantage which
the ch; ged conditions OF home su:,i''y
and e.emand were about to yieil 20
nm. You have declared that he s.sn
outcast in the land which he has made.
the only one of all the classes Of Amer
IAN peo,ic who is not entitled 20 any
considerat on at your hands. tou
have insulted his sense of fairness, slap
ped him in the face and kicked him
into the gutter.
Bill Conceived in Anirnosity.'
The tariff bill, Senator McCumber
declared, seemed to have been con
ceived in animosity against every Amer
ican industry that needed protection"
with the American farmer as the spec
ial object of his choler and hate.
rs it because of his past political
affiliation that you are heaping upon
him the vengeance for all your pre-
vious defeats9 Or do you consider
.,.-lc =. u H.. :o,t~,,,,loot &hro,,oh
which Providence is to work its pun
ishment because in the last political
campaign he forgot the faith of his
fathers and went chasing after a
strange god, with cloven hoofs and
branching antlersa If he is to be pun
ished for his heresy are you the prop
er person to inAict the punishment
You are the BENEFICIARY of the farm
er's inhidelity to his own party last
fall. And for you now to be his exc
cutioner for the offense of being mis-
led by you strikes me as being one
of the most cold-blooded propositions
have ever heard Of"
Democrats Are Assailed."
1t was the democrats, Senator Nc.
Cumber asserted, who told the farm.
er that he had been wronged by Mr.
Taft because the former president
sought to trade off his protection 70,
reciprocal tariff reduction by Cana
da,' and it was the democrats who
tried to convince the farmers that the
republican party was not to be trust
ed and that they, instead. should be
entrusted with his interests.
The reciprocity proposition, the
senator argued, had one virtue, in tha
it proposed to get something: for sur
rendering nothing, while the democrat
proposed to trade away the farmers
interest in everything FOR absolutel,
nothing"
The reciprocity proposition. HI
continued, subjected the farmer te
the free competition of Canada only
You subject him to the competition
of the whole world-all of Canada
Australia, Venezuela, Argentine, Cuba
the Philippines and every other coun
try that may want to dump its product
into market that belongs by righ
to the American farmer.
Admitted Farmer Would Be Injured
Senator McCumber asserted that tn
democrats admitted the tariff bill woul'
injure the farmer. contending that h
received too much for his products ant
must be compelled to sell them cheape
and charged that the democrats know
that your claim that you are going t.
benefit the consumer is false and dem
agogic in that extreme.
The senator quoted statistics, seek
ing to show that the tariff did not at
feet the price of farm products to tn
consumer and, again addressing tn
democrats, said:
Your ears are closed to every ap
peal for justice for the tiller of tn
soil. You are reachig point wher
your income is unable to keep pac
with your extravaganza. and you ar
asking the farmer to make good tn
defict by reducing the price Of his pro
ducts.
\ 1T never occurs to you that tn
\ proper place to begin economy is o.
the luxuries, the unneccessaries of life
You declare to him that the Americal
people are paying $l,500,OOO.O0O
wear for meat, and you say that is to-
much. He answers, They are ais
paying $2,000,000,000 year TO
liquors. Cut your liquor bill half an
YOU will save enough to buy all you
meat. You declare they are payin
$435.000.0O0 year for -four. He Re
plies, "They are paying 100000. 90
tor tobacco. Cut your tobacco bi
half and your -four is free You dc
clare they are paying $225. 100000
wear for potatoes. He replies. @'The
are paying $500, 100000 for theatre
and amusements. eCut your amuse
ment half and your potatoes are free
You declare they are paying 100000
900 year for butter and eggs. H
replies, They are spending $500.000
900 year for confectionery. His re
plies are unanswerable. They are 8
many monuments, reading in clea
black letters into your eyes an indic
.ment of your own criminal extravs
gences and high living.
General Business Stagnation.
The North Dakota senator asserte
that prices would be lower after tn
tariff bill became law, but that
would be because Of the inability I
the public to pay higher prices an
because Of the general stagnation {
business" brought about by the tari
"The farmer may be slow. but
ia quite sure,'' continued the senate
HE may forget. but the hard raps
poverty can jog his memory. On