Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-07-15
ruth. A summary of his address fol.

Il uutil. "A summary vi HIS auuiSSS Aoi
lows:
I'm this year 1913,' said Senator Nc
Cumber. addressing the Democrat
you are about to commit n create
crime against the American farme
than has ever been perpetrated by an,
political party against any class of PEG
pie during any period of recorded his
tory. With violent hands you are
about te strip him of every advantag,
which the changed conditions of HON,
supply and demand were about to yielt
TO him. You have declared that he i:
an outcast in the land which he has
made, the only one of all the classe:
of American people who is not entitled
to any consideration at your hands
You have insulted his sense of fairness
slapped him in the face and kicked hin
into the gutter.
rs it because of his past political
utilization that you are heaping upor
him the vengeance for all your previ-
Gus defeats? Or do you consider your
self to be the instrument through
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 antlers2 If he is to be pun
ished for his heresy, are you the pro-
per person to inflict the punishment !?
You are the beneficiary of the farm
er's infidelity to his own party last
fall And for you now to be his exc
cutioner for the offense of being misled
by YOU strikes me as being one of the
most coldblooded propositions l have
ever heard Of"
1t was the Democrats. Senator Nc
Cumber declared. who told the farmer
that he had been wronged by Mr.. Taft
because the former President sought to
trade off his protection for reciprocal
tariff reductions by Canada" and it
was the Democrats who tried TO con-
vince the farmer that the Republican
party was not to be trusted and that
they, instead. should be entrusted with
his interests.
THE reciprocity proposition" he con-
tinued subjected the farmer to the
free competition of Canada only. You
subject him to the competition of the
whole world--all of Canada, Australia.
Venezuela. Argentine, Cuba, the Philip
pines and every other country on the
face of the earth that may want to
dump its products into market that
belongs by right to he American farm
err
Senator McCumber asserted that the
Democrats admitted the tariff bill
would injure the farmer, contending
that he received too much for his pro-
ducts and must be compelled to sell
them cheaper. He continued.
Your ears are closed to every ap-
peal for justice for the tiIler of the
soil. You are reaching a point where
your income is unable to keep pace
with your extravagances, and you ar.
asking the farmer to make good the
deficit by reducing the price of his pro-
1ucts. 1t never occurs 10 you that the
preper place to begin economy is on
The luxuries, the unnecessaries of life
You declare TO him that the American
Feople are paying $500. ooo,o 900 a year
or meat, and you say that is too much
he answers, They are also paying S.
'0o. 100000 year for liquors. Cut your
liquor bill half and you will save
enough to buy all your meat You de-
clare they are paying 1856, 900. 600 a year
Tor -four. He replies, They are paying
.s0o, 100000 for tobacco. Cut your TO-
aaeco bill half and YOUR flour is free.
you declare they are paying S225. 900. 900
yeaf Tor potatoes. He replies, They
ire paying $500, 900 for theatres and
Cut you amusements
iaH and your potatoes are Free You
ieclare. they are paying $500 0Oe, 900
year Tor butter and eggs. He replies
They are spending $500, 900 a year
or confectionery His replies are nm
'hsWefahle. They are so many monu-
nents reading in clear black letters in
@ Your eyes an indictment of your own
extravaganees and high liv-
n.y."
The North Dakota senator asserted
nat prices would be lower after the
arm bill becomes law, but that il
would be because of the inability of
ne public to pay higher prices and be-
'ause OF the general stagnation of
business brought about by the tariff
ill.
me farmer may be slow, but he is
luite sure continued the Senator. .He
nay forget. but the hard raps of pow
efty can jog his memory. Once pass
ms accursed measure. and before 1914
he Will be fully awake to the realiza-
Ion OF the offense committed against
nm. IL took the farmer sixteen wears
. forget the last Democratic policy
fass this bill and the generation iiv-
hg VIII never forget you.u