The Owosso times., 1920-05-07
MR.. LORD VS.. PROTECTION JOE"

The following letter was received
by the Herald from Forrest Lord,
editor of the Business Farmer in re-
ply to an editorial entitled "Protec-
ton joe" which appeared in the
Herald two weeks ago. In this edi-
torial the Herald criticised somewhat
the attitude of determined opposition
to Mr.. Fordney manifested by the
Business Farmer.
MI. Lords letter says:
Mt. Clemons, Mich, Apr. IL, 1920.
Mr.. j. N. Mccall, Editor,
Gratiot County Herald,
Ithaca, Michigan,
Dear Brother MCCALL
"A subscriber has sent us clipping
of the editorial Protection Joe" which
was published in a recent issue of the
Herald. Knowing that you try to be
fair in all your decisions and actions
] feel that you would welcome few
additional facts upon the subject of
your editorial with which you are ap-
parently unfamiliar.
ain the first place, the Michigan
Business Farmer is not owned by an
individual, but by the Rural Publish
ing Company, Incorporated under the
laws of the state of Michigan. While
it is true that Mr.. Grant Slocum is
stockholder in this company, it is not
true that he has ever made any at
tempt to control the editorial policies
of the paper. The news items and
editorials published on the subject in
question were prepared and printed
during Mr.. Slocum's absence from this
state, and / do not know if at this mo-
ment he is aware that anything has
appeared in our columns regarding
Mr.. Fordney's attitude on the Bean
Tariff Bill.
"As regards Mr.. Slocum's political
affiliations, am not informed. AS for
myself, who am responsible for the
editorial matter published in the col
umns of the Michigan Business Farm
er, have been lifelong Republican,
except that l "bolted" the ticket with
many others in 1912 to become Pro-
gressive. At the present time | am
enrolled as Republican and shall un
doubtedly vote the Republican ticket
at the coming election.
81 believe, Mr.. Mccall, that these
few brief statements should entirely
remove the Business Farmer from any
suspicious that it is controlled by par
tisan views, and should convince you
that such discussions as have appear
ed in its columns regarding Mr.. Ford
new are based wholly on the merits of
the proposition.
"The statement that Mr.. Fordney
was unable to secure tariff OH beans
did not originate with the Business
Farmer, but was contained in Wash
ington news dispatch which was pub
lished in large number of Michigan
dailies. / am sending you enclosed
clippings of these news stories as weI,
as correspondence which passed be-
tween me and Mr.. Fordney and others
pertaining to this subject. You will
note that we have given full publicity
to all the facts that have come to our
attention, as we desire to give Mr..
Fordney an absolutely fair hearing
and a square deal. You are free to
draw your own conclusions after read
ing these clippings.
"No contention has been made that
Mr. Fordney is not good protection
ist.' The contention is made that Mr..
Fordney's desire to secure protection
on beans has not to date been trans
lated into action, because, as Mr..
Fordney says, "the president would
veto such BILL
"You state, and we have been in
formed from other sources, that
piece meal tariff legislation is always
difficult to secure. 1t must be, how
ever, that this depends upon what the
article or the commodity is for which
the protection is desired. / would
call your attention to the fact that
since last September at least four
special or 'piece-meaP tariff bills have
been reported out of the House Ways
and Means Committee. You are well
enough acquainted with the position
which the chairman Of such commit
tee occupies to know that it is most
essential to have his support on pro-
position in order that it may receive
favorable consideration. We there
fore conclude that these special tariff
bills which have emanated from the
House Committee had the approval
and active support Of Mr.. Fordney
and the record does not show that any
considerable amount of opposition was
encountered in getting these bills
through. The bills / have in mind
provide for a special tariff on zinc,
tungsten, dye stuffs and pearl but
tons. 1t is claimed by friends of the
pearl button industry that something
Ike two or three millions of dollars