Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-09-15

and Its ready acquleScence III the de-
sires of the president touching a bill
under consideration upon q favorable
report by an unanimous vote of the
committee to which it had been re-
ferred, give substance TO the assertion
of Secretary Weeks that the legisla-
tive branch of the government probably
never has been at a lower cob than il is
today and affords confirmation of the
estimate of its worth by Senator Ken
yon when, on the eve of the vote on
the Newberry case, he said, My God,
you can never lessen the dignity Of the
senate after today!
"The tariff bill has been loudly pro-
claimed as having been conceived in
the interest of labor and the farmer.
| have heard this claim advanced so
often during the debate in the senate
by men who never had a generous
thought toward either class that even
tually the repetition of it made me
sick.
Neither class was deceived by these
protestations, if one is to judge from
the journals through which their views
find unbiased expression . The Amer
lean Federation of Labor has assailed
the measure. The Locomotive En-
g~ineers' Journal, published in Cleve-
land, Ohio, an ably edited, high-class
labor paper, in a review of the bill in
which it was excoriated, in a recent
issue, said: Unless you are a big
manufacturer, a millionaire or a mile
age hog. you will find it profitable to
give our earnest consideration to the
new tariff bill, which will add a bur-
den of over 81, O 600, 900 to our cost
of living, according to tax experts in
congress. There isn't a workers
pocketbook, there isn't a family cup
board, that the McCumber tariff does
not penalize.'
Talks Wheat Problem
"The culture of Durum wheat was
believed a few years ago to offer hope
to our farmers because of it's drouth-
resisting qualities. Italy took most of
it for the manufacture of macaroni
and like products, but, her purchasing
power having collapsed, our exports of
Durum fell off from 100000 bushels
to 100000 in a single year, while the
price declined from $3.50 in July, 1920
until 1t went begging a year ago at
the primary markets in this state at
so cents.
And now. lest the, Italians should
ever get rich enough again to buy
Durum wheat of us, the most out
~rageously prohibitive duties are to be
imposed upon practically everything
they ship to this country-citrus fruits,
olives and olive oil, r~aisins, nuts,
prunes and all manner of dried fruits,
all in the interest of orchardists in the
state of California, the tax upon the
people of Montana on account of such
an insignificant item as olive Oil being
not less than $4,000 annually.
Montana farmers aren't eating
much of this wholesome, but to them
expensive, food, and even the $1,000
tax paid by those who do is an insig-
nificant loss compared with the closing
up of the Montana market for Durum
wheat.
How charmed we ought to be with
the policy that further enriches the
favored horticulturists of California
at the expense of the drouth- stricken
and desperate but courageous dry
farmers of Montana. Durum wheat
serves only for the purpose of illustra-
ton. To a greater or less extent,
every other product of our farmers is
shut out of the European market,
wheat of all varieties, flour, pork,
beef, entailing a loss incalculable in
amount, for which a duty of a cent a
pound on hides. a raise of a few cents
a pound on wool is but a sorry recon-
pense, while a duty of Is cents q
bushel on corn adds insult to iniurv."