180 BOxVRD OF AGRICULTUEE. [Pub. Doe. 



know nothing about it, — even the label means nothing to 

 them. So it is prettj^ hard to say where this permission 

 should stop, and how far it should go. 



There is another point that I wish to speak about, as it 

 interests the farmers directly. I am speaking more of a 

 financial interest at this time. I think farmers ought to 

 make a living just the same as anybody else. They have 

 the same right to profit on their labor as any one else. 

 They have a right to an open market, as the man who sells 

 his labor has a right to an open shop. They shouldn't be 

 compelled to come up against a false competition. A legiti- 

 mate competition between farmer and farmer is all right, but 

 a false competition is wrong, and therefore a farmer should 

 be protected in the markets in his legitimate products. 



I was talking Avith a member of this Board who makes 

 cider vinegar, which we have come to consider in this coun- 

 try the very best vinegar that is made. I will not stop to 

 discuss the question whether that is a just opinion, or not, 

 but that is the opinion in the United States in regard to 

 vinegar. In France they think wine vinegar is the best, 

 and so difi^erent countries prefer different things. But we 

 think the cider vinegar is the best, and it brings a higher 

 price in the market, — a legitimate price, because it is best. 

 Now, that a man avIio makes cider vinegar should be com- 

 pelled to run up against a false vinegar, mistaken as cider 

 vinegar, and selling at one-half of the price which he can 

 aff'ord to sell the cider vinegar for, I say is wrong. It is 

 an outrage, and should not be permitted ; it is an unjust 

 com})etition. I say this without relation to the relative 

 qualities of the vinegar. It illustrates what I had to say of 

 the competition of farmers with foreign products. 



You will be surprised to know that we are the greatest 

 food-importing country in the world ; Ave import more food 

 products than any other nation. We import 900,000,000 

 pounds of coffee ; we import 1,500,000 tons of sugar from 

 foreign countries ; and bananas and pineapples, and hun- 

 dreds of things of this kind, in immense quantities ; we im- 

 j)ort eggs, — and I will tell you the kind of egg Ave are 

 importing, or trying to ini[)ort. Tavo years ago Congress 



