20 THE AGRICULTURAL BLOC 



Portland, Oregon, April 9th, 1908. 



To the Editor: 



The Oregonian in many respects stands 

 pre-eminently in the advance of modern 

 newspapers, but in some things I believe it 

 to be grossly in error; in this morning's edi- 

 torial it says wheat has dropped two cents 

 in Chicago, and says. Oh where, oh where is 

 the American Society of Equity, etc. A say- 

 ing much endorsed is, "The voice of the 

 people is the voice of God," and the Ameri- 

 can farmer is asking relief; surely he needs 

 it ; under our present system we are slowly 

 and surely reducing our great and glorious 

 country to a state of exhaustion and fam- 

 ine, and it behooves our statesmen to sit up 

 and take notice before it is too late. Only 

 a short time ago the Oregonian printed a 

 letter from a gentleman who had lately re- 

 turned from the East, saying farms were 

 so exhausted in the once best districts that 

 they were being practically abandoned. 

 Protection is America's Banner of Onward 

 and Upward progress. And non-protection 

 is the retrograde that brings her to a point 

 of degeneracy. The American people live 

 on a higher plane than the balance of the 

 nations of the earth and protection is the 

 only thing that makes that possible, but in 

 justness and righteousness of Christian 

 Equity all classes ought to be treated equal- 

 ly ; but the American merchant marine has 



