But the volume of business In fiber must be done on medium and low priced raw material. and the present duty on Italian and Russian hemp. flax. and flax tow only protects American hemp in so far as It enters Into the manufacture of the highgrade products. the total tonnage of which always has been and always wll be small. Under present conditions any time the American production should rise above the present level the price of American hemp would be forced down to the level of India hemp or jute. and could not live now even in a small way if unprotected from Italian and Russian hemp and flax and flax tow. In Minnesota and the Dakotas and throughout the great Northwest hundreds of thousands of acres are sown In flax annually. the seed saved. and then the million tons of flax straw are burned. which could go Into the manufacture of bagging. burlap. binder twine. and various kinds of cord and ropes but for the enormous Influx of cheap foreign fibers. the product of the worlds pauper labor. With a duty such as we ask on foreign fibers. it would be but a few years until Americangrown hemp and flax. together with manila hemp from the Philippines. would supply the demand for coarse fiber in the United States. making the American people Independent of the outside world for their fiber supply. both in peace and in war. would greatly enhance the value of farm lands. would supply labor to many thousands of men . and would result in a boom In this country In the agricultural districts beyond anything that has heretofore been known. Hemp and flax can be and have been successfully grown throughout the South and Middle West. as far north as Minnesota. as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. and on the Pacific slope. There is every reason why America should grow all her own fiber. there is every reason why the American farmer should be encouraged to produce it. and in producing it.there iseveryreason why he should be protected from the pauper labor of India as well as from the Italian and Russian laborer. who is willing to work for a mere pittance in comparison with the wages demanded and deserved by the American workingman. I am also opposed to the proposition to place iron ore upon the free list. This is also an industry that I think is entitled to protection. if we are going to make a just distribution of the advantages of protection in this tariff law.
Identified stereotypes
Italian and Russian laborers are described as willing to work for a mere pittance.