Free Republic

<p>LEXINGTON, Ky. — U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert pledged yesterday, while campaigning for 6th District congressional candidate Alice Forgy Kerr, to bring a tobacco-buyout bill up for a vote in the full House.</p> <p>Such legislation would end a Depression-era government program that controls production and guarantees growers a minimum price.</p>

<p>"Selling time," yells Bob Cage, the 78-year-old tobacco auctioneer, signaling the beginning of the day's bidding at the Planter's Tobacco Warehouse in Upper Marlboro.</p> <p>Mr. Cage has been at the center of Maryland's annual tobacco auction for 50 years, he says, and his rising and falling singsong voice announces the prices with a fluidity borne of experience.</p>