New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-02-21
RECIPROCITY WITH MEXICO.


The commercial treaty with Mexico is the
most important convention negotiated by the
United States Government in many years. HE
Senate has wisely ordered the publication OF
the schedules, and in this way has gwen the
public an opportunity for discussing them IN
telligenty. Public discussion, however, should
be not only intelligent, but full and adequate.
The Senate is reported to be i'll favor of acting
upon the treaty during the present session.
This, we think, will he mistake. The
Senate has other business of pressing impOr-
lance before il and cannot spare the time that IA
needed for an exhaustive consideration OF this
new subject. The remaining two weeks of
the session ought TO be devoted TO the Tariff
and Revenue bills and to the other pressing un-
finished business. The Reciprocity Treaty can
well wait until December This will afford the
country leisure for examining the schedulesan
ascertaining the probable effects of the treaty.
An extra session Of the Senate. called Tor the
special purpose of disposlng of the treaty, ought
not to be seriously considered. There should
he neither premature action nor prcclpitate
haste The policy of reciprocity, which has
been abandoned by the United States on the
Northern frontier, ought not to be resumed on
the Southwest border without mature reflection
and deliberate action.
The schedule of articles to be admitted free
of duty Into Mexico from the United States
contains over seventy entries and comprises
five great classes of manufactures-railroad
machinery, steam engines, agricultural imple-
mcnts, mining machinery and building mate
rails. I o these are added coal OF all kinds,
betroeun, naphtha, precious metals. sewing
machines. vehicles of all kinds, clocks, stoves
and many minor manufactures and materials.
OF the total foreign trade of Mexico more than
two-thirds is already carried on with the
United States, and if This schedule of imports
free of duty be adopted the volume of that
trade will he largely increased. One great re-
suit will be the extension of the railway system
and the development Of mining industries by
means of railroad iron, rolling STOCK and ma
chinery ex ported from the United States great
market will uLquestionably be opened for ag-
ricutural implements and many minor articles
of manufacture. In this way many of those
home industries which have been steadily en-
larged and Developed by the protective tariff
will be directly aided by this free trade treaty
with Mexico.
On the other hand the schedule of articles
United States free of duty IL ouly oue-third IA
long as the one previously considered. 1t en-
braces few manufactured articles and contains
many entries which are already on the free list.
1t includes natural products and raw materials
which are used in manufacturing III the Omitted
States. The free expectation OF the chief agri-
cultural products OF Mexico contemplated in
the treaty can affect injuriously few agrlcultu-
raj interests in the United States. Raw
cotton il not included in this schedule, and con-
sequenuy cotton manufactures are excluded
from the corresponding schedule of articles
passing into Mexico free OF duty. Apparently
the main exports from Mexico which will COM
pete with natural products of the United States
are tobacco in tbs leaf and certain grades of
sugar. Resistance Will undoubtedly be offered
by Southern producers to these entries in the
free list, especially by the Louisiana planters
The export trade in uErelined sugar amounted
in 1850 to only 100000 with Great Britain
the principal market. These figures Of them
selves are insignificant, but the producers in
the South will probably be right in assuming
that the trade will acquire large proportions if
the policy of reciprocity be adopted.
A comparison of these schedules with the
Canada and the Maritime provinces reveals one
important distinction. While each is a measure
of free trade, one places the products and
manufactures Of two countries in competition
with one another, while tie other does not.
For example, in the treaty with our Northern
neghboTs, breadstu1s of all kinds, coal, live
stock, hides and timber were the prominent en-
tries IN the free list. In the proposed treaty
with Mexico, with the exception of sugar and
tobacco, there Is no free trade in common
products Timber appears in both the free
lists, but mark this distinction the woods
which grow on each side of the Northern border
are the same, whereas the importation of Mexi-
can mahogany and other tropical woods will
not affect the value of native woods in the
United States. While therefore, this free
trade treaty should not be capriciously or igno-
rantly opposed by Northern protectionists aud
Southern producers, it should be thoroughly
discussed and deliberately acted upon. For