The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1884-12-11


President Arthurs administration has laud-
able ambition to mako place In history bcfore
It ends by launching tho country upon A. great
era Of commercial development With this
| purpose 1t submits for ratification seven differ
ent treaties to this session OF the senate and Of
those five are reciprocity conventions tor OPEN
Ing up trade with the islands and nations OF
Spanish America. It is the reproach OF the
craftsmanship of the past that this great field
has been neglected, and Europe has held the
trade, which by geographical situation and
sympathy Of Institutions, ought naturally to
come to the great republic. Clay saw this, but his
broad projects of opening intercourse were swal-
lowed up in the great controversy over slavery
which like nightmare enveloped our politics
for nearly two generations. Blaine with his
accustomed far-sightedness saw 1t also, but
his operations as secretary of state under Gar
ield,were worsethan nothing, because every step
that he took was numbered with some corrupt
job.
Our own marvellous industrial development
pus hes us to a fresh effort IN this direction.
Some outlet for our surplus productions has
bees me absolutely necessary. We have be-
come alike the greatest agricultural and the
greatest manufacturing people on earth. Our
productive capacity in both these directions far
exceeds the possibility of home consumption
even in the most prosperous times. We must
have foreign markets, or frequent industrial
stagnation, while we consume our own surplus
in idleness. Do these treaties which have
been negotiated under the auspices of the Ar
thur administration offer practical relief?
The only one, of which the public knows the
particulars, is that with Spain for reciprocity in
trade with Cuba and Porto Rico, which the en-
terprise of the New York Times has had ca
bled from Spain.
Its principle features are the concessions we
make on duties on sugar and tobacco imported
from Cuba and Porto Rico, which supply us
with little more than one-haf the sugar that |!
comes to us from abroad, and the correspond |
ing concessions made on our exports. Under |
the proposed system of reciprocity we admit
sugar free and tobacco at half the present rates,
W lie in return we send to Cuba and Porto
Rico free Of duty, beer, fish, cereals Except |
rice), lard, cheese, woods of all kinds, hides,
tools, agricultural implements, COAL iron in
pigs, wrought iron and steel in bars, all SUBJ
stances used in chemical industries, cotton and
of cotton, cattle. horses and nu-
nervous other articles. On wheat, -four; etc, a
educed rate of duty is imposed.
1t is obvious enough that the sugar trade, and
perhaps also that in tobacco will suffer from
he treaty and Of course they will fight its rati-
ication determinedly. Selfish interests are
lever ready to yield to the public good, and
herein lies the whole philosophy of our ex-
RENE protective system. No matter where we
eek a new opening, the same difficulty will OBJ
ru de itself. The whole business of the coun-
ry must suffer paralysis by the guarding of
ONE special interest at every point, or else the
arriers must be broken down somewhere.