Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-01-20
NOT "MALADROIT."

guarantee OF GOOD faltn.l
NOT "MALADROIT."
The s.Tribune,, Completely An.
swcrcd by q Republican.
EDITORS HERALD-I observe some OF
your contemporaries are getting rather
excited over Secretary Bayard'sfavor-
able recommendation to Congress of
the petition OF the Malaga raisin ship
pers to have the duty on Spanish raj
sins made the same as that on Greek
currants. This would imply either
the reduction of the duty on raisins
from two to one cent per pound or the
increase of the duty ON currants from
one to two cents per pound. Either
alternative would remove the unequal
competition between the two articles.
But we may reasonably suppose these
petitioners would prefer the reduction
on raisins to the increase on
currants. 1t would be contrary
to common sense, from their point
of view, for them not to do so. 1t
would enable the American consumer
to get his raisins just one cent cheaper
per pound than he can now, so they
might reasonably hope to sell him a
little more than at present. l do not,
then, see anything so "extraordi-
nary" in this petition; but, on the
contrary, only a simple, common
sense document-that is from the
standpoint OF the petitioners.
But we are told that Mr.. Bayard is
q "maladroit official" because he
sends this petition to Congress with
his commendation. Now the writer
is certainly not an adinirer of Mr..
Bayard as Secretary of State. On the
contrary. he regards him as very def
cient in many respects, and were he
called upon to get up an Indictment
against him, it would be a pretty long
one. But in this case he has
no fault to find with his action.
It will be remembered, in the
first place, that Mr.. Bayard, as Secre-
tary of State, has charge of our rela-
tions with foreign governments. AS
such he is expected to preserve friendly
and cordial relations with our neigh
bors, at least so far as our interests,
and the honor and dignity of the
country will permit. Here is re-
spectful petition from certain citizens
of Spain, sent through the regular di-
plomatic channel of their Minister
Of Foreign Affairs and our Minister
at Madrid, to our Government. tire
spectfully asks to be put on terms OF
equality with the citizens of another
very small country, with which we
have very much less important COM
mercial relations than we have with
Spain and her important colonies at
our door. Not to have commended this
petition, to the serious consideration
of Congress, would have been to have
impaired, at least to some extent, the
cordial relations now existing between
the two Governments, and might
have re- uled in seriously damaging
our hopes of success in the important
negotiations now being carried on
with Spain for more favorable COM
mercial treaty. In the next place, it
will be remem bered, that Mr.. Bayard
is Secretary OF State for the entire
American people, and not alone for
the few hundred, at most, raisin pro-
ducers Of this rich and prosperous
State. He sees an opportunity by
complying with this petition, OF re-
ducing the price of raisins consumed
b. over 100000 people, to the ex-
tent of at least one cent pound. Is
it his duty, as Secretary Of State, to
represent the interests of the entire
people or only of the few hundred
prosperous raisin producers of Cali
fornia? Where, then, is anything so
"maladroit" in his action in this case? ?
Having seen, then, the point of
view, both OF the Malaga petitioners
and of our Secretary of State, let US
refer briefly to that of the California
raisin producers; for, as Mark Twain
says in speaking of the donkey, it is
always well to consider the point Of
view. We are informed that the Ma
laga raisins can't compare with the
raisins of Southern California. The
extraordinary growth of raisin pro-
ducing in California for the past few
years shows that the business must be
extremely profitable. Labor-savlng
machinery, we are informed, has, to
a large extent, counteracted the cheap
labor of Spain. With all these ad-
vantages, then, in favor of the Caifor-
mia raisin producer, will it be seriously
pretended that the reduction of l per
cent. per pound Of the duty on Span
ish raisins could materially affect the
raisin industry here? Can it be pos
sible that this beautiful and flourish
ing industry depends for its success
on 80 delicate cord as this? The
idea is preposterous. Even were the
duty entirely removed / have no idea
that the California raisin industry
would be set back in the least or even
perceptibly affected. But even if it
did, by what right can the compare
lively few raisin producers OF Califor-
MIA pretend to levy tax of 2 cents
a pound, or about 20 per cent. on the
value of all the raisins consumed by
over 60, ,000 900 Americans? We are
told that this little protection would
not be oppressive to anybody. Perhaps
it would not taken alone. But
when added to the % or 80 per cent.
protection on the sugar of Louisiana,
to the over 100 per cent. protection on
the rice of Carolina, to the so to over
100 per cent. protection on iron and
steel and all their products, to the 40
to over 100 per cent. on all the cloth
ing we wear, the duty on the coal we
burn, the lumber we build our houses
with, the glass we put in our win
dows, and on all the over 1000 articles
on which a protective duty is levied
the amount becomes extremely op-
pressive.
Take, for instance, the iron and
steel industry alone. The production
of steel rails last year was the largest
in our history, amounting to 1,050,O0(
tons. The duty on steel rails is $17
ger ton. The price of foreign rails
was such that they could be laid dowr
in New York at $22 to $23 per ton