The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1889-12-04
BLAINE'S SIDE-SHOW.
The End of the Pan-American Conference
In Nutshell.

In Nutshell.
When we reflect upon the causes, OBJ
jects and purposes that were instru-
mental in calling into life the congress
of all the Americas recently convened,
and recall the grand and beneficial re-
suits to these United States that were to
ensue from its deliberations and meas
ures, we can get some idea of the chance
to achieve great and lasting renown
that is now within the grasp of the Fed
eral Administration. The people of
these United States, irrespective of pol
itics or party affiliations, are fully alive
to the great and almost incalculable adj
vantages that must inevitably grow out
of the establishment of commercial and
customs treaties with our South Ameri-
can sister republics, that will establish
between us the trade and commerce
which from the very geographical situa-
ton of our respective territories, if from
nothing else, should have existed from
the very outset.
To the most casual observer it is ap-
parent that the leading causes which
brought about the existing state of af-
fairs in these respects were our absurd
and senseless shipping laws, which de-
stroyed and drove out of existence our
once famous shipping interests, and
made England the carrier of the world;
and our equally absurd and senseless
tariff laws which wall us in on every
side, and blindly give to the rest of the
world the commerce of whole nations
which, in it's very nature, belongs to us.
The remedies for these evils are pat
ent and obvious, and if the Administra-
ton can rise to the occasion and apply
them, its name will be written in the
sands of time and the whole country
from Maine to California will sing it's
praises,
But this Administration was not born
to achieve greatness. and it must turn
away from greatness thrust upon it, or
turn a complete somersault and sur
render it's character of an administra-
tion for protection" and become an ad-
ministration for ''tariff reform" in the
most orthodox sense and meaning of the
term; it must cast off the monopolistic
octopus that letters and binds it, and
rise above the private and personal in
terest of those that dominate and con-
troll it.
Since the millennium has not made it's
appearance with the advent of the ALL
America congress, this is, of course, too
much to expect.
At the very outset the Administration
found itself between tho devil and the
deep sea-" and realized that in this ALL
America congress it had undertaken a
very large contract. The need for a
strong hand and well-balanced head at
the helm to guide the congress to an I'M
successful result became at once appar-
emit, and in the forcing of that crafty
statesman, James G. Blaine, upon the
congress as it's presiding officer the head
of the Administration showed method
in his Madness" indeed.
Tho representatives of the various
South American republics in the con-
gress are not fools, and while they may
not be credited with understanding any
thing of the true state of affairs, or as
yet realizing the insincerity of the Ad-
ministration, we must at least credit them
with understanding themselves and the
interests of their respective States suf-
ficiently to be fully alive to the conces-
sions to be demanded from us, with re-
spect to the duties on the chief articles
of commerce produced within their ter
ritories. Without going to any great
extent into details, these products con-
sist chiefly of wheat, barley, potatoes,
barks, sole-leather, dye-stuffs, alpaca
and sleeps wool, tallow, sheepskins,
dry hides, rice, drugs and chemicals
lumber, coffee, cocoa, India-rubber, cot
ton, sugar, tobacco, copper and tin and
precious metals.
Does any sane man suppose that the
South Americans will take our already
high-priced and highly-protectcd manu-
features in exchange for their staple
products at prices swelled in addition
sufficient to counterbalance the duties
that would have to be paid for lan,ling
their products on these shores? Or, look
ing upon trade on cash basis, does
anybody suppose that the South
American is not aware that to pay cash
for our manufactures, while our tariff
shuts his own products out of our
markets, will in very short order bank
rupt him, since we would thereby soon
have all his money, and he would have
our goods without being afforded an OBJ
portunlty of getting in return our money
for his commodities? Or, looking at the
question nearer home, does any BODY
suppose that the Administration is not
fully aware that we can not successfully
compete with the other nations of the
earth in cheapness of production so long
as we are deprived of the free raw
material by the protective tariff, which
it is pledged to sustain and keep intact?
So it practically comes to this: Unless
the Republican Administration is pre-
pared to revise and reform the tariff as
radically as was proposed by the Mills
bill, the All-America congress might
as well constitute itself into an inter-
national sightseeing body, all it now is
in fact and having seen all it cares to
see, quietly dissolve and let each repre-
sentative HE himself to his domicile
and recount to his people the story of
the greatest piece eff American humbuc
on record.-N. Y. Saturday Review.
e
ERAfin IN AAnMTAAsA