Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1890-07-11
DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
WASHINGTON, June 4, 1890.

4,
To the President:
beg leave to submit herewith the re-
port upon customs union" adopted by
the International American conference.
The act of congress, approved May "a,
1888, authorizing the president to invite
delegates to this conference, named as
one Of the topics to be considered,
Measures toward the formation of an
American customs union under which
the trade of the American nations shall
so far AS possible and profitable be pro-
noted"
The committee of the conference to
which this topic was referred inter-
preted the term customs Union" to
mean an association or agreement
among the several American nations for
a free interchange of domestic products,
a common and uniform system of tariff
laws and an equitable division of the
customs dues collected under them.
Such proposition was at once pro
nounced impracticable. Its adoption
would require a complete revision of the
tariff laws of all the eighteen nations,
and most, if not all. our sister republics
are largely, if not entirely, dependent
upon the collection of customs dues for
the revenue TO sustain their governments.
But the conference declared that partial
reciprocity between the American re-
publics was not only practicable, but
must necessarily increase the trade and
the development of the material re-
sources of the countries adopting that
system, ana it would in all probability
bring about as favorable results as those
obtained by free trade among the differ
ent states of this Union.
The conference recommended, there
Gore, that the several governments rep
resented negotiate reciprocity treaties
"upon such basis as would be accept
able in each case, taking into considera-
ton the special situations, conditions
and interests of each country, and with
a view to promote their common well
fare
The delegates from Chill and the Ar
gentine Republic did not concur in these
recommendations for the reason that
the attitude of our congress at that time
was not such as to encourage them to
expect favorable responses from the
United States in return for concessions
which their governments might offer.
They had come here with an expectation
that our government and people desired
to make whatever concessions We're nee
essaIy and possible to increase the trade
between the United States and the two
countries named. The president of the
Argentine Republic, in communicating
to his congress the appointment Of dele
gates to the international conference.
said:
The Argentine Republic feels the
liveliest interest in the subject, and
hopes that its commercial relations with
the United States may find some practi-
cal solution of the question of the inter
change of products between the two
countries. considering that this is the
most etficacious way of strengthening
the ties which bind this country, with
that grand republic whose institutions
serve us as a model"
1t was therefore unfortunate that the
Argentine delegates, shortly after their
arrival in Washington, in search of re-
ciprocal trade. should have read in the
daily press that propositions We're pend
ing in our congress to impose heavy
duty upon Argentine hides, which for
many years had been upon the free list,
and to increase the duty on Argentine
wool. Since the adoption of the recon-
mendations of the conference, which
herewith inclose hides have been re-
stored to the free list, but the duty unon
carpet wool remains, and, as the Argen-
tine delegates declared, represents the
only concession we have to offer them in
exchange for the removal of duties upon
our peculiar products.
Only those who have given the subject
careful study realize the magnitude of
the commerce of these sister nations. In
1888 the combined imports of Chill and
the Argentine Republic reached the en-
ormous sum of S233, l21 sos. The statis-
tics of CHILEAN commerce for 1889 have
not yet been received, but the imports
of the Argentine Republic for that year
were $l43, 900. These imports con-
sisted in the greater part of articles that
could have been furnished by the manu-
facturers of the United States; yet in
1888, of the total of $233, 900, 900 imports,
we contributed but $l3.000,000, while
England contributed 800, 900, 900, Ger
many $43, 900, 900, and France $34, 000,-
600.
With our extraordinary increase in
population and the even more extraor-
binary increase in material wealth, ouI
progress in trade with South America
has been strangely hindered and linn
tied.
In 1868 our total exports to all the
world We're S375, 1877 900, of which s53,
900 went to Spanish America-l4
per cent.
In 1888 our exports to all the world
We're $742, 36S 900 IAN increase Of 100 pei
cent?, while but 500, 273,00 went tC
Snanish America little mora than