The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-05-18
a TALK WITH MR.. REED.
Mckinley Bill Will Help Both Foreign
and Domestic Trade.

LONDON, May 17.-Hon. Thomas b. Reed,
late Speaker Of the United States House Of
Representatives, has been visiting Rome. He
has devoted himself almost entirely to sight
seeing, and after thoroughly doing Rome, went
to Naples. To correspondent OF the Asso-
ciated Press, Mr.Reed was disinclined to dis
cuss politics. When asked for observations
concerning the Mckinley bill the ex-SpeaAer
said:
''The Mckinley bill has been very unjust
ly criticized. am satisfied that the people
OF the United States, when they come to un-
derstand its workings, will acknowledge that
1t Is most valuable measure, measure in
tended to encourage both our foreign COM
merce and domestic industries. 1t Will stim-
ulate our foreign commerce by the large
number of articles on which the duties have
been reduced or which have been added to
the free list. 1t will stimulate domestic In
dustries by reason of reduction In the duties
on raw material and the increased duties on
the verv few articles of necessity which have
been largely imported, bun which We hither-
to have been unable to manufacture prOfta--
bly,. l think with this sufficient protection
our manufacturers will soon be able to es-
tablish these industries on as firm footing
as those which need no increase In protec'
tion. 1t may be the duties on Brussels car
pets, silks, laceS, champagnes and some 9TH
er articles of luxury have been advanced.
The average household expenditure for these
for those articles which, by reason of lower
rate of duty on the manufactured article or
on the raw material, can be bought for re-
duced prices.
sit was extremely unfortunate that the
bill went into effect in time that was fol-
lowed soon by a most severe financial panic,
when the failure of Barring Bros, with liza
bilities Of $100, 0,000, 900, seemed to shake the
foundations of the strongest houses; when
general insolvency seemed to stare the whole
nj in ho nd lu
averted by the prompt and joint action Of
the Bank of England and England's finan-
ciers, with the tens OF millions OF dollars
drawn from all Europe and the United
States when the combination Of untoward
circumstances were such as had never be-
fore happened; when. in anticipation of
large profits, merchants had ordered from
Europe, in many instances, even before 1t
was known what the rate Of duty would be,
goods In such quantities that, even with an
chants to pay for them would be severely
tested.
"Under such circumstances the failure Of
the Barlngs occurred, and American securi-
ties, the only securities salable In large guam
titles held in England, were thrown on the
New York market In such immense quanti-
ties that the disbursement by the United
States treasury Of some forty or fifty mill
lions seemed but drop In the bucket to stay
the demand for the money.
"GO1ng into enect under Sucn clrcum-
stances IL was not an extremely difficult mat
ter to convince thousands of voters that the
financial difficulties were due solely TO the
inherent effects Of the measure.
"Why. look at the case Of Austria, whose
merchants complain so loudly OF the ruin
that the Mckinly bill has brought to their
trade. They complained that their industries
were affected to such an extent by the mea-
sure that through their efforts the Austrian
government was forced to seek to draw other
nations into measures OF reprisal against the
United States. Notwithstanding these CON-
the first three months under the operation of
the bill were increased 60 per cent. over the
corresponding quarter Of 1890.
"Here in Italy merchants and the press
echoed the waillngs of the balance Of the
European press until they discovered that,
had the bill been specially devised for the
purpose, 1t could not have been better
adapted to increase her trade with the United
States, for, by its provisions, so per cent. of
our purchases from her are on the free list,
"a per cent. are admitted at a reduced rate Of
duty. IL per cent. at the same rate, while the
duty was advanced on but 4 per cent.
The commercial alliance of the central
states OF Europe, which certain powers are
endeavoriDg to bring about, is evidence that
the commercial nations are not slow to take
every possible precaution to protect and
stimulate their trade-and that Is exactly the
policy on which the McKinly bill is founded
II am very confident that the next few
years will be years of great prosperity In the
United States, aud that they will prove to be
favorable both to our domestic manufacture
ers and to our foreign commerce."