The Louisiana Democrat., 1891-10-14
BLAIR EXPOSES RECIPROCITY.


Out of Blaine's Sails.
While Mr.. Blaine and Mr.. Harrison
are posing before the country as the
sole authors of the great reciprocity
project another claimant appears and
claims to be even soler than either of
these great men, Mr.. Henry w. Blair,
who was commonly supposed to have
exhausted his entire brain force on his
education bill, now points dramatical-
iy to the Congressional Record, page
1856, February 90, 1888, and asks the
public to read the reciprocity amend
ment which he offered to the tariff bill
of that year. 1t may be that Mr.. Blair
was the original champion of reciproci-
ty, but where his effort was fatally
defective was in it's not being offered
as a measure for the relief of the farm
er. That is the central feature of the
present reciprocity boom-the theory
on which it is expected to counteract
free trade sentiment-the pretense by
which the western states are to be
duped into continued tribute to the
millionaire manufacturers of the east
1t is not very strange that Mr.. Blair
did not regard his anne ndmcnt at the
time as distinctly agrarian measure,
but it is remarkable that after Mr..
Htaine's lucid explanations, and after
all the putting of the South American
market as the true outlet for
all our surplus grain, Mr.. Blair still re-
CARDS reciprocity as the special prop
erty of the manufacturer, and says so
with a rccklessness that must be ap-
paling to his republican allies. In a
recent published letter he states:
'.By the allowance OF drawback upon foreign
material, subject to duty and sold in foreign
markets, our labor and capital are placed upon
an equality In competition with all foreign
production in all foreign markets, 50 far rs Is
possible without reducing the wages of labor
and legitimate returns upon capital in this
country, and thus the principal objection to the
protective system. to-wit, that by the duty up
on raw material it prevents competition of
American manufacturers in foreign markets, is
removed while all the advantages OF protec-
tion to our home market are retained
Special industries had already been favored,
but this section, which, when proposed it in
1883, was pronounced Revolutionary abolishes
that favoritism in a general privilege and an
enlarged public policy which brings the Amer
lean manufacturer to the foreign market upon
the most favorable conditions which even free
trade in foreign materials will permit"
This is all that Mr.. Blair can see
in reciprocity-an extension of the
privilege by which the manufacturer
has hitherto received free raw materi-
ais for the purpose of competition in
foreign markets, and Mr.. Blair is
right. There is nothing more in it.
The manufacturer will now get free
raw materials for his goods whether
sold at home or abroad. He will have
a specially favored market in the
countries that enter into this arrange
ment with our government. He will
still have all the advantages of fiat
prices in this country. But what helps
the farmer in the competition in
foreign markets? He pays more than
ever for his clothing, his tools, and his
supplies of all kinds. Is it any benefit
to him that our agricultural imple-
ments arc scld to foreign agriculturists
for less than they can be bought by
him? Is it any benefit to him that the
farmers of other countries should get
the benefit of the competition of the
world in all manufactured articles
they use, while he is sacrificed to the
greed of American manufacturers?
Give the farmer free trade in the raw
materials he needs and he will need no
protective legislation. Put him on an
equality with his rivals in foreign
countries and he can take care of him
Self f-Ipdinnono1is Septjno1