St. Paul daily globe., 1891-05-17
THE RECIPROCITY FAKE.

Minister FOSTER either has or has
not negotiated a commercial treaty with
Spain, but the Republican press is
throwing its hat in the air anyhow, and
bawling cheers for reciprocity. The
HARRISON wing Of the party says that
the president invented this brand of
economic soothing syrup, and the
BLAINE wing says that the secretary of
state wrote the first prescription, and
that the only thing HARRISON put in 1t
was his foot The peacemakerS in this
cult Of humbuggery say that neither
Mr.. HARRISON nor Mr.. BLAINE dis
covered the formula, but that it
just OOZed out of the whole body
of Republicanism like the gum
out of a cherry tree. The Minneapolis
Tribune. which is given to archaeology
and antiquarianism, finds evidence of
Its existence as far back as the first ap-
pearance of WILLIAM HENRY HAIR
HSoN's hat. the Republican fetch. and
traces its evolution from that day to
this through the writings of the party's
SageS and philosophers, as leXicOgraph-
erS trace the history of a Greek par
ticle. But they all agree that, while
there may be some doubt as to who is
its Mrs. WINSTON or LYDIA PINKHAM.
the original compounding of this much
advertised concoction is Republican
achievement. and that the Republican
party owns the patent and is entitled to
the profit.
Reciprocity is fake, and the GLOBE
is willing to concede that some Repub-
lican invented it. What it amounts 10
is this: The last Republican congress
took the duty off raw sugar. coffee, cocoa
and hides. The duty these things had
carried before. with one exception. was
not protective duty, but revenue
duty. 1he duty on sugar did protect
the Louisiana planters. and also the beet
and sorghum farmers of the West. The
Republicans did not propose to molest
their protection idol. so they substituted
direct bonus for the indirect bounty
the tariff had afforded native sugar
growers. Instead Of receiving assist
ance in their business by the round
about road of the custom house. the
country at large is taxed and out of the
proceeds they are givena present. The
reciprocity soothing syrup. then, does
not interfere at all with the we'll estab-
lished Republican doctrine that the
way to make us rich is to tax each class
for the benefit of every other class.
Having made sure that its god would
suffer no harm, the Republican con-
greSS went on and authorized the pres
ident of the United States to restore the
lnfIac If had flnC
sugar, coffee, cocoa, and hides. unless
the South and Central American coun-
tries made some reduction in the duties
they imposed on the things which they
imported from us. This, to be sure, was
only bluff, because such power could
not be constitutionally delegated to
the president, nor would he dare
exercise it, even if he could. But
the point is to be found in the
purpose of the bluff which is here: The
South and Central American countries
are agricultural regions. They sell raw
products and they import machinery
and manufactured commodities. They
make no demand for our breadstuffs to
feed their people. They have scant
population and luXuriant harvests.
Nhat they want is the fruit OF the loom
and the foundry, not the fruit of the
prairie and the river bottoms.
The infant this soothing syrup is in
tended 10 doctor, then, is the same ven.
cradle manufacturing infant of the
East for whose sucking the farming
and laboring classes of this country
have been contributig of their life blood
for quarter of a century. The reci
procity fake deliberately reduces the
national revenues by taking the
revenue tariff from certain imports
with the hope and purpose OF
enlarging the market for our ma