Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-12-10
THE RECIPROCITY CLAUSE.
It Does Not Apply to the Relations Be
tween Blaine, Ben and the Major.

1t Does Not Apply to tho Relations Be-
tween Blaine, Ben and the Major.
Whatever may be meant by the pol
icy of reciprocity" which is inter-
preted in SO many ways by the repub-
lican statesmen and organs, it is plain
that it does not include reciprocal good
feeling between the three great repub-
lican leaders, Blaine, Mckinley and
Harrison. AS matter of fact, there
is nothing in the Mckinley tariff pro-
viding for reciprocity directly. There
is only clause giving the president a
limited power of retaliation upon gov
ernments which do not accord what he
regards as fair concessions to the
United States. That power has never
been explicitly used Whether there
has been threat of using it or not we
cannot say. Mr.. Blaine, in his recent
letter, intimated that there had been
such a threat made to Germany. that
German beet sugar had been cleft" free
of duty in consideration of the admis-
sion to Germany of American pork.
But if that be the case the public has
not been informed of it. Mr.. Harrison
is authority for the statement that the
admission of our pork '.has nothing to
=
but is based upon the acceptance by
the German government of the inspec-
ton of meats by this government under
the law of the last congress"
This is not the only sign of fatal
want of agreement between the presi-
dent and his nominal secretary of
state on this point. 1t will be remem-
bered that when Mr.. Harrison was on
his famous trans-continental tour last
spring he claimed all the credit for the
insertion of the reciprocity clauses in
the Mckinley bill. But whether he or
Mr. Blaine be really the father of this
legislation it is impossible to tell.
What is entirely clear is that they are
quarreling over it's character and effect
as openly as the conventionalities of
official life and the exigencies of party
politics will permit Meanwhile poor
Maj. Mckinley has become sadly
tangled in the difficulty" The demo-
cratic papers in Ohio were quoting Mr..
Blaine's famous letter denouncipg the
Mckinley bill because there was mot
a section or line in the entire bill
that will open a market for another
bushel of wheat or another barrel Of
pork" Whereupon Mr.. Blaine writes
to say: Before the bill was finally
passed the reciprocity clause was in.
serted and large addition was made
to the free list. 1t will, therefore, be
seen from what said in my letter that
the objection which l made to the Nc
Kinley bill was entirely removed be-
fore the bill became law. /
am not, therefore. an opponent to the
Mckinley bill, as the democratic pa
pers of Ohio are constantly alleging.
On the contrary, I have cordially sup
ported it euer since it was perfected by
the insertion of the reciprocity
clause
AS we have already pointed out, this
is very cold comfort for Mr.. Mckinley.
So far from explaining or retracting his
savage criticism of the bill, Mr.. Blaine
reiterates and justifes it. Upon the
bill as Maj. Mckinley made it, carried
it through the house, and sent it to the
senate, Mr.. Blaine now passes the
same Judgment that he pronounced in
July of last year. He has nothing
good to say of the law except for the
reciprocity clause of which he claims
to be the parent. So far as we have
been able to get at the facts in the
very confused record, Mr.. Blaine's
claim has a very slight foundation in
fact, and the so-called reciprocity
clause was IN reality due to Mr.. Har-
rison, who did not care very much for
it, but who wanted to head off any OPP
position that Mr.. Blaine and his friends
might make. Mr.. Mckinley, however.
is entirely out of the whole affair, and
can only claim that he killed Mr.
Blaine's original notion of putting
hides on the dutiable list in order to
give Mr. Blaine something to trade
on" Considering the utter futility of
the ''reciprocity'' legislation the heated
dispute carried on around it is Curl
Gus Indication of the state of the repub-
lean mind.-N. Y. Times.