The morning call., 1892-03-18
RECIPROCITY TAKING SHAPE.

The Presidents proclamation of Tuesday,
reimpOsing the old duties on sugar. hides,
molasses and coffee produced in Colombia,
1ayti and Venezuela, will not affect trade
in this country. though it will place pro-
duceTs in those countries at a disadvantage
IN comparison with other producers. We
take from Colombia each year about
S2,000,000 worth of coffee, and hides AMI
skins to about the same amount; from
Venezuela we would take some sugar. il fhe
production were larger, but as it is, the law
prohibiting the importation of foreign
sugars has the effect of keeping the home
grown article for home consumption; Hayti
produces about 100000 rounds Of coffee
yearly, which is exported II Germany,
France. England and the United States
Tie effect OF the measure of retail alton
adopted by the President will be to awaken
the people Of those States to the advantage
they would reap by entering the American
Zollyeren and 10 the Inconvenience which
will result from their remaining ont of it,
1t will doubtless lead to their joining the
procession.
When Mr.. Blainc's reciprocity scheme
goes into full effect the United States will
furnish Spanish America with all the -four,
provisions and Illuminating oil it needs for
consumption, and Spanish America, on the
other hand, viii find here a market for all
the sugar, coffee and hides it can spare after
home wants are supplied. In both cases the
exchange will be untrammeled by tax or
Government interference. Such an ex-
change ought to be beneficial all round. il
Will lead to closer mutual relations between
the American nations, and it ought to slim
ulate production in the tropical and sub
is in inverse ratio to their capacity TO
produce.
1t is a common remark that these Span
ish-American countries stagnate because Of
the want of energy in the mixed Latin and
Indian races which inhabit them. There is
perhaps some injustice in this assumption.
No race, however virile. viii labor without
reward. When we ask the people of Guate-
mala and Costa Riea why they do not glow
mole coffee, and the people Of Venezuela
why they do not grow more sugar-when
both countries abound in suitable soil
and available labor-we are met by the re-
ply that they DO not see what they would
do with the coffee and the sugar when
they were grown. In those regions
TRANSFORMATION is an unsoiYed problem.
\ plantation situate on the bank of a nay-
and thence send it By ship to a distributing
market. But much Of the best land lies
back of the rivers, and there are no rail-
roads and few good hishroads over which
produce could be moved. Even when the
produce reaches the seaboard it is not al
ways practicable to find maritime transpor-
tati0n for 1t az a rate which leaves any profit
to the grower. The Pacific Mail steamers
touch, or are supposed to touch at nineteen
ports between San Francisco and Panama,
but their freight schedule does not eneour-
age the people Who live back of those ports
to increase their acreage. The policy Of the
company is not to stimulate trade but to
keep firm clatch on subsidies.
In the course Of time the coffee-growing
sections Of Central America will all be pro-
vided with outlets. San Salvador has got
nearly hundred miles Of railroad in opera
ton; it viii not be long before the road
from Acajatla to Salvador City is finished !;
the money has all been provided. Guate-
mala has two lines in operation, one from
San Jose to Guatemala City, which runs
through fine coffee region; and another
further north. y hich also drains a good cot
fee country. Mr. Keith has lately completed
his railroad from San Jose 10 Lim0n, on the
Atlantic coast Of Costa Ri a he has line
of steamers which run from Limon to New
Orleans ami New York. their chief freight
being bananas. On the other side of the
ridge in Costa Rica some grading has been
d0ue on a projected line from San Jose to
Punta Arenas; as the republic is easy in its
finances this road viii probably be built be-
fore long, and the coffee. or the bulk Of it,
viii seek ship ca the Pacific. II would be
gratifying to be able TO report equal prog.
reSs in railroad building on the west side Of
Mexico, but the western extension Of the
railroad system of that nation proceeds very
slowly, and without it the fertile regions
wing back of Mazatlan. Manzanillo and
Acapulco will remain without a market
Mr.. Blaine's reciprocity scheme will proba-
bly, stimulate the Mexlcans tie build the ave-
nues Of transpoT' alton which they need.