Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1892-05-07
"REcIPRoCITY."
How Much Hawaiian Reciprocity Cost Us
How Much 1t Benefited the Farmer.

Hon. Hilary A. Herbert, chairman of
thu COMMITTEES on naval affairs, writes
on Reciprocity and the Farmer" in the
North American Review for April. OF
course no rational man really believes,
after he has given the matter little
consideration, that the farmer will ever
obtain in the homadic and agricultural
nations, which Blaine and Harrison in
tend to subdue with the reciprocity
club, important markets for agricultu-
raj products. These countries are in
the agricultural business themselves and
wish to sell, more than to buy, such pro-
ducts. Mr. Herbert, however, for the
benefit of those who have not thought
on the subject, or who will not accept
any conclusion not tested and proven
by experience, cites the history, and
notes the effects of the only case of
reciprocity indulged in by the United
States. He says:
The actual results of the Hawaiian
treaty for thirteen years are before us;
from 1877, when it took effect, to 1889
inclusive, carefully compiled by Mr.. S.
Il. Brock, government statistio;an, in
an official report June 20, 1890. The
figures used in discussing this treaty
are from that report. The Hawaiian
treaty admitted free of duty into the
ports Of the United States Hawaiian
sugar, rice, etc. Sugar constituted the
bulk of these importations. All agri-
cultural and most manufactured arti-
cles from the United States were adj
mitted free into the islands"
Under stimulus of the treaty our inn
ports from these islands increased rap
idly In 1876. the year before it took
effect, such imports were sl,376,6s1. In
1889 they amounted to s12,S47,74O. Ex-
ports also increased In 1876 our ex-
ports to these islands were s724,267. In
1889 they booted up 1885, ,04O. This is
the bright side of the picture and it is
painted in glowing colors by Mr.. Claus
Spreckels in the North American Re-
view for March, 1891, where he highly
extols "tfn wise and far-seeing policy
embodied IN the Hawaiian treaty" No
one knew better than Mr.. Spreckels the
cost at which taxpayers of the United
States had maintained that treaty, for
much Of that cost had gone into his own
pockets as profits upon sugar. As to
that side q the question he was indus
triously sihnt. But Mr.. Brock gives us
the information page 8 of his report,
thus:
IF the merchandise, admitted free
under the treaty, had paid the duty
levied upon the similar goods imported
| from other countries, the duty would
have amounted to IS, 452, ,31l.97 for the
fiscal year 1889, and to s43,s9s,97s for
the thirteen years ended with that
year, or since the reciprocity treaty has
been in force"
This sum s43, 3,S9S,97s our consumers
paid to the growers Of Hawaiian sugar,
rice, etc, as premiums on their prod
ucts. To appreciate the exceptional
fact that in this case the duty went to the
foreigner. itmust be borne in mind that
these islands furnish only about one
tenth of our imported sugar. On the
other nine-tenths we paid tax averag-
ing 200 cents per pound. The con-
sumer of duty-paid sugar of course paid
to the importer the price it had cost
to bring the sugar to our ports, plus
| the tax. ana this enabled tine
| importers of these free sugars to add
also to their article the price of the tax.
although they had never paid it; this
for the plain reason that the supply of
free sugar not being equal to the de-
mand, the owner of such free sugar
would always withhold it from market
till the market price of the tax-paid ar
ticle was offered The tables collated
in Mr.. Brooks report, page 81, corrob-
crate this reasoning, and show that the
people of the Pacific coast did not save
a penny in the price of their sugar by
reason of the treaty. Every dollar of
the s43,00O,0O0 of taxes released on
Hawaiian sugar went into the pockets
of the producers of that article-Mr.
| Claus Spreck'es and Others And so il
would have been if the sugar imported
free of duty had amounted to nine
tenths instead of one-tenth of our total
imports. This brings us to see clearly
that if we impose an import tax on
sugar and re,y to any appreciable ex-
tent on taxed sugars to complete our
supply, no exceptions in favor of partic-
ular countries, giving them free access
to our markets, will avail to reduce the
price of the product of these favored
countries in the American market be-
low the price of the tax-paid article.
1t will be seen that we have not taker
the trouble to ascertain the relatively
pitiful sum of duties released to ouI
our people by the Hawaiians We sim
ply put against our actual losses, in re
lease of duties, the full values of all oul
exports. Balancing the account fol
thirteen years, and counting in thost
exports that would have gone to The
islands without any treaty, as well a:
those that went because of it, the sun
total of all our exports for this period il
SS5, $50, sol. Deducting this sum from
s48, ,s9S,97s of duties released, we hav,
eS,O2s,177, which we could have realize,
as clear profit by purchasing all ou
merchandise exported to the Hawaiian
islands during the period in question.
The treaty grew worse for us year b,
year. Our largesses stimulated the pro
duction of Hawaiian sugar and rice, an,
each year we released more and more o
duties, which under sounder polio
would have gone into our treasury
pay government expenses, thus enablin
! us to reduce taxation. Our people Il
large would have protited immensely
the protectionist, who once wished fo
wall of fire around our country (
keep out foreign trade, had been pei
mitted in 1876 to erect and maintain hi
flaming structure between us and tn
Sandwich Islands.
The results grow worse still whe
looked at from the standpoint of tn
farmer. Farm products constitute us,
ally three-fourths of all exports frol
, the United States; yet of this IIawaiia
market, opened up for him and paid fo
at such fearful cost. the farmer ha
had less than one-fourth. Out of tn
eS, S36, ,040 exports from the United State
in 1889, brcadstuffs, provisions and an
mails foot up only s759,65S. Is tn
farmer to fare any better in those ne
Central and South American market
we hear Off South America is va,
continent, with much the same clima'
as ours, and it has millions of squal