Morris tribune., 1894-09-19

not only natural, but proiita'o.e 70
conclude tho closest trade reia.
lions. Soon after the Mckinley bill
became i law, reciprocity agreements
syere concluded that gave encourage
mont ana 4 new impulse to our exports.
Tor the productions Of orr fields and
factories there was new demand. and
expansion, Of our foreign commerce
under the influence Of reciprocity was
One Of the Most marked Features
Of 4 timo Of otherwise languishing
internatione trade. Under the McKin-
lev act commercial treaties Were con-
clnaed with Guatemala, Honduras, SAL
yador. Nicaragua, Costa RIGA, Santo
Domingo. Brazil, the Spanish colonies
of Cuba and Porto Rico, the British
colonies of jamaica, Trinidad, Barba-
does. Guiana and the Leeward and
Windward Stands in America, and
Austro- Hungary and Germany in Eu-
rope. BY these treaties the countries
named secured the free admission INTO
the United States for their sugar, tea
coffee, hides, rubber, and certain other
products; they in turn admitting free
from the United States, wheat flour,
corn and corn meal, rye and rye Hour,
buckwheat and barley, butter ana
cheese, lard, hay, oats, cottonseed OIL
picked and sailed pork and bacon, lurl
Der and manufactures of wood, agricul
tural implements, mining machinery
and long list of other manufactured
products. They admitted at only half
their regular duties another list OF COM
modities, such as cutlery and other
hardware, earthenware, furniture, pre-
served and canned goods, and various
minor articles. They admitted at three
fourths of IL oir regular duties still an
other list, somewhat shorter and less
important than the foregoing.
Single and Striking Illustration
may stand for the whole: The exfolt
Of American flour to Cuba, prior to this
arrangement, was almost prohibited by
duty of over So a barrel, or more than
the entire cost at the points Of ship
ment. Reciprocity decreased this duty
to about one-half, with a corresponding
effect upon cur exports. From 1876 to
1891 our imports from Cuba were great
err than our exports to Cuba by $780,
1872, 512. For those 16 years the average
exports to Cuba were 81, 793, 400, but
commencing in 1891, the year OF our
reciprocity agreement, there was an
enormous increase in all lines Of trade.
In that year our exports were slightly
over So, 600 600; in 1892 they rose to
nearly $4,000, 900, and in 1898 they
amounted to $24, 157, sos, or more than
double what they had been in any year
under the old system. The effect OF
the new policy upon the whole trade is
shown by an export of ia, 447 barrels
in 1891, rising to 366, 175 in 1892, and to
GIG, 406 in 1898. This great body OF
trade
Has Been Destroyed at a Blow.
The nations with which we concluded
reciprocity treaties are justly anSered at
our vacillating policy. As soon as the
new tariff lew went into effect Spain
served notice that the reciprocity agree
ment could no longer be enforced; ana
already the old prohibitory duties upon
imports from the United States to Cuba
has been restored. By a stroke Of the
pen we have signed away that market
for our products TO the advantage OF no
one outside of the sugar trust Of that
loss the farmers and the milling inter
ests of Minnesota will have to bear
more than their share.
Second to none of the advantages of
reciprocity was the opening of the mar
kets in Austria and Germany for our
provisions and breadstuffs in exchange
for free entry for their beet root sugar.
1t is undeniable that, if this policy had
been permitted to develop naturally and
complete its work, it would in time
have
Doubled our Foreign Trade
and made markets all over the world