Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1895-10-30

Marquette club banquet in Chicago the
other night was Congressman William
Alden Smith of Michigan. Mr.. Smith
talked about reciprocity. To speak
correctly he spoke about the Blaine va
riety Of reciprocity. He sounded the
praises of the Blaine policy of forcing
certain countries to admit American
products on terms satisfactory to the
president by threatening to impose dis
eliminating duties on their products.
BY this policy, according to Mr..
Smith, ''the people of our country were
given cheaper sugar and coffee for their
breakfast table, In this statement
there is not one grain of truth.
Sugar was made cheaper by putting
it on the free list. 1t was not the
Blaine policy to put it on the free list.
His policy was to threaten to put
duty on it and make it dearer unless
the country producing it should admit
American products on terms dictated
by the president, or, rather, by MIN
self acting for the president
Coffee was put on the free list e1gh-
teen years before Blaine proposed his
policy could not possibly have had any
other effect than to make coffee dearer.
The only thing it proposed to do with
respect to coffee was to put duty on
it, and that could have no other erect
than to compel American consumers to
pay higher prices for. It, Mr.. Blaine
himself, audacious as he was, never had
the effrontery to claim that his bull
doing policy made sugar coffee or
anything else come cheaper to Amer
lean consumers. All he claimed was
that it would increase our export trade
and redress the heavy adverse balance
in our commerce with Latin American
countries.
This brings us to another point made
by Mr.. Smith. He claims that Blaine's
predictions were fulfilled. Speaking
of the Blaine decker with Brazil. he
says: I'm 1889 we sold them $9,351,-
O81 worth of products and in 1890, the
first year of reciprocity, we sold them
$14,120,246 worth of products" The
first year of reciprocity was 1891,
and the figures given for 1890 are, in
fact, the figures for that year. Our ex-
before the Blaine dicker went into eff
feet, amounted to $11,972,214. Mr.
Smith was careful to suppress that
fact. He also suppressed the fact that
our exports to Brazil increased from
$7,137 ,008 in 1888 to $11, 972 ,214 in 1890
or more than $4,800,00 in two years be.
fore the dicker, while they amount tt
no more than $12 1888, 124 in 1893, an in
crease of only about 100000 in three
years after the dicker.
What is true of Brazil is true of thu
other Latin American countries will
which we had dickers, Cuba alone ex
cepted. Our commerce with them in
creased faster before than after tn
treaties were made. This fact, which
Mr.. Smith was discreet enough not t.
mention, does not speak we'll for tn
Blaine policy.
; Mr.. Smiths discretion does not fai
i him when he comes to discourse on tn
; trade balance. He says: Gin the six
teen years preceding reciprocity tn
balance of Cuban trade was against u
over $500, 100000 The first year o
reciprocity we sold Cuba over $12 900,
|
nearly $1S,000,000, and in 1893 it ex
ceeded $4,000, 0O0."
He omits to say that in 1894 tn
amount fell back to 100000. Blu
that is immaterial The point is tina
after having introduced the subject o
the trade balance very bravely he sud
denly and prudently drops the matte
and speaks only of the increase of GU
exports to Cuba. The reason why b
does this will be apparent to anyon
who will take the trouble to look a
the following statement of our trad
with Cuba and Brazil for four years be
fore and four years after the Blain
dickers were made:
Four years Four year
before after
Cuba dickers. dickers.
Imports from 1924, 766, 10000 1924, OSO, 90
Exports to. $50. 45,375,000 81, 461 90