The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-04-15
conf 1EH9AL RECIPROCITY
4 COayinciaq Statement Of the Aer-
its Of Reciprocal Trade.
HOW TO WIDEN OUR MARKETS
TAs frssidsn. Of the National Assoeia'
tioa Of Manufacturers Makes an Ef-
fsetivs pies for the Restoration OF
Reciprocal Trade Treaties.


Association Of Manufacturers. has is
sued q striking plea for the restoration
of the treaties OF commercial reciproc-
ity abrogated by the Wilson tariff bill.
He says:
The treaties Of commercial reciproe-
3ty which were negotiated under the
act of 1890 were based upon the very
simple principle Of demanding some
thing in return for that which we nad
10 give. We had market IN TINS
country for certain commodities which
were produced In the West Indies. IN
Central America and in South America
but we were not dependent solely upon
those sources of supply. On the other
hand, those countries had need OF many
products of our agriculture and indus
try, but we could claim no monopoly Oh
the supply of those articles. The trea-
ties of commercial reciprocity whicn
were negotiated under the customs law
Of 1890 simply secured the admission
of our products to the southern coun-
tries more freely without making any
sacrifice of our own home markets.
This was accomplished. not by making
further concessions to those countries
but by demanding from them the
granting of privileges in return for the
advantages which they had long en-
joyed in our own markets.
1t requires but a glance at the con-
ditions under which the treaties OF
commercial reciprocity were negotiat-
ed to reveal how much was gained Dy
this country and how little was given
In return. BY permitting the continu-
ance upon the free list Of three COM
modities upon which duties had not
been imposed for many years and by
conditionally placing two addi-
tional items upon our. free list, con-
cessions were obtained from dozen
foreign countries which either wholly
removed or largely reduced the duties
imposed by those nations on over two
thousand articles of American produc-
tion or manufacture. Tea. coffee and
hides were already on the free ltst-had
been there since lS73-and the duty was
removed from sugar and molasses by
the act Of $780, The very simple prov
visions Of the reciprocity clause of this
act authorized the imposition OF duties
upon all of these commodities when Inn
ported from countries to which Ameri-
can goods could not enter as freely as
the goods of other nations. 1t was not
by the extension of the free list of our
customs law that favOrs were obtained
from other nations: it was by the
threat Of the imposition of duties upon
the products of countries which dis
criminated against us that American
merchants were secured equal rights
with their competitors in foreign mar
Eot~
GOOD STROKE OF BUSINESS.
This was at once an act Of justice
and good stroke of business. We
were buying annually from Brazil from
$5O.OOO.OOO to S6O.OOO,OOO worth Of mer-
chandise. the larger part of which was
coffee, upon which no duty had been
charged since 1873, although Brazil i'm
posed onerous customs dues upon the
principal articles of export from the
United States, with the result that the
shipment Of American goods to Brazil
amounted in 1890 to only $11.972,214, or
less than one fifth of the value of our
imports from Brazil. The demand that
Brazil should reduce the duties on
American products under penalty of the
imposition of q duty Of three cents per
pound on coffee, was fully justified up
on business grounds II by no other
reason. The effect of the more favor
able conditions which followed the me-
gotiations Of q reciprocal treaty were a
still greater justification Of the demand
that had been made, for there was an
immediate increase in the trade be-
tween the United States and Brazil.
The new treaty with Brazil which
went into operation on April 1. 1891,
placed wheat, corn, flour, cOttonseed
oil, coal, machinery, tools, railway ma
terials and many other articles upon
the Brazilian free list, while q reduc-
tion Of 25 per cent. was made in the
duties imposed upon lard. bacon, hams,
canned goods, leather goods, lumber
and manufactures of wood and sever
al other articles. The effect upon our
trade with that country was felt at
once. The following statement shows
our exports of flour to Brazil during
six fiscal years-twO years prior to the
negotiation Of the reciprocal treaty.
three years during the operation of
that treaty and one year after its re-
peal.
Years. Barrels. Values