Arizona republican., 1901-11-19
TODAY'S CONFERENCE
MOst|mp0riant Business Mest-
 ing Of Recent Times
Principal Theme, Reciprocity - An Effort Will Be Made to Agree Upon an Interpretation of the Buffalo Speech


 of the most important conferences in
 recent times of American business men will assemble in Washington under the
 name of the National Reciprocity con
 vAltion. The prospects are that the assemblcge will not be large as to
 numbers, though that it will be thor
 oughly representative of the modern
 business and commercial spirit of the
 United States there is no doubt. It is expected that the convention will eX- tend over three days. with two sessions each day, and that it will be attended by representative manufacturers, i'm
 porters from every industrial center oi the country. It was called a month ago by the board of trade of Philadel- phia as direct outgrowth of the reef procity agitation that was started by President McKinIey's now famous last speech" al Buffalo, and of Presi- dent RooseVelts solemn declaration on taking the oath of office that he would follow unbroken the policy of his prede- cessor. In a broad sense, the chief aim and purpose of the convention is :o
 interpret for congress. the nation anu the world the economic policy pro- claimed by the martyred president a few hours before he wac struck down
 by the assassin's bullet. and to show that in his Buffalo speech he did nur mean to define any new doctrines for his party or to start the country on unmarked and untried paths, as is so clamOrously declared to have been his meaning by publicists and politicians who are not in harmony with the main tenets of the republican faith, and who never did understand Mckinley and the other statesmen who worked with hi
 nable fiscal policy through which the
 United States has become the most prosperous nation in the world
 That the business men Of the coun- try, great and small. understood the dead president. and that he understood them, goes without saying. Under standing him as they did. they now be- lieVe it to be their patriotic duty to meet in the national capital on the eve Of the reassembling of congress and give plain definition of the doctrines enunciated with such earnestness anI eloqucnce in the Buffalo speech. Real izing that nobody understands these doctrines better than does President Roosevelt they also feel 1t Incumbent uPon them to aid him in getting be- ftre the nation d clearer understanding of the policy he is pledged to executa so that when congress meets there will be neither hysteria in that body nor Tear in the public mind which might conduce to d needless course that would inflict injury on the nation by business conditions and un- settling values generally. II is pointed out that. should the free trade inter pretation put on the reciprocity pro- gramme defined at Buffalo in Septem- Der be followed. either wholly or even in part. by the Fifty seventh congress, a. disaster almost as great as that which followed the Cleveland tinkering with the tariff would befall the busi- ness interests of the nation.
 No republican leader-and. least of all, President RooseveIt-beileves that MT Mckinley had the democratic form Of reciprocity in mind when he deliv- cred his last message to his country men at Buffalo, any more than that he had in mind q tariff revision pro- gramme that would please the free. traders and other economic doctrin- aires. It has developed unmistakably that what was in the mind of President when he spoke at Buffalo more than two months ago is in the mind of his successor today. This has been shown beyond a doubt in all the discussions of reciprocity President Roosevelt has had with his cabinet and other advisers. Among this latter class are many of the most successful and broad gauge business men, merchants, and fnanciers of the country. scores of whom will be active and conspicuous participants in the T national reciprocity convention tomor- row It is confidently predicted that the convention will define the attitude and expectations of the business in tefests or the nation on the reciprocity question so clearly that timid congress men cannot gLe-sstiay when they as- semble in NsassHington in December. and that there will no longer be cause Tor anybody to misunderstood the pro- Sramme, policies and pur5adsas .e by which the new congress, oTersvtfalIri- lngly republican in both branches, vii, De guided.
 There is also good reason for saying that not until this national reciprocity has spoken the confident word of reinsurance to the country will President Roosevelt write the reciproc- ty part of his message.
 X delegation Of representatives told ne president today that in it's opinion he time for action had come. Re had been talked and preached | ibout for years and unless q decisive | step was taken now. which would affect | ne whole subject, it might as well be | abandoned. The members of the dele- 5ation said they had no particular fn- | crest in any of the treaties, bti, | bought. taken all together, that the | French treaty more nearly represented | he best possibilities in the was of re- l ;iprocity and that if if could be rati- | jed a distinct victory in the way of re- | ,iprocity would be won
 Senator Cullom, after an interview | with the president, talked in the same | vein. His attitude is considered i'm | Dortant. being at the head of the for sigp relations committee.
 Representative Dalzell of Pennsyl- l rania talked with the president half | hour. He is hostile to all reciprocity l