Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-10-23
DELIBERATE ACTION.
PRESIDENT NOT DISPOSED TO
RUSH RECIPROCITY.
Practical Details and Results to BE
Carefully Considered Before ANY of
the kasson Treaties Are Resubmitted
to the Senate for Ratification.

which so glibly mlsinterpret the late
Presidents attitude with regard 10
foreign trade extension and who so
confidently count Gpon President
Roosevelt to make good Iheir minister.
probation, would do well 10 pattern
after the intelligent reasonnbleness of
the f-nowing statement by the Wash
ington correspondent of the New York
Times:
There viii be no precip'tate action
by the President on the subject Of re
ciprocity. The agitation ON this sub
ject in some of the newspapers, with
assertions bolstered up by quotations
from Mr.. Roosevelt's public assurances,
whether intended to help the cause Of
reciprocity or to prejudice 1t, has no
warrant further than that intended in
the promise of the President 10 adhere
to the policies of Mckinley The sub
ject is a large and complicated o.le. and
not even Mr.. Mckinley, after years of
experience, was prepared TO say just
what the details of a reciprocity treaty
with a foreign country should be. A
reciprocity policy cannot be defined in
any but the most general terms by the
Executive and with the legislative
the details"
1t is well and truly said that the sub
ject of reciprocity is "a large and com.
plicated one''-so large and so conlpli-
Gated that not even President McKin-
ley, with his wealth of practical knowl-
edge in tariff matters, could or did
claim to have mastered it. Unlike that
rather numerous brood of quick think
ers who imagine they have solved the
intricate problem after having given 1t
cursory glance, and who don't trou
BILE themselves about the working de-
sails, Mr.. Mckinley considered 1t to
| be his duty to go into the reciprocity
| question deeply and thoroughly. He
had previously Furned the matter over
| to hands and heads which he supposed
We're competent, only to find out that
| they were bunglers and botchers. So.
| in the last few months of his life he
| had devoted himself stu iiously to the
| examination of reciprocity, alike on
| general principles and in detailed work
| ings The,result of his painstaking I'M
! yestigatiOn was the Buffalo speech, in
which he declared for the enlargement
! of our foreign trade through a scheme
| Of reciprocal concessions such as should
not curtail domestic production. In his
! Judgment, reciprocity that should in
/ crease the imports of articles which
we ourselves produce" was not reel
! procity at all; it was free trade in dis
guise.
| 1t WAS tliis deep-seated conviction
which animated the statement by Pies
ident Mckinley to a close and eonfiden-
tial friend, in Washington, on the after
noon OF June 6, 1901. to the effect that
he (the President) favored only that
plan of reciprocity sanctioned by the
Republican national platform Sf 1900
namely. reciprocity lin articles which
we do not ourselves produce" and that
he was opposed to any - henle of trade
extension that would take from a sin
gle American workman his job. There
is precisely where William Mckinley
stood at the end of the first week in
June at a time when the quick think
ers had him all thought out as ready TO
abandon protection. and that is where
he stood when at Buffalo In the first
week of Sept, mber he made his last
great speech.
Hence, we say, the overnight theo-
rists would do well TO think again once
or twice before they attribute 10 the
dead President and to his successor in
office views and purposes regarding re-
procity not entertained by either Mr..
| Mckinley or Mr. Roosevelt. The pol
icy of Mckinley is to be continued alb
soluteIy unbroken by Roosevelt. The
country has this pledge recorded. as it
were. over McKinley's coffin. OF its
conscientious fuiillment by President
Roosevelt there il no possible doubt.
There win be. as the Times Washing
ton correspondent states. mo precipi-
tate action by the President on the sub
iect of reciprocity. American Econo-
mist