The Minneapolis journal., 1902-08-29
THE REDUCTION
OF THE DUTIES
What Is Proposed by Those Who Are
Working for a Limited
Reciprocity.
] Little Can Be Done at the Best, but
That Little Will Be Strongly
Opposed.
The Restrictions of Section 4 of the
Dingley Law-The Case
Of Brazil.
Ne,u York SUI, Special serutos

Chicago, Aug. 29.-Wiliam e. Curtis, in
an Atlantic City special to the Record
Herald says that President Mckinley 8
ideas Of reciprocity were very much
broader than the treaties now pending In
the senate, which were negotiated by
John A. Kasson, under his direction. Mr..
Kasson was restricted in his negotiations
by Section of the Dingley tariff law,
which permitted him to make concessions
on very few articles Of insignificant char
acter and not more than 20 per cent re-
tsuctton from, the regular duties upon
them. 1t Is wonder that no was able
to secure any concessions from foreign
nations at all, but he showed great skill
and shrewdness, and succeeded In con-
Guiding set Of arrangements which, II
they are ever ratified, will be Of consid-
cradle value to the export trade.
! Speaker Reed. Mr.. Dingley, Mr., Dal-
zell. Mr.. Payne, Mr.. Hopkins. Mr.. Taw-
ney and other members of the house who
were engaged in framing the Dingley bill
4 did not intend that the reciprocity Sec
Stion should be successful. They knew.
or they expected, it would fall They
placed it in the law against their own
Judgment, being compelled by popular
sentiment and in compliance with the
. platform of the republican national con-
, vention. They are all high protectionists
{ and are opposed to reciprocity on princi-
pie. They will fight and defeat that and
every other proposition that points to the
reduction OF the present high tariff d,a-
ties. .,-
President Mckinley, who was a far
Z sighted man and just as good a protec
ZIONIST as those I have named. saw tina
there must be reduction of duties sooner
or later; that the high protection tha
had been extended over the mechanica
/. industries was no longer needed, and wa:
temptation to manufacturers to keel
prices up higher than necessary, because
they could not suffer from competition
In reducing duties he did not intend t.
4 remove protection, but to leave as mucl
as necessary, and use the reduction as al
inducement to foreign nations to make
similar reductions In their tariffs upo1
goods imported from the. United States
He believed that this offered an oppor
tunity to secure important concessions IL
the interest of our foreign trade. and l.
he had lived he would have urged con
gress to authorize him to open negotia
tions to that end.
He also felt that we had4a right to ash
concessions in favor of our merchandise
from nations whose staple products were
coming and for years have BEEN coming
free of duty into the United States, sucf
as coffee, tea silk, hides, rubber ant
other raw materials which we don't pro
duce ourselves, He was in favor of plac
ing a duty upon those articles when I'm
ported from nations which impose exor
, bitant duties upon our goods, as Brazi
does, for example. We buy nearly all th'
coffee raised In Brazil, and admit it FREE
. of duty, but Brazil imposes heavy duties
upon all our products, and even charges
an export duty upon the coffee she sell
to us. President Mckinley thought tina
: was unfair and wanted authority from
congress to tell Brazil that such one-sidet
trade could not be tolerated any longer
:. that she must reduce her tariff upon on
flour and other products, or we woul'
place duty upon her coffee. He wa
in favor of this policy when he was Il
! congress, but was not able to secur
enough support to carry it through.