The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-12

the reciprocity question was fruatiess' like those that preceded it. the confer ence adjourning at midnight until nexe Tuesday.
 The victory was with the advocates Of reciprocity as the motion to adjourn was carried, g to 50, after a motion to ameno the motion to make it 2 sine die adjourn ment offered by Mr. Littlefieid of Maine. one of the leaders of the opposition, had been voted down. s1 to a. The motion to adjourn was made by Speaker Hem aerson and the opponents of reciprocity claimed after the adjournment that some of their friends did not care 10 offend the Speaker by declining to heed his ap- peal for further conference Earlier in the evening the opponents of reciprocity had insisted on a vote tonight upon the main propositionI
 The session tonight was a stormy one. Nr. sibley of Pennsylvania offered a compromise proposition for reciprocity arrangement to last until December l. 1908, which he claimed had the approval and endorsement of President Roosevelt.
 
 the House granted a 20 per cent conces- sion the Senate would not increase it.
 Speaker Henderson and the leaders on both sides of the controversy were in attendance. Representative Cannon of Illinois presided and arrangements were made for division of the time between the advocates and opponents of recipro- city.
 Representative Long of Kansas. a mem Der of the Ways and Means Committee, opened with an extensive argument in favor of the 20 per cent concession ad- vocated by his colleagues. He argued that the maintenance of protective tariff was not involved In the proposi- tion of the Ways and Means Committee, but that the policy of reciprocity was. s'The defeat of this bill," said he means that the Republican party has refused to follow the leadership of Blaine of Nc Kinely and of Roosevelt and 1t would mean that reciprocity was no longer bart of the Republican faith"
 He pointed out that the Republican platform of 1898 referred to the repeal Of the reciprocity agreements under the Nc Rinley law as a national calamity and demanded their renewal and extension. The original section Of the Dingley bill authorizing reciprocity agreements, he said, named sugar as one of the articles pn which the President was authorized to reduce the duties. but the section was changed in tie Senate and sugar was stricken out.
 He insisted that the hearings before the Committee on Ways and Means showed eonclusively that the concessions made pn Cuban sugar would not affect the price of sugar in this country and that the beet sugar industry would not be in Sured. A reduction of 20 per cent on Cuban sugar leaving the duty on such sugar at $l.24 per 100 pounds would not enable the Cuban, after paying freight rates and cost of refining, to complete with the principal markets for beet sugar.
 He espoused reciprocity with Cuba, he said, not only because 1t would be help full to Cuba; but because he believed we would get an adequate return, and in sup hort of that belief he insisted the result of the recprocty with Cuba under the Me Kinley bill from September l., 1901 to August 9 1904 Under that law sugar, molasses, coffee and hides were admitted free, and in return Spain made conces- uions on our products entering Cuba. Our exports to Cuba increased from $12224,s sSS In 1891 to $24, ,157, sos in 1893. In 1896, after the agreement was abrogated, they had fallen to $7,530S6O. Our exports to Cuba
 
 eS5. .O5O,1l The witnesses before the Com mittee on Ways and Means, he said, stated that with prosperity in Cuba, the lamentations of that island woud amount to sl50 0O0 900 to S200, 900, 900 annually. This. he argued, was the trade that Cuba of fered us in return for concessions on sugar and tobacco.
 MT. Long contended that in addition to self-interest, there was moral ooiiga- tion. He declared that when the com- mission from Cuba was prevailed upon to accept the Platt amendment President Mckinley assured them that in considera- tion of it's acceptance he would do all in his power to secure economic conces- sions and said that teh commission so renorted to the Cuban convention. The Cubans, not the sugar trust, he stated would get all the benefit of any reduction Congress might make. In conclusion MT. Long said:
 of no concession be made to Cuba-if the policy of President Mckinley and President Roosevelt be defeated by the House after the establishment of the re- r,blic of Cuba, a treaty can be nego- Hated with that country by the President nroyiding for the annexation of Cuba ss the recent treaty did for the annexa- tion of the Danish West Indies: and that +restv can be submitted to the Senate and ratified The moment that the rati- fcations are exchanged, under the decision of the Supreme Court in the Porto Rican case, we would have free trade with Cuba on all products. The House would be powerless to prevent it.
 "So this House is not supreme It would be part of wisdom for the beet sugar interests to agree to a reasonable concession that would not injure their srdustry rather than be compelled to ac- cent nossibIe annexation in the immediate S,ture. Annexation will come in the not Cor distant future, but when it does oore want 1t to come by the free oot of the Cuban people and when they aor,e permanently under our flag. l do s,ot want them to feel they were the .,,oti,ns of forcible annexation, which I,.os,dent Mckinley characterized as seriminal aggression.
 when Mfr. Long finished speaking, Mir. ,rovIer (Ohiol presented protest against ..H nIon of the Ways and Means Com ...ittae The protest was drafted at the nnnference which the Republicans op- ..osed to reciprocity held last night. It ..s Ir tbe nature of a manifesto setting o,,t the grounds on which their opposi- tion was based. being largely an amplif- ootion of tho contention that reduction oT ,ba duty on Cuban sugar involved a elevation of the protective principles. Tn lieu of the Tawney proposition Tor a