The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-09-14

The st. Paul Chamber of Commerce
yesterday took the initiative in pre-
pairing memorial to the congressional
commission on merchant marine. to
meet early in November at washing
ton and to draft bill to be presented
10 the next session of congress .pro-
Vlding for plan for the assistance.
by means of discriminating duties. of
the american merchant marine. The
ihehorlal VIII protest against any leg
lsiatlon which will sacrifice the agri-
cultural interests of the Northwest.
congressman F. c. Stevens, of the
81. Paul district, yesterday addressed
the chamber OF Commerce on the sub
Ject and presented the chamber with
draft OF memorial protesting, in the
name OF the agricultural interests of
the Northwest, against a system of.
discriminating duties which, he said,
would naturally result in retaliatory
measures by Great Britain in favor of
Canadian and other colonial imports.
AFTER a discussion, President T.. S.
cushing, OF the chamber, appointed D.
X. Noyes, Ambrose Tighe and ]. S.
Walther committee of the chamber to
act in conjunction with Congressman
Stevens in preparing the memorial to
congress. -
The agitation in favor of a docu-
mentary protest against legislation
which 1t is feared will adversely affect
the exports of the great agricultural
Northwest is the result of the visit in
July to the Twin Cities of the. n,er-
chant marine commission. Congress
man Stevens accompanied the COM
mission as far west as St. Cloud in
q =.
Lodge, Senator Gallinger, Congress-
man Grosvenor and others the pro-
posed scheme to substitute American
SHIPS by enforcing a discriminating
duty of 10 per cent against freightsy
brought from other, countries. in ships,
owned by citizens of governments 9TH
er than the one in which the. cargo
originated.
Stevens Against Proposed Plan
On his return to st. Paul Congress
man Stevens began work on the task
OF securing data to be included in a
memorial to be presented to the com
mission which, without regard to party
Affiliations, was apparently committed
to the theory of discriminating duty
Congressman Stevens had represent;
ed that the enforcement Of any such
plan as was proposed by the commits
sion would result in immediate retail
latory measures by Great Britain
which would discriminate against the
products of the Northwest in favor Of
Canada, the principal competitor of
the American Northwest, in It's exports
of wheat and other cereals oafld the
raising of cattle for the British mar
kets. = f}sE p
'The plan proposed" said Congress-
man Stevens yesterday. SIS to to en-
force 10 per cent tax ON the cargoes
Of cSnI
and this would mean the abr0gatiOn of
some thirty existing treaties or con-
ventions with foreign countries, now
protecting the commerce of this coun-
try with the leading countries of the
world. But such action would be
promptly met with retaliation and dis
elimination against our trade, prod
ucts and people on the part of, the ma
tons injuriousiy affected, and whose
conventions with the United States
must be annulled.
"It would not be left with our au-
thority to choose the method of hos,
tile action, for that must be expected
which will infiict the greatest damage
upon the interests of this country with
the least possible injury to be suffered
by the relatliating nation.
Would Decrease Exports
"Our goods competing with the do
nestle products of any nation or with
those not subjected to any discrimi-
nation would be so embarrassed by
additional charges and burdens as to
materially decrease our export trade.
This condition would cause distrust
and distress in other branches of our
national industries and would con-
duce to widespread injury to all bust
| ness. Our shipping would not be ben
Gifted, because the foreign charges
against our ships and against our Tex-
port cargoes in American ships would
elimination upon a comparatively
small volume of imports. Not more
than 100000 tons of our imports
would be affected by favoring tariffs,