Omaha daily bee., 1905-08-28
Never Said French Reciprocity Treaty
Gave Everything to that Country.
WHAT he DID SAY REGARDING FRANCE
Conditions Made it Imperative Not to
Discriminate Against England.
TRADE OF JHAT COUNTRY TOO VALUABLE
Asks that the Governor Correct whR
He Alleges is a Misrepresentn-
tiOn of the Attitude of
the Secretary,

CHICAGO. Aug. 27-secretary of the
Treasury Leslie NJ Shaw today made pub
lie the following letter written by him to
Governor A. b. Cummins, of Iowa, in reply
TO statements made by Governor Cummins
before the recent reciprocity convention
at Chicago:
CHICAGO Aug. 26.-My Dear Governor
Cummins: In carefully prepared address
delivered before the Reciprocity convention
at Chicago which the papers say you read
lest you might be misreported," you used
this language:
The Secretary Of the Treasury in a speech
recently delivered IN Des Moines is re-
ported as saying that the explanation Of
French treaty Is, that IL gives everything
TO France and nothing to the United states.
/ must do him the justice to believe that
he never read the treaty rOr otherwise he
has committed a grave offense against the
properties of debate.
secretary's speech as Reported.
Il did not see that portion Of your ad-
dress until l came west and have delayed
writing that l might ascertain where l was
reported to have made such statement. |
knew l did not say it or anything that
could be 50 interpreted but l was not sure
about the report. The occasion was an
informal luncheon and the speech was i'm
promptu, though not eXtemporaneous. l
ind that both of the Des MOines republi-
can daily papers represented at the lunch
con reported me as saying
l was an enthusiast among those who
favored the reciprocity treaties. Among
these treaties was one with France. The
French contract gave hcr an advantage In
entering the American market over every
other country on seventy articles, in con-
sderation of which she agreed to apply her
minimum tariff to our exports to France,
except as to twenty articles, including
horses, butter eggs, cheese, leather goods,
machines (mach1ne tools) dynamos, etc.
Dc tran Iffln NJ he ter fDA n
we did any other country, France would
treat us about as well as she did any
OF course the treaty was not ratified. 1
say of course" 1 mean merely to say
1t was not ratified. There were those in
the senate who declared that they did not
believe this nation should not discriminate
against Great Britain where we sell $5OO-
900 of our exports for the benefit of a
nation which takes less than $2OO,O0O,OOO.
Provisions of Treaty.
While the report is not verbatim, II is
substantially correct Whether l read the
treaty before making the statement is rela-
lively OF little Importance, but il the treaty
as negotiated did not give France re-
duction from our regular tariff rates on
substantially seventy articles Uo be exact,
sixty-nine articles, counting every variety
of silk manufactured one article), then
II may be conceded that l had not read
It; and If it did not exempt twenty Amer
lean articles from the provisions Of the
French minimum rate of duty, as follows:
Horses, butter, lucerne and clover fodder,
cast iron skins and hides prepared; boots
and shoes and parts of same, belts and
cords and other leather articles manufac-
tured for machinery; dynamos, machine
tools dynamo conductors and parts; arc
lamps known as regulators, sugar, chicory
roots, green or dried; eggs, cheese, honey,
porcelain, cardboard, rough in sheets; then
It may be conceded that l violated tho
proprieties of deba = though an informal
talk at a luncheon is several removes from
a debate
Asks for Information,
You. my dear governor and l. have had
we have seldom lost through the misrep-
resentatlon of our opponents. Attorneys
usually, and lawyers always exercise great
care lest they incorrectly state the po'
sition Of their professional adversaries
Certainly friends and adherents of the
same political party will be more careful
still knowing therefore that you would
not violate the proprieties of debate by
quoting me without authority as having
made a specific statement l write TO in
uuire where you saw the report Of my
speech as given In your Chicago address
have not seen II and l wish 10 correct
the record as soon as possible. Please ad
wise. Very sincerely yours,
LESLIE NJ. SHAW"