The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-08-17
CHICAGO COUNCIL
TO URGE new LAW

~ UnuL NE IN LAZY
Continued from First Page.
minimum tariff law, he would do some
Yankee dickering with foreign countries.
Governor Cun1mins Talks.
Governor Cummins of Iowa was one
Of the principal speakers today. He:
said in part:
Reciprocity has been damned with faint
praise and false friends long enough. The
time has come to unnask, and let the
people know who stand for it and who
stand against it. The recent past has
been full of depression and discourage
ment for the advocates Of reciprocity SIM
ply because it's enemies have coddled it
In conventions, and have crucified it in
congress, have eulogized it in the alb
stract, and have condemned ittn the con-
crete. This sort Of bushwhacking has
confused the issue, and made 1t difficult
to conduct q campaign to definite con-
clusion e.. lsE f. r
The indications are now, however, that
the war in the future will take on a more
civilized form; that the men who are
really against the doctrine will openly
up and fight the question out in the good
old fashioned way appointed under free
institutions to determine public policies.
In view Of what you have already
heard, have assigned to myself brief
consideration Of the general subject. I
think it is pertinent ito inquire what the
policy Of reciprocity is and what it in
wolves. 1t is an adjustment of our tariff
schedules, either by general law or spe-
oio ~ 0,.I
crease in the volume Of our exports.
Many people instinctively think Of it
as confined to treaties with particular
powers, but it is not so, for it can be &C
conplished thru general tariffs as we'll as
thru special arrangements. Indeed, it
can be truthfuly said that with us it
must be attained. if at ALL by a revision
Of the schedules, for it. has been made
clear to the dullest mind that no mere
trade treaty, however advantageous, can
command tWo-thirds Of the United States
senate.
Change in Import Duties.
It involves always some change in i'm
port duties; and here the trouble begins.
It is useless to attempt to close our eyes
to the obvious fact that the efforts to in
troduce reciprocity as an effective policy
of the government have failed because
many well-intentioned, Intelligent people
have believed and still believe that it
means the destruction of the system Of
protection, to which the great majority
of the voters are firmly, and$I hope en-
duringly, attached. -
It is, therefore, worth our while to re-
fleet a moment upon this phase of the
matter, for it Is the real obstacle to the
progress of reciprocity. While this is a.
non partizan meeting. I would not be
candid with you were not to declare that
from my youth up I have been a con.
sisten advocate of the policy of proteo-
ton. 1t is, nevertheless, we'll known that
7 have not hesitated to criticise the
schedules thru which the policy is at the
present time carried into effect.
AS I understand it, the object Of a
protective tariff is to increase the sale Of
domestic products in domestic markets.
The object of reciprocity is to increase
the sale Of domestic products in foreign
| markets.
! The measure of protection, as formerly
| defined. was the difference between the
cost of delivering the product by the do
mestic producer in the domestic market,
| and the cost Of delivery by the foreign
producer in the domsstic4 market. It was
! intended to equalizes, the, conditions Of
production here ana ABROAD, ito offer a
| motive for the use Of our own raw mate
| rial, and to insure the employment Of the
| maximum amount Of labor. 1t was not
| originally intended to exclude competi-
| ton, but rather to create competition.
No foreign nation could justify COM
plant Of this equalization, and, so far as
I know, no nation has ever complained of
such criterion for import duties. With
schedules arranged with any fair regard
for this definition of protection, reci-
! prOcity would be already secured, and re-
taliation would be the weapon with which
to punish any country that refused to
deal fairly with US. At the most, we
would need treaties in very few instances
to provide for unusual and extraordinary
conditions.
Our present schedules. however, are in
the main, intended to be prohibitive, if
American products are sold at a fair and
reasonable profit. 1t is only when, thru
combination or unusual demand, the home
manufacturer lifts the price into the re-
gion Of robbery that his foreign competi-
tor can enter at ALL
Protection and Reciprocity,
There is no conflict, and can be none
between protection and reciprocity, If we
abandon the selfish interest of a particular
producer or class Of producers, and ascend
to the higher standpoint from which we
may view the common welfare. The only
justification for interference with absolute
free trade is, first, to provide a revenue
and, second, to diversity and increase the
products of the country; and it is JUS
as essential and just as beneficial to ou
producers to preserve and enlarge thei