The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-08-25

subject. that you have under consldera4
ton. but | do know something of the
consequence of standing for that policy.
have OH my political body some sears
and some wounds received in the fight
have endeavored to carry on during
the last few years. Reciprocity has
been damned with faint praise and with
false friends long enough. The time
Know who stand for and stand against
this doctrine.
''And the hour has arrived in which it
is fair to ask those who are hostile to
the policy to avow it; and | am graft
fled beyond measure that in the course
of this struggle there appears to be
some sign now that those who fight it
will come out in the open.
Il for one have a deep and abiding
and persisting confidence in the judg-
ment of the plain, common, simple peo-
pie of the land, and [ want to settle
this question in the good old-fashioned
way, appointed by three institutions for
the determination of public policies. Let
us fight it out before the people. If we
lose, let us abandon the attempt; and
if we win, let those who are sulking
in the shadows of concealment retire to
the places that are appropriate for cow
ards and traitors to the policies of our
government.
IF the decision of the people be for
reciprocity there must then be no fur
ther Juggling with words and the prom
Use that is kept to the ear must not
be broken to the hope. The gravity OF
the situation is manifest, and it Is ac-
knowledged, | believe, on all hands, that
we must meet it in one of two ways
retaliation or reciprocity. The stand
patters' have raised the banner of the
former and we march to the music of
the latter.
''Many people think that this question
is confined to treaties with particular
powers, but it is not so, for it can be
accomplished through general tariffs as
well as through special arrangements.
Indeed, it can be truthfully said that
with us, if attained in the near future,
it must be attained through a general
law by revision of our schedules, for
it has been made clear to the dulest
mind that no trade treaty, however ad-
vantageous to the people of this county,
can command two thirds of the United
States senate. 1t involves always, in
variably, whether attained in the one
way or the other, some change in our
import duties, and here the trouble be-
our eyes to the obvious fact that the
efforts to introduce 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 destruc-
tion of the great system of protection
to which the great majority of the vot-
ers are firmly and, | hope, enduringly
attached.
Il have been constant advocate of
the policy of protection. 1t is, neverthe-
less, well known that | have not hest
tated to criticse the schedules through
which the policy is at the present time
carried into effect. The protective tariff
was not originally intended to exclude
competition No foreign nation could
Justly complain of this equalization, and
so far as I know, no nation has ever
complained of such criterion for inn
port duties. With schedules arranoed
with any fair reciprocity would be al
ready secured, and retaliation would be
the weapon with which to punish any
country that refused to deal fairly with
us. At the most, we would need trea-
ties in very few instances, to provide
for unusual and extraordinary condi-
tons
''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,
through combination or unusual demand,
the home manufacturer lifts the price
into the region of robbery that his
foreign competitor can enter at all. !.
''There is no conflict, and can be none,
between protection and reciprocity, IL
we abandon the selfish interest of
particular producer or class of produce
ers, and ascend to the higher standpoint
from which we may view the common
welfare The only justification for in
reference with absolute free trade is,
first, to provide a revenue, and second,
to diversity and increase the products
of the country, and it is just as essen
tial and just as beneficial to our pro-
ducers to preserve and enlarge their
markets abroad as it is to preserve and