The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-11-17


at is my purpose, shortly, to men,
ton the lumber and coal schedules, but
inasmuch as there are some reasons that
ought to affect these things which do
not apply to manufactured iron and
steel, 1 beg at this moment to fasten
upon your attention the fragrant wrong
that we are committing in allowing
these excessive duties to be continued.
mark you, am not now dealing with
reciprocity. [ am not touching tariff
schedules with a view to the expansion
of our exports. What l have to say
would be just as true as if everything
mad been done that could be done to ia
cilitate the entry of our producers into
the markets of other nations. | am for
tariff revision and for tariff reduction as
measure of justice to the buyers of
our protected commodities. 1t seems
to me that we have gone mad in our
zeal for the seller, and have abandoned
the buyer to the tender mercy of mono
poly, combination and greed. The
rights of the consumer are as sacred as
the rights of the producer. do not con-
cur in that economic dogma that it is
natural and inalienable privilege to sell
in the dearest market and buy in the
cheapest; but the maxim that the stand
patter desires to substitute in its stead
that the higher the price the more eX
allied the statesmanship-is still more
repugnant to my sense of a square
DEAL The time was when the force of
competition, strong and effective
throughout the whole business of the
country, reduced everything offered for
sale to a fair American price, and dur
ing that time it made little difference
how high the protective duties were.
many of the most important fields of
manufacture, and among them the iron
aud steel industry, there is no substan
tial competition, and the producers in
these fields recognize Just two limita-
That time has gone by, and you will, l
am sure, confirm me when I say that in
tons; first, the ability of the buyer to
buy; and, second, the point at which
foreign competition can enter.
with respect to other protected COM
modities, and with respect to all the
agricultural products, there is the liv-
lest, keenest, most persistent COMPETE
ton, and these commodities are sold at
a low American price. Protection with
home competition makes low market;
protection without competition makes
high market. Let us not be deluded
with the artful phrase that low mar
ket in which to buy means a low mar
ket in which to sell. 1t is common
knowledge that the steel rail mills of this
country have been selling their product
regularly in other countries at an aver
age of 5000 per ton less than their
price in their own country, and it is
well known that practically all forms OF
iron and steel have been sold by our
manufacturers abroad much cheaper
than they have been sold at home. The
output of these mills sold in our own
country is enormous, and, by reason OF
excessive duties, costs our people mil
lions more than it should cost them.
This has been the contribution which the
consumers of iron and steel in the
United States have made, all above
and beyond fair profit, to the folly of
that craftsmanship which is lauded by
the standpatter as the perfection of hui
man reason, and the most praiseworthy
example of patriotic intelligence. If we
were to Danish the idea of reciprocity
from the memory of man, and expunge
the word from the language of our race,
there would still be an imperative de-
mand for the revision of the tariff
schedules.
81 have but moment which | can de-
vote to reciprocity. The thought which
underlies protection is to increase as
well as diversity our products, and to
furnish the maximum amount of en-
ployment to our people. We are equal
ly interested, therefore, in our home and
| foreign markets. Whatever we can do
| to increase our sales abroad that will
not in greater degree lessen our sales
at home, we are bound by the highest
obligation to do. Speaking from the
standpoint of a western man, interest
ed in agriculture, deplore the policy
which has closed to the farmer the mar
| kets of France, which is about to shut
the doors of Germany upon us, and
which, if pursued, will finally leave us
for our surplus England alone; and no
man can tell how soon her gates may
swing over the ports that are now free.
Until within recent time, our agricul-
tural exports formed the great bulk OF
our sales abroad. We have not APP
preached the limit of the capacity of
our soil, and the congress which is blind