Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-26
The State DEPARTMENTS View.

1t is admitted at the State Department
that pour parlerS have been in progress
for the last three months between the
United States embassy at Berlin and the
German foreign office respecting the effect
upon the existing reciprocity agreement
between the United States and Germany
of the operation of the new trade treaties
concluded between Germany on the one side
and Belgium, Italy, Austr1a-Hungary, Rou-
mania, Russia, Switzerland and Servia on
the other, but far Ambassador Tower
has not notified the department that the
German government has decided to ter
inmate the existing arrangement. The eff
feet of formal declaration of that kind
would be very serious, 1t Is reared, ana
Mr.. Tower is now engaged in one or the
most difficult and complex tasks which he
has yet been called upon to discharge. If
the arrangement is denounced and no sub
stitute is found then it may be that the
United States and Germany Will soon be-
come involved in great tariff war, which
would certainly prove disastrous to one or
both of the principals, in view of the vast
amount of trade between the two countries
which would be affected.
The situation in brief at this moment is as
follows: In July, 1900, reciprocity arrange
ment was entered into between the United
States and Germany under section 3 of the
Dingley act, whereby, in return Tor re
duction of duty upon German ARGOS, pran-
dies. still wines and works OF art entering
the United States, Germany agreed to give
United States products the benefit of the
tariff reductions accorded to the European
countries above named. Now Germany has
drawn a new convention with those coun-
tries changing the tariff rates, and is dis
posed to refuse the United States the bene-
fit of those special rates under the old
Dingley convention.
The State Department holds that the
new conventions are really nothing more
than amendments of the original treaties,
ard that therefore the spirit of the Dingley
act agreement would. seem to cause 1t 10
amply with equal force to the new conVen-
tions Correspondence is now passing to
clear up this difference of view In the
background is a Well-recOgniZed purpose on
the part of the German government 10
cause the United States to greatly enlarge
the list of articles named in the Dingiey
agreement, but as these are specially Inn
tied in the Dingley act that object can be
attained only by the negotiation OF an en-
tirely new reciprocity treaty. SO II the
German government denounces the present
agreement the United States must either
conclude such a reciprocity treaty or sub
nit to the withdrawal of the most favored
nation privilege and the imposition on
American imports into Germany of full
maximum tariff rates, which in many cases
will be practically prohibitive and which
" ouId probably cause such an cutlery from
the exporting interests of the country as
would force Congress to retallatory leglSla-
ton and mark the beginning of great
tariff war If Mr.. Tower is finally impressed
with the soundness of the German conten-
ton respecting the inapplicability of the
existing arrangement to the new European
treaties and proceeds to draw up g reci-
procity treaty, the issue Will be transferred
suuarely to the United States Senate at It's
next session, and that outcome Is probable.