Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1905-09-02
SHAW TO CUMMINS.
Replies to Charges Made at
Reciprocity Convention.
WAS IN FAVOR OF FRENCH TREATY
Tells why 1t Wasn't Ratined-Denfei
Statement of Iowa's Governor That
He Committed Prophecies
of Debate.

statement OF towa's Governor IhHk
He Committed Prophecies
of Debate.
CHICAGO, Aug. 2S.- Secretary OF
the Treasury Leslie NJ. Shaw has made
public 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:
"In carefully prepared address de
livered before the reciprocity conyen-
ton at Chicago, which the papers say
yeu read, Lest you might be misre-
ported you used this language:
""The secretary of the treasury in a
speech recently delivered in Des
Moines is reported as saying that the
explanation of the refusal of the SEN
ate to consider the French treaty is
that it gives everything to France and
nothing to the United States. | must
do him the justice to believe that he
never read the treaty, for otherwise he
has committed a grave offense against
the proprieties of debate
81 did not see that portion of your
address until | came west and have
delayed writing that / might ascertain
where | was reported to have made
such a statement. / knew / did not
say it or anything that could be so in
terpreted, but / was not so sure about
the report. The occasion was an in
formal luncheon, and the speech was
impromptu, though not extemporane-
GUS. / find that both of the Des
Moines Republican daily papers rep
resented at the luncheon reported me
as saying:
at was an enthusiast among those
who favored the reciprocity treaties.
Among these treaties was one with
France The French contract gave her
an advantage in entering the Ameri-
can market over every other country
on seventy articles, in consideration
of which she agreed to apply her mini
mum tariff to our exports to France
except as to twenty articles, including
horses, butter, eggs, cheese, leather
goods, machines machine tools, dyna-
mos, etc.-that is, if we would treat
France better than we did any other
country France would treat us about
as well as she did any other nation.
"'Of course the treaty was not rati-
fed / say of course. / mean merely
to say it was not ratified. There were
those in the senate who declared that
they did not believe this nation should
discriminate against Great Britain,
where we sell So00,000,000 of our ex-
ports, for the benefit of a nation which
takes less than $200,000,000.'
"While the report is not verbatim, it
is substantially correct. Whether i
read the treaty before making the
statement is relatively Of little i'm
portance, but If the treaty as nego-
tiated did not give France a reduction
from our regular tariff rates on sub
stantially seventy articles-to be exact,
sixty -nine articles, counting every va
riety of silk manufacture as one arti-
cle-then it may be conceded that had
not read it, and if it did not exempt
twenty American articles from the pro-
visions of the French minimum rate
of duty as follows: Horses, butter,
lucerne and clover seed, fodder, cast
iron, skins and hides, prepared; boots
and shoes and parts of same, belts
and cords and other leather articles
manufactured for machinery. dynamos
macnlne TOOLS, dynamo conductors ana
parts, arc lamps, known as regulators
sugar chieory roots, green or dried,
eggs, cheese, honey, porcelain, card
board, rough or in sheets, then it may
be conceded that l violated the proprie
ties of debate, though an informal talk
at luncheon is several removes from
a debate.
you, my dear governor, and / have
had some experience in the trial OF
cases, and we have seldom lost through
the misrepresentation of our opponents
Attorneys usually and lawyers always
state a position of their professional
adversaries. Certainly friends and adj
herents 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 hay
ing made a specific statement, | write
to inquire where you saw the report OF
my speech as given in your Chicago
address. / have not seen it, and |
wish to correct the record as soon rs
possible. Please advise"