The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-13
GERMAN BUGABOO
 NOT so OBVIOUS
M'cLEARY ANSWERS SOME OF THE ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF CATERING TO THE GERMAN TRADE.

New York February 12.-The twentieth annual Lincoln dinner of the Republican club of New York was held tonight at the Waldorf-Astoria. The 42O men pres ent were seated in the grand ball room and more than one hundred women were served in the Astor gallery and later heard the speeches from the boxes. Gen Henry Edwin Tremain president or the club, was toastmaster. The toasts ln- cluded;
 Abraham Llincoln"-Gen. Horace Por- ter
 "The Republican Party "-Representa- tive J. s. Fassett.
 Shall the United States Make Its own Laws ?'-Representative J. T. McSleafy of Minnesota
 Representative McCleary sald:.
 "rhe United States need not lower the tariff on products now imported from Germany for fear that our export trade 10 that country would be ruined if such tariff reduction is not made was the contention of Congressman McCleary.
 Responding to the toast small the he. public Continue to Make It's Own LawsY' he outlined first what he said was the true course for the new German taIlH law which goes into effect next month. The framing of this law he declared, was revision of German tariffs made neees- sary by expiration of commercial treaties which Germany adopted over ten years ago. He added that 1t was perteeliy natural revision, and he called 1t an in- sult to the German empire to claim that this new tariff law was made for the purpose of getting even with the United States on account of our tariff laws.s 1T. Ear.,aarc
 "ren thousand circulars the speaker continued, "are being sent out from Chi cago every day by an organization whose object is to stir up the American farmers. especially those of the central west against our present tariff law.
 "One of the cries ofthis organization Is Germany, our second best customer, will be lost to us if we do not make concession to her Let us examine that proposition. During the fiscal year 1905 we sold to Germany goods to the value of s2l2, 696,329. It would be too bad to lose a market like that"
 To show that this market would not be entirely lost,N MT. McCleary said that American products to the value of $l20, 0O00 900 which were exported to Germany last year still would remain on the free list of the new German tariff law. Corn Is among these products. Another line of articles amounting to S2O0O0,00O of our total German exports, he said would pay only one rate of duty under the new law, giving American exporters an equal com petitive opportunity with foreign traders for this S20,0O0,0O0 worth of commerce.
 Tn as much as this Chicago organiza- tion.' continued MT. McCleary, lis di- reeting it's energies toward trying to make our farmers of the middle west feel that they are going to suffer greatly If We do not do something for Germany 1t may not be amss to state that our total sales of wheat. wheat flour and all other bread stuffs except corn to Ger many in 1905 amounted to S4 96s,14 Of corn we sold Germany about seven to twelve million dollars worth a year ago This is only about one per cent of our crop, and if we lost 1t we would scarcely know of the loss without being told.
 About the Meat Product. How about meat products? Aside from something less than $15,OOO 0O0 worth of lard (which she cannot get elsewhere { anyway Germany took only S1, ,s77, 4o5 worth of meat from us last year. Less than 2,OO0m0, then, measures the much vaunted market In Germany for our ani- maj and meat exports. For the last ten years our sales of cattle to Germany have amounted in all to sl0S, 745 or about BIO. 600 yeaJ. In sixteen years we have sold Germany just ten hogs at $25S and one sheep at S5 The Chicago organization IS trying to make the mouths of our Iafmers water by talking of a market over there for meat products to the value