The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-29

gar, four cents g. gallon on molasses. three cents pound on cofffree. and ten cents on tea. The debate fin the Ben ate. was rather uninterestinx, showing an effort to jockey for position in the ensuing presidential election. The ex- ceptlon was when the constitutional F ny or the clause was argued The democrats contended tlst 1t conferred on the President power that was ves- ted in Congress. and that when left to his discretion rather than to that of Congress it was dangerous. if indeed not unconstitutional. This view was shared by Edmunds of Vermont, and Evarts of New York. two of the ablest men on the Republican side of the Sem ate The Republicans asserted that the power conferred upon the President was merely administrative-to do cer. tain weli-defined things in event cer. tain equally we'll defined contingen- cies developed. They Qdoted many pre- cedents for their position.
 That William Mckinley did not think much of Reciprocity before 1t was in- troduced in the Senate may be infer red from a statement made by him in the House 6 month before Blaine wrote his celebrated letter. He was talking about tariffs in general and stated that "whenever we have had low tariff or Reciprocity we have been the loser"
 The parties had both faced about on Reciprocity. President Pierce had ne- gotiated 8 Reciprocity treaty with Cam ada in 1854. which received the sane ton of Congress the next year. It was said that Canada got the long end Of the bargain. and that the only part of the United States which received & benefit from the treaty was the South. Cotton, rice. pitch. tar turpentine. and tobacco were the only articles in long list for which Canada offered a market. Canada sought to compensate for her loss of revenue through the admission of free raw materials under the treaty, by adding duties to manu- lecturers. The result was that the ex- portation of American goods to Cam ada in 1862 was smaller than before the enactment of the treaty. An ef- fort was made in Congress- to secure better terms for the United States. Failing in this England was given a curt notice that the treaty would be abrogated. The abrogation took place in 1868.
 The next Reciprocity convention the limited States entered into was one with Hawaii, negotiated by Secretary Fish. This provided for free trade between the ports of the two coun- tries. A renewal of this agreement was negotiated in 1884. but was not ratified until 1887. It conceded to the limited States the harbor at Pearl Is- tand. stipulated that the king should not dispose of any port or territory, neither give any special rights to any other power. nor enter into recipro- cal relation with any other country. In addition. the word bananas was substituted for fruit" in the treaty, thus exempting California fruits from the danger of Hawaiian competition.
 An firaf nAROtiA- ted the New York Tribune said: And ouite probably some of our sons of manifest destiny believe it may open the way to the ultimate annexation of the islands" It did open the way. and the Tribune was one of the sons Of manifest destiny" who upheld the &C., tion.
 passed 1t abrogated the Reciprocity clause of the Mckinley tariff. and the Republlcan national convention round- Iy denounced the Democrats for that action, saying 1t was national calam- ity. When the Dingley tariff law was enacted, Reciprocity was re-enacted with it. and at the same time extend ed to other than Western hemisphere countries. The Reciprocity of the Mo Kinley law became known as "Tropi- cal Reciprocity" because 1t was made to apply almost entirely to tropical countries.
 But the Reciprocity of the Dingley law sought to open the gates of Spain and other countries to American man ufactures and foodstufts by opening our ports to champagnes. still wines, and other competitive products. In accordance with the provisions of the Dingley law. President Mckinley appointed John NJ. Kasson and several others, members of Q commission with power to negotiate Reciprocity treaties. They met with considerable success in the negotiations with other govern ments. but when they came tc negoti- ate with the United States 1t wac a different story. There is as fine a line of Reciprocity treaties stowel