The Washington herald., 1911-06-04

upon In the agreement-and others not
affecting the agreement at all, but at
tempting a revision and reduction OF
duties on certain articles from all coun-
tries.
I'm the first class comes what is known
as the Root amendment which pro-
poses an amendment to the bill, as II
came from the House, embodying the
exact terms of the reciprocity agreement
with reference tos paper and material;
that is. a provision that when the re-
strictions on the expectation Of pulp wood
from Canada are removed by the pro-
vinces, pulp wood may come In free into
the United States. without the payment
Of any export> duty, then there may be
free trade in paper between Canada and
the United States in print paper.
THE pending bill provides. as have
already stated, that in order to induce
the lifting of the restrictions which
are now imposed by the Canadian prov
inces on wood from the Crown lands,
which includes about nine-tenths of the
Canadian wood. paper made in Canada
from wood upon which there is no re-
striction in Canada may come In free.
Amendment Agreeable.
TT is only fair to say, with refer
ence to the Root amendment, that II is
ment. But II does not offer the induce
ment to the lifting of the Canadian re-
strictions which the present provision
in the bill does. More than this. there
are so many in favor Of the provision In
fear that its adoption in the Senate
might prove an obstacle to the passage
Of the bill through both houses.
The second class of amendments are
those by which It is proposed to remove
the duty on meat and flour and other
commodities passing from Canada into
the United States, so that the Canadians
may introduce these articles without
duty into the United States. while the
American producers Of the like commod-
tiles will have to pay duty to Canada
to export them to that country.
THE serious objection to these amend
ments is that, as they are gratuitous
concessions to Canada, they will neces-
sarily be enlarged by the provisions of
what is called the favored nation clause
in the treaties with other countries. so
that the free trade on them with Cana
da will result in free trade with all other
countries with whom such treaties are
made. This is legislating In the dark,
and is Objectionable on that account.
'1f duties are to be removed, they
ought to be removed In bill which
states on its face the whole effect, so
that the wisdom, or lack of il, of the
provision may be fully considered and
weighed before its adoption
Unity May Defeat Bill.
THE third class Of amendments finds
an illustration In the proposal to put
upon the reciprocity bill the so-called
Farmers free list as an amendment.
without respect to the merit Of the farm
ers' free list, the objection to by an
amendment is that to unite reciprocity
and the farmers free list is to defeat
both bills.
Those in favor OF both, therefore, II
they are sincerely in favor Of both, ought
to be willing to allow the reciprocity
agreement to be voted upon as a sepa-
rate measure, and upon its merits, and to
rejoice in its passage. even II they may
not have accomplished all that they de-
sire in the further revision Of the tariff. :"
The President arrived in Chicago at 2
o'clock. In the afternoon he was the
guest OF the Irish Fellowship Club, and
afterward received several delegations
which wished to extend him invitations
to visit Chicago on several other occa-
sions. He leaves here tomorrow morning
for Washington.