The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-22
HOUSE DEMOCRATS WITH
 DEUCE OF VOTES PASS
 RECIPROCITY AGREEMENT
In Course Debate Mr. Underwood Says Steel Corporation Threatened To Turn Him Out of Congress Because
 He Favored Reduction of the Steel Tariff

1 surrender the halls of Congress to
 them,' explained MT. Cannon.
 1 Representative Longworth of Ohio
 pointed out that any reduction of du- 1 ties as proposed in the free list amend
 nents would violate the reia tions be- l tween. the United States and all other countries, as 1t would give Canadian goods a special preference in the AUer- i ican markets.
 l q challenge the statement that we are going to pass the free list bill
 later on with the expectation that it
 will not become law" said Democratic Leader Underwood in reply to state ments from republican opponents of 1 the reciprocity bill. The free list bill will become law or the republican Sen ate that kills it, or the republican Pres ident that vetoes it will never be heard
 from again."
 Mccall Opens Debate l Opening the debate, Representative Mccall declared farmers had been pushed forward to hide the real inter- ests opposed to the agreement. 1 "The farmer is not the sad-eyed monstrosity that he has been painted l in this House." he declared.
 l "The advantage of this reciprocity I agreement will not be to reduce the price of wheat. but when the time of our scarcity comes 1t will prevent rise l in price by giving us free access to the Canadian supply" t.
 | Any attempt to tack new free list
 onto the reciprocity bill as an amend
 ment would completely upset the whole reciprocity argument, declared MT. Me Call.
 | Mr. Danzell of Pennsylvania declared the agreement had been made without authority of law, that 1t had sbeen made without popular desire for it, and under the guse of a measure to reduce the cost of living. He called the agreement a "bungling piece of statesmanship' and characterized 1t as an "open, avowed, free trade measure." sats Underwood Takes Floor | MT. Underwood then took the floor 10 make the closing address of the long de- bate.
 The enactmenE of the reciprocity bill 1 into law, he declared would mark the end of the period of exclusion" in the economic policy of the country insofar as customs laws affect the industrial l conditions of the nation.
 l For 50 years,r he said, 'the repub- lican party has maintained the policy of excluding from the home market, as far as it has been able to do so, competitive
 products from other countries In the beginning this policy was inaugurated
 with the express declaration that Ii wa, l intended to develop new industries until they were strong enough to stand alone
 and face, in the open. the markets of the
 world and the rivalry of our protective
 competitors, but the greed for gain has
 driven the advocates of this theory far beyond the position they maintained at Tits inception. Today there is hardly a great American industry that Is not ex,, porting it's surplus products to the open markets of the world and selling them in free competition with the manufacturers
 and crops of our foreign competitors.
 We would he unrivalled masters of l production and industry in every land | where free competition can be obtained | If we would but strike off the shackles
 that bind us to. the dead and unneces- | sary economic system maintained by l the republican party that creates false
 standards and wasteful conditions at | home" ,395 OK
 MT. Underwood contended that the l nation. should turn from these stand ards, carefully adjusting the laws to
 meet new conditions.withou serious in- l Jury to capital or labor. in order to re-
 duce the cost, of living at home and be
 prepared to dispose of surplus products
 to Insure stability of prices and em- 1 ployment to labor.
 The democratic party. he continued l "deos not Intend to abandon the custom
 houses, but favors policy of levying
 custom duties for revenue purposes
 only at rates that will not destroy fair and honest competition in the home
 market. l say that this bill marks an
 era in the economic life of the nation
 Why? Not that the immediate results will be far reaching, but because 1t
 takes on step in the right direction; a step away from the exclusive protective
 policy, a step toward an honest com | petitive policy"
 l In reviewing recent tariff legislation,
 tCONTINUED ON FACE 4l