The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-10-06
THE NECESSITIES OF TAFT AND THE
 RECIPROCITY TREATY
(By Amos Pinchot.)


 at the last session of Congress which
 President Taft did not veto is the
 so-called Reciprocity bill, which was passed by the Senate on July 23d and signed by the President a few days l later.
 President Taft is explaining why ne was unwilling to sign other tariff has given Congress the benefit of It's researches. Let us therefore exam inc the one tariff-reducing bill which l the President was willing to sign without waiting for the Tariff Boards report.
 | In view of the fact that during the months of June and July almost ev- | cry newspaper in the United States l made daily headline references to l Reciprocity" it is extraordinary that not one person out of a thousand has | the slightest idea of what the "Re- ciprocity'' bill contained.
 | On July 23, the day after the Re ! ciprocity'' bill was passed, MT. Taft l sent to William Randolph Hearst the following telegram:
 The Presidents Cottage, Beverly, l Mass, July 23, 1911.
 | York:
 wish to express my high appre-
 citation of the energetic work of the | seven Hearst papers and of the mem I pCiS OA yOQI Stdll TUT tu0lI GcIuGSt | and useful effort to spread the gos- pei of reciprocity, and I congratulate | them on the success that has attend ed the Evangel.
 1 William H. Taft" 1 Now that the excitement is over now that the President and his fol- lowers are congratulating the country on the success that has attended the l "Evangel," it is certainly time that 1 the country should acquire some def l mite idea of what the "Reciprocity" l bill was, why it was proposed, and | why 1t was supported, opposed ana finally passed.
 The Necessities of the Nominating Machine.
 | It has long been evident to MT. Taft's political managers that the rank and file of the Republican par ty is progressive, and favors the nom ination of a frankly progressive can didatc. It has been fully understood that MT. Taft's political alliances have | organization. The hope of the Re- publican administration that MT. Taft will be renominated is therefore not based on any illusion to the effecl that he Is the universal choice of the people. It is founded rather on the control exercised by the regular Re- publican machine over delegates to the national convention in two great sections of the countryside South and the manufacturing districts of the East and the Middle West. The story of the capture of the Republican machine in the South by Presidential patronage is too familiar to need explanation. In the East the Republican machine is largely in the hands of the capitalistic interests ana will probably support MT. Taft's biu for a second term.
 an nd 11n oorinr11fl1- ral districts of the Middle West, On the other hand, the President has lit- tie hope of obtaining any considera bfe number of delegates owing to the facl that, in the last gubernatorials ana Congressional elections, the RepuD- licans generally expressed their dis approval of his administration by nominating Progressives and practf- caily destroying the old guard organ izations The President and his ad- visers are fully aware that Republ- cans of the Western and most of the Middle Western States will show lit tie enthusiasm toward renominating or re-electing the man who has con- stant1y fought the Progressives through each session of Congress. As dency in 1912 are concerned, the West and a large part of the Middle West may be relegated to the scrap heap. They do not fit the regular Republican political machine.
 It is therefore all the more impor- tant that MT. Taft's managers. should take the utmost pains to conciliate the South, East and the manufacturing districts of the Middle West and make sure of the delegates from these sec- tionS.
 Whom .sReciprocity'' Helps and
 Whom It Threatens.
 With the above consideration in mind, let us glance for moment at the ''Act to promote reciprocal trade relations, with the Dominion of Can ada, and for other purposes, gener- ally referred to as Reciprocity" Such an examination will reveal the following facts:
 That raw materials, which the manufacturers use in producing the necessities of life, are admitted free.
 That the duties on the necessarfes of life, in the form in which the con- sumner uses them, are either not re- duced at all, or are, subjected to a merely nominal reduction.
 Thus beef on the hoof, wheat, corn and rye, which the manufacturers use in their busineess, come in free; while the importation of dressed beef wheat flour, corn meal and rye flour is penalized by heavy tariff.
 Take. for example, the schedule relative to beef on the hoof and dress ed beef. From the fact that, under Reciprocity" beef on the hoof comes in free of duty, it follows that the beef packers, commonly referred to as the Beef Trust, are in a position to benefit by whatever reduction in the price of cattle on the hoof may, now or in the future, be brought about by the competition of Canadian cattle raisers with our cattle raisers. But inasmuch as the consumer does not use beef on the hoof, and inasmuch as he does use dressed beef or mear, the only possible gain by the con- sumner from cheaper cattle from Can ada lies in the hope that the pack CTS will give him the benefit of the saving they make by being able to buy cheaper cattle. Unfortunately experience teaches us that such hopes are seldom realized. Free cattle from. Canada for the Beef Trust also means that the American farmer or rancher must raise and market his cattle in competition with Cana dian raised cattle-whatever that competition may be at present ana whatever it may become in the fu- ture.
 From the fact that the "Reci- procity'' bill provides for a duty of one and one-Quarter cents per pound on dressed beef, it follows that pack CTS are protected against present or future Canadian competition-in fac, much more thoroughly protected than under the Payne-Aldrich tarffr as under Reciprocity the duty on the raw materials which they use is abolished, awhile the duty against Ca