The Sentinel=record. (Hot Springs, Ark.) 1900-current, 1911-06-04

agreement received when it was sent
to the senate, surprised, even those
who were responsible for its making
and | am confident that further con-
sideration of the treaty since its sub
mission to congress in January last,
has only confirmed the popular judg-
ment in favor of its adoption into
law.
"The treaty is pending in Wash
ington and the decision must be made
in the senate of the United States.
The question naturally arises, why /
should come out from Washington to
Chicago a matter of a thousand
miles, to speak on an issue like this
when the persons to be reached are
so much nearer my usual place OF
residence. The bill will pass, if i
passes at all, because of the force OF
public opinion in its favor.
The agreement has been crit cisco
because it was framed as a com
pleted document by the state depart
ment, without consultation with
members Of the house or the senate,
and we of the administration have
been subjected to many at
tacks on this ground. The subject
matter of the treaty however, is OF
such a character covered so many
different items, that if conferences
had been sought in respect to those
items, the individual objections by
senators and representatives would
have been so many that we would
never have reached an agreement at
ali. One of the great objections to the
old method of framing a tariff bill was
that the order to secure its passage,
every ristrict had 20 be given some
thing in the bill in the way OF pro-
lection, whether it needed il or not,
for the purpose of appeasing the rep
resentatiyes OF that district and Sc
suring his support. This method was
obviously calculated to produce a bIll,
drawn not with a view to the protec-
tion but for many industries that did
not need it at all. Hence, the propo-
sition has been made and has receiv-
ed the general approval, that the var
ious schedules of the tariff should be
considered separately, and that the
amount of protection to be furnished
to a particular product should be de-
termined on its merits with reference
to the cost of its production at home
and abroad. Now the Canadian reclp-
rocity agreement in little different
way involves In its consideration the
the same principle. 1t calls for APP
proval of it as a unit, without regard
to the necessity for tariff revision, If
there be such necessity in respect to
other schedules of the tariff not af
fected or touched by it.
Il venture to think there is much
less real opposition to reciprocity
than has been reported in Washington
for the purpose of influencing votes
in both houses. am very hopeful,
that the bill will pass the senate
and when 1t does pass and has been
agreed on by the Canadian parlia-
ment it's actual operation will be so
beneficial to both countries that the
arguments against its adoption Will be
forgotten, or will only be remember
ed as exaggerated instances or per-
verted imagination. | say this be-
cause | have examined the argu-
ments and compared them with the
actual statistics and also because
similar experiences that the people of
the United States have had in re-
spect to the adoption of partial re-
ciprocity with Cuba and OF comp'e,e
reciprocity with Porto Rico and the
Philippines.