Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 January 1902 — WAS REFERRED BACK [ARTICLE]

WAS REFERRED BACK

OTSAPPROVAL OF THE WIDE-OPEN RECIPROCITY PLAN. New York Chamber of Commerce Thinks that the Importing and Foreign Shipping Interests Are Not the Only Ones Entitled to Consideration. m The New York Chamber of Commerce has declined to pass the following .resolutions reported by a. committee whose chairman is Gustav H. Schwab, agent of a foreign line of eteamships: “Resolved, That this Chamber hereby expresses its disapproval of the action taken by the National Reciprocity Convention at Washington as subversive of all attempts to bring about closer. trade relations with our sister nations, and to open new and wider markets for our products; and be It further “Resolved, That the Chamber views with apprehension the policy advocated by the Reciprocity Convention, as likely to invite hostile legislation on the part of the other nations against this country to the great detriment of its commercial interests.” For once the New York Chamber of Commerce seems to have had the presence of mind to recognize the fact that It is not wholly committed to the interests of importers and foreign freight carriers. Present at the meeting were two gentlemen who had served the chamber as delegates to the recopriclay convention. Messrs. Charles A. Schieren and James Talcott demurred to the proposed expression of disapproval, and In this they were supported by Cornelius N. Bliss, who said he favored a proper system of reciprocity, but he did not think that the phamber was sufficiently informed to discuss or take action at this time on so Important a question. The rebuke was indirect, and all the more effective on that account. Three hundred of the leading manufacturers of the United States, after six weeks of preparatory consideration and two days of thorough de* bate in convention, had, with but tw’o dissenting votes, and one of these a delegate from the New England Free Trade League, decided in favor of such reciprocity as may be had “without injury to our manufacturing, commerce and farming.” Rightly Mr. Bliss could contend that snap judgment ought not to be taken against the deliberate action of such a body of well-informed business men as they w’ho made up the reciprocity convention. So Mr. Schwab's resolutions were “referred back,” a polite euphemism for “sat down on.” The free trade New York Times, displeased with this, remarks: “We cannot for the life of us see why this should have been done. They tell the Indisputable truth in a straightforward way. The action taken by the reciprocity convention after its capture and perversion by the protectionists is undoubtedly subversive of attempts to open new and wider markets for our products; and the policy advocated by that convention is just as undoubtedly of a nature to invite retaliatory action by other nations. As a statement of fact, the resolutions are Impeccable.” Does the Times know of any policy so “undoubtedly of a nature to Invite retaliatory action by other nations” as that of granting to one nation special tari: concessions that are denied to competing nations? Does it not know, for example, that the new German tariff now under consideration in the Reichstag contains a clause whlch.provides for the imposition of double duties upon Imports from any country which grants to another nation a lower rate of duties than those imposed upon the products of Germany? To state the case more explicitly, the ratification of the French treaty would be instantly followed by such an increase in the German schedules as would practically bar out all American Imports. What then? Why, a similar reciprocity treaty with Germany, of course. And If with Germany, with all other nations, always excepting Great Britain, the most liberal of all buyers of American exports, but which, having no tariff. could not retaliate. In short, free trade, or _tariff war all round. Of all policies calculated to provoke reprisals and retaliation, the special trade treaty policy is the most provocatory. The New York Chamber of Commerce did well to "refer back" Mr. Schwab's resolutions.—American Economist. Why the Workers Don’t Join In. It Is a source of great disappointment to anti-tariff men that the cry against the trusts, so-called, meqts with so faint a response among those who, if the cry were round and true, ought to be aroused by It to defend their Interests. If, US alleged, the trusts increase prices and depress wages, the wageearners should be fully aware of It and should lose no time In uniting for the regulation, If not for the suppression, of a gigantic evil. But the fact Is that a great army of men and women Is employed by the concerns called trusts, and these workers are probably much better informed on the matter of wages and prices than the anti-trust writers. It Is with them a matter of every-day experience, and they do not Join In the hue and cry. Hardships there probably are, and neither small nor large employers are always just to their people, but there seems to be no evidence of oppressive conditions on a scale large enough to justify the drastic punitory devices advocated by some politicians. lowa hod the NatiotrfP The State of lowa need not care how proud she Is. With two members of the cabinet, the directorship of the mint, the Speakership of the House,

the leadership of the Senate, she leads all her sister States in national power. And if adherence to high ideals, loyalty to great principles, and faithfulness to the pargy that exemplified them may count for political righteousness she amply deserves her good fortune. From the birth of the Republican party to the present time, saxe for the brief episode of Horace Boies, who had Indeed been a Republican, lowa has been devoted to Republicanism, never filtering in the faith, ahd as certain to roll up splendid majorities on that side as Vermont or Massachusetts. Wherefore, then, should she not have her reward? For nearly half a century lowa has been represented in the national councils by able and notable statesmen. In the days of the Civil War,, and before it, Grimes and Harlan represented her in the Senate and ably supported President Lincoln in that great contest. James F. Wilson—not the. present Secretary of Agriculture—was another distinguished lowan who conferred honor on the State through his services to the nation. He was a member of Congress and Senator, and President Grant offered him a seat in his cabinet, which he declined. ‘ • George W. McCrary was another lowan who achieved a national reputation. He was a member of Congress, Secretary of War under President Hayes, and Judge of the United States Circuit Court. William B. Allison, the-present leader of the Senate, has been in public life for more than forty years, serving first in the House of Representatives, and is now in his fifth term as Senator. Samuel J. Kirkwood became celebrated as the war Governor of lowa during the Civil War, and was subsequently Senator and Secretary of the Interior. These are but a few of the.men yvho have guided the political destinies of the Hawkeye State in one of the greatest epochs of our history, and it is In the development of able and brilliant men that lowa has won and is entitled to the distinguished place she holds today. And it will be found that the men who are now so prominent are worthy successorsxpf the great men whose names we have mentioned.—Chicago Journal. Only the Sick Need Medicine. There are men who believe that all that is necessary to revise the tariff Is to give a brief time to cutting of duties. The country was prosperous in 1892 until the defeat of Gen. Harrison made sweeping tariff revision certain. Such sweeping revision was made in the Wilson bill, which the House passed. The Gorman bill, which became law, saved the iron and other schedules, but the certainty of revision along purely revenue lines was the leading cause of the panic which followed the inauguration of Mr. Cleveland. Recovery did not come until the passage of the Dingley law. - - , . . With this warning before the country the general revision of the tariff should be made with the greatest care. The country is prosperous beyond precedent Few people can be greatly injured by retention of the present tariff for a season, when labor Is so generally employed and many lines of manufacture are crowded with orders. The Pittsburg Dispatch, an independent Republican paper, bolding conservative views bn the tariff, is right when it says that “Tariff revision is a medicine; it may do some good when commerce is unhealthy, but if, in the height of business vigor, we begin tinkering the Industrial body with nostrums, it may very soon reach the condition of bad health.” The growing sentiment among Republicans who discuss the question in Washington is in favor of submitting the revision to a body of experts. But, whatever policy may be adopted, the Republican party will be united in its support—lndianapolis Journal. Let It Alone. The best way to treat the tariff is to let It alone. The most amazing thing in the world Is this persistent attempt to have it tinkered. There is no more sense In it than there would be in a movement to revive the free silver issue on the ground that the country, having prospered under the gold standard, ought to have a change. The two things go together. It was the Dingley act, in conjunction with the monetary legislation of the Republican party, that brought the country out of depression and established its fortunes anew. These two are the twin pillars of the temple of prosperity. Why should either or them be shaken? We hope and we believe that loyalty to country ns well as to party will be strong enough to cause this view to prevail. Walt until some harm comes from the tariff, Instead of untold blessings, before we think of changing It. There is danger to the people and the threat of ruin to the Republican party In every assault upon the tariff.—Red Wing. (Minn.) Republican. Attain the International Trust. According to dispatches from Pittsburg, overtures have been made by the glass manufacturers of Belgium, through their representative, M. Jules Uerneart. to the Pittsburg Plate Glass' Company and to the American Window Glass Company looking toward the formation of an international glass combination which shall control the world's trade in plate and window glass. The plan proposed. It is stated. Is to advance the Belgian prices to meet the American prices and to divide markets. In case the proposed deal Is consummated, It will be up to our free trade friends to explain to a waiting public just how the abolition of the tariff on glass will destroy the glans “trusts,” so-called."’ . Paddle your own canoe, but If yoa want to run a man-of-war sec ar* the services of an engineer.