84 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



was 57,423,070 pounds; in 1904 it amounted to 4,119,940 pounds. The total 

 imports of all meats fell from 103,934,700 pounds in 1898 to 9,552,400 

 pounds in 1904. 



That shows the extent to which our markets are being cut off. To 

 Italy we furnish practically nothing. France tried to get into proper 

 relations with us. she entered into a reciprocity treaty under Mr. Mc- 

 Kinloys auspices, which I have alluded to, negotiated by Mr. Kasson, by 

 which she reduced duties upon our imports, into her country by 15 to 

 40 per cent, and we reduced the duty upon limited articles from her 

 country on an average of about 7 per cent, from 5 to in one or two cases 

 twenty per cent. And yet for some reason or other the Senate absolutely 

 refused to ratify it. Special interests came to Washington, I remember 

 it distinctly, because I made every effort possible for me to make in order 

 to secure the ratification of these treaties. The treaty with France would 

 have been worth 40 millions a year to the agricultural interests of this 

 country, and it would have been the beginning of a great trade. But 

 special interests came in, the knit goods interests of Rhode Island, al- 

 though they are enjoying a duty of about 65 per cent said they could not 

 stand a reduction of ten per cent. The brass jewelry manufacturers of 

 Connecticut protesting. The cloth manufacturing insisted they could not 

 live with a reduction of about ton per cent on their products, although 

 there is a high protection for them. And so it brought about the re- 

 jection of this great treaty, good for the agricultural interests, and which 

 would have been the beginning of better things. 



What is the duty, what is the attitude of the livestock and agricultural 

 interests; because our grain, v/heat and flour are as much affected, they. 

 are to be excluded. As a matter of course we are more concerned in the 

 finished product; we want to feed our grain to our steers and hogs ana 

 ship the finished product; we want to grind our wheat into flour and ship 

 nothing but flour. Those ought to be the things this country ought to 

 foster and encourage. What is to be the attitude of you gentlemen, what 

 are you going to do about it? A great party now in politics in this 

 country has pledged itself over and over in favor of reciprocal arrange- 

 ments with foreign governments. The last expression of the will of the 

 people is to-day to be found in section 3 and 4 in the Dingley Bill. 



Section 3, provides for reciprocal arrangements on a few limited 

 articles, and secretary Root is trying to-day to do the best he can with 

 Germany under that section, but it confines him to a small number of 

 articles of limited use. The German Governnient insists that there must 

 be more articles added to that list. Section 4 covers all the articles men- 

 tioned in the tariff schedules and it provides that when reciprocal con- 

 cessions could be obtained the President of the United States was 

 authorized to make trea,ties with foreign governments to reduce the duties 

 described in the Dingley act by not to exceed 20 per cent. The misfor- 

 tune was that those treaties were not to be put in force by the President 

 alone but they must be submitted for ratification to the Senate, and 

 there is whore the interests of the country have been crucified. One 

 trouble was that the provision of section 4 of the Dingley bill was that 



