8S IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



to the necessity for agricultural exports and that concessions be made 

 to the manufacturers of foreign nations in order that they may continue 

 to buy our agricultural products. When manufacturers are able to 

 flood the world then let us have a chance. That is the attitude that the 

 agricultural interests practically occupy. . 



Now I have heard a great many distinguished gentlemen deny, that 

 the surplus was of any great importance, and say it did not make any dif- 

 ference at what price it was sold. I noticed a speech of Mr. McCleary of 

 Minnesota in which in replying to Governor Cummins he said, what if 

 there is a little export of 3 per cent less than what is sold at home? It 

 is the surplus all the time that is the bai'ometer that shows the con- 

 dition of any industry. It is what is sold abroad that indicates what 

 can be done. We say that the surplus that the iron manufacturers have 

 sold abroad is no small item, it is an enormous amount. What was it 

 selling at? I have had a little personal experience with regard to that. 

 I feel sure they do not sell a pound abroad at a loss, I assume that as a 

 fixed proposition. They are not going to ship anything abroad to sell 

 at a loss. I believe in some cases they sell it for less than they do at 

 home here — I know it, because I have bought of them abroad. I believe 

 in a majority of cases however, that the reduction in the labor cost of 

 our manufacturers has been so great, and the superior excellence of our 

 machinery has been so marked that we are able to meet on a fair basis 

 the manufacturers of the world, and that we can undersell them and still 

 make a profit. So I say the same thing can much better be done at home. 



Here is an address which I cut out of the "Iron Age", certainly a good 

 authority, an address delivered by William M. Pratt, at a recent conven- 

 tion of the American Hardware Mfgrs. Association. I will not attempt 

 to read it all, but he says a good many things. 



"Reciprocity, which means a mutual interchange of rights ana privi- 

 leges, has been criticized in the abstract and condemned in the con- 

 crete." That is a quotation from your distinguished Governor, who is 

 one of the leaders in this movement. "As having a bearing on the com- 

 mercial relations between individuals it is necessary to commercial suc- 

 cess. Having been dragged into politics it has been so mercilessly abus- 

 ed by both political parties that hardly a semblance of its real meaning 

 remains. In the days of Blaine, when Reciprocity was spoken of, as a 

 hand-maiden of protective policy, it was assailed by the Democrats as a 

 farce and misnomer, and when a certain element of the Republican party, 

 realizing the country's commercial need, attempted to use this policy for 

 our advantage in foreign markets, they have been termed traitors to the 

 cause, of protection. 



"Are the great commercial interests of this country to stand idly by 

 and allow a policy which is essential to our success in foreign markets to 

 be mutilated in policies? Gentlemen of the Manufacturers Association, 

 each and every one of you who has an export trade at this time, or ever 

 expect to have one is vitally interested in this matter. No one, not even 

 the foreign buyer, questions the wisdom of a protective tariff, neither 



