“We have striven to know, both before coming to Washington and since our arrival here, what are the objections to the treaty. We have been informed that the knit-goods manufacturers have been opposed to the ratification of the treaty. We are now informed that of the $100,000,000 worth of knit-goods consumed in the country last year, only $240,000 came from France. We have been informed that the manufacturers of pottery and silks were opposed to the ratification of the treaty. We are now told that both industries have admitted that no injury would be suffered by them. We have learned that the manufacturers of spectacles have believed that they would suffer injury, but they were shown that there would still remain to them eighty-eight per cent of the present tariff; they have been satisfied to believe that no injury would come to them. We have been informed that the manufacturers of imitation jewellery object to the ratification of the treaty. We understand that the treaty proposed to reduce the duty from 60 to 57 per cent. We are further informed that the probabilities are that the result of the treaty will increase far more largely the exports of this class of manufacturers from the United States to France than they import from France to the United States. “We have heard that opposition to the ratification of the treaty has been based upon the proposed reduction in our tariff on prunes. We find that our exports of prunes to France amount to $260,000, while the imports of prunes from France to the United States amount to $14,000. We have understood that manufacturers of chemicals, gloves, and braids have stated that they will be injured by the ratification of the treaty. After an honest effort to learn the facts in the case, we are reduced to the conclusion that in actual working of this treaty the injuries suffered by them would be problematical in every case, and imaginary in most cases.” Treaty after treaty was negotiated, but in spite of urgency from the most respectable sources, Congress refused to act on them, and finally in March, 1901, Mr. Kasson resigned. His chief did not give up the cause, however, for in the memorable Buffalo speech of September 5, 1901, Mr. McKinley said: “The period of exclusiveness is past. The expansion of our trade and commerce is the pressing problem. Reciprocity treaties are in harmony with the spirit of the times; measures of retaliation are not. If, perchance, some of our tariffs are no longer needed for revenue, or to encourage and protect our industries at home, why should they not be employed to expand and promote our markets abroad?”