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LIBERAL ANSWERS

TORY ASSERTIONS

The purpose of this leaflet is to reply in a fair and candid
manner to the principal charges brought against the Dominion
Government by Tory speakers in Manitoba as well as by the Tory-
campaign literature circulated here. Each charge will be stated
as fully as possible; no serious point made by the Tories will be
omitted ; and the answers, it is believed, will be such as to satisfy
honest-minded men of all parties.

CONDITION OF THE MANITOBA FARMER.

First, it is said that while the country at large lias been prosr
perous during the last four years, the Manitoba fanuer is not any
better off than before. Mr. Hugh John Macdonald maintains
that ho is worse off, because, while the price of store and factory
goods has increased, there has been no increase worth speaking of
in the price of farm products.

This assertion admits of a ready test. The farm staples of
Manitoba are wheat, butter and cheese. Turning to the market
reports of the Winnipeg Commercial (a non-party paper), it will
be found that prices at Winnipeg have run as follows since 1893,
the date selected in each year being October 15, or as near it as
these weekly reports come: —

No. 1 Hard.

Ceuta.

1893 45

1894 40

1895 ^g

189« 67

"97

189S •■• I;

1899 :;;::;:;• 56

At this time of writing (October 12) the price of No. 1 hard

V trr"^.\'' "T' "'°"«''' -f-'"-4, there is not ifk^
h to be much wheat of that grade this season.

Cheese.

1893 ^^"•'•

1894 .'.'.■.■■■.■■ Bi

1895 g*

1896 ....

18" .■.'.■.■.■:.■;.■.■.■; ^

1898 9

1899 :; „a

1900 (October 6) J

Dairy Butter.
1893 ....

1894 ;: '.: :: :: :: ;: ui

1895 J'

1896 ,.,

1897 ; ;; ; i;*

1898 ;; •■ jJ

1899 Ill

1900 (October 6) jg

The prico of cattle has risen considerably since 1895; so, too,
has the price of hog.s, sheep, oats, poultry, and other farm pro-
ducts. It is believed that 45,000 head of cattle will be exported
this year from Manitoba and the Alberta ranches, a number far in
excess of any previous record. The average price paid to tho
ranchman is about $44 per head, as compared with $30 or $32
between 1892 and 1895. That great and substantial progress has
been made by tho farmers of JManiioba is a fact too apparent to be
successfully denied. A few years ago a crop failure caused
widespread discontent, and, in some parts, not a little suffering;
men lost heart and left. This year's failure is without doubt a
grave matter; but, thanks to previous good crops and good prices,
the fanner is able to endure the loss with o<iuanimity, and is
looking forward to tho future with undiminished confidence.

(jovornments cannot create good times any more than they
can ensure good harvests ; no Liberal pretends that tho prosperity
of the country should be credited, all of it, to what Sir Wilfrid
Laurior and his colleagues have accomplished. It is only fair to
remember, however, that, aside from other causes, Manitoba and
tho Territories bavo benefited immensely By the development of
S(mthern British Columbia through the construction of the
Crow's Nest railway, and also by the building of the Rainy River
section of the Canadian Northern. The development of South-
ern British Columbia has provided the settler on the prairies with
a lucrative market for flour, hay, oats, boef, poultry, etc., while
the Rainy River line, now being vigorously pushed, is opening a
region rich in minerals and timber whioh already furnishes a
market of considerable dituensions. We have to thank Mr. Sif-
ton more than any one else for these two railways. Mr. !Mac-
donald promised to build Government roads when he became Pre-
mier of Manitoba, but afterwards took the ground that, the crops
being short, new railways were not required, though surely this
is the precise time when the stimulus of a generous expenditure
is most needed.

Besides supplying him with a market west of the Rocky Moun-

tains, tlie Crow's Neat project has been the means of securing
IcAver rail rates to the Manitoba farmer. The Tory party used
to give bonuses without exacting conditions, but Mr. Sifton has
ma<ie it a ]X)int to get something for the people. Three groups
of c'ommo<lities were affected by the Crow's Nest agreement.
First, a reduction of 10 per cent, was made in the rates on imple-
ments, binder twine, furniture, window glass, iron and steel
gomis, ])aints, building pa]x?r, wire, and woodenware, constitut-
ing Group A; second, a reduction of 20 per cent, in tho rates on
coal oil and other illuminating substances forming Group B;
thirdly, a reduction of 33. \ per cent, in the rates on green and
fresh fruit, including apples, which made up Group C.

An im])ortant concession was obtained at tho same time,
though it was not a condition of the bargain, for the jobbers of
AVinnipeg and Brandon. In purchasing goods from Eastern
(Canada and rc-shipping them to their customers in Manitoba and
tlie Territories, the jobbers had received a discount of 15 per
cent, off the local rate ; that is to say, when tho goods were distrib-
uted from Winnipeg or Brandon, tho rate was the local rate from
those points to tho point of destination, less 15 per cent. Under
tho new arrangement the jobber obtains what is known as the
balance of the through rate; in other words, ho can now bring
goods from Montreal or Toronto to his warehouse in Manitoba
and re-sliip them thence to any point in tho West just as though
they had been billed direct from Eastern Canada, lie pays a
small charge to defray the cost of handling in and out, b\it, with
this exception, enjoys all the advantage of a through rate, and is
in a position, therefore, to nell cheaper than before to the farm-
ers. !Mr. Davin asserts that local rates have been increased since
the Liberals took office. . TIo is mistaken. The re-adjustment
has had the effect of materially diminishing the local rates for-
merly paid by jobbers, and as regards other local rates the imi-
versal tendency has been towards reduction.

But, after all, the rates of chief moment to the fanner are the
wheat rates. A cent or t^vo, more or less, per 100 pounds on the

olotliing or groceries he has to buy do not cut anything like so
big a figure in his annual balance sheet as a cent or two in the
cost of marketing a bushel of wheat. One of the conditions on
which Government aid was granted to the Crow's Nest lino was
tiiat there should be a reduction of three cents per 100 (equal
to If cents per bushel) on grain going to Fort William. The
rfduct^ion was made in this way: 1^ cents per 100 for the crop
of 1898, and li cents more for the crop of 1899. The rate from
Brandon and common points to Fort William had stood at 19
cents per 3 00 since 1893, and till the Crofw's Nest project, with
its conditions in favor of the farmer, was adopted, there was no
prospect of a reduction. The following table shows what a boon
it has been : —

Rate.

1893 19 cents.

1894 19 cents.

1895 19 cents.

1896 19 cents.

1897 19 cents.

1898 17^ cents.

1899 16 cents.

1900 16 cents.

Per Net Ton
Per Mile.
.678 of a cent.
.678 of a cent.
.678 of a cent.
.678 of a cent.
.678 of a cent.
.625 of a cent.
.571 of a cent.
.571 of a cent.

he
Ihe

These are the rates from Brandon and common points. Per-
haps a better way of putting it is to suppose 25,000,000 bushels
shipped to Fort William ; the reduction of three cents per 100, or
1| cents per bushel would represent a direct gain to the farmer
of $450,000, and in addition there would be the largo indirect
gain represented by the augmented value of the grain remaining
in the Northwest. Add the saving in rates on the commodities in
Groups A, B and C, together with the reduction in the jobbers'
rates from Winnipeg and Brandon, and it is a fair estimate that,
in normal years when the wheat crop is up to the average, the
Manitoba farmer is benefited to the extent of $750,000 per annum

— u sum equal to a 20 per cent, dividend on the Government's in-
voi^tinont in the ( -row's Nest line — to say nothing of the profits de-
rived from the opening of the markets of Southern British Col-
umbia.

Again, the Government has helped tho farmer by reducing the
tariff. 'J'ho preferential reductions in favor of Britain have had
a two-fold effect; first, in diminishing the cost of British goods,
and, secondly, in obliging the Canadian and American manufac-
turer to cut his jirices in order to hold the market for his particu-
lar lines against British competition. Take, for example, the
dry goods trade. The principal staples imported from the
United Kingdom for consumption among the farmers and farm-
ers' wives of Manitoba are as follows: Flannelettes, which large-
ly take the j)lace of cotton and aro used for dresses, underwear,
sheets, etc.; heavy printed cotton goods for dresses; printed cali-
coes for dresses and sliirts; cotton shirtings; serges and Bradford
goods of all kinds, for dresses; denims for overalls; freizes for
overcoats ; lieavN' overcoatings for men's wear and cloakings for
women's jackets. Any of the big wholesalers in Winnipeg, such
as R. .1. Wliitln & Co., will testify that since the preferential
tariff was adopted they have been importing a much larger pro-
])ortion of British goods than b(ifore, simply because it is now pos-
sible to import them, whereas formerly they were excluded by ex-
orbitant duties made up of combined specific and ad valorem
rates; and, British competition having thus become a factor, the
Canadian manufacturer has no longer a monopoly, but is com-
pelled to lower his prices to meet it.

The same thing has happened in other trades, e. g., iron and
steel, certain lines of hardware, carpets, chemicals and drugs,
earthenware, flax and hemp goods, glassware, leather ware, paints,
and the like. It is well to note, however, that the Manitoba farm-
er has not yet experienced the full benefit of the preferential tar-
ify. Owing to the general inflation and other causes prices have
gone up. Thus, what between the inflation and the dearth of raw
cotton, cotton goods aro abnormally high just now, though of

course the price in Canada would have been higher had the old
duties remained ; and this increase of cost hides to some extent
the advantages we have gained from tariff reduction. To illustrate,
a year or two ago table knives, such as are now used in most farm
liouses in Manitoba, cost laid down in store in \Vinni}>eg from
SheHield, $1.45 per dozen. Since then the price of cutlery has
advanced from 5 to 10 per. cent, in England, yet, owing to the
preferential tariff, with its third off the ordinary duty, the cost
laid down in Winnipeg at the present time is only $1.43. On the
face of the transaction, the cost in Winnipeg has been reduced
only two cents, but in truth the preferential tariff has saved the
whole amount of the English advance and a little more. By
and by, when prices drop to their usual level, there will be no dif-
ficulty in ap])reciating the great advantages accruing from the
preferential tariff. At present our position resembles that of the
British people immediately after the re])eal of the Corn Laws,
when short cro]>s caused a rise in the price of bread and the Tor-
ies gleefully exclaimed : '' The abolition of tho duty on wheat
has not reduced its cost to the consumer." It required no great
amount of intelligence to perceive that, had tho Com Laws not
been repealed, the cost would have been still higher.

Another matter deserving of attention is the rapid growth of
Canadian exports to Britain. This is due in part to the fact that
under the preferential tariff wo are importing more from Britain.
In the last analysis all trade, whether between individuals or com-
munities, is barter — imports, i. e., the goods we have to buy, are
paid for by exports, i. e., the goods we have to sell — and the re-
moval, of restrictions upon this process of exchange tends to facili-
tate it and to augment the volume of business.

Besides the preference in favor of British goods, which Sir
Charles Tupper and Mr. Hugh John Macdonald denoimce simply
because it acts like a rein upon the Canadian manufacturer, the
Government has made a large number of tariff reductions in the
interest of the farmer. Indian corn, binder twine, barb wire,
cream separators and other articles have been placed on the free

list, while the duty on the smaller agricultural iinploinents, hard-
wnro, hats, coal oil, woolens, soap, and many other things have been
substantially reduced. Of a piece with this policy was the ro-
moval of the United States quarantine on Canadian cattle through
the efforts of the present Minister of Agriculture. The quaran-
tine was imposed in 1893, and the effect was to shut the Ameri-
can market to the shipment of young stockers from Manitoba and
the Territories. It was abolished early in 1897, and forthwith
the exports of Canadian cattle to the United States rose with a
bound. No section of Cnnada has profited more than the North-
west bv this liberation of trade.

It will be seen, then, that the Government has done all that
any Government could do to promote the well-being of the Mani-
toba farmer, and may fairly claim to have been instrumental in
some degree in bringing about the prosperity which has blessed
this part of the Dominion since it took office. The question
for the farmer is: Does he wish to revert to the old condition
of things ? Would it be to his advantage to have the preferential
tariff abolished and the Canadian manufacturer left in unchecked
control of the Northwest market? As a believer in tariff reduc-
tion, which of the two parties ought he to trust? Is it not the
fact that the Liberals have done a good deal in that direction,
and are likely to do more, whilst the Tories have always been out-
and-out protectionists, and, if true to their creed, would undo all
that has been accomplished if they got the chance?

BINDER TWINE.

Coming now to the specific charges made by Tory speakers in
Manitoba, they allege that in consequence of binder twine hav-
ing been put on the free list the price has risen. Their argu-
ment runs thus: Binder twine being free, the Canadian market
has been taken possession of by an American combine. They
say that in Tory times the efforts of combines to secure control
were frustrated by the policy of manufacturing twine under
Government auspices in Kingston penitentiary. They charge that

ill

Lv-

the Liberal Government played into the hands of the combine,
iirftt, by making twine free, and, secondly, by selling the peniten-
tiary twine to one of its political supporters at an absurdly low
figure and without asking for bids from outsiders. They hold
that the price of twine has been greatly enhanced in consequence
and the Manitoba farmer robbed to that extent.

The answer is that twine has gone up because the raw material
from which is is made has risen enormously. The fibre known
as manilla is grown in the Phillipine Islands, where a war is
raging. Another twine fibre, sisal, has risen in sympathy. This
is the whole story. When the Tories were in power and twine
was taxed, this market was controlled by a combine, the Con-
sumers' Cordage Co., with headquarters at Montreal, which was
affiliated with an American combine. The Tory Government
sold its penitentiary twine at combine prices. This is clear
from a statement made by Sir John Thompson (Hansard for
1894, p. 6522) : " I may say that we are selling the product at
the same prices as the Central Prison at Toronto, the firm at
Brantford, and the Consumers' Cordage Co., although I have not
made an agreement with any of them." Sir John was Minister
of Justice and had charge of the Kingston Penitentiary twine fac-
tory. No one blamed him particularly for getting as good a
price as he could for the penitentiaiy twine. Governments are
not adepts at running factories, and the Kingston factory, like
the one at the Central Prison in Toronto managed by the On-
tario Government, was being conducted at a loss. It is prepos-
terous, however, for Tory speakers to say that Sir John kept the
combine at bay by means of the Kingston factory when, on his
own showing, he sold the Kingston output at the combine price.

Nor is it true that the present Government sold without call-
ing for bids. Tenders were called for in nearly every newspaper
in the Dominion, and four were received for the output up to
June 30, 1899, which is the latest transaction. The twine was
sold to Bate & Sons, of Ottawa, at 4^ cents and turned over by
them to other firms at 4 '^/jq cents, so that they did not make

much out of the venture. Subsequently the price went up all
over the world, and the firms handling it secured a large profit.
But no one could have foreseen that. Amongst those invited to
tender were ^Messrs. J. II. Ashdown, of Winnipeg; Elder, of
Virden, (who had opposed the Greenway Cabinet), and Braith-
waite, of Portage la Prairie, then leader of the Patrons of Indus-
try. Had they been able to look into the future they would
doubtless have sent in bids ; as it was they did not tender because at
the time they could not see any money in the business. In 1898
the Government did not invite bids by advertisement but by cir-
cular addressed to ten firms, some Liberal, some Tory, between
Xew Brunswick and Manitoba. Mark that the duty on twine
was removed in 1897, but there was no increase in price that
season, nor in the season of 1898. The increase did not take place
until 1899, when the Phillipine war had practically destroyed the
nuinilla industry. Obviously, then, the removal of the duty had
nothing whatever to do with the increase<l cost.

It is not creditable to their intelligence, or it does not say
much for their estimate of public intelliaence, to find Tory speak-
ers contending that the abolition of a duty, of a tax, has the ef-
fect of augnienting cost. If that were so, why, pray, did the
Tory party go to the trouble of devising the X. P. ? And what
do they mean when they boast that Mr. Foster reduced the sugar
duties and the duty on binders and mowers? It so ha]ipens that
about the time the Liberals took the tariff in hand, the price of
raw materials and manufactures of all f^orts rose, not in Canada
alone but everyM''here. As said, the cost of binder twine was
specially enhanced by war, just as at the present moment the cost
of cotton goods is specially enhanced by a scarcity of raw cotton,
which has thrown tens of thousands of Lancashire spindles out of
Avork. But no person who has any regard for his audience or for
him«elf will maintain that to remove or reduce a customs tax upon
an article has the effect of raising its price.

hat

lada

was

30St

ton,
of
for
(pon

THE DUTY OX IMPLEMENTS.

Mr. ^facdonald sometimes argues one way and sometimes an-
other, lie will have it that binding twine has risen because it
has been placed on the free list, and in the next breath oifers to
place implements on the free list in order to reduce their cost.

Jle knows that the Tory party in the East would never dream
of making im])lements free, and so his promise merely is that he
Avill exert his personal influence to that end. And yet he calls
himself a protcctioni.-t of the old school, the school which found
the implement duty at 17| per cent, and raised it first to 25 and
then to 35 per cent,, reducing it to 20 only when the Tory farmers
Threatened to destroy the Tory Government. If Mr. Macdonald
were sincere ho would give us an inkling of how he proposes to
abolish the duty, which is now no more than a duty for revenue.
The raw materials which enter into a binder or mower are bar
iron steel, nuts and bolts, paints, soft coal or fuel oil, malleable
iron, cotton duck for aprons, and so forth. The duties on these
articles range in ordinary times, when prices are nonnal, from
20 to 50 or GO per cent. The American maker gets his raw ma-
terial at first cost, whereas the Ontario maker has to import it
from the States, paying the duty, or to bring his duck, iron and
steel all the way from Nova Scotia, which amounts to about the
same thing as importing them. ^lanifestly, then, if the duty on
the finished machine were aboH^hed and the raw material duties
maintained, wo should be giving aid to the American maker to
the extent of the handicap imposed upon the Canadian maker;
and, as a champion of the X. P., !Mr. ^Tacdonald would scarcely
favor such a complete reversal of its fundamental object. On
the other hand, if we were to abolish the raw material duties in
order to put the Canadian maker on the same footing as his Am-
erican competitor, which would seem only fair, what would be-
come of the iron and steel industries, the soft coal industry and
the various other industries that exist in whole or in part by sup-
plying raw material or half-finished products to the implement
maker ?

We are not pleading for these subsidiary industries^
but merely pointing out that Mr. Macdonald has not taken the
trouble to enquire where free implements would land him and his
protectionism. Sir Charles and Mr. Foster have made no re-
sponse to his bid for votes; indeed, are probably at this moment
whispering to the implement makers what Mr. George Taylor,
the Tory whip at Ottawa, has declared from the housetops, that
the Tory party made a mistake in reducing the duty to 20 per
cent., and is disposed to restore it to 35. Mr. !Macdonald's prom-
ise to exert his influence towards securing free implements is de-
signed solely for Northwest consumption, and, with all respect
for him, is as sorry a bit of claptrap as this campaign has pro-
duced.

COAL OIL.

Ileturning to their old thesis, the Tories, inchuling Mr. Mac-
donald, next allege that coal oil is dearer than it used to be because
the Government has reduced the duty. In the East, Tory editors
assert that the reduction of the duty has enabled the Standard Oil
Co. in some way to obtain control of the refining in Canada, hence
the increased price.

There is no doubt about it that the Government reduced the
duty from six cents to five, and also did away with certain re-
strictions on inspection and shipment; it likewise interfered to
prevent the railways from levying discriminatory rates. But no
one outside a Tory newspaper office can see how this legislation
in the consumer's behalf can by any possibility be held respond ole
for the entrance of the Standard Oil Co. into Canada. Anyhow,
there is no truth in the statement that coal oil is dearer than for-
merly. Take the case of Winnipeg. Speaking as a business
man, Mr. Lindsay, manager of J. H. Ashdown & Co., says that
the price of the best American oil to-day is 30 cents per gallon re-
tail. Five years ago, when the old duty and the old restrictions
existed, the price was from 38 to 40 cents. Oil is brought to
Winnipeg in tank cars and delivered in the city in tank wagons.

Formerly it liad to be delivered in barrels. Tho barrels were re-
turned and allowed for in the aeconnt, but the cost of barrelling
was an item which is now saved. The reason whv coal oil is so
much dearer in the smaller towns in the West than in Winnipeg
is because the country dealer still gets it in barrels by the carload,
and has to charge more to cover leakage. This is particularly the
case in summer, when the heat rives the barrels. But in the coun-
try, as in Winnipeg, the price is lower than it was four or five
years ago, po that whether the Standard Oil Co. controls the On-
tario refineries or not, the Xorthwest consumer has been benefited
by the Government's action. Tory speakers point to the fact
that a gallon of coal oil costs less at St. Vincent, opposite Emer-
son, than at Emerson itself, and at Fargo than in Winnipeg. They
omit to say that the American gallon is the wine gallon, whilst in
Canada oil, like other fluids, is sold by the imperial gallon, which
contains one-fifth more. Thus, 100 imperial gallons equal 120
wine gallons. To bring wine gallons to imperial deduct one-
sixth; 120 wine gallons minus 20 equal 100 imperial. If the
reader will keo]) this sim])le formula in mind it will enable him to
correct a good many platform misstatements oh this subject.

THE DRUMMOND RAILWAY.

Another charge is that the Government paid too much for the
purchase of the Drummond County railway, which carries the In-
tercolonial into Montreal ; that the Senate saved the countrv a lot of
money in the transaction, and that Mr. Tarte got a newspaper out
of the " deal."

There was an enquiry by a committee of Parliament into the
whole of this business. Tories had talked about there being cor-
ruption, but when it came to the pinch they could not establish
their insinuations, and Mr. Haggart and Mr. Powell, the Tory
member for Westmoreland, were driven to protest that no charge
of corruption had ever been made. Mr. Tarte was examined, and
showed that no money had come to him, directly or indirectly, out
of the Drummond or out of the price paid for it. The enquiry

disclosed that a few years before the Tory Govejnnient was will-
ing to pay a much larger price for the road than ? r. Blair had
paid; indeed, this was almost the only new point of interest elicit-
ed at the investigation. It is quite true that the Senate's action
led to a change in the mode of purchase by Mr. Blair, but it is
doubtful if any saving resulted. The first oflfer from the own-
ers was to lease the road to the Government for a term of DU years
at a yearly rental of $64,000, the line to become the Government's
property on the termination of the lease. The next offer they
made was to sell outright for $1,600,000 cash. The Government
felt disposed to accept the first offer, because the road was earning
enough to pay the rental, and by paying the rental they would
avoid adding to the public debt, that is, would not have to borrow.
This mode of paying for it was accordingly submitted to Parlia-
ment, but rejected by the Senate. It was calculated that an an-
nual rental of $64,000 for a term of 99 years was equivalent to
a cash payment of $2,080,000. Later on the Government sub-
mitted the second offer of a cash payment of $1,600,000, which
was approvc<l by the Senate, though it is not certain to this day
whether such a payment, involvinj^ a perpetual addition to the
public debt, is preferable to the rental plan under which all lia-
bility was to end at the expiration of 99 years.

The Intercolonial has a history which should be pondered by
those who, like Mr. Macdonald, favor the construction and opera-
tion of railways by Government. Sir Charles is opposed to
the doctrine; he has had experience as Minister of Railways.
When Mr. Alexander Mackenzie closed the capital account of the
Intercolonial it amounted to $30,000,000. That, he thought,
ended the cha])tcr. But to-day the capital account is $60,000,-
000, just double ; and till the present Government took hold, there
id been a well-nigh unbroken series of deficits; the road paid
nothing on the money invested, whilst year after year the revenue
ran steadily behind operating expenses. We get a glimpse of
how things used to be done in Tory times from the testimony of
Mr. Schrieber, the chief engineer, before the Civil Service Com-

mission. He gave as a sample the building of a switch at Glou-
cGhter Junction, N.B., where some gravel having been taken from a
farmer's land, for which five dollars was tendered as fair value,
the farmer, instigated by local politicians, refused that sum and
sued the Government for $G0,000. When Mr. Blair entered
office ho found that an enormous amount was being paid every
year in rebates to the party friends of the previous Government.
Supplies had been purchased through middle-men, who took a
*' rake-off '' for the campaign fund. The evil known as under-
billing was practised all over the line in the interest of Tory par-
tisans. A Tory was allowed to ship from 30,000 to 50,000
j)0unds of lumber, coal, pit-props, or whatever it mifht be, on a
car and was charged for only 20,000 or 24,000 pounds, the stan-
dard load ; while the Grit had to pay for every pound ho shipped
in excess of the standard. In other cases rates which did not pay
^' ^ost of haul wore granted openly to favored firms ; and tie
vjn tracts, coal contracts and supply contracts of all kinds were
KAvarded, not to the lowest bidder, but to the party man who was
Tnost liberal in his contributions. Tho road was entirely over-
manned ; on one occasion Mr. Ilaggart submitted an order-in-
council dismissing at one swoop several hundred employees whose
services were not required, but, of course, it was not acted on ; the
Maritime members supporting tho Government dare not permit
euch an army of " heelers " to be flung upon a cold world.

Tho charge that the present Government paid too much ($1,-
000,000) for the Drunmiond road, which, extending from the
Chaudiere Bridge, near Levis, west to St. Rosalie, is about 130
miles in length, sounds strange coming from the Tory party. A
few yeai's ago Sir Charles Tupper, then Minister of Railways,
began the construction of the St. Charles branch of the Intercolon-
ial, running from Levis eastward to St. Charles Junction, a dis-
tance of 14 miles. He estimated the cost at $320,000, and ulti-
mately at $520,000, which was to include land expropriations as
well as construction. The work was finished in due season, but
the account is still open ; the present Government has been pay-

ing considerable sums, responsibility for which rests with Sir
Charles and his friends. The actual amount paid for these 14
miles down to June 30, 1900, has been no less than $1,816,000, or
$200,000 more than the cost of the entire Drummond division.
Mr. Charles Tupper Hillson, a nephew of Sir Charles, was em-
ployed on the Intercolonial in those days, and had a good deal to
do with superintending the Levis end of the work, where the out-
lay was greatest. The law cosis for nine miles, not including
money paid for land expropriations or other services, came to
over $70,000 — sufficient to build a tidy road. Needless to add the
lawyers were Tories.

So far as the Drummond railway is an issue, the present Gov-
ernment has a clear conscience. The moment whispers of corrup-
tion began to be circulated in the Tory newspapers. Sir Wilfrid
Laurier referred the matter to a committee of enquiry, with the
result that the Tory members of the committee had virtually to
apologize. The difference between the first offer and the second
is merely one of book-keeping, and the sum paid, about $12,000
per mile, cannot reasonably be described as excessive. The en-
trance of the Intercolonial into Montreal promises to open a new
era for that unhappy railway in which we shall get rid of the year-
ly recurring deficits and perhaps obtain a constant surplus instead.

THE NEW CHAIN ACT.

It is alleged that the Grain Act passed at the last session of
Parliament is not so good a measure as the Minnesota Warehouse
and Grain Law.

It is difficult to compare the two Acts for the reason that they
differ in an important particular. With us in Manitoba grain is
cleaned in most instances at the country elevator, whilst in Minn-
esota cleaning is done only at the terminals — Duluth, St. Paul,
Minneapolis, St. Cloud, Little Falls, and Winona. In Minne-
sota they are of opinion that it is better to clean at the terminals
under State supervision than at the country elevator under con-
ditions that perhaps might not be so favorable. The obvious ob-

jection is that under this plan the farmer is deprived of cleanings,
which, with us, he turns to account as feed for stock. Some Am-
erican authorities go so far as to say that this explains in part
the extraordinary dearth of stock on the farms of North and
South Dakota, which are covered by the Minnesota Grain Law, as
compared with the herds found in Manitoba. The cleanings
taken from the grain at the Minnesota terminals go to the owners
of the terminals, who feed sheep and cattle at those points. The
principle laid down in the early days of Manitoba that grain
should be cleaned at the point of shipment so that the shipper
shall not have to pay for the transportation of dirt, seems on the
whole to be the correct one. It is evidently in the farmer's inter-
est, for in those cases where joint-stock companies composed of
fanners embark in the ownership and operation of elevators, they
invariably fit their elevators with cleaners, from which it would
appear that the plan is better adapted to the requirements of the
farming community of Manitoba and the Territories than any
other. The season of navigation at Fort William closes within
six weeks or two months of the time when grain shipments usually
begin, and it is desirable that no time should be lost or car-space
occupied in hauling rubbish during that brief period. Every
bushel of dirt carried to Fort William would mean the shutting
out of a bushel of wheat.

The following is a summary of the benefits which the Mani-
toba and Northwest farmer derives from the new Act: —

(1) The owners of elevators and warehouses in which grain
is received and which are situated on the right-of-way of any rail-
road, are compelled to take out an annual license, to submit them-
selves to the supervision of the Warehouse Commissioner at Win-
nipeg, and to give bonds as a guarantee for the proper perform-
ance of their functions as public warehousemen.

(2) The owners of country elevators are bound to receive all
grain offered for sale, storage or shipment without discrimination
as to persons, and to insure it against loss by fire. Uniform tick-
ets must be issued showing the gross weight, net weight and dock-

age for dirt, together with the grade. In certain cases provision
i.s made for the special binning of grain, and the elevator man be-
comes responsible for preserving its identity and weight, and also
for insuring it.

(3) If the shipper of grain cannot make a satisfactory sale at
the primary point, he can demand the delivery of his wheat in not
less than car-load lots at terminal points within the Manitoba in-
spection district, practically at Fort William or Duluth. If the
elevator owner at the primary point does not fonvard the grain
])roraptly to the terminals, the shipper of the grain is relieved
from further storage charges, provided ho has given due notice of
his desire to have it forwarded.

(4) Formerly when grain was dispatched from primary
points to the terminals, the farmer had to surrender his storage
receipts, and thus lost all evidence as to his right to such quanti-
ties and grades as he had stored in the country elevator. Under
the new Act he has still to surrender his receipts, but he now re-
<;c'ives a certificate from the elevator owner which sets forth the
date and place of issue and destination, the kind of grain and tho
grade, and the net quantity, exclusive of dockage, to which he is
entitled.

(5) Elevator and warehouse owners under license are obliged,
when requested by the Commissioner, to furnish, under oath, a re-
port and itemized statement of all grain received, stored and de-
livered by them during the previous twelvemonth, and to set out
the overages and shortages during that period. The object is to
keep a check upon the elevator man and also to protect him, if he
is honest, from groundless charges of excessive dockage.

(6) Section 40 of the Act prescribes the forms of cash purchase
tickets, warehouse storage receipts, storage receipts for special bin
grain and flat warehouse receipts. No other forms are allowed
to be used by elevator owners. Farmers appreciate this change.
Formerly there was great confusion in the issue and form of tick-
ets ; some elevators guaranteed grades on stored wheat, others did
not ; others again professed to guarantee grades but had the words

'he

ip;e.

rds

" non-olficial " printed on the ticket, as if to repudiate their ro-
sponsibility. Under the new Act storage receipts are really an
express contract between farmer and elevator owner, showing the
gross weight and dockage, also the grade and the identity (if
specially binned). There is now no room for misunderstanding;
nothing is taken for granted, everything is set forth clearly and
distinctly.

(7) In times past much dissatisfaction arose concerning the
supply of cars. To do away with that the new Act provides that
tJiG operators of elevators shall furnish the railway agent every
evening with a statement of the grain received and shipped during
the day in order that the railway may be in a position to furnish
an adequate supply of cars at such shipping point. Moreover,
the elevator operator can no longer pretend that the elevator is full
of wheat, when it is perhaps only half full.

(8) Kailway companies are obliged by the new Act to furnish
farmers with cars for loading grain direct from their wagons.

(9) Provision is also made for the erection by the railway
company of a loading platform on petition of ten farmers resid-
ing within twenty miles of any station. This expedites the ship-
ping of grain from farmers' wagons direct into cars.

(10) For the convenience of farmers living some distance
from a railroad station the Act provides for the erection of flat
warehouses. The erection of warehouses is ordered by the Com-
missioner on the petition of any ten farmers residing within forty
miles of a station. Without such a provision farmers living a
long way from the railway would have been precluded from the
advantages of direct shipment since they would have been unable
to haul the grain to the station within the time prescribed (24
hours) for loading a single car from a platform. Many farm-
ers, especially those just beginning their career, desire to escape
elevator charges by loading their own grain direct into the cars,
and this arrangement enables thorn to do so, inasmuch as for a
nominal sum (half a cent per bushel) they can store and accumu-
late their grain in the flat warehouse until they have sufiicient to

fill a car, thus savin*^ about $10 on every 1,000 bushels. Tho
flat warehouses will mostly be built by merchants and traders
living in tho district, who may be counted on to operate them to
tho best advantage of all concerned ; but, like elevators, they will
l)e subject to the control of ihe Commissioner, and tho owners
must take out licenses and give bonds. In many cases, it is be-
lieved, the local merchant will operate tho warehouse without cost
to the farmers. They are his store customers, and everything
which helps them must help him too. The owner of a flat ware-
house is not at liberty to buy grain going through it, otherwise he
might occupy every bin to the exclusion of farmers who desired
to ship direct. But once the grain is loaded on the cars he ha.s
the same right as anyone else to buy. In this way competition
Avill be created at every shipping point, but, as said above, if the
farmer does not consider the local price satisfactory he can have
the grain forwarded to the terminals and sell it there, saving
middle-man's profit.

Such are the main provisions of the new Act, which has been
received with much favor by practical farmers. There is one
slight drawback — the impossibility of having a daily price bulle-
tin posted by the Government at interior points. This is due to
the fact that there is no open board on the Winnipeg Grain Ex-
change; the offerings are not sufficiently large to warrant the es-
tablishment of one; consequently, if he sought to obtain a daily
Ciuotation, the Commissioner would be at the mercy of brokers who
might be either bulls or bears. But fanners who wish to obtain
the prices current in any outside market can get them promptly
on application to the Commissioner. In this connection it may
be well to add that the Act obliges commission merchants to take
out licenses and give bonds, so that the farmer who entrusts them
with the sale of grain can now rely upon being properly dealt by.
Where disputes arise between the seller and the buyer of wheat as
to dockage or grade, a sample may be sent by either or both to the
Chief Inspector at Winnipeg, whose decision is final. There are
row Government weighmen at Fort William, and when dirty

wheat is inspected at Winnipeg tiie inspector has to note on the
certificate the percentage of dirt required to be taken out to clean
the grain to grade at tho terminal elevator. Another excellent
provision is that the inspector at Winnipeg has to take note of the
condition of the grain-laden cars arriving there en route to Fort
William, and to immediately report leakages or other defects to
tho railway authorities.

The Act will be tested for a year or two, and any omissions
or imperfections will be remedied by new legislation. ^leantimo,
the Government, and more particularly Mr. Sifton, deserves credit
for passing a measure which the farmers of Manitoba had so long
demanded. Mr, Sifton must be commended for being the first
^Minister to appoint a commission of enquiry into tho farmers'
grievances on this subject. The commission elicited an immense
amount of information, upon the strength of which it framed the
Grain Act and rendered good service in passing it through Parlia-
ment, with his hearty co-operation.

THE SO-CALLED GIUDTRON" CHARTERS.

It is charged that the Government did wrong in granting
power last session to the C. P. R. to build various branch lines in
Southern ]\[anitoba. The effect, it is said, will bo to exclude lines
belonging to other companies, and thus prevent competition.

The charge is quite baseless, and those who make it are evi-
dently laboring under a total misapprehension of the facts.
First of all. Section 14 of the original contract (1881) between
the Government — the Tories were in office then — and the C. P. R.
provides as follows : —

" Tho Company shall have the right, from time to time, to lay
out, construct, equip, maintain and work branch lines from any
point or points along their main line of railway to any point or
points within the territory of the Dominion. Provided always,
that before commencing any branch they shall first deposit a map
and plan of such branch in the Department of Railways."

The Government of that day covenanted on its part to grant to

the Company all tlie land required for road-bed, stations, yards,
etc., for such branch linos " in so far as such hinds are vested in
the (Jovernnient." Tho original charter of 1881, enabling; the
Company to carry out the original contract of the same year, au-
thorizes it (Section 15) to construct branch lines here, there and
everywhere as it may see fit, as provided in Section 14 of the con-
tract just quoto<l.

Lawyers say, conse<iuently, that tho C. P. Tl. already possessed
power to build all the branch lines it bad a mind to build with-
out seeking further authority from Parliament. Mr. Shaughnessy
seems to have gone to Parliament simply to guard against, any
possible misunderstauding as to tho meaning of the original char-
ter and contract.

Whatever his object, no harm was done to tho public interest.
He coubl have got precisely the same powers from the Legislature
of Alanitoba; and so could anyone else. If the Legislature or the
r>ominion Parliament were in session to-morrow, there would be
nothing to hinder the Northern Pacific or any other company or
individual from obtaining charters covering tho self-same terri-
tory. The Legislature has for years made it a rule to grant
charters to all who choose to ask for them, two or three being some^
times granted to difTerent applicants over practically the same
route. So in certain States of the Union anyone can get a charter
for ten dollars authorizing the construction of lines to run from
anywhere to anvwhero within the boundaries of the State, and, as
in Manitoba, no limit is set upon the number of charters that may
be granted for the same territory. In short, the C. P. R. got
nothing exclusive or special, nothing which cannot bo got by others
if they caro to ask for it, so that to talk of Parliament having "ex-
tended its monopoly " is to use altogether wild language. Fur-
thermore, it seems probable, as lawyers hold, that it need not have
gone to Parliament at all — that it had all the authority it required
in the original contract and charter made and passed by the Tory
party.

But, it is asked, why were not rate concessions demanded from

it i Pray how couM Liberals Uomand rate concosaions for soiuo-
tliiii^-: which the Company was autliorized to do by its organic hiw?
I'ariianient hist session did not vote a dollar of bonuses to the pro-
posed lines; how, then, could the Government insist on a quid pro
quo'f It gave the C P. K. nothing that cannot be obtaine<l with
(•(jual ease by any other applicant; in fact, it merely permitted the
(', P. K. to do what the C. P. R. could apparently have dono with-
out its leave or sanction bv virtue of the original contract and
I'harter. In the case of the Crow's Nest road, where a subsidy
was given, tlu; present Government did demand substantial rate
corcessions and got them. Its ])olicy with respect to all other sub-
sidized lines has been to attach conditions of value to the ])ublic —
a new dep;irturo in the history of Canadian railways which the
peo|)le, it is l)elieved, appreciate.

A PP.KFKKKNXVE IX BRITAIX.

Mr. M.'icdonaid joins Sir Charles in saying that we ought not
to tiivc Briti-ih goods preferential treatment in the (^^anadian mar-
ket until Britain gives Canadian products similar treatment in
the Jiritish market. It is actually suggested that if Sir Charles
were returned to power he could procure that advantage for the
Canadian farmer. The Liberals, it is said, advocated reciprocity
with the Ignited States when they were in Opposition. Why,
then, should Conservatives in Opposition be derided for advoca-
ting reciprocity Avith the United Kingdom?

The two things are wholly different. Reciprocity with the
States would involve nothing more than the removal by Congress
of the dutic>! on such Canadian products as barley, wool, hay, cat-
tle, potatoes, pulp, cheese, lumber, fish, coal, etc., which would be
a direct gain to the consumer in many sections of the Republic.
Canada, on her part, would remit the duties, say, on American
soft coal, chemicals, cordage, leather, paper, etc., which would
lighten the burden of the consumer on this side of the line. But
in asking Britain to give Canadian products a preference, we
are asking her to revert to the policy of protection which she

abandoned fifty years ago because she found that it pinched the
bellies of her artisans and crippled her manufactures. In other
words, while reciprocity with the United States would mitigate
taxation alike in the United States and Canada, the reciprocity
Sir Charles demands from England would necessitate a vast addi-
tion to British taxation, especially in the vital articles of food and
raw iiintorial. This is why Englishmen will not hear of it. The
British landlord would like it because a tr.x on food would mean,
as in Corn Law days, high rents; but outside that small class the
project meets with unqualified condemnation. There is nothing
magnanimous in asking the Mother Country to stint and starve
herself for our benefit. The fabled pelican used to nourish her
young upon her own entrails, but nobody had any respect for the
young, and they could have had little respect for themselves.

Just see how the scheme would work out for England. The
total of British-made commodities in 1898 amounted in value to
£233,000,000. Of this total India and the colonies took only
£83,000,000 worth. Those to India came to £30,000,000. But
India is governed directly from England by Englishmen, who
make her tariff and legislate for her in all other ways. If they
wished to establish preferential treatment for British goods in the
Indian market, there is nothing to hinder them; and they could
do so without giving Indian goods a preference in the British
market. Such is the case also with the Crown colonies, with all
the colonies, indeed, except the self-governing ones, namely, Can-
ada and Nwfoundland, Australasia and the Cape. The exports
of purely British commodities to these self-governing colonies in
1808 amounted to only £40,000,000 in a total export trade of
£233,000,000, divided thus:—

Australian Colonies £21,000,000

Cape and Natal 13,000,000

Canada and Newfoundland 6,000,000

£40,000,000

i of

The exports to Canada are not mucli larger to-day than they
were forty years ago, and not nearly so large as they were round
about 1873. Sir Charles says in effect to t he people of England :
" I want you to tax all food and raw material coming from coun-
tries outside the Empire, whilst admitting Canadian produce free
as now ; and in return you shall have a chance of increasing your
exjjorts to Canada, of developing this trade of £6,000,000 a year;
and, if the other self-governing colonies desire to como in, of de-
veloping your exports to them also. But, please note that in giv-
ing your wares preferential treatment in the Canadian market as
a very imperfect recompense indeed for the immense sacrifice I
ask of you, I shall take care that the preference is not so great as
to injure the protected industries of the Red Parlor, which supply
my party with campaign funds."

The imports of food and raw material of all sorts into the
United Kingdom in 1899 amounted in value to the enormous total
of £328,000,000, to say nothing of ores, metals and chemicals,
£44,000,000; tobacco, £6,000,000; manufactures, £90,000,000,
and miscellaneous £17,000,000; the gross imports being £485,-
000,000. But this is not the v/orst of it. The taxation of food
and raw material from countries outside the Empire would neces-
sarily augment the price, not only of the imported articles, but of
all the food and raw material raised within the United Kingdom,
just as a custom tax levied in Canada adds not only to the cost of
the foreign, but to that of the home-made article; so that for the
prospect of improving an export trade of £6,000,000, or of £40,-
000,000 at the most. Englishmen would be called on to foot an
annual bill of truly anpalling proportions.

It is said, however, that a tax on foreign-grown food and raw
material would not raise the price in England, that Americans,
Russians, Argentines, and what not, would be compelled to sell in
tjie British market or not sell at all ; hence they and not the Brit-
ish people would have to pay the tax. That was the story the
British landlord used to tell in the Corn Law ]Deriod, belied by
empty cupboards and crowded poorhouses. We in Canada heard

2(i

llio Kclf-same fiction in 1879, when Sir Charles used to arg^ie that
tlie Americans and not ourselves paid the duty on hard coal, be-
cause, as he said, the Canadian market was essential to the Amer-
ican coal trade; yet after a while he abolished the duty, although
if he told the truth, it must have been doing no harm but much
g(>od to the Canadian people. There is no use in his trying to de-
lude hard-headed Englishmen into the belief that duties do not
A remarkable thing about this proposal is that Sir Charles
and Mr. [Macdonald do not appear to know that their policy of
augment prices. If they do not, what are they for?
British discrimination against foreign and in favor oi colonial
l)roduco was tried long ago and denounced as mischievous by
J^ritain and her colonies alike. Britain used to impose a heavy
tax on Baltic and a much lighter tax on Canadian timber. The
dilierence was so great that cases are recorded where vessels tim-
ber-laden sailed from Baltic ports to (Quebec and returned across
the Atlantic to England, professing to have a Canadian cargo, in
order to get the benefit of the discrimination. Our wheat and
fiour were admitted into Britain at lower rates than American,
and Montreal shipowners made a business of helping Americans
to forge certificates of origin so that they could ship their produce
as Canadian-grown by the St. Lawrence route. Sugar from the
British West Indies was admitted into Britain at a rate very
ninch lower than that levied on the sugar of Cuba and Brazil,
wlu nee most of the supply came ; this added so largely to the cost
of foreign sugar that, as was said at the time, it would have paid
Plnglishmcn to cart all the manufactured goods they exporte<l to
the British West Indies to the cliffs of Dover and dump them into
the sea, provided they had had the liberty of bringing their sugar
free of duty from the chea])er foreign market. The fact that
Englishmen were taxed in this fashion for the s\ipport of the colon-
ies kindled a spirit of resentment and hostility towards the colon-
ies: and looking back upon the history of the period. Lord Rose-
bery has observed (Speech at Free Trade Hall, Manchester, No-
vfmber, 1807,) that no surer or swifter way of destroying the

Empire could be devised than to resuscitate that vicious system
now that the population of the United Kingdom is so much greater
than it was then, and that the masses, not the classe^s, are in control.

Tho colonies objected for various reasons. A ring fence was
drawn round the Empire, and they could not buy outside of it
without incurring discriminatory duties. The British West In-
dies were constantly complaining that we in Canada charged them
more for barrel staves and other articles than they would have had
to pay had they been allowed to purchase in the United States ;
whilst we retorted that their sugar was dearer than Cuban and
their tobacco a very inferior article. But the chief objection to
the policy, so far as Canada was concerned, was that it gave the
British manufacturer a practical monopoly of our market. In
return for the favored treatment of our wares in tho British mar-
ket we had to permit Britain to frame our tariffs, and, naturally
t:nough, she framed them to suit not our interests but her own.
We had to discriminate in favor of her goods and admit them at
rates which, as Sir Charles would say, were ruinously low. .M r.
CJ arable, a Tory member of the Parliament of Old Canada, ad-
dressed a fierce pamphlet to Lord Grey, Colonial Secretai-y, in
wiiich he declared that so long as the arrangement lasted it would
be im]X)ssible for Canadians to establish factories of their own or
emerge from the condition of being mere hewers of wood and
drawers of water for Manchester, Sheffield and Birmingham.

Sir Charles wishes to put back England and the colonies to
where they were over half a century ago, notwithstanding all tho
changes that have taken place in their political, economic and so-
cial condition. Sir Wilfrid Laurior, on the contrary, ddos not
ask that the shadow should return backward ; he knows that such
mirf.^'es are not possible in modern aflFairs. Preferential treat-
ment has been given to Brili.~h gDuds simply and solely because
it is at once advantageous to Canada and to Britain ; to us, Ix cause
it brings greater cheapness; to Englishmen, because it tends to in-
crease their sales to Canada, which, under the old X. P., were
rapidly declining; and to us again, because the more we buy from

England the more in the ordinary course of things we shall sell.
Liberals do not ask England to starve her people for our sake, to
impoverish the heart of the Empire for the supposed good of the
extremities. That is not the kind of loyalty which finds favor
with Laurier and Sifton. There is a much readier and more
manly way of helping the Manitoba farmer than by begging the
English wage-earner to carry him on his back, namely, to reduce
the Canadian tariff, which artificially increases the cost of every-
thing he has to buy without adding a cent to the value of what he
has to sell.

WHAT IS THOUGHT IX ENGLAND OF SIE CHARLES
TUPPER'S ''MUTUAL PREFERENCE" IDEA.

Sir Charles Tupper's main policy in 1900, as in 1878, is pro-
tection, and he asserts that this can be carried out along with a
ipreference for Canadian products in Great Britain, obtained by
Great Britain imposing a tax on all foreign food-stuffs, wheat
.and meat, and also on wool.

Lord Salisbury represents the only political party in England
which might be expected to even look at any proposal involving
the principle of protection, yet here is what the present prime
minister of England said in 1891, speaking in the House of
Lords on Lord Dunraven's motion for an inquiry into an Imper-
ial Zollvcrein: —

" I ask him to look at the state of opinion in the country,-
especially the state of opinion in our commercial, industrial and
manufacturing classes, the state of opinion, above all, among ca]>
italists and the most educated classes, and say if he sees the
•slightest chance, within any period to which we have a right to
ilook forward of such a modification of opinion in this country
/as will enable any statesman, whatever his opinion may be, to-
ipropose the establishment of retaliatory duties. It seems to me
to be absolutely out of the question. If you wish to set up a
discriminating system in favor of the colonies, as against the rest
lof the world, just consider what are the goods on which you would

Jiave to levy a heavy duty in this country in order to make that
discrimination felt. They are grain, wool and meat. \Vliat
chance have you of inducing the people of this country to accept
legislation, which would make these essential articles of consump-
tion snsceptihle of such tariffs. I see no probability whatever of
it. That being the case, I think we should bo hardly behaving
respectfully to the colonies if we ask them to send representa-
tives to a conference to discuss the question, when we know that
the answer which many of them, at all events many of their
statesmen, would give must be met immediately on our part by
the information that such a thing is absolutely impossible."

Extracts could be given from the dispatch prepared by Lord
Ripon in 1895 expressing the views of the British Government
and of the British people, showing how utterly absurd is the pro-
posal which Sir Charles Tupper asks us to prefer in place of
the Laurier policy and showing the great extent to which the im-
position of a differential tax in England would cripple the
great maritime commerce of the United Kingdom.

The policy of Sir Charles is regarded in England as outlining
a policy involving a return of that free trade country to protection
is made evident by the comment of the English press upon it, ir-
respective of party.

In a speech delivered on March 25, 1896, at a dinner of the
Canadian Club, in London, Mr. Chamberlain alluded to the pro-
posal of Mr. McNeill, a member of the Canadian House of Com-
mons, declaring " that it is desirable in the interests of Great Brit-
ain and of the colonies that a moderate ad valorem duty, inde-
pendent of any existing duty, should be imposed both by the col-
onies and by the mother country upon all imports from foreign
countries." Mr. Chamberlain went on to say that " this is the
suggestion that has been made to us by our colonies for carrying
out a svstem of commercial union," and continued:

" Now, Sir, do not let us minimize the proposition we are
asked to consider. It would involve in the case of the United
Kingdom a most serious disturbance of our trade; it would be a

great change in the principles which for many years past have
guided our coniiuercial policy. It involves the imposition of a
duty, it may be be a small one, but it is a duty, upon food and
raw material, and whatever may be the result of imposing such a
duty as to which, if I had time, I could discourse for many
minutes — whatever may be the actual result — the tendency is to
increase the cost of living, which would intensify the pressure
upon the working classes in this country (hear, hear), and it
would also have a tendency to increase the cost of production,
which would put us, of course, in a worse position than now, in
competition with foreign countries in neutral markets.

" I see no use in shutting my eyes to the conscquencc^i of the
projjosition (cheers) which I desire to consider with an Imperial
mind. The first thing is to establish the facts, and the facts are
as 1 have stated.

" In return, under this proposal, we should get a small, and
a very small, consideration in the shape of a preference of, it
may be 2 ]ier cent., it might be even 5 per cent., in oair compe-
tition with foreign competitors in the colonial market.

"What, then, is the proposal we are aske<l to consider? It is
a very startling proposal for a free trade country (hear, hear),
and I say that in its present form it is a proposal which it is
impossible for us to adopt. (Cheers.)"

Mr. Chamberlain then proceeded to examine the proposal and
its consequences rather more in detail, and said :

" My first point is that in the proposal and the suggestion
which has hitherto been made, there is not sufficient quid pro quo,
the advantage oiTered is not enough to induce this country to take
the certain loss and possible risk in revising altogether its pres-
ent commercial policy. The second point, which is much more
important, is that our foreign trade is so gigantic in proportion
to the foreign trade of the colonies, that the burden of an arrange-
ment of this kind would fall with much greater weight in the
United Kingdom than upon our fellow-subjects in the colonies."

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