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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 T FOR EEPORT (ly ON THE STATE OF TRADE BETWEEN THE \ UNITED STATES AND BRITISH POSSESSIONS EST IS'ORTH AMERICA, PREPARED FOR THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, IN COMPLIANCE WITH A JOINT RESOLUTIOiN OF CONGRESS, BIT J. N. I.ARNED. • > » ^'^^. WA8HINGT0K: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFI^IE. 1871. INDEX OF TOPICS. Pago. Natural relations 5 The Dominion of Canada (5 Resources and capabilities 7 Comparative area and population 9 Causes of tardy growth , 9 Present trade with the Dominion 11 Total imi)orts of the Dominion !•* Imports from United States 12 Imports from Great Britain 13 Total exports of the Dominion 13 Anal j'dis of Canadian foreign commerce 13 " State of commercial belligerency 14 Exhibit for seventeen years 15 Balance against United States 17 What we sell to the provinces 17 What we buy from the provinces 19 Distribution of the trade 20 A commerce of convenience 21 ' The reciprocity treaty 21 The fisheries 23 • Is reciprocal free trade practicable 25 A zollverein 26 The transit trade 28 Canadian and American tariff policies 30 Canada as a " cheap country " 31 Wages and the cost of living 31 Comparative tsiblo of wages 32 Comparative table of prices 34 Purchasing value of wages compared 36 The savings of industry 36 Accumulated wealth 37 Banking capital and circulation 38 Public debt 38 Immigration and emigration 39 Partial prosperity in the Dominion , 42 Commercial growth of Montreal 43 Diversion of American grain trade 43 Favoring circumstances ^ 44 Lumber and barley 45 Trade with the non-confec'.erated provinces 45 Newfoundland and Prince Edward's Island 46 Manitoba 46 Conclusion 48 i -v - % STATE OF TRADE WITH THE NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. Treasury Department, Office of the Secretary, Fehruary 3, 1871. Sir : I transmit for the information of the House of Representatives, the report of J. X. Larned, Avho was ai)pointed special agent under a joint resohition of Congress approved June 23, 1870, to inquire hito the extent and state of tlie trade between the United States and the several dependencies of Great Britain in Xorth America. Verv respectful! V, GEO. S. BOUTWELL, Secretary. Hon. James G. Blaine, Speaker Hoiise of Representatives. Buffalo, January 28, 1871. Sir : You intrusted to me, a few months ago, the task of collecting information in compliance with the joint resolution of Congress approved June 23, 1870, which directed that an inquiry should be made relative to the state of trade between the United States and the British North American Possessions. The subject is an important one, and I have endeavored to investigate it with as much thoroughness as the time allowed me would permit. Between the United States and the British dependencies that lie ad- jacent to us upon our northern border, the intercourse of trade ought, in the natural order of things, to be as intimate and as extensive as the intercourse that exists within this Union between its States at large and any corresponding group of them. Indeed, the natural intimacy of con- nection between the pro\incesof the Dominion of Canada and onr own Northern, Nortwestern, and Eastern States, is such as exists between very few of the geographical sections of the Union. Through more than half the length of tho coterminous line of the two territories, the very boundary of political separation is itself a great natural high-road of commercial iutercoramunication — the most majestic and the most useful > 1 ; 6 TRADE WITH URITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. of all the iiviuul wsiter-waya of traffic and tmvol with which nature h.as l'uniishepuhited in which ire prop- id Nova linion of , divided , 130, 308 , 422, 540 327, 800 306, 440 , 283, 103 Those osMmatos ar»^ based npon a census taken in 18(11, ten years ago, and they asstirne for all the provinces the same rate of increase that was found in the previous decatU*. It is (piite probable chat the result of the new census, for whicli preparation is now being made, will fall short of this calculation in every i)roviiu;e, except, perhaps, Ontario, and four millions, in round numbers, may mon; safely be set down as the existing p(>pulation of the Dominit the; limits to civilized settlement which the climate oi' the North imposrs, where\cr that may be. l*ra(!tically, tin; limits of (>ana- dian <'iiIti\ation and settienuMit weic maiked, until a very recent i)eriod, by the Lanrentian ran,i;(' of hills and the bioken si»iirs that are thrown ott" from it across the head of the western peninsida. This barrcui, rocky i'u\<<;o follows a line nearly i)arallel with the St. Lawrenc^e on its north- ern bank, \\\) to the vicinity of ^'ontreal, where it strikes away iu a west- ern direction, indicateil by the course of the Ottawa I'iver, which is the conduit of the water-slu'd of the Laurj'utian elevation. A broad off- shoot, how cNcr, of the same i)rimitive ujtheaval is traced in a belt of forbidding territory, where swamp ami rock are int' rnnn^led, from the Ottawa Iliver to Crcorgiau ]?ay. Ul) to the present time these forbidding? l)arriers have i)raeticall.v formed, in both provinces, the northern boundary of Canadian cultiva- tion and settlement, which spread slowly and feebly, without tlio same iini»etus and momentum that characteri/e the ])ioneer movement in the United States. Within a few years past, however, it has been discov- ered, and now it seems to be a well-deternuned fa(!t, that beyond the Lanrentian belt there are large tracts of productive territory, (capable of well sustaiinng no very scanty x)oi)ulation, even when stripped of the timber which constitutes their lirst value. The officially published re- ports of surveys made (luring late years within those regions, which 1 have exmined with ii good deal of carefulness, show great inequality in the value of the lands, nniny districts of fertile soil being curiously in- termixed with se('tions that are actually or almost incapable of cultiva- tion. Jjut these reports, if at all correct, leave no doubt that on the ni)per Ottawa, in the basin of Lake Nippissing, along the eastern shores of (leoigian Bay, and even to some extent on the northern shore of Lake Superior, there are very e<'nsiderable areas that will ultimately give supp(n^t to a hardy and enterprising population. Large tracts of this new domain have been set apart by the provincial authorities as "free grant lands," to be given to actual settlers on terms very near.y lijie the terms of the "homestead act" in the United States, and under the stinudus of that wise policy their settlement has commenced witu some activity and prondse. To what extent the mineral resources of the infertile Laurontian b:'lt render that capable of giving life to industry and sui)port to a jiopula- tion, it is impossibk to say. Just enough has so far been discovered to indicate that the miiiCral deposits within and on the flanks of the range may prove to be quite an important element of the wealth of the Caiui- das. Both ir' and k ad mines have been opened and worked to some extent north of Kingston ; very valuable deposits of plumbago have lately been found and opened ; gold is extensively indicated throughout TRADE WITH niirTISFI NllRTII AMERICAN PR0VIXCK8. 9 a wide r<'f;i<>ii in Uotli I'loviiiccs, ami, more than pioUaltly, will \v{ be fbiind in |)i'<)tital>k' quantities; :i Itratitifiil uiarhlc i.salicady bciii;; (jiiar- licd ; the copper mines on the north .shore of Lake Superior ai'c luuines- tionahly of {j^reat fi'tiire value, and recent developments ;;o to show that the same r<'«lon is remarkably rich in silver. Altoi,'ether, it may bo assumed that the lU'oductixc and liabitaide territory of t!ui (-anadas is not couiined to their tillabl(> lands. 4 (^OMPAUATIVE AIJEA Am) FOPULATION. The eonnnouly stated area of the provinee of Ontario is 121,2(i0 s(iuare miles, and of the provinee of (^uebee L'KMKIO svpian^ miles. The actual area of habitable and i)roductive territory belon};in<]f to tliem may be eKtimate(l, I tliink, at about ."iO,^!)^) scjuare miles for each. AVithin that area in Ontario the eai)abilities of develo[>ment, makin*,^ all due allow- ance tor whatever inconsiderable difleiences of clinnite exist, would seem to be fidly cfjual lo the cai)abilities of tlu^ State of New Vork, and if Ontario had kejjt pace in its abiliti(^s are no greater, notwithstanding the somewhat more rigorous winter climate to which j it is ex[)osed. A poi)idation in Quebec i)roi)orti()iied to that (►f New ; Ilam[)shire ajid A^'rmont would exceed by not less than half a million what the province now contaiis; while Nova Scotia and New Bruns- -> Avick, poj)ulated in the same ratio as Maine, of which they are the coun- terpart, would contain to-day a million of souls. CAUSES or TARDY GROWTH. That the four provinces of the Dominion do not at the present day exhibit a population of from six to seven millions of people, with cor- responding wealth and corresponding activities of industry, is the very X>lain and unmistakable consequem;e of the fa(;t th"' they have not re- (;eived their natural share of the energies that are a work in the devel- oi)ment of the Anunncan continent; and that fact is clearly to be traced to their isolation fiom the free interchange of activities, in a commer- cial w^ay, which the rest of the Anglo-Saxon communities of America ha.ve secured by their national (H)nfederation. To the mere political distinction between the dei)endent liiitish i>rovinces and ourselves, or rather to such dirt'erc^nce as exists between their form of poi)ular gov- ernment and our own, I shordd give no weight among the immediate causes of the slower growth that they exhibit. The political institu- tions of the ill-named Dominion of Canada are scarcely less republican, either in operation or in principle, than our own, and cannot reasonably be charged with exerting, in or of themselves, any disadvantageous iu- !!H '! 11 ! II n-i 10 TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. f tiiience upon the country. Even as concerns the influence of rcpubliccan asi)iration.s upon immigration from the (»lder world, it may be seriously doubted whether practical considerations do not .ilmost wholly control the choice which the immigrant makes of this country rather than of Caimda. He has been led, and by good reasons, to expe(;t that he will tind in the United States gieater activities, wider and more numerous o]>portuniries, and the ^tir of a more vigorous life. The suj)erior igor, Avhich appears patent to the outside world, is as simply explained as it is undeniable. From the immense diversity of resources and product- ive capabilities in the vast territory that we occup^' , with its many zod'^s of climate, its many variations of soil, its multiform structure, its triple seaboanl, its inland seas and its great rivers, its prairies and its moun- tains of every mineral, we der've a certain mutual play of industrial forces, acting an(" reacting ui)on each other with unrestricted and per- fect freedom, which is ^^onderfully cumulative and wonderfully stimu- lating — beyond anything, in fact, that has been known in the experience of the world before; and the secret of it all is the freedom of the diver- sified interchange. The effect halts where that freedom of industrial commerce meets with interference. The custom-houses of the national frontier paralyze it more than half; and \>e should find, if we could examine closely enough, tnat it is in just the degree th.at the neighbor- ing provinces are cut off, by their political isolation, from the nee cir- ci'latlon of the ])roductive and commercial energies of the continent, I that they have fallen behind their sister communities of the same ori- I gin and the same character in material progress. ^^ I have i>laced the subject in this view for the purpose of suggesting the loss that we sustain, as a nation, from the unfortunate causes which have stunted the natural, or at least the otherwise possible, develop- ment of so large and so importantly related a section of the common domain of Anglo- A^merica. If our loss is vastly less, even proportion- ately, than that of the provincial people, it is, nevertheless, a very serious one. It is the deprivation of what raighi: have been ard what might still be frJly one-eighth addeu to the accunuilating momentum of the indus- trial energies by which <\e are carried forward. If the same interchange that exists between the States of the American T'^nion had existed be- tween those States and the neighboring provinces, we should now impart to them, it is hue, the activities of forty millions of people, while they give back to us the responding activities of six or seven millions ; but that is ail iuecpiality of exchange which we have found, between our Union at large t nd its several States, to be marvellously profitable. In the exfraord'iniry impulse of advancement that was given to the provinces, and ps rticularly to Ontario, (then Upper Canada,) ! y the operation of the so called treaty of recij.rocity, duririg the eleven years of its existence, a marked and significant illustration was afforded of the magnitude of the influence which limitations put upon the freedom of commercial intercourse between their producers and ours exert on M TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERI^^AN PROVINCES. 11 iiblican iriously control than of lie will merous r ngor, ed as it •roduct- y zoi»'*/S cs triple i monu- dustrial lid per- y^ stiinu- lerieuce e diver- dustrial national ve could eighbor- nee cir- nitinout, ;anie oii- ggesting OS which develop- comiiion ^portion - y serious ight still lie indus- erchange asted be- w impart hile they ions ; but them. Unfortunately , we were not permitted, upon our own side, to learn as fully, from the experience of that treaty, the value to ourselves of a state of freedom in the interchanges of the two countries. As I desire to show i>resently, the adjustment of the partial free trade established by the treaty negotiated in 18o4 was such as to render its 3i)eration very far from reciprocal or equitable, for the reason that the schedule of commodities covered by it, while it embraced on the one hand nearly everything that the provinces ]nodnce, included, on the other, but a limited number of the productions of which this country desires to extend its sale: and for the far greater reason that the commodities made free were almost wholly of a description for whi(!h the provinces could offer no market to us commensurate with the markets that th<3 United States opened to them. It was simply impossible that an arrnngemeni, of incomplete free trade so non-recipiocal, so one-sided in its operation, and so provokingly the result, as the treaty of 1854 was, of a sharply-forced bargain on the fisheries .piestion, could be allowed to continue beyond the term for which it was contracted. It was justly abrogated in ]80(] by the act of this Government, with the very general sanction of puMic opinion in the country: and yet there are probably few among th<»se v,\\o op- I)Osed the continuatiok of the reciprocity treaty of 18o4, and who oppose its renewal in any similar form, who are not fully convinced that ail intimate, unrestricted commerce with the neighboring communities would be of great benefit to this country, as it certainly would be an incalculable stimulant to the growth of those communities. The ques- tion is one of adjustments. Free trade, or any approa(;h to naturalness of commercial intercourse between these (piasi-foreign neigl bors and ourselves, is impossible, unless the outside (ionditions and commercial relations of the two countries can be brought into harmony with each other. That is the important, and, m fact, the only point of inquiry in the matter. If the exterior relations of the two countries were so adjusted to one another as not to interfere on either side with a natural circulation of free trade between themselves, probably' not one intelli- gent voice would be raised against the abolition of every custom house on our northern frontier. PRESEXT TRADE WITH THE DOMiyiO:^. The provinces confederated in the Dominion of Canada are two mil- lions in population, as I am forced to believe, and several hundred inil-^ lions of dollars in wealth, behind what they would now have exhibited had they enjoyed from the beginning free intercourse in trade with these United States. As they stand, however, they form a very import- ant body of producers and consumers for us to deal with. Last year, according to their own official statistics of trade, vhey were ])urchasers iu the markets of the outside world to the amount of $71,23'.>,187, and they sold in the same markets productions of their own to the amount ! i iif 111 j ! I I I lij if . i iV i 12 TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. of $50,081,102, (values in ffold.) Of these transactions the Canadian statistics show less than 35 per cent, of the foreign purchases of the Dominion, against 51 per cent, of its foreign sales, to have been made in the United States. In reality, as ^A'ill ap])ear upon a further examination of t\u) facts, tlie exports from the Dominion to the United States exceed tlie imports from the United States into the Domiiiion to the extent of a ratio even greater than that. The following tables exhibit the commerce of the four provinces of the Dominion for the last two fiscal years, as represented in the official returns compiled by the commissioner of customs at Ottawa : TOTAL IMPORTS OF THE DOMINION. Statement of the value of art'iclcH imported into the Dominion of Canada and entered for con- sumption in the two fweal years ended Jnnc 30, 1809 and 1870. [From Canartinn official returns.] 18C9. Qnelx'c (Jiitiirio Xovii Scotin iS'ew Brunswick Total From Great Britiiiii. ijin, C26, C36 H, 547, 3;W 4, m-i, !I85 U, 587, 510 35, 7()4, 470 1870. Quebec Ontiirid Nov.i Scotia Kcw BruiiHwick Total J'rom United States. From all other coun- tries. $6,108,804 14, .5ilO, 177 2, 5ti0, 0!i3 2, 154, 701 25, 473, 705 20, 382, 270 9, 837, 885 4, 3il7, 725 3, 977, 5.53 38, 595, 433 0,011,332 14,031,340 2, 258, 079 1, 823, 320 $3, 749, 737 587, 248 1,180,325 040, 085 0, 103. 995 24, 724, 071 5, 174, 270 (iOl, 232 1, 3.V2, 227 731, 954 Tct^l. 829, 545, 177 23, 724 704 7, 749, 333 0, 382, 890 67, 402, 170 32, 167, 872 24, 530, 457 8. (108, 031 0, 532, 327 7, 919, 683 71, 339, 187 IMPORTS PROM THE UNITED STATES. II! n ill si ( fflll : Statement of the valne of (joodx imported into the Dominion of Canada from the United States and entered for consumption, (excJnsive of coin and bullion,) during the two fiscal years ending June no, 18C9 and 1870, distinguishing those lehieh paid duty from those entered free of duty, [From Canadian offlciai returns.] Dutiable. 1809. Qnobec i $2,910,004 Ontario I 3,119,109 Nova Scotia 660, 192 Xew llrnnswlck 1, 104. 383 Free. Total. Duties col- leot-fcd. $.3,141,029 i $0,0.-4,633 7,00H, 849 i 10, 72^0;>3 1,8!I9, 033 I 2, .5.")9. 825 1,0.')0, 318 I 2,154, 101 Total 1870. il (Jneboc Ontario !\ova Scotia NewBruuswick. Total 7. 793,748 j 13,703,429 3, 014. .5.35 3,912,308 703, 840 978, 096 3, 409, 7.50 7, 249, 179 1, 494, £ 13 845, 2i:4 8, 698, 845 , 12, 998, 392 21,497,182 6,4,54,29: 11, 161, .547 2, 258, 079 1,823,320 21, 697, 237 $078, 083 .5.50,618 122, 229 214, 033 1, 565, 563 72?, 497 674, 271 119.768 182, 712 1, 700, 248 TRADE WITH BEITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. 13 IMPORTS FROM GRl'AT BRITAIN. Statement of the value of goods imported into the Dominion of Canada from Great Britain and entered for consumption, (exclusive of coin and hullion,) duriny the two fiscal years ending June 3C, 1869 and 1870, distinguishing those which paid duty from those entered free of duty. [From Conadiau official roturns.] 1869. Quebec Ontario , Nova Scotia New Bi'oiiswick Total , 1870. 8«ebeo ntaiio Nova Scotia New Bruuswick Total Dutiable. <14, 503, 286 7, 954, 779 3, 281, 836 2, 743, 714 28, 483, 645 14, 563, 737 8, 6!'4, 745 3, 561, 080 3, 203, 386 30, 022, 948 Free. $4, 855, 644 592, 560 7iil, 149 843, 766 Total. $19, 358, 930 8, 547, 339 4, 002, 985 3, 587, 510 Duties col- lected. 7, 0;3, 119 35, 496, 764 4, 760, 195 ! 1, 143, 140 I 836, 645 I 774,167 19, 323, 932 i 9,837,885 i 4, 397, 725 i 3, 977, 553 . 7,514,147 I 37,537,095 12, 374, 446 1, 317, 253 593, 958 514, 098 4, 799, 755 2, 362, 209 1, 407, 4,54 643, 444 624, 331 5, 037, 438 TOTAL EXPORTS OF THE DOMINION. ^'t^yy-. : 1678, 663 550,618 122, 229 214, 033 1, 505, 563 72P, 407 674, 271 119. 768 182, 712 1, 700, 248 /Statement of the value of goods, tlv growth, produce, and manufacture of the Dominion of Canada, exported from the several lyrovinces, {exclusive of coin and bullion,) during the two fiscal years ended June '60, 1869 and 1870. [From Canadian official returna.] To tbe United States. To Great Britain. Total exports to all countries. Quebec Ontario Nova Scotia . 1869. $5, 627, 276 15, 187, 809 1, 831, 054 994, 600 f 16, 344, 825 742, 686 466, 779 2, 931, 548 $23, 546, 054 15, 930, 495 5, 031, 859 New Brunswick 4, 814, 896 1870. Total 23, 640, 739 20, 4t,5, 838 49, 323, 304 Quebec 6, 880, 446 18,017,212 1, 473, 895 2, 400, 759 18, 538, 842 1, 216, 989 395, 925 1,009,231 27, 421, 676 19, 235, ;}06 Ontario Nova Scotia 5, 061, 039 New Brunswick 4, 363, 171 Total 28, 772, 312 21, 160, 987 56, 031, 199 ANALYSIS OF CANADIAN FOREIGN COMMERCE. An analysis of the foregoing tables of imports shows some facts which it is well to note in passing. Of the imports of the Dominion, 53 per cent, in the fiscal ;'rear 1869 and 54 per cent in 1870 were from Great Britain ; 38 per ceitt. in 1869 and not qnite 35 per cent, in 1870 were from the United States, and 9 and 11 j)er cent, in the two years, respectively, were the proportions of importation from all other countries. 14 TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. 1 I-8 -'■ I I it* -ir iill! !i 11 The (luty-p.ij'ing imports from Great Britain into the Dominion formed 80 per cent, of the entire imports from that nation both in 1809 and 1870, and only 20 per cent, were of commodities admitted free ; while but 3G per (;ent. of the imports from the United States in 18b0 and 40 per cent, ill 1870 paid duty, and 04 per cent, and 00 per cent, in the two years, respectively, entered free. The duties collected on the dutiable imports from the United States were at the average rate of 20 per cent, on the returned value in 1809, and 19.5 per cent, in 1870; while the duty collected on the dutiable imports from Great Britain was at the average rate of 10.8 per cent, in 1809, and 10.7 per cent, in 1870. In other words, a much smaller proportion of the goods imported from the United States than of the goods imported from Great Britain were subjected to dutj', but those among the former which did come under the Canadian tariff paid at a considerably higher average rate. The very large proportion, however, of free goods from the United States that appears in the Canadian imports of 1809, and with a slight diminution in 1870, no longer exists. A new Canadian tariff went into effect on the 7th of April last, which imposes the following duties upon articles previously free, all of them being commodities of leading import- ance, in the not very extended list of productions that we barter with our i^rovincial neighbors: flour, 25 cents per barrel; meal, 15 cents per barrel ; wheat, 4 cents per bushel ; all other grains, 3 cents per bushel ; coal and coke, 50 cents per ton ; salt, 5 cents per bushel ; hops, 5 cents per i)ound ; rice, 1 cent per pound. These duties, which leave a now quite insignilicant free list of commodities, so far as American trade is concerned, were avowedly levied in retaliation for the protective rigor of the United States tariff", and, by the act which imposes them, the governor in council is authorized to suspend or to modify them, by pro- clamation, together with the duties on fish, meats, butter, cheese, lard, tallow, vegetables, and several other articles, '' whenever it appears to his satisfaction that similar articles from Canada may be imported into the United States of America free of duty, or at a rate of duty not exceeding that payable on the same under such proclamation when imported into Canada." THE STATE OF COMIVIERCIAL BELLIGERENCY. As the case now stands, the two countries are in what might be de- scribed as an attitude of commercial belligerency toward one another, mutually repell r.g and discouraging the intercourse of trade and the profitable and convenient exchange of industries that are natural to their intimate neighborhood. Under the treaty of reciprocity there was a large excess of liberality on the side of the United States in the terms of trade, and the Canadian tariff grew steadily more illiberal and non- reciprocal. After the abrogation of the treaty, the conditions were reversed, and it must be confessed that the gates of trans-frontier traffic I I I I TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. 15 4 stood more open on the Canadian than on the American side from that period until the adoption of the retaliatory tarifif of hist April. Now. however, on both sides, the freedom of trade is about evenly interfered with, and the state of commercial repulsion between the two countries, whose interests so strongly attract them to intimacy, is as nicelj' adjusted, perhaps, as it could be. No one, I think, can contemplate this situation of things without feeling it to be a most unfortunate dislocation, which verj' seriously impairs the organization and operation of the industrial energies of the American continent. And a farther investigation of the statistics of trade will not diminish that feeling. STATISTICAL EXHIBIT FOR SEVENTEEN YEARS. I have given the Canadian official statement of imports into the Do- minion from the United States during the last two fiscal years. That exhibits one side of the commercial exchanges between the two countries, the other side of which is to be found in our own official statistics of imports into the United States from the provinces of the Dominion. It is proper to remark here that a great many contentious arguments relative to the trade between the two countries have been vitiated, by being based upon official returns, in one country or the other, of both imports and exports, as though the two were equally trustworthy statis- tics. The well-known fact, however, is that in no country, and certainly neither in Canada nor the United States, are the statistics of exports, compiled from the returns of clearances at the Gustv)m-honses, to be trusted for accuracy ; for the simple reason that thereis neither the same stringency of law nor the same watchfulness to compel jin exact state- ment of outgoing shipments that is applied to secure true reports of the value of foreign commodities coming into the country. Chiefly as the consequence of this, the statistics of no two countries respecting their trade with each other will agree at all. The discrepancy between our own official returns and those of the Canadian government relating to the same trade is further widened by the mixed values (in currency and gold) that appear in the export and reexport statements of the former. According to our own statistics, we bought from the four provinces of the Dominion, in the fiscal year ended June 30, 1870, commodities to the value of $39,507,842, (in gold,) and sold them domestic commodities to the value (in currency) of $10,365,771, and foreign reexports to the value (in gold) of $3,931,525. According to Canadian statistics, our purchases from the Dominion, in the same twelve months, amounted only to $28,772,312, and our total sales to it, of domestic and foreign goods, were of the value of $21,097,237, all in gold. On each side there is strong probability of the near accuracy of the import returns, and we may safely accept them as representing the commercial exchanges of the two countries. The following table is compiled in that view, from the official returns of imports in each r^ 16 TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. '!^! i lii' country from the otlior, both representing values in gold. It shows the yearly amount of trade each way that passed between the United States and the old Canadian provinces from 1854 to 1807, both inclusive, and between the United States and the Dominion of Canada, since that con- federation was organized. The exhibit is rendered faulty to a certain degree by the fact that the Canadian returns are made for the calendar year down to 1804, at which time the provincial government adopted the fiscal year ending June 30, to correspond with our own ; but this does not attect the general showing of the state of the commercial exchanges represented : Imported into the United States from Canada. Imported into Canada from the United States. [From United States official returns.] [From Canadian official ret nms.t] OLD CANADA. Fiscal vear ended .Tiino 30 18.'i4 . t6, 721, 539 12, 182, 314 17, 488, 197 18, 291, 834 11.581,570 14,208,717 18, 853, 033 18, 645, 457 15, 257, 812 18, 670, 773 32,422,015 30, 547, 267 46. 199, 470 26, 397, 867 25, 064, 858 30, 353, 010 39, 507, 842 OLD CANADA. Calendar vear 1854 iJ15, 533, 09C 20, 828, 676 22,-704, 508 Fisoal year ended June 30, 1855 * Fiscal vear ended Jtine 30, 1856 Calendar year 18.55 * Calendar year 1856 Fiscal year ended .Tune 30, 18.'>7 Fiscal vear ended Jnne 30, 18.58 ('alendar year 1857 20, 224, 648 Calendar year 18.58 15, 635, 565 Fiscal "vear ended June 30 18.">9 Calendar vear 1859 17, 592, 916 17, 273, 029 20, 206, 080 Fiscal year ended June 30, 1860 Fiscal year ended J une 30, 1861 Calendar year 1860 Calendar yaar 1861 Fiscal year ended June 30, 1862 Calendar year 1862 23, 642, 860 Fiscal year ended June 30, 1863 (Calendar year 1863 18, 457, 083 Fiscal year ended June 30, 1864, (estimated).. Fiscal vear ended June 30 1865 I'^irst half of 1864 7, 9.52, 401 Fiscal vear 1864— '65 14 820, 577 Fiscal year ended June 31), 1866 * Fiscal year 1866 * 1.5, 242, 8.'?4 Fiscal year ended June 30, 1867 Fiscal year 1867 14, 061, 155 17, 600, 273 21, 497, 182 21, 697, 237 DOMIXIOX OF CANADA. Fiscal year ended Juno 30^1868 DOMINION OF CANADA. Fiscal year 1868 Fiscal year 1 869 Fiscal year 1870 Fiscal year endetl June 30, 1869 Fiscal year ended June 30, 1870 * First and last years of the reciprocitj' treaty. t The figures for the earlier years in this column I take from one of the reports of Mr. William J. Patterson, secretary of the Montreal Board of Trade. The prominent fact that appears in the above statement is the total change of current that took place in the trade between the United States and Canada in 1802. Down to the close of that year, when the derange- ment of currency, the inflation of prices, and the disturbance of indus- tries produced by the war of rebellion in this country began to work their effects, we had been selling to the provinces largely in excess jf "what we bought from them. The aggregate of their imports from is during tho nine years ending with 1802 — eight of which were the years of the reuprocity treaty — was $172,041,372. The aggregate of our imports frcm them in the same period was 1133,230,473. The balance of trade in out' favor was $30,410,899. But in 1803 the balance sl.ifted to the other side, and ever since the preponderance against us has steadily show, we are and rapidly increased, until now, as the above figures exchanging commodities for little more than one-half that we buy from the British provinces. Indeed, the exchange of our own productions covers less than one-half of the amount that we are importing from the provinces, since the Canadian import statistics cited above include for- M ws the States e, and at con- [•ertaiii iloiidar (lopted lit this niercial ted States. ■ns.t] $15, 533, 090 aO, 8-28, 676 22,-704, 508 20, 224, 648 15, 635, 565 17, 592, 916 17, 273, 029 20, 206, 080 22, 642, 860 18, 457, 683 7, 952, 401 14, 820, 577 15, 242, 834 14, 061, 155 17, 600, 273 21, 497, 182 21,697,237 William J. he total d States lerange- f indiis- to work scess jf froiii IS le years of our glance of ifted to steadily , we are )iiy from ductions from the lude for- TRADI-: WITH HKITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROV sTES. 17 ei{»n eomiiio.lities rei'-xpoiteil from the United States to Canada, niidvinu' no distinction Ix'tween tliosc innl the doineHtic exports fnun the United States to Canada. Our own otlit-ial statement of these Jec'Xports shows the loUowiniH' anionnts j;()in<;' to Canada in tlie last two (is«'al years: LSI)!), }if2,8'">'^' 782; 1870, -iiCMK; 1,525. Maicin,!-- these dednetions from the Canadian importation of yoods ont of the United States, the exelian'-e of donu?stie prodnetions (since we receive very few non-Ciinadian com- modities tliroiigh Canada) stands as follows for the last two years: 18G0. From CanaovU'(l into the siTcml proviiiccft of the DnmiHioii of Canada from the Vnilvd Stalen duriiiy the two fincal yearn vndvd Jiiiir 'M), m\[) and 1M7U. |('(iiii|iili-il i'loiii Cnnitdiau oflicial lotniiiH.] IHO!). (,'iiiu ami bullion. Siijiar, inolaxws, and niclado. ^iffats. all kiiulM Cottons : Hats, caps, &c (ii iiciiil liiinlwaro Coal and coUc Flour (jiiiiii. all kinds, except Indian corn Inilian coin Coriinical ami oatmeal Flax. lii'Mip, and tow 11 idcK. liovns. and pelts I'olmcco, iinnianiilactuii'd ■«'ool "\V(i(dcns OlaHswarc jMii-iical instiiiniciitH , Books and other jaildication.s Cotton wo(d Salt Quebec. Machinery Total, e.xclndins coin and bullion. All otiier articles Total imiiorts froi United States, ex- cept coin and bullion Pei'centa<{e of artici' - enumerated above, Percentajie of grain lour, anil meal 1870. Coin and bullion. Suirar. tuolasse.s, &c :McatH Cottons Hats, cajis. ite (ti neral hardware and .stoves. Coal and coke riour drain, all ("xcejit Indian corn . Indian corn Corni'ieal and oatmeal Flax, 'leni]!, and tow Hides, horns, and pelts Tobacco, unmanulactured ^Vool... "Woolen -1 ( i la.ssware iliisicul Mistruments liooks, i Ontario. Nova Scot la. $:i, diy, 154 2H!», :);«;. !»l, 14!», !)4, :i7';, (i07. 'J17, :t, o.")4, 1, :m-,', 15, 'jo:t, 154, y7pi, Ml, i;t5, HI, i:ii, •j:t.">, 147, 'J."):t, 1H5 574 4(i7 OOti 7.".H 1(15 !):I4 ■xr, 510 j^4t> 0!)4 !I!M) :i44 1-JO \:a 105 ,■)!)!) ,5.5. hlH 140, I7S 22. 7.57 II, 140 30. 105 400, 700 04, .507 .5h, 510 121, III; 32, fll 30, 20rt 14, 1^3!) IKI 140, 001 20, 570 22, 000 24.015 40,041 2. 0.57 00, 57H 4, 407, ()50 1,,")K5, !(.-^3 8, 340, 042 2, 37fi, Or-l 1,00.5,000 0.53, 805 1,. 50 1,838 (),V3, 803 0, 054, C33 I 10 ',28, 023 74 11 157, 041 83 43 2, 869, 793 2, 5.59, 825 2, 154, 701 74 53 70 30 Pereentaffe of articles ennnierated above. Percentagi! of grain, Hour, and meal 444, Osl 101, 808 081, 8!)5 141.. 5.52 120, 870 300,221 208. 301 117.843 250, 190 14,427 409 139, 882 004, 40G 474, 131. , 438 179 .57, 977 41.010 .54, .541 43, (i3(i 85,173 1, 1.59 141, 0.54 404, 593 .33-, 834 178, 875 148, 743 14IC, 300 423, 931 ti(;."i, 139 4 1 , 902 4, 103,020 375, 290 14,528 25, 223 300. 493 247, 904 277. 804 .50, 072 123, 028 99, 230 148, 1.59 208.411 07, 951 2:11,009 4, 249, 877 2,204.414 8. 749. 127 2,412,420 6,454.291 11, 1P1,S47 60 6 78 41 2:t, 42(i 19,311 29, 443 :i3. 451 29, 051 124. .520 1,073 7:10, 201 43, :U)1 1.5,045 220, 740 :J32 51.010 73, 259 59 19,9.50 18,-240 6, 959 2;i, 540 189 1, 005 23, .-08 1. 495, ;i05 702, 774 01,948 00, 072 79. 80:l 45. 092 :5(i. 204 27, ;i48 31, 880 30i,;t:t3 2, 800 10, 227 5;i, 293 21. 7.52 C7, 740 8, 8;i2 4,183 60. 813 22, 344 30, 807 20, 525 05, 271 1,577 81, .545 1,108,001 054, 0,59 2, 258, 079 66 45 1, 823, 320 64 24 Total. ^3, 970, 523 991, :m 0;iti, 405 .524, 151 44:t, :t!io 277 920 758, 005 847, ;i29 2, 009, 274 ;», 2;i0, 040 1, 0.54, 1.57 398, 427 2.59, 574 818, 034 .■i78, 519 42(i, 471 :151, 198 210,018 193, 5.57 224, Hi8 344, 040 1.52, 1.50 529, 109 10, 220, :190 5, 270, 792 21,497,182 79 :i4 3, 026, 834 934, 048 520, 085 97:i, 016 309, 438 :i;i,«, 491 87(i, 020 898, 0.59 1,2.57, :199 4, 400, 0.52 420, 989 288. 970 187,189 1, 120, ;<45 804, .523 4i:t, 215 19.5,418 205, 228 191.. 543 241,8()0 419, 044 71, 752 478, 070 1.5. ((02, 970 (i, 034, 207 21, 097, 237 72 29 •h t TRADK WITH HKITISII NORTH AMERICAN PROVING KS. 19 oniH'cn of Total. rJ, 076, 523 901, 331 (i3G, 4fi.'> 524. 151 443, ;«!io 277 020 75H, 005 S47. 320 2, IMi'.l. 274 3, 230, ti4ti 1, ('..Vl, 1.57 3ilf , 427 25i>, 574 81 H, 034 .178, 511) 420,471 351, lOrf 21ti, 018 1'.I3, 557 224, 818 344, 0.40 1,52,150 52il, 10!) l(i, 220, 3110 5, 270, 7it2 81,497,182 79 34 3, 02('>, 834 934, 048 520, 085 973,010 300, 438 335, 491 870, 020 808, 0,59 1,2.57,399 4, 400, 0.52 420. 080 288. 970 187,189 1, 120, 345 804, .523 413, 215 19.5,418 205, 228 191.. 543 241,800 419,044 f7 15 Bl 59 20 64" 24 71.752 478. 070 l.\ 002, 970 (!, 034, 207 21, 697, 237 73 ;;-:-> 29 Ono of the larixcr items (/. (?., tlic item of tea) in the foi'ep,-oiii<>' li.st of twenty-two coiiniiotlitie.s or classes of eoiiiiiMKlities, wliicli, to- jLictlier, make up tliice-loiulhs of our exports to tlu' proxinces, is a for- eij;ii article, simply coincyed tliroii;;li American hands, in bond, to the provincial consumers. 8om"ory of foiei^n reexports. >Vheii these are allowed for, the ranu'e of th(^ Canadian mark-.'t for American ])rodnctions appears to be lamentably limited and almost contined to the rawest products of a.u'iienlture, with hardly an appreciable opeiiiiijn- for the benelit of our skilled labor in any department; and this, too, in the case of the nearest neighbors that we hav(^ upon the /^lobe. I have fouinl it imi)ossible to ^'ive, for the provim^es at large, a com- parative statement like the above, enil)ra<;ing" any such jieriod as is nec- essary tor an historical exhil)it of the course of trade; but tlie followin-J, r», :n, 1,(01. ■i, 1Q6, lilt, 34, PH. i:<, 10)1. 110, KiO f'il 0*0 7H!) :m lOH ao'j ■Uif< 774 4111 811 OfiO 7-J!l 40.1 !)-J0 114 840 1M5. 1H0». 142, 0(:2 ^820, 0.".!» 42. 120 l,441.:i!l7 l,84!l, 111!) !I0. H22 111, ((7.j ;t2. tiOl 8:t:t. :mi 24:t, 7H4 4, o;i8 84. 77:1 i:t. h!)o :i8, r>!ia 12!t. 071! :>, 077 107, i;)o 100, 882 83. 203. 90(i l,3.M, 173 l.O.'iO. r(l3 2, 137, (i 10 1,r.24,22l 1,418,723 12, .'»77 730, .^)4i» 7ri7, 004 I. '•.0,782 320, (134 781,807 137, 113 147. 3H) 143. 133 2.'i, 882 18, 445 4()0. 020 C, 536, 478 1863. 91 887, 580 .\.')03, 318 l,(i!M. 010 2. 070, 348 4, 003. 202 2,210,722 72, 000 2, 213, .384 1,223,081 KM, 344 OOH. K) 1,073, Ov!!) 440, 003 4, 024, 3-JO 143, l!H) 1.-.7, 731 l,.5()."i, 2!..» 7.".8, .•)8rt 1,420,340 71."., 300 43.-., .-.07 42, 045 2311, 101 133,310 381, 102 4.5, .■)0!> 2, 700, 548 DISTRIBUTION OF THE TRADE. The fiict tliat in our trade with the provinces the intere«t of the East- ern and Middle States is ahiiost wliolly that of iniyers, whik' the inter- est oi" the Western States is almost wholly that of sellers, could hsirdly escape the notice of any one who examines the fore.s;()in<;' tables. If we examine by customs districts the retiivis made for the last tiscal year, of imitoits from and domestic exports and forei*;'!! rei'xports to the Ih'it- i.sh American provinces, we tind the distribution of the trade to be in the following' proportions : IV r cent. Im])orts in — Vermont 1 i:t, mo i.-)7, ■:m i,r)(iri, -j!..! 17)f', .VH i,4-^.t,:ini 715, ;«•>!» 4:jr., .707 4-2, 045 8:«), 104 lUH mo '.Jt*! llt'i 45 .")(!!• 2, 790 548 •lie Ea.st- he iuter- (1 liardly s. If we icnl year, the IJrit- to be iu Per cent. ... 17. G ... 14.7 ... 8. 7 ... CO . . . . 4. . . . . 4. (5 . . . . 3. 8 . . • . J.W* Lf .... 13.5 13. 5 .... 9. 5 .... 9. 9 .... 9. «j .... 8. 9 .... C.l .... 5. 9 .... t^Ot 1 if I 3 ^ TRADE WITH 15K1TISH NOIlTIf AMERICAN rROVINCKS. 21 I't^r cent. Forci^^ii rci'xijort.s IVoni — New York 51. 9 IN.itlaiMl Ii3. ({ I5(»striti.sh North Anu'rican provinces iu the following specitied articles, and in those only : Grain, Hour, Jiiul broiidstutTs ; •iniiiiaLs of all kiiuls; asluis; tVesli. sii!()l:i, wool, seeds and vegetables; nndried iViiits, dried trait ; lish of all kinds; pro- diict.s of iisli and all tlie creatures living in the water ; poultry ; «'ggs ; hides, furs, skiu.s, "^t 22 TIUDE WITH IlliiriSII NORTH AMKKICAN I'ROVINCKS. i>r tnils, iiiiiln'sscd ; nfonc nr iniirlili' in its cnidc or nuwroiiijlif sfntc; Kliifc ; ItiiffiT, cIiiTsc. tiill'iw ; (in-M (tt'ini'tals of nil liimlH; ('(iiii; iiiiimiiiiiriiilurctl loltiicio ; pifcii, far, tiir|>ciitiiH' ; liiowoiul ; iilmitH, slinilm, trees ; pelts; wool; lislioil; lietMiinl hrooiii-eoni ; Itaiks, jivitHUiii, nfoiiiitl iiiul iiii^irouiHl; wntiinlit <>r iiii\vioiijj;lit burr iiiid griiulstoiii-w ; dyestutl's : lla\, iieiiip, and \i>\\, uniiianiilaetiiied ; ra^s. With two or tlircc exceptions only, tlicso iiro oonitnodities wliicli both conntiics in'oducr, i\m\ with n'tcrriicc to which, of conisc, the tVciMhun of the markets of the I'niti'd States, eontainin;;' tea times their ixtpiihi- tion, was of vastly more value to the |>rovinees than the IVeef raw commodities covered by the treaty em- braced, on the one hand, absolutely every product of the provinces for V hieh they son^^ht a foreij;n market, while it ineliid<'d, oti t)ie other han;< . 18fi."< . Totals. Dutiable. Hill, :n:t, 5()4, 4;i4, 227, 4-J.5, 1, 1(11, V4H, .T7I4, 81H Oi)7 nr.2 ncu 240 ().".!) i)81 374 ii4:< I'roe. Calendar year. 14, .WC, 175 17, It, i:j, tH, IH, IH, ;!i, 2!», 4 -J, f^7(), H47, 2(i7, 7o:i, 41^1, 287. (130, 24.'), 2(10. 'W, 4.'-.4, 4ilfi I H22 ' 737 I' (ilH ' 74H i :m ; 217 7.')3 (i38 ! (134 H03 H27 230, 702, 284 18.-1.5 lf-.-.(> 18.')7 IMrt le.'in 18(i0 18(il 18(12 I8(i3 IrtW, (first half) M\'\ (tiscal year) I8(i(), (tiseal year) Totals Dutiable. I4!>, 472 770, 024 Olio, 42H 473, 007 030, 371 .')32, .'»44 34(i, 0H3 128,783 074, 300 177, 003 001,220 302, 107 Free. $0, 370, 0, 033, 111, 2.-|8, 7, Kil, 8, .'i.'iO, 8, 740, ll,8.'i0, l(i, .'iM, 14, 483, :>, 77.-., 10, 820, 10, 880, 204 r.81 220 or.H .'■.4,'> 48.-) 447 077 287 308 007 80, 200, .154 124,372,223 rtimatod Canadian proportion of trade with theliritish North American Possessions, not discrimina- 1 in the retmim for I8(i4. Tljose litt\ins are taUen from a tahlo compiled by the .secretary of the Tdontreal Board of Trade, Mr. ,r lliain .T. Patterson. The trade represented in the columns of free goods, on the two sides of the foregoing table, is, of course, the trade in which the operation of the reciprocity treaty is to be looked for. AVith the tratlic in duty-pay- ing commodities, 'vhich was carried on Avholly outside of its provisions, the treaty had nothing to do, except so far as that independent com- merce was indirectly stimulated by the activities to which the treaty gave direct encouragement. The actual treaty trade, therefore, which occurred between the two countries during the period of the existence of the conveutiou of 1854, shows au inequality of exclui^ges very nearly -..A TRADH WITH HUITI>>n XoltTH AMKIUCAN riiOVIXCKH. ; liiitirr, itch, tar, Diii-curn ; KlHtoiu'Ji ; eh I)(>th iVcedom pnpnlii- of their StiitcM. 'iity eni- iices lor w oWwv (In strict 1(1 Ciiuji- liiijj; tlic lie other Khoirhtf) the fihc treaty t('8. [ From Free. $9, :nit, 204 !•, !i;t;», r.84 10, •>:>!<., -Mi 7, l(ll,iir.rt H, 55(1, n-iri 8, 740, 485 ll,Hr)!t, 447 K), r)l4, 077 14, if\i, 'iHl r., 775, ;WH 10, M!l, :i5l 10, 880, (i(i7 I24, 372, 223 ot discriniiiitv- of TracTo, Mr. two sides eratioii of dnty-pay- rovisions, dent com- the treaty ne, whieh existence ery nearly in the pi'opoition of two to one. Two hnndred mid thirty nine millions of dolhirs' worth of (';iniidi;in prodncts foniid a free iniirket in the I'nited Stati's, iiinU'r the provisions of the treaty, ii;;ninHt »uie hnnilii'd and twenty four inillionsof Anierienn products for whieh the trenty op«>!ied a free niiirket in the Cninidiis. Of tin' total Ciiiiiidiiin eoniinodities .sold iti th<» Hniti'd Htntes dm inj,' the tw«'lve yenrs' ]>eriod, \)i i»er cent, eanio tre<' iind hnt (► per cent. pai()(»,(K)0, than the Jhr f/ooflu whieh Canadian producers were einihled by the treaty to sell in the Tnited States. This was certainly \(M'> tar fr(»m beinj>' an arrau^i'ement o\' rvciprocid free trade, and lu) statistical injucnnity, even takinji' advantaj:'*^ of the imperfect cxjtoi't showin*;' of ofticial I'eturns in eitlu'i' count r\, could ever make the treaty ai>i»ear otherwise than a badly 'es and the freedom of the navipition of the St. Lawrence, Avhicli were thrown as make-weij^hts into the scale, a]iproximately constituted an equivalent for Jie excress of advanta;i,e in trade that was gained by the proviiK'es, is a (pu'stion jiboui which soiiu' differences of o[)iuion have existed. It is certain that the privil'^ne of navi<;atin;4' the Si. LawreiK'(? nMuained an almost nniised iHivde;i;'e durins;' the whi>le term of the treaty. J low far it mig^lit be made valuable, Iv an enlarinemeut of the Welland and St. I awrenee canals, I shall not undertake to dis- cuss. THE FISHERIES. So far as concerns th'^ fisheries, there can be no doubt that the greater freedoui which our iishermen enjoyed under the treaty, in i>ritish waters and at the provincial ports, was of imi)ortance to thetn. But it may seriously be doubted whether the worth of all that they gained,' over and aboVe what justly belonged to them before, and what justly belongs to them now, under i)rior treatiec, was greater than the worth of the freedom of the markets of the United States to the peo[)le of the niari- 1^ time provinces .alone. It would seem that a full ecpiivalent for our fish- ing privile,ges Mas given to those provinces to whom belong whatever rights of proprietorship there are in the coast-fishing grounds, and that all the encu'inous unreciprocated trading advantages given to the Canadas in the bargain were a pure gratuity. Under the operation of the treaty the ni.iritime provinces increased the sale in our markets of the products of their own fishing from §l„(K)4,ir)8 in 1854 to $2,213,384 in 1805. Neither their fishing industries nor their fisheries sustained anj' detriment from tiie admission of American fishermen within the O,' 24 TRADE WITH llklTISIT NORTH AMrillCAN PROVINCES. tlireo-inile iiishoro line. Avliile tliov proiitodto no ."=*iiiall extent from tlie sellin^j; of snpplie.s to tliom. How mncli of actiinl ]H'ofit the ^New ICng- laiid tisliermen found in the pi'ivih^f»(' of the insliore tislieiies, to offset tlie aeconipanyin;j; comiK'tition of the provincial fishermen witli tlieni in their own home markets, it is liard to estimate, since our statistics are lamentably deficient in facts bearinji n]>on the subject. Apparently, however, the vahie of the treatj' to them a\ as found more in the relief that it afforded from th»' annoyance and harassing;' application of pro- vincial reuuhitions. tl i in the yield of the fishinj;' grounds to Avhi(;h tlu V wrre admitted bv it. At all events, the records of the enrolled ton- uage employed in tlu^ mackerel and cod fisheries ^how no stimulation of the business during' the period of the reciprocity treaty, but unmis- takably the reverse, as may be seen in +he statement below, taken from official .sources : Statement of the enrolled tonnnge eniploijed h> the rod and muclcrel fisheries from 1852 to 1869, inehisire. Years. 18.52 . If 53 1854 , !-:,:> . l«(i 1857 . l.y>8 . 18.50 IHHI . IsOl . Coil flsluTy. Mackpi'til flsli- ery. 102. liiil, ]0:> 102, !'5. 104, 110, 120, ]:«;. 127, 039 227 104 927 8Hi .572 891) ;577 t;.5:i ;uo 59, a,"., 21, 29, 2?', 27, 2(1, 54, 546 8.50 041 (i24 880 327 553 0G9 110 295 Tonra. 18C2. 1803 . 1804 . 1805* 1800 . 1807 . 1808. 180''' . Coil fi.sl)crv. JllU' I'ly. 122, 802 117, 289 92, 744 59, 228 42, 790 30, 708 80, .590 51,018 55, 498 41, 208 40, 589 31, 49S 83, 8t0 62, 704 '-Alter 180.5 tlic stilted tisiinimc is citlicr ]);irtly or w'loHy liy "new" ndmcasiireineiit, -wlii"!! proilncos .sonic .iiiiiMM'Ul iliiiiiutition tint is not real. It appears from the foreooing statenuMit that an actual and consider- able decline in the number of American vessels engaged in the mackerel fisheries occurred during the first six years of the reciprocity treaty, and- that, with the single exception of the year 18G2, the business never em i>loyed so much tonimge throughout the whole peiiod of the treaty as it had employed in the two years before the treaty wa8 negotiated, ". hile the tonnage ])revi()usly ein]>loyed in the cod fisheries was barely ke]>t engaged until 18(1;}, and after that likewise declined. The.se facts are certainly very fai' from sustaining the prevalent idea, particularly prevalent and mu.ch cherished in (Canada, that the conces- sions added to our lishing rights on the ]]ritish North American coasts by the recipio(dt.y treaty greatly promoted the Nev.^ England fishing inter- ests, and were of such weighty value as to counterbalance the nneven sharing of the commercial i)rivileges negotiated in the same contract. Tlu importance with reference to these lishcries that came to be attached to the treaty of isr>4, undcmbf. dly grew out of the welcome experience of relief from unfriendly laws and harassing otticials which the Ameri- can fi.shermen enjoyed under it, and the welcome quietus that it gave to quarrels and (piestions which were constantly giving rise to dangerous ra TRADE WITH imiTISII NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. 25 kerel flsh- fiy. 1*0, 590 51, 018 55, 4'.I8 41 •JOf< 41) 5r^'.) ■M 4ives serionsne-^s and importance to the fisheries question. That they have been revived in the most troublesome foxins that can be given to them — as they were nuule troublesome to the fullest extreme before the treaty of recii)i'ocity was negotiated — for the i)olitii' pnrpose of heifthtening' the imi)ortance to this country of some compromise that will end them, theie is little room for ince8 were made to furnish the consideration for privileges in trade from which U.e Cami- dian provinces drew tiie lion's share of profit. As between the United States and the maritime provinces, which are chiefiy the parties in interest, the fisheries question could ]>robably be settled very easily. Those provim^es would gladly exchange the free- dom of their fishing grounds, and every desired laiubng and harbor ])rivilege, for free access to American markets with taeir fish, their oil, their coal, their gypsum, their lund)er, their grindstones, and other pro- ducts, and the best side of the bargain, so far as actual dollars and cents' worth is concerned, wcmld be theirs at that. Indeed, so api)arent to the people of the maritime pnninces are the advantages of such an adJustnuMit of things, that the sentiment in favor of secnriug it by actual annexation of thenrselves and their fisheries to the I'nited States has strength enough to be boldly outspoken, and to support at least two ])rominent organs of its public expressi(m in the province of Nova Scotia. Had an eftbrt been nuide, at the terndnation of the iiienfore«'ment that »hey are capable of bringing to those activities. The alternative of annexation is the zoUverein, or a customs unic , after "**? TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. 27 COUll- 1 which iS than ul pro- cm oiu* •OS j^eii- sir phis- t'iinns. oviiices ly what 11 range illt coii- ggcsted ehitions nst that not per- !onUl we vean our ountrios ng upon ijKJU the express connner- e causes , would stablish- md the ly h'vel redly be )etvvcen tor ])oth laterial nces vsus- m of the ition, in on(^ with ercially, an e(puil ittivities y, of the tivities. c , after the plan of that under which the Gernuin states secured free trade among themselves aiul identity of interest in their commerce with the outside world. A majority of the people of the British provinces may not yet be pre- pared ill feeling (though many of them are) for an arrangen)ent which lu'obably involves the di >j«)inting of tiieir jHtlitical attachment to (ireat Britain, and the assumption 'for themselves of a state of jjolitical iiide- I)endence; but the time cannot be very distant when the persuasion of their interests will overpower the hardly ex[)lainable sentinu^nt by which it is opposed. Perpetually made conscious, of late years, that the parental nation to which they have loyally clung is more Than ready to dismi'^^ them to an inde[»endent career, with a hearty God-speed, and that they are far more endangered than i)rotected by their anomalous Ciuinection with Great Britain, their feeling with reference to that con- nection has confessedly' undergone a great ciiange. At the present time the inhabitants of the provinces appear to be in ji doubtful, waver- ing, transition state of opinion and sentiment, with regard to their future policy as a i)eople ; much affected, on the one hand, by dissatisfaction "with their relations to England, and, on the other hand t>y a mistaken belief that it is the ambitious i)oli(!y and fixed purpose of their Ameri- can neighbors to coerce them into a surrender of themselves and their territory to the United States. That it is alike against the political convictions and against the manifest interest of this nation to covet the forcible absorption into its body-politic of any unwilling, alien, discon- tented conunnnity of people, so large as that of the British provinces, and that their accession to it is only desirable, and only desired, if they come by free choosing of their own, is a fact whi<5h they will probably discern when their rellections have Ijecome more deliberate. There does exist a feeling in the United States with reference to them which it ought ]U)t to be difticult for the peoi)le of the provinces to understand. It is the unwillingness of a reasonable Jealousy, and of a Just, prudential selfishness, to extend the material benefits of member- ship hi the American Union, witliout its responsibilities and reciprocal obligati(nis, to comnninities with Miiich the certain relations of an inde- pendent friendship i-annot be cultivated or maintained; which are con- trolled by a distant foreign imwer, and whi(.*h are at all times liable to be placed in an attitude of unfriendliness or hostility to this country by causes outside of themselves, ov through events in connection with which they have nothing on their own ])art to do. lietween two eq:ndly indepen.f.^. .,.p^p ^mSSfc^ 28 TRADE WITH imiTISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. {.'oiuitries an actual barrier instead olaii iinajiinary line, are under tlieir control, not ours. It is for them to determine wliicli attects tlieni most importantly, tlieir political association Mith Great IJritain, or their com- mercial and industrial association in interest with the United States, and MJiich shall W yielded to the other, since the two are umiucstionably in contlict. There is no apparent evasion of the choice that they must make. THE TKAXSIT TliADE. In every commercial respect the dependence of the provinces of the Dominion of Canada — especially of the old Canadian provinces — upon the United States, is almost absolute. To say so is not to make an arro- gant boast, l)ut to state a simple fact, llestricted as the intercourse between tlie Canadas and this country unhappily is now, they derive from it almost wholly the life which animates their industry and their enterpiise. The railroad system which gives them a circulation of en- ergies, and by which their resources are being developed, is theofispring of the East and West tratlic of the United States. Its trunk lines are supported, and were made possible undertakings, by the carrying busi- ness that they command from point to point of the American frontier, across intervening Canadian tcrrituebec) and foreign countries, other than our own, is carried on through the United States. This is made necessary by the winter closing of the St. Lawrence, and by the fact that no railroad connection between the Canadian interiiU" and the seaports of the maritime provinces exists, and that one can be formed only by taking so wide, costly, and inconvenient a circuit that its commercial usefulness wlien realized Avill be very slight. Acc(U'ding to the "Trade and Navigation" tables published by the government of the Dominion, the foreign goods passing through the United States under bond to the Canadian imi)orter, in the fiscal year ended June 30, 1800, amounted in value to $0,825,105. This is exclusive of foreign goods purchased in the United States market, in bond, to the value of $1,701,905. According to the returns compiled in the Bureau of Statistics at Washington, the foreign commodities carried through the United States to Canada in the ti.scal year ended June 30^ 180t), amounted to the vahie of 811,813,020, (more than double the quantity appeiiring in the Canadian statistics,) and the Canadian commodities shi[»ped through the United States to countries abroad aggregated $5,701,107. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 1870, the goods shipped tlirough the United States to Canada were of the value of 810,510,037, and from Canada, $0,032,003. The greater part of this in transitu trade is to and from Portland, ^Nlaine, over the (Jrand Trunk Railway, as appears in the following statement of it for 1870, made by districts : I Districts. lippojvod tVom 1 Shijipi'd to Canada. i Canada. Portland 13, 273, 773 JIO, 708, 800 3 4.">.'i 740 2, .'5012 614 Vcrmrnit Dot roit 119,572 i 111 270 Port Hurtm ,59 017 1 7 975 N(!W York 12, 093 2, 861. 150 7, 70 L 7 701 P.iHsaniaiinoflilv, Maino Mihvauket! ' , 2,409 . 2, 388 1 2f() 127 15oston ,• Total 0,932,693 16,519,037 . 'i itew ii i l ii 30 TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. No one will question that avo find convenience and advantage in the nse of Canadian (;hannels I'or the passage of our commerce between the Eastern and AVestern States, nor tliat we find profit in acting as the carriers of so large a part of the comnievce of ('anachi with the outside world. ])Oth these arrangements of tra(h^ are of important value to this country, ami its interests would sutler materially from any suspension of either; but the difference in the situation of the two countries with reference to them is very marked. To the Canadian provinces their importance is nothing less than vital, since, on the one hand, the very sustenance of the arterial system of the Canadas is derived from the American commerc" which circulates through it; wliile, on the other hand, their own commerc'e witu the world abroad can only be conducted- at exceeding disadvantage, if at all, for five months of the year, other- wise than across the territory of the United States, and by the privilege of the customs regulations of the American Government. The contem- plation of such a state of facts must make it a very serious question to the Canadian people whether they can atford to let their relations with the United States remain in a i)recarious state, subject to disturbance by causes that are totally foreign to themselves. CANADIAN AND AMERICAN TAIilFF POLICIES. The proposed arrangement of a commercial union, or zollverein, with no tariff between the States and the independent provinces that become parties to it, and a common tariff for all outside trade — dividing the common revenue collected from customs duties upon equitable terms — is an arrangement which would place the provinces in the utmost security of interested relationship with this country, and which, beyond all ques- tion, would yield great advantage and profit to both people. There are obstacles and ai)parent objections, to be sure, in the way of such an arrangenuMit, but they are less serious in the reality than in the appear- ance. The ol)jection raised, on the other side, upon the score of the wide diflerence that has existed of late years between the tariff policy of the United States and the tariff policy of the Dominion, is an objection which a few years more seem likely to remove, in any event. AVhile the tend- ency in this country is toward a moderation of the extreme protection duties that were caused by the necessities of the war, the tendency in Ci^nada, with reference to duties, is a steadily advancing one. Opinions fa^ orable to a pronouiu'cd policy of protection are manifestly gaining verv decided strength in the Dominion, and some, at least, of the promineit public men now in office, including the premier of one of the provinces, are aniong their advocates. Within the last year, the Con- gress of the United States reducied and abolished duties in the American tariff, estimated at the sum of $2G,()()0,000 per annum, while the parlia- ment of the Dominion, at its corresponding session, made considerable additions to the Canadian tariff. Within the past twelve years the average rate of the Canadian tariff has at least doubled. In the last TRADE WITH HRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCP:S. 31 fiscal yenr, tlio duties ('olloctcd in the Dominion ainonntod to 21 por cent, on the dntiable ('oniinoditi<'s imported. In tlie same year, it is trne, tlie duties eolleeted in the United States averaged 4(5 i)er cent, on the duti- able conunodities imported, but tlie current fiscal year will ]»robably ghow a falling- of the latter rate to less than M) per cent, and an advance in the former rate to jterliaps 2,'} or 24 jx-r cent. The wicU' ditference by Avhich the two countries have been a])art in their tarill i)olicy is certainly destined to disai)pear in no very long time, whatever their relations to each other may be. CANADA AS A "CHEAP COUNTRY." It was renmrked not long- since, by a prominent Canadian gentleman, that the policy of the Dominion was to nmke a cheap country. Tliat ])olicy has undoubtedly been successful in realizing its object; but whether "cheapness," as an ultimate end, is a wisely-chosen object of public policy may be questioned. •aining of the i of the le Con- inericau parlia- derable sars the lie last AYAGES AND THE CO.ST OF LIVING. To ascertain how labor staiuls affected by the chea]>ness that prevails among- our northern neighbors, I have procuu-ed a representative state- ment of wages and of the prices of articles that enter most into the cost of living, taken at several points in Ontario, in the two chief towns of Xew Brunswick, and in the city of Quebec. Tlie mean average be- tween the four points represented in Ontario is, I think, a fair one for that province, which is by far the uiost active and prosperous section of the Dominion; that between the two towns reported from in New BrunsAvick is, uo doubt, something- abov<^ the gencMal average of wages, and, possiblj-, ot prices, in the province. How nearly the summer aver- age of wages in the city of (Quebec represents the sa nu' in the province of Quebec I am not now jible to saj', though it is certainly indicative of the prevailing- state of industry. These figures are placed, below, in comparison Avith similar figures representing- the mean average of wages and prices in the States of New York and Maine, the latter of which are derived from the elaborate tables upon the subject compiled and published within the past year by the Bureau of Statistics at Washington. The New York and Elaine report is for the year l.S(>9, while the Canadian statenu'ut presents the average prices of labor and of commodities that [U'evailed during the summer of 1870; but, so far as the difference in time affects the accuracy of the comparison, it is rathei to the advantage of the Canadian side, since juices in the United States have declined to some extent during- the year past. 32 TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. I ■" ■«- m 3 164 I I 8 i o S 30 S 1-1 I C. "" I- 1" = f r. X -f -- ■5(.io_,\ AV0J5; iif ! — — -•..>- — - = -< PI -r rs sj e 1.'! TO -c in — . MHtiii^ 111 I *: . '-^ '' '' '^ '^ '" '"! ; -HIIll.IJ[ ,\V.tX III 1 -~~~'$,~,~,S '■ B,»SiiAv.)()()!(i!i[ I ^^i^iliw^li^-. ; a r- I- "t — ">■ ~ ■'J 51 a $ t! ■>|.ir» \ 1.-: »f 'i Tt (C X X « M ?. t- AVilX HI K.lSUAV ,-'^r^rt^r-r« — — .-.rH t)j ouii'iiio III i sS2SS2zSB.SB H,.SBAV JO IIHUJI I „^„^^rt^rt«^« III OjluaoAvr ci :£ « r: Q '^ -^ "** 5 -^ P ?: i~ i- S rt -o « 5 -o 51 M CI SI M 81 5J SI r; '^ ^ CI 'Jl.ii)A ^ A\.)x IIJ v)3B.I.)AV •r o 1- T p 2 r- i- Ti 3 '■' P- 1^ cs c 3 rt -c C-. rt - 1- 51 r: 51 SI « 51 51 51 X r-< OS •0i8l'wq'»n5jo-^'*IO ^4M -^1 -^li ' 1 irj 51 » I*. 51 O 51 C 3 O ' I «1 !3 5 51 -■ S i-< 1.5 C 55 ; C j; ;?^ •Otiat 'UniAKK II 11.1)1 -* -r 51 O O r-. -t' -* O -r — . -.o -^ s ' — f rs 51 ^rHrHr-51^»-t'-'51 «6« r-i •u»).i>ioj.wpo,i^i 1- (, 3 ca C rf I- t- o f5 ^t L5 O i.5 C5 .5 f-* O — — <^H^HTH^'r^^-5l •S.liqof -iJS -uOiiijSb.wav io t^ i-* i-- >Q o »^ »o o — 51 r-t rH 51 r-i rH T-t 51 in t^'>-< iS ei »^ — < in o o Q i- r5 X « •- C5 r5 51 o c in ^ 51 il ^ 51 rH rt 51 r5 r^ m •'"wiU«UO 15 O '5 51 C "5 51 in O O O 1- e 1- 1= c 51 r-ij- c c o — 51 r1 — 51 r-l iH rl m tH tn it .2 a O .S > p •p,ioj;ni!.io: •noijiiunn o in in o in >n c o Q o p LT 51 1~ o 51 aJ is in e o o 'H 51 1-^ r-i 51 tH rH 51 in rH Ln «6> r-< m m m 51 in in t- 1- 4- CS 51 5? ^^ 51 rH tH 51 rH •AlO bavb;;o 51 51 51 >-i 51 rl • 51 51 1-1 to :::;;;; :£-s£ ;;;;;;; :'-?J:'S t^ ^- 5» ceo *s Z4B P.P.P- ig? : :j;i2 « « = s c > i ^' 5 « rr. rs ** -; X i a rt ■« a -♦-' c »: a a a S c « £ *■ -OS ? sr. » 1^^ !* n .S = ^ .M ^ « ,. P « V O i' 3S '3 .S C3 •■« C !<5 u c .a a 35 X « t * 1) it Sf. to 1^ (^ 3 ..t** Z'' TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. 33 If we reduce the wa^os paid in tl.e Tlnitecl Stat(^s to their e.,ni valent in the currency with which (Canadian workmen were paid, l>y cah-ulation of the per cent.,) we 8hal find that wa,^e.s ni New York average 25 per cent. morl. in the gokl value than .v.iges m Ontario, and 80 per cent, n.ore tlian in the city of Quebec, and that the gold vahie of wages in Maine in tio per cent greater than m New Brunswick. But the faii-er comparison of the earnings of labor in the two coun- tries is to ascertain the purchasing value of each, or their ratio in each countiy to the cost of living. This we do hi the table subjoined, which exhibits the prices of the principal articles of connnon consumption, and the ordinary rates of board and house rent, in the same localities that are cited in the toregoing table, and for the same periods of time : 8 34 TRADE WITH BRIIISH NOliTII AMERICAN PROVINCES. K I s 3 MO,i{ (ltfl.),)|.lll O) 11) H,).>j.l(l Jll 111 ("II •.(IIIIIJII IIJ H.).)[.I(I ()} >i.)!.V\HHIl.l}[ 'JJ ii; H,iji.i(l |ii <)!iu}x CC = OCO0OOCpOOC0O30 .-< »• ^ TI -< "H •>).iii.\ .tt.>^i lit H.Dl.IlIll) OI.IKpiO I Mi)>i lit i)J 2 o r; Qc -H •0181 '.loq,)!!?) jr) K}]0 >» a) ^H '5^ ^ V C5 a 1) s I-l on V. « B !« ^ ^ot •^ Cn s -a: 2 a 5 s Si a a (^ s a O o i a O o 'OiSI '>J>!A\«>ni.l![ M.>>i II( ,)itl!.MAV I- I- — TQ »" O "2 » 13 TJ 00 ^. « T "T rt -O 1" «'i)OJj •8,ui[op "JS -UJUQ III OSII.IOAY •nniiiiBiio ir; r5 o ID o o "rn i*; I- 1- fr» "* n >n f ts o ^' 4-iHO^ — OO0OOOi-ii-<<-i«i-(0 ■^ S. 10 a a -" ITI rH -r _) c n -r e s -J I- 5J m Si 'J' c o ei -r 00 o « $ p ;! r-l iS O o 0» 1-1 1- m !3 O) I— « <3 11 1- no cs •-< 10 'i « "O t- o oi I* e If) T no ClriOOOOCOOOOOr-lrlrl.-ii-lOO'-n-l-rOSi-l •l)aoj;uBJa •ncKHjinBH S o to XI 3 •-< 51 loti 10 r- 00 e 10 15 -.o n 10 'st^oct : tn t" ■^ tn t' 0) a >n o lo o i» OO1-11-I -i-iiH « «0 >" S ii 1> 005« •X'jig «j\o:j:jo 100rlOOSOOeOO«r«-Ni-l . 3 ; 9 c o 2 o s 5? '- 0< e< ■ I u . =8 :«gi^ M. '.5 i^-* e- — P C - b X ^ fc.' ". „ err" Sis « — T , A 3 3 « j J J : 2 3 5 g jta-3 '^ Or- rt * S ■ «;i! '■'•'5' -e-r ,M C - c 2 '^ ^ rr -ili p. ^ ■ 39 « s s s ?)x— ■ioi'Oo>-i*iMe«'XiO 171 « •— tf >^ i-i ».<-«»•»« sscs*«oo»050oo9C5S3cs;ocs 0590 SSS2 2.'?5??l2 gS2gS2S2§22^i;2I:3?,g2?,;2?,SS?! !2?S2 Q -J I- SJ O CI ffl o 51 Tl <-l §0 to C-. ta ir; tc -o cv c. 3 M> a t- cj w 1- TO I 'J- Q ic n e» n 10 p o CCOOPSOOOOi-lr-ii-l— .i-ii-iCOi-i'->OPS'-i l-SlMi-i s^;^; S«! a O c 5 O u K c s j; 3 j: c c W fife - 4-" S M x TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMKRICAN PROVINCES. 3' ssss S3SS -4ff\ fiPt C- 1*^ C ?J 11 i- o o i- si S « <:• S Ti S to Tl (?* 1^ gsss 9 ' 5 C 3 h I c , S . © ? :5 ?)! . o ^ •^ rt ste tB 111 X I- -• ID "!• « 11 I* ^ 5 S 2 S 5. *M ^ «H «4 G> 52533 ift u5 'N ^H no T »o to r- 1^ ^ #M ^ ^1^ ^ C S S « 9 ■••■«— ■•i* ♦- -t^ 1^ ^H ^^ rH r^ 11^ r* O 9Y ^5 ss in (XI ■59 CO u H nu OS '3 fc'S'O'r'S'O'S'a H a o 13 5 = a o o .■S'5=3 a a :^ a §«5"l ^ S _' » 5s? g-r- a M I a a o t« 5 I"" S 5 * 1* ||a.S ■a 58 I ■g ! *-< s •^9 a « SI cool c p. a c 2 S is o o ft 9 3 2 5 3 ss a a a «• .i 11^' c 05 pC >= a ^4^" o .5 ^ t: ;^ « .2 o 1=^ t, V « e a a « a C? 5 >« "S ace •fi^ "f-t 'F^ 00 l£ OO U II u 2 2 ■- 'u 'H 'i- ft o. a tw <<-• vii;;j('M of the av<'iaj'«' work. nan in Now York arc <»'> per <'(Mit. jjivater tlian the muw wajxcs in Ontario, whih^ the coMt of his lixiny; is but oS ]M'i(*('nt. jfieator ; h'avinj; a clear excess of 7 per cent, in his favor. The waf^cs of the avera;^*' workman in Maine are IS pw cent, ^-r^ater than the same wa;;('s in N<'w IJrnnswick, and the cost of his livin;^' isl)ut 42 per cent, jfreater; h'avin^" a clear excess of ."{(» |mm- cent, in his favor. Between New York and the city of (^nehec the ditt'erencc is ahnost incredible: wajjes V,iS \\v\' rvut. hij;her in tlie former, and tlMM^ost of Ma in^ but 4.'{ per cent, hijjher, hjivinj;' IKl jx-r cent, clear excess of earn- ings to labor in New York. It may he doubted, howev«'r, whether a Just ratio of prices is obtained by calcniatinjjf the mean rate between prices in so miscellaneous a list. A nunc a(!cnrate calculation may be nnule by another method. Takinj^ on each sihl; whilci for every $100 of wa;;es that the aver- Him' workman re<'eived in Ontario, he was i)aid -^105 in currency in New I'ork, or $125 in {j;old. Excess of purchasin<;- value in New York wages over Ontario wages, 2.28 i)er cent., gold nu^asurement. That whi(;h cost $100 in gold in New Unniswick cost $141 in currency in Maine, or $100 82 in gold ; while for every $100 of Mages that the aver- age workman received in New Brunswick, he received $178 currency, or $134 84 gold in Maine. Excefii of pur<;hasing valne in Maine wages over New lirunswick wages, rj8 per cent., gold nu'asnremcnt. That which cost $100 in the city of Quebe,lOS,iri(). Attlu' bcHimiin^' of the .same year tlie deposits in tlie savin<,'.s banks of the State of New York, drawn from Mie earnings of bnt a little lar;4er popnlation, were retnrned at )!«i,SI).S,(i7,s, (Mpii\ .dent to alumt >0(I,0(»() in ;;(>ld, or hnirteen times the total sum i»f savinf>;s in the Dominion. The savin/^s deposited in Massaehusetts at tlie sanu^ i>eriod, by a p«'o|»le nnnd>erin«^ about one-third the population of the Dominion, were )!i.'i,(»(H),U00, rcpiiva- lent to about $71,(MK),()0U in ;;old ; and the latest pu!>lished returns fr:<4 Total New Kngliiud 218, :17H, (isr> AC;c;iTMrLi\.TEI) wkaltif. Statisti(5S from which to cahMdate the sietual w^ealth of the provinces are not at present attainable. J'jven the assessed valuation of real and l>ersonal property fen- puriK)ses ol' taxation 1 have been able to procure oihv for Ontario, and there no later than lH(i7. The com[»aris()n of I>rv)[»erty, as assessed in Canada and the United States, must be a tol- erably just one, since tlie undervaluation cannot be far from alike in both eases. Ontario is by far the wealthiest of all the provinces, both actually and i)roi)ortionately, and its otlicial statement of the assessed value of real and personal property for three years is as follows : Years. ]8(ir). iKtit! . 1867* Assessed value of real ustaU-. ; Assessed vilitc I of pei'sonal pioiieity. ^3'->, 7H-J,01fi 2:»)!<, -JO 1, ().")- ai2, 88e, iXt Total. H\ :t">7, ftti!» 2(i, a!l5, 087 23, U(W, 077 ijii.".", i:ill, HJ.5 2(M. VMi, 711 236, S.")l, 512 * Tho fact that the aBsossed valuns (tf i)roperty wi^ru lowered to tlio extent of $38,000,000 tho year fol- lowing tho abrogatiou of the reciprocity treaty is cortaiuly not without signiflcanco. ■...; 'k In Massa(;husetts, with notinon; than seventy per cent, of the popula- tion of Ontario and twenty per cent, of its occupied territory, the assessed valuation of real and personal i)roperty in the same three years was as follows : Assessed valne ^^^,.^,„.,, ,.„i„„ of personal projMrty. of real estate. Total. 1865. 1866. 1867. ■'i-.P- Wf(i, 079, 955 ■m\, •il'i, 298 437, 728, 296 ^0."), 7 til, 916 ti.">l,Ot:t, 703 708, 1()5, 117 J99I,841,<«>1 l,08I,:Uti, (Mil 1, 105, 893, 413 tSB-PsmOaim:. i.4i».*«ii,iife«,j-4afa^. 38 TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. !i lii fii These of course are valuations in a depreciated currency. In 18G7 the average premium on gold was thirty-nine per cent. Eeduced by that, the assessed valuation of property iu Massachusetts was $8.38,772,239 in gold, or about $055 i)er capita, against $236,851,512, or about $131 per capita in Ontario. In Ohio the assest;ed valuation of real and personal property, in 1808, was $1,143,401,380, or $810,758,132 in gold, equivalent to ab(uit $325 per capita. Taking the Northern States of the Union together, they un- doubtedly exhibit on the average more than double the value of prop- erty per capita tliat is shown in Ontario, where the proportionate value of property must largely exceed that iu (Quebec or iu the maritime provinces. BANKING CAPITAL AND CIRCULATION. The capital employed in banking amounts to but $32,753,242 in the entire Dominion, of A.hich $30,303,842 is iu Ontario and Quebec, $2,000,400 in Nova Scotia, and $320,400 in New Brunswick. An active, vigorous, and enterprising state of business in so large a conuuunity of people is clearly impossible with that limited sum of cajutal in banking — a sum e(pial to but about $8 per capita. In the nineteeri States north of the Potomac and the Ohio and east of the Missouri, with a ])opula- tion of about 20,000,000 people, there is a capital of $418,000,000 in national banks alone, or $10 per capita, besides the capital of banks still doing busMiess under State charters, which amounts to $15,000,000 intheo:ie State of New York. In the New England States the national bank capital is $37 per capita, and in New York the total capital in chartered banking is $28 p*^r head. The currency in circulation, banknotes, and Drminion treasury notes, has rapidly swelled within the past year, from $15,082,105 on the 1st of Januajy, 1870, in Ontario and (j)uebec, to $25,514,100 in the same i)rov- iiires on thi^ 1st of October last. At the lirst-named sum — less than $5 per capita — the money in use (making full allowance for gold and silver iu circulation) was as nuu;h too restricted for an energetic state of busi- ness as the intlated volume of currency in the United States is too stimulating. Tlie process of inflation that has commenced so rapidly in the Dominion, howe^er, bids fair iu the end to more than remove all conti'ast in that particular. PUBLIC DEBT. On the 30th of April, 1870, according to a statenu'ut from the auditor general, the public debt of the Dominion, deducting cash and banking accounts, Mas $90,584,807. Apparently, however, this statement did not include the outstanding Dominion treasury notes in circulation, .of which $7,450,.');?4 had been issued in October last. Relatively to liojmlation, this drht of the Dominion, amounting to about $20 per cai)ita, appears trilling- iu comparison with the debt of the United States; TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. 39 auditor jiiuUing cut did ulatioJi, ively to $L'() per Htates ; but relatively to the wealth of tlie two countries, their resources, and energies, it may be questioned, from the indications heretofore ftiven, whether the disparity of the burden of debt is so great jis many in the provinces imagine. Whatever the disparity may be, it will certainly disappear in the accomplishment of the policy of ex^nniditure which the ^ /. government of the Dominion has laid out, with reference to political necessities that grow wlioUy out of an anomalous situation — such, for example, as the building of the Intercolonial Railway and the projecled railway across the continent to British ('Olumbia, parallel with the line of the Americau Xorthcn-n Pacific, to neither of which undertakings does the commerce of the continent otter any encouragement. BrMIGEATION AND EMiailATION. If no other facts existed to show that the conditions of life in the Do- minion of Canada, with its cheapness and its lighter taxes, as compared with the United States, are not conditions to be intelligently i)referred by those who are free to choose, the facts of immigration and emigrarioii show it stril'"' igly. Out of 74,;iG5 foreign immigrants to the New World, who landed at Canadian ports in 1809, only 18,300 paused to seek homes in the Douiin- ion, and 57,202 passed on to onr Western States. In 1808 the number reported as makingasettienuMitin th'^ Dominion was but 12,705, against 58,083 going through to tlie Uniteopulation from foreign immigration, tliat ]»rovin('e, in this as in most matters, is a favored exception. Without much reasonable doubt the other provinces, and especially (Quebec, are steadily losing nunc by emigration to the United States than they gain by immigration from abroad. - I am indebted to Mr. Young, ('hief of the Bureau of Statistics, for the following shitement, comi)il('d from returns made of immigrants arriving in the United States from the Briti.sh ?sr(nth Ameiican possessions for eleven years past : - , - -■ - ,:,...,,,.. 40 TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. Years. Number. 1 Years. Number. IPGO 4, 51 i '-, 00!) ;j, -^75 ;j, 404 ;», o;«i 2I,5HG ■S-l 150 ' IPC? 6, OH 10, 8!)l 18(il 1 808 l.-fK IHO'.t ;}0, 921 40, 411 1803 1870 18(i4 1 Total ]8()5 158. 934 leec i m Biit those are more thiin doubtful st.atistics; nor does it .appear pos- sible to se(!ure auy trustworthy euuniei atiou of the persons who come into the TJnitcd States from tlie British provinces with intent to make this country their home. Tiio figures giveu above are obtained, 1 be- lieve, from returns made by the officers of customs, in connection with the entering- of household goods, which are admitted free as "settlers' effects." If exact to that extent, they wouhl only represent the class of immigrants who come witli families and household effects, wholly omit- ting the perhaps larger class of young men from the ])rovinces who seek their fortunes in the United States, and Avho, as they cross the frontier, are in. no way to be distinguished from ordinary travelers. But even for what they purp* .t to exhibit, I fear that our statistics of provincial emigration are not to be trusted. I have reason to know that some of the returns of immigratiou from froutier crossiug jioints are almost entirely, if not wholly, founded upon careless guessing on the part of railway agents and clerks, as to the number of persons likely to have aiuiompanied a giveu quantity of " settlers' ettects." Perhaps these are exceptional cases, but more probably not, since there is noth- ing to compel the taking of the trouble which accurac,y would require. It is possible, too, that the aggregate result of such estimating may be not far from the true fact, but that is a matter of no certainty. As for the large class of immigrants of whom no account can possil% be taken niien they cross the frontier, Mr. Young, who has been gath- ering information on thc3 subject, thiakts they may be safely estimated at 10,000 for the ])ast year. All definite statements, however, with regard to this emigration from the provinces must be made and received with considerable doubt. It can only be said with certainty (and that no one at all acquainted with the facts will disj)ute) that the annual movement from the Oanadas and from the maritime provinces to the United States is very large. The Dominion suifers in no respect more seriously than in the loss of the en- terprising young num who are being constantly enticcHl away from it to seek wider opportunities in the United States than their own country affords; some of them to return after a time, but the greater part to establish permanent ties and make permanent homes in " the States." Such ar(^ to be found everywhere in the Union, and no adopted element in the American population contributes more to its stock of energy or is of greater value. During the late war many thousands of Canadian young men volunteered iu the Union armv and shared our national TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. 41 gatll- t strng^lo with us, the larger proportion of the survivors of whom are probably citizens to-tlay under the government for which they fought. From the province of (Quebec, where the circumstances of the general population are growing less prosperous rather than improving, emigra- tion across the line into New Eiighinil and elsewhere has assumed such proportions within the past two or three years as to become a very serious subject of discussion in the journals of the province. It is exceedingly ujifortunate that we have no trustworthy data from which to calculate its extent. There are two migratory movements from Quebec, one periodical and temporary, the other permar.ent. Large numbers of the French Canadian laborers and small farmers leave their homes on the ai)proach of winter, cross to the United States, lind winter employment here, son^e even in the Southern States, and return to their homes again in the spri;ig. How^ this number compares with those who I)ermanently remove themselves to the United States it is impossible to say. That the latter have greatly multiplied during late years we know, from the importance which the French Canadian element is assuming among the operatives in the New England lactories, and from what is acknowledged by observers in Quebec. Intelligent French Canadian gentlemen in that pro\ince estimate that there are already more of their race in the United States than at home. Said one of the daily newspapers of Montreal in October last: "Statistics tell us, and any one who has traveled in the United States will confirm the fact, that we annually sutler a heavier loss through native persons leaving the country than the total figure of the immigration returns. There are, at a low computation, half a million native-born Canadians now domiciled in the United States. They are established in the republic, not because they prefer that form of government, but because the s[>irit of enterprise seemed to have died out on this soil, and there was no field o])ened to skilled industry.-' The same newspaper, in an article a few weeks ])revious, had stated the fact that " our farmers realize very little Mioie for their hay and oats than they did thirty years since, and the -i'-quences are that farm lands are deelinimj in value in the pro- vi:H:, '!( ' returns, minus tin- labor, are smaller; the margin of profit remain; • to the farmer at tin end of the year, jifter ])aying and feeding his men, is less.'' It was said in a public address by one of the pronu- uent public men of the province of Quebec a little more than a year ago : " The emigration of comm )n laborers to the States is something actually alarming; and it could not be otherwise, for our water-powers are neglected, our mim!S are closed, and we have no means of furnishing employment to our people." Within a few weeks past, to cite one more, an Jiority, the leading newspa|)er of the city of Quebec, the Daily O.L picle, made the folUvwing statement, which has a two-fohl signifi- cance: " Unfortunately it is a truism, and requires no demonstration, that ship-building, forujerly the main industry of Quebec, nas alnioNt ceascd to exist, and that conse(j[ueutly our laboring population, the very 42 TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. bone and sinew of the body politic, were eommencinff ^ seek in the adjoining" reimblic that employment which was no longer to be fonnd here. Too manj', indeed, already, we fear, h-ve removed permanently from our province." General evidence of the magnitude of the emigration that goes on from the Dominion to the United States is abundant, though the statistics to represent it in defined nund)ers, with toierable exactness, are lacking. What is true of (Quebec is undoubtedly true to not much less extent of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and if Ontario does not lose popula- tion in equal numbers it loses very considerably from a class whose young blood is the life force of a countrj*. Against these losses there is no equal ott'set or exchange. Emigration from the United States to the provinces is limited, though valuable to the huicr, because chiefly cou- fineive the ions, to licli he- ittod to Ilk they ■range- States in the h(5 con- to the ridding- that i.* )on tlie OS, does, several )vinces; rs, gen- ie mari- nany of to their 111 », the consiu- Uiiiinish 10 m the importation of 1808. In railway enterprise there is a noticealile stir of Ufe, stiinuh'ited in great part by the American transit trade, though . partly directed toward the development of the "back settlements" of Ontario. COiOIEROlAL ftllOWTII OF MONTREAL. I>ut nowdiere and in nothing else is the display of really energetic forces equal to that at Montreal. The city of ^Montreal has certainly made an astonishing advance in commercial importance within the last few years. The conspicuous feature, and, perhaps, the conspicucus cause connected with its commercial rise, has been the establishment and remarkable success of the splendid line of ocean steamers which a single Canadian firm has placed atloat, connecting Montreal with both Liverpool and Glasgow by regular direct lines. Commencing in 1850 with four steamers and a caj)acity of G^t'S^t tons, this great fleet of the Messrs. Allan & Co. now numbers eighteen steam ves- sels, among the finest on the seas, with a total capacity exceeding 42,000 tons. The rise of this flourishing Canadian mercantile steam navy is .i more notable fact by reason of its contrast with the decline of the ocean steani shipping of the United States. DIVERSION OF AMERICAN GRAIN TRADE. Perhaps it is owing chiefly to the organization of operations in com- merce incident to the effect of the estaldishmeiit of such lines of for- eign connection, that Montreal began, two years ago, to accomplish a powerful diversion of the movement of our Western cereals away from New York. The very extensive sudden transition, iiarticularly in the movement of wheat, whi(;h occurred in 1860, claims serious attention. It api)ears in the following statement of Hour and grain passing through the Welland Canal, from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, the quan- tity stated as going "to Canada" being almost wholly destined for IMontreal : (iuantities ofjhtir aiid grain immny into Canada from the United Slatei^ ; also quantities in transit to ports in the United States during four years past. FLOUll. WHEAT. INDIAN COUN. OTlir.U GKAIN. Year. i e t .■S'/2 s H - a: t. — 5 = J Bunhfh. 4, 2,50, 232 .5, 44H, 144 5, OHO, 00(i 7, 024, 835 a 03 O o H = 2 1866 1867 1868 :»869 Barrelg, 8, 1(12 4. 401 03, 54(i lO."), SKilJ Barrels. 8(i(!, 314 l,in3, ()^^i 1,4.V). 047 1,300,054 Biuilmh. 14,063 23, 804 87, 223 5, 458, Oi.2 Bu-fitielfi. 5,032,071 5.148,714 7, 151,612 7, !)00, 233 BuHlieU. 488, 401 205, 726 526, 731 1, 180, 947 Bunhels. 20, 168 3. 128 iH, -m 65, 835 Bufhclx. 2(1, 425 223, 710 8(1,5, 020 1,248,470 The statement for the last season I liave not yet been able to procure, but there is reason to believe that the proportion taken t'> Montreal, BH 44 TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. \ \ compared witli that passing" to Oswoso, Ogdensburg', and Capo Yinrent, for shipmont by canal and rail tc; Xew York and Boston, has increased rather than diminished. ]5ut, noticeable as the comniercial progress made by IMontreal dnring a few years ]>ast may appear, it obvionsly has not placed her, and ftivea no promise of i)hicinj? her, at the height of importance which initurally belongs to the chief port of the great St. Lawri^nce ontlet. For Montreal occiii)ies a position where, nnd(^r conditions of eqnal rivalry with Kew York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore, there would un(iuestionably have risen, to-day, a great metropolis of not less than half a niilliini souls, instead of a thriving city of one hundred and forty or fifty thou- sand people. FAVORING CIRCUMSTANCES. The nio, an<^ that these two articles, more than any others, luuv* exhibited a total il .ilference to the terms upon which they are admitted to the United Stiites. In both cases the undoubted fact is, that this country has need of the foreij^n supply. The sources of our own lumber supply are rapidly receding' from the great markets in which it is consumed, and are rapidly being exhausted. Every year is nmking it more a necessity that the Eastern and Middle States should buy lum- ber and timber from the provinces. Under such circumstances, and in view of the fact that this country would seem to have more interest in the conservation of its fast-disappearing forests than in the encourage- ment of their consumi)tion, it may be well to consider, without reference to the general (question of reciprocal policy, whether it is not due to American consumers that the present high duty of 20 percent, on Cana- dian lumber should be nnxlitied, taking another step in the direction which was taken at the last session of Congress, when the duties on saw -logs and ship-timber were removed. Much the same considerations apply to the article of barlej-, for which the consumers in this country are, to a considerable extent, dependent upon a countr\ whose climate and soil are better adapted than most of our own territory to its pro- duction. . TRADE WITPI THE NON-CONFEDERATED TROVINCES. With this imperfect discussion of them, I submit the main facts which I have collected. Within the time allotted to my inquiry I have been unable to extend it, except very superficially, bej'ond the provinces em- braced in the Dominion of Canada. Our trade with the three provinces of Newfoundland, Prince Edward's Island, and British Columbia, which remain outside the confederation of the Dominion, (although Jiritish Columbia seems to be at the i>oint of becoming joined with it,) is represented for the last two years in the reports of Commerce and Navigation, compiled in the United States Bureau of Statistics, as follows : Imports Domestic exports. Foreign reexports 1869. «1, 737, 304 2, 703, 173 44G. U04 1870. 81, 5p1, 0.53 3, 304, tiOS 347,300 Relatively to its extent, this trade api)ears much more favorable to the United States than our trade with the Dominion, and relatively to their population and commerce the non-confederated provinces are far 46 TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES. the better customers of this country. The subject of our relations with them, moreover, is made the more interesting' and important by reason of tlie unwillinjifness that tlieir people manifest to attacli tliemselves to the British colonial confederation, and it claims an examination which I regret that I have not been able to give to it. In the United States oflicial statistics of late years, only a distinction be- tween the "Dominion of Canada" and "all other British possessions in Korth ximerica" is made, so that our trade transactions with the several provinces cannot be discrinunated. Attempting to procure returns from the several customs districts with such a discrimination made, I suc- ceeded but partially, and with a result too imperfect for use, except in one or two pi rticulars. NEWFOUNDLAND AND PRINCE I;D WARD'S ISLAND. Out of twenty-eight collection districts from which I have been fur- nished with statistics relating to the last fiscal year, only five report transactions with Kewfouudlandand Prince Edward's Island, as follows . Imports in certain dintricts from Xvnifonndland, Ccqxi Breton, and Prince Edward'a Island during thejincal year ended June 'M, 1870. Domestic exjmrts from certain districts to yenfonndhind, Cape Breton, and Prince Edward^s Island during the fiscal i/ear ended June 30, 1870. From Boston Ut XcnvfoHnflland Fi'oiii liostoii to I'riiice FiUvfrnl's IsliUid From Wiliniii^toii, N. C, (lumber to Newfonudlaiid) . From Is ew York Total. ?290, 117 lor., ni8 % 200 i,r>GT 408, Hoa The foregoing returns no doubt reijresent most of the trade carried on during the past fiscal year with the insular provinces named. MANITOBA. Our presenv trade with the great central region of British America, formerly know n as the lied River country, but now politically organized and incorporati'd with the Dominion of Canada, under the name of the province of Manitoba, is imperfectly shown by the following statement, ns with ' reason 3lvea to I whicU L'.tiou be- 5sions in i several I'us from ), I 8UC- xcept in been I'nr- re report 5 follows . mVs Island 3 o H $154, 59(i 214, :->ifS a, 530 •20, 00(> 178 400, 810 ICC Edward^H «i290, in ior.,918 2, 200 1, 5G7 408, 802 le carried d. America, organized me of the itatemeut, TRADE WITH BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PKuVINCES. 47 which is furnished to me by the coUector of customs at Pembina, Min- nesota. It exliibits for the lust two fiscal years the imports entered in and tlie exports cleared from the customs district of Minnesota, tluonj;li which the tiade between the United States and the Manitol)a country necessarily passes : 1800. IMPORTS. Imports entered for immediate consumption $00, 402 02 Imports entered warehouse l.jl , «l4r» 22 Total imports i;i2 047 24 EXPORTS. Export of goods the growth, produce, and manufacture of the United States ] 74, 013 00 Exports of foreign dutiable gcjods 14, 548 0.~) Total exports ],S<), 401 05 1870. niPORTg. f Imports entered for immediate consum[)tion $34, 190 20 Imports entered warehouse 1 S(). 142 57 Total iniports 220, 341 86 EXPORTS. Exports of dom«\stic merchandise 152, 596 00 Exports of foreign dutiable goods 20, 133 47 Total exports 172, 729 47 The special deputy collector at Pembina, Mr. N. E. ^Nelson, who fur- nishes this statement to me, writes that the entire amount of exports to Manitoba, through Minnesota, is not represented in it, for the reason that large quantities of domestic goods, such as tt)bacco, sugars, sirups, gunpowder, matches, liquors, &c., are entered for exportation in bond at other districts, free of the internal revenue tax, and, simply passing in transit through the Minnesota district, do not appear in its returns. The same is true of a large quantity of foreign goods reexported to Manitoba. The United States imports from that provisice, which con- sist almost Avholly of raw furs and buftalo robes, are probably all entered in the Minnesota district, since the large shipments made by way of Hudson's Bay go abroad. Our present trade with that vast new region of richly productive ter- ritory in the basin of Lake Winnipeg, which the pioneer forces of civili- 48 TRADE WITH BUITISH T70RTH AMKRICAN PROVINCES. V ! ;! zation Jiro just preparing to invade, is inconsiderable; bnt its futnre possibilities an* beyond calculation. The time is approaching very near when it is clearly destined to give a new phase to the (jiiestion of rela- tions between this country and British North America, and when it will bring to bear upon that question the pressure of an inexorable geographi- cal necessity, that will compel it to some solution. CONCLUSION. In concluding my report, it is proper tliat I should acknowledge the extreme courtesy with which I fiave been assisted in ju'ocuring informa- tion by the mend;ers of the Canadian government, and by all of its offi- cials, as well as by those of this Goverumoutj to whom I have had occa- sion to apply. Kespectfully submitted. J. N. LARNED. Hon. Geokge S. Boutwell, Secretary of the Treasury. -'Wi'' ■ a V- ■■•_:■:■■■■ i y<. If 8 future eiy iH'nr of rehi- on it will ographi- led^e tlio iiiforina- f its offi- lijid occa- RNED. If* ■ X 9