PLEASE KEEP FOR RBPERBNOR FACTS FOR m PEOPLE. COnSTTEaSTTS. PAGE. Canadian Farmers in Danger — Money to Steamers — To " Swamp " Canada — Australian Trade — Scheduling of Cattle 3-8 Waste and Extravagance — Franchise Act — Leasing Land — Grants toSpec- u J atora — Gi vin g Away Timber Limits — Grants to Railways 9-10 Scandals by the Dozen — How the Trick is Done 10-12 Outside Lawyers' Fees 12 Superannuation Abuse 13-14 Money for Printing 15 Liquor Commission Farce 15 Extravagance of the Senate • 15 Failure of the National Policy — Prom- ises and Performance 16 Trade with Britain — Reduce the duties on British Goods 16 Failed to obtain Reciprocity 16 Great Loss of Population 17 Population of Canada 1871, 1881, 1891 17 The Industrial Census 17-18 Sample Manufacturers 18-13 How the Farmer is Taxed 19 Articles Free or lightly Taxed 20 The Cordage Combine 20 Cotton and Cotton Goods 21 PAGE. Kerosene Oil 21-22 Cost to the Consumer by reason of the Protection on Iron 22 Iron and Steel Goods 23 Prices 23 Increased Taxation 24 Taxation Imposed ui)on Mackenzie's Administration — Speech by Sir Leonard Tilley 24-25 Why has Expenditure Increased 25 The Public Debt — Increase under Con- servative Administration — The Debt, * Ten year Periods 25-26 Deficits 26 The Government cannot raise Suffi- cient Money ... 26 Obligations not mentioned — Resolu- tion for Tariff for Revenue Only . . 26-27 Taxes the Fruit of theN.P. — Increase for perit.d of five years alone 27 Mr. Lauricr on Protection 28 As in Mackenzie's Time 28 Gradually Abolish Protection 28 Slandering England _ 28 The People's Policy — Resoluticms Adopted at the only National Poli- tical Convention ^ver held in Ca.i- ada— The Liberal Platform 29-32 JTJlSi'Ji] llTH. 1895- TORONTO : WARWICK BROS. & RUTTER, PRINTERS, 68 jlnd 70 FRONT ST. WEST. 1895. FMGTS FOR THE PEOPLE, : Canadian Farmers in Danger, ?m Canadian farming has received many blows, borne with much patience but the situation is such that it now becomes the plain duty of farmers to resist further attacks. Profit in grain raising in older Canada ceased when we taxed ourselves to develop the great grain producing prairies of the Northwest. Cour- ageously our farmers have struggled with adverse conditions by going more largely into stock raising, dairying, etc. This, their apparently last refuge, is now threatened to be destroyed, and that, too, at the instance of the Dominion Government, and with the help of farmers themselves. Before too late we give some facts and raise our voice in warning and call on the farmers to do their duty. Now, what are the facts and what is the danger ? Money to Steamers. In 1893 the Government represented to Parliament that Australasia furn- ished a profitable market for the surplus manufactures of Canada, and got an Act passed enabling them to pay $125,000 yearly for a monthly line of steamers from British Columbia to Australia, nominally to supply cheap rates to Australia for Canadian iiianufacturers. not a word being said about return cargoes of farm products. s . ' The Scheme and the Sspenditure. First, then, what is his scheme ? We quote from the official report of the Colonial Conference held at Ottawa last summer on Sir Mackenzie's Bo well's invitation The scheme is to secure " a customs arrangement between Great Britain and her colonies by which trade within the Empire may be placed on a. more favorable footing than that which is carried on with foreign countries," and that untii England comes into this arrangement the colonies may be empowered ' to place each other's products, in whole or in part, on a more favored customs basis than is accorded to the like products of foreign countries ' ; and in order to interchange products, " a tirst class mail and passenger service with all the modern appliances for the storage and carrying of perishable goods be established on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans connecting Australasia and Great Britain across Canada, and that immediate steps bft taken to provide telegraphic com- munication between Canada and Australia." The estimated cast of one single c^ble is about $10,000,000. Two or more will of course have to be laid to provide for interruption by accidents. If Eng- land joins in the arrangement Canada is to pay one-third of the costs ; if she will uut, Canada is to pay one- half, or about $10,000,000 for two cables, the lowest number that cai. be managed with. The length of the c^ble will be over 7,000 miles, with no intermediate points where it can get business. There are already cables from England to Australia, via Europe, and which are supported largely by European business ; and Sir John Pender, probably the highest authority on cable matters, estimates that, above all earnings, nearly a million dollars a year will be required to be contributed by the Governments (Canada included) ^ jwards keeping the Canadian cable in condition. As to the steamship lines, the Canadian Government is now paying $125,000 a year for a monthly steamer to Australia, and last year got an Act passed aathoriaing them to pay $750,000 a year for a fast Atlantic service to England, At the Colonial Conference the subject of a fast Atlantic and Pacific ser- vice was considered, and Mr. Huddart stated that a yearly subsidy of $1,500,000 would be required to maintain a weekly line on the Atlantic and a fortnightly one on the Pacific, and the Canadian Government, through Sir Mackenzie Bowell, Sir Adolphe Caron and Mr. Foster, their representatives at the conference, expressed their approval of Canada contributing $875,000 a };ear as their pro- portion. " If the cable communication and the steamship communication,'* Mr. Foster said, " shall be carried out within the nest three or four years, I venture to say that no single action that has taken place will do more for the British Empire as regards the unity and i:he cohesion of those distant parts than this very same line of action we have recommended. We cannot hasten too fast." Thus we have a scheme proposed by our Government, and which they aim at completing within the next three or four years, to expend vast sums of money to be taken largely from the farmers of Canada, in establishing cables and steam- ship lines between Australia, Canada and Great Britain. To Hon. Mr. Foster's statement, " we cannot go too fast," we reply, " we cannot go too slow." To "S'wamp" Canada. Now, what is there in this scheme for the farmers of Canada or Canada itself ? This involves an examination of the resources of Australia, for the return cargoes to Canada and Great Britain will be composed of the surplus products of Australia. Sir Mackenzie Bowell, on his return from Australia, speaking of the resources of Australia, reported as follows : " Frozen mutton ranks next to wool and gold among the exports of Australia. This industry, which was only begun by New Zealand in 1882, has now reached enormous proportions, and is shared in by nearly all the colonies. The exports for 1891, the last year for which complete figures are available, were as follows : • • Cwt. . ■ New South Wales 106,810 Victoria 110 Queensland : 106,307 South Australia 980 New Zealand 998,277 . 1,212,444 " The annual surplus of sheep in the above colonies reaches 4,500,000, and • the exportation of frozen mutton has to some extent solved the problem of • disposal. . ;; • " The number of sheep in the colonies in the year just referred to was : - New South Wales 61,830,416 '. * Victoria 12,928,148 Queensland . = 20,289,633 South Australia 7,745.541 Western Australia 1,962,212 Tasmania 1,062,801 New Zealand 18,128,186 124,547,936 The Plan Proposed. Speaking at the Ottawa conference last June, Hon. Mr. Fraser, one of the Australian delegates, said : ' - " Cheap freight is the great consideration for our frozen mutton, and even now they are making immense strides in that respect, and in Victoria we are just commencing to erect large frozen warehouses, and I predict that in a very short time indeed the trade will be immense. We have in four colonies 106,000,000 sheep, and we could easily increase them if we saw a profitable outlet for the surplus produce. . • ■,; " We can multiply our fro/en mutton produce immensely if we can see our way to dispose of it. In some cases we really have had to boil down large num- bers of sheep because we had no market. " In one property I am connected with in New South Wales you would be surprised to learn that we have had to boil down for their tallow about forty- five thousand ewes simply because we had no market ard no place to freeze them to advantage. Now all that would btj quickly changed, and you can easily see that it is only a drop in the ocean compared with what we can do. Millions and millions of sheep have been boiled down in Queensland and New South Wales for their tallow. The boiling down establishments have risen like magic all over New South Wales and Queensland, but that will not continue long when we make arrangement for cheap freight and we get ships built carrying 80,000 car- casses of mutton." Then Mr. Fraser goes on to state the lowest rate of freight to be about three farthings a pound. Hon. Mr. Sutter, of New South Wales, then said : " Our great staple industry in Australia is wool, and it is a mere question of bringing about a closer relationship between these two dependencies (Canada and Australia) to establish what will ultimately be a large trade in that com- modity. You (that is, Canada) have onl}'- about 2,500,000 sheep. In the Austral- asian colonies wu have now about 125,000,000 sheep, and you can easily see thafc we have an enormous amount of wool at our disposal for export. ♦ * * j have no doubt a large trade can be built up in this direction. * * * and notwithstanding the Canadian duties on mutton a large trade (in mutton) ought to be established at any rate to British Columbia, and considerably further east, in frozen mutton. You will understand this when I tell you that the amount the producers of mutton receive in the Sydney market it now about two cents a pound, and I am informed that in British Columbia and Winnipeg mutton is retailed at fourteen to fifteen cents a pound. I think you will see that there must be a margin here if we can bring into closer communication the consumer and the producer than is the case at present. * * * In British Columbia, again, we ought to find a market for our tinned meats. There they consume about 150 tons per annum. Some of this comes from Eastern Canada and the United States ; other commodities we may supply you (Canada) with are raw hides and skins. We have only to prove to you the wonderful durability of our timbers to induce you to use them for some of the purposes you are now using the soft wood of Canada ' (and sugges ;s the Australian woods being used for rail- way ties and block paving), and then he goes on to say to Australia might also send apples to Canada, and then he says : ' And we may ask whether, we might not establish a trade in butter for your winter nlonths." 6 To TTndersell the Canadian Farmer. Mr. Lee Smith, of New Zealand, then stated that New Zealand could supply Canada with woollen goods, tweeds and sheep skins, frozen mutton ; and Mr. Bowell said : " A slight study has convinced me that Australian mutton can be carried as far east as Chicago at a profit, and pay the American duty." The same thing can be done in Canada. Hon. Mr. Fitzgerald, Victoria, then added : " Last year the value of the exports (from Victoria) amounted to nearly one million pounds sterling in butter, and the trade is growing largely." , ' - " Hon: Mr, Fraser, of Australia, said : ' We can send you tinned meats,' and speaking at the public banquet at Ottawa, given to the Australian delegates, Hon. Mr. Thynne, of Queensland, stated that they had an annual surplus of over 600,000 cattle, and when this scheme was carried out they would be able to deliver beef in Canada at one-fifth the present price in Canada, mutton at two cents a pound, and other agricultural products at proportionately reduced prices." At the Expense of the Canadian Farmer. Now, we ask any fair-minded person whether Canada should use the public money of her people to pay for running vessels from Australia to Canada and England to carry Australian products to compete with our own farm products and thus ruin Canadian farming ? By bad management the Government caused England to prohibit the importation of Canadian cattle into England, and now they are using Canadian money largely collected from the farmers to enable the Australians to undersell Canadian farmers in England, and even in Canada, in beef, mutton, wool, tallow, hides, pork, apples, canned meats, cheese, butter, etc. When this scheme is completed, we ask, in serious earnestness, what is to become of the Canadian farmer ? For a moment consider the agricultural possibilities of Australia and the other Pacific colonies, all embraced under the term A.ustralasia. The island of Australia alone, by a vast continent 2,500 miles long by 1,950 miles wide, has an area ot about 3,000,000 square miles (as large as the United States, omitting Alaska), 900,000,000 acres of which are agricultural and grazing lands, not a sixth of which is yet utilized ; and New Zealand and Tasmania have at least another 100,000,000 acres available for agricultural purposes, and all these are situated in a temperate zone, with a climate so mild that live stock are never taken off the pastures and require no buildings for shelter. These are great countries, with vast oceans of fertile prairie lands, over which roam millions of live stock, and we ask why should Canadian farmers contribute towards the cost of bringing to the Canadian and British markets the agricultural products of these lands. In 1887 Australasia contained 1,437,904 horses ; in 1891 the number had increased to 1,771,560. In the same period the number of horned cattle increased from 8,886,796 to 11.540,684, and the number of sheep from 97,233,478 to 124,- 187,189 ; that is, in the five years in question the number of sheep alone increased by over twenty -six millions, being ten times more than all the sheep in Canada. Let it be remembered that not a sixth of the Australasian agricultural lands are yet taken up, and it at once becomes apparent that the Australian farmer threatens to become the most dangerous rival in the world to the Canadian farmer. in 1892 Australasia raised 41,000,000 bushels of wheat, 16,000,000 bushels of oats and 7,370,000 bushels of com. Recently, with the development of dairy- ing, Australasia has begun raising pigs, and in a very brief period the number has risen to nearly a million, and already she is exporting pork. The Australian year book for 1894 shows that Australia and Tasmania alone (not including New Zealand) exported in 1892 farm products of the following value, namely : Value. - ' J ' ' Butter and cheese £475,810 sterling. Meats 751,600 Fk)ur and biscuits 1,154,648 Wheat 1,109,585 Potatoes i 109,981 Wool 24,032,450 Tallow , 874,83.5 Leather 509,010 Hides ' 1,560,593 Timber 340,274 . -"' Live stock 2,282,794 Making £33,202,380 sterling, 4 * or a total of over $161,000,000. Add to these figures the value of the exports from New Zealand and other Australasian colonies, and one may form a slight idea of the formidable rival in the Pacific which our Government proposes to develop at the expense of the Canadian farmer. In 1893, Victoria (in Australia) exported butter to the value of nearly $5,000,000, and speaking of the dairy prospects of New Zealand, Mr. S. Lowe is reported in the great English trade journal, the London Commerce, of a recent issue, as saying : " New Zealand has the best pastures and climate of any country in the world, and I am confident vnll ultimately excel all the other colonies The Victoria Government established a system of bounties which wrought their colony to the front. They gave money or advanced it on easy terms for the erection of factories and the putting up of machinery. The state always took the milk from the farms to the creameries free These aids developed the industry at a tremendously rapid rate," etc. A liberal bounty is also given on cheese exported, and Mr. Lowe added : " It probably costs less to send a cargo of butter from New Zealand to London than it would from London to Manchester. New Zealand butter comes 12,000 miles for less than one penny a pound." . > ;* The Drawback to Manufacturers. As if further to handicap the Canadian farmer our Government allows a drawback of 99 per cent, on aU duties on dutiable materials used in the manufac- ture of agricultural implements and exported to Australasia or elsewhere, eo that the Canadian farmer has to pay the full duty whilst the Australian farmer can buy the same implements, by paying only one-hundredth part of the duty ; and, in addition, he has the advantage of cheap freights on the implements, because of the Canadian subsidy to the steamers. 8 A Shout of Joy. Frozen mutton, tallow, tinned meats and butter from Australia are now being regularly delivered by the Canadian Government subsidized line of steamers in British Columbia, and are finding their way east to Ontario. For example, the following advertisement of a Sudbury firm of merchants appeared in the issue of the Sudbury Times of May 2nd, 1894 : " From Australia, ex SS Warrimoo to Vancover, B.C., thence by the C. P. R trans-continental line to Sudbury direct : " We herald the arrival of invoices of consignment of creamery butter from the celebrated Rosebud creamery of Newcastle, New South Wales ; also tinned meats, the products of the country. This is a sample trip, and all things com- mercially satisfactory, we look forward to having closer trade relations with our sister colony. It will facilitate matters greatly to know that we shall have swift transportation over the road. " On the way hither : ten, cases Australian butter, four cases tinned Australian meat, one case Australian honey, one case Australian wool." During the year 1894 many thousand "pounds of Australian butter (also mutton, tallow, wool, etc.) came by this route to Canada. A Policy of Madness. These are the first fruits of the new policy of the Canadian Government for developing trade with the Australasian colonies, with two steamers, with a monthly service at a cost to the Canadian people for bounties of $125,000 a year. What is it likely to be five or ten years hence, with lines of steamers on the Atlantic and Pacific sustained by yearly grants of $1,500,000 to provide cheap carriage for beef, mutton, pork, tallow, lard, wool, cheese, butter, apples, bread- stuffs and other agricultural products from Australia and New Zealand to Canada and Great Britain ? -Nothing for the Parmor. ' - ^^^^ r ■ The total exports of Canadian farm products to Australasia even with all the proposed expenditure amount to less than forty dollars a year. Australian Trad© to Canada- From June 80th, 1894, to March 31st last, there were imported into Canada from Australasia fowls to the value of $10 ; bananas and pineapples, $1,346 ; hides and skins, $1,458 ; wool, 249,182 pounds, valued at $32,460 ; eggs, 24 dozen, valued at $4 ; oranges, lemons and limes, $2,874 worth ; butter, 36,907 pounds, valued at $5,925 ; lard, 2,146 pounds, valued at $187 ; salted beef, 3,712 pounds, valued at $161 ; canned meats, 84,350 pounds, valued at $7,413 ; mutton and lamb, 16,052 pounds, valued at $576 ; poultry, $96 ; sausage casings, $366 ; tallow, $43; honey, 1,492 pounds, valued at $93; total value, $53,012. (See Hansard for June 10th, '95.) Scheduling of Canadian Cattle- Through the incompetency of the lawyer who acts as Minister of Agricul- ture in the Dominion Governuient, Canadian cattle have been scheduled in Great Britain and quarantined in the United States, thus occasioning great loss to this country. Wasis and Extravagance. The cost of Government and expenditures of all sorts have increased enormously in Canada during the past fifteen years or more and some illustrations of how this has been accompHshed are herewith given. The scandals in connection with the awarding of contracts and the construction of public works have been dealt with in the press and parliamentary reports and a few statements here will recall what extravagance exists. Franchise Waste. The worse than useless Franchise Act involves an expenditure from the treasury of about $250,000 for each revision, besides entailing upon the people an enormous amount if work, expense, etc., which may be calculated at about $300,000. In this way the people are burdened for each revision to the tune ' of about $550,000. Leasing Land- The Government has pursued the policy of making pasture land leases in the west to cattle kings at a noininal rent of one or two cents per acre without asking for bids or seeking competition, and onlv with a limit of 50,000 acres as the amount that might be covered by a single lease. In this way several millions of acres have been leased. These leases inttrf ere with settlement and are inimical to the interests of the settlers when covering any district suitable for cultivation. Grants to Speculators- The disregard of the Government for the interests of the settler was strik- ingly manifested by the so-called colonization plans adopted in December, 1881. Under the provisions of these plans, speculators were enabled to buy the public lands not reserved for railways, the Hudson Bay Company or school purposes, in townships, or blocks of townships, at one-half the price charged to the actual , settler. By the provisions of one of these plans purchases were for cash , by the ^ ♦ provisions of the other plan credit on easy terms, extending over a period of five '■ years was given. The rush of speculators under the credit plan was phenomenal. - On January 1st, 1883, a little over a year after the order was issued, the applica- tions under the credit plan numbered 251 and covered 2,295 townships of land. Among the applicants were 21 members of Parliament, supporters of the Govern- ment, where applications covered about 150 townships. Giving A-way TimTaer Limits- A scandalous instance of the disregard of the Government for the general public interest is furnished by the timber limit policy in vogue up to the year 1887. Previous to that date timber limits were granted to friends of the Govern- ment upon private applications without being advertised or offered at public competition, and were granted upon the payment of $5 per square mile. One limit thus obtained by John Charles Rykert for the sum of $250, was sold soon after for $150,000. Up to February, 1885, 550 orders in council granting limits were issued. These orders covered an area of 25,800 square miles. Of these grants twenty-six were made to members of Parliament upon their own applica^ tion, and seventy-nine grants were made to friends of Conservative members of Parliament upon the application of*members ; and 'nearly, if not all, of the grants made were to friends of the Government. A mo. er**e">ensibie abuse of power can scarcely be conceived. The enormous public 1 deliberately inflict'Cd by the Government may be better understood by reterr _.g to the timber sale of the Province of Ontario held in the autumn of 1881, when at public auction 10 bonuses amounting to $730,801 were received for 1,412 square miles, an average of $517 bonus per square mile. The Dominion grants under consideration were mostly made at a date subsequent to the Ontario sale alluded to, and at the rate of bonuses then received, the Dominion Government should have received upon the 25,300 square miles granted, bonuses to the amount of $13,080,000. Grants to EailTvays- Up to January 1st, 1894. 44,242,298 acres of public land had been granted by the Dominion Government in Manitoba and the Canadian North- West, in aid of railway construction. On the basis of the present cultivated area of the Dominion, this is an amount more than sufficient to furnish homes and support to 10,000,000 people, and with the exception of the grant to the main line of the C.P.H. it may reasonably be doubted whether any of the grants were required to secure the construction of branch and other lines as fast as the wants of the country required and business could be furnished to pay running expenses. Scandals loj tlxe Dozen on Fnblio Works- ST. CHARLES' BRANCH RAILWAY, (14 miles):— Promised cost, 8136,000 expended upon it, $1,740,000 ; outstanding claims, $20,719 ; cost of road itself $822,000 ; cost of land damages, over $900,000. TAY CANAL, (6 miles) :— Estimated cost, $132,660 ; expended upon it, $476,128 ; revenue for 1894, $126 ; cost of maintenance 1894, $2,458. LITTLE RAPIDS LOCK :— Contract estimate of cost, $86,680 ; paid to con- tractor, $260,000 ; contractor's claims still unpaid, $61,000 ; no traffic and no Beceipts from the work. GALOPS RAPIDS CHANNEL, (Cornwall Canal) :— Contract price, $306,- 600 ; paid to contractors, $446,500 ; contractors' claims still unpaid, $130,000 ; the Minister of Canals stated in Parliament after the work was taken over that no one would use it. SHEIKS ISLAND DAM, (Cornwall Canal) :— The original contract was cancelled and a work abandoned, upon which $155,000 of money was absolutely thrown away. The new work was given to a favored firm of contractors without tenders who have been allowed $22,500 over their contract price. . . " LANGEVIN BLOCK : Estimate of cost less than $500,000 ; already paid, $781,000 ; cr.+standing claims, $250,000 ; Contractor Charlebois had following clause put into the contracts which other contractors on the building had with Government : " The contractors will agree to bind themselves to buy the right of way from the contractor Mr. Charlebois." CONNOLLY-MoGREEVY WORKS:— Cost to contractors of work, $2,184.- 259 ; cost to country, $3,138,234 ; contractors' profits, $953,975 ; loss to country after deducting fair profit, $700,000. PRINTING BUREAU SCANDAL :—Senecttl's commissions on purchases for supplies and machinery, $50,000. CURRAN BRIDGE :— Estimated cost, $123,000 ; Government Commission's estimate of reasonable cost, $160,000 ; actual cost, $430,000 ; stolen from the country, $270,000 ; Judge Desnoyers decided that Government's contract with contractor St. Louis was so drawn that he had •lived up to it. Gampaia;n contributions paid by Senator Ross and Mr. Beemer to Sir Adolphe Oaron and recouped by subsidy to the Lake St. John Railway, $50,000. FREDERICTON AND ST. MARY'S BRIDGE :— Paid up capital of com- pany, $20,000 ; Government loan at 4 percent., $300,000; Government bonus, 11 $30,000 ; total cost of bridge, S418,000 ; floating debt of bridge, $19,000 ; interest due the Government upon loan since 1888, $66,000 ; total amount public money sunk in this private speculation, $396,000. ' CARAQUET RAILWAY :— $224,000 of public money has been sunk in this sink hole. The road is not paying running expenses, and the public expen- diture which was incurred for election purposes and nothing else is a total loss. In the winter ot 1895 the Government passed an Order in Council " grant- ing " $2,500,000 as a loan in cash to the " Hudson's Bay Railway." At present (June 11th, 1895,) they are hesitating over the request that their plans be sub- mitted to the House of Commons, and it is not known whether they will ratify the order by Act of Parliament. How tlie Trick is Done. It may be interesting to know how these increases were incurred. Let one example suffice. We will quote from the Montreal Gazette of the 14th Ma}*, 1895, a statement made by Judge Desnoyers upon the application of the Solicitor-General with respect to the suit against the contractor on the Curran bridge for a refund of money which the Solicitor-General claimed he had got unfairly from this Govern- ment. Let me call attention to some of the details of that transaction. It related to two bridges across the Lachine Canal and the Grand Trunk Railway. The Govern- ment engineer's first estimate of the cost of completing those bridges was $160,- 000. But they proposed to make certain changes, to enable them to deepen the canal and improve the works, and the highest figure which the Government's own engineer gave as the cost of the work was $223,000. Although the work was within two or three hours' run by rail of the headquarters of the Government at Ottawa, what did they do ? They paid $394,000 for that work which their own engineer had estimated would cost $223,000, and then they instituted a suit against their own contractors to try to get $170,000 out of him. Let me make a few quotations from the statement of the judge upon the evidence placed before him with respect to the terms of the contract made by the Department with the contractor, Mr. St. Louis. Here is a specimen of the wages which this precious economical Government contracted to pay to that contractor : A stonecutter fore- man was allowed $4 a day for day time and $6 for night time, $8 a day for Sunday, and $12 a day for Sunday overtime. ... A double team got $5 a day, and, when religiously at work on Sunday, it got $10. What else do we find ? We find that a derrick was worth $2.75 in the day time, but the same instrument was worth $3.75 at right, and it was a religious derrick, because when it had to work on Sunday its conscience had to be appeased by giving it $7.50. That was the contract made under the supervision of the Minister right here in this House. We are not speaking of what occurred outside, but of the con- tract that these gentlemen made with Mr. St. Louis. He went to work to carry out that contract. What does the judge say in addition ? He says : And on the same scale for stonemasons, stonesetters and skilled laborers, Mr. St. Louis' bills must have been tremendous, when it is remembered the job lasted four months, and that at times there were 2,000 men at work in the day- time and 1,500 men at work at night. The men were paid alternately every week. Mr. Michaud tells us that some of the pays amounted to $34,000, some $10,000, some $15,000 and some $20,000. And yet that went on for four months, although all that time the Minister and his responsible subordinates could have left this House and run down to the work any afternoon, inspected what was going on and made things right. That went on until, instead of paying out $233,000, i Government paid nearly $400,- 12 ^ 000, and yet they ask us to belie^Lthat they did not know anything about it, and that the whole thing was economically administered. Let any hon. gentle- man go to Ontario and present those figures to the electorate and try to make them believe that this expenditure was a really honest, just and fair expenditure of public money. When we find that the contractor destroyed his books because his safe was not big enough to hold them after he got through, and when we find him declaring under oath that he had given contributions to aid the party in power, need we go any further to find a reason why this extravagance was allowed to go on unchecked ? What did the judge say ? Did he instruct Mr. St. Louis to pay back this money ? No ; he goes on to say : There was no proper surveillance by the oflicers of the Government on two of the jobs at least, viz., the Grand Trunk bridge and lock No. 1 of the Lachine Canal. The time-keeping on the two latter jobs seems to have been left to take care of itself, as far as the Government oflicers were concerned, S(, much so that t>vo prominent public officers, high in office, lost their situation on that account. Mr. St. Louis procured all the workmen that were asked of him. He did not keep time personally, he had several clerks to do it, and one of them stufied the lists. This was sworn to by himself, to his own disgrace ; and when these lists were so made and cooked, they were certified blindly and as a matter of form by the officers of the Government. And yet this is the Government which undertakes to tell us that they are administering the affairs of the country carefully. Outside La-wyers' Pees. ^ In addition to the tremendous increase in the expenditure of every depart- ment of the Government, there is behind them all and beyond all their salaries and contingencies, a further source of patronage and extravagance. It is to be found under the head of " Legal expenses and taxed costs " in the Auditor-Gen- eral's Report. No doubt a certain amount of this expenditure is forced upon a Government, but it is most unreasonably high, as will appear from the following figures for the last nine years : :* .' \ ' In 1886 it was $124,401 00 ' In 1887 " 61,425 00 In 1888 " 82,929 00 In 1889 " 117,825 00 ' In 1890 " 99,907 00 In 1891 " 94,055 00 ' * In 1892 " 103,956 00 In 1893 " 141,424 00 In 1894 " 101.078 00 ^ Making a total in nine years of $927,000 00 • It will be observed that there is a notable increase in the cost of outside law work for the year 1893, and that is all the mere to be surpri.sed at because for the first time the country is then paying for the services of a Solicitor-General. It is a gross scAudal that while the new office of Solicitor-General has been created at Ottawa with a salary of $5,000 per annum, an outside lawyer in the City of Ottawa, Mr. D. O'Connor, whose office is not 200 yards distant from the Solicitor- General's Office, should have been paid for legal services for the Government in the year ending 30th June, 1893, the enormous sum of $19,248.32. The sum paid to Mr. O'Connor for the year ending 30th June, 1894, was $19,850.48. This lawyer gets each year in fees a sum equal in value to about five i . > 13 farms, though the country employs a Solicitor-General at $5,00i) a year to attend to legal work. * * The total $927,000 paid out to lawyers in nine years would, at the rate of $4,000 per 100 acres, purchase 234 farms. \Y^*'^ ^^"^^^ =*^"^' calculating the price of cattle at $50 a head, 18,540 head of cattle could be purchased. . The SuperaxiziTiatioxi Alsuse. The system of superannuating civil servants, began in 1871, was based upon the idea that after a public official had become feeble and worn out he should be retired from the public service and his place filled by an efficient substitute. A fund was created to supply which two per cent, of the salaries of civil servants was retained. In 1871 the receipts of this fund amounted to $50,000 and the expenditure to only $13,000. In 1893 the receipts were $64,433 and the expen- diture $263,710. In 1894 there was paid into this fund $63,974, while there was paid out of it the enormous sum of $262,302. ' . - In the twenty-three years since the inauguration of the system we have paid $2,500,000 over and above the receipts. The total number on the superannuation list on the 30th June, 1893, was 551. Of those, 173 were under the age of sixty, which is the limit fixed by the Act, and below which the Government is not supposed to go unless for very special reasons ; seventy-three were under the age of fifty. The needy followers of the Government, and some who are not needy, have had to be provided for, and the superannuation system has been used to provide places for hungry followers. Mr. Dansereau, a leading Montreal Conservative, desired the postmastership of that city, and Mr. Lamothe, the postmaster, was superannuated. He was entitled to a retiring allowance of $1,360, but the Gov- ernment added eight years to his time, and Mr. Lamothe is drawing $2,000 a year and Mr. Dansereau is receiving as postmaster $4,000, which makes the cost of that office $6,000 a year, Mr. Robert Wallace, postmaster at Victoria, B.C., strenuously resisted being superannuated, but his place was wanted for Mr. Shakespeare, then a member of Parliament. To quiet Mr. Wallace eight years was adc ^d to his length of service, and he is new living in England drawing a pension of $1,300 a year and Mr. Shakespeare is doing his work at a salary of $2,000 a year. Mr. Charles Thibeault was appointed Secretary of the Board of Dominion Arbitrators, a sinecure, and after drawing $2,000 a year for nine years was super- annuated at the age of forty-nine on a pension of $760 a year. Mr. Vankoughnet, Deputy Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs was superannuated in 1893 at the age of fitty-seven against his will and against his strong protest that his health was quite good. In order to force him to apply for superannuation the Minister threatened him that it would be worse for him if he did not, but if he did all would be made right. (See official letter from Minister, June 28, 1893, page 4326, Commons Hansard, 1894.) Mr. Vankoughnet is now living in England drawmg $2,112 a year for the rest of his life. The reason Mr. Vankoughnet was forced out was to supply Mr. Hayter Reed with the position. Mr. Reed is the gentleman who was chiefly responsible for the looting of furs after the Northwest Rebellion, but he sheltered himself behind General MiddletoH and destroyed a letter which convicted him of complicity in that disgraceful affair. Mr. Trudeau, Deputy Minister of Railways and Canals, was superannuated against his will on an allowance of $3,756 a year. H. A. Whitney, Mechanical Superintendent of the Intercolonial Railway, was superannuated at the age of fifty-eight, and Mr. A. S. Busby, of the same road, at the >ige of fifty-four, on allowances respectively of $1,280 and $1,000 a year. 14 Mr. John Tilton, Deputy Minister of Fisheries, was superannuated at the age ' of fifty-five, and can be seen any day in Ottawa, a strong, healthy, vigorous man in the prime of life ; yet he is drawing a pension reserved for sick, feeble and aged persons, of $1,536. Durinfj the five years of the Mackenzie Government the receipts of this fund averaged more than $40,000 a year and the payments were under $100,000, whereas we are now only receiving $64,000 and paying out $263,000, a deficit of $200,000 a year. • , On May 22nd, 1883, Sir Leonard Tilley moved the third reading of Bill (No. 91) to amend and consolidate the Acts relating to the superannuation of persons employed in the Civil Service of Canada. To this G. W. Ross, Liberal M.P. (Middlesex), moved the following amendment : " That the Bill be recommitted to a Committee of the Whole to amend the same so as to provide (with due regard to the rights of those who have been already admitted to the Superannuation List) for the abolition of the present system and the substitution of a plan whereby a percentage of the salary of each civil servant shall be retained and placed to his credit and shall be payable to him with interest on his quitting the service, or to his family in case of his death in the service." This amendment was nega- tived bv the Conservatives on the following division : Yeas, 47 ; Nays, 100. (Hansard, Vol. II., p. 13G4.) A resolution moved by Mr. James McMullen, Liberal M.P., North Welling- ton, Ont., in Parliament during the session of 1894, declaring that the Superan- nuation Act had been administered by the Government in a loose, and unjustifi- able manner, and that the system as now established should be abolished, was voted down by 91 to 55, every Conservative in the House voting against it. The Liberals disclaimed any intention of interfering under that resolution with the rights of those who have paid money into the fund, but they held that it was unfair to the laboring men and to the farmers of this country that they should continue to be taxed $200,000 a year to keep half a thousand men idle, when half of them are well able to work, and when scores of them are living a life of ease in foreign lands, drawing fat pensions from the Canadian taxpayers. A few examples showing how the present Act works are given below : UP TO 30th JUNE, 1892. Name. 1 Geo. Tutooye . . . 2 Nomas Goddard . 3 E. C. Haydon . . . 4 John Kidd 5 R. Kimber 6 John Langton . . , 7 J. P. Leprohon. , 8 Joseph Leslie. . . , 9 Peter Le Sueur. . 10 E. A. Meredith . . 11 F. M. Pftsson . . . 12 Alfred Pattrick., 13 J. P. Rubige . . . 14 A. Woodgate . . , 15 J. A. Hunworth Paid in. Drew out. $420 00 $38,018 93 650 83 20,020 00 122 00 17,471 00 576 58 16.670 00 275 71 18,004 00 \ 847 00 37,803 00 4Gti 00 14,518 00 584 34 32,777 00 487 42 15.070 00 639 25 34,440 00 69 33 20,149 00 Nil. 27.56S 00 96 00 34,322 00 824 00 23,780 00 367 50 13,838 00 $5,825 96 $383,448 00 One dollar paid in for every 64 drawn out 15 Mo'iiey for Printing^, etc. Many newspapers throughout the Dominion must sic^ the praises of the Government, no matter what the conduct of the Ministers may be, or suffer the loss of patronage. Though there is a Government Printing Bureau at Ottawa yet enormous sums are yearly paid to newspapers and other printing establish- ments in all sections of the country. The money thus lavishly spent does not include the printing done for Returning Officers, the charges for printing the lists, or the work done in the Government Printing Bureau at Ottawa. The Auditor- General's reports, distributed in the following years, show these expenditures in detail for each previous year : 1888 $303,199 00 1889 306,894 00 - 1890 243,716 00 1891 182,477 00 1892 275,82100 1893 232,975 00 1894 231,939 00 1895 269,626 00 Total for eight years S2,046,147 00 This is over two million dollars, and exceeds in value more than 500 farms: Liquor Commii^siczi Farce. In 1892, the Dominion Government appointed Sir Joseph llickson, Montreal; G. A. Gigault, ex-M.P., Quebec ; His Honor Judge McDonald, Brockville, E. F. Clarke, M.P.P., Toronto, and Rev. J. McLeod, D.D., Fredricton, a Royal Com- mission on the liquor traffic. The\ travelled not only through Canada but took trips to the United States, summoning people before them and asking them questions. These questions number about sixty thousand and are contained, together with the answers, in several volumes issued by the Government. On this mass of stuft" all the Commissioners, except Rev. Dr. McLeod, report against prohibition, while the Rev. Dr. finds otherwise. The Commission was nothing short of an imposition upon the public and the cost was enormous. About $70,000 have already been paid, and it is estimated that the whole amount to be paid for this imposition will be about $100,000. Extravagance of the Senate. Salaries and contingencies for the year ending June 30th, 1893. Summary taken from the Auditor-General's report : Salaries (for clerks, etc.) $31,898 33 Pages , 477 00 Sessional messengers 1,350 00 Charwomen 2,000 00 Stationery 6 059 74 Newspapers 2,162 48 , Postage and carriage of mails 69X 29 Tradesmen 2,325 00 Debates 8 94I 22 Unforseen expenses \ 935 jq '^otal ...[ /. .; ;. . . . . $66,741 16 Salary of Speaker $4,000 00 Indemnity and mileage ,- 109,966 ii7 Grand total $170,707 88 16 Failure of the ITational Policy. When the trade policy of this country was changed from a tariff for revenue to a protective tariff", the change was based upon a resolution moved by the leader of the Conservative party, Sir John A, Macdonald, in the House of Commons, as f oDo ws : — " That this House is of opinion that the welfare of Canada requires the adoption of a national policy, which, by judicious re-adjustment of the tariff, will benefit and prosper the agricukural.the mining, the manufacturing and other interests of the Dominion ; that such a policy will retain in Canada thousands of our fellow countrymen, now obliged to expatriate themselves in search of the employment now denied them at home." (See Hansard, 1878, vol. I., p. 854.) PROMISES AND PERFOR^WANCE. The authors of the National Policy, as anyone may see from their speeches during the election of 1878 and in the budget speeches of the Finance Ministers in subsequent years, made these promises, amongst others : To abolish business depreasion ; to stop the exodus ; to turn the " balance of trade " in our favor ; to tax British goods in the bulk less than foreign ; to give the farmer a home mar- ket ; to develop our mineral wealth ; to obtain reciprocity with the United States ; to reduce the debt to 8100,000,000 by 1890 ; to place a million people in .the North-West by 1891. The last feat was to be accomplished only in part by the National Policy. Jiot one of these promises have been fulfiiled. TRADE WITH BRITAIN. As to the taxation of British goods. Sir Leonard in 1879 declared : " It may be said we shall receive from the imports from foreign countries a larger share of the $20,000,000 we require than we shall receive from the mother country. I believe such will be the effect. But I think that in making such a t .tement to the House, belonging as we do to, and forming a part of that great country — a country that receives our natural products without any taxation, everything we have to send her — apart from our national feelings, I think this House will not object, if in the proposition before me the duties touch more heavily the imports from foreiorn countries than from our fatherland." The fact is the reverse of what was promised. British goods in the bulk are taxed more severely than American. The duty levied upon the whole of the country's imports of British goods amounted in the tiscal year ending 30th June, 1893, to 22 per cent, while the duty levied upon the whole of the imports of American goods amounted to 13^ per cent., a discrimination against England on the whole volume of trade of more than 8 per cent. REDUCE THE DUTIES ON BRITISH GOODS. In April, 1892, the following was moved by Hon. L, H. Davies, Liberal M.P., and voted for by the Liberals and opposed by the Conservatives : — " Inasmuch as Great Britain admits the products of Canada into her ports free of duty, this House is of the opinion that the present scale of duties exacted on goods mainly imported from Great P)ritain should be reduced." FAILED TO OBTAIN RECIPROCITY. The Conservatives, though in power since 1878, have failed tc get, as they promised, reciprocity with the United States. The position of the Liberals on this question is clear and distinct. (See resolution No. 2, adopted at the National Convention.) 17 I (}reat Loss of Population. The Census Returns show that excluding altogether the 886,000 immigrants who came to Canada during the ten years, 1881 to 1891, there should have been an increase of population by natural increase alone (calculated at two per cent, a year) of not less than 900,000. The actual increase was in round figures 500,000. The loss in native born population was, therefore, in the ten years 400,000. K to this, however, be added the 886,000 immigrants who, according to the statistics of the department of agriculture were brought into this country during these ten years at a cost of, according to the Public Accounts, page iiv., about $3,000,000, the actual exodus from Canada during the ten years, 1881 to 1891, amounted to over 1,200,000 persons, or 120,000 each year. The tJnited States census agrees with ours in this regard and shows that of every male bom in Canada, between the ages of twenty and fifty years, one in three is found in the United States. The following table is compiled from the census returns by the Dominion Statistician, Johnson, and published in the statistical year book for 1893, p. 119. POPULATION OF CANADA, 1871, 1881 AND 1891. Provinces. Ontario Quebec Nova Scotia New Brunswick Manitoba British Columbia . . . . , Prince Edward Island , The Territories 1871. 1,620,861 1,191,516 387,800 285,594 18,995 36,247 94,021 1881. 1,926,922 1,359,027 440,572 321,233 62,260 40,459 108,891 56,446 Increase per cent. 18.6 14.0 13.6 12.4 247.2 36.4 15.8 1891. 2,114,321 1,488,535 450,396 321,263 152,506 98,173 109,078 98,967 Increase per cent. 9.73 9.53 2.23 none. 144.95 98.49 0.17 75.33 The Industrial Census. What is called the industrial census, or that branch of the census professing to o^ive the industrial returns to the country, meaning the manufacturing concerns, was procured by the offer that each census enumerator would receive 15 cents for every industrial establishment he returned, whether it had an existence in fact or only in his imagination ; consequently one of the biggest industries of that year was the hunt for industries by the 4,300 enumerators. Their reports, com- pared with 1881, were as follows : . , ■ - .' " 1881. ' 1891. Provinces., • Establish- ments. Em- ployees. Establish- ments. Em- ployees. 3,058 15,848 5,469 3,117 2,441 118,308 85,673 20,390 19,922 10,642 32,028 23,112 10,373 5,419 4,836 165,326 116,830 34,266 ^nnr Rnmnwif^lc ...........■••••••••••••«••• 26,609 Other provinces •. • • 24,835 49,923 254,935 75,768 367,865 If each enumerator only discovered 10 " industrial establishments," of whose existence the ordinary inhabitants of the town were unaware, the result would have been an addition of 43,000 establishments throughout the Dominion. The addition, therefore, of 25,000 establishments is very moderate indeed. 2 F.P. 18 There were 9,395 establishments with an average number of employees of IJ ; 3,962 establishments with 5J ; 5,384 with 3* ; 3,337 with 3 ; 1,658 with 3 ; 4,321 with 2 ; 2,468 with 2^ ; 1,480 with 2| ; 1,734 with 2 ; and any number of establishments with 1. ,,>, ; ,. ; V • The way the returns were stuffed, first by the enumerator for a sordid purpose, and next by the census office for a political purpose, intended to magnify the N. P., can be imagined when the Minister of Finance was compelled, amid the laughter of the House, to read long lists of establishments where the number of employees was given as one. So keenly did Mr. Foster feel the exposure of his industrial census methods that he finally refused to read these lists, and handed them unread to the official reporter. Every cobbler who mended shoes, every milliner, every dressmaker who made frocks for her neighbors, every old woman who had a spinning wheel, every person who had a cider press, every cobbling tailor who mended garments and occasionally made one, every jobbing carpenter, every photographer, everyone who kept watches and jewellery were all returned as "manufacturing establishments." A number of these lists can be seen in the Hansard of 1893. In the town of St. Mary's there were 20 " establishments," with one employee to each. There was a pump factory where the owner employed himself and the total number employed was one. There was a carriage factory with the same number. There was a weaving " establishment " which consisted of one old woman. (See page 2,4G0, Commons Hansard, 1893.) In Milverton village, out of 23 "establishments" returned, 11 employed no hands at all besides the owner. There was a cider factory with one hand, a carriage -building establishment with one hand, a boot and shoe establishment with one hand, a tannery with one hand, and so on. In Mornington township, Ont., out of 35 " industrial establishments " there were 15 employing nobody besides the owner, and 12 employing 1 hand. In the cities the exaggeration was in proportion. In the town of Sorel 55 'establishments " were returned as employing nobody but the owner. No fewer than 20 of these " industrial establishments " were dressmakers and milliners and 12 were blacksmiths, giving employment altogether to 17 hands. In the town of Strathroy, Ont., 23 of the " industrial establishments " were dressmakers and miliiners, and in Mount Forest 19. Sample "Manufacturors." -' Here is a sample list of the way in which the 75,000 industrial establish- ments of the census are made up: Number. Employees. Dentists 154 * : 208 Dyeing and scouring 72 292 Photographers 327 , ^ ' 708 Patent medicines 116 307 Dressmaking and millinery 7,066 17,197 Seamstresses * ' 10,083 Carpentering 4,618 10,137 Watchmaking and jewellery . 655 1,619 Plumbing and gasfitting 144 1,268 Butchers 7,252 Blacksmiths 9,423 17,935 Compositors and pressmen 6,055 Painters and glaziers 10,017 19 None of these look to a protective tariff and nearly all of them have no claim whatever to be termed manufacturing establishments. A plumber manufactures nothing ; there is a special column for the maker of plumbers' supplies. The 7,000 butchers who sell meat are not manufacturers. The farmer who fattens the animal the butcher cuts up is the real manufjCcturer. The simple fact is that the census returns are a fraud. They have been stuffed in the most atrocious fashion, partly for the purpose of deceiving the people as to the results of the policy of protection and partly bf»cause the enum- erators were paid a small fee for each " Industrial Establishment " they were able to discover. What has the National Policy ever done for village carpenters, village black- smiths, village shoemakers or village dressmakers, except to make their tools and raw materials dearer and to impoverish their customers, and yet nearly one-half of , the (alleged) new 25,000 factories are simply the increase in these seveial callings. For instance the census reports an increase of blacksmiths, 1,437 ; carpen- ters, 2,124; shoemakers, 953; dressmakers, 4,920; bakers, 500, and carpet factories and knitting factories and hosiery factories all employing on the average about one hand each. Sow the Farmer is Taxed. The object of a protective tariff in its initial stages is to give a vantage ground, and in giving it I frankly admit that in the initial stages the price will be raised to a certain degree I say that in the initial years of the National Policy with a protective principle in it that it will have the effect of enhancing the cost of goods, and that at the first the cost of the goods will be very closely up to the measure of the protection which was given. If it does not have that effect why should it ever be adopted at all, and what is the good of it ? — Hon. George Foster, in budget speech, March 27, 1894, Ma' jard, page 210. This admission, from the highest authority in the country, that the manu- facturer takes advantage of the duty almost to the full extent by adding it on to the price of his goods, should be borne in mind. Under the revised tariff of 1894 the following articles, necessaries of the farmer, are taxed as follows : Threshing machines 30 p.cent. Lubricating oil 6c. a gal. Axle grease 25 p.cent. Drain tiles 20 " Leather belting 20 " Harness 30 " Cut nails (75c.perl00pounds)70 " Scythes, etc 35 " Shovels and spades 35 " Pumps and windmills 30 " Wire fencing (|c. lb.) 30 " Pails and tubs 20 " Wagons 25 " Buggies 35 " Binder-twine 12i " Horse blankets 32| " Fertilizers 10 " Builders' hardware 32^ " Rope 30 " Iron 45 " Tools 30 and 25 p.cent. Chopping axes 85 " Coal oil 6c. a gal. Window glass 20 p.cent. Hats and caps 30 " Mitts 35 " Firearms 20 " Umbrellas and parasols .... 35 ■* Woollens 30 " Cottons 32| " Furniture 30 " Carpets 30 " Flour 75c. brl. Ready-made clothing 35 p.cent. Rice 60 to 70 " Jug8,crocks&chu rns,( 2c.a gal. )45 " Stoves .30 " Sewing machines ^30 " Woollen socks 35 " Children's clothing 32^ " 20 What does the free list contain for the farmer ? It contains thoroughbred stock and fowls, tea and coffee, timber, com for ensilage and some kinds of lumber partly manufactured. There is nothing else in the three hundred articles on the free list which can be construed as of any benefit at all to the farmer. Articles Free or Lightly Taxed. Lest it should be said that all the articles on the free list are not for the express benefit of the manufacturers the following list of other articles is given : Moss and seaweed Free. Musk .••;••• " Oil or water color paintings, copies old masters " Phosphorus " Precious stones in the rough . . " Quicksilver " Quills " Rags " Roots "* Sand " Sausage skins " Mother of pearl shells " Silver in sheet " Skins of birds " Tails, undressed " Tobacco, unmanufactured .... " Turtles " Horse hair " Sawdust " Grass " Arsenic Free. Dragon's blood '. " Curling stones " Ice Hair Ivory tusks " Leeches " Skeletons Collections of coin " Crude bones = . . . . " Collections of postage stamps . . " Unset diamonds " Palms, orchids, cacti " Imported labor " Yankee protection theories . . " American gerrymanders " Watch movements 10 p. c. French pomades 15 " Precious stones 10 "' Manufactures of gold and silver20 " The Cordage Oouibiiie. The customs tax is 1^ per lb., and 10 pe^ cent, equal to about 2^ cents a pound. This to a maiitime people is one of the most odious impositions of the National Policy, and works the most grevious injustice. The monoply of Canada enjoyed by " The Consumers' Cordage Company " is almost complete. Canada has been handed over to the tender mercies of this soulless corpora- tion, bound hand and foot, and pays it tribute yearly in HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. All foreign cordage is practically excluded by a duty of a shade over 2^ cents a pound. The smaller rope factories were bought up by the large combine, their doors closed, their workmen turned adrift, and their proprietors paid THOUSANDS A YEAR to walk about and enjoy themselves. The 2^ cents duty per pound payable upon foreign cordage imported, is not paid into the Treasury by those who use rope, because practically foreign rope is excluded. The consumer is bound to buy the Canadian rope. He pays the tax of 2 1-6 cents a pound, or nearly that, all right, but he pays it to Mr. John F. Stairs, M. P., and his co-monopoUsts, and not to tne Treasury. So complete is the monopoly that the Attorney-General of Nova Scotia pub- licly stated that he would be willing to pay its " weight in solid silver for every 21 :^ inch of rope that was not bought, or compelled to be bought, from this single combine in the Dominion of Canada." But this combine, when it sells its rope in Newfoundland or St. Pierre, has to sell it in competition with rope manufactured elsewhere, and actually sells it, from 1 1-2 to 2 cents less per pound than it sells the same article to Canadians in Canada. "* Some kinds of cordage, not manufactured by the combine, is imported still, and the revenue received in 1892, about $14,000 in duty on it. But rope is monopolized. Cotton and Cotton Ocods. ' Mr. Edgar stated in the House of Commons and the correctness of his state- ments has never been challenged, that the raw cotton fell in cost between 1890 and 1893, 1 cent 6 mills a pound. This on the enormous quantity imported of about 40 millions of pounds, amounted alone to a profit of $660,000, The wages of the operatives were not raised, and the prices charged to the consumer instead of being lowered were raised from 10 to 25 per cent, during those three years. But the dividends and the reserve funds set apart by the companies were raised. Mr. Edgar further stated that 13 miljion dollars worth of cotton is manufac- tured by the Canadian Cotton Companies, and that the duty paid by the impor- ters last year on all cotton goods brought into the country was a trifle over 28 per cent. Supposing there was no other profit on that $13,000,000 than the 28 per cent, paid by the actual importers, who paid that in addition to the freight and profits paid to the English manufacturer of cotton goods, that would make a sum of $3,640,000 paid by the people to the Combine, under the protection given by the Tariff. In other words, on the $4,500,000 worth imported a tax of $1,260,000 is paid, which goes into the treasury, and on the $13,000,000 worth of cottons manufac- tured, an equivalent tax of $3,640,000 is paid, which goes into the coffers of the xjombines. Take the history of these combines to see how the people are fleeced and the facts hidden from them. In .1892 the Dominion Cotton Co., one of the combines which controls 11 mills of the country, had a capital of $1,500,000. They decided to double that capital. They issued the new stock to themselves. They only paid of the new stock 10 per cent., or $150,000 and the balance of $1,350,000 was watered. On April 14th, 1893, the annual report of that company was published. It stated that the earnings for that year were about 20 per cent, on the capital of $3,000,000 but as on the last $1,500,000 the shareholders only paid 10 per cent., or $150,000, while the Company paid a profit of 10 per cent, on the whole IJ millions, those gentlemen actually received 200 'per cent, on all the money they paid in. Eeroaene Oil- The trade and navigation returns of 1894 show that there was imported in that year for home consumption 6,546,000 gallons of coal oil, costing $420,500. The duty paid was $466,200, equal to 110 4-5 per cent, of a protective duty. What the consumers pay by reason of the duty : First duty $466,200 Second importers' profits, say 25 per cent 116,550 Third retailers' " "40 " 233,100 Total $815,850, or 170 per cent, on original cost. 22 There are 1 1,000,000 gallons of coal oil manufactured in Canada. The manu- facturers have 6 cents a gallon protection which enable them at least to increase the price to the Canadian consumer to the extent of 4c. per gallon. This amount is $440,000. The retailer has his profit of 40 per cent., which equals $176,000. The consumers has to pay by reason of the duty an increased price to the manu- facturer of : $440,000 and to the retailer as profit 176,000 Total $616,000 Ist. Duty on imported oil *. $466,200 2nd. Importers' profits 116,550 3rd. Retailers' profits 233,100 4th. Increased price on home manufactured oil and retailers' profits. . 616,000 _"'":% $1,431,850 of which $466,200 goes into the treasury and $965,650 goes into the pockets of the refiners and middlemen. It would pay the people of Canada to buy up the whole enterprise of the refiineries, pay the men their annual wages, and grant u pension to each refiner. Here is the calculation : There are 276 hands employed say at $500 a year $138,000 Value of the 21 refineries 520,000 A pension of $10,000 to each refiner 210,000 Total $868,000 Total cost by reason of the duty, as stated above $965,650 Saving by the consumers 97,650 The above calculations are based upon official figures, and will show the con- sumers of coal oil how they are taxed and burdened to make other people wealthy. . .. . Cost tc the Consumers of Canada by reason of the Protection on Iron* " Pig Iron Imported. There was imported in 1894 46,106 tons. The duty paid was, at $4 per ton $184,424 Importers' profit on the duty paid, say 25 per cent 46,106 Retailers' profit on duty and importers' profit, say 25 per cent 57,632 Total duty with importers' and retailers' profits $282,162 Pig Iron Manufactured in Canada. There was manufactured in Canada in 1894 56,000 tons of pig iron, bounty paid at $2 per ton $112,000 Increased price to the consumer, by reason of duty on imported pig iron, say $4 per ton 224,000 Total cost to the consumer on account of duties, bounties, importers' and retailers' proCts, and increased prices to manufacturers ^ $618,162 23 For every ton of pig iron produced in Canada it cost the ^ consumer $11.04 to protect it. The cost of imported pig iron is $10.40. So it cost the people of this country 64c. a ton more to protect the^iron industry than the cost of the imported article, or over 100 per cent. Iron and Steel Goods. 1 - There was imported in 1894, of iron and steel goods, $8,844,000 worth. The duty paid was $2,457,000 This duty being a part of the original cost to the importer, his profit on duty at 25 per cent 614,250 The retailer would hav(} added to his original cost the duty and im- : porters' profit, and therefore his profit of that amount would be, at say 25 per cent 767,812 Total cost to the consumer, by reason of duty and profits on the duty $3,839,062 Then in addition to this the consumers of home manufactured iron and steel goods pay increased prices to the extent of at least . . 2,500,000 Grand total tax on the people on account ©f duty and in- creased prices and profits, at 72 per cent $6,339,062 In ten years $63,390,000 would be taken from the people of Canada, as the results of the duty upon iron alone. $24,570,000 would go to the treasury, and the balance of §38,820,000 would go into the hands of the manufacturers as bounties and increased prices, and into the pockets of the middlemen. ''-■'. • This amount of $38,820,000 would pay the municipal tax of all the farmers of Ontario for 6 years. It would purchase over five million sheep. ' ' ■ ' The reader will bear in mind that this extraordinary amount is over and above that which gofes into the treasury for the purposes of State, and does not include in any way the price of the articles purchased. Prices- It is said that articles in Canada can be bought as cheaply as similar articles in any market of the world. And that the duty does not increase the price of the home-made article. The following table will disprove this fallacy : Wholesale prices, 1895, January quotations. Article. Rate per cent. Size. Price at Saginaw. Duty. Price at Montreal. $240,000 by reason of Cut nails duty. 60 55 40 55 duty. 39 duty. 36 4 ins. 3 " $1 25 per 100 lbs. 1 35 1 90 5 25 per 100 ft. 3 50 doz. 6 30 " 76c. 75c. 75c. Jc. per lb. 30 percent. 50c. and 25 per cent. 2 25 (( 2 30 Barbed wire, galvanized . . Iron pipes f or^pumps .... $100,000 on spades by Spades and shovels $33,600 added by Axes, adzes, etc 2 87i 8 10 4 76 8 00 24 At a low estimate (including nails for buildings, the erection of fences, etc.) every farmer on an average would use 100 lbs. of cut nails every year. That would be one dollar for every farmer or $240,000 for the farmers of Ontario. « : Increased Tazat ion- Here let the Public Accounts speak. .1': Look at our net taxes paid to the Government from 1867 to 1894. These taxes consist of customs and excise duties alone. ^ - ^^'/^-.^ ,:V:::'^- :--'■'■■ ^-■•--/•^' In 1867 we paid in taxes * $11,700,681 08 - " ?^-'- " 1877 " 17,697,924 00 * • ; " 1887 " ** 2^,687,000 00 "1894 « 27,579,203 00 ,. (See Public Accounts, 1894, p. xxxii.) --*-:?. In the intervening years of 1889, 1890 and 1891 we paid respectively, $30,613,522, $31,587,071, and $30,314,151. Now, while the taxes have increased as shown, how has the annual expendi- ture been maintained ? : V ; »/ We give the figures taken from the Public Accounts as follows : . "" Total Expenditure. ''- / ■ 1867-8 $13,486,902 - 1873-4 23,316,316 1877-8 23,503,158 1893-4 37,585,025 ' And Mr. Foster's estimates for 1894-5 reach the appalling total of ' $39,235,156. > Imposed upon IHackenzie's Administration. Many Conservative speakers attempt to hold Mr. Mackenzie responsible for the increase of $4,000,000 and upwards, which took place from 1872-3 to 1873-4. The best answer is to give the sums which Mr. Tilley took authority to expend by estimate or by statute in 1873. They are as follows ; 1. Estimates $20,941,183 2. " (supplementary) 368,340 3. " " 57,300 4. « , "^ 100,000 By statutes — ' 5. 36 Vict., cap. 30 and 41 819,349 6. " " 31 300,555 7. " " 40 418,000 8. " " 35 200,000 9. Balances carried forward by Orders in Council. 480,282 $23,685,009 The Macdonald Government likewise spent large sums before they left office for cars and engines on the old N. S, and N. B. railroads, and heavy bills for expenditures on the Dawson route, making in all an authorized expenditure by them for 1873-4 of over $24,100,000. Mr. Mackenzie actually spent $23,316,316, being nearly $900,000 less than their estimate. Sir Leonard Tilley, in his budget speech of 1873, said: " We are, however, entering upon new and increased engagements involving a very large sum of 25 money. We are entering upon works, — we ha^e already done so — which will require a large increase of debt. We have $1 0,000 ;000 and upwaids to expend on tlie Intercolonial Railway. We have 830,000,000 for the Canadian Pacific, and the canal system that has been accepted by the Government will involve an expenditure of at least $20,000,000. These are serious matters inasmuch as they add $60,000,000 to our existing debt. Let us see now what is the annual charge involved in this matter. . . . On that item alone we have therefore an annual charge of $1,040,000, and on the $34,000,000 remaining the annual charge will be $1,700,000 at 5 per cent. For the sinking fund of on© per cent, we require $600,000, and for commission on interest $27,400, making a total annual charge when these works are completed of $3,367,400." And this remember always in addition to an increase of four millions a year to the annual expenditure. Briefly, on Sir L. Tilley's own showing, the Macdonald administration left office in 1873, having made provision for the addi- tion of seven millions three hundred and sixty-seven thousand dollars a year for which they made no provision of any sort whatever. For all this or at any rate for a great part of it Mr. Mackenzie was obliged to provide, though responsible for no portion of it whatever. Why Has Expenditure Increased? ' The annual expenditure has increased chiefly because of the extravagant and corrupt administration of the men now in power at Ottawa. The PnUio DeW. The net public debt of Canada, when Mr. Mackenzie left office in 1878, was $140,000,000 ; in 1894 it had been swollen to the enormous figure of $246,000,000, an increase of $106,000,000. The increase during the year 1894 was $4,502,000 and the increase for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1895, will be more than double the increase for 1894. The net debt per head of the population is $49 while in 1878 it was only $34, and increase of 45 per cent. The net debt of the United States, Federal and State, in July. 1893, was $16 a head. « The population of Sweden is the same as Canada, and the net debt of Sweden in 1890 was $13.73 per head, and Sweden has to support an army and navy, and bear many other burdens from which Canada is exempt. * The following table shows the increase of the public debt from year to year since 1878. as taken from the Public Accounts : 1879 $ 2,628 117 1887 . .". . f $4,155,668 1880 9,461,401 1888 7,216,582 1881 2,944,191 1889 2,998,682 1882 1,734,129 1890 3,170 1883 4,805,063 1891 275.818 1884 23,695,135 1892 3,322,403 1885 14,245,841 1893 549,605 1886 26.751,414 1894 4,502,000 Increase iiiiuer Conservative administration— Up to Jnne :{Oth 18»4 $105,801,851 Up to June :tOth, 1895 110,000,000 in round flsnires* 26 The DeU— Ten Year Periods. 1872. 1S82. 1892. Net debt $82,187,000 $153,661,000 $241,131,000 Annual interest 5,257,000 7,740,000 9,763,000 Deficits— The Government Cannot Baise Sufficient Honey. It is the fashion to sneer at the Liberal administration of the finances as an " era of deficits," but Liberals have no cause to fear comparisons as to deficits. The fact is that the Conservative administration, which replaced Mr. Mackenzie's had a larger deficit in one year than the Reform administration had during the whole five years of its existence. The Liberal Government had a surplus both in 1874 and 1875 of S888,000 and $935,000 respectively. There were deficits in 1876, 1877 and 1878, amounting in all to $4,489,000. The Conservative deficits since Mr. Mackenzie's time have been as follows : - . 1879 $1,937,999 1886 .....$5,834,571 , 1880 1,543,227 1888 810,031 1885 2,240,058 1894 1,210,332 There is a heavy deficit for 1895, which will probably reach five million dollars. Hon. Geo. E. Foster in his budget speech 1895 estimated the deficit for the year at $4,500,000. The Finance Minister was obliged to go to England in October, 1894, and borrow $12,000,000, (in round numbers). This new loan will increase the public debt to a figure representing over $50 per head of the population. Net debt of Canada, June 30th, 189. $246,163,920 Annual charges, interest and management, 1893 .... 10,020,682 The debt up to June 30th, 1895, will be in round numbers $250,000,000. ■ It takes one-half of the total customs duties collected in Canada to pay the charges on the debt. ■ ■ ^ OWigaticns Not Mentioned- ''' ; During the session of 1895 Sir liichard Cartwright moved : .' . " ' " Th^t all the words after " That " be left out, and the following inserted instead thereof : " the estimates for the fiscal year 1894-95 amount to the sum of $38,517,152 independently of any further Supplementary Estimates which may be brought down. " That the said sum of $38,517,152 is in excess of the amount expended in 1893-94 by the sum of $922,127. " That the deficit for the year 1893-94 amounted to $1,210,322. " That the deficit for the present year is estimated by the Minister of Finance at $4,500,000. • '• . " That from statements made by Ministers of the Crown, in this House, it appears that our existing obligations for railway subsidies and for public works no" five years alone $40,448,000 When Mr. Mackenzie entered office the taxes, customs and exise collected for the year amounted to $20,129,000. The taxes collected for the year 1878 amounted to $17,841,000, a reduction of something like two and a half millions of dollars. Under the N. P. the.se taxes were increased in fifteen years by $12,000,000. In addition to this it is estimated that the people paid several times as much to the protected manufacturers, the trusts and combines, and monopolies, which exist by reason of the tariflf, as they do into the national treasury through the customs houses. The mortgage, municipal, railway bond and other debts amount to an appal- ing sum. .k - ...i.-e>al Association, 34 Victoria Street, Toronto.