IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // /^ .<^% 1.0 I.I 1.25 £ Vk 1.4 11.6 % % /^ ^. c^: e2 > '> > 4>' '/ /!^ >*.^ % V ^^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of the images in the reproduction are checked below. n D (ZI n Coloured covers/ Couvertures de couleur Coloured maps/ Cartes gdographiques en couleur Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d6colordes, tachet^es ou piqudes Tight binding (may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin)/ Reliure serr^ (peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intdrieure) L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. 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The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire film6 fut repioduit grdce d la gdndrositd de I'dtablissemant prdteur suivant : La bibliotheque des Archives publiques du Canada Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul clichd sont film6es d partir de Tangle supdrieure gauche, de gaurhe d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'im^ges ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 mw >■ ^ j^ ' ,1 'i^r 44T* J' ;^7•7's^ ' ■ KK^- •'^kk:;:. I h v/.;\ i '.r. y^.-.''r^:^-^,'^ , *o-. t- •iV DOMmiON ELECTION. CAMPAIGN OF 1886. I ioL Edward Blake's Speeck .i.-r' ISTo. 13, (First Series). (ToiioNTo)— The Interests of Labour. (Belleville)— Legislation for Labour. (Deseronto)— Workingmen and Parties. (WELLA.ND)— To Knights of Labour. (Hamilton)— Who Released the Printers? NOTiJ. — Sfcv*? Inside Cover for List of Mr. Blake's Speech.es in first Series. Apply to W. T. R. Preston, Reform Club, Toroni'X), for Copies of these Speeches. (Toronto: .HUNTER, ROSE & CO., PKINTERS. 1886. ■■■ .N '■■-); S' ^ \ •( ■fl . -:.-.-K: j:".- ^^'* w'-.r i V : ' . \ ;t-, , ^^ ;; '" 'i; J ■: 'A'" rr: *. • ■i'*' ♦W' LIST OF SPEECHES IN THIS SERIES. No. 1.— (London): General Review of Situation. Riel Question. (Owen Sound) -. North-West Maladministration. Riel. No. 2.— (Beaverton) : Indtpendence of Parliament The Boodle Brigade. No. 3.— (Chesley) : Public Finances— Taxation and Deficits — Farmers. No. 4. — (SiMcoE) : Federal and Provincial Rights — Ontario — Nova Scotia. (GuELPH)— Elections near. — Tory Dodges— Nova Scotia. No. $.— (Owen Sound) : Principles of Liberalism— Duty of the Leader. (Wellawd) — Policy of the Party — Functions of an Opposition. (Oakwooj)) — Sir J. Macdonald on Functions of an Opposition. No. 6. — £"jr/raf/j— (Guelph) : Home Rule for Ireland. (Berlin): Firebrand Tory attempts to excite Germans. (Galt & Orangkvillk) .- Indian Starvation Policy. (Pembroke) ; Maladministration felt at Cut Knife Hill. No. 7. — iE^/raf^j— (Kendall) ; Business Methods required in Public Affairs — Degradation of Parliament— A few Boodlers. (Hampton) : Civil Service Reform. (Galt) : Burden of Public Debt. (Orangeville) : Burden of Public Debt. (Belleville): Burden of Pubhc Debt— The Interest on Debt (Oakwood) : Burdea of Public Debt— Our Public Expen- diture. No. 8.— (Newcastle) : Canadian Pacific Railroad Matters. (LisTowEL) : Canadian Pacific Railroad Matters— The last Sacri- fice of $10,000,000— Collapse of Tory ** Boom " Policy. (St. Thomas) : North- West Lands. (Huntsville) : R.R. Policy— Sir John's Subsidies to " Guinea-Pig " Directors — Assisted Immigration and Railway Frauds. (P^RRY Sound) : Railway Policy of Liberals. (Orangkville) : Railway Policy of Liberals. (Brantford) : The Kansas Slander. (Listowel) : The Sea of Mountains. No. 9. — (Winqham) : Blake's Tribute to Mackenzie. (Stayner): Blake's Tribute to Sir Richard Cartwright (Brantford) : Blake's Tribute to Paterson— Duty of Young Men. No. ID. — (We-lland) : Liberal Party, Creeds and Classes. (Orillia): Leaders and Newspapers— The "Mail" Crusade. No. II. — (Aylmer): Prohibition and Politics. No. I a. — (Toronto): Interests of Labour — The Tari£f. (Welland) : To Knights of Labour. (Bkllev:lle): Legislation for Labour. (Deseronto) : Workingmen aad Parties. (Hamilton): Workingmen and Parties. Na 13. — (Hamilton) : Provincial Issues — The Religious Cry — Liberuls and Catholics. No. 14.— (Lindsay) : North-West Affairs — Neglect, Delay and Misman- agement—Race and Creed Cries. Sacri- Men. de. Iruls and [isman- LEGISLATION FOR LABOUR. Sir John Macdonald's Pretensions Discussed. LIBERALS AJSTD THE TAHIFF RELATIONS OF LABOUR AND CAPITAL. ^e"m ed-xes axLd. USToxL-iReTn ed-ies. Total Abstinance Cures many Evils, Mr. Chairman, friends and fellow-citizens, 1 have been asked to address you to-night, not upon certain political questions of the day, which have been specially engaging the attention of the public at large during the last few months, but upon topics particularly affecting THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING CLASSES of Canada — (applause) — a subject not lending itself readily to passion, to rhetoric, or declamation, not so easily enlivened as some topics may be in discussion, but yet a subject which MUST BE PROFOUNDLY INTERESTING to every man wh. has a brain to think, or a heart to feel. (Renewed applause.) We would be unworthy of our place in the world, if we did not feel the deepest concern in the condition of the masses — the toiling masses ; and the inquiry what that condi- tion is, what their troubles are, what remedy may be found, what improvement may be effected, ought to enlist our best energies in the search for its solution. Now, I had intended to discuss to- night a large portion of the speech lately delivered by the First Minister especially directed to workingmen, in which he engaged in a retrospective commentary upon transactions of some years back, with the desire and intent of painting in very brilliant colours the record of the Conservative party, and in correspondingly dark colours, the record of the Liberal party. He raised the question of the printers' arrest of 1872, and his legislation in that connec- tion; he discussed the subjects of Chinese labour, of contract "'■ ■'•' . ■ '>,-'•.; " ';;•,'-'■' (12) - "•. • !> A- ■s.. I /.I ; -: •.I ■•■■.'■§ ■.4 /- ,'• ^ ^ •:S'.iii -ill 1:-^: -^i-i^M ;i/,j:'ir >.•,,.':■ cr (' *.V5r -* •', ' 330 /•^/ ^ labour in penitentiaries, and of savings bank deposits. But he ;" ^ omitted some other topics of the past, such as >' THE ATTEMPTED FACTORY LEGISLATION, (applause) which would also be, in some" respects, interesting. •' T' Upon all these questions, I believe a complete answer is to be given to the speech to which I refer, but there are upon the plat- form to-night several speakers whom you are anxious to hear. I y ; . cannot encroach upon their time; and therefore I defer for the " ; ' moment dealing with these questions of the past ; but I undertake ■\ to dispose of them at an early day. I will simply say, with regard ', - ' to one of them, that it was an extraordinary omission on the part V^ , of the First Minister that, engaged as he was in a historical re- trospect, he forgot altogether to mention that the ■^ ' CRIMINAL OFFENCES ACT I , which he professed to have made right in 1872, was not made right until 187C, when I had the honour and satisfaction of intro- ^ ducing legislation, in advance of" the laws then enacted in England, which eliminated the features of class legislation in Sir John Macdonald's Act ; which removed the prohibition he had retained against the workmen watching places of business for certain pur- . poses connected with their combinations; which gave to those charged with o fences under the law the inestimable privilege of a trial by jury, instead of before magistrates, as under his law ; and which, most important of all, abrogated the application to this class of transactions of the odious law of conspiracy, thi'ough which tilings lawful for one workingman to do had been construed, under the laiv as he left it, to be criminal ivhen done in concert by two or more. (Applause.) He forgot also to refer to the fact ' that in the following year, when I was still Minister of Justice, I induced Parliament to amend the laws which VS 1/ _ ■ .V • - A'. MADE AN ODIOUS DISTINCTION between different breaches of contract, which made all breaches of contract of service criminal, while all other breaches of contract were merely civil oflcnces, and to incorporate in the legislation still deemed necessary on the subject the just principle of equal dealing with all clat^ses of the communitj' in like cases ofiending, instead of the old and arbitrary plan of making one law for the workingman and another for the rest of the world. (Loud applause.) He likewise omitted from that retrospective history the fact that in 1882, contrary to my protest, Parliament under hifs guidance established the proposition that a Stipendiary Magis- (12) \ - ;.- f- V Ibea of I tract lation lequal iding, the Loud story limder Lagis-^ ^ , " . 331 trate, without a jury, should have power to try, and to condemn, and to inflict a penalty of five years in the penitentiary upon those charged with the apparently trivial offences dealt with by the Seamen's Act. And he equally forgot to allude to the circum- stance that, ^ > . CONTRARY TO THE PROTEST OF THB REFORM PARTS', notwithstanding his professed anxiety to advance the interests of labour, he had established a sort of penal disqualiflcation, a money obstacle to candidatures for Parliament by requiring a deposit of $200 as a condition of nomination for the honourable position of a representative of the people. (Cheers.) Now, on all these subjects I have spoken in 1882, and I intend to speak soon again. But I could not ay)proach this attempted retrospect without this brief reference to the salient features of Liberal action and legis- lation in the interests of labour, legislation which I believe to be the most important recorded in our statute book. (Loud and prolonged applause.) The First Minister claimed great credit for having improved the condition of affairs, particularly as affecting the workingmen, by the tariff. Now, the tariff was enacted in 1879, and in 1882 he appealed to the people. And his appeal was based upon the need to obtain a renewed lease of power, which he assured the people would, if obtained, render THE TARIFF ABSOLUTELY PERMANENT and beyond all danger of attack. He obtained that lease. He has enjoyed and used it. But another election approaches. Those who are well informed on the Conservative side say, what- ever they may think, that it is not so very near. Those who have some sources of information on the Liberal side believe it to be much nearer. At any rate it approaches. As the election ap- proaches you find, notwithstanding the pledge of 1882 as to the results of a fresh lease of power, tlie cry is raised again, " The tarirt is in danger! To save the tariff you must once again return the Conservatives to office." If it be so that it is necessary to give the Conservative party a third lease of power in order to save the tariff, all I can say is that this is an acknowledguient that the principal pledge made by the Government at the last election has not been fulfilled, and that THEY HAVE FAILKD TO ACCOMPLISH the promise on which they were returned. (Great applause.) I desire to refer v«ry briefly to the r i!. ■s ■ I I •. it ■ ' ..» '''^;v .': *■ .t' y r ■' • <••/ 332 I V .' . '/ i I •i ATTITUDE OF THE LIBERAL PARTY UPON THE QUESTION OF THE TARIFF. It has been grossly misrepresented. In 1882 I stated ray views upon that subject in the most formal manner, by means of the address I issued to the electors of West Durham as a manifesto to the country ; by the principles then laid dow n I still abide. I said : — " You know well that I do not approve of needleaa rostrictiona on our liberty of exchanging what we have for what we want, and do not see that any sub- stantial application of the restrictive principle has been or can be, made in favour of the great interests of the mechanic, the labourer, the farmer, the lumberman, the ship-builder or the fisherman. But you know also that I have fully recognized the fact that we «re obliged to raise yearly a great sum made greater by the obligations imposed on us by this Government ; and that we must continue to provide this yearly sum mainly by import duties, laid to a great extent on goods similar to those which can be manufactured here ; and that it results as a necessary incident of our settled fiscal system that there must be a large, and, as I believe, in the view of nioderate«protec- tionists, an ample advantage to the home manufacturer. Our adversaries wish to present to you an issue as between the present tariff and absolute free trade. That is not the true issue. Free trade is, as I have repeatedly explained, for us impossible ; and the issue is whether the present tariff is 'perfect, or defective and unjust. I believe it to be, in some important respects, defective and unjust. We expressed our views last session in four motions, which declare that articles of such prime necessity as fuel and breadstufis should be free ; that the sugar duties should be so adjusted as to relieve the consumer from some of the enormous extra price he is now liable to pay to a few refiners ; that the exorbitant and unequal duties on the lower grades of cottons and woollens should be so changed as to make them fairer to the masses, who now pay on the cheapest goods taxes about twice as great in proportion as those which the rich pay on the finest goods ; and that the duties on such materials as iron, which is in universal use, should be reduced, so as to enable the home manufacturer, to whom it is a raw material, to produce a cheaper article for the benefit of his home consumer, and the encouragement of his foreign trade. I believe that by changes of the character I have indicated monopoly and extravagant prices would be checked, a greater measure of fair play and justice to all classes would be secured, and the burden of taxation would be better adjusted to the capacity of the people who are to pay. Depend upon it, a day will come when by sharp and bitter experience we shall learn the truth ; and many who even now applaud will then condemn these particular incidents of the tariff. A," My reference there to the fiscal and financial limitations of our condi ^on has increased force to-day, for since that time enormous sums have been added to the public debt; enormous sums have been added to the annual charge ; and notwithstanding the great taxation, ' • ■. , (12) ■I' '. ■;/. .^ : '.'J-, i i;:t;*^i^... . -f .isi., 'f-^JJi .'>.i-S. ,n: x: ■■ ._' . J; ./.A'. •'./..;. I ;• • ■J;..'^ '^ '^■'■ IHE ews the .0 to I iberty i^ sub- ade in sr, the that 1 it sum ; ; and dntiee, ictured system .protec- the issiie |are that e ; that »m some [that the ooUena pay on le which (rials as ie home [tide for foreign ioly and llay and ^ould be jid upon tarn the Irticular of our lormous IS have le great 333 A LARGER DEFICIT THAN WE HAVE EVER KNOWN since Confederation has signalized the last financial year. There- fore tfie execution even of those measures of readjustment which 1 suggested in that address, and which we had proposed in Par- liament in the preceding session, would be found much more difficult to-day by reason of the changed condition of affairs. We have no longer a large surplus to dispose of — we have a large de- ficit and a greatly increased scale of expenditure to meet. And it is clearer than ever that a very high scale of taxation must be retained, and that manufacturers have nothing to fear. I then declared that any readjustment should be effected with due regard to the legitimate interests of all concerned. In that phrase, " all concerned," I hope no one will object to my includ- ing, as I do, the general public. (Cheers.) In any readjustment I maintain that we should look especially to such reduction of expenditure as may allow of a reduction of taxation, to the light- ening of sectional taxes, to the lightening of taxes upon the pi ime necessaries of life, and upon the raw materials of manufacture, to a more equitable arrangement of the taxes which now BEAR unfairly UPON THE POOR as compared with the rich, to a taxation of luxuries just so high as will not thwart our object by greatly checking consumption, to the curbing of monopolies of production in cases where, by combination or otherwise, the tariff allows an undue and exorbi- tant profit to be exacted from consumers, and to the effort — a most important point — to promote reciprocal trade with our neighbours to the south. (Great applause.) That is a modest programme, you may say, but I believe it to be an extensive pro- gramme, representing the full measure practicable of attainment, and which can be fulfilled only by much expenditure of time and thought, after full investigation, caref al inquiry, and ample con- sideration of details and of the bearing of each proposal, with the advantage of all those materials for forming a judgment on details, which are available only to men in office. (Cheers.) As to THE CONDITION OF THE OPERATIVE, Sir John Macdonald's declaration in his recent speech was that, owing to his tariff policy, there is now employment for everybody, and that the Dominion is at this momeat one of the most prosperous, if not the most prosperous country on the face of the globe. That condition I would be glad to admit, if I believed it. I regret to be obliged to dispute it But I dispute the alleged cause as well, and I , " . ■■■■'\' V (12) • ' J ! , I -'■!'! f ii V- ' - • * ■ * 334 ^ ^ • mnintain that tari§'8 cannot permanently raue tvagea. (Loud a})|)lauKe.) I want you to compare together the conditions in old countries, sinjilarly circumstanced, each with dense populations, with accumulated capital, with great inequaliticR of life. Compare together England, without a tariff', and the continental countries of Europe, which are highly tariffed, and I maintain that it is beyond the possibility of dispute that the English operative has shorter hours, greater security for life, limb, and health, higher wages, cheaper supplies, and a condition, on the whf)le, greatly superior to that enjoyed by the opeiatives in any of the liighly tariffed countries of the continent of Europe. (Loud and pro- longed applause.) Is it the tariff regulations "that have made the difference ? If so, then they work the wrong way, according to the devotees of tariffs. (Renewed applause.) As to the United States, some of the most eminent statesmen of that country have declared that the longer hours, the severer toil, the greater intel- ligence of the operative, and the higher prices of some of his supplies, equalize his nominal reward with that of England. It is certain that these considerations go very far to do so ; and the difference, whatever it may be, is diminishing year by year. . TO WHAT IS THAT DIFFERENCE DUE ? It is due, not to the tariff, but to differences of condition as be- tween new and sparsely settled countries, with vast expanses of vacant fertile soil open to settlement, and old densely populated countries in which there is no such mainspring of prosperity. But I will describe those conditions and their results, not in my own words, but in the authentic language of the Canadian Gov- ernment Guide Book to immigrants for the present year, 1886. The Government say^ : — High wages are incident to the rapid development of wealth in a new country of immense extent, and they will probably for a long time continue to be high; at the same time it must be borne in mind that a new community may be, owing to the attractions of higher wages, subject to a glut, as ha«, in fact, happened, that is, there is, of course, a limit to which any particular branch of industry might, at a given time, call for workmen. But there is practically no limit to the masses of men which the Canadian North- West can absorb, the territory being about as large as the whole of Europe, with ILLIMITABLB RESOUKOE8 TO DEVELOP. The rate of wages paid in such conditions has naturally relation to what may be earned by a man who takes up 160 acres of immigrant lands, for the plaiu reason that if a man is sure to make as much from the ready resource which is always dpen to him — of taking up land — he will not work for wages at a very great disadvantage. (Cheers.) (12) ' . ^^^^:- ' V , *( 335 ;Loud in old itions, 111 pare n tries it it 18 ve has hijxHer rreatly highly id pro- ide the ding to United ry have ir intel- . of his ,nd. It and the IT. fn as be- lanses of •pulated isperity. it in uiy |an Gov- 1886. |in a new continue immunity las has, in particular It there ia l-Weat can 1 with There is the statement of the Govemmerit itself, showing the condition of things in a new country with an illimitable extent of free and fertile Iannis, as compared with the condition in the British Isles. Now, mark the reasoning. They do not tell the English, Irish, or Scotch workingman that it is the Canadian tariff that makes Canadian wages high, for they know he would not believe it. They know that he knows hettt^r, whatever they may think the Canadian operative CAN HE GULLED INTO BELIEVING, and th(5y tell the Islander the truth. (Cheers.) They give the true refisou, and I ask you to maik that reason — not on\y as de- structive of those other rea.sons which they reserve for the Cana- dian elector, but also because it gives to the operatives of the city of Toronto a direct and intimate pecuniary connection with, and interest in the prosperity of the North-West. North-Wef^t mis- government, a check to North- West progress, anything which may prevent the best results accruing to the settler on its free a'} ^d fer- tile lands will, you perceive, have a directly disadvantageous effect upon the value of labour all over the country. (Loud cheers.) How does the matter work in its other aspects ? As things are at present the manufacturer takes all he can get out of the consumer, and gives as much as he must, or as he thinks right, to the opera- tive, If more be demanded he looks elsewhere for help. There is no tariff agavn^t the import of labour. (Loud and prolonged cheering.) If the employer will not pay the rate of wages in the United States, THE MECHANIC GOES OVER THERE ; and under the circumstances of both countries the rate of wages in the United States regulates the rate in Canada. Sir Leonard Tilley stated this in terms a little while ago in the House of Com- mons, using this language : — The prices paid for labour in the United States must regulate the price of labour in Canada, because if the wages are not about equal the operatives will soon pass over the line. Now, I have said there is no tariff on labour ; there is no pro- tection to labour. But that is not all. ' I ■ HI I i- I I Iwhat may the plaiu Iroe which m%Q^ at a THERE (S A PREMIUM AGAINST LABOUR. There is, out of the taxes paid by labour, an enormous expenditure upon immigration. On this vital point, in his discussion of the interests of the working classes, Sir John Macdonald, by an ex- (12) ifct^jiy. - tvii^' »_...!■'■ i^j-.;^ i-U::,'- r-i>y^ ,'Ji'^\- ..*>.♦'. "Vi >.j ■.' '■» r ■:|- ■ 'H. 336 traordinary lapse of memory, forgot to speak. (Loud applause and laughter.) We Liberals have pointed out for years that in Old Canada, only farmers should really be encouraged to come. As to domestic servants, the conditions of service must be modi- fied, the relations of the v ce practically recognized, and GBEATER MUTUAL INTEREST AND RESPECT shown between employer and employed ; else our people shun the condition of domestic service. (Applause.) And the importation of servants helps not so much, after all ; for many of them in a short time go across the lines. As to agricultural labour, the im- provements in agricultural machinery, specially the invention of the self-binder, have largely checked the harvest demand, fortun- ately for the agriculturist, because the low rates he receives for his produce render it very important to him to save the cost of harvest labour ; and fortunately, also, for all, because, while there existed an enormous temporary demand for the short period of harvest, it followed that the over-plus, after the harvest was over, drifted into the towns and embarrassed and degraded the general condition of the labour market throughout the country. (Cheers.) Now, this immigration expenditure is A SINK OF JOBBERY — cheers — but so far as it is effective for its designed purpose, so far as the money is not thrown away or HANDED OVER TO PARTY NEWSPAPERS at fourteen prices for printing — (renewed cheers) — it tends to degrade labour. In the result Canadians are displaced by the immigrant, or the immigrant reaches the United States via Canada. I do not say that this is true in all cases, but it is true in too many cases, and the figures of population, from whatever source we draw them, sufl[iciently establish it. The Government system has worked in practice, whatever they may say as to their intentions and instructions, so as to bring in not merely agricul- tural, but also general labour. (Loud cheei s.) That is quite cer- tain from what we know of those who come in under assisted passages. The Government denies most strenuously that it ever encourages or assists any other than the domestic servant or the agricultural labourer ; but I turn again to the Government Guide Book for 188G, and I find that in speaking of the Province of Ontario (12) :■<<."■ S'J^V.i ^,/' ."1'-^ ■ -V ^ 337 t is to the via true tever bient their ficul- cer- isted lever the tuide ze of THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT IS GIVEN as to the resources of the Province and the demand for labour : — But as woll as wanting men to clear its forests and cultivate its soil, it re- quires men to build its houses, to mike furniture and household gooda, and to open up communication from one part of the country to another by the construction of roads and railways. It is further to bo stated, in this connection, that Ontario is rapidly be- coming a manufacturing country. The leading industries are : Works for making all kinds of agricultural implements in iron and wood, waggons, carriages, railroad rolling stock (including locomotives), cotton factories, woollen factories, tanneries, furniture factories, flix works, ordinary iron and hardware works, paper factories, soap works, woodenware, etc. The bountiful water supply in Ontario is used in these manufactures, as is also steam, for motive power. There is a very great demand for female labour for domestic service, both in towns and country ; also for work in some of the factories ; also a demand for dressmakers and seamstresses, all of whom obtain good wages in Ontario. So much as to the encouragement of general and operative labour. Now, with reference to the vexed QUESTION OF ASSISTED PASSAGES, I find in this same Guide Book for 1886 this statement : — It may be here particularly pointed out, however, that the most favourable rates of assisted passages are offered to female domestic servants and families of agricultural labourers. ASSISTED PASSAGES ARE, HOWEVER, AFFORf>ED TO OTHER LABOURERS. (Cheers.) So that I find the direct statement in the Government Guide Bjok, to the people whom they are seeking to induce to come to Canada, that assisted passages are oflfered to others than the agricultural labourer and the domestic servant. (Loud applause.) My belief is that we should confine ourselves to circulating the facts of the true condition of the older Provinces, and their attrac- tions to the farmer ; that WE SHOULD ABOLISH THE ASSISTED PASSAGES ; that we should abolish the jobbery — (great cheering) — that we should cut down vastly the whole expenditure ; and that we should leave the rest of the work to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, which we were told would relieve us of this business when the contract was let ; and we would thus follow, though still more active than they, the methods adopted in the United States with reference to immigration. So much with reference to the important subject of Government expenditure on immigra- tion, upon which Sir John Maf^donaM unfortunately forgot to touch. Now, recurring to (12) , \ ^V >- 7— -:, . ^¥>>i. ti;^v^ -,', ' • -v^'^-v' - *■•"*' :,<.'- .»" s '.i' ■]'•-. ■ ' . ♦'.■ ■ - ■' • ** , \ ' » I V- 338 THK TARIFF IN ANOTHER ASPECT, I maintain that it has produced disaster to several important in- dustries, and great consequent injury to the cause of labour. Unduly high protection, while the demand exceeded the supply, gave inordinately high profits, for examjile, in cotton, in sugar, and in certain descriptions of woollen goods. The public were heavily charged, and a few individuals were greatly enriched. (Applause.) Others wished to share the golden stream. Capital was sunk ; mechanics were brought in from abroad ; they were brought away from other occupations at home. Production was increased ; and then came quickly, in our country of limited de- mand, the following stages : those of glut, of lower prices, of short hours, of lower wages, of closed factories and discharged hands, of general distress, and of demoralization of trade. Regu- larity of employment — which is the most important thing for the comfort of those who depend upon their daily work — was for the time destroyed. (Applause.) Now there is some revival, and I observe the First Minister has given his cause for that revival in his speech. He says : — There was only one thing to be dreaded in indroducing that policy, namely, that it might lead to over-production, and in consequence there would be great depression and insolvency. This was the case with regard to the cotton industry. The cotton manufacturers were so successful in their factories that in all parts of Canada the people rushed into the manufacture of cotton, the consequence being that more of the article was produced than wasponsumed. A REMEDY B^OR THAT HAS BEEN FOUND, HOWEVER, IN THE BUILDING OF THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY. (Loud cheers and laughter.) No ! Not so have found has been in combination, in an The remedy they AGREEMENT AMONG THE MANUFACTURERS to advance prices, and perhaps to limit production, and so we are all called upon by a rapid rise, nay, by several rapid rises, of prices, to contribute to pay dividends on millions of capital need- lessly expended in order to cr-'ate a power of production in excess of the consuming power of the country. It is clear now that home competition in this and in other cases cannot be depended on to keep down prices ; and the only safeguard, both for the manufac- turers themselves, who have witnessed in these instances the dis- astrous results of high protection, and for the general public, who, in the early stage of inadequate supply, and again in the present stage of iron-clad combination, are called upon to submit to the full burden imposed by the tariff, is to take care that the tariff is (12) ■'J^^ 339 they need- [excess home on to lufac- |e dis- |, who, resent Ito the Iritf is NOT so INORDINATELY HIGH that the monopolist, whether he is such by virtue of there being no other manufacturer, or by virtue ot" a combination, shall have it in his power to take too much out of the general public. (Loud applause.) A great deal we must allow him to take, but the rates (as I have pointed out on former occa.sions), which this tariff in some industries allows to be taken, are altogether excessive and inordinate. But, it is said that the prices of commodities have been comparatively low of late years, and that this is due to the tariff. The prices are low all over the world. (Loud applause.) The progress of invention, the progress of production, the pro- gress of facilities for transportation, the increased area of cultiva- tion are, to the great gain of humanity, yearly reducing the cost of the articles which are in daily use ; and it is NO JUST COMPARISON AT ALL ^ to contrast our prices of to-day with our prices of a few years ago. (Loud applause.) If you want to know whether prices are low or high in Canada, your only test is to compare them with the prices of the day in the free or the lowest markets of the world, and then you will see really whether they are comparatively high or comparatively low. Now, make this comparison, and you find prices in several classes comparatively high, and that we are losing in many commodities much of the general gain to humanity by the general progress of the world. (Applause.) Take, for exam- ple, sugar. They boast of the low price of sugar. Sugar is low here compared ivith its price here a few years ago, but it is inordi- nately high here compared with the price in England in the pre- sent year. The price of the raw material has fallen enormously. We do not get anything approaching the full benefit of that reduction. We pay infinitely more than they do in England, or in bond at New York. A large part of the excess is paid into the treasury, I frankly admit. A larger sum than I like to see levied on sugar. But a very large part of the excess over the foreign prices, a part approximating on the consumption ot the year to $2,000,000 beyond what goes into the treasury, is paid by the people of Canada in effect to assist the refiners to carry on their business. (Loud and prolonged applause.) Now, I pause here, I cannot further this evening discuss this phase of the tariff. 1 call your attention for a moment to anotlier point, that of the DIRECT BURDEN OF THE TAXATION. There has been an enormous increase. I shall not give you figures to-night ; there is no time. The rate has increased from forty to (12) < ■ I 'W<;''k' ■' ■ '.'. ■ »> . \ . ■ ;.'.>• •'' ■•:;\---> ■ ■•"■'- - 340' ■■■ • ■•'•'■■: ■ < ' V '^' . fifty per cent. The volume of the taxes received has increased t • from fifty to sixty per cent., and the amount paid by the people , ^ . into the treasury is estimated at about $30 per head of every , _ white family. That is the amount paid into the treasury, but the consumer, and especially the mechanic, who buys from the retailer in very small quantities, pays a very large advance over the '•: amount paid into the treasury. The advance which the wholesale . merchant charges the retailer, and the further advance which the retailer charges the consumer, are both, of course, as a rule made ' upon the duty as well as upon the other elements of the cost, and ; ' forty to fifty per cent, advance upon the duty, will represent the real burden upon the consumer. The cost, therefore, to the con- sumer must be frora $42 to $45 per head of a family on the aver- age. We in this Province believe, and I think rightly, that we PAY MORE THAN THE AVERAGE. I could wish that the taxes were levied just for once, not in greater quantity, but in a different way. / could wish that they were for once levied directly ; for if they were paid hy ymi to a collector calling upon you, instead of being included in the cost of the goods you buy, you would apprehend the burden, you would scru- ', . , tinize more earnestly than you do the items of the public expendi- ture which are the justification for the tax; you would realize how that taxation presses on the industries of the people. The ^ very interesting paper prepared by Mr. Blue, of the Ontario Bu- reau of Statistics, showed the condition of workingmen for last - ,. year as well as the averages of his correspondents' returns could indicate it. They were, however, averages of superior men, men who kept accounts of their household expenses, and these are men who do better than the general average, and therefore the , general average would be * , • MUCH LESS FAVOURABLE ^ than these results. Yet the paper shows that, assuming the aver- age family of the picked mechanic, at 4^, which is the number ""' :. these figures seem to indicate, fc^d cost $216.42; fuel, $40.53 • rent, $72.41 ; clothing, $86.39 ; or a total of $417.75, and the aver- age earnings of the worker and his family are S447.60, leaving, for ; ' all the rest of his expenses, the sum of $29.85 — for the doctor, for schooling, for books, for church, for charities, for pleasure, for all !t' . the amenities and some of the necessaries of life, this paltry pit- [J',/*' ^ tance of less than thirty dollars, without anything for reserve, ' ti . . without anything for a rainy day, without anything for the inevi- '. table period when youth and skill and health depart, to be re- ■ :\ . (12) -■^ ^•.:,yx^^ C-/ .' .■,:^.>'-'^/- V ■■ :-\r ', . 341 placed by weakness, infirmity, and old age. (Loud cheers.) is the average condition EVEN AMONG PICKED MEN This men aver- lumber Uo.53 • igjor lor, for If or all }y pit- iserve, linevi- be re- — miserable. And many among these had no surplus, and some were even deficient. I was told last year, when I discussed this subject in the light of the figures of that day, that I ignored the fact that the wages make the scale and that the scale eats up the wages. I did not ignore the fact. I recognize the fact, and I de- plore the fact. (Loud applause.) / say it is a fact of which we ought to be ashamed and a fact luhich lu ^ ought to endeavour to make a fact no longer at the earliest possible moinent. (Renewed applause.) THE CONDITION OF THINGS IS WRONG, ' .' if the wages are to make the actual, and that a low scale of living, and the scale is to eat up the whole of the wage. I agree with Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, when he said, a year or so ago, THAT our natural RIGHT IS NOT ONLY TO EXISTENCE, BUT TO THE FAIR ENJOYMENT OF IT. (Loud and prolonged cheering.) And the present state affords no such enjoyment, and no adequate provision for old age, sickness, or infirmity. I protest against the view that all is well. (Loud cheers.) All is not well. But see in the light of what I have just now told you, how important a thing is the abstraction from, tliese scanty earnings, and this still more scanty margin, of even $40 for federal taooation, or of even $20, half that amount. (Hear, hear.) Some tax we must pay, but the tax which we were promised should not be increased has been enormously increased, has been recklessly increased, has been wantonly increased ; has been, in the first instance, needlessly in- creased, and if now required, is required only because the Gov- ernment was determined to spend up to the limit to which you allowed yourselves to be taxed ; and, therefore, for the increase, and for the abstraction of what you might otherwise have added to this too scanty margin, I charge the Government of the day. But, apart from the question of the burden of taxation as cast upoft as all, I OBJECT TO THE CHARACTER and the distribution of the taxation. Things are even worse than I have just described them. Not only is the burden great, but the distribution of that burden is unjust. One general sys- tem of taxation, I maintain, as I have long maintained, is unjust as between the richer and the poorer classes of the community. (Loud applause.) Taxation generally should bear more (12) o :*-v :'.,,. * •w>.' '^^^^ T-, • I » - w.. • ;r -•''■• . ■■ ■■'■■ *' ■,:'■■ '■■'■;■*'■. ■/ '■ > -■ . <• •. ■f ' *.* ■--•■■' .■.' J '■"■.■ . < . \ v; :,. ^• ' , ■;: ' '. - , >■ 342 . • ■ 1 ■ HEAVILY THAN IT DOES UPON CAPITAL, AND MOliE LIGHTLY UPON -LABOUR, MORE HEAVILY ON THE RICH, AND MORE LIGHTLY ON THE POOR. (Renewed applause.) Realized, fixed, and permanent capital from its nature can afford to contribute, and ought to con- y ; tribute, more than fluctuating, temporary, and wearing out labour; and the rich man, WITH A SURPLUS INCOME OF THOUSAND,", should contribute more proportionately out of that income than the poor man out of that poverty which leaves him no more than a bare subsistence. It does not pinch the rich ; it does*not pinch capital; the rich man and capitalist, if you call up(>n hiui for somewhat heavier taxation, may have to see his yearly increase somewhat diminished ; he may — though that is an extreme case — eten have to give up an extra horse, or an extra ball, or an extra month at the seaside ; but these are consequences not very serious. Life, even without those things, is very well worth liv- ing. But what to the rich man is nothing becomes a very serious question to the poor man. When you increase his taxes he has to consider which of those few things he has deemed up to that time necessaries of life he shall deem a necessary of life no longer. Therefore, if we were attempting to lay direct taxes in Ontario.. I should STRONGLY FAVOR A SUCCESSION TAX, under which realized capital u])on its descent should pay a toll to the State, thus yielding at the period most convenient for all, some portion of the unearned increment. (Loud applause.) Tiierefoie again, if we were attempting to lay an income tax here, / should advocate a graduated tax upon just such a scale as we might be able to fix without creating, what is the serious difficulty, too great temptation for the fraudulent evasion of that easily evaded tax. And, therefore, I maintain the justice of the exemption from our municipal income tax of the smaller incomes, and would gladly see the limit raised, so that the reasonable earnings of wage-earn- ers should remain untouched. (Cheers.) On these general groundl it is that I think in the Dominion system of indirect taxation — a system which I cannot propose to change — the taxation should BEAR MORE HEAVILY ON LUXURIES as a means of remedying, if only partially, the existing injustice. You mav call all this Socialism. I don't call it so ; I call it nothing but justice and fair play. (Loud and prolonged applause.) Now the present system works just the other way. The system of spe- cific duties upon gotjds of different values, weights and qualities . ■ ' (12) . . 1 •r'v. •t^^iii^U-^.i:^v :o\\ to some •efoie hould it be too ^aded from |laundl In — a lid jtice. [hing low iities ' V*' 343 results in this — that the poor man is obliged to pay more, in pro- portion to the value of the cheap and coarse and heavy goods to which he must contine his purchases, th' n the rich man is called upon to pay for the tine and costly goods which he can afford to purchase. So that, instead of there being a proportion, there is a disproportion; and THAT DISPROPORTION IS IN FAVOUR OF THE TJCH A^ID AOAINST THE POOR. This proposition as to the effect of specific duties was stated by Sir Leonard Tilley when he was Finance Minister, on the occasion of a visit to England, though it is repudiated a good deal in Cana- da. I have often demonstrated it by examples which I have no time to give to-night. There is ANOTHER injustice in ths distribution of the taxes» namely, the imposition of sectional taxes and of high taxes on prime necessaries of life, as fuel and bread ; and of raw materials of manufacture, as fuel again. (Cheers.) There is yet another INJUSTICE in the raising of some taxes so high that it unduly fos- ters those monopolies in manufacture which, by combination or otherwise, are thus enabled to extract too great sums from the people. On the whole I cannot agree with those who say this tariff is perfect. I think I have indicated points in which it is seriously defective, and in which it ought to be amended. (Ap- plause.) I alluded a moment ago to monopolies fostered by tariffs. There are other descriptions of monopolies which affect the masses of the community and the wages of labour — monopolies of trans- port, monopolies of land, and creations of fictitious capital and watered stock, clothed with great powers, enabling them to press upon the public and to lower largely, by the contributions they levy, thy value of labour. Most railways are, to some extent, mono- polies in respect of the non-competitive local points ; nor, even where there is another railway, can you be sure how long there will be competition. As most of you are aware by experience, both of older and of recent date, combination is too likely to follow competition ; and the effort then is to obtain enough from the public to compensate for the new capital invested or created. But it was reserved to Canada, just at the time when the question of the regulation of transport was becoming acute on this contin- ent, just when it was plain to the great statesmen on the other side of the lines, and was even becoming clear to the people of England, that this question of the regulation of transport was a \ \ 1 I I li ,i ■r ■ ) ' -it ' •. f, \' 344 most serious problem of the near future — it was reserved, I say, to Canada at this time to CREATE THE GREATEST MONOPOLY of all, and in all its features ; transportation, public grants, land and privileges, absolute monopoly, and fictitious capital. (Loud applause.) Take the case of the Canadian Pacific Railway Cora- I pany. My quarrel is with the policy of the Government, which I denounce, and not with the Company, which obtained what it could from the Government. My quarrel with the Government is serious. The corporation was created at the cost of the State, which is giving in connection with the whole scheme the equivalent of $87,000,000 in cash, besides land and public resources, out of ~ which other resources about $11,000,000 have been realized al- ready, and of which there are about 14,000,000 acres left to sell. Besides this, there were free right of way and grounds, exemp- tion from taxation, monopoly and numerous privileges of enor- mous value. There was enough to build the road at a reasonable pace. Then the Government authorized a loan of $35,000,000, on which the traffic has to pay the interest. Then the Government authorized the issue of $65,000,000 of stock, now in the hands of the promoters and the public. But it was on the WRETCHED STOCK-WATERING PLAN. The Company received but $29,500,000 for the $65,000,000. But this is not the worst. The Government authorized such arrangements as resulted in the retention out of the Company's resources, within a brief space, of about $21,000,000 to pay and secure dividends. So it has come to pass that of $65,000,000 nominal stock there has gone into and remained in the road only $8,500,000, about $1 out of $8 ! A modest dividend of 6 per cent, on the nominal capital would absorb $3,900,000 a year, or 46 per cent, on what is in the road. So that for all time labour is to be • TAXED TO PAY DIVIDENDS on this enormous block of nominal capital. Necessarily North- West rates must in future be higher, and the prosperity of Canada at large be less, and the return of labour be diminished by this policy. These great grants and privileges of themselves tended to mono- poly, for how could private capital compete with them ? (12) ,^-j-vj. -ft- «'' L4-r^.i^ on and Ihere lould :oad. the [r be lono- X-^.'-' Y' 34-5 .* ■•'^7»- .">:,. •»V:.«".'^1.'' \ ' .{,V' ■^■. I ^ But all this was not enough. The Government established an actual positive monopoly, by the prohibition for 20 years of roads running southward — a thing wholly unprecedented, and as indefensible as it was new. Now, we proposed that Parliament should reserve the right to acquire the road on reasonable terms should the interest of the State in the future demand it, but in vain. We proposed that the avenues of trade to the East and South should not be barred, but in vain. We proposed that the clause of exemption from taxation, which reads thus : — The Canadian Pacific Railway and all stations, station grounds, workshops, building yards and other property, rolling stock and appurtenances . . . and the capital stock of the Company shall be free for ever from taxation by the Dominion or by any Province hereafter to be established, or by any municipal corporation therein ; and the lands of the Company in the ^to^th- West Territory, until they are either sold or occupied, shall also be free from taxation for 20 years after the grant thereof from the Crown. should be modified, but in vain. We called attention to the fact that 25,000,000 acres of choice land were to be granted, UNACCOMPANIED BY ANY CONDITION that the agricultural lands should be open to actual settlers in suitable areas, and at fixed maximum prices, and we proposed a change in this sense, but this proposal also was rejected. Since that time the evil effects of the creation of large interests in lands without such conditions have been further evidenced. But not- withstanding when, in 1885, large further free grants were pro- posed in aid of railways in the North-West, and I moved that the agricultural lands should be opened to actual settlers in reasonable areas on conditions of settlement and at fixed maximum prices, my proposal was again rejected, and the evil results are now ap- parent. Again, when large grants 'were made of coal, agricultural and ranching lands to aid the construction of a coal railway, I pointed out that UNLESS WE MADE SPECIAL PROVISION as to the admission of other mines to the benefits of the road and took special powers as to tolls,a practical monopoly would result and evil would ensue. I proposed an amendment. 1 was told it was all nonsense, that there could be no difficulty. And I find only the other day an extract from the Begina Leader, a Conservative paper, in these terms : — (12) "i ■ .'' r /.- 'Ill' »'! ^ . f .' -Vv" »• .-f- ,«■' '>. / .A, ■*: » - ■ n - - - w ^ 34G , • ^ . . %:^. Sir Alexander Gait must be a greedy man. Here hajs he got a fine mine from the people of Canada, and he makea a portion of liis bonefaotors along the line of railway, poor farniera — or tries to do this — pays ^3.50 per ton for coal which he is selling in Winnipeg for ^6.50. And why ? Because we have not the co'npetitiou here. And what does the Leader advise ? We hope our people will adopt, as fur as possible, Mr. Arkles' excellent suggestion to use timber. (Loud laughter and applause.) There is the remedy proposed against a })ractical monopoly which was created unchecked, in spite of the efibrts of the Liberal party. (Cheers.) Now in all these matters, whether they concerned the enormous grants to the C. P. Railway, or the creation of practical and actual mono- polies, or the creation of great blocks of fictitious stock, or the tremendous exemptions from taxation, or the grants of land with- out conditions opening them to settlement — in all these matters I maintain that the Liberal party has been labouring for the peo- ple and against tlie monopolist, for the settler and against the speculator, for the masses and against the few ; and I am con- vinced that' the policy we advocated would have given you a more flourishing and better settled West, and a happy and more pros- perous East than now obtains. (Loud cheers.) So much I have said with reference to the past and the present. And now I turn to what Sir John Macdonald had to say to the workingmen. ON THE EVE OF AN ELECTION, with reference to the future. I was not surprised when I looked at that portion of his speech and scrutinized its contents, that he had wasted so much time upon the sterile past. (Applause.) It was because he had so little to say for the future. What did he promise ? A bureau of labour and statistics in the first place, and a royal commission of inquiry in the second place. As to the bureau of labour and statistics, that is a good thing. It should have been created long ago. (Applause.) We have had a bureau of statistics established in and for this Province, which has initi- ated the operations, and has been, and is doing, very good work. (Loud applause.) I suppose it is to be largely duplicated. I trust its operations are to be extended ; and I do hope that the appointment made in connection with this Bureau will be of a man suitable for the position, for upon the appointment depends almost the whole practical value of the department. (Cheers.) I spoke my mind, and that of the Liberal party, as to the importance of the (12) -^J '.?> ■jJr I f 347 >«' i/ ' \ ^ COLLECTION OF STATISTICAL INFORMATION ) )oked at he It id he and o the tiould ireau initi- ork. d. I „t the of a ends .) I tance and the duty of the Government to attend to tliis matter a long time ago. In 1877, when I was a member of Mr. Mackenzie's Government, 1 said : — I may aay generally that it is unfortunate that Canada should be so imper- fectly supplied with machinery for the collection of statistics on many other subjects of interest. My colleagues, in common with myself, are fully alive to that fact, and it is only thfl([uestion of expense, which, in the present con- dition of the country, deters us from proposing the creation of that statistical machinery which every free couununity must feel to be tuaterial to intelli- gent, sound, and progressive legislation. Therefore you will observe that we pointed in this direction nine years ago. Since that time — at all events since the year 1880 — we have had an overflowing treasury, and, it is said, a flourishing condition of affairs ; the income was there, at any rate, though created by an enormous taxation. And during all that time, no talk, no thought, no proposal of a bureau ! A DEFICIT COMES, AN ELECTION APPROACHES, AND STRAIGHTWAY THE BUREAU DAWNS UPON THE HORIZON. (Cheers and laughter.) Then the other great proposal is of a Royal Commission. In 1873, Sir John Macdonald issued a Royal Commission, in order to obtain the whitewashing of political criminals from a great offence. And in 1886 he proposes to issue another Royal Commission, in order that he may lead the great political jury to which he is about to appeal to give a more ftivour- able verdict than he might otherwise expect. (Laughter and cheers.) I do not object, for my part, to the issue of a Royal Commission. The problems which are referred to in this pro- posal have attracted the attention of the acutest minds and been the subject of most able disquisitions. The results are to be found in printed books, and if I may judge by the men named and THE RESULTS ACHIEVED BY FORMER COMMISSIONS appointed by this Government in the professed interests of the working classes, if I am to judge by the work and results of the commissions issued to Mr, Blackeby and Mr. Lukes, I should not have very high hopes myself from the result of this Royal Com- mission. (Laughter and applause.) I agree that it is important to ascertain whether there be anything in our special conditions different from those of other countries in relation to these great problems, but I am inclined to doubt that either Mr. Blackeby or Mr. Lukes or anybody else who may be appointed, will find on (12) '^A / •' ', .• * « ... ( ■ »■■ i ' i ' ' 348 the general question much more than is to be found in the works showing the researches of the ablest labour reformers in the world. I was sorry, however, to observe that Sir John Macdonald, after promising a commission of inquiry, had no words of hope, no ex- pressions of his own views, no suggestions of sympathy with the objects which are being aimed at by the working classes. (Ap- plause.) Now awoiKjst the important practical improvements ivhioh I should ivish to see ivov.ld he that amongst our members of Parliament there should he some who from, experience knoiv, and from familiar intercourse, can realize ivhat most of us hu,ve only learned from hooks and, at second-hand. (Cheers.) They would be useful in the halls of Parliament, both from their special and practical knowledge, wliich would enable them to take an impor- tant part in the deliberations ()f Parliament, and also because their presence in Parliament would give special assurance to the work- ing classes of the presentation of their views in the best light and from their own standpoint. (Renewed cheering.) I hope to see a genuine Liberal of this stamp, I CARE NOT WHAT HIS PARTY NAMK MAY BE, SO that he be a genuine Liberal advocating our views, sent to Par- liament from Toronto at an early day. (Loud and prolonged applause.) I do not wish to make odious comparisons, but I do not think it would take very long to convince you that you might better your representation — (cheers and laughter) — and that you could find in the ranks of labour many a man who would put to the blush — if any blushes they have left — a good many more pre- tentious members of Parliament. (Hear, hear, and great ap- plause.) I cannot say for myself that I expect to see all the plans of labour reformers early, or some of them ever, incorporated in the statute book ; but there is much in these proposals with which I have long sympathized. I rej,oice greatly to observe the wise and conservative spirit in which, on many occasions, the most promi- nent figure in the ranks of labour has spoken, and used his great influence over his fellow-men. (Cheers.) He has recognized the evils incident to the strike and the boycott. He has counselled prudence, moderation, self-restraint, and conciliation along with firmness. He has advised the wise and restrained use of the power of combination, which, if abused, may be so hurtful, and if wisely tised has been and must be so helpful to the cause of labour. On the whole he is a man of whom, I think, not merely the class to which he belongs, but the whole English-speaking community, may well be proud. (Great applause.) Now a word I have to say as to the ' .' ■ ■ \ (12) . ^ ■ ki^ ♦■*■■ *>t ■,^v > 'I' ,;•*■- LV -.^'■'l.TVr.VV^ .^''^^^^ 849 \ ^T' y V I do ht 112 you it to pr e- ap- I plans 3d in :l\icli nd se w \romi- jreat ii\ the lied ith ise w [power isely On lass to lunity, lave to RELATIONS OP LABOUR AND CAPITAL, which is one of the things referred to as to be enquired into by this commission. I am sorry there was no expression of opinion from ' the First Minister on that point. I, for my part, do not object, on the contrary, I heartily approve of the accumulation which is the result of honest toil and su))erior energy and brain power, (^Ap- plause.) The power to rise is a great incentive to industry, frugality, and the orderly advance of humanity. It keeps us at work. But it should not be impaired by artificial advantages given to the few, and to capital ; by watered stocks and unjust profits ; by toll and tribute levied under law for the benefit of the unreal and fictitious capital ; by speculative holdings of the public domain ; by too burdensome a load of taxation, and by unjustly distributed taxation. I want to see this power to rise left and "^kept as unimpaired as possible. The problem of the division be- tween capital and labour of the fruits of their co-operation is a most serious one. That division has NOT BEEN JUST IN THE PAST — (cheers) — and conflicts of a grievous character have aiisen in the effort to readjust it. Combinations between employers, com- binations between workmen, strikes by the workmen, lock-outs by the employers — a state of affairs resembling nothing but civil war,! CAN SOME REMEDY BE FOUND FOR ALL THIS ? Surely we must try ! It is the question of the day. (Great ap- plause.) Now, I frankly confess to you that I believe the com- plete remedy is largely out of the pale of law. I believe it is largely to be found in the gT-owth and in the exemplification in our daily lives of the Gospel precepts — " Love thy neighbour as thyself," and " Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." (Applause.) // we believe these precepts to be realities, we must live them ; and if they influenced our lives ive should see feiver instances of, manufacturers grinding the faces of employees, and of the general consumiyig public grinding the face of the merchant and distributor of production. A fair living rate luould be deemed right ; and to give or take move or less luould be deemed wrong. (Cheers.) We are, I hope, rising — too slowly and gradually, considering that this is the nine- •teenth century of the Christian era — to this view ; and that cir- cumstance must help us greatly in the adoption of the other practical, lawful, and conventional remedies which are suggested. TJiere is the remedy of industrial partnership and the remedy of (12) .•^ ^j.. .> ^>i rf»>: :-••.; V 1; I' f 7 11 \ ' »- :^^<- ill "^ r* Lr- P 350 s »»l' co-operation. (^Applause ) These are two distinct plans, each 'having its own advantages and its own difficulties. I believe my- self in the future of both, l>ut I believe that each requires for its proper fulfilment a more elevated moral tone and *a greater mutual confidence on the part of those concerned. Both have been tried very often, tried in various countiies, tried with var^ ing success ; but tried with a great measure ot success in several instances ; and that fact proves the possibility of success in many more in- stances, if only the question be ai'proached" by both sides in the proper spirit. Industrial partnership is the natural first step, be- cause at present you have capital and you have labour joined together, though in an unhappy sort of union, and this seems to be the suggestion for a fitter union between the two. If time allowed I would desire to give you SOME SIGNAL INSTANCES of {he success of each of these plans. The great point to be reached is the creation of a practical and felt community of inter- est, the recognition of the right of labour to a share in the fruits produced by the joint action of labour and capital ; and the adop- tion of means to gain that right. These plans must grow, and in them ultimately, 1 believe, will the conventional remedy be found. I would like to see them tried well and prudently here ; and I would invite for them, if they should be tried, the active sympa- thy and co-operation of the consuming public towards establish- ments founded upon these principles, the success of which here would tend to the best interests of the world at large. (Ap- plause.) But meantime the conflict goes on ; and the immediate palliative for the avoidance of this kind of civil war to which I. have referred is ARBITRATION. N . ' % , lu''.- Y'-. In that I have great faith. (Loud applause.) It involves partial recognition of the rights of labour. It tends to substitute reason and conciliation for force and violence. It has done great good and will do more. Yet its root is to be found, I believe, in its moral strength. We may be able by law to facilitate arbitration ; we may even provide boards of arbitration ; but we cannot, in most cases, hope to compel reference to arbitration, or obedience to an award. The real good will often vanish in such an effort, and the work must, therefore, be mainly voluntary. The strength of combination, the pressure of public opinion, the power of mu- tual good-will, and the energy of the forces which are making for righteousness, must be the main dependence for securing the sub- mission to arbitration and the ratification of its results. I have (12) • i->: n il ii j » ^i ilii i i ii, i H li iB»! ' y -h f i!. -U:l , il ■.••■ ft. J ' I ■4 IP ■ ^;^■■^>5' --■.^'^ -.--v-vv '-'V- ■ s/ , 354 so, it only furnishes another instance of the abortive efforts afc centralization, the efforts to arrogate to themselves powers which did not belong to them, which have distinguished this Adminis- tration, and another instance of a constitutional lawyer mistaken — (cheers) — of a position abandoned, a promise unkept, a pledge unredeemed, and a people fooled and betrayed, (Loud and pro- longed cheering.) Now, these bills, when they came before us, I analyzed, as was ni}'^ duty, with care, and I found them far in- ferior in their character to what my wishes would have made. I found them inferior with reference to the powers of inspection, and the classes of factories to be inspected, and the provisions for health and safety which they prescribed ; and also inferior in an- other mojit important respect — in reference to the restrictions and regulations as to the M EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN and young persons. (Loud applause.) I prepared, in anticipa- tion of the discussion, numerous amendments — between thirty and forty, I believe — intended to bring the bill more into accord with modern notions on these questions, but the bill was dropped without a word, and there was no opportunity to move these amendments. I would direct the attention, not merely of me- chanics, but also of the general community, to the question of the employment of children and very young persons in factories. I have a very strong belief that children ought largely to be kept out of factories. (Loud applause.) 1 do not propose indiscrimi- nately to abolish all child labour in factories ; but I think \h THE EMPLOYMENT SHOULD BE GUARDED AND CHECKED; and, when allowed, I l)elieve children ought only to be admitted as half-timers, that is, allowed to work for half a day only with special provision for school attendance during the remaining hours, so that we may take care lirst that their ])hysical strength and gi'owth is not hurt by the prolonged confinement and labour of the factory, and secondly that their mental growth and develop- ment is duly fostered in the schools. (Applause.) The same ob- servation, at any rate, as to the physicrJ structure, and to some extent as to the mental development, applies to the employment in factories of very young persons, though past the age of childhood, especially of young women. The future of our race may be in- jured, and the state of labour in important respects degraded, by the too frequent, too prolonged, too sedulous employment of chil- dren and young persons in factories. (Hear, hear.) I lieard with pain a statement made in the House of Commons, not very long ago. A member was pointing to the school attendance in Nova :iLt'^.:» '... 'h i«>^ 1.J J»!k^ )(.-i_i (12) ■.:'l . ;,--''.». ^, . las ■•,'. rr bed a» with engt ,ie ob- some ent in Ihood, be in- ed, by chil- witb long Nova 355 Scotia, and arguing from its relative sraallness that the population was not increasing as it should. The answer of a member on the Conservative side was, " Don't you understand how that small attendance comes about ? The children haven't time to go to school now ; they are employed in the factories." If that were so it was not a thing on wliich to congratulate the people of Can- ada. (Loud cheers.) As this address says, it is TO THE EDUCATION OF THE MASSES WE MUST LOOK FOR PROGRESS ;. and a system which impedes the education of the children, in order to employ them in factories, is not a thing which I, as a Cana- dian, can desire or approve. (Loud applause.) For a great many years Old England led the van in this subject of factory legisla- tion. For more than eighty years they have been engaged in such legislation, from time to time altering, amending, and enlarg- ing their laws, as experience pointed out the way, and they have done great things, no doubt, for the operative, for the child, and for the young person employed in the factory ; but 1 am bound to- say also that in late years England itself has been left rather in the back ground in some respects, and that in some of the continental countries, with reference to the employment of children, the edu- cation of children, and with reference, also, to the technical edu- cation of mechanics, advances have taken place which more than parallel the advances of England. I maintain that in any fac- tory legislation we may devise here, we ought to look to that country which may stand in the forefront on this question, to follow the example of that land, whichever it may be, that has the best laws on the subject, and to legislate according to that clearer light, and by the assistance of that more advanced experience, rather than in a comparatively retrograde or halting manner. (Loud a])i)lause.) I turn to one other point before I pass from this address. I observe that Mr. White, at Owen Sound the other day, yielded once more to the fatal pressure of those political exigen- cies — (loud applause and laughter) — which have so often caused him to succumb before, rnd invented a policy for me, arguing that I had, as a policy for the Dominion, suggested a succession tax and a graduated income tax. Pray remember that this v\ as ONLY MR. WHITE ; and give it just that amount of attention to which his avowed standard of political morality in such inatters entitles it. I ex- pressly said that I could not propose a change in our indirect sys-. tern of taxation for the Dominion. My suggestion was in terms confined to the Province of Ontario, where, if taxation is ever required, it must be direct. And even for Ontario, I suggested it. (12> % ■ / . . ■ ' ' ' if X ■J"' ■, -t j m (••■ ■( 856 :n only in case we were about to lay direct taxes. If we were about, in this Province, to lay a direct tax, I thought and think a suc- cession tax the best. If we were about, in this Province, to lay an income tax, I thought and think a graduated tax just; and, as to our municipal income tax, I thought and think an extension of the existing exemption ought to be made. But as to the Dominion I MADE NO SUGGESTION OF DIRECT TAXATION. I declared that I could not propose a change in the system of in- direct taxation. I have no idea of any such change. But I did propose certain changes in the details of our indirect system, for example in some specific duties, in the taxes on prime necessaries, and so on, with a view to a more equitable distribution of the burdens as between rich and poor, as you will see in my speech, a speech no honest or candid disputant could read without agree- ing in this interpretation. My misfortune is that these are not honest or candid disputants. (Applause.) I am ready, as I have shown by my past public course, to favour all fair and just mea- sures towards the improvement of the condition of the working masses of the community, believing that upon that improvement largely depend the elevation and prosperity of all. (Loud and prolonged applause.) FAIR LAWS FOE LABOUR SIR JOHN MAGDONALD'S MEMORY PLAYS HIM FALSE. LIBERAL LEGISLATION IN FAVOUE OF LABOUR. OBJECTIONS BY TORIES— CONTRACT PRISON LABOUR— THE CHINESE ENCOURAGEMENT POLICY .<5- , Hon. Edward Blake, in the course of his speech at Belleville, said : — I wish to s£^y a few words on some points of Sir John Macdonald's Ottawa speech to the working classes ; I spoke on some of the questions lately in Toronto. Of those which remain most refer to the past, and some in fact to the rather remote past, (12) / ' » tt^ \ ■ '\ 357 and I confess to you that in the present pressure of urgent political topics, which ought to engross our attention, it is unwillingly that 1 take time to deal with these remote questions. I am bound to do so, however, because I believe the statements made should not go unanswered, and because I believe them to be very inaccurate indeed, and far from just representations of the actual facts. Sir John began by a very ancient reference — which has stood him in* good stead for many long years — to the incidents connected with the printers' trouble in 1872 ; and on r THIS OLD STORY -THE jville, IJohn :e on jraain past, he based one of his main arguments in support of his claim to the confidence and support of the workingmen. Sir John Mac- donald said : — They were, however, in 1872, horrified to find the then leader of the Liberal party in Canada putting in force in Toronto the obsolete and oppressive laws which ought to have been repealed a century ago. All would remember the general feeling of horror and disgust that prevailed when it was announced that 24 men had been arrested by warrant in Toronto because, forsooth, they had ventured to form a trade association, and had resolved to carry the prin- ciples of their Union into efiect. At a meeting of employers, the then leader of the Grit party, the editor of the Olobe, urged the masters to have no deal- ings whatever with Union men, and to hire none but those who would sign a document to the effect that they did not belong to any labour organization, and he trusted that in this way those who had shown a rebellious spirit against their employers would bo DRIVEN OUT OF THE COUNTEY, At that time he (Sir John) happened to be Minister of Justice and Attorney- General, and in his capacity of Minister of Justice he advised the represen- tative of the Sovereign, to at once release those printers and allow them to walk out once more as free men. (Cheers.) More than that, he at once introduced a bill into Parliament repealing those obsolete statutes, wiping them off the statute book as a disgrace to our present state of civilization, and introduced and carried through Parliament a law establishing Trades Unions and confirming them in their previous proceedings, and under that Act, which is now almost without any modification, the Trades Unions of Canada can assemble and act together in concert, and protect and advance their own interests against any combination of employers of labour, in case capital should become an oppressor of labouring men. I am very sorry that it has unfortunately happened that Sir John's memory has repeatedly played him false in the course of this statement. In the first place, Mr. Brown, to whom he referred, was not then the leader of the Liberal party. He had not been its leader for many years. He had been out of Parliament for five years, and was not seeking re-election. He was a private member of the party, engaged in managing his great newspaper. Mr. Mackenzie, who can boast that he graduated from the stone- (12) ■r "1 i. !l ' 1 ^, U~ '..JM^.r:'\M'^f % ">■ !■-•., ■■ ■' ■ /.'.r, t tnaaon'B chisel to the position of Prime Minister of Canada — (Cheers) — was then the leader of the Liberal party. But it suited Sir John Macdonald's ))urpose for the moment to strike at the Liberal party through Mr. Brown by describing him as occupying a position which le did not occupy, and his memory lielped his end. Sir John Macdonald altogether forgot, extraordinary to say, "that at that date all but one, or, at the most two, of the printing offices in Toronto agreed conditionally to employ no Union men and, so far, acted with M r. Brown. I have here the published decla- ration and agreement, from which I will read the signatures : — Geo. Brown, Globe Printintr Co. J. Koss Robertson, Daily Telegraph. James Mojlan, Canadian Freeman. J. B. Cook, Express. E. R. Stimson, Church Herald. S. Rose, Christian Guardian. W. H. Flint. Fv,rc Gold. Patrick Boyle, Irish Canadian. Copy, Clark & Co. Dmney & Bnrns. McLeish & Co. Bell & Co. Hunter, Ro.se & Co. Rowsell & Hutchinson. P. H. iStewart. George C. Patterson. M. J. Grand. So this wa,s not so far the resistance of one single man. It may have been wrong, but all these persons — men on both sides of politics — agreed to one course, and all must submit to one judg-. ment. Sir John Macdonald also forgot — and this is still more singular — the action of the Mail newspaper at the very late date of 1884, not so long ago as lb72, when our notions ^were less fair and enlightened than in 1884. In 1884 THE "MAIL PREPARED A DOCUMENT which it required every one of those who were within the scope of its power to sign, declaring that he did not belong and would not belong to any union organization, a document which remained in force for a considerable time, but has lately, I am glad to believe, ' been modified. (Applause.) He forgot, too, the action of his own colleague, Mr. Frank Smith, only a few months ago, in this very year, 1886, when he required the employes of the corporation, of which he is president, controller and principal proprietor, the Toronto Street Railway Company, to agree not to belong to any union; and his subsequent conduct, when he called them in a very public place by a very opprobrious name. (Cheers.) He forffot all these thinsfs of course, for if he had remembered them he would have been silent, and would not have been ungenerous enough to bring up the error in judgment and action which in my judgment Mr. Brown, now six years* dead, committed so long ago as 1872 ; because it is clear, from the case to which I refer, and from the whole facts, that this error cannot serve the Conservative (12) •(.,>*■.■ ^771 Iding )hn's rhat- |t out •tsof *ope, who is a [read- put lets of of iselfr brimi- ' - ■» , ■ ■ '■■'-.: ■''/I ■■',, /'■'■- •■ ' ; , ' •■ > * • . * , , '. 3C1 Hon. Mr. Cameron (Cardwell) said it was suggestod that something fur- ther ought to be in the bill which was not in the English law — that was, with reference to threats of accusing of crime. There were two or three classes of crime which would naturally suggest themselves to bis hon. friend, where the accusation would be as great an serious an intimidation as any threat of personal violence or injury to property. He suggested the bill should be changed to bring such offences within its scope. Sir .John Macdonuld called attention to a threat of this kind : " You must continue work in this place, or I will do you mischief." The injury was not described, but it was intimi' dation ; it probably did not moan violence to person or property. Hon. Mr. Blake — It must be one or the other. Sir John Macdouald said a threat might be made to injure the reputa- tion, which was not property — there might be charges which did not amount to personal violence or injury to property, but still would ad'ect a man's character. He suggested that his hon. friend take this into consideration. Hon. Mr. Blake said of course he would give the suggestions of his friends due consideration, but he thought that, as practical legislators, it was better for them to provide punishment for the offences named by law than attempt to coajnre up different kinds of possible threats which were unknown in this country. Probably many of the cases to which reference had been made by his hon. friends would be met by the existing law. By legislating for that class of crimes the objection might be raised by a large number in the community to its being class legislation, and they oaght to be careful in dealing with such matters. He would remind his hon. friends, while not interposing objections to their views, that a(^reeing thereto would be making a new law, the utility of which had not been demonstrated by experience ot required by public necessity. Then at the final stage : — Hon. Mr. Blake said he had decided not to adopt the suggestions of hi* hon. friends from Kingston and Cardwell with respect to this clause. He entirely agreed with them as to the importance of preserving to the minority of any trade or occupation its liberties against an improper assertion of the so-called rights of the union or majority, and he would always be ready while he sat in this House to sustain any legislation that time might deter- mine to be necessary for that purpose ; but this House might be averse to enact special legislation, unless for a real and admitted evil. As far as he knew, there was no reason to apprehend that this clause would be inade- quate. That is the attitude these gentlemen took with regard to the legislation I was seeking to carry in favour of equal rights to all classes of the community, and for the abolition of that which it has always been the aim of Liberals to abolish — class legislation. (Loud applause.) Then Sir John Macdonald declared that he was opposed to contract ■ LABOUR IN PENITENTI ABIES, and took credit for its abolition. But he has forgotten again. He, T need not tell you, is the man who, for the longest period we know of, has been responsible for contract labour in the peni- tentiaries. He was Attorney-General or Minister of Justice, and (12) TFl I* t W i' /y V 6fe.;i;?: ,i^/lS* • ' ■ ■^- .-^1 •J^ . > -' 362 had control of the penitentiaries for over so many years, and during that time he controlled the legislation and the contracts ; he arranged for the contracts under which the convicts were employed, and he never began to cry out against the system so long as he was in power. But as soon as he got into Oppo- sition he began to cry out. (Laughter.) When he came back to power we called upon him to carry out the abrogation of , the system, and almost every year this call was repeated, but nothing was done. (Applause.) At length, only a little while ago, a new Penitentiaries Bill was brought down. It waa intro- duced in the Senate by his Minister of Justice, passed in that House, and came down to the House of Commons. There was not a word in it about abolishing contract labour. (^Cheers.) I recalled once more the professions they had made, and in- timated my intention of taking action in the matter. Sir John Macdonald thereupon asked that the bill stand over, and when it was resumed, just at the last stage, he introduced the clause of which he now boasts. That clause is due, not to his good- will or initiative, but to my pressure. (Cheers.) He now says that the amendment was delayed because there were exist- ing contracts. It is not so ; his memory has played him false again. That amendment actually saves all existing contracts — (cheers) — it is expressly declared not to come into operation until those contracts terminate. 1 cannot speak positively, but I am strongly of opinion that these contracts were terminable at the will of the Government long before. Now, my opinion is that prisoners ought not to be under the control of contractors, but under the control of the prison authorities. Prison discipline, the prisoners* good, and the good of the community call, I think, for that course. My opinion with reference to the work done in prisons is that it ought to be such as will train the prisoners to earn an honest living when released, but at the same time such as will interfere as little as possible with free labour. (Applause.) There is no useful work to which you can put prisoners but 'will ■ interfere somewhat with free labour. When in control of this deparment I tried to carry out what seemed to me THE MOST ADVANTAGEOUS PLAN, and in this view I purchased from Sir John Macdonald himself a farm in the immediate neighbourhood of the penitentiary, in which, according to my plan, spade husbandry was to be carried on, an industry in which as many hands as possible should be employed, with as little assistance from machines as possible. We had too many idle hands. I wanted to do by hand the work ordinarily done by machinery. I thought this employment would give the / (12) >i •ilife*^ i^; iL:*!*/ J#-:;/ • ■/ - ... .• iself a Iwhich, on, an )loyed, [ad too linarily live the '. 1- • " , 363 prisoners health and exercise, and would interfere as little as pos- sible with free labour. (Cheers.) I am afraid the system since carried out has not been fully in accordance with my intentions ; and since that time the Government has taken a vote for the erec- tion of a flour mill in Kingston Penitentiary, so that they might interfere as little as possible with the miller — (laughter) — who, as you know, has under the N. P. been making great and undue pro- fits. (Laughter.) Sir John Macdonald also claimed credit in con- nection with THE CHINESE QITESTION. He has put a tariff upon Chinamen as he has on almost everything else. (Laughter.) In 1872, when the Tories made the contract with British Columbia for the construction of the Canadian Pa- cific in ten years, I objected to that bargain on several grounds, and amongst others I said the road could not be completed within that time, except by Chinese labour, and I was abused from end to end of Canada for such a suggestion. They said I was advo- cating the use of Chinese latourin buildinc," the Canadian Pacific Railway — (cheers and laughter) — while my «.rgument wis that the bargain was objectionable because it practically involved for its execution the employment of Chinese labour. (Laughter.) Although I was abused for the statement, it was true. It is true that many thousands of Chinamen have been imported into British' Columbia to build that railway within a period longer than the ten years at first proposed. (Cheers.) I have read a good deal on both sides of this controversy, and I have found much conflict- ing evidence. But some things seem established on the whole. CHINAMEN DO NOT BECOME WHAT WE CALL SETTLERS. They do not become real citizens of the country — (cheers) — they do not become Canadians ; they do not intermingle with our people, they do not accept our civilization, and they carry their earnings away to their own country as soon as. they have secured the pit- tance adequate for a livelihood there. Though they live amongst us they are not of us ; they hold to their own special customs, and to habits of life and a scale of subsistence far below ours, and involving the degradation of white labour. (Cheers.) Thrift and providence are good things, but decency and the customs of modern civilization are essential to progress ; and these are interfered with by the existing conditions of Chinese labour. If you consider men simply as machines, the Chinam^ may be on the whole a cheaper machine than the Canadian, but I have never admitted that the labour of a man ought to be regarded exactly as that of a machine. (Cheers,) Other elements are involved, (Cheers.) Now, . ." ■ ■ • - . . ■■ (12) I *r- ■' '- .»' I! •^li •■> I "I .1 ■; ' ■■ I ';t I' U 1; I ■^8 ■ ■ •I -...^ .•^ ■> 364 there waaonly one Province, British Columbia, in which this ques- tion pressed upon the people as a practical grievance. And in that Brovince there was one time when it pressed with special force as a present and future danger, and that was during the construction of the Canadip-n Pacific Railway. It was obvious that the influx of Chinaijien would be greater while construction was going on than before its commencement, or than after completion, and that the trouble would be worst when the road was finished. But no- thing was done to prevent the evil. The Government refused to act. They said that as soon as the road was built, and not before, something would be done. Something was then done. A tariff was laid upon Chinamen. But, as I stated to you, the evil had been intensified, the mischief was accomplished. T saw in a newspaper the other day a correspondence from British Columbia, saying that two large shiploads of Chinese had just left the Province, and that there was no employment there now owing to the completion of the railway. The trouble is not a present nflux, but the present excess. That was exactly the state of things which any sensi- ble man would have anticipated. I am not of opinion, judging by the information I have been able to get, that the existing law is working satisfactorily. I believe it is admitted by the Gov- ernment itself that the administration of it can be impioved. •MY VIEW WAS AND IS THAT THE PROHIBITION OF THE IMMIGRATION OF CHINAMEN IS THE ONLY LOGICAL OUTCOME OF THE OPINIONS AND PRINCI- PXES UPON WHICH OUR PRESENT LAW IS BASED. It was said by Government, in opposition to this, that there was danger, if such a b^ep were taken, of conflict with the Chinese Goveriiinent. I believe it is admitted that the Chinese Govern- ment discountenances the emigration of its citizens, and, if so, that Government could hardly be dissatisfied with any action of ours which would help them to carry out their policy. (Applause.) Yet, I have recognized that it is an important object not to give of- fence to a friendly nation, and as the Government stated positively that such a law would give offence, 1 felt it my duty, as a public m>,n not to embarrass the Government by insisting upon pro- hibicion unless it should appear to be absolutely necessary, but rather to accept in silence the assurancss of the Government, and to endeavour to work successfully the proposed legislation. (Applause.) My reward for this forbearance has been the mis- representation of our attitude, and I have thus been led to state my opinions. (Loud chei^rs.) , , • . i " ■ (12) ^ '•.,.& ^^'■ .'_ :V;^v/:U*:;^:.sv/'; «•> M' .1 'y • . ^iip 365 f ! WORKINGMEN AND PARTIES, HON. EDWARD BLAKE ON QUESTIONS AFFECTING WAGE-WORKERS. Capitalists Allowed to Profit by the Saving Banks— Necessity of Protecting the Saving Workingman— Tory Accept- ance of Liberal Doctrines— Review of Importani Acts affecting Labour. Hon. Edward Blake, speaking at Deseronto, touched upon the relations of the parties to labour questions. In the course of his speech he said : — One thing I would like to add to what I said at Belleville, suggested by a gentleman who came on the platform at the close of ray speech and said, " Why didn't you refer to the fact that the Government itself had dismissed employes on the Intercolonial Railway because they were members of a labour organization." M.j'' reply was that I had forgotten it for the moment, but that it •certainly was a notable instance of the kind I had already quoted. He said, " I, at any rate, remember it very well, I was one of the men discharged on that ground ; and that is the reason I am here now instead of being down there." Fine champions these of the <;ause of labour ! (Loud and prolonged applause.) I said I would certainly take care to remedy my omission, and now I have fulfilled my promise. (Laughter.) There are one or two points that remain to be alluded to in this connection. In his Ottawa speech Sir John Macdonald CHARGED THE LIBERAL PARTY with being opposed to the Government arrangements for en- •couraging the accumulation of the savings of the wage-earners, and particularly to the interest allowed wage-earners on deposits in the Government banks. That is an inaccurate statement of the facts. For my own part, I have always felt the deepest interest in schemes devised for promoting habits of thrift and providence amongst those who may be encouraged out of their daily earnings to make accumulations. I believe it to be the duty of public men to press upon those whom they may influence the obligation which rests upon them, in the period of strength .^ud energy and skill, to endeavour to provide for the rainy day, for the period of old age, of infirmity, and sickness. And not (12) ; . . ! i in": . II I 1 \- ;'t| ^iM■^ 366 ^ merely by exhortation should we encourage these habits, but by providing such public facilities as we can for the promotion of the great object. It is quite true, however, that a few years ago I did object, with some other members of the Liberal party, to one of the regulations governing these savings banks. This regulation allowed no less than $3,000 to be deposited by a single individual upon the specially favourable terms which the Govern- • ment gave as to interest and in other respects. And we knew that the provision, itself too liberal as to amount, was practically evaded by wealthy men, some depositing $3,000 in their own name, $3,000 in the wife's name, $3,000 in a son's name, or $3,000 in a daughter's name, and so on, thus securing THE DEPOSIT OF A HANDSOME FORTUNE at tliese special rates. I said, and I think it is the opinion of wage- earners generally, that it was not within the limit of reason to describe an arrangement by which $3,000 or more was allowed to be deposited, as an arrangement for the benefit of wage-earners. (Applause.) I said that the maximum ought to be reduced to the reasonable sum which we might expect the wage-earner to accumulate. My own opinion is that when the sum accumulated approximates to a thousand dollars the best thing the owner can generally do is to become himself a homesteader, the owner of the home in which he and his family live. (Cheers.) But at any rate he has become in a modest way a capitalist. Now I was very much abused at that time for suggesting this limitation. It was said I was speaking against the interest of the wage- earner. As has often happened, however, after abusing me for a year or two for my suggestion, the Government has adopted that suggestion and has reduced the limit from what it was before to $1,000. (Cheers.) So far from being opposed to favourable arrangements in the interests of the wage-earner I spoke upon that subject in 1885 thus : — I am very glad to hear the hon. gentleman state that the P. O. Savings Banks are being extended throughout the country. There are many locali- ties where there are no facilities for depositing savings but that which is given by these banks, and I am sure the House and the country will receive with gratification the announcement that the Government propose to extend the operation of an institution which has been, on the whole, extremely bene- ficial. . . Again, in the same session, I moved for copies of all correspond- ence and petitions to the Postmaster-General, or any member of the Government, with reference to the adoption in Canada of a system to encourage small savings, similar to that brought in by the late Mr. Fawcett in England. And I said : — (12) •. .;.,^y' :,.. •■ " . ' '-" / . .; .; ,^ '. ..,'; ■,■,:• „ ;,, ,-■ , -.■,,,.,.- *V P"? receive extend ly bene- jpond- Iber of ia of a in by 'uAJ-i. ijk^ 367 Some time ago the British Government adopted, at the instance of the late Mr. Fawcett, a system which I think it is desirable to encourage in this coun- try, for small savings in connection with the Post-ofhce. The details of that plan were that a slip was handed out to any applicant which contained twelve compartments, and in each of these compartments the depositor was intended as he made savings enough to buy postage stamps, to put a stamp, and as soon as twelve of these were filled, amounting to a shilling, he was ABLE TO DEPOSIT THAT AMOUNT so that he was saved from the temptation, with reference to his small daily savings, of spending them and having them lost, and was permitted at once to buy a stamp, and then when a shilling was reached the nearest post-office received the list and he was credited with a shilling. I have one of these in- teresting slips here. Now it seems to me that if we adopted, with reference to our postage stamp currency, a similar system — perhaps by means of five cent or three cent stamps, and made an arrangement for as many as would make up a quarter, which is our usual small denomination of that kind, it would be extremely useful. I think every effort should be made to encourage a system of saving in those who have the least to save. The importance is not to be measured at all by the amount of the savings. A provident habit ia that which is of the last consequence, and a provident habit should be stimulated amongst those who have but little to save, and in early life as a sure way of inducing habits of thrift and economy which will make better men, better citizens, and the country which is inhabited by them more pros- perous. I have reason to believe that this system has been suggested for adoption to the Government some time ago, and if not, I think it is a matter which should be taken into consideration. The Government objected on the score of expense ; and I point- ed out some fallacies in their arguments, and contended that the indirect advantages were to be considered, and should outweigh their objections. Now I attach the highest importance to this question of accumulation ; BUT I AM DESIROUS THAT THE SPECIAL ADVANTAGES WHICH ARE OFFERED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE COUNTRY, ADVANTAGES IN EXCESS OF THOSE THE BANKS CAN GRANT, SHOULD BE CONFINED TO THE CLASS OF BONA FIDE WAGE- EARNERS. (Loud applause.) If you extend them to the cap- italist, you practically arrange that capital shall be benefited at the expense of the public revenue, of which you yourselves contribute too large a proportion as it is. A great deal is said as to the prosperity of the country and of the wage-earning classes, for proof of which they point to the increase in the de- posits. You will know yourselves how much there is in that argument ; how much you have deposited in the savings banks within the last two years. There has been a large increase in the public deposits. I am glad to know that some portion of that in- crease has come from the wage-earners. I know that in some localities, circumstances have been siich as to enable them to add a little to their accumulations, but I know, also, that in too many (12) ..ii.,;^4.:A. r±^.Ai-fJ'k!^.j:^^<- .. -.■J:';iU..l>j?.v: j! J "i mi' • ♦ ■■».'r: I V ^^'::' ~>^.,) 368 ■cases the facts are otherwise, and the increase has come from a class which is very much better off than the wage-earning class ; from the class of capitalists who have found it convenient and pro- fitable in the dearth of safe and easily convertible investments to WITHDRAW THEIR ACCUMULATIONS from the mass of circulating capital and to sink it in the national debt on the advantageous terms offered by the Government. This does not help the wage-earner. It hurts him by hurting the gen- eral business of the country and establishing, without that justifi- cation which I have shown exists in the case of the wage-earner, an undue competition between the Government and the instru- mentalities which exist for the collective and active employment in the general business of the available capital of the community. (Cheers.) Now on some other branches of the labour question I would like to speak to you as a wage-earning community, but on the whole I have thought it best to ask the reporter to reproduce an extract of my speech of 1882, which dealt with those topics ; and to pass on to-night to some fresher subjects. The extract from Mr. Blake's speech referred to is as follows Without having made it the subject of an election cry or seek- ing to pose as the workingman's friend, I am prepared to affirm that the Liberal Administration of 1874 to 1878 paid more atten- tion to the well-being, the social status, and the interests of the workingman than any administration which preceded or followed it ; and that the particular interest which the Conservative party paid to the workingman was limited to the imposition on his shoulders of an enormous, unequal, and unjust taxation. What was the position of the workingman in 1874, when the Liberal party came into power ? A law had been put on the sta- tute book a few years before with a great flourish of trumpets, as a groat boon to the workingman, but it was found not long after- ward THAT PROMISED BOON WAS A BURDEN. It was unsatisfactory in one important particular — that it was a measure of class legislation, dealing specially with the master and servant, and almost entirely in favour of the former and against the latter. ■', It was a law which, according to the interpretation of the word " intimidation," made it a criminal off"ence to watch a place of business with a view to obtain information while disputes respect- ing wages were in progress. It provided that the trial and con- viction of those persons should be before two magistrates, and that m ,'■ • ' V - . "• a:.i?A;r.^ - *■ _ 369 . . Ill all such cases the law of conspiracy should remain in full force. The Liberal Government, of which I myself was Minister •of Justice, found this law on the statute book when they came into office. We set about to amend it, and we wiped out the odious element of class legislation altogether by repealing those provisions which applied to the master and servant. We also de- fined and limited the word "intimidation" so as to make it apply only where violence was threatened to person or property. We especially made it lawful to watch places of business for the pur- pose ot receiving or communicating information. We allowed the accused under the law THE OPTION OF TRIAL BY JURY, and we abolished the odious application of the law of conspiracy under which, by the ruling of the courts, it had been made crimi- nal for two or three workingraen to combine together to accom- plish objects which, if attained by any one of them singly, would be quite lawful. But that was not all. There were other laws on the statute book in which the doctrine of class legislation ap- peared in even more odious form. Under the ordinary law a breach of contract was merely a civil wrong, but to that general law there was an odious exception which prevailed in this country up to 1877. That exception provided that violation of agree- ments between master and servant, refusal to go to work, leaving employment without permission, or refusal to obey lawful com- mands, were punishable by fine and imprisonment as a crime. In the case of ordinary contracts there was no crime in the breach, but where it came to violation of agreements between master and servant the accused was liable to be sent to gaol. In my Act, re- pealing the former one, I redressed this grievance by declaring that breaches of contract, whether between master and servant or otherwise, shall only be regarded as civil wrongs and not as crimes. Under these circumstances I was a little amused to see that Mr. Costigan has taken the credit to Tory legislation of having opened the door to the poor man to rise to positions of honour and trust, especially so when I contrast the professions of the hon. gentleman with one of the latest acts performed by the late Par- liament and consummated by Tory influence. I hold that the highest position to which a citizen can aspire is that of being the representative of his fellow-citizens in the Parliament of the country. The law, as it stood till quite recently, required a deposit of $50 from each candidate for election. I think that even that was an unjust requirement, but during the last session, the Tories pro- . - . , ' - (12) - /,.-... ' / ■■ V : ".^'■^' '* ■ -, .%■ ' . ' ' - :' ' . . -V ■■'\ I u 1 r I ^ 1 ! 1 ■ 1 . ;; 1 . 1 1 ^ ( s lit ■ *-- -, tA,:^-^ ,»' 370 / i . V J. \ /'I .,^iA' posed and they had carried in their gerrymandering bill, as one of its chief ornaments, a clause which increased this deposit from $50 to $200. When the bill was before the House, I moved an amendment to reduce the $200 to $50, but the Tory party, who were so desirous that the way and the path to honour should be kept open, declined to reduce it. There is another measure which it seems to me is in striking contrast to the Tory professions of interest in the workingman which becomes so profuse about elec- tion times. This is THE seaman's act, which was passed in great haste in 1873, and which provided that any one going on board a vessel for any purpose without permis- sion of the master was guilty of a criminal offence, punishable with five years' imprisonment in penitentiary, and triable, as was contended by the courts, before the Police Magistrate alone, with- out the option of a judge or jury. The amended bill, passed by the House last session, provided that the^crime should not be for going but for staying on board. It provided also for a possible reduction of the punishment to two years' imprisonment, but ii made clear and beyond a doubt the provision respecting punish- ment — declaring that it should be only before the Police Magis- trate. I moved an amendment, providing that in a case so serious that it permitted a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment, the accused should have the benefit of trial by a jury of his peers, and the Government, and the Tory party, and Mr. Costigan, and all those friends of the workingman voted that amendment down, and deliberately said that the guilt or innocence of the party charged with this offence should be determined by a single judge of an inferior jurisdiction. * * * ♦ Coming next to the Insolvent Law, I do not blame the Government for having repealed it on the whole, but it was well known that it contained provi- sions respecting liens which specially affected the workingmen, and that they had not been benefited by such repeal. There was another boon which the Tories had given to the workingman, and that was high taxes. Since the ^elusive promises held out to the workingmen in 1878, they had probably learned, many of them, that neither law. National Policy, nor tariff", would ensure their share in the profits of their labour, but that they would have to depend for this on their own exertions and concerted action, and that they would be exposed year after year to the operation of the law of demand and of competition on securing a proper return for the labour of their hands. The Government was alive to this fact also, and (12) A :•-•' ',,-^l i' ,1 , I.- ■ 1^, ■ • -■ ■ « I,.;! . 'W. ^Tr- io nd of irn lis 371 " , IN GIVING A CONTRACT ON THE PACIFIC RAILWAY TO ONDERDONK AT A HIGHER PRICE THAN WAS TENDERED FOR BY OTHERS, THEY ADMITTED THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF THE FACT THAT AS ONDKRDuNK HAD AN ADJOINING CONTRACT, THE COMPETITION FOR LABOUR WOULD BE DIMINISHED MUCH MORE THAN IF THE CONTRACT WAS LET TO A NEW FIRM. (Loud and prolonged cheering.) ORGANIZED LABOR'S ENEMY. TOKY TYRANNY. Men Bounced for Belonging to Labor Organizations — The Intercolo- nial Case— Sir John Macdonald's Denial — Mr. Blake's Reply. Mr. Blake, in the course of his address at Hamilton, criticized* as he has done at other places, Sir John Macdonald's speech made at Ottawa, and intended to show the claims of the Conservative party upon the workingmei He said : — I observe by the report of his speeches that Sir John Macdonald has tried to meet some of my criticisms, especially one, to which I may reter, that the Government which pretended to have so strong an interest in trades unions and combinations of workingmen had itselt dis- charged employees on the Intercolonial Railway under its man- agement because they were members of a labour organization. My speech on that point was made at Deseronto. Sir John Mac- donald visited Deseronto some time afterwards — he has been fol- lowing me pretty closely — ('aughter) — and he said : — Not long ago Mr. Blake in a speech, delivered, he believed, in that identi- eal village, said that the Government had dismissed men employed on the Intercolonial Railway because they belonged to trades unions. On behalf of the Government he gave that statement the most clear and decided contra- diction, and would challeni^e Mr. Blake on the floor of Parliament when it met again, to verify the statement that either on the Intercolonial or on any public work, big or little, had a man been dismissed for belonijing to a trades union. (Loud cheers.) He would challenge Mr. B ake to give the particu- lars, and if that hon. gentleman did not do so he would stand convicted of having maligned the Government of the day. (Hear, hear.) (12) ,4/ 1 \ •) :..4>V''>L;il>'.\rv.^i?>k,'.k!,v'.-; -v; ■> . iv ..:\^-':^.\ ^.^^' ,0:^. >. l^ •; . '. y I I stand by what I said. (Hear, hear.) I do not wait for the time of the assembling of Parliament to meet his challenge. ¥•> 'A' V I MEET IT HERE and now. (Loud applause.) I believe the facts to be that about the year 1881 an order was given to the engineers on the Inter- colonial, who were members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, that they should either leave the Brotherhood or take their discharge. Some of the engineers felt that they could not resist the Government, and were forced to leave the Brotherhood, but the remainder, about a dozen men, I believe, refused to leave the Brotherhood and were obliged to take their discharge. (Shame!) These poor fellows appealed to their brethren. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers is a very powerful body, and its mem- bers took up the case. A committee was appointed from the va- rious railways in various parts of Canada. This committee went to Sir John Macdonald, the very man who has denied this charge, and has called upon me to prove it. They represented the case to him and called for the repeal of the order. I believe, though of this I am not certain, that they went also to the Acting Minister of Railways. But nothing was done. After a while Sir Charles Tupper, the Minister of Railways, returned. He saw the power of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, he knew there was a freemasonry between the members of all labour organizations, he saw the political effect of the situation, and at length the order was repealed and most of the men went back. I believe these- are the facts of the case, and these are the facts upon which I rely to establish that the present Government did dismiss men from the Intercolonial Railway for belonging to a labour organization. (Loud applause). Now, with reference to the arrest of the printers, you may i-e- member that Sir John Macdonald boasted that he had legislated so as to relieve them. I showed that his legislation had excepted their cases and had not relieved them. (Laughter.) He also de- clared that he " happened to be Minister of Justice and Attorney- General, and that, in his capacity of Minister of Justice, he ad- vised the representative of the Sovereign to at once release those printers and allow them to walk out once more as free men." 1 showed that they were never in gaol, and so could not have been "released and allowed to walk forth as free men." (Laughter.) I showed that they had been only bailed to appear at their trial,, and so could not have been released by Sir John Macdonald in any sense, the matter being purely local, and not federal. (Laughter.) I showed that, in fact, he neither released them nor tried to re- lease them ; and I declared the whole story to be a slip of the (12) ■'* 1. ' -.' l^ :. - ■ ' ^ ' ^ ■'■■■ 'V' ;•;•■ ■■*^. 373 ' y I'e- lated pted o de- ney- ■e ad- hose- en." have ter.) trial,. any ter.) ,0 re- the memory, (Laughter.) He afterwards repeated it. Thereupon I felt bound to restate the facts, and did so at St. Thomas, where 1 was still charitable enough to treat his statements as lapses of memory, or tricks of imagination. 1 told the people there that he had GONE OVER THIS OLD STORY SO OFTEN that he firmly believed it true ; that he reminded me of King George IV., who was, you know, a very respectable monarch, as Sir John is a very respectable Minister — (laughter) — but who told a good many strange stories. (Laughter.) He was fond, was George IV., of uniforms and of military display ; and, by dint of long telling the story, he got firmly to believe at last that he had been at the battle of Waterloo — (laughter) — and had led a des- perate cjiarge against the French at the head of his regiment. (Loud laughter.) After repeating this for many years, one night, being in the company of the great Duke of Wellington, he told it again, and appealed to the Duke to confirm it. "Arthur," said the King, " you know I was there." The Duke was in a quan- dary, between his devotion to the sovereign and his duty to the truth. (Laughter.) He reconciled them by answering, " / have often heard your Majesty say so." (Roars of laughter.) So, I said, you may reply to Sir John Macdonald. (Laughter.) Well, after this further denial, the matter became more serious. He followed me at St. Thomas, and could not avoid discussing the question. He knew of my repeated challenge ; he had the opportunity, and it was his duty to refresh that faded memory, to curb that vivid, imagination, and to re-examine the facts of the case. My chari- table excuses can serve no longer for what he there said. WHAT DID HE SAY? THIS: Mr. Blake had lately referred to that speech and stated that the printers ■ were never sent to prison at all — that they had only been guilty of a misde- meanour, which was a bailable oflfence. Those men were, however, arrested. The hand of a constable was laid on their shoulder. They were under arrest and had ceased tu be free men just as much as if they were under a gaoler's lock and key. Mr. Blake had said he (Sir John) never released these men. Well, what he did do was to send up a nolle prosequi, an order to stop the prosecution, but such a storm of indignation had arisen that this did not need to be acted on, and Mr. Brown was compelled by the force of public opinion to stop the prosecution himself. ' We are now face to face with a serious question. First of all he now admits that the men were never in gaol, next that he never advised the Governor-General to release them, . and impliedly that he could not do so. But he has a new story, he tells a fresh tale. - , (12) ii i» •■■' I I ;v 'A* ■\i':,'i ivV ■ . iV l-'y;^ ' 'H-: ii, ^ /-; ) -'^ i' "k ' *' 11 1 - ;■ •■ 1 - ■■ ■* \ i ■■ .' ,v-." ^J'-V? 374 He says he sent up a " nolle prosequi," an order to stop the prosecution. I deny the statement ; it is not true. In the tirst place, NO BILL HAD BEEN PRESENTED TO, OR FOUND by, the grand jury, and therefore, as Sir John Macdonald once knew, there could be no nolle prosequi at all. (Great laughter and applause.) But, in the second place, had there been a bill, Sir John Macdonald, as Attorne}' -General of the Dominion, had not, as he once knew, any power to send up a nolle prosequi. (Renewed laughter and applause.) The whole Dominion Govern- ment, with its army, navy and volunteers could not send up an efficacious nolle prosequi. (Cheers and laughter.) Any attempt to do it would have been an impudent nullity. It is part of the administration of justice. It is a local function. And, in the third place, as a matter of fact, • SIR JOHN MADE NO SUCH ATTEMPT. (Uproarious laughter.) / have caused the records to be searched and there is no proof that Sir John ever attempted any such thing. But you may say that he ordered the prosecution to be stopped. He says so. But it is not true. He did not do it. He did not try to do it. He could not have done it had he tried. IT. IS ALL A FABRICATION. Yet the prosecution was in fact, stopped and abandoned. Was that a creditable act ? Was it an act the author of which should be supported by workingmen? Sir John says so. (Loud applause.) He appeals for the support of the workingmen of* Canada on the ground that he ordered the abandonment of this prosecution. He says that the man who did that is worthy the support of every man who believes in the right of the workincrmen to combine for their own advantage. I agree with him, and I ask you to-night to give your support to the man who did it. It is the man whom Sir John Macdonald is seeking to discredit and destroy, it is " OLIVER MOW AT, Attorney- General of Ontario. (Tremendous applause.) He was sworn into office on the 3 1st of October, 1872, and took up this question and ordered the abandonment of the prosecution on the 7th November — within seven days of the time he was sworn into office — (Renewed applause.) I have here the return of Mr. Keu- (12)