^. *!. .^ '^c IMAGE EVALUATSON TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ,<>( ^^/ j'': (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too l«>rge to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les images suivantes ont 6td reproduites avec le plus yrand soin, compte tenu de la ccnoition et de la nettetd de I'exemplaire filmd, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimde sent film6s en commenpant par le premier piat et en terminant soit pat la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont fiimds en commengant par la premidre |.^age qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qn't comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboSes suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — •► signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre film6s d des taux de rdduution diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est film£ d partir de I'an^le supdrieur gauche, do gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 KXTi ^ I "To *cwn pi 'may ci ^moRt m J. A.' EXTHftCTS FROM SPBECHUS }prUEA8TU8 WtMAN, ^ —. E^jA^CO^ ^ND iriGURB)S FOR E^j^RMB)RS, AND ALL THOSE WHO LIVE UPON THEM. "To prohibit a great ppople from makiiiar all they cnn of CTcry part of ibrli' "cwn produce, or from cmpinyiiiff their stock mnl industry in the way ihnt they "may coi)si«tion, what greater purpose can be achieved than by ca.rrying it out! The stupendous consequences that have followed in the United States from a freedom, of trade between those great commonwealths would follow in Canada, if between the United States and Canada a perfect freedom existed. A development of resources so varied as Canada possesses, a growth in population equal to that which elsewhere on the Continent has taken place, an increase in wealth, in enterprise, in all that goes to make up a nation, is to-day within the grasp of Canada. By whom shall this advantage be achieved ? By what class shall the effort be made to bring about this great revolution If Certainly by the class it would most benefit ; and who, more than all others, but the farmers of Canada ? When one recalls the circumstances of the hour, all the con- ditions that prevail in Canada, all the opportunities of the time in the United States, all the jjcculiar forces that are at work in both countries, pointing to the creation of a mutuality of interest between them, and thinTcs that the future of half a Continent rests in the hands of the farmers of (Janada^ they arCj without guestionf the most interesting group of men in the world. The Ancestry of Canadian Farmers. Let us see whether their ancestry, their antecedents, and their present condition, fit them for the p^reat task devolving upon them. In the first place, the farmers of Canada of to-day are the descendants of men who endured the greatest hard- ships, who developed great industry, and laid a foundation of the best kind of a race, that would bring credit to any country. When one recalls the struggle which the parents and the grandparents of the present generation endured, it is impossible not to be filled with admiration at the patient courage and the persistent industry, which conquered the forests, cleared the land, and made the Dominion the fairest spot on the Continent. The men worked hard, and in the vigorous climate grew strong with the exercise of muscle necessary to the great task before them. But the women, how many of them toiled day and night, often with insuf&cient nourishment, and amid great dis- couragement, with little or no help, carrying forward the household work, cooking and washing, milking the cows and making butter, and, above all, the more glorious task of bear- ing and narsing v^ THE INEVITABLE BABY. F The mothers of the farmers of Canada stand out to-day in the history of the land as a nation of heroines. Think of it — how meagre were their comforts, how cold and cheerless the prospects of the long winters in the small log cabins, how few their possessions, how constant the demands upon tnem, how early thev rose, and how late they worked. With what courage did the husband and wife separate themselves from ftieuds and comforts, and, hiding themselves in the woods, undertake to endure more than has almost ever been the fsvte of man and woman to endure to achieve an existence. He conquered the monarchs of the forest, and literally wrung a living from the soil — she waited upon him, and cheered him and sustained him, his willing servant and companion in his isolation, and. above all, bore for him the great race that now form the Dackoono of this great Dominion. It is impossible to contemplate the history of the first mothers of Canadian farmers without recalling sacrifices, labors, sorrows and a loving kindness unequaled by any group of women the world has ever produced. These are the worthy progenitors of the race that now occupy the land, and upon whom rest the decision of the future of this Continent. The Canadian Farmer of To-day. But not only are the Canadian farmers the most interesting group of men in the world, as being desceudants of a worthy ancestry, but they show, by their lives and labors, how broad and deep lias the founuation of character been laid for them. Look a>>road in all the world and discover, if you can, any class to excel the Canadian fanner in all that makes A GREAT AND VIRTUOUS PEOPLE. Who is more industrious ? Who more economical t Who so thrifty and so thorough in his work * It it is impossible to conceive of a class of men who work more unceasingly, whose hours are so filled with toil ; who, amid the frosts of winter and amid the heats of summer, when one-half the world is playing, carries forward the great task of compelling nature to yield an existence for himself and all those dependent upon him, and without whom life would be impossible. Yet what class of men have less for their labor than the farmers and their wives i When ore recalls the amount of honest work which, from the beginning, has been put into the farms of Canada, and estimates the capital that this labor should have created ; when one estimates the daily and yearly amount of work which, day in and day out, is expended, and against this calculates the return in the shape of profit, how meagre and how insuf- ficient is the result ? Compare th^ results of years of toil by the average farmer with the rewards of the manufacturer on the one hand, and on tiie other compare the anxiety and the great labor, the self-denial, of the son of the soil, with the comfort, the luxury, the certainty and growth in wealth which in such brief period the petted favorite of this Government acquires. How STRANGE THE CONTRAST SEEMS, ' and when one reflects that it is the Government which the far* mer himself creates and sustains, the comparison is all the more startling. What business more uncertain than that of the farm ? With what risks does he throw his seed into the ground ? How numerous are his chances of failure, and how dependent is he on results that he himself cannot shape? Though he toil as no one else is called upon to toil, from early mom to dewy eve, even in the best of circumstances, when his crops are good and the yield large, as in the present year, the price is low. His very success as a class — uniform success in which all participate — creates conditions that defeat profit. The Canadian farmer is peculiarly environed with conditions that render it diflBcult for him to emerge from a live of slavish work with even a fair return for the labor that his ancestors have expended or he himself performs. How seriotis are the consequences of his inability to make the most of his advan- tages the future must reveal. 1.1 A Discrimination Agfainst the Farmers. But not only are the risks of the farm great — not only is the labor onerous and the chances for profit few, but by the policy of the Government which he himself has created and sustains, he is absolutely so shut out from the market where he can best sell his products, tliat he has to paj a quarter of his output for the x>rivilege of entering therein. Not content with taxing him heavily for everything he is compelled to buy, the policy of the Government absolutely requires that he should pay taxes to a neighboring nation for the privilege of selling what they re- quire and what he has to sell. With a free market in the Mother Country, three thousand miles away, he enters into competition with all the world beside, but with this tremendous disadvantage, that by taxing the supplies which he is com- pelled to purchase they are rendered more costly than those of any of his competitors. As against India, where labor is at its lowest ; as against the Argentine Kepublic, where the cost of existence is at its cheapest ; as against Russia and Australia, w^iere the policy of the Government is to free the producer from burdens j as against all these the Canadian farmer is at a dis- advantage. Were it not that the whole body politic were de- pendent upon the farmer's prosperity, this condition would not be so remarkable ; but there is nothing got in Canada unless it is dug out of the ground^ and it is the farmer that does the digging. The manufacturer, the professional man, the aggregations that go to make up the towns and cities, the transportation agents, the educational, the mercantile and even the sacred calling, arc all dependent upon the farmer. Without him and his prosperity, ill these go to the wall. So there is no subject so important before the public as the prosperity of this tiller of the soil. Whatever will contribute in the greatest degree to his prosperity it is the duty of the patriot to encourage. Any policy that puts the farmer at a disadvantage is the policy of disaster. The country cannot survive an attack upon the chief fortress of its industry, ai-d if one class is to be preferred above all others in the policy of the Government it must be the farmer. Hence, the Government of the day will either learn this lesson, or be compellod to give place to another that wUl. The logic of the situation is inevitable. iit- Tlie Farmer's Great Opportunity. Alongside of the Canadian farmer lies the greatest market the world affords. To obtain a free admission to this market every civilized nation would regard l-s the greatest boon. If Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium or Austria were to be assured to-morrow that {he markets of the tJLitcd States were to bo opened to them for their manufactures or natural products, no event could be hailed with greater satisfaction. To the Canadian farmer no boon of greater magnitude could be granted than the breaking down of the barrier that now sepa- rates one-half of the North American Continfent from the other. If he could have free and unrestrained access to the laigest aggregation of money-making, money-spending popu- lation that the world affords, his opportunities would be enor- mously increased, and HIS PROSPERITY A^ITRED. The Customs taritf which now runs athwart the Continent is a baixier almost as great as an open sea, a mountain range, or a wide desert, so far as trading between the two countries is concerned. Now, to obliterate this tarift' is the purpose of tliose who are striving for closer trade relations with the United States. It is the purpose of this pamphlet to explain how it can be done. The present aifords an opportunity of a life-time in the ob- literation of the barrier that divides, and that opportunity is now more than ever before within the grasp of the farmers of Canada. In the first place, they are in a vast majority; they have a greater influence thin any other class; their in- terests are paramount ; they have numerous dependents ; the resident village population are all within their control. The country storekeeper, the blacksmith, the wagonmaker, the saddler, the shoemaker, the great aggregation of country laboring population, are all dependent upon the farmer. As a rule, the speaker said, unless he was much mistaken, the farmer is not an ardent politician. The revolution that took place in 1878, when the protective policy was adopted, showed him to be free from strong party ties. W ' atever shiipes for his interests is the policy he is likely to pursi Hence, if it can be made to appear that the most advanta bus thing in the world to him is the freest access to the be markets, by the formation of a commercial partnership with the people of the United States, the policy of the party that will achieve this will have his support. It is alleged that there is • A WANT OF ORGANIZATION among farmers. It is tnie it is difficiUt to reach them, because they are so scattered, and because they are not likely to be moved by impassioned appeals. But their interests are the basis vital to their prosperity, and their truest politics is their own welfare. The Lesson of the 'Canadian Hen. It has been alleged that because the farmers of the United States produce the same articles as the farmers of Canada, the latter would have no market, How comes it, if this is so, that, even having tb OLIMB OVER A HIGH TARIFF WALL, , more than one-half of the exports which Canada has hitherto sent out have been absorbed by the United States ? If they can trade and sell produce even against a tribute to the American Treasury of twenty per cent., what weald they not do if no tribute was levied. The fact that Canadian farmers can compete v h the United States in articles which in common they produce is shown by the little product that has escaped • the eagle eye of the statesmen of both countries, and is thereby free from duty. This i,, the shapely and nutritious little commodity known as the hen's egg. THE FREEDOM IN THE EGG TRADE has enabled the hens of Canada to illustrate, in a higher form than could the statesmen of tha Continent, the benefits of freedom from restriction and taxation. The growth of this trade is almost phenomenal. Springing from little or nothing it has now reaciicd the proportions of a regular and systematic business all over the country. No less than 14,000,000 .dozen of eggs were gi*thered in all Canada last year and sent to the -United States. No less than two millions of dollars was ^ received back by ihe farmers for this product. You all will remember the story of the *' Pied Piper of Hamelin " — how at his music the rats of the pestered town came tumbling out from eyery nook and cranny, and were led by him intc the Weiser, and when, not being able to collect his claim, he whistled and the children followed him to their destruction. How similar, yet how different, is the story of the eggs. Think of them coming down every lane, every green path, every concession, across lot and town line, and bei"^ «e?t forwai J for food and nutrition to our cousins across the border. Think of the return 'for them in the shape of silver dollars, that cheer the wives of the farmers; and what a benef cent thing this freedom of the egg tride is. The hens of Canada have done more to create a le&t and true National policy than has the Tory party, with Sir John Macdonald at its head. The Egg as a Political Factor. The existence of the Government of the country is imperilled by the proposal to put a duty in the United States upon eggs. Last session of Congress it came pretty near being done. You 11 will recaU the introduction into the Canadian t*arliament of the Boyie Bill, which demanded a bond from every foreign nurserymnn, numbering some two thousand. This bond was conditioned upon the fulfilment of |;he agents' representations, but its enactment would have killed the trade In nursery goods from the United States, and in retaliation it was pro- posed to restrict the trade in eggs ftom Canada. Rochester was the point chiefly affected in the nursery business, and, strange to say, Rochester is also the chief centre for the con- sumption of eggs in the mechanical and chemical productions of that city, flieir representative in Congress, my excellent friend Charles S. Baker, knew the weak point in the Canadian political system ; and by adding two lines to the Tariff bill, then pending, he proposed to put Ave cents a dozen duty upon eggs. A cold chill went down the back of every Canadian farmer at this suggestion : and, among others, the speaker said he felt it, and it hastened him to "Washington to endeavor to get Mr. Baker to withdraw his bill. Realizing the consequences to the Government of Canada, how every farmer's wife would bitterly complain, how the wail of despair would sweep oyer the land in the crow of the rooster and the cackle of the hen, it seemed a high and honorable duty to intervene, and, if pos- sible, check the passage of that bill by the American Congress. The vision of Sir John ruined politically because of the failure of the hen industry, and Mackenzie Bowel! standing amid the ruins in the shape of berry ba&kets and peach crates, stimulated your humble servant to his best exertions, and by an arrangement with Ottawa the bill in Congress was stopped. The frigidity which subsequently surrounded the Boyle bill was several degrees below zero. Reference is only made to this to show how influential an article as small as eggs may become, when trade is free in that article, and how potent may be its effects of interference on the politics of a couiitry. The Object Lesson of Reciprocity. The advantages of free commercial intercourse between the two countries was shown by an object lesson of great force — the lesson that was illustrated by the Reciprocity Treaty for ten years, from 1855 to 1865. Ko event within the memrries of the farmers of Canada is so impressive .t^ the experience they thus realized. The trade between the l^s^o countries increased in the ten years fourfold, namely, from twenty millions a year to eighty millions, and had the Reciprocity Treaty continued and the trade increased at the same rate of progression, it would have now reached two hundred millions per annum, antf every farmer of Canada would have been out of debt Just think of 12 what that means to every farmer's family, to every store- keeper, and everyone else except the money-lenders I It ia im- possible now to renew the Eeciprocity Treaty as it then existed, coniining its operations to natural products only. The growth of manufactures in the Slates, as the result of Protection, makes it absolutely necessary that goods must be sent outside instead of money in exchange for natural products. These goods c^innot b^ sent freely so long as the tariff wall shuts them out. The great growth of the agricultural areas in the United States would also oppose the introduction of free agri- cultural products, u^aless the manufactures were admitted free into Canada also, for in the creation of these latter a home market is maintained for the American farmer. Eeciprocity taught what can be done by sending free goods to the United States. Its extension would teach what can be done if, in ad- dition to natural products, manufactures were included in its operation, because cheap goods and cheap supplies to the Canadian farmer would be the result. The stimulus to manu- factures, as the result of Protection in the United States, has resulted in the creation of many lines of cheap goods, cheaper than elsewhere can be had in the world. The farmers of Can- ada would be benefited, by the reduced cost of thoir supplies, to an extent almost as great as they would be by an open market for their products. Better prices would be realized, for wh»t they have to sell, lower rates would be paid for what they have to buy. Thus a double benefit would follow from the breaking down of the barrier between the two countries. Cer- tainly the extent of the duty paid (amounting now to five mil- lions a year) would the farmer gain, and this even if there were not the slightest increase in the production which freedom would beget. But there would be an enormous increase production, as everything tends to show. m The Canadian Farmer Pays the American Duty. As to the duty levied by the United States, and who pays it, there can be no higher authority than that of the Premier of Canada, that astute a^d remarkable man, your own represen- tative in Parliament, so well known and respected here, re- flecting, as he does, a lustre not only on the place he represents, . but on the Dominion at large. Sir John Jf acdonald cannot be mip iken when he once said: ' find that the f^irmers of West CMiada and East Canada oonld not oiiv.tiTstaod there was anything in their barley, for instance, being obliged to pay a doty o^ fifteen per ccnii. npon going into the United States: whereas the produce of the Amerioan farmers was allowed to be brought into this conutry free. It is said the consumer pays the duty and that th« fanner does not suffer anything. That is the statement; bat when I put • 13 ■imple oaae, which I have done frequently, I can get no answer. I pnt ft case in the Eastern Townships of a man upon the imaginary line which was between this conntry and the United States. Sappoee a man has one hundred acres on the Canadian side of the line and one hundred acres on the An^erioan side of the line. Suppose he grows one thousand bushels of barley on each of his farms. He takes his one thouwind bushels of the Imerioan barley to the American market and gets one dollar a bne^el fc? it. He takes his one thousand bushels of Canadian barley to the American market and gets but eighty-fi^e cents per bushel, because he has to pay fifteen per cent, duty for taking it across that imaginary line. How cfui it, in this case, be said that the consumer pays tho duty f It comes out of the pookets of the Canadian faimers." t8, and which has existed almost since the world began, ilow much have Canadians benefitted by that com- merce! We have spent in Canada 35 millions of dollars in our canals, and we have not 35 craft to use them I Was there* ever such stupendous folly as to hesitate about creating 8. market for our shipping, and thus a market to consume the products of our farms. The amount of coal that has to bct carried from Pennsylvania and Ohio, to Minnesota and Wis- consin, the amount of ore that has to be carried from Lake Superior ports to Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, the flour that has to be transported from Minnesota to Buffalo and Oswego, and all the vast commerce of the most productive region, would be equally within the grasp of the Canadian shipper with a fair show as between the two countries. That Canadian farmers would benefit by the increase of this interest, no one can doubt. An immense shipbuilding interest in contiguous places would result from a freedom of shipping on the lakes, which alone can be achieved by a unification of the navigation laws under some commercial arrangement between the two countries. A Natural Home Market. The strongest argument to the fanner in favor of the National Policy is the creation of a home market for what he has to sell. If there is force in this argument for the National Policy, how much stronger is the possibility of an even local demand for all he has to sell by the opposite policy of Unrestricted Recipro- city with the United States. It has been shown that an enlarged demand from abroad for farm products would be certain to follow an enlarged and unrestricted market among the great people on the other side of the border. But it is equally true that a great market would be created within Canada itself by the development certain to follow a free market in the United States in almost every department of activity which that event would t tiraulate. Thus, to many it appears that instead of restricting manufactures, Unrestricted 24 Eeciprocity would beget a marked increase in many of them. Fully one half of the men engaged in manufactures even now believe that from the first day of a free market on the other side of the border they could hold their own, with an increasing business, a greiiter number of hands, and hence a greater absorption of farm products. To many of these manufacturers an enlarged demand is the greatest of boons. It might take some time for other manufacturers to adjust their aifairs to meet the changed conditions and the competition from the States, but where there w( uld be one manufacturer cease, two would spring up in time, because of the favorable conditions, especially in Quebec, that exist for comi)eting even in manu- factuies with the United States for their own trade. If it is a fact uhat with a market as large as the United States, as well protected plains t foreign labor, and with conditions that are precisely equal, the Ci>nadian manufacturer cannot hold his own, then there is something wrong in the Canadiin manufac- turer. If the Canaaian farmer must be shut in solely for his benefit, and all others shut out for fear of injury to his interests, it is time the Canadian farmer should realize what a costly luxury this manufacturer is, and what tremendous sacrifices he is making to maintain a home market of most limited pro- portions j while by Unrestricted Eeciprocity he would have access, not onlv to the outside market, but would be creating a home demand oy enriching his own country, in the building up of healthy manufactures and in its development to the fullest extent. Thus, a great home market for agricultural products would follow the prosperity of theiumber trade, and its wide expan- sion by increased shij^ments of common lumber now lost ; by growth in manufactures in furniture and wooden ware ; by a greater variety of hard woods prepared sent out for interior decoration, and, indeed, by every circumstance growing out of an obliteration of the tax which, as tribute, is paid for admis- sion of timber to a people that need the article more than they need anything else. Have you ever realized that the standing timber in the United States to-day, is less i^er head of popula- tion than that of Germany! A new country of vast proportions, only sparsely settled, has actually less timber per head in sight, than one of the oldest countries, densely populated, and with a completed condition as to buildings £ar in excess of the new country,, Yet in this latter country there is a restiess, enter- prising, home-begetting and extravagant people who aro largely depenaent on Canada for this necessary article of shelter. With a freedom of access on the one hand to this great market, and a great source of supply on the other, why should not our farmers prosper by the home market which this development of trade in this article will create ! » The Best of Customers. Time fails to tell of the homo market possible from enlarged fishery operations on all our 5,000 miles of coast, the longest and most proMflc coasts in the vorld — that with a free market should sustain tens of thousands of fishermen, all good cus- tomers of the farmer. Time equally fails to describe what would follow in the shape of a home marKet from the develop- ment of mines in iron, coal, copper, silver, nickel, asbestos, building stone, and other minerals with which this country is most blessed, but which for want of freedom of access are now mostly silent, and dormant and dead. The employment of 500,000 miners in Canada is no exaggerated prospect within ten years of the opening of the market far minerals to the South. In Nova Scotia mone, the mineral possibilities, accord- ing to Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts, are just as great B» in Pennsylvania, with the near-by market of New England thrown in as an advantage. What has the National Policy done, what can it do, toward getting as near-by customers for th3 farmer equal to 600,000 miners t What may not be the scene of activity on the north shore of Lake Superior if the same conditions prevail as on the south shore, where a mining population of several hundred thousand affords a market for almost everything produced by the farmers of Wisconsin and Michigan t Equally advantageous wiU be the growth of mining in British Columbia, and in all the regions in Ontario and in Quebec, where there are abundant supplies of valuable minerals, needing only capital and an enlarged demand to make them profitable alike to the owner, the operator, and thd farmer. No one is more interested in all this than the farmer, for in the success of the manufacturer, the lumber dealer, the fisherman, and the miner, as well as in the shipper, there is involved the success of the farmer. His area of opportunity would be enormously increased, his chances of profit enlarged, and his possibilities of a permanent and increasing success made secure by the existence of a near-by and steady market for what he can produce. Where is the miner I Then the miner — who is he I where is he to be found! Canada is one of the richest mineral countries under the sun, and yet there are practically no miners, and no development, because there is no availabe market. The consumption of iron in the United States is greater than any other product, while the future increase of its use is beyond estimate. Canada sho^ild be a source of supply, but never will be, under existinjg conditions. In copper, the use of which has increased in extent, next only to that of iron, Canada also pos- sesses vast riches, there being ridges miles long at the Sudbury Junction mine, on the Canadian Pacific Eailway. The famous \ ■■— Calumet-Hecla mine, on the south shore of Lake Superior, has a vein twelve feet thick ; there is one within the Canada border, four miles from the Ipke, with a vein 1,000 feet thif aD the world, the best market under the sun to accomplisi the three-told purposes just set forth is absolutely next d^r to Canada. So varied, so accessible, so abounding in wealt and Hi' BBP 31 absorptive powei*, thef e is no country under tlie sun so desirable in which to trade. Now Canada, needing just such a customer more than any other earthly possession — Canada having just the things the United States needs— has the chance to make such a commercial partnership as will in the greatest degree promote her interests and fulfil her mission. This can be done by the creation of a continental freedom of trade. Continental Free Trade. It must never be forgotten that a freedom of trade between \he States of the Union tiiemselves has been the greatest lement in their progress. Tne principle of a perfect com- Wrcial partnership between each of these great commonwealths ks been the basis of their prosperity. Had there been a South 1th a barrier between it and the North ; had New England imained* isolated and shut in with a customs line ; if the great ^st had grown surrounded by a barbed wire fence of a t*iff; if the Pacific States were isolated and self-dependent, n« great growth, such as we have seen, would have followed. T5 principle of Inter-State relations of the freest character was ttt enunciated by Alexander Hamilton, and the memory of tht great man was based upon a superstructure so vast, naely, internal trade in the United States, that to no other mi such a monument exists. To this freedom alone may be atfbuted the vast progress made. But the principle of this frelom was not confined to the United States, for Germany, onQf the oldest countries, took it as a lesson and adopted the sau plan in the Zollverein, which has made the German Enire one of the most successful and prosperous nations urn\ the sun. One of her sons, a poor stuttering, stammering felk named Fred. List, sitting at the feet of Alexander Haifton, in America, learned a lesson which he repeated to his therland, and which in a limited way, the speaker said, he % endeavoring to repeat to his native country. If his felld Canadians would but listen to the story that had been illuated by such a magnificent object lesson in the United Stat that had been still further illustrated under adverse concons in Europe j surely the mission was a grand one, and its rpta, if heeded, abnost beyond human conception. Ni if it is a fact that there is a market in the United States posf > to Canada, without let or hindrance, if this market is i\ Teatest under the sun, if the principle of free Inter-State comrce has been the chief element in the success of the UniiStates. if it has contributed more than anything else to the Jcess of the great German Empire ; if, with their rigid con^na and opposing interests, this freedom has been sue- «■ cessfiilly applied fti Europe as in America, what iu the name of all that is great and good is the objection to applying it as between Canada and the United States. It does not seem inconsistent with Canadian colonial relations that the most perfect freedom of trade should exist on this continent. On the contrary, if by that freedom Canada should become most prosperous ; if contentment should replace anxiety and appre- hension ; if her young men and women are retained at home, her resources developed, iier trade increased, Canada os a colony is much more likely to remain loyal than otherwise. If she could also contribute to the growth of the United States, by a perfect interchange of merchandise and products, such an arrangement would be more satisfactory to Great Britain, | because, as above stated, the sta^e which Great Britain now has in the United States is likely to be greater than in any other country under the sun. If, at the same time, the large investments which Great Britain has iu Canada can b( enormously benefitted, it will be seen how advantageous t the mother country is this movement. These investments, it i estimated, aggregate seven hundred millions of dollars. Tl amount of money which Canada has to remit every year ff interest, profits and dividends, amounts to twenty-five million of dollars, as much again by one half as her total export f breadstuff's amounts to. Her ability to keep up with sucb. drain upon her, rests upon her capacity to develop and grcf, and the English people are quick to see that nothing wUl e more contributory in that direction than the free marlt which the United States affords. The Favoring Circumstances in the United Sta^. It so happens that circumstances in the United Statmt this moment greatly favor an arrangement between the^^o countries. The high taxation in the shape of excessive tjfl', incident to the war, is certain to be reduced. The araouiof duty collected on Canadian products is only five millioiof dollars, being an exaction of less than ten cents per aijm per head. Its removal would be hailed with joy, for bjhe obliteration of this taxation no greater result can be achm than to break down the barrier which now stretches acroahe continent. Again, the United States, to compete witlii© world, and indeed to maintain the prosperity of num^s branches of industry, must have supplies oi raw maial brought in free of duty. Simultaneously with this cond|n, the protective policy has stimulated production to su^n extent that new markets are a necessity. Hence the attepn of the whole nation is drawn to the possibilities of aching "fm / 33 these three piirposes — a reduction of taxation, a free supply of raw material, and the possibilities of enlarged markets in return. The Pan-American Congress is one of the signs of the times, and the disposition to encourage an arrangement with Canada, evinced by every commercial organization in the country, is another. The prompt passage by the House of Representatives last session of Mr. Hitt's resolution in favor of Commercial Union is a marked indication in this direction. While its equally promp't introduction early in the session, in order to make sure of its passage in the Senate — still further the action of Mr. Butterworth in introducing his bill in favor of Unrestricted Reciprocity — all go to show how anxious is the interest in this question. Under these circumstances, the time is opportune to eftect an arrangement between the English speaking nations of the North Ajnerican Continent, looking to a commercial alliance that would be of the greatest possible advantage to both parties concerned and to mankind at large. The Farmer and the Manufacturer. The criticism has be^i made that in discussing the relation proposed between the United States and Canada, the latter is looked to as the source of supply for raw material only, and that the Canadian manufacturers would suffer by an arrange- ment for continental free-tradoj that in this she is contem- plated as occupying an inferior position, as hewers of wood and drawers of water for the Americans. In reply to these two views, it may safely be said that Canadians on an even plane can generally hold their own. If tliey cannot do that, and need the support of government to stand against conditions that are equal, why the sooner Government abandons the ordinary functions of government the better, for it will need all its power to do the dry nursing required. There has been a good deal of taFi about disloyalty, but the greatest amount of disloyalty is shown when it is said that a Canadian manufac- turer cannot hold his own as against an American. What has the American that the Canadian has not ? If he cannot produce the goods as cheap as his neighbor across the border, what is the justification for his existence f He has no right to be a pauper on the public. If it is a fact that the farmer is paying more to the Canadian manufacturer than he can get the same goods for from the American producer, then THE PABMER IS BEING SWINDLED. If in addition to the better price which the removal of the customs line will bring to him he can buy his supplies cheaper, who has the right to prevent him taking to himself all the 84 advantage t Certainly not the Government. The duties and responsibilities of legitimate government are quite enough, without seeking to interfere with what the people shall buy^, where they shall buy, or what they shall pay. Certainly, in this free country, this interference of the Govemraent to favor and pamper one class at the expense of another is whoUy anH utterly unjustifiable. Protection may be justified by unequal conditions, but it is not for one moment to be continued as against the interest of the vast majority. But it is emphati- cally denied that Canadian manufacturers as a whole would be seriously injured by the closest possible relations with the United States. On the contrary, there are numerous interests in manufacturing that would be very greatly advanced thereby. The very raw material which Canada can so abundantly supply is within easy hail of every Canadian manufacturer. Then he has in many localities abundant water power, and, above all. cheap labor. In Quebec, on all the rivers, at the Sault ana the Falls there are latent enormous forces, and with an open market, and an even chance. Reciprocity and Annexation. It is alleged, however, that a close commercial arrangement with the United States would promote another great destiny possible to Canada — that of annexation. It is said that there is a great growth in Canada of the sentiment looking to this purpose, and that the agitation which has been going forward in favor of closer commercial relations has resulted in a desire for a political alliance. In Canada, a commercial arrangement with the United States is opposed because it is feared it would lead to a political union ; in the United States, especially in Washington, commercial privileges would be denied on the ground that annexation would be postponed. It is urged by some that an intimate business relation between two great nations must lead in time to a political partnership. The attractiveness of American institutions, the liberality of their Government, and the desire in Canada to escape some of the difficulties which beset Confederation, it is possible, may win many Canadians toward annexation. On the contrary, it is clear that^ so far as argument is concerned, in favor of annex- ation, the only one of force is that of the material advantage which would result to Canada. If, therefore, a commercial arrangement, such as is proposed by the Liberal party, should be effected between the two countries, the only inducement to the vast majority of the people for a political alUance would be removed. This is the very view that is taken by Senator Hoar and members of his crmmittee, and it is a growing impression msi. in the tfnited States, that toward Canada all the privileges and advantages of a great market such as the United States affords — to give her the benefit of the growth and development which in the United States has been effected at such enormous cost — would be an unfair advantage; that to exchange a market of 60,000,000 people for one of 6,000,000 is unjust, and that if Canada desires to partake of the privileges, of the advantages, and to participate in the future progress of the continent, it should take part and lot in the political responsibilities and complications that impend. It is impossible to say which of these two arguments is the most forcible. The future alone can determine what would be the result of a close commercial arrangement. Certain it is, that wanting the prosperity which would follow from such a commercial alliance with the United States, a condition of unrest and dissatisfaction impends throughout Canada. A lack of progress, a continued loss of population, a weak and meagre development of natural resources, an increasing debt, higher taxation, are all elements that will work much more vigorously toward an annexation propaganda than contentment born of success, an enlarged market, and a prosperous conditioa. Annexation Threatened by Isolation. As between the two policies, looking for or against annexa- tion, my own deliberate conviction is, that British connection is much more threatened by continued isolation than it is by the most liberal arrangement possible with onr cousins across the border. But supposing that a better relation with the United States did contribute towards a growth in the annexa- tion sentiment. Suppose that England, denying the right of Canada to trade with whom she chose, hesitated to grant the privileges sought, and thus gave a shook to the relations Hiat exist between them. Suppose if, on the other band, she consented to a Commercial Union between her children on this side of the ocean, and the result was an enlarged emigration from the United States, and a changed political condition in Parliament, by which an annexation resolution should pass — what is there to be horrified at in that prospect f Annexation can come only by constitutional means, by the will of the people, expressed through the ordinary channels, and when that will is expressed, we that live in this age will have nothing to say. K in the future the people of Canada desire to join the great constellation of commonwealths that so illustrate the greatness of this continent, what possible objection could there be, provided the interests of Great Britain, the interests of Oanada, and the interests of the United States, and the 36 interests of hnraanity at large were advanced thereby! Annexation is a bugbear which a weak sentimentality has clothed with features that are re^^aisive, but which, upon examination, might be found to be the most attractive and most winning of events. But this is a question not for us to decide, but for our children, and our children's children, and it is folly for us to think at this time that we can either prevent or promote an event so stupendous. This we certainly can do by breaking down the commercial barrier between the two countries, learn to understand each other better, and if the winning forces of commerce and their attractive institutions make the great continent of North America one nation, then God will bless the union, for it will only be by the good will of both people that it can be accomplished, and the people should be supreme. The Attractiveness of Independence. But, attractive as may be colonialism, even with all the advantages of a vast development and a close alliance with the United States for trade purposes; great as may be the prospects of Canada if she were part and parcel of the great American Itepublic, neither of these are as attractive as the third great future which Canada may have in store for herself. That future is one of an independence from all outside govern- ments — a future full of possibilities in the creation of a great nation, commensurate in ma^aiflcence of its career with the proportions of the country, its riches in resources, and the genius of its people. With an ability to govern themselves already shown — with 20 or 30 States, distinctive and sovereign in their own right, with the adoption of the republican form of government, such as has been demonstrated on the other side of the border, taking all the advantages of much that they have learned, and -emitting much that should be avoided; with the power existing m the States themselves for their own regu- lation, and delegating to the Central Government only those necessary to tie them together; with a freedom from European interference, and equal freedom for development on her own account, what may not be the fnture of the United States of Canada ? There are those who think that Canada should be independent, with a prince to rule over her; there are some so attached to monarchical institutions that they ttiink no country can prosper and be permanently successful without a head: there are still others who believe in the future of an imperial federation of colonies, by which the interests of all the Empire will be centered at London, and controlled by some great central force at the seat of government of the great Britiili "•((V 57 nation. Perhaps this may come, but those who have lived in the United States, and have comprcshendcd all the advanta^jes of government of the peopio, by the people, and for the peoi)le, have learned to believe that on this continent all forms of goverum«nt mast eventually take on that triune condition of demo<5racy. With sach a republic as could be created out of the Canadian Provinc(Ss and Territories, in alliance with the United Stiites, supported and sustained by Great Britain^ as she is now supporting and sustaining the American Union, with a development which would follow a perfect freedom of trade upon the continent of North America, there is no telling how great might be the growth — how vait the benefit to man- kind at large. al re at ■sh The One Thing I^eedftil. It will be seen that the future of Canada, whether she remains in the condition of colonialism — whether she has a trend toward annexation, or whether she becomes an Independent nation- ality, the one thing needfiil for her is continental free trade. To achieve a commercial relation with American people is an object, therefore, of the highest duty, worthy of the noblest efforts of the be»t men of the country. The great liberal party, which to-day represents a majority of the voters of the Domi- nion in Parliament, but which is ha opposition to the existing Government, has adopted as the main plunk in its platform this question of Unrestricted Reciprocity, and it will go to the polls within eighte^a months with that cause inscribed upon ii-^ banner. If the young men o( Canada understand their whole duty to themseire*, their future, and to the land that gave them birth, they will work night and day for the success of the Liberal party, not because it is the Liberal party alone, but because it has seen lit to offer itself as the constitutional means by which . a great advantage can be conferred on the country in the opening up of the grandest market on earth. Of course there are thousands of Conservatives who, too, feel that this policy is the best, and there is no earthly reason why they should not insist upon pledging men who ask for their votes to an adherence to the principles of reciprocity. It would be a grand thing if every farmer, every man dependent upon him, and every other interest that would be advanced by this great movement towards free trade should make that principle the test^ of loyalty to the best interests of the country. But the Liberal voters aU over the country will have a responsi- bility thrust upon them of helping forward and making suc- cessful a freedom of trade that shall be continental in extent. Upon their efforts, and xtjton the efforts of sensible, reasonable 38 men tlironghout the country^ whether Tories or Grits, whether Liberals or Conservatives, will depend what shall be the future of Canada. Never in its history has a period arrived of grreater moment, pregnant with greater consequences, than the present. The last decade of this century is full of possibilities of iihe gravest character^ and no responsibility presses with greater weight anywhere m the world than upon the thinking man in Canada, that at the next general election he so shapes his influence and support, that that which will be best for the coiintry will be achieved. The Kisfortune of Quebec. What is the cause that Quebec, of all places on the Continent of North America, should record the smallest growth of wealth, the least increase of permanent population, and the most insigniflcant development of natural resources f Is it aot because the Province has been isolated so completely from the neighboring nation which needs that which she has to supply, and which could supply that which she most needs! The trend of labor which Quebec has been exhibiting in the steady movement south of her people, illustrates what should have been the trend of her prtxiucte had these people remained at home. If thers had been as great a freedom of movement in her products as there has been in her people, Quebec would be to-day one of the most prosperous of jouutries. If the thrift and industry, and economy^ which so characterize her people, could have been employed m the production of articles which should have had a free and unrestricted market in the United States, an enormous iacrease would have taken place in this production, and instead of losing her people, they would have yielded her a ^srge profit as the result of their industry, the development of her resources, and the productiveness of her soiL This was well illustrated during the period that the Eeciprocity Treaty, which terminated in 1865, was in force. Prior to that time the growth of agricultural products through- out Quebee constantly increased. The country became rich even from the output of her farms and forests, in competition with those of the United States, then in the height of their prosperity in neighboring localities. When in ten years the traffic between Upper and Lower Canada, and the United States, sprung from twenty miUions a year to eighty irUions a year, quadrupling in ten years, what would have been the result if the same progress had been made in the twenty .years since the repeal of reciprocity ! The trade between the two countries, even in natural products, would have mounted to 200 millions of dollars, and not a farm or a home in the broad expanse of the Province of Quebec but would have been m S9 bonelltted and enriched, not only by the money received, but by the retention at the hearthstone of the best element of the country, which it has lost. French Canadians the Best Manufacturers. But it is not alone to agricultural products tha^t one must look in discussing this question of enlarged opportunities, by the obliteration of the barrier between Quebec and the United States. For although Quebec may yet be a great grazing region, and may yet enormously increase her output of grains and fruits, and the products of the forests and of the sea, yet within her grasp are the possibilities of the greatest manu- facturing career which the world has ever witnessed. For at- tention is drawn to the fact that she possesses to a greater degree all the elements of the most successful manufacturing localities in North America. H the manufactures which her people are now producing in the United States were produced within the Province of Quebec, no country under the sun need desire to be better off. If the boots and shoes, the collars and cuffs, the knit goods, the iron and steel products, the wire and paper factorieii, the foundries, locomotive work3, newspaper printing offtces, and numerous other establishments which these Que'oecers are manning in the United States, were transferred bodily to the Province of Quebec, she would be the greatest manufacturing centre on the whole Continent. The French- Canadians are manufacturing to-day a greater variety of pro- ducts, an output of greater magnitude, and levying tribute from a greater area of the Continent than any other single community. Will you say that these men are not competent of doing this work just as well in Quebec as in New England ? Is there any occult influence in New England, any educational force, anything peculiai' in the climate, that makes the French- Can.'uiian more valuable in New England than he can be made in Quebec 1 Now, if these men can do so well in New England, why cannot they work to just as good advantage in Quebec if the circumstances are rendered equally favorable ? The fact that they are regarded as the best element of the manufactur- ing population of the United States is a testimony, to the truth of the assertion that if Quebec had an equal chance to the markets cf the United States with Massachusetts, or New Hampshire, she would achieve an equal success. But further, the population of Quebec, which is available for manufactur- ing purposes within the Province itself, is far greater than that which has gone abroad, in the youth that is constantly coming up, in the families that remain at home, and especially in the economy and morality with which they are surrounded in this Province. m 40 A Northern Barrier Unnecessary and Unwise. Suppose that in the Declaration of Independence, and the formation of the great nation to the south, a tier of extreme Northern States, composed of Maine, Vermont, Michigan, Minnesota, Dakota, Montana, and Washington, had been shut out from free intercourse with the rest of the common- wealths, and that over these States had been erected a customs district, out of which nothing should go except it paid a duty to such populations as are comprised in New York, in Pennsyl- vania, in Ohio, in Illinois, and all the Middle and Western States. Does any one suppose that this northern tier of excluded States would have attained anything like the pros- perity which they have enjoyed, and which has stimulated production, manufactures, and the growth of wealth beyond anything in the world t Does any one propose nowadays to create a barrier that would separate the whole line of Northern States from the Middle and Southern States, with the expecta- tion that any good would result from such an action ^ Nothing of the kind is ever dreamt of! Why should Canada, there- fore, possessing infinitely greater resources than ^hese States, persist ir keeping up the barrier, not only j^; .... receiving cheapened goods, which the United States can furnish to the benefit of &e Canadian people; but encourage the United States to shut out everything that she produces, and demand at the door of every entrance a tribute greater than the profit which the producer can expect 1 What is the justification at this late day for shutting out from a country so needy as Canada the products of the skill and industry of the United States, and all it means to you and the world, and shutting in such vast supplies, such enormous resources, such great pos- sibilities of production, preventing all these from reaching the vast market which God in His providence had there created ! Again, it is repeated that, great as Canada is in her gee; ^^ph- ical extent, vast as are her wheat producing areas, rie] > r^er mineral possibilities, her limitless timber forests, her '^i. . ;|ji« fishing territories, and all that goes to make up one 0'" ^e greatest empires of wealth under the sun, next to all this her greatest boon, her greatest opportunity, is the possibility which lies within her grasp of the freest access to the greatest market the world has even seen. A Wide Sweep of Possibilities, Eecall the treeless prairies of the West, the thousands of square miles in which not a stick of timber stands, and sec how much are needed the supplies from (Canada's forests in the north, and which Canada should turnish without paying 41 )h- '8 lest of I sec in lini: tribute to a foreign treasury for that privilege. Estimate the millions and millions of dollars' worth of timber that in Canada has been lost, burned and rotted in the last#twenty years, because it would not pay to ship it and pay the duty. Kecall the enormous aggregations of population in the great cities and States in the interior, who could use the fish food which Canada, more than any other country under the sun, can supply, with her five thousand miles of coast line, with every acre of fish area worth eight acres of land in the ability to sustain life; what enormous advantages is Canada every day throwing away, because she cannot have a free entrance and free develop- ment of her fish industries. With that coast line of British Columbia three thousand miles long, a coast line as great as from Florida to Maine, with bays and rivers tributary to it full of fish, and the great Hudson's Bay, a thousand miles long — all these needing only development and transportation of their products to the coast cities that are springing up along the line of the Northern Pacific and other lines of road in Colorado, in Illinois, in Missouri, and the great South. Think of the Bessemer iron ores, without phosphorus, that lie in every quarter of this fair Province of Quebec. Eecall this circum- stance, that the commerce of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal last year, because of the grain, and iron, and coal, which went through it, equalled the commerce of the Suez Canal, and measure from it the enormous possibilities of the internal trade of the United States, and how it would be made contributory to the growth and prosperity of Canada. Estimate the development on the south shore of Lake Superior in the Calumet and Hecla mines, which on a capitalization of three millions of dollars have declared, in thirty years, dividends of thirty millions of dollars, — of the growth of the city of Cleveland, which, out of the iron mines on the south of Lake Superior, has yearly yielded fifteen to twenty mUlions of dollars of annual profits. Think of the coal mines of Pennsylvania, which send their products by rail three hundred miles, and ship them five hundred more by lake freight from Buffalo to Duluth, and then five hundred again by rail to heat and make possible existence upon the northern prairies. Then recall the fact that Canada has ninety-seveu thousand square miles of coal lands, and except for the limited supply of a few cities, she sends not a ton out fot the benefit of mimkind. Possessing, as she only does, coal on the Atlantic and the Pacific, the possibilities of her contributing to the manufacturing an I productive forces of the United States on these two great coasts are of the greatest possible importance. Time fails to tell of other things, as in the agricultural possibilities, as in fruit from Nova Scotia, oats and potatoes, and dairy products from New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Quebec, fur 42 the supply of New England, — of the enormous areas in Quebec on which sheep raising, wool producing, and cattle grazing might be made extremely profitable, the tens of thousands of horses and ponies which the French Canadians could produce, of the lambs and sheeps, and calves and cattle, and the garden truck and farm products, which this great American people can absoi-b; and even above all, of tho enormous possibilities which in her manufacturing advantages she possesses, if only the vast market which this attempt to describe was made available to her. m 7 From a United States Point of View. Canada is forty times as large as England, Scotland, and Wales; fifteen times the size of the German Empire, and in extent three times as large as British India. Its fertility is unsurpassed, its extent of mineral wealth beyond estimate, its forests of lumber the greatest on the globe, its 5,000 miles of coast line fisheries the most valuable, its coal beds equal 97,000 square miles, its means of water communication unequalled, and its water power sufficient to drive the machinery of the whole world. Yet this vast and rich country lies alongside of the greatest nation of traders on the face of the globe, and the extent of the manufacture and merchandise sold to it amounts to less than the sales of three jobbing houses in the city of Chicago. The exchanges between Canada, with its 3,500,000 square miles of territory, and the United States, with its 3,036,000 square miles, are absolutely less than the exchanges between cities the size of Toledo, Hartford, or SpringfiSd. Can there be any commentary more striking than this ? The amount of duties annually collected by the United States from Canada is $5,500,000, which goes into a Treasury so overburdened with revenue that the whole political intellect of the nation is strained to the utmost as how best to reduce it. This small sum of $5,500,000, levied along the border Jine of nearly 4,000 miles, costs more to collect, in proportion to the amount realized, than any other sum received by the Govern- ment. Not only is this sum unnecessary to the Treasury, not only is the collection absurdly expensive, but this $5,500,000 is a direct tax on two essentials to national existence, viz. : raw materials and the necessaries of life. Canada sends nothing to the United States except natural products, and though these products are compelled to climb over a high customs line, they are wanted so badly that these heavy burdens are borne by those who need and must have theni. Who is benefited by the tax on lumber, fish, salt, copper, coal, &c.1 Let them stand np and be counted, and compared with those who use these 43 •necessaries of life. These are not the work of the pauper labor of Europe, against which the tariif is aimed. These are the gifts of God, an inheritance continental in their extent, and should be continental in their benettt. And how much do you suppose it benefits the revenue of the people of the United States to exact $5,500,000 from these and similar products ! Wheat is the per capita revenue thus derived! Why, it is less than 10 cents per head per year. The 550,000,000 of cents which go to make up the $5,500,000 of revenue, scattered broadcast over the people of the Union, only equal 10 cents per head, and for this paltry sum a tariff line 4,000 miles long cuts in twain the continent of Iiforth America, and shuts out as a basis of supply the richest part of the country, on the one hand, and closes up a market on the other, the most profitable and the most promising in the world. Why the increase in the postal revenue alone within five years of Unrestricted Reciprocity between the two countries would more than make up the loss of customs revenue, owing to the increased activity of trade and the growth of commerce between them." Is Canada's Geographical Advantag^e to be Sacrificed? Of the two great advantages which Canada possesses, in her geographical position on the one hand, and her vast natural resources on the other, the first named is perhaps the most im- portant, because of her close contiguity with the best market in the world ; and this makes it all the more serious in consid- ering this question of our relations with Great Britain. Stretching along a distance of almost four thousand miles, the Dominion touches and interlaces with the great American Republic. Nature seems to have ordained that the whole Con- tinent should be one commercially, judging by the distribution of natural wealth, of agricultural peculiarities, and of productive forces. To separate by a customs line right through the centi-e of the Continent the two English speaking nations that occupy it, would seem to be a most injudicious act. If trade can ebb and flow backwards and forwards from one end of the Continent to the other, and if the same relative progress could be made in the northern part of the Continent as that which has been achieved in the southam part, it would seem a great hard- ship that any final and permanent impediment in sentiment or in f^t ibould be created. The growth of the United States, and the market which all along her border this growth affords, is one of the best assets that Canada possesses. 'Even in the face ot a high tariff and numerous restrictions, more than one- half of her commerce is with the neighboring Republic, With all 44 barriers removed, and a complete commercial relation consum- mated, this commerce would incnease enormously. The question is, whether this increase would help or hurt G-reat Britain. It is well to consider that, so far as Great Britain as a nation is concerned, nothing could happen so advantageously to her as a complete Customs Union between the English speaking people of the North American Continent. But in speaking of the trade of Great Britain, the consideration has to be removed from talking about the government and the people of that country, tp a consideration of the individual interests affected. Thus, while we import about forty millions of dollars annually of goods from England, it is the English manufacturer and merchant whose interests we are promoting or iryuring. These merchants and manufacturers perhaps aggregate fl.ve hundred in number; and for the sake of the interests of these gentlemen and their ojieratives, we must consider whetiier or not the future of this Dominion is to be free or restiicted. Upon an importation of forty millions of dollars per annum, there is a possible profit to th« English manufacturer of ten i)er cent., or say, four millions of dollars. Whether for this amount of profit Canada is 1^ remain forever in swaddling clothes, is a question for the people of Canada to consider. The Interests of Great Britain and the Interests of Canada. It was the penalty of the geographical position of Canada that, unless the barriers between her neighbor and herself were thus removed, she would never have the perfect develop- ment to whicn she was entitled. The question was a difficult one, and it did seem hard that, after all Great Britain had done for Canada, and in view of the responsibihties and en- gagements which she continued to assume for her defence and protection, there should be a proposition seriously discussed whereby the merchandise of a rival nation should have free admission to one part of her Empire, while her own products from another part of the same Empire were shut out by a hio-h duty. But, so far as the interests of Great Britain were im- mediately concerned in this matter, the question had become one of mere dollars and cents^ and not a question of dollars and cents to the nation at large, or to the government, or to the imperial revenues j but a question of dollars and cents to individuals. Now, if the question had narrowed down to that point, was it not fair to consider whether the intere#s of the inhabitants of one part of Her Majesty^ g domain were not just as precious to her as the interests of tln^se of another. It has always been maintained that the humblest British subject, in the most remote coruer of the earth, was entitled to the same protection ■ 1 45 as tlie highest dignitary aearest to the tbrooe; and it is the glory of the traditions which we all alike inherit, that justice to all^ and favor to none, is the spirit that animates th« Govem- mout pf Great Britain. Well, now, is it fair to ask C^adians forever to saciiflce their most material interests for the sake of the manafactur4?rs of Manchester or Birmingham ^ Has not Canada the same right to have her intereste cared for as the interests of the manufacturers of these great centres ? Indeed, without the slightest suspicion of disloyalty, she has already done so, and by the high taiiff' which her most loyal friends have enacted, she has developed mauufactui'es of her own, which have mateiially reduced the sales of English goods in this country. Strange it is, too, that the men who have thus contributed to shut out English goods are now most anxious on behalf of the English manufactmrers, and whose loyalty to English interests knows no boui Is. British Manufacturers Benefitted. It is maintained that the interests, even of these English manufacturers, would not be permanently adversely affected by an enlarged trade relation between Canada and the United States. It is clear enough to the close observer of the export trade of Great Britain to Canada, that for many years it has not been on a progressive and healthy basis. There has been but a slight, if any, increase in the exports to Canada: and in propor- tion to the possible growth of so new and so rich a country, the commerce in the direction of Canada has not inci-eased in the same ratio that it has increased to other countries. The reason, in the first place, has been that the policy of our government has been towards the encouragement of home manufactures, which in no sense was regarded as didoyal ; while tiie power to absorb goods and pay for them by increased population, and by growth in natural development, has been extremely limited. Recalling the number of persons engaged in Canada in hand- ling British goods, their relative strength financially, and the growth of their distributive channels, is it not a fact that Canada has made really less progTess as an absorbent of English manufactures in the last ten years, than any market which Great Britain enterst If, after the expenditure of vast sums of borrowed public money ceases; if in view of the enorm- ous taxation which Canada has to bear; if, also, in view of the low prices of agricultural products, and the scanty development of her natural resoures under existing conditions, Canada makes no more progress in the next ten or twenty years as an absorbent of British manufactures, as a market she will pos- sess but little attiaction. On an equal basis of duty exacted, the United States will always be a competitor in Canada with '1 46 Great Britain ; while, with the growth of home manufac^ tires and the lack of development within the Dominion itself, no great hope can be entertained that Canada, without some new relatioil with the United States, can be anything like the ad- vantageous maiket which she otherwise might be, with Unre- strictwi Reciprocity and an open market for every product which she possesses; with enlarged opportunities lor the development of' her resources j with a growth in wealth and ability to absorb and pay for goods which Commercial Union would bring to her, Canada could afiford to iiy and pey for $2 of English goods where now she can ill afford to pay for $1. Daring the last year, the importations of foreign goods into the United States amounted to 720 millions of doUars, which, with a population of 60 millions, shows that, even in the face of existing high rates of duty prevalent in the United States, every person in the Republic was worth to the trade of foreign countries over $11 per year. In Canada we imported 40 mil- lions of dollars from Great Britain, which made Canadians worth to Great Britain about $8 a head. If in the United States $11 I)er head is absorbed of foreign goods, why should not $11 in Canada be the standard if, with the same progress, the same growth in v^ealth, and the same oppoj.tunity presented for a development of natural resources t The Canadian Fanner and the English Mannfae- turer. With a liberty to regulate the tariff which England has granted to her Colonies, it is only a step further in the same direction of free trade in which she herself preaches, to admit free the products of a neighboring nation. It is a simple busi- ness transaction. If the free Amission of the goods into Canada from the United States benefits Canada to an extent far greater than the discrimination against English goods injures the manufacturers of England^ what is the duty of the Government of England in the premises? Is it that the far greater interests of the five millions of people of Canada should be sacrificed for the limited interest of the five hundred thousand of Manchester or Birmingham t The toi^ importa- tions from England to Canada amount to about 40 millions of dollars a year. The net profit realized by the English exporter on this ^ansaction, after deducting bad debts and other charges, amounts to about ten per cent.; so that the English manufacturer realizes from Canada about 4 millions of dollars a year. Supposing that Commercial Union should result in a decrease of one-half of the imiwrtation from England — which it is claimed it would not do, but rather in a very short time largely increase — the total loss to the English manufacturer 47 would be about two millions of dollars a year. Do yott realize that this is about the amount which the Canadian farmer loses yearly by the duty levied on the single article, barley, which he exports f It costs the farmer at least two millions of tribute to the United States Treasury a year to market Jbhe barley crop of Canada in the United States. Is it possible that for the sake of so small a sum as two millions a year, Canada is to be forever tied up in her present isolated and restricted condi- tion f Why, the industrious, unobtrusive, unprotected hens of Canada bring as much income into the Dominion as this sum amounts to. From the exportation of 14 or 16 millions of dozens of eggs, upon which there is* no duty levied in the United States, a sam very nearly equal to two millions is realized by the farmers' wives of Canada. Must it be said that, for the sake of a sum which these unobtrusive little creatures can produce, that Canada is to be shut out from the greatest market in the world for the absorption of her products ? The triumphant cackle of the fowls in the bam-yayd of every farmer is a protest against such statesmanship. It cannot be that, to compensate Boglish manufacturers for a sum so insignificant, one-half of the continent of North America is to remain un- developed. It would be better, indeed, for a subscription to be made in the country, or for the government of the land to en- force a direct taxation to pension English manufacturers, and all dependent on them, to the extent of the Canadian profit, rather thin that forever their interests should interfere witu the vast concerns of this continent. Interests of Engflish Investors Advanced. But, aside from the interest's of the English manufacturers, there are other classes in Great Britain to whom the highest prospiM-ity of Canada would be of the greatest advantage. There is of English capital invested in the Dominion of Canada hardly less than five hundred millions of dollars. This money is invested in goverumnntal indebtedness, public woiks, rail- road un«lertakings, farm mortgages, and a vanety of other securities. Bveiy one of this class of assets possessed by English capitalists would be enormously benefitted by the full development, growth, and perfect prosperity of the Dominion. If the trafiic of every railroad could be doubled; if the produc- tive forced of every factoiy could be augmentedj if eveiy farm could be for<;e to its fullest capacity of growth, and every resource which the country possessed fully developed, there is not a security of any class in the country but would be bene- fitted. Evt*n supposing the profits of the English manufacturer 8h(»uld be reduced from four millions per annum to two millions, it would pay well for the government of the country to guaran- m , 4ft tee thein a^^ainst this loss, for the sake of beneflttiug every other class of the community, as well as the British investor in Canadian 'indertakings. Besides this, should the full develop- ment of Canadian eutei-prises follow Commercial Union, an opportunity for the investment of English capital in this country would "be afforded such as the world has never seen. A better and a more certain return cannot be imagined than would flow from the establishment of manufactories, and mineral development, that would ofter, should an open market be found in the United States for all that Canada has to produce. The employment of British skilled labor, English money, and English experience in Canada, with such an opportunity as Commercial Union would afford, would create such a revenue for the English people as would make the supposed loss of the English manufacturer by Commercial Union a mere bagatelle. These considerations are urged to meet the objection that, so far as English interests are concerned, Commercial Union with the United States would be beneficial rather than hurtful. 1 1 The Fanner's Gain Xot the Englishman's Loss. Take the wide range of articles which Canada produces now, and can produce with Unrestricted Reciprocity, and see the enormous measure which their production would reach, if a free market can be had among tbe greatest money-making, money-spending aggregation of humanity that the world has ever seen, and which, in the goodness of Providenr trading in th^t country, and they would be just so much better oil*, Thie home market of the farmer would be enormously increased by the devielopment in mitres, manufactures and in 8^l)ping, and, instead of being dependent on an uncertain home growth and foreign market heavily taied, they would have an enlarged demand and better j>ricea, in addition to the amount the Ame- rican Governnient now levies. 2d. It does not tbllow that all the sources of revenue would be affected by free admission of United States ptodticts and manufactures. There are other articles produced elsewhere upon which the duty could be largely increased, while there are some which are now free, upon which a heavy duty could, under the cir^ imstances, be exacted. Thus, tea is now ad- mitted free i Canada, and could readily be made the vehicle of revenue because or its universality of use. It is not pro- duced in the United States, and no hardship would be felt if it bore a heavy tax, providing other things just as essential, now taxed, were made practically free. 3d. It does not follow that taxation should be raised solely by importation. There are other modes of raising a revenue which, if necessary, could be adopted, such as a stamp tax, income tax, and other forms of direct taxation, which need not be feared if the people can only be rendered prosperous, and it can be shown that their ability to respond to the necessities of government is infinitely improved by the change. In this con- nection the saving to revenue by cessation of smuggling would be an important consideration, and the consequent distribu- tion of the burden of taxation more evenly than now exists. The extent of smuggling along a border line nearly 4,000 miles in extent is an utterly unknown quantity, but is unquestionably very large, placing the honest farmer, and those who live upon him in the interior, perfectly at the mercy of a band of thieves that defraud the Government and increase the burdens on goods that pay the duty. 4th. But better than new forms of taxation, and even better than ability to stand any kind of taxation, would be the intro- duction of economy in government. If it was diflQcult to raise revenue, it would be difficult to spend it, and no greater boon could come to Canada than a rigime of enforced economy. There has been in the past ten years of government a satur- ntilia of expenditure. Let there be in the next ten years a spasm of saving, Indeed, it must be so, or national bank- ruptcy stares Canada in the face. If the result of Unrestricted Reciprocity, while greatly increasing the prosperity of the peo- ple, was simultaneously to cut the revenue in half, and the task was committed to a man of nerve to cut the expenditure in two, a spectacle would be presented that would be the most welcome sight Canada could see. It is true that the terrible drain of interest paid to Great Britain cannot be cut in two: it is true that there, are some governmental obligations tnat cannot be greatly diminished. But with a diminished revenue, a short stop in subsidies, a greatly lessened governmental stafl', and a new order of things generally, the whole condition of government in Canada might be so changed that a greatly lessened revenue would be sufficient to meet the necessities of the hour. m The American Farmers' Lack of Prosperity. It is urged that the farmers of Canada cannot be benefitted by a free admission into the markets of the United 3tat«s, because the farmers of that country, having that market to themselves, are not prosperous. It is pointed out that the Oanapen market among, say even the twenty -five millions of people located in the States that confront the Mari- time Provinces, Quebec and Ontario, is not an advantage, s?'mply because there is lacking prosperity in agricultural regions extending over two millions of square miles, from causes entirely foreign from those that prevail in Canada. If the merchant waited for profit because he would not deal with people less prosx)erou8 than himself, how long would he survive? If England failed to sell goods only to nations in which pros- perity was equal to her own, her trade would languish, and her profits sink out of sight. The truth is, that nations deal with others because it is their interest to do so, and the fact that, in spite of a tribute exacted firom the Canadian farmer equal to one-quarter of his produce for the privilege of marketing the other three-quarters in the United States, he is able to hold his own under circumstances so adverse, shows what he could do, if that twenty-five per cent, tax did not exist. If his best eustomer to-day is the United States, with a discriminatioii against him of twenty-five per cent., how much more valuable would that customer be, if all the barriers were obliterated, and he traded as freely with him as he does with England, without competition with all the world, and without the expensiveness of paying for carriage of his stuff for three thousand miles. Why does not the American farmer prosper ? It is because in thirty nine years, ending with 1889, while the population has increased 176 per cent., the bushels of wheat now produced have increased 389 per cent., corn 257 per cent., and oats 411 per cent. In that period, with an increase of population of 175 per cent., the number of farms increased 260 per cent. In the meantime Australia increased at a greater ratio, while India, the Argentine Eepublic, and Eussia, have all developed to be great grain producers, flooding Europe with their surplus. The farmers' condition is the result of the universal law of supply and dem'^nd, and will right itself in time. For although wheat is now produced in the United States sufficient to feed 79 mil- lions of peoplje, as against 65 millions of population, beef suflS- cieat tor 71 millions and swine for 76 millions, yet the growth of the country is rapidly approaching the maximum, while the production is being restricted, and the land has been pretty well taken up in the new States, so a change in respect to over-production will soon ensue. "Peace liatli her Victories." A thousand years ago, Peter the Hermit preached the Cru- sades, and aroused Europe to sacrifices involving millions of money and tens of thousands of Uves. The motive that inspired these costly contributions was the supposed influences of holy shrines, and the possible hope of conquest. Since that day great wars have been carried forward at enormous expenditure of blood and treasure ; and to-day the people of Europe, even in time of peace, are taxed and harassed to a great extent, either to prevent or to achieve conquest. To sum up all thai has ever been accomplished by these great struggles, and their continued costliness, amounts to less in good to mankind than can be achieved on this continent by a single act of legislation — a simple act that will unite in terms of perfect amity and commercial freedom two great regions hitherto divided j two great people estranged for want of common interests. Thus, by conquest of good-mil, the union of the two great Anglo-Saxon nations of North America can be achieved, while permitting the political independence of eiich, a community of interest and great mutual advantage will illustrate in the highest form ever yet illustrated the sentiment that " Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war I" HBilWBJgyffP'^'**^fB 8T iW B i .u imi R" w.i<" ii ADDENDA. VASTIiY INCREASED TRIBUTE DEMANDED FROM CANADIAN FARMERS. Apeil. 1890. The changes in the United States tariff, just now proposed by the Committee of Ways and Means in the House of Repre- sentatives, are very numerous, and affect interests of a wide- spread character. The general result is a large proposed reduction in the revenue, in order that the surplus income, which the Treasury keeps on accumulating, may be reduced so as to remove the temptation for public expenditure, whicli now exists. But in the process of reduction of the revenue, the Republican leaders are bound to fulfil their pledges, and perpetuate the principles of Protection, which is the lead- ing plank in their platform, so that, while they are lowering the taxation on the one hand, they seek to broaden the appli- cation of the Protective principle on the other. Thus, the committe propose a duty on hides, which have hitherto been imported free, and also a duty on raw silk, neither of which, however, will be persisted in, because of the tremendous pressure brought against the proposal. The proposition, how- ever, to tax agricultural products to a greater extent than ever before proijosed, has no organized opposition, and, as it is supposed this movement will gratify the vast body of Ameri- can farmers, who are heavily taxed to sustain the Protective principle, as applied to manufacturers, it is probable that the new duties on agricultural products will become law. The proposal to exaJjt these excessive duties is regarded as " a tub thrown to the whale," because the advantage to the American farmer, especially in the West, is intiuitesimal, while the disad- vantage to the consumer, especially in Kew England, is serious. So far as the advantage to the American farmer is concerned, iU extent can be measured by the fact, that the total duties to ll 58 POVERTY on PROSPBttlTY be collected, under the proposed new tariflF, on agricultural pro- ducts, would not reach 16 millions, or less than 25 cents for each person, in a population of 65 millions, and certainly not more than $2.00 a head for each American farmer. But the result is likely to be that, having proposed to extend the principle of Protection, so as to take in the vast class who till the soil, it wUl now be impossible to withdraw the propf»8ition, and, if the Tarift* Amendment Bill goes through at all, the proposed new duties, on agricultural products, are likely to be maintained. The consequences to Canada arising from such an enactment are likely to be most serious. Hitherto, with existing duties, the discriminations in the United States markets against the Canadian farmer were hard enough to bear. The burden of taxation at home was augmented by the burden ot taxation abroad, in the shape of the tribute he was compelled to pay into a foreign treasury for the privilege of marketing his products. But at one fell swoop this tribute, it is proposed, shall be doubled, and the effect is simply to practically prohibit him from reaching this market at all. The barbed wire fence in the shape of a customs line which has run across the continent, it is proposed, shall be raised to twice its fonner height, rendering it next to impossible that there shall be any traffic over it. In order that the full scope of the proposed new duties shall be apprehended, they are set forth as follows : PROPOSED NEW UNITED STATES DUTIES ON AOKICULTURAL PRODUCTS. Horses and mules, $30 per head, provided that a horse valaed at $150 or over shall pay Instead an ad valorem of thirty per cent. Cattlb, more than one year old, $10 per head ; less than one year old, $2 per head. Hogs, $1.50 per head. All other live animals not specifically enumerated in this Act, 25 per cent. ad valorem. Apples, green or ripe, 25 cents per hnshel. Apples, dried, 2 cents per pound. Bacon, 5 cents per pound. Barley, 30 cents per bushel of 48 XK>nnd8. Barley malt, 40 cents per bushel of 24 pounds. Beans, 40 cents per bushel of 60 pounds. Beef or mutton, 2 cents per pound. f . r.j f. ■i^-.r-h-'/'^'^' JffiTCPnTE'i'i^wx ■•- TO THB FABMEBS OF 01NADA« 59 Broom corn, $8 per ton. Buckwheat, 50 cents per bushel of 48 ponnds. Batter, and substitutes for batter, 6 cents per pound* Cabbages, 3 cents each. Castor beans, 3:2 cents per bushel of fifty pounds. Cheese, 6 cents per ponnd. Cider, 5 cents a gallon. Com or maiee, 10 cents per bushel. Cornmeal, 10 cents per bushel. Dressed poultry, 5 cents per pound. Eggs, 5 cents per dozen. Flax seed or llrxGoed, 30 cents per boshel of sixty pounds. Flour, one-half cent per pound. Freeh milk, 5 conts per gallon. Garden seed. d.gricultural seed, and other seeds not speoifioally enomei^ ated or provided for in this Act 30 per cent, od valorem. Hay, $4 per ton. Honey, 20 cents per gallon. Hops, 15 cents per pound. Lard, 2 cents per pound. Lire poultry, 3 cents per pound. Meats of all kinds, preserved, 25 per cent, ad valorem. Oats, 10 cents per bushel. Onions, 40 cents per bushel. Pearl barley, one cent per pound. Peas, green or dried, and in bulk or barrels or small packages, 40 cents per bushel of sixty pounds. Peas in small packages, 1 cent per pound. Potatoes, 25 cents per bushel of sixty pounds. Preserved beans in tins, 40 per cent ad valorem. Preserved milk, iicluding the weight of the packing, 3 cents per pound. Bye, 10 cents pet bushel. Salt, 12 cents per hundred ponnds. Split peas, 30 cents per bushel of sixty pounds. Straw, $2 per ton. * Sugu: of milk, 10 cents per pound. Tallow, 1 cent per pound. Teazles, SO per cent, ad valorem. Vegetables in their natural state, not speoifioally enumerated, K pet cent. «l «iiisr«M. ?5^ 60 POVBETY oa PI10S1»E»ITY ri ' Vegetables of all kinds prepared or preserved, plokl«s, etc., 45 p« cent. ad valorem. Wheat, 20 cents per bushel. Wheiat flour, 20 per cent, ad valorem. Yolk of eggs, 25 per cent, ad valorem. The following are the provisions as to fish : Anchovies or sardines, 40 per cent, ad valorem. Fresh fish, salted or preserved in any other manner not spociflcally enumerated in this Act, 1 cent per pound. Herring, i cent per pound. ^ Fish packages of tin, 80 per cent, ad valorem. It is not to be believed that these new and excessive duties originated in the idea of specially affecting Canada. It is true they most seriously and adversely threaten the prosperity of the most vital interests in the Dominion, and there are some strong advocates of annexation in the United States who have urged the policy of restriction, with the view, as they say, of "bringing the Canadians to their senses." Butlihere has been no such policy adopted by the country, and especially none by the leaders of the Eepublican party. Hence the proposals for these largely increased duties ought not to be regarded as retaliatory in their intent. The principal purpose sought was to make some movement in behalf of the American farmer which would have the appearance of equalizing the burden of taxation, and broadening the application of the protective prin- ciple. The American farmer is suffering very greatly just now, in common with the farmer in Great Britain and everywhere else in the world. Excessive competition, over production, heavy taxation, expensive transportation, and other causes, are operating greatly to the disadvantage of this vast class, and American statesmen are at their wits end to meet the unrest, dissatisfaction, and almost revolutionary movements which threaten the politicians now in charge of the governmental machinery. A new election for Congress impends in the Autumn of the present year, and the proposal to do something for the farmer in the shape of Protection was therefore a neces- sity, so that this movement originated in causes other than considerations affecting Canada, though the effects upon Canada threaten to be of a character most serious and far reaching. It is another and most potent illustration of t^ ex- TO THE PABMEBS OF CANADA. (h cessively exposed condition which the people ot the Dominion occupy, when, by a movemeut not specially intended for their injury on the part of the United States — a movement having a remote puqiose — should so injuriously affect almost every indi- vidual interest on half a continent. The threatened disaster speaks in trumpet tones to the electors of Canada, to see to it that such steps are taken as will put beyond possibility, by treaty or concurrent legislation, for a given period, some bar- gain or arrangement, by which the whole country need not be exposed to a contingency which practically may bankrupt thousands and thousands of those whose interests deserve the most permanent protection and stability. The proposals of the Congressional Committee on Ways and Means, it is supposed, render next to impossible the passage of the excellent bill of Hon. Benjamin Butter^^orth, who, as Canada^s good friend, early in the session introduced a measure that would provide the most ample unrestricted reci- procity between the two countries. It was appropriately but most unfortunately referred to this committee, who now that they have reported tariff amendments enacting the most sweeping increase in duties, could not stultify themselves by reporting Mr. Butterworth^s bill, that would practically undo their own work. Fortunately the dark cloud of doubt and loss which over- spreads Canada, arising from the proposal to largely increase the duties, has a silver lining. This is found in the proposal of that conscientious aud astute statesman, Hon. Eobert E. Hitt, of Illinois, the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, who perfectly apprehends the whole question of the relations between the two eoaii tries. After the most careful inquiry and consideration this committee, which is quite as inlluential as the Committee on Wa^s and Means, has reported a resolution, which if it passes both House tind Senate at Washington, will place before the Canadian people a prospect of relief, and a future of prosperity that it has hardly entered the mind of man to conceive. The resolution is in the following words : " Besolvedy That wherever it shall be duly cei tified to the President of the United States that the Government of the Pommio^ pf C»aft4£^ hm declivred a desire to ^utev into such m l|:- i 62 POTERTT OB PBOSPEBITY TO THE PAEMEBS OP CANADA. commeioial arrangements with the United States as will result in the complete removal of all duties upon trade between Canada and the United States, he shall appoint three Com- missioners to meet those who may be designated to represent the Government of Canada, to consider the best methoa of ex- tending the trade relations between Canada and the United States, and to ascertain on what terms greater freedom of in tercourse between the two countries can best be secured, and said Commissioners shall report to the President, who shall lay the report before Congress." If the invitation to closer relations contained in the above resolution finds expression by the House of Eepresentatives and Senate, as is certain to be the case, in this session of Con- gress or the next, the responsibility of further action will be put upon the people of Canada. The result of an appeal to the farmers, lumbermen, fishermen, miners, shippers, and other interests largely to be advanced by a free market in the United States cannot be doubted. The new proposals of in- creased duties are full of peril to all these interests. The new proposal of Mr. Hitt and the Foreign Affairs Committee are full of promise, — a promise the extent and profit of which no man can tell, nor estimate the vast consequences that may follow in the Continental development that would ensue. With the farmers of Canada rests the fate of the future of their own fair land, and to them may be safely committed the task of pronouncing the verdict. " Onoe to erery man »nd nation oomes a moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side ; Some great oanse, Gk>d's new Messiah, offering eaoh the bloom or blight, Parte the goats upon the left hand and the sheep npon the right ; And the choice goes by forever, twixt the darkness and the light, Hast thoa chosen f 0! my people, of this great and happy land, Laokiaf to tl)e Ifttnre, ia whose party thou «haH ttand t ** m ' ]\] THE BUTTERWORTH BILL. »»4 Washington, December 20, 1889.— The following is the Bill which was introduced by Mr. Benjamin Buttebwobth, of Ohio, and referred to the Committee of Ways and Means : A BILL To extend the I'rade and Commerce of the United States and to provide for Full Reciprocity between the United States and the Dominion of Canada. Whereas, Certain controversies have arisen and are still p(;nding between the Government of the United States and the Government of the Dominion of Canada, respecting com- mercial intercourse ; and Whereas, By reason of the contiguity of the two countries and the similarity of the interests and occupations of the people thereof, it is dehired by the United States to remove all existing controversies and all causes of controversy in the future, and to promote and encourage business and com- mercial intercourse between the people of both countries, and to promote harmony between the two Governments, and to enable the citizens of each to trade with the citizens of the other without unnecessary restrictions: Therefore Be enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congvss assembled^ That whenever, and as soon as the Government of the Dominion of Canada shall permit all articles of trade and commerce of whatever name or nature, whether the product of the soil or of the waters of the United States, all manufactured articles, live stock of all kinds, and its products, and all minerals the pro- duce of the mines of the United States, to enter the ports of ttie Dominion of Canada free of duty, then all articles manu- factured in Canada, and ail products of the soil and waters, Wi4 «11 minerals the produce of t)M mixi99 of Canada, and »ll mm 64 THE BUTTBBWOETII BILL. other articles of every name and description produced in said Dominion of Canada, shall be permitted to enter the ports of the United States free of duty: Provided^ Jwwever, That the provisions of this act shall not apply to any piod»(;t or article upon which an internal revenue tax is imposed by the laws of the United States. Seo. 2. That when it shall be certified to the President of the United States, by the Government of the said Dominion of Canada, that by the authority of its Parliament it has author- ized the admission into the ports of said Dominion of all articles of trade and commerce the growth, produce or manufacture of the United States, ftee of duty, the President shall make proclamation thereof, and shall likewise proclaim that all articles the growth, pi'oduce or manufacture of the said Do- minion of Canada shall be admitted into all the ports of the United States free of duty, and such articles shall be so admitted into the ports of the United States free of duty so long as the said Dominion of Canada shall admit the products of the United States, as herein provided, into the ports of the Dominion free of duty. Seo. 3. That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby autho- rized, with the approval of the President of the United St^es, and in (onj unction with the proper officials of the Government of the Dominion of Canada, to make rules and regulations for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this act, and to protect the said respective Governments against the im- portation of foreign goods or articles through either into the other without payment of duty; and the Secretary of the Treasuiy of the TJr'M States shall furnish to ti ;; ustoras officers of the Unitea States all such rules and regiiUitious for the purpose oi guiding them in the discharge of their duties in the premises. Seo. 4. That before making the proclamations or either of them authorized by this act, the President shall be satisfied that all citizens and subjects of the United States may have and eiyoy the right of commercial intercourse in all the ports, harbors and places in Canada with the citizens and subjects of the Dominion, in as full and ample a manner in all respects as may be had or eiyoyed by the latter in the ports, harbors and places of the United Slates, with the citizens and subjects thereof. if