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V ?^;.- ■ .-:• ! ■ > • i UNEESTKICTED EEOIPROOITY OF TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATES. EESOLUTIONS IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. In the House of Commons, on the 14th of March, 1888, lair Richard Cartwright moved the following resolution : That it is highly (lesirable that the largest possible freedom of commer- cial intercourse sliould obtain between the Dominion of Canada .and the United States, and that '.t is expedient that all articles mannfactnreil in or the natural i)roducts of either of the said countries should be admitt*'d fren of duty into the ports of the other (articles subject to duties of excise oi- of internal revenue alone excepted). That it is fmther expedient that the government of the Dominion should take steps at an early date to ascertain on wliat terms and coiiditioTis ;ir- rauj-'eineiits can be effected with the Tfnited States, for the purpose of secur- ing full and unrestricted reciprocity of trade therewith. In amendment, it was moved by Hon. Mr. Foster, Minister of Marine and Fisheries — That Canada in the future, as in the past, is desirous of cultivating and extending trade relations with the United States, in so far as they may not conflict with the ])olicy of fostering the various industries and interests of the l)»)minion which was adopted in 187'.>, and which has .since received in so marked a manner the sanction and approval of the people. In amendment to the amendment, it was moved by Hon. A. G. Jones, of Halifax— That in any arrangement between Canada aud the United States, i)ro- viding for the free importation into each country of the natural and manu- factured productions of the other, it is highly desirable that it should l)e pro- vided that during the continuance of any such arrangement the coasting trade of Canada and of the United States should be thrown open to vessels of both countries on a footing of complete reciprocal e»|uality, and that ves- sels of all kinds built in the United States or Canada may b.' owned and sailed by the citi/.tms of the other, and be entitleil to registry in either coun- try, and to all the benefits thereto appertaining. The debate was kept up from day to day (exclusive of the UNRESTRICTED RECIPROCITY OF TRADE , Easter recess) until the 7tb of April, and the vote resulted as fol- lows : FOR KE<11'R0('ITY. Arayot. ArniHtrong. Bail: (Went worth). Bfirioii. Becliiircl. Bernier. J')Ounlen. liourasHa. Bowman. Hrien. Burdett. Cartwrij,'ht. ("asey. Casgrain. Charlton. Chouinard. Davies. De St (leorges. Desnaint. Doyon. Kdgar. Eiaenhauer. Ellis. Fiset. Fisher. Geotfrion. Gillmor. Godbout. Guay. Hale. Holton. Innes. Jones (Halifax). Kirk. Audet. Bahi (Soulanges). Baker. Bell. Bergeron. Bowell. Boyle. Browne. Burns. Cameron. Cargill. Carling. Carpenter. Caron. Chapleau. Chiaholm. Cimon, Tjanderkin. liang Langelier (Montmorency). Langelier ((^lebec). 1 iaurier. Lister, liivingston. Lovitt. Macilonald (Huron). McTntyre. McMillan (Huron). McMullen. Mills (Bothwell). Mitchell. Muloch. PaterFon (Brant). Berry, Piatt. PrefoutaiiK'. Kin fret. Kobertson. llowand. Ste. Marie. Scriver. temple. Somerville. Sutherland. Trow. Turcot. Watson. Weldon St. J(.hn). Welsh. Wilson (Elgin). Total-G7. AGAINST RECU'ROCITY. Cochrane. Cockburn. Colby. Corby. Costigan. ( 'Oughlin. Coulombe. Couture. Curran. Daly. Daoust. Davin. Davis, Dawson. DeniBon. Desaulniers. Desjardins, WITH THE UNITED STATES. . Dickinson. Dupont. Ferguson (Leeds and Grenville). Ferguson (llenfrew), Ferguson (Welland). Foster. Freeman. Gandet. Gigault. Girouard. Gordon. (Jrandbois. Guilbault, Guillet. Haggart. Hall. Henderson. Hesson. Hickey. Hudspeth. Ives. Jamieson. Joncas. Jones (I)igby). Kirkpatrick. Labelle. liabrosse. I^andry, Langevin. Tjaurie. Macdonald (SirJohn). Macdowall. McCarthy. McCulla. McDonald (Victoria). McDougald (IMctou). McDougall (Cape Brctou). Mc(4reevy. McKay. McKeen. McfiClan. McMillan (Vaudreuil). McNeill. Madill. Mara. Marshall. MasHon. Mills (Annapolis). Moffat. Montague. Montplaisir. O'Brien. TatterHon (lOssex). i'erley (Assiniboia). Perley (Ottawa). I'orter. l*rior. Putnam. Keid. Kiopel. liobillard. Koome. Ross. Royal. Rykert. Scarth. Shanly. Small. Smith (Ontario). Sproule, Stevenson. Taylor. Temple. Therien. Thompson. Tisdale. • Tupper (Pictou). Tyrwhitt. Vanasse. Wallace. Ward. Weldon (Albert). White (Card well). White (Renfrew). Wilmot. Wilson (Argeutenil). Wilson (licnnox). Wood (Brockville). Wood (Westmoreland). Wright. Total- 124. The pairs numbered eighteen, and were as follows FOU. Skinner. Beausoleil. Purcell. Cook. Choquette. Mackenzie. Flynn. Lavergne. Yeo. AGAINST. Baird. Kenny. Bergin. Bryson. Coursol, Pope. Sir Charles Tupj)er, Sir Donald Smith. Moncrief. 6 UNRESTRICTED RECIPROCITY OF TRADE A SHORT STORY OF OUR TRADE RP^LATIONS. For a pr()j)er imdorfltanding of the subject of our trade relatioiiH with the United States, along the Hne of the debate on Sir Richard Cartwright's resolution and its j)roposed amendments in the House of (vommons, it is desirable to know the history of those relations. It extends over many years, and the complete narrative would make a large volume, but for the present purpose it is only neces- sary to give some of the leading facts as they are found recorded in ollicial reports and papers. UNDER RESTRICTION. In the twelve years 1821-32 the United States records show that the exports of home products of the United States to the British North American provinces was $30,997,417, and of foreign products $403,909, making a total of $31,401,326, while the entire imports of the states from the pro- vinces in the same period was $7,(584,559. In the thirteen following years, 1833-45, there was a steady in- crease of the traffic, the value of exports of the states to the pro- vinces being $54,082,537 of home and $4,640,332 of foreign pro- ducts, while the value of imports from the provinces was $23,356,- 275. RESTRICTION RELAXED. In 1846 the United States succeed- ed in obtaining from Great Britain a relaxation of the old naviga- tion laws in regard to the colonies, along with which was adopted the international drawback system for the encouragement of over- land transportation to and irom the Atlantic without payment of duties. With the greater freedom of commerce thus procured the trade between the provinces and the states increased in volume rapidly. In the first year the Jiggregate trade was $9,344,150, in 1850 it was $15,193,497, and in 1853 it was $20,691,360— the total of the eight years 1846-53 being $113,846,106. Of this sum the states exported to the provinces home products to the value of $55,072,260, and foreign products to the value of $22,020,254, while the value of their imports from the provinces was $36,753,- 592.* UNDER RECIPROCITY. The reciprocity treaty was ratified in 1854, and was abrogated in 1866. It provided that the articles enumerated in the following list, being the growth and produce of * The statistics of tiie foreiioin^ paragraph.s are taken from the lueniorandum of Sir Edward Thornton and Hon. (Jeorpb Brown, drawn up while negntiatin}; a reciprocal treaty with the United States in lvS74. They were prepared from the otticial documents of the United States, and include the trade with Newfoundland. WITH THE UNITED STATES. 7 the provinces or of the Btates, Bhould be admitted into each coun- try rcHpectively free of duty : Grain, flour and brfadHtuffs of all kinds, AniuialH «>f all kindH. Fresh, nnioked and Halted nieatn. Cotton-wool, Heeds and \eKetaltlea. I^ndrit'd fruits and dried fruits. Fish of all kinds and products of all creatures living' in tlu' water. Poultry and e<,'g8. " Hides, furs, skins or tails, undressed. Stone or marble in its critde or unwrouKht state, and slate. Butter, cheese and tallow. Lard, horns and manures. Ores of metals of all kinds, and coal. IMtch, tar, turpentine and ashes. Timber and lumber of all kinds, round, hewed, sawed, unmanufactured, in whole or in part, and firewood. Plants, shrubs and trees. Pelts, wool and ra^'s. liice, broomcorn and bark. Gyi)sum, tfround or un^round. Hewn or wrought or unwrought burr or ^'rindstones. Dye ^tutfs. Flax, hemp and tow, \inmanufactured. Unmanufactured tobacco. The treaty went into operation in the provnuces in November, 1854, and in the United States in March, 1855, and it remained in force until March, 1866. During that period the provinces (including Newfoundland) imported from the United States goods to the value of $315,942,783, and the United States imported from the provinces goods valued at $339,503,542.* THE POLICIES COMPARED. It thus appears that the total volume of trade between the states and the provinces was in the first period (1821-32), $39,085,885 ; in the second period (1833-45), $82,079,144; in the third period (1846-53), $113,846,106; and in the fourth period ( 1855-66), $655,446,325. Comparing the periods by the yearly average volume of trade, we find that for the first period it was $3,257,157; for the second period, $6,313,780; for the third period, $14,230,763; and for the fourth, $54,620,527. ABROGATION OF THE TREATY. The first opposition to recipro- cal trade on the part of the United States began to be manifested after the passage of the Canadian tariff acts of 1858 and 1859, which measures were equally unpopular in the United States and in Great Britain, although, as was represented by Canadian ministers, they ^These statistics are taken from the Dominion Statistical Abstract and Record, ISHl, compiled from the niiport tables of the respective countries. 8 UNnKSTRTfTED REflPllOflTY OF TRADK won' frniuod for rovomip piiriMweR only, lint iiotwilliHtandiii^ llio ffM'lin^' of oppoHitioii aroiiH(Ml by our incrcHHti of cuHtoiiiH «liiti«'H on tMiiiiufnctun'd j)ro(liU'tK. tlui iistifuliHWH of the troaty in promoting' traih' l)('tw«»tMi tlu' provincoH and tlui stateH continiunl to 1m> a])pr(>- <'iateer goods, manufactun's of brass, copper, lead. tin. etc.. and altnost all our other manufactures it has been increased sixty-two and a half per cent. 'J'he injury thus inHicted upon our people is a\ow(!d by the Hon. A. T. Gait, the financial nnnister of Canada, to be "nosubjt'ct of regret to the Canadian government." The tariff of which Mr. Gait speaks with so much comi)la*;ency extingnislied the trade of our frontier cities with C^anada in their own manufacture*. Many manu- facttiring establishments on our side dismissed their workmen and were closed, and many were removed to Canada in order to avoid the payment of duty on their i)roductions.* But the committee hesitated to recommend any extreme or harsh mojisure with a view to counteract Canadian policy, and on the subject of reprisal they sfiid (p. 21): Commercial retaliatiim is justified by the highest authorities and prece- dents, but oidy when it is the best course towards the desired end. It is not always the shortest or safest road to our objects. As in a war of arms, so also in a war of legislation, the influence of reason is diminished. Passion and ])rejudice are excited, and «)ften, in pursuit of a temporary and doubtful gratification, we comu-.it lasting and incurable evils. It may turn friends into enemies, and strengthen our opponents. As in the common business of life, and in reference to conflicts of any kind, so also on this occasion, some effort at negotiation shoxild be made before recourse is had to hostilities. A friendly feeling assists negotiation, and in this case more than half the per- manent value of victory is in the sentiment of concord, if for no other rea- son than tliat moral forces have great material power. Besides, there is a difference of oi>init)n among oiirselves as to the justice of retaliaticm, but from one end of oar frontier to the other there is nracticalli/ no dij^'crcncc of opinion ax to the object to be (/dined for the mutual benefit of Canada and our- »eh'm~ a reriprocitii of commerce not only in name hut in substance, (/irinif -neither part j/ the rantaffc [/round. It was farther argued by the committee that the various parts of the American continent, like those of the human body, are wonder- * Report on the Reciprocity Treaty with Great Britain, 1801-2, vol. 3, No. 2, p, 19 37th conj^ress. WITH TIIK UNITKl) STATKS, 9 fully adaptcMl to «'acli otiior. "Tho ilitTrront portioiiH of tlu» con- tiuont," t ho report said, "ilo not profitably adiuitof {•oniiiuMcial Hoparatioii, aiul tht^ principlo of imroHtrictotl coiumon'ial iiitorcoiirs*' withtho Uritisli North American pohhohkIouh haw boon approwd aliko by free traders aud protet'tionintH at all poriods of our national ex- isteuco." And a^ain (p. 23-4) the eoaunitteo .said: The provinces may he waid to !)<> forfiiru ctnuitiies, hut each of them Ih leH^4 distant from the United State** tlian many of our own states are from each other; and, while i*rovidene« hits thus nuule us nei^rhhors, and by the inileu- tations of our rt^spective territories has rendered mutual rij,'ht.s of tn'usit al- most necessary to hoth, it has also ^dven to us as iiortlu'ru and southern nations s«) ;,'reat a variety of climate and productions as t^ rentier us capable of conferring upon each other such benetils as we cannot estinuite t«)o higtdy. The timber, wheat and other grains, water j>.'.wr .vnd fish- eries of the provinces, furnish abundant material of beueliciai ■ .xclian;,'e for the corn, cott()n, tobacco, coffee, Hu<,'ar, fruits and mineral wealth of the more Houthern portions of this continent. With full d» ■ lopM^nt of t' ^s*- material interests, social relations and the beneticial i..i,t-rchanj,'e I ideas will increase, [t was an object worthy of Kuropeau statesir ii, and hon- orable to history by endeavoring *'* substitute between Fnuice and Ln^'jand tl e rea.ities of j>eace and those triie and mutxial interests which, when understood, are always found to be harmonious, for the memories of false L;lory and "a policy founded upon war, con(]uest, expenditure and patronage." To iis a wiuei and clearer ttehl is open on a new continent. We and the British pro- vinces, young as natio".s, are comparatively unimpecL'd by petty inteiests and hostile traditions. A policy based upon the best and surest founda- tion will grow with our growth and strengthen as we become stronger. The traveller on our joint frontier has been acciistomed to see our forts in ruins or without garrisons. The standing armies of Kurope are com- puted to include more than o, 000,000 of men, withdrawn permanently from jiroductive pursuits. Less than 20,000 men have hitherto sutticed for defence on both sides of our frontier. . . Free interconunuidcation and the great material interests of our continent are, under a wise guid- ance, the true medium for its government. Instead of garrisons and armies, our ijolicy should Ye to substitute those mutual interests and <[uiet forces by means of which each individual, even when he seeks only his own personal welfare, is, perhaps luiconsciously, subserving the great decrees of Providence. But no change was made in the Canadian tariff to meet Amer- ican views, and this formed almost the sole ground of action by the United States congress in abrogating the treaty, the joint resolution of both houses declaring that — Nearly all articles which Canada has to sell are admitted into the United States free of duty, while heavy duties are now imposed upon many of those articles which the people of the United States have to sell, with the inten- tion of excluding them from the Canadian markets. The feeling entertained of the treaty in Canada, however, con- tinued to be generally satisfactory as long as it remained in oper- 10 UNRESTRICTED RKCIPllOCITY OF TRADE ation, and the good purposes which it served were clearly set forth in a report on the subject by the Macdonald-Dorion government, as shown by the following extract: It would be impossible to express in figures, with any approach to ac- curacy, the extent to which the facilities of commercial intercourse, created by the reciprocity treaty, have contributed to the wealth and prosperity of this province ; and it would be difficult to exag^^erate the imi)ortance which tne people of Canada attach to the continued enjoyment of these facilities. Nor is the subject entirely devoid of political significance. Under the beneficent operations of the system of self-government which the later policy of the mother country has accorded to Canada, in com- nion with the other colonies possessing representative institutions, com- bined with the advantages secured by the reciprocity treaty of an unre- stricted commerce with our nearest neighbors in the natural productions of the two countries, all agitation for organic changes has ceased all dissatisfaction with the existing political relations of the province has wholly disappeared.* The quieting of discontent and dissatisfaction such hb existed in the country for four or five years preceding the treaty, which this report mentions as one of the happy results of improved trade facilities with our neighbors, is valuable evidence bearing on an jispect of the question often commented on at the present time. Instead of creating a desire among Canadians for closer political relations with tlie people of the United States, it is shown that after ten years of the freer intercourse afforded by the reciprocity treaty all dissatisfaction with the political relations of the province had wholly disappeared. AN ASSERTION OF RIQHTS. Reference has been made to the un- popularity of the Canadian tariff acts of 1858 and 1859 in Great Britain, and the record of the relations between the colonial office and the Canadian government, growing out of the pfissagc of those acts, was never more deserving of study and consideration than at the present time. In August, 1859, the Duke of Newcastle con- veyed to the Governor- General of Canada his intention of distal- lowing an act of the legislature for the inflicting of certain dis- abilities on United States shipping; and in reference to the tariff act, against which strong protests were made by British manufac- turers, he wrote during the same month as follows : Whenever the authenticated act of the Canadian parliament on this sub- ject arrives, I may probably feel that I can take no other course than signify * From a report of a committee of the honorable the Executive Council of Canada, approved by his excellency the (Sovernor-General, on the l»th February, 1804: Soh- sional papers, 1866, No. 26. The Macdonald-Dorion admiiiiNtration was defeated on the 21st of March following, and no further action appears to have been taken on its report. WITH THE ITNITKI) STATES. 11 to ycm the (Queen's assent to it, notwithstanding the objections raised ai,'ain8t the law in this country ; but I consider it luy duty, no lenH to the coh»ny than to the mother country, to express my regret that the experience of England, which hjis fully proved the injurious effect of the protection system, and the advantage of low duties on maiuifacture.s, both as regards trade and revenue, should be lost sight of, and that such an act as the i)re8ent should have been passed. * In reply to this despatch a vigorous memorandum was draNvn up by Mr. (Sir Alexander) (lalt, the finance minister. Referring to the half-concealed threat of disallowance, he wrote as follows : From expressions used by his grace in reference to the sanction of the provincial customs act it would appear that he had even entertained the suggestion of disallowance, and though happily her majesty has not been so advised, yet tlie le and trustworthy. And I say that in the preliminary negotiations between the Hon. Mr. Rose and Mr. Secretary Fish it was agreed that the manufactures of both countries should be ad- mitted duty free, and hon. gentlemen cannot deny it. . . If the hon. gentlemen preserve silence and refuse t(» answer, I have, as I said before, information from such a source as to have no doubt of its correctness, that it was the intention of the government to include the manufactures of the United States in the preliminary agreement for reciprocal trade, and as I could not get that information from the governn.'ent I have been compelled to present it to the house, f * Appoidix 2 to Journals, 1858. i Pa'-li'»uientary Debates, Dominion of Canada, 1870, Vol. I, pp. 453-6. Wnil THE iJNlTKl) STATES. 15 Tlio nearest approach to a denial of this statement was nuule by the finance minister, Sir Francis Hincks, but it was not a specific denial. Mr. Huntington said with confidence that the minister could not make such a denial, adding that " he had received infor- mation from such a source that he did not think a specific denijd of the broad fact could be made." Sir John Macdonald's statement was virtually an admission of the {iccuracy of Mr. Huntington's in- formation (m the subject. '' Thehon. mimater of finance," he said, " had informed the house that the communications were altogether of an unotticial and ccmfideutial character. . . The hon. minister of finance would bo guilty of a breach of honor and dereliction of duty as minister, as statesman and as a man if he revejiled confiden- tial communications, unless he had the consent of those who were parties to it." An explicit denial has never been given to Mr. Huntington's allegation that the Canadian government had favored reciprocity in manufactures with the United States, and Sir John Macdonald and his colleagues have frequently been challenged on the subject in parliament. It was thus referred to by Hon. Oeorge Brown in his speech in the senate on the reciprocity negotiations of 1874: More than one effort was made by the late government for the renewal of the old treaty between 18G() and 1 %9. In iHi'A) formal neffotiations were enter;'d into with tlie American government, and the projet of a treaty was presented for discussion. The negotiations continued from July, 1^<1)9, to March, 1870. This projct included the cession for a term of years of our fisheries to the Ihiited States, the enlargement and enjoyment of our canals, the free enjoyment of the navigation of the St. Lawrence river, the assimi- lation of our customs and excise duties, the concessicm of an import duty ec^ual to the internal revenue taxes of the Ignited States, and the free admis- sion into either country ot certain manufactures of the other. This nego- tiation ended abruptly in March, 1870.* SIR ALEXANDER GALT'S VIEWS. One of the leading members of the house who took part in the debate on Mr. Huntington's motion for customs' union was Sir Alexander Gait, who offered an amendment representing that the increasing population and pro- ductions of the Dominion demanded more extensive markets and a more unrestricted interchange of commodities with other coimtries, and asserting the expediency of obtaining from the imperial gov- ernment fill necessary powers to enable the government of the Do- minion to enter into direct communication for such purpose with British possessions and foreign states. Speaking tt) his amend- ment, Sir Alexander Gait said: I believe from one end of the D«nninion to the other every reasonable and intelligent man recognises the fact that the freer access we have t<» the mar- Life and Speeches of Hoti. George Brown, p. 350. 'fr^.HVf-- 16 UNRESTRICTED REC'lPKOt.'ITY OF TRADE kets ot the Ijnited States, the better it will be for us. The remarks we have heard in this house wholly pointed in thi^ direction. . . Now, sir, as I am referring to the (juestion of trade with the Ignited States, I would not for one moment allow it to be supposed, when I say what ought to be our attitude in this matter, that I do not fully recognise the importance of endeavoring at the earlie't i)088ible day to extend free trade relations again with the Iniited States. If 1 take the interests of the several provinces —take for in- stance the interests of the province of Ontario can any one desire anything else than that their white wheat, their barley, their lumber, their cattle and a great variety of other things should go free into the United States, their best and moat convenient market ? Can any one say that it would be less advantageous to the province of Ontario that sucli should be the state of things rather than what obtains now ? Certainly it must be that free access to the American market woidd be better, and pro tantn what would be bet- t«r for Ontario would un([uestionably be so for the other i)rovinces. . . Well, sir, imder the circumstances I think there can be no doubt as to the desirability of having free trade with the United States, and 1 contend that with these considerations before us we shoidd not take any course that will tend to postpone free trade beyond he earliest possible day. and I tell hon. gentlemen that any change in the policy of this country in regard to duties upon American jn-oduce, anything in the way of retaliation is a most unwise and unstatesmanlike policy to adoj)t. . . I contend, .^ir, that foreign trade is essential to this country. We have not a market within ourselves for all our productions ; we must send theui to foreign countries, and this foreign trade will give employment to our marine. , . I advocate a tariff for revenue purposes only ; the development of our foreign trade as rapidly as we can do it, and as soon as possible after the sanction and ap- proval of the imperial government is obtained.* Sir Alexander Gait's proposaJs were endorsed bv Mr. Macken- zie, and were cordially supported by the Liberal members of the house. THE BROWN-FISH TREATY. Following the Washington treaty for the settlement of the Alabama claims and the fisheries (pies- tion, the next effort to promote trade relations between Canada and the United States was made in 1874, when Hon. George Brown represented our country on the Commission appointed for that purpose — Sir Edward Thornton representing Great Britain, and Secretary Fish the United States. At the first interview the United States representative suggested an enlargement of the scope of the treaty of 1854, partly in the direction of facilitating the transportation of products from the western States to the At- lantic seaboard, and partly by the addition of certain classes of manufactures to the free list of the old treaty, and a draft treaty was finally agreed upon. It contained ten propositions, the chief of which were : ( 1 ) Admission duty free of certain natural and manufactured products; (2) Throwing open to each other, recip- rocally by both countries, the coasting trade of the great lakes •^ Parliamentary Debates, Dominion of Canada, Vol. I, pp. 670-B. WITH THK UNITED STATES. 17 ^-^>:x and the St. Lawrence river; (3) Concession on equal terms of the use of the Canadian, New York aud Michigan canals, and (4) Reciprocal admission of vessels built in either country to all the advantages of registry in the other. Nearly all kinds of agricul- tural implements were placed on the free list, together with the folk)wing articles of other manufactures: Axlea, of all kinds; boots and shoes, of leather; boot and shoemakinj? macbines ; bntfalo robes, dressed and trimmed ; cotton grain-bags ; cotton denims ; cotton jeans, unbleached ; cotton drillingB, unbleached ; cotton plaids ; cotton tickings ; cottonades, unbleached ; cabinet ware and ftirni- ture, or parts tliereof ; carriages, carts, wagons and other wheeled veliicles or sleighs, or i)arts thereof; tire-engines, or paits thereof; felt covtring for boilers ; gutta percha belting and tubing ; iron— bar, hoop, pig, pud- dled, rod, sheet or scrap ; iron nails, spikes, bolts, tacks, brads or springs ; iron castings ; india rubber belting and tubit)g ; U)comotives for railways, or ])art8 thereof; lead sheet or pig; leather -sole or \ipper ; leather - harness and saddlery ; mill or factory or steamboat fixed engines and ma- chines, or parts thereof ; manufactures of marble, stone, slate or granite ; manufactures of wood solely, or of wood nailed, bound, hinged or locked with metal materials ; mangles, washing machines, wringing machines and drying machines, or parts thereof ; printing paper for newspapers ; paper- making machines, or parts there(^f ; printing ty]>e, i)resses and folders, paper cutters, ruling machines, and stereotyping and electrotyping aj)- paratus, or parts thereof ; refrigei'ators or parts thereof ; railroad cars, carriages and trucks, or i)arts thereof ; satinets of wool and cotton ; steam engines or parts thereof ; steel, wrought or cast, and steel plates and rail ; tin tubes and piping ; tweeds, of wool solely ; water-wheel ma- chines and ai)paratus, or parts thereof.* These articles, Mr. Brown explained in his speech in the senate, were selected with a triple object : ( 1 ) that they should be articles of common daily use among the people, or affecting the prosecu- tion of our leading industries ; ( 2 ) that they should be of such a character as to be difficult to smuggle across the lines Jind easy of identification as the genuine production of Canada or the United States ; and (3) that they should be as far as possible the produc- tion of branched of industry natural to Canada and the United States, and in which a considerable inter-traffic between the two countries might reasonably be expected. t It was understood, however, that any article, made free in Canada under agreement with any foreign country must be made free to Great Britain.;}; The treaty fell through, owing to the failure of the United States' senate to ratify it, the draft having been submitted to that body only two days before the close of the session, when it was quite " iMeinoranduni of the Britit-h Pienipotentiaries, p. 45. t Life and Speechei of Hon. (Jeorjfe Brown, p. 39anada admitted free of duty into the ])orts of the other — an immense development of commerce would result. HOME MARKETS. The home nuirkets of a people are not nec- essarily those of the country in which they dwell : they are the markets nearest and most accessible to the place of production. Now, to the great majority of Canadians, and especially to the populations of Ontario and Quebec, the markets of the great Ameri- can cities are within easy reach. On an average they are within five hours' rail of the American frontier, and within twelve or fif- teen hours' rail of New York, Boston and Philadelphia. Make trade between the two countries free and those great cities would become our home markets, as much as Toronto and Montreal, more speedily reached from these provinces than from Ohio, Indiana or Illinois. And, as Sir Richard Cartwright has pointed out, the United States is one of the most rapidly growing markets in the world, having grown in twenty-five years from 30,000,000 to 60,- 000,000 of consumers, and the population of its great cities is one of the very richest on the face of the earth. " There is no popula- tion in the world," he said, "keen bargainers though the the Amer- icans are no doubt, with whom it is so desirable to establish free trade relations for the agriculturists of any country, as it is with the population of the great American cities. It is perfectly well known to all who are familiar with that people that there is no market on the face of the earth where the man who has a first-rate article, particularly of food, to sell, is half so sure of obtaining a first-rate price for it as in the United States. Nowhere have I known men who spend so lavishly on their own personal living and for their own personal comfort as the great millionaires, and for that matter the general bulk of the population of the great cities of the United States."* A home market of such customers is one of the greatest boons the Canadian producer could obtain. They are at our very door. We can talk to them through the telephone. A few hours' journey at the most will bring us face to face with * House of Commons' Debates, 1888, p. 167 WITH THE UNITED STATES. 21 Ihem, aiul in tUMilinj^ with Ihoni wo hIjoiiKI lniv(> the uclvjintago of knowing thoroughly whiit tlicy wunt to buy. OUR TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATES. Ah shown by United States tnulo returns, the imports from CunadH for 1885(5 (ending June 80) was l$:J7,a04,0()0, and for 188(5-7 lii!37,847,(UM), making J$Cr),151,()()() for both years. Tliey took in botli years 2(),r)-4(),(HU) bushels of our barley', valued at Si;},:i4(5,(MM) ; 17(),2(M) tons hay, li;l,824,()()() ; l,2()(5,(Mi() bushels pease and beans, S],()82,(KM) ; 4(5,(5(37 horses, .Sr),:]8(),0(M) ; <)5,400 cattle, l$l, 87.5,000 ; 815,417 sheep, .$2,188,000 ; 28,14!),000 dozen eggs, .$3,825,000 ; tish, $4,455,(M)0 : coal, (525,440 tons, ii?2,157,00() : gypsum, 257,878 tons, .$275,574 ; copper ore, .$520,000 ; lumber, $1(5,84(5,000; and fruit, $472,000. Of these articles, fruit, eggs and gypsum are free, as well as ani- mals imported for breeding purposes, and fresh lish. The others are dutiable, the rate on animals being 20 ])er cent., on l)arley 10 cents per bushel, on hay .$2 per ton, on wood an average of 20 per cent., on potatoes 15 cents per bushel, on beans and pease 10 per cent., and on coal and iron ore 75 cents per ton. WHO PAYS THE DUTY? The question of who pays the duty on those products when imported into the United States has been answered bv Sir John Macdonald as follows : I find that the farniers of West Canada and EaHt Canada coald not un- derstand there wan anything in tlieir l)atley, for instance, heinj,' obliged to pay a duty of 15 per cent. \\\Mn going into the United States, whereas the produce of the American farmers was allowed to be brought into this coun- try free. It is said the consumer pays the duty, and that the farmer does not suffer anything. That is the statement, but, when I put a simple case, which I have done freiiuently, 1 can get no answer. I put a case in the East- ern townships of a man upon the imaginary line which was between this country and the United States. Suppose a man has 100 acres on the Cana- dian side of the line and 100 acres on the American side of the line. Sup- pose he grows 1,000 bushels of barley on each of his farms. He takes his 1,000 American bushels to the American market and gets one dollar a bushel for it. He takes his 1,000 bushels of Canadian barley to the American mar- ket and gets but 85c. per bushel, because he has to pay 15 per cent, for tak ing it across that imaginary line. How can it, in this case, be said that the consumer pays the duty ? It comes out of the pockets of the Canadian farmers.* Sir David Macpherson also gave his view of the question in a speech at Walkerton, in 1878, as follows : There is a very simple i*ule by which every man can ascertain for himself who pays the duty on almost every article. If we produce that which our neighbors have not, and which they must buy from us, we can put our own price upon it, and leave them to pay the duty imposed by their govem- * House of Commons Debates, 1878, p. 86l. UNUKSTKICTEn UEC^lPROC'lTY OF TIIADE iiiont. In that caso tlie conHnmer unquentionaMy ])avn the duty. But our nuiKhltorK aud ourHelveH produce siiniUir cumnuxUtieH, and our |>ro- (hicer« have to compete with their producers. On their way to the American market our producers have to patM through the American iHiHtom houHe and pay the iVnierican duty, and when they reach the market they can obUiin no more for their conunodities than the American producer who payH no (hity. . . SupiMwe a farmer in this country takeH Hve horweH vahied at $100 each to Detroit to Hell. The duty on horses in the United States is 20 per cent., which the (*anadian farmer must pay before he can enter the De- troit market. That is he must pay $20 for each horse, and on his Hve horses }?100, or the value of one horse at the Ignited States custom house befon? he can take them to the market. Then he will get no more than a Michigan farmer will get for five etiually g(M)d horses. vSuppo*r cent, last year (1877), which was applied t»» tiie purchase of additional machinery. 2. An exteuHive woollen factory, with a capital of .'|>180,000 : gross profits (Inrinu: tlie ])aHt year ten per cent. li. Tiar^e woollen factory : profits on capital last year six per cent. 4. Ftmndry v i a capital of .S1H0,0()0 : no profit on fixed capital last year owin^f to had deu .?. and keen corauetition ; the measure of protection they had enjoyed had undnly stiinulatea the industry, and the business was over- done. 5. Hosiery establishment in the west : too much home competition and business overdone ; i)rotits last year six per cent. <). Another hosiery estaolishment : tra«le fairly good ; profits on capital last year eight per cent. 7. Extensive sewing machine maker : not running on full time ; satisfied last year with interest on investment. 8. Agricultural implement maker in the west : making reaper harvesters and various machines ; past ten months the busiest ever known ; exporting largely to Great Britain, Australia and South Africa ; export trade rapidly increasing. 9. Another agricultural implement maker in the west : a larger and more profitable business last year than ever before ; profits satisfactory and wants no more protection. 10. Large foundry in the west : business improving ; jmifits last year twenty i)er cent. ; too much home competition. 11. Agricultural implement maker : building 1,500 reapers ; profits last year twenty-three per cent ; more protection would damage his business. 12. Agricvdtural implement maker : business increasing rapidly ; export- ing 400 machines ; i)rofit last year twenty per cent, on sales and forty per cent, on capital. 13. Agricultural implement maker : wants no more protection ; profits on capital last year not less than twenty per cent. 14. James Noxon, of Ingersoll, agricultural implement maker : '* The pro- fits of this company last year, after making ample provision for bad and doubtful debts, were twentp-eight per cent, on the paid-up capital stork: Our usual profits were over thirtii per cent. . . There never was a more absurd cry than that manufacturers are languishing for want of protection, while the fact is the manufacturing industries, not including lumber, are to day more prosijerous than any other of the great industries of the country, with the possible exception of agriculture. It may safely be said, generally, that the manufacturers of Canada are as prosperous as are the manufacturers of any country in the world at the present time." * House of Commons Debates. 1878, pp. 913-14. 24 UNRE.ST1UCTKD RKCIPIIOCITY OF TRADE In summing up the reports of the various establishments, Mr. Charlton said that six had made profits of twenty per cent, and up- wards ; two others he felt justified in saying exceeded twenty per cent. ; two reported ten per cent ; six reported profits of six to eight per cent. ; one reported profits reduced as compared with for- mer years ; and only two reported that they had made no dividend. Under the restrictive policy so much capital was put into the favored industries that in a short time th3 home competition be- came too keen, and many failures occurred and capital was lost until relief was found in adoj)ting the plan of " combines." In this way home competition was avoided, the restrictive policy was suc- cessful in keeping up the prices of products, and the whole body of c(msumers in the country were forced to pay tribute to the favored industries. And hence in large measure the present distress affect- ing the great natural industries of the country, the discontent of our people, the exodus to the United States, and the wide -spread desire for radicjd changes in our commercial relations with the United States. THE EXODUS FKOM CANADA. na- The position of Canada, alongside a great and prosperous tion of the same race, and possessing similar institutions, leaves her peculiarly susceptible to the attractions of the larger and wealthier country. Colonial life is not usually favorable for the growth of patriotic sentiment, and attachments to the soil take root slowly. The spirit of migration takes ready hold of the people, and the slightest cause of discontent often induces removals from one neighborhood to another, and from one state or province to another. Among the old nations of Europe, where racial distinc- tions are historic and family traditions are handed down from gen- eration to generation, changes of citizenship are of rare occurrence. The German seldom leaves his own kinsmen to settle among French- men, or Russians, or Spaniards ; and so with men of all the na- tions. When they leave homeland at all it is usually to seek a home in the new world. But here in America the conditions are different. The Anglo-Saxon race possesses the continent, and to the vast majority of its inhabitants migration means only a change from one community of kinsmen to another. As long as people are prosperous and well governed they are not disposed to break up old associations ; but let business stress prevail or misgovernment creep in, and men speedily become unsettled, and movements of population begin. Hence in our country in particular, the im- portance of having w^se and prudent rulers, stable government I WITH THE UNITED STATES. 25 just julininiHtnitioii of the laws, an bonorablo regard for institu- tions and tlie rights of minorities, and a public policy tliat favors no class, or occupation, or industry at the exjjense of any others. LOSING OUR PEOPLE. *")ir Richard Cartwright has conclusively shown in his speecli ou our trade relations that in the twenty-five years from 1861 to 1886 one in every four of the native born population of Canada has been compelled to seek a home in a foreign country, and that of all the immigrants whom we have im- ported at great cost three out of four have been compelled to fol- low in the track of that native born population. The reports of of the United States census show that in 1860 there were 249,000 men of Canadian birth in the United States, that in i870 the number had increased to -lOO,!)!)!), and that in 1880 it had gone up to 712,000. Now the death rate must have caused a loss of this population in that interval of time of very nearly 200,000, so that the total number of Canadii'ms who left their own countrv to settle in the United States was not less than 660,000. How nianv have gone since 1880 cannot be accurately ascertained ; but in Ontario, where a municipal enumeration is made every year, it- is almost absolutely certain that not less than 270,000 have gone out. The exodus from the other provinces has also been going on without abatement, and in the opinion of the best informed men there are now about one million of native Canadians in the United States who found a temj^orary home in our country, in the several provinces of the Dominion numbered 684,000 in 1861, while in 1881 they numbered only 610,000, although in the interval about 520,000 immigrants had settled in the country ac- cording to the reports of the minister of agriculture. Allowing for loss by death at the common rate it is clear that about 360,000 of them must have left our country during those twenty years, while since that time there is no reason to believe that the exodus of this class of citizens has met with any check. It is as clearlv estab- lished as any fact can be by the reports of the department of agriculture and the census that in the five years from 1881 to 1886 Manitoba and the Northwest territories lost of Canadian and foreign born settlers more than 100,000 souls.* A COMPARISON. But it is said by the friends of the govern- ment — it was said by Hon. Mr. Foster in his speech on Sir liichard And as with the native born, so with the immigrant class The foreign born * In Massachusetts at the census of 1S80 there were 116,603 native Canadians, and at the census of 1SS5 the number was increased to 144,4r)9, of wliom 64,50;} were of Frencii orijrin. Allowinjj for deaths, the accession in the five years must liave been fully 30,000. Natives of New Brunswick increased from 1"2,6(>6 to 16,449, and natives of Nova Scotia from 29,307 to 40,889. 26 UNRESTRICTED RECIPROCITY OF TRADE Curtwright's motion — that between 1873 and 1879 a larger popu- lation went out from Canada than has gone out in as many years since. Mr. Foster asserted this to be the fact, and challenged proof to the contrary. Here again there is a difficulty of deciding the issue by exact figures, unless we take those given in the returns of United States customs officers, and these show that in the later period the number of Canadians arriving in the United States was an enormously larger number than in the earlier period. But we have the municipal enumerations of Ontario, and these prove the case conclusively against the contention of Mr. Foster. They show that in the seven years 1872-79 the population of the province increased by 251,000, or 17| percent.; whereas in the seven years 1879-86 it increased by only 145,500, or 8| per cent.; although in the latter period the number of immigrants reported to have settled in the province was 32,300 more than in the former. Our yearly growth by natural increment is at least two per cent., and at that rate the increase in the seven years 1879-86 should be 234,000. To this add the 208,000 reported by the immigration department to have settled in the province and we have a total increase of 442,- 000. But the actual increase was only 145,000, showing that in the interval we lost very nearly 300,000 souls. CANADIAN FARMERS IN MICHIGAN. The report of the Michigan Bureau of Labor for 1887 contains a table compiled from the as- sessment returns of municipalities, giving the number of farmers in each to^vn by nationalities, the amount of money brought by for- eiigners on arrival, and the assessed valuation of farms by national- icies. There are 1,135 towns in the state, but only 646 have given sta- tistics which could be tabulated by the Bureau of Labor. In those 646 towns it appears that there are 8,225 farmers who are natives of Canada, that they brought ^2,110,000 with them to the state, and that the assessed value of their farms is $10,784,000. Assum- ing each of these farmers to hold 120 acres, there are enough of them to occupy the whole of the counties of Kent and Esssx, or the whole of Wellington and Waterloo, or the whole of York and Ontario. And if it be assumed that there are as many Canadian farmers in the other townships of the state, proportionally, as in those for which statistics are given, there are enough of them at 120 acres each to occupy the whole of the counties of Kent, Elgin, Norfolk and Haldimand, or the whole of York, Ontario, Durham and Northumberland. Such, in part, is the result of a policy which in twenty years has trebled the debt of this Dominion, trebled its taxes, and legislated continuously in the interests of sections and parties and political WITH THE UNITED STATES. 27 supporters, instead of for the common good of the whole people. A change of policy is not only desirable, but it is an absolute neces- sity if we are to become a nation ; and amongst other reforms there must be a chance of appeal to the people on a fair division of the constituencies, with honest returning officers, ^vithout the scale weighted against us with grants for piers, harbors, bridges and railway branches, and every form of political influence to help one political party in the state and hurt another. WHAT THE PROPOSITION DOES NOT INVOLVE. One of the principal objections urged against a policy of unre- stricted trade with the United States is that we cannot afford to lose all the revenue which we derive from the customs duties that we obtain from American imports, and that it forces us to levy direct taxes on the people. This ignores an obvious way out, viz., that there is enormous room for economy in our present administration of the revenue. Sir Richard Cartwright's opinions on this aspect of the question are entitled to great weight. Speaking to his re- solution in the House of Commons, he said : I wish to face this (juestion fairly and 8([uarely. I do not, for my part, pre- tend to tell this house that if we obtain immediately free and unrestricted intercourse with the Ignited States, there mijjht not be some temporary in- convenience accruing in the matter of revenue. But, sir, I have this to point out : this proposition of mine does not involve the addition of one cent or one farthing to the burdens of the people, but much the contrary. We do not pi opose, sir, as some have proposed in discussing schemes for the future of Canada, to add many millions a year to our annual expenditure. We are not talking, sir, at this present moment of raising .S.S7, 000,000 in place of $30,000,000. We are simply talking of raising !S;iO, 000,000 by a small alter- ation in the mode of taxation, and by a re-adjustment of taxation in general I repeat it is possible, though not by any manner of means inevitable or necessary, that you may have to alter your mode of collection. It is not necessary, in the slightest degree, that you should add one penny to the total aggregate burdens of the people, but the contrary. ... 1 desire to point out that the fundamental fact, for fact it is, on which this whole argument is based, is this : Give us free and unrestricted intercourse with the ITnited States, and by that act you enormously increase the whole income of the vast majority of the i>eople of Canada. You will enable them, and as I be- lieve almost instantaneously, almost within year and day, to buy a great (luantity of goods which they cannot now buy, a large proportion of which will be dutiable goods ; and by consequemte there is good and sound ground, if you admit my preliminary fact to be true, for saying that it is altogether likely that the remaining taxef; will yield quite as much as those we now have in our artificially restricted system. But bear in mind that iu> increase of taxation whatever iseontemflatcd ; all that is required is a simple rc-adjust- ment. . . , \^e will suppose, for argument's sake, that we have to face this bugbear of direct taxation — direct taxation, be it remembered, not for all revenue, but for & trilling portion of it alone. Now, sir, I have to call the 28 UNRESTRICTED RECIPROCITY OF TRADE attention of the house in that connection to certain important facts. First of all, no man who has paid any attention to this subject will dare deny the fact, which I think is recognised by every political economist, that direct taxation properly levied takes a great deal less out of the pocket of the peo- ple than indirect taxation ; most of all than indirect taxation levied as our system (»f indirect taxation is levied now. Sir, I desire to say that, in my jidtfjment, we onyht not, I do not think this government would dare, I do not think any other porerjnnent would wish, to add by ifirtct taxation, one fartldn(j or one penny to the taxes that now press most heavily on the a;/rienltia'al classes, on the ^fishermen, on the miners, on the luinhei'inen, on all the qreat proditciny classes in this community, I shall be prepared to ])rove in some detail, at the ))roper place and time, that among the many faults with which our system abounds, perhaps the greatest is this : that under it the hard-working, in- dustrious, thrifty man is taxed enormously and out of all proportion to his earnings ; and I say that with a system of direct taxation, if you must have recourse to it, although I doubt greatly whether you need with proper econo- my have recourse to it, that crying injustice must be redressed, and the res- pectable, well-to-do monied classes must be made to pay their fair proportion fand no more "hould be asked) to the burdens of the country. This i)ropor- tion they most assuretlly do not contribute today, and never will, vmder a system of purely direct taxation. Further, we should bear in mind, as these hon. gentlemen are so intensively desirous of copying English pi-e- cedents, that is the system of the mother country in a very high degree ; and if that precedent be followed here two very good results will accrue. First of all, sir, you will remove that crying injustice of which I spoke, and by which the poor man contributes out of all proportion today, out of his scanty means, to the sui)port of our government ; and in the next ])lace, you will produce this other admirable result, that you will give all these respectable well-to-do, monied men a keen practical interest in watching the ])ublic expenditure and checking extravagance. You will do more, (if it must be done) by that means than by any other to create a sound, whole- some, healthy public opinion, the want of which is so great an evil to ('anada today. I dwell on this more especially because T am aware that, at this very moment, there are certain persons, presumably in the interest of the hon. gentlemen opposite, who are losing no opportimity to impress upon the farmers of this country in particular, that if we get unrestricted reciprocity with the ITnited States the federal revenues will have to be raised by direct taxati(m, levied in the same way as the municipal taxes are to-day. 1 for one ivill protest to the uttermost of my power against any such injuf>''.::e ; I for one declare here, speaking on my responsibility in my ])lace in parliament, speaking with a knowledge of the subject, that our present system is monstrously unjust to the i)oor man and altogether too favorable to the rich man, and that that injustice ought to be redressed, not by adding to the burden of the farmer, the laborer, the artisan, the mechanic, the fisherman, the miner, the lumberman, but by removing the burdens from these classes and placing them upon the shoulders on which by right they ought to fall. It is almost too ridiculous. Here we are, here we have been, adding mil- lions a year to the taxes of this country without the slightest regard to the permanent welfare of the people ; and we are told forsooth, that although we may, without the least injury to the community, add many millions a year to our taxation, we must not alter the mode of collection one hair's breadth under penalty of producing the most terrible results. One is tempted to remember Oxenstein's old saying : " Qnam parra sapientia mundnsguber- natur." Why, if one-cjuarter of what I have heard be true, the pickings and stealings wrung by half-a-dozen combines from the people would more than etjual any sum which it may be necessary to raise by direct taxation. WITH THE UNITED STATES. 29 . WIDER TRADE DEMANDED BY OUR FARMERS. Hon. A. G. Jones of Hjilifax, who moved the amendment to the resolutions in favour of reciprocity in the coasting trade and the re- gistration of vessels, spoke as follows on the interest of farmers in pnxjuriug free trade relations with the United States : In a country like ours the farmers should not only live but they should jirosper, and if you take from them by placing heavy taxes on the products of their industry, while they live they cannot make any accumidations for their old age. These may not have a direct effect, and many a man is day by day wondering why he does not do better and why the ])resent times are so different to the old times when we had reciprocity with the United States. The farmer raises as many potatoes, and as many cattle, he catches more fish, and yet he is compelled to ask himself the question after a year's hard toil is over : Why are we in a different position to- day from what we were during the time the reciprocity treaty was in operation ? The answer is obvious. During reciprocity he had nocess to the American market, and everything rushed to that market. Our ])otatoes found a market in the States- there is no other market for them. The potatoes of Prince Edward Island, which is one of their chief crops, found a niarket there— there is no other market for them. At the present mo- ment those i)otatoes are taxed 15 cents a bushel. If you estimate that an acre will produce from 200 bushels to 400 bushels, you will find, taking the lowest calculation, 200 bushels, that the duty or incubus placed on every acre of land cultivated in potatoes in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick amount to $30. Sweep away the i)resent tariff and give us unrestricted reciprocity with the Ignited States, and what would be the result? Why our farming industry and our farm lands would go up with a bound ; every man and erery farmer would know that he could put in a crop and cultivate his land, because that large country alongside of us afforded a boundless market for his enterprise ; he would know that that country coidd take whatever he had to dispose of, and his farm woidd immediately imx)rove to the extent of $iW per acre. CHOICE BETWEEN TWO POLICIES. On the choice between the two policies now before the country, Mr. Davies of Prince Edward Island said, in the course of the de- bate on Sir Richard Cartwright's resolutions: We must make our choice between two policies. We have, on the one hand, the National Policy, with a statutory offer which we know has not been •'ccepted ; we have, on the other hand, a broad, statesmanlike propo- sition submitted here for throwing down the barriers of trade and opening up unrestricted reciprocity between the two countries. We have offered to us the choice between stagnation in our trade, as I am very sorry to say it at present exists, and that prosperity which advanced by leaps and bounds under the old treaty and which will be renewed under the new. , , Sir, 30 UNRESTRICTED RECIPROCITV OF I JIADK T say it is not loyalty but disloyalty on the part of any member of this house if he shrinkK from adopting measures which will be for our own interests and the interests of our people, for fear they would be disapproved by a small section of manufacturers. Sir, I am notafraia our manufacturers will go to the wall. There are certain classes of manufacturers which will go to the wall — those manufacturers which exist only because they are bolstered u]) by this false system of the National Policy. Some of them may go ; but when I see such men as millionaire Gibson, who owns one of the largest cot- ton factories in the Dominion of Canada, declaring openly, " I want unre- stricted reciprocity because it will give me a large market, and I am not afraid to compete with manufacturers to the south of us. I believe," he says, ** I have money enough and brains enough, and our people are intelligent enough to enable us to compete successfully with those who are manufactur- ing cotton to the south. Give me the market — that is what I want." And hundreds are echoing the same cry. You cannot take up a copy of the Mail newspaper, which has devoted itself to fthis particular branch of the subject, without seeing that in all parts of the Dominion manufacturers are coming forward and declaring— what ? Declaring that they are going to be ruined, as the member for Cardwell says ? No ; they are declaring that they are ready to accept the situation, to join hands with the great agricultural, min- ing and lumbering interests of the Dominion, and go in for this unrestricted reciprocity of trade, which will make prosperity follow over this Dominion like a sunbeam. Sir, I tell hon. gentlemen that this question has eaten too deeply into the hearts of the people to bo disposed of with a single s])eech or a single phrase. Time is on our side. The social conditions of the country are on our side. They are working for us, and all of oiu* debates here will not stop the onward flow of public opinion which is being created at every fireside in this Dominion, based as it is on the best interests of the people. Sir, we tender the people a flag of which we are not ashamed, a flag upon which is inscribed Unrestricted Trade with the United States-Free- dom OF Trade ! Hon. gentlemen know that this statement will find an echo in the heart of every man who has attained manhood's estate and re- members what reciprocity brought us in the past. It will find an echo in the heart of every young man who to-day is in de8])air whether he sliould remain in this country or go abroad. It will find an echo in the heart of the bread-winner, who finds it hard enoiigh to earn sutticient to ])uy his daily bread, much less to ])ut by a little for a rainy day. And we throw this flag to the bree/e, confident that it will be carried by the united hands of the peo- ple of the several provinces of the Dominion to a glorious, if not to a speedy victory. THE ECONOMIC WANT OF THE COUNTRY. Hon. Wilfr'-"] Lrinrier, leader of the Liberfil party in Parliament, express'^ ^ ;- t«i on the great economic want of the various in- dustri- * >.^. ' ,in the course of the debate, as follows : If our i^vi • aen as prosperous as it is represented to be, if Nova Scotia had fouuii ii onfederation the prosperity which was promised to be her lot in it, she would long ago have been reconciled to c«)nfederation. If Manitoba hatl continued to enjoy the prosperity with which she opened her career, she would to-day have been as cheei ful a member of confederation Wnn THE UNITED STATES. :n w^yl^Z'^xlZir"^^^^^ ^^"S'*"' f 'T^'^ ^^ iucvea..d pn.Bp.rity have al- The IunX,m„n .hi f l»n