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COMMERCIAL UNiON DOCUMENT No. 9.

fHE PERFECT

DEVELOPMENT OF CANADA,

IS IT

Inconsistent with British Welfare!

Speech of Erastus Wiman,

AT ST. THOMAS, ONTARIO, DECEMBER 3, 1887,

• ♦•-

" Tt prohibit a great people from making ail ihiy can of every part of their own produce^
" or from employing their stock and industry in Hie way that they may consider most advau'
"tageous to themselves, h a manifest violation of the most sacred rights of mankind."—
Adam Smith.

# ♦>

NEW YOEK:
EEASTU8 WIMAN, 314 BEOADWAY.

\ Ko

THE PERFECT

DEVELOPMENT OF CANADA,

IS IT

Inconsistent with British Welfare?

Speech of Erastus Wiman,

AT ST. THOMAS, ONTARIO, DECEMBER 3, i887.

-♦♦-♦-

•• r# prohibit a great people from making all they can of every part of their own produce,
"or from employing their stock and industry in the way that they may consider most advati.
*'tageous to themselves, is a manifest violation of the most sacred rights of mankind."—
Adam Smith.

-♦♦♦-

NEW YORK:

ERASTUS WIMAN, 314 BROADWAY.

.■>„•.>.

f .' f.

V ■ -f

THE PERFECT

DEVELOPMENT OF CANADA,

IS IT

INCONSISTENT WITH BRITISH WELFARE?

At a meeting to discuss Commercial Union between the United
States and Canada, held at St. Thomas, Ontario, on Saturday
evening, December 3rd, in the course of his speech,

Mr. Erastus Wiman said that he appeared before a Canadian
audience for the first time since the allusions to Commercial Union
had been made in speeches by the Right Honorable Joseph
Chamberlain, who, as they were all aware, was the special repre-
sentative of the British G' vernment, on the Fisheries Commission
now deliberating at Washington. It was tru-; that in the speeches
referred to, Mr. Chamberlain was speaking as a private individual,
and that his utterances need not be clothed with any authority
greater than that which should be a'tached to the utterance of any
Intelligent gentleman, representing the manufacturing districts of
England. But Mr Chamberlain was a very distinguished man ;
at the time he gave expression to the news referred to he was about
to assume the very grave duty of endeavoring *rt settle a long
standing difference bet^veen Canada and the United States ; and
and what he had to say in relation to the latter country had mor^
than the usual. significance. And this is what he did say :— - v-ii.?:'

The arrangement between the colonies and Great Britain is
" essential y a temporary one. It cannot remain as it is ... ,
" Already you have in Canada — the greatest of all the colonies —
" an agitation for what is called Commercial Union with the
" United States. Commercial Union with the United States means
" free trade between America and the Dominion, and a protective
" tariff against the mother country. If Canada desires that> Canada
"can have it" .

COMMERCIAL UNION WITH CANADA.

f i.

On a subsequent occasion, the right honorable gentleman further
said, that :

" Commercial Union with the United States meant that Canada
was to give preference to every article of manufacture from the
United States over the manufactures from Great Britain. If the
people of Canada desired an arrangement of that kind, he did
rot doubt that they would be able to secure it. He did not
think anybody in England would prevt-nt such an arrangement
by force ; but he remarked that in that case all the advantages
of the slerider tie that bound Canada to England would disippear,
so far as England was concerned ; and it was not likely that the
people of Great Britain would continue much longer to sustain
the obligations and responsibilities of a relationship, all the
reciprocal b::nefiis of which had been withdrawn."

7'he foregoing extracts implied that a persistence in the advocacy
of Commercial Union, and success in achieving it, meant that it
would be so inconsistent with British welfare, that the relation which
existed between the Mother Country and Canada must cease.
The advocates of Commercial Union were therefore put in a posi-
tion hostile to British connection, unless they could show that
British welfare was not likely to be seriously injured by the
success of a trade union between the United Statts and Canada ;
and also wheih -r interests in Canada were not juat as important to
the British government and the British people, as those interests
which it is claimed would be adversely affected in Great Britain
itself. Mr. Wiman said he was glad of the opportunity to discuss
the question, as to whether the most perfect development of Canada
was ^consistent with British welfare. It was impossible to con-
ceive of any combination of circumstances which would contribute
in a greater degree to this most perfect development, than that of
breaking down all the barriers to commerce between Canada and
the United States ; and they were therefore to consider whether
British welfare were likely to be seriously or permanently injured
thereby, should this be consummated.

Mr. Wiman, continuing, said that two great facts must always be
present in considering the future of Canada — one was her highly
advantageous geographical position, and the other was the poten-
tiality of her productive powers and the enormous value of her
natural resources. These two great advantages were assets in the
inheritance of every Canadian, and of every resident of Canada.

IS IT I^iCON^'ISTEXT WITH BRITlSTt WELFARE t

They were as much his personal possession as the legacy left him
by parents, or the accumulations which his own efforts had enabled
him to lay by. Nay, the propery possessed in the geographical
and resourceful advantages of Canada was even a more sacred
possession than that of money either inherited or earned. It was
a trust with which Providence, in its divine foresight, had endowed
every inhabitant o^ Canada, not only for himself but for his
children's children — a trust for which his responsibility was just as
clear as for any other blessing for the use of which he had to give
an account. The Parable of the talents left by the Master is as
applicable to the possession of nationa advantages unimproved, as
for personal blessings which every night and morning we invoke a
divine guidance to use properly and beneficially. It is well to
consider whether, up to this period, there has been the fullest an(F
largest use made of the vast riches with which this Canada of ours
is endowed. On the contrary, may we not consider whether, up to
this time, the smallest development, in proportion to our riches,
has not been achieved. It is true that plans of the most compre-
hensive character for this development have been made, in public
expenditure and the construction of means of communication. It
may well be a subject of congratulation, that the foundations of a
great future have been laid deep and broad ; and the highest
praise should be awarded to the statesmanship, energy, and patriot-
ism, that had opened up vast stretches of mo->t productive territory
to settlement, and great regions of mineral lands to the possibility
of development. But now that these facilities are afforded, are the
existing conditions favorable to the progress whicn should follow
their creation? Was the North-west likely to settle up as rapidly as
it would if the emigration now pouring into the United States
could be diverted in that direction under the influence of Commer-
cial Union, Was it likely that the mineral regions rendered ac-
cessible on the shores of Lake Superior would be developed as
fully, as if a near bv market were afforded for these products.
Was it not a fact that, in proportion to the productive forces of
one-half of the continent, and in comparison with the growth and
progress of the great nation on the south of Canada, the question
may well be asked, has the most been made, up to this period, of
the advantages with which a divine Providence has endowed the
Dominion? Recalling the relative progress made in the last one

t COMMERCIAL UNION WITH CANADA.

hundred jears, of Canada on the one hand, controlling the best
half of the continent, and of the United States on the other, there
is food for reflection in the simple statement that while Canada
barely retains a population of 5 millions, the United States are
rapidly approaching a population of 65 millions. In every other
comparison, of growth of wealth, of development of resources, of
activity in manufacturing and the employment of all the forces of
civilization, the United States stands to-day, the wonder of the
world.

. Why Canada should not occupy a relative position in all that goes
to make up the greatness of a nation, is a question which every Cana-
dian is bound to consider. It is not because Canada has not even
a greater area of territory ; that she has not a free government ;
that she has not liberal institutions, and is not possessed of the most
marvellous resources. To some other caus.e must be attributed
the comparatively slow progress by which Canada, to-day, is com-
pared with any single State of the Union ; while the proper com-
parison, had she made a relative progress, would be to compare her
to the Union itself.

THE DUTY OF EVERY LOVER OF HIS COUNTRY.

Under such circumstances, is it not the duty of every lover of
his native country — of every sincere and thinking man — to stop a
moment, and fairly consider the circumstances of our native land,
and inquire whether the present is not a moment pregnant with the
most golden opportunities for a momentous development of our
best treasures ? Should not every man, irrespective of prejudice
or of trivial ties of party, think for himself how best he can pro-
mote the development of his native land, aid most early accom-
plish the purpose of its high destiny ? We are the inheritors of the
best part of the continent of North America, which, as Emerson
j.ays, " is another name of Opportunity. Its whole history appears
** like a last effort of the divine Providence in behalf of the
"human race." Let us address ourselves to the inquiry, whether
there is not in the immediate future a better prospect of making
the most of the inheritance which this Providence has bequeathed
to us, and whether the opportunity of which North America is the
name, is not now with us to a degree never before quite so palpable,
and never hereafter likely to be quite so available now.

JS IT INCONSISTENT WITH BRITISH WELFARE f

WOULD BRITISH INTERESTS BE INJURED ?

In the discussion of the question of Commercial Union between
the Uniied States and Canada, there has been urged as an objec-
tion that in the consummation of this proposal British interests
would be sacrificed ; and the question now before a large number
of the best people of Canada was, whether the perfect development
of Canada was inconsistent with British interests ? It was clear
that Commercial Union with the United States would solve a great
many problems, and by bringing all the resources of the northern
half of the continent within easy access of the energy, the capital
ai d the enterprise of the American people, a development might
be expected similar to that which had occurred within the United
States themselves. The opening of a market such as the United
States afforded, would, it was believed, stimulate the growtn of every
article which Canada could with advantage produce ; the produc-
tive forces, therefore, of her agricultural community might be
enormously increased ; while her manufactures, with the abundant
opportunity of natural raw material, cheap labor, and a wide market,
would in a very short time become of great importance, so that, not
only in natural resources, but in agricultural products and in man-
ufacturing activity, there was the promise of a great and most
beneficial change, should Commercial Union be consummated. In
order, however, that the bargain between the United States and
Canada for the freest intercourse could be brought about it was
necessary that the natural products, merchandise and ni nufac-
tures of both countries should be freely interchanged, w 'lOut

• duty. This was but a natural condition precedent to Commc cial
Union. Its operation would, therefore, result in a discrimination
against the manufactures and merchandise of Great Britain.

, Not that duties exacted upon goods imported from England would
be much higher for any length of lime than they now are ; or

; that the barriers that now shut out from this country the products
of the Empire of which we form a part would be permanently
higher than they are now. But the difference would be that, while
products of the United States now pay a similar duty to that of
England, under Commercial Union no duty would b*? exacted.
The question is, whether for the vast advantage which Canada can
secure by the freest commercial intercourse with her great neighbor
on the south, she is prepared to admit the products of that land

COMMERCIAL UNION WITH CANADA. , .

into her markets free, while she exacts a high rate of duty against
products of the British Empire of which she forms a part, and intO'
whose market she has the freest access ? Th*^ question is a very
serious one, and it is well that we should assemble to discuss it
calmly and dispassionately. ,,

Canada's geographical advantage. '

Of the two great advantage? which Canada possesses, in her
geographical position on the one hand, and her vast natural
resources on the other, the first named is necessarily most impor-
tant because of her close contiguity with the best market in the
world ; and this makes it all the more serious in considering this
question of our relations with Great Britain. Stretching along a
distance of almost four thousand miles, the Dominion) touches aiid
interlaces with the gi^at American Republic. Nature seems to
have ordaii»ed that the whole Continent should be one commer-
cially, judging by the distribution of natural wealth, of agricultural
peculiarities, and of productive forces. To separate by a customs
line right through the centre of the Continent the two English
speaking nations that occupy it, would seem to be a most injudi-
cious act. If trade can ebb and flow backwards and forwards
from one end of the Cc-itinent 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 southern part, it would
seem a great hardship that any final and permanent impediment
in sentiment or in fact should be crea*-ed. 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 of a high tariff and numerous restrictions, more
than one-half of her commerce is with the neighboring Republic.
With all barriers removed, and a complete Commercial Union
consummated, this commerce would increase enormously. The
question is, whether this increase would help or hurt Great 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 Commercial 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
iiboul ihe government and the people of that country, to a considera-

IS IT INC02iSISTENT WITH BRITISH WELFARE f

tion 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 injuring. The«e merchants and manufacturers per*
haps aggregate five hundred in number ; and for the sake of the
interests of these gentlemen and their operatives, we must consider
whether or not the future of this Dominion is to be free or
restricted. Upon an importation of forty millions of dollars per
annum, there is a possible profit to the English manufacturer of
ten per cent., or, say, four millions of dollars. Whether for this
amount* of profit Canada is to remain forever in swaddling clothes,
is a question for the people of Canada to consider.

'; v'N-^'M T IS CANADA A GROWING MARKET? s "'

It is claimed the interests, even of English manufacturers, would
not be permanently adversely affected by an enlarged trade rela-
tion 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 proportion to the possible growth of so new and
so rich a country, the commerce in the direction of Canada has not
increased in the same ratio that it has increased to other countries.
The reason in the first place has been that the policy of our govern-
ment has been towards the encouragement of home manufactures,
which in no sense was regarded as disloyal ; while the power to
absorb goods and pay for them by increased p-^pulation, and by
growth in natural development, has been extremely limited. Re-
calling the number of persons engaged in Canada in handling British
goods, their relative strength financially, and the growth of their
distributive channels, is it not a fact that Canada has 'nade really
less progress as an absorbent of English manufactures in the last
t ears, than any market which Great Britain enters ? If, after
the expenditure of vast sums of borrowed public money ceases ; if,
in view of the enormous taxation which Canada has to bear ; if,
also, in view of the low prices of agricultural products, and the
scanty development of her natural resources under existing con-
ditions, Canada makes no more progress in the next ten or twenty
years as an absorbent of British manufacturers, as a market she
A

', "i' ■ -

COMMERCIAL UNION WITH CANADA.

will possess but little attraction. Why, it already takes the surplus
of the entire wheat crop of old Canada to pay the yearly interest
on the public, railway, and mortgage indebtedness due to Great
Britain. What hope is there of great gain in the country when
the only crop that can be marketed in England is absorbed by the
interest charge? Hov/ is it possible that importations can be ab-
sorbed and paid for profitably, unless the market for other products
is enlarged and made free? English manufacturers, if they knew
the whole situation, and really apprehended their own interest,
would do all they could to promote the prosperity of Canada.
Recent failures of importers in the vicinity indicated the necessity
for the improved conditions which alone would be brought about

by enlarged markets and greater ability to absorb and pay for
goods. ' '■''•"■ ' ' -'T-:, ■.•-■•;'::■■■;'■■ ;'-;-';.r-^'

On an equal basis of duty exacted from Great Britain and else-
where, the United States will always be a competitor in Canada with
Great Britain ; while, with the growth of home manufactures, and
the lack of development within the Dominion itself, no great hope
can be entertained that Canada, without some new relation with
the United States, can be anything like the advantageous market
which she otherwise might be, with Commercial Union and an open
market for every product which she possesses. With enlarged
opportunities for the development of her resources ; with a growth
in wealth and ability to absorb and pay for goods which Commer-
cial Union would bring to her, Canada could afford to buy and pay
for $2 of English goods where now she can ill afford to pay for $i.
During the last year the importations of foreign goods into the
United States amounted to 720 millions of dollars, which, wi h 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 $12
per year. In Canad we imported 40 millions of dollars from Great
Britain, which, mad* Canadians worth to Great Britain about $8 a
head. If in the Uinied States $12 per head is absorbed of foreign
goods, why should not $12 in Canada be the standard if. with the
same progress, the same growth in wealth, and the same opportu-
nity presented for a development of natural resources ?

It is true that temporarily there might be some hardship to
-English manufacturers in the discrimination against them in favor

IS IT INCONSISTENT WITH BRITISH WELFARE f

■■'i^':-

'4^'

of American goods, but in the long run the advantage would still
be held by our British cousins. This certainly would be the case
by a reduction in the tariff of the United States, which is sure to
follow the growth of the enormous surplus which the revenues of
the country now show in proportion to the expenditures. With
the reductitm of the public debt in the United States to a minimum,
the cessation of interest or fixed charges which this implies, the
amount required for the Government of the country will be so
small that the tariff is sure to be largely reduced, so that in the
event of Commercial Union, and a uniform tariff prevailing between
Canada and the United States as against Great Britain, it would be
a barrier so slight as to be easily overcome by the advantages
which she possesses as the greatest manufacturing country of the
world.

It is singular if the growth of one part of the Empire of Great
'Britain, which includes Canada, should be injurious to the trode of
another part of it. But even supposing it should be, is one part
of the Empire to remain forever restricted and limited for the
benef^,}: of a few persons in the other? Hear what was said on this
subject by the greatest writer on political economy that England
ever produced — Adam Smith :

" To prohibit a great people from making all they can of every
" part of their own produce, or from employing their stock and
" industry in the way that they may consider most advantageous
" to themselves, is a manifest violation of the most sacred rights
** of mankind. " :

,' )

.r IV INTERESTS OF ENGLISH INVESTORS.

But, aside from the interests of English manufacturers, there are
other classes in Great Britain to whom the highest prosperity 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 govern-
mental indebtedness, public works, railroad undertakings, farm
mortgages, and a variety of other securities. Every one of this
class of assets possessed by English capitalists would be enormous-
ly benefitted by the full development, growth, and perfect prosperity
of the Dominion. If the traffic of every railroad could be doubled;
if the productive force of every factory could be augmented ; if

COMMERCIAL UlilON WITH CANADA.

every farm could be forced 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 benefitted.
Even supposing the profits of the English manufacturer should be
reduced from four millions per annum to two millions, it would
pay well for the government of the country to guarantee them
against this loss, for the sake of b-nefitting every other class of the
community, as well as the British investor in Canadian undertakings.
Besides this, should the full development of Canadian enterprises
follow Commercial Union, an opportunity for the investment of
Engli-h capital in this country would be afforded such its the world
has never seen. A better and a more certain return cannot be
imagined than would flow from the establishment of manufactories,
and mneral development that would offer, should an open market
be found in the TJnited States for all that Canada has to produce.
The emplo\ment of British skilled labor, English money, and En-
glish experience in Canada, with such an opportunity as Commer-
cial 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 tha% so far as
English interests are concerned, Commercial Union witii the
United States would be beneficial rather than hurtful.

Mr. Wtman then made an extended reference to the strained
rel itions which, certainly would continue to exist between the
United States and Canada, unless, ind ed, all cause for irritation
were removed by a union of commercial intere ts In the language
of Mr. Chambelain, things could not remam as they are. The
conflict of interests between the two countries was illustrated by
the tact that the United States had gone the length of passing
unanimously a retaliatory act, which any day might be enforced,
but which would be simply ruinous to the interest of every British
investor in Canada. Even the abolition of the bonding sy>tem, by
which American through tiaffic was alone possible to Canadian
railways, was now threatened, because of the operation of the Inter-
S'late Commerce Act, and which under Commercial Union might
be so adjusted as to be continental. The fact is that the Secre-
tary of the Treasury, under the pressure of the American railroads,
could any day obliterate the bonding system, and this would mean

. /

'•. ' J i:

IS IT INCONSISTENT WITH BRITISH WELFARE?

bankruptcy to every Canadian railway, rnd bankruptcy to numerous
interests dependent thereupon. The supposed loss of the "Znglish
manufacturers yearly under Commercial Union, -ven at its worsts
would be a trifle compared wiih the loss of the English investor, if
even the simple bonding system now permitted by the United
States were abolished. This was but an illustration of the dangers
to which British capital is now exposed, and which under Com-
mercial Union would be entirely removed.

^- — THE PENALTY OF GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION. '^*-' ' '^

The speaker said he had, in a very hurried way, endeavored to
show that the interests of Great Britain would not permanently
be injured by Commercial Union between Canada and the United
States. It was true that, under this proposed union, the manufac-
tures of the United States would have free admission to Canada,
just the same as the manufactures of Ontario have free admission
into Manitoba. It was true that English manufacturers would
have to pay a duty, as they now have to do, to gain admission into
Canada, and there was no new hardship complained of, except that
the manufactured goods of the United States, it was proposed, should
be admitted free of duty, because this free admission was the price
paid by Canada for the free admission of her products and her
manu''actures mto the United States. 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 development to which 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 responsibilities and en-
gagements which she continued to assume for her defence and pro-
tection, there should be a proprsition seriously discussed where-
by 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 high duty. But, so far as
the interests o*^ Great Britain were immediately 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 ; but a question of dol-
lars and cents to individuals. Now, if the question had narrowed
down to that point, was it not fair to consider whether the interests

COMMERCIAL UNION WITH CANADA.

5^\

'f the inh abitants of one part of Her Majesty's domain were not just
as precious to her as the interests of those of another. It has always
been maintained that the humblest British subject, in the most re-
mote corner of the earth, was entitlfd lo the same protection as the
highest dignitary nearest to the throne ; 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 the Goverment of Great Britain.
Well, now, is it fair to ask Canadians forever to sacrifice their most
material intereets for the sake of the manufacturers of Manchester
or Birmingham ? Has not Canada the same right to have her
interests 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 tariff which her most
loyal friends have enacted, she has developed manufactures of her
own which have materially reduced the sales of English goods in
this country. Strange it is, too, that the men who have thus con-
tributed to shut out English goods are now most anxious on be-
lialf of the English manufacturers, and whose loyalty to English
interests knows no bounds. But 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,

.. . THE DUTY OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT.

It is a simple business transaction. If the free admission of
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 ? As was before stated, the net profit
realized by the English exporter on the 40 millions exported, after de-
ducting bad debts and other charges, ^mounts to about ten per cent. ;
so that the English manufacturer realizes from Canada about 4 mil-
lions of dollars a year. Supposing that Commercial Union should
result in a decrease of one-half of the importation 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 would

IS IT lyCONSISTENT WITH BRITISH WELFAREt

be about 2 millions of dollars a year. Do you realize that this is
about the amount which the Canadian farmer loses yearly by the
duty levied on the barley which he exports ? A letter in one of
the papers last week showed that it cost the farmer at least 2 mil-
lions a year to market the barley crop of Canada in the United
States. Is it possible that for the sake of so small a sum as 2 millions
a year, Canada is to be forever tied up in her present isolated and
restricted condition ? Why, the simple, unobtrusive, unprotected
hens of Canada bring as much revenue into the Dominion as this
sum amounts to. From the exportation of 14 or 15 millions of
dozens of eggs, upon which there is no duty levied in the United
States, a sum very nearly equal to 2 millions is realized. 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 barn-yard of every
farmer is a protest against such statesmanship. It cannot be that,
to compensate English 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 enforce
a direct taxation to pension English manufacturers, and all depen-
dent on them, to the extent of the Canadian profit, rather than that
forever their interests should interfere with the vast concerns of
♦^his continent.

A GREAT NEAR-BY MARKET.

Take the wide range of marketable articles which Canada
produces now, and can produce under Commercial Union, and see
the enormous measure which their production would reach, if a
free market can be had among the greatest money-making, money-
spending aggregation of humanity that the world has ever i.een,
and which in the goodness of Providence, is right at her doors.
Next to being possessed of almost fabulous wealth in the produc-
tive forces of her agricultural regions, a-^d in her natural resources,
is the advantage which an abundant demand and a great market
near by affords to her. The range of an ides affected, .^nd the
resources to be developed under an open market, are so important
and so full of potentialities of profit, as to make the loss to the

COMMERCIAL UNION WITH CANADA.

English manufacturer sink into utter and complete insignificance.
If is true that one part of ihe British Empire is just as precious to
the British Government as another part of it ; and if it can be
shown that immensely greater profits and eainings can be real-
ized by a liberal policy, as against a penny saved for another
part of the Empire by a restrictive policy, then clearly is it the
duty of the government to decide in favor of the greatest good
to the greatest number, and the largest profit to the largest number
affected. Starting at the smallest and most trifling fruits of the
orchard and of the garden, through the barn-yard of the farmer,
in the eggs and poultry which the Americans absorb to such an
extent, the sheep, horses, and cattle, and out into the open fields^
producing all the small grains and roots, such as barley, oat", and
potatoes, there is hardly any article which the agriculturist of the
country, on whom everything now depends, but would have an
increased value and an increased possibility of profit. When one
recalls the fact that upon the farmer, and upon the farmer alone,
depends the success of Canada in its present condition, is it not
the suprer >st folly to sacrifice his interests for a manufacturer
three thousand miles away ; while the manufacturer himself would
be benefitted by the progress in wealth of the one class on whom
ability to pay for goods now imported solely depends ? But, aside
from agricultural products, look at the vast field of development
which an open market in the neighboring Republic would give.
The forests of timber in Canada are yearly burning and rotting
away, and are realizing only partially the great profit which this
source of wealth might produce if the duty against Canadian
lumber did not exist in the United States. The Canadian lumber"
dealers alone could almost afford to guarantee British manufac-
turers against loss for the free admission of lumber into the United
States ^

MARVELLOUS MINERAL WEALTH.

It is in the marvellous mineral riches of the country, however,
that the greatest source of increased wealth would be found, if a
development took place therein, which it is believed commercial
union with the United States would promote. Canada is one of
the richest countries in the world in the matter of iron, and yet her
products thus far in her history amount to a mere bagatelle. It is

IS IT ly CONSISTENT WITH BRITISH WELFARE T

impossible to export iron to England ; it i> equally impossible to
export it with a profit into the United Str.tes, so long as a high
duty shuts it out. The development on tne south shore of Lake
Superior within the United States, in iron and copper, is of ihe
most remarkable character ; has produced millions upon millions
from the earth, populated vast stretches of territory, and created a
commerce greater than the entire transactions between Canada and
England. The mineral resources of the north shore of Lake
Superior are even richer, and yet the development amounts to
nothing whatever. Why is it that within British territory
mountains of iron lay silent, and dormant, and dead, while within
American territory the greatest activity prevails ? It is because
there is a market for the product. The demand for iron in the
United States has increased in a greater ratio than the demand for
any other article. In almost every province of the Dominion
there is an abundance of iron. Side by side with it in several
places is an abundant supply of coal, with excellent means of
transportation lo a near-by market, with cheap labor, and every
facility for mr.nufacturing. Are these conditions to remain forever
unimprovea, bcfcause the manufacturers of Manchester and
Birmingham would be deprived of a ptofit of 2 millions a year?
Are the richest and best ponions of the Continent forever to
remain a silent wilderness, because their products are shut out
from the market that would best absorb them ? The duty of three
cents and a half a pound in the United States on copper as com-
pletely shuts out that product of Canadian mines as if a Chinese
wall were built up between the two countries. Break down that
wall, and there will be more money made in copper, nickel, and
other mineral products in the next twenty-five years, than would
be realized in 150 years by English manufacturers. What is more,
the men who mine the copper, the iron, and the nickel would be
the consumers of not only American and Canadian, but also of
English goods. It is said that Canada has 97,000 square miles of
coal lands, and she alone has coal on the Atlantic and on the
Pacific ; yet her marvellous supplies of this product, not only on
both Oceans but mid-way in the Northwestern Territories,
are shut out from the great consumptive markets to the
south.

COMMERCIAL UNION WITH CANADA.

' ■ i.- • •. ,1 OTHER NATIONAL ASSETS. ■ ■ • • i .

In the matter of Canadian fisheries, ten times the activity
might prevail, and ten times the wealth be reaped from the haivest
of the sea, if there was complete and perfect freedom between the
great productive regions of fish wealth in Canadian waters, com-
prising five thousand miles of coast line, and the great consumptive
demand for it which could be created among the sixty millions of
people in the United States. What extremity of folly does it seem
to be that, as between these vast sources of wealth on the one hand»
and an equally vast absorbing power for their consumption on the
other and profit on the other, a trifle should stand in the way ? In
many other things besides those enumerated is Canada rich by
nature, but poor by policy. The policy that would open up the
markets of the United States for her products, is that which will
in the greatest degree enrich her, enabling her to realize, at as early
a period as slie can, from the enormous riches with which Providence
has endowed her. Up to this period. Canada has been treated with
great liberality by Great Britain, and it has been often said that
had the colonies in 1776 had a freedom equal to that which Canada
had since enjoyed, there would have been no justification for the
American revolution. The very freedom thus far enjoyed leads to
the hope that, while Canada still heartily desires to remain a British
colony, and while nine-tenths of her people are still devoted to
British institutions, there certainly ought to be no barrier to their
full and complete development of the resources of the country, and
a perfect enjoyment of the wealth which they should produce.

NORTHWESTERN DEVELOPMENT,

■ r~

The burden of taxation which Canada has voluntarily assumed
for the creation of great means of communication, and the opening
\]p of vast stretches of territory, demands that she should make the
most ample provision, not only for her own development, but for
the creation of a great traffic. The English money which has been
spent in the last ten years in Canada amounts to an immense sum.
The ability to earn interest on it rests with the creation of a
business commensurate with the expenditure. The development
of the Northwestern portions of Canada, for which she has sacri-
ficed so much, is an essential element to her progress, and her

IS IT IS CONSISTENT WITH BRITISH WELFAUEf

ability to respond to the engagements she has assumed. No one
thing would contribute in a greater degree to the enlargement of
the population of the Northwestern Territories, than would Com-
mercial Union. The enormous emigration which is now reaching
the shores of the United States could with very little effort be di-
verted to a larg*^ extent to these Northwestern Territories, if the
barrier between the two countries were sunk so low that it could
hardly be observed, and if the commerce of the United States and
that of Canada should ebb and flow across this border line po free-
ly that its existence would be no more known than the existence of
the line between the States themselves, or between the Provinces
themselves. The rich and fertile plains of the Red River and the
Saskatchewan, which this year have produced such enormous
results, would be an attractive field for a half a million emigrants
that enter the port of New York every year, if there was perfect
freedom of communication between the two countries. Minnesota,
Dakota, and Montana have progressed in the most marvellous de-
gree, because they have had Commercial Union with the rest of the
country. Give the enormous stretches of fertile, productive bnd
in Manitoba, Arthabaska, Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, and Alberta
the same freedom, and the same development would follow. A
very short time would witness such a growth in those regions
as the world has never seen, for their productive forces are
simply enormous. As wheat formed the most important element
in sustentation of human life, and from the delicate nature of the
plant is the truest test of climatic advantage, by it should be
judged the ability of a country to produce.

That a handful of people now residing in Manitoba this year
could produce a surplus of twelve millions of bushels of wheat,
of seven millions of bushels of barley, and a million of bushels
of potatoes, is a most marvellous revelation of the forces that
underlie that vast region. When it is recalled that there are two
hours more of sunshine every day for the wheat crop ; that under-
neath, by the presence of frost, there is an exudation of moisture
which feeds the tender roots of the wheat plant, and that the soil is
80 rich, that for twenty years consecutive wheat crops can be grown
upon it without rotation, there are in this region the potentialities
of a growth almost beyond conception. There is said to be a larger
wheat area in these regions than in the whole of the United States;

|-|| m'J i-pw*

I ^

COMMERCIAL UNION WITH CANADA.

and, according to Lord Selkirk, on these plains alone there is
abundant room and abundant facility for the sustentation of 30
millions of people. Is all this region to remain an undeveloped
empire because of an illiberal policy on the part of the govern-
ment ? A market could be created in this region for English manu-
factures, Canadian and American goods, far greater than that which
now exists in the Dominion, A profit could be realized by Canada
on her lands and on her investments in this direction, g^:eater than
by any other means ; and a more certain development take place
by a Commercial Union with the United States than by any other
event that could occur. Taxation could be largely reduced by ad-
ditions to the population, by the growth of wealth in her agricul-
tural, mineral, and other natural resources, and the future of the
country could be enormously benefitted by a policy that would be-
get the largest development, because the largest market was pro-
vided for it.

In no part of the British Empire is loyalty more pronounced or
more fervent thin in Canada to British institutions, pride in British
traditions, or personal devotion to the Sovereign. If there is any one
sentiment that universally pervades the Canadian people it is this
sentiment o^ loyal adhesion to British connection. There is nothing
in a business transaction known as Commercial Union that will
weaken this devotion to the British Empire. But Canada is a part
of that Empire, and her interests are just as sacred to the people of
this country as are the interests of any other part of the Empire
to the residents therein. The speaker said he had made an attempt
to show that the perfect development of Canada was not inconsis-
tent with British welfare, and the more broadly and closely the
proposed scheme of Commercial Union is looked into, the stronger
would be the conviction that England would be benefitted, and the
interests of Canada enormously advanced. While, therefore, the
true Canadian who advocated a commercial bargain with the United
States did not impair British connection, he indulged in the senti-
ment of the poet who said —

' ' Such is the patriot's boast wherever he may roaiQ,
His first best country ever is his own ! "