HJon 
 
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CANADA: 
 
 HER MISTAKES and OPPORTUNITIES. 
 
 AN ADDRESS ON THE SITUATION BV 
 
 Mr. Geo. C. Gibbons, Q.C., of London. 
 
 \ 
 
 J 
 
 The Anglo-Saxon race must be in the front rank of progress or 
 discontented. 
 
 The people of Canada will never be satisfied with less prosperity 
 than their neighbors, nor can they ever become stagnant in national 
 growth, or be mossbacks, commercially or otherwise, without protest 
 and struggle. 
 
 To those to whom office promises or provides a greater reward 
 than they ccald hope to attain by any forward movement of the 
 nation — to those who owe their prosperity to public moneys paid 
 directly or by forced tribute of the tariff, I do not address myself. 
 
 It would be a hopeless task to attempt to convince these men 
 that there is any need of a change. They are contented and well may 
 be. To all who are satisfied with the present condition — to those 
 who have not by the evidence of every day facts been convinced that 
 this country, one of the grandest on the globe, is handicapped and 
 hindered in its race no words of mine will avail anything. 
 
 But to that great mass of Canadians who seek to find a remedy 
 for a condition of things that is conceded to be anything but satis- 
 factory I address these words. 
 
 The great natural resources of the country are conceded, its 
 magnificent farming lands, its unsurpassed waterways, its timber 
 plentiful and of the best quality, its mineral resources almost un- 
 bounded, coal, iron, nickel, copper, and the rest in profusion ; its 
 fisheries the best in the world ; a climate suitable lor " seed-cime 
 and harvest " and healthful to all animal life. A sturdy, energetic 
 race, the Canadian has been the forerunner of civilization everywhere 
 on this continent. With all these advantages what has been the 
 result ? 
 
THE SYSTEM OF PROTECTION. 
 
 Since the commencement of time the history of man has been 
 the history of struggle on the part of the oppressed for liberty. Man's* 
 inhumanity to man has been the greatest curse of our race. At all 
 times nations against other nations and peoples against peoples 
 have sought to obtain what was not theirs by right. In every 
 community there have arisen certain men who claimed that either by 
 the chance of birth or for some other reason they were entitled to 
 certain exclusive privileges not enjoyed by the people at large. 
 Barons in all nations, in all ages have exacted tribute as their 
 right at the expense of and in contemptuous disregard of the 
 common people. The church too often, and the " flag ", 
 upon all occasions have been their allies. It has ever been disloyal 
 to rebel against the tyranny of caste or class. History is but re- 
 peating itself in this age, and we now have a privileged class in a form 
 more dishonest, more insidious, more dangerous and more hurtful 
 than ever before, sustained through the system of so-called " Pro- 
 tection." 
 
 Obtaining its foothold in the guise of a pauper seeking State 
 aid to assist it in its weakness and infancy, it soon becomes the 
 aggressive bully usmg lis atrength to crush those who created it. By a 
 misplaced sympathy 
 
 IT HAS HESITATED AT NO MEANS 
 
 to accomplish its ends. In the neighboring Republic it coined 
 money and grew strong out of the blood of the nation. The war 
 tariff of 1864 was passed without debate and without amendment 
 as being necessary " to save the Union." It was the opportunity of 
 the knave who sought to grow rich out of the forced contributions of 
 the people —he had but to suggest a tax upon his neighbors and his 
 desire was gratified. 
 
 Grown more gluttonous still in iSQOjMcKinley yielded to their de- 
 mands and added from 5 to 50 per cent, more to the schedules. Twenty 
 years after the close of the war their greed had not been appeased but 
 only whetted. By what influence was this brought about ? Who went 
 to Washmgton ? Did the farmer or artisan go ? Did they want to 
 be compelled to pay more tribute to the millionaire monopolists ? 
 Who went and in whose interests did they go ? Why, the men went 
 in their own interest only who wanted to levy taxes upon the people 
 
- r 3 
 
 for their exclusive benefit. And yet these men pretend that all this 
 effort on their part is made on behalf of the man who stays at home 
 and is unconscious of it. Is that reasonable, or does any one 
 believe it ? If these men obtain the power to tax the general 
 public for their benefit " the tariff is a tax," and not a tax for public 
 purposes, but to serve private ends in fraud ot the commonwealth. 
 All they gain and oft-times much more is lost to those who are 
 assessed for their benefit. If the mc lufacturer who seeks this 
 special tribute were asked as a condition to give the same advance 
 as he obtiins to his workmen and those from whom he buys, what 
 would be his answer ? He would promptly decline, as then there 
 would be no benefit to him ; what he wants is not equality but ad- 
 vantage. And yet we are told that all this special pleading at Wash- 
 ington and Ottawa is for the general good in furtherance of a 
 *' National Policy." 
 
 The artisan knows too well that he is paid just such wages as 
 his employer is forced to pay him and he has to market his labor 
 in competition with all comers. He knows that the Government not 
 only does not protect him against " the pauper labor " of Europe, 
 but has spent millions to bring it here to compete with him. He 
 does not go to Ottawa for aid— it is not for such as he. 
 
 The farmer need not go — there is no bonus for raising wheat 
 or cattle. The lumberman only asks to be left alone, and taxed as 
 little as possible. No one can be taxed for his benefit. The only 
 man v/ho asserts the right to compel people to buy from him at a 
 price higher than his goods are worth is the protectionist manu- 
 facturer. By what right does he claim this exclusive privilege? 
 No one would pay this extra price if not compelled by law to do so. 
 That individual would be lacking in sense who bought by choice in 
 the dearer market. The manufacturer who can and does produce 
 as cheaply as the goods can be bought for elsewhere needs no 
 protection, and is a benefactor to the country. But if it costs him 
 $85 to produce in this country what can be bought elsewhere for 
 
 $70, and he wants a profit of say $15 
 
 added ^o his cost 85 
 
 » Making $100.00 
 
 In order to keep out the $70 article 70.00 
 
 he must have a protection equal to say 45 per cent 31.50 
 
 $101.50 
 
He makes $15 profit; but the purchaser pays $30 more than he 
 could buy the goods for. This is not an imaginary case — it but 
 illustrates what is applicable to the vast majority of manufactured 
 goods in this country under present conditions. Our limited 
 market, high tariff upon raw material, and cost of distribution, 
 render it impcosible for our manufacturers now to compete in most 
 lines with other nations having less of these disadvantages. 
 
 NOW BY V^HAT REASONING 
 
 is it either just or advisable that one class of the community should 
 pay $30 thrt another may make $15 ? Why should they pay the $30 
 were it all made? What is it but a tax to support a class who 
 cannot support themselves ? How can that tax be paid out of the 
 earnings of the rest of the people without impoverishing them by just 
 so much ? The individual loses his $30 it is certain. How does he 
 get it back again ? Does he get more for his wheat because he paid 
 $30 more for a binder ? Will his horse sell for more because he 
 paid 4 cents a pound for barb wire instead of 3 cents ? Will his hay 
 bring more per ton because he paid 13 cents instead of 6 cents for 
 his oil ? Does the operator in the cotton factory get higher wages 
 now that the combine has been enabled to take full advantage of 
 the "protection" of 30 to 60 per cent. 
 
 The slave of the South had to submit to the demands of his 
 master because the latter was sustained by the power of the law. 
 The slaves of the tariff pay the price of their slavery for the same 
 reason — the law compels them. In the case of tlie slave might made 
 right, and he could not help himself. That was an older form of 
 autocracy, and it was only a few years ago that on this continent 
 the state, and a good part of the church too, said that God's 
 creatures because they were black should serve those who were 
 white. But the slave of the south did not forge his own chains as the 
 slave of the tariff does. The latter deliberately directs law makers 
 to pass laws to compel him to pay prices that without such com. 
 pulsion he could not be induced to pay. He calmly compels him- 
 self to contribute a goodly portion of his earnings to enhance the 
 profits of men whom he does not know and in whom he has no in- 
 terest. The result is natural. The slaveholder of the South 
 thought that the efforts of the slave for liberty were crimes against 
 the laws of God and man, and all abolitionists were traitors, disloyal, 
 disturbers of the peace, and were told to leave a country they did 
 
not know how to appreciate. So, too, the protected manufacturer, 
 grown insolent, talks of " vested rights," and looks upon himself as 
 of a privileged class whose claims it is high treason to impugn. 
 
 Protection so called is the same everywhere, disguised in its 
 name, its real character is aggression and extortion. It is as 
 merciless as it is avaricious, using its riches to bribe legislatures 
 and corrupt the press, deceiving and stifling opinion by in- 
 sidious falsehoods, and where it cannot deceive it seeking to crush. 
 Its power of money, concentrated in centres, gives it great influence 
 with all worshippers of success and brings in its train all that class 
 of sycophants, toadies, and parasites, who rejoice to bask in its favor 
 and feed upo.n the crumbs it spares them. Added to its adherents 
 come, too, others of a like kind, great railroad and other corpora- 
 tions seeking government aid for business enterprises — in which the 
 public take the risk n^hile the promoters reap the profit. Who dare 
 stand up against all these ? Let him know that he is marked as a 
 very '* disagreeable " person and the parasites will decry him as a 
 man who runs down his own country and advise him to leave it. 
 
 The administration of a country elected by " Protected " 
 interests becomes at once their victim. There is no choice in 
 the matter but to do their bidding. Their organization is its life. 
 President Harrison 
 
 COULD NOT RETRACE HIS STEPS. 
 
 He had to go on to McKinleyism. Sir John A. Macdonald, 
 after 1879, became of necessity, to a great extent, the creature 
 of those who put him in office ; and, per force, carried the 
 tariff by stages, at their command, to a height never originally 
 contemplated. Sir John Thompson cannot retrace. These men 
 put him where he is, and he must carry out the bargain implied 
 when he took their money and their aid. All interests are 
 subservient to theirs. When their "privileges" are interfered 
 with, all else must yield. Whatever is done must be upon 
 the lines of " The National Policy." If Secretary Foster's 
 account be true, it was largely because Sir John Thompson dare 
 not consider the question of Reciprocity as to manufactured 
 goods that the conference failed. It is a money combination, 
 and the men who draw $8,000 each a year at Ottawa are 
 mere puppets in the hands of the men who are making their 
 
millions. The organization and system are all one, but the real 
 controllers of the legislation at Ottawa 
 
 ARE NOT ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE. 
 
 It is amusing when the puppets put on a pretense of real 
 life, and promise to look into things on their own account. They 
 actually have talked about lopping off the branches of their family 
 tree Whatever is done will be done at the dictation and direction 
 of the combines as matters of expediency, and will be undone as 
 quickly as possible by every conceivable regulation to that end. 
 
 THIS IS THE CONSPIRACY 
 
 that purposes to represent National government by the people 
 for the people. Stripped of its false covering, this gigantic system * 
 of hypocrisy stands forth here as everywhere — the greatest menace 
 to liberty of this century, and the most powerful oligarchy the 
 world has ever known. 
 
 PROTECTION IN CANADA. 
 
 Free Trade or any other economic arrangement cannot prevent 
 times of depression. If people have the privilege of buying where 
 they please it is an advantage at all times, but it does not follow that 
 if they buy more than they want evil will not ensue. The greed of 
 money leads to over-trading and speculation ; and these to illegiti- 
 mate inflation of values. Then comes the reaction when the in- 
 exorable law of supply and demand asserts itself. Free Trade 
 alleviates these results and in a degree prevents them. Protection 
 naturally leads to over-production and the " combine " is its neces- 
 sary ally to control the output as well as to fix the price. Combina- 
 tions are impossible under Free Trade. A wall is necessary to the 
 existence of a monopoly, it must have a confined territory upon which 
 to work and to which it limits its operations. If there is no obstruc- 
 tion to the free importation of goods of what avail a combination 
 of the manufacturers within any country. 
 
 In Canada, as in all the world, the years of 1877-8 were years 
 of great commercial depression, following a period of unparalleled 
 expansion. 
 
 Under a 15 per cent tariif our foreign trade had grown from 
 $129,553,000 in 1868 to $216,755,000 in 1874, /. e., it had 
 
 ALMOST DOUBLED IN SIX YEARS. 
 
 In 1878 it had gone down to $170,522,000, and yet was $40,000,000 
 
7 
 
 and over 30 per cent, grett^er than ten years before. It went up too 
 fast and had to be followed by years of contraction and penance. 
 So it was the world over. The remedy sought and urged in the 
 United States was a lowering of the tariff, and only the great revival 
 of trade in 188 1-2 prevented a movement on that line being success- 
 ful then. In the' United States more than anywhere else there is a 
 continuous natural and proper increase of trade owing to the pro- 
 digious growth of population and increased production. One would 
 have thought that they would have felt this depression less than the 
 over-crowded mother land. But what are the facts? In 1877-8 
 when the depression was at its height workmen left the United 
 States in large numbers in order to return to England. Throughout 
 the continuance of this depression there had been an almost con- 
 tinuous decline of pauperism in England ; her people purchased an 
 increased quantity of articles of general consumption, while in the 
 United States on the contrary there was a steady increase in pauper, 
 ism and destitution. 
 
 In a petition presented in 1878 by some of the leading mer- 
 chants and manufacturers in the United States to the Senate and 
 House of Representatives in favor of 
 
 UNRESTRICTED TRADE 
 
 it is stated that there was at the time " unspeakable distress " among 
 the working classess of America. " Pauperism and crime increase 
 daily within our borders, skilled mechanics tramp the country over 
 in vain search for the means of living, and instances are not lacking 
 where some of our best artisans have been induced to leave our 
 shores to accept the so-called pauper wages of other countries. A 
 day's labor in England will purchase from 25 to 30 per cent, more 
 than a day's labor in the United States," 
 
 While the people of the United States were inclining towards 
 " unrestricted trade " for relief, what was happening in Canada ? If 
 we had done so well under a 1 5 per cent, tariff why change our 
 policy because of a temporary depression that was world-wide in its 
 influences, and much more disastrous in Protected countries than 
 in Free Trade England ? 
 
 Misled and deceived, the people of Canada were taught to be- 
 lieve that they were afflicted with a chronic disorder, whereas it was 
 merely the passing consequence of an overindulgence in the good 
 things of life. It was the opportunity of ♦'he protectionist and he 
 
8 
 
 speedily suggested as a remedy a free bleeding of the producing and 
 artisan class for his benefit Unfortunately the people were only too 
 ready to accept the promise of immediate relief at the hands of any 
 quack rather than trust 
 
 THE HONEST AND GUILELESS HAND 
 
 of the man who then controlled the administration of this country. 
 The impatient farmer was promised " a home market" as a recom- 
 pense for being thus cupped for tne benefit of the manufacturer. 
 
 It is needless to say that the " home market " has been a failure. 
 Wheat value is still fixed at Liverpool, not Ottawa. Cheese, cattle, 
 barley, horses, hay, oats, peas, beans, poultry — even the eggs — have 
 a price put upon them over which Minister Foster has as much con- 
 trol as the historic 
 
 " FLY ON THE WHEEL." 
 
 What an irony of fate it was that gave the farmer as a remedy for 
 the low prices of his produce the privilege of selling in the cheapest 
 markets and buying in the dearest. What a farce and failure the 
 whole thing has been. 
 
 In 1874 our Foreign trade was $216,000,000. 
 " 1891 " " 219,000,000 
 
 For the year endmg June, 1892, the wonderful crop of wheat and 
 good price ran the total up, but the smaller crop and lower price of last 
 season is likely to bring down the average again. In 1892, an 
 extraordinary year, the United States increased their foreign trade 
 $135,000,000. Our Finance Minister is making the most of this 
 dispensation of Providence in the crops of 1891. 
 
 Imagine McKinley pointing to the enormous output of the crop 
 of 1 89 1 as a reason for continuing to tax the farmer upon what 
 he had .o buy. Imagine any Republican statesman urging, as a 
 reason why the duty should not be reduced upon woollen goods, 
 the fact that Massachusetts has $350,000,000 in her savings banks 
 and that the deposits are rapidly increasing. 
 
 Yet we are favored with columns of this class of reading at 
 Ottawa. 
 
 In no country are the eflfects of trade restriction more apparent 
 than in Canada. 
 
 If any country can be said to be suited to a policy of protection 
 is the United States. There, 85 per cent, of tneir trade is inter* 
 
state, free and untrammelled. So diversified is their climate that 
 they have within themselves the natural products of every clime, 
 and a market so large and so rapidly increasing that a constant 
 stimulus is afforded to production. They have Free Trade to such 
 an extent that as to half their manufactured out-put they can and do 
 produce as cheaply as anywhere else in the world. We buy forty 
 per cent, of our total importations of manufactured goods from 
 them in preference to all others. 
 
 They complain of McKinleyism, notwithstanding, but McKin- 
 leyism, in a 65 million country, is nothing like as oppressive in its 
 consequences as a much lighter tariff in a small country. As to 
 one half their manufactured products, the tariff has little or no 
 relation. They produce machinery of all kinds, agricultural imple- 
 ments and harvest tools, furniture and musical instruments as 
 
 CHEAPLY AS ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD. 
 
 As to the staple productions of cotton, a small protection of 10 per 
 cent, would be as effective as one of 60. We need a wall just as 
 high as 10 most things against the Americans as against England. 
 Even the Free Trade we have between the provinces is largely 
 forced and unprofitable. 
 
 British Columbia has more in common in the way of trade with 
 the people south of her than she can ever have with us. Nova 
 Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island would, if per- 
 mitted, trade by way ot their natural highway — the sea — with 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 Look in any direction in Canada and you find trade restrained 
 and diverted from its natural channels and always at the expense of 
 both the volume and the profit. The manufacturer, who has a 
 market of 65 million of people for his products can and does 
 specialize and produce so much cheaper than we do that the burden 
 of " protection " in the United States means less cost to the con- 
 sumer on nearly everything he buys. The object of a protective tariff 
 is to 
 
 SHUT OUT COMPETITION. 
 
 The narrower the sphere to which competition is confined the 
 greater the cost of production and the larger profit required to sus- 
 tain the industry. 
 
TO 
 
 So McKinleyism, vicious as it is, means Free Trade as com 
 pared with the isolated condition of a people of less than five mil- 
 lions, shut out from all natural channels of trade on their own 
 continent. The result has been what was inevitable. Population 
 has sought our neighbors rather than us, not because their lands are 
 better, their mines richer or their general natural advantages are 
 greater, but because the opportunities for development are infinitely 
 better. 
 
 The results of the census are admittedly discreditable and 
 humiliating. The absurd and evidently cooked statistics as to 
 manufactures cannot remove the painful impression. 
 
 INCREASE OF POPULATION IN TEN YEARS. 
 
 New York 898,000 
 
 Pennsylvania 966,000 
 
 Nebraska 604 000 
 
 Minnesota 520,000 
 
 Ohio 468,000 
 
 Michigan 453,000 
 
 Massachusetts 450,000 
 
 Kansas 427,000 
 
 Washington State 350,000 
 
 California 340,000 
 
 Ontario 186,000 
 
 Quebec 129,000 
 
 Manitoba, the North- | 
 
 west and British ^ 178,000 
 
 Columbia 
 
 Nova Scotia, New 
 
 BrunswickandPrince V 10,209 
 
 Edward Island ) 
 
 I 
 
 While our Foreign trade has been stationary since 1874, thi^t of 
 the United States has increased from $900,000,000 to over $2,000,- 
 000,000 since 1870, or 120 per cent. The trade of the South 
 American countries increased 69 per cent, in the 20 years from 1870 
 to 1890, while the trade of the United Kingdom has grown from 
 $2,663,620,718 in 1870, to $3,616,930,122 in 1890. 
 
 See the effection of isolation and '^striction upon our shipping 
 interests : 
 
 In 1873 our gross registered tonnage was 1,073,718; in 1878 
 it had risen to 1,333,015, an increase of over 30 per cent., but in 
 1891 it had fallen to 1,005,475, or less than it was in 1873. There 
 was a further decrease of 20,000 tons in the Maritime Provinces last 
 year. We have spent $57,000,000 on canals alone, but with what 
 result? The total tonnage built in 1891 was 52,145, and of this 
 43,000 tons were built in the Maritime Provinces, Ontario only 
 furnished 2,661 tons, and Quebec, 4,200 tons. 
 
 Why do we build canals if we have not ships or ship yards ? 
 
II 
 
 The total registered tonnage in Ontario was 138,914 tons in 1891. 
 Ontario Boards of Trade can discuss eloquently the question of a 
 
 FAST ATLANTIC SERVICE, 
 
 but wholly disregard the fact that they have no shipping at their 
 doors It is almost inconceivable that a people should spend, as we 
 have done, quite $f 00,000,000 in buflding canals, lighthouses, 
 harbors and in their maintenance, and pay so little attention to the 
 lack of result. 
 
 Yet our neighbors are building an these same waters a wonder- 
 ful fleet. Since 1886 they have more than doubled their tonnage on 
 the great lakes. In 1889 they had 2,784 vessels of a gross tonnage 
 of 926,355, valued at $48,941,000, moving 53,000,000 tons of freight, 
 employi.ig 1 6,000 hands, and paying out in wages $5,322,000. 
 
 In 1890 the new tonnage built for this trade alone was 108,523 
 tons and in 1891 and 1892 it was quite as great. 
 
 Look at the result in the growth of population in American 
 cities on the great lakes : 
 
 LOCALITIES. 1880. 1890. 
 
 Ashland 9 956 
 
 Duluth 5,415 33.115 
 
 Marquette 4,690 9 093 
 
 Superior 1 1,983 
 
 Total Lake Superior 10,105 64,147 
 
 Alpena 6,153 11,283 
 
 Bay City 20,693 27,839 
 
 Detroit 116,340 205,876 
 
 Port Huron - 8,883 1 1,283 
 
 Saginaw 29,541 46,322 
 
 Total Lakes Huron and St. Clair . . 181,610 304,863 
 
 Appleton 8,005 II, 869 
 
 Chicago 503^185 1,099,850 
 
 Grand Rapids 32,016 60,278 
 
 Green Bay 7,464 9,069 
 
 Manistee 6,930 12,812 
 
 Menominee 3,288 10,630 
 
 Michigan City 7,366 10,776 
 
 Milwaukee 1 15,587 204,468 
 
 Muskegon 1 1,262 22,702 
 
12 
 
 LOCALITIES. 1880. 1890. 
 
 Oshkosh 15,748 22,836 
 
 Racine 115,031 21,014 
 
 Sheboygan 7,341 i6,359 
 
 Total Lake Michigan 734,196 1,502,633 
 
 Ashtabula 4,445 8,338 
 
 Buffalo 155.134 255,664 
 
 Cleveland 160,146 261,353 
 
 Dunkirk 7,248 9,416 
 
 Erie 27,737 40,634 
 
 Sandusky 15,838 18,471 
 
 Toledo 50,137 81,434 
 
 Total Lake Erie 420,685 675,310 
 
 Why is it that we have not such cities ? Why is it that less and 
 less in proportion is seen the Union Jack on the Detroit or Sault 
 Ste. Marie rivers ? It is because of trade restriction. The traffic 
 between the Eastern and Western and North- western States is free 
 and untrammelled, and goes on increasing in leaps and bounds, 
 necessitating new means of carriage by water and land each year. 
 We arc 
 
 SHUT OUT BY BARRIERS OB" MAN, 
 
 not ot nature. Fortunately our railways are not so restricted and they 
 are permitted to do and are doing a large share of the American 
 carrying trade. Mr. Van Home, while taking advantage of this 
 privilege for his road at the Sault, Detroit and everywhere East and 
 West where he can get a foothold, professes to believe that every one 
 else is better off because they are prohibited doing business they 
 would gladly do if not prevented. 
 
 No one knows better the evil that would result to our railways 
 were they deprived of their American connections, and these are no 
 more necessary to his road than is trade with these people to every 
 other legitimate business in the land. 
 
 OUR MINERALS 
 
 That Canada is rich in minerals we all know. Why no result ? 
 The American output last year was $670,000,000, ours about $20,- 
 000,000. Their's increased at the rate of $25,000,000 a year. The 
 Canadian year book for 1892 says: "It would appear that mineral 
 production in Canada is, at present, not increasing to any great ex- 
 
tent, the value having remained practically stationary for the last 
 three years, though this may be in a large measure due to sluggish 
 markets and a consequently reduced demand for some of the 
 principal articles." 
 
 Well, where is our demand? In 1890 out of $4,855,757 in 
 spite of the tariff against us we sent to the United States $3,963,257. 
 
 Does not the statistician know well that were the " tariff" bar- 
 riers removed our trade would double in a year and be ten fold in 
 ten years. 
 
 A friend came back from British Columbia the other day. As 
 he is a great protectionist he takes his cue from Ottawa and with per- 
 fect confidence claims every mineral deposit as the natural result of 
 trade restriction and the N. P. If McKinley had only been trained 
 in the same school he would have justified the increased duty on tin 
 plate by reference to the growth of Lake shipping. But my friend 
 was in great glee. He said : " We have some of the finest lead 
 deposits in the world in the Kootenay district." I said : " Yes, and 
 are they being worked." " Well, no," he replied, " not now, there 
 is no market." '' When will there be ? " he was asked. " The natural 
 and only market," he said, " is the American and that is closed by 
 the tariff, freight would prohibit export." 
 
 If Christopher Columbus were to return to this benighted earth, 
 after 400 years absence, and proceed to the boundary between 
 British Columbia and Washington State, he would naturally ask the 
 Canadian : Do you not want to sell your lead and does not the 
 American want to buy ? It is in your mutual interest to trade, is it 
 not? and, if so, what incomprehensible idiotcy prevents you and 
 keeps these mines idle ? The only answer possible would be that 
 the McKinleys at Washington and Thompsons at Ottawa, in league 
 with and controlled by an organization of monopolists, declared that 
 nature and the people themselves were all wrong, and the lead must 
 stay 
 
 IN THE HILLS OF XOOTENAY 
 
 until that fire which shall destroy the world should melt it, rather 
 than that the principle of plundering the many for the benefit of the 
 few should not prevail. 
 
 As we have an exportable surplus of farm products, fish and 
 lumber, the price of all these is fixed by an outside demand. The 
 Government canr )t add to the value of the product by any legisla 
 
14 
 
 tion. People who can't be helped in their selling surely do ncc 
 want to be hindered hi their buying. Our shipping and mining 
 interests would be wonderfully aided by Free Trade, especially Free 
 Trade of this continent. 
 
 A large proportion of our manufacturers are ready to hold their 
 own — those that are self-supporting are all anxious tor a more 
 extensive market. Must the whole country be sacrificed for the 
 benefit of a few pampered combines ? 
 
 All restriction to trade is injurious. The inventor of tariffs was 
 a robber. Freedom of trade is a benefit to everyone. Freedom of 
 trade on this continent, even with McKinleyism, would be a great 
 step in advance of our present condition. Now, we are handicapped 
 on all sides in what we sell and what we buy. Our mines are idle, 
 and we have no ships. The Americans, prosperous with Free 
 Trade of a continent, rebel against McKinleyism. Shall we submit 
 to pay McKinley prices with 20 to 60 per eent. added ? Shall we 
 be content to be isolated from our profitable markets? All for 
 what ? Because Mr. Foster says that he cannot abandon his 
 promises to the Red Parlor. 
 
 A better era is dawning. President Cleveland in his inaugural 
 address has struck the right chord. He says : 
 
 " The verdict of our voter, which condemned the injustice of 
 maintaining protection for protection's sake, enjoins upon the peo- 
 ple's servants the duty of exposing and destroying the brood of 
 kindred evils which are the unwholesome progeny of paternalism. 
 The lessons of paternalism ought to be unlearned and the better 
 lesson taught, that while the people should patriotically and cheer- 
 fully support their government its functions do not include the sup- 
 port of the people. When we proclaim that the necessity for 
 revenue to support the government furnishes the only justification 
 for taxing the people, we announce a truth so plain that its denial 
 would seem to indicate the extent to which judgment may be in- 
 fluenced by familiarity with perversions of the taxing power ; and 
 when we seek to reinstate the self confidence and business enterprise 
 of our citizens, by discrediting an abject dependence upon govern- 
 mental favcr, we strive to stimulate those elements of American 
 character which support the hope of American achievement." 
 
 Let trade be free and let us support each ;.nd every measure to 
 that end. > 
 
 Let us, as the Americans have done, repudiate " Protection 
 for Protection's sake." Let us then strive for the greatest measure of 
 
IS 
 
 Free Trade possible, either by way of Reciprocity or otherwise, but 
 remember that we never will accomplish anything until we have 
 wholly and entirely abandoned the belief that the functions of a 
 Government include the support of any class of the people by tax- 
 ation of the rest. 
 
 It is the first duty of every man who believes these things to do 
 his part, however unpleasant the task or at whatever cost. 
 
 We have come to the crossing of the ways. Let us preserve 
 our National life. Many, despairing of relief, are looking to a 
 change of allegiance. Let us be patient. Our Canada is worthy of 
 the effort and must be saved. The paralysis which now binders her 
 activity is the result of wandering from the true path. When we 
 adopted the protective policy we of necessity were led into all the 
 evils of the spoils system. It is a comparatively small matter what 
 the price of barb wire is but it is 
 
 A MATTER OF VITAL IMPORTANCE 
 
 that no Government should be allowed to say to the general public 
 what price they must pay for their wire. If the Government fix the 
 the profits of the manufacturer it is inevitable that they will " fix " 
 them for a consideration to themselves thoroughly understood. 
 
 A Government that was willing to grant favors to the com- 
 bines m exchange for liberal subscriptions and support had not far 
 to go before making similar arrangements with the contractors. 
 One step more and it could without shame openly bid for constitu- 
 encies by a promised dispensation of public moneys. After that it 
 required no great strain of conscience to make even the franchise a 
 matter of manipulation or to arrange the constituencies to serve 
 their ends. 
 
 All this tends to lower the tone of the whole body politic. The 
 office does not seek the man but the professional place hunter is 
 everywhere seeking to get his share of what is going. So great is 
 the demand on the part of followers in the House for the looked for 
 reward that the Cabinet must be extended from time to time to 
 satisfy them. And 
 
 WHO ARE CHOSEN? 
 
 There must be an Irishman or two who wear the green and show 
 their hatred of the orange, but only on useful occasions ; then there 
 must be some of the other kind of Irishmen, who wear the lily 
 
i6 
 
 and consign the Pope properly on lodge nights ; then two or three 
 kind of Frenchmen are taken in because they are Frenchmen of 
 different kinds ; a brewer is added judiciously, and a temperance 
 advocate follows, and Heaven knows what else. No one of all 
 these is chosen as a true Canadian or because of any peculiar ability 
 to serve the state. A man may be made a P'inance Minister who 
 never knew the use of a ledger. The Minister of Agriculture is 
 likely to have obtained his knowledge as to the *' raising " of barley 
 in the malt house or from Blackstone. 
 
 They are all chosen because they have the " pull " on some 
 organization — lay or clerical — and men who have to use "pulls " to 
 get places are not the material out of which statesmen can be made. 
 Canada has nothing to do with the feuds of other lands. She 
 has the right to demand that her citizens be no longer "English, Irish, 
 Scotch or French, but Canadians. How can this be brought about 
 while the reward of narrowness and bigotry is high place in the 
 control of National affairs ? If we are to ever have 
 
 A CANADIAN NATIONAL LIFE 
 
 worthy of the name, we must retrace our steps, and do it quickly. 
 With the downfall of protection we will have the downfall of all 
 "paternaHsm." If the Government cannot corrupt the people by 
 granting any " special " advantages, the people in turn will not 
 corrupt t!ie Government. Place hunters will be frowned upon and 
 men will be sought for who are not mere spoilsmen, but seek to build 
 up the country upon the true foundation of a united people. 
 
 "VVe have in Canada all that we could wish or hope for, it 
 is only isolation, restriction and corruption that are strangling our 
 efforts and making great natural advantages of little avail. 
 
 With the prosperity that would follow freedom of trade, economy, 
 integrity and self-reliance in the citizen as the only safe foundation 
 of a free government administered solely for the general good, would 
 come new blood into the Colonial life, our young men would stay 
 here and build up with pride their native land, 
 
 AND AFTER A WHILE PERHAPS 
 
 we shall have on this continent a new nation, not English or Irish or 
 Scotch or French, not a part of the American Union, but a liberty- 
 loving, prosperous, sturdy, self-asseriing and self-maintaining race, 
 who shall be Canadians first, last and always.*