2.6" /O L M^kM LIBRARY OF CONGRESS^' 3 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ' i.c ECONOMIC AND SOCIOLOGIG DELATIONS OF THE CANADIAN STATES AND THE UNITED STATES, FBOSPECT- IVELY CONSIDEBED. ADDRESS BY CHARLES S. HILL, VICE PRESIDENT, SECTION I, BEFORE THE SECTION OF ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, At the Toronto Meeting, August, 1889. From the Proceedings op the American Association for the Advancement OF Science, Vol. xxxviii. printed by the salem press publishing and printing co., SALEM, MASS. 1890. ^/ \ Cj 4 ADDRESS BT CHARLES S. HILL. Vice President, Section I. ECONOMIC AND SOCIOLOGIC BELATIONS OF THE CANADIAN STATES AND THE UNITED STATES, PROSPECT- IVELY CONSIDERED. What God hath joined together" — no man can rend asunder. Joined by natural conditions of creation, by ties of consanguin- ity and language, by bans of matrimony and posterity, these two peoples, assembled here to-day, of the Canadian States and the United States, must eventually be one and inseparable — inevita- bly. Our relations with the Canadian people are closer than our re- lations with those of any of our sister American Republics, although of similar form of government, because of the difference in the lan- guage of the latter. The science of God in nature is far grander than the science of man in art. In His infinite wisdom our topographic conditions are one and inseparable. By His divine will our language of communication is one and the same, and the Christian cross is our religious emblem of one faith, whether of the Anglican, Roman or Grecian branch of the church. These are the unifying elements which render our destiny one as a people and one in government. These conditions are de facto and unchangeable, therefore they need no consideration. (3) 4: SECTION I. Our economic and soeiologic relations are problematic, and an analj'sis of the prospective conditions thereof can but be of bene- fit and interest in anticipation of union or not, but the union of these two peoples in one government eventuallj^ is as certain as the union of territory is now definite and unalterable. Two committees of the United States Congress are already in the field studying this problem from a political point of view, and that a lively and important discussion will take place at the coming session of Congress in Washington next winter is very certain. Grave and serious may be the immediate results of the coming consideration as an international question, in view of the remark- able existing and rapidly developing conditions that are assuming such complicated features, but the ultimate result will be annex- ation and consolidation. In view of the existing conditions on the one hand and the pro- spective conditions on the other, there seems to be no more perti- nent and important an economic problem for consideration before this Section to-day. I shall not pretend to anal3'ze each specific subject of these con- ditions in cause and result, but merely open a discussion as to the economic measures and soeiologic benefits to be attained in the future ; nor shall I burden you with statistical data more than in a few tabulations, for such are familiar to 3'ou all. The many distinguished economists of scientific study and world- renowned fame attending this convention, and who have recorded special papers to be presented to you during our sessions, will more ably interest and inform 3'ou. When we compare our natural conditions with those of the many peoples of the Old World, what a mighty contrast is presented, and what a volume of thought is suggested. On this new continent the English tongue has sounded over lakes, reechoed over the plains, and reverberated over seven mil- lions square miles, from ocean to ocean, obliterating the dialect of hundreds of thousands of immigrants yearly and silencing in exter- mination the tongues of the aborigines. On the old continent we find different peoples and hear different tongues within the short distance of every few hundred thousand square miles. From the Hebrides of Europe to the Himalayas of Asia, to the far north of Siberia, we listen to a confusion of lan- guages, find a variety of religions and religious superstitions, and we see that even rivers, as well as ADDRESS BY CHARLES S. HILL. O " Mountains, interposed, malie enemies of nations That else, like kindred drops, have mingled into one." With us a continent is being developed into homogeneity by the inspiring and subduing force of the English language, and what is being done on this continent is also being done the world over, and by the same cause — the unification of the English-speaking people. OUR ECONOMIC RELATIONS. Of the United States, what can be said? Endowed with wonderful and unexampled prosperity that have blessed us for a century of years, through great vicissitudes of po- litical circumstances, in peace and in war ; in the possession of a soil that has yielded far more than, ample harvest for our wants of every character ; in the knowledge of owning vast undeveloped mineral resources of untold and inestimable wealth ; under an es- tablished economic policy of government laid down by our fathers, who framed our Constitution and who enjoined upon us to follow their policy, and which has only twice been interrupted by indis- creet and ruinous political passion in legislation — it appears natu- ral that our neighbors and friends of the Dominion of Canada should be blessed with like possession of riches in geological, agri- cultural, and industrial development, at present denied them by legislative limitation and requirements, not necessary to dwell up- on here. It seems to us, blest with such past and prospective prosperity, singular tliat you of Canada should not be unanimously anxious to become united to such a people and form of government. And of Canada, what? The etymologic significance of the lndia.n Kannatha is no longer applicable to the Dominion of these great Provinces ; La Nouvelle France has long since lost its significance, if not its identity. Relatively in resources the present 'Canada is as wonderfully wealthy, as rich in fertility of soil, and as progressive in enterprise and genius as is the United States. During the last decade the Dominion has made more rapid strides in the utilization of her pos- sessions and opportunities than ever before. The vast area of the Dominion offers a supply of several natural products in greater abundance than the United States, and even some which we do not possess. With a climate varied but little from our own, except in the most 6 SECTION I. northern part, tliere appears in the near future a grand prospect for immense settlement and great prosperity. But the historic phrase of British North America is even now a misnomer and will soon become obsolete. There are " Three Americas" — North, Central and South. Of the first, from the Arctic to the Gulf there can be but one people eventually, of one language and of one government. The similitude of Republican government between the United States and Central America is a tie of strong sympathy, but lan- guage and consanguinity bind us closer to you of Canada. It has been truly said that the ties of blood were stronger than water, but it may be added that ties of language, religion and blood must, sooner or later, blend us, now two peoples, into one. UNIVERSAL CONDITIONS. Let us then consider the conditions and prospects that we find before us. A commercial union is impracticable, for there must first be uni- versalitj^ in political government, as well as in economic and so- ciologic conditions and national assimilation. It would be preposterous to establish a free-trade policy with Canada and preserve a protection policy with England. The side- door entrance would be used exclusively for commercial inter- course with Great Britain and the trade of our Atlantic and Pacific seaport cities would be ruined and the prosperity that our mer- chants have enjoyed would be known no more forever. The em- ployment which thej' now distribute to the poorer classes of those thickly-settled and thriving cities would be not only interrupted, but destroyed. Loss of wages, idleness, discontent and strife, would result as surely as such a basis of intercourse should be es- tablished with a people that belonged to and were under the govern- ment of a European nation. Were you of Canada an independent people a commercial union would be a very different matter for consideration. But as long as the Canadian people are under the control of the British government, which now rules the seas and the com- merce of the world, to open such a side door of traffic would be cutting the artery of our industiy and bleeding of our workmen to death. ADDRESS BY CHARLES S. HILL. / A commercial union witli Canada would, of course, be practi- cally a commercial union or a free-trade traffic with Great Britain. As well might we establish the union direct and better that we declare free trade to the world. Assimilation of political interests must come before a "commer- cial union" is possible. How shall it come? The United States cannot court it or ten- der a protectorate to the Dominion. It would be directly contrary to our national policy to acquire territory by means of aggression. Canada must be the suitor. She must make her peace with her home government and obtain the consent of mother England be- fore entering into a matrimonial alliance with ourselves. Whether the United States must assume the debt of Canada or pay a con- sideration in money will be a question of agreement. GOVERNMENT. Autocracy, plutocracy, democracy, which? For one hundred 3'ears the people of Canada have failed to be- come assimilated even in themselves. For one hundred years the people of the United States have been banded as one, except during the brief period of political pas- sion — in which the flames and fury of prejudice were fanned by in- fluences from abroad — and by ignorance of true politico-economic principles at home ; but the dark cloud of strife and difference has passed, and now, more purified in love and stronger in reason for the sad lesson learned, we are one, "now and forever." Why, then, this great contrast in similitude of conditions exist- ing between two people, side by side ? It is because of the difference in form of government. Ex-President White, of Cornell University says that — "The first requisite to a good government is to educate the great mass of citizens to the point of grasping simple pohtical questions," and so it is emphatically. Between autocracy and democracy there seems to have sprung up a fear of plutocracy, or rule of wealth, in our remarkably pros- perous country, but that fear can be calmed by the reflection that in the country where the poor man has an equal chance with the rich man — provided that industry and integrity are equally prom- inent — plutocracy is impossible. 8 SECTION I. The Premier of Canada, Sir John Maedonald, is, of course, in his earnest loyalty to England, a zealous monarchist, and has no taste for the agitation about the question of annexation of his peo- ple to ours, for he well knows that it could only be done by re- nouncing the autocracy of the royal family and assuming the de- mocracy of our people. It is to his wisdom and foresight, however, that Canada owes her progressiveness and advancement in the last ten years ; but it would be only fatality that caused him to realize that his sliilful statesmanship and economic judgment only hastened the accom- plishment of annexation to our people's government — the last re- sult that he desired. Perhaps the most witty observation upon this subject has come from the Hon. Mr. Chapleau, Canadian Secretary of State, at a dinner in Montreal recently, viz. : that, while he did not wish to disparage the United States he would say that if they were to annex themselves to Canada it would be good for them. But he erred very much in the prospective view when he added that "these movements towards the United States mean only one thing — destruction to Canadian industries," for such has not been the ex- perience of any state or territory of our Union. Mr. Erastus Wiman, who is well informed concerning the in- terests and circumstances governing both peoples, says he regarded it as "Unfortunate that the whole continent was not included in the Ameri- can Revolution. Only Great Britain's liberal policy, which she exercises toward her vast western colony, and which she learned to be imperative for peace one hundred years ago, has made possible the continued colon- ial existence of Canada. The Dominion is to-day intensely loyal to the English government, because of the extended influence of the Orangemen, who resist the encroachments aliivC of Americanism and Catholicism; be- cause of the six hundred and fifty millions of dollars of British capital in- vested in Canadian enterprises; because of the influx of British emigration, which deliberately chooses British land in which to live and because of the undesirable character of the exiles who seek in Canada immunity from punishment for crime committed in the United States." To take a view from another side, which is the only just means of learning the true sentiment of a people, let us listen to the ex- pression of the Premier of the province of Quebec, the Hon. Hon- ors Mercier, who says that ^^ Quebec is a British colony only in name." ADDRESS BY CHARLES S. HILL. » He adds — "The aspirations and ideals of lier people are as un-British as they well can be, and tlieir hearts beat for France and not for Britain. It is not the record of Saxon achievements that stirs their pulses. ^'With two races that have spilled each other's blood on half a hundred fields from the days of Agincourt down to Waterloo, Canadian statesmen are trying to build up a nation, and after more than a century of inter- mingling the matei'ials are found to be as incongruous and as unmixable as they were on the day when the fleu7--de-Ujs bowed its splendors before the valor of "Wolfe under the walls of Quebec. Who will say that the tasli is not a colossal one? It begins to look as if it were a hopeless one." Premier Mercier presents the point of consideration forcibly for reflection upon tlie contrast between tlie people of Canada and of the United States : "How comes it, Americans may ask, that Canada has failed to assimi- late the French Canadians, when the states have assimilated and made American citizens of the people of every clime on the globe?" Here is strikingly impressed the influence upon the spirit of the people under an autocratic in distinction from those under a dem- ocratic form of government. UNRESTRICTED TRADE. Do reciprocity treaties reciprocate ? This question requires careful consideration and reflection, much more than it is possible to present to you in an address tliis even- ing, and certainly much more than seems to be given b}' the ma- jor part of political representatives of either nation. Reciprocity treaties are generally economic and sociologic, and are termed ^'Commercial and Amity Treaties." The former comes under this division of ray argument because it is a contribution to or deduction from the public revenue of a people and should be framed by a practical body of economists and business men, not by politicians. The latter comes under the following division because it is a diplomatic tie governing the so- ciologic conditions of one nation with another, and may be, per- haps, more happily drafted by the genial warm-hearted, and the- oretical diplomatist than by the cold, hard-headed, calculating, and money-making mercliant. Reciprocal treaties are good enough so far as they protect against 2 10 SECTION I. discrirainations of trade tricks in the ports of two countries, but for growing countries like the United States and Canada to be cir- cumscribed and handicapped by bodies of diplomatic obligation against economic interests and development is absurd. For in- stance, we find ourselves, by our infantile treaty of 1818 with Eng- land, which we have outgrown, ridiculously appearing as an over- grown man wearing the short clothes of boyhood, mortified and smarting yearly under the obligation to our parent countr}', which is now infinitely the smaller, to the disparagement of our com- mercial interests of the breaking of good faith. To show this absurdity authoritatively, however, and the danger of short-sighted, so-called reciprocit}'- treaties, I quote from a report of the Committee on Commerce of the United States House of Rep- resentatives, May 28, 1842, made through its chairman, Hon. John P. Kennedy, of Maryland, a statesman and economist. That Re- port, No. 835, 27th Congress, 2d session, page 27, says : "The aim of our Government has been to establish reciprocity in trade. ***** "It seems to have been imagined that reciprocity consisted in equal privileges of importation and exportation in our own vessels and the ves- sels of the nation with which we establislied these relations; that the greater the scope given to these privileges of import and export, the nearer the approach to perfect reciprocity." This Committee of Congress did not make a superficial research into the cause of civil results in our commercial conditions, but thoroughly cut to the germ of the disease by analytical dissection, as will be seen by reference to that remarkable document : "Our commerce has been proffered to the world upon terms dictated by the most friendly disposition, and with a sincere desire to give the utmost scope to the expansion of commei-cial adventure." * * * "Our citizens have acquiesced for years in these arrangements, under the specious delusion that, as the system professed to be one of reciprocal advantage, we have gained by it reciprocal freedom of trade." The Report adds with severe comment : "The Committee have already pointed out the fruits of. this reciprocity." It is of interest here to examine the record of our treaties so as to place correctly in the mind the character and date of each that we have made with nations professedly reciprocating the benefits anticipated and to judge of the results. ADDRESS BY CHARLES S. HILL. 11 TREATIES, OBSOLETE AND EXISTING. The first commercial treaty of our country ever made was with France, in 1778, but it was afterward broken by that country in its principles of amity and economic relations, which caused an interruption of our navigation and commerce upon the Atlantic Ocean. The order and date of these treaties under the old Government were, viz. : Old Confederation. 1778, Feb. 6 France .... Amity and commerce. 1782, Oct. 8 Netherlands . . Amity and commerce. 1782, Oct. 8 Netherlands . . Recaptured vessels. 1783, Jan. 20 Great Britain . . Armistice. 1783, Apr. 3 Sweden . . . Amity and commerce. 1783, Sept. 8 Great Britain . Peace. 1785, July 9, 28; Aug. 5, Sept. 10 Prussia . . . Amity and commerce. 1788, Nov. 14 France .... Consular. These were all the treaties of the original Government, made from the date of rebellion against British Commercial Taxation to the reorganization under the title of United States of America, March 4, 1789. Under the reorganized Government our first treaty with Great Britain was of Peace, Amity, and Commerce, dated November 19, 1794. It was the first treaty under the Constitution of the United States, and signed by "Grenville" and John Jay, to which was af- terward appended an additional and an explanatory article signed hy "Bond" and Timothy Pickering. This treaty, however, although fully detailed specifically, was not in force long, but supplemented, as will be here shown, by sharp diplomacy to the disadvantage of our people from the year 1815 to the present day. The schedule of existing commercial treaties is as follows : Reciprocal Commercial Treaties of the United States existing at present (alphabetically arranged) . Nation. Date of Treaty. Argentine Confedei-ation... July 27, 1853 Austria-Hungary Aug. 27, 1829 Belgium Mar. 8, 1875 Bolivia May 13, 1858 Brazil. Dec. 12, 1828 Chili May 16, 1832 Nation. Date of Treaty. Corea June 4, 1883 Costa Rica July 10, 1851 Denmark April 26, 1826 Dominican Republic Feb. 8, 1867 Equador June 13, 1839 France Sept. 30, 1800 China Nov. 17, 1880 I Germany July 3, 1815 12 SECTION I. Nation. Date of Treaty. Great Britain ^ J"ly 3, 1815 Supplemented ] Oct. 20, 1818 Renewed ^ Aug. 6, 1827 Greece Dec. 10-22, 1837 Guatemala Mar. 3, 1849 Hanover June 10, Haiiseatic Republics Dec. 20, Hawaiian Islands Jan. 30, Hayti Nov. 3, H ondiiras July 4, Italy Feb. 26, Japan July 25, Liberia Oct. 21, Madagascar Mar. 13, Mexico Jan. 20, Morocco Sept. 16, Muscat Sept. 21, Netherlands , Oct. 8, Supplemented ^ Jan. 19, Renewed Aug. 26, 1846 1827 1875 1864 1864 1871 1878 1862 1883 1883 1836 1833 1782 1839 1852 Nation. Date of Treaty. New Granada Dec. 12, 1846 Nicaragua June 21, Norway July Ottoman Empire Feb. Paraguay Feb. Persia Dec. Peru Sept. Portugal Aug. Prussia May Russia Dec. 1-13, Salvador Dec Sa moa Jan. Siam Dec. 17-31, 1876 Spain July 22, 1819 Sweden (see also Norway) July 24, 1827 Swiss Confederation Nov. 25, 18.'J0 Tripoli June 4, Tunis July 24, Turkey (see Ottoman Empire), Venezuela Aug 27, 21, 1867 4, 1827 25, 1803 4, 1859 13, 1856 6, 1870 26, 1840 1, 1828 -13, 1832 6, 1870 17, 1878 1805 1824 1860 This list includes only those of Commerce and Navigation and does not include Treaties of Peace and Amity. How far these Reciprocal Treaties have really effected a recip- rocation and benefit to our trade — even where most effective — is a question to which we should give careful examination, and it is the duty of every business man to consider the same, as they deeply affect his financial interest. Since the adoption of our Constitution one hundred and thirty Eeciprocal Commercial Treaties have been made valid, of which seventy-seven have become obsolete., and the fifty, recorded above, remain in force. These Reciprocity treaties have been of varied purport, viz. : " Consular," " favored nation privileges," "real es- tate," " personal property," " privileges to vessels," " merchants," etc. It would be tiresome to detail the particulars of the good and bad contained in the multifarious assortment of international law that these Treaties present. True, the Peace Treaty of 1815 established an era of pacifica- tion throughout Europe and America. Industrial enterprise and commercial rivalry were actively inaugurated, and, as usual under excitement of competition, every advantage for the securing of trade was studied, and hence the greatest commercial freedom and privileges in navigation were offered by our statesmen to foreign nations in the hope of outrivaling our rivals for the great trade in industry of our recent enemy in war. ADDRESS BY CHARLES S. HILL. 13 Thus it was that within six months an agreement was negotiated with Great Britain, almost upon her own terms, in peace, after our victorious struggle in war, which permitted her to exclude us in trade from her colonies, and to gain an advantage over us in navi- gation, under a negotiation denominated the "Reciprocal Commer- cial Treaty of July 3, 1815." This Treaty, extended in 1818 for ten years, was afterward re- newed in 1827 for time and eternity (?), it seems, as we are still handicapped by its inequitable specifications and prejudicial ad- vantages in favor of Great Britain — mirabile dictu ! That antiquated curiosity of American folly of 1815, our Treaty with Great Britain, faces our statesmen of to-day, as well as of the past, as an obstruction to equalization of commercial conditions, and particularly to the carrying trade between us and nations. It needs no proof to assure us of this fact. That most profound statesman, Daniel Webster, spoke emphatically, and recorded his opinion thereof, and of our humiliation, in ridicule of the errors that make up our present condition. Mr. "Webster said in an address at Baltimore, 1840 : "I do, gentlemen, entertain the strongest belief that the prhiciple of rec- iprocity acted upon by the Government is wrong from the beginning, and injurious to the great interests of the country." Mr. Webster was too diplomatic to express his candid judgment while arbitrating upon other conditions with Lord Ashburton ; but let those who claim Daniel Webster as an advocate of "Treaties" review his emphatic words here : "By every Reciprocity Treaty we agree to give to every nation witli whicli it is concluded a right to trade between us and other nations on the same terms as we trade ourselves — to give to the Hanse towns and the other States of the same class the right to fetch and carry between us and all nations of the world on the same terms as we do, and practically they call do it much tnore profitably." Here is the secret of England's success — she determined to wield a strong influence throughout the world b}^ carrying the trade of every nation, and this was accomplished through subsidizing her largest steamship companies — which is still continued. Mr. Webster further expounded the question thus : " "We ought to give to every nation the right of bringing her cargo here in her ships if she gives the lilie privilege ; but, bj^ the Eeciprocity Trea- ties, to give for the carrying of a nation like Bremen, which has but one 14 SECTION I. port, all the ports along a coast of 1,500 miles, with 17,000,000 of people, when she has scarcely 200,000 of her own, pray what sort of a Reciprocity is this? It is very much like the horse and the cock, who were walking together. The cock thought to make a ' Beciprocal Treaty' with the horse — ' 1 will not tread on you if you will not tread on me.' " A finer caricature of " Reciprocity Treaties" could not be more dryly or poignantly portrayed. The great Webster was not alone in his contempt for such in- ternational law. The opinion of his successor as Secretary of State is here appropriate ; that brilliant and faithful statesman, whose career was suddenly ended by accidental death, Hon. Abel P. Up- shur, in his report Nov. 24, 1843, in presenting to President Tyler the condition of agreement creating tlie " Germanic Association or Customs Union," known as the " ZoU-Verein," referring to Mr. Webster's report of 1841 upon the same subject, and after point- ing out the advantages contemplated thereby, and referring to in- structions given to our Minister at Berlin, Mr. Wheaton, to estab- lish a commercial arrangement between our country and the states of that Customs Union, viz. : " To effect the long-cherished object of procuring the reduction of the present duty on our tobacco, secure the continued admission of our cotton free of all duties, and prevent the imposition of any higher duty on rice than that which is at present imposed." Mr. Upshur points out the advantages offered by this ZoU-Ve- rein and cites in contrast the exactions of England, France and Austria toward our trade relations and adds : " There is reason to apprehend that if the best advised measures be not promptly taken American commerce will soon be engrossed by the ships and seamen of Europe." Alas ! how prophetic the warning ; how true the prophecy to our present condition is the result of this so-called " Reciprocity Treaty of 1815 ! " Mr. Upshur continues : " There can he no doubt that the cause, of this great evil is to befoiind in the stipulations of our Treaties, which place the shipping of foreign countries on an equality with that of the United States in the indirect as well as the di- rect trade." It seems difficult to find any defence or excuse for our impolitic provisions, and deplorable disadvantage in shipping conditions. The Hon. Mr. Beck, of Kentucky, one of the ablest and most ADDRESS BY CHARLES S. HILL. 15 earnest advocates of free trade, at a dinner in New York city last 3^ear, made the following remarkable admission of the disadvan- tage under which we labor in our commercial relations with foreign powers under our antiquated treaties. "I am, perhaps, unfortunate in lacking eitlier veneration or respect for antiquated laws. I deny the right — yes, the power — of the Federal Gov- ernment to make Treaties with foreign nations authorizing them to engage in our ocean-carrying trade upon precisely the same terms that our own citizens may." This frank admission applies more particularly, necessarily, to the treaty of 1815 with Great Britain than to any other nation, and is a most forcible and patriotic reflection upon our international commercial relations, although the final expression detracts from the good point taken. But this question is one of so much importance to-day that its discussion has been agitated recently and ably expounded by the Hon. Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, of the Senate, under the following resolution : " Besolved, That so-called reciprocity treaties, having no possible basis of reciprocity with nations of inferior population and wealth, involving the surrender of enoi'mously unequal sums of revenue, involving the sur- render of immensely larger volumes of home trade than are offered to us in return, and involving constitutional questions of the gravest character, are untimely, and should everywhere be regarded with disfavor." That these two distinguished senators, of antipodal ideas, poli- tic and economic, should at least agree in condemning the hypo- thetical benefits of our so-called Reciprocity Treaties, is certainly a suggestive thought. HOME MARKETS. The Hon. Leverett Saltonstall, of Massachusetts, the father of the United States tariflf of 1842, in his able report of that year, epitomized free trade and reciprocal treaties. Mr. Saltonstall pleaded that — "A departure from the policy under which duties on imports have been so arranged as to encourage domestic industry, it is feared, would be most disastrous. Foreign nations would flood this country with their produc- tions and destroy our manufactures by depriving them of the home market. The operation of it would be like that of our reciprocal treaties, as they are called, under which we have lost a great part of the carrying trade of our own produce." 16 SECTION I. This evil has so long been a subject of complaint that it has fre- quently been recommended that an " auction duty" would check the excessive shipment to our ports of refuse stock of foreign goods sold here at any price and proceeds remitted in specie to the great injury of our business community. Mr. McLane, Secretary of the Treasury, sent a draught of a bill to the House for this purpose in 1832. The economy of a home market to which Mr. Saltonstall refers has been discussed in the preceding letter of this series, and its connection with this letter in regular order is here emphasized ; Mr. Saltonstall speaks forcibly, further, on page 20 of his same Re- port, as follows : «' Thus, it is that in sixteen countries of Europe, in which, if anything like reciprocity of terms were observed, over/owr hundred thousand hogs- heads of American tobacco, worth, before shipment, about thirty millions of dollars, would probably be consumed, the enormous burdens imposed upon the article by the Governments of those countries limit the introduction of it to less than ninety thousand hogsheads; and upon the amount so in- troduced into their consumption, costing in the United States less than seven millions of dollars, a revenue is charged and exacted in Europe amounting annually to over thirty-five millions of dollars. " Without advening to any other articles, these instances have been deemed so striking as to call for some notice in our legislation, in the hope that foreign Governments may be thereby induced to reflect upon the propriety of some change in the policy which is so manifestly destitute of reciproc- ity ! " Why was Mr, Saltonstall compelled to make these reflections upon our reciprocity treaties, but because the free trade of com- mercial intercourse guaranteed was not equitable? COASTWISE AND FOREIGN SHIPPING. In coastwise and inland shipping the United States excels every nation of the world, because of the protectorate in wise naviga- tion laws. In foreign shipping the United States is the most humiliated in the world, because of our neglect to study scientifically the causes and results, a priori wot prima facie, of this great economic. Canada has shown far more scientific study, or certainly more practical application, than we have in this respect, and the best ev- idence is that she is making such rapid and sad havoc upon our transcontinental trade that it will not be long before the whole bulk ADDRESS BY CHARLES S. HILL. 17 of foreign and even a great portion of our domestic freight and passenger traffic will be gobbled up to pass via the Canadian Pa- cific railroad and steamship line westward to Asia and eastward to Europe. On both sides now, on the Atlantic and on the Pacific, we are flanked by heavily subsidized steamship companies ; subsidized by the Canadian government to nearly the amount of a million dol- lars, as well as by millions of subsidy paid by England and more by other foreign nations. This is denied by the agents of the British shipping interests, who are supported as residents in the United States to fascinate with soft sophistry our general public, in ayi educative way, to make our credulous believe the idea that the government of Great Britain can do our carrying trade cheaper for us and only pay for carrying the foreign mails. This is deceptive and absolutely untrue, and will, doubtless, be exposed before the next Congress. America consolidated by railroad continuation from Alaska TO Magellan. From Behring Strait to Magellan we can prospectively see a con- tinued and direct railroad communication between the three Amer- icas, although none of us present to-day may really recognize that concentration of economic and sociologic conditions in our day ; but if the people of Canada and the several peoples of our sister republics of Spanish blood progress one-half in proportion to the United States we could see it in ten years. Surely, if Canada can appropriate $215,000,000 for the Cana- dian Pacific Railroad, and go ahead with it as she has, it is by no means a chimerical project to contemplate a longitudinal railroad from the extreme north to the extreme south of our American con- tinent. But it is to the Canadian Pacific Railroad that I would call your attention. This railroad, it is feared by many of our people, will rob the United States not only of her transcontinental trade, but also of our little ocean commerce that is left. So it will, if our statesmen lie supinely on their backs and see our commerce, our shipping and our railroad traffic taken from us without putting forth the same 3 18 SECTION I. scientific and economic effort in legislative skill and foresiglit to protect such interests. But the Congress of the United States will act. It cannot do otherwise. There is the Canadian Pacific railroad cutting the state of Maine in half. Already' are Canadian railroads, as well as Canadian shipping, protected and encouraged, while our own interests are neglected. How long can this continue? The whole territory of America, north of the forty-fifth parallel of latitude would pass under the rule of the Dominion of Canada if the present aggressions upon us were to continue. But we owe a duty to ourselves as well as faithful friendship to you, our neighbors. Tlie railroad condition of the Avorld is as follows : America 181,000 miles. Europe 130,000 " Asia ^ . 17,000 " Australia, about 9,000 " Africa 5,000 " Thus it will be seen that America leads the world in railroad en- terprise. Of this the United States has 150,000 miles ; Canada, 12,000 miles. Here is a contrast in enterprise as in population. There is so much in this, as especially in shipping conditions that require scientific study, that I greatly regret that in this address it is necessary to confine argument to but a brief review. CONSULS AND DIPLOMATISTS. "Commerce is king," wrote Carlyle ; but he should have added, the Consul is premier in commerce. Mightier is he who makes the king than he who wears the crown. The Consul has the power to guide trade and develop an immense economic work for his countrymen. The Diplomatist has the greater influence in sociologic associa- tions. He passes, as it is said, "the snuff-box with distinguished consideration," and manifests the ethics of intercourse, diplomati- cally, of course, between two peoples of antipodal tastes and habits, while the consul studies the means of aggrandizing all the com- merce (or wealth) of the nation to which he is accredited in the most scientific manner possible. In this science, as in foreign shipping protection, England has ADDRESS BY CHARLES S. HILL. 19 outscienced all other scientists of the world, and the people of Canada have displa3fed similar talent. This is another of the few superiorities that I ana willing to yield in acknowledgment to our disadvantage ; but it is one of the bene- fits that I trust we of the United States may be inspired to imitate by the approaching unification with the people once known as Can- adians, as we were once known as Colonists. The Consul is a power — where he is needed ; but there exists at present a line of pickets along our dividing boi^ndary called con- suls doing a duty which is really the most preposterous farce that ever was known, except for nominal commercial relations and the fees of the post. Who that has tried to study the commerce between the United States and Canada has not found that the trade passed secretly between the posts of custom-houses is as great as that passed legit- imately? Lumber, clothing, animals, eggs, etc., are passed in and machines, implements, etc., are passed out ad libitum without duty or equitable exchange. Of what value are the oflBcial statistics between our two govern- ments under such circumstances? OUR SOCIOLOGIC RELATIONS. Social economy is a dependent condition — dependent upon the chance to regulate our national and personal welfare of the domes- tic family, to sustain existence, to accumulate comforts, and to hoard up all excess of income not needed for absolute immediate subsistence, that it may be reserved for contingent reverses or for indulgence of luxury. In the economic phase of this subject, however, there must be a distinct line drawn between the expenses for necessaries and saving for luxury. The man who, even by chance, inheritance, or hard industry, possesses wealth and trusts the loan of that wealth to his neigh- bors on faith without collateral security, hoping and expecting his prosperity to increase according to his happy ideas, would soon find himself the beggar of charity instead of the ruler of millions in personal wealth. Take from social economy that reliance upon the security of col- laterals and the healthy and sure regulation of justice through law prescribed and ordained b}' the science of political economy, and you rob the domestic circle of that incentive to industry and thrift 20 SECTION I. which is animated and guaranteed by the regulation of commerce, whether of small or great degree, under enactment of a politico- economic body of the people, and thereby also rob both rich and poor of prosperit}' and happiness. In an interesting lecture before the Anthropological Society at the Columbian University, at Washington, some months since, Prof. Alfred Russel Wallace, of England, endeavored very seri- ously to teach us that all men could and should live as angels on trust, faith, hope and charity, and this beautiful theoretical creed is earnestly urged by many under the term of free trade. This would be revolution indeed. Gladly might we accept such tenets as principles of political or social economy in temporal as well as in spiritual affairs were we assured that our neighbors would be as perfect angels as we could easily imagine ourselves to be. But we are not. Neither man nor woman has yet arrived at that degree of perfection, even with all our progressiveness, in the United States, and certainly not in England, where free trade has been a national doctrine for forty years. Professor Wallace was beautiful in his theoretical precepts and teachings, but we do not, unfortunately, partake of Divine nature or of those conditions of life essential to free trade relations and interchanges which are claimed peculiar to the isolated isles of Britain. No wise financier would lend money even upon collateral if a lawsuit was anticipated to be necessary to recover his principal, but would he be willing to trust on faith? What right in justice to his family? what sense of self-preserva- tion and maintenance of honor would he maintain? how long be- fore he would be ruined, were he to lend without security, or were our politico-economic laws compulsory to lend on faith, or, worse, to make a general division of the hard earnings of a lifetime? It would be robbery to the poor man's thrift ; it would be death to industry. Wlien the poor man can borrow from the rich without collateral, then that blessed theory of free trade will prevail — but not till then. "Charity covereth a multitude of sins," but withal not the sin of debt! Even Christianity is a failure in creating charity for the indebt- edness of one dime. ADDRESS BY CHARLES S. HILL. 21 A debt will be remembered by the creditor forever, though per- haps forgotten by the debtor. This is not a national characteristic ; it is an individuality, whether of Jew or Gentile. It was a very ungracious and incor- rect reflection in Shakespeare to attempt to cast ignominy in this respect upon the Jewish people through the character of Shylock. The Hebrew people are as charitable as our own. "We must deal with ourselves as we are, not as what we should like to be. As well might we guide our conditions by the delicate theory of Platonic love or govern ourselves according to the idealistic prin- ciples of Zenophon or Aristotle or Zeno, even more beautiful in principle, and as their philosophj^ teaches man to become, as to be governed to-day by the tenets of those later theorists, Adam Smith, Eicado, Say and Bastiat, who wrote of political and social economy according to the conditions in their age, but which were preexist- ent to steam and mechanical development. RACE AND RELIGION. Nowhere in the world is a more conspicuous hatred manifested between factions of one people under one government on account of race and religion than is witnessed to-day in Canada. French, English, Irish, and purely Canadian races each retain and maintain their separate and distinctive identity. Not even in Great Britain were the several races and religious divisions of England, Scotland and Ireland more antipodal in their tastes and habits or bitter in their hatreds in olden times than are the French and the British colonists — the Roman and the Anglican churches — of the Dominion to-day. Mr. Beaugrand is as positive in his expressed written views of this fact as Premier Mercier is earnest in his eloquent avalanche of oratorical emphasis. Can any nation prosper as a people under such prevailing feel- ing? It is in fact an ill-assorted combination of two peoples under a cold autocratic government, without any softening provisions to ameliorate racial prejudices or animate religious ties. Canada will disintegrate herself upon her racial and religious conditions, for we see in our neighboring friends at present the anom- aly of a predominating race governed under an uncongenial au- thority. 22 SECTION I. In the United States this antipathy cannot exist, as our form of government destroys such feeling of rivahy, because the natural passions of jealousy, dislike, or ambition have nothing to feed upon. In exemplification of this as a fact we see that many of these very two peoples have migrated into several of our States and are dwelling in peace and prosperity, and Mr. Beaugrand has very truly said that in annexation to the United States — "The French Canadians have no fear that they would lose any of their present privileges by coming into the Union. 'Whether as a province of independent Canada or as a State of the American Union, we should re- tain our right to local self-government, and I do not know of any sensible man among our people who desires anything more than that." Such is the beauty of our Government in contradistinction to that of a monarchial form. No "orange" nor the "green," nor yellow nor the red, can inter- rupt our solid blue by racial or religious feuds, but the Stars and Stripes alone can rule as the banner of our republican identity and as the symbol of protection in the development of civilization and elevation of mankind. IMMIGRATION AND TRANSFORMATION. Who and what are we, and who are you? is an important re- flection. It would be ridiculous for the people of Canada or the people of the United States to be termed Puritans of England, or Anglo-Sax- ons, or Celts, or of the Latin race, nor have we an identity with the aborigines of this Continent. We are Americans ! In this fourth century of America's discovery and name, it is an interesting as well as scientific study to ascertain our component parts and learn in what proportions we are, as a people, conspicu- ously developed. When we compare the United States with Canada, in blessings that have accrued to us from wise foresight in provision, in the incep- tion of our Government, "for the encouragement and protection of our industries," we should ponder upon the vast politico-economic advantages that have accrued to enrich our condition, extend and strengthen our influence, elevate our dignity, enlarge our liberality, and to command the respect of the world, and make our country the haven of refuge for industrious humanity. The concentration of ingenious brain, the multiplication of thou- ADDRESS BY CHARLES S. HILL. 23 sands of dollars per immigrant in wealth of labor, the purest and richest virtues in industry and thrift have by immigration been blended into our conditions. But in our "free land" and under "free institutions" does the im- migrant expect to find our home doors open or unprotected, our offices and factories unrestricted from intrusion, or as "free" to the customer as to the owner? The United States is the refuge for the honest prince of industry from every part of the world, and he emigrates thither to better his condition, to elevate his standing, and to give to this posterity the pride and birthright of manhood. He is re-created from the chrysalis of social nonentity into a development under protection in his new life of earnest striving and saA'ing through industry. Subjugation by low wages and humiliation in dress and food, as was the case in his foreign home, would be to rob him of pride and our- selves of economic results. The international representation and cosmopolitan character of our people through the influence of these wonderful features of political economy is seen by the following exhibits : 1. Of the sanguinary ties blending us together as a people ; and 2. Of the economic power thereby contributed to our wealth annually. The official figures of the last census gave as The total number having Irish fathers 4,529,523 " " German fathers .... 4,883,842 " " British fathers .... 2,039,808 " " Scandinavian fathers . . . 635,405 " " British-American fathers . . 939,247 " " fathers of other nationalities . 1,321,485 " " native fathers and foreign mothers 573,434 " " /oreifiTM residents of both parents native 33,252 TotaU 14,955,996 The total numher having Irish mothers .... 4,448,421 " " German mothers .... 4,557,629 " " British mothers .... 1,790,200 «' «' Scandinavian mothers . , . 631,309 " " British-American mothers . . 931,408 *' " mothers of other nationalities . 1,226,113 lit may be remembered that our present industrial strength is only 17,000,000, and at previous census only 1^,000,000. 24 SECTION I. The total number having native mothers and foreign fathers l,337,fi64 " " foreign residents of both parents native 33,252 Total» 14,955,996 Thus the largest foreign element intermingled with us is the German, the second is Irish ; these constitute nearly 70 per cent of the whole. The recent remarkable increase of emigration from Germany to this country has excited that great Political Economist, Chancellor Bismarck, and it is not surprising that he seeks to guard his coun- try from the aggrandizement of American industries by an increased tariff upon American meats, by prohibition, and, worse than all, from depopulation and denationality through American absorption by interdiction to his people of migratory privileges. The official report of a Consul in Germany says : "This unprecedented exodus is engaging the serious attention of the German economists, and especially that of Imperial Chancellor Bismarcli. The former have been calculating the working value of the average emi- grant, and state that the services of every laboring man leaving the coun- try may be valued at $1,000; there can be but little doubt that every emigi'ant is worth that yearly amount to the United States. Computing the wealth the United States acquire by the influx of population on this basis, and estimating the number of emigrants to the United States during the year 1881, as having reached 600,000, the country would have gained in that period $600,000,000." This reported loss of wealth to Germany is so reliable that it appears the increase of our industrial wealth from immigration has been about $800,000,000 yearly, of recent years. To estimate carefully as to the money actually brought into our country per immigrant, we must first take the average number of adults and find the amount of specie added by this yearly increase of population. Another German Consul writes on this point, viz. : "That the following are the figures given me by the police authorities of this port: adults, 9,223 ; children under twelve years, 2,208; infants under one year, 519; total, 11,960." This is a just proportion ; or take even less, say, 75 per cent only as adults, we have last year, adults . . . 590,000 at a minimum amount per capita of ... $100 adding to our country a specie value of . . $59,000,000 lit may be remembered that our present industrial strength is only 17,000,000, and at previous census only 12,000,000. ADDRESS BY CHARLES S. HILL. 25 Calculating this immigration as a settled part of our people, at the usual average of five per family, and with the minimum family expenses per month $50, and $600 per year, we add at this rate to our wealth yearly by increased circulation of money, about $500,000,000. The intrinsic motive power for this extraordinary emigration is found in the simple fact that there is an instinctive yearning in. man to better his condition and raise his family to the highest de- gree of education and refinement, and the emigrant sees in the United States the fairest basis of labor and most equitable stand- ard of Christian liberty and political economy. Thus we see a most powerful Influence and benefit to onr Indus- try, and a most Important point In our political economy through immigration. In ti'ansformation of people our extreme northern states, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, in the upper part thereof, there lias been for the last ten 5^ears a great development, viz., the exodus westward of many citizens of those states and the migration of French Canadians to fill the void. I? But this Is Canadlanizlng New England, and, although it has long been In my mind, I prefer to quote from an able article of Mr. A. L. Bartlett, In the Forum of August, which covers the point completely : "How rapidly the French Canadian element in New England, the great rival there of the Irish in numerical, strength, and zealous tidelity to the Roman Catholic Church, has increased, is shown by a few statistics from the manufacturing cities. In the city of Lewiston, Me., the children of Canadian parentage almost equal those of American and of Irish par- entage comljined. In Manchester, N. H., out of a population of 40,000, 12,000 are of this nationality. In Nashua, out of a population of 17,500, 5,500 are of this nationality, a gain of fully one-half in live years. In Lowell, Mass., they constitute one-third of the population. In Holyok-j the children of Canadian parentage are to those of American parentage as five to two. In Fall River, in 1859, there was one French Canadian family ; in 1874 this class had increased to 6,000 souls ; in the next decade that number was more than doubled; and to-day they number there full 20,000. In Woonsocket, R. I., they constitute two-flfths of the population. In the public schools of Manchester, out of 3,670 pupils enrolled, 1,437 were the children of aliens— French, German, Swedish, English, Scotch, Nova Scotian, Italian, Norwegian, Danish, and Russian. In Lewiston, Me., out of 6,781 minors, only 1,859 were of American parentage, the na- tionalities of the others being as diverse as those mentioned above. In Holyoke, Mass., out of G,297, only 843 were of American parentage. In 4 26 SECTION I. Woonsocket, R. I., less than half the children of school age, as given by the school census, are enrolled in the public schools, and the school report of 1888 says : "The influx of French Canadians in every year is quite large, and it has become a serious question how they can best be assimilated. The educa- tion of the masses is with us a fundamental principle. . . . Schools are established, instruction provided that tlie children of all alil^e may be- come useful and patriotic citizens. But do we realize that there are hun- dreds of children going to school here whose instruction has no more to do toward making them good American citizens than does the instruction of Canadian children?" It is our form of government which influences good citizenship, the incentive of pride to be elevated. This is a matter of as lioppy satisfaction, as it is true, and proves the unifying power of our grand government. In connection here- with I especially point to comments upon education on another page. UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE. Speech is the most powerful agent in the world ; the most as- similating element in life ; the most comforting to all sensibility. It is a happy solace to think of our grand Anglo-Caiholic Creed "I believe in the H0I3' Communion of Saints ;" but with the living there can be no communion of tliought or mutual interest of pur- pose without the interchange of soul in one language. "Two souls with but one single thought, Two hearts that beat as one," can onl}' be realized when the lips speak one tongue. This is why we of the United States, although so cosmopolitan, are so assimilated and unified ; because in eveiy state one language is recognized in all educational and industrious pursuits. The reason why Canadians are not unified in themselves is be- cause of the want of this influence. There is no greater mistake of the Roman Catholic branch of the church than the service in the Latin tongue. Were this error cor- rected the natural sympathy of that solemn form of worship would be far more impressive upon the mind of the listener and far more powerful in winning American converts to that faith. Let us reflect that the English language is now general in every 2xirt of the globe. Tliis cannot be said of an^^ other language un- der the sun. Think of it ! ADDRESS BY CHARLES S. HILL. 27 In America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and Oceanica the English language is heard exte-nsively, if not by a vast mnjority. The idea of VolapiJk becoming &. universal language is absurd in the extreme. A language cannot be issued by one man, it must grow naturally with generations. Who could have made the English language, although the great Johnston, the reflective Webster, and the critical Worcester, and many others have from time to time improved it? Look at a small table of figures to see at a glance the relative condition of the principal languages to-day: English, by about .... 150,000,000 tongues German, " " .... 70,000,000 " French, " " .... 50,000,000 " Spanish, " " . . . . . 40,000,000 Russian, " " (purely) . . . 32,000,000 " Italian, " " . . ' . . . 30,000,000 " Portuguese, " " 8,000,000 " The Londo7i Times recently very pertinently^ remarked : "The commerce of the world cannot go on without English. Let tlie traveler stop where he chooses, he will find the Greek, the Jew, and the Scotchman carrying on business. They transact it, however, in Englisli and through an English firm or an American one. SmaUer branches of trade fall to the Erenchmaa, the German, and the Italian — the Portuguese, as a rule, occupies himself with the leavings of the rest — but each and all have acquired for practical mercantile reasons a sufficiency of Englisli to make himself understood." To England unquestionably belongs the credit of being the great dissemifiator of the English language by the control of the greater part of the world's shipping, and it is to be hoped that we Amer- icans will imitate and help her in this great work. GENERATION AND POPULATION OF THE CONTINENT. We have looked into the natural condition of our two countries. We must follow the growth of each to know what is likely to de- velop still further. It is easy to see our preponderosity in population, but which of us has the smartest brain remains to be seen. The greater generally absorbs the less, but there can be no uni- fication by force or numbers or power. England's experience with poor old Ireland shows clearly to the 28 SECTION I. world that although there may be a coerced union there is not uni- fication. But look at the official figures which show the proportions of both country and people by the following tabulation : Let us take the figures in round numbers of conditions just here. Area. Population. Density. The United States' . . . 3,600,000 sq. miles 65,000,000 18. The Canadian States . . . 3,500,000 " " 5,000,000 1.42 And also let us estimate ourselves with Great Britain thrown in with Canada. Area. Population. The Canadian States, 3,500,000 sq. miles 5,000,000 Great Britain, 121,000 " " 36,000,000 Canada and Great Britain, .... 3,621,000 sq. miles 41,000,000 The United States, 3,600,000 " " 65.000,000 And what are we coming to? Can Canada vie with us in ad- vancement? Certainly not without us, for see the proportionate growth of the two peoples in the past. And what will it be in the future? It is estimated that the rates of increase of population by births over deaths is at present two per cent. Taking into calcu- lation our yearly increase of population from immigration and our past decadal census, we find it to be but a reasonable estimate to predict for the United States — without Canada— in the year — 1900 a population of 85,000,000, 2000 a population (at least) 500,000,000. This is not speculative, but as likely as it is that the world will continue " to bring forth its fruit," and that mankind continues to produce issue. What our moral conditions will be depends upon our continued development of good sense and refinement. Wliere shall we put this overflowing population except to spread them over the vast and vacant fields of Canada. EDUCATION. The chief bulwark of industry, identity and mutual interest in the United States is our public (free) school system ; but there is mucli improvement yet to be made. Political economy and social science should be more generally taught for the higher elevation of I Including Alaska, wJjiclj has proved to possess great wealth. ADDRESS BY CHARLES S. HILL. 29 national and local administration and for the better amelioration of domesticity among our people. Not only is the education of the masses an essential element to the prosperity of a people, but that education must be in our own country. There is nothing more conducive to unfit the youth for nearly all the paths of American industry than a cultivation of foreign taste and notions in children than a foreign education. Upon this im- portant point I wish to cite the opinion of General Washington, who wrote : " It has always beeu a source of serious regret with me to see the youth of these United States sent to foreign countries for the purpose of educa- tion, often before their minds were formed or they had imbibed any ade- quate ideas of the happiness of their own, contracting too frequently not only habits of dissipation and extravagance, but pi-inciples unfriendly to republican government." The standard of education in the United States to-day is the best and highest in the world. U. S. Consul Potter, at Crefield, writes to the Department of State, in regard to the unhappy influences upon the American youth studying abroad, especially in Gei'man}^, that — " to such influences none are more sensitive than the nervously organized young American," who is sowing seeds for the future — either for usefulness or ex- travagance. Consul Potter very truthfully and forcibly adds that " a cultured American who has mastered any single subject of study in Amer- ica would not (at this date) find much in the same line of study to learn in Europe." CONSANGUINITY AND MARRIAGE. There is an influence developing more steadily and progressively which will inevitably prove a much stronger British investment in the United States than any syndicate of the many being formed. These numerous matrimonial syndicates are investments, how- ever, that will eventually undermine the British government and make Canada and the United States one at heart, one in family and one in home. It strikes me that these are the wisest investments made by our English cousins ; for, though it seems so far to be the case that 30 SECTION I. Englishmen get the money and our American girls only get the imaginary crowns or titles, the Englishm'en, notwithstanding, ob- tain most irrepressible rulers, who will wield so developing an in- fluence over them, though they never wore a crown or title before, but who are so thoroughlj^ indoctrinated with Republican princi- ples and associations that it must surely be ingrafted in their pos- terity — their children and childrens' children must inherit the spir- it of a mother. POLICY OF ECONOMY THAT CREATES MONOPOLY. Monopoly is a word of such general meaning, and applied as a term, of such antipodal significance, that when used to indicate economic conditions its sense ma}^ or may not be complimentary. If monopoly is used to indicate advantages or preferences in eco- nomic legislation, and if such legislation favors one branch of in- dustry or class of people to the injury of the other, that monopoly'' should be wiped out immediately and entirely ; and if such were applicable to protective tariff enactments we should and would ab- hor and denounce the injustice vvith earnestness. But wherein is an industrial protective policy a monopoly — when the farmer gets protection on the value of his farm, his horse, or his product? Then it took a large quantity of his product to buy an English carriage, a clock, or even a plow ; it took the value of his horse to buy any small article of machinery, and especially if it was of foreign manufacture. Now he pays only from five to ten dollars for a plow, and yet his horse has about the same steady value. Now, one-fourth of that part of the produce he paid for any implement then will be ample in value of exchange. Such results may be called monop- oly of protection, but such monopoly has not hurt the farmer, the merchant, nor the country. How purely selfish it is, then, in the Cobden Club writers, and how inconsistent in American statesmen, to appeal to American farmers — as their friends — to believe the doctrines adverse to the farmers' interest ! There is not a branch of industry, mental or physical, that has not been simplified, improved and cheapened ; there is not an ar- ticle of home or foreign manufacture (of iron or any other mate- rial), of mechanism or ingenuities, essential to labor and to our wants in trade or household comforts, that have not been made ADDRESS BY CHARLES S. HILL. 31 cheaper in price ; and where is the man who desires to giA^e np the advancement, the independence, the refinement, tlie education, the thrift and all the blessings brouglit about by this so-called monop- oly. That monopoly can only exist under free trade, and that/ree trade can only exist under the protection of monopol}' is unques- tionably clear, in the fact tliat it was only the monopoly of iron that developed British manufacture, the monopoly (throughout the world) of her many and developed manufactures that induced and enabled her statesmen to open British ports as the sans-souci marts of inequitable trade. If industries or trade require protection, it is against that mo- nopoly ; hence, the absurdity of the weaker condition monopolizing the greater. It is to destroy monopoly that protection is neces- sary ; it is as necessary to discriminate in the policy of protection as it is discreet to protect only where necessary. Protection is not for the benefit of monopolists at home ; it is to defend us from monopoly from abroad — from foreign monopolists of capital and of pauper labor, from the monopoly of the world's foreign carrying trade, from monopoly of foreign banking ex- change and from a foreign controlling influence over our commerce through commercial letters of credit from the monopolizing condi- tions of the Lloyds Insurance, which alone is a triumvirate of in- surance, shipping and oflficial protection thereto through the British consular service. Monopol3Ms only powerful where conditions are left iinregidated, where the greater absorb the lesser, and where the poor are most subject to the rich and influential. But as a feature of political economy in import duty of our coun- try the truth is recorded in the pages of official history of our country's past. The power of the foreign " Importer's Monopoly" is exhibited in the investigation of the working of the boasted tariff of 1846. The importer of the United States is peculiarly of a duplicate character in his relation to the politico-economic conditions of our country. It may not be generally known, but of this class of our com- munity seventy-five per cent are foreign, representing foreign cap- ital and foreign industry ; twenty-five per cent, only, being the ratio of Americans possessed of home capital, of home ties and 32 SECTION I. home interests, nationally or individually, in the importing trade of our country. It is the former who control a monopoly of our foreign trade, and who with watchful eye antagonize every clause in legislative acts that tend to interrupt that status that they have steadily de- veloped, and the spirit of monopoly evinced since the colonial tax- ations for foreign staples that drove our fathers to independence in person and protection in industry. It is not frofti the latter class of importers that the cry comes for free trade as an economic principle, but their cry is, to be saved from the " undervaluations," the " impure grades," and the "tricks of the trade " that have been made, and will always be made, un- der an approach to free conditions or deceptive ad valorem rates of custom duties. So ruinous a result from such a system can only be understood from the evidence of those who have suffered, but the importance thereof justifies the citation in corroboration of fact in contradistinction from fallacy or theory. So far from the industry of manufacture being a monopoly under an economic policy of impost duty, it is conspicuously incorrect to every clear and impartial mind, after careful study of the causes and results in our condition. On the contrary, the great number and variety of classes who are benefited by such protective system are as fourteen is to four ; proportionate to the census retui'n of those who in their industrial occupations have the great benefits of such economic safeguard without the fear of financial risk or apprehension. A home demand, from a large and steadily increasing custom at our own doors, is far more secure than the patronage of rival for- eign nations, whose purchases from us depend upon the contingen- cies of the production or scarcity of other parts of the world and the prevailing relations of peace or warfare between nations. Thei'e are many causes influencing a monopoly and depression of commercial patronage from foreign nations that are necessarily prejudicial in trade and conducive to a sudden excess in demand and shortness in supply, and also to as sudden a reverse. Monopol)^ then, lies in foreign banking exchange, in foreign in- surance, and in foreign shipping, which secures to foreign imports an undermining influence upon our home industry that tends to consume our strength in commercial relations, notwithstanding our resources and home enterprise. Such monopoly, if allowed to de- ADDRESS BY CHARLES S. HILL. 33 velop, and surely if advanced by abolition of onr protecting tariff, will result as injudiciously and ruinously to our people as such causes and conditions have ruined other nations in the past. CONCLUSION. An argument is too apt to present individual ideas or prefer- ences ; too liable to be based upon hypotheses or sophisms ; too probable to be drawn in conclusion omitting some premise of rea- son or condition, a realism not sophism, that might materially al- ter the deduction made. It is easy to accept an argument provided the sentiments ex- pressed meet the sympathy of the listener or reader, but it is hard to make men agree whose immediate interests do not appear to them sufficient to give reflection to questions considered or whose ideas are of a diametrical tendency, although we all know many in- stances where parties have, after careful study or from some exper- ience felt, learned the mistake they had made in judgment by find- ing conditions existing that had not before been apparent to them, because either they had been blinded by prejudice or thoughtless of the subject. This is true even among students of economic science and sta- tisticians in their deductions from official data, and the greatest care and frankness should be cultivated in verification of all those data and of historic records to guard against error and to perfect a sci- entific research for a correct conclusion. An illustration of disagreement to be regretted, especially among economists, as, for instance, Condillac absurdly claimed as a prin- ciple of economy that there was an increase of value in the exchange of commodities, because, as he wrote — " If men always exchanged equal value for equal value there would be no profit to be made by traders." This is a sophism, and exposed clearly by Jean Baptiste Say, who answers — "Since a sale is nothing but an act of barter, wherein one kind of goods, silver, for example, is received in lieu of another kind of goods, the loss which either of the parties dealing should sustain on one article would be equivalent to the profit he would make on tlie other, and there would be to the community no production whatever." And plainly explodes such fallacy when he says : 5 34 SECTION I. " The seller does not play the rogue nor the buyer the fool, and Condillac had no ground for his position." Sismondi answers the sophism forcibly, as follows : " The trader places himself between the producer and the consumer to ben- efit them both at once, making his charge for that benefit upon both." Thus we see that sometimes " even doctors disagree !" It is far from my wish or thought that this brief analysis of the existing conditions and probable eventualities of our two peoples be taken in an autocratic spirit. Not as Monarchists but as Republicans, and with the progress- iveness naturally peculiar, and judging of the future by the past, with careful study and consideration, it seems to us that there is no future for Canada but in union with the United States, which is to-day first in industry, first in educational system, and first in wealth among the nations of the world. We cannot go to you, but invite you — when you feel that you cannot help it — to come to us ; and it seems beyond theory and more than a " glittering generality" to expect it soon for "No pent-up Utica contracts our powers, but the whole boundless Continent is (or will eventually be) ours." APPENDIX. The following interesting and impovtant comparison of the world's gold and silver product from the '' VVashington Press" of Aug. 27, was presented in the address. GOLD AND SILVER VALUES.— AMERICA COMPARED WITH THE WORLD. GOLD. SILVER. GOLD & SILVER. Germany, Austro- Hungary, Europe, Bussia, Africa Australia, Other countries,. $11,000,000 242,000,000 2,000,000 793,000,000 376,000,000 1,246,000,000 126,000,000 $28:^,000,000 293,000,000 330,000,000 90,000,000 1,009,000 8,000,000 81,000,000 $291,000,000 535,000,000 332,000,000 883,000,000 337,000,000 1,254,000,000 207,000,000 Total,. $2,793,000,000 $1,086,000,000 $3,882,000,000 SOUTH AMERICA. SILVER. GOLD & SILVER. Gi'anada, Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Braz il, All other So. Anier. countries,. $623,000,000 82,000,000 145,000,000 134,000,000 522,000,000 40,000,000 $ ,000,000 1,091,000.000 1,517,000,000 186,000,000 12,000,000 $623,000,000 1,173,000,000 1,662,000,000 523,000,000 32,000,000 Total, $1,546,000,000 $2,806,000,000 $4,352,000,000 NORTH AMERICA. GOLD. SILVER. GOLD & SILVER. United States $1,806,000,000 143,000,000 13,000,000 $863,000,000 2,995,000,000 2,000,000 $2,669,000,000 3,138,000,000 15,000,000 Total North Americas, $1,962,000,000 1,546,000,000 $3,860,000,000 2,806,000,000 $5,822,000,000 4,352,000,000 $3,508,000,000 2,796,000,000 $6,666,000,000 1,086,000,000 $10,174,000,000 3,882,000,000 Total Europe, Asia and Africa,... Total World, $6,304,000,000 $7,752,000,000 $14,056,000,000 Percentage of Gold, " " Silver, " " Gold and Silver, (35) in favor of America. NOTES. EXPRESSIONS OF THE PRESS. Among the maiij^ editorials which the foregoing address elicited were tlie following : The project of a Zollverein Mr. Hill considers to be impracti- cable. That maybe so. Canadians are indisposed to annexation — a matter concerning which our visitors should be under no de- lusion — and it is not very easy to see how an arrangement for a Zollverein could be devised which would not necessitate a more disagreeable form of political relation than even annexation itself, and consequently have a tendencj^ to promote annexation. — To- ronto Globe. Mr. Charles S. Hill, vice president of the section of economics and statistics, made quite a sensation by his opening speech on the " Relations of the Canadian States and the United States. He thought it remarkable that the former people should not unani- mouslj'^ desire annexation to such a progressive and enterprising people as ourselves. There can be but three Americas, — North, Central and South ; and eventually there will be but one people from the Atlantic to the Gulf, bound by inseparable ties of lan- guage and consanguinit}^ He denounced strongly the policy of free trade as long as Canada remained a part of the British empire and contrasted the bitter racial and religious antipathies existing under a cold monarchial sway with the obliteration of such rival- ries in a republic. And so he went on to prove conclusively that "there is no future for Canada but m union with the United States, which is to-day the first in industry, education and wealth among the nations of the world" — all of which is doubtless true enough, but of a nature to provoke sharp criticism from the Toronto press. — Scientific American. The importance of Mr. Hill's paper at this time is that in it is discussed the question of national as against commercial union. The one would make us one people with identical interests ; the other would make a " side door entrance," which " would be used exclusively for commercial intercourse with Great Britain, to the serious impairment of the trade of our Atlantic and Pacific sea- (3G) ADDRESS BY CHARLES S. HILL. 37 port cities" . . . The position taken by Mr. Hill was that " joined by natural conditions of creation, by ties of consanguinity and lan- guage, by bans of matrimony and posterity, these two peoples, of the Canadian States and the United States, must eventually be one and inseparable — inevitably." This postulate was followed by a lengthy argument, in which wis- dom, wit, economic and historical facts were deftly combined to lead up to the conclusion that " there is no future for Canada but in union with the United States, which is to-day first in industry, first in educational system and first in wealth among the nations of the world." — Manufachirers' Record. CAN WE GET THE SCIENTIFIC VIEW OF IT? The economic relations of this continent — that is a subject in- teresting and important enough to be worth}' of elaborate discus- sion, we should say. Are we likely soon to be favored with the scientific viewof it, or something thereto approaching, we wonder? The present gathering of scientific men in Toronto ma}' suggest that such a result is not wholly among the improbabilities after all. We do not advise people to expect that the question is going to be settled secundem artem, in such terms as laid down in some pa- per or papers read befoi'e the Scientific Association or any of its sections ; although we do think that a valuable beginning in this very way was made last week by Professor Hill, of Washington. Scarcely would the Professor, or any one else in his behalf, we fanc}', claim that in that single efltort of his he had settled " for good" the great question as to " the economic and sociologic relations of the'Ca- nadian States and the United States, prospectively considered." And yet there are doubtless many amongst us who are thinking al- ready that he has done something important in clearing the ground of things that do nothing hut obscure the view and obstruct prog- ress. For he, certainly, does something to help us towards the solution of a problem, who begins by showing us the true character of certain impossible solutions that may be offered, and on which it were best not to waste much time. We hold, then, that Mr. Hill has done the state some service on both sides of the border, by his emphatic declaration that commercial union is impracticable. He rightly considers it an absurdity to think of having free ti'ade with Canada and at the same time protection against Great Bi'itain. That is, it would be so for the United States ; but if possible it 38 SECTION I. would be still more absurd for Canada — having political union and commercial separation in relation to Great Britain, while vice versa having political separation and commercial union in relation to the great republic. Either science or common sense, or both, should quickly bring us to the conclusion that a jumble of political and economical relations so hopeless as this will never do. It would be preposterous (for the States) to establish a free trade policy with Canada and preserve a protection polic}^ with England. So says Professor Hill, speaking as a man of science, and it is safe to add that the first thousand men you can get together, taking such view of the matter as merely common sense suggests, will say the same thing. That commercial union will not do is affirmed by some of our- selves. This is the view taken by Sir Richard Cartwright, by Mr. James D. Edgar, and by the Globe. So we may consider the com- mercial union "fad" as having been abundantly kicked out already, unless, indeed, it be that either Mr. Witnan or the Mail has a kick or two more to add. But, says the Globe, "All this concerns not us ; what we are advocating is something else." Unrestricted — reciprocity to wit. Commercial union is " gone up," so the Globe admits ; but still it harps on that unrestricted reciprocity is the great thing. Mr. Hill is wide awake enough to see that, under the grit reci- procity arrangement, Canada would become a big side door, open for the free admission of British goods into the United States. Of course the Globe understands that this objection, if sustained, would be fatal to the grit plan from the start ; and so it tries with a tug of despair to make its feet stay on ground where there is no hold for them. — Toronto World. ECONOMIC AND 80C10L0QIC BELATIONS OF THE CANADIAN STATES AND THE UNITED STATES, PROSPECT- IVELY CONSIDEBED. ADDRESS CHARLES S. HILL, VICE PRKSIDENT, SECTION I, BEFORE THE SECTION OF ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS, american association foe the advancement of science, At the Toronto Mkkting, August, 1889. From the Pbocbbdings op the American Association for the Advancement OF Science, Vol. xxxviii. printed by the salem press publishing and printing co., SALEM, MASS. 1890. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 017 395 257 ip$