Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-04-10

The Tariff and Wages.
short time ago Horace Greeley, in an adj
dress to the Liberal club in New York, said that
the immigration to the United States from Cana
da is due to our higher wages, which are them
selves caused by our protective tariff. Ofcourse
such statement could not be allowed to pass
unchalleuged by the Free Trade league, and
Henry D. Lloyd, assistant SECRETARY Of that as
sociation, was selected to answer Mr.. Greeley.
This gentleman, having furnished himself with
aplentiful supply of figures, which, if numerous
enough and skillfully marshaled, may be
made to seem to prove anything, or at
least to bewilder an ordinary o6jector
into silence, bethought himself to apply for
further information TO Hon. John Stiles, gen.
tlemau who was known to be unusually well IN
formed about Canadian affairs, and to have
written frequently for the provincial papers upon
the advantages of the United States over the
provinces, chiefly in reference TO annexation.
Mr.. Lloyd asked of him documents or papers or
an expression of his views which might be used
as authority for the position that the immigra-
ton from Canada is due to our national
superiority, and is entirely independent of tariffs
or legislation.
Mr.. Stiles answer was disappointment to his
correspondent, and we venture TO say no use
was made of it in his answer to Mr.. Greeley.
1t was, however, what might have been expected
from an intelligent and candid observer of the
relative advantages of the two countries. Mr..
Stiles shows that we cannot lay claim to any
natural superiority over the British American
provinces. They have soil as fertile and a
climate as favorable as those Of the states on
our northern border. They have abundant
water power, unsurpassed natural facilities for
water transportation, superior fishing grounds,
abundant mineral wealth, particularly Of iron
and COAL and forests of the fnest timber In all
these respects, except climate, they have de-
cidedly the advantage of New England and
their climate is not on the average inferior to
ours. Nova Scotia, for instance, as compared
with Massachusetts, has coal and iron ore in
unlimited quantities, and of excellent quality,
while Massachusetts has no coal and hardly any
iron, gypsum is found in abundance in the
former, and valable ores of copper, lead and
Other metals exist there while the latter has
none of them. The soil of Nova Scotia is fer
tile, which cannot be said of Massachusetts
of the former are at an average distance of te1
miles from navigation, while the eight thousan
square miles OF the latter lie at an average di
lance of fifty miles from navigable waters.
Something besides the natural attractions
the two countries is needed to explain the fat
that a constant stream OF emigration flow
from the one more bountifully endowed by n;
ture to the other. Free traders may try to e1
plain it away, or to account for it by ingeniou
theories based upon perversion of facts or Dol
assumptions; but there is no assignable caus
sufficient to account for Canadian emigration
except the policy of protection in the Unitet
States and the absence of sufficient protection il
the provinces. Nova Scotia sold to Englant
during the year ending with June, 1870, good
to the value of about 100000, and during tn
same time imported from England, goods to tn
value of about 81, 100000 In doing this yes
after year the colony is impoverished. She hf
no factories, and cannot have them, so long 8
England foods the country with goods, til
product of underpaid labor. There is no d.
nand for labor because there is no proftabl
employment for it. Those who have the mean
to live in idleness can live there cheaply, because
for want of markets, labor and the products c
the country are cheap; but those who hay
nothing but their labor go where labor can fine
employment
Another reason why the provinces are poor is
that nearly all the duties collected in the United
nm, dc from ha n
the pockets of the colonial producers, thus de
priving them of the profit they received Will,
the reciprocity treaty was in operation. We re
ceived from the dominion during the year end
ing with June, 1870, dutiable goods to the value
nearly thirty-three million dollars. Upon thes
goods the average duty was twenty per cent
and amounted TO about six and a half millions
All Of this, or nearly all, must be deducted fro1
the profits Of the producer. The colonist
must resort TO our markets, for the
have no Others accessible, and III
amount we receive from them com
pared with our own productions of the sam
kind is not great enough to affect prices materi
ally. A cargo Of potatoes from Nova Scotia anC
another from Maine, arriving at the same time
Al DOstOut uuSt oSll 4Ui tue nuLHc price, BAY Ont
dollar bushel. The Maine man carries homt
his dollar, undiminished, but the Nova Scotiar
must pay fifteen cents of his into the custom
house as his contribution to the payment of ouI
government expenses for the privilege of using
our markets. In the sale of grain and lumbe
and everything else they have to dispose OF
their farmers are at the same disadvantage a
compared with ours.
They must sell, if at all, at our prices. The,
would do the same if there were no duty. Thei
goods do not seriously affect the prices in on
markets, and the duties paid diminish the profit
Of production. Their profits on articles eX
ported to the United States are in this way II
duced more than four and half million dollar
annually, and they are thus paying per capita
larger proportion of our national expenses thai
they would be required to pay in internal take
If the provinces were states in the union.
These are some of the views presented by Mr.
stiles, in response to the invitation of the fire,
trade league to furnish them with the means O
showing that our inducements to Canadian i'm
migration are independent of tariffs or legisla
ton. They are probably sadly disappointed il
Mr.. Stiles, and will not be likely to apply agai,
10 him for aid in establishing their theories.
DRrwin's "Descent of Man,,
The DESCENT OF MAN, and Selection in r.,
lation to Sex. BY Charles Darwin, NJ. A., FL
ssl,