New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-09-17
THE AMERICAN BUGBEAR IN CANADA.
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THE AMERICAN BUGBEAR IN CANADA.
We can afford to laugh at the nervous tim
idity with which the Canadians have been
chasing their pet aversiOn-AmericaD influence
in Canada. 1t is not at all probable that any
thing like majority of the Canadian people
care fig about the so-called American inf1u-
ence The prejudice is so unnatural and I'M
| founded we cannot believe that such sensible
and well-meaning men as those who form
public opinion in the Dominion really desire
to prescribe American interest and American
capital in the much needed means for the
| development of their country. When
the Canadian Pacific Railroad scandal
was first bruited, one of the chief charges
against the Ministry was that they had
intrigued to give American capitalists a
commanding interest in the railroad. AS If
that were high crime and misdemeanor
When the Royal Commission began to ex-
anime the affair." the witnesses and the Com
missiOners, with one consent, began to show
that the Ministers were guiltless of any at
tempt to give any share Of the rich railroad
contract to the dreaded Americans. SO often
aud persistently was this ground gone over
that Sir John A. Macdonald (whO as chief de-
fendant conducted the prOsecutlOn) found it
necessary to protest that the Government did
not care to pursue this part of the charge any
further. He was satisfied to rest his case or
this portion of 1t, on the evidence already be-
fore the Commission.
The truth Of the matter is that few
Americans had contract (some of the more
intense Canadians call it an intrigued with
the Allan party, by which American capital
was to go into the Canadian Pacific Railroad,
and certain part of that road was to be
built south of the boundary line. As THE
TRIBUNE long ago said, some portions of the
proposed line of the Canadian Pacific Rail-
road are absolutely impracticable. 1t might
as well be attempted to build a railway to the
moon as to construct one through the track
less wastes that lie north of Lake Superior,
between the Lake Of the Woods and Michipi-
Gotten River. This region is a wilderness of
| Dogs and mOrasses, intersected by wandering
streams and interspersed with rocky bluffs
| and granite knobs. Nothing could induce any
| settlement of the country and to bridge 1T
with railroad is impossible. When Sir
| Hugh Allan and his associates began to dis
cuss the Pacific Railroad contract and the
ways and means of executing it, they
determined to invite moneyed assistance
from Americans who would naturally be in
terested in the construction of some portion
of the line through the United States. To
avoid the Sernian bog north of Lake Superior,
it was thought necessary to cross the boundary
at the Sault Ste. Marie, traverse the PENN
in
and, using the rails of the Northern Pacific
Railroad, diverge at Pembina into British
America, and thence complete the line north
Of the boundary TO the Pacific on Canadian
soil. On the strength of this proposition, in
diyidual sui criptiOns of stock were made by
gentlemen interested in such divergence OF
the Canadian line into American territory.
The names of some of these were brought
out the Other. day in the investigation at Of
tawa and were printed in THE TRIBUNE.
Their investment was an entirely legitimate
one and when the Canadian partners wrote
for money to be used in securing the con-
tract, it was probably supposed by the Amer
lean subscribers that those expenses were also
legitimate. We can only guess if even the
most hardened politicians among them ever
suspected that any of the money which they
paid was to be used in controlling the Cana
dian elections. We do not know that the Min
istry knew what was going on. BY and by the
bugbear of american influence" was raised !;
the American subscribers drew out of the
scheme, and there was an end of the matter.
But we can see now how narrow an escape
we have had. If the absurd prejudice which
Insisted that the Canadian Railroad should
only be built by Canadian and English capt.
tai had not been encountered, we should have
had the responsibility of the whole scandal.
When it was found, as it has been Tin spite
of the Royal Commisson), that the managers
had procured their princely contract by sub
sidizing the Ministry and corrupting the suf-
frage, people would have justly said, How
very American II would have been charged
that the American partners had debauched
the morals of their pastoral associates in Can
ada; and american influence" would be
more than ever abhorred. We have so much
of bad morals in politics at home that small
comfort can be derived from contemplation
of those Of our neighbOrs. But we have at
least the satisfaction of knowing that we
have escaped being charged with the Cana
dian imitation Of Washington political prac-
tees.
THE GEORGIA MURDER.