New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-05-26
TIE CANADIAN ELECTIONS.

lie general clecuOhS III Tic bolhihioh vi
Canada have been ordered with precipitate
haste The Governor General in proroguing
Parliament last week announced that an appeal
to the country would be made at an carly day,
but as the summer is busy time for the
farmers it was generally supposed that the
elections would be deferred until the autumn.
The Government was not disposed to give the
constituencies too much leisure for political
reflection. 1t has adrotly named the earliest
DAYS that could he be chosen for nominations
and polling the 18th and Goth of June, and In
this way has concentrated public discussion
The canvass has already opened with I'M
vonted animation. A large number of candl-
dates have been nominated Ivy the district con-
ventions, the press bristles with partisan ap-
peals and dcnunciations and month of acri-
monious debate and active campaign work will
test the resources and capacity of Dominion
politicians. The general result will be watched
with keen interest from this side of the border,
not merely because it will be likely to prove
well-fought contest, but because the main pivot
on which electoral controversy will turn is
tariff legislation.
The last general election occurred during
period of national depression, when the logic
of treasury deficits and bad trade involved
revision of popular judgment in regard to
economic policy. The Conservatives with Sir
John A. Macdonald at their head entered upon
Office under direct pledges to their constitu-
encies to substitute moderately high tariff tor
free trade, and TO promote III general all
schemes of national development These
pledges have been kept. The tariff schedules
were introduced during the first session, and
the Government has shown remarkable vigOr
and persistence in uphoding its policy in fos
tering railway and commercial projects, and in
giving new direction to industrial impulses.
On the results of this policy of national devel-
opment the constituencies will now be called
upon to render judgment. If they reflect
Conservative Parliament, they will express
their willingness to sustain policy which has
organized the industries and added enormously
to the wealth of the United States. If they do
this it will he a conspicuous triumph for
American economic theories.
Yet we are forced to admit that protection is
tested in the Dominion under great disadvan-
tages The Provinces which make up the
Dominion are most unfortunately placed.
They are not closely united so as to form a
homogeneous industrial State, but as has been
fanciiully said by one of their own statesmen,
are linked together, end to end, like the sec
tons of fshing-rod. The coal which is pro-
tected in Nova Scotia is carried by long and
circuitous line of railway before it can be de-
livered to the centre of population in Ontario /;
and the people of the Maritime Provinces have
similar tolls to pay before they can use the
breadstufs which are protected in Upper
Canada. Manufactures which are promoting
one of the highest aims of civilization-the
Investigation of human labor-have to be
transported over long lines of communication
before they can be distributed. With its
centres of population so widely scattered, the
Dominion is IA country where the policy of pro-
tec.ion is subjected to the most critical tests.
If, therefore, the constituencies pronounce in
its favor, the result will be very significant.
We perceive, however, that the leader of the
Opposition is not disposed to challenge outright
the economic policy of the Government In
addressing his constituents on Friday night,
he remarked that while he considered pro-
tectiye tariff unwse and based on fallacies. he
would not propose to interfere violently with
the existing system, which met the wishes of
the people as expressed in 1873. lie was
bound to respect that judgment and must leave
the system to disclose its own inherent weak
ness 1t was evidently his purpose to shift
the grounds of electoral controversy and to
arraign the Government for acts of railway
jobbery, for political sharp practice in passing
a gerrymandering bill and in setting aside the
Ontario boundary award, and for encroaching
upon the rights of the Provinces-rghts that
are nowhere more jealousy guarded than in
the Dominion. If side issues are made proni-
nent in the canvass the Opposition must be
convinced that the constituencies are tolerably
well pleased with the results of protection.
Certainly the Government has at its command
an elastic surplus Of revenue, and this is not