The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1891-06-13
~ANNEXATJOr

revitalized the Canadian annexation
timent which perforce has lain dom,
within the Dominion since that emf,
statesman so resolutely set his
against it. But, while the matter is IN
ing discussed more or less among
northern neighbors, it is not a very II
ular subject for public speech or e%l
rial comment. There is a writer, bowol x
in a Winnipeg paper, who has put ss
whatever of national pride or sensitl NJ
ness he may possess and treats the ON
ton of annexation from a purely bush y
standpoint and as a business proposif j
After reviewing the condition of M
country,and handling every ALTERNATIVE Y
annexation he arrives at the conclusJ q
that the hope of Canada lies in /
%peaccable annexation to the Unit. |
States. Indeed he presents such a G \
picture of that country that hover
favorably the scheme of annexation N,
be regarded by the people this side
the line, they will very naturally hesits 4
to take by the hand and lead into N
union of states a British dependep,
weighted down with 80 many financ,
woes.
He says sits people have been livinpc
promises of better times which bsp
proved ~illusory and have been GROWN
poorer every year upon this feast of III
BARRIERS sixth brother. Every year find
the debt, the expenditure, and taxatia
OF the country increasing, while its DOB
ulation is stationary or decreasing ar5
its sons and daughters emigrating to II,
United States in search of the emplN
ment and fields of enterprise which thy !,
fail to find at home" In prosecuting The
subject he pictures Canada as being il
a worse condition than it was forty yea,
ago, when many Canadians signed IA man.
ifcsto which declared that: "Of all The
remedies which have been suggested for
the acknowledged and insutferable ills
with which country is afflicted there
remains but one to be considered. This
remedy consists in a friendly and peace
able separation from British connection.
and a union upon equitable terms witt
the great North American confederatior
of sovereign states"
IN commenting upon this matter the
Pioneer Press so happily voices the sen.
timents of the people of this country
that the TRIBUNE unhesitatingly sub
scribes to it. AS a rule" says tina,
paper. "the American people are entirely
indifferent to this question. 1t is Re.
gardcd as a purely Canadian affair, III
which the United States has no interest
But though it is true this great republic
has no need of Canada, the question has
an American side of large proportions"
The Press then sums mp the advantages
as follows:
Annexation would add to the United
States all the vast territory between its
present northern boundary and the Arctic
ocean,, and five millions to its present
population, 1t would make us the great
est and most powerful nation on the
globe, dominating the entire continent Of
North America with the exception Of
Mexico. 1t would relieve us of all inter
national contentious about fisheries and
seal skins and shore rights. 1t would
abolish all the custom houses on both
sides of the line. 1t would give us CON
troll of the st. Lawrence river. the most
i'm nnrtant nm p1nraial nnfIaf - tl.
northwestern states, and rid us of the
persistent attempts of rival railroad in
terests to deprive the northwest of its
shortest and cheapest routes to the sea
board through the Canadian railways.
Thus the northwestern, lake and
New England states have a direct
and positive interest of great mag
nitudc in this question of annexation.
m whole country would be bene-
fted by it 1t would open new fields to
the commercial and industrial activityo OF
people. The Canadian provinces
soon become great and fiourishing
states of the union. Thus reinforced in
all the sources of its power and prosper
ity the imperial republic, covering the
continent from the Atlantic to the Pa
citic and from the gulf of Mexico to the
EtTctlC Occhn, Without an enemy or q
in the western hemisphere; too
great in it's vast entertainments of the
oceans to be attacked by
foes, would tower like a Colos-
Sus among the nations of the earth and
in the grandeur of its peaceful
and prosperous destiny the conditions
and the home of the highest and most
splendid civilization ever known in the
of mankind.
This is indeed a ravishing picture the
Pioneer Press draws of the benefits to be
derived from the union of the two coun-
,ries. The picture may be touched up
'y adding that we are a people having a
parentage, a common language,
common interest and a common bond
If sympathy. We are divided only by
intangible line which simply separates
wo forms of government, but not our in
~erests, our pursuits and our ambitions.
t is the easiest and most natural thing
n the world for the people of each coun-
ny to join hands and intermingle in
Common pursuits and with the one pur-
,ose to make the country the richest,
he most pouarful apl tho rr,,lo,% ~,