St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-06-07
SIR JOHN MACDONALD.

morning, was man great i'll ability of
the order which is reckoned the highest
in the present age. He was capable not
only of planning and conceiving impor-
tant measures. but he had the power to
actualiZe them. In an earlier time
poets. philosophers. thinkers, orators
and debaters were held in chief honor
by the world, but to-day the organizing
and executive sort of capacity is the
most priced and brings the most valua
bic reward. SIR JOHN MACDoNALD'S
genius was of the same sort as that of
American railroad kings, only states
and men were the objects over which
his energies were expended. He took
the mass of isolated satrapies which
constituted the British possessions in
North America, and by the force of his
own eXertions welded them into one
nation after the manner of a modern
RICHELIEU; and with this done, he pro-
ceeded to develop the empire he had
created according to his own theories
and after his own pattern.
The contemporary commercial policy
of Canada is entirely the work of Sir
JOHN MACDONALD. He has ruled the
country with practically dictatOrial
power for twelve or thirteen years, and
his ideas have been stamped OIL every
step in its development and progress.
Canada itself has been and still IS
sparsely-settled region, in which dis
tricts capable of the richest cultivation
alternate with long stretches of eternal
desert. In extent it constitutes 40 per
cent of the limitless British empire, on
which the sun never sets, and runs
along for 1000 miles from ocean to
ocean and north to the land of snow
Within this vast nation there are
scarcely 5000, 200 people, and all of them
inhabiting sections so similar III climate
and productiveness that to the traveller
they seem but repetitions of each other
and incapable of diverse or varied de-
vel0pment.
Sir JOHN MACDONALD conceived the
plan of making of this country an EN-
pire warmly and closely attached to the
mother country, and at the same time
absolutely self-Sufflcient and complete
in itself. For this purpose he fenced it
about with wall of tariff restrictions,
which applied as well to England as to
the United States and the other
countries of the world. He put in OPP
GRAFTON the most drastic theories of
commercial warfare, and. with the pub
lie revenues swollen by high duties, he
inaugurated system of internal i'm
provements of the greatest magnficence
and extravaganza. No more ambitious
project was ever attempted, for eX-
ample, than the construction of the
state-aided Canadian Pacific railroad
which by bounties and largeSsesis made
independent of the limitations and diff
ficulties of similar enterprises in the
United States. In general, there has
been in modern times nowhere COM
pleter practical application of the doc
trineS of protection, and of the theory
that it is the states duty to use its tax
ing power for the shaping of its internal
industrial growth, than the history of
Canada under his administration affords.
The effect of this policy cannot be
justly measured while it is still so
young, but it has increased twofold the
burdens of the Canadian people. The
total eXactions in the shape of
government revenues flowing into
the public treasury are twice in
the present year what they were
in 1878 while the growth in population
has been insignificant. The prodigality
in public expenditures has been great
in the same proportion. Tho social con-
dition of the people has changed mar
va
moderate fortunes and general comfort
were the rule, milliOnaires are now as
numerous as among corresponding
number of people in the United States,
and there are as many hopeless wage
workers as in the crowded towns Of the
East. The cities have advanced greatly
in population, and agriculture has suf-
fered a decline and lost its charm aud
attractiveneSS.
Whether or not all these things
would be permanent were the ideas
of Sir JOHN MACDONALD persisted in is
a matter which need not be here dis
cusSed, but all observers have agreed
that such are the immediate results.
Against them there has been of late
much popular feeling, and the Liberal
party, with the watchword of universal
reciprocity with the United States. has
grown in Importance and power. 1t
has suffered in its contests with the
Tories, not because its cause was not
just, but because it has had no leader
who could compare with the Tory
leader in aStuteneSS and personal force.
His death removes the great barrier to
the abrogation of the trade restrictions
which his policy has imposed, and
opens the way for changes of the most
radical character.