Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1892-08-25
CANADA WILL SUFFER
PRESIDENT HARRISON REFUSES HER
CANAL ULTIMATUM.

|
Falls Canal and Imposing a Toll of go
Cents a Ton on Canadian Freight.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 22-By authority of
President Harrison the state department
has made public the important action
taken by the president under the Canadian
retaliation act of last session in partially
suspending by proclamation the free navi-
CATION of the St. Mary's Falls canal and i'm
posing toh of twenty cents ton upon all
freight passing through that canal from
Canadian ports. The presidents proclama-
tion, though constructively executed in
Washington city, was signed at Loon Lake
and forwarded here for promulgation.
Accompanying the proclamation is the
correspondence on the subject which passed
between the state department and Mr..
Herbert, of the British legation. The cor
respondence shows that the president re-
fused to accept the Canadian offer to abol-
ish the rebate tolls at the end of the season
and wanted them abolished at once. The
proclamation recites the provisions of the
act of congress passed July 20 last en-
titled IAN Act to Enforce Reciprocal Com
mercial Relations Between the United
States and Canada and for Other Pur-
poses," and continues as follows:
| The Proclamation.
Whereas, The government of the Dominion Of
Canada imposes toll amounting to about
twenty cents per ton on freight passing through
the Welland canal, and also a further toll on
all vessels of the United States and on all pas
sengers in transit to port of the United
States, all of which tolls without rebate;
and
| Whereas, The government of the Dominion
OF Canada, in accordance with order in
council of April 1, 1892, refunds eighteen cents
per ton or the twenty cent toll at the Welland
| canal on wheat, Indian corn, peas, barley, rye,
oats, fiaxseed and buckwheat, upon condition
that they are originally shipped for and carried
| to Montreal or some port east of Montreal for
export, and that If transshipped at an inter
mediate point, such transshipment is made
within the Dominion of Canada, but allows no
such nor any other rebate on said products
when shipped to port of the United States,
or when carried to Montreal for export, il
transshipped within the United States; and
| Whereas, The government of the Dominion
Of Canada, by said system of rebate and other
wise, discriminates against the citizens of the
| United States in the use of said Welland canal
in violation of the provisions of Article ~ of
the treaty of Washington, concluded May s,
1871; and
Whereas, Said Welland canal is connected
| Win tue IaNlSdtlOn Ol lne great lakes, ana
am satisfied that the passage through it of car
goes In transit to ports of the I'm ted States is
made difficult and burdensome by said dis
eliminating system of rebate and otherwise
and Is reciprocally unjust and unreasonabe;
Now, therefore, /, Benjamin Harrison, presi
dent of the United States of America by virtue
of the power to that end conferred upon me by
said act of congress approved July 20, 1892, do
hereby direct that from and after Sept. /, 1892,
until further notice, a toll of twenty cents per
ton be levied, collected and paid on all freight
| of whatever kind description passing
through the st. Mary's Falls canal in transit
to any port of the Dominion of Canada
whether carried in vessels of the United States
or of other nations; and to that extent do
hereby suspend from and after said date the
right of free passage through said St Mary's
Falls canal of any and all cargoes or portions
of cargoes in transit to Canadian ports.
Canada Must Give In.
Included in the aftermath of the procla.
nation is a statement that this course has
been under careful advisement since before
the adjournment Of congress. After the act
of July B, authorizing retaliation, had gone
| through both houses without opposition it
was stated that the members of the foreign
| affairs committees who had reported the
| bill had done 80 at the personal request of
the president. The information is now al
lowed to leak out that the precise shape
which retaliation should take, so as to
produce the most telling effect on Canadian
commerce and precipitate q solution of the
difficulty, was arrived at after repeated
consultations with leading business men on
our Canadian frontier, who were called
into consultation by the state department
from northern New York and other parts
of the country so quietly that the fact of
their presence here ON this business is only
| No do 1r,,o -. - u
the completion Of the act.
1t Is said in administration circles that the
ground was 30 carefully gone over before
hand that Canada is not left a leg to stand
on, and must give in to the American de-
mands and Immediately revoke the order In
council on April last authorizing the dis
crimlnatlng rebate Of eighteen cents ton
on grain products shipped to Canadian
ports and refused to all American merchan-
disc. Equality of tolls In the Welland ca
nal was one of the distinct pledges made hv
Article q of the treaty of Washington Of
1871, under which treaty Canada has profited
so largely.
May Be Rebuked by Gladstone
Another fact much commented on here ia
the humiliating position in which Governor
General Lord Stanley and the Canadian
ministers have placed the British legation
in Washington Mr.. Herbert the British
charge of affairs, twice asked of the United
States government an extension of time,
stating that he did so at the request of the
Canadian government, and on the last occa-
sion-Aug. Shedding out, on the same au-
thority, promise of satisfactory action.
Yet the first news Of the decision of the
Canadian government to continue the OBJ
. noxious rebate until the end of the nayiga
tion season-that is, until period when re-
taliation would be harmless-came to the
state department, not from the British le-
CATION, which had been led to promise early
and satisfactory information, but from the
United States consul in Ottawa.
When Mr.. Herbert journeyed post haste
} from Newport to Washington, and was
asked by Secretary Foster whether the in
formation conveyed by the United States
consul general was true, he was obliged to
confess that the Canadian government had
left him absolutely in the dark; that he had
no official communication to make, although
he did not question the truth of the consul
Al