Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-10-16
TARIFF FOR CANADA.
What the Mckinley Law Of Our North
ern Neighbor Has Done for It
FROM A LAND OF DES0LATI0N
In the Seventies 1t Has Grown to Gne of
Greatness and Riches.
HOW PROTECTION WAS INTRODUCED

HOW PROTECTION WAS INTRODUCED
| rcoRREspoNDENcE OF THE plsPArcH.1
HAMILTON, ONT, Oct 13-The Repub-
1ican party OF the United States in the
present Presidential campaign does not need
to 60 outside of its own bailiwick to find
shining examples of the good that its pro-
nounced doctrine of protection has done,
but at this time it is not out Of place to OBJ
serve what this same doctrine, and its prac-
tice, have done for your nearest neighbor-
ing nation.
Although one of the dependencies of free
trade England, Canada is not free trade
country. only in q restricted sense, and if
| the business men, manufacturers, farmers
and artisans within its borders continue to
be the dominating forces in provincial poll
tics the policy of the Dominion Government
| will ever be that declared by Rt Hon. Sir
John Macdonald, the late Premier, of ''Pro-
| lection to native industries.
No Change of Policy in Sight.
1t is only during the past IA years that
Canada has had the opportunity of fairly
testing the efficacy of this doctrine, but the
results attained have been such that radi-
| cal change will not be made without
struggle, unless, perchance, some prototype
of your Democratic party shall declare the
doctrine of protection to be "a fraud and
unconstitutional and elect sufficient num-
Der of legislators to afterwards legalize that
declaration.
There is q feeling of fear throughout the
Dominion that such a state OF affairs as
| stated above may result when q change of
|. Government occurs. This more than all
else tends to prevent proper expansion to
trade which a permanently assured Govern
| mental policy of protection would permit.
Prior to 1873 ihe tariff duties on imports
to the Dominion were only nominal, and
under the policy then in vogue Canada was
fast outstripped in commercial lines of
activity by its more highly protected neigh
Dor, the United States. For some time be-
fore 1878 the commercial and industrial de-
preston in the Provinces was very pro-
nounced During the years 1874 and 1875
the Canadian merchants and manufacturers
had imported freely from abroad, Is well
as exporting largely at the same time.
The Balance on the Wrong Side.
The whole volume of trade in 1870 aggre-
gated fully $14s, 900, 600, while in each OF
the three years, 1873, IA and rs, it aver
aged $212, ,000, 600 per year. The increase of
imports over exports during these three
years was in the proportion of 80 to IA,
showing quite forcibly that the balance was
on the wrong side. With so large volume
there was of course great activity, but trade
in all lines was overdone and the inevitable
reaction followed with very disastrous con-
sequences to many firms and enterprises
What made matters worse for Canadian
manufacturers at that period was that under
the low customs tariff of Is to 171% per
cent on imports, United States and
other manufacturers were making
Canada dumping ground for their surplus
products which they sold here at lower
prices than at home. Cotton goods, hard
Of other manufactures came in across the
border, or the sea, at prices which, even
when the duty was added, we're 10 low as
to glut the limited markets and at the same
time very seriously embarrass the Canadian
producer.
Closed Down Canadian Factories.
This state of things. while implying a
certain advantage to the consumer in the
shape of low prices, as free traders in the
United States as well as Canada contend,
was so serious that Canadian factories were
left but one alternative-that of closing
down. The proprietors of these abandoned
factories began to think the matter over
and they were not long in finding where the
fault lay. They found that what some of
their countrymen had been pleased to call
'tfree trade" was not free trade at all
1--WE an" they said, Handicapped by
low tariff on American goods coming into
this country to compete with ours, while if
We attempt to return the compliment by
sending our products to the United States
we are met at the forty-ftth degree of lati-
tude with tariff double the average of
ours, which effectually shuts us out Give
us chance to exist. either by reciprocity
of tariffs or other means, and we are not
and illegitimate competition under the pre-
vailing system we have no prospect of ever
being able to succeed"
Mere speculation and philosophizing as
to causes of existing conditions brought no
rslief. Trade continued to languish. Ex-
ports declined from an average of $87, ,000,-
600 in value in the years 1872, 1873 and 1874
to $7S, ,000, 900 annually in the years 1875,
1876 and 1877. Imports decreased during |
the same years from an average Of $122, 000,- |
600 to $103, ,000, 900 annually.
Sir John Macdonald to the Front,
In the annual Speech from the Throne
IN 100 tnere was paragraph deDlOr1ng the |
stagnation Of trade, but it contained no
suggestion as to . remedy. Sir John Mac
donald, then prominent in financial politics, |
but who was destined to later become one
of the most eminent exponents of new
policy for Canada, saw a remedy, and he
did not hesitate to propose it, which he did
in the annual session Of the D ominion Par /
lament in that year. In . motion which
be offered it was N
Resolved, That this House regrets that Hk |
Excellency, the Governor General, has MT
been advised to recommend to Parliamenfa
measure Tor the readjustment of the tar1h,
which would not only aid to alleviate (he
staRnation in business deplored in the FRA
cious Speech from the Throne but also a1oru
and protection to the sStug-
Cling manufactures and industries, adfwen
rs the agricultural products Of the col htry.
This resolution brought the matteri brom-
inentiy before the country, and 5 dis
sussion soon became general. At Ahe On
lario Manufacturer Convention$ held in
October Of 1877, declaration waskmade in
'avor of "a national policy Of rtotection
% home production q the permad int policy
If the Dominion. The Domi1fon Board
If Trade, which assembled early the follow
ng year, agreed unanimously qpon reso-
ution which, in view of the nGn.poutical
character Of the body, is significant of the
interest generally felt 1T that time in the
Unfortunate condition of many branches of
Canadian manufacture. The text Of that
was - follows:
A Call for Protection.