Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-11-28
Friendly Feeling at Ottawa for the
Wilson Tariff Bill.
EFFECT On NOVA SCOTIAN PRODUCTS.
Views of Prime Ministe
Fielding.
WHAT LEADING MEN SAY.

ing the proposed tariff bill Is that If it
ever becomes a law in the United States
1t will give an immense impetus to United
States trade and industries of all kinds and
very soon result in placing the manufactur-
ing supremacy of the world in the hands
of the manufacturers Of the United States.
1t will enormously increase the trade be-
tween the United States aAld Canada, and
at one operation accomplish all that polit-
ical parties in both countries have vainly
been laboring to attain for wears in the pro-
motion of closer commercial relations.
These are the first impressions made by
the bill, but further details of the measure
are awaited before a judgment can be FORM
ed as to the effect the bill is likely to have
in any one particular industry.
In any case the new tariff scheme opens
up a prospect of which the government of
Canada will promptly take advantage for
the readjustment of the fiscal arrangements
of the Dominion. with the view of meeting
the changes proposed by the United States.
The recommendations of the committee
are regarded in official circles here as
framed in such a manner as to insure the
masses in the United States cheaper neces-
saries of life and at the same time open bet
ter markets for their finished products.
Effect on Coal and Lumber.
HALIFAX, N s.. Nov. 2S.-The an
nouncement that the congressional tariff
committee have placed coal lumber and
iron ore on the free list though not unex-
pected created a great deal of interest in
Nova Scotia. 1t IS a source of great salts
faction to Canadian free traders and tariff
reformers and is regarded. If the law passes
Congress, as certain to lead to much freer
commercial relations between Canada's AT
lantic provinces and the New England
states and to vastly increase trade.
Canadian protectionists. however, profess
to believe that though free raw materials
would be of enormous advantage to the
New England states il will be of very little
benefit to the lower provinces, If indeed
1t is not a positive injury. as they say
no country can prosper or be developed
which gives away its raw materials, ana
that for these lower provinces to supply
New England with cheap coal, iron ore
and lumber is simply to exhaust their re-
sources, prevent the development of their
manufacturing industries and make the
people of the provinces mere hewers of
wood and drawers of water for New Eng
land.
VIM. Chisholm, the largest lumber oper-
ator in this part Of Nova Scotia, said
The principal lumber output of the mari
time provinces is spruce, and Europe IL our
exports 100000 900 feet of deals annually
to Europe and r. not much interested in
the American market. Even with free lum-
better to continue exporting to Europe
The demand from there is almost un-
limited We understand their wants and
are accustomed to supplying them. Eu-
rope takes our three-inch deals of any
width and length, whereas for the New
England market we have to saw to direc-
tions. This means more waste of wood and
greater cost of manufacture while the net
returns would be smaller. The New Eng
land market is, therefore. not nearly SO
important to us as the British. and II the
a anrtp df,,ts L.,
should find It more profitable to continue
to ship to England"
Isaac II. Methers. who handles the great
er portion OF Nova Scotia's lumber export
to Europe. said he regarded free United
states market as a most desirable thing.
as New England would take a large guam
tity of our lumber which is more suitable
for that market than for Europe He
thought that large quantities would be
shipped from all along the Nova Scotia
coast to New England ports and that both
countries would profit by the trade.
1t is understood that for some time past
b. F. Parson. who engineered the Whitney
coal deal, has been engaged bonding mari
time lumber property on behalf of an
American syndicate and that he has Sc
cured option on many valuable tracts
of woodland
J. J. Stewart. editor of the Halifax Her
aid, thinks if these tariff proposals are en-
acted into law there may be a large deyel-
opment of trade, but he has no faith in
the permanency of such tariff.
James r. Lithgow, the leading Nova
Scotia exporter in the coal trade, has hith-
erto strongly argued that Nova Scotia coal
even If admitted free, could not compete in
the New England market with the Ameri-
can product. But he now says that the
changed conditions of the trade had chang
ed his mind. He now believes that the i'm
provements introduced by the Whitney
syndicate for mining coal and the grea ter
facilities for handling and transportation
will reduce the cost of production in Cape
Breton and enable Nova Scotia to supply
New England with cheap coal in competi-
ton with Virginia.
If the United States takes the duty from
Canadian coal he thinks the Canadian gov
ernment will be obliged to admit American
free. so that while New England will
greatly benefit by cheaper Nova Scotia coal
the western provinces of Canada will bene-
fit to the extent of the duty they now pay
on American coal.
Mr. Lithgow thinks the southern men will
not abandon the New England market with
out desperate struggle. They will not be
fighting with a foreign competitor, however
but merely competing with their own peo-
pie as the Cape Breton mines are now
almost exclusively owned by Americans
Premier FieldinR's Opinion.
VIM. S. Fielding, the prime minister of
Nova Scotia, said: Il have always believed
the free admission of our coal into the
United States would be of great benefit to
Nova Scotia and also to New England. This
coal question has become more or less a
question of politics here. While at one time
the free admission of Nova Scotia coal into
the United States was the general desire of
our people, in recent years a protectionist
party has grown up and it's advocates have
urged that it was of more Importance to
protect our home market than to develop
a foreign one, hence the duty on American
coal was maintained in Canada. / and most
of my political friends held that the New
England states formed the natural market
for our coal; and ii was this conviction
coupled with the knowledge that cheap coal
was of the utmost Importance to New Eng
land manufacturing interests, that led nv
government to promote the movement which
resulted in the formation Of what is known
as the Whitney syndicate.
"If coal should be made free on both
sides. there would perhaps be some disar-
rangement of our present coal business
We might lose some of the market
we now have in Montreal and other ST
Lawrence ports. where 1t is claimed free
coal would admit a larger quantity from the
United States mines. but I believe any loss
from that quarter would probably be made
up by our gain In the other direction
'The free admission of iron ore into the
United States is another case on which
both the New England states and our pro-
vince would be benefited. There is no
Nova Scotia, which would be to our ad-
New England, whose manufactures would
ha inn 1lor. II Inv oh