The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-02-07


provisions OF the Wilson bill regardin!
Canada become law, they would par
alyze the Canadian liberal party, tn,
chief feature of whose programme il
reciprocity. No honest and far-sigbtet
advocate of the union of British Nortl
America with the United States cal
wish to see the Canadian liberal part,
destroyed or even crippled, for, what
ever may be the attitude of its leaders
in Ontario, the great body of its rank
and file swarms with actual or prospect
i've supporters of the annexation pro
ject. In the Province of Quebec tn,
liberals, under the leadership of Mr.
MERCER, are fast becoming committed
to an agitation for Canadian indepen
dence, which is regarded as the frs
effective step toward union with oul
republic. AT such juncture it would
be an act of stupendous folly to deprive
our friends in the Dominion of theil
strongest argument, which is that only
by entering the Union can Canadians
obtain the precious commercial priv
ileges enjoyed by Am erican citizens.
How is such fatal mistake to be
avoided? Mr.. Erastus Wiman, in a re-
cent Interview with reporter of the
washington Post, suggested that the
senate might insert in the Wilson bill a
proviso that the measure should be in
operative with regard to Canada until
the authorities at Ottawa should have
agreed to make concessions accented
by our government as equivalent. Mr..
Wiman thought that the least the Do
minion ought to offer would be the adj
mission, duty free, of all articles man
ufactured in the United States from
Canadian raw materials. This, how
ever, would be far from being a fair
equivalent; it is, indeed, vice insep.
arabic from the whole scheme of reci-
procity, that nothing the Canadians can
offer, short of political union, would
counterbalance the advantages which
they would derive from free or even
partial admission to the American mar.
kets. 1t may be said, nevertheless, for
Mr.. Wiman's suggestion that, if adopted
by the senate, it would give the friends
of annexation time. 1t would consti-
tute reprieve from the ruinous conse-
quences of the provisions of the Wilson
bill relating to Canadian products. A
year or two, at least, would probably
elapse before the Ottawa and Washing
ton governments could agree upon
counterweight to the great privileges
granted by the Wilson bill to Canadian
producers. In the mean time a great
change might have come over public
opinion, and over the composition of
parties in both houses of congress, a
change 80 decisive and emphatic that
even the present executive might be
forced into submission to the public
will.
The only safe course, however, for
the friends of annexation in the senate
is to insist upon striking out all the pro-
visions of the Wilson bill which relate
to Canadian products. Such course
ought to be as acceptable to all demo-
Gratis who are faithful to the traditions
Of their party as it would be to the re.
publicans. The democracy has not al
ways been committed to the principle
Of tariff for revenue only, as it un.
doubleday is to-day. In times past it
has repeatedly arrayed itself on the side
Of protection, to a greater or less degree.
But at all times since its creation by
Thomas Jefferson, the democratic party
has been Jealous advocate of national
expansion. The Louisiana Territory,
Florida, Texas, Oregon, and the vast
.ract stretching from the eastern bor-
Ter of New Mexico to the Pacific, rep
'esent the successive democratic steps
,oward the fulfilment of the annexation
1t is those achievements
which have given the party it's great
1old upon the people. Of the present
democratic senators, not a few are
Ieenly sensitive to the historical i'm
)ulse toward extension, and strongly
iesirous that their party record should
eliminate in the acquisition of British
North America. These senators have
! IN their power to produce state of
hings in Canada even more conducive
o political fusion than that which ex-
sted in 1854. They can give irresisti-
,le momentum to the current which, in
quebec, already is setting toward an
lexation. They can arouse correspond.
ng demonstrations of popular feeling
n Ontario, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and
British Columbia simply by striking out
he clauses of the Wilson bill which |
i've for nothing privileges for which,
ooner or later, the Canadians would |
lady pay the price of political union.
The candid supporters of the Wilson
ill acknowledge that it will be detri-
Mental to that great section of our
7orking population which is employed |
a manufacturing industries. They
lain, on the other hand, that the
leasure will signally promote the well
are of the American farmer. If they
re really acting in his interests, they
re in duty bound to cut out of the
wilson bill those provisions which ad-
lit, duty free, many of the natural
roducts of Canada, while largely re-
ucing the duties upon others. Most
those provisions are strokes leveled,
OF at the manufacturers, but at the
armers of the United States. They
re, therefore, anomalies, inconsistent
les, excrescences, that cannot be rec
nciled with the professed purpose of
ne bill. The agricultural interests of
he whole belt of states adjoining the
anadian border imperatively demand
ne excision of those clauses Of the Will
On bill bearing on Canadian products.
" removing these features, which OBJ
lously contradict the ostensible pur-
ose of the bill, not only will the farm
RS throughout the northern tier of