New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-07-11
NO RETEyTE Reform ~ CANADA.

The change or party government Ill Caha""
has been effected at last. The conservative
scheme of holding on to Office and trying 10
retain it permanently by making change OF
base. which might WOO back enough OF the
French ProtectOnsts to give 1t a majority, mas
fallen through The GOvernOr-General himself
has taken decisive hand in the matter by de-
clining longer to recognize the Conservative
Ministry. thus practically dismssing 1t from
Office. Mr. Laurier and his friends now enter
upon responsible control, and are taxed with
the arduous task Of fulfilling their anteelection
programme, II they can. That they can do so,
or nearly do so, may, however, as well be at
once set down as out Of the question Indeed,
Mr. Iaurier himself so regards 1t, and so open
ly declares It,
The one great issue of the campaign, after
the Manitoba schools, was tariff reform. The
Liberals pledged themselves, II not to actual
and immediate Free Trade, to the nearest pos
sibe approach thereto Mr.. Laurier has, how
ever promptly decided TO shelve that whole
question indefinitely by submitting 1t to COM
mission, to he appointed. Of course, by himself
This disposition Of it will cause no surprise 10
the readers of The Tribune, who have already
been Informed OF the two great influences at
work to compel him to take such course One
Of these Influences Is the banks Of Canada, which
have told Mr.. Iaurier plainly that the tariff
must not be disturbed under penalty not only
Of loss of their support, but also OF such serious
embarrassment as they oonld, by open nos
tility cause the Government The other Is the
Frenchmcn OF Quebec, upon whom the new
Government is absolutely dependent for us
majority, and who are PrOtectiOnlsts 10 the
core, Of the most uncompromising kind what
can Free-Trade Minister do when he has
ProtectiOnst majority at his back?
The fact Is the issue Of Provincial flights
was that on which the Liberals won. 1t, ana
il alone brought the French Catholics or que
bee. and thousands of independent voters ana
even Conservatives. all over the Dominion, 10
Mr. Iaurier's support SO intent were the peo-
pie on that that they paid little heed to other
issues Now they see that while they nave
saved and vindicated Provincial rights, they
have put Protection in theoretic jeopardy Ac-
cordlngly they are ralying with might ana
main In support of the latter cause, and are
actually organizing to prevent their own Gov
eminent from executing its own programme
That they will be successful Is not susceptible
of serious doubt They are already successful
Mr. Iaurier's Government will not bring IN
Free Trade, nor anything like It, AS THE Lon
don Times" admits, the immediate Introduction
Of Free Trade in Canada must be regarded as
outside the range of practical politics.
Nor Is there the slightest promise OF anything
like commercial union between Canada ana
the United States The fact that Mr.. Laurier
and his followers are at least theoretically Free
Traders is I'm itself formidable barrier against
any such scheme. The idea of the Protection
list United States allying itself commercially
with a country committed to Free Trade with
the rest of the world Is not to be entertained
outside of dream of midsummer madness.
or course, if Canada wants to open her gates
to American produce, free of duty, this country
will not object. But there Is little chance or the
Dominion thus, to quote 1.-The London Times
again. turning herself into a slaughter market
for our surplus products. Mr. Laurier Is scarce
~ prepared for that. II he should seek any
thing more, II he should seek to have the gates
opened freely on our side alsO he would learn,
very directly and conclusively, the vanity OF
all such aspirations. He would learn, too what
indeed he doubtless already realizes that COM
mercial union can he secured only In conjunc-
ton with political union. The Montreal Star
recognizes this fact when 1t says: 1T can no
longer be denied by any intelligent and I'M
partial observer Of recent political events and
Commercial developments that Canada Is des-
timed to be at least n commercial dependency
"of the United States We shall see how long
the Dominion will be content to be merely n
commercial dependency. rather than free and
Independent member Of the American Union