The broad ax., 1896-08-15
4 PROTECTION DEFEAT.
CANADIANS REJECT THE MeKINLEY
D0OTRINE0F RESTRICTED TRADE
The Tory High-Taxstion Govern
ment Overthrown-Liberal Policy
OF Revenue Reform Secures .
Large Majority In Parliament.

Il
OF Revenue Reform Secures {
Large Majority I'm Parliament.
A general election for Members o
Parliament for the Dominion o
Canada was held on June %. The tvt
great political parties of the country
were divided on the tariff question, tn,
Tories, OF Conservatives, defending tn,
protection policy which they ha(
forced on the people eighteen year
ago, and the Liberals advocating . re
duction OF duties and the adoption o.
Q purely revenue tariff system Thu
sectarian school question and othsl
minor issues of recent origin were
also discussed, but the tariff was the
great National issue.
The Conservatives appealed 10 the
electors for support on the ground
that protection had built up new in
dustries, had increased wages and had
given the farmers larger home mar
kets. They claimed that Q high tariff
was necessary in order to protect
Canadian workers and farmers against
the cheap-labor products Of the United
States, and urged . continuance Of
the policy of trade exclusion. Ad-
uniting their responsibility for the
tariff legislation of the past eight
cen yesrs the Canadian No
KinleyItes asserted that the con-
dition Of trade and industry
proved that high taxes had brought
prosperity, and for that reason they
looked confidently for 9 popular YER
dict in their favor.
The Liberals have advocated free
trade and fought protection ever since
its establishment in 1878. They de-
MED that the people of Canada could
be made prosperous by high taxes. In
answer to the claims of the Conserve
tives they showed that since the pro-
tective system went into operation
public burdens had greatly increased (;
trade and manufacturing had undergone
prolonged depression; the agricultural
industries had lsnguisbed and the peo-
pie had grown poorer than under g
low tariff. The alleged benefit to labor
was proven to be a sham by the fact
that since protection was adopted
nearly q million Canadians had been
forced to emigrate to the United
States in search of employment. The
natural course of trade with this
country was DISTRACTED by the high
tariff wall, and the Canadian con-
sumers were forced to pay higher
prices for inferior goods in order to
benefit few domestic manufacturing
concerns. Heavy taxes on sugar, cot
ton, iron and steel, glass, cordsge,
etc, stimulated the erection of some
mills and factories for the production
of those articles, but instead OF lower
prices resulting from domestic compe-
tition, each and every one of those
protected industries formed trusts,
which raised prices and restricted
production. The farmers were the
greatest sufferers, and many districts
were depopulated by the failure of
the men who cultivated the soil to
make living. An effective Liberal
campaign argument was the question:
"Has protection made you rIch?"
which met the voters eyes on every
page of the Liberal newspapers, was
posted on fences and barns and was
scattered broadcast on handbills.
The result of the election was an
overwhelming victory for the party of
low tariffs, and an emphatic defeat for
the Tory protectionists. In spite of at
tempts to create prejudice against the
Liberals by representing them as the
friends of the hated Yankees, and
against all the influence of the pro-
tected trusts and railway monopolies
which had been enriched by the party
in power, the Canadian people elected
lis Liberal Members of Parliament
and only eighty-three Conservatives.
The present Government will be forced
to resign at once, and the Hon. VIII
fred Laurier, an outspoken free
trader, will become Premier.
Americans have special reasons for
rejoicing over the outcome of the
Canadian elections. The accession of
the Liberals to power means that in
stead of the policy of hate. distrust,
sectional jealousy and commercial
war, stimulated in Canada by the
Tories and in the United States by the
McKinleyites, we shall have in the
future policy of mutual confidence,
good will, and freer trade relations
across the imaginary boundary line
which divides the two English-speak-
ing peoples of this continent. And
this time, when our neighbors have SO
strongly declared against the artificial
barriers which shut American goods
out of Canadian markets, is . very
poor occasion for the people of the
United States to go hack to the swindle
OF McKinleyism which they rejected
in 1892 WurnDvu GpIuaH