The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-06-23
THE CANADIAN ELECTIONS.

General elections will be held through
out the Dominion today to determine the
complexion of the next House of Com
mons. and decide whether the present
government is. to continue, or the
Liberals, under the lead of Sir
Wllfred Laurier, are to assume control
OF affairs. The Canadian system is pat
termed after the British and the
ministry must have the support of
the majority of the House of Com
mons in order to continue. The present
government is in the hands of theConser-
vatiyes, who acquired control of affairs
in 1873 and have held it ever
since. The Conservatives acquired power
on tho tariff crisis. having under the lead
OF Cir John Macdonald espoused the
cause OF protection, while the Liberals,
under the lead of Mackenzie supporter
free trade. Since 1878 three general cleo
lions have been held and ench time the
Conservatives have won. The last cleo.
ton was in March 1891. The principal is
sue WAS still the tariff, mixed with the
question of reoip1 ocity with the United
States. The Liberals in this campaign
espoused the policy of unrestricted reoi-
procity with the United States. The
Conservatives professed to be In favor Of
this also, but they charged the Liberals
with being secretly in favor of the sur
render of the whole fiscal policy Of Canada
to the United States, and this they con-
tended would be essential disloyalty to
Great Britain and would pave the way
for political union with the United
States, union which they insinuated
the Liberals were in favor of bringing
about ultimately. No doubt the cha rges
against the Liberals were untrue but
they found many believers and undoubt-
eddy were a potent factor in their defeat.
Soon after this election the Conservative
leader, Sir John A. Macdonald died,
leaving behind him no successor ap-
preaching him In influence with his
party or in spolitical capacity. Sir
John Thompson became premier but he
died suddenly in 1894, and MacKen zle
Bowel succeeded him. The latter proved
q weak premier and found it impossi-
BILE to hold the heterogeneous elements of
the party together. Finally he was
forced to retire and Sir Charles Topper
was called to take the helm. In the
present contest he is the Conservative
leader.
The issues involved In today's election
are the tariff and the Manitoba 60 hoo
question, and though both parties are
protesting confidence impartial observers
are inclined to predict a Liberal victory.
1t must be remembered, however, that
the Conservatives have been singularly
successful in keeping their grip on the
general government The drift for a
long time before the last election had
apparently been toward the Liberals,
but they were defeated. Much the same
was the case at the election before the last.
The patronage which.the government has
a nd which it is accustomed to use up.
scrupulous l. has always proved very in
fue initial in determining the result of
general elections. Yet at the present
time the Conservatives are in worse shape
than they have ever been before. They
have lodged the Manitoba school oues-
ton simply because they could devise no
policy that would satisfy both the
Orangemen of Ontario and tho Catholics
OF Quebec, and the result has been that
distrust has been enaendered in both
these classes. Furthermore there have
been serious quarrels among their lead
ers which have tendsd to break the party
into factions. If they win it will be a
great personal triumph for Sir Charles
Upper, for the victory will be largely
due to his astuteness and skill