The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-07-31
A PROTECTION DEFEAT.
CANADIANS REJECT THE MCKINLEY
D0JTRINEOP REsrRIOTEDTRAD

The Tory HighsfuEntiou Govern
ment Ovcrthrowu-L Policy
of Revenue Reform Secures a
Large Majority IN Parliament.
A general election for Members Of
Parliament Tor tho Dominion Of
Canada was held on Juno %. The two
great political parties Of the country
were divided on the tariff question, the
Tories, Or Conservatives. defending the
protection policy which they had
forced on the people eighteen years
ago, and the Liberals advocating a re-.
duction Of duties and the adoption OF
n purely revenue tariff system. The
scolarian school question and other
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.
dusluee, had increased wages and had
given the farmers larger home mar
kets. They claimed that a high tariff
was necessary in order to protect
Canadian workers and farmers against
the cheap.labor products of the United
States, and urged a continuance Of
the policy Of trade exclusion. Ad.
mitting their responsibility for the
tariff legislation Of The past eight
cen ye. rs, the Canadian Nc
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 a popular YER
dict in their favor.
The Liberals have advocated free
trade and fought protection ever since
It's 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 Conserva-
tives they showed that since the pro.
tectiye system went into operation
public burdens had greatly increased /;
MISUNDERSTANDING had undergone
prolonged depression; the agricultural
industries had languished and the peo-
pie had grown poorer than under q
low tariff The alleged benefit to labor
was proven to be sham by the fact
that since protection was adopted
nearly 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 a few domestic manufacturing
concerns, Heavy taxes on sugar, cot
ton, iron and steel, glass, cordage,
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 rlch?''
which met the voters eyes on every
page of the Liberal newspapers, was
posted on fences and barns and waE
scattered broadcast on handbills
The result of the election was ar
overwhelming victory for the party Of
low tariffs, and an emphatic defeat fol-
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 monopolie!
which had been enriched by the party
in power, the Canadian people elected
rs 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 fret
trader, will become Premier.
Americans have special reasons fol
rejoicing over the outcome of thu
Canadian elections. The accession o
the Liberals to power means that in
stead of the policy OF hate, distrust
sectional jealousy and commercia
war, stimulated in Canada by tn,
Tories and in the United States by thu
McKinleyites, we shall have in tn
future policy of mutual confidence
good will, and freer trade relation
across the imaginary boundary lin
which divides the two English-speak
ing peoples OF this continent. Ant
this time, when our neighbors have s.
strongly declared against the artificial
barriers which shut American good
out of Canadian markets, is yer,
poor occasion for the people Of th
United States to 90 hack to the swindl
OF McIIinleyism which they reiecte
in 1892. WHIDDEN GRAHAM.