The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-15
JUST A MATTER OF BUSINESS.

III RECIPROCITY with CanaQa nelp or
hurt our manufacturers? 1t is simply
a matter Of business, and if nothing is
to be gained and something may be
lost by making the trade it would be
better to have it unmade." So says
the editor Of Farm Implements, an Or
gan of that industry, and he writes
to his patrons calling attention to the
editorial and asking their opinion of
the efforts the Laurier ministry is
making to secure reciprocal trade re-
lations with this country. His editorial
carries the impression that he thinks
something is to be lost to the American
manufacturer by it.
Everything depends upon the point
of view This editor and most Of his
patrons take but one and that a narrow
one, their own individual gain or loss.
They are not to blame for this. Two
forces work to that end, their civic
education and the natural alertness
of business men for that which will
help or hurt trade. Those who take a
wider look, and feel their indignation
rising at this purely selfish view,
should reflect that most Of our men
Of business have come to maturity
since the war gave the protectionists
their opportunity to fasten their policy
again upon the country, and that the
whole civic education of these men has
been that they We're the pets of the
government, that it existed mainly for
them, and that the only question ever
is what could it do to help them. They
are the spoiled children Of the nation.
But, wherever the fault may lie, the
1act exists that this class, and the
statesmen who hold that policy, habit
ually ignore every class and interest
except the favored ones. 1t seems
never to occur to them that there are
others having equal rights which they
are entitled to have considered and
guarded. If we can find excuse in
miSeducatiOn for the man who makes.
1t is difficult to fird any for the man
VINO rules. He, at least, has no per
sonal interest to warp his judgment
or obscure his vision In his charge
are the things that concern every one
and it is his highest duty to see i'm
partial treatment accorded all. But it
is a singular fact that wherever this
policy prevails it affects the vision of
statesmen as we'll as 5eneficiaries. and
the former NIL ho
the latter. The great mass who con-
sumo the things made are Summers
forgotten Man. The men who make
them are always the Remembered Man
So we find this trade paper Of farm
implement makers, and senators and
representatives discussing this question
OF Canadian reciprocity as if there
were no other rights or interests in
viewed than those Of the men who make
things for farm and other domestic
use. The inherent right Of the users
OF these tools, on either side of the
artificial divisional line, to get their
implements Of him who will sell tboro
the cheapest, the tyranny and Injustice
OF refusing them that right and cflr;-
polling them to pay more, are unthougrt
of. That others have rights to be
guarded the statesmen of this school
ignore. But in happier countries.
where that policy has been sent
to the garnet with other obsolete
conceptions Of paternal governments,
we find statesmen mindful Of the well
fare Of all. When a delegation of hop
growers, inspired by the return of 2
Tory ministry, asked Salisbury for q.
tariff to protect them against American
competition that was pressing them
he assured them Of his sympathy with
their distress, but, said he, IL we pro
tect your hops, the farmers who grow
wheat will also ask protection. and
the men who raise cattle and mutton
will also want it, for they are as hard
pressed as you are and as entitled to
It, But that will make bread and meat
dearer for all the rest Of the people.
and is 1t right to injure them to help
you? Who ever heard an American
statesman Of the paternal-socialisti
school ever talk about the silent Fer
gotten Man al one whose welfare he