The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-16

mended would involve q complete reversal
OF the fiscal and commercial system which
was adopted deliberately by Great Bri-
tain half a century 20, and has been
maintained and extended since. BY a
consistent adherence to this system n
duty after another has been swept away in
the United Kingdom, until at the present
day the few import duties remaining are
retained either for revenue purposes alone
on articles not produced there, or in order
to protect the excise revenue. That sys.
tenn, as Lord RIPoN said, would be
repudiated by q differential duty, for
this, from the consumers point Of view,
would be open to all the objections which
can be urged against a general duty, and,
while 1t renders necessary the same ~restric-
lions on trade, has the additional disad-'
vantage of dislocating trade by its tendency
to divert it from Its natural channels.
Besides these general objections to the
policy advocated at the Ottawa Confer.
encc, Lord RIPoN adduced others no
less serious, which flow from the existing
conditions under which the trade of the
empire is distributed. Assuming that the
preference aimed at Is given in the way
hOoU IdNOTdblo W IN uy Nv
partial d%iminution Of existing duties in
favor of British and colonial goods rather
than by an increase Of duties on foreign
goods coupled with the imposition of
duties on goods of foreign origin now ad.
mitted free which compete with British
and colonial productive must needs
see that, as the total trade of the
empire with foreign countries far ex-
ceeds the trade between the various
members constituting the empire, the vol
ume Of trade upon which taxation would
have to be placed would exceed greatly the
volume which would be relieved partially.
The result necessarily not only would in
crease taxation, but would cause a grave
net loss of trade, the burden Of which in
both cases would fall with greatest sever
ity on those parts of the empire which have
the largest proportion Of foreign trade and
the loss to these parts would more than
outweigh the gain to the other parts.
Lord RIPoN went on to show that the ma
terial effects Of the proposal would be even
more prejudicial than appeared from the
general statement Of its more obvious re-
suits. In the case of Great Britain the
bulk Of the imports from foreign countries
and almost the whole of the imports from
the colonies consists of food or raw ma
terialo for manufacture. To impose a duty
on food would mean at once q diminu-
tion of the real wages of the workman.
II, in addition to this, q duty were i'm
posed on raw materials, a further encroach-
ment would have to be made on a to
enable the manufacturer to compete with
h;c riro1c In co,ntriao vvharo thara - M
such duties.
How irrational it would be for England
to tax food and raw materials imported
from foreign countries to favor similar
commodities imported from British pos
sessions will be evident from a few
figures: For the five years, 1s54-5s,
the imports from British possessions were
less than "a per cent. of the total imports
into the United Kingdom. During the five
years, 1ss9-93, the imports from British
possessions were less thar 20 per cent. of
the whole. Plainly, then, the proportion
of England's colonial trade to her foreign
trade Is not increasing; on the contrary, it
has diminished slightly during the last
forty years.
So much for the %expediency of England's
giving Canada a quid pro quo, without
which we may be certain that the Ottawa
Parliament soon will cease to wish to dis
criminate in favor of Great Britain. Lord
RIPoN also considered the treaties be-
tween Great Britain and Belgium and Ger.
many, which must be abrogated, If the re-
cent Canadian legislation s'to be anything
but waste paper.
Article XIV. of the Belgian treaty runs
ARTICLES of produce or manufacture of Bel.
GUM shall not be subject in the British col
onies to other or higher duties than those
which are or may be imposed upon similar
articles of British origin" Article VII. of
the treaty with the German empire stipu-
lates that 'in the colonies and possessions
of Great Britain the produce of the States of
the Zollverein shall not be subject to any
higher or other import duties than the
produce of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland" It Is further to
be observed that any advantages which
might be granted by Great Britain to either
Belgium or Germany in virtue OF the above
recited stipulations must also be extended
to various other countries under the ordi-
nary INSTRUMENTATION clauses in exist
ing treaties. Thus, Austro.H Hungary hav-
ing the most-favored nation clause in
her treaty with Great Britain, pro.
tested the other day against the
Canadian legislation as an infringement OF
the Belgian and German treaties. There is
no doubt that the protest must be needed,
and that, until the Belgian and German
treaties are abrogated, which can be lone
after giving twelve months notice, the du.
ties levied in Canada on British produce
cannot be an iota smaller than those i'm.
posed upon similar commodities of other
foreign countries.
We come, finally, to the question raised
by a resolution Of the Ottawa Conference
recommending the denunciation of the Bel
gian and German treaties. Would it pay
Great Britain to denounce those treaties
in order to permit the Canadians, and fol
that matter all other colonists, to give
her preferential rates3 Lord RIPoN did
not hesitate to answer In the negative,
He showed that the annual value of the