The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-24
THE CANADIAN TARIFF
DENIAL THAT 1T DISCRIMINATES
AGAINST THE UNITED STATES.
Changes in the New Measure Are Said
to Be Quite as PrO-American as
PrO-British-Its Character.
Toronto Letter in New York Post

politicians who take that view victims
OF clever illusion, which was intended
not for them but for a large section of the
Canadian and British public. When the
changes in the tariff are carefully exam
ined they will be found in their sum total
to be at least as pro-American as pro-Brit-
ish. In presenting the new bill to the
country, however, the government deemed
1t expedient to give it an anti-American
squint. Hence in his budget speech Mr.
Fielding spoke meaningly about dealing
with those nations that would deal with
Canada, and christened his minimum tariff
preferential arrangement in favor of
Great Britain.
Inc pro-British, anti-American aspects
thus suggested were at once seized on not
only in Canada, but also in Great Britain
and the United States. In the heat of the
enthusiasm with which the so-called Brit
lsh policy was received in the mother
country, Rudyard Kipling struck off his
piece of frostwork, Our Lady of the
Shows" which Canadians regard with not
unmiXed admiration. Their objection to the
| title, as based on an unjust idea of their
climate, was formally entered in the House
the other day by Mr.. N. F. DAWN himself
a poet. But Kipling took far larger poetic
license in his reference to the tariff than in
his reference to the climate His poem.
however, simply reflects the impression
which the susceptible imperialist mind has
taken from the artful fiscal scheme which
Mr. FIELDING unveiled less than a fortnight
ago. His muse has aided the government
IN dece1ving the people of the United King
dom ana or Canada for while 1t has
also-and the government thanks it not for
thls-helped to spread in the United States
the Brltlsh Interpretation. There, too, the
canadian tariff is represented as an i'm
perlal development, as so much new mortar
Tor cementlng the colony and the mother
country into one solid political whole. 1t is
course with the United States
Thus false impression, calculated to
make the administration prOdigiOuSly DoplI-
lar at nome and in the mother country
may work the Dominion mischief with its
nel8hbor Mr.. Laurier would be the first
man to deprecate such a result as this
Anxious as he is to beguile the Imperial
partial to Great Britain than to any other
country, ne Is still more anxious that the
United States should recognize that he has
sacrllced more to it than to any other
mat he has done so. Stripped of the
BrltlSh colors under which it has been
falsely Paraded by its authors, the new bill
Will be found in effect a departure towards
trade with the American Republic.
IMPORTANT CHANGES.
The diherential adjustable attachment is
not the only new feature Of the tariff At
tention is to be directed to important
changes in the general list. These changes,
most of them, make sweeping cuts in the
duty on important United States lines
Take the section specifying the duties on
iron and steel and manufactures thereof
In that part of the tariff the revision has
been really drastic, in nearly all the items
the duties being lowered, in some cases
very much. A few examples will illustrate
now great the inclination of this long
stretch of the dutiable list is to the country
south of the border. On wrought scrap
iron and steel, which is the raw material
for all the Canadian rolling mills, the duty
has been lowered from 81 TO $3.50 per ton.
The effect Of this will be to make Canada
useful customer for taking off the United
states market WORKOUT, Anticipated outfit,
old rails, the clippings and other refuse of
machine shops, etc, class of material
which accumulateS very fast in these in
Vent1ye times in big iron-producing coun-
try. For rolling mill use in Canada such
stock takes the place of puddled bars, and
ranks accordingly as an important line of
commerce. On pig-ir0n the duty has been
reduced from "a to $3.50 per ton. The bene-
tit of that change will be reaped entirely
by the United States, from which country
the imports o. OF pig-iron in the last fiscal
$343,94S while from Great Britain the i'm
ports amounted to only 6525 tons, valued
at ST, %4,74 In nearly all the other many
which the duty has been lowered, the
United States has the lead in the Canadian
market, and has been increasing it for
some years.
No one supposes that if the United
States admitted iron and steel free, the
United Kingdom would be able to send any
considerable quantity of these products
into the American market to compete
against the immense perfected iron and
steel industry there. Similarly, it is nearly
as difficult for Britain to sell in the Cana
dian market against United States competi-
ton. Within the last half-dozen years there
has been a rand decay of the british iron
trade in Canada, and q correspondingly
rapid upbuilding of the American iron
trade. British pig iron, which used to go
as far west as Sarna has by degrees fall
en- shorter of this point until now, with
the exception of a few thousand tons
bought for mixing purposes in Montreal,
none of it is any longer sold in Canada.
The Canadian railway companies buy their
steel rails now at American instead of at
British mills, both the Grand Trunk and
the Canadian Pacific having made large
purchases in the United States since the
Canadian Pacific Company calling for co.
900 tons The reduction of the duty on
structural material, and on iron and steel
bridges, etc, has enabled a Pittsburg house
to capture the order for the structural
work and the Detroit Bridge Company to
get the contract for a large part of the fin
ished work of the new Victoria bridge at
Montreal. OF finished articles of iron and
steel long catalogue might be submitted
on which the lowering of the duty will
cause an increase of imports from the
United States.
NO DISCRIMINATION.
1t is significant that nearly all the altera-
tons in the general duties have been made
in the heavy lines, on which Great Britain
is already handicapped by freight and in
which there has been going on for some
years a steady displacement of British by
American goods. No one who has any ac-
quaintance with the conditions imagines
that a discrimination of 1215 or of % per
cent. in Great Brtains favor will enable
her to dispossess American competitors in
these lines. But the great mass of the peo-
pie have no acquaintance with the condi-
tons, and are hypnotiZed by the premier
and finance minister into the notion that
States.
A few other changes that at first sight
appear inconsequential will likewise cause
a large increase in imports from the United
States. Though the duty on coal oil has
been reduced but / cent gallon, that
change has been accompanied by another
permitting the general use of storage and
distributing tanks This freedom from re-
strictions as to selling and transporting in
barrels is equivalent to a further reduction
of cents gallon in the duty. The Stand
ard Oil Company VIII be enabled to carry
large stocks at all Canadian trade centers
where Canadian oil has been retailed The
removal of the corn duty, which was ~
cents per bushel, opens the Canadian mar
ket to a big wave of American produce,
which will force out of production not only
Canadian corn, but large percentage of
other coarse grainS-oatS, rye peas, etc
now grown in Canada for feed. Three cents
a bushel has been struck off the wheat
duty leaving that still u cents. That rate
will ut I'd 96 q hf1f he