The record-union., 1898-09-03
INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE.
Representatives Of Industries Of the
United States
Fighting TO Have No Change Made in Du-
ties on Canadian Products.


cult One to Settle-The Joint
Commission Holding Sessions at
Quebec Takes an Adjournment
Until the Twentieth Instant.
QUEBEC, Sept. 2.-The joint commits
sion of the United States, Canada and
Newfoundland, after ten days work
adjourned at o'clock this afternoon to
meet again in this city September Goth
at IL a. m. All the American Com
missioners, excepting Mr.. Kasson, will
return to their homes or Washington.
Mr.. kassOn will remain in Quebec. The
subcommittee and Secretaries will
continue their work at their homes
during the recess.
Three powerful industries of the Uni
ted States, by their representatives,
have appeared here praying the Ameri-
can members of the conference to make
no change in the duties now imposed
upon the Canadian products of lumber,
fish and pulp paper The lumber inter-
eset is the most important of the three,
and it is known that between this and
i've steps will be taken by the United
States lumber men to forestall any
action on the part of the commission in
the way of opening wider lumber mar
kets in the United States for Canadian
lumber.
If the joint high commission had
nothing to do but to settle the Behring
Sea question, the boundary lines of
clx G-I,1
of the twelve questions enumerated in
the protocol, no doubt they could do it,
but the greater question of reciprocity
has seemed to force itself before the
conference, and the question will be diff
ficult to settle
A man closely identified with the Uni
ted States Government and who has
followed the work of the conference
very closely, made the following state
ment this afternoon:
The labor of the American members
Of the commission has been greatly in
creased by the attitude of the repre-
sentatives on the subject of reciprocity.
understand that they demand as
condition precedent to the settlement of
the international questions which have
long pended between Canada and the
. United States, an agreement of some
kind in reference to reciprocity This
would not be so difficult of solution,
We're it not for the fact that from the
newspapers in Canada and from the
impression of the public men here, it is
very evident that the reciprocity which
they are willing to enter is not the
kind Of reciprocity that the American
people for the past twenty years have
discussed and now unanimously favor.
Since / have been here I have care
fully observed the situation, and have
learned that Canada expects the Unit
ed States to give them an exclusive
preferential duty in our market. while
they propose to admit our goods only
upon the same condition that the
products of Great Britain are admitted.
The Canadian idea is that in our mar
ketS they are to have an advantage as
against the rest of the world while
in their market they will give us only
an equal opportunity to compete with
Great Britain. The kind of reciprocity
which the Americans favor and which
the commercial bodies of the United
States have asked our Commissioners
to secure, is the reciprocity which gives
an equal advantage in the respective
markets in the countries which are
parties to the agreement, and that this
advantage should be exclusively en-
joyed by each country.
Had these various commercial bod
les known at the time they considered
and passed their resolutions what kind
Of reciprocity Canada wanted. it is
doubtful if any of them outside of the
haf~ of Il
have favored or would have presented
these resolutions which are now in the
hands of the Commissioners. 1t was
then known that such great national
industries III the United States as agri-
culture, lumber, coal and others were
to be laid on the international bargain
counter there to be disposed of in con-
sideration of securing for a few manu-
facturers in Boston and other New
England cities the poor privilege of
competing in the Canadian markets
on an equality with some other coun-
try where production is carried on at
a cost far below the cost of production
in our own country. 1t will readily be
seen that the Boston and Canadian
proposition will be of no material ben
eft to American producers.
IN ANTICIPATION OF the appointment
of this joint high commission, Canada
some time ago increased the preferen-
tial tariff in favor of Great Britain at
2Ia per cent, so to-day the American
goods pay % per cent. more duty than
English goods. If reciprocity between
nations, especially between the United
States and foreign countries, is to be
secured in this way. then the American
Government should add % per cent
to it's present tariff, in order that it
might make a deduction corresponding
to that which Canada proposes, or, in
other words, so it would have some
thing to trade on.
1T is because of this attitude of the
American press and Canada's public
men that leads me to believe that
reciprocity with Canada is utterly out
of the question, but, nevertheless,
American producers. and especially
those interested in the three greatest
of our national industries, should take
steps to convince the American Com
missioners that the Canadian policy of
reciprocity will never meet the ap-
proval of the American people,"