The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-01-23
COMMERCIAL PROBLEMS
ARISING FROM EXPANSION

| in fancicd security that we can for ever sell
everything and buy little or nothing II such n
! thing were possible, II would not be best for us
| or for those with whom we deal" How long do
We conceive 1t possible TO drain 600 annu.
| ally from so few a people, and not sink them in
| financial ruin or compel them in sclf.iefense and
not retaliation to erect tariff wall that will
absolutely bar out our products2
Reciprocity with Canada Advocated.
| Canada presents today the best opportunity In
| the world for reciprocity. Agriculture there
reigns supreme. Her Inhabitants need our manu-.
! factures, and although only j,500,OO0 in number
| actually bought from last year not only as
much as did the $1,000 900 people in Mexico, Cen.
| tral, and South America. but S23,0OO000 more! /
advocate reciprocity with Canada; not merely a
20 pcr cent. preferential, but absolute free trade
We Should abolish every commercial barrier, wipe
out every protective tariff and the loss to Our
| home markets would he made up thousandfold
in the enormous growth of our Canadian COM
mcrcc What the two peoples need is reciprocity
not only of economic but of political equiva.
lcnts; trele unity with Canada will inevitably
lead to political unity; II we now give her our
markets she Will ultimately give us herself; in
short, annexation and not reciprocity is the only
policy that will insure the permanent expansion
of our Canadian commerce. That annexation, too,
should be the voluntary political act of Canada
| pacheh py lhe consent OF Great Brltalni anu
| whenever the Dominion desires annexation the
imperial consent will be granted as willingly as
was practical independence and sovereignty to
| Australia.
| Many, however, who desire annexation think
| that by refusing trade concessions we can de-
stroy Canadian commerce and compel the Do.
| 1nnion to accept annexation as the only escape
rom economic ruin. Let us take warning from
| our colonial history. England antagonized her
|
pendencies and lost them. We cannot eoerce
| Canada She is not heIpless she is not depend
| eht on inc United states; she is n continent OF
| varied and unboundcd resources, pcopled with
! our own race, Anelo-SaXons, who never yet in
| any quarter OF the globe, have been threatened
| or beaten out Of their inalicnable right to live
| economically as well as politically. We are near
| the parting of the ways. We can now grant
trade concessions that will bind TO us, CONNER
| clally ana politically, generous and grateful
| people; or we can compel canada to enact such
tariffs as will bar out our products. cngender
bitter trade hostilitics, and permanently segre.
gate lis as political communities
| r,,,o,4 Mail, .: p,,:
A'Nt ~ A1"it
And what grander prize than Canada on the
iace OF the globe today?--a continent, larger than
| the United states with all its islands. girded
| ABOUT Dy thc same great oceans, stretching
| through the same temperate zone, abutting four
teen OF our great states for $500 miles. possess.
ing oooooo square miles OF the richest farming
! lands known and 100000 square miles more of
arabic ana productive soil, covered with bound.
less forests and with mines OF coal and iron
and copper and silver and gold, all the way from
cape breton TO the 1ukon--a niagnhcent,
| HlShlS, uhaeVelopeu ana almost ullhhapltcd DO
MAIN. our expansion on thls continent mas Decn
as lncNoiaoic as the forces or nature; slow,
| STEADY, eVer.adHahclhg annexation OF contiguous
| irnl mi N n
thc re'iNlng eaitlrhunger in our Anglo'saXon
BLOOD. Our arabic public lands are gone; our
population is increasing enormously. ana lis ad-
vance guards are already crossing the imaginary
ana invisible boundaries and spying out TIE
rich helds TO the north. Last year 2o,ooo Amerl-
| cans passed over the borders and made homes
nnnv mora VIII sol,ow mcxt vnar stiI mnro and
| so on az our tide of ovcrfowng population set !
| towards natures great outlet on this continent
| If today all trade barriers should be abolished,
hundreds of thousands of our people and countless
millions of wealth would pour into the Dominion,
and for the next generation such commercial and
industrial expansion would result as the world
| has never seem
| The people of The United States and Canada
| belong to the same race come from the same
mother land, dwell on the same broad continent,
| think the same thoughts. speal; the same Ian.
| guage obey the same laws, and worship the
same God--why should they not also live together
| in the same united republic? Unlike Porto Rico,
Hawaii, and the Philippines non-contig
islands, dcnsely crowded with alien or SEMI
barbarous peoples and destined to remain perma-
nent national territories-Canada would be taken
into that inner circle of American sovereignty
reserved for the lands of our own continent and
the people of our own racc-where every foot OF
her soil wuld sooner or later be organized into
an American state The grantlest achievement of
the new century will be the political union Of
the Anglo.Slxon peoples on this continent. What
more ennoblng conception can stire our civic
duty and patriotic ambitions So far as in us
lies, let us in our day consummatc the union OF
| the United States and Canada into the reest
| most enlightened most powerful sovereignty ever
organized among men.