The age-herald., 1902-03-04
MT. Osborne Howes Speaks to Members of Commer-
 ciaI Club
CANADA'S LARGE IMPORTS
Now Buys More From America Than Any Other Country, Proportion ateIy-Belleves in Union of
 North America.

| ton Chamber of Commerce, spoke 10 large audience last night in the audito- rum of the Commercial Club. His sub ject was closer trade relations with Can ada and the ultimate union of all the English speaking people of America into one great country.
 Mir Howes called attention to the fact that Canada imports a greater amount of | American goods and products, propor- tionately. than any other country and that the amount is increasing rapidly.
 MT. Howes said in part:
 "The industrial condition of the United States has undergone in the last few years an almost revolutionary change. Not only has there been a marvellous in- crease in almost all classes of production, so that the outputs of our fields, our mines and our workshops would readily supply our national needs by the constant labor of our people for 10 or 12 months in the year; but we have found by the prompt and efficient utilization of our resources and through the employment of labor saving devices. that there are relatively few commodities that we can not produce and sell in the markets of foreign countries at prices which compel their purchase, when their manifest su- periority to competing commodities of na- tive production is taken Into account. i This has led to an enormous, and in the | commercial history of the world, an un- paralleled expansion to our foreign trade. 1 Our exports of every description have poured outward in an ever increasing volume, and the discovery has come to others, as well as to us, that instead of being a nation limited i'll our commerce to the few products over which our nat ural resources have given us an easy mand. we are more than the peers of all other nations in productive abil- ity, and are destined, if our onward ca- reer Is not checked, to become the work shop of the world
 "In the year 1903 the various trade treaties that the European nations have with each other expire by limitation. Al- ready plans are making to form new tariffs, upon which new trade agree ments are to be based, and in all cases , the principal objective point appears to be the exclusion of American wares. Effect on Development.
 l What effect will such treatment have 1 upon the industrial development of the United States? In the fiscal year 1895, our export trade was valued in round num- bers at $S00,0O0, OO0 In 1901 1t was s1 300 O00,- 000 This enormous gain has been con- temporaneous with our wonderful indus trial prosperity. But has it not also been to a large degree the cause of that pros perity? It has drawn off at full prices the surplus products of our industries-sur- pluses which if they had not found free and profitable outlet would have con- gested the home market.
 If the estimates of our staIisticians are to be trusted the American people can abundantly supply their own needs by the constantly applied labor of from forty- two to forty-five weeks in a year. A fa- vorable foreign vent for our products must be found if American capital and labor are to be steadily and profitably employed for the full twelve months; otherwise there will be congestion, a low ering of prices, want of business confi- dence and industrial stagnation.
 What has thus far been said bears l upon the general question of trade expan- sion. I wish now to call your attention to that part of 1t which relates to our trade l with Canada. Those 5,500 900 people living immediately across our northern border are not only more nearly like us in lam | guage and In political and social usages than any other people on earth but they are man for man the best foreign cus- toners that we have. Only two foreign nations. England and Germany, bought of us last year as freely as the Canadians, while our sales to them were greater than our sales In Mexico and in all of the coun- tries of Central and South America com bined. They bought more of our exports classed as manufactures than any-other foreign nation. Surely in seeking to safe guard our foreign trade the Canadians are a people whose equitable claims to consideration we cannot afford to ig- ksSll.
 Territorial Expansion.
 There is yet another aspect to this question. It seems to be recognized that the healthful growth of the United States requires that we shall have from time to time some form of territorial expansion. If in the future this should seem neces- | limits which would be more natural than that which brought about union of the Anglo-Saxon people of the American continent, and gave to the United States territorial area equal to that which we now have and possessed of unlimited, but as yet undeveloped natural resources This union can never be satisfactorily brought about by force. If it is to come as 1t should come, 1t must be by binding the Canadians closely to us by bands of trade that their interests and ours : shall be as nearly as possible identical
 At the present time the Canadians are justly dissatisfied with our manner of treating them. They have increased their purchases of us four-fold within the last twenty years while, barring gold. silver and copper ores, we buy from them but little more than we did in 1880 They have put upon their free list about half of what they import from the United States , and tax the remainder about 25 per cent ad valorem. We tax nearly all Canadian products except those just mentioned, and our average tax rate Is in the neigh