The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-07
Mr.. Chamberlain said:

dIleCllHS the WOrhlHSIHeH > eACHeQucI.
chamberIaIn's Words.
Mr.. Chamberlain said:
do not regard this as a party meet
an outsider. 1 do not think it right to
raise any exclusive issues but after what
has occurred since the meeting at Shelf
field word or two might be given me
leader. I am still loyal servant to the
party whose union and strength is es-
sential to the welfare of the empire and
which had found a leader whom every
member may be proud to follow.
The speaker paid the highest tribute
to Mr.. Balfour with whose principle
and policies he fully agreed, and said
he admired the courage and resource
with which the premier had faced diff
culties unsurpassed in political history.
Mr.. Chamberlain continued:
Taking up the position of leader go
in front of the army. If the army is at
tackled will return to it / am always
an optimist 1t is possible that the ma
ton may be prepared to go farther than
the official programme. l now ask the
question. Is it so prepared? Great Brit
ain In the past has played a great part In
the worlds history. 1 desire her to con-
tinue and see the realization of the great
ideal of an empire such as the world has
never seen. If that is to be attained, this
matter should be treated on its merits
without any personal feeling or bitterness
and without entering on questions OF
purely party controversy.
The late colonial secretary alluded to
the recent visit he paid to Venice when
he found the Campanile, which had
stood for centuries, and which, when he
previously visited Venice, seemed as
permanent as the city itself, now a
mass of ruins. He continued:
Sees Signs of Decay.
do not say that I anticipate such a
fate for the British empire, but do say
that. see signs of decay, cracks and
are not broad and deep enough to sustain
1T. Am l wrong to warn you? Is 1t not
strange and inconsistent that the same
people who indicted the government for
its unpreparedness in the South African
war should now denounce me in language
equally extravaganza because I want to
prepare you for a struggle SO serious
that If we are defeated the country will
lose it's place among the great nations, q
struggle which we are invited to meet
with Anticipated methods and tactics?
He asked how the country could ex-
pect to support it's growing popula-
ton with its trade practically stagnant
for thirty years. He proceeded:
On the other hand, the protected coun-
tries, which, you have been told, and
myself one time believed, were going rap
idly to wreck and ruin. have progressed
infinitely better in proportion than our
selves, and instead of, as Golden believed,
our remaining the workshop for the
world, we are sending less and less of our
countries are sending more and more of
their manufactures here.
In the same period our exports to nom
manufacturing countries like Egypt, China
and South America have practically re-
manned unchanged. The loss of trade to
the protected countries has not been no.
ticed hitherto because during the same
period our exports to the British colonies
have increased in ratio to counterbalance
this loss, and are now more valuable than
our trade with the whole of Europe and
the United States together.
Colonial Trade Increases.
Our colonial trade, in fact, is the most
rapidly increasing, important and valu-
able of all our trade. 1t is plain that our
imperial trade Is essential to our pros
perity. If it declines or fails to increase
loss of our foreign trade then we shall
sink into a f1fth-rate nation. We have
reached our highest point and I am not
certain but that some of my opponents
regard that with absolute complacency
l have the misfortune to be an optimist
l do not believe in the setting of the
British star, but then do not believe in
the folly of the British people. / trust
them and trust the working classes
have confidence that they who are our
masters, electorally speaking, will have
the intelligence to see that they must
wake up. that they must meet the new
conditions with an altogether new policy.
Have you ever considered why Canada
takes much larger amount per head Of
British manufactures than the United
States, Australia thrice as much as Cam
ada and South Africa more than Aus
tralia? These are all protective coun-
tries I see that some of our labor lead
ers are persuading the workmen to main
tain the system of free imports / un-
dertake to say that not one of them could
visit the colonies for six months without
singing different tune. The vast major
ity of the WOrkmen in the coIoniac q 70
protectionists, and am disinclined to ac-
cept the easy explanation that they are
all fools. I fail to understand Why a
man who is intelligent here becomes an
| idiot when he goes to Australasia. He
| does, however, get rid of a number of
old world prejudices and superstitions.
Case of the United States.
The countries to which have ,-afa,,.7