Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-06-05
CANADA NOT SINCERE
Influenced by Secretary Cham.
berlain Regarding Joint
High Commission
TO MAKE LAuRlER SHOW DOWN
Premier is Thought to Be Acting With
Chamberlain Who is Believed to Be
Opposed to canada's Reciprocity
With This Country on Account of
New Policy.

Washington, June Sit is the opin-
ion of the officials here who are charg-
ed With representing the government
in high joint commission matters that
the prospect for meeting of the joint
high commission is not so good as 1t
was.
| Canada had great difficulty in securing
Secretary Chamberain's consent to re-
open negotiations for another meeting
| of the commission and when the Brit
ish embassy here announced his con-
sent to the state department it was
with an air that showed very plainly
/ how unwillingly it had been given
! themselves in South Africa and for
other reasons Great Britain was under
/ obligations to Canada and so it hap
pened that Canada's request for the re-
assembling OF the joint high commits
sion could not very well be ignored, al
| though not in harmony with Secretary
| Chamberlain's ideas of closely united
British empire with preferential tar
| ifs.
| The Correspondence.
! Consent having been secured. the
question of reassembling was taken up
| by Senator Fairbanks with Sir Wilfrid
Laurier, they representing the two
| governments. The first letter was
written by Fairbanks on Feb. IS. and
| it stated that he had persistently tried
| to have Laurier fix a date and that
Laurier had persistently evaded the is
sue ana had written to Fairbanks about
trivial and irrelevant points in the
controversy between the countries.
Finally, reports have it, it became so
apparent to Fairbanks that the Cana
dian Premier was trying to avoid the
issue ard prevent the reassembling of
the commission without seeming to do
so, that he laid the whole correspond
ence tefore the state department, with
his view regarding 1t. The department.
after looking over the letters from
Laurier. agreed with Fairbanks, and
hence the general opinion here that the
Cana lisn government is not sincere in
its surfaced approval of the reassemb-
ling Of the joint high commission, and
wants to cooperate with Secretary
Chamberlain in his efforts to bring the
mother country and her colonies closer
together. commercially, shutting out
the rest of the world. At the same
time public sentiment in Canada is
not yet quite ready for the full an
nouncement of such policy, and so
Laurias is supposed to be pretending
that he is in favor of American reci-
procity.and wants the joint high COM
mission reassembled to draft a treaty.
But while doing this, he is trying the
patieace of Senator Fairbanks and
state 0epartm ent officials, who are in
earnest in the matter and apparently
wants 10 prevent action by having the
Americans throw up the sponge in
disgust. This would enable him to
say a. home that it was the Ameri-
cans who stood In the way of reciproc-
ity, the Canadian government having
done al it could to bring it about.
To Make Laurier Show Down.
The disposition in Washington is to
force Sir Wilfred Laurier's hand and |
If negotiations for the reassembling of |
the joint high commission should fail, |
to have the world know that it is Can
ada and not the United States that is
responsible for the failure. Should |
Laurier be brought to the point where
he must name date, and the commits
sion should reassemble, 1t is predicted
here that he will try to prevent action
that Will be satisfactory to either coun-
try. Laurier seems to be in sympathy
with Secretary Chamberlain's new
British tariff policy A reciprocity con-
vention between this country and Can
ada would seriously interfere with that
policy being carried out, even if endors-
ed by parliament.
Canada gave a preferential tariff to
Great Britain, in the face of good
deal of home protest, for Great Britain.
being on a free trade basis. had moth
ing to offer Canada in return. Should
she, however adopt a protective tariff,
policy, as Chamberlain suggests, she
and Canada could arrange reciprocal
trade policies. But il before the Cham
belain policy IS adopted, Canada should
make reciprocity treaty with the
United States, letting us into Canada
oIl 1dNpiabie lSIilS, anu
Canadian trade to this country, Cham
berlaln would win only a partial vic
tory. Hence it is that Laurier, who
seems to be acting with Chamberlain,
IS thought to be opposed to reciprocity,
with this country, and is secretly try
ing to discourage reassembling of the
Joint high commission.
Choate's Opinion.
Ambassador Choate. who reached
Washington Wednesday, straight from
London, has been comforting with Sec
rotary Hay, former Secretary Foster
and ether government officials, re-
yarding the Chamberlain policy and
how II is being received in England.
1t is impossible for Choate, or anybody,
1T this time, 10 fortel whether the poll
cy will be adopted. Chamberlain's adj
vocacy gives it tremendous adVant-
ages, but at the same time the tradi-
ional free trade policy will make his
progress slow and extremely uncertain.
fhe g sguments in favor of an English
ariff. Will be the fact that the United
States. Germany, France and Russia,
treat Britain's rivals in the world mar
Sets. are on high tariff basis. and that
British colonies also have put up tar
q, a .1f hap wit G fI . :