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

and excludes everything. There is se1l no
!raae 10 De done WITH her for paltry six
| tective long time. The principal indus
tries are there and YOU can never get
rld OF them, but. the Secondary industries
nave not yet been created and there is
SUN an immense trade open to you to
MAINTAIN and increase. Australasia is less
developed and takes more than Canada.
an the cape there are practically no in
We can intervene now, but it is doubt
Iul we could intervene twenty years
nence. we could, say to our great col
We understand your views and aspira
lions and do not care to dictate OF think
ourselves superior to you. We recognize
as not to be dependent upon foreign sup
put there are many things you do not
know how to make for which we have
a great capacity of production. Leave
walls against us. Let us exchange with
you 1or your production. Do it because
We are Klnsmen, because it is good for
the empire as whole and because we
nave taken the first step and set you the
example We offer you preference. We
rely upon your patriotism and your af-
by
Suppose we had made such an offer to
the united States and Germany ten or
twenty years ago; do you not suppose we
should have been able to retain a great
deal OF what we have now lost and can
not recover! l will give you an illuStra
ton.
Americas Tariff AbomInabIe.
America is the strietest of the protect
is an abomination it is SO immoderate
undesirable and unnecessary; and al
though America has profited enormously.
/ think it has been carried to excessive
lengths, and I believe that a great num-
Der of intelligent Americans would glad
ly negotiate with US for its reduction. But
until very recent times even this i'm
moderate tariff left US the great tin plate
trade, amounting to millions of pounds
annually and which we might have kept
nad We given some reciprocal advantage.
IL would not have been worth Americas
Whlle TO put an article for which it had
no special use or aptitude.
Were we to lose the colonies as we
lost our foreign trade, we should have
arrived at the parting of the ways. If the
opportunity is not seized now it will not
recur Canada will fall to the level of the
United United states; Australasia to the level of
Canada and South Africa to the level of
Australasia, and that would be the be-
ginning OF a general decline which would
ROB US OF our most important trade.
Mr. Chamberlain said he believed
that the colonies are prepared to meet
US in return for a very moderate pref
erence. They would reserve to us the
trade We already enjoy and would also
arrange their tariffs in the future in or
der not to start industries in competi-
ton with those already in existence in
the mother country. and not only would
they enable us to retain our trade with
them but they would give us preference
on all trade done with them by our
foreign competitors"
The colonial trade thus secured, said
the speaker, would be sufficient to af-
ford employment to 6i5,000 workmen at
thirty shillings per week, and, calculat-
ing their families, to give subsistence
to 3,O75,000 persons. That had been
called a squalid argument. Therefore
ne appealed on the higher ground that
the privileges of empire brought with
them great responsibilities. He had
spoken with many colonists who be-
lieved that the present colonial rela-
lions could not be permanent. They
must either be drawn closer together
or they would drift apart
He believed that it was only by g.
commercial union and reciprocal prefer
ence that they could lay the founda-
lions of federation of the empire to
which they all looked as brilliant pos
sibiIity.
Wouldn't Tax Raw Materials.
He wished to repeat explicitly that
he did not wish to tax raw materials
used in British manufactures. There it
was evident that If they wanted to pre-
vent separation there must be prefer
entail tax on food. That was the great
cry of his opponents and it was true,
but it was only half the truth, because
those opponents forgot to add his ex-
PLANTATION that nothing he proposed
would add one farthing to the cost of
living of any workingman or of any
family in the country.
He proposed to put a low duty, not
exceeding shillings, CAS- cents) q
quarter on foreign corn, but none on
corn from British possessions He
proposed no tax on maize, partly be-
cause it formed the food of some of the
very poorest among the population and
partly because it was raw material as
feeding stuff. He proposed a corre-
spending tax on -four and he would give
special preference to the miller with
the object of re-establishing one Of
our ancient industries and of prevent
ing rush from the country to the
town, and also of placing corn, offal
and feeding stuffs more cheaply with
In the possession9of the farmer
A small tax of about per cent on
foreign meat and dairy produce would
be imposed, excluding bacon, which
was the food of SO many of the poor
est population. Lastly he proposed to
give substantial preference to the COL
onies on wines and fruits.
some great remissions. He proposed
to take three-quarters of the duty
on tea, half the duty on sugar, with
corresponding reductions upon cocoa
| and coffee. The net result of these i'm
positions and remissions would be that
the town artisans food would accord
ing to the most elaborate calculations
cost him 2 pence half penny less per
week than it did at present, while that
of the agricultural laborer would cost
him pence less, but If, as he belieevd,
a great part of the tax on food would
be paid by the foreigner there would
be reduction in the cost of food both
for the artisan and the agricultural Ia.
borer.
The loss to the exchequer he esti-
| mated at s2,S00,000, but that and more
he proposed to find in another branch
Of the policy of fiscal reform, which
was sometimes called retaliation and
sometimes reciprocity. He hoped for
one thing-thaa the other countries
would reduce their duties so that worse
things might not come upon them, but
he thought that Great Britain would
also have to raise hers A moderate