The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-30
RECIPROCITY
 WITH CANADA
Review of Treaty of 1854 Which Continued in Eff
 feet Until 1866.
Annexation Suggestion - Subsequent Tariff Rela- tions and General Tariff Conditions Discussed In telligently- Some Present Conditions Predicted.

| Farmer for publication. but being mis- Llaid now appears in print for the first time.-Ed. Farmer.)
 Liberal trade arrangements with Canada were demanded by the Dem | ocratic party in the national platform | of 1904. A large number of the peo-
 pie of New England, Republicans as well Democrats, favor such ar ! engagements with our northern neigh Dor, a fact Strikingly exemplified in Massachusetts where the recent Pres idential election Q904) resulted in the choice of a Republican for the Presi- dent of the United States, Roosevelt receiving a plurality of 92,076 over Parker, and at the same time in the triumph of Douglas, the well known shoeman and Democrat, his plural ity over his Republican opponent for Governor being 35,sSs. The victory of Douglas, under such peculiar circum- stances, it is known and admitted, was largely due to his demand for a ] lower tariff and free raw materials, particularly as regards our trade with Canada. Since the national election
 the growth of the sentiment in favor
 of a lower tariff has been marked
 throughout this. country. It is evil dent that the people will insist upon party must within a reasonable length of time yield to the urgent demand or there will be a political revolution, the gong out or OIIlCe anu
 the Democratic or some other political party pledged to give tariff reform coming into power. Accordingly, we may expect tariff agitation to occupy foremost place during the next few
 years and may look for the people to manifest unusual interest in a sub l5ect so intimately connected with their welfare That portion of the subject which deals with trade arrangements with Canada and, in a lesser degree, with the other British Provinces of North America must, on account of contiguity and the close relations in separable from it. as well as for other reasons, be of unusual interest to the people of the Eastern States. But the topic is far too broad to receive | complete treatment in one article, and in the present paper I merely attempt
 to set forth in as simple and popular | a form as I can important historical | facts and pertinent considerations
 bearing on our commercial relations with Canada.
 The Reciprocity Treaty with Can ada of 1854' included in it's provisions
 not only Canada but also the other British American possessions, and was | concluded between the United States and Great Britain. It consisted of seven articles which provided for mu- tual rights of fishing in certain Ca nadian and American waters, for free | Interchange of the products of the sea, | the soil, the forest and the mine; the | treaty also allowed Americans the use  I ian canals on the same terms as Brit 1 ish subjects enjoyed. and gave to Ca nadfans the right to navigate Lake Michigan.
 as follows:
 | Article III. It is agreed that the articles enumerated in the schedule | hereunto annexed, being the growth and produce of the aforesaid British colonies, or of the United States, shall i be admitted into each country reSpec- lively free of duty.
 SCHEDULE
 | Grain, flour and breadstuffs of all kinds
 Animals of all kinds.
 Fresh, smoked and salted meats. Cottonwood, seeds and vegetables. Undried fruits. dried fruits. Fish of all kinds.
 Products of fish and all other crea- lures living in the water.
 Poultry, eggs.
 Hides, furs. skins or tails, undressed Stone or marble, in it's crude or un- wrought state.
 Butter, cheese and tallow. Lard, horns, manures.
 Ores of metals of all kinds Coal.
 | Pitch, tar, turpentine, ashes. Timber and lumber of all kinds round. hewed and sawed, unmanufac- tured in whole or in part. Ffrewood. Plants, shrubs and trees. Pelts, wool. FiSh-oil. Rice, broom-corn and bark Gypsum, ground or unground. Hewn or wrought or unwrought burrs or grindstones. DyetSuffS. Flax, hemp and tow, unfanufactur- ed;- unmanufactured tobacco. Rags. The first thing to be noted as to the s<1, 1~l @G
 the reciprocity treaty is that the de- sire and the demand for it came from Canada, that province decidedly talk ing the initiative, while the attitude of ferent, if not offish. The Canadians were stung by the unjust tariff poll icy of England toward them and sought relief and additional prosperity by aiming to secure improved trade relations With the United States whose rapid and remarkable advancement in wealth at once excited the envy of and served a stimulus to the tagging people just north of the great repub- lie. England had imposed on Canada differential duties which discriminated in favor of the former country and against the United States and contin- ued the unpopular policy until 1S45 when it was deemed best to placate | the people by permitting the Canadian Legislature to regulate it's own tariff; l and, in the exercise of it's new priv | ilege. the provincial Parliament in 1S47 | abolished the differential duties and admitted imports from the United States the same terms from Great Britain. Prominent among the causes that induced the British gov ernment to change it's attitude on the tariff was fear of the marked tend ency in Canada to favor annexation to I thes United States. Even after the considerable concessions made by Eng land diScontent was not entirely a1lay- ed, and Lord Elgin, the Governor-Gen-
 era1 of Canada from 1S47-1S54.s desiring to head off any attempt that might be made to obtain annexation and recognizing that through the acquire | ment of a reciprocity treaty with the United States he could best suit his purpose, put forth successful and unfla gging effort to negotiate it. Although the tariff change made by Canada in 1S47 placed the United States on an equality with England by lQy1arirler thR duties A Arr1aricarl