The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-30
THE FARMER: MARCH 30, 1903.

l have endeaVOred briefly to show what were the conditions preceding and to a certain connected extent fol- 1. lowing the adoption of the Reciprocity Treaty and the causes which led to it's negotiation. It is not necessary to weary the reader with a minute ac- count of the legislative and diplomatic steps that were taken to bring the proceedings to a close. Suffice it here to say that finally under the direction | of the English government a party,
 comprising Lord Elgin, MI. Francis Hincks,s then prime minister of Can ada, Captain Hamilton, A. D. C., and Lawrence Oliphant, private secretary of Lord Elgin, left England, were join
 ed by Colonel Bruce and one or two | Canadians at New York, and thence proceeded to Washington where by means of skillful diplomacy, some of it, according to certain writers, not being | above reproach, they overcame the opposition of the Democratic majority
 in the Senate and successfully paved
 the way for the adoption of the treaty. ] It was approved by President Pierce on August 5th, 1854, and following his
 proclamation promulgating the treaty
 on March 16, 1855, it went into effect. | ; WORKING OF THE TREATY. | The treaty continued in operation for | eleven years and two months, or un- til May IT, 1866. Had the trial of the l treaty been made under normal or nearly normal conditions we could
 judge of it's merits much better than | the abnormal, even violently disturb | ing conditions that existed during the | major part of the period. The crisis l or panic" of 1857 unsettled business to marked extent in the United States and to some extent in Canada, but was fortunately not long in dura- | tion. 'In the inquiries which were made as to the causes of the crisis" writes Prof. William G. Sumner, "the state of the currency was generally | recognized the root of the trouble" It is clear that the crisis rudely inter- rupted an encouraging growth in trade between the United States and the British provinces in the first years of the treaty, both imports and exports falling off largely in 1857 and 1858, particularly in the latter year, fol- lowed in 1859 by a noteworthy bound toward improved conditions. But the business crisis was merely like a thun- der shower which makes big commo- tion, then quickly passes away. 1eav- and full of promise. Far more seri- ous was the effect of the Civil War of 1S61-65, and we should also allow for the effect of the troublesome agttations that led up to it, agitations developed from the increasing hostility between the North and the South on account of the slavery question.
 The most important deduction to be soundly made from the statistics cov- ering the working of the treaty is that under the favorable years of the treaty, I meaning by favorable years those which were not disturbed by the business crisis and actual warfare, there was a marked increase in the trade between the two countries; and it seems safe to conclude that a large part of this increase, at least, was due to the direct effect of the treaty itself. (F'or an exhaustive present ta:tdon and discussion of the relevant statistics. see the valuable pamphlet entitled 'The
 Reciprocity Treaty with Canada of lxy ENr ioly n Ph. D., and published by the A1neri- can Economic Association.)
 Concerning the working of the treaty during it's latter years I may fittingly quote from the already mentioned book of Laughlin and Willis as follows:
 During the war. of course, when the productive power Of our own coun- try was curtailed. we naturally looked to Canada for supplies, and 1860 and 1861 were the only years in which our imports from tEat country exceeded our exports during the life of the treaty, until just at the time the agree ment was about to close Recovery had already begun before the end of the Civil War, and 1864 might be con- sidered a more normal year. Then, with the general recognition of the fact that the treaty was practically certain to be abrogated. came a great rush to bring quantities of Canadian goods over the border. before the duties again became effective. This movement ac-
 
 imports in 1865, and particularly in 1s66 which fell off as sharply in 1867. During the four years after the ter imitation of the treaty-1S67-187O-tr trade continued Q lower but fairly nor nal level, and the close of the period shows a marked tendency to an in crease in both exports and imports.
 It may be said that the reciprocity treaty was popular in Canada through out it's life, certainly there was little, if any, noteworthy opposition to 1t, and the dissatisfaction that brought about its albrogation was on the part of the United States. At first the treaty was favorably regarded by the people of both countries. The idea was also prevalent among us that the treaty would pave the way toward a closer bond of union with Canada, one writer expressing himself as follows:
 "A people so identified Cwith us). it is argued, cannot long remain polite ally separated, but must be united by justify this last line of reasoning. But whenever annexation comes, be it sooner or later, the operation of the treaty will make it, beyond all doubt, a peaceful, amicab1e, and altogether salutary transition
 But following the crisis of 1857 dis satisfaction began and increased in the United States in various ways which influenced not a few to enter tain the notion that Canada was gain ing under the treaty advantageS a good deal greater than we obtained. There is an unlikeness between the +inhabit- ants of different countries, even when they speak the same language and are of the same ethnical stock, which pre- disposes them to be jealous and sus- picious in their mutual dealings. Their governments, their interests, their points of view, their ways of doing things are sufficiently divergent to make the cementing of close and quite friendly relations more or less slow and difficult. Wide prejudice still ex- ists against a. foreigner just because he is a foreigner and because his in terests are supposed to be opposed to ours, and, it must be recollected, this prejudice. founded in ignorance and nourished by ignorance, was once very strong. not comparatively mild, as it is in this day of enlightenment when a. population more heterogeneous than formerly, due to the emigration of peo- pie from many countries, occupies the United States and when a greater and more intimate relationship with other