Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-10

IkzzesAA meets in Ottawa tomorrow
IW EA will consider at its present
l8 W session matters of great i'm
u Nl portaLce affecting the trade
relations between Canada and
the United States. A tariff war between
the two countries is imminent and it is
probable that the business men of the
United States will manifest greater In
terest in this session of the Canadian
parliament than they have in any of its
predecessors. 1t is the usual thing for
Americans to complain of British 'in-
sularity." But II the signs do not fall
the time is upon us when Americans
must themselves repent their own pro-
vincial self-sufiiciency. The Dominion
of Canada is great self-governing ma
tion which forms an important part
of the, British empire-the mightiest
political power of earth, Canada and
the United States possess more than
1900 miles of common boundary lines
and it must be said to the everlasting
credit of England and America that 1t
Is the longest boundary line on earth
guiltless of frowning fortress or men
aclng man of war. The two nations
years ago agreed to limit their naval
equipment in the Great Lakes to one
ship each and not to build and garri-
son forts along the land boundaries.
The two countries are too close akin
to build forts to menace each other.
There are no soldiers and sailors to
strut in defiance on the two sides of
the line, but there are men in uniform
who sit at the seat of customs. And
now 1t appears that there is likelihood
Of a war of trade and taxes between
these two peaceful nations in which
the custom houses will play a large
part. Unfortunately, from the point
of view of those who live south of
the line, tariff wars are not always
easy to win, even when a nation out
numbers Its opponent in population
and wealth many times over. At this
particular stage of the game Canada
appears to have the whip hand.
Persaps the chief trouble south of
the boundary line. and practically all
of the trouble is south of the line. is
that the Americans know too little
about their northern neighbors. The
American newspapers. except those
published in the northern tier of states,
have less news from Canada than from
Bulgaria. 1t has been the custom TO
ignore Canada and its aspirations and
it has been too much the fashion to
look across the border only with the
CLINT of Anglo-Saxon land greed In
the eye. In the meantime Canada has
been forging ahead, utterly Indifferent
Canada has built great transconti-
mental railroads and is so regulating
them that American roads find 1t in
creasingly difficult to compete with
them. Canada has encouraged ship
ping and now plans the construction
of a ship canal which will take the
great outflow of commerce from the
/. Great Lakes through British chan
nels to Europe rather than through
A thrown
open its great western country to set
tlement and 1t has tempted thousands
of good Americans to move over the
line. This Is the first considerable
American emigration and that 1t is a
good thing for Canada is indicated by
the fact that the 10000 Americans who
crossed over the boundary last year
carried with them S60.00O,O0O, an aver
age of $1,000 each. Did even the United
States have that kind of immigration
to make it grow?
And now Canada, II seems. is about
to apply some practical national wis
dom to Its tariff problem, problenf to
the solution of which much wisdom
is devoted in every country, although
that wisdom Is not always national in
scope The result will be that the
United states will have to sit up and
take notice. 1t may not be charged
that Canada is taking any unfair adj
vantage, for as a matter OF fact the
Canadians for years have been willing
to enter into treaties which practice
ally would reduce the custom houses
along the international border to the
innocuous desuetude of the two obso-
lete war vessels which patrol the
Great Lakes and the st. Lawrence.
Perhaps the greater interests of the
Americans made such treaties inex-
pedient. At any rate they do not exist.
Now comes the question of tariff
war. The Payne-Aldrich tariff bill,
passed last summer, inaugurated a
new feature so far as American tariffs
are concerned. It is the maximum and
minimum tariff provision. and there is
some evidence that the powers that be
in Washington are all at sea concern
ing It's powers for good or evil. BY the
provisions of that clause all customs
duties will be increased automatically
25 per cent. on March 81 next, unless
the president, before that time, by
procla. nation shall otherwise decree.
The president, under the law, is ex-
pected to issue the proclamation of ex-
emption from the minimum duties in
favor of all countries which do not In
their tariffs unduly discriminate against
the United States. On that word "un-
duly" depends all the law and the
prophets.
Canada has a triple tariff. consisting
of the general the intermediate and
the British preferential tariff. The
preferential tariff discriminates in
favor of the mother country, just as
the Philippines tariff discriminates In