New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-02-07

IL is interesting 10 note the ldch VI
harmony between the American and the
Canadian opponents of the RECIPROCITY
agreement The critics on this side or
the border insist that Canada Is going
To get the better of the bargain and that
the free entry of Canadian food prod
ucts will cripple the American farming
interest. But the Canadian critics see
i'm the agreement not only no benefit to
Canadian agriculture. but also harm all
along The line 10 Canadian industry,
commerce and manufacture. We have
already referred to the hostile express
siCns of the mperalistic press in Can
ada, which fears that closer trade rela-
lions with the United States will tend to
create solidarity of interest between
the people of this country and the people
Of the Dominion. and thus weaken Can
ada's inclination 10 Join Great Britain
and the British colonies and dependen-
cies in any scheme of imperial fedora
ton. That objection IS primarily politi-
cal. But other objections which have
been urged are economical. Thus, the
vice-president of the Niagara Peninsula
Fruit Growers Association says that the
early peach. and vegetable growers OF
the peninsula will suffer from the intro
duction OF American fruits into Canada
and can expect 10 maintain themselves
Only by growing later fruits. TO be sold
after the American fruit and vegetable
season has ended. In recent issue OF
THE Toronto Globe the president of
the Canadian Manufacturers Associa-
ton is thus quoted:
1t looks like the beginning Of COM
merCial union between Canada and the
United States--a union which would be
of vast benefit to the United States and
Of no lasting benefit TO Canada. Such a
step will mean the wasting of our for
ests. fisheries. lands, fur bearing ami
mails. waterways and other public utili-
ties the same rs they have been wasted
in the United States Our farmers and
the wheat growers of the West will be-
come the victims Of the same tactics
that is To say. the states will take every
thing from us and replace it with moth
ing. our lands will become barren, our
forests denuded and our rivers dry
The second vice-president of the Ca
madam Pacific Railroad. Mr. William
Whyte thus expressed in The Globe
the objections of the transportation in
terest:
1t means. the end of the former long
haul to Fort William and Port Arthur
This loss of the long haul is not the
worst feature Of the case. The fact is
l,,4 Il f,1 II
present channels east and west 10 DOrth
and south, and consequently the bonds
between Eastern and Western Canada
will be materially weakened
The president of.ihe OgiIvie company.
Mr. Meishen. complained that though
Canadian wheat would enter the United
States free. Canadian -four would not,
and that Canadian millclS would be
handicapped in their efforts to sell -four
in the foreign market in competition
with American millerS. The Montreal
Board of Trade has adopted resolutions
opposing reciprocity because it would
give the United States too great an OPP
portunity i'm Canada. and from many
similar sources the Ottawa government
is reproached with having concluded
bargain which would work TO the Do
miniOn'S disadvantage.
The trouble is that the Canadian
critics, like our own. overlook the great
advantage TO both countries of frccr
trade relations and fix their gaze exclu-
sively on some threatened arrangement
Of local conditions. 1t is impossible for
both sides 10 he losers on the bargain.
and if the American opponents of the
agreement are right the Canadian OPP
pOnentS must be wrong and rice rCrSd.
But both are wrong because both lack
breadth Of vision and fail 10 appreciate
the advantages. vastly overwhelming all
possible losses. which would result 10
both countries from freer exchanges and
Closer relations.