Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-03-08

United States is giving free market /"
Jamaican products without reciprocal
concessions.
A year ago. as the outcome of pressure
from the British foreign Office and from
steamship and other interests In Canada
a preferential trade agreement was en-
tered into between Canada and the me
)ority Of the British West India pos
sessions. The purpose was to give
canada the -four market Of the Yves;
tions for subsidized steamship lines.
Few of the colonies cared for the ar
rangement, but Canada wanted it very
badly.
Under the agreement the colonies Civ.
a preference OF % cents barrel 10
Canadian flour. and general preferential
advantages to other Canadian products.
The United Kingdom also gets the bene-
fit of the preferentials. The West India
colonies on their part secure some con
cessons Ola the small quantity of sugar
which Canada consumes. and on their
other products which we're not already
free.
Jamaica declined to negotiate the trade
treaty. but as means of persuasion the
conventions which were negotiated pro-
vided that all the colonies should enjoy
the benefit for period Of three years
Jamaica is therefore getting as much out
of the treaty as IL sne were party to q.
d
The present United States tariff pro-
vides no means of retaliation II II should
be found that American trade is badly
hit, and it is assumed that II at the emo
OF three years Jamaica still has free
market In the United States she will be
ready to become a party to the conven
lions. and will show a more friendly
spirit than heretofore has been mani
tested toward steamship subsidies for the
Canadian lines.
1t is also hoped by the trade imperial
lists that Jamaica will enter into the pro
posed British West India federation
movement This movement is SO
shadowy and vague that no one seems
able to put his finger on 1t. In most OF
the British possessions in the West In
dies the feeling seems to be that they
get along very we'll under the existing
arrangement with the empire and among
themselves. but there are enthusiasts who
insist that they should be federated.
Another phase OF this movement 10 a
proposed Canadian West India fedora
ton. That is why steamship subsidies
which would make communication
closer and more frequent are urged. 1t
plan that with Canada on the north
and the British West Indies on the
south united in federation the United
States would be circumscribed, and
posed imperialistic tendency.
People in the United States. after
President Taft's administration nego-
tiated the Canadian reciprocity agree
ment. got a glimpse Of the unbridled
British imperialist as he exists In the
Dominion: but few Of them know him
as a cave dweller in the Antilles.
Usually he manifests all the symptoms
: of anti-annexation rabies. The ex-
aggerated apprehensions Of some OF
, our Latin American neighbors in re-
, torial acquisition are trifiing compared
to the fears OF the British imperialist
: in the West Indies.
, To tell him that most people in the
: United States do not even know what
; the British West Indies are, and have
: barely heard Of them. with the excep-
ton of Jamaica. only adds to the hydro
phobia symptoms. The majority Of
these ultra-royalists are quiescent at
present. but during the last few
months 1 have met a few of them at
large.
It is this class who are SO concerned
about the relations Of Jamaica and the
United States They even hint at the
possible necessity of the home govern
ment taking Jamaica in hand If she
continues her independent ways. and
is controlled in her policies by the
economic relation she bears to the
United States rather than by senti-
mental considerations concerning the
fragments of the British empire scat
tered through the West India waters
Another year will be required to de-
termine whether the preferential
treaty with Canada Is of any real bene-
fit to the colonies which entered into
it. or whether they got the worst OF
the bargain In the meantime trade
through the gulf ports and through the
; Atlantic ports with all West India can
be watched for the effect on the market
for American goods.
CHARLES NJ PEPPER.