Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-18
E LAKES ST. LAW
RENEE

TOR many months this newspaper
l has been receiving propaganda
for and against the Great Lakes
St. Lawrence waterway project.
This is a project that contemplates
a deep water connection between
the Great Lakes and the St. Law
renee river which would practical
ly make Duluth, Milwaukee, Chi
cago and other Great Lakes ports
accessible to. the large Atlantic
ships. 1t would bring Great Falls
within a thousand miles of an At
lantic port as it is now about a
thousand miles from a Pacific
ocean port. Grain going to Liver
pool could be loaded at Duluth and
not break bulk until it arrived at
its destination. The eastern and
Atlantic states are opposed to the
scheme and the middle west and
northwest have generally favored
it. The project would require the
joint support of Canada and the
United States. and the general con-
tention of the propaganda of the
opponents of the scheme has been
that Canada would get much the
best of the bargain. That conten-
ton has got a bad jolt in the last
few weeks because the Canadian
government has just announced
that it considers the proposal I'm
opportune" just nov and it will
have nothing to do with it. That
knocks the argument of the Amer
lean opponents of the scheme into
a cooked hat, for their contention
was that Canada was anxious to
put this thing over on simple
minded and too trusting Uncle Sam
because it would reap all the bene-
fits while Uncle Sam paid half the
cost. But at the same time the
decision of Canada knocks out the
scheme for the time being, and as
that is what the Atlantic coast peo-
pie wanted, they are probably quite
willing to have their arguments dis
credited at the same time.
However, the scheme may not be
dead, after all. 1t is to be noted
that the Canadian government does
not say that it is opposed to it in
principle, but only that the time is
not ripe to consider it at present.
What it means by that it does not
fully explain. We should judge
that m reason why it feels that
way about it is that the Canadian
treasury, like Uncle Sans treas
ury, is very hard up, and the Cana
dian people like our own people,
are loaded down with heavy taxes.
1t is not an "opportune" time for
either country to plan for large
new expenditures of cash. But the
Milwaukee Journal independently
sees another reason for the refusal
of the Canadian government to con-
slider the project at present. 1t
thinks our tariff policy has some
thing to do about it. 1t says:
"The opinion is growing that the
Fordney-Mc Cumber tariff bill may
be the principal reason why the
Canadian government found it in
expedient at the present time to
take up the Great Lakes-St. Law
enc waterway project. The large
trade between the United States
and Canada, which grew up under
the Underwood law has slumped
under the emergency tariff, and II
will shrivel still more when the
pending tariff is enacted. This has
created a sentiment among the
Canadian people which does not
encourage the government to enter
into a partnership with the United
States just now. The Canadian
ministry, too, may see in the water
way a trading point for reciprocity,
a policy to which it is committed.
Sacrifice of the waterway would
be a high price for the west to pay
for a protective tariff for the bene-
fit of the industrial east. The east
has good reason to gloat over Can
ada's action on the waterway. 1t
keeps its stranglehold on the coun-
try's commerce. at least temporar-
lily, and its favored industries will
be subsidized at the expense of the
country"
There can be no doubt that Can
ada does not like our present high
tariff. We do not Ike it either.