PROTECTION IN CANADA.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—In your paper of September 21st, you say that if the Canadians "put on duties as heavy as those of the Union, they may obtain free-trade with the States, which would be an immense relief to many interests. And the Ministers want more money." There are, no doubt, a few prominent Conservatives who have had a dream of this sort, and six months ago one of the foremost commercial men in Canada wrote to me to ask if I thought England would stand a preferential tariff for the States ; and this is what Free-trade with the States means. I do not know that we have a most-favoured-nation clause in our agreement as to tariffs with our own Colonies, but we certainly ought to have ; and to me, the dream of free-trade with the States, to the exclusion of England, means annexation. "Canadian Ministers want more money," but this free-trade with the States could only bring about confusion. If the Allan line carried cheaper than the Inman or White Star, goods for the States would go through Canada, and pay duty there, and vice versa. It would be impossible to discriminate between American-made and English-made goods, if once they were landed either on the north side or on the south side of the St. Lawrence. The present duties on imports into Canada on cotton and woollen goods are 17i per cent, ad valorem. If they raise the duties a little further, they will make them equal in amount to the wages paid to the workpeople in producing the goods, and probably, instead of in- creasing their revenue, they will diminish it, by farther stimulating subsidised labour.—I am, Sir, &c., E. A. F.
Previous page
