Good Omens at Ottawa The Imperial Conference is now in
session at Ottawa, though its opening ceremony fell too late for comment here. Regarding its prospects generally reasonable confidence is justified. The Canadian Prime Minister has the strongest personal reasons for desiring to make the Conference a success and what Canada has to suffer from United States tariffs is enough in itself to drive her, if she needed any driving, into the arms of this country. The announcement of an iron and steel agreement on the eve of the Conference holds out the hope of other commercial accords beneficial to both countries. But iron and steel, where the competition is between the United States and the British product, is on quite a different footing from textiles, where the Canadian manufacturer is standing out for the maintenance of effective protection against British goods as much as foreign. Canada's desires in the way of a wheat quota have not yet been formulated, but nothing this country can offer, short of a preference that would send up the price of bread, is likely to help her much. Altogether the Ottawa Conference opens with all the main omens favourable. The Commonwealth promises to be knit together by new intangible ties, whatever visible bonds it may forge or fail to forge.
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