CANADA AND AMERICA

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1039, 31 January 1911, Page 4

CANADA AND AMERICA

» — The tariff reciprocity arrangement between Canada and the United States, if ratified by the two Legislatures and carried into may possibly injure a few special interests, but its general effect on the prosperity of each country will be good. . British Columbian fruitgrowers may -expect that Californian fruit will be too cheap i>n their side of the border to suit them. Massachusetts fishermen.. apparently fear the.competition of fish from the other side of the St-. Lawrence. Manufacturers in Ontario and Quebec may suspect that the mutual reductions of the duties on manufactured articles will throw the balance of advantage to the south of tho frontier. But such considerations 'leave untouched the main fact that the cheapening o£ commodities will benefit a wide public, both in Canada and States. This is especially obvious with regard to foodstuffs, all the most important of which will be free under each tariff. The national effect of any such change is to reduce the cost of living, and the general opinion.. seems to .be that this will actually' occur both in Canada and the States.-- The Morning Post has expressed a fear that when Canada has an alternative market for her food products, England will have to pay more for imported food, but against that view it may be contended that cheaper commodities in Canada will lead to a cheapening of production, which in turn will permit of lower prices for England's, food.

One incidental .accompaniment of the reciprocity negotiations has been a revival of the talk about the possibility of the annexation of Can-, ada by the United States. It seems to be thought by the Washington Evening' Star that free "exchange of citizens and products" must bring about the "Americanisation" of Canada. But why not equally the Canadianisation of the United States? Both processes will, of course, go on, and if (as at least one Canadian railway president seems to think) the main, currents of traffic, will 'flow north, and south' instead of, as now, east; 'a'Hd ..west;' mutual "assimilation will be rapid. This will make a war between the two" countries' (which, by the way, are talking of celebrating their hundred years of peace) more unlikely than ever. And a Dominion that has a navy of its own and can make treaties with other Powers, while still united in a firm alliance with the British Empire, is not likcly_ to find its position one of such "isolation and humiliation" (the phrase is the Washington Star's) that it would voluntarily seek annexation to. the Republic. It is feared .in other quar-ters-that the .ties of. trade and sentiment ..between Canada. .. arid tho Mother Country..will be weakened as a, result of the new. arrangement. It is apparently for the purpose .of providing against such a contingency that the Canadian Government has announced its intention to alter, if necessary, the British preferential rates, so as to secure equality _ of treatment, but the London Times thinks that even then ■ the position of British manufacturers will not be so favourable as at present. There is, however, the strong tariff reduction movement among the Western farmers to be reckoned with. They demand (as we noted a few days ago) an immediate increase of the preference to Britain by 50 per cent all round, and. further increases annually to end in complete Free-trade with tho Mother Country. Such a consummation would clearly bo to the interest of the vast grain-grow-ing and non-manufacturing West, whose political power Sir Wilfrid Laurieb apparently expects to become of very great importance..

We have based our comment on the assumption that the reciprocal agrce : ment will bo ratified, but according to ono of . to-day's cablc messages there is a probability that it will be rejected by the United States Senate. It is difficult to believe that such an event would mean 'anything more than a postponement of closer trade relations .between Canada and the States. In fact, as Mr. James J. Hill, the American railway magnate, pointed out the other day, th 6 actual development of trade and investment and tho interchange of population, acting independently of diplomatic and legislative means,havo set up a relationship which proves the superior power of natural conditions over the artifices of man. Sooner or later, the "artifices of man," to wit, tariff arrangements, are bound to be adapted to the movements of those greater forces. An increasing number of Mr.. Hill's countrymen will doubtless come, to agree with him that, us intcr-State Free-trade has helped the Republic, and free interprovincial trade has helped the Dominion, so free international trade will help the Continent. The friendly relations and commercial intercourse between New Zealand and the two great nations of North _ America should enable this Dominion to, rejoice in anything that .will add to t tfeoir prosperity..