PROTECTION IN CANADA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1650, 22 October 1887, Page 3

PROTECTION IN CANADA.

The following letter is published in the Western Morning News, a wellknown English journal: It may possibly interest some of your readers to hear what a Canadian, speaking from a twelve years’ experience in that country, has to say on the question of Eairtrade versus Freetrade. The writer of the letter from which the extract is taken is connected with one of the largest Canadian wholesale firms, and is, therefore, speaking from practical experience of the purchasing ability of Canadians, and has an intimate knowledge of our own manufacturing districts, as well as those of France, Germany, and Switzerland. In a recent letter he says: ‘ Business here this spring has been everything that could be wished for, and the prospect for the fall is equally good. English people terribly abuse our protective tariff, but we know what is good for ourselves. I have seen the country rise from great depression to a period of great prosperity, the principal cause of which has been our protective tariff. It amuses Canadians to read the opinions of English papers, as many of them are entirely ignorant of the facts.’ Contract this picture of trade, ‘all that could be wished for,’ with our depression in all branches of trade, and the question will at once arise—lf Protection can do so much for Canadian trade, why should it not prove an equally potent lever in reviving our own languishing or expiring industries ? One fact is certain Freetrade will never enter the region of practical politics until the workingman can be convinced that it will ensure him what tens of thousands cannot now find—constant employment and a fair day’s wage.”