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1048 The Record and Guide. September 26, 1885 Cartwright and Mr. MiUs, are robbed by the industrial monopolies created under the American tariff, and deprived by the same oppressive instru¬ ment of all the benefits deri^'able from free intercourse with the Old World. WiU somebody tells us how Mi*. Pattullo and his frionds can reconcile the advocacy of commercial union with the party's advocacy of free trade? What would be thought of Bright if he were to preach commercial union with France and Belgium upou tho basis of the Belgian aud French tariffs? Commercial uniou is incompatible not only with Iho free trade views of these young men, but also with their aspirations for the political independence of Canada. Free trade between the Dominion and the States would, at the outset, place Canadian industries afc the mercy of all-powerful and conscienceless rivals. Our irou and steel shops, furniture factories, cotton mills, sugar refineries, shoe shops and agricultural implement foundries would at once find themselves face to face not merely with formidable rivals, but with rivals who would resort to every conceivable device to compass theu* ruin. If tho day ever came for the abrogation of the treaty, it would probably be found that the older provinces of Canada had been resolved back to the condition of a pastoral community, rais-ing flocks and herds for barter with the American mechanic aud wheat grower. At all events we should emerge from the Union practically undone as a progressive people, since even wifch free access to the American market our manufacturers could not hope to hold their own against the overwhelming weight of American capital, backed as it would be by American experience in industrial occupations, and by American wealth in such essentials as coal, iron and cotton. Would such a course of training be lil^ely to fit us for assuming the duties and obligations of political independence ? How can young men who long for a Canadian republic support a scheme for emasculating the colony i Further, commer¬ cial union could not fail to sap the foundations of confederation. If the maritime provinces wore annexed to the Umted States commercially for a period of t^n or twenty years, how should we charm them back again to the old store i They would not have entered confederation in 1867 had ifc nofc happened that the reciprocity ti'eaty of 18.54 had just expUed, and that they saw no way of recovering the New England markefc. Commercial union would also deprive us of the Northwest, for we should never be able to coax or compel the settler to deal with Toronto and Montreal again if he had the run of the Sfc. Paul and Chicago markets for any lengthened period. The Week will no doubt retort that this is a confession that confederation is au attempt to divert trade from the natural channels. We answer that in some respects it is; that there aro few countries in the world of whose political systems the same may not to some extent be said. If what Seward called the argument from the configuration of the continent is to be logically pursued, as the Week so often suggests, then politieal annexation as well as commercial union is our doom. But the Young Liberals challenge the correctness of that hj'poth- esis, and declare that independence is the destiny, and should be the aim of the Canadian people; aud we are calling tlieir attention to the fact thafc commercial union would render the fulfillment of thafc dream impossible, for it would dismember the country upon whose development into a homo¬ geneous State the vision is based. To sum up the ndopfciou of commercial union by the Young Liberals involves the abandonment of the doctrines of free trade and " Canada First," with which they have always been identified. It has already been shown that it would also involve the sun¬ dering of the connection with Britain, for to place ourselves under the Americau lariff would be to discriminate against the mother country, and therefore to invoke the severence of the tie. British connection is uot per¬ haps held in much esteem by the callow philosophers who are being sent to the convention; but if they are sincere in advocating independence they cann'iAsupport a movement that would precipitate disintegration; nor, if they. *e orthodox Liberals, preach the Americanization of our tariff. If tho ynuug men will consult some trusted friend like Mr. Mackenzie, he will say that the journals which are urging them to stultify themselves do not want independence but annexation, and are prepared to recant free trade and everything else that stands in tho way of their sinister ambition. —Toronto Weekly Mail. Alien Land Monopoly. The questions of land-holding and title to real estate in the Uuited States demand seai'ching investigation in the interest of reform and of the actual, individual, intending settler. A cablegram has just announced that " Gen¬ eral" Booth, of the ISalvatiou Army of England, has invested the large sum of $1,250,000 in real estate in this country. When so un com mere ial an insti¬ tution as this finds ifc to its interest to invest such a large capital in Amer¬ ican lands, some idea may be had of the enormous sums disposed of in a similar manner by individuals, business firms, and corporations of that country. In fact, the amount of such investments is so great as to call for a warning from a late London Econoinist, and to indicate that large sums under the deterrent mfluence of low prices for agricultural realty in Eng¬ land are being diverted to realty in the United States. In its timely warning to British investors the Economist treats them to much excellent advice. Among other homely and truthful thrusts delivered to British speculators iu American lauds it informs them that they cannot bo surprised at bringing down a storm of unpopularity ou their heads when they fiy in the teeth of laws intended to protect settlers, or, worse still, endeavor to undermine them; that they have not dealt honestly with the American land system or the American people, hence the prejudice they have raised against them¬ selves all over the States. The advice of the Economist these alien specula¬ tors would do well to heed, not but that America is oue of the finest fields for investments of foreign capital when such do not run counter to popular rights and prejudices. When such is the cose, however, and these investors violate or circumvent laws enacted to protect settlers, they must be pre¬ pared to take the consequences.—Chicago News. American Leather Abroad. The present consul-general at London, ex-Governor Waller, of Con¬ necticut, has made his first consular report. It relates to leather and tho boot and shoe trade of Great Bi'itain. There is no part of the country more interested in this matter than Chicago. Thousands of cattle are slaughtered and dressed in Chicago daily. The hides aro owned here aud in a large measure tanned here. Whatever effects, however indirectly, the value of leather concerns Chicago more than any other city in the Union. About seven thousand firms are engaged in the leather handling in one way or another in London and its suburbs. Last year the United States exported to Great Britain 2'.*,4::i0 hundred weight of wofc and 4,U0 hundred weight of dry hides. Bufc fchis is not a pi ofitable trade. AVheu it comes to raw hides the Uuited States cannot attempt to compete with South America and Australia. It is far more encouraging to know that more than half the dressed leather imported mto England goes from the United States. There are two particularly discreditable features of the report. First, the value of American leather is not more than one-half that per pound of French leather. No doubt this is largely due to the fact that we ship sole leather and tho French uppers, to a large extent, but after making due allowance for all this ifc remains thafc the quality of American leather is inferior; at least it has that reputa¬ tion. This is a needless national reproach. This country ought to make as good leather as can be made anywhere. There is no tannic preparation equal to bark, and if there is a prejudice against hemlock, as compared with oak, there is, we I'epeat, no reason why that prejudice should uot be over¬ come. John BuU clings tenaciously to his whims, but stUl they can be made to disappear under proper treatment. The second point in mind is that Americau inventions in the Une of making boots and shoes have been largely copied. The British manufactm-ers were forced to adopt American improvements. Otherwise they would have been undersold in their own markets, and their trade wrested from them upon an enormously large scale. What is true in the boot and shoe trade holds good on a large scale. The fact is that if it were possible to confine American inventions to Amer¬ ica, that of itself would not only serve as ample protection from foreign compefcifcion, bufc give fchis counfcry an irresistable advantage in competition in the great marts of Europe. In a word, it is only by the use of American weapons that Europe is able to protect itsolf against American skill, enter¬ prise and industry.—Chicago Infer-Occan. The Telegraph Conference. At the international telegraph conference which has recently been held at Berlin, the chief obstacles iu tho way of securing uniformity in rates were the wishes of some of the European governments to make a profit out of their telegi-aph systems, and the unwillingness of the cable lines owned by private companies to bi-ing themselves under the rules governing ordinary telegraphic business. The idea of having a uniform scale of prices for the use of the telegraph, just as there is a uniform scale of postal charges, originated with the pstmaster-general of Germany, and he has done all that a man could do to make converts to his views of those who attended the conference at Berlin. But it has been pointed oufc that, whUe such a system might be advantageous to a country located in tho centre of Europe, as Germany is, it would entail a loss to the government telegraph systems of those countries w^hich are on the border of Europe, such as Sweden and Norway, Italy aud Spain. They would receive nothing for transnntting messages, except those that were sent either to or frora their respective countries, while Germany, on the other hand, might hope to share in the profits of a large part of tho international business carried on over her domain. The cable companies are so thoroughly bound up in their pooling systems that they could not or wouid not see the possibilities of profit in the plan which the committee of the conference suggested. Indeed, it raay be admitted that the time has not yet come for treating tho rates of cable lines in the sarae way that ordi¬ nary telegraphic rates are treated. On the land, each reduction in rate is almost always foUowed by an exceedingly large increase in business, but it is denied that the sarae proportionate increase in business results from a reduction m the rates of charges established by the cable companies. The international conference was, in many ways, a satisfactory gathering, aud a nearer approach was made towards harmonious action than had pre¬ viously been attained; but it will require time and more extended experi¬ ence to buUd up au organization of international telegraphs simUar to the International Postal Union.—Boston Herald. Where the Choicest and Cheapest Iron is Made. The U'ou deposits of Alabama are receiving a good deal of attention in EngUsh trade circles. Manufacturers have senfc experfcs to examine the region and make estimates on the cost of producing iron in that State, and the reports have been so favorable thafc a company is said to be forming to Eurchaso laud in the vicinity of Talladega and erect a furnace. The london/roji Trade Exchange says fche company is already formed, with a capital of $250,000, and negotiations for the purchase of 2,0i.0 acres of land rich in deposits of brush, needle and manganiferous ores, completed. The experts report that at Talladega the best quality of hematite pig uou can be made at a cost of no more than $8.98 per ton—in round figures, $9 l)er ton. The cost includes an allowance of $1.50 for interest and repairs. They say: '' The d istance from fui'nace to river for shipment is 100 railes, and tha railway freight about 3s. per ton. The land surrounding the furnace can be sold for nearly suffi¬ cient to cover the cost of the plant. There is also au abundant supply of tho finest fire clay on the estate, and fire brick would be made for the furnace at minimum cosfc. Tho vender proposes fco take shares in the company for tbe whole amount of the price to be fixed on the mines, and to receive no money whatever for the same. The iron can be deUvered to the iron districts of the Northern States at a rauch less price than it cau bo manufactured there, after adding a profit of Sl^a ton." Northern iron- makers have known of the facilities offered in Alabama for iron making for years. They cannot view with unconcern this mvasion cf foreign capital in the hands of foreigners. But they must blame themselves for permitting outsiders to take possession of the choicest iron district in the Uuited States. For ifc IS the choicest, if all that is said of the cost and quality of the iron that can be made there, and of the cost aud quality of the iron made in Pennsylvania, Ohio, VUginia and New York, is true. It raay not be too late for American capitalists to get possession of and work the Alabama mines. But there is no time to waste.—Utica {Xcju York) Herald. The Canadian Pacilic Extension. The almost unnoted opening of the Canadian Pacific Railway from HaU- fax to the Rocky Mountains is neverthless a most important event in the history of raUway buUding on this continent. Among the trade questions which this new line opens up for the consideration of the northwest, espe¬ ciaUy Chicago, is the effect which it will have in diverting trade frora the older and more southerly routes. Duluth has already become an active competitor with Chicago iu tho grain trade. Now, Port Arthur, north of Duluth, and at the western end of Lake Superior, comes forward as a compet¬ itor of Duluth. It will be the eastern terminus on that lake of the Canadian Pacific line, stretching frora the Pacific to the raost westerly of the great chain of inland lakes and waterways. There thus promises to be a notable rivalry between this road just completed and those on the Americau side of the boundoi'y.—Chicago News. The Lumber Supply. The lumber mauufacturers at their annual meeting at the Grand Pacific are giving special attention to the matter of production and price. There is perhaps no business in v^'hicb raore improvement has been raade in what may be called tho manufacturing processes than in the lumber business. All the ingenuity of the inventive and practical minds in the lumber trade has been dUected to tho unprovement of mill machiuery and to the j^erfect- ing of schemes looking to the transportation of logs and lumber. Wide districts of timber land have been purchased with a view to the transporta¬ tion of logs from the point of gi'owth to places where mills could be advan¬ tageously located. 1 imber lands have beeu bought on streams and rivers or on railways, and miUs have been located at points within easy reach of the markets. In the gathering of logs aU the energies have beeu directed to the speedy cutting and to the means of easy transportation to the mUl. Lumbermen have combined to brmg about a system in logging that is almost perfect. They have made the seasons come to their aid, and have thought more of getting logs to the mill than of the future of the lumber business. They have devoted all their energies to stripping the lands of timber, and have given very Uttle attention to the future of the lands after the timber has been taken frora thera. They have succeeded in reducing logging to a science; but this is only one step, the first in a busi¬ ness which in the Northwest is scarcely second to any other. In the old times the saw mills, pushed to their best, could not supply the demand. The demand, of course, increased with the settlement and improvement of the country, but it has not increased as rapidly as has the supply. The saw mills of the lumber regions of to-day are as much in advance of the saw raiUs of thirty years ago as are the perfecting printing presses of this day in advance of the first rotary presses. People wuo get their idea of the saw miU from the establishments outside of the lumber regions have little idea of the capacity of the mills in which lumber is manufactured. One of the great miUs in the Michigan lumber district wiU handle from 1,000 to 1,500 logs every day. The mills wiU probably average 5,000 logs a week or 20,000 logs a month. AU the ingemuty and energy of the lumbermen has been directed to the quick handling of these logs or the rapid turoiug