Galley Pages 402-632

doubt that the coldness and pessimism of our Foreign 39373 MolteiR) 402 3360w associations throughout the countqi. It was entirely on • the lines of Molteno's speeches. It began by recalling the programme of Peace, Retrenchment and Reform on which the great Liberal victory of 1906 had been won. Conciliation in South Africa, wrote Brunner, seemed to usher in a policy of friendliness and goodwill towards foreign countries, with improvements of international law and a general reduction of the burden of armaments. But since the naval panic of 1909 our Foreign Office and Admiralty had yielded to the clamour of the Jingo Press, Parliament had been misled, and no heed has been paid to the protests of the National Liberal Federation or to the constant criticisms of Liberal economists in Parliament and the Press. The invention and advertisement of the Dread- nought by our Admiralty have proved a curse to man-. kind, and not least to our own people and our German, neighbours; for both sorely need the money they have - wasted to remove slums, to improve housing in town and country, and to multiply gardens. If this destruc-.. five rivalry in naval armaments goes on unchecked, it threatens to submerge civilization and to destroy society. There is no limit to the taxation which armaments can impose On rich and poor alike, as we see by the case of Japan, which now has a high tariff and an, income tax rising to 55. in the in order to pay for a conscript army and a large fleet. Perhaps the central mischief is that diplomacy, by secret treaties and dubious understandings, has twisted and perverted the welcome friendship_with France into a dangerous entanglement which has spoiled our rela- tions with Germany. The result is that the military. -party in France has been encouraged to •hope for British aid in an attack on Germany, while the Russian Government has used the moral prestige of our support for a policy of aggression and oppresSion in Finland and Persia. The North Sea, over which half our shipping and commerce was then passing daily, had become a scene of mutual suspicion and warlike preparations unparallelled in cost and magnitude. The awffil warning of the Morocco crisis has gone by but the sore is unhealed. Lord Haldane's mission to Berlin was ruined by Mr. ChurChill's warlike speeches. There have been faults on both sides; but who can ‘C.04.X211 Office have been a persistent obstacle to that Anglo- German Entente which the peoples on both sides of the Noith Sea clearly desire. It was 'the plain duty of the Liberal Party, the inheritcr of Gladstone's teachings, to express itself now in language . which the Prime Minister and his colleagues cannot • mistake'. As the accredited organ of Liberalism, the National Liberal Federation had a duty to perform. It has to ask for a change of policy which will remove the friction and suspicions by which war is generated . Let us make known that we wish to live on terms of friendship and mutual confidence with our German neighbours. 39373 Molteno 403 I well remember the care we took in preparing this manifesto, which embodies better perhaps than any other and far-sighted efforts to aVer—TITIFiatalcatastrophe Of 1914. But Grey's obstinate ternperan—TERT-557a1iTraTfrt- - ab7Ek-CTIbythe.permanent officials of the Foreign Office. i document(who controlled of similar his outlook length Molteno's on Europe brave, all the persistentmore easily because he knew no foreign language and had visited no foreign country) frustrated the liberalism of the Party, and prevented the appeasement of Europe. A stealthy diplomacy glossed over by smooth words prevented Britain from preventing war. For a time, however, the action of Gladstonian Liberals (who still commanded a majority in the Cabinet) produced an effect, and Grey co-operated with Germany and Austria to prevent the Balkan Wars extending into a European conflagration. Apart from foreign politics the session was a hard one for Liberal members owing to congestion of business and long sittings over the Irish Home Rule Bill, which met with ferocious resistance. Percy made one important contribution in regard to customs, and towards the end of November he was able to write to one of his con- stituents: We intend to put the Home Rule Bill through the House of Commons in spite of all opposition, rowdy or otherwise. You will see that the Government have put in an amendment on customs and excise; and this, together with the other clauses which prevent a Pro- tective system being established, will leave matters in a more satisfactory position. A few days later (November 26th) he wrote to The Times on the Canadian import duties in reply to the Hon. G. E. Forster. It was unanswered and unanswer- able. It evoked a letter of congratulations from Harold Cox, one of the ablest economists of the day, and deserves insertion here as a model for imitation in a controversy which is still very much alive: I observe that die Hon, G. E. l;:ester Minister of Trade and Commerce for Canada, addressing iliTsiness men of London at the City Carlton Club last week, made the following statement: 'The British business man, among the. many opposing forces which he had to encounter, had to come up against more or less high tariff walls. He might be able to mount the tariff wall; but he was a happy man if he did not catch his toe on the topmost layer and come a cropper. That was the position, so far as some countries were concerned; but when the British business man went into the Oversea Dominions, although he might find tariffs there and very moderate tariffs, too, he wouid find that those tariffs had been shaved down 331% ihr the benefit of wares of British origin. I would be glad if you will allow me through your columns to ask Mr. Loz,texmoneor two questions to elucidate this statement of his. I would ask him, if a British merchant wishes to send a locomotive to Canada, will Canada charge a duty of 231% ad valorem on that locomotive, while if he sends it to the Argentine, it will be admitted free? Indeed, it would seem from (he tabular statements compiled by the Board of Trade in 1oe5 that lie would pay in. no other country in the world, except Russia and the United States, so high aduty as he would pay in Canada. In- fact, there are several foreign countries which like (he Argentine would be glad to receive his.locomotive absolutely free of a!l duty. 39373 nolte.no .404 , 2642w Again, if a Woollen .merchant desired to .send his woollen piece goods of heavy all-wool or rnixed and light all-wool or mixed to Canada, a duty would be levied of 30% ad valorem, while if he sent the same goo:ls to Belgium he would pay 1 %, to Holland he would pay 5%, to Fro:Acefrom ii to 22%. If he wished to send apparel of woollen clothing to Canada, the duty of 30% would be levied, as against a duty of 12% in France, 0120% in Germany, of ro% in Belgium and 5% in Holland. Should he select Linen manufactures as his artiele of export and seek admission to Canada, the duty would be 182% ad valorem. He could send the same goods into Denmark at a duty of 14%, into Germany at 17%, into Belgium at to% and into Holland at 5%. Should he seek to send Iron and Steel and the manufactures thereof to Canada, he Would pay from 3.1to 20%, tint plates alone being free, while he could send the same goods ,to Portugal at duties ranging from 4 to 8%, to Greece entirely free, to Belgium at duties ranging from tin plates, which are entirely free, up to to% for rails; to Norway he could send All these free of duty, and he could do the same, free of duty, to Holland. I could give many other instances Where he could send his goods into foreign countries at a. rate far below that charged on his goods in Canada. In making the selection of goods above, I have taken some of the principal groups of goods whiCh are tabulated for com- parison in the Blue Book to which I .have referred. If one examines the summary comriiled in 1905 of the estimated average ad valorem equivalent of the Import duties levied by various foreign countries and British Possessions on the principal Manu- factures exported from the United Kingdom, I see that Canada, notwithstanding its preferential tariffs,. ranks, in its rate of duty, above the following foreign countries: Roumania, Belgium, Norway, Japan, Turkey, Switzerland,•.China, .Holland. I shall be glad if Mr. Eusie4 will inform your readers-whether matters have changed for the better since 1905 when this Blue Book appeared; and if not, whether. he can still make good his claim, advanced in the above quotation from his speech. If the tariff of Canada is evidently out of accord with his sentiments, can he hold . out any hope to your readers that this tariff will be brought more into accordance with these sentiments, by a reduction which would bring it to the level of the tariffs of the countries I have named? I observe the report of a speech. made on the same day, by the Right Hon. Walter Long, in which he tells us, 'While the people of Canada had got their particular ideas of what they would like to work for, they always asked.themselves the question: Will this reform tend in the direction of Imperial expansion or not? If they answered that question in the, negative, they always abandoned the project, because if it was going to tell against the Empire, then it was no longer a matter in which they would interest themselve3.

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