Salt Lake Tribune | 1919-07-28 | Page 6 | Reciprocity Repeat

RECIPROCITY REPEAL. The proposal to repeal the Canadian reciprocity act recalls tho fact that this legislation is still on tho nation's statute books. Eight years ago President Presi-dent Taft and Sir Wilfrid Lauricr, then primo minister of tho dominion, negotiated nego-tiated a treaty of reciprocity embracing embrac-ing a variety of commodities produced on both sides of the border, the ox-chango ox-chango of which under reciprocal trade advantages was desired by the governments govern-ments of Washington and Ottawa. The proposal passed the congress of the United States, but it struck n fearful snag in Canada, where it became a national na-tional issue. The Conservatives of Canada blocked acceptance of the pact in the dominion parliament and after several months of fruitless effort to save the measure the Canadian government govern-ment dissolved parliament and appealed ap-pealed to the country.. This was the last of Sir Wilfrid's great efforts at statecraft. The Conservative Con-servative party leaders professed to see in the reciprocity proposal the entering j wedge which was to split Canadian cohesion, co-hesion, and tho bogey of annexation ; was played for all it was worth by the I opposition managers. In this instance it was worth a heap, for the Conserv-i Conserv-i atives swept the country in the election iof September, 1911. The campaign was the most exciting sinco the days when the confederation was proposed and fought tooth and nail by the maritime i provinces. It is somewhat interesting to recall, in the light of subsequent events, the appeal of the Conservatives to Canadians to resist- the insidious attempt at-tempt by Taft to force the dominion into a commercial union as the first step towards political union. The appeal ap-peal succeeded. Laurier was overthrown and Borden became prime minister. Western Canada was strongly pro-reciprocity pro-reciprocity in 1911, and the new government gov-ernment soon faced the necessity of doing something to appease the growing grow-ing demand for more generous trado relations with, the United States. The outbreak of the war thrust domestic questions into the background, but it did not suffice to prevent an increasing increas-ing unpopularity for the Conservative : party. Tho Borden government was , very near a precipice when he yielded j to the suggestion of a coalition cabinet, i On another appeal to the country on the question of conscription the Liberals, Lib-erals, who were steadily gaining ground by their advocacy of wider trade relations, rela-tions, were forced to choose between a party principle the Liberals are the near-free traders of Canada and support sup-port of the empire in tho struggle in Europe. They supported the war program, pro-gram, and Sir Wilfrid, who led the anti-conscriptionists, anti-conscriptionists, was overwhelmingly defeated and the Liberal party practically practi-cally disappeared as a factor in parliament. parlia-ment. The reciprocity act has been continued con-tinued by Washington as a sort of standing invitation to Canada to join hands in a broader international trade policy. Since Canada appears unwilling to help itself to any of these advantages advan-tages the act is, of course, of no consequence. conse-quence. Xothing will be either gained or lost by striking it from the national law records.