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OUR OTTAWA LETTER. DARE NOT CONDEMN THE TARIFF, BUT DO WOT LIKE TO PRAISE IT. eet ane oe th 'What fas Bee Done for the Farmers Case in Point--The Exigencies qf Nev- enue--The Abolition of the Corn Duty= The Ofer of Minimum Duties, {From Our Own Correspondent, } Ottawa, May 4.--The Tory brethren do not quite know what todo about the new turid. They cannot in logic con--- -demn the Government for not making a clean sweep of the N. P. They cannot In loyalty condemn it for reducing the du-ies on British exports. All they can: do Is to tell the farmer that the Liberals bave notat any rate given him free trade at one fell swoop. To. this the farmer answers: "That may be true. But what bave I to gain by putting them out and putting you buck?" Wht Has Been Done for the Farmer. The 'armmer has got a good deal after all, Tae coal duty ia lowered one cent, which, with th» tanking arrangement, that amounts toa reduction of one and a hal' more, is not'bad. The duties on "weolen goods of ihe coarser sort are Liurgely reduced. Barbed wire and bind- ing Uvine are je free. Wagons, bug- giva, toe smalles implementa, iron-and--- tee] generally and other articles are re- duced in duty, while the duty on a still larger variety of. goods will bé cut by the preferential duties offered to Britain; and, last but not least, the Government has taken power to deal summarily With combines, This is not so bad for a begin- ning. In England fifteen years elapsed from the practical abolition of the Corn Laws in 1846 till the tariff -was placed | "Phe Tories find fault with the removal chicory, ete., and by a heavy irits and tobacco Ainge ® counter- vailing customs duty. We by* proximity to the United States from puttisy too big s premium on | sniuceling; thus an excise duty of ten | ! and sixpence per proof gal: 'Eng- _ figure, would 'probably add nothing | '§ br Soe pip and above what is | : ined from the duty of $1.90, teniiad of the, illicit traffle It would be | sure to create, England vies taxes : taxae'te passen- ; | game taxes,: €axea on | | on hen SR eee RR ee Ae estate, probate, a | duties, Inhabited house duties, and, Inst - bat not least, the income tax whose five schedules yield twice $40,000,000 annu- Pra It Is ppg that ba mere follow her cape ta this res je cond 'ting Of life are totally eitiectot here. 'or Rod nt st least we must look mainly to bauer duties, ae coreh are of 506 ate cd T - year wi g to customs duties, The Abolition of the Corn Duty, th mer. med for the elections said on this point: ae eattle-raising and dairy doauieys tue much Importance to the cheap feed aleve everything. It iat ete . Corn seer AYU © eee oe Ao Because we auffer along with the American consumer from the United Stateg tax on our barley, it is of advan- ¢ we should suffer still more by ee ans cheap corn--such is the of protection. "The freein, ony corn,"' erles The Mail on s purely revenue basis. Jet the Liberala have a chance and in five years they will leave nothing in the tariff that should not be there, regard being had to the-fact that we have to raise a revenue , annus by means other | than direct rect taxatio bedi reductions mane by Mr. Flelding de at a time when it is no ree trader the country on that basis without delay, But as a prudent manshe has to take existing conditions into account. . Times are poy ny of = protected mega and ' ' | tries wipe "em their hcnoide would be te ordinary conditions, woul not be able to live under jt just now when the American manufacturer Is "slaughter- agi his surplus stock on every market which he can obtain acceesa. A Case In Point, Take, for instance, spirita. To buy o certain quantity of corn, barley, oats and rye and conver! it Into oa gallon of proof spirits « Canadian distiller a0 centa. Thia is enlar in order to arr! tho true cost, the actual cost to the d dis. tillery, we have vei a good --. items, such aa the & Ae en talled by the Poon tye 'law, which bape them to keep the atuff in bond two y before dispoting of it, interest on fsa including the huge_ storehouses -built exprealy to ieisse tne taqnirennes inte of ageing law, and interest on capital at be ome Reload alow ine for profit « nota return. This Bete the eis: or '- ieallon of proot up to 60. conta. The American distiller can make {t for lesa,, First of all, he uses alm entirely and pays only 15 or 20 cents per bushel for it. Our distillers have to, conte per ton; ry the duty alone ta 60. cents. Then the American distiller mee no ageing Rag to trouble him; he ca eell the spirits hot from thet still and turn his Eth dag capital over two or three times a year, whereas the Canadian distiller entipet turn hia over more than oo In two, renlly aa it-works ont, hot more than ones In three years, It happens that there ta an sstbeicaakle in the Btates, us year exceeded 100,000,000 gallons, There probatily 150,000,000 now In k, and asthe old. Whiskey Trust haa broken ¢ own and ns Ing organ- d, comprising something lke 25 or 30 distilleries, big and little, thia stock te bein; lota f as low oa 10 conte per ape gallon, Can. edines measure, I speak of this case not | to boost the Canadian distiller but mere- ly to Hlustrate my point, = the Finance Minister waa bound, wished to be fale, to-take note of the ex: | eeptionnl circumstances now pre oe in the. United »tates, where head times and reduced consumption have led to | ] the accumulation of an tmmense surplus of goods that might. be thrown Into | Cannda below coat, to the beneflt for the time being of the Canadian consumer, it is truce, but also tothe certain destrac- tlon of Canndian industries. In the conse | of splrics the enstomea duty had | tobe | advanced to keep step with the Incrense | In the = duty. proof gallo h can distilleries can aell their surploa here for $2.00 e excise duty in 81.90, Manufnctirer's cost 60, leaving our dis- | tilleries without any margin of tens tion nt all. They may be able to stand it, It In quite certain, however, that very few industries in this country could live under a like state of things, The Amerl- cane wei, t merely have to drop a notch ortwo tu "wi them out and scquire eontrol of our market The Falgenctes of Rerenne, In 1888 when the Demoecrata, having control of the Hotes of Representatives, undertook ta reduce the tariff hy the Milla bill, times wern good, or any rite beter than now, yet, mvlatively speaking, that menatire did not go as far In the direction of freer trade ae Mr. ropoers to go. Nor waa the DIL of 1804, aw It passed the Demoeratic House, = it was tortured to death Impirtant point to be remembered in thia controversy ja that we have to miler $40,000,000 annually. The expenditure per head Canada than In the their huge pension bill, our debt with the gone op like a rocket alnos 1978, whine been coming , partly because, na cig ie aor dae we pg bute «a every provinces in the fi form of caballo while with them the individoal States hare to pay thelr own way, and partly. because in our raat -- thinty Lag age Poe country 18 costa more In proportion to collect the rerenne. Direct taxation would be the cheapest ae of ralsing thia eum, but fé Is out of re n BEng large amount of revenye on F | _which in ch i the bare cost of that pact apa | rather than wotshi __=to becom apy rate as entitle Laewntorn ae should hot grant concessions to Eng- of little cceatlee in and por ye "is an iinmense boon to the Uni States 'co pcg iot gre for "when Dio was free before ver four 'millions of eahel & saa for home consumption."" The crop in the States :inany propitious 3 cont amounts to cyer two thousand milijon bushels, so that if 'with corn free again we should use twice four million or even ten times four million the gain to the Amerlean grower 'will seareely be "immense enoug 'make him rich. It will be profitable, as | the Patrons ro to the Canadian cattle da. terests, and that {Is what Fielding has in view. same journal tries to -- the farniers believe ose by the Yeduction of the duties on wheat and flour. The the- ory is that the old duties increased the price In Canada and kept out American wheat and four, which, although enjoy-+ Ing the benefit of still higher protection, were dirt cheap. Contrariwise,the Ameri- can protectionist argued that the Amerl- ean duties increased the ice the re ee ee et "If," said the Patron handbook, "there were two yellow-wagon doctors at 4 falr vending the same lightning oll and, if tar declared it to be a humbug the hands of the other, we should have little diMeulty in concluding thas both were quacks,' The Offer of Minimom Duttles, - The Tories are greatly alarmed at the t of our having to admit German nnd Belgian exports st the same rate as British in consequence of their favored- nation arrangement with Britain and ourselves, They had better not bid this bogey man good morning till they meet him. Since Mr. Fielding submitted hia resolutions British gooda have been ni- mitted ot minimum rates but Belgian and German have not. Whether they are going to be admitted at the cay elem Ia See to be determined by time and One: thing seems to be ae by the younger Torlea,.. who Inna = of the status quo, pamely, that it is time for Canada to assume her commercial independence me sumiclently tn Independent. at tari _--2 ee PR ee A Frere =A 2A et eee grant ty the Mother t Country, if aie ta to, without teference to imperial eatanilennenta with Old World nations. I have what England is likely to | say or de abewe the offer contalned os the new, tariff. But if the offer haa effect of 'calling attention fo thedisebiiiey.| iv under which we labor in being unable | 1 to frame the Canadian tariff as we think it waaacd = best menta, be If.nothing else ipper seems disposed to insist that land til ahe gives us preferential trnt- went In her market, that is, till she reverta to the polley, abandoned beh the. Corn Laws, of taring porary and other produets and fotting colonial In free Great lower mite. If we walt till that ie done, we shall have to wait till the millennium or the day after, Tupper Is the only eane man in the Empire, except Colonel G. T. Denison, of Toronto, who believes that England could afford onee agnin ta tax the food cof hee peopte for the-bonette of re Briti«h landlord and the Poteet whent-grower; amd what Denison think is vhew of the con seneus of opinion among English staten. Tories ag well ae Liberals, thint-the thing Ia utterly imposeible, What we in tonata want ja freer trule, cheaper fre: wad sowie, a oee etport trite; nnd as | any te pet is. to aks thie atte re Mr. Fielding haa inserted | inthe new tariff, whieh, on the prin- | o ciple of do at des, T give aa then givest, | is chtlmits at pelueced rate the cxporta of | bd countries that do che fale thing by ours, | # 'the preéliming ate spouting on the tarify | veel Just week und a couple of weeks | € sbaatl sullire ta prit it through commit- on to, > Mr. Laurie Ja dae in England.in June, and) Perliament wil be through, itis thought, in a month mere. He wil, met a warm reception from Englishmen, a warmer one bey am Jong «lght -than would be accorded if he went-with the project of the Denfoons ond Tuppers for re-establithing thh «mall lowf in «the home of the a | artisan Sfocrferswt ib ss aes a5 he as iy p bs] =u aoc é 5) GATINEAU, + fe b Be He Tear the Hint. ' it = i play 'Ile .Maicen'a Prayer? '* La wt os . len "hut aha * the u not anewer It." 'Then It wna that hfter a few ag rig of deep thought he geeaded that aver would have a better opportunity te. pro- pose, --Chicago Post " she replied wearlly, * You probably would | The Troe Tes Bess--You could hardly call het a 'soot auecers, Jeea--Why, she perma to have plenty of adm ela Bee -- ce, it: zon look at it that way, et | I bee t helove she's on friend! terma with » single man abe ever re r Saltable For a Bey, Lady Shopper--I want to get someth(ag estimable for s boy of (0 years. Salesman--Stipper counter'.down the fecondl -- turn bo your right?!-- Boston 1 ranscript. £ mie@eo