Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 11, 1927, Winnipeg, Manitoba Manitoba free press Winnipeg tuesday october 11, 1927 r it i the policy of Tariff Protection for manufacturing industries is either a Good thing for Canada or it is not i. Gibbons n saying this i have no particular degrees of Protection As expressed in and Valorme percentages in mind. The sort of Protection i am referring to is the kind that really that is so adjusted to any individual product and readjusted from time to time As conditions change that the Canadian worker can always accept employment in the making of that product with reason Able Assurance of a steady Job at Good wages and that the Canadian manufacturer can invest his Money in the Enterprise of making it with reason Able Assurance that he is not going to be undersold in the Home Market by pome foreign manufacturer who either Pavs pauper wages or who has the advantage of mass production. T properly adjusted Protection i am not and never have been an advocate of Protection that is scaled High enough to serve As a shield for inefficiency. No fair minded consumer objects to paying a reasonable profit to a manufacturer of proven efficiency. But no consumer should Ever be placed in a position where he can be exploited by a manufacturer who is obviously inefficient. All i am suggesting is that measure of Protection that a Tariff commission unhampered by political considerations of any kind could conscientiously recommend after a thorough investigation into the and the production and Sale of any Given commodity. Protection in that sense is As important a safety Factor in business As fire insurance. The argument in support of it is As old As the Hills. What was sound argument in sir John a. Macdonald s time is sound argument today. Looking Back to have no regrets for anything i said in my open letters to Hon. Or. King. If i were writing a series of such letters today instead of two years ago i feel i could not do better than employ the same general line of argument bringing the statistics and illustrations of course up to Date. Among other things i expressed the opinion that in the Inadequacy of our Tariff Lay the real explanation not Only of the failure of our immigration policy but of the migration of so Many canadians to the United states. Today despite the Hopes held out by or. King in his Campaign speeches of last year and the year before the increase in immigration is very slight and if it had not been for the tightening of the restrictions placed upon immigration from Europe by the United states thus giving Canada More of a spill Over than she got before it is doubtful whether there would have been any increase at All. Protection the Only sound immigration policy i hold it to be As True today As i believed it was True two years ago that if we would but use a protective Tariff to Force the manufacture in Canada of those goods which we Are equipped to manufacture for ourselves but which we now import our problem of securing immigration in Satis factory volume would be and for All time. It s a fundamental Rule Good the world Over from the beginning of time that what attracts the immigrant is the Assurance of a Job. Labor always seeks out the Market where it can sell its services to Best advantage. A country that adopts a fiscal policy calculated to increase the opportunities for steady and remunerative employment is. Thereby adopting the Only immigration policy it needs. Meanwhile through our failure to adopt such a policy for Canada the trek to the United states of the Flower of Cana Dian youth reduced volume it is True but nevertheless it is still going on. And strange to say when the United states recently announced its intention of applying the quota to Canada and making it More difficult in other ways for canadians to be admitted our first minister to the concurrence presumably of or. King s government be stirred himself to the limit in diplomatic negotiations designed to make it easy for that migration to continue i asked or. King Why it was if Indus tries were so Little Worth while that every Canadian town with a real live Council or Board of Trade went after factories offering concessions of one kind or another in order to secure them. Lowering implement duties is Penny Wise Pound foolish in this connection i recall the fact that or. King deemed it for political or economic reasons it is not for me to re Duce the duty on agricultural implements. The effect of this move upon the implement Industry of Canada May be gathered from the following extract from Commerce published by the department of Commerce of the United states government for August 1927 exports of agricultural implements from the United states in the first six months of 1927 were marked by Large decreases in shipments to most of the important implement markets. These decreases accounted to a great degree for the total decrease of approximately from the figure reached during the first six months of 1926. The outstanding exception was the shipments to Canada which reached the unequalled total of this is 000 greater than the shipments to Canada in the first half of 1926, and exceeds the total ship ments to All of Europe during the first half of the current year. Incidentally it is greater than the average annual shipments to Canada in any what National Benefit was conferred upon Canada by this importation of Worth of United states implements none what National Benefit would have been conferred upon Canada if additional implements to that value had been made in Canadian factories by Consumers of Canadian farm products a very great Benefit As i shall Endeavor to show. To appreciate the significance of these figures it is Only necessary to translate them into terms of output and employment As exemplified by a typical Canadian implement manufacturing concern. Last year the particular concern i have in mind produced Worth of implements and in so doing gave direct and steady employment to an average of people. That would be at the rate of output for six months. Now. If it took canadians working six months to pro Duce Worth of implements in the same ratio it would take United states workmen to produce the Worth of implements which Canada brought from the United states during the first six months of 1927. Figuring four dependents to each and taking absolutely no account of the professional men the retail merchants and those engaged in rendering various other necessary services to these workers and their Means that if these implements had been made in Canada out Here on these Western Prairies you would have had from that activity alone another Weyburn an other Swift current another red Deer another Prince Albert another Portage la Prairie and an other North Battleford. In other words another City larger than Saskatoon. So it is not without reason that i ask in t Protection Worth King policy thwarts organized labor As showing How sadly out of step Canada was with the trend of Tariff legislation the world Over in one of the open letters i cited sixty three countries that had All been changing their tariffs in the general direction of higher duties. Today that list could be. Extended quite considerably. But can or. King cite a single important country outside of Canada that has meanwhile been moving in the general direction of lower duties in another letter i inquired of or. King whether it was the policy of his government to help organized labor in its efforts to obtain Shorter working hours and better standards of living or whether he was Content to see organized labor Defeated in its ambitions by forcing it to compete in its own Home Market with foreign goods produced under a 12-hour Day system frequently in sweat shops and sometimes by child labor that question too is As pertinent today As the Day it was asked. 1 he . Should be Able to help Alberta another Point emphasized in the open let ters was the importance of the part that real Protection could be made to play through the Crea Tion of additional traffic in putting our Canadian National railways system on its feet. A great Deal of congratulatory talk is being indulged in these Days by reason of the better showing that that sys tem is said to be making. But let us not Overlook the fact that when two great provinces recently joined in asking for a rate of a ton for the hauling of Alberta Coal to Ontario it was that same Canadian National. Railways system that objected and with the authority of the railway commis Sion refused to concede the rate on the ground that it could not afford it might it not be in order to inquire what is the real reason Why it cannot afford to make for the general welfare of Canada a contribution that would Cost it so Little if instead of having Only the Short haul of imported manufactured goods from various Border Points to the Points of con sumption in Canada our National railway system had the longer haul across Canada of an equal ton nage of similar goods manufactured in our own country plus the precedent haul to our factories of the raw material and supplies involved in their production in t it altogether Likely that it would have found itself in so Strong a position that it would not Only have been Well Able but glad to do its share in a matter so vital to the Wel being of Canada As a whole a Home Martlet lesson another Point i endeavoured to establish in the open letters was the importance of the part played by the Home Market in promoting agricultural Prosperity. I stated that the surest Way to make our Farmers prosperous was to adopt a Tariff policy that would increase the number of Cana Dian customers for Canadian farm and give those customers an earning Power that would enable them to buy such produce in larger quantities and pay better prices for it. In Ontario at least Farmers have had an experience during the past season that has clearly demonstrated the value of the Home Market. I refer to the enormous increase that has taken place in the motor tourist traffic from the United states. Every such tourist for the duration of his stay has been a consumer of Canadian eggs butter flour fruit vegetables and meats with the result that Ontario Farmers have been Able to sell More produce and at better prices than Ever be fore. If by increasing our transient population we can add thus materially to farm Prosperity How much More could we do by substantially in creasing our permanent population it is easily possible for us to increase our per manent population by adopting a Tariff policy that would compel the manufacture in Canada of the great bulk of the things that Canada including of course things made from imported raw material. But i fear it is too much to Hope Tor anything of that kind from Hon. Or. King seeing that he has taken into his Cabinet a Hon. Robert is quoted in Hansard of february 10th. 1925, As saying we want exotic and artificial industries wiped out of if or. Forke meant what he and is still of the same mind As when he led the free Trade forces in parliament he would have Canada close up and dismantle every rubber factory every cot ton Mill every silk Mill every Cane sugar refinery and every other Canadian Industry whose raw material has to be largely if not wholly imported. Can any one imagine Canada being made prosperous by such a policy some wheat suggestions for Hon. Or. Force meanwhile or. Forke has been trying to pro Mote Canadian Prosperity by another method. He has been trying to persuade experienced agricultural workers in the British Isles to come to can Ada and Settle in our West. Presumably or. Forke thinks there is absolutely no limit to the amount of wheat it would be profitable for Canada to. Produce. But to me it is quite apparent that if for example he were to succeed in bringing in sufficient immigration to double the number of Farmers in our West with a corresponding Doub Ling of the West s wheat production it would Only result in a serious break in prices to the Winnipeg october 10th, 1927 great detriment of those already engaged in that Branch of agriculture. If or. Forke really wishes to help the Farmers of the West would he not be Inch better advised to devote his energies wards bringing to Canada a class of people who instead of growing More wheat would swell the number of those who would be Consumers of Cana Dian farm products and if he is open to another suggestion for improving their position Why does he not find some Means of reserving for our Farmers the advantage that should be theirs due to the Superior milling qualities of the wheat they produce Why let the United states Farmer Grade up an inferior wheat with the much harder wheat grown Canada the prevalence of this practice is giving United states flour a status in the markets of the world that it has no right to enjoy and in consequence of which the Export of Canadian flour is much less than it might be. Western can Ada hard wheat should command a higher Premium in Price than it Ever has received f or. Forke would work out the solution of this prob Lem he would be rendering Canada a real service. Than Lis to Providence the provinces in saying that i have no regrets for the views advanced in the open letters i realize that from those opposed to Protection i am Only invite the retort that the country is making satisfactory Progress notwithstanding its refusal to embrace the policy i advocated. To that my answer is that such better times As Canada enjoys today is not because of but in spite of the fiscal policy King government. Only to a very limited degree has Canada contrived her own Prosperity for the most part it has been contrived by her fortuitous circumstances quite beyond her control. The abundance of this year s Western Harvest is nothing for which the Dominion government can take credit yet it is perhaps the most import ant single Factor in restoring Good times. The remarkable development that is taking place in big Factor in our in no Way explained by anything the Federal government has done for mining is largely 3 mat Ter of provincial jurisdiction. Crops minerals and Forest products arc All gifts from Providence and Between them they account for most of the improvement that has taken place in this connection let it not be forgotten that Prosperity achieved by the Sale of minerals is somewhat on a footing with Prosperity achieved by Selling the furniture out of one s House. It is living off capital. And in a modified degree the same is True of the Prosperity that conies to us through the Sale of our pulp resources. Nor can the King administration take credit to itself for the Rich rewards Canada has reaped from the stimulation of tourist traffic from across the Border. Such advertising of Canada s summer and Winter playgrounds As has taken place has been almost entirely at the expense of our rail ways of provincial governments and of Provin Cial tourist associations organized for that Pur pose. And if other factors that need not be Dis cussed have played their part in causing More and More people from the United states to visit us. They have been mainly matters of provincial legis lation. One redeeming feature for one thing that has materially helped the situation i gladly give or. King due credit and that is the Check that his minister of customs and or. Succeeded in placing upon smuggling. Numerous Canadian Indus tries have been Quick to feel the improvement in business due to the the car Protection thus afforded them. And needless to arid the National Revenue has been swelled in proportion. But in this left handed Way the King government is simply prov ing the Efficacy of that protective policy it affects to condemn. In conclusion i would just add that no one rejoices More than i do in the improved conditions that Canada thanks to Providence is now experiencing but no one regrets More than i do the still greater and More lasting Prosperity that might have that undoubtedly would have had she but realized her Opportunity and taken full advantage of it. Behind this statement As behind the open , published and paid for by my company there is but one secure for Canada the acceptance of those policies Best calculated to ensure tic continuous and Well balance develop ment or All her resources and to promote the Hap piness and Prosperity of All her people in which my in Spany will naturally share. J. J. Gibbons. President j. J. Gibbons limited advertising agents Toronto Montreal Hamilton Winnipeg London eng ;