294 DEEP FURROWS 



And Whereas the war has revealed the amazing 

 financial strength of Great Britain, which has enabled 

 her to finance not only her own part in the struggle, 

 but also to assist in financing her Allies to the extent 

 of hundreds of millions of pounds, this enviable posi- 

 tion being due to the free trade policy which has 

 enabled her to draw her supplies freely from every 

 quarter of the globe and consequently to undersell her 

 competitors on the world's markets, and because this 

 policy has not only been profitable to Great Britain, 

 but has greatly strengthened the bonds of Empire by 

 facilitating trade between the Motherland and her 

 overseas dominions we believe that the best interests 

 of the Empire and of Canada would be served by 

 reciprocal action on the part of Canada through 

 gradual reductions of the tariff on British imports, 

 having for its object a closer union and a better 

 understanding between Canada and the Motherland 

 and at the same time bring about a great reduction in 

 the cost of living to our Canadian people ; 



And Whereas the Protective Tariff has fostered com- 

 bines, trusts, and " gentlemen's agreements " in almost 

 every line of Canadian industrial enterprise, by means 

 of which the people of Canada both urban and rural 

 have been shamefully exploited through the elimina- 

 tion of competition, the ruination of many of our 

 smaller industries and the advancement of prices on 

 practically all manufactured goods to the full extent 

 permitted by the tariff ; 



And Whereas agriculture the basic industry upon 

 which the success of all other industries primarily 

 depends is unduly handicapped throughout Canada, 

 as shown by the declining rural population in both 

 eastern and western Canada, due largely to the 

 greatly increased cost of agricultural implements 

 and machinery, clothing, boots and shoes, building 



