xLiv BEGINNING OF LAST ILLNESS 299 



Lord Avebury, 



High Elms, Down, Kent. 



Mr. William Randolph Hearst, proprietor New York 

 American, maintains in letter to weekly budget that 

 proposed reciprocity treaty between United States and 

 Canada is first important step ever taken to bring 

 about better understanding between English-speaking 

 Nations and advance civilization. Hearst also says, 

 if United States Markets were offered to England she 

 would not refuse them, and why should Canada be 

 advised to refuse ? Would appreciate your Lordship's 

 views either for or against. 



He replied : 



High Elms, 

 23rd Sept. 1911. 



Sir — I do not think it can be correctly maintained 

 that the Reciprocity Treaty between the U.S. and 

 Canada would be the " first important step taken to 

 bring about a better understanding between English- 

 speaking Nations." 



At present England admits American products free, 

 or in the few cases where there are import duties imposes 

 corresponding excise duties on our own manufacturers. 

 The United States, on the contrary, impose on an average 

 over 70 per cent duties on our produce. So again 

 while the U.S. prevent any British ship carrying goods 

 from one U.S. port to another, we impose no such 

 vexatious restrictions on the U.S. Shipping. Thus 

 while we do all in our power to promote, the U.S. do 

 all they can to hamper and restrict, Commerce. This 

 is much to be regretted, but the result is not so injurious 

 to us as might be supposed, because the tendency is to 

 shut U.S. goods out of neutral markets ; so that most 

 of what we lose in the U.S., we gain in the rest of the 

 world. 



If the U.S. adopted Free Trade it would be some 

 advantage to us, but an enormous benefit to the U.S. 

 Protection enriches the few at the expense of the many, 

 and speaking generally the rich at the expense of the 

 poor. 



Canada apparently considers that the Reciprocity 

 Treaty would not have benefited her. It seemed to 

 me that it was a small stage in the direction of Free 



