32 THE STORY OF THE U.F.O. 



United States. On December 16th a delegation, 

 one thousand strong, marched from the Opera 

 House in Ottawa to the Parliament Buildings, 

 where they were received in the House of 

 Commons chamber by Sir Wilfrid Laurier and 

 his cabinet, to present their views. This 

 demonstration, great in numbers and clear in 

 purpose, had a tremendous effect upon the 

 Government, and upon the country, and as a 

 result, the then Government sent two of its 

 members, Hon. Mr. Fielding and Hon. Mr. 

 Paterson, to Washington, to open negotiations 

 for a reciprocal trade arrangement with the 

 United States. To the great surprise of the 

 general public, and perhaps to the astonishment 

 of the Government itself, they came back with 

 something that seemed at first glance almost too 

 good to be true, the thing that had been 

 sought by statesmen of all parties so diligently 

 during almost the whole period from Confedera- 

 tion, reciprocity in natural products, with a 

 corresponding mutual reduction in tariff on only 

 a few manufactured articles. 



It must be remembered in thinking of this 

 question, that up to that time the United 

 States had always demanded, in return for the 

 free entry of Canadian natural products into 

 the American markets, that the American 

 manufacturers should be allowed a similar free 



