358 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



facturers of the United States are accused 

 of having contributed to the present situa- 

 tion by clamoring for a high protective duty 

 upon paper, and for free import of pulpwood. 

 It is argued along the same line that the 

 prohibition of the export of pulpwood by 

 Quebec is an act of discrimination against 

 the United States which would justify the 

 imposition of the maximum tariff, if it were 

 not for the fact that the governments of 

 both countries are now considering the feasi- 

 bility of introducing a measure of reciprocal 

 trade relations, which will perhaps include a 

 settlement of the pulpwood question. 



The people of the United States are draw- 

 ing the wool over their own eyes in connec- 

 tion with this matter. If the action of Que- 

 bec in prohibiting the export of pulpwood 

 were in reality an act of unneighborliness and 

 not one of self protection, there might be 

 reason for complaint on the part of the 

 United States, but there is no question that 

 the people of Quebec are adopting the only 

 reasonable course for the preservation of 

 their natural resources, and tha*, irrespective 

 of any question of mutual good-will, it is 

 imperative that this prohibition be continued 

 even at the expense of the paper-making and 

 publishing industries of the United States. 

 The interests of the people of Quebec are 

 paramount in the preservation of their own 

 resources, and those who finally have to deal 

 with the matter in the United States should 

 be easily convinced of this. 



That the action of Quebec was not influ- 

 enced one way or the other by the tariff 

 question is illustrated by the public utterances 

 of Premier Gouin and several others of his 

 government, who stated long ago that the 

 present action would be taken before Septem- 

 ber, 1910. Premier Gouin, in making his 

 announcement regarding the matter in the 

 legislature, shed further light upon the situa- 

 tion by saying that the reason for his delay 

 in making an announcement upon the sub- 

 ject was that he wished to avoid any interfer- 

 ence with the tariff negotiations which have 

 only recently been concluded. 



In its issue of May 15, the same 

 journal notes criticism of the prohibi- 

 tion ordinance both in the United 

 States and Canada, saying of the latter 



that there is only one criticism which 

 "can reasonably be directed against the 

 measure, namely, that the smaller 

 owners of pulpwood in the province will 

 be cut off from the United States mar- 

 ket and will suffer heavy loss until mills 

 can be built in Quebec to use their 

 pulpwood." It believes, however, that 

 the demand for paper and the advanc- 

 ing prices will lead to the building of 

 mills without delay. The claim is made 

 that this action has nothing to do with 

 the "tariff tangle," but is a "direct de- 

 velopment out of natural conditions." 

 While "the loss to the United States 

 newspapers, if it really becomes ex- 

 tensive, will be regrettable enough," 

 the loss which "the people of Quebec 

 are concerned in most closely is one 

 which they have already submitted to 

 for many years, i. e., the loss of their 

 own natural resources, and the perma- 

 nent injury resulting from the placing 

 of these resources under the control 

 of a foreign people." It thinks the 

 United States can have no ground for 

 offense if Canada follows the course 

 that has made the United States so 

 prosperous. 



This is directly in line with what 

 AMERICAN FORESTRY has already said, 

 that we cannot look to Canada to help 

 out our diminishing timber supply, 

 since our neighbor's resources are not 

 so limitles as some suppose. We have 

 already cited the opinion of a German 

 government expert, sent to examine 

 Canadian conditions, to the effect that 

 Canadian forests can only take care of 

 the home demand in the near future. 



The Maritime provinces, it may be 

 noticed, are taking steps to similarly 

 protect their crown lands. 



