ii' 



240 



and what has it sprung from ? Do not these gentlemen understand the sources of 

 their own prosperity? Do they not know, when tliey speak of the business having 

 developed, that it is the market that lias clevclopcd the business ? Tlu'y cannot cat 

 their mackerel, they have too good taste to desire to eat them, apparently, after they 

 are salted. The only place w iicre they are able to dispose of them is in the United 

 States. There is no evidence that the price of the iish has been lowered to the con- 

 sumer by tile circumstance that any more comes from the Provinces than did 

 formerly, when the duty was imposed upon it. The price to the actual consumer 

 has remained the same. If it could be shown that there has been a trilling reduc- 

 tion to the consumer, is that of any consequence compared with this direct and 

 overwhelming advantage which the Provincials gain ? Why, it is not only in this fish 

 business ihiit the control of the United States' markets bears with such tremendous 

 power upon the productions of the Dominion. In 1850, when the subject of reciprocity 

 was being discussed, Mr. Crampton, then llritish Minister at Washington, requested 

 Hon. William Hamilton Merritt, a Canadian of distinction, to prepare a .Memorandum 

 on the subject, which I have here before me. He is speaking of the effect of duties in 

 the United States on Canadian products generally, He says : — 



" Tlie iiu|i(ii'ts IVoiu ('iinaila siiici' ]847 1iave in no iiistanco aflectLHl tlii> inarl<i't in Xi'w York. 

 The coiisunaT ilncs not olilain a iviluctiou of jiricus ; tiic diiiy is paid liy the gmwur, as shown by the 

 C(mi]iai'ativ(' ]iricL'S on cacli side ol' tliu boundary, winch Ii.ivl' avuragt'd in proiioniou to the anuuinl of 

 the duty exacted." 



The Canadians in their fishing industry, as I have said over and over again, 

 have very great natural advantages over the fishermen of the United States, in the 

 cheapness with which they can build their vessels and hire their crews, and the 

 cheapness of all the necessaries of life. This increased cheapness is virtually a 

 bounty upon the Canadian fisheries. It gives them the effect of a bounty as com- 

 pared with United States' fishermen. While there was a duty upon imported fish 

 into the United States, it counteracted that indirect bounty. Now that the duty has 

 been taken away, this immense development of the fishing interests of the Provinces 

 of which they are so proud, and of which they have said so much, has taken place, 

 and out of this salt mackerel business it seems to me that they are quite sure 

 eventually to drive the American fishermen. Kverybody is going into the business 

 in Prince KdwanI Island, as their witnesses say. Out of 300 fishermen from one 

 port, who used to be in our vessels and who have returned, hardly twelve are going 

 back to the United States. They are going to have a monopoly of this branch of the 

 fishing industry. It has been of great value to them ; it will continue hereafter to be 

 of greater value to them, and it is a value that no vicissitudes in the business are 

 likely to take from them, because there is a certain quantity of mackerel which they 

 will be able to catch near home, which they can afford to sell in the markets of the 

 United States at low prices, and from which they cannot fail to derive a very great 

 and permanent advantage. 



Gentlemen of the Commission, ] have tried to make a business speech on a 

 business cpiestion, and I shall spare my own voice and your patience any |)erora- 

 tion. I hope I have established to your satisfaction that the exchange of the 

 right to the inshore fisheries for the free markets of the United States leaves I'le 

 preponderance of benefits and advantages largely on the side of the Canadians. 

 Such certainly is the belief of the Government and people of the United States, A 

 declaration to that effect, that is, a declaration that no money award ought to be 

 made, in our opinion is required by the evidence, and by every consideration of 

 justice. If this be so, the consecjuences are immaterial to us, but I cannot refrain 

 from saying that though such a result might cause a little transient disappoint- 

 ment to a few individuals, it would, in my judgment, tend more than anything 

 else to establish the pernianent relations between the United States and the 

 Dominion of Canada on a footing of justice and peace, friendship and commercial 

 prosperity. We are neighbours in geographical position ; we are s|)rung from the 

 same common origin; we speak the same language; have inherited the same 

 literature; to a large extent, nave ccmimon traditions and history; we live under 

 very similar laws and free institutions; we are two great, free, energetic, and 

 prosperous countries, which cannot help respecting each other, and though the 

 surface may be occasionally for a short time ruffled to a trifling degree, yet in the 

 depths of the hearts of the people of each country they entertain for each other a 

 sincere and profound good will. 



