286 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. IV., No. 85. 



finances, was discussed by Mr. Stephen Bourne, Mr. 

 Hale of Montreal, Mr. Atkinson, Mr. Thomas White, 

 and others. Some criticisms of Canadian tariff-laws 

 and the sale of public lands were made by English- 

 men, and replied to with spirit by Canadians. The 

 latter usually professed to be free-traders, but de- 

 fended the tariff, as required by very peculiar circum- 

 stances, such as its proximity to the United States. 

 The American theory of the subdivision of public 

 lands was explained by Mr. Atkinson, who also illus- 

 trated public subsidizing of railroad schemes by the 

 history of the Hoosac tunnel. The interest on this 

 debt would alone pay for transporting the bread of 

 New England from the far west to Boston. 



Major P. G. Craigie, secretary of the Central 

 chamber of agriculture, read a paper on agricultural 

 production with special reference to the supply of 

 meat. With an increase in the population of Great 

 Britain since 1868 of 16%, there has been but 4% in- 

 crease of cultivated area, 11% increase in cattle, and 

 24% decrease in sheep. Consequently the importation 

 of meat has grown from 100,000 tons in 1868, to 316,000 

 tons in 1876, and to 450,000 tons in 1883. The total 

 consumption in 1868 he placed at 1,374,000 tons, or 100 

 pounds per capita; in 1883, at 1,774,000 tons, or 112 

 pounds per capita. The paper was discussed by Pro- 

 fessor William H. Brewer of Yale college, Mr. Atkin- 

 son, and others. Mr. Atkinson said he had tried in 

 vain to ascertain the consumption of meat per capita 

 in the United States. A year's supply of meat and 

 flour had been assumed to include three hundred 

 pounds of the former and one barrel of the latter. 

 To move this year's supply from the west, its place 

 of production, to Massachusetts, costs but one day's 

 labor, $1.25. He also spoke of the negro rations — 

 three and a half pounds of bacon and one peck of 

 corn meal — as producing a given amount of force 

 at the smallest cost of any diet among any people of 

 the earth, the cost being but seven cents per day. 

 The reason is that the ' hog and hominy ' are pecul- 

 iarly adapted to each other for ready and perfect di- 

 gestion. 



Professor John Prince Sheldon and Prof. W. 

 Fream, of the Downton college of agriculture in 

 Salisbury, read interesting papers upon British and 

 Canadian agriculture, as did Prof. W. Brown upon 

 Canadian agriculture. Papers by Gen. M. Laurie 

 of London, John Carnegie, M.P., of Peterborough, 

 Ont., and Sydney Fisher, M.P., had been prepared 

 upon the agriculture of Nova Scotia, Ontario, and 

 Quebec ; but there was not time to present them, 

 the section having been in continuous session for six 

 hours. Propositions to prevent the entrance of cattle- 

 disease from the U. S. were repeatedly made and fa- 

 vorably received. It was shown that the acreage in 

 Great Britain devoted to wheat and corn is constant- 

 ly decreasing, and that to grass and pasturage increas- 

 ing. Farm-rents are declining, and must continue 

 to decline. Railway charges there are exorbitant. 

 Wheat can be brought across the ocean cheaper than 

 from some counties by rail. Several gentlemen dis- 

 cussed the papers. Peter Price, an English land- 

 owner, uttered his astonishment at what he had seen 



here: his best tenants are leaving him, and he cannot 

 rebuke them. His estate of three hundred and fifty 

 acres is going into pasture, and he cannot get enough 

 out of it to pay taxes. The thrift of Canadian agri- 

 culturists and the embarrassments of Great Britain 

 were brought out in the most striking manner, much 

 to the satisfaction of Canadians, the amazement of 

 the British, and the amusement of Americans. 



On Monday a paper by Mr. Stephen Bourne was 

 read upon the interdependence of the several por- 

 tions of the British Empire. After presenting some 

 statistics, Mr. Bourne entered upon an exhortation 

 to the colonies to combine with the mother country 

 in refusing to buy from nations which enforce pro- 

 tection. 'We should,' said he, 'teach the nations 

 that we have a world of our own.' He would not 

 answer protection with protection, but with absolute 

 cessation of trade with those who are not ' fair- 

 traders.' Sir Richard Temple suggested that Eng- 

 land could not, so far as now known, get its long- 

 staple cotton anywhere but from the United States, 

 a high-tariff nation. Mr. Chadwick denounced the 

 proposition, and said the author dare not make it, 

 were the section in session in the British isles. 

 ' This,' he said, ' would starve half our people and 

 half our cattle ' The president felt called upon to 

 defend freedom of speech, although not agreeing 

 with the speaker. Amid much excitement the Cana- 

 dians rushed to the defence of their tariff, and openly 

 declared that if they must choose between such an 

 alliance with Great Britain and one with the United 

 States, they had much to gain and little to lose by 

 choosing the latter. Mr. Atkinson indicated the 

 satisfaction which the United States might feel at 

 such an arrangement. It would keep her products at 

 home, glut the market, make labor much cheaper, 

 and so reduce the cost of manufactured fabrics. She 

 would then be able to compete in the world's markets, 

 as she cannot now with English manufacturers! Mr. 

 Thomas G. Haliburton said the foreign trade of Eng- 

 land was decreasing, and that at the present rate of 

 decrease but twenty years were needed to terminate 

 it: hence the need of wise dealings with the colonies 

 and foreign nations. Mr. Roswell Fisher of Montreal 

 said such a policy would not do for the dominion. 

 'We Canadians exist here on the sufferance of the 

 United States' [loud shouts of No, No!]. Should 

 England retaliate upon the United States, it could 

 crush Canada with a prohibitory tariff. But politi- 

 cally and socially Canada was nearer the latter than 

 the former. No number of ocean telegraphs and 

 swift steamers can destroy American unity [great 

 excitement]. Sir Francis Hincks, a Canadian poli- 

 tician of fifty years' experience, being loudly called 

 for, said, ' Let well alone.' Canada does not want 

 representation in the British parliament and in army 

 tax-lists, nor is she interested in her Majesty's foreign 

 policy. He emphasized American friendliness, and 

 the necessity of meeting the tariff of the United 

 States wisely. 



Mr. R. W. Cooke Taylor, inspector of factories, 

 Treston, Eng., read a paper on factory acts;. These 

 are for the protection of women and children. Mrs. 



