=Source.=--A Speech by Sir John A. Macdonald, quoted in the _Life_,
by G. R. Parkin, in "The Makers of Canada" series.
We are in favour of a tariff that will incidentally give protection
to our manufacturers; that will develop our manufacturing
industries. We believe that that can be done, and, if done, it will
give a home market to our farmers. The farmers will be satisfied
when they know that large bodies of operatives are working in the
mills and manufactories in every village and town in the country.
They know that every man of them is a consumer, and that he must
have pork and flour, beef and all that the farmers raise, and
they know that, instead of being obliged to send their grain to
a foreign and uncertain market, they will have a market at their
own door. And the careful housewife, every farmer's wife, will
know that everything that is produced under her care--the poultry,
the eggs, the butter and the garden stuff--will find a ready and
profitable market in the neighbouring town and village.
No country is great with only one industry. Agriculture is our most
important, but it cannot be our only staple. All men are not fit to
be farmers; there are men with mechanical and manufacturing genius
who desire to become operatives or manufacturers of some kind, and
we must have means to employ them; and when there is a large body
of successful and prosperous manufacturers, the farmer will have a
home market for his produce, and the manufacturer a home market
for his goods, and we shall have nothing to fear. And therefore
I have been urging upon my friends that we must lay aside all
old party quarrels about old party doings. Those old matters are
matters before the flood, which have gone by and are settled for
ever, many of them settled by governments of which I was a member.
Why should parties divide on these old quarrels? Let us divide on
questions affecting the present and future interests of the country.
The question of the day is that of the protection of our farmers
from the unfair competition of foreign produce, and the protection
of our manufacturers. I am in favour of reciprocal free trade if it
can be obtained; but, so long as the policy of the United States
closes the markets to our products, we should have a policy of
our own as well, and consult only our own interests. That subject
wisely and vigorously dealt with, you will see confidence restored,
the present depression dispelled, and the country prosperous and
contented.