which has enabled her to draw her supplies freely
from every quarter of the globe and consequently to undersell her
competitors on the world's markets, and because this policy has not
only been profitable to Great Britain but has greatly strengthened the
bonds of Empire by facilitating trade between the Motherland and her
overseas Dominions--we believe that the best interests of the Empire
and of Canada would be served by reciprocal action on the part of
Canada through gradual reductions of the tariff on British imports,
having for its object a closer union and a better understanding between
Canada and the Motherland, and by so doing not only strengthen the
hands of Great Britain in the life and death struggle in which she is
now engaged, but at the same time bring about a great reduction in the
cost of living to our Canadian people;

AND WHEREAS the protective tariff has fostered combines, trusts and
"gentlemen's agreements" in almost every line of Canadian industrial
enterprise, by means of which the people of Canada--both urban and
rural--have been shamefully exploited through the elimination of
competition, the ruination of many of our smaller industries and the
advancement of prices on practically all manufactured goods to the full
extent permitted by the tariff;

AND WHEREAS agriculture--the basic industry upon which the success of
all other industries primarily depends--is almost stagnant throughout
Canada as shown by the declining rural population in both Eastern and
Western Canada, due largely to the greatly increased cost of
agricultural implements and machinery, clothing, boots and shoes,
building material and practically everything the farmer has to buy,
caused by the protective tariff, so that it is becoming impossible for
farmers generally to carry on farming operations profitably;

AND WHEREAS the protective tariff is the most wasteful and costly
method ever designed for raising national revenue, because for every
dollar obtained thereby for the public treasury at least three dollars
pass into the pockets of the protected interests, thereby building up a
privileged class at the expense of the masses, thus making the rich
richer and the poor poorer;

AND WHEREAS the protective tariff has been and is a chief corrupting
influence in our national life because the protected interests, in
order to maintain their unjust privileges, have contributed lavishly to
political and campaign funds, thus encouraging b