The Struggle for Imperial Unity: Recollections & ExperiencesDenison, George T. (George Taylor)
History
The Struggle for Imperial Unity: Recollections & Experiences
Denison, George T. (George Taylor)
Canada -- History -- 1867-1914
When he was a young man he used to boat a good deal upon the Niagara
River, a mile above the Falls. Two people always rowed together and
always had a spare pair of oars. They had to row at an angle of 45
degrees, and row hard to get across without being carried into the
rapids. They could not depend on their course by watching the river or
watching their own boat; they had to take a point on the shore, and
another point away beyond it, and keep them in line. The instant they
stopped rowing, although the boat might appear to be perfectly calm
and safe, it was quietly drifting to destruction. The Canadian people
were on the shore and were watching the British people in the stream.
The people of this country had their eyes on the oars and on the boat,
but were not watching the landmarks and outside currents. They were
not watching what Germany or the United States were doing; they were
not watching how other nations were progressing. In fact England was
going backwards. If he were standing on the shore of the Niagara River
and saw a man stop rowing, he would shout to him to look out, and that
was what he was doing now.
Two gentlemen had spoken on behalf of the poor people in India, but
he would like to know whether those gentlemen were not much more
interested in the exchange of commerce between England and India than
they were in the internal comfort and happiness of the natives. He
would also like to ask who put on and took off the duty in India?
Was it not done through the influence of the English Government? Why
was such a large duty placed on tea, and why was it not taken off tea
and put on wheat? If the duty were taken off tea, it would not cost
the working man a farthing more, and the result would be that the
Indian farmers and agriculturists would probably obtain some slight
advantage, but the Indian tea worker would get a direct and positive
advantage. Both parties would be helped by it, and it would also help
at the same time the whole Empire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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