And now you cannot
take up an American paper without finding the report of
some commercial association demanding closer trade
relations with Canada, or an American magazine in which
some far-sighted economist is not urging the same thing.
They see us thinking about keeping the business in the
family; with that hard American common sense that has
made them what they are, they accept the situation; and
at this moment they are ready to offer us better terms
to keep our trade."
Bingham, Horace Williams, and Mr Farquharson applauded
loudly. Their young man frowned a little and squared his
chin. He was past hints of that kind.
"And that," he went on to say, "is, on the surface, a
very satisfactory state of things. No doubt a bargain
between the Americans and ourselves could be devised
which would be a very good bargain on both sides. In the
absence of certain pressing family affairs, it might be
as well worth our consideration as we used to think it
before we were invited to the family council. But if
anyone imagines that any degree of reciprocity with the
United States could be entered upon without killing the
idea of British preference trade for all time, let him
consider what Canada's attitude toward that idea would
be today if the Americans had consented to our proposals
twenty-five years ago, and we were invited to make an
imperial sacrifice of the American trade that had prospered,
as it would have prospered, for a quarter of a century!
I doubt whether the proposition would even be made to
us.
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