I might say that the trade of which I know the most, the cotton trade, would be affected considerably by such a scheme. If an important duty of five or ten per cent. were imposed on all cotton coming into this country from territory outside the limits of the British Empire, we should at once penalise that great industry by enhancing the cost of the raw material by five or ten per cent., and as the cotton trade is largely dependent on markets outside British territory, I am afraid it might have a disastrous effect on our ability to compete in the great neutral markets of the world, if our raw material was penalised to that extent.
When I rose to reply, I said:
Will Mr. Holland kindly wait a few moments? I have just a few words to say in reply to his remarks. He is interested in the cotton trade, and has given us one or two ideas upon it. . . . With regard to cotton, I will give you one fair warning about that. You are engaged at this moment—the British people are engaged—in one of the most pitiless and merciless wars ever waged in commercial history. Napoleon’s war was nothing to it. The United States have made up their mind that they are going to use you up in every quarter. They are taking your ships from you, and they are going to take your boot trade altogether. I came over here with the president of their great combine, and he explained it to me. “We shall destroy the whole shoe trade of England,” is what he said. Now about your cotton trade. I want to warn you. Do not be surprised if before long there will be a heavy export tax put upon cotton in the United States, because I understand that they may likely keep it for manufacturing with themselves. If that is done—and it may be easily done—such a proposition as I have made of putting a ten per cent. duty on imports into the ports of the empire might cause cotton to be grown in Africa, in India, in Egypt, and in other places, and I think for the benefit of having cotton grown inside the Empire it will be a good thing to put on the duty, because you are not safe for a day with the United States. They are waging war upon us now at every turn.
Sir Wm. Holland evidently was impressed with my remarks about the danger of the United States reducing their sale of cotton. It was only about a month after that the public heard of the organisation of the British Cotton Supply Association, with a subscription of £50,000 to make experiments in growing cotton under the British flag. I have always had a very high opinion of Sir Wm. Holland ever since.
It was unanimously resolved at that meeting “to give Colonel Denison every possible facility for stating his views to Chambers of Commerce and other influential bodies without committing the League to an endorsement, and it was referred to the Executive Committee to embody this decision in a formal resolution in the name of the Council.”
At a meeting of the Executive Committee held on the 15th May the resolution was passed in these words:
That while maintaining its traditional policy of neutrality in all matters affecting tariffs and fiscal arrangements, the Council of the League have pleasure in resolving that it will do everything in its power to provide facilities for Colonel Denison, the distinguished President of the League in Canada, to express publicly his views before the Chambers of Commerce and other important bodies in this country.
This resolution was published in the newspapers, and the action of the Council was known to the Liberal leaders.
On the 7th May I dined at the Annual Banquet of the Newspaper Society, and responded to the toast of “The Guests,” where I had an admirable opportunity of bringing my proposition before a large number of editors of newspapers from all over Great Britain.
The Aberdeen Journal commenting upon this dinner said:—