Page:Wise Expenditure and Unprecedented Progress.djvu/12

 illustrations applied to farmers and other consumers will no doubt suggest themselves to the reader. For instance, in 1896 a man may have bought one suit of clothes from Great Britain on which he was obliged to pay duty at the rate of 5c. per pound and 30% ad valorem, equivalent to about 35%, on the average, say $5.25 for duty, the suit being worth $15. To-day his circumstances may be better and he can afford to buy two suits at $15 each. The duty to-day is 23% from England. He would therefore have to pay $7 in duty, but the cost for duty per suit would only be $3.50 as compared with $5.25 in 1896.

In addition to reductions in customs taxation, postage rates wert substantially lowered. The domestic letter rate was reduced from 3c. to 2c. per ounce. The rate on letters to Great Britain and most of the British Colonies and possessions was lowered from 5c. to 2c. per ounce. The letter rate to the United States was also reduced from 3c. to 2c. per ounce. It is conservatively estimated that these reductions have effected a saving to the people of about a million dollars per annum.

Having shown that, notwithstanding the increased expenditure, both ordinary and capital, the taxation of commodities and necessaries was lowered instead of increased, and that other public services to the people were cheapened, we will now look at the figures relating to the public debt.

The facts are that the Conservatives during their last seven years of office added to the public debt the large sum of $20,967,391, whereas during the seven succeeding years the net addition of the debt was only $6,417,531. Through a readjustment of provincial accounts last year, there was a reduction of debt to the amount of $3,305,243, and if this be taken into consideration the net addition to the debt during the last seven years under the Liberals was only $3,112,288.

During their eighteen years term of office, the Conservatives added one-hundred and eighteen millions to the debt, or about six and a half millions per annum. Compare this with an increase of less than a million a year on the average for the last seven years — saying nothing of the reductions through readjustment of provincial accounts.