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The Canadian Manufacturers' Association1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

S. D. Clark
S. D. Clark*
Affiliation:
The University of Toronto
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Extract

The Canadian Manufacturers' Association arose to deal with the problems of manufacturers which emerged as a result of the economic expansion and social changes of the twentieth century. The opening of the West and the widening of the market, besides increasing the number and size of manufacturing enterprises, strengthened those groups such as agriculture and labour which were opposed to privileges secured by the manufacturers, or which advanced claims upon the state damaging to manufacturing interests. At the same time, the development of cheap newspapers and the diffusion of the habit of reading made possible the organization of these groups upon a broad basis of popular support. Thus, while economic expansion meant an increase in the number of interests making demands upon governmental authorities, improved means of communication made these interests more vocal in advancing their claims in the wider community. The result was evident in the increasing number of issues such as the tariff, eight-hour day legislation, and workmen's compensation brought to the attention of the electorate, in the greater participation of the state in economic and social life, and in the elaboration of new forms of organization and control on the part of those groups, such as manufacturers, which had to bid for the support of the general voting public.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique , Volume 4 , Issue 4 , November 1938 , pp. 505 - 523
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1938

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Footnotes

1

This paper is based upon a thesis entitled “The Canadian Manufacturers' Association: A Political and Social Study” which has been submitted to the University of Toronto in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy.

References

2 Cf. Innis, H. A., “Economic Nationalism” (Proceedings of the Canadian Political Science Association, vol. VI, 1934, pp. 17–31 Google Scholar).

3 The Association for the Promotion of Canadian Industry was organized at a meeting held in Toronto on April 14, 1858. Its activities came to an end in 1859, but it was re-organized under the same name in 1866. See Weir, William, Sixty Years in Canada (Montreal, 1903), pp. 98–118 Google Scholar; Greeley, Horace, Labour's Political Economy; or the Tariff Question Considered: to which is added the Report of the Public Meeting of Delegates held in Toronto on the 14th April, 1858 (Toronto, 1858)Google Scholar; Buchanan, Isaac, The Relations of the Industry of Canada with the Mother Country and the United States (Montreal, 1864), pp. 490–5Google Scholar; Toronto Globe, April 15, 1858; and the pamphlet entitled Association for the Promotion of Canadian Industry, Its Formation, By-Laws, etc. (Toronto, 1866).Google Scholar

A brief sketch of the history of the Manufacturers' Association from its organization in 1874 until 1900 is given in Industrial Canada, 11, 1901, pp. 81–2Google Scholar; cf. also ibid., July, 1915, p. 386, and the pamphlet entitled Meeting of the Manufacturers' Association of Ontario Held in St. Lawrence Hall, Toronto, Nov. 25, 26, 1875.

The proceedings of the annual meetings of the Dominion Board of Trade, 1871-9, and the “History of the Toronto Board of Trade” in the annual report of 1904, throw considerable light upon the growing protectionist movement in the seventies which led to the organization of manufacturers. A description of the activities of the iron and steel associations is given in Donald, W. J. A., History of the Canadian Iron and Steel Industry (Boston, 1915), pp. 245–9Google Scholar, and of the Furniture Manufacturers' Association in Industrial Canada, 09, 1900, pp. 78–9, and January, 1901, p. 165.Google Scholar

For the economic background leading to the organization of manufacturers in the seventies, see Innis, H. A. and Lower, A. R. M. (eds.), Select Documents in Canadian Economic History, 1783-1885 (Toronto, 1933), pp. 816–9Google Scholar; also the report of a select committee of the House of Commons in 1874, Journals of the House of Commons, vol. VIII, 1874, app. 3.Google Scholar

4 Industrial Canada, 09, 1900, p. 43.Google Scholar

5 Ibid., Oct., 1900, p. 85; Nov., 1901, p. 122.

6 Cf. Innis, M.Q., An Economic History of Canada (Toronto, 1935), ch. ix.Google Scholar

7 Logan, H. A., The History of Trade-Union Organisation in Canada (Chicago, 1928), pp. 41, 79, and ch. vi.Google Scholar

8 Industrial Canada, 10, 1903, p. 129.Google Scholar

9 Ibid., Oct., 1910, p. 288. For an account of the rise of the free-trade movement in Western Canada, see Wood, L. A., A History of Farmers' Movements in Canada (Toronto, 1924), part IV.Google Scholar

10 Industrial Canada, 11, 1911, p. 388.Google Scholar

11 Ibid., Oct., 1908, p. 237.

12 Ibid., Oct., 1907, pp. 215-6.

13 Ibid., Oct., 1910, p. 322.

14 Ibid., Sept., 1900, p. 43.

15 Ibid., Oct., 1903, p. 165.

16 Ibid., July, 1925, p. 129.

17 Ibid., July, 1917, pp. 391-2.

18 Ibid., Nov., 1901, p. 82.

19 Ibid., Oct., 1904, p. 159. The method of pledging candidates has been employed by the Association in exerting political pressure. A. W. Neill, representing Comox-Alberni constituency, stated in the House of Commons, in 1922, that, previous to the election, he had been asked by the British Columbia Branch of the Manufacturers' Association to sign a written declaration that he would support protection and would have nothing to do with Mr.Crerar, (House of Commons Debates, 1922, pp. 170–1Google Scholar).

20 Industrial Canada, 10, 1907, pp. 248–51.Google Scholar The evidence would seem to suggest that the relationship of the Association to the Liberal government, after 1907, was satisfactory. Respecting this, the Toronto News on Sept. 29, 1909, said editorially: “In this relation the managing element of the Liberal Party are an organized hypocrisy. In the older Provinces they are hand in hand with the C.M.A. Three out of the four last Presidents of the Manufacturers' Association have been members of the Liberal Party. A majority of the delegates at the recent convention at Hamilton were connected with that party. The understanding to-day between the Association and the Ottawa Government is as intimate as ever was the understanding between the protected manufacturers and a Conservative Government” (Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs for 1909, pp. 253-4).

21 Industrial Canada, 11, 1911, p. 465.Google Scholar The following were some of the prominent members of the Association who broke from the Liberal party in 1911: W. K. George, silverware; R. S. Gourlay, pianos; John R. Barber, paper; R. J. Christie, biscuits; T. A. Russell, bicycles and automobiles; J. R. Booth, lumber; W. M. Gartshore, stoves; George McLaughlin, carriages; A. Bertram, engines; G. E. Goldie, milling; and Murray, G. M., secretary of the Association (Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs for 1911, pp. 48 and 55 Google Scholar).

22 Industrial Canada, 12, 1917, p. 1110.Google Scholar

23 Ibid., June, 1922, p. 66.

24 Ibid., June, 1920, p. 72. Much the most important work in the campaign of propaganda of 1919-21, however, was carried on by organizations separate from the Manufacturers' Association. The two most important were “Murray's Editorial Report Service” and the “Canadian Industrial Reconstruction Association”, both directed by highly-trained publicity experts. For material respecting the former, see House of Commons Debates, 1921, pp. 3645-7; Financial Post, March 13 and 20, 1920; and Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs for 1920, pp. 177-8. For the Canadian Industrial Reconstruction Association, see Industrial Canada, 06, 1918, pp. 42–5Google Scholar, and various issues after this date; also the bulletins and pamphlets issued by the Association.

25 Industrial Canada, 07, 1924, p. 130, and July, 1925, p. 126.Google Scholar

26 Cf. Underhill, F. H., “The Party System in Canada” (Proceedings of the Canadian Political Science Association, vol. IV, 1932, pp. 201–12).Google Scholar

27 Industrial Canada, 07, 1920, pp. 186 and 158–9.Google Scholar

28 Ibid., July, 1923, p. 160.

29 Ibid., July, 1914, p. 1551.

30 Ibid., July, 1914, pp. 1505-6.

31 Ibid., July, 1915, p. 354 and July, 1920, p. 185.

32 Ibid., Oct., 1909, pp. 278-9.

33 Ibid., July, 1932, pp. 153-4.

34 Ibid., Oct., 1906, p. 215.

35 Ibid., Sept., 1900, p. 44.

36 Ibid., Oct., 1903, p. 119.

37 Ibid., Oct., 1907, p. 212.

38 Ibid., Oct., 1904, p. 152.

39 Ibid., Oct., 1906, p. 215.

40 Ibid., Oct., 1908, p. 222.

41 Ibid., p. 195.

42 Ibid., Nov., 1911, pp. 425-6. To assist the Legal Department there has been set up a Legal Sub-Committee composed of lawyers with commercial experience, who are actively engaged in industry and are not in private practice. In 1925, besides W. S. Morden, K.C., chairman of the Legislation Committee, the Sub-Committee consisted of J. C. Macfarlane, solicitor for the Canadian General Electric, R. C. Berkinshaw, solicitor for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, John G. Hossack of the Massey-Harris Company, and A. Munro Grier of the Canadian Niagara Power Company. This Committee meets about every third or fourth day and examines every bill going through Parliament and the provincial Legislatures which may in any way affect manufacturing (cf. ibid., July, 1925, p. 105).

43 Ibid., Oct., 1908, pp. 251-2.

44 Ibid., Nov., 1913, p. 484.

45 Ibid., July, 1932, p. 185.

46 Ibid., July, 1920, p. 182.

47 Ibid.

48 The influence of the Manufacturers' Association as a propagandist organization is touched upon in my article “The Canadian Manufacturers' Association: Its Economic and Social Implications” published in Essays in Political Economy in Honour of E. J. Urwick (Toronto, 1938).Google Scholar