Here the individual is a king of kings in
his native right, and takes out an injunction against the city that
wishes to trespass upon his property. This antagonism manifests itself
in the laws that safeguard the small shopkeeper against the big firm,
and the small manufacturer against any company with its billion dollars
of capital. This antagonism to the sin of trespass has lent a peculiar
sanctity to treaties between Canada and the United States. We have one
hundred millions of people, and Canada nine millions. We need many
things that Canada has, but it is intellectually unthinkable that "we
should take what we want and explain afterward," or that we should
violate our treaty guaranteeing neutrality to Canada. Our frontier line
is three thousand miles long. There is not a fort from Maine to
Victoria. If we adopted Germany's position we would have to build one
thousand forts, withdraw two million young men from the farm, factory,
store and bank, and load the working people with taxes to support them.
In a free land, and in God's world, there should be a place for the poor
man and for the small nation.
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