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Journal of the Society of Arts. Proceedings of the Society.

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AIPLIED ART SECTION. Tuesday evening, May 17, 1904; Sir GEORGE BIRDWOOD, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., in the chair. The paper read was "Pewter and the revival of its use." By ARTHUR LASENBY LIBERTY.

The paper and report of the discussion will be published in a future number of the Journal.

CASES FOR JOURNAL. Some members have expressed a desire to be supplied with cases to hold the numbers of the Journal as they are issued and before a volume is completed for binding. The binders have prepared and lettered a box in book form (Stone's patent box) to match the cloth-bound volumes of the Journal, which will contain all the numbers forming a volume. These boxes can be supplied to members (at a charge of four shillings each) on application to the Secretary.

CANADA AND GREAT BRITAIN.

By W. L. GRIFFITH.

Although facts relating to the great Dominion of Canada and its affairs are in these days being placed before the world in no unstinted quantity, still the deep sympathy which the British public unfailingly manifests towards "The Land of the Maple has served to modify any diffidence I may feel in venturing to place before the members of this Society a paper on the subject of Canada. It is very satisfactory to observe the steady growth of goodwill between the peoples of Great Britain and Canada. A community of interest is being built up, perhaps more rapidly than is generally appreciated. Business connections and personal friendships have in late years been formed, the full effect of which has not yet been seen. The increase in Anglo-Canadian passenger traffic has been remarkable, and is undoubtedly significant of the formation of international bonds of friendship. It is also gratifying to observe that Canadians visiting this country uniformly speak in very warm terms of the pleasant reception accorded them in the old land; on the other hand, Englishmen who have visited Canada seem to be in

doubt as to which of the two outstanding features of their Canadian tour impressed them most, the vast resources of the Dominion, or the intense kindness meted out to them by their Canadian fellow citizens. The number of Canadians visiting Great Britian has of late years greatly increased. This has perhaps escaped the attention it would otherwise have attracted, from the fact that the Canadians are often confused with our friends from the United States of America. But however this may be, Canadians yearly come on business missions in increasing numbers, and at the same time they generally visit the historic spots in this great Old Country, in which they feel they are entitled to take a pride no less than those born in these islands. I am glad to say that they return to Canada with a much enhanced conception of John Bull's experience, capability and methods. These are some impressions the Canadian business-man who visits England never fails to refer to, and he never forgets the London policeman who regulates the traffic. I might, perhaps, here be permitted to mention some recent conversations I have had with several members of a small colony of young Canadian medical men who are in London pursuing post-graduate studies, in the course of which I was curious enough to ask them why they preferred to make the journey to England when they could so much more conveniently avail themselves of the facilities offered by the great centres of the United States of America. It would not be diplomatic to give the replies in too much detail, but it is, perhaps, sufficient to say that the principles and methods of the medical profession of Great Britain have made a profound impression on the flower of that fraternity in Canada, and students are coming to this country for instruction simply because they believe the masters of the profession here are sound, have a great reverence for human life, and are generally efficient. In these days of alleged British decadency this is cheerful testimony, and I think we may very reasonably hope that the present colony of Canadian medical students in London will steadily continue to increase in numbers and influence. I have heard it suggested that the phenomenal increase in the consumption of Scotch whiskey is attributable to the wide prevalence of Scotch physicians, who are said to commonly advise many of their patients something like this: "I advise you," they say, "to eschew spirits altogether, but if you must take some, let it be

a little good Scotch whiskey." Let us hope that the Canadian doctors, now in England, when they return to the Dominion will, be equally effective in helping to perpetuate and strengthen the goodwill which, at present, so happily exists between Great Britain and Canada.

We have been referring to Canadians visiting Great Britain. The number of Englishmen emigrating to Canada is, at present, of course very gratifying. English business-men are also beginning to visit Canada in some numbers in order to spy out the land. This is all very satisfactory as far as it goes, but I cannot help feeling that numbers of Englishmen who have never visited Canada might, with advantage to themselves, when dealing with the annually recurring problem of where to spend their vacations, consider the attractions of a trip to some part of Canada. Take, for instance, that not inconsiderable class-those who desire to seek the haunts of fish and game. They leave England every season for Scandinavia, and Finland and elsewhere. They are willing to pay, and do pay large sums of money for fishing and shooting rights whereby to gratify their favourite pastimes. Yet in Canada, within seven or eight days' journey from Liverpool, is to be found a grand reserve for sportsmen, hundreds of thousands of miles of practically virgin territory, where will be found all the sport that the most ardent can desire. There is an unlimited territory abundantly stocked with game, together with vast expanses of water teeming with fish. If ample time is at the disposal of the sportsman, he can find virgin lands and waters where in seeking for fish or game he will secure such success as perhaps he has never dreamed of. To those whose leisure is more limited, there is a choice of conveniently accessible districts, where most satisfying sport may be indulged in, where trout and salmon can be landed in most gratifying profusion, and where game of many descriptions abound. I will not pursue this feature any further, but proceed to deal with the more serious aspects of our subject.

I have stated that information as to the resources of Canada has been placed before the public during late years in no unstinted quantity. The limits of this paper impose that I shall not enter into too much detail, but, with your permission, I should like to set forth some facts as to the recent development in Canada, and her prospects for the near future. Notwithstanding the many and continuous and

able efforts with which for many years the great wealth of the Dominion of Canada has been so well placed before this country, there still remains an unconverted and considerable minority, who are more or less sceptical as to the claims made on behalf of the Dominion in regard to the probable growth of her population in the near future, and in respect to her food-producing capacity.

The other day a letter was shown to me, written by a Professor in one of the great English universities, a gentleman who is deservedly honoured. On perusing this letter I was interested to find that he regarded the north-west of Canada as an overrated country, and altogether he took a quite hopeless view of the future of that great territory. I am bound to confess that he set forth his case with a wealth of apparently unanswerable contentions. He conclusively proved-at least to his own satisfaction-that it was impossible for Canada to become one of the greatest wheatgrowing countries in the world; and that it was very doubtful whether her great prairies would continue to produce a vigorous and strenuous population. I think the effect of that letter upon most persons who had not visited Western Canada would be to create serious doubt as to the much vaunted agricultural possibilities of the north-west territories. I will freely admit that as I read the Professor's letter I began to ask myself whether the impressions I had gathered during a residence of some twenty years in Manitoba were, after all, correct and sound. But as my mind travelled from the Professor's pessimistic suggestions to a consideration of the progress actually made in the West, I found it was possible to demonstrate the inaccuracy of almost all his contentions by citations of accomplished facts. I well remember in the summer of 1881 driving across country from the eastern to the western boundary of Manitoba. At that time the province was but sparsely settled. The settlers had to haul their produce great distances to market. Their buildings for the most part were primitive in the extreme. Land was to be had for the asking, and practically unlimited quantities could have been purchased at from 21 dols. to 31 dols. (10s. to 145.) per acre, on easy terms of payment. Two or three years ago I again covered the same ground once more, and found it difficult to realise that it was the same country that I had traversed some twenty years previously. Railways intersected the land in every direction. Small towns had sprung up at short intervals

along all the lines of communication, affording profitable and convenient markets for the produce of the settlers. On every hand were the unmistakable evidences of a prosperous community-tiny homesteads now appeared where a few years before had been the log or the sod shanty. The price of land had advanced from, say, three dollars (12s.) an acre to from £3 to £5 an acre, and in some cases to even higher figures. These increased values meant that in addition to making a good living and substantially adding to their working capital, all the early settlers at least had profited to the extent of from £500 to £1,000, according to the size of their holdings. In some instances the results had been more favourable, and in others possibly not quite so good. For instance, I know of one farm which was purchased in 1888 for 720 dols. (£145), and the same place would now bring at least, so I am credibly informed, 15,000 dols. or £3,000. There is no reason to doubt that the lands which are being given away to-day to bond fide settlers by the Canadian Government, and offered by the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Hudson's Bay Company, and other corporations, at nominal prices, will equally increase in value from precisely the same causes that have affected the lands to which reference has been made.

It is often asked why the growth of Canada's population has not proceeded at a more rapid pace than the official statistics show. Perhaps you will allow me to deal briefly with this point. Until recent years Eastern Canada-which may be roughly termed that portion east of Lake Superior-although possessing immense. reserves of timber and minerals, and, in many branches, unrivalled facilities for manufacturing, was somewhat severely restricted in her outputs by the lack of profitable markets. Her natural outlet (the United States of America) was closed to her by a tariff which— with the exception of the period during which the Reciprocity Treaty was in operation was practically prohibitive. All this, too, at the time of great expansion in the States, when the dazzling opportunities afforded by that country to all able-bodied Canadians resulted in great migration from the Dominion. If the state of things which existed in Canada at this juncture had remained, the outlook would have been very indifferent and perhaps far from encouraging. But in 1880 the

inclusion of the north-west territories in the Confederation of Canada extended her limits

from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and the world is only just now beginning to realise what may be expected in the way of Canadian development, which, with all sincere and due deference to the learned gentleman to whom I have referred, is but in its earliest infancy. In order to cope with the situation created by the present expansion, the manufacturers of Eastern Canada are increasing their facilities for production as rapidly as possible, but even so, are scarcely able to meet the demands made upon them. This being the state of prosperity with Western Canada in its early infancy, it is difficult for even the optimistic to over-gauge the extent of the further progress which will certainly be made in the near future. It is officially estimated that in Manitoba, Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, and Alberta alone there are, approximately, 171,000,000 acres suitable for profitable farming. Of this vast area only a small fraction is under cultivation. Bearing this fact in mind let us take the case of a single settler locating on the virgin prairie at midsummer, and we find that if he exercises ordinary industry, and if the season be an average one, he will be able with one team of horses or oxen to prepare, say, 40 acres ready for wheat during the first summer. Under average conditions there will be a yield in the following season of, say, 1,000 bushels (125 quarters) of the finest milling wheat in the world. In addition to this, he will probably produce a sufficiency of grain and food for stock, to meet the needs of his homestead. Nine-tenths of his wheat crop he will be in a position to sell. Placing the settler's capital at £100, the proceeds of the first year's wheat crop at an average pricesay 60 cents. a bushel-will enable him to realise an amount greater than his working capital. As the result of one year's experience on wild prairie land of a man with but small capital, the contiguous railway is furnished with some 54,000 pounds of wheat freight, and the Canadian manufacturer is called upon to supply at least a plough, a wagon, a binder, and other tools costing about £70; this is, of course, in addition to the ordinary cost of living. I think you will readily admit that this is a very significant showing, and when the vastness of the area is remembered upon which similar results are possible, I do not think it is too much to say that in no part of the globe does there exist, upon such a huge scale, and amid so many advantageous surroundings, equal possibilities for the creation of wealth from the soil.

Professor William Saunders, Director of the Dominion Experimental Farms, in an article on wheat-growing in Canada, makes what he calls a "reasonable prophecy." He says:

"The total imports of wheat and flour into Great Britain in 1902 were equivalent in all to about 200 million bushels of wheat. Were one-fourth of the land said to be suitable for cultivation in Manitoba and the three provisional territories under crop with wheat annually, and the average production equal to that of Manitoba for the past ten years, the total crop would be over 812 million bushels. This would be ample to supply the home demand for 30 millions of inhabitants (supposing the population of Canada should by that time reach that figure), and meet the present requirements of Great Britain three times over. This estimate deals only with a portion of the West, and it leaves the large Eastern provinces cut of consideration altogether. From this it would seem to be quite possible that Canada may be in a position within comparatively few years, after supplying all home demands, to furnish Great Britain with all the wheat and flour she requires, and leave a surplus for export to other countries. With a rural population on the western plains in 1902 of about 4c0,0co, over 67 millions of bushels of wheat were produced. Add to this the wheat grown in Ontario and the other Eastern provinces, and we already have a total of over 93 million bushels. These figures are full of promise for the future of Canada as a great wheat-producing country."

Professor Saunders might be fairly asked where the population is likely to be drawn from to accomplish this stupendous result. The answer is that the people will come chiefly from Europe and the United States of America. I suppose it is true to say that the rapidity and extent of expansion which took place in the United States in the last half of the 19th century has been unequalled in the world's history. This expansion arose from European immigration into the prairies of the Western States. The persons forming that great movement were for the most part those with little or no capital, and yet, as we know, they achieved results which were in the aggregate amazing. This great unprecedented expansion in the United States of America was achieved by poor men, who had to acquire a knowledge of the methods of a land which was new to them, as they went along. I will submit that with the large migration of United States farmers (last year 50,000 of them came to Canada), men with capital, who have developed a country precisely similar to the one they are adopting. flocking into the North-West in ever-increasing numbers, together with the immigration from

Europe, it seems reasonable to hope that we are about to experience an expansion of population and industry in Canada such as shall eclipse even the wonderful progress that has been made in the United States of America.

How fortunate it is that Canada should be so rapidly developing as a great food-supplying country, in view of the probable trend of events in the United States, will, I think, be at once conceded. The population of the United States of America is increasing at the rate of 4,000 daily. It is officially estimated that by 1931 there will be 130,000,000 of people in the Republic. To grow the quantity of produce necessary to sustain this population will require 153,000,000 additional acres under cultivation, and there are, it is estimated, only 108,000,000 acres so available. Moreover, it is very questionable if these can be brought into profitable cultivation in competition with the lands of the Canadian North-West.

In passing it may be well to refer very briefly to the migration of the Western American farmer to Canada. It is a movement which has been encouraged and promoted by the Government of Canada. The American agriculturist is able to sell his farm in the United States of America for from 25 dols. to 125 dols. per acre, and by re-investing in Canada at from 6 dols. an acre upwards is able the better to provide for his family. The preponderating opinion in Canada regarding the matter is extremely optimistic. It is urged that the American is settling in a land where the opportunities for improving his material position are superior to those he has left behind, and this in itself will make powerfully for contentment. While the people of the Republic do not admit that British laws are any better than their own, they do admit the pure judiciary and the firm administration and enforcement of the law in the Dominion. Canadians proudly claim that when the settler from the south crosses the international boundary he leaves behind the revolver. It may well be that the purity of the Canadian judiciary will be the strongest factor making for the continuance of British prestige in North America. It is certain that migration from the United States of America to Canada is bound to continue and expand.

You will readily admit that it is only natural that immigration should be a question of the greatest importance to Canada. Canadians feel that their millions of acres of fertile land now occupied must be settled upon

and cultivated, in order to bring about that degree of development which is so confidently looked forward to. You will, no doubt, admit with equal readiness that emigration to the Colonies ought to be a question of the first importance in Great Britain. In the past the surplus population of this country has gone abroad without an effort to divert it to British territory. This state of things has, however, been remedied, and the British emigrant is now provided with reliable and full information in a way that leaves little to be desired.

In 1874, Lord Randolph Churchill, in an election address to the constituency of Woodstock, said:

"The Colonial Empire of Great Britain, offering as it does, a field of development for the latent energy and labour of the sons of our overburdened island will continually demand the attention of the Legislature. I would support all efforts which would tend to facilitate the means of emigration, and would at the same time strengthen and consolidate the ties which unite the Colonies with the Mother Country."

It would have been extremely interesting to know how far Lord Randolph Churchill was prepared to go in order to facilitate the means of emigration. Would he have supported free passages to the Colonies for the unemployed? One of the most pathetic figures on earth is that of the man who is willing to work but cannot find employment. Although such persons may form but a small percentage of the population of the United Kingdom, still in the aggregate the number is considerable.

Within the Empire there is ample demand, at good wages, for every able-bodied citizen. It is tragical that while the fertile prairies of the West are crying out for workers, there should be thousands of unemployed, or only partially employed. Fifty years hence our descendants will scornfully dwell upon our timidity and feebleness in dealing with the problem. It ought to be possible for every such man and his family to procure State defrayed transportation to whatever part of the Empire his labour could be profitably utilised, that he desired to go to. The difficulties of carrying this out would no doubt be considerable, but that they are insurmountable I do not believe. There would, of course, need to be a proper system of selection. Let us hope that we may very soon see some efforts made to, as Lord Randolph Churchill has put it, "facilitate the means of emigration."

In the olden days it was considered that wars and plagues were necessary evils, as they prevented an excess of population. To-day a

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