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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1908-10-15, Page 6w�. LAURIER ,AICD . TRH LARGER O.AN,AD.2 SUS,' 'L M • i6t1 ",ue 1H full ,�uremia)\\t ki ttiS��� �I�+��I i4't 911 ' iii I 11! `. a- I lily\. l i+ Il 1 ;;tli,, . . i ,'i tum, ltI Is il, ,l9i�li .. --- �I ,LFV►i5i -fps`_, „ nth +ta C,I ' 11 `.� t'COI tul .ii r._ III `��W-":'•;'_ nil1� 'if�u, IT' ti_ Mil i�.. i� le erei it , sri%it,la,itl� J�— THE CONQUERING OF WESTERN CANADA.—NO, 3,—THE AMMUNITION WAGONS AND THE ARSENAL. A series of eight cartoons drawn by lire C. W. Jefferys representing the conquest of Canada for civilization and the men who are engaged in it. REMARKABLE RECORD OF THE POSTAL DEPARTMENT A Conservative Deficit Turned Into a Big Surplus Under Liberals, While Cost of Service to the Public Has Been Cut in Two. Terrifying pictures are drawn of the graft and incompetence that charac- terize public undertakings. It is ar- gued that as the work now done by national and municipal Governments is done badly, the field of their oper- ations ought not to be enlarged. One department of Government in Can- ada that furnishes no material for such argument Is the Post -Office. There was a time when it had a deeicit of $181,152. This was in 1896, the last year of the late Conservative Admin- istration. To -day it has a surplus of 11,101,827. Considering the nature of the service, and the enormous and sparsely settled territory which is covered, this result is trnly remarkable. The result is not obtained by unduly burdening the persons who use the mails. On the contrary, the service rendered in return for a postage stamp 12 probably better value than Is ob- tained for any other expenditure of money. Note the fact, too, that while the cost of living has been steadily augmented and almost every staple commodity has increased in price, the west of transmitting letters and other matter through the mails has been steadily reduced. Since 189h the fol- lowing reforms have been made: The drop letter rate was reduced from two cents to one cent. The inland letter rate was reduced from three cents to two cents. The letter rate from Canada to the United States was reduced from three cents to two cents. Cut in Postal Rates. The letter rate from Canada to Great Britain, and to every portion of the British Empire, has been reduced from five cents to two cents, The rate on Canadian newspapers and periodicals sent from publishers in Canada to subscribers in Great Britain and other parts of the British Empire has been reduced front eight cents per pound to one-quarter of one cent. per pound. The rate on newspapers and periodi- eels sent by the general public in Can- ada to Great Britain and parts of the British Empire has been reduced from eight cents per pound to four cents per pound, or 50 per cent. in connection with the last-mention- ed reform the Hon, Rodolphe Lemieux obtained from the British Postmaster - General a reduction of the rate of postage on British magazines and newspapers Coming into Canada from eight cents per pound to two cents per pound. Here is a record which will stand the severest test that could be ap- plied to a private business undertak- ing, working under the stress of the most strenuous competition. Here we have a financial improvement of near- ly two million dollars, combined, with a, reduction of one-third in the Can- adian. American, and Imperial rate, of one-half the local rate, and a much larger reduction in the case of news- papers and magazines. This is as 1f a railway company had increased its dividends to shareholders by nearly two millions, and had reduced its pass- enger rates from three cents to two cents, and had made corresponding or larger reductions in the freight tariff. No Need for Surplus. There is no reason why the stirplus should be maintained, or why the Post -Office or any other department should do more than pay its way. The right use to make of the surplus is to improve the service. Upon this prin- ciple the Government is about to in- troduce rural mail delivery. The prob- lem is more difficult in Canada than in England, 1n France, in Germany, or in the United States, for the reason that Canada is a land of enormous dis- tances, with a very sparse population. Great Britain has an area of 120,000 square miles, about half the size of Ontario, with six times the population of alt Canada, In the United States there is an area no larger then that of Canada to be served, but there is in the United States a population four- teen times as great as ours, and a rev- enue twenty times as great to bear the cost of the free rural mail delivery. Nevertheless the problem will be faced, and rural mall delivery introduced and extended as fast as the circumstances of the country will permit. it is a cour- ageous step, and its effect will be greatly to improve the conditions of rural life in Canada, SIR WILFRID READING A QUOTATION. It's Rural Mail Delivery Now Liberal Government's Inspiring Record Is Continuing—Noth- ing in Borden's Claim, Tho Government's plan of rural mail delivery is said to have been borrow- ed front Mr. Borden's ltaUfax pint- form. No great harm if It had been. No reason why the Government should re- frain from doing a thing merely be- cause Mr, Borden propoaea so mit, as a matter of fact, the idea of rural mall delivery has been considered by the Post -Office Department under the present Government for many years. The advantages are undoubted, the expense is great, In a Country having a small population scattered over an Immense area, Consequently the Gov- ernment 'has proceeded and wilt pro - coed with caution, The Charge that the polloy of rural mail delivery is borrowed from Mr, Borden's Halifax platform would be mere weighty if that polloy represent- eda reversal of trio general poltay of the Government. It represents, not a reversal, but a, continuation and de• velopment of the Government's policy. The Government has reduced the rates of postage and extended the tor. vice. To repeat: The drop letter rate wee reduced from two cents to One cent. 'X'ho inland letter rate Was reduced front three cents 00 two dents. The letter rate from Canada to the United States was reduced from three cents to two cents, The letter rate from Canada to Great Britain, and to every portion of the British Empire, has bean reduced from five cents to two cents. The rate on Canadian newspapers and periodicals sent from publishers in Canada to subscribers in Great Britain and other parts of the British Empire has been reduced from eight cents per pound to One-quarter of one cent per pound. The rata on newspapers and periodi- cals sent by the general public in Can- ada to Great Britain and parts of the British Empire has been reduced from eight cents per pound to four cents per pound, or 50 per cent, ,, In connection with the last-mention- ed reform the Hon, Rodolphe Lemieux obtained from the British, :eostmoseer- C10110 l a reduction of the rate of postage on British magazines and newspapers coming into Canada from eight welts per pound to two cents per pound, In addition to all this, the Govern- ment has converted a deficit of 152 under Conservative management into a surplus of 11,101,827, It hes thus paved the way for rural mail de- livery, and for other referm6, an enter- prise which was impossible with) a deficit of three-quarters of a mliliOn Is possible whore there is a surplus of a million dollars, It is easier to write the words "Rural Mail. Delivery" in a political program tltrtn to ndml.tiiater n deport- meet in such a manner es to render rural mail delivery practleable. SOME FACTS THAT STIR THE HEART Figures of Canada's Growth Under Liberal Rule Cannot But Cause Rejoicing. THE GOVERNMENT HELPED Wise Encouragement of Industry and Immigration Were of Immense Benefit, Every patriotic Canadian rejoices in the phenomenal prosperity that our country has enjoyed In recent years, and points with pride to the vast ex- pansion of our Industry and com- merce. It would be absurd to argue that this growth has been entirely be- cause our national affairs were ad- ministered by a Liberal Government. It Is due In the main to the splendid opportunities which this country -pre- sents to enterprise and thrift, • to the vast natural resources from which labor and skill may draw almost un- limited wealth. Nevertheless, 1t Is true that wise government, .encouraging Industry, pro- moting trade, and securing desirable immigration, will immensely aid such development and prosperity. Striking evidence of this' is found In the re- markable progress made sincethe peo- ple turned dissatisfied from Conserva- tive mismanagement, and' placed the control of their public affairs In the hands of Sir Wilfrid Laurier and his associates. The total trade of the Dominion, that is, the aggregate of the value .of the imports and exports of all kinds, money included, taken for the alter- nate years of the last twelve fiscal years of Conservative administration, is set out in the following table com- piled from the latest report of the Department of Trade and Commerce: Under Conservative Regime. 1886 $189,965, 1888810 778 1390 206,692,661 1892 ..... .... ....•227,594,105 1894 ...... 227,364,021 1896 228,272,279 Different In Recent Years, These figures show a substantial ad- vance, but nothing like what is shown by the figures for the alternate years that have era sed IT WOULD BE FOLLY. To Abandon Liberal Methods to Re• turn to Old Regime. Everyone will admit that there is evidence of Prosperity In the export- ing 01 a large surplus of the country's products, but It must be remembered that very rapid growth tends to lessen this surplus, because+ so much of what is produced is needed to supply the Wants of new comers before the re- sults of their labors are available. I0 is necessary to bear this in mind, to realize how much of prosperity is In- dicated by the figures in the latter od the following tables, which are for the same years as those just set out, They represent the total exports of merchan- dise of all ]rinds from the Dominion: 1. Under the Conservative regime, 1888 .... . , $ 87,101,144 1892 108,808,044 1696 .. 112,985,490 2. Under Liberal Administration, 1900 .. 1177,776,044 1904 . 211,066,678 1908 ....... ,263,888,052 The lesson is obviousIt Is simply that the methods adopted by the Lib- eral party for the encouragement of useful immigration, the facilitating 011 Industry, the opening up of opportune Ries for agri0uiture and other wealth- producing operations, have ell been more successful and effeotivs than the policies which they replaced, it world be folly to abandon these. methods, either to return to the old conditions of enmparative stagnation, or to 011e periment with any now sehetnes which have not yet been even clearly forrtlu- iatod or explained. of the twelve years p since, during which a Liberal Govern- ment has been doing all in its power to promote the country's Welfare, Here are the corresponding flguros for this term: Under Liberal Regime. 1898 .. 9290,222,969 1900 .. -.. 867,237,528 1002 .. 414,431,881 1004 . 464,885,587 1906. + 646,947,487 1908 ..... 638,880,291 Political economists used to argue that a country was disadvantaged by exporting more goods than it imported, This theory. is not generally accepted now, but in any Case, it could not apply to a new country into which was pouring a desirable immigration, be- cause the mass of imports would in- clude the possessions of the new com- ers, and also much of the capital In the form of both money and material which came to be used in the opening tip and development of the country'e resources. Therefore Canada may well be done 'gratulated upon the magnitude of her imports as well tin upon her surplus products which we send to other eotinti'les. If we take the merchan- dise imports for the periods above set out, but choosing years. at Wider $n. tervals for the Sake of shortening oto' table, we obtain the ,following state- ment: 1. Tinder the Conservative regitio. 1888 ,.... .,.., 9109,671,628 1892 ... 115,160,413 1896.., ,. 105,,04 1,181 2, Moder Liberal Administia,l 1000 ... . 8`172,500,8'( lj 1904 .,,, r,.., 1..w+, 242,500,01,88 1 w 908 .... +..ra_i 361,825,024 • murrereereamesecurslar eats Irma wta,erre em"'s*" nttg 10Oura^ ncauuu,vu.,_--_ c re ratlee mmea1610ut smc:mrcca 1132+;:1 =1.1e�aysta rm mss,WASII . blOM sresseMa11 a :. ufa tu. ;,: ers ave rr r ries ere In no one line has progress been greater under the Laurier Govern- ment than it has in manufacturing. Workshops all over Canada have been veritable hives of industry in the last few years, and tall chimneys have been multiplied on every hand. �9rcal� .An improved transportation service, a vigorous ilnnlirgration. policy, and a revivified agriculture have had their natural effect in giving a stimulus to industrial enterprise. The table which follows, showing the capital em-, ployed in Canadian manufacturing, and value of output of factories, for the years 1900 and 1905 respectively, tells its own story. ry ,k.AX i'a0l0 ,S'e) 10,1,17 FIGURES WHICH TELL OF EXPANSION 'Capital employed in Canadian factories in 1900... $446,000,000 Capital employed in Canadian factories in 1905 $833,000,000 Increase in 5 years $387,000,000 Value of output of factories Value of output of factories Increase in 5 years $225,000,000 aAll the figures given in these tables, save those relating to exports, are for establish- ments emplcying five hands and over. in 1900 4481,000,000 in 1905 $706,000,000 NER,i,k.,15SM;",:iSH11i :121NIMITS,'4'NM., 9.,A 111Nd'. i."09'.OI W 1:,;n,4. q.'i"�•�'.` The increase in the volume of goods produced in factories has been accompanied by a corresponding addition to the mmnber of toilers employed. The aggregate increase in the five years, as shown by accompanying table, was Number employes in factories, 1900, ........ 339,000 0 0 0—or equivalent, ,i t{ f1 1905 383,000 ' counting in dependants of workers and those to whom their wages give employment, to the crea- t Employes in Factories Increase in five years .u,4e t,e aw i0e'' $1 1°.49; illIKifS•1x h tion of a city of 150,000 people. 44,000 n_a The salaries and wages paid employes in Canadian factories, employing five hands or more, have grown from $113,000,000 in 1900 to $162,000,000 in 1905. Business men do not need to be told what a stimulus an increase of nearly $50,000,000 in the annual wage bill of arti- sans gives to trade in all lines. sWages and Salaries Salaries and wages paid in 1900 $113,000,000 c c " t 1905 162,000,000 Increase in five years $49,000,000 s In a table previously give. the comparison was between salaries and wages in 1900 and wages alone in 1903. in this table the figures cover both salaries and wages in both year:. Ontario's Share in It Capital employed in Ontario factories 1900 $215,000,000 << 1905 391,000,000 Increase in five years $176,000,000 Value output Ontario factories, 1900.... $241,000,000 A, ., " " 1905.... 361,000,000 Increase in five years $120,000,000 •7ti�'l�luW�'.PiS.;;�hty?�"� Citi i it V III,I7^J ' Iii ��lf ro ki Nal y lrh6�� 411 b h"� l ' 4 1 PK 4. Ontario has had her full share in the industrial re- vival which has taken place. Nearly- half the -in. - creased capital employed in Canadian manufactur- ing, and aver half the ad- dition to the value of pro- duct turned out, is credit- ed to this one Province. In five Ontario cities the value of the output of factories has increased by a little over $50,000,000 in five years. In no previous period in Canada's history has anything like such a record been achiev- ed. All Ontario ha bene- fited by this expansion. The cities named have felt the direct effect of the im- pulse given, and farmers have been enriched by supplying a market at their own doors. Expansion in Ontario Cities Value 1000 Out1put Value 006 Ontpub Incretgi'i!;0i' 0 yeast $58;1.15,000 $85,714,000 $27,299,40 17,122,000 24,625,000 7,503,000 8,122,000 12,626,000 4,504,000 7,638,000 10,641,000 3,003,000 3,789,000 11,566,000 7,777,000 T,oronto.. ... . Hamilton.. . . London....: Ottawa..... Peterboro :. .. ''1r,I 11iIiSt'i'r'lV)'I ''°l'ttkY 1ma MA,ri., The most convincing evidence of the success of the Laurier fiscal and general policy is seen in the leap in our exports of manufactured goods. A policy that has removed restrictions and given intelligent aid to manufac- turers has placed our factories in a position to compete net only in the home market but in foreign countries as well. The proof is seen in the table, which tells of an increase in manufactured exports from $10,000,000 in 1.896' to, $28,500,000 in 1900. ;,01. ,7311. gl,,7M:11,tf 11bli',1,01.11.1: tO'ar.S.,,,tllq,.r., IN, dk I1I',1 I tl,'^'@7tu.: IV' THE EXPORT END OF IT Export of manufactured products, 1896 $10,009,000 Export of manufactured products, 1908 $28,500,000 Increase in 12 years � s 1 ;I 500 000 fit' 41:PI 07' 4.15X00.00 h1'.,r.17WI, ON 3511.,1:70•. (il The r. est Astra, of continued progress will, be found in maintaining in power the Government under which such vast progress has erre t dy been made.