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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1908-10-15, Page 10gte Lcu.ri witerreatiree r :L.v.0 111 �,; ►,H W,W 1i CA.44JJ. LLt'kL.ii .Ni 1. ct0 2 • a ger STRIKING SNAPSHOTS OF SIR WILFRID LAURIER TAKEN DURING HIS ONTARIO CAMPAIGN. STORY IN BRIEF OF LAURIER'S RECORD Some of the Great Reforms Which Help Explain Canada's Prosperity. AN AGGRESSIVE POLICY In Every Department Which Af- fects Lives of People Has Had Results. The postage on letters mailed from one point to another in Canada has been reduced by one-third, and the rate on city drop letters by one-half. That is what a Liberal Government has done to facilitate business and so- cial Correspondence. The rate on letters to and from the center of the Empire has been cut dawn to the domestic level, and Brit- ish goods entering Canada pay one- third less in Customs duties than for- .zien goods are compelled to contri- bute. That is the encouragement giv- en by a Liberal Government to sane Tm , rialism. Tha passenger rate on hundreds of miles of railway has been reduced by ten per cent„ and freight rates have been lowered all over Canada. That is part of what a Liberal Government has done in he way of stimulating in- ternal commerce. The St. Lawrence canals have been deepened to fourteen feet, and an effi- cient system of lighting installed. The result is that the Canadian route is now monopolizing the wheat trade of the continent, and the cost of carry - Ing our cheese and bacon to the Brit- ish market has been greatly reduced. 1ntercolonial Extended. Bringing the Intercolonial to Mont- real has made the people's railway a real competitor with private railways in the moving of freight from the head of the lakes to the sea, and prom Hali- fax to Port Arthur. The building of the Transcontinental Is creating a New Ontario and New Quebec in the' north, and ie adding breadth to the length of the Western Provinces of Confederation. With the inauguration of a system of rural mail delivery. now being car- ried out. the isolation of the farm will disappear and rural and urban life will be indissolubly linked together, both socially and commercially, and to the advantage of both. Under the aggrcesive and progressive Po licy of the present A.dministratton trade has expanded in every direction and new life has been Infused into the arteries of commerce. Our exports of farm produce alone tor the nine months ending with March, 1907, were 041,000,000 greater than for the whole year of 1896. The total export of Canadian pro- ducts increased by $141,000,000 in the lasttwelve years, as compared with an increase of $60,500,000 in the twenty- eight years previous. 6,000 Miles of Railway. In eleven years 6,000 miles have been added to the length of railways in Can- ada and 8806.000,000 to the capital In- vested id .tame. In five years the number of farms in the three prairie Prcwinees has been increased from 54,625 to 120,406. In five years nearly 180.000 immi- grants have been settled on farms In the West. Skilled farmers brought into the Canadian West from the United States are 'gee in the work ef malting 5- 006,000 acrea formerly fallow, add to the wealth of the Dominion, eire In five years the output of Canadian eeeterlee, empteying five hands or more, leas been increased from four hunrr_e end eighty-one to seven hun- dred and six and one-half million dol- lars, Factories Expand. In five years the amount paid in salaries and wages in these salve fac- tories has increased from $118,249,000 to $162.155.000. Twelve yearn ago, under a Gov- ernment containing "a nest of trai- , tars," the country was engaged. in rase and creed strife, trade was stagnant, and our people were pour- ing into the United States. To -clay, under an able, progressive Government, peace reigns, COMMerae Is expanding, a rieuIturo fleuriehes, and the exodus is front, net to, the United States. THE CONQUERING OP WESTERN CANADA,—NO. 8.—THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, A series of elgbtt cartoons, drawn by Mr. C. W. Jeffreys, representing the Conquest of Canada for Civilization a nd the men who are engaged at it. NO PARTISANSHIP NOW ON NATIONAL RAILWAY Another Triumph of Liberal Administration to be Found in Manage- ment of the Intercoloniai—Leaks Have Been Stopped — Road on Commercial Basis. It may be candidly admitted that the Intercolonial has never been a paying proposition, judged by commercial standards. It was not built with that end in view. It was constructed to serve the purposes of Confederation, and was an essential part of the com- pact between the Upper and Lower Provinces. Without it Confederation could not have been made anything more than a political and sentimental union, The concrete element would havo been lacking, and the vast com- merce which Is now carried on be- tween Ontario and the Maritime Prov- inces would have been limited to the exchanges that were practicable during the months of open navigation by waY of the St. Lawrence. Tho Situation Misunderstood. This situation will not be questioned. Yet it is not generally understood in the Provinces west of Quebec. There is undoubtedly the feeling that if the Intercoloniai does not pay it ought to be mado to do so. It has cost up- wards of $80,000,000, and the sustained absence of any direct return upon this largo investment is viewed with im- pattenee. Under these ctroumstances color is easily given to allegations of mismanagement, of graft, and partisan favoritism, To those who do not knew the facts it may seem that the meagre restate of onorating are due to politi- cal control, end that In other hands a profit would ho realized. Pledges Mast Ile Kopf, Comparison as to Administration. A fair test of administration would bo found In measuring the relative success of the two parties in dealing with the situetton under these un- avoldebie conditions. Which of them has displayed the bettor skill in con- ducting the business of the road? At once two or three striking facia are suggested.. From 1878 down to 1806 More was a practically unbroken re- cord of deficite the aggregate of which ran into many millions. Deficits have oeeurred since 1890, but on the whole there hale horn a material im- provement in results, Three capable Minlaters in the Liberal regime --lion, A. G. Blair, Iron, 0I. Yl, l0mmcrson, and Hon, O. P. Graham --•leave done much to 1a7 a new and bettor foundation for the carrying on of the Intercolenlal, the full effects ef which will be re- alized In years to come, They have CANADA'S PROGRESS HAS BEEN UNIQUE already been manifested in a happy series of surpluses since 1896. Partisanship Discouraged, The financial results of Liberal ad- ministration are not perhaps so im- portant as those of another character, It cannot be denied that during all the years between 1878 and 1898 ,tthe Inter - colonial was not regarded so much as a public trust as a valuable piece of partisan machinery, Politics came in at every point. When an election oc- curred thousands of men were carried over the line on passes; the employee of the road were In many cases active campaigners; promotions and prefer- ments were known to be the reward of effective services to the party; the utmost demoralization in this regard, extending to every branch of the ser- vice, preVailed; the men were under constant espionage as to their political sympathies. These are hard things to say, but they are amply auateined by the records. All this has been changed. The em- ployes of the Intercoloniai are as free to -day in. respect Of •their political opinions as are the employes of any other railway or any industrial estab- lishment in the Dominion. In 1900 they were given 'a, classification and schedule which works automatically, and width is identical -with that Of the Canadian Pacific and Grand Trunk. Prom one end of tho line to the other every man In the service of the Gov- ernment railway knows that he will be dealt with on its merits; that his Po- litical vletvs have nothing whatever to do with his pay; that ho Is oboe- lately emancipated from the conditions which surrounded him prior to 1890. In other words, his being en the Inter - colonial does not affect his freedom In. respect of his vote In the slightest de- gree. Efforts of Opposition to Belittle Dominion's Prosperity Not Based on Fact. A Fair Argument. In all conscience it ought to be ad- mitted by everyone that if Liberal Mlu- !stare In charge of the Intercolonial had done no more than this they would he entitled to public approba- tion. But they havo done much more. They havo placed the road on as Strict a commerciel basin 0,s has boon pos- sible under the eireumstances, They have Improved the value of the line as a piece of property. They have made It one of the beat equipped and best conducted lines on title continent. They have stopped leaks, and intro- duced reforms. In a word, they have shown themselves capable and above reproach. They have been true to. their trust REST OF WORLD IS BEHIND Our Trade in 12 Years Has In- creased by 175 Per Cent.— Unprecedented Showing, It is argued on the Opposition side that the progress of Canada In the last twelve years is merely a feature of the general progress of the world. One would like to believe that the world as a whole had made such mar- velous progress as is indicated by this argument. For instance, in the last twelve years the trade of Canada has been increased by about four hundred millions, or 175 per cent. If the trade of the principal nations of the world has increased by 175 per cent. in the last twelve years, the fact has es- caped the notice of the expert statis- ticians. The number of passengers carried by the railways Iast year was more than double the number carried in 1896. The tonnage of freight carried was increased by 160 per cent. The bank deposits were more than trebled. The number of letters carried was nearly trebled. There may be a few countries in which this progress has been rival- led. But to say that the business of the world has been advancing at this prodigious rate is an assertion that will not be made by careful students of the world's advancement. A 'New Canadian Spirit. But the history 02 Canada in the last twelve years is not to be studied. in statistics alone. Many things have contributed to make it a unique period, which historians Will study as they study the period when responsible government was granted, the period when the Provinces were federated, the period when the boundaries of Canada were extended to the Pacific Ocean. The growth has beenso mar- velous as to change the whole outlook, and to Infuse a new spirit into Cana- adians. We may dispute over the question whether Canada has be- come a nation according to the lase and the constitution, but Canada • is surely a nation in fact, or is rapidly approaohing that status. The preferential tariff was a meas- ure of tariff reduction; it greatly stim- ulated thought upon the general ques- tion of preferential trade within the Empire. But it also did much to en- large the commercial freedom of Can- ada, and its liberty to make commer- cial arrangements within and beyond the Empire, Having acquired complete self-government in domestic affairs, Canada 1s step by step acquiring con- trol, over her relations with foreign fullh the l coent8,ndis &approvalbeing oof thene Brit- ish ritish Government; and this consent and approval art in accord with an en- lightened view of the world-wide in- tereste, of the Empire.. .Itt is a good traitsowninternational affairs. If a mfor a young nation to is- taloe is made, it is better that we should blame our own public men than barn public of'United the nit d Itingdom. p Dateloprrlent,of the West. Above all, that which marks out Canada fur distinction in the history of the Went. eTodfind ah parr development Por 016(1, it wolilil be necessary to go back to some period in the history of the United Statesnthe nineteenth migrtion from the century, onthe original States along the Atlantic to the Mississippi valley, or to the second migration to the North-West. and the Pacific ocean. In the. thee& last yearn of Copserva.tive,rule the .immigration into the Canadian West was 56,454, •In the three years 4004, 1005, anti 1908, it was 465;660. Between.1901 and 1606 the population of the West was near- ly doubled, and it is probably now close upon a million, But numbers along cannot tell the tale. The charac- ter of the country has virtually chang- ed. The populated area is no longer a fringe along the southern border, served by one railway. It has gpne northward four hundred miles, and stili tho movement is northward, so that the next great movement will be the peopling of the Perces River district, Two groat new I?rovinecs havo been crated. Three transcontinental railway cotmpanies are eagerly compet- ing for the privilege of currying the Western grain, The railway to Itud- son's Bay, long regarded as a dream of romance, is ilitely soon to be a reallbod tart. A naw Canada has arisen between the • WOO and the Welty Meuntaill0, Comparative Stagnation for 28 Years. Stupendous Expansion in Twelve This chapter institutes a comparison between the reci• rd of Canada's growth in trade in the 28 years ending with 1896, and the 12 years ending with 1908 Canada's Aggregate Trade, 1868, $112,500,000 Canada's Aggregate Trade, 1896, 217,000,000 Increase in 28 Years $104,500,000 From the time of Confederation until 1896, the direction and control of the :Canadian Government was, with the exception of four years, in Con- servative hands. During the whole of that period the aggregate of Canadian trade, based on domestic exports and goods entered for consumption, advanced from $112,500,000 to $217,000,000. This was an increase of $104,500,000, or at the rate of three and three-quarter millions a year. Aggregate of Canada's Trade, 1896 $21 7,010,000 Aggregate of Canada's Trade, 1908 598,0 '0,0 0 increase an TWELVE Years $381,000,000 aotxva^s�at� The twelve years which have passed since '96 afford a most striking contrast to the 28 years prior to '96. In the first period our aggregate trade increased by a little over $100,000,000. In the second, and much shorter period, the increase was well on to $400,000,000. Against an average annual increase of three and three-quarter millions in the first period there has been an annual increase of nearly $32,000,00 in the second period. ih The story of our total One Period in Our Export !Trade ; 4 trade is duplicated in that Exports Canadian Products, of the export part of it - 1868 $ 45,500,000 the record of the sales of Canadian products in 1896 106,000,000 other countries. In 1896 the exports of Canadian products amounted to only $106,000,000, an increase of $60,500,000 in 28 years, or an average of less than two and a quarter millions a year. Exports Canadian Products, Increase in 28 Years - S609500,00 ill '41,01,140r, ; d .4 i' iins, �{ !fiir42SSh f�, �E 4{4 Compare the foregoing record for a 28 -year per- iod •with the 12 -year per- iod which has occurred since, The average annual increase in exports in the first period was a little less than two and a quarter millions a year; the aver- age annual increase in the second .period, nearly twelve million dollars a year. THE TOTAL INCREASE IN OUR •EXPORT TRADE IN THE LAST 12 YEARS HAS BEEN VERY MUCH MORE THAN DOUBLE THE TOTAL INCREASE IN THE PREVIOUS 28 YEARS. Another Period in Our Export Trade Exports C;ana,dian Products, 1896 .. $100,000,000 Exports Canadian Products, 1908 .. 247,000,000 Increase in 12 Years - $141,000,000 VOyr,v+?yLL'd?¢ , i}ytri IC+ r Again, which will you have : Unity, progress, and de- velop me; .t under Laurier ? or strife, stagnation, an counts in the dark depression such as theblightedY days before '96 ?