The Brussels Post, 1885-9-4, Page 44
I3e lirll55C15 Vtort
FRIDAY, Y, SEPT. 4, 1885.
Canadian Wheat Prospect.
Consider the subject iu its more
material sense. It is admitted that
the population of the world is rap-
idly increasing and in Harmony
with all the other operations of
that Providence that rules and
reigns over us, the area of produc-
tion is correspondingly increasing.
India is now a strong competitor
in the grain raising and when her
railways are in operation no doubt
the output will be largely increas-
ed. The quantity for export this
year is estimated at 20,000,000
bushels, not more than half of
which will reach the marts of Eur-
ope. The great Canadian North-
west is fast asserting its right to
be regarded as the true home of
the cereal productions that are to
feed over -crowded Europe and es-
pecially the British Islands. It is
no doubt fresh in the memories of
our readers that at a Continental
Exhibition open to the world where
grains were shown from every
country, the jury of experts most
unhesitatingly declared that the
cereal productions of Manitoba
(and especially wheat) were the
best in the known world. Such
expert testimony is invaluable. It
is idle to say that the country that
can grow the best wheat in the
world is not destined by nature to
be thickly populated, and when
that consummation is achieved
what a revolution will take place
in the world's commissariat. In-
stead of wheat coming from India
to feed the inhabitants of Great
Britain, fleet upon fleet of ships
will breast the wave bearing to-
wards the east the golden grain,
the product of the greater Britain
beyond the sea.
It is our object in this article to
consider more especially the out-
look for the farmer as regards
prices. The principle that de-
mand and supply regulate prices
must be admitted ; but there are
also other considerations. For in-
stance, watch the machinations of
the great corn kings, the Bulls
and Bears of the produce market.
Every influence is used by each
party to give effect to their policy.
The bears claim increased produc-
tion; supply exceeding demand,
surplus from previous years, with-
out anything to warrant a contin-
uance of present prices prices.
The bulls pursue the opposite arg-
ument, occasionally utilizing a
prospective war, a slight reported,
or ascertained shortage in crops to
further their side of the question ;
and now come to look back for a
few years the bears appear to have
had rather the best of the argu-
ment. Britain practically is out
of the field. She cannot again
produce wheat at a paying price
on acconnt of the cost of the land
and even if she could, her best
wheat is soft and requires admix-
ture with our hard dry wheat to
raise the standard. Heretofore
the product of India has been
mainly relied upon in this regard,
but although dry there is not the
substance in it that our Canadian
No. 1 possesses, and therefore our
wheat is preferred. Again, it takes
86 days for a ship load of wheat to
reach Liverpool and costs 46 cents
a bushel from India while 25 cents
and 15 days will carry it from
Winnipeg and should the Hud-
son Bay Route prove practicable a
saving of both time and money
will be effected. It will thus be
seen if our information is correct
wo will ourselves be our strongest
competitor, and with a healthy
climate and the most productive
soil in the world and comparative-
ly low priced land, we should be
able to take care of ourselves. See
what an exchange says on this
question ;—"It seems to be accept-
ed now as a fact that the wheat
crop of this country will bo much
less than in any other year since
1870, yet the price centimes low.
Speculators complain bitterly at
the disposition manifested by far-
mers to hold their wheat until the
price advances. What else can a
farmer do if ho has just considera-
tion for his own interests ? It is
true, he may be compelled to sell
because of debts, but if he is able
to hold when the price is below
cost of ,production, that is the wis-
eet course to pursue. A farmer in
one of the best wheat counties of
this state remarked a few days a-
go when he had two or three crepe
of wheat on hand 'that the prise
would be a dollar and a half at
least once in throe years, and he
made it his practice to hold his
erops for that price. His general-
izing, however, was sound, and
will be supported iu years to come
by prices that will always go high-
er after along period of depression.
The very fact that wheat has sold
low continuously for three years
and more is an argument favoring
an advance, because low prices
have lessened the area of produc-
tion, while, at the same time, they
have increased consumption, thus
bringing nearer approach to that
even balance between supply and
demand which makes healthful
competition. Careful observers of
the situation have now aettlea to
the conclusion that wheat will ad-
vance within the present year. It
may not go to high figures, it
probably will not ; nevertheless,
an advance is almost as sure as
the harvest."
THE CONDITION of CANADA
For a long time, it has been ap-
parent to men of independent
thought, that a fatal lethargy of
indifference has been creeping on
the public mind of Canada.
This condition of affairs is univers-
ally characteristic of barbarous
and semi -civilized communities,
but is unique and almost unac-
countable in the history of a free
people. If our legislators were as
eager to ascertain the cause of
this political torpor. as they ars to
lament it, they would soon
arrive at a point from which the
true remedy would be discernible.
It has become very much the cus-
tom to attribute this unfortunate
insensibility in a vague fashion, to
the existhnce of party government
and its attendant evils. To see
that this ready-made solution of
the problem is erroneous, we have
only to reflect that party govern-
ment obtains in nearly all civiliz-
ed countries and is by common con-
sent admitted to produce the most
sensitive regard for the public
weal. Party government is the
destiny of civilization ; it is not
necessarily inimical to wise and ec-
onomical legislation ; to the high
est purity in social and political
life, or to the equitableadministra-
tion of the law ; even where it has
failed to maintain its character as
the foster -mother of public and
private virtue, it has still been re-
cognized as the fortress of nation-
al liberty ; it is at once the out-
come and prime essential of par-
liamentary government, under
which obedience to law is secured
by giving the public a voice in tha
promulgation of law. Various
circumstances peculiar to oursel-
ves, prevent our sharing the ben-
efits of constitutional government.
But the most potent factor in pro-
ducing this national apathy is the
existence of the dependent and
feeble spirit of colonialism aggravat-
ed, itis true by the worst features of
government by party. The history
of the world afords not one soli-
tary instance of a colony becoming
great. The experience of every en-
lightened nation proves that the
only force competent to establish
the due relation between political
parties, to adjust their conditions,
to check their extravagant fervor,
to maintain them in equilibrium
consistent with public requirement,
is a strong and independent spirit
of national sentiment. Party
faction appeals powerfully enough
to the older nations in matters of
internal policy or doubtful dispute,
but when a question of vital mo-
ment to the people as a nation
arises, party sinks and the nation-
al heart is a unit. This is where
we fail in Canada. We have too
much loyalty and too little patriot-
ism. Wo place party before count-
ry. Corrupt ministers avail them-
selves of this opportunity
to rifle the public coffers ; to viol-
ate the independence of parlia-
ment ;
arlia-ment; to subvert the unmistakable
spirit of the constitution ; to tam-
per with the freedom of the press,
the people's oracle; to convert
parliamentary government into a
monopolizing tyranny; to grace
T7:E uRUSSELS POST SEPT, 4, 1885.
their unworthy creatures with the
preferments of trust and responsi-
bility ; to set province against .i
province and rednce eonfodoration •�;
to kt solemn farce; to oppress a
people who call themselves free with
a burden of taxation so grievously
onerous as to discourage enterprise
in the present and to mortgage the
prospects of the future; and when
a portion of our populace rise up
against this intolerable oppression,
we brand then ars traitors and
rebels and condemn thein to the
direst punishment. Where sub-
jects will be slaves, rulers will be
tyrants. If the people of Canada
are willing to continue to honor
this with the name of responsible
government, we would like to have
a definition of irresponsible gov-
ernment. One of the most hope-
ful signs of the times is the new
movement on the part of tho
young men of Canada. They have
chosen to call themselves Liberals,
a name around which every class
of the community may rally with-
out sacrificing their principles or
compromising their party. There
are Liberal Conservatives as well
as Liberal Reformers ; and the
young men of the country are un-
animous in subscribing to the ob-
jects of tin movement. They re-
quire of every candidate for ad-
mission one qualification only, and
that is an honest desire to promote
the interests of Canada. They re-
cognize politics as a science not a
game. They believe in merging
old differences in the supreme
purpose of securing for their count-
ry a pure and wise government.
They aspire to see Canada occupy-
ing an honorable place among the
first nations of the earth. They
adhere to the constitutional axiom,
that the object of government, is
tho welfare of the country, and not
the maintenance of party or the
aggrandizement of ministors.
Party is a means to an end ; when
it fails to accomplish that end, it
should be remodelled. That the
young men of Canada shall at
once achieve the results aimed at,
is too much to hope for; but they
may turn 1111E current of party pas-
sion in the direction of popular
rights ; they may remind the old-
er politicians that they have a
country to govern which is the
only object of politics; they may
show that they repudiate the cabal
of incapable puppets who surround
the treasury beuchs ; they may ex -
ort an influence for good, and
'awaken the popular mind from
that hopeless apathy in which it
has too long reposed. For this
reason they expect and are entitled
to the encouragement and co-op-
eration of all patriotic Canadians
of whatever party or nationality.
The movement will take its initial
momentmn from the platform form-
ulated at the groat convention of
young men to be hold in Shaftes-
bury Hall, Toronto, on the 15th
and 16th of Sept, an event to which
the press of both parties is direct-
ing considerable attention, and in
which every true Canadian should
feel profoundly interested.
A man named A. J. Morse, agent
for boat boilers, jumped off the Annie
Lawrie, and was drowned. He tried
to poison himself with laudanum,
first.
The northern part of muskoka was
ravaged by a furious cycler] last Fri-
day night, which destroyed an im•
manse amount of property. Two
children were killed in Stephenson
township.
The man who brings the private
mail to the Hudson Bay Co. arrived
in Winnipeg yesterday. Ho brought
intelligence that the Government
steamer Alert had arrived at York
Factory over throe weeks ago, and
that the trip with groat despatch only
about five days being occupied in
making the trip from the entrance of
the Straits to York Factory. No foe
whatever was encountered in the
Straits -
The Acton Free Press says = J. F.
MoGarven, village clerk, has been
ordered to furnish copies of all mo-
tions, resolutions, by-laws, etc.. relat.
ivo to the purchase of the steel proper-
ty for cemetery purposes, and also re-
lating to the exemption of W. II.
Story & Sous Glove Works, ' The
requestion comps from J. B, Burns,
and will be required in a suit against
the corporation entered by Mr, Burns
and others to prevent the Steele pro.
petty from being used for cemetery
purposes, and to test the validity of
the by-laws relating to the same.
W41
•lN
A6FIE6D 4110USE8
Ii, a ha
Practise Jemmy By Patronizing is.
The time has come and we are
ready to show the people of West -
tern Ontario the Largest, most ele-
gant and varied Fall Stock of Sta-
ple and Fancy dry goods, Hats and
Caps, Gents' furnishings, Boots and
Shoes. Groceries, 8&c., including the
very choicest lines in
viz.. Myosotis cashmere, ottoman
soliel, costume cloths, fancy checks,
black and colored ottomans, black
and colored cashmeres. Notable
lines will be found in our black gros-
grains, surahs, satin merveilleu z.,
broches and velvets.
NEW GOODS,
LATEST STYLES,
BF ST STOCK,
LOWEST PRICES.
We desire to call your attention to'
the largest and most complete lines
of Dress G-oods,
&c., embracing all the novelties in
Material, combining substantial
goods, elegance of style, Durability
of material, cheapness of price, and
when you visit Brussels, do not fail
to call and see the attractions ? t
the
We ask only a fair trial. We are
confident of the result,
ELL,
NEW GARFIELD HOUSE.
N. B.—I have bought the Stock of the Garfield House and will con-
tinuo to run it in First-class style. Tours respectfully,
G. A. Powell.