The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-09-30
TIE pRov1Nc1AL EXODUS

The st. John Euenilg Globe has an article.
in relation to the great tide of emigration
from all the provinces of British North Amer
lea into the United States, which is certainly
ingenious il not convincing. The writer does
not attempt to disguise the facts. indeed he
puts the case more strongly than we, in our
less perfect knowledge of those facts should
have yentured TO do. He says:
From every quarter of these Provinces
from Upper and Lower Canada, from New
Brunswick and Nova Scotia, from Prince Ed
Edward Island and Observation-Disclosures is a
rush of emigration of native population, the
like of which was never known before
Ninety-nine of every hundred go to the neigh
boring republic. From Canada the exodus is
tremendous; it affects not only the rural pop
nlation, but the larger cities, Montreal only
being free from its effects. The newspapers
are doing their best to stem the tide. They
appeal to every feeling the emigrant is sup
posed to possess, and they depict in strong
colors the hardships and disadvantages which
he will encounter if he needs not their warn
ing. But they appeal and warn in vain.
This extraordinary emigration the writer ex-
plains as follows: Those provinces produce
men and women faster than they produce the
bread to feed them with, and in consequence
the surplus population must go somewhere
T else to seek food By. the natural increase
without any accessions from abroad the pop
ulation would double about once in twenty
five years. But not having in their midst the
means of supporting this increase, the sur
plus goes abroad. For many years past--un-
until the outbreak of our war-the out-go
has been steady. twas continual stream
that flowed ON evenly and steadily. While
the war lasted the stream was damned, emf
grafton was checked, and though many con-
tinued to leave, yet Americans-from both
Northern and Southern States--took their
places, at the close Of the war the popula-
ton was unusually large. Now the dam is re-
moved, and the stream rushes out in ter
rent, which it win continue to do until an
equilibrium is restored.
I The surprising part of this writer's view is
that he finds nothing discouraging in the facts
thus stated. He finds in this steady deple-
ton no evidence IF diminishing vitality
Though he admits that nearly all the branches
of colonial industry are over-stocked, that
there are @more printers, more carpenters,
more laborers of every kind than there is
work for them to dc" while they cannot be ill.,;
duced to cultiUate the soil, yet he declares
that the Provinces are not going backward,
and he thinks they are progressing more rap
idly than any of the non-agricultural states of
| the Union. He entirely overlooks the fact
that that cannot be called a prosperous com
munity whose resources are SO ill-developed
that it is unable to draw to itself the surplus
| products of other communities. IF the Prov
inces do not produce food enough for their
population, while at the same time labor is so
little remunerative that they have no money
with which to buy it abroad, we must say that
! it is condition Of things which to us looks
anything but hopeful.
| Most certainly there is not in the New
England States, with which the writer at
tempts to institute a comparison, any state of
things in the least degree analogous. Here
| every species of labor is enormously dear,
and with its profits the laborer is enabled to
draw to his own door the products of the
agricultural West. Whatever may be the
ASes'oAio Hh4Cu LIZ 4sCnf hCot-
ward he certainly is not driven thither by lack
of food. Neither is it true that "the great
growth OF the United States is in the purely
agricultural States" The grain fields, of the
West may make the greatness of Chicago,
but it is something besides wheat and corn
which has built up San Francisco. The writer
must look deeper for the carses of the differ
ence he laments. He concludes with the fol-
lowing very suggestive paragraph:
The feature most to be regretted in our en-
/ igration is that our young men 30 abroad and
help to build up another country; their labor
is entirely lost to us; but the New Englander,
! who makes his home in Iowa, or Illinois, or
1 California is still working for his country
Whatever may be the future of these colo
mics, we cannot expect, at least for many years,
to increase in population as rapidly as the
United States, because their vast and mex
haustable granaries give them an advantage
over us, which no art of ours can overcome.
I Sa "A eopperhead journal in Connecticut,
u opposing negro suffrage in that State, asserts
'hae IN the event of the ballot being allowed
many Oh the negroes will vote the Democratic
ticAet. we scarcely think this objection is sim
cere. II the Democrats THOUGHT his Satanic
Highness would vote with thar, a., '~o..1s
extend the right of suffrage into Hades T1,av
would certainly poll larger vote in that nl.co
than among the negroes inConneeticut = m
i " Trihunn s-4as7sssfs s{t sfsss rtF.4st rN+M