The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-01-15
The State Of Things at Quebec.

It is o gloomy picture which our corre-
s%pondent at Three Rivers draws OF the ag-
ricultural. industrial. and commercial con.
dition Of Lower Canada. The data collected
show that the inhabitants OF Quebec are
doomed to ruin II they remain under the
Dominion Government. and that they have
awakened to the fact Is proved by the
wholesale exodus Of the younger men to
Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.
We are told. for instance. that wheat
able throughout tho province. has ceased to
remunerate the Quebec farmers. partly be-
cause the soil in most Of the parishes is ex-
hausted. and partly because it Is impossi-
BILE to sustain competition with the prairie
lands OF the Northwest. The other export
staples of Lower Canada. such as barley.
hay, potatoes. lumber. wood pulp. railroad
ties. telegraph poles. horses. fish. eggs, and
wool. can only find a market In the United
States: and from this market they
are now practically shut out. While
the treaty OF partial reciprocity was
in operation-between 1854 and 1866
small farmers could earn u net income
Of five or six hundred dollars a year Now
they can earn no net income at all. and can
till their land only at the risk Of falling into
debt. The result is that not only the able
bodied young men. but In the case OF many
parishes whole families abandon their farms
and emigrate to New England. 1t might
be just possible to live. notwithstanding the
tremendous decline in the prices OF farm
produce. had not the Dominion and provin-
cial taxes been greatly increased. and did
not the Canadian tariff compel the habitant
to pay more for the stores and implements
he has to buy than the American farmer
pays for them.
Under the stress OF this combination OF
hardships and misfortunes whole parishes
In Lower Canada are becoming depopu-
lated. Striking evidence on this point Is
furnished by q representative OF LIE Cana
dien. who some months g travelled
through the province. especially that part
OF 1t which lies below the city Of Que
bee. He says. for instance. that in the
parish Of Trois Pistoles q village which
used to contain two hundred families
now does not contain even two. In the
parish OF Rlviere Blanche there Is a
stretch OF four miles along the main
road where one encounters nothing but
abandoned farmhouses. Ten years ago
the owners Of these dwellings were tolera-
bly, well-to-do. To-day their barns are
empty. their homes deserted. their windows
barricaded. Similar scenes OF desolation
are common in the counties OF Matane.
Rlmouski. and P~emiscouata. Even from
the relatively prosperous parish of Sainte
Luce the people are departing at the rate OF
five per cent. a year. Many of those who
remain have to struggle desperately to
make both ends meet. for half the farms are
mortgaged for all they are worth.
Such is the deplorable situation OF the
French Canadians under the Dominion sys-
ten OF government. Are they withheld
fromSseeking to better their condition and
to sunder their connection with Great Brit
ain by any lingering sentiment of hostility
to the United States Our correspondent
denies that any such enmity exists. How
can it survive. seeing that the people OF
Quebec already have much more in common
with New England than they have with
Ontario or Nova Scotia. In this sense. that
for two French Canadians who nave relatives
Ia the last-named provinces ten ut least
have relatives In Massachusetts, and New
' H~ampshirei At the rural Post ofnces in the