The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-05-24
EMIGRATION FROM QUEBEC.


Why Thousands Of French Cauadiaus Arc
swarminE Into Neu England.
Under the heading of "a National ca \
lsmity" the Montreal Witness prints the
report Of a correspondent who had been
sent to investigate the proportions of the
emigration to New England now flowing
from the rural districts near the city Of
Quebec. It appears, according to the esti-
mate OF the railway agents at Quebec and
Lewis, that the inhabitants OF this section
Of French speaking Canada are abandon
ing their homes to an extent hitherto un-l
the average number Of depar-
lures being from 100 to 100 q day from each
Of the principal stations on the lines run
ming to the northeastern states.
This loss of population is irreparable. EN-
igrants from Europe cannot be induced to
occupy the forsAen farms so long as the
province Of Quebec is included in the Do
minion of Canada, while the French Cana
dams who migrate to New England never
return to their native villages except for
brief visits to relatives and friends The
result will be that vast tracts Of land once
cultivated will relapse into waste What
renders the situation hopeless Is the fact
that the impulse to repatriation shows no
signs of weakening, but is decidedly strong
CT this year than 1t was last. Strenuous eff
forts have been made to check it, but I'M
vain. Episcopal commands. sermons and
personal appeals from the clergy, farmers
clubs, repatriation societies, organized at
tempts to divert emigration to the north
west, have all failed to stop the drain of the
life blood of the Dominion.
The Canadian loyalists have endeavored
to explain the discomfort and misery which
cause the exodus from the province Of Que
bee by attributing ruinous habits OF intern
perance to the French speaking popula-
ton. One might object to Wis explana-
ton on the a priori ground that 1t fails to
account for the ability of habitual drunk
ards to obtain q comfortable livelihood as
soon as they migrate to New England.
But as matter of fact there is, according
to the correspondent of the Montreal Wit
ness, no foundation for the charge. II
seems that within the last generation there
has been vast change for the better in the
drinking habits OF the French Canadians,
and that now there is scarcely habitant
house on either side of the lower St Law.
renee In which you do not encounter the
temperance cross, the emblem of the reform
started by the Rev. Mr. Chiniquy many
years ago.
No, the French Canadians are deserving
by tens of thousands the farms on which
they were born, for the simple reason that
they cannot keep body and soul together
there. They cannot get lucrative work for
their hands to do. 1t is useless to till their
lands when they cannot get remunerative
prices for the produce. What between the
low returns for everything they have to
sell and the high cost Of everything they
have to buy, coupled with the inordinate
taxes which they have to pay, they cannot
live any longer in their country. By the
fear Of starvation they are forced to GO
where, although taxes will be levied upon
them, they can at least earn the money
with which to meet them. They know
where to 60, because their relations and
friends, who have already emigrated, are
continually sounding the praises of New
England.
The French Canadians who have settled
In our northeastern states are not only sell
supporting. but they are constantly giving
substantial proofs of their prosperity by
sending remittapces to those whom they
have left behind. Under such conditions
the time cannot be far distant when nearly
the whole Of the ablebodied population OF
French speaking Canada will have trans
ferred itself across the border
There is one way and one way only to
stop the depopulation of lower Canada
and that is to support the movement start
ed by ex-Premier Mercier, which aims At
Independence as a preliminary step, but
contenplates the eventual admission of the
province into the Union. The instant Que
bee becomes state in the Union its taxes
will be lightened, and the prices Of most oil
the commodities purchased by the farmer
will be lowered and, what itsf far greater
moment, its products will have free access
J to the American markets. Farming
lands throughout the province will &C
quire a value greater than they hav,
ever yet possessed, md the output o
their staple products will acquire proper
tions for which there is no precedent. TIL,
parish priests, whose flocks are dwindlinl
and whose stipends are with every yeai
drawing nearer to the vanishing point, will
recover the means of subsistence which
they have right to expect. 1t is strange
that they have not already awakened tt
the truth that the interests of their church
no less than the secular interests of Frencl
Canadian laymen, are threatened with ca
tastrophe by the present CONNECTION o
Quebec with the Dominion and with Greai
Britain, and that they can only bepromotet
by the union of the province with the Amer
lean republic.-New York Sun.