Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-08-03

farmer increased only II per cent. Inc
fisherman showed no increase at ALL rather
diminishing in number and in extent of
output. If the same ratio of increase should
continue, with the increased population re-
ferred to, it would be very soon seen that
the question of food is to be one of the
81 eatest importance within the next fifty
years.
The bread which now sustains the popu-
lation is from flour derived from the most
northern states the exhaustion Of arabic
soils by constant cultivation and the trend
Of the growth of wheat being continually
uorthward Minnesota and Dakota furnish
row threc-fourth his of the entire flour prod
net of this country. In fifteen years, it is
alleged, exports of all food products, includ-
ing provisions, will cease because of the
diminishing amount on the one hand and
the increased consumption by growth Of
population on the other.
Under such circumstances the enormous
wheat areas of the British possessions in
North America are of great importance to
this country Not only will they have i'm
portance as source of supply, but ny their
occupancy through emigration and other
wise they would create vast market so
accessible and so exclusive to the United
States that nothing in its history would so
benefit its trade. Thus, if Michigan, Wis
cousin and Minnesota have been contrib
utory to the benefits of this country in
absorption of goods on the one hand and
their supply of food and raw material on
the other so will also the development of
regions of equal area and equal richness
within the British possessions
The impending economic revolution,
therefore, il. full of significance regarding
the northern region of the continent, as it
is regarding the foreign trade, because
without the drawing Of sword, the she'd
ding Of drop of blood or the expenditure
of a single dollar the area of the trade of
the United States can thus he doubled. 1t
needs only single act OF the legislatures at
Washington and at Ottawa to have the
barrier broken down, so that even within
five years the foundation can be laid for a
progress on this continent in the next fifty
years measured only 10y that which has
taken place south of it's center within the
last fifty years.
The field of opportunity for he next fifty
years is the portion of the continent now
unoccupied. The young men in our col
leges and schools when they come ont need
the same chance that their predecessors
have had That chance is pretty well pre-
/
United States have been reached. A LAND
| hunger" has already set in, as shown in
the tremendous rush for farms at the open
ing of every government reserve 1t is inn
possible to get new farm in Minnesota
any more readily than it is in PENNSYLVANIA
| without diSplacing a farmer, and unless
the people continue to herd in the cities
Crowding the manufactures, or live one
upon another there must be room for eX-
pansion. Canada affords that room.
The maritime provinces, described by
Governor Andrews of Massachusetts, as
possessing greater wealth in minerals and
agricultural possibilities than New York
and Pennsylvania" with Il great coast line
of fisheries added, offer great Inducements
for young men in the eastern states. The
ability of these provinces to contribute raw
material, which New England needs for
the creation of II foreign trade, is as palpa-
bic as that warmth comes from the sun.
Equally so with the great manufacturing
fa<lities and raw material in the province
of Quebec, the enormous possible output
of food products from the province of Onta-
RIO while the minerals of Algoma, that
treasure box of the continent, invite the
energy and capital Of the American peo-
! pie to a degree that California never pos
! scSsed.
| These, however, are but the Vestibule to
| the vast wheat fields of the northwest,
| where "a furrow can be made with Il pillow
Il thousand miles long, from Winnipeg to
! the Rocky mountains, and be but base
! line for IA thousand miles square of farm
/ ing land British Columbia, ON the Pacific
| completes the attractive picture, for here Is
/ found not only wide agricultural areas
/ but enormous needed supplies of timber,
| sources of fish food unequaled elsewhere
/ in the world, and minerals the extent and
| value of which far exceed those of all the
/ mineral states on the Pacific coast, not
, WithStandng the enormous output which
| in the last fifty years they have exhibited.
/ The half century of opportunity now
/ opening up for the coming American boy
and girl must include within its scope this
/ northern region, which has the best supply
| of raw material and food products essential
| to the success of the United States in its
| attempt to build up IL foreign trade. The
| possibilities Of profit, the field of opportu-
nifty the settlement of numerous questions
! of international concern, the absorption OF
! immigration, the creation of ready made
! customers and the hope of the future rest
! in It trade that shall be continental i'll eX-
tent as continental in profit
l.RASTCS WIMAN