The Irish standard., 1895-09-28
ChNUCKSkCR|0SS 1'HE WAY
Tie Significance There Was in
Building That Costly Scheme
the Canadian Pacific.
Railroads Are Built in Canada
Like They Are to Benefit
the People.
And the People Over There in Can
ada Are Singing Praises Con-
cerning the Grand Trnnk.

ada Are Singing Praises Com
cerning the Grand Trnnk.
The visitof Sir Rivers Wilson, the new
President of the Grand Trunk, is farouslngg g
interest here as we'll as in England in the
future Of the two great Canadian roads.
It is apparent that they can never be made
to pay except by getting new feeders IN
the United States, and the question is
what Congress will do about it. Their
position with reference to the Interstate
Commerce act is anomalous, writes
Montreal correspondent to the New York
Sun.
S The Grand Trunk stands thus: Nearly
$3.50, ,0OO, 900 of British money invested in
It is earning nothing. If the road ever
had a chance to do a paying business
within Canada the chance was destroyed
by the building of the Canadian Pacific,
which is competitor, not only in the
provinces Of Quebec and Ontario, but be-
tween Chicago and the seaboard. In On
gario the two run side by side for miles at
stretch, with the st. Lawrence water
route in summer taking traffic from both.
when the Grand Trunk was built, forty
years ago. Canada vas prospecting as never
before or since, partly owing to the high
price of grain created by the Crimean
war, but chiefly because of the Marcy
Elgin reciprocity treaty with the United
States. which was signed in 1854 and came
10 an end through the action of Congress
rs66. Since then Canada has not made
anything like The progress which the
Grand Trunk projectors expected. The
exodus, as it is called, has carried off an
immense number of native Canadians
there were nearly g. znillion in the United
States in 1S90-;and an equally vast NUM-
Der Of settlers Of European origin. On
tario and Quebec are now little more than
breeding grounds for New England, New
York and the Western states. Places on
the Grand Trunk like Port Hope and
Kingston have probably lost more inhsbl-
tants than they now contain. The con-
struction and absorption of minor roads
within Canada have proved disastrous to
the Grand Trunk proprietors, for, like the
rest of the country, the sections through
which they run have not come to expecta-
tions. The building of the Canadian Pa
cific, largely with government subsidies,
put the crown on their evil fortune.
Over 1000 miles of the Grand Trunk
system are in the United States, embrac-
ing the Chicago and Grand Trunk, the
Michigan Air Line, the Detroit, Grand
Haven and Milwaukee, and the Atlantic
and St. Lawrence from Portland to the
Canadian boundary. Bad as things are in
Canada for the road, they would be worse
but for the American traffic carried thro'
Canada. The Grand Trunk lines within
the United States are, OF course, subject
to the Interstate Commerce act, but it is
charged that on the portion OF the road
within Canada the officials do as they like.
It is alleged, for example, that the agent
il Chicago may make a proper rate from
there via Canada to Portland, but his
principals in Montreal can yitiate it and
violate the Interstate Commerce act by
sending a check by way OF rebate to the
Chicago shipper, 50 that American roads
doing business between Chicago and the
seaLoard are altogether at a disadvantage.
They have to obey the Interstate act from
end to end of the route, while the Cana
dian road, though ostensibly complying g
with it at each end, really sets it at
defiance.
The Grand Trunk has not been sub
si6ized very heavily as subsidies go in
this pap-fed country. During con-
struction it got a loan of SIS ,oo0, 900 from
the government of the united provinces
of Upper and Lower Canada, now Ontario
and Quebec, which has not been repaid,
aud in direct subsidies it has got about
$4,000 900 more. It was not built as a
political OF military road, but as a COM
mercial route. It has not received pen
ny from the British government 1t has
done a good deal for Portland and Chi
cago, and it's Chicago road lis an import
ant avenue for Erie, West Shore, Lehigh,
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western,and
other American lines converging at the
Niagara frontier. Here ii Montreal
where its operations within Canada are
closely watched, everybody believes that
II is trying to live up TO the Interstate
act in local as we'll as in through OF
American business. and now that, in
consequence of its terribly hard luck in