The Irish standard., 1895-09-28

SOTLiQS TO SucQ SueVlCeS. MI. SeafSeaLL
| is well aware that noncompliance with
the principles Of the Interstate act,
whether on his Canadian or on his Amer
lean lines, would expose him to the risk
of being shut out of the United States
! declares most positively that he observes
| that law as faithfully in Canada as any
American road observes it in the United
States. At the same time he is under no
| legal obligation 10 do so. a. manager
who wanted to be sharp could do it with
| iznpnnity and inftict enormous injury on
| American railways. Sueh q state OF
| things is a standing menace to American
| interests and cannot last always. II the
conditions were reversed the Canadian
Government would not tolerate it five
minutes
| The Canadian Pacific stands on a.
somewhat different footing. 1t was con-
structed as political road to keep Mani
| toba and British Columbia in the confed-
Grafton. The Dominion Government
spent $35, 100000 on it, and then handed
| the work over to a company which re-
ceived further subsidy of $25,o00,0CO
from the Dominion treasury, besides
I land, tax exem mptions. and what not. It's
minor lines have all been handsomely
subsidized from Ottawa. The British
government regarding it as a mere route
TO India, has subsidized its steamships
| on the Pacific, which in case of war would
| be armed as cruisers. Its Australian
steamships get a yearly subsidy from
! Ottawa. Esqnimault, al it's British Co
lumbia end, has been fortified by the
British government, and British troops
| and men-of-War are stationed at Hall
lax, which may be said to be one Of its
Atlantic termini. 1t is common thing
| to see munitions Of war from England
going over it's main line to Vancouver
for I1,dia or the British naval stations
! in Chinese waters. Originally it was
designed as an all-Canadian road, to rem
der Canadians independent OF American
| lines and to do none but Canadian and
British business; in short, to build up a
| British nation in North America that
might keep the United States in check.
! Geography has proved too much for 1t.
! It was hardly com pieted, when Lord
Mountstephen, raised to the peerage for
being it's first president, saw thai there
was not enough business for it in Cam
ada, and probably never would be. 1t
runs for over thousand miles between
the Ottawa and the Red River OF the
North, through bowling wilderness.
The praries begin at Winnipeg, and
there is stretch of frstrate land for 600
miles to Medicine Hat, but the 900 miles
from there to the Pacific coast traverse
poor soils, foothills, and three mountain
ranges. Settlement is slow There are
not as many white people by 100000 in
the whole space, from the Ottawa to the
Pacific ocean, as in the two Dakotsts
This year Manitoba has a splendid wheat
I>,,t 10
the grain may be frozen. Rates from
Manitoba are high, and in fat years the
farmer has not much left for himself.
The Ontario and Quebec divisions have
to scramble for business with the Grand
Trunk and the ST. Lawrence, and, like
the Grand Trunk, suffer from the head
long flight of population.
1t became necessary, therefore, TO let
the lingo dream go by the board, and
carry the road into the United States.
Instead Of using Halifax or St. John as
the chief winter port, Boston and New
| York were selected, and to get TO Boston
line was run Through the northern part
| of Maine with the help of another Domin-
| ion subsidy. Then a dash was made for
| Minneapolis and Duluth from SauIt Ste.
Marie, and the Mimi eapolis branch has re-
Gently been extended through Dakota to
! the Canadian boundary, and on up the
main line just west of Regina. It's Wa
| bash conectipn gives it "a share Of the
Chicago traffic. Precisely the same char
ges as were sometimes made against the
Grand Trunk by American railways are
continually made against the Canadian
Pacific. 1t is accused of cutting rates
from Minneapolis to the seaboard, and
recouping itself by leyying extortionate
rates ON it's purely Canadian business, OF
matchmaking the American traEscontt-
Mental lines, of granting rebates from
! Montreal to get traffic away from Amer
ican roads at Chicago, and Of acting the
part of pirate generally. Sir William
Van Horne, an American once, denies it
all, but it is quite clear that he can rob
his American competitors il he chooses
without fear Of punishment under the
Interstate act, and if he refrains from
filling a depleted treasury by doing SO 1t
is because he Is more magnanimous than
he gets credit for being among Cana
dians. The road passed it's dividend late
ly, and in the opinion of competent Judges
viii soon be nearly as badly waterlogged
as the Grand Trunk. Anyhow it must
reach out for more American business at
the expense of American roads, east, west,
north and south, and if American roads
are to be bound by the Interstate law, it
will get it. #
In his program of colonial development
Mr.. Caa,nbe berlain says nothing about Cam
ada Africa is his field. He knows all.
about Canada. He was here during the
negotiations over the abortive Bayard-
Chamberlain fishery treaty, and it was
shown to him that if the United States
desired to break up the British empire
4.