The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-03-25

OF these inquiries.
According to the census report for 1891
the educational status is about the same
as in our own country, 81 per cent Of the
population over nine years OF age being
able TO read and write. The number Of
public schools in the Dominion i'm 1897 was
1889. These are maintained by legislative
grants and municipal and district taxes
aggregating in 1897 s9,344,925. Compulsory
education is gaining ground. There are
seventeen universities, with a total endow-
ment of s6.54O.3O0 and property worth
s7.73s,6N. Besides these there are numerous
other higher educational institutions with
valuable properties and fair average at
tendance. There are 325 public libraries
and 155 others belonging to colleges and
various societies. This is not a bad show
ing for a total population of less than five
millions. The Dominion schools are guard
ed with a tender solicitude that promises
much for the future OF the country, for
here, as elsewhere. the schools are among
the very foundation stones of the national
structure. Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Dominion
premier, although a French-Canadian and
a Catholic, used his whole influence against
the separate school system that the Catho-
lies demanded in Manitoba. 1t is no doubt
due in a large measure 10 his assistance
that the province gained a decisive victory
for the splendid system of free nonsec-
tartan schools that it enjoys to-day.
MORALITY AND RELIGION.
The churches of the Dominion number
10. 4sO. a church to every 4s1 souls of what
cnnxror o. SOW nr nationality These
churches engage extensively in all kinds
of missionary enterprises, and Christian
union has been practiced among the Meth
cdists and Presbyterians to the extent Of
uniting their respective branches, so that
now these two denominations are each I'M
broken by subdivisions throughout the Do
minion. Still greater promise is seen in
the little societies Of Christians of all
names united in behalf of midas orphans.
Hospitals, orphanages, asylums and homes
for the needy abound. One Of the first
things to impress the stranger is the pre-
vailing deep reverence for all things sa-
cred. The absence of Sunday newspapers
and street cars is the fruit of this rever-
ence for the Sabbath. as the first day Of
the week is persistently called. The pre-
vailing high moral sense is further attested
by the fact that in the prohibition plebis-
cite in 1898 every province in the Dominion,
except Quebec, cast a majority vote for
prohibition. The temperance sentiment is
especially strong in Manitoba, and a vigor-
Gus campaign is just now being inaugu-
rated for prohibitory enactment in the
next Legislature.
Perhaps in nothing is the progressive
spirit of the Dominion more clearly
seen than in it's splendid canal and
railway systems. The year 1855 witnessed
the completion of the Canadian Pacific
Railway, a continuous line under one man.
| agement of 3,076 miles, the longest at that
time in the world, and said TO be the great
est public work ever undertaken by so
young a country. New lines and extensions
| are vigorously pushed, and new waterways
opened and old ones improved until the
| Dominion's transportation facilities will be
a strong incentive TO immigration and to
various extensive enterprises. One of the
Dominion's greatest needs is people-peo-
pie who are not afraid OF the hardships OF
pioneer life, people who come to stay, to
| enter into the spirit OF this new life, to
grow up with and into it, an inseparable
| part of this great new land Of promise. To
this end she has thrown wide her doors of
welcome to every land. To the down-trod-
den. exiled tribes of Russia she has offered
special inducements. They came by ship
loads and settled in colonies on the crown
lands in the Northwest Territories. 1t is
expected that large numbers more will join
them in the near future. But still, all these
T. 49, A.raIrAA Ole
entire Dominion, there are not two people
to the square mile. In British Columbia
there are only three-tenths of a person tC
the square mile; or one person TO every
three and one-third square miles. In the
territories there are over four square miles
to every settler; while ON the opposite side
of the globe the surging, seething masses OF
humanity trample one another in the dust
and the agonizing cry for bread is unceas'
ing. While numbered thousands in those
.overcrowded lands are falling victims tC
famine and pestilence, here in the great
Northwest, where drouths never come
there are not men enough to save the crop!
that grow almost spontaneously Wher
nations learn that true greatness consist:
in high attachments in the arts of peace
rather than war; when national expansion
means growth in the great attributes o
Justice, mercy and love, rather than in ac
QUESTION of territory; when the r~ivalrie:
and jealousies between the great powers
are which shall contribute most to the wei
fare of its people or to the sum total o.
human happiness; when we have this STATE
of affairs, perhaps not before. will thu
habitable portions OF the globe have theii
proportionate share of the population.
A LOYAL PEOPLE.
Canadians are intensely loyal to every
thing Canadian. Even the rigors of thei
climate they prefer TO the "Iiasty, clingin:
dampness' Of the States. Patriotism is on
of their strongest points. But their low
and loyalty to Canada does not conflic
with their deeper devotion to Great Britain
This is seen in the eagerness with which
the Canadian contingents rallied 10 tn
support of their sovereign in the presen
conflict. For the first time Canada is bear
ing a part in a foreign ~war-doing it frecl.
of her own accord, partly in payment of
debt of gratitude she owes the mothe
country and partly 10 show 10 the worl'
her attitude toward Great Britain; as IN
premier says: ITO give TO the world
spectacle never seen before-the spectacle
of the colonies standing behind the mothe
country" Another proof of the Dominion