The Minneapolis journal., 1901-09-07
SLOW GROWTH OF CANADA
The Disappointment and Irritation Caused by
Census Announcement discussion OF
Causes Mnn Bankers Opinion.

that they have fitted themselves for work
that they cannot perform at home because
the field Is very limited. Hence they move
to the United States where there are bet
ter opportunities both for ordinary and ex-
ceptional talents. To alter this condition
of affairs the paper referred to urges that
special efforts be made to educate young
Canadians for farming, numbering, min
Ing and all pursuits that offer broad
field at home.
This paper recognizes only a part of the
cause OF the drain Of so large a part of
the Canadian youth to the United States.
The use OF common language and the
multiplied business and social relations of
the two peoples have caused managers of
great American enterprises to regard
Canada as part of the United States for
their purposes. They know what goes on
in Canada in fields Of activity that in
tereSt them. Hence they draw on Canada
for their new blood just as they draw on
any part of the United States. The num-
Der of men of Canadian birth who hold
good positions in the American railway
service after having begun their careers
in Canada illustrates this statement. Aside
from this many of the more ambitious
Canadian youth deliberately choose life in
the United States as offering them a more
promising prospect
Dryden's Dakota Farm.
One of the amusing incidents of the
census discussion is to be seen In the
row stirred up over the North Dakota
investment of Mr.. Dryden, Ontario's
minister Of agriculture. II there is any
thing the Canadians are proud of, it is
the development of their own west; and
the growth OF Manitoba, the territories
and British Columbia is one OF the bright
places in the census. Hence when it was
discovered that man especially inter
ested by reason Of his Office in the agri-
cultural development of Canada had put
his money into Dakota ranch along with
some other Canadian investors, the dust
few rapidly for while.
The Good Time Coming.
Putting aside their disappointment over
the recent census, the Canadians are al
ready banking on the growth of the next
ten years in New Ontario" Quebec and
the west. They declare that in the west
the tide Of immigration now sets from
the United States into Canada and that
in the next ten years thousands and
thousands of American citizens will be-
come Canadian subjects. In this I be-
lteve they are right But comparatively
little good, cheap land remains in the
United States, while there are empires of
it in the Canadian west to be bought at
q nominal price or homesteaded. The in
t1nction in land values as it does in po-
litical allegiance. OF two farms sepa-
rated by the 49th parallel the southern
one Is often worth twice or three times
as much as the northern. With the
American west rapidly filing up, 1t is
only natural that our people shall cross
the boundary and occupy the cheap and
fertile acres that stretch away to the
mountains in that region that people used
to think was as uninhabitable as the arc
tic seas. Men always think of the Ultima
Thule as just beyond them. Thirty years
ago scientists said wheat could not be
successfully raised even in the American
Red river valley. Fifty years ago Min
nesota was regarded as a polar desert.
Ten years ago. even Minnesota people
thought Of Manitoba and the Canadian
west as cold, inhospitable country where
only the hardest grains and few vegeta-
bles could be raised. But this year Mani
toba has raised more wheat than Mime
sofa raised twenty years ago and the
great herds that roam the Canadian
plains far north of the international line
are enriching their owners. Canada is
not equal to the task of developing this
great region alone. American capital,
labor, machinery and the American
settlers are going to take large part in
the work.
No Cause for Regret.
There is no reason for regretting this
fact. 1t is only another step in the
process Of American expansion. The men
and money we send to Canada will not
retard our own development in the least,
and they are sure to result in the Ameri-
canization of the Canadian west.
Eventually, II not at first, this will mean
an expansion of markets for American
goods, the establishment of free trade be-
tween the United States and Canada and
(who can say?) the ultimate incorpora-
tion of Canada into the United States.
Theodore NJ. Knappen.