The Minneapolis journal., 1903-03-19
rhe firm Of osler & Hamlm ond has been


The firm of Osler & Hammond has been
prominent in the affairs of Canada for
many wears. In Toronto it occupies a
conspicuous position In the financial world
In the west, in Winnipeg under the firm
name OF Osler Hammond Nanton, 1t
carries on huge business in brokerage,
mortgage loans, fire insurance and land
sales The conduct Of the business east
and west is characterized by a combina-
ton Of modern methods, straight dealing
and conservative principles, which have
won for the firm a high reputation in the
pubic mind. In the west, for almost
twenty years, the sagacous conduct Of the
firms business has enabled it to emerge
from troublous times unscathed, a and to
stand to-day fully equipped to gain the
fullest. advantage from the existing tide
OF prosperity upon which%the broad Do
minion is now fairly launched
In a review Of western Canadian prog
ress any newspaper correspondent in
structed to report upon the situation at
large might naturally appeal to the firm
OF Osler, Hammond & Nanton for point
ers in regard to the currents and moving
forces which underlie and control the sit
uation. II : .@2 ~ =
Your correspondent felt that the opinion
OF this firm might be Of interest to the
| readers ~of T he GU r n a, !, and accord
lngly sought an interview with Mr.. Ham
mond, whose permanent place of residence
is Toronto, but who is temporarily in
| charge of the Winnipeg office during the
absence of the Messrs. Nanton. 4.
ITO what do I attribute, chiefly, the
prevailing activity in western business af
| fatrs?" repeated Mr. Hammond in re-
sponse to my inquiry. ssWell, the eX-
PLANTATION seems to me plain and easy.
The west has had magnificent crops and
It's profit year by year is increasing in a
| very large ratio. Then it helps the gen
/ 6ral nrOSnaritV IN ho fro, 70 !.
! 900 new settlers entering the country, each
| provided with ready cash to meet the nee
/ essary expense of establishing footing
and a new home. Until a few years ago
/ the land hunger Of the citizen Of the
! United States has been marked by such
rushes as that to Oklahoma territory, and
the gradual absorption of the best of the
cheap lands of Nebraska, the Dakotas and
4 Minnesota. The demand for cheap, good
farming land can no longer be appeased
by resort to those localities. The natural
1 Increase of the native and naturalized
population Of the United States has been
| driving for some years a constant stream
of agricultural people from the densely
settled states of the east and middle west
The accommodation which this stream OF
ho1neseekers formerly found in Oklahoma,
1 the Dakotas and Minnesota has dinin-
ished to the vanishing point. y Free and
cheap lands Of the best quality are avail
had to these lands in obedience to the
simple law of nature which fills vacuum
or under which water runs down hill. The
fact that these high-class lands are to-
day available for occupation is becoming
widely known throughout the United
4 States. There is no natural antipathy be-
tween your people and our own; we ac-
knowledge a common origin; our laws
spring from the same source our Ian
guage is the same The bread and but
ter argument illustrates the effort o
demagogues to excite national animosity
! Your overflow population will find home:
i in the Canadian west as easily and freely
las Canada's overflow population in pas
|years. resorted to the various states of the
union. We could not now keep your peo
pie out of the western territories of Can.
ada if we desired to do SO foolish a thing
at is needless to say that we would not i
} 1--we could. {
IAN may safely reckon H. that British
statesmen look upon this movement of in:
3 Sterests and ideas now in progress between
, Canada and the union with the most un,
| Iqualifed approval" ",>
|, "The union, in addition to the demant
, created by its natural b1rth-rate increas.
is tremendously affected by immigration
I dare say" laughed Mr.. Hammond
that you know all this quite as well as
do but since you invite my opinion, her
it is: +, H. 4,.l.. , ....
, New York received last year about 800,
, 900 immigrants, a large proportion )
them being Of the agricultural classes
these people were turned loose in the west
your densely peopled agricultural state
t continuing to send large quota to adj
r to the army of land-seekers. There i
3 a|so-and so far as am aware now note,
!. for the. first tin1e-a new movement O
= population. to be observed both in til
Y United States and in Canada, from til
/ cities to the country. attribute ;thi
movement to improvements in the com
forts of farming life, induced by the ere
alton of mail routes Of rural delivery, i'm
e nrovement in the conduct Of rural schools
;. rural telephones. rural roads and genera
fresh facilities for, transit and communi
cation. Farm life has always been in
J '-ldependent; but the former isolation an
l3Spartan methods are giving place to so
: Ecial amenities and home comforts wInic