The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-11
Canada's Immense Development.

Canada is getting to be big boy
now" ,says Sir THOMAS SHAUGHNESSY,
tho president of the Canadian Pacific
Railway. The facts justify this state
ment. Canada is no longer an infant.
1t has laid aside its swaddling clothes
and has donned the toga Of virile young
manhood, to assert its claims to a
place in the world of affairs; to remain
under the parental roof tree, If that be
deemed most suitable and satisfactory;
to go into political or commercial part
nership with its gigantic neighbor on the
south; or to go into business solely upon
its own account if it sees fit to do so.
England no longer assumes a right OF
dictation in Canadian affairs. She now
regards the Dominion as q self-sutticient
youngster quite able and willing to take
care of himself, and whom it would be
unwise to offend, rather than as ward
in Chancery. A generation has wit
messed political transformation and an
industrial revolution,
Most Of us to the southwark OF the
border have been so occupied with our
own individual and national affairs that
we have failed to note what has been done
by our Canadian neighbors. In energy
the Canadians are now our rivals; in
achievement they have perhaps out
stripped us. If the foreign commerce
of the United States, per capita Of total
population, correspondent with that Of
Canada, our exports and imports would
aggregate six billions of dollars per year
instead Of their present two and one
fourth billions. In other words, the
total foreign commerce OF the United
States approximates $50 per capita,
whereas that of Canada approxiInates
$50 Her railway activity, In its proper
ton to population, within recent years
has outstripped our own. Vast areas
which a few years ago were known only
to Indians and trappers are now covered
with towns, villages and thrifty farms.
A generation has seen her railway mile
age and her freight traffic multiplied by
twenty and her railway equipment and
her passenger traffic multiplied by ten.
With no intention whatever of being so,
the United States is doubtless chiefly
responsible for Canada's progress and
development, though there remains a
possibility that, had tho United States
pursued different policy thirty years
ago Canada's progress would have been
endlessly greater than 1t has been. The
duration Of the Reciprocity Treaty nS54-
1860 covered the period Of the civil war,
during which the United States was a
large purchaser Of Canada's food prod
ucts. The termination OF that expe-
rience and its attendant conditions was
accompanied by belief that Canada's
farms were q menace to the prosperity
Of our own. The treaty was abrogated
and the door was closed to Canadian
products. Canada was disappointed,
and not little embittered. For a time,
Canadians hardly knew which way to
turn. They had no other outlet for their
products. With the pluck Of their race,
they set about to find one or to make
one, and their success has been more
than commensurate with their efforts.
Their market soon outstripped their
facilities and they set about the extension
OF those facilities. They built and sub
sidized railways, and improved and ex-
tended their system OF canals.
A geography which was published only
thirty-fve years ago included the follow
ing item Of information for the benefit
Of the rising generation: 1t is generally
supposed that the climate OF the North
west Territories is so severe that the
country must forever remain a desolate
waste" In 1870, Winnipeg was place of
240 inhabitants, with only few scattered
white settlers between the Red River
and the Pacific coast. A year later,
surveys were being made for a trans
continental railroad. In 1851, the first
sod was turned for the building of the
Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1885,
trains wero run from Montreal to the
coast. In 1876, the Intercolonial road
was opened from Quebec to Halifax.
The completion of the Canadian Pacific
opened line from coast to coast, more
than 3,700 miles in length, 90 per ent of
which was through a wilderness. 1t
was a daring project. And yet al
though it has cost the Government Of
Canada more than slOO,OOO,OOO, it has
proved a sound investment, and no one
regrets it. Before 1910, Canada will
probably have three, if not four, trans
continental routes. Last year that
wilderness Of thirty-fve years ago. with
its climate in which it was supposed \"
no one could live, poured out "a DOC, 900 |
bushels Of wheat, 157,O0OOOO bushels of |
oats and 100000 bushels of barley,
taxing to their utmost the resources Of |
the railways in the moving Of the crop. |
When this vast enterprise was under |
taken, about 1870, the entire population |
OF the Dominion was just about that of
the city of New York at the present time.
Canada does not yet count, as we do, in
hundreds Of millions, but, with about
one-aifteenth of our population she can
and does count in tens Of millions. With !
every succeeding year Canada is beCom-
ing more and more force to be reckoned |
with in the Industrial world.
In her getting Of gain, and In the up-
building of her vast domains Canada has
not forgotten that the accumulation of
wealth is only an incident in human life.