Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-27
THE CANADIAN EMPIRE
Its Vast Wheat Fields Menace
American Trade.
SETTLINGTHEFRONTIER
BUILDING UP SUBSTANTIALLY
RATHER THAN HASTILY.
Taking a Lesson From Our Experience
in Winning the Great West-Sir
Wilfrid Laurier's Comment.
Special From a STAFF Correspondent.

| Special From Staf Correspondent.
! MONTREAL. June "a, 1905.
| II Is a trait of the Yankee to believe in
| his country and brag about it-perhaps not
! a bad trait at that. for II gives him con-
| fdence and stimulates him to make good
But 1t Is not we'll to overlook the fact that
| the Yankee has a neighbor on the north a
| rather conservative. unassuming person,
but with a tremendous amount of latent
| energy, dogged determination and mag
nlficent domain with wonderful natural re-
| sources.
| 1t is not to be denied that the Canadians
| are up and after us; with a Canadian gait
| to be sure but it is a gait that never flags
and never takes the back track Besides,
you remember the fable of the tortoise and
| the hare.
| "As the nineteenth century was the CEN
| tury of the United States,' says Sir Will
| frid Laurier, the premier of the dominion
| of Canada. so may expect the twen-
| tieth century to be the century of Canada"
| That Is the motto of the Canadians and
| they living and working up to it every
! day.
In this gloriousy beautiful city of Mon
| treal. where the historical past and the
| commercial present are in daily contrast,
ing greatness of Canada. Imagine an ocean
| port, 700 miles from the sea, with trans
| atlantic liners lying at the docks, and this
| just on the edge of an empire. Canada
| should not be called dominion II is
| empire whose wheat fields will soon be ex-
| tensve enough TO supply the world. 1t Is
| inevitable that the United States must feel
| this competition and must prepare to meet
1t.
Americans Made Envious
1t sometimes pleases the Americans
| the polite appellation given to residents Of
the states, to think of all Canada as slow
and altogether behind the times. There
are some things in Montreal, however,
which even the rapid Yankee can contem-
plate with envy. The excellent street rail-
way system, for example, gives eight tickets
for twenty-five cents. with free transfers
and sells to the school children ten tickets
for a quarter. The employees receive 18
and 20 cents an hour for ten hours work,
SO the cheap fares do not come altogether
out of them.
they will not tolerate q beef trust. They
leave that for their more progressive neigh
bors of the south. In stocking up our hotel
car for the transcontinental trip. the COM
missary bought the finest cut of loin beef
| for IA cents pound, ham IL cents and
| bacon IL. By the market reports / see
| that beef on the hoof Is quoted practically
! the same in Montreal as In New York
What does the Washington housekeeper
pay for her best loin Of beef? If the hoof
| cattle costs the same and there Is such
wide difference in the retail price, who gets
| II and why?
| The party of Washington correspondents
! who are touring Canada came from Toronto
| to Montreal In their special train over the
| Grand Trunk, double track, stone bal
lasted road equal In equipment to the
standard railways of the states. We ran
the greater part of the distance at sixty
five miles an hour, and at times speeded
up to seventy-four miles. The man who
has built up the Grand Trunk from two
| streaks of rust" to Its present efficiency Is
General Manager Charles NJ. Hays, an
American who learned railroading on the
| Wabash.
Another Canadian Trunk Line.
When the Canadian Pacific railway was
contemplated from ocean to ocean by Sir
John Macdonald. that grand old man Of
Canada. railroad men and financiers hooted
| at the idea. Yet the road has been COM
peted only since 1888 and now a parallel
and competing line is to be built touching
| points hundreds of miles north of the Cana
| dian Pacific. That is a striking indication
| of the growth of Canada and her hope of
the future.
This railway will begin at Monkton, New
| Brunswick. run through northern Canada,
swinging as far up as the fifty-sixth paral-
| lei of latitude and find it's western ter
minus on the Pacific ocean at Port Simp-
| most point of the American possessions In
Alaska. 1t will cost nigh to $500 coo coo to
| build and will open up virgin timber and
| agricultural country.
This daring undertaking will be fostered
| by the Canadian government. The domin-
| ion will build the line from Monkton to
| Winnipeg and lease 1t to the Grand Trunk
! system. That company will build the road
| from Winnipeg to the Pacific and the do
| minion government will guarantee the
| bonds The project has been authorized and
| surveys under way.
To show the confidence which the Cana
| dians have in their great northern empire
! they returned the liberal party to power in
| the recent election by an overwhelming
| majority, largely upon the issue of the
| government fostering the new railway. Sir
| Wilfrid Laurier. the guiding genius of the
! progressive element of Canada went to
| the country upon the question and fairly
| annihilated the conservatives.
| Now, the people of the United States are
| deeply interested in the future of this
| project for two reasons. In the first
| place. 1t will increase competition between
Canada and the United States in the wheat
| and lumber markets of the world; second,
there is heavy tide Of emigration set
| ting toward northern Canada from the
| states of the Mississippi valley. and YAM
| kee industry, energy and brains will make
| mark in that region.
Treatment Of the Correspondents.
The Washington correspondents received
royal treatment in Montreal. Upon ar
| rival they were quartered for the night at
| the Windsor Hotel and the next morning
| were taken in hand by a committee of
| newspaper men and carried around the
! harbor in a steamer. looking over the
| shipping, the great wheat elevators and
the improvements designed for commerce
| At noon they were driven to the top of
| Mount Royal the commanding eminence
| from which is viewed the St Lawrence
valley for fifty miles and the distant hills
| of Vermont.
| The mayor of the city and memhers of
| the common council entertained the party
| at an exquisite luncheon on the lawns of
| the guardian of the Mount Royal reserya-
| tiop. high in the sky, surrounded by the
| big pines of the north and amid the tonic
| sunshine and exhilarating air of Canada.
| Then for another drive through the city
| with its wealth of interesting and histor-
| teal associations.
| That which impresses the visitor first in
| Montreal Is the line OF cleavage between
| the French Canadians and the English
| speaking population. The French are in
| the prepOnderance and dominate the city
| government. The French residential oua r