The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1911-02-24
MILLION PEOPLE
III The CANADIAN
WEST BY 1920
"7oronto star" Dec. 18th, 1910,

1920 Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Al
berta and British Columbia will have
ten million people, 1t is made not by
a sanguine Western journal but by
that very sober business newspaper,
the New York Commercial. 1t is
based upon actual observation, upon
he wheat-growing capacity Of the Ca
madam West, and upon the prospects
Of development following the build
ing Of railways. The writer shows
how the position of leading wheat
market of the world passed from
Milwaukee to Minneapolis and thence
to Winnipeg. Canada's wheat-grow-
ing belt Is four times greater than
that Of the United States, and only
five per cent of Canada's western agri-
cultural area Is under cultivation.
There are ITO, 000, 900 acres of wheat
lands which will make these Western
Provinces richer, more %populous, more
dependable for food supplies than the
Western States can ever become. The
center of food supremacy will change
to Canada, and Is years more will
give this country 49, 10, 900 popula-
ton west of Ontario.
All these estimates Of population
are in the nature of g~uesses, and must
not be read too literally. But the
enormous area of wheat-growing land,
fle rapid construction Of railways,
and the large volume of immigration
are facts which must be recognized.
They point to the production of an
ever-increasing surplus of wheat and
other cereals. However rapidly the
urban, the industrial and commercial
population of Canada may increase,
the increase of home consumption is
hardly likely to keep pace with that
Of the production of wheat; for a sin
gle acre of wheat will provide for the
average annual consumption of four
people.
While production in Canada is thus
running ahead of consumption at a
prodigious rate, consumption in the
United States is o%vertaking produc-
ton, and the surplus for export is
growing smaller year by year. 1t is
true that the limit of actual power to
produce wheat is as yet far away.
BY methods of intensive cultivation,
such as prevail in France, the produc-
ton could be greatly increased. But
with the overlooking granary Of Can
ada so close at hand, it seems likely
that our neighbors Will begin to i'm
port from us, turning their own en-
ergies more largely to other forms OF
agriculture.
1t must be remembered that while
the Northern States resemble Canada
in climate and products, the resem-
blance diminishes as you go south
ward. The wheat belt gives place to
a corn belt, and this again to semi
tropical regions producing cotton, to-
bacco, cane-sugar, oranges and other
tropical fruits.
The man who II a farm in
Western Canada at the present time
secures an investment better than the
best of bond Of any government or
bank. 1t Is no unusual thing for a
farmer in Western Canada to realize
a profit Of from IS to $40 per acre.
There are thousands of free home
steads of 100 acres each still to be
had, and particulars can be obtained
by writing your nearest Canadian gov
eminent agent.
} Alike to Aching Heart.
l A waistcoat OF broadcloth or of fus
: tian is alike to an aching heart, an.
} we laugh no merrier on velvet cush
Ions than we did on wooden chairs.