Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-03-02

Frederick j. tfaskin in Sioux City Tribune.
On account of the reciprocity tariff
agreement now pending in congress the
American people are more interested in
the Dominion of Canada than they nave
been for generations. Whether or not
President Taft and Premier Laurier sue
ceed in their efforts To make a breach
in the tariff barrier that separates the
two countries, their action in negotiating
this agreement certainly will result In the
two nations getting better acquainted than
they ever have been.
The Canadians know Us better than we
know them. but there is an astonishing
lack of knowledge of each others affairs
on both SIDES of the line. Americans. as
a rule. care very little for foreign poll
tics. and they are rarely curious to know
what is going Oh in other countries, even
if there is only the separation of an
imaginary line and q string of custom
houses. OF course the people along the
border have mutual Intercourse that i'm
pe!s them to get acquainted. but by far
the greater number OF Americans know
little or nothing about their northern
neishbors. The Canadians, on the other
hand, display a hearty interest in Ameri-
can affairs, but they have been repealed
by the cold Indifference of the Yankees.
The goth century is C%anada's,' say the
"a Ivy O1sISN - Stiio WV WHY
show of reason, that the great develop
ment that took place in the United States
in the latter half of the 18th century will
be repeated in Their own country III the
immediate future. They are prosperous,
they are growing" they are progressive
I'm thought and energetic in action. They
are developing a distinct national feeling
and proudly refer to Canada as a ma
ton. They are not, on the whole. salts
fled with their estate as a dependency
upon the British crown, but with practi-
cal unanimity they prefer that relation to
possible absorption into the United States.
They are anything but English-are most
Canadians-but they have seized with a
firm grip upon that most admirable of
English political traits, the disposition to
pay more attention to substance than to
form. Nominally, Canada is an appanage
of the British empire. Certainly it would
fight for the integrity Of the empire. But
actually. in the ordinary course of affairs,
Canada is as independent and free as any
nation on the face of the earth.
Curiously enough. they think Americans
have only the form, and not the substance,
of political freedom. But that notion may
be the product of ignorance on the Cana
Aian side of the truth concerning their
n%eighbors of the south.
Canada is bigger than the United States.
That is to say, the Dominion of Canada,
exclusive of Hudson bay, the Gulf of ST.
Lawrence and all tidal waters, has a total
area of 3. 729, 665 squar miles; while CONT
mental United States, including Alaska,
has only 3.616, 44 square mile, a balance in
favor of Our Lady of the Shows of 1i3, ISL
square miles. But over 100000 square
miles of the Canadian area is in the
frozen and undeveloped north. much of it
above the Arctic circle. About 5,0Oo. 900
80 - -
Alaska, is of the same character.
There are not nearly as many people i'm
Canada as there are in the United States.
According to the ina of the Cana
dian census of 1911 the population of the
Dominion is 7.35s.OO. The population of
continental United States including Alaska
In 1910 was 90, 092, $50. Two OF the states
of the American union. New York and
Pennsylvania, each has more population
than all Canada. During the last decade
the percentage of increase in Canada was
81, as against 2O.9 for the entire United
States, ZIG for Pennsylvania and 25.4 for
New York state. So. after all, Canada is
not doing so badly in the matter of in
crease.
Much of the increase on the Canadian
side comes from immigration from the
United States. For a century and a
quarter the American republic was the
great haven of refuge and land of prom
tse for the man about to move from one
country to another. 1t still is receiving
the greatest tide of immigration known
in the history of mankind. But the great
change came when, a half dozen years
Ago., Americans born and bred. decided to
emigrate. They went to Canada at first
by the hundreds, then by the thousands,
and now they are crossing the border into
western Canada by the hundreds of thous-
ands each year.
Since 1902 more than half a million
American citizens have emigrated into
Canada. Two-thirds of them have for
sworn their allegiance tc the stars and
stripes and are now British subjects. Not
citizens. mind you, but subjects. Subjects
Of an English king, an English George.
But. stranger yet. they like 1t. And a new-
ly-flcdged British subject. erstwhile a SOW