The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1915-12-23
WAR BRINGS WEALTH
, TO NOVA SCOTIANS
Scenes in Halifax Recall the
PaImy Days Of the American
T Civil War.


at all reminds me of the palmy DAYS
Of the American civil war. when the
Citadel, the streets tho shops. the fac
tories, and the harbor were at the
highest pitch Of activity. Every Blue
nose has money. every man has job,
and fortunes are being made in ship
ping. Apart from recruiting, Halifax
offers a strange contrast to Winnipeg
and the western towns just now. Why,
YOU may even see the same old group
of blockade runners in the corridor OF
the Halifax Hotel that l used to over
hear swapping stories nifty years ago!
Halifax Is certainly i'm it's proper ele-
ment in war time, and has been ever
since that memorable morning ir
August when the Mauritania, en- route
for New York, suddenly put into this
port and some thousand startled AM
erican passengers looked out on the
gray Citadel and its rampArts instead
Of the Statue of Liberty. But this time
II Is not only Halifax which Is enjoy
ing a war boom.'S Take town like
Now Glasgow, which. a generation ago,
had no industrial existence, but where
now 1000 workers are employed at the
steel works. in day and night shirts,
making war munitions. Not only are
Amherst, sydney. Glace Bay. and Stel-
larton hives of activity hut every little
mining property in the Province when
has bcen languish'ng for years Is now
bsins. worked to the uttermost which
the supply OF, labor will permit.
oldest Spectacle.
But the oldest spectacle is to be seen
in the outposts where little cargo boats
are being piled scupper-high with prod
uce for Britain and neutral countries.
At Pietou the other day l was inter
ested i'm seeing a gang of painters at
work covering the sides of quaint briggs
and schooners with Swedish and Nor
wegian devices i'm the hone. II only
these emblems were big enough ana
lurid enough. that they would escape
the fatal attentions of some lowering
German submarine. One must not i'm
uuire too closely into the antecedents:
present ownership. and destination OF
these boats. Many Of them have a
Morse or Swedish skipper and are carry
ing lumber to South America: hut some
have already mysteriouslY disappeared
in northern ATTITUDES and eastern lonGi-
tudes totherwise the war zonc) and
Nova Scotian ports will know them no
more. 1t Is wonderful what lot OF
primitive craft ono sces-even full-rigRed
sailing ships and home-built. home
plying craft now creeping forth stealth
ily into strange waters to take a hand
in the great game. so full of peris but
so full withal of the chances OF gain.
Warships' Movements Secret.
Nor must one disclose what meets the
eve of the chance visitor in Halifax
harbor. The secret of the movements
Of the great British warshtps has for
RIxteen months been iealously guarded
by the censors and by the citizens them
selves. Battleships and cruisers which
have been here for DAYS and whose
crews parade the streets vanish in the
night without notice. and others arrive
and take their places and I'm turn dis
appear. There is only one place in can
ada, or indeed, on the continent. where
one NAV realize the power and restless
ness of the British navy in this war
and that place ia Halifax.
Recruiting throughout this province,
and, indeed, throughout eastern Can
ada, continues remarkably brisk, most
Of the units now assembled consisting
almost wholly of native-born. Sir Sam
Hughes, minister Of militia, Is author
Ity for stating that by spring Britain
will have 100000 men and Canada over
100000. with regard to hell-making
he states that today $50 institutions are
engaged in manufacturing shells or the
parts of shells and 100000 workmen are
employed
The danger which is being noted here
Is that Canadians are losing financial
control, II the war lasts six months
longer, of some of their leading indus
tries. new York broker who has
been observing conditions and tenden-
eieA on this side of the line says:
Canadian stocks have been absorbed
the buying only slackening for the mo-
ment. II promises to begin again in the
new year. Today Foundries and Forg-
ings Is being taken away-in small lots.
Is tru sco but 1t rd Is s SSpg Stss
have all been gradually absorbed, and
New York thinks them cheap. Cana
dams" he adds, have less confidence
in their own rising industries than New
York. and the result will be that they
1nqR control
concerns"
In this connection the president of the
canadian Pacific Railway. Sir Th0nas
Shaughnessy, thus expresses his senti-
ments in the course of letter written
a few days ago:
"Our credit now is Of the most urgent
importance, since tho enormous cost OF
the war has made it difficult, il not ir.-
possible, for Great britain and other
European countries to continue that in
Nestment in Canadian securities on
which the development OF Canada de-
pended so much I'm the ten years pre-
ceding hostilIties. The sentimental in,
tArest taken by the mother country in
Canada accounted To some extent fCr
tho readiness with which the British in
weston bought our securities. i. as is
likely, we have to turn now fer ON
loans to New York. we can no longer
count on sentimental SvmDathv. hut
money which we desire to borrow will
hN care fully and economically spent on
enterprises which arc Immediately pro.
ductive ExtravaEant promotions, born
only to serve a political end must be
vigorously stihed Mt their birth, and
those umheolthy offspring which have
harm spoon-fed by too lenicnt subsidies
or government guarantees must he re,
duced 10 Sterner tutela"e-in some
cases, perhaps. handed over ~ the
guardianship OF an OFFICIAL receiver"
This, which ts generally regarded A.
m attack on. inter ALA. the Canadian
Northern Companv probably will evoke
refoinder from Mcssrs. Mackenzie and
Mann. The writer NJ the letter Foes or
10 say:
TT, then, we see TO II that our secu"
ity and our credit are good. 7 sec ~
reason TO fear that the progress q
Canada will he hampered by lack n
capital, even though the European in
veRtor bs cut off by the nrRsert wa"
The business man OF the United Stat"
Ia essentially an individuRlist an.
never has shown much belief in Stat
socialism or any form of commerCi7
enterprise operated bv Government
officials, however upright or we1l-in
tentioned. Where. on the other hand
there r. scope for well-arrRnEp'
private business or industry. with tn,
prospect OF good dividends no on,
- more ready than the American Il
stake large sums without hesitation
what all this and other public pro