The Holly chieftain., 1916-07-07
CANADA'SEXCELLENT
FINANCIAL STANDING
Bank clearings lncrease-Agri
culture Is a Paying Indus
try-Manufactures
Doing Well.

Business experts assert that Can
ada IL on the threshold OF perhaps
the most prosperous cru In her his
tory. The unprecedented value Of
the farm pr,Sducts Of 1918. together
with the very large output Of factories
working on munitions of war hns sud-
denly brought the country into u p0-
sition. financially. scarcely hoped for
a. nation for years to come. Ex-
port surplus of $TO.OOO.O0O u month is
making CMnndn very strong In cash."
Extract from official bulletin of Feb
runry II. 1916.
The response by the farmers Nf Can
ada to the call for increased prOluc-
tiOn In 1915 was total net output
exceeding one billion dollars. an in
crease over normal years Of nj least
three hundred millions. The three
l'rafrie Provinces contributed prob
ably nearly one-hnlf of the tOtnl prod
uct.
The wheat crop wns worth $31OOO0.-
200. and accounted for about 10 per
cent Of the total agricultural product.
Other things counted also. I1OOk ut
tiairying. In Ontario the dniry pro-
ducfiOn was increased ~ IHr cent,
and prices were over 10 per cent
ahead Of 1914. Other provinces shnred
In the Increase. especially Alberta.
Saskatchewan. Quebec nnd Nova Sa|O-
tia. The dairy COW was ION the job
In 1915. So nlsO were the beef cutie.
the pigs and the hens
1t ia not fair to the farmers Of the
Prairies to call the wheat crop Of 1918
II ''miracle" crop. The farmers culti-
vated more lind and gave attention
to their seed. Providence gave them
favorable weather. Then they tOiied
early and late in the harvesting ind
threshing. Good cultivation gave b,g-
ger Yields thnn careless work. IS bush
ella as against 25.
The wealth of Western Canndn is
ny no means all in it's wheat crop. II
the country hnd no wheat Mt all It
would still he famous ,is n lind nf sHc-
cesxful farmers on account nf Its stock
production. From one shipping Iolnt
Thigh River. Alberta) over $7a.tHO.OO
worth Of horses have been sold In the
last two months. The average prize
TO the farlner has been about &l75O0
per hend. According to Government
returns there nre Il million and u half
horses In Manitoba. Saskatchewan and,
Alberta. worth probahly si50MONO.
The investments which farmers n
Western Canntln are making In live
stock and firm Improvements are
good evidence OF the fact TINT they
have money for these purposes IL 10
apparent. however. that they are also
spending some Of their profits ON
those things which will bring greater
comfort and enjoyment to themselves,
their wives and their families. The
automobile trnde all through the
country is particularly nctive. and
farmers are the biggest huvers \
cent repprt Of the Saskatoon district
shows TINT In two months II .n,lii,un
dollars worth of automobiles hnve
been sold. largely to farmers. Nor are
NIL of these cars Of the cheaper mikes:
some high-priced machines are In do.
mand.
Bank clearings throughout the Vest
ern Provinces show greater con,n,er-
cial activity than at the same st.,,xon
In 1918 or 1914. the increase for the
las, week Of February being $S.HN.UO0
and almost S!.Ot,O.OW, respectively,
for the first week of March S15NN,.
900 over 1915 and $l8OOOOOO ovef
! 1914. The same excellent story comes
| from Moose Jaw. Slsk.. where they
showed from 10 to 100 per cent over
the previous year. Calgary. Alta,
bank clearings continue to reflect the
greatly improved business conditions
MS compared with year ago. Cana
da's bank cle;lrings for the month Of
February. 1916. were the grentest for
any February In the cOuntry's history.
The totals amounted to SGG4. 2o2.tNOde
as compared with $4S7. 2!6.GOOOO for
the same month year ago. An in
crease Of SLIT .OtO.UW.OO in bank clenr-
ings for the month tells its own story
Of the country's prosperity.-Adver-
| tisement.