CANADA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12818, 18 March 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

CANADA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.

No. 111.

[by t. clakkson.]

PEOPLING A NEW COUNTRY.

The immigrants whom I saw huddled in and around the railroad depot at Winnipeg should not, on their " face value," be taken as a fair sample of the people to whom is being entrusted the responsibility of building a new nation in Western Canada. They were all from Europe, and it must be remembered that the tanners from the United ■States and Great Britain, who comprise two-thirds of Canada's immigrants, do not choose December and January as suitable months to try their luck in the new country. But these Europeans had to come when and how they could. Besides, the}- are by no means so undesirable as their appearance would indicate; At the latter end of a long journey, following immediately an ocean trip, they were seen at their worst. Almost without exception they come direct from, farming operations iu their own country, and will, in all probability, make good settlers. The manager of the Canadian-Pacific Railroad Company's Band Department told me that many of these Europeans, notably the Galicians, though they will not for years farm so ably and on so large a scale as the Americans, Canadians, and British, will, nevertheless, get a fairly comfortable home around them much more quickly than their neighbours. But the most interesting feature of this population is the American contribution. Eight years ago some 46 Americans moved from the United States into Canada. These were the scouts of an army that now crosses the boundary in a force of approximately 50,000 a year. In the fiscal year of 19021903 the "invading Americans numbered 49,000 officially counted; for the last fiscal ycat they numbered 46,000. Thousands cross the borders without being counted. It was thought when the total immigration to Canada reached 128,000 the year before last it had reached its maximum, but last year added 130,000 newcomers to the population. From Great Britain and Ireland came 49,000 people, overcrowded Austria contributed 7229, Germany 2985, Franco and Belgium 2392, Russian and Finland 2806, Scandinavia 4208. and 13,470 came from various other nations. Of this population at least 60 per cent, goes on to the farms. J The question naturally arises: "Why do these Americans, the cream of the farming ; community, seek homes in a foreign country?" Briefly, the answer is to be found in' the lure of free or cheap lands in Western Canada and the inducement to turn the old farms into cash at high prices. Farms in lowa and Illinois are worth from £15 to £25 a» acre. Farms in Western Canada, that in their virgin state will produce larger , crops, may be had for the taking, or for £1 to £3 an acre. The free lands in the humid part of the United State's West are gone. Population litis crowded up to the one hundred and first meridian, the general west urn limit of the humid belt. Beyond lies the cattle country and irrigation. The American farmer, with a. family of growing boys around him. sees no way to keep the family together but to emigrate to the last free'land country on the continent, Western Canada" the last West."

No man in Western Canada is more completely in touch with the work of immigration than Mr. J. Obed Smith, the Commissioner of Immigration for the Dominion Government. He is the head and centre of the complicated land organisation, designed by the Canadian Interior Department for the distribution of settlers on their arrival in the West. To him. scores of officers, in widely scattered-territory, report almost daily, and he i: 1 thus in constant personal touch .with every phase, of the work of immigration. The exceptional facilities thus afforded Mr. Smith render his opinion upon .til these matters of peculiar value, and 1 was glad of the opportunity given by a short stay at Winnipeg to hear his views on the class of immigrants passing through his Department and (lie general progress that is being made. Questioned regarding the quality of last season's immigrants the Commissioner, said : — "The judicious and extensive advertising carried on by the Department, the good reports of the crops, and other conditions in Western Canada has made Canada fairly well known in a number of the States of ] the Union, to say nothing of the extra- | ordinary increased' interest shown in Great I Britain* from which country Canada has I received more immigrants this year than I ever. The fact that people are now thinki ing of Canada and are well disposed toward us enables the Department, without in any way curtailing the number of arrivals, to'discriminate more than ever concerning the class, character, and financial ability of those whom they seek to induce to come into Canada, and it* is freely admitted by those in touch with the movement of the people than never in the history of Canada has the percentage of highly desirable, intelligent, well-to-do farmers been so great as during the last eight or ten months. This is a feature which appeals at once to the thinking public, because there is a natural tendency during a successful movement for crowds to flock to one locality or one country and in the flocking the number of un- ! desirables may increase. This, so far as I understand it", is not desired by the Derailment. It feels that by careful attention to business on right lines all the people ' that Canada can readily absorb from year to year, without catering to any but the very best class, can be obtained; and, if the' arrivals do not increase at any surprising ratio, the fact must not be lost i sight of that the quality is being raised. ' It is gratifying to note that the influx of desirable American farmers has continued at about the same rale as during last year. In this connection it is interesting to read that Major Allison Edwards. United States Consul-General at Montreal, said recently: — ' The proper way to describe the manner in which the people of Xoith Dakota are coming over into Western Canada is to say fhev arc coming in droves. Among the people there did not seem to be any thought of there being a boundary line at all. It is shindy a question of there being no more jand in Ninth Dakota and the surrounding States, and the people ate flocking to Canada to get L'ood farms. Naturally the number that will come over will increase all the time and 1 may say the people you are getting arc the' best people in the West. They are well supplied with money, and are well acquainted with the conditions under which thev will have to work.' The invasion of the United States is to be vigorously proceeded with. Agencies of the Immigration- Department are to be opened shortly in the States of Washington, Massachusetts, and Maine as a result ot the large-lv-increased demand for information from the residents of those States. "This fact."' continued Mr. Smith, "should not surprise the Americans, because it is admitted 1 that, some of the States of the Union which formerly grew wheat with profit cannot do so any longer, and wheat is still an important factor in provisioning the. world. Apropos of this feature I remember reading a leugtliv arithmetical calculation by the leading United Stoles mercantile and grain expert showing that, at the present rate of increase of population and decrease of acreage under wheat, the United Slates in 21 years' time would not be able to export a sinele bushel of wheat without importing supplies for their own use from Canada. At the time this seemed a. statement so startling as to be almost beyond belief, considering that the United States are exporting hundreds of millions of bushels of wheat anually. This tact was published in a number of Unite" States paper?, and is possibly making the American farmer think of the land in Western Cauada yet unbroken, and which is capable of increasing the wheat supplv of 65,000.000 bushels in' 1905 50 or 40 fold. In this connection it is interesting to note that only one-half as much of the 190-1 crop has tip to tho present passed through Montreal as compared with the same period of 1903. and the reason generally given for the falling oft' is tho high price that has prevailed in Chicago, making it more profitable to market in America than to cross the Atlantic and compete with wheat, from Russia and the Argentine Republic."