CANADA'S FUTURE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14049, 20 July 1916, Page 9

CANADA'S FUTURE.

HUGE POPULATION AFTER THE WAR. "The Montreal Star dtecki'es with confidence that within three yeaVs after peace is declared We shall have in Canada a population 'of at least 12,000.000," write* J. O. Miller in the Toronto University Magazine. "It has been publishing statements by cur most prominent citizens all oyer +he Dominion "upon tho wisest policy to adopt in getting the immigrants in, and caring for thein afterwards. "Its own View is that, 'Within three yeaife ftfter this waT has been won Gl'Yada can name a population of 15,- 1 t)00,000 people and a prosperity netar t dreamed of, if it will only wake up and gel after them now. It will be too late to begin after the war. There is so much to be done that every day is precious.' "The Hon. Robert Rogers says : 'The West will undoubtedly be our trump card. It is comparatively empty to-day, its natural resources are inexhaustible. We could take care, oi the Whole British white population there. And think what' it would mean for the West, and so for all Canada, if we got 5,000,000 new people out tliere after the war. . . » 1 tell you it will, be the greatest opportunity of this generation.' TRANSFORM 4 THEM INTO FARMERS. "President Murray, of the University of Saskatchewan, says: "Canada, then, may expect two classes of immigrants in considerable, numbers. Tlie- urban ■and industrial class from Western Europe and Britain; the agricultural from Central Europe. Canada cannot absorb an overwhelming industrial invasion. She must transform a large part of it into farmers — no easy task. A large immigration from Central Europe will probably bo mainly agricultural. v ßut it Will be alien in speech, in political and economic experience, ftnd in social standards. These immigrants will- com© to "those parts of Canada where their -kiitdfn'en are- Thqir arrival will greatly intensify a*Jproblem now intensely difficult — the problem of national assimilation.' "Following the publication of opinions or" a dozen or more prominent Camdians, educationists, lawyers, bankers, .and business men, all looking towards a tremendous influx of immigration, the Star says: 'We must change our slogan. We must keep up to the march of opinion and probability. Twelve million^ must now be our minimum. It would be cowardly and a betrayal of a cra-vgn' 'f ear of "the too great oibit of our fate" if we consented to take any less. We can get 15,000,000 if ye prepare in time and in detail. It is all a question of Preparation. The prepared nation will be as superior in^ peace as in war. The Government should not fritter away an hour ;-i costly delay before plunging heartily in this campaign to keep for the British Empire the greater part of the inevitable allied and neutral immigration after the war.' NO SERIOUS RESTRICTION. "It is quite eviderit that there is here no disposition to place any serious restriction our expected immigration. jPlutocrat arid politician, banker and business man, •speculator and exploiter will all unite to remove the barriers against the iriiriiigrant on the patriotic cry of ririiklrig Canada prosper pus. There is mOri€y in it. After tbe war we shall labor under a tremendous burden of debt. The simplest way to ease that burden is to secure a great increase of iidpulation. That means not only increase' in 'production but also influx of capital. There is riioney in it. "The war hits had a very sobering effect upon all classes in the Motherland. But there is not inuoh evidence of a similar effect in any large way upon the people df Canada. Even now the thoughts of. Canadians are being turned towards 'the expected, un bounded prosperity 'that is to come almost as soon as the war is over. They arc sounding the note of the patriotism of prosperity. Is .it not time to ask this question : Is ther© any higher patriotism to put' into" the ""building of this Dominion than the patriotism of the dollar? W«AT .'IT- WOULD MEAN. "Fifteen millions of people in three years after th e war means practically r.oubling ■ our _ population. Twelve r-'ij-lions means increasing it by over 50 per cent. < "Supposing that this idea is realised, what is to be done with such great rtimbers of new citizens? Can wo settle them upen the land? What proportion ,of European, immigrants, as we k?iOw. thein, wquld make successful farmers? Doubtless^ there is ample •oom for them on the lanji. . Baron Shaughnessy said ■ the other day : 'If my advice and influence are of any avail, we shall see in Canada the big'gest thing in the way of land settlement that the world has ever, "knoWn-.T '• We shall be lucky indeed if w e can secure for this country, in so short a time, six, or three, or two millions of st * tiers who show promise of becoming successful farmers. tt DANGER OF INDIGESTION. <"Bu£»~ unless our experience is very different from tliat Of .the United States, a very large proportion of im--.•ngrants will have no knowledge vi agriculture and no desire ,to go out ipon the laiid. These will flock to the oties, to tender iriofe :&ricl moi'e acute iho question Of hriehiployment /aiid tlie la tor, market, always intensified by alien civic "population. This '-problem is difficult enough at all tiriies ; wo have "iiiy to look across the border tu se'e what it may 'becofne, if w e admit, i> : ihbut discrimination, large nuriibers of aliens, of foreign speech, of foreign n.ibits, iarid of foreign standards. The ■ iiited States has been suffering from •>•< indigestion of 'this sort of citizen for a quarter ol a century, and will remain dyspeptic for half a ctbtury •onger, unless there come a bloody war i> unify and weld it into a nation. TESTING OF DEMOCRACY. "The true meaning of this wiir, wl«.ch is ruining many peoples, and is expected to yield enormous benefit to Oiiiada, is that it is a tryingout and testing of democracy. Democracy has nten deliberately attacked because it \vas thought to be decadent! because it was individualistic, 'incoherent, inefficient. Tt has been challenged by a power to whose qualities we have been largely blind. It ' is 'now before the bar of the 'public Opinion, of the whole world. It has yet to find its complete and perfect justification. •If this is trite as general statement it is peculiarly true of Canadian deriiocracy, because we are only as yet a nation in the making. The answer which we are returning to the call of the Empire, and for which we , are highly praised, is, aftei* all; only tlie sign — significant, indeed — that we are growing into nationhood. The crucial test of our democracy will come with the filling up of our fertile vacant lands."