IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) / O 1.0 1^ |2.8 |50 ""^^ •- u WUu I.I 1.25 1.4 M 1.6 V ression. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimis sont film6s en commen9ant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la derniire page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont filmds en commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol ^^> (meaning "CON- TINUED "), or the symbol V (meaning END"), whichever applies. Un des syrnboles suivants apparaltra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols —^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre film6s d des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichi, il est film6 d partir de I'angie supirieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivents illustrent la mithode. : ■*■ ■ \ t 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 1892 (131 IMPR/:SSIONS OF THE CANADIAN NORTH-WEST TiKHdii the 'Great Lor.o Tiand ' is no longer a terra incofjnita to the reading public at home, tliere is not enough known about ^Manitoba, Assiniboia, Saskatchewan. Alberta, and British Cohimbia by the people of the United Kingdom. This is a pity ; as I am persuaded, after a pretty extensive tour through those regions during last autumn, that if anything like full and true information of the real extent, fruitfulness of soil, and imequalled advant;'ges of this immense and interesting portion of the P'mpire were in possession of the public of Great Britain and Ireland, the Xorth-West would not long remain so thinly populated. Want of fuller information is not the only obstacle to the creation of a deeper interest in the subject of these countries. There is a good deal which miist be unlearned about Manitoba and its adjacent provinces before a true estimate of their worth and attractiveness can be formed. The means and methods employed to colonise them ha^■e not been the happiest in plans or most fruitful in results. A generally wrong impression is conveyed in the pictorial representa- tions of Canada, in which she is invariably represented to Europeans as a female, attractive-looking of course, biit always clad in furs and living in a land of snow shoes and ice palaces. The climate of Xorth- Western Canada Is little, if any, colder than that of north ]\Iinnesota, north Dacota, and other portions of the I'nited States ; but we never find the practical Americans giving a figurative representation of their country suggestive of [teqietual winter in any part of their great Eepublic. Manitoba, which has been given a very bad climatic reputation, lias not an average of more than a few degrees more cold than western Nebraska, Frosts are earlier, it is true, and the injury with which they menace the wheat harvest is the on(^ real drawback and danger to the farming industry of an otherwise exceptionally favoured land. But this is a danger which is certain to decrease, in proportion to the growth of population and the singular but sure influence which the tillage of the soil, the erection of dwellings, and the other G32 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY April necessary labours of an inhabited country exercise upon its climate. If, as the farmers of Ontario say, the clapping of the rooster's svings prevents freezing within the barn, the smoke of villages, the making of roads, erection of fences, and the application of the plough to the prairie sod will necessarily modify the climate, as has been the case in northern Minnesota, and produce other variations of temperature which will make the ^Nlanitoban and Assiniboian autumn frosts less injurious to the cultivation of wheat and other cereal products, and the winters less preventive of active open-air work. I sought for the opinions of the Crofters at Glenboro and Pelican I^ake on this subject of the Manitoban winter, and in no instance was it complained that the cold was injurious to health, or, except in brief intervals, prohibitive of such outdoor work as has to be done round a farmhouse in that season. I also canvassed the views of some of my own countrymen at Calgary and other places upon this point, and received a similar accoimt. Thirty degrees below zero all but freezes one's imagination where, as in Ireland and Great Britain, the glass at thirty above it sends those who can afford it off to sunnier climes, and makes those who cannot sigh for the return of summer. The cold in northern regions like Manitoba is, however, dry and ex- hilarating in its effects, and produces none of the chills and kindred consequences to health associated with a winter in a damp climate like that of the United Kingdom. People affected with asthma, or suffering from other chest diseases, fare well in the North-West. That it is intensely cold in mid-winter in ]\Ianitoba goes without saying. But, I am convinced, the climate of that province is no more severe upon the human body than that of Nebraska, Wyoming, north Minnesota, or north Dacota in the United States ; the only differ- ence being that arising from the more populous and more developed condition of these localities, as compared with ]Manitoba, Assiniboia and Alberta. The climate of British Columbia, notwithstanding its latitude, is as mild in winter as that of the United Kingdom, but far more enjoyable in summer than ours. Mr. John Morley's historic expression, ' Manacles and Manitoba,' has not tended to popularise colonisation in the North-West. It has helped rather to create the impression that the country is a British Siberia, to which no one should go by choice, and to which Lord Salisbury hoped to send the Irish peasantry— there to perish from the rigours of an Arctic clime. I knew something about ' manajles ' of old, and I learned a good deal, last fall, about Manitoba ; and bad as the first part of the Salisburian remedy is, the second or geo- graphical part, seriously considered, is not deserving of being coupled even in metaphor with the major proposition of Tory policy of Ireland. But what has done most harm to Manitoba and the adjacent Territories, in my belief, is the class of settler whom the agents for the Dominion Government in Europe have sought after most. The til 1892 IMPMESSIOXS OF NORTH-WEST CANADA G33 ' Small Copitalist ' is a very useful member of society anywhere, where he is not too much of a capitalist, or of a gentleman, to work with hands or brains, particularly with the former. In a new country the • capital ' is an invaluable asset when it is translated into ploughs, horses, cattle, >.^c. But when it is not in itself large enough to enable the owner to live on the labour of others, and the possessor has neither inclination to work nor experience how to have his industrial incapacity neutralised by aid of his money, he is not of much account as a settler. In my in(iuiries about the relative success of various classes of colonists, I found that in almost every in- stance where a man brought a pair of willing hands and some knowledge of land labour with him he succeeded, even without a penny capital to start with. Where a small amount of laoney alone was the equipment, and there was neither industrial training nor labour in- clination, the settler either went to the wall, left the country, or joined the mounted police. All those who thus failed placed the blame, of course, u})on the country and climate. As a countryman of mine said to me in Calgary upon this subject : ' We have had a large number of young Englishmen out here with some money, but little brains and less love for labour. They dressed themselves on arrival in picturesque cowboy costume, rode about on Indian ponies during the day, tried to teach us the Cockney way of pronouncing Manitoba, played cards and gambled until the small hours in the morning, lost their money, and went to bed cursing the country, ^lore remittances from home would be demanded by these gentle- men, and in the end such ' Colonists ' either returned to England, with harrowing accounts of Manitoban winters and mosquito sum- mers, and a conclusion that the North- West was only suitable for Indians and Half breeds, or they remained dead broke and volunteered to watch the cattle thieves and fron<^iers, as mounted police, for fifty cents a day." Almost every European nationality is represented in the colonisa- tion of jNIanitoba and Assiniboia — Icelanders and Italians, Russians and Jews, French and Germans, Bulgarians, &c. The best and most successful farmers are from Ontario. Among the foreign settlers, the Icelanders, who are coming over in large numbers, are spoken of very highly for their industry, sobriety, and strict honesty. They contract no debts, and pay cash for all purchases. A Mannanite settlement in Southern Manitoba is remarkable for its exclusiveness. They are dissenting Russians, and do not inter-marry or hold social intercourse with other settlers. They occupy some of the best lands in Manitoba, and, being very industrious and thrifty, are reputed wealthy. At Regina, the seat of Government for the Territories of Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, I had an interesting interview with a settler who was one of a community of seventy families who ■ S C34 THE mNETEENTlI CEXruUY hwlleft Southern Eussia .^v„ """'' ^^'"^ • ™ account of the ^C ^fT "''°"- "°''' -" -^ "'fonn,,,, -joy greater Iibert/„„ "':;'"'',;" ™" I—, but i„ oX 'o' ^™" " «"' fo «outLer„ Ku "^ '"'^ ."'«'' These i„ter*t 1 «re an the towns, and affect tof "'"'^'^''^'''^ °» ^^^e Jan Tl wit°l H '.™'"'«''™ce of the e'ils „,?,' "' »»■ «ran(Te bogie« to ».th the .„t,.och,ctio„ of this ■no.t™ t,"7. ^'■^'°™'"«>' ---a,'; over tlie border ' ff nv ''" ""^^^^ '^s to that of T / ^' m*.; , „. «„„„ t; rir tt"^ 'T*' "^- '!^« t,;^™ Th"e KeT Tr '^™ "-'«'"- .^Cu-™'/"t-"'^ -'i« panada Las, ^ovvever, adopted ihlT P^'^^'^n^es of Lo.vez' ^ -00 or more votes are <> If a \s II] h 1892 IMPRESSIONS OF NORTH-WEST CANADA 035 recorded for such candidate. The Manitoban Parliament is elected every four years. In the Hocial and industrial organisation of these embryo com- munities, it is also satisfactory to find that vested interests are not allowed to dominate the natural and domestic rights of tlie citizen, .as in the landlord- and lawyer-ridden United Kingdom. A homestead law, even more favourable to industry and home life than that of the United States, obtains in the North-Wcstern Territories. The following real and personal property are declared exempt from seizure by virtue of all writs of execution issued by any court in the Territories (Revised Ordinances N.W.T. cap. 4o): — 1. Clothiiip of cli'fendaiit find family. a. Fiu'iilturo and liouseliold fiiruisliiiigs of defendant and family, to valuu of ;^500. 3. Xecessaiy foful for deffiidant's family for six months, -wliicli may include grain and Hour :)r vegetables and meat, either prepared for use or ou foot. 4. Two cows, two oxen, and one lion's", or three horses or mules; six sheep and two pigs, besides the animals kept for food purposes, and fo(jd for same during the six months beginning in NoA-ember. 5. Ilariu'ss for three animals, one waggon or two carts, oiu^ mower or scythe, one breaking plough, one cross-plough, one set harrows, one horse-rake, one sewing machine, one reaper and binder. G. ]5ooks of a professional man. 7. Tools and necessaries used by defendant in trade or profession. 8. Seed grain suilicieiit to seed all land under cultivation not exceeding- eighty acres (two bushels to acre, and fourteen bushels of potatoes). 9. Homestead up to eighty acres. 10. House and buildings, and lot or lots upon which same are situated, up to tlio sum of ;^1,500 in value. Xo article (except of food, clothing, or bedding) is exempt from seizure where the judgment and execution are for the price of such article. ) The treatment of the native Indians is far more humane and enlightened in the Canadian North-West than the system of exter- mination by commissioners and rum adopted by the Government of the United States. This is due mainly to the long and arduous labours of the French Catholic missionary priests. The Canadian Government has done its part, however, in the work of inducing the former occupants and masters of this immense section of the North American continent to put off the customs of savage for the habits of civilised life. No drink can be sold in the North-West to an Indian under a severe penalty — including, I believe, the forfeiture of a license to sell intoxicating liquor in future. One of the prettiest pictures in the unrivalled scenic panorama of Vancouver city, in British Columbia, is that presented by an Indian village of white houses, with a white church in the centre, peeping out from a forest of pines on the banks of Burrard Inlet. The inhabitants all live by fishing or lumber industry. At New Westminster, on the Fraser (i3C, I'^MU CEKTVUY fr"'" Jianff, T^'^\ '"•'■'"■e t,,e g„ Jf'^ ' f-. river,, v„l,e,, „" ." ^venders ovpv * ^ f'nouo-h nf ai • ^'"^^'e ha]r n ^ ^-^a£} =^Jr-5ir - -S «I to,,,, ,,„t (;„,,':_"»' of a rail, tl„„uT"*f «''''»'.• of n,,,„ «"'r intended hf . ' """""ains a„d ' ^"^ " ''■S'on wiere nre ''»2'«S'e en Orient, y , p„ '''"«» '"I'leme 7! "'"'''' "Plwr- I'andoflsndlorri f *"•" ProfoundJv rl;. ' ^I»rt from ti? i',' ^pri/ 1892 IMPRKSSIOXS OF XORTJf-WhST CANADA G37 ' 'S'omo Weeks' lirned firmer. fhan n for hoot of find, >nce iv I hn nil if- hl n r (lovernment to the half-breeds, in tlie immediate iieighhourhood of Winnipeg, are among the richest in the province. Two hundred and forty acres were given to eacli mendier of a fannly, hut were sold by them to sfjeculators for little or nothing. These jjurchasers are mostly absentees, and the lands thus acquired are held for speculative values by ]»eople residing in Lower Canada and England, while the city of \Vinni))eg has to sutfer from thousands of acres of soil lying idle in its immediate vicinity, which if occupied and cultivated would add enormously to the prosperity of the handsome and progressive capital of M mitolia. The same state of tilings exists, more or less, in connection with every city and town throughout the entire North- West , and it is most sincerely to be hoi)ed tliat the men who have helped so far by residence, pluck, and enterprise to organise these centres of industry and reclaim tlie country around from prairie savagery will soon demand from the Dominion Ii(>gislature the power to tax tlie alisentee owners of all lands — and residential owners, to a less extent — so as to compel them eitlun- to put the ^oil of the country to its legitimate use, or to pay in taxation to local authorities for the privilege of holding it in idleness. No matter what one's views upon emigration may be — and mine are very radical and have been frequently stated — it is impossilile to visit this vast and naturally ricli region of the North-West, witli its all but limitless extent of rich loamy-subsoiled land, without a yearning for the transplantation of some of the den:;e population of parts of Great Britain to these fruitful prairies. When one has to call to mind the slum-life of London, the squalid (juarters of the working ])Oor in Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester, and other large centres of crowded social life, and the conditions under which tens of thousands of such peojile live — while, on the other hand, he views, day after d.ay, millions of acres of arable soil hungering for tlie application of food-i)roducing labour, it is impossible not to have one's opinions influenced more or less in favour of a movement which might ease and tend to eradicate these demoralising conditions of labour-life in Great Britain, while removing their victims to the advantages of those all but unpeopled regions of bracing air, and healthful life, and latent opportunities of a better and brighter social existence. It would, however, be a huge mistake to bring some of the class of l)eople who overcrowd our cities at home out to the North-West. They are not the kind of colonists whom the country would suit, or who could help in its development. Men or women who work in factories or employ themselves in the smaller handicrafts and miscel- laneous occupations of centres of complex industrial organisation, would be like fishes out of water where the main, if not only, form of labour is in connection with land. Those who have been brought up to agriculture, or who have strength and willingness to work the land, are the class of colonists who are wanted, and to whom Vol. XXXI— No. 182 XX 638 TllK NIXETKKNTH CENT CRY April Manitoba or liritish Columbia would ottbr a field of industry in wliicli a now social life of comparative comfort could be won in a few years' time. The emigration of such settlers would likewise excite less o|ij)0- sition from Trade I'nions at home and in (.'anada. Kightly, and reasonably enough, the cn-ganised workmen of the Canadian cities object most strongly to the importation of artisans, mechanics, and labourers (non-agricultural), who would irowd the labour market of the Donunion. lower wages by competition, and become a disturbing element in the economic relations between labour and capital. These objections, however, could not be urged against land-workers, who might be brought out, or induced to come under plans tliat would insure their being located where good land, and plenty of it, would provide immediate employment to such intending settlers. The advent of such a class would be hailed as directly atlvantageons to the interests of skilled industry in Canada. The more farmers the country possesses, the more work there necessarily is for the general mechanic. The emigration of a large number of agricultural labourers from Great ]5ritain should also be viewed with less hos- tility by leaders of the labour movement and radical social r(>- formers at home. The country worker is tho chief disturber of the labour market of our cities and towns. The causes of his voluntary or involuntary migration are too well known to need dwelling upon here. The prolilein now is how to keep those on the land who ha\e not yet inigrated, and how best to put those back who liave. In the solution of such a problem lies a hope of a better and higher future for both land and town labour, l^egislation is at last moving in the direction which will facilitate such a reform, though we are not likely to witness anything like a boom in land labour until public ownership of the soil replaces that of the landlords. When that day arrives — and we are moving rapidly towards it — capital in its struggle with labour will have less of the ' blackleg ' class of competing worl<- men to fall back upon in such conflicts as may arise, while organised workmen in cities and towns will have a better chance of winning a fairer share of the wealth produced by the country than that whii-h they obtain under existing economic conditions. In the m(>antime, however, and pending the radical changes which are in the contem- plation of those ' who dream dreams' which have acquired the habit of becoming embodied in legislative programmes evolved from com- peting Liberal^and Tory parties, the colonisation of the countric^s of the North-West by such past and present victims of landlord mono- poly as would be willing to go from wage-slavery to practical social independence, would work on parallel lines to the ' back to the land ' movement in Great Britain and Ireland. I visited two of the crofter settlements during my tour — one at Glenboro, and the other at Pelican Lake, both in Manitoba. The April 1892 JMriiESiSIOAlS OF NORTH-WEST L'ANAIU (13!) 'n vvliicli '"■ years' ■''•s oj»po- 'Iv. Jind 111 c'ih'ps 't'S and 't of til,, ^inhinop i'liese remaining colony, that of Saltcoatcs, nortli-weswis, or the other ])arts of the Crofter Highlands whence they hailed. John ^McliCod, frouj near Stornoway, I found farming a whole section of (i tO acres. Jle hail 120 acres under whciit, and was l)reak- ing seventy more for this year's sowing. Himself and three sons worked tlu" land, with three yokes of oxen and a team of horses. The old man told me iie had live luad of cattle, and thai he was well satisfied with the country, and expected to do very well on his farm. He contrasted its extent and his future prospects with the three-acre croft on which he had lived for over forty yea > in the Island of TiCwis, and his only regret was that ho couUl not bring his two daugliters and a brother, who were still in Stornoway, out to his new home. He assured me that all his crofter neighliours at Pelican Lak(^ weiv doing well, though they, like himself, were still in debt to the giocers in Killarney (the market town for J'l-lican Lake), owing to the two bad years which followed their aii'ival from Scotland. Donald ]\lcI)onaUl, of Lewis, said he was well contente 1, bv.t would like to pay Lewis a visit. He owns liiO acres, fifty being under wheat, and possesses a yoke of oxen and three cows. John IMcKenzie, senior, from liOwis, would like to return home. He had been more of a fisherman than a crofter, and he ' longed for the sea bre(>ze.' He had fifty acres under wheat, and was a})parently doing well. Kenneth IMacaulay, also from Ticwi-^, was delighted with his log house, sixty-live acres of wheat (on a quarter-.-eclion of KiO acres), three acres of oats, two cows, and yoke of oxen; but his son de- nounced the whole of ^lanitoba, and all those who had helped to bring him there. His father, however, blameil -the disturber from Saltcoates,' who had visited Pelican Lake, for the discontent which young Kenneth expressed, and assured me tLat it had no real meaning. Donald ^McDonald, Angus ^McDonald, John ^lorrison, and Allan McLeod farm a section ((140 acres) in conjunction. I saw IMIO aci'es of this under wheat, whik^ each had some five acres of oats in addi- tion. They also possessed a yoke of oxen each, and from two to four cows. X X 2 U ' ' 640 I r ^HE K^ETEEN,^ CENTURY i drove bv thp j«„ ,. ^Pnl ^, Befce Lvi/; „ f;":;j '7 fe. gears' J ' '^"^ "™ -^ain scheme, and tl.at thtT ''"' '' "^ "'-Sd "o ™™"~" ^^l™"- -"'-nee to tUelL t- ^ ot«a?/'™f "H-^ " pi' tlf T'" "^ sea from ^•ictoria, B ,■ o^ /"f" * JW.and aL,t , ■^' "' "^^ "t tl,e entrance •, ,d ,' ^^ ^'"^'""- '^ "bont a mn f "'''"* f-y ""•y at oprJCl^;" J"™ ""d Gor,lon emT„ "^ ^""'""^ "f -;»o„ an'd' t;:':,";-™*-- HotI, are «:;,! ^r r^ 't; 'f ° "'« cabin.s wJiosp ^, , ^'^" J^ian ' cons;«f. r ' ^"^^ of silver <•«" n,ilo. from tlr;,", ™'^ ''^'''y timl.et " " ^'"■''"ff «-as- accnmnlation of 'V rf '\" «°«'«1 ''Hi' 2 "'"'■^ """- consist, of abou w^ l^t """^ '^ " «ov<™Vr^' ™™"' '^ ••". »»po«e,I of mou, ,t ^^T" """«' and by ftr t , ™"°"' ■•""' Indian viliaRe Tl ° " ®' l""-P<'«es-iat le. 7 , ' "'''" '-*'^'' deer, elk, and blaclh ''^ ''°"''l ^e a Pand ' ; "'™ "'''™ 'be ofduek/andgeet: tuc?""""""""-'' "'"^ t ef ''"?-"• »■' North-M'est ^, -',"'"''1' appear to inhabit ,1, T "" abundance crofters are not the rllf ^^"^^^^ ^^^^cl bo lumh; , "''"^- ^^ ^re other parts of «^v f'' "^P^°P^^ for worVof^ff "^^'''^^" '-^"^ Adapted for'uet:eW^^^«^«-bia whiohfou/d' " '^■"^^- ^^-- ^as informed C ! '""'''^'^^^''^^^^y^U^.fJ^ '"""''^^ ^^^^^^ Alberni and 'nefr ^P^ ^^ '"^^ ^^'^ --^^^^^^^^^^ ^ Government hmU ^'"^P'on, on Vaneonv/ r / ^^^ '^^ound ----efo„nd;:K::--::-t^^^^^^^^^^^ ^>orth American April h ^'n this plat time J been in- l^e ])erio(] f- I am ps, from pfJ fi-om ■ certain ^'ortZi- roposed Mind, such a 0,000^, ^^hv, I It file ^es hy "ifif ns of t/ie •liver irhan "'fas. omo aij' ^iid ^ is ten he as :'e 1892 IMPRESSIONS OF NORTH-WEST CANADA 641 continent. It reminds one very much of the fat soil of Lombardy along the river Po. The charming little city of New Westmitj-iter is situated near the very centre of this favoured corner of the province, and no one visiting British Columbia should think of leaving before paying a visit to this city. The famous salmon-canneries of the Fraser are to be found here, while numerous other forms of industrial prosperity are contributing to make this ' royal city,' as it is called, a rich and thriving community. To no part of the North- West would English or Irish agricultural labourers, or Scotch crofters, be more welcome than to this section of the province ; but there is, unfortu- nately, this drawback — that the Government has given away all its liest lands, which are held for speculative values by absentee and other owners, and colonists would therefore have to pay stiff prices (though ridiculously small in European eyes), as compared with the cost of land in 3Ianitoba or Assiniboia, for holdings in the favoured region of New Westminster. It is this state of things, more than any other cause, which still leaves these naturally favoured countries of the North-West com- paratively unpopulated. All the best land has been given away to railway companies, ' free, gratis, and for nothing,' or sold for little or nothing to syndicates, companies, corporations, and indi- vidual speculators. These owners are mostly absentees, and are doing absolutely nothing (railway companies excepted) towards the development of a country over millions of acres of whose soil they hold a monopoly. They are simply waiting for the advent of that population which will give value to their possessions ; while the (jrovernment, which desires to attract colonists, has parted with tJaose very lands which would offer the strongest inducement to settlers to come. This is especially true of British Columbia, and more is the pity, because, taken all round, in mildness of climate, loveliness of scenery, richness of soil, and in the variety and abundance of its mineral wealth, it is the most favoured of all the North- Western countries, and is destined in my l)elief to become, in the near future, an irresistible attraction to Americans, as well as to Europeans, desiring a change of home location. To propose the colonisation of the Canadian North-West by means of one or two hundred thousand agricultural labourers from Great Brit ain will seem a ' large order.' The o])ponents of emigration will be i,p in arms at once in opposition to any such suggestion. Para- doxical as it may appear, I am not, and never have been, an advocate of emigration. My present proposal is made homocopathically. It would, if carried out, promote many interests which have not beer benefited by the process of emigration that has called forth the ob- jections of radical land reformers, and other labour advocates, who demand the full utilisation of the soil of Great Britain for labour purposes before British workers are sent away to colonial or other 1 : M G42 THE XIXETEENTH CENTURY April \f. I countries in searcli of work which is practically denied them at home through the operation of the rent-earning system of land tenure. To withdraw 100,000 land-workers from the agricultural industry of these countries would enhance the price of the labour that would remain. Wages would necessarily go up, while tlie influx of labourers from the country into towns would be diminished, to the advantage of town toilers. Farmers would grumble at a scarcity of labour, and the certainty of a higher price having to be paid foi- the diminished quantity. Ultimately, however, the landlord would have to bear the burden of higher wages to land-labourers, as his sleepmg- partner interest in land cultivation will be that which will justly and reasonably lend itself, in the form of lower rents, to the demands for the better payment of agricultural working men. Protests will come from this gentleman also, no doubt. This, however, will only lead to a British Land Commission and the fixing of fair rents by judicial process, as now obtains in Ireland ; after submitting to which experi- ence the English, Welsh, and Scotch, like the Irish, landlord will advocate a Purchase Act, or Landlord Kelief Bill for Great Britain. Whether by the process of being bought out, or of being taxed out, the landlord must, of economic necessity, go. The sooner the better for the industrial welfare of three countries. When he is replaced by County or District or Village Councils, the anomaly of vested interest barriers standing between idle acres and idle but willing hands to work them will no longer mock the absence of a little com- mon-sense in our land laws. When land is looked at and legislated upon as a medium for the employment of labour — and consequently for food-production — and not as a means of growing rent, or of providing a social status for a landed aristocracy, it will be unnecessary to advocate the manning of the land of jNIanitoba with Scotch crofters or English agricultural labourers. It will lie remembered when such a day arrives, that we have inside this United Kingdom more soil lying idle, but capable of giving work and growing food, than is comprised within the kingdom of Belgium, with its 5,000,000 of an industrial population. Such a day is rapidly approaching, no doubt. ' The land for tlie people ' period of legislation is dawning, and we shall soon see ]Mr. Chaplin's Bill amended in the two directions in which it is most de- fective — to give to Village Councils the right of expropriating landlord owners, and empowering them to administer the land in the way which will best promote the industrial interests of the locality. When the Community becomes the landlord, land will not be left idle if willing hands are ready to employ themselves in its cultivation. It will be recognised then that if the soil can do no more than give employment to farmer and labourer, the all-round economic advan- tage to other industrial classes will be of far greater benefit to the country at large than the social status of a single proprietor who can April 1892 IMPIiESSIOXS OF NORTH-WEST CANADA G43 ^i home re. To stry of \^ vvouid Iflux of to the rcity of Ifor tlie tl ha\(> emnor- h' and ds foi- J come ead to idieial -x'pei'i- I will itain. out, setter >Iacetl tested illinsc com- the -and 31- a ?of irnl we ble he m. he [r. e- •d y now determine whether or not it shall be cultivated or allowed to lie useless. And if economic rent accrues, all the better for the Com- munity. ]iut that day is not yet. In the meantime, the lot of the land- less agricultural labour excites the active sympathy of reformers and * demands the attention of the Ijegislature. He is also a disturber of ' the labour market in industi'ial centres. He is virtually driven off ([ the land, by low wages and a cheerless prospect, into the towns and I cities, or he voluntarily goes there in search of a more varied exist- ,' ence ; and in the struggle to obtain his desires he brings down the I wages of other workers, adds to the congestion of city life, and creates I- the social problem. A great Imperial purpose would likewise be promoted by colonising the North-West by such a class as that indicated. Canada, of itself, cannot develop this extensive region of rich soil. She has neither the means nor the population to do so. She has done her best, but that, much as it is when her limited resources are considered, counts for very little compared with what the vastness of the territory hungering for population requires, if it is to remain a part of the Dominion, and its JDOundless possibilities are to be opened up to labour and enterprise. Annexation may or may not be the best solution of the Canadian (question. I found comparatively few in the North-West who favoured incorporation with the United States. Next to a desire to remain within the Empire was a feeling for independence ; which sentiment, however, was held as a preference to annexation, and as contingent upon the Dominion and Imperial Governments failing to do for the North-West what the United States would undoubtedly perform, if the Stars and Stripes were permitted to supplant the Union Jack north of the international boundary line. Much as there is to admire in the government of the United States, I confess I would not wish to see it extend its sway across the St. Lawrence to the North Pole. It possesses quite enough of territory already. The furtlier it is ex- tended, the weaker'will become the central influence which is ruling so wisely and so well so vast a continent, embracing communities including people of every European race, by the simple but efficient method of allowing the citizens of the Kepublic to manage their own affairs in their own way. No friend of free institutions would wish to see tlie federal system of the United States weakened. Its great object-lesson of government by the people will ultimately help to democratise all European Governments ; and upon international grounds alone the acquisition of Canada by the United States would be a misfortune. Independent, Canada may become. She has the chance if she wills it, along with territory enough to form a heritage fit for an empire. But such independence, if established in defiance of the Imperial Government, would always be menaced by the 644 y or rnnr-r^ -.•!,. eo^/t T ir "r ■»*- over ,he h . ono of colomWion or „ ^ ''"""''on for tie w?«" '''""''' out tie Things poh-t ea, ajr^-™"™- '*""'-"'''««&, therefore are now in kr. j ' ""onomic cannot ■" ^bt, With no e^^fttr''^™""^ aTI; oM,"*""" « 'io oni^ l-O'ures of malver/atlT. "'"'"'' 'o borro, ° 'r "'' '""erj ;^dn,i„;.tr„ti„„ „„Tt C'go ' '■" ''™»oc,^:„' :,';* 'io recent ex- to ielp the country a l*'"""™"™' of QueL ' ^^ ^"""n'on ""AWon for .,on,e t n^^f '" ^^t it,. ii„a„et'ir„ ■"" '*-'»'«, ™ bo found, n^ Terri'n '^o Xorth-Wesf , , °'' ^ower f'on. to the privile/er'r'' ""'^ot admitted fo'""''-^^»'-<^n,ed. 'nerease in their an, f !, 5, " f™ "nee have rltlTT' "^ P°l'"'a- ?,"" as Ontario ha^ j Lotf? """''"y from mo oon f """"'«' an I'ominion CJovernmen/ ''"^' 'o provide th7 *° ^*00,00n • Canada which barC^^'^^'o^aris the detr """'^^^ for the' ^° ;f-* fields and" S'reT""";^ '"rge tm ~ "' '^ '^^' "^ to this enlarged denilrrf , "''"■' "'ere will be ''"*a"o farmers ^:^^-t^ B^tTii:- "'--oK'tioVbr' Manito^i trr ^■'f'y fan 'n: t tt^ro^tf ""^ - ™™ t 'on.e #000,000 Tu ™« ""b a united "1; "" ^""od States SasJcatchewan and ir™"'"'"^<' a*nini trati^ "' """^ ^"'Wof „^?- not got tirt^e"^' '■' - -ore t'h n^Vro^^ of ^ssinib^oi:,' 300.000;. a year. ^^7"' "^ "^^ "''ole 111 «-' ?'"" ^""""ai f vast an area can b° ^ '" *'"' "'ay of a ™ ''' *■"" "bort of ^S-O- It is tr^the r°"'!*-'''0d ul^on ; ^^J development rf f colonisation p„r t^' ""C™ Parliament CC""^ "^ "'- Y;^". and that '«; rf t, ^? ''^P^osents an add^r^f "'^'-^ ^''^ar of these countries i, Z , '^ """st ki„d ™*t,o„ai as.sistance ">at the best reJu, '°""'»"on. B„t jj /^ f « one essential need '"ponded. Ifoun" 'I'""' ^'"' obtained in T ^^ »".>' "'"ans certll, .'ories that it 7Xlt "'f'™ !'■■--■■'" Stan" 7;;' '"' "^^ moS; ; ">e Federal W^h ^r'T """^^ "Jewitwe ',""'' *'"' ^-rri! J^'orth-West Provin/ " ^'"' 'oaned monr ,^ '""''«'>antageou, r *° "'o best »""-''»<' allowed them tol:' '°* '"'orest tf ,C lands. "™- of brmgi„g ,^^ right ,&' J'-- own idel , ,, f » that one of the fi . "''*' "> 'heir tie ?forth.-H-e,( ;„ • '^"*^' railway ..-ste™ ■ ■•'°*-tcommu„ic.^„^;;;^-;n th wo,^ ,,,os Atlantic seaboard, ' I I V > ) ^^ <^nt the re. as th the Versed ^hted '^'tory an 00; the of 'r.s '(/ 1892 IMPRESSIONS OF NORTH-WEST CANADA 645 it should be the aim of Imperial and Dominion statesmanship com- bined to substitute a better system for the spoon-feeding policy which has been so far pursued towards these Provinces, and wnich has not succeeded in {/iving them strength enough to utilise the immense resources with which they abound. A fair start should be given to them, and then throw them upon their own ways and means for necessary administrative revenue. An Imperial loan of 10,000,000^. at low interest, through the Dominion (rovernment, would enable the Provinces and Territories to bring 100,000 select colonists from Great Britain, and such an addition to the present population — small as it would even then be for a country much larger than France — would give such a stimulus to the colonisation and development which have proceeded so far, that the future of this richest but most neglected part of the Colonial Empire would be assured. The interest upon such a loan might be charged in equal shares upon the Dominion Government and the Provinces and Terri- tories of the North-West, but a ten years' grace might be gi\en to the latter, during which period this half of the interest should remain an Imperial charge as a contribution to the work of development in that part of the Empire. In my judgment, this would solve the whole difficulty of the Canadian North-West. ^Manitoba, British Columbia, and the Terri- tories would plan and carry out their own colonisation work in the manner best suited to their respective requirements. They know now where the best kind of settlers come from, and, with the means at their disposal of inducing those that are wanted to come, no time would be lost in locating tlie imported industry where it is most needed and would produce the best results. The additional wheat cultivation and increase of other kinds of agriculture which 100,000 new farms must necessarily create, would soon operate to the great economic advantage of Lower Canada, which supplies all the farm implements in use in the Xorth-\Vest, as well as mostly all their other mechanical requirements, by means of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The increased wheat produce which would accrue would have an important bearing upon our Home markets, and make them less susceptible to the influence of American grain rings and ' deal- ings in futures.' Nor would the money needed to accomplish this work be a bad investment from a purely Imperial point of view. The Canadian Pacific liailway has recently presented itself in quite a new light to some of our politicians who are wise enough to foresee a time when the Suez Canal may probably not answer as the safest route to India and China for British troops or transports. In an emergency which might arise any day, Mr. Van Home and his incomparable system, by which Yokohama has been brought within twenty days of Liverpool, would become a priceless auxiliary to the War Office. G4G THE XLXETFENTJI CENTURY April Should annexation be the indirect object at which the Washington (lovernmcnt is now aiming in McKinleying the i)roducts of the ]^ominion, the Canadian Pacific would, in the event of the success of this policy, be added to the Eaihvay rings of the United States. A free and uniquely advantageous highway to the East and to the Australasian colonies would then be lost, and a great Imperial con- necting link be broken beyond the possibility of repair. There are those in Lower Canada, and of course in England too, who say that too much money has already been ex])end(Hl in the opening up of the Xorth-West, and that the building of the Canadian Pacific has been a far too expensive enterprise from a ]jOwer (Canadian point of view. This is a very shortsighted view to take. Without the present and future development of the North- West to count upon, the fate of TiOwer Canada would be sealed. She might throw herself into the arms of the United States at once. Ten years from now the Xorth-West will be far more necessary to Lower (Janadathan Lower Canada is to-day to British Columbia, ^NlanitolDa, and the Territories, The Canadian Pacific has annexed an empire of undeveloped resources to the Eastern section of the Dominion, which must ultimately be the economic salvation of the older but less naturally favoured Provinces. Certain I am, that if tlie Americans only knew more about the mineral resources of British Columbia, its wonderfully rich soil and teeming rivers, and of the riches represented in the vast areas of arable and pasture lands of the Territories and ^Manitoba, they would not hesitate in paying five times the amount of money that has been expended upon the Xorth-West, in railways and other respects, in exchange for possessions representing untold material wealth and priceless political importance. The World's Fair at Chicago next year will, of course, invite an immense number of visitors from the United Kingdom. Those who have already seen the grounds upon which the Exposition will stand, as I have, and who can therefore form some idea of the unparalleled proportions, yet symmetrical arrangement, of the whole plans, will be more or less prepared for the biggest, brightest, and best effort of the kind ever put forth. But to those who have not had this advanta;. e, and who voj^y never have visited the United States before, the Chicago Exposition will offer a series of attractions which will leave a lifelong agreeable recollection behind. Once at Chicago, a trip to the Canadian Xorth-West would be but an affair of an additional ten or fifteen days, in which small space of time, however, it will be possible to see a comparati\ely unknown and magnificent country, and enjoy the ' Sea of Mountains,' as the Canadian Kockies have been called, together with the softer but yet wild and incomparably varied and enchanting scenery of the Canon of the Eraser River, as that monarch of western waters rolls clown through gorge and precipice and valley to the wooded plains of British Columbia. No one i ^•'foAtf v»iea advantage. >^^;, ^ ^„ ^^f^r'^u U . "', as t in V -humble 3UUS ^ortioiis ot tue v. ':tVe most i.vosi«°'^» 1« ^j,^„,,, B.vvrr.