^>. ^, ru:^ .r.% IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 4 ^ /. / t^'- / 1.0 I.I 1.25 15 2.2 1^0 III 2.0 1.8 1.4 IIIIII.6 V] ^^^ /: e". c o 7 M "^^ % n? ■?) 'c k ^> CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut canadien de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notea techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of the images in the reproduction are checked below. / Coloured covers/ Couvertures de couleur L'Institut a microfilm^ la meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Certains d4fauts susceptibles de nuire d la quality de la reproduction sont not6s ci-dessous. 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The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grfice it la g6n6rosit6 de I'^tablissement prdteur suivant : La bibliothdque des Archives publiques du Canada Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul cliche sont film^es d partir de Tangle sup6rieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 r«« sescieafn ■i i r ^ ' ?, «ji , i g j g - j».s« ■ , - • mi — ' I iL- t ..j t ,V^%t) -». or ^ ON. JAr. p HAPLEAU, ON CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY RESOLUTIONS BOUSE OF COMMONS, 16th JUNE, 1885. OTTAWA: PRINTED BY MACLEAN, ROGER & CO., WBLLINQTON STREET. 1885. ,^ i(ztiZut^ ^ SPJEECH OF floN. Mr. Chapleau, ON CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY RESOLUTIONS / HOUSE OF COMMONS, 16th JUNE, 1885. Mr. Speaker, in seconding the motion before the Chair, I wish to ask the indulgence of the House while I offer eome remarks upon the wide question which the resolution embraces. My remarks will cover pretty large ground, DO less than the discussion which has taken place since the inauguration of this enterprise. I shall have to refer very often to discussions that have already taken place, and for this and other reasons I shall have to ask the indul- gence of the House and the permission of hon. gentlemen if I make use, more than is ordinary, more even than is allowed by custom and rules of the House, of the notes which 1 have been obliged to take to try and grasp the vast subject, and endeavor to do it justice. Within a few miles from Montreal, in the county lepreeented by my hon. friend from Jacques Cartier, we find a parish and a small town with an allegorical name, a name bestowed by a man of true prophetic instinct, the noble de La Salle. He was indeed a prophet, that brave Cavelier de La Salle, when, leaving Montreal in 1679, on his way to China, he christened by the name of Lachine the spot from which he started, after having ascended the foaming rapids of that name. The dream of La Salle has taken two hundred years to be real- ised, but it has been realised, and the piercing whistle of the locomotive has awakened the silent wilderness of the Eocky Mountains, which were reached in 1732, after a thou- sand perils, by another Canadian, one of the great family 2 that founded the nutivo parish of my friond from Richelieu, the udvonturous Gaulthior do VarennoH, Pont acroHH the mybtorious continent by the Governor of La Nouvello France, the Marquis of CoauharnoiH, whono name huH been given to one of the finent conn ties of Lower Canada. Singu- lar and happy coincidence \n this ! Throe Canadian naraen, which have 8Uivived througii two long centuries, are embo- died in that grand idea that through Canadian territory was to be Jourid tho wtraightcbt, ihe hhortcst, the eahiewt, route between Km ope iind Asi.'i. This ncalJH to my mind an utterance of Lord Carnarvon, the forcHight of which must have struck all those who rend it at tho time. Before the Royal (Jeotrrnphical Society, in London, Lord Carnarvon Baid, in 1859: " It is not unreasonable 1o look forward to the establishment of a regular sysfem of transit, commencing from Nova >Scrtia and the shores ot New Brunswick, passinjr through Canada, touciiinpr upon the Red River Settlement, crossing the prairicg to the Vermillion Pass, till it reaches the gold-bearing colony of British Oolumbia, creating fresh centres of civilization, and consolidating British interests and feelings." Before Lord Carnarvon, a rann of mark, Major Robert Carmichael Smyth, in 184U, if I am not miritakon, pictured, in tho following glowing terms the destinies of the Britit«li nation. 1 quote from a pamphlet on tho subject of British colonial railway communications, dedicated to Haliburton, but really addressed to the Duko of Wellington : " Did His Grace's imagination picture to his mind's eye swarms of human beings from Halifax, from New Brunswick, from Quebec, from Montreal, from Bytown, from Kingston, from Toronto, from Hamilton, from Red River settlement, rushing across the Rocky Mountains of Oregon with the produce of the west in exchange for the riches of the east ? Did His Grace imagine the Pacific Ocean alive with all descrip- tion of vessels sailing and steaming from our magnificent colonies, New Zealand, Van Dieman's Land, New South Wales, New Holland, from Borneo and the west coast of China, from the Sandwich Islands and a thousand other places, all carrying the rich productions of the east, and landing them at the commencement of the west, to be forwarded and distributed throughout our Northern American Provinces, and to be delivered in thirty days at the ports of Great Britain ? Did His Grace weigh and consider that to the inventive genius of her sons, England owes the foundation of her commercial greatness ? We will not go to the length of asserting that she retains her proud pre-eminence solely upon the condition of keeping twenty years ahead of other nations in the practice of mechanical arts ? • • • • £)i(j His Grace, in short, look forward to a irrand national railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific ? If not, let His Grace do so now. Let the people of Great Britain do so ! Let her Colonial Ministers do so. No ooantry can have all the bleasingii and advantages of England and have them for nothing ! Nor can she retain them without great exertion. Her accumulated wealth cannot be allowed to remain idle, nor will it. But the undertaking proposed has a higher claim to our attention. It is the great link required to unite in one powerful chain tho whole English race. Let, then, our railway kings and our iron kings, our princely merchants and land millionaires, let stirring and active spirits 3 of thn Rj(<', the ffrciit rpforniers and the modern politiciftna, many of whom are now |i[uclaiming through the liind thnt economy alone can Have the country, condesucud, for a short time even, to conaider the uadertakinK proposed." Wo cuii to-day, from this IIimiso, aiidresH oursolvos to England, and wo can toll hor : What wan thori askod of you, tho mother country, to maintain your pro-ominonco and to unite in ono powerful chain your imraonHo colonies, wo have done ourMolvn, and wo huvo done it alone. Wo have done it through our Htatosnion, through tho princes of Canadian finance. They have aHkod, it is true, some assibtance Irom that uccuraulati.'d wealth which your genius had gnthorcd, but oven those advances have been secured by us in an indisputable manner. In taking up the ques- tion of tho Canadian Pacific ono must boar in mind that that railway project was tho largest over brought out in tho world as a single enterprise. There may bo found networks of railways more extensive, such as tho Pennsyl- vania Railway, composed of several links, born of isolatod enterprises, afterwards amalgamated ; and it is not impos- sible that some European Goveruraonts may have, in tho course of time, added to their systems of railways a greater number of miles on tho whole surface of their country. France, for instance, has disbursed at this moment more than $300,000,000 on 9,000 miles of railway ; Austria has guaranteed a sum of $250,000,000 on 3,694 miles ; but in no country in the world was there undertaken, in one stretch, the construction of 3,000 miles of railway, five or six hun- dred miles of which traverse a mountainous region, pre- senting almost insuperable difficulties. That vast conception which raises our position amongst the nations of the world, which renders us tho equals of our proud and powerful neighbors, should not bo belittled nor discredited by those most interested in its success — tho citizens of this Dominion. Unfortunately, party spirit is such, that the desire to destroy is stronger than patriotism, hatred dominates intelligence, and in certain quarters, people have come to this, that they regret that all tho catastrophies which wore predicted have not happened. The Canadian Pacific is tho offspring of two great ideas : 1st. The necessity of uniting into ono great empire the ^^ritish colonies of North America as a barrier against i - absorbing power of the neighboring republic. 2nd. Tho importance of opening to the coming millions of immigrants the vast area yet unexplored, and of finding for the commerce of Europe, and of America itself, the best, the shortest, the quickest route to tho unbounded wealth of Asia. I shall not dwell here upon the wisdom of the policy that has won for Confederation that immcDHe and fortilo Nortli-Wcst, and that wonderful country, Uritibh Columbia. Noono has any doubt to-day upon that quention. 1 only wish to Hay that out of Huch a sudden dovolopmont of forcen, there have ^rown Kacrcd obligations which no good citizen t-hould think of over evailing. The page of our ofliciul record upon which 1h written the attempt to repudiate our ongagomcntH will alwayn remain a dark ]iage in our hiwlory, whilht the mont striking fact standing out in tlio jircsont period of our national life, the event that has averted the Htigma from us and the calamity from the nuiion.will be the return of the Conservative Govern- ment at the head of Canadian affairs. 1 know that to palliate their own shortcomings oui- adversaries have tried to ridicule, to bring into contempt, the Administration that had j)ro- mised the constiuction of the Canadian Pacific within the period often years. Ilundrods of times in this ilouso, in their newspapers, on the hustings, they have denounced that promise as absurd, ridiculous, impossible of realisation, and men for whom I cannot help feeling great respect, on account of their high character and their intelligence, have allowed themselves to be so carried away by the errors of their party as to make the most solemn declarations, the most gloomy prophecies, prophecies, however, which have been completely and loudly contradicted by what has hap- Senod since. Five years had elapsed since a solemn pledge ad been given to British Columbia that the transconti- nental route would be built iu ten years, when the hon. mem- ber for East York, then Prime Minister, declared as follows, in this House : " I have been an advocate of the constrL^ction of a railway across the continent, but I never believed that it waa within our raeana to do it in anvtbing like the period of time within which the hon. (gentleman bouna Parliament and the country. I believe the bargain was an act of madness, of utter insanity, and an evidence of political incapacity that has had no parallel in this or in any other country that I am aware of. After careful examination I found that while thnre was comparatively little difficulty in ascertaining the probable character of the prairie country, nay, from the Lake of the Woods westward to the RocKy Monntains, it must be a work of Herculean magnitude to ascer- tain the exact character ot the country through British Columbia and from Lake ot the Woods, eastward to Lake Nipissing." Herculean magnitude ! The word was well chosen, and I call attention to it when 1 fully accept it as a striking illue- tration of the immense success that has crowned the broad policy of the present leader of the Administration, and the intelligent confidence of the party supporting him. Yes, in 1871, the project of constructing the Pacific was a sublime audacity. It revealed the foresight of the men who had conceived and brought out that great scheme. But in 1876 Ihero should hivo boon no room for doubt. Tho Promicr had thoti hoi j him extonHivo und ))rociHO iriformution. Eluboriito HurvojH hnd boon mudo, if wo can jtid^o by tho following statcmuntw of Ihoir coHt, as 1 llnd thoiii in tho Blue Books : Fur th«^ Foction past of the Rocky Mountain§;— Surveys up to tho 3()th June, 1872 $l94,12.'i 40 do do 1873 3»6,967 51 do do lfi7-l 199,156 29 do do 1875 290,873 82 do 30th Dec, 1875 246,769 13 Making a total of $1,276,892 16 Section of the Rocky Moiintaina:— tiurveya up to the 30ih June, 1872 $295,302 — do do 1873 215,860 — do do 1874 111,068 — do do 187ft 183,656 — do SOlh Dec, 1875 204,137 — Making a total of $1,010,015 38 Giving for all these eurveya an aggregate amount of $2,286,907.54. Shall I compare iho policy, the confessions of incapacity, and the failure of the Liberal party in 1876, with the action of the Con(*<'rvativo party and its results, after a period of nine years? In 1876, the leader of the Government announced to tho Houte that the works on the main line of the Pacific had reached the following points : — Kast of Fort William, 22 miles of grading; in the direction of Lake Shenandoaan, 13 miles of grueling ; and east of Ecd River, 25 miles of grading. I say grading only; not a rail was laid, not a piece of iron work, only grading. Three years afterwards, in December, 1878, the following was the state- ment of the work done on the main line: — From Fort William to Engliwh River, 60 miles with rails laid and 53 miles of grading; from Lacrosse to Selkirk, 75 miles with rails laid ; from Keowatin to Lacrosse, 36 miles graded. In five years the Mackenzie Administration had suceeded in completing \'d6 miles of railway and 89 miles of grading, and the JJorainion had already absorbed 810,203,000 from its treasury towards the great work of the Pacific. I may add, Mr. Speaker, by way of comparison, that the present Administration has secured the constructed and completed 3,121 miles of the main line and branches of the Pacific within the period of six years. And to obtain that result the Government have not, even benefited by tho costly surveys of tho preceding Government, whose pl.ins and lines have been set aside from Callander to Fort William and from Selkirk to Port Moody. More than that, the company ban boon obli|:^od to cbanf^o noarly 100 milcB on tbo line adopted by tho lant (Jovornmont. That undortukin^', to build tho railway in ten yoaiH, charaotoriHcd as madnoHB, as an aetof inHanity, the ovidonco of political incapacity — that pnjoct, condomtiod a.s an impos- sibility for tho time tixod for its execution, which demanded an effort of ** Herculean mn^nilude" for its location alone — that project, 1 say, has been accomidinhed within six years, without any extraordinary effort, witliout danger, without commotion, without anj buithen on tho ])eoplo of tho country. At tho rate th "y were going, the into Govern ment — buiUiin^ ir)0 miles five yours — would huvt^ taken tlio greater p:ut of tho nexi. century to cross the Rockies and reach t!io Pacific Oceun. One is led to ask tho ques- tion, what would have become of tho allegmnco of that niaLrniflcenl I'rovince of TJritihti Coluttibia, to which tho pledgo of this Government wi'h the (olemn eanction of tho Imperial authorities had oeon given in 1875 ? Stimulated by the marvelous devolopmout of tho great Pacilio Slate, California, tho British Columbians, who know that their country was as well situated, better gifted in certain respects, called by its resources to achieve high destinies, and to play on this continent as important a part as Carliforniji, tho British Columbians, 1 say, would not have consented to stagnate and sleep in the expectation of a railway ever promised and never done. They have tho noblo ainbition of manly work, tho great school of material ])rogroH8 is within reach of thoir hand across tho Straits of Fuca. Ilaving right on their bide, they would not have failed to make us pay heavily for our breach of faith in tho treaties made with them. Porcunately, and thanks to tho intervention of Lord Carnarvon, further delay until 1890 was granted. But it did not appertain to the late Government to save tho honor of tho country, since, on different occasions, tho then leader of the Cabinet, whilst acopting tho obligation to complete the work within fifteen years fixed for tho building of the road from Port Arthur to the Pacific Ocean, declared himself unable lo build tho section north of Lake Sufiorior, and I boliovo that the present loader of the Opposition was more emphatic in tho expression of his fears. He considered tho enterprise such a gigantic one — such a fantastic one, I may say — that ho even then raised tho question of the disruption of Confederation. On the 15th of April, 1880, he expressed the followiug serious and sinister views : **Ihad taken occasion in the fiill of 1874 to declare my individual views on the subject of the Pucifio Railway. I then stated that I thought the fulfilment of the agreement with British Oolutnbia imi)ossible ; that iinlers rim nho^n tt Im refl8onK))lo and to Hi^rnc to a relaxation of the terin^, I saw no hope of pcrforminfc tli»>m ; Hnd that, if ahe inniRted on Beceaiion Ha a congoqiicnce of tht« non-fiilfllnipnt of the torini of t'nion, I for one was n-ady to »nj ; ' Let her gn rath'T tlian ruin thw country in thn attempt to ix-rform the impogMhle.' I imve nt'vnr ohanped that opinion, and eHcli Hiiccei'dintt year hns otrengihened ray Tiew M to the wisdom and louuduei of Buch a deciaiun." I do not bcliovo that nny bolder words woro over uttorod iu ihiH IloUHO. Nolliin^ but tlio ominout position of tbo ;^on- tlimiitj wn'> ullofol t')omc)uid liiivo HocuiroJ thorn from coiidcmnution. Au ordinary mombt-r wouM siirolv huvo boon donouncod, il' ho hud vonturod ho far. It WiH in 1880 that tho lion, mondtor for Dutham mo oxpiOHsod b's viows; it WHS nflor ho bad boon willinLT ^'> !"•" '•■ Ciibinol l)y which all iho ('urnarvon conditions hud l;c<'n aiH'opLcd, it was after ho had boloii^od to u Cabinet whose cdiiof ha I said, on tho 3l8t of March, IbTG : "Wc have felt from tlin frst, that while it wa? impo«oihlp to imple- ment to the lettt ieen(?a|?oraeut8 entered into by our jiredecegsor!', the good faith of tlm country demanded that the Adminii^tration should o fears, all those threats, I am aolo at this hour, from my place in Parlia- ment, to eay, repeating the celebrated words of Sir George Cartier: "All aboard for the westl All aboard for the 8 Pacific I " Yop, all aboard for tbo Eocklos, for C.)lumbia Eiver, for Yalo, tor Poit Moody, Coal Harbor and Victoria !' By tho contract of 1881 with the Syndicate the road was divided into four sections, to be built as follows :— Miles. Callander to Port Arthur (by the Co.) 657 Port Arthur to Red River (by the Gov't.) 428 Red River to Savona'a Ferry (by tho Co.) 1,252 Savona'a Ferry to Pt. Mooily (by the Govt.) 213 Total 2,550 Add Pemblua branch 65 2,615 On tho let of May, 1885, wo had the following result : — Miles. Callander to Port Arthur (built by the Co.) 657 Port Arthur to Red River ( " by the Gov't)... 428 Red River to Savona'a Ferry( " by toe Co.) 1,262 (Less 150 milea to be graded.) Savona'a Ferry to Port Moody 213 Total 2,560 Add Pembina branch 65 2,615 So that out of 1.^,615 miles firnt intended to be the Canadian Pacific Railway, 2,470 miles are now built, if wg include 5(5 miles all graded, but not ironed towards Savona's Ferry. And here is the exact amount to be spent by the company to entirely complete the railway from one end to the other ; Callander to Port Arthur $ 773,279 Port Arthur to Red River 60,000 Winnipeg to Savona's Ferry 5,003,704 Total. $5,836,983 Up to the HOth April, 1885, the following sums havo boon paid to the company : — Subsidy under the Act of 1881 $12,289,212 " " " 1884 9,126,205 Loan of 1884 20,307,600 Total $41,723,017 Leaving a balance available for completing the contract of ; On snbgidy account $.3,585,583 loan " 2,192,400 Tc ^l $6,776,983 That is to say only $60,000 short of what is required to finish the road ; so that we may now say that the road is |!i 9 complotod inasmuch as the moans to construct it arc in the haods of the company. Goin<^ back to the opinion expressed by the late Government and their unwillini^nons to build the section north of Lake Superior, I confess I am unable to undorMtand the persistence of the Liberal Government in oppo.iing the construction of the section north of Lake Superior, whilst they wore ready to spend $20,000,000 for the portion of the road between Lake Superior and Winni- peg. During at least five months of the year that section to Winnipeg would have necessarily been closed, and if navigation was declared to bo our only resource, we would not have been in a worse position in having to use, alto- gether, the American route to which wo were thus forced, and in having to pass through Pembina to reach Duluth, at the other end of Lake Superior. The interest alone of the 020,000,000 saved would have allowed the Government to give material assistance to its proposed navigation of Lake Superior. And if Fort William was not to be connected by rail with Lake Nipi-^sing, why that persistence in building, at a cost of 86,000,000 or' 87,000,000, the section of the Canada Central and Georgian Bay branch to reach, at Lake Nipissing, a terminus that would not, in reality, bo used as such unless connected with Fort William ? Was it intended to receive the traffic that the navigation of the lake would bring there? But, then, a few more miles of navigation south of Georgian Bay would have brought that traffic to railways already built and nearer the ocean port of Mon- treal. It is a fact that whereas from French River to Montreal, vid Mattawa, the distance is 424 miles, it is but 400 miles from Midland to Montreal. The opposition of the late Government to the construction of the section north of Lake Superior was in direct contradiction to the decision of Lord Carnarvon. The reasons for that opposition are found in the despatch of the 7th September, 1874 : " The fourth condition, sayg the despatch, invrdves another precise engaeemenl to have the whole of the railway communication finished iu 1890. There are the strong^est posbiblo objections to again adopting a precise time for the completion of the lines. The eastern portion of the line, except bo far as the mere letter of the conditions is concerned, affects only the Provinces east of Manitoba, and the Government have not been persuaded either of the wisdom or the necessity of immediately constructing that portion of the railway which traverses the country from the west end of Lake Superior to the proposed eastern terminus on Lake Nipissing near Georgian Bay, nor is it conceived that the people of British Columbia could, with at y show of reason whatever, insist that this portion of the work should be completed within any deSnite time, inasmuch as if the people who are chiefly if not wholly affected by this branch of the undertaking are satisfied it is maintained that the people of British Columbia would practically have no right of speech in the matter. . 10 " It is intended by the Government that the utmost diligence shall be raanitested in obtaining « speedy line of communication by rail and water from Lake Superior westward, completing the various links of railway as fast as possible, consistent with that prudent course which a com- paratively poor and pparsely settled country should adopt. " There chu be no doubt that it would be an extremely difficult task to obtain the sanction of the Canadian Parliament to any specific bargain as to time, considering the consequences which have already resulted from the unwise adoption of a limited period in the terms of Onion for the completion of so vast «n undertakine, the extent of which must necessarily be very imperfectly understood ny people of a distance. The committee advise thai Lord Onrnarvon be informed that, while in no case could the Government undertake the complet on of the whole line in the tinif mentiouer], an extreme unwillingness exists to another limi- tation of lime ; but If it be found absolutely necessary to secure a present settlement ( f the contruverty by further concessions, a pledge may be given that the porti n west of Lake Superior will be completed so as to afford conm ction by rail with existing lines of railway through a por- tion of the United Stales and by Canadian wateis during the season of navigation by the year 1890 as suggested." And whilst that excuse of an exccssivo cxpondituro was put forward agaiiiHt the huilditii? of that important part of the main lii'.c, and tlio importance of that part has been full}'- demonstrated dni-ir'g this unfortunate revolt in the North West, the Goxeriunont was authorising a large expenditure, which, if not whoiiy useless, was, at least, unnecessary for tho fulfilment of our engagements under the Carnarvon award — I reft?r to the building of the 85 miles of the Pembina Branch — $1,600,000. There was also the famous Foster's contract of the Georgian Bay Branch, on the following conditions: $850,000 in money, S609,000 by a 4 per cent, guarantee, and 8l-i,400,000 in lands, say a total of 84,859,000. That contract involved the necessity of spending another $1,500,000 for the 30 miles remaing betwten the end of the Georgian Bay Branch and the ter- minus at Lake Nipissing. The route between Winnipeg and Lake Superior was lun-^tboned by 40 miles by not making it direct to Lake Nepigon, thus adding an expen- diture of at least $l,»)00,i>00. There was also the subsidy to the Canada Central, 81,400,000. The Government was willing to spend 8(),000,000 on the Nanaimo line, on Van- couver's Island, a work which could easily have been delayed. So that at the moment when they declared the building of the section north of Lake Superior an irap^ ssibility, the Government of my hon. friend from East York, breaking in that respect a sacred engagement on the plea of too large an expenditure, undertook to the amount of 816,959,000 works, the post ponment of which would not have signified and would have not been a violation of our engagements. 1 do not wish to enter into a discussion of the merits or the utility of those works; this is not the time to do so. I only want to state that the then Government was not unwilling . 11 to spend a sum of $16,959,000 on works which wore not included in our obligations, and that they refused to under- take the works which the Imperial arbitration had ordered ua to complete. I want to state that the Government of the hon. gentlemen on the other side hesitated, pleaded, refused, and then unwillingly consented to build 1,900 miles of railway from Lake Superior to the Pacific coast in fifteen years, and as a contrast to show the present Government completing 2,400 miles of the main lino and 701 miles of branches in hix years, saving the good name and the pledge of the country, and opening, five years sooner, the door to that gioat commercial piospority which must follow the completion of our groat Canadian transcontinental railway. I know what answer our friends on the other side will give us. It is invariably the same answer, and it is an easy one, avoiding all effort in the direction of accuracy: *' You have been extravagant with the money of the people; you have obtained the rapid execution of those immense works at the expense of the public chest." Nothing is more unjust, Mr. Speaker, nothing is more untrue than that assertion thrown in our iaces in the place of an answer. Who has forgotten that once the Mackenzie Government offered to any com- pany willing to build and then become the sole proprietors of the 2,*797 miles of the Canadinn Pacific, the following terms: Subsidy in money per mile, $10,000; 4 per cent, guarantee during 25 years per mile, on $7,400 ; land sub- sidy, per mile, 20,000 acres. I say that the guarantee of 4 per cent, was on $7,400 per mile, although the call for tenders did not mention the sum, but the Government could not give less, having themselves chosen that propcition in the Foster contract. Thut offer represented in round figures : in cash subsidy, $27,970,000 ; by the 4 per cent, guarantee, during 25 years, $20,977,500; by 55,240,000 acres of land at $2 an acre, $I11,8}-0..00U; or a total of $160,827,500. That assistance was a complete gift for the building of the road, and we can compare it with similar items in the subsidy granted to the Canadian Pacific Railway by the present Government, which are as follows: — Sections built by the Governmeat and given to the company « $29,500,000 Cash subsidy 25,000,000 25,000,000 acres of land, at $2 an acre 50,000^000 $104,500,000 The surplus offered by the late Govern- ment being 56,327,500 $160,827,500 I need not add that the class of road we present to day to 12 the country is, to f^ay the loa^t not inferior to tho road which tho hito Govornnnont expected to get under tho most favorable cireutnstanceH by their offer, and far superior to that road with regard to equip- ment, terminal factliiiep, conntclions and branches. And it is far superior to i he expectations of the people, who had already been informed that tho estimates lor tho road, as prepared by Mr. Sundfotd Fleming in 1879, were estimates for a cheap road, covering only $1,300 per mile for rolling stock, and not allowing more than $13,000 per mile for construction of the prairie sections. Tho present company has already a rolling stock of the value of more than 83,000 per mile, and if we grant them tho power of raising the $15,000,000 additional contemplated by the measure proposed, another $1,000,000 is to be added at once to the value of the rolling stock of the company's road, so that instead of having a road equipped to tho extent of $5,100,000 on 2,550 miles of the main line, if we take the calculations of the hon. member for Durham at $2,000 for a mile, we shall have the same length of road, 2,550, equipped to the extent of over $9,000,000, not including the branches. On that single item we have a net gain, in favor of travelling accommodations and accommodations for traffic, of $4,000,000. Mr. BLAKE. Hear, hear. Mr. CHAPLBAU. My hon. friend says " hear, hear." I have taken his own figures for the estimates I am giving the House. Those figures of his, 1 may say, have varied immensely since the hon. gentleman first began to discuss this question in the House. If his political opinions had varied to the same extent he would, by this time, be sitting on this side of the House, and perhaps be a colleague of the right hon. First Minister. His estimates have varied like his appeals and demands on the Government for a different construction of the railway, and it is in spite of the hon. gentleman that the road has been built at all. I might also remark that tho company have largely exceeded tho 2,797 miles to which the contractors by the late Government for main line and branches were limited. They have added 712 miles to their line of 2,550 of main line and 65 miles of branch, which is now 3,3-7 miles, not including 600 miles of leased lines. The terminus has been exiended to Montreal by the purchase of 345 miles of road and the expenditure of over $4,213,75 S. Another sum of $4,000,000 has been expended to secure access to the Atlantic sea- board. The system of railways which the company now . 13 controls in Ontario has cost over $5,000,000. Thoro reinaJDs comparatively but Utile to do to roach Sault Ste. Mario and tho American North-West, tho Algoma Branch having already cost S2,000,00U. In one word, tho company has expended, and wisely expended, over 815,000,000 of its own resources to add to tho earning capacity of its main lino and to complete its vast and uninterrupted system of transcontinental transportation. My hon. friends on tho other side would be tho last to tind fault with those changes, with those improvements. Tho gravest charge which the hon. gentleman brought iigainst the Government In 1880 was that wo wore not building a road sufficiently solid and complete. The present leader of tho Opposition, speaking on the 15th of April, 1S80, said : " But except by most seriously degradiag the road, by altogether lowering the style of coastruction, by changing it from a good, th lough line to an inferior colonisation road, it will be necesssary, according to the estimatea of the hon. member for Lambton, if tbey be correct, to expend a very much larger sum than the hon. Minister calculates, to reach this result. On the other hand, we must look to the ultimate conversion of the road into a first-class road, a cheap carrying road, for the North-West, without which it will be useless for that long stretch of country towards Battleford and beyond, for the grain will have to come down along the Pacific Railway a great many miles before it reaches Selkirk or the Red River. The House must remember that, according to the theory on which the hon. Minister advocates the com- pletion of the road, be is bound to give reasonable grades and curves to the prairies of the west. ♦ • * Again, of course the through traffic depends on the road being first-class, and we must remembt ' that after we have spent all the hon. Minister proposes, we shall have, not a Pacific but a colonisation road." It is true that my hon. friend has travelled from one side to the other on that point. One would think, from his utterances at the beginning of this Session, that ho is now making it a crime for the company to have given the country a first-class road. Ho seems to be afraid that the road is too well built to be able to carry freight at cheap rates. Ho is scandalised at the announcement that a first- class road has cost in the prairie section as much as 816,000 or 817,000 a mile, and he charitably insinuates that dishon- esty or incapacity must have presided at the building of that work. In 1880, the Minister of Railways, Sir Charles Tupper, gave instructions to the Chief Engineer to construct a cheap road. We see, in his^letter of the 15th of April, 1880, this passage : " With regard to the location and character of the railway, I am aware that your own preference has been for a Mne with li^ht, easy graiienis. The Government recbgniaes the advantages of this feature between Lake Superior and Manitoba, but west of Red River we attach less importance to it than to the rapid settlement of the country and the immediate accommodation of settlers. The policy of the Government is to coDstruot a cheap railway, following or rather in advance of aettle- u mcnt, with an; workable gradients that can be hnd, incurrin(;r no expendilure beyond that absolutely necessary to elTect the rapid coluni- ■ation of the country." And in further evidonco of what I. want to tlemon.strftte, I shall clto an extract of Mr. FlemiLg's report in an«wor to the above letter : Ottawa, 16th April, 1880. "Sib,— T have the honor to submit the following estimate of expendi- ture ntcessfiry to place the GanRdian Pacific Railway in operation from Lake Superior to Port Moody. West of Red River, 100 miles haye been placed under contract, and lenders have been received for a second 100 mile section. These two section8 are designed to be construciod and eq -lipped in the most econoiiiical manner, dispensing with all outlay exceot that necessary to render the railway immediately useful in the settlement of the country. It is contended that the line bo partly bal- lasted to render it available for colonisation purposes, full ballasting being deferred until the traffic demands high speed. It is intended to provide suflBcie'it rolling stock for immediate wants, postponing full equipage until the country becomes populated and the business calls for its increase. " On this basis and on the other data furnished, the railway may be opened from Lake Superior to the Pacinc coast within the following estimate : Fort William to Selkirk (406 miles) with light gradients, including a fair allowance of rolling stock and en- gineering during construction - $17,000,000 Selkirk to Jasper Valley (1,000 miles) with light equipment, etc 13,00,000 Jasper Valley to Port Moody (550 miles) with light equip- ments etc. : — Jasper to Lake Kamloops, 335 at $43,660 $15,500,000 Lake KamlooDS to Yale, 125 at 80,000 10,000,000 Yale to Port Moody, 90 - f 38,888 3,500,000 $29,000,000 Add 1,000,000 30,000,000 Total miles, 1,956 $60,000,000 '* The above does not include coat of exploration and preliminary surveys throughout all parts of the country north wT Lake Nipissing to James' Bay in the east, and from Bsquimault to Port Simpson in the west, between latitudes 49* and 56**, not properly chargeable to con- struction, $3,119,618, or the cost of the Pembina Branch, $1,750,000, or with other amounts with which the Pacific Railway account is charged." Another report of the Engineer-in-Chief to the Minister of Railways, dated Ottawa, 16th April, 1880, says : " In compliance with your directions, I have the honor to consider the cost of the eastern section of the Pacific Railway extending from Thunder Bay, Lake Superior, to the eastern terminus, Lake Nipissing. " It is impossible to say what labor and materials may cost some years hence, when the period arrives for the eastern section to be undertaken. Taking the basis of present prices and present contracts, and adhering to the economic principles of construction set forth in the letters of yesterday, I feel warranted in stating that $20,000,000 maybe considered a fair estimate of the cost of opening the line from Fort William to the eastern terminus. I 16 "In order that the pstimatea of the cost of the line from F ^rt William to the Pacific and from Fort William to tne easnTri ' MnuniH neiir Lake Nipi^Biof;, be clearly uaderatood, I deem it proper to submii ihe lollow- ing exulanatious : — " I have io previous reports laid before Parliament, advocato 1 a loca- tion for the railway with gonerally light gradifiiis und other favo-'ihle engineerinK features. The policy of the O ivt'rriin^nt, aa stated in your letter, likewise the change of lino by the abandonment of the old loca- tion west of Iltd River, render it necossiiry on my part to modily the views I have previously held. • • • " I have likewige estimated the amount of rolling stock as limited to the extent considered absolutely necessary for colonisation purposes, and I have not overlooked the fact that the transportation of rails and other luateriiils, after our own line from Lake Superior to Manitoba shall have been completed, will be reduced to nominal charges to cover actual outlay, instead of the very high rates wo have been compelled to pay by the railways in the United iStatos. "It must be borne in mind that if present defined policy with respect to the gradual p^ogr^8S of the wor'* be modified, or it the extt^nt ot the work be different from that assumed, or if its general character be altered, the cost mny be affected by the chan ;e. The same result may De looked for if a higher price has to be paid 1 iv materiald, or for labor, and if through these or other causes the contractors failing to p-rform •what they have undertaken, the work in consequence has to be relet at higher prices. Under these circumstances the cost of the whole line may bo increased. • ♦ • "The estimate submitted is based on the data set f)rfh, and on that data the whole main line, from Port Moody, on the Pacific coast, to the eastern terminus, in the neighborhood of Lake Ni[)i3sing, may be con- structed in ttie manner and uuder the circumstances referred to, for about $80,000,000. But to meet any of the possible contingencies t.) which I have referred, I bog leave to recommend that in considering the subject of capital required for the undertaking, a liberal percentage be added " My hon. friend from Durham was greatly scandallsod whon he read the documents I have just quoted, and ho took the first opportunity that presented itself to lecture the Govern- ment upon that point. lie laid special stress upon the fact that the prairie section would not bo built for 813,000 a mile. All that part of his speech in the Session of 1880 is worth quoting ; 1 shall content myself by adding to my last quotation, the following: — " It would be very easy to tell, if only it were convenient to let us know, what the estimated cost of the ecjuipment is. It is included for example in the estimate of $13,000 a mile for the prairie road. But the hon. Minister of Railways would not tell us how much he could squeeze out for equipment in dollars from the $13,000 a mile, and I am not sur- prised because I dare say he would have to go into decimals to give it to us. When you recollect that an adequate rolling stock, according to the former estimates, costs $2,000 a mile, that the steel rails, plates and fastenings, cost many thousands more per mile, you will find how very little remains ot the $13,000 a mile to construct the railway. "At a point seventy miles north-west of the longitude of Edmonton, you get to the end of tne prairie. * * * I take, therefore, the longi- tude of Edmontod which is also the point of divergence, in case a north- erly route should hereafter be adopted, as for present purposes, the point of sepaiation between the prairie and the British Columbia sec- tions, and my hon. friend from Lambton, upon all the information which the official documents and the engmeer's report give, added to his own 16 knowledf^e (nsjuming the continiinnce of the same gradients and curvei MDd the HAme atyle of cunstructioa and equipments, which were always intended up to the time he rcBii^aed) estimates that the 260 miles from Edmonton to the summit vould cost 4,4()o,000, which, added to Mr. Fleming's and Mr. Smith's estimates ot over $36,600,000 for the road from the summit to the Pacifu;, wuuld give a total of over $45,000,000 as the coBt according to the old estimates. * ' From Selkirk to Edmonton, according to the old grades and styles of construction, the hon. member for Lanibton estiniaiea at $17 650,000, • • • 1 (J u not think we can decide that $13,000,000 will pay lor the work according to the present plan of construction." • ♦ • ' Well, Mr. Speaker, wo have before us a raoHt extraor- dinary fact, Mr. Saiidfonl Fleming huvinff said ia his report: "Selkirk to Jasper Valley (1,000 milen) with oquipmont 813,000,000." Tiio hon. member for Durham comes up and, fortidcd with the opinionH of the hon. mem- ber for EuHt York, sayn : ' Jasper Valley to Edmonton (256 miloH) S!),000,000 ; Edmonton to Solkitk (744 miles) S 17,000,000 -»26,000,0()0." Exactly double Vhe chief ongin- eor's eistimtite. The hoc. gentleman was rjt afiaid to put hiH reputation at stake and to doclaro from ttis seat, a place which allows its occupant to say only what he believes is true ; " the section will cost $2rt,000 a mile." And if wo tako his estimate for Selkirk to Edmonton, alone, that is to say •744 miles at $17,000,000 it is $1:1^,850 a mile. And now, Mr. Speaker, what do wo see ? The hon. gentleman getting up in his seat and saying : *' My calculations of 18b0 were all wrong, the Minister of Xlailways whom I was then fighting was right; 1 now declare emphatically that dishonesty or incompetency alone can have absorbed $16,000 a mile in that prairie region which I said, five years ago would cost $22,000 a mile." Mr. Speaker, tho whole country must congratulate itself upon tho happy result we have obtained to-day. Surely there must have been at times a great deal of uneaei- ness, not to say fear ielt, in tho community, if public opin- ion could have been afiected by tho declarations of my hon. friends opposite. It is within the recollection of everyone that the most fabulous statements wore made as to the cost of the railway, and the hon. leader of the Opposition was far from reassuring the public mind, by his elaborate cal- culations upon the subject. He once informed us that the Pacific would cost the country no less than $144,500,000 in cash. 1 am not exaggerating, Mr. Speaker. I quote from the hon. gentleman's speech at tho sitting of this House on the 15th April, 1880 : " There are 550 miles of a very diflScult road to build from Jasper House to Port Moody. For a part only of that road, for the 493 miles between the divide and Port Moody, Mr. Fleming's estimate was about $36,000,000. The estimate of Mr. Smith was $36,500,000, and the estU :'ii, I n mate of Mr. Cabibie was, I think, ^SliOOOfCO. But the averaee estimate of the Chief and AsBistant Rnirineer may be «aid to be over $36,000,000 fir this 493 miles, which woukI run up the 'ifiO miles to $40,000,000. The Canada Central Railwuy sub.'^idj reaches $1,440,000; the surreys, including those location surveys, which, after all, come out of the pockets of the people, whether cnlled exploratory surreys or loc iMoa surveys, amount to $4,ono,0no. The road from Fort William to Selkirk was estimatod at $17,000,000; the F'oiubina branch cost $1,500,000, and addinfr $100,000 for tht; Red Riirer bridge, ■v'e reach a little over $16,000,000. From Selkirk to Edmonton, accordinp; to the old parades and style of construction, the hon. member fur Lnmbton estimates at $17,660,000, which, added to the $26,000,000, miikcs a to>al of over $42,600,000 as the amount, including what has been spent for surveys which it will have cost the country, irrespective of interest and construc- tion to reach the point which 1 su(;gest as the reaaonable terminus for ?he prairie section of the road. • • • " According to the old Byatem of conptructiun, that central section would cost, including the other items, 1 have mentioned, altogether over $42,t>0(),000, leaving out entire y i)Oih ends. What are the ends to cost ? $45,000,000 ia, as I have stated, the cost from Kdmonton to Hirr's Inlet on tbe we?t ; and from Fort William to Nipitiaiug on the east, the hon. member for Lanibton e'«timates at a length of about 650 miles and a cost of 1^32,500,000 I bus the ends make up together *77, 000,000, the centre past expenditure $42,5'^0,000, making a total of $120 000,(JOO and that whollv exclusive of the legitimate and necesaary charges which must be added in all cases, the charge tor interest during coastruction. « • • "Taking the estimates of ten dayn ag>->, if $60,000,000 ar« expended in the npxt ten years, there will be a total of over $24,50o,000 for interest, calcalating interest on future loans at 5 per cent., the lowest rate, as I believe, ai which the moniy can be raised. And even, duiintjj tho lust SosmIou N7hat did Iho hon. member say : "It is quite true thnt I submitted to the Houge, as a result of the calculations of my hon friend the member tor East York (Mr. Matkeiizie), baaed upon the estimates ot the engineers up to that date, the probable cost of a first-clasB railway, from Callander to Port Moody, at the eura he mentions — $120 ono 000. That is per'ecily true ; I do not understand that tbe hon. gentleman now finds fault with that estimate. He did find fault with it "Sir OHARLES TUPPER. No, no. •'Mr. BLAKE. Yes, he said to-day that he could not controvert my argument about his estimate being too low, because my estimate was true. I venture to say that 1 heard a great deal of complaint against my argument when I used it. I was told that it was extravagant, and the hon. gentleman thought it was too much altogether; but neither my hon. triend from York nor myselt was responsible for more than this, that the estimates were the fair results of the estimates of the engineers laid on the Table of the House and printed in the Sessional Papers. I believed them to be so, and that was all we said. T say that tbe estimates of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company last year came exactly to that figure. They were to spend $91,000,000 on the road from Callander to Port Moody. The Government sections were to cost $28,000,000; and if you add $28,000,000 to the $91,000,000, you get just about $120,000,000, as nearly as possible ; and if yon allow a trifle — if the hon. gentleman would be bending enough to-night to allow a trifle or 80 for the $5,000,000 for surveys — you will find that the estimate of the company last year does accord with the estimates of the engineers made bo long before." That road which was to cost us $120,000,000, not counting 18 tho intoroHt, wo havo to day for $52,000,000 in eaNh diH- bursed hy us, with 712 miles of branch lines and 06,17i 13. Oiit'lHcitiff 100 tniU's neiir WinnipRj? 400,000 It, lli>rifwiii(( itiftTior maturiiil biiililiri^.... 254,000 Ifj. Irdcmnity to Miinnir.^r, Miiciloniild M Oo J'J^OOO 1*}. hhops ancl tiiHciiiiiery rifur Montreal 003,16.^ 17. ruriatnu'tion plant, uutlit and tools ^08,291 18. Rpiil t'rtiiil', Ht or mar Montreal 408,"2''7 19. Grixinds and building at Wutnipt'i; ... 1,040,701 (To ho takofi out. of lli« §15,00 ',000 now asked for.) 20. F(>r cftta an 1 niatnrial 1,000,0^*0 21. For ('levators, terminal t'lirilities 1,. '00,000 22. For workflliopii on nin« diUtTuul polnt-t 600,000 21. To reach (Joal Harbor 7t'0,000 24. Know Hheds in mountains 'tSO.OOO 25. Lak- Superior 1«0,000 'JlG. Torniinal laoilltio' Ht Quebec 200 OnO 27. Surveys 3,z6:5,4b2 Total $ 69,07J,433 Total coat |143,25l,34 1 Less amount outsido of maia line fi9,079,433 Coat of main line $84,174,911 Tho lion, mcmbor for Duihutn ban estimatod the rolling stock at 82,000 a railo in hin calculation of 8120,000,000, reducing it for conntruction to 8111,788,000. We have hcod that Fleming's CKtirautos were 87aralleled in the history of material enterprise, iiooa after the romiil( lion of the main lines of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Rnilroads, tliose lines hef^ao to secure »» larpte and remunerative local trnfli.', coniitMiuent upon the development of the resources ot the country ilirouyh wbich they ran. This was not at first expected. Tho growth of local traOic at once su^sfested the construction of branch roads, and this line of policy has been adopted by all tho companies owning and operating transcoutinental lines or parts thereof, and manly with tlie object of thus promoting the financial interests of the maia lines. The construction of such lines has also proved an important instrumentality in the development of the resources of that vast terri- tory situated between the Pacific coast and the Mississippi and Missouri ilivers, a region which, but a few vearnago, was unhabited by civilised men. The State of Colorado, in all its material interests, is mainly a result of this development. The States of California, Oregon, Nebraska and Kansas, and Washington Territory and the Territories of Utah, Mon- tana, Id»ho, also owe th« ir present wua'.th and prosperity mainly to the contribution of the several transcontinental railroads and their branches." There are to-day seven difForont railways working their way fiom tho Atlantic to tho Paciffc coast. Every one of them has a lart^o proportion of branch lines. With the Union Pacific tho number of miles in operation is larger for the branches than for the main lino. The following mileage table of those roads speaks for itself: — Main Line. Branches. Total. Oregon Railway and Trans- portation Company 618 139 667 Northern Pacific 2,064 4V»5 2,549 Union Pacific l,6i)6 2,816 4,61t Central and Soathern , 1,964 1,047 3,011 Denver and Rio Grande... 897 4^0 1,317 Atcheson, Topeka and ^anta Fe 1,692 1,064 2,766 Burlington and Missouri Rivor 682 796 1,477 9,602 6,775 16,277 81 All thoH'3 linos Khow a Iflp^o earning capacity, and the lo^ al traffiu ruMulting from tho brunch linos conhtitiitori u vory lurgc olomont in IhoirHUccoHH. On a totul of 1,442,800 toiiet curried by tho Norihorn, only G7,27(J totm woro thruiii^h traflie; tho balance, 1,^75,5^5 tonH, wan local tnulo. Tho Union Puciti'! IukI 810,427,540 of 1o(!hI tralfli?, againHt $8,512,507 of throu/,'h trntllc. Tho Conlral Pacific eurriod 844,71>3,I00 IbH. of Lhrou^Mi freight and 3,888,3oH,510 Ihs. of local freight. Tho Al(;hoHon and TopoUa Imd only ({ per cont. of tiii'ough trallio, the Miriwouri Pacilic only 3 por cent., and tho Donvor and Eio Grande whowH 8500,000 of through tinfUc, a« againHt87,3<) 1,545 of its total Iruflic. Tho Caniulian Pacillc Company hun rccngnirtud thofO factw, and huH shown itr«elf worthy of tho cojili(ionco wo j)la('Oil in it, by making tho fiillof^t arid tho most ii'tolligont preparations, irj view ol tho groat hatile it will havo to tight lo nocuro u fair hIuuo of tho American tratlic againnt its tormidablo rivals. A railway man of high cx|ioiicnco, largely inter- ested in tho Northern Pacific liuilway, w.-ia obliged to admit tha« tho gcnoial organir>a(ion ot tl;o C.in.'ulian com- pany, with regard to its protection of iho groat channel of trattic which it will represent in North A'nciica, wuh admir- ablo. Another remarkcjd that the victory in the nt. uggle lor inter-oeoanit! trade must hclong to the c()mj)any that will not have to t^haro with othorH the mot^t ri munorativo pait of itH ir;tttic, tho through tratllj to the point ol desti- nation, tho Atl mtic Ocean. Last year tho hon. loader of tho Opposition took exception to eytimatoH of tho company aw to tho reduced coHt of tho road, protending that the company proved thereby that every tthiliing rccos- sary to build that main road wuh drawn by thora from tho public chcHt. I suppose my hon. friends will adopt tho bame lino of argument this year but with no more success, I am t*ure, on account of tho unfairness of tho argument. If the hon. geotlomen on the other side of tho Uouso declare that they are satisfied to get a Pacific line merely connect- ing Callander and Port Moody, wo must believe that the future of our commercial relatiouL loes not trouble their dreams much and I understand how it is that they have, at various times, endeavored to suppress the Lake Superior and the British Columbia sections, to endow the country with a mere local line, the only object of which would be to develop the local resources of the North-West, i under- stand now the significance of what was said to the people of British Columbia: " v^q j^^j ^q " j gg^ ^jjy ^^q efforts made by the Provmce ^ ;^uebeo to secure the terminus of the Pacific have been called ridiculous. But statesmen, 22 I business moJi, and men of judgment, or, if your prefer the expression, " the onthuHiasts" who have fnith in the future of the country, and who believe that the Pacific is a great national enterpriHe, attach as much importance to the con- nections as to the road itself. Without branches, without a considerable amount of rolling stock, and station accom- modation, without elevators and important property at the terminal points, without the credit necessary to create business and traffic, the main line ot the Pacific would be quite as uneloss as a body deprived of its limbs. It is not mere fancy or a thoughtless act on the part of the company if thoy have invested alongside of the line proper, very near the value of a second road in the shape of lateral and supplementary enterprises. They have applied to their case the word of Archimedes : "Give me a point of resistance and I will raise the world." They had at their disposal a powerful lover, in the shape of the road extending from Callander to Port Moody ; they wanted, besides, a fulcrum to utilise their powerful means of action ; each dollar judiciously spent to add to the facilities necessary to the traffic of the road will return one hundred per cent. A simple car, costing 0100, will bring to the road an additional traffic of $1,500 per annum. Good accommo- dation may have entailed an expenditure of a million, but it may be worth millions in lessening the cost of load- ing and unloading and in giving to the road the advan- tage over rival lines. Each branch line is an artery, which brings to the body life and circulation, because everything brought by it to the main line is an additional source of profit. Instead of depreciating the efforts made by the company, we ought lo thank its members for their broad and far-sighted views. Had the directors bjen com- jion speculators, they could have dealt with their enter- prise as with a simple contract ; they could have endeavored to pocket as much of those millions as the circumstances would have permitted them ; they could have pretended to finish the road, appropriate to themselves our subsidies and loans and thou leave the contract. I am gratified to be in a position to declare to the credit of Mr. Geo. Stephen and his colleagues, that the suspicion of such an attempt has never tainted their reputation. Mr. Stephen, during the construction of this railway, has proved him- self to be more than a business man, more than an upright man, more than a man of ability; he has been an apostle of the progress of the country. He has turned the Pacific into a work of love, and, with a force and energy I admiie, he has succeeded in infusing his convictions 1 li' 23 and his enthusiasm through the whole country. We have seen him at work — this man who owns many millions, rich enough to dispense with labor and anxiety, and having no need to increase his income — wo have seen him, I say, confine himself to unceasing laboi-, and risk his fortune in this gigantic undertaking. This I do not say as a matter of personal flattery to a man whom I know only in the official relations which I have had with him ; but I think it is a duty I owe to pay this tribute to a gentleman who has not only undertaken this work, but has shown an enthu- siasm in the work and faith in the progress and wealth and resources of the country that I wish had been shared by our friends on the other side of the Housj. I wish our hon. friends opposite, who are so often admiring and citing the groat success of American enterprise, had shared a little of that enthusiasm which has been shown by the president of the company. 1 wish the hon. member who has been termed here — I believe erroneously, because, in his heart, be is not flo — the champion of American supremacy on this continent, I wish he and other gontloiuen on that side of the House had that good quality of American citizi3ns — th.vt is, never to cry down their own country, never to say that that enterprise, costly as it may bo, is not worthy of the genius of the nation, and shall not bo carried to success by them. But, Mr. Speaker, this is not all these gentlemen have done for this undertaking. I regard their work, their experience, their intelligence, from a higher standpoint, by far, than that of their subscriptions. If the country had the largest share of money, the company had the largest share of labor. Men of the highest ability have superintended the execution of the work, and I am at a loss to know which we must admire the most in the ) esult we shall have before our eyes; the astonishing rajtidity with which they have achieved a tabk declared impossible by the leaders of the Opposition, or the extreme economy with which they have been able to accoranany such diligence. I am not afraid to proclaim it; the company has done more than the Govern- ment towards the construction of the Pacific, and it should reap the ben»!fit. Our own title to credit, in the eyes of the country, will rest in the judicious choice wo have made of the men we intrusted with that enormous undertaking. Sir, that magnificent railway establishment must bear its fruit. From ocean to ocean it has the shortest, the most compact, the nest equipped line of the continent; it has not, and need not have for some years, any competition over two-thirds of the continent ; its bonded debt is by far smaller than that of any of the similar roads which are flourishing. •^^ 24 With all theso requiremonts combined it must succeed. In his speech of the 15th April, 1880, the hon. leader of the Opposition quoted the figures brought out by my hon. friend, the member for East York, as to the cost of operating the Canadian Pacific. The hon. gentleman accepted those figures aa approximately correct. And what wore they ? The amount of the earnings of the road were fixed at 86,750.000 a year, to cover simply the work- ing expenses of the line. Well, I am ready to accept those figures, Mr. Speaker, and I say that the most Kkopiical of the hon. gentlemen opposite will be convinced that the future has no disappointment in store for the warmest believers in the success of the Canadian Pacific. When the line and its accesHories are completed the Canadian Pacific will have a mileage of over 4 OilO miles, a large portion of it located in the best sections of old Canada, and posnessed with the moBt convenient fiicilities for its ocean termini. Last year, with a mileage of about 3,000 miles of discon- nected linep, its earnings reached SB, 084,815. Tho fir^t months of the ]»resent year have shown an increase of $782,741 over the same period last year. Surely this shows what the earning capacity of the lino will bo after its thorough completion, organitiation and equipment. It would be unfair to say that the heavy extra expenditure has been uselcns or unwise. The obligation entered into by the company is not limited to the more construe*! ^n of a road from its two terminal points. It includes the keeping of the road in opeiation. And if the company takes so much precaution to secure a profitable working of the line the country need not complain. It owes, on the contrary, a tribute of gratitude to the company for having largely increased tho cosi of the contract as a guarantee that the road is to be operated in a permanent and profit- able manner. It is gratifying to the country to see that the company is confident that its profits will be derived from the working of the road rather than from the mere construction of it. The purpose of the company is a bold one, but it is one commanding the praise of the whole community. I have demonstrated ihat, leaving aside the large difference in the land grant, if the present contract implies an increase in the cash subsidy of 84,000,000 for the construction of the Pacific, it has secured to the Gov- ernment a value of $30,000,000, if you deduct from the $54,254,293 the amounts for interests and dividends, over and above what the late Government expected and had exacted from its contractors in their proposed bargain with them, and 1 am in a position to show that amount should bo doubled. And without putting a figure to the actual value 25 of the land^, one cannot deny that the policy of the present Administration has secured the keeping of 25,000,000 acres of land in the public domain. I admit that, after this bession, the $54,600,000 in money already given to the company in cash and in work done will bo increased by the loan of $35,000,000. But there is not a man who has carefully looked into the whole matter who would seriously pretend that the $35,000,000 are to be reckoned as lost money. I care very little for those irrosponnible prophets who predict that the Government will never make the demand and exact the payment of that well secured loan. "We know what little rink those evil fortellors run if their predictions turn inUe. However, that point needs no further rcforent-e, as nobody knows what the Gov- ernment of to-morrow will bo. But if the country does not run a worse risk than to bo long governed by *.he Administration of the duy, I can f>olcmnIy assert that every dollar of that $35,000,O(j0 may be considered as a safe and productive investment, as a sacred deposit not to bo surrendered. Wo have not exceeded the prudent limits of official liberality ; wo have discerned between a useful and an excessive generosity. To go beyond what we have done would have exposed the 'roverameni to the charge of extrava- gance. To have refused th •;. assistance would have been courting a disaster for the country. And I feel I am not mistaken when I say that the strongest guarantee that these $':55 OuO,000 shall be considered and administered as part of the patrimony of the people lies in the deep sense of the high responsibility which rests upon this Government, as it will upon any future Government. There exists to-day this undeniable fact, that 3,327 miles of first-class road and 21,246,600 acres of cultivable lands is a safe and undisputable guarantee for a first mortgage loan of $45,000,000. Every- body knows that the company has, during the last four years, realised $8,702,086 out of its lands, in spite of the difficulties that have been in the way. Last year the receipts of the unfinished soctior.s of the road gave the following results : — Receipts. Expenditures. Surplus. Deficit. January |274,645 $401,915 $127,270 February 234,638 363,965 139,326 March 275^,575 359,275 76,700 April 3t3,966 318,938 $25,037 May 424,.'-56 349,739 74,816 June 550,661 399,030 151,631 July .... 549,367 394,673 154,694 AuKCSt 665.814 383,983 181,830 September 639,839 407,628 232,211 October 735,731 438,082 297,448 November 640,573 395,160 246,213 December 521,552 350,236 171,315 $5,760,521 $4,558,630 26 or a total of nearly $(},000,000 of receipts and a net revenue of $1,191,891. We can easily make our oHtiraates for the future when we consider that the abf o result has been obtained when there wore not more than 2,000 miles of railway in good working order, or a proportion of $3,000 a mile. Have we not before us the experience of the Northern Pacific. That road is less advantageously situated than our own Pacific, having no outlet of its own at Minneapolis or at Duluth, and still its traffic for the last ten months ending 30th May, 1885, hardly a year and a-halt after its comple- tion, was as follows : — Gross earnings, for 10 months ending 30th May, 1885 (over $5,000 per mile) 110,218,941 Operating e2:penses 5,518,235 Total net profits for 10 months $ 4,700,706 The total mileage of the Northern Pacific, including branches and leased lines, is... 2,549 miles. Its bonded debt, at Slat December (selling over par) 169,536,221 Its preferred stock 39,255,565 Its common stock 49,000,000 $157,791,786 Annual Charges. Interest on bonds $4,050,648 Rents, leased lines 776,000 Other fixed charges 493,918 5,320,566 Now, with the new engagements contemplated by the legis- lation before the House, the fiscal charges on the whole of the Canadian Pacific Railway are as follows : — Fronds, $20,001,000 at 4 percent $800,000 do 15,000,000 at 5 per cent 750,000 Interest on purchase of Q. M 0. & 175,000 do do do Canada Central 58,400 do do do Laud grant bonds 180,060 Rents on leased lines 778,000 On a total of $2,741,400 The $10,000,000 additional guaranteed by the lands will draw inierest out of the annual sales of the lands. The company will have next year the benefit of the earnings of nearly 4,01)0 miles of road in operation from ocean to ocean, without paying any tribute to other linos, as is the case with the Noi thern Pacific. Allowing only $3,000 per mile which is $2,000 a mile Jess than the Northern Pacific, we find, for the year, a total of $12,000,000 of gross earnings. Deduct- ing 70 per cent, for working expenses (the Nortbern Pacific has reduced their tariff to nearly 50 per cent.) there remains a sum of $3,600,000 for the net earnings of the road. I do 2t not think any ono will question tho Rufflcioncy of tho guar- antee of the lands for our 810,000,000. Otherwise, the boasted assistance given by the land grant would have been a delusion ; the attempt to belittle the value of tho lands would become a strong argument in favor of tho increase of tho cash sub'iidy (the necessity of the transcontinental line having been admitted by all sides in Parliament). If our lands are worth anything at all, they must be worth, at this moment, at least 50 cents an acre, and this is hardly tho amount of our advance to the company as guaranteed by tho lands. But I am sure I shall not be contradicted in saying that the lands are worth to-day 81.50 an acre, and will increase in value in the same ratio as the capital of their value would ineroaMO at tho rate of 4 per cent, per annum, taking into account a very moderate current of immigration in the North-West during the next 25 years. Tho result obtained by the other railway companies would warrant a higher figure than the one I have given. I do not think wo shall have to wait for a year to be reimbursed the 85,000,000 of the temporary loan ; the 88,000,000 of bonds of the com- pany will soon find their place in the market when tho returns of the road begin to show their security as an invest- ment. We remain with 8-0,000,000 of first mortgage of the company. The total bonded debt is $35,000,000, so that we rank equally for 820,000,000 with other bondholders to the amount of 815,000,000 as the first creditors of the company. That total bonded debt of the company is tho first lien on the following roads : — Miles. Callander to Coal Harbor 2,565 W'iuuipeg to Stoaewall 18i do toManitou 1024 do to 8t. Vincent 6^ do to West Selkirk 22 do to Golville Landing 2 do toWestLynn 15 do to Maryland 51 Rosenfeld to Gretna 14 Total 2,854j Making a fixed charge of about 812,237 a mile. But the debt is, in addition, secured by the lines from Callander to Ottawa, 225 miles, and from Carloton Place to Brookville, 46 miles, or a total of 271 miles. Cjnsidering that the amount due on these two last lines is only 81,600,000, or 85,900 a mile, the fixed charge on the whole line remains but little over 811,000. And when, added to that, we calculate the value of the rolling stock of the company, which will be not less than 810,000,000 ; when we consider their vast property nwr-nri 88 ^'. in Montreal, at Oltawa, at Winnipeg, and all along the line up to Coal Harbor, property which the natural dovolopnient of the country incroaHOs in value every day; when we con- sider their immonpe and costly workshops, their steamers, we may safoly scout the idea that the socuritios wo have ro'.ainod ore not ey themsolvos, that is : selling shares or floating bonds. The state of the money market shows that the fcharcs could have hardly realised more than 50 por cent. The company, then, could only have reali^ed S17,'^00,000 by losing a like sum; so that it has not to bo taken into account. As regards the bonds, it would have been impossible for the company to place them on the market last year (on account of the uncertainty which existed regarding the completion of the road, and also of that terrible " unknown," which always has so much influence on business men), at a rate exceeding 80 per cent., so that on a sum of $1^,000,000, the company would have lost at once $9,000,00). They would have had to pay 5 per cent, on the whole amount, whilst they will have to pay only 4 per cent, on the $30,000,000 of last year, which saving of $300,000 during six years represents $ 1,800,000. There is, then, a net gain of $ 17,300,000 to the company without our being poorer by a dollar. Instead of passing into the hands of European capitalists, these $17,000,000 will have been employed for our own benefit, and spent towards the construction of the numerous branch lines and other important improvements which the com- pany has been in a position to undertake, thanks to that wise policy. All we enable the Canadian Pacific Railway 80 to save is a Huvin^ for tho country. GovorntnontH do not exist to Hpecuhite; thei/ objoct \h to munuj^o tl)o intcrosts of tho pooplc HO UH to give tho inoHt fruitful roHultrt. llailways aro more and moro becoming national inntitutionH ; thoy take tho place of former higywaya, and even of naviga- tion. Although a railway boiongn to Hhareholdcrs nomi- nally, it is not tho Iohh a national property ; it ranks amongst its best anKcts; aid tho national woulth incroases in propoition to tho wealth and power of the railways. And if tho result of the intei'vontion of the Goveinnient has been to leave in tho treasury of the Pacific Railway over 817,000,000, the whole country can boast of this fact. Tho results will be visible overywliere: in tho impiovomont of tho roadway, the comfort afforded to passongers, the ship- ment of freight, tho greater facilities of intotcourse, and the reduced rates. Tho working of a railway, in fact, depends upon its financial sUmding. it is hardly possible for a railway crushed under heavy liabilities to nhow its full efficiency. This is why I am not afraid to declare that the Canadian Pacific will soon rank as the first of all trans- continental linos, because not a cent of its liabilities will have been misapplied. Take, for instance, the most pros- perous route of our neighbors, the Union Pacific Eailways. The length of this route, to-day, is 3,050 miles, and the lia- bilities aie as follows: — iPt mortgage bonds............. $138,131,332 United States Government bonds 75,263,232 Paid-up capital 120,144,000 $333,538,564 Debt, permile..« - $ 109,357 Debt, per mile, besides subscribed sharea. 70,000 Debt, per mile, besides Government claim. 42,000 Supposing the portion of that debt due to tho Govern- ment cancelled, and putting aside the interests of the share- holders, the Union and Central Pacific have still a debt of 840,000 per mile, while, under the same circumstances, the Canadian Pacific is responsible for nothing but 813,000 per mile. If we turn to the Northern Pacific, the total length of which is 2,549 mile?, we find it encumbered with the following amounts : — Bonds $ 50,122,200 Shares subscribed , 109, ''49,4(54 Total $159,871,664 A debt per mile of. , 62,800 Bonds, per mile 19,700 31 Tho Southern Pucirtc., which, with itis branche-i, is 4,051 miloH in length, haw tho following doht : — Bond3, per mile $85,617,200 Idbates, per mile 152,4Ciifl UniHl with the Syndi- cate of the Pacific. And tho hon. member for South Huron, therelbro, on the 26th ot January, 1881, proposed : " That the contract respecting the Canadian Pacific Railway involves a total expenditure by the country in connection with that work of about $60,000,000, exclnsive of interest, and the cession of 26,000,000 of acres of choice lands, worth, at the estimate of the Government last year, at least $79,500,000, making; a total consideration of about $140,000,000, while the railroad itself 13 estimated by the Government to cost not more than $84,000,000, and that the consideration proposed to be given is excessive, and that the contract is in the highest lespect objectionable." I need not say that all the hon. members forming Her 3 34 MfljeHty'rt loyal Oj)po«itlon voted in fuvorof thin ftmondmont. It will bo ('laimotl lo-dsiy that, by thin Hpoocli us woll uh by thiH vote, the 0|>|)Ohiii()(i mount nothing but to otrsot tho Govornmont vuhmtion; but H\u:h iiii utlompt would bo childinh, HJnco the OppoHition do not ({iioto it, but adopt it; and thoir hoti. chiofduclarurt it, when )io Hnyn: •' Accordiiip; (d tliin ••*timtit^ which wo will take an the minlmiirn value ofthi'iie lHn>l«, vrv vnn tirnl thnir tiverHiru viiliiu nt $4.04 kii ncru • • • I h< ro Hre Unils, tliuti, of very ^n-tit vKlimoiitdul'* ofMHtiitohtt. And the anit*nilnu'tit it!)i-lt'irii|iliej tho Absent of the Opiiositiuti to thia valii-ttion, when it »ii\a 'vxcludivn uf the ccd.siuu of 2&,00i),000 acres of ihuioM laatiu, worth, at leadt, $79,00O,U0O ' " Tho nddod words : at tlio oHtimnlo of tho Govornmont, nro thoro ot)\y as an at-Ljuincnt to strcnj^thon tho afllrmation that tho landH h:ivo a gro.it valuo, OLhorwino, why should tho Opposition havo doularod that sum oxcorss favorably situated, they can do so now. It was exactly one of the inconveniences felt at the time. But as the question was to give, not an apparent, but an efficient assistance to the company constructing the railway, the lands had to be given without restriction, or 85 oihe mitnoy hail to l»o MuhxtitiitoJ. To ituposo ohliyutionf* in llio «li~|i()Hiil oi tho lufidK wim to muku it an imposHihility, bocmr-o tP» monoyi'd nuin would Imvo utlvnucod fuiidrt oti li propirty held (vrnditioniiliy. Tlio wiiolo or iiolhintf was wanted. I cannot do Imtior that <|Uot^ tho 8th and Dth roMoliitions whith tho (Tovornmont cmiscd to bo adopted on tho I2lh May, 1S7'.>, to hIiovv how well ihoy undorrttood the inc'onvonienrn of niudi a HyhUnti. Iloro they are ; "8. Itrsolve f, That the with IthwhI for^iilcund aoltlenioritof tho Undg for twenty niUeti on eaoli nide of tl. lociitt'd line of tli« t*Hcilic rtailway has, in {lart, liad tliu cflcct uf tliruwiu|; yetlU'tuutit aotilh aud went <nkt^ Mii'iitohii. "». lii'iolvel, That in tlm pxi titip: state of tlinpi, it is dcsirablo to combine tho |ironii>tion of coloiilMation with railway coudtruclioii uu the CanaJiau Paiific Railway wedt uf lied River." It being six o'(dock, tho Speaker loft tho Chair. Aftor Re:'"S. Mr CIIAPLh^AU. When tho lI<»i'no roso I was about to eny that it nuce^Hity forced tho Government, in 1881, to abandon this lino of conduet, it is becau-o it was not doomol prudent to engage deeper in money di^blusomentH without knowing exactly what wore the rc»ourco8 of tho company, the meanw and dinpowition of the diioctorn, and iheir abliliiy to construct tho railway; but the (r v^ernment always watched for aa opportunity to roHumo a p jlicy more favorable to coloninalion, and that in what wo are doing in taking back tho control of tho sale of lands, and in forcing their nalo under certain conditions. Tho Opposition mu«t bo unanimous in the approval of a plan which they unanimously proclaimed on tho 27th of January, 1881, when Mr. liinfiot mDvcd, iu amendment: " That the said ro8oluticn3 be not now read a second time, but that it be redolved that the contract respectiaK the Oaaadian Pacific Railway contains provision for ceding to the company 25,000,000 of aciea of choice lands In the North- West, but it does not, as it should, embrace any provi- sion that such lands shall be open to sale to actual settlers at any maximum price ; that the absence of such provision will enable the company to lock up the lands at their pleasure for a long time, and so be injurious to the progress of the country, and add to the labors and difficulties of the early settlers, and that the said contract is, in this respect, objectionable." This resolution was singularly ill timed ; for, fts I have said, to have accepted this amendment of the Opposition at that time would have been to mako such grant of lands illusory, because wo would have raado it impossible for tho company to negotiate a single laud grant bond. But now that tho condition of the company is completely changed, and that experience has convinced business men that tho financial 3i 86 aBsistanco derived from these lands cannot be immediate, wo have apj)liod the principle enunciated by the Conservatives in 187'J, and reaffirmed by the Liberals in 1881 : that it is pos- sible and nccoHWiry to reconcile the encouragement given to the Canadian Pacific Eailway with the development of colo- nisation. We do not dobire the company to make a fortune with these lands, by laying them aside, to sell them in ten or twenty years ; wo intend that they aid immediately in the consiruction ol the railway. It is not in our power to force capitalists to advance their money on that security, — the only alternative lor us, who know the value of the property otfored, would be to take their place. In doing this we would not lose a cent ; we risk nothing, and we would contribute to the development of the North-West. It is possible that ray expectations will not be shared by several members of the other side of this House, and, amongst others, bj' the hon. leader of the Opposition, who has already put on record in the Bansard his views upon the develop- ment of the NorlhWest, and as these views have not been uniform, and that he may select those opinions which will best suit him, to oppose this plan, I will anticipate his wishes, by recalling them for the benefit of this House. On opening the Bansard, at page 1055, of the year 1880, I find, or. 5th April, the loUowing : — "Sir JOHJ^ A. MACDONALD. It is believed from the beat infor- matiou we can get that 20,000 people went into the North-West last year. "Hon. Mr. BLAKE. Thbre was not more than one-tenth of that number. "Sir JOHN A MACDONALD. If we are to judge from reports, we may rely upon it that 50,000 will go this year, but let us put the number at 25j000 (this year). I would ask the hon. member for Lambton if he does not really believe that num "Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE. I will tell him that I do not believe so, nor do I believe that 20,000 went in last year. I think a large number will go, but not the number stated. "Sir JOHN A. MACDO.SALD. Then, the hon. gentleman is the first person thai 1 have haard say that 25,000 was not altogether too small an fjtimate. That number, of course, includes the baby as well as tho adult. In ordinary cases the estimate is the average family number, five. If you take four to a family, we estimate that of the 25,000 or 24,000 that go there, 5,000 will be heads of families, occupying home- stead and pre-emption claims." Subsequent events have proved that the leader of the Gov- ernment was correct, and as I have already shown on another point, that tho prophecies of the Opposition with reference to the Canadian Pacific Railway were particularly unfortunate. 1 often wonder if there is ever a time when the Liberal party is sincere in regard to this question. Is ic when it opposes, not the Government, but the Canadian Pacific policy itself? or when it pretends to defend the . 37 principle of the construction of the Pacific? For, in tho samo Session of lc80, only a month later, when the Govern- ment proposed to put aside $100,000,000 acres of land, and to build the Canadian Pacific Railway with the proceeds of the sales, we tind this motion in the journal of the House for tho sitting of 5th May : "Thehon. Mr. Blake propos-sd that the sales of railway lands shall be en condition of actual settlement " According to the arrangement accepted by tho Mackeo/ie Government, of which the present hon. leader of tho Oppo- sition w 18 a member, Canada was committed to tho con- struction of the Canadian Pacific, at any rate, from Port Arthur to Port Moody, by 1890. In the year 1880, there- fore, there remained ten years for the completion of the work, and at the time that tho House was deciding to complete the work ©nly with tho proceeds of the lands, the price of which was fixed at $1 por acre, tho hon. member for Durham desired that the Government should stipulate that sak'S of these lands should bo made only in favor of immigrants who would settle upon them at onco. As it would have been necessary to sell nearly 80,000,000 acres of land at $1, to realise the desired amount, it was conte- quently requisite that the JNorth-West should receive not less than 50,000 families per annum, at tho rate of 160 acres per bead of families. I will not do the hon. leader of the Opposition tho injustice of believing that ha wished to break a solemn covenant entered into by the Dominion of Canada, or even to evaae the law, which provided that the work should be carried on as vigorously as possible, in order to keep fiaith with British Columbia. He was, therefore, from his point of view, favoiable to the construction of the Cana- dian Pacific, and if he wished that actual settlement alone should supply tho source of revenue which the country would have at its disposal for the completion of that enter- prise, it was because he was convinced that his plan was leasible, and that there would be an annual influx into the North-West of 50,000 familits, paying cash for their pre-emption lots. Upon that particular occasion, I presume, he adopted the opinion expressed by him on the 5th March, 1875, which is entirely at variance wiih that 1 mentioned a moment since. In 1875 I should have been of his opinion, when he said : " You cannot hope to force immi^^ration into a countiy beyond a cer- tain point. Y.u should look at the experience of the Western States, at a recent date,where the railways had spread most rapidly, and with respect to the State nearest our North-West Territories, you will observe that, even with their wonderful prog'-ess, they have not made any such extra- ordinary progress as that which the hon. member for Northumberland . 38 has vaguely pictured as that which should take place in the North-West. I hope, Sir, that we shall see a degree of progress and settlemeut greater, in this country, than that which has been shown in the Slates at any recent period. T aim at surpassing the rapidity with which their Terri- tories were established." Mr Speaker, I will not go so far as the hon. member, when he takes the view that 50,000 families would be required yearly ; I would content rayBelf with a araall proportion of those expectations. If it wore found that in order to dis- pose of 21,000,000 acres of land in ten years only 13,000 families would be needed, ro one could find fault with our calculations. And if one half of these families should take two lots each, 8,625 families per annum would be f-ufficient — say, about 35,000 souls to complete the sale of these lands, and to that we may assuredly look forward — in view ot the figures I have given for past years. I have alluded to the sale of these lands at $1 an acre; my own personal opinion would unhesitatingly bo in favor of a regular sale at ^1.50 per acre. It is natural that these lands should be more sought for than others, on account of there being situated, for the most part, along the line of the rsiilway. If the Canadian Pacific were obliged to sell these lands at a higher price, to cover any considerable deficit, as the American lines have to do, it would bo necessary to submit to such a state of things, but settlement would be thereby retarded. Such a monopoly is not to be feared to-day. The Government takes back the control it gave up. If we sell these lands at $1.50 per acre, without doing an injustice to the Pacific, let us do so. What is wanted is population. The day when there are 200,000 more whites in the North- West there will be no need to spend millions in protecting ourselves against the Indians. Immigration will be the safeguard of the Territory. When the construction of the Northern Pacific was undertaken the engineers were accompanied by regiments of the United States army. From the 20th of July to the 22nd of November, 1872, for instance, Mr. idayden, one of the engineers, had to be protected by 400 soldiers, who were in constant conflict with the Indians in the Yellowstone valley. In 1873 it became necessary to increase that force to 1,700 men. In 1876 the Custer massacre occurred, on the meridian of Battleford, between Eosehud and Bighorn, on the Northern Pacific. The warfare continued in 1877, and, I may even say, up to the moment when the railway intro- duced an f^ctive civili^iation. Who, now, minds the Indians in Montana ? There is another reason why I Vvish for a rapid tilling up cf our North- West, viz., that it will give a market of consumers for our manufactures. When 39 we consider what is taking place among our neighbors, we have a right to count upon the prompt development ot our North-West and upon the Hale of our lands. In the course of the past year the Union Pacific has placed 4,342,200 acres, atapri'ioof $6,000,000. There was sold, last year, in the Territories of the United States, a total of 18,300,000 acres of land. We have as much of lands as they ; indeed, we have more, and ours are more fertile, nearer the sea- board and loss costly. The average price of thu American lands is $3.40 per acre. The railway companies are so much involved that they cannot part with them for less than $3. Our highest aim h to sell our land at $i ; and, if advisable, to dispose of them at $1.50, the Canadian Pacific will not stand in our way. The Pacific possesses this advantage, this immense advantage, namely, that having but small interest to pay, the sale of each acre will give them more benefit. In the United States many com- panies have failed becaue^e the intercut has swallowed up their capital, and because the sale of lands barely hufficed — or did not suffice — for the payment of coupons. We might have been loss liberal, and possibly, at the same time, have effected a commencement of the iron band to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific, but I question whether we should not thereby have taken precisely the means of destroying the value of our subsidy, by forcing the company to expend, in interest, the money which we gave them to build the road. In going over this array of figures my object is not limited to a mere calculation. There lies at ihe bottom of these facts a vast questioii of political economy. J\Iy pretension is less to solve thixn to submit to a class of thinking men in this countiy and outside of this country a problem which will soon impose itself to the general economy of modern nations, that is, cheiip and, at the same time, rapid transportation. It is a common saying that water transportation is cheaper than steam transporta- tion, and it is true. The maker of the universe, in his fore- knowledge of the expansive power of civilisation, has made us the gratuitous gift of the great water highways in the interior as well as around the continent, whilst the genius of man has had to build his overland routes by dint of work and money. Independently of the cost of the road itself, if you compare the cost price of a locomotive and of the thirty cart, composing a train to the cost price of a steamer, the railway will have the advantage. A first-class steamer, With a tonnage of 3,000 tons, representing, as a motive power, nine trains of thirty cars, of the capacity of eleven tons each, . 40 will coHt from 8300,000 to 8500,000, noarer tho latter figure than the fiist. Nino locornotivos will cost 872,000, ar.d 2Y(> freight cars about 8125,000; let us say 8200,000 for both engines and cars. Tho advantage, as I have said, remains with tho railway, each ton of merchandise representing in the steamer a capital of 816(15, and only 8665 in the rail- way. On the other hand, the steamer will cost only 81,000 in operating expenses for each day of 300 miles voyage, whereas each train of the railway will cost an average of 8300 for each 300 miles run, or 82,700 for the nine trains ; so that each mile of railway transportation costs as much as three miles of water transportation. It is evident, there- fore, that tho greatest economy must bo exercised in the operation of a railway, and that it is of the highest impor- tance to bring to the lowest possible figure the first charge on the railway, that is, the first bonded debt on ihe road itself and its equipment. The less the railway is loaded with a bonded debt the bettor its position to compete with its neighbors. For instance, let us suppose a uni- form volume of traffic on the following transcontinen- tal roads ; that traffic, exclusive of the working expenses, would have first to pay, on account of interest on the cost of those roads: On the Unioi Pacific |5,467 per mile. " Northera Pacific. , 3,200 " " Southern Pacific 2,939 •' «• Canadian Pacific 1,400 •' In Other word-?, each of these roads would have to chargOy per mile, on its freight on 1,000 miles of road : The Union Pacific $5 47 per ton. The Northern Pacific 3 24 " The Southern Pacific 2.94 " The Canadian Pacific 1.40 " A tariff of 85.47 per ton on the Union Pacific would be equivalent to 81.40 for the same quantity of freight on the Canadian Pacific. And take Icent as a basis of calculation, the charges in respect to payment of original cost price would be : Ct8. Union Pacific. ... ~ 100 Northern 0-57| Southern 0*53| Canadian Pacific 0-26^ If our great national enterprise has not been the outspring of a caprice, if it has been built to develop the great resources of our country, and to create new industries and a great continental traffic, we know what our duty is towards that enterprise. I cannot say it too loudly or repeat it too 41 often : Lot us brinfj to its minimum tho charge on construc- tion, for fear of hampering tho first effirts of tho ompany with the cares and difficulties of pressing financial wants. I am sure th's is tho only moans of obtaining the full measure of tho earning capacity of the company, tho only moans to give it a chance of creating now fields of action for its acti- vity and energy. I am aware that up to tho present time none of the American transcontinental linos hvivo succeeded in controlling a single ton of the commerce between Europe and Asia, with tho exception of a special order of silk worm's eggs for Franco, and a small lot of furs for Groat Britain. I know that oven tho wheat of California bus not been exported overland to Europe, and that the 16.000 miles from San Francisco to Liverpool, around Capo Horn, have not frightened the exporters and driven thorn across tho continent to Now York and Liverpool. I have read the humble declarations of tho proud Yankee, confessing his inability to solve tho problem, having before his eyes the fiascos which have met his attempts in that direction. I havo soon tho declarations of Mr. Whittley, tho general freight agent of tho Contial Pacific, ridiculing our right hon. Premier in his attempts and his hopes of bringing the Anglo-Asiatic trade through the British North American continent, and calling those aaticipai.ions mere absurdities, and doing so with the approval of the United States Govern- ment, who aro opening their official reports to those pro- ductions of Mr. Whittloy's wisdom. Well, Sir, in spite of the declarations of tho railway scientists of the great Eepublic, in spite of the admiration that I havo in the superior ability which our neighbors have shown in all their attempts in the direction cf commercial success, nothing that has happened has yet shaken my firm belief in the future conditions of Asiatic commerce in relation to our country, to our great transcontinental route. In all those questions the question of cost is everything ; and I confess 1 cannot see how the American routes could compete for that commerce, time and distance being the elements of cost. If we compare the respective distances, we find : Milps. By Suez Canal, Yokohama to Liverpool , 11,275 D„ „„ ^f M r Yokohama to San Francisco 4,650 Byway of New I g^^ Francisco to New York. 3;320 ^°^^ ( New York to Liverpool 3,040 A total of. 11,010 Making a difference in favor of New York, over the Suez route, of only 265 miles, or a little more than 2 per cent, of the whole distance. Tho distance of 4,650 miles is the average between 4,500 to come to and 4,800 miles to go 42 from San Francisco, as Iho course is recessarily different. The dilForonco in favor of the Canadian route is shown by the following comparison : — Miles. Bj way of Suez Canal ^ 11,275 Htr nrow „f r Yokohama to Coal Harbor.... ... 4,180 vi,J,rT-i 1 ^'oal Harbor to Montreal 2,911 aiontrtal . (Montreal to Liverpool 2,790 A total of „ 9,881 Makinj? a difference in favor of Montreal of 1,394 (or more than 12 per cent, of the whole distance.) Let us take an average of 240 miles a day for a steamer making that trip. I know the great steamers average more than that ; the Allan and Dominion lines have an average of l:i nautical miles an hour ; the grey hounds of the sea (as they are sometimes called) have a speed of 15 to 18 knots. But the Oriental trade is carried by stearaers of less value. The fact that the Suez Canal is not safe for steamers drawing more than 20 feet or exceeding 350 feet in length has pre- vented the use of very large steamers on that route. A. steamer takes 45 days to go from Marseilles to Yokohama. It gives about 9 knots an hour for the 9,200 miles, taking three days for the pns.sago through Suez Canal. For the whole voyage from Yokohama to Liverpool it takes 50 days, at about 10 miles an hour. From Yokohama to Liverpool vid the Canadian Pacific we have, taking the same average of steamers as those of the Suez Canal route : Yokohama to Coal Harbor, 4,180 miles, at 10 knots an hour 17J days Coal Harbor to Montreal, 2,911 njiles, at 30 milea Hn h -ur 4 " Montreal to Liverpool llj " 33 " For freight trains (20 miles an hour) ex- tra time 2 " For transhipment of Ireight 4 *' 39 " What do we find for the route vid Now York : Yikohama to San Francisco, 4,650 miles 19i days San Francisco to New York, 3,320 " 6" New York to Liverpool, 3,040 " 12^ " 36 " Forfreiprht traias (20 miles an hour) ex- tra time 2 " Diflferenee of grades, extra time 2 " For transhipment of freight 4 " 44 " These figures will show clearly that whatever doubts might be raised about freight there can be none with regard to 43 paasongors, who will not only gain 17 days, but who will travel through a healthy and toraporato zone. Tho dif- forenco of passenger rates by steamers or by rail is not marked. Tho average rate is about 3^ cents per mile for long distances. From Quebec to Liverpool, 2,030 miles, it varies from 8^0 to $100, or about 3 to 4 cents a railo; from New York to Liverpool, 3,040 miles, it is between 890 to $120, being also 3 or 4 cents a mile. From San Francisco to Yokohama, 4,470 miles, the fares are $250, or about 5^ cents a mile. P>om Liverpool to Yokohama, by Suez, 11,275 miles, tho price is £88 — or 8428— or 3^ cents per mile. From Marseilles to Yokohama, 9,2U0 miles, the Mossageries Maritimes are asking 8415, or 4^ cents per mile. From San Francisco to New York the passenger rates are 34 cents per mile — $V2G for tho trip, exclu- sive of tho cost of meals and sleeping car, which adds about § of a cent per mile. But very seldom does the charge of railway companies exceed 2^ cents per mile. Freight rates are altogether different ; 87 por ton of mer- chandise from Montreal to Liverpool is equal to ^ of 1 cent per mile. From Marseilles to Yokohama tho rates are 840 per ton or ^^ of 1 cent per mile. From Liverpool to Yokohama the ocean steamship company charges an average of i^ of a cent per mile. Up to the last few years, freight rates for railways were 2 cents per ton per mile. Since then the rates have gone down considerably ; the Union Pacific charges hardly 1 cent per ton. Between New York and Chicago tho rates will soon reach ^ cent per ton per mile, grain bein^ now carried between those two cities for 848 per car load of 24,000 pounds, and I think I am safe in saying that those reduced rates are not likely to be increased in the future, every year adding to the experience already acquired in the methods of operating railways at a cheap rate. The following tabular statement gives us the average rates of all the freight of tho last fifteen years on the rail- ways mentioned, showing the gradual reduction on each road : — 1868 1873 1883 Ois. Cts. Cts. New York Central 2-74 1-57 0-91 Pennsylvania 1-90 1-41 0-81 New York, Lake Erie & Western 1-81 1-45 0-78 Boston and Albany 2*81 1-95 1-19 Lake Shore & Michigan Southern 2-33 1-33 0-72 Michigan Central 2-45 1*89 0-83 Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 3-24 1*92 1'42 Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul 2-50 1-39 Illinois Central 2 20 1-43 Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago 0*79 0-79 Or an average, in 1883, of 1*055 44 These statements run up to Ist January, 1884. Since then the tariff ratoa have been continuouhly decroaHing, &h is shown by the following return for the year ending 3 1st December, 1884 : — Length Cost per of Operations. ton Line. per mile. Name of Company. Cleveland, Columbus, Cinci- uatti & luiiiauapolis R'y 391 miles. Pennsylvania aniblo f )r a railway to roaliHo profits wiih a rato of h of a cent por ton per milo. Spuaking of tho St. Paul and Manitoba, tho hon. gentleman naid : " A reasonable tariff should be 1 J cent per bushel per lOOmilep, or 174 cents for the 1 ,S00 miles. In tact, 1 believe that the tralKo from St. Paul southward is much lower than Ifi cent per huibei, and, ai a consequence, a much Urger proportion thau what that tariff would amount to is collected by the St. Paul and Manitjba Railway." Being 60 pounds por bu>*hol, and 37, ?j bushols por gross ton, 1^ cont por bushel would givo 49J cents por ton, making, for luO railoH, within an insignificant fraction, exactly ^ of a cont por ton per milo. My opinion, as I have said belore, is, that through traffic can be profitably carried for ^ a cent per mile. That traffic should not be charged with tiie cost of administration, nor with office or station charges, which should be charged to local traffic; and if the actual wear and tear of rolling stock, tho fuel and handling, bo taken into account, a tariff of | of a cent por mile per ton would leave a margin for profit, the cost prico of haulage not exceeding I of a cent per ton per mile. The laws of com- merce are now being revolutionised. Tho tendency to sacrifice everything to celerity is gi'owing constantly. Competition has necessitated rapidity. The costly steamers have driven away tho sailing vessels. The desire to forestal one's neighbor in the acquirement of every now article is, to-day, one of the mainsprings of trade and commercial life. When I said that tho transhipment of freight would entail a disadvantage against the Canadian Pacific route from Asiatic ports, I should have added that the cost through Suez Canal is increased by the toll rates on the canal, viz. ; Fr. Centimes. Canal toll Per ton 9 50 $1 90 Anchorage " 2 OOJ Towage " 2 40 47 Added to thai i^^ the diHudvantn^o of bolnir oblii^od to havo comparutivoly Htnull htoumorH for that trado. U h»w boon OHtablishod that n Htoanirthip iirawin/^ 2:i foot of wiitor touched bottom tifty titnoH (iiirir)/^ tho voyut^n. Tlion you hrtvo tho inciojiHoil ruti'8 of insuiuiico, in conMOiiuorKio of tho dun^oPH ot tho canal and itH ajiprouchos ; thut inoioaned expondituio loprosontH not Ions ifian U por (!ont. In ono word, tho whole qiiostion in reducicd to this; Tho ditVoronco between tho two routes, fiorn Livorpo')! to Yokohama, is tho ditforonco which exists butwoon 2 Jl I niilen of railway transporttitiun, ti'om Coiil llarhor to Montreal, and 4,'M5 miles of ti'arHportntion hy wator, includiriLj tho passage through tho Suez Canal. Miles. The distance run by steamer from Liverpool to Yolcoliama ifl 11,275 The diatanco betw on Vokohama to Coal Harbor, ani from Montreal to Liverpool, bein^ 6 970 There remains 4,305 of the Suez route to bring aga'nst tho 2,911 miles of trana- continental railway remaining to complete tho Canadian Pacific Hail way route. Tho extra cost of transhipraont by tho Canadian route is com|)ensatetic8, in reepecl of the export of our guoda liod wares. You will obderve thut it ia a mattur ol neceaaity, and not of choice, for Kuropc to purchase ((rain, meat, oil and cotton in (greatest m>'auure from this country, paying for these auppliea as far as ))08Bible, in such goods and wart^u, commonly called manufactures, as we are accustomed to tuite, and passing to our credit the remainder of the Bum due uh in cash. Against this cash we d.'aw bills in payment for su^rar, tea, cuQee, hiden, and other articles, which are furnished ua by naiiona which are notyit ' manufacturing nations,' according to the common use of that t«>rm. This balance of cash due us for grain, meat, cotton, etc., is transferred in London to the credit of merchants iu China, Java, Africa, Houth Anu^rica and other countries, whom we owe for tea, coffee, woola, hides, etc., and is applied by them in payment of British manufactures, viz., cotton fabrics, woollen fabiics, worsted fabrics, metal work, and other commoditic a, commonly called manu- tacturcs. That is to Hay, breat Britain imports from the United States cotton, moat, oil and grain in greater amount than she sells manutac- tared goods to tho United Htates. We import from China, Africa and South America, tea, cufl'ee, sugar, hides, etc , in greater amount than we sell manufactured goodtt to them. Great Britain works up or con- verts our raw material into manufactured go J and sends thode goods to China, Africa and South America, in paymeat tor the raw material, or th*^ tea, coH'eo and sugar we have purchased. •• Why should this three-cornered traflic continue. Why do we not convert our own raw materiiil into manufactured goods and (^xchange directly with the uon-machine using nations, of whode products we are large purchasers. " Many of tho goods of theae several classes are made in the United S' '^f better quality, sumetiiues at a less cost and sometimes at a greater cost than in Great Britain. Whr, then, is not this cash, .3 at our credit in London, applied directly to the purchase of .'.can goods rallnr than of British goods? " For a long time this question puzzled me ; I could not solve it, ivatil I had studied the conditions of commerce in Great Britain on the spot. " My conclusion was that while quality and price enter measurably into the conditions which control that exchange of products which con- Btitutea commerce, yet modern science anl modern instrumentalities for production have brought the quality and price of manufactured goods— euch as textiles, hardware and the like— so nearly to the same standard thut commerce is no longer controlled, in any great measure, by either quality or price in respect to such manufactured goods. But such differeaces in quality and in price as exist, being very small elements, are more than counterbalanced by facilities in respect to transportation, in respect to banking or exchange, in the tecb.iical sense, and, more than all, in respect to the facilities for obtaining credit on the part of the middlemen who work the trade — this last being the greater factor. For instauce, there is no doubt that buyers ia South America would greatly prefer to buy American cottons at their relative quality and price rather than i^ritish cottons. Why don't they do so ? 49 *< W« buy • frreKt 'lenl morn from South Anserica tb«a we lell to her, •0(1 we {)ay cn«li In Londori fi)r the ditfortmce. '* Whf dua't they tako goodi in pUc^ of caab, if they prefer the good! ? '* Why hM not » lygtem of steAmsbip commiinicAtion been establiBhed, wiiboutHQy bounty or lubsidy, between the Uaited Htatea and South America, aa has been done between Great Britain aad South America? *' Tlie renaon waa far to aeek ; but I think I will give you the true one. " All the Iraff.o of South Americn In manufactured f{i)^dd and wares ia done on a very loo^ credit. How ia it done ? " The credit ia not ({ranted by the manufacturer of the goodSi but it la worked in thia way : " The manufacturer of cotton ({ooda, for instance, aella the cloth ' in the grey' to a warehouaeman, so culled. Thn warehouaeman paya him the caahfor it, substantially, on deliTorv. Tliia warehouaeman, middle* man or merchant, cautjea these goo<)a to bn blt^ached, printed or otherwiae prepared tor each particular district or market in bouth America, packs them, according to the exact aoction to which they are to be aent, in amall packagon, suitable for a ra>ile-back (if they are to be carried into the heart of the Andes), makua his arrangements to ship them by one of the daily atearaers to South America, then makes his bill of lading, ear-marked with the designating marks and number of the packages, with the iuvuico attached, to a banker, and gets his bill discouutea on for four or aix months, with the expectation of renewal for four or six tuonths longer, if necessary, and the cash or proceeds of our wheat, cotton and oil which we have remitted tor our South American pur- chases forms a part of the deposit of this very banker, on the basis of >«hich he is enabled to grant this credit. But this would not suffice. These goods are carried to the interior of South America, to great fairs, to interior towns, and to various points of distribution, and are there practically btrtered for whatever the people, who have no money, but who have other oommodiiies, desire to sell. These other commodities, whatever they may be— wool, hides, ores, nitr*tes, or anything else — being freely admitted into Great Britain, for the purpose of distribution, wherever they are needed, therefore come back to England to be sold, and out of their sale the warehouseman ultimately recovers his money, and pays up his credit granted by the banker in London. London being a great free port, has become, of necessity, the money centre or credit centre of the world. " In other words, commerce is now carried on so small a margin, and on such a greater scale, that the protii or loss depends on the cost of transportation, the rate of oxchange and the facilities for credit." In examining the causes which have prevented the traffic of AHJa passing through the United States. Mr. Nimino, the chief of the Board of Trade in the United Siatos, says, in his last report, page 67 : *'But a third, and perhaps the most important condition restraining a large and general exportation of products of American manufacture, is the fact that commercial enterprise in this country has shaped itself to the habits and requirements of our vastly larger and more profitable internal commerce, aad that our merchants have, from the prompting of self-interest, left the more complex and less remunerative field of foreign commerce to be explored and cultivated by the merchants of countries whose internal resources and possibilities are incomparably less than are those of the UniteC States.'' In other words, the Americans, who have a genius for manufactures and railroads, have less aptitude for trade and navigation, and are as much be' \ in the latter as they are 50 ahead in the former. Under all those circumstancen, it is not unicasonnblo to believe that the Canadian Pacific will become the national route of England, and bo preferred to the Suez Canal, a neutral route, which, besides, is controlled by a majority of ironch shareholders ; and when the time comes, as it Hoon will come, when voshcIh of a larger cla^s will be the only ones to plough the seas, Englishmen, fo'C;ed to adopt the Canjidian route, will do it the more easily that they will be induced to do so by all sympathies of race, of flag, and 1 am allowed to use the expression in its highest sense, by national prejudices, a most potent motive among all nations ; and gradually one will reach from Yokohama to Shanghai, Manilla, Yeddo, Saigoon, Hankow, Chefoo, Singapore, etc., and finally to all commercial centres in Asia. But whatever may happen with reference to through trade, it is undeniable that the Canadian Pacific Eailway will change the route of a portion of our own trade. Wo import about 40,000,000 pounds of rice, tea and coffee, with- out mentioning large quantities of drugs, spices, essential and volatile oils, etc., the products of Asia. Jf we consider that last year, for instance, we used the Union Pacific for our importation of nearly 4,000,000 pounds of tea, wo can well understand that the Canadian line will get the traffic. Last year the United States exported to China and Japan 45,000,000 yards of cotton cloth, over 1,000,000 pounds of fish, 30,000,000 gallons of lighting oil, etc. What is there to prevent us, with the advantage of a route shorter by 444 miles of railroad and 470 of navigation, competing for this trade ? For instance, the freight rate on tea, from Shanghai to New York, is 347.50 per ton. The distance being 5,515 miles by sea and 3,320 miles by railway, it may be said that the steamer receives $13.79, or -} of a cent, and the railway $33.71, or 1 cent per per mile. The Canadian route would make the same profit exactly if asking $42.16 for the same goods, that is to say, |^ of a cent for 5,135 miles of naviization and I cent for 2,9ll miles of railway. Here is the way, then, for a reduction on the freight rate of $5.34 per ton, or of 11 per cent. The Canadian Pacific will soon have the control of the Asiatic trade, if not for tho whole cf Europe immediately, at least, immediately for North America. But I will go further, Mr. Speaker; I claim that the Americans will use our route to reach both the Pacific and the Atlantic shores, and they do not make a secret of it themselves. In the official report on internal com- merce for 1884, by Worthington, I find, on page 97, the following significant passage : — 51 - ■• " Thfi nmin linfi of the Canadian Pacific Railway will extend from Montretil, in the eart, to a port in British Uolnmbia. " This Lew trariHContinwntal rail line will, by virtue of the reciprocity of transportation facilit ea which exists with respect to traffic over rail- roada of the United Staes and of Canada become essentially a part of ♦he railroads of the United States. The prop'ietora and managers of the Canadian Pacific Hallway can also acquire the ownership and control of railroads in this country, if they bo inclined to do 8>, and they possess the energy, tact and fiaancial ability requisite to the aciompliahment of that object, just as &uch control of railroads in the United States haa already been acquired by the management of the Grand Trunk Railway. By tins means, or b> means of traffic arrangements entered into with railroads of this country, the Canadian Pacific Railway, like the Grand Trunk Railwar, may be enabled to compete sharply with the railroada of the Uni ed States in the conduct of our internal commerce. " It is a Hingular fact that tho (Jis'anco from Chicago to San Francisco is exactly tho sumo as that fVoiri Chicago to Coal Harbor via Winnipeg, viz. ; Milea. From Chicago to Sin Francisco via Omaha 2,357 " Chicago to Winnipeg, miles.* 87-1 " "Winnipeg to Coal Harbor, miles 1,483 2,357 And Coal Harbor is nearer China and Japan by 470 miles. As to the trip towards tho East, there is not, it appears, the least doubt in this House, since tho Opposition tiave ah-oady recorded their opinion. We read in tho Minutes of Parlia- ment ot the 2()th of January, 1^81 : " Mr. Laurier then moved, in amendment, that the said resolutions be not now read a second time, but that it be Resolved, That the contract respecting the Canadian Pacific Railway providea for the construction of between 600 and 700 milea of railway to the north of Lake Superior, between Lake Nipissing hnd the junction with the road from Thunder Bay, through a difficult and Uninhabited country and at a vast expense ; that a mere fraction of the cost of this road would, if applied aa a basis of credit, secure the construction of those 63 milea common to the through line and to the Sault Ste. Marie Railway, and also of the remainder of the line to Sault Ste. Mario, within three years ; that the line by Sault Ste. Marie would give Ontario, Quebec and the East rail- way connection with the .Vorth-vVest of nearly the same length and of better quality than the proposed North Shore line ; that it would also give Lo Canada a great trade from an enormous area of the Western States, extending from the boundary to a point south of St. Paul, and even now inhabited by about 1,200,000 souls ; that it would secure a way traffic ; th^t it would thus give, within three years, and at a fraction of the cost of the other line, greater benefit than can be secured by that line in ten years, which is the period stipulated for its construction ; that it would bring both the Western States and the Canadian Norih-Weat into connection by rail with the ocean steamers at Montreal and Quebec on a route shorter, by about 30) miles, than the existing route to New York ; that thia advantage, together with the further gain of about 250 miles in the ocean voyage to Liverpool, would give thia route a com- manding position, and secure great benefit to the country at large ; that the construction of the line to the Sault or Goulaia Bay would also give a first-class rail and water route vid, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay, within our own limits, by the shortest possible line, for the transport 4i 52 of emigrants, goods and produce ; that the construction of tbo line from Sturgeon River to or beyond Thunder Bay to the north of Lalie Bnperior is, under the circumstances, premature, and should not be now undertaken." Let U8 take Brainerd, for instance, one of the stations on this end of the Northern Paoifio Bailway, and we find the following distances:— Miles. From Brainerd to Pacific Junction .. 91 Pacific Junction to L'Anse 188 L'Anse to Marquette 26 Marquette to Sault Ste Marie 150 8ault Ste Marie to Callander 244 Callander to Montreal 345 Total 1,014 From Brainerd to New York, viO, St. Paul and Chicago, the distance is 1,609 Here is, tor the Northern Pacific, that is to say, for the whole North-West, from Portland, an outlet 500 miles shorter than by any other route. The distance between Montreal and New York being 382 miles, the Northern Pacific will, therefore, save 113 miles iu reaching New York vid Montreal, instead of passing through Chicago. I believe in the luture of the North West, because our geographical position gives us the advantage, because the climate of the Assiniboine and the Saskatchewan is better than that of Montana, because British Columbia has advantages superior to those of Washington Territory, and because, intellectually, we are not inferior to our neighbors ; and with the supply of labor which Great Britain is sending U8, as well as with the market which she liberally opens to our agricult"ral products and to our cattle industry, we must inevitably follow the same ratio of development as was obtained by the construction of the Northern Pacific. That ascending march in the path of wealth and progress which that great American enterprise has opened is too interesting not to be examined. It is not difficult, in our day, to make a study of the philosophy of railways. The results obtained in the past clearly demonstrate that every dollar invested gives in return one hundred dollars. If we study the western part of the United States, we see that the two American Pacific railways, the Northern and the Cen- tral, had to cross tracts of wild and waste lands, as in the case of the Canadian Pacific Eailway. The regions more especially of this character were — for the Northern: Dakota, Montana and Washington ; for the Central : Wyoming, Utah and Nevada. Let us follow the increase of those territories, in population and wealth, after the construction of the rail- wayc : , 53 I860. Popula- tion. Dakota a an>j Montana *'"^^ S*«^'9Kto'i .*.'!.'.'.*.."'.'..■.:■■;:."'.* i v .'w* Wyoming \ z}^'^-: 40.273 Nevada 6,857 Wealth. $ 5,606,000 5,596,118* No. of Jliles of Railway. Dakota Montana .. 1870. 63,561 11,186,118 14,181 ...uui-aua ... 20,595 Washington 23 955 Wyoming a ,\o Nevada ^^'^^^ ^^^^"■"^ 42,491 6,000,000 15,200,000 13,560,000 7,OGO,000 16,160,000 31,134,000 65 25 447 257 593 1380. Dakota loc ,77 Montana W.Vq Washington ;;;;;; ^J f? S^d.-:;:;:;-:::-:;:::::::;:::::.;;:::.:;;::;::'^!;^g 197,126 89,054,000 1,387 118.000,000 40,000,000 62,000,000 54,000,000 114,000,000 156,000,000 476,470 544,000,000 3,598 W • ^Ti n "^'' ?^'^^ "^^"^^'^^ ^39'485 miles in Buperficies » vears'' Ifr'?' T^"' of. 8^^^,000.000, viz., $U9 a mile. Ten lltlmfnZ t^/ "^tiooal wealth had increased by «4JD,t)UU,000, and the same area was valued at 8850 a mile nnt ^K ;."^T'^? population of 279.344 inhabitants were Illinois ?Jes. Michigan ^^'000 Sr'"'" "^•"::";;::::::;:;::::::;:::;:::::: ?l'S Washinjyton .' ^J?'?^^ Wyoming Z:. ..ZZ:^ 9?'i?o Utah.....; l]'°l^ ""»«• ":::::::::;:::::::;:;:;;;::■.::::::::::::;• Ititlt Tn IQQn .11- 858,121 foIlow?oVto?a?8:^^' ^'"''^ "' ^'^"'^""^^ represented the fe^iS'^°° ,, 6.970,000 64 Tho history of the development of the "Western States is full of interest and information. Let mo give you the total incicaee in the construction of railways, at each census, in tho following States and Territories : — Illinois Michif^an Wisconsin.... Minnesota...., Iowa Kansas Nebraslia Missouri California.... Oregon Nevada Dakota Arkansas Colorado .... Utah Washington. Wyoming Montana , 1850. 110 342 20 1860 2,790 779 905 G55 1870. 4,823 1,6^8 1,525 1,072 2,683 1,561 1,812 2.000 702 159 593 65 256 157 25t 1880. 7,953 3,931 3,130 3,108 6,235 3,439 2,000 817 23 4,011 2,220 582 769 1,265 896 1,581 770 ■ ••• ••■•»• 274 429 472 48 19,075 472 5,969 41,426 6,969 35,457 years 1.773 Average in twenty years Let me now give you tho increase in population and wealth : — Population. 1860. 1870. 1880. Illinois 1,711,000 2,539,000 3,077,000 Missouri 1,182,00(> 1,221,295 2,168,308 Wisconsin 775,000 1,054,000 1,315,497 Michigan 749,000 1,184,000 1.636,937 Iowa 674,913 1,194,000 1,624,615 California 379,994 560,000 864,000 Minnesota. 122,000 4;<9,000 780,000 Kansas 107,000 364,000 996,000 Oregon 52,000 90,000 174,000 Utah 40,000 86,700 144,000 Colorado 34,200 39,864 194,327 Nebraska 28,000 122,093 452,40^ Washi.ngton 11,594 23,955 75,118 Nevada 6,857 42,490 62,266 Dakota 4,837 14,180 135,177 Idaho 15,000 32,610 Montana 20,595 39,159 Wyoming 9,118 20,784 5,828,395 9,519,790 13,692,198 5,828,395 Increase in population 7,863,803 Average of yearly increase of population 393,190 55 Wealth. 1860. 1880. lUinoia $ 871,860,000 $ 3,210,000,000 Missouri 501,214,000 1 ,562,000,000 Wisconsin 273,671,000 1,139,000,000 Michigua 257,163,000 1,680,000,000 Iowa 2*7,338,000 1,720,000,009 California 207, R 74 000 l,3i0,000,000 Minnesota 52,294,000 792,000,000 Kansas 32,327,000 760,000,000 Oregon 28,930,000 154,000,000 Utah 5,596,000 114,000,000 Colorado 240,000,000 Nebraska 9,131,000 385,000,000 Washington , 5,601,000 6i,000,C00 Nevada 156,000,000 Dakota 118,000,000 Idaho 29,^00,000 Montana 40,000,000 Wyoming 54,000,000 !f2, 491,949, '00 $13,0"i5,'^00,000 2,491,949,000 Increase of wealth $10,563,051,000 Average of yearly increase of wealth 528,000,000 The foregoing slatemGnts give the following totals: — Average of yearly increase in Railways.... 1,773 milea. do do Population.. 393,190 inhabitants. do do Wealth $528,(00,000 This will prove that every mile of railway has caused, in twenty years, in those States or Territories, au increase cf 222 inhabitants and of $300,000 lo the country. In the course of last year the exports of awricultural products from the ports of New York, Barton, Portland, Phila- delphia and Ba'imore, amounted to §536,3)5,318. And it has been ascertained, by the statistics, that 1)5 per cent, of those products came from tho States or Torritori<-s before mentioned. The same causes always bring identical results, and we find a proof of that in making a compirison with the Canadian North-West. Since 1873 tho population of the North- West Territory has increased by 250,000, and the increase in the Customs and Excise is as follows : — Customs. Excise. 1874 $66,509 $4,287 1875 179,377 8,176 1876 262,492 19,716 1877 225,314 24,018 1878 344,305 39,022 1879 294,591 53,741 1880 321,179 64,665 1881 471,815 97,678 1882 1,103,678 156,794 1883 1,833,665 183,872 1884 735,544 156,269 1885 (9 months) 475,132 116,992 56 Tho quantity of lands Bold is another proof of the develop- ment of the country. Excepting the sales made by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, tho Dominion Govern- ment has received the following amounts since 1877 : — 1877. 1878. 1879. 1880. 1881. 3,799 19,424 23,828 120,479 131,124 1882 1,744,456 1883 1,009,019 1884 951,636 1886 400,165 There seems to have been a diminution in the last months. Bui we must not forget that the greatest amount of sales is generally made in the spring, and that the North-West troubles have this year stopped the influx of emigrants and the business in those regions. We must alno conHider tho fact that immigration, here as well as in the United States, decreases at certain times. For instance, I may give you a statement of tho yearly immigration to the United States: 1876 „ 227,698 1876 169,986 1877 141,857 1878 138,769 1879 177,826 1880 457,257 1881 669,431 1882 788,992 1883 , 603,322 1834 518,592 1885 (1st December— 6 months) 143,413 But if there is a momentary lull in our immigration, there is still a great number of new settlers going to the North- West, as may be seen by the following statement: — Sales from 1st July, 1884, to the Ist May, 1885 — Homesteads— 1,860, of 160 acres 297,600 •' 520, of 80 " 41,600 339,200 Preemptions— 1,016, ofl60 " 162,560 6-0, of 80 " - 41,600 204,160 Sales. $109 40 Noi including 163 McLean town lots sold... 652, 760 acres. It has been said, in the House and in the press: Why does not the Government exercise its right of taking possession of the road, if this company cannot finish it, rather than make a further advance of funds ? A poorer policy could not have been adopted. We must not forget that private capital to the extent of $29,000,000 is engaged in this- enterprise, and that investors would not likely abandon 57 their money, perhaps their whole fortune, on the mere bidding of the Government. Private capital has the right to protect itself; it is its duty to do so; and in the present case, as there is still six years in vehich to deliver the road, they would do it. The Government has no interest in the ruin of individuals. The Northern Pacific has boon the cause of two catastrophes of this kind, the shock of which has been felt in every part of the great Republic. The failures of Jay Cooke and of Willard have each produced a sharp financial crisis, even in such an immense market as New York, with the enormous business transacted there for the whole Union. If the shock has been so severe in the States, I wonder what would have become of our moneyed community under similar circumstances ? I cannot imagine anything but a mass of ruins, under which our commercial institutions would have been buried and our banks shaken to their foundations. No Government would dare to take the property of a company without indemnifying it for dis- bursements already made. Governments cannot despoil individuals in such a way and take advantage of their difficulties and helplespness, to "grab" the fruit of their labor and savings. When the Government requires money it raises it through a tax borne by all equally ; it can- not seize the pocketbook of any citizen and enrich itself at his expense. It is true that the law enacted last year seems to have establibhed a contrary principle ; but, in fact, it had no other objoct than to secure the control of negotia- tions, and to prevent, without our leave, the inconsiderate use of the railway resources. No serious man would ven- ture to say that in taking the road the law has provided that the Government should not indemnify, at least partly, the shareholders who have, in good faith, invested their money in that enterprise. These words, I know, will be taken up by the hon. leader of the Opposition, who, imbued with this elementary truth, said last year : " Why such rigor, why such a terrible clause, authorising you to take possession of the railway without legal proceedings ? You would not bring yourselves to take back this railway without indemnifying the individuals who have invested their money in it ?" Nobody, as far as I am aware, has specially contradicted the hon. member on this point. We needed this rigorous clause to watch the construction of the railway and the opeiations of the company, and to make the company and the people understand that in an extreme case we could go as far as propriety would allow. We never thought of using it as an excuse for spoliation. To take possession of the road, the Government, then, would 58 have to dlHburso a good portion of tho $20,000,000 of paid up aharoH, Iohh the iloposit already in their hands to Hocuro the payment of the interest. Since tho company requires $15,000,000 because new neco8Hitie.s have ariHen, wo could not have uvoidcd this roHponHibility, and therefore we would have had to bo^in by adding Homething like $:^0,000,000 to our national debt, and this when we had an amount of $25,000,000 of our bonds to redeem and $30,000,000 to borrow. Who can say ho v much Canadian securities would have fallen under tho immense temptation for stock-jobbing that Huch an important loan negotiation would have created? I do not hesitate to state that the result of such an operation would have been an enormous loss to the Treasury. What I say now is not a new argument. Tho hon. leader of tho Opposition used that argument before mo. It is true, ho apparently u-cd it in a sarcastic manner, but he felt, all tho same, that the argument was a sound one, when ho said : "And in what position would the Government and Parliament be, if, at the end of these two years, default should be made ? Are you going to sacrifice the interests of those shareholders — those poor people who have spent money on tho road, who have done so much good to the country, who have built a road faster than ever a road was built before and sjieat more money upon it than ever was spent before? Your charity and confidence and sympathy are immense ; are you going to foreclose, hard hearted usurers that you are? You, who said yourselves that tiie security was worth two or three times the sum advanced, are you going to shut down and turn these people out of house and home, strip them of their palaces, take away their lordly eijuipages? Hurely you will not behave so badly ! That will be the appeal which will be made; that will be the appeal which will be listened to. The past tells us what the future will be." To^^, Mr. Speaker, wo could not take possession of tho road under circumstances which would have been so burthensomo to us and to unjust to the company. Naturally, the Opposi- tion would seek to turn the argument against me as to another part of my remarks, when 1 demonstrated that this year's legislation leaves us all our guarantee. Jf we cannot touch the road now, how could we do so later ? There is this difl'er- ence in the two situations : It is, that the shareholders, who havo willingly risked $20,000,000 in this enterprise, should have the benefit of their venture. Wo should not take it away from thorn before they could see tho results of their attempt. They would have the right to tell us : " Since we have had the pluck to risk $29,000,000, give us the chance to see the end of our undertaking. We are n'^w on tho eve of success. A general crisis strikes us, as it has struck all institutions and all countries ; give us time to tide it over. You shall lose nothing, as we are going to borrow ourselves what you yourselves would have to borrow should you take our place." 69 The demand would have boon a just and Hcnwiblo ono ; but it will have no force when, once the road completed, the company Hhall have seen the roHult of itn ventured ; when, once tho road is under full operation, it will have to derive from the rcHOurcoB required to moot its obligations. If the road pays, nothing will remain to bo nald, .since wo will receive our intoroHt; if it dooH not Huccood an well as expected, then the Governmont will bo in the position of buMiness men looking to their own protection ; 1 have no doubt that the $15,000,000 of bonds will soon bo taken by the public. When the «company has placed itself in the hands of the public it will not have the same reasons to call upon us for assistance ; tbo transaction will have reached another stage, and if, oven tiiou, wo can protect ourselves in protecting the shareholders, it will become a duty lor us to do it. But what I want to say is, that it will no longer be our bounded duty to incur any fur- ther risk, and that we will always have such a control of the situation that we can protect ourselves against any disaster, if the company is not proptired to ward off the blow. In other words, it is the duty of a Gov- ernmont to be j)atient in all transactions aireoiing the financial position of private persons, and to do its best to protect thorn; but when all is said, when nothing is left but to choose who will bear the h-»ss, the Governmont or the private individual, then it is soon enough for the Governmont, if its titles are properly secured, to claim its due. We do not want to lose a cent of our advances to the Pacific, and we have taken the proper means not to lose them. I am not of those who bolieve that the Govern- ment outilit to bo anxious to take possession of a railway, because t bey cannot work a railway with the same advan- tage as private individuals. However great may be the integrity of the employees, the zoal and public spirit of the Ministers, it is impossible tor any Government to compete with individuals when economy is concerned. They do not possess the same resources, and cannot give the same excuses. A step, shabby or mean, sometimes, that personal interest would justify in a company, would become a grievance, or leave a stain, if taken under the patronage of the Government. The outside pressure weighing on a Minister is irresistible, sometimes ; and how cau a Government be free enough in its action to compete with the marvellous activity of railroad men, who never back down before any obstacle. These great organisations are generally profitable only because they sti- mulate trade themselves. They have their steamers, their (JO warchouHOH, their commorcial firmw; th(\y build up thoir own freight, when the public do not give them enough ; they huvo to defend IhomHelvoH aguinHt wuch cut-throat Hchomort as are organised against them, or to organiHO womo such thorasolves. How can you expect a Government to boeomo a trader, ship owner, munufacturor, miller, Htockjobbor, bull or bear on the money market, dowtroyer, if need bo, and an implacable rival of the people under their jurisdiction ? It would give rise to coasoloNH accusations of favoritism or injustice. Should their turifl' bo regulated by those of other companies a cry of monopoly would follow; if they re- duced them It would become a disloyal competition. Weie thoy fixed permanently, the trade so delicately influ- enced by the supply and demand, by over production or scarcity, would not really find its proper level. At times they would be too high, at others too low. In a word, you would have destroyed what is the greatest strength of a nation — the individual initiative ; yoti would have subordin- ated the intelligence of the bu.'-iiiess man, so quick and so flexible, to the theories of the political man, groping among experiments on economy, without knowing the value of audacity and a spirit of enterpriso, which, for individuals, are worth dollars and cents. Traffic would bo guided according to local instead of commercial views ; no force in the world can counterbalance political laws, which are the same everywhere; therefore, English ideas do not favor the working of a railway by the Government. The Intercolonial is an exception imposed upon us by cir- cumstances. But such a state of things cannot exist as far as the Canadian Pacific is concerned, this line being neces- sarily always fighting and competing with others for exist- ence. At the time of the enquiry made by the English Parlia- ment in Great Britain, in 18G7, on the opportunity for the acquisition of the railways by the State, public opinion was unanimously against the scheme, and in quoting a few sentences of the report resuming the evidence, I establish, without any doubt, the theory I am now trying to develop. This report is found in the 38th and 39th volumes of the Sessional Papers of the House of Commons of 1867. "We read: " We have next to consider, if the State owned the railways, if it would be able to improve the system of management. None of the wit- nesses bare recommended direct management by Government officers, but in the opinion of some, great advantage would be derived from the adoption of a plan of leasing the railways in groups." Pap. 2xxv., Report 1867, vol. 38, p. 12. " The practical result ot any scheme for the national pnrchaae and leasing of railways would be merely to substitute the lesser sense of 61 reapf^nBibllity of a lei3fe for a limited period, AdminlstratinK the pro- perty of othfrs for tbu boavinr aad more durable respoaaibilitiea of own- era mariAf^ing tbeir own property." Pap. ixxri. " In France, the Absence, alnioat complete, up to tbe nresent time, of alt competition amonfrat railways, discard that valuable equilibrium which is the BHft*f;uard of British indaatry." Pap. xxzrii. "The i)lan of direct manaK^niont by the GoTernment itaelf feema to meet with condemnation ou all aidea, the chief objections raised being the went of a direct intftrest, the want of tborou|{h kaowled({o or pecu- liar aptitude, the habit of coatiy management, and the danger of abuae in patronage." Page 112aame Report. Tho country, on difloront occasions, has exprosHcd its opin- ion, and ItH docJHion huH novor varied. Tho Act of 1872, authorining tho construction of tho railway, declared posi- tively that il should bo conHtructod by a private company, and in order that no doubt should remain about the unani- mous disposition of tho country, when tho Mackenzie Government came into power, in 1874, it entered afresh in our statutes this universal preference in favor of private companies. And even were tho weighty considerations which 1 have just pointed out not in existence, there still remains another, and the most important one, as it alfocts the relations of parties with politics. I ask what a storm would bo let loose in this House if it wore asked at this moment, Mr. Speaker, to invest us with tho property of tho Pacific Railway and tho millions of patronage which it implies. With what terror would wo not see tho Op; o- sition contemplate tho fact that all tho resources of tho Pacific would lay in our hands. It would bo then that all the philippics, all the violent denunciations of past and present days, would wake all tho echoes of this Chamber, and no eloquence would bo found expressive enough to invoke upon us the wrath of electors. Indeed, Mr. Speaker, if we had lived for the love of power wo could have a 'mod ourselves with this invincible weapon; bit h'lforc thinking of tho sweets of power, we must consider tho dalies whicfi devolve upon it, and wo must not sow dissonsi.^'ns in tho political world. Wo want a frank, open and loyal contest, free from the elements as well as the appearances of undue influence. Now, it is my duty to again ask this Houa^ to pardon me for having occupied its time so long in making the remarks I thought it my duty to make on this important question. It is not very often that I trespass upon the good will and patience of hon. members, and it is on this plea that I ask to be forgiven. I have, I think, proved that it was right for the Government to have done what they did last year ; I think I have demonstrated by the facts I have pat before this House that it was right for the Government 63 to como to the nHsmtancoof tho Oanndian Pacifif! Railway in the mnnnor provided for in Ihono rcHolulions, not by giving tho money but by UHHintin^ thoir croilit in tho nioiioy mur- keta of tho woi M. Wo havo not to doul with n company ■who havo proved they are a company of jobborH, of moro coniractorH, but with a company who, an tho whole country knowM, liavo shown that thoir intention in not to miiUo money out of tho contract, but out of tho rcturnH to bo obtained from tho groat railway thoy havo built. I hopo that wo hhall havo the support of oven my hon. friends on tho other Hide. Wo anticipate eritieinm; wo know wo bhall havo criticiHm; it is right, perhaps, that there should bo criticium ; it in right that tho ac-tM ot tho fJovorn- mont nhouid be Hcrutinised; but in tluH tnatter tho (Jovern- mont hnH acted honently, frankly, with tho wole and tho puro obj<'Ct, not of putting tho Hnancos of tho country in a moro dirtieult position than thoy wore before, but of insur- ing tho credit of tho company, to whoso oxistonco and success tho credit of tho whole country is so closely united. I know that fault will be found with our conduct, but there is one hopo which I must express before taking my scat, and I shall in this, for a moment, bo a lecturer in favor of American institutions, of tho American people, and of tho sontiraont which prevails in tho United States. Let us unite at least in one sontimcnt, and that is, not to dofamo our country, not to decry oui credit, not to try to put down our institu- tions or to pull down thoso things which wo havo built up, which are noble works, which aro grand works, which, in tho future, will redound to tho credit, not only of Govern- ments — because whut havo Govern mouts to do with that ? — but of the whole country. I do not object to tho hon. gentleman criticising our conduct. 1 would not object even to see tho hon. gentlemen coming to this side of House and taking tho places wo occupy at this moment. I, for one, would be ready to give my place up to thoso hon. genilemen. Those who have had experience know that it is not for tho pleasure wo have in being in tho Ministry that wo desire to remain here ; it is cortainly not worth as much as the people are led to believe ; and I would give my seat up to ray hon. friends, and ray colleagues in the Cabinet, I am sure, would willingly give up thoir heats, il they could only think that tho hon. gen- tlemen who would take our plaeos would bo imbued with a greater spirit of patriotism. If we are not to havo our friends on tho other side coming to tho rescue, not of the Gov- ernment — wo do not want that — but of tho credit of tho country, if we are obliged to say that thoy are always trying 63 to dofamo tho ^ooil naino of tho countiy, Inmtoad of uphoM- in^ itH honor, Ihoy may ront assurol timt limy will not, l)y this moann, doHtioy tho ^ood narno nf Oiinada, they will not duHtroy tho good narno and fatno of tho Ntat(*Mnun who has proh'ulod over thodostinios of tho country Cor tho lu^t twonty- tivo years, tht y will not evM»nt destroy the I^acitic Ruilway, tho ^reaiOHl of all tho ontorprises we have iindortnUiin. Since I tirht entered politicsal life I have been ticoUHtonnd to Hoo the perHi.Hlency of my hon. friondrt on tho other Hide in Bpoal