Dominion Elections, 1882. 
 
 EDWARD BLAKE 
 
 AXD 
 
 LIBERAL PRINCIPLES, 
 
 ANTI-MONOPOLY 
 
 AXX> 
 
 PROVINCIAL RIGHTS. 
 
 PAMPHLET No. Is 
 
 Hon. Edward Blake's Address. 
 The Pacific Railway Monopoly. 
 The Dominion Lands Policy. 
 
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 THE ADDRESS 
 
 — OF iHB — 
 
 LIBERAL LEADER 
 
 TO THE FREE AND INDEPENDENT ELECTORS OF 
 WEST DURHAM : 
 
 GSNTIiEHEN, 
 
 The Government, which but a brief ppace since was craving a 
 longer trial before judgment, has prematurely dissolved Parliament, 
 and precipitated a general election. 
 
 For what reason ? Because it felt that it would be weaker "^ext 
 year than it is to-day, and that its only chance of victory lay in a 
 eurprise ! But it has not ventured to appeal to the constituency of 
 
 1878 
 
 IT HAS PACKUD THE JURY. 
 
 By an iniquitous measure it has concentrated in a few districts 
 large numbers of Liberal voters, in order to weaken the effective 
 Reform strength in many ridings, to impair the prospects of election 
 of leading Liberals, and, if possible, to turn a minority of the people 
 into a majority in Parliament. 
 
 For these purposes it has disregarded the county bounds, dis- 
 turbed the electoral districts, and violated long-standing associations 
 of friendship, business, and convenience throughout the greater part 
 of Ontario. \ "' 
 
 But even this was not enough. , , 
 
 Repealing the law which makes sherifiFs and registrars the return- 
 
IT 
 
 • 
 
 Ing-officen, it has taken power to appoint where it pleases its own 
 nominees to do its work, and to re-enact the scones of ten years ago 
 when men defeated at the polls in Muskoks and West Peterboio' war© 
 made into members of Parliament by the will of these officials. 
 
 Such acts are subversive of those principles of justice, equality 
 and fair play on which our constitution rests, and which give a moral 
 sanction to the laws. 
 
 They sh<^^that GJo^v^rnment, potwitUstandihg. al^ ibs boastfi, feelfl 
 itself beaten in. a lair light, and so attdmpts foul play. * **" 
 
 We are appealing to all good men, without distinction of party 
 to rebuke this gross abuse of power, and to show its authors that 
 though they may exchange townships and cut up counties as tk.ey like, 
 the NTOtes of the electors on whom they count cannot be transferred to* 
 the supporters of iniquities like these. 
 
 "W e are calling not only for an enthusiastic, vigorous and organ- 
 ised effort on the part of Reformers, but also for the support of many, 
 heretofore indifferent or hostile, who will yet decline to become accom- 
 plices in this transaction. And our call is answered ! Such a spirit 
 has been aroused among the people at large as I have not seen before — 
 such a spirit as warrants the belief that the attempt will fail of its 
 base purpose, and will recoil with just seventy on the heads of the 
 concocters and supporters of the plot ! 
 
 BROKEN FIiEDGES AXiTD ADDED BimDENS. 
 
 On what do the Government ask a renewal of your confidence ? 
 
 On a record of broken pledges and of added burdeiis. 
 
 They promised that they would not increase the rate of taxation ; 
 they have enormously increased it. 
 
 They denounced the former scale of expenditure ; they have 
 largely raised it. 
 
 They declaimed against the additions which were made to the 
 public charge in order to carry out a policy and engagements settled 
 under their own former rule, and left by them as legacies to their 
 successors in 1873 ; they have greatly added to that charge, and have, 
 as far as in them lay, ensured the recurrence of a period of severe 
 financial difficulty and distress. ■• ■ i ■ 
 
 They boast of an increased revenue ; due, so fai- as they are coo- 
 cemcd, to increased taxation only. 
 
^e^ t)6aat of an enJar^eci^^'iyro^St'fty ; daa'"ji[<it to ttl^fe.'Mt' t6 the 
 general revival oif inwie throiif^jhout Ae Woi'Id, to lafg^ 'pt^dlicti it K6tale, 
 and high prices abroad. 
 
 ,^ TBB PAOZnO BAIZiWAY OONTRAOT. 
 
 Tlidy pride themselves on their Pacific Railway contract. I con- 
 cletdn fhat bargain as improper, being made in secret, without public 
 tender, contrary to the existing policy of the people and of Parliament, 
 and opposed to '^he provisions of the law. I condemn it as extravagant^ 
 since the enterprise will cost us sixty million dollars and twenty-tivu 
 million acres of the choicest lands, while the road is to belong to the 
 company which will realize the cost of its part of the work out of iu 
 land and money subsidies. 
 
 I condemn it as outrageoits, in conferring on the company a prac- 
 tical monopoly, for twenty years, of the trade of our North-West Ter. 
 ritories, and large privileges and exemptions very valuable to them and 
 Btill more detrimental to the public. 
 
 I condemn it as indefensible, being consummated in the face of a 
 tender to perform the same obligations for three million dollars less 
 money, for three million acres less land, without the monopoly of trade 
 without the exemptions from taxation, and on other conditions much 
 more favorable than those of the contract. 
 
 I condemn it as premature, since the true policy was to provide for 
 the rapid completion of the line from Thunder Bay and for the im- 
 mediate construction of railways through the prairie, and by securing the 
 early development and settlement of the North- West to give value to 
 our lands and a traffic for the road before contracting for the comple- 
 tion of the eastern and western ends. 
 
 The progress of the North -West is due to the work we did and 
 proposed to do. 
 
 The difficulties and drawbacks whi^h exist — very serious now and 
 far more serious in the future — are due to the obnoxious terms of the 
 contract. 
 
 One short year has vindicated our policy ! Who can doubt that, 
 had it been adopted, we could to-day make a bargain for the undertak- 
 ing infinitely better than that to which we are now committed 1 The 
 Government and Parliament declined to give you an opportunity of 
 
deciding on the queatiori. We have now to ask the popular judgment 
 on the men who refused that opportunity and consummated that con- 
 tract. 
 
 TBS TRADE QITESTZOlf < 
 
 You know well that I do not approve of needless restrictions on 
 our liberty of exchanging what we have for what we want, and do not 
 see that any substantial application of the restrictive principle has been 
 or can be, made in favor of the great interests of the mechanic, the 
 laborer, the farmer, the lumberman, the ship-buildor, or the fisherman. 
 But you know also that I have fully recognized the fact that we are 
 obliged to raise yearly a great sum, i. lale greater by the obligations 
 imposed on us by this Government ; and that we must continue to 
 provide this yearly sum mainly by import duties, laid to a great ex 
 tent on goods similar to those which can be manufactured here ; and 
 that it results as a necessary incident of our settled fiscal system that 
 there must be a large, and, as I believe, in the view of moderate pro- 
 tectionists, an ample advantage to the home manufacturer. 
 
 Our adversaries wish to present to you an issue as between the 
 present tariff and absolute free trade.- 
 
 That is not the tiiie issue. 
 
 Free trade is, as I have repeatedly explained, for us impossible ; 
 and the issue is whether the present tarifi" is perfect, or defective and 
 unjust. ^ 
 
 I believe it to be in some important respects defective and unjust. 
 
 s 
 We expressed our views last session in four motions, which de- 
 clare that articles of such prime necessity as fuel and breadstuflEs 
 should be free ; that the sugar duties should be so adjusted as to 
 relieve the consumer from some part of the enormous extra price he 
 s now liable to pay to a few refiners ; that the exorbitant and un- 
 equal duties on the lower grades of cottons and woollens should be so 
 changed as to make them fairer to the masses, who now pay on the 
 cheapest goods taxes about twice as great in proportion as those which 
 the rich pay on the finest goods ; and that the duties on such materials 
 as iron, which is in universal use, should be reduced, so as to enable 
 the home manufacturer, to whom it is a raw material to produce a 
 cheaper article for the benefit of his home consumei- and the en» 
 couragement of his foreign trade. . - -. • 
 
I believe that by changes of the character I have indicated mono- 
 poly and extravagant prices would be checked, a greater measure of 
 fair plQ,y and justice to all classes would be secured, and the burden 
 of taxation would be better adjusted to the capacity of the people who 
 are to pay. Depend upon it, a day will come when by sharp and 
 bitter experiepce we shall learn the truth ; and many who even now 
 applaud will then condemn these particular incidents of the tariff 
 
 But I believe tht.t our brief experience has already convinced many 
 former supporters of the need of amendment, and that a majority of 
 the intelligent electors are in favor of such modifications in the direc- 
 tion I have pointed out as may be made with a due regard to the legiti- 
 mate interests of all concerned. ' • ' ,• ■■' • . !i 
 
 THE NORTH-'WEST ZiAND POLICY. 
 
 I challenge the North- West land policy of the Government, which 
 has in various forms given facilities for speculation, whereby great areas 
 of the choicest lands are falling into the Lands of middlemen, who wiU 
 hold them till they exact from the immigrant large profits, thus at once 
 retarding the development of the country and lessening t^e prosperity 
 of the settler. 
 
 Our motto is, " The land for the settxer ; the price for thb- 
 
 FUBLIO." 
 
 OZVIXi SERVZOE REFORHIS. 
 
 The Eeport of the Civil Service Commission shows that the existing,, 
 system has resulted in bad appointments, extravagant salaries, the re- 
 tention of imfit officei's, the discouragement of many deserving men, 
 and great injury to the public. It shows that the true remedy is the 
 abolition of political patronage, the substitution of appointments by 
 merit, and the reorganization of the system. 
 
 Agreeing in the main with these views, Ihelieye that the new Act 
 which proceeds on other lines, will not remedy the admitted evils. 
 
 Provision is needed to prevent improper practices in connection 
 with tenders and contracts for public works ; but the Government has- 
 thwarted such legislation. '' ■•- 
 
 Those who have not forgotten the events of 1872 will know the 
 reason why. '"'* '■ ' ■ '' - ''''' ^"'''^^-^ /' ^ ■: %.■:!: ■• ,bi, ,-Jb 
 FROVXNCZAL RiaBTS. 
 
 Our provincial rights are amongst the chief jewels of our constitn- 
 tion ; and on their preservation rest the prosperity and the permanence- 
 of the Confederation. 
 
Till 
 
 Of these the most valuable — that indeed on which all elue deptenda 
 — ii the right of effective local leginlation on local affaim. 
 
 This right has been grievously infringed by the disallowaticte Of 
 
 ihe Streams Act, which dealt with a subject purely local, And in no 
 
 wise conflicted with Dominion interests. • 
 
 • Its disallowance, on the ground that in the opinion of the Federal 
 
 ■Cabinet it was not a proper Act, creates a dangerous precedent, atid 
 
 asserts a power destructive of the autonomy of the Provinces. 
 
 The majority of the late Parliament sanctioned, while we de- 
 •noTinced, that disallowance. 
 
 It is now for the people to decide whether they will abandon or 
 regain their threatened liberties. 
 
 t 
 
 TBE ONTAXaO BOUNDi^HZES. 
 
 The respective Governments some years ago submitted the 
 bOTlUdary question to the judgment of a commist>ion' of eminent, 
 :able, and impartial men. The fact was communicated to and discussed 
 lin Parliament, and although several sessions elapsed no adverse 
 motion was proposed. On the contrary, Parliament without dissent 
 voted the money i necessary to carry on the reference, and thus adopted 
 the policy. " ' " '"■" "' * ' *' 
 
 It was the received opinion that the natural, reasonable and cus- 
 tomarj' mode of settling an international que?tion by arbitration wbiiM 
 not be thereafter questioned. 
 
 / The award was made in 1878 ; the present Government in 1879 
 declined to state its policy on the question ; in 1880 it promoted the 
 appointment of a partisan Coiuniittee of Inquiry ; in 1881 it brought 
 Manitoba into the controversy by its mode of enlarging her eastern 
 limits ; then it announced the opinion that Ontario did not comprise 
 -even her old settlements in the neighborhood of Fort William ; and 
 .at length, in 1882, it took courage to declare to Parliament that the 
 award shouW be disregarded in order to a struggle to contract, if pos- 
 sible, within those narrow bounds the limits of our Province. 
 
 The majority fh vHb lalte P'atliktrtent lifia sanctioned, while we 
 ^MVe eciiidbiiined this acfltiii. It is for the people to decide Whfethet 
 t"he reference and aW^ard shall be repudiated or respebted. 
 
IX 
 
 ^^ E^O^IMK OF TBS SZnrATB. 
 
 r. Tfe« S^ndt^ », coiv»titvi<iW on Uie priqpip}© of i^pQintnwnt for liff, 
 hy tk« Adipiuiflliratiou of the day, thus cr^^ting a legislatiTo boijy 
 responsible to no one, without provision to secure effective Federajl 
 representation, or the necess^a-y degree of harmony between the two 
 Chambers. -i-:. •,,. ;j . -: . ,;. 
 
 ,^. I think thi^ plan defective, and out of keeping with the true prin- 
 ciples of popular government as at this time developed. 
 
 I do. not propose that the Provinces should be deprived of the 
 right, which many value, of Federal representation in the present pro 
 portions, in a second chamber ; but I would advocate the reduction of 
 its numbers, and the election by the people of its members. Our own 
 experience in Old Canada gives proof of the wisdom of this pUou 
 
 THE TRUE NATXONAI. POIiZOY. 
 
 I am in favor of a true national policy and of every measure tend- 
 ing to the real progress of our country and the fulfilment of itft great 
 destiny. 
 
 The other day I gave my heart and voice for the assertion of our 
 right, as members of the Empire, to express our views on the subject 
 of Ireland, a truly Imperial question, beyond our legislative competence, 
 indeed, but in which, notwithstanding, we have from many points of 
 view a most siibstantial interest ; and I congratulate you on the action 
 to which Parliament agreed. 
 
 It ia a main ingredient in our national progress that we should 
 secure a larger trade and a freer access to the markets of the world. 
 
 Our efforts in this direction have hitherto been abortive. '• ' 
 
 . I believe that a fuller freedom to manage for ourselves this part of 
 our own affairs would give a better prospect of success ; and, as advo- 
 cates of a truly national policy, we have recorded these views in a mo- 
 tion, which was defeated in Parliament, but for which 1 ask a verdict 
 at the poUfl. 
 
 Gentlemen, the occasion is a grave one. 
 
 To the people is now remitted the opportunity of judging of the 
 conduct of its rulers and of settling the lines on which j^ublic affairs 
 shall be conducted, for five years at any rate, and mayhap for a much 
 longer time. 
 
I hope to be able, bdbre the close of the election, to explain aft 
 greater length my opinions on public ajfain ; but I have thought li 
 fight, at the earliest moment, to state frankly my views on some im- 
 portant questions as fully as is compatible within the limits of aa 
 addreisi' "■ " >'■ ■'■ '■■' •'•■''■■' •■•'' i i---''" ■■ ,"'i>> '.i» /■iuhu-"; > 
 
 I cannot expect every one, even of my own supporters, to concur 
 entirely in every sentiment I express. 
 
 Men's minds are not so constituted that one can hope to secure 
 «uch absolute and complete assent. 
 
 It is on a large, general, and comprehensive view that we must 
 act. If in the main you diflTer from me, it is your duty to reject me as 
 unauited for your service ; and I shall accept your decision with un- 
 feigned respect and unabated friendship. 
 
 But if in the main you value the principles and approve the policy 
 I have announced ; if you are prepared to condemn the fraud which 
 would cheat our people of a fair lepresentation, the wrong which would 
 deprive us of our Provincial rights, the injustice which would repudi- 
 ate an international award, the crime which has placed our futuie in 
 the North-West in the hands of a great monopoly ; the additions, in 
 breach of •solemn pledge, to taxation, expenditure, and public charge ; 
 the schemes which substitute for the good of the masses and for fair 
 taxation, the agorandizement of the few and the rich and the oppres- 
 sion of the many and the poor ; if you are prepared to give your voices 
 for freedom and justice, for retrenchment and reform, for fair play and 
 equal rights, for real progress and true national development — then I 
 ask for your support, and will do what in me lies to justify your deci- 
 aion. , 
 
 And in the hope and belief that such will be your verdict, 
 
 I am. Gentlemen, 
 
 Your faithful servant, 
 ToBOOTO, May 22, 1882. ' EDWARD BLAKE. 
 
;,/ 
 
 THE PACIFIC RAILWAY. 
 
 Bartering a-way the Heritage of Cana- 
 dians in the North-West. 
 
 The Government's Secret bargain with the Syndi- 
 cate—A Vast Monopoly Created at an 
 Enormous Cost to the Country. 
 
 It may with perfect safety be asserted that when time shall 
 ha"ve fully developed the nature of the transaction, the contract with 
 the Pacific Railway Syndicate, entered into by the Macdonald Govern- 
 ment, 22nd October, 1880, and ratified by the . '!ouse of Commons 
 January 27th, 1881, will be pronounced by all impartial men to have 
 been the most disastrous public contract and the greatest 
 RAILWAY SWINDLE not Only of the nineteenth century, but of any age. 
 It is desirable and proper to call the attention of the people of Canada 
 at this time to some of the leading facta connected with it. 
 
 THE CONTRACT MLADE IN SECRET. 
 
 1. The contract was made secretly, and in violation of law, no 
 tenders having been advertised for. The Public Works Act, 1867 (31 
 Vic, chap. 12, sect. 20); provides as follows : 
 
 •*It shall be the duty of the Minister to invite tenders by public ad» 
 vertisemeut for the execution of all works except in case of pressing 
 emergency, where delay would be injurious to the public interests, or 
 where, from the nature of the work, it could be more expeditiously and 
 economically executed by the officers and servants of the Department," 
 
 And again in the Canadian Railway Act, 1874 (chap. 14, seo. 8| 
 sub-sec. 1), it is enacted as follows : 
 
 ' ' That the works on any section or sub-section of the said railway 
 shall not be given out to any contractor or contractors except <0er 
 tenders shall have be^n obtained for the same. " 
 
 The Public Works Act of 1867 and the Railway Act of 1874 
 were unrepealed when the Pacific Railway contract was secretly 
 entered into, and consequently it was made in violation of law. 
 
 A SECOND-CLASS ROAD. 
 
 2. The Government required of the Syndicate only an inferior, 
 f econd-clftss road, while both the Allan Contract of 1872 and the Rail- 
 way Act of 1874 provided for a first-class road, which would have 
 cost at least twenty-five per cent, more than the line which the Sjmdi- 
 cate are permitted to build. 
 
ENORMOUS SUBSIDIES GRANTED. 
 
 3. The Government granted to the Syndicate moneys, lauds, ex- 
 emptions and privileges vastly in excess of the amounts really required. 
 The Allan Contract and the Act of 1874 provided for a subsidy in 
 money and land only, but the Syndicate contract provides for a sub- 
 sidy in six distinct forms, viz. : 
 
 (a) Cash $25,000,000 
 
 (b) Land, 25,000,000 acres, selected in the fertile belt, 
 
 and estimated by Sir John Macdonald (see 
 ofBeial Report of the Debates, 1880, vol. 1, 
 page 1056), to be worth $3 per acre 75,000,000 
 
 (c) Work already performed by Government upon the 
 
 railway and handed over for benefit of the Syn- 
 dicate, as follows, viz. : 
 
 Surveys of the line $3,119,000 
 
 703 miies railway built, or to be 
 completed, and liauded over to the 
 Syndicate, compoaed of the fol- 
 lowing sections : 
 
 Pembina branch, 85 miles, cost 1,556,900 
 
 Thunder Bay Division, Fort William 
 
 to Selkirk, 406 miles, cost 14,670,000 
 
 Kamloops to Emory Bar, 127 miles, 
 cost 8,431,800 
 
 Emory Bar to Port Moody, 85 mik ., 
 cost 2,48P,255 
 
 Allowance for miscellaneous pay- 
 ments and engineering work (see 
 return No. 23, Sessional Papers, 
 
 vol. 14,1880-81) 902,000 
 
 32,165,975 
 
 (d) Exemption from duty on rails, cars, engines, lum- 
 
 ber, wire, and all material (estimated) 1,000,000 
 
 (e) Exemption from Domii^ion, Provincial, and Muni- 
 
 cipal taxation on land grant for 20 years (esti- 
 mated) ^,000,000 
 
 And on road and capital forever 
 
 (estimate capitalized) 7,250,000 
 
 i2,250,0(K> 
 
 Total $145,415,975 
 
 '(/) Transportation monopoly of the North- West for 
 20 years (see Contract, section 15), value un- 
 kn own, but greater than the cash bonus at least. 
 
 A *• SOFT THING" FOR THE SYNDICATE. 
 
 4. For this vast amount of Government aid, amounting, without 
 •any reference to thethree last mentioned forms of subsidy, to $132,166,- 
 975, the Syndicate are to build 2,000 miles of luilway, which it waa 
 estimated by Sandford Fleming, Government Engineer, should not 
 cost more than $48,E,00,000 (see Sessional Papers 1880, No. 133, p. 555), 
 and which will be their own property. In other words, the Government 
 gives the Syndicate the money and land to pay for building 2,000 miles 
 of road lor itself, and then pi'esents it with land and completed railway 
 wortlb ^83,665,000 more, freedom from duty on all material, freedom from 
 ■taxation on linds and capital, and a transportation monopoly to enable 
 the Company to exact unjust charget from the tettkr$ of the North- West 
 for the next 20 years. 
 
A BXTTSR OFFER BBJZCTItD. 
 
 5. "When a bona fide offer was subsequently received by the Gk)y- 
 ■erament, to build the road for $3,000,000 less bonus, for 3,000,000 
 acres less of land, and other important concessions worth many millioua 
 to the country, the Conservative party refused to entertain it, although 
 the second Syndicate possessed more financial weif,'ht than the first 
 Syndicate, and put up $396,000 more money than the $1,000,000 re- 
 quired by the Act as security. In justification of this betrayal of the 
 public by refusing a better olfer, the absurd allegation was made by 
 the Government that the offer was a bogus one. All the members of 
 the second Syndicate were Canadians, whereas many members of the 
 favored Syndicate were foreigners. 
 
 A FAIR INFERSNCB. 
 
 6. The inference may fairly be drawn that if an offer, so mush 
 better than the terms accorded by the Government to the Syndicate, 
 was voluntarity made, still better offers oouldhave been secured had tha 
 law been complied with and tenders advertised lor. 
 
 THE BETTER TERMS. 
 
 7. The oflFer of the second Sjnidicate was, as already stated, backed 
 
 by an actual cash deposit of $1,396,000, and would have been car* - 
 
 ried out if accepted. Viewed upon the basis of cost and advantage to 
 the country, it was better than the offer of the first Syndicate in tha 
 following particulars and amounts : 
 
 (a) Less cash $ 3,000,000 \i>.tJ 
 
 (6) Less land 3,000,000 acres, worth, at $3 per acre... 9,000,000 •■ "*'^^. \ 
 
 (e) No exemption from duty on material 1.000,000 ^»'*^*\.^^ 
 
 (d) No exemption from taxation on land, road or ' jt^r* 
 
 capital 12,250,000 i x.>«"* ^ 
 
 ■ ' ■ 
 
 Direct cash advantage $25,250,000 
 
 {e) No transportation monopoly, an advantage to the 
 
 North- West of untold value. 
 if) Canadian control secured. 
 {g) Eight of the Government to purchase at any time 
 
 on fair terms. 
 
 BEGINNING TO BEAR ITS FRUIT. 
 
 8. The stupendous character of the \indue advantages secured by 
 an unscrupulous S3rndicate from an equally nnscrupulous Government, 
 ai3 only beginning to be understood by the people. It is building its 
 road tlm)Ugh the prairie section so far mainly with the proceeds of 
 sales of town lota. Its land grant, selected in the fertile belt of the rich 
 North- West, is of as great value as the entire grant contemplated by 
 either the Allan contract or the Railway Act of 1874, located, as those 
 grants would have been, in a large degree in British Columbia and 
 east of the Red River, where the lands are comparatively worthless. 
 Its grants from the Government in the various forms above named 
 will prove to be at least three times as great in value as the cost of the 
 road it is to build. It will, by the use of the people's money, blindly 
 bestowed upon it by an infatuated Tory Government, become a rail- 
 way monopoly controlling almost the entire railway system of tlie 
 Dominion, and with powers so vast as to endanger the free institutions of 
 this country. It is an American corporation, with its headquarters at 
 St. Paul, and prosecutes its operations with the aid of an Auifricau 
 «uperintendent, American engineers, American contractors and Atueri- 
 
 ty 
 
can employees who are being imported by scores into Manitoba to take 
 the places given at first to Canadians, who are now being discharged 
 simply be^'uuse they are Canadians: ■ 
 
 CRIIATURES OF TBE SYNDICATE. 
 
 9. The Macdonald Government having given the Syndicate the 
 enormous grants and advantages above enumerated, at the expense and 
 to the lasting injury of the people of Canada, now clearly manifest a 
 purpose, where the interests of the Syndicate and those of the people 
 of the North-West and of Canada clash, to take the part of the Syndi- 
 cate in every possible way. The people of Manitoba, disliking the 
 prospect of having the trade of their Province and the country to the 
 west of it made tributary to the extortionate exactions of a great and 
 soulless corporation, sought relief from bondage by securing access to a 
 competing route, viz., the Manitoba and South- Eastern Railway, which 
 would have crossed the boundary line at Emerson, and connected with 
 an air line to Duluth. By means of this proposed line a second lail- - 
 way outlet for the North-West would have been secured, and competi- 
 tion for the business of the country would have been established to the 
 great advantage of farmers and business men, while the grinding mon- 
 opoly of the Syndicate would have been effectually broken. The 
 charter for the road was duly granted by the Manitoba Legislature, and 
 a remedy for the great outrage perpetrated oy the monopoly clause of 
 the Syndicate contract seemed about to be applied. But the Syndicate 
 speedily proved that their power exceeds that of the Legislature of 
 Manitoba, for at their command their creatures, the Tory Government 
 at Ottawa, disallowed the charter, and thereby denied to the people of 
 Manitoba and the entire North- West the right to secure increased 
 railway facilities and relief from unjust charges which the constituticin 
 gave them. To those who can understand uie great advantage result- 
 ing to a country from competition of rival railway hues, the extreme 
 injustice of the Government done to the struggling people of the 
 North-West by the disallowance of the South- Eastern charter will be 
 apparent without comment. 
 
 THE MONOPOLY TRITTMFHANT. 
 
 During the session of Parliament of 1882 a charter was refused by 
 the Macdonald Government to a projected road from Thunder Bay to 
 IXuluth, on the express ground that it would he a competing line vnth the 
 Canada Pacific, thus again proving that the Government of Canada is 
 the tool of the Syndicate and not the guardian and upholder of populai 
 rights and the peopl-'s interests. 
 
 Quite recently i iie Minister of the Interior issued an order with- 
 holding Government land in the Railway belt from homestead settle- 
 ment and pre-emption entries. This was done to enable the Syndicate 
 more readily and rapidly to sell their own lands, 
 
 USING THE GOVERNMENT AS A TOOL. 
 
 It will thus be seen that this huge American corporation, which 
 has received from the Macdonald Government, as the agent of the peci- 
 pie of Canada, money and aid in various forms to an extent from two 
 to three times greater than the entire amount it will expend for its own 
 benefit, possesses already the power and the will to make use of that 
 Goveriiment as its tool, alid that through the implicit obedience of this 
 tool it is able, with cool contempt and disregard of popular rights, to 
 Bet aside the acta of legislatures, to defy the wishes of the people ot 
 
provinces, and within an extensive region of country to deprive 
 the settler of his right to the soil which the law of Canada gives to 
 
 liim, 
 
 A BRAVE FIGHT AGAINST HEAVY ODDS. 
 
 For upwards of one month from the day (December 10th, 1880) 
 the Pacific Railway contract was laid upon the table of the Commons 
 until the day (January 27th, 1881) the Bill was carried by the sub- 
 servient Tory majority, Mr. Blake, with his devoted supporters, fought 
 it inch by inch. Speech after speech was made against it, and resolu- 
 tion alter resolution moved against it. On the 26th of January no less 
 than seven, and on the 27th no less than twenty, amendments were 
 offered to the main motion to read the Syndicate Bill a second time. 
 All that the assaults of the Opposition on the floor of Parliament and 
 in the press could do, was done ; but Sir Charles Tupper, the hero of 
 such railway legislation from his political youth up, was able to whip 
 his followers into line, and compel them to vote with such unanimity 
 that not one amendment was caiTied through. 
 
 Mr. Blake and public opinion, which was clearly at his back, did 
 force the Syndicate to offer several modifications in their demands 
 which were even then too outrageous to be patiently considered by the 
 tax-payers of this country, who should resent the legalized robbery 
 and oppression, which are and will be the results of this infamous Act. 
 
THE BO MMON LAI POLICY. 
 
 SpecDlators M Land (iralilier!! Taken Mer tk Pro- 
 tection of the Tory Government. 
 
 The Land Shark gets his Land at Half Price, and 
 
 the hardy Son of Toil is handed over 
 
 to his Tender Mercies. 
 
 When Canadians became owners of the North-West, a most 
 important step towards securing the material resources from which a 
 popular and powerful state might be evolved was taken, for in that 
 region we have a vast expanse of fertile soil fitted by nature to 
 become the home of many millions of intelligent and prosperous 
 people. The area of land in the North-West, including Manitoba^ 
 fit for settlement, is roughly estimated at from 150,000,000 to 
 250,000,000 acres. The latter Jigure gives ten times the amount of land 
 now under cultivation in the entire Dominion. The greater portion of 
 this region is admirably adapted to the growth of wheat. Coal is 
 abundant, and the entire country from the boundary line to the Feace 
 River Valley, and from Red River to the base of the Rocky 
 Mountains, offers no serious engineering obstacles to the construction 
 of the railway lines necessary for carrying its productions to market. 
 It is estimated that this region will easily afford tha means of sub- 
 Bistence for 26,000,000 of people. That the utmost care should be 
 taken to devise and carry into effect 
 
 A WISE AND LIBERAL POLICY 
 
 in the regulation, sale, and management of this gi eat i)ublic domain 
 is a proposition which requires no argument. Its rapid settlement 
 by an energetic and intelligent population is a most important ques- 
 tion, and should command the best efforts and the most careful con- 
 sideration of the Government. Tn fact, no other question now 
 demanding the attention of the Government is of as great moment. 
 The first and foremost requisite of the North-West is population. 
 The millions of fertile acres are worthless till they are tilled. The 
 actual settler alone can produce the necessary change. When he goes 
 in, the varied industries of prosperous communities will follow, and 
 towns w^ill speedily grow up. Towards the actual developmentoftbe 
 
counirr the mere speculator will contribute very little. The gain> 
 he laakes in land speculations merely represents the loss sustained 
 by the farmers who are compelled to purchase his lands at a great 
 adyanoe upon Qovernment price. 
 
 TBX RAPID SETTLBMKNT OF THX I'TORTH-WSST 
 
 can best be secured by a liberal homesteail law, and by offering such 
 lands as are not set apart for homesteads at reasonable prices to actual 
 settlers. To sell such lands in unlimited quantities to speculators^ 
 whose purpose is to pounce upon and make the settlers pay a heavy 
 advance upon the Government price, is most unwise and unjust, and 
 must seriously retard settlement. To ofler special inducements to 
 speculators by selling public lands to them at a lower price than is re- 
 quired of the actual settler is worse than unjust, and should be con- 
 demned at the polls by every patriotic Canadian. The Government 
 shouiJ allow no middleman to come between itself and the actual 
 occupant of the poil. The public lands are the heritage of the people,, 
 and ought to be managed by the Government in their interest. 
 
 THB WILD SPECULATION 
 
 now rampant in the North- West bodes no good to this country. It 
 has already reached the proportions of a mania, and must inevitably 
 end in a collapse more or less severe. A similar land speculation 
 fever in the United States in 1835 and 3836 was largely instrumental 
 in bringing about the crisis of 1837, which completely prostrated pub- 
 lic and private credit. The course of the Macdonald Administration 
 in adding fuel to the flame of this furious land craze, by affording 
 unprecedented facilities for the wildest land speculations, is one of its 
 greatest sins. Already millions of acres which should have been care- 
 fully reserved for the actual settler have been placed in the grasp of 
 speculative companies on terms practically amounting to sales at half 
 price, and these companies will inevitably exact from the actual settler 
 the uttermost farthing that it is possible to obtain. As 
 
 ACTUAL SETTLEMENT ALONE CAN DEVELOP THE COUMTBY, 
 
 the Government shoiild make every effort to secure a large immi- 
 gration of bona fide settlers, and it can well afford to make its policy a 
 liberal one. The mere question of the amount of revenue to be de- 
 rived is of minor importance. A liberal Canadian policy towards 
 settlers becomes doubly necessary from the course pursued by the 
 Government of the United States. That country has vast tracts of 
 wild land open for settlement. It fully realizes the importance of in- 
 ducing settlement, and its policy towards actual settlers is a most 
 enlightened one. If we are to compete with that country in securing 
 the rapid settlement of our public lands we must make our policy at 
 least ai liberal as theirs is. Our own policy as compared with theirs 
 is not sufficiently liberal. 
 
 THE TWO POLICIES CONTRASTED. 
 
 In the United States all unappropriated public land is open for 
 homestead ; in the Canadian North- West four sections in each township 
 are reserved for the Hudson's Bay Company and for school purposes, 
 and sixteen sections for railway grants, or for sale. Only eight sections 
 in each iownship of thirty-six sections aie available for homesteads, or less. 
 than one-fourth of the whole. In the United States all unappropri- 
 ated lands are open for pre-emption ; in the North- West only eight 
 sections in each Township of thirty-six sections are available for that 
 
8 
 
 purpoae ; and the entire homestead and pre-emption reserve in all that 
 region north of the Canada Pacific road and outside of the twenty-four 
 mile railway belt can, at the pleasure of the Government, be sold at 
 auction, or can be granted to speculative companies. The results 
 show that our policy is not suiliciently liberal to enable us to compete 
 with the United States in securing the desired class of population. 
 In fact, we get nearly all the speculators and LukI grabbers, while that 
 country receives the great mass of the settler class, as the home&tead 
 entries in. each country for the last two years clearly indicate. 
 
 ACRES HOMESTEADED IN THE 
 ACEE8 HOMSTEADED IN CANADA. ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ 
 
 1878 308,640 1878 0,288,779 
 
 1879 555,290 2879 8,026,785 
 
 1880 280,640 1880 8,238,735 
 
 1881 438,707 1881 6,791,900 
 
 Total acreage... 1,583,283 Total acreage... 29,346,199 
 
 From this it will be se'en that in the United States the rate of 
 homestead settlement, for the last four years, has been a fractio:\ 
 over eighteen times greater than in Canada, while in the last two 
 years the rate has been a small fraction less than twenty-one times 
 greater. Had it been in proportion to th« population of the two 
 countries, it would have been only twelve times greater in the Unite(? 
 States than in Canada. 
 
 CANADIANS IN THE UNITED STATES. < 
 
 In 1870 nearly half a million Canadians by birth (equal to aLout 
 one-eighth of our population) were living in the United States. It is 
 not yet known to how great an extent that number has been increased, 
 as the full census returns of 1880 are not yet published, but we know 
 that Canadian emigration to the United States for several years past 
 has been very large. In 1880 there were 29,631 Canadians in the new 
 State of Minnesota, and 10,678 in the territory of Dakota, and if we 
 take into account those of English, Scotch, and Irish nativity who 
 emigrated from Canada to the same region, we will be safe in assumirg 
 that in 1880 the Canadian population of Minnesota and Dakota was 
 greater than the entii-e population of Manitoba. The Canadian emi- 
 gration to Michigan, Wisconsin, Kansas and Nebraska, was probably 
 still greater. These facts show that hitherto our land policy has not 
 been sufficiently liberal to secure more than one-third of the Canadian 
 emigration to the West, and that it has secured a very small portion 
 of the foreign emigration. It is quite evident that, so long ad the 
 American land policy continues to be more liberal to actual settlers 
 than our own, their public lands will be settled with a relative rapidity 
 entirely out of proportion to the relative population of the two ccun- 
 tries. The land policy of the Canadian Government has not only been 
 deficient in liberal provisions for the settler and too liberal to the 
 speculator, but it has been 
 
 FITFUL AND VACILUITINO. 
 
 Since July 1st, 1879, four separate and distinct series of Canadian 
 regulations have been in force. The first was issued July 9th, 1879, and 
 went into operation on August 1st, Under these regulations five 
 belts were established on each side of the assumed line of the Canada 
 
Pacific Railway, designated as Belts A, B, C, D and E ; the first 5 
 miles wide, the second 15 mile*, the third 20 miles, the foiuth 20 
 tuiles, and the fifth 50 miles. 
 
 ZNDUCKMXNTS TO aXTITLSRS^ASCpMFARKD WITH THX 
 UNXTEO STATKS. 
 
 In Belt A homesteads were not permitted, while in the United 
 States no Government lands are withdrawn from homestead. Out- 
 ■iJe of Belt A the size of homesteads and of pre-emption entries wa» 
 restricted to 60 acres each, while in the United States 160 acres ard 
 allowed. Outside of Belt A only 8 sections in a township were opea 
 for homestead entry, while in the United States all public lauds ara 
 open. In Belt C settlers were to pav |2.50 per acre for pre-emptions, 
 and ^.50 per acre for all public lands not reserved for homestead and 
 pre-emption. In the Umted States, public lands situated the same 
 distance from railway lines are sold to the actual settler at $1.25 per 
 acre. In Belt D settlers were to pay ^2 per acre for pre-emptions and 
 other public lands, or 75 cents per acre more than is charged for 
 lands of similar situation in the United States. In Belt E landa were 
 sold at $1 per acre, and in this belt only — situated 60 miles from a 
 raihoay line — could settlers procuie land as cheaply as in the United 
 States. Under these regulations speculation was encouraged by offer- 
 ing lands for sale upon a payment of one-tenth down and the balance 
 in nine annual instalments, and the law was violated hy permitting 
 Bales of more than 640 acres to one person. 
 
 THIS POLICY LASTKD SEVXNTY-FIVE DAYS. 
 
 The regulations of July 9th remained in force from August Ist, 
 1879, to October 14th, 1879, when they were replaced by regulations 
 which made a change in the conditions of homestead grants and pre- 
 emption entries by allowing grants and entries of 160 acres. In this 
 respect alone were our -regulations made as liberal as those of the 
 Umted States. Restrictions as to lands the settler could enter 
 and the evils of credit sales were continued ; and in Belts B, C, and D 
 the prices charged the actual settler continued to be from 75 cents to 
 $S.S5 per acre higher than prices charged to actual settlers in, the United 
 States for lands similarly situated. Under these regulations, specH- 
 lators, with their command of capital and superior means of information, 
 forestalled the settler, and vast tracts of land were bought by them at 
 $1 and $2 per acre, much of which has since been sold to the actual 
 settler at from ^5 to $10 per acre. These regulations remained in force 
 about a year and a half, and it was natural that the illiberal terms to 
 settlers, as compared with those of the United States, and the discrim- 
 ination in favor of the speculators, should send almost if not quite two- 
 thirds of the Canadians who were seeking homes west of Ontario, to 
 Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and other American States. Oa 
 May 25th, 1880, 
 N TBB THIRD |8XBI1» OT REGULATIONS 
 
 was issued by the Depaurtment of the Interior. Under them credit 
 Bales ceased, but the same conditions were continued as to lands 
 open to homestead and pre-emption entry. The price of pre-emption 
 claims and pubUc lands within railway belts 24 miles in width on each 
 side of projected railway lines was fixed at $2.60 p«r acre. The price 
 of pre-emption claims and public lands outside of the railway belts was 
 fixed at $2 per acre, or 75 cents per acre higher than lands of similar 
 situation iix the United States. As under the previous rcgulatioud, 8 
 
10 
 
 sections were regerved for hoTtiesteads and 8 sections for j/re-cmptioix 
 claimR in each township. This alworbed all the lands within the rniU 
 way belts except those^for railway grants, school lands, and Hudson 
 Bay reserves. The right of the settler to the homestead and pre- 
 emption reserves rested, howeyer, upon the insecure tenure of the 
 OovernmenVa pUd-mre, as these lands, by Order-in-Council, could at 
 any time be withdrawn and sold at auction. These regulations, how- 
 ever, will be chieily remembered in consequence of the invention of a 
 new and moro perfect plan to 
 
 DEFRAUD THB POOR AND FAVOR THX RICH. 
 This new device enabled individuals or corporations to purchase in 
 blocks of townships all the Government odd-numbered sections outside 
 of the railway belts, amounting to 10,240 acres in each township, at 
 half price, or $1 per acre, upon the condition of placing two settlers on 
 each odd-numbered section, and a settler upon each homestead within 
 three years, with the right to take a mortgage upon each homestead to 
 the amount of $500 for advances to the nomestead settler. If at the 
 expiration ot three years the individual or company had failed to 
 place the requisite number of settlers upon the lands, the Govern- 
 ment could either resume possession of the same, or exact the remain- 
 ing f 1 per acre, in which case tl)e individual or company would have 
 the advantage of three years* credit npon one-half of the purchase money 
 jrithout interest. Under this plan it was also provided that an indivi- 
 dual or a company might, with the consent of the Government, pur- 
 chase in the townships within the railway belts the lands reserved for 
 pre-emption claims, amounting to 5,120 acres in each township, at 
 $1.25 per acre, being one-half the price charged the actual settler, on 
 the condition that 32 settlers should be placed upon homesteads, and 
 32 settlers upon the lands of the individual or company within three 
 years of the date of agreement, the individual or company making the 
 purchase being allowed to take a $500 mortgage upon each homestead 
 for advances or loans. There was no condition as to the amount of 
 land that should be sold by the company to each of the settlers ; if 
 32 tenants were placed upon their lauds, the conditions of settlement 
 would be fulfilled. Under this plan all the land in townships within 
 the railway belts devoted to pre-emption could be sold to speculators at 
 half-price, and if at the expiration of three years the settlement con- 
 ditions had not been complied with, the purchaser, upon obtaining the 
 consent of the Government, could pay $1.25 per acre more, without 
 interest, and take out the deed. Under this so-called colonization 
 scheme corrupt influences might easily be brought into play in secur- 
 ing allotments, and in getting tlie permission of the Government to 
 waive the forfeiture clause at the end of three years and accept pay- 
 ment of the regular price if conditions of settlement had not been 
 complied with, as both matters were determined by the Minister of th<j 
 Interior. On the ilSrd December, 1881, 
 
 THB FOURTH SBRIIES OF LAND REGXTLATZONS 
 
 was issued, and went into etfect on January 1st, 1882. These pi*o- 
 vide that the public lands of the North- West shall be classitied and 
 designated as follows : 
 
 Class A — Embracing all lands within 24 miles on either side of the 
 Canada Pacific Railway or its branches. 
 
 Class B — Embracing all lands within 12 miles on either side of any 
 
 E rejected line of railw.ay, other than the Canada Pacific Railway, approved 
 y Order-in-Council published in tiie Canada Oa:eUe. 
 
11 
 
 Cla«B C— Embracing all landa south of the main lino of the Canadat 
 Pacific Railway not inciiuied in classea A and B. 
 
 Class D — All lands other than those in classes A, B and C. 
 
 Under these regulations homesteads and pre-emptions are re- 
 ■tricted as before to 16 sections in each township ; pre-emptions and 
 public lands are held in class C at double the price of public lands in 
 the United States similarly situated outside ^i railway belts, whilo 
 pre-emptions and public lands in Class D are 76 cents per acre higher. 
 
 AT THE MERCY OF THE MINISTER. 
 
 Under these regulations homestead and pre-emption settlers have 
 no security that their privileges will be continued or their rights re- 
 gardetl. They are placed at the mercy of any whim or cai>rice of thef 
 Minister of the Interior, ■i<7iO may at his soverenjn pleasure make the' 
 homestead provmons of the Dominion Land Act a dead letter. Sub- 
 section C of section 2 of the regulations gives him power to withdraw 
 homesteafl and pre-emption lands fiom settlement, and ofl'er them for 
 sale i;- such townships as he may choose, at pul)lic auction, A par(> 
 of section 24 of the Domiiiion Land Act of 1882 contains tho 
 following : 
 
 '* Provided also that, except in special cases, where otherwise ordered 
 by the Governor-in-Council, no sale to one person shall exceed a section, 
 or six hundred and forty acres. " 
 
 Under this innocent-looking parac^a^h the Government assume* 
 the power to sell at its pleasure, to companies or individuals, un- 
 limited quantities of public lands, including the homestead and. pre- 
 emption reserves in class D. 
 
 THE SPECULATOR MADE LORD OP THE NORTH-WEST. 
 
 These regulations are remarkable lor having introduced under 
 the names of Colonization Plans Nos. 1 and 2 the most complete and 
 villainous scheme ever devised in America for making the hardy 
 pioneer and settler the prey of that natural enemy of all new com- 
 munities — the land-shark. Under Plan No. 1 agreements may be- 
 made with any company or persons, to be called "the party," for tho* 
 sale of the public lands in class D not open to homestead and pre- 
 emption, amounting to 10,240 acres in each town.ship and without; 
 r(i.siriction as to extent, at $2 per acre, psiyable one-fifth down and th& 
 balance in four equal annual instalments without interest, except' 
 upon past due instalments. 
 
 PLAYING INTO THE HANDS OP " THE PARTY." 
 
 If at the expiration of five years " the party " places 32 settlers- 
 upon the 32 homesteads in a township, and 32 settlers upon its owi> 
 lands, it is to be entitled to a rebate of one-half the price of the land,, 
 and to receive its tract at $1 per acre. It may also advance to eacb 
 homestead settler ^00, and take a mortgage upon his 160 acres for 
 that amount. In each year a rebate of $120 is granted for each bona 
 fide settler placed on the tract during that year ; and at the expiration 
 of the five years, if the whole number of 32 homestead and 32 other 
 settlers have not been placed in a township, "the party" is entitled to 
 receive a rebate of $160 for each settler so placed. If the homestead 
 settler does not take entry for the pre-emption lot to which be is 
 entitled, " the party " or company may, within three months after the< 
 settler's right has lapsed, purchase the same. The regulations also- 
 
12 
 
 fjirovide that, if " the party " or company rail to perform the oonditiona 
 ■Of the agreement, the Governor-in -Council may cancel the sale of the 
 land and deal with *' the party " aa may seem meet xmder the circum^ 
 •atanoea. Thia so-called Plan No. 1 is 
 
 OONCXXVSD IN THS INTEREST OF SPECULATORS. 
 
 And is calculated to perpetrate a cruel wrong upon the actual settler. 
 ^\'hen put into operation it will be found open to the following 
 
 •objdctionB : 
 
 1. It enables the speculator to obtain control of immense tracts of 
 
 "land upon credit purchano by making a cash payment of 40 cents per 
 ucre, while the actual settler must pay $2 in cash per acre for lands 
 -of the same character. 
 
 8. It enables the speculator to obtain his tract at half price by 
 allowing certain rebates upon the performance of certain easy con- 
 ditions, while the achuil settler can obtain no rebate but must pay in full. 
 
 3. It enables the speculator to seize upon the pre-emption claims 
 reserved for the actual settler if the latter allows three months to 
 elapse before availing himself of his right. 
 
 4. It not oni^ permits, but invites, corrupt practices in the sale of 
 influence for procuring grants, and in placing power in the hands of 
 the Minister of the Interior of a nature to be likely to subject him to 
 the temptation of having a valuable consideration offered for his de- 
 cision in favor of applicants. ' 
 
 A GROSS OT7TRAGK. 
 
 Although Plan No, 1 is sure to work most mischievous and dis- 
 astrous consequences. Plan No. 2 is capable of working a still greater 
 degree of mischief. Under this plan all the public lands, all the home- 
 stead lands, p.nd all the pre-emption lands in blocks of townships in 
 class D, tohc limited only in the discretion of the Government, may be 
 aold to speculators at f2 per acre, with a provision for the rebate of $1 
 per acre at the expiration of five years if 128 settlers have been placed 
 in each township, a portion of which rebate, at the rate of $120 for 
 «ach settler placed during the year, is to be paid back annually. 
 Under this plan the homestead and pre-emption reserve in each town- 
 ship is swept away, and the actual settler i.« Uft at the mercy of great land 
 holders. The speculator may purcliase all tho land in a township 
 except the two school sections and the Hudson Bay sections, or 20,480 
 acres in each township out of a total of 23,040 acres. There is no 
 condition as to the amount of land that must be sold to a settler, and 
 the 128 who ai-o to be introduced into each township may be placed in 
 4x group on small holdings in one corner of the townshir, or they may 
 ■he tenants sulject to eviction at the will of the landlord. Under plan 
 No, 2 great landed eatates can be formed, with the lands in solid 
 Jjodies of great size, even if the settlement conditions are complied 
 'with, and the lands obtained at $1 per acre ; or the purchaser may 
 a-etain the title to the whole of his land, and, by bringing in farm 
 servants and tenants, may obtain the rebate of %\ per acre. 
 
 THE LAND SHARK'S PROFITS. 
 
 Under Plan No. 2, if the speculator complies with the easily per- 
 
 itormed settlement condition requisite to secure the rebate, the sale 
 
 of one-quarter of his lands in a township at $4 per acre leaves him 
 
 t A'ith three-quarters of the land in each township, or 15,360 acres, cost- 
 
13 
 
 lug nothing. If the entire trnct. is sold at $2 per acre it leaves a profit 
 of 100 per cent. ; it' at $3 per acre the profit ia 200 per cent. ; if at $i 
 per acre the profit is 300 per cent. 
 
 TWO SCBSUES WORTHY OF FEUDAL DAY8. 
 
 Schemes such as the po-called Colonir^ation Plans No. 1 and No. 2 
 are worthy of the feudal days, when the tiller of the soil was a va.s8al 
 or a common chattel belonging, like any other beast of burden, to his 
 landlord. They do not belong to a civilized land or a progressive 
 age. They are framed in the interest of speculation alone. They 
 trample upon the rights of the only class which can found communi- 
 ties and develop the resources of Canada. Thev were conceived and 
 shapen in iniquity and brought forth in sin, and the Government 
 guilty of such a crime deserves the scorn of every honest man, and 
 especially of h.ra who tills the soil or earna his bread by the sweat of 
 his brow, for it is his dearest interests that have been aold to political 
 favorites and conscienceless land gamblers. 
 
 WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE. 
 
 Already 7,000,000 acres of land have b ,un granted, and applicatlone 
 for 3,000,000 more have been agreed to. These grants under Plan 
 No. 1 would absorb all the public lands not reserved for lioTneatead and 
 pre-emption in 978 townships. Under Plan No. 2 it veovXd take aU the 
 ptiblic lands, the homestead lands, and the pre-emption lands in 489 towr^ 
 ships. The effect of this course upon immigration into the North- West 
 in the near future will be disastvoua. The settlers now flocking into 
 that country will find no available lands for sale. Under Plan No. 1 
 it will be found that landed companies control all the accessible lands- 
 except the homestead and pre-emption reserve'?, and there is no guaran- 
 tee that the last refuge of the actual settler will not be swept away by 
 selling homestead and pre-emption reserves at auction to the greedy 
 friends of the Government — the grasping speculators. Aside from pre- 
 emption claims the settler will find 
 
 SCARCELY AN ACRE OF LAND FOR SALE 
 
 at Qoverxime it prices. The speculator has bought it at half price, 
 and will sell to the settler at a hundred per cent, udvance, or as much 
 more as he .an get from him. • So great an outrage upon those who 
 emigrate to the North-West for the purpose of securing land and mak- 
 ing them.*elves homes has fortunately been hitherto unknown in the 
 legislation of Anglo-Saxon states. 
 
 tx|iib;e^ limits A7f i> fastitre leases. 
 
 Not alone in its management of the agricultural lands of the North- 
 West is the policy of the Macdonald Government open to grave objec- 
 tion. Valuable timber limits may be let to political favorites without 
 competition or public sale, and pasture leases of immense tracts of 
 lands for cattle-ranches may be disposed of in the same improper 
 manner. 
 
 THB TRUE POLICY. 
 
 Tlie public lands should be held by the Government as the heritage 
 of the hardy men who reclaim and till them, and who, in doing so, are 
 compelled to brave tha dangers and privations of the wUdemess. If 
 the lands are sold they should be sold to the a'tual settler at first cost,. 
 and no middleman should be allowed to come between the Government 
 
u 
 
 and him to coin money from his toil, and needlessly increase hta hard- 
 
 ships and difficulties by selling him land at a heavy advance upon the 
 
 first cost. 
 
 THS POSITION OF THS LIBKUAL PARTY. 
 
 Upon the question of the settlers' and the labourers' interests in 
 the public lands of the Dominion, the Liberal party has taken an un- 
 .equivocal and statesmanlike position. It condemns in unmeasured 
 terms the subservient truckling to political expediency, the chicanery 
 and the fraud which permit the taking away from the people their 
 oacred heritage in the public domain. It condemns the Tory Qoyeru- ' 
 ment : 
 
 L Because its policy is dictated by and in the interests of specu- 
 lators, and because it has forgotten that Canada is a free and democratic 
 land. 
 
 2. Because it gives immense tracts of choice agricultural lands to 
 •speculators at half price. 
 
 3. Because its policy is calculated to create in Canada great lauded 
 estates. 
 
 4. Because it seeks to introduce that tenant system which is the 
 -curse of the British Islands. 
 
 5. Because it compels the bona fide tiller of the soil to pay vastly 
 more for his acres than the Government receives, the difference going 
 into the coffers of the land-grabbers. 
 
 6. Because it loses sight of the future, and barters the priceless in- 
 heritances of the people for the benefit of a comparatively few camp- 
 foUowers and gamblers. 
 
 TBB LESSONS OF A CKNTX7RY. 
 
 In its position upon the land question the Liberal party takes the 
 •enlightened stand that the United States has taken, after an experience 
 ■of nearly a century in the management of public lands. Its position 
 is substantially the same as that of both the great parties of the United 
 States, as well as the Workingmen's Union of that country. On June 
 % 1880, the Kepublican Convention, in session in Chicago, adopted the 
 foUowiug as a part of its platform : 
 
 "Section 6. — No farther grant of the public domain should be made to 
 any railway, or other corporation." 
 
 On June 22, 1880, the Democratic Convention in session in Cin- 
 cinnati adopted the following as a part of its platform : 
 
 "Section 12. — Public money and public credit for public pu..poae« 
 solely, and public land for actual settlers." 
 
 The Convention of the Workingmen'B Union of the United States 
 has also adopted the following aa & part of its policy : 
 
 " The reserving of the public lands, the heritage of the people, tor 
 actual settlers ; not another acre for railroads or corporations." 
 
 THE LIBERAL POLICY FORMULATED. 
 
 The position of the Liberal Party of Canada on this subject was 
 pithily expressed by Mr. Blake in the 'l^bate on the Address, at the 
 opening of the late Session : " The motto," he said; " we have 
 
 adopted year by year for the North- West L^ < been, *Thb land foe the 
 SETTLBR ; THE PRICE FOR THE PUBLIC.' " It wBS further Set forth in the 
 resolutions moved in the House of Commons, April 12, 1882, by Mr. 
 Charlton, on amendment to the motion of Sir Leonard Tilley to go 
 ■into Committee of Supply, which are as follows : 
 
15 
 
 Mr. Charlton moved in amendment, that Mr Speaker do not now 
 eave the chair, but that it be 
 
 Reaolvedf — That the present Land Regulations provide that odd- 
 numbered sections in the Caniidiau North -West, outside of the Canadian 
 Pacific Railway Belt, shall be open to sale without conditions of settlement. 
 
 That the so-called Colonization Plan No. 1, provides that parties may 
 purchase large tracts of land on credit at $2 per acre, with a proviso for the 
 rebate of one-half of the price on certain conditions, thus reducing the cost 
 to %\ per acre ; or one-half the price charged to individual settlers for their 
 pre-emptions, or other purchases in odd sections. 
 
 That the so-called Colonization Plan No. 2, provides that parties may 
 purchase large tracts embracing all the Government lauds within their area 
 (from which homestead arid pre-emption settlers are thus to be excluded), 
 paying $2 per acre, without any express conditions of forfeiture in case of 
 non-settlement, and witlx the additional advantages of a large rebate, 
 amounting under certain conditions to $1 per acre from the price, in case 
 the purchasers choose to effect a so-called settlement within each township, 
 but without any provision as to the acreage to be given, or the interest to 
 be set .red to each ^o-called settler. 
 
 That these regulations are calculated injuriously to affect the future of 
 the country by facilitating the creation of large landed estates, by placing 
 exte; ded areas of the choicest lands in the hands of speculators, who have 
 favorable opportunities of securing them in anticipation of the settler, and 
 ■who may hold tliem for a large advance to be paid by the ultimate settler, 
 ■whereby the country will gain nothing in price, and will lose through the 
 diminished ability of the settler to contribute to the public revenues. 
 
 That in the opinion of this House, our kim should be to people the 
 agricultural regions of the North- West with independent freeholders, 
 each cultivating his jwn farm, and paying therefor no more than the public 
 treasury receives ; and that, save in the case of to^wn plots, or other excep- 
 tional cases, the sale of North-West agricultural lands should, as a rule, be 
 made to actual settlers only, on reasonable conditions of settlement, and in 
 quantities hmited to the area which can be reasonably occupied by a settler. 
 
 The motion was lost on a strictly party vote. Yeaa (Liberals), 47 ; 
 Nays (Tories), 112. 
 
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