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" The time has come for layiu', umh' Kection/il .listi/iction, and for combining "in one grand effort to create a n.' tionality that shall know no distinction from '^the Pacific to the Atlantic Oc ai.."-[LoRi> Duffebix. Governor-General, at Simcoe, TTth Angxist, 18"^ I. Vlt-IUKIA. bKlTlSH C'OLLMBIA: tiUtit. A i'OTTINOEK. BOOK AND JOH PltrXTKRS. FOft'i? H'iUEK'l', 1874. K This Pamphlet is ^mtteu in the belief that it will find readers in the Dominion r^triotie and intelligent enongh to reeognize the superior claims of the country to those of any party. As they know that opinion^, to be worth anything, rnnst Hnd their justification in facts, no explanation is needed for the promi- nence given to certain statistics which are somewhat humiliating to Canada. Spptembtn-. 1874. Wm. Wilson, VicTOiirA, B. ('. THE DOMINION OF CANADA AND THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY. The repudiation by tl^o Dominion Government of the Terms of Union with Britisli Columbia ho far as regards the most imj)or- tant condition, the iranscontinental railway, forces most impres- sively upon the attention of British Columbians the painful fact of the swift decay— one might almost say the total extinction — of the spirit of patriotism in the Dominion. What has become of that blaze of national life which lighted up Confederation two or three years ago when the Government, the press, and the people wore vibrating with the belief in a greatness to come, and were confident in their ability to work out that greatness '? They then seemed one in the firm faith that iho destiny of the Dominion was to advance with the strides of a young giant to rei)eat in the great North West, and on the shores of the Pa- cific, that marvellous and rapid developmeni which is to be seen south of it, Avhicli still continues and which has made the Unit- ed States the grand spectacle they are to-day. What is known as the spread-eagle spirit was not confined to iho neighbouring ?iei)ublic ; it ^mis to be seen soaring north of the Lakes and the 41)th parallel; it Avas to be found everywhere in British North An .erica. How is it that no sooner had it spread its wings for a glor- ious liiglit from Lake Superior to the Pacific Ocean than it help- lessly folded them again '? Has tlie Dominion of to-day no more ambition than a sick barn-dt)or fowl V It is a sorry spectacle to every true Canadian not ''wrapped in the deep slund)er of blind party convictions ", — to those not carried away by the bitterness of pa^'ty strife and the reckless struggles for office the great political thought— "first, last, and all tlie time" — is, or ought |-o lie, th^ welfare of the Dominion. » IK Now in the present linmiliuting condition of things, a ques- tion wliicli hus io be asked and must be answered is : — Is tliis Dominion of oars a prematun; creation? Have the people of British North America, carried aAvay by tlie ambition of creating a vigorous Confederacy extending from the Athintic to the Paci- fic, attempted sometliing whicli mij or may not be born of the future but whicdi is beyond the strength of this generation ? To many British Columbians there are few great subjects Avhich appear as capable of demonstration as the nect^ssity and practicability of Confederation — not as a delusive mirage exist- mg only in {ippearanees, but as a living progressive thing united in all its part by a great transcontinental railway :-- - The evidence of this necessity is to be founil in the Census of 1870 for Upper and Lower Canada. The following figures are from the Canadian Year Book for 1873, and as that publica- tion has almost official recognition, no doubt they are substanti- ally correct. LOAVEIl CANADA— QUEBEC. 1841, Population 661,380, 1851, " 863,860, 30.6 percent, ratio of increase. 1861, " 1,111,566, 28.6 1871, " 1,191,575, 7.2 " only. It will be observed that whilst the Province increased 247.- 706 between 1851 and 1861, it added only 80,009 from 1861 to 1871, a falling oil" in the increase of 167,697 in this decennial period compared with the one preceding. UPPER CANADA— ONTARIO. 1841, Population 465,357, 1851, *' 888,840, 91.01 per cent, ratio of increase. 1861, " 1,396,091, 57.06 - " " 1871, " 1,620,851, 16.09 " only. It will be observed that whilst this Province increased 507,- 251 between 1851 and 1861, it added only 224,760 from 1861 to 1871 a falling off in the increase of 282,491 in this decennial period compared with the one preceding. It Avill also be observed that the. falling off in increase as regards numbers was far greater in Ontario than Quebec. Taking the Canadas collectiA ely, we find that whereas be- tween 1850 and 1860 the population increased 754,957 or 43 per cent, between 1860 and 1870 the increase was only 304, 769 or a trifle over 12 per cent. Notwithstanding that the immigration between 1860 and 1870 was within 14,000 of that between 1850 and 1860, i there Is a t'ullhi;j; oH' in the increase behveorilHGU and 187U of -iiJO,- 188 }i8 conipured with the increase between 1850 and LS()(). To recognize the full significance of a fact almost as ahirra- ing as a death warning, namely, that the increase for the last decennial period was but a tritle over 12 per cent., it is necessaiy to note that the popnhation of England, in spite of immense emi- gration, increased between 1860 and 1870 over 1\! per cent. Ger- many and Russia also showed a similar rat(i of increase. Now assuming, and I think that the assumption is a fair one, that the longevity and fecundity of tlie people of Canada are not less than of tlie people of England, the ratio of increase in Canada sliould be ecpial to that of England, and taking into account the fact that between 1860 and 1870 there was a large emigration from England and a large immigration into Canada, it is evident that the ratio of increase in Canada ought in that period to have been greater than in England — as we have seen the Dominion census shows it to have been less. Her Majesty's Emigration Commissioners in their 32nd Re- port for 1871 make the following statement : " Canada cannot at present absorb more than between "30,000 to 40,000 emigrants a year, and the excess beyond that "number can obtain employment only in the labor market of "the United States." The truth of this statement has been strongly disputed by well-meaning but badly-informed nersons in Canada, and the year book even, has designated it in an impulsive expression as "wholly gratuitous and unjustifiable." Turning away from the debateablc, vague and misty region of jDOSsibilities as to whether Canada can or ' 'cannot absorb more than 30,000 to 40,000 annually," I content myself with calling attention to the fact that froni 1860 to 1870 Canada did not absorb any population at all. As for this period Canada failed to make good the ordinary natural increase, it is clear thai; more people must have left the country than entered it. Not only has the balance of immigration and emigration for the past ten years been against Canada as regards numbers, she has also suflered a serious loss as regards quality. She has lost part of the flower of the country, young men inured to Col- onial life and full of energy and am'bition, and their places have been largely filled by an inferior class of people. In 1870, mit of 24,706 immigrants, 9,787, about 40 per cent, were sent out b> benevolent societies. Whilst according the high- est admiration to those noble women who, moved by deep {)ity for the suffering poor, have rescued many thousands from an existence comfortless and dreary and opened out to them a future gladden- ed witli hope, we have to acknowledge that the pauper popula- tion of Englund, embodying tlio w(!;ilaiossc.s and frailtioH wliicli spring from extreme poverty, cannot he considered an ecpiivalent eitlier as regards adaptability, self-reliance and pliysical, mental, and moral develoi)ment for those* hardy Canadians who have left their native country. To the young Dominion with its reputation already tar- nished by an attempted repudiation, a further continu(!d lower- ing of the moral tone of the people is a gathering cloud of gloomy peril threatening its future. Turning to the United States census returns to ascertain tho growtlrof the Great lic^public, we hnd as follows : . 1840, Population 17,0()l),4r)3, 1850, " 2:i,iyi,87(;, 85.02 iier cent, increase. 18G0, " 81,443,821, 85.5-^ ' 1870 " 88,555,988, 22.02 " '* On referring to these figures and those already given of the Canadas, it will be seen that the ratios of increase in Canada be- tween 1840 and 1850, and between 1850 and 18G0 were much greater than in the United States, but that between 1800 and 1870 it fell ovEit 10 per c^ent. ijelow that of the United States, OAving to Canada signally failing to absorb population. Whilst the United States added 8,251,445 to its population between 1850 and 1800 and 7,112,062 between 18G0 and 1870 or within 14 per cent, of its increase in the former decennial period, Canada increased only 804,7(59 between 1800 and 1870 against 754,957 between 1851) and 1800, showing the alarming collai)se of nearly 60 per cent. These iigures acquire additional significanco when it is re- membered that between 1860 and 1870 whilst Canac^.a Avas en- joying uninterrupted peace and traiupiility, the United States Avere engaged in a gigantic struggle Avliich threatened the exis- tence of the Republic, and Avhich before it had run its course not only created a huge debt and burdensome taxation, l)utalso laid Avaste a vost extent of territory and destroyed the lives of hun- dreds of thousands of men. As the peaceful condition of Canada faA'ored itsgroAvth, and as the Avar raging in the United States Avas of a very destructiv(i character, one Avould have supposed that Canada Avould at least liaA^e maintained its previous rate of increase instead of falling far below that of the United States. It is very much the fashion of many Canadians (especially in Ontario) Avhen contrasting tho groAvth of the United States and of Canada to extend the comparison so as to embrace tho last half century. Such a comparison is perfectly justifiable AA'hen kept Avithin l>ecoming limits. ,, , 5 Till' !iclii«'\('iiu'nts of .-i hv^oin' ;j,t'iitrali()ii, likf the [)riile of tiiicrstrv, altliou^'li for us but ii reili-ctcd i^'lory witli a ilasli of mooiishino about it, nw vabiablv if tln-y serve us incentives to exertion and stimulate us to strive at exi-ellin^ the ])ast, but if tliey are made us(> o( ,is a shelter for an evasion of responsibil- ities and to disguise a humiliation, tliev ])ecome ])rejudi('ial and ])erni<'ious in their influences. 'I'his is not a time for patriotic Canadians to intbilj^cin a re- heaisal »>f the fable of the frofi; and the ox — for the American ox can stand it l)etter than the Canadian fro<<. It is far more ne- cessary to ^ive prominence to the disagreeable facts of the pfst decade which vitally att'ect the ])resent thai' to inibilf^e in vain ^'loryin^j; at the develo])inent of HO years a« ?uarters of 1873, "an unusually large numbev of ('anadians" ,500 have returned from the United States. This is encourag- ing, but as the nund)er leaving the Dominion in that period is not given, no protita])le deduction can be drawn from it. We know that all it is the habit of a percentage of successful emi- grants, to revisit their natives honu^s, but not to remain ]ierma- nentlv. "that the Dominion so far has not been successful iiiattraiit- ing an increasing immigration, is tolerably w(>ll-known. It is \vi\ forcibly seen by comj)aring the first four years' returns given in the year buok for 18 /-I, with the last four years. The nund)er of immigrants settling in the country were in 1851, 1852, 1853, 1854, 22,515, 29,943, 32,295, 38,800, Total 123,553. 1809, 1870, 1871, 1872, 18,030, 24,700, 27,773, 30,578, J Total 107,087 Taking the emigration for the last two or three years, of which I have been able to ascertain it, and deducting tlu? immi- gration for the same period, the result as follows : Emigration from the Dominion in 1809 and 1870. . . .84,201 Immigration into the Dominion in 1809 and 1870. . . .43,33(5 Showing a nett loss totheDonjinicm in 2 years of . . . 40,925. This emigration is of native born liritisli North Amerirans. To this large number must be added probably a still larger num- ber, not native born, M-hich failing to find the prosperity expect- ed in the Dominion moved into the United States. Speaking of the emigration of 1873, from Great Britain, a late English newspaper says : "Some very remarkable stn.te- ments touching emigration have been issued by the Board of Trade. In the first place it appears that the emigration from the United Kingdom in 1873, was the largest that has taken place in any one year since 1854. In 1873, there quitted the country 310,032 persons; the United States absorb 233,073, and of the 37,208 who sail for British North America, it is pjobable that a considerable portion find their way to the States. Oddly enough, comparatively few emigrants go to our colonies. .. Imost all of them in quitting England quit the Empire." The figures given show {conclusively that the portions of the Dominion at present 7 uecesslLIc to HottleiiM'iil, attmct but u small )»ai t of lMiro[/euu tMni^q-jitioi) and ahsorh still luss. Altli');i;^li th(^ riiitiul States, as wo have setMi, slu>n for tlio last «l(!ciMiiiial ])(U-i(Kl a ratio of incroasu far ^ruatt;i" thaiit'auaila, it will be ohsorveil upon refcvreiuMi that there are i-ertaiu States and liirf^e and im])ortant sections of the American Union, which ar(! h'ss ))ro;;r(^ssive in population than an^' ol the proxiices of the Don) in ion. Take for instance . . ISHO. 1H7(|. Maine (>2S,271I, r,2«;.l)l.-,, New Huinjjshin^ :)20,o7:>, :;i.s,;;o(). -y- Vermont ;U5,ti!J8, ;^:HaU,oi)l, The two former show an actual fallinj^ (^ti' in popidiitioii and the latttM" less than o per c;'nt. increase. Collectively their pro«j;ress is less than half of one per ct;nt. A member of the New Y<.)rk C^handxr of Commerce has late- ly published a very inti'restin«^ pamphlet tabulating the United States census returns of IH.^O, IHfiO and 1870. The author di- vides tlui States and Territories into j^roupes concerning some of which Ave gather the following figures : The Six New England State's had in ls;iO. lH(;i). ]87((. Population, 2,728,11(5, :),135,2h:{, :;,487,U24. It will be observ( d that the increas(^ between lH~iO and 18(JU was about 15 per cent., and between 18(50 and 1870, about 11{ j)er cent., showing in both periods a lower rate vi ])rogress than Canada. The lM)ur ^fiddle Atlantic States had in bS.')!). 18(50. bS7(». Populatlim, 5.000,2(57, 7.570,201, H,0H5,821. AVe Ihid here an increase between 1850 and 18(50 of about 2(5.1 per cei!t., and betwe. : 18(50 and 1870 of about 18 per cent, showing in the fornu'r pei od a lower rate of progress of 1(5^ per cent, as eonii)ared with Canada, and in the latter a higher rate than Canada of 4?, per cent. The Six Southern States, Atlantic States (from Maryland to DelawanO inclusive, had in 1850. 1800. bS70. Population, 4,585,871, 5,177,407, 5,154,881. We have here the destructive results of the Ci\il War most strikingly displayed. These six Soutliern Srates slK/wiiig no progress whatever between 1860 and 187U, actually retrograding. To find the sections of the United States which have been , most successful on a grand scale in absorbing population during the past 20 years we have to look to the Western 8hites. Tiie States and Territories west of the Rocky Mountains had in 1.S70. il-20,933. ■ 1850. 1800. Population, 188,818, 584,«W0, an increase of 57 per cent, between 1800 and 1870, ami of 387 per cent, between 1850 and 1870 — a ratio of increase far exceed- ing that of any other section of the United States. The Western States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Avisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, had in 1850. Population, 5,103,595, 1800. 9,001,870, 1870. 12,900,930. showing an increase of 08 per cent., and in numbers of 3,088,284, between 1850 and 1800, and of 43 per cent., and in numbers of 3.875,051 betAveen 1860 and 1870. Nothing can show clearer than the fticts and figures that for the progress made in the past ten years, the United States is indel)ted mainly to the develop- ment of the Western States. Take for instance the following ten States, commencing west of the Province of Ontario, with the State of Michigan, which bounds it to the west, and taking the other nine States v.est of Ohio and Indiana and of a line running south from Lake Michigan, (the really Western States of America to-dav. ) AN t have as follows : " , Population, ■ 1800. Michigan, 749,113, Illinois, 1,711,951, Wisconsin, • 775,881, Minnesota, 172,1.3. Iowa, 074,913, Missom-i, . 1,182,012, Kansas, 107,200, Nebraska, :- 28,841, c;alifornia, 379,994, Oregon, V - 52,466, It A\ill be seen that these ten State.', advanced in population in ten years, from 5,834,399 to 9,272,203, an increase of alumt 59 })er cent., or of 3,437,804. Noav assuming the natural in- 1873. J 184,059, 2,539,891, 1,054,070, 439, 70(), 1,194,020, 1.721,295, , 301,399, 122,993, 560,247, 90,923. (•reuse })et\veeii 18C() jind 1870, to luive been 12?, per cent., (un estimate probably tolerably accurate,) or 721), 800; this would leave 2,708, i504 to l)e niada'up by tbe inHux of people. As the total immigration for this decade into tlie United States, was 2.808,9113 ; it is evident that these ten Western States absorbed within about 100,000 of the whole numbei of innuigrants into the United States. No more convincing proof than this most striking fact can be found of the truth of the oft repeated state- ment that " Westward the course of Empire wends its way. " The figures brought forward have 1)een ample to make clear, that the ])rogress of Canada was one of remarkable rapid- ity until the nortl'ern stream of immigration doAving w :stward, linding itself barred in its course l)y Huron and a rocky region passed south of them to join a still larger stream, which was spreading itself o'-er Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and other portions of the vast western prairie. No further rapid develoi)ment of British. North America re- mained possible, so long as a fur trading company owned and kept closed the North West Territory, and so long as the colonies concinued separate in the position of r'vals, jej'.lous of one anoth- er's progress and prosperity. Statesmen sa-sv that the necessit;)' had arisen, and that the time had come, to unite together in one the whole of British North America. Confederation by consolidating the British possessions from the Atlantic tc the Pacific gave life and strength to this Domin- ion, and opening out to it a great A\est, made possible foi- it a brilliant future. The British Government and the Sir John A. Macdonald Administration dis(;erned clearly that to give reality to the scheme, speedy railway connection between the different provin- ces was al)solately indispensalile. The inmiediate construction of the Intercolonial Iiailway was therefore embodied in the Terms of Union with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and the commencement within two years and the completion within ten years of the Canadian Pacitic Railway was made th(^ chief (^mfederatiug condition with British Colum- bia. The former undertaking is ai>proaching completion, but the latter has l)een relegated hy an inca|nible CJovemment, to a fu- ture so distant, as to appear more like a phantom of the imagi- nation than a pi-actical work necessary for th(» welfare of the Dominion. It appears as if the ] >eople of Canada were a dollar and a cent ])eople, and it were idle to talk to them of the Terms of Un- ion made with British Jolumbia. Probably to speak of moral 10 obligations is to render one's self unintelligible. It may be that the conscience of a new born nation, like that of an individual, has only an enibryo existence in infancy. Material motives AAliich are secondary in the civilized countries of Europe are pri- mary in the Dominion of to-day, and govern its actions and opin- ions. Looking at things from the lower level, what at once .strikes one, is the remarkable blight that has fallen upon the intelli- gence of the public mind, so that the transcontinental railway, as contom])lated by Sir John A. Macdonald, which two years ago was considered l)oth practicable and necessar};, is now looked upon as impossible and ruinous to the Dominion. We have seen that the great want of Canada Avas a western country, that without it over half a million of people were lost to British North America. Confederation having given this wes- tern country to the Dominion, the question which niturally arises is, What shall she do with it ? and the self-evident answer is, Open it up to settlement. To do this th(^ only way now ad- mitted as mc^eting the requirements of the age h by railroads. Even Mr. Mackenzie, in the greatest effort he has yet made, appertaining to the Canadian Pacific Railway, talking about it, seems to have been impressed with the unanimity prevailing upon this point. " In his s])eeci, in Parliament he remarked at length >n what was probably as well recognized as the ten command- nents, that not only in such countries as England and France vere railways looked upon as indis])ensable, but their value and viecessity were felt by Portugal, Russia and other backward 'European nations, and exen by such semi-civilized states as the South American Republics." In all of these so clear was it that development waited on railway construction, that if in one way railways could not be built, other ways had to be devised to build them. If private enterprise declined to take hold of them, it devolved upon the Government to put them through. Mr. Mackenzie has been impi-essed but not converted by what has been done elsewhere. At the present time to the Do- minion of Canada belongs the privilege of having the exclusive monopoly of the apostles of wagon roads and water stretches. Ihe close connection existing between the construction of railways and the influx of immigrants and settlement of a coun- try are at once naen bv reference to figures. Take Canada for instance. From 1H52 to 1857 the Grand Trunk Raii\\ay Vas in process of building. During these six years 182,517 immigrants arrived and settled in the country. Never sinc^e that ]>eriod has railroad construction been carried on as vigorously, and never since that period has that large number of new settlers been equalled or indeed approaclied. ^f>N 11 The experience of the United States is still more remarkable. During the war innnigratiou dropped in 1861 and 1862 to less than 9*2,000 in each year. At the close of the war the energies of the American Republic turned towards the development of manufactures in the Eastern States and to the opening of the Western States to settlement by railroads. The vigor and mag- nitude of the former, the Dominion mannfacturers will have dis- agreeable practical evidence of, if what the Mackenzie Govern- ment is pleased to call a reciprocity treaty, ever becomes law. The census of 1860 statf^s the products of' all manufacturers of the six New England Staf;es and the four Atlantic States at twelve hundred and twenty-three millions of dollars, and that of 1870 at two thousand six hundred and ninety-two millions, showing an increase of 120 per cent. As population increased only 16 per cent., the surjjlus for distribution in the Western States and in the British North American provinces, if the Dominion is reckless enough to ratify the Treaty, will be something immense, and to the Manufacturers something appalling. The development of railroads in the United States is as re- markable as the developiuent of manufactures. At the close of 1872 there were com])leted in the United States 66,237 miles of railway — more than 33,000 or about half of them, have been built since the close of the war, in the short space of eight years. In the three years of 1870, 1871 and 1872 19,700 miles of railroad were laid, or an average of 6,566 in each year. One great effect of this rapid railroad development was speedily visible in the great increase of immigration. The num- ber of immigrants rose from 91,987 in 1862 to 395,922 in 1869, and was 378, 79() in 1870. We have already observed that in these last two years (1869 and 1870) no less than 84,261 British North Americans were drawn into the United States and became lost to the Dominion. No wonder that with such facts and figures before him, the chief of the bureau of statistics at Washington remarked that " the unexampled development of the North Western and raciiic " States. . . .owing to the c(mipletion of the railway to the Paci- " fie, and other great works of internal improvement in the wes- " tern ])ortion of cmr domain. . . , })ossesses a peculiar claim on " public attention. ' In 1860 British North America had, relatively to population, as much railroad as the United States. At the close of 1872, it had not much more tht'n half (9-16tlis. ) The average being over 1,600 miles to every million of inhabitants in the United States, and under 900 miles ii British North ^Vmerica. In failing to keei) pace with the republic in internal devel- 12 opmeut, it failed to maintain its former rate of progress, and dropped, as we luive seen, in the last decennial period, far l)e- low the percentage of increase of the United States. The past ten years make evident what is possible in railroad development, and, if example is worth anything, what has been done in the tlnited States should stimulate the Dominion into an energetic railway policy. An idea of the wealth created by opening up neAv countiy by railroads, may be formed by the value of farms and agricul- turiil products in some of the newest Western States, as given in the census of 1870, and the Agricultural report of 1871. Value of Farms. Kansas, Nebraska, ]\Iinnesota, Iowa, Total, if 90,327,040 80,242,180 97,847,442 392,002,441 Farm Prodiu-ts. 1871. 27,630,651 8,004,742 33,446,400 114,386,441 Poi)nlution. 1860. 1870. 107,206 364,399 28,841 122,993 172,023 439,706 674,913 1,194,020 $611,079,109 184,068,234 982,983 2,121,118 The .us'NUaIj agricultural product of these four States amounts in value to one hundred and eighty four millions of dollars, a sum greatly in excess of the total estimated cost of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the value of the farms is put down at six hundred and eleven millions of dollars. This is only a ])art of the wealth of these States. Every- l)<.>dy admits that Avhatever has exchangeable value is wealth. The unimproved lands, from no value at all before railroads were made, because jieople Avould not settle and cultivate the soil when its products were unmarketable, are now worth from $2 oO to $50 per acre, according to quality and distance from market town, steamboat lauding, and railway station. The general price of average land with average facilities varies from !!p5 to $15 per acre. Besides this large item of wealth, there are the value ni towns, lumber interests, tiour mills, foundries, and the thousand and one things found in every p(.'0]oled district. The aggregate wealth of these new Staters is ])rt)bably under- estimated at four times the value of tlie farjns; that is, four times six hundred and eleven millions of doUarh' The North West is as rich in resources as Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas and Neljraska. A large part of Iowa is as remote from navigable water stretches as the lied River settlement. Ne- braska and Kiiusas still more so, Manitoba adjoins Minnesota, and has the advantage of a lower elevation of 800 to 1000 feet. In the natural order of settlement, it is fair to assume with similar raih'oad development, the North West Territory would Ill NOW have vve;ilth and populjititjii equal t(j the lV)ur States referred to. Instead of only 'J(),(>0(), it should have over Two Millions of people and a wealth of Twentv-four hundred millions of (hollars. No more important cpiestion because m)ne of moi-e vital con- sequence to the future of J3ritish North America can possibly en- gage tlie thoughtful attention of every cit^?;pn of this Dominion, than che disposition and capacity of the present administration to carry out the true national ])olicy of rapidly constructing the Canadian Pacific Kailway. The most reliable eviden(;e, from which to draw conclusions, is tbe railway scheme andtlie speech of Mr. Mackenzie introducing that scheme. The Pacific Kailway Bill of the jn-esent administration, de- clares " that in view of the terms and conditions on which Bri- " tish Columbia was admitted into I'nion with the Dominion, it *.' is expedient to provide for the construction of a railway, to be *' called the "Canada Pacific Railway, " from som*^ point near to and south of Lake Nipissing, to some point in British Columbia on the Pacific " — to this declaration a provigj (added after the ]>ill had been printed and distributed, and after Mr. Edgar had made Mr. Mackenzie actpiainted with the view of the Government of Britisii Colnmlna) was a]ipended, as follows: "And, where- " as, by the legislation of the present session, in order to provide "means for meeting the obligation of the Dominion, the rate of "taxation has been raised. . and, whereas, it is proper to make "provision for the construction of the said work, as rapidly as " the same can be ac;*(;mplished without further raising the rate " of taxation, therefor Her Majesty (>nacts, and so forth. The bill divides th(» line into four sections : 1st. From Jjake Ni]>issini>' to the Western end of Lake Superior. From Lake Superior to Bed Hiver in Manitoba. FY(nn Bed Biver in Manitoba to some point betAveen Fort Edmonton and tlu^ foot of the Bocky Mountains. From the ^^'estern t yeir, enabling goods and productions to be shipped at freights not exceeding those charged in the Western States of the American Union. A company or the Government can very well i-ommence the section to lied River from Lake Superior. It is also easy to atai't on the golden section, from near Fort Edmoiiloii to the Pacific, from the Pacific; but how in the name of all (liiit is possible, can any company for years to come, or even Mi*. Macken: line so as to ii)ak<' an inaccessable .section in the interior of the continent. Mr. M.ickenzie, in the course of Ids raihva\- speech, is reported as having said, "Even ^vith regard to tlie branch from Eort Garry to Pendiina, the commercial advantages Avould not ^f' freat, unless they tiihew a lakoe amount of tkafftc upon it. N CONNECTION WITH THE BUILDING OF PORTION OF THE ROAD, THAT COULD BE DOXK TO SOME EXTENT." Had this been said of the Lake Superior to lied liiver section, it would have ])een in the interest of the Domhiicm. It unfoitunately appears, however, to be an idea in the head of the present Goveriiraent to obtain access to AVirinipeg and to develop Avest-yar^ ^)y the Pembina branch and the Northern Pacific liaihvay. "? the former is still to l)e commenced, aud the latter, although ore than three parts dead, has many miles to construct to reach the boundary, the prospect of Mi'. Mackenzie's idea germinating into some- thing ])racticable is more remote than cheering. • Putting on one side the unpatriotic intention of nurturing a rival American railway at the expense of the Canadian Pacific liailway and diverting th*:- business of the North A\'est into the United States, there is something humiliating \n the Dominion of Canada, with its 5 per cents at 109, halting in its great mis- sion and becoming de])endeut iipon the movements of a com- pany made up of im])overished speculatoi's with its 7 per I'.ent. bonds unsaleable at 35. The true policy of the Dominion is un([uestionably to commence at once from Lake Superior and l)ush the construction Avith vigor westward, so that all material can be transported on the ii.itional line, and all the trade creat- ed by settlement may be dout'. by Montreal, Toronto, Hamiiion and other Canadian cities, .md not bv Duluth, Milwaukee or Chicago. Great men, like common mort;ils, have their weaknesses, for which charitable allowances should be made; but Mr. Macken- zie's [)ro])ensity to feed brother Jonathan with the Dominion Government spoon, is, considering his position, unnatural, and therefor unj)ardonal)le. Even on the pretext of econonii/cing time, so as to keep faith with British Columbia. Mr. Mackejizie's course is indefensible l)ecause the Dominion is far more capable of building right away a line from Lake Supt rior to Winnipeg, than a d'llapidated con- <-ern such as the Nort/iern Pacific, with nothing but a land grant, a line of many miles to Pembina. No company, were 11 other conditions favorable, UNLESb IG OROAXIZED OUT OF THE DEBRIS OF THE NOUTHEUN PaCIFK' IIaILWAY, would nndertiilvo tlio soetioii from GaiTV M-estward, ko lon^^ ns tliov luid to dopeiid u[)()ii tlie Nortlu^ru Pticitic line for forward- ing of material and supplies; knowing that an institution sutler- ' ing the pangs of financial hunger would seize such an opjjortun- ity to gorge itself upon tliem. No American transcontinental railway, either built or build- ing, or in contemplation, is favored Avith as niagniticent a stretch of rich agricultural lands as the C^anadian Pacific. Whilst the latter will run through th(^ fertihs belt, every other has to cross the American deserl^ a vast sandy waste with a scatter(Ml growth of sage brush. The Central and [Tnion Pacific Railway from the siimmit of the Sierras, for 1,200 miles eastward, is of so worth- ' less a character as to unlit it for even a penid settlement. Not so our Great North West, which, as Oapt. Butler says, seems destined to be the homes of many millions of peoi)le, for it is a land of surpassing richness, fair to the eye, bleniling in one land- . scape, prairie, lake and woodland. Under intelligent management this wealth of land should * more than half build the railway. The late Administration in their railway scheme, instt^ad of attempting to be original and making a mess of it, wisely imitat- ed the United States sysfem of donating alternate sections of land along the contemplated railway to the railway comj)any, and raising the price of the r(;mainiiig (Tovernment land to $2 50 per acre. This successful policy by which the United States, with- out any loss to itself, encouraged enterprises which induced ex- tensive settlement, when apj)lied by Sir John A. Macdonald to the North West Territory was branded b}' Mr. Mackenzie in his remarkable railway speech as ]iutting " a FiCTiciors value t)n the land." Such an expression from the head of the Dcmiinion (lov- ernment displays an unexpected ignorance. AVhat is possible in the United States ought not to be imywssible in the Dominion. The 49tli parallel ought not to be recognized, before a vigorous effort has been made, as the dividing line between success and failure. The Year Book for 1873, contains a statement of the prictis at which railway lands sell readily in the Western States. The liighest price cpioted is $18 08 per acre, for the Grand lla]nds and Indiana Pailway; the lowest is $3 07 per acre for the Kan- sas Pacitic. The average is $7 O-l per acre. Going below the lowest, with the lands situated along the line of the Canadian - Pacific Eaihvay, there is nothing "ficticious " in placing them at $2 50 ])cr acre, unless, indeed, Mr. Mackenzie looks upon and knows his Pacific Railway scheme to be nothing better than a 'r bogus undertaking. 17 Pioxiiuity to a milroad is the great attraction to a settler, l)(3cause the vahie of his crop depends upon the facilities for transpcn-tation. Tliis is to be seen l)y a glance at the far West- t:rn States — no soonei- is a new line of railway under construc- tion than s(!ttlements are formed along the wh6le length of the line, lliey are to be found dotting the country every few miles, like the advanced guards of the coming grand army of immi- grants. Every improvement in the means of communication in the great west of America, reduces the cost of getting produce to market and adds to the value of the land. in })arts of Ohio, where wheat is worth 90 cents per Imshel, unimjn-oved hmd sells at $30 to $50 per acre. In parts of Iowa where wheat is 50 cents per bushel, unimproved lands of equal fertility can be bou. 't at $5 to $10 per acv(\ The difference in cost of forwarding to market makes the dilienmce in the value of products, and the difference in the value of products makes the difference in value of land. Take two pieces of wheat land equal in every respect, except in one having an advantage over the other of 40 cents per bushel in cc"t of transportation. At only twelve bushels to the acre — one has an advantage over the other of $4 80 per acre, or 1768 per year, on a quarter section of 160 acres. Without a near prospect of the railway affording means of transportation, land in Manitoba could not now find settlers on the free grant system. With the Canadian Pacific built through, average land would be taken u]) greedily at $5 per acre. There would be far more fear of speculators l)uying largely for a rise, than of a scarcity of bona fide settlers. When with all the experience of the United States before him, Mr. Mackenzie says that $2 50 per acre for railway lands is a " ficticious" value, he shows a lack of obsen^ation painful to (Contemplate. ' " Mr. Mackenzie, in his railway speech, showed a nervous anxiety to go slow, for he dreaded over burdening the country, yet in his scheme, he proposed to squander the national inheritance by dealing with it in a manner which he confessed himself would depreciate it. Less fear of the effects of the railway and more judgment in utilizing the natural resources of the country through which the railway is expected to run, would be of great advantage to the Dominon. Any company intending to tender for a section of the Cana- dian Pacific Eailwiiy would have largely to increase the sum pei- mile for which the Dominion proposes a guarantee of four per 1$ cent, for 25 years, because of Mr. JMaikmi/ic's (lovonmu'iit re- servations eontroUiiifj; the land ^rant of 20, 000 acres \)vv mile. Land, the value of which, under the Sir John A. Macdonald l)ill could be estimated as on "Western States lines, is rcduct'd at least half by the Governnuuit takin*;' power to sell two-thirds of the land grant "at such ])rices as may be fiom tinu) to time agreed upon between the Clovernor in Council and the contrac- tors. " V / . ; Apply such a condition to ordinary business transactions and it will be at once api)arent, that no businessmen wouid pur- chase property, except at a com[)aratively nominal tigure, when the power and price of sale of two-thirds remained vested in the vendor. Although the price at which the land is to be sold fi-om time to time is to l)e agreed upon bi'tween the (loviTUUHMit and the contractors, practically it rests exclusively with the Government, for the Government having as much land ad\ antageously situat- ed along the line of railroad as the contractoi's, can force the contractors to agree to whatever prices it (;hooses to dictate, undtu" the penalty for non-acquiescence of giving the Government lands away, thus rendering the l{aih\ay Company's land absolutely valueless for many years, because people naturally would decliiu? to purchase of a company what they could obtain for nothing of the Government. If the interests of the Government and a railway company were in every respect identical, thtu-e would be an indirect guar- antee that the action of the Government in the sale of the lands would not be prejudicial to the Railway Company. But the Government benefits by poAver of tiixation and in many indirect ways in which a railway com])any necessarily has no interest. The railway once built, it might be good policy of the Government to donate the lands, but certainly not gocxl policy of the company to give away what was taken (as an equivalent possibly for an expenditure of twenty, thirty or forty millions of dollars) in building the line. Mr. Mackenzie's ex[)lanation of the conditions of the land grant is, that he aimed to frame them so as not to "exclude the settlement of the country and stop its growth. " The aim of a railway company would be the same as Mr. Mackenzie's, with lands to sell and a ruihsay to run, it Avould do its best to encourage settlement and to develop traffic, as upon these its success depended. Mr. Mackenzie's purpose could have been ejected b}' fixing a maximum price upon the land and allowing the company to go as much lower as it deemed expedient, and also by making a condition that all railway lands (except, perhaps, certain re- lu Jit scjvt's) slioiiltl l>c ()|»('ii tor s('ttl<'iiit'iit. Tliis. w ifli an ui^iHj'rucnl, that (lovciiinicut lands wiiliin tlic rail\\a\ Ix'lt simiild lu> dis- jioscd of at the same ratio and terms as the ('oni|>ah\'s lands, Avould ])rot ct Dominion iiitei'csts witliout dfjji'ociatiiij;' Dominion ])roi-rr(v intended to l)e iian(h'd over as ])ai't payment to con- tractors for conslrnctinij; the railway. 'rJK'i'e are two clauses in Mr. M;ickenzi<> s hill, which com- pletely abstract exi'vy inducement l'oi- ca|)italists to take liold of tile Csmadian Pacilic Hailway. The one is, that |>ro\idin«; that tlie (Jovernor in Council shall from time to tiuM' ti\ *■ the )-ates clnir^-eahle for ])assen}j;ers and freight," "the numiiei" and des- cri])ti(Hi of trains to be run," etc, etc. I'lie (»tlicr is. IJiat the (lovernment reseives the ri^dit to jmicliase the railway at an\ time on j»ayn;eut of a sum " not exceeding' the actual cost, and ten jxM' cent, in addition tliei-eto."" Now it may Ix' taken for ^ranttMl that Canadian Pealtodys are uot so common in history as to mnkv. it ])ossible that the pri- vate benevolence of the Dominion will build the lailway. Even if capitalists of J'ritish North .Vmerica wvro ecpial, un- aided, to its construction, nobody supjioses tliat they would or that they ou|.,dit to look at it in any otlier lii^ht than as a business nn- devtaking. As 'Slv. AFackenzie's railway bill stands, they could not venture to touch it. It is w<'ll to remember that caj)ital is not patriotic nuywhere, but looks first for safe investment and then for the best profit it can ^et. It may look a very lonjj; time, indeeck, at the railway schenu' of the jnesent Administration Avithout l)eing able to see any safety or profit in it for a com])any. Profit or loss would depend — assujuing am])le trattic— -n])on tlie cost of lunniu}^ and the rates of fares and freii^dits. TJiese vital elements in the enter])rise are taken ul>lii* opinion hy awnkt^ninjj; to u si-nsc of its own in- (•ompotcncy and jjjraccfully rosigninf^. ( )f (M)urs(! this is oxtronio- Jy inipiobablo, hut not more ho than the realization of Mr. Mac- kenzie's assnranees. (Jaj)italists are like provaices, they ro(|uire as far us is })OS- sible everything certain and evj.'rything iletinite, — now in Mr. Maekon/ies's railway hill nothing is ecn'tain, hut tlu; iniletinito. It was not at all a dilKeult operation for the Dominion (rov- (n'nnieut to prote(^t the interests of the people, as regartls fares and fr«'ights, without raising an iinpassihhs harrier to the build- ing of the Canadian Paeitie Railway by capitalists. Tiu^ clause reserving ])ower to tlm (lovornnient to buy np the Canadian Pacilic Kailway sections at any time on payment of a sum "not exceediiig the ac^tual cost, and 10 per cent, m addition thereto," (juite oxtinguislies every liopo of conipani(^s being formed to build and iiin it. There is h>ss and rum visible to private enterprise oji the face of it. Suppose, for instance, a company builds and runs a section, and at the end of t(!n years it has become a good paying enter- ])rise to the extent of n^funding tlie running expenses from its first construction. It is then in a fair way to make money, but the (Toverument now steps in and takes the line by paying " ac- tual cost and ten ]>er cent, thereto." What is the result to the shiireholders ? They get l)ack tlieir money and ten per cent; that is ONE PER CENT. VVM ANNUM INTEREST I Suppose again, (and this is more Mr. Mackenzie's idea) that there will be a loss at first of six millions per annum in oper- ating th(i whole line that sixty millions of capital has been in- vested in constraction, that at the end of ten years tlie railway has turned the corner, meets running expenses and has a surplus for the year towards rej)aying past annual charges for operating the line, and that the comj)anies, for ten years, have sunk twenty millions in I'unning expenses. The GovernuKMit, as the railway has commenced to be profitable, concludes to purchase. How does capital come out of the undertaking ? Government pays it the cost, sixty milli(nis pi us- ten ptir cent, that is sixty-six mil- lions altogether. But capital is out sixty millions for cost of line, plus twenty milli(ms for running it, aijil thus loses fourteen irdllions and receives no interest. If apologists of the scheme sjiysuch suijpositions are absurd, for Government will never buy up the line. All that needs to lie said is, that if such an assertion is worth anything it is absurd foi- the Government to insert the right of purchase in the bill. That tlie Canadian Pacifie Kaihvay will not be constructed by private 21 iiiiuuici'd, < own in- jcxtivnu'- Mr. Muc- us is ijos- \v in Mr. ndcliiiito. lion (rov- rds ffircs lit' Imild- > l)uy n|) ivnu'iit of 1 lulditiou i<'.s boin;^ kisihh* to I section, n<^ eiiter- I'roni its )iiey, but iiifi; " ac- dt to tllG per cent; ie's idea) Q in oper- boen in- le raih\ ay a surphis operating Ilk twenty e railway 16. How it pays it -six niil- V cost of fourteen (3 absurd, eds to lie bsurdfor ill. That y private enterprise uiul(»r Mr. Mackenzie's scheme may be taken aR cer- tain, OWING TO THK PHOVIHIONH OF THK IJILL. Failing this, Mr. Mackenzie proposed that the Dominion Government build it as a Government work, subject, however, to the proviso that it shall not increase the present rate of taxation, which is another form of Haying tl tt the Government shall not build it at all in the lifetime of thi.-i generation. To put through a great national enterprise with vigor, ample means are necess- ary, and they are not to be found in the sur]ilus revenue. In- deed, a surplus revenue will be a mythical thing if the Dominion accepts the Iiecii)rocity Treaty, inasmuch as it will diminish the revenue by permitting the free importations of AiDrican pro- ducts, whudi now jiay duty, and will increase the expenditure by a heavy outlay by the Dominion on costly canal works for the benefit of United States commerce. The treaty once signed, Dominicm obligations to the United States will have to be car- ried out — they cannot be e\ tided or repudiated as if they were only terms of Union with a province. The railway bill of the present Administration is so ingen- iously framed that neither companies nor the Government can build the ( -anadian Pacific Railway — and it was framed deliber- ately WITH THIS intention. Its conditions are such as to create grave suspicion ; and positive proof is to be found in Mr. Mac- kenzie's railway speech, the Government proposals through Mr. Edgar to British Columbia, and in his speech at Ottawa of the Hon. Mr. Scott, the Secretary of State. Instead of an early commencement and vigorous prosecution of t^e great transcontinental railway, in accordance with the spirit of Confederation, the following is Mr. Mackenzie's railway policy as stated by himself: ''The policy lie {proposed to the country W48 the utilization " OF THE water communication, and it was one he considered " \\ould be beneficent to the whole Dominion, and in the mean- ' ' time some of the interests of British Columbia until time en- ' ' abled them by increased wealth to develop the resources of " the COUNTRY, and carry to completion the enormous project " upon which they had entered. He pointed out on a former " occasion that if' they could reach Red River at a comparative- " ly small cost — ])robably not more than one million dollars," (evi- dently referring to the Pembina branch and a connection with the Northern Pacific Railway Company) " they would be able to ' ' utilize the water coiiimunication afforded by Lake Winnepego- " sis, Lake Manitoba and the Saskatchewan river and pass along " the west shore of liuke "Winnipeg with a short railroad " (here Mr. Mackenzie's railload comes m) "passing the rapids on the "Saskatchewan. Thev would be able during tfie summer u " months to reach the base of the Kock}- Mountains sit a small "cost. The morp: he had investigated this plan of proceduue " THE MORE HE WAS CONVINCED OF ITS PERFECT UTHJTY. Tiie part " of the country the most difficult of access was from theEocky " Mountains westward. The entire cost from Fort Edmonton to " Bute Inlet, was estimated at no less than thirty -five mfUions of ' • dollars, and it could easily be conceived how slow the progress ■ must necessarily be from the Pacific Coast. " Now, until time enabled them by increased wealth, " to de- velop the resources of the country, " in what way Avas it intend- ed by Mr. Mackenzie, that British Columl)ia sliould be connect- ed with "the water communication?" We learn this by his proposals through Mr. Edgar, namely, by a telegraph line and by an extension of British Columbia's wagon road, after the sur- veys are completed — these to precede any commencement of tlie transcontinental railway in British Ct)himbia. That this is a ccni-ect rendering of Mr. Mackenzie's proposals, purposely involved and obscured by Mr. Edgar, and a fair state- ment of the present Administration's intentions is clear, from the Hon. Mr. Scott's (the Secret£ ry of State for the Dominion) very pronounced speech at Ottawa. Referring to the Canadian Paci- ric Railway he said, " I fear it will not be built by this Govern- "ment, nor the next Government, nor by many a Government " to come. The Ministry would have a line by water and rail- "way" — (round the Saskatchewan rapids) to the Rocky Moim- '• tains. From there they would build a wagon road through "British Oolumwa. We know that under the Confederation ' ' Act British Columbia was entitled lo the railv^ay, but he HOPED that they WOULD SEE THAT it was impossible AS CON- TEMPLATED AND NOT MAKE ANY DISTUJiBANCE. Unless the people deliberately shut their eyes and refuse to see, it must be evident that Mr. ]\Iackenzie has no more inte?ition of building the Canadian Pacific Railway than has the Emperor of China. Strip his so-called railway speech of its profuse professions of anxiety to keep faith with Britisn Columbia, and it is nothing but a studied attempt, bolstered up with mis-statements, to prejudice the whole Dominion against it and to make everybody believe that it is almost impossible and stltogethrr ruinous. Speaking of the transcontinental railway schemti as agreed upon by the late Administration, and as incorporated in the Terms of Union Avith British Columbia, Mr. Mackenzie said: " He (Sir "John A. Macdonald) had no doubt undertaken obligatior " which coidd never be carried into effect. He had no doubt "at all that that folly had been committed." Mr. Mackenzie branded tlie scheme of the former A.dminis- tration us " utterly impracticable" and "expressed a very strong "conviction that the passage of the treaty of union with Bui- " TisH Columbia would necessarily in flture entail cj^xamity." The late Government ' ' went so far as to phice the whole "country in jeopardy." He placed before the house the Inter- colonial railway "a road only 500 miles long, having the sea "along the whole course, the most ample means provided for the "early and successful completion of the road." A road oq which s(}ven years labor luid been already expended, and on which two more would be required to complete it. I'liis Avas made the guage of the capacity of the Dominion for railroad construction, and a basis on which to condemn "an " exceedingly extravagant undertaking, constructing a road "2,500 miles long through a countr}- entirely uninhabited," where "enormous dillicidties Avould be met with." ' ' TiiEY desired the gentlemen who undertook this responsi- "bility TO SHOW them how it was possible to construct a rau,- " WAY* 2,500 miles long, with a population of four millions, ' ' passing through an uninhabited country, the greater part of "which is through a country of very rough character.' "It " was utterly impossible" to carry out the cerms of union with British Cobimbia. Mr. Sanford Fleming put his minimum esti- mates of the cost at one hundred million dollars. " They would ' ' not be able to borrow the money below six per cent. , if that. "Until three millions of people were drawn into the present unin- ' ' habited country it was quite idle to expect the road could possi- ' ' bly pay the running expenses, which Mr. Fleming estimated at " not less than eight millions per annum. Supposing the road " to be completed, they would have in addition to the burdens " imposed, the interest on the money, and would unquestionably "have to provide for the working of the road, a sum at least " equal to that amount of $6,000,000 more every year, in order " to keep it in operation." Such was Mr. Mackenzie's statement. Now as to the truth of it. Reliable information concerning the character of the coun- try through which, if built, the Canadian Pacific Railway will ran, is contained in Sanford Fleming s Official Report, 1874. That gentleman divides the line into three sections, namely, the Eastern or Woodland Region; the Central or Prairie Region; and the Western or Mountain Region. OF THE EASTERN OR WOODLAND REGION, Sanford Fleming says. Page 30-31 : About twenty -five or thir- ty miles of the line, north-easterly from Nepigon River, will show heavy work, while the remainder of the distance to Lake ' 24 Nipissing, about 530 miles will, it is believed, be comparatively light. A route has been found through a long section of the coun- try' much more favorable than was hitherto expected or even thought possible. (Page 32). Between Manitoba and Lake Superior, it will be possible to secure maximum er-sterly ascending gradients, with- in the limit of twenty-six feet to the mile, a maximum not half so great as that which obtains on the majoritv of the railways of the Continent. OF THE CENTRAL OR PRAIRIE REGION, Sanf ore! Fleming says, Page 24, Enough is known to warrant the belief that there will be no great difficulty in projecting a favor- able line, with comparatively light work, from Manitoba at the East to tlie Yellow Head Pass at the West. OF THE YELLOW HEAD PASS through the Rocky Mountains, he speaks from his own observa- tion as follows : Page 39. Tlie immediate ascent to the Yellow Head Pass is not difficult, and the pass itself is, as it were, an open meadow. It was the middle of September when we arriv- ed in the Yellow Head Pass, but the flowers were in bloom and the lower slopes of the mountains were covered with verdure. Page 16. The approaches to the Y'ellow Head Pass from both sides of the Mountain Range are of such a character as to render the construction of a railway across the great continental water shed a far less difficult matter than was previously imagined. OF THE WESTERN OR MOUNTAIN REGION. Page 17. From Kamloops to Edmonton, a total distance of 544, miles very favorable gradients may be had with compara- tively light work. It certainly need not exceed the average of work on many of the railways in the Eastern Provinces of the Dominion. Page 18. Between Hope and Kamloops the distance is 165 miles. Although no high summit is to be passed over, this sec- tion is far from favorable. Half the whole distance is excessive- ly rough ; the work x^onld be enormously heavy and the cost pro- portionate. Page 20. Of the Bute Inlet route through the Cascade range he writes: — This route commands attention ; although a verv heavv ex- '1.) peiiditure will undoubtedly be rt^quii'ed to construct the railway for the tirst forty -four miles easterly from the Paoitic Coast, it is thought that the average cost ])er mile through the whole of the Mountain region with this exception will be moderate. It will be quite possible, if |)resei:t ex})ectatious be realized, to obtain a line east of the great Canyon for the railway on this route, with as favorable gradients as those wJiich obtain on the exist- ing railwaj'S in the Eastern Provinces. • Mr. Sanford J'Meming winds his re])ort as follows: Page 34-5. That the practicability of establishing railway communication across the continent, wholly witl.dn the limits of the Dominion, is no longer a matter of doubt. It may, indeed, be now accepted as a c(^rtainty that a route has been found generally possessing favorable engincHiring features, with the ex- ception of a short section a])proaching the Pacific coasx , which ROUTE TAKING ITS EXTIUE LENG I I , INCLUDIN(i THE EXCEFflOXAI. SEC- TION ALLUDED TO, WILL ON THE AVEEAGE, SHOW LIGHTEll WOltK AND WILL REQUIRE LESS COSTLY STRUCTURES THAN HA ,'E REEN NECESSARY ON MANY OF THE JiAILWAYS NOW IN OPERATION IN THE DOMINION. This is the opinion based on actual knowledge of a compe- tent engineer, now hear an incapable Premier. It was an "ex- ceedingly extravagant undertaking, constructing a road 2,500 miles long, where enormous difficulties wolld hi:; met with." He Avanted to know "how it was possilde to construct a "* railway 2,51)0 miles long, passing through an uninhabited coun- '• try, the greater iiartof A\hich is through a country of very rough "character. The country through which the road would pass " in British Columbia, contained unknown cliffs, most danger- " ous cascades and large rivers." (This desc}-i])tion evidently put in to frighten evervi)ody. ) " All THE Engineers said the railway as PiiovrDED was a PHYSICAL iMi'ossiRiLiTY, it would be utter madness to attempt an impossibility." (,'Om[)aring the Premier's speech with Sanford Fleming's report, there is something intensely comic in Mr. Mac- kenzie's theatrical expression "he scorned deception." That charity which "thinketh no evil" would lead one to suppose Mr. Mackenzie had somehow become confusec and mixed up the otlier Pacific routes with that of the Canadian Pacific. Vernon in his Railroad Manual for 1873, gives the average altitudes of the Texas Pacific Railway as 2,300 feet; the Atlan- tic Pacific 3,000 feet; the Union and (^entral^ 5,000 feet. The Canadian Pacific nill probably not average 1,500 feet. The same authority states the four principal summits of the Central Pacific Pailway as <),1()9 feet, 7,042 feet, 7,463 feet and 8,235 feet. The Nortliern Pacific route has two summits, each of whicli has an altitude of about 5,500. •2t) V Sanford Fleming in his report of 1872, gives the highest elevation on the line of the Can^ tlian Pacific as 3,760 feet. One might search to weariness anything, in any nnd every American statement of all the United States transcontinental lines, notwithstanding their greater physical obstacles, without discovering a sentence approaching in gloom and despondency to those expressions which abound in Mr. Mackenzie s speecn upon the Canadian Pacific Railway. It seemed more like a fun- eral sermon over a dead undertaking, than an inspiring awaken- ing to vigor and renewed life. The people of the Dominion, instead of seeking a way out of the A\ ilderness of misrepresentation in which they find them- S(4ves, are for the time-being overcome by the mournful wailings iind lamentations of those twin Jeremiahs, the Ministers of Finance and Public AYorks. Those laehramose leaders, instead of sitting in sackcloth and ashes and repeating that the country is ruined and the railway is an impossibility, until they have made more than half the Dominion believe that the Canadian Pacific Railway cannot be bu'^t, should open their eyes and their understandings and see M'hat "enormous difficidties" have been overcome in other countries Avith a more imperfect civilization than we find in British North America. Let them look at what is going on in Peru, where the Government is having built, under the direction of Mr. Meiggs, a railway to cross the Andes. This line commences-; at Callao, on the Pacific, and passes over the Andes to La Oroya, a town on the Eastei'n slope. At 1C4:J miles from the ocean it reaches nn elevation of 15,()45 feet, and passes the sunmiit through a tunnel 8,(500 feet long. When such a rt'ilway as this is practicable, it is nothing better than baby talk for the Premier of the Dominion to speak of the easiest transcontinental line in tlie whole of Amerii'a, the Cana- dian Pacific Rail \A ay, as a " physical impossibility." Now, as to the rate at whicli the Dominion Avould be able to borrow money to l>uild the railway, eighteen millions of which is guaranteed by the Imperial (lovernment. The figures at whicli Dominion bonds now stand, show that about -ii per cent, is the ])resent price it pays f(n- it. The history not only of the United States, but of Canada it- self illustrates the fact, railway develop'uent induces immigration, settlement of lands, circulation of capital, and the creation of wealth. To ordinary moi-tals it \\()uld ai)pear to be contrary to conunon sense, to infer that tlie credit of a country would fall whilst it wealth and ])opulation wei" both rapidly increasing. Yet Mr. Mackenzie is of opinion that with a railway under construction, the financial credit of the Dominion would swiftlv liT descend into purgatorv and nii«^lit, 'except for tlie Unirs of the faithful Mr. Cartwiight, even fall headlonf^ into the other ]»lace. When, knowinfj; there is .an Imperial }j;uarantee for eio;htetin millions, and that the Dominion can borrow, on its own credit, whatever it requires, at alxmt 4 J p^r cent., Mr. Mackenzie says *' thev would not be able to borrow tlie monev below six per cent., if that," ne perverts his judgment and ignores his reason- ing faculties in his burning desire to prcnlestine the Canadian Pacific Railway which is not yet born, and has done neither good nor evil, to perdition. The "enormous" distance a man with an object in view will sometimes travel from the facts around him is very well exem- plified by Mr. Mackenzie's statement that " until three millions " of people Avcre drawn into the country it was quite idle to ex- " pect the road could pay its running expenses, estimated at eight " million dollars per annum." It migl't be true in Asia that the receipts of fares and freights from less than three millions, would not amount to eight millions — the estimated cost of running the railway. Whether true or not of Asia, it is certainly false of ISorth America. The amount of traffic on railroads for population varies greatly in different countries and depends upon many conditions. The most weighty probably are the facilities for other modes of transit, and the earning and spending capacity of the popula- tion. AVater communications, where they exist, draw away part of the travel from railroads, and by competing rediice their rates cii the remainder. These also vary in value. The Thames and the Meditern>nean, for instance, although less "magnificent," ytit being open for navigation all the year round ha\ e an advan- tage over " water stretches" which are ice bound ir»r six months in the year. Hindoos earning two pence per day, cannot produce as much trade f.s the people of Ontario and Quebec, where accord- ing to the report of the Manufacturing committee, large numbers make §2 50 to $4: per week, while there are some in trained occupations who earn as high as $2 50 per day. These again relatively make a poor showing compared with the inhabi- tants of the Pacific slope, where Indians earn H per day, China- men, $'S5 to $50 per month, and white raen from !§2 50 to $6 per day, and in the mining districts wages rule much higher. . Now, taking Ontario and Quebec with about three millionS of people. In these two provinces railways show returns for 1872, of about fifteen millions of dollars, enough ilmost to pay the expenses of two Pacific railroads, assuming Mr. Mackenzie's estimate of the annual expenses of the Canadian Pacific line to l)e correct. •: ■ • ■ f In taking Ontario and Quebec as examples to show the worthless character of Mr. Mackenzie's figures, we take the most favorable for him that could be found. The railways of those provinces are so situated as to suffer from the maximum of com- petition from water carriage. In most parts of America, it neither requires two millions nor one million — (three millions is quite out of rati'inrd calcula- tion in this matter) — to make railway receipts of eight millions. Take a remote AVestern State like Ioavu. Iowa has a popu- lation of about twelve hundred thousand, and has according to the Railway Manual, 8,037 miles of railway more than the whole of the Dominion with nearly four millions of j)eople. (If rail- roads ruin a country this ought to be one of the worst ruined States in the American Union.) The receipts of the Iowa railways, with only twelve hundred thousand people, are larger than of all the Dominion railways put together. This is parti}- io be accounted for by lesr water com- petition and by a larger proportion of the population being en- gaged in agriculture, the jiroducts of which have to be sent east fur markets, thus furnishing very large freights to the railway's. Now let us take an example from the Pacific slope. The not-S- The Central Pacific divides the trade of Utah with the Un- ion Pojufic; but reckoning all the pojjulation in with the C iitral Pacific, we have a total of 704,528. The earnings of the Central Pacific Railway for 187H, as stated in the State Legislature of California, amounted to $13,- 938,969. Here we have less than three-fourths of a million of ])eo})le producing railway I'cturns in excess by nearly six millions of the sum which Mr. Mackenzie said Avould require three mil- lions of iidiabitants. It may be said that the Pacific railways make an exce])tion- ally goinl showing, and this is probably correct. Nothing can be fairer than taking the average of the whole United States of America. According to Pocn-'s Manual of Railroads for 1873, the earn- ings of the United States Railways for 1873, were as follows: From passengers v. 137,384,427 From freiglit ;.. • 380,035,508 Total 517,419,935 TiikiiifT^ tlif p(>|ml;ih'()ii lit iorty millions, this would jjjive re- ceipts of nearly thii'tecn niillioiis of dollars for every million of inhabitants- or jjuttin^ it in another light 620,000 people on an average make a traffic of eight millions of dollars, Keeogni/ing ^^r. Mackenzie's American tendencies and pro- clivities, and allowing iiim to liave made a liberal margin in fa- vor of the Ignited States, relatively for enterprise, energy, pro- gressiveness, wealth an " out of which interest was paiii on bonds and seven per cent, divided on capital. The " Cellar Kapids and Mi.ssouri Co.," 271 miles of rail- way, jjaid interest on bonds, dividends on preferred stock, and throe per cent, on common stock. The statements of these three companies, from one State, show that Mr. Mackenzie's estimate of two millions, as receipts of the Canadian Pacific Kailway for years after its completion are absurd, assuming only a moderate settlement of the country along the line. Let us take tlio Central and Union Pacific Railways. These two lines with their branches aggregate about '2, 300 miles, which is 300 miles more than from Lake Superior to the Pacific Ocean. The population of the States and Territories through which these lines run amounted to 87fi,000 in 1870 and probably to something over one million in 1873. After paying running ex- penses they showed a profit of 1873 in ?rl3. 284, 81)5. Supposing the United States (lovernment had built them at a cost of 50,000 dollars per mile. It would have received ovei' llj per cent, in- terest for the year, on the total capital invested. Notwithstanding that the Central Pacific Jlailway puts down its line at the ficticious sum of one hundred and thirteen thou- sand dollars ])er mile, there are good grounds for assuming that 40,000 dollars is somewhere near the cost. Ilie fifty-four millions of paid up stock is like the Canadian Pacific Kailwa}' " in imagination." The greater part of the twen- ty-seven millions of first mortgage bonds arc reported to have been bought up by a ring, fioni profits of the Contract and Fi- nance Co., one of those wheels within wheels far too common in joint stcK-k enterprises. American engineers reckon the cost of much of the Central Pacific Railway was not more than many of the Western prairie railways which Genei-al Ptosencrans estimate's can be built for 127,755 per mile including rolling stock, shops and sidings. Tlie C'Cntral Pacific is poorly constructed and equipped. :;i rv shach; ■ The laihvajs in tlio North West own one-third more rolling stock to the miki, and it has been said as regards constructiou, that there is as much ilitfereuce between the Central Pacific and sucli a lintj as the New York Central as tliere is y)etweeu " tlu! rude work of a barn, and a w«dl finislied mansion/" The >[ilwaukee and St. Paul Hail way has 1,018 miles of line which runs over a hilly and broken country in the Northern part of the United States. It cost the Campany only !i!?39,700,- 788 or about !?:{'.). 001) per mile. Although this railway has no China and Japan trade, it showed gross recei})ts in 1871 of $6,(590,695 and a profit after ])aying ex])euses, of seven ])er cent, on capital stock. Fifty thousand dollars per mile is admitted by men who are authorities in rail\\ay operations, as quite an outside figure for the actual cost of the C'.nitral and Union Pacific. On this valu- ation, we have a similar undertaking to the contemplated Cana- dian Pacific Kail way, which pays running expenses and shows a profit of 11^ per ^ent. on cajjital, although completed only five or six years ago. and with a population of about one million. Any man in the Dominion, whatever his political predilec- tions, unless controlled by a blind faith in Mackenzie as extreme as that of a Turk io\ Mahommed must see that facts and figures not only fail to justify, bdt emphatically condemn the assertions of Mr. Mackenzie, that " until tliree millions of people were drawn " into the country it was quite idle to ex[)ect the road could pay " its running ex])enses, and supposing the road to be cimipleted " ihey wt)uld uncpiestionably have t(^ provide for the Avorking of " the road six millions every year to keep it in operativi(m.s, wliic-li new ro.uLs wurt' niontly uon-prodiictive, the pro- (jortioiiiiti' business of the niilwiiys, as shown by their gross eai'iiiu^'s, was liaidly less than that of 187'2. ['pou the old-es- tablisjjcd ro.'ids tlie iuerc.'isc (»f business was t^eiicral and large, but the introduction ol* (J.dUO miles of new railway which earned nothing above its o])t'rating expenses ke]i* tlie averagu of the whole c(juntry down to tlie level of 1872. 'Till' expicssioMs " utterly impviU'ticalde" and "impossible" applied by .Mr. Mackijuzie to the uiKh-rtalcing of the Sir John A. Macdonald Administration to ])uild the Canadian Pacific Rail- way in ten y<'ars from the date of Union of British Columbia with the Dominion of Canada, recalls to one's memory the say- ing of a great statesman that " a common place politician cannot ** tlistinguish between the extraordinary and the impossible." Mr. Mackenzie, with ordinary ca[)acity, because he is entrust- ed with more than an ordinary work, at once concludes that it is impossible. Why should tlw powers of the Dominion be mea- sured and limited by those of Mr. Mackenzie ? The fact is, that Mr. Mackenzie during the many years he has been in opposition, has been concentrating his mind in dis- covering and inventing oV)jections to legislation, becaus'' hi8]>ur- pose was not to aid but to upset a Government, and thi result is a warped and narrowed intelligence with good obstmctive abili- ties and without any constructive capacity. Mr. Mackenzie may be able to find out why a thing flhould not be done, but he cer- tainly cannot inform the Dominion how best to do it. The men who worked out Confederation saw its value and necessity, and sought to build up and people the whole of Britisii North America by a Transcontinental Eailway, looked at things through, as it were, a field glass. We now have men of another type, scrutinizing with a microscope, as if this vast Dominion was a bug or a beetle. Thus magnified, things appear so much greater than they are that Mr. Mackenzie is alarmed at what seems to him a big elephant. The people of the Dominion ought to be informed wherein consists the impossibility of building the railway as contemplated. It is not a physical impossibllity. Mr, Hanford Fleming's report makes this certain. There is no room left to doubt the superiority of the Canadian Pacific Railway over the Central and Union Pacific, which is built and in operation, both in the character of the jountry through which it is to nin, and in the very important i-iatter of grades. It is not a financl\l impossibility. The credit of tlie Dom- inion is above question. If the railway is ever put through as v. Government work the I)omini()]>iiliiti(>ii is small -whilst Aus- tr.ilia with a poimlitioii of l,'.)l7,()7t) has a |)til)li(' debt of CKI,- 170. .'J7 1 storliiif^. Tho Dominion with !{,;");{(), 10;") people has a (lel)t of only I'ln.JI.'WJ-JS— (se.^ Canada Year Hook, ls7:{ -sta- tistics for l(S7t).) I'nttin;^' the popnlation in IMSO at four millions, (it ou^ht to he tar inoi'e), t he interest on the wholt; cost of the railway, whic'li will not, of course, have to be paid until some years after tint date, will at live per cent. avera}j;(^ the maj^- iiifictuit sum of ^L 2.") per annum, or Id. cents ])er month [nn^ head. If tlie dread of havinjj; sucli a nisponsibility in, say, 1882, frijj;htens tlu; ('anadians from undertaking^ th(! Transcontinental llailway. It would be j^ross tlattcMV to (h'siu'ibe tlu^m as a cour- a<;oous or jKitriotic peojjle. What v'l 2.') may look like undcu' Mr. Mackenzie's ma^nitier is not worth sto[)pin;^ to consider. Taxation is the bo^'ey with wliich Mr. ^rack(>nzio is scaring the national s])irit out of existence. The sum of ^l 2;") per head per annum — instead of forty cu'nts for a f(>w years, and then noth- ing at all —is ])ut down, because; it must be remembered that we have a bhmdering administration thoroughly inca])able of fram- ing a railway ])olicy in Avhich taxation would l)e reduced to a minimum, and be based on e(piity. Numerous metliods might be sk(!tclxed out anil suggested, but tlio initiation of legislation rests with the (Tovernment and interference with its functions is to b<» deprecated by all good citizens. Our duty and privilege it is to wait the action of the Government and to criticize it. In the ]n*ese]it condition of tin; Dominion one, fact is clear, that the rate of taxation is a secondary thing. Whether it is a little more or a little less is not the great ([ucstion. Bear in mind that Ca- nada is very lightly taxed and tlie ITnited States very heavily taxed, and yet there are oO(),0(J() Canadians in the United States, and less than 8,000 oiti;^ens of the Kepublic in Canada, even in- (iluding all those whose origins are not given — at least so says the Year book of 1874. How is this ? Clearly it is not the lowness of taxation that draws people, but things moving, prospering, and going ahead. Inmiicrrants do not ask what are your taxes, but have you work for \\y, and what is the pay ? In the Eastern pro- vinces manufactuiwN cannot absorb much labor because their market is small. The^ do not recpiire a Treat}' which will let in competition, threatening annihilation, but they urgently need a railway policy which will give them in a few years a million of customers west of Lake Su})erior. The cojmpletion of the k.vilway within the time limit is even NOW' NOT AN IMPOSSIBILITY. Taking things relatively, what is pos- sible in railway work in the United States with moderate Ctov- :i:> <'niin; advanced countries. There ought, however, to be suflicient .ectional intelligence in the great Pro- vince to see, that money invested in works of construction in any part of the Dominion, is not consumed like cordwood and does not ])ass away like smoke. It is still in the Dominion, and ii the (n-dinarv I'ourse of trade finds it wiiv into the different Pro- 42 vinces, and gives a healthy and vigorous impetus to every branch of business. Ontario and Quebec ought not to be heavily taxed — there is no need for anybody anywhere to be heavily taxed — to put through a line of railway to the Pacific. It is the duty of the Government to frame a policy which will efiectually develop the resources of the country, without perpetrating an injustice upon any part of it. With the Canadian Pacific Railway a national necessity, with powers am])le to build several such railways, an Administration which is incapable of devising a scheme which shall be just, and at the same time adequate to the undcrtiiking, has failed to make good its righr to live, and should, in the interests of the country, bo at oiic;^ got rid of. Every year's delay in building th .^ Canadi;'.!; Pacific Eaihvay makes a differ- ence in population lo llio Dominion of possibly one hundred thous tnd, or Avitliou* a doubt sixty thousand ; worth as individ- uals forty-eight millions, or in cash over four millions, and worth to revenu ^ thr^'c hundred and sixty thousand dollars. All this, together wi'h i he products of their industry, are lost to the Dominion ANNUALLY by the incompetency of the present Govrnmen!:. Ir remairs to be seen Avhether the intelligence of the peo- ple of the Dom.inion, rising to the height of its duty and its mission, v>ill sli ike itself free from the fetters of party and prove itself equal to working out the great scheme of Confed- eration and building up a united and prosperous Dominion; or whether British Columbia, despairing of jus' ice from a Ministry whose professions have been hypocritic il, designs treacherous, and actions dishonorable, shall at the next s ssioii, in a cons i- tutional way, by a vot3 of the Provincial Legislature, ricl herself of the bond of Union wLich Ottawa has broken, turning to her Imperial Mother, whose honor and glory it is to shield and pro- tect even the weakest of her children from violence and injustice. There are many in British Columbia who still hope that the British North Americans of to-day are not fated to pass away like a tribe of Indians, leaving no trace of ever having existed in the gi-eai, North West of this continent, but that moved by that noble spirit which has planted the British flag and carried British civilization into every quarter of the globe, they will live to see a great and vigorous Confederacy ruling over mil- lions of prosperous and loyal people, between the rock-bound sh(jres of Lake Superior and the placid waters of the Pacific.