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RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO His Excellf;ncy The Right Honorabi-e Sir F'REDEIiICK AKTHUR vSTANLKY, Baron Stanley of Preston, in the County of Lancaster in the PiiERAOE of the United King- dom, Knight (trand Ckoss of ouk most Honorable Order OF THE Bath; Goyernur General of Canai«a : AND To the IClectobs and Boards op Trade of CUnada. By C. W. WETMORE, St. John, N. B. PRICE 15 CENTS. HC114 C2 W46 LrSHED FOR THE AuTHOR, St. JoHN, N. B. 1892. L ! I ^ 6^ ThUi / I y CANADA NATIONAL LIBRARY BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE BURNING Ganadian Que§tion§. » ♦ » Inter-Pro viiicial Commanieations, Atlantic Ports, Development of Natural Resources, Labor and Capital, Immigration aiul Prohibition. RKSI'ECTFULLY DEDICATED TO His Excf:llency The Right Honorable Sir FREDERICK ARTHUR STANLEY, Baron Stanley of Preston, in thk County of Lancaster in the Peerage of the United King- dom, Knight Grand Cross of our most Honorable Order of the Bath ; Goyernor General of Canada : AND To THE Electors and Boards of Trade of Canada. Bv C. W. WETMORE, St. John, N. B. PRICE 15 CENTS. Entered according to 4ot of Parliament of Canada, in the yeur 1892, by '■■^^^^'^■'^jrftetepaftttetri^fAlrloult^^ Published for the Author, St. John, N. B. 1892. HC /M VV-ft^ 2128 JJURNING CANADIAN QUBSXIONS OK Iiiter-Provincial (.^Mnniunications. Atlantic Ports. Development of Natural Resources. Immigration and Prohibition. The Past and Future of the Intercolonial Railway. Proposed Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and QuebeC'Winnipeg-Slave River Railways. Canadian Built Fast Atlantic Mail and Naval Steamers, To be run without Subsidies. Government Grants to Harbors, and Free Railway Bridge at St. John. Completion of the Trent Valley Canal Vast Available Savings to the Government. Harmonization of Capital and Labor. Prohibition, Financially, Possible in Five Years. Critical Position of Confederation And Increased Danger of Annexation. Possible Stampede of Population and Fearful Decrease of Trade and Cominerce and of Values of Property and Incomes, East of Montreal ; and Ontario, and the North-West, at the Mercy of the " Bonding Privilege." * i k BURNING CANADIAN QUESTIONS, The writer lias for twenty years continuously studied the natural resources of New Brunswick, and for a shorter period the resources of the Dominion as a whole; and has been enquiring as to how those resources can be best de- veloped, and where marketed, and how the necessary capital for such develoj)ment can be obtained. FOREIGN CAPITAL AND DEVELOPMENT OF RE- SOURCES. — For one-half of the time named I have been corresponding with railway companies who unitedly con- trol over $550,000,000 worth of property, and also with representatives of London and Np:w York Capitalists, respecting most of the herein referred to railways, docks, coal, coke, steel rails, traffic fund and other interests, with the result that there is now not a shadow of a doubt in my mind, but that all required capital can be got, and wide- spread developments in the referred to lines easily secured, through the formation of a powerful syndicate, for which, as in the case of the Pacific Railway, legislative provision can be made, the Government, as also in the case of the Pacific Railway, to make the best possible arrangement in its power with any syndicate or company, special provision to be made that will ensure the widespread developments herein referred to. In August last, the result in part cf my labors was submitted to the Honorable the then Acting Minister of Railways, and to the Honorable the Minister of Finance, and it was arranged with the latter that, on the completion of my Paper, it would be submitted to the Government as a whole. LOSSES IN OPERATING THE I. C. RAILWAY.- Ii. April, 1889, 1 sent a coninuiiiication to tho tlien Minister of Railways, in wliicli I said : "The openinj^^ of the Short ** Line Railway will iiiark a crisis in the history of the "I. C. R. that may increase its yearly deficits to $1,000,- "000," and 1 indicated how this loss, in part, nn"«i;ht be avoided. Up to 1889 the greatest yearly loss in operating the I C. R. was a little over a quarter of a million. Should the loss in operating for the five months ending the last of June he propoitionately the same as for the previous seven months, the total loss of this road for the year 1891-2 will be |;i, 100,000. For the ten years ending 1890, the average yearly ad- ditions to the capital account of the I. C. R. were |857,673; and supposing this capital account hereafter to be but one half of that amount, and the yearly loss in operating to be the same as for the current year, the total yearly loss will be 11,528,836, or the interest at 3^ per cent, on $45,- 850,000. The Oxford, New Glasgow — Eastern Extension — and Cape Breton Railways, and the duplicate Pictou Branch and the Pugwash Branch, a total of 263 miles, have cost, including provision for ferrying, about $10,000,000, and during the six years ending 1890, P^astern Extension cost for operating, in excess of earnings, $16,060 yearly, and for the period named its gross earnings yearly were under $900 per mile, while the I. C. R.'s were $3,238, and the Grand Trunk's $5,564 per mile. As Louisburg or Sydney is not to be a port of call, and as the Oxford Railway and the duplicate Pictou Branch are paralleled by the I. C. R., the 263 miles of road re- ferred to are not likely to pay any better under Govern- ment management than does the I. C. R., and the losses thereon for operating and for capital account, for existing mileage, and for Branches which will be demanded, will doubtless be equivalent to the interest on $6,150,000, or. ( k » I < i witli the losses on tlie I. C. R., a total loss of the interest ou $52,{)00,0()0. THE FAULTY LOCATION OF THE L C. RAILWAY is one reason why it dres not pay. From Uiviere (In Loup to St. John, via the valley of the St. John, is 312 miles, while between the ports named, it is, via the I. C. K., fifty per cent, more, or 463 miles. Ajrain, the excessive grades of the line between Hammond River and Rothesay limits the number of loaded cars per westward trains to about one-half the number tiiat might have been hauled had the line been located a little further south. Serious mistakes in locating were also made elsewhere on the road. In consequence of the wrong locating of the I. (\ R., the Hon. George Brown and Hon. William MacDougall left the (Government, the latter saying, " We have thrown forty millions into the sea." For a commercial road an imj)erial guarantee would not have been required. INTERCOLONIAL RAILWAY COMPARED WITH OTHER RAILWAYS.— As compared with other railways, the I. C R. and its management appears to great disadvantage. While the New Brunswick Railway has been netting 34 cents per dollar earned, in the St. John valley, the I. C. R. is now losing 45 cents per dollar earned. The I. C. R. hauls say 250 tons of coal per train, and 30 tons of coal to 18 tons of dead weight. The Pennsylvania Railway, says the Scientific American supplement of the 2nd and 9th of April, 1887, hauls trains of 100 loaded cars, with 3,000 tons of freight each, these trains being passed over steep gradients by two powerful locomotives, one hauling and the other pushing, the dead weight being only 10 tons to 30 tons of load. It is not clear whether these large trains are run over heovy grades by four, or by only two locomotives. If tlie former, then this road hauls three times the quantity of freight per locomotive that the I. C R. does. The Great Northern Railway, says the SmaitifiG Ariin'ican of 2n(l April, 1892, "lias just had (in- structed 15 locomotives of 74 tons each, one of which will haul 900 tons of freight over GO feet grades." Here we have three and one-lmlf times the load hauled bv the « locomotives of the I. C. R. The long railway hauls of Canada demands that through double strength nickelated steel coal-grain cars, the dead weight be reduced to not exceeding one in three, and that the power of our locomotives be greatly in- creased, and that the mileage and grades be reduced as much as ])ossiblc. THE FREIGHT RATES ON THE ST. LAWRENCE.-The freight rates on the St. Lawrencie and the Oreat Lakes are only one-seventh of the average rail rates of the United States. Grain is carried by water from Chicago to New York, at the rate of 1,000 miles for one dollar a ton. Coal is carried by water from Buffalo, 1,000 miles to Duluth, for 30 cents a ton, and a common rate for ocean borne freight is one- tenth of the rate bv rail. THE I. C. RAILWAY A LOCAL ROAD.- By providing for the extension of the C. P. R. to the Maritime Prov- inces, and omitting to require it to carry its traffic mainly to and from Canadian Atlantic ports. Parliament settled the question that henceforth The I. C. R. would be MAINLY A Local Road. FREIGHT RATES TO ENGLAND.— While at great ex- pense large shij)i)ing has been forced inland to Montreal, this poli(!y has been unsoundly and unjustly reversed, as regards Dominion Atlantic ports, with the following mile- age and A'eighting disastrous results : By Grand Trunk and I. C. R. from Montreal to Halifax it is 850 miles, and by C. P. R. and I. C. R. from Montreal to Halifax, allowing 123 miles for bridge charges on freight, is 881 miles, a difference in favor of the port of St. John of 369 and 400 miles respectively, or equivalent to the entire cost of water carriage between St, John and England, or a 1 I charge on the i^niiu of the North- West, whieli may he shipped by the roniul about way referred to, of five (;eiits a bushel. FAST ATLANTIC LINE WITHOUT SUBSIDY.- Halifax stands iu relation to the earryiiiuj trade of Western Canada, as compared with St. John, as Boston stands to the western earryinj; trade of the United States, as compared with New York. The latter city being thv} natural freight centre has lialf a score of Fast Atlantic^ Twines without one dollar of subsidy, and the man who would propose a Government subsidy, of the interest on ^37,rjOO,000, to save three hours per trip on a fast Atlantic line to Boston, would be re- garded as insane. From Halifax to St. John by rail is 277 ndles, or, at 40 miles an hour, seven liours, and from Liverpool to St. John by water is 200 miles further than to Halifax, or, at 20 miles j)er hour, ten hours, a difference against St. John of three hoi s oidy. RAILWAY FROM QUEBEC TO WINNIPEG.- With the hereinafter pro{)osed railway from (Quebec and Montreal to Winnipeg, and the completion of the St. John Valley Railway, St. John will stand iu relation to the carrying trade of Canada as does New York to the carrying trade of the United States ; and on the completion of the herein proposed works, Canada will no more require to subsidize one Fast Atlantic Line than does the United States to sub- sidize the half score of fast lines they now have. INTERCOLONIAL RAILWAY WRONGLY LOCATED.— The wrong location of the I. C. R., its defective manage- ment, and its ruinous losses, and the imj)ossibility of forc- ing carrying trade out of its natural channels, except at great loss, all go to show that if the I. C. R.'s deficits are to cease, it must Ijave (1) a saving in the cost of its fuel ; (2) improved rolling stock; (3) more local traffic; (4) less through freight at losing rates; (5) increased connections; (6) improvements in location and grades, and (7) a change of management. CANADA HA8 NO INTER-PROVINCIAL RAILWAY — Not'A'itlistanding tl»o oiiornions (ixpciulitiin.' lor tli'; purpose, as ropjanl.s any extent of tliroUi^h (ruiiic, it may be rfaicl Canada lias no Inter-l'rovineiai Railway. The Govern- ment roa.«'^ aH now operated, can n(;ver answer that pur- pose, and tile (.'. J*, li., altlion«!;h l)nilt with (iovernment grants and the s(!(;nrity thereof, iriakes no ])retenee of using its (iuehei! iiranch, its 8t. .John Valley Hraneh, or its Montreal and St. .lohn line, to any eonsiderahie extent cxc(!pt for loeal traHic or lo divert traflie from the I. C. R. The (>. 1*. R. has all along given foreign Atlantie ports the preference for the great hulk of its freight, and it has recently made rail eonneetions with New York; it is bridging the Niagara, and, ;is shown by its latest maps, it is to build a railway link from tlie river named, around the western end of Lake Onlario, and can then connect on that route with Lake Ninissing, and may thereby more fully div(M't the carrying tr .; of Canada to foreign ports by a north and south line, .'>o() jnile.s west of Montreal, which will have a ruinous efff.'c.'t oi. the J*rovince of (Quebec and the more easterly portions of the Dominion. As regards tiie main line of the C. P. R. to the J*acific it has evidently been settled, that Manitoba and the North-West are, to a, large extent, to be si(le-tra(!l:ed b}' the n.ain traffic being carried south of Lake Superioi" and for hundreds of miles through foreign territory. LEASING OF THE INTERCOLONIAL RAILWAY.— While, says the Toronto (ilohc of .July last, the road was being constructed. Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir A. T. Gait, rjid Mr. Walter Shanly favored the leasing of the I. C. R. The Toronto World of August last also advcK'ates this, and .some of the present members of Parliament, it is said, advocate tlie donating of the road to ])rivate (!or[)orations. The road may be leased to a syndicjite or company that would undertake the developments herein projuosed, and thereby save to the Government the loss i.ow incmTcd in t . «*■' \ operating it, and secure to the 8e(;tions traversed by the road, greatly improved service. NE*¥ BRUNSWICK COAL AND COKE.-New Brunswick has a coal formation of 10,000 square miles, whicli in its surface seam, Jmlged hy the Dominion re[)()rt thereon of 1872-73, contains at least 1,000,000,000 tons of workable coal. Tho seam, although thin, lies near the surface, and with recently improved machinery can he uncovered economi(;ally. This coal is suitable for " pressing," and, aa proved at the Mines, at Jiondonderry and in the; United States, is especially adapted for making " coke." Coke making in the United States is a recent industry, yet there is made, principally in Pennsylvania a>J00 square miles of land fitted for the growth of " pot(i )es ; 407,000 square miles suitable for barley ; 316,- "000 square miles suitable for wheat; 860,000 square " miles of pastoral area, and 400,000 square miles of barren " grounds, and on the western affluents of the Mackenzie, " and the head waters of the Peace, Liard an 1 Peel rivers, " there is from 150,000 to 200,000 square miles which may "' be considered auriferous." i WATER WAYS OP THE NORTH AND WEST,— Of tlie Water Ways of the Mackenzie Basin, this report says: "There is 1,360 miles of river navigation deep enongh for " light sea-going steamers; 1,390 miles suitable for stern " wheel steamers, and 4,000 miles of navigable large lake " coast line. And the Arctic Ocean and Hudson's Bay " has 5,000 miles of coast lines, not including the coast " lines of iidets and deeply indented bays." THE FISHERIES OF THE NORTH AND WEST.-Of the fisheries, continuei? this report: "There are salmon on " four of the rivers emptying into Hudson's Bay on its " western shore, and in all the rivers flowing into the Arc- " tin Ocean, excepting the Mackenzie, where the Salmo " Mackenzie exists in great numbers. The Capeling is " +'':>nn(l on the coast of ihc Arctic Ocean and Hudson's "Bay; this implies the presence of cod upon banks near *' by, and the rock cod has been frequently taken. The " Greenland, or Harp Seal, and the Grey Square Flipper "Seal are common to the eastern coasts, while the present " favorite whaling grounds of New England whalers are " Hudson's Bay, Fox Channel and Boothia Bay. These "animals are all found witii the walrus and porpoise off the " mouths and in the estuary of the Mackenzie as well. "The immense lacustrine area of the eastern and northern " portions of the area under consideration implies, from the "evidence given regarding the quantity and quality of " fresh water food fishes, the future supply of a great por- " tion of the North American Continent. '''' * * Sir "John Ross' men, by a single cast of a small net, took six " tons of salmon in the mouth of one of the Arctic rivers. " * * * And two of the Hudson's Bay Company's "men took five tons of white fish in one day from Great " Slave Lake." LUMBER OF THE NORTH AND WEST.— Of the Mac- kenzie and Athabasca Basin Lumber, this report says: " The forest area lias upon it a growth of trees well suited IP "for all purposes of house and shipbuilding, for mining, " railway, and bridging purposes, far in excess of its own " need, and of great prospective value to the traeless regions " of Canada and the United States to the south." GOLD, SILVER AND COPPER, ETC.— This report con- tinues : " In addition to the auriferous deposits referred to, '* gold ha? been found on the west shore of the Hudson's " Bay, and been said to exist in certain portions of the " Barren Grounds. Silver on the Upper Liard and Peel " Rivers ; native copper upon the Copper Mine River, " which may be connected with an eastern arm of Great "Slave Lake by a tramway of 40 miles; iron, graphite, " ochre, brick and pottery clay, mica, gypsum, lime and "sand-stone, sand for glass and moulding, asphaltura and " sulphur deposits, salt, highly saline springs, coal, pitch " coal and lignite deposits are all known to exist." YUKON DISTRICT.— Of the Dominion Yukon District this report says : " It is a metalliferous area, principally "gold yielding rocks, 1,300 miles in length, with an aver- " age width of 450 to 500 miles." The Yukon River is said to have as great a volume of water as the Mississippi. Before crossing Alaska, in a course of 1,200 miles, it spreads out fan shape in this Canadian territory with over 2,500 miles of navigable water, which, with many minor branches, everywhere abounds with gold, and with salmon, lumber, coal, and other resources. SUCCESSFUL GOLD MINING.— For more than ten years, says Dominion geological reports, this section was success- fully mined for gold, and over $5,000,000 worth was obtained, the miners earning on the Yukon from $4 to ;J100 a day. But the shortness of the season, the length of time required to get into and out of the country, thc^ great cost — $1 to $2.50 per pound — of supplies, and the prohibitory freights on heavy machinery, brought mining there nearly to a stand. 1 EXTENSIVE NEW GOLD DISCOVERIES. -" Dr. Kings- bury, of the Alaskan United States Survey party," says the Ottawa Journal of 25th August last, " has returned after an absence of two years.'' Dr. K. says : " All ** Alaska is at fever heat over the discovery of gold in the " placer mines on the Upper Yukon. There has been " quartz gold found, but old miners, who have worked in " California and South Africa mines, tell me the Alaska "strike is the richest they have ever seen. The country "along the Upper Yukon is fast filling up with people who "hive the gold fever, and the miners already there are so " crazed at the prospects of fortune that they will not leave " the fields even to buy their supplies. In my opinion " Alaska is going to prove one of the richest mineral posses- "sionsof this country." GREAT INFLUX OF MINERS.-The wonderful influx of miners to the Kootenay mining district in Eastern British Columbia is an indication of what may take place on the completion of the proposed railways, in many other sections of the Dominion, west and north. NICKELATED DOUBLE STRENGTH RUSTLESS STEEL. — Writing from Halifax, says the Wesleyan of Sept. 25th, 1891 : " To the economists, Mr. Peter Imrie predicts that "Canada will eventually control the shipbuilding industry. " It is now practically proved, he argues, that steel mixed " with from 3 to 5 % of nickel is double the strength of " ordinary steel, and that it does not corrode or take on " barnacles, so that ships constructed of it will never re- " quire scraping. Moreover, as ships of the nickelated steel " may safely be built much lighter than ordinary steel " ships, their engines, power, and consumption of coal may " be safely reduced without diminution of speed. In short, " nickelated steel seems bound to supersede ordinary steel, "and probably all other materials in present use in ship " construction. Nickel has become a necessity, and the " nation which is in a position to produce this material " must necessarily control the shipbuilding trade. And " for the present, at least, there is no known supply of " nickel worth mentioning outside of Canada. CANADA'S EXHAUSTIVE SUPPLY OF NICKEL.— "Canada possesses nickeliferous pyrites without limit. " The entirely bleak region extending from Lake Superior " to I^abrador is rich in it. Experts declare that the Do- " minion can supply a million tons of pure metal annually, "if necessary, for an indefinite period. All the other "resources of supply known in the world just now would " not suffice to keep even a single first-class shipbuilding "concern on the Clvde in full workino;." While the United States are nearly wholly de})endent upon Canada for the large supj)ly of nickel which they require, yet they impose a duty of $200 per ton on the pure metal, although they admit the raw i.r partially manu- factured article free. It seems but reasonable that an export duty should be imposed on raw nickel when ex- ported to countries which impose a duty on the pure metal. " The Palmers, one of the largest naval and shipbuilding firms in the United Kingdom, are arranging to transfer the plant of their works on Newcastle-on-Tyne to a certain port in the United States, where they will conduct their business in future." — St, John Globe. PROPOSED RAILWAYS.-The following are the Rail- ways proi)osed : 233 miles from Edmundston, via the val- ley of the St. John, to St. John ; 100 miles from Freder- icton Junction to Moncton ; 35 miles from near Grand Lake to the Indiantown Branch of the I. C. R. ; 21 miles from Amherst to Oxford; 70 miles from a point on the Oxford -New Glasgow Line, via Pictou to Windsor, and 6 miles of heavy freight loop line on the 1. C. R. in the Parish of Rothesay; in all 464 miles, together with a Rail- way Bridge over the St. John at or near Upper Gagetown ; and provided the existing St. John Railway Bridge is not made free, a Railway and Highway Bridge at Navy Island or a bridge near Indiantown. \ QUEBEC • V/INiaPEG - SLAVE RIVER RAILWAY. — {Second, an Air Line Rail way from (Quebec City to Winni- peg, with brandies to Montreal, Lake Nipissing and James' Bay, in all say 1,650 miles, which will shorten the distance, as compared with existing railways, from Winnipeg to Montreal 150 miles, to (^nebec 250 miles, and via the valley line to St. John 150 miles, and to Halifax 225 miles. On the last proposed line, over a large extent of country east of Winnipeg, the fogs of Lake Superior do not extend, and there pumpkins and melons ripen, grass grows luxuriantly, and spruce has attained a diameter of 24 inches; and the Huroniafi formation, so productive at Lake Superior, of iron, copper, silver, and other metals, would be crossed by the road for many miles. Third, a railway from Winni- peg to Fort Smith, midway on Slave River, say 900 miles, where connection can be made with 1,300 miles of con- tinuous deep Mackenzie River navigation, extending to the Arctic Ocea.i. INTER-PROVINCIAL RAIL AND WATER COMMUNI- CATIONS.— And fourth, an 80 mile railway from Peel River to the Porcupine Branch of the Yukon, giving un- broken water and rail routes, connecting Cape Breton with Hudson's Bay, the Arctic and Behring Seas, and through the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes with Port Arthur, Duluth and Ciiicago. Already half a dozen small steam- ers are plying on the Yukon, running at times 1,650 miles eastward from Behring Straits, or 450 miles east of Alaska to Stewart River. This new route will increase and per- petuate the rush of miners to the Dominion Yukon district, and will give Canada a large Alaskan carrying and general trade. Alaska is rich in gold, silver, iron, coal, fish, and other resources, and it has a heavily wooded coast line of 7,800 miles, some of its lumber being so valuable that it will bear transportation across Canada — its most advan- tageous outlet — and thence to Euro[)e. OUTLET FOR OIL OF NORTH AND WEST.— The Mac- kenzie Basin oil may find an outlet (1) southward by rail and water; (2) via the Mackenzie, Peel and Yukon Rivers tc China and Japan etc. ; (3) by water and by pipe line to Hudson's Bay and thence to Europe; and (4) by the Peace River and ])ipe line to British Columbia and the Pacific, and thence with lumber, coal, fish, etc., abroad. Large shipments of oil are made from New York, 22,000 miles to Shanghai, as against only 4,000 miles from British Columbia. GREAT RUSSIAN RAILWAY. -The Great Russian Railway is being rapidly constructed from near Moscow, through Siberia, and along the northerly boundaries of China and Japan, and will terminate for the present, by an easterly branch, on the Japan Sea. This road is to be extended in time to Behring Straits. ALASKAN -CANADIAN BOUNDARY. — The late Sir John A. Macdonald believed that the location of the Alas- kan-Canadian Boundary would cost the Dominion $3,000,- 000, more or less. The proposed railways will save at least one million in connection with this boundary line survey, another million on geological and other surveys, and a million and a half by increasing the value of the f 3,365,000 Quebec Harbor Bonds held by the Dominion, on which, it is said, no interest is paid. The recent revival of mining on the Yukon will call for an early survey of the referred to international boundary line. FIFTEEN THOUSAND ADDITIONAL MILES OP WATER WAYS. — Including the water ways above referred to, and the lakes and rivers of the Yukon district, the proposed railways will connect with 15,000 miles of navigable water in Canada, and 1,200 miles of the Yukon in Alaska, from which the Dominion now derives no benefit. With the completion of these roads, and with steamers and boats on all the waters mentioned, tourists and prospectors will flock in great numbers from all quarters, as to California in 1849, to every section named, some to prospect and mine, f, (