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I 
 
 \. 
 
 LNDUSTRIAL CANADA. 
 
 THE DUTY OF DEVELOPMENT AND 
 HOW TO ACCOMPLISH IT. 
 
 BY 
 
 A. EAUMGARTEN, Ph. D. 
 
 MONTREAL : 
 
 "OAZKTTE" I'lilMISO IIorSE, NEXT THE NEW I'OST OKFire. 
 
 1876 
 
 r 
 
INDUSTRIAL CANADA. 
 
 " TU„.„i 
 
 There's something rotten in the State of Denmark.' 
 
 Any Canadian who has an insight into the indus- 
 trial and mercantile position of his country, and 
 cherishes its welfare either from patriotic feelings or 
 because monetary interests are involved, mus^feel 
 regret at seeing the prosperity of each and every 
 branch of business at a stand still or in a state of 
 stagnation, such as the last two years have brought 
 on. Prospects of an improvement are eao-erly 
 looked for, ]>ut to an impartial eye are not obvious 
 The question how did this state of affairs occur, how 
 can it be changed, and where will w^e be drifting <o 
 if no change for the better occurs soon, are matters 
 of serious contemplation, it is the object of the 
 present lines to solre some of the mystery surround- 
 ing these questions, and we shall be fully compensa- 
 ted for the diflicult ta^k if we succeed in sheddinn- 
 some light on the situation. "^ 
 
A good many people attribute to Government the 
 sole cause of our misfortune, others to an overpro- 
 cluotion and overstocking of the different merchan- 
 dises, combined with a rotten credit system, others 
 to the unfavorable climatic situation of Canada, which 
 in the strife of competition throughout the world 
 it evinces more and more difficulties in overcoming. 
 A great many others are satisfied with the sad conso- 
 lation that business is bad in all parts of the world, 
 and wait for the return of better times in the shape of 
 an exceptional good crop of cereals, which they think, 
 must eventually make up to the people at large all 
 previous losses. 
 
 Admitting that Canada has developed, especially 
 so far only the industrial branch of agriculture, it 
 remains to be seen whether any nation qualified in 
 every way to develop most other industries am 
 remain and does right to remain exclusively an agri- 
 cultural country. 
 
 Let us therefore first see what is the industry of a 
 country, what aims has it and what means for devel- 
 opment are at her command. 
 
 By industry we must understand the task to raise, 
 rear and transform the products of nature into such 
 shapes and forms as human ingenuity adapts for the 
 different purposes the state of culture in a country 
 may require. The requirements of industry are, in 
 the first place the special technical knowledge, se 
 condly capital, to realize such chances as this know- 
 ledge may venture to open. 
 
 V 
 
 i 
 
 J 
 
 i + 
 
5 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 4- 
 
 It is clear that those countries and nations who 
 combine all conditions, natural products, knowledge 
 and capital have a great advantage over those where 
 only one or the other of these conditions prevail. But 
 whilst knowledge and capital can be acvquired, the 
 natural products must be given in a certain state 
 and at a certain iigure, so that the transformations 
 turn out advantageously. It is the answer to the 
 question — whether Canada naturally contains such 
 products, — which must decide whether we are 
 doomed to remain only an agricultural country, 
 and further, if we iind that we have as many resour- 
 ces as any other country let us look for the reasons 
 ,vhy we have not brought them to bear ere this. 
 
 Before doing so, how^ever, let us consider for an 
 instant the humanitarian and idealistic principles 
 which the so-called school of Manchester teaches. 
 The theory of this school has been adopted by the 
 now domineering English statesmen, and their in- 
 direct inliuence alfects naturally also the affairs of this 
 country. By the principles of this school each nation 
 is to procure its wants only from those countries, 
 where by local advantages the special article can be 
 furnished the best and cheapest. The general appli- 
 cation of this principle would exceed the most 
 sanguine expectations, for it would include universal 
 fraternity and harmony all over the globe. All 
 diliicult questions of duty would be settled by it, 
 and all sham industries, industries w^hich only owe 
 their existence to protection would be extinguished 
 
V 
 
 6 
 
 and, indeed, a state equal to the millennium would be 
 the result. Iny practical observer will admit, 
 however, that human character is not yet adapted to 
 such a state, and indeed in some respects it would 
 have to undergo a change for the worse if it were 
 satisfied with it. Such a state would develop each 
 country and individual only very onesidediy. But 
 to achieve the highest aims, human ingenuity must 
 be at liberty to develop and make use of every branch 
 of knowledge to the largest extent, and must have 
 the facilities of examining, comparing and adapting 
 the most modern methods in all branches and oi all 
 nations for its own purposes, if further improvements 
 shall be made at all. 
 
 These principles may be of practical use to 
 England, which, in consequence of her eminently 
 favorable position, her industries of long standing 
 and her natural resources, is the possessor of mono- 
 polies, which are of vast importance for all nations. 
 As illustrations we mention only their manufactures 
 of soda ash, bleaching powder, a host of crude 
 chemicals, a great many metallic products, and their 
 
 privilege of 
 
 being 
 
 the builders of steamships and 
 
 iron vessels for the ^\'orld. 
 
 Assured of her strongholds, England is in a 
 position to draw advantages from universal free 
 trade, and with Manchester teachings to hoist the 
 ilag of humanity on the mast of her trade policy. 
 For most other nations, the principle of giving the 
 poorer class the benefit of the cheapest prices for 
 
 
r 
 
 a 
 (ree 
 the 
 
 for 
 
 the articles of its subsistence can naturally only be 
 a secondary one. The principal one must be to 
 give it remunerative work and all the advantages to 
 become producers who, by their own exertions and 
 industry, may be enabled to enjoy independence as 
 well as certain luxuries and comforts. It must not 
 be forgotten that England has not cherished Man- 
 chester and free trade principles before she attained 
 the supremacy in the most important articles of 
 modern industry, and before she was able to adopt 
 them she hud, not very long ago, to use even extra- 
 vagant means for securing the development of her 
 manufactures. 
 
 For instance, the manufacture of linen was in- 
 augurated by a government premium of 16 to 25 
 per cent., whilst an import duty from foreign 
 countries of 15 per cent, was exacted, and when the 
 invention of cotton looms was made, England pro- 
 hibited blankly the exportation of any of these 
 machines, which could be procured by other 
 nations only by the payment of a most extraordinary 
 premium by the way of smuggling. 
 
 This only as an instance that even England, to 
 introduce new industries, which afterwards retained 
 a lasting monopoly, had first to protect their early 
 growth most strongly, and what were first sham 
 industries, developed themselves into monopolies. 
 
 But to return to Canada as an agricultural coun- 
 try we have reason to doubt whether the term 
 agricultural is in its place. Agriculture means 
 
8 
 
 somylhing scientific ; is now-a-days something more 
 than to reap harvest year alter year from a soil 
 whose virginity will give ample crops for a decade 
 and even longer, but at last, by indiscriminate ex- 
 haustion of its most valuable ingredients without 
 re-placing them systematically by fertilizers, becomes 
 unable to produce any more remunerative crops. 
 
 If exhaustion takes place, the owners sell out and 
 emigrate to some place further west, where new 
 soil is treated on the same principle, till again 
 exhausted nature puts a stop to it. Only the large 
 scope for emigration and the richness of the soil are 
 the cause that the country at large has not felt the 
 efl'ects of this self-abuse more directly. But sooner 
 or later our injudicious, empirical way of farming- 
 must impair our grain exportations, upon which we 
 have accustomed ourselves to look as our strength, 
 and by the scale of which we measure the pros- 
 perity of the country. 
 
 Should, however, these grain exportations give 
 out, what then ? Or what would be our resources 
 if the supply of excellent wheat from India should 
 materially reduce our exportations, and if the returns 
 from lumbering, which we carry out on the same 
 short-sighted, suicidal principles, should fail ? 
 
 A country like ours, where large tracts of soil of 
 unparalleled richness still exist, tempts, of course, 
 to such one-sided, as the least troublesome policy. 
 But such country, even with due regard to the 
 great many excellent labor-saving machines and 
 
9 
 
 mechanical implements used, can be called but a 
 I'arming- country. It would only, then, become an 
 agricultural one if science had a share to some 
 extent in it, if it were connected with some of those 
 agricultural industries which our climatic nature 
 might I'.ermit, and if the raising of crops conjointly 
 with these manufactures would be carried out in 
 such a way as to augment the fertility and capacity 
 of our acres and woods instead of exhausting them. 
 
 There is no attempt to be seen in this direction, 
 and unfortunately it seems there is even no under- 
 standing for these fundamental principles of agrarial 
 as well as national economy, with either our gov- 
 ernment or people. 
 
 Having extended ourselves only in one direction, 
 we have not entered like other nations, and es- 
 pecially our American neighbors, into the spirit of 
 the age, which exhibits itself by universal com- 
 petition and emancipation in all l)ranches, as well 
 as the creation of entirely new industries. As an 
 example, and coming from quarters from whence 
 it could least be expected, it must stri^' ' us that 
 even lazy Mohamedans have entered 'uto this 
 spirit energetically and successfully, as shewn by 
 the Viceroy of Egypt's exportations of sugars, 
 molasses and alcohol into England, with which 
 latter article he actually largely influences that 
 market, llussia, whose climate is similar to ours, 
 from a farming country has become an important 
 agricultural one, by the introduction of the beet-root 
 
10 
 
 sugar industry and ol chemical factories. Besides, 
 by strict and powerful tariff' regulations she m- 
 fused life into all branches of industry, so that at 
 present she supplies most articles herself which ten 
 or fifteen years ago were imported, and she is now 
 enabled to rel-'nquish the high tariif rates. The 
 success of Russia in that respect is most astonishing, 
 especially in consideration of her difficultios in 
 abolishing serfdom, and the comparatively insuffi- 
 cient education of her working classes. 
 
 Of all other nations, however, our neighbors have 
 been most succp^-^iul, and whether their government 
 anticipated the result or acted merely insUnctively 
 and under pressure[of their industrials, the fact that 
 they have emancipated themselves most thoroughly 
 by the adherence to their strict protective system, 
 remains the same. Although not sympathizing with 
 certain characteristics of Americans in general, we 
 do not hesitate to pronounce that, leaving abstract 
 sciences and arts out of consideration, our neigh- 
 bors now stand at the head of modern progress, 
 and have become the most important industrials 
 of the world. 
 
 With such energetic neighbours it : ^mains a 
 mystery, why the contagious spirit of competition 
 has not entered more into Canada, why hardly in 
 one branch of industry we are their equals, and why 
 we are utterly helpless to follow in their wake. 
 
 To prove that our neighbours have made such 
 enormous advances and have outdone Europeans, is 
 
11 
 
 <s 
 
 a difficult matter, as a basis for a generally admitted 
 comparison is wanted. England has had so far the 
 lead in almost all industries ; we may therefore be 
 allowed to accept the theory of their most eminent 
 chemist and technologist Muspratt, who says that the 
 intelligence and the development of a country should 
 be measured by its consumption of Sulphuric Acid, 
 Iron and Sugar. 
 
 The estimate of the present American production 
 of Sulphuric Acid at four hundred million poiinds 
 per annum, is decidtdly an inside one, and the con- 
 sideration that of this vast amount not one pound is 
 used for the manufacture of Soda Ash, of which for 
 reasons mentioned before, England has the monopoly 
 is a proof of the extraordinary producing and consum- 
 ing powers of the United States. Besides for relining 
 petroleum, this large quantity is used in all kinds of 
 chemical industries, for which it is the basis, as iron 
 is for all mechanical purposes. 
 
 At least three quarters of this amount has been 
 produced only since the war of the Union, after which 
 by amassed iortunes a great many industries received 
 a stimulus. 
 
 Since that time Americans have started in all pos- 
 sible branches, and we lind thom now the largest 
 manufacturers of mineral acids, tartaric, citric, acetic,, 
 oxalic, and chemically pure acids, of the Alkaloids and 
 all kinds of chemicals, dyeing and photographic pre- 
 parations, fertilizers, drugs, mineral and organic 
 colors, paints and varnishes, etc. 
 
12 
 
 In many of these productions they have invented 
 entirely new methods. Carefully guarded manu- 
 facturing- secrets lor difficult preparations, from 
 which some European manufacturers drew great 
 fortunes, are not secrets to them any longer. Such 
 as the manul'actures of Quinine, Morphine, Camphor, 
 Vermillion, etc., in which articles they have outdone 
 Europe. 
 
 Last year's statistics show a production of 2,100,000 
 tons of raw iron in the United States, and we can 
 judge their consumption of this article by their in- 
 dustrial development and the great man^'- appliances 
 of modern comfort which their hotiseholds contain. 
 
 This industrial progress comprises specially the 
 cotton- weaving, printing and dyeing establishments, 
 the textile industry generally, and the carpet and 
 oil cloth manufacture, all soits of machinery estab- 
 lishments, plated wares, and of these specially the 
 cobalt and nickel plated wares which are entirely 
 their own in this state of perfection, hardware, glass- 
 ware and pottery, and even the silk and velvet man- 
 ufactures, and a host of others too numerous to men- 
 tion. 
 
 At last the consumption of sugar given at 44 lbs. 
 per head per annum according to the latest statistics 
 is an amount which is not approached by any other 
 nation, and needs no further commentary. 
 
 If we admit Muspratt's basis, the above examina- 
 tion must contain the proof of our previous assertion. 
 But we are fortunate to have this year the op- 
 
 
 i 
 
18 
 
 portunity of examining by personal observations 
 the progress of all nations at the Centennial Exhibi- 
 tion and if we allow that the articles exhibited are 
 fair representatives of each country's best pro- 
 duction, the careful judge will come to the same 
 conclusion. 
 
 Making every allowance for the superior taste in 
 the display of their productions, which is apt to pre- 
 judice in their favour, the cool, impartial observer 
 and technic, after comparing prices and inspect- 
 ing American manufLicturing establishments, will 
 come to the conclusion that our neighbours have 
 really become the most successful and enterprising 
 manufacturers, and are dangerous competitors in 
 almost every industry in the world. 
 
 This conclusion must receive a sound corrobora- 
 tion by the last statistics, which show in the United 
 States an excess of exportations over importations 
 during the last six months, of nineteen million 
 dollars. 
 
 In the face of all these facts, what have we to 
 show ? 
 
 Is our production of ar^out one million and five 
 hundred thousand pounds of Sulpluiric Acid from the 
 two works in London and Eroekville, wliich have a 
 capacity of about eight million pounds, not a ridi- 
 cously email amount in comparison ? Do we know 
 anything at all about chemical industries, and does 
 the state of our embryonic meclianical workshops, 
 with a few exceptions, give room to the idea that we 
 
14 
 
 are large consumers of iron ? Or, are the natural 
 resources with which Canada abounds in the shape 
 of pyrites, ores of every variety and of great rich- 
 ness, phosphates, alkaline earths, salts, coal, etc., less 
 productive, and therefore the unfortunate cause that 
 no fair trial has been allowed us ? Have we not as 
 many natural resources as our neighbors, wherever 
 w^e cast our eyes V We must admit we have such 
 resources, which in many respects are better than 
 those of our neighbors, with the exception of the more 
 precious metals. By our close connections and rela- 
 tions with Europe, our want of knowledge might 
 have easily been supplied from home until we would 
 have been able to rear ourselves a new and ambitious 
 generation of industrials ; and as to capital, if we had 
 only been able to give a fair guarantee of success the 
 old country would willingly have supported our en- 
 terprises if our own means had not been sufficient. 
 t50 the principal conditions for becoming an indus- 
 trial country as well as our neighbours have not been 
 wanting, and we must look for other reasons which 
 have impeded our development, — 
 
 The more difiicnlt it is to earn capital, the more 
 careful mankind becomes to invest it. A new busi- 
 ness must show a large and sure margin, exclude 
 almost any risk whatever, and it must be assured 
 beyond doubt that the favorable conditions under 
 which it may start will last until at least the 
 amount for its plant is earned, before we are willing 
 to entrust it with our hard-earned savings. As we 
 
 
15 
 
 n 
 
 k1 
 
 '1' 
 
 O' 
 
 ,•5 
 
 i 
 
 never have been in a position, individually, as our 
 j^eighbours, to amass riches as they did during- and 
 after Iheir war, and in as easy a way, our reluctance 
 to encourage new industries is somewhat excusable, 
 especially so, as we never have had the occasion to 
 show as good proiits as the American industrials. 
 
 In other words our tariffs have never favored in a 
 similar way the starting of a home production, and 
 all speculation why we should not be able to rank 
 amongst the industrial nations is futile before we have 
 had a fair chance with reasonable margins to try our 
 strength. Although in the beginning we would 
 have to learn and undo a great deal, we do not hesi- 
 tate to express the belief that with a guarantee ol" 
 such conditions, another decade would see us in a 
 position to compete in the markets of the world, with 
 other products than those of farming and lumbering, 
 and which are not based upon the exhaustion of our 
 lands. For not having done so before, the blame 
 equally rests with Government and the people, for 
 the urgent necessity of developing our producing 
 capacity in another direction but farming, has never 
 been i^ressed sufficiently with Parliament. 
 
 Our interests have been represented mostly by a 
 large importing business and the exportation of 
 cereals and lumbe As long as the former gave 
 good returns, that is, as long as consumption was 
 improving and competition amongst importers and 
 exporters not overdone, matters went on smoothly 
 in the laisser-aller style, and no complaints were 
 
16 
 
 heard. Not seeing the abyss to which "we were 
 driiting, we quietly have allowed our country to 
 become the dumping ground of all foreign nations, 
 and in a state of constant vaccillation and unde- 
 cidedness in our tariff regulations, between prohi- 
 bition, reciprocity, and free trade, we thought we 
 could cut out a road of our own and created the 
 abnormity of our present tariff, which is meant to 
 satisfy all classes, and especially prides itself on the 
 moral satisfaction of having done the best under 
 the circumstances also for the poorer classes. But 
 who is the poor man, and what benefit has he had 
 from these regulations ? Has not the position of 
 the farmer, the tradesman and mechanic become 
 worse from vcar ^o vear, although the common 
 articles of life since the last three years have de- 
 clined materially. In the unsatisfactory position 
 of these classes we have to look for the causes of the 
 country's calamity, they are the bulk of the popula- 
 tion and trade ebbs out and flows with their pros- 
 perity. If we find they never have been yet in a 
 llotirisliing position, the present crisis, which more 
 or less affects all nations, must open our eyes to the 
 fact. 
 
 Our climate allows our farmer only about seven 
 months in the year to bring his productive power 
 to bear, the rest of the year he is a consumer on 
 account of his previous earnings, and to do the 
 necessary work in that given time almost the double 
 number of hands has to be employed to prepare the 
 
17 
 
 \n 
 ■r 
 111 
 
 e 
 
 r 
 
 soil and to reap. The capacity of the single indivi- 
 dual thus employed is therefore reduced to only one 
 quarter what it might be and his value to the coun- 
 try can be estimated only in this proj'Osition. Our 
 mechanics and tradesmen do not fare better. Only 
 the season of open navigation sees the former regu- 
 larly employed, and the chances of the latter for 
 work depend almost entirely on the overproduction 
 of other countries, who from time to time overilood 
 our markets with their goods, sold at almost any 
 price and stop our young undeveloped industries, 
 which, under such circumstances, can never reach a 
 state of perfection with a view to compete in the 
 world's market thereafter. 
 
 The depreciation of values all over the world, 
 caused by the wiping out of enormous capitals in 
 Asia and America (in Railroads, steamship lines, 
 mines, and factories,) which have proven total fail- 
 ures, and of loans contracted by states almost bank- 
 rupt, such as Turkey, Egypt, and the Argentine 
 Republic and of other gigantic losses which appeared 
 in Germany after the French war, during the so- 
 called period of inflation, — has indirectly also afiected 
 us. In consequence of the diminished consumptive 
 power of a portion of the world's population, former- 
 ly living in extravagance, the balance of the average 
 consumption has been disturbed. Lower prices 
 were the consequence, and manufacturers, to make 
 up for shortcomings, intended to reduce expenses by 
 augmenting their production. As the consumption 
 
18 
 
 of the lower priced articles did not advance in pro- 
 portion, and also the lilling np of transatlantic mar- 
 kets came to an end, the state of stagnation over the 
 world is accounted for. That a country like ours, 
 whose industries are in a state of infancy, must 
 sutler the most by it, is a natural consequence. 
 
 As we cannot emancipate ourselves from these 
 effects directly, we can expect an imin-ovement only 
 from the revival of business in other countries, or 
 from an unusually good crop of our cereals w4th the 
 realization of extra good prices. 
 
 As crop prospects are proverbially uncertain, we 
 cai- only consider the chances of a better business 
 in other countries. To do so we have to look for the 
 healthy growth of business in general. 
 
 The latter is dependent upon an augmentation 
 and amelioration of all productions. This can only 
 improve in x^roportion to the capacity to spend 
 of the consuming public, which makes only slow 
 advances in proportion with the amelioration which 
 individual circumstances derive from the increased 
 total production. Production and consumption are 
 closely related and cannot be reduced or enlarged 
 without affecting each other and their equili- 
 brium. 
 
 In proportion to the progress of culture and the 
 advancement of the lower classes, articles of modern 
 improvement and comfort, which formerly were only 
 accessible to the best classes, by degrees become the 
 property of all. Many articles, the use of which 
 
 
f 
 
 19 
 
 some lifty or one hundred years ag-o was considered 
 extravao-ant and luxurious are now necessaries of 
 living for all. For instance, sugar and tea. The well 
 modiiied wants of humanity become therefore laro-er 
 and more manifold with its advancement, and^'ui 
 comparison to it the most urgent nes are still 
 insufficiently supplied. From this point of view we 
 can certainly not produce too much. With over- 
 production, however, we generally mean a pro- 
 duction of more than what is wanted or above what 
 can be used. This tern is therefore not correct 
 and leads to misunderstandings. What is called 
 overproduction is simply, not economical produc- 
 tion. 
 
 For if the production of an article increases 
 considerably and rapidly the supply will overreach 
 the demand, except this supply can be furnished at 
 such a reduction in price that the individual expense 
 lor It will not increase with the increased quantity 
 used, or that for some cause whatever the capacity 
 to spend more has improved. All other chan-es of 
 production which cannot be traced to economical 
 causes such as those before mentioned, must disturb 
 the existing balance between the dilterent branches 
 of production, must impair the prosperity of the 
 producers and indirectly that of the community If 
 however, all branches of produce increase simul- 
 taneously according to their established proportions 
 the possibility to increase all productions within 
 time is almost unlimited. An increase outside of 
 
20 
 
 these proportions is not economical and the name 
 overproduction has been adopted for it. The total 
 production can never be too large ; a decrease of it 
 indicates a deterioration, an increase an amelioration 
 of the welfare of the human race. 
 
 The present calamity in foreign countries is the 
 consequence of enormous losses of capital sustained 
 as i)reviously mentioned and further of the spending 
 of fortunes in establishments erected for the purpose 
 of reducing prices by an increased production, which 
 are not paying interest, and for the time being add 
 to the burden of dead losses. 
 
 The proper remedy cannot be a reduction of pro- 
 duction, but the reestablishment of the equilibrium 
 between the different branches of industry and their 
 improvement. The tendency therefor is, that better 
 articles will be offered for less money and it will be 
 a long time before we can expect higher prices. As 
 we have seen that the capacity to spend, — the de- 
 mand, — can make only slow progress, a long time will 
 elapse before this equilibrium is established again. 
 We can for the same reasons not expect from foreign 
 countries a decrease of articles of practical and daily 
 use at figures which would allow us to compete with 
 them in our own country in the state of our present 
 development. It remains, therefore, to find means, 
 to put our industries in a competing position, to 
 improve not only the present situation, but to 
 strengthen us in such a v/ay that we shall not have 
 to suffer again for economical sins of other nations 
 
21 
 
 in which we took no part. We can certainly acquire 
 the ability to compete in the world only alter we 
 have learned to supply our own wants. We must 
 therefore become larcver producers in all directions, 
 for which the first stimulus can only be received by 
 means of a stronger protection ! If we exclude the 
 flooding of our markets with foreign goods, indus- 
 tries which are now carried on under difficulties 
 and only periodically, would then become remu- 
 nerative, they would be continued steadily throuo-h- 
 out the year. We would naturally work cheaper 
 and by wholesome corapetion within the bounds 
 of the country, not only prices would be reason- 
 able, but our inventive spirit which we have no 
 reason to consider inferior to our neio-hbour's 
 would receive new impetus. New industdes with 
 which we have made no attempts yet would 
 spring up, and our merchants would not become 
 losers, for instead of the manufactured articles they 
 would import a great many raw materials, and the 
 augmenting consumption would also benefit the 
 retailer, as it would allow him to adopt the prin- 
 ciple of "large sales and small profits." 
 
 The argument brought forward that a country of 
 lour millions and one half inhabitants cannot support 
 industries is a farce and a miserable excuse for our 
 impotence. 
 
 If it were correct, it would be our duty not to hesi • 
 tate a moment at amalgamation, as the basis of Can- 
 ada s present existence-farming and lumbering- 
 
22 
 
 lacks all economical principles with no future before 
 US. In fact no civilized country even if climatically 
 better situated can nowadays exist on such basis for 
 any length of time without detrimental consequences 
 and the destruction of its rescources. 
 
 Farming alone cannot be carried on scientifically 
 and in harmony with principles of national economy ; 
 it must be connected with agricultural and chemical 
 industries. 
 
 The faint attempts that have been made by far- 
 mers to introduce the beet-root sugar industry into 
 Canada show the desire to farm on a more rational 
 basis and to provide work for the laboring classes 
 during the time of their present idleness in winter. 
 
 Some provincial government has even offered a 
 premium for the first establishment starting and if 
 "we are informed correctly the assurance from gov- 
 ernment has been acquired by some fictitious com- 
 pany that for ten successive years no taxes on beets 
 raised in Canada or sugar therefrom should be ex- 
 acted. But these are only half measures. 
 
 If Government were convinced that this industry 
 would be a benefit to the country, and we cannot 
 doubt that it must have this conviction, it should be 
 made the careful matter of its study ; it should pro- 
 vide the best seeds, distribute them over the land with 
 instructions where, w^hen and how to plant them, 
 rear them and conserve them, and offer prizes for the 
 best crops so attained, the best for the purpose in 
 view. 
 
23 
 
 If America cannot furnish chemists and technical 
 men who have a thoroun-h insight into the matter it 
 should communicate with experts of high standing 
 in Europe, and if these pronounce the character of 
 tht crops remunerative, it would then be time to 
 draw the attention of our farmers to the fact, open 
 facilities ^br the starting up of such works, and pro- 
 nounce publicly the intention as to the duty connect- 
 ec therewith. The single individual, even a society 
 caanot accomplish this task well, and we must look 
 to the fathers of the land to solve questions of this 
 character. 
 
 The defective organization of the Department of 
 tlie Interior, its unwillingness or inability to help 
 IB, is the reason that important questions of this sort 
 a7e not solved, and the same qualities with our 
 tarilf regulators, the cause that our manufactures 
 c£n neither live nor die. 
 
 But also industries, of which we might have been 
 jistly prou.d, for the high intelligence of their 
 rranagement and state of perfection, from a technical 
 point of view, and whic;h, for these reasons, could 
 have defied the competition of the world on even 
 terms, have been allowed to close their establishments 
 by our short-sightedness and want of judgment. In 
 this respect we have especially our sugar refineries 
 in "saew. One of them six years ago gave up the task 
 of overcoming the difficulties of an unfavorable tariff, 
 which allowed English and American refined sugars 
 to supply a large amount of the consumption of 
 Canada. 
 
24 
 
 ^ 
 
 The othei after giving prools of wonderful endur- 
 ance, closed only this spring, in consequence of the 
 establishment of the late American drawback system 
 which refunds to the manufacturers on an average 
 one quarter of a cent per pound more on their ex- 
 portations of refined goods, than actually was paid 
 duty on the raw material, and no redress could be 
 obtained from our Government. 
 
 The reasons for not taking repressive measures 
 against this action were principally argued thus : 
 that the loss of work to some four or live hundred 
 workmen could not l)e guiding in the case, but :he 
 cheapness of the article so received from which the 
 people at large derive advantage. 
 
 Now, taking the population of Canada only at foi.r 
 millions and Iheir average consumption of sugar if 
 32 lbs, per head per annum, their yearly consumption 
 would amount to one hundred and twenty-eigit 
 million pounds and the advantage gained would le 
 eight cents per head or $320,000.00 in all. 
 
 The working expenses for refining sugar in tie 
 shape of wages, salaries, interests, insurances, com- 
 missions, repairs of all kinds, cartage, general trade, 
 business and travelling expenses, internal revenues, 
 fuel, cooperage, animal charcoal, etc., etc., amount to 
 at least 95 cents for every hundrtd pounds reiined, 
 and if Canada was in a position to supply its own 
 refined sugar the sum of $1,210,000.00 would every 
 year be gained and remain in the counfry which now 
 we pay to England and America. The last mentioned 
 
25 
 
 sum does not include any allowance for commission 
 to the merchant importer of raw sugar, nor of the 
 advantage the country must derive from a large and 
 direct communication with countries producing raw 
 sugar. We leave the reader to draw his own con- 
 clusions from the figures given and only wish to 
 mention that our refiners have never been in a 
 position yet to supply more than half of Canada's 
 sugar consumption, ifter having submitted to the 
 loss of almost their entire plant, after losing their 
 skilled laborers, who are mostly driven to the United 
 states or scattered over the land, our sugar refiners 
 will certainly not easily be tempted to start their 
 works again, except under better guarantees than 
 heretoiore given them.— 
 
 This closing of our best industries, and the state ol' 
 stagnation and imperfection of others compared with 
 the enormous progress of our neighbors, leads to the 
 nrm conclusion that the spirit in which the tariff 
 question has . been treated is detrimental to the 
 development of the country and the principal cause 
 of our present misfortune ; and further, that whilst 
 some ten years ago, more gentle means might have 
 had the desired effect, nothing will do now but a 
 strong and real protection which will give us the 
 courage to confront the encroachment and threatened 
 extinction of all branches of industry in Canada.- 
 
 But it rannot be denied that we ourselves and 
 individually are also to blame to a great extent for 
 the present ctate of affairs. 
 
 i 
 
26 
 
 In the first place it is our widespread credit system 
 which has done a great deal of harm, and we feel its 
 bad effects every day. The farmer purchases on 
 credit and pays if he can with the yield of his crop. 
 If the crop is fa.^orable he settles his account at 
 the end of the year, if not, his note is taken on 
 account of his next chance to pay, and so on. The 
 mechanic follows this example as much as possible, 
 and even our best classes adopt the plan of settling 
 their bills only once a year. The merchart is there- 
 by not able to sell with a reasonable profit, for he 
 must take into consideration his chances of not 
 being paid, and loss of interest, therefore neither 
 well-to-do people nor poor can get the full benefit 
 of low prices. That the difference of purchasing and 
 selling prices is not still larger, can only be accounted 
 for by the great competition of our country merchants 
 and little shop-keepers, which suggests an overdoing 
 of business, or more properly the disproportionate 
 number of people not ctually working and produc- 
 ing, but living by tno thrift of cheap braiivwork. 
 
 The cause of most of the numerous late failures 
 can be traced to the above mentioned 'defective sys- 
 tem, and it is high time that our large merchants 
 unite and by combined action establish a short credit 
 system. A vast amount of money has been sunk in 
 consequence of failures. Stocks of merchandise 
 had to be sold at auction prices, with which houses 
 of ample means and of first class standing could 
 not compete, lieduced consumption would even 
 
1 
 
 27 
 
 not readily buy at those figures, and the reaction 
 on our wholesale dealers and importers has become 
 most distressing. This distress and disgust prevails 
 to such an extent that a great many of our merchants 
 and importers would willingly sacrifice a large 
 amount of their capital if they only could aell out 
 and leave the country. 
 
 A second cause, hinted at before, is that the pro- 
 portion of our actually working population and that 
 which should make the mediator only is not in its 
 healthy limits. In our better educated classes we 
 meet with an unwillingness to do actual work and 
 to soil their fingers, which is conspicuous especial!).- 
 in our cities, w^here we can find numbers of men, 
 who are satisfied with the smallest salaries in offices 
 and as middlemen, who could, even under existing 
 circumstances, double their earnings by some me", 
 chanical pursuit. 
 
 To do work is still more or less a disgrace with us, 
 whilst our neighbours have overcome the prejudice. 
 They keep their independence even if working at a 
 trade, and add considerably to the average standing 
 of their working classes. 
 
 To this spirit can be attrilnited some of the best 
 results of our neighbors, and a great many of their 
 labour-saving machines owe their origin to the su- 
 perior intelligence brought to bear on the work. 
 Besides this unwillingness to enter upon mechanical 
 pursuits, we fiad alsD that either for want of stamina 
 or actual capability we do not get the same amount 
 
28 
 
 > 
 
 l^i 
 
 of work out of our men, which in some branches is 
 no small item. For instance a brick-layer will not 
 lay more than six to eight hundred bricks a day 
 with us, whilst the American contractor can calculate 
 one thousand bricks, laid in a straight wall, to be a 
 days work. Not as a criticism, but simply as another 
 reason why we do not get the fullest beneiit of our 
 productiveness, we may be allowed to hint at the great 
 ^iany holidays of our French population, which in 
 some parts of the year interfere materially with steady 
 work. 
 
 Further, in our schools no due notice is taken of 
 the technical sciences. It is the cause why so little 
 knowledge about them and their close relation is to 
 be met with, and why being quite an out of the way 
 iind foreign matter to us, we do not enter more 
 readily into promising enterprises. The results of 
 engineering and mining so far attained iail to prove 
 that our academies which make these studies speciali- 
 ties are eflicient. If we want to do something 
 important in these branches we have to send to 
 Europe for experts. 
 
 Further, there is no spirit to promote technical 
 knowledge amongst our industrials themselves or to 
 exchange practical experience in their dillerent lines. 
 "We are in want of a popular organ, which wc aid 
 have especially this object in view and which by 
 the close observation of the world's progress in all 
 directions woula give hints and practical advice to 
 our tradesmen and manufacturers. 
 
29 
 
 Further, if the industrials of similar branches 
 would unite for the purpose of representing their 
 common interest before the people and Parliament a 
 great deal of good might be derived, especially so if 
 this would have the effect of doing away with exist- 
 ing jealousies, promote an even and healthy mode 
 of business and a sharper division of work amonn-,st 
 the different branches with a better and cheaper 
 production in the end. 
 
 Lastly, our freighting and shippinrr within the 
 bounds of the country might bo improved and new 
 lacihties opened. A decided change lor the better 
 can be recorded since the last two months. Before 
 this time, however, bulky and weighty goods could 
 be laid down cheaper into Toronto and Hamilton 
 from New York, Boston, Portland and even Phila- 
 dclphia and Baltimore than from the principal ports 
 of our own country, which was the cause that a deal 
 of business had to be left to our neighbors. 
 
 It is also to be hoped that the expectations connect- 
 ed with the opening of the Intercolonial liailroad 
 will be realized, and that the interests of the maritime 
 provinces become more identiiled with ours, which 
 would no doubt facilitate the settlement of difficult 
 tarift questions materially. 
 
 The opening of a direct line of vessels to the West 
 Indies would also,-be of great advantage to the 
 country, but as long as our tarills prohibit the re- 
 fining of sugars, we cannot predict long life to such 
 a line, which must remain a chimera as long as 
 
30 
 
 no abundant freighting material between the two 
 countries can be secured. 
 
 TO SUM UP. 
 
 Let Grovernment give us a judicious, but stringent 
 protective tarifl'to foster our industry in its infancy. 
 
 Let it organize the Department of the interior on 
 the model of the American one so as to distribute 
 widespread knowledge in regard to fertilizers, the 
 latest improvements in agriculture, and let it use all 
 energy to promote the starting of agricultural in- 
 dustries. 
 
 Give us legislation making the replanting of forests 
 compulsory or offering premiums therefor. 
 
 Then the duty of the people will be plain. In- 
 dustrials insured of stability must reorganize their 
 manufacturing establishments, mills and shops on 
 the latest improvements, regulating their production 
 according to the demand and supply on a more 
 rational and economical basis, open out new branches 
 of industry, for which with a fair assurance of suc- 
 cess capital will not be lacking. 
 
 Merchants must take a firm stand to abolish the 
 pernicious credit system. Farmers and agricultural- 
 ists must give their soil, in the shape of fertilizers, 
 ■what they take from it, and rich crops will soon 
 repay them for the outlay. 
 
 Let every one. Government and individuals, put 
 their hands energetically to the w^heel and we shall 
 
i 
 
 31 
 
 soon enough run smoothly on the high road to 
 fortune. 
 
 If any of the above improvements urged were not 
 feasible, the writer would be to blame for laying 
 bare the sore spots of our commercial legislatioir, 
 trade and industry. Only united and vigorous eiibrt 
 is required to promote these improvements • it 
 becomes therefore the duty of every one to do his 
 share. The writer's .nly motive in penning those 
 lines IS to contribute his mite towards paving the 
 way to renewed prosperity of the country.