Part 10 (1/2)

French, Dutch, Belgian, and Gerht few bonds but invested freely in mines, timber limits, and land companies, and set up n capitalists held a e of about two and a half billions on Canada, but in most cases {229} the money had been well applied, and the resources of the country ly developed

The railere the chief bidders for this vast inflow of new capital It was distinctly a railway era The railway rowth of settlement in turn called for still new roads In the fifteen years following 1896 nearly ten thousand miles were built, two miles a day, year in and year out, and the three years following saw another five thousand reat transcontinentals were constructed Branch lines innu out, crowded sections were double-tracked, grades were lowered, curves straightened, vast terminals built, steamshi+p connections formed, and equipment doubled and trebled

In this expansion the state, as ever in Canada, took a leading share

The Dominion Governan a road from the prairies to Hudson Bay, while the Ontario Govern up New Ontario The federal policy of aid to private corants were given, and {230} when cash subsidies were bestowed, the coovernment mails, materials and men, up to three per cent on the subsidy The transcontinentals were specially favoured The Grand Trunk systeuarantees and cash subsidies for its ard expansion, and the Government itself constructed the National Transcontinental to ensure the opening up of the north, and to prevent the traffic of the west being carried to United States rather than to Canadian Atlantic ports The Canadian Northern was assisted in its prairie construction by both federal and provincial guarantees The Laurier Govern a third line north of Lake Superior, but refused to take any share in the responsibility or cost of building the h the Rockies The Borden Governave the aid desired for this latter venture Another important development was the establishment, in 1903, with the happiest results, of the Dominion Railway Commission, to mediate between railway and shi+pper or traveller

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The railway policy of this period is still matter for dispute On the econoreater part of the construction was essential in order to open up the West, with all that this implied for both West and East Yet there were ain--the sti in settled districts, the construction of roads ahead of immediate needs or possible traffic The fact is that the railway policy was part and parcel of the whole business policy of the period, the outcome of the same new-born optimism which induced many a municipality to build pavements and sewers before the population warranted, or manufacturers to extend their plants too rapidly, or banks to open branches that did not pay Progress co fashi+on; now one need is stressed, now another To each time its own task, to each the defects of its qualities And if in the reaction from unexampled prosperity some of the expansion seemed to have come before its time, , and did not regret that in Canada's growing tireat and for the est and only prosperity could achieve

On the political side, also, there were entries on both sides of the ledger Caue were the chief debit entries Yet there were heavy credit entries which should not be forgotten No other country has made the effort and the sacrifice Canada has made to bind its far-distant and isolated provinces in links of steel The Intercolonial made the union of east and centre a reality, the Canadian Pacific bound east and centre and west, and the National Transcontinental added the north to the Doe of settlement that lined the United States border The national ends which Sir John Macdonald and Sir Wilfrid Laurier steadfastly held in vieere so great and vital as to warrant risk, to coe

In Canada the state, without much discussion as to the theory involved, has endeavoured to foster production in countless ways The encourage of railways and canals are perhaps the le forms this stimulus has taken; but they are far from the only ones Farmer, miner, fisherman, manufacturer, artisan, all have been aided by policies more or less effective

Under previous adood work and had raised the standard of farm production That as now extended and re-vitalized For the first tie of the departht On experimental farms and in laboratories, studies were carried on as to the best stock or plants, the best fertilizers or the best feeding-stuffs, to suit the varied soils and climates of the wide Dominion By bulletins and demonstrations farmers were instructed in suchof cheese, the iainst disease in herd and flock Marketing received equal attention For the fruit and dairy industries refrigerator-car services and cold-storage facilities on ocean shi+ps were provided In these and other ways the effort was made to help the Canadian farmer to secure full value for his toil

The miner received less direct aid {234} Railways built intoareas, bounties on lead and petroleum, bounties on iron ore and steel products, laboratory studies inreat development of the mines of Canada which marked this era

None too soon, an important step was taken in 1909 to ensure the perpetuation or the prudent use of the country's natural resources In the early, lavish days men had believed these resources inexhaustible, or had recklessly ignored the claims of the future in their haste to snatch a fortune to-day The United States had gone furthest on this path, and was the first to coton, in 1909, attended by representatives of the United States, Canada, Newfoundland, and Mexico--notable also as one of the first instances of Canada's recognition of the fact that she was an American power--recommended the establishment of a conservation commission in each country Canada was the only country that acted upon the advice

The Conservation Commission was established that very year, ide duties of investigation and recommendation Under Sir Clifford Sifton as chairman and Mr {235} James White as secretary it has perforht as well as the land The fishi+ng bounties already established were continued Experts were brought fro fish Co-operative cold-storage warehouses for bait were set up, and a fast refrigerator-car service on both coasts brought fish fresh to the interior Laboratories for the study of

Unfortunately, disputes arose as to jurisdiction between Dominion and provinces and between Canada and the United States, and the fisheries did not grow at the rate of other industries

The manufacturer, however, continued to be the chief object of attention An increase took place in the service of trade commissioners for Canada in other countries, whose duties are sin consular service The bounties on iron and steel production, a in all to twenty millions, undoubtedly did much to stimulate that industry The protective tariff, as we have seen, remained in a modified form After the notable step of 1897 towards a purely revenue tariff, there came a halt for some years In fact, it see towards still higher duties In 1902 the n in that direction, which was given aggressive support by the minister of Public Works, J Israel Tarte, often termed by opponents of the Government the 'Master of the Administration' This breach of ministerial solidarity Sir Wilfrid Laurier met, on his return from the Colonial Conference, by an instant denation

It was made clear that the compromise which had been adopted in 1897 would not be rashly abandoned Yet the allows' continued, and produced some effect It led (1904) to a reduction of the British preference on woollens and to an 'anti-dun producers--providing for a special duty when articles were sold in Canada for less than the prevailing price in the country of origin In the sa foreshadowed the introduction of aduties as the minimum, and with maximum duties to be applied to countries which levied especially high rates on Canadian products Only the vigorous opposition set up by the faritation for still higher duties The new tariff of 1907 made many careful revisions upward as well as doard, but on the whole the existing level was retained Below the her than the British preference, there was set up an intern states This coe or strong agitation for change until three years later, when negotiations for reciprocity with the United States once ht the issue to the front

The field of social legislation, in which so many radical experiments have been made by other lands, in Canada falls for the most part to the provinces Within its limited jurisdiction the Laurier Government achieved so and overn it possible to secure uard workime a commission was appointed to study the question of technical education, important alike for manufacturer {238} and for artisan The most distinctive innovation, however, was the Le, the first deputy ation into labour disputes in quasi-public industries It proved a long step towards industrial peace, and was one of the few Canadian legislative experiation

The growth of the Westfull provincial powers to the North-West Territories

Originally under the direct rule of the Dooverniven representation at Ottawa; in 1888 a local legislature was created, with lied; and in 1897 the Executive Council was islature Noith half a million people between Manitoba and British Columbia, the time had come to take the last step And so in 1905 the Autono the provinces of Alberta and Saskatcheere brought before the House of Commons by the prime minister

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There were many controversial issues involved How many provinces should be created? Tere decided upon, to comprise the area south of the sixtieth parallel; the area to the north was left in the territorial status What should be the capitals? Provisionally Ediven control of crown lands? Notwithstanding some opposition, it was decided to maintain the policy, in force fro the lands in control of the Doration What financial aid should be given?

Liberal grants were provided, accepted by all parties as fair and adequate What legislative powers should the provinces be given, particularly on the subject of education? This proved a thorny question It provoked a storm of heated controversy which for a brief time recalled the days of the Jesuits' Estates and Manitoba school questions

A clause in the bills, which Sir Wilfrid Laurier introduced in February 1905, provided: first, that Section 93 of the British North Aes, should apply; secondly, to es were, it stipulated that {240} the ht establish such schools as they thought fit, and that the ht also do so, being in that case liable only for one set of school rates; and thirdly, that legislative appropriations should be divided equitably between public and separate schools