XL THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



When Confederation came and the country leaped into new life, 

 what did our universities do for the making of this land ? To my 

 mind, they did what they had to do in the best possible way. The 

 West has been the creation of Canada since Confederation. And 

 who have made that West ? I think that all Canadians, and I think 

 even those who were not born in Canada, will agree with me when I 

 say that the stamp, the indelible stamp that was put upon that West 

 was put upon it by Canadians from the east. Now who were these ? 

 These Canadians from the old eastern provinces, who were they ? 

 Who were the leaders ? They were mainly men from our old uni- 

 versities; and we from the eastern universities who go West recognize 

 in the welcome that is given to us from the graduates of our eastern 

 universities who are now in the West, we recognize how powerful is 

 the influence of the East upon the West, just through the universities. 

 In any branch of life, in all the professions, there you find our eastern 

 men; and that is the great contribution that out universities have 

 made to the building up of Confederation since the year 1867. And 

 it has been well done. The West has proved that it was well done, 

 and we have a right to glory in what our fathers did. 



But we were ready for a new step, and the new step came with 

 developing wealth, with enlarged scope, shortly before the war. 

 Our eastern universities had been entering into a richer heritage, 

 led by prophets, led by men to inspire ; they had enlarged their borders; 

 they were erecting spacious laboratories; they were making provision 

 for the demands of advancing science. We seemed to be on the eve 

 of new and better things, ready for a new day, having already done 

 much that should prepare for it, in the years since Confederation. 

 Just as we were beginning to realize that, just as the eastern univer- 

 sities were recognizing that one of the most consummate pieces of 

 patriotism that they could perform would be the development of 

 graduate work, so that our Canadian students from the various 

 universities could receive within our own borders the best that could 

 be given in science, literature and all branches of learning — just at 

 that time when this new spirit of intellectual unification was beginning 

 to burst forth and the flower was almost breaking, suddenly there 

 comes this storm, that for the time has driven the flower to earth — 

 we hope, however, has not dashed it, but that it will revive when the 

 storm passes. 



Now, what has this storm proved as it has beaten so furiously 

 upon our universities ? What has it proved ? It has proved that 

 the foundations were well laid, that the house has been built upon the 

 rock; we may be thoroughly satisfied with the kind of thing that was 

 done in the last thirty years in our universities. Whatever the other 



