[SHORTT] PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 73 
artificial but short-lived boom which follows the close of most wars. 
Although Canada was blessed with several good harvests between 
1853 and 1856, yet the volume of her grain was not sufficient to mater- 
ially affect prices, especially in the face of the shutting off of the usual 
Russian supplies. There was answered in every particular, therefore, 
the alleged fervent prayer of the Canadian farmers for ‘‘a bountiful 
harvest and a bloody war.” In the upward sweep of prices, wheat 
actually reached the high water mark of two dollars and fifty cents per 
bushel. What this meant for an agricultural country can be easily 
understood. Details of this situation, however, have already been 
dealt with in a previous paper. 
The reaction after this exceptional period of prosperity was corre- 
spondingly severe. The fragments of exploded land speculations filled 
the air. Commercial failures were numerous and the Government was 
swamped by its railroad obligations. Financially, the credit of the 
country fell to the lowest point in the history of Canada. Once more, 
however, war came to the rescue, this time on the American continent 
in the shape of the Civil War between the Northern and Southern 
States. The Trent Affair during the earlier stages of the conflict and 
the Fenian Raids at the close of it occasioned the sending of special 
British troops to Canada, although, of course, not on a scale relatively 
so important as in the cases of the earlier American conflicts. The 
chief economic benefits to Canada, however, resulted from the excellent 
markets for Canadian supplies, furnished by the armies of the North, 
and the inflow of Southern funds for safe-keeping in Canadian banks. 
The latter furnished temporary trading capital of great assistance at a 
time when little was to be had in Britain. One serious drawback to the 
American markets was the amount of depreciated paper money which 
had been issued even by the Northern States and which, as legal tender, 
had almost completely taken the place of metallic currency. At the 
close of the war, the Reciprocity Treaty was abrogated in 1866, yet 
the usual post-bellum boom being in full cry, aided by the resurrected 
metallic currency, which had been in hiding during the war, resulted 
in an augmented demand for Canadian produce at Crimean prices in 
hard cash. Of course, the American boom soon collapsed and stagna- 
tion and pessimism reigned in the Spanish castles: erected by feverish 
speculators and optimists. Naturally, Canada suffered somewhat 
from the reaction, but not so severely as the United States. The 
financial stringency in Europe, marked by the Overend failure, being 
relieved, was followed by the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, 
which once more brought prosperity to Canada, not so much directly 
through the influence on British trade and industry. The boom, 
which followed in the wake of that brief but tragic struggle, was felt 
