securities, and carry on generally a banking 

 business, but they are prohibited from direct 

 lending of money upon the security of shares in 

 the capital stock of any chartered bank, or upon 

 the security of real estate. 



The System is Flexible 



Canada's banking system is flexible, the 

 banks having perfect control of the credit 

 situation by reason of the limited number of 

 chartered banks with an extensive system of 

 branches covering the Dominion, Newfoundland, 

 Great Britain, the West Indies, and some 

 foreign countries. This puts the banking and 

 credit systems under the supervision of a few 

 large and powerful and well-managed institu- 

 tions, headed by trained bankers, who are able 

 to keep in close touch with conditions in every 

 part of the country through the system of 

 branches. 



Canada has eighteen chartered banks with 

 more than four thousand branches throughout 

 the Dominion and Newfoundland. These are 

 the Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, 

 Bank of Toronto, Molsons Bank, Banque 

 Nationale, Merchants Bank of Canada, Banque 

 Provinciale du Canada, Union Bank of Canada, 

 Canadian Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of 

 Canada, Dominion Bank, Bank of Hamilton, 

 Standard Bank of Canada, Banque d'Hochelaga, 

 Imperial Bank of Canada, Home Bank of 

 Canada, Sterling Bank of Canada and the Wey- 

 burn Security Bank. 



The Bank of Montreal is capitalized at 

 $28,075,000; two are capitalized at $25,000,000; 

 three at $15,000,000; four at $10,000,000; five 

 at $5,000,000; and one each at $3,000,000, 

 $2,000,000 and $1,000,000. The total authorized 

 capital of these banks is $194,075,000; the 

 subscribed capital, $116,665,200; the paid-up 

 capital, $115,834,923; and the reserve fund, 

 $122,273,225. 



Extension to Foreign Fields 



The past few years have seen a remarkable 

 branching out into the foreign field by Canadian 

 banks, which, once the movement was initiated, 

 extended rapidly both by means of alliances 

 with established banks and by the opening of 

 branches of the Dominion's institutions. Cana- 

 dian banks established branches overseas during 

 the war for the convenience of the Canadian 

 army and to handle the vastly increased inter- 

 national work the period threw upon them. 

 In 1919, the Royal Bank of Canada entered 

 Columbia, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Buenos 

 Aires, Montevideo, and Rio de Janeiro. The 

 Dominion Bank made connections with the 

 British Overseas Bank in London for the purpose 

 of handling foreign trade, and the Union Bank 

 of Canada affiliated with the Park Union 

 Banking Corporation for the purpose of the 

 Chinese and Japanese and other eastern trade. 



Further extension continued in 1920. The 

 Bank of Montreal acquired an interest in the 

 Colonial Bank, a British organization with strong 

 British West Indies connections. The Canadian 

 Bank of Commerce established branches in 

 Havana, Cuba, and Kingston, Jamaica, and 

 intend commencing business in Rio de Janeiro, 

 Brazil, Bridgetown, Barbados, and Port of 

 Spain, Trinidad. Tlje Royal Bank of Canada 

 opened new branches in Barranquilla, Colombia, 

 and Santos, and San Paulo, Brazil. Branches of 

 Canadian banks are now to be found in the 

 United Kingdom, United States, France, Spain, 

 Italy, West Indies, Cuba, Mexico, Central and 

 South America, numbering in all about one 

 hundred and fifty. 



The Industrial Outlook in Western Canada 



By John Sweeting, Industrial Agent, Western Lines, C.P.R. 



The Government of the Province of Alberta, 

 through its Statistical Branch, makes the state- 

 ment that an admittedly conservative estimate 

 of the value of farm production and of live 

 stock on the farms within the province at the 

 end of 1920 reaches a total value of over 

 $430,000,000. It can be said that the agricultural 

 and livestock values of the other Prairie Prov- 

 inces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan would 

 come within reasonable bounds of, or may exceed, 

 Alberta's total, and thus a sum of over one 

 billion dollars is seen as the value of agriculture 

 on the Western Prairies. 



In looking at the future of the West, it is 

 permissible to emphasize the small proportion 

 of available agricultural land that is to-day 

 under cultivation as compared with the total 

 area of arable land available for tillage and 

 stock grazing. To these factors must be added 

 the values of agriculture, minerals, forests, 

 fisheries and other resources of the Province of 

 British Columbia, as well as similar resources 

 in the Prairie Provinces, and the as yet 

 undiscovered or unproven potential wealth such 

 as oil and other assets of the West. 



Canadians, taking into consideration these 

 well-known facts, realize that in a country 

 yielding so abundantly there is only reason for 

 progressive development and no reason what- 

 soever for doubt of a continuance of prosperity. 



Renewal of Business Activity 



It is a noticeable fact that the movement 

 towards normal trading conditions has already 

 commenced. Factories that have been working 

 part-time or with reduced staffs are taking on 

 additional men, and by the end of January 

 a large number of plants will be again in full 

 operation. In country districts, merchants are 

 sending in orders to replenish stocks and the 

 commercial traveller is finding conditions rapidly 

 improving. The unemployment which has never 



