Labrador's need in development, according 

 to Dr. Wilfrid Grenfell, the best authority on 

 that region, is some wage-earning industry such 

 as pulp and paper making would afford. This, 

 in view of the recent interest in the territory con- 

 sequent upon a universal paper shortage, he is 

 confident of seeing established within a short 

 time. Manufacturers have a precedent to go 

 by in the establishment of mills in Newfound- 

 land by Lord Northcliffe to supply the paper for 

 his English journals. 



The Labor Situation 



A review of the labor situation for the month 

 of February discloses a decline in the average 

 amount of employment during the month as 

 compared with the previous one, but at the same 

 time a further gratifying decline in the cost of 

 living as illustrated in the figures of the weekly 

 family budget. There was rather more time lost 

 in industrial disturbances than in the previous 

 month but less than in the corresponding 

 month of the preceding year. 



In the metals, machinery and conveyances 

 group a decline was noted in the beginning of 

 the month in railway car shops in Ontario and 

 in the shipyards and the crude, forged, rolled and 

 foundry divisions in the Maritime Provinces and 

 Quebec. A recovery was made later in the 

 month with also an improvement in the British 

 Columbia shipyards. In the food, drink and 

 tobacco group, gains were recorded in the con- 

 fectionery and tobacco industries, but abattoirs 

 and packing houses were somewhat less active 

 whilst there was a temporary closing of some 

 sugar refinery plants. The textile and clothing 

 groups both made marked gains during the 

 month, and in Quebec and Ontario the boot, shoe, 

 hat, cap and garment factories were increasingly 

 active. 



General Seasonal Slackness 



The pulp and paper industry recorded an 

 average decline in the numbers employed. 

 In the woodworking and furniture groups in- 

 creased activity in anticipation of the approach- 

 ing season caused some increase of staffs. The 

 building industry continued, however, dormant, 

 and railway construction was also very slack. 

 Transportation declined steadily during the 

 month. The logging industry entered upon the 

 usual period of inactivity though some camps 

 were opened up in British Columbia. Sawmills 

 generally showed increasing activity whilst 

 mining and quarrying groups continued to 

 decline. 



The loss of time due to industrial disputes 

 amounted to 23,547 work days from twenty-two 

 strikes involving 2,624 people. In January, 

 there were only ten strikes involving 964 work- 

 people, and resulting in a time loss of 15,951 



working days, and in February, 1920, twenty-five 

 strikes, 2,345 workpeople and 30,920 working 

 days. 



The downward movement in prices con- 

 tinued, lower levels being reached in practically 

 all lines with the greatest falls in grain, vege- 

 tables, and textiles. The average cost in sixty 

 cities of a list of staple foods was in February, 

 $14.08 as compared with $14.48 at the beginning 

 of January, $15.77 in February, 1920, and $7.75 

 in February, 1914. 



The chief decreases for the month were in 

 eggs, butter, bread, potatoes, with slight 

 decreases in some meats, bacon, lard, flour, 

 rolled oats, rice, beans, prunes and sugar. 



The Canadian Authors' Association 



By Chalks W. Stokes. 



Canadian authors to the number of over a 

 hundred met in a two-day convention at Mont- 

 real last month, and formed a Canadian Authors' 

 Association on somewhat similar lines to the 

 Authors' Society of Great Britain and the 

 Authors' League of America. There is probably 

 something a little unusual in this convention, for 

 literary men are not invariably imbued with too 

 much co-operative spirit; but apart from that, 

 the convention was noteworthy because it 

 advertised to the world the existence of Canadian 

 literature. 



He would indeed be a bold man who said that 

 there is no Canadian literature. Canada pos- 

 sesses a magnificent literature; the drawback is 

 that comparatively little of it appears in the first 

 instance in Canada, or is identified with Canada. 

 It is frequently the misfortune of a small country 

 to see its artistic effort absorbed into that of a 

 powerful neighbor. Belgium and Switzerland 

 are familiar instances in Europe; Canada is the 

 principal interest in America. The publishers' 

 lists of the United States are full of Canadian 

 authors. 



Amongst them, to select a few outstanding 

 examples, are Stephen Leacock, one of the most 

 popular humorists of the present day, who in 

 private life is a Professor at McGill University, 

 Montreal; Bliss Carman, one of the most 

 artistic of living poets; Charles G. D. Roberts, 

 Robert W. Service, Ralph Connor, L. M. Mont- 

 gomery, author of that charming story "Anne of 

 Green Gables," Norman Duncan, who wrote 

 "Dr. Luke of the Labrador," and E. W. Thom- 

 son, author of "Old Man Savarin." Amongst 

 the popular magazine writers who delight 

 American readers are Basil King, Arthur 

 Stringer, Frank L. Packard, George Patullo, and 

 Agnes C. Laut, all of them of Canadian birth. 

 Sir Gilbert Parker is a Canadian, too, although 

 he publishes more as an Englishman; John 

 McCrae, another Canadian, wrote the most 

 famous war-poem "In Flanders Field." 



75 



