Immigration in the Maritimes 



The greater part of the immigration tide to 

 Canada since this influx has assumed such 

 importance as a factor in Dominion development 

 has been deflected to the newer areas of the West 

 to the neglect of the older Maritime provinces. 

 The boundless area of the Western provinces 

 with its atmosphere of vigor and energy would 

 seem to instil a tireless virility and overwhelming 

 confidence, and its inhabitants have never been 

 slow in spreading broadcast the glad tidings of 

 what awaits others who will settle there. West- 

 erners are their own best immigration agents, 

 and this desire for publicity and the realization 

 of its value has been one of several factors which 

 have contributed to building up the West to the 

 partial neglect of the East. 



The East is, however, awake to the advertising 

 of its several and diverse attractions, and the 

 efforts it has put forth quite recently are expected 

 to bear fruit in the immediate future. Provincial 

 authorities are sanguine of excellent results in the 

 present year, and look forward to a substantial 

 immigration, especially from the British Isles. 

 The atmosphere and general conditions of living 

 in the Eastern Provinces, with their smaller 

 farms and cosy villages and hamlets, more 

 closely approximate the rural districts of the 

 British Isles than does the more bustling West 

 where everything is performed on such a gigantic 

 scale, and many persons coming from across the 

 Atlantic in the past have passed by the provinces 

 of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince 

 Edward Island for a lack of knowledge of what 

 these provinces offer them. There are oppor- 

 tunities equal to those in the West for people 

 desirous of purchasing farms, for the farm helper 

 and the household worker. 



Settlement Increasing 



In the past twenty years, or from July 1st, 

 1900, to March 31st, 1920, there entered Canada 

 for the first time 3,428,824 persons, of whom only 

 157,912, or .043 per cent of the total, came to the 

 Maritimes. In the seven months from May to 

 November, 1920, the total immigration to the 

 three provinces on the Atlantic coast was 4,436, 

 a monthly average of 662.28, or .044 per cent of 

 Canada's total immigration for that time. Of 

 these people, 3,047 arrived by ocean ports and 

 1,389 from the United States, whilst the totals 

 of the individual provinces were, Nova Scotia 

 2,905, New Brunswick 1,340, and Prince Edward 

 Island 191. 



Immigration in the Maritime provinces is 

 naturally different to that of the prairie provinces 

 and the hinterlands of Ontario and Quebec with 

 their large open areas, and a selected policy is 

 found necessary and carried out. Encourage- 

 ment is more particularly given those who have 

 a small capital and are physically fit, as well as 

 the farm laborer and the household worker. 



In Nova Scotia, the Bureau of Industries 

 and Immigration, which is interested in the 

 settling of vacant lands in the province, was 

 instrumental in 1920 in bringing from across the 

 water 276 agricultural helpers and farm pur- 

 chasers, who brought with them capital to the 

 extent of $129,298. From inquiries it has 

 received and other indications, the bureau antici- 

 pates a heavier year in 1921 and a greater influx 

 to the farms of Nova Scotia. 



Travelling Libraries 



"A Library for Every Farm" might appro- 

 priately be adopted as the motto of the Agricul- 

 tural Extension Service of the provinces of 

 Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which 

 attempts to circulate the best in literature 

 throughout the rural districts, and further 

 education as well as foster greater interest in the 

 social aspect of farm life. 



Agricultural countries like Canada and the 

 United States have always with them a subtle, 

 half-exposed problem in the inherent tendency 

 of the youth of the farm to be drawn to the 

 bright lights and the allurements of the city. It 

 is not that farm work is any longer the drudgery 

 of the pioneers, for modern machinery has 

 largely removed the arduous element from 

 present day farming, whilst the man with a 

 successfully operated farm is now often the 

 envy of the business and professional man. But 

 the natural drift of youth is to imagine that 

 which he has not surpasses those things which 

 surround his everyday life, and to the youth of 

 the farm the city's attractions, its theatres, its 

 crowds and bustle seem eminently desirable to 

 live among. It is exactly the same attitude 

 which makes the city-bred youth turn to the 

 country fields and pastures and find such pleasure 

 in the quiet and solitude of pastoral life. 



And so men who have most clearly realized 

 this drift and its causes, and seen the national 

 danger it constitutes to a country whose founda- 

 tion is the pursuit of agriculture, have devoted 

 great energy to encouraging the youth to stay 

 on the land, and have found the most effective 

 remedy to be in furthering the pleasures of 

 rural social life and bringing some of the things 

 of the city to the country. 



Novel Features of Social Life 



In Canada, the government has taken a 

 hand in this, and by introducing many novel 

 features of social life, and offering facilities for 

 others, plays an important part in bringing to 

 the young men and maidens of the farm, a 

 realization of the large future they hold to 

 themselves and to the nation. Lecturers travel 

 the provinces and deliver talks on a variety of 

 subjects; school gardens are subsidized and 

 encouraged; competitions for boys and girls are 

 held in connection with all agricultural fairs; 



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