duction of farm crops, the most productive 

 farming is where fertile land is the cheapest. 

 This is the feature which makes the Western 

 Canadian farm mortgage so attractive to 

 investors. 



Mortgage companies state that loss is prac- 

 tically impossible in dealing with Western 

 Canadian farms. Land values in Canada are 

 continually increasing. Last year the average 

 price of land over the Dominion rose to $48 

 per acre from $46 the year before, whilst in 

 1915 the value was only $35. This land is the 

 security for the mortgage, so far from being 

 depreciable being in fact on a .steady trend 

 upwards, the securest basis an investment 

 could have. 



To the average investor, content that his 

 money is safe against loss, there is a less material 

 side to the investment. He has the gratifica- 

 tion of knowing that his savings are working 

 to such good end. The prosperity of the world 

 is dependent upon the agricultural industry, 

 and in addition to paying a regular and hand- 

 some interest, the capital invested is aiding some 

 farmer to increase his production of the crops the 

 world is very much in need of. 



The Labor Situation 



The situation in October as reported by the 

 Department of Labor was on the whole most 

 gratifying in its various features that has been 

 reported for some time. Reports received from 

 all over the Dominion indicated a somewhat 

 greater volume of employment. The cost of 

 living, as indicated in the weekly family budget, 

 fell somewhat. There was less time loss due to 

 industrial disputes than in the previous month 

 or the corresponding month of the previous 

 year. 



Ontario and Quebec reported steady in- 

 creases in employment. In the Prairie Pro- 

 vinces there were slight fluctuations but the 

 movement was on the whole favorable. In the 

 Maritime Provinces and British Columbia, on 

 the other hand, there were slight shrinkages in 

 employment. The most important features in 

 the period under review were the gains in the 

 volume of employment afforded in the logging 

 and textile groups. Offsetting this to some 

 extent were pronounced losses in sawmills and 

 fruit and vegetable canneries. The trans- 

 portation group, rubber, leather, iron and steel, 

 and coal mining all afforded increased employ- 

 ment. Pulp and paper factories, summer hotels, 

 retail trade and building construction continued 

 to report curtailment in operation. 



Index of Wholesale Prices Drops 



The Departmental index number of wholesale 

 prices was down to 229.8 for October as compared 

 with 232.7 for the previous month. The chief 

 changes for the month were declines in prices of 

 grain, livestock and meats and in miscellaneous 



foods and groceries, but there were also declines 

 in fish, leather, house furnishings, drugs and 

 chemicals. There were slight advances in tex- 

 tiles, gasolines, and coal oil and seasonal advances 

 in eggs and milk. 



In retail prices the cost of a list of twenty- 

 nine, staple foods in sixty cities averaged $11.48 

 at the beginning of October as compared with 

 $11.82 in September, $15. 83 in October, 1920,and 

 $7.99 in October, 1914. The chief changes in the 

 month were declines in potatoes, meats, cheese 

 flour and bread, but there were increases in eggs, 

 and butter. Anthracite coal and hard wood 

 advanced slightly, but soft coal, soft wood and 

 coal oil declined to an extent. 



No new strikes were reported during the 

 month but sixteen carried over from the previous 

 month involving during the period some 2,229 

 woikpeople and resulting in a time loss of about 

 54,704 working days. None of these strikes 

 were reported as having terminated during the 

 month. 



Reported Discovery Iron Ore 



By G. G. Ommanney, Investigation Engineer, C.P.R. 



The press has recently announced the dis- 

 covery by Messrs. E. A. & N. C. Butterfield of 

 large deposits of iron ore on the shores of Lake 

 Athabasca in Northern Alberta stated to con- 

 tain many million tons, the ore carrying a high 

 percentage of iron. The territory in which this 

 discovery is reported to have been made has 

 been the subject of some investigation by officials 

 of the Dominion Government, Department of 

 Mines, and is referred to by Professor John A. 

 Allan of the University of Alberta. This refer- 

 ence concludes wich the following words: 



"The district is worthy of further investigation by 

 a careful prospector, as large bodies of iron ore might 

 be found in the iron formation in the Tazin series 

 of rocks." 



Last summer Mr. E. A. Butterfield accom- 

 panied by his son spent a few months on the 

 north shore of the Lake in the vicinity of Black 

 Bay. They claim to have discovered an enor- 

 mous deposit of iron ore, and have staked six 

 or eight claims on the east side of Black Bay 

 which lies east of the fourth meridian in the 

 Province of Saskatchewan. The Butterfields 

 brought out some surface specimens. 



Officials of the University of Alberta have 

 examined these ore samples and pronounced 

 them to be hematite of excellent quality having 

 the following analyses: 



Silica 21.36 



Iron Oxide 70.58 



Phosphorus 0.029 



Sulphur 0.063 



Equivalent in iron 



of above Iron Oxide 49 . 40 



20.94 

 70 84 

 0.031 

 0.082 



49. 58 



It is important, of course, to remember 

 that these are analyses of hand specimens, but 

 if they represent the general tenor of the ore, a 



235 



