The Army Comes to Canada 



The termination of the Great War and the consequent 

 demobilization was attended by a determination on the 

 part of a great many constituting the armies to get away 

 from the civil pursuits they had followed previous to don- 

 ning uniform. To many the realization was brought home 

 that they had been square pegs in round holes pursuing 

 trades and professions to which they were little adapted 

 and for which they had no love or zest. Still others who 

 had all their lives been satisfied with their various callings 

 viewed the prospect of returning to them with a great deal 

 of dissatisfaction and often in positive distaste. The years 

 of warfare which had perforce altered the current of their 

 lives, had revolutionized preconceived ideas, shattered 

 that calm settled outlook on life, and created a new view- 

 point. Many men wanted something different, something 

 essentially a man's work. 



Amid all the horrors and hardships of war one dis- 

 covery was made, dawning upon the minds of many men 

 in its full force for the first time. This was the real and 

 positive joy of the out o' door life, that existence which 

 compels a man to spend the greater part of his time in the 

 great open at first grips with nature. Men, learning the 

 pleasure of it, began to imagine what such a life might hold 

 for them when the restrictions, the rigors and the incon- 

 veniences of army life were removed, and the daily round 

 not fraught with the same dangers and risks. The pros- 

 pect loomed up brighter and more desirable in contrast to 

 the very antithesis they were living. 



And so it happened that when demobilization came 

 many men thought of agriculture and the possibilities it 

 offered, and some governments, anticipating this trend on 

 the part of demobilized soldiers, prepared schemes for 

 assisting them in their desires. When it came to finding 

 a bourne for these hopes, Canada, with her many advan- 

 tages and her vacant stretches of virgin agricultural land, 

 was easily the favorite. The demobilized soldiers of many 

 nations began to come to the Dominion, and since that 

 time there has been a steady trek of the warriors of the 

 Great War. From Brigadier-General to private they are 

 to be found on Canadian farms, and their number is being 

 added to every day. They have settled in every manner 

 and system, in large and small colonies, in small partner- 

 ships, and individually, and almost without exception they 

 are making good on Canadian soil. Apparently there 

 can be no doubt as to the content and happiness they have 

 found on Canadian farm lands. 



Loans Amounting to $86,500,000 



Of an aggregate of 273,444 members of the Canadian 

 army in France when, shortly after the Armistice, a con- 

 sensus was taken, 53,890 expressed a desire for a change 

 from their pre-war employment. This represented 19.7 

 per cent, of the active forces at that period. There were 

 187,771 men who desired to engage in agriculture, whereas 

 of these only 172,218 had previous to enlisting, been so 

 employed. Only 4,175 men who had previously been 

 farmers wished to leave the farm and pursue other callings. 



Legislation by the Canadian government gave the 

 Canadian soldier, by reason of his service, the right to file 

 on a homestead of 160 acres of Crown land in addition to 

 his civilian right to the same extent. It instituted the 

 Soldier Settlement Board to train soldiers as farmers and 

 when qualified assist them in purchasing land and making 

 a commencement with loans. It opened Indian reserves 

 and large leases for soldier entry and reserved for soldier 

 entry solely Crown lands within fifteen miles of a railroad. 

 Furthermore, soldier land seekers were assisted by special 

 railway transportation rates in their land hunts. 



It is not possible to record figures of the ex-soldiers who 

 have exercised their soldier and civilian right to homesteads 

 and commenced farming without further assistance, but 

 they are numerous and are to be found scattered all over 

 the Western Provinces. The latest returns show that a 

 total of 27,142 returned Canadian soldiers have been 

 settled on the land by the Soldier Settlement Board, loans 

 amounting to $86,504,857 being granted to effect this. 



Their universal success is exemplified in the fact that 

 whilst these loans cover twenty years in repayment, 423 

 have already repaid their loans in full. 



In land settlement the desire of old comrades to cling 

 together is much in evidence and colony settlement has 

 been general. Three hundred officers and men returning 

 to the Pacific coast for demobilization on the Empress of 

 A sia evolved a scheme of co-operative settlement on British 

 Columbia lands which was presented to the provincial 

 government and endorsed by it. Thus came into being 

 the "Empress of Asia" colony on Vancouver Island. An- 

 other band of soldier farmers is the Sketchley colony in 

 the Pouce Coupe section of the Grande Prairie area, headed 

 by a veteran of the 31st battalion. With a little band of 

 some thirty veterans and their wives, he led them up to the 

 north country where they took soldier and civilian home- 

 steads and form now a thriving settlement. 



Canadian Pacific Railway Colonies 



The Canadian Pacific Railway, as a large landowner in 

 the Western Provinces and desirous of doing something in 

 the matter of sojdier re-establishment, instituted a scheme 

 for the community settlement of returned soldiers as early 

 as 1916. The plan comprised settlement upon improved 

 farms and selective colonization under which the settler 

 chose his own land and improved it with the assistance of 

 loans from the Company. There are three colonies in 

 Southern Alberta. Two of them, with twenty-five and 

 fifty farms respectively, have farms of eighty acres of 

 irrigated land, while the third colony follows dry farming. 



Having ably aided in settling her own warriors as 

 agriculturalists, Canada set about instituting a measure of 

 assistance to the men who had constituted the Imperial 

 overseas army. A selection board of Canadian officials 

 sat in England and were swamped with applications for 

 the free passages and other assistance offered. Those 

 accepted were sent over in groups, and it is estimated that 

 nearly five thousand ex-Imperial soldiers, some with capi- 

 tal amounting to $50,000, and averaging in possession 

 about $5,000 apiece, were located on Canadian farms. 

 This settlement of Imperial men is still proceeding, and 

 soon Britain's land army in Canada will constitute many 

 battalions. 



The manner in which Canada's ex- warriors flocked to 

 the land was additional encouragement, if this were needed, 

 to the soldiers of other nations eager for land settlement. 

 Many of the men in the Canadian army settled in the Uni- 

 ted States after demobilization.whilst the various battalions 

 wearing the maple leaf contained men who had been pre- 

 viously United States citizens and returned to their homes 

 after discharge. Numbers of these have since treked back 

 to Canada to take advantage of the various means of 

 soldier settlement, and they have brought with them many 

 men of the United States army who had undergone the 

 same psychological changes, and did not see the possibility 

 of the fulfillment of their desires in their own country. 



Generals and Privates 



Ex-soldiers who have settled on farms in Western Can- 

 ada comprise all ranks civil and military, and formerly 

 followed every manner of calling and profession. From 

 such ranch owners as the Prince of Wales, the Earl of 

 Minto and the Duke of Sutherland, all land owners in 

 Southern Alberta, down to the lowliest Tommy of the 

 Imperial army who had scarcely a hope beyond the possi- 

 bility of a little garden patch, the war's ex-warriors are 

 living new lives on Canada's farm lands. Colonies of ex- 

 British officers are to be found in many parts of British 

 Columbia, and a more ambitious project of the provincial 

 government is that of the establishment of seventeen hun- 

 dred soldier farmers this spring in various community 

 colonies. 



Many British Imperial officers of high rank have taken 

 up farming in Canada since the war, among whom might 

 be mentioned General Sir J. Percy, who was chief of staff 

 to the Second British Army in France and also served in 

 the Crimea. Driven from Russia, many officers high in 

 rank in the old Imperial army and officials of the Diplo- 



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