rapidly increasing population. This in 1900 was 

 11,127; in 1905, 13,369; by 1910 it had increased 

 to 16,018; byl915to!9,314;and in the year 1920, 

 Sherbrooke had a population of 23,493. 



The total population of the zone served by 

 Sherbrooke is about 250,000, and this, lying in 

 such a richly productive area, it is natural that the 

 city should be a very prosperous distributing area. 

 Already there are two hundred retail and twenty- 

 five wholesale stores serving the area surrounding 

 the city and these are continually being added to. 



Primarily however, Sherbrooke terms itself 

 an industrial city, and in this phase looks to a 

 future of great development and expansion. In 

 this direction a gratifying progress is exhibited 

 and profitable opportunities await the introduc- 

 tion of capital. The city is to be found amongst the 

 first thirty industrial centres of the Dominion 

 with 129 establishments capitalized at $13,760,- 

 176, employing 6,327 men, and having an annual 

 production of about twenty million dollars. 

 Sherbrooke boasts of having the largest woollen 

 mill, the largest compressed air machinery shops, 

 the largest welding works, and largest automobile 

 fabric factory, and the largest mesh bag factory 

 in Canada. Other important industries are 

 clothing, cotton mills, gloves, hosiery, underwear, 

 boots, paper, machinery, cotton fibre, jewellery, 

 rubber goods, pork packing, bottling works, brew- 

 ery and vinegar factory. 



Local Industries Expanding 



Industry in Sherbrooke is expanding rapidly. 

 The depression of 1921 affected local industry 

 practically not at all, and it witnessed in that 

 year the addition of several new enterprises. One 

 of these was a new plant addition to the cotton 

 mills, representing an investment of $5,000,000; 

 another a new plant to manufacture gloves, 

 hosiery and underwear, capitalized at $3,000,000 

 and employing 1,000 men; plant to manufacture 

 superheaters for locomotives, etc., $250,000; 

 extension of plant of pulp and paper machinery 

 manufactory, $100,000; aerated waters establish- 

 ment, $75,000; jewellery manufactory, $50,000; 

 establishment to manufacture piston rings, $25,- 

 000. Sherbrooke is shortly to become an automo- 

 bile centre with the location there of a firm to 

 manufacture batteries, as at the present time it is 

 turning out many other accessories. 



Sherbrooke offers peculiarly advantageous 

 openings to incoming manufacturers. It is pene- 

 trated by four railroads and has thirty-six passen- 

 ger trains daily. Seven railway lines, with a total 

 mileage of 740 miles, serve its territory. The 

 city owns five powers, having twelve thousand 

 horse power developed and ten thousand unde- 

 veloped. This power is sold at $21 per H.P. per 

 year to manufacturers whom the city exempt 

 from taxation. 



Colonization and Development 



Canada's need for a progressive policy of 

 immigration and development was forcibly put 

 before the members of the Montreal Kiwanis 

 Club by Col. J. S. Dennis, Chief Commissioner, 

 Department of Colonization and Development 

 of the Canadian Pacific Railway, at a recent 

 weekly luncheon of that organization in the 

 Windsor Hotel. At the invitation of the 

 Kiwanis, the meeting, which was a large one 

 was attended by members of the Rotary Glut 

 Board of Trade, Chambre de Commerce, Trade 

 and Labor Council, National Catholic Unior 

 St. George's, St. David's, St. Patrick's Societie 

 and other organizations. 



Col. Dennis, in part, said: 



I feel that it is a privilege to be invited to-day to sp 

 on the important subject of Colonization and Development, 

 and I also appreciate very highly the opportunity given 

 me to present my views on the subject to the Kiwanis, 

 because I feel that your organization is one which acts 

 vigorously in helping to solve municipal, provincial or 

 national problems presented to you. 



I also am sensible of the opportunity given to me to-day 

 to speak to Canadians on a Canadian problem, and venture 

 to point put that, as a result of the War, our Canadian 

 Citizenship, and the name "Canadian," carry with them 

 a .-esponsibility that did not exist prior to the War, due to 

 the fact that the name "Canadian" at that time did not 

 have the distinctive standing throughout the world that 

 it now possesses. 



It is, I think, only fair that I should first establish my 

 right to speak on the important problem of Colonization 

 and Development before expecting that my views or 

 recommendations will carry any special weight. 



I have spent the past 50 years of my life in dealing 

 more or less directly with this problem. My experience 

 began with my arrival in Winnipeg 50 years ago next month, 

 and finding there a village of about 1,000 inhabitants, 

 with nothing west of it in the way of colonization and 

 development until one reached the Pacific Ocean; since 

 that date, in the service of the Dominion Government in 

 exploring that vast Western country; then in the Land 

 Department of the Hudson's Bay Company, then as 

 Deputy Minister of Public Works of the old Territorial 

 Government; and for the past 21 years in the service of the 

 Canadian Pacific. My activities have been all more or les 

 intimately connected with colonization and development, 

 and I frankly confess that the subject is now becoming 

 more or less of a hobby. 



Replies to Sir Clifford Slfton 



In spite of my long experience in connection with thi 

 important matter, my suggestions in connection therewith 

 have lately been characterized as madness by Sir Clifford 

 Sifton. I have the greatest respect for his opinion. We 

 have known each other for forty years. I worked under 

 him when he was Minister of the Interior and realize that 

 the immigration policy that he put into effect was the only 

 progressive and aggressive policy that we have ever had, 

 and one that produced results up to the time that it died 

 through excessive "red tape" and inaction. Further,! 

 would point out, that while we had an immigration policy, 

 we succeeded in 1913 in moving as many as 402,000 emi- 

 grants to Canada in one year, and it is certainly not 

 madness to assume that, with increased desire and the 

 necessity of emigrating, on the part of the people of 

 the United States, Great Britain and certain desirable 

 portions of Europe, that number can be largely 

 increased annually, if we had a definite and well-admin- 

 istered colonization policy. 



72 



