In any case, I much prefer to be called mad for aiming 

 at ten million colonists in ten years and only hitting five 

 million, than to continue shooting at nothing, as we are at 

 present doing, and, as the Irishman said, "hitting it in the 

 same place we missed it before." 



I have no hesitation in saying that, to-day, the question 

 of the establishment of a well considered and aggressive 

 colonization and development policy is the most important 

 matter with which we, as Canadians, are faced. It is 

 the foundation upon which the superstructure of the 

 solution of our railway, industrial and unemployment 

 problems must be erected, and my effort in this brief 

 address is to try to convince you that my views are sound. 



The question, like our Dominion itself, is vast in size 

 and many-sided in character and it will only be solved by 

 wide vision and broad views on the part of our Governments 

 and citizens, and will, of necessity, involve extensive 

 expenditures. 



Important and Pressing Problems 



To prove that Colonization and Development is our 

 most important and pressing problem, I want you to con- 

 sider the following facts: 



Canada occupies a larger portion of this North Amer- 

 ican Continent than is contained in the United States, 

 including Alaska, and while the United States has a popula- 

 tion of over 100,000,000, yet pur population Is only 

 8,700,000. Here we begin to consider this problem, faced 

 with the immutable law of the greater attracting the lesser. 



In Canada to-day we have 1 mile of railway for every 

 236.5 of our population, and, in the four Western provinces, 

 1 mile for every 110. Compared with this, the United States 

 has 1 mile of railway for every 404 persons, and Great 

 Britain one mile for every 1804. 



In the three provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan 

 and Alberta, we have 30 million acres of land suitable 

 for immediate cultivation, unoccupied and non-productive, 

 within 15 miles of each side of the railways now in operation. 



In the older provinces of Canada we have many thou- 

 sands of improved farms, unoccupied and non-productive 

 and waiting for colonists. 



Our National Debt of Canada to-day is $2,372,000,000, 

 or about $275 per capita of the population, and the annual 

 interest on this debt amounts to $114,000,000 as compared 

 with a total Federal Revenue in 1913 of $168,000,000. 



If the facts I have quoted are facts, and I do not think 

 they can be disputed, am I not justified in asking you the 

 question "WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT 

 IT?" 



My answer is "COLONIZE AND DEVELOP." 



Outlines Term Colonization 



When I say "colonist," I use the term in the broad 

 sense of the immigration to Canada of the colonist who 

 will occupy and make productive, available agricultural 

 areas, and also laborers, skilled and unskilled, who will 

 develop our mineral and timbered areas and extend our 

 industrial life, and finally, colonization of the necessary 

 capital to make both of the preceding activities possible; 

 but before I proceed to discuss the policy under which, 

 I consider, this desirable end should be reached, I want to 

 point out to you that colonization and development is 

 no new matter in Canada. 



During the period 1905-1914 we had an immigration into 

 Canada of 2,500,000 people, divided roughly, one miljion 

 from Great Britain, one-half million from the United 

 States ahd one million from European attid other countries. 

 During that period we had a great constructive develop- 

 ment program under way including the construction of 

 additional transcontinental railways, the completion of 

 branch line railways, particularly in Western Canada, 

 and, in that operation, the growth of side tracks into 

 villages, villages into towns, and towns into cities, almost 

 overnight, together with vast expenditures by the Dominion 

 and Provincial governments upon public works, by the 

 municipalities in similar amounts, and in a vast expansion 

 of our industrial activities. 



That expansion through the medium of colonization 

 and development was, of course, checked by the War, and 

 during the War, and practically up to date, both our 

 colonization and development have been standing still. 

 We are now faced with the question of how we can again 

 stimulate a large movement of desirable colonists to 

 Canada and where they can be obtained. 



Sums up Sources of Supply 



Naturally, as part of the British Empire, we should 

 first look to obtaining the greatest possible number from 

 Great Britain or, rather, from the United Kingdom of Great 

 Britain and Ireland. But, in doing this, we are confronted 

 with certain limiting conditions which make it clear that 

 no large proportion of agricultural colonists which we need 

 can be obtained from there. 



The present population of the United Kingdom as shown 

 by the last census is, in round figures, 47,000,000, but it 

 may surprise you to know that of this number, something 

 less than 4,000,000 are engaged in agriculture, and you 

 will, therefore, readily see that unless we are prepared to 

 take a large number of colonists without any previous 

 knowledge of agriculture, we cannot look for the immigra- 

 tion of large numbers from Great Britain. Further, it 

 would now seem to be perfectly clear that the United 

 Kingdom, and particularly England, must look forward 

 to the emigration of many millions of its people, and our 

 policy should be aimed at co-operative action between our 

 Government and that of the Home country to evolve 

 some scheme under which many of these people of the 

 younger generation can be fitted for agricultural life in 

 Canada by some preliminary training at home, and finishing 

 the training here, together with final assistance to enable 

 them to'establish themselves as farmers after this training 

 had been obtained. 



In this connection there are immense possibilities, 

 and one need only point to the remarkable results obtained 

 through the medium of organizations like the Dr. Barn- 

 ardo's Homes to realize what can be done in making good 

 citizens of the younger generation from Great Britain if 

 properly assisted and guided; and, in this connection, it 

 might be of interest to you to note that 6,211 Barnardo 

 boys who had been sent out to Canada by that organiz- 

 ation served in our Canadian Expeditionary Force, of 

 which some 531 were killed on active service, and that 

 amongst those that served, many decorations, including 

 the Victoria Cross, were earned. We also know that, 

 to-day, we have many leading citizens in all of our profes- 

 sions and in our business and political life who came to 

 Canada through this organization. 



The United States Greatest Field 



We must, naturally, look for the larger proportion of 

 our agricultural colonists from the United States, where 

 there is a large agricultural population, and draw from 

 where the conditions of climate, agricultural methods, 

 currency, weights and measures and other conditions are 

 so analogous to those existing in Canada, and where, 

 under existing conditions to-day, prices for farm landi 

 being high, and the value of the farm products being low, 

 there is a marked disposition on the part of the people, 

 particularly in the Middle West, to emigrate. 



We should also look forward to the immigration of large 

 numbers of desirable colonists from Central Europe. In 

 know that I will be, probably, charged with advocating 

 the immigration of so-called foreigners. After all, what 

 colossal egotism it is, on our part, to speak of foreigners. 

 We should realize that we are, in fact, all foreigners on thi? 

 Continent, and that while it should be our aim to maintain 

 and extend British ideals and our Canadian citizenship, 

 we must not forget that many of those who have come to 

 us from so-called foreign countries are to-day amongst 

 our most progressive and valued citizens and who have been 

 and are taking an active part to solve our national prob- 

 lems and are proving by their willingness and desire to 

 become good Canadians, as is proved by the fact that in 

 one of our Western Universities over 50% of the student! 



73 



