Science in Public Affairs 



finally attended the Ontario Agricultural College 

 at Guelph, where they worked their own garden 

 plots just as their pupils now do in the school 

 centres. The Macdonald School Gardens have 

 thus become organic parts of Canadian school 

 life, and the children, working among growing 

 things, grow themselves in body and mind and 

 spiritual outlook. We commend the example of 

 Sir W. C. Macdonald to the public-spirited men 

 of wealth among us. 



A similar train of thought is suggested by our 

 recent experience in Cornwall, where we were 

 surprised to find that there were no arrangements 

 for teaching swimming in any of the local schools 

 we visited, and that very few of the lifeboat men 

 themselves could swim. Yet the expert witnesses 

 called before both the Committee and the Scottish 

 Commission agreed as to the very high value of 

 swimming as a form of physical training, and in 

 London at least it is in the curriculum of many 

 schools, and is well taught. 



The evils which attend the townward movement 

 of the better types follow still more closely their 

 emigration to the United States and the colonies, 

 and especially in Ireland the results appear to be 

 very serious. "The witnesses from that country 

 were emphatic in ascribing to emigration fatal 

 effects upon the physique of the people by the 

 withdrawal of the strongest and best types, thus 

 leaving it to the less able-bodied to reproduce 

 their kind and carry on the race." There is no 

 doubt a wider sphere in the colonies for strong 



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