ON AGRICULTURE TO CANADA 137 



Transportation 



Transportation — the term used for the movement of goods 

 in every form — is a vital matter to the Canadian farmer. Distance 

 from the railway, the condition of roads, the supply of cars, the 

 connexion of the point of delivery with the main routes to the East 

 — ^these are considerations summed up in the single word trans- 

 portation. Nearness to the metals of a direct eastward going line 

 is, of course, the height of good fortune, and this is enjoyed in such 

 districts as Portage la Prairie, Brandon, Carberry, Regina, and other 

 wheat lands on the main Canadian Pacific route. There the 

 question of quickly marketing the grain gives no trouble. In 

 regions of comparatively recent settlement, and as yet some way 

 back from the railway, the road haulage affects the farmer's calcula- 

 tions. If he is working shorthanded and with insufficient teams 

 of horses, distance and the heavy nature of the prairie trails may 

 use up the time that should be given to the preparation of the 

 land for the next crop. As the farmer cannot, as a rule, afford 

 to hold his grain and makes no storage provision, there may be a 

 periodic stress until the settlement of the land draws the railway 

 after it. This co-operation of the railway and the farmer goes on 

 unceasingly, the Dominion Government accepting the development 

 and improvement of transportation as a leading concern of 

 Canadian policy. Already about 1000 miles of the prairie portion 

 of the new Grand Trunk Pacific line between Halifax and Prince 

 Rupert are completed and the work of construction is being pushed 

 ahead in seven provinces. The Canadian Northern Railway system, 

 said to comprise about 5000 miles of track, is being carried forward 

 from Edmonton towards the foothills of the Rockies, while there 

 are sections from Dauphin to Prince Albert and from Winnipeg to 

 Regina, along with tributary branches. From Winnipeg westward 

 and northward numerous lines run into the prairie. Other extensions 

 are projected or in progress, and it may safely be taken that land 

 settlement and railway service will keep step. The one is essential 

 to the other. It is contrary to Canadian interests to leave the 

 farmer remote. In regard to the supply of cars, we have heard 

 satisfaction expressed with the operation of the Manitoba Grain 

 Act, the purpose of which was to place the single farmer on a level 

 with the elevator company. The farmer desirous of shipping his 

 grain on his own account is entitled to be supplied with a car on a 

 specified date. Railway rates are a cause of chronic grumbling in 

 all countries, and the Canadian North- West is no exception. With- 

 in the last few years, however, concessions have been made that 

 seem to be regarded as reasonable. A report of the Winnipeg 

 Board of Trade makes favourable comparison of the Canadian 

 farmer's position with that of his neighbour directly to the south 

 in the States of North Dakota and Minnesota, the advantage to 

 the Canadian being from 5 to 10 cents, per 100 lbs. for transportation 

 over the same distance. 



