The Question of Immigration. 531 



known as " prepaids," that is by money sent by friends who had 

 come before to this continent. These striking facts are proof of the 

 prosperity of the emigrants in their new homes. 



Those who have any fears that the volume of immigration to 

 this continent will be likely to decline should remember that 

 millions of the inhabitants of the countries of Europe are in a state 

 of comparative destitution, and that their only hope of the future is 

 that they may be able to reach the shores of Canada or the United 

 States and find homes among the millions of their friends and rela- 

 tions who have preceeded them. It is only necessary to compare the 

 condition of the people of this country to that of millions of those 

 who still live in the Old World. Why, it is a well known fact, and 

 will bear repeating, that there are very many thousands of persons 

 throughout the Dominion who came to this country as labourers, 

 without any means, in fact almost in a state of pauperism, and 

 tenant farmers with very little means, who have attained a state of 

 comparative independence, being proprietors of their own farms, 

 and having laid by sufficient for their declining years, while they 

 have educated their children and settled them in conditions of 

 ease and plenty. The same is true even to a greater extent in the 

 United States, where a greater proportion of immigrants have settled; 

 but the best portions of the United States are rapidly filling up, 

 or already crowded, so that in a few years Canada will have but 

 little opposition in this direction. In fact the inducements to the 

 people of European countries, especially to those of Great Britain, 

 to immigrate to Canada rather than to the United States, are already 

 abundant. Here they may have not only good wages, and a 

 comfortable living among kindred people, under the same flag, in a 

 rich country, possessing a healthy climate, but a sure prospect of 

 becoming, through industry and sobriety, proprietors of the soil and 

 possessors of a competency. 



In referring to Canada as a suitable country for emigrants to 

 come to I would not confine myself exclusively to the prairie region. 

 Of course that section offers the greatest inducements, and is des- 

 tined to become the wealthiest and most influential portion of the 

 Dominion, but British Columbia has its peculiar advantages, so has 



