98 KUEAL LIFE IN CANADA 



ment. This was, indeed, at the period of greatest de- 

 pression, when farm prices were less than one-half what 

 thej are at present. But it was also, be it noted, in 

 one of our most fertile districts, the Chateauguay valley, 

 and among a people who rank as one of our progressive 

 farming communities. What was true of such a dis- 

 trict at that period must hold even at this time in less 

 fertile districts. The same facts are presented from 

 the obverse point of view by Dr. Warren H. Wilson: 

 " Near Ithica, New York, farmers prosper as they do 

 in few parts of the State, but by a survey made by the 

 College of Agriculture it was found that among 615 

 farmers the average labor income was only $423. That 

 is, after paying interest on their invested capital and 

 accounting for work done by others the farmer is able 

 to pay himself a wage of only about $1.20 per day."* 

 Nor is this to be considered a trifling item in our 

 national prosperity. A superficial observer might sup- 

 pose the capital investment of our farmers a bagatelle 

 compared with that in our great transportation, manu- 

 facturing and commercial interests. The truth lies 

 quite the other way. Over the Horticultural Build- 

 ing of the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto 

 in 1912 a streamer was flying bearing the legend: 

 " Ontario's Farmers' Invested Capital One Billion Two 

 Hundred and Fifty Million Dollars." It is vital to 

 Ontario's welfare that that amount be not sunk in 

 unremunerative investment. Ontario's investment in 

 agriculture is greater than all Canada's investment in 

 industrial enterprises. These the Financial Times 

 estimates at $1,245,000,000. It is greater than all the 



* " Men and Religion Messages," Vol. VI, p. 2. 



