406 WHEAT AND WOMAN 



I learned with regret that the Hon. Frank Oliver 

 had left Ottawa that day for the Christmas recess, 

 but Mr. Scott advised me to see the Deputy- 

 Minister Mr. Cory, with whom he fixed an 

 appointment for the following morning. 



Mr. Cory was kind and wore the anxious-to-please 

 air of the professional politician which is always 

 soothing, but I think he knew rather less of the 

 practical side of agriculture than I of Blue books, 

 and, just as I had anticipated, firstly, lastly, and all 

 the time came the argument, " She can't." How- 

 ever, there was also a promise to place the matter 

 before the Minister of the Interior on his return. 

 But I never discussed the matter personally with 

 Mr. Oliver. Not long before the fall of the Liberal 

 party I heard that Miss Cora Hine had seen him 

 on the matter, and that he had arrived at a decision 

 to refuse to recommend the expansion of the home- 

 stead law in order to permit women to homestead 

 because he considered it would be against the main 

 interest of the country. He argued that the object 

 of granting the land-gift to men is to induce them 

 to make home on the prairie home in the centre 

 of their agricultural pursuit. He held the first 

 requirement of the genuine home-maker to be a 

 wife : he marries, he has a family, etc. etc. Women, 

 he assumes, are already averse to marriage, and he 

 considered that to admit them to the opportunities 

 of the land-grant would be to make them more 

 independent of marriage than ever. The reason 

 was at least flattering to the Woman-Farmer if it 

 was unpromising for the race ; but the birth-rate 

 of Canada is not nearly as high as it should be, so 

 perhaps Maeterlinck's "Blue-Bird " has warned the 



