CANADA. 503 



Table No. 9 shows the magnitude of the traffic, as evidenced by 

 unpublished traffic returns of one section of the Canadian Pacific 

 Railroad. In one week, over 4,800 tons were carried. A noticeable 

 feature is the ever-increasing quantity of pulp shipped to Japan. 

 The industry not only swells the railway's returns in this way, but 

 also in the transport of spruce to distant mills, as exemplified in the 

 case of the two mills on the canal basin at Niagara Falls, which pay 

 over $50,000 annually to the Canadian roads for freight. 



Pulp now being admitted from the Dominion into France at the 

 minimum tariff, a market in that country is regarded as among the 

 likely things of the near future. In 1895, a shipment of $2,640 was 

 sent as a beginning. 



In view of the prominent part Quebec is taking in this industry 

 and the vigorous way in which the leading capitalists are taking the 

 matter up, I append the remarks of an expert upon the point: 



LABOR. 



The condition requisite for the success of pulp industry is cheap labor. The 

 Swedes and Norwegians, who are in Europe the masters of the industry, have 

 cheap labor; so that in the organization of an enterprise with the view of outstrip- 

 ping Europe, prudence commands us not to lose sight of this fact. 



In this respect, we have the conditions required for success, particularly in the 

 region where wood and water power are found in abundance. As a matter of fact, 

 in the eastern part of the Province of Quebec the cost of labor is scarcely higher 

 than in Scandinavia, and if there is a slight difference it is more than compensated 

 by the superiority of our machinery. Here, we use American machines, which 

 are superior for the most part to those used in Sweden and Norway. 



COST OF FREIGHT. 



Scandinavians are cheap carriers. But in this respect, also, we are in a position 

 to compete with them. From the ports of the Lower St. Lawrence and Bay des 

 Chaleurs, in which ships have virtually nothing to pay, the price of freight for 

 England, France, and Belgium is, with a slight difference, the same as from the 

 ports of Sweden and Norway at least according to the information I could get. 



EXCEPTIONALLY ADVANTAGEOUS POSITION. 



The facts just stated clearly show that, with regard to the pulp industry princi- 

 pally the manufacture of mechanical pulp the eastern part of the Province of Quebec 

 occupies an exceptionally advantageous position, and yet it is the only part of the 

 Province where this industry is not carried on. This is the result of the wrong 

 opinion entertained by many business men about this industry. For want of a 

 thorough study of the question, of a full knowledge of the reason accounting for 

 the success or nonsuccess of certain enterprises, these men are under the impression 

 that pulp making is not a paying industry, and that in any case it can pay only 

 when it is carried on in connection with paper making. 



Many causes lead to this false impression. In certain places, it has been the 

 want of a sufficient motive power, the bad quality or high price of wood, the inferi- 

 ority of the machinery used, or the incompetency of the persons in charge ot the 

 enterprise. Under such conditions, failure is not a matter of wonder. The same 

 result is to be expected in any other industry. But the main cause of failure has been 



