30 KURAL LIFE IN CANADA 



place for farmers. Her manufacturers would in due 

 time have arisen, because of her advantages, and would 

 have been in an immensely stronger position eventually 

 with a broader agricultural base. 



Such is the record for a single decade. We must 

 not, because of space, go into similar detail in regard to~ 

 earlier periods. We should expect to find that in each 

 decade the proportion of rural population grew less, 

 and such is the case. We note the preceding one only. 

 Between 1891 and 1901 the rural population of Prince 

 Edward Island fell from 87 per cent, to 85; of New 

 Brunswick, from 84 to 76 ; of Nova Scotia, from 82 to 

 71 ; of Manitoba, from 73 to 72 ; of Quebec, from 66 to 

 60 ; of Ontario, from 61 to 57, and of British Columbia, 

 from 62 to 49 ; while throughout the Dominion the fall 

 was from 72.3 per cent, to 62.4. 



But the comparative rate of growth of the two sec- 

 tions of the population for the decade 1891-1901 is a 

 fresh surprise. In Manitoba the tendency is least ad- 

 vanced ; the rural gain was 65 per cent., while the urban 

 was 71 ; in British Columbia it is much more marked, 

 rural gain being 37 per cent, and urban 142 ; while in 

 Quebec the rural gain was 0.39 per cent, and the urban 

 31. In Prince Edward Island a rural loss of 5.8 per 

 cent, stands beside an urban gain of 4.7 ; in New Bruns- 

 wick, a loss of 6.7 beside a gain of 36.7 ; in Nova Scotia, 

 a loss of 11 per cent, beside a gain of 40 ; and in Ontario, 

 a rural loss of 3.73 beside an urban gain of 12.49 ; while 

 through all Canada a rural increase of 53,375 is offset 

 by an urban increase of 484,701, or a gain of 1.01 per 

 cent, in rural by a gain of 31.53 in urban population. 

 But even yet we are scarcely prepared to find that in 

 New Brunswick there was an actual decline in rural 



