o6 EUKAL LIFE IN CANADA 



over 50,000 children taught in French in the bilingual 

 and the purely French schools of the Province. Mr. 

 Frank Yeigh, the well-known publicist, informs us in 

 " Facts about Canada " that they have the preponderant 

 vote in fifteen counties; Father Le Bel claims that in 

 twenty-two their vote is the decisive factor. Mr Teigh 

 estimates that by the end of this century they will num- 

 ber six millions in Ontario. Here in these beautiful 

 Muskoka groves if the present tendencies remain un- 

 ch ?cked before two generations shall have passed, 

 French, save on the lips of tourists, will be the only 

 language heard. In New Brunswick the French popu- 

 lation now numbers 90,000, or more than one-fourth of 

 the population. In Prince Edward Island, while the 

 total population decreased by nine and a half thousand, 

 the French people increased by over four thousand. 

 This problem, then, is not a Quebec problem, but Cana- 

 dian. It is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, be- 

 fore any English-speaking nation to-day. 



The first and fundamental dimension of the problem 

 is physical the numerical diminution of the popula- 

 tion. But the rural loss is not only quantitative ; it is 

 qualitative as well. The second dimension is social, 

 and is measured by the strain on all social institutions 

 and relations. Farm homes in Canada are farther apart 

 than anywhere else in the world. Leaving out of consi- 

 deration such districts as Algoma West, with 1.29 to the 

 square mile, and Algoma East, with 0.91, we have in 

 Ontario counties such as Lennox and Addington, 14.4 ; 

 South Renfrew, 14.1 ; North Lanark, 13.9 ; Frontenac, 

 13.1 ; Peterborough, 13.2 ; Victoria, 9.22. In all these 

 cases the towns are included. The rural population of 

 the United States is 15 to the square mile, and even 



