160 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



peasantry make all sorts of cutlery, each peasant having his small 

 holding and making penknives, scissors or surgical instruments in 

 his home. 



DEVELOPMENT OF ARTISTIC SKILL 



The artistic skill and taste of these peasants, in providing so 

 many varieties of useful articles from bone, ivory, horn or mother- 

 of-pearl, is wonderful. It may be thought that it would be difficult 

 to develop similar skill among the settlers in Canada and so it would 

 for a time but, with government assistance and proper organiza- 

 tion, any difficulty could surely be overcome, and the work would 

 be well worth while. It is only by hard work that the French peasantry 

 have acquired their artistic qualities, but, so far as these might be a 

 special attribute of the French race, Canada has a sufficiently large 

 French population to make it to her interest to cultivate the taste 

 and skill which have contributed so much to the prosperity of France. 

 As for the Anglo-Saxon race, Mr. Erik Givskov rightly pointed out 

 that in America and elsewhere they "have given abundant proof 

 that under favourable conditions they are able to turn out artistic 

 work of the highest quality and of the most exquisite taste and beauty." 

 But for the fact that during times of peace we neglected such small 

 industries as those carried on in France, and allowed them to become 

 the monopoly of other countries, we should not have had to pay such 

 high prices for many manufactured articles to-day and would have 

 had healthier agricultural conditions. 



Of course, industries which are successful in France may not 

 be adaptable at all to Canada, but, on general principles, there can 

 be no question that the combination of village industries with agri- 

 culture would be a valuable thing to promote. As to its practica- 

 bility, it may be that until it is tried out, it is not wise to assume too much 

 on that count. But allowing for intelligent adaptation of the system to 

 our conditions, and not for mere blind imitation ; considering our cli- 

 matic conditions, which make it difficult for the farmer's family, even 

 if not for the farmer, to do outside work for much of the winter; con- 

 sidering the opportunities there are for making useful articles out of 

 our native materials, and the innumerable sources of water-power 

 available to create electric energy, is it too much to say that there 

 must be many domestic industries which could be developed? It 

 is true that there are examples in France where the peasant farmer 

 is earning a starvation wage from his village industry because of lack 

 of co-operation; just as there are others where, by co-operation, the 

 same industry produces excellent results. This only proves the need 



