Cost of the War — Let us assume that our indebtedness on account of this war 

 will reach $500,000,000. At 5 per cent, the annual interest will amount to $25,000,000. 

 This sum, with a substantial amount added yearly for a sinking fund could, in my 

 opinion, be met, provided strict economy be practised by governments, from the future 

 revenues of the Dominion. In national finance, if debts can be funded, the practical 

 question is that of payment of annual interest. But while this is so, the fact must not 

 be overlooked that debt is debt, a financial obligation and burden upon the body politic, 

 whether owed to investors at home or abroad. In making these observations it is my 

 earnest desire that neither the House nor the country should gather the impression that 

 we underrate the magnitude of the liabilities we are assuming or the gravity of the 

 financial considerations involved in our participation in this great struggle. We 

 believe, however, that the people of Canada desire the Government to put forward the 

 maximum of effort in the cause, and that they will, both for the present and the future, 

 be prepared cheerfully to bear whatever burdens may in consequence be placed upon 

 them. 



In this connection I think it opportune to state, on behalf of the Government, 

 and as enunciating its settled policy, that, in providing our war expenditure, resort 

 will not be had to taxation upon the farms, personal effects or incomes of those engaged 

 in our great basic industry of agriculture. 



Agricultural Credit — The future of Canada rests with the development of its 

 great resources, of which the greatest and most fundamental is agriculture. This 

 development is in turn bound up with the question of increase in population of the pro- 

 ductive sort and the facilities afforded it for the application of its intelligence and 

 industry. It is probable that in the straitened financial conditions that may prevail 

 for some years forward the question of capital for the development of agriculture may 

 be of paramount importance, and it is our intention to inquire carefully during the 

 coming recess into this most important subject, with a view, if desirable in the public 

 interest, to supplementing by federal aid existing facilities in this connection. Particu- 

 larly will the question of establishment of a system whereby loans at reasonable rates 

 repayable on the amortization principle engage the attention of the Government. 



Victory — The conflict has developed and extended upon a scale and to an extent 

 far beyond our expectations or imaginings at its inception. Looking backward over its 

 tragic course and reflecting upon its varied fortunes, there has grown in the hearts and 

 minds of all an ever-deepening sense of its increasing gravity and menace to the Empire's 

 safety. But the Empire's courage and the Empire's strength have steadily grown with 

 the growing peril. Never has our national spirit been more high, never our resolve 

 more unshaken, never have we been more supremely confident of ultimate victory than 

 we are to-day. We have taken the measure of our foe, we have estimated the resources 

 of our manhood, and the other elements of Imperial power, and we steadfastly abide 

 the issue in calm consciousness of inherent strength and the eternal justice of our cause. 

 We fight for human progress and for human rights, and we can and shall endure unto 

 the end. 



