28 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



sary at all, and that there is such poverty, as is here indicated, because 

 of the fact that the unoccupied land was incapable of being put to 

 economic use. Poverty itself is not, however, a cause of social crimes, 

 as is proved in the case of the congested rural districts of Ireland 

 and other places; it is when poverty is accompanied, on the one hand, 

 by isolation and the absence of social and religious institutions, or, 

 on the other hand, when it has to be faced in the crowded slum dis- 

 tricts of large cities, that it produces the worst evils. 



Taken side by side with the report of the Trent watershed, the 

 Peterborough enquiry suggests that there is a serious problem in con- 

 nection with land development in Canada — in other provinces as 

 well as in Ontario — which requires to be faced without delay. If it 

 be true, as alleged, that similar conditions already exist in territory 

 which has been opened up for settlement during recent years, steps 

 should be taken, even at considerable public expense, to revise the 

 system of land settlement which makes them possible. 



Good Conditions in Ontario 



Notwithstanding the above evidence regarding bad conditions in 

 certain districts it is necessary to bear in mind that many parts of these 

 districts contain good agricultural land, and that many of the citizens 

 are upright, hard-working and intelligent. It would be a grave injury 

 to these districts, and to the people who live in them, if it were as- 

 sumed that what might be true of a part were equally true of the whole. 

 The fact that this population is so scattered causes great difficulties 

 in ascertaining the exact condition of affairs and in preventing a few 

 undesirable citizens from giving a bad name to a whole township or 

 district. 



We have an indication from these reports of the importance ot 

 dealing with causes and the futility of trying to solve such social 

 problems by lessening or removing effects. The causes must be 

 ascertained and removed. It is unfair to assume that any great 

 part of the territory in review would not be suitable for economic 

 use in some form, or that a greater part of the present popu- 

 lation could not be comfortably settled in the counties where they 

 are now living, if a thorough investigation of the circumstances were 

 made and a practical remedy devised to re-plan the townships, to 

 classify the land, and to set aside the least fertile portions for pur- 

 poses of afforestation. 



The social investigator is usually employed to make enquiries 

 when something is wrong. As a consequence, reports too often deal 

 with bad conditions with a view to suggesting how to remove them 



