106 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



resources were intended for the benefit of the people of Manitoba, 

 and not for people residing elsewhere or for speculators. If single 

 individuals have not the capital to develop them under government 

 control, the government, representing the people, has the capital 

 and will have the support of the people in owning and using for our 

 advantage. I am not urging that the western provinces give up their 

 Dominion subsidies granted in lieu of natural resources, but may not 

 the government acquire those found useful, on a basis similar to that 

 on which private enterprise does or speculators do, and so keep and 

 administer them for the people. The people on our farms need cheap 

 coal, cheap power for farm purposes and cheap fish. These would 

 contribute not only to comfort but profit on the farm." 



In commenting on the above statement the Toronto Mail and 

 Empire advocates the increase of the idle land tax in the western 

 provinces, and concludes as follows: — 



"The old idea held in the west about growing rich by selling lands 

 is gone. Capital that merely comes to keep lands out of production 

 is a loss, not a gain, for production only is what counts now. Courage 

 and fidelity to the larger good of the country as a whole are needed 

 to deal with the larger land questions." 



Speculation Worst in Fertile Areas 



Most frequently it is the good land lying closest to the railways 

 that is held by speculators, causing the land users to pay excessive 

 prices or to go on the poorer land in more remote districts, and pro- 

 ducing the kind of evils that did so much injury to Ireland before the 

 Lands Purchase Acts came into operation. The kind of speculation 

 in farm land which has been so injurious in the western provinces 

 has blighted all the most fertile areas in Canada. Wherever land 

 has proved to be most productive and has been best adapted for put- 

 ting man's energy and enterprise to the best use, there the paralyzing 

 fever of speculation has left its deepest marks. The rich fruit-bear- 

 ing lands of Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia* have suf- 

 fered, as well as the wheat belt of the west. Sale prices have been mag- 

 nified far above real values and large profits have been made at the ex- 

 pense of the agricultural industry. A large share of these profits has 

 been put into the pockets of men who have left the country or have 

 gone into the towns, and those who have suffered most are the pro- 

 ducers who have remained on the land. These are left to pay interest 

 on an excessive capitalization and taxes on an excessive assessment. 



*"We cannot live on land speculation. The profits from this are vanishing 

 and visionary. We must get down to actual realities and utilize our wealth for 

 right purposes. Of all our natural resources, land is the most prolific, and yet the 

 least looked after. Our land problem is at the present time the poorest organized 

 of all our problems." — Report of the Secretary of Industries and Immigration, Nova 

 Scotia, 1915. 



