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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



the four years of struggle without a 

 scratch. He wrote us his experiences. 

 They were spared the worst of the gas, 

 and put mud and spittle on their hand- 

 kerchiefs and tied them on their faces. 

 He gave us the full details of how, later 

 on, out of the mist, flood after flood of 

 Germans came charging on. 



Our boys fired and fired until the Ger- 

 man dead lay thick before them, and their 

 gun barrels were red hot. And still they 

 came on, wave after wave of gray figures. 

 We held them, while our own numbers 

 dwindled alarmingly. The captain went, 

 then the lieutenant, and at last in the 

 whole trench there remained but three — 

 a corporal, Billy, and a drummer boy of 

 fifteen. 



The Huns paused and the three slipped 

 but over the top and crawled back. The 

 little drummer boy gave in under the 

 sights he had crawled through and over, 

 and began to shriek, covering his eyes. 

 The big corporal grabbed him and thrust 

 him within his own great coat, buttoning 

 it up, so that the little fellow could see 

 nothing, and so they continued. At last 

 they met reinforcements, and Billy re- 

 turned with them to show the way. They 

 were even then but a handful, but the 

 Germans did not know that and the at- 

 tack was stayed. 



"none but green troops could have 

 done that" 



It was a French officer, I believe, who 

 said that no veteran troops could have 

 done better. Then he corrected himself, 

 "None but green troops could have done 

 that — they did not know they were 

 beaten ; they did not know enough to re- 

 tire !" The Channel ports were saved, 

 but at what a cost ! 



But while we are proud of our Cana- 

 dian boys, do not suppose that I claim 

 any special superiority for them. Scot- 

 land has in the British armies about twice 

 as large a proportion of her population 

 as has Canada. There are glens in Scot- 

 land where not one man of military age 

 is now living. And nothing makes our 

 Canadian soldiers more annoyed than any 

 claim by those at home that they are any 

 better than the troops from Scotland and 

 England. 



We from Canada feel that we have 



done well, but we take off our hats to the 

 mother country. One of the lessons we 

 have learned from the war is to appre- 

 ciate the Scotchman, the Englishman, and 

 the Frenchman as we never did before ; 

 and we appreciate them now because we 

 know them now. 



CANADA AND HER VICTORY LOANS 



Now let us turn to finance : 



We are a young and borrowing coun- 

 try; we have been an extravagant coun- 

 try, and we thought we could do little 

 toward financing the war. At the begin- 

 ning the mother country advanced money 

 to the various dominions at the same rate 

 as she herself had to pay, but by 191 5 we 

 began to rely on ourselves. The govern- 

 ment issued the call for the first domestic 

 loan. They asked for $50,000,000, and 

 wondered if they would get it. The sub- 

 scriptions came to over $113,000,000. 

 On the strong urgency of the larger sub- 

 scribers the government took $100,000,- 

 000 of this amount. 



In September, 1916, they asked for 

 $100,000,000, and we offered them $201,- 

 000,000. 



Six months later, in March, 1917, they 

 asked for $150,000,000, and we offered 

 them $254,000,000. 



In November of the same year they 

 asked for yet another $150,000,000, and 

 we offered them $419,000,000. For this 

 loan the government had reserved the 

 right to accept all subscriptions, and they 

 did take $400,000,000. 



If in 191 5 a man had told us that within 

 the next two years the people of Canada 

 would supply the government with $750,- 

 000,000, or $100 for every man, woman, 

 and child in the country, he would have 

 been looked on as a wild visionary. Peo- 

 ple do not know what they can do until 

 they really try, and we surprised our- 

 selves. 



The subscribers to our first loan num- 

 bered 24,800; to the last loan they num- 

 bered 820,000, or nearly one in nine of 

 the population. And now our govern- 

 ment has asked for $300,000,000 more, 

 and I shall be surprised if the answer is 

 not at least $500,000,000, and I imagine 

 that they will take it all. 



We shall have a heavy debt, but what 

 of that? We shall carry it with ease, for 



