Studies in American History 
229 
land speculators who eventually returned to the United States 
after selling the land thus easily obtained, but many of them 
remained and became permanent settlers in Upper Canada. 
The migration of population back and forth between the 
United States and Canada, together with its influences, 
merits a more detailed study than it has yet received, and it 
is still an important problem for Canada.^^ The word “land'' 
goes far in explaining this early migration of colonists, as 
well as in explaining much in regard to the War of 1812, the 
assistance given to the Canadian rebels in 1837-1838, and 
the migration of Americans to the western provinces of Can- 
ada in our own day. The settlement and development of 
Canada is comparable in many ways to the history of the 
American West. Our frontier disappeared some forty years 
ago, but Canada still has a frontier, and its influences are 
operating there much as ours did here. In this respect con- 
ditions may be found in Canada today which have disappeared 
forever from the United States. A journey of only thirty or 
forty miles from Ottawa, the capital of the Dominion of Can- 
ada, brings one today to primeval conditions where a white 
man dares not go without compass or Indian guide. 
In regard to the history of the West, there are many in- 
teresting parallels in the history of the two countries. The 
stories of explorations, internal improvements, the tariff, 
public land policy, banking, sectionalism, agrarian unrest, 
and many other topics have a striking similarity in the two 
countries. Sectional differences are inevitable in countries as 
large as the United States and Canada. What seems to 
satisfy Ontario and Quebec today in the way of a protective 
tariff may prove very unsatisfactory to the maritime or 
prairie provinces. One sees evidence of the clash of sec- 
tional interests in Canadian newspapers today just as he 
does in our states. In Nova Scotia some people are inclined 
at times to raise the question whether that province derives 
more good than harm by being included in the Dominion of 
Canada. A recent editorial in a Nova Scotia newspaper states 
the question clearly and answers it conclusively : 
During- an extended tour of Canada, including the maritime provinces, in the 
summer of 1925, one of the most frequent comments which the writer heard in regard 
to Canadian economic conditions was that some policy must be adopted to keep young 
Canadians from migrating to the United States. 
The writer hopes to develop this topic at greater length in a forthcoming article. 
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