OCR Text |
Show GIBBS FINDS CANADA HUGE Writer Struck By Courage of Those Who Develop Lonely Homesteads m sir. PHIIjIP GIBBS. For some days 1 have been In Canada, Can-ada, and 1 im now writing this article arti-cle in an observation ear of the National Na-tional Railway on the way from Winnipeg Win-nipeg to Kdmonton. Although I hw hod the advantage of discussing Canadian Ca-nadian problems and prospect with some of the leading men of th west, and a few weekn ago I was ahl' to Ket a Rllmpse of eastern conditions ami thought in the city of Toronto, I think ?he scene from the carriage window tells me more of what Canada Can-ada means than any kind of conversation con-versation with statesmen of itizens. For hundreds of miles for more than a thousand miles the railroad tracks have cone through the grea1 prilrles, stretching away lntermlna-blj lntermlna-blj li seems, to te f ir horizon, so flat that there Is no sign of a hillock, with hardly a billow of earth except where the snow has drifted, an Immense, Im-mense, white, winter-bound. lonelj land. Here and There are small town-whips town-whips and villages, widely scattered-; here and there a solitary log hut with a few- wooden shanties iround. ati'l some snow-covered hay ricks. Little woods Idack above the snow, are dotted thickly over the white wilderness, wil-derness, and black cattle stand near a cluster of sheds. t.r.l A 1 GllAN 1!T This country Is one of the great granaries of the world. In a little while the snows will melt and out o' this rich far reaching north will sprint; green crops Which 'hen in due time will turn Into a golden glory reidy for harvesting But what strikes me with a kind of constant wonder is the unpopulated unpopu-lated spaciousness of this Canadian World, and tlie loneliness, the moril eourage, the hard iife of the individual individ-ual who has come out here and built one of thoe solitary homesteads and mndi the l ind fruitful. In i great adventure ad-venture with life and death. For two years or more luck has ben against him The Canadian farmer Is waiting now through this long whiter, whi-ter, nearly ending, with desperate hope that the wheel of fortune will turn a' least s spoke or two. Otherwise, Other-wise, he will be on the edge of calamity ca-lamity Drought, low prices for his ; ru'jii' tiixii prices ior laoor nun machinery, freight charges that swallow swal-low up his profits falling markets:, hlph tariffs against Mm In the United States, an embargo against his cattle cat-tle in Great Britain, have tested the staying power of the strongest among them The weakest have already broken I am told Canada, about the size of the United Unit-ed Rtates, ha a population of nine millions. During the last 10 yearn it has shown an increase of two millions. mil-lions. Yet It eould absorb 2) millions mil-lions of new settlers within the next year or Ivvo and not notice them with any sense of overcrowding.. Looking out over these prairies waiting wait-ing for manhood and womanhood, with Infinite capaclt for the absorption absorp-tion of life. I think bark to England, with its million and a half unemployed unem-ployed and to the United States with its teeming itles. and to central Europe Eu-rope and Russia with so many millions mil-lions of underfed folk This great world of Canada would find room for vnst numbers of fellows who cannot find a good job or enough foor fod their womenfolk. But one glance at this white landscape in winter time tells me that Canada is not a country coun-try for city-bred folk, for the weak-link weak-link In soul or body. One winter In one of those lonely, snow-bound homesteads would kill off the unfit drive mad his sensitive, crowd-accustomed mind. Only good stock of the oM pioneer kind, used to the land, hard and patient, and brave, could survive fn this Canadian west si nt mi- is si a r.ss After the war, when great numbers num-bers of returned soldiers were tld! of lounging about the citlei ,-ind found ! ' their pockets empty, the government ! established a set' lenient sehenie j which has now stood ils test. As furi as I can find out It lias been a sue- j cess In the case of men who have j ' grit and endurance, in spite of bad luck with weather and In some cases bad land which did not give1 them a rlecent chance. It has failed I j In every i ase where the returned j ' soldier was not accustomed to the i : harsh ll'e pf the soli or to the ric I of the Canadian climate One of I J the leaders of Canadian life In Win- I I nlpeg lold me that it was no use pro- I tending that B Canadian winter Is not I severe apd long. We bad far better I face the fact and make the best of It. j Let us capitalize our climate and make winters more endurable by I sports and g.'i ta it That Idea of capitalizing the ell- mate was the motive behind the pre t ' i Winter Carnival at S Innlpeg which was in full swing the nigh; I arrived1 and certainly the profession of the' queen of beauty with her immense ' itiain of torch bearers iind battalions I of Canadian boys and girls in the I fancj dress of Redskins and trap- porn, with snow-shoes and pUIs. was a proof to all tho crowd that Ice and snov. need not lower the temperature of mirth and Jollity Hour after hour through the streets of Winnipeg-, all brilliantly lit; aa though all the Bl 11 had been brought down from the sky and festooned between the houses, the procession wound its way, and laughter and son? ran? out through the frosty air. AWAIT SPRING'S COMING. But what Is possible In Winnipeg Is not possible In tho little lonely places of the great prairies where Canadian families. utterly Isolated, hujr close to tho lor fire, and v. ill now for the first Wsrm brwilh of coining spring which will release them from their white bondage They have their compensations if they are not fretful, for the nervous pleasures of the towns, if there Is love In the house and food enough. :md fuel for tho fire and the hardihood of youth In such a life there Is peace of soul not found In the brick streets of modern mod-ern cities Out of such a life coms the greatness of a nation, and its best wealth. The promise of Canada Is Immeasurable, Immea-surable, unless the cities with their lure destroy Its chances. That Canada Can-ada will b one of the greatest nations na-tions on earth seems certain if humanity hu-manity haa not lost its pioneering spirit. At the moment the Canadian people are suffering from deep depression de-pression due partly to the general .'.IKillll lull oj wmiu u ,iur, ciiiu 111 perhaps to" avoidable, political mul economli mistakes One thing tftat I has hit the Canadian formers is thl Tordn y tariff Imposed by the United ' States upon their ralile and grain 14 seems to be the belief of western Canada Just or unjust I do not know that their interest has been sacrl-! fired by the self Interest of cities like Toronto and Montreal, and by the short-sightedness of politicians v. ho refused .1 rei iprociil agreement with tho I'niled States in 1911 on a free-trade basis. Thn Canadian farmers far-mers want agricultural machines cheap manures and fodder and an open market with tho Cnlted States. AboVS all thry demand a drastic reduction re-duction in freight charges, made high by s railway policy which over-developed the railways of Canada and put an litthientfe burden on the government gov-ernment through it-- own lack of J foresight md Its passion for prodl- i gal enterprise beyond the nation's means. Ii seems to be deplorable fit this time of world distress the I United Siates and Canada should be putting mi tar.ffs against each other Instead of devising some scientific i arrangement that would create thei rising tide of trade in both countri. ! A ith regard to Great Britain I find I an abiding love for the "old country" in tho heart of Canada, and an Immense Im-mense pride In the spirit and traditions tradi-tions of the British empire. But Ciinnda is iimliiiihtedlv sensitive ;nil jSS)OUS of lit-r ilomlnlon status, ns a nation equal and independent within the federation of British people. That it "inn statui hat liol clearly defined, though In actual pmctlce Canada Is certain of her equality and has an equal voles ith Jrt-.iT Britain and the other dominions domin-ions in the counsels of the empire PEOPIJ 1 1 BSE vi I i ! I find the Canadian people a little lit-tle resentful of criticism in the I'nitrd Stales during tin- controversy of the league of nations, because they would not admit the right of Canada to vote as a nation But on all sni'-s an. I from all people 10 whom I h vt spoken spok-en I hear the conviction that the deepest unchanging Instinct anil tradition tra-dition of Canada is first of all allegiance al-legiance to tho British empire In fn-o and equal partnership and second 1 1 li-nilsh! p M vol I 'i progress with the (JHted S lies. Thla understanding beHveen Enllsii-apcaklng Enllsii-apcaklng peoples has be ntnc, 1 b -lleve. closer and more Intimate during dur-ing the Washington conference an l should have great Influence In th'.-reshaping th'.-reshaping of world affairs. (Copyright, 1922. by The McClure Newspaper Svndlcate.) |