The Day of Sir Wilfrid Laurier Part 10

French, Dutch, Belgian, and German investors followed. American capitalists bought few bonds but invested freely in mines, timber limits, and land companies, and set up many factories. By the end of the period foreign capitalists held a mortgage of about two and a half billions on Canada, but in most cases {229} the money had been well applied, and the resources of the country more than correspondingly developed.

The railways were the chief bidders for this vast inflow of new capital. It was distinctly a railway era. The railway made possible the rapid settlement of the West, and the growth of settlement in turn called for still new roads. In the fifteen years following 1896 nearly ten thousand miles were built, two miles a day, year in and year out, and the three years following saw another five thousand miles completed. Two great transcontinentals were constructed. Branch lines innumerable were flung out, crowded sections were double-tracked, grades were lowered, curves straightened, vast terminals built, steamship connections formed, and equipment doubled and trebled.

In this expansion the state, as ever in Canada, took a leading share.

The Dominion Government extended the Intercolonial to Montreal and began a road from the prairies to Hudson Bay, while the Ontario Government built and operated a road opening up New Ontario. The federal policy of aid to private companies was continued, with amendments. No more land-grants were given, and {230} when cash subsidies were bestowed, the companies so aided were required to carry free government mails, materials and men, up to three per cent on the subsidy. The transcontinentals were specially favoured. The Grand Trunk system was given large guarantees and cash subsidies for its westward expansion, and the Government itself constructed the National Transcontinental to ensure the opening up of the north, and to prevent the traffic of the west being carried to United States rather than to Canadian Atlantic ports. The Canadian Northern was a.s.sisted in its prairie construction by both federal and provincial guarantees. The Laurier Government aided the dubious project of building a third line north of Lake Superior, but refused to take any share in the responsibility or cost of building the much more expensive and premature section through the Rockies. The Borden Government and the province of British Columbia, however, gave the aid desired for this latter venture. Another important development was the establishment, in 1903, with the happiest results, of the Dominion Railway Commission, to mediate between railway and shipper or traveller.

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The railway policy of this period is still matter for dispute. On the economic side, it is clear that the greater part of the construction was essential in order to open up the West, with all that this implied for both West and East. Yet there were many evils to set against this gain--the stimulus to unhealthy speculation, the excessive building in settled districts, the construction of roads ahead of immediate needs or possible traffic. The fact is that the railway policy was part and parcel of the whole business policy of the period, the outcome of the same new-born optimism which induced many a munic.i.p.ality to build pavements and sewers before the population warranted, or manufacturers to extend their plants too rapidly, or banks to open branches that did not pay. Progress comes in zigzag fashion; now one need is stressed, now another. To each time its own task, to each the defects of its qualities. And if in the reaction from unexampled prosperity some of the expansion seemed to have come before its time, most Canadians were confident of what the future would bring, and did not regret that in Canada's growing time leaders and people persevered in putting through great and for the most part needful works {232} which only courage could suggest and only prosperity could achieve.

On the political side, also, there were entries on both sides of the ledger. Campaign-fund contributions and political intrigue were the chief debit entries. Yet there were heavy credit entries which should not be forgotten. No other country has made the effort and the sacrifice Canada has made to bind its far-distant and isolated provinces in links of steel. The Intercolonial made the union of east and centre a reality, the Canadian Pacific bound east and centre and west, and the National Transcontinental added the north to the Dominion, gave the needed breadth to the perilously narrow fringe of settlement that lined the United States border. The national ends which Sir John Macdonald and Sir Wilfrid Laurier steadfastly held in view were so great and vital as to warrant risk, to compel faith, to justify courage.

In Canada the state, without much discussion as to the theory involved, has endeavoured to foster production in countless ways. The encouragement and sifting of immigration and the building or aiding of railways and ca.n.a.ls are perhaps the most important {233} single forms this stimulus has taken; but they are far from the only ones. Farmer, miner, fisherman, manufacturer, artisan, all have been aided by policies more or less effective.

Under previous administrations the department of agriculture had done good work and had raised the standard of farm production. That work was now extended and re-vitalized. For the first time a farmer, Mr Sydney A. Fisher, took charge of the department. Better farming and better marketing alike were sought. On experimental farms and in laboratories, studies were carried on as to the best stock or plants, the best fertilizers or the best feeding-stuffs, to suit the varied soils and climates of the wide Dominion. By bulletins and demonstrations farmers were instructed in such matters as the selection of seed, the cool curing of cheese, the improvement of stock, the vigilant guarding against disease in herd and flock. Marketing received equal attention. For the fruit and dairy industries refrigerator-car services and cold-storage facilities on ocean ships were provided. In these and other ways the effort was made to help the Canadian farmer to secure full value for his toil.

The miner received less direct aid. {234} Railways built into mining areas, bounties on lead and petroleum, bounties on iron ore and steel products, laboratory studies in metallurgy, and reduction of the duties on mining machinery, all played a part in the great development of the mines of Canada which marked this era.

None too soon, an important step was taken in 1909 to ensure the perpetuation or the prudent use of the country's natural resources. In the early, lavish days men had believed these resources inexhaustible, or had recklessly ignored the claims of the future in their haste to s.n.a.t.c.h a fortune to-day. The United States had gone furthest on this path, and was the first to come to its senses. A conference held at Washington, in 1909, attended by representatives of the United States, Canada, Newfoundland, and Mexico--notable also as one of the first instances of Canada's recognition of the fact that she was an American power--recommended the establishment of a conservation commission in each country. Canada was the only country that acted upon the advice.

The Conservation Commission was established that very year, with wide duties of investigation and recommendation. Under Sir Clifford Sifton as chairman and Mr {235} James White as secretary it has performed valuable and varied service.

The sea was given thought as well as the land. The fishing bounties already established were continued. Experts were brought from Europe to improve the methods of curing fish. Co-operative cold-storage warehouses for bait were set up, and a fast refrigerator-car service on both coasts brought fish fresh to the interior. Laboratories for the study of marine life and fish hatcheries came into being.

Unfortunately, disputes arose as to jurisdiction between Dominion and provinces and between Canada and the United States, and the fisheries did not grow at the rate of other industries.

The manufacturer, however, continued to be the chief object of attention. An increase took place in the service of trade commissioners for Canada in other countries, whose duties are similar to those of a foreign consular service. The bounties on iron and steel production, amounting in all to twenty millions, undoubtedly did much to stimulate that industry. The protective tariff, as we have seen, remained in a modified form. After the notable step of 1897 towards a purely revenue tariff, there came a halt for some years. In fact, it seemed for a time that the pendulum {236} would swing towards still higher duties. In 1902 the manufacturers began a strong campaign in that direction, which was given aggressive support by the minister of Public Works, J. Israel Tarte, often termed by opponents of the Government the 'Master of the Administration.' This breach of ministerial solidarity Sir Wilfrid Laurier met, on his return from the Colonial Conference, by an instant demand for Mr Tarte's resignation.

It was made clear that the compromise which had been adopted in 1897 would not be rashly abandoned. Yet the movement for a tariff 'high as Haman's gallows' continued, and produced some effect. It led (1904) to a reduction of the British preference on woollens and to an 'anti-dumping act'--aimed against slaughter or bargain sales by foreign producers--providing for a special duty when articles were sold in Canada for less than the prevailing price in the country of origin. In the same year Mr Fielding foreshadowed the introduction of a minimum and maximum tariff, with the existing duties as the minimum, and with maximum duties to be applied to countries which levied especially high rates on Canadian products. Only the vigorous opposition set up by the farmers of Ontario {237} and the West checked the agitation for still higher duties. The new tariff of 1907 made many careful revisions upward as well as downward, but on the whole the existing level was retained. Below the maximum or general rate, but higher than the British preference, there was set up an intermediate tariff, for bargaining with foreign states. This compromise tariff of 1907 remained in force with little change or strong agitation for change until three years later, when negotiations for reciprocity with the United States once more brought the issue to the front.

The field of social legislation, in which so many radical experiments have been made by other lands, in Canada falls for the most part to the provinces. Within its limited jurisdiction the Laurier Government achieved some notable results. Early in its career it put down sweating and made compulsory the payment of fair wages by government contractors. It set up a department of Labour, making it possible to secure much useful information hitherto inaccessible and to guard workmen's interests in many relations. Late in the Laurier regime a commission was appointed to study the question of technical education, important alike for manufacturer {238} and for artisan. The most distinctive innovation, however, was the Lemieux Act, drawn up by W. L.

Mackenzie King, the first deputy minister of Labour. This provided for compulsory investigation into labour disputes in quasi-public industries. It proved a long step towards industrial peace, and was one of the few Canadian legislative experiments which have awakened world-wide interest and investigation.

The growth of the West made it necessary to face the question of granting full provincial powers to the North-West Territories.

Originally under the direct rule of the Dominion parliament, step by step they had approached self-government. In 1886 they had been given representation at Ottawa; in 1888 a local legislature was created, with limited powers, later somewhat enlarged; and in 1897 the Executive Council was made responsible to the legislature. Now, with half a million people between Manitoba and British Columbia, the time had come to take the last step. And so in 1905 the Autonomy Bills, establishing the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, were brought before the House of Commons by the prime minister.

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There were many controversial issues involved. How many provinces should be created? Two were decided upon, to comprise the area south of the sixtieth parallel; the area to the north was left in the territorial status. What should be the capitals? Provisionally Edmonton and Regina were selected. Should the provinces be given control of crown lands? Notwithstanding some opposition, it was decided to maintain the policy, in force from the first acquisition of the West, of keeping the lands in control of the Dominion, which also had control of immigration. What financial aid should be given?

Liberal grants were provided, accepted by all parties as fair and adequate. What legislative powers should the provinces be given, particularly on the subject of education? This proved a th.o.r.n.y question. It provoked a storm of heated controversy which for a brief time recalled the days of the Jesuits' Estates and Manitoba school questions.

A clause in the bills, which Sir Wilfrid Laurier introduced in February 1905, provided: first, that Section 93 of the British North America Act, safeguarding minority privileges, should apply; secondly, to make it clearer what these privileges were, it stipulated that {240} the majority of the ratepayers in any district might establish such schools as they thought fit, and that the minority, whether Protestant or Catholic, might also do so, being in that case liable only for one set of school rates; and thirdly, that legislative appropriations should be divided equitably between public and separate schools.

Three main questions arose. Were separate schools desirable in themselves? Was there any obligation, legal or moral, to establish or maintain them? If so, what form should they take?

Introducing the bills, Sir Wilfrid stated that he 'never could understand what objection there could be to a system of schools wherein, after secular matters had been attended to, the tenets of the religion of Christ, even with the divisions which exist among His followers, are allowed to be taught.' He went on to contrast the schools of Canada, wherein Christian dogmas and morals were taught, with those of the United States, where they were not taught, and to point out the resulting difference in moral standards as witnessed by lynching, murder, and divorce statistics.

The great majority of Catholics and a {241} minority of Protestants, or their ecclesiastical spokesmen, regarded the school as a means of teaching religion as well as secular subjects, and wished secular subjects, where possible, to be taught from a distinctly religious point of view. A small minority were in favour of complete secularization of all schools. The majority of Protestants would probably have favoured some non-denominational recognition of religion in the schools, and would judge denominational teaching by the test of how far this would involve herding the children apart and putting obstacles in the path of educational efficiency and of national unity.

But was parliament free to grant the provinces the liberty to decide the question solely in accord with what the majority might now or hereafter think expedient? On the one hand, it was vigorously contended that it was free, and that any attempt to limit the power of the province was uncalled for, was an attempt to petrify its laws, and to revive the coercion which Sir Wilfrid Laurier himself had denounced and defeated in 1896. The recognition of separate schools in the British North America Act, the critics continued, applied only to the four original provinces, and there was probably no power, and {242} certainly no legal obligation, to extend the principle to the West. On the other hand, it was argued that Section 93 of the British North America Act--introduced at the instance of the Protestant minority of Quebec, and designed to protect the interest of all minorities--morally and legally bound the whole Dominion; that the Manitoba Act of 1870 confirmed the principle that the Dominion could give a new province only such powers as the const.i.tution provided, which meant control over education _subject to the minority's privilege_; and that parliament, by unanimously establishing separate schools in the North-West Territories in 1875, had still further bound its successors, or at least had shown how the Fathers of Confederation interpreted the const.i.tution.

To many, however, the abstract questions of separate schools and the const.i.tution were less important than the practical question, What kind of schools were to be guaranteed by these bills? Sir Wilfrid Laurier declared that the school system to be continued was that actually in force in the North-West, which had been established under the clause respecting schools of the Dominion Act of 1875, which the present bills repeated word for word. {243} This system worked very satisfactorily.

It gave Catholic and Protestant minorities the right to establish separate schools, and to pay taxes only for such schools. In all other respects the school system was uniform; there was only one department of education, one course of study, one set of books, one staff of inspectors. No religious teaching or religious emblems were permitted during school hours; only in the half-hour after the close of school might such teaching be provided. The separate schools were really national schools with the minimum of ecclesiastical control.

It soon became apparent, however, that the schools then existing in the North-West, though based on the Act of 1875, were much less ecclesiastical in character than the act permitted, and less ecclesiastical in fact than the schools which had formerly existed in the territories. In 1884 the Quebec system had been set up, providing for two boards of education, two courses of study, two staffs of inspectors, and separate administrations. But in 1892 this dual system had been abolished by the territorial legislature, and in 1901 the existing system had been definitely established by a series of ordinances. To meet the {244} objections urged, the new bills were amended to make it clear that it was the limited separate school system established in 1901 that was to be continued, and not a complete separate system as authorized in 1875. The bills as originally drafted virtually gave the Church complete control over separate schools, but, as now amended, control over religious education only.

The measure was hotly debated, inside and outside parliament.

Particularly in Ontario the original bills were denounced by many Liberals as well as Conservatives as oppressive, reactionary, and a concession to the hierarchy. The West itself was not disturbed, and the Protestants of Quebec acquiesced in the recognition of separate schools. Mr Sifton made the measure the occasion for resigning from the Ministry. The controversy was a great surprise to Sir Wilfrid, who had considered that he was simply carrying out the agreement reached unanimously in 1875. The amendment satisfied all the malcontents of his party in parliament, but the controversy continued outside. The more extreme opponents of separate schools would see no difference between the new clause and the old. Archbishop Langevin strongly denounced the {245} amendment; but the fire soon cooled. Today fewer than one school in a hundred in the two provinces is a separate school.

Throughout this period of rapid growth the Liberal party maintained its place in power. The country was prosperous and content and the party chieftain invincible. The general elections of 1904 turned chiefly on railway issues. The criticisms of the Opposition, many of them well grounded, proved unavailing. The contest ended in a victory for the Government with a majority of sixty seats in the House and of fifty thousand votes in the country. The results presented the usual discrepancies between electoral votes and parliamentary representation.

Though the Liberals had only 54,000 votes in Nova Scotia, as against 46,000 for the Conservatives, they captured all the eighteen seats.

Prince Edward Island, giving the Liberals a popular majority, returned three Conservatives to one Liberal. Ontario cast 217,000 Conservative and 213,000 Liberal votes and returned forty-eight Conservatives and thirty-eight Liberals. An untoward incident of the elections was the defeat of Mr R. L. Borden in Halifax. The leader of the Opposition had won universal respect, {246} and it was to the satisfaction of opponents as well as followers that another seat was shortly found for him.

In the general elections of four years later (1908) no single issue was dominant. The Opposition alleged 'graft' and corruption, and charged ministers and ex-ministers with breach of the eighth and neighbouring commandments. Government officials, too, they said, were guilty of extravagance and fraud. Timber limits, contracts, land deals, figured in still further scandals. The ministerial forces replied in the usual way, claiming in some cases that there was no ground for the allegations, and in others that they themselves had intervened to put a stop to the practices inherited from previous administrations. They carried the war into Africa by counter-charges against leading members of the Opposition. The air was full of scandals and personalities; but none of the charges were of sufficient magnitude or sufficient certainty to weigh heavily against the prosperity of the country and the personality of the prime minister. The parliamentary majority, however, fell from sixty-two to forty-seven, and the popular majority from fifty to twenty thousand.

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The years had brought many changes in the Ministry. Mr Sifton had retired, Mr Tarte's resignation had been accepted, and Mr Fitzpatrick had gone to the Supreme Court. Mr Oliver had succeeded Mr Sifton, Mr Aylesworth had come from a distinguished place at the bar to the portfolio of Justice, Mr Pugsley was in charge of Public Works, Mr Graham had left the leadership of the Ontario Opposition for the portfolio of Railways, Mr Mackenzie King had jumped from the civil service to the Cabinet, and Mr Lemieux and Mr Brodeur were the prime minister's chief colleagues from Quebec. The Opposition benches showed almost as many changes. Of the former Conservative ministers, Mr Foster and Mr Haggart only remained in active service, while Mr Doherty, Mr Ames, and Mr Meighen were among the more notable accessions. Some rumbles of discontent were heard against Mr Borden's leadership, but the party as a whole rallied strongly to him, and his position both in the party and in the country grew increasingly firm.

Through all the changes the prime minister grew in strength and prestige. Each year that pa.s.sed gave proofs of his masterful leadership. {248} The old cry that he was too weak to rule now gave way to the cry that he was too strong. There was no question that for all his suavity he insisted upon being first minister in fact as well as in form. In Canada he had a hold upon the popular imagination which had been equalled only by Sir John Macdonald, while abroad he was the one Canadian, or in fact the one colonial statesman, known to fame, the outstanding figure of Greater Britain.

[1] It is estimated that 15 per cent of the Scottish, 18 per cent of the English, 19 per cent of the Irish, 27 per cent of the Continental, and 30 per cent of the United States immigrants made entry for homesteads. The proportion of Americans who bought land was in still greater degree much the largest.

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CHAPTER XII

CANADA AND FOREIGN POWERS

Europe and Asia--The United States--Reciprocity

The early years of the Laurier regime brought Canada into the visual range of the outside world. During the middle years the business of the country's internal development overshadowed everything else. Then in the later years the relations of Canada with other countries came to occupy an increasingly important place on the political stage.

At last, Canada's rising star compelled the attention of foreign countries beyond the seas. Some of these countries sent capital, and no Canadian objected. Some sent goods, and manufacturers and producers raised the questions of protection and reciprocal tariff privileges.

Others, as we have seen, sent men. Some of these immigrants Canada welcomed indiscriminately, some she took with qualms, while against others she erected high barriers, with half a mind to make them still higher.

First, as to trade and tariffs, which were the {250} chief subjects of discussion with European governments. The original Fielding tariff of 1897 had adopted the minimum and maximum principle, with the intention that a few low-tariff countries should share with Great Britain the advantages of the lower rates. Treaty complications made this impossible, and the lower rates were confined to the Empire. Then in 1907 came the intermediate tariff as a basis for bargaining. The Government turned first to France. Mr Fielding and Mr Brodeur, a.s.sociated with the British amba.s.sador at Paris, negotiated a treaty, giving France the intermediate and in some cases still lower rates, and receiving advantages in return. The treaty, though made in 1907, was not ratified until 1910. Owing to existing British treaties with most-favoured-nation clauses which bound the colonies, the concessions given France had to be extended to Austria, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Spain, and Switzerland. Belgium and Holland, both low-tariff countries, received many of the same concessions, and in the same year (1910) a special convention was made with Italy. All the latter negotiations were carried on direct between the Canadian Government and the foreign consuls-general in Canada. In the {251} agreement with Italy the parties were termed 'the Royal Consul of Italy for Canada, representing the government of the Kingdom of Italy, and the Minister of Finance of Canada, representing His Excellency the Governor-General acting in conjunction with the King's Privy Council for Canada.'

Meanwhile less friendly relations had arisen with Germany. Angry at the action of Canada in giving British goods a preference, Germany in 1899 withdrew her minimum rates on Canadian products, imposing the much higher general rates. The Laurier Government protested that the British preference was a family affair, and that so long as Germany was given the same rates as other foreign countries she had no excuse for retaliation. But this soft answer did not turn away Teutonic wrath; so in 1903 Canada retorted in kind, by levying a surtax of one-third on German goods. The war of tariffs lasted seven years. While it hampered the trade of both countries, German exports were much the hardest hit. Germany took the initiative in seeking a truce, and in 1910 an agreement was reached between Mr Fielding and the German consul-general. Germany dropped her protest against the British preference, and gave the Dominion the {252} minimum rates on the most important dutiable exports in return for, not the intermediate, but the general tariff rates. So ended one of the few instances of successful retaliation in all the chequered annals of tariff history.

Secondly, as to men. This was the issue with Asiatic powers. The opposition to Asiatic immigration, so strong in Australia and South Africa as well as in the United States, prevailed in Western Canada.

Working men demanded protection against the too cheap--and too efficient--labour of the Asiatic as validly as manufacturers objected to the importation of the products of European 'pauper labour.'

Stronger, perhaps, was the cry for a White Canada based on the difficulty of a.s.similation and the danger to national unity of huge colonies of Asiatics in the thinly peopled province beyond the mountains.