Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1917 — THE BASIS OF CANADA’S RICHES [ARTICLE]

THE BASIS OF CANADA’S RICHES

■ | L_ ' A Theme Discussed by the Wail Street Journal. In speaking of Canada a short time ago the Wall Street Journal made the statement that “The basis of Canada’s riches is the fertility of the soil, and no freak of warfare can injure that while her grain will increase-im de« mand as the population of the world grown. As un tnvestment-fleld Canada is worthy of consideration.” These words are well worthy of attention, especially coming from such a source as this eminent financial journal. With a land area exceeding that of the United States and with tillable areas coming under cultivation, the wealth. of Canada’s future can scarcely be estimated, while the wealth today is such as to bring her most prominently before the world. Durjng the past year thousands of farmers In Western Canada sold their crops for more than the total cost of their land. Lands at from sls to S3O an ..ere produced crops worth S4O to $75 an acre. Stock raising and dairying werejequ ally profitable. The year 1915 saw most wonderful ctops and magnificent yields over the entire country, and many farmers wiped out indebtednesses that had hung over them long before they came to the country, the year 1916 put them In a condition of absolute Independence. A report to hand verified by a high official might seem marvelous, were the particulars not well known, and where are not other cases that would seem almost as phenomenal. This is a southern Alberta story: A farmer wished to rent an adjoining farm on which a loan company held a mortgage, The applicant said he wanted the first ten bushels of wheat, after which he would divide, giving the loan company one-third. After threshing he paid into the bank at Calgary sl6 per acre for every acre cultivated, to the credit of- the loan company, as their share or their third of the crop. Sixteen dollars per acre rent. His two-thirds was $32 and in addition the first ten bushels of wheat. Land on this sapie security, can be purchased for from sl6 to S3O per acre. Wonderful yields are reported from all parts of'this district. Recently 4,640 acres of a ranch were sold-to an.llll-

nois farmer; 300 acres of wneat m 1916 produced a yield that averaged 42% bushels of wheat per acre. George Richard, formerly of Providence, R. L, on a southern Alberta farm got 2,052 bushels of wheat from a 50-acre field, or over 40 bushels per acre, and from a 50 acre field of oats got a return of 76 bushels per acre and still had some sheaves left over for feeding. A report just issued by the Alberta government gives the yield-of wheat in the showing of 1916 as 28 bushels per acre; 45 bushels of oats and 30 bushels of barley. Travelers through Alberta’s wheat belt have had revealed to them scenes of agricultural productiveness unapproached in any other part of the world. Alberta, farms, selected with even moderate discretion, have raised men to independence and affluence with records of wonderful development unsurpassed amongst the phenomenal industrial success of which Canada well may boast. Many almost incredible yields have been reported by reliable authorities, wheat exceeding 70 bushels per acre and -oats-146-bushels. Numerous records show that the cost of farms has been more than repaid by this year’s crop. In one instance, land purchased for $3,200 produced wheat which was sold for a little over SIO,OOO. During the year 1917 there will be' an immense amount of labor required to take care of the crop in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. One of the problems which Western Canada has to face every year is the securing of an adequate supply of labor to handle the harvesting and threshing of its big crops. This problem, indeed. Is always present in any country that lias a big agricultural production; in the ense of western Canada it is enhanced by the comparative sparsity of population and the long distance from industrial districts, which can be expected to offer a surplus of labor. In Western Canada the present difficulties are Increased by the war. A very large number of Western Canada’s small population have enlisted for service with the Canadian forces in Europe, and at the present time there is generally speaking no surplus of labor for the ordinary channels of industry, to say nothing of the abnormal demands of harvest time. The situation, however, has to some extent been met by the action of the Canadian militia department, who have released all such men who are still in training in the western military camps and who desire to engage in harvest work for a period of generally one month. J The actual number of men engaged In 1916 in harvest’work was between forty and fifty thousand. Wages were higher than usual, running from $2.50 to $4.00 a day with board, and from $35 to S6O a month,—Advertisement. -—'- - . . Mrs. C. R. Brown of Los Angeles Cal., otyps a cat which is twenty-on« years old. , - Only one woman to every 1,000 met in the United States is protected by at eight-hour law.