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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Dominion in 1983 by Ralph Centennius
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+Title: The Dominion in 1983
+
+Author: Ralph Centennius
+
+Release Date: July, 2003 [Etext #4290]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on December 30, 2001]
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Dominion in 1983 by Ralph Centennius
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+
+NOTES ON THIS ETEXT EDITION
+
+
+The Dominion in 1983 was first published as a thirty page booklet
+in 1883 under the pseudonym Ralph Centennius. (The author's real
+name is unknown.) This edition has been proof-read word-by-word
+against a copy of the original on microfiche. (Canadian Institute
+for Historical Microreproductions no. 00529)
+
+In this text, a mixture of American and British spelling can be
+found. (For example "harbour" and "favor" are both used.) The
+phrase "rocket-car" is hyphenated twice, while appearing three
+times as two individual words. There are also some instances of
+unusual spelling and capitalization of words. With the exception
+of a few small emendations, spelling, capitalization and
+punctuation have been preserved as in the original.
+
+
+
+
+THE DOMINION IN 1983
+
+by Ralph Centennius
+
+
+
+Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the
+year 1883, by Toker & Co., Publisher on behalf of the Author,
+in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.
+
+
+
+I.
+
+
+  "Before the curing of a strong disease,
+  "Even in the instant of repair and health,
+  "The fit is strongest; evils that take leave,
+  "On their departure most of all show evil."
+                      --King John, Act III.
+
+
+In the present advanced and happy times it is instructive to take
+a retrospective glance at the days of our forefathers of the
+nineteenth century, and to meditate upon the political struggles
+and events of the past hundred years, that by so doing we may gain
+a clear insight into the causes which have led to the present
+wonderful developments. We, in the year of Grace 1983, are too
+apt to take for granted all the blessings of moral, political
+and physical science which we enjoy, and to pass over without
+due consideration the great efforts of our ancestors, which have
+made our present happy condition possible.
+
+Let us try to contrast the Dominion of to-day with the Dominion of
+1883. To begin with population. Our population at the last census
+in 1981, was just over 93,000,000. A hundred years ago a scant
+5,000,000 represented this great Canadian nation, which has since
+so mightily increased and proved itself such a beneficent factor
+in human affairs. Seven provinces and some sparsely peopled and
+only partially explored territories formed all that the world then
+knew as Canada. To-day have we not fifteen provinces for the most
+part thickly peopled, and long since fully explored to the shores
+of the Arctic Ocean?
+
+In the present days of political serenity it is hard to realize
+the animosity and extreme bitterness of the past century. The two
+parties into which men formerly divided themselves, viewed each
+other as enemies, and each party opposed on principle whatever
+measures the other proposed. From a careful study of the principal
+journals of the time, fyled at Ottawa, we gather that the party,
+self-styled "Reformers," frequently opposed progressive measures,
+and even attempted to hinder the construction of railroads, while
+the other party called "Conservatives" considered railroads as the
+best means of opening up the enormous tracts of country then lying
+untrodden by man, and useless to civilization. Such are certainly
+the inferences to be drawn from the records at our command, though
+it is hard to believe in opposition to railroads or to advancement
+in any form in these days, when new channels of communication and
+new industries are viewed with favor by the whole nation. Each
+party seems strangely to have belied its title, for the Reformers,
+after the confederation of the provinces in 1867, endeavored with
+singular perverseness to frustrate or retard reform and improvement
+of all kinds, while the Conservatives did not desire to preserve
+things in the old ruts and grooves, but strove hard for beneficial
+advancement of every sort.
+
+In 1883 the United States was one of the leading nations of the
+world. With a population of over 50,000,000, and an almost
+illimitable extent of territory still open for settlement by the
+fugitives from troubled Europe; with exhaustless wealth, developed
+and undeveloped, it seemed reasonable to suppose that a nation so
+placed should be able to attain the foremost position and be able to
+keep it. Such appears to have been the opinion of most foreigners,
+and also of some of our Canadians of the period, for the wealth,
+apparent power and prestige of the United States caused many of our
+weak-kneed ancestors to lose heart in their own country, and in fits
+of disloyal dejection to fancy there could be no progress except in
+union with the States. Stout hearts, however, ultimately gained the
+day, and we in the twentieth century are reaping the benefits won
+for the country by the valor of our great-grandfathers.
+
+The troubled times through which the youthful Dominion passed from
+1885 to 1888 constitute one of the greatest crises through which
+any nation ever passed successfully. Canada, with her confederated
+provinces and large territories loosely held together, with her
+scattered population chiefly grouped in Ontario and Quebec, with
+her infant manufactures and scarcely-touched mineral resources,
+was the home, nevertheless, of as prosperous and promising a young
+nation as the world ever saw; and had it not been for the timid
+portion of her population just mentioned, a great deal of trouble
+might have been saved. But out of evil came good. The Americans for
+years had been too careless about receiving upon their shores all
+the firebrands and irreconcileables from European cities, and the
+consequence was that these undesirable gentry increased in numbers,
+and the infection of their opinions spread. American politics were
+as corrupt as they could be. Bribery and the robbery of public funds
+were unblushingly resorted to. A low moral tone with regard to such
+matters, combined with utter recklessness in speculation and a
+furious haste to get rich by any means, fair or foul, were, sad to
+say, prominent characteristics in the American nation in many other
+respects so great. To counteract these evils, which were great
+enough to have ruined any European state in a couple of years, there
+was, however, the marvellous prodigality of nature--a bounteousness
+and richness in the yield of the soil and the depths of the earth
+hardly equalled in any other part of the world, and in consequence
+princely fortunes were accumulated in an incredibly short space of
+time. Millionaires abounded, and monopolists, compared with whom
+Croesus was poor, flourished. But bitter poverty and starvation also
+flourished, especially in the large cities, bringing in their train
+the usual discontent and hatred of the established order of things.
+Yet these old-fashioned evils were scarcely noticed in the general
+magnificent prosperity of the country. The short-sighted statesmen
+of the time delighted to look only on the bright side of things,
+and to them the very exuberance of the prosperity seemed to condone,
+if not to justify, the nefarious practices which obtained in high
+places. No wonder that among our Canadians, hardly 5,000,000 all
+told, there were some who were weak enough to be dazzled at the
+wealth and success of their brilliant go-ahead neighbours, more than
+50,000,000 strong. Among those who lost heart in Canada, it began
+to be a settled conviction that it was "the destiny of Canada to be
+absorbed in the States."
+
+This was the state of things in 1885. Conservative statesmen pointed
+to the general progress of our country, to unprecedented immigration
+from Europe, increased agricultural products and manufactures, and
+to many other convincing proofs of solid advancement. But facts
+were of no avail in dealing with Reformers habitually, and on
+principle despondent. The sanguine buoyancy and plucky hopefulness
+indispensable to true statesmanship did not animate them to any
+extent. Unhappily events over which no statesman could then have
+control overtook Canada, while as yet things bounded along gaily
+in the States, and the sons of despair seemed to have some ground
+for their pusillanimity. The harvest of 1885 was deficient, and
+agriculture was in consequence depressed: a slight panic in the
+Spring was succeeded by a great one in the Fall. Heavy failures
+followed. A feeling of uneasiness was caused at the same time by
+great social and political changes which were going on in the
+mother country, and were threatening to assume the proportions of
+a revolution. The unparalleled prosperity of the States caused the
+Americans--never backward in blowing their own trumpet--to assume
+an attitude of overweening confidence in themselves, and to brag
+offensively of what they considered to be their duty to mankind,
+namely, to convert all the world--by force if necessary--to
+republican principles. Such was the commencement of the great crisis
+in the history of the young Canadian nation--a crisis through which,
+if our sturdy forefathers had not pulled successfully, would have
+led to our gradual obliteration as a nation. All honor then to the
+great men to whom, under Providence, our preservation is due!
+
+In 1886 commenced the reign of terror in Europe, that terrible
+period of mingled war and revolution, during which thrones were
+hurled down and dynasties swept away like chaff in a gale. The
+face of Europe was changed. Whole provinces were blackened and
+devastated by fire and sword. During the three years in which
+the terror was at its height it is calculated that at least four
+millions of men bearing arms, the flower of each land, must have
+fallen. Great Britain was frequently on the very brink of war, but
+was almost miraculously kept from actually taking part. And most
+providential it was that Britain was not drawn into the tumult,
+for home troubles and defensive measures required all the attention
+of the nation. These stirring events, of course, had their effect
+on this side of the Atlantic. Canada was affected detrimentally
+by losing for a time the prestige consequent on being backed up
+by British ironclads and regiments, every available soldier and
+every vessel of war being required for the protection of British
+interests nearer home.
+
+The harvest again in 1886 was below the average. Trade and finance
+had not recovered from the shock of the previous year. The outlook
+was certainly gloomy.
+
+A Conservative government, with Sir --- ---, as Premier, was in
+power at Ottawa. Sir --- and his government were, however, in
+great straits, owing to the prevailing depression throughout the
+Dominion, for the hard times were seized upon by the opponents
+of the government as a means whereby to thwart and distract the
+ministers, and stir up discontent among the people. The States were
+pointed to by the Reformers as the only country in the world where
+security and prosperity co-existed. British connection was held up
+to scorn as a tie whose supposed advantages had proved worthless. A
+less able or a less determined ministry would have collapsed under
+the strain. The winter of 1886-7 was very severe, and discontent
+began to be noisy and aggressive. To make matters worse, a Fenian
+organization was going on in the States with the avowed object of
+invading Canada in the coming Spring. The heads of the movement
+were well-known politicians of a low order, having considerable
+funds at their command, and much influence in certain quarters.
+Their emissaries were known to be working all over Canada, freely
+distributing American gold and holding secret meetings. The
+position of affairs was one of increasing gravity owing to the
+connivance of the American authorities and the powerlessness of the
+Home Government. So matters progressed until the spring of 1887,
+when the situation became one of extreme tension. The Conservatives
+were taunted with having ruined the country financially and with
+pursuing a "Jingo" policy certain to end in bloodshed. Reformers
+"stumped" the country, calling on their excited audiences to march
+to Ottawa and compel the Premier and his infatuated followers to
+resign. Annexation was openly advocated as the only sensible way
+to be relieved from the overwhelming surrounding difficulties.
+
+A ray of hope to buoy up the sorely-tried loyalists appeared,
+when Canadians who had been domiciled in all parts of the States
+returned to defend their native land on hearing of the great danger
+she was undoubtedly in. Having lived many years under the shadow of
+the Stars and Stripes, they knew well enough all that it amounted
+to; the glamour of accumulated successes had not turned their heads
+for they had had opportunities of observing the sinister influences
+at work in American affairs, beneath the attractive exterior.
+Quebec rallied to a man, and the latent military strength of the
+province was developed under efficient leaders to a formidable
+degree. Invaders would have met with a warm reception in this
+quarter. Manitoba and the whole North-west were up and ready,
+prepared to fight, more to preserve their own independence,
+however, than the integrity of the Dominion, as there was then
+considerable difference in sentiment between the North-west and
+the Eastern Provinces. The Manitobans, too, though the Irish
+element had become very strong, did not intend to succumb to Fenian
+raiders, however well organized and backed up. The weakest points
+were the Maritime Provinces, Ontario and British Columbia; not that
+the feeling in British Columbia was not loyal to the Dominion, but
+that some 30,000 rowdies who had assembled and organized in San
+Francisco were preparing for a descent upon her poorly fortified
+ports. Now was the turning point in the destinies of the country.
+If the ministers at Ottawa had not stood firmly to their guns,
+all our subsequent career, instead of being the golden century
+of magnificent progress and peace that it has been, would have
+been linked with all the turbulence and the alternate advance
+and retrogression of the States.
+
+A general election for the Dominion had been timed to take place
+in the beginning of June, and the day was looked forward to by all
+the noisy demagogues of Ontario as the day when the blood-thirsty
+Tories were to be hurled from power by the people in righteous
+wrath, and the country saved from the horrors of war. According to
+these garrulous parties, Ontario, the wealthiest and most populous
+Province of the seven, was to welcome the invaders, bidding them
+enter Canadian territory in the name of the people, and plant the
+Stars and Stripes wherever they halted. Bloodshed would thus be
+avoided, and everyone would soon come round to the new order of
+things and take to it naturally. Quebec might perhaps object,
+"but what did a few handfuls of Frenchmen matter anyway."
+
+On the day before the election, one party was full of boisterous,
+bragging insolence; the other, still steadfast, firmly clinging
+to what seemed a forlorn hope. Before the ending of another day
+all was changed--a complete transformation scene had taken place.
+
+When the morning journals on the election day appeared, their news
+from the United States was such a terrible chapter of accidents as
+has rarely fallen to the lot of journals to publish in one day. The
+President had been shot at in New York by an unemployed foreign
+artisan, the night before, while leaving a mansion on Fifth Avenue.
+Troubles between labor and capital, which had been brewing for
+some time, had broken out in several manufacturing centres, and
+were threatening to spread to all large cities. The money market
+was showing signs of considerable derangement. Fearful storms and
+floods were chronicled from all parts; while last, but not least,
+three transports which had embarked the greater part of the "army,"
+at San Francisco, that was to have "delivered" British Columbia,
+had foundered in a hurricane only two miles out, dragging all the
+poor deluded fellows to a watery grave. The same day brought good
+news from the old world. Ireland's great statesman had won for
+Britain a wonderful diplomatic triumph in the East, which added
+to the Empire, without a drop of blood being shed, territories
+extending from the confines of British India to the Mediterranean.
+All the leading men in Europe (so the despatch read) were
+astonished at the exhibition of so much moral force in the Old
+Country after they had been imagining the Empire as about to go to
+pieces under the recent terrible strain. Other good news which had
+its effect here was that for Ireland there had at last been found
+men who understood her wants, and what was better, whom she herself
+understood, so that she considered herself as having just embarked
+upon a new career of glory as an integral and indispensable part
+of the Empire.
+
+The effect of all this information on the electors of Canada was
+very marked. The demagogues who elevated themselves upon barrels or
+waggons and buggies to spout their frothy nonsense to the public,
+could get but few listeners, though only twenty-four hours ago
+applauding crowds would have assembled. Their hold on the people was
+gone; every one was reading the papers or discussing the startling
+news. Many men who the day before were noisily advocating everything
+disloyal and rebellious, were silent and thoughtful. Men who had
+remained loyal to Canada all through quickly seized the occasion and
+appealed to the people to stand firm to the Dominion, pointing out
+the uncertainty of affairs in the States and contrasting them with
+the vitality and power of the Old Country, doubly powerful now that
+Ireland had obtained perfect satisfaction and was contented. The
+election resulted in a complete triumph for the government, and was
+a most satisfactory vindication of their policy. The ranks of the
+Opposition were broken up and their forces demoralized. Not a word
+was heard about annexation that night unless in scorn.
+
+The heart of the young nation was stirred to its very depths during
+the next two months, while a most sublime period in our history
+was being passed through. The would-be invaders of Canada were
+determined not to be baulked in their enterprise, the movement
+having gone too far to collapse suddenly, and perhaps the leaders
+had not sufficient foresight to see that the troubles rising in the
+States must necessarily get worse before they were better, and take
+several years to subside; perhaps they did not realize fully the
+new unanimity of public feeling in Canada. Anyhow the activity of
+their preparations did not lessen, but rather increased, and the
+commencement of offensive operations was postponed so that they
+might be more complete. Disloyalty was no longer popular in
+Ontario or in any other province, in fact among all who had been
+disaffected a reaction and revulsion of feeling set in, in favor
+of intense loyalty to the Dominion, and a most felicitous union was
+effected between the Conservatives and Reformers. The common danger
+brought all parties together, forgetful of old prejudices, and the
+old bitter hatred grew less and less until its final extinction.
+Henceforth there was but one party with but one object in view--the
+welfare of the Dominion.
+
+Every able-bodied man in Canada between the ages of 20 and 45 was
+under drill, and the country was fully prepared and fully expecting
+to undertake the invaders without outside assistance, but Great
+Britain being in no danger now in Europe, despatched 12,000 men to
+Canada, and with her recovered prestige was enabled to remonstrate
+forcibly with the Washington Government concerning American
+connivance. The British remonstrances had the desired effect, for
+the American authorities promptly arrested the leaders of the "army
+of deliverance," though by so doing they aroused the animosity of
+many of their own supporters. The "army" then speedily fell away
+and all danger was over. Of course the benefit to Canada of having
+had the national feeling so deeply stirred was incalculable, for
+all classes of men in all the provinces had been animated by the
+profoundest sentiments and the strongest determination possible,
+and it was the opinion of leading military men of the time that the
+Canadians under arms, though outnumbered trebly by the intending
+invaders, would have held their own gallantly and have come off
+victorious.
+
+The excitement aroused by these stirring occurrences began to quiet
+down towards the approaching Fall, when the Canadian ship of state
+was again under full sail, heading for the waters of prosperity.
+Since then our political history has been so intimately connected
+with great inventions and discoveries, that a narration of one
+without a description of the other is scarcely possible.
+
+
+
+II.
+
+
+  "For miracles are ceased;
+  "And therefore we must needs admit the means
+  "How things are perfected."
+                      --Henry V, Act I.
+
+
+It was well understood by the Romans in their palmy days that a
+great empire could not be held together without means of easy
+communication between distant provinces, and their fine hard roads
+ramifying from Rome to the remote corners of Gaul or Dacia, testify
+to their wisdom and enterprise in this respect. When Great Britain
+in the eighteenth century, full of inventive skill, reared men who
+by means of improved roads, well-bred horses and fine vehicles
+raised the rate of travel to ten miles an hour from end to end of
+the kingdom, a great deal of complacent satisfaction was indulged
+in over the advantages likely to result from such rapid travelling.
+This great speed, however, was made to appear quite slow in the
+first half of the nineteenth century when locomotives were invented
+capable of covering sixty miles an hour. Nowadays the old cumbrous
+locomotive, rumbling and puffing along and making only sixty miles
+in sixty minutes, is a very dilatory machine in comparison with
+our light and beautiful rocket cars, which frequently dart through
+the air at the rate of sixty miles in one minute. The advantages
+to a country like ours, over 3,000 miles wide, of swift transit
+are obvious. The differences in sentiment, politically, nationally,
+and morally, which arose aforetime when people under the same
+government lived 3,000 miles apart have disappeared to be replaced
+by a powerful unanimity that renders possible great social
+movements, utterly impossible in the railway age, when seven days
+were consumed in journeying from east to west. The old idea that
+balloons would be used in this century for travelling has proved
+a delusion, almost their only use now being a meteorological one.
+
+Our rocket cars were only perfected in the usual slow course of
+invention, and could neither have been constructed nor propelled
+a hundred years ago, for neither was the metal of which they are
+constructed produced, nor had the method of propulsion or even the
+propulsive power been developed. Inventors had to wait till science
+had given us in abundance a metal less than a quarter the weight of
+iron, but as strong and durable, and this was not until some fifty
+years ago when a process was discovered for producing cheaply the
+beautiful metal calcium. But calcium would have been little use
+alone. Aluminium, which is now so plentiful, had to be alloyed
+with it, and aluminium was not used to any great extent till the
+beginning of this century, when an electric process of reducing it
+quickly from its ore--common clay--was discovered. The metal known
+as calcium bronze, which is now so common, is an alloy of calcium,
+0.75; aluminium, 0.20; and 0.05 of other metals and metalloids in
+varying proportions according to different patents. This alloy has
+all the useful properties of the finest steel with about one-fourth
+its weight, and is besides perfectly non-oxydisable and never
+tarnishes. Without the production of a metal with all these
+combined qualities, we might still in our journeys, be dawdling
+along at sixty miles an hour in a cumbrous railroad car behind
+a snorting, screaming locomotive.
+
+Our swiftly darting cars were not at first constructed on such
+perfect principles as now. Invention seems to follow certain laws,
+and has to take its time. A new discovery in physics has to be
+supplemented by one in chemistry, and one in chemistry by another
+in physics, and so on through a whole century, perhaps, before any
+great invention is perfected. Thus it happens that, though the
+principle of the rocket has been known for an age, it is only
+comparatively recently that it has been applied to the propulsion
+of cars. An invention, too, always presents itself to an inventor
+at first in the most complicated form, and frequently many years
+are passed in attempts at simplification. What a wide interval is
+there between the steam locomotive with all its complex mechanism,
+and the magnificently simple rocket car! A century of ceaseless
+invention is comprehended between the two! Before the simplicity
+of our cars was arrived at, inventors had to give up boilers,
+fire-boxes, valves, steam-pipes, cylinders, pistons, wheels,
+cranks, levers, and a host of minor parts. Wheels died hard.
+Electric locomotives using them were brought out and were
+considered to do the very fastest thing possible in locomotion,
+and such was in fact the case while wheels were used, for wheels
+could not have borne a faster pace without flying to pieces from
+centrifugal force. But when an inventor devised a machine on
+runners to move on lubricated rails, a great step was gained,
+though the invention was not a success, and when, after this,
+liquid carbonic acid, or carbonic acid ice expanding again to a gas
+was employed as a motive power, another advance was made. Then the
+greatest lift of all was given. The solidification of oxygen and
+hydrogen by an easy process was discovered and mankind presented
+with a new motive power. In due time a way was found to make the
+solid substance re-assume the gaseous form either suddenly or by
+degrees, and thenceforth thousands of potential horse-power could
+be obtained in a form convenient for storing or carrying about.
+It is now as simple a matter to buy a hundred horse-power over
+the counter as a pound of sugar.
+
+From Toronto to Winnipeg in thirty minutes! From Winnipeg to the
+Pacific in forty minutes! Such is our usual pace in 1983. By hiring
+a special car the whole distance from Toronto to Victoria can
+be accomplished in fifty minutes. A higher speed still is quite
+possible, but is not permitted because of the risk of collision
+with other cars. Collisions have never yet occurred on account of
+the rigid adherence to very strict regulations. Cars that take
+short trips of 50 to 100 miles between stations, seldom travel more
+than 500 feet from the earth, but for long distances about 1,500
+feet is usual. The broad metal slides for receiving the cars and
+for their departure, which extend for a mile on each side of all
+our stations, are the only portions of the rocket system which much
+resemble anything connected with railroads. It is said that great
+skill and long practice on the conductor's part are required to
+cause the cars to alight well on the slides and draw up at the
+stations. The slides at many stations are nearly level with the
+ground, but ascend in opposite directions, till at the distance of
+a mile, where they end, they are 100 feet high. The cars are now
+made quite cylindrical, tapering off abruptly at the closed end.
+The outside is entirely of metal, very highly polished, and showing
+no projections except a flange on each side, two broad runners
+underneath, and a 40 foot rear flange or vane. The dimensions are
+usually--diameter of cylinder, 20 feet; length, 45 feet. The high
+polish is necessary to avoid heating when the highest speed is
+attained. Passengers are seated in a luxurious chamber in the
+interior of the cylinder, which is suspended like the compass of a
+vessel, and therefore always retains an upright position whatever
+may be the position of the car when travelling. About fifty
+passengers can be accommodated at one time. The tube emerging
+a little beyond the mouth of the cylinder, through which the
+expanding gases are expelled, can be slightly deviated from its
+axial position in any direction, and thus what little steering
+is required is easily effected. The long projecting 40 foot vane
+or tail which steadies the motion of the whole machine is, in
+the newest patents, made to assist it in alighting on the slides
+easily and without jarring. Such is the splendid apparatus,
+briefly described, which brings all the ends of the earth together
+and makes the whole world a public park, the most distant parts of
+which can be visited and returned from in the course of a day. Long
+tedious voyages of a week or a month belong to the forgotten past,
+for Paris, Calcutta or Hong Kong can be reached in a fraction of
+the time formerly occupied in going from Toronto to Montreal. No
+passenger traffic is ever carried on now in dangerous vessels upon
+the treacherous ocean, but solely in the safe and comfortable
+rocket-car through the air a thousand feet or more above the cruel
+waters. Steamships, electric ships and sailing vessels are still
+common round our coasts engaged in transporting heavy freight, but
+they only cross the ocean to convey some bulky produce which cannot
+be divided and go by car.
+
+Private vehicles and travelling have also undergone wonderful
+changes. The much-abused horse has vanished from cities entirely,
+and is not permitted to enter them, greatly to the preservation
+of health and cleanliness. All our vehicles have the automatic
+electric attachment and move along briskly through the clean wide
+streets. The handsome electric tricycles we are so familiar with,
+were hardly thought of a hundred years ago; now there are few men
+who do not possess a single or a double one.
+
+How dismal must night have been in the times when only gas lamps
+or a few electric lights were used in the streets, although our
+great-grandfathers appear to have extracted a good deal of
+merriment from the dimly lighted hours after sundown. Our domestic
+lighting is now done almost entirely by electricity, or the
+brilliant little phosphorescent lamps, gas having long been
+banished from dwelling-houses; and our method of lighting the
+streets is a grand advance, indeed, upon the flickering yellow
+gas lamps of old. The great glass globes, which we see suspended
+from the beautiful Gothic metal framework at the intersections of
+streets, contain a smaller hollow globe, about eighteen inches in
+diameter, of hard lime, or some other refractory material, which
+is kept at white heat by a powerful oxyhydrogen flame inside. In
+this way our cities are illuminated by a number of miniature suns,
+making all the principal streets as light by night as by day.
+
+One of our most interesting cities, and one to adopt all the newest
+improvements as soon as they come out, is Churchill, Hudson Bay,
+that most charming of northern sea-side resorts. Churchill's
+population is already 200,000, and is rapidly increasing. Here are
+the celebrated conservatories which help to make the long winter
+as pleasant to the citizens as summer. These famous promenades,
+or rather parks under cover, have a frontage of a mile and a half
+along the quay, with a depth of nearly 500 feet. They contain two
+splendid hotels and a sanitarium, the latter being surrounded by
+a grove of medicinal and health-giving plants and trees from all
+parts of the globe. A summer temperature is kept up through the
+vast building by utilising the heat from the depths of the earth,
+and by natural hot springs which flow from deep bores. Another
+fine city of which we may well be proud is Electropolis, on Lake
+Athabaska. Electropolis can boast of 100,000 inhabitants, and
+most enterprising citizens they are. Their great idea is to work
+everything by electricity, and to them belongs the credit of all
+the latest discoveries in electrical science. Their beautiful
+city is a great centre of attraction for scientific men, and many
+European electricians make a practice of coming over every Saturday
+to stay till Monday. Here are the colossal thermo-electric
+batteries which work throughout the year by there being stored up
+in immense solid blocks of aluminium the heat of summer and the
+cold of winter. The hot blocks, which are protected in winter, are
+exposed to the sun in summer, and are heated nearly to red heat by
+the rays concentrated upon them by a series of large mirrors. The
+cold blocks are simply exposed to the intensest cold of winter and
+protected from the heat of summer. Thus two permanent extremes of
+temperature are provided during the whole year, and the batteries
+only require to be placed in suitable positions with regard to the
+blocks to work continuously.
+
+While speaking of cities in the far north, that of Bearville, on
+the shores of Great Bear Lake, in latitude 65 degrees, must not
+be passed over. Bearville is the metropolis of one of the finest
+mineral districts in the world, but had it not been for the
+inexhaustible deposits of all the useful metals in its vicinity,
+it is probable a city would never have sprung up in such an
+inhospitable region. Between the Coppermine and Mackenzie Rivers
+gold and silver are abundant. Platinum and iridium are also common,
+and are exported from here to all parts of the world; they are in
+great demand by chemists and electricians. A rough population from
+all quarters has been attracted to the district, of which Bearville
+is the centre, and it would astonish people who seldom come to
+the North to see how the ingenuity of man has made life not only
+tolerable, but enjoyable, in the neighborhood of the Arctic Circle.
+Coal seams crop up above the ground in many places, and wherever
+this is the case, large frame conservatories are built which are
+lighted, not from the roof, but by wide double windows reaching
+from the eaves to the ground, and heated by numerous stoves into
+which the coal just taken from the ground is thrown. Electric
+lights, magnesium lights and lime lights help to make the long
+nights of winter as cheerful as day elsewhere.
+
+In this region wonderful blasting operations are performed by
+charges of solidified oxygen and hydrogen. The charges are placed
+at the bottom of a 40 foot bore and exploded by a powerful electric
+spark. The effect is very different from that of other explosives
+which usually rend the rock into large fragments that have to
+be blasted again in detail before a clearance is made, for the
+oxyhydrogen charge has such terrible force that it completely
+pulverizes the rock, scooping out, even in granite, a deep wide
+pit of parabolic section of which the spot where the charge was
+is the focus. The dust is blown out in a cloud high in the air.
+
+Our finest and largest cities are Halifax, St. John's, Rimouski,
+Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Saulte Ste Marie, Port
+Arthur, Winnipeg, Brandon, Edmonton, New Westminster and Victoria.
+Toronto, Montreal and Winnipeg each contain more than 2,000,000
+inhabitants, while the others range between 500,000 and a little
+over 1,000,000. At Halifax is one of the greatest car depots in the
+world, and here the traveller can step on board a car for London,
+Rome, Jerusalem, Bombay, Cape Town, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland,
+etc. St. John's, Fredericton and Campbelltown are large cities,
+the latter being a great rendezvous for pleasure-seekers in summer.
+Rimouski is a manufacturing centre and a large car depot. Cars
+spring from here to Tadousac, Lake St. John's, Lake Mistassinie
+and Hudson Bay ports. Quebec retains much of its old-world
+picturesqueness while keeping up well with the times; its
+inhabitants number about 700,000. Montreal and Toronto are without
+doubt the most magnificent cities in the Dominion, perhaps in the
+world. They are both famous for the grandeur of their buildings.
+In them, for the most part, each block is a complete structure and
+not a conglomeration of little buildings of all shapes and sizes, a
+two-storey house next to a four-storey one, and so on. Thus, among
+a number of blocks a pleasing harmony in architectural styles is
+obtained, which is a golden mean between the rigid uniformity of
+some new cities and the antique irregularity of old ones. Winnipeg
+is generally reckoned to contain the finest brick buildings to be
+seen anywhere; many blocks in brick may be seen of eight and nine
+storeys in the grandly decorated modern style. Victoria has grown
+into fame by its immense trade with the old Asiatic countries. The
+ancient Orient and the modern West here combine. The broad busy
+streets are thronged with a motley crowd, in which representatives
+of Asiatic races mingle with Anglo-Saxons and representatives of
+European nations, all speaking the universal English language. New
+Westminster increases its attractions every year. It contains the
+noted observatory with the splendid telescope through which living
+beings have been observed in the countries in Mars and Jupiter.
+In its Hall of Science is the great microscope which magnifies
+many million times, and shows the atomic structure of almost any
+substance. Its College of Inventors and Physical Institute are the
+most perfect establishments. From its extensive Botanical Gardens,
+where the Dominion Botanical Society make their experiments with
+plants and trees from all countries, great national benefits have
+been derived. Here are grown specimens of herbs and shrubs which
+prevent or cure every human disease. On one side is seen the plant,
+before the smoke of whose leaves when inhaled, consumption
+succumbs; on another, the shrub whose berries eradicate scrofula
+from the system, and thus through all the catalogue of ills. New
+Westminster also boasts a fine University, a College of Physicians
+and a Sanitarium; the two latter cause the city to be the resort of
+invalids from far and near. No diseases are here called incurable.
+At Mingan harbour, on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, are situated the
+great works where all the rocket-cars for the Dominion are built.
+The site was chosen on account of the large tract of desolate
+country to the north of it. The cars as soon as built are tested,
+first at short flights, then at longer ones, and conductors are
+trained to manage them. There are no regular lines of cars through
+or over Labrador, and so there is no risk of collision in the trial
+trips. Considerable difficulty is experienced at first in taking a
+car a flight of 100 miles, but by practice flights of over 1,000
+miles are managed with perfect safety.
+
+The contrast between the present and past might be drawn out to
+any extent, but enough has been said to enable the dullest mind
+to realize the truly marvellous development of our great Dominion.
+And if the development and advance have been great industrially
+and commercially, so have they been great, almost greater,
+socially; for socially we have set examples which the whole
+world has not been slow to follow.
+
+
+III.
+
+
+  "But Heaven hath a hand in these events."
+                      --Richard II, Act V.
+
+
+
+The state of society in the nineteenth century would have but few
+attractions for us of the twentieth, were we able to return along
+the vista of a hundred years. Our manners and customs are so vastly
+different from those of our great-grandfathers that we should feel
+out of place indeed had we to go back, even for a short time, to
+their uncouth and imperfect ways. Their extraordinarily complex
+method of governing themselves, and their intricate political
+machinery would be very distressing to us, and are calculated
+to make one think that a keen pleasure in governing or in being
+overgoverned--not a special aptitude or genius for governing--must
+have been very common among them. From the alarming blunders
+made in directing public affairs, and from the manner in which
+beneficial measures were opposed by the party out of office, it
+appears quite certain that the instincts of true statesmanship did
+not animate all classes then as now. Nevertheless our forefathers
+went into the work of governing themselves and each other with
+a great deal of vim. They had no well drawn out formulae to
+work upon as we have, but they went at things in a sort of
+rule-of-thumb, rough-and-ready style, and when one party had
+dragged the country into the mire, the other dragged it out again.
+It was customary for the party that was out of office to say that
+the party that was in was corrupt and venal--that every man of it
+was a liar, was a thief, was taking bribes, would soon be kicked
+out, etc. Then the party that was in had to say that the party that
+was out should look to its own sins and remember that everyone of
+its men when they were in proved himself incapable, insensible to
+every feeling of shame, with no susceptibilities except in his
+pocket, corrupt in every fibre, being justly rewarded when hurled
+from office by an indignant people, etc., etc. The wonder is that
+the country ever got governed at all, but it seems that all public
+men who had any fixed and sensible ideas and wished to see them
+carried out, had to make themselves callous, pachydermatous,
+hardened against this offensive mud-slinging. Of course politics
+did not elevate the man, nor the man politics, while things went on
+thus. A general demoralization and lowering of the tone of public
+opinion naturally resulted, which did not improve till the stirring
+events of the summer of 1887 brought men to their senses again.
+The number of members sent to Parliament was something so enormous,
+that it seems as if the people must have had a perfect mania for
+being represented. Nowadays we get along splendidly with only
+fifteen members (one for each Province) and a speaker. Formerly
+several hundred was not thought too many, and before the
+constitution was revised in 1935, there were actually over seven
+hundred representatives assembled at Ottawa every year. Perhaps
+this was all right under the circumstances, as there did not then
+exist any organization for training men for Parliamentary duties,
+or selecting them for candidature such as now exists; so there was
+safety in numbers, though the floods of talk must at times have
+been overwhelming. Besides the Central Parliament at Ottawa, there
+was a Local Parliament to every Province, and in some Provinces two
+Houses. It seems a mystery to us, now, how any measure could be got
+through in less than twelve months, but our forefathers apparently
+took pleasure in interminable harangues and oceans of verbosity,
+and prominent men contrived to make themselves heard above the
+universal clatter of tongues, so that good measures got pushed
+through somehow to the satisfaction of a much-enduring public.
+Nowadays our fifteen members put by as much work in two days as
+would have kept an old Parliament talking for two years. Provincial
+Parliaments, with their crowds of M.P.P's, were abolished in 1935,
+and it was then also that the number of members at Ottawa was
+reduced from the absurd total of 750 to 15, and the round million
+or so which they cost the country saved. Members are not now paid;
+the honor of the position is sufficient emolument. When these and
+other changes were made, the expenses of government were enormously
+reduced, so much so, that after ten years, that is in 1945, taxes
+were abolished altogether, and from that time forward not a cent of
+taxation has been put upon the people. The revenue is now obtained
+in this way. Up to 1935 the revenue of the country stood at
+something over $150,000,000. When the constitution was changed
+the expenses of government were lessened to $50,000,000. It was
+then agreed that for ten years longer the revenue should remain
+at $150,000,000 (people were prosperous and willing enough to have
+contributed double), so that every year of the ten $100,000,000
+might be invested. Thus at the end of ten years the Government
+possessed a capital of $1,000,000,000, and the interest of this
+constitutes our present revenue. If any great public works are
+being carried out, and more money is required, the municipalities
+are appealed to, and public meetings are held. All the great
+cities then vie with each other in presenting the Government with
+large sums. How the poor over-burdened tax-payer of 1883 would
+have rejoiced in all this!
+
+Another great blessing to us is that war has ceased all the world
+over. It became, at last, too destructive to be indulged in at all.
+During the last great European war in 1932, while three emperors,
+two kings and several princes were parleying together, a monster
+oxyhydrogen shell exploded near them and created fearful havoc.
+All the royal personages were blown to atoms, as were also many of
+their attendants. Their armies hardly had a chance of getting near
+each other, so fearful was the execution of the shells. Since then
+the world has been free from war, and, but for gathering clouds in
+Asia, would seem likely to remain so. Anyhow, we in Canada, have
+not the shadow of a standing army, nor a single keel to represent
+a navy. We are too well occupied to wish to be aggressive, and no
+power except the United States could ever attack us, and even if
+Americans coveted our possessions they are not likely to resort to
+such an old-fashioned expedient as warfare to gain them. They could
+only annex us by so improving their constitution, as to make it
+plainly very much superior to ours. If they ever do this (and as
+yet there are no signs of it) there might be some chance of a
+union. At present the chances are all the other way. The only
+sort of union that is quite likely to come about is the joining
+by the Americans of the United Empire, or Confederation of all
+English-speaking nations, with which we have been connected for
+some years. The seat of the Imperial Government has hitherto been
+London, but British influence has made such strides in the East
+that there is every probability of another city being chosen
+for the capital, and of the seat of Government being made more
+central. Should one of the now restored ancient cities of
+the East become the metropolis of this glorious Imperial
+Confederation, the United States would certainly come into
+the Confederation, as great numbers of Americans have already
+migrated to the Orient.
+
+A word on the changes which have come over the East will not be
+inappropriate, lest we should be tempted to boast too much of the
+progress of Canada. Ever since the conquest of Egypt by the British,
+as long ago as 1882, Anglo-Saxon institutions have been gaining
+ground from the Nile to the Euphrates, and from the Euphrates to
+the Indus. Soon after the great stroke of diplomacy in 1887, by
+which Great Britain practically became ruler of all this vast
+territory, the railroad was introduced, and before many years had
+passed the railroad system of Europe was linked with that of India.
+The pent-up riches of the fertile Euphrates valley thenceforth
+began to find channels of commerce, and to be distributed through
+less fertile regions. The ancient historic cities of these lands,
+Damascus especially, began at once to increase. Jerusalem, as soon
+as the Turk departed and the Anglo-Saxon entered, was purified,
+cleansed, and finally rebuilt. Great numbers of Jews from all parts
+of the world then returned and gave the city the benefit of their
+wealth, but all the commerce of the East keeps in the hands of
+Britons and Americans. English is, therefore, the chief language
+spoken from Beyrout to Bombay.
+
+There is, however, a great cloud hanging over the East which causes
+dismay to thinking men, and threatens to mar the general prosperity
+of all the lands. Great as has been the increase of the Anglo-Saxon
+race, the numbers of the Sclavonic race have kept pace. The Sclavs,
+unfortunately, retain much of their old brutish disposition and
+ferocity in the midst of all the civilizing influences of modern
+times, so that statesmen foresee an inevitable collision in the
+not distant future between the Sclav and the Anglo-Saxon. It is
+disheartening in these days of splendid progress, when we had
+hoped that war was for ever banished from the world, to find that
+humanity has yet to endure the old horrors once more. How fearful
+these horrors will be, and how great the destruction of life, it is
+hardly possible to conceive, so terrible are the forces at man's
+command nowadays, if he uses them simply for destructive purposes.
+The Sclav has spread from South-Eastern Europe and multiplied
+greatly in Asia, till his boundaries are coterminous with British
+territory, and it is his inveterate aggressive disposition which
+causes all the gloomy forebodings. Before we return to our own
+happy Canada, let us glance at Africa, the "dark continent" of the
+last century. Civilization has long penetrated to the upper waters
+of the Nile, and to the great fresh water lakes which rival our
+Huron and Superior. The beautiful country in which the mighty
+Congo and the Nile take their rise, is all open to the world's
+commerce, and highways now exist stretching from Alexandria
+through these magnificent regions to the Transvaal and the Cape.
+Madagascar, fair, fertile and wealthy, has developed, under
+Anglo-Saxon influence, her wonderful latent resources for all
+men's good. In addition to mineral treasures she had wealth to
+bestow in the shape of healing plants, whose benefits were greater
+to suffering humanity than tons of gold and silver. The botanical
+gardens at New Westminster, and the conservatories at Churchill,
+are greatly indebted to the flora of Madagascar. But let us now
+return to Canada and continue our contrasts.
+
+Much of the success of our modern social movements has been due to
+the exertions of the noble Society of Benefactors. The members of
+this Society, as we well know, are now mostly men of independent
+means. Their chief idea is to bring together and combine social
+forces for the public good, which were formerly wasted. The
+Society has already existed for two generations, so that our
+rising generation is reaping the full benefit of its exertions.
+It is chiefly to these exertions that the improved tone of public
+opinion is due, and the general, moral and intellectual elevation
+of the present day are largely owing to the same cause. In the old
+benighted times before 1900 much wealth and ability were, for want
+of organization, allowed to run almost to waste as far as the
+general good of society was concerned. Men of means led aimless
+lives, squandering their riches in foreign cities, or staying at
+home to accumulate more and more, forgetting, or never considering
+what a powerful means of ameliorating the condition of their fellow
+creatures was within their reach. It was not only the lower classes
+that needed improvement, but the whole mass of society in all its
+aims, ideas and pursuits. Improvement on this large scale would
+never have been accomplished by the elaborate theorising and much
+preaching of the nineteenth century. Action, bold and fearless
+action, was wanted, and until men were found with minds entirely
+free from morbid theories, but full of the courage of their new
+convictions, the world had to wait in tantalizing suspense for
+improvement, always hoping that each new scientific discovery would
+enlighten mankind in the desired direction, but always doomed to
+be disappointed and to see humanity growing either more savage or
+physically weaker, simultaneously with each phase of enlightenment.
+These things are perhaps truer of society in Europe, and in some
+of the States, than in our young Dominion, where everything was
+necessarily in a somewhat inchoate condition. Yet had it not been
+for the great men who providentially appeared in our midst--our
+history, our manners and customs, our whole career as a nation
+would simply have been a repetition of European civilization with
+all its defects, failures and vices. Statistics of the period
+show that neither in the States nor in Canada, amidst all the
+surrounding newness, had there arisen any new social condition
+peculiar to this continent which remedied to any extent the evils
+rampant in old countries. Lunatic asylums, in ghastly sarcasm on
+a self-styled intellectual age, reared their colossal facades and
+enclosed their thousands of human wrecks. Huge prisons had to be
+built in every large town. Hospitals were frequently crowded with
+victims of foul diseases. Great cities abounded with filthy lanes,
+alleys, and dwellings like dens of wild beasts. Epidemic diseases
+occurred from brutal disregard of sanitary measures. Murder and
+suicide were rife. Horrible accidents from preventible causes
+occurred daily. Great fires were continually destroying valuable
+city property, and ruinous monetary panics happened every few
+years. And all this in an age that prided itself on being advanced!
+An age that produced the telephone, but crowded up lunatic asylums!
+That cabled messages all round the world, but filled its prisons to
+the doors! That named the metals in the sun, but could not cleanse
+its cities! An age, in fact, that was but one remove from the
+unmitigated barbarism of medieval times! How marvellous is the
+change wrought by a hundred years! We have not been shocked by
+a murder in Canada for more than fifty years, nor has a suicide
+been heard of for a very long period. Epidemic diseases belong
+to the past. The sewage question, that source of vexation to the
+municipalities of old, has been scientifically settled--to the
+saving of enormous sums of money, and to the permanent benefit
+of the community's health. Malignant scourges, like consumption,
+epilepsy, cancer, etc., are never heard of except in less favored
+countries. There is but one prison to a province, and that is
+sometimes empty. Our cities are all fire-proof, and the night
+air is never startled now by the hideous jangling of fire-bells,
+arousing the citizens from sleep to view the destruction of their
+city. So rational and interesting has daily life become, that mind
+and body are constantly in healthy occupation; the fearful nervous
+hurry of old times, that broke down so many minds and bodies,
+having died out, to give way to a robust force of character which
+accomplishes much more with half the fuss. Of course, advantages
+such as these, did not spring upon society all at once; they have
+come about by comparatively slow degrees.
+
+The first president of the Society of Benefactors, who died some
+years ago at an advanced age, was the man who started the new order
+of things. When he commenced to give the world the benefit of his
+views, he met with a good deal of opposition and ridicule, being
+told that the world was going on all right and was improving all
+the time, and that if people would only stop preaching and set to
+work at doing a little more, things would get better more quickly.
+He could not be convinced, however, that society had any grounds
+for its satisfaction, but he took the hint about preaching and
+stopped his lectures, which he had been giving all through the
+country. He then set to work at organization, and as he had
+inherited ample means from a millionaire father, he commenced
+under good auspices. He went into his work with great eagerness,
+gathering together all sorts of people, who held views similar to
+his own, though usually in a vague unpractical way, and formed
+his first committee of a bishop, celebrated for his enlightened
+opinions, two physicians, two lawyers, several wealthy merchants,
+and several working men who were good speakers and had influence
+among their fellows. His capacity for organization was great,
+and his success in gaining over to his side young men of means,
+remarkable. From the very beginning the committee never lacked
+money. Though they were actuated by purely philanthropic motives,
+it was one of their first principles never to sink large sums
+of money in any undertaking that would not pay its own expenses
+ultimately. There was, therefore, a healthy business-like tone
+about whatever they did, that distinguished their efforts from many
+well-intentioned, but sickly, undertakings of the same day, which
+one after another came to grief, doing nearly as much harm as good.
+One of their first works was to buy up lots and dwellings in the
+worst districts of Toronto, where miserable shanties and hovels
+stood in fetid slums, as foul as any in London or Glasgow. The
+hovels and shanties were then torn down, and respectable dwellings
+erected in their stead. The unfortunate wretches, the victims of
+drink, crime, or thriftlessness, who inhabited such places, were
+not turned away to seek a fouler footing elsewhere, but were taken
+in hand by the working-men on the committee, and were started
+afresh in life with every encouragement. They were generally
+permanently rescued from degradation, but if some fell back their
+children were saved, and so the next generation was spared a family
+of criminals. Montreal was next visited and the same thing done
+there; attention was then turned to Quebec and Winnipeg. Successful
+attempts were afterwards made to control the liquor traffic, not by
+sudden prohibition, which always increased the evil, but by common
+sense methods, necessarily somewhat slow, but sure. When the
+Society had been at work ten years, there was a very perceptible
+diminution in the amount of crime and smaller offences in all their
+spheres of action. Police forces could be decreased, and a prison
+here and there closed. This had a tendency to lessen the rates,
+so the taxpayer became touched in his tenderest part--his pocket.
+His heart and his conscience then immediately softened toward the
+Society's work, though years of preaching and the existence of all
+abominable evils close to his door had failed to move him. When
+this point had been reached, the Society began to be looked upon
+as one of the great remedial agents of the age, and work was much
+easier. One evil after another was grappled with, and in time
+subdued. Scientific researches were set on foot in hygiene,
+medicine, and every subject from which the community at large
+could derive benefit, till in twenty years time so much general
+improvement had been effected that Canada's ways of doing things
+came to be quoted in other countries as a precedent. Our cities
+were the best built, best drained, cleanest and healthiest, and
+our city populations the most orderly and most enlightened. The
+Society's roll of members now included a great number of eminent
+men, and their operations were extended over the whole Dominion,
+and works of all kinds were carried on simultaneously in all parts.
+Outside the Society, it had become quite fashionable for all
+classes to take the most eager interest in everything concerning
+the public welfare, so the Dominion continued to prosper and
+advance with wonderful rapidity. Thus it happened that we came to
+take the lead among nations and have been able to keep foremost
+ever since, though with our 93,000,000 we are not by any means
+the largest nation.
+
+The improved hygienic conditions under which we live have had the
+effect of very largely increasing the population. Our forefathers
+in their wisdom spent large sums of money in attracting immigrants
+to our shores, but it did not occur to them to increase the
+population by preventing people from dying. Very few persons die
+now, except from old age, and the tremendous and almost incredible
+mortality of old times among infants is stopped, consequently the
+death rate is very low, and the excess of births over deaths very
+great. There are only three doctors to each large city, and they
+are subsidised by government or the town councils, because there
+are not enough sick people from whom they could make a living as
+of yore. The good health of the public is also in some measure
+due to the fact of our scientific men having been able, since a
+few years past, to gain a good deal of control over the weather.
+By means of captive balloons, currents of electricity between
+the higher atmosphere and the earth are kept passing regularly.
+By other electrical contrivances as well as these, rain can now
+be nearly always made to come at night and can be prevented from
+falling during the day. Hurricanes and desolating storms are
+also held very much under control.
+
+Our contrasts are now drawing to a close. Enough has been said to
+make it plain to the slowest intellect among us, what is gained
+by having been born in the twentieth century, instead of in the
+nineteenth, and by being born a Canadian, instead of to any other
+land. There can hardly be to-day such a woeful creature as a
+Canadian who does not realise and is not proud of the grandeur of
+his heritage. Our race, owing to the splendid hygienic and social
+conditions that have been dilated upon, is one of the healthiest
+and strongest on the face of the earth. We are not demoralized
+or effeminated by the luxury and abundance which are ours, but
+elevated rather, and strengthened by the very magnificence and
+opulence of our circumstances, and by the perfect freedom, under
+healthful restraint, which we enjoy through the community's
+strong, vigorous, moral and intellectual tone.
+
+As there is nothing more wonderful about the present age, or more
+characteristic of the times, than our mode of travelling, these
+few pages shall be concluded with a plan of a very simple journey,
+a journey which can be strongly recommended to all who are wishing
+for change of scene and are somewhat bewildered in choosing a
+route among the innumerable places in the world which have claims
+on their attention. We will imagine that a party of twenty has
+been made up, and that the start is from Halifax, the direction
+eastward, and the destination Constantinople. The car which is
+timed to start at 7 a.m., is standing at rest on the sloping side,
+while the passengers, say fifty in number, are taking their seats
+in the luxurious chamber within. The first stop is at Sydney,
+Cape Breton, and the car is pointed accurately in that direction.
+At three minutes to 7 the engineers and conductor come on board;
+the former to place the powerful oxyhydrogen charge in the great
+breech-loading tube, the latter to close the doors against ingress
+or egress. Precisely at 7 the signal is given. A furious and
+powerful hissing is then heard, as well as a momentary scraping of
+the car on its runners. In another second she is high in the air,
+and already Halifax has nearly receded from the engineer's sight.
+The rate of a mile in three seconds is kept up till Sydney rapidly
+appears in view. In the next few seconds the engineer exerts his
+skill and the car lands gracefully on the slide, still in brisk
+motion. After a little scraping and crunching on the runners,
+she pulls up at the station platform at the bottom of the decline,
+ten minutes only after leaving Halifax. The next spring is made
+to St. John's, Newfoundland, which is reached in fourteen minutes.
+Here a few minutes are taken up in pointing the car accurately
+for Galway. Great caution is necessary, and very delicate and
+beautiful instruments are employed. When all are on board again
+and ready for the supermarine voyage, the engineer loads up with
+a much more powerful charge than before. He prepares at the start
+for a speed of a mile in three seconds, then, when fairly out
+over the sea, a stronger electric current is applied to the huge
+charge, and a speed of a mile, or even more, a second is obtained.
+This fearful velocity is not permitted overland, for fear of
+collisions, as car routes cross each other. But no routes cross
+over the sea between St. John's and Galway, nor is the Galway car
+allowed to leave till the St. John's car has arrived, and vice
+versa, therefore the highest speed attainable is permitted. Before
+land again looms in view, speed is much slackened, and now the
+engineer requires all his experience and his utmost skill. The
+high winds across the ocean may have caused his car to deviate
+slightly from its path, so as soon as land appears the deviation
+has to be corrected, and only two or three seconds remain in which
+to correct it. However, the engineer is equal to his task, and
+the car is now in the same manner as before, brought to a stand
+in Galway at 6 minutes to 8, just 30 minutes out from St. John's
+and 54 from Halifax. At 8 o'clock Dublin is reached, next comes
+Holyhead, and then London at 8.20. Here passengers for the South
+of Europe change cars. As the car for the South does not start
+till 8.30, there is time for a hasty glance at the enormous
+central depot just arrived at--one of the wonders of the world.
+Cars are coming in every minute punctually on time from all parts
+of the country and the world. The arrival slide is here shaped
+like the inside or concavity of a shallow cone, two miles in
+diameter, with the edge rather more than 150 feet from the ground.
+In the centre, where the cars stop, is a hydraulic elevator, by
+which they are immediately let down below to make room for the
+next arrival. The passengers are then disembarked without hurry.
+Those who are to continue their journey then go on board their
+right car and are again started on time. The departure slide is
+like a lower storey of the arrival one. It is immediately beneath
+it, but its grade is not quite parallel. Near the centre, where
+the cars start, the upper slide is twenty-five feet above the
+lower one, but at the edge, a mile distant, in consequence of the
+difference in grade, there is fifty feet between them. The path of
+the cars before they emerge from the departure slide, is between
+the supports of the upper one, yet the supports are so placed that
+the cars can be pointed before starting for all the principal
+routes. There is a through car to Constantinople, and in it the
+twenty passengers from Halifax take their seats. At 8.30 the
+first spring is made, and Paris is reached in 10 minutes.
+Another spring, and in 10 minutes more Strasbourg appears. Then
+successively: Munich in 8 minutes, Vienna in 10, Belgrade in 15,
+and lastly Constantinople in 20, or at 9.43, that is just one hour
+and thirteen minutes from leaving London, and two hours and 43
+minutes from Halifax. It is still early in the day--well that is
+where a surprise awaits the traveller who has not considered that
+he has been journeying eastward through more than ninety degrees
+of longitude, so that instead of being a quarter to ten in the
+morning, it is a good six hours later, or just about four in the
+afternoon. Two out of the twenty Haligonians are on business only,
+and intend to return the same night; the other eighteen, after
+seeing the lions of Constantinople intend visiting Jerusalem, the
+Persian Gulf, Bombay, Calcutta, Hong Kong, Pekin, and Yokohama,
+staying a day or two in each city. The car services on this route
+have been in existence a good many years and are well organized.
+From Yokohama a long flight over the Pacific will be taken and
+Canadian soil again struck at Victoria. We will not follow the
+eighteen travellers in their eight or ten days sight-seeing, but
+will return to the two Haligonians at Constantinople, who have got
+through their business in a few hours, and must go back to Halifax
+at once. They start for London at 10 p.m., Constantinople time,
+arriving there in one hour and thirteen minutes over the route
+they traversed in the morning. They change cars, and in ten
+minutes are off again via Holyhead, Dublin, Galway, St. John's
+and Sydney, C. B., for Halifax, where they arrive in one hour and
+20 minutes from London, or forty-three minutes after midnight by
+Constantinople time, but more than six hours earlier, or about
+6.30 in the evening by Halifax time. They have therefore got ahead
+of the sun in his apparent journey round the world, for he had
+set for at least two hours when they started from Constantinople,
+but they caught up with him when over the Atlantic, and to the
+engineer it appeared as if he were rising in the west. This is
+a daily experience of travellers going west, which never fails
+at first to create great surprise. Our two voyagers are now safe
+back, at the port from which they set out a little less than
+twelve hours before. They are quite accustomed to such travelling,
+and have done nothing but what thousands are doing daily. But what
+would have been thought, if such a journey had been described
+a hundred years ago, in 1883? And how will the world travel a
+hundred years hence, in 2083? It is hard to say, or even to
+imagine. Yet inventive skill is unceasingly active, and in all
+probability speed will eventually be still further accelerated.
+
+And now our task of contrasting Canada in 1983 with Canada in 1883
+is concluded, and surely in this epitome of the works of a century
+there is food for reflection for the inventor, the statesman,
+the moralist and the philanthropist. All, when pondering on
+the gradual, but sure improvement that has come about in their
+respective paths, can take heart and nerve themselves for renewed
+effort, or be induced to stand firm till success comes to reward
+their courage. No man can despair who ponders on the position of
+the Dominion in 1983.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of The Dominion in 1983 by
+Ralph Centennius
+
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