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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4290.txt b/4290.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ba5b025 --- /dev/null +++ b/4290.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1540 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dominion in 1983, by Ralph Centennius + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Dominion in 1983 + +Author: Ralph Centennius + +Release Date: August 10, 2004 [EBook #4290] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOMINION IN 1983 *** + + + + +This etext was produced by Andrew Sly + + + + +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 Project Gutenberg's The Dominion in 1983, by Ralph Centennius + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOMINION IN 1983 *** + +***** This file should be named 4290.txt or 4290.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/9/4290/ + +This etext was produced by Andrew Sly + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + +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 + diff --git a/old/domin10.zip b/old/domin10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..63d1156 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/domin10.zip |