annually, and it was largely owing to Canadian Marquis that the Allies
were able to overcome the food crisis in 1918. The wealth of the world
has thus been increased enormously by it.

In 1911 Sir Wilfrid, who had been attending the Imperial Conference in
London during May and June of that year, returned home determined to
place himself again in the hands of the electorate. Unfortunately he
had either not profited by the lesson of 1891 or he now believed that
the Dominion was ripe for reciprocity with the United States. The
contest resulted in the overwhelming defeat of his ministry. For
fifteen years he had enjoyed the same confidence of the people as was
extended to {464} Sir John A. Macdonald, and the story of his
premiership was practically the political history of Canada for that
period.

The Hon. Sir Robert Borden, who had led the Conservative party after
Sir Charles Tupper had resigned in 1901, now succeeded, and a new era
opened in Canadian politics. Throughout the ten years of his two terms
of office he invariably viewed the questions and problems before him
from a judicial standpoint. At the end of his term of office he
carried into his semi-retirement the respect and honour of the Canadian
people. If he lacked the personality and the fire of Sir John A. and
Sir Wilfrid, on the hustings and in the House, he made up for it by a
mind well balanced in statesmanship. Never was this seen to greater
advantage than on those occasions when he participated in the Imperial
Conferences and at the Peace negotiations ir Versailles.

Early in the winter of 1913, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, an Icelander from
Manitoba, set out on one of his explorations of the Arctic regions of
Canada. Public opinion had been so roused and excited over Admiral
Peary reaching the North Pole on April 6, 1909, that the Canadian
Government felt that they owed it to the Empire to make some attempt at
charting the northern regions for the Dominion. Under Government
organisation and supervision the enterprise lasted for five years.
Thousands of square miles were added to Canadian territory within the
Arctic Circle, many of which, contrary to popular conception, are green
and habitable. The geography of certain lands and seas was amplified
and corrected, interesting and useful {465} scientific material was
obtained, and much light thrown on general conditions prevailing in
those latitudes which had escaped the observation of Roald Amundsen