Trunk and the Canadian Pacific looming up, it is doubtful if
it could have been possible to prevent this antagonism being reflected
in the politics of a country where the issues are so largely economic
issues.

That the government was right in deciding for private construction and
operation, there has since been little question. To build and operate
a pioneer road, to make the inevitable United States connections or
extensions, to undertake the subsidiary enterprises and to enter into
the flexible, intimate relations with producers and shippers necessary
for success, were tasks for which government departments were not well
fitted. With the traditions which has unfortunately become established
{145} in Canadian politics, there would probably be campaign
contributions in the one case and graft in the other, but in the one
case, also, there would probably be efficiency, and in the other red
tape and stagnation.

As to what private company should be given the contract, there seemed
more room for discussion. The members of the Howland syndicate were
successful and substantial business men, and their offer appeared to be
much better than the offer accepted. It was, however, denounced as a
sham by the government forces, on the ground that its signers knew that
there was not the faintest likelihood of the ministry failing to carry
through the contract it had signed. How successful the Howland group
would have proved we can only conjecture; it is certainly not likely
that they would have developed more courage, persistence, or enterprise
than the men who actually carried out the project; nor could they have
fulfilled their obligations more fully and more honourably.

The parties differed, again, on the question of the Lake Superior link.
The government urged the necessity of building at once an all-Canadian
route, regardless of the added expense. The Opposition favoured such a
route eventually, but urged that it was better for the {146} present to
make use of a road running from the Sault through Northern Michigan and
Minnesota. Such a road would bring to Montreal the traffic of the
American as well as the Canadian West. Then, when our West had been
settled and traffic warranted, the task of cutting a road through the
wilderness north of the lake could be faced, and meantime it would not
be necessary to offer any company the extravagant terms necessary to
induce it to assume this burden from the start. There was much