be, with scanty ballast, wooden bridges, and light rails, since
traffic would be light and capital hard to get. Then, if the country
developed, and perhaps after a reorganization or two, rebuild the road
on a permanent basis. But 1903 was not 1873, and Mr Hays had learned
on the Wabash and on the Grand Trunk how difficult it was for a
second-class road to compete, and how costly was the process of
rebuilding with the line in operation. He knew that with high and
rising wages for trainmen, and with frequency of service a minor matter
on the long stretches, it was essential to concentrate loads in as few
trains as possible, and that a locomotive could haul almost twice as
great a load on a four-tenths grade as on a one per cent grade. So he
determined to build from the outset up to the highest standard,
securing a lower ruling grade than any other transcontinental enjoyed.
The policy meant high fixed charges and low operating costs.

What outlay would be involved and what state aid was needed? Given the
route and the standard set, the outlay could not but be {213} vast. It
proved, in fact, much greater than the estimates, as is the way with
most big enterprises. The government section cost about a hundred and
sixty instead of sixty millions, and the Grand Trunk Pacific section
about a hundred and forty, or three hundred millions in all--twice the
estimate for the Panama Canal and nearly its actual cost.[2] The
standard set was high, and proved difficult to attain; labour was
scarce and expensive, and prices of all materials were soaring
constantly. The large expenditure lent colour to charges of corruption
in the construction of the government section. Investigation after
investigation was held, however, without revealing any gross betrayal
of trust. One contractor had been handled too tenderly for repeated
delays, possibly engineers sometimes stretched classification on a
losing contract, and doubtless contractors were as usual given the
privilege of contributing to party campaign funds. But, fortunately
for the good name of Canada, the serious charges of corruption were not
sustained.

{214}

Of this great outlay the country bore the lion's share. The Grand
Trunk Pacific was organized as a subsidiary company of the old Grand
Trunk, which secured control of ownership of all but a nominal share of
the $25,000,000 common stock, given it in return for guaranteeing part
of the Pacific bonds. Only $20,000,000