Atlantic ports. The Canadian Northern was assisted in its
prairie construction by both federal and provincial guarantees. The
Laurier Government aided the dubious project of building a third line
north of Lake Superior, but refused to take any share in the
responsibility or cost of building the much more expensive and
premature section through the Rockies. The Borden Government and the
province of British Columbia, however, gave the aid desired for this
latter venture. Another important development was the establishment,
in 1903, with the happiest results, of the Dominion Railway Commission,
to mediate between railway and shipper or traveller.

{231}

The railway policy of this period is still matter for dispute. On the
economic side, it is clear that the greater part of the construction
was essential in order to open up the West, with all that this implied
for both West and East. Yet there were many evils to set against this
gain--the stimulus to unhealthy speculation, the excessive building in
settled districts, the construction of roads ahead of immediate needs
or possible traffic. The fact is that the railway policy was part and
parcel of the whole business policy of the period, the outcome of the
same new-born optimism which induced many a municipality to build
pavements and sewers before the population warranted, or manufacturers
to extend their plants too rapidly, or banks to open branches that did
not pay. Progress comes in zigzag fashion; now one need is stressed,
now another. To each time its own task, to each the defects of its
qualities. And if in the reaction from unexampled prosperity some of
the expansion seemed to have come before its time, most Canadians were
confident of what the future would bring, and did not regret that in
Canada's growing time leaders and people persevered in putting through
great and for the most part needful works {232} which only courage
could suggest and only prosperity could achieve.

On the political side, also, there were entries on both sides of the
ledger. Campaign-fund contributions and political intrigue were the
chief debit entries. Yet there were heavy credit entries which should
not be forgotten. No other country has made the effort and the
sacrifice Canada has made to bind its far-distant and isolated
provinces in links of steel. The Intercolonial made the union of east
and centre a reality, the Canadian Pacific bound east and centre and
west, and t