Now that the fevered mad mania of speculation is
over this remissness of the law in two provinces will doubtless be
remedied.

CHAPTER XV

EMIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT

I

You can ascribe the different characteristics of different nations to
the topography of their native land--up to a certain point only.
Beyond that the difference becomes one of psychology and soul rather
than geography, and that is why nations hold to a large extent their
destiny in their own hands. Undoubtedly the unfenced illimitable
reaches of the prairie have reacted on the human soul, unshackling it
from the discouragements of failure in the past and have given a sense
of freedom that explains the dauntless optimism of the West; but if the
people who went to the West had not had the courage to face the
hardships of the pioneer, their optimism could not have triumphed over
difficulties. The very qualities that sent pioneers forth on the trail
to the setting sun guaranteed their success as empire builders.

Japan was long an island empire, but it was only when the soul of that
empire awakened to the Western Renaissance that Japan became a world
power. The German people existed on the map many centuries before they
came into existence as a nation. It was only when the national idea
came that Germany became a power. Likewise of England as mistress of
the seas--the source of her commerce and wealth. England had been a
seagirt nation from the beginning of time. It was only when by the
defeat of the Armada England learned what mastery of the sea meant that
she shot into front rank as a great world power.

How does all this bear on Canada? It is a puzzling question. Ask the
average Canadian why the development of Canada has been slow; and he
denies that it has been slow; or he proves that it is a good thing it
has been slow; or he compares Canada's progress with that of some other
country which has gone too fast, or too slow. All this is a mere
clever dodging of fact. Blinking one's eyes to a fact doesn't
eliminate the fact.

II

What are the facts?

De Monts' first charter to Arcadia dates 1605. The first charter for
Virginia plantations comes in 1606, and the first New England charter
dates the same year. The United States and Canada are both fertile.
They have almost the same area in square miles. One has a population
of over ninety millions and a foreign commerce of four billions. The
other has a population of about