shown by the registry of the United States. This, however, gives no indication of our ocean-going trade, a large part of which is done by vessels of British and foreign register. The total tonnage entering the ports of Montreal and Quebec alone last year was 2,236,601.
What is our commercial and industrial position? Have the efforts made to develop the country strained its resources, or placed upon it a burden beyond its strength? On the contrary, it may be stated with sober truth that there is no country in the world with an equal population where there is so little poverty, and where, man for man, the people are so well to do. The tale of increasing surpluses, growing bank deposits, expanding trade, and developing industries, repeated year by year by our Minister of Finance, has become almost monotonous.
The revenue of Canada in 1868 was $13,687,928; in 1904 it was $70,679,251. Deposits in banks in 1868 were $37,678,571; in 1904, $509,095,621. Foreign trade in 1868 was $131,027,532; in 1904, $472,733,038. Every barometer of trade gives the same indication of progress and prosperity. In a speech recently delivered by Sir Richard Cartwright, one of our financial authorities, and the present Minister of Trade and Commerce, he claimed that the proportionate growth of Canadian trade in recent years exceeded that of any country in the world.
If such be the undoubted facts, if the record above set forth is not overstated (and it can easily be verified), to whom is the credit due? What is the source of the financial strength and elasticity which has enabled this record to be made? There can be only one answer. Giving all the credit to every other industry, it must be admitted that the source of Canada's strength and prosperity is the agricultural industry. It is the labour of the Canadian farmer that has produced the wealth from which all these results have followed. The products of the farm, developed and improved, and rendered more valuable in accordance with modern methods of
