"There had been for years Canadian immigration agencies at various places in the United States, but they had been administered in a spirit of perfunctory hopelessness. These offices were reorganized; new ones opened; tens of thousands of dollars were expended in advertising and in the distribution of printed literature; enterprising drummers were sent abroad throughout the Western States to preach up the opportunities of Western Canada; representative farmers were induced to take trips through the Canadian West, all expenses paid by the government,—in fact, everything that trained business talent could suggest was done. "The result? In the first year of the new order of things 2412 Americans came to Canada, and thereafter the number mounted yearly. By 1899 the figures had reached 11,945; 1901, 17,987; 1902, 26,388; 1903, 49,473; 1904, 45,171; 1905, 43,652; 1906, 57,919. During the ten years ending June 30, 1906, no less than 272,609 persons left the United States to become residents of Western Canada. These people came from all parts of the United States. The government homestead records for 1906 show applications from persons coming from every State and Territory of the United States, including the District of Columbia and Alaska. North Dakota led in the applications, with Minnesota a close second; then came Iowa, Michigan, Washington, Wisconsin, Illinois, tapering to two from Alabama and one from Georgia. … "It has given Canada over a quarter of a million of settlers with the highest average of efficiency. They, almost without exception, have sufficient capital to make a good start, a most important consideration in a new country where money is scarce and dear. Akin to the Canadians in race, language, political and social customs, they become a part of the community just as naturally as one stream flows into another at the same level. These settlers have also brought with them fifty years’ experience in prairie farming, and by their example have enormously affected agricultural methods. …