"It is apparent that, even with the best business management the Empire can apply to the direction of its population, the American immigration to Canada will continue to exceed that from Great Britain. One of the most careful and soberminded of our public men with whom I talked a few days ago, a man who knows the West and for years has had intimate official knowledge of the movements of population on both sides of the border, believes that in the next ten or twelve years five millions of Americans will come into Canada. Upon this I pronounce no opinion, save to agree that the overflow from the United States is bound to increase in Volume. Naturally there are those amongst us who regard ‘the American invasion’ with uneasiness, and fear the ultimate effect upon our institutions and upon the relation of Canada to the Empire. In this connexion I can only say that for some years I have been at pains to consult men from all parts of the West who should know the mind of these American settlers and their general disposition towards the social and political institutions of the country, and as yet I have not found a single Western Canadian to express apprehension. They all agree that, while the Americans have a natural affection for ‘Old Glory’ and as yet may confuse the Fourth with the First of July, they pay ready allegiance to the flag under which they have come to live, and very generally agree that the impartial and inflexible administration of justice in Canada is in itself sufficient reason for the permanence of the British allegiance and an honest loyalty to Canadian institutions. What may be hidden in the womb of the future, when many of these Americans sit in the Legislatures and in the Federal Parliament, and become powerful in moulding public policy, we cannot know, but at least it is seldom that the seeds of revolution thrive amongst a prosperous agricultural population. "But it is to one particular phase of the movement of population that I desire chiefly to call attention. The migration to the West has had a marked effect on the older Canadian provinces. Many farms in the long settled districts have been almost deserted. The old remain; the young have gone. The only compensation is that the sons prosper in the West."