“In the fall I bought ten of the best yearling heifers I could get and a few steers. The total outlay was about £140. From that number of stock I have now fifty head of cattle and five horses, and if all goes well I should have another twenty calves and two colts this spring. I think anyone should be satisfied with that increase. “I milked all my best cows, and the proceeds of butter practically paid the household expenses for the last two years. Last year I made nearly £80 off butter, and I expect to make as much this year, and besides I hope to sell ten steers at an average price of £8 a head. “I am well satisfied with the progress I have made, and I may say that I am now independent, as my income is now much greater than the expenditure. I have 160 acres of good grazing and hay land, and as practically none of the company lands are occupied, there is plenty of grazing for cattle on every side of me. “I estimate the value of my farm, stock, buildings, &c., now to be $5,000. I have done no cropping except a few acres of oats for feed and the kitchen garden, but I intend to go in more for cropping in future. The soil is rich and grows heavy crops. “The climate is very healthy. I have enjoyed better health since coming to Canada than I had for many years before leaving the Old Country.” * * * * * CHAPTER VI CANADIAN INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT On the voyage up the St. Lawrence to Montreal a leading citizen of London, Ontario, discussed with me the question of Protection and Free Trade. We were passing French Canadian villages and towns on either side of the river in the Province of Quebec. The French Canadians now, as ever, are agriculturists, living a quiet rural life, raising their crops, fattening their cattle, breeding their pigs, which contribute so largely to their own larders. Said my London friend, “I have been spending six months in Europe, partly on the Continent, but with frequent visits to England. I have been amazed at the evidences of the overpowering prosperity of your British industries under the system of Free Trade. If I were living in Great Britain I should be a Free Trader out and out. You have the instinct of manufacturing industry. You had a long start of all your rivals. Geographically you are marked out to be the great manufacturing, producing and distributing centre of the world. You would be most foolish to attempt to overthrow a fiscal system under which you have done so well. But when I come to Canada I am a Protectionist out and out. You see those villages and towns. From the agricultural point of view Quebec is a flourishing Province enough, but you cannot build up a modern nation out of a race of agriculturists pure and simple. You must have manufacturing industries, and at present, as a manufacturing country, Canada is in its infancy. Our people have to acquire the manufacturing instinct.