Reminiscences of a Raconteur, Between the '40s and the '20sHam, George H. (George Henry)
History
Reminiscences of a Raconteur, Between the '40s and the '20s
Ham, George H. (George Henry)
Canada; Ham, George H. (George Henry), 1847-1926; Journalists -- Canada -- Biography
Conspicuously Canadian.
The policy of the future will be an extension of the policies of the
past, namely that the company should be a good citizen of Canada, which
means contributing to Canada’s advancement and its own success, and
taking, as it always has, its share of the country’s burden. In this
democratic age it is possible that methods may be adopted which would
not be thought of in previous times. It is certain that the company and
its patrons will be closer together than ever before, because a greater
mutual understanding is necessary if the unique problems of the present
time are to be dealt with satisfactorily.
Historically, that’s pretty nearly all that is going to be said about
the Canadian Pacific Railway, except that when rail communication was
established between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in November, 1886,
the company had 4,306 miles of track. To-day it operates or controls
more than 18,000 miles. That’s going some. But it’s not all. A
magnificent ocean service has been established on the Atlantic and the
Pacific, and on the inland lakes and rivers of Canada its craft ply. It
has become the “World’s Greatest Highway,” carrying the traffic of three
continents. It lodges and feeds globe-trotters, so that a person may
travel from Great Britain to China and Japan exclusively under its
protecting care, on its trains, ships and hotels. It has developed
fishing, mining, agricultural, immigration, forestry and other resources
and industries. It is not a mere transportation company, as all railways
were before its construction. It is an Empire builder.
Let me speak now of those courageous captains of industry to whose
activities and counsel are due the great success which has crowned their
indefatigable efforts to make the Canadian Pacific the wonder of the
world.
The First President.
George Stephen—now Lord Mount Stephen—who came to Montreal from
Scotland, an unknown youth, was its first president. He was an earnest
worker and a wise counsellor, as was his fellow director, R. B. Angus.
In all the hazardous conditions and financial worries of his presidency
he never lost heart. He, with his co-workers, pledged their entire
fortunes to ensure the company’s very existence. There were dark days,
darker perhaps than the world will ever realize, with apparently a
hopeless future to face, but their courage never failed them. Their
grandest monument is the C.P.R.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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