Germany, Ontario a third bigger than France; and you still have a
western world as large again as the East. Spread the British Isles
flat, they would barely cover Manitoba. France and Germany would not
equal Saskatchewan and Alberta; and two Germanies would not cover
British Columbia--leaving undefined Yukon and MacKenzie River and Peace
River and the hinterland of Hudson Bay, an area equal to European
Russia. If areas in Canada had the same population as areas in Europe,
the Dominion would be supporting four hundred million people.

It would be assuming too much stoicism to say that Canadians are not
conscious of a great destiny. For years they stuck so closely to their
nation-building that they had no time to stand back and view the size
of the edifice of their own structure, but all that is different
to-day. When four hundred thousand people a year flock to the Dominion
to cast in their lot with Canadians, there is testimony of worth.
Canadians know their destiny is upon them, whatever it may be; and they
are meeting the challenge half-way with faces to the front. In the
words of Sir Wilfred Laurier, they know that "the Twentieth Century is
Canada's." What will they do with it? What are their aims and desires
as a people? Will the same ideals light the path to the fore as have
illumined the long hard way in the past? Will Canada absorb into her
national life the people who are coming to her, or will they absorb her?


[1] Canada's area is 3,750,000 square miles. The area of Europe is
3,797,410 square miles.

[2] Canada's railway mileage at the end of 1913 was 29,303.53. The
land grants to Canadian railroads, Dominion and provincial, stand
55,256,429 acres. Cash subsidies to railroads in Canada up to June 30,