The total of these exports which may be placed to the actual credit of the manufacturing industries is only $2,962,688-a decrease of $164,544 over the preceding year, but the highest figure of all other years. The increase from 1890, when the total was $870,466, had been steady. In 1896 the export was $1,555,108; in 1898, $2,372,039; and in 1900, $3,127,242. An important effort to promote the furniture industry was made early in the year when seventeen of the leading furniture factories consolidated their interests under the name of The Canada Furniture Manufacturers, Limited, with a capital of $3,000,000 in 20,000 seven per cent. Preference shares and 10,000 Common shares-$2,000,000 of the one and $1,000,000 of the other. Industries at Berlin, Walkerton, Wingham, Seaforth, Guelph, London, New Hamburg, Wiarton, Stratford, Waterloo and Mount Forest were represented in this arrangement and the reasons given for the amalgamation were the lack of development in the industry and its apparent inability to meet present demands of economy and specialization which would both be greatly served by combination. It was pointed out that the export of furniture had increased from $75,000 in 1896 to $350,000 in 1899 and that they had every possible advantage in the way of raw material. Progress The commencement of this important industry arose out of the increasing demand for paper and the limitation of existing sources of supply. The growing importance of the demand for paper-making material is seen in the fact that Great Britain imported in 1896 $2,797,595 worth, and in 1901 $18,464,370 worth. The British import of paper itself, including straw and wood-pulp boards, was $22,062,200 in the latter year. The British import of wood-pulp in 1895 was $7,661,603, and in 1901 it had grown to $12,817,773—a sum which only included imports from the large producers. In 1901 the countries mainly supplying this market were Sweden, with $4,039,338; Norway, with $6,439,111; and Canada, with $1,277,184. The United States only contributed $269,579 of the total. This latter country had, meanwhile, been increasing its own import of wood-pulp from $958,009 in 1895 to $2,405,630 in 1900. The total export of wood-pulp from Norway increased between 1888 and 1898 from $2,479,834 to $4,682,274; and from Sweden the figures were, respectively, in this period, $2,068,333 and $4,199,933. It has been estimated that Great Britain alone can take from Canada the raw material for 1,000,000 tons of paper. The capacity of the Dominion in this production is practically unlimited. Mr. George Johnson has estimated the existence of 4,500 million tons of wood-pulp in the country, and Dr. Robert Bell, of the Geological Survey, places the area of the northern spruce forests of Canada at 1,657,600,000 acres and, at the rate of ten tons of pulp-wood (ground) to the acre, this would give a possible supply of 16,000 million tons. The water-power of the country for mills is, of course, equally unlimited, and can almost everywhere be found in proximity to the spruce forests. The development in Canada was, however, not rapid until within the past few years. Pulp mills were not mentioned in the Census of 1871. In that of 1881 there were said to be five in existence with a capital of $92,000. In 1891 the figures were 24 mills with an invested capital of $2,900,910 and 1,025 employees. The output was $1,057,810 and the export was $280,619. There were, in 1900, according to an official pamphlet prepared for circulation at the Paris Exposition by the Dominion Statistician, 35 mills in operation with a total capacity of 1,100 tons per day and with an invested capital of some $15,000,000. Ten of these were in Ontario, fifteen in Quebec, one in British Columbia, four in New Brunswick and five in Nova Scotia. One of the largest of these concerns is the Laurentide Pulp Company, at Grand Mêre, Quebec, with an investment of $3,000,000, and of which Sir W. C. Van Horne is President. Another is Mr. F. H. Clergue's great mill at Sault Ste. Marie. Meanwhile, the Canadian export of wood-pulp had been steadily growing. In 1896 it was $675,777; in 1898, $1,210,421; in 1900, $1,816,016; in 1901 it was $1,937,207. Of this latter total Great Britain took $934,722, and the United States, $937,330. The export of the raw material-wood, blocks, etc., for pulp-was $902,772 in 1900 and $1,397,019 in 1901, of which nearly all went to the United States. As yet, however, the material was not being used fully for the home supply of paper, as the imports of paper and its manufactures into Canada rose from $1,005,999 in 1896 to $1,408,209 in 1900, and $1,803,928 in 1901. The only Canadian export in this connection was wall-paper to the value of $41,518 in 1901. On March 6, 1901, Mr. J. C. Langelier, Superintendent of Forests in the Province of Quebec, read a valuable paper upon this subject before the Canadian Forestry Association, which was meeting at Ottawa. He estimated the consumption of spruce in the four older Provinces-Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia-where the pulp industry is likely to have its most complete development during coming years, at about 5,000,000,000 feet annually. He concluded that 1,300,000,000 feet of this total, or 1,500,000 tons of pulpwood, could be produced annually for 840 years without exhausting the supply. In other words, these four Provinces could raise all that the United States-the greatest pulp and paper maker in the world to-day-now produces, and do it for over 800 years. An important consideration also was the fact that where operations are carried on in a wise and provident manner, the spruce forests renew themselves every fifteen or twenty years. They would, therefore, be inexhaustible, were it not for fires, the process of colonization, and the wastefulness of lumbermen. The effect of fire was illustrated by the statement that the sale of timber in the Lake St. John, St. Maurice and Ottawa forest regions, which had been destroyed in that way during recent years, would have paid the whole Quebec debt of thirty odd millions. He referred, in conclusion, to the immense spruce forests which had recently been discovered in the far north and west and beyond the Rocky Mountains. The Some discussion took place during the year regarding this industry, of which the Ontario town of Petrolea was the centre, in connection with alleged movements and interests of the Standard Oil Company. The total production of petroleum in Canada had varied very little of late years. In 1888 it was 695,203 barrels, valued at $713,695; in 1898 it was 758,391 barrels, worth $1,061,747; in 1900 it was 710,498 barrels, valued at $1,151,007. The average price of crude oil on the Petrolea Oil Exchange was $1.03 84 per barrel, in 1888; $1.46 per barrel in 1895; $1.60 per barrel in 1900. The total production of the Oil Refineries was given by the Dominion Statistician in 1900 as being 21,153,192 Imperial gallons for the year 1898, and as being worth $1,723,293. These figures included illuminating oils, benzine and naptha, parafine oils, lubricating oils and $101,972 worth of parafine wax. The exports of Canadian petroleum, crude and refined, have been very slight for many years past, though in 1873 they reached a maximum value of $1,819,183. In 1901 the export was $3,087. The imports have increased slowly. In 1887 they were $467,505; in 1897, $604,965; in 1901 they were $810,780. The question of the Standard Oil Company obtaining control of this industry in Canada was brought before the Canadian Manufacturers' Association by Mr. E. R. C. Clarkson through a Resolution which he submitted, and in a letter which appeared in the March number of Industrial Canada. He claimed that 772,000 rural families in the Dominion, or four-fifths of the population, were dependent upon illuminating oils for their light; that the quantity consumed was over 20,000,000 gallons a year, of which one-half came from the United States; that farmers along the Canadian border were frequently paying twenty-five cents per gallon for the best quality of American oil while the price on the other side was ten cents; that the oil industry of Canada was owned by the Standard Oil Trust, of New York, and the price of oil advanced by them from six cents to nine cents per gallon; that the chief American railways and their Canadian connections were tied down in an agreement with this Trust, made in 1872, for lower and special rates. Mr. Clarkson stated that in 1894, when Canadians owned the Refineries, the best Canadian oil was sold in Hamilton at from nine to ten cents per gallon in barrels; now the price ran from sixteen to seventeen cents. He urged, therefore, the passage by the Association of his proposed Resolution declaring the Standard Oil Company & Trust, and therefore subject to prosecution under the Canadian Criminal Code of 1892; and asking the Government to repeal the duty on coal oil. The subject was discussed at length by the Executive of the Canadian Manufacturers' Association on April 9th. On the one side proof was produced by invoices, etc., showing that prices had advanced as stated, and that the manipulation of freight rates was a fact. It was pointed out on the other side that the Imperial Oil Company, which was said to control the Refineries, was not the Standard Oil Company, but a Canadian corporation in which the majority of the Directors were Canadians-many of the Canadian shareholders dating their stock back twenty-two years. Some of the stock was held by the Standard Oil people, but the whole concern only held 8 per cent. of the total Canadian oil-producing industry. There were said to be 10,000 wells now being operated in this business as a whole, with at least $3,000,000 invested in iron casings, pumps and drilling, and with 8,000 or 10,000 people dependent upon it. It was claimed that the oil fluctuated constantly in price, and that it was really cheaper than prior to the preliminary entrance into Canada of the Standard Oil Company. The following Resolution, in substitution for that of Mr. Clarkson, was finally carried : Whereas The Canadian Manufacturers' Association has always supported the policy of protection to Canadian industries; and whereas: The application of this policy to the oil interest demands that it should be entitled to the same consideration as any other manufacturing industry in Canada unless it is shown that, as a result of practical monopoly of the output of Canadian refined oil, unfair and exorbitant prices had been charged Canadian consumers to the detriment of the development of other Canadian industries; Be it Resolved: That this Association, having examined the facts laid before it by these interests asking for a removal of the duty and also by those interested in the oil industry, hereby expresses its convictions that the facts laid before it have not shown clearly enough that the price of oil has been raised to an exorbitant extent as a result of the duty; And Be it Further Resolved: That, therefore, the Association cannot endorse the request to the Government asking them to remove the duty on oil, but that it place itself on record to the effect that the Government should appoint a Commission to fully investigate the facts connected with the Canadian oil industry prior to adopting legislation affecting that industry. General Section V-TRADE AND COMMERCE The total exports of the Dominion for the fiscal year, ending June 30, 1901, were $196,487,632 as against $98,417,296 in 1891; $98,290,828 in 1881 and $74,173,618 in 1871. The total imports were $190,415,525 as against $119,967,638 in 1891, $105,330,840 in 1881, and $96,092,971 in 1871. The total trade of the Dominion at Confederation and at the decennial periods mentioned was, therefore, as follows: In 1867, $131,027,532; in 1871, $170,266,589; in 1881, $203,621,663; in 1891, $218,384,934; in 1901, $386,903,157. The total trade with the principal countries with which Canada deals was, in certain decade years, as follows: The exports of Canada to Great Britain were $53,571,570 in 1881; $49,280,858 in 1891; and $105,328,956 in 1901. The exports to the United States in the same years were, respectively, $36,866,225, $41,138,695 and $72,382,230. The Canadian imports, for consumption only, from Great Britain in 1881 were $43,583,808; in 1891, $42,047,526; and in 1901 they were $43,018,164. From the United States they were in the same years, respectively, $36,704,112, $53,685,657 and $110,485,008. The increase in the exports to Great Britain between 1881 and 1901, was, therefore $51,757,386 and to the United States, $35,516,005. The decrease in imports from Great Britain during the same period was $565,644 and the increase from United States, $73,780,896. Outside of these two great countries the chief expansion in Canadian trade during these years was, as the above table shows, with France, Germany, Belgium and China and Japan. The amount of duty collected from Great Britain in 1881 was $8,772,949; in 1891, $9,114,271; and in 1901, $7,845,406. From the United States the totals were, respectively, $5,657,292, $7,799,318 *The figures for 1881 and 1891 are compiled from the Trade and Navigation Returns those for 1901 from the Trade and Commerce Department Report. |