70 cents to $1.00 and that people were eating less bread and more expensive foods every year; Mr. P. Coughlin, a large Montreal cattle exporter, stated in the Montreal Star of Jan. 31st that it was the higher prices and scarcity of supplies in the United States re-acting upon Canada. "Such is the scarcity of cattle in the United States that the big American firms come over to Toronto, outbid the Canadians on whatever cattle are obtainable and ship them to American ports. Last summer a great number of Canadian animals were shipped in to the United States. The Americans are able to give better prices than the Canadians and usually get the cattle they want. The Canadian wholesalers have to follow suit, pay the high prices, or do without the goods." The view taken by Mr. Fisher, Minister of Agriculture, at Ottawa in more than one speech was that it was not the farmers but the middlemen who profitted by, and were to blame for, the increase in prices of food products. The Grocers denied the charge, so far as their work as middlemen was concerned. Speaking at Ottawa on Feb. 4 a local grocer-H. C. Ellis-maintained that groceries, outside of farm products, had decreased in price during the last 15 years. "Sugar was only about half the price it was in 1895. Tea, that then sold at from 60 to 90 cents a pound now sold at from 25 to 40 cents. It was practically the same with every line of groceries outside of farm products."

During the whole year questions were being asked along such lines as the following editorial inquiry in the Montreal Star of Feb. 9th: "Why is meat double the price of 25 years ago? Why are eggs 300 per cent. higher? Why is good butter a luxury for the few? Why are other necessaries so inflated in price? Can anything be done to check the upward tendency? Are there not unnatural causes at work which are responsible for these conditions? Does the law of supply and demand sufficiently explain the phenomenal increase in the cost of living?" There could be no doubt as to the condition. The Dominion Government, through its Department of Agriculture, carried on an inquiry into the matter; a special Report of most elaborate character was made as to wholesale prices and other matters in Canada by R. H. Coats, B.A., Associate Editor of the Labour Gazette; the Ontario Government, through the Provincial Speech from the Throne on Jan. 25th, mentioned " the remarkable and continuous advance in the price of foodstuffs and of many articles of household use and urged upon the Dominion Government a prompt and thorough inquiry, with a view to the possible suggestion of a remedy. According to the Department of Labour Report, in the ten years ending 1909 as compared with the decade ending 1899, the cost of grain and fodder, including 13 selected standard commodities, rose in value 49.9 per cent.; cattle and cattle products, hogs and hog products, sheep and sheep products, fowl and turkeys, rose 48.6 per cent.; dairy products rose 33 per cent. In the Labour Gazette

for May appeared a statement showing that the wholesale prices. of hides, tallow, leather, boots and shoes, had increased in the above decades by 35 per cent. The July number of the same journal described a further investigation in these two ten-year periods which included 200 commodities:

Of the great producing industries agriculture seems to show the largest increases in prices. Crude farm products (grains, fodder, meatproducing animals, milk, eggs, wool, fruits, vegetables) have advanced by over 37 per cent. compared with the base decade. The products made therefrom (meats, bran, flour, hides, leather, etc.) have increased by over 34 per cent. On the other hand, imported foods are lower than they were during the decade 1890-1899. Fish products are nearly but not quite so high as farm products. Products of the mine are only slightly above the level of the decade and, if coal be excluded, are below the average. Coming to Canadian manufactured products the general level is about fourteen per cent. above the level of the base decade.

As to localities it would appear that Toronto suffered the most in this connection during 1910. Meats of nearly all kinds, butter, eggs, vegetables, apples, went up to a very high figure prices in January as compared with those in Calgary and Edmonton showed little difference. Prices in Chicago were only a little higher in meats during February and lower in some other foods; in most Canadian cities prices ranged about the same though meat was a little cheaper in Montreal. A part of the local difficulties was, perhaps, due to the exclusion by Civic ordinance of all competition from peddlars and hucksters. A writer in the Toronto News of Nov. 1 said: "I remember selling hogs on Toronto market for $3.80 per cwt. One can now get $12.50 per cwt. I have sold potatoes for 45 cents a bag, now I pay 75 cents. I remember drawing hay to Toronto and being glad to sell it for $9 per load. Now the same quality of hay will cost me from $17 to $19 per ton. Flour was $4.75 to $5 per barrel; now it is $6 and on the rise. We used to consider we were doing well when we got one cent an ounce for our butter. Now it is almost 2 cents. Years ago it took a good steer to bring $38, and now any scrub will bring in $45 to $50. At present, for good fresh eggs, we must pay 33 to 38 cents a dozen; formerly we thought 20 cents a big price; lard was 10 cents a pound, now it is 20 and 22 cents."

In Ottawa, the Government and the Labour men and the Municipal authorities all took up the question and the Ottawa Citizen undertook an inquiry on its own account. It dealt with and showed a rise in the cost of bread of 46 per cent. in ten years; an advance in wheat of 75 per cent. and flour 50 per cent., coal 11 per cent. and wood 30 per cent. were amongst the conditions alleged; rentals were said to have risen 25 to 30 per cent.; medical attendance was described as much higher and undertakers' charges about 100 per cent. higher. In Montreal restaurant keepers told the Herald on Feb. 9th that their women customers were most affected by the rise in prices;

that in place of eggs or meat in some simple form they now eat pancakes and tea or some such cheap and non-nutritious diet. According to the Star of Feb. 12 the local prices of bacon, ham, pork and lard had risen 100 per cent. in 20 years-in the case of hogs from $3.90 and $4.00 in 1898 to $7.80 and $8.00 in 1909. Despite this, however, J. B. Lawson in the Manitoba Legislature (Feb. 17) stated that Montreal meat prices were lower than in most other Canadian cities and claimed this fact to be due to the existence of a public abattoir. It was alleged by the Herald of Feb. 24 that men's clothes had advanced 25 per cent. in ten years and that woollen goods and trimmings had also risen. To this the customs' tailor replied that the expenses of his business had also risen-in one case 60 per cent. was stated. House rents had grown-a $15 to $18 house renting for $25 to $30 a month. A local inquiry into Cold-storage matters resulted in a report from the Chief Inspector of Meats stating on Mch. 18 that " in the five cold-storages inspected, 150 pounds of poultry were confiscated, 300 pounds of pork, 80 pounds of beef, and 200 pounds of mutton. The heads of the Houses stated that they could not tell how the meat had gone bad. None of it, they said, had been in storage for periods of more than a year." The Inspectors were doubtful as to this and thought that much meat was kept for two years or

more.

In Halifax the same complaint prevailed as to high prices; in St. John it was stated that some commodities-sirloin steak for instance, cost more than in Montreal; in Manitoba the Government undertook to appoint a Commission of Inquiry into the subject and pork on the Winnipeg market reached on Apl. 15 the highest price ever paid in Western Canada-$10.50 per cwt. or an increase of 120 per cent. over the Chicago price in 1908; in Regina a witness before the Technical Commission stated (though he was not supported by Labour Department reports) that the cost of living there was 40 per cent. higher than at Winnipeg because of the absence of truck gardening; in Vancouver, according to the Rev. W. H. Johnson of that place (St. John Standard, April 22)" the average workman is no better off than in the East. His wages will only be $2.75 a day and he will have to pay $30 a month for board and high prices for everything. A suit of clothes that costs $25 in Vancouver can be purchased for $15 in Montreal and everything else in the same proportion." As to compensation it would seem that sugar, tea, bananas and canned goods were much cheaper than formerly; that, assuming the United States average to apply in Canada, the salaries of employees had risen 20 per cent. in ten years; that, according to Canadian estimates, the wages of farm labourers had risen 45 per cent.; that in organized labour the official estimate of increase was from 25 to 50 per cent. These increases did not equal those in the cost of living but

they were a consideration to the individual-as well as a cause of the general result.

The Canadian Club Movement during 1910

The organization and work of Canadian Clubs continued during this year and at its close more than 60 organizations were in existence. Some were newly formed, some were languishing and inactive; but the most of them, and especially those in large cities or towns, were centres of useful discussion and intellectual activity. Special lines of work were taken up by some of the Clubs. That of Winnipeg, under the continued initiative of Mr. J. B. Mitchell its late President, endeavoured to encourage and enforce by local influence and teaching the more frequent use of the Union Jack in place of the frequently-flown Stars and Stripes and other Foreign flags and with the object of educating new Canadian citizens in Imperial and Canadian loyalty. It also protested to the Playgrounds Commission of Winnipeg against the proposed appointment of an American to supervise the children's play-grounds and undertook to supply speakers for many of the Public Schools on Empire Day. Camrose, in Alberta, worked out successfully the idea of a Club building with the social accompaniments which other Canadian Clubs had not considered necessary. The Hamilton Club on Jan. 1st indicated its strongly Canadian character by a card of New Year's greeting which expressed the hope that all the circle of Clubs would stand "for the highest standards of Canadian sentiment, Canadian ethics and Canadian character, that our nation may fill its destiny."

The St. John Club made a notable effort to improve Civic conditions by bringing together the leading citizens in a "discussion of local interests." The Moncton Club passed the following Resolution: "Resolved that Canadian Clubs wherever located be requested to more fully emphasize the historical importance of Dominion Day and to suitably commemorate the anniversary with greater attention to the history, institutions, literature and resources of our country." The Victoria Club passed a loyal Resolution in connection with the death of the King and the accession of King George. The Women's Canadian Club, Victoria, decided to take up the systematic study of Canadian history. At the beginning of 1910 the Halifax Club had collected from outside subscribers $17,000 for its projected Memorial Tower in honour of the introduction of British Parliamentary institutions into Canada and was pressing the City Council to make a special grant of $10,000. Eventually it obtained $2,500; the Club itself voted $500 for the purpose and the Victoria Club granted $50; the Government of Canada gave $5,000; the Government of Australia £100, and that of New Zealand £25; the Yukon Council voted $200 and the Dawson Canadian Club $50. The Canadian Clubs of St. Catharines, Collingwood, Moose Jaw, Calgary, Winnipeg, St. John, Charlottetown, Vancouver, Ottawa,

Montreal, Saskatoon, Victoria, Hamilton, Moncton, Peterborough, Fort William and Truro granted sums running from $100 down to $10. By March $22,000 had been subscribed out of the $30,000 required. Some of the other chief contributors were as follows:

The Cities of Toronto, Quebec, and Winnipeg, the Canada Club, London, England, also subscribed substantial sums and a contract was entered into in October with S. M. Brookfield, Ltd., for $23,960. Of miscellaneous incidents it may be said that Rev Dr. James Barclay of Montreal, in addressing the Club at Halifax in April, with Mr. Justice Wallace a Roman Catholic-in the chair, and Rev. Father Foley on the platform, created a local sensation and an unpleasant situation by using bitter words as to religious conditions in Europe before the Reformation. Mr. H. Bourassa, in August, refused to address the Moncton Club unless its meeting was thrown open to the public. To the Calgary Club on Jan. 13th Mr. P. J. Nolan, K.C., made a statement interesting as indicating local conditions of thought rather than as accurately describing the Canadian Club platform when he said: "The Canadian Club is performing one of the greatest services to the country when it insists that Canada is and shall be an integral part of the British Empire." During the year, also, the St. Thomas Club undertook the erection of a monument in honour of the historical characters of Elgin County and Mr. C. W. Rowley of the Calgary Club suggested that all processions and military parades in Canada should carry the National Flag.

Amongst the chief Canadian Club speakers during the yearjudging by the number of Clubs addressed-were Henry Vivian, the British Labour M.P., who dealt with Town Planning and FreeTrade and was presented to various organizations by Hon. Sydney