Page:EB1922 - Volume 32.djvu/380

362 Moose Jaw (estimated pop. in 1920, 17,000) is situated on the main line of the C.P.R. It has extensive stock-yards and flour-mills, also a storage elevator with a capacity of about 3,500,000 bushels.

Prince Albert, on the banks of the North Saskatchewan (pop. in 1920 about 7,000), bids fair to become a manufacturing centre. It contains large sawmills and flour-mills, and is the centre for the fur-trading industry.

Saskatoon (pop. 1920, 22,000) has been one of the rapid urban growths of the Middle West. It is an important railway and dis- tributing centre, through which the C.P.R. and two Canadian National railways pass. Tributary to the town is a large area of arable and prairie land.

North Battleford, Swift Current, Weyburn, Battleford, Maple Creek, Melville, Estevan, Yorkton, Humboldt, Indian Head, Moosomin, Qu'Appelle, Kamsack, Rosthern and Wolseley are local centres, deriving their importance chiefly from their situation in the midst of rich agricultural districts.

The executive Council of Saskatchewan consists of 7 members and the Legislative Assembly of 62 members. The province is represented in the Federal Parliament by 16 members of the House of Commons and 6 senators.

Education, both primary and secondary, receives earnest attention from the Government. The schools are free and supported by the Government and local taxation. Collegiate institutes and high schools are found in every important centre. Normal schools for the training of teachers are maintained at Regina and Saska- toon. The university of Saskatchewan at Saskatoon is supported and controlled by the province. In connexion with it is the agri- cultural college, which is well equipped for its special purpose and conducts very practical work among the farmers of the province. Saskatchewan schools in 1918 numbered 3,941 and maintained 6,062 teachers. The total enrolment in that year was 147,232, and the entire cost of administration $9,110,925 (in 1906 it was $1,465,361).

The province is essentially agricultural. The soil, made up of the detritus or debris of a great variety of rock materials and rich in natural phosphates, is characterized by its ability to produce a high average yield of wheat, oats, barley and potatoes for many years in succession without the application of artificial fertilizers. From experiments carried on at Indian Head the headquarters of the experimental farm subsidized by the Dominion Government it has been ascertained that the high average yields of wheat, oats, barley and potatoes on that farm are not only maintained from year to year, but are actually larger than at any of the other Dominion experimental farms scattered throughout Canada.

Saskatchewan has probably the greatest possibilities of production of all the provinces in the Dominion. Of the land area of 243,382 sq. m. a little over 25,000 were under crop in 1918, and it is estimated that, apart from forest land requiring clearing, 112,000 sq. m. are suitable for agriculture. I nits southern parts the returns equal those of Manitoba, which have been regarded as exceptional. On the average of 1915-7 the yield was 163,264,100 bus. of wheat at a total value of $207,590,833. The limited area under cultivation yields a grain crop exceeding 350,000,000 bus. in a single year. The following are yields and values for the year 1920: wheat 113,387,300 bus., value $175,700,000; oats 141,590,000 bus., value $58,035,000; barley 10,501,000 bus., value $6,931,000; rye 2,535,000 bus., value $3,194,- ooo; mixed grains 615,000 bus., value $769,000; flax-seed 5,705,000 bus., value $10,383,000; potatoes 6,861,000 bus., value $8,576,000; turnips, etc., 3,145.000 bus., value $2,956,000; hay and clover 328,300 tons, value $3,283,000.

With the exception of wheat and oats, the field crops are mainly grown for home consumption in stock-raising. The erection of silos in connexion with well-appointed farm buildings indicates the im- provement of methods and the growing prosperity of farmers. The cattle industry of Saskatchewan has reached a very important place. There are many large herds scattered throughout the province, subsisting for a large portion of the year on native grasses and for the remainder of the year the winter months on outdoor feeding. So rapidly has the cattle industry advanced in the past few years that it has been found necessary to establish large stock-yards at Prince Albert_ and Moose Jaw. Dairying, naturally associated with the cattle industry, is making rapid progress, and at important points in the province are established up-to-date creameries. The output of dairy and creamery butter for one year amounted to 19,368,668 Ibs., valued at $6,192,213, to which is to be added milk and cream to the value of $7,450,000, or a total of $13,642,213. In 1007 there were only four creameries in operation with 213 patrons, and in 1920 there were 20 creameries with 7,500 patrons and in addition four cold- storage plants. The raising of sheep has become general throughout the province, particularly in the northern part, where the conditions are most favourable.

The lumbering district of Saskatchewan lies N. of Prince Albert. Trees consist mainly of spruce, larch, jack pine, white and black poplar and white birch. Much of the timber is used for railway ties,

and the recent annual cut amounted in value to about $2,000,000 a year. In the northern section of the province the Dominion Government set aside a number of large areas as forest reserves. The forests of the north still abound in fur-bearing animals, the principal being bear, otter, beaver, marten, wolf and mink. Prince Albert and Battleford are local centres of the fur trade, the annual value of which is about $1,450,000.

Manufacturing industries are not yet important in Saskatchewan. There are a number of flour-mills throughout the province, and the making of cement and bricks is coming more and more into prom- inence. Coal-mining, however, promises to be the principal in- dustry of the province. Mining has been carried on for several years in the vicinity of Estevan. The lignite deposits of Saskatche- wan, which underlie an area of 7,500 sq. m. and are estimated to contain 200,000,000 tons of lignite coal, were in 1920 being experi- mented with by processes of carbonization and briquetting. Gold, silver, copper, cobalt, iron, mica, peat, pigments, ochres and natural gas are among the mineral resources of the province. The value of minerals raised in 1919 was $1,118,055. The fisheries of Saskatche- wan are still in their infancy. The lakes and rivers of northern and central Saskatchewan abound in fish sufficient to supply millions of people. The value of the fisheries in 1919 was $475,797.

For more than 30 years up to 1921 the main line of the C.P.R. had crossed the province of Saskatchewan from E. to W., about 100 m. N. of the border of the United States. One of its most important branches is the " Soo " line from Moose Jaw to St. Paul, Minn. Its lines to Edmonton and Lacombe, Alberta, have daily increasing traffic and passenger service. The main lines of the Canadian National railways also cross the province, with many branches tap- ping its rich agricultural districts. Saskatchewan has now over 6,000 m. of railway. The province is so well served by the C.P.R. and the Canadian National railways, with their numerous branches, that few of the established settlements are more than 10 to 20 m. from a means of transport. The Hudson Bay railway when completed will afford a short haul to ocean shipping from the Saskatchewan grain- fields. The building of roads and bridges within the province has been taken up energetically by the Government, and large sums have been expended. (W. L. G.*)

SAVAGE, MIKOT JUDSON (1841-1918), American divine and author (see 24.239), died in Boston, Mass., May 22 1918.

SAVINGS MOVEMENT. The origin and development of what became known in England as the " War Savings Movement" provides the subject-matter of one of the most interesting chapters in the economic history of the World War. In the United States, to which reference is made in a subsequent section, the Savings and Economy movement was no less remarkable.

UNITED KINGDOM

Institutions for the normal encouragement of thrift on the part of the people of the United Kingdom were making steady progress up to the date of the outbreak of the war in 1914. From that date onwards the pace of their advance was mate- rially accelerated. The amount due to depositors in the Post Office Savings Bank increased 28% in the decade 1903-13, while during the five years 1913-8 they increased by 42%. The amount due to depositors in the Trustee Savings Banks increased 3-2% in the decade 1903-13, while during the years 1913-20 it increased by 12-5%. These figures give a general indication of the growth of the savings of the people during the war period, but they do not tell the whole story. In the atmosphere created by the War Savings movement, and in the circumstances which for a time materially improved the financial position of the wage- earning classes, not only did existing savings institutions develop rapidly, but a new national thrift machinery was brought into being and its operations met with remarkable success.

Cost of the World War. Within six months of the outbreak of hostilities in Aug. 1914, it became evident to those who were more closely in touch with realities that the World War would be a prolonged struggle, in which it would be necessary for the combatant nations to marshal their entire resources of pro- duction. Modern warfare was seen to demand not only that there should be a high percentage of the population in the fighting forces, but also large numbers of civilians producing on a huge scale military equipment of the most varied character. The enormous volume of goods and services which had to be requisitioned is best expressed in terms of the national expendi- ture. The largest amount spent by Great Britain in war in a single year before 1914 was 71,000,000. The Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars cost in the aggregate 831,000,000 spread