Page:Wise Expenditure and Unprecedented Progress.djvu/8

Rh malice aforethought, close their eyes to the fact that the Canada of to-day, from the point of view of progress and prosperity, differs from the Canada of 1896 as light from darkness. They ignore the public records which tell a story of wonderful development all along the line, of astonishing expansion of trade and commerce, of new Territory opened up, of great influx of immigrants and of abundant prosperity, and they calmly ask the people to blame the Government for extravagance.

It will be apparent that such an attitude is not only most unfair but most misleading, and it is not likely to raise the Conservatives in the estimation of thinking people.

Increased development, increased trade, increased developed territory, and increased population involve increased national expenditure. As a business man's expenses increase with the expansion of his business, so do a nation's. There are hundreds of business men in Canada to-day who are pay ing out for business expenses two or three times as much as they paid six years ago, yet no one would have the temerity to say that such additional expenditure is of itself conclusive evidence of incapacity or extravagance.

No attempt is made by the Government or their supporters to deny the fact that the expenditure of Canada has grown since 1896, but they claim that it has grown for good and proper purposes, and far from apologizing for it, they refer to it with pride, believing as they do that it has been one of the instrumentalities which has brought about the growth and progress we have witnessed in recent years. The expenditures have been liberal and prudent in the public interest, and they have done much to help the people generally. The Government kept pace with the times, and made due provision for the future.

The expenditure on consolidated account, which is the ordinary annual expenditure, increased from $38,132,005 in 1895, to $51,691,902 in 1903, an increase of $13,559,897. The year 1895 is adopted for comparison for the reason that it was the last fair year's expenditure under the Conservatives. An election was expected in the year following, and with the object of making a good showing, and also to conceal an enormous deficit which was looming up, the estimates for that year (1896), except in regard to