Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 02.djvu/360

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CANADA
314
CANADA

$701,087,586, The imports from the United Kingdom amounted to $79,023,483. The exports to the United States in 1919 amounted to $433,337,935, and to the United Kingdom, $540,378,091. The principal exports were wheat, flour, oats, fish and fish products, wood and lumber, wood pulp, printing paper, and agricultural products. In the year ending June 30, 1920, Canada exported to the United States goods valued at $537,337,381, and imported from the United States goods valued at $890,135,023.

Education.—Primary education is compulsory. The percentage of illiteracy is 11.02 per cent., the highest among the foreign born and the lowest among the native born. There were in 1919 24,871 primary and secondary schools, with 36,000 teachers and 1,250,000 pupils. The Provincial Governments have control of education of elementary schools, secondary schools, normal schools, and universities. In Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, and Saskatchewan there are separate schools for Roman Catholics. In other provinces the schools are non-sectarian. There are 22 universities, and each Province has one or more. In addition, there are several colleges. The most important of the universities are the University of Toronto, McGill University, and Laval University, which is French-Canadian. In the universities and colleges are about 16,000 students. The total expenditure for public education is over $60,000,000 annually.

Religion.—The Roman Catholic Church is the oldest and largest religious body in Canada, and represents about 42 per cent, of the population. The Church of England has 28 dioceses, with 1,750 clergymen and over 2,000 churches. The Presbyterian Church has about 1,900 clergymen and about 835,000 communicants. The Methodists have about 380,000 communicants, the Baptists about 140,000, and practically all the other Protestant denominations ai-e represented. The Roman Catholic Church is represented by a cardinal, 11 archbishops, 30 bishops, about 5,000 priests, and 3,000 churches.

Railways.—In 1919 there were approximately 35,000 miles of railway in operation. During the year 433 miles of new first track were completed and put in operation. The Canadian Pacific has the longest mileage, with 13,000 miles. The mileage of other principal roads is as follows: Canadian Northern, 9,479; Grand Trunk in Canada, 3,578; Transcontinental, 2,002; Intercolonial, 1,592; Grand Trunk Pacific, 1,794. The government has put into effect a system of nationalization of railroads, and in 1919 it took over the Grand Trunk railroad. The Canadian Pacific was already nationalized.

Telegraphs and Telephones.—There are in the Dominion about 600,000 telephones, with a wire mileage of 1,708,202. The telephone companies employ over 16,000 wage earners. There are about 65,000 miles of telegraph wire, of which about 50,000 is private and 12,000 government. There were in 1919 11 operating telegraph and cable companies, and 4,615 offices, with a capital of $75,000,000. The gross earnings of the telegraph, wireless, and government telegraph service stations is about $10,000,000 annually.

'Postoffices.—There were in 1919 about 13,000 postoffices. There were 3,733 rural mail delivery routes. There were in 1918 4,931 money order offices, which issued 9,919,665 orders, valued at $142,959,168.

Manufactures.—The census of manufactures of the year 1917 was completed in 1918. The census is taken every two years. The main results of this census were as follows: The number of manufacturing establishments, 34,380; capital invested, $2,772,517,680; number of wage earners, 619,473; wages paid, $457,245,456; cost of materials, $1,602,820,631; and the value of the products, $3,015,560,869. The capital invested in the leading industries was as follows: Electric light and power, $356,004,168; pulp and paper, $186,787,405; log products, $149,266,019; cars and car works, $98,274,585; steel furnaces and rolling mills, $91,894,777; flour and grist mill products, $72,573,982; agricultural implements, $70,493,801; foundry and machine-shop products, $69,915,032; car repair shops, $68,763,298; slaughtering and meat products, $68,145,347.

Finance.—The total revenue for the year 1918-1919 was $312,946,740. The expenditures were as follows: Consolidated fund, $232,731,282; capital account, $25,031,266; war account, $446,519,439; capital expended for railways and canals, $19,325,918; and for public works, $5,705,347. The net debt on Dec. 31, 1919, was $1,838,000,000. The net debt prior to the war was $335,996,860. The debt per capita before the war was $42, and at the close, $250.

Government.—The government which originally constituted the Dominion of Canada was composed of Provinces of Canada, Upper and Lower, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. They were united in 1867 by the passage of the British North American Act. The act provides for a constitution "similar in principle to that of the United Kingdom," that the executive authority shall be vested