FlNANCE-r-PRODUCTION AND INDUSTRY
307
Finance. — The rerenue of the province is derived from the following sources : — (1) Dominion subsidies ; (2) School lands ; and (3) Provincial sources. With one or two exceptions, all the taxes except those on actual land values hare been abolished throughout Alberta. This is said to be the nearest approach to a genuine single tax of any province or state in America.
-
1916
Dollars
1917'
Dollars ; -!,608 1 6,752,503
191?
Bar*
M ".-'.'3
19201
Revenue Expenditure
Dol'ar*
Dollars 10,588,602 10,555,507
(i) Estimates.
The public debt of the province (1919) amounted to 34,635,200 dollars Us* sinking fund 980,623 dollars.
Production and Industry.— Alberta is pre-eminently an agricultural province. There are unquestionably valuable assets in her mines of eoal and asphalt, but the future depends upon the growth of agriculture in the important brandies of grain, livestock, and dairying. The area of arable | land is placed at 100,000,000 acres. About 8 per cent of this is under cultivation at the present time.
The acreage and yield of leading grains in Alberta for 1920 were as follows :— Spring wheat, 4,036,000 acres and 86,748,000 bushels ; Fall wheat, 38,000, acres and 713,000 bushels ; oats, 3,090,000 acre9 and 115,091,000 bushels ; barley, 481,000 acres and 12,789,000 bushels : flax, 103,700 acres and 726,000 bushels; rye, 161.000 acres and 3,420,000 ! bushels ; potatoes, 43,000 acres, 7,138,000 bushels ; turnips, mangolds, &c, 12,300 acres, 3,219,900 bushels ; hav and clover, 384,000 acres, 498,600 tons. Total area under field crops, 8,390,000 acres ; value, 204,291,500 dollars.
Alberta was the greatest ranching country in America from 1880- 1900, but the farmer has driven out the rancher and the days of the big In November, 1919, there were in Alberta 800,000 horses, 337,000 milk cows, "1,247,000 other horned cattle, 446,000 pigs, 364,000 sheep, 4,426,000 poultry. The 1919 wool clip amounted to 2,115,000 lbs., valued at 1,225.000 dollars. The value of dairy products in 1919 was 31,600,000 dollars. Creamery butter produced 10,500,000 lb. ; cheese, 500,000 lb.
The establishment of packing houses at Edmonton and Calgary has give« a great stimulus to the hog industry. Mixed farming combining dairying and hog raising has increased considerably. Value of the milk production in 1919 is conservatively estimated at 31,fi25,000 dollars.
A coal survey of Alberta by the Geological Survev of Canada places the coal area at 16,588 square miles'containing 90.000 million tons, 80,000 million ■being lignite. The output in 1919 was 5,022,412 tons, of which domestic 'IhgniteJ coal was 2,395,200 tons ; bituminous coal, 2,825,787 tons ; anthracite Joal, 85,616 tons ; briquettes. 70,333 tons. Natural gas is found at Medicine ,Hat and Bow Island in inexhaustible quantities, and a considerable quantity ield, Vegreville, and Viking. In 191S, 13,030,000 cubic feet were pro- duced from 68 wells. In 1918, 13,040 barrels of crude petroleum were pro- ceed. Value of total mineral production in 1919, 20,815*049 dollars, i Alberta has 11,881,000 acres of forest reserves. The northern portion
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