GERMAN FAILURE IN CANADA

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1948, 3 January 1914, Page 13

GERMAN FAILURE IN CANADA

| competition' or rival rices Tiie ''I.ckalahzeiger,''- of' Berlin, re- | ceutly pith!i:,ht'd the eoiicUidin;t_ article | of. the scries'written :; byf its-spccial correspondent;'? who','"afterf spending 'a few mouths'-.in Caiiiidn",'decided "that tit; was ! his duty to inform his-countrymen. that the Dominion■ nvas<?not? tlio:- "Eldorado of emigrants" it 'claimed: to be.ln a previous article, tho ■.writer "described iho -life'and conditions of-. the ;'work of unskilled labourers .engaged in laying new railway , lines. • He cam©';', to the conclusion that- tlio lot of the Canadian railway . worker--, was .by/.no .means enviable. Ho pointed out. as a significant fact that no Englishman did such work, and contended: that • tho '.AngloSaxon race, could not" compete there with the primitive Eastern and Southern Europeans. ■ Ho' advises tlio unskilled ''German worker,'" therefore,' to stay ni homo. ' In tho subsequent article" the' special correspondent of tho' "Lokalanzeiger" deals with Germanism, in Canada. Not only, ho. says, have- the ..Germans not succeeded'., in playing-any role .whatever in public life in Canada, but Germanism is actually on the dnclma there.. Many country distrcts which were once German through and through aro now, ho says,-"so completely, English that no' word of German is hoard in tho streets, while in-the towns Germanism is weaker still. Germans occupying any social position, ho declares, are a rarity, while a traveller who iias had opportunities- of studying Germanism in JSast .'Asia and South . America is struck by the total- absence j of German import-ins -firms. V. One of the reasons : for ' "the inferiority of Germanism" 'in Canada, according to the writer, is the following: "The German ;is 'undoubtedly in great request- there.-as ai-.pioneer. . The unflagging, blundering,' and unassuni•iiig industry of tho German ■ peasant is highly esteemed, and appreciated, but the. German peasant is compelled to remain a peasant; lu> is.regarded as a civilising manure, iio always ' works ! for others, especially': for the English. Canada opens her arms -.to all the nations, of tho'earth, but holds out her hand only-to the-' Englishman."'

Another" reason, in the writer's opinion, is the competition of other nationalities. The German is excluded from Eastern Canada, he declares, ■by the French inhabitants, while in the central provinces and in the "\Vo4t ho suffers from rivalry of. tV.e Americans. The German, immigrant is at a disadvantage tyo, in that he finds everything new, whereas tlio_ American comes among people -speaking tho same language aridliving under conditions to which he is accustomed. Tho Americans, moreover, pursue a ruthless policy which exhausts the land. They-know' nothing about tlio rotation of crops, aiul never trouble to apply manure. Their object, tho writer says, is to make as much as possible out of tho land in the shortest possible time. They have utterly exhausted tlio land they occupied in tiie United States, and go across to Canada to repeat the experiment there. Tho writer admits that tho American, is a smarter all-round man than tho German, and can turn his hand' to anything, whereas tlie German practice is to do only .one thing. When Canada finds that the German immigrant will not do the first work that is offered him she has no more.iise for-him, and he can return home' .

The writer finally warns investors not to risk their nionw in Canadian land, for it is impossible to know how long tho present boom may last, while the population of many Canadian towns is already declining.