Canada To-day and To-morrow

by Arthur E. Copping

For this purpose it set apart an area of 260 acres in the heart of the city and having a frontage to Lake Ontario extending for a mile and a half. On that area it erected exhibition buildings—not temporary edifices of wood and plaster, but huge, handsome structures of brick, stone, concrete and steel. Then it beautified the surroundings with terraces, promenades and flower gardens.

Control was vested in a board of twenty-five directors, eight being elected by the City Council, eight by the manufacturing interests of Canada, and eight by agricultural associations, the remaining seat being allotted to the Minister of Agriculture. The first exhibition, held in 1879, was a success, the number of visitors being 101,794, and the receipts reaching a total of £11,400, while £3,400 was given away in prizes. Year by year the scope of the Exhibition has been enlarged, and year by year the success of the Exhibition has increased. Last year (1910) the visitors numbered 837,200, the receipts were £58,000, and the value of prizes £10,260. And note these two remarkable facts: the Exhibition is open for only a fortnight every year, and it always shows a handsome margin of profit. The amount in 1909 was £13,000. This surplus is handed over to the City Council, to be used in extending the buildings and improving the grounds. When not in use for the Exhibition the place is available as a public park.

Thus the Toronto Exhibition is popular, prosperous, and permanent. Special excursions are run to it from all settled regions of Canada, the railway and steamboat companies granting reduced rates for the occasion. Also the event always attracts a host of Americans.

It is said—and I believe with justice—that so successful an institution of this character is to be found in no other country. What is the explanation, the reader will ask, of this remarkable achievement of a Canadian city? The only answer I can suggest is—enthusiastic thoroughness.

Let us glance at the scope of the Exhibition. From each section of the Dominion the Provincial Government sends a representative collection of local products. Distinct buildings are allotted to agriculture, manufactures, industries, art, transportation, dairying and machinery. In addition, there are an “Applied Art Building,” a “Women’s Building,” an “Administration Building,” a “Press Building,” a “Dog Building,” and a “Poultry Building.” Stabling is provided for 1,500 horses, 1,200 head of cattle, and 600 swine. A livestock arena was recently constructed at a cost of £22,000. There is a grand stand (having a length of 725 feet and seating accommodation for 16,800 persons), which cost £46,000, and is built of brick, steel and concrete. Including police and fire stations, telegraph and telephone offices, a bank, restaurants, rest rooms, etc., the Exhibition buildings represent a value of nearly half a million pounds sterling. Apart from visitors, there is a permanent population of ten thousand persons on the grounds during the annual fortnight.

THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION AT TORONTO: ONE OF THE BUILDINGS

To each day belongs a special interest. Thus, last year’s diary was as follows: Saturday (August 27th), Preparation Day; Monday, Opening Day; Tuesday, Inauguration Day; Wednesday, School Children’s Day; Thursday, Manufacturers’ Day; Friday, Press Day; Saturday, Commercial Travellers’ Day; Monday, Labour Day; Tuesday, Stock Breeders’ and Fruit Growers’ Day; Wednesday, Farmers’ Day; Thursday, Americans’ Day; Friday, Fraternal Society and Review Day; Saturday, Citizens’ Day; and Monday (September 12th), Break-up Day.

Everything that Canada makes and that other countries sell to Canada is found at the Exhibition. In 1909 that represented a mammoth collection of goods which filled the four large buildings devoted to manufactures, transportation, industries and machinery, besides overflowing into a Manufacturers’ Annexe, and into a vast area beneath the grand stand. Even so, the collection was cramped, so last year, to relieve the pressure, a special building was provided for British exhibits. Goods in process of manufacture are a feature of the Manufacturers’ department, and dense crowds gather daily to witness the making of silks, cotton, shoes, and a hundred and one other articles.

The Exhibition attracts the finest collection of horses and cattle to be seen in Canada, the number of animals totalling about ten thousand, and including many herds specially imported to compete against those bred in the Dominion.