VII. THEY VISIT CANADA, NIAGARA FALLS AND SAIL FOR FRANCE. IMPRESSIONS AND COMMENTS BY FRENCH VISITORS ON EXPERIENCES IN AMERICA
Their reception by the Board of Trade and Chamber of Commerce and Citizens Association in Montreal was very hospitable. A banquet was tendered the visiting delegation in the evening of May 4th and on the following day a luncheon was given them by the Franco-American Committee of Canada. Their reception at Quebec on May 6th was also very cordial. They were greatly interested in the city founded three centuries back by Samuel Champlain. They visited its churches, its Parliament buildings, the Heights of Abraham, and placed a wreath of flowers on the tomb of Montcalm. They were pleased with the majestic sweep of the St. Lawrence, the Falls of Montmorency and with the bracing air of Quebec, whose surrounding hills were white with snow. Among the many who united in entertaining them while in Canada were Senator Raoul Dandurand, President of the Franco-American Committee of Canada, Sir Lomer Gouin, Premier of the Province, M. Monk, Minister of Public Works, Lieutenant-Governor Langelier, M. Montagu Allan, Vice-President of the Franco-American Committee of Montreal, Mgr. Bégin of Laval University, Messrs. R. W. Reford and Chaput, Presidents of the Canadian Chambers of Commerce, M. Revol, President of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce, M. Montpetit and M. de Crèvecœur, M. Ferdinand Roy, President of the Canadian Institute at Quebec, and many others. The mental exhilaration of the visitors increased as they moved about amid the French speaking people of the Province, where the descendants of French colonists with French customs dominated its language, its laws and its institutions. On their return to France they spoke very appreciatively of their visit to the Dominion of Canada, its hospitable people and of its possibilities.
On their return from Canada via Niagara Falls, they were met there by Senator Henry W. Hill, Secretary of the Commission, and were entertained at luncheon by General Francis V. Greene, who in faultless Parisian French paid a glowing tribute to their countrymen. He escorted them about the Falls and showed them the power plants on the Canadian shore and took them in a special car around the Gorge Route. They were deeply interested in the Falls, the Whirlpool and power houses. They took the evening train for New York, where they embarked on La Provence, May 9th, for France.
Commissioners Howland Pell and Senator James A. Foley and Viscount de Jean of the French Embassy at Washington, Senator Raoul Dandurand of Montreal and others were on the dock to bid them “farewell” and “bon voyage.” Each gentleman of the delegation was presented with a photograph of the Waldorf-Astoria banquet and each lady with a bouquet of La France roses.
All the delegates were charmed with the cordiality of their reception, both in the United States and Canada, and most of them expressed their intention of coming again.
M. Gabriel Hanotaux, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and president of the delegation, in a conversation before La Provence left the quay, said:
I believe that the time has come for closer relations to be developed between France and America from many points of view. There is one point beyond doubt. We have seen recently that when France withdraws her financial support from any international project the carrying out of the project is at any rate delayed. France is a rich country, and has money to invest, but she must first see that her interests are safeguarded. In America the thing that struck me and most of the delegation was the prodigious activity everywhere. Everything in the country gives evidence of unique strength which must play a great rôle in the world. I am really charmed with my first visit to the United States and Canada and hope to have an opportunity of coming again. We in France are convinced that trade can be improved to a great extent. The present statistics do not, however, give France her proper place, as a great deal of the French trade passes across the Atlantic on British, Belgian and German vessels and is credited to the first port of debarkation, although many of the American exports eventually go to France.
M. Gabriel Hanotaux, in referring to French literature, said:
The greatest error appears to exist in American and British minds on the subject of French literature. I myself know that the French love a pure literature and I am certain that that kind of writing is the only kind that is profitable in France itself. All the modern French writers, too, are of the same opinion. The indelicate French books appear to be written only for the foreigner, for they have no vogue whatever in France.