“When the war-drums throb no longer
And the battle-flags are furled
In the Parliament of man,
The Federation of the world.”
But, despite all its horrors, war has, for human society, some compensation in the fact that it reveals suddenly certain elements of good in the world whose existence we had only dimly realized before. I remember how, as a boy, riding on horseback over the prairie in dark nights, I used to conjecture in a vague way as to the character of the trail ahead and as to what life of man or animal might be shrouded in the blackness. And I recall how fascinating it was to have flashes of lightning break recurrently now and then from the clouds, each flash burning its way into the darkness, revealing the trail, showing cattle and horses and the humble homesteads of pioneers who were beginning to settle on the plain. It has sometimes seemed to me that war is a flash of lightning which reveals much hitherto only dimly imagined as existing in society. That it reveals many mean and disquieting features and qualities in human life goes without saying. But that it also reveals many noble characteristics, is amply demonstrated. The recent Great War, for instance, revealed the greatness of the common man who, from some unspectacular occupation, where these qualities were present but unnoticed by the community, went out where the lightning flash of war disclosed to the world marvels of heroism and self-sacrifice. Similarly, we often discovered in the common business world and amidst business organizations at home, a readiness to serve and sacrifice which before had only been dimly understood as existing at all. The War revealed it.
The Canadian Pacific Railway, which had overcome early difficulties on the road to success, was probably regarded by the average Canadian with some patriotic pride as a prosperous organization, but possibly he thought it was not much concerned about things beyond its own welfare. Yet it is not too much to say that the War suddenly revealed in it vital qualities of loyalty to the Empire and showed the Company personified as a good citizen of Canada. As a citizen it threw itself into the business of helping to defend the country and to assist in making conditions as good as possible in war times.
The recent incident in the earthquake in Japan will illustrate my point as being in keeping with the traditions of the Company. There at Yokohama the Canadian Pacific steamship, the Empress of Australia, as related elsewhere, was just casting off, when the earthquake took place. Taking interest in the safety of themselves and their ship mainly as a means of helping others, Captain Robinson and his gallant crew became a band devoted to heroic rescue. We need not detail the story here, but, the captain and men, knowing the traditions of the Company, did not consider for a moment the immense expense and loss they were incurring in cancelling a voyage and placing the ship and all their stores at the disposal of the suffering and destitute.
The War gave the Canadian Pacific many opportunities of living up to these traditions, and the Company did not fail. While its ships were being sunk in service on the high seas and its general business on land was being dislocated, the Company did its part as a citizen in the enlistments, as already recorded. But, in addition, every good cause which aimed at alleviating human suffering and administering to human comfort found what to some must have seemed a surprisingly large support from the Company. Hospitals at home and field hospitals abroad, Red Cross movements, nurses’ homes, returned soldiers, disabled men and their dependants, Y. M. C. A’s, Salvation Army efforts, and all such persons or organizations were on the list for assistance in a big way. The War brought this out more distinctly, but it was part of the Company’s tradition. It is trustee for the funds of its shareholders, and cannot throw these funds away to improvident people or undeserving causes; but it uniformly seeks to help the community in the interests of the general weal. The Canadian Pacific Railway, owning and maintaining in Canada an enormous amount of property and employing over one hundred thousand people, who receive eight millions monthly in salaries and wages, is manifestly an extraordinary contributor to the upkeep of the Dominion in the ordinary business way. When we add to this the fact of the Railway’s support of all worthy causes, we are able to estimate in some degree the value to Canada of its citizenship.
CHAPTER XVII
The Floodtide of Wheat
But for the fact that it is verified by actual tabulation, the statement that the Canadian Pacific Railway during the autumn of the year of grace 1923 carried two hundred and fifteen million bushels of grain over the steel trail, en route to feed the hungry in all parts of the world, would seem, to some of us, incredible. This huge scale of grain transportation means that about one hundred and thirty thousand cars were charged with the duty of taking to the world’s markets the magnificent product and offering of the vast prairie country of Canada. In the above sentences we personify both the cars and the prairies, because it does not require much imagination to speak of such prolific soil and such burden-bearing rolling stock as if they were instinct with life. The fact that behind them both is the splendidly strong endeavour and the passionately devoted skill of faithful men and women, seems only to add force to the personification of the elements of production and distribution, which, under Providence, they use for the good of the world. To some of us who look back to earlier days in the West, there is vivid romance in this development, and there is a sort of Alladin-lamp wonder in the transformation which the above statements indicate.