CANADIAN REBELLION, 1837-8. REFUGEE CROSSES LAKE ONTARIO IN A CANOE, WITH THE PROW ROTTED AWAY.
BARCLAY, CLARK & CO. LITHO. TORONTO
This money and the accumulated earnings of years he lent to his neighbors at a maximum rate of twelve per cent., with discounts and drawbacks and many other dark and mysterious ways of figuring—so mysterious, indeed, that in many instances the loans netted him twenty to twenty-five per cent. per annum. Thus year by year he added to his capital, eventually becoming a very rich man; and though the rates for loans have now dropped down to five per cent., his money has kept on drawing big pay—never stopped. Floods, disasters, deaths, fires—nothing seemed to stand in the way of the steady tick of interest and accumulated wealth. To-day he is a very old man, worth his hundreds of thousands. Pleasures of social intercourse, books, papers, travel, and the little elegances which go to make up life, have always been absent, but the gold has been hoarded. He is only a type of many of the money-lenders of our Province. Such men do not buy estates, nor make homes, nor do anything to improve our country.
An anecdote to illustrate: My father said just after the close of the Canadian rebellion of 1837-38 he had built a new ship and launched her upon Lake Ontario. And now rigging, shrouds, sails, anchors, cables, and outfit generally must be had before she could sail. Ready money after that domestic, or rather civil, disturbance was difficult to obtain. The outfit, however, must be had, for freights were high, and there was money to be made. To J—H—, he went, living not far from Whitby, and told him what he wanted. H—readily accompanied my father to Toronto, went with him to Rice Lewis, who kept such vessel outfits, and asked him to give my father what he might need on his account. My father got £150 (Halifax) worth, and gave his note to H—, at six months, for £200 (Halifax) for the loan. You will readily see what money-lenders demanded and obtained for their capital. It is only fair to complete the story and say that my father found no fault with J—H—, for although then himself abundantly able to raise any reasonable sum, he could not wait to do so. Two trips of the ship, when once rigged out, paid the loan, principal and interest, and all parties were satisfied.
The question has often occurred to me, why, as a rule, the wealth secured by money-lending has not been long retained. As I cast my eye over the country to-day, I find very few money-lenders’ families who have much of their parents’ funds. I am not a fatalist, but I freely say that it does not seem to be the case that money-lending, pursued as a business at extortionate rates, does beget prosperity for those who follow. I am sorry to say that a like remark would apply to the families of many of our pioneers. Very few of the farms left by the pioneers to their sons are to-day in their hands. That they got a living too easily would be the apparent cause, but not because of anything derogatory (as in the case of the money-lenders) in their father’s business.
We have gone from one extreme to the opposite, and very far opposite, in educational matters. To-day our school tax hangs heaviest about our necks, so very many of our young men and women are learning Latin, Greek and French. John Quincy Adams said over a century ago, “When a boy gets to conjugating Latin verbs he will not dig any more ditches.” We do not know why it should be so, but it would appear generally to be true. Again, there is a tendency among our young women not to entertain matrimonial ideas, but to try to be wholly independent of the sterner sex.
Our young women go off to some training hospital, get a diploma after three years’ voluntary service, and set up as trained nurses. As such, when they get employment, they make from ten to twenty-five dollars per week, with their board and lodging. There is no manner of doubt but these nurses are exceedingly useful in the sick chamber. More of our young women, too, become telegraph operators, type-writers, ticket sellers and stenographers, all very much detrimental to woman’s proper sphere as the “queen of the home” and the wife of a faithful husband.
Chicago, Ill., alone contains one hundred thousand Canadians. In our very, very free schools and colleges we educate young men and women by the tens of thousands, very many of whom, as in the case of those in Chicago, leave us for the United States. Such expatriated young men and women are lost to us forever after, much to our sorrow.