e
whole continent was undergoing a trying test of panic and depression,
of low prices and industrial stagnation. For a quarter of a century
after {198} 1873 the gloom had been broken only at brief
intervals--from 1880 to 1883, and from 1887 to 1889. In 1893 the price
of wheat fell to the lowest point in a century. The great Mississippi
valley had been flooded with settlers, railway and steamship threw
their millions of bushels on the world's markets, while the gold basis
of prices failed to expand in proportion. Western farms were, it was
said, 'plastered with mortgages'; one-sixth of the railways in the
United States went into receivers' hands in 1893 alone. Free-silver
agitators denounced the 'gold bugs' of the east; Coxey armies marched
to Washington. Another cause was in excessive competition. The St
Lawrence was more accessible to shippers than ever, while the Canadian
Pacific had cut into the best paying territory in Ontario. In the
Chicago traffic absolute demoralization ruled--reckless rate wars were
waged, agreement after agreement was broken, line was played against
line by grain-shipper or by dressed-beef magnate. A final cause was in
management. The attempt was still being made to manage a great railway
from London, three thousand miles away. The Canadian officials had
little independent discretion; interminable delays, lack of initiative,
red {199} tape, nepotism, followed inevitably. Here and there
officials strove strenuously to better conditions, but the odds were
against them. Practically no Grand Trunk stock was held in Canada; it
was not even quoted on Canadian exchanges; Canadians regarded the road
entirely from the user's point of view.

The traveller and shipper had less to complain of than the shareholder.
The service of the road had been greatly increased. The mileage was
large in proportion to population. Rates were low. True, it was a
rare event for a Grand Trunk train to arrive on time, but it usually
arrived.

For these various ills corresponding remedies were sought in turn.
Drastic capital reorganization was discussed, but nothing was done.
Commercial prosperity could not be revived by the efforts of a single
railway. Competition was met by agreement after agreement,
'gentleman's' and otherwise, but in vain. The most hopeful resource
lay in the only remaining direction, change of management.

In 1895 Sir Henry Tyler resigned from the presidency after twenty-three
years