975,292,214
1888 981,368,094
1889 982,210,664
1890 970,927,035
1891 971,886,068
1892 979,977,244
1893 970,361,070
1894 954,395,507
1895 931,989,574
1896 910,291,623
1897 905,093,613
1898 923,022,420
1899 947,513,360
1900 974,814,931
1901 1,001,323,296
1902 1,044,894,332
1906 1,189,119,120
1909 1,241,019,109

From the above table it will be seen that the closing of the United
States markets in 1890 was followed by a depreciation in general farm
values which lasted until 1898, when the upward movement that has
continued ever since set in.

And now let us see how the population was changing, as to its
distribution between rural and urban, during these years. First, we
shall give the assessed population.

Rural Urban
1884 1,117,880 636,187
1885 1,126,554 658,406
1890 1,117,533 800,041
1895 1,109,013 848,377
1900 1,094,246 919,614
1905 1,059,379 1,042,881
1909 1,049,240 1,240,198

The Canadian Pacific Railway opened up the wheat lands of the West in
1886. At that time the rural population was nearly double the urban; in
1905 they were about equal; and six years later the urban population of
Ontario exceeded the rural.

The Dominion census figures are as follows:

Rural Urban
1911 1,194,785 1,328,489
1901 1,246,969 935,978
--------- ---------
Increase .... 392,511
Decrease 52,184 ....

It will thus be seen that during the past twenty-five years there has
been a steady increase in the consumers of food products in Ontario and
a slight decrease in the producers of the same. The surplus population
of the farms has gone to the towns and cities of Ontario and to the
western provinces. Now for a moment let us follow these people to the
West. Many of them have gone on the land to produce wheat. Wheat for the
European market has been their principal product, therefore they in turn
have become consumers of large quantities of food that they do not
themselves produce but must obtain from farmers elsewhere. But not all
who have gone West have become far