CHAPTER II.

CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES.

THE geographical proximity of Canada to the
United States is one of the causes which have led
superficial observers to say that the Canadians so
closely resemble their republican neighbours, but it
is one of many. The same blood originally ran in the
veins of both nations, the same language is spoken
by both, and by both it is subjected to almost the
same inflexions, The two peoples live under closely
similar conditions, and many of those peculiarities
of Western civilisation that are not found elsewhere
 are common to both, In both countries the
great Railway Corporations wield a power unknown
in Europe. The same monetary system exists in
both countries, and American money is current in
Canada. Their educational systems have much in
common, while the continent of North America
has a journalism all its own. These are some of
the features in which the two countries closely
resemble one another.
The fact that the United States was the first to
develop into a great industrial country has only
had the effect of drawing the bond closer. For
whilst Canada was still a struggling agricultural
community the great rising cities of the United