of his country?  In a word, has the Canadian found himself?  He is not self-conscious, if that be what is meant by finding self; and that may be a good thing; for self-consciousness is of one of two things—­the vanity of femininity in its adolescence, or the picayune pecking introspection of natures thrown in on self instead of exuberantly spending energy in effort outside of self.  Self-consciousness is too much ego, whether it be old or young; and the devil must be cast out into the swine over the cliff into the sea, before there can enter into men, or nations, that Spirit of God which makes for great service in Destiny.

Has Canada found herself?

II

Without any brief for or against Socialism as a system, it may be said that for many years Socialism will play little part in Canadian affairs.  In areas like Germany, where the population is three hundred and ten per square mile; or France, where the population is one hundred and eighty-nine per square mile; or England, where the population is over five hundred per square mile; or Saxony, where the population is eight hundred and thirty per square mile—­one can understand the claim of the most rabid and extreme Socialist that the great proportion of the people can never by any chance own their own freehold; that the great proportion of the toilers are not having a fair chance in an open field; but in Canada where there are millions of acres untaken, where the population is not quite two to the square mile, it is impossible to raise the cry that every man, and any man, can not have all the freehold he is manly enough to go out and take.  The grievance becomes preposterous and a joke.  There is more land uninhabited and open to preemption in Canada than is owned in freehold.  There are more forests standing in Canada than have been cut.  There are more mines than there are workmen, and only the edge of Canada’s mineral lands have been explored.  There are more fish uncaught than have ever been hooked.  I have heard soap-box orators in Canada rant about the plutocrats gobbling the resources of the country; and I have gone to their offices and shown them on the map that any man could become a plutocrat by going out and gobbling some more, provided he had brains and brawn and gobbled hard enough instead of gabbled; and I have been answered these very words:  “But we don’t want that.  We want to inflame the masses with hatred for the classes so that the laborer will take over all industry.”  When I have pointed out that there are “no masses” nor “classes” in Canada—­that all are laborers, I have been met with a blank stare.