The purchases by the Department of Agriculture down to December cover about 110,000 tons of hay, 35 million bushels of oats, and 275,000 tons of flour, requiring about 14 million bushels of wheat. The total value of these purchases is about $48,000,000. We have made an attempt also to follow the purchases of such ordinary articles as wheat, cheese and meats. It is understood that the purchases in Canada by the Wheat Export Company of wheat and oats from this year's crop will reach 350 million dollars in value, and that there have been shipped cheese valued at between 30 and 40 million dollars and a large supply of meats, partly the product of Canada, and partly from animals bred in the United States, but cured here. The published returns are not easy to follow but we appear to have exported, during the year ending March, 1917, live animals, including horses, to the value of 15 millions and meats to the value of over 60 millions; against this we have apparently imported meats to the value of about 25 millions. For the six months ending September the totals of both imports and exports, measured only by value, are on a basis 50 per cent higher than for the previous year. These figures show some of the activities of the Canadian people in the way of production, but the need is greater, in some directions much greater, than ever before. The outpouring of supplies of all kinds, from wheat to shells, must go on, but the most crying needs are for sea-going ships, aircraft and those forms of food which are more necessary than others to sustain life in its fullest vigour and without a sufficient supply of which the allied nations are threatened with starvation. The supply of wheat is vital, and the losses of shipping add enormously to the difficulty of obtaining supplies from the southern half of the world. At the same time the scarcity of labour makes the life of the North American farmer so difficult that he needs all our sympathy, and should have all the assistance which the city worker or student can give him in summer time. One of the most valuable foods for the soldier is bacon. He can apparently do more fighting on it than on anything else. In the United States, when necessary, breeding stock and help in other forms is being supplied to farmers to ensure the largest possible production of bacon, and associations of breeders have been formed for the purpose of distributing well-bred stock. This is being done by men who realize that if we fail in producing greater quantities of bacon than ever before, we shall fail in our duty to the soldiers. In this country we have been occupied in an effort to place the blame for the high price of an article, which, beyond any doubt, we ought not to consume in large quantities just now, and we have apparently forgotten that the price has gone up mainly because bacon is vital to carrying on the war and that if we do anything to lessen the efforts of the producers, the price will certainly be much higher next year than it is now. In England well-to-do people are standing in line for their food supplies, and they, at least, are learning that the talk of famine is not a story to frighten children with, but a terrible possibility. The harvests have not been plentiful and the danger is as real as the menace of the submarines. We ask the farmer, in spite of the great difficulties which confront him, to produce to the last ounce, but how can we make our city people save food, remembering that every ounce saved will provide food elsewhere for those who without it must starve? We are living in a time of social unrest affecting greater areas of disturbance than the world has ever known. We are experiencing this unrest at a time of which it may be said, that those who live in our part of the world were never so easily able to obtain employment suited to their varied capacities, never so highly paid, so far as those are concerned who aid in the production of goods for sale, never so prosperous, using the word in a material sense. The price of everything, however, was almost never so high, and the purchasing power of the dollar has declined so much and so rapidly that people with a more or less fixed income suffer keenly, while those who earn more money than they could have conceived possible a few years ago, are disappointed and apparently surprised to find that everything else has advanced in price in proportion to their high wages. Out of this turmoil has come a bitterness towards all who by any stretch of fancy, can be held responsible for existing conditions, a bitterness often without any real basis, and which is accompanied by explosions of wrath directed at whatever happens to be the nearest object of criticism, but, if continued, and kept at fever heat as it has been of late, promises ill for our country after the war. I am aware that I shall be accused of defending Capital and what are called the Big Interests, but there must be many readers of the annual addresses made by the officers of this Bank who will believe that we try as faithfully as we are able, to portray conditions as they exist. Nothing in the end is to be gained by blaming the Premier or the Food Controller, the provision dealer or the farmer, for high prices which are not merely a result of the war, but a result of war requirements so peremptory that the question of cost almost disappears. The conditions arising out of the war are at the bottom of most of our troubles, and what is necessary is not only fair dealing on the part of those who supply the wants of the people, but patience, and some remnant of belief in our fellow-men, on the part of those who feel the pinch and who, perhaps naturally, would like to punish somebody. If dealers have combined to put up prices, let them be punished, but apparently we are complaining because dealers, in buying from producers, did not combine to lower prices or to keep them down. The needs of the war are, however, so great that no combination can control prices either in one way or the other. We have to face new and probably very difficult conditions after the war. If we are filled with animosity and distrust in our attempts to adjust our differences, the result will be a sorry one; if, on the other hand, with the experience we shall gain in many ways by the war, we co-ordinate the forces of industry we possess so as to present a united and efficient front, we may hope to enjoy in the fullest degree the peace and liberty for which our boys are fighting, together with greater prosperity than we have ever known. To accomplish this there are at least three elements which must be present. In our leaders of industry we must have enterprise and skill, and we must have plant and capital on a scale adequate to compete with other nations. Only the profits made and the experience gained during the war can render this possible. We must have technical knowledge of how to solve every difficulty, physical, chemical, or whatever it may be, that confronts the manufacturer, and some steps are being taken towards that end. More, however, than anything else, we must have such relations between the employer and the employed as will cause the employed to do heartily each day a full measure of his best work. The last is the great difficulty to be overcome, and the element about which there is unfortunately the most doubt. This is said with no intention whatever of apportioning blame. One would suppose that there must be faults on both sides. The fact remains that if we are to compete successfully with other nations we must recover the older condition when men were proud of the shop they worked in and of its product. It may only be a material question, but it may be a psychological one. Have employers and employed struggled with each other until the only natural feeling is antipathy, or can each be made to feel that he is so necessary to the other that not to work together at their best is folly, apart from the economic crime involved? Those of the Directors retiring by rotation were re-elected, with the Board composed as follows: SIR EDMUND WALKER, C.V.O., LL.D., D.C.L. JOHN HOSKIN, ESQ., K.C., LL.D., D.C.L. HON. W. C. EDWARDS. ROBERT STUart, Esq. SIR JOHN MORISON GIBSON, K.C.M.G., K.C., LL.D. G. F. GALT, Esq. President. WM. FARWELL, ESQ., D.C.L. F. P. JONES, ESQ. Balances due to other Banks in Canada... Balances due to Banks and Banking Correspondents elsewhere than in 276,425.654.41 580,958.01 7,295,110.40 120.857.29 5,597,665,13 $314,015,489.92 2.668.20 525,000.00 29,832,074 52 Dominion and Provincial Government Securities, not exceeding market value.. 27,596,420.22 British, Foreign and Colonial Public Securities and Canadian Municipal Securities. Railway and other Bonds, Debentures and Stocks, not exceeding Call and Short Loans (not exceeding 30 days) in Canada on Bonds, Call and Short Loans (not exceeding 30 days) elsewhere than in Canada Other Current Loans and Discounts in Canada (less rebate of interest) Liabilities of Customers under Letters of Credit, as per contra. Real Estate other than Bank Premises (including the Less mortgage assumed Mortgages on Real Estate sold by the Bank.. Less mortgage assumed on property purchased. 22,095,133.29 6,192,461.60 13,460.862.62 20,076,903.18 831.173.35 149,822,028.44 14,846,130.56 5,597,665.13 237,796.39 $ 1,236,999.52 100,000.00 1,136,999.52 196,005.81 $ 5,390,075.44 5,090,075.44 111.588.68 B. E. WALKER, President JOHN AIRD, $344,375,232.64 General Manager. CANADA IN WAR TIME: THE WEST INDIES ANNUAL ADDRESSES AND REPORTS* OF THE ROYAL BANK OF CANADA Address by The Balance Sheet submitted to-day evinces a year of remarkable growth. The total assets of the Bank are over $335,000,000, nearly double their amount at the beginning of the war. The increase during the past year was no less than $82,000,000. Of this increase, the Quebec Bank, which was absorbed on January 2, 1917, contributed approximately $22,000,000. Total deposits amounted to $252,987,382.81, the increase for the year being $52,759,787.23. As I pointed out last year, a very satisfactory feature is the absence of large or unusual deposits of a temporary nature. A remarkable expansion has taken place in our circulation, as in that of other banks. Outstanding notes now exceed our paid up capital by $15,247,651.49. To cover this excess, $16,000,000 has been deposited in the Central Gold Reserve. Current loans show a substantial increase, due to the active trade conditions and increased prices of all commodities. The liquid position of the Bank is satisfactory, our liquid assets being 53.9% of liabilities to the public. The assistance rendered to the Government in financing the war is indicated by an increase of $28,867,279.29 in Government securities. Net profits for the year were 18.03% on capital, as compared with 1787% last year-or 8.82% on combined capital and reserve, as compared with 8.66% last year. The Reserve Fund has been increased to $14,000,000 by the addition of $911,700 premium on new stock allotted to Quebec Bank shareholders, and $528,300 from Profit and Loss Account. It is satisfactory to report that all the Bank's securities have been written down to the present market value. In this time of great expansion, it is manifestly our first duty to keep the Bank in a strong and liquid position, especially as regards cash, in order to be fully prepared for any contingency which may arise. The uncertainty as to conditions which will obtain after the war is very great, and we must be fully prepared for any eventuality. I desire particularly to direct your attention to the splendid work of the staff of the bank during the past year. When we speak of "the staff" nowadays, we mean a very different aggregation from that of the days before the war, and when we ask ourselves what actually constitutes the staff to-day, we find ample scope for reflection. Unconsciously, we think first of those who are away fighting Preceding Annual Addresses and Reports with an Historical record of the Bank may be consulted in volumes 1910-16. The Annual Meeting dealt with here was on Jan. 10th, 1918. |