Far-flung System.

The cold figure 23,000 miles means that the Canadian National Railways form the largest, although the youngest, railway in North America. The true significance of the figure is that the railway serves Canada from Halifax and Sydney on the extreme east of the Dominion, to Vancouver and Prince Rupert on the extreme west; that it passes through seven of the United States; that it pushes as far north as Churchill on Hudson Bay, and to this might be added the fact that its steamships link Vancouver and the ports of Alaska, and connect the eastern ports of Montreal, Halifax and Saint John, with Bermuda, the West Indies and South America. There is no phase of Canada's material development that is not the concern of the National Railway. It transports the products of the Dominion from country to city, from city to city, and to the seaports for shipment to all parts of the world. In the first place, it serves agriculture. It covers the old settled areas of Ontario and the multitudinous acres of the prairies like a network. It carries millions of bushels of grain out of the prairie provinces every year; it transports cattle from Alberta, fruits from Ontario, butter, eggs, poultry and vegetables from the eastern provinces. It serves the farmer by carrying his produce away from him and by bringing to him from the manufacturing centres the things he needs. With its steel it has followed the pioneer farmer into the new, unbroken country; many times it has gone ahead of the pioneer and opened the way for agriculture.