Letter to Manufacturers in Great Britain and Ireland 1882
Toronto Public Library, Digital Achives
The Corporation of the Town of Stratford have great pleasure in directing the earnest attention of the manufacturing public in Great Britain and Ireland to the important fact that the facilities possessed by Stratford for manufacturing industries are unsurpassed in the Dominion of Canada, and our town is destined at no distant day to take its stand with Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton and other cities of the Dominion as an important manufacturing centre.
Situated as it is, on the main line of the Grand Trunk Railway, the highway to the great Northwest Stratford occupies about the most westerly position of the large towns of Ontario, and therefore admirably adapted for manufacturing, on a scale of great magnitude, Such articles as will suit the multifarious requirements of the millions who are pouring into our prairie empire from all parts of the globe.
The Corporation of Stratford have, therefore, determined to spare neither expense nor pains to draw the attention of manufacturers in the Old World to the great and unprecedented inducements offered to manufacturers to establish branches of their business in this part of the Dominion of Canada, viz., free gifts of building sites of great value, and complete exemption from all municipal taxation on buildings and machinery employed.
For the more effectual carrying out of this enterprise the Corporation have delegated authority to a special committee of public-spirited citizens who are authorized to take such steps as in their wisdom they may deem necessary to lay before the manufacturers of Great Britain and Ireland such facts and figures as will readily convince the unprejudiced that a field is now opened for fostering manufacturing industries, which has few equals at the present moment in any other part of the New World.
The population of the Dominion is now about 5,000,000, of which 2,000,000 are in Ontario, one of the most densely populated parts being in and around this town, as will readily be believed by reference to the map of Ontario which accompanies this pamphlet, and which shows a net-work of railways equaled only in the most densely populated parts of the Old World. There is no doubt in the minds of all one in this part of Ontario that we have entered upon an era of unprecedented prosperity, which many think may last for the next twenty years owing to the immense influx of population into our great North-West territory.
The various classes of industries which the Corporation believe will thrive best in our town are such as the following: Agricultural Implements, Alpacas, Broadcloths, Buttons, Brushes and Combs, Boots and Shoes, Cars and Locomotives, Carpets, Cottons, Engines and Boilers, Envelopes, Felt Goods, Flannels, Gloves, Glue, Glass, Knitting Goods, Lace, Linen Goods, Oil Cloths, Paper, Pianos and Organs, Pails and Tubs, Potteries, Rope, Cordage and Twines, Rubber Goods, Starch, Silks, Sewing Machines, Shirts, Tobaccos, Tweeds, Type, Vinegar, Watches and Clocks, Woollens, etc., etc.
On these goods our government have placed very high protective duties, so that competition from outside manufacturers is practically next to impossible, and thus the Canadian manufacturer, whilst he has the monopoly of the home field, has the markets of free trading countries besides. We, therefore, respectfully invite men of skill and capital in the Old World to cast in their lot with us, share with us in our prosperity and grow up with us a powerful and rich country, and make Canada the brightest and fairest jewel in the crown of Great Britain. All communications may be addressed to Wm. Mowat, the Secretary of the Committee of Industries. S. S. FULLER, Chairman. D. SCRIMGEOUR, Mayor.
Source: Toronto Public Library Archives