Such are the two principles upon which rest the Extension Society—­dogma and history.  They strike the very bed-rock of our Faith.  But if its principles are sublime and inspiring—­its policy is simple and effective.

II.—­Policy

The policy of an organization is the direction of its activities, the plan of campaign for the furtherance of its principles, the line of action in the realization of its ideal. The Policy of the Church Extension is twofold:  education and action.  To give to all the Catholics of our country, an accurate knowledge of conditions in our various mission fields, to develop in them the true missionary spirit, to make them think in terms of the Church Universal . . . this is its educational policy.  To organize in every parish a branch of the Society and through it to enlist the sympathy and receive the spiritual and financial assistance of every member, to develop, co-ordinate and direct the missionary activities of all our dioceses in favor of our home missions; in other words, to promote efficiency through organization, centralization of efforts with the least waste of energy . . . this is its policy of action.

1. Policy of Education.—­The acuteness of our sense of duty depends largely on the breadth and depth of our vision.  This principle explains the importance of the Catholic Extension educational policy.  Through its official organ, “The Catholic Register,” by means of pamphlets, leaflets, and lectures and sermons, the Society is most intent on giving to the Catholics of Canada, first hand knowledge of conditions in our mission districts.  We are perfectly convinced that when all our Catholics will have fully realized the truth of these conditions, they will immediately understand their responsibilities and fulfill generously their duty.  But what is that “call of the West” which the Catholic Church Extension is sounding like a cry of alarm through the country?  You all know, what I would call, “the Romance of the West.”

A few decades ago Western Canada was but a bleak, lifeless plain, extending from the Great Lakes to the foothills of the Rockies, dotted here and there with the Indian wigwam, the roving herds of buffaloes, the solitary chapel of the Catholic missionary, and the lonely posts of the Hudson Bay fur-traders.  Suddenly under the magic steel of the plough, that immense waste of land woke up from its age-long slumber.  The desolate prairie became within a few years the greatest granary of the world.  The Indian trail gave place to transcontinental highways, to those “long, long, and winding,” steel trails that have led the youth of our Country and the exiles of Europe “into the lands of their dreams.”  These trans-Canada roads have conquered distances and linked the Atlantic to the Pacific.  They may well be considered as the arteries of our Dominion; through them indeed flows rapid and warm the blood of our national life and in them one can hear, as it were, the pulsations of its great and noble heart.  The transcontinental lines are responsible for the birth and phenomenal growth of our Prairie Provinces.