PRAIRIE FORUM Vol. 20, No.1 Spring 1995 CONTENTS ARTICLES U A Feudal Chain of Vassalage": Limited Identities in the Prairie West, 1870-1896 Theodore Binnema 1 Farming Technology and Crop Area on Early Prairie Farms Tony Ward 19 U An Imperfect Architecture of Power": Class and Local Government in Saskatchewan, 1908-1936 Rod Bantjes 37 A Populistin Municipal Politics: Cornelius Rink, 1909-1914 J. William Brennan 63 Prelude to Medicare: Institutional Change and Continuity in Saskatchewan, 1944-1962 Aleck Ostry 87 Is Soil Erosion a Problem on the Canadian Prairies? M.L. Lerohl and G.C. van Kooten 107 REVIEWS HOOD, George N., AgainsttheFlow: Rafferty-Alameda and thePolitics oftheEnvironment RICHARDSON, Mary, SHERMAN, Joan and GISMONDI, Michael, Winning Back theWords: Confronting Experts in an Environmental Public Hearing by Peter J. Smith 123 BUCKINGHAM, Donald E. and NORMAN, Ken, eds., Law, Agricultureand theFarm Crisis by Michael E. Gertler 128 SPRY, Irene M. and MCCARDLE, Bennett, TheRecords ofthe Department oftheInterior andResearch Concerning Canada's Western Frontier ofSettlement by Sarah Carter 131 TAYLOR,Jeffrey, Fashioning Farmers: Ideology, Agricultural Knowledge andtheManitoba Farm Movement, 1890-1925 byR. BruceShepard 133 GODFREY, Donald G. and CARD, Brigham Y.,TheDiaries of Charles Ora Card: TheCanadian Years 1886-1903 by John C. Lehr 134 NORTON, Wayne, Help Us toaBetterLand: Crofter Colonies in thePrairie West by J.R. Jowsey 136 CAVANAUGH, Catherine A. and WARNE, Randi R., eds., Standing onNew Ground: Women in Alberta by Sheilah L. Martin 138 CARENS, Joseph, Democracy andPossessive Individualism: TheIntellectual Legacy ofC.B.Macpherson by Brian Caterino 141 LETTERTO THE BOOK REVIEW EDITOR by Frits Pannekoek 146 CONTRIBUTORS 148 ---------------- PRAIRIE FORUM: Journal of the Canadian Plains Research Center ChiefEditor: Alvin Finkel, History, Athabasca Editorial Board: I. Adam, English, Calgary A. Leger-Anderson, History, Regina P. Ghorayshi, Sociology, Winnipeg S.Jackel, Canadian Studies, Alberta M. Kinnear, History, Manitoba W. Last, Earth Sciences, Winnipeg P. McCormack, Provincial Museum, Edmonton J.N. McCrorie, CPRC, Regina A. Mills, Political Science, Winnipeg F. Pannekoek, Alberta Culture and Multiculturalism, Edmonton D. Payment, Parks Canada, Winnipeg T. Robinson, Religious Studies, Lethbridge L. Vandervort, Law, Saskatchewan J. Welsted, Geography, Brandon B.Wilkinson, Economics, Alberta Copy Editors: Agnes Bray, CPRC, Regina Brian Mlazgar, CPRC, Regina Book ReviewEditor: P. Hansen, Political Science, Regina -------------~----- --- PRAIRIE FORUM is published twice yearly, in Spring and Fall. The annual subscription rate, in Canada, is: Individuals - $24.61; Institutions ­ $29.96; single copies and special issues: Individuals - $12.50; Institutions- $14.50 (all prices include GST). Out ofCanada: Individuals - $25.00;Institutions- $30.00.Thereis also a $2.00postage andhandling charge for non-subscribers. All subscriptions, correspondence and contributions should be sent to: The Editor, Prairie Forum, Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, S4S OA2. Subscribers will also receive the Canadian Plains Bulletin, the newsletter of the Canadian Plains Research Center. PRAIRIE FORUMis notresponsible for statements, eitherof fact or opinion, madeby contributors. COPYRIGHT 1995 CANADIAN PLAINS RESEARCH CENTER ISSN 0317-6282 IIA Feudal Chain of Vassalage": Limited Identities in the Prairie West, 1870-1896 Theodore Binnema ABSTRACT: Metropolitan approaches to Canadian history have often been understood as rejections of frontierism and as distinct from the idea of "limited identities." However, recognition of the importance of the hinterland and of "limited identities" is essential to the inclusive metropolitan approach endorsed by I.M.S.Careless. Such an inclusive metropolitan approach remains a useful tool for interpreting promotional literature produced on the Canadian Prairies in the early settlement era. This literature reveals that the prairie elite themselves perceived the West in terms of a hierarchy of metropolitancentres and hinterlands. This suggests that prairie regionalism may always have coexisted with local identities and grievances. While prairie regionalism has been a popular topic of scholarly discussion, the results of this study suggest that research into these local identities would improve our understanding of the western Canadian past. SOMMAIRE. On a souvent per<;u la these metropolitaine appliquee a l'histoire du Canada comme un rejet de la notion de «frontiere» et comme un concept distinct de celui de «l'identite Iimitee». Pourtant, l'application generals de la these metropolitaine proposee par I.M.S. Careless depend essentiellement de la comprehension de l'importance des notions d'hinter­ land et «d'identite limitee», Cette approche demeure un outil utile dans l'interpretation des tracts publicitaires publies dans les Prairies canadiennes au debut de la colonisation. Leur analyse montre que l'elite elle-meme s'etait donne une image fondee sur une hierarchie de centres metropolitains et d'hinterland, ce qui nous permet de penser que, dans les Prairies, le regionalisme pourrait avoir toujours cohabite avec l'identification aune localite et des griefs locaux. Le regionalisme dans les Prairies forme un sujet d' etude favori, mais le present article conclut que l'etude des identites locales pourrait approfondir notre connaissance de I'histoire de I'Ouest canadien. The University of Toronto historianJ.M.S.Careless has longbeen associ­ ated with the metropolitan approach and the idea of "limited identities" in Canada. Careless has been almost alone, however, in consistently and explicitly linking these two ideas together.' Inhis 1954article "Frontierism, Metropolitanism and Canadian History," Professor Careless first sug­ gested that Canadian historians should give greater attention to the role of metropolitan centres in Canadian history.' While some have interpreted this article as Careless's obituary for frontierism, it is critical to understand that Careless was merely promoting the idea of metropolitanism as "the other side of the coin to frontier expansiou/" Careless emphasized the influence of metropolitan centres on their hinterlands but he did not deny the two-way nature of the relationship. The Laurentian School, associated withhistorians suchas D.G. CreightonandeconomistH.A. Innis, embodied an essentially metropolitanperspective thatfocussed on the impactof large national andinternationalmetropolitan centres on Canadian development. Careless endorsed a more subtle metropolitan idea. According to Careless, a metropolitan approach that recognizes"a chain, almost a feudal chain of vassalage, wherein one city may stand tributary to a bigger centre and yet be the metropolis of a sizableregionof its own," andthatacknowledges that metropolitan power has been more important in Canadian history than in United States history "may do more to explain the course of Canadian history than concepts of frontierism borrowed from the United States.:" InDecember 1967,as Canada's Centennial year drew to a close, Professor 1 2 BINNEMA Careless presented his well-known paper on limited identities in Canada, a response to the nation-building school of historical interpretation.' Careless argued that in seeking to trace the development of nationalism in Canada the nation-building approach "neglects and obscures even while it explains and illuminates/" Historians, Careless suggested, ought to pay greater attention to the role played in the history of the Canadian community by the limited identities associated withregion, ethnicity, andclass. Tying the ideaof limited identities to the metropolitan approach, Careless suggested that the rise of dominant metropolitan centres had served to reinforce regional identities in ------------ -_. - ---- Canada."Thus, according to Careless, the nation-buildingschool wasneglect­ ing the importance of regional identities andthe role of regionalmetropolitan centres in Canadianhistory. Canadian historiography has undergone a dramatic transformation since 1967.If historians could be accused of overlooking the limited identi­ ties of region, class, ethnicity, and genderbefore 1967,the samecouldnotbe said of historians in subsequent years. Indeed, social historians have en­ sured that the term "limited identities" would find a prominentplace in the Canadian historiographical lexicon. Strangely, however, although Cana­ dian scholars have made use of metropolitan interpretations in regional studies, theyhave rarely acknowledged the complexity of the "feudalchain of vassalage" among Canadian metropolitan centres." Perhaps this helps explain why, only a decade after his "Limited Identities" article was pub­ _._~------------------ - -- -- lished, Careless himselffelt dismayed with the regional interpretations that had emerged in the intervening ten years. In 1980 he appeared to retreat from his argument in "Limited Identities" when he urged historians to balance their regional interpretations with a wider national perspective." By contrast, Careless has defended his metropolitan idea against all critics. The most persuasive critic of metropolitanism, Donald F. Davis, has suggested that metropolitan interpretations, like the frontier interpreta­ tions, had ceased to offer innovative insight into Canadian history." Care­ less's response to Davis is remarkable because, in arguing that both the frontier and metropolitan approaches "considered together,