Canadian for we must in future aim to know the West and East only in emulation of the best in each other, as to which can do more for Canada, our common country." He went on to say that he had in the past two months met a multitude of new Canadians, Thousands were United States settlers. He had asked them whether they were satisfied with conditions and the institutions here. Without exception the response had been "Yes, and proud to become Canadians." Such experiences had been an intense satisfaction to him. The Republic was learning that the Monarchical institutions here were not less democratic than those to the South. "We are working together to build up Canada as a nation," declared Sir Wilfrid. We are not following in the beaten path; we are choosing our own course. We are hewing out our own path. Our experience has no parallel in any part or any age of the world History tells us of countries which have reached the status of a nation by severing connection with the parent stem; we have found the secret of becoming a nation without breaking off from the Mother-land; we are proud of our nation and we are proud of our Imperial connection."

66

Returning homeward the Premier was at Winnipeg on Sept. 3rd when he met a Catholic delegation at the Catholic Club and was present at a Dinner given to the Pressmen, who had accompanied the touring party, by Mr. E. M. Macdonald. On the former occasion the deputation asked him whether, if the Roblin Government granted substantial concessions in School matters to the Roman Catholic minority in Manitoba, the Laurier Government would give sympathetic co-operation. Sir Wilfrid in reply doubted the probability of Mr. Premier Roblin doing any thing of this kind; if he did the Dominion Government would do nothing to embarrass the situation. On Sept. 7th the Prime Minister was welcomed back to Ottawa after his trip of 10,000 miles through the boundless resources and regions of Western Canada.

of the Laurier

Tour

This journey of Sir Wilfrid Laurier through the Canadian and great West; the obvious, perhaps at times exaggerBritish Opinion ated importance given to Free-trade ideals; the distinct demands of a special character local to the West presented by the farmers; the continuous appearance of the Premier in speech after speech as an avowed lover of British institutions and an advocate of Canadian national development within the Empire; the reiterated adhesion of the Government to its policy of a Preferential tariff coupled with the equally oft-repeated promise to seek Reciprocity with the United States; the Imperial ring of Sir Wilfrid's references at the Coast to the Asiatic Immigration problem; all combined to set Canadian politicians by the ears and to evoke a stirring discussion in the Motherland which lasted in Tariff Reform and Free

trade circles for many months after the Canadian Premier was quietly resting in his Ottawa home.

Besides the points mentioned several things stood out conspicuously in connection with the Tour. The personality of the Premier unquestionably strengthened his hold upon a region and amongst a people to whom he, in the main, was a name only. The speeches of Messrs. E. M. Macdonald, F. F. Pardee and, notably, the Hon. G. P. Graham proved to be good politics as well as interesting illustrations of campaign oratory. The Leader, while making the trip in order to keep in touch with Western progress and with the organization and work of his party, had an undoubtedly difficult task in meeting the Boundary question and prejudices of Manitoba, the freer trade and reciprocity desires of the Middle West, the Asiatic prejudices and unqualified attitude of a section of the British Columbians. To some extent he was on the defensive; to an even greater extent he surmounted obstacles by a deftness of expression and lightness of touch which has seldom or never been equalled in Canadian politics. Whether the directness of Western thought in contact with this deftness of personal touch would result in final good to Liberalism in those regions is more difficult to say; for the moment, the effect was unquestionably pleasant and, therefore, politically good. The Toronto Globe correspondent on Sept. 8th penned an interesting sketch of the situation from his standpoint:

No newspaper, no matter how accurate in detail, no matter how comprehensive in character, can do justice to the ten thousand miles of kaleidoscopic enthusiasm. No word painting, no matter how subtle, can adequately portray the meeting of Premier and people in the great Western out-of-doors. In immensity of territory covered, character of reception accorded, and spirit of intercourse exchanged, the tour is without parallel in Canada. The map of the Dominion has been rolled back and its horizon widened within the last decade. A new cosmopolitan Canadian citizenhood is being moulded in this new melting-pot of nations. No political campaign is pending and the conference between the public and their representative head partook of national rather than partisan issues.

The same organ of Liberalism, in editorially reviewing the Tour (Sept. 5) made this important point: "The fact that he, a man not of British blood, is so frankly loyal to British ideals and institutions is itself a most potent influence in transforming the mixed multitudes of foreign immigration into harmonious and loyal Canadian citizens." Another point suggested was the reflex action of these wider experiences upon Sir Wilfrid himself-the vividness of personal knowledge would in future be his upon a whole circle of growing issues. The Montreal Herald (Lib.) on Sept. 6th reviewed the various local influences of such a journey and concluded as follows: "Most important of all, however, there must remain the feeling, conscious or sub-conscious, that in Laurier the democracy of Canada finds its most capable and efficient leadership. It may well be doubted, whether, in determining what aver

age men will do or will not do in an election, there is any other single factor so important as this. Sir Wilfrid's authority was already great before he left for the West; and there can be no denying that his prestige has still further increased as a result of the visit."

The Eastern press of Canada was not very sure of its position in respect to this Tour. How far the Farmers' deputations represented those outside the ranks of the Grain Growers and their 30,000 members and just what was meant by the admittedly impossible demand for "free trade" made two propositions difficult of treatment. It was clearly seen that the bulk of the demand for lower duties was in Saskatchewan and Alberta and that the most pressing part of this desire was in the matter of agricultural implements. The demand in regard to the Hudson's Bay Railway and Terminal Elevators was promised satisfactory settlement; and this left the fiscal issue hung up between the announced Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Tariff and the promised Reciprocity negotiations with the United States. The Premier, therefore, returned without having refused anything of importance for which he was asked by the West and with the one new and most difficult proposition held over for other and later developments.

Something of this was felt and at times resented. The Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association, through its President, declared that the Premier by his failure to directly acquiesce in their fiscal demands had administered "a snub to the organizations which so valiantly and persistently voiced opinions and desires in a nonpartisan spirit, which, however unpalatable they may have proved to Sir Wilfrid, truly represented Western aspirations." Here and there an individual speaker showed what were probably Conservative leanings by insinuating that the Liberal policy was not being carried out and that the Premier was inconsistent in his opinions and practices. As to the Western Liberal press the Daily News of Calgary described the Premier as meeting the advocates of freer trade half-way; the Daily Phoenix of Saskatoon declared that a reciprocal arrangement with the United States would be "the crowning work of the Laurier Government"; the Edmonton Satur day News described Sir Wilfrid as having "committed his Party to a policy of gradually lowering the tariff with a definiteness. which makes it impossible for it to recede." The Victoria Times dealt with the work of the coming Commission and declared that the Tariff would be revised and, it was safe to say, not upwards. These specimen quotations indicate the character of much that was written. There was no close study of the situation, of the needs of Eastern industry, of the aid which Tariff-raised money had been to the growth of the West; there was nothing said of the desirability of keeping the Western market for Canadian manufacturers rather than for those of the United States. In the East these matters were referred to but no very straight issue was drawn

and the Conservative leaders said practically nothing. This was, perhaps, due in part to the studied effort of the Premier to keep his speeches outside of party politics-an effort not always followed by his lieutenants.

Meanwhile, the fiscal Memorials of the Western farmers, the Free-trade references in the Premier's speeches, had been cabled to the British press and become a distinct issue in the political situation there. The Liberal papers and speakers and campaign leaflets claimed them as clear proof that Canada did not want a preference in the British market and that therefore the Imperial Unity platform of the Tariff Reformers was unnecessary; that to sacrifice the interest of the British consumers in cheap food importations for a Canadian people who did not want it done and whose farmers the class which would chiefly benefit by such a preference did not desire it would be folly; that Free-trade had, at last, a chance to triumph in this new Dominion and, therefore, that nothing should be done in England to mar the prospect. The Daily News of July 20 thought that Sir Wilfrid Laurier's speech at Lanigan indicated how grossly the Tariff Reformers had misrepresented the attitude of Canada and her rulers towards Freetrade and Protection. On Aug. 5th the same Liberal paper gave prominence to the Western farmers' agitation against the tariff under the headings of " Canada's Revolt "; " A Blow to Balfour "; "Bottom Knocked Out of Protection." Editorially The Chronicle, another Liberal organ, said that it was not surprised at the farmers urging a policy of reciprocity with the United States. meant Canada and the United States to exchange commodities freely." The Nation of Aug. 13th declared that: "It is easy to understand the anger and alarm which the great Free-trade agitation in Canada has excited in the breasts of the watchful managers of Protection here. Their anger is natural, for the Canadian uprising speaks ruin to their cause, or to that aspect of it which alone can be dignified as an Imperial policy."

"Nature

Conservative papers took, of course, the opposite view but it was explanatory rather than assertive. The Standard and Morning Post and Daily Mail and Times had lengthy cablegrams minimizing the importance of the agricultural views expressed and explaining the Premier's quoted words in the light of an alleged past and present policy of Protection. The Daily Mail (Sept. 5) after paying a glowing tribute to Sir Wilfrid Laurier's wonderful hold on the Canadian people claimed that the pleadings of Western farmers were mostly by Americans who desired cheaper terms for American makers of implements. "This is a point which Sir Wilfrid, having subordinated politics to his philosophy, wholly conceals. He could not, indeed, confess it but the point is crucial. We welcome Sir Wilfrid Laurier's reiterated words of loyalty to the Empire, but the grant of special concessions to the United States can only weaken the bonds of Empire and would, in the

sequel, obliterate the southern line on which Canada's individuality is based." The Standard of the same date claimed that: "Free Traders in this country are wilfully or ignorantly distorting the plain meaning of Sir Wilfrid Laurier's declarations and announcements if they read into them more than is warranted by a long experience of his political methods. His abstract love for Free-trade is well known; does he not hold the gold medal of the Cobden Club? Yet for fifteen years he has filled the office of Prime Minister in the Dominion Government without taking a single important step in the direction of freeing Canadian ports for foreign goods." And so the fight went while a number of British members of Parliament found their way out to Canada in order to study the situation and, incidentally, make speeches for and against Free-trade.

den and the Conservative

Party during 1910

The Opposition at Ottawa had its ups and downs Mr. B. L. Bor- during 1910 with, apparently, a more hopeful feeling at its close than the party had experienced for a long time. The year began amid unfavourable conditions. The national Conservative Convention which was talked of in 1909 and prepared for early in the new year, did not come off, while various troubles arose between the Quebec wing of the Party and the other sections. On Jan. 5th the Committee, selected primarily by Mr. Borden, to arrange the details of the coming September Convention was announced, with representative members from all the Provinces, and on the 24th this Committee met at Ottawa and held a banquet addressed by Mr. Borden, Hon. R. Rogers of the Manitoba Government, Hon. R. A. Pyne of the Ontario Government, Charles Beaubien of Montreal, D. O. Lespèrance of L'Evenement, Quebec, W. H. Thorne of St. John, R. F. Green of Victoria, R. B. Bennett, K.C., M.L.A., of Calgary, J W. Regan of Halifax, J. A. Mathieson, M.L.A., of Charlottetown, A. B. Gillis, M.L.A., of Saskatchewan and others. All were enthusiastically in favour of holding the Convention and Mr. Beaubien said: "I feel that it will be a great relief to a great many Conservatives at the present time." Mr. G. H. Perley, M.P., of Ottawa, was elected Chairman of the Committee and A. E. Blount Secretary; it was decided to hold the Convention on June 15th at Ottawa; the selection of delegates was left to the Conservative Associations in the various constituencies of Canada; authority was given Mr. Borden as Leader to invite certain special delegates and, a little later, an Executive was appointed composed of C. Beaubien, Martin Burrill, M.P., Henry Corby, O. S. Crocket, M.P., Colonel Sam Hughes, M.P., A. E. Kemp, D. O. Lespèrance, Hon. J. A. Lougheed, J. A. Mathieson, W. B Nantel, M.P., G. H. Perley, M.P., J. W. Regan, Dr. J. D. Reid, M.P., Hon. R. Rogers, and P. D. Ross. It was expected that between 3,000 and 4,000 Delegates would be in