CHAPTER XIX

THE CLOSING YEARS

Canada's Achievement-The Recruiting Situation-Conscription Proposals-Imperialist Campaign-Borden and Conscription -Belated Coalition Offers-The Conscription Debate-Cleavage in the Liberal Ranks-The Western Convention-Railways, Franchise Act and Union Government-The December ElectionUnionist Victory-The Failure of Conscription-Rallying the Forces-The End.

T

HE bilingual question was a minor issue, but its discussion revealed, though faintly, some of the

factors that were soon to shape action on the more temporary but more acute issue of conscription. The lines of cleavage within the party and in the country were drawn. As yet the wedge was not thrust in as deep as opponents had hoped and friends had feared. Sir Wilfrid's attitude undoubtedly weakened his position in the English-speaking provinces, but the immediate results were not marked. For the time, the government had no competitor in unpopularity.' The elec

1 A trained newspaper observer with an unusually intimate knowledge of Ontario politics, wrote on Sept. 14, 1916, of impressions gathered during two weeks at the Toronto Exhibition:

"Really, Sir Wilfrid, it was a revelation. It took my breath away. I would not now be surprised to see anything happen in Ontario. Meeting the visitors one by one, now one from Barrie, now one from Sudbury, now from Peterboro, and so on, it was always the same, discontent and disgust with the Borden administration. So far as I could diagnose it, Sam Hughes and Camp Borden play a big part, but no bigger than does Borden himself. The people have the idea that the premier is a man without forcefulness or personality and without leadership, and that he is afraid to make any definite move."

tion of Hartley Dewart in a provincial contest in southwest Toronto and of Mr. Wellington Hay in the federal riding of Perth and particularly the steady victory of the Liberals in the provincial elections, resulting in a change from 1911 of five Conservative and four Liberal administrations and of 280 Conservative and 187 Liberal members to seven Liberal and two Conservative administrations by the end of 1916, with 336 Liberal as against 180 Conservative seats, indicated a strong current. Some relief came with the resignation of General Hughes in November, 1916, for it was against Sir Sam that the most vigorous Liberal and independent criticism was directed. The correspondence exchanged at the time, with Sir Robert's charges of mismanagement and dictatorialness, "your desire to administer your department as if it were a distinct and separate government in itself," and Sir Sam's counter-charges of muddling incompetence, snobbish favouritism, and petty intrigue, did not in itself do the government any good, The storm of criticism was a sign of frazzling nerves. The government had undoubtedly made serious mistakes, and was to make more, but it had a great achievement to its credit. By the end of 1916, 400,000 men had been enrolled and 280, 000 had gone overseas; a munitions industry employing 300,000 men had been built up; a tardy beginning made in direct taxation through the assessment of business profits, and a second domestic loan of $100,000,000 subscribed twice over. As to how far the government and how much the people could claim the credit, there

was room for debate, but unquestionably Canada's achievement, in the field and at home, was immensely beyond any dreaming when the war began, and not unworthy of the high need.

The clashing demands of the army and of production for men led in this year to much scattered discussion of relative needs and of means of holding the balance right. Recruiting in the beginning of the year brought in thirty thousand men a month; at the close of the year, with seasonal expansion, the growth of the munitions industry and the exhaustion of eligible men, the numbers fell to six thousand. The counter currents of opinion were seen in the demand of recruiting leagues for conscription, and from manufacturers and business men for selective enlistment which would leave their working forces undisturbed; and in typical utterances such as Lord Shaughnessy's speech in April doubting whether the premier's proposal to raise 500,000 men was practicable except at the cost of a serious drain on the country's working forces, the resolution of the United Farmers of Ontario against further draining of the scanty labour of the farms, and the demand of the munitions section of the Canadian Manufacturers' Association in March that munitions workers should be protected against recruiting. There was an increasing demand for compulsory service, but the leading newspapers on both sides of politics opposed it.

In September, the government as a compromise measure established a National Service Board to encourage recruiting while at the same time endeavouring to

protect essential industries. Unfortunately the plan was marked from the beginning by the habit of the government in considering the war as a branch of the patronage system of the Conservative party. Of the eleven Directors of National Service appointed, ten were strong Conservative workers. The director-general, Sir Thomas Tait, resigned after three weeks' experience of government methods. In accordance with a resolution of the National Service Board, Sir Robert Borden then requested Sir Wilfrid to name five Liberal members to serve on a co-operating parliamentary committee of twelve, but in view of the conditions of which Sir Thomas Tait's resignation was only one evidence Sir Wilfrid declined this belated plea: "I feel, under the circumstances, in acceding to your suggestion any assistance to the cause which I have endeavoured to serve from the first day of the war would not be untrammelled and consequently as effective as if I continue to serve it according to my own ways as heretofore." Mr. R. B. Bennett succeeded as directorgeneral, and carried on a vigorous campaign, in which he took repeated occasion to oppose the suggestion of conscription as disruptive of national unity. A national registration in December proved of little practical value. Sir Wilfrid's attitude to the conscription proposals, and his anticipation of the lengths to which the race cry would be carried, are clear from a letter to a British Columbia supporter:

Ottawa, January 8, 1917. I accept your kind wishes for myself and my wife with great

pleasure, and I adhere to the old ways of our fathers in that respect, and I wish we would still follow their example in many other ways. There was a time when I thought that with the inventions of recent times, which have brought the world more closely together, a feeling of brotherhood would ensue, but the reverse has happened. The nations have opened ways of communication between them, not for the purpose of having peace and amity, but to assail one another even with more bitterness than before. The present war is a sad blow to those who had hoped for an advanced civilization.

Therefore, I come back to the old ways, and not only do I receive your greetings as they are sent, but I pray you to accept all my best wishes for the coming year, for yourself and your family.

What you tell me about the nature of the next campaign is quite true: the only tactics of the Tories will be "French Quebec." To talk of civil war in Quebec is simply sheer nonsense. There is a certain element noisy and bombastic, and this element is what is left of the "parti nationaliste." For two or three years before 1911, and especially in the election of 1911, they roused a very dangerous spirit; dangerous, not because it means civil war, but because it means a cleavage between French and British races. The Tories are reaping now what they sowed, for at that time they were in open alliance with the Nationalists.

The feeling in favour of conscription, which undoubtedly is making headway in the British provinces, is not a genuine one. The British people are averse to conscription, but the attitude which is represented as the attitude of Quebec maddens them, and every one who is in favour of conscription, except yourself, favours the movement not because he believes it necessary, but because Quebec is represented to be against it. On this point, even after reading your careful letter, I see no reason to change my views. If we have conscription, it is a severe blow to immigration, and without immigration what is to become of the country? Think of all this, and let me have your matured consideration.