will yet develop traffic in excess of present rail facilities, and in the meantime the Government will endeavour to co-ordinate existing services and improve and protect the national railways without injustice to private companies. As old methods of railway building have to be abandoned, so old systems of taxation have to be revised. In order to meet the ever-increasing expenditure for war purposes and also to insure that all shall share in common service and sacrifice, wealth will be conscripted by adequate taxation of war profits and increased taxation of income. There will be close inquiry into expenditures in order to protect the Treasury against purely local demands, and to eliminate undertakings of purely political origin and object. Permanent Committees of the Cabinet have been established for war and reconstruction. The very difficult and intricate problems inevitably arising out of war conditions are being considered and studied earnestly and attentively with a view to effective action with the least possible delay. Immigration and colonization will receive careful and continuous attention, always with a sympathetic regard for labour and in full recognition of the necessity for greater production. Thorough and effective co-operation among agricultural producers will be encouraged. The men by whose sacrifice and endurance the free institutions of Canada will be preserved must be re-educated where necessary and re-established on the land or in such other pursuits or vocations as they may desire to follow. The maimed and the broken will be protected; the widow and the orphan will be helped and cherished. Duty and decency demand that those who are saving democracy shall not find democracy a house of privilege, or a school of poverty and hardship. The franchise will be extended to women, not chiefly in recognition of devoted and capable service in the war, but as a measure of justice too long delayed. If men die, women suffer; if they are wounded, women heal; if they are maimed, women labour. And since there can be no separation in suffering and sacrifice, there should be none in citizenship. The Government will strive to develop and stimulate a common patriotism in all elements of the people and all portions of the Dominion. It inherits no baneful legacies. It cherishes no grievances or animosities. East and West are equal at the Council table, and in the new Parliament all the Provinces will have equal and adequate representation. In the electoral campaign it is greatly to be desired that reticence should be observed in the treatment of all questions in which smoulder the fires of old racial and religious quarrels and contentions. Those who gave their lives for us on the far-away fields of battle cherished the vision of a united Canada. To deny the vision would be treason to their memory. The Government thoroughly realizes that in this national emergency there is imperative necessity for fulfilment of its policies with the least possible delay. It pledges itself to prosecute the war with ceaseless vigour, to strive for national unity, to administer the public departments with economy and efficiency, to advise measures of taxation which will regard social justice, and to neglect nothing that may be required to sustain the soldiers on service or to comfort those of their households whom they have left behind. Firmly convinced that these objects can best be achieved by a Government representing all parties, classes, creeds and interests, I appeal with confidence on its behalf for the sympathy and support of the Canadian people. Sir Robert then left for Halifax to open his campaign and during the next month made a succession of earnest appeals to the electorate in many Canadian centres. The first was at a mass-meeting in his home town (Nov. 14) and he put the war situation in plain, clear terms: "In the face of the autocratic military aggression which now seeks to dominate the world no nation can endure unless its people are prepared to fight in its defence. Under the Military Service Act the highest duty of citizenship is demanded of the people. I am entirely confident that they will not shrink from that duty. It is said that this law ought not to be put into operation without a Referendum. I consider it my imperative duty to put the Act in force immediately. That course is being pursued, and it will be unhesitatingly continued. What is the reason? The need for reinforcement is insistent, compelling, imperative... The terrible need for re-inforcements can be met. But, even with the best speed that can be made, we shall barely be in time. Yet it is seriously proposed that with Canadian Divisions depleted at the Front-and, remember, that a Division when thus depleted ceases to be an effective fighting unit until re-inforced-it is proposed that we are to wait until Parliament is summoned, until a bill for a Referendum is passed, and until the Referendum shall have been held and the verdict of the people pronounced." The enforcement of military service should not be carried on by a Party Government; hence the need and fact of Union. The Premier declined re-nomination in Halifax, which he had represented for 21 years, in favour of Hon. A. K. Maclean, one of his Liberal colleagues, and the latter followed Sir Robert Borden's speech with one in which he proclaimed himself still a Liberal, as not condoning the past but, in face of a great emergency, simply forgetting it. Much attention was given to the gravity of the War situation and the fact that Canada's destiny was at stake in France and Flanders. Senator Lynch Staunton of Hamilton slso spoke. With the same colleagues Sir Robert spoke at Sydney, N.S., on the 16th and made a vigorous attack on Sir Wilfrid Laurier, alleging (1) that he had declined to give his best assistance to voluntary recruiting in Canada; (2) that he was responsible for forcing an election in War-time; (3) that the Liberal chieftain's opposition to the Canadian Northern Bill was a negation of his attitude in 1913. In proof of the first statement he read a letter from the Canadian Club, Hamilton, dated Feb. 20, 1917, asking Sir Wilfrid, on behalf of the Club's recruiting Committee, for a brief endorsement of their efforts to arouse new interest in the matter, telling him of the work that had been done, and declaring that a favourable reply would be of "the greatest value." The reply, dated Feb. 26, acknowledged receipt and added: "I am sorry that I cannot send you at once an affirmative answer. I will look into the matter, but will keep it under advisement." No other answer was received and, Sir Robert observed, "the matter is still under advisement." Following this meeting the Premier wrote a vigorous letter to the Conservative Association of Carlton-Victoria as to the proposed running of a candidate against Hon. F. B. Carvell who had been "reluctant to enter the Government as he had to break ties and associations of very long standing and was attached very strongly to his party and to his political associates" and who, therefore, deserved their most loyal support. Any other action he would construe as "absolute want of confidence in himself as leader of the Governmnent." He also intervened actively in Queen's-Shelburne on behalf of Hon. W. S. Fielding who was running as a Unionist and wrote to the dissentient Conservatives that: "It is my most earnest hope that, having regard to the greater issues that are involved in this Election, which concerns the future of our country and of the whole Empire, all personal or party antagonism will be laid aside." On Nov. 18 the Premier was back in Ottawa and on the 21st opened his Ontario campaign at Massey Hall, Toronto. J. R. L. Starr, K.C., presided and the other speakers were Hon. N. W. Rowell, Sir W. H. Hearst and Sir Robert Falconer, President of Toronto University. The Premier was emphatic as to enforcement of the Military Service Act: "We intend to see that in every community, and every district, and every Province in Canada, that Act shall be enforced fully, impartially and firmly." It was passed because the compulsory features of the Militia Act did not permit of adequate selection with a view to seeing that men essential in certain public duties, functions or industries, were kept at home. He explained the general policy of the new Government and proclaimed the sacrifice of party interests and feeling trivial in comparison with the sacrifices of the men at the Front. Mr. Rowell's appeal was an eloquent presentation of a Liberal's view in this waremergency. He stated at once that the men with him in the Union Government, or supporting it, were the fighting back-bone of Liberalism: "What is the alternative to this Union Government? If you think Canada has done enough, and if you think of quitting the War, you have an alternative, but if you are in favour of supporting the men at the Front by the necessary re-inforcements and legislative measures in order that this war may be carried through to a victorious conclusion, then I say in all sincerity you have no alternative to Union Government." At London on the 22nd Sir Robert was accompanied by Hon. T. A. Crerar and Hon. C. C. Ballantyne, while Mrs. P. D. Crerar, of Hamilton, made an earnest, appealing address to support the boys at the Front-where her sons also were. Meetings followed at St. Mary's and Stratford on the 23rd and at Dundas and Kitchener on the 24th, at Uxbridge and Oshawa on the 26th. Mr. Rowell also spoke at these meetings and the refusal of a hearing to the Prime Minister at Kitchener-the German-Canadian centre was a much-discussed incident-especially after the City Council on Nov. 26 declined, by 7 to 5, to offer an apology or express regret. Sir Robert was at Windsor on the 27th and received an ovation from 7,000 people when he declared that: "If the men at the Front are not sustained I do not want to remain Prime Minister of Canada." Dunnville and Simcoe were visited by the Premier and Mr. Rowell on the 28th, Milton on the 29th and Millbrook on the 30th-at the latter place Mrs. H. P. Plumptre of Toronto addressed the audience. Speeches were given at Arnprior and Renfrew on Dec. 1. During this tour the Premier addressed 19 meetings in one week and 25 altogether, with the War as the central topic and the need of re-inforcements as the vital point. On Dec. 3 Sir Robert was at St. John, accompanied by Hon. F. B. Carvell. A mass-meeting of women was addressed and the Premier, as usual, declared there was only one issue and that was the War; Mr. Carvell stated that he had no apologies to make for past criticisms of the Borden Government and none to make for joining the Coalition— "the present issue is so much bigger and so much more important than anything in the past that it is possible to bury political differences with my present leader." The Premier spoke at St. Stephen and St. Andrews on the 4th; accompanied by Mr. Carvell and Hon. E. N. Rhodes he was at Amherst, N.S., on the 5th. Meetings at Summerside, Point Borden and Charlottetown, P.E.I., followed on the 6th; the Halifax disaster ensued and Sir Robert at once aban doned his campaign and devoted some days to doing what he could, personally and officially, for the stricken city. From Halifax, on Dec. 11, he issued a special Message of regret to the people of British Columbia that he could not go West during this campaign: Whether Canada shall continue or withdraw her effort in this war, whether our troops shall be supported or abandoned, is the one supreme question. The honour and good name of Canada are vitally and eternally involved. There is no escape from this issue and upon every man and every woman lies a direct and personal responsibility for its determination. Compared with it, the fortunes of individuals and the future of parties shrink into utter insignificance. The men who hold our battle lines wait with intensest interest Canada's answer; so do the men on the other side of 'No Man's Land' who hold the trenches against them. I am supremely confident that British Columbia's answer will be worthy of the spirit which has inspired her people since the commencement of this world-wide tragedy. The Premier spoke at Ottawa on Dec. 14 to an enthusiastic gathering which cheered especially his declaration that "you cannot win a war by a Referendum." He reviewed the Union Government's work as follows: (1) The abolition of the Patronage List; (2) the Civil Service Act applied to the outside as well as the inside service; (3) the War Purchasing Commission made permanent to do all Canadian Government buying; (4) the Income Tax to be on the same basis as in the United States; (5) the War Profits Taxation to be continued; (6) the Packers' profits severely taxed; (7) no article of food to be used for the manufacture of spirituous or intoxicating liquors. Other points in his last speech of the campaign were the declaration that "Russia took a Referendum, and the result is evident to all"; that in November infantry casualties were ten times greater than enlistments; that "it is not a two-party Government, it is a no-party Government, and we are sitting around the Council Board, not as Liberals and Conservatives, but as Canadians"; that the men at the Front "will keep faith with their fallen comrades-will you keep faith with those who have fallen and those who still live?" In all these speeches the Premier* made little reference to Quebec, to racial or religious issues or conditions, or to anything except what he considered the matter in hand-the return of a Government pledged to enforce Conscription and carry on for Canada in the War. Even a meeting billed for Montreal was cancelled in order to avoid any chance of violence or hostility being aroused. To him, on Dec. 15, came a cable from the Australian Premier Rt. Hon. W. M. Hughes: "I earnestly hope that the electors of the Dominion will give you and your Government a triumphant majority in order that Canada may put forth her full strength in this mighty struggle between liberty and despotism." The Liberal Sir Wilfrid Laurier had a difficult situation to meet in this Election; there was obvious disorganization in his old-time Party ranks and a continuous record of veteran followers, East and West, seceding to the other side; there was a Liberal press almost entirely opposed to him outside of one Province and a hostile combination led The Private Secretary of a Prime Minister in such a campaign as this has an arduous and responsible position. In October A. E. Blount, who had been with Sir R. Borden for years, resigned to accept the Clerkship of the Senate, and George W. Yates. an experienced journalist in the past and Secretary to Mr. Cochrane, was appointed in his place. by the Toronto Globe was hard indeed for a Liberal leader to bear with patience; there were unpleasant conditions in Quebec to control, if possible, and to defend or explain in other parts of Canada. With it all the Liberal chieftain maintained his hopeful outlook, fought earnestly for his cherished convictions of a life-time, believed that he had a chance to win, and was convinced that if he did so the personal qualities and influence which had settled the Manitoba problem of 1896 could adjust those of 1917. If he did not win, his supporters, combined with the Liberals behind the Unionist Government, might be strong enough to revolutionize political conditions when the War was over. As a matter of fact, his personality was the element in the Opposition most dangerous to the Union Government cause. After that there was the obvious assurance of one large Province being behind him almost unanimously; then there was the knowledge of all political leaders as to the past strength and vitality of Party feeling in Canada and the doubt as to whether any dissentient colleagues could sufficiently undermine the instinctive partisan loyalty to their Leader of large masses of the people; there was the certainty of much natural discontent as to Conscription all through Canada and the belief that many Conservatives as well as Liberals were dissatisfied with the past record of the Borden Government. In all his speeches of this year Sir Wilfrid was emphatic in assertion that (1) Canada was in the War to the end, and (2) that whatever the verdict of the Elections, all Canadians would submit to the decision and the law. In The Canadian Liberal Monthly-the official Party journal-for January, 1917, he had published an earnest analysis of what Canada had done and an appeal to Canadians to do still more: "There is every probability that we are still far from the end, and so long as more has to be done, we have not done enough. Only the all-possible will suffice. Industry should be organized with the sole view to victory, with all idea of profit carefully eliminated. For let it ever be remembered that industry is public service. Let the young and healthy enlist, and those who cannot enlist will serve the country by work in the fields, in the forest, in the mines, on the sea and in the shops. Every individual in the nation can work; every hour of toil is conducive to victory, and work should be specifically directed to that end; all available funds and labour devoted to the production of munitions, food and war necessities and their prompt conveyance where needed." A warm tribute was paid to the fallen: "The rest of us owe it to them that we also make sacrifice, sacrifice of feelings, of prejudice, of comfort, of leisure, of gains. Let us here and now sink passions, prejudices, vain and idle recriminations. Let us, when criticism is needed, criticize without bitterness, only by appeals to reason, and above all let us bend all our energies towards making Canada an effective factor in the struggle. The heart of the nation must beat with one accord and one desire." This journal for August defined his policy as follows: "(1) That Canada will remain in the War to the end; that (2) Canada shall, by a systematic and thorough national war organization make a supreme effort to secure by vol |