Full text of "Report"
(EanaMatt (Elub
WINNIPI9
Annual
Report
Nineteen
Eighteen
THE
CANADIAN CLUB
OF WINNIPEG
FOURTEENTH
ANNUAL
REPORT
WINNIPE9
SEASON OF 1917-1918
OFFICERS CANADIAN CLUB, WINNIPEG, 1917-1918
President: Major D. M. Duncan
First Vicc-President: W. A. Matheson
Second Vice-President: J. A. Machray
Chaplain : Rev. Walter M. Loucks
Literary Secretary: H. S. Seaman
Honorary Treasurer : J. A. Woods
Honorary Secretary: R. H. Smith
Executive Committee
W. J. Mundell George H. Davis W. L. Parrish
Crawford Gordon John W. W. Stewart
E. S. Popham, M.D. R. Driscoll
John Gait
PRESIDENTS OF
THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
Since Organization — Organized 1904
1904- 5
1905- 6
1906- 7
1907- 8
1908- 9
1909-10
1910-11
1911-12
1912-13
1913-14
1914-15
1915-16
1916-17
1917-18
- - - J. S. Ewart, K.C.
Sir James Aikins, K.C.
G. R. Crowe
Sir William Whyte
Lt.-Col. J. B. Mitchell
Rev. C. W. Gordon, D.D.
Isaac Pitblado, K.C.
W. Sanford Evans
Dr. C. N. Bell, F.R.G.S.
Hon. Lt.-Col. C. W. Rowley
T. R. Deacon, C.E.
A. L. Crossin
- John Gait
Major D. M. Duncan
HONORARY LIFE MEMBERS OF THE CANADIAN
CLUB OF WINNIPEG
With Date of Election
Wm. H. Drummond, M.1V 7th February, 1906
Earl Grey, C.G.M.G., Governor-Gen-
eral of Canada* 27th August, 1906
General William Booth* 19th March, 1907
Field Marshal Earl Roberts, V.C.*...15th October, 1908
Lord Milner, G.C.B.. . . .' 15th October, 1908
Lord Strathcona, G.C.M.G.* 15th October, 1908
Sir Ernest Shackleton, K.C.V.0 21st May, 1910
Lieut.-Gen. Sir Robert Baden-Powell,
K.C.B., F.R.G.S 26th August, 1910
Field Marshal H.R.H. The Duke of
Connaught and Strathern, K.G.. . .12th June, 1912
Rt. Hon. Sir Charles Tapper,
G.C.M.G.* 18th February, 1913
Major-Gen. S. B. Steele, C.B., M.V.O..16th April, 1914
Rt. Hon. Sir Robert Laird Borden 29th December, 1914
J. H. Ashdown 19th June, 1916
The Duke of Devonshire, K.G., Gov-
ernor-General of Canada. . . .3rd March, 1917
^Deceased.
R. W. CRAIG, K.C., President, 1918-19
EEPOET OF ANNUAL MEETING
ANNUAL MEETING
The Fifteenth Annual Meeting of the Canadian Club of
Winnipeg was held on llth December, 1918, President
Major D. M. Duncan in the chair.
The minutes of the last annual meeting were read and
confirmed.
The annual report of the Executive Committee was sub-
mitted as follows :
Winnipeg, llth December, 1918.
To the Members of the Canadian Club,
Winnipeg, Man.
Gentlemen :
The reason for the postponement of this, the Fourteenth
Annual Meeting, is known to all members of the Club. The
epidemic of influenza, which has caused the cessation of
the Club's activities, has brought death to many of our
homes. Your Executive Committee deem it fitting that we
should give formal expression to our sympathy for those
who have suffered loss, and to our admiration for the fine
devotion of doctors and nurses, particularly the untrained
volunteers, who have entered disease-stricken homes to
serve and to save. To those volunteer nurses who gave
their lives in the service of the community, we do honor,
as to those who have died in the defence of their country.
As in the years immediately preceding, the war has
dominated our thinking during the past twelve months.
Naturally, therefore, the majority of the seventeen addresses
to the Club have dealt with some department of war activity.
With the war entering upon its last phase, the problems of
reconstruction have frequently emerged in the messages
given by our guests. A visit to Lower Fort Garry on June
21st, when the members of the Club enjoyed the hospitality
of the Motor Country Club, was a pleasant departure from
the routine of our gatherings. In addition to holding its
regular meetings, the Club, acting with the Rotary and
Kiwanis Clubs, extended its patronage to an illustrated war
THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
lecture by Mr. Frank ^eigh, Secretary of the War Lecture
Bureau. A late train robbed our members of the pleasure
of hearing Lord Montague, of Beaulieu, on "War and
Aviation." The epidemic of influenza, carrying with it a
ban on public meetings, caused the cancellation of engage-
ments with the Bishop of Birmingham, the Hon. Frank
Carvell, the Hon. J. A. Calder, Lieut.-Col. Beattie, and Dr.
C. J. L. Bates. At the request of the local Victory Loan
Committee your Executive released Sir Thomas White from
an engagement already made. It is to be hoped that some
of these speakers will be secured at a later date. A review
of the year's programme and of additional addresses
arranged for, but unfortunately not delivered, makes it clear
that we are under obligation to the Invitation Committee,
which, under the chairmanship of ^Mr. Crawford Gordon,
has discharged its duties with enterprise tempered by
discrimination.
Had all the guests invited appeared before the Club, our
list of speakers would have contained the names of five
members of the Federal Parliament, including four cabinet
ministers. The members of the Club no doubt feel grateful
to these, leading Canadians for consenting to address them.
May they not also feel a legitimate pride in the knowledge
that the acceptance of our invitation by these recognized
leaders suggests that the influence of the Canadian Club,
as a factor in forming public opinion, is appreciated. Such
pride is pardonable if it carries with it a corresponding
sense of obligation to make the best use of the influence
which is ours. It is the main purpose of this report to
urge that the influence of the Canadian Club be directed in
the line of definite national service. It has been said of us
that we do nothing but listen to speeches. If this were true
it might be said that the inspiration of the past year's
addresses would be ample justification for the Club's exist-
ence. The criticism, however, overlooks the activities of the
Club in keeping fresh the memory of the great achievements
which have entered into the making of the nation, in foster-
ing an interest in the study of Canadian History, and in
EEPORT OF ANNUAL MEETING
supporting- all movements which have for their aim the
elevating of the national life of Canada. While this defence
may be offered, your Executive still is of opinion that this
day, marking the close of the Great War and the approach
of the problems of reconstruction, demands that the full
weight of Canadian Club influence, from Atlantic to the
Pacific, should be thrown behind the agencies which deter-
mine, in a large measure, the standard of Canadian citizen-
ship.
The testing of Canada in the Great War has revealed the
fact that there is a section of our population incapable of
assuming the full obligations of Canadian citizenship. This
is a national weakness, and to patriotic Canadians a cause
of humiliation. Now that the war has been won and
patriotic Canadians have had an honorable part in its
winning, it is the plain duty of all national organizations,
led naturally by the Canadian Club, to take decisive action
in the direction of limiting this foreign section to its present
numerical strength, and of elevating it by a process of
education up to a higher level of Canadian citizenship. The
factors controlling the standard of our citizenship are
involved in the policies governing immigration, franchise
and education. Any honest endeavor to elevate Canadian
citizenship must begin with a frank admission that these
policies have not in all instances been wise. In the light
of its constitution the Canadian Club faces the obvious duty
of giving support to any movement which aims at. lessening
the menace presented by the foreign element in our popula-
tion. Effective action can be secured only by co-operation
with the other Canadian Clubs. In order that the necessary
organization may be ready when needed, your Executive
suggests that steps be taken to revive the Association of
Canadian Clubs, which has not met since 1914.
The annual meeting of the Club follows immediately
upon the arrangement of an armistice, which the world
confidently expects will mark the end of the Great War. To
the Canadian Club, as to other organizations of the com-
munity, the war has brought the suffering involved in
10 THE CANADIAN. CLUB OF WINNIPEG
sacrifice, and its conclusion, the profound satisfaction in-
separable from a sense of a noble service nobly rendered.
It is fitting that we should once more do honor to the men
whose names appear on our war roll, and give expression
to our sense of deep and abiding obligation to those who
will not return to us, and whose blood enriches the soil of
the many lands in which the world's greatest war has been
fought. The roll of those of our members who have served
in the war contains 286 names. Of these 24 have been killed
in action or have died of wounds. Your Executive feel that
when the survivors among our representatives return to
civil life it will be their wish that our honor roll be reduced
to those who have laid down their lives, and that this limited
honor roll be incorporated in all future reports of the Club.
The form of the memorial in which this Club will honor its
fallen heroes will no doubt receive the careful attention of
the incoming Executive.
To recall the outstanding events in the history of Canada
and of the Empire, the flag was raised on the Canadian Club
flag staff on the following anniversaries :
27th February, 1918— The Loss of the'Birkenhead, 1852.
llth March, 1918— The entry of the British into Bagdad,
1917.
19th March, 1918— The Relief of Lucknow by Sir Colin
Campbell, 1858.
6th April, 1918— The entry of the United States into the
Great War, 1917.
9th April, 1918— The capture of Vimy Ridge, 1917.
23rd April, 191<9— In honor of St. George, the patron saint
of England, and of the winning
of the first Victoria Crosses by
Canadians.
29th April, 1918— The Rush-Bagot Treaty between Great
Britain and the United States,
1817.
24th September, 1918 — In honor of La Verendrye, the
first white man on the Red River,
1738.
REPOET OF ANNUAL MEETING n
An historical sketch of each of these events has been
printed and distributed in the schools of Winnipeg and of
many outside centres in the province. The Club is again
indebted to Mr. H. S. Seaman, Secretary of the Flag Day
Committee, for his untiring efforts to maintain this import-
ant phase of the Club's activities.
As in former years, individual and class prizes for pro-
ficiency in Canadian history have been awarded to scholars
and schools throughout the province. The successful pupils
and schools this year are :
Individual Scholarships of $20.00 Each
Barney Osteno, Winnipeg.
Olive Bissett, Deloraine.
Class Prizes of Pictures or Books to the Value of $20.00
Each
St. James School District.
Norwood School District (Tache School).
Portage la Prairie School District.
Deloraine School District.
Many members of the Club will recall an address deliver-
ed in 1911 by Mr. F. C. Wade, of Vancouver, in which the
speaker pointed to the duty of Canadians to honor the
memory of Major-General James Wolfe by the erection of
a monument at London, England, in keeping with that
hero's service to Canada and the Empire. The Club at that
time made a grant of $500 and appointed a committee to
raise additional funds. About $4,000 in all was subscribed.
Similar action was taken in other cities. The Wolfe Mem-
orial Fund Committee continued active until the outbreak
of the war, when it was decided to allow the project to lie
dormant until the return of normal conditions. The money
raised in Winnipeg, with accrued interest, was recently
invested in Victory Bonds. With the sanction of your
Executive the amount standing to the credit of the Wolfe
Memorial Fund at Winnipeg has been turned over to the
following trustees : Lieut. -Colonel C. W. Rowley, Mr. E. D.
Martin, and the President of the Winnipeg Canadian Club.
12 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
The steady growth in our membership indicates that
there has been no decline in the interest taken by the com-
munity in the things for which the Canadian Club stands.
The present membership, the largest in the history of the
Club, is made up of the following groups :
Honorary life members 8
Honorary members 7
Paid memberships 1,560
Applications on file 53
Members on overseas service whose
names are on the honor roll and who
are carried in good standing during the
period of their military service 262
1,890
It is the painful duty of your Executive to report that
since the last annual meeting we have lost through death
the following civilian members:
E. H. Bissett, F. D. Blakely, A. P. Call, W. H. Escott,
Prof. A. J. Galbraith, Francis Graham, Hon. E. G. H. H.
Hay, Amos Hicks, Chief Justice Howell, A. L. Mclntyre,
John McKechnie, James Munro, J. H. Munson, T. R. Solley,
S. R. Tarr, L. M. Wallich.
The undermentioned, who have been on active service, are
added to the roll of our members who have laid down their
lives for Canada and the Empire :
Lieut. J. R. Baird Major-General L. J. Lipsett
Lieut. D. B. Jones Captain A. H. Young
A. Claydon
Respectfully submitted,
D. M. DUNCAN, President.
R. H. SMITH, Honorary Secretary.
The report of the Executive Committee was unanimously
adopted.
The Treasurer, Mr. J. A. Woods, submitted the following
Financial Report, which was adopted:
FINANCIAL STATEMENT 13
FINANCIAL STATEMENT
Year Ending December llth, 1918.
EECEIPTS
Proceeds of Sale of Luncheon Tickets $1,940.40
Membership Fees (1,710 memberships as below) 3,420.00
$5,360.40
1917-1918 memberships, as per membership roll 1,560
1918-1919 memberships, paid in advance 97
1918-1919 memberships, fees accompanying applica-
tions for membership now awaiting approval.. 53
1,710
DISBUESEMENTS
Overdraft from previous year $ 140.34
Automobile and Cab Hire 9.75
Grants —
Halifax Eelief Fund 10Q.OO
Luncheon Expenses 2,380.90
Postage, Envelopes and Postcards 385.00
Printing and Stationery 532.55
Scholarships and Prizes 289.35
Stenographers 140.00
Telegrams and Telephone 122.09
Verbatim Eeports of Addresses 77.50
Cost of Printing Annual Eeport 416.31
Membership Card Cases 258.00
Sundry 128.95
4,980.74
Cash at credit in Bank Dec. 6th, 1918 $455.26
Less outstanding cheques 75.60
. 379.66
$5,360.40
J. A. WOODS,
Honorary Treasurer.
Audited and found correct.
WM. T. EUTHEEFOED,
L. C. HAYES,
Auditors.
14 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
I. F. Brooks, Chairman of the Committee appointed to
nominate the officers of the Club for the year 1918-1919,
submitted the following report of the Committee :
For President R. W. Craig, K.C.
" First Yice-President - Major C. K. Newcombe
" Second Vice-President Crawford Gordon
" Literary Correspondent W. T- Spence
" Honorary Chaplain Dr. C. G. Paterson
" Honorary Secretary R. H. Smith
" Honorary Treasurer J. A. Woods
For Executive Committee
Allan Bond George H. Davis W. J. Gunn
J. O. Norrie R. R. Swan, M.D.
J. G. Sullivan J. E. A. Wildman D. M. Duncan
The report of the Nominating Committee was then
adopted, after which the meeting adjourned.
REPORT OF ANNUAL MEETING 15
CANADIAN CLUB SPEAKERS, 1917-1918
Nov. 21st, 1917— Lieut.-Col. Cecil G. Williams. "A Visit to the
Fleet."
Dec. 15th, 1917 — Major N. K. Mclvor. "With a Field Ambulance
at the Front."
Feb. 22nd, 1918— Mr. Harry W. Holmes. "In the Trenches with the
English Regiments."
Feb. 28th, 1918— Dr. Howard P. Whidden, M.P. "The Canadian
Conquest."
Mar. 22nd, 1918— The Hon. R. S. Thornton. "Education of the Non-
English. ' '
April 4th, 1918— George A. Warburton. "The Empire and the
Orient."
April 20th, 1918— Captain John MacNeil. "The Higher Patriotism."
May 2nd, 1918 — E. F. Trefz. "A Message from the Fighting Line."
May 4th, 1918 — Venerable Archdeacon Cody. "The War in Rela-
tion to Canadian Reconstruction."
June 4th, 1918— R. Bruce Taylor, D.D. "The Problem of the Re-
turned Soldier."
June 8th, 1918 — Frank Yeigh. An Illustrated War Lecture.
June 21st, 1918 — Professor Chester Martin. "The Early History of
the Red River Settlement."
Aug. 6th, 1918 — Major William L. Grant. "The Foundations of Re
construction."
Sept. 5th, 1918— Sir John Willison. "Canadian Reconstruction."
Sept. 12th, 1918— Hon. Newton W. Rowell. "Canada's First Line
Defence."
Sept. 27th, 1918 — Commissioner David C. Lamb. "The Salvation
Army, the War, and After."
Dec. 4th, 1918 — Major-General John Headlam. "The Retreat from
Mons."
16
THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
CANADIAN CLUB HONOR ROLL 1917-18
Names of Members of the Winnipeg Canadian Club who
have served or are now serving overseas:
Abbott, S. W.
Acheson, Thos.
Ackland, C. M.
Aldous, G. B.
Alldritt, W. A.
Anderson, Dr. R. Brodie
Andrews, Herbert
Barrowclough, S. L.
Baird, J. R.
Bell, Dr. F. C.
Bell, Joseph
Bell, John K. •
Bell, Dr. P. G.
Bell, Dr. T. H.
Benwell, F. W.
Berg, James C.
Bingham, E. J.
Bingham, R. F.
Black, N. J.
Blackburn, R. C.
Blanchard, Dr. R. J.
Bonnycastle^ S. L.
Bowman, J. M.
Boyle, R. B.
Brandon, H. E.
Brick, W. J.
Bridgman, Rev. W.
Brock, E. A.
Brock, F. Freer
Brodie, Malcolm J.
Bryan, J. R.
Burritt, Royal
Burwash, L. T.
Cameron, A. P.
Campbell, Dr. Spurgeon
Cadham, Dr. F. T.
Campbell, W. E.
Cattley, Robert
Cherry, H. M.
Choate, A. E.
Clark, J. St. Clair
Clingan, Geo.
Cole, Dr. L. R.
Cook, Thorn. S.
Cope, E. F.
Cousins, B. A.
Craggs, G. S.
Craig, Edwin S.
Crowe, J. A.
Crozier, J. A.
Culver, A. F.
Curran, J. P.
Curran, V.
D'Arcy, N. J.
Davison, W. E.
Deacon, Edgar A.
De Forge, W. J.
Dennistoun, R. M.
Dewar, W. H.
Dillabough, J. V.
Dinnen, N. J,
Drummond-Hay, L. V.
Drummond, R.
Duncan, D. M.
HONOR EOLL
17
Edgecombe, W. E.
Elliott, P. P.
Elliott, R. K.
Emery, F. E.
Erickson, O. L.
Farquhar, Rev. G.
Featherstonhaugh, E. P.
Ferguson, D. J. H.
Fergusson, R. S.
Finlay, James H.
Flenley, 'Ralph
Folliott, W. C.
Freeland, Frank
Gagnon, J. T. C.
Garfat, A. A.
Gibbs, P. A.
Goodeve, Rev. F. W.
Gordon, Rev. Dr. C. W.
Grainger, Harry
Grassie, Wm.
Green, Dr. C. W.
Grose, W. T.
Grundy, John
Gunn, C. S.
Gunn, Dr. J. A.
Guthrie, A.
Hallum, W. B.
Handcock, C. B.
Handel, J.
Hansford, J. E.
Harman, H. F.
Harris, G. M.
Harvie, A. K.
Hastings, V. J.
Hastings, W. H.
Hawker, J. W.
Hay, Rev. Wm.
Henry, H. R. L.
Hesketh, J. A.
Hessian, T. P.
Hill, A. R.
Hindle, D. A.
Hinds, Fred
Hossie, W. A.
Houblon, R. E. A.
Howson, G. A.
Hughson, Rev. J. E.
Hunt, H. M.
Hunter, Herbert
Hurd, H. Gordon
Johnstone, E. B.
Jones, Maurice
Jordan, H. K.
Kenny, W. F.
Ketchen, R. L.
Kirk, Chas. D.
Laing, G. S.
Lake, Wm. A.
Lakie, P.
Langford, T. J.
Larkin, S. A.
Laver, E. C.
Lawless, W. T.
Law, Thos.
Lethbridge, J. M.
Lewis, R.
Lindsay, C. V.
Lineham, Dr. D. M.
18
THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
Macaw, W. M.
MacDonell, A. C.
Macdonell, Dr. John
Macfarlane, W. G.
Mackay, J.
MacKenzie, W. A.
MacLean, N. B.
Maclean, R. M.
Maddock, M. H.
Main, H. H.
Mainer, R. G.
Mansur, C. H.
Maw, C. C.
McAdam, C. S.
McAlpine, A. D. H.
McCarthy, L. M.
McClelland, S.
McColl, S. E.
McGhee, G. W.
McLean, D.
McOnie, R.
McOuaid, A. C.
McRae, A. D.
McTavish, R. B.
Merrnagen, E. W.
Meiklejohn, E. W.
Meiklejohn, F. E.
Miller, F. W.
Miller, G. G.
Milbourne, A. J. B.
Milne, C. N. G.
Mitchell, J. B.
Mitchell, Dr. Ross
Moffatt, A. W.
Moor, W. H.
Moorehead, Dr. E. S.
Morden, G. W.
Mordy, A. G.
Morley, A. W.
Morrison, Allan
Mullins, H. A.
Murray, Canon J. O.
Murray, Wm.
Myers, R. M.
Nagle, N. R.
Ney, Frank A.
Ney, F. J.
Newberry, W. F.
Newcombe, C. K.
Newton, J. O.
NTichol, F. T.
Northwood, Gco. W.
Niven, Dr. E. Fielden
O'Grady, G. F. deC.
Osier, H. F.
Pace, Walter
Paterson, R. W.
Patterson, H. D.
Paton, G. M.
Phillips, A. E.
Poison, Hugh
Porter, H. W.
Poussette, G. F. C.
Pratt, Edward S.
Proctor, J. P.
Prowse, Dr. S. W.
Ouinton, S.
Radford, C. W.
Reade, Hubert T.
Reid, T. Y.
HONOB EOLL
19
Reilly, Dr. W. H.
Richards, S. R.
Richardson, B. V.
Riley, C. S.
Roe, J. M.
Rogers, R. G.
Ross, A. M. S.
Ross, R. A.
Rutherford, Gerald S.
Ruttan, H. N.
Sadleir, Dr. J. F.
Scroggie, James
Scott, C. .M.
Secord, Dr. W. H.
Seelbert, W.
Sellwood, R. A.
Semmens, J. N.
Shore, R. J.
Simmons, Arthur
Sinclair, J. D.
Skaptason, J. B.
Speechly, Dr. H. M.
Sprague, D. E.
Sprague, H. C. H.
Sprenger, H.
Spry, W. B.
Steele, John
Steele, J. G.
Steele, S. B.
Sterling, S. L.
Stevenson, J. A.
Stewart, Earl
Sutherland, John
Suttie, J. M.
Tate, F. L.
Thornley, F.
Thornton, Stuart
Todd, Dr. J. O.
Trott, E. J.
Tyrell, C. S.
Wadge, Dr. H. W.
Walcot, A. A.
Walker, P.
Ward, Stanley J.
Ward, J. W.
Wardhaugh, M. F.
Webb, A. J.
Weld, Geo. H.
West, John E.
Williams, T. O.
Wilson, D.
Wilson, F. K.
Wilson, Prof. N. R.
Wise, H. A.
Wood, M. C.
Wylie, J. G.
Young, D. F. A.
Young, G. R.
Young, R. S.
Zeglinski, B
Jin iH? mnrtam
During- the past year the Club has lost
the following1 members
through death :
E. H. BISSETT
F. D. BLAKELY
W. H. ESCOTT
FRANCIS GRAHAM
A. J. GALBRAITH
E. H. G. G. HAY
R. F. HAY
AMOS HICKS
CHIEF JUSTICE HOWELL
J. H. MUNSON
J. B. McLEAN
JOHN McKECHNIE
B. C. PARKER
S. R. TARR
L. M. WALLICH
KILLED IN ACTION
1914-1918
S. PERCY BENSON
J. E. ROBERTSON
GEO. H. ROSS
H. B. HAMBER
RONALD HOSKINS
G. W. JAMIESON
R. E. N. JONES
W. J. CHALK
JOHN GEDDES
W. F. GUILD
C. T. BOWRING
G. R. HERON
LT.-COL. R. M. THOMSON
H. F. LEWIS
A. L. GRIFFIN
C. R. STINSON
E. B. HAFFNER
W. J. COLLUM
R. E. BURCH
J. R. BAIRD
A. H. YOUNG
L. J. LIPSETT
D. B. JONES
A. CLAYDON
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 21
A VISIT TO THE FLEET
Lieut.-Col. Cecil G. Williams, to the Canadian Club,
November 21st, 1917
Lieut.-Col. Williams began by reviewing his experiences
when, after eighteen years in the British Navy, he came to
Canada in 1909, to make his way in the world. He passed
from that to a consideration of the service rendered to the
Empire, since the beginning of the war, by the British
Navy, using as a text for his remarks the fact of his visit,
a few months before, to the North Sea Fleet, at the personal
invitation of one of the heads of the Admiralty. He said in
part as follows:
"Winston Churchill was asked a fewr months ago what it
costs to fight a modern Dreadnaught. He replied that to
fight a ship like the Monarch, for instance, would take
£180,000 an hour (£15,000 a minute). Have you any
idea, as you enter the barbette and see those great gun-
muzzles pointing outward over the water, what they can
do? A fifteen-inch gun fires a shell weighing 1,910 Ibs.
When a missile of this kind falls from an altitude of 22,500
feet on the deck of an enemy battleship, you can easily
imagine that the ship so struck becomes instantly a thing
of the past.
"One of the mistakes we have made came home to
me during that visit when we cruised in the direction
of Heligoland. Your chairman referred to the fact that
a leader should be a thinker. It would be a good thing
if our Prime Minister and the other Ministers of the
Cabinet were all habitual thinkers — if the Premier could
IK- railed truly the first lord of thinking; if he should be
able to compel every man and woman, especially in times
like these, to retire for a few moments of every day, and
think. In trading Heligoland, I grant you we made a
capital bargain financially, trading Heligoland for Zanzibar.
22 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
We left Heligoland a sand-dune. But it is not a sand-dune
now. The Germans have made it a second Gibraltar,
practically impregnable.
"There has been some criticism as to what the Fleet are
doing about Heligoland. But do you know that the fair-
way between this fortress and the mouth of the Elbe is
only 11,000 yards wide? Do you know what it would mean
to attack the fortress under these conditions? Whatever
mistakes the British Fleet may make — and they do not
make very many — I hope the mistake will never be made
of sending vessels to attack impregnable fortifications. For
a lost fleet means a lost Empire!
"I have been profoundly affected at the supreme indiffer-
ence manifested in our rural districts with reference to the
British Navy — I mean the Empire's Navy, rather. Whose
fault is it? I know not. But this I know — that education
is salvation.
"The German Navy League commenced, years ago, with
a small membership and a small admission fee. A long
time passed, and the Kaiser failed to gain his object, a
supreme German navy. Then Von Tirpitz took up the
work. He ran excursions from inland towns, bringing men
to see the Dreadnaughts. These men went back, living
evangels in the cause of the navy. You know the result.
* # # * *
"It is the duty of the Government to see that the premier
arm of the Empire's service is not left to wallow in ignor-
ance. I went a few weeks ago, at the invitation of a
committee who wanted me to tour the rural districts of
Ontario. At one place, I was allowed fifteen minutes to
address five thousand people on that arm of the service
which above all others at this present moment means dollars
and cents to the farmer. I expended all the eloquence of
which I was capable. I received a cheque for $50!
* * * * *
"When I was in the North Sea, Sir David Beatty told
me of the heroism of the sailors there. Men of Winnipeg,
ADDKESSES OF THE YEAB 23
do you know what it means to be in the naval service? I
was in the Mediterranean with the Victory when the Cam-
perdown went down in a collision. I have not, and shall
not soon forget, the sight of that stricken monster as she
turned bottom upward. Think of these men in the North
Sea, freezing to the marrow, braving the snow, the sleet,
the slippery steel deck — while under the waters creeps the
dread submarine. In a moment there comes a roar — a
sickening roll — and down she goes, taking anywhere from
500 to 1,000 men — some of them down in the hold, stripped
to the waist, working amongst the machinery — scalded to
death — all for our salvation. You shiver, in these ldays, and
say it is cold here. It is infinitely more cold there! And
they are carrying on — day and night they are carrying on —
to protect our mercantile marine.
You men, living in plenty in Canada, do you know that
over in Europe nations are starving? Do you know that
some men, after being wounded and healed, have returned
as many as five times to the fighting front?
"And what about the mercantile sailor? The shipping
records will give you case after case where these men, after
they are torpedoed, if they reach land safely, instantly sign
on again, at a paltry wage of $55 a month upon which to
support their loved ones.
"Gentlemen, after this war humanity will have entered
upon a richer heritage. As I stood on the soil of France,
and saw the last resting-place, in the graveyards there, of
the Little Black Devils of Winnipeg, I knelt there in the
dust of France and prayed — I have not been as good a man
as I ought to have bee.n, but I knelt there and prayed—
prayed that the Almighty would help me to become some-
what worthy of these brave men who lay around me.
"Our dead heroes have won immortality. Today the
agony of the cross — tomorrow the glory of the resurrection.
May this war, like the fire which sweeps away the mimosa,
bring up the golden glory of the flower of patriotism and
24 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
self-sacrifice. In days gone by, our young men fought for
honor in the universities. Today, it is for the honor of self-
sacrifice. They are coming back some day. When they
do come back, God grant that no man in Canada will be
ashamed to face these citizen sons who have held the battle-
line against those who were thought to be the finest troops
in the world."
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 25
WITH A FIELD AMBULANCE AT THE FRONT
Major Mclvor to the Canadian Club,
December 15th, 1917
The speaker narrated some striking incidents from his
experience as second in command of the —
Canadian Field Ambulance at Ypres, the Somme and Vimy
Ridge, and went on to plead for a wider recognition of the
need for Canadian reinforcements in France at the time,
and the duty of supporting immediate conscription with-
out an appeal to a referendum.
"My story opens at the time when I found myself second
in command of the Field Ambulance, 3^ miles from Ypres.
We had only been in camp about four hours when a motor-
cycle rider came in with a despatch. Opening it, I found an
order to enter the line at Bedford House, and clear the
ground held by the 10th Brigade of the 4th Canadian
Division.
"It was 9.30 when we entered the line. I had never been
under shell fire before, and I can tell you the sensation
was queer. I assembled the 248 men who were to go in
there under my command ; and at the appointed hour we
followed the 10th Brigade of -the 4th Canadian Division
into the salient. The Hun gunners, who seemed to know
as much about pur movements as we ourselves did, had
prepared a royal welcome. It is said that all orders issued
in London are known in Berlin twenty- four hours after-
wards; and it is said that all orders issued in Berlin are
known at our headquarters twelve hours afterwards; so,
although their spy system is good, ours is better, as we beat
them by twelve hours.
"Well, they started shelling the road; and, as the infantry
marched along, heads erect, a shell landed in the midst of
them, and a platoon was cleaned up. One of our Winnipeg
officers, one of the finest men in the army, was among the
26 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
first to fall. We took him back to the casualty clearing
station, and he succumbed about three and a half hours
afterwards. We were busy, but we were able to handle
the work. Casualties to the number of 179 a night can
easily be looked after by a section of a field ambulance.
"Our men fought wonderfully. They pushed that line
back three-quarters of a mile in 29 days. After the men
came out of that line, they felt, they said, like veteran
soldiers, ready to cope with the Hun on any occasion. A
soldier, after his first action, feels better than on any other
occasion of his life.
"After that, our brigade was moved six miles south, to
a place called Camel Hill ; and here the Canadian troops
went over the parapet for the first time. The hour of attack
had been fixed for five minutes past twelve ; and promptly
every gun opened up, from the big ones ten miles back to
the 18-pounders, until the enemy's front line trench became
an undistinguishable mass of land. Our infantry marched
out, keeping about 30 yards behind that curtain of fire ; not
one shell of it falling short, so accurate was the work of
our artillery. Our infantry reached the trench without one
single casualty. The details of that fight I am not going
to tell, as my time is limited ; but I may say that we took,
that afternoon, 2600 prisoners.
"When these prisoners wrere marched up, we all found
the spectacle very interesting. It was the first opportunity
I had had to have a real conversation with German officers.
One of them, who could speak English, said to me : 'Well,
where are you going to send us now?' I answered: 'With-
in about five hours and a half you will be over in England,
seeing one of the finest countries in the world; and the
entertainment you will receive there will be of the best,
and your stay will be indefinitely prolonged/ He seemed
quite surprised at this, saying he thought England was
destroyed.
"Our next order was to proceed to the Somme. The order
stated where we would be billeted for the night, and gave
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 27
full details, according to the perfect system that prevails in
the handling of the whole immense force in Flanders.
Generally, before we received these orders, some rumor
would start as to what would be our ultimate destination.
I remember, on this occasion, before we got the order, a
young American sergeant came up to me and said : 'I know
where we are going. We are going to hell — that is our
destination/ I thought afterwards that my sergeant must
have known in some way that we were going into that
terrible Battle of the Somme!
"We camped five miles from Albert, in a country that
very much resembles the Red River valley here, with agri-
cultural land on both sides, occupied by the French peas-
antry, who lived there with their children, who played fear-
lessly in the shell-holes with which the country was pitted
— some of them 16 feet deep and 25 feet across. The pros-
pect in the direction of the •firing" line was desolate enough
— not a house, not a fence, not a board or stone even, to
tell the tale that that territory had ever been occupied by
a peaceful and progressive people. In Albert there was not
a house that had escaped untouched, and some of them were
in ruins. The beautiful Catholic church was almost de-
molished. The only part that stood was the great tower
of the Madonna ; and even that had been struck by a shell,
so that it leaned over. There was a saying in that neigh-
borhood that the day when the Child fell — meaning the
sculptured image of the Divine Infant in that leaning tower
I have described — the war would end. I hope this does not
take place for some months yet, as we are not ready to talk
terms of peace. This wrar must not end until the geographi-
cal situation is changed considerably.
"I found the little town, as I say, very much wrecked.
I was walking in the neighborhood of La Bassee, and came
to a kind of mound. My guide said : /You are now standing
on the town hall/ All landmarks arc obliterated.
"We went into the line that night, ordered to establish
three dressing stations in the region of Courcellette. Our
28 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
orders were to be prepared to handle casualties at 5 a.m.
(next morning). Well, the Hun began his counter-attack
on Courcellette, and the battle started about the hour men-
tioned. Unfortunately, at that time it started to rain. The
whole 29 days that we were there, I do not think there was
half an hour, day or night, that it did not rain. The country
was torn up by shell-holes and the earth one mass of mud,
making the trenches uninhabitable, so that the men were
unable to fight under adequate cover. Still they fought on,
day and night, for those 29 days. The orders were to take
the outlying districts of Grandcourt. The Regina trench,
in which took place the final fight, was riot a single trench,
but a system. Our troops were living in these trenches,
packed just as close as you gentlemen are sitting here today.
The Huns had thrown fresh troops into the struggle, while
our men had been there for the whole 29 days, and were
about exhausted. But they were there with the punch.
They knew they were fighting for the freedom of the British
Empire. Their objectives had been all taken by the time
they were relieved by a division of the imperial army; but
the roll-call was a sad event. Many of them had been left
behind on the Somme. The men came to attention as usual ;
but all too often, there was silence instead of the usual
cheery 'here/ The Canadians got orders a short time after-
wards to retrace their steps to the region of Vimy Ridge.
I remember I established a dressing station in the old town
of St. Lazare. Vimy Ridge had fallen into the hands of
the French; and, as they were pretty well exhausted, this
section of the line was taken over by London troops in
order to be ready for the inevitable great counter-attack
that always follows a loss by the Huns. The counter-attack
followed, and Vimy Ridge again fell into the hands of the
foe, who held it for two and a half years.
"It was the Canadians who were finally asked to do that
job — to retake those heights at all costs. The first attack,
as you know, in February, was not exactly a success. An
army of the size of that which is fighting on the western
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 29
front is not easily managed ; yet it is marvellous the way
it is handled, and when the history of this war is known,
and we are able to see some of the muddles that have been
made by our foes, we will think our mistakes were light
in comparison. As I say, the first attack at Vimy was not
a success — but at the second attack the troops not only took
Vimy Ridge, but went three-quarters of a mile beyond, and
that territory and that position are in their hands yet. That
was what the Canadian army accomplished on April 9."
* * * * *
30 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
WITH THE ENGLISH IN THE TRENCHES
OF FLANDERS
Harry W. Holmes, to the Canadian Club,
February 22nd, 1918
Mr. Holmes, in the course of a chatty address, paid
tribute to the bravery of the Australian regiments in the
Great War, the enthusiasm and determination manifested
by the American Republic since its entry into the struggle,
and the indispensable service rendered by the Young Men's
Christian Association to the men at the front.
"As you drank your toast 'to our glorious dead/. I was
reminded of a famous gathering some months ago at the
Hotel Cecil, in London, when there arose some rivalry as
to which was the bravest Australian regiment. An
Australian sergeant solved the problem by drinking to 'the
regiment that was left behind' — that is, on the battlefield.
'One will never forget that eloquent passage in the book
of Captain Beith, when he said that the Australians, when
they evacuated Gallipoli peninsula, 'tried to go quietly,
because they feared those who were left behind might hear
them going/
* # * * *
"Last July I went out with a party past Ypres. We
climbed to the highest point in Belgium; and, from there,
were able to look over that twenty-mile front and witness
the greatest bombardment the world has ever known. It
was just as if you were to stand here and press an electric
button. Thousands of guns burst into simultaneous
activity; and, as we watched that matchless display of
artillery-work, we thrilled with pride at the effectiveness
of the British command. One of our party, a Cambridge
professor, an authority on the native races of the world,
stood there, pipe smoking in his hand, quite carried away
by what he saw. 'Give 'em hell, boys!' was what he was
saying. 'Give 'em hell !'
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 31
"Gentlemen, it has been my privilege for the last fifteen
months to be the national secretary in charge of England's
Y. M. C. A. work in Flanders. One might say of the work
of the Association in this war: 'For this cause came it into
the world/ There is no camp today of the British armies
that has not its Y. M. C. A. hut. The Association has
followed the soldiers to the Suez Canal. You will find the
Red Triangle in Bagdad, where it arrived within twelve
hours of General. Maude's entry there. The Y.-M. C. A. is
doing the same work for the French army as is being done
for the British. The Americans have placed 540 huts at
its disposal, given railway transportation from the seaboard
to the front. There are 500 secretaries acting with the
French army at the present time. There were a number
sent to the Italian front in September by special request of
the Italian commander; and the Belgian army chief has also
asked for an institution of the Association to work in its
ranks.
"The Association has demonstrated, too, that it can serve
men at the front just as well as men at the base. The man
on the fighting front needs to be at his best. Sometimes an
old English Tommy will say slyly: 'Well, you have got
this far; why don't you take a chance on going over?'
"It is a wonderful thing how one, after spending a while
at the front, finds himself coming to have an increasing
faith in the average man — how such a one will stand by
a friend to the last ditch. Perhaps in ordinary life he has
been, not only a man of no pretensions, but regarded with
suspicion; yet out there — let me illustrate: On the fourth
day of that terrible battle, as we sat in one of the dressing
stations, a boy came back shivering and shaking. For over
two days and nights he had sat with one smashed arm by
his friend who, fatally wounded, had fallen back into a
trench half full of mud and water, keeping that friend's head
above the water until he died. Too weak to lift him out,
32 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
yet not able to see him drown. Such is the wealth of latent
goodness in the average man.
"I sometimes think, as I am sure you must have thought,
what is the utmost sacrifice we can make, we who are not
in the battle, compared to the sacrifices that are being made
on the western front? And after all they have gone through,
one of the most wonderful things is the unbroken morale of
the .British soldier. They may be 'fed up' with the war,
hating its discomforts, hating its scenes of blood and death,
— but they are not tired of the great cause for which they
fight. No man but wants to fight until this job we are doing
today is so finished that no boy of his in the coming gener-
ations will have to go through its horrors again because
it was unsuccessfully or inconclusively ended. 'Keep your
head down, but your heart up/ 'Carry on/ The spirit that
made the sailors clinging to the wreckage in the North Sea,
during the battle of Jutland, forget their plight and cheer
the Warspite as she passed them — that also is the spirit
of the men in the trenches todav."
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 33
THE CANADIAN CONQUEST
Rev. Dr. Howard P. Whidden, M.P., Brandon, Man., to the
Canadian Club, February 28th, 1918
'The speaker announced that, without in the least intend-
ing to make a political speech, he proposed to talk about
politics in the best sense of that word. He defined the real
test of democracy to be the ability of the citizens to make
permanent conquests. Canada has a heritage of freedom
that has been won by hard labor; but its citizens themselves
did not have to work or to fight for it, and so it has been
under-valued. We had not been tested as we needed until,
in August, 1914, the bugle called us to the Great War.
"My first simple proposition, then, is this : That the real
test of the possession of the democratic spirit lies in the
product, in the citizenship that makes possible permanent
achievement.
"I was reading the other night an article by a professor
who is one of our most worthy knights — Sir Andrew Mac-
Phail, editor of the University Magazine. This editorial
article was written some six months before the war. In
that article, part of which I have before me, the writer calls
attention to the fact that the nation that can get rid of its
interior enemies, the enemies who claim citizenship, must
needs have an outward foe to engage first, and some blood-
letting as a consequence. Sir Andrew MacPhail, in that
article, wrote more wisely than perhaps at that time he
knew. We have some fighting on our hands today, both
of the bloody and the bloodless kind.
"If Canada is the right type of democracy — if Canada will
stand tin- test that I have suggested — if she is to produce
a Citizenship in the future capable of winning the bloodless
victories that will follow these conquests won in blood--
she must see this thing through to the successful finish. If
34 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
I were a business man, I would like to speak a little of
what Canada has to clo in the realm of industrial conquest,
in the way of development of our wonderful material
resources. For there must be no further exploitation. We
have had enough of that. We must learn to look upon our
resources as a great bequest — as a bequest upon the admin-
istration of which we must set out in the same spirit of
idealism as we have faced this trial by battle — remember-
ing that the Canada placed in our care is to be the Canada
of our sons and of our sons' sons, of all the generations yet
unborn. It has been fixed upon our minds by hard experi-
ence that it is not enough that a nation shall have priceless
possessions. It is necessary that the nation that has them
shall understand how to appreciate them, utilize them,
administer them most economically. Never again will
Canadians permit governments or parts of governments,
commissions or parts of commissions, committees or parts
of committees, to use the inside knowledge they have in
regard to great timber limits, mineral resources, fertile
lands, water powers, and all the rest of it, to their own profit,
or their little mean, contemptible friends' advantage, for-
getting that these things are not theirs, but ours, and that
they, in office, are but the servants of the body politic.
* * * * *
"I should like, for the sake of Canada now and in the
years to come, to see a very thorough combing of our citi-
zens and immigrants in the racial sphere. Sometimes we
find it easy to blaze up in wrath against our aliens. I should
like to submit this as a principle : Those who have the alien
spirit after peace is declared, who continue to be aliens in
sympathy after the war is over, must be shipped out of the
country. An editorial in one of the Eastern dailies said,
one time, in substance, that now was the time to begin to
fill up Canada. 'We want/ said this editorial, 'a population
of fifteen millions in Canada three years after the war is
over.' A great man in public life at that time (though not
so public now) said : 'Let us fill the country up' — fill it up
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 35
that is to say, regardless of where the immigrants come
from.
"Gentlemen, is not that- monstrous? We are not going
to have a machine-made nation, from this time on, but a
living organism. We must establish, as a working prin-
ciple, that only those peoples which have the aptitude to
assimilate themselves with the Anglo-Saxon race should
be allowed to remain, or even to come, to Canada.
"Our systems of government, our community life, our
industry, our commerce — everything from this time on,
every department of our national life, must be socialized
in the best sense of that word. We Canadians have had
enough lessons taught us by our glorious dead — lessons
which we should carry over into all the departments of our
national and community life. What about the realities of
democracy? We must have some educational ideal where-
by every child born in Canada shall be taught that this is
his country, or her country, and that he or she must stand
ever at the service of the community, at the service of the
state. Without some such system, we will never have i
fully organized, democratized Canadian life.
"There must be no more patronage or graft. There is
less of it today, because of this more vital, modern, moral
spirit on the part of the Canadian people, on the part of
Canada's best citizens, than' there has ever been.
"On a certain night in Brandon, during the recent election
campaign, I was about to address a meeting. Premier
Norris had just spoken, and there was on the platform a
certain Federal Cabinet Minister. At that moment a
message came for the Minister. After he read it, he turned
pale and then red ; then, handing it to me, he said : 'There,
Whidden — there is something that will enable you to put
punch into the patronage section of your speech/
"The evening was that following the terrible disaster at
Halifax. The message read : 'The reconstruction period in
Halifax will soon begin. As you know, I have for many
years been a successful contractor. W^ill you use your best
36 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
influence to see that I have a chance to get in on the ground
floor?' The message was signed 'Thomas.' It should have
been 'Judas.'
"Gentlemen, I would like to say that the day has come
when Canada has said goodbye forever to that kind of
thing. Then these deeds of our glorious dead will have
been worth while, and will stand out in shining relief in
the days that are to come, and we will realize that perhaps
for Canada's sake it was necessary that she go through this
awful carnage."
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAE 37
THE EDUCATION OF THE NON-ENGLISH
Hon. Dr. R. S. Thornton, Minister of Education, to the
Canadian Club, March 22nd, 1918
The Minister of Education referred at the opening of
his address to the steady growth of a Canadian national
sentiment since Confederation, and the problems in con-
nection with the development of such a national conscious-
ness arising out of the diversity of races, languages, customs
and ideals that immigration from other lands has brought
to us. Then followed figures based on the census of 1916,
showing the aggregate number of these foreign-born immi-
grants and their descendants in Manitoba, and the number
of nationalities represented.
"Where the people are scattered in small units or groups
in the general community, they mix with and are affected
by the general current of thought; but where we have the
settlement of one nationality in a close colony covering a
comparatively large area of country, only the people on the
fringes come into contact with the current of the general life
of the community. In the centre of such a settlement, by
sheer force of circumstances, the old language, traditions
and sentiments in thought and action prevail. The only
agency that carries the English language and the Canadian
viewpoint is the school.
"In addressing ourselves earnestly to meet these prob-
lems, we found some special difficulties because of density
of settlement. The average school district on the prairie
comprises sixteen sections of land, has a one-room school
and an average enrolment of twenty-five pupils or less. But
in a large number of districts in these non-English settle-
ments, there are school districts of ten or twelve sections
of land, with a school population ranging from fifty to as
high as one hundred and fifty. This contrast is due to the
fact that in the ordinary prairie settlements the average
holdings are 320 acres and upwards, while in these non-
English settlements the average holdings are eighty acres
38 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
down to as low as five acres. On one section of land, for
example, sixteen families were settled, each farming forty
acres, and having a school population of thirty-nine chil-
dren. This condition obtains chiefly in the area to the
north and east of this city, from which the original settlers
have moved away, giving place to the newcomers, and
leaving the old small school buildings originally intended
for twenty-five or thirty pupils, to accommodate from
seventy-five to a hundred pupils.
"Besides this condition, there were a number of school
districts which had been previously organized, but in which
no school accommodation had been provided. There was
also a large area of recently settled country wherein school
districts had not yet been organized, and no schools built.
"The work of establishing schools in these districts was
begun on October 1, 1915. We took stock of the situation
on November 30, 1917, and in 112 weeks we had built and
had in operation 112 schools, averaging one per week during
the entire period. Of this number, fourteen replaced old
school buildings and ninety-eight were entirely new. In
round numbers, we have established in these non-English
districts one hundred new schools, providing accommoda-
tion for 5,000 children, with an actual enrolment there today
of over 4,000, eighty-five per cent, of whom had no facilities
two years ago. The settlements where these buildings have
been erected are chiefly north and east of Winnipeg, be-
tween the lakes, and north of Dauphin, one-third of them
being within reach of this city by motor. The buildings
themselves are modern, up-to-date buildings, comparing
favorably with the best one-room schools on the prairie,
and they are thoroughly equipped with all necessaries, such
as maps, globe, library, bookcases, ventilating heater,
bubbling fountain and drinking-cups.
"The problem of making suitable provision for the
teachers in these schools has been met by the erection of
teachers' residences, of which at stock-taking time forty-five
ADDEESSES OF THE YEAE 39
had been erected. Inasmuch as some of these residences
serve two-room schools, about one-half of the teachers have
thus been provided with house accommodation.
"The teachers employed in these schools are all trained
teachers, the majority of them being bright, conscientious
women, as most of our Manitoba teachers are. Nearly all
have regular certificates, and most of them have had pre-
vious experience. Not a few of them are former teachers
who have taken up teaching again for various reasons, such
as the case of one lady whose husband is a wounded prisoner
of war in Germany. Although some of them may not have
the present-day academic standing, they have the experience
of life which makes their work particularly valuable under
these conditions. With a teacher's residence, there is no
longer any unusual difficulty in getting satisfactory teach-
ers. Many are being attracted by the nature of the work,
and the fact of having the sympathetic backing of the
trustee board eliminates many difficulties. In every case,
the teacher has a companion, usually a sister, mother, aunt
or some other near relative. Several widows have their
children with them. In some cases the teacher has a grown-
up girl from the settlement to live with her, and thus
teaches her domestic science and the art of living in a
practical way.
"The results are encouraging beyond expectation. The
little folks themselves are just as bright, teachable children
as any others, generally with a keen desire to learn, and it
is no uncommon thing to find a teacher starting in with
thirty or thirty-five pupils of assorted ages, who have not
heard one word of English or had a day's education. In
three months they will have established a fair working
vocabulary, with a knowledge of names, words and qualifi-
cations. Manual training benches are installed in eight of
these schools. A goodly number of teachers are giving
regular instruction in knitting and sewing, and in twelve
schools hot tea, hot soup, or some other form of simple
lunch is prepared at noon. This has a valuable bearing on
40 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
the health and morale of the children. The noon hour, when
the hot lunch brings the teacher and the children together
in an informal fashion, is very often the most valuable
educational hour of the day.
"Evening classes are being held in connection with about
one-third of these schools, on two or three evenings a week.
They are attended by adults, varying in number from ten
to thirty, and in age from sixteen to sixty-two, desirous of
being taught in the English language.
"This brief outline will indicate to you the importance of
the work Agoing on in these districts, from the point of view
of educating the children, developing the community and
building the nation. The work of the school is threefold:
training the bodies of the children, cultivating the mind, and
developing their moral character. The aggregate of indivi-
dual character means national character. Our teachers
are nation builders in a true and complete sense. Today
we realize as never before the importance of the school to
the nation. Over there in France, in the territory from
which the Germans have been driven, the people are setting
themselves to the task of rehabilitation. One of the first
things they have done is to sow the grass and plant the
flowers on the graves of the brave men who have fought
and died for their liberty, and then in their ruined villages
they have reopened their schools that they might preserve
in the minds of their children the spirit of France. So we
in the schools of Canada have to nurture and develop the
ideals and the spirits of Canadian citizenship, so that out
of the different peoples who have made their homes here,
there shall not continue national and racial distinctions, but
in the process of time there shall come but one nationality,
and that Canadian — carrying on under the British flag the
principles of justice, freedom and democracy."
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAE 41
THE EMPIRE AND THE ORIENT
Mr. George A. Warburton to the Canadian Club
April 4th, 1918
The speaker sought to convey in brief some of his impres-
sions, gained during a recent trip to the Orient, of the three
great peoples — the Japanese, the Chinese and the dwellers
in India.
"It seems quite natural that a man in these times should
think in terms of the whole world ; for the world has never
exhibited such unity of interest as has become manifest
during this tremendous war. We were never so conscious
of the fact that the world is one, as we are now. We know
now that what happens in one part of it concerns all the
other parts.
***** ...<(
"There is nothing in Japan that is not interesting. Every
Japanese is an interesting personality. Every woman is
interesting. Japanese children are fascinating beyond any
possible expression ; even more fascinating in some respects
than my own children at home, I found them. I never, in
fact, saw any children more uniformly interesting, except
my own. That is the outstanding thing about a visit to
Japan — that consciousness you have of being in the midst
of an interesting people, with a keen sense of the beautiful.
"The outstanding thing about the character of the Japan-
ese is his self-consciousness, or self-assertiveness. The Jap
believes he was not born to blush unseen. It is that char-
acteristic, expressing itself in the national life of the Japan-
ese, that makes it important for western nations to recognize
the significant place which Japan already has in the life of
the world. I was surprised to find how well-developed their
industries are. Their railways run smoothly ; their railway
42 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
companies are well-controlled and administered. Their
trains are equipped with every convenience. On the
stations, the name appears in both English and Japanese,
and is accompanied by a description of adjoining points of
interest. At these stations, and elsewhere, you have no
difficulty in understanding the attendants, because most of
them can speak English. This enables you to get about
easily.
JJS * * * *
. "In addition to other things, the Japanese have a marvel-
lously well-developed educational system. Everybody has
a desire for knowledge, an eagerness to learn. Even the
government officials we met wanted to know about western
nations. In Tokio, in front of the Imperial University is, I
think, the longest row of bookstores in the world — two and
a half miles in length, crowded with students and others
seeking knowledge. In the city of Tokio, I was introduced
to the man who had charge of the criminals, and I began
to talk to him about our Canadian system. I found that he
was familiar with it, as well as with the system employed at
Sing Sing. There was nothing that they did not show
evidence of having learned.
"In brief, the outstanding Japanese traits are: First, an
intense national loyalty western nations would do well to
bear in mind and to emulate-. We shall all have to learn the
lessons of our duty to the state, when this war is over.
Second, their love of the beautiful. Third, eagerness for
knowledge, coupled with great aggressiveness and mental
alertness.
* * * * *
"China is a nation that has its eyes on the past. The
whole country appears to be a country of graveyards-
graveyards everywhere. Yet, although in many respects
the Chinese seem to be living in the dead past, there are
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 43
ways in which they have turned to modern ideas and modern
methods of living. Their country is covered in some
sections with modern railways and modern roads. They
have broken away from the despotism of the Manchus —
and there is one thing" certain, the Chinese will never
return to the despotic form of government again. Their
young men of intellect and means, who have been educated
in western colleges, are in control of the great provinces
of China. In nearly every one of the great cities of China,
you will find these educated young men, high in the affairs
of the nation. These young men are impressing western
ideas of government, chiefly of the form of government of
the United States, upon their people. In Pekin, they are
to be heard talking about the Declaration of Independence
and Abraham Lincoln as freely as is done in the United
States. It looks as though the United States had a peculiar
obligation toward the Chinese. They can influence the
Chinese much more than the Englishman can. They do not
like the English. It is a fact that the Englishman is gener-
ally disagreeable when he goes away from home. I can say
this with the more freedom, in that I am an Englishman
myself. We cannot disregard the fact that this great nation
is going to be a factor in the future life of the world.
"I visited India with the more interest, because it is a
part of our Empire. There are very many forces at work in
India, and we get very meagre reports of what is taking
place there. I think the British people generally regard
these forces as one of the symptoms of the growth of the
democratic idea in India. The British people believe in the
development of that idea. In India you find different cur-
rents of thought and feeling. Out of that great population,
95 per cent, can neither read nor write.
"There are 55 millions of the Indian people who are out-
casts, to whom the Hindu religion has no message of hope.
When you come to the religious aspects of the Indian ques-
tion, you have a very complicated matter. In India, you
44 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
live in the midst of gods and spirits. There must be some
way in which the great religious forces of this country can
be turned to the good of the world. But Christianity can
make no progress in India by attacking the Indian beliefs.
It must discover points of contact. It is because this fact
is becoming manifest that Christianity is making progress
now as never before.
"In Japan there are 65 million people ; in China 400 mil-
lions ; in India 320 millions ; in Russia an immense popula-
tion. We in Canada must keep our eyes on the Orient.
These people are our neighbors. The time has gone when
the western races can dominate the world absolutely. We
must have a universal spirit of brotherhood. The British
Empire, one of the greatest civilizing influences of the world,
must get into active touch with the needs of the Orient;
and in this work Canada must do her portion as one of the
Empire's constituent parts."
ADDBESSES OF THE YEAR 45
THE HIGHER PATRIOTISM
Rev. John MacNeill to the Canadian Club
April 20th, 1918
In opening, the speaker disclaimed any intention of
presenting a message on his own behalf. He spoke on
behalf of "our boys in France." He told of having put the
question to four hundred men gathered in improvised
quarters in a ruined village behind the front lines in France
a few weeks before leaving for home, as to what they would
like to have him say to the people at home, and of how
the answer of one of them had met with the general approval
*of the company. "Tell the people at home that we are
ready to see this thing through, if they wrill stand by us.
We are even ready to leave a little bit of Canada here, so
long as we know that the peace at the end of it all will
be such that our children will not have to fight this thing
over again."
"Gentlemen, the pages of knight-errantry will never
furnish anything finer than the record of the deeds of our
Canadian boys over there. It is not that war is glorious,
but that our men have been glorious in war. Over and over
again I have said, in the months since I have been upon
those battlefields: 'Surely these heroes were born of great
sires, and great women mothered them/ Every man, regard-
less of difference of calling and training, has leaped to full
stature in the hero's mail. Clerks, farmers, bankers,
laborers, physicians, unskilled artisans, have all risen to
their great responsibilities. I could tell you of a young
lad who enlisted — a reckless, restless chap, whose 'crime
sheet' was a disgrace to his battalion — yet in a moment of
need, when there was a deadly machine gun post which had
to be taken, he sprang first into the breach. He met his
death ; but, a few moments before he passed, he said four
words which remained in the hearts of his comrades:
'Canada, this is for you.' Great men ! Great men ! I will
never forget the awful tragedy of it all. War truly is hell—
43 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
and never so much so as it is today. But, thank God, there
is sunlight amid the blackness. It is not, I repeat, that
war is glorious in any respect, but that our men have proved
so glorious in war.
"Out there you will find our men again and again demon-
strating that great spirit of the higher patriotism, without
which this struggle would sink into the most terrible kind
of barbarism. There is nothing finer than the spirit of
patriotism that sent our boys crowding to the colors. They
have glimpsed something that has lifted them out of them-
selves. The nation has climbed to the high average of real
greatness. These men have rallied like the knights of old —
not to the romance of war, for that is dead, but to the
terrors and hardships — the hell of the drizzling winter line,
the blanketing miasma of the poison gas, the blood and the
mud and the stench, and the ghastly sights and sounds — the
sight of their dead comrades, the ever-recurring call to the
living to go back into it again and again. The greatest fight
of all has been to live in those trenches and keep their ideals
and visions. It is hard for idealism to wallow and survive.
But the fine idealism of 1914 came very near to its death last
year, in 1917. It was saved by the American nation.
"Perhaps no contribution the American nation has
brought to us has been so great as her bringing back to
Britain and France the rebirth of the old vision. The old
idealism has returned in this solemn dedication of a great
nation to a great cause. It was the privilege of Colonel
Birks and myself, through the courtesy of the American
commander, to visit their lines. 1 would like to say much
about that visit ; but here I may only mention this, that we
saw a great body of magnificent men, strong, resolute, with
initiative, eager to get into the fight — more eager, because
some of them felt their nation had been a little slow in
coming into it. We saw nothing of the boastful spirit which
has been attributed to the American. We were greeted
everywhere with enthusiasm, and one American said to us :
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 47
'If we Americans can only do as well as the Canadians, we
will be proud of our record in the war/
"There are no finer boys anywhere than those who lead
the men out there. They have studied the needs of the men.
I bring you today a message from one of these leaders, a
fellow-citizen of yours, General Macdonell, commander of
the First Division : 'Say that it pays to bring up children
carefully and well in a God-fearing home, with a good
mother — and, thank God, there are thousands of good
mothers in Canada. Show me such a boy, and I will show
you a man who will face the music and deliver the goods,
and will, if he lives, have his name in the honor list and be
himself the first to say that he owes it all to his old mother.
Winnipeggers may well be proud of their boys. What they
have accomplished is a matter of history. I gladly testify
to their sterling qualities, their courage, and their resource-
fulness/ Then, in a personal message, the General added
gravely and sadly: 'MacNeill, I lost my only boy on this
front, and I can now only live for the other people's boys;
and if there is any mother's 'son in Canada I can especially
serve, I will be glad of the opportunity to do it/ It is such
men as the writer of this letter, gentlemen, who are watch-
ing the interests of our sons and brothers overseas.
"There is one other great project of which I should like
to speak before I sit down. Perhaps the most dangerous
hour of all this terrible struggle will come when peace is
declared. Men will have a tendency to throw off restraint,
and liberty will become license. Now, the project of which
I wish to speak is the great scheme for national education
of the boys overseas. Centres of Bible study and literary
study have been formed under the direction of Capt.
Clarence MacKinnon, formerly of Westminster Church, in
this city, and it occurred to Captain MacKinnon that the
scope of the work could be enlarged. Dr. Tory was invited
to investigate the situation, and report as to its possibilities.
48 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
He reported to the Government and the universities, with
the result that university presidents from coast to coast are
willing and ready to co:operate. The Government and the
military authorities have endorsed the scheme ; and it has
already resulted in the establishment of what is known as
the Khaki University in London, and the Vimy Ridge
University in France. Great progress is being made already
in the work; and we are looking forward without fear to
the day of demobilization, confident that the men who have
had four of the best years taken, as it were, out of their
lives, will by these institutions have been enabled so to
continue study toward their chosen calling that they will
be able to take their due place in civil life when the war is
over. The universities of Canada are asking that half a
million out of the two and a half million campaign funds
asked for in connection with the movement, shall be set
aside for a great educational campaign. I know that the
men of the west will see that, as far as they are concerned,
the funds shall not be lacking."
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 49
A MESSAGE FROM THE FIGHTING LINE
Mr. E. F. Trefz, United States Food Commissioner, to the
Canadian Club, May 2nd, 1918
Referring to the entrance of the United States into the
war, Mr. Trefz declared that, while it may have seemed that
the psychological moment for such a step was when the
Lusitania was sunk, it was in reality timed just as the
leaders in Great Britain would have desired.
The first thing the United States had to do was to take
stock of its resources, and ascertain the nature of the task
ahead of ft. The immediate need was propaganda work
and work of education. At the same time the nation, by
agreement with Great Britain and France, was to concen-
trate its effort on sending over supplies during 1917, and
on the preparation of its army to go over in 1918.
"Well, the Anglo-French mission went home. Five
weeks later, an S. O. S. call came from France. We were
to try and send soldiers at once. Joseph Caillaux had
begun his propaganda, which was later blocked by Clemen-
ceau, and had got a long way with it. It was beginning
to effect the morale of the French people. They could not
see the supplies coming in at the harbors. All they knew
was, that there were no men coming, and that Russia was
out of the war. The only thing that could hearten them
was an ocular demonstration.
"Well, we did not want to break into our regular army.
We had only a few soldiers. So this is what we did. We
took the 16th Division, the crack infantry division of the
United States army, and planned to build a division around
it of 27,700 men, according to the French system. We did
riot want, at that time, to send too many valuable men, as
the submarines were very active. So we went through the
cities, and shanghaied the men of the slums, put uniforms
on them, and gave them Springfield rifles condemned five
years before. All we taught them to do was to carry arms
and dress, so as to present a smart appearance on parade.
Well, we sent over this 'division' on the Fourth of July.
50 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
They marched through Paris, down the Place de la Con-
corde, the Champs Elysees, and other famous thorough-
fares ; and General Pershing marched them to the Lafayette
monument, and in four words made the greatest speech of
his life. 'Lafayette/ he said, 'America is here.'
"That forty per cent, of these men were sent back as unfit
after they had been examined by the military physicians
does not matter much. The object was gained; France
was saved from cracking, at a crisis of the great war.
Seventy-two hours after our expeditionary forces landed,
Caillaux sailed for South America, his conspiracy broken;
Bolo Pasha was arrested — to be, as you know, executed
later- *****
"In the effort to further the will of the people, the United
".States had, for years, waged war against its wealthy men
by such acts, for instance, as the Sherman Anti-trust Law,
after the passing of which it became a saying that two
wealthy men were afraid to be seen shaking hands on the
street for fear they would be arrested on suspicion of being
about to effect a combine. We began to impose taxes on
our railroads. The result was that, in practically nine
years, not a dollar was spent by the railroads for extensions ;
and when the time came to move our troops, transportation
facilities were lacking. But, in spite of the cry-out of
democracy against the wealthy men, it is nevertheless a fact
that there are wealthy men, many of them of foreign
nationality, such as Julius Rosenwald, working for a dollar
a day to help the country out in the present great crisis
of this war. Seven hundred thousand of the men that were
called enemies of the United States are working for the
United States in this struggle. I could name man after
man who has given up everything, wealthy men wrho have
impoverished themselves, and will, after the war, have to
start all over again.
"And, as a nation, we have fiddled away a long time —
trying, as an instance, to improve the 75-gun of France,
and wasting a lot of time on the Rolls-Royce machine. We
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 51
have, it is true, got out the Liberty engine — but it has one
fatal defect: it does not send a battleplane up fast enough.
So we are now building observation and bombing planes,
and sending the materials over to France, letting them build
the battleplanes there, for the six thousand aviators who are
in France. We have 162,000 men training for the aviation
corps ; and our signal corps is larger than the whole United
States army was at the beginning of the war. Those of
you who read the morning paper will find out that, before
the end of the present week, Congress will be asked for the
authority to take the limit off the number of men to be
enlisted under the draft. You will also note, in this morn-
ing's paper, that the United States has transportation
facilities to send across three million men — and, we have
the men, too.
*****
"The cheapest thing in the United States today is money.
We have got profiteers, not of one class, but of several. Our
spirit is such that the man in America who comes out of
this war with more money than he went in with, will have
upon him the stigma of posterity, and will be a pariah and
an outcast. Do you know the reason? Look out in No-
Man's-Land, where a man lies, wounded but not dead, with
a hell of deadly missiles flying over his tortured body;
then, at the same time, think of another man at home, using
the opportunity to line his pockets. Supposing that boy
lying out there was your son — what would your money be
worth? Nothing. We in the United States feel, therefore,
'that the worst thing that can happen to a man is to try
and make money out of the blood over yonder.
"But we have, as I say, profiteers — the profiteer who
throws down his tools to get a dollar a day more, while the
country is working at high pressure — the farmer profiteer
who says that, unless you give him $2.50 per bushel for his
wheat, he will not raise any — the political profiteer who
hampers the administration by criticizing the government."
52 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
THE WAR IN RELATION TO CANADIAN
RECONSTRUCTION
Ven. Archdeacon H. J. Cody, Toronto, to the Canadian Club
May 4th, 1918
In developing his subject, Archdeacon Cody referred to
three factors that will contribute to making a new and a
better Canada after the war, viz., the men who come back
from the front, the women on whom has lately been con-
ferred the franchise, and the men who at home have
honestly tried to learn the lessons of the war. He proceeded
then to indicate some of the lessons the war has taught.
"First, the war has given us a revelation of the heroism
latent in almost every man ; has shown us, in fact, the
extraordinariness of men. Boys that we knew just a few
years ago, running about barefoot in short pants, are now
leading battalions and doing deeds in the air that rival
Thermopylae a thousand times. Yes, the hero is latent in
practically every man ; extraordinary qualities are latent in
almost every man; and this has taught us that we ought to
make higE demands, and not low demands, of each and
every one who shall be engaged in the making of our new
Canada. By the appeal to the hero in us, great results will
be obtained. Let us not make this peace that is coming a
mere negation, a mere absence of war. Let us set peace
before ourselves and our children as a great battle wherein
there are moral equivalents for the factions of war.
"As a sort of corollary to this discovery of the latent
heroic and great qualities in ordinary men, we have had,
conversely, a revelation of the littleness of those occupying
high official positions in our national life. We have been
let down by the high-placed men, and exalted by the ordin-
ary men. But we need never fear that there are not enough
leaders of the right kind to handle any problem that may
be presented to our vast Dominion.
• "In the second place, the war has taught us, I think, to
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAE 53
restore a right proportion to the value of things. We all
know that, speaking generally, our standards before the
war were materialistic, and that we were setting too low
a value on the great things of life. Then came the tremen-
dous cataclysm of the war, and in a moment it seemed as
though all the leaders of men in the world had readjusted
their view. We got to the heart of things — and it was not
wealth nor pleasure that took first place, but duty and honor
and patriotism, things intangible, which leapt into the place
of the things that had been in danger of ruling mankind.
Surely that is one of the lessons that will remain and be
a guiding factor in Canada's reconstruction period. Take
the value of money — is it not true that, in these recent
months many a man has for the first time learned to value
money right? I think it is literally true that thousands of
men are today giving money to the causes arising out of
the war, as they never gave it before. They are finding out
that the finest thing — in fact, the only thing — to do with
money, is to use it for a worthy purpose. Please God, that
lesson will always stay with us/'
Referring in passing to the fact that the war has taught
us a truer conception of the value and place of the State,
the speaker went on to say :
"Another point we have been taught is the supremacy of
persons over things. The essence of all immorality in the
world is the treatment of persons as though they were mere-
ly a means to an end, instead of, as a certain great philo-
sopher has taught, ends in themselves. Liebig, the German
philosopher, said : 'Civilization sets out to attain to power/
Ruskin answered: 'Civilization sets out to make civil
persons/ I believe that in the last analysis the test of our
industrial organization and legislation will be this — that
it regards persons as of more value than things. Now, you
know that we have regarded the rights of property as prac-
tically of more value than the rights of persons. The great
step taken in advance in Canada, I feel, will be that no
rights will be considered more important than the rights
54 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
of persons. If our political organization or our legislation
starves and disregards the person, then we must change it.
Once let us feel that our industrial organization, our institu-
tions of government, exist for the sake of the person — man,
woman or child — and not the person for the sake of the
industrial organization and so on — and we shall have
learned something for which we could almost say this
terrible war has been worth while."
Other lessons of the war have been the elevation of the
spiritual above the materialistic, and the cultivation more
widely of a spirit of brotherhood and sympathy. We have
been forced, too, to learn simplicity and economy in our
living, and this may be our lot for many a year yet.
"Another feature of the war has been the extraordinary
development of state action in the regulation of individual
enterprise. We have learned that no individual can be
allowed to do what he pleases without regard for the rights
and happiness of others. In case after case, the state has
interfered, has commandeered what it thought was neces-
sary in the common interest. We have learned in a few
years what never could have been learned before — that, in
the days to have come probably the state will take a very
much larger share in the guidance and control of industry
and commerce. We have found that individual enterprise
is not sufficient for the problems of exportation, organiza-
-tion of commerce, and application of science to industry,
.in the days that lie before us. The state will have to play
a very much larger part in the organization, if not in the
control, of industry and commerce, in the future than ever
before.
"We have learned also the precarious character of the
food supply. It has taken a long time to teach us that
production is of more importance than speculation, and
that our wealth comes from the land. The absolute import-
ance of agriculture has been revealed to us as never before."
Dealing with the question of Imperial relations, the
speaker expressed the hope that any development that
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 55
might take place would be along the lines of increased -free-
dom and privilege as between mother country and colonies,
together with increased readiness to respond to any Imper-
ial call. "I personally shrink from the elaboration of our
machinery. I cannot conceive how any man could desire
greater unity in the British commonwealth than has been
manifested in this war."
"In Canada we face dangers, real dangers, of disintegra-
tion. I never come across this Laurentian range that divides
Eastern from Western Canada, without realizing that we
have in it a great national Canadian problem. Between the
east and the west, this range makes a gap of a thousand
miles. We must study how to remain one Canada. In
order that east and west may stay together, there must be
give and take. The boys have fought for one Canada. If
east and west are not going to hang together, are not going
to get down and work together, in the light of all the lessons
that I have tried to point out as having been learned in the
war, the sacrifice will have been in vain. Let u§ go forward
into the future with faith in God that the future shall bring
a united Canada.
"We have fought together in thejsvar. We are going to
see that the people of Quebec fight side by side with us, for
their good as much as for ours. We have suffered together,
we shall have to pay the price of the war together; and
we have the common task of building a greater Canada
together. All these factors will, I am sure, bring about
unity. As we stand today in the shadow of this great and
terrible war, let us face our problems manfully and wisely
for the sake of those who are dying for us. Surely they
speak, living and dead, from overseas with a strange note
of authority in their voices. How could we ever face them
in the life to come, if they were to say to us : 'We died for
freedom and you turned it into license'; 'we died for the
brotherhood of the nation, you have a disrupted nation';
'we died for peace, and you have perpetuated class war and
industrial war'.
"Surely they have a right to monuments, not only of brass
56 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
or stone or tablets in churches — although it is fit, too, that
their names should be emblazoned there to tell future
generations how the things they enjoy have been bought —
but a more enduring and mightier monument in a better,
cleaner, more united, more God-fearing land than ever we
have had before."
ADDBESSES OF THE YEAR 57
THE PROBLEM OF THE RETURNED SOLDIER
Dr. R. Bruce Taylor, Principal, Queen's University, to the
Canadian Club, June 4th, 1918
Canada has two problems on its hands at once — the
problem of getting men to the front, and the problem of
what to do with them when they return, incapacitated or
partially so for their former employments. Considering the
latter, the speaker appealed to his audience to try to imagine
what it really means to a man to be away for years from
his business, profession or trade. His skill and training
will have left him through lack of practice; or, it may be,
methods will have advanced so far in his absence that he
will be at first hopelessly out of date.
"It requires infinite patience to deal with the returned
man. You must not say, as some have said: 'I have tried
him again and again, but he is no good/ You must keep
hold of the idea that something can be and must be made
of these men, who, after all, have been fighting your battles
and have certainly managed, somehow, to give Canada a
new place in the sun.
"I have lately been constituted president of the Great
War Veterans. In years past, I have been one of the critics
of some of the actions of the Great War Veterans; but I
think that, after all, it is a man's duty to get into an organi-
zation of that kind and see what he can do for it, even
though he may have to risk his personal popularity, and
see that the returned soldier does not become such a menace
to the commonwealth as the Army of the Republic did after
the French Revolution, for instance. We desire and expect
them to get back into the routine of civil life as soon as
possible.
"Nowr, who are these returned men? They are your sons.
Your hearts nearly broke when you gave them up, and now
they have come back to you, maimed and changed. In the
army is also that large element of the lawless or the
58 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
incompetent that, before the war, was drifting about the
country. It is our duty, as a matter of citizenship, to try
to put these to some use. It is not only with the man him-
self that we are concerned. We must think of the state as
well. These men must be absorbed into the processes of
civilian life."
Dr. Taylor here referred to the work of the Military
Hospitals Commission and the Soldiers' Civil Re-establish-
ment Bureau, describing the work of the latter in some
detail and the vocational, courses provided under its direc-
tion by Eastern Universities, illustrating these by special
reference to his own institution, Queen's University.
"I hope that when the matter comes before you, as it is
bound to do, that you who are employers of labor will not
continue to say that the returned man is no good. Get
into touch with the vocational officer of your district, and
through him you can give these men a chance ; and it may
very well be that the man who is physically impaired may
through this opportunity be trained gradually into the same
efficient laborer as, but for the accident of the war, he would
ever have been."
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 59
EARLY HISTORY OF THE RED RIVER
SETTLEMENT
Chester Martin, Professor of History, University of Mani-
toba, to the Canadian Club, June 21st, 1918
False modesty is not usually regarded as the besetting
sin of Western Canadians, and yet we seem to persist in
regarding ourselves as a people without a history, when,
as a matter of fact, the district about Hudson Bay is
literally the oldest continuously British territory on the
continent of North America. It is now 248 years since
the famous charter was granted to the "Merchant Adven-
turers of England Trading into Hudson's Bay." It was
nearly a century and a half later that Quebec and Ontario
became British at the Treaty of Paris, in 1763.
Thus, in substance, did Professor Martin begin his
address to the Club members from the verandah of what
was formerly the chief factor's residence at Lower Fort
Garry. He continued:
"It is doubtful if any phase of settlement in the British
Empire is to be traced in such a wealth of detail, pleasant
and otherwise, as the early history of the Red River Settle-
ment. In the Selkirk Papers alone there are more than
30,000 folios of manuscript, covering almost every imagin-
able detail of colonization and settlement. Many an
historic letter or document was written within these very
walls, to be taken down over the bank there to the express
canoe for York Factory and the annual Hudson Bay ships
to the headquarters of the company in London. If you
will allow me, I should like to bring two or three of these
hoary old witnesses back into court this evening to give
evidence in their own behalf.
"There are the words, for instance, in Selkirk's neat and
precise handwriting, written about the year 1815: 'It is
a very moderate calculation to say that if these regions
were occupied by an industrious population, they might
afford ample means of subsistence for thirty millions of
British subjects.' These remarkable words, subsequently
60 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
published in Selkirk's Sketch of the Fur Trade, were
written before a single bushel of wheat had been exported
from this country, and when practically the only avenue
of communication with the outside world was by way of
Hudson Bay. I think that sentence will rank as one of the
most remarkable prophecies of the nineteenth century."
Among other interesting historical notes gleaned from
the Selkirk papers, Professor Martin adduced the following :
"But one must not close the case, so to speak, without
calling one or two witnesses into court to give evidence
with regard to these very walls, and also with regard to
the bastions of the 'New Fort Garry/ as it was long called,
which used to stand on the high ground just south of the
present Manitoba Club and the Fort Garry Hotel. The
north wall was subsequently pulled down in order to
enlarge the fort, and the north gateway was re-erected in
the 'sixties,' where it now stands, the solitary historic
monument in modern Winnipeg of the sway which once
ruled a quarter of the continent.
"In the Minutes of the Council of the Northern Depart-
ment, that met at Norway House, June 21, 1836 — just
exactly 82 years ago today — the establishment at Fort
Garry is given in Resolution No. 42. Alexander Christie,
chief factor; John Ballenden, clerk; Hector Mackenzie,
clerk, and Pierre LeBlanc, postmaster, with three servants,
are found at the old 'Fort Garry' on the river-banks at the
junction of the Red and the Assiniboine. The names of
Mackenzie and LeBlanc, it will be seen presently, have a
particular interest for us here this evening. In the 'New
Fort Garry,' as it came to be called, on the higher ground
a few hundred yards to the westward, there were as yet
only George Setter, postmaster, and two servants. Then
in Resolution 44 of the Minutes of the Council are found
these historic words with regard to the 'New Fort' : 'That
tradesmen and laborers be employed in erecting and com-
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 61
pleting the necessary buildings of the New Establishment
of Fort Garry, and that a sufficient quantity of stone be
quarried and hauled in the Winter for the Bastions and
Surrounding Walls/
"It may be added that the process of building continued
until 1838-39. From the Minutes of 1839 and thereafter
with regard to the 'New Fort/ it may be inferred that the
work had been by that time completed, and the scene of
building operations transferred, we shall see, to the spot
where we are gathered this evening.
"In the year 1837 for the first time, the Minutes of the
Northern Department assign a regular establishment to
the 'Lower Fort/ It consisted of Hector Mackenzie and
Pierre LeBlanc — both of whom had been assigned to 'Old
Fort Garry/ it will be remembered, for the preceding year
— and two servants. It is in 1839 that we find provision
made by the Council for 'additional tradesmen and labour-
ers for erecting the requisite buildings at the Lower Fort/
and these historic walls began to rise from the prairie in
the form in which we now see them. By brief business-
like resolutions like these — usually about one hundred in
number at each annual meeting of the Council of the
Northern Department — the shrewd factors and traders,
assembled at Norway House, were accustomed to control a
district larger than the whole of Europe/'
The Professor closed with a plea that, in justice to itself,
the Province do more to preserve and render available the
materials in its early history that can be utilized for build-
ing up a strong national tradition.
"The steps that are being taken and that remain to be
taken before our history can become, in any real sense, a
part of ourselves, are many and difficult; and it would be
abusing your courtesy to discuss them here. The provision
which the Provincial Government is making for Provincial
Archives is only the beginning of a task which must include
ample means of availing ourselves of the co-operation of
the Federal Archives at Ottawa, and the reorganization of
62 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
a Provincial Historical Society dedicated in a business-like
and methodical way to scholarly research and publication.
"The fact that the appreciation of these things is an
acquired taste carries with it a heavy penalty if we fail in
discernment by reason of purely material considerations.
It will be found at the end of the day, I venture to think,
that the obscure and bitter struggles of those early days in
this country have formed no small part of that illimitable
sacrifice which has been poured out in all quarters of the
earth to safeguard the distant fields of the Empire for the
civilization and settlement of generations to come."
Note. — Through the courtesy of the Motor Country Club,
this meeting was held at Lower Fort Garry.
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 63
THE FOUNDATIONS OF RECONSTRUCTION,
CO-OPERATION AND EDUCATION
Major William L. Grant, Principal of Upper Canada College,
to the Canadian Club, August 6th, 1918
Notwithstanding the widespread distrust of "abstract
ideas" and "theorizing," the speaker declared that he
intended to discuss ideas, and in particular the two ideas
of co-operation (as opposed to competition) and education.
In developing the idea of co-operation, he referred to the
marvellous way in which the war has changed the life of
the world by an enormous speeding up of the processes of
change. New forces that had hitherto been working under
the soil, and would have continued to do so for decades
perhaps, were brought to the surface; and so, for example,
the watchword of British economic and political theory
has been changed, and competition has been replaced by
co-operation.
"Moreover, in the early days of Canada and the United
States, this theory of government, of the relation of the
settler to the state, had the great advantage that it worked
well. The cake to be scrambled for was so large that there
was enough to go .around, however faulty the method of
distribution. Everybody was too busy making easy money
to trouble much about things. Given a sufficiency of gal-
leons, and energetic piracy has much to commend it. And
yet, great as was the necessity for casting off the trammels
of an outworn system, we have learned in this war that such
a casting-oif is only a preliminary, that in national life the
rule of the strongest and the survival of the fittest is the
doctrine of Kaiserism. Great Britain herself has stooped
her high pride to the desire for victory, she has learned the
need of co-operation, and has placed her troops under the
supreme command of Foch, a Frenchman. So in our
economic and social life, we must, I think, admit what Great
Britain and the United States and every allied nation have
already admitted in practice, that cut-throat competition
64 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
is the negation of citizenship, and that the key-word for
Canada in the period of reconstruction must be organization
and co-operation, not competition.
' 'Nous sommes en plein incoherence' (in full tide of
incoherence), said Clemenceau to the French deputies some
years ago. Nothing is more striking in this regard than the
way in which in the United States, the country from which
we have the most to learn, the wheel has turned a full
circle. They have found that to put a mass of able and
energetic people into a country of wonderful and diverse
riches, and to tell them to shift for themselves, leads to
anarchy; and old theories and a bushel of laws deduced
from them are being flung upon the scrap heap.
"To list the myriad forms of organization and co-opera-
tion which will be necessary, would keep us here till morn-
ing; but Great Britain and the United States have already
gone far enough to enable us to see that there are three
great factors which must organize themselves, and in whose
harmonious co-operation lies the attainment of the Canada
of our dreams. The three modern Estates of the Realm
are not Clergy, Lords, Commons, working under the
benignant rule of the sovereign ; but Government, Capital,
Labor, working under the control of the sovereign people.
"Capital must be allowed to organize. In Great Britain,
France, Germany, Japan and the United States, it is doing
so on a vast scale, and rightly so. The larger the organiza-
tion, the easier and more open it is to deal with. The 'trust
buster' of the last generation saw an evil, but took the
wrong way to deal with it. If Canada is to reconstruct
herself, if her business men are to launch out into the ocean
of foreign trade, they can do so only by organization, and
organization on a great scale. The credit of the state must
be put at their disposal, and aid given them in every way.
Our economic policy must be a national policy in a wider
and more intrinsic sense than was dreamed of forty years
ago.
"So, too, must labor be allowed to organize. 'Every man
ADDEESSES OF THE YEAE 65
for himself and Providence for us all/ as the elephant said
when he danced among the chickens, is an outworn creed.
The laborer, skilled or unskilled, in city or on farm, is also
a citizen, just as much a citizen as his employer. We are
not individuals, bound by cash payments; we are citizens,
members of a great organized community; and only if
organized, and organized from sea to sea, can labor play its
part in our great reconstruction. Great associations,
whether of grain growers or of artisans, are stabilizing
forces.
"Of the right of governments to organize, and of their
power as organizing forces, I need not speak. 'The divine
right of government/ said Disraeli, 'is the keystone of all
progress/ 'You cannot/ it has been said, 'make men
righteous by act of parliament/ It is more true to say
that you cannot make them righteous except by act of par-
liament. But here again, once we have got our three great
forces organized, we must make the further step of recog--
nizing that they must co-operate; that neither capital nor
labor availeth anything; but a new Canada. 'Are their
interests the same?' you say. What is the final safeguard of
the state? Upon what does its permanence depend? Upon
the good-will — it is as old as Aristotle — of the citizens.
Who only has the right to vote? He or she who is above
the political level ; who has citizenship in his heart, and not
predatory greed ; he who looks on his country with the love
of a man for wife or mother, not with that of a buccaneer
for a galleon. The mechanical means of co-operation are at
our hand. In the last fifty years the amazing triumphs of
science have bound us together until state enterprise and
state control are as possible as fifty years ago were munici-
pal enterprise and municipal control.
"And therefore to turn to my last word of Power: With
co-operation must go education. What ideas without educa-
tion will do is well seen in that triumph of the half-baked,
66 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
the Russian revolution. Only in so far as we are educated,
are we citizens.
"In the very heat of the war, Great Britain has found
time to vote enormously increased sums to education, and
to pass an education act which renders full-time education
compulsory up to 14, and part-time education up to 18. In
this, two or three things catll for special attention: (1) It
has been passed at the demand of the leaders of the labor-
ing classes. Not so long ago in England a large family was
considered an asset, because of the wages brought in by the
boys and girls. Now, the leaders of labor, in the interests of
citizenship, and of the state, deliberately forego all that, see-
ing that only an educated democracy can endure. They want
education, and free education and education consciously
directed to a more civic end. In Canada here we must re-
organize our whole educational system. We must not copy
either Great Britain or the United States. We have tended
too much to be 'copy cats' in our educational policy. But
while the exact enactments must be suitable to Canada, we
cannot too soon or too earnestly seek to emulate the British
spirit. For Great Britain is not only educating the young;
not only the adolescent; she has found that education is a
process lasting through life. How many of you know of
the Workers' Educational Association, now so widespread
in Great Britain that it has attained the distinction of being
spoken of by its initials as the W. E. A. ? It began with a
number of artisans, of their own free volition requesting the
University of Oxford to send them a tutor to assist them
in the study of political science. This has gone on and
grown until there are now in Great Britain over 180 such
associations of ten to thirty working men, each studying
under a tutor provided by a recognized university. Every
British university aids the movement; over 2,000 working-
men's trades unions and other associations co-operate ; the
Board of Education and local authorities give grants in aid.
Every student guarantees that, save in the event of sudden
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 67
death, change of residence, or such unavoidable cause, he
will write twelve essays per year, and attend the class regu-
larly for three years. And they do it — not perfectly, but as
perfectly as even the students in the University of Manitoba
do their work — and the Board of Education describes their
work as equal at its best to the highest honor standard of
Oxford University.
"So it must be in Canada. We must thoroughly overhaul
our whole educational machinery. We must explore what
we have only begun to scratch — the possibilities of part-time
education. We must have many more types of school, and
more exits from one phase of education into another and
into the world. Technical schools, commercial schools —
above all, agricultural schools. As for universities, I shall
only say here that if I were an university president, I would
make two classes, and only two, compulsory — English and
political science. While the education of Canada will in the
main be given in the day school, there is plenty of space for
the type of school in which the young life is shaped through
all its waking hours. In some way, Federal aid for educa-
tion must be provided, for money is needed, more money
than the provinces alone can provide."
68 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
CANADIAN RECONSTRUCTION
Sir John Willison to the Canadian Club
September 5th, 1918
Beginning with a plea for the abandonment of old
political programmes and catchwords, and all local and
sectional considerations, Sir John Willison urged his
hearers to subject all economic proposals and legislative
measures designed to meet the conditions that will follow
peace, to the crucial test of whether or not they serve the
common national welfare. He passed in review some of
these conditions, dealing in turn with the release of those
employed in the manufacture of munitions, the demobiliza-
tion of the troops and the taxation necessary to meet the
interest charges on accumulated war debt.
"When peace comes, we shall need as never before indus-
trial efficiency and the maximum of production in field and
factory. It is impossible to believe that we should consider
destructive legislation when 700,000 men will have to be
provided with new employment, and the annual charges for
interest, pensions, hospital services, vocational training of
soldiers, and the general cost of government will be so enor-
mous as compared with our pre-war obligations. It will
be vitally necessary to expand old industries, create
new industries, stimulate agriculture and improve land
and ocean transportations. All across the Dominion
the shipyards are busy. When the war is over, we will
have a commercial fleet such as we probably would not have
created in a quarter of a century of normal development.
If we have ships, we must have cargoes. These can be pro-
vided only by the fields and factories. Neither can meet the
demand singly. Both must produce to the utmost. Again,
if we are to have the utmost efficiency in industry, we must
have adequate facilities for scientific and industrial research.
As much through applied science as through organization,
Germany established its great: position in world markets.
In the United States there is a prodigal expenditure of
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 69,
money for research such as was never equalled even in Ger-
many. Japan is picking the brains of the world and organiz-
ing for industrial conquest on every market. Whatever may,
be our fiscal creed, we cannot wisely neglect the example
of these countries which have such an intimate industrial
relation to Canada. Both are allies in the tremendous
struggle for a free world, but .1 do not understand that
partnership in the war involves economic dependence in the
future. We shall be as free as before to determine our own
national policy. So will they. There is no doubt that they
will assert their freedom and we will do likewise, not in
suspicion or in enmity, but in the common endeavor to estab-
lish sound social conditions and ensure a high national
destiny. Industrially, Japan with its command of the east,
its supply of cheap labor, and its aggressive efficiency, will
be the Germany of the future. Taking advantage of the
world's preoccupation in war, Japan is seizing the natural
resources, the industries and the commerce of China. It
is declared that the Chinese are practically helpless against
Japan's resolute and scientific methods of attack. The
National Association of Cotton Manufacturers of the
United States urges makers of cotton goods to concentrate
upon the markets of South Amerka, Porto Rico, Hawaii
and the Philippines, because of the hold which Japan has
obtained in China and the Far East. A departmental com-
mittee of the British Board of Trade, appointed to consider
the position of the textile trades after the war, reports:
'The abnormally low level of wages in Japan, the increasing
efficiency of her operatives, the extension of her activity to
bleached, dyed, printed and finished cloths, the proximity
of the country to the great western markets, and the system
of subsidized steamers, the marketing advantages derived
from her knowledge of the languages, customs and needs
of Oriental countries; the close co-operation between the
Japanese government, banks, shipping companies, mer-
chants and manufacturers for the furtherance of foreign
trade, all point to the fact that Japan is destined to become
70 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
Lancashire's principal competitor in years to come.' No
country is more directly exposed to Japanese competition
than is Canada, and altogether aside from fiscal theories
we cannot afford to ignore the possible effects upon Cana-
dian labor and all our standards of civilization.
"It is admitted that during the era of reconstruction there
will be an universal scarcity of raw materials. Surely it
will be sound policy for Canada to conserve and develop
its natural resources as the foundation of home industries,
and wise to carry manufacture to the last process in Canada.
It has been said that, 'In an average dollar's worth of
Canadian produce sold abroad, there was, before the
munition trade sprang up, probably 80 cents' worth of raw
material and 20 cents' worth .of labor, skill and art. In a
dollar's worth of American produce there is. probably 10
cents.' worth of raw material and 90 cents' W7orth of the
others. Canada sells rough stone for grindstones at $5.00
a ton, and buys back foreign-made grindstones at $100 a
ton; sells wheat at 1.8 cents a pound when she could get 2.5
cents a pound for it as wheat flour; sells a carload of pulp-
wood for a six-gross carton of American tooth paste; sells
a trainload of nickel matte from Sudbury for two cars of
medium-priced automobiles.'
"What is more natural than that the Canadian West
should be the chief seat of the milling industry on this
continent? British Columbia has timber and minerals
which are the natural nuclei of great domestic enterprises.
We have pulp areas which give us a powerful position- in
the manufacture of paper. We have steel and coal of great
immediate and greater potential industrial advantage.
More and more we should relate our industries to our
natural resources. We require a more scientific examina-
tion of these resources. Are we as rich in raw materials
as we commonly believe? Have we all the knowledge that
we should have of our timber supply? Are we doing all
that we should do to conserve it and to ensure continuance
and reproduction so far as that is practicable? The British
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 71
Reconstruction Committee advises an expenditure of
$75,000,000, spread over forty years, to improve forests and
plant new forests. It declares that 'the whole sum involved
is less than half the direct loss incurred during the years
1915 and 1916 through dependence on imported timber/
There could be no higher national duty than to guard
against exhaustion of the forests of Canada. What have
we in lead and zinc and iron and steel? Are we developing
the fisheries with wisdom and energy and to the maximum
of national advantage? What. of asbestos and other natural
assets, from which we get no adequate commercial or
national results?"
Continuing, the speaker urged the pressing need of an
exhaustive scientific inventory being taken by the Govern-
ment of the natural resources of Canada, and a study made
of the vast markets that will open up, especially in the
reconstruction of the ravaged areas of the Old World.
"The War Finance Corporation of the United States, with
a capital of $500,000,000, is authorized to provide credits for
industries and enterprises necessary to or contributory to the
prosecution of the war, to the huge total of $3,000,000,000.
Is it not possible to provide credits in Canada for industry
and agriculture during the period of reconstruction? The
great objects should be to increase field production, to assist
new industries native to Canada, to stimulate and extend
scientific research, and to find new markets for Canadian
products and manufactures. We must increase production
if we are to bear staunchly the burden which the war has
laid upon us; and after all, agriculture and settlement are
the primary considerations. While the soldiers are return-
ing, we may not have any great volume of immigration
from Europe, owing chiefly to an inevitable scarcity of
shipping accommodation. But the very foundations of
British industry have been disturbed, a multitude of women
have adapted themselves to new occupations, and hundreds
of thousands of soldiers will return from the war, animated
by new impulses, perhaps with greater self-reliance, and
72 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
certainly of more adventurous spirit. They will look
toward the unoccupied areas of the newer countries, and
Canada will not be neglected. They will not come if there
is depression and unemployment, whatever problems may
attend upon a great immigration ; and probably for the
future we shall set a higher value upon Canadian citizen-
ship. We need population to justify our heavy expenditures
On public works -and railways, and to carry obligations
which at least are very onerous for eight millions of people.
It is, however, not enough to have the land ; there must
also be reasonable assurance of employment and markets.
"It is supremely important that the export demand for
Canadian farm products should not be diminished. For the
moment there is a resolute determination in Great Britain
that for the future the country shall be self-feeding. How
far it will be possible to give effect to that determination,
time will reveal. Before the war, the United Kingdom
produced less than forty per cent, of the cereals required
to feed its population. In 1917 more than a million acres
were added to the area under ^rain and potatoes. There
was an increase over the previous year of 850,000 tons of
home-grown cereals and of 3,000,000 tons of potatoes.
During this year, 1,200,000 additional acres have been
brought under cultivation. The area under wheat is now
one and a half times greater than before the war, and the
food supply has been substantially increased by the general
cultivation of allotments. This great increase in the British
crop acreage has been assisted materially by farm tractors,
which should be made in Canada as successfully as in the
United States. Great Britain may not become absolutely
self-feeding, but assuredly there will be much less idle
land in the British Islands for years to come. It is only
surprising that much of this land was not forced into culti-
vation long ago. But if the British demand for Canadian
food products is to decrease, it is vital that other markets
should be discovered, facilities of transportation afforded,
and our products standardized according to the require-
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 73
ments of importing countries. It is vital, too, that industries
closely related to agriculture should be developed and home
markets created and enlarged in the great agricultural
areas. It may be necessary to guarantee wheat prices for
a period. There are problems of reconstruction affecting
the farm as well as the factory. Instead of conflict between
industry and agriculture when peace is restored, there may
be the gravest necessity for complete sympathy and co-
operation and active mutual support."
To insure the highest economic and industrial develop-
ment, there must be perfect understanding and co-operation
between field and factory, between West and East, between
employers and workmen.
"As there will be necessity for understanding and co-
operation between field and factory, so it is greatly desirable
that relations between employers and workmen should be
improved and stabilized. Failure of capital to appreciate
the human rights of labor and the dominance of extreme
elements in workmen's organizations have been responsible
for much industrial trouble and conflict. But everywhere
there are signs of a spirit among industrial leaders which
recognizes human as superior to economic considerations,
as there are evidences of a disposition among leaders of
labor to admit that capital and management are as clearly
entitled to a return as labor itself. It is to be hoped that
we will hear the true voice of labor less seldom and the
clamor of extremists less often. Russia affords a striking
lesson of the results of impossible theories and revolution-
ary leadership. In a broader conception of industry by
capital, and a more sympathetic understanding of the func-
tions of capital and the value of direction and organization
lie the best promise of a happier industrial future.
"It is recognized as never before that labor and capital
are a business partnership ; that the natural human relation
of the employer is with his workmen and of the workmen
74 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
with the employer, that in co-operation there is common
gain and industrial peace; and in conflict common loss,
social misery and national weakness. I am not such a
confident optimist as to think that we can establish perman-
ent industrial peace in a day, that under any system men
can devise labor will be always reasonable and employers
always just and generous; but I do believe that in joint
conferences of employers and workers much loss and
friction can be avoided, and the unity and stability of the
Commonwealth enormously strengthened. Is there any
reason why Canada should not blaze the trail toward a
better relation between labor and capital, and evolve out
of the travail of war and reconstruction a genuine industrial
democracy?"
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 75
CANADA'S FIRST LINE DEFENCE
Hon. Newton W. Rowell to the Canadian Club
September 12th, 1918
Canada has three lines of defence — one in France, one
in Great Britain, and the third in Canada itself. The first
and second lines can only achieve victory as they are
supported by the third. Every man, woman and child in
Canada forms a part of this third line of defence, and by
word and act is either strengthening or weakening the first
and second lines. The Honorable Mr. Rowell said that
he had just returned from visiting the first and second lines
of Canada's defences, and counted it his duty and his privi-
lege to report to those holding the third line, the condition
in which he had found the first and second.
"You will be glad to know that there is no weakness in
the first line. Our 160,000 or 170,000 Canadian troops in
France are unsurpassed by those of any other country.
Our Canadian corps is the most effective single fighting
unit on the whole western front, and they have just won
their greatest victory in this war. They will stand fast;
they will not weaken. Neither German guns nor German
propaganda can cut the nerve of their enthusiasm, or
weaken their will to achieve victory. The only thing that
would weaken their high purpose and noble resolve would
be doubt or hesitation on the part of the people at home.
"The second line, comprising our reinforcements, is now
well organized. Our training camps are efficient, and the
men have been rapidly and thoroughly trained to provide
the necessary reinforcements for the front line wherever
they are needed. There will be no weakening in resolution,
or efficiency in the second line of our defence."
"The only division of the allied and enemy forces which
has been kept up to strength on the battlefields of France
during the colossal battles of the past eighteen months has
76 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
been the Canadian Expeditionary Force. All the others
on both sides — British, French, Australian, German — have
been fighting under strength. In fighting under these con-
ditions, it is not so much the difference in the number of
men which counts, as the improved morale of those who
know that they are always up to strength and fighting under
the most favorable conditions possible. Now, the reason
we have been able to accomplish this task of keeping the
Canadian forces up to strength is because we have had in
Canada a law — the Military Service Act — which has made
it possible for us to furnish adequate reinforcements in a
steady stream for our men.
"Now, I shall, as I have said, speak only of the first or
fighting echelon in France, and of our visit to them a few
weeks ago. Our forces in France are composed of : (a) The
corps, or main fighting unit of four divisions and corps
troops under the command of Lieut. -Gen. Sir Arthur Currie ;
(b) the Cavalry Brigade, under the command of Brigadier-
General Patterson; (c) the railway troops, under the com^
mand of Brigadier-General J. W. Stewart; (d) the forestry
corps, under the immediate command of Colonel White, and
under the general command of Brigadier-General McDoug-
all, who is at the head of the forestry forces in both Great
Britain and France ; (e) Army Medical Service and hospital
units-; (f) lines of communication and other auxiliary
troops ; (g) advanced depot to keep other units reinforced.
Our total force in France today, embracing all the above
units, is equal to the original British Expeditionary Force,
known as the "First Seven Divisions," which at the time
represented Great Britain's contribution to the allied armies
on the continent. We now have in France over 160,000
men, of whom about 25,000 are railway and forestry troops.
Some months ago, in view of the situation on the western
front, and on the advice of our corps commander, we mater-
ially strengthened the corps, not only in numbers, but by
the addition of important auxiliary services, chiefly in
engineering services, and in machine gun battalions ; so that
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 77
now we have a force in personnel and equipment unsurpass-
ed in any theatre of war, possessing an offensive and
defensive power which should materially reduce their own
casualties and greatly increase those of the enemy. This
has involved an increase since January 1 in our fighting
forces in France of about 20,000 men."
"There is probably no more stirring achievement in all
this war than the record of the first squadron of the Fort
Garry Horse in the Cambrai offensive. We now know that
in the great offensive the cavalry was to play a most import-
ant part, and when the infantry had advanced and captured
Messines, the cavalry, led by the Canadian brigade, was to
cross the canal, cut through the German lines, and isolate
Cambrai. The Fort Garry Horse was to lead the advance.
When they came to the canal, they found that the bridge
had been destroyed, but with Canadian skill and ingenuity
they improvised a bridge across the locks, and the first
squadron crossed in single file. But before the second
squadron reached the canal an order came from the higher
command cancelling the operation ; they had heard that the
bridge had been destroyed, but had heard nothing of the
Canadian ingenuity by which a new bridge had been
improvised and the first squadron moved across. Well, the
single squadron, believing they were being supported,
pressed forward in pursuit of the Germans. They pushed
past the batteries, sabring the German gunners or taking
them prisoner, causing the enemy infantry to retire, and
finally, after having fought their way forward some two
miles, discovered they were without support and under a
heavy fire from German blockhouses. Four unwounded
horses and 43 men had reached the position in which they
found themselves. This little body of men held the position
till dark; then, to deceive the enemy, stampeded the four
horses; and while the horses drew the German fire, the little
band bayonetted their way back to their own lines, reaching
there in separate groups, about forty strong, around 4 a.m.,
78 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
after twelve hours' steady and hard fighting. Lieut. Strong
received the Victoria Cross for his heroism on that occasion.
In the meantime, Col. Patterson, their commanding officer,
who had crossed the canal with a view of sizing up the
situation, found himself suddenly isolated and had to fight
his way back. Two horses were shot from under him, two
grooms killed, and his batman seriously wounded; yet the
gallant officer fought his way successfully back to his own
lines. The achievement of this Canadian cavalry squadron
should go down into history as outstandingly as the Charge
of the Light Brigade."
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 79
THE SALVATION ARMY, DURING THE WAR AND
AFTER
Commissioner David C. Lamb to the Canadian Club
September 27th, 1918
The Commissioner dealt mainly with the changed con-
ditions in Great Britain as a result of the war, and their
effect on the work of the Salvation Army, and with after-
thc-war conditions as they will affect Canada and the world.
"As to the general condition of the old land, I might say
that we are not downhearted. The streets are dark in
London, but the spirit of the people shines on. Even in the
dark days of the early summer, there was less evidence of
anxiety than I believe was evidenced here. Even if the
enemy had got Paris and the Channel ports had fallen, there
would have been no breaking of the spirit of the old land
— certainly that would not have ended the war. The entry
of the United States was a great encouragement to us
morally, quite apart from the material weight of men and
munitions. The government .control of railways and other
industries is having a twofold effect. Some 'of the depart-
ments are being run with advantage, and may con'tinue to
remain in the hands of the government. Then, on the other
side, there is in many quarters a feeling that we have had
enough of government control. Another thing that I
noticed is the equalizing of conditions to meet general world
conditions. Wages are up ; and if the cost of living has gone
up too, yet on the whole the mass of the people are better
off, and are approaching something of the conditions that
prevailed here in pre-war times. Prices of many articles —
I notice here in Winnipeg — are less than in the old land.
The advent of women into industry is also another marked
factor in life in the old land. They have come in by hundreds
of thousands, and are doing well. As street car conductors
and drivers, they are much in public evidence, and are doing
80 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
their work well. Glasgow has, I believe, declared that the
women are doing better as drivers than the men.
"The restriction of drinking houses has made a marked
difference upon the convictions for drunkenness in the police
courts, and also in the general appearance of the streets.
The reports about increased drunkenness amongst the
women are shown to have been wild exaggerations. Those
of us who have been up against these things for years all
realize that things are better than they have been. Upon
the moral sex question, a good deal has been said. I have
known London for the last thirty years. In some respects
it is worse, and in some respects better. The line of demar-
cation between civil and military authority has created a
situation difficult to control, and now that the government
is trying to deal with the matter by an order under the
Defence of the Realm Act, which looks like a reimposition
of the Contagious Diseases Act, many social reformers are
crying against action being taken. But, in the case of social
vice, the figures, which I have been privileged to see, of cases
under treatment, show conditions not dissimilar to those
which prevailed in civil life in normal times. In looking
at this question, one must consider the movement of the
population. Now, the figures of Grace Hospital, our Win-
nipeg institution, show a striking falling-off in the number
of illegitimate births recorded during the past four years.
The actual number of births is higher, but there is a steady
falling off in the number born out of wedlock. If perchance
there should be an increase in the home land figures, it will
be no cause for alarm, under existing conditions ; but, as
a matter of fact, when the government vital statistics come
to be published, it may be shown that the illegitimate births
in the old land have also fallen.
"While on this subject, let me mention also, as a mark
of the progress that the old land is making in the social
question, the fact that royal assent was given last month to
the Maternity and Child Welfare Act, which is in many
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAE 81
respects ahead of anything that I know of in any part of
the world."
With regard to the conditions that will emerge after the
war is over, Commissioner Lamb expressed a belief in the
ultimate recognition of a league of nations as an efficient
international force, a belief that the old conditions of
destitution and drunkenness in cities like London were
gone, never to return ; and a belief that there will be a wide-
spread desire to emigrate among the men in the British
Army returning from the front, and that Canada will be
able to secure from among them just as many new citizens
as it may desire, and from whatever class it may cater for.
82 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
THE RETREAT FROM MONS
Major-General John Headlam, C.B., D.S.O., to the
Canadian Club, December 4th, 1918
This was the first meeting of the Canadian Club after
the signing of the armistice that marked the end of
hostilities in the Great War, and the president, before
introducing the speaker of the day, took occasion to refer
to this fact, and to call upon the chaplain, Rev. W. M.
Loucks, to express in prayer the thanks of the Club to
Almighty God for the victory which had been given to the
Empire.
Major-General Headlam, in introducing his subject, "The
Retreat from Mons," took occasion to justify his selection
by pointing out that it was the only part of the war about
which the members of the Club would-be unable to hear at
first hand from their own troops. He dwelt then upon the
fact that the retreat from Mons could only have been
effected by a regular army, and that it was this same regular
army that, held the line all through the first winter and
gave the Empire time to train its civilian armies to come
into the field in the spring and summer of 1915.
"I will pass over the period of mobilization. We had
made preparations for mobilization years before ; and there
was really nothing to do but ride around and inspect
the units as they reached strength. Eventually, on the
17th of August, we sailed from Dublin Bay to Havre, and
were a couple of days on the train going up to the front.
We received a warm welcome in France, and it was the
deadly seriousness of the people there that really showed
us for the first time the nature of the grim struggle which
had commenced. Two days' march through a smiling
country brought us to Mons.
"On the afternoon of the day that we reached our place
at the left of the allied line, the German attack commenced.
My first battery commander was shot through the head
just one week after leaving home. Our headquarters was
at a little station on a railway running out of Mons. We
ADDRESSES OF THE YEAR 83
occupied the hotel ; and I remember that, all day long*, the
proprietor and his wife and two daughters slaved away,
making meals, etc., for us and for the officers and orderlies
that came up. That night I, as the general, was allowed
the one bedroom in the house. Through the partition, in
the next room, I heard those two girls sobbing- as though
their hearts would break, all night long. They knew that
our outposts had been driven in, and they could see the
whole sky red with the flames of the villages. I have always
wished I could hear what happened to that family. They
left next morning-, but whether they got clear away or not,
I do not know.
"Next morning a very curious scene presented itself — pit
heads, slag heaps, engine houses, and long lines of little
pit villages. It was not long till the first German shell
burst in the trees above our heads, and the battle of Mons
had commenced. We could do little in that sort of ground
in the way of observation, and it is rather difficult, there-
fore, to describe the battle, as each unit could only see that
particular bit in front of it. The German attack soon
strengthened ; but there was no break in the line nor falling-
back until about midday, when a general withdrawal was
ordered by Sir John French, in consequence of a telegram
received from General Joffre, indicating the enormous
strength the Germans were throwing against 'our front — five
divisions to our two, or something like that. We therefore
withdrew to prepared positions further back."
The General then narrated some incidents of the retreat
and described briefly the battle of Le Catcau and the further
withdrawal that was necessary thereafter.
"The withdrawal was a very difficult operation. A great
many lives of men and horses were lost. It is impossible
to tell you half of the gallant deeds that were done, even
by my own small command. Many were the cases of
battery commanders serving their guns to the end, until
practically all their men were lost — in one case, only four
officers, a captain and 3 lieutenants, out of 25, survived.
84 THE CANADIAN CLUB OF WINNIPEG
Some batteries lost all their force. One brigade lost over
200 horses. But we did get the body of the guns away ; and
all the guns that were got away went into action again.
Captain Reynolds got the Victoria Cross for a very wonder-
ful feat of arms, bringing two guns away under the very
eyes of the Germans. Unfortunately, he was very badly
wounded later, and eventually gassed. I saw the whole
thing happen myself — the bringing away of the guns. We
actually had to stop firing on the Germans in order to let
him back with those two teams. When he was safe away,
we commenced again, and let them have it. It was not until
Sir -Horace Smith-Dorrien personally gave the order to
retire, that that battery was withdrawn."
In conclusion, the speaker paid a touching tribute to the
unfaltering kindness shown by the French peasantry, and
their devoted respect for the memory of the fallen British
soldiers.
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