The Huron Expositor, 1920-10-22, Page 1ER 15, 1920.
KILL
IN
Suits
'Furs
1liliftiBfiUutffllttt1111 -
we sell are absolutely
h and Fitting—in Beau-
el Graceful Curves_
Apparel and Furs are
rely as taking., ..As any
woman
be.
could justly
l'f1tt tilliiiiro
a Ready
Furs
;tore
)ur Furs
ERV ICE,
Guarantee
tamers
RY
t Reflects
t St ries
EASfL'k LEADS
TYLE Y Lt: k
ereetly fc'r a big Mil -
Ane, by giving: Best
-4t,T§
. I :cc we have ale
: !it se h ipis rt•('ord in
exceeding.~ busy but
peeler. enters aiyi will
Tit s;r " in cr•r[r:ection
:w of yeu drat will be.
.W:il avor to
short -t r ,tier
rive sati,factir,m to all
es at all
SH
,E STORE
Fes neete_afe--
ent
FIFTY-FOURTH YEAR
WHOLE NUMBER .2758
SEAFORTH, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1920.
1
WOO
IN DIVIDENDS
TO THE PUBLIC
There's a tkree thousand dollar divi»
dend distribution to the public going
on • nnow at our Great Closing-out-bus-
iness
losing-out-bus-
s Sale. Everyr
me s purchaser of goods
from our stock gets his or her share
according to the amount of the pur-
chase.
THINK IT OVER -=BUT DON'T
TAKE TOO LONG THINKING
Important Specials for this and next week's selling: --
25 Rain Coats at •$9.95
30 Young . Men's First Long Pant Suits $24.95,
40 Pairs Men's fine woolen. trousers $5.95
100 Pairs Heavy Overalls $2.65
Men's Heavy Wool ribbed shirts $1.65
New Dress Winter Claves 98c
Fur Sets X10,00 to $40.00
and many other lines, not space to -describe
Special Notice
After thirty years of continued mercantile business in the Town
of Seaforth, during which period we have conducted many big, sales,
we have positively decided to retire from mercantile business, and in
so doing this Last Grand Final Sale shall eclipse all former efforts
in every respect—greater volume of goods offered, as most of our
new Fall Croods have been passed into stock as we could not cancel
Fall orders.
Prices are slashed as never before. -
ust
We have terminated the lease of our store and an goods m
be sold.
The Greig Clothing Co.
WILL THE WEST GO" SOLID?
Will the next Dominion election,
produce -#he phenomenon of a solid
West? The east, which has seldom
- d one much worrying about the West
except when crop failures: have been
Bred is considering this point
very
carefully, an even anxiously. A
solid agrarian representation from
beyond the Great Lakes might mean
many things; even to the formation
of a Farmer- Governme1zt at Ottawa. ,
Now a' Farmer Government • isn't
nearly the bogey it. was before Pre- ,
mier Drury moved into queen's Parc
andgaveOntario amoder to and
quite sane
brand of administration;
but it . is not a comforting thought
yet, for the apostles of protection
that the next premier of the Dominion
may perchance secure his mandate
from the tillers of the soil.
This article is written by an East-
erner viho made a trip through the
West with the explicit purpose of
studying the situation out there.
What is written is the result of 'in-
vestigations in the three prairie prov-
inces and:, of conversations innumer-
able with everybody who would talk
about the matter -and what West-
erner won't ?-conversations in cab-
inet ministers' 'offices and in Pullman
smokers, with political organizers
and hard-headed farmers and news-
paper men and even with that seldom
considered entity, the man on the
street. The results of these investi-
gations and conversations may not
be conclusive, but they will perhaps
be found interesting.
There can be no reasonable doubt
whatever that, barring the appearance
of an issue sufficiently big 'to _dwarf
,,tire questions' that now agitate the
prairie country, the West at the next
Federal election will go solidly
agrarian. There may be a few seats
where U ihonists )and Liberals wild;•
survive, but these cases of party don -f-
inance will be few and far between.
Manitoba • may return one or two
party members and very likely some.
labor M.P.'s. Alberta may do the
same. Saskatchewan promises to
give a clean farmer mer sweep of sixteen
seats—nothing but an absolute one
hundred per cent. clean-up will suit
them there., If the election, came on
this year there would not be. one jot
of doubt as to what the result would
be. The solid Agrarian West would
become an accomplished fact. -
The fact must be recognized at the
very outset . that the West is in • a -
-fighting mood. There is no use
blinking the fact; the West has bei
coins impatient with the- East. Out
on the prairies they are oonvinced
that their interests are being sub-
ordinated .
to the interests of the man,u-
kaoturing East. They believe that
the East has little or no sympathy
with thein.. More than that, the. im-
patience with which they regard the
part of Canada ,that is east of. Lake
Superior is mixed - with, a dash of
tolerance. The East is slow, behind
the times, old fashioned • and, conserv-
tive. "You've asleep," declared a
iomma young member of e Western legislate
�pecial
otic
We are in a position to accept
orders for
Hot Air and Hot Water Heating
Piping
s and Pip g
Eave Troughing
Metal Work
Ready Roofing -
Bathroom Plumbing, including
Pressure Systems. -
Leave yourorders atonce. Estimates cheerfully given.
years' experience in all kinds of
I have had over 30 P
building
which enables me to plan your proposed bath-
.
room and furnace work, etc
I
The Big Hardware
H. EDGE
ure to me. "Hang it all, we've put
progressive measures into effect out
here that you haven't even started
to think about down there—provin-
cial hospitals, rural credits, mothers'
pensions, proportional representation•,
just to mention a few. You're hold-
ing us back. It's not only the need
to have a real voice in tariff matters
that's behind this farmer. movement.
It's the spirit of the West chafing at
the conservation of the East."
The feeling goes still deeper. The
West believes that it must fight a-
gainst the despoiling hand of the
East. This summer the rnat'ter of
the provincial control of natural re-
sources carne up again. The older
preknises have full control of their..
own - resources and, can do with them
as they will but the Dominion Gov-
ernment
overnment still controls the resources
of the. West. Alberta cannot dispose
of land for irrigation purposes, for
instance, without the consent of
Ottawa. To make matters worse,
Ontario and Quebec and Nova Scotia
have registered protests against the
ceding of control to the prairie pro-
vinces. It is not • intended -to enter
into any discussion here of the rights
or wrongs of this question but mere-
ly to state that the West takes the.
attitude of the older provinces as a
°
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Saturday, October 23
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a deep-seated attitude that will be
the determing factor in: all political
development in the West. -
Perhaps the most important point
to place before the reader with refer-
ence to the agraritn movement is the
fact that there is no Farmer Party.
This may be a matter of considerable
surprise tomost people who have
watched the gradual growth - of a
'group at Ottawa who sat neither
with the Government nor the Opposi-
tion but scollected on the cross benches
and took their cue from Mr. Crerar.
It was not unnatural to expect that
out of this nucleus would arise be:
fore the next election a new party
organized on the usual lines with
a big convention held at 'Winnipeg
or Regina to formulate a policy and
appoint a ' leader, But nothing is
further from the thoughts of- the
agrarian leaders. There will be no -
central organization andn i no leader.
e
g
The reason for this was very clearly
stated to me by one of the: most
prominent of the 'grain growers of
Saskatchewan in his office in Regina.
"In the first place," he declared,
"get this idea firmly in your, head.
We are not aiming at getting control
of the political machinery of the
country. It is far from' our desire
to elect enough farmer members to
have a majority at Ottawa-` and put
in our own government. you, may
not believe that after all -the talk
you've heard . but it is a facts that the
real purpose. off our entry intopolitics
is not to ge't hold of, the.. All
we want is to have a loud enough
voice • in tho country and a
large
enough vote at Ottawa to get recog-
nition of our views and to effect re -
feting along certain lines."
"The proof of what I say," he went
on, "is found in the fact we are not
actually organizing a party. Each
province is handling its own cam-
paign and the only cohesion will be
found in the fact that the candidates
are pledged to the platform of the
council of agriculture. After the.
elections there will be found in the
Commons groups of farmer members
from all provinces, inspired by com-
mon ideals and in accord on certain
basic points, but not welded in -to. an
inelastic party form. It is our be-
lief that the presence of this large
body of farmer members, not pledged
to either of the old parties and power-
ful enough perhaps to make and break
k. overnmen!ts, would ` serve to bring
out the reforms we believe necessary
perhaps more effectively than if 1/e
actually had our own men on the
treasury benches."
"If the farmer group proved to be
large enough to actually control a
majority of the House," I put in,
"you 'would however, accept office as
Mr. Drury did in Ontario."
"In that case, of course," he said,
"it would be necessary. In any event
it is likely that the 'group in the
House would gradually acquire some
form of organization; leadership of
some sort' must always be worked
out. But -you cannot make it too
emphatic that we are not approach-
ing the next election with the idea
of seizing power. We feel that the
people of the East are laboring un-
der a misapprehension as to our mo-
tives and intentions. .
Ordinarily, one of the most inter-
esting and fruitful topics would be
as to the probable leader of the farm-
er party. The fact of the mttter is
that it is never discussed. The grain
of deliber-
ate
have as a matter r t r r-
d e
ate policy subordinated all personali-
ties and the result is seen in the
strange lack of interest in this ques-
tion of leadership. Wherever I went
I tried to find what the feeling was
on that point but it was a bootless
task.
"Is Crerar a name to conjure with
serious affront. Mention the - matter
Wester-
nerto anythorough-bred-paced
and he literally "goes up into the
air." Hebecomes mad enough on
the instant to challenge single-handed
the combined cabinets of the eastern
provinces to a free-for-all; and one
which
can imagine the joy with he
would proceed to mop up the effete
statesmen who had presumed to
meddle with the rights of the West.
I heard the point discussed in the.
editorial sanctum of a large Western
daily where I had dropped in with
another journalist from the East to
call on the editor. He was a typical
Westerner, full of energy and ami-
ability, but when one of us mention-
ed natural resources it was like drop-
ping in with an orange cockade on a
se•,enteenth of March celebration. He
gave us the
Westernside of the case
e
with an energy that almost took our
breaths away and ended up by de-
claring: '"Back East you probably°
don't realize how deep this matter
cuts with us. You can't realize it
or you wouldn't ]et yo.lr idiotic poI-
itit;igns keep on stirring it up. Just
keep it up and you'll drive a wedge.
between East and West that won't
be easily extracted."
All Westerners, of course, don't
take things as much to heart as that
but write this down as the first fact
bearing on the political situation:
The West is in fighting mood- and is
determined to make its voice heard.
It's not a passing mood that can
be smoothed out by the waving of - a
flag in an election campaign or by
the revival of old party issues. It is
, ri
taken by the provincial governments.
The 'three provinces have farmer
governments in the practical sense
of the word, Although Norris in
Manitoba, Martin in - Saskatchewan,
and Stewart in Alberta are Liberal
premiers they received their mandates
on the farmer vote, theie cabinets are
allpart
made upin•nosm of farmer
ministers (Norris and Stewart being
farmers themselves) and their poll -
cies have been strictly in accord with
the needs of provinces so largely agri-
cultural. Whatever the farmers have
wanted they have been able to:- get.
The swing into politics began as
a
i
e .e ore- with
federal �.
purely fed a move, thr
the sole initial object of effecting
tariff reform. The movement should
not be kept eompleieely out of pro-
vincial politics, however and in each
of the three provinces complications
have set in. -
The Manitoba Government was
opposed at the recent provincial elec-
tion by a large number' of indepen-
dent
ndependent farmer candidates and enough
of them were elected to make the
government's hold on office a very
insecure one indeed. The action in
putting candidates in the field was
purely local in 'each case but the re-
in the West now?" I would ask. "Is sults were significant on the strength
he=well, the Roosevelt of the movement?"Agrari- - of the movement generally, Had the
an farmers united to supplant the Norris
"We don't hear much about him," government with one that- would
was "the usual reply. "Guess he's a
good business man—yes, sure, he.
must be or he wouldn't be at the head
of the grain company." -
No, it is`°quite clear that the name
Crerar is not one to stir the hearts
of men yet, clot because T. A. Crerar
lacks bigness, but because the West-
ern movement is steering -clear of
names and personalities. The old
political expedient of creating an idol
for the voter to worship is not being
followed.. It is impossible even to
get any answer to such a question
as: "When you do get around -to ap-
pointing a leader—as you'll have to
do sooner or later, will it be Crerar ?" •
The usual reply to such a question
is:
"Why,
1doe
r know.Of
course, that's never really come- up.
It might be Crerar or perhaps Ma -
Karg. Or perhaps it might be that
man Drury in Ontario, Say, Drury
seems to be a live one, right enough."
If . any fire is ever struck in a dis-
cussion of personalities it seems to
come with the mention of the name
of Drury. He has gained a certain
hold on the imaginations of the West-
ern farmers and if the question of
appointing a national leader were to
come up now, the Ontario premier
would have a large following. Crerar
is recognized,
hi ed- of course,s
a_ the nan
who has handled The apolitical end of
e
the Western movement so far. He
moment picked the exact m nt toto step P out
of the Government and the manner
of his going pleased the West might=
ily. Since then, 'however, he has
played a comparatively small part
in politics, due partly to the flatness
of the last session and partly to ill -
health. On several occasions he has
spoken at meetings in the West and
the impression he made was most
favorable,
One wonders if the leaders of the
farmer movement are "missing a
bet," in thus suppressing all exploita-
have been farmer in name as well
as in substance and policy, they would
probably have succeeded in routing
Norris from. power.
In Saskatchewan, Premier Martx
has practically allied himself with
the farmer movement. Although he
has been the provincial leader of the
Saskatchewan Liberals, his recent
statement of policy has made it clear
that he stands for the agrarian .plat-
form. In Alberta, however, Premier
Stewart has refused to budge from
his position and affiliations and the
situation in that province. is some-
what complicated. It would be an
interesting test of the strength of
the movement if Premier Stewart
were to go to the country, for un -
q
1 independent farmer
e
usti6rra b
Y
candidates would be put up in man
y
ridings against him.
To revert back. to • the matter of
organization, the work is not confined
to the purely rural ridings. The
cities and towns are all pretty thor-
oughly organized as well and there
is every evidence that large votes
can be polled. 1 talked to a young
man, a returned soldier, in' Saskatoon
who had linked up with the move-
ment -there and become quite active.
"It's this way," he said: "I'm pro-
gressive in my views. There's a lot
of .things we've got to ; accomplish in
-Canada--soeial and eeonnntee
m -convinced that
reforms. I've become n
the farmer movement, if it does no-
thing else, will shake the old parties
back into their places. The dry
bones of Liberalism must be recloth
ed in new sinews before I cin go
back. As things stand at present, 1
believe we have a better chance of
getting something started with a
strong farmer party at Ottawa than
we have on the old party basis and
you can bank on, this—we are going
to be with the farmer - movement in
Saskatchewan exactly sixteen seats
strong."
tion of personality. Human nature "But how much support can be
is still human nature and man has swung in the cities?" I asked.'
always rallied readiest to the lure of "Big support. I know because I'm
magnetic leader. There are plenty in the thick of it. A great many of
of staunch old Tories left in Canada the young men are for the new idea.
who will never vote any other way They're nearly all progressive in
because of the green memory of 'good ,viewpoint and I believe most 'of them
old John A.; and many -decades will feel as I do. Certainly they will not
roll over our heads before the last be as prone to slip back into the old
of the Laurier Liberals will have party groove as the older men. Be-
passed. Can a political movement sides, there's the labor element. In
many of the towns there's not a large
enough representation of labor to
make it possible to put candidates in
the field with any hope of success
and it's" not an unreasonable guess
that a . good slice of the labor vote
will go farmer: In fact, it's not a
guess at all. We know."
"Of course," he concluded, "we axe
not -working hard in the cities yet.
In most places an organization of
some .kind exists, and a. little quiet
work is being done. The results are
surprisingly good."
succeed without a glittering figure
head?—particularly i n the West
where -the Government will play on
sympathies with the fact of Arthur
Meighen, the first Western, Premier?
The second point that most im-
presses the observer is the thorough-
ness of the farmer organization. It
was reported to Napoleon III on, the
eve of the Franco-Prussian war that
the French army was ready to the
last gaiter -button. Well, when the
election comes off, the agrarian. forces
will be ready to the - last shoe horn.
The three provinces to -day are pretty
well ready for the starter's bell. I
was informed by a man closely in
touch with the situation that there
are considerably over 2,000 organizers
the v
Province Saskatchewan
P
ro me f o
M
alone. Each riding has its own or-
ganization with a chief and a head
for each division with a staff of
workers. These busy agents are
steadily compiling lists of all voters;
or-
-
and, those who have had the oppor-
tunity
tunity of seeing the results of the
calculations -that have been made on
the lists completed to -day say that
the majorities. for the farmer candi-
dates will be nothing short of monu-
mental.
The situation is very much compli-
cated, of course, by the positions
11
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D*ON
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would bulk very largely in. the elec-
tions.
There is much talk of a possible•
alliance between' the farmer and labor
forces in the West but the consum-
mation of such an alliance does not
seem to enter into the realm of prac-
tical ,polities. It was tried out in
Winnipeg in August when the Inde»
pendant farmer members of the
vincmai house met the labor mer
and the result was a quite speedy
agreement to disagree.
The object of the eonference was
to find, if possible, a basis on. which
the two 'groups could unite. If suclr
a basis could be found the amalgama-
tion would outnumber the Norris ad-
herents and so lead to the overthrow
of the Government. it was a big
chance for personal ambitions, for -
out of the alliance would have sprung'
a new premier and a new cabinet. .
It can be taken for granted that, if
an agreement had been humanly pos-
sible. it would have been reached.
The meeting came to nought at an.
early stage of the proceedings. Int
fact, they struck on the first clause
in the labor plank which calls for the
doing away with property right. I .
am told that the issue was joined
sharply on this point and that ne:ther-
group budged an inch.
A more conservative view on this
point : was expressed by a business
man located in Regina. A Liberal in
politics himself, and a sound one too,
he was ready to concede that the
farmers would get a not inconsider-
able degree of support in the towns,"
"We Westerners recognize this,"
he declared, "that the prosperity of
the West depends on the prosperity
of the farmer. What is good for the
e.good for the towns-
man.
farmer is th t wn
man. His interests are our interests.
Enough town people will see it - that
way to swing a big vote in every
urban riding. I am not sure but
what most of the town constitutencies
will swing into line with the move-
ment.
Although labor in the West has
been the spearhead of Canadian labor
agitation, it is a fact nevertheless
that labor is not likely to play a
prominent part in Western politici
Except in the mining country and in
,me larger cities,
notablyWinnipeg
i
p
e
g
:,rd Vancouver. labor does not bulk
very largely. - There are comparative- 1
:y few factories on the Prairies. In
Celeary, for instance, labor is large -
le made up of railway men; and your.
ee'lroader is not strong on the idea
'J concerted action. He is h.w, rful
himself aed can get pr':ity much all
that he wants. There was enough
Ise=> e: vote at the last provincial elec-
t:r r o elect a labor man to the leg
i.' , ;=.re for Centre Calgary, a sound
is ;,- of _man who enjoys:the confidence
f thnstizens generally and +i is
possible that the same might be done
in th{- next federal election. Winni-
peg tt ould almost certainly send at
!east one labor member. Beyond that,
however it is not likely that labor
"You must drop that property
clause," declared one of the spokes-
men of the independent farmers, "or
at any rate agree to lay it away in
math balls for the period of any alli-
ance that we may enter into. We
can't stand for it."
"And we stand by it to the last
ditch;" declared the labor members.. -
So they could not get together at
all. The farmer is a property owner
and nothing is going to be done to -
the laws of the land that will take
away his quarter section from him;
thea is it will be done over his dead
body if it is done at all. A section of
the organized farmers of Alberta has -
shown a. distinct "red" turn, but it
can be taken for granted that this.
"redness" would disappear rapidly
when the matter of private property
rights cense
m -up.
i hts
the bareof
There is
course, that the farmer movenen
may some day develop into a People's
Party. An influential element in the
ranks to -day favors this as the ulti-
mate goal. The first step toward
such a consummation would be union
with the, labor men. There , is, of
course, a large body of labor in the
West that is moderate and little in
sympathy with the' O.B.U. idea. - If
an amalgamation. were effected at
`moder-
ate
with
any time it• wo d be the
wing of Labor.
However, after talking 'with many
agrarian nmvementand
leaders of the agr
a number of labor men
as well,
one
does not feel any hesitation in predict-
ing that the cocoon. of Agrarianismwill never develop into the butterfly
of a People's Party. In, the first
place it is difficult to conceive of a
national wide flung progressive party
growing out of the roots of a purely
class movement. Further, there is se
hard-headed element among the far-
mers who look on the idea as moon-
shine and nonsense. Such idealism is
far from their- idea of what they have
organized for; This element, one
readily concludes, is sufficiently num-
erous and powerful to keep the move-
ment in the deep furrow where it is
to -day. I had a talk with a shrewd
grain grower from a Saskatchewan
town on this very point. He was not
possessed of any degree- of class.
antagonism, In fact, he was a solid,
hard-working citizen who had made
a bit of the prairie pay him in a
business -like way and talked about
th Em right out from the shoulder.
"What about this People's Party
idea?" I asked. r
"Nothing to it," he said. "Some -
of the fellows up at the top have
these big ideas. They mean well but,
then, we're not out for anything of
that kind. We've had to get together
to knock a little sense into the heads
of that bunch at Ottawa on tariff
matters and a few other points. We'll
get action ;along the desired lines and
I think myself we'll win out. What
we'll do then, I don't know. Perhaps
we'll quit and let things drift back
to the old order—provided of course,
the politicians by then act as if
they've been licked into a' common-
sense frame of mind. But you can -
put this down that you couldn't hold:
us together on any issue but an agri-
cultural one. It's all right for the.
boys, who like to talk, to show;
People's Party, but the silent fellows
'who sit. down on the floor of the
-meeting and take it out in thinking
wouldn't follow that lead long—at
least not enough of them would.
Most of us are progressive at that."
By William Byron in Mad ear's..
CONSTANCE
Notes.—Mr. Alex. Leitch, west of
our village, recently purchased from.
the herd of Mr, J. P. McLaren, ;very
fine specimen of the Jersey cow. The
price paid, we understand, Was a
long one but as Mr. Leitch believes
in having the very best he is willing
ice -
and ready to pay the price.— S unda y,
October 24th, is the anniversary day
for the Methodist Church. _:Services
will be held at 2.30 and 7.20 pen., con-
ducted by Rev, S. Anderson, of On- .
tario Street Church, Clinton —Mrs.
George Stephenson returned horns on
Saturday last after an extended visit
v th friends in London, Niagara and
Windsor. --Our public school teacher,
Mr. Fred Fowler, attended the
Teachers' Convention in Wingba
last week.—Mr. Joseph Riley las
related Mr. James Mann's fared for
the coming year; --Mrs. Joseph Love,
of Walton, spent last week with
her
daughter, Mrs. Ed. Britton. --- A
number of our friends attended th
Thanksgiving supper in Londesboro..