Canadian Agriculture in the War Effort

MR. HUMPHREYS: Now, gentlemen, Canada, like other nations, has arisen to great heights of achievement, achievement in which the individual is giving all to the "art of destruction"; the process is called "war effort".

It is not too early to orient our minds to the task that remains to us, the present national achievement on behalf of the "art of construction", when this job of destruction ends. In this, Canada has a heavy responsibility to the world, a responsibility we must shoulder, no matter the cost.

If we are to achieve the individual and national possibilities we must meet our responsibility to the world. That process, I hope, will be called "peace effort".

Our guest of honour today, Hon. Mitchell F. Hepburn, M.P.P., is about to speak to us on "Canadian Agriculture in the War Effort". Mr. Hepburn, I imagine, has a fine conception of Canada's present and future responsibility to itself and to the world in the matter of agriculture.

To introduce Mr. Hepburn to a Canadian audience is quite unnecessary, for he is so well known. Rather, I would like to say how glad and honoured this Club is to receive such a distinguished agriculturalist and businessman and Legislator, whose high qualities are so essential to the fulfilment of the obligations of this land of ours.

Gentlemen, I have much pleasure in presenting to you one of the distinguished Premiers of this Province of Ontario, an experienced farmer, businessman and Legislator, the Hon. Mr. Hepburn.

MR. HEPBURN: Mr. President, distinguished guests, gentlemen of The Empire Club. At the outset, may I thank you for the genuine, warm welcome you have accorded to me, and for the kindly words of introduction on the part of your President.

Before attempting to address this very important organization, may I digress for one moment, to say how much concerned we are with the illness, the report of which has just come over the air, of the brilliant and indomitable Prime Minister, who is now considered to be seriously ill. We know of his fighting qualities, and I am sure that we are only sharing with Great Britain the hope for his speedy recovery. We know of his leadership in this great struggle, in which he is playing so responsible a part, and we all trust that he will speedily be restored to health, to carry on again the arduous duties of the British Prime Minister. (Applause.)

Now, Mr. President, as you have indicated to this organization, I have not a prepared manuscript. For the past eighteen years I have suffered through men reading addresses to audiences, in a most uninteresting manner, and long ago I made up my mind not to subject other people to that particular kind of torture. Hence, I am here, without any preparation, whatsoever. (Laughter; applause.) And I come before an audience of this kind at a time when I thought my speech would be broadcast, and I would confine myself to a subject which would be entirely non-controversial--that is, "Canadian Agriculture in the War Effort",--although there may be some phases with regard to agriculture which might be classified as "debatable", but certainly nothing of a politically contentious nature. But far be it from me to jar the sensibilities of those who hold views opposite to my own, and I know there are many in that category.

Many of you are interested in agriculture, because it is, in the first place, in the long history of this great agricultural country, one of the most important factors, even though today you are not able to buy all the things required for table requirements. As a matter of fact, it is worse in the United States, where they had the economics of security a few years ago, where they were actually slaughtering cattle to get rid of them.

Now, that reminds me of a little story, which I should like to tell to you. It seems there was a very estimable lady walking up and down the street, looking for a well stocked butcher shop. Finally she saw a store in which there appeared to be meat for sale, and she went and asked the butcher if she could buy a roast of meat, a shoulder of beef. The butcher said, "Certainly. How much do you want?" and the lady said, "I will take ten pounds", and the butcher said, "You can have twenty pounds if you like", and he wrapped up a parcel, and placed it before her on the counter.

Then the lady said, "Could I possibly get a nice piece of round steak, nice and thick?" and the butcher said, "Certainly. You can have twenty pounds of that, too", so he wrapped up that parcel, and placed it beside the other.

Then the lady said, "If it is not too great an imposition, I would like some of your best chops", and the butcher said, "Certainly, I will be glad to give those to you, too", so he wrapped them up, and placed that parcel beside the others.

Then the lady said, "Now, will you just deliver all of this to my home, please?" and he said, "That is physically impossible; that I cannot do", and the lady said, "Well, that is strange. I see your butcher wagon out in front of your door", and the butcher said, "Yes, that is true, the butcher wagon is standing outside the door, but you have just bought my horse." (Laughter.)

Now, gentlemen, may I say that it is indeed a privilege and pleasure to appear before the members of The Empire Club of Canada. This organization has done its share, in no small measure, in maintaining Empire solidarity and Empire unity.

There are in this audience, I know, dozens of gentlemen who have been of the old pioneers who left the Old Land years ago, and whose efforts have been directed to maintaining the high position of the British Empire amongst the nations of the world, maintaining those traditions which have been upheld through the past many years, and who have maintained the markets of the world, ensuring the safety of our Merchant Marine, and those ships which have sailed the seven seas. We are deeply obligated to those traditions, and anything that will strengthen those British ties means something to me. (Applause.)

It is our duty to express ourselves in that way, and I reserve my right to do that in the same manner that other people in other parts of Canada are doing, to foster in every possible way our Empire connections. I want people to know where I stand. I am not censoring the people who share opposite views, because their accomplishments and their conditions are beyond their control, but, as far as I am concerned, I choose to live as a British subject, so long as I do live, and within the British Empire. (Applause.)

Now, I mentioned the fact that our forebears came over years ago, bringing with them the great British traditions, and they suffered all the hardships and privations of pioneer life in this new nation of ours, and they have left to us a great heritage, free schools, responsible government-all the machinery with which to maintain the trend of democracy.

On the other side of the line, one of the greatest Presidents the United States ever produced, Abraham Lincoln, in that famous oration of his, probably the greatest oration ever made on the North American continent, certainly a masterpiece of simple English, in effect, used these words

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

And I am wondering if in this traditional period difficulties are not created by jealousy as to the freedom under which we live.

Now, I am not bitter because of the fact that the CBC has refused to broadcast a, speech of mine. Yet, it is an anomaly, because in this day we are fighting for freedom, and if there is one freedom we must preserve, it is the freedom of speech, and the freedom of the Press. It is something of an anomaly that a man who has been eighteen years in public life, never defeated, having sat in both the Provincial and Federal Houses, should not be permitted to express his "honest-to-God" opinions over the air. It is evident that the regulations which have been established by Ottawa have now become matters of policy, and I warn these gentlemen that in the years to come, perhaps the not-too-distant future, a much more radical government may take office, and impose the same restrictions on them, as a matter of principle,-and out goes our freedom. For my part, I will fight this kind of thing; I will not submit to it. (Applause.)

I could have prepared a manuscript, and I could have sent to over to the Gestapo--(laughter)--and struck out a few words or a sentence, or even a paragraph, remove them from their context, and perhaps deliberately destroy the whole meaning. And you are going to pay for that very thing, you taxpayers. Are they going to send that back to me, and say, "This is what you are permitted to read before a Club of the standing of The Empire Club of Canada"? They will not do that kind of thing to me, I can assure you.

This reminds me of a story--(laughter)--which has been told about a chap meeting a girl, and falling desperately in love with her. Unfortunately, however, she had no teeth. He was an industrious fellow, and he worked hard, and finally bought her a set of false teeth. After that she left him, and in no time at all she had another fellow. He met her on the street one day, and he said, "The irony of it! I met her, and she actually laughed at me with my own teeth." (Laughter.)

Now, my friends, I do not know why the First Minister of the land is so squeamish about having speeches broadcast. He had a much-publicized speech delivered over the air about ten days ago supposed to be a very important utterance, and the Windsor Star, a very reputable newspaper, went to great pains to ascertain how many people listened in. That newspaper has a very wide circulation in some of the finest old counties of Old Ontario, Essex, Kent, Middlesex, Lambton, and others, and they found, after close enquiry, that only one person in one hundred and twenty listened to the speech of the Prime Minister. Well, if only one person in a hundred and twenty would listen to him, why should he be so worried about how many would listen to me? (Laughter; applause.)

This reminds me of a story--(laughter)--of a fellow who was very inebriated, before the liquor restrictions were imposed by Ottawa on the Province. That is too bad, because fellows like Jack Bickell have to come down to a quart a month. (Laughter.)

This inebriated chap went into a church and fell asleep, and while he was sleeping the congregation filed in. It seems that evangelism was holding forth, and the preacher said, "All those who want to go to Heaven, please stand up." The noise awakened our inebriated friend, and he just heard the words, "All those who want to go to Hell, stand up", and he opened his eyes slowly, and looked at the minister, and he said, "Parson, I don't know what in Hell we are voting on, but it seems that you and I are in a wee, small minority." (Applause; laughter.)

Now, seriously, my friends, I have said that our forebears left to us a great heritage in the way of responsible government, and the machinery with which to maintain the trend of democracy, and they inherited from the Indians this great sleeping giant known as "Canada", one of the greatest countries of the world, and one of the greatest industries in Canada in agriculture, and, strange as it may seem, I am going to say a few words about agriculture, although I may do a little free-lancing on the side. (Laughter.)

I happen to be a farmer, like my good friends "Tom" Kennedy and George Henry, and I should know something about farming and the farmers' problems, and I know that we have learned a great deal during the last ten or fifteen years.

When I was a youngster there was a prejudice, and a well-grounded prejudice, against what was then known as "Scientific Agriculture". There has always been this prejudice. I know when I went to Ottawa eighteen years ago as the youngest member of the House of Commons there was a prejudice against young men in politics. As a matter of fact, some of the old fellows who are still there never have gotten over the habit of looking upon me with great disdain.

But there was a prejudice against "Scientifice Agriculture". I remember when I first started to use minerals for the soil. A lot of the old farmers said, "You will destroy your soil completely." Well, one of the things we have learned in agriculture is to test our soil, to see if there be any mineral deficiencies. If there are, then the upper structure must, of necessity, be wrong. I would recommend to farmers, if they want to farm on a scientific basis, and have the maximum of production, the first thing they should do is to start with the soil itself.

Now it so happens that many farm products are examined in terms of tonnage, and you will find that the ingredients are not in those products, and when you feed those products to the livestock, you do not produce the proper type of animal. This has always puzzled me, as to why, if I went down to George Henry's and bought some fine animals, and took them to my home, they would not develop according to type.

So the scientists went to work, and they went right down into the soil, and they found in the soil of certain farms mineral deficiencies, and when they did that they saw that the animals never developed according to type. For instance, you could not get a cow giving milk with the proper butter-fat content.

So, the basic thing in agriculture is to start with the soil itself, and see that every mineral requirement is there to produce the proper type of plant life, and if every mineral required is there, then you can produce the right kind of feed for human and for animal consumption. Then the next thing is proper cultivation. I would say this, my friends: in Old Ontario, where the soil is very fertile, any given farm could increase its production by two hundred per cent by, first, having a proper soil analysis, and, secondly, the proper cultivation.

The next thing is when you produce that food then you must have the right type of animals. We have developed higher qualities of eggs, poultry, hens that produce over three hundred eggs per year, and now the farmer must get into the high-class strain of animals, if they are going to have their farms on a productive basis.

After you produce, then the next thing, of course, is the marketing problem. There are no marketing problems today, because of the falling-off of farm production. The falling-off of farm production is due to many factors; the chief amongst them, I believe, is the matter of price. Now, the farmer has been relegated to a low rung of the economic ladder, and that is one thing which has made many men turn their minds in the direction of more and easier money, and that it why so many more are going into factories and industries, and that trend will continue until farm products sell at a price which will enable the farmer to compete with the labour market or with factory wages. Until such time, there will be the trend from the farms into the cities, with the resultant help falling off in agricultural production, as we find it today, and which is so vital in the war effort, itself.

Now, another thing, of course, is the matter of mechanized equipment. I know on my own farm, which has been visited by George Henry and my good friend "Tom" Kennedy, we are highly mechanized, and yet this fall it was impossible to get plow points for a six-furrow plow, so our Diesel tractors and six-furrow plows were useless for us for almost a month.

Now, how important is food as a war product? I think it is most essential. I am not entirely sharing the opinion expressed by Mr. MacDonald some while ago, when he said, "Canadian agriculture had won the war in the first two years."

I do not think it is that important, but it is important, and it is going to become increasingly important. The people of Canada have been warned that farm production is falling off, and in the United States, recently, several of the leaders of agriculture there warned the people that within a year the available wheat supply will be exhausted in the United States. I will predict that in the next six months the hog population of Canada will fall off by forty per cent. Then, there is a very sharp decline in dairy products. All along the line there is a curtailment of farm activities. You see the farmers finding ways and means of getting jobs in factories. The hired men are getting into business, the farmers' sons are going into industry, if not going into the Army.

Now, picture the plight of the farmers in this country trying to do their bit, working hard-Why, in my country you see them up at a quarter to five in the morn ing, playing nursemaid to a bunch of cows, getting the milk for delivery to the cities. They are working until six and seven and eight and nine o'clock at night. The farmer is trying to do his bit, but he is in a state of utter confusion.

Six months ago, you will recall, our newspapers were cluttered up, and our farm publications were cluttered up, with page advertisements by Ottawa urging the farmer to produce more and more hogs for British consumption, because, as my friend, "Jack" Bickell, knows, they have not got too much over there, and we know that our Army and Navy, and the men who are sailing ships on the high seas, cannot live on a ration of mashed potatoes and turnips. They have to have dairy products and meats. We were urged to produce more bacon. All of a sudden we were told by Agricultural Minister Gardiner that he could not fore-see the future of the marketing of pork products after the war, and he was cutting British rations to four hundred and fifty million pounds per year. The British Food Ministry then warned the people that if that is so there will be a sharp curtailment in the ration for British people, as far as bacon is concerned.

What is the Canadian farmer to understand, when there is such a lack of consistent policy in Ottawa with regard to the products-one of the most important pro ducts-to be produced on the Canadian farms? The farmer has a just grievance. He is losing his health; he cannot secure his farm machinery; the price level has been driven down to a point where he cannot compete with factory labour. All he can do is to sit back and expect the inevitable to happen, a sharp decrease in farm products on the farms of Canada, and I should say, also of the United States.

That brings back an observation which was made at the outbreak of the War between Japan and the Allies, at which time one of the Japanese statesmen said, "If we can drag this War on sufficiently long, the people of North America, who require more food per capita than we do; will be on the verge of starvation, and finally bring about a peace acceptable to us." When we see the falling off in the production of secondary products, we should view with alarm the whole picture, and so I say that Canadian agriculture is indeed a sleeping giant, which should be awakened, and I am glad we have in Ontario today a Minister of Agriculture who has some regard and consideration for, and some knowledge of, the welfare of the farmers of this, the banner Province of our Country. (Applause.)

Now, my friends, there are other "sleeping giants". We had a sleeping giant prior to the outbreak of war; when Hitler was training his boys with broomsticks, we were keeping our people in idleness. When he was building his great mechanized military machine, the greatest the world has ever known, we were still keeping our people in idleness. I want to say something for the benefit of the gentlemen of high finance, that this question of money is going to be very much to the front before we get through with this transitional period between war and complete rehabilitation.

Money is a superficial thing. I recall making a speech, back in December of 1940, just two days prior to the outbreak of the war between Japan and the United States, two days prior to that treacherous Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. I warned then that war in the Pacific was inevitable, and one of the newspapers took me to task, and said that Japan had the money to wage the war, and Japan did wage the war by controlled currency.

Now, I do not believe in inflation; I never have believed in inflation. And I will tell you what I mean by "inflation". I mean if you put more money into the financial life stream than is required to take care of transactions between producer and consumer, then you have inflation, and you have that vicious circle.

So I say during the long period over which this transition will take place, the aftermath, with such countries as Italy destroyed, their morals impaired, we must be on the, lookout for inflation. During this aftermath, in which we have these C.C.F. and C.I.O. movements, today we fail to take cognizance of the fact that in defense materials, even though on the one hand we may have increased the debt, that money would still be represented by bonds in the hands of those from whom we borrowed the money. So we must recognize the fact that throughout that period to which I have referred, between 1930 and 1939, at which time even in Old Ontario, this old Province which is considered to be the banner Province in Canada, we spent as much as thirty-five million dollars a year maintaining these people in idleness. That condition will never recur again, because people will not tolerate it.

We can see, in retrospect, that we could have built shops, we could have built roads, we could have eliminated level crossings, and had material wealth to show for the money expended. All we have left is an impaired people, and we view with great alarm, and we should view with great alarm, a recurrence of conditions to which I have referred.

Now, my friends, there are two elements in society: there is the element of practice, and the element of reform. The element of practice is usually right, and those who were victims of the depression have a just right to protest about the possibility of a recurrence of such conditions again. They have every right in the world to protest, but then, when they attempt to bring in their reformations, according to my remembrance of history, those reformations usually are overreached, and create a condition worse than the one it was sought to correct.

We have heard of the people who revolted at the time of the French Revolution. They had every just cause; they were starving, and when the King was asked to give them bread, he said, "Give them cake." They revolted, and the object of their revolt was to overthrow their government, but they had not the capacity to set up an orderly system of government, with the result that the progress of France was held back for a long period of time.

That same condition prevailed in Russia. I have every sympathy with the people who overthrew the tyranny of the Czars, and I have every sympathy with people who were kept down, and were banned to the wastes of Siberia if they uttered an honest opinion, but after it was all over the Revolutionary Party took office, but they had not the capacity to run the government intelligently. They tried to establish a social form of government, but the whole economic structure of Russia collapsed in the early days of Lenin, with the result that thousands of Russians were starving, and yet they have established the greatest military machine to be found in any country in the world today. But they had to go through that kind of period before they came to their senses.

I do not want to talk politically, but it is obvious that there is now a new political philosophy being taught throughout the length and breadth of Canada today. As a farmer, I am opposed to socialism. I am an individual, and, like most farmers, I want to contribute something to the social security of today. The farmers who built their fine homes and barns and roads in the early days did all that as their share of contributing to social economy.

Socialism does the opposite. It takes everything out of the state. Let us see how practical it is. They say they will take over all industry. You cannot have half measures in industry; you have to go "full out". If they take over industry, are they going to confiscate it, or pay for it? If they confiscate it, we will have thousands of people destitute, because all industry, banks and insurance companies are owned by people scattered throughout the length and breadth of Canada, and not by any one individual; they are owned by millions. So, if you confiscate all these institutions which the people have built up, and in which you have the right to have confidence, you will have another army of people on relief.

If they undertake to pay, what will you have then? You will have a true inflation, because that is where I say you will be pumping into the financial blood stream more money than is required to take care of the ordinary business transactions which occur day by day throughout the length and breadth of Canada. So there you will have chaos.

But I do not think we will have to go through a period of that kind. As I said at the outset, we have had left to us a great heritage in responsible government, free schools, and so forth. Surely we have the capacity, in view of our sad experiences, so settle these new problems which will arise when this war ends, and it will end, because all other wars have ended. Then we are going into the days of rehabilitation.

Now, I am concerned with the boys overseas. Remember, every one sent from Canada to serve on the battle front is a volunteer. He is there prepared to sacrifice his life for our freedom, and it is up to those of us who remain behind to maintain the freedom which he enjoyed when he left this country, and I want him to come back to a country proceeding on the basis of freedom and constructive reform, and not to find this country in a condition of chaos.

I have every confidence in the British people. I do not think we are inclined to be dumb; I believe we are blessed with average intelligence. I believe, if we engage together, you men, those of us in public life, if we reason together, and reason this thing out, we can avoid that state of chaos, if the socialistic party happens to win in the Dominion of Canada. It is not fair to the boys overseas to see this take place without putting up a United Front to combat a movement of that kind.

I do not hesitate to make that observation to an audience of this kind, because it comes from the heart. As far as the Ontario farmers are concerned, they will not be "bamboozled" by any of these wild promises made by the socialistic party. The farmer has capacity to reason, and he will reason, and the farmers of Ontario will be unitedly against that very thing which is spreading through the urban sections of the Province today. (Applause.)

Now, I will not take any more of your time. I do thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, for the great honour you have bestowed upon me in asking me to attend this function. I hold solidly to British traditions. "A British subject I was born, and a British subject I hope to die", were the words of the late Sir John A. MacDonald, and you see that now I can quote from all politicians. (Laughter.)

I have just one further observation: Our new Premier, my successor in office, is in England, and he has intimated he is going to establish a closer connection between the various branches of government in Britain and the government of the Central Province of Canada. In that I share his view. (Hear, hear.) While some years ago I closed Ontario House, because it was a mere duplication in times of peace, the Department of Trade and Commerce being maintained by Ottawa, in view of the almost alarming change which will be so vital to those of us in Old Ontario, I think it is a mighty good thing to re-establish the connection between Ontario and Britain. (Applause.)

Speaking for myself, and my party of one in the Legislature--(laughter)--there is no disagreement in Caucus--(laughter)--even though they say that a man talking to himself has something wrong with his head-I have talked this matter over--(laughter)--and I can assure my friend, "Tom" Kennedy, that when this matter comes before the Legislature his party can be assured of my wholehearted support. (Applause.)

Gentlemen, I will conclude by telling you that I feel rather embarrassed for your party, because this speech was shut off the air. (Laughter.) I do not think it would have hurt anybody to have heard it. I do not know who the disreputable section of society happens to be, whether it is the Club or myself. (Laughter.) The President said "It was the Club", but I do not think he is right.

This reminds me of a story--(laughter)--and I can tell this in front of my good friend, Dr. Eckert, who helped me so much in my last election. Anyway, this preacher walked out of his house one afternoon, and he heard a man cursing until the air was blue, while he was tinkering with his motor car. The preacher said, "What is the matter?", and the man replied, "This blankety blank jalopy of mine won't start; I am late for dinner, and my wife is a veritable battle-axe, and when I get home she will give me the devil, and, worse than that, in these days of rationing, I have all the groceries for eight hungry 'kids', and that will annoy the wife some more, and will not help the situation any, and when I get home it will be just too bad for me."

The preacher said, "Profanity never helped any"; he said, "I would suggest you bow your head in prayer. If it will not do any good, it certainly will not hurt you. Try it."

So the man said, "All right," and he bowed his head in reverence, in prayer, and then he stepped on the accelerator, and, to his amazement, as well as that of the preacher, away went the car. As it disappeared in the distance, the preacher looked at it for a moment, and he said, "Well, I will be damned." (Laughter.)

Now, my friends, I thank you sincerely for this wonderful reception, and the wonderful attendance, and I feel very much like the preacher. (Laughter.) So if you would like me to come back and make a few more imperfect remarks, send me an invitation, and I will be here. (Prolonged applause.)

In concluding, I might say that I feel like Harry Lauder, who spoke in my town some time ago. He said, "I am now on my fourth farewell tour of Canada, and I will be back again next year." Thank you. (Prolonged applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Gentlemen, the excitement of presiding over such a meeting as this really made me forget something which I think you will want me to remember, and that is to welcome Major Crawford-Brown, who is just back from Sicily. (Applause.)

I am going to ask the Acting Prime Minister, Hon. Mr. Kennedy, to express our thanks, and the thanks of the Club, to Mr. Hepburn. (Applause.)

HON. T. L. KENNEDY, M.P.P.: It is a great pleasure to me to move a vote of thanks to Hon. Mr. Hepburn. Perhaps no one in this room appreciates more what he has said about the farm and the farmers than I do. I think he is quite right when he says that no one realizes the troubles we are in, as well as the farmers themselves, in this Province, and I will tell you gentlemen here today that your waistlines will be less than they are now if you do not do something to correct the situation as it prevails at the present time.

I have much pleasure in moving a vote of thanks on behalf of the Club to the Hon. Mr. Hepburn. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: The meeting stands adjourned.