Win The War—The Next Step

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN,--I am deeply sensible not only of the honour of having this chance to address you, but of the opportunity which it offers. Those who speak to you speak through you to Canada, and the responsibility is set upon them of saying things which will be of service to Canada in these high times. It is almost as evil to bury one's talents in the ground as it is to dissipate them, and it is therefore with a serious earnestness that) address you today.

Three weeks ago Major Gordon, our beloved Ralph Connor, said in this place that the question was bluntly whether or not Canada was ready to quit in this war, whether the feeling unquestionably existing in certain quarters that Canada has already given about all the assistance which she ought to give or without undue hardship can give is to prevail. There is no question but that for the last few months Canada has been faltering in the matter of military assistance; the question now is whether Canada is to come forward again with renewed vigour, or is to consider her part in the war completed.

Gentlemen, there is no doubt in my mind as to the answer which the members of this Club will make to this question, nor any doubt that the vast majority of the people of Canada will make the same answer if this matter be put clearly before them. Canada is in the war, not as a fair weather friend, but to endure to the very last. This determination, however, does not lessen the duty that rests upon us so to co-ordinate our efforts as to render the maximum of assistance, military, industrial and financial, with the minimum weakening of the vigour of the nation. Our duty is clear to see that those men go to war who can render most service in war, and that those men devote themselves to essential industries at home who can do most for their country by staying at home. The call of our noble dead in Flanders and in France comes clearly to our ears, demanding that they be avenged and that the cause for which they died be assured; we cannot be deaf to the call of our living soldiers overseas, who rely on us for assistance and reinforcements. Our obligation to heed these calls requires us so to organize at home, with calm and wise foresight, that we may be able not only to do our utmost today, but continue to do our utmost so long as the war shall last.

Of all the countries taking part in this war, Canada has least to gain in material things. There is no possibility of any indemnity or territorial increases; no neighbouring lands can become new parts of the British Empire and fall under our influence, as is the case in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. There is no threat to us from alien races. We already have complete self-government, and cannot look for a broader direction of our own affairs, as may result in India and some of the crown colonies. All that we are to gain from this war must be of moral nature, must- be in the great intangibles that are the true basis of civilized life. But in these I am convinced that Canada has a profit of incalculable worth to win, a profit so great that I believe it will much more than pay for the cost to us in men and money and service of this war. Individually we are greater and nobler for what we are doing; as a nation we can build a tradition to inspire our descendants. But above all we can achieve a national unity, a national character, from the stress of these times; and if we fail to do this we throw away the most splendid opportunity we have ever had. If we do not issue from this war a united and ennobled nation, it will be our own fault and our own shame.

Believing this, all that I am going to say to you is founded on two great fundamental premises, and I do not think that any member of this Club or any far-seeing and earnest Canadian will dispute either of them. The first is that the only thing which really matters in the world today is that this war, between the ideal of justice on the one hand and the ideal of brute power on the other, be carried to a completely victorious termination. The second is that the only thing that matters for Canada today is that Canada shall do Canada's full duty, and that there is no difference between Canada's full duty and Canada's full possibility of service. I care not how far men may differ from me in other matters so long as we agree on these. These give us a common ground from which we can advance together as we can see the way toward a common accomplishment.

I am going to trepass on your patience for a moment to give you a few words of personal history, because I think it will enable you to understand better what I am trying to convey to you, and will let you know why I am where I am and why I am doing what I am doing. I have been an American citizen, but have been living for the last thirteen years in Toronto, where I have business interests. Until the great questions of the war searched the very depths of my soul, I found no fundamental difference between Americans and Canadians, nothing which prevented me from living in self-respect as an American in Canada. My forefathers for nearly three hundred years have lived in Massachusetts and have been intimately associated with the birth and the growth of the American republic. At the time of the Revolution they conceived it their duty to throw in their lot with the Thirteen Colonies, and indeed were prominent in propagating the belief that the personal and political liberty and equality in which they believed a century and a half ago as fervently as I believe today demanded that rupture which has resulted in the United States. This love of freedom is the tradition of my house, bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, drawn in with my mother's milk. I am now changing my citizenship and am becoming a British subject: In making this change I do not think I am false to the tradition of my house; it is because I must be true to it that I have felt obliged to take the step which I have taken. I think that in view of existing circumstances I can be worthy of my tradition only if I throw myself whole-heartedly into support of that democracy which alone in the Americas has from the beginning supported the burden of maintaining those principles of liberty in which I and my ancestors have believed. For a couple of years I have tried to convince myself that I was doing my full duty in endeavouring to awaken my countrymen to a realization of their obligations to civilization. I think that no one has been more outspoken than I in demanding that the United States be true to its history and its ideals. The time has now come when I cannot longer stand in any degree aloof from the objects of this war. I believe that as a British subject I can do more to help win the war, and in doing so to help the true cause of liberty and civilization. My old citizenship has meant a great deal to me; I must make my new citizenship mean to me even more. I have of course sealed my lips so far as continuing to criticize the course of the United States government is concerned. I can, however, now speak freely and frankly here in Canada as a citizen and not merely a resident, and can use whatever powers may be mine to encourage and aid Canada in her great and sacred duty.

I feel, therefore, that if I can offer any constructive criticism which may be of value, I not only am free to do so, but that I must do so. It is in this spirit that I am addressing you today. I hope also that the fact that I have never been a member of either political party in the United States and that I come to Canada absolutely free from Canadian partizanship, actuated only by a desire that Canada shall do her full duty, may make what I say carry additional weight.

If I criticize some of the measures the Government of Canada has adopted or its failure to adopt other measures, do not think that I am not fully aware of the many fine and effective things this Government has done. Sir Robert Borden did not hesitate a moment in changing at the very outbreak of war the technical belligerency of Canada into an active belligerency, and on Canada's behalf has promised a splendid contribution of men. It was legally and physically possible for Canada to maintain a purely passive belligerency, such as since the fall of Tsing-Tao has been conducted by Japan, the kind of belligerency which those who think as I do believe is the least that any civilized nation in the world should for its own morality be satisfied with. This of course would not apply to those small neutrals the geographical position of which makes passive belligerency impossible. and which cannot enter the war as a protest against Prussianism without being prepared to endure its utmost rigours. Sir Robert's vision at once appreciated the impossibility of such passivity being either acceptable to Canada's loyal people or being compatible with the future development of the land or the soul of the nation. The finance department has been handled by Sir Thomas White with wisdom and vigour and even if anyone thinks that some of the financial legislation might have been made more effective or more equal no one can say that as a whole his work has not been splendidly done. The most dramatic part of a government entering upon war is of course the army organization, and we must all admire the energy and freedom from red tape with which the work in this department was instituted. Temperamental qualities may have made it impossible for Sir Sam Hughes to continue in charge, may indeed have made his actual tenure of the office altogether too long, but I think few will question the fact that at the beginning his vigour and determination was admirably useful. I think that Mr. Kemp is succeeding in introducing business methods into this department in a way which is steadily and rapidly increasing the efficiency of its operation, and I believe that we are justified in expecting a continued and satisfactory progress in this direction, except, of course, in the matter of sufficient recruits, which extends far beyond the limits of any one department.

The one great endeavour in which it seems to me the Borden Government has failed lamentably has been in the matter of creating and organizing National Service, and if the nature of such service be analyzed it appears inevitable that there should have been a failure here. This is in many ways the most important of the three great divisions of government duty which in time of war become of supreme importance, the departments which deal with finance, with the military, and with National Service. But National Service much more than the others depends for its success upon the inspiration and active co-operation of the whole mass of the people, and it is in the matter of National Service that any party government naturally must show its greatest weakness.

The theory of our government is that the people in whom all authority ultimately resides are adequately represented in Parliament, and that the voice of Parliament is the voice of the people. Is this assumption true in fact under the existing circumstances? Consider that the members of Parliament were for the most part elected before the war, and chosen on issues entirely foreign to the great questions now before the people. Rightly or wrongly, also, many elected members have become prone to consider that they represent not the nation as a whole first, their own constituencies second, and their political party last and far behind the others, but are inclined to invert this order of their responsibilities. Personal and political obligations are often considered, local rather than national needs may have inspired their election, and the fear of defeat if they shall act in a way displeasing to their particular constituencies is too apt to deprive them of that fearlessness of immediate consequence which is the greatest need of our lawmakers and administrators in time of war.

It is this fear of immediate consequences which makes the average partizan afraid of those whom he is supposed to represent. His attitude is that the people will not stand for this burden or that burden, even though he may know that the imposition of the burdens may endure to the benefit of the nation as a whole. I am myself absolutely satisfied that he is wrong; I believe that at a time like this the people will perform any duties and accept any sacrifices demanded of them by a government which they believe is wise, fearless and patriotic. If in the nature of things a particular burden must fall upon a particular class of the people it will be accepted so long as other and corresponding burdens are imposed upon the other classes, and an honest attempt is made to reach substantial justice by seeking substantial or equivalent sacrifices from all. As Lloyd George has put it, it is impossible to obtain equal sacrifices from all; we must require equal willingness to sacrifice.

I wish to make it clear before going further that I fully recognize that there are many able and absolutely patriotic members of our Parliament. There are many who rise far above party or local considerations at a time like this, and are influenced only by a desire to do for Canada what Canada needs. Their position, however, often becomes most difficult. If the measure they believe ought to be adopted originates with the opposite party, they lay themselves open to charges of treachery and disloyalty to their leaders if they support it; if the measure is one which does not have the support of either party leader, they run the risk of butting their heads against a stone wall and committing political suicide without gaining the object of their endeavours. One of the great purposes of the procedure which I am about to advocate is to give support and strength to these brilliant and patriotic members and to proclaim to them that the whole nation stands behind them.

It follows from what I have said that I am convinced that the plain way of getting from Canada that service which Canada can and ought to render is by unifying and uniting Canada for the one great purpose of service, of bringing into effective co-operation all those forces of patriotism and loyalty to high ideals which I believe exist in the land, needing only an opportunity to demonstrate that they are the greatest moving force in the land. There is in Canada a great reservoir of patriotism and courageous high-mindedness which needs only to' be tapped to flood the land; we need only to mobilize our forces of national willingness to increase enormously the strength of Canada for good, and if this war is to yield us a profit and not a loss, it must come from such a mobilization of our patriotism.

The thing that can accomplish for Canada the great purpose of performing her full duty is that thing which shall promote unity of action on the part of all who place patriotism and the will to serve above party considerations of any other matters of lesser moment. The hope of the nation lies in the fact that the intelligent and high-minded people are thinking exactly the same thoughts in regard to the great duties of these times from one end of the country to the other. They may differ never so much on the smaller things, party and language and creeds and forms of religion and local interests of the East and the West, but these differences do not make them any the less able to agree on love of country and desire that it shall perform its duty.

A striking example of how elements which many people have thought so diverse as to be incapable of being brought together in amity and wisdom for the purpose of working out methods for their common advantages is shown in the recent Bonne Entente movement to bring the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec into closer sympathy. The result of the beginnings already made seems to me to be big with' promise for the future of a greater and more united Canada. The conservative English-speaking Prime Minister of Ontario and the liberal French-speaking Prime Minister of Quebec, the Roman Catholic Archbishop and the Church of England Bishop, the leader of 'the Ontario liberals, General Lessard and the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province sat at dinner together, and found nothing but praise for the high ideals and lofty patriotism of all about that board. The alleged lion and the reputed lamb were able not only to part after the meeting, but to part with feelings of mutual respect and admiration. The leaven of this movement may not yet have penetrated to the mass of the electorate of the two provinces, but the fact that it is working in the minds of the most influential and public-spirited citizens makes it certain to my thinking that it will penetrate the whole mass of the people.

The condition which needed this Bonne Entente movement grew out of the fact that the two Provinces were ignorant of one another. It is when people are associated only with others who think as they do that they become petty and intolerant. Extravagance of statement is much more likely to occur in an address to a sympathetic audience than to one which is coolly critical; when people are met together who think alike, each is urged on, by the presence of his neighbour to go further than under other circumstances he would be willing to go or would dare to go. Support breeds courage; applause begets extravagance.

This characteristic of human nature can be wisely used to promote the welfare of our land. If men from all over this country who are one in love of the country and true patriotism are gathered together they will go further in courageous demands and in willingness to bear burdens and to make sacrifices than they will apart and alone. The support of their fellows, the identity of their highest ideals, the inspiration which flows from one to another, will help to bring about a Canadian unity which will be of incalculable value both in enabling Canada to do her full possibility in this war and in cementing all the parts together into a true nationality after the war. We have at last one basic thing upon which all true Canadians can unite.

This, then, is to my thinking the next step for Canada. Get together. Get together for Canada, for the British Empire, for the Entente Powers, for Civilization. Get together in a great convention, a "Win the War" convention, a "Do our Duty" convention. Get together men from every part of Canada and from every class of Canada, together under one roof, together in the one interest of Canada and not of any party or faction in Canada. Get men from all the existing organizations, from the Patriotic Leagues and the Recruiting Leagues, from the Boards of Trade, the Farmers' Granges, and the Grain Growers' Associations, from the Rotary Clubs, and the Canadian Clubs and this Empire Club of yours, from the Manufacturers' Associations and above all from the Labour Unions. Bring them together on the understanding that each is come not to see what he can get for the particular interest he represents but what that interest can give for Canada; not what burdens it can escape but what burdens it can assume.

Gentlemen, much of the work of preparing the way for such a convention has been done, although I think this is the first public announcement of it. All that is needed is the earnest co-operation of you and men like you in every part of this Dominion of ours. This work is being done by men who are, as I firmly believe, entirely disinterested, and who are inspired to do it only by a sense of duty and a love of Canada. About fifty representative men met a few days ago to discuss this matter, and not one of them left that meeting with any doubt that in such a convention lay the possibility of great usefulness. About three hundred men drawn from all parts of Ontario are to meet next Tuesday to discuss this matter, and to form an organization that shall enable the patriotism of this Province to be duly represented and expressed. Similarly the movement is being organized in the other Provinces.

Do not think that this movement is in any way political except in the highest sense of the word. It is not in favour of any political party or against any political party; much less is it a third party movement. It is not to find fault with the past but to demand for the future. We want the help of every one of you, the earnest, active, hard-working help, but we want each of you to help us inside of the party to which you belong, not outside of it. We want a great deal of work and a very little money to enable us to take care of the necessary expenses. And above all we want unbounded enthusiasm which shall arouse and create enthusiasm for patriotism throughout Canada.

I do not think that at a time like this it is possible to hand-pick a man as a leader and say to him, "Thou are the man; go forth and lead thy people out of the wilderness." A movement of this kind produces its own leaders; the psychology of the time brings them forth, and they become far greater and more efficient than any who might be chosen and bottlefed for the occasion. Great times, great deeds and great efforts produce great men. Each of us can think of a dozen instances of the greatness of this war entirely changing the stature of a man's soul.

I am not going to take up your time with any outline of any specific demands which I think such a convention should make upon the government, no matter how definitely I may have in my own mind a picture of what Canada can do and ought to do' I merely state my earnest conviction that out of such a convention will come a Canadian National Service, a National Service of all the people of Canada, that shall be a proof that Canada stands unitedly and unflinchingly behind this war.

Gentlemen, at this point I want to bring to your attention that a democracy if adequately expressed gets exactly what it deserves and gives exactly what it is willing to give. But a democracy is not always adequately expressed;the tools with which it works may be worn out or unsuitable, those who legislate for it or administer its affairs may not truly represent it. The natural and historic way in such case for a democracy to express itself is by a convention such as the one which I have suggested, a convention which shall come direct from the heart of the people and shall be free from intermediaries of any kind. I who believe in democracy, I who believe in Canada, believe that such a convention is needed to express the true Canadian democracy, and that its expression will be worthy both of the institution and of the nation.

I therefore appeal to all patriots, whatever their views as to the right methods for Canada to take, to come to such a convention to express them. Does a man believe that the existing party government can be made the most effective power for Canada? Let him come to this convention and say so. Does he think that a Coalition Government or a National Government or a Business Government is needed? Let him come to this forum and make his plea. Does he want a General Election or does he think that at this time it would only serve to fan into flame the fires of partizanship which should be held in abeyance? Let him come forward and speak directly to Canada his convictions. I care not what views are held by those who make up this convention; I ask only that they have brains and patriotism, and that they have no private axes to grind, neither political nor personal, neither for their pocket-books nor their own ambitions, I have faith that in such case they will justly arrive in their collective wisdom at the right course for Canada to take.

This war has done away with many of the precedents of the past; let this convention be unprecedented in the loftiness of the ideals it is gathered to express and to insist upon. Let it set a new hightide mark, for unselfishness and desire that our country shall prove itself truly great.

If you are willing to believe with me in the possibility of greatness for this land, if the vision of a Canada making as much for the good of the world as any nation on any continent appeals to you as it appeals to me, if you think that true democracy holds the best promise for the happiness of a people and can be made equal to any task and any crisis, if you have that same pride of country which already inspires me, your youngest Canadian, do this thing that I ask of you. It is only by working together that we can accomplish; it is co-operation only which makes progress possible. Each of you has faith in himself, each has faith in his own house, in his own city, in his own province. For the sake of Canada, I ask that in like manner you shall have faith in one another, and shall prove that you are broadminded enough to trust your fellow Canadians from other parts of the land. When you hear that a Canadian battalion is going into action you have faith that it will acquit itself bravely and nobly, and you do not have to pause to ask whether it was recruited from the East or the West, from Ontario or Quebec or British Columbia. In like manner have faith in the patriotism and courage of your fellow Canadians gathered together for service to their land.

I have lately discussed with men from different parts of Canada propositions for undertaking great and burdensome duties, and in each case the man with whom I had been speaking has told me that his own province would accept such burdens, but that he doubted if the other provinces would do so. This, gentlemen, only goes to show that each man has measured and plumbed the depth of patriotism among these whom he knows, and has faith in the underlying unsefishness and nobility of purpose of his neighbours.

Gentlemen, get together this local pride and local faith and from it build a great and permanent edifice of national pride and national faith. Put to shame the narrow-thinking politicians who cannot see beyond the size of a party majority of half a dozen years age. Let this "Win the War" convention, this "Do our Duty" convention, be such an inspiration of national devotion and unselfishness that' the echoes of its resounding determination ringing across half the world shall bring further fear even to the council chambers of Berlin. By its inspiration let Ottawa be uplifted, encouraged and ennobled until selfishness shall seem so sordid and so petty that it shall be allowed no place in our government. Canada! That is the name in which I am asking you to act. Canada! The land which by you, by us, by our people can be made to mean as much for courageous democracy as Great Britain means for accomplishment, Belgium means for martyrdom or noble France for devotion.

Gentlemen, Canada is at the parting of the ways. If you think of Canada not as a nation, but as a colony, not yet grown to man's estate, you can truly say that Canada has done well in this war. If it be not Canada's duty to undertake a full share and a full responsibility, but merely to lend a helping hand to the motherland which must assume the whole burden of the Empire, you may well rest contented. But if you believe, as I believe, that Canada is a nation, the equal among other nations, which go to make up that confederation for civilization known as the British Empire, if you believe that Canada is out of leading-strings and can decide for herself upon her own responsibility, if you believe that it is Canada's destiny to be one of those democracies which after this war has been won shall determine that such a war shall never again be allowed to take place, if you have a vision of the destiny of Canada, you cannot be satisfied with what Canada has done, you cannot yet say that Canada has done well. In such case you cannot rightly say that Canada has done well so long as there remains a single thing that Canada might do which Canada has not done or is not doing. Do you realize that Canada is the only one of the Allied Nations-if with me you regard Canada as one of the Allies-which is not today living on a war basis? Are you content that of all the Allied Nations Canada alone shall have escaped the full burden that the others have undertaken, alone, shall be living as she was living before the war, alone shall be free from the universal obligation of daily and hourly service?

Gentlemen, I entreat you to ponder these things that I have said to you very deeply, and if you believe that I am right to act in accordance with your convictions. It is not tomorrow but today that we must sweep the films away that cloud our vision, it is today and not tomorrow that we must determine that this Canada of ours shall render in this war all the service that the man-power and the resources of the country make possible. It is what we do now that is to decide the future of our land, whether we are to become a great and powerful nation with a tradition which shall be an inspiration to our descendants, or whether from now on we shall be satisfied to drift comfortably along the easiest way, drugged with lethargy, and apathetic to the vision, the glory of noble service.

A vote of thanks was heartily carried.