EARLY FARMER ORGANIZATIONS 31 



due to the demand of the great Eastern cities 

 for a more plentiful supply of food-stuffs. It ^ 

 appeared that the advantages of reciprocal trade 

 on a basis favourable to Canada, which had been 

 sought by all great Canadian political leaders in 

 years past, and which every one recognized would 

 be of inestimable value to Canadian farmers, 

 might become an accomplished fact. In order* 

 to take advantage of this situation, the Canadian 

 Council of Agriculture organized a great deputa- 

 tion to wait upon the then Liberal Government 

 at Ottawa, and present the views of the farmers 

 on this important matter. On the night of 

 December 14th, 1910, some 300 delegates, fresh 

 from attending the Annual Convention of the 

 Dominion Grange, which had been held in 

 Toronto on the two preceding days, took train 

 from the North Toronto Station for Ottawa, 

 where they were joined by similar delegations 

 from the West, and by less organized but not 

 less representative delegations from the Eastern 

 Provinces. A convention was held on Thurs- 

 day, December 15th, in the Grand Opera House 

 in Ottawa, where, after a full day's discussion, 

 certain resolutions embodying the attitude of the ^ 

 organized farmers on several questions of 

 national importance were drawn up, chief 

 among these, of course, being those which 

 related to the question of reciprocity with the 



