THE BEGINNING OF THE U.F.O. 47 



continued. At this first annual convention, 

 R. H. Halbert, who had demonstrated his 

 ability and aggressiveness in the work of organ- 

 ization of Dufferin County, was elected president 

 of the United Farmers of Ontario, the first 

 president, E. C. Drury, having refused to allow 

 his name to go up for re-election on the ground 

 that he believed the organization would be 

 strengthened through pursuing a policy by which 

 the personnel of the important offices would be 

 subject to frequent changes. 



At the second annual meeting, held in Febru- 

 ary, 1916, in the Labor Temple, still further 

 progress was reported. The Association now 

 numbered nearly 5,000 members, eighty-two 

 new clubs having been added since the last 

 convention, fifty of them newly organized, and 

 the remainder local Granges which had come in. 

 The trading company by this time had attained 

 some little measure of success, though in a 

 comparatively small way. The delegates to this 

 convention were even more optimistic than at 

 the first annual convention, and the discussions 

 showed an active and healthy interest in public 

 affairs. It is significant to note that at 

 convention a resolution was passed asking for 

 prohibition of the liquor traffic, both Dominion 

 and Provincial. Thus, in its early days, the 

 farmers' organization pronounced unequivo- 



