36 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 
PROPHET OF THE PRAIRIE PROVINCES 
9. HonoraBLe Duncan McLEAn MarsHALt, Minister for Agri- 
culture in the province of Alberta, was born in a one-room log 
shanty in the township of Elderslie, Bruce Co., Ontario, Sept. 24, 
1873. His father, John Marshall, was one of the pioneers of the 
region. The public school on an adjoining farm provided his 
first education, but he was later sent to the Walkerton High 
School, and the Owen Sound Collegiate Institute. On Jan. 1, 
1890, he embarked on a career of public school teaching in his 
native township. The years preceding and following this period 
were ones of very great depression for Ontario farmers, and he, 
like a number of other farm boys, found teaching school a 
quicker way of earning a little cash than any other available. 
Nevertheless he was continuously engaged in farm work on Sat- 
urdays and holidays, devoting especial attention to the livestock 
of his father’s farm. JoHN MarsHAL_ had early entered into the 
cattle business, both as feeder and as drover, selling on the 
Buffalo and Toronto markets, hence it was natural that his son 
should display something of the same bent. At fourteen years 
he acquired his first interest in purebred Shorthorns, purchasing 
several on his own account. Hence when the lean years of 
farming arrived, Mr. MARSHALL never lost his determination to 
be a breeder of highest class livestock. 
During his term of service as a teacher he did organization 
work for a farmers’ association and political party in eastern 
Canada known as the Patrons of Industry. He proved to be the 
most successful agent in spreading the influence of this farmers’ 
movement throughout Ontario, although then but a youth of 
sixteen years. F'rom this initial adventure in political campaign- 
ing up to the present, he has proved to be a powerful influence 
in Dominion affairs, and has received invitations to deliver poli- 
tical addresses both in Canada and the United States. 
