Two Years with a Farmer Government 
A POLITICAL LANDSLIDE.—Ontario, the rich¬ 
est and most populous province in the Domin¬ 
ion of Canada, as well as the most highly industrial¬ 
ized. has now been for over two years under the 
rule of a farmer government. Just how it came 
about, no one seems to understand at all clearly. 
Possibly it is as good an explanation as any to at¬ 
tribute the political landslide that buried the two 
eld historic parties to the general unrest that fol¬ 
lowed the war. Certain it is that no one was more 
surprised than the farmers themselves when the 
election returns showed that they had elected by 
far the largest quota of candidates of any of the four 
parties contending—Conservative, Liberal, Labor 
and United Farmers. They had had no political 
machinery. The central organization, the United 
Farmers of Ontario, had 
not taken part in the 
campaign as an organi¬ 
zation. Local clubs in 
each constituency got 
together, selected a can¬ 
didate and conducted 
their own campaign. 
Incidentally, the candi¬ 
dates got together and 
drew up a provincial 
platform. 
BEGINNERS IN 
GOVERNMENT.—From 
the standpoint of bare 
numerical strength, the 
farmer government has 
been in an almost im¬ 
possible position from 
the start. Only by an 
alliance with labor were 
they able to command a 
majority of one in the 
House. The govern¬ 
ment was still weaker 
in experience. Only one 
of the cabinet ministers 
had parliamentary ex¬ 
perience before the last 
provincial election. Only 
two members on the 
government side had 
held seats in the Leg¬ 
islature before being 
called upon to assume 
the task of governing 
the province. Few of 
them had even been 
members of township 
or country councils be¬ 
fore their election to 
the Legislature. Small 
wonder then that many 
citizens viewed with 
alarm the passing of 
pro v incial a d m in is t ra¬ 
tion into such hands. 
“The country will be 
ruined,” was an expres¬ 
sion heard everywhere. 
GAINING CONFI¬ 
DENCE.—With the sec¬ 
ond session of the farm¬ 
er - controlled Legisla¬ 
ture now a matter of 
history, it is possible to 
form a fairly correct estimate of its merit. Early 
fears that the province would be made the victim 
of rash political experiments have completely van¬ 
ished. Even the bitterest opponents of the present 
administration grudgingly admit that the farmers, 
with their labor associates, are doing “not so badly.” 
Some of them even admit that the farmer leader, 
Hon. E. C. Drury, is about the most capable premier 
the province has ever had. At the conclusion of the 
first session of the House, a Toronto paper that had 
never been known to hold any particularly kindly 
feelings for the farmer, commented on the session 
as follows: 
“If anybody expected that a lot of accidentally 
elected hayseeds were going to make themselves into 
a laughing stock for a lot of city smart Alecs, any¬ 
body made a miscalculation. The notion that the 
twentieth century Canadian farmer is a fellow with 
dusty whiskers, colored by tobacco juice, and a mind 
that expresses itself only by fits and stops, doesn’t 
survive the knowledge of the Drury brigade. The 
only bearded man on the government side of the 
House is the Toronto lawyer who fills the job of 
Attorney General. The opposition owns seven times 
as much whiskers as the government. The farmers 
are as good looking a bunch as have ever sustained a 
government in Queen's Park, and the cabinet meas¬ 
ures up in capacity to its predecessors—and perhaps 
some more.” 
FACTORS FOR SUCCESS—The factors that ac¬ 
count for the success of the farmer-labor administra¬ 
tion are not difficult to dissect. The first good move 
was the selection of a leader. Premier Drury is a 
graduate of the Provincial Agricultural College, and 
a successful farmer. But this alone would never 
Dr. Robert Brittain of Delaware Co., N. Y., sent this picture. It represents the village blacksmith and 
the country doctor. Friends of long standing and needed in every country district. 
have qualified him for the important position he now 
occupies. All his life be has been an ardent stu¬ 
dent of political economy, was one of the fathers of 
the farmers’ movement in Ontario, and has taken an 
active part in public discussion outside tbe halls of 
the Legislature. Another happy choice was the Min¬ 
ister of Agriculture, Mr. Doherty, who has an ex¬ 
ceedingly keen mind and is a graduate of the On¬ 
tario Agricultural College and Cornell University. 
The other members of the cabinet have shown a 
really wonderful aptitude for adminstrative work. 
Perhaps the greatest asset on the side of the gov- 
ernment, insofar as getting its measures through the 
House is concerned, has been the divided opposition. 
Neither of the old political parties, now in opposi¬ 
tion, has any love for the farmer administration, 
but they have even less love for each other, and have 
found it impossible to get together in anything ex¬ 
cept a demand for higher pay. The chief recom¬ 
mendation of the government, however, in case of an 
election, would be its legislative and administrative 
record. 
WISDOM IN LEGISLATION—This record has 
been notably free from anything of a class nature. 
The farmers have showed themselves capable of 
legislating for the whole community. Perhaps their 
best piece of legislation was a provision for widows’ 
pensions. What can be more pathetic than a mother 
with a growing family, left without visible means of 
support? That the family be well reared is of even 
more importance to society than to the mother her¬ 
self, hut, in the past, society has left the whole bur¬ 
den with the mother, or left her with the heart¬ 
breaking alternative of turning her children over 
to an orphanage. In Ontario the farmer govern¬ 
ment has now seen to it 
that society carries its 
share of the load. Where 
a widow is left with 
two or more children 
she now receives a 
monthly allowance, suf¬ 
ficient to keep her in 
comfort at least, and 
the children have the 
privilege of growing up 
where all children 
should grow up — in 
their own homes. This 
humanitarian measure 
has done more than all 
other measures com¬ 
bined to commend the 
farmer administration 
to the rank and file of 
city people, who were at 
first bittei’ly opposed to 
the idea of farmer con¬ 
trol. 
RURAL CREDITS.— 
The most important 
legislation of special in¬ 
terest to the farmer has 
been the provision for 
rural credits. The bank¬ 
ing system of the coun¬ 
try was not designed to 
be of much aid to agri¬ 
culture. The legislation 
passed at the last ses¬ 
sion of the House pro¬ 
vides for both short- 
time and long-time 
loans. Short-date loans 
are for the purchase of 
implements, seeds, fer¬ 
tilizer's, stock, etc.; the 
long-time loans for the 
purchase of land, erec¬ 
tion of farm buildings 
or discharge of existing 
obligations. The short- 
time loans are adminis¬ 
tered by a local associa¬ 
tion, the mumicipality 
and the province work¬ 
ing together. Long¬ 
term loans are payable 
on the amortization plan 
and payments may be 
made over a period run¬ 
ning up to 20 years. In no case is a loan to exceed 
Go per cent of the value of the property. 
SOME HELPFUL LAWS.—A Dairy Standards 
Act has been passed which will make it compulsory 
that milk at cheese factories be paid for on its but¬ 
ter-fat content. This removes a long-standing injus¬ 
tice. Provision has been made for the reforestation 
of waste land and for the extension of hydro-electric 
power into rural districts. Another act, which is 
meeting with growing approval, gives municipali¬ 
ties the option of taxing buildings at a lower rate 
than land, thus encouraging improvement. In an 
administrative capacity, the government has been 
investigating the manner in which the timber limits 
of tbe province, worth many millions of dollars, 
have been wasted through graft and conniption, and 
will recover much of the money out of which the 
province was cheated in the past. They have also 
withstood a powerful demand from some favored 
