FOR THE CHILDREN

Waikato Independent, Volume XXII, Issue 2491, 7 January 1922, Page 9

FOR THE CHILDREN

SIB JOHN MAC.DONALD THESTOBV OF HIS CAREER For 4,7 years John Alexander Macdonald whs one of Canada's public men and for at least .'i7 years, the greatest. In no other country except Germany when Bismarck was in power has one statesman held such a high place in national esteem and for such a longtime, not in the nineteenth century, at any rale. He was born in Scotland, and taken to Canada, when very young. All the education John got as a lad was five years at a grammar school. Perhaps that is why he was such a great, reader of books. Much of the burden of the homo fell on him.

At 15 lie entered a law office, and. began to earn his own living. But, even at that early age, he could so easily .make people like and trust him that, in n few years, he was able to set up for himself and, later on, to take a partner. But it was not until he entered Parliament, in 1844, that he showed his true bent. Before he had entered on his third session his advice was sought, by the leaders of his party, and, in three years, he was a member of the Cabinet. From that time until 1891 it was he who guided and inspired his country's progress. Think what her circumstances were 70 years ago. She had lb' miles of railway, was divided into four scattered provinces, while all the great west was an untamed wilderness; she was poor and had a small population! You all know what she is to-day, one of the coming nations of the world, a position for which, she never forgets, the foundations were laid by John Macdonald. A. mere list of the things he did would till columns,' and for nearly two generations the story of his life was the story of Canada. So, in this short space, let us consider why he was such a great statesman. Most important of all, he was true to his political faith. It can be summed up in two words, unity and loyalty., As you know also, there is a Frenchspeaking Canada and there is an Eng-lishing-speaking Canada. Therefore he always acted so that, the two should work together in goodwill. That was, making for unity among the largest provinces of British North America. But ho wanted more. His dream was to draw all the provinces into a federation. To bring that about he had to form what is called a coalition government, that is to say one in which the members belong not to only one party, but to the chief parties in the State. That was making for political unity, and in after years Sir .John once said that every leading man who had begun public life as his opponent, ended by being his colleague and friend. He was not so much the head of a party as of the nation. He always had to face an opposition, bnt it was seldom strong enough to turn him out of office, and never remained in power for long. X Having persuaded the two Panadas that confederation was the only road to strength and prosperity, his next task was to persuade Nova New Brunswick, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island that they should take the same road. This was 'very dif- j ficult because each one wanted something different, and did not like to lose itself as a colony in a dominion. But Sir John, by his wonderful powers of persuasion, got them into line as far as to send representatives to a conference, where the whole subject was thoroughly talked over. Here again his powers of conciliation made an agreement possible, which led to the drafting of the British North American Act. For that 'is what it was called when it received the sanction of .Queen Victoria in England. And so the Dominion of Canada was born in 1867. But. if it is difficult to bring about a federation of free states, it is just as difficult to get it to work well. The first thing which had to be done was to build railways so that the provinces would be in closer touch with one another. Within a few months of confederation the Inter-colonial Railway, which connects Halifax with Quebec and Montreal, was begun, ami finished in 1577. If it were no easy matter to carry that through it was simple compared to the next project Sir John undertook. [laving united the eastern provinces he turned to the west, which was in the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company, and far away on the Pacific coast was British Columbia. To link it up with the east he first of all bought the fur company out and then proposed to build a railway to Vancouver. Many people thought it would be impossible. Great countries like the United States and Russia had built tianscontinentd railways, but they were rich and populous. Canada w:i; neither., ami Briti-d, capital on the whole did not favour the undertaking. But Sir John's faint amicourage were so great that tie persuaded Canada that the enterprise ->u-d L>e carried out. He got the money at home, in England, and :•■■ 'mm United States. Able businessjraeri,answered his call, and clever tyignwext set themselves to ovcrcp'rao fi«</'- OQ- '-e&J M m the mnjc Wlipji the I;^^^

eouver, the Dominion was spanned from the Atlantic to the Pacific by the iron road. It has made British North America one, and dotted the Canadian west with cities and townships, and enabled it to become a granary of the world.

Sir John devised such a just system for dealing with the Indians that the relations between the white and red races have; always been cordial. It/was he who created the North-West Mounted Police, which, for 40 years, kept, order over nearly half a continent. They wore a. scarlet coat, and the service was one long story of adventure. With a united Canada behind him, Sir John held out hands to the West Indies and Australia in order to open up trade relations with them. But in all he did, although his first thought was for Canada, he never forgot that she was a member of the British Empire, and what she owed to it. His ideal was not only a united Canada but a united British Empire. You see then what was the key to his policy, and what a noble one it was. In Canada he was known by several nicknames, the most general of which was "John A." He was also called "the Chieftain" by his devoted colleagues, and "Old To-mor-row" by his opponents because he had a way of putting off a contentious question by saying "to-morrow." FEMININE Returning from school the other afternoon a little girl proudly informed her mother that she had learned to "punchtate." "You see, mother," explained the child, "when you write 'Hark!' you put a hatpin after it, and when you ask a question you put a buttonhook!" FRESH FROM THE COW Little Ethel has had a fortnight in tho country for the first time in her life. "Did you see them milk the cow, Ethel'?" asked her mamma, on her return. "No, mamma," w T as the reply, "but I saw them unmilk her."