MAN WHO HELPED TO MAKE CANADA

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8178, 3 May 1919, Page 1 (Supplement)

MAN WHO HELPED TO MAKE CANADA

q R WILFRED LAURIER’S GREAT CAREER. Bv Jjieut. Colonel P. Pelletier, A'ent-General for Quebec. The news of Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s has coine a.s a great shock to me. I have known Sir Wilfrid intimately throughout my political life in Canada, which extends over twenty-five years. When 1 was a young man he appeared me and all those ot my generation the ideal leader to follow. We looked on him as a man to emulate, not only m political matters, out in all spheres 0 t life. Throughout his career he has retained and increased the wonderful devotion we felt for him. His life has ton a spotless one in every sense of the «ord, and we are justly proud of lum. That French Canada could have produced so eminent a man proves that the j-enuis of the old race is still burning p U re and undiranied on the shores of the St. Lawrence. DOMINION’S IDOL.

The eloquence of Sir Wilfrid Laurier made him first the idol of his province, and then of the Dominion. The.secret t «{ his success ns an orator was the evident sincerity of the man. Never would he champion a cause in which he did not profoundly believe. Men might differ from him concerning'the advisability of ( ertain political but none ever cast a doubt on the sincerity and loftiness of his aims. Hisvdeath will be deplored by all Canadians as a great loss rot only to our beloved country, but to the whole British Empire. Sir Wilfrid Laurier worked all his life for the prosperity ofi Canada and the happiness of her people. He considered the British Empire as a powerful civilizing force in the world, and did all in liis power to promote the welfare of Canada as a means of increasing the intjuence of cur- Empire- in the councils of the world. Hence it is that he initiated the polity of preferential duties on British good? coming into Canada, of creating the first service ot refrigerating ships which would bring to the Old Country the produce or our farms; improving the means of transport from the Western provinces .so that the corn of our vast and fertile plains should be brought cheaply to Great Britain. ERA OF PROSPERITY. He organised the Western provinces into political units, and created in this country the organisation which diverted tohthose provinces the flow of immigration which hitherto had gone to the United States and South America, flunks to the increased prosperity which all these measures brought to our farming community, Canada saw at last an end to the extensive immigration of her own sons to the neighbouring Republic. Those economic policies brought about the wonderful era of prosperity which Canada has known during the last twenty years. and thereby contributed to the strength of the Empire. Sir Wilfrid was a strong believer in British institutions. He saw in those institutions the best instrument ever devised by man to spread throughout the world the principles of freedom and justice. A personal friend and great admirer of Gladstone, his whole conception of politics was that of the Liberal leaders of the Old Country. One great ambition of Sir Wilfrid Laurier was to bring about the union of races in Canada in a common patrio'ism. Ho never lost an opportunity ot pressing forward his views in every province. He went so far in the direction of conciliating antagonisms as to arouse groundless fears in the minds of a few ol his own compatriots lest he should sacrifice some Constitutional rights retegnised to French-Canadians by the British Crown and embodied in many Imperial Acts and declarations. May hi noble efforts in this direction pro'© fitful even after his death, for a united Canada would liecome a civilising pov.er worthy of tlie two great races 'hose union on the battlefields of Europe has saved mankind from autocracy and oppression. WONDERFUL MEMORY. •Sir \\ ilfrid Laurier’s memory was an tverlasting wonder to his friends. He would instantly remember a face after wonty years, and tiie name of a man rmer meeting, characteristic accounted not a littto for his personal popularity with all 1 a-cs. All those who met him spoke 2 ~ls .Personal charm. Though deocratie to the finger tips, and easilv swssibe to nil. Sir Wilfrid Lore him- , Wlt » the simplicity and dignity of " r ue aristocrat. His wliole bearing !’P grand seigneur of t'he old french regime. Canada mourns to-day one of her wf 1 ' l " st 1 rl “'is sons, whose fame oxWerxl r , .‘- V( ! n d her frontiers. The i°V' IS arc u rit Large in the history of the last haW-cen- «(, ' j . tood he has done is of such as to live and inMany coming generations. SING LITTLE BIRDS I T K fnr T «">« fain Whon I i ,°, f ra >' - TO,,fc >> recaU, From J'. r .° am - in sun or rain, % mil™, *?' , evp n-fall. I'L " n,i i" l ' and riverside, sweets of the summertide. From or ' vo,, -d slip And rhi, \ hean leash of time. Bn-’ f footed mem’rv trip 'hvsof mv prime | JjL r<k fnr ,ifo is r-moVJim *" m ? ner passes: G'n?. |itf] o ij . n '' r ' , ' T grasses ; V fear r( S * ' v^len draws j be the last notes r.similar. STEWART.