The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, December 1, 1919, Page 3

In the interest -of a square deal . for the farmers Nonartidin Tea Official Magazine of the National Nonpartisan League A magazine that dares to print the truth VOL. 9, NO. 22 ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, DECEMBER 1, 1919 WHOLE NUMBER 219 The Victory of the Farmers of Ontario How the Agricultural Party of the Province Swept the Elections and Named a - Farmer for Premier—The History of the “U. F. O BY A. D. THURSTON (Assoelate Editor Farmers’ Sun, Ontario.) N a comparatively small group of farmers formed, al- most six years ago, the United Farmers of Ontario, -and vxgor- ously carried on a campaign to unite Ontario farmérs into a “class organization,” they were subjected to most severe criti- : cism from outsiders, and from ' farmers’ themselves. “Apostles of the blue ruin,” they were called, : because they cour- ageously and in- sistently placed their fingers on the sore points on On- tario’s agriculture, and carried on a crusade to wunite farmers that they might retrieve some of the ground that had been lost in the development from an. agricul- tural to an indus- trial province. { Ontario farmers of the old ‘'school would take “some” uniting! They were hardshells from the drop of the hat, who inherited their politics along with their farms from : their parents, and to whom a change of politics was as unthinkable as a change of wife, for instance—and On- tario farmers are faithful to thelr wives! And yet in the : recent election campaign, old-men of both parties who had always voted the straight party ticket proudly boasted that they were being independent and using their brains at an election for the first time in their life—and when the time came, proved the sincerity of their words. It was a cheering spur to the U. F. O. leaders who were often discouraged during the campaign, and more particularly as it drew to a close, and J. J. Morrison broke under the strain and had to spend precious days in bed, seriously ill. UNITED FARMERS DEFEATED | LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES The reward for all the work, for all the criticism, for the burdening worry of every sort, came when the voters of Ontario on October 20, returned more * United Farmer members on their first appearance at the polls than either of the two old parties, Con- servatives or Liberals. It was a splendld reward and an une one, for the province is more than half urban, since so many people have left the farms for the bright lights. But, even their 456 members, to the 29 Liberals, 25 Conservatives, 11 Laborites and 1 independent “ in a house of 111 representatwes, was not sufficient to enable the U, F. O., as it is called,-to control a majority of votes in the house, and so an amalga- - ‘mation has been made with the Labor forces, who also come to the leglslatm:e as new men, the party : having only been represented in the past by one - man, who died recently. The labor men, glad of the chance.to have a word in government, readily lined up behind the . farmers’ party. This repudiation of the two old-line parties is all the more remarkable in view of the fact that the U. F. O. was oppesed by practically every daily paper in the province, and its leaders were held up as German sym- pathizers, red-flag Socialists, trouble makers, _ paid agitators, and so on. The collection of en- dearments-will sound familiar to Nonpartisans R Rorir iz o e S . Above—R. H. Halbert, president of the U. F. O. (right), and Peter Smith, provincial treasurer in - the new cabinet. Mr. Smith is a farmer and a former school teacher. only non-farmer elected by the farmers, who i will be the attorney general in the new. cabmet.x Below—W. F. Nickle, the - across the line, forming as they do, the stock- in-trade of party politicians, How, then, could the U. F. O. win such support from the electors of city and country alike? There were several reasons. In the first place, the- old legislature had continued its own existence for sev- eral years after an election should have been held, by consent of both parties; they did not “trust the people.” Therefore, the people did not trust them. Moreover, the United Farmers came out flat- ‘footed in the election campaign with their policies, and did not hesitate to state where they stood on matters of public economy, prohibi- tion, extravagant road policies, and 80 on. This frank- ness was something entirely new from political parties, and the people in general responded to it, in spite of the frantic appeals of the old political papers and leaders. ASKED REAL FARM VOTE The United Farm- ers of Ontario never cared very much about the: the man who has amassed a great deal of wealth from his farming -opera- tions; ~ from the. start they appealed to the “ordinary” or “average” farm- er of Ontario, and so from the first they have very largely - represent- ed his viewpoint, though there were wealthy farmers who saw the need for an - educational, social and commercial organization among farmers to right conditions that exist, and they have done splendid work in pushing the U. F. O. to the point which it occupies today. Six years ago this coming February a small gathering of men met in Toronto and formed what was ambitiously called “The United Farm- ers of Ontario,” and at the same time formed a co-operative company to handle feeds and supplies for the memuers of the local clubs. There were perhaps 100 men present at the first meeting, representing' a handful of clubs and old granges, who had survived previous attempts to organize the farmers of the province. r'_I‘oday there are well over 1,000 clubs in the province, and 40,000 members. The co-operative company will do something like $7,000,000 of business this year, and practlcally a quarter of the livestock sold in the province this year will be shipped co-opera- tively by U. F. O. clubs. In addition to this, the U. F. 0. purchased the Weekly Sun, which had always been a staunch supporter of the movement, and in whose office the U. F. O. had first found deskroom until it had. sufficient money on hand to open up an office and hire a stenographer of its own. The purchase: of “joy-farmer,” as it is termed here, or this paper was made last April; and the name was * /8! changed to the Farmers’ Sun. Its circulation of & 12,000 has mcreased in the few months to arouna - §