A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography. Various
Читать онлайн книгу.
of the 12th Parliament, January, 1916. Was one of the Canadian representatives at the Imperial Parliamentary Conference in London, 1916, and accompanied the members of that body on their visit to the Munitions plants, The Fleet, and to the front. Elected Speaker of the House of Commons, January 18, 1917. Re-elected Speaker at the opening of the first session of the 13th Parliament, 1918. Member Rideau Club and Country Club, Ottawa. A Unionist. Amherst, N.S.
White, Rt. Hon. Sir William Thomas, P.C., M.P., Finance Minister of Canada, is a Canadian statesman whose meteoric rise to fame during less than a decade, has attracted more than national attention. He was born at Bronte, Ont., November 13, 1866, the son of James and Elizabeth (Graham) White. His father was a farmer and his early education was obtained at Oakville public school and Brampton High School. Later he entered Toronto University and graduated in 1895 with the degree of B.A. and honors in classics. During his university career he won two first-class scholarships and a gold medal. Subsequently he took up a course of law at Osgoode Hall, Toronto and was called to the Bar of the province in 1899, but never practised. During his period as an arts and law student he supported himself, first as a reporter on the Toronto “Telegram,” where his writings showed singular eloquence and ability; and later, as one of the assessors of the Civic Assessment Department. The knowledge of real estate values and of financial questions which he had gained in the latter capacity, as well as his general abilities, led a group of Toronto capitalists to tender him in 1900, the General Managership of the National Trust Company, which they had recently formed. This post he held for nearly eleven years and during that interval attained a high status in the financial community. Though a Liberal in politics, he had never been known as an active politician. In the summer of 1911, when Sir Wilfrid Laurier, then Prime Minister, appealed to the country to ratify the Knox-Fielding pact calling for reciprocity in natural products between Canada and the United States, Mr. W. T. White, as he was then known, was one of eighteen prominent Toronto Liberals who issued a manifesto against the proposals of their former political chieftain and decided to support Mr. Robert Borden. He himself took the platform against the pact as liable to disturb the equilibrium of trade at a time when Canada was enjoying unexampled prosperity. The result of this and other appeals was that many thousands of voters, previously Liberal, abandoned the party lines and defeated the Laurier administration by a large majority. When called upon to form a government in the latter part of September, 1911, Mr. Borden felt that it was due to the large number of Liberals who had supported him, that they should be represented in the Cabinet. On consultation with the leaders of the group, known as “Borden Liberals,” they were unanimously of the opinion that Mr. White was the best available choice. Despite the fact that he was without previous political experience, the Conservative Leader decided to offer him the most important portfolio in the Cabinet, that of the Ministry of Finance. On Mr. White’s accepting the office, a seat was found for him in the House of Commons by the elevation of Mr. George Taylor, M.P. for Leeds, and formerly Conservative whip, to the Senate. At a by-election held on November 4, 1911, Mr. White was elected to Parliament by a considerable majority, despite the fact that the election was marked by severe personal attacks on him, because of his so-called “desertion” of the Liberal party. Mr. White answered the challenge by the statement that he “believed that there was no healthier sign of the times than that an honest man should change his party in the interests of his country.” His maiden speech in the House of Commons, which was delivered on Nov. 29, 1911, was awaited throughout the country with great interest, and at once stamped him as one of the coming men in Canadian politics. Since then his budget speeches have proclaimed him as a financier of masterly intellect. Had Mr. White known in 1911 that the task lay before him of financing Canada’s contribution to the prosecution of the greatest war the world has ever known, he would possibly have declined office. When in 1914, Germany made war against all Europe, and Canada decided to support the Motherland, perhaps the gravest task of all fell on the Minister of Finance, because up to that time Canada had been a heavy borrower from the Motherland, and these sources of supply would naturally be cut off if the war continued for a lengthy period. In fact, in 1914, many eminent financiers believed that the financial resources of the world would not stand the strain of a war of more than six months’ duration. The Canadian Minister of Finance however laid his plans for a long war; and in addition to the task of financing Canada’s magnificent military effort, applied himself to the problem of keeping up Canada’s trade at a figure that would enable her to continue as a belligerent. He had also the task thrust upon him of acting as banker for Great Britain, France, Russia and other belligerents, who made the finance department at Ottawa the clearing house for their enormous financial dealings with the merchants and manufacturers of the United States. During the first year of the war Great Britain was able to render financial assistance to Canada and others of the overseas dominions; and Mr. White floated some large loans in the United States. But it was already apparent that Canada must shortly finance herself. In 1916 he visited England and fully acquainted himself with the situation, and in the same year was created a Knight Commander of St. Michael and St. George, in recognition of his war services. Sir Thomas decided to test Canada’s own resources and floated a large war loan the bulk of it being taken by Canadian capitalists, although a certain number of small investors were also attracted to it. Up to 1917, however, there were only about 60,000 holders of Canadian bonds in this country. In the summer of 1917, when Canada seemed to face a serious financial crisis, Sir Thomas decided to try the experiment of a great popular loan to be known as the Victory Loan, on the lines of the popular loans floated during the American Civil War, by the celebrated financier Jay Cooke. He collected a superb organization, embracing all the leading financiers, newspapers and selling agencies of Canada and asked the people to lend their government $300,000,000, to be spent entirely in Canada for war purposes. The result passed all expectations, for the loan was over-subscribed by more than one hundred million dollars, and about 875,000 became holders of Victory Bonds. Canada was enabled to do this by the fact that Sir Thomas and the Borden administration as a whole had, by adopting the policy of financing British credits in this country, secured enormous war orders for agricultural supplies and munitions for her farmers and manufacturers, so that the flow of money during the war reached unexampled heights. The first Victory Loan of 1917 was fruitful of good results, because it enabled Canada to continue this policy on a more extended scale, so that, though this enormous sum was invested in bonds, and added to the savings of the people, a few months later the average of deposits in the savings banks of the country was larger than it had been before the first Victory Loan was floated. In the latter part of 1917 the health of Sir Thomas broke down as a result of his stupendous anxieties and labors, but after a vacation of several months in California he returned to this country restored in health. In the autumn of 1918 he decided to float another Victory Loan, asking, as in 1917, for $300,000,000, but setting the real objective at $500,000,000. The result was another enormous over-subscription, nearly $700,000,000 having been subscribed. That such a showing should have been made by a country so limited in population as Canada, is the best proof of his skill as administrator of the nation’s finances during the most trying epoch in the history of the world. So thoroughly has Sir Thomas the confidence of his leader, Sir Robert Borden, that when in November, 1918, he left Canada for an indefinite absence as a member of the European Peace Conference, he appointed the Minister of Finance Acting Prime Minister, to take charge of the hazardous task of re-organizing the country on a peace basis. Sir Thomas is a profound student and thinker and a public speaker of rare ability. Among his activities prior to his removal to Ottawa were those of a member of the Board of Governors of Toronto University and Trustee of Toronto General Hospital. He is a Methodist in religion, and a member of the Rideau Club, Ottawa, and the York and Toronto Clubs, Toronto. On Sept. 20, 1890, he married Annie Isabel, daughter of Ellis Silverthorne, Jarvis, Ont.
Price, Sir William, the prominent capitalist of Quebec City, who has been engaged in military operations during the European War as Colonel of the 171st Battalion, at Valcartier, and later as an officer at the front, is a son of Mr. Henry Ferrier Price, who married Miss Florence Rogerson. He was born at Talca, Chili, on August 30, 1867. His uncle was the Hon. Senator E. J. Price, on whose death he became leading partner of the firm of Price Brothers & Company, in 1886. He was educated at Bishops College School, Lennoxville, P.Q., and later at St. Mark’s School, Windsor, England. He has been prominent in the public life as well as the business circles of Quebec, having been a member of parliament for one of the electoral divisions of the place and afterwards Chairman