he time of the election. Drury himself had been
defeated as a conscriptionist Liberal candidate in 1917. No farmer
could be in khaki and overalls at the same time. There was no reason
given for the drastic change of face except the message from the front
that more men were urgently needed or the West front was doomed. It
was not even reckoned that a farmer conscripted after seed-time in 1918
could not possibly be of use in the trenches till long after the time
when the fate of the West front would have been settled anyway.

Hence the ire of the agriculturist, driven now to become an agrarian.
The Ontario farmer made no distinction between the Unionist Government
that had conscripted the farmer, and the Ontario Conservative
Government which supported Ottawa. The farmer made up his mind
wherever possible to defeat both the old line candidates.

Premier Drury was the chief result. He never would have been offered
the post but for the cleavage caused by the war. The U.F.O. were not
unanimous, and Drury was not anxious. He had his eye on Ottawa. But
there was nobody else who could unite the group with labour. Drury had
himself been the first president of the U.F.O. and secretary of the
Canadian Council of Agriculture; he was a thinker, something of a
scholar, a futurist, and a good deal of a radical; and he could speak
well.

He picked a Cabinet mainly of farmers. He occupied more time drafting
his Cabinet than most farmers take to harvest a crop. He was in a
hurry, but he wanted nobody to suspect it. He said little; wisely.
There was no occasion. He had no mandate from the people. He wanted
sure-enough colleagues. The men he chose were all novices. The old
line critics watched him with affected contempt. They said Agriculture
and Labour never could mix. Drury went along. No Cabinet had ever
been so prayerfully hand-picked. Labour must not get the idea that it
was merely being sopped for the support of twelve men in a House
majority of one. There must be concession; common aims understood,
even ahead of experience, when there was as yet no common policy.

Mr. Drury had been only a few hours sworn Premier of Ontario when he
was summarily turned out--not, however, from Office. In company with a
farmer author friend who had been given the freedom of a certain small
but desirable Club and who wanted to show Mr. Drury one place where he
could have a quiet time of an evening, he went to have dinner. As