the work they
did in the war; Foster was no bigger or more potent a figure in war
work or any other kind of work when peace was signed than he was in
1914.

He never was a great executive even at his portfolio under Macdonald in
the early '80's. He has always been a prophet. Public speech is his
besetting passion. He could rise anywhere and translate logic and
economics into ethical emotion. No man in Canada felt the war more
intensely. But Trade was not a matter of emotion; or of oratorical
periods; or the right hand descending upon the left. It was a matter
of urgent and colossal business.

In 1916, talking to the war budget, he declaimed against patronage. He
had done the same thing in 1910 just as ably when he was the pot
calling the kettle black.

"I hope," he said, "that in the white light of the present struggle the
two parties will agree to do away with the evil."

But the "white light" was more intent on doing away with the parties
themselves.

In the same speech:

"When the trenches call for munitions and supplies, when the blood of
the country is oozing from its veins in the struggle to preserve its
ideals and its liberties, when those who are at home are contributing
with generous self-sacrifice and without murmur or repining, I say that
to me as a member of the Government, to you as supporters of the
Government, and to you, gentlemen opposite, as a part of the great body
which represents the people of this Dominion, the call comes to cut off
every unnecessary expenditure, to refuse every improper demand. It is
our business to administer the funds of the people with perfect
economy, and to devote ourselves to the one sole purpose of prosecuting
this war to a successful and final conclusion."

Again, he spoke like a prophet when he riddled the blind optimism of
the prosperity pack. At that time Canada had a favouring balance of
$200,000,000 just two years after a heavy ledger against us.

"The Optimist speaks of the unexampled prosperity that is to follow the
war. I would like to think so, but I can't. The prediction of a
Montreal newspaper that Canada will have from twelve to fifteen million
inhabitants within three years after the war is a mischievous
exaggeration. The first trying period of readjustment will come
immediately after the actual fighting ceases and an armistice is
declared."

Ezekiel was profoundly right up till the last prophecy. The Minister
of Trade, with all h