means, 56,000 men were drafted in Canada before the war ended. In the
meantime, through heavy fighting the demand for drafts became so
insistent that the Fifth Canadian Division in England had to be broken
up to reinforce the exhausted fighting divisions in France.

It would be an incomplete summary of Canada's part in the war that did
not mention some of the men who have been responsible for the success of
Canadian arms. It is obviously impossible to mention all of those
responsible; it is even harder to select a few. But looking backward one
sees two figures that stand forth from all the rest--General Sir Sam
Hughes in Canada, and General Sir Arthur Currie commander of the
Canadian corps.

To General Sir Sam Hughes must be given the credit of having foreseen
war with Germany and making such preparations as were possible in a
democracy like Canada. He it was of all others who galvanized Canada
into action; he it was whose enthusiasm and driving power were so
contagious that they affected not only his subordinates but the country
at large.

Sir Sam Hughes will be remembered for the building of Valcartier camp
and the dispatch of the first Canadian contingent. But he did things of
just as great importance. It was he who sought and obtained for Canada,
huge orders for munitions from Great Britain and thereby made it
possible for Canada to weather the financial depression, pay her own war
expenditures and emerge from the war in better financial shape than she
was when the war broke out. It was easy to build up a business once
established but the chief credit must go to the man who established it.

Sir Sam Hughes was also responsible for the selection of the officers
who went overseas with the first Canadian contingent. Among those
officers who subsequently became divisional commanders were General Sir
Arthur Currie, General Sir Richard Turner, General Sir David Watson,
Generals Lipsett, Mercer and Hughes.

Of these generals, Sir Arthur Currie through sheer ability ultimately
became commander of the Canadian corps. This big, quiet man, whose
consideration, prudence and brilliancy had won the absolute confidence
of Canadian officers and men alike, welded the Canadian corps into a
fighting force of incomparable effectiveness--a force which was set the
most difficult tasks and, as events proved, not in vain.

When Canada entered the war she had a permanent force of 3,000 men. When
hostilities ceased on November 11, 1918,