ead a
party. When the Premier by request called a caucus of his Union
supporters for the purpose of discovering what could be done with the
Coalition to make it a party, it was not the Premier who held the
floor, but Sir George, who made a long passionate speech upon the
vicissitudes of men who--like the Premier and himself--had carried the
burden and the heat of the political day. When Foster had finished,
there were tears on case-hardened faces and the caucus adjourned.
Asked later for a copy of his great speech, Sir George said he had not
even prepared any notes; when he went to the caucus he had not intended
making any such speech; he did not now remember what he had said.

Can we call such a man anything but a genius? As Minister of Trade he
may be a poor salesman. He is not less a poor salesman of his party,
his country, or his big original belief in the Empire, whatever form of
government it might become, or of his birthright to spend his
tremendous talent in public service rather than in private gain. And
he has been for almost a generation the most interesting personality in
the ranks of the Conservative party.

There is but one other politician in America with the political
vitality of Sir George Foster. "Uncle Joe" Cannon is the man. In
Washington Cannon is regarded as a miracle because he was once the
autocrat of Congress and is still a member of the House and a very old
man. Sir George Foster is almost as old a man and has been in public
service much longer. He has held portfolios under all the Conservative
Premiers that Canada ever had--Macdonald, Thompson, Abbott, Bowell,
Borden, Meighen. There have been times in the shuffles of these men
when for ability he, rather than Abbott or Bowell or Borden, should
have been Premier. But there was always a fatal obstacle in the
personality of the man whose leadership always depended upon making a
great speech. When he was first Minister under Macdonald, a lad named
Arthur Meighen was getting ready to attend a High School. Could that
Minister and that lad have been introduced, would Ezekiel have
prophesied that in 1920 he would be holding office under the lad,
Premier of Canada?

Anomalies like these are the rule in a life of a man so unusual as Sir
George, who is now a Senator. Even in the Senate he is not dead; for
in Ezekiel, 37th chapter, it is written, "Son of man, can these bones
live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest."

A HA