ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED | NOVEMBER 6, 1919 | THE FARMER'S ADVOCATE
A political revolution has swept the slate clean in the Province of Ontario, and a new era is dawning. During a revolution it is hard to predict whose head will go, and, in the upheaval still fresh in our minds, the weapon placed in the hands of Ontario’s electors fell with a vengeance. The ballot was not in every case, we think, used discreetly, but, unlike revolutions where the guillotine instead, instead of the ballot, implemented the desires of the people, there is a second chance for the fallen ones who are unworthy of extinction.
Never before have both political machines been wrecked at once and power placed in the hands of a fresh, verile [sic] body of men, purged of all partizanship in preparation for service to the state. The situation is without a precedent in Canada, and this has obliged the dominant party to blaze a trail i the uncharted wilderness of Ontario’s new politics. Farmers, however, have a good record in local government, and the opportunity is now presented for the translation of those practices and principles which have held municipal administrations above reproach to the broader and more complex field of provincial affairs. Agriculture now has its innings in the Province of Ontario; great odds are at stake, and the members elected on the farmer ticket must work unsparingly in order that a clean, efficient, unbiased government may administer the affairs of the Province during the next four years.
Farmers only asked for proportional representation, but they were given more. Upon their shoulders was imposed the responsibility of government, which, in turn, involves the entire industry, for upon the prospective Government’s achievements depends the farmers’ reputation for efficiency and broadmindedness in public administration.
A farmer government, properly conducted, will bring country and city closer together. It will help to give city folk a clearer understanding of rural problems and rural people. Country folks, too, will, no doubt, be better able to appreciate the trials and tribulations of their urban cousins and, on the whole, the bond of friendship will be strengthened as these two great branches of society know each other better. Already there is a more general readiness to concede that agriculture has real grievances, and no fear is expressed that undue advantage will be taken by those in whose hands power has been placed.