London Evening Advertiser
- HOUSE IS DISSOLVED
- BANKERS DEMAND FREE TRADE PLAN
- EUGENE DEBS, SOCIALIST, NEAR DEATH AT CHICAGO
This partial reading of the London Evening Advertiser for 19 October 1926 is dominated by Ontario politics. A Canadian Press despatch reported that Premier Howard Ferguson had dissolved the legislature and called a general election for 1 December on a plan to replace prohibition with freer, government-controlled liquor sale under local option, and that Attorney-General W. F. Nickle had left the cabinet because he disagreed. A neighbouring fragment quoted Nickle defending the Ontario Temperance Act and calling government sale "alluring, but deceptive." A special cable from London described a free-trade manifesto by European business leaders, signed by Reichsbank president Dr. Schacht and reportedly by Montagu Norman, which blamed tariffs for propping up uneconomic industries. A short Chicago despatch said the 71-year-old Socialist leader Eugene V. Debs was near death in a sanatorium.
This reading covers three excerpts from a partly legible page. The main banner is split across the top tiles and is not used as a heading. Columns at the tile edges are cut off, including the Westminster Abbey tablet story, the 'Silent on Ferguson Plan' item, the Raney headline and the City Hall headline, and a dark blot and a tear at the bottom hide some text. The excerpts begin and end mid-story where the columns break, and the OCR is garbled in places. The Debs item has no background section because no supporting source was available, and William Graham's proposal is cut off in the source.
Translation
HOUSE IS DISSOLVED
Premier's Policy Splits Conservative Cabinet and Hon. W. F. Nickle Resigns.
HOUSE IS DISSOLVED
Preparations For Vote Already Under Way—Issue Writs Today.
Canadian Press Despatch.
Toronto, Oct. 19.—Prohibition of the sale of intoxicating liquors in Ontario, which has been the law in the province since Sept. 16, 1916, will give place to a freer sale of liquor under government control under a system of local option, should the electorate approve the policy set forth late last night by Premier G. Howard Ferguson in announcing dissolution of the legislative assembly and calling for a general election on Dec. 1.
Mr. Ferguson's declaration was not unexpected as for weeks past reports of the government's intention have been in circulation.
Simultaneously with the premier's manifesto came the announcement that Hon. W. F. Nickle, attorney-general, was relinquishing his portfolio as he could not see eye to eye with his leader in regard to the liquor policy to be followed.
Machinery Ready.
Election machinery, well oiled for the last four months in preparation for an
BANKERS DEMAND FREE TRADE PLAN
who resigned as Provincial Attorney-General because he could not accept Premier Ferguson's policy of extended liquor sale. He declares that the O.T.A. is sound and beneficial. He declares the government sale plan as used in other provinces is "alluring, but deceptive."
BANKERS DEMAND FREE TRADE PLAN
Urged as Only Cure For Many Ills of Europe.
AMERICANS IN FAVOR
Claim Tariffs Have Created Uneconomic Industries and Living Standards.
By HENRY SOMERVILLE. Special Cable to The Advertiser. Copyright.
London, Oct. 19.—The manifesto of Europe's big business magnates has got its first publi[?]ation in Berlin and Dr. Schacht, president of the Reichsbank, is one of the signatories. It is stated that Montagu Norman, governor of the Bank of England, also signed it, and that American financial leaders are giving favor to the movement.
The manifesto, which includes an appeal for free trade, points out that many countries are fostering uneconomic industries by means of tariffs, thus reducing Europe's productivity and standards of life.
William Graham, financial secretary to the treasury in the Labor Government, is supporting the idea. He suggests that the Bank of Eng-
EUGENE DEBS, SOCIALIST, NEAR DEATH AT CHICAGO
nical School by the Board of Education, to allow of any extension to the premises of the school, the deed was turned over to the board this morning, giving them possession of this property on Nov. 15. After prolonged negotiations with the owner of this property, the local board was finally able to complete the purchase for the sum of $12,000.
EUGENE DEBS, SOCIALIST, NEAR DEATH AT CHICAGO
Chicago, Ill., Oct. 19.—Eugene V. Debs sank rapidly early today and the death of the aged Socialist leader was momentarily expected at the suburban sanatorium, where he has been confined for some time, suffering from a nervous breakdown and complications. His wife and Theodore Debs, a brother, were at the bedside. Mr. Debs is 71 years old.
SPANISH QUEEN TO VISIT BRITISH ROYAL FAMILY
Context
Why Ferguson made liquor the issue of the 1926 election
The despatch frames the dissolution as a vote on prohibition, and the contest is still known as the "temperance election." The Ontario Temperance Act had passed the legislature unanimously in 1916, but public support slipped in later referendums: one vote showed 51.5 per cent for the Act and 48.5 against, and the 1924 referendum gave the temperance side only a narrow win. For Ferguson, where the votes came from mattered as much as the totals. The big cities, the core of Conservative support, voted heavily wet, while the rural areas where the opposition was strong voted dry. The loss of liquor tax revenue under prohibition has also been identified as a motive for repeal. Redistribution laws passed in 1925 and 1926 moved seats from rural districts with stagnant populations to fast-growing cities, so the election announced in this paper was fought on an electoral map that gave more weight to urban voters.
Nickle's resignation and the dry opposition
The paper reports that Nickle gave up the attorney-general's portfolio because he could not agree with Ferguson on liquor, and the neighbouring fragment has him calling the O.T.A. sound and beneficial. Later accounts confirm that he resigned from cabinet on the eve of dissolution. He opposed any further softening of the temperance laws and ran against the government as a Prohibitionist candidate. In Kingston he was soundly defeated, which is not surprising since the wet side had carried Kingston by 15 points in the referendum. Opposition to the plan was led by W. E. Raney, the Progressive leader, who as attorney-general in the Drury government had taken over the administration of the O.T.A. and who now fought Ferguson directly on this issue. Outside the legislature the Ontario Prohibition Union was pushed to operate more like a political party, running straight prohibitionist candidates in 27 districts.
What the 1 December vote decided
The policy described in the despatch was carried out. Ferguson's Conservatives were re-elected with a majority, winning 72 seats, and Raney's campaign against loosening the liquor laws failed. In 1927 the Liquor Control Act overturned the prohibition imposed by the Ontario Temperance Act, and the government allowed alcohol to be sold through government-owned and operated stores. This was the "freer sale of liquor under government control" the paper had anticipated. The local option mentioned in the despatch also lasted a long time: some communities kept bans on liquor sales under local option until the 1970s.
The bankers' free-trade manifesto of October 1926
The manifesto Somerville cabled about was a round robin signed by more than 100 leading financiers calling on European nations to remove tariff barriers to international trade. TIME, reporting it in its issue of 1 November 1926, gave its title as "A Plea for the Removal of Restrictions upon European Trade." TIME's list of signatories names both Montagu Norman of the Bank of England and Hjalmar Schacht of the Reichsbank, which bears out what the Advertiser reported only as hearsay in Norman's case. The paper says the document was first published in Berlin, whereas TIME describes it being delivered simultaneously to the London offices of the main news agencies, so the two accounts of its release differ. Its origins were unclear: Thomas W. Lamont of the Morgan firm, who had not signed, said it had been circulating among international financiers for some time, and Schacht linked it closely to a recent conference of German and British industrialists in England.
How American leaders responded
The American reaction was more mixed than the Advertiser's subheading "Americans in Favor" suggests. According to TIME, President Coolidge pointedly reminded the nation that those who lend money are always eager for international free trade. John Mitchell, president of the Illinois Merchants Trust bank and himself a signatory, said the manifesto was not intended to refer to the United States at all, a reading supported by its title, which confined it to European trade. TIME also found public opinion inclined to let the document drop. American bankers, in other words, lent their names to an appeal aimed at Europe's tariff walls, not at their own country's.
Original
HOUSE IS DISSOLVED
Premier's Policy Splits Conservative Cabinet and Hon. W. F. Nickle Resigns. HOUSE IS DISSOLVED Preparations For Vote Already Under Way-Issue Writs Today. Canadian Press Despatch. Toronto, Oct. 19. - Prohibition of the sale of intoxicating liquors in Ontario, which has been the law in the province since Sept 16, 1916, will give place to a freer sale of liquor under government control under a system of local option, should the electorate approve the policy set forth late last night by Premier G. Howard Ferguson in announcing dissolution of the legislative assembly and calling for a general election on Dec. 1. Mr. Ferguson's declaration was not unexpected as for weeks past reports of the government's intention have been in circulation. Simultaneously with the premier's manifesto came the announcement that Hon. W. F. Nickle, attorney-general, was relinquishing his portfolio as he could not see eye to eye with his leader in regard to the liquor policy to be followed. Machinery Ready. Election machinery, well oiled for the last four months in preparation for an
BANKERS DEMAND FREE TRADE PLAN
who resigned as Provincial AttorneyGeneral because he could not accept Premier Ferguson's policy of extended liquor sale. He declares that the O. T. A. is sound and beneficial. He declares the government sale plan as used in other provinces is " alluring, but deceptive. " BANKERS DEMAND FREE TRADE PLAN Urged as Only Cure For Many Ills of Europe. AMERICANS IN FAVOR Claim Tariffs Have Created Uneconomic Industries and Living Standards. By HENRY SOMERVILLE. Special Cable to The Advertiser. Copyright. London, Oct. 19. - The manifesto of Europe's big business magnates has got its first publi [?] ation in Berlin and Dr. Schacht, president of the Reichsbank, is one of the signatories. It is stated that Montagu Norman, governor of the Bank of England, also signed it, and that American financial leaders are giving favor to the movement. The manifesto, which includes an appeal for free trade, points out that many countries are fostering uneconomic industries by means of tariffs, thus reducing Europe's productivity and standards of life. William Graham, financial secretary to the treasury in the Labor Government, is supporting the idea. He suggests that the Bank of Eng -
EUGENE DEBS, SOCIALIST, NEAR DEATH AT CHICAGO
nical School by the Board of Education, to allow of any extension to the premises of the school, the deed was turned over to the board this morning, giving them possession of this property on Nov. 15. After prolonged negotiations with the owner of this property, the local board was finally able to complete the purchase for the sum of $ 12, 000. EUGENE DEBS, SOCIALIST, NEAR DEATH AT CHICAGO Chicago, Ill., Oct. 19. - Eugene V. Debs sank rapidly early today and the death of the aged Socialist leader was momentarily expected at the suburban sanatorium, where he has been confined for some time, suffering from a nervous breakdown and complications. His wife and Theodore Debs, a brother, were at the bedside. Mr. Debs is 71 years old. SPANISH QUEEN TO VISIT BRITISH ROYAL FAMILY
Source: Holding institution