Part 67
=Wright, Alexander Whyte=, late Vice-Chairman Workmen’s Compensation Commission of Ontario, was born in the township of Markham, York County, Ontario, December 17, 1847, the son of George and Helen (Whyte) Wright, who came to Canada from Glasgow, Scotland, some years previously. He was educated in the public schools of New Hamburg, and after a short time in a drug store, learned the woollen business, later engaging in the woollen manufacturing business at Linwood, Waterloo County, and subsequently in Preston, St. Jacobs and Guelph. At an early age he joined the 29th Battalion, and responded to the call to arms for the Fenian raid. When the first Riel rebellion broke out he joined the Red River Expedition under General Sir Garnet Wolseley (afterwards British Commander-in-Chief Earl Wolseley), serving as a sergeant. On returning he rejoined the 29th Battalion as sergeant-major. In his later teens and early twenties he had quite a local reputation as a fine lacrosse player and fast runner. He had always been a great reader and taken an interest in politics, and in 1873 left the woollen business to become a reporter on the Guelph “Herald,” soon after being engaged as editor of the Orangeville “Sun.” He next edited the Stratford “Herald,” then the Guelph “Herald.” In 1878 he came to Toronto as editor and joint publisher of “The National,” making it an ardent advocate of the national policy, which the late Sir John A. Macdonald had adopted as his platform after having been urgently pressed to do so by a deputation consisting of the late Hon. Isaac Buchannan of Hamilton the late William Wallace, M.P. for Simcoe, the late John Maclean (father of W. F. Maclean, M.P. of the “World”), the late Thomas Cowan of Galt, the late W. H. Fraser and Mr. Wright. During the election campaign, he wrote many articles in the “National” that were extensively quoted by the Conservative press. Shortly after his return to power, Sir John A. Macdonald wrote Mr. Wright a letter in his own hand, in which he said:—“I wish to thank you most sincerely for your splendid work in the campaign which has just ended so satisfactorily. Your speeches and writings did more, I believe, than anything else to convert the people to protection. I only had the good fortune to hear you once—in the amphitheatre—but I was then struck with your wonderful grasp of the question and the extraordinary fund of information you possessed, and no less struck with the admirable way in which you marshalled your facts and presented your arguments. I hope to be able to express my gratitude to you in a more substantial way, and will be delighted if you will give me an opportunity to do so.” Mr. Wright returned to Guelph in 1879 as editor and joint publisher of the “Herald.” The proposed Government agreement for the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway did not meet with Mr. Wright’s approval, and, as the “Herald” had always been a Conservative paper, he gave up his interest in it, and wrote a series of articles published in the “Mercury,” advocating its being built and owned by the Government and paid for by a national currency—not notes or promises to pay, but bills of different denominations, reading “Legal tender for all debts, public and private.” He called a meeting to explain his plan in Guelph city hall, which was packed. At the conclusion of his address he moved a resolution calling on the Government to adopt the plan. On sitting down, the late Mr. Donald Guthrie—father of Hon. Hugh Guthrie, and at that time member of the legislature—arose and said that he had attended for the purpose of opposing the scheme, but Mr. Wright’s explanation had so clearly demonstrated its feasibility and incalculable value that he was converted to it, and had much pleasure in seconding the resolution. On those in favour being asked to raise their hands, the audience, with the exception of one man, rose to their feet and cheered for several minutes. In thanking the audience for their almost unanimous endorsation of this plan, Mr. Wright declared that the one exception was an unlooked-for further compliment. For his independent thought and action the “Mail” undertook to read Mr. Wright “out of the party.” Sir John A. Macdonald wrote Mr. Wright, repudiating its assumed authority, recognized his right to personal opinion, good standing as a Conservative, and assured him of his personal friendship, and continuing said: “I have read a report of your speech at Guelph, and, while I am sorry you saw occasion to make it, I confess I was struck with the plan you outline for the building of the railway. Possibly, under different conditions it might be practicable, but do not think it could be carried out now.” His ideas, however, were over a generation in advance of the people’s desire for public ownership, and, as a consequence private capitalists draw some $40,000,000 in bond interest and dividends yearly, besides adding large sums to reserve, which the people pay; while the people are out a huge land and money bonus, have neither the national railway nor a national currency, but instead a huge octopus of capitalists that dominates our legislation and is an ever-watchful and valiant defender of “vested rights”—whether rightly or wrongly obtained. Mr. Wright was invited to speak at the convention of the U.S. Greenbackers in Chicago in 1880, and accepted, as well as during the subsequent campaign. He returned to Toronto in 1881, and became editorial writer on the “World.” The following year he became Secretary of the Canadian Manufacturers Association, continuing till 1886, when, owing to the lines of cleavage between capital and labor becoming marked, he resigned and established the “Labor Reformer,” the first paper in Canada to advocate public ownership and a workmen’s compensation act. While secretary of the Canadian Manufacturers Association he drafted a factory act which he urged the Dominion Government to pass, providing equal protection and conditions to the workers in all provinces, as well as for manufacturers against unequal labor conditions. This the Government failed to adopt. The draft, however, was made the basis of the Factory Act passed by the Ontario Government shortly after; but this, of course, could give no protection to the Ontario manufacturer (and indirectly to the workers as well) against the longer hours and lower labor conditions obtaining in the Province of Quebec. In 1886, he was appointed Dominion Government agent for the Antwerp and the Indian and Colonial Exhibitions, and acted as one of four commissioners representing Canada in London at the latter. In 1887, he represented Toronto District Assembly at the General Assembly of the Knights of Labor, and was the first Canadian elected member of the General Executive Board, and immediately after was appointed editor of the “Journal of the Knights of Labor,” Philadelphia, official organ of the order, continuing to hold both positions till 1892, when he removed to New York as editor of “The Craftsman.” In 1896, he was appointed by the Laurier Government special commissioner to investigate and report on the sweating system in Canada, and was subsequently asked by that Government to investigate and report on the Japanese difficulties in British Columbia, but was unable to accept. From 1898 to 1904, he was organizer of the Conservative party in Ontario, engaging in three campaigns, being in charge of the campaign that resulted in Sir James Whitney becoming Premier. For a number of years he was president of the Canadian Public Ownership League, which did valuable work in educating the public as to the advantages of the idea now so firmly rooted in the Province of Ontario. He was a candidate for the Ontario Legislature in West Toronto, on the public ownership platform in 1908, but was defeated in the three-cornered contest. In 1910-11, he spent about eight months in Britain writing and speaking in the interest of Imperial preferential trade. On the Ontario Government in 1914 constituting a commission to put in operation the Workmen’s Compensation Act, Mr. Wright was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Board, his appointment said to be the last in which Sir James Whitney took any personal interest. The appointment met with the unanimous approval of organized labor. During the recruiting campaign, Mr. Wright took a very active and effective part in speaking throughout the city and elsewhere. He married, January 26, 1876, Elizabeth R., eldest daughter of the late Robert Simpson, at that time of Guelph, but formerly and latterly of Toronto. Mrs. Wright died in 1913. He is survived by his daughter, Mrs. W. E. Hunter of Toronto, a grandson and granddaughter, and a brother, Daniel W., of Cashmere, Washington, U.S. For some time he had been troubled with blood pressure and in September, 1918, sustained a slight stroke at his place in Niagara-on-the-Lake, where he delighted in birds, flowers, and fruit, in the cultivation of which he was well versed. In April he had a severe attack of neuritis, which, together with heart trouble, resulted in his death, June 12, 1919, at his home, 105 Macdonnell Avenue, Toronto. Of him, Dr. James L. Hughes wrote: “A. W. Wright was a vitally progressive force in Canada for half a century. He was a true democrat who recognized the right of women as well as men to freedom. Few men of his time so fully represented and so powerfully expressed justice and consideration for others as the basis of brotherhood. He was a charming comrade, a faithful friend, and an eloquent orator. All who knew him were better for his influence. No man could think a mean or base thought in his presence.” In a touching letter to Mrs. Hunter from Washington, D.C., T. V. Powderly, formerly General Master Workman of the Knights of Labor, wrote, in answer to a notification of Mr. Wright’s death:—“It was withheld from me until this morning; for a good reason, I suppose. . . . Anyway, I want to remember your father as I last saw him at my home here four years ago. His going was a blow to you and all his friends. He drew his sunshine from no niggard store, and spread more of it across life’s dark pathway than any man I ever met. His picture, framed, had a vase of Marie Pavia roses before it this morning. I understood—for your father gave that rosebush to me thirty years ago, and when we moved here from Scranton in 1899 we took it with us; we call it Marie Pavia Wright. I have known your father for forty years, and though for part of that time we were officially associated in the K. of L., our friendship was confined within no official band. . . . For years I had a dream. It was that some day I could so manage as to live close to your father and John Devlin. D. died a year ago. Perhaps we may live together yet—who knows? Soon I shall take up the journey they have begun, and when that hour comes I hope it may be said of me as I now say of your father:—
“Out through the portals of death he passed To that ultimate, Unknown land; The chart of right and of deeds well done, Held in his cold, dead hand. For the words he traced to his latest breath Are unclouded by wrong or ruth; And stamped on all, as he met his death, Was the seal of love and truth.”
Writing in the “World,” W. F. Maclean, M.P., said “The late A. W. Wright was an able man who played a leading part in making the destiny of Canada. . . . He had wit, a beaming way, and a radiant kind of sociability.” The “Hamilton Herald” said:—“Few Canadians of the last generation contributed more to the upbuilding of Canada than A. W. Wright. Much of the success of the Workmen’s Compensation Act is due to his sagacity and clear, swift insight. As a newspaper writer Alex. Wright was one of the most forceful of his time. As a platform speaker, when dealing with a subject with which he was familiar, he was unsurpassed. He had bright, incisive style and a talent for keen analysis. He was at his best when heckled. He courted interruption, for no one could get the better of him in a clash of wits.” In a review of his career, “Saturday Night” spoke of him as “a man of remarkable intellectual powers and charming personality,” and of his youth, “he made a hobby of economics and by the time he was thirty was recognized as one of the ablest writers and speakers on such subjects in this country.” When nickel was discovered in Ontario he urged on the government to establish a customs smelter to treat it, to sell at cost to actual users of it in Canada, and to place a heavy export duty on it, thereby giving Canadians a great advantage in manufacturing high-grade machinery of nickel steel, thus greatly stimulating industry here, and assuring Canada millions of dollars annually from export duty on nickel which outsiders must have at any cost. Instead of this a foreign concern was given a practical monopoly to refine Canadian nickel in the U.S. with the right to sell to Germany or any other enemy of Canada and the empire. Both as writer and speaker he was keenly analytical, logical, and constructive in his chosen style, but in dealing with an unfair opponent he was equally at home in using forceful denunciation, bitter irony, scorching sarcasm, or ludicrous burlesque, while in flashing and apt repartee he was unrivalled. He was widely read in prose and poetry, and, possessing a remarkable memory and facile power of expression, was a charming conversationalist, usually the centre of a group of appreciative auditors in any informal gathering. As raconteur he was inimitable. Continual optimism, constant cheerfulness, and unvarying kindliness were his outstanding characteristics, and won for him the friendship of all who knew him.
* * * * *
=Roche, Francis James= (Toronto, Ont.), Clerk of Assize of the Supreme Court of Ontario, was Conservative candidate for Parliament in West Ontario in 1900, as also for North Toronto 1904, opposing Sir William Mulock, then Postmaster-General. He practised law in Toronto for several years, and served as a member of the Collegiate Institute Board of Trustees of Toronto from 1902 to 1905. He was appointed Official Referee of the Supreme Court in 1914. Mr. Roche was born at Whitby, Ont., October 10, 1865, the son of John R. Richmond Roche, M.A., and Sarah Danford Bryan Roche. He was educated at the Toronto Collegiate Institute and University College, graduating as B.A. in 1886 and as M.A. with honours in Natural Sciences in the following year. He married Lena, daughter of Hon. Theodore Bruere, attorney-at-law, St. Charles, Mo., U.S.A., and State Senator of Missouri, November 28, 1894. Mr. Roche is a Past-President of the United Irish League of Toronto, and is a member of the Canadian Military Institute and Empire Club of Toronto. He joined “K” Company, Queen’s Own Rifles in 1882, and served later in the Cavalry, retiring in 1910 from the Governor-General’s Body Guard with the rank of Major. An Anglican in religion and a Conservative in politics.
* * * * *
=Whitney, Edwin Canfield= (Ottawa, Ont.), one of the leading capitalists of that city, and especially identified with the Canadian lumbering industry. He was born at Williamsburg, Ont., in the St. Lawrence Valley, on October 29, 1844, the son of Richard Leet and Clarissa Jane (Fairman) Whitney. The Whitney family is of United Empire Loyalist stock and descended from Henry Whitney, who came to New England from Herefordshire, England, in 1640. The late Sir James Whitney, Prime Minister of Ontario from 1905 to 1914 was an elder brother of the subject of this sketch. Edwin Canfield Whitney was educated at the public schools of his district, and subsequently moved to Minneapolis, Minn., where he engaged in the lumbering industry, and in the course of years built up a substantial fortune. He later removed to Ottawa, where he engaged in the lumber business as General Manager of the St. Anthony Lumber Company, Ltd., until 1912, when he retired from active business with the winding up of the company. He is also Vice-President of the Crow’s Nest Pass Coal Company. He was also one of the directors of the Keewatin Flour Mills Company, Ltd. He is a Director of the Bank of Ottawa and of the Toronto General Trusts Company, Ltd. The philanthropies of Mr. Whitney have been of a most enlightened character. He is one of the Governors of Protestant General Hospital, Ottawa, and in 1905 erected at an expense of $68,000 and presented to the University of Toronto a residence for male students. In the same year he was appointed a Trustee of the University Residence Fund, and in 1906 became one of the Governors of the University proper. Among his other gifts to the institution have been a valuable collection of works on Egypt and its antiquities, now in the University library. In 1911, he made a standing offer of $30,000 toward the erection of a general hospital in Ottawa, if the balance of the required sum could be raised. The good-heartedness and generosity of Mr. Whitney in connection with charities is indeed proverbial with all who know him, and during the great war his gifts to patriotic and other funds were on a generous scale. In association with Mrs. Whitney, he gave $5,000 to Trinity University (of which his brother, Sir James Whitney, was a distinguished graduate), and also a memorial church to the Anglican parish of Williamsburg, Ont., of which he was a member when a boy. Mr. Whitney is an adherent of the Anglican communion, and has on many occasions been a delegate to the Synods of that church. In March, 1879, he married Sarah, widow of the late Glossop McQuire, C.E., and daughter of the late J. P. Chrysler, M.P.P. Mrs. Whitney is also interested in philanthropic effort, and has been especially active in the Ottawa Humane Society. In politics Mr. Whitney is an independent. He is a member of the Masonic order and of the Country and Hunt Clubs, Ottawa.
* * * * *
=Vaughan, Marshall= (Welland, Ont.), is one of the leading business men of the Niagara peninsula, and was born at Elcho, Gainsboro township, Lincoln County, Ont., on March 16, 1884. His father was Wilford Vaughan, and his mother’s maiden name was Orpha Augusta Evans. The Vaughans and the Evans were United Empire Loyalists, who came to Canada from New Jersey and Virginia after the American Revolution, and the names in both cases indicate Welsh descent. The subject of this sketch was educated at Smithville Collegiate Institute, and later commenced his business career in Welland, where his firm deals extensively in wholesale seeds and are growers, re-cleaners and exporters of those commodities. Mr. Vaughan has also taken an active part in the municipal affairs of Welland. He had the honour of being elected Mayor of that municipality for 1917, the year in which it achieved the status of a city, and on July 1, of that year presided over the inauguration proceedings in connection with that happy event. He also filled the office of Mayor for the year 1918, having been re-elected by acclamation. He takes an active part in all movements for the advancement of Canada from every standpoint, and is especially interested in proposals to obtain increased agricultural production. Mr. Vaughan is an Anglican in religion, and a Conservative-Unionist in politics, and during the great war was the representative of the Royal Flying Corps for the promotion of recruiting in his district. He is a member of the Masonic and Orange orders, and also of the Knights of Pythias, and belongs to the Welland Club, the Temple Club, the Country Club of Lawrence County, N.Y., and the Buffalo Automobile Club. On December 13, 1911, he married Evelyn Maud, daughter of Albert House, of Ancaster, Ont.
* * * * *
=Wylie, Newton= (Toronto, Ont.), Journalist and Student of and Lecturer on Social and Political Economy and Affairs, son of John H. Wylie and Mary Jane Bernhardt, was born on September 12, 1892, at Toronto, and received his education at the Orangeville High School, Calgary Normal School, University of Toronto and Harvard University, graduating in 1917. When but a boy in his early student days, he interested himself in public affairs, and early gave evidence of talent both as a writer and a public speaker. Mr. Wylie is noted particularly for his work as a prohibition propagandist. He was the chief instrument in organizing the Ontario Young Manhood Association, which in 1914 presented a petition signed by 10,000 young Conservatives in Ontario to the late Sir James P. Whitney, then Prime Minister of the Province, asking provincial prohibition, and which contested unsuccessfully the constituency of Parkdale in the general election of June in that year. Mr. Wylie is also credited with having originated the Citizens’ Committee of One Hundred, of which he became General Secretary, and organized the six months’ whirlwind campaign throughout Ontario which resulted in the passing of the Ontario Temperance Act in March, 1916. Previous to that he had participated in the provincial prohibition campaign in Alberta in 1915, touring that Province and speaking in all the chief cities, as well as invading some of the mining districts. Mr. Wylie is a close personal friend of “Billy” Sunday, and has spoken on “No Booze” in the noted evangelist’s tabernacles in Trenton, Baltimore, and Boston. For some years he was a member of the staff of the “Globe,” Toronto, and wrote over the pseudonym of “Will Silo.” He has also contributed to several other newspapers and magazines. Twice since the outbreak of the war he offered his services to the army, but each time was rejected on account of injuries received in a serious automobile accident in 1913. He has, however, taken a prominent part in recruiting work, giving his services freely as a speaker and as an organizer in various schemes for raising funds, especially in connection with the 126th, 182nd and 201st Battalions. He is a member of the following clubs:—Canadian Club, Toronto Board of Trade, Walt Whitman, Harvard Union, Toronto Press Club, Toronto Canoe Club, Ontario Young Manhood Association, Citizens’ Committee of One Hundred, Canadian Suffrage Association, National Brotherhood Federation, Social Service Council of Canada, Canadian Red Cross Society, Canadian Patriotic Fund Association, Y.M.C.A., A-R Men’s Association. In religion Mr. Wylie is a Presbyterian, and in politics an independent.
* * * * *