Gwynne, Brigadier-General Reginald John, C.M.G., Deputy-Adjutant-General for Canada, Headquarters Staff, Ottawa, is a native of the motherland, but has been intimately identified with the marvellous development of Canada’s military power during the past few years. He was born in London, England, on September 16, 1863, the son of the late J. E. A. Gwynne, J.P., F.S.A., F.R.S., etc., of Folkington Manor, Polegate, Sussex, England, and his wife, Mary Earle Purvis. He was educated at Cheam, Eton, and Pembroke College, Oxford. After coming to Canada, he became identified with the Active Militia of this country, and commanded the 16th Horse, a Western organization, from 1907 to 1911. In 1911 and 1912, he was in command of the 7th Cavalry Brigade, and in 1913 he was appointed to the Headquarters Staff at Ottawa as Director of Cadet Services for the Dominion. In 1914, the year of the outbreak of the great war, he became Director of Mobilization, with the rank of Brevet-Colonel and in that capacity performed very important services in connection with the organization of Canada’s overseas forces. In 1916, he was promoted to the rank of Director-General of Mobilization, a post he filled until the close of the war, and in the following year raised to the rank of Brigadier-General. In 1919 he was appointed Deputy-Adjutant-General for Canada. In recognition of his services he was created by His Majesty a Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George. On May 16, 1894, he married Mary Mayall, daughter of S. Taylor, J.P., and Janet Mayall Taylor, of Hathershaw, Oldham, England, and has one daughter, Evelyn Violet. In religion he is an adherent of the Church of England, and he is a member of the Rideau Club, Ottawa.
King, Hon. William Lyon Mackenzie, C.M.G. (Ottawa, Ont.), Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, was born at Berlin (now Kitchener), Ont., on December 17, 1874, the son of John King, K.C., and his wife, Isabel Grace, daughter of William Lyon Mackenzie. He was educated at Toronto University (B.A. 1895; LL.B. 1896; M.A. 1897), the University of Chicago, and Harvard University (A.M. 1898; Ph.D. 1909). He was one of the first Canadian students to specialize in social science. For a time he was a reporter on various Toronto newspapers. In 1900, when Sir William Mulock, then Postmaster-General in the Laurier Cabinet, established the Federal Department of Labour, Mr. King was chosen as Deputy-Minister to organize it. In 1908, he was elected to the House of Commons for the riding of North Waterloo, and subsequently was promoted by Sir Wilfrid Laurier to the post of Minister of Labour. He was defeated, in company with the majority of Liberal candidates, in the Federal elections in 1911. During his years of service in the Labour Department, Mr. King was responsible for much important permanent legislation with regard to industrial disputes, immigration, and the opium traffic, and served on numerous Royal Commissions on matters pertaining to Labour and to the problem of Oriental Immigration. On different occasions, he represented Canada on important missions to England. In 1909, he was appointed by the Imperial Government one of the British representatives on the Anti-Opium Commission, which met at Shanghai, China. In June of 1914, he was appointed Director of an Investigation of Industrial Relations under the auspices of the Rockefeller Foundation. In this position, he was instrumental in bringing about better relations between employers and employees in the coal mines of Colorado, where for years there had been serious industrial strife. Throughout the period of the War, he rendered a like service to several other of the largest industries in America engaged in the production of war necessities. His researches were subsequently incorporated in a volume entitled “Industry and Humanity,” which has obtained international recognition as one of the most searching and advanced considerations of an all-important question. Mr. King has always maintained his connection with the Canadian Liberal Party. From 1911 to 1914, he was President of the Ontario Reform Association. In December, 1917, he was the Liberal candidate in North York. At the National Liberal Convention, held in Ottawa, August, 1919, he was elected Leader of the Liberal Party in succession to the late Sir Wilfrid Laurier. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and a member of the following clubs—Rideau (Ottawa), Ontario (Toronto), Century (New York), Harvard (Boston and New York). He is a Presbyterian in religion and unmarried.
Hanna (the late), Hon. William John, K.C., M.P.P. (Sarnia Ont.), was born in Adelaide township, County of Middlesex, Ont., on October 13, 1862, the son of George and Jane (Murdock) Hanna. The son of a farmer, he was educated at the local schools and soon developed great capacity as a student, and decided to put himself through for the legal profession, graduating from Osgoode Hall, Toronto. He was called to the Bar in 1890, and commenced the practice of law as a barrister at Sarnia, Ont., eventually becoming head of the firm of H. Le Sueur and McKinley of that place, and was created a K.C. in 1908. He soon became active with the Conservative party, and in 1896 became the candidate of that party for the House of Commons in West Lambton against the late Justice Lister, and was defeated. His party still had confidence in him, and in 1900 he was again nominated for the Federal House and again defeated, West Lambton always having been a great Liberal stronghold. Two years later, in 1902, Mr. Whitney, then leader of the Opposition in Ontario, in looking for a strong man to help him in Western Ontario, prevailed upon Mr. Hanna to run for the Provincial Legislature and undertake the work of organizing Western Ontario. He accepted, made an amazing turnover in that portion of the Liberal stamping grounds, was elected, and came to Toronto in 1905. When the Conservative government came into power, Mr. Whitney invited him to become one of his cabinet, and he chose the portfolio of Provincial Secretary, as in this position his duties would neither come in contact or conflict with the position he held as chief legal adviser to the largest oil corporation in Canada. His public life was free from reproach of mixing up private interests and friendships with his public duties, and as a legal practitioner an extraordinary fact is recorded of him: that while representing one of the most important corporations in the country, no case he had to handle ever went into court; he had a singular and commendable theory that it was the duty of a lawyer to keep his clients out of court. He was elected again to the Ontario Legislature in 1908 and 1911, and appointed a member of the Inter-Provincial Conference held at Ottawa in 1910. His desire for a rest and to complete his great work in connection with his pet hobby of prison reform led him to decline a portfolio when the Hearst government was formed, although he remained in the cabinet as minister without portfolio; and in connection with his services as a public servant in Ontario, it may be said that, though not a prohibitionist by conviction, he was the most efficient administrator of the liquor license system that this country has ever known. He created the machinery for the administration of the prohibition law, which has proved as effective as was possible. His natural taste for politics did not die out on his retirement from office, and he became one of Sir Robert Borden’s most trusted private advisers on public policy. He perfected a system of prison reform which, perhaps, is the most sensible and humane prison system in the world; in fact, his ten years or more of service given to the Province of Ontario as administrator of its public charities, its license laws, its prisons, asylums, and other institutions, constitute a record so progressive and enlightened that the full value of his services will long continue to be recognized by sociologists with a habit for research. In 1917, Sir Robert Borden induced him to accept the post of Food Controller of Canada; and Mr. Hanna at once applied himself to the task of organizing that department, making his single aim the increase of production and the conserving of foodstuffs in order to ensure a steady supply to the soldiers in the field and the civilian populations of Britain, France and Italy. He encountered great difficulties owing to the misapprehension of the public, which demanded a reduction of prices, a measure that, by increasing consumption, would have defeated the above-named object. He however, refused to be moved by popular clamor, and in co-operation with Mr. H. H. Hoover rendered great service toward relieving the overseas populations of the danger of starvation. His exertions told on his physique, and early in 1918 he resigned this office, leaving it well organized for his successor. On the retirement of Mr. Walter C. Teagle from the post of President of the Imperial Oil Company to become President of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, Mr. Hanna was elected his successor. In that capacity, he, in December, 1918, introduced the Industrial Relationship plan in all the plants of the Company from coast to coast, and also a series of sickness, death and insurance benefits for workmen. Grief at the death of his only son, Flight-Lieutenant Neil Hanna, who was killed by accident in Italy in November, 1918, a few days after the signing of the armistice, undermined his health, and on March 20, 1919, he died suddenly while on a vacation in Georgia. When he was borne to his last resting-place at Sarnia, his funeral was attended by public men from all parts of Canada and many sections of the United States. The late Mr. Hanna was twice married: first to Jean J. Neil, who died in 1891, leaving one son, the late Neil Hanna; and secondly to Maud McAdams, by whom he had two daughters. In religion he was a Methodist, and a member of many important clubs and philanthropic organizations.
Gale, Robert Henry, one of the leading public men of Vancouver, of which city he has been a resident for nearly a decade, is a native of the city of Quebec. After an excellent business training in the ancient capital of Canada, he went to British Columbia in 1910, and located at Vancouver. He engaged in business as a contractor, and is at present manager of the British Columbia Contractor’s Supply Company, Limited, one of the largest enterprises of its kind in the province. Less than five years ago he entered municipal politics, and was elected alderman for 1916 and 1917. His services during his comparatively brief term on the City Council made him so widely popular that his friends urged him to run for Mayor in 1918. He accepted the nomination, and in January of that year was elected over the retiring mayor, Mr. Malcolm McBeath, who had sought re-election, by a majority of 300, the largest ever given to a mayoralty aspirant in the history of Vancouver. In January, 1919, he was re-elected by acclamation, it being generally conceded that it would be futile for any rival to contest the office with him. In April of 1919, the provincial government of which Hon. John Oliver is the head appointed him to the newly-created office of Public Utilities Commissioner for British Columbia. By the tax-paying public, the appointment was considered an admirable one, because of the high capacity Mr. Gale had revealed as a municipal administrator. The Great War Veterans’ Association, however, made a vigorous protest on the ground that all new offices within the gift of the government should go to returned soldiers. The Oliver administration deemed it necessary to yield to the agitation, and cancelled the appointment of Mr. Gale, accepting the nominee of the G.W.V.A., Lieutenant-Colonel Retallick, a civil engineer by profession, who had rendered excellent service overseas. Under the circumstances, the cancellation of the appointment was in no sense a reflection on the character or capacity of Mr. Gale. In politics the latter is a Liberal, but has never sought election as a political candidate. During the general strike that was started in Vancouver during the early summer of 1919 as an outgrowth of a general strike at Winnipeg and other Western towns, Mr. Gale showed great tact and firmness in handling a very difficult situation, so that the attempt to disorganize municipal government and upset the present economic system was of comparatively brief duration.
Elson, John Melbourne (St. Catharines, Ont.), was born in Byron, Ont., Dec. 25th, 1880. Son of George and Charlotte (Wilkin) Elson. Educated at London, Ont., Collegiate Institute and Western University of that city. He entered journalism in 1903 as a member of the staff of the London “News,” since merged, and thereafter his rise was rapid. Shortly joined the staff of the Montreal “Gazette” and in 1905 during the late Joseph Chamberlain’s Tariff Reform Campaign he went to Great Britain to study political and economic conditions and wrote special articles thereon to Canadian papers. On his return to Canada he became a member of the staff of the Toronto “Globe” and in 1907 was appointed editor of the Toronto “Sunday World.” Subsequently in 1909 he became Assistant Managing Director of the World Publishing Company, and in 1910 purchased the St. Catharines “Evening Journal” which he has ever since conducted. Mr. Elson is a terse and gifted writer, with a wide fund of information. He has travelled considerably on this continent and abroad, and is a gifted public speaker. When acting as a newspaper correspondent he secured the only interview granted by Baron Komura, the Japanese plenipotentiary, who negotiated the peace treaty between Japan and Russia at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, except the official statement given to the Associated Press in the United States. Since becoming a resident of St. Catharines, he has been active in public affairs, and in patriotic objects like the Red Cross and the Canadian Patriotic Fund. He was elected Mayor of St. Catharines, Jan. 1st, 1919, by an unusually large majority. He is a member of the Council of the Board of Trade; and has served as President of the St. Catharines Canadian Club, and was for seven years President of the Lincoln County Liberal Association. He was formerly Vice-President of the Niagara District Hydro Radial Union, and has been an active member of Soldiers’ Aid Commission ever since it was organized in St. Catharines in the early part of war. He is a member of the Masonic Order. In 1911 he published a brochure, “Reciprocity, The Outcome of Evolution” which had a wide circulation in Canada and the United States. For two years he was a member of the Collegiate Institute Board. Was made member of the Advisory Council of the Repatriation Committee of the Dominion of Canada. In religion he is an Anglican and in September, 1907, married Wilhelmina M., daughter of W. M. Faulds of Mount Brydges, Ont., and has two children: a son and a daughter.