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d w" famrake. > f y Pemore ¥ ve 9 R i o > Tis RPe? en s -- which his: offencé deserves. © In this thing weo WHEN GOVERNMENTS FEAR THE LIGHT. 85?3 neithet:- Liberals nor Conservatives, butgcan- adians, whose first concern is the independence The direct and specific charges against Hon. and the integrity of Parliament and an nsullied W. J. Hanna and the Whitney Government, made national henor.'" by Mr. C. M. Bowman in the Legislature on Tues-- | p T.hati llmssufise. used in 1903, when a Liberal j rovincial Secretary was accused, we use now t 8 O = » » day, .are matched in seriousness, so far as On without change '6f acceit or emphasis, when a tario's recent history goes, only by the charges Conservative Provincial Secretary is publicly and against Hon. J. R. Stratton and the Ross Gov-- directly <charged. Had the former Government * ernment, made on March 11, 1903, by Mr. R. R. and its Liberal supporters refused that demand, | Gamey. In the one case as in the other a Pro-- at:n'l by a majority vote blocked investigation, o they would have been scorned by every self--re-- rinc 8 i d. "Th vincial ecretary . is involve e Gamey specting Liberal, and their loudest boasts of in-- charges alleged a corrupt bargain for the pur-- | nocence would have been to the public but so pose of securing political support in the Legisla-- much east wind. Are Conservatives to--day less ture for the Government of that day. The sensitive to their own self--respect or to their charges against Mr. Hanna involve a corrupt party's honor? Is public opinion in Ontario less _ bargain with the organized liquor interests of C(;nce;'rned.for public morality than it was in the Province for the purpose of defeating the 1203°.. pig not Mr. Allan Studholme, the one Scott Act at the polls in Huron, Peel, and Wel-- Independent in the Legislature, speak the truth, land, and of procuring for Government purposes for the man in the street, and the man in the from men engaged in the liquor traffic an enor-- club, and the man in the church when he warned mous campaign fund for use in the approaching Mr Hanna and the Government, while as yev'at elections. Such charges, made deliberately by was not too late, that to refuse investigation any member of Parliament, are lifted at once would be taken to mean not only cowardice but * guilt? ' and completely out of the realm of mere party 8 badinage and bickering. They become matters 1f MT' Hanna and those who voted to sum of the highest public interest. They cannot be press evidence in the Public Accounts Commit-- suppressed. To attempt to burk their investiga-- 10e 'and in the House think that this thing can tion would be, for any Government, not cowardly ve ke})t pnder cover or biufed out they are fools merely, but in the gravest: sense incriminating or think the peobple of Ontario S fools: i Too and ~eHthinal ho much is already known. Mr. Snider has said too ar In 1903 '.wb'en the Gutity chafges mere made much for his cautious and non--committal affidavit f o i ue o t % * to hide the uglier truth. Mr. C. E. Steele, the 'ghe_ C:lg:;, ilnn::;ifgl::f(:i' ?};aég'ltli' 22:?,: i:;)c:(l)ln);,. leading and responsible Conservative from Wel-- eingt i .i'.di the kiox ThzflsAe wdr'dé WBrs uscu land county, whose letter so completely destroys peten Jl'"' 80 cth t'» lon. * Mr. Hanna's defences, cannot be silenced when ed?'f;};' * (;n n? . oc:"sc_:;r'se open Lo the Gov the interests of temperance are at stake in the ernmenter:nds Ioleg)i]sl(::ure. Thei'g must be .--no next election. Lifelong Tory temperance men in semblance of trifiing .with the matter. Interests those counties where Mr. Snider interfered in the of far greater moment than the fortunes of either Scott Act campaigns as Mr. Hanna's . authorized party or tOf, agy {)ndividua-lbare tath st?ke.i R tTlh': representative were ready to testify under oath, statement made by a member o 6e Legislatur § impugns the integrity of a Minister of the Crown, and, now.that .the facts asf they know thelfl have and involves the honor of. the Province and of been falsified in the Legislature, they will put Parliament. The highest interests of public mor-- truth and the interests of temperance before any ality are concerned. . . . 'Either a Minister of party obligations to the Minister who betrayed the Crown, who is accused, or a member of the his trust. Burking investigation, instead of end-- Legislative Assembly, who is his accuser, is un-- & *X j it 1 ienif worthy of public trust. No interests of either po-- ing the matter, has only given it larger signifi-- litical party must be allowed by the leader of the cance and a new beginning. Government or by the leader of the Opposition to «omm mm mmmmmmemmem come between the offender and the punishment \ ' t ' ' ' \