William Lyon Mackenzie King

KING, WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE ), Canadian statesman, was born at Berlin—now Kitchener—On tario, Dec. 17, 1874, the son of John King and Isabel Grace, daughter of William Lyon Mackenzie, M.P., who had been prom inent in the struggle for political freedom in 1837. He was edu cated at Toronto university, and became fellow of political econ omy in the university of Chicago and of political science in Harvard university. Mr. King entered the public service of Canada in 1900 as deputy Minister of Labour, and acted as editor of The Labour Gazette for some years. He was chairman of sev eral royal commissions on industrial and immigration problems. In 1906 he represented Canada in negotiations with the British Government on immigration from Britain, and in the same year the honour of C.M.G. was conferred on him. He was Canadian representative to the Government of India on immigration from the Orient and was one of the British delegates on the Interna tional Opium commission in China in 1909. He was elected as a Liberal member of Parliament for North Waterloo in 1908, and in 1909 was Minister of Labour in the Laurier administration.

From 1914-17, under the auspices of the Rockefeller Founda tion, Mr. King investigated the subject of industrial relations, and afterwards wrote Industry and Humanity, a Study in the Principles Underlying Industrial Reconstruction (1918), as well as other studies on economic subjects. During the World War he assisted leading industrial corporations in America to maintain a continuous maximum output of essential war supplies, and industrial representation plans were drafted under his direction which were adopted by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Co., the Bethlehem Steel corporation, the Bethlehem Shipbuilding cor poration, the General Electric Co., the Consolidation Coal Co., the International Harvester Co. and other industrial corpora tions in America. At the National Liberal convention at Ottawa in 1919 he was selected as the successor to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and became leader of the Opposition in the same year. In 1921 he became Prime Minister of Canada, and in this capacity he attended the Imperial conference in 1923. He held office until 1926, and after one general election in June of that year found himself with a majority of only six in the Dominion House of Commons. His advice to Governor General Lord Byng, to dis

solve Parliament not being taken, he resigned office, which was assumed by the Conservative leader, Mr. Meighen, and a second general election was held in September. The deadlock was then broken by the return of Mr. King to office with a substantial majority. In 1928 he signed the Kellogg Pact on behalf of Canada. His government fell in 193o, but in 1935 Mr. King was again prime minister, supported by an overwhelming majority.

As

King's first administration followed the Coalition Government which had been created during the War, and, although formerly there had been two parties in the House, a third party, known as the Progressives, was also returned in the general elections of 1921. It was this party which supported the Liberal Government. On the dissolution of the House in 1925 an attempt was made to return to the two-party system of govern ment, but the Progressives were still given support. The Prime Minister himself was defeated, together with several of his min isters, but owing to the support and co-operation of the Progres sives he was able to maintain the government until June, 1926, when charges of corruption in the customs service and the refusal of Governor-General Lord Byng to dissolve Parliament per suaded King and his ministry to resign. The Conservative Arthur Meighen (q.v.) government was unable to maintain a majority. In the succeeding election (1926) the Liberals triumphed and Mackenzie King formed a new government, pledged to the consti tution and to a reasonably low tariff. A reaction towards strong Canadian Nationalism carried the Conservatives and Premier Ben nett into power in 1930. Mackenzie King was able to survive the Beauharnois scandal which besmirched some of his party associ ates in 1931, and, as the "Bennett Deal" made little headway against the depression that clouded his term, King rode trium phantly back to power in 1935. The strength of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and of the Social Credit agitation to gether with the decisive defeat of the Conservatives seemed to indicate a moderate shift to the left, and King, entering office on Oct. 23, promised to set up a national commission to grapple with unemployment and to plan an extensive public works programme.