1914 1918 Canada and the Great War Scott

1914 -1918: Canada and the Great War Scott Masters Crestwood College

Canada and the War… w In Canada, a detailed plan for mobilizing 25 000 volunteers for a Canadian expeditionary force began. By Sept. 1914 more than 30 000 Canadians had signed up. w Col. Sam Hughes-controversial Canadian Minister of the Militia who did not trust professional soldiers w he set up Valcartier Camp in Quebec - training for 32 000 volunteer and inexperienced soldiers (cold, disorganized. . . ) w he showed old training films and taught old battle techniques, which would not equip the men for trench warfare

w Ross Rifle - Colonial Sam Hughes favourite gun, which was issued to Canadian soldiers w it was not any good for modern trench warfare: it jammed in the mud, seized up during rapid fire, and was not compatible with British bullets w Hughes would not change the gun, but the British supplied the Canadian soldiers with the Lee. Enfield gun when they went to the Front

w Canadian forces, once in Europe, spent the winter of 1914 in tents on the Salisbury Plain in southern England. (Conditions were rough but "better" than in Quebec. ) w Canadian officers were not ready to command a full division and troops were placed under the command of Sir Edward Alderson. Called “Rawnecks”, they were re -trained.

w A government press censor banned all news stories that were considered harmful to the war effort. Propaganda posters appeared all over Canada, glorifying the "Great War". . . this was indicative of the Total War effort to come, which would soon be promoted by the War Measures Act w Across the nation, Canadians rallied for the war effort. Hundreds of church groups, women's organizations, charities sprang into action.

w The Canadian Patriotic Fund: created by an act of Parliament and run by volunteers. It collected money for soldier's families, surviving on $1. 10 a day of soldier's pay. In 3 months the fund raised $6 million, providing needy families with $50 a month. w also set up small co-operative stores, where families could buy food and fuel.

w Soldiers of the Soil: 12, 000 boys helped out on Canadian farms. Many farmers had gone to war. These boys helped prevent crop failures and food shortages. w Families practised rationing and voluntarily changed eating/consumption habits so that butter, meat, sugar, wheat, and fuel could be sent to troops overseas. w Even young children helped by buying 25 cent thrift stamps to help gov't pay for war. When they had $4 of stamps they received a war savings stamp worth $5 after the war.

w Other than soldiers, Canada's main contributions were food and munitions w After was declared, Russian wheat exports to Europe stopped w Much of France's rich farmland was taken over by Germany w 1915 had a perfect growing season for prairie wheat, and western farmers harvested the biggest cash crop in their history.

w "Greater Production Farms" were established on Native reserves by W. M. Graham using native funds and land in order to produce food for the war effort. w But intensive wheat farming began to ruin the fertile prairie soils during this time period creating the disastrous conditions of the 1930 s "dust bowl".

w By 1917, Canada had shipped millions of dollars' worth of shells and explosives from over 600 munitions factories - over 250 000 employed w Canadian industrialists saw the opportunity to make large profits w Corruption and profiteering was a problem: Sam Hughes' Shell Committee was disbanded by Borden and replaced by the Imperial Munitions Board, which answered to GB. The IMB was headed by Cdn. businessman Joseph W. Flavelle. w By 1918, Canada had expanded to manufacturing airplanes and airplane engines, guns, cargo ships, chemicals and other weapons of war. 1500 factories employed 1/3 of a million people.

Profiteering and Scandal in the War w The government relied on private enterprise to direct the wartime economy and industrial scandals and charges of profiteering ran rampant. w People saw millionaire industrialists growing richer from dishonest dealings in war contracts, while they made sacrifices like cutting back on food consumption and fuel use. w There was public outcry to "conscript wealth for war". Some wanted the government to nationalize (take over) the nation's banks and industries until the war's end.

w Borden promised not to interfere with business in 1914 and was reluctant to change this policy. w In 1916, Borden appointed a fuel controller to prevent industrialists from hoarding coal and food, and from rising food prices w Instead of rolling back food price increases, as many Canadians expected, he food controller asked citizens to stop eating so much and to change their tastes. w No serious attempt was made to curb the corrupt practices of private enterprise during the war

w Paying for War w Plagued by corruption and inefficiencies and a long war, the cost of war skyrocketed. w By 1918, it had reached a staggering $ 1 million a day Borden's gov't hurried to find new ways to pay for war. w Borden's gov't implemented new income taxes intended as temporary measures. w A business tax was announced in 1916 and the tax on personal income in 1917. But the two only brought in $ 50 million.

w Finance minister Thomas White announced that gov't bonds would be offered for sale. Victory Bonds: bonds offered for sale. at 5 interest rate. In 1915 more than $ 100 million worth were sold. w In 1917, a special issue of Victory Bonds was issued and over $ 500 million was raised.