“Returning from England some years ago, when everything spelt unrest in industrial Britain, Mr. Meighen gave an interview to The Gazette which has perhaps been quoted more frequently by politicians on both continents, as well as by Canadian public men of all parties, than any other of his utterances. Mr. Meighen, who was always a great reader, declared that England at that time could only be compared to Athens when Diogenes, the Greek philosopher, went out with his lantern looking, as he said, for a man. He said, however, in the course of that interview, that the man would be found, and sure enough it was not long before Joseph Chamberlain was entering upon his whirlwind campaign in favor of imperial preference and the absolute unity of the British empire. Mr. Meighen was denounced more than once at the Montreal Board of Trade, but a good many of the men who came to scoff remained to pray, to use Mr. Meighen’s own graphic language. Three years ago, when a resolution was to be introduced before the Montreal Board of Trade on the policy of imperial preferential trade, Mr. Meighen was particularly anxious that it should be fathered by a leader in commerce and finance. He prepared the resolution, called upon the late Sir George Drummond, president of the Bank of Montreal and universally admitted to be the first authority on matters of trade and finance in the Dominion, asking him to move it. Sir George Drummond’s answer was characteristic of the man. ‘Mr. Meighen,’ he replied, ‘this resolution meets my views exactly, but the honor of moving it belongs to you and you alone and I will take a second place. You will move the resolution and I will be only too happy to second it.’ Mr. Meighen delivered a masterly address on that occasion and the resolution was carried. “His greatest energy was centered in the development of the company over which he presided up to the hour of his death, yet he stated not very long ago that he was shaping things in such a manner as would permit younger men to assume the responsibilities of management and that after the million-dollar bond issue had been retired he would then feel that he could take a rest. “The late president of the Lake of the Woods Company was from the outset an uncompromising opponent of the Washington reciprocity pact and he did not hesitate to state on every offered occasion that the ratification of such a treaty would be a severe blow aimed at the unity of the empire, and a decided mistake in the widest interests.