Lieutenant General Sir Sam Hughes, as Minister of Militia, assumed an order importance in the Cabinet which his position had not warranted in times of peace. Bluff, frank, independent of public opinion almost to an unpleasant degree where his own convictions were concerned, he was the object of more criticism and censure than any of his colleagues. As an advocate of extensive military preparedness he had not been popular before the war and had often been denounced as a militarist and a jingo. Under his direction came the preparation for and the organization of the military forces which Canada was to send across seas to fight in France. In the main, what he accomplished speaks for him. On the shoulders of these three men fell the main responsibilities of preparing Canada for assuming her share in the Great War. The work of the other members of the Government brought them less into the public eye. These were Sir George E. Foster, Minister of Trade and Commerce, the one member who had experience in a previous administration; Robert Rogers, Minister of Public Works; J. Douglas Hazen, Minister of Marine, Fisheries, and Naval Affairs, under whose jurisdiction came the defense of the coast and harbors; Martin Burrel, Minister of Agriculture, who popularized the slogan "Patriotism and Production"; the Hon. C. J. Doherty, Minister of Justice; the Hon. Frank Cochrane, Minister of Railways; the Hon. W. J. Roche, Minister of the Interior; the Hon. T. W. Crothers, Minister of Labor; the Hon. J. D. Reid, Minister of Customs; and the Hon. A. E. Kemp and the Hon. J. A. Lougheed, ministers without portfolios. The interests of the two million French-speaking population of the Dominion were indirectly represented in the Government by the Hon. L. P. Pelletier, Postmaster General; the Hon. W. B. Nantel, Minister of Inland Revenue, and the Hon. Louis Coderre, Secretary of State. Many and varied were the special war problems which the Government had to handle, but first and foremost was that of organizing and equipping a military force. With characteristic energy General Hughes hurried to this, his special task. On the last day of July, 1914, he had already hurried to Ottawa and there called an emergency meeting of the Militia Council, comprising Colonel E. Fiset, D. S. O., Deputy Minister; Colonel W. G. Gwatkin, Chief of the General Staff; Colonel V. A. S. Williams, A. D. C, Adjutant General; and Major General D. A. Macdonald, C. M. G., I. S. O., Quartermaster General. At this conference it was decided, subject to the approval of the governor general and the premier, that an initial force of 20,000 should be organized, equipped, and sent across if war was declared. By the time that all doubt on that point was past General Hughes and his staff of assistants had already formulated their plan of action. From all parts of the country came offers of aid from men who had had military training.