No one today would regard the farmers of Peel Township, or, more properly, Mapleton, as radical in their political outlook. That was not always the case. The area was, in early years, a centre of the Clear Grit faction of the Liberal Party, and it embraced the Patrons of Industry in the 1890s.
Some of that spirit persisted into the 20th century, but declined rapidly after 1900. A resurgence was in evidence in the fall of 1931, when farmers petitioned governments for aid to cope with the depression.
They saw few effects immediately after its beginning in October 1929, but prices and markets showed softness the following winter. By planting time in 1930 economic problems had caught up with farmers, and everything deteriorated quickly later that year and into 1931. The Peel nomination meeting of Dec. 29, 1930 produced a huge turnout, with an intense discussion of conditions. There was much interest in the election: two candidates for reeve, four for deputy, and five for three council seats. When the votes were counted, Ira Jackson took the reeve’s chair 521-496, Ezra Smith topped the list for deputy-reeve. Rilett Cherrey, John O’Donnell, and J. Justin Morrison rounded out the council. In January, Jackson was elected warden.
Morrison led the vote for council. His father was the famous J.J. Morrison, a founder of the United Farmers of Ontario, and at the time was secretary of the United Cooperatives of Ontario. Like others in his family, the younger Morrison was an outspoken advocate of the interests of farmers, regarding them and their lives as the basis of the economic system and the chief pillars of civilized society.
Peel council discussed the declining financial position of farmers several times that year, in response to several requests for relief from property taxes. At their meeting of Oct. 19, councillor Morrison introduced a motion, seconded by John O’Donnell, to call a meeting of farmers to discuss the situation.
The motion was obviously drafted by Morrison. There were five “whereas” clauses in it. The first pointed to the decline of 50% in the value of the farmer’s property, “which in effect is a levy on his capital.” The next noted there was no change in property assessments, leading to a high proportion of tax arrears. Later clauses said that farm prices had dropped by about 50%, but things that farmers bought, even agricultural products, showed no similar declines.
The final point was welfare payments in urban municipalities exceeded what farmers could pay in wages, leaving them with insufficient help for their crops. That clause included a favourite phrase of both Morrison and his father: all wealth ultimately comes from the top six inches of soil.
The motion carried unanimously. A second one appointed Jackson, councillor Morrison, and Levi Flewwelling to make the arrangements. That committee set Nov. 21 as the date for a public meeting at the township hall in Goldstone, and advertised the event widely. Farmers filled the upstairs hall, and the floor creaked ominously under the weight of those standing. The crowd spilled out the door.
Speakers included J.J. Morrison, the councillor’s father, now a resident of Toronto; MPP Dr. George McQuibban, and Dr. J.K. Blair, the Liberal MP for North Wellington.
Dr. J.H. White, of Arthur, suggested council allow taxes to be paid on the installment system, rather than one annual payment. Dr. McQuibban advocated a new credit system to allow farmers to borrow money to stay on the land. He did not say how farmers would be able to pay back the loans.
J.J. Morrison, who had spent his youth and part of his adulthood on a farm in the northwest corner of Peel. At 70, with more than 40 years of agrarian activism under his belt, he had heard and seen it all. He began by noting agriculture had been more prosperous when he had last spoken in that hall 20 years earlier, and he repeated several times his line about “the top six inches of the soil.”
He cited a list of complaints. Farmers’ taxes paid for relief, but relief work was performed in urban communities. He criticized high wages in cities, and claimed automobiles were putting strains on individuals for the benefit of “the big organizations.”
Morrison’s told the audience that farmers could expect no improvements unless they worked together and organized themselves into a powerful lobby. “If they fail to organize among themselves there is little hope of help,” he concluded.
Dr. Blair, the MP, always something of a maverick, surprised people with a more radical and pertinent message than Morrison. He believed that farmers were “free slaves,” at the mercy of a price structure set by big organizations. The farmer “takes what he can get” for his products, but must pay what is demanded for what he buys. He noted that of all the delegations he had heard in Ottawa on behalf of agriculture, not one contained a real farmer. He concluded by offering his help to farmers to form unions and to bring their demands to Ottawa and to the federal government.
Considerable discussion followed the speeches. Eventually former Peel Reeve John McNabb put a motion on the floor, requesting the senior levels of government to pay rural townships amounts equal to 25% of their property tax revenue. The motion passed unanimously.
As might be expected, nothing came of the Peel resolution. Both the federal and provincial governments were bringing in austerity programs and cutting back on expenditures in every possible area. Most of the politicians at those levels shuddered at the thought of a massive new grant program.
Dr. Blair, as an opposition back bench MP, could do nothing to push R.B. Bennett’s Conservative federal government to action, and the provincial Conservative government of George Henry seemed to be paralyzed by the economic conditions.
Liberal MPP George McQuibban failed to stir up much enthusiasm even within his own caucus for the idea of new grants to municipalities.
Despite its lack of concrete results, the Peel meeting of 1931 is important in that it was the first such gathering in southern Ontario where depression-battered farmers asked for massive federal and provincial help.
And it is most interesting that the initiative came not from a handful of disgruntled farmers, but from the municipal council, and that it was supported by both the federal and provincial local members.
For old J.J. Morrison, the meeting was something of a vindication of his lifelong beliefs and campaigns. In earlier years Morrison had often been jeered and ridiculed for his ideas, which were intended to maintain agriculture at the apex of the economy and society. This time he was roundly cheered by everyone in the hall.
Commenting later on the meeting, Drayton Advocate editor B.J. Garbutt noted that Ontario farmers were among the most highly taxed in North America. He saw wisdom in many of Morrison’s goals, and noted that the motion passed by the meeting was placed on the floor by John McNabb, one of the most prosperous farmers in the township.
He saw that as a sign that farmers were beginning to stick together, even though the senior governments were unlikely to take any action.