Historical Documents of Canada, v: The Arts of War and Peace, 1914–1945 ed. by C.P. Stacey (review)

306 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW boomingdecadebeforethe war of I914, soughtto establish themselves as independent landowners ontheCanadian prairie.He chose to homestead near Vanguardin southwestern Saskatchewan, a regionwhich might betterhave beenleft unbrokenby the plough,and therehiswife and two sons joinedhim earlyin •9••. Hostilethoughthe environment was,the Minities'experience wasinfinitely removedfrom that of pioneers in agriculturally morepromising areas.The seniorMinifie had behindhim generations of Shropshire yeomen and a solid grammarschool education;hiswife had been'finished' in Stuttgartand had no intentionof allowingthe frontierto compromise her standards of gentility. There are glimpses of hisassociation with the militantfarmersof Sintaluta,of the part he playedin establishing the rural school calledMalvern Link, of Mrs Minifie playingHymnsAncientand Modem for the Anglicanservices in the schoolhouseand helpingher husbandto build an open fire-place,of the family'sunsuccessful effortto temperthe bleakness of the landscape by establishinga shelter-belt. JamesMinifie, then not quitesixteen, enlisted in the Canadianarmyearly in 19I6 and servedfor threeyears,muchof the timein the United Kingdom, emerging asa cadetin the •tAr.A practicalyouthwhoput hisextrapayinto war bonds,he formeda pooropinionof the conductof the war but managed to stayout of troublein spiteof what musthavebeena developing contempt for bumblingofficialdom. The two last chaptersdescribing the yearsafter he resumedhis formal educationrevealthe extraordinary contrastbetweenthe educational opportunitiesofferedthe veterans of Ganada'stwo greatwars.With what wasapparentlyonlythemostcasual encouragement fromhisgratefulcountry, Minifie, a self-characterized 'elementary schooldrop-out,'beganlate in i9i 9 the acaderrile marathonat ReginaCollegeandtheUniversity of Saskatchewan thatin I9•3 took him to Oxford as a RhodesScholar.Perhapshe will tell usmore later notonlyof hisfamilybut of hisowndistinguished careerascommentator and author. L.O. THOMAS University ofAlberta HistoricalDocumentsof Canada.v: The Arts of War and Peace,I9•4-I945. Editedbyc.r. STACEY. Toronto,Macmillan,•97•. PP.xxx, 656.$•8.75. The penultimatevolumein the series of Canadianhistoricaldocuments from Macmillanof Canadaisthefirsttobepublished. Since theeditorof thisvolume isalsotheeditorof theseries it maybeassumed that thegeneralcharacter of the series asawholeisaccurately forecast here. It wouldbe difficultto improveon Dr Stacey's owndiscussion in the introduction ofthedifficulties involved in choosing some twohundred andfiftydocumentscovering a widevarietyof areasfrom amongthe vastnumberavailable for thismodern period.The rangeof materials isbestindicated bytheheadings REVIEWS 307 of the nine main sections of the book: Constitutionand Government; Politics; Law,Justice andPolice;Social Life andInstitutions; Economic Life andPolicy; NorthernDevelopment andtheMiningFrontier;ReligionandCulturalDevelopment ; ExternalAffairsand Defence;and War. Within thesegeneralsubject areastheemphasis ison officialgovernment documents, an emphasis whichthe editorjustifies on the grounds that thiswasan era of greatgovernment and legislative activity. Oneresult ofthedecision toinclude somuchofficial material isthat mostof thebasicstatutes andpolicystatements whichonewouldexpect to seein a collection of thiskind are here.A lesshappyresultis the limited space allottedto materiMwhichwouldhaveillustrated the oftenbittercontroversies behindthemeasures appearing on thestatutebooks, theplanksin party platforms, or the foundingcharters of institutions. Excerpts from theact conferring the franchiseon women,from the War-time ElectionsAct, from the measure to createa publiclyownedrailwaysystem, orfromtheactofparliament which gavethe United Churchof Canadalegalexistence conveylittle of the temper ofthecontending parties inthestruggles whichsurrounded theenactment of suchmeasures, nor do twomemorandaon Canadianparticipationin the development of nuclearenergyfrom the C.D. Howe Paperstell usmuchabout Canadianappreciation of the changes broughtto theworld by the dawnof the atomicera.Occasionally thedetachment of officialpronouncements ismitigated bytheinclusion of letters fromprivatepapers suchasthose of Mackenzie King, or of materialfromcontemporary newspapers, asin thesection ontheconscription issue in World War I. The editormustoftenhavebeentemptedto make roomfor moreunofficial documents by offeringshorterexcerpts from more documents. He hasrightly rejected thissolution to hisdilemma. Thus,for example, thegenerous excerpts fromtheAirdReportandthetwobroadcasting actsof the 193os takethestudent somedistance towardsunderstanding the foundations of publicbroadcasting in Canada,thegroupof materials relatingto imperialpolicyanddominion autonomyin theI9•OS arewellchosen andextensively quoted, whilethesections from theStevens Commission Reportaresufficient to illustrate manyof theeconomic issues of thedepression era.In a fewareas theeditor's generosity fails,onesupposes in thefaceof absolute limitsof space. The section onNorthernDevelopmentandtheMining Frontierissoskimpy asto makeonedoubtthevalueof including it atall. The utilityof a collection of thiskinddepends in considerable degree onthe organization andapparatus ofthebook andthese areexcellent. Thedetailed table of contents includes not onlythenumerous subdivisions undereachof themain headings, butlists every document printed, and,together withanindex composed mainly ofpersonal names, makes it easy tofindone's wayin thebook. Documents originally printed in French aretranslated intoEnglish. The editor's admirably succinct and informative introductions to the subsectionsand to the individual documents placethematerial in context andfrequently suggest thecolour and intensity of debate whichthetextsthemselves cannot do;moreover, theyrefer thestudent toselected books andarticles for furtherreading. 308 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW Theseries ispresented 'foruniversity study uptothegraduate level,'butdespite its merit it is difficult to be certain who will use this volume. Graduate students...