The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-25
AN UNPOPULAR WOMAN
WHY LADY ABERDEEN's CANADIAN
JUBILEE SCHEME FAILED.
The Wife of the Governor General Is
Wei Meaning, but Lacks Tact and
Has Created AntagOnisms.
Ottawa Letter in New York Post.


have been thought that her plans would
have been carried out. There was the ebul-
lition of loyalty in Canada to rely upon
There was the Queens express wish.
noUnced to the public by the Prince of
Wales, that memorials of the diamond jubi-
lee should take the form of institutions to
relieve the sick and needy. There was the
crying need which the scheme she set forth
was intended to satisfy, and, finally, there
was the natural eclat with which a scheme
proposed by the wife of the Governor Gen
eral of the Dominion might be supposed
to start Yet, in spite of all these conditions
in its favor, it is doubtful whether any pro-
posal has ever been received with so little
enthusiasm or has failed so completely to
receive any measure of public support.
The nature Of the proposal must by this
time be completely forgotten, and brief
recapitulation of them is necessary to an
understanding of the completeness of the
discontinue. The essence of the scheme
was the provision of skilled nurses Cd in
sparsely settled and outlying districts, (2)
to attend the sick poor in their own homes
in the cities, and 90 to attend cases in
cities at fixed charges, for persons of small
incomes, the charges being paid to the
funds of the Order Of Nurses which was to
be formed. Great stress was laid on the
first of these objects, and naturally so, for
here the need was greatest. In the large
centers even the poorest can obtain some
sort of assistance and help, but in the new
ly settled districts sometimes neither doc
tors skill nor nurses attendance, nor even
neighborly assistance, is available and
many life has been lost for want of them.
These objects were to be secured by
founding, as a jubilee memorial, a Victorian
Order Of Nurses, who were to be paid q
fixed salary by the order and hold them
selves at all times ready to accept service
under any conditions 1t was thought that
many would be willing to serve in consider
alton Of the fixed salary, which would re-
leve them from the anxiety of making
living, and also in consideration of the fixed
salary be willing to give their services at
reach of those whose incomes We're moder-
ate. To accomplish these objects and 9TH
ers subsidiary to them it was estimated
that an income of $780, 900 to $35 900 was re-
quired, which meant an endowment of
about million dollars.
NO ENTHUSIASM
An appeal was issued to the Canadian
people, and the order was formed under
distinguished patronage. The Right Hon.
Sir Wilfred Laurier proposed at a public
meeting that the fund be opened, and the
banks and newspapers were requested to
receive subscriptions. An effort was made
to secure the cooperation of every one
likely to be influential. The members of
both houses of Parliament, representatives
of the clergy of all denominations, profess
sors in colleges, ETC., land the wives of
such of these gentlemen as are married, "
were elected in a block TO the position of
vice presidents. Yet never from the first,
was there any enthusiasm over the scheme.
Some OF the banks did post notices in their
branch offices that subscriptions would be
now received, and the newspapers made a
perfunctory reference to the scheme.
Whether any subscriptions have been re-
ceiVed cannot be known. No one ever men
tons the proposal, and the newspapers
have formed a conspiracy of silence regard
ing, it. The scheme, in other words. was
stll-born.
There are various minor reasons why this
scheme could not be successful, but, in
themselves they are not sufficient to ac-
count for its failure to obtain even a hear
ing. In the first place, the appeal in behalf
cessities of the Northwest. In the maritime
provinces in particular there is a feeling
the family. Not only has the agricultural
prosperity of the Eastern farmers been de-
stroyed by the development of the West, by
means of taxes raised in the East, but it
is felt that too much attention is directed
towards the West. 1t is not that the older
provinces are jealous of the Western, but
the constant praise of Manitoba and the
steady presentation of the needs of the
Northwest cause little Impotence in the
East Another reason why the scheme
could not be an enthusiastic success was
that the endowment of $10O0,000 seemed an
enormous sum when ore did not exactly
approve of the direction in which it was to
be spent.
LOCAL MEMORIALS
Then again-and this is the most impor-
tant of the minor considerations-Lady
Aberdeen's proposal came into competition
with the various local memorials. 1t would
be safe to say that hardly any community
in Canada has not now some local me-
mortal of the jubilee. In one place it is a
+11
an old one; in another it is a public park
in a third public library; and the money
for these has all been raised by local sub
scrptions. Moreover, there has not been a
society or institution, from the colleges and
the churches down to the bicycle clubs and
circles of Kings Daughters, that has not
made the jubilee preteXt for mulcting the
public. In one way or another three or
four million dollars must this year have
been extracted from the Canadian public
the merits of a national scheme are not TO
be considered in comparison with the i'm
portunities of local charity.
These are reasons why ii was hardly
probable that any national memorial could
have been successful, but they do not ac-
count for the absolute failure of Lady Alb
erdeen's scheme. The explanation Of that
must be found in the peculiar relations be-
tween Lady Aberdeen and the Canadian
public, or at least that part of that with
which she comes into personal contact. 1t
might not perhaps, be correct to say that
the attitude toward Lady Aberdeen has al
most from the first been one of suspicion,
but it is one which arises from what may,
without injustice, be called incompa tibflity
of temperamentS. Lady Aberdeen came to
Canada with the reputation of being one
of the ableSt women in England. She was
an excellent speaker, woman of ideas on
social questions, and had acquired a firm
hold on the sympathies and respect of
very large section of the English public
She has been president of the WOmans
Liberal Federation and practically occu-
pied the position of hostess for the Liberal
party. But when she came to Canada, So
ciety at ottawa discovered that she was
a type to which they had not been accus-
toned. What they expect in the wife of
governor general is a woman who shall set
her seal on the little social distinctions of
Ottawa society, and give drawing rooms
and vce-regal balls to emphasize these dis
tinctions. That is their world and they do
not understand any other.
HER SOCIAL IDEAS.
Lady Aberdeen did not meet their ex-
pectations. Her predecessors had given
kind of contemptuous acquiescence to Otta-
wa distinctions, and Ottawa society had re-
joiced in the acquiescence and ignored, if
ever they were conscious of, the contempt.
But Lady Aberdeen had no mind to restrict
her activity to the lines laid down by her
predecessors, and she interpreted the du-
ties of her position as she had all along in
terpreted them at home. Ottawa society did