The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-07-01
THE SILENT PREMIER
HEAD OF BRITISH COLUMBIA'S
NEW PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT
Is THUS CHARACTERIZED
SAYS LITTLE, THINKS MUCH
HIS Voice Has Not Been Heard Dur
ing Two Sessions, Although at
Times HIS Personal Interests
Have Been Attacked.

Special Correspondence Of the Globe.
VICTORIA, June 25.-The selection by
Lieut. Gov McInnes of James Dunsmuir,
of Victoria, as premier of the province
of British Columbia, and the probability
of that gentleman continuing in that po
sition throughout the life of the present
parliament, at least, is curious example
of the irony of political fate. Joseph Mar
tin, whom he succeeds as chief adviser of
the crown. Is famous throughout Canada
for his platform ability and political bold
ness. F. Garter Cotton, another of the
foremost leaders of the province, is re-
garded as one of the clearest and ablest
speakers on financial questions in the
West. ID. M. Eberts is a particularly
forcible speaker, and j. H. Turner is one
of the most experienced men in the po-
litical life of the province. Yet all these
have been forced to stand aside for a
man, the accents of whose voice has never
been heard in debate on the uoors of thA
legislature. For the first time in her his
tory, the Pacific province of the Domin-
ion has first minister whose career has
been of a character to Justify the appel
lation, 1.-The Silent Premier"
Premier Dunsmuir is a comparative
tyro in politics. 1t is only two years since
he entered the house, his whole manner
breathing not the committee room but the
counting house. Although then about for
ty years of age, he had manifested no in
terest whatever in politics, but had bent
his energies exclusively to administering
the enormous estate for which the death
or his father had made him largely re-
sponsibe. Like most Of men who take
nnlltiRG n ha hos ,,,4
lived an air of strict business dispatch.
and his air in the house is that of a
man beWildered by the number of words
which members require to use to make
their meaning clear.
He himself, as has been stated. never
speaks. In the sessions in which he has
sat for the last two years, although at
times matters of great moment t. him
and to his great interests on Vancouver
island, came up for consideration and de-
bate, they failed to draw from the mem
Der for Comox, a monoSyllable No mat
ter how bitterly his interests We're at
tackled, what he thought on the subject
was locked in his own breast. The course
he will pursue as leader of the govern
ment, when assailed by such a loquacious
speaker as Joe Martin, opens up Gu
rious ground for speculation.
Without any of these qualities which
be very much handicapped in the prelinl-
mary stages of his career But from his
father he inherits a pertinacity and de-
termination which, coupled with his high
standing in the business community will
do much to counterhalance these de-
fects.
The rise of the family of the premier
in one generation from position OF the
most humble kind to that of aff1uence
IlYOf1o hIy 11DeO1ia cd in Canada 10 ono IF
the most interesting chapters in the his
tory of the Canadian West. His father,
Robert Dunsmuir, was the honest and
Woodworking son of a line of honest and
Woodworking coal masters of Argyle.
Coal mining was the business of the fam
lily, and although Robert received a fair
education at Kilmarnock academy he was
made early to understand that his bust
ness in life was to delve coal from the
bowels of the earth.
Early in the fifties young Dunsmuir,
having i'll the meantime married, came
out to Victoria, then a very small place.
indeed. lie came as nearly all the early
settlers did, in a wind jammer,' round
the Horn. He at once entered the en-
pIoy of the Vancouver Coal company, as
an expert, until one day, the young
Scotch1nan stumbled on phenomenal luck.
He discovered a rich seam of coal at
Wellington which, with characteristic
shrewdness. he pre-eInpted for himself,
and from which he amassed millions. He
had not the necessary capital to open up
the property, but he secured the co-opera-
ton of a number of navy officers, incIud-
ing Admiral Horribly, Capt. Egert and
Lieut.. Doggle. He, however, retained
half interest and had the entire control
Of the property. One by one his part
ners were bought out. the last one Lieut..
Doggle. receiving about $S000O0 in full
payment of his claims
From this discovery has sprung the
Dunsmuir millions. The father who died
in 1889 left numerous assets, including
the f. & railway to his family, but
the Wellington mines are today the
largest contributors to the income Of the
family.
The widow of Robert Dunsmvir resides
in a beautiful castle overlooking the
mler, resides in a cosy home on the sea
prolonged inland. Retiring and modest
lie life, and takes greater delight in his
of the great business of r. Dunsmuir
Sons Co., than in the turmoil of public
life Indeed it is stated that 1t was
only after the greatest pressure had
been brought to bear upon him that he
sibllities which his new duties will en-
tail.
His assumption of the post of premier
is expected to have very beneficial
effect upon capital seeking investment,
-. L.