Mr. BEST:

I do not know any hon.

member who talks as much one way and votes another as the hon. member.

Mr. JOHN BEST (Dufferin) :

I heartily agree with the views of my hon. friend from Frontenac. Like that hon. gentleman I opposed this Bill on a former occasion, and the reasons for doing so at that time were not as good as the reasons for opposing it to-day. On the former occasion I pointed out that other articles that were protected were just as high in price as butter. I am a protectionist, a moderate protectionist, and I believe the farmers of Canada have just as good a right to protection as other classes have. The argument has been advanced that the poor man and the poor woman in the past could not afford to buy butter. The statement probably was true, I am not disputing it, but if you are going to remove the protection from butter why not do it also in the case of the

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boots and clothing that the poor man and the poor woman wear?

Some hon. MEMBERS : Hear, hear.

Mr. BEST:

Why certainly. We might just as fairly lower the duty on underwear as lower the protection in the case of butter. I don't see any difference in principle. If we are going to help the poor man why not start in with his feet? Take the protection off boots and shoes, then off clothing, and progress until .you reach his stomach.

Mr. BEST:

I think it ill becomes any hon. member to get up in the House and read a lecture to the Government and to hon. members as to how they should vote, as my hon. friend from Red Deer (Mr. Clark) has just done. I can tell him that if the members sitting around him vote as he wants them to at the snap of his finger, the members on this side of the House have minds of their own and they vote as they see fit. Judging by the way the hon. member for Red Deer talks in this House, one can imagine that if he had the powers the Czar of Russia had some years ago, he would be much more intolerant than the Czar himself. This is not the first time that the hon. member for Red Deer has read the riot act to the Government and to hon. members on this side of the House; yet I do not think there is a member of this House who talks as much one way and votes the opposite way as the hon. member for Red Deer. I voted the way I did because I understood the measure was to be extended for one year, and I trust that when I vote as I see fit the hon. member for Red Deer will not find fault with me.

Mr. BEST:

May I ask the hon. gentleman a question? Would he glory as much in a similar reduction of the price of wheat? Only a comparatively small number of people are engaged in the production of wheat.