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ck 2 cated hear Cou'q ether lying the with t fit and And t to- asn't e, it hing: tant re! ry THE OAKVILLE-TRAFALGAR JOURNAL Thursday, March , 80, 1950 Page 13 Ll afln from a high figure of §1,150 per shows only 178 registrations in [been more deaths too, but for- Souvenir Dailies Of Four Decades annum, for a science specialist (1903. tunately since about 1843 the Ago Point Sharp Journalistic Contrast By P. W. THOMPSON The suffragettes had staged a big battle with the police out- side the British House of Com- mons. Coal miners in Nova Sco- tia were getting ready to strike. In Canada's parliament Mr. R. L. Borden was laying it into the Laurier government for deluding the public in regard to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Military and naval experts in Britain were trying to figure out some weap- ons of defence against "aerial warships". Dr. William Wilfrid Campbell, the celebrated Canad- ian poet had just delivered a stinging indictment of public li- braries for catering to "the de- praved moral taste of the gen- eral reading public." Cobalt and Gowganda were big names in fin- ancial circles. And a well-known Toronto department store was offering a quantity of men's suits at $7.95 each. Crumbléd But Intact Yes, it was all a long time ago --April, 1909, to be exact. The 'events referred to above were chronicled in a handful of crumb- ling but still fairly intact Toron- to newspapers recently unearth- ed by W. L. Paul, who brought them to the Journal office think- ing, quite correctly, that they might be of interest. They are postively fascinating in the light they throw upon that bygone era, and in the contrasts they provide with the streamlined mo- dern dailies. Simple Fare In Mr. Paul's bundle of papers were two coples of the Toronto Mail and Empire and a copy of the Toronto World, Both those once eminent journals have pass- ed from the scene, the former having (been incorporated with the Globe and Mail, the latter having simply died. Simple in- deed was the fare offered their readers by the dailies 'of the nineteen hundreds compared with that dished up for the edification, edification and entertainment of the newspaper reading public of 1950. One notices the absence, or rather. the near-absence of pic- tures. The art of news photo- graphy and reproduction was in its infancy back in 1909, and when the citizen of the Edward- ian era picked up his morning journal for a glance over the pag- es he was greeted by dreary col- umns of type, unrelieved by life- like illustrations of alluring fe- male skaters, dancers and ten- nis players, the smashed and crumpled remnants of wrecked cars and planes, and the bland, smirking or scowling visages of politicians, financiers, profess ional athletes and thugs. Voluminous Heads Headlines in those days were long and complicated = compared with their pithy, streamlined mo- dern prototypes. Many of them contained eight lines in different faces of type, comprising twenty- five or thirty words. But while the papers of 1909 look tame alongside those of 1950, it would be a mistake to suppose that they were devoid of news of crime and violence. The world had its share of those evils, even back in the easy-going horse-and-buggy days which some people in these more stirring times have come to' as- soclate with a state of perfect blessedness. "Turkish troops re- volt and blood is shed," one head- line in the World informs the reader. In the next column is a story about a man who was kick- ed and left in a dying condition in a drunken row on Toronto's no- torious Jarvis Street. According to a dispatch in the Mail and striking button makers had brought about a "veritable reign of ter- ror." In'Rochester; N.Y. a gale- fanned fire damaged more than a ! hundred buildings and caused a panic. And two men were Ser- jously hurt when a Toronto street car hit a carriage. Bygone Worry Warts They had things to worry about in those days, too. A French pro- | fessor came out with the theory that certain fishes propagated cancer germs, and a clerk in Antwerp was found to be suf- fering from "articular tubercul- ! 0sis" said to have been caused by excessive typing, an ill augury for "the growing ranks of the sten- ® ographic profession. The birth of ® quintuplets to a North Carolina Woman rated only about an inch fof space, which seems indeed modest when compared with the publicity given Canada's Dionne quintuplets some years later. Trusts Even Then On the international front the Japanese government was nego- tiating with an American for the purchase of plans and specifica- tions for a new type of submar- ine. Compulsory military train- ing, and additions to the navy were being planned by the Aus- tralian government. Canada's militia system was attacked as inadequate by the president of the Canadian Military Institute. And the American "machinery trust" was preparing to start large-scale manufacturing in Russia. Meagre indeed was the fare of- fered under the heading of "Amusements." The moving pic- ture had some years to flicker before being brought to its pre- sent supremacy in the world of entertainment. Bertha Kalich-- has anyone alive today, ever heard of the lady?--was appearing at the Royal Alexandra in "The Unbroken Road," and the coming attraction, billed as the success of 3 continents, was "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch" dear to the hearts of youthful readers of an earlier generation. And at the now vanished Princess Theatre a certain Lulu Glaser was charm- ing the crowds in "the newest Viennese Operetta" entitled "Mile. Mischief." This was to be follow- ed by F. Ziegfeld's greatest mus- ical success, "The Soul Kiss," with the incomparable Adeline Genee, who was billed, incompre- hensibly, as the "only dancer in the world." In the more moderate priced field, the Gayety Burles- que and Vaudeville offered the Mardi-Grass Beauties with Andy Lewis and 40 others, and the Star Burlesque presented an attract- fon under-the intriguing title of "The Champagne Girls." Elastic Dollar The housewife's dollar went much farther in those days, one gathers from a glance at the store ads. Simpson's was adver- tising 2,000 pounds of fresh dairy butter at 22'cents a pound; 2 pounds of coffee for 35 cents; 5- pound pails of marmalade, 40 cents; 2 dozen lemons, 25 cents --and so on. Other merchandise was correspondingly cheap, with 2,000 men's hats being offered at 79 cents; men's shoes at $4 and $5 a pair; ladies' coats at $17.50, and umbrellas at 78 cents. But if prices were low, so were wages. In the Teachers Wanted Column, salaries quoted range in a collegiate institute, down to $350 for a public school teach- 7 ° Comics Evolution The daily. papers of that day carried no comics. They were the exclusive province of the weekly. In Mr. Paul's collection is a bat- tered comic section of the old Toronto Sunday World. How naive and innocent was the com- ic of 1909 compared with its mo- dern equivalent, with its 'ingred- fents of hard-faced gangsters, so- phisticated society dames, ma- chine guns, police squad cars and jet planes. What, we wonder, would a child of today make of "Little Nemo in Slumberland," "Buster Brown," 'The Terrors of the Tiny Tads," and "Boys Will Be Boys?" Huge Increase In Vehicle Registration Stresses Safety Drive This year in the province of Ontario close to a million motor vehicles will be registered, Fifty years ago there were probably nome at all. At any rate the earl- iest official record mow published WATCHES, CLOCKS, JEWELERY ' SILVERWARE Phone 1231 Very few developments have had such a profound effect on our way of life as this rapid growth of our vehicfe population. In most Tespeots its effect has been good. In at least one respect it has not --the mounting destruction of life, limb and property from ac- cidents. A mournful accounting on this subject is published in the press from time to time. The final total of deaths from 1849 acci- dents in Ontario is mot yet cer- tain, but it is known to have ex- ceeded the previous record of 801 killed in 1941. During most of the past 50 years, motor traffic in this prov- ince has grown faster than ways and means could be devised to keep it safe. The last decade alone has seen an increase of at least 50 percent in the mileage of driving. As expected there have toll has stopped paralleling the growth of traffic. As a result the computed death-rate (number driving) has come down, revers- ing the earlier trend. SINGER Sewing Machine Compan; Sales and Service car will be in the Town of Oak- ville on Tuesdays for a period of four weeks starting January 17. New machines now avail- able. Repairs to all makes. Free Estimates in advance. Work Guaranteed. 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