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Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday, May 15, 1991-9 An action song at Orono Public There was -considerable the recent Open House. Kerry Anderson, Allan Robb, enthusiasim with these students ai Pictured above (back row) (front row) Jackie Bull, Christian the Orono Public School during Ashley West, Lin dsay Pingle, Jackson and Rene Picco. If 'there is one topic that carried by hand to the bench and passed manually from worker to worker. The days were long; ten hours; and the work was beavy. Although the first Fords were often referred to as "Tin Lizzies"; They were anything but tin. Detroit was ideal for the car ludustry. it was on the river; on the U.S. - Canada border and within easy reach of the great steel mlis around Cleveland. T'he flrst cars mass produced were concerns everyone but no -one iikes to talk about; it is the economy. Economics can be dull; 5se can history unless you can put a little glamour in with it. This is anotber story of the "Roaring Twenties". ýMuch of this story is set in the United States; the city of Detroit to be exact. It does have some local implications. In 1921 a group of five young men left Kirby area to seek fame and fortune in Detroit. Four of these men had already emigrated much earlier from England to Canada. They had come to Canada as "home boys" under the-auspices of the Dr., Bamardo homes. The story of Dr. Barnardo homes has been well documented Mnd a good book has been produced on that era. They were many Dr. Barnardo children, both male and female in that story. The four young men who had been Dr. Bamnardo boys, and later left Kirby for Detroit were Reg Hales, George Sherman, and, two brothers Fred and Bert Sellers. The fifth man of the groupwas a local youth. The first four mentioned will be remembered by very few people today; but the local youth of the group was Ellsworth Beacock. His grandchildren and great-grandchildren stilllilve in the, Orono area. What prompted the exodus of. these men se many years ago?' Oshawa did not have a car industry in the very early 20's. Sam McLaughlin had invented bis McLaughli orse-less carniage but each auto built would require individual construction. It was Henry Ford who brought the auto industry into tie twentieth century. His ideas were innovative. He offered his workers the exorbiant suxn of $5.00 (five dollars per day). That in itself was enough to attract xworkers te the industry. Then, he went a step further. He invented the assembly line where workers could stand along long benches and each do just one specialized job. At the end of the line an auto was produced but other cars were in the -'roccss of bcing built. These were .t"movilug Unes". The Parts were more like arinoured tanks. They were not fender benders. The young men I referred to earlier did not work for Henry Ford. They were employed by the "Hudson" motor company in Detroit. Mr. fred Sellers described the heavy lifting that was required in carrying the massive motorsand transmissions along the line., He bimself suffered a, ruptured appendix in the work and with no antibiotics, be succumbed. He had worked there a little over two years. Life was excitig to these young auto workers in what seemed to themt the big city of Detroit as compared to rural Ontario. Work was plentiful; in fact there was a very real shortage of labourers. Many blacks were brought from the Southern States to workyon the "line". This, in itself created problems in those early days. Somne white labourers are said to have shown prejudice. They expressed some of these fears by joining a ratber different type, of organization. It was the Klu Klux Clan with their fiery crosses and supposedly some lynchings. The young men fromn Kirby were well aware of the organization. I recail, as a boy seeing small stickers tbey had, with a little "Red" School bouse. I forgot the slogan to these stickers but it had something to do with: One law; one religion; and one something else. Another result of the mass migration of workers te the large centres was "ruma running." Prohibition iii the U.S. made it very profitable to "run, rum acro ss the river." This was a dangerous business but paid more dma heavy work on the "lune." One memnory I have of the affluence of that day was the.large "touring cars", these young men drove, when they would retum to the Kirby area for their holidays. They drove Hudsons and Hupmobile automobiles of eight cylinders. 1 have pictures of some of their cars and remember riding i one on the back road to Bownianville at more than 70 milles per hour. Considering the gravel conditions of tbe roads in those days I can only say I neyer thought 1 would experience speeds like that again. The car industry had definitely grown up. Most of our prejudices have been solved and the rumn across the river bas run dry. Later the tables were turned. Canada, too, bas experienced Prohibition laws in tie past. It is a more free world today. Perhaps we have just exchange old problems for new ones. If this is the case then we had better get ready and solve these ones too. Labour unions and corporations have had their struggles witb power. The history of both bas been the story of our economny. This is a quote made by Pittacus of Mytilene 650-570 B.C. "The measure of a man is what he does with power." What sbould "power" be used for in the Twenty-First Century? Keeping tax levels steady The average residential ratepayer in Port Hope will be paying an extra $112 in property taxes this year, but none of that increase will be to the tbwn itself. SThe $112 increase, based" on a $3,000 home assessment, comnes as the combined effect of tax increas by the public and separate school boards and Northumberland County.. Town Council gave first and second reading to its budget by- law recently, which decreases 1991 town property taxes by 0.2 percent from the 1990 level. The 1991 budget is very close to the amount of the 1990 budget, an increase of about $50,000. The budget figures also show that the town finished 1990 more than $522,000 i the red. WANT ADS WORK Phone 983-ý5301 S.* . *.* . *.* . ..........................................*. **.*. . .* . *. . *.*.* . *.*............... MOI- > 1, 4 Lirst Anniversar eciaLg p ý I.~,IOL» MILL COUNTrRY CRAriT I~flf~I (Me Stable - at The Vanstone Mill) uml yJ 623-0409 "lEnjoy a Hot Dog Saturday, Mayl8th" with your .50e donation to Bowmanville Hospital "'We 'louÛféLove Ç1oSee Yod' The VANSTONE MILL SCUGOG AND KING STS., BOWMANVILLE