The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

x 1 Help ! T IS, after all, only a few years between the Ox-cart and the Motor Car, An old-timer can dly realize the change however. rty-five years ago there were storekeepers selling dry goods n there are to-day, but they d most everything else --- groc- es, crockery, boots and shoes, fent medicines, etc, e might mtion a few of them: Hillyards, ke Brothers, Wightmans, Mec- I & Lee, Shea ewin. On Simcoe Street north ere was Biette's Dry Goods, and old stand-by, Thos, Miller & bns, which was formerly a grain thouse, t . ..Only One Men's 'Store hirty-five years ago there was ly one men's store in Oshawa, pt by W. Lang, There was onc oe store, There are at least a en. stores catering to shoe wants men's needs, and only two dry ods stores, and only one exclusive- ladies' dry goods, It's a day of ialists now. In the olden days, storekeeper bought his wants out twice a year, and if they did- sell this year the style was all ht for next year, There were no accounts for advertising, The ndows would be changed about Shirley, S.[ Irene Smith Robert Stevens THE OSHAWA DAILY TIMES, SATURDAY, JULY 7, 1928 Cyril Sollite Times Organization With The "oA Ramps (Ottawa Journal) Mr. Speaker Whitley, retiring First Commoner of Britain, having declined a peerage, has been offer- ed the "Most Noble Order ef the Garter." It is a much-prized honor with, if tradition be right, a curi- ous history, Once, 1t 1s said, a Countess of Salisbury found her garter slipping, the days being in the merry ardent time of Edward III," (1312-77). Down and down slipped the garter until it tumbled before the knowing eyes of a pack of smirking courtiers. But Edward III, with instant chivalry, stooped, retrieved the ribbon, tied it just be- low his own royal knee, and ex- claimed to the courtiers in im- C. H. Grisewood Jack Fry every 2 weeks and never any light- ng in them, The stores had coal oil lamps and were heated by big stoves, The odd clerk got 7 or 8 dollars a week and every line of bysingss took in eggs in exchange for goods, The {farmers brought in produce to the grocers; the grocers gave them a due bill on the dry godds stores and the store- keepers either traded them out or cashed them once a month, less ten per cent, The newspapers never thought of getting any money for their advertising space, They traded it all cut in the stores who advertised. They also paid their one or two em- flovees about half cash and the alance in due bills, which was trad- ed out to balance accounts, Thirty- five years ago eggs were ten cents a dozen; butter 12}45 cents a pound, the best beef steak 1214 cents a pound, and a good sized dressed chicken was 25c for the whole bird, On the other hand you could buy good heavy yard-wide factory for Sc a yard and flannelette same price; a good pair of shoes for $2 and a ladies' all wool ready made coat for $5 (Made in Germany). On the other hand, the men's wages for a 10 hour day was $1 per day and Saturdays, when they quit work at § o'clock they only made 90¢c for 'the day, Coal was about $5.50 per ton, Wooden Sidewalks Oshawa had wooden sidewalks, well water, and every spring and fall, every street was mud to the knees, And now we are a city, We have everything any city has, The mer- chants have just as nice merchandise (at lower prices), Ther are quite as up-to-date in their lighting and window trimming and advertising and inside displays. Their stores are properly lighted, heated, and ventil ated; their service is the best pos- sible and competition, home and abroad, keeps prices lower, It has become a day of specialty-shoes, men's exclusive stores; boots and shoes "only" stores; ladies' ready to wear stores and ladies' dry goods stores and groceries and meat mar- kets, We wouldn't want to go back to the old time ways any more than we would want to drive a horse and buggy. People perhaps lived longer in those days but they missed a whole lot, There were men with families whose pay was $5.90 a week who saved more money than men who J.C. YOUNG All Classes of Insurance Written Plate Glass, Fire, Accident. Sickness, Life, Burglarly, Liability, Boiler and Bonds, Automobile, today are getting $5.90 per day. Such is life, Yi of the old timers in the mercantile game are still living in the town; many have gone to their reward; others creeping along towards old age. An old timer writing of conditions as he found them in Oshawa in the early seventies, has the following to say i= "I must add here that I much 're- gret that we did not invite the town of Whitby to unite with us before in- corporating our town into a city. I was much interested in the rebuild- ing of this block (which now stands) in 1873, as I was clerking for Mr. G. F, Blamey, whose store was on the opposite side, and is now occu- ied by Puckett & Scilly, The heat rom the fire was so intense that the windows were broken in our store, Store Keeping of Long Age "This is where I learnt my first Canadian methods of doing busi- ness, money was a very scarce ar- ticle in those days, so much so, that it took only a few minutes each night to count the amount in the till, be- cause there was so much business done by credit, trucking and trading, 1 n ey's, grain, the dozen, that very little money changed hands in any of the stores. in those days as "Walter at Blam- wives would bring me in apple pie and scald cream, also invite me to their homes in the country, were the good old days boys!) Many farmers had a yearly account which was settled when the During the year we supplied them with all the goods they needed, and would bring us butter in tubs and large rolls, price 12 cents per pound, i cents, geese 9 cents and turkeys 10 cents, and eggs 8 and 10 cents per "Wild and tame raspberries in 20 Ib. pails, $1; cherries, 12 quart 40 cents; strawberries, one quart box, 6 cents; plums and green gages as low as 50 cents per bushel; apples $1 and $2 per barrel (orchards sold at S0cts per barrel), dressed pork was plentiful at dollars per hundred and beef per quarter the same price. "For their winter supply they would usually take from us 200 Ib, barrel of Labrador herrings, one keg each of mortal reproof: "Honi soi. quie mal y pense." (Evil be to him who evil thinks!) Soon no knightly honor was se prized as membership in the "Soei+ ety of the Garter," founded by Ed- ward III, Among {ts members have been Britain's most, illustri. ous sons, and today King George presides over what is now the , "Most Noble Order of the Garter." I was known | Lake Superior white fish and trout,| overcoat; the farmer wore a long so it was not necessary for them to| plaid shawl which only he seemed to go fishing, Dus Bille pad the knack of putting on com- ue fortably. Many of these were made "I will now explain our due bill by their wives, from the. wool of system; we kept due bill books which | sheep raised on their farm. The were similar to check books. When | wife wore bright wide-striped woollen one of our customers brought their shawl, and her children woollen plaid produce. to us and wished to pur- dresses usually 'her own make and chase boots, dry goods, or other lines | weave,'" ' that we did not carry, instead of pay- ing out cash we would give a due bill on the merchant which they wished to do business with and he would accept it like a check, these mer- chants 'also gave due bills to their customers on our store, These due bills were usually balanced every two months, and the merchant having the largest amount in due bills was paid the balance in cash by the store which owed it to him, less 12}4 per gent. which was the profit on the trade. "Proud of Our Customers" "We were proud of our prosperous up to the store with a beautiful span of horses, silver mounted harness and a bright red bob sleigh with wolf, bear and buffalo robes, "In addition to the fur cap and| and many of the farmers' (Those y sold their October 1st. usually about chicken, 6 cents, ducks 8 ail, In the fall four LOOKING FOR OTHER PEOPLE'S MISTAKES This is the proof reading department where proofs are read and mis- takes marked befora the work is printed, We handle the Fire Insurance - Om the Mundy Building 4; Prince St. Phones 553 "We Are the Metal Men" WE MANUFACTURE SOLDER BABBITT META SHEET LEAD LEAD PIPE TYPE METAL LEAD TRAPS &« BENDS ESTABLISHED HALF A CENTURY THE CanaDA METAL CO. Loren Head Office Toronto BRANCH FACTORIES: MONTREAL, WINNIPEG AND VANCOUVER