1942 speaks from my floor

...back to the Port Arthur Chronicle-Journal from 1942 found under the floorboards of the second floor back room. There were a few days worth on the floor, and it seems that there was both a morning and evening edition--and this is at a time when there were various local and regional newspapers available. From the Chapples department store ad above advertising items to purchase to make Mother happy, it seems that not much has changed in the waist-line department, that is, women, mothers or not were (and are) expected to have minuscule waistlines no matter what. The image of the panties/bloomers is definitely not in congruence with the size of the waist drawn on this "Mother".

"Chapples Stores Limited was founded in 1915 as a family dry goods and ladies fashion store but soon expanded to become Fort William's premier department store with branches in other northwestern Ontario communities. Chapples closed for business in the mid 1970s."

I've listed a few excerpts from ads and articles that I found on just a couple of pages.

-- Under a column called Magistrate’s Court

A motorist paid a $10 fine and costs on a charge of careless driving. Two other motorists were fined $5 and costs each for driving their cars more than 40 miles an hour.

-- Under Announcements

Oil permanent, regular $7.00. Special $3.50. Phone 920 N. Peggy’s Beauty Shop, Nelson Block, opposite Waverley Hotel.

in an ad for Bourke’s Drug Store Ltd.

Free delivery to Fort William and in Port Arthur Providing your total purchase is $1.00 or more

Men, Women Over 40

Feel Weak, Worn, Old?

Want Normal Pep, Vim, Vitality?

Does weak, rundown, exhausted condition make you feel fagged out? Try Ostrex. Contains general tonics, stimulants, often needed after 30 or 40. Supplies iron, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin B1. Helps you get normal pep, vim, vitality. Introductory size Ostrex Tonic Tablets only 35c. For sale at all good drug stores everywhere.

First, the medical community of the 40s (when Dr. Spock first became lord) convinced moms to stop breast-feeding (the not-all-women-are-capable-at-mothering scientism). Women were encouraged to go with 'scientific' bottle-feeding, but then a market had to be created to 'return' babies to a natural state--via science / medicine. "Even the name 'formula' has the aura of science, offered and seen as something better, more modern, and healthier for babies." Here's that 40s scientism in practice:

WARNS MOTHERS OF BOTTLE-FED BABIES

If your baby is bottle-fed, be sure to watch little bowels closely. Mother’s milk is a natural laxative which helps take care of baby’s need. Lacking this, a bottlefed baby often gets fretty, feverish and suffers constipation and upset stomach. Let Baby’s Own Tablets help you keep your baby’s bowels on schedule—sweeten upset stomach—relieve the feverishness and discomfort of teething. No narcotics—no stupefying drugs of any kind. Don’t let your baby suffer—get Baby’s Own Tablets from your druggist today. Only 25c.

Below are some price comparisons:

A.W. Diggins Corner Cumberland and McVicar

Cash and Carry … Pay Less…Live Better (*this subtitle ties in with the article following)

Fresh Lake Superior Trout 2 to4 lbs. each lb. 22c

B.C. Salmon Trout Sliced or piece 2 lb. 39c [this is for 2 lbs!! Today, salmon in TBay today costs $6-8 per pound depending on if its wild or farmed, fresh or frozen]

Fresh Fillets lb. 20c

Wood’s Super Market

240 Arthur St. (Between Post Office, Colonial Theatre)

Shoulder lamb chops –per lb. 30c

Brisket boil –per lb. 14c

Shoulder veal steak—per lb. 30c

~ the next article excerpt is mind-boggling considering the normalization of debt today and the living in debt that is encouraged by governments. George Bush ridiculously told Americans to go SHOPPING after 9/11. Imagine if we too were mandated to pay all debts by the 10th day of the month following purchase as noted below. Clearly, the merchants were the concern in the 40s, as they are today (except today they are not merchants but multinationals & chains). But today banks and credit agencies feed like vampires on personal debt.

* U.S. Tightens Regulations on Buying
Charge Account Rules Are Laid Down by Government for First Time
By Associated Press
Washington. Stiff regulations controlling the installment purchase of nearly every article in common use in the American home were promulgated last night by the Federal Reserve Board which, in addition, decreed that ordinary charge accounts must be paid up relatively quickly.

The charge account rules, first ever issued governing this type of buying, provided that an article must be paid for by the tenth day of the second month following purchase.

Effective at midnight last night, the regulations were issued in compliance with President Roosevelt’s recent request that people pay off their bills and stay out of debt as much as possible…. The new list of articles include all civilian clothing, kitchen articles and dishes, linens, jewelry, accessories, all electrical appliances, umbrellas, baggage, sports equipment, furniture, and yard goods.

Along with Brothers Safely Overseas here are some of the headlines, which gives you a sense of the climate of war:

Gave Their Lives to Trick Nazis

Fort William Pilot Chases Nazi Plane

Canadian Army Train at Lakehead

Reds Force Wedge in Leningrad Front

Stuttgart Hit Again by R.A.F. Raiders

British Cruiser is Sunk in the Arctic

F.W. Man Among Unsung Heroes. PO Schoales Helped Damage Heinkel III in Patrols Over North Sea.