For the next year, this column will mark The Western Producer’s 100th anniversary by taking a deep dive every week into a past issue of the paper.
It might be tempting to think that the terrible drought of the 1930s ended on Dec. 31, 1939, but that was not the case.
A story in the Nov. 8, 1945, Western Producer said 1945 had been declared an emergency crop year under the Prairie Farm Assistance Act and that affected farmers would receive assistance.
The federal agriculture minister said more than 3,000 townships in eastern Alberta and western Saskatchewan had experienced the most severe drought since 1937.
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In another story, the threat of a country-wide meat-packing strike was averted when the United Packinghouse Workers of America and the three big packers met in Winnipeg and announced they had reached a “mutual understanding” and would “seek the co-operation of the Dominion government to make the settlement effective.”
The terms weren’t known, but it was generally understood that both sides had compromised on hours and wages.
The union had asked for a five-day, 40-hour work week with hourly increases that would give workers the same take-home pay as they were getting for a 48-hour week.
Producers were relieved, saying a strike would have been disastrous.
I haven’t talked much in my columns about the ads in these older issues, but three jumped out at me in this issue.
In one, the Pulp and Paper Industry of Canada received help from the federal labour minister in appealing to “farmers, farm workers, returned men and war workers” to “work in the woods this winter cutting pulp wood.”
In another, Saskatchewan Wheat Pool offered free smut testing to members, similar to moisture and germination tests.
And the Canadian Jersey Cattle Club encouraged farmers to “give a boy a Jersey calf.”
“When you give your boy a Jersey heifer calf, you give pleasure … responsibility … and a head start on a purebred herd which in later life may bring him profit and reputation,” the ad said.
