12/12/12 in 1912
In honour of today being the 12th day of the 12th
month of 2012, here’s a roundup of front-page headlines from a carefully
selected batch (as in those I could get my hands earlier this morning) of
Toronto newspapers the last time the calendar read 12/12/12:
The Toronto Daily Star
The only paper to acknowledge the significance of the date,
which it called “a gala day for puzzle fiends and people of the class of who
travel one hundred miles to see a century plant boom.”
The Star also wins the best headline of the day: “THE KING
AND YONGE CORNER HAS BECOME A GUSTY SPOT.” Recent gale-force winds added to the
problems of crossing King and Yonge in the shadow of one of the city’s first
skyscrapers, the Canadian Pacific Building. “Ladies making the crossing looked
in some particulars like the pictures of fishermen’s daughters down on the
stormy strand, when they have lost hope for their loved ones in the fishing
boats out on the raging seas.” The wind tunnel effect was so bad that a gust
lifted a bicycle and dropped it in the middle of the road, where “it was
rescued from a hungry trolley car.”
“WOMAN BEATEN TO DEATH IN HOME AT CEYLON, ONT.” – With the
subheadline “SON SAW A STRANGE MAN IN VICINITY NEIGHBOR INTIMATES SOMETHING TO
TELL.”
“LAURIER ADVOCATES A CANADIAN NAVY WITH FLEET ON BOTH OCEANS”
– The pro-Liberal paper claimed that the rush to hear federal opposition leader
Sir Wilfrid Laurier speak about recent naval policy “beat anything that had
been seen in years. The police and gallery officials were driven half out of
their wits to control the crowd which gathered. Women in furs and jewels were
packed like sardines outside the gallery door an hour before the bells rang.”
The Toronto World
Agricultural headlines dominate, thanks to a touch of
controversy at the Guelph Winter Fair. Combined with other stories from that
neck of the woods, one could almost mistake the paper for one covering what
then would have been the Berlin-Galt-Guelph area.
“TOWN PLANNING
LEGISLATION IS SOUGHT” – 200 people met in Berlin, Ontario (now Kitchener) for
the first meeting of the Ontario Town Planning Congress. Still a hot topic a century on.
“SECRET PACTS WITH BRITAIN ARE HINTED AT BY LAURIER –
PREMIER BORDEN IS NETTLED” – The pacts in question revolved around alleged
agreement to build and staff ships for the British admiralty in Canada.
“ONE OF JUDGES OWNED PRIZE SHORTHORN” – Controversy at the
Guelph Winter Fair when a two-year old prize-winning heifer was bought by one
of the judges before judging took place.
“ALL PROTESTANT CHURCHES IN CANADA MAY BE UNITED” – During a
meeting of Presbyterian committee looking into union with the Methodists and
Congregationalists, it was decided to promote a wider union of religious
bodies. The United Church of Canada would come into being in 1925.
“NEED $5,000,000 FOR EDUCATION IN FARMING” – At a luncheon
for cattle exhibitors at the Guelph Winter Fair, Alberta’s Minister of
Agriculture Duncan Marshall asked “if Canada can spend $35,000,000 on
battleships, surely she can spend $5,000,000 for agricultural education.” The fair's show horse barn still exists, currently serving as the home of the Guelph Farmers' Market.
The Globe
The dullest headlines of the lot. Most of those I didn’t
include revolve around the fight against liquor or finding any way to attack
Robert Borden’s Tories.
“MORE DISCLOSURES OF WASTED MONEY” – The federal
Conservative government bought a wharf from one of its defeated candidates in
the 1911 election for $15,000.
“CHANGE IN CONTROL OF INTERNATIONAL BANK” – A syndicate
headed by Sir Henry Pellatt gained control of the International Bank. Pellatt
had recently begun building his most enduring legacy, Casa Loma.
“LAMBTON COUNTY COUNCIL FAVORS LOCAL OPTION” – One of
several front-page stories regarding the temperance movement. In this case, the
southwestern Ontario county favoured local control over the regulation of booze
to reduce the number of people with “regrettable intemperate habits” fostered
by hanging out in bars.
“HOUSEKEEPERS’ LEAGUE SMASHES EGG CORNER” – An attempt by
the Housekeepers’ League in Philadelphia to sell eggs at up to half the price most
retailers charged for them. Sadly headlines refers to “cornering the market,”
not the riot I imagined could have broken out on a corner where only eggs where
sold.
“WOOLEN MANUFACTURERS ASK MORE PROTECTION” – Mainly against “shoddy”
woolen goods from England.
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