Chapter 10

Losses and Gains

Just twenty—one years after the ending of the first world war, a second, more horrendous world military conflict began in September, 1939. For the next six years people in Canadian communities experienced the personal, social and economic hardships associated with war. Table 10:1 (next page) contains the names of eighty-four persons from the five communities who enlisted in the armed ser— vices, including five young men who lost their lives in that war, and whose photographs are shown on the facing page. In addition, three priests from these communities served as war chaplains: Rev. Wilfred Keefe from Kinkora, Rev. Wilfred McCardle from Middleton and Rev. William McGuigan, C.SsR., Kinkora.

People’s memories of the war included spending Sunday afternoons knitting socks for the soldiers; giving school children pennies to buy war stamps at school; the ration- ing of food, gasoline and rubber tires; the practice— blackouts announced on the radio ordering people to hide the lights in their homes; farewell parties for those going to war; receiving the news of a relative or friend killed in the war; and the welcoming home party for those who returned in 1945 and 1946. There were also the many cam— paigns to raise money for the war. Nine Victory Bond drives were held during the war, and for each, communities were asked to raise a specific amount of money. The quota for the five communities was about $15,000.00, which they rais- ed with difficultyl In 1942 Canadians were asked to vote on whether or not to allow the federal government to con- script men into the services. These five communities, as did

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most Island communities, voted in favor of conscription; but it was by a narrow majority: at Kinkora the vote was 66 in favor, 58 opposed; and at Newton, 66 in favor, 51 op- posed.2 These were among the largest negative votes in P.E.I.

Much of the opposition to conscription stemmed from the depressed economic conditions of farmers during the early 1940s. There was a severe shortage of labor: so severe that in January, 1943 the P.E.I. deputy minister of agriculture made an urgent plea to the members of the Charlottetown Rotary Club and other similar clubs in the city to help out on the farms in the summer, because, he said, “The farms of FBI are almost depleted of men, and each day the condition is being aggravated?3 Farm prices were kept low as a result of ceilings imposed by the govern- ment, so farmers could scarcely recover the costs of pro- duction, yet the costs of machinery and fertilizer kept in- creasing. So, during the early 19405 P.E.I. was actually still in the grip of the depression. Already in 1940 Premier Thane Campbell of P.E.I. wrote to Prime Minister Macken- zie King asking for federal assistance for Island farmers, whom, he wrote, “find their situation worse this year than it has been since the trough of the depression?” The statistics in Table 10:2 show that in terms of net farm income Island farmers were in a slightly better position in 1940 than they were in 1932, contrary to Premier Campbell’s assessment, but they were still far below the better incomes they enjoyed during the boom years in the 19208.