by Frank Galgay
“It was a divided country that faced the advent of union with Canada, ” says Mr. Perlin, “although by districts the Confederates would have won an overwhelming majority.”
Mr. Perlin said that the anti-confederate vote came from the large urban areas.
Any feeling of bitterness or dismay over the advent of Confederation in December, 1948, seems to have been kept at a personal or private level however.
A check through the Telegram issues for the month of December, 25 years ago, shows there were very few letters to the editor or other public comment opposing or criticizing Confederation.
Even editorial writers and columnists seemed to go in more for observation and explanation rather than definite critical comment.
But the Telegram’s associate editor today, Wick Collins, who was secretary of the Responsible Government League, suggests that the apparent lack of outcry in December was mainly due to a sort of “numbness” that was being experienced by those who had fought so hard to ward off Confederation.
He said people were “drained out” after the bitter campaigning through the two referenda, and were feeling that it was all over, there was nothing more they could do . . . “they didn’t want it (Confederation) . . . they didn’t vote for it.”
Mr. Collins said it was definitely a sad and sorrowful Christmas for many people.
Sometime after the New Year began, as the reality of union with Canada crept closer, some active public opposition to the idea did arise but it did not carry much weight and was to little avail.
Lawyer Richard Greene, who was an active supporter of the anti-confederate movement and later sat with Tories in the House of Assembly for three years, remembers a general sort of “frustration, ” particularly among the old times in late 1948.
He feels there was indeed a great deal of bitterness at the time.
People did not generally become resigned to Confederation until quite sometime afterward he suggests.
“Very few automatically dropped the principles they had fought for, ” Mr. Greene added.
City businessman and Metro Board chairman John R. O’Dea, who was a Tory MHA from 1959-62, feels much the same way.
He feels Christmas, 1948, was indeed less joyful for many people in view of the move toward Confederation.
Apart from the people who were firmly opposed to the idea on Confederation in itself, there were also those who abhorred the way in which it was being brought about.
Richard Gwyn, in his biography, Smallwood: The Unlikely Revolutionary, says that the constitutional issue—whether the union between the two countries should be consummated in any way except by two elected governments— “was resolved by the expedient of ignoring it.”
Mr. Gwyn said in his book that with hindsight it was clear that the terms of union signed in 1948 were seriously inadequate.
One member of the delegation, businessman Ches Crosbie, refused to sign saying, “I would not and could not take the responsibility of committing the people of Newfoundland to financial suicide.”
Another member of the Newfoundland delegation told a colleague the night before the signing that he had agreed to sign because there was no alternative.
Said Mr. Gwyn: “Nor was there; Newfoundland was committed to union, whatever the consequence.”
After the official signing took place in the red carpeted Senate chamber in Ottawa on the morning of Dec. 11, 1948, an RCAF band played God Save the King and O Canada. It had intended to play the Ode to Newfoundland, but the music could not be found in Ottawa.
Mr. Gwyn relates that after this Mr. Smallwood was active making sure he would become premier of the new province and that his close colleague, Gordon Bradley, would be named to the federal cabinet.
As early as Aug. 6, 1948, less than a month after the second referendum, Mr. Smallwood had won a standing ovation at the national Liberal convention in Toronto in a stirring speech, using the peroration, “We Canadians.”
Mr. Gwyn adds in a footnote that feelings in Newfoundland remained high, though the campaigning was over and the outcome accepted by Canada.
He said that when Mr. Smallwood’s appearance at the Liberal convention was recorded for the newsreels, “going to St. John’s movie houses to boo Smallwood whenever his face appeared on the screen became a popular form of entertainment.”
In his New Year’s message in 1949, the board of trade president, Lewis Ayre, obviously made some attempt to bring unity to the Newfoundland scene.
He pointed out that the problems that would arise in Confederation could only be solved by “a combined effort on the part of all Newfoundlanders working together in the common interest.”
Mr. Ayre went on to say that in the future, as had been in the past, Newfoundland’s problems would be largely her own and their resolution would rest, as it always had in the past, upon Newfoundlanders themselves.
“In the days of readjustment, ” said Mr. Ayre, “there will be little room for dissention among us.”
He urged that people should forget past differences and go into the New Year resolved to do their share.
“The past is behind us, the future will be largely in our own hands.”
Meanwhile, the current president of the St. John’s Board of Trade, W. A. Neal, doesn’t feel the Confederation issue had any real great affect on business in December, 1948.
Mr. Neal who was active in the board of trade in those days, but not so much as today, said that “things were good, ” for the business community, although not as good as they later became after Confederation.
Business got a boost with Confederation he explained as things were stepped up considerably with such benefits as the baby bonus and the improved old age pensions.
Generally speaking, Mr. Neal felt there was no great difference in Christmas, 1948 because of the advent of Confederation.
Former Premier Joseph Smallwood, of course, has said frequently in the past that Confederation was the greatest blessing ever bestowed on Newfoundland.
With regard to the attitude of the business community in the days approaching union with Canada, Lewis Ayre, at a board of trade annual meeting, Feb. 20, 1959-10, years after Confederation—recalled more remarks he had made in early 1949.
“There can be no doubt, ” he said at that time, “that the change in national status will require, on the art of business, the ability to adjust and adapt itself to the radical new conditions implicit in a change of this magnitude.”
“Beginning in April, Newfoundland commerce will have to conform to the Canadian pattern.
“While the change will not be easy, the path of business in Newfoundland has never been so smooth that we need be dismayed by any difficulties of adjustment that lie ahead.”
Some idea of the position Newfoundland was in at the time of Confederation was indicated in an article in the Monetary Times Annual, by correspondent George Perlin, shortly before the 10th anniversary of Confederation, in 1959.
Mr. Perlin said that until the middle of the 19th century when she was granted responsible government, Newfoundland was regarded by her European discoverers nothing more than a safe harbour from which to fish the teeming waters of the Grand Banks. No effort was made, he said, to explore or develop her other resources.
“Forced to devote themselves to maintaining an uncertain stability in her single-industry economy, her governments through her ensuing decades as a dominion had little time to consider the building of a network of public services.”
Thus when she entered Confederation in 1949, he added, “Newfoundland was nearly a century behind the rest of Canada in terms of roads, schools, hospitals and other vital services.”
Meanwhile, it seemed that once the Canadian government had accepted the result of the second referendum—a majority vote for Confederation—Canadian authorities soon set machinery in operation for integration of Newfoundland into Canada.
As early as the first week of December, various officials began coming to Newfoundland from Ottawa to c
onfer on the adjustments that would have to be made.
Representatives of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the family allowance service, the banking industry, the department of transport, Canadian National Railway, CMHC, and others visited here at various times throughout the month—even before the final terms of union were signed.
In early December as well, a three-man delegation from the Responsible Government League went to London, England, with a petition from 50,000 Newfoundlanders, seeking to stay negotiations for union with Canada and a restoration of self-government.
The delegations were received by Philip Noel-Baker, the British Commonwealth Relations Secretary, and later said the trip was successful because it let the British people know their position.
The petition was tabled in the British House of Commons and went no further, and while there was some discussion in the House on a motion tabled by Sir Alan Herbert, an independent member of parliament, which called for restoration of self-government in Newfoundland, nothing ever came of it.
The Responsible Government League made still another, last-ditch attempt to stop the move toward Confederation, on the night of Dec. 10, the day before the signing of the final terms.
At a large meeting in the CLB Armoury, a resolution demanding the Commission of Government to prevent the delegation in Ottawa from signing the terms was passed unanimously.
Those at the meeting then marched to Government House and met with the governor and presented the resolution.
The commission had a special meeting the next morning and then informed the league that the commission felt it would be improper for it to intervene in the matter.
For the ceremony of the signing of the final terms on Dec. 11, all local radio stations were hooked up to present the broadcast.
In the days following the ceremony also extensive coverage was given in the newspapers.
The Telegram printed the terms of unions verbatim and in addition, staff writer at the time Rupert Jackson—now more commonly known as Peter Simple of the Daily News—presented one article each day for nine consecutive days explaining the various terms and how they would affect the Newfoundland scene.
The late Eric Seymour, who at that time wrote an editorial page column for the Telegram under the Topics of the Day, with the by-line Terranovan, suggested following the signing that time was the keynote and that it would be a couple of years later before the progress “or otherwise” of the new province could be properly evaluated.
“Only time will tell, ” he said, “whether Dec. 11, 1948, was a new day for Newfoundland, or one of the darkest in its history.”
A Telegram editorial on Dec. 11 called for a frank and honest discussion of the terms of union.
It said that Newfoundland had taken the first important step leading to a future in which “she will be partner of the greatest and most progressive of the British Dominions.
“It is in our power to make that union a success.”
Editor of the Telegram at the time was the late C. E. A. Jeffery, M. B. E, who held that position from 1923-1959.
Mengie Shulman, a broadcaster and journalist, who at that time wrote a column for the Telegram called Satisfactually Speaking, interjected a touch of humor into the scene shortly after the final terms were signed.
Mr. Shulman told the story of two “inebriates” arguing the pros and cons of Confederation.
“Said one: ‘Everything will be cheaper—we’ll be better off.’
“To which the other replied: ‘Oh, yeah! Just wait and see. The cost of living will go up $2 a bottle.’”
Despite the importance of the issue of Confederation Mr. Shulman took time out in one of his columns to remind the girls that as the days of December were rapidly passing . . . “Leap year is almost over.”
In those days letters to the editor at the Telegram were published under the headline Telegram Forum, and although there were a few letters throughout the month of December on the Confederation issue, only one or two of those were in protest of union with Canada or the way in which it was being brought about.
On Dec. 14, a letter signed G. Broomfield said that the fact that a bare majority voted in favour of Confederation “doesn’t give the majority the right to proceed roughshod over the rights of a large minority.”
The letter suggested there should first be a freely-elected parliament in Newfoundland which could then decide on the future of the country.
The writer of the letter said that if union goes ahead in the manner in which it was proceeding, “I, and I feel I voice the opinion of thousands, will consider Canada has captured Newfoundland not with guns and bullets, but with money and intrigue.”
A letter signed by A. W. Smith, Trinity South, also on Dec. 14, urged those who had fought against Confederation to forget the past.
Saying he was proud to have been a confederate, the letter writer added, “We are not as bad as we were painted, and we do not intend to give them a one-way pass out of the country as was going to be given the confederates.”
The signing of the final terms that concluded was the “greatest Christmas box Newfoundland could ever receive.”
A letter from E. Noseworthy of Halleybury, Ontario told Newfoundlanders that far from their decision to join Canada being earth shattering . . . “It is extremely doubtful whether history will record the event as being other than of minor importance.”
He suggested that in 50 years’ time it was doubtful if one Newfoundlander in 20 would be able to give offhand the date on which union took place.
Another letter signed “Watchful, ” strongly urged Newfoundlanders, once union was completed, not to vote for the CCF party . . . “better known as socialists.”
Still another letter from Canada came from an 11-year-old school boy in Toronto, Eddie Blake, who said Canadians had heard a lot about Newfoundlanders, “but we don’t know much about Newfoundland and her folks. I wonder what they think of us?”
Young Eddie wanted someone to write and tell him what Newfoundlanders think about Canadians and tell him about their land.
Incidentally in those days, the Telegram sold for five cents a copy, and the average daily circulation was approximately 11,949.
Regular daily features in the paper at that time included an explanation on the various films showing at the local theatres, 13 different comic strips, and a selection of jokes on the editorial page under the heading Will You Smile? The paper was published six days a week and the Great Eastern Oil Justice Story was featured each weekend.
The population of Newfoundland in 1948 was around 330,000 and outside of St. John’s there were only 18 incorporated communities.
Whatever the feelings of people who had been opposed to Confederation, who had lost a bitter struggle, it did not show in the outward signs of the Christmas season in St. John’s.
A report in the Telegram on Dec. 28 indicated that there was a “marked increase” in the number of city homes which were illuminated both inside and out with colored lights, and it appears the business community did not hold back with its variety of Christmas displays.
There was no shortage of Christmas raffles, a long-time tradition in the city, and what few night clubs and restaurants there were, such as the Old Colony Club, the Golden Slipper, the Octagon Pavilion, the Stirling Restaurant and Diana Sweets Limited did not appear to suffer any.
Diana Sweets surely could not have gone wrong offering a three-course chicken dinner for $1.
The Golden Slipper, located out on the Topsail Highway, had a cover charge of $1 and provided free bus service from New Gower Street.
Entertainment was provided at the various centres by such groups as Bob Norman and his Merrymakers, the Mickey Duggan Orchestra and Barry Hope and his band.
Theatres in the city included the York, the Star, Majestic, Cornwall, Paramount and Capital, and city residents went to see such stars as Peter Lawford and Elizabeth Taylor—who were being billed as “the screen’s most romantic new team”—George Raft, Ja
ckie Cooper, Errol Flynn, Joan Crawford, Van Hefflin, and Ethel Barrymore, as well as Philo Vance, Joe Palooka, Hopalong Cassidy and Lash LaRue.
There was no television here then of course, but three radio stations—VONF, VOCM, VOUS—presenting such programs as the Barrelman (who at that time was Mike Harrington, now editor of the Telegram); the Children’s Savings Program, Barnyard Jamboree, the Gerald S. Doyle News, VOCM Breakfast Club, Adventures of Sam Spade and Hollywood Roundup.
There were also shows featuring Silm Bryant and his Wildcats, Sammy Kaye’s Orchestra, Fred Allen, Jack Benny, Phil Harris, Gene Autry, Blondie, Ozzie and Harriet and Charlie McCarthy.
People wishing to purchase new furniture in those days could get such bargains as a nine-piece dining room suite manufactured in the province from local wood, for $250.
Houses were selling anywhere from about $3,200 up to about $10,000; land could be bought out in Kilbride for $15 a foot; and a two-storey dwelling in town, furnished with nine rooms plus two bathrooms, and an oil furnace could be rented for $100 a month.
One only had to phone 2147 between 6 a.m. and 1 a.m. in order to find out what time it was.
In view of the current energy crisis, it is interesting to note that Trask Foundry was selling reconditioned stoves and ranges for prices ranging up from $20.
Among the various commercial establishments which have long since left the scene were such places as Avalon Gardens—Flowertown, 156 Water St.; St. John’s Gas Light Co., Fraser Building, Duckworth Street; Dancewell Ballroom Studio; 6 Prescott St.; Club 21; Dooley’s Dry Cleaning and Dry Works, Long’s Hill; the Sunkist Store, 190 New Gower St.; and General Traders Ltd., 85 Bond St.
Reddy Kilowatt, a familiar symbol to all in Newfoundland today, celebrated his first anniversary on Dec. 13, 1948.
Andrew Carnell, the father of current Councillor Geoff Carnell, was serving out his last term as mayor in 1948, and James J. Spratt was his deputy.
Employment was not too bad and wages varied, but a letter to the editor from a “Female Worker, ” on Dec. 7, 1948, complained that some Water Street employers were paying female staff, particularly stenographers and typists the “measly” wages of $15 a week, including girls who had two, three and four years’ experience.
