Not-so-good old days

Returning again to the years of "The Great Depression," not all news was as depressing as the deaths we read about in this column last week.

Much of the news, then as now, was "bad news" or "good news" for all the readers. It depended on the viewpoint of the individual reader. Those who still favored national laws prohibiting the production, transportation and/or sale of alcohol, for instance, probably saw this item as "good." Those opposed would have sympathized with the accused.

Norway Advertiser, March 25, 1932

NORWAY MAN MUST SERVE SENTENCE

Donald Kilbreth of Norway was committed to the county jail, Wednesday, forenoon on a mandate which closes a Superior Court action, pending since November. At that time, Justice Emery imposed a sentence of five months and pay a fine of $400 with six months more in default of payment. This was sustained in the appeal and serving the sentence has commenced.

At the November term of Superior Court, Dan Kilbreth was charged by the state with the sale of one gallon of alcohol to Clifton Smith, of Auburn and Deputy Sheriff Harry Eastman of Fryeburg. Respondent pleaded not guilty, but the drawn jury returned a verdict of guilty and sentence was imposed. An appeal was taken by his counsel and bail of $1,000 furnished. The case was handled for the state by County Attorney E. Walker Abbott.

Farmers might have considered the actions of the Harrison men in the following story, conservationists no doubt, and unfortunately for the two men, the warden saw it differently.

Norway Advertiser, March 25, 1932

FINED FOR KILLING COON

Wilmot Lord and Aino Seilonen, who live on Haskell Hill near Scribner's Mills, Harrison, were fined last Saturday for killing a raccoon in closed season.
 They were taken by Warden Jas. L. Walker before A. D. Park, South Paris, and pled guilty. A fine of $10.00 with costs of $12.75 for each was imposed. Continued for sentence.

In the tough economy of the 1930s, it was very uncommon for firefighters to get paid. The words "volunteer firemen" were entirely accurate, making the following item very significant in terms of dangerous work done for nothing but community spirit and personal satisfaction. Once again, the reception of news was in the eye of the beholder.

Norway Advertiser, May 6, 1932

NO DEPRESSION IN FIRE DEPT.

The Norway Fire Department has been on the jump, answering calls to grass fires and chimney trouble caused by carelessness and high winds. A schedule of calls from the 20th to the 25th is as follows:

April

20 8:45 a. m. grass fire on Tucker St., 250 ft. hose used.

21 1:30 p. m. grass fire on Pike Hill. 22 8:45 a. m. chimney fire, A. L. Clark, Main Street.

22 3:30 p. m. grass fire, Waterford Road, 1200 ft. hose.

24 1.00 p. m., oil burner exploded, Blake house, Cottage St.

24 2:30 p. m. pumper called to Otisfield Gore,

25 8.00 a. m., chimney fire, Chas. Allen, Main Street.

25 11:35 a. m., pulp pile, Cor. Beal and Danforth Sts., 100 ft. hose

25 12.00 noon, pumper called to Welchville, but stopped on the way as fire was out.

One thing about that period in our nation's history that frequently escapes notice today is that there were many cases of people thinking "outside the box." The argument in the following editorial would probably never be uttered in a political discussion today, but it was then.

Norway Advertiser, August 1, 1932

AND THEY SAY WE ARE BROKE

Several million of our men and women are out of employment. We are scurrying around to find jobs for them and trying to secure food, coal and shelter while the jobs are being found.

Sometimes the task seems beyond us and we think the old world has gone to the eternal bow-wows.

But what about 1918? The late war is said to have cost us $51,000,000,000 counting interest to date. That's a lot of money. You could have purchased the United States for it when we were children.

Without going into details, if we could raise $51,000,000,000 in 1918, why should we worry over one or two million to take care of our needy? It's nothing but the old game of straining at a gnat after we quite cheerfully swallowed a camel.

Although unconventional, it does make a point.

As is our custom, we try to exactly reproduce the grammar, spelling, punctuation and style of the original. Commas might appear where least expected and remain absent where we’d expect them if the item was written nowadays. On the other hand, consistency was not considered of utmost importance, so variations of a spelling might appear within one story. In addition, some words were abbreviated differently than today. Where brief explanations of terms are considered necessary, they are presented in brackets [] within the quote. Otherwise, explanations appear at the beginning or at the conclusion, without quotes. Parenthesis () used in a quoted passage appeared in the original.