Minders, Grinders, and Robertson, 1919-38

• Author: C. Ian Kyer
• Pages: 159-198



M Chapter N

MINDERS, GRINDERS,

ANDROBERTSON

NanendtothewarinEuropeForthermit

meant the return of Pickup and Ca lvin from military service. For many busi

nessmen it meant that they were again able to dedicate themselves to their

businesses In a  February report to the sha reholdersof St Mary s

Cement Limited, George Horace Gooderham, George’s third son, set out the

challenges business faced following the war: “labour shortage, high wages,

exorbitant prices for supplies, and increased freight charges to say nothing

oftheepidemicofinuenzaduringthemonthsofOctoberNovemberand

December” and a workforce made up of returned soldiers who had to be paid

full wages but could not be expected to be as productive as before the war.

St. Mary’s Cement had faced management issues from its very inception.

On Aprilnot quite four months before Britain declared war a nd

broughtCanadaintotheconictthermhadincorporatedthecompany

which was being nanced by the Goo derhamfa milyIt was done using

membersofthermastherstincorporatorsanddirectorsThusthelet

ters patent listed the incorporators and provisional directors as four of the

lawyersi n the rm  Alex Fasken George Sedgewick Jimmy Aitchison

and JW Pickup  as well as t he rmsaccountants Archiba ldSt ruthers

andThomasOrmsbyCoxandastudentatlawPeterRandolphRitchieThe

expectation was that shortly after incorporation these interim shareholders

and directors would resign and transfer their shares to George H. Gooder

ham and other members of the Gooderham family. The declaration of war

ﾅﾊﾄLawyersFamiliesandBusinesses

meantthatthisdidnothappenuntillateThroughoutthewarmembers

ofthelawrmactedasdirectorsandassistedAlexFaskeninthemanage

ment of the cement company to permit their clients to focus on the war ef

fortAslawyerscameandwentinthermthedirectorschangedbutthe

rmscommitmentcontinued

At about the same time as the retur ning men were starting work, David

Fasken formally retired from active practice. He turned h is focus completely

awayfromlawsomuchsothatwhenDavidandArnoldHomantwoBos

tonminingengineersmetDavidinthesinconnectionwithworkthey

were doing in Flin Flon, they did not realize that he was a lawyer. To them

he was “a wealthy Haileyburian . . . lumberman and waterpower magnate.”

AlextheyknewasalawyerinTorontointyshrewdovercautious but

DavidwasassociatedwithnorthernOntarioandhisextralegalbusinesses

They may have been confused about David’s profession but they were in no

doubt about his personality and that of his “wily lawyer” brot her: “Dave . . .

wasbluandgenerousashisbrotherAlecwascurtandfrugal



David had begun to experience health problems arising f rom high blood

pressurethatwouldplaguethelastdecadeofhislifeMuchofhisaention

continued to be directed at the C Ranc h in Texas. The purchase of the Texas

property had cost him a great deal of money and had led to litigation. When

Fasken discovered that he had been misled over the presence of water on

the property, he contemplated legal action against his business agent, Wil

liam Harvey, who had arranged the purchase. Instead he found himself

defending an action by W.J. Moran, who claimed to have brought the prop

ertytotheaentionofHarveyandtobeowedarealestatecommissionon

the purchase. To Fasken, the Moran litigation was adding insult to injury.

He had never wanted to purchase and operate a ranch in Texas. This was to

have been a land development deal. To be unable to resell the land because

there was no water (something he had expressly told Harvey to be sure of)

and then be sued for a commission on the purchase was galling to him.

Nevertheless, while working with Andrew Fasken to make his investment

worthwhile, he defended and won this action.

Z

D   by some longsimmering family troubles that

endedupbeforethecourtsinTexasInhissonRobertmarriedaRoman

CatholicwomanhehadmetatFaskenscoageintheTemagamiregionThe

FerlandfamilyhadacoagenearbyandwhileinhislateteensRobertmet

MindersGrindersandRobertsonﾅﾊﾅ

and fell in love with May Ferland. She was a student at the Toronto Conserv

atory of Music. When David’s w ife learned of the relationship, she promptly

took her son on an extended visit to Europe. On his retur n, however, Robert

discovered that May had gone to Boston for further musical study. He found

an excuse to visit Boston and the couple were married there in a Roman

Catholic service. As Robert had no job, he and May moved into his parents’

home on University Avenue.

Althoughitwasalargehouseitwasnotbigenoughformotherand

daughterinlaw When David Jrwas born on  April and baptised

CatholicmaersbecameevenworseMayfoundthestressofdealingwith

hermotherinlawtoomuchandsueredanervousbreakdownShewent

to a sanatorium in Barrie, leaving her baby in the care of her husband and

motherinlawAfteratimeshereturnedtotheFaskenhomeinTorontobut

nothing had changed and she again broke down. Her husband agreed to let

her go to stay with her parents up north but insisted on having his mother

look after the baby. When May left, Robert’s mother packed up her son and

grandchild and went to Texas, where they lived in a house that Fasken had

bought for them in the town of Midland, near the ranch. David Fasken and

his wife never again lived together.

May did not learn of the move until she received notice that her husband

hadledfordivorceinTexasShesuccessfullydefendedthedivorceac

tion, which Robert had unscr upulously brought on the grounds of her aban

donment of him. May’s lawyer successfully argued that there had been no

abandonmentandthatRobertsresidenceinTexashadnotbeenbonade

butwasundertakentoqualifytobringadivorceactionthatwouldnothave

beenpermiedunderCanadianlawRobertandhismotherledfordivorce

againinandwhentheywereoncemoreunsuccessfulledyetagainin

adierenttowninTexasin

ThetriallastedfourdaysDavidFaskenwasrequiredtogivetesti

monytorefuteanallegationmadebyMaythathehadtriedtobuyhero

withanoerofHedidnotdenymakingtheoerbutexplainedthat

hedidnotwanttoseehissonswifedependentonanyoneelsenomaer

what the circumsta nces. (Robert had provided no support to his wife for the

last four years.) David also stated that he had no objection to her religion:

“Lots of my friends and business assoc iates are Catholics.” For him the prob

lem lay elsewhere: “Two families ought not to live under the same roof. I am

talking of two wives and husbands. Two young people and two old people

shouldnotdonottinthesamehouse This time the court g ranted Robert