Cane's Pencils
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The William Cane & Sons Company Limited, in Newmarket, Ontario, made "Cane's" pencils in Canada from about 1917 until 1930. The Cane’s Woodenware Co. was a major part of the local economy and produced all manners of wooden products (e.g. wooden pails, clothespins, washboards, butter tubs, etc). The company was founded in 1885 on the banks of the Holland River and at it's height, the factory employed 250 people.
An explosion in 1919 which caused a major fire and several deaths was a factor in the company's eventual decline. This along with changing market conditions following the First World War were a significant challenge. In 1927, just prior to the great depression, William Cane and Sons declared bankruptcy. Expenses from the 1919 fire and explosion and the difficulty in obtaining raw materials, along with an increase in taxes spelled the end of this business. Howard Cane (the grandson of William Cane) immediately created a new company, the Pencil Company of Canada Ltd, that would manufacture lead pencils exclusively. In 1931, Howard Cane sold the Cane's factory to the Dixon Pencil Company. Pencils continued to be made in this until about 1990 when the factory was demolished. |
From the Feb. 1922 Bookseller & Stationer and Office Equipment Journal.
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Cane's pencils are extremely rare. I have a set of Tara pencils in my collection (seen below). The only other Cane's pencils that I'm aware of are two in the collection the Elman W. Campbell Museum in Newmarket, Ontario. They have a dark red painted Victory pencil with a ferrule and eraser and a dark colored Accounting penciel also with a similar long ferrule and eraser. These two pencils were from a former employee of the William Cane and Sons woodenware factory who said that these were some of the "best grades" of Cane pencils. The employee was a woman who had survived the 1919 explosion at the factory.
Cane's Tara HB
These Tara HB pencils are approximately 100 years old. Tara was almost certainly a reference to the Hill of Tara, the anceint seat of the High Kings of Ireland. It seems fitting that these pencils are painted green.
The image below is from the 1918 Bookseller & Stationer and Office Equipment Journal (page 28). You can see the Tara, without a ferule or eraser in the advertisement as the fourth pencil from the top. The Cane's family was of Irish descent. In the advertisement, you can see both a pencil named Erin and one named Tara. Erin is a named using in English for the Country of Ireland, originating from the Irish word "Éirinn". This selection of pencils were made during a time of Irish nationalism. The 1916 Easter Rising led to the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921) Another pencil in the the advertisement was named Buttercup. This flower is native to Ireland and a common site in Irish meadows and pastures.
From the 1918 Bookseller & Stationer and Office Equipment Journal
William Cane and Sons advertised frequencly in the Bookseller & Stationer and Office Equipment Journal. There are a wide variety of different advertisements across the late 1910s and 1920s.
From the 1922 Bookseller & Stationer and Office Equipment Journal.
From the Oct. 1921 Bookseller & Stationer and Office Equipment Journal.
News Articles
The Newmarket Era, 28 Sep 1917
Canadian Made Pencils May Oust Enemy Trade - Newmarket Manufacturer Takes Steps to Capture Canadian Custom Held by Foreigners
Since graphite and wood were first combined as an aid to communication by correspondence, Germany, or more particularly Bavaria and Austria, have been the headquarters of the pencil industry. It was not exactly the environment, nor the suitability of natural products that caused these industries to spring up in these countries, but labor conditions chiefly. The conditions under which the people lived, who made the wonderful pencils which have earned a world-wide demand, because of their perfection, and suitability for all kinds of work, are said to be revolting in the extreme. It is claimed that some of the best pencils in the world, when made in Europe, are made under all kinds of sweatshop conditions. The people work all day for what Canadian workmen would spend on one meal for his family, yet through years and years of concentration these workmen have become so expert that their work is the finest quality procurable, and cannot be copied yet awhile.
Enemies Control Pencil Industry
So completely had Bavaria and Austria dominated the pencil trade that other foreign firms, including a sprinkling of British concerns, saw the apparent necessity of locating there, especially in Austria. It is claimed that these helped to improve the general conditions. But even at this, no Canadian firm could manufacture pencils at the prices the foreign makes could be laid down in Canada. The different conditions under which Canadian workmen live, the higher standard of living, a greater variety of needs, all demanded the payment of higher wages than was and is paid to the Austrian and Bavarian workmen. In this country, child labor, whenever it is discovered, is eliminated.
Under these many circumstances, Canada has therefore had to depend upon foreign makers for pencils. The Canadian buyers always demanded the lowest-priced article, no matter what nationality the maker, and when the supplies began to fall short after war had been waging upwards of a year, prices took an upward trend. To-day, Canadian users of foreign-made pencils are paying upwards of 15 cents for what they want, but these supplies are dwindling fast, and very probably will soon be off the market. Austrian and German manufacturers, apparently expecting the war to break out, long before hostilities occurred, had huge supplies of pencils stacked away in warehouses on this side of the Atlantic, and the fact that they have been able to supply the market from stocks on this side of the Atlantic during more than three years of war, is an earnest of what individual German manufacturers were expecting sometime during 1914 or 1915.
Canadians Show Unusual Enterprise
This is where Canadian ingenuity and enterprise have helped to ward off a growing want. It might have been suicidal for a Canadian firm to attempt to compete with these European interests, under pre-war conditions. Competition was absolutely out of the question; in fact competition was never considered for a moment. The gradual extinction of the stocks of the 'cheaper grades' of pencils was the incentive that led a Canadian firm, The Wm. Cane Sons Co., Limited, at Newmarket, Ontario, to embark upon the manufacture of "Made-in-Canada Pencils." True, these pencils are not the acme of perfection yet, nor are they packed to the nicety foreign-made pencils are, and the manufacturer admits all this, but there is a demand for his product, and perfection will be reached.
Tremendous difficulties have had to be surmounted before pencils could be made in Canada. Special workmen had to be obtained, then the different types of machinery, and latterly the proper quantities of wood and graphite. But after twelve months of operation this manufacturer claims that he is "seeing daylight," and will soon be able to demonstrate that the industry can be firmly established in Canada.
Many Improvements Made
Unusual advancements have been made during this year of operation, although Mr. Cane had to experiment for two years before he could place a pencil on the market. It is the boast of people who prefer the Austrian and Bavarian pencils, that the degree of perfection and price offered for the foreign make will soon exclude the Canadian make from the market, when peace is declared. But the state of perfection arrived at by the Canadian maker should minimize such boastfulness. It is claimed that the Canadian-made pencils sharpen too rough, that the wood splinters, that the enamel is not any too good, that the lead needs improvement, and that the printing in cloudy and blotched. This was the case once, but the specimens that are being turned out compare very favorably with the foreign makes. All varieties of colors are being used now, even to white enamel. The cedars from Tennessee and California for high grade, medium and cheaper pencils are as good as those coming from Asia, and used in the foreign-made pencils. The graphite, which is to some extent obtainable from Canadian mines, when mixed with other supplies, can be made into the same varieties of hardness, etc., as that coming from Britain and Ceylon. All the enamels and glues used on the pencils are made in Canada.
Such satisfactory results have been accomplished so far that the Governments, School Board authorities and many big firms, are using them, and the industry will probably become firmly established before the war ends, and the people will be so educated to encourage home industries, that pencil-making will be permanently established in Canada.
Soon Mr. Cane expects to be making pencils of all degrees of hardness, also indelible pencils, crayons and slate pencils."
Canadian Made Pencils May Oust Enemy Trade - Newmarket Manufacturer Takes Steps to Capture Canadian Custom Held by Foreigners
Since graphite and wood were first combined as an aid to communication by correspondence, Germany, or more particularly Bavaria and Austria, have been the headquarters of the pencil industry. It was not exactly the environment, nor the suitability of natural products that caused these industries to spring up in these countries, but labor conditions chiefly. The conditions under which the people lived, who made the wonderful pencils which have earned a world-wide demand, because of their perfection, and suitability for all kinds of work, are said to be revolting in the extreme. It is claimed that some of the best pencils in the world, when made in Europe, are made under all kinds of sweatshop conditions. The people work all day for what Canadian workmen would spend on one meal for his family, yet through years and years of concentration these workmen have become so expert that their work is the finest quality procurable, and cannot be copied yet awhile.
Enemies Control Pencil Industry
So completely had Bavaria and Austria dominated the pencil trade that other foreign firms, including a sprinkling of British concerns, saw the apparent necessity of locating there, especially in Austria. It is claimed that these helped to improve the general conditions. But even at this, no Canadian firm could manufacture pencils at the prices the foreign makes could be laid down in Canada. The different conditions under which Canadian workmen live, the higher standard of living, a greater variety of needs, all demanded the payment of higher wages than was and is paid to the Austrian and Bavarian workmen. In this country, child labor, whenever it is discovered, is eliminated.
Under these many circumstances, Canada has therefore had to depend upon foreign makers for pencils. The Canadian buyers always demanded the lowest-priced article, no matter what nationality the maker, and when the supplies began to fall short after war had been waging upwards of a year, prices took an upward trend. To-day, Canadian users of foreign-made pencils are paying upwards of 15 cents for what they want, but these supplies are dwindling fast, and very probably will soon be off the market. Austrian and German manufacturers, apparently expecting the war to break out, long before hostilities occurred, had huge supplies of pencils stacked away in warehouses on this side of the Atlantic, and the fact that they have been able to supply the market from stocks on this side of the Atlantic during more than three years of war, is an earnest of what individual German manufacturers were expecting sometime during 1914 or 1915.
Canadians Show Unusual Enterprise
This is where Canadian ingenuity and enterprise have helped to ward off a growing want. It might have been suicidal for a Canadian firm to attempt to compete with these European interests, under pre-war conditions. Competition was absolutely out of the question; in fact competition was never considered for a moment. The gradual extinction of the stocks of the 'cheaper grades' of pencils was the incentive that led a Canadian firm, The Wm. Cane Sons Co., Limited, at Newmarket, Ontario, to embark upon the manufacture of "Made-in-Canada Pencils." True, these pencils are not the acme of perfection yet, nor are they packed to the nicety foreign-made pencils are, and the manufacturer admits all this, but there is a demand for his product, and perfection will be reached.
Tremendous difficulties have had to be surmounted before pencils could be made in Canada. Special workmen had to be obtained, then the different types of machinery, and latterly the proper quantities of wood and graphite. But after twelve months of operation this manufacturer claims that he is "seeing daylight," and will soon be able to demonstrate that the industry can be firmly established in Canada.
Many Improvements Made
Unusual advancements have been made during this year of operation, although Mr. Cane had to experiment for two years before he could place a pencil on the market. It is the boast of people who prefer the Austrian and Bavarian pencils, that the degree of perfection and price offered for the foreign make will soon exclude the Canadian make from the market, when peace is declared. But the state of perfection arrived at by the Canadian maker should minimize such boastfulness. It is claimed that the Canadian-made pencils sharpen too rough, that the wood splinters, that the enamel is not any too good, that the lead needs improvement, and that the printing in cloudy and blotched. This was the case once, but the specimens that are being turned out compare very favorably with the foreign makes. All varieties of colors are being used now, even to white enamel. The cedars from Tennessee and California for high grade, medium and cheaper pencils are as good as those coming from Asia, and used in the foreign-made pencils. The graphite, which is to some extent obtainable from Canadian mines, when mixed with other supplies, can be made into the same varieties of hardness, etc., as that coming from Britain and Ceylon. All the enamels and glues used on the pencils are made in Canada.
Such satisfactory results have been accomplished so far that the Governments, School Board authorities and many big firms, are using them, and the industry will probably become firmly established before the war ends, and the people will be so educated to encourage home industries, that pencil-making will be permanently established in Canada.
Soon Mr. Cane expects to be making pencils of all degrees of hardness, also indelible pencils, crayons and slate pencils."
Bookseller & Stationer and Office Equipment Journal, July 1919 (Vol XXXV, No. 7), page 30
FIRE IN PENCIL FACTORY
A serious fire occured on June 12 in the factory of William Cane & Sons, wooden ware and lead pencil manufacturers, Newmarket, Ont. The fire was caused by an explosion of a boiler. Thirteen people were badly burned and damage was done to the extent of $20,000.
The explosion occurred in the centre of the building, and in a short time that section of the premises was entirely gutted. It ws only after a strenuous battle, lasting over three hours, that the fire was finally got under control, and the firemen succeeded in saving the extreme wings of the building.
A number of people injured and burned in the explosion were take to the Toronto General Hospital early in the afternoon.
Charles Eade and Nellie McGhee, who were among the victims, died at the Toronto Hospital the following day.
FIRE IN PENCIL FACTORY
A serious fire occured on June 12 in the factory of William Cane & Sons, wooden ware and lead pencil manufacturers, Newmarket, Ont. The fire was caused by an explosion of a boiler. Thirteen people were badly burned and damage was done to the extent of $20,000.
The explosion occurred in the centre of the building, and in a short time that section of the premises was entirely gutted. It ws only after a strenuous battle, lasting over three hours, that the fire was finally got under control, and the firemen succeeded in saving the extreme wings of the building.
A number of people injured and burned in the explosion were take to the Toronto General Hospital early in the afternoon.
Charles Eade and Nellie McGhee, who were among the victims, died at the Toronto Hospital the following day.
Newmarket Era, dated Friday, February 20, 1931
Newmarket Pencil Factory to Reopen in 30 Days
Negotiations Completed with Jersey City Company Interviews with Mr. Howard Cane, and Town Co-operating.
BUILDING BEING PUT INTO SHAPE TO EMPLOY 125 PEOPLE.
Wednesday afternoon The Era was in the office vestibule of the Pencil Factory when somebody whistling for all he was worth came across the floor from the boiler-house where a man was throwing out the frost protective packing from the concrete floor, preparatory to turning on the water and turning on the fire to heat the three-story building, and put the sprinklers in array. It was Howard Cane fresh from Jersey City where, with the happy co-operation of Mayor Nesbitt, ex-Mayor Andy Davis and Town Clerk Mathews, he had arranged the sale of the pencil factory and plant, and the adjoining vacant factory building of Wm. Cane and Sons to the Joseph Dixon Crucible Company.
Strong for Local Labor. This firm, the largest makers of pencils in the United States, expect to begin pencil making here within thirty days under Dominion incorporation as the Dominion [this should say Dixon] Pencil Company of Canada. Their representatives will be here on Monday to decide on the adjustments necessary to producing their special brands of goods.
The Dixon Company, we are informed, is likely to employ 125 to 150 people, largely girls, during an early period of its operation. Later it is expected that additional lines will be taken up; in view of which the former woodware factory building has been purchased. It is expected that a very few men—perhaps only four—will be brought from Jersey City to oversee and instruct the local workers.
The Dixon Company is one of the oldest manufacturing businesses in the United States. It has been continuously operating since 1827. Its plant occupies the equivalent of a whole city block. In these dullest of dull times 700 employees are working steadily; the average number in normal periods, it is understood, being 1000 to 1,200.
Town Will Get It's Taxes. The firm is of the highest standing in every way financially extremely strong, and of excellent repute for its treatment of employees. A tell-tale fact in this respect, which has leaked out by accident, is that there is a "phantom wage list" of old employees that receives checks paid to the old employees no longer fit for active service.
While the terms between Mr. Howard Cane's Company and the Dixon Company are not disclosed, it is known that the liquidator of William Cane & Sons, sells the empty factory to Mr. Cane, who, in turn sells to the Dixon Company. Out of the proceeds the arrears of taxes due the town will be paid. Except a fixed assessment, such as was granted The Office Specialty Company, no favors from the town were asked by our new townsfolk, so that from the civic point of view an extremely gratifying outcome of several years' depression in that quarter is assured.
As usual the Toronto papers give rather delusive accounts of events which call for careful understanding of the facts. Many Newmarket people have received mistaken notions of what has really happened about the coming location of the Joseph Dixon Crucible Company of Jersey City, in the factory of the Pencil Company of Canada on Huron Street.
From what some city papers have seen, it might be supposed that, out of the blue sky new magicians have conjured an American firm to settle like an angel, upon an utterly deserted and forlorn section of Newmarket, and make a blossoming rose where nothing had ever been before.
Queer Idea About Toronto's Part. Some even think that the American firm is locating in Newmarket partly through the good offices of the Toronto Industrial Commission. That body did render assistance—taking photographs for instance—of the former Cane Factories. But anybody should know that the promoters of factories for Toronto would not do a thing to get an industry for Newmarket, until they found there was no chance of nabbing it for themselves. The story of the coming of the Dixon people to Newmarket is the old story of the pioneer laboring and others entering into his labors. It is worth while to sketch it, beginning far back.
Years ago, through his friendship with a St. Louis manufacturer of pencils, Mr. Howard Cane became convinced that, with practically every Canadian using pencils, there was an opening for manufacturing them in the Dominion and he took up the whole matter. Their production requires a proficiency in chemical engineering, at the basis of which is the finely balanced mixing, baking in crucibles, and cooking of graphite, clay and other chemicals to produce the different grades of writing and drawing lead pencils.
Water is Important Factor. The pencil core, after heating, is hardened under immense pressure, and the water used in the paste must be of special quality. At the first it was necessary to test Newmarket water, which was found to be excellent. Toronto chlorinated water would make it impossible for the Dixon Company to locate there.
Canadians buy nearly a million dollars worth of lead pencils yearly; the great proportion of which are supplied by the United States "Big Four" manufacturers, of whom the Dixon's are the largest. There is a 27 1/2 per cent duty against them, but with no Canadian competition, the tariff was really negligible.
Newmarket's Pencil Company of Canada, the founder and director of which is Mr. Howard Cane, owns the fully equipped three-storey factory on Huron Street, the building west of the Cane Woodenware Factory, which has been in the hands of the liquidator, Mr. G. C. Clarkson of Toronto, for several years. Before Cane & Sons failed the manufacture of pencils was carried on in conjunction with the other woodenware productions of the firm, the pencil machinery being placed about the factory where there was room for it.
After the old firm, which had meant so much to Newmarket's prosperity, went into liquidation, Mr. Howard Cane re-financed the pencil business and The Pencil Company of Canada Ltd., acquired, equipped and operated for a time the western building; it having no connection with the property now under Mr. Clarkson's control.
Cane's Faith and Work. The story of how circumstances compelled the newly-adapted building and plant to cease operation need not come into the moving picture of the transformation which will shortly become visible to all Newmarket eyes. But Howard Cane's faith in the ultimate success of an enterprise, in which he was the sole pioneer, and which he always hoped would be a big builder of the bigger Newmarket, never flagged. He has been constant in his endeavors to interest American, British and German pencil-making firms of great resources to enter the field in which the pioneer had met with disappointment. This sort of courage is of the kind that Napolean called "Two-O'clock - in - the - Morning Courage." What it has meant in ceaseless labor, and, indeed, hope deferred, may be told some day.
Soon after the liquidation of Cane & Sons, the Dixon Company saw the scattered plant in the old factory, and turned aside. But negotiations were resumed by Mr. Cane last September. Later in the year the Canadian Sales Manager of Dixon's, Mr. Hulse, saw the plant in the re-constructed western factory, and about three weeks ago several of the Executives from the Jersey City Headquarters examined the plant with Mr. Cane and were favorably impressed.
Newmarket and Empire Trade. Here the matter of Empire Trade, as it is affected by the utter selfishness of the increases made in the United States tariffs last year, comes in to our advantage in Newmarket and the territory which trades with us. Washington raised the tariff so high that Australia, New Zealand and other countries heavily retaliated, and produced a situation similar to that under which the United States automobile manufactures have established factories in Canada in order favorably to supply British Empire markets.
The damp English climate causes English-made pencils to be defective in the dry climates of Australasia and Africa. In this respect the dryer Ontario climate gives us an equal advantage with the United States, in producing pencils for Empire consumption.
So, it is once seen, that Empire Trade and American tariffs put the location of the Dixon Company in a more favorable juncture; and, at this juncture The Town became became a helpful factor in the promising situation.
The Dixon Company would want to start at least where the local Pencil Company left off. But a million-dollar market could hardly be adequately covered from the one building already equipped. It is reported that the Dixon Company already sells over $500 worth of pencils every day in Canada. It must provide for expansion, wherever it would locate. Newmarket offered everything necessary to that prosperity-making end.
Where the Town Came In. Five years' taxes are due the town from the former Cane Factory, controlled by liquidator Clarkson. The town could force a tax sale, or could use this power as an aid to Howard Cane's long efforts to sell the property of the Pencil Company of Canada, which has never been in liquidation. The Town at once cordially took the co-operative attitude every body would expect it to take, and Mayor Nebitt and the Industrial Commission became busy.
When the negotiations had well progressed, a Newmarket delegation Cane being Mayor Nesbitt, Ex-Mayor Andy Davis and Town Clerk Mathews, went to New York last Sunday, to meet the heads of the Dixon Company; those who went with Howard. On Monday an arrangement was reached. On Tuesday the necessary documents were signed. On Wednesday most of the deputation got home.
Yesterday the factory was all warmed up. Many people have already hovered about it. But as yet it's too soon to look for a job there.
Newmarket Pencil Factory to Reopen in 30 Days
Negotiations Completed with Jersey City Company Interviews with Mr. Howard Cane, and Town Co-operating.
BUILDING BEING PUT INTO SHAPE TO EMPLOY 125 PEOPLE.
Wednesday afternoon The Era was in the office vestibule of the Pencil Factory when somebody whistling for all he was worth came across the floor from the boiler-house where a man was throwing out the frost protective packing from the concrete floor, preparatory to turning on the water and turning on the fire to heat the three-story building, and put the sprinklers in array. It was Howard Cane fresh from Jersey City where, with the happy co-operation of Mayor Nesbitt, ex-Mayor Andy Davis and Town Clerk Mathews, he had arranged the sale of the pencil factory and plant, and the adjoining vacant factory building of Wm. Cane and Sons to the Joseph Dixon Crucible Company.
Strong for Local Labor. This firm, the largest makers of pencils in the United States, expect to begin pencil making here within thirty days under Dominion incorporation as the Dominion [this should say Dixon] Pencil Company of Canada. Their representatives will be here on Monday to decide on the adjustments necessary to producing their special brands of goods.
The Dixon Company, we are informed, is likely to employ 125 to 150 people, largely girls, during an early period of its operation. Later it is expected that additional lines will be taken up; in view of which the former woodware factory building has been purchased. It is expected that a very few men—perhaps only four—will be brought from Jersey City to oversee and instruct the local workers.
The Dixon Company is one of the oldest manufacturing businesses in the United States. It has been continuously operating since 1827. Its plant occupies the equivalent of a whole city block. In these dullest of dull times 700 employees are working steadily; the average number in normal periods, it is understood, being 1000 to 1,200.
Town Will Get It's Taxes. The firm is of the highest standing in every way financially extremely strong, and of excellent repute for its treatment of employees. A tell-tale fact in this respect, which has leaked out by accident, is that there is a "phantom wage list" of old employees that receives checks paid to the old employees no longer fit for active service.
While the terms between Mr. Howard Cane's Company and the Dixon Company are not disclosed, it is known that the liquidator of William Cane & Sons, sells the empty factory to Mr. Cane, who, in turn sells to the Dixon Company. Out of the proceeds the arrears of taxes due the town will be paid. Except a fixed assessment, such as was granted The Office Specialty Company, no favors from the town were asked by our new townsfolk, so that from the civic point of view an extremely gratifying outcome of several years' depression in that quarter is assured.
As usual the Toronto papers give rather delusive accounts of events which call for careful understanding of the facts. Many Newmarket people have received mistaken notions of what has really happened about the coming location of the Joseph Dixon Crucible Company of Jersey City, in the factory of the Pencil Company of Canada on Huron Street.
From what some city papers have seen, it might be supposed that, out of the blue sky new magicians have conjured an American firm to settle like an angel, upon an utterly deserted and forlorn section of Newmarket, and make a blossoming rose where nothing had ever been before.
Queer Idea About Toronto's Part. Some even think that the American firm is locating in Newmarket partly through the good offices of the Toronto Industrial Commission. That body did render assistance—taking photographs for instance—of the former Cane Factories. But anybody should know that the promoters of factories for Toronto would not do a thing to get an industry for Newmarket, until they found there was no chance of nabbing it for themselves. The story of the coming of the Dixon people to Newmarket is the old story of the pioneer laboring and others entering into his labors. It is worth while to sketch it, beginning far back.
Years ago, through his friendship with a St. Louis manufacturer of pencils, Mr. Howard Cane became convinced that, with practically every Canadian using pencils, there was an opening for manufacturing them in the Dominion and he took up the whole matter. Their production requires a proficiency in chemical engineering, at the basis of which is the finely balanced mixing, baking in crucibles, and cooking of graphite, clay and other chemicals to produce the different grades of writing and drawing lead pencils.
Water is Important Factor. The pencil core, after heating, is hardened under immense pressure, and the water used in the paste must be of special quality. At the first it was necessary to test Newmarket water, which was found to be excellent. Toronto chlorinated water would make it impossible for the Dixon Company to locate there.
Canadians buy nearly a million dollars worth of lead pencils yearly; the great proportion of which are supplied by the United States "Big Four" manufacturers, of whom the Dixon's are the largest. There is a 27 1/2 per cent duty against them, but with no Canadian competition, the tariff was really negligible.
Newmarket's Pencil Company of Canada, the founder and director of which is Mr. Howard Cane, owns the fully equipped three-storey factory on Huron Street, the building west of the Cane Woodenware Factory, which has been in the hands of the liquidator, Mr. G. C. Clarkson of Toronto, for several years. Before Cane & Sons failed the manufacture of pencils was carried on in conjunction with the other woodenware productions of the firm, the pencil machinery being placed about the factory where there was room for it.
After the old firm, which had meant so much to Newmarket's prosperity, went into liquidation, Mr. Howard Cane re-financed the pencil business and The Pencil Company of Canada Ltd., acquired, equipped and operated for a time the western building; it having no connection with the property now under Mr. Clarkson's control.
Cane's Faith and Work. The story of how circumstances compelled the newly-adapted building and plant to cease operation need not come into the moving picture of the transformation which will shortly become visible to all Newmarket eyes. But Howard Cane's faith in the ultimate success of an enterprise, in which he was the sole pioneer, and which he always hoped would be a big builder of the bigger Newmarket, never flagged. He has been constant in his endeavors to interest American, British and German pencil-making firms of great resources to enter the field in which the pioneer had met with disappointment. This sort of courage is of the kind that Napolean called "Two-O'clock - in - the - Morning Courage." What it has meant in ceaseless labor, and, indeed, hope deferred, may be told some day.
Soon after the liquidation of Cane & Sons, the Dixon Company saw the scattered plant in the old factory, and turned aside. But negotiations were resumed by Mr. Cane last September. Later in the year the Canadian Sales Manager of Dixon's, Mr. Hulse, saw the plant in the re-constructed western factory, and about three weeks ago several of the Executives from the Jersey City Headquarters examined the plant with Mr. Cane and were favorably impressed.
Newmarket and Empire Trade. Here the matter of Empire Trade, as it is affected by the utter selfishness of the increases made in the United States tariffs last year, comes in to our advantage in Newmarket and the territory which trades with us. Washington raised the tariff so high that Australia, New Zealand and other countries heavily retaliated, and produced a situation similar to that under which the United States automobile manufactures have established factories in Canada in order favorably to supply British Empire markets.
The damp English climate causes English-made pencils to be defective in the dry climates of Australasia and Africa. In this respect the dryer Ontario climate gives us an equal advantage with the United States, in producing pencils for Empire consumption.
So, it is once seen, that Empire Trade and American tariffs put the location of the Dixon Company in a more favorable juncture; and, at this juncture The Town became became a helpful factor in the promising situation.
The Dixon Company would want to start at least where the local Pencil Company left off. But a million-dollar market could hardly be adequately covered from the one building already equipped. It is reported that the Dixon Company already sells over $500 worth of pencils every day in Canada. It must provide for expansion, wherever it would locate. Newmarket offered everything necessary to that prosperity-making end.
Where the Town Came In. Five years' taxes are due the town from the former Cane Factory, controlled by liquidator Clarkson. The town could force a tax sale, or could use this power as an aid to Howard Cane's long efforts to sell the property of the Pencil Company of Canada, which has never been in liquidation. The Town at once cordially took the co-operative attitude every body would expect it to take, and Mayor Nebitt and the Industrial Commission became busy.
When the negotiations had well progressed, a Newmarket delegation Cane being Mayor Nesbitt, Ex-Mayor Andy Davis and Town Clerk Mathews, went to New York last Sunday, to meet the heads of the Dixon Company; those who went with Howard. On Monday an arrangement was reached. On Tuesday the necessary documents were signed. On Wednesday most of the deputation got home.
Yesterday the factory was all warmed up. Many people have already hovered about it. But as yet it's too soon to look for a job there.
Newmarket Era, dated Thursday, July 20, 1944
CITIZENS PAY FINAL HOMAGE AS HOWARD CANE BURIED HERE
Mayor of Newmarket in 1922, 1923 and 1924, W. H. W. Cane died in Toronto on Friday morning after an illness of a year and a half.
William Howard Seba Cane was born in Newmarket on April 24, 1879, a son of the late May Armitage and Henry S. Cane. He married Bertha Mickle in September 1908.
Mr. Cane served on the Newmarket town council as a councillor for a number of years, before becoming mayor in 1922. He spent most of his life in Newmarket, working in the pencil department of Wm. Cane and Sons. A number of years ago, Mr. Cane sold the pencil factory to Dixon's. It is thought that Cane's factory was one of the first pencil manufacturers in Canada.
[...]
Tributes to Howard Cane
James Law on behalf of Dixon Pencil Co. Ltd.: "The passing of our dear friend, W. H. S. Cane, is felt deeply by all those who knew him when he was associated with the Dixon Pencil Company Limited. We know the sterling integrity of his character, and his keen, but liberal sweep of thought, and his circle of friends was large. This, and his great wealth of knowledge in the pencil industry was of unmeasurable value at the 'birth' of our little industry in Newmarket.
We will all miss him greatly, and extend our sincere sympathy to his dear wife and family in their bereavement."
Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King: "The passing of Howard Cane will be widely mourned. His many years of devoted public service as mayor of Newmarket, and later as sheriff of North York will long be gratefully remembered by all who knew him. I personally feel deeply the loss of an old and greatly valued friend."
CITIZENS PAY FINAL HOMAGE AS HOWARD CANE BURIED HERE
Mayor of Newmarket in 1922, 1923 and 1924, W. H. W. Cane died in Toronto on Friday morning after an illness of a year and a half.
William Howard Seba Cane was born in Newmarket on April 24, 1879, a son of the late May Armitage and Henry S. Cane. He married Bertha Mickle in September 1908.
Mr. Cane served on the Newmarket town council as a councillor for a number of years, before becoming mayor in 1922. He spent most of his life in Newmarket, working in the pencil department of Wm. Cane and Sons. A number of years ago, Mr. Cane sold the pencil factory to Dixon's. It is thought that Cane's factory was one of the first pencil manufacturers in Canada.
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Tributes to Howard Cane
James Law on behalf of Dixon Pencil Co. Ltd.: "The passing of our dear friend, W. H. S. Cane, is felt deeply by all those who knew him when he was associated with the Dixon Pencil Company Limited. We know the sterling integrity of his character, and his keen, but liberal sweep of thought, and his circle of friends was large. This, and his great wealth of knowledge in the pencil industry was of unmeasurable value at the 'birth' of our little industry in Newmarket.
We will all miss him greatly, and extend our sincere sympathy to his dear wife and family in their bereavement."
Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King: "The passing of Howard Cane will be widely mourned. His many years of devoted public service as mayor of Newmarket, and later as sheriff of North York will long be gratefully remembered by all who knew him. I personally feel deeply the loss of an old and greatly valued friend."
