Life is but a vapor ...and reminders from history

Recently I spent time with my father helping him organize things in the house he grew up in.  It turned out to be one of those experiences I'm going to remember for the rest of my life.  What stunned me was a palpable realization that life is a vapor.  All the things that are important to us now may likely mean nothing to others in the future (I know of one person whose father died and all his "stuff" ended up in a dumpster).  I never met my grandfather and my grandmother died in 2000.  Finding their personal effects was an eerie connection to the French side of my family that I had never known.  It's the closest thing to going back in time since so much from their lives is still in the house.  It's also been a small reminder of how important an accurate understanding of history is.  Most notably history informs us of what to beware of or avoid as we move into the future.  It also shows us where we've been victims of propaganda (my grandmother's 1938 hospital bill below is just one great example).

These are my French grandparents, Eugene was born in 1904 and Marguerite was born in 1905.

They were married in 1927 (this pic isn't that interesting especially if you can't read French, it's ok to move on to the next pic).

Here are their French passports, they came to the US in 1929.  I was told they came here because the French economy was so bad there was no work to be found.  Grandma obviously knew how to dress for the '20s.

Relatives already in the US had to attest that my grandparents would be self-sufficient and that they would "not become a charge to any State."  (I wonder what if any wealth redistribution existed back then, funny how the US economy grew enormously without it and thus benefited all by increasing everyone's standard of living, even the poor).

And they came at the right time.  On July 3rd 1926, sorely needed regulation of "the manufacture, renovation and sale of mattresses" in DC was approved.  Without this they would have had to sleep on bales of hay thanks to "laissez-faire."  (When I was in elementary school I was taught that "laissez-faire" caused the depression - a massive topic for a different post.)

And they got to work.  My grandfather was a chef and my grandmother was a housekeeper.  I found their letters of recommendation from the '30s and '40s from places like the Argentine Embassy and the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics. 

And then my dad showed up.  Room for one week: $15.75.  Baby care for one week: $5.25.  Delivery room: $12.  Laboratory: $3.

But one week wasn't enough.  Four additional days for mom and baby: $12.  Drugs: $0.80 (who needs a co-pay when it's only .80 cents!?).  Baby bed: $1.00.  Total for an 11 day hospital stay: $49.80.  (Sounds like an old Master Card commercial "and the ability of the free market to reduce costs? Priceless!")

Two years later after probably being tired of washing diapers by hand, I'm pretty sure that this 1940 Spindrier was purchased.

I think this is the receipt. The Spindrier is the only appliance in the house from the early 1940s, if so, they paid $110.  Interesting..., two years earlier an 11 day hospital stay cost $49.80.  Health care costs were clearly starting to get out of control!  Actually, when considering what an 11 day stay costs today compared to a modern washer and dryer it clearly illustrates how gubmit intervention always makes things unaffordable.  What most don't realize is that attempts to "regulate health care" (a euphemism for "limiting competition") began in the 1930s under FDR.  Since then, gubmit has done such a wonderful job that additional laws are required to make it "affordable."  I accidentally realized how thoroughly broken the system was when I discovered that paying a doctor cash for visits (without going thru the insurance red-tape) was less than my co-pays with insurance.  I soon jettisoned conventional health insurance and became a member of Samaritan Ministries.  For those who want to perpetuate freedom and understand that the current system is antithetical to everything our country is purported to stand for, Samaritan is the answer.

Here is my grandfather's return from 1943.  I've looked for pre-war ones but have found nothing yet.  I've read that the income tax was essentially rejected when first imposed in the teens, FDR later tried foisting it on the very wealthy in the 1930s with limited success.  War was finally used as the impetus to force widespread "participation" thru mandatory withholding in 1943. Note the words "victory tax return," in other words, if for no other reason, at least pay for the sake of victory.  And being from an occupied country, I suspect they were more than happy to.  But note how war erodes freedom - withholding had previously been rejected.  War is always used by central gubmits as an excuse to infringe on freedom and impose greater control.  The loss of freedom after 9/11 (the differences in banking, running a business or travel before and after are great examples) is not new.  Freedom as was intended by our country's founding documents has been a victim of every war - most notably the so-called "Civil War" (more on this in a future post).

They became US citizens on January 4th, 1944.

My dad's report card from 7th grade, dated 1951-52. I also saw his report cards from elementary school.  Many very useful subjects were taught but sex education (as I was subjected to) is nowhere to be found. How could society dispense with such an important subject? I guess I'm very fortunate to be here.

The Jean patches on the left remind me of "Tough Skins" made by Sears that my mom used to make me wear.  The knee patches were so tough that the material around them would wear out before the patch would show any fatigue.  It was like wearing pants with ballistic plates over your knees. Amazing, only .29 for something as tough as the ceramic plates that protected the space shuttle during re-entry.  The Registered Mail on the right is dated Nov. 18 1944 and only cost .23 cents. As of 2015, the costs for Registered Mail start at $12.20.  Another good reminder of the effects of money printing (aka "inflation").

Here is the paper my dad used to deliver when he was a kid.  This one is dated August of 1967. 

Interestingly in 1967 "negro" was part of the vernacular when referring to race but supposedly six years earlier in 1961 Ha waii was using "African" on certficates of birth?

I even found some more recent still in the plastic bag newspapers from 1998.  For a moment I imagined the incredible opportunity to freak people out.  I tried one on my brother in law.  When I went to visit him, I handed him a paper that I claimed to find on his driveway.  He eventually figured out where it came from.  But imagine - getting up a 6am and exchanging the papers of completely unsuspecting strangers with ones that are new, unopened and almost 20 years old.  I also found phone books still in the plastic from the same year.  Place a complementary phone book on their porch after swapping the paper.  I'd pay money to see the expression on someone's face.  They'd probably be halfway ready for work, wearing a bathrobe, slippers and looking forward to reading the news as they eat breakfast.  For the rest of their lives they would wonder what happened.