Dean, when I came home from Germany in 1968 we ranked 17th in the world in secondary education. Since then we require our teachers to have more advanced degrees, have built more modern schools, have spent more per pupil than any country except Sweden, built an Education Dept. at the federal level, and lowered student standards so teachers could receive their incentives. According to Lou Dobbs Tonight in June we now rank an impressive 27th in the world. With this I think I will shut my mouth.

All those shooting a Parker Bros. double in 1916 didn't get them new. My Grandfather, a Minnesota small farmer, tried one of those new fangled Winchester pump guns as a young man, didn't take to it, and traded it at Kennedy Brothers in 1901 for an 11 year old Parker Bros. PH-Grade that he shot from then until he died in 1954.

back to the original post's thoughts

i have seen various versions of historical economic statistics but i think we need to admit that guns like Parkers, even a VH, were never the everyman's gun. Inexpensive imports and lower priced American guns by makers like Steven most likely outsold Parkers by an exponential factor. Now days I see on waterfowl boards where younger posters are proudly showing off their new gun- be it a Mossberg or a Turkish import that they saved hard for

as an example - my first double was a well worn Fox Sterlingworth which back then cost me about a week and a half's take home pay. before that, I hunted with a Mossberg 500 pump

many of us look at this through our own perspective, and need to take into account that lots of us have (as did in many cases the original Parker buyer) reached a point in life where we have some disposable income for our sports.

In 1916 I doubt many hunters travel more than 10 miles round trip to get to there hunting sights and I'm sure used guns which became available locally were the ones that were purchased when new was not affordable.

Both of my grandfathers were born before 1910. One of them hunted most of his life with a Parker that resides with my uncle(I don't know why he doesn't hunt or do anything with it but oh well) and the other grandfather hunted his entire life with cheapo(his words not mine) single shot break action JC Higgins guns from sears.

Both were men of similar means, both were ranchers, 1 was a driller on oil rigs and the other was a certified welder, and neither ever hurt for finances. But they both approached their hunting guns very differently. The one with the Parker, that was the only shotgun he ever owned and it was always loaded by the front door behind a book case (he also owned 1 hunting rifle and 2 hand guns and that was it). My other grandfather owned I have no idea how many guns total over the year, but I know when we cleaned out the house after my grandmother died he had 9 JC Higgins 12 gauges stashed around that old farm house all loaded.

As for the education discussion, our education system isn't the problem. Teacher do a heck of a job, but if momma and daddy don't care and value their child's education the teachers can't do much about it.