GEORGE A. MAYBEE.
 


	Ambition, diligence, initiative and resourcefulness have been the four
outstanding features of the exceptionally interesting career of George A.
Maybee, today the president and general manager of the largest wholesale
firm in western Canada dealing in shoes and men's furnishings. Wealth
and position played no part in his early career, for he was left an orphan
as a young boy without any near relatives who could take the place of the
father and mother he lost. His opportunities he made himself; he did not
wait for them to knock. Beginning as a clerk in a store and equipped with
scarcely more than the minimum of education, he has advanced stead-
ily, though at first slowly, to a position of leadership in the trade circles
of this province and has an influence that is felt throughout the Canadian
west.
	The son of George A. and Abigild (Irish) Maybee, George A. Maybee
was born on the 23d of May, 1873, in Woodville, Victoria county, On.
tano, in the house in which his mother was born. Both his parents were
natives of that province and lived there all of their lives. The father was
a private banker and broker by occupation, a Liberal in politics and fra-
ternally identified with the United Workmen.  After the death of his
parents George A. Maybee of this review was cared for by the board of
the Methodist church, which had been the church of his father and mother
during their lifetime. In addition to the work of the common schools he
was given a two-year course in a high school, after which he set out to
earn his own way in the world. His first position was that of a clerk in
a general store, at which he worked for four years, following which he
went to Saint Catharines and there spent four more years clerking in a
shoe store, and began to learn something of the shoe trade-knowledge
that was to be very valuable to him in after years. From Saint Catha-
rines Mr. Maybee came west to Brandon and obtained a position as a
clerk in a store, and after thus serving for nine months he acquired some
stock in the company, starting out in a small way as a partner in the busi-
ness. Fifteen years ago he came to Moose Jaw, where he bought a third
interest in the firm of Mitchell & Hembroff, which thereupon became
Mitchell, Hembroff & Maybee. This was a gent's furnishing concern doing
a retail business. The second year he was in the company it opened a
wholesale branch, which grew to be the most important part of the busi-
ness. Much of its success was due to Mr. Maybee's work as a traveling
salesman, for he went on the road and represented his firm during the
period that this wholesale business was being worked up. Ten years ago
he bought out the interests of Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Hembroff and in 1916
disposed of the retail department in order to concentrate his entire energy
upon the rapidly growing wholesale trade. He now distributes shoes and
men's furnishings, exclusively, conducting the largest business of the
kind in western Canada.
	Mr. Maybee is the president and general manager of the firm, which
is capitalized at three hundred thousand dollars; Clifford Baird is vice
president and sales manager; Mack Cockrane is secretary; and Robert
Martyn is treasurer. In addition to these officers the name of M. S. May-
bee appears on the board of directors. The concern owns its building, a
four-story reinforced concrete structure of fireproof construction.  In
its erection all the modern scientific fireproof and fire-resisting methods of
construction and materials were employed, so that it is now insured at
the lowest rates in effect in the entire province. The company is, at the
present time, the distributing agent for the Partridge Rubber Goods,
Hurlbert Shoes, Kant Krack Kollars, Snag Proof Overalls, Lang Shirts,
Hucks Gloves, Knitwell Underwear, Telford & Child's Mackinaws, Ever-
wear Shoes, Tuxedo Shoes, Rhoda Shoes, and Sturdy Shoes. These lines
are now carried by seven of Mr. Maybee's traveling salesmen, who are
kept busy all of the time covering Saskatchewan, Alberta and British
Columbia.
	On the 14th of August, 1903, Mr. Maybee was married to Miss Mar-
garet Shearer Black of Saint Catharines, Ontario. Mrs. Maybee was edu-
cated there, where she spent most of her girlhood. Mr. and Mrs. Maybee
have a son: George Edward, five years of age. The Maybees are mem-
bers of the Methodist church.  Mrs. Maybee is especially interested in
social work for girls and young women and for several years has been
the president of the local Young Women's Christian Association.  Mr.
Maybee's social work has been done in the Masonic order, in which he is
identified with the York Rite and the Scottish Rite and he is a Noble of
the Mystic Shrine, and also belongs to the independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows, with which he has been associated for twenty-three years. His in-
fluence has been a potent factor in the development of these two frater-
nities along constructive lines in this city and he will ever be regarded as
one of their most valuable members.  He is likewise a member of the
Rotary Club and the Prairie Club of Moose Jaw. Farming is his "hobby"
and he takes almost as much pride in the fact that his farm is one of the
finest in Saskatchewan as in his enormous business organization.  The
chief feature of his farm is a herd of twenty-six full-blooded Herefords,
the finest in the Dominion, which are the basis of his cattle-raising activi-
ties. He raises and sells this pure-bred stock and in this connection has
been active in raising the standards of farm stock throughout this section,
a movement that is of no slight significance in the history of agriculture
in western Canada.
	In all of his accomplishments one can see evidences of Mr. Maybee's
outstanding ability as an executive. He possesses that rare power to in-
spire confidence in others and harmonize varied interests so as to achieve
cooperation on all sides. While he says, most generously, in his praise of
his fellow workers, that he has the most loyal staff of assistants that any
man ever had, the onlooker is a bit inclined to wonder if this exceptional
loyalty is not inspired by an exceptional man.


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