Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1971-03-11, Page 4Fili$13156 A& 4L "Oftt.,riccoRDIts)c To 1-11_1 wtrz, IT'S some. ktoo OF 1M co NE 7-AX PROrk • 4. Too many brains not enough hearts THE CLINTON NEW ERA Established 1885 Clinton Amalgamated THE HURON NEM-RECORD 1924. Established 1881 News-Recor A member of the Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association, Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association and the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) second class mail registration number — 0817 SU8SCRIPT1ON RATES: (in advance) Canada, $6.00 per year: U.S.A., $1.50 KEITH'W. ROIJLSTON — Editor J. HOWARD AITKEN — General Manager Published every Thursday at the heart of Huron County ry Clinton, Ontario Population 3,47$ THE HOME OF RADAR IN CANADA If the actions of John White the new minister of University Affairs could be taken as an indication of the policies of the new provincial administration under Bill Davis, we might be in for a pleasant surprise. Mr. White's announced belt-tightening in the university system are welcome news. For too long education has become something of sacred cow. Any talk of cutting back dr having to do without was met with horror. Speaking out against education was like condemning motherhood. But it is time to put the cap on the spiralling costs of educating our youngsters. It is time to stop and take a look at our whole system; a system that is turning out students with degrees who don't know how to do a job and a system that produces Ph.D.'s who go unemployed. We have to stop this emphasis on education for the sake of education. We have to stop too, the attitude that makes it necessary for schools to have every frill and fancy in order to provide an education. We have to stop building million dollar monuments to education then staffing these buildings with teachers who have not had proper training. Surely it would be nice to have beautiful buildings, the latest electronic A farmer the other night at the Huron Federation of Agriculture meeting made the kind of statement which doesn't do irnych to contribute to the understanding of theal problems by urban dwellers. A discussion was taking place on the problem of farm pollution because of urban areas creeping closer to farms, complaints are coming from the urban people about odours from the farms. Jim Arnold, county engineer for the Department of Agriculture and Food, suggested that within five years or so all land in the province may be zoned with the best land set aside exclusively for farm land and residential areas restricted to non-farming land. This brought the complaint from the farmer that once again farmers would be hurt since their land, zoned strictly as farm land would be worth less than land in the same area zoned for residential or industrial. gimics for teaching aids and programs to solve every problem of every student in every classroom in Ontario. But the sad' fact is we just can't afford any more. It would be nice if each of us had a new car, a new house, a new air conditioning system, a new fridge, stove, dishwasher and color television. But most of us don't have the money for such frills. In the education system, however, if they don't have enough money they go out and get more, by taxing the very people who can't afford frills for themselves. We need post graduate studies at university but we have to draw the line somewhere, as Mr. White has done. We need good high schools, but we need to draw a line somewhere. We need more help for teachers in public schools, but we need to draw a line and say we can't afford to spend more than that. • It isn't just in education that costs are sky-rocketing. It's happening in nearly all government departments where there is always pressure to expand, to exert more influence, to spend more of the taxpayers money. Hopefully Mr. Davis will reverse this trend in all departments but somehow we doubt it. And unfortunately we doubt the opposition parties would take these steps either if they come to power. Now listen fellas, you can't have your cake and eat it. This same desire of farmers to be _farmers only until it is more convenient to.' be land, speculators has been, all too,- evident '06 • the fringe .of rapidly developing urban areas for many years. Many farmers complain on the one hand that they are farmers and shouldn't have to pay the high taxes that go with the increasing property value of their farms, but as soon as the price is right, they are more than happy to get off the farm with their money in their hot hands. And why shouldn't they make money? Everybody else does. But to cry on one hand that the encroachment of urban areas on their farms is unfair because it forces them off the farms they love and then on the other hand complain because the chance to sell their farms at huge profits is taken away from them to protect farmland, is a little greedy. Silent love I have been asked to serve as a judge in a national $1000 essay-writing contest on the subject, "Why I Love Canada." I'm glad I'm judging it and not writing it. The editor who conceived this dubious brain-wave assures me that the idea is to "stimulate a feeling of national patriotism. "Canadians," he writes, "are often accused of being lacklustre in their pride of country. It's my hunch they're just waiting for a chance to display their genuine feelings for this Canada we all love." He may be right. The way Canadian editors pay I've a hunch there'll be hordes of writers, pro and amateur, sprinting to their escritoires in the hope of getting a piece of the prize. Patriotism in Canada has never fetched a better price. You'll pardon my irony, but let's face it: Canadians are not exactly noted for wearing their hearts on their sleeves. They are seldom lyrical about their loyalty. What little there's been in song and story is largely devoted to an inventory of real estate — the grandeur of the Rockies, the sweep of the prairies, the rock-ribbed, shores of east and west, the mysterious north, the rivers, lakes, hills. When it comes to people, however, we're mute. We don't even have cliches. As far as I'm concerned the essay that would win the contest would be one that could define the distinctive, yet intangible, qualities that make a Canadian what he is. This is the real source of our pride. I couldn't do it. I spent nearly half a year crawling across this country in a trailer, absorbing the flavor, the character, the personality of the Canadian. He exists., He is unique. But what is he? The one conclusion I could trust was negative, I felt that we've become what we are by a process of resistance to other cultures: the old world that was left behind, the new world that could so easily absorb us. I once heard Canadians described as "the dullest people on earth, with the possible exception of the Dutch." Well, the Dutch, too, are accomplished at resistance. They, too, have retained a strong sense of identity in the face of outside, surrounding pressures. We, i n Canada, under-estimate this remarkable homogeneity. From the cradle to the grave we're buffeted by the influences of the United States. We read their literature, listen to their radio, look at their television, digest daily their interpretation of world events, react to their economics, accept their modes and fashions, sing their songs, laugh at their jokes, eat their food, buy their wares, cheer their heroes, hiss their bums. There's hardly a phase of living, in fact, that isn't conditioned directly or indirectly by The American Way. And yet no one who „seriously assays the Canadian character could believe for a moment that we're merely second-class Americans. The astonishing fact is that, like the Dutch, we're a breed in our own right. That seems to me to be our greatest strength. I'd refer the essayists to the writings of Thomas D'Arcy McGee. A long time ago he put into words the condition of self-reliance that is singularly Canadian. Our character, as he saw it, is "distinguished by a manly modesty as much as by mental independence; by the conscientious exercise of the critical faculties, as well as by the zeal of the inquirer." The words were written a hundred years ago. I like to think they're still an accurate summary of the Canadian of today. Modesty we still have. It's the kind of modesty that makes it embarrassing to answer that question, "Why I Love Canada." The critical faculty we still have. It's the faculty to quietly resist the convenient, ready-made concepts that flood in on us from our southern neighbor. These things may seem dull. We're „rice, frag46.0s; even pow when we have our own flag. We often seem a `faceless race, dwarfed by our landscape, but that's the way it is with a contemplative people. It's not easy to describe these virtues in a positive way — it would be much simpler to write an essay on "Why I Love The Boston Bruins" — and 1 fear that the contest won't prove very much. I can see 10,000 writers beginning their entries, "I love Canada because " and then finding their genuine feelings beyond the range of expression. And that is totally Canadian. The editor: While citizens reel beneath the continuing assault of internally provoked conflict, we are also intimidated by the very establishment that proclaims freedom and democracy while moving closer and closer to the Big Brother bureaucracy of socialism. How did that happen? Largely because We forgot that freedom is not free — that the cost is eternal vigilance. We have forgotten that freedom is not a gift of government — but a gift of God; that it does not mean freedom from responsibility but the freedom to stand as a man accountable for his actions. It does not mean the freedom to push other people around or to elect public officials to do the pushing for us! Freedom is not an abstract or an ideal, but a human right which must operate from the premise of doing what we ought to do because we want to do it, not because we are ordered to do it. The free man recognises that his freedoms are restricted by his own nature, temperament, intelligence, abilities and inclinations; that his free will permits him to wallow in the gutter or to reach for the stars. That while justice demands that we yield a measure of our freedom to the State when it can better maintain the good order of society, it cannot be bought at the expense of any man's freedom — by government equalization, government philanthropy or government redistribution. Freedom means the right to worship as we please; to vote as we please; to dissent and to dissent against the dissenters. It means non-violent freedom of assembly; freedom to travel at home and abroad3 to own property and dispose of it as we choose; to work to the extent of our own ability, desire and capability for commensorate rewards; to bargain for goods and services in a free market and to build a better mousetrap' without arbitory government interference and limitation of our resourcefulness. Freedom means the right to handle our own earnings and 'tolls; to 'Select our oWn friends, partners and associates; to direct - the' education of our own children and the medication of our own bodies. Freedom springs from the soil of eternal and unchanging truths which are not subject to human pragmatism. Unfortunately, when man becomes apathetic or indifferent to his heritage of freedom, his enemies move in quickly with the shackles of slavery. Today, we stand at the crossroads of courage and confidence, cowardice and captivity. One can only wonder which way we will choose. Yours sincerely, Patricia Young. 4 Clinton News-Record, Thursday, March 11, 1971 ditorial comment We don't care if you think we're right or wrong. We care only that you think. 111111111111111111011111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111(111111111111111I1111111111111111111101111111111119111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 A good start Letter to the Editor Have your cake and eat it Between the length and the depth of this winter, the depressing unemployment picture, and the looming of new taxes, perhaps a chap has a right to be a bit gloomy these days. We've had about n feet of snow so far. Today I saw a chap up on a snowbank about 20 feet high. Crouched under the limbs of a maple tree, he was trying to push the snow back enough so that he'd have somewhere to put the next deluge. And when it hasn't been belting down the white stuff, it's been freezing rain, or cold enough to freeze the brains of a brass monkey. Despite some statistic-juggling at Ottawa, unemployment figures have climbed steadily. On paper, they're just digits. But when they hit close to home, they're human beings. It's not just the transient or the unskilled worker who is laid off, I have friends, industrious, sober, intelligent workers — foremen and management — who have worked their way up through sheer guts and determination, and are now suddenly in limbo, drawing unemployment insurance. After searching desperately for a job, they become bitter, and one can't blame them. With mortgage and insurance payments to meet, and just enough money earning in to put foon on the table, they feel cheated. After a decade or two of hard work, just when they're beginning to see daylight financially, they ate tossed aside through no fault of their own. Perhaps we have too many btains at Ottawa, and not enough hearts. The logicians, with their figures, convinced the top brains that they could halt inflation. A fiasco! Interest rates are still crippling. The cost of living slides slowly but steadily upward, while the standard of living goes down, or stays static. Don't ask the financial moguls, or the banks, ot the credit companies. They're doing all right. Ask the small business man or the skilled worker whose unemployment insurance has run out. He'll tell you. And then there are the sneaky taxes coming out of Ottawa. Oh, they're not called taxes. They are merely 'readjustments, or whatever the slide-rule boys want to call them. You move so much money from here to there, and you're not increasing taxes, Merely re-distributing the wealth, One of these gimmicks is taking away the family allowance ftom those making more than $10,000. That used to be the fabulous figure we all thought we'd never make. lie probably takes home about $7,500, after deductions. Let's say he has a batch of kids, and is pulling in about $S00 a year in baby bonuses, every nickel of it allotted to education or clothing or something. The government has just taxed him $800, call it what you like. It doesn't bother me. My kids are past the age. But it hits some families like a sledgehammer. Now there's another sneaker in the offing. The federal government has specifically stated its intent to tax another very large group, made up of school teachers and other people who have not paid unemployment insurance. It plans to hit them for this, despite the fact that they have been paying into insurance and annuity schemes for years, and that perhaps one in one thousand would ever collect. Again, it doesn't bother me personally. I can affotd the $60-odd dollars a year it will cost. But it's the principle that bothers Me. Not only do i pay this, but I will be taxed on the similar amount the school boards, as employees, will have to pay to the fund. This will be several millions of dollars, not to mention all the extra cost of administration to collect it and distribute it. I got a lesson in economics today. A student said, "Why do we have to worry about all this? When we graduate, there'll be a fixed minimal income, and we won't have to work, anyway."' Maybe he's right. 75 YEARS AGO The Huron News-Record March 11, 1896 The committee appointed at the last Council meeting, 13 in number, met in the council chamber on Monday evening to onsider the bests. means for the disposal of the $10,000 which Clinton is to receive out of the Stanely estate money. Dixon's Hotel and stables (at Brucefield) were destroyed by fire early on Tuesday morning of last week. Mr. Witts, formerly of Clinton, had been conducting the hotel for a couple of years. The fire was evidently caused by an incendiary, the inmates barely escaping with their lives, Clinton is recognized as one of the most progressive towns in the county of Huron, but is without a Bicycle Association. Although we have several live bicycle agents and a large number of wheels and riders here, no sincere effort has been made to organize. If bicycle riding is profitable to the seller or purchaser, and if conducive to health and longivity, or of necessity, then an association should be formed at an early date. 75 YEARS AGO The Clinton New Era March 12, 1896 Prom Brucefield News: The offerings next Sabbath morning in Union Church wilt be given to help the needy Armenians; it will no doubt be liberally responded to. Messrs tell and Mason, who have controlled the Commercial 1-lotel here for several years, dissolved partnership shortly, and the business will be continued by Mr. Bell, who has taken a fresh lease of the property for three yea's, The house has been well managed and will no doubt maintain its excellent reputation, but a number think that Mr. Bell should get a partner — of the opposite sex. Mr. Farrahn has put a telephone in his house; this makes 85 in use le town, 55 YEARS AGO The Clinton New Era March 9, 1916 The inmates of the Huron County House of Refuge had a big treat on Tuesday evening of this week when a load of 21 young people, headed by that youthful fellow, Torn Jackson, spent an evening with them. Mr. Jackson got five funny reels and had manager Manning show them at the Home and everyone enjoyed them. Owing to some disagreement between the members of the Board of Health and the Medical Health Officer, 13Iyth is again without an official. Dr. Alliston having tendered his resignation. A recruiting office has been opened at Bayfield and we hope to see good results from that -centre. 40 YEARS AGO The Clinton News-Record March 12, 1931 Messrs. Davies and Herman have purchased the store which they have been occupying for some time as a tailoring and gents furnishing store. This property was part of the estate of the late Mrs. Searle, as was also the 'tote occupied by the Millet Hardware, recently purchased by Messrs. Sutter and Perdue, and Robinson's armory. The editor 'of the Seaforth Expositor talks like a man who has often to get his own meals and more ot less fend for himself. But we are not going to waste any sympathy on him. We've noticed that it is usually the man who has most of that sort of thing to do who wouldn't admit it for the world. The man who complains of being "hen-pecked", seldom is. A radio-telephone conversation was recently held between New York and a steamship in the Pacific Ocean, near China, about 7,000 miles distant. This is believed to be a record for long-distance ship-to-shore talk. 25 'YEARS AGO The Clinton News-Record March 14, 1948 The Bayfield River broke up and the ice went out about 10 o'clock on Wednesday night last. The water rose several feet and flooded the fish shanties on the north shore to a height of about two feet. Huron County now has a full-time magistrate. He is J. W. Morley, K. C. who has been practising law in Exeter for the past 20 years. In the keen competition for business_:. which is bound to ensue in Canada as soon as materials, labour and goods come into more plentiful supply, where will Clinton rank? Will it stand idly by and let its neighbouring towns steal all the "gravy" or will it be a progressive and growing community with prosperity just a part of being a citizen? 15 YEARS AGO The Clinton News-Record March 5,1956 Town Council unanimously passed a motion granting the Clinton Lions Club $1,000 toward the mortgage existing on the skating arena. A night of music in the new auditorium of Ontario Street United Church is being sponsored by the Happy Doubles Club of that church, on Friday evening, March 9. Special guests will be the Dominion Life Choir of Kitchener. The same evening the Harbouraires, a Male choir which claims Goderich its home, will sing. The speaker at the meeting of Wesley-Willis Men's Club was W. W. Haipom, Goderich, manager of the Bell Telephone Company. Ile outlined some of the steps which had been done, and were still to do before the new dial system could go into effect in mid-April. 10 YEARS AGO 'The Clinton News-Record March 9, 196'1 In the first government — conducted vote for committeemen for the Hog Producers Marketing Board on Monday, 1,184 producers thronged into Clinton to the Legion Memorial Hall, the one place in the county where polling booths were set up. Geared for a much smaller turnout, with four polling booths set up at first. Returning Officer Douglas IL Miles, agricultural representative of Huron County, swiftly transformed the hall into a busy arena where eight deputy returning officers accepted signed registration cards from the producers, and handed out ballots.