Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1975-11-20, Page 4By now most of us have had time to get used to the latest increase in the retail price of gasoline, although some speculators are predicting this precious, but necessary commodity, will reach one dollar per gallon in the near future. Exeter and area residents are in a little better position than people from many other communities in this part of Ontario. Local gasoline prices have been con- siderably lower in price than the same brands at the retail pumps in larger centres to the south and also to the north of us. Neveertheless, now that prices have taken this latest jump, motorists will not be able to afford the luxury of taking those famous long Sunday afternoon drives, And if you have to commute any distance to work, the added costs of transportation will have the same effect as a cut in pay. After all, if it costs you more to get to work, there just won't be as much money in the budget to use the family automobile as a luxury machine. In fact, it is reasonable to assume many families will be planning their outings more carefully than ever before in order to ration out their fuel for as long as possible. An example is that peo- ple will not be making that last minute trip out in the evening to the variety store to get whatever they forgot to pick up on the way home. One thing that should be pointed out, however, is the added six cents per gallon (the average price increase) will see very little of the money going to the men who operate the pumps, These are all hardworking businessmen who probably deserve to derive a greater percentage of the profits because of ever growing operating costs of their own businesses, This never seems to happen. The small operators come and go, and the giant manufacturers continue to show huge profit increases every year in their annual reports. Bluffing continues There is no clear cut case as to who is right and who is wrong in the Canada-wide postal dispute. It has been a common thing in this unionized country of ours to expect disagreements between labor and manage- ment. Every time negotiations begin — employees demand too much and the employers offer too little. From then on it could be best described as a giant poker game where the side who is the best at "bluffing" is the one to reach a settlement closest to their terms. In the case of the postal dispute though, some set ions consideration must be given to what is best for the country. Nearly every resident of Canada is affected in some way by the lack of mail service. Most businesses depend on the mails to receive payments for their goods or services while others must have mail service to get their products in the hands of the consumer, People in many walks of life must be really scratching their heads when they hear postal officials saying the strike could last until Easter. Union representatives are responding with claims of solidarity in the ranks which will enable them to ride out the strike indefinitely, settling for nothing less than their original demands. The postal business is nothing less than a communications industry! Let's hope those involved settle down to some meaningful communicating between themselves. Value of compromise Compromise is alive and well in Exeter if the decision to fix up the town hall belfry is any indication. Although the decision over what to do with the structure has bounced back and forth as many times as the belfry, itself has theoretically been taken down, left up, taken down and now taken down-up, the final results are what count. In this case, the results should satisfy both those who were concerned about the safety of it, and those who would like to preserve the building as a fitting piece in the rich history of this area. Compromise has always been con- sidered one of the more important prin- ciples of democracy. It has prevented the dissolution of governments in troubled times, kept countries from going to war with each other, and has the added benefit of "saving face" as they say in the Orient. The belfry was considered unsafe by the town building inspector. His concerns were confirmed by a construction crew called in to inspect the structure for possi- ble renovation. On the other hand, the Town Hall Committee should be commend- ed for pursuing the matter and insisting that something be done to preserve our town hall from losing perhaps the most significant aspect of its identity - the belfry. When it was determined that renovations were still possible and could be done on the ground more easily than up above, and done at a moderate cost, many agreed that this was the best course to take. Too often in history,a quick decision has meant the loss of significant historical ob- jects that should be preserved, Com- promise, the willingness of people to listen to the other's point of view, has saved our town hall belfry for other generations to see and appreciate. Now, if we can only determine whether there is going to be a town hall left to put it on. Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1 881 Amalgamated 1924 Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mai( Registration Number 0386 Paid in Advance Circulation March 31, 1975 5,249 SUBSCRIPTION RATES; Canada $9,00 Per Year; LISA $11.00 CCNA RI111 RIRRON AWARD 1971 SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., 0.W.N.A, CLASS 'A' and ABC Published by J. W. Eedy Publications Limited Editor. Jim Beckett — Advertising Manager Plant Manager Les Webb Composition Manager Dave Worby Business Manager — Dick Jongkind Phone 235.1331 Our response to now By ELMORE BOOMER Counsellor for Information South Huron For appointment phone: 235-0560 • The new ice generation Gasoline a luxury Activity and community pride consistent with Exeter people I've just finished a book called "Ten Lost Years". In my opinion. it should be required reading for every Canadian under twenty- five, and pleasantly, if oc- casionally bitter reading, for everyone over fifty. The rest are too old to care, and too late to save. With another depression coming up, and remember, you read it here, it might serve as some sort of survival chart for the young people heading into the next depression, and a justification for the older people, who are so hymie about such things as electric lights that aren't turned off, food scraps that are thrown out, and clothing that is perfectly good, but ten years out of style. It's impossible to tell young people about your own ex- periences in the Great Depression. And it deserves the capital letters. When you try to tell the rising generation about your own Depression experiences, they merely groan, roll their eyes, and think, "Yuk. Here goes Dad. or Grandad, again, whining about what hard times are really like. What a drag!" That's why the young people should read the hook. They simply can't realize, as they scoff their two-bits worth of french fries. that grown men worked ten hours a day for that same two- hits, during the Depression. They can't realize, as they shoot a quarter into the pop machine for a Coke (capital C) to wash down their french fries, that if you took out a girl during the Depression, and had a quarter in your pocket, you were rich. According to the book, the. hardest hit areas were the Prairie Provinces, the Maritimes and Quebec, Ontario and B.C. were the only provinces in those days which weren't in really desperate condition, and they were had enough. This is a very credible book, to anyone who lived through those Ten Lost Years. The author went out with a tape recorder and interviewed hundreds of people who went through them. The results are funny, tragic, and extremely Canadian. It could never he misunderstood as a British or American book, though these countries suffered equally. Canadians then, in their pawkish, stubborn and often stupid pride, would go to almost any lengths to avoid "going on relief," This was almost a sin, and always a last resort. And "relief" could be ten or twelve dollars a month, for a family. A nickel had to do the work of a dollar. After three years of drought and grasshoppers, many prairie farmers just walked away and left everything: house and By JIM BECKETT One of the most rewarding things of being involved with a newspaper is having the op- portunity to meet a wide variety of people. This thought kept running through my mind for mile after mile while driving to Exeter recently to begin my first day in the T-A staff. One main question that occupied my thoughts was, "are the people friendly, and will they readily accept me as a member of the community". Monday morning arrived and my apprehension was greater than ever, but after meeting a few members of the business com- munity my mind was completely at ease. In fact, I have reached the conclusion that Exeter people are warm-hearted and quick to machinery. The average cash income from farmers in the Maritimes, including the wealthy ones, was something like forty dollars a year. What a modern kid from a middle-class family would spend in a month. on clothes and treats. People died, not of starvation, but of malnutrition. Oh, I remember! I was only a kid at the time, but I remember. It all happened sort of gradually. My father was a fairly prospefous merchant, but he was too kindly a man, bless him, to crunch people who were hard up. He gave them credit. He lost his business. He had too much money on the books, and not enough in the till to meet the mortgage. Stunned, in his late forties with five kids, he sank into depression. There were no jobs for anyone, let alone middle-aged men. My mother took over. She took in boarders. In the summer, we rented rooms to tourists. A clean bed and a huge breakfast for $1.50. She sold homemade baking. She was an Avon lady. And we-wentinexorably nto debt : the butcher's, the grocer's, the coal man. But there was no way WE were going to go on relief. It was shameful. Somehow, we staggered through. My older brother got a job in the bank at six dollars a week. My sister got a job in a store at eight dollars a week. They kicked most of it back to my mum. That was the deal in those days, everybody pulling together. But it was mighty hard on the young workers, who,today, would he going to college on govern- ment grants. We never went hungry. A lot of hamburger, at three pounds for a quarter. A lot of baloney. A big, perpetually simmering pot of soup. If the porridge wasn't finished in the morning, it went into the soup pot. And 1 remember the odd time when we had something I've never tasted since. This was when the butcher would advance no more credit, and there wasn't a cent in the house. Potato-skin hash. I wouldn't mind a good feed of that tonight. You take some baked potatoes and put them through the meat grinder, With the colour of the potato skins, it comes out looking like meat and potatoes. Fry it up in a pan with some onions, dirt cheap, and you had a pretty good dinner. Top if off with home-made bread and raspberry preserves, and you'd had a gourmet dinner. It beat hell out of the modern frozen TV dinner, both for nourishment and flavour and was probably better for us than most of the garbage modern kids eat, No, we never went hungry, and there was always a bowl of pea soup and home-made bread for the hoboes who arrived at the kitchen door, half-frozen and half-starved. But I never realized what miracles my mother and father performed in these days, and I wish I had, sooner. make you feel at ease. Another thing that makes Exeter stand out above many towns of similar size is the genuine interest residents have in what is happening around them. The impression I received in Exeter is much more than just a place to live, it is a place where you really have the opportunity to become involved and contribute something to the community. Many people I met this week are participating in ventures which will help create a better lifestyle for all of us. These are busy people, people who are , operating successful businesses, demanding hours of their time. And still these same people manage to find the time to give their ,talents and enthusiasm for the benefit of almost everybody, If it is possible to arrive at an estimate of the sum of all the hours and hours of "real in- volvement" by service club members, local politicians, athletic coaches and other volunteer groups, it would ;probably reach a figure that would, astound even the most Letters to editor invited from readers One of the most important functions of any newspaper is to provide a forum for readers to express their opinions. The Times-Advocate is no exception. They welcome your ideas, and in most cases will see your message is presented as you intended. However, letters will not be accepted for publication unless they are signed by the writer. A nom-de-plume may be used if the writer 'wishes except in cases where letters attack an in- dividual, group or an institution. In these cases the author must be prepared to see his name published. All letters are ac- cepted only at the discretion of the editor and will be subject to editing. 50 Years Ago Flags were flown at half mast on the Trivitt Memorial Church and the town ball, owing to the death of Queen Alexandria, on the eve of her eighty-first bir- thday. Knapton's garage, one of the old landmarks of Parkhill was destroyed by fire, Paul Coates, Peter Case, Thomas Woodward and Lorne Oke attended the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. 25 Years Ago Bob Hern of Granton Won the coveted Queen's Guinea award at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. He came third in the Hereford section. Lambton and Huron counties entered into a battle over the rights to Grand send, if and When it becomes incorporated. After a great opening in Grand Bend, the Exeter Lion's 'Showboat' is Set to play both Hensall and Zurich. Between $400 and $500 was raised in the two night stand in Exeter. Final plans for the building of the South Huron Hospital were approved and the province has granted $32,000 for the purpose of building. It is hoped that the project will be opened to tenders soon. 15 Years Ago Expectations are high for the Federal Government's par- ticipation in the impending Parkhill dam project. Tenders for the 16 bed addition to the South Huron Hospital were critical person. The efforts put forth by these community- minded individuals all add up to making Exeter, in my opinion, one of the finest places in the country. Another thing that always impresses me about any area is community pride. In Exeter, most people seem to have that feeling. The merchants, by virture of their large investments in good looking, well-stocked establishments, have demon- strated their faith in the future of this town. And judging by the number of new homes under construction, other people are planning to settle here as well, These are just a few of the observations I have made while making my rounds this week, and they say "first impressions last the longest." + + + Now that the good part of writing about Exeter is over, let's discuss a topic that will un- doubtedly upset thousands of people across the country, Something that has 'been described as "insensitive, Sexist and outrageous" is happening in Montreal. I'm referring to the policy of the Montreal Olympic organizing committee's policy of refusing to hire hostesses who wear eyeglasses. Being a person whose vision is less than 20-20 myself, I can understand the feelings of those applicants who have been rejected. Some of the women are fully qualified for the positions and have worked as hostesses previously. The personnel people at the Olympics should consider this fact. If their hiring policy was to be extended to their requirements for anyone gaining admittance to the Olympics, the attendance figures would probably be slashed by over 20 percent. Females who wear glasses don't have to be disappointed, however. As the old ad man said in his copy for an optometrist's message: "Guys do make passes at girls who wear glasses." opened Wednesday by the property committee. The Exeter addition is one of three hospital projects being planned in the Huron County district. William A. Stewart MPP for Middlesex North, was appointed to the cabinet as Minister without Portfolio it was announced yesterday. He has not been given any specific duties in the cabinet as yet, Several town officials said this week that they would like to see a full scale election this fall, now that one spot has been assured. lo Years Ago Charges of damaging property, mischief and drinking while under age netted over $600 in fines from five area youths in Magistrate's Court Tuesday. All five youths pleaded guilty to the three charges. Robert Bennet will perform the valedictorian duties at the annual graduation ceremonies of South Huron District High School Friday night. A mass meeting of the eight districts represented in the South Huron High School District was held to outline the costs of the proposed new addition to the building. The addition will cost approximately $600,000 to build, The Lebanon Forest Lodge honored C, S. MacNaughton Friday night, upon his ap- pointment as Grand Senior Deacon. The regalia and decoration that was laid on was the greatest since the dub celebrated RS centenary in 1460, The caption on the recent Remembrance Day ad- vertisement, -"Freedom: Man- made, not God-given!", causes one to ponder, My dictionary defines freedom as: liberty, not bound, not under obligation, politically in- dependent, taking undue liber- ties, unrestricted use or access. I suppose what one gets out of that slogan depends in what context we use the word. I'm sure the Royal Canadian Legion, sponsors of the ad- vertisement, is speaking of political freedom. It goes without saying that in many countries there is no such freedom, and the liberty to follow one's own con- victions is serverely curtailed if not completely non-existent. Yet, in these same countries there are certain men in power who are free . . free to send others to jail without trial, free to order torture and even death to anyone who disagrees with them. So, what then is freedom? Many young people might feel it's the liberty of being able to set their own standards and morals with complete disregard and disrespect to parents. Freedom to some marriage partners is to rid themselves of responsibilities, run off with someone else with seemingly total disregard of how shattering this is to their spouses and children. The alcoholic wants to be free to spend his money on booze instead of making sure there is food in the house for his family and fuel oil for the furnace. Robbers would like to be free to rob and thieve at will; some policemen, I fear, would like freedom to harrass and use To think Canadian is in fashion but such thoughts do not translate into money. The New Ice Generation is the name of a Canadian based skating company (20 of the 27 skaters under contract are Canadian). This is the dream child of Corby Coffin from British Columbia who set out to provide an alternative to the American owned Ice Capades, All the skaters, not just the select few, would have the opportunity to do the difficult turns, spins and jumps. There would be op- portunity for exciting expansive skating for everyone. But Coffin and his backers ran into difficulty. They could not sell their show to the arenas across the country. They were not aiming at Maple Leaf Gardens but had some hopes for cities of smaller size. The arenas could not book this new show because of a clause in their contracts with Capades. Any arena booking a Capades show were bound not to do the same for any similar show for a prescribed period of time before and after. There is a bill in the Canadian Parliament at this time that would preclude such exclusive contracts. But this will probably come too late for the salvaging of the New Ice Generation. + + + The Globe and Mail, often considered a conservative newspaper, has come up with an exciting first. A woman, Christie 'whatever brutality necessary to extract a confession from a prisoner, guilty or otherwise. Certain business companies desire the freedom to make unfair and excessive profits. There are union leaders who want the freedom to claim demands which could cripple the whole country. All these people want freedom but note it is freedom to gain whatever is their desire at the expense of someone else, Even in war, can we 'always' be sure which side is fighting on the side of freedom? If you watched the last T.V. program of news columnist Michael Maclear called 'Gooks & Grunts' you were likely as stunned as I was at the unspeakable atrocities used on thousands and thousands of in- nocent Vietnamese by American soldiers under the pretense of fereting out Vietcong. Yet, the general public believed this war was being fought to protect the liberty of the Vietnam people. One can only shudder in horror at the despicable acts committed under the banner of Freedom. The fact of the matter is Freedom is God-given. We are always free to choose between what is right and what is wrong. And in a strange, paradoxical way, when we choose the wrong we are no longer free. I suspect that many of the political prisoners in countries with corrupt governments are more free than the men who put them there for the latter are strangled by fear, bound by a terror that someday someone will rise up and cut them down. Yes, freedom is God-given but man can and does control his own actions in what he will do with it. Blatchford, is now a major daily sports columnist for that paper. + + + Another avant gard plan is blossoming before our eyes, this time, fostered by the Ministry of Community and Social Services. It will benefit those who wish to work even though they make less than the provincial or municipal welfare agencies usually pay. The wages of the recipient will be subsidized up to $500 a month. Thus someone on welfare will not be penalized for working but will be encouraged to remove themselves from welfare rolls. The province in agreement with three cities — Toronto, Peterborough and Ottawa — will be financing this pilot project. If such a plan is effective in the three municipalities, it will be applied universally. + + + James Gray is a noted historian of the social realities of prairie life. He has written such books as Red Lights • on the 'Prairies, Booze, The Roar of the Twenties, and his memoirs of the Depression. He wakened to the lack of knowledge about our history among young people when he found that his grandson knew nothing about Dieppe or Vimy Ridge. He was again taken aback by the question from one thirteen year old as to who Hitler was. He is especially regretful of the lack of teaching regarding social history in our schools. And he has done something about it. Approaching the Departments of Education of the three prairie provinces he has sold them 'on a review of the whole situation. On November 28 there will be a meeting in Winnipeg to formulate plans for some redress. Mr. Gray hopes that prairie writers can be enlisted to produce books on • arious subjects of regional interest. He already has a list of subjects in mind — Sit- ting Bull's exile, prohibition and its consequences, the conquest of drought, the building of the small towns, and the fight for com- pulsory school attendance, Our author hopes that this idea will come alive in' other parts' of the country. Perhaps some Ontario writers will catch a vision for text books on such Matters in this province. It may be that an exchange of books and ideas between regions could become viable thus binding Canada together in an increasing' way, .Freedom; Goc given Here's a book worth reading rr=, • • S 1