HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1981-07-29, Page 2EST,ft*.\.
Post BRUSSELS
P ost
Established 1872 519-887-6641
Serving Brussels and the surrounding community
Published at BRUSSELS, ONTARIO
every Wednesday morning
by McLean Bros. Publishers Limited
Box 50,
Brussels, Ontarfo
NOG 1H0
eiA Andrew Y, McLean, Publisher
Evelyn Kennedy, Editor
Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association, Ontario
Weekly Newspaper Association and The Audit Bureau of
Circulation.
WEDNESDAY. JULY 29, 1981
Authorized as second class mail by Canada
Post Office. Registration Number 0562.
Congratulations Morris!
Happy Birthday Morris Township! It's been going strong for 125years
now and it's time for the big celebrations.
Lots of former Morris residents current res idents and visitors will be
here to celebrate the occasion. With barbecues, a parade, dances and
various contests, it seems as through the township has left nothing
undone.
It will be a look into that 125 years. It will be a time for renewing old
acquaintances, but it will especially be a time for fun.
The birthday party should provide a ,weekend of enjoyable
entertainment.
Behind the scenes
by Keith Roulston
Salute to pioneers
Morris Township. Past to
Present by Jeanne Kirkby.
Publishers - Morris Town-
ship Council. Copyright 1981
WHEN THE WORLD
CHANGED
"But they are all gone
now, those old-fashioned
Irish gentlemen whom we
remember as a little lad to
have seen pouring our gen-
erous libations to the gods of
laughter and good fortune on
those distant New Year's
Days.. Light lie the turf above
them, and may their graves
be green with mint!
This is a much more
sensible and decorous age,
but it is also much duller.
People eat and drink and kill
one another with a sort of
coldly scientific precision.
Personally, we liked the old
times best...
There are no more New
Year's calls, no more punch
bowls...Instead people sit
sedately in the bosoms of
their families, and drink tea,
and discuss the news from
the Italian front.
.....As General Sherman
said, war is certainly hell,
well, so is prohibition."
A New Year's Day reflection
by the editor THE HURON
EXPOSITOR, 1918
THE GREAT WAR
There were other people in
Morris Township with mein-
Ories of battlefields besides
James Russell and R. Gri-
tnOldby, the griizled old
Veterans of the Fenian Raids
in 1866. Indeed The Boer
War of 1899-1900 had drawn
a Canadian contingent to
fight for Britain in faraway
Africa. John Barnhill, of
Morris Township was de-
corated by the King for
standing under fire when all
else fled. In March, 1900, the
relief of Ladysmith was joy-
ously celebrated with the
local party held in Wingham
while the Bluevale youths
held their own celebration.
Before the night was
through, Bluevale saw three
guns fired, a bonfire in the
streets, a tin pan parade and
many hi-jinks. But the war
seemed far away then and
did not affect the residents of
Morris much as they were
busy with the building of
their economy.
Just before the First World
War was announced, there
was very little notice paid to
the world situation. People
were busy with concerts and
social evenings. Farms were
demanding as they grew
larger and more productive.
Most of the focus in a
political sense was on the
temperance struggle, and
the federal reaction to the
different lobby groups.
AUGUST 7TH' 1914
THE HURON EXPOSITOR
"War has been declared
between Great Britain and
Germany. This is the ail
nouncement Which astonish,
ed the world on Wednesday
last. About 9 o'clock Tuesday
night, the Governor General
at Ottawa received a dispatch
from the British Colonial
Secretary of State, officially
informing him that war had
been declared against Ger-
many by Great Britain. A
meeting of the cabinet was at
once called, and it was
decided to call a meeting of
Parliament for Aug. 18 to
consider the course of action
to be taken by Canada, and
to vote the necessary sup-
plies for the military forces to
be called out."
There was no hesitation on
the part of the country to
spring to the defence of
Britain. Most Canadians of
that time either considered
their nationality to be Scot-
tish, Irish or English, never
Canadian. They were still
singing "Rule Britannia" in
their schools and there was
no question of their patriot-
ism.
By September 17th, the
Belgrave Women's Institute
formed themselves into a
Patriotic League and began
to canvass for donations and
golids. In response to the
Provincial Government's ap-
peal, this group sponsored
the earliest Patriotic Concert
in the Forester's Hall. By the
end of that month, 85 ladies
met regularly during the day
in the Hall over the hum Of 12
Please turn to page 3
Summer is traditionally the time when we
"get away from it all" in Canada by going on
vacation by either retreating to a• peaceful
haven somewhere in the backwoods or
seeing some other part of the world.
This summer you don't even have to go
away to get away from it all because what
with various strikes, "it all" is being taken
away from us. You don't have to worry about
getting bad news by mail these days thanks
to the postal strike and you won't get it on
C.B.C. thanks to the technicians strike. But,
of course, if the strike business gets on your
nerves and you want to escape by going to a
ball game you'll be out of luck because the
ball players are on strike too. For a huge
chunk of the Canadian population, "getting
away from it all" in the last few years seems
to mean getting away from the job and out
on the picket line. Canada has developed
one of the worst strike records in the world.
We are paying the price once again for an
adversary system that dominates this coun-
try in everything from politics to labour
relations.
We have a system that pits one
side against another in a tug o' war to see
who will prevail instead of pulling together
to make the country better.
The adversary system in labour relations
grew naturally enough. It became such a
bitter battle because a good many business-
men were quite happy to make employees
suffer any danger, for as many long hours
for as little money as possible so that owners
could make a lot of money. Faced with a
complete lack of morality from the bosses
(many of whom hid behind a veil of Christian
self-righteousness all the time) the workers
had to use what power they could to try to
even the balance of power. Every increase in
pay, every improvement in making the
workplace safer, every concession to the
dignity of the workers had to be fought for by
the workers, often to the point of violence
and bloodshed, too often at the cost of lives.
When you hear those union songs sung, at
rallies, there is a lot of history and feeling
behind them.
Unionists have been caught up in the
rhetoric of those early struggles, however, to
the point of the ridiculous. Today any fight
with management, no matter how trivial, is
spoken of in the same terms as those early
fights for the fundamental human necessi-
ties in the work place. We hear the idiocy in
one of the leaders of the baseball strike
talking about the baseball players in term 's of
the "workers" struggle. Some workers.
Many make more than the president of
General Motors. A majority more than the
president of the United States. Nearly all
more than the prime minister of Canada, for
six month's work. Would that we all were
downtrodden workers like those. We have
gotten to the point that in the misuse of
power, the immorality is often as much on
the side of the union as on management. We
have even seen cases where the manage-
ment has warned that increased demands
would mean bankruptcy, but the union,
conditioned never to believe management,
strikes anyway, wins the pay increase but
loses the jobs of everyone because within
months the company goes under.
How much longer can we go stupidly
along the course we are on? Any kid
watching Sesame Street can tell you there
has to be a better way. They teach childen
that people working together can do a lot
better than people working for themselves.
The kids then grow up, go to work for
management on one side and the union on
the other and forget the lesson.
Some countries have made large steps
toward industrial democracy and are reaping
the dividends. Instead of turning workers
against management they co-operate for the
good of all. Managment, instead of thinking
that only the men in the business suits can
run the company, have been involving the
workers in decision making. The men doing
the actual work often have a better way of
getting the job done than the textbook
planners. The workers feel that it's their
company too. On the other hand, with
worker representatives on boards and invol-
ving them in decision-making know the true
financial workings of the company, and don't
build in their own minds false mountains of
profits. They then aren't so apt to ask for
unreasonable pay increases and if their input
increases the efficiency of the company, they
deserve more reward which they often get
through profit-sharing.
It's not a perfect answer of course. People
are still people and they'll find a way to foul
things up even in the best of systems. But
over the years, at work in various employee
and mangement positions, I for one have
always found things work best when as much
trust and honesty are built into the system as
possible. Involve the people in decision
making who will Most be affected by the
decision. Then, at least if something goes
wrong, they'll feel they had their say. Keep
them informed as much as possible about
the true financial picture and they'll feel
they're not just being used. It sure beats
fighting all the time.
Past to present
Morris Township celebrates