HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1972-04-05, Page 2russets Post:
Wednesday, April $, 1972.
••• .erving Brussels and the surrounding community
Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean Bros, Publishers, Linlited.
Evelyn Kennedy - editor Tom Haley Advertising
Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario Weekly NewSpaper Association.
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$5.00 a year, Single Copies 10 cents each.
Second class mail Registration No. 0562.
Telephone 887-6641.
They don't have a chance
When the fire trucks are delayed
40 seconds in traffic, people say:
'It took them 20 minutes to get
here.'
When the truck races at 40 m.p.h.
it's "look at those reckless fools."
When four men struggle with an
eight-man ladder: "They don't even
know how to raise a ladder."
When firemen open windows for
ventilation to reduce heat inJight-
ina a fire: "Look at the wrecking
crew."
When they open the floor to get
at the blaze: "There goes the axe
squad."
If.the chief stands back where
he can see and direct his men,
people say: "He's afraid to go where
he sends his men."
If they lose a building: "It's
a lousy department."
If they make a good "stop" folks
say: "The fire didn't amount to
much."
If lots of water is necessary:
"They are doing more damage with
water than the flames."
If a fireman gets hurt: "He was
a careless guy."
If a citizen gets hurt: "It's a
crazy department."
If a fireman inspects a citizen's
property: "He's meddling in some-
body's business."
If he wants a fire hazard' cor-
rected: "I'll see the mayor."
If he gets killed and leaves a
family destitute: "That's the chance
he took when he joined the fire de-
partment."
April in Brussels
Goderich Signal-Star
"Don't us!: nic: pal ... all I know is T found a note in the
milk bottle saying 'your dinner is in the oven'."
Not too long ago, I wrote a column
suggesting what would happen if house-
wives went on strike. A long, intelli-
gent and often witty letter from Mason
Bailey, President of the Huron County
Federation of Agriculture tells me bluntly
that there is another species in our
society which, if it went on strike, would
make a housewives' strike look like a
box luncheon.
Naturally, he is talking about farmers.
Farmers are like the weather: everybody
talks about them but nobody does anything.
I'll quote bits from his letter, and
make some comments. He asks tersely,
"What if all the farmers went on strike?
...Most of society and the majority of
columnists seem to have forgotten that
farmers continue to exist. And that is
just what farmers are doing! Existing!
Net farm income in Ontario has dropped
over thirty per cent in the last three
years. In 1971, Canadian farmers re-
ceived less than ten per cent of the
money that Canadian consumers spent
on food."
Well, Mr. Bailey, I'll accept your
figures, for a start. And they certainly
don't make me want to plunge into farm-
ing with a thirty-thousand dollar mort-
gage and the prospect of working ten or
twelve hours a day, six days a week.
On the other hand, like all figures,
they can be misleading. How many
Canadia n farmers grow coffee, tea,
fish, sugar, pepper, peanut butter,
oranges, bananas and all the other items
that beef up our food bills?
Another of your points strikes a
sympathetic chord in me. "I was in a
restaurant last week. The menu said
one egg, 50¢. Do you know what farmers
got for eggs last week? 24 a dozen
for Grade A large; 7y a dozen for cracks."
This is utterly ridiculous, and somebody,
obviously the farmer, is being shafted.
The only solution I can see is to de-
mand "cracks" in restaurants. Which
is probably what we get in some places
anyway.
I share completely your burning wrath
at restaurant prices. And now let's sit
back and hear a howl of protest from
the restaurant owners, who are starving
to death. The average one isn't and
works long hours for a decent living.
But those room service prices in hotels
drive me right out of my skull. $1.65
for a sandwich. $1.50 for a pot of
lukewarm coffee.
You go back to the war, When sugar
and butter were rationed and otherwise
honest people would cheat, lie or steal
to get enough or more than enough. And
you say it would happen again if farmers
Went on strike. I agree. Some would,
but a minority, in my opinion. I think
the farmers would get a good deal of
sympathy and support, just as the coal
miners did in England, despite the hard-
ships their strike imposed on millions.
In such an event, you suggest that
"Bootlegging food at inflated prices
would become as common as, drug pedd-
ling. The -boot-legging farmers would
start to show a profit. Some, might
even be able to hire help at the mini-
mum wage." Surely, right there is one
spot where government could help - by
subsidizing farm wages.
The government subsidizes practically
everything else that even approaches work,
or simply pays people not to work. Surely,
the next logical step would be to make
farm work attractive, financially, rather
than paying farmers not to grow grain, or
spuds, or whatever. However, we
mustn't mention government and logic in
the same breath.
you mention something that depresses
me - that the average age of farmers in
Ontario is about 55, that not many young
men can start farming under today's con-
ditions, and that even if they can, the
liberated little woman has other ideas.
And you also point out rather pungently
that if the average age of housewives
Was 55 and no replacements forthcoming,
you would have something to scream
about." You're right. The scream that
would echo across the land would be
apocalyptic.
Another point in your argument is
that corporations may take over
food production. "If wealthy corporat-
ions ever replace the family farm and
hire organized labour, there probably
will be food strikes." That is an appal-
ling thought.
Would that mean that I couldn't buy
One of those "chickens" that taste no
more like chicken than my old running-
shoes, unless you plaster them with some
synthetic flavoring? Would it mean that
I couldn't buy any of that enriched bread
that tastes like wet kleenex? Life just
wouldn't be worth living.
However, I agree with your premise
that the farmer has been left sucking
the hind teat in these years of inflation.
I think the' chief trouble IS the same as
that of the housewives: farmerS are too
stubborn and individualistic to get really
organized. They should, perhaps, set
up their own co-ops, processing, handling
and sales organizations. That, of course',
would leave us with mobs of unemployed
middle-men.
But my heart is with you, chaps, and
will be even the next time I pick up a
$1.49 a pound hunk of steak, look at it
wistfully, replace it, and reach for the
hamburg.
Sugar and Spice
by Bill Smiley