HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1973-10-17, Page 2My daughter Kim and her husband are
hiving a tough time these days. He's
starting a post-graduate course at uni-
versity, and she's well into an Under-
graduate course in advanced pregnancy.
But that's not what's tough. Those
things are normal, exciting, and even
joyful. '
It's the eternal problem for students,
and for most of the rest of us, of money,
scarcity of.
' At first, I was inclined to scoff.
'ckh! You kidS! You don't know what it's
like to be hard up. You get all those
grants and loans. Why, When yoUr mother
and' blab blah blah."
Not that they're going to starve. They
do get 'Nat enough to' get by. Bilt When,
you're young and impatient and have been
Spoiled in a: middle-class hieme With most
of the amenities, you get a little sick of
"getting by."'
You'd like to buy an occasional roast,
instead Of trying to think of another method
Of Making a delicIOUS hamburg dish,' In
fact, at' today's prices, you can't even
affOrd hamburg too Often.
You'd like to go to a show once in a
While, or haVe a party, or have the clothes-
to go to someone party. But there
just isn't anything in the budget for theSe
fairly simple pleaSureS.
You'd like to have a car, like most
normal people, and, be able to drive into,
the Country, or visit friendS, or go home
for a- weekend and have SOnle decent food
from the old falltg°. groaning board. Can't
afford it. •
VoU'd• like to have colour" TV, or
even black and white, but there are no
fundS. You'd like some new, Warin,
Winter clotheS, but you have to matO do
With last year"S tive,yeat,,oln shabby
duffiecoat, and last year's leaky boots..
If you're pregnant, you'd like to Start
making a nests fikifig up a Mine. But on
the rent you can affords you -Wind up in
a crumby flat where you share the bath
teeth and the stove doesn't work and the
decorating Is in piike detour and the
the never iieVer goes highet than 66:.
ft Cali all be pretty depressing unless'
you have plenty of physical and mental
fortitude.
There's
,
there's of course, to fall biek
oh. But from what I've' seen in my dayj.
love tiouriA6g a lot'better When. there's
Some 'bread on the table and some bread:
in your wallet,
My wife and I went throUgti the whole
bit, but I can't help feeling more pity
for today's young couple8 than I ever
felt for us.
First of all, we were products of
the depreSsion , and didn't expect
When we did get a little windfall, we
counted our blessings and promptly went
. out and spent them. •
I remember the time one of my uncles
died intestate. By the time the estate
had been. cut up among the numerous
nieces and nephews, we got something
like $102.50 It was Manna from heaven.
We Went, straight out and bought a ;
radio, a case of beet,' a bunch of stuff
at the' delicatessen, and had a party.
To heck With tomorrow or next week.
But. I must admit that life was a lot
simpler then, and-a great deal cheaper.
We had a child, and we got more plea-
Sure Out of him than We would haVe
from colour TV, a penthouSe apartMent,
and a Cadillac.
We had a furniShed flat in On'e of
the grimmer sections Of the city.Shared
the bathroom. Furniture was 8alvation
Army specials: tint my wife redecorated
the plate, and it had two entrances and
a baCkyard With, real trees and gra.88.
It COst,$15 a week. FurniShed.
Today yOti can scarcely rent one
room for that. We had a total income
Of abOUt $130 a MOnth. That covered rent,
clotheS, transportation. About Otte
a Month we'd 'have a real ',blowout, Baby-
-sitter (750); movies (750 each) half a
tioen cokes (360 anti a •.bag of peanuts
15). WOW! .That's living,
we weren't bored, or' deopotate, We
talked, read, studied, listened to the
gloated, over out child. ,
tfolida.ys,,, I worked' in the pda Offide
or in a factory, to pick up a feW extra
bucks, Smokes were roltLyour-owns.
it wasn't bid s but I used to get mighty
sick of -never having a dollar that didn't
have a slot Waiting, to gulp it,
I've never been sorry that my plans
for post-graduate work, and three or four
mor se yeara poverty' Went up in flames
andI was tossed by accident into the,
hutly,buily of the newspaper business.
Today's students work hard 'at dull
suinlfrier jobs; save every nickel,
get grants, and have to scrape on the
edge of poverty and shabbiness. I pity.
them.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1973
.Serving Brussels and the surrounding community
published, each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean Eros. Publishers, Limited.
Evelyn Kennedy 1`Editor Torn Haley'- Advertising
Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association.
Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $4.00 a year, Others
$5.00 a year, Single Copies 10 cents each.
Second class mall Reg istration No. 0562.
Telephcine 887-6641.
Wow down
Suppose that all of a. sudden
auction sales were cancelled, the.
Lions Club and the Optimists, Boy -
Scouts and Brownies had to postpone
their meetings. Suppose everyone
stopped applying for jobs and no
one could find out when new babies
were born and local citizens got
married. Suppose real estate sales
dramatically slowed down.
It all sounds like the town has
been hit by a major snow storm or a
great hurricane. But all that would
have to:happen to slow down our; ec-
onomic and social life considerably
would be for the local newspaper to
close down.
The above scenario, according to,
Time Magazine, is currently being
played out in St. Louis, Missouri
where workers from both major dailies
have been out on strike for 5 weeks.
Downtown businesses have suffered a
large drop in sales and good jobs
are going begging for applicants.
We don't pretend to .offer our
readers news of international and
national scope, like the larger
dailies do. The loss of a small
town weekly wouldn't deprive 'anyone
of that kind of news. But the news
that we small town papers print does
effect peoples lives and very im-
mediately.
In a small town, even more than
tn a city like St. Louis where there
are other media covering the local
scene, reports of births', deaths,
marriages, and area meetings is an
important part of our service to the
public, The information contained
in our ads helps merchants to get
their message across to potential
buyers and lets the customer know
where the best buys and sale features
are. A St. Louis shopper is quoted
as saying "It's murder, you can't
tell where the sales are."
As the 1,970 Mass Media report
said, the weeklies are caught in a
cost price squeeze not entirely of
their own making. The net return
to the average weekly newspaper
owner is less than the average bank
loan charge. And bank loan interest
charges have risen considerably since
1970.
SOMe weeklies are closing and'
many others are being bought up by
the big newspaper 'chains.
Being bought up by a chain at
least means that a Weekly newspaper
will survive and that a small town
WI not be blacked out completely
from local Coverage. But some local
involVeMent and commitment to a
town is invariably lost When a chain
buys out a small` operation.
We're prObably giving ourselves
pat on the back, but as a St. Louis
cab driversaid: "You don't know how
Much you miss the
.
papers until they' re
gone.'
by Bill Smiley