The Citizen, 2001-01-04, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 2000. PAGE 5.
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A couple of celebrity bears
The bear - a big, skinny cub, really - was
exhausted. It had been chased by the
dogs for a whole, hot, miserable
Mississippi afternoon, ending up trapped. in a
muddy waterhole, hounds on all sides of it.
snarling and snapping.
One of the hunters galloped up, dismounted,
leapt into the waterhole and clubbed the bear
senseless with his rifle butt. The bear, alive but
stunned, was hauled out and lashed to' a tree
just as the rest of the hunting party arrived on
horseback.
"There's your bear, Mister President" brayed
the Great White Hunter who had clubbed it.
"Go ahead - shoot 1m."
The year was 1902 and the man he was
talking to was Theodore Roosevelt, 26th
president of the United States.
Roosevelt was an avid, even fanatical, hunter
but he had his limits. A groggy, half-starved
bear cub tied to a tree with ropes? That's
where he drew the line.
The president refused to shoot the bear. He
also refused to let anyone else shoot it.
It turned out to be the best public
relations decision Theodore Roosevelt ever
made.
A sketch artist for The Washington Post had
accompanied the hunting party and decided to
immortalize the moment in a cartoon entitled
"Drawing The Line in Mississippi".
For some reason, the cartoon caught the
public's fancy. And not just in The Excited
States of America it went around the world
Farmers in Poland far outnumber those in
Canada and their problems are far
worse; in fact there is very little that, in
the short term at least, is going well for them.
The thought of their country entering the
European Union in the next few -years brings
them anything but joy; on the contrary they are
convinced their farms are likely to disappear.
What will take the place in their lives is hard
to predict but in their minds running a
prosperous farm is nothing but a mirage.
First of all, not only are there too many
farmers for the size of the country; there are far
too many farms, most of which consist of only
a few acres. Whereas the neighbouring Czech
Republic has managed to reduce its farm
population to just under five per cent; in
Poland it is still an unmanageable 28 per cent.
Only Romania, with 38 per cent has a higher
percentage but nobody likes to be compared
with that country these days.
Polish farmers share with some of their
Canadian counterparts the failure of their crops
to provide them with enough income to break
even. About the only exception in Poland is
sugar beets but, as more and more farmers
switch to that crop in order to make a living,
the danger lies in increased production
flooding the market and thereby driving down
prices.
Does this not sound like a familiar theme to
farmers everywhere?
The Poles make large quantities of good beer
and one might think that there would be a
market for hops. However, most Polish
breweries have been bought by large German
firms and the latter tend to bring in their supply
more cheaply from other countries.
The result? Hops fields lie untended.
Other crops do not draw the subsidies that
are the norm in Western Europe and which are
a thorn in the side of Canadian farmers. Nor
are the Poles under an illusions about some day
receiving the level of subsidies as currently do
then-western European counterparts.
As it is, places such as Germany and France
and made Roosevelt famous as `a man of
humanitarian principle'.
It also gave birth to a children's fad that is as
popular today as it was a century ago —
stuffed bears. Our parents had them. You and
I had them.
Our kids have them. And we call them
`Teddy' bears because of that loveable old
bear-sparer `Teddy' Roosevelt.
It's an odd coincidence, but just 12 years
after the Mississippi encounter, a Canadian
bear was about to step onto the world stage.
The year was 1914, and a troop train had
stopped in White River, Ontario to take on
water.
A Canadian army lieutenant by the name of
Harry Colebourn stepped off the train to
stretch his legs. Down the platform he saw a
grizzled old trapper with a bundle of black fur
in his arms.
"What's that?" he asked. The trapper held it
out and said, "It's yours for $20."
It was a tiny black bear cub. Lieutenant
Colebourn bought the bear cub, dubbed it
`Winnipeg' after his home town, smuggled it
aboard the train, and later aboard the steamer
Raymond
Canon
The
International
Scene
would like to reduce the costly subsidies that
area heavy load on taxpayers. They are
extremely hesitant to do so since farmers have
far more political clout in those countries than
they do in either Poland or Canada.
Given that the Polish government does not
have a lot of money (they are already running
a sizeable budgetary deficit, unlike Canada
which is awash with surpluses), plans for the
Polish agriculture sector will likely go
unfulfilled. There is brave talk about
diversifying the rural economy to bring about
such things as agro-processing and farm co-
operatives (shades of communism) but there is
simply not enough money to educate the
current crop of farmers and provide the
necessary investment capital.
As it stands now, many of the Polish
marginal farmers make ends meet by holding a
second job in the nearest community. Some
work at Daewoo, one of the foreign car
manufacturers, some have found employment
in a mineral water plant set up by Perrier while
other work in nearby stores.
A larger group of them get by with a state
pension or welfare but the operative word is
"get by" since their income just allows them to
live and does not provide enough cash to
upgrade their farm.
Go along the Czech border near Poland and
They can because' they think they can.
- Virgil
that took the Second Canadian Infantry
Brigade to England. The bear became the
brigade mascot. He also grew rather sleek and
fat from an excess of army rations.
When Lieutenant Colebourn got his
marching orders to the French front, he left
Winnipeg in the care of the London Zoo.
By now the bear's name had been shortened
to Winnie.
And it was at the London Zoo that a British
writer by the name of A.A. Milne and his
young son Christopher first saw Winnie.
Christopher loved the bear — so much so that
his father began writing bear sfories to
entertain his son.
Those stories would soon become famous in
dozens of languages around the world as The
Tales of Winnie The Pooh. Winnie was back in
the news recently when a painting of Pooh bear
by the original illustrator of the books, sold at
auction at Sotheby's for $243,000.
Quite an auspicious run for the little orphan
bear cub from White River, Ontario.
More auspicious than the Mississippi bear
that President Roosevelt so magnanimously
decline to shoot back in 1902.
Actually Roosevelt wasn't quite the
humanitarian he came to be portrayed as.
True, he didn't shoot the bear tied to the tree.
He walked away, muttering to an aide, "Put it
out of its misery".
Which the aide did. With a hunting knife.
The Washington Post cartoonist didn't draw
that part of the story.
you will see some of these farmers at markets
supplementing their income on weekends.
Others do the same on the Belarus and
Ukrainian borders but the latter two countries
are in even more terrible shape than the Poles.
Things will get even worse there for, as soon
as Poland enters the European Union, border
crossings will be subject to visas whereas now
people cross freely, too freely for the Western
Europeans; hence the plan to introduce visas.
Whether in Poland or in Canada, to
paraphrase a line from Gilbert and Sullivan's
Pirates of Penzance, "a farmer's lot is not a
happy one!"
Letter
THE EDITOR,
This is a thank you letter to the members of
our town council, the administrative staff and
the town employees for a job well done. We
have been fortunate to have had a well-run
community and it is appreciated.
To all of you - Ralph, Joe, Mary, Greg, Mike,
Donna, Lori, Sherri, Don and Hugh - best
wishes for the future and thanks again for all
you have done for the residents and the Village
of Brussels.
Sincerely,
Sheila Richards.
Letters Policy
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editor.
Letters must be signed and should
include a daytime telephone number for
the purpose of verification only. Letters
that are not signed will not be printed.
Submissions may be edited for length,
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the rght to refuse any letter or, the basis
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information. As well, letters can only be
printed as space allows. Please keep
your letters brief and concise.
Resolution for change
Anew year. A time .not just to look
ahead, but for retrospection, to
contemplate the way ware and what
has been. Our response to such reflection is
to see our shortcomings and often make
resolutions. This happens for some of us with
the best of intentions, for others much more
casually.
I was not interested in making a resolution
this year, primarily because I tend to fall more
into the latter category. That is until another
event occurred prior to New Year's Eve which
caused me to consider what has been missing
and to realize that I can, by resolution, alter the
situation.
Last Saturday, our family held an open
house in honour of my mother's birthday. As
it is with these celebrations it was 'a time of
visiting with friends and family, not just those
we have known forever, but those whom
through time and circumstance we see only on
rare occasion. They come to you, warm smiles
and greetings, not just to say hello, but for a
moment at least to recall the past.
Reminiscences abound as folks play the
game of I Knew You When and snapshots of
yesteryear show how it was. Vivid memories
bring alive once again long dormant scenes of
the past. It's all a reminder that who you are
today is the result of the many, many people
you have been through the course of your
lifetime.
Thus it was with this sense of nostalgia my
sibs and I, along with our spouses made the
trip back to Mom and Dad's for more visiting,
more memories. We laughed, we teased and
simply enjoyed being together with our
memories.
It was after leaving, howeve., that I
particularly noted bow rooted I feel when I'm
with my brother and sister. They may not
necessarily relax me, but there is something
inherently comfortable about their company.
They have known me forever and love me
anyway. We have seen each other's warts and
though probably inclined to point them out,
accept them. We have seen each other's scars,
quite likely put some of there, and remember
the hurts.
The relationship between siblings is often a
love/hate one. I see this with my offspring.
They can be each other's greatest tormentor,
teasing, torturing. But let an outsider speak ill
of the other and they become their staunchest
defender.
It is an association that seems born to
experience and endure the animosity. My
relationship with my older brother was
typically acrimonious. I was, the little sister,
the pest, and he the ruthless bully. Yet,
remembering this got me thinking — had I
hated anyone else as much as I did him during
those times, they certainly wouldn't be in my
life now.
The reason, I believe, is that we are closer to
our siblings than any other human being.
Though one comes to think of husband and
children as family, the bond between brothers
and sisters is rooted deeply. Our genetic make-
up is formed, after all, from the identical pool.
And I have realized that I miss my brother
and sister. With close to 100 miles separating
me from each of them, those times together
we remembered on Saturday are becoming too
far between for my liking. Thus as a new year
dawned, with the best of intentions, I have
resolved to change that.
The agricultural situation in Poland