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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1915-10-7, Page 34 WHY THE BANKER AND FARMED SHOULD BUILD UP THE HOME TOWN TEAM WORK IS NEEDED AMONGST THE BUSINESS MEN Strong ' Plea for a Movement to be Inaugurated by Bankers and Business Men for the Bridging of the Gulf Between the Town People and. the Farmer. (By X. R. Moorehead,. in the Banker Farmer;) There are at least twice as many living in our smaller cities, towns and villages as live in our fifty great cities. The home market - of our farming population living about these smaller cities and towns is just twice :}s great as the city markets. Yet we dear much that would lead one to be- lieve that all of the people in this ,country to be fed by the producers on 'the farm are to be found in the great centres where the high cost of living seems now, more than ever, the one great thing talked about, and to be. considered. Yet, the home market of the farmer is his largest and best Market, right at his door where he can bring his produce every working day in the year and sell it to the con- sumer direct, without the intervention of ,any middleman whatsoever, and secure therefor every cent without any profit of commission to any mid- dleman whatsoever. In these nine states, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsyl- vania, 6,966 towns have lost popula- tion, notwithstanding the fact that the population of the whole country in- creased in the decade covered, 21 per cent. Out of the 78 county seats in these nine states, 217, or nearly 23 per cent, of them, have lost popula- tion, though the county seat is in Many ways the centre of most of the activities of the county unit along the line of politics, courts, collection of taxes and in other directions. And, etrange to say, this tendency of the decline of the towns is greatest in the richest and most thickly settled part of the states. What daesxthis mean to you and to me, and to all of the forty million people living in these towns? It Means this, a continued loss of bust- bess; it means depreciation in pro- perty values in these towns; it means It depreciation in farm land value, for the better the town the higher the value there is to the land because of lis proximity to the town; it means ess deposits in your banks; it means that you will have less money to lend )e the farmer and to the business luau; it means the boys are not going to stay in the towns; it means that the boy is not going, to stay on the farm unless the town affords some attraction; it means economic ruin to Many of our best interests; it means Increased problems for the country and states in matters of handling our social and political problems in our great cities; it means concentration of business of .every kind in the great centres; it means the downfall of the small business man and the small banker; it means socialism. What are we as bankers and busi- ness men, going to do about it? What does your home town most need? First of all, it needs team work, Co. operation, first amongst bankers and business men, and second, by all of these and the farming communities about us. There are too many bank- ers and business men in these towns who are disloyal to each other -a lack of confidence exists. Competition and business rivalry have tended to make Dnemies of us, • rather than friends end co-workers. The local drygoods pan cannot supply the wants of the 'banker's wife• and family because his 'stock lis not fine enough, hence they trade by mail or visit the department store. Let.me remind such a one that "a town that 'is 'good enough .to. live in is good enough to spend your money in." If you cannot spend your money where you make it you are sucking the life, blood our of our town and you ought to move. The lumberman and the hardware mer- chant and their families are just as often guilty of the same practice, and then they wonder why the town does not improve, and their business pros., fer. What inducement, let me ask, or example, is there for the local dry 'goods store to carry in stock 'goods fine enough' for the banker's, the lumberman's, and the hardware mer- cheat's family? None whatever. This being often the case, how can the banker expect the merchant, whose note he holds, to meet his obligations if, there is takenaway from him the only means whereby he may be able to meet them his"' profits on goods sold to his 'neighbors. The whole "question is summed up in and stated in; the following from following one who was' at one time the editor of a country newspaper in ' this state, when he said; "If you spend your money where you get it,, you will be able to get it where you spend it." The second great movement that should be inaugurated by the bankers and business men is that of bridging the gulf which exists between the town people and the farmer. It might be to the advantage of perhaps one person in ten thousand in this coun- try to have this gulf made wider, but no more, There are' many of our farmers, and some living in towns, who have been .educated to believe that the home merchant is a thief and a robber, and that the local banker is no less guilty of sharp practices than the loan shark of out cities. Thous- ands of them do not even give the home merchants a chance to supply their wants. (No wonder the home merchant does not carry the stock in size and quality to meet -the demands of some of our communities. Bow can he? and why should he?) They send the money away when they have the cash,' and the home mer- chant is only of use and benefit when the crops fail and when the price is so low that' they hold for a higher, and in the meantime the merchant be- comes the banker, in that he lends 'his goods without interest and often bor- rows the money from you in order to perform this service. Our farmer friends, our neighbors—best friends —have become estranged from us, and the imaginary line between the country and the town is a barrier to the prosperity and the co-operation, and to the good of all. In solving this problem we will not have to work upon all of our farmer friends and our neighbors, most of them are loyal to us and to their own;town, but it is our duty to co-operate to stifle every movement working to augment this effort to take the trade of the farmer away from his home town. We should enlist every influence to join with us. There is a great quartet of interest in this country, which, if they could be brought together, and in the end they will wheie conditions become ripe, would work wonders for the good of all. I refer to the bankers and the business menof the towns, the farm press and the country paper. The movement inaugurated by the bankers, looking to co-operation with other interests in the upbuilding and increasing of efficiency of the farm, is the great movement of the day. It will not succeed at the expense of the millions of people and particularly merchants and bankers Iocated in the towns and smaller cities. They are vitally interested and should become a part and parcel of a great jdint movement that will increase the pro- ductive ability of our farmers. You cannot hope to accomplish this in- crease by in any way crippling that great body of our people who are the nearest to, and the only ones to whom the farmers as a class go to, and de- pend upon for assistance and co-oper- ation in time's of extremity. It is the problem of to -day, that of feeding this nation, - which is already a con- suming rather than a producing one. To this cause the merchants and. business men of the towns pledge their earnest. support.' There . are more than a' million of them. ' They ask in return reciprocity on the part of our neighbors and farmers in order that peace, happiness and prosperity may be the portion of all alike. Our fourth great aim should be, in order to preserve ourselves, our com- munities and those about us,. to ' be- come community builders. 'Community. builders to the extent -of blotting out thecorporate limits, extending the in- fluence of the commercial club and the business organizations to cover the country surrounding. It has been my privilege the most of my life to live in a community which to a large extent has accomplished this thing. We have found out by co-operation on the part of the bankers and the business men that the farming community about us was in hearty sympathy with every' effort to meet conditions in and out of. town, and - where I have lived, and what we as merchants and bankers have done is being repeated through- out the country. Many towns have become awakened to the situation; they are inviting co-operation; they are seeking light; they arespending money; they are doing ' everything that is possible in their power. 'to' promote the feeling. of friendship, p and co-operation with all classes. WOOD AND WATER. Wood Cell >Is Com oiled r of p, Crystals ystals Like Grains of Sugar' or Salt. All wood contains more. or 'less wa- ter; even the driest` wood known con- tains two or three pounds of water to 'every hundred pounds of weight: Ab- solutely dry wood is unknown, for the heat needed to obtain it would dis- solve the wood and convert it into gas and charcoal. An eminent Swiss au- thority on the characteristics of wood believes that a sufficiently 'powerful microscope, could it be made . would p, , show that the ultimate wood cell Is composed ofcrystals like grains of sugar or salt, and that thin films of water hold . the crystals apart, y<yet bind` them into a mass. ` A good mi- croscope shows thewood cell and °re- veals its spiral bandages and its open- ings and cavities, but no instrument yet made reveals the 'ultimate crys- tals that, as manybelieve, do exist; and that would explain why water cannot be 'expelled from wood without destroying .the wood itself. A man isn't known so well by the company he. keeps as by the line of talk he hands the" next door neigh- bors. SURVIVORS OF HESPERTAN JUST AFTER THEY 'LANDED About the Household' Dainty Dishes, Iwater for a ,little while they become• Finnan'Haddie Broiled, -.-Wash a I suitable for salad. thick haddie and cover it with cold I Do not use scouring, powders ore water. Put flesh side down for half ! soaps on your bathtub; a cloth dipped an hour. brain and cover' again with in kerosene oil or turpentine will re- cold water, Drain and cover with F l with a little lveih ubg. b a A Ye very hot but not boiling water, and polished let stand for- half an hour, Drain and , thing gritty', it should be remembered, dry, Rub it well with a cut lemon,' ruins the enamel of bathtubs. dot with butter and broil for twenty( Save the water in which the fresh minutes, Place hot on dish, dot with green peas have been boiled. It butter again and pour over it one makes an excellent foundation for Cupful of hot cream. Serve at onGe soup stock or gravis. It is of such a with baked potatoes, delicate flavor that some people like Bread and Potato Fritters.—Light it served in bouillon cups with :salt, and savory fritters may be made pepper and a bit of butter. with breadcrumbs and grated raw A quick way to clean currants potatoes, Grate two thick slices of when making cakes is f q put the fruit bread to fine crumbs, mix with one into a colander with a sprinkling of tablespoon finely minced onion, salt flour, and rub round a few times with and pepper to taste, and add one cup your hand. It is surprising how boiling milk, While mixture is coot- quickly the stalks are separated and ing pare and grate six large potatoes come through the small holes. and beat them into bread crumb mix- I Get some bitter apple from the ture. Add two well -beaten eggs. Drop chemist, crush it, and sprinkle it by spoonfuls into frying pan in which amongst the clothes, You will find it the there is plenty of boiling fat and dry finest thing on record for keep, brown on both sides, Serve hot. ins moths away from everything and Potato Chowder, :Parboil and slice' one. can use garments at a minute's six fine potatoes; fry half a pound of notice, as there is no smell left by bit - sweet salt pork (chopped), and when' ter apple, ' it begins to crisp add a minced onion! A way to make old carpets look and and cook to a light brown. Pack in ; wear like linoleum: Take any old layers in a soup kettle, sprinkling iece de up f to trpet e fiaand n wherek it it, trga each layer with pepper and minced main, Now mix a thick paste of flour The above snapshot of a group of esfierian survivors was taken just parsley, Add the hot fat; cover 'with and water, cook it thoroughly and ap, after their landing at Queenstown, by Sir Stanley Barrington, Ira- a pint of boiling water and simmer 30 fagot,' Cork, who sent a copy to Mr. John W. Price, Toronto, an- minutes, Turn into a collander and ply evenly to the wrong side of the other survivor of the wreck, who, although not in the picture, was t an interested spectator at the time It went taken. RED CROSS PUBLICITY, It must not be forgotten that a great many of our Canadian soldiers are from Quebec and do not speak a word of English, Lying dangerously near death in an English hospital with nobody near them with, whom to con- verse, they are truly in a deplorable condition. The ladies of the Quebec Red Cross have put themselves in French touch with their Canadian compatriots, and some of the letters they have received are not far from pathetic. "Dear madam," writes one soldier from a London hospital, "I received your letter this morning, and it gave me infinite pleasure, especially since you write in French, for I can read English only with 'the greatest diffi- culty. You ask me whether I need anything. All that I need is that you write to me again." Another says, in reply to a lady who wrote to him: "Pardon me if I have not answered immediately, I •have been very ill and cannot sit up in bed. I cannot write with my right hand, and it is with great difficulty I write this with my left. I am very happy to have news from a French Canadian lady. If only I were with you we could talk together. I do not speak a word of English, and I am the only Canadian in this hospital." Such being the case with a good many Canadian soldiers, our French Cana- dian Red Cross workers are indeed to be congratulated for their charitable enterprise in writing to the wounded. A Year's Red Cross Work in Canada. • The great majority of the Red Cross branches in Canada have been organ- ized since the beginning of the war. A cursory inspection of the annual reports, which are available, show a record of ° Red Cross achievement which' is not confined to any one sec- tion of the country, but extends over all the provinces, The last monthly report of the Hall - lax branch records recent contribu- tions of $5,500 and addition to the membership of 71 active members and 14 life members. During the month shipments were made of nearly 120 bales. An idea of 'the expansion of the work in Montreal can he gathered from the report ' of the surgical" de- partment. Last January the ship- mentswere•15 cases, each containing 450 dressings. Last month 137 were sent tb the Red Cross hospitals 'over seas. The Victoria branch in British 'Col- umbia has collected over $20,000 since its inauguration, $11,390 of which has been sent to the head offices of the Society, in Toronto. In addition to this cash donation, over $7,500 has been expended for materials made up by local workers. Taking other contri- butions into consideration, it is.:esti mated by officials of the Victoria branch that upwards of $40,000 has been subscribed locally. The Canadian Hospitals at -the Front. A writer in an English publication. pays •a striking .tribute to the Cana- dian Hospital Organization in Europe. No. 1 General ,Canadian Hospital situated on the outskirts of Boulogne, lies in the centre of much the biggest hospital concentration ever- attempted. in history. ' The visitor finds himself amazed at the scale and scope of this hospital town to the efficiency of which ,Canadians have made a nota- ble contribution. Their 'share in an organization which is beyond r prece- dent cannot perhaps be exaggerated. It is second only to their performance in the field. This particular hospital is in some respects the leading one, owing to a new method invented by. Col. Murray MacLaren of New ' Brunswick, the officer commanding. He has arranged the spacious tents in long corridor ' wards, each capable of holding 64 pa- tients. The breadth of the tents, the simple arrangements of the electric lighting, and the very convenient ar- rangement of the corridor, make the wards as pleasing to the senses and hygienically perfectas could be de- sired. In some respects No. 2 Canadian Hospital, which occupies the golf Ho- tel Le Touquet and overflows into k er charm, tents on the links, has great but the site of No. 1 is in the highest degree attractive, owing to its outlook over a wild natural stretchof scenery. The hospital, which was organized as long ago as September,: has gradu- ally perfected itself since its arrival at Plymouth on October 16. It had many sites in England, where alone 4,000 cases were treated, before sail- ing for France in. May, but only to- day has it reached its full perfection. The Equipment. In all these hospitals, English and Canadian, the operating theatres are models, both of structure and equip- ment. The incident of light, both natural and artificial, is even 'Metter than in most London and. Montreal hospitals; and one can point to little that is inferior even in such equip- ment as X-ray apparatus. It is a de- light to see the smooth working of the Canadian officers and doctors, whether R.A.M,C. or Red Cross, in this im- mense organization. There are three more Canadian army hospitals in England, and in France three general, with a poten- tial equipment of 1,040 beds, two sta- tionary, a clearing hospital, with its attendant ambulances, besides an ad- mirable system of Red Cross distri- buting depots, set up, thanks to pri- ate generosity in Canada, within. reach of every hospital unit. It is an interesting attribute of the larger es- tablishments, such as No. 1 General, that every department of Canada is represented within the circle of the unit. The arrival of a group of French-Canadian nurses coinciding with Sir Robert Borden's visit, may be quoted as an example of the unity of the Dominion. Preserving Fruits for the Red Cross. Now that the preserving season is in full swing, patriotic housewives who are doing up fruit for the Red Cross, should take special pains to ensure that the preserves will stand transit and resist fermentation. A good deal of fruit has been received at the eRd Cross Headquarters done up, or at least supposed to be done up, in small baking powder tins, mustard tins, cocoa tins, and so forth. Need- less to say, such preserves are as per- ishable .as fresh fruit. ' The cover comes off the first opportunity, and the sick soldier, for all . the ,good housewife's efforts, will have nothing but an unsatisfied longing. In; this matter no amount of patriotic inven- tions fill the bill so well as a quart "sealer" or a "lever" tin provided with a top that will fit 'down snugly and securely. Canning instructions have been pub- lished, calling for unsweetened pre- serves 'as like fresh fruit as ;possible and as unlike jam, . with which the soldiers are surfeited. Some ladies have taken these instructions too liter- ally; and have sent in fruit absolutely unsweetened. Preserved fruits should contain a certain amount of sugar sy- rup, They should be boiled at a high ` tem temperature p sufficient to destroy the yeast germs which cause fermenta- 1 tion. The jars should be sealed so as to he perfectly airtight. They should be packed for transit in stout barrels and boxes with the individual jars snugly wrapped in ex- celsior. Only careful. packing will _prevent breakage. Ladiespfruit ,preparing Parin g should pay. special attention. to this matter. The making of the preserves' is only a' drain the liquor back into.the kettle.; $ave ready a pint of hot milk into i which has been stirred a tablespoon-' ful of butter, rolled in flour; add to the liquor, cook one minute, return the potatoes to the kettle and serve. A novelty sandwich consists in thea fact that after the sandwich is made: it is pressed closely together and' then dipped in a thin batter made in the proportion to one beaten egg to a half cup of milk, If the filling of the sandwich is a savory mixture of egg, fish, cheese, meat or fowl, a pinch each of pepper and salt should be add- ed to the batter. If, however, the sandwich has a sweet filling, the bat- ter should be slightly sweetened and flavoredwith a teaspoonful of sherry. Cook the moistened sandwich on a hot, well -greased griddle, browning first on one side and _then on the other. A shallow iron frying pan wilt answer. the same purpose, and olive oil will be found an excellent substitute for butter. Fowl. With. Sour Cream Gravy. Cut chicken or fowl as for fricassee and cook slowly till tender, Do not add salt until nearly done, When. perfectly tender remove to platter on which is spread buttered toast or crisp baking powder biscuits, split, and make sour cream gravy as fol- lows: One and one-half cups chicken broth, three-fourths cup sour cream and one and one-half tablespoons' each of butter and flour. Rub butter and flour together, add to broth and let boil, Thin with sour cream, reheat and season to taste with salt and pep- per as needed. Do not let this boil, as it is liable to separate. If fried chicken is desired, dredge meat with flour and fry in butter, chicken fat, or lard until brown. Delicious. Irish Stew.—Free two Pounds neck of lean mutton or veal from fat, divide into meat cubes of uniform size, about one inch long, and put on to cook with enough water to cover. Let stew until tender. About an hour should be enough if meat was reason- ably tender to begin with. Have ready in another pot two carrots, cut into small dice, and two fair-sized onions, sliced thin. They should be cooked ten minutes to take off crude flavor. Drain and add to meat, with pepper and salt to taste. Cover and simmer one-half hour. Then add two good-sized potatoes, cut into cubes and parboiled, and two stalks of cel- ery, also diced. Simmer steadily another half-hour, covered. Put one tablespoon butter into frying pan and when hot stir in one tablespoon of flour. Cook, but do not let darken, and add to stew a little before serv- ing. Take up meat with split spoon, lay it neatly in centre of heated plat- ter and lay vegetables about it. Household Hints. Cold water, ammonia, and a little white sodp will remove machine grease. Powdered French chalk sprinkled over stale bread is an excellent clean- er for wall paper. Should fresh paint be upset on the floor, pour.: vinegar over it and wipe up at once with a soft. cloth. Silk, if burned, gives off a disagree- able smell, similar to that of burned feathers, whereas cotton or artificial silk- are practically odorless. Do not throw away one bit of the' celery. Wash the undesirable parts and boil them with the soup bones. It will. give the soup a delicious flavor. If afraid to use poison for rats, soak a rag with kerosene, put a piece of camphor gum in it and stuff the rat hole. Mr. 'Rat will call at that en- trano more. Cucnceumbers are cooled under run- ning water if they have not been on ice or if stood stem • . down in iced small part. of the work. The main point. is that they, should reach the t sick soldier consumer in the hospitals unbroken and unfermented.' Carpet. Thus paste acts as a filling and makes a good surface on which to apply one finishing coat of paint. Let the paste dry thoroughly, then apply one thick coat of paint, A light lead will not show the dirt. Time saving is one of the chief pro- blems of the busy woman, and it con- cerns especially the housewife who does her own cooking. Here, for ex- ample, is how one woman saves time. When she makes pie crust she makes double the quantity needed at the mo- ment, as pie crust rolled hi a damp napkin and put in the refrigerator will keep perfectly for several days. Then she plans in the menus for the next few days to use that crust. A dessert or a fruit tart for the first night, a meat pie for dinner the sec- ond night, turnovers for luncheon the following day and if any crust re- mains it can be used in desserts, meat patties or cheese straws. By using the pastry in such a variety of ways she avoids the impression of same. ness yet manages to lighten her work materially. h BELLS IN GAME OF WAR. That of Vienna Cathedral, Cast From Turkish Cannon. The great bell of the Cathedral of St. Stephen, Vienna, cast from cap- tured Turkish cannons more than two centuries ago, is to return to war as an Austrian "skoda," a 42 -centimeter mortar, big calibre shells, or shrapnel. The church has given this treasure to be melted up as part of the war metal collection. Here is another of the reversions to former times that the war has dis- closed; to the days when he who com- manded the bell commanded the town, when the conqueror melted down bells for amunition or the conquered saw his cannon cast into bells. Bells have had a great part in war, they have summoned soldiers to arms, and they have rung over triumph and defeat. The old bells of Chester Cathedral rang the victory of Trafalgar and the death of Nelson, "after every peal a single booming note of grief." An- other old English bell, cracked under the strain of Waterloo rejoicing, was recast and re -inscribed, "I rang the downfall of Bonaparte and broke." Some of the famous French • bells were melted down for gun metal in the revolution. Many of the 'bells of Belgium, renowned as a land of bells and where the finest products of the art in its prime, have already met the fate of the tocsin of St. Stephen. Old "Roland," the bell of Ghent, that sounded only victory, and the 600 - year -old "Horrida," of Antwerp, pro- claimed neither their city's danger nor fall. The Great Growler, "die grosse Brummerin," of St. Stephen, weighs only 17 tons, not much when it is re- membered that if Russia, too, was to melt up her bells she could find in Moscow one that weighs .180 tons and another 128 tons. Old St. Stephen's bell in times past could have made ' -a small battery of artillery. To -day it would furnish only a third, of the ma- terial of a 42 -centimeter mortar, and. as the shell used in this .monster gun is, `five feet long and weighs 'three- quarters of a ton, it would not even go far as ammunition. "These shells;" it. is said, "kill everyone within ':150 yards and many further off;" rifle bar- rels melt as if struck by lightning; men who disappear in such explosions "are reported as missing, ' as there is b no proof of their death." The old bell comes down to woeful 'businessfrom the tower where it has so long pealed only peace. One-third of the sufferers from gout in hospitals are painters: A leather cannon was use at Edin- burgh in 1773 and found, to answer. Madge—So yov feel better since you gave up dancing and devoted yourself o Red Cross work? Marjorie-In- leed I do, dear. I've had my name in the papers ' nine times. -7