Times-Advocate, 1986-10-08, Page 4Page 4
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Times -Advocate, October 8, 1966
Times Established 1673
Advocate Established 1881
Amalgama ed 1924
ENL.0
A41ANi:
198b
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Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NO4*11)
Second Class Maii Registration Number 0386.
Phone 519.135.1331
LORNE EERY
Publisher
JIM BECKETT
Advertising Manager
ENA
BILL BATTEN
Editor
HARRY DEVRIES
Composition Manager
ROSS HAUGH
Assistant Editor
DICK JONGKIND
Business Manager
Serving South Huron, North Middlesex
& North Lambton Since 1873
Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited
L.
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SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00
CLASS 'A'
•
•
Please, be careful
While area farmers appear to have
more than their share of problems now,
they should remember that the next few
weeks could bring some additional risks.
If and when the weather does allow
the harvest to get back on track, cash
croppers will be making haste to take ad-
vantage of every good hour with which
they are given.
Couple that haste with the un-
favorable conditions that will greet them
and it adds up to the possibility of farm
accidents that can prove even more
disastrous than the weather.
Farming is already a high risk pro-
fession from the standpoint of accidental
deaths and injuries and the statistics
could be augmented by the unwary.
Please be careful and remember
that those few extra minutes required for
precautionary procedures are time well
spent... because accidents can be more
costly than lost bushels.
Just for others
Anyone heading south for the winter
may be interested in a club that helps
Canadians find U.S. firms who take their
low value dollar at par for a variety of
goods or services.
The president of the club, which it is
assumed is operated as a business under
the usual profit motive, proudly pro-
claims members joining up will benefit
from membership to offest some or all of
the disparity between Canadian and U.S.
dollars.
While the club is out seeking firms.. M
south of the border willing to accepti
Canadian dollars at or near par, the prin-
ciple apparently hasn't reached home.
Membership dues are $35 in Cana-
dianfunds and $25 in American funds.
A news release said the club's
organizer got "sick and tired" of losing
30 percent on his Canadian dollar every
time he visited Florida.
Strange that his attitude isn't
reflected in offering memberships to
fellow Canadians at a loss of 40 percent
in comparison to memberships in U.S.
funds.
•
Cowardly deed
The news last week that about ten
Mennonite families had been robbed by
"highwaymen" who stopped their vic-
tims in their buggies or forced their way
into homes.provesthat we have a new
and daring brand of thieves abroad. It
must take a great deal of courage to stop
the occupants of a buggy and force them
to hand over the small amounts of money
they carry - particularly if the thief hap-
pens to know that the Mennonite faith
demands the victim must offer no
resistance.
Of course there is no moral dif-
ference between robbing a millionaire or
a Mennonite - but it takes a particularly
low form of humanity to threaten people
with knife and shotgun when the thief is
well aware that he is in no personal
danger.
Too bad we have discontinued use of
the public pillory. These particular oafs
should be exposed to the contempt of
their neighbors.
Wingham Advance -Times
The Rainmaker
Farmer misunderstood
It's been a very long time since
I was a farmer. No, I wasn't born
on a farm, and I never owned a
farm. My definition of a farmer
is someone who makes a living
working in practical agriculture.
one of the hardest ways of mak-
ing a living.
And that s what this column is
about. I want to salute the
farmer. He is completely
"'misunderstood; not only by city.
slickers, .but even by people liv-'
ing in small towns and in the
country who have nothing to do
with farming.
Thanksgiving Day is just
around the corner. A good time to
reflect on the role of farmers in
our society. I've got to get it off
my chest. I think that our
farmers are getting a rotten deal.
I am not talking about
gentlemen (or lady) hobby
farmers who for romantic or
financial reasons may be pastur-
ing a few head of beef cattle or
stabling a couple of saddle
horses. And I'm not talking about
the super -industrialized farming
corporation that can't function
without computers and
managementment-by-objectives.
My salute concerns the other
95% of farmers. Those who still
wear rubber boots and still muck
out their own barn. I'm also talk-
ing about farmers' wives,
farmers' children and farmhands
without whom agriculture would
be impossible in this country.
The average non -farmer
doesn't know the difference bet-
ween grain and soya beans. Or
the difference between a plough
and a manure spreader. In fact,
the average Canadian probably
doesn't know what manure is.
Farmers should let their non -
farming fellow Canadians know
what exactly it is they are doing.
What it is like to get up at the
No easy answers
It never rains but what it pours
is an old saying to describe a
disproportionate amount of bad
luck and it is certainly applicable
both literally and figuratively for
area farmers in particular and
the whole community in general.
The record rainfall of the past
month just couldn't have come at
a worse time, and while the
ramifications won't be fully
known for some time, it is
already evident that it is border-
ing on disaster for many.
As readers may recall from a
column a month ago, the outlook
for the district's white bean crop
wa'. about the only silver lining
on a crop year that has seen
disease and market prices take
their toll on most commodities.
The record white bean crop
that was expected to be
harvested and sold at a decent
price now lies rotting and
moulding in area fields along
.with the major portion of the
vegetable crops. Corn and soy-
beans have also been damaged
although the outlook for those two
crops is far from bleak.
Combine that with the eroding
equity being faced by those along
the concession roads and it is evi-
dent that many farmers can en-
vision themselves sinking into
financial quagmires resembling
those out in the field.
The weather has dealt a severe
blow to agriculture at a time
when its adherents were already
under extreme pressure.
• • • • • •
It will be some time before the
full effect will be analysed, but
the seriousness of the situation is
evident in the fact that
Agriculture Minister Jack Rid-
dell cancelled a planned three-
day engagement to the U.S. to
tour the hard-hit areas of the pro-
1
vince to get a first hand view and
meet with farmers to discuss
their plight.
Mark his report card with an A
plus for that display of concern
and consideration!
The area MPP has already
given indications that he is looiC-
ing at some possible methods of
assisting those hit hard by the
weather although farmers should.
Batt'n
Around
...with
The Editor
not expect some overnight
decisions.
It is evident, however, that
area farmers and their organiza-
tions should recognize the need to
present as much valid documen-
tation as possible to ensure that
officials have an accurate picture
of the situation. •
It there is a hopeful sign in the
predicament facing farmers in
the wake of the weather woes, it
is that there appears to be a large
number involved and as in most
adversities, there is strength in
numbers.
However, that strength must
be used if it is going to be effec-
tive in convincing government of-
ficials at all levels that some
assistance is required. Victims of
the tornado which hit the Barrie
area were treated much dif-
ferently than victims who have
suffered the same fate through
isolated storms.
Farmers have a responsibility
to ensure that their losses and
needs are fully detailed and that
they work from their position of
strength in getting those needs
fulfilled.
• • • * •
There's no doubt that the
weather has compounded a pro-
blem that was already reaching
alarming proportions in the
agriculture industry. As the
agriculture minister pointed out
on his travels through the area,
even those farmers who may
escape some of the weather
damage are facing a bleak
outlook for their commodity
prices.
There will be no easy answers
or remedies and it is obvious that
farmers recognize the difficult
task facing those who will share
the responibility for the decisions
that must be made.
• * • * •
The entire community shares
in the tears and agony that have
already befallen some in our
midst. One can not help but be
moved by the young farmer who
had to withdraw froth a conver-
sation to regain his composure
after being asked to explain his
plight.
It's difficult to know how to
relay a message of concern and
compassion to someone who is
witnessing the devastation of his
work and dreams.
He is not alone in his plight, but
surely he and the others must not
be left to stand alone to suffer the
consequences and the agony.
Our communities must quick=
ly mobilize to help these victims
as 'surely as they would to help
victims of any other disaster.
We're all in this together and
must recognize there are those
who need our assistance and
compassion.
The
When I first started teaching,
about 20 odd years ago or so, each
teacher always had a little bit of
fear at the back of his/her mind
that the day that you were least
prepared would be the day that
the inspector would come in.
Worse yet, your register would
not be up to date and he wouldn't
sign it. In those days the atten-
dance register, neatly done, was
an important issue because the
government grants to the local
schools were figured out on the
number of days students actual-
' ly attended your school.
Nowadays your grant is based on
the number of children registered
in the school as of a certain date.
An inspector came into my
class one day. The first thing he
did was look at that big blue
re ister. His face turned a little
nd I knew I was in for it. I'm
lef • anded and not the neatest
crack of dawn or before - sum-
mer and winter, seven days a
week. To,have no paid holidays,
unless 'you're an outside
employee. To work with animals
who need as much care as people
- or more, because they can't
care for themselves. To face the
dangers of agricultural work
every day of the year (farmers
are among the greatest risks)
and to be exposed to fumes,
gases, chemicals and allergens
all their lives.
The average Canadian has no
idea how much machinery a
farmer has to own and operate.
Everyone who owns a passenger
car knows how much it costs to
have it properly serviced, main-
tained and repaired. Farmers
have dozens of pieces of equip-
ment, some of them far more
complicated than cars, that need
constant attention. Do city
dwellers know how much the
average farmer has invested in
mechanical devices alone? What
the farming community needs is
better public relations.
Farmers should tell us how
much it costs to build a silo these
days. Or a machine shed. Tell us
how much you spend each year
for the vet, for gas or diesel fuel,
for fertilizer.
How much time does the
average dairy farmer spend
working? Thirty-seven and a half
hours a week like most of us? Not
bloody likely. Do women farmers
or "farmers wives" find much
time to sit in cafes or to take their
young children for a walk? Tell
the yuppies in Toronto and the af-
fluent homemakers in Calgary
what you do in your spare time!
Tell them about the chickens and
the vegetable garden, about calv-
ing or lambing, about the account
books and .the -laundry.• ,-:
I salute-you4U, mem Womei
and children who are ploughitfg
and harrowing, planting and
weeding, fertilizing and mowing,
combining and raking, baling and
stacking, feeding and milking,
mending and repairing,
calculating and worrying - so that
you can keep the farm and your
livelihood, and so that my fami-
ly and I get our breakfast cereal,
our bread, our cookies, our milk,
butter and cheese, our eggs, our
meat, our mayonnaise and
vegetable oil, and all the other
staples and fanciful foods that we
consume day after day without
ever thinking of where they come
from.
When I see a farm going back
to bush, I cry. Generations of am-
bitious, hard-working, optimistic
farmers have toiled to clear the
land, collect rocks and stones,
improve the soil, build a
homestead and barns. And now
all that is left to remind us of
them are broken fences and log
skeletons. It gives me the willies.
Our farmers look after us well.
We are among the best fed peo-
ple in the world, and our
agriculture exports contribute to
our economy and keep us wealthy
as a nation. For God's sake, let us
look after our farmers. We need
them, and they need our support.
Thank you, Canadian farmers,
for everything • you do every
backbreaking day of the year!
inspector calls
"Of course they will," he said.
Now I knew it was hot, but I
also knew that there was nothing
• that could be done about it since
we were right over the furnace
and also, the windows in the old
school were swollen with the
winter moisture changes, crack-
ed with paint and age and simp-
ly refused to open.
Anyway, he stepped smartly
over to the windows and com
enced to try to open one. Then he ,.
tried another. Well, he tried for
fifteen minutes to get them open,
sweat popping eut on the back of
his neck. That man hated to ad-
mit defeat. Finally though he did
give up and without saying a
word picked up his briefcase and
flew out the door, his face almost
• purple.
He never came back to sign the
register and believe me, I was
just as pleased.
writer in the world. On the
September page was a big black
blot. (Fountain pens were still a
must then unfortunately). He
cleared his throat and was about
By the
Way
by
Fletcher
to really let me have it. Then he
looked around the room.
"It's very hot in here!" he said
impatiently, his little moustache
quivering.
"The windows w ln't open, sir,"
I said apologetically.
e