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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1989-02-08, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, February 8, 1989 Times Established 1871 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1985 Published Each Wednesday. IZtorning at Exeter,•Ontario, NOM 150 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519.235-1331 ROSS HAUGH Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager" C CNA • IIM BECKETT Publisher & Adsertising Manager titOh SMITH • .Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 Bigger -not. always better • he heading on this story is one which applies to many aspects of North American life, but for this editorial we will dwell on the farm situation. With recent big business mergers, the number of businesses are getting fewer and the big are getting bigger and stronger. Some will argue that compa- nies must be bigger and hopefully stronger to compete on a global basis. That's not the message put forth by El- bert van. Donkersgoed, the research and. policy director of the Christian Farmers Federation when he spoke at the recent annual banquet of the Huron Soil ,and - Crop Improvement Association. The research director said it is the be- lief of his . group that the family farm must be kept strong. In his opinion this would enhance economic democracy which in turn strengthens political" de- . " Hepointed out that those farmers who now own their land rather than, being tenants only,- feel they have a greater hand in their community and the country as a whole.' It's better to have them feel a part of the system. It's not hard to see what has happened in many cases around the world when farms have been turned from ownership to tenantship and deinocracy like we • have, has failed. In communistic countries, communal ownership has almost wiped out the ini- tiative by individual farmers and in some South American countries, dictatorships have put" most of the farm work in the hands of peasants . who are doing the work for only a few landlords. The ab- sence of a sense of owning property leads to economic and political chaos. .Despite the plea to'hold onto the family farm, the number of acres is disappear- ing quickly each year and a lot of this is to housing. Of each _100 houses built in Ontario each year, 85 are constructed on 10 percent of the . prime or good farm land. The same situation exists in the Soviet Union where land has become so badly eroded that "one last crop" is being plant- ed in the form of houses and factories. Every acre of farmland is needed throughout the world. Contrary to pop- ular belief,`the United States has become a net importer of grain, using five per- cent more than it produces.The days of surplus grains are 'probably gone forev- er. Due to the drought :last year, world. food supply is now down to only enough to feed the population for 54 days. The last time the world food supply was that short was in 1973-74 when a 57 day sup- ply came about in a period of high de- mand and high prices for farm porducts. The aniount of land in production has actually declined in the fast 20 years after high prices of the early 70's put.a lot of marginal land into productionn. Let's do all we can to keep the family on the farm. That's the only way to en- sure top production. They will care about conservation of their land which will in turn keep food on our tables. By Ross Hough Ash Wednesday This year, Ash Wednesday dazzling parades. It is best.expe- Wednesday. falls on the 8th of February. So rienced in such European cities what? Most Canadians ate not • _ax Venice, Cologne or Munich, even aware of this day, which is in South America (especially Rio —still of great significaTw : w nrrr--aim), orin New Orleans. countries. Thc Quebec Carnival :.-which In past centuries, -Ash Wednes- day was a major date in the calen- dar. it meant that camrvaF • time of revelry, merrymaking and riotous amusement was over. Lent - the time of fasting and mourning and repenting had ar- rived. Ash Wednesday is sct to fall on -----• —the Wednesday following Quin- quagesima Sunday. And we all know when that is, of course (in round numbers, it is the 50th day before Easter). in Canada, we don't take these things very seriously. Carnival? Why, there arc different carnivals in every city, town and village , and their timing depends on con- venience, not on•tradition. Cana- dian carnivals (or winter carni- vals as we like to call them) may be staged on any weekend be- tween New Year's and Easter, before or during Lcnt. Not so in many other countries. The real Carnival has nothing to do with skating, toboganning or skiing. It is an ancient festival, having its origin in the Saturnalia of pre -Christian times. Thc real Carnival is a time of glittering masked balls, elaborate cos- tumes, outlandish customs, and PETER'S POINT • by Peter Hesse' • started traditionally enough but Its name comes from the 6th century Roman custom of sprinlo, ling on the heads of 'penitents" -the-ashes ofpalIn leaves left over from thc previous Palm Sunday. Modem Ash Wednesday is a day when hundreds of mill' of –carnival' revellers all dver Inc world sober up, put away their costumes and masks, clean up the mess, and face reality, again. In Roman Catholic regions, this reality. includes fasting and other forms of self-denial. _They! say- ' til you've experienced Rose Monday or Shrove Tuesday in one of the great C i tile worlTAnd I say you ...haven't moanedoaiuntil you've �w�iitt- hangover, the wailing and gnash- ing of teeth that follows on Ash Wednesday. Come to think of it, the tame little ('inter carnivals in Canadian communities arc easier on the nerves and healthier for the body. We may not rise to the loftiest heights of passion of Tuesday, but then we also don't fall to the depths of despair on Wednesday. Moderation in all things - isn't that the Canadian way? Let's en- joy our pancake breakfast, our skating, and maybc a Bingo game or two. Wintcr is the pits, you say? Let's tum it into a four- month carnival. Ash Wednesday" is un -Canadian. • be a pike. This is how it was de- scribed." A large man threw the fish oVcr his shoulder and the tail dragged on the ground." We don't -believe this is one of the modern day fish stories where the size of the fish grew with each telling of the experi- ence. Thc story also said the suckers and pike were so plentiful that it. was not difficult to fill a wagon box with the fruits of the Credi- ton river. Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications limited They get bigger After last week's column about the size and age of fish caught in this arca, we received a call from Roy Finkbeiner of Crediton re- minding us that fish were also big in the "good old days." He was referring to a history of. the brick business in Crediton in the early 1900's written by Ever- ett Haist of Dashwood. A couple..of the chapters in Haist's book refer to the early summer of 1901 when the fish were splashing in the Ausablc River at Crediton. With a large group of men out ‘vith spears, an object first seen in the water as a log turned out to *. * * * In this year's financial state- ' ment of Zion United Church in Crediton, treasurer Deb Hodge has included the Ten Command- ments of Human Relations and the author was Robert G. Lee. We will submit these Com- mandments for your perusal and p From the :editor's disk by 15 Ross Haugh would suggest if these were fol- • lowed; it's a good start to mak- ing the proper use of the Ten Commandments in thc Bible. Here they are. 1. Speak to people. Thcrc is nothing as nice as a cheerful word of greeting. 2. Smile at people. it takes 72 muscles to frown and only 14 to smile. 3. call people by _name. The sweetest music to anyone's cars is the sound of his or her own name. 4. Be friendly and helpful. 5. Be cordial. Speak and act as if everything you do is a genuine" pleasure. 6. Be genuinely interested in people. You can likc,almost eve- rybody if you try. 7. Be generous with praise and - cautious with -criticism. 8. Be considerate with the feel- ingsiof others: There arc usually three sides to every controversy; . - yours, the other person's and the right one. 9. Be alert to give service. What counts most in life is what we do for others. 10. Add,to this a good sense of . humour, a big dose of patience and a dash of humility, and you will be rewarded many fold. * * *• * Last week we promised, or maybe that should be threatened. to end the column each week with a pun or play on words. This week's contribution comes from the February 7, 1878 - issue -of the Exeter Times, just to prove humour, at least our brand hasn't changed "too much in 111 years.. "Mrs:Nickell of Kentucky has just presented her husband with thc .21st pledge of her fidelity: The region ought to he well sup- plicd•with small change." Kccp.on smiling. ushto�i,-=�,�-.Ustening Finally, I see some "'sense • opinions more outrageous than tcrs. I have every respect__ffor emerging at the University of _Rushton's, yct'all contribute to that. . • tuns Western Ontario. .1 hear they are the ademic climate. -- sscr ways I am frequently going to hold a debate between " A undred .years ago, any reminded how inadequate my Profcssor Philippe Rushton and n -thinking man could have " male -oriented thinking is. When told you women were incapable relatives visit my apartment, dec- orated in early Mcccano, they of- ten say "it could use a woman's touch." -snow fbstivat - is probably rc- s} S' ennadian ver sion of "winter carnivals". in England, the carnival season was called "Shrovetide". It cov- ered the three days before Lent, when sinners first went to con- fessions and thcn indulged in "shroving" (having fun). Shrove Tuesday, the last day of "shrovetide", used to be the great "Derby Day" of cock -fighting. It has now been reduced to "Pan- cake Day", and that tradition has recently been exported to Cana- da. The name Shrove Monday has been all but forgotten; in Eu- rope it is called Rose Monday, and in many countries all busi- ness stops during Carnival until the day of reckoning - Ash David Suzuki. Can you imaginc, he will actu- ally present his research to a Ca- nadian audience before bcing condemned as a racist. . Hol A couple of weeks ago the me- dia and minority groups seized on Rushton's thesis comparing l - r , �,,� �.-•.,:.3�:,��'. � G3d'�'ati'z.:: YliF.`t.ir�. �.T7t�UL ltj� •�' , blacks; onentals, and whites, and \ Adrian Harte more a hint at mymarital status. Being single and in tumid -20s saw .as An„e.S,arm 1g4fir Maw.—„_– _- �,3,.- - - -------somehiin& like' icing a visible promoted at thc university level. 'ftb ut the point is we taken. ow - of 'like the :stainless thought... steel throw cushions?” i reply, If only life were so simple. of w6rking outside the home, minority around here. i can sec how minority groups did not possess rational thought, We don't have to agree with would be concerned. If Rush- and did not understand the politi- Rushton, but someone should be cal process well enough to cast a made to realize research like his ton's studies of how the origin- • tal's larger brain sizes and higher vote.• is important. Only thcn might we average IQs, made thcm more . By the 1960s women had find out why Japan has one of suitable to the industrial world were to be accepted at face value by some people, they could form the root of renewed racial dis- crimination. The secret is to ap- preciate the study without using it to paint everyone with the same racial brush. • . But the suggestion that a pro- fessor should be disciplined for presenting politically -sensitive re- search is ludicrous. Thcrc are other professors at UWO with fought for their place in the work force, but " even in the early 1970s attitudes and advertising showed it still was- very much a man's world. If anyone were to suggest that today, i suspect their body might never be found. Today, the world is beginning to realize women arc not just an alternative in the workforce, but an asset. Women do see things differently, and that really mat - the world's strongest economics; why blacks dominate pr6fession- al sports and hold such great in- • fluence on the music industry; and why thc Italians build the world's most desirable sports cars and bicycles. Understanding will bring har- mony, prejudiced guesses won't. i may not like what I might heat, Mr. Rushton; but speak on. i'll listen.