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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1957-03-14, Page 3Going to Market Chinese Fashion Is Mrs. Wang, of .Peking, or Hankow, or Chengtu, interested in buying vegetables out of sea- son? Rare herbs? Wild fruits? Tender. fowl? ' All she has to do is to go down to the free market and >in- dulge in some good old-fashion- ed capitalistic bargaining with the vendor. But: if she wants a, staple meat like pork, chances are she will have to queue up in front of astate-run butcher shop, and perhaps, go home empty-handed. ' And if she needs cotton cloth • or mosquito •, netting, she will ,have to take her ration coupons. with her -_- even if she is buy- ing as little as 5 inches of mat- erial. Six months ago, after a three- year whirl with rigid state con- trol over both production and tales of consumer . goods, -Com- munist China's economic officials decided to reintroduce a free market in certain specified goods, The change -over began, grad- ually, in the second half of last year. It was encouraged by such top-ranking officials as Deputy Premier Chen Yun, who told the Eighth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party last September that "measures' taken by the economic,departments of the hate in the past few years, par- ticularly the past two years, to restrict capitalist industry and commerce have now become un- necessary. Mr. Chen said that when capitalist industries started pro- ducing almost exclusively for the state, they become less in- terested in the quality of their products. In turn, state run wholesale companies were so large that they lost touch with local requirements. C e r tai n places were overstocked and other places understocked, Likewise farmers, after being herded in cooperatives, lost in- terest in "subsidiary rural pro- ducts" because these no longer enabled themtoearn the extra Income -they needed. Prices offer- ed for agricultural produce were too low. In fact, Mr. Chen said, "There is in our present price policy something unfavorable to production." But the Communists were caught in. a dilemma, for they had .to hold both'the price line and the supply route 'so far as • major commodities ,were con- cerned. The government had to have an assured supply of grain at fixed prices, for .instance. Among manufactured goods, cot- ton yarn and cotton piece -goods were in short supply and had to be rationed. As a compromise, therefore,. the concept of a limited free mar- ket was evolved. The market was to be free because prices would be arrived at by the buy- ers and sellers themselves, ex- cept in cases of bulk purchasers such as state shops and supply and marketing cooperatives, which were to buy goods through exchange houses. • Today, half a year after these changes began to be introduced, Communist officials claim that "the planned change -over to the free marketing of nonstaple goods has been successful nation- ally," The amount and variety of consumer goods on the market have increased, and prices have remained stable, a New China News Agency dispatch Jan. 30 claimed. About one-third of all China's agricultural commodities are now said to be bought and sold on the free market. The free market, it was claim- ed, reduced intermediaries be- tween the grower and the user„ In Shanghai, up to four proces- ses were cut out of the handling. of vegetables and dried fruits. The transit time between the sel- ler and the buyer was reduced from seven days to one day - which meant, in the case of ag- ricultural produce, less spoilage. The new dispensation has also brought unwelcome 'trenfis. Some peasants are trying to leave the cooperatives and to become in- dividual entrepreneurs again. There has been speculation on the free market and "some de- velopment of capitalist forms." But the Communists claim these are only temporary phen- omena, and measures are be- ing takers by the state to cope 1 with them." Meanwhile, Mrs. Wang picks her way between the tight -pack- ed stalls of an ,expanding mar- ket area, savoring the smoke of roasting peanuts, poking at bas- kets of querulous ducks, in de- termined quest of that elusive but ever -beckoning bargain. Costly Swallows Careless parents put more than one toddler a day in hos- pital with poisoning during the past summer at the Transvaal Memorial Home for Children at Johannesburg, South Africa. Because parents left harmful chemicals lying within reach, youngsters admitted to this hospital swallowed these things during the year: Caustic soda, benzine, as- pirins, disinfectant, ear -drops, cigarettes, fly -spray, mothballs, freckle cream, carbon tetra- chloride (dry-cleaning fluid). Of the 404 cases treated, eigh- ty-five of the youngester under three years became ill after drinking household coal -oil, and sixty-four got sick headaches from taking overdoses of as- pirin. The coal -oil figure was so high, say hospital doctors, be- cause so many people keep the colourless liquid in lemonade bottles, - and casually leave the bottles where a child can get at them. - "So you suffer from indiges- tion," said a helpful friend. 'Wel], what can be better than drinking a pint of warm water after every meal" "Indigestion!" was the reply. A PACK AT A PUFF -Here's the answer to any, chain smoker who wants to smoke up a pack of 20 cigarets at once, as dem- onstrated . by French comedian Robert Clary. He found the gadget during a visit to an $250,000 antique pipe exhibit. 9. Awaited 10. Wing 11. Legal action 16. Misfortunes 19. Sort 22. Sharp taste 23. Lateral boundary ACROSS 3. Turk.. 29. Profound standard 25. Sp. tug 4. Genus of 26. One who allseedgives ear.. 6. Foul smelling 27. Bright 6. Extent - 30. Exterior 7. Reparation 31. Allowed as 3. Thin fabric discount CROSSWORD PUZZLE 1. Fly high 5. Remote 8. Apparel 12. _ - - - Wheeler Wilcox 13, Rather than 14. Spindle 15. again hed 17. Poisonous • tree 13. Become acquainted 29, Longstanding 21. Chooses 24. Puppets 27. Inquire 26. Porgy 29. Charles Lamb 30. harvest goddess 81. Tear apart 32. high railways 33. Not in 34. Corn grass 35.0500 37. Fairy queen 23. Infuriated 43. Not yours 45. Inferential 48, At any time 47. Female deer 40. English school 49. Small skin growth 60. Sheep 01. Course of eating WN 1. Slave 8 lave cea3ee. 33. '"terra del runguan /adieu 39. G(t1'a name 20. Put forth 37. Fight 39. Tarn up ground 40. So. Amer. monkey 41. Bacchanalian 42. Hollow 43. Cat's cry 44. Yellow. bug» 1 2- 5 4 5 e 7 6 9 10 i 12 '.19 14 15 . ®■®16 ' ■ , NV i ®O® 18 ■®®R■■19 ■®,< 'f '.5 <f F g 20 21 22 al 26 ® 27 7g gni :39 ■®®� ::?8734 '.al . ® 49,.. µ:®■`Y fe 49 ■®s kk47 ®®46®■ 5° ®■t''i51 ®iii Answer elsewhere on this page. SWEET AND SOUR - One's a peach, the other's a lemon and both are tops' of their kind, The peach is Carolyn Stroupe, aquamaid, She's holding a huge .Ponderosa lemon. WLPAIfl4 FRONT J06'� In this column I have already reprinted one or two articles written for the Christian Science Monitor - under the general heading "A Dispatch from the Farm" - by John Gould. Now, entitled "Our Cows Were Not Neglected", conies another from the same source. I cannot guar- antee that any of you dairy farmers will get anything of . vast scientific value from it - but I can say that is is good for a few real laughs. Read it and seewhat I mean. r e * One of our professors recently made harangue on a farm radio program and said good milk is 37 per cent grain, 21 per cent machinery, and 9 per cent hard labor. Malcolm MacCormick, veteran radio farm editor, there- upon thanked him, and he no doubt returned to his experi- mental station to discover fur- ther mathematical relationships. In view of many memories and wide experience, as well as • close association with the old- time production of what we mis- takenly called milk, I can see -that times have changed. We used to get 100 per cent milk, composed of 98 per cent hard labor and 2 per cent cut-up po- tatoes, and grain was something you gave bossy so she'd stand still while you milked her. This was pretty much so. We • had to keep two cows, so one would be milking while the other was dry, 'and' when they , were both milking production was more than ample. We never sold any milk, since everybody around about also had two cows, at least, so an important adjunct of every two -cow family was the big molasses puncheon into which excess milk was dumped for the pigs. Pigs went with cows, and you might as well keep two as one. Our milk had nothing added, and was used in its native con- dition. A gallon pitcher would be, filled, we had several such, night and morning for. family use, and "stirring the milk" was a pre -meal ritual along with seating Grandmaw, grace, and taking the napkins out of the rings.- I can remember that at times Mother Would get seated, and then would jump up with an, "Oh,. I forgot to stir the milk!" She would bring the long -handled fork used for fry- ing doughnuts a n d turning bacon, and whisk it around in the milk jug until the risen cream was again throughout the whole and we could pour our glasses full. If one of us pour= ed a glass without first stirring the pitcher, we'd get a rich, heavy, almost -curd result which was a mite too thick for drinking. Since such milkhas been de- clared unconstitutional, perhaps I should explain that the cream content then was considerably more than the law now allows. The. milk we didn't use upstairs was put in pans on the cool cel- lar floor, and after about two days the cream would be skim- med off for butter. The skimmed milk thus accumulated was used, in our unenlightened fashion, for feeding pigs, cottage cheese, and occasionally painting a hen- house. When modern chemists discovered casein paint •it cer- tainly astonished a lot of old- timers who had ' been using - it for generations and didn',t know it. I can't recall that we ever referred to this skimmed milk at "nonfat," but that's what it no doubt was. But I wanted to speak about the grain. If modern milk is 37 per cent grain, I can see why we didn't get it in the olden days. During the summer, when a cow could get all the green grass she wanted, and by breach- ing could pick up a few carrot tops, pea vines, and' petunias, we didn't feed any grain. In the winter, when the mows gave down field - cured sweetness, packed away with about .005 per cent machinery, we used to give them a little. When a cow dried off, being about to freshen, we did give her a couple of hand- fuls of bran night and morning. This was supposed to "make bones," but probably research has since exploded this. I think we chose bran because it was cheapest, and we usually had a bin of it for the pigs anyway. The other cow, still giving milk, would get two boy's hand- fuls of, "dairy ration." This real- ly cost money, sometimes as much as a dollar and a quarter a bag, and I think it was just run-of-the-mill sweepings with low-grade molasses added so the cows would eat it. An adult gave one handful, and the grain had to be scattered well among the orts of the manger so it would take bossy quite a time to find it and clean it up. This is when you milked her. Our grain program must have gone to one tenth of 1 per cent, conversion factors and all. But our cows were not ne- glected. We were able to offer numerous pamperings not pos- sible in the assembly -line . milk factory of today. We would take out a candy bucket (wooden) of hot water from the stove, and mix it with the cold pump water so bossy would have a warm drink. Winter water -e scant notch above freezing would make a cows teeth ache so she'd stick her snout in the air and turn her lips back, sowe warm- ed heg water and made her like, us,T Then we'd cut up potatoes. Only those who have done it know what it's like to go into the vegetable cellar in winter, with a lantern, and sit on a box while you cut up two pails of potatoes. You have to cut them up, as whole potatoes will choke a cow. The banking boards and the snow shut out all light and sound, and the weather -tight cellar had ifs own flavor and climate. More than once the oxygen burned low and my lan- tern went out, leaving me to grope my way up again with a pail in each hand. Sometimes we cut up turnips, but you could only 'give a cow so many tui nips or, the milk would taste. Mother ran tests on this, and she could taste turnips when nobody else could. But cows like tur- nips, and they were always glad to see some coming. Of course, they didn't produce any milk which would pass our stringent modern requirements, but we didn't complain about that. We didn't know any better. WOMAN RULED WELL Outstanding amongst the early rulers of Scotland, was Mar- garet, who served as regent for her son when King Malcolm died in .battle in 1093. She en- couraged foreign trade, abolish- ed many injustices and did all she could to help the poor and weak. Some say that she intro- duced the clan plaids into Scot- land, SEA ANIMALS LARGEST. It is interesting to learn that of all the different forms of ani- mal life the largest creatures dwell in the sea. Bulkiest of all is the blue whale, which reaches 100 feet in length and weighs more than 100 tons. Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking f'©®l '.1E1122EL -©00© Iti6®©11tiID ©I WW` CJ©p0E©A111L6: ©itio©®`ute wi Enna- dish© 110©' •©©©_ Iloo ©©111001110©l�E1 ©LDIO, 13©©IDD' ©©E2 ©NEM `.©®® Ofil111© o®©o ,©011/ coo© UNDAY SCHOOL LESSON By Rev R. Barclay Warren ' B.A., B.D. Unlimited Forgiveness Matthew 18: 21-35 ` Memory Selection: Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, 1 say not unto • you, Until seven times: but Until seventy times seven. Matthew 18: 21-22. When Jesus said we should forgive the offender 'u nif seventy times seven' he took the question out of the legal setting and put it in the love setting. He was saying, "There should be forgiveness without limit to- ward those who truly repent." ' Then Jesus told a story illustrat- ing how utterly ridiculous, it is for man to refuse forgiveness to his fellow, God has forgiven us when we were hopelessly iso debt. Why then shouldn't we for- give our repentant brother who owes us only a trifle? In fact Jesus made it very clear that God will not forgive us unless we from our heart forgive our . fellowmen. Recently I listened again to my friend Jacob DeShazer, one of the Doolittle fliers who dropped the first bombs on Tokyo. Jake spent 40 months in a prison camp, most of the time in soli- tary confinement. As he saw his companions • die from malnutri- tion his anger and hatred against the Japanese mounted more and more. Then one day the guard gave him a Bible. As he read..14 he saw his own sin and he saw that Jesus Christ had died to save him. There in the prison he was born anew. He became a Christian. Hate gave way to love, As he prayed he determin- ed that when the war was over he would prepare himself to come back to Japan to tell the people of God's love. He has been doing this work. Mitsue Fuchida who led the attack of Pearl Harbor is one of the thou- sands who has been influenced to surrender to Christ through this miracle in Jake's life. Mitsuo is now telling the message of love in the U.S.A. When we experience God's for- giveness for our sins it is the natural thing for us to forgive those who have sinned against us. PHILANTHROPIST AT 10 - Chalk up a second triumph for Logan Dawson, 10, of Rix Mills. Five years ago he fought through infantile paralysis without lasting defects. Now he's going to repay the polio foundation for its aid with a generous act. One of Logan's dreams is to have an entry in the county fair as a 4-H Club project. After he started raising an Aberdeen - Angus calf, he discovered he was too young to enter this year. But he had an inspiration. Now, he'll sell the calf at maturity and donate the proceeds to the polio fund. Appropriately, the calf's name is "Poly." REALLY SHOCKING - The shocks suffered by a .container during shipment are duplicated on this "hazard machine" of the Forest Products' Laboratories of Canada. Containers are tumbled haphazardly within this 14 -foot diameter revol wing drum to simulate the rough use they will. receive While being shipped. In this photo, a wooden crate of cans has broken apart in the hazard machine and a technician records the details of how it broke up. The large crate in the sling will be tested next. Such research by the Forest Products Laboratories helps provide Cana- dian industry with strong and serviceable containers to move merchandise. The laboratories are part of the, Forestry Branch, .Department of Northern •Affairs and National Resources.