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The Seaforth News, 1961-06-15, Page 3Rural Wells And Highway Engineers Every time our Maine Legisla- ture convenes they consider a Plock of "claims" by upset citi- zens over damage to wells. The subject merits a dissertation. All over. Maine, it seems, are farm wells whose value has been de- preciated by the activities of our state highway department, and overtures by the citizens involv- ed to this dictatorial administra- tion fail to produce satisfaction. Feather than go fly a kite, as suggested, the owner ai the damaged well hunts up a mem- ber di the Legislature, and a bill is introduced to compensate. There are various reasons given for the damage calmed, Some wells are disturbed by ,nearby blasting; the intricacies of underground flowage ale up- set by shock, and a well that flowed freely will dry up. Some- times the application of salt to winter roads, used to melt ice and snow, will feed brine into the ground and a sweet well will lose its flavor, Or gain one. Sometimes grading changes con- tours, so surface water backs up, or stands deep enough to flood the area, And sometimes in lay- ing out new routes engineers will simply run over a well, leaving the homestead as before, but un- watered, There need be no doubt that such high-handedness causes in- convenience, sadness, and much expense, A water supply is vital, and is not an ordinary as- set that can be judged by ordin- ary terms of possession. You can move a henhouse and you can get along without a snip of land. But you don't find water under every sod, and a well is not a possession eminent d o in a I n should lightly construe. Maine has excellent under- ground water. Poland Water, for instance, which is sold the world over, comes from a farm well in the Maine town of that name. It, brings fancy prices where water is dear, but hundreds of Maine farms have wells that suit them without having a similar pen- chant for merchandising. The geography and geology of the state contrive to make us rich in good water, In the back country, when you get away from indus- trial and municipal. troubles, even the lakes, ponds, and open streams are safe and palatable. Yet a home well or spring, around which the family has erected its being, is always in a special place. It is because that's where it is. The lore of "witching" always tan deep in Maine, and before, a erm home was establishedthere would be much running around with a forked stick. There would be much. consideration of what the "rod" indicated, When the precise spot was found, • it bore on the eventual location of the house and barn. Up. would go a log tripod with a pulley, and down would go the, hole - the dirtbeing brought up tediously in buckets. When water was reached, often below the vacuum . limits of an atmospheric pump, it, was hopefully tasted and its flowage measured, Then came the big rocks, which were lower- ed to ('stone up" -the well, and the generations were secure in the most important asset of all. In our time, such old family wells have been fitted ..with pipes and pumps. We use a spring which gushes richly from our' side hill, and operate our own water system. Too many people today, I think, get their water toe easily from a tap, and for- Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking S JJ V 3"'•`C n n 0 t N 71 V M d 3a 3 211 3 N a 0 21 a N 3 N 3 1 3 1 51 9a Na 9 zr 3' 5 3 V 1 I 3' bad 0AV 9 if 3 A N 11111.114.4 l Naa3 F+ N a it Vde 3 V 99 N3 s21 a 3• 1 -I V 1' V 1' N 35 1N3.1 33-1V SdV9 a 0 9 3 3 V 9 V w get or never knew how rural wells and springs supple the rest of. us. In this flourldation hassle, the arguments pro and con have never 'considered in the slightest that I and many like me are tax- ' payers, that we would be re- quired to finance the "treatment" for village people: Nobody has ever proposed' to come up here and spend money to fluoridate my water system. Understand me .- I don't want them to, but I mention this to show how coun- try people with their own water systems are generally counted out. The urban attitude permits the highway engineers to take such liberties with rural water supplies, The "public interest" has decided that roads are more important than water, Obviously, the definitions have collapsed. You don't "pay for" a well. It is a piece of property above and beyond the computa- tions that prevail, You can't pull a well up. and move it fifty feet away, as you can a stone wall or a mailbox, The truth is that while a well may run freely, the ground 10 feet away is dry, or if it runs as well the water may be very different. Indeed, s u ch things have been strongly in- corporated into our moral fiber, and even the wildest savages have dealt harshly with mis- creants who fouled springs, Even when pondering the horror of modern war, we shudder when CD directives warn us against contaminated water supplies, Yet we live in a day when a state agency may dump salt in our well and refuse to be responsible! These claim bills get varying treatment, of course. The legis- lators listen to the parties - al- though naturally the highway position is expounded as ex parte as is the grievance. That a citizen may, now and then, be trying to milk a cow that doesn't belong to him is possible. But it does seem as if the constant"de- mend on legislative time to per- use and consider the perennial rural complaint about outraged wells . must stem 'from a basic fault in our' public procedure. If . nothing more, there must be in- difference to the importance of the well. There must be an advance -man ;attitude which comes along with construction in mind, and looks at a well, and says, "Emmm it's not im- portant, it's, just a well Would any of you care for a nice, cold, glass of pure, sparkl- ing well water? By: John Gould in the Christian, Science Monitor. Man's Reach Should Exceed His Grasp ! If there was one man in the ' world who was a natural tohead such an expedition, that. man was Sir Edmund Hillary. Tall, gaunt, and toothy, Sir Edmund had con- quered Mount Everest in 1953 and five" years later, trudged across 700 miles of -Antarctic ice pack to the South Pole, Now he wasto head a nineteen -man ex- pedition to the top of the Hima laya's Mount Makalu, 27,824 feet, By last fall a 22 -foot -long pree fabricated hut was set up at 19,- 200 feet. There the expedition leaders huddled around a kero- sene stove, testing their blood: changes and taking, aptitude tests to determine how rarefied air' affected their IQ's. With spring, the final test would be 'made an 8,000 -foot assault :to the top of Makalu without oxygen masks. Last month, that assault was launched - but Sir Edmund was not in the lead. At the age, of 41, he had suffered a "cerebral spasm," which brought partial speech paralysis. for 48 hours. More recently he was reported "resting in the sunshine' .at a Nepal village in the foothills. There, the Sherpas, saddened at the illness of, the great blond gi- ant who had first climbed Ever- est with their own Tensing Nor- kay, had set their prayer wheels spinning. Every night a hundred yak -butter candles were burned in prayer for his recovery. Have you noticed how a few pats on the back can help a man propel himself forward? WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS - Thi's patrolman is snapping sequence pictures from his prowl car of the white station wagon which has just ignored a "left turn only" sign, Photos from the German -made camera unit, called Traffipox, will be used as evidence when the driver appears in court. • VICE PRESIDENT IN PAKISTAN - Vice President Lyndon John- son shakes hands with a camel driver in Karachi, Pakistan, while the driver's charge towers over the scene. The touring official invited the driver to come to the United States, TIlL L&RM FRONT From our Western Provinces, especially Saskatchewan, there have come rumors of a new sort of "land grab". It was said that United • States farmers, paid by their Government to let their farms lie idle, were coming north of the border and growing large tonnages of wheat, thus' adding to the ever-increasing and trou- blesome surplus' of that grain. In a recent issue of the Chris- tian Science Monitor, Charles. E. Bell comments as follows on the buyers. 4 4 4 A survey of thiswheat-grow- ing province's international bor- der ' communities has disclosed that the so-called "American farm invasion" is not currently of Serious proportions. Results of the recent study, made by . the provincial govern- ment across a 55 -mile strip of southern Saskatchewan, should soothe those who have been as "serting that large-scale Ameri- can .farmers are buying up Sas- katchewan farm land with money they receive under the United States' soil bank plan "for not growing wheat" in their own country. And it also shows that if any "land grab" does develop, it will be due to. Canadian farmers themselves s e e k i n g American situation. e The survey was recommended by the 'Saskatchewan Farmers Union, a farm group that claims substantial membership in the province. At district 'meetings about a year ago, charges were heard that United States farmers were flocking north to purchase farmland at inflated prices, op- erating the units from their home farms south of the border. It was alleged that large tracts were bought by United States corporate interests. * S 4 In the House of Commons, a member of Parliament from one of the border constituencies ask- ed the federal government to investigate the situation, assert- ing that it was another example of American economic penetra- tion into Canada, * 4 4 The argument goes that Amer- ican absenteefarm owners con- tribute little to community' life. They truck their own machinery across the border - permitted under customs regulations -and take it back to the home farm in the fail, buying only fuel and repairs, 'plus minimum house- hold necessities, in the nearest Saskatchewan town. 4 Because the farm is vacant most of the year, it is asserted that there are fewer candidates available far school boards and other public obligations. Thus community institutions suffer. It is said that ,' mei'ican operators are not subjiet to Canadian in- come tax leers, Because they offer inflated prices for land, it Is difficult fed• young Canadian farmers to expand in these days when farm uliits must be larger to be eeunem'sally operated. And it is charged that this state of affairs threw etts that hallowed agricultural institution, "t h • family farm." I • The recent survey appears to scotch most of the assertions least as far as the immediate fu- ture is concerned. In 55 rural municipalities within an east- west strip about 50 miles north of the border, 521 United States farmers own 2 per cent of the total grazing and farming land. The land involved is contained in 1,443 quarter sections of land - 230,880 acres - a relatively small tract in the vast wheat- lands that stretch for miles across the southern part of Sas- katchewan. About 72 per cent of the acre- age was purchased by Ameri- cans prior to 1957, an indication- that land buying has not in- creased to any extent in recent years while the United States soil bank plan has been in op- eration, The survey brings out that 67 per cent of the Ameri- cans' holdings has been rented back .to Canadian farmers. The highest proportion of land own- ed by United States interests in any one municipality is 9 per cent. • 4 4 American corporations, accord- ing to the survey, are not a major factor in the purchases, only nine incorporated bodies being involved and only two of them owning more than seven quarter sections each. Most of the remainder are organizations. representing institutions that provide assistance to the aged or incapacitated. Much of the land was bought for $25 to $39 an acre, a lower - than -average price for cultiva- ted land, a point that appears to negate arguments about inflated prices being paid. Aside from the statistics pre- sented in the survey, what about the individuals involved? Typical is a young American who operates a '"family farm" in Westby, Mont. He and his two °ensile/ awn between them 00 acres in Saskatchewan, In a newspaper interview, the Amer» lean said he began buying land in the province in 1952, his latest purchase being about 110 miles north of the border where he plans to build headquarters, Many Canadian farms are waiting for buyers, he contender but nobody else wants them, I gets letters with offers. Canadi- an farmers advertise land for sale on United States television stations and in newspapers, He says he pays his share of income tax and other special faros levies, even though he is not eligible to collect on the latter, No soil bank money was in- volved in his transactions. Lost Ring, Found After 51 Years Nearly fifty-one years ago -a year after her marriage - a pretty young housewife living in Ohio, lost her wedding ring which was inscribed: "Married, June 25th, 1909, George to Jen- nie" , She thought she would never see it again. Jennie is Mrs. Jennie Garner, who lives to -day in New York and is a widow. The ring has just been found by a young con - pie who bought the Ohio home where the Garners Jived fifty years ago. It turned up while workmen were excavating to instal a new front doorway to the house. The new owners gave the ring to the local fire chief in the hope that he would be able to find the owner, The fu e chief knew a nephew of the Garners and mentioned the ring to him, And the nephew remembered that as a lad he had often searched for the ring at the house. So Mrs. Garner is wear- ing her beloved ring once again. Wedding rings are easily lost but it's amazing how often they are returned to their owners. A young married woman did not want to tell her husband when she lost her wedding ring on their vegetable farm in East Anglia. So she bought another just like it. Twenty-five years later her 'husband learned her secret. While at work on the farm he found the first ring with an en- tail growing through it, Not long ago a girl was sorting through a tray of cheap gloves. She tried on a left glove and as she drew her hand out there on her third finger was a shining wed- ding ring. The young woman who had lost it was traced. A Yorkshire girl was feeding a calf when it sucked a gold wedding ring from her finger. Three years later the animal was killed and the ring found in its stomach. �iSCI1Q(4 By Rev, it. Barclay Warm SEEK GOD IN YOUTII Eceleshistes 12:1.81 S Timothy 4:1.S Memory Selection: I; have foug a good fight, it have finished nq course, i have kept the faith. Timothy 4:7, Perhaps the best known versa In the book of Ecclesiastes ise "Remember now thy Creator in the days ofthy youth." The realistic, though rather gloomy„ picture of old age that follows, supports the exhortation. I was one of the great number of youth who thought that reli- gion was a good thing to have before dying but a kill-joy ire youth. I, therefore, decided that when I got to be about forty years of age and had had my good time, I would settle down and get religion and be all set. for heaven when death should come along. I would thus get the best in this life and the best in the life to come, Such thinking is foolish, Who knows that he will live to be forty? "Boast not thyself of to- morrow," Further, how many people of forty, who have left God out of their lives thus far, are able to hear God's call to them? If they hear, how many are prepared to break with all their sins and sinful associations and fully repent and believe on Jesus Christ? Not many. I am most thankful that through God's mercy and grace, I heard and heeded His call when I was fif- teen years of age. I've had a really good time, and no 'hang- over: I have sought and found God's guidance in choosing a vocation, choosing a wife and for many other important decisions, Paul, as he neared the end of his life, looked back with satis- faction and forward with joy. Though now an aged man, while the outward man was perishing, the inward man was being re- newed from day to day. There was no despondency here. We can all have this experience it we turn to Jesus Christ now and give Him our all. We can't re- call the years. The decision of today only affects the future. However, through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, the past is forgiven. You can't lose in turning• to Christ, His love, His peace, His joy. far surreys anything and everything that the pleasures of sin can afford. Prove it for yourself. ISSUE 23 - 1961 CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1. Engineer's shelter 4. Trenches S, ttnit of weight 15. Hall SS. Opposite of aweather 14. Rockfish 1s. By 15. Gave temporarily 17. Paradise 13, Rubber which removes marks 50, National agreement 25. Pti111ppine neite 25. Special ability 23 Diminishes 87, Dimselves e 30. Ourselves 31. Stage whisper 30. Exclamation 34. substance 37. Tilow 40. Trimming' 42, Blunder 43. Scheme 45, Began 47, Parson bird 48. Encourage 40. Girl's name 51. Promise to. 67. Donkey DOWN 1. Promontory 2. Moans 3. Scold 4. Dept. store event 5. Vigilant 55. Minute orifice 53. clang 54. Young reporter 55. Ovule 55. Acquire by labor 8. Write II. ia5urous 7. Determined 00. Su )ervtsed a S. Salad puj,llendon 8, Affix a, new time ;:3 Female roti 10. Dill seed 30. Plant n:•^d to 11, Numerous liniment 35 Trespass , 41. Une totally 21. Poreige • lost (coltoaa S4.S'oreign 17. Drops ili~bi13 26, Windmill. saes on water 26. Strong tastes 28. Pearly 44. C. Amer. 20. Pronoun f 48. Chess piece 32, Branch of Al. Calls knowledge 60. Bib, ruler 11.s:=.:.';:1i.® 4 1®■® :il..:A1111..m. ®®.®aM:®li.111® 33 111 111: 1111 WI la 111 111 61116116111111111111%11111111i111111111 61®.1111all®.. :::1110. ®� �. :::9 1110 ®.:i O i©■■ il...ic :`s1/...W®U 26 29 Answer elsewhree on this page LADE ASTRONAUT - Women may be better Spaceship drivers than men. At least, that's one result researchers have found after a year of imaginary space flights of the Martin Co. Girl above Is conducting a simulated rendezvous with another vehicle in outer space (circle on snreenj. The studies are port of Project Apollo, which is aimed at sending a crew of three to thrt moon.,They indicate that women adopt to space flying more quickly than men.