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The Seaforth News, 1933-01-05, Page 3THURSDA , JANUARY 5, 1933. THE SEAPIQRTH';NEWS. PAGE THREE. ARTHUR W. CUTT:EN'S Ito NtnIlc CAREER :,:Forty-two years ago a young and Piopeful lady 'firom Guelph arrived in IOhicago to make his (fame and (fortune. lite had $90, an ollld-1ashione'd'trunk, a Jh'ighwtheeled 'bicycle, 20 years and the conifidence that goes with ahem. iHe !was alone and friendless, Today the boy is Arthur W. Outten, at 62 a very Wealthy man and possibly the most ]famous wheat :slpeltuiator the world has ever knb'wn. The boy who delft his borne`town in 11890 with, ,only half a dozen +people aware of his absence to- daywould be welcomed back by the Mayor, the council and all the brass bands in the 'couentryslvd:e 'He is the donor ,of Guelph's new ,golf .course and su'bscriber to many philanthropic ent- erprises in the Wellington county seat. How he arrived ' alt his pre'seent position is told in an iautobiograplhncal series of articles now aplpearinlg:' in the Satur- day Eveniing,Polslt, where the greatest 'speculator of hips time writes in col- laboration with Boyden ISpalekes. 'I was .b'onn," he says, int Guelph, the second 'San of a, staircase of +chlil- 'drese who finally numbered six boys and two girl's.,My efather, W'al'ter Hoyt' /Oa6ten, was a lawyer. His 'partner was ;Donald Guthrie, father of the present minister Of jhusbice.": (He went ,to sehooll with .Lieut -(Col. John M'c•Crea, whose "Flanders Field" hes Immortalized him. When a 'boy he heard Edward Johnson sing "Annie 'Laurie" in a .pub'li'c ;p'a'rk in Guelph. i}lis bto'yhood ambition to :drive the IWIellingtonr Hbeters oimnibus horses was superseded by a desire to be a ,plrlolfeiSsiilan'all baseball 'player. His first job vela's a clerk's post alt $4 a week in :the American` Consular office , in ' (Guelph. Out it was a farmer near Guelph, Alec Hill, who inspired him to, find green field's far away in which to seek this fortune. This farmer was a brother o f the great rai'l'way builder, Jarne's J. •Hill, and the only difference young .Cutter sa'w between them was that one' left home and .the other stayed. In' Chicago he held various add jab's • ;before he found his element on the (Chicago Board of Trade. His first po's- 1 ition there was as ,a trader for A. 1!'Stamlford White, internationally rfam- tious' in his ;d'ay as a wheat trader. He tber1l!S,s:otn'e in'terestin'g .yarn's of the ,gi.an'{r.• Of .b'ygon'e days, wlio did their `work 'and made their .millions in the Chicago;grain pit. He was permitted ee aaider to scalp far hi'msel'f, andthat is Spw Outten. gat his fin'an'cial r •start. In its first year he made +$4,000 whio'h wash a 101 of money to him then. But thb speculator did not °m- ane his s+peeculati'o'n's to grains, And in 1904 he ma'd'e his first big clean -'up 1 iSbo Line stock. 'The C.P.R. .had bon�gift control of the line, and he fig- ured they would improve its condition and was right. He bought 2,000 shares of .Slob Line at'54 and two years later sold, at 106. Thiat same year he enrarried 'Maud Boldme'r, of Evaenlslton, Id'1. Also he resigned from A. Stamford White :& Co. to ,trade for ,himself. To: this day he has remained a lone trader, chiefly because he :distrusts the ability o$ other •pelolpl:e to keep their mouths Shut Always secrecy is the chief es- sential in big deals in grain' and grafin !futures. -. While Mir. Culbten's articles are bi- ographical; they contain also an elem- ent Of p:rop'aganeda, a well -reas'o'ned, if somewhat i'mpasts'ioned argument ' far the 'free trading in grain Sutures. •+He iho!t1 , defends. the specu'l'ator as a man 'who helps the market and the farmer, as one who: Igamblees in his own money and nobody else's, and stands to lose as well as to make, fortunes. He him- self has lost' them, and knows. He :compares the position of the individual :slpecul)a'to:r garntflinlg with his own funds, • to that of SIamniel and Martin Insult, whose gambles east inwestoris untold 'mill'li'o'nls of dollars. As for the new "rule ,whisc'h requires a 'trader, if b'uyin'g or selling more than 500,000 'bushels of grain, to report the trans- action to a snrlbamdeiniate of the United !States •depar6menit of agriculture, he has nothing but the bitterest con- temlpet, It is, in this opinion., a restric- ttrian of free trade and legitimate trad- ing. Certainly Mtr. Outten ..presents ex- cellent alignments to show that .the speculator in wheat futures' does not control the price of grain. It gets, right back to the fun'd'amental law of supply and demand, He has a chart which sholws graphically the flulctua tions in tlhe price orf wheat in the last Pave centuries .' 'I't. is ;prepared by (George Blnaomth'atid, the great British s'tati:s'i'lo' aiu'dhbrity. I'!t'shows that the greatest off ''null inifluen!oes is war, and the greatest Of bear influ'en'ces the • end Of war. There was dollar wheat at Strasbourg in 073, a year later $1.25, alt that lithe a fab'u'lous sum for 60. Pounds of wheat, but 'there was a real 'famine. pluming the Th:inty Years' War the price of wheat touched a peak of $3:111 'Froth• .117161; to 1892 wheat never droplpieed below a dollar at Liverpool: During the N'alplolleonic wars the peaks That was wlh'eni Nla+p'olieon was on the ranch and there was war in theAm- ericas. Not even during the great war did the Liiveripodl price go, so high. The peak at Liverplool was, $2.97 in 119119 after is steady upward climb that began in "1914, Mr. Outten tells of the rush to grow wheat that readied ifirom the War, alt 'Vast corn ;belts in the Un - ;held IStates m1'iteld.ISfates'being turned into wheat- grolwing ;fields. A .similar situation ex- isted -in ,Cania'da• land the,other ;whelalt gr'o'wing 'countries. lime the 'United States, for ,five years tpmecedeinlg the war the ,area, 'planted to wheat aver- aged '50)809,000 acre's., Ry 1919 the acreage was 73,099,000. IAifter 'velars were over; (f amines'arverted, craps 'prlo dicing reegulllarliy on'sulc'h vast am'oun't's of land, the ;Mice :naturally .'decl'ine'd. Mr. lOulben :withdrew !from the wheat market in: 119117 and slid not ;enter it again until 119121, The author 'tells the s'to'ry df 'th'e. ro'b'bery perpeetrated :on him alt his farm 'home near Chicago, and of the international rch'ase Iwihic'h resulted in the ooivilotion-.of all the ,criminals. tTt is an oft -told Story, but 'Mr..Cutten's personal reaction's are interesting. He did mot mind 'bei:ng :robbed ,so' :math as being l'o'cked with ;his wife and servants in a Vault ars his name and lett to die. Had' it not been for his bultle7, another ;Admiral/ Crichton, all ,would have .perished. ;With a s'ma6f steel 'ale this servant •unscrewed the oo'mbeinabi'om: of ,the Vault. Mr. Ou!tteln is 'bitter 'against (the United !S'tate's Go:veirnment and polii'ce authority' over there ,generally. 'They dM little :to help !him ,apprehend the heartless :ani- mlines. Hie ibuli'lit up his own police oa+ganialatfon, and ;Spent a 'small !for- tune until: all 'five men were :caught. Then he spent amlolthar Small 'fortune halving there convicted ,IHe says, apropos of the :incident, that 'when• a m'an makes a million :dldl'laa+s, the ;IL S. 'Government 'washes' m'o ;time: coll- lectin'g e50,000. 1B'uk -when the wants protection for his d'ffe and ,property the authorities are d'ea'f . One .'can- nldt ;but admire Mr. ;Outten's 'spirit in this instance, ,although the attitude of Alm:erican:s to ;crime is reflected in ,Itis remarks that he •was :criticized is be- ing "ruthless and 'rellenitiess" ' in his prosecution: of mien who. 'were in spirit, If not in, act, colld'Ubl'ddded 'murderers. Mr. Outten closes his :second article with another attack an 'the grain fu- tures trading legislation and says' the traders (h'ave 'been 'penalized until it is no ,larger ;possible to. keep a secret in the ;grain trade. "Sometimes," he Mrein61'y and cyn- ically- remarks, Q0I (find' myself'won- dering what my :sin is. 1 •suppedse d have com'mi'tted the crime of getting' AGM". THE DESERTED NESTS. iNoew that the leaves have fallen, it is time to go third's nesting, It is a deligthiful occupation—:full: of sur- prises, and also good discipline, as it is likely to lower by ;several pegs our excess pride. Why did we never guess, ofr instance, that the dainty' basket of 'the, vireos, 'for which in the simmer we sought in vain, hung all the time almost :within arm's reaoh, just at the turn of the drive ? And how dull we were not to have dis- covered the robins 'tha't netsed by the summer house 1 'S suspect these rob- ins may have 'been• the ones whose nest in the (Red Astrachan tree came to grief. That nest we did discover in its season, 'but we must have been blind, had we ,not; for through a peephole among the Leaves wecould lack directly Tram an upper :window upon the mother robin, .peacefully brooding. What happened we never knew; ;but, after a few days the nest was deserted,. Wand appa'ren'tly no other was built. It was tot until Oc- tober that we learned the secret. 'It is Pleasant to see, ' on our autumn search, how t'he neighborhood of ,hu- man.dwellings is, favored 'for nesting sites. In spite of many .persecutions, the birds seem to' look upon urs as their 'friends not from 'rno!tives of s'entimen't, but because experience has taught 'them :that wherever man dwells they are sure to find food in his garden and orchard, and perhaps, too, in the crumbs, 'from his table. kn his vicinity, they may hope for some 'measure Of proteot'ion from en'emies. Certain it is that"a 'wa'l'k in in the woods 'will usually reveal'fewer nests than afew minutes' :stroll a- round one's own grolwn'd:s. As a fur- ther measure of safety and an ,ad- ditional rea's'on for forsaking .the woods for bhe 'farm, a tree 'which stand's apart from its fellow's is usually 'favored by tree -nesting birds, rather than one of a row or group whose interlacing 'branches may af- ford runways 'for sequi•rrels. Long: before D'e!cemb.er the nests tnf brie' chipping siparraws have been torn from their moorings. These little "red-heads,"among thee Iles t of our sparrows seem never to have. learned the art of 'building securely. Not infnelquentl:y disaster results when some 'high wind :.of s,u'nvnner blows away babies, "cradle and all." The prevailing 'fashion of )horse -hair ent horses enough still remain on the imagine what rgilded chambers and farms to furnish ,plenty of the coveted material. It is a::great advantage of this belated nest -hunting that we may study at our leisure the homes of OUT feathered friend s without bringing harm or anxiety to the little owners; and even a deserted ,nest can teach us 'much of those that built it. It is said that the great cres'ted flycatchermust always have a piece of snake skin to weave into its nest. The wood thrush fancies bits of paper, but these are tastes (peculiar to the species rather than to the in- dividual. 'Learni'ng ,olf such whimsies, we set out on our quest 'for nests with enthusiasm rekindled. (What Shall we find today? Perhaps a war'b- ler's nest, mooned with cobweb. Per haps a :goidfineh's dainty •cradle, up- holstered 'with thistledown. Even though the leaves have 'fallen, it will take more +than a casual glance to dis- cover many df the nests, especially those that are tucksw away among the low -growing vines and bushes, But the reward of .finding 'is • great. Harsh winds and Powering ,skies are forgotten. In imagination we drift hack into summer; we see the flutter of wings, we hear the melody of bird songs. And see'in'g ,how •skillfully this nest is .woven, how cleverly that is concealed, we gain 'fresh insight into the .marvel of bird 'life. A CASTLE OF THE ANTS Df you are interested in authentic architecture, more ancient in its funedla- nienta'ls'tham the !Pyramids, follow the path between the two big oak ' trees, Melt'beyond the end ';of the 'lily ;pond, in the general' :direction of over t'he're. But you must 'fiolldoiw tit carefully or you may pass this m'i'ghty project al- together, without ieolticinig it at all. Follow the path between the two big oak trees then, and 'take the first turning to the right. Twenty ,paces further youWill come to the place where the robins nested last year, but you nn:ay mot 'dbset+ve that because the remains of the nest ane 'well (hidden m!p among the o'a'k leaves, You ;must' fake my ward for the robin's nest, but 'ten paces or so to the left' you can see the pile Of grass .clippings for yourself, and the brown snake :who dives in thein and now your are n'ear your 'destina- tion and your troubles are nearly over. From the snake you go past the hole where' the w'h'ite rabbit used to live, frau there to the wild apple trree, .from the wild apple .tree to the place where Nipper b'ur1es' his hones .and ' Ifrom that place to the 'wild lily patch, which will be in seed now, stud there you are. You must look carefully into .'the tact' grass, though, or you aWill miss it, for the big :log in which this vast un- dertaking is being carried on is like all other old, half -rotten fir 'logs, except for the large heap of saw'dust lying at one end of it.Thiat ifs your guide. Once you perceive the sawdust, the rest 'is easy. at was the sawdu's't which first re- vealed the great twnrrk going 'forward m our midst,' all unknown. We saw it one day, Tying in a 'cone -s'ha'ped Bile beide this old fir nog, and wondere'd how it had remained there all the time since thee tree was sawn down, years ago. I+t- took us 'some !min'u'tes to dis- cover th'e answer. As we watched the pile, we ,sudde'n'ly became aware of new 'particles of s'awdu'st descending upon it lin a continual, shower. The mystery was :sol've'd when we eramin ed the end of the log 'more closely. lln the end of the log are . perhaps. fifty q'u:anterMnch:'holes, leading to a cavity within. At the .mouth Of each passage, a bla'c'k. 'ant appears inter- mittently, carrying a 'flake of sawdust as Targe as its own .black, round head. This :he drops down. to • the pile below which, by now, is perhaps large en- ough to fill a four -gallon can W'i'thin theold fir log a teeming civil'izati'on, ol'de'r, than ,S'umemia, is establishing a new -kingdom, There .is no eight-hour day on this contract. 'Eari!y in the morning, wlhien the dawn is just breaking over the Shoulder of ,our hill, land the robins are 'gaither$ing at the pond for that quick morning 'plunege an d jolly :chorus before ,they seek abroad for breakfast, you will find this army of :eager labor- ers already lin the ,m'iddl'e of the labors. At dusk, in the last rays of tight,' when the robins' chirp is 'gro'w- in'g weak and sleepy, the work is Still going on in the, fir 'fog with the ;cease- less energy df 'nature itself. lOne, two, three at a time, nth a ant's grape out off the dankn:esa of their castle to the l'i'ght, staggering under their ,load's. Mar :overthe outer edge they thrust their shiny : heads, holding, fast to the log with their (last p'a'ir' of legs. Then, deliberately, ; ,they open their j'a'ws slideways and droll)] their sawdust burden. Having whisked away. any remains from their months with their .front 'fewisrleney turn about and amble agaurn iinbo the gloom, 11ke'coall' miners into a shaft. On their way they plass oth'e'r miners, outbound, so it ,go'es ot. So it has :been a going, this extensive: mining a'nid building, all summit and without ap(pareni't res'ul't, so far as Onnt side appearances indicate, exloept that the s'aw'dust 'pile con'tinu'es etc ,(grow, ever SO slowly. Inside you can only • vaulted hall's are being•pre'paned to house''countless 'future generations of big b'l'ack ants; Per'ha'ps, indeed, the work goes :on forever, like - ;startle tdwer- in:g Go'th'ic (cathedtlal, to which, ;each generation Nasi add'e'd a new wing: ,Left to th:emsellves, the architects and their laborers carry forward their 'Work systeenabile'a'lly, without p'l'ants to ;h'e'lp therm, competent through' imme- morial knowledge, but you initenfere With titer, if you try to introduce your ideas into their manfsfion, they be- come hopelessly Confused. 'To test their capacity, we 'p'l'aced' a twig in one of the main +shafits and waited to see 'what they 'would do about it. i The architects and ; fore- men name hurnying out and gathered about in eperplexi'ty and despair. They climbed over th:e twig, inspected it from all' anegles and couldn't fathom it at all, Meanwhile the ordinary miners confused in their direction by this. change in :the .geogsap!hyoOE the shaft, began to march over the twig and drop 'their sawdust down 'an the far slide, within the shaft itself, 'instead of taking •11 to the dump 'outside, In a few 'minute's they bad almost blocked the 'passage with fitter ,before they could be sifopp'ed. IOn ,:they went, Nothing Couitd halt 'th'e'm, •until they were crawling all over one another and rolling in the a'oeu'nvafabed s'aw dust. 'The (whole ,project seemed' at a standstill. Had we not +removeid the twig j'ulslt in time, they . m'iglhlt, halve sealed' .themselves up in the mine .for- eve'r. resemble on the chiarlt a cross • section linings for' chipping sparrow 'cradles of t'he Rocky mountain's. In 1812 illy some day prove emlbarrass'ing to wheat at Liverpool was worth $382,,1,, its small delvotees, but 'for the press TOWN TOPICS TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO December, 1906 Injured. John Edgar, eldest son :of Mr. Hobt, Edgar, of Hlarpurhey, was seriously injured last 'Thursday in the lumber camps near 'Sault Ste. Marie. He was badly crushed, a log having 'rolled over hint. He had been in the camp a few clays having left here a couple of weeks ago. Cost Him Some Money. A +wedding was consummated in an. adjoining town a few days since, which has an interesting circum- stance attached to it. The groom, it is said, was engaged to another esti- mable young lady than the one who became his wife. He went to her and offered $1,000 to be released from his engagement The young lady, know- ing that she had the young man in a box, refused to accept the offer, but she said, "you pay me $2,000 and V11 release you, and then you can go to the dickens," Pay the $22,000 he is said to have done, and the way was clear to his marriage. Travelling. The 'following were ticketed to dis- tant points this week: 'Mrs, Win. Sclater, Jr. to ;Brandon, Man.; Mr. Chas. Din'adale to. Hull, England, samll- in'g on Saturday per steamer Tunis- ian of the iA'llan Line; IMr. D. M. M:cI{day to his home at D'esebara:ts, Ont; Miss Cash to Grand Rapid's, Mich. Large Shipment of Fowl. Messrs. James 'MeMichaei and Chas, ,Little on Tuesday made what was undoubtedly the largest ship- ment of fowl that has ever left :Sea - forth station, ,amounting to something over eleven tons, and consisting. of turkeys, ducks, geese and chickens. From, twelve to fifteen hands were employed for five days in: picking and preparing the fowl The s'hipm'ent is destined for Winnipeg. Died in B.C. (Ori Saturday last Miss Margaret MclL'eod received a message .anno:unc- in'g the death of her brother, Capt. Norman i4MLeod at Greenwood, 13.JB. The deceased was fformerly of Sea- forth, but for a number of years had resided in ,British Columbia, where he followed the occupation of a con- tractor, The late 'Mr. 'M'dLead had many ,friends in ,this vicinity who will regret to hear of his death.' The re- mains will be brought to Seaforth for internment., Clinton, '0n !Saturday last Mr. Harry Hunt concluded his engagement as head milder . with Messrs, J. & N. Fair (Clinton). It will he forty-seveen years next April since 'he first enter- ed the m'i'll as an apprentice :and he has since Continued there. Daring that time there have been two or three changes of ownership, but over thirty years ago the property passed into the !hands of the Fair family so well and favorably known through- o,ut this section. Mir. Hunt has been. so long there that he almost seemed part of the establishment and old patrons of the mill as they come in with their grain, note his absence and ask why and the: 'wherefore. M'r. Hunt is yet somewhat undecid'e'd as to his future m olvements, 'but ,there can be no 'doubt that he has earned years of ease, ,Mr. Hunt's successor is Mr. Paul Freern'an of Norval, ,who is now at his post. He is a native of. Seaforth, we 'believe, and comes well reco'mmen'ded as a capable miller. Aged Resident. iM'r. Christopher ,Muldoon, anold and much ,esteemed resident of Mc Ki14ap, died on Friday last, aged 78 years and 1 month. The deceased was a brother of Mrs. Tiernan, Silver Creek, and was well known in Mc- Killop township. The funeral . took place on Sunday and was attended by a large gathering of friends, to the place ofinterenent in the Brussels cemetery. . IThe pall bearers' were Messrs. John Scarlett, Witt, McGavin, John Barron, Chris; Barrows, 'John Shannon and John Campbell. Zurich. John G. Erb of the Bronson line recently ,purch'a'sed 50 acres of land from 'Mr, C. S'chwartzentruber. Mr. Erb has now a hun'dre,d acres. While ,cutting straw with a straw- cu:tter. and 'b'lower on the farm of J'ohn McBkide, Blind :Line, one day recently, Mr. Sam. McBride Jr. had a fall which might easily have result- ed seriously. 'The blower pipe had be- come .parted and Sam had mounted a ladder and was assisting in putting it together. In some way the ladder slipped out and he was precipitated to the floor below. His presence of mind saved ;him from coming in con- tact with the drive nvheel of t'he straw cutter. As it was he received a severe shaking up but fortunately ,no bones were broken. When you have a HORSE or COW YY YOU WANT REMOVED, Phone promptly to WILLIAM, STONE SONS, LIMITED. Phone 22 ,— Ingersoll Phone 215 W — Stratford A total of 544,129 radio receiv- ing licenses have been issued by the Canadian Government Radio Branch from April 1 to September 30, 1932, or approximately one to every eighteen persons of the population of the Dominion. A movie theatre has been in- stalled on R. M. S. Aorangi on its Australasian run and passengers had the first entertainment in that line on a recent voyage.This is the first ship to reach Vancou- ver carrying sound movie equip- ment China's first woman' barrister, Mrs, Lo Soon Kim Teo, was among the passengers aboard the Em- press of Russia, recently sailing from Vancouver. Mrs. Soon ob- tained her legal training in Eng- land and is attached to the Hong Bong bar. The Canadian people seem to have developed a considerable taste for macaroni, vermicelli, spaghetti and the like Italian food preparations. Output of 14 Can- adian factories in 1931 was 20,- 311,423 pounds as compared with 16,819,625 lbs. in 1930. With Remembrance Day in our minds, it is timely to recall the brief epitome of Canada's part in the war inscribed on a tablet in the House of Parliament at Ot- tawa : — "Six hundred twenty- eight thousand, six hundred forty- two bore the badge of Canada in the Great War; sixty thousand six hundred sixty-one met death and passed on." Good hunting is reported from the Bates Camp, near Matagama, Ontario, on the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, seventy miles east of Sudbury. Moose and deer are very numerous close to the camp and in one morning a couple of ti. S. hunters secured a fine bull moose and a deer. They killed to the limit of their licenses. within a few days. A free scholarship to be held at L'Ecole Polytechnlque of the [Int-• versity of Montreal, offered by the Canadian Pacific Railway to minor sons of employees of the railway, was .awarded to J. P. Lecavalier, 18 -year-old son of Ephrem Leca- valier, chief clerk at the Mile End Station. The award entitles to five years study proceeding to the degree of Bachelor of Civil Engin- eering. Canadian Pacific Railway low rate return bargain excursions, a highly popular feature of the rail- way's operation since February last, have been and will be well maintained up to the end of the year. Outstanding recently have been the trip to Chicago from Montreal and the shorter trips into and out of the major elties from and to the surrounding pro- vinces. The rate and a quarter fare for return trips during the' Remembrance Day holiday was well patronized and this conces- sion is again to be offered for the Christmas and New Year 111.111 - days. (876) Send us the names of your visitors. G=. un Check r • We Are Selling Quality Books Books are Well Made, Carbon is Clean and Copies Readily, styles, Carbon Leaf and 'Black Back. Prices . as Low as You Can Anywhere. Get our Quotation on Your Next Order, • The Seaforth SEAFORTH, ONTARIO. All Get News