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Zurich Herald, 1924-03-20, Page 2Leather Industry in Canada Cancels hemg one of the great cat- tle -raising countries et the World, it is only natural that the leather industry should occupy a position of much im- portance in the industrial life of the country, and it is interesting to note that the value of, production in 1922 showsa substantial increase over the figures for the preceding twelve months. The value of production of the tanneries in 1922 was $24,291,884, compared with $22,905,528 in 1921. These totals are exclusive of the value of hides and skins tanned for cus- tamers but include the amounts re- ceived by the tanneries for custom work, An analysis of the production value shows that, of the total, "sole" leather amounted to $9,175,420. The output of "upper" leather totalled $10,497,813; of harness leather, $1,845,131; of other leather, $1,702,164; of wool, hair and glue stock, $210,834, and of other pro- ducts, $280,734. Capital invested in the industry in 1922 amounted to $32,818,775, which was opportioned as follows: Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, $286,000; Quebec, $4,554,426; Ontario, $27,852,- 401; 27,852;404; and Manitoba, Alberta ,and Bri- tish Columbia, $125,885. There were employed, during the period under re- view, 3,854 persons, to whom salaries and wages totalling $4,302,918 wore Paid, The number of establishments in 1922 was 116, which is a decrease C0311 - pared with 1921 but an increase of 15 tanneries compared with 192Q. On- tario and Quebec, with 39 and 65 tan- neries respectively, may be said to be the centre of this industry in Canada. The livestock yards at Toronto and Montreal annually handle hundreds of thousands of livestock and provide an abundant source of material for plants in these provinces. The re maining establishments are spread over the Dominion, Nova Scotia hav- ing 3; New Brunswick, 2; Manitoba, 2; Alberta, 8; and British Columbia, 2. The leather export situation during 1922 was very satisfactory. The value of leather, unmanufactured, exported from Canada during the calendar year 1922, was $5,091,384, an increase over the previous year of over a million dol- lars. The import situation also shows. an improvement, the 1922 figures showing a decrease compared with the previous year. Imports in 1922 total- led $3,764,929. compared with $4,059,- 222 4,059;222 in 1921 and $8,467,528 in 1920. Fine leathers formed the major share of the imports, accounting for nearly one-third of the total value. He—"You wouldn't love me any more 4f I had a million dollars, would you?" She—"N-n-n-o—I wouldn't love you any more." March Mornings. March mornings! Each a brimming cup That dancing Phoebee fllleth up— A drink to start the blood to race And prick the feet to trip apace. March mornings! When the darting sun Leaps forth, a clear new course to run Like nettled steed that feels the spur And bounds with every pulse astir. March mornings! When the boisterous wind Retorts the whistling lad in kind, And kicks• the fuzzy cloudlets high Like footballs on a field of sky March mornings! Let them come apace To show old winter's run his race, And that the world is all awing And waiting for the call of spring! —Maurice Morris. Who bravely dares must sometimes risk a fall. —AND THE WORST IS YET TO COME The Useful Tin Roof. "I'm flggering on putting a tin roof on one bedroom of my liouse," an- nounced Gap Johnson of Rumpus Ridge at the auction. "Roof leak?" asked an acquaintance. "Nope, not specially. But with a tin roof I can hear It rain in the morning, and won't have to get up till .I feel like it." Modern Ways. Mr. Spendix--` AnY installments due today?" climate in which they are used, and Mrs,. Spendix—"No, dear, I think the system adopted by the Canadian hold together and In Ontario progress n It f conal ' Californiaand Oregon, during the house, the radio, the furniture, the which every assistance towards a com- rugs; or the books?" ! plate survey of the conditions was will - Mrs. Spendix—"Na." ingiy given, and especially by Profess - Mr. Spendix—` Then I have ten dol- or A. W. Christie, of the Agricultural e don't need. What do you say eriment Station of the University Dehydration of Canadian Fruit In the past yeara great step forward ever, beyondthe reach of commercial has beentaken in demonstrating to fruit growers how dehydration can save for use muchof the fruit that, at certain seasons, gluts the market or is wasted, says- the Natural Resources Intelligence Service of the Department of the Interior. Realizing the need for some immedi- ateaction to be taken to assist the marketing of the increasing amount of fresh. fruit, the Department of Ag- riculture appointed a committee from its various branches which had to do with the fruit industry, It was in- structed to gather information and re- port. The committee was composed of E. S. Archibald, director of Experi- mental Farms (chairman); Geo. E, Macintosh, fruit commissioner; C. S. McGillivray, chief canning inspector, Health of Animals Branch (Secretary) Dr. F. T. Shutt, director chemical la- boratory division, and W. T. Macoun, Dominion horticulturist. As a result of its interim report, the estimates of the Department of Agri- ------------a- Modern gri= economy. In all cases a regulating Method of heat content' is essential, and still more so the practical expert- enoe of operators who by touch and, sight can tell to a niceity the line that separates_ correct -dehydration from cooking. Two leen :owned 410 acres. of fruit orchard in California; the one saved $100,000 by Isnowledge and personal attention, the other lost $80,.: 000 by lack of care., The Penticton plant' was bought 1p° California, and, with •certain modifica- tions to suit the climate, was. set up and .successfully operated last year. At the end. of the season a fire des- troyed most of the Government dehy- drated ehy drated fruit, but the plant was saved. The little fruit that was saved., will provide samples for the British Em- pire Exhibition. There is little doubt that these will weather the :critical at. tention of the hundreds of wholesale buyers who will be euro to examine such products with unbiased commer- cial acumen. culture for 1923 contained an item of British Colunibia growers have eat $10,500 "for experiments in dehydra- tion of fruits and vegetables." During the year three experimental plants were erected, namely, a small model laboratory plant at the experimental farm, Ottawa, operated under the di- rect supervision of `Dr. Shutt and Mr. Macoun, a semi -commercial plant at Penticton, B.C., and a medium slzed commercial plant at Grimsby, Ontario. The two latter were erected and oper- ated under the supervision of C. S. McGillivray. It is known that dehydration pro- cesses vary in efficacy according to the know full well that distant markets are to be their salvation, and realize that, though their acreage had Me creased tenfold in the la it few years, the present market Is but little larger. The Ontario' growers, 'having a large population within easy range, are na- turally less anxious, but are by no means blind to.the importance of de- hydration. Co-operative packing and. marketing, as proved by the - California Fruit Growers Association, is essential to continual success. In British Colum- bia 9B' per cent. of the fruit growers not." government is the result o a per on these lies is .in evidence. It may Mr. S,pend�ix—"Any payments due on visit to be noted that there Is no antagonism between canners and dehydrators, as the market for the one product does not interfere with the other. So far the Department of Agricul- ture has not had time to develop its special domestic dehydrator, nor to lars w Exp we buy a new car?" of California. Hundreds oY evaporating processes ears handle other Yru1t than apples, p , Bad English. "You are an educated man," said the Judge, "but this is a disgraceful crime you have been found gaiety of. Have you anything to say before sentence?" "Only this, your Honor," replied the pedant. "Whatever the sentence may be, for heaven's sake don't end it with a preposition." A Berlin newspaper man was re' have been tried in the United States cent! ie fined for quoting eggs at 150 peaahes and plume, but theloganber- and elsewhere, but the most eatisfac- "1raspberry, cranberry, etc., will billion marks apiece after the gov- tory are re -circulating processes, with have their turn: If the housewife • gov- ernment had fixed the price at 130 the application of warm moisture to billion marks. He explained that he the air current, and the electric vac- had had to pay the price he had nam- ed, but the judge told him he was "at- num. The excellent results claimed for the latter system, and extending ficially. tempting to raise the Brice • arti-) to fish and meat, are at present, how - Passing Ades Leave Unt�uchCd farmer of Bible Lands Always the first victim—and always squabble about the exact date of Tut- By William T. Ellis the ultimate victor—that is the far of Biblelands, ors and empires have been s`Neeprng it Threshing is as w is to and fro aver these oldest of inhabit- primitive. Ona bit of relatively hard ed parts`of the earth; and before every Past an P earth the grain and straw are thrown invasion the farmer has been the ear p down, and animals are hitched to a Best to suffer the destruction wrought sled that hat a hundred or more bits by imperialism. Yet to -day it is only of flint embedded in its under side. the farmer who pursues his way in the 1 Then, for weary hours on end, the unchanged fashion of ages ago; the sled is driven round and round over very names and times• of some of the oh in Syria I found a perfect picture the grain, the feet of the aniinals once victorious empires are a matter but there can be no about the reign o the plow. Occasionally, in Anatolia I noticed modern steel plow in use;but,true tradition, the farmer was guiding with one hand. d resent. Contrast isperhaps the dominant note of these realms of greatest his- toric antiquity. Over against the ruins of Marathus, which lies n the great lain north of the present Tri- poli, ri of the living present amidst the dead they may be donkeys, horses, cows or past—or perhaps I should say of the oxen; I never have seen camels•so living past amidst the dead present. employed, probably because of the What changes Marathus has seen! cushion tires which they wear for feet All the splendors of the East once _aiding in the separation of grain vaunted themselves in her streets; from husk. Lt is Usually the childsen's and hot-blooded men, who are now but work to ride the threshing' sled,. and names in books such as Sennaeherib one may see whole families crowded, and Alexander and Saint Paul, trod on a single sled. these streets in the flesh. Proud Ro- Of course by this simple process of man youths rode in the gilded char - practice apparently older than the lots that made these deep ruts in the practice of beating with a flail, which rock; and even in their day the stone is in vogue farther south—much grain dwellings were a curiosity to be visit - lost. into the ground and is otherwise ed and discussed. What sort of edged lost, When the work is done the straw, tools did these prehistoric people use is stacked or carried away on the for their elaborate .and extensive rock backs of camels or donkeys -the oris cutting? How did they dress and live? inal hay wagon. Processions of these The only living thing that my com- straw -laden camels, usually led by a panion and I found in Marathus, ex• man on a donkey, are one of the com cent the lizards and the grasshoppers, monest sights of this season in the was a huge snake Holy Land. Chopped straw is the or - Now for the contrast. Around these dinar, fodder for stock in the Near beguiling ruins, and as heedless of East; it is the nearest approach to sue them as of the rooves that lap the cess of the famous experiment of feed - shore of the neighboring Mediterran- ean, the Bedouin families are encamp- When the straw has been removed ed in reed huts, harves=ting the grain, from the threshing floor the wheat is They are of the same type as the ready for the winnowing. This is done farmers who used to go forth from by the old-fashioned method of tossing Marathus, for now, as then, In the wheat and chaff into the air with .a East the farmers do not live on the land but in villages and towns. In harvest time these Arab helpers come from the East, as they have been com- ing for ages, bringing their simple tools 'with them. What ene sees 'to day may be recorded as personal me•r enhamun s reign, f 1 Land during the summer, there need question b ti ed a be no. haste. � onquer- to `, An Age -Old 'Fhreshl , ne. For more than 4,000 years o asteiTfl as it of dispute among bookworms. Anew I have lately been traveling over this. oldest part of the Old World, and mostly off the beaten tracks. For illustration, I am just back from a burney throughout the length and readth of Phoenicia, which lies along the eastern shore of the Mediterran- man, from Gaza, whose city gates Sam- gion stole, to Antioch, that once splen- did city, where the disciples of Jesus Were first called Christians. Also I raave within recent months seen both the well-known and the little-known regions od Greece. I have traversed the Balkans and Turkey and sojourned fa Egypt. I have also been through Arabia and Mesopotamia into Bagdad and Babylon, and have crisscrossed the Caucasus and wandered amidst the 'nine of Western Persia. Only a fragment of these journeys be indicated by the simple statement that I have gone from the Garden of igen down into the Tigris -Euphrates ,alley and to the island of Patmos, Where Saint John saw the end of all things, I mention this background, not that the reader may share the bumps gad the bugs that I have endured in Vs behalf, bat only to accredit the one big observation I desire to make con- densing agriculture in Bible lands. Farming and farm folk have sur - abed and overcome the ages. They e ;still plowing and sowing and reap - amid the ruins of hundreds of for- glimpses of pre -Christian farming. rotten cities which in their day of The home life of these farmers, Fide deemed themselves permanent which is spent either in the black d all-pnwerfui. It is curious how the goat's hair tents of the roving Bedouin books seam to Have missed this point or in mud villages, has been change- jl the triumph of the farmer. It struck e first upon leaving the buried tem- les of Sakkara, in Egypt. On . the all of one of the tomb I saw a clear picture, in colors, painted thousands of years ago, of an Egyptian farmer iplewing. In a little while, after leav- trg fiakk-ara, I saw a living farmer o might have posed for this very rtrait, so similar were the features. ynestles had risen and fallen and een forgotten, but the type of: culla- man had perei8ted throughout the est Not only that, but the living en, hitched to the plow of the liv- w, roan, were no different from those 4 had troctd:en the Same ilelde in t contorted., as pictured on the ,alae of the tomb. Still more eaten - Wing," the plow it cif -was the ltgwime itlYzn of Portrayed sharpened wooden basin that been rl ' been rtrayed in colors at least QO yokry before, and that is still the e<ra!llag agricultural implement ro2,gl'out Asia.. AreltseelogistO may at, , • lessly primitive. The reed shack, which is at once bedroom, dining room, nursery and living room ---there is no use for a bathrooml-sof a large family,. often with more than one wife, could easily be placed in the kitchen of the average Cansidian farmhouse. In the wheat field, which has been plowed with a crooked stick and is not fertilized or cultivated at all, the grain is sparse and low, and often only In little patches, 33lble lands are for the most part stony ground. The reaping Is done by hand sickles, made by a neighbor of smithy skill. Pour bits of bamboo aro wore over the knuckles of the left hand of the reaper to facilitate grasping the stalks of grain. Men, women and children wield the sickle; t have more than once seen a Ruth following the reapers to glean the stalks then' hands have missed. The grain is bound into small sheaves and these are stacked on their '.sides, BoW raise them ie no- i'aitlutll in the Holy ..._._. «e...�.,e �r9�. Hw women do except fighting, that the do not carry on; the favorite vocation of the men seems to be sitting in the shade, talking or playing games. Feminine labor is bound to be cheap in a land where extra workers are secured by the simple process of mar - 'Phe lordly came] 1oc�es somewhat of The lordly camel loses somewhat of his air of scorn when a car approaches —the Arabs say the camel is so haughty because he alone knows the hundreth name of Allah every pious Moslem can recite the ninety-nine beautiful names of God, but the bun - lying them. So the time and strength dredth Is the camel's secret—and the of two .women may be . spared for the stolid little donkey, who hes carried dreary drudgery of grinding up a few the civilization of half a dozen mil - handfuls of grain in a heavy stone mill which they laboriously turn. The meagre measure of the Eastern peas- ant's life is illustrated also by the pitiful smallness of the store of wheat that serves the fancily for food, sup- plemented by cheese and an occasion- / are wide. In the centre of this big al dish of mutton. The variety o3 an I tail groves out a smaller tail of reg-ula- ordinary Canadian's fare would seem tion size and sometimes of a different untold luxury to these people. color. Black sheep are a common Though the monuments of old. Mara- reality hereabouts, though the prevail thus have had their boastful inscrip- � ing color is white, even as that of the tions obliterated by the gnawing tooth capering goats is black. of time, the simple contentment of the Sheep in the East are shepherded, unsung farmer folk, who have persist- not herded. A Christian's thoughts ed throughout the passing of all em- grow tender as he watches the flocks pires and civilizations, is revealed b' and their gentle -eyed shepherds; for the smiling faces of both adults and here before his eyes 1s the complete children. A child -like happiness seems picture which was so familiar to Jesus to mark these primitive peoples. They that it found words in his Good Shep- do not know that their lot is hard, for herd parables. Again and again I have they have experienced no other. Their watched the procedure as we drove wants are few and easily satisfied. rapidly toward a flock of sheep that Wealth is ordinarily rated in terms of filled the highway, the shepherd, in flocks and herds and donkeys and head roll and long camel's hair cloak camels. Now and then the insidious and carrying a staff, walking in front West has invaded the Arab farmer's of them. At the blowing of our rau- home. I saw a family moving consist- cous horn does he leap frantically ing of two camel's loads of goods, in- about, beating his creatures this way eluding tents and tools; and on the and that in 'heedless terror as do the top of one camel's burden proudly donkey drivers? No, for he is a good rode an American sewing machine of shepherd, and the sheep know his the hand -Operated type, which is the voice and they follow him. 'So he only kind used in the East, where peo- walks quietly off the road to one side ple alt on the floor. As usual, the man three -pronged wooden pitchfork, so of the family rode and the women walked behind. France has brought good roads and safe to Syria and has forbidden the general carrying of arms, so these Arab farmers work without wearing guns and pistols and knives and clubs, as they: used to do. But the new high- way that runs along the coast has brought its own troubles, in the form of demon -possessed automobiles which feminist. There is no kind of werlc, fly past, scaring children and animals. lenniums on his back, grows panicky as the automobile draws near. The Sheep and Their Gentle Shepherd. The tails of the sheep are huge lumps of woolly fat, as broad as the sheep themselves and as long as they that the chaff blows awayand the wheat falls to the ground.. In the midst of these busy harvest scenes, I saw "two women: grinding at a Mill," sitting in the doorway of one of the reed shacks. Few scenes in Bible lands better illustrate the primi- tive scale of life than thin. It tells first of all, that the women are the workers. This is no country for the A remarkable view 'is shown of Devil's i-Ieait ttanyen, near Bankhead,. Alberta, Can you pick out the ,tnck formation from which the cut gets its naino7 realizes the value of having spinach, and other fresh vegetables from her home garden for winter use, an excel- lent type of domestic dehydrator is now on the market, while the Depart- ment of Agriculture is likely to pro- duce a model at a price less than the patented article . In preparation for the growing in• dustry of dehydrated fruit, and indeed' for the marketing at good prices of any fruit to be eaten fresh or canned, orchardists are strongly advised to plant the best varieties only, and even to face a temporary loss in making fire wood of the many inferior trees. It is well known that'when first-class greengages enter the market they find. few buyers, because the housewives have already filled their shelves with a poor sort of yellowish plum, which is dumped on the market earlier and at such a Iow price that it brings no profit to the- grower. "A Thing of Beauty." Below are the opening lines of "Endymion, a poem written by John Keats when he was twenty-two. I1 was severely criticized in the "Quer, terly Review,". and when the poet died, • at the age of twenty-five Bryon wrote: Who Idled John Keats? "I," says the 'Quarterly,' So savage and tartarly, " 'Tomas one of my feats." As a matter of fact, he died in Rome of consumption telling hist friend Sev- ern to place on his tonnbstone "Here lies' one whose name was writ in water." It has proved to be oarved so deep and large on the rock of literal ture that it can never be erased. A thing of beauty .is a joy forever; Its loveliness increases: it will never Pass into nothingness; but will keep A bower quet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet 'breathing.. Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing sometimes not even looking hack, and A flowery band to bind us to the earth,, Ms sheep crowd closely after him. The Spite of despondence, of the inhuman) strange sounds behind then merely dearth drive the sheep to keep closer to their Of noble natures, of the gloomy days, shepherd. Lo, in a minute the road, is clear, the sheep are safe, and the shep- herd greets the noisy car with a kindly smile of curious interest. As in Abraham's Day. So it was in the time of Christ. So it was in the time of David. So it was in the .time of Abraham. So it was the unmeasured ages that stretch back beyond the beginning of written his- tory. The farmer and his fields and flocks continue unchanged, preserving' the ageless traditions and overcoming the world of pomp and power.. If these simple 'farm folk on the plains of Ma - roans, looking out on the Mediterran. ean toward the lovely and storied lit- tle island of Arvad, with its springs of fresh water rising up in the salt 'sea, were cursed with the sophisticated mind of the cynic, they might sneer at the multiform ruins of Phoenicia and Greece and Rome and Assyria and Per- sia and Egypt that surround. them, -Deal cry, "Behold the cleadi 'rot we live, unchanged and undofeatablo, a symbol of the eternal triumph of the plain peo- ple who toll with Nature, and depend upon Nature alone for sustenance, The ages are powerless against us; our children play about the empty tombs of the kings who once ruled the World and proclaizried .:themselves immortal," Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkenedl ways Made for our searobling; yes, in :spits of all, Some shape of beauty moves away the,, • pall From our dark spirits. Such tbe sun,. the moon, Trees old and young, sprouting a Shady. boon •.• Por simple sheep; and such are dai!o- dils With the green world they live in; and clear rills That for themselves' a cooling covert nlakq 'Gainetthe hot season; the rmd.forest brake, Bich with a sprinkling of fair Chucks rose blooms; And such too is the grandeur o1 the dooms We have imagined for the, mighty dead; All lovely tales that we have beard o't read; An endless fountain of immortal drink. Pouring unto us from the heavdn'* brink. In losingfortune,reaati1 lucky el has found himself, 'Phe blast that haws loudeslt so* overblown.