HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1969-05-22, Page 4PAGE FOUR
ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS
The Plight of Agriculture
A real estate firm advertises that it has sold in
about three weeks a total of nine Huron County farms.
It has 12 more on its list, from 55 to 160 acres, most
described as with drilled well, stable cleaner, silo, bath,
oil furnace and "all the implements". The houses are
either eight or nine rooms.
Farms are sold for a great many different reasons,
of course, but it does appear that many of their owners
are dicontented; feel that operation costs are too high
and that returns are too low for the labor involved.
They read of sharply higher wage scales won by labor
unions, in many instances after using the strike weapon.
Upon this subject it is appropriate to quote the
MP for Huron. Robert McKinley made a speech in the
House of Commons upon the subject of "The Condition
of Agriculture". The sentences following are from Han-
sard:
"Farmers who make a go of it are obliged to work
very hard indeed. They have to be well up on the latest
methods, fortunate in marketing and enjoy a lot of Iuck.
It does not matter what farmers produce, be it livestock
or wheat, their costs have increased, while prices of their
products have remained stationary or gone down.
"Farm prices in general have gone down, but the
price of prepared feed, of farm implements, gasoline and
all other necessities has almost doubled in the past few
year ... It seems that everybody in this country goes
all out to gouge the man whose production is the basis
of economic prosperity. Some 12,000 farms in Ontario
have disappeared since 1961."
From that picture turn to one in the same county
but more than a century and a quarter ago. In the 1830s
a Scots immigrant settled on the bush trail which is now
Highway 8. He and his .wife and five young children
lived in a log house more or less heated by a fireplace
and Lighted by candles. They had no rural mail delivery,
no electricity, radio or television. They had the soil under
their feet and sunlight penetrating the bush to a bit of
cleared land in crop.
This poor sodbuster wrote home about farming
conditions here, and what was the report? Fortunately,
the letter was preserved. He told his people he had 18
head of cattle, besides hogs and poultry, 16 acres of
cleared land and instalments paid on 80 acres. He wrote:
"The industrious of all classes, anxious to obtain a om-
petency and independence, and for it willing to endure
some fatigue and privation, cannot come out too soon.
To the laborer, the change for the better is absolutely
certain. When we see shanties giving way to comfort-
able dwellings, and the frowning forests yielding acre
after acre to be added to the smiling fields, svmntoms
of prosperity are unmistakable." And he urged his father
and brothers to join him in Huron.
This man could not have forseen, and would not
likely have believed, that his descendants on the land
would be sore oppressed and in great numbers fleeing
from their taskmasters.
Farming has changed, in our time, from a way
of life to a business of many complications and hazards.
This makes it difficult for those who would like to con-
tinue farming as a way of life. An elderly farmer, long
retired but still observant, tells us it is still possible,
with hard work, to make farming pay, and he points to
the example of the Hollanders in our midst. (Of the
purchasers of the 12 farms mentioned here at the out-
set, five by their names are Hollanders.)
The member for Huron believes it would be better
for Canada to keep on the land those rural people who
wish to stay at farming as a way of life, and know how.
Programs to aid them, he says, "would produce stability,
social balance, dividends in terms of health, lower de-
linquency and reduced welfare in the cities".
If so, the government and parliament had better
get busy with such programs ; " the list of farm sales
lengthen.—(Stratford Beacon Herald).
MARRIED 50 YEARS—Mr. and Mrs. Henry Adkins, RR 2,
Hensall, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary en Saturday,
when a public reception was held in their honor at the Zurich
Community Centre,
ZURICH Citizens NEWS
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The International Scene
(by Raymond Canon)
in a way it's too bad that the
Catholic Church saw it fit to
do away with St. Christopher -
the patron saint of travellers.
The way people are travelling
these days, the good saint
needed a whole battery of
assistants just to keep up with
everybody's needs. Now he is
gone and travellers the world
over must feel a great loss. I
hope the Vatican finds a replace.
'tient, since in some countries
it just isn't safe to drive any-
place without some kind of
support, even if it is only moral.
I base my belief that a success-
or to St. Christopher is needed
on the fact that, judging from
what one has to put up with on
the roads, it is downright dan-
gerous for some of us to face
traffic all by ourselves. If
you doubt my word, take your
car and drive through the Alps
some time. Not that it is that
difficult, but the first tinie you
do it, the numerous sharp
curves in the road look down-
right formidable, and as for the
cliffs, you stake one false
turn, or zig when you should
have zagged, and you're good
for a 500-1000 foot drop any
d It all reminds me of a golfer
trying to drive the ball over a
small pond. Normally he had
no trouble hitting the ball a
good 200 yards, bur put a small
body of water in front of him
and immediately he has a men-
tal hazard which is likely to
make him drive the ball full
tilt into the pond. So it is in
the mountains. The turns are
often not that bad, the road not
that narrow, but put it up on the
side of a mountain with a steep
cliff on your right and immed-
iately you're sure you are
driving along a cow path up
the Matterhorn.
It doesn't help to get out of
the Alps. If you're going south
you end up in Italy, and every-
body knows how they drive in
Italy. With plenty of gusto.
They tell the story of two ladies
who were parked along Italy's
beautiful Autostrada del Sole.
A police car came along and
the policeman told them they
couldn't park there. They re-
plied that all they were doing
was watching the famous car
race - the Mille Miglie.
"That's no car race," answered
the officer. "Oh" said one
lady, "we thought that the way
everybody was driving along the
road, the race must be on".
THURSDAY, MAY 22, 1969
The policeman finally had to
tell them that this was the way
they drove all the time in
Italy.
I can vouch for that. The
first time I drove in that count-
ry I had a friend's Mercedes.
Now you don't want to damage
a friend's car, so I took the
best of care, This was almost
my undoing, for I just about
got done in several times by
chargingFiats. It was only
when I earned to drive like
everybody else that I managed
to cope, My friend never clic,
so our arrangement was that be
drove in the country and I
drove in the city.
There are other hazards around
the continent which stake you
wish St. Christopher was riding
in the seat beside you. In
Holland it's the canals. I, don't
know how niaay cars are fished
out of the canals every year,
but it must number in the
hundreds. It's no place to be
absent-minded in. If you back
up without thinking, you can
very easily find yourself swimm-
ing to the nearest edge of a
canal, wonderingwhat happened
In Russia you pay a game of
Russian roulette. This time it's
played with pedestrians, and
you never know how often you
almost end up with a couple of
pedestrians as ornaments on
your fenders. I have never
seen people conte so close to
moving cars as they do there.
Yelling doesn't seem to do
much good, so I gave that up
and charged along just like the
other drivers. I never did. find
out how long you spend in
Siberia if you hit one.
Don't think Canada doesn't
have its problems either. Just
drive during rush hour at 5
o'clock or near teen-agers who
have just got their first car. In
short, you 11 wish too that the
Vatican would reconsider its
decision. St. Chris' ancestry
may be in doubt but his place
in today's driving world is
assured for years to come.
0
Ivir. and Mrs. Ron Heinrich
and fancily were holiday visitors
with Mr. and Mrs, Fred Haberer
and other members of their
families in this area.
Business and Professional Directory
OPTOMETRISTS
FUNERAL DIRECTORS
- J. E. Longstaff
OPTOMETRIST
SEAFORTH MEDICAL CENTRE
527-1240
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sat-
urday a.m., Thursday evening
CLINTON OFFICE
10 Issac Street ' 482.7010
Monday and Wednesday
Call either office for
appointment.
Norman Martin
OPTOMETRIST
Office Hours:
9-12 A,M, — 1:30-6 P.M.
Closed all day Wednesday
Phone 235-2433 Exeter
ACCOUNTANTS
Roy N. Bentley,
PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT
GODERICH
P.O. Box 478 Dial 524-9521
HURON and ERIE
DEBENTURES
CANADA TRUST
CERTIFICATES
J. W. HABERER
Authorized Representative
8% For 5 Years
71/2% for 3 and 4 Years
71/4% for 1 and 2 Years
Minimum $100
DIAL 236-4346 — ZURICH
NNW
WESTLAKE
Funeral Home
AMBULANCE and PORTABLE
OXYGEN SERVICE
DIAL 236-4364 — ZURICH
AUCTIONEERS
ALVIN WALPER
PROVINCIAL
LICENSED AUCTIONEER
For your sale, large or small,
courteous and efficient service
at all times.
"Service That Satisfies"
DIAL 237-3300 — DASHWOOD
INSURANCE.
For Safety • . .
EVERY FARMER NEEDS
Liability Insurance
For Information About AB
Insurance — 'Call
BERT KLOPP
DIAL 236.4988 — ZURICH
Representing
CO-OPERATORS INSURANCE
ASSOCIATION
Robert F. Westlake
Insurance
"Specializing in
General Insurance"
Phone 236-4391 -- Zurich