HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1934-11-22, Page 6•
Vojce of the Press
Canada, The Empire and The World at Large
CANADA
—Tax rates, it has many times
been pointed out, are not always
the safest guide to the actual tax
burden a community is called upon
to bear, A more accurate indication
of the true tax rate is the assess-
ment levels.
A bulletin issued last year by the
Citizens' Research Institute of Can-
ada gives assessment figures and
net debt figures for 17 Canadian
cities for the year 1931. Worked out
on a per capita basis, these figures
are as follows:
Assess. Net Debt
Toronto $1,661 $138.19
Victoria 1,511 229.20
Windsor 1,414 184.07
Ottawa 1,250 104.93
London 1,220 109.43
Montreal 1,201
Saint John 1,116 40.31
Vancouver 1,094 219.17
Winnipeg 1,085 75.06
Hamilton 1,002 120.94
Halifax 989 154.43
Quebec 900 173.26
Regina 872 155.11
Edmonton 840 276.00
Saskatoon 801 191.92
Calgary 789 152.21
Charlottetown 707 97.04
Average $1,085
—Winnipeg Tribune.
$142.43
NO NEVER IN THAT CONDITION
One of these days some enterpris-
ing pyjama firm is going to turn
out suits in which the trousers and
coat will be of a different color.
Did you ever struggle to try to get
your feet through the sleeve? —
Oshawa Times.
"DRIVE SLOW"
A letter appearing in the Toronto
GIobe over the signature of Mr. A.
W. Baird, principal of the Renfrew
Collegiate, will be read with con-
siderable interest in. Kingston, not
merely because of its subject mat-
ter, but because of the fact that A.
W. Baird is one of Queen's most
brilliant graduates and at the pre-
sent time occupies an important
position in our educational world.
Mr. Baird takes issue with the
Rev. C. Graham Jones of Campbell-
ville who receently wrote to the
Globe complaining of such highway
signs as "School: Drive Slow." Mr.
Baird points out that slow is quite
correct an draws attention to the
following on Page 542 of Modern
English Usage, by H. W. Fowler:
Slow, adverb. In spite of the en-
creachments of slowly, slow main-
tains itself as at least an idiomatic
possibility under some conditions.
Of the conditions the chief is that
the adverb and not the verb should
contain the real point; compare
"We forged slowly ahead," where
the slowness is an unessential item,
with "Sing as slow as you can "'
where the slowness is all that can.
mat-
ters.
These highway signs have bother-
ed others besides the Rev. Mr. Jones
of Campbeldville, and some of us
may even have the temerity to take
issue with Mr. Fowler. However, as
Mr. Baird points out, it is evident
that those responsible for the signs
have good authority for their use.
We doubt, however, if they Were
aware of this fact.—Kingston Whig -
Standard,
CHANGE IN RULERSHIP
In the last 24 years, eight mon-
archs of nations containing about
750 million persons have lost their
thrones. The monarchs ruled Rus-
sia, Germany, Austria-Hungary,
China, Portugal, Greece, Spain and
Turkey. Rulership has passed from
monarchy to money power, as it did
in France a century ago.—The Citi-
zen, Ottawa.
THE LABRADOR DOCTOR
At 69 Sir Wilfred Grenfell has
decided that his active days in the
medical missionary field are about
over.
Sailing' for England • with Lady
Grenfell, the pian whose name is
synonymous with Labrador admit-
ted that he was "getting too old to
drive a dog team" and must hence-
forth take things easy.
That does not mean, however,
that Sir Wilfred will be content to
retire and spend his declining years
in contemplating the noble work
which brought him knighthood in
1927. Sturdy, ruddy cheeked, a pic-
ture of health despite his strenuous
life, "the Doctor" will continue to,
be the driving force behind the In-
ternational Grenfell Association.
Only those who have been to Lab-
rador and talked with its hardy
people can appreciate the high re-
gard in which Sir Wilfred is held.
What he has done over a period of
More than forty years to ameliorate
conditions of life in a land where
there are few pleasures and much
poverty must be measured in terms
of the future.
If, as Sir Wilfred believes, Labra -
'slier is developed and ,eventually be-
comes one of the important sections
et the continent, it will be due hi no
email measure to one who placed a
literal interpretation On the words
Of twenty centuries ago: "Inasmuch
as ye have done it unto the least of
these My Brethren, ye have done it
unto Me."
AN EDITOR ABROAD
...A series of sketches written for
the Vancouver Sun by Harold L.
Weir, chief editorial writer of that.
newspaper, on his impressions of
the United Kingdom and France as
acquired in a short tour of those
countries, has been published in the
form of a 36 -page pamphlet.
It is a bright and interesting little
publication. The style is light and
distinctly "readable," the matter
ranges from dinners at sea to the
.majesty of an England discovered
and the quotation of Shakespeare's
bit about "this sceptred isle... This
Mr. Weir shows a nice apprecia-
precious stone set in the silver sea.'•
tion of London's charm, of the grace
of the English countryside and the
austerity of Scotland, and he is able
to pass on to his readers something
of his own keen enjoyment.
PUDDLE -JUMPER
During the war the tanks came
along to the surprise of everybody
waddling across fairly decent sized
trenches. But now we have an auto-
mobile which leaps the puddles. The
Christian Science Monitor tells of a
strange looking stream lined auto-
mobile which has been built in Cali-
fornia which does uncanny things .
It is built of steel and is lighter
San the usual car and the centre of
gravity is placed very low, so that
the car is not easily over turned. Its
inventor took it out into rough
ground and for three hours, before a
group of spectator's did the appar-
ently impossible. He turned hair -pin
curves at sixty miles an hour with-
out the missing of a heart-beat. "At
65 miles an hour he drove his car
into a mound of rocks and dirt four
feet high, and dived 51 feet before
landing on one front wheel. The
machine righted itself and proceeded
calmly across the mesa, without even
blowing a tire."
Soon we will be able to ride up-
side down with safety. — Halifax
Chronicle.
DIVORCE CLINIC
The Oklahoma Ministerial Assoc -
laden is setting up a "divorce
clinic." They are of the opinion that
ministers can pacify husband and
wife when they begin to quarrel and
want to part. Perhaps. —From the
Pembroke Standard -Observer
How Ilk Is Pone
Action! — Lights! — And the camera swings on its boom right
up to the bedroom window for that closeup of Irene Dunne you'll ad-
mire when you see her latest picture. Down below on the set, Director
Mervyn LeRoy (right) supervises the filming of the scene.
not only in the U.S.A., but in other
countries, including Australia; and
if the controllers of the business
don't mend their manners somethng
disastrous is certainly going to hap-
pen to them.—Sydney Bulletin.
£85,675 Poster Bought
LONDON.—A man walking down
a London street saw a board outside
the Middlesex Hospital announcing
that they still needed 85,675 pounds
for their 1,200,000 pound extension
scheme.
He walked into the hospital, drew
out his cheque book and offered to
buy the poster for the sum req ui
'
red.
He was Mr. E. W. Mewerstein. He
took his seat on the hospital board
THE EMPIRE
.. THE RIGHT TO WORK ....
The Daily Express believes that
every citizen who wants work should
get it, and that all citizens should
have to work. The Daily Express has
no respect for The Willing Idle and
e u pity for the
triviality of "Society." Those spong•
ing, lounging loafers eke out a mis-
erable existence. The public are not
interested in them in any case.
—London Daily Express.
othine b
HOUSING AND TUBERCULOSIS
There are, of course, other angles
as well from which the fight against
tuberculosis must be directed, such
as ensuring a clean milk supply, es-
pecially for children, so as to elimin-
ate bovine infection; but if special
steps could be taken to improve the
housing conditions of families in
poor circumstances subject to tuber-
culosis, the prospects of eradicating
the disease would be greatly improv-
ed. —Edinburgh Scotsman.
THE COST OP THE LEAGUE
Since its formation 15 years ag
the League of Nations proper h
spent about seven and a half miillio
gold pounds, including expenditur
not only on the staff, but also 0
buildings and the many technic
and special organizations of th
League, The Tr p rnational Labour
Office has spent fee- "'linin, •ioueds
'n the same period and the nnrnran-
ent Court 01' Tr,te••netionnl Justice
£874,000. Adding these re, we get
a total of under 12,500,000 pounds.
The share that each of the 57 nation
members is called upon to pay is
determined by a somewhat compli-
cated mathematical formula, in
which the factors are population,
territorial area, industrial wealth,
etc. Great Britain's total contribu-
tions under this arrangement have
amounted to one and a quarter mil-
lion gold pounds over the 15' years.
To put this sum in its prover pro-
portion, it is sufficient, perhaps, to
remark that it does not amount to
1 per cent of the expenditure on
British armaments for a single year.
—The Cape .Argus, Capetown.
Youth League Backs
Australian Culture
Melbourne, Vic.—Dedicated to th
protection of Australian natural trea
sures and resources—notably th
Lyre bird and other rare species—a
well as the preservation of natio
culture, the League of Youth ha
been founded. James McRae, direct
or of education, presided at the mee-
ting when a constitution was adopted
An appeal made by Ambrose Pratt
in his book, The Lore of the Lyre
Bird," for the youth of Australia to
band together in the interests of na-
tive flora and fauna, was influential
in formation of the league. Among
the aims of the league are the devel-
opment of community service and of
for the first time. personal responsibility, the preser- m
Prince Arthur of Connaught, wE o=vation of national monuments, and to
coming him, thanked Mr. Meyerstein the encouragement of local groups to 17
for a first gift of 30,000 pounds and
a second gift of 70,000 pounds.
Then Mr. Meyerstein remarked that
it was his birthday, and that he
wanted to give himself a present,
offered his cheque. It brought his
gifts to the fund to 185,675 pounds.
The meeting accepted the offer, and
the reconstruction fund became closed.
Prince Urges English -Speaking
Youth to Further War Amity
New York, — The Prinoe of Wales
urged the young generation of Eng-
lish-speaking democrats to work for
international understanding, in a
message read at a dinner of the Eng-
lish-speaking Union of the United
States,
The Prince sent the message as
president of the English-speaking
Union of the British Empire. Read
by the toastmaster at the dinner,
John W. Davis, former U. S. Ambas-
sador to Great Britain, the message
said:
"The endeaivor of the youth of the
English-speaking democracies should
be directed to promoting not only
their mutual interests but also 14'
ternational understandings, as tht
first step towards the economic re.
covery on which the maintenance el
peace and understanding throughout
the world will depend,"
Sir Gerald Campbell, British Con.
sul-General in New York, in address.
sing the dinner suggested that youth
is not "getting a square deal" lrore
the generation now in control d
world affairs.
"We must confess," he said, "thet
we have made more than an average
bad mess of what was not such 1
bad world at the time it was eon.
fined to our care."
Getting the News
By "Pony Express"
St. Thomas Times -Journal
The Times has been recalling
events of 100 years ago, when
(Charles Dickens was a reporter in
London. When readers of the Times -
Journal realize that news of an im-
portant event on the other side of
the ocean is published within a few
seconds of happening, with an ex-
tended report appearing within half
an hour or so, it is interesting to
learn that the great London daily
prided itself on the promptitude of
its reports before the days of the
telegraph, trains, steam printing,
typewriters or the telephone.
Its reporters at home and abroad
relied on a sort of "pony express('
system, being told to spare no ex-
pense either as tto the number or
quality of the horses.
Referring to an important speech
by Lord Durham ah Glasgow in
1834, it is recorded the Times sent
down to Glasgow two of its best
parliamentary reporters; and in or-
der at the same time, to do all that
could be done tto get the report of
Lord Durham s speech brought as
speedily as possible to the Times
office, relays of postmen and horses
—tI ere being no railways at the
e time — were stationed at conven-
- fent distances between Glasgow and
e , London,
s The journey from Glasgow to
e London — 400 miles — was per -
s formed at the rate of. 15 miles ai,
hour. The result was that the speech
of Lord Durham appeared in the
Times at full length a day before
it otherwise could have done. The
expenses amounted to X200; but the
unprecedented achievement created
a great sensation throughout the
country.
During a by-election in Devon-
shire Dickens was up against the
Times' hang the expense service and
ade several journeys between Exe-
r and London, a distance of some
0 miles. On one occasion when
they were approaching Honiton,
about 16 miles on the way, Denison
of the Times, who was more fami-
liar than Dickens with the country
and the way of innkeepers, told his
postboy to run into the Golden Lion
yard by the back way, knowing that
a pair of horses would be ready
harnessed in the yard, with the post -
boy waiting for a job.
Denison reckoned that thus he
would get possession of the horses
before his colleague alighted and
came in at the front door. So it
proved; Denison got the horses and
took the lead.
During this same by-election Dic-
kens was more fortunate against
his rival on another trip for he
chronicles that:
"At the second stage the Times
Soviets Seeking
100 -Per Cent Vote
MOSCOW,—Soviet Russia to -day
initiated the Campaign for elections
to the village Soviets with the slogan.
"Get out 100 per cent of the eligible
voters."
This is the first general election
since farm collectivization became
widespread and spectacular meth-
ods have been adopted to enlisf:
the peasants in social construction.
In the approaching elections there
will be 10,000,000 new voters with
, 90,000,000, in all, eligible to vote.
as The local Soviets will elect dale.
n gates to the district Soviets, which
e in turn will elect representatives to
n ; the Provincial Soviets and these
el i Soviets will elect provincial con-
e
THE MOVIES IN AUSTRALIA
The real offence of the Pilins is
not that their vulgarities and inde-
cencies corrupt those who frequent
talkies, but that they outrage the
susceptibilities of nennle who know
little or 'lett"inn.
0{' il,e talkies but
what is foss " • "nen and theirs
in the fr- " ' '-„ advertise-
-ents and publicity stuff, Owine
there abuse• n'formidable body of
hostile opiniorihhas• been 'niobili od
' 11
gresses which will name 1986 dele-
gates to the All -Union Soviet Con-
gress, the supreme authority of
Soviet Russia. This congress will
meet Jan. 14 for the first time in
three years.
Any 13 -Year -Old
Can Learn Grammar
Princeton, N,J,-Gertrude Stein,
modernist poet and author made her
speaking debut before a college aud-
ience befuddling 500 Princeton un-
dergraduates and faculty members
wii]i extracts from her works.
"I was tremendously concerned in
finding out what was myself inside
of me," she sack' among other things,
"I think that's general of college stu-
dents,
"The only way you can live ori:h
out being bored," she said,"is to feel
that every individual has a history
that is worth investigating,"
Her remarks --"Why 'make a fuss
about grammar when any ]3 -year-old
can learn it" ---drew laughter and ap-
plause.
Vie appeared in a rough brown
skirt, a brown and yellow sweater,
low- heeled shoes and hatless, When
at the conclusion of her lecture, she
asked if there were any questions,
'her dazed audience made no reply,
She grinned and walked off the plat-
form,
carry on these and similar objectives,
The league is open to any youth
over the age of 12 years,
Orphans' Friend
Stops in Edmonton
Millionaire "orphans' friend" J. D.
O'Connell, recently visited Edmonton
during his annual 50,000 -mile tour of
all America. He inspected the
orphans' institution which bears his
name and, as well, looked into some
of his financial interests, including
real estate and wheat lands.
Mr. O'Connell would not give any-
thing to Homes for the Aged, he an-
nounced. He himself is a septu-
agenarian. "Well, they've had their
opportunities, and their lives, and ap•
parently wasted them. Oh, I have
nothing against the old folks—I'nh
just a lot more interested in orphans:
the boys and girls who, if given a
chance today, will be the 'grown
people who runthis world next year.
They've got to have their chance.
"That's my life work—that and
fighting the booze traffic. You can't
make that too strong; the language,
1' mean. That's the one thing that
I'm more interested in than I am
even in providing funds for orphan's.''
Don't Fight the Censors
Frederick T. Bircual.l European
correspondent of the New York
Times,speaking last week to the stu-
dents of the Columbia school of jour-
nalism stated that it is impossible to
suppress news and therefore any cen-
sorship is foolish.
"In my 40 years of experience," he
said, "I found out that news will leak
out through the roof or through any
crevice.
"It is stulilioh for any correspon-
dent to fight a censor, Any corres-
pondent expelled from a country is
as foolish as the war correspondent
who goes into the :ront line to be
shot, He is no good any more to his,
newspaper,"
He stressed the honesty trutliful-
ness and Iiniierent friendliness of Am-
erican correspondents. in Germany
and added that no dispatch is ever
stopped by the government if the
contents are true. He said that not
one of his dispatches some of which
were highly critical, was ever stopp-
ed by the Germans.
TI'S OPULENT ICE MAN
Oh. envy not the ice pian
Who. gets so much a pound.
it malty be he Is drifting
Whence ice does hot abound.
and I changed horses together, they
had the start two or thane minutes'
I bribed the poatboys tremendous•
ly and we came in literally neck
and neck — the most beautiful
sight I ever saw."
Charles Dickens was a zealous
and able reporter on the Morning
Chronicle, and in one of his writings
states that probably no other repor
ter in England spends so much time
rushing across country in postchaisea
In 1865 he told a newspapermen's
banquet that:
"I have often transcribed for the
printer, from my shorthand notes,
important public speeches in which
the strictest accuracy was required
and a mistake in which would have
even, to a young man severely com-
promisng, writing on the palm o1
my hand, by the light of a dark lan-
tern, in a postchaise and four, gal-
loping through a wild country, and
through the dead of the night, at
'the then surprising rate of 15 miles
an hour."
Through all the ages the reporter
seems to be destined to be the Man
Who is Always in a Hurry.
This At Least is Certain
In the darkest hour through which
a human soul can pass whatever else
is doubtful this at least is certain:
"If there be no God and no future
state, yet, even then—
"It is better to be generous than
selfish,
"Better to be chaste than licent•
ions.
"Better to be true than false.
"Better to be biMve than to be a
coward,
"Blessed beyond all earthly bles-
sedness is the man who in the temp-
estuous darkness of his soul has dar-
ed to hold fast to these venerable
landmarks,"—F. W. Robertson.
Wealthy Not Allowed
To Be Movie Extras
Hollywood, Cal,—The moving pic-
ture industry is one jump ahead of
the New York mannequins who ob-
ject to society girls who take away
their bread and butter by acting as
models.
For Hollywood already has set its
foot down hard on anyone with in-
dependent means becoming a movie
'extra" just for a lark,
"Any time we find society people
trying to get movie jobs just for the
tun of it, we out them off our lists,"
Campbell MacCullough new general
manager of Central Casting Bureau
said today,
Before the present motion picture
NRA code was crystallized a number
of girls of social prominence took mi-
nor roles in the films as a diversion,
Same showed enough promise to win
contracts,
Jurywomen Are Too Sentimental
Says Manchester Court Chairman
Their Recommendations for Mercy are Strongly Criticized—
' Former Cabinet Minister Defends Fair Sex
in Legal Controversy
Manchester, Eng.—Women jurors sentimentality to the jury who recom-
came in for some scathing criticism mended mercy are unheard of and out
by the chairman, H, St. John Raikes, of place," he said.
K.C,, at the trial of William Whittle, "I have never seen any reason to
60 -year-old laborer, charged with differentiate between women jurors
stealing coal, He was found guilty and men," said Comyns Carr, K.C.
and sentenced to six months' hard
labor.
When the foreman of the jury in-
timated the woman members desired
to recommend him to mercy, the
chairman asked them to give a rea-
son, and when none was forthcoming
said: "Year by year, since 'women
have been serving a certain amount
of sickly sentimentality has been
shown, and unless there is sense
strong reason they should bo chary
of malting recommendations. It is
rather a slight on the court. Those
whose duty it is to award punishment
have more experience than the jur-
ies„and are able -to size up the ques-
tion,"
11 PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS
On hearing that there were 11 pre-
vious convictions against Whittle for
stealing coal, the chairman observed:
"And then we get this recommenda-
tion by people who knew nothing
about it. It is a shocking thing. In a
way,"
Pro'este from various quarters fol-
lowed the remarks of 1,tr, Raikes,
"Women are no more sentimental
than men," declared J', R. Clynes, for-
mer Cabinet :member, "Lectures on
A STEIN SONG
Discussing the sculptor Epstein
(whose work he does not like) A. Ed.
ward Newton quotes (In "Derby Day
and Other Adventurers") this 'tvery
clever limerick" that appeared in the
"Atlantic Monthly" a year or so ago.
"There's a notable family named
Stein;
There's Gert, and there's Ep and
there's • Ein;
Gert's poems are punk
Ep's statutes are junk—
Can't make head nor tail out of Ele."
Speaking of steins; Mr, Newton
tells a story about an English temp.
erance lecturer who once said in a
public speech.
"I have lived in this town all my
life. There are fifty pubs (saloons) in
it, and I have never been in one of
them,"
Prom the back of the room a hock -
ler inquired.
"Which one have you missed?"
"I have learned by years of exper-
ience," adds Mr. Newton, "never to
attempt to match wiltswith a cook-
nay.,,. i