HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1949-11-17, Page 9Chinese Could
Teach Us Much
La spite of war and disturbance,
the Chinese Rimier even now pro-
duces vast quantities of food which
ec would be glad to market more
widely were it possible. The Chi-
nese earth is rich hi food produc-
tion, and the Chinese farmer is very
"killed in conserving the soul,
writes Pearl S. Buck, author of
"The Good Earth," and other fam-
ous books, in The New York Times
.Magazine.
The Chinese are farmers of 40
centuries and there they have much
to teach the rest of the world. They •
need help in scientific seed selection
and in disease and insect control,
which can easily be given tifem.
The primary need of the Chinese
farmer, therefore, is not food, but
more markets for the food he has.
The abundance of food produc-
tion in China is more than the
result of necessity. The Chinese
are extremely modern in their out
look on life. Centuries before
Hemingway set the fashion for
naturalism for our young men and
women, the Chinese were natural-
istic to their very marrw, Every
function of life was meant to be
enjoyed. Pherefore, food was much
more than a necessity—it became
an art, in production, in cookery, in
elating—and an astounding plenty
and variety of foods were de-
veloped. '
Those• who have wandered over
China will remember the wonder of
the markets even in remote little
. inland towns. Tubers of land and
water, green vegetables infinitely
more in number than ase eaten or
oven known by Americans, melons
of every color and texture and flav-
or, meats fresh and dried in a
score of ways, proteins we do not
suspect from beans and peas made
,into vegetable cheese and cured or
eaten fresh, sea food of every va-
riety, river fish of every size and
sort, the nuts, the sweets, the fruits
—I wonder why we do not have
kquats, those delicious golden
fruits of spring, and why we do not
have pumeloes,. so much better than
grapefruit and greater in variety,
and why we do not have the many
itlnds of persimmons that the Chi-
. 'nese have.
The big persiannlons of the north
'dried for sweetmeats and dusted
with powdered sugar surpass any
figs or dates; though the Chinese
Loney dates, delicately slit with
needles and then preserved in honey
lure the finest in the world,
No one who has eaten for years
in China, north and south and all
pound, in city and village, can
believe that the Chinese are hungry
• or that they need food—primarily,
that is. • Take bread alone—in coin-
parison to the poor pasty product
Which Americans eat for their daily
bread, what joy is to be found fn
the many varieties of Chinese bread
the baked, the browned •in deep
vegetable oil, the steamed in vast
trays set into the huge iron cal-
dron; bread in loaves, bread in
cakes, bread delicately filled with
bean vermicelli and °spinach, bread
lined with flavored pork bits, bread
filled wlth dates crushed • in red
sugar.
No, I flout the idea that the Chi-
nese are permanently hungry and
that their hunger is a world prob-
lem, I have breakfasted in southern
villages wltih the poor and found
delicious the bowls of lice gruel
and salted vegetables and fish, or
in North China the thin sheet of
unsalted bread wrapped about a
afresh stalk of garlic. I have eaten
a bowl of home-made noodles flav-
ored with soy sauce and sesame oil
do a poor wayside inn and I have
. eaten official feasts of many cours-
•ee, and all are delicious and abund-
amt. The Chinese not only eat well,
they eat heartily. They are heavy
feeders, especially those who work
at physical labor, -which is most of
the people.
Not food, but roads, are what
the Chinese need, roads whereby to
share with one another their own
plenty. A network of good motor
[toads' and freight vehicles to use
them, combined with a few main
railroad lines and some refrigerator
one, and China's famines would be
wiped from the record.
He Dives For Sunken Treasure—At left, Bob Forrest is lowered by his helpers into the Crown
Zellerbach log pond at Port Angeles. He's going down to search for "treasure" in the form of
sunken logs. "Treasure?" you say. Darn tootin'. Loggers up in the woods float great "booms"
of logs down the river to the swmills. A boom consists of thousands of logs, chained into a
gigantic raft. About 5 per cent of the logs become waterlogged and sink: And at present lumber
prices, that ain't hay. Hence the salvage operation. Picture at right shows Forrest supervising
recovery of one of the logs he located below the surface and hooked on to the salvage hoist.
TOUGHEST DOGS
IN THE WORLD
Thirty -odd sledge -dogs are in Bri-
tain awaiting the day when before
long a whaler takes them "South"
through the blue -and -green pack ice
to Queen Maud Land, where they
will spend two years hauling the
sledges of the Anglo -Scandinavian
Antarctic Expedition ,
Across the other side of the Ant-
arctic Continent in Graham Land,
huskies at the six, permanent Brie
tish exploration and scientific bases
there are getting ready for the great
sledging journeys of the coining
Antarctic summer. So it is at the
outposts maintained in the Antarc-
it: by Australia, South Africa, Chile
and the Argentine, for in this ma-
chine age the husky is an indispens-
adjunct of polar travel writes Frank
Illingworth in "Answers."
Mountie and Missionary
Only the more important Arctic
settlements are linked by aircraft
and snow -tractor "trains." The rest,
and they number thousands, relp on
the husky for winter transport,
With the first snow of winter the
husky becames the key to existence
over an area exceeding ten million
square miles. He hauls the Mountie
and the Arctic missionary on their
rounds; he carries the trapper along
his trapline; and the explorer into
frigid new territories; he is used to
deliver rations to the housewife in
some polar parts, and to carry the
doctor into , the Wilderness of the
tundras when the radio crackles
SOS calls.
The sledge -clog's excitement is
boundless when the first snow of
winter coats tundra and forest and
his owner turns the"sledge over and
glazes the runners with frozen
blood (which "slides" better than
frozen water). A crescendo of yelps
burst from the dog's throat; his
eyes sparkle with pleasure; he rears
up and brings mighty paws thump-
ing down on your chest. Slap him
under the chin, grab his immense
ruffle and slip around his neck a
Separated- 1'rob McKinley, 19, and "Tlerschel's Pi dc," his 1190 -
pound Hereford steer, were close pals when this picture was
tal.t•n at 'the P.isyal Livestock Show. 'tart they are :separated
now, "l'lr'rschc1's Pride" won the grand championship and 'Bob
Mini 1 , Eddy Willi;ttit:;, meat packer for $1755. 'Bob -will
vi -e the Money to gel married.
strap that crosses between the fore-
legs and attaches at the back to
the thong that serves as a trace.
The team is traced either in fan -
formation or in line -ahead, or the
dogs are hitched to either side of a
trace. The method used depends on
the terrain to be crossed—for ex-
ample, the trappers of Canada's
forest areas wouldn't think of us-
ing the fan -formation!
Whatever the method of harness-
ing employed, the team is control-
led by word of mouth and with a
long whip.
l.0 a well-trained team every dog
answers to his name. Sometimes a
dog will respond to a shouted order
only when you pick up a whip. He
does not hear a grudge for chas-
tisement that is earned. But beat
him unjustly—and look for trouble.
The husky has a long memory. And
there has been at least one instance
when the team has sided with a
badly handled dog and chased its
driver, their eyes on the seat of his
seal -skin trousers,
The husky has a marked sense
of humor. Throw your whip and
miss and he turns around and
"laughs" in a doggy wayl He re-
spects the good team - driver and
recognizes the inept immediately.
The thirty-foot thong has been the
cause of more laughter, embarrass-
ment and anger than any other item
of arctic equipment. The smallest
Eskimo child can handle it. But the
first efforts of the white man send
the Eskimos into paroxysms of
laughter.
Enjoying the Joke o
Five minutes after Peary's Negro
companion on the former's North
Pole Expeditions, the great Matt
Henson, had taken tip his position
behind a sledge the Eskimos Ah-
nalka and lkwah were helpless with
laughter. For while Matt cracked
his whip the dogs sat on their
haunches and watched the perform-
ance, on their faces an expression
of wonderment at the manner in
which the big Negro was showering
theta with snow, curling the thong
around his legs, and keeping the
two Eskimos dodging.
The husky will never let you
down. When the Norwegian trapper
Kare Rodhal, fell ill in one of the
trappers' huts on the almost twee --
pored east coast of Greenland, he
strapped his sleeping bag full length
to his sledge, crawled within its
fluffy folds and left his team of
eight dogs to find their way back
to his cabin, This entailed a dan-
gerous joprney through moving sea -
ice. 13ut sixteen hours after he' gave
the team -leader the order to pull,
his sledge came to a halt at his
cabin door.
Never was there a more loyal or
tougher dog than the husky.
The average pure-bred husky
weighs some seventy or eighty
pounds. But crossed with a wolf
he will exceed one hundred pounds,
and crossed with a St. Bernard he
weighsanything tip to 180 pounds.
A t,; gm of six or eight huskies
will 1,';'a half -ton load over bro-
ken i'' ,'almost indefinitely. On Vit-
hjalm• Stefansson's famous jour-
ney ;akwbss 'the froien Beaufort Sea,
in Ai''i c Canada, six 180- pound
' husks"„ -'.'hauled a load of half a ton
for: u I ` files,. sometimes covering
thirty n l'es a day among the fan-
tastte;:ressure ridges of the Arctic
Ocea1 , That was in 1914, since
when :tifhere have been scores of
similatj” exhibitions of staying power
on tli art of huskies. Only a couple
of years ago a team of huskies
hauled a load of half a ton 1,096
miles across the blizzard -blitzed
wastes of Grahamland in 96 days.
A world speed record so far as
exploration goes, the latter accom-
plishment is beaten every winter by
the Polar Eskimos of Thule,
To the Polar Eskimos, journeys
of 1,000 miles are "routine" during
the hunting season.. Only last win-
ter one of the Thule Eskimoes set
off with his wife on a 1,200 mile
sledge journey to visit relatives in
Ellesmere Land, across the frozen
sea from Greenland, returning last
spring to report "good hunting";
pleasant' trip."
Grim Law of the North
Even under normal conditions in
the Arctic, the husky's life is a hard
one.
Chere have been innumerable oc-
uasions where to stave off starvation
on a long sledge journey the weak-
est members of a team have been
shot and fed to their team-mates.
When a female husky "pups" in the
traces, her trace -mates will snap up
the helpless pups and swallow them
at a gulp.•But sometimes the husky
prefers to starve rather than turn
cannibal, and then he is classed
among the weaker of a team and
killed and fed to the other animals.
That is the law of the North,
Suffering the pain of snow blind-
ness, flanks sunken with hunger,
paws lacerated with the. rip of sharp
ice, the husky is expected to haul
until he can haul no farther, And
he is prepared to haul to a stand-
still}lis reward? A hunk of meat once
a day, or every few days in lean
tines: a bed in the snow at night,
even if the temperature drops to
"fifty below"; and the knowledge
that he is the most loved ereature
in the (treat North. For he is
loved, both in the Far North and
by t'ite British explorers in the Ear
South,
1IIHMMFRONT
J06 1
You probably recall the ancient
tale about the small boy whose
mother was trying to coax into
eating a new vegetable. "It's lovely,
dear," she said. "it's something
new—it's Broccoli."
* * *
The tiny tot took a wary mouth-
ful, chewed gingerly, then spat it
out, "You can call it Broccoli if
you like," quoth he. "But I say it's
spinach. And I say to hell with
it."
* * *
Well, there are some folks who
profess to admire the starling as a
beautiful bird, and who urge its
preservation. But practically every-
body
verybody who ever lived in a place
infested with them will contend, "I
say` they're nothing but pests. And
I say to hell with them," or words
to that effect.
* * *
So it won't come as welcome
news to any of the latter to hear
that DDT has been tried for star-
ling extermination — tried and
found wanting.
• *
In closely -watched tests last sum-
mer DDT powder in strengths of
10, 50 and 100 per cent was dusted
on flocks of starlings to determine
the results that would probably be
obtained if use of the insecticide
was attempted in the field,
* * *
No ill effect was noted among any
of the birds regardless of the
strength of DDT or the amount
used. Similar tests repeated with
pigeons and English sparrows
yielded equally negative results.
* * *
When DDT was applied to house
mice in sufficient quantity, some
degree of control was obtained. Re-
sults were most satisfactory when
a finely micronized DDT produet
was used,
* * *
Plans are already being made for
a big celebration to take place at
Levis, Quebec, in the fall of 1950.
It will nark the fiftieth anniversary
of the founding of Credit Unions.
Started in a small way there in
Levis, Credit Unions have now
spread to every Province in Canaua,
and to evfiry state in the United
States.
* * *
Canadian credit "unions hit a new
high during 1948 according to a
report to be released shortly by
the Dominion Department of Agri-
culture, Ottawa. In 1948 there were
2,608 credit unions chartered in
Canada with over 850,000 members
and total assets of $250 million,
* *
During the year, the u.:,i,
which Are in reality co-operative
saving's and lending institutions
made loans to members of *Lee •
285,237. Deposits and shares at the
end of the year totalled almost
$140,000,000.
Quebec is the leading province
with 1,078 credit unions, over halt
a million members and assets got
$205,000,000. Ontario is next in ion-
portance with 371 credit unions„
95,000 members and $J6.500,000 in
assets.
* * *
There exists in every province at
least one central credit union where
individual credit unions and co-
operatives may deposit surplus funds
and make loans as needed. There
are 21 such centrals in Canada and
the combined balance sheet for 18
of these is included in the report
and shows total assets of over
' • $35,000,000.
* *
The Government "hand-out," from.
which '1 borrowed the above facts,
failed to state the name of the in-
dividual responsible for the Credit
Union idea. However, whoever he
was, he really started something,
and no mistake.
Two bandits held up a wornast
florist in her shop in Los Angeles.
When she told them she was a
poor widow, they handed her $fi
and departed.
Film Cutie—Actress Mary Janco
Saunders, age 7, clutches tight-
ly the $6,000 to $20,000 -a -year
movie contract approved for
her by a Los Angeles superior
court. The child actress star-
red with Bob Hope in "Sorrow-
ful Jones," the "Little Mists
Marker" role that started Shir-
ley Temple on the road to fame
Prize Poster••---1.lerbert Matter, photographer, looks at his poster,
which won him $1000 in a contest sponsored by the Museum of
Modern Art and the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis,
The poster, which won first prize, is a photo -montage. Matter
used his own son, who recovered from polio, as one of the models
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