Loading...
Clinton News-Record, 1971-10-21, Page 4No longer home 3) THE CLINTOI" NEW ERA Amalgamated THE HURON NEWS-RECORD Established 1865 1924 Established 1881 • .Chnton. News-Record A member 'of the Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association, Ontario Weekly Newspaper ASSOCiation and the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) second class mail registration number — 0817 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: (in advancr) Canada, $6,00 per year; U.S.A.„ $7„g0 KEITH W. ROULSTON — Editor J. HOWARD AITKEN — General Manager Published every Thursday at the heart of Huron County ii Clinton, Ontario Population 3,475 711E 110111E OP RADAR IN CANADA There will be no lectures coming from the newspapers or over the airwaves today on how you should vote. All that is behind. Today it is up to you. It's up to you to go to the polls and cast your ballot. It's up to you to let your small voice be heard in the choir of the electorate. You have an obligation to make sure the decision of the, voters represents all the voters. Decisions that will be made by voters today will shape the future of our province. Three separate philosophies on the role of the provincial government have been expounded by the three parties bidding to be your government and a fourth has been put forward here in Huron by an independent candidate. They have all asked for your support, but you today will make the decision on which one's ideas will be accepted. When you are alone in the polling booth, with your ballot and pencil, all the pleading, all the campaigning, all the advertising counts for nothing. YOU make the decision. Make that decision today. A dialogue in Moscow MOSCOW--(One week from now). "Welcome home Comrade Kosygin. You must be glad to be back." "Yes Comrade, I thought for a while I might never make it back to a civilized land." "How was your trip?" "Well, the first day they found two bombs and 11 Molotov Cocktails near our embassy. Then the second day some young capitalist hooligan tried to strangle me." "Yes I heard about that. It must have been awful." "Huh! It would take more than a soft Westerner to hurt a Russian." "But such a place comrade. You wouldn't believe it. Everywhere we went, always people yelling and screaming and waving signs and throwing paper. How the government ever gets any work done with all those people making noise just outside is beyond me." "What happened to the hooligan?" "Would you believe it? The man is still alive. And ,they didn't even send him off to the labour camps. How do they ever expect to develop the north?" "And after seeing a capitalist state, Comrade, what do you think?" "Well, Comrade, I don't think we have to worry about the West anymore. They are too stupid to be a threat. We can concentrate on the Chinese. "After all, the Chinese are not so stupid as to let madmen run around in the streets like the Canadians, attacking people whenever they disagreed with them. They have too much to do to let people stand around waving signs and shouting things no one can understand. "The Canadians are always looking for causes to fight and are worried about the Ukraines or the Jews or the Pakistanis or the Biafrans. The Chinese are much more clever. They concentrate on their own problems. Someday soon they will be a great powerful nation, one to look out for. "But the Canadians? Bah, they're too busy demonstrating. "Pass me the vodka. I haven't had a good drink since I left civilization." A toast gentlemen. Lift your glasses high to Richard M. Nixon, president of the United States of America. One way or the other, that is an appropriate toast these days. On the pessimistic side, if the rumors of his demands on Canada are true, we just may be toasting our own president. On the other hand, he may be doing Canada the greatest favour ever. The publication of a list of demands the United States is supposed to be wanting from Canada before lifting the 10 per cent import charge has thrown quite a stir into the country. Though this list may not be official, it shows the U.S. is being very demanding of Canada during the present trade crisis, The demands are putting us at the same crossroads we were at in 1911, Then Canadians turned down free trade with the U.S. in favour of tarriffs to protect our own economy. What will the decision be this time? Again, there will be many who will opt for free trade, letting the Americans into all our markets so we can get at theirs. Such a position would be suicide. It would leave all of Canada in the position we here in Huron County are at in trying to compete with cities like Toronto and Hamilton for industry. Industry must sell its products to people and it costs money to transport these products. Therefore, the industry wants to be' as close as possible to the people. Thus industry in Ontario goes to Toronto and industry in a common market set-up between Canada and the U.S. would go to the U.S. where there are ten times as many people. So far, although no government in recent years has been in favour of free trade with the U.S., all have welcomed Americans with welcome arms who wanted to get around Canadian tariffs by locating branch plants here. The result is that over the years since the second world war, Americans have come to control nearly every important industry in the country. The growing economic nationalism in Canada has led to some nationalistic statements by politicians, but none seems willing to take the drastic steps needed to sort out the question of foreign ownership. The result is the mess we are in now. What U.S. subsidiary in Canada will even try to produce goods for the States when it can do it safely behind the walls of the 10 per cent tariff in the U.S.? And now Mr. Nixon is giving incentives to U.S. industries with foreign subsidiaries to bring their work home. If a mass exodus begins, where will we be left? But the action of Mr. Nixon may force some Canadian leader to take a stand, to forge dramatic new policies which will lead to more markets abroad other than in the U.S. and will lead to controls on how much control foreigners can have on Canadian companies. Aside from economic union, this is the only option open. Both mean short-run hardship, but the first means long-term benefit for the country. Hopefully, Mr. Trudeau will see the light and get the ball rolling soon. If he doesn't, someone else will and come next election there will be some changes made. 4 Clinton News-Record, Thursday, October 21, 1971 Editorial commot t Get out and vote A toast to Richard Nixon The dog's view Next to patriotism, I suppose, no form of loyalty burns with as clear and unreasonable a flame as man's devotion to dogs. That being so, it's not surprising that I should find myself being urged by several parties. to give Mr. McKenzie Porter a public whipping. Porter is a delightful, though terribly antiseptic, fellow. His column in the now-doomed Toronto Telegram (a sad thing that) will certainly be missed — but not, I suspect, those in which he maligns man's best friend. I know all about that because I've reason to believe it all began at my house several years ago. We had at that time two splendid beasts, a Lab named Jinx and a terrier called Billy (so named because of his startling resemblance to a miniature goat) who tried everything in their repertoire to endear themselves to Ken, entirely without success. He merely elevated his thinking man's face when they brought him great logs from off the beach to play their favorite game of chase. He paled and retreated to his room with his ever-present limp volume of Tennyson with the rose petals pressed in it when they came bounding and 75 YEARS AGO The Huron News—Record October 21, 1896 If skunks keep on infesting the town, a brigade will have to be organized to expel them. Mr. George Doherty believes in exterminating them by a liberal use of poison — a very effectual remedy — while others prefer shooting irons, A "Skunk Exterminating Club" will soon doubtless be formed, with a good membership. 55 YEARS AGO The Clinton New Era October 19, 1916 Russia and Serbia, also Austria may allow young women to fight in their armies, but Canada will not, although, according to a recruiting officer in Winnipeg, several have applied and two could hardly be kept from joining by force in response to a call for stenographers for the second service. 40 YEARS AGO The Clinton News—Record October 22, 1931 A number from Clinton took in the Passion Play at Stratford and at London. This play, depicting the last supper, betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus, has been played at Oberammergau every 10 years since 1633 as a religious rite and in fulfillment of a Vow, It is only recently that it has been brought to this side of the water and some of the performers in these two companies are said 'to be the tumbling at him in the morning demanding an early walk. He found no humor whatever in Jinx's curious conviction that, though she weighed even then in excess of 60 pounds, she was born to be a cuddly lap dog, From a dog's point of view, in fact, old Porter was mighty boorish though, Lord knows, he was engaging enough to humans and, I may say, exerted an almost diabolical charm over females of that species and was ever ready with his lap. At that time, cool though his relations may have been with canines, Porter had not developed the intemperate approach he now claims to employ, surely, as you will see, the year's best formula for how to win enemies and alienate friends. "Whenever I visit people who own dogs, cats, caged birds and other pets," he confesses, "I take the first opportunity of remarking that it is disgusting for humans to share a home with animals. Since many of my closest friends dote on four-legged and winged creatures I am responsible for much pain, embarrassment and derision. But I persist in voicing my view because I am convinced that descendants of those playing the same roles for generations, 25 YEARS AGO The Clinton News—Record October 24,1946 Port Albert, war-time training station of the Royal Canadian Air Force, scene last week of the International Plowing Match, has been declared surplus by the R.C.A.F. and handed over to War Assets Corporation for disposal. 15 YEARS AGO The Clinton News—Record October 18, 1956 Everyone we meet these days wants to talk about the lovely town hall which Clinton now has. It would be perhaps unfair to bring up the past, but the beautiful building, which Is now a credit to the town, was actually abandoned just about two years ago in favour of the old public school building. Dear knows what might have happened if councillors at that time had not 'decided to come back home to the main street. 10 YEARS AGO The Clinton News—Record October 19,,1961 Beverley Beck, student 'of Grade 10 at Clinton District Collegiate Institute, and 14 years old, is the first Clinton championship holder in W.O.S.S.A. track and field that can be discovered in existing` records. Her parents are Mr. and Mrs. William Beck, Clinton. man's mawkish attachment to domestic beasts bring him in unnecessary contact with disease-carrying vermin." There then follows, in horrendous detail, a complete list of all the unlovely little denizens of bug-land that are so fond of pets or, in Porter's cold phrase, "dumb and dirty brutes." He documents every available stitch of evidence of their ability to transmit to man anything froni a mild itch to a fatal disease, a dossier which will surely astonish millions of families who have been living contentedly with animals and birds all the happy days of their lives. If a fellow didn't know better, as I do, he might suspect that Porter was simply a hater of vermin, as even the most live-and-let-live of us tend to be, and not simply a hater of dogs. Yet as I read through his column I had the distinct impression that it was all somehow aimed at poor old Jinx and Billy who really did nothing to Porter but to ruin his weekend. I would never have thought, myself, that a Tennyson lover could be so vindictive, but there it. is. Since it is pretty hard to Early autumn, when the weather behaves itself, is a time when no Canadian in his right mind, would care to live anywhere else, This fall, after a moody summer, has been as close to perfection as anything this side of heaven. Golden days to sit around and listen to the acorns fall. Weeks of frostless nights when it was sheer delight to be out and breathing that ineffable scent of fall. Golf course almost deserted and offering magnificent vistas of golden trees and lush fairways and off in the distance, vivid blue water of the bay. And speaking of water, I can scarce believe it, but we swam at the beach until well into the first week of October. And that's no heated swimming pool, dear reader, but the water of one of the greatest inland lakes in the world. The beach in October is something. No howling kids who've stubbed 'their toe on a rock, No Mothers screaming at kids who have gone out too far. No beach boys horsing around with a football. No distracting bikinis. No fat old ladies with varicose veins staggering through the sand tarryhig more beach junk - towels, umbrellas, lawn chairs - than you could load on a mule. No transistor radios blatting the latest rock. No teenagers lying around ,smoking dear knows what. dispute the unsavory facts which Porter uses so vengefully we must find other means to destroy the conclusion so boldly stated in his title, No Thinking Man Would Keep A Pet, and to explain why so many thinking men not only keep pets, but could hardly bear to face life without them. It then occurred to me that Ken could have written almost exactly the same article substituting the word "human" for "pet"! In fact, it may just be t'iat people are far more deadly carriers of pestilence and communicable destroyers of comfort or tissue than all the domesticated creatures that fly or walk on four legs. Why, the very manifestation of love, itself, a field in which Porter is a recognized and tireless authority, involves exposure to unhygenic factors that are at least as appalling as the perils from all the crawly little mites of household entomology. Does this prevent Porter from taking that risk, calculated or not? I can tell you that it doesn't, Indeed, like most writers, he delights in seeking out humans where they are most Nothing, Just miles of clean sand with the odd piece of driftwood, The sun is warm, gentle, not scorching, abrasive. The water is, uh, refreshing, but so clear you can stand up to your belly-button, look down, and tell whether your toenails need cutting. My wife and I and another couple swam all through September and set our eyes on breaking the October swim barrier. Usually, by October 1st, the water would freeze the brains of a brass monkey. On the first Saturday in October, we swam and drowsed and talked and read and argued for seven hours. Good company is just the little frill to such a day, when even the gulls seem to co-operate by sitting quietly on the water, bobbing gently, rather than screaming around looking for potato chips and ends of hot dogs, which they do all summer. Our friends have children and many of the same problems with them that we have had. She is Scottish, with a lot of good sense, a good sense of humour and 'a refreshing indifference toward 'owning things and keeping up with the aoneses, and what the neighbours think, He is German, and we have a lot in common. He was captured in North Africa and spent most of the war in a prison camp in the States, I was a prisoner in Germany. We compare notes, He is a Doctor of Philosophy, crowded and non-insulated from each other's viruses. As for the thinking man's- arguments in favor of pets, why a man would need a great deal more than a single column to let Porter know what he's missed. Loret- to the Editor The Editor: Fifty-five years ago, on October 31, 1916, the 161st Battalion (Huron's own battalion) left England for France. We sailed at night, crossing the English, Channel in cattle boats. It was a rough ride and so many of us in each boat. We landed in France at Le Havre and were soon sent on to our new battalions. My brother Wilbert was with me along with other Clinton men and many others from Huron County, but we were all split up and spread all over France and Belgium. I hope these few lines will answer the questions many people ask me about the 161st. Thanks to the Clinton News—Record and staff, Thomas H, Leppington, 177 Spencer Street, glinton, Ontario. teaching high school mathematics. I needle him by calling him Herr Doktor, and occasionally click my heels. He just plain needles me. We walked down the deserted beach. He's a great walker. He's about six feet two and I have to take one and a half strides to his one. He talks while I puff. "What is it with these teenagers?" he asks. "They talk all the time about how they love nature and how they want to get away from it all, and there's not one in sight on such a beautiful day," I puffed back that the boys were in the poolroom and the girls were strolling the main street, in hot pants, trying to get the boys out of the poolroom. Perfectly normal, Then I was betrayed. We rounded a spit and there was a male, definitely young, because his moustache was just a glimmer of hope, lying back against 'a driftwood log, reading. I couldn't resist, Asked him what he was reading. C. S. Lewis, of all things, a brilliant English writer and theologian. Once again my faith that young people are complete hedonists was shattered, Lewis is tough reading, as the lad admitted. This has been a very inconsequential whim, But When I think of the way in which nature can recharge our run-down batteries, all I can say is, "Thanks, God. You're a pretty decent sort after all." The mood's right in golden days