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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1953-02-05, Page 2Page 2 THE TIMES-ADVOCATE, EXETER, ONTARIO^ THURSDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 5, 1953 This journal shall always fight for progress, reform and public welfare, never be afraid to at­ tack wrong, never belong to any political party, never be satisfied with merely printing news. THURSDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 5, 1953 Everybody’s Proud Throws Rocks At Us Somebody has thrown a rock at Can­ ada's small towns 1 In the latest issue of a Canadian maga­ zine for women—“Chatelaine”—an anony­ mous father says “I wouldn’t let my young­ sters grow up in a small town for all the pumpkin pie in rural Canada!”. “I think small town life is a circum­ stance/’ he rants, “that tends to reduce people to the level of turnips. Small town life tends to make people narrow and dull.” His reasons? Let’s look at them briefly. Bad manners: He charges rural people use bad language—grunt “What?” for “I beg your pardon?”, use “ain’t” for all per­ sons and tenses, drop their “g”s on "words ending in “ing”; the men maltreat their wives, let them struggle in and out of cars loaded with parcels, drag them down the streets like “Navajo braves”; youths grin and guffaw at girls, horse around wrestling with them for school books, scarves, hand­ bags, or next crack at the pinball machine. No culture: “The cultural level of a small town never gets above shooting groundhogs. Conversation is about the nar­ rowest kind of politics, who’s having a baby, who shouldn’t be having a baby, who broke, an axle on the fourth, who fell into who’s pig trough last New Year’s Eve and miscellaneous reflections on cars, stoves, nail kegs, pies, curtains, diapers, knitting, church suppers and gossip. Lots of gossip. Conversation is crude, obvious, unimaginative, humor is a subtle as a false step in a cowpatch.” Poor education: “That little red school­ house is understaffed, overcrowded, poorly lighted, poorly heated, poorly ventilated, inadequately equipped and poorly super­ vised. Parents treat education like religion —something to treat with respect, tip your hat to, put on a clean shirt for once a week, but nothing to be taken, seriously. Nothing to do for children: The kids, from about eight up, smoke like fiends, sit around in a dirty restaurant, drown in unsupervised swimming holes, use profan­ ity “that would have made Huck Fin turn green”. Mind other people’s business: Rural “people make a life time’s work out of minding other people’s business.” Every­ body stares at everybody else—even the dogs turn around and stare at each other. “I don’t want my daughter to grow up to be a woman with such a poverty-stricken mind that she would consider it fun to listen in on a telephone.” People are dead: Quaint stories have created the myth that people in a small town are relaxed. “But these people aren’t relaxed. They’re dead. Like strong, silent men. It took me quite a while to find out why they were silent. It’s because they’ve nothing to say.” We’re mad, of course, as soon as we read this tripe. The author must be a fanatic who needed money so he wrote this sensational­ ized, perverted, deceitful, fallacious account of small town life. He was probably a city- bred lout who missed the exciting murders, corruption, lewdness and two-facedness of his metropolis when he moved to rural Canada. The first thing to do about this attack on our life is to laugh at it. It is really absurd and it’s worth some hearty, small town laughter. The second thing to do it to realize exactly how wrong the author is. Think of the many advantages we have here in the country over his city—if the poor fellow ever finds one. It might amaze you to fig­ ure out just what We have all'together. The third thing is to avoid his mistake —of going to the extreme. Let’s not believe the small town or rural life is perfect— that it and the people are heaven and an­ gels. There are disadvantages in the coun­ try—so let’s recognize them. The fourth thing to do is to react in a rational Way to this stupid attack. Let’s keep trying to improve our way of life— making it that much better than any other. If some of the things this author says are half-truths, let’s get rid of that half. In a way it seems superfluous for us to congratulate the members of the South Huron Hospital Association for the splen­ did achievement they have accomplished in erecting the district’s new hospital. We realize that the enthusiastic ap­ proval of the thousands of citizens who visited the building during last week's opening, the tribute and praise of author­ ities who have marvelled at the excellent facilities provided, and the superb building itself constitute far greater compliments than words here could express. Nevertheless we would be remiss in our responsibility as a voice of this district if we did not say how proud we are of the hospital, how grateful we are to those who built it, how profound our congratula­ tions are, Each of these can only be ex­ pressed in the superlative. All of us, of course, feel some justifi­ able pride in the fact we helped to some extent. However, we are fully aware that without the excellent leadership provided by members of the association and others, this South Huron Hospital would not be. To each of these leaders, from al! South Huron citizens, go our tribute and appre­ ciation — the feeling behind them much stronger than the words themselves. * * * * Your Business This is National Health Week. South Huron is marking this observ­ ance in a grand way—receiving the first patients in the new hospital. What could be more appropriate ? However, the Health League of Can­ ada stresses more than good hospitals and good medical care. The League is interest­ ed in the prevention of disease and sick­ ness. “Health is Your Business,” says the League and stresses that each one of us is the custodian of his own health; that part of the price we pay for health is within our control. "The only real health insurance is pre­ vention,” emphasizes a League statement. “Good hospitals and medical care are essential—but it is possible to stem the ad­ vancing demand for hospital beds because certain diseases can be prevented, proper dietary and living habits, with regular medical and dental examinations, insure health instead of sickness, through health education you may learn the many ways to maintain continuous health.” “Remember.” says the League, “early diagnosis usually mean early cure. Self­ diagnosis and self-treatment may mean ne­ glect, delay and ultimately hospital care, costly to patient and taxpayers alike.” In connection with Health Week, The Times-Advocate presents, elsewhere on this page, some of the striking facts about the nation’s hearth, It’s your business to read them. Planning Practical When will municipalities learn that planning for the future is economical and practical ? At the present time Exeter is spend­ ing $65,000 on a community centre which does not: 1. Provide for indoor sports such as badminton, basketball or vollevball. 2. Provide a large meeting place or concert oi* stage hall. 3. Replace or relieve the upkeep and maintenance on other town buildings. 4. Serve as a community centre, but only as a centre for part of the commun­ ity. Perhaps because of their one year election, councils have always tended to spend according to the dictates of the present, not of the long, long future, It is a costly tendency.* * * * Canadian Wit And Wisdom When a custom can and ought to be follored, fuller it. When it can’t, set your own compass and steer your own course.-— T. C. Halibui-ton, 1853 —Windsui Star Jottings By J.M.S. •n*ynw|i THE TUMULT AND THE SHOUTING DIE Laurier’s Prophecy Comes True ■I have been reading Leslie Roberts’ new book, “Canada: The Golden Hinge”. It reminds me of an address that I prepared about forty years ago. I gave it first at Kirkton when the James St. Young People paid a friendly visit to the Young People of the United Church there. I was asked to repeat it on different occasions. I remember it started out with the words of Sir Wilfred Laurier that the nineteenth cen­ tury belonged to the United States but that the twentieth cen­ tury belonged to Canada. I re­ member stating that at Halifax we stretched our hands across the Atlantic to England and France from whence came our customs, traditions and our re­ ligions. At Halifax we boarded a train and for seven days we traversed the fertile valleys of the Maritimes, ,t he industrial centres, the lakes, streams and forests of Ontario; the great wheat fields of the West, the breadbasket of the world; the majestic mountains of the Roc­ kies and the timber belt of British Columbia. At Victoria, B.C., I said we stretched our hands across the Pacific to the Orient, the great sleeping giant with its teeming millions. The Orient at that time was referred to as “The Yellow Peril”, and the world stood in awe as to what might happen if and when these two great nations, China and Japan, should unite their forces against the rest of the world. Since then we have had two “World Wars” and under the present seething conditions throughout the world, no one can predict what the future has in store. This much we know, that Canada has emerged as one of the leading nations of the world, ranking third as a world trader. What many of us do not rea­ lize is the gigantic develop­ ments that are taking place throughout Canada today. In the year that I was born Canada completed its first con­ tinental railroad that came to an end on the muddy flats of British Columbia. Today on that Times Established 1878 Amalgamated 1024 Advocate Established 1881 Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario An Independent Newspaper Devoted to the interests of the Town of Exeter and District Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa Member of the Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association Member of the Ontario-Quebec Division of the OWN A Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation Paid-in-Advance Circulatidn as of March, 1952 —- 2,534 SUBSCRIPTION rates Canada, In advance, $3.08 a year «« United States, in advance, $4.00 a year Single Copies 7£ Each X Melvin Southcott » Publishers • Robert Southcott February 1 to 7 Canada’s Ninth Annual National Health Week Slogan for the week: “Health is your business!” The Canadian Medical Associa­ tion says: “In a nation not given to the observance of ‘weeks’, this annual reminder we all get from the Health League of Canada deserves our attention and personal interest. It serves to re-emphasize that each one of us is the custodian of his own health; that part of the price we pay for health is witHm our control; that pre­ vention is more effective than cure , . , Heart. Diseases The Canadian Heart Associa­ tion reminds us: “Diseases oi the heart and blood vessels now constitutes the largest group of deaths in Canada each year, ap­ proximately 50,000 annually. Nearly half of the deaths of people over 50 years of age fall into this group. Diseases of the heart and blood vessels cause three times as many deaths as cancer, five times as many as violence and accidents, and eight times as many as tuberculosis.” No. 1 Problem The Canadian Mental Health Association reports: “Poor men­ tal health is the No. 1 problem in the health and welfare field in Canada today. Extreme cases of poor mental health use as many (about 60,000) hospital beds as all cases of physical illness put together. Nervous disabilities (the neurosis) are five times as prevalent as these more extreme mental cases— they are as prevalent as the com­ mon cold . . , Alcoholism Dangerous Dr. Gordon Bell, chairman of the Health League of Canada’s section on alcoholism, points out: “there is nothing myster­ ious about disease from alcohol. Anyone can acquire disease from repeated, prolonged over-expos­ ure to any chemical. Disease will be acquired in a few years with some and after longer periods with others. Alcohol as man’s oldest anaesthetic is capable of changing the way lie feels. Some people who do not enjoy the way they feel welcome the effect of the higher levels of alcohol to bring about a c hange. They learn to depend upon alcohol to bring about this experience for them as desired. Eventually the body is unable to retain a nor­ mal state in the face of this re­ peated anaesthetic and the break­ down from controlled to un­ controlled heavy drinking comes about. All types of people have acquired disease from alcohol in this way, and if anything the more gifted segment of the popu­ lation is more susceptible than the average.............” Crippled Children The Canadian Council for Crippled Children says, in part: “Cerebral palsy and polio be­ tween them cause approximately 60 per cent of the crippling con­ditions among children iii Can­ ada. Each -contributes between 25 and 30 per cent of the total. There are an estimated three crippled children per 1,00'0 Can­ adians of all ages. The remain­ ing 40 per cent of crippling is a result of congenital defects of anomalies, tuberculosis, rickets, accidents and degenerative dis­ eases . . . .” Accident Rate High The Child and Maternal Health Division of the Health League of Canada notes: “Each year approximately 1,500 Cana­ dian children die as the result of accidents. Thousands more are badly crippled, often permanent­ ly. Falls in the home are a very common cause of injury during the first two years, and from the second birthday on poisons, hot water, sharp instruments, open windows, loose rugs and stair carpets, drownings and traffic hazards are all sources of danger. A little foresight on the art of dozens of parents can prevent tragic loss. . . . .” Prevent Arthritis The Canadian Arthritis and Rheumatism Society declares: “Serious crippling and disability due to arthritis can be prevented in about four out of five cases. This is only possible when the disease is correctly diagnosed as early as possible and where proper treatment is started im­ mediately. There are about 100,- 000 Canadians totally or partial­ ly disabled by arthritis and other rheumatic diseases, of whom about 15,000 are regularly —Please turn to Page 4 As the "TIMES" Go By iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiihiiiiiiiiiHiliitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiihiiiiitiHiiin 50 YEARS AGO W. J. Carling and H. E, Hus­ ton with delegates from other villages, waited on County Coun­ cil in an effort to obtain much larger grants for schools having continuation classes. ■Mf. William Bawden has re­ turned from a trip to the Old Country to buy horses and brought back some fine speci­ mens. Recent thaws have made the roads unfit for sleighing and sidewalks are dangerously icy. Ada, daughter of Mr. and Mrs- Elijah Jory, Stephen Township, was married to Mr. James Russell, Exeter. 25 YEARS AGO Uirlc Snell has purchased the Huron garage from Mr. C. C. Pilon and has taken possession. It will be headquarters for Pon­ tiac and Buick sales. Tobacco growers of Huron County have organized and have joined the Ontario Tobacco Pool. W. R. Elliott, Centralia, was elected president and Oscar Klopp, Mufich, secretary, Exeter I.O.O.F. installed Chas, Salter, N.G., W. Mack, V.G., and R. N. cfeech, secrotary-treasurer, Mr. J. w. Taylor has resigned as manager and president of Ross Taylor Co. Mr, J. G. Stan- hury was elected to succeed him. 15 YEARS AGO A fancy dress carnival was held at the arena with Mr. M. Drysdale, Hensail, Rev. Hill and Miss Hueston as judges. Senator F. W. K. Tom, while visiting in town, Suggested that one week each year pe desig­ nated as “Old Home” week. It would not necessarily mean a big celebration but simply that those who returned then, would be reasonably assured of meeting old friends. The Women’s Institute held an “Across Canada” travelling tea. Hostesseg were Mrs. James Bowey, Mrs. Lennis O’Brien and Mrs. Gordon Hunter. One course was served in each home. Mr. and Mrs. W. E. WinOr were at home to their friends in honor of their fortieth wed­ ding anniversary. IO YEARS AGO The arena committee has been reorganized with J, M. South- cott, chairman, C. V. Pickard, vice-chairman, and W. G. Medd, secretary-treasurer, Miss Lena Frayne, daughter of Mrs. Peter Frayne, passed away following a stroke, Harold Keller, R.R, 1, Exeter, lost an eye when his car collid­ ed with a truck neat Seaforth. A Post Office has been estab­ lished at No. D S.F.T.S. Cen­ tralia, very site is perhaps the fastest growing • city in the western world, Vancouver. Vieing with Vancouver is Edmonton, Alta. These two cities are the gate­ ways to the Yukon and Alaska. Not far from Vancouver at Kitimat, B.C., the largest under­ taking in the world is in pro­ gress at the present time. It is the greatest development ever undertaken by man. A river and lake system, 15 0 miles long, will soon be made to reverse its flow. It will leave its natural course and plunge thousands of feet down two great tunnels ten miles in length and will provide hundreds of thousands of horse­ power to be used in the produc­ tion of aluminum, that light yet powerful metal so sought after throughout the world today and which is revolutionizing all the branches of industry. Along with this power develop­ ment is the building of a city of from 40 to 50 thousand people right out of the virgin bush. This means homes and stores, schools and hospitals, streets and sewers and everything that goes to make a modern city. It means architects, engineers, con­ tractors, top men in all walks of life together with white-collar office men, stenographers and labourers. Try to picture the super bull­ dozers, trucks and tractors that are in operation 24 hours a day. The cost of this undertaking is estimated at five hundred million dollars. For many years we have re­ gretted the fact that Canada has been losing the graduates of her universities to the United States. We have ‘prided our­ selves in the fact that Canad­ ians have distinguished them­ selves iii all walks of life in the American republic. But the tide is beginning to ebb. Kitimat, while the largest undertaking, is only one of many gigantic de­ velopments now taking place in Canada and top men from all parts of the globe are being sought to carry out the great expansive program now in pro­ gress. Next week I hope to enlarge on soma of the other develop­ ments now taking place. The last half of the twentieth century will see the "words of Sit Wilfred Laurier coming true. News From Our NEIGHBORS Propose Improvements Howard Stacey, newly-elected president of the Chamber of Commerce, closing the first regu­ lar meeting of the new year Monday night, pointed out that some of the things contemplated during the coming year would be a concentrated effort to in­ duce industries to locate in Mit­ chell, help civic improvement, make our town a better place in which to live, promote and sup­ port hospitals and health condi­ tions generally. He would like to see all members cooperate with one another for the betterment of themselves and citizens gene­ rally, and assist our young people in the promotion of good clean healthy sport. (Mitchell Advocate) Oil Leases Registered More Than 1,000 In 1952 An indication of the interest shown in Huron county as a prospective source of oil was indicated at county council on Wednesday morning when the report of the property committee showed an increased surplus of almost 600 per cent for 1952 over the previous year. (Seaforth News) McKillop Girl Injured While playing with her bro­ ther at their home in McKillop, Mona Marie, four-year-old daugh­ ter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Enzensberger, fell and struck her head. Later she became ill,’ with paralysis setting in. She was rushed by ambulance to Victoria Hospital, London, with Dr. E. A. McMaster. Late re­ ports after an operation say she is progressing favourably. Ts Spring This Close? Spring is just around the corner, and Ground-Hog Day Will rapidly be upon us. In fact, the ground-hogs are out al­ ready. Ben Riley, Londesboro, brought us a proof today. One of the furry animals had the misfortune to get in the way of a car and thus ended his life before the big day arrived. We hope his brother is still at large, where he can peek at his shadow next Monday. Approve School Royce S. Macaulay presented the case of the Public School Board to Town Council Monday evening and requested two addi­ tional rooms for the new public school now under construction at the east end of Rattenbury Street. The Board believed it would be more economical for the town to add two rooms to the new building now, than to continue to operate the old building. " The enrolment at January 1, 1953 was 464 pupils. It was im­ possible that the ten rooms now under construction would ac­ commodate these children. Work done now could be done with a minimum of adjustment to walls or halls already built. A tenta­ tive -price from Ball Bros, for the construction of the two extra rooms was $35,000. The original cost of the building had been reduced by some $50,000 by the elimination of one room and reduction of some items of decoration. (Clinton News-Record) Enjoy Golf, Four Woodham men took ad­ vantage of the wonderful weath­ er last Wednesday and joined other golfers on the fairway at the Highland Golf Course in London. They were Billy and Ray Mills, Rev. Gordon Wanless and Clarence Knight, There was no lack of sport around Wood­ ham either, for horse-shoes were being tossed on two days last week. (St. Marys Journal-Argus)