Loading...
The Brussels Post, 1974-03-13, Page 2Brussels Post WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 1974 Serving Brussels and the surrounding community. Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario by McLean Bros.Publishers, Limited. Evelyn Kennedy - Editor . Tom Haley - Advertising Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and OntariotNeekly Newspaper Association. Subscriptions (in advance) Canada1$6.00 a year, Others $8.00 a year, Single Copies 15cents each. Second class mail Registration No. 0562. Telephone 887-6641. SOWSSELS GAITARIO flESTA11.111411) What really happened February ice on Lake Huron Sugar and Spice By Bill Smiley Pay old sor Ind, in ledical powder esopha The last ccident school, a Donn is slim a rown h Donn glance. I- tie prefe well inclu is telev special] Donn on and est if th To in M Cation K UC The re ernoon U on Tue e of Mr e 18 mei orrts V iLo. Light ship was n 12:46. inging th .e is no E d Thomi 1 A byjP11°l Mieil t ,Light of red he Meditt nrduscsed age 1 nd hi r eOfiCt. thLilit:eelv't extended tai tvetsary e General rs. Smitl posting his't pr. v.rtl.bTelicae Buso+e alth rain - is tilt ti gahscu t.S h s n ihd: hose s to t always affreedoi rth.nt Curt, bit gy, tle We enjoy reading the Short Shots; ]Mews, etc. Although there area lot of new riatieS and so, 'Many of the old fattiiliat names Missing, A lot of changes in a few years. Also enjoy seeing the pictures. Hope you both are Well. It.Aitetinett, Week after week as we read through the reports of meetings that are sent to our office, preparing them for publication we come upon this sentence "Mrs./ Mr. Smith /Jones gave a very interesting speech 1. presentation".• Trouble is, whoever sends in the report doesn't go on to tell us exactly what the speaker said that was so interesting. It's these details that the reader wants to see. Information about what the speaker's point was, what the audience discussed .and what decisions were made is what distinguishes one meeting from another. The Elmira Signet, in a recent editorial, says they miss the same information in meeting reports that are sent to them: Sometimes people bother to call us and tell what a good publicity job we did for them. We appreciate that, of course. And we say, it was a pleasure to help out. But it is not a pleasure always. In a recent case, we were sceptical that we might be able to help at all. But the person entrusted with the publicity job came to the office, supplied all information and background material and, it seemed there was a good story in it.We did not mind the bit of publicity that went along. That's a case when we get thanks. We admit, sometimes we don't. And sometimes we wonder why people who want others to know what they are doing, have to be so secretive about it. One group holds a meeting,we receive the report that says it was an interesting one. No word about the topic or even some indication about the highlights. (And the copy comes in too late to check on what it was all about.) Sometimes we suspect the goings on werre. so interesting, nobody really remembers What happened the next morning, or they would write about it. Of. course all refreshments served are deliciOus, all talks informative and all helpers willing. We don't doubt it. But we still would. like to know what was going on. So do the readers who look up these news of activities about their own groups, if they missed the meeting, or would like some encouragement to attend them the next time. Otherwise we just have to write a heading, . . .such and such group had its monthly meeting. So what, every group does, To the Editor ,Reader enjoys ,Short Shots: Hi Folks: "AS We. are having mail delivery April 1St our address will be Pit Victoria, Ave. Listowet „ so thought it would be as well to have the ,address. changed' the Brussels tiosts As, We: do not want to Miss, any of the paperS., Have you noticed the big change in the world of big capitalism in the past couple of decades? The personnel in the inner sanctum of high finance is just as piratical as that of the robber baron days, but the things they wheel and deal in are vastly different. The bad old boys, the Fords and the Rockefellers, the J.P.Morgans and the Andrew Carnegies; were giants of finance, and a pretty unscrupulous lot, from all accounts. They dealt with solid, tangible assets: steel and coal, oil, minerals, railways and banks. Their techniques were roughly similar. Get hold of something as cheaply as possible, and dispose of it for as much as possible. And never pay a working man more than the absolute minimum. A simple formula, but it piled up millions, then billions. Today, their .names are connected with great philanthropies, but when they were alive, their names produced more curses than blessings. They fought the unions' bitterly They bribed and bullied and stole. They'd have laughed,at the idea that their depredations were destroying the ecology. They'd have had apoplexy if someone had suggested something as ridiculous as. fringe benefits. It's probably just as well they have gone, though they.were a colorful lot of bandits. Today's entrepreneurs-seem to be just as arrogant, greedy, and ruthless, but the things they deal in have changed almost completely. Banks and ,.ailways and airlines are still highly prof.cable, but they are no longer the financial playthings of a few men. They have become exceedingly dull, huge bureaucracies with little life or colour in theni. The new breed of banditti Steers clear them. Oh, your modern wheeler might take a flurry in oil, but it's more likely to be floating a stock issue than getting the stuff out of the ground. Today's financial magnate is far niore interested in the half-world of sports and entertainment, than he is in just old things, like mines and such. He still goes where the big buck is, 'but the action has changed. Nowadays, he's Mote likely to own a prize-fighter or a string of horses than a -chunk of a copper Mind. today's big money is in publishing, radio and television, and sports. And the really big money is in land speculation. Your old t'i'ne financier would have been stunned, and envious, could he see the doubling and tripling of Money the buying and selling of plain old land. So, it's in the areas mentioned that you'll find the modern sharks, in large schools, gobbling up the little suckers and regurgitating them for all the slightly larger suckers. Another big change is in the publicity involved. The magnates of yesteryear were very close-mouthed: They kept their private lives as secluded as possible, retreated to vast homes and tried to 'keep the press at arms length. Today's maggots (oops, a Freudian slip — glory in the limelight. They are never happier than when they have the media speculating about their next deal. They manipulate the press. After all, every story, every picture, drives up the price of whatever they're selling, and is also great for the ego. They'll call a press conference to discuss a pending operation for an in-grown toenail. Even P.T.Barnum, the greatest con man of them all, would be green with jealousy if he could see the way some of the modern con artists use every trick he ever knew, and some they've invented, to sucker people into watching a third-rate sports team, or a third-rate prize fight. There's one other aspect of the great scramble for the buck that has changed drastically. That's the relationship with the people working for the big dealers. In the bad old days, when laissez-faire reigned supreme, it was the accepted 'custom to grind the worker down, and • sweat the very life-blood out of him, to wring the last cent of profit. Today the worm has turned, particularly in sports. All you need, if you're a pretty good athlete, is a good lawyer, and you can put the boss ,through the wringer. Can you imagine the look on the face of J.P.Morgan if someone could tell him that athletes, mere bodies, were pulling in Salaries in six figures? This last aspect would seem to be a matter for sheer joy for Most of tts watching the bosses being squeezed by the workers. But alas, It won't do us any good, fellow sucker, The boss will Merely raise the priee of admission and won't lose a nickel of his own money. Sounds like the government, doesn't When everything costs them more, they raise our taxes to. pay for' the increases' When everything costs irs more, they raise the taxes as a curb against inflation. Get in line', sucker, for the next increase in the price of tickets.. Somehow, with all their faults, I like the Did bandits, better.