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The Brussels Post, 1978-02-15, Page 2MOINE LS: ONTARIO WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1978 Serving Brussels and the surrounding community. Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario by McLean Bros.Publishers Limited. Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Dave Robb - Advertising Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association eNA Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $9.00 a Year. Others $17.00 a Year. Single Copies 20 cents each. a 410 CNA • 0014411. WNW .11.111 Brussels Pas Who gets credit? Marsh World DUNLIN (Erolia alpina) -- Commonly called a red- backed sandpiper, this little shorebird migrates in fair-sized flocks feeding along shallows, mu d flats and sandbars of marshes and lakes. In spring plum= age, both adults have a reddish back, dark wings and a black abdomen, The remainder of the bird is white, streaked With dark spots, In fall, adults and young are grey with faintly streaked white across the breast. .Their nesting range extends from the 'Arctic Ocean, down the western coast of Hudson Bay, and along the Arctic Coast to'Alaska, Ducks Unlimited (Canada) 1495 Pembina. Hwy, Winnipeg, Men, R8T2E2 23t ,„I'm not one of those people who think socialism is the care to all the ills of the world but sometimes one hats to wonder about some of the pribrities of our society. One of those occasions came on the weekend when. I picked up one of the .• newspaper supplement magazies and saw how E.P.Taylor hid bought a race horse for $9 million. Mr. Taylor: of course, didn't put up the whole amount for The Minstrel even though'$9 million is just pocket change for him. He syndicated the breeditig rights for the_ horse, selling some 36 shares at $250,000 each That's a lot of money to pay fo'r a stallion to breed 36 mares a year./ actually 40 since Taylor kept' four more shares for himself) and „, there was worry that Taylor would have a tough time selling.the shares. Within ohe day after they were put on the market. all the shares were sold and more people were begging to a share. Not that this is a foolish gamble. For the past few years Taylor has been making about 2 million a year from his horse Northern Dancer's breeding of some 40 ,mares. The Dancer and The Minstrel live in a luxurious accommodation at Taylor's 2000-acre farm in Maryland (Taylor also has a huge farm near Oshawa, just for horses). There's something exciting about racehorses but I must admit I find the whole Minstrel story a little mind-numbing. Here we are when a third of the world is unable to obtain proper food. where farmers in our part of the world find it hard'to find enough money to stay in business and this man can devote thousands of acres and millions of dollars to 'racehorses and actually make money at it. To me it says 'something pretty /sad about our, judgment of what is really important in life, Taylor got his money through his holdings, in Argus Corp:One of the largest conglomer- ates in Canada. A good deal of the money for the corporation came from the breweries it owns like tarlings and O'Keefe, One of the surest was-,of making money in Canada is to provide such esse ,ntials as beer, whiskey and cigarettes. Prodncing food your farmer .neighbours will tell you is, (the consumer advocates will insist, should be )-a non-profit venture, He bought his first taco horse back in 1936 at 'a cost of $4000, Racing WAS* a rich man's hobby back then. You .weten't supposed to make a lot of money at it arid indeed Taylor put in a lot of money before his horses began to make money: To be fait, he has done a lot or the racing business in Canada through his eflotts. He had a policy, for instance, that all his yearling horses were for sale, Anyone Could have , bought Notthern Dancer, fat instance, for a mere $25,000 back in 1962,but everyone overlooked him in the effort to buy other Tayloe borSes: That horse went earn .S580,806 in racing purses. befote becoming the 'most successful arid expensive stud horse in history. In the meantime, he also helped Canadian pride by winning the Ken(ucky Derby and The Preakness, the first two legs of the Amerian Triple Crown. the first time a Canadian horse had ever done that. So one shouldn't. paint Taylor all black for his efforts in horse racing, Yet the fact remains that Taylor haS managed to ttirnSeven a rich man's hObby into a good business. H e has had a huge control on the Canadian racing business not Only through his leadership in breeding of horses, but his efferts with the Ontario Jockey Club which all the big race tracks and throws its shadow over all the small tracks in' the pro\ ince,. On''c again, Taylor's succcs ,; has been built the pleasuress(some might say weaknesses) of the ordinary citizen. If racing was really just a rich man's hobby, no Ont. would be paying $9 million for a horse, But through the betting of ordinary people °willing to lineup at the pari-mutuel window to lay down money on the off-chance their horse might win, racing has become big business. 'The Minstrel, a Northern Dancer colt, was sold by Taylor to. a British owner, earned $650,000 in just nine races before Taylor decided lie wanted him back. That works out to more than $70,000 every time the horse raced. There are-other examples of course of the cock-eyed priorities of our society. The richest hotels in the world are those in Los Vegas where they cater to the gambling urge of their ,patrons, with a slot machine everywhere there isn't a roulette wheel. We see that actors can get paid more for a 30 second perfume commercial on television than they're likely to earn in two' months at any of the theatres in Canada which struggle to stay alive. We see that city people, not just millionaires like Taylor, but ordinary doctors, lawyers. teachers and factory workers, can afford to collie out to the country, buy a farm and keep it just as a weekend retreat; while the farmer next door couldn't afford to pay the sameprice and make the farm pay for itself through what it would produce.. We see land worth mote as a golf course Or a trailer park than as a farm At 77 years of age E,P,Taylot is one of that Stria]] group Of people' that have More money than you and I could ever imagine. One would think he'd be-satisfied, One would think that he'd be just a little thankful' to the country that gave hint that kind of riches, to a country whose drinkers, gamblers and other pleasure- seekers had made him One of the richest (lien in the world, Such is not the case: A couple of years back Taylot renounced hiS Canadian citizenship and moved to the Bahamas. His goal was to get away from Canadian• taxes, to retreat to the tax haven of the Cat Islands -while his money still earns big dividends in Canada, Jost his, little way of saying thanks to the, "system that made him what he is today. The Brussels Post received a thank you the other day, one that we don't deserve. It's a receipt and a thank-you letter addressed to Brussels Community, c/o Brussels Post Publishing House, from CUSO or Canadian University Service Overseas. Now, while we at the Post support the work that CUSO volunteers do in developing countries', we didn'l send the organization a $35 donation. PreSurnably someone in the Brussels Community did. If that person or group will contact the Post we'll pass on the receipt to you, and give credit to the' -rightful donor. Meanwhile, for the' interest -of the "Brussels Community", the letter reads "On behalf of CUSO- and the people in developing countries with -whom we are working, I want to thank ~you for your generous donation. I tarn pleased to enclose your official receipt. Your support will enable. CUSO to continue its work as a development agency both overseas and in Canada and I can assure ydu that your donation will be put to work where the need is greatest. To keep you up to date with our programmes, I will be, sending you our semi-annual Donor Newsletter. If you wish to receive additional information about specific aspects of CUSO's work, please do not hesitate to contact me. • May I add my personal thanks for the confidence that you have shown in CUSO. Behind the scenes By Keith Roulston What priorities?