Village Squire, 1973-05, Page 14$eIIiog oul...
He stands there, cane in hand, like
the ringmaster in a visiting circus. But
this circus is an almost permanent resi-
dent in western Ontario.
"What -am -I -bid?" he spurts. "What -
am -I -bid on this genuine antique lamp?
Gimme ten dollars."
It's auction time again in Huron county.
At gatherings like this thrYughout
county this year thousands will participate
in the age-old game of outbidding the
other guy for the precious and the not -so -
precious junk.
The auction is part of our way of life.
Lord knows it should be. Every year
fariners by the dozen sell out and move
away from the farms of rural Ontario.
Last year in Ontario a farmer went out
of business every three hours of every
day.
The audience gathers around the
auctioneer as he tries to urge them
higher. Some listen, some talk in
small groups or watch children play
among the belongings of the farm.
A group of farmers discusses the
weather and the crops and the prices
which are better, but still nothing to
get ecstatic over, no matter what the
urban housewife thinks.
Nearby urban housewives and their
husbands bid on the antiques the far-
mer always thought were worthless old
things. While his precious implements
go cheap and his wife's favourite nearly
new appliances go for small amounts,
the urban housewife pays dearly for
the antique which she will take back
to her home in London or Kitchener
or Detroit where she will tell her
friends what a steal she got at the
auction. Then they'll go back to car-
ping about the price of eggs.
But why worry? Why should people
in the towns worry about the plight
of the farms? There are sixty million
reasons the $60, 164,142 that agricul-
ture annually pumps into the economy
of Huron County. Those dollars go a
long way to making the wheels of our
towns in this area turn. They circul-
ate and recirculate and pass through
hands of nearly everyone in the cou-
nty at one time or another. Econom-
ists estimate that one dollar spent
generates three dollars by the time it
passes through the whole economy
providing goods and services. If so,
farming in Huron county alone accounts
for $180 million.
And these figures cone from the past
when prices were poor and the number
of farms dwindling. People in the
towns and villages of the area talk con-
stantly of the need for more industry to
boost our sagging economy. Imagine,
however, what would happen to the
economy of our area if every farm ab-
andoned long ago or just yesterday, was
once again occupied by a family of
fanners. Imagine how »such money
these people would put into the economy
if prices were brought to the point where
a man could support his family on a 100 -
acre farm. There would be literally a
population explosion, not only in the
rural municipalities, but in the towns
and villages where new businesses would
spring up to supply the demands of the
farm family.
Imagine....
But the auctioneer's voice is dwind-
ling off now. The last items have been
sold. The crowd moves off. Back to
other farms to wonder how long it will
be before they'll be selling out. Back
to cottages on the lakefront owned by
weekday city residents who'll wonder
where the nest auction is that they can
make a killing at.
Another farm is sold.
15