Loading...
Zurich Herald, 1924-04-03, Page 3kNADA !S HEAVY MINERAL IMPORTER Million , •Dollarg a Iia y for Mineral Goods, In 1923. Canada .bought raw and +ed the view that it to perhaps a natural maelifactured mineral goods from 'other eountries ,to the value of $381,- 000,0,00—or 381,-000,900 or an average of more than a milder' dollars •wortha day. The Dominion also aid a considerable ex - anti inevitable condition that, for the time being, Canada should have to face a considerable deficit in 'her min• eral trade each year. Since 1900, ac cording to the Natural Resources In- port trade in moll goods, but last year telligeuce Service of the Department our mineral sales' abroad fell short, by of the Interior, the, Domiuton's re- $227,000,000, of balancing our bill for sources in the forms of arable and mineral products imported from the forest lands have undergone amazing. United States and eusewhere. • development.' Great new areas have 'lilxr;,so were value of the significant been opend up, with whole provinces facts laid- before the annual meeting of new rural communities, with a of the. Canadian' Institute: of Mining; dozen or so new towns and cities, and and Metallurgy at Toronto by Dr. with hundreds of smaller centres. The Charlee Camsell, Deputy Minister of consumption of mineral commodities the Department 'of Mines at Ottawa. has expanded at a remarkable rate. It Dr. Cameeli brought into the limelight' would, have required . an extremely several arresting features of Canada's rapid rate of growth for mineral de- position as a trading country which ve,apment to keep pace with the ex - have not ordinarily attracted . much pension in these other .directions, and notlee. Analysing the Dominion's pur- taus to prevent a decided increase in chases and sales abroad as 'revealed our national deficit on mineral trade. by theeimport and export figures, be Looking on the matter in this light, showed that Canada -despite the ex- the position of sum mineral trade is tent and variety of its, mineral wealth not to be regarded as an evidence of —is heavily a debtor nation in its, in- national negligence or failure. It is ternational trade in the preclude of rather a temporary and inevitable mining and mineral -manufacturing in- stage in Canadian development. But, dustsi cs. if our mineral resources in Canada are During recent years., particularly in anything like as great and varied as the last quarter of a century, Canada we believe them to be, there is now has been drawn into foreign trade on every incentive to bend every effort a very large scale. Judged by the value toward making the mineral trade oc- of external trade transacted per head cupy a position in Canada's interna of population, the Dominion now tional ,commerce vastly different from stands in the very front rank of trad- that which it now Bolds. Froin the Ing countries Broadly viewed, the standpoint of strengthening the gen- activity of the" Canadian people in in eral commercial position of the Do- ternational commerce resolves itself minion it looks very much as if noth- very largely into the process of swap- ing could be more desirable for the ' ing their raw or manufactured farm, next few years than to see mineral forest, and fisheries products • for the mineral products and textiles of. other countries Generally speaking the country's commercial position is -a strong one, showing a fairly large sur- plus of exports over imports, But, Dr. Cassell pointed out, the part played bythe mineral trade does not appear to do anything like full justice to Can- ada's natural capacity as a mineral - producing country. To anyone who las studied the mineral possibilities of the Dominion there seems to be no good reason why the Canadian people should continue indefinitely to buy several hundred million dollars worth of mineral commodities abroad each year and to pay for those purchases so largely with the proceeds.' of her sales of farm and forest products: Dr. Oams,ei1 drew attention further to the fact that Canada's debtor posi- tion in mineuai trade has, been em- phasized rather than reduced in recent years.. One might imagine that the growth of our mining and mineral- manufa,cturing industries fin .the last twenty -years. of so would have made; the Dominion less dependent upon im- ported. 'mineral products. The ten dency, however, line been in the op= pcsite direction. In 1900, for instance,' Canada's imports of mineral products exceeded her exports of,such goods by Tess than $30,000,000, whereas last year the encess, ,of imports amounted •to over $227,000,000. In 1900 mineral pro - duets figured very prominently among ourpurchases from other countries•, but our mineral sales were sufficient to pay for $48 out of every $100 worth of imported minerals.. Last year our mineral sales were sufficient to cover only $40 out of each:, $100 warth of mineral purchases abroad. This growing dependence of Canada upon foreign mineral commodities ap- plies particularly in the direction of the United States. Dr. Camsell refer- red to our heavy adverse balance of trade with the United States and ,pointed out that in this situation the mineral trade plays' a remarkable part. In •one sense the mineral, trade is en tirely responsible .for the huge annual balance against the Dominion. In fact, Canada gets decidedly better than an even break on,, Canadian -American trade ifeene leaves• out of account the trade. in mineral commodities. Our mineral purchasee transform the whole face of our business relations with th.e United States•.:' For example, on the 4rade in products other than mineral goods we had a balance last year of nearly $75,000,000 in our ,own favor. But on mineral products, alone we had an adverse balance• of $262;000,0001 which wiped out the favorable balance of .other ,classes of goods and left us with an unfavorable balance of $188,- 000,000 on the year's trade as a whole. The very tidy avorable balance, creat- ed mainly by the trade in forest pro- ducts, simply melted away under the huge deficit piled .up by our purchases' of Amerioan mineral ,coainiodities. Public attention, said Mr. Carnrelt, Is constantly being drawn to the phenomenal rise of our pulp and paper industries and to the . astonishing. growth of our exports of newsprint and other raw or manufactured pro- ducts of forest origin. As a people we are very well acquainted with the .fact that this rapid. expansion in our sales of. wood and paper products to the 'United States has , been one of the most speotaouiar features m. the entire commercial history of the Dominion. But ordinarily we ere trot even eon- soious .of the equally important fact that the whole of our trading surplus on the exchange of Wood and paper products with the United States' falls far short of the sum required to Meet oar • deficit on the exchange of niizterra tennnociities. Out of every $100 worth Pf. Airierfean geode bought in 1923 by Canadians $54 worth took the form of jtthtoial products. Furthermore, the United States sold to the Doriniien $100 worth of mineral products for ever•,• $0 worth they botight ,Groan yrs. In concluding, Dr, O'ainsell express. development, ,along broad and varied lines, hold the centre of the stage in our industrial progress. O For the Heathen. Wealthy Miser—"I never give to missions." -Collector—"Then take something out of the bag, eir. The -money is for heathens." The years should bring you not merely old age but wisdom. --AND THE WORST 'LS YET TO COME a.. Keith When Black First Worn. It was not till the 16th century that' black was used generally as a sign of mourning in France. The royal family alone did not fellow this rule. The king had the privilege on _such, an oc- casion to wear violet, and the queen and the prineesses• grey or white. Add Boiling Water... When the water in the underneath section of the double boiler gets, low, pour in boiling water to replenish it.-. Cold water will make the article being cooked take just that much longer to get done. Women as Linguists. The women of Russia, Hungary and Turkey have the reputation of being the .beet linguisits• of any women in the world. In the countries named it is rare to find an educated woman who does not know at least three or four languages. A Needlework Stool. A small floor cushion covered with needlework in a fascinating old-fas- hioned design is low enough and small enough to be of much service. He who blows in the dust fills his own' eyes, Nova Scotia's Tourist Traffic A.n increase of .thirty per cent, In the number of tourists who visited the i Province; of Nova ;Scotia in 1923 as compared with 1922, is recorded by the Nova Scotia Tourist Association.. Approximately 00,000 .summer visitors entered the province during the past year, compared with 50,000 in the pre- ceding year. Frain May 1st to August 31st, 3,300 tourist motor cars entered the province, as against some 2,000 during the 1922 season, ,As the fall weather was usually mild it is expect- ed that the figures for 1923 will be con' siderably increased when the final re- turns are made. The records show that these tour- ists cane from all parts of the United States and Canada, the New England I States, especially, being well .repre- sented. The proximity of Nova "'cabs i to Maine, `New Hampshire and New York State has made this province a favorite holidaying centro for people from those states. The middle west- ern states are also represented, while in one or two cases visitors from the Pacific coast are recorded as having visited the province during the past year. In addition to the American tourist traffic, there was a consider- able interprovincial movement. An idea of the importance of the tourist traffic to Nova Scotia may be;,• gleaned frop the figures comp,' -ed• by the Tourist Association. Basing their estimate on an average expenditure of $20 for each tourist, which is very con- servative, the Association figures that approximately $$,000,000 -Ares left by the visitors amongst the various tourist centresof the province, This strut was of greater value in actual. cash distributed than the combined values of the coke, the gold, the build,. ing materials and -the game and furs produced annually by this province. While the showing made in • 1923 was very gratifying, it is thought that the historical, ;scenic and other attrac- tions of the province have not been sufficiently brought to the attenion of prospective tourists, and plans are un- der consideration for an active adver- tising dvertising campaign during 1924 in the larger cities of the Eastern 'United States and Quebec and Ontario. In addition, it is proposed to print a num- ber of leaflets setting forth the many points of interest in the province.. The goad roads of the province will also be well advertised, and it is antici- pated ntic,pated that the number of tourists visiting the province in 1924 will be well over the 75,000 mark. Childhood Days. When the iceman came out of the house he found a small boy sitting on one of his blocks: "Here," he roared, "what are yer a sitting on that for?' Git off of it!" The boy raised a tear -stained face. "Was you ever a boy?" he inquired faintly. "Of course I was," said the iceman, fuming. "But—" "And did you never play truant?" put in the youngster. "Of course I did," said the iceman. "Now, then, you—" "An' when you got home did your father take a stick and—" "Sit where you are, my little man," said the iceman; I understand." To Protect Pedestrians. Autos in China must wear mud "splashers" to protect pedestrians as well as the car occupants. He—"Is your answer final?" She—"Oh, no. I'd like the chance to give you the same answer a few times more." Dollar=a=Day Hospital Service for Alberta F Ill health has always seemed suf- ficient penalty in itself without having to meet hospital and doctor's bill into the'bargain, yet few of us have found any satisfactory way in which the bilis following in the train of sicIiness may be avoided. Hospitals Act of 1917 was not satis- factory so that activity dates only from the amended act of 1919, in which By Rene B. Stern regular private hospital rate for ser .,... vine. Public Health and the proposed dis- Suppose some families do pay their years and no .member year the Alberta Department of Public trict is surveyed. Possibly the area, hospital tax for Health was also established. a hos itaT is .too small or of their families reap personal bene- _) demanding P fit? says Arthur Whiston, Secretary of What does the Municipal Hospitals secludes a district logically belonging the Municipal Hospitals Branch. Act accomplish? o sane- other area, An organizer InChiva the doctor receives an an-, P "None of us regret .enjoying good from the department interviews the nual fee while his patients.retain good Suppose a man had to go to hospital health, do we? Many persons pay le from the proposed district and ac - health but should they fall' ill, not:only for a month and, after.a major opera- peopcident or health insurance for .the feel - meets with their councils, going over of safety it produces but do not does his pay cease, but he may be tion, had had day and night nurse 'for ing re - obliged to reimburse the patient for the first three weeks and one nurse the previsionsof the Act, discussing various' types of hospital that can be gret that they have not collected on suffering and inconvenience incurred."the remaining' week of his stay:'' Intheir policies. And while such policy A samowhat similar scheme to that of the usual one or two -bed room where built and deciding on the district final - 1 1 d d as tributary to the pro is personal, the man who pays his the Chinese, at least in its results, is such a serious case would b e ouse , b h d y ,urs u •e rates o the municipal hospital, pro- found in the anual health and accident by the time he had paid for his room posed hospital. vides n'uft for his family but also policies forwhich an annual premium and board, operating room, fee, two I Two -Thirds Majority. is paid for care to be provided when nurses for three weeks and one for the A municipal hospital may be estab- hurt or 111. These insurance ,policies have help- ed many a family over a hard place, but they do not serve in all contingen- cies. In farming districts far from a city, facilities for caring for the sick are often inadequate, hospitals usually being out of reach and the average home not being designed for adequate care of sick folk. Also, while people seldom begrudge the expense involved, hospital service may add greatly to the heavy burden of debt a long sick- ness involves, especially if the chief wage-earner be incapacited. Of course there are the free wards, but people of moderate means who are used to pay- ing their way, do not, as a rule, care to become charity patients. Scattered Population. The problem of caring for the health of its • people was one that years ago faced the Province of Al- berta. Alberta is known as a country of magnificent distances as well as of great opportunity. Less than 140,000 of its half million inhabitants live in its two large cities,' Calgary and Ed- monton. The others are in towns of under 10,000 inhabitants or on farm- steads and in nines scattered over its quarter million square miles. There- fore, to "send for the doctor" means a long journey in many instances, while appliances -for the comfort and cure of the sick person are not always with- in reach, as farm dwellers in any rural district know too well. What was needed was hospitals; hospitals within reach of the people both geographical- ly and financially. Alberta proceeded to get them. , She argued that as we have recog•. izecl the valuo of co-operation ih pro - n viding our water supplies, our -tail service, dire protection, the mainten- ance of our public schools and the en- forcement of public health regulations,. the next logical step was public pro- vision for the sick—the insurance of. public health. What good was the safeguarding of property, the enforce- muent.of school attendance and keeping in touch with the outside world if the people had not the health and strength to take advantage' of these provisions? Publicly -owned hospitals paid for by taxes (as was any other public utility) that would make health-care as easy for the farmer as for the city -dweller, was Alberta's solution of her problem, Municipal Hospitals Act. Those interested in establishing this self-inflictedbenefit planned and Work- ed to tech good effect that today twelve hospitals are in operationin the Province and four more hi.moues Of organization, The first Municipal fourth, as well as their board and "in- cidental items" such as dressings and medicines, he would do well in getting off at a hundred dollars a week, exclu- sive of his doctor's fee. In any Alberta district maintaining a municipal hos lished on receipt of petitiions from the local councils or from twenty-five rate- payers of each area included in the district but effort is made to have the district large enough to keep the tax from becoming a burden. Small build- pital, that man, if he is a rate -payer, Ings, designed for enlargement as need arises, are recommended so that unecessary expense may be avoided. Sometimes an existing hospital is taken over and sometimes service from some running institution is con- tracted for at municipal hospital rates. The scheme under which the Act But no scheme is ratified unless car - operates is simplicity itself, as it well ried by a two-thirds majority of the should be. It may be as well to state at thio outset that the word "munici- pality" means a given district town or would have a bill of something be- tween $33.50 and $66.00, depending on Isis particular hospital district. This is not a weekly rate but his •entire bill, exclusive of the doctor's fee, for his whole month in hospital! total votes cast. helps care fur the little widow next door who may be having all sorts of are the mothers of the race—life illness and misfortunes to contend givers. Now that woman has greater with; also he is helping maintain a voice in matters at large, than she has place where women from lonely farm- ever had before, the vital question of steads will have the best of care— public health is being "mothered," as care that is reducing our infant racer- never before. There is no greater tality rate and the loss of young moth- work in which women's clubs can use ere to the minimum. It pays. the corn- 'their influence. munity to keep its people fit, that they may not be a charge on the district. Lowering Death Rate. "Our death rate showed that over 110.3 individuals in every thousand under -one year of age died in the three years previous to the installation of our hospitals. Four babies, two of whom died from influenza infection, to the hospitals for the district nurses are the pioneers who make a com- munity realize the value of proper health-care, and the building of a municipal hospital is a logical conse- quence of this awakening. "In time of health, prepare for sickness," a favor- ite avorite slogan of the hospital advocates, is bearing fruit. The hospitals are prov- ing a boon. to their communities, and also, fortunately, are living up to that other slogan of theirs: "The maximum of service at the minimum of cast." Perhaps the burden of sickness, speaking from the standpoint of com- munity or class consciousness, is most heavily felt by women since women Scoured Violins. A man was out of work for some time when his friend introduced him to an Antique Violin dealer who offer- ed him a job in his place. The man did his utmost to give satisfaction. One day his employer had to go away for the day and left the ,shop under his The rate varies from two and a half is our total loss in hospitals while only , care. As it was a quiet day the man to our , city or farmlands and that all of these , average on a quarter section of land. dred maternity cases have been lost, : violins looked rather dirty, so he would hospitals, so far, have been established' Besides the dollar. a day (the one hos- Leaving all humanitarian considera- give them a good turn and scrubbed in cities or towns of under 10,000 in- I pital charging two dollars has only a tions aside it would seem as if these them with water and soap! It would hospitals are worth while from a prac- have been interesting to see the face r f' cents tin acre • $4,80 is a fair three mothers out of some sixteen hun- ; started tidying up. He thought the habitants and form the centre for two and one-half cent tax rate) a farming districts. charge, not exceeding five dollars, is tical standpoint. of the employer on his discovering, Educational or prapaganda work us- made for operating -room service. "Money makes no difference in these after his return home, that his assist• reduced to a minimum, if not entirely These are charges to the rate payer haspitals where private rooms are as- ant had done. wally begins through some farmers' or- and 1s i family, and nonrate payers signed to cases needing then and as . i ganization, the women's clubs or Wo- like teachers, clerks and farm hands people grow stronger they go into the infiormatiore men's Institutes. 'When the people may enjoy like benefits by a small an- two -bed or four -bed wards. At the Small children frequently see things breve been interested in the project, a nual payment. Non -rate payers who same time, special nurses and all , from an angle which surprises their request is sent to the Department of do not pay this annual fee are charged types of special care are available for •elders, as the following story, told by serious cases and again money makes a Sunday -school teacher, indicates.: no difference for the 3iat rate of a dol- The lesson was from II. Kings, and lar a day for rate -payers and a little had to do with the mocking of the over double that for other folk is rain- I prophet Elisha by little children, and tamed." l their punishment at the hands of two Mr. Whiston is very proud of his i sire bears, who ate forty-two of the ot nursing staff for they are all graduate !fenders. nurses and the, past year a training "Now," asked the teacher, "which class for probationers has been started l little girl can �tell me what this 13ible 15- - J- at High River Hospital. It is hoped story teaches. that after a year of probationary work After .a brief silence one tiny girl they can be sent for a regular course spoke up: "Teacher," she replica, "it to the University of Alberta, which teaches us how many little children two she bears can eat," BLACK SHEEP I .always hold to the belief that men are mostly good and straight, and so it brings mebitter grief when someone proves a crooked skate, betrays the earmarks of a thief, and earns bus neighbors' scorn and hate. It's sad to see a neighbor lose his grip on honesty end worth; this spectacle gives me the biter, and stifles all my bubbling mirth; and it is sad to see the crews of guys who'd hoot frim from, the earth, They will not wait an hour for proof that he has sinned as people claim:. they gaze from minaret and root, and say bis record is a shame; they kick him with exultant hoof, rind' hang the jinx sign on his frame. They will not listen to a word that one would •say in his defense; such argument' is vain, absurd, and short of truth and common sense; the sinner is a vile old bird who should be shooed and chivied 'unto, But I refuse to shake a friend because mine say he is a crook, unless the evidence they lend is final as the Sacred Boole, and gem in arm with him I wend 10 fish for stickers in the brook. Let others, ply the vicious knout, and say time sinner should be t 1• think m friend a good old scout nn U1 they prove that shot, I l u y g he is not; l'il'ta,ke hire panulkins of kraut, and luscious wienies, =eking hot. now • maintains a fine medical school and is entering into the plan for train- ing its provincial nurses. Hospitals are not all of one type. Drumheller, with its coal -mining dis- trict, has erected a forty-two bed building with special provision in its finely equipped operating room for ac- cident cases, At the other erld of the scale, Maunvilie and Onoway have ten beds each, their chief function being care of maternity cases and the usual run of a farming community's illness- es and accidents. Minimum of Cost, Sometimes the lr:ospitais are taxed to their limit, the eighteen -bed institu- tion at Vermillion having cared for thirty-four patients at one time. In times of epidemic the provincial De• pertinent of Health steps in and' as - mimes command, so the focal hospitals can count on aid at such times. The nursing' service is another aid Shovelling by Air. Compressed air shovels have bean found • great time savers in orarnped places. Then the Siren Shrieked, Nephew -"And I've gotten the best looking siren for my ear I could find," Old Aunt --"My dear boy, I'd always hoped y,ott would never .get :mixed up With wonxen of that kind,"