Zurich Herald, 1956-08-30, Page 3TiHAM FRONT
John'
"A eau shows how to save a
great valley development pro-
ject from erosion."
Sounds like one of the blurbs
we get from south of the Bor- •
der or even -occasionally -from
right here in Canada.
However, as this dispatch in
The Christian Science . Monitor
by Saville R. Davis comes from
the Damodar Valley in far-off
India it shows that Kipling was
maybe wrong. East and West
can meet -trying to repair mu-
tual foolishness.
,(. i,
From up here on- the early
slopes of the Damodar Valley
you can look out with the mind's
eye over one ' of ethe greatest
prides of the new India -a uni-
fied valley development of dams„
power plants, industries, and
vast spreading plains with con-
trolled irrigation where some of
the worst floods in History raged
before.
From this point . of vantage
you can see something else, too.
Unless something drastic and
large scale is done, this whole
proud assemblage of the works
of men will have its usefulness
wiped out in a few generations.
The dams -would be as impotent
as if some violent flood achieved
'the impossible and knocked
them down. In 50 years this pro-
cess of reversal would begin to
pinch; in 100 years the millions
of people blessed with irriga-
tion water in the lower valley
would see it begin to thin out.
* *
Two or three generations later
the old extremes of drought and
destructive flood would rule
again -unless something really
big is done.
The reason is to be seen on
all sides of us up here in the
hills where the waters originate.
While men are still pouring
concrete downstream, rearing
factories, and spreading the nets
of irrigation canals, other men
up here are -unwittingly but sys-
tematically destroying the cover
that holds down the soil. Great
masses of silt and dirt which
ought to be ' nourishing forests
and crops are being torn off the
top of the earth by the torren-
tial monsoon rains each year, and
are pouring down the streams
to fill the new reservoirs. Once
sfull they are useless.
"This is some of the worst soil.
erosion I have ever seen," said
a veteran soil conservation ex-
pert who has seen plenty.
That statement ends the first
chapter of this story: the analysis
of the problem.
* * *
The second is more difficult to
relate. It is the account of how
a great, country like India which
is becoming a great modern na-
tion copes with a huge problem
like this, in spite of its inex-
perience.
• India may not fully under-
stand the problem or ,know in
every detail 'vvhat to do. But it
tool: two steps which inevitably
led toward a solution. First it
set up a separate valley author-
ity called the Damodar Valley
Corporation - or locally the
DVC. It is reasonably free of
government bureaucracy and is
run by men who are topnotch
administrators. These men.
brought together a team of tech-
nicians who know the primary
job of building dams and power
systems and irrigating land.
Then with remarkable fore-
sight in ,the very beginning it
set up a soil conservation divi-
sion within the DVC. It organized
this unit to conduct a coordinated
effort by competent soil scien-
tists, agronomists, biologists, for-
esters, and engineers. It is this
second step that is doing the
trick because they invited to
India an expert to see what was
right and what was wrong.
:<
This ends the second chapter,
which is a tribute to good orga-
nization. Turn good men loose ox
a problem and they will either
find a solution or find someone
who can lead them to it.
The third chapter is a very
human story.
Wilson Hull is a pleasant,
friendly, soft-spoken man from
Mississippi. He is also a tribute
to the human race.
It would embarrass Mr. Hull
greatly to dress him up in ad-
jectives until he looked like a
plumed knight galloping to the
rescue on a white horse. He
knows that India brought him
here, that he is surrounded with
excellent and devoted conserva-
tionists,and that whatever the
merit of his recommendations, it
is his Indian colleagues who al-
ready have caught the idea, are
pushing ahead with it, and will
be the ones to carry it out.. He
insists, properly, on the fullest
credit to them.
Nevertheless they are entitled
to their say, too. And it was one
of his Indian opposite numbers
who told me when Mr. Hull was
not around, "Mr. Hull found us
going at the problem in the
wrong direction. He turned us
around and started us in the
right way."
Mr. Hull will just have to
look the other way while we
conclude there is something epic
about this. He may be just a good
conservationist. But it just so
happens that at one of the key
points where the renaissance of
Asia is beginning to move, he
appeared on the scene and knew
how to say, "Not that way; over
here!" And so a turning point
was passed. It doesn't fall to
many men • to have this kind of
opportunity.
The final chapter is what Mr.
Hull and his associates planned
and did, and in many respects it
is the most absorbing of all be-
cause it is absolutely simple in
design and almost impossibly
complex to execute. But, once
begun, it has the capacity to
multiply itself and roll up a mas-
sive solution to so big and baf-
fling. a I roblem.
Mr. Hull looked at what was
being done by a small band of
zealous men with limited budget
on the limited acreage' of land
which DVC owned or could ac-
quire. He said this wouldn't be-
gin to touch the problem.
"You will have to enlist the
entire mass of men who are un-
wittingly destroying the soil in .
the drive to save it" These were
the farmers, all of them, and
their herds of cattle. ,
Easily said -if you lcnow how
-and almost •impossible to exe-
cute. Mr. Hull himself had never
seen anything like this before.
* * *
Countess herds of cattle
(which are considered sacred in
India of course) and pate- and
sheep are allowed by custom and
ancient law to range freely over
the great upland stretches of al-
leged forest and alleged grass-
land.
The owners of the cattle and
goats do not own the land on
which they graze, so no farmer
•
CROSSWORD
PUZZLE
ACROSS
1. Walks
6. Witty Person
9 Headpiece
12. Scent
1z Arabian
garment
14 'Windmill sail
15.Former
Russian
leader
16. Afore than
two
18. Animal food
30 i•'ut forth
21 Kind of
cheese
28 Pronoun
23. Roman date
28 Electrified
27 Wparticle
orry
29. Recinit•ed
31Rounded out
85. Positive
electric poles
87. Negative vote
38 Stallc
41. Had being
42. Margin
43Slang of a
Sort.
(3. Treating
devise
47, Lose luster
49. (;turf -ince
binds
52. Pointin
tennis
93, Stamping
form
54. Bar of mety,1
55. Clear ;i,roWW. t
Sat. gap
1. "6'uu of rnb14M
7. Mr. Lincoln
8. Donated
9,' Was
interested
10. Cognizant
11. Stones
77. Be
DOWN 19. Specter
I. Chum 21. dour
receptacle
2. 1'. and measure 22.1710 eggs
3. Restrain 24. Niost
infrequent
27, Fowl
28 Distress call
20. Ter end of
Pythias
4. :Novel by
t ousseau
5. Rational
8,7aundry
machine
22, Experience
38. Morse
24. Color
36. ice cream
freezer part
38. Man's arch
enemy
69. vestige
40.:i-tcron
42. Occurenoe
44. Motion of
th,.sea
46. American
general
48. Title
50. Negative
prefix
31. 1?en
2' 3 i' S 1 7 S
9 /0 1/
,&10 Wee elsewhere en this page
NO MERMAID CATCHER, but actually a delicate scientific instrument used in oil and gas
exploration, this weird -looking device, an underwater gravity meter, has nevertheless mana-
ged to come up with a shapely bathing beauty. These pictures were taken on Lake Erie,
where Radar Sxploration Co. of Toronto is taking readings of the gravitational pull of the
lake` bed. The work is being done for Imperial Oil, as part of its exploration of the lake
bottom.' A survey crew member (left) guides the gravity meter as it is lowered to the lake
bottom for a reading. Edith Parker (right) of Erieau, Ont., proves, that the device can be a
handy resting place between swims.
is responsible for the land which
his animals are denuding. The
animals simply eat off the gras-
ses that would bind the soil, and
they eat the seedling trees which
alone could keep the forests go-
ing. This • is one cause of the
terrifying erosion.
Then as for cropland. Apart
from paddies where water con-
trol is automatically required,
the upland farms are fraction-
alized and dispersed, as genera-
tion after generation divides its
land among its children, to the
point where efficiency becomes
a fraction too; andthen they
are cultivated in straight plow
lines tip and down the slope of
the land, so as to encourage the
maximum of quick runoff and
erosion, which in a Monsoon
country is something extra ter-
rible to . see. On a typical slope
which I inspected, a solid band
of gullies on both sides were
greedily eating into the central
land .at the rate of two feet per
year.
* * m
What could be done?
From the beginning Mr. Hull
knew that nothing could be
done without the farmers them-
selves. He didn't have to be told
that an earlier effort in which.
the DVC itself did the work in
a demonstration area with big
machines made no -impressiqn
on the farmers. Mr. Hull knows
farmers are pretty much the
same theworld over. They are
not knidled to repeat things
done for them, in which they
do not participate, to which
they did not contribute or com-
mit their thought, tine, labor,
desire and pride.
He also knew that nothing
could be done by sitting in an -
office, which is Asia's .great
shortcoming, and either direct-
ing others or making plans on
paper.
In the solid tradition of good
farm extension work, he and
his colleagues went to ' a •vil-
loge which had asked for help,
and there began one of those
tactful, patient persuasive, slow,
and 'persistent efforts to induce
farmers to want to help them-
selves.
first trial year. Improved seed
on a 50-50 basis.
Then began the familiar -
to Mr. Hull and his co-workers
- and totally unfamiliar - to
the farmers - round of good
farming. Rotation of crops in-
cluding legumes and cereals.
Perennial forage grasses on the
steeper land, to be cut but not
grazed.
* *
The first job was done and
proved. Now the farmers could
grow a crop every years on their
land, instead of using it only
two years out of five, 'which was
as much as the poor soil had
previously followed.
Next the team tackled an
even more remarkable job of
reorganizing and persuading in
another area. Some 37 acres
with 52 original owners and 238
Shares were put through the
same process, a task of such
intricacy that they themselves
called it a miracle. But it work-
ed, and next year both areas
were on their own, with less
DVC support, and all going well.
This year there are some 1,000
acres in 20 villages being im-
proved in the same way. The
process slowly begins to pick up
speed.
* *
So an upland field of 17 acres
was given the full treatment.
There were 10 registered own-
ers and ,24 more who shared
with them. All their holdings
were consolidated and laid out
on an entirely new conserva-
tion'
onserva-tion' pattern - in contour
curves, with safe water dsposal
at terrace ends into grassed
meadow areas on both sides of
the long slope. Gully heads
were sloped and sodded and
runoff chutes were provided
where necessary.
I was shown the maps from
which they worked and could
only stare . at them. The tiny •
original plots were so dispersed
and subdivided that one of
them might be a thrce-foot-
wide strip running up and clown
the slope.' Later 1 saw such a
strip and straddled it with my
two feet. How these lines -- so
close they could scarcely be
drawn on the 'chart, -- were
turned into new contoured, re-
assembeld holdings with a coni -
mon access road down the mid-
dle on land given by the farm-
ers and a safety strip on each
side, so that each farmer was
satisfied with his new land, was
a pure "democratic revolution."
* * *
The first four contour terraces
were built by the conservation
team to show how. The farmers
built the other 13 planned for
the slope, using their bullocks
with simple indigenous wooden
plays, and board scrapers called
kahars (something like a drag-
pan), dressnig them by hand.
They were just as good terraces,
said Mr. Hull, as the experts had
built.' .
Fertilizer from DVC for the
at all. The testing time begins
when we come to kippers. The
standard substitute for kippers
is dates, which are flattened out
and cut to shape. Fancy the sen-
satory imbroglia in which the
actor finds himself, when his
palate startles him with news of
something sweet whereas his im-
agination - if he is `living' the
part, as the innocent phrase has
it - is all keyed up for some-
thing very different.
Those who frown on self-in-
dulgence may be glad to know
that stage caviar can be very -
very nasty. In the West End, and
when supplied free by the mer-
chant, it may be genuine, but
farther afield what is substituted
for it will depend on the ingen-
uity and the kindliness of the
stage management. Instances
have been known of the com-
pany having to consume, partly
for reasons of economy and part-
ly because the stage manage-
ment had been more than usual-
ly inventive, cold boiled sago
tinted with gravy browning.
Gravy browning is a great help
in theatres where thrift must be-
come second -nature to those be-
hind the scenes. Burnt sugar, as
everyone knows is the classical
foundation of those strong spirits
which the personages of the play
can afford to drink se much more
freely than their counterparts in
life. Burnt sugar and water does
for rum, for whisky, for brandy
- for anything, in short, that is
brown, except beer, which is
generally actual beer, But there
are theatres where one must save
even on the burnt sugar, and
there gravy browning takes its
place.
How They 'Eat'
On The Stage
Miss Dorothy Tutin not long
ago described her plight, one
evening in I am a Camera, when
the play required her to make
and drink a `prairie oyster' in
,full view of the audience and
each egg as she broke it proved
to be bad. There was no oppor-
tunity to leave the stage to pro-
cure something better, so the
only thing for a conscientious
actress to do was to pull herself
together and drink the horrid
concoction. Miss Tutin's experi-
ence, though perhaps an extreme
case, is not essentially different
from the kind of thing with
which actors up and down the
land have to put up nightly.
Stage food, alas for illusion,
is no more like real food than
the people in plays are, as a rule,
like people in real life. It is
therefore a callous, if not actual-
ly malevolent, dramatist who
calls upon his actors to eat on
the stage. For one thing this im-
poses certain strain on their
technique. The novice, we sus•
pect, will have considerable dif-
ficulty in uttering such a cry as
`Poison'!' in the proper tone of
mingled surprise, dismay and in-
dignation when his mouth is full;
and although the old hand will
not fall into so obvious a trap.
• if he is to avoid it he will need
to work out beforehand pretty
precisely at what points to take
a bite. He is also likely to have
strong views on what food goes
down most easily, and this will
seldom be found to coincide with
what the character he plays is
supposed to be -eating.
A square meal on the stage
has a way of turning out to be
apple. Slices of apple, cut as late
as possible to avoid browning,
serve very well for chicken or
any other white meat, but some-
times slices of bread are used
instead. Fortunate actors may
be given a choice. Thus the
`prop' list for the supper scene
in The Sleeping Prince calls for
`two portions of chicken (one
apple, one bread)', from which
it might be inferred that one of
the players was either more con-
ventional than the other or else
more fearful of putting on.
weight. Red meat is not to be
counterfeited so ingeniously, and
luncheon meat must therefore b4
used for minute steaks and other
such imaginary titbits.
So far, .it may be objected,
there is little of that vocational
hardship to which Miss Tutin's
ordeal so starkly drew attention.
So far, it is true, it has been
merely a matter of the awkward -
mess of having to eat on the stage
For the preparation of red-
dish -coloured drinks cochineal is
looked at askance, and some kind
of red cordial is the usual sub-
stitute. Champagne is, when
presented to the theatre by the
importers, champagne, though
not necessarily the best quality.
Otherwise it has a way of being
cider or some other fruit drink,
and many are the devices in use
off-stage to make a convincing
report when the cork is drawn
from the same bottle for the
third or fourth time. Tea, for
which foreign hotels have a hun-
dred cunning substitutes, on the
English stage is considered ini-
mitable, and tea is what the ac-
tors drink when you think you
see them drinking tea.
A good stage manager sees to
it that everything is made as
easy as possible for the players.
When chocolates have to be
eaten they are usually cut in
two, and they must always be
Ones with soft centres. Grape-
fruit are scooped out and the
halves filled with pieces of
grapefruit out of a tin. Crum-
pets, which may prove particu-
larly awkward, are cut into
quarters. Certain things the ac-
tor must see to himself. Thus,
on the infrequent occasions on
which he has to eat fried eggs on
the stage, he will be rash if he
attempts to eat the yolks; pru-
dent men make much play with
the whites. Soup. which must
also be neither too hot nor too
cold, presents a problem of its
own, how much to serve out: If
the audience laughs a great deal
the actor will have time to con-
sume quite a lot. If, on the other
hand, it is a bad matinee and
in te'-
arewelcome int t
such Vl
1C
there n
o
ruptions; which is inconveeie nt
for whichever character has to
clear the table. --Front the Lon-
don (England) Tunes.
clear the table.
141AY S1OOt
LESSON
Strength 'jhrougltt Trina!
,lames 1:1.18
.Memory Selection; Blessed it
the man that endureth tempt'
tion; for When he is tried, he
shall receive the crown of lfifie
which the Lord hath promisd
to them that love him. James
1:12.
I saw the proving ground of
one of our automobile manu-
facturers, What a road! What(
hills and bumps! Here the weak'
nesses of a new chassis or axle
would soon be discovered
Improvements would follow
Thomas Edison tested over 1,80f
types of materials for filament
use before he perfected tits
electric light. Testing is neces•
sary in industry.
Life is a constant series of
tests. Sortie things we car
change to suit us. To others w4
must adjust. The Christian is
not exempt from trials. Job was
the greatest sufferer. Yet in tht
midst of it he exclaimed, "When
he hath tried me, I shall conal
forth as gold." Job 23: 10.
God never tempts us to do
evil. We may hasten our down-
fall
ownfall by playing with temptation
We need to earnestly pray
"Lead us not into temptation"
Then we cooperate with God is
helping him to answer out
prayer.
Suffering is one of the temp-
tations which come to us all.
This trying of our faith is s
great developer of patience. The
business executive chafed under
his enforced hospitalization. Its
his mind he was going over all
the work be should be doing.
He was restless and fretful. He
wasn't improving. This worried
him more. Then he realized he
was taking the wrong attitude.
The work was going on without
him. He might as well relax and
enjoy himself as well as a sick
man can. He immediately began
to improve. Soon he was back
to his work. The lesson he had
learned in patience will prob-
ably add ten or fifteen years to
his life.
A friend .was going into tha
hospital for a major operation..
She wrote to her sister, "I find
that when I am trusting the
Lord, I am not worrying." We
gain strength through trials it
we have faith.
For several days a woman
celled an early -morning hill-
billy disc jockey on a Richmond
station to ask the time. Recoge
nizing her voice the next •gall,
the aliteeuncer told her the hour
and added. "We give it over the
air M'ter every couple of rec-
ords."
"Yes, 1 know," she interrupt-
ed, `'but 1 can't stand hillbilly
ttitiSle.'
Radio Boners
Radio Guide ran for years a
program known as "Radio Bon-
ers." Here are some of the gems:
The doctor remained under
the farmhouse roof all night tin
pull the babies through.
In answer to a request we will
hear "What a Beautiful Place
Heaven Must Be" for a party est
four.
Here is a young lady with her
hands full of packages and red
hair.
Go to McDonald's for your
next pair of shoes. There you
can be fitted by expert men ism
all widths and sizes.
Just add milk and water to
Pillsbury pancake flour and
you'll be ready to bake.
That is why you .bake a cus•
tard standing in a pan of water,
Search is now being made file
two girls who escaped from ass
Aurora cemetery.
As I look over the audience
I see many Faces I should like to
shake hands with.
Anyone who has listened to
me has had occasionto use as-
pirin. tha
Borden's brings you
world's best cheese. Tonight 'w4
present some of Hollywoode.
outstanding stars.
If you have trouble sleeping
fill your mug with ovaltine.
FOLLOWED ORDERS
Before a dinner at his horn
for fellow gourmets, John M
Weyer gave his maid specific ire
structions in serving the dishes
"I want the fish served whole
with tail and head," he said, "and
serve it with lemon in mouth."
"But that's silly, lemon le
mouth," she protested.
"That's the way it's done el
the best dinners in Europe," hes
employer insisted.
The maid reluctantly agreed
She served the fish, complete
with tail and head. And she car,
ried a lemon in her mouth.
Upsldedcwn to Prevent Peeking
ISSUE 3%
1'955