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i4 THE FLESHERTON ADVANCE. CURRENT COMMENT WINS BRITISH TITLE AS BEST MILK PRODUCER Hudson Bay Navigation It U difficult to imdcrHtand why such ii dead si't lias bfcu made iigaiiiHt the navigation of Hudbou Hay unless there be truth in the allegatiim that certain railway interests object to the tapjung of fhc interior trade by marine communication that reaclieb bo far into the heart of the Dominion. Hudson Hay has been navigated for centuries. The first settlers of Manitoba lauded in Hudson Day. There has been a more or less prolitable aud constant traflic through these northern waters since tran-ing became a fine art and the coureurs du bois carried their primitive civilization into the north-west. These things having been called in question, a special committee of the Senate has been investigating for three years, and has now rejiorted that the Hudson Bay route is not only feasible, but likely to be profitable. If it were not profitable it would never have been used. The traffic can safely be left to the tramp steamer, with such nssiBtancc of marine buoying and lighting as may be rea- sonable and necessary. It is not necessary to consider the investment of capi- tal which would be tied up for two-thirds of the year as in our own Niagara navigation. A proper port in Hudson Bay is also required, and the commit- tee lecls, as was pointed out when the decision was made that sufficient care had net been taken in the selection of Nelson as the Hudson Bay railway terminus, and that further attention should be given to Churchill. Levin, the Autocratic Tyrant Russia under Lenin appears to be as unreliable as any other autocratic- ridden land. The memorandum which Lenin sent to Britain through the Labour delegation ought to convince all ranks of Labour and Socialism that Leninism is nothing like anything that the civilized western worker is seek- ing. Ben Turner and Tom Shaw, M.P., British labour leaders, on returning from Russia report that Lenin and his followers have succeeded in establish- ing the red terror, that there is no freedom of the press, nor of public meet- ings, while tbe persecution of social revolutionaries is as bitter or wors^c than under the Tsar. Workmen have no right to strike or to change their jobs without superior authority. Compulsion is their god, says Mr. Turner, men- tioning compulsory military service. Conscription of labour, with the death penaltv for enforcement. The duplicity of Lenin is shown in sending Krassin to negotiate trade relations with Britain, while stating his intention to use Krassin to stir up trouble and start agitation for soviet rule in England. He appeals to Sylvia Tankhurst and the mob to storm Whitehall. If Lenin were in England and attempted a coup like that in Russia he would probably find himself treading the same path as Charles I. Tyrants, royal or plebeian, are all the same to Britain. The answer to Lenin, however, is quite diplomatic. His troops have been stirring up trouble in Persia, as part of the program of inflaming the whole of Asia against civilization and settled government. Either the Bolsheviki get out of Persia or Krassin get out of London, was the alternative for Mr. Lenin to consider. Kipling on the English Budyard Kipling's eulogy of the English in' his fine speech on St. George's Day is being carefully read by many who perceive that we can only judge of the future by what we know of the past. Kipling has always been some- what of a prophet, which is his right as a natural born seer and mystic. If at times his prophetic utterances seem incredible we must remember that most hUtory is incredible before it happens. Who believed Prancis Grierson or our own Wilson MacDonald when they foretold the great war? Proptiecy is merely history reversed. "The things that are are the things that have been; and the things that have been are the things that shall be." Kipling sees the strength of the English in "that they have behind them this continuity of immensely varied race-experience and race-memory, running through every class back to the very dawn of our dawn, which unconsciously imposes on them, even while they deride, standards of achievement and comparison, hard it may be and a little unsympathetic, but not low, and, as all the earth is witness, not easily lowered." These standards, he adds, are taken for griintcd, "and it is by the things which we take for granted, without words spoken, that we live." All this may perhaps be more fully appreciated by a compari- son, say, with Ireland, where native standards are ignored, and artificial and exotic standards have been imposed upon more or less revolting minds- for long generations. An exotic religion, an exotic political .system, exotic leaders from age to age availing themselves of the habit of revolt that has grown upon the people through the centuries, lead to the social insanity which has too fre- quently characterized the Irish nation. The Irish do well abroad because they are quick, intuitive aud adaptable. They can try experiments in foreign fields which arc forbidden at home. The Knglisliman has no desire to try ex- periments and is impatient to those who do. He has had his experience and it satisfies him. He knows the ten good rules and is satisfied with the royal game of goose. Outside Competition Insistent "It is excellent to have a giant's strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant." These words of the dramatist may be eommended to tlie atten- tion of labour men who are set upon cxueting the last possible cent from the pay sheet. It is a poor argument to cite the example of the capitalist who seeks similar exactions at the Other end of the business. It should not be for- gotten however that the capitalist rarely dreams of making such a raid on business as is demanded in some of the calls for higher wages. A compara- tively slight increase per hour in wage rates spread over thousands of employes quickly runs into millions. If every nation were self-contained and depended upon its own internal trade for all its exchanges and dealings, the adjustnuiits of wages would be a simple .matter and woulil tend to comparative stability. In China through fen or twelve thousand yi'ars tins isolation iirevailed, and fixed conditions became established, so that •l()ll,(tOU,OUO j)uoplc have been able to dwell in a land of 1,500,000 square miles in extent or less than half the size of Canada. Hueh a social condition is naturally exceedingly delicate in its relations, and any new factor acting as a disturbing element may throw the whole economy iiilo eonfusion. What then is to be expected of a new nation, full of unknown quantities, susceptible to every infiuence that beats or blows from any quarter of the globe, and sensitive exceedingly to all trade variation and com]ietition f It is possible to conceive of the whole earth eventually becoming self-adjusted as Cliina did by building a wall arcnniil her ilomain. We fear no competition from Mars or Mercury, but until this globe comlpina- tion has been effected it must not be forgotten that every nation has not mere- ly to consider local conditions, but learn to recognize the movements without the national boundaries, and to beware of creating condition.s that will make trade with neighbours impossible. It might easily be that insistence on too high a scale of wages woulil make foreign trade impossible, and kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. The Quiet Observer Clean Hands Wanted Ontario has nothinfr to be proud of in the revelations nuide at the Port Ar- thur timber limits encjuiry. The real difficulty in dealing with the situation or any such situatiim is the tendency of party jioliticiaus of all kinds to shift the blame on someone else, each party blaming the other for what has happened. It has been couiinon knowl- edge for years among both ]iartics that such things as have been described were going on. The change of party government did not correct the evil. This is the real shame of Ontario. There can be no diselaming of respon- sibility. Two governments in Ontario have gone down because the people knew that things were being done un- der these governments that were not in harmony with provincial honour or the provincial welfare. It is a com- paratively easy matter to be honest in public life. The trust im])Osed in gov- ernments by the people should inspire the utmost integrity and the strictest justice and fair dealing in administer- ing the jiublic business. It is not necessary to im])ute guilty knowledge to all members of the governments un- der which the things complained of happened. But it is impossible to sup- pose that what was common knowledge among a large part of the public was entirely unknown to those governments Ihrougii some of their members. There should be concurrence of opinion and co-operation in action to lift adminis- tration jiolicics above the reproach of any such possibilities. The people, after all, aim at clean-handed govern- ment, and will give it support. Vote-Catching Unscrupu- lousness There is probably nothing iu civil- ized human activity to-day so utterly unscrupulous as the practice of poli- tics. This continues to be tlie reason for the dilTiculty of getting the very best men to enter an cirena where they would be compelled, if tlu'y wished to succeed, to submerge iu ordinary eases, or at the best to consent to the sup- pression or elimination of all those standards of morality and integrity by whiiiji they are accustomed to govern their private lives. The end justifies the means is the vicious principle which commands success, if this be more evident iu the United iStafes dur- ing the years of presidential elections it is no excuse for other countries which follow the iireeedent iu their own way. But in the United States the stakes are so mucli greater than iu almost any other Uemocrafic elec- tion, aud the inuthods are so question- able aud nut of date, temptation is lierhajis greater than elsewhere to abandon the ideals by which democ- racy can alone be a success. Mr. Eamonn de Valera, who is a >:iti7eu (<f the I'uited States, having acted as ;i delegate at the late l{e]nililii'an con- venti(ui, and who has been the head of a fililiustering expedition for the pur- pose of advancing Gernuin interests in Ireland, has had great su|iport from I'nited States ]ioliiicianH, solely for the hope of catching the vole (if those wild follow the X'aler.M vanity. One leader made no bones about the object of his .'ipgieal. The inclusion of an "Irish Republic" jdank in the Repub- lican idatforui, he said, would attract votes from the Democratic ]iarty th.'it had never gone Republican before. It is luit to bi' wondered at that the La- Public Utility Success Once more an announcement appears that a Hydro-Electric system has re duc^d its rates. The last case is that of Ingersoll, where the cost of power has been fixed by the Ontario Commission at H-l, a reduction of $2. Locally, this works out for tlie consumer as a reduction from the former rates of 2Vl' and l',4 cents to two cents and one cent jier kilowatt hour with a minimum monthly bill of 7S cents. Commercial lighting is also reduced and the street lighting is cut from $-10 to .t30 a lamjt of .lOO watts. When it is remembered that the HydroElecfric Commission is the only body on record that steadily reduced rates during the war while all other rates were being raised, the animus with which the commission is assailed in certain quarters is the more difficult to understand. The recent enquiry into the Chippewa Construction showed that the Commission was paying as high a rate of wages as any similar industry, and that the conditions of work had been arranged at the instance of the men fheniselves. Labour has in many cases not been as con- siderate of this publicly-owned utility as of privately owned ones, and this again is the less easy to un<ler»tand since the work is being done for the men themselves and for the community to which they belong. The lack of appre- ciation of this fact, the missing sense of commercial possession must perhaps be due to a want of training or education, since the attitude of the workmen towards the Commission has not infrequently been hostile, as towards an alien body and not one representing themselves and their own personal inter- ests. Nothing can contribute more to the welfare of the masses than to en joy the neccssifie« of life at cost price. This is simply impossible under pri vate ownership where a return of dividrndii is always looked for â€" profits to the extent that the business will bear. I'nder such a body as the IlydroElectric Commission no such profits are extracted from the consumer. He gets his supply at actual coat. As this benefits everybody, including those who live by private ownership as well a« those who advocate public ownership there should be no objection to the principle when applied to natural monopolies like Hydro power. BASEBALL'S GAMEST Babe Rnth, home-run sluggev %ltb the New Tork Tankees, has prored his greatness by his game- Deal. Sold tor tbe record price of $120,000 to the Yanka. Ruth got away to a poor start â€" and waa "panned" to the limit. De- spite this he kept on trying. Then he started hitting and today fans are raving as Ruth is again well on his way to break the record irblcb be eel himself last year of ST homers In one season. Iioiir convention iu Montreal was treat- ed to similar appeals. It is not the right or the wrong of the (juestion in- volved that is at issue here, but the unscrupulousness of interfering in an- other nation's business avowedly for the purpose of catching votes. What would the Ciiited .States say if the Carlton Club on an election occasion inserted as a ijrincijde of the party program some similar interference in United States affairs/ Are we in Can- ada entirely clear of all such tenden- cies and methods? It is not a party question, but a national question of character and purpose. There may be a thousand and one waj-s in which the disposition for such actions will mani- fest itself. The important thing is to have such national pride and self-re- spect that these things become impos- sible. RARE COLLECTION POSTAGE STAMPS To Be Sold at Auction by French Government Post Graduates for40ntario A strong representation has been male firm the west as to ihe ad visability of encouraging post-gradu- ate students in eastern universities from Canada's western provinces, in-- stead of letting them go to Harvard and other United States schools. The appeal naturally is to the University of Toronto and to McGill University in Montreal. These are the outstand- ing institutions where western students might expect, in certain courses at any rate, to find opportunities for which they have been accustomed to look be- yond their own borders. In physics at least Toronto presents practically un- rivalled advantages. Prof. McLennan, I'.R.S., tho professor of physics, has <lonc very much to establish post-grad- uate work as a Toronto specialty, and some of his stu<leuts have done work that has been recognized and adopted iu England by the British government. .Many important discoveries used in Admiralty work were the result of To- ronto postgraduate work. President Falconer has somewhat resented the suggestion that more encouragement should be given by his university to western men seeking post-graduate op- portunities. No institution can afl'ord to ignore the possibility of adding to its friends and no stronger friends can be found for a university than the post-graduate students who arc afford- cij tlie means of self-discovery which real post-graduate work supplies. Witchcraft in Ontario Miss Margaret Pollock was convict- ed by the County Judge at Goderich that "she did unlawfully pretend from skill and kiiowleilge in occult and crafty science, to discover where and in what manner certain goods" had been stolen. The Appellate Court rec- ognizes Miss Pollock's undoubted good faith, and in view of Dean Harris in- cluding sjiiritism in the occult sciences, thinks that she need not be burned at the stake as the act prescribes under which she was found guilty, and ihtit a suspended sentence would satisfy llic law if she wouhl undertake not to work any m^re witchcraft. Witli all due resjiect to the court, the act I'.eals with pretence in occult skill and sci- ence and not with actual occult skill and science. The suggestion that "spirits" have anything to do with occult powers is entirely gratuitous. St. I'aul is surely a reliable authority and among occult gifts ho includes "the word of wisdom" and the word of knowledge by the same spirit; to another faith by the same spirit; to aiKdher the gifts of healing by the same spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another jirophecy; to an- other discerning of spirits," and so forth. Miss Pollock has not pretend- ed anything, ."^he has evidently gifts that many others possess. That there ate fraudulent pretenders to the pos- session of such gifts in no way dimin- ishes the virtue of those who really possess them. Our courts do not ap- pear to bo able to discriminate be- tween the genuine aud the false. King Edward's Diaries Nothing so mid-Victorian has hap- Iiened for many years as the distribu- tion of King Edward's diaries. It is an act of vandalism which history will never pardon, however their contem- [loraries may excuse those who com- mitted it. Naturally we judge with leniency those who felt constrained to suppress such evidence, moved as they must have been by all sorts of c )n- sidcrations of personal, family, social, caste, diplomatic, state-craft, nntionMl and international import. No doubt it might have been unwise to publish in our time tho frank observations of such a clear-seeing, level-headed and far-«ighted judge of men and events. But in destroying these records two ob- vious duties were overlooked â€" the duty Postage stamp collectors will soon have an opportunity to purchase some of the rarest stamps known to phila- telic history, for the French Govern- ment, according to a recent rep irt from Paris, is preparing to sell at auction the remarkable collection ac- cumulated at an expense of more than $2,000,000 by the late Baron Ferrary. It has been famous for years as the gratest -.postage stamp collection in the world. Had it not been for the war, the collection would have remained intact as a German possession, as it was left in 1917, when Baron Ferrary died at Lausanne, to the Berlin postal museum. The collection was then in Paris, where it had been housed for many years in an imposing building in the Rue de Varennes, bequeathed by the baron's mother, the Duchess de Galliera, to the Austrian Embassy. Seven years after the death of the duchess. Baron Ferrary was adopted by an officer in the Austrian army, E. E. la Renotiere von Kriegsfeld, and in later life he was known as Baron Phillipe la Renotiere von Ferrary The French Government confiscated the valuable collection as alien pro- perty, and it is said that it will now be sold for the benefit of the Govern- ment at an early date. Baron Fer- rary began stamp collecting as a young man more than sixty years ago, and, possessing ample means, he succeeded in securing copies of both used and unused stamps of practically every postage stamp issued. In its great rarities his collection was unrivalled. The Best of All. The gem of the collection is one of the early issues of British Guiana, a one-cent stamp, black on magenta, printed in 185(1, bearing the design of a fully rigged sailing vessel While a poor copy, it is the only one in ex- istence, and has been valued at from .*U),000 to If 1.5,000. More than 100 o»' the" rare circular stamps of British Guiana of 18,T0 and 1851 are in the col- lection, including a superb pair ami 'three single co]iics of the circula,- 2 cents rose. A few years ago a ]iair of these stamps sold in London for *7,200. The Uritish Musuem has one copy in the Tapling collection. Next to these staniiis, th.? early Mauritius issues are probably the rarest known. Of the very rare one and two-cent issues, lHol," witb the words "post-ofTice" in the side mar- gins, there are live copies, including one of the only two known unused one jienny stamps. A copy of the two-penny stamp, unusued". w.ts purchased by King George of England, who has one of the best collections in the world, for about $7,250 in 1004. A Rare One. The early Hawaiian issues are well represented, including a line copy of the excessively rare two-cent blue "Missionary" stamp, 1851, valued at $5,000. Barely a dozen copi^'s are known, as practically the entire i-:suc was destroyed hy fire in Honolulu .xoon after it was printed. The early .Vew South Wales "Sydney View"" issues are unusually well represented, includ- ing a few complete unusued sheet;. There has never been a stamp col- lector who indulged in his hobbv iu so princely a manner as did Baron Ferrary. To dealers all over the world ho was known as always in the market for any exceptional rarity or choice specimen He was a liberal buyer, and his dealings with one large London firm are snid to have reiircsenfed fully $20,000 a year for many vears He also bought many notable collec- tions, one of the best being the well known Philbrick collection, for which he paid $-10,000 in 1882, and which is said now to be worth $200,000. The sale of the Ferrary collection will be an event in philatelic circles which will attraot the attention of collectors in every civilized country. THE BRAIN BOX By E, Cunn-Ramaay to history and humanity, and the dutv to King Edward himself. If we can in any degree estimate what he wrote by what he said and did these obser vations by one of tho very shrewdest, wisest and moat experienced of the men who presided over the growth of democracy in the thirty years that led to the gignnfii" struggle between au- tocracy and the people, would have been of the utmost value in enabling the next century to guage its progress, to cor- rect its errors, and to lay new base lines. The mischief is done and re- grets are aa vain aa over the burning of tbe Alexandiian library. li\ What a world of longing ig thrown into this one small word "if." It forms the explanatory link be- tween so many failures of cherished plans It has been made the excusing imrtntr for so many shortcomings. "If only I had seen ahead," "If only I had known before," "If only I had had the opportunity"; saddest of all, "If only time could come over again." Kipling, in his wonderful poem with this title, used the word "if" to urge^ to stimulate and encourage those in the fcvery-day of life. Not to make it the excuse for slack- ness, but rather to set it before them as a necessary attachment in the road of their ideal. He says: "If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken, Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools. Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build 'em up witb worn-out tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings. And risk it on one turn of pitch and toss, An<l lose, and staU again at your beginnings, ^ And never breathe a word about your loss." "And if you can do all this, mv friend," continues Kipling, "yojj will be a man indeed." What a picture of the makings of a man â€" one who has within him the es- sentials of true greatness. It is a bijr test. It is splendid to he a builder, to have an executive job, to be well in the running of things; but the test comes when apparent failure stalks into sight. Here the true man shows himself as able, not only to build up once upon a structure already pre- pared, but big enough, if all his ships go down at sea and all his barns or plenty should burn overnight, to start over again, to reconstruct from ap- parent failure. You started out with an ideal. Where is it to-day? You once had a plan for vour life', for your work. What has happened to it? You say circumstances, the events of some force unforeseen by you, beyond your control, have cut in upon it, have laid waste and spoiled that which vou had intended should be so fair. Will you let it go at this? Someone has said, "Not failure, but low aim, is crime." Where did vou aimt Why did you aim? And if your arrow once missed the mark, would vou for that recall it for all time? We go along for years building, plan- ning, storing up, cherishingâ€" for what ! â- ft hat is the price of success? or what is the goal? Y'ou seek it to some end, that vou may add to your material comfort' or tbat of someone dear to vou. You ac- cumulate; but then what? When »the time comes that death rings down the curtain upon your little drama of life A-hat will you have to show? ' The poet who wrote these linesâ€" "Death comes with a smile, or comes with a pounce. But it's no matter where or whv It isn't the fact that you're dead that counts, But simply, how did vou die?" was not, I take it, referring soleh- to what we call death, but intended' the (piestion also to apply to what the world calls "failure." It is not the fact that vou failed that counts :_ the real thing for you to worrv about is, was your motive true? I'f not-ah! "if" then you have failed indeed. Then it is time to make a fresh start, even if one has • • to stoop ancl l>uild again with worn-out tools " Get the motive in the right place,' then put all thought of failure out of your mind, for you can afford to do so. The man who has the right ideal can naver be written finallv as a fai urc. He may stumble, he mav even fall down, he may have to be a'ssisted back into society by wav of the am- Imlauce and the hospital', but eventu- * ally he will win through: so put this thought into your mental notebook and adopt the title of the good old war song- as your motto, interpreting it as the flag ot your ideal. "We'll never let the old flag fall." Variety is the spice of liffrâ€" especial- l.v in a hrst-elass vaudeville show. The time-honored bullseve lantern carried by the London polic'e has been replaced by a neat electric lamp. About $2,000,000 worth of gold has been mined in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland during the past twenty years. It is reported that a British company is to establish an iron and steel indus- try in British Columbia to utilize the native ores of the province. An Ontario girl wh> is unable to speak above a whisper has had 47 of- fers of marriage. MONKUT YEAR IK JAPAN. Every year in a series of twelve, is known ia Japan by the name of an animal, and this is the year of the monkey, writes a Tokio correspondent. Consequently the many millions of New Year's cards exchanged are for the most part decorated with Simian repre- sentations of various kinds artists vying with one another in producing tbe most unique designs. The year of the monkey is not considered a pro- pitious one for marriage, as the word "saru" (monkey) also is a verb which means "to K-aves" and there is a superstition that all who marry in the monkey year are likely to leave their partners, who might otherwise be part- ners for life. Consequently all the couples who intended entering the mar- riage state in 1920 had to rush the ceremony through in December of 1919, keeping country registries and ghrine» very busy during that month. i^ 'Ji r J