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Page 4 Oakville- Trafalgar Journal Member Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association Published Every Thursday Morning in Oakville, Ont, by Oakville-Trafalgar Publishers, Ltd. 7 DUNN STREET NORTH S. Casey Wood, Jr. Vincent H. Barrey Managing Editor Advertising Manager Bill Cotton, Editorial Assistant PHONE 1298 SR NNN Tralalgsr Tales BY BESSIE CAIRNS If it were physically possible to hide behind liciently ample). A newcomer to Oakville who has a great deal more i ben than I have said Yesterday, Guest Editorial These columns do not very often run across Something which is considered of so much impor- tance and universal appeal, that it deserves reprint- ing here. But in the June issue of "The Printed Word" published by Johnston, Everson and Charlesworth the editorial appearing below delighted us particularly What we especially like is that this piece of writing should appeal to CBC audiences, both those who listen and those who do not. Can there be an aud- dence which does not listen? There most certainly can . . . it is the audience that listens to the private enterprise stations while paying for the productions it does not hear. There are several amusing spots, and much wisdom, and a ligle acid in . CULTURAL DEFICIT (Reprinted From The Printed" Word) The nine-hundred-thousand-dollar deficit that the CBC has succeeded in ringing up should be pos- itive Proof even to the disgruntled that the Commis- Sion is more concerned with maintaining the cultural excellence of its programmes than in making ends meet. Detractors who profess to believe that the Programmes are not uniformly excellent, and who have spitefully claimed, indeed, that they are uni- formly something else, will find it difficult to explain the deficit away. To have gone into the red on such a magnificent scale the Commission must obviously have bought the most expensive talent available, and if this talent has not been generally acclaimed, it is because the cultural standards of Canadian listeners ow SO far below the standards of the CBC intelligen- ia. The average listener is inclined to judge a radio show according to his own tastes and to turn off anything that displeases him. From this has grown the assumption that a good programme is one that appeals to a majority of listeners, whereas the truth Is that a good programme--which, of course, is one Dossessing high cultural value--appeals to practical- ly nobody at all. Accepting thi has done remarkably well an for congratulations to members of the Commission that they have not been 'swayed from their purpose by foolish consideration of what the listeners want; instead they have given them what they ought to 'want. i 3 In contrast to the CBC's present high standard, one may recall the poverty of the programmes of less than a decade ago. Consider, for example, the war- time speeches of Winston Churchill. They attracted listeners by the millions, but imagine how Churchill 'would fare if he applied for a job on CBC today. One can imagine the interview- "Winston Churchill, eh? And youd like a job with us as news commentator? I'm afraid, Mr. Churchill, that I can't offer you much encourage- ment. In the first place it is contrary to our policy to employ men who are advanced in years, because quite frankly we find that their standards are not. up to what we demand. But disregarding the question of age, T don't feel that you would fit into our organ- ization, for if you will forgive my saying so, your style is definitely corny and you have a bad radio voice--a very bad radio voice, and not a particularly cultured one, I'm afraid, Mr. Churchill. What we try to get in a commentator is a deep booming voice-- one that carries sincerity and deep conviction. Now your voice is high-pitched and a little effeminate, and I don't think our better class listeners would go for it; I really don't think they would. "However, it is the question of style which is Paramount with us and I must say, sir, that your style is quite passe--to use the French expression. No doubt you had a following in your time, but your language is too sonorous, too smooth, too neatly rounded for this day and age. For example, take that tribute you paid to the fighter pilots during the war; the one about, "never did so many owe so much to so few." If T had been writing the speech, I would have struck that out as too precious, too epigram- matic, too literary--and yet not literary at all, if you know what I mean. If you wanted to break into ra- dio you should have based your style on the moderns, Mr. Churchill, not on the Bible, for what we want is the stark, crude, earthy stuff . . . . "Then there's the question of politics. The Com- mission has no politics, but of course we have to take cognizance of the present trend towards a planned economy and in view of this your past record would prove most embarrasing to us--most embarrassing indeed'... . CBC expects an even more substantial deficit for the coming year, but as long as 'the present lofty standard is maintained nobody is likely to object, ex- cept the radio audience and the taxpayers. A year ago we editorialized enthusiastically about how we wanted to have our breakfast in, bed on Fath- er's Day. Well, we had it there, then went to vote by ambulance and ended up in the hospital for ten days --so this Father's Day we Intend to rise at six a.m. and, whistling merrily, prepare the family's breakfast ... and do any odd household chores that we can find, if we can find anything at that hour. This week we introduce a weekly feature" that we are sure will be popular with our readers. In "Your Hospital Last Week," will be found the answers to many questions we have been asked from time to time. The statistical informa- tion will give everyone a picture of the operations of the hospital they all helped to build. « -| anyhow. "So you write, for the Journal Bess. What do: you write about?" "Oh! anything and everything," I replied, then suddenly realized I must have been spouting like an authority in all fields while possessing very little knowledge in any. To the readers who have In the past been good enough to bear with me and even had kind Words for my efforts, my appre. and since I intend to car- in the only way I know welcome criticism, accord- ing to the ads there what readers will write and ed- itors will publish. Take for in- stance this letter which appeared in last week's Time. Sir: The picture of President Tru- man on the cover of Time was It set me to great nation the hollow of his head. Had a similar invective regard- ing Stalin appeared in Pravda there would have been at least two less Russians to throw into any struggle for world peace agalnst capitalist aggression. When we raised strawberries, corn and tomatoes on our fifteen acres I got to know a great many of the young girls and boys of Oakville .. . I liked them all. Recently I heard some very vic _|--2a war upon -|has become IT SEEMS TO ME By P. W. Thompson A large scale war is beginning gambling, which, according to recent revelations, a menace of im- mense proportions. Gambling has been described as a form of dis- case, and our own belief is that it will prove ome which defies cure, 0 Gambling is not new. People have been indulging in it, in various forms, fer a good many years, although no doubt it is to- day more prevalent than ever before. When far more people lose than win, year in and year out, why does gambling continue to spread? In the first place, there is an element of risk and adventure about it that exerts an irresistible appeal upon many people. It fis not without a cer- tain aura of romance. Popular fiction abounds in wealthy char- acters who throng the gambling tables of Monte Carlo and other great gambling centres to wager vast sums upon the turn of a card or a wheel. But the gamb- ling that is said to be rampant in Canada is of a different and less glamorous variety. The gamblers are, for the most part, people in extremely moderate circum- stances who can ill afford to lose the paltry sums they wager. When they do lose, which is moj often than not, they and their families suffer. In the big drive against gam- bling many will no doubt be ar- rested and fined. With luck the gambling evil may be lessened somewhat. But as to its being completely eradicated, not a chance. For one thing, gambling operations are not easy to detect; for another, people are too ready to gamble. Most. habit- (Continued on Page 5) ers I'm willing to go to bat for there is |: Designed for compli ments under the sun . . . our exciting, playclothes! Choose brief, figure moulding Bocach wear; a tailored. for-action tennis dress or other outdoor sports. carefree All created to delight fous criticism of the goings-on at Teen-Town. If the who took part in the square dance at Fashion Fantasy were them any day. As far as I am any pering crit- fcism will fall on my deaf ear from now on . fortunately I representative of the Teen-Town- actually have one too. Any dyed-in-the-rool knows that the chief headaches of a team manager are usually the result of battery trouble. Pitching and catching, that is, not Willard and Rverready. And the main reason that 90 percent of managerial migraine can be so readily traced is that there are more screwballs among the tos- sers and receivers than in the ranks of all the other players put together. Now, Don Davis may not agree with me on this statement_but then, Don seldom agrees with me, And Don is a particu' larly fortunate manager in that he doesn't have any eccentrics to deal with. He just has pitchers and catchers (I have to say this, because I cover the games at Wallace Park). Other managers are not so for- tunate, however. Take the ven- erable Connie Mack, for instance, who has borne up nobly under more than hiss hare of wacky performers. He had Rube Wad- dell, probably the nuttiest pecan in the loaf, and George Earn- shaw, who always had the right answer at the wrong time. Waddell, who wielded a mighty hefty bat for a hurler, was al- lowed to swing for himself one day in the ninth inning, with the score 2-1 against the . Athletics, two out, and the tying run on second. The Cleveland catcher saw a chance to pick the runner off base, heaved the ball down, and groaned as he saw it end up in centre field. The runner head- ed for the plate, and would have made it, too. But Waddell, as the throw came in, swung mightily and belted the ball over the right field fence. He was promptly ball fan called out for Interference, and that ended the game. "Why did you do it?" moaned Mr. Mack. "They'd been feeding me curves all day," Rube explained sheep- ishly. "That was the first straight ball I'd looked at!" Earnshaw was lifted from the mound one day because the late Lou Gehrig had lofted two of his offerings over the feft field fence. "This new lad I've put in to pitch knows how to throw to Gehrig," Mr. Mack told the dis- gruntled Earnshaw, "Watch PUFFS FROM THE COTTON GIN on the new pitcher's first deliv- ery and drilled it over the cen- tre field wall on a line. As he jogged round the bases, Earn- shaw leaned over and whispered softly to his boss: "I see what you mean. Make him change dir- ection, huh?" Mr. Mack' did manage to miss Bobo Newson, who was noted for his ebullient carryings- on and usually managed to drive his many managers into hysterical frenzy once a week. One day, Judge Landis was giving Bobo whatfor for betting on horse races. "It takes your mind off baseball," expostulated the Judge. "Say your at bat in the ninth in- ning of a tight game, the same day your wagering $100 on some nag. What are you thinking of, the game or the $1002" Bobo thought, then replied earnestly: "Judge, in the ninth inning of a tight game, old Bobo aint gonna be in there batting!" And there was Yogi Berra, now a hotshot catcher to whom Lefty Gomez once drawled, when Yogi was a raw rookie: "Holy smoke, Berra! Who dug you up for the Yankees? Frank Buck?" Bucky Harris once tried to curb Berra's swinging at wild pitches by, saying: "While you're waving that bat, think about the kind of ball you want to hit." Ber- ra stood like General Grant's statue while three perfect strikes whizzed by, then threw away his bat, mumbling: "As though it isn't tough enough to hit--you have to think, besides!" Of course, as I said before, you won't see any of this kind of thing up at Wallace park when the Oaks are playing. Not much, anyway--although you will see a lot of good ball and not a little wild and woolly ball. But just the same, Davis and Yarnell can have this master minding busin- ess all to themselves. I'm happy just watching. Yours from a back seat, BILL COTTON A Complete Investment Service BONDS STOCKS on all Exchanges MACRAE AND COMPANY Investment Dealers 80 King St. W.--Toronto PHONE: EL 3374 him." Next time up, Lou teed off r's eye . . . and ys your own budget! For beauty on a budget see these charming cottons with full, full skirts . . . pretty necklines . . . one- piecers and new two-piece tuck-ins.