Oakville-Trafalgar Journal, 14 Jun 1951, p. 9

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ME age 1) over iy ction, of, te blocks, 0] e of cem- fall, and al others Lakeside , and ser e work in cost $3) work $150, > now days SECOND SECTION Page 9 Oakville-Trafalgar Journal Member Canadi: Weekly Newspap Association Published Every Thursday Morning in Oakville, Ont, by Oakville-Trafalgar Publishers, Ltd. 7 DUNN STREET NORTH s. Casey Wood, Jr. Managing Editor Bill Cotton, Editorial PHONE 1298 Vincent H. Barrey Advertising Manager Assistant Thursday, June 14th., 1951 Spotlight The Attorney-General's decision to conduct a police investigation here is a wise one. Where there is doubt, there is liable to be disrespect. And disrespect for the Chief of Police of Oakville could easily broa@en into the same attitude toward all members of the force. This would male their work the more difficult, The investigation will let the light of fact into the matter ofthe aspersions cast on the Chief's ability, and settle the matter once and for all. When it He cleared up there will be nothing left to make the , work of the police subject to a doubtful public opin- ion. By granting the request of the chief for the in- vestigation, after council had refused to ask for the same thing on a narrow vote, the Attorney-General has once more strengthened the structure of democ- racy . . . for it is inherent in the frame of the society that we all love, that a mian is not guilty until he is proved so. If his personal interests have been endan- gered, with any degree of doubt as to the rightness of the attack, then he shall have his chance to have his name cleared. The police investigation in Oakville is such a chance for our chief. But there is also the angle of the well-being of the Oakville people involved. If the chief of police of any centre, large or small, is not efficient, then that place is in an unsound position. Should the investiga- tion reveal that Oakville's chief is not capable of con- ducting his office efficiently, then those members of council who expressed their doubts will have per- formed a service for the community--for a capable chief can then be secured. But if things go the other way, and the investigation reveals that Oakville's chief has discharged his duties with the necessary requirements being met at all times, then the mem- bers of council will find themselves in the position of having revealed their poor judgment on the matter. But it should be borne in mind that men who are elected to public office can not be expected to be ex- perts in all phases of municipal operations, and sin- cerely might feel that certain duties were not being performed in the best possible manner. In expressing their opinions they merely performed their duty. But once having taken a position in the matter, such as some did on the chief, they should then have been willing to carry through to the limit to make sure that they were right. However, the Attorney-General has wisely shown them that he recognizes the necessity for a clear light to shine on police matters. And clear lights have a habit of clearing things up. ell Spent Profits The Carnival season for Oakville is almost here. The rotation this.year is the same as previous years, with the Rotary Club leading off the weekend of June 21-23 followed by Lions, the Legion, and the Optimists with the Fall Fair and the newly born Ki- Wanis with a circus. Residents when they attend these carnivals not only have a good time, but they assist these service groups to carry on the work which each makes its special sphere. This district is fortunate in its service clubs, for they have done much to further the best interests of all residents. The hospital and arena are two outstanding examples of where the money left in the hands of service clubs at carnivals is spent. But there are many other less publicized activities which each club undertakes . . . such as the work for crip- pled children which is Rotary's main activity, where the money gained by providing entertainment for local residents is spent to equally fine advantage. We feel that when families attend the Rotary carnival they are in for a good time because of the Work of the members, but their good time should be Increased by the knowledge that others will also have a Detter life because of their support of these carni- vals. Fat Weapon A full stomach is the strongest weapon we can forge against the threat of communism. Anyone who aw the pictures in Life Magazine recently of ithe starving Indians, not only saw men and women who Were dying, on their feet from lack of food, but saw People who are a lead-pipe cinch for communist pro- Paganda. What else is there for a person who has come to the end of the road as these people have? When hunger drives, many a person will take a turn- ing that under normal conditions would never even be considered. The governments of the democracies are taxing for defense. The money will forge weapons that, it used for the purpose planned, will involve democratic People in actions which will bring death to many of them. A higher tax, much higher, would buy the food to make fat Indians, and other peoples whose stand- rd of living is away below ours. And these fat and appy people would not, under any circumstances, € subj for ful infiltration. nd the forging of fat bodies as our weapons against le threat of Communism would not entail when we sed them, death for anyone. It'sjust plain silly, if ou reduce it to the barest essentials--and the barest ssential in India right now is food for survival. IT SEEMS T0 ME "Of all the sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these--it might have been." How very true are these words of the poet Whit- tier. How many people in this sad and difficult world are haunted by fair visions of what might hive been! If things had only been other- wise, we tell ourselves, if we had only taken a different: course of action at a certain time, we would have been bet- ter and. happier. There are people in every walk of life who wish they had chosen some other vocation; merchants who regret they did not study law or medicine, bankers who wish they were engineers, housewives who are convinced that they might have achieved success in the realms of art or music if only they had started young enough. 3 And of course there are those without number who bemoan the foolish business deals and in- vestments they made, or look back longingly upon good omes they passed up. Every fisherman can wax eloquent about the big ones that got away, and many a ball player or hockey player now and then smarts at the memory of the fly he fumbled or the shot he missed that brought defeat in- stead of victory to his team. The average man ponders _ wistfully upon the good job he just missed getting, the contest he might have won with a little more ef- fort, and, of course, the brilliant retort he might have made to some verbal adversary if only he had thought of it in time. Nearly every married woman must feel, at times, that her life would have been so much more romantic if only she'd chosen one of the oth- er men who wanted to marry ber. And lives there a husband who doesn't wonder, now and then, what his married life would have been if his own choice had been different. Looking = beyond the narrow range of our personal lives on- the great world stage, we still feel the influence. of wyhat might have been. Suppose, for example, ® neither of the two world wars had occurred, what an avalanche of pain and des- truction and anguish humanity might have been spared! If some great leader had only lived a few years longer, if a certain government had only acted in a different manner at a particu- lar time, how much better off the world might be today. We might, of course, take the opposite view and think about all the horriblé and disastrous things that might easily have happened to us--the accidents BY BESSIE CAIRNS TRAFALGAR TALES When | was a small child an aunt of mine used to amuse her- self and us by pointing out how certain people resembled ani- mals. I was forcefully reminded of this the other day as I read "The River of Singing Fish." The author, Arkady Fiedler, having spent many solitary years on the banks of the Amazon, has more animal than human friends, and in his book compares men to armadillos, from the point of view of behaviour rather than appear- ance. I shall let Mr. Fiedler give his reasons: "I always liked to watch armadillos whenever I had an opportunity. They appealed to my imagination more than any other animal. Their ancient history holds a remarkable secret, which is the source of almost all the great tragedies in every form of life, be it plant, animal, or even human life. According to paleon- tologists gigantic armadills -lived in Europe and America in prehis- toric times. But in some stage of their development they made a fatal blunder: they based their existence exclusively on the power of defence, thus bringing their armoured crust to perfect ion and, confident of its efficien- cy, they disarmed their teeth. Thus they became extinct. The zoologists announce that the present dwarflike [armadillos have inherited the same complex of trust in armour, to the neglect of other qualities . . . and so are doomed to extermination too. It is easy to find this view convin- cing when observing the ways of armadillos. As a theory all this seems obvious enough. How is it possible then that the human mind in spite of the manifest knowledge and wisdom of the zoologists . . . is so prone to rely on the principe of the Maginot Line, whatever shape it may as- sume, and to fall victim to its destructive spell?" Now I'm wondering if by un- complainingly forking out for a huge defence programme am I acting like a man or a mouse! and quarrels and misfortunes which we were spared. Doubtless there are some philosophical souls who do maintain this attitude, But the human mind, as a general rule, does not work that way. It paints elaborate pletures of miss- ed pleasures and 'triumphs, of golden opportunities forever lost. And so there have arisen these illusions of what might have been. The probability Is that even if things had been dif- ferent in detail, life would have been essentially much the same. But. the average human finds this hard to believe. Have Fun Safely As the summer sun gets in its work on the water, swimming becomles more and more attractive--al- though Lake Ontario never warms sufficiently for our blood. But there are many creeks and streams where waterholes are to be found, and here the bare-pelt swimmers will soon be disporting themselves. And many will be able to enjoy Lake Ontario, who don't mind their water a little on the icy side. But no mat- ter where the swimmer finds suitable water, one thing should always be in the forefront of everyone's mind. Swimming can be dangerous. Observe the most careful attention as to where you swim and when you swim. Do not permit yourself, or anyone else, to take unnecessary risks. Let us have a summer free from drowning in this district. It can be done if every- one will recognize that swimming is a wonderful way to enjoy the summer months, provided due care is exercised at all times to insure that death does not lurk just below the surface. Be careful, be alive in the fall don't be a statistic on the number of people PUFFS FROM THE COTTON GIN Glaneing through a medical book recently, I was appalled to discover that for years I have been suffering from bronchiectas- |iodic trips to Toronto, I came up- is. Just imagine having it all|on a man lecturing on the street. this time and not even knowing|He had a big chart showing all how to spell it. of your innards, and he was des- cribing the functions of your di gestive organs, Improper eating, he said very forcefully, was the it, either. I've always taken very |root of most of our trouble, and good care of myself. I sleep with |he told all about the symptoms the windows closed in winter, to[Of our many human diseases. keep out the biting drafts, I keep the heat up to 82 degrees, and I always make it a practice to wear a folded newspaper across my chest, pinned to my shirt front. I breathe through my handker- chief, too, so that the cold air won't chill my lungs. What more can a man do? , . Of course, it might come from my sinus, or even my heart. Ever since T was a small boy, I've had fact, it was odd, how I found out about my ulcer. Several weeks ago, when I took one of my per- Hard To Know I can't understand how I got More Shocks It came as a great surprise to me that I apparently had them all. 1 naturally bought one of his. books and some of the health foods he was selling. And for a whole week, I adhered rigidly to a diet composed of raw vegeta- bles, agar agar, cracked wheat kernels, prunes, graham crackers and psyylium seeds. a weak heart, and the slightest % : exercise jumps it's beat up tre-| 1 Vas feellnz much better, when another evening I happened mendously. to be down town and stopped to Hereditary listen to this same lecturer. On this particular night, he varied I come by my heart condition |his address, dealing with other natural My grandfather on my |dread diseases and their under- father's side passed away with a heart attack at the age of 85, while my grandmother dropped all of a heap for the same reason when she was only 79. Grandpop was tossing horseshoes with some old pals when he went out like a light. Probably had heart trouble all his life and never suspected it. Medical science was not near- ly as far advanced in those days, and I guess a lot of people went right through life, sometimes reaching a ripe old age, and re- mained entirely ignorant of the many and varied ills that were slowly but surely killing them. lying causes. And darned if I didn't discover that I also have arthritis, hardening of the arter- les, rheumatism and a very rare form of Bright's disease. Medical Inefficiency Since then, I've consulted five different local doctors. They: took X-rays, charted my cardiac display, made blood tests, thump- ed my chest, had me coughing eight to the bar, put me through several kinds of allergy tests, and gave me a general, all round, super thorough going over. But not one of them seems to under- stand my case. They tell me there isn't a thing in the world the matter with me. It's all very. discouraging indeed. Blame It On Mom I think, though, that my stom- ach trouble comes from my mo- ther's side of the family. She never mentioned it. Probably did not want to worry me. Matter of LETTERS to Dejectedly Yours, BILL COTTON the EDITOR The Editor, was nearby enough to see the Oakville-Trafalgar Journal, car being driven away. Oakville, Ont. These, as far as they are Dear Sir: known, are the stark facts of a On behalf of the University | tragic little incident. They por- Women's Club of Oakville, Iftray a callous selfishness and would like to express our appre-|complete disregard for the rights ciation for the publicity given to[and feelings of other people, our club. The advance notice has | which Is as lamentable as it Is been of real benefit in making | prevalent. Surely this driver successful. The meetings has kept not able to at- our meetings news of our informed those could have spared the flve minu- tes it would take to knock on the nearest door and tell his tend. Please accept our sincere |gtory. Surely most people would. thanks. But not this driver. Yours sincerely, The most charitable thing that Bertha L. Minshall, can be sald In his favor Is that Secretary | he became panicstriken, lke the hit-and-run drivers whose only The Editor, thought appears to be to get The Journal, At approximately 4.30 in the afternoon of May 10th, a motor- ist drove east along MacDonald Rd. He was driving a recent model car colored grey. At the corner of Gloucester Rd. this driver ran into, or over, a brown and white terrier dog, which screamed with pain and fright. The motorist stopped his car, got out, watched the little dog as it dragged Itself, its hindquar- ters bleeding and apparently use- less, towards the shelter of some nearby bushes. Then, after a moment, he got Into his car ag- ain and drove off. This motorist took no steps whatever to ease the animals pain. Apparently he was not suf- ficiently Interested to follow the dog and examine closely the In- jurfes which were causing It so much suffering. Nor did he make any attempt to see that help was called that would assist the an- imal, He made absolutely no ef- fort to locate the owner in order to explain the accident, which away as quickly as possible from this thing that they have dono. This writer recalls driving the third car In a line of traffic on Orfole Parkway In Toronto soy- eral years ago, when the lead car ran over a cat. The cat's back was broken, and it was dead hy the time the writer could stop his car and reach it. Carrying It to the side of the road, he was preparing to enter a - nelghbor- ing house to call the Humane Soclaty, when the driver of the first car appeared. Together we tried to find the owner of the poor, unfortunate animal, while the first driver continually ex- pressed his gorrow and concern about the aceldent and Ita tragle aftermath--the very real sorrow to be borne by the little boy or glrl whose cat had been Killed: Ho oven expressed hin willing- ness and intention of trying to provide a new pet, If that would help. Hls sincerity was too ob- vious to be doubted To paraphrase the story of the Good Samaritan, which of these probably could not have been ay-|two motorists displayed the frie olded, to express his sympathy. |spirit of nefghborlinens? As a matter of fact, the owner B. Hamilton Smith, Padding Cormtesi Tree Lovers Prepare: Tree oxperts have visited the town, 4 at the request of the Parks Board, and 14 anclent and beautl- ful trees in George's Park and Lakeside Park are to fall to the call of "Timber." Lest Tree Lovers get as excited as they have over the pruning being done by experts from Hamilton, let them know that this sage states the life of a pine ls 76 years . and the 14 trees Involved have lived beyond thelr span. So there'll be more "Murder" of trees . . . but It'll be done to save some resident who only wanted to enjoy the breeze in the park from having the breeze permanently expelled from his carcass by the unexpected tumbling of the carcass of a deceased tree. Too many peoples have been setting themselves up as judges of what trees, or limbs should no longer grace our town. The present cleaning up the trees, drastic as It may look to the uninitiated in tree lore, of which we are one--but we asked the experts--Is, actually, work done to preserve what iz left of them, for a few more years. Seems. trees suffer Hke all of us--they get old and have to be put away. 80 prepare for action, Tree Lovers--the saws are coming. 3 drowned.

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