the georgetown herald wednesday march 1st 4944 water dollars by paul statltjn chcchir syndic wmu sarvim i cpic alvord aimed a plump an ger at the contraption of wheels jans and tube coils on the platform attached to his gaudy trailer turn- tog to the wisp of an old man be- side film in the hot dusty alley of sundog he urged just the thing for yrrar dry claim watch he touched a button a tiny mo tor prestonecooled always a good dales point- began to purjwheels flashed fans cut air a twoinch pipe coughed and was spurting a ter old bank barth hitched his bat tered canteen higher on one thin shoulder babyblue eyes stared in credulously at the jet where s it all comin from he marveled spic restrained a chuckle his guarded inquiries about the dumb ness of the prosperous old prospec tor had not been time wasted air contains moisture spic rated these fans draw air into those coils where electrical cur rents he bed glibly condense its moisture into a gushmg stream pure and cold he stopped the machinery and the jet died no use draining the tank cleverly concealed in the trail r barth smiled like a child meet ing santa if i had that much wa ter steady for my sluice boxes only two grand spic encour aged barth patted a bulging vest pock et amt the money worries me it s temperature temperature spic asked pm zled yep its hot here but this is nothin to out at my diggm s fiery desert is like a candle air so siz zlm mightnt have enough water to make this proposition work at all all air contains moisture spic argued not on old fiery hov far forty mile barth glanced aside just give me time to load up my truck with supplies stuck it out waitin for rain till i drank my i tin of tomatoes spic hustled him towards the lux urtous sedan that drew the trailer take no chance on a sucker talking and being tipped off can t wait bring you back afterwards for your truck he promised before entering barth examined his canteen without water one can live only a few days on a blistering desert spic slid behind the wheel and placed his own canteen on the goat bet then th as we see it by j a strang showed enough gas to make the forty mile trip there and back nice ly he judged soon to the hum of an aircooled motor the desert was opening choi la cacti and sun seared ridges streamed past the windows of the speeding car presently the road grew bad second gear was often necessary spic gulped time and again from his canteen barth sipped occasionally at his how much farther spic questioned when they had gone forty six miles just a piece you said forty forty as the crow flies barth hedged by this corkscrew road s farther hows gas spic looked down startled sec ond gear driving had drawn bsavqy on the tank it was almost empty barth sighed drive on i ii foot it back to town and bring some out on my truck there s one spring on the way i can strike for witer take me four five days he smiled pityingly at spic s wft bulk you 11 hofta stay at the shack you never could hoof it to town the starved motor was coughing when spic stopped before a rough board cabin overlooking a row f sluice boxes in a dry yellow gulch despite the furnace blast of a ht afternoon sun he smiled confidently as he got out and led the old prt s pector behind the trailer his u i awoke the water machine wheels fans pistons fin shed nt water gushed barth grinned to his ears ii gol even the air of old f i rv i k f he cackled togttl tr tl v i fie cl ri l th heavy hut worthies ntrnr i ffuo the shndov f the nl n r 1 it down sti i r ind i r i lost barth id std tl r on i start tht so ner i i jet b 1 11 gas he turned abruptly and struck fl into the desert across lengthening rock shadows spic v etched hm out of sight then entered the h 1 little shack on a shelf he sau ot con beans flour sight of the dry food made him thirsty spic raised his now light canteen to his lips drained it in two quick gulps then lumbered across the room to a barrel above which a tin dipper hung ttie barrel was empty suddenly he remembered what barth had said about drinking his last tin of tomatoes hands trern bling he began to search there was no water in the cabin nor any substitute i three days later a weary figure dropped bat beside a desert spring thrust rarface into jhe water and crank thirstily one more day to sundog though lifegiving the water was hot and bad hank barth sighed the fine cold drinks spic was en jovmg whenever he turned on that alti achme we dont suppose that you would coll it newb if we mentioned that tola canada of ours is a big country we never realized its size- un til driving on the prairie out there one can see quite a distance and be sides that there are no trees to break the- distant- scenes it is somewhere around three thousand miles from halifax to vancouver yes we could say that canada was a big country the old country folk notice its size when they come out here and hie aver age person over there who has never fcctn in canada hasnt very much idea ol just how big it really is naturally we think that they should have a much better idea of our dominion but most of us hovent a much better idea of the size ol the british islands either just to settle our curiosity we measured a large map of the islands and comparing them to the scale of the map we found that from lands end which is the extreme southern point of the main land of england to john o groat s house which is the treme tip of scotland on the north is approximately six hundred miles motor trip from toronto to montreal would cover about three hundred and llfty miles so that would give us an idea of tne length of the british is lands witn those lads of ours over ihfre holidaying in so many different places we like to have an idea howfar they nave to travel to gel there and compared with a trip in our country most of thir trips arent very long of course they do their travellingby train instead of by motor as we might like to do it even a trip right around the island along the coast wouldni be a very long trip one tiling sure the boys that are over there are learning a good deal about the old country and it will be interesting to have their opinion of the many ways they have of doing things over there compared with the way that we do them we do hope that those boys and girls will all be spared to come back and tell about the old land when they get this big job cleaned tip diking the first great war we haa some difficult words to pro nounce such as ypres it was called every thing from yee pee to wipers in jjis war we seem to have so many new names to pronounce and it is in teresting to hear the pronunciation of ome of them for instance truk is pronounced as though it were spelled trook we often wonder who is the hnrify p the way any given word should be pronounced and styles seem to change in pronunciation as they do in so many olher things the word programme used to be pronounced pro gram now the up to date rouncer call- it progrum the new way of pronouncing that word though often doesn t improve the quality of the programme that follows progrum woula oo alright to announce those blue dingers that carry on with a ra ther mournful howl in fact even the title progrum is far too good for them the boys overseas were recently informed hat some of their janu ary mall had to be dumped into the atlantic this then would account for those missing letters that we all looked tor early ih february as far we know this is the first tune that any letters to us trom over there have not oecn received just about a year ago some or our letters to england failed to arrive the mall service on the whole hao been very satisfactory we would jiink considering the many problems that have to be faced tiif local drive for funds for the red cross is on right now there is no need of waiting for a invnsser to call just hand in your contribution to headquarters in fact we shouldn t have to be canvassed for r md for this worthy objective at all w should consider it a privelege to be ible to help along that organtza ti n ric zero hour for the opening of hit m ich talked of second front is j st iro ind the comer the red cross is readv to do its part they look to s to provide the necessity where with ill to enable them to carry on are rt tfolng to lot them down terra cotta farmers club mit the february meeting of the terra cotta ufo and ffw clubs was held at the home of mr and mrs clifford cook tht women opened their meeting by the singing of the maple lear and repealng the lord s prayer mrs gar son wataon gave a paper on sweet are the uses of adversity mr t l leslie and mrs cook gave the histories of their farms from the time the land was sold by the crown mrs cook showed the crown deed for their raxm bearing the seel of william iv progressive euchre was played mr and mrs e armstrong won the prices lunch was served have an irish joke ready for the march meeting at the home of mr and mrs w read- british bankers on postwar prospects their views on britain s place in the new form and direction of world trade wlh belief in victory transformed from a dogged act of faith into a well founoed conviction leading british bankers acting upon the principle enunciated by the london head ot barclays bank lhat events do not wait upon plans are now giving much attention to the aftermath of war and hhe problems that will fol low thus for the first time during the war the chairmen of all the larger oanks in ttie united kingdom whose annual meetings have just been held have devoted the general content of their reviews addressed to shareholders to a con si deration of prospects and preparations in regard first to the transition period from war to peace ind second in respect to the long rm outlook for the recov cry of world trade in ordr that canadians may havt in opportunity of studying these views the bank of montreal in a special sup plement accompanying the february iss le of it monthly business sum mnry just published has reprinted ex nets from the am ual addresses of the chnlrman of slxof the lending banks in the united kingdom in an introduction it is noted tha as in canada the financial rtatements of the respective banks show deposit and other accounts at reoord high le veil with uniformly high liquidity of assets post war transition period in respect to the postwar transition period the view is expressed by edwin fisher of barclays band that there will be no sudden or violent change over because the period following the war will be dominated by scarcity em phastaed by the latent demands which then spring to life ttar this reason he said we must wontkmtc a measure of control with the exercise of priorities until the wfaole marhtae adjusts itself to the new conditions but no one will want to see the oortthnranoe of any control which has ouuived its pur pose for although there must always be safeguards to protect the interests j the state and of the commui lt the very same interests are best served by giving full rein to those priceless assets mdiv idisiliby and enterprise which can flourish only in an atmos phere of freedom in this immediate period after the war we may expect to see activity and stimulus to em ployment but we must so prepare our selves that the prosperity which such a condiion creates does not bind us tt the problems which will follow the hon rupert e beckett choir man or the westminister bank ex pressed the opinion that some con siderable time would elapse before the nations of the world could be envisag ed as working peaceably together the prime need of those who had under gone the miseries of invasion starva tlon and slavery would be an ode quale supply f food shelter and clothing thus for some timr after uw war he said die allies will hae to be as it wcrr self contained and perform the role of general prov lder to the htricken nations and re eeto of their industries the first essential step 1 n is for llit illips to thresh nit inter se n means tow-arris- these toids america russia china am o ir selves s muld be able to ichlevc m r iclc leni a oir solidarity as war commdrs c n be o niinucd i yi iri f peace i the bt hoi lord wardinsu n cl liimin ol lld bink said in corutec lun with lhc tr uisltion period tl at it ild be a kreat relief to in dustry if sorrtl definite nnno incement ould be made on an important point stressed in the report of a delegatioi appointed by the league of nations list year which report stated i the post war problems created by che construction of war plants will be parti ularlj serious if provision is not made to allow producers to amortize their plants adequately jjuring th war if in pie interests of national revenue amortization rates arc kept low so that at che end of the war the unamortlaed capital value as deter mined by ttie income it can earn in the production of peacetime goods a powerful factor of dislocation will have been created the prospects op recovery asking what are the prospects of our reoorery after the war the hon rupert e beckett said it is obvious that we have suffered considerable losses in many directions our stock of gold our foreign investments our hips at sea our factories and houses the total loss from al these sources cannot be easily computed it is cer tainly severe but should not be unduly larc either in comparison with our pre war total national wealth or with our current productive capacity itkluu ol wu1ui lits mu h however will depend upon ui brought about by the character of the peace settlement if place is established with the abear ance of durability the possibilities of recovery not only for ourselves but for the world at large will be great stt mutated and will be rendered more fa lourable than at any other time dur li g the past quarter of a century in connection with this subject the topic discussed at greatest length in hr add i esses was that of the re-estad- ushment of export trade lord war c ington declaring that without it we can nellher eat not work and that it is idle to suppose we can exist on home ninrkis alone he said that is there had been a great reduction in the fo reign investments of britain hie in krst on which provided one of the chief invisible exports of the united kinroorn ttu would be more than ever depei d nt on restoring hhe r visible exjxjrts to the fullest extent fcxrw ii r- jshcr t xprcssrd t similir view r mi rkint situated as we are o ir depci lence on lmpor s c umot be denied ind imports have to be paid for by export rims even irtcr making illowines for the in reaspd produf tivr power which his been generited i s countries with inevitable the hon rupert el beckett said ftt was mainly on the export side of tradr that unemployment before the war was most marked and proved so obsti nate to cure and in this respect ttm difficulties had not de i multiplied exporters would find them selves operating in a world wher martted changes in the form and di rection of world trade had been war he pro ceeded america will emerge aa ft more powerful competitor in the export hold but on the other hand continen tal and japanese competition win b much less formidable south american countries formerly among our beat customers have turned energetloalrj towards industrialization of their own economy as have also important c ountries within the empire from which it follows that the demand from these sources for some classes of our rods will be smallcrthan heretofore it is therefore up to us to be ready with new and attractive lines of goods so as not to miss the chance ot at least maintaining our trade with theaa cqimtries at its prewar level then some of our principal exports de mand imports of the raw material bat w e cannot pay for imports except by t qort5 another part of our imports consists of food of all kinds whilst ntlnuing to foster our own increased agricultural output we can if need be cut imports to a minimum but we shill to that extent prejudice the pur- hajng power of the primary produo- ad verse repercussions on our own trade all these and other factors render th ouuck k for our export trade fax from simple and straightforward and re solution of the complex problems in volved with call for vision energy and perseverance mr beckett added a warning against accepting at this stage easy phrases and pleasant pro gnostications founded on schemes put forward by economists and others already he said the ooremnwmt debt in this country has rlssn to room than 80460000000 and the bd is not yet the coats of servlot ot the debt will have increased considerably ah nations in tfee world war ax ka tbr arts of life should tend to rise enst dlloma and axe spending on ft u home luring the impelling war vetrs we must bi lid up our over so is trade if we are to restore let alone improve our standard of living i nothing thi under the stimulus of war conditions secondary industries had been developed and extended in primary producing countries and uia british merchandise and services must expei l to moot a growing rigour of competition as the deficiencies arising out ol tl e war are made good and the more permanent pattern of the future emerges mr fisher said neverthe less it u a foot that through the in dustrial development that has taken place in those countries their they should be in position to utilize their gain in purchasing power in ru markets of the world to the benefit of all concerned similarly prodigious scale i i then hpw oan anyone sky si ehas stags vhat we oan afford irtmn vbs longedfor days of peace at last ar rive