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2 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, October 18, 1978 Section Two Ed*toial Commnt What A Whompingi Just a brief comment on the Federal by-elections that resulted in a Conservative landslide over the Liberals. Final results have not been tallied at this point, but it's a beating for the government almost equal in intensity to that handed out in 1958 when Diefenbaker rolled up a huge majority. There's going to be much soul- searching in Ottawa and elsewhere in the months ahead as the experts in the Liberal party go over the results and project them into what -will happen in a general election next spring. Frankly,-we think Prime Minister will find a way to retire gracefully, giving his party time to hold a leadership convention and elect a new leader. He obviously has run his course, except in Quebec. Around Toronto, the PCs should extend a hearty vote of thanks to Editor Peter Worthington and the Sun for their continued, almost daily editorial attacks on the Liberal government's inadequacies and the Prime Minister himself. The Liberals may still have time for a comeback. If they don't act and go into a federal election without any change in leadership, Joe Clark may just make it to the top, and have to deal with all the complex problems Canada faces. Election and Baseball Fever There are too many things going on at the moment for us to concentrate our thoughts and ener- gies on what's important. There's the impending postal strike that could be on or settled by the time this appears in print. The worry connected with that puts a slight damper on the World Series that happily wasn't being played on Monday night when the returns from those 15 federal by-elections were coming in over television and radio. Luckily, Monday was a travelling day or almost every other man and many women in the country would certainly have missed the tension connected with hearing who was winning in what riding. As this is being written Monday evening, the by-elections will be over and done with in time for the sixth game in Los Angeles on Tuesday, and hopefully the postal strike will be settled so our subscribers will receive their papers on time, and we can concentrate on watching to see if the Dodgers will be able to come back on their home field to even the series and possibly win it on Wednesday. In the interim, there are the municipal elections to think about and the local campaigns are beginning to warm up a little. Somebody with some civic pride has been doing some behind the scenes work, trying to persuade people in the surrounding communities to hold several candidates' meetings where all the issues can be discussed by interested parties and those candi- dates who have an opportunity to defend their records or espouse their platforms. We note that a couple ave already been set up and hopefully more will follow. Elections are fascinating, especi- ally for those involved in the inner workings. They try to figure out new and novel ways to promote their candidates so the voters will be swayed in their favor. But, there aren't really many spectacular ways that haven't already been tried. Each candidate must of course have a picture of himself or herself; that's fundamental. Most of them will also carry introductory cards to leave with the electors when they call on them. We saw some lawn signs appearing over the weekend and expect the community to be flooded with more of them as election day, Nov. 13th, comes closer. Mainly, from here in, it's a matter of gathering as many active supporters as possible to spread the work to others that so and so should be elected. No doubt, those workers will also be well versed with reasons why an opponent should not be elected. And so it goes, until election day when the big job is to persuade electors who are'supporting you to get out and vote. After that, you can sit back and watch the returns come in, maybe wondering where you went wrong and lost votes or if things look good, get your acceptance speech ready. We always like the cliche that comes from a losing candidate who says with a snarl, "the electors have spoken and I accept their decision." What else could he or she do has always been a mystery. The next few weeks will be most interesting and tiring for those taking part. We wish them all luck. Democracy is quite a hit and miss system, but it's the best way of electing our governors that anyone has come up with so far. They Remember -Too Vividly It seems many years ago since Canadians were involved in wars where they were wounded or killed, so long indeed that many younger people can't even relate to wars anci their aftermath in maimed bodies and minds. Fortunately, there are still those among us who remember all too well and still make an effort to comfort, console and entertain those whose lives have been ruined in the conflicts of yesteryear. We refer of course to the Royal Canadian Legion and its Ladies Auxiliary. On Sunday we again saw them in action, this time headed by the Ladies Auxiliary, bless them, who had invited a busload of wounded veterans from Divadale in Toronto, to visit the local branch for an afternoon away from institutionaliz- ed living. They've done it before and probably will do it again until there is no need for their services. Sixty-five veterans made the trip, many of them permanentlv assigned to wheelchairs because of all manner of war related injuries and the Auxiliary ladies gave them an afternoon's outing they probably will talk about for weeks. It must have been most gratifying for the vets to hear their old army songs brought to life again by the ladies, reinforced by several members of the Legion. Then, they presented a program they'd been working on for some time, followed by good food and packages to take home to Divadale, lasting items that will recall their day in Bowmanville. All this was done quietly without any fanfare by the Ladies Auxiliary as their voluntary effort to make life more bearable for comrades who had been involved in defending their country and suffered because of that involvement. Many in this country may have forgotten these derelicts from by- gone wars but we were mighty proud there is still one group of citizens who will never forget them as long as they need help. East Bowmanville at Sundown ugar and pice Writing Pleasures 2 < One of the deepest satisfactions in writing a column of this kind is the knowledge that you are getting into print the angers and frustrations of a lot of other people, who have no recourse for their resentments, and consequently take them out on the old man or the old lady. How do you know this? Well, because people write you letters cheering you on to further attacks, and other people come to you, per- fect strangers, shake hands warmly, and say, "By the Holy Ole Jumpin! Bill, you really hit the nail on the head." This can be a little disconcerting, as you are never quite sure which nail they are referring to. If the congratulator is a woman, I smile weakly and change the subject. Because sure as guns, though she thought you were one of nature's noblemen for your assault on male chauvinism last week, she'll turn on you like a snake when she reads tomorrow's paper, with the column exposing female chauvinism. Speaking recently to a class of potential writers in a creative writing course, I tried to pass along the personal satisfaction one gets from this type of personal jour- nalism. I emphasized the "personal" satisfaction, because there's a lot more of that involved than there is of the other kind, financial satisfac- 7 Concession Street West Bowmanville, Ontario LiC 1Y6 Saturday, October 14, 1978 Dear Sir: On the whole the article Today's Woman by Beverley Martin, printed in your paper on October 11, 1978, gives some very important informa- tion about nutrition. Unfortunately, however, two very serious omissions give a mistaken impression to the reader. For one thing, it is probably true that everyone of us would have much better health if we never consumed another grain of sugar, white, brown, icing or whatever, although her article states correctly "yet, -ugar is one ot the most important nutrients, the body cannot survive without it." it is precisely because the body cannot survive without it that nature arranges for humans and animals to have adequate sugar to function well. On page 31 in their book Body, Mind and Sugar the authors, E.M. Abrahamson and A.W. Pezet, explain this. "In digestion all of the carbo- hydrates are converted into sugar. Some 56 per cent of the proteins are also converted tion. Columnists and freelance writers have no union working for them, nor any prof essional association, as have doctors, lawyers, teachers. They have only their own talent and wit and perseverance with which to penetrate the thick heads and thicker skins of editors and publishers. But it's a great feeling when you vent your wrath, say, about the rapaciousness of mechanics, and you are button-holed six times in the next three days by people with hor- ror stories about mechanics you can scarcely believe. Trouble is, they all want you to write another column about mechanics, and put some real meat into it. This means, in effect, that they would happily stand in the wings and applaud when you were sued for libel. Some readers would like you to be constantly attacking whatever it is that they don't like. Capitalist frien- ds are aghast when you refuse to launch an assault on capital gains taxes. Welfarist friends think you are a traitor and a fink when you won't attack the government for not providing color TV for everyone on the take. I am not bv nature an attacker, and I think there is nothing more boring than a writer of any kind who tries to make a career of being a into sugar, but only 10 per cent of the fats." If we thought about it, we would realize that Eskimos for centuries managed very well, without sugar; in fact, the more they adopt the white man's diet, the more they develop the white man's diseases. In Denmark archaeologists have dug up skeletons from many centuries ago, long before sugar was used there, and found that most showed teeth almost free of disease. There were even adults with 32 perfect teeth. By contrast, in Scotland now, with about the highest sugar consumption in the world, the general health is very poor and many lose their teeth even in adolescence. Centuries ago there were a few who opposed adulteration of food with sugar. In his book Sugar Blues (available in Bowmanville Library) the author, William Dufty, tells of the indignation in England when brewers began to use sugar in their brewing of beer. The test was to spill some beer on a wooden bench and then the suspicious customer sat in the puddle in his leather breeches, He sat there until the beer dried and then tried to stand up; if his pants stuck to the bench the brewer was guilty of using sugar and liable to punishment. Apparently the financial advantages of adulterating with sugar were very great (as they still are). In any case the problem continued and the law was changed. A search could be made of a brewer's premises and if any sugar whatever were discovered he was liable to the same punishment as if they had proved sugar %as used in making the beer. Beverley Martin is quite right to speak of the destruction of essential food nutrients in the various steps of food processing. "Because of this, in 1974 the National Academy of Science recommended that ail foods made from corn, wheat, oats and rice be enriched with 10 vitarnins and minerals to reduce the risk of malnutrition." The omission here is to fail to make clear that whole grain corn, wheat, oats and rice have far greater nutritional value than the refined cereals enriched by additions. It is difficult, of course, to obtain foods made from whole grains but more and more people all the time "hard-hitting" journalist. Once in a while my gently bub- bling nature boils over. Throwing caution and syntax to the winds, I let my spleen have a field day and try to throw some sand in the grease with which many aspects of society are trying to give us a snow job. And that's one of the finest paragraphs I've ever written, if mixecd metaphors are your bag. Fair game for the hard-hitter are: garage mechanics, plumbers, postal workers, supermarkets, civil ser- vants, and politicians. Most of them can't hit back, and everybody hates them, except garage mechanics and their wives, plumbers and their wives, etc. etc. Smaller fry are doctors, lawyers, teachers, used car salesmen. They all squeal like dying rabbits when at- tacked, but nobody pays much atten- tion to them except doctors and their wives, etc. etc. There are few areas that even the hardest-hitters avoid. When have you, lately, read a savage attack on greedy farmers, callous nurses, or unloving mothers? And yet, there are lots of them around. One of these days, perhaps, one of these hard-hitting writers will muster enough guts, after about five brandies, to launch an all-out attack on the audacity of women, thinking they're as good as men. Boy, that fellow will learn what real hard- are attempting to use whole grain cereals. An excellent book about the dangers of, refined carbohydrates in the diet is The Saccharine Disease by Dr. T.L. Cleave. It is available in paperback. A rather technical book that might be of value to those with a keen interest in nutrition is Food for Nought by Ross Hume Hall, a biochemist on the staff of McMaster University in Hamilton. Dr. hitting is all about. Personally, I can't stay mad at anybody long enough to be a voice of the people, or a public watch-dog, or any of those obnoxious creatures who try to tell other people how they shoulid feel. Otherwise, I get a great deal more joy from touching the individual life than inflaming the masses. When I get a letter from an old lady in hospital, crippled with arthritis, who has managed to get a chuckle out of my column, it makes me feel good. Recently, I got a letter from a young Scot who has immigrated to Canada. He says: "I have learned more about Canada and Canadians through reading your column that all the accumulated wisdom from the Canadian newsmagazines, novels and TV programs I have ab- sorbed." Now there is a man with his head screwed on right. If I, as a newcomer, tried to get my im- pressions of this country from newsmagazines and TV programs, I'd catch the first boat or plane home. So, I guess I'll just try to go on talking to people, getting sore, having some fun, looking for sym- pathy in the war between the sexes. That's what life is all about, not plumbers and politicans and other horrors of that ilk. Hall also edits the publications made by the En-Trophy Institute For Advanced Study, of which he is the director. He recommends a book which gives help in choosing natural foods, writing "Dr. Roger Williams bas done this admirably in his book The Wonderful World Within You (Bantam Books, 1977). He provides numerous easy to read charts that display the nutrient density of foods." In his book Sugar Blues William Dufty claims that a mother would be amazed and delighted with the result if she tried the test of removing all sugars (hidden ones too) from the diet of a cranky and irritable little child for several weeks. Perhaps we aduits would have much better dispositions if our diet were improved. Certainly we should have far better health. Ethel McKague Freedom cannot be bestowed - it must be achieved. To get freedom one must shoulder responsibility. In the world of employment, man's chief endeavors these days seem to be bent toward eman- cipation from work. Man is looking for leisure and security; he is unionized in his aspirations and collectively bargaining for something - for himself. Thus a new religion, or belief, has been born as a part of the sixties - the new bonanza ready for popular vote is guaranteed income and political freedom from want and any responsibility. Many mortals have set as their goal the 'rainbow' of idleness, as a cureali for all the attendant ills of the cosmos. Such desire is doomed to failure because aoove everything else, it is born of self. Until a man is freed of selfish desire, each part of personal freedom he wishes to achieve becomes only another form of slavery. The crying need in the world today is for workers, desirous of con- tributing to, rather than taking away from, the world. The more a man accepts selfishly for himself, the poorer a family and community he builds about him. For a Better World