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NL pi on FE nn a Mn Tod ERE ar ms Sag ls a2 + 2 or -- - i eh pp te -- ee --. Yara Commentary "on the Highlights of the Week's News . . . By Elizabeth Eedy DEMOCRACY ON THE SPOT: Instead of planning to march in and take over Czechoslovakia whole- sale, at a single "coup", as he did Austria, Adolf Hitler is in the pres- ent case using other methods which are calculated either to cause Czech- oslovakia to blow up from the in- side, or to give Hitler reason for coming to the "aid" of the German minority inside "Central Europe's bulwark of democracy." The campaign being waged is a cruel affair. Here in one of Eur- ope's happiest, best run, most effi- cient countries, internal dissension is being stirred up, brother turned against brother. Konrad Henlein, leader cf the Sudeten Germans, a party in the Czech parliament, takes his orders direct from Hitler, makes most unreasonable and uncalled-for demands on the Prémier of his own country, ins'sts that Czechoslovakia abandon democracy and become part of the "true. Fatherland; Greater Germany." It is predicted that early in June, Henlein will demand that the Germans in Czechoslovakia be permitted a plebiscite, expressing whether they desire to remain where they are or join Greater Germany. About that time, or even a little sooner, the crisis is likely to come to a head. (How would we Canadians like it should the French Government stir up all sorts of trouble in Quebec and cause our French-Canadians to demand a plebiscite: "Shall we stay with Canada or become part of France?) + Czechoslovakia has allies, pledged to come to her aid--Irance and Russia. But now France is tied up in the new Anglo-French military allinnce which does not guarantee Britain's help should I'rance choose to aid Czechoslovakia. In fact, Drit- ain is already telling the Czech Premier that his concessions to Ger- many are not good enough, that he must give in to Hitler stil, further. Czechoslovakia is in an intolerably difficult situation. Democracy has never in the-history of modern times been put on so bad a spot. * * * LJ . SPEED AT CROSSINGS: A sta- tistical survey made by the Motor Vehicles Branch of the Provincial Government reveals that most -acci- depts in Ontario occur at intersec- tions when experienced drivers are at the wheels of cars, in good con- dition, in broad daylight. Too much speed is said to be responsible--a speed greater than the traffic or road conditions warrant. 'Nuff said. ig x ® 3 HIGHWAY TO ALASKA: Being " pushed at this time by the Govern- ment of the United States and the Government of British Columbia is a proposed "five-nation" highway to Ai "from Mexico, through the U. S., British Columbia and the Yu- 'Kon territory. Premier Pattullo, of 'British Columbia, wa. in Waghing- ton last month conferring on the matter, and now the U. S. House of Representatives has passed and sent 'to the Senate a bill authorizing the President" to appoint a five-man "Commission which would negotiate with representatives of the Dominion Government. .. The building of such a highway would _open-up-a- whole -new- territory Aor tourist developmént in Canada and" tap untold sources of revenue "(which we badly need). Incidentally -its value as d "military road" is self- ~Apparens, . x * 0» EL] AFRICAN - OPENING: Italy is " SYNE, South Africa as a possible for new trade developments. "Prospects there -are -indeed mviting from the Italian point of view. Sale of coffee, cement and other goods from Italian East™ Africa to the "Uniért of South Africa would pay "for the purchase of South African "neat for consumption in Ethiopia, >and for raw materials to be used by JAtalian industries at home. Seite OE TE ». WHAT CAROL'S AFTER: Dicta- "tor. King, Carol ,of Rumania is work- ing up. to something down there in "his corner of 'Europe. After all re- sistance at home has been crushed (of "the peasants, of the 'Iron Guard"), observers tell us that he is likely to Jmake a go for Hungary, swallow it up, with the' connivance of Poland, eventually create a Bal- tic-Black Sea axis favorable to the schemes. of Hitler's Germany. John Gunther's "Inside Furope" informs us that Rumania is a coun- try rich, rich in 'natural resources whose finances are bled white by mismanagement of funds, and politi- cal graft. Just now the government owes France a great deal of money. * ® % 0% "BL ows TO PRESTIGE: Hon. H. "H Stevens, Réconstructionist mem- bér in 'the House of Commons, de- .clares that Doniinion prestige and Dominion credit have been dealt sev- . ere blows during the past year. Re- ferring to the Dominion Govern- ment bond issue which went on' the London market three months ago and hung fire for a week or ten days, he e! A--C declares that the defaulting of Moosejaw on some bonds just pre- viously, was responsible, together with the loss in credit of certain of our provinces, Each new default places an even heavier burden on the Dominion, detracts from Cana- dian credit. May Make Park Of Huge Marsh Would Turn Swamp Land Ncar Orangeville Into Game Sanctuary The Luther Marsh, near Orange- ville, a vast stretch of 10,000 acres, may be transformed from a wet, deso- late area into a provincial park and game sanctuary, if plans of leading citizens and organizations are adopted by the government. The marsh is regarded as the most important locality in the watershed of the Grand River from the stand: point of water conservation, Ten Miles Long Recently a proposal to turn it into a provincial park was made by the federation of naturalists. The marsh {s 10. miles long and in some places two miles wide. It straddles the town line between Kast and West Luther for approximately six miles. It con- tains peat to a depth of 15 feet, [News In Review | Japanese Offensive Collapsing SHHANGHAIL--Chinese sent word this week-end that the sccond Japan- ese offensive in Southern Shantung Province, pivotal front of the war, was on the verge of collapse. Crushing of the first drive last month was the most disastrous defeat of a modern Japanese army. Now, Chinese declared they are ready to send 800,000 troops against the reinforced Japanese legions which, they say, arg woaried to exhaustion and again running short of munitions. --_0-- : Axis Appears Solid ROME.--Amid the memories of the two great dictatorships of the past, in the Rome of the Caesars and of the medieval Popes; the two outstanding dictators of our own time met this week to demonstrate their unity of purpose in building for their people new empires, each according to his lights. --0-- Will Benefit Canada DUBLIN.--AII trade advantages giv- en to the United Kingdom in the Eire market under the recent agreement are alse extended to Canada, accord- ing to the text of the "agreement with the United Kingdom" issued here. Canada is the only member of the British Commonwealth of Nations that is mentioned in the bill, apart from the signatories. --_0-- Demand. Bishop Resign STUTTGART, Germany. -- The Na- tional __Socialist..Governor.. of. Wuert- temberg, Wilhelm Murr, has publicly demanded the resignation of Bishop Johann Baptist Sproll of Rottenburg, head of the Catholic Church in Wubrt- temberg, because he failed to vote in the Anschluss plebiscite and Reichs- tag elections. The demand appears in the local party organ, National Soci: alist Kurier. --o--= France Increases Defenses - PARIS.--France this week met a new show of Italian-German solidarity by ordering a bigger army, air. force. 'The National Defense Cabinet, head- ed by Premier Daladier, geared the wheels of French economy and finance to a bigger and stronger war machine by decrees issued just as Adolf Hitler approached Rome for a visit to Pre- mier Mussolini. --0-- King Opens Exhibition ° GLASGOW.--The great Empire Ex- hibition, termed by the King "a hall. mark of a great Commonwealth of Na- tions," was opened by His Majesty here. Cheering throngs, exceeding 100, 000, assembled in Ibrox Stadium, ac' claimed the King and Queen as they arrived in an open landau. The Em- pire in miniature was depicted in a stately, modernistic group of build- ings in Bellahouston Park, with the high shaft of Yrnpite towering over 'the scene, Pump-Priming in Britain LONDON.,--DBritain already {is lay- ing plans for future pump-priming, Sir Kingsley Wood, Minister of Health, revealed last week when speaking at a luncheon celebrating the Manchester centenary, His department is asking local au-|' thorities to prepare plans for five years ahead in order that the program of public works may proceed as rapld- ly as possible when once started, Sir Kingsley sald. navy and| : -each dictator has suppressed all free Twenty-Two Million Bees Are Imported Huge shipment Will Weigh 221; Tons; Hitch-Hiking Bees Join In Big Parade. ~~ EDMONTON. -- Approximately 22,600,000 Italian bees along with a few hundred thousand hitch-hikers will emigrate to Alberta this spring. The Italian bees, which will settle down in various parts of the prov- ince, are the type most highly fav- ored by bee-keepers through North America because of their hardiness and neat housekeeping. They come to Alberta from California. , 8S, 0. Hillerud, Alberta's chief apiarist, estimates the 22,500,000 bees will weigh about 22 1-2 tons. The hitchhikers of course, will make the total immigration higher than that, In Sereened Cages When the bees start out from California, Mr. Hillerud said, they are packed in sereened cages. The queens and the drones and the work- ers all get the same class of trans- portation. As the trucks, their heat careful- ly regulated en route, travel along, hundreds of thousands of the hitch- hiking bees fasten themselves to the sides of the cages. The ones inside feed them just as gencrously as they feed themselves. "The hitchhikers are not even neccessarily of the same race as the bees inside the screens -- they get feed anyway," Mr. Hillerud said. Italians were not introduced to America until 50 or 60 years ago. Before that the most popular genius was the German black bee. But in one year 50,000 colonies of black bees in New York state were wiped out by a disease which seldom hits the Italians because the Italians are Letter housekeepers. Canada's Flax Industry Gains in Importance Growers Expect Increase in Busi- ness As Canada Receives More Consideraticn on Evropean Markets Prices Have Rizen the Past Few Years, In 1915 flax fire sold for 90 cents a pound and the price of fibre flax seed was $3.00 a bushel. The high price of fibre was directly due to the excessive war-time demands at that time. In the period from 1917 to 1918 the price of fibre flax reach- ed an all-time high, going from 90 cents to-$1.25 a pound. In sympathy with this sensational increase the price of fibre flax seed jumped from $56.00 to $9.00 a bushel. Flattened Out After War After the war (1914-18), the price of fibre dropped to an all-time low cf 15 cents a pound and the sced prices tumbled from $9.00 to $2.00 a bushel. During the interval of the 1927 to 1937 period the price of fibre flax seed rose from $2.00 to $6.25 a bushel, This encouraging rise in price level was in no small way due to the introduction of pedigreed var- ieties of fibre flax. These special var- ieties were imported from the North of Ireland through the co-operation of the Ministry of Agriculture in Ireland and the Fibre Division of the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Ont. However, from 1935 to 1937 flax fibre prices have slowly risen to about 18 cents a pound for the best grade and quality. The introduction of mechanical flax pullers and tur- bine scutching machines by the Do- minion Government in 1937 has lent new stimulus to Canadian flax pro- duction. The flax acreage has ad- vanced from a little over 6,000 acres in 1923 to 7,900 in 1937, with a fur- ther increase of 2,000 acres expect- ed in 1938. Less Competition Future prospects for fibre devel- opment in Canada are encouraging, because Canada may secure more consideration on the European mar- kets. Russia is exporting less and less fibre each year to Ireland on ac- count of the fact that she requires a much larger amount for her own spinning factories which she has been. developing these past few "years. In addition to "this; Canadian flax growers are better organized to handle the expected increase in busi- ness than they have ever been, also Scottish and Irish buyers are begin- ning to look to Canada for a large portion of their future supplies. A scale strong and spacious enough to weigh {hree elephants has been installed near the zoo in Johan- | nesburg, South Africa. "Immediately on attaining power speech except his own." -- Herbert Hoover. grim about it, sin his talks to The BOOK SHELF By ELIZABETH EEDY <> a of "Here Are My Lectures And Sto- ies' -- By Stephen Leacock. "A year ago,". says Mr, Leacock, spoofingly, "I. retired from college lecturing, at the urgent request of the college trustees, who were very Now, at the request of innumerable friends all over the country, T am. retiring from lecturing on the public platform as a humor- ist." Here in one book are the fun- ny snceches and some other miscel- lancous items from the lunacy of Leacock, Canada's premier humorist. Elsewhere Mr. Leacock has spok- en of his exeruciating exnerlences while lzeturinz; here you get the lectures themselves, and quite a feast they make for those who have followed his written word for lo, these many years. The lectures are more serious, at least in spots, than some of us had been imagining. "How So6n Can We Start The Next War?" for instance, turns out to be a timely oration full of sound sense, amounting almost to one of those talks for serious listeners-in on the radio. Lunatic. But Happy Our lecturer is happiest, perhaps, college audiences, such as "Recovery After Graduation, or Looking Back on College," in which he mulls delightfully over the dear old campus scenes, gayly mis- quotes Shakdspeare. ' "What I Don't Know About the Drama" and three lectures on "Fren- zied Fiction," give Mr. Leacock lots of leeway to give us scraps of bur- lesque, E You can't tell exactly how. Mr. Leacock eels about . life at this point, of course. In the final piece in his lecture volume he's a trifle pes- simistic about retired professors who think they are going to complete their great masterpieces now that the hustle and bustle is o'er. Here is his last word on that: "When peo- ple say to me, "You'll be able now 'to.-fifish-your---book-.on..the. History. of Political Theory," 1 answer, 'To hell with it." "Here Are My Lectures and Stor- ies," Ly Stephen Leacock, 251 PP. $2. McLelland and Stewart, Limit- ed, Toronto. "All younger generations, ever since the beginning of time, have been naturally 'wicked'."--Hendrik Willem Van Loon. Because of the Japanese invasion, in 300 square miles north of Shang- hai there will be practically no har- vesting of rice, cotton or beans this year. VOICE -.----.. = of THE WORLD AT LARGE CANADA THE EMPIRE PRESS the CANADA Qur German Minority. Any day now Canada may expect to be faced by a demand from Hitler that we cease oppressing the German mi- nority within our borders" or else.-- Stratford Beacon-Hreald, 0 Not Perceptibly. Sweeter The world is reported to have con- sumed more sugar last year than ever before. But it does not seem to have sweetened international relationships in perceptible degree.--Brockville Re- corder and Times. ---- Service to the Community A single grain of sand is almost in- finitesimal, yet every grain ccunts in forming the far-flung shores of the sea. Similarly every individual wh is honest, industrious, and, imbued :>h the spirit of service is an. influence of real worth in any community. --Kiteh- ener Record. --0-- Getting Lots of Help One result of the Rowell Commis. sion has been the excellent work done on its behalf by private and public or- ganizations, Through it, citizens in most parts of Canada have had an op- portunity to study and probe the fun- damentals- of governmental expendi- ture and operation. These studies in themselves should reap rich rewards in a better understanding of public questions, quite apart from the delib- erationg of the Commissioners them- selves.--Financial Post, --o0-- Smoke in the Hills The weather grows warmer and Not va Scotians are beginning to enjoy the best of the Spring season... Anglers are geing to the lakes and rivers and others are taking to the open road for a change of scene and air. pleasant season. The sun begins to give some warmth, 'signs of life are on every hand, and the whole world is filled with anticipation of growth and bloom, The countryside has a beauty peculiar to the sgason. Sturdy horses draw ploughs through the rich earth and blue smoke curls up from the hills as men of the soil clear their land of brush.--Halifax Chronicle: --0-- Sick Motor Cars -- Tre Safety League is on safe ground when it insists that all used cars should be examined for mechanical de- fects before they are resold. If they were, many of the death-traps to be seen on th highways would be on the junk-heap. Pending a general exam- ination of motor vehicles, drastic at- tention should be paid to those that seem to be falling to piecés. These are a menace and should be speedily removed. Special care should be exer- cised toward making sure that per- manently diseased cars, made tempor- arily convalescent with a paint brush and a monkey-wrench, are kept off the "highways. --St. Thomas Times- Journal. ---- Indian Not Vanishing They used to refer to the Indian as Ahe "Vanishing American," but the fig- ures refute the theory entirely. The Indian, far from vanishing, is increas- ing in numbers, in Canada at any rate, so the picturesque and pathetic title no longer holds. . Indian population figures in this Do- minica have varied somewhat in the last few. years. The Red Man did, indeed, appear to be declining numer- ically in 1924, when a census showed that the Indians of Canada numbered only 104,000, as compared with 110,000 in 1907. But latest returns issued by the Department of Mines and Re- sources. show that there are now ap- in this country.--Brantford Expositor. Modern Civilization Reaches Old India: The Indian population of Bomba fas it is Practiced in the enlightened \ India cst. This girl pie has adopted at least one of the modern weapons of civilization Rot is urging a strike! It is al. proximately 114,000 Indians resident| THE EMPIRE All in the Next Front Line "For 'Barcelona' read 'Battersea' or 'Birmingham,' and one need go no fur- ther than the day's newspaper for a picture of th- next.war. None will be able to tell when he may be in the front line. Men and women alike will find the menace of death confronting them in aspects more horrible than ever tried the stamina of classic hero- ism, The King of Terrors, when Hec- tor and Lysander faced him, /was a gentleman in comparison with the shapes in which peril, death, and suf- fering will overhang every English- man's home. The bomb will rain alike on the just and the unjust, the stal wart and the coward. Tenderness of nerve or conscience will gaia-mo ex- emption." One and , we shall be faced by a menace deeper than has ever darkened the page of history. If it be true that 'all that a man hath will he give for his life,' the instinct of self-preservation has never been aroused by a such a summons,"--Lon- '| don Observer. Ghost Frequents Drinking Pool So ish Believe; Seve Several Say They Saw Man Dead Three Centuries .DUNSRIM, County Monaghan, Ireland. -- Ghost of a 17th century planter who evicted a poor widow and her eight children from their Dunsrim farm is haunting a drink- ing pool near here. That's the story local residents tell, anyway, and they back it up with vivid descriptions. Reflection Of Ilis Eyes The planter, says legend, was thrown from his horse and found one night after sunset with his neck broken. The ghost is said to appear after sunset near the spot where the evicted woman and her eight chil- dren were found dead inthe snow. John Francis Smith said he saw "the tall figure o! a man, dressed in old-fashioned clothes," as he walked home. The figure knelt at the pool to quench his thirst. "As I watched, spell-bound," said Smith, "I could see the reflection of his eyes in the clear water: They were like two large red coals." Suddenly the figure disappeared and Smith, who had stood in a trance, began to run, He said as he ran he heard the sound of spurred boots. Patrick Connolly and Miss Ellie Reilly also claim to have seen the ghost. Legend has it the figure still haunts the district to inighies people out of their lands. Canadians Keep Talkative Title Are Still World's Champion Talk- ers By Telephone And . Otherwise Canadians are the most talkative people in the world and they are get-. ting even more so. Apart altogether from the ay briefs presented to-Royal Commis- sions and the 4,000,000 to 6,000,000 words spoken in the House of Com- mons each session, telephone statis- tics award loquacious laurels to Can- adians, Telephone conversations per capita during 1935 in Canada numbered 210.8 compared with 197 in the Unit- ed States, 173.9 in Denmark and 162.2 in Sweden, the next highest countries. Still on the increase, Canadian calls were 222 a person in 1936, latest year reported. 222 Calls: Per Person Birthplace of the telephone, dis- covered by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, Canada retains the lead in Empire advancement of this instru- ment in establishing the longest dir- ect wire voice path of 2,2000 miles | between. Toronto and Calgary, Alta, Canada stands fifth in world com- parison with 1,266,228 telephones installed, showing approximately 10 per cent. of her population benefits by telephonic communication. The United. States is the only country showing a larger number of tele- phones installed per eapita. Although it is impossible to de- termine whether men or women are the greater users of the telephone, men use the long distance service more frequently during business hours, Believed to be more than 22,000,- 000 years old, a tooth of an unknown sea animal was found in. Ragusa, Si- cily, by Richard Hunter, who dis- played it recently while visiting Jo- hannesynrg, South Africa. "1 Modern Pimpernel' Assists Austrians 'Wealthy Y Englishman Has 7, Yound Englishman Hs Already Fifteen People Out of Nazi- Controlled Country. Nazi persecution in Vienna has pro- duced a modern "Scarlet Pimpernel" --a young English' nobleman who, like his famous namesake in the days of the French Revolution, has set him. self the task of smuggling his friends out of the city of terror, which the former Austrian capital has become; The risks he runs in tricking the Nazis were described to me, says a writer in the London Daily Sketch, by Karl Henneberger, an Austrian now living in London, whose sister he saved from their clutches. A Mysterious Voice "Di=e7 the last ten days," he sald, 'I lived in constant fear for the safety of my sister, who could not get out from Austria. in time, All efforts to get in touch with her had failed, when two days ago I received a mysterious telephone mess- jage from a caller who refused to give his name. "He said that my sister was safe and he gave me an address and tele- phone number in Czechoslovakia waere I could telephone her. "] knew the voice, but when I asked the speaker to tell me his name he rang off. I immediately put in a call to my sister and told her of the mys- terlous telephone call. She sald to me that it was the man who saved her and many others, Saving Anti-Nazis "I know .of fifteen people whom he has succeeded in getting out from Austria, "It is not only Jews he is saving: there are Catholics and others whose life is not safe for a moment simply because they were known- as anti- Nazi. Now he is there again, and we pray for him," Canada Undergoing Very Difficult Period Covernor of Bank of Canada Says This Is No Longer a ~~ .- Pioneer Country Canadians are passing through "a difiicult stage," Graham F. Towers, governor of the Bank of Canada, sald in an address at Toronto last week. Canada no longer is a pioneer coun- try, Mr, Towers told the annual din- ner of the St. Andrews' College Old Boys' Association. It had changed to a stage of more moderate development which may not warrant large capital expenditures on the scale of the past. There was likely to be considerable difficulty in governing the Dominion which has increased its social re- sponsibilities, he said. Canadians had not yet developed the experience of administering their affairs under these conditions. Function of Central Bank Discussing central banking, Mr. Towers said the first responsibility of the central bank is to decide the amount of cash needed in the country. "The amcunt of the cash reserves of the commercial banks," he said, "Is determined down to the last dollar by the action of the Bank of Ganada." The commercial banks, in turn, deter- mined the volume of credit available. "There is no book which one can open which will tell just what action is appropriate at the given moment," Mr. Towers continued. Central bank policy in governing credit conditions depended upon study of the volume of business and many other factors. He added: "It has always been a mistake in recent years to say that:a central bank was not necessary in Canada." Play Baseball By Listening Blind In California Institution Use A Jingling Ball Blind men at the Industrial Home for Adult Blind at Oakland, Cal, are learning to play baseball sound baseball. The game devised by Superintednet Robert V. Chandler, is baseball with a jingle, a buzzer and a bell, but it's baseball, A regular indoor baseball diamond, cquipped with yard-square bases and yard-wide carpeted base lines is the playing field, Equipment consists of an indoor baseball with a jingling core a hockey stick for a bat, buzzeérs and bells. Ten players constituté a team, Nine of them Ine up on hands and knees back of the-base lines between first and third. The tenth man is the cat- cher, who usually has partial vision, The pitcher really doesn't count, He pitches for both teams. He rolls the ball to home plate and the batter, who is guided only by the sound of the jingling core, swats it. The fielders hear the ball coming and the one nearest usually grabs ft and rolls it toward the base for which the runner is headed. Tha ball must cross the runner's path to put him out. Buzzers and bells indicate the posts tion of the runner, A home run is sig- nalled by three buzzes and a bell, American tourists are reported to "have spent an average of $5.76 in | Switzerland\ in 1937, A