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a SX ES - Pad nu NT nw ata, $l ro as ie a ny - UR S&H he Cy a F a ir Se 4 -- PORT PERRY STAR, THURSDAY, MAY 21st, 1964 Editorial Viewpoint What's Wrong? Who knows about Canada and things Canadian? Not, it would seem, a high proportion of today's high school students, our citizens of tomorrow. A recent Toronto survey of some 100 such students from some 17 different schools disclosed a level of general and historical knowledge calculated (one would hope) to disturb the most complacent among us. What happened in 1867? Only two out of three (66 percent) could say. Who was the first Prime Minister of Canada? Fewer than half (46 percent) had any idea. Who is George Vanier? A mere 50 percent knew. Louis Diel was correctly (if vaguely) identified by 88 per cent of those questioned, Laura Secord by 48 per- cent, Canada's Prime Minister in World War II by just 36 percent. As for the capital of Alberta, it was known to no more than 28 percent. Questions relating to provincial and local affairs met with a similar response (e.g. only 50 percent could name the party which won Ontario's 1963 election). It may be, as someone remarked, that if the parents of these students were similarly polled, they might not show up all that much better, although for our part-we would doubt it. However that may be, is it unreasonable to expect a rather better return than this on the massive investment we have all made in education in recent years? More important yet, how much can Canada "mean" to boys and girls who know so little about what Canada "is"? And if, as is to be feared, these results are an all too accurate reflection of the state of learning of our national high school population, where lies the fault? In Tele- vision? Affluence? Poor teaching? Outdated or un- balanced curricula? Parental indifference? Plainly, there's something wrong somewhere. The Businessman In this day and age, most newspaper articles and features contain statistics and general information about big business. The large corporations seem to command all the space and one Toronto newspaper is currently running a week end feature on "Meet The Men At The Top". The forgotten man, the man that plays a large role in the economy of Canada, is the small independent businessman. This is the man that runs the corner store, knows most of his customers by their first name, and un- like most of his counterparts in big business comes face to face with his customers every day. In this area, most of the businessmen fall into this category . . . . the Independent businessman. Recently a newspaper published solely for the small businessman conducted a poll to determine what the aver- age independent businessman is like. The results of the poll were released this week, and we think our readers will find it interesting to read about the average small businessman. Figures of how many businessmen parti- cipated in the survey were not released, but the results are a good indication of the average small businessman. The average man is 48 years of age, married for approximately 22 years and has three children. He has been in business for 17 years and 949% have complete financial control of their company. 92% own their own home and the average value of these homes is $22,000. 17% have sent their children to a private school or Uni- versity and 639% intend to send their children to Univer- sity in the future. 67% own the buildings that presently house their business, and 95% buy one car every 15 months and a truck every five years. Their travel habits are definitely in favour of the car with 88% using this means of travel, as comnared to 29 for train and 109% for planes. Five employees work for 829% of the group and 729% ~ have an annual turnover of $200,000 or less. The turn- over figures ranged as high as $8,000,000 for 5% of the group. This report gives one a good idea of the important role the small businessman plays in the economy of this "country. The buying power of the corner merchant com- bined with his fellow merchants across Canada adds up to millions of dollars, and keeps the cogs of musty on the move. Port Perry Star Co. Lid. Serving Port Perry, Brooklin and Surrounding Areas WM. T. HARRISON ~ Editor P. HVIDSTEN, Publisher "Member of the Ontario Weekly Newspaper Assoc. Member of the Canadian Weekly Newspaper Assoc. Published every Thursday by The Port Perry Star ' Co. Ltd., Port Perry, Ontario. Authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, and for payment of postage in cash, Subscription Rates: In Canada $2.60 per yr. Elsewhere, $8.00 per yr. Single Copy 7¢ | Rememher When? 50 YEARS AGO May 20th, 1914 The 48th Highlanders Band - will furnish an abundance of choice music, also a Grand Con- cert, assisted by Eugene Lock- hart, entertainer, in the even- ing. Port Perry Old Boys' Re- . Union, June 3rd. Motorcycle Races at Port Perry Old Boys' Reunion, June 3rd. See the speed fiends go a' mile-a-minute. Graham's Garage will run rel gular auto trips bewteen Port Perry and Uxbridge on Monday, Wednesday and Thon morn- ings. * * * 25 YEARS AGO -- May 18th, 1939 Canada Honours her King and Queen. This is the front page of the Port Perry Star for this date. Miss Doris Roach, of Toronto was the guest of Mrs. S. Farmer over the week-end. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, of Tor- onto, spent the week-end with Dr. and Mrs. Lundy. At the recent meeting of. Port Perry Council a By-law. was passed establishing Day- light Saving time in Port Perry from Sunday, June 18th to Tuesday, September bth. * * * 10 YEARS AGO May 20th, 1954 Furnish Children's Ward in Port Perry Hospital, The Hos- pital Auxiliary estimate it will require $1000. to furnish a Children's Ward in Community Memorial Hospital. To this end on Saturday, May 22nd, 1954 a "Mile of Dimes" was projected and citizens and visitors to Port Perry contributed generously. Reach - Council struck mill rate of 38.2 mills. 200 Scouts and Cubs from Oshawa planted 10,000 trees a Camp Samac on Saturday, Sugar and Spice By BILL SMILEY IN OUR DREAMS Do you indulge occasionally in the dream of coming into a lot of money? Most people do. dope: you're high, wide and dreamy while you're at it, but the let-down is jolting. The bored housewife, for example, crouched over her iron- ing board, envisions herself in bikini suit on a deck chair on a yacht in the Medterranean, sipping a long, cold drink. Tanned and handsome, Count Serge Popoff takes her hand and, devour-, ing her with his eyes, leans forward to kiss it. Just as she is thrilling right up to the shoulder from the cool, firm imprint of the count's lips on her mitt, she looks down and discovers that the cool, firm lips have suddenly be- come the cold, runny nose of her daughter, who is wiping it on the back of mummy's hand. Maybe the factory hand, busy all day putting square pegs in round holes, begins toying with what he'll be doing if his sweepstake ticket comes through. In his mind's eye, he is lolling on his balcony in Acapuleo's poshest. hotel, over-looking the swimming-pool, while 'a beautiful Spanish job with a rose in her hair whispers gentle stuff in his ear. It's a dangerous shock to his system when he suddenly realizes that the face so near his own is not the Spanish lovely, but the straw boss, and the tender murmurs have become a moose-like bellow that wants to know "what the' helleryou gaw- ping at?" Even the Canadian farmer, a solid fellow most of the time, has his weak moments. - Like when he starts dreaming that he had a thousand head of cattle, instead of twenty, and he sold them at forty cents a pound ,intead of eighteen. Clear as crystal, he can see himself and Maw heading down the high- way for a long holiday in the new Cadillac. It does him mo good at all to wake up and find that the Cadillac has been transformed into altractor, and he' 's heading ~~ ° straight" for the stone fence, For years, I've had these dreams: riding in a ricksha in Rangoon, tossing silver dollars to the natives; dropping in on Princess Margaret and Tony for a cocktail; flying to Rio for carnival time, But lately, they have solidified into one re- current dream which is more like an obsession: It comes al- most nightly at this time of year. In the dream, my wife says, "When are you going to get those storm windows off, have you any intention of cutting the lawn this year, what do you intend to do about that fence 7" I just tell her to shut up. This is how I know it's a dream. Then I reach out nonchalantly, push the bell-button beside my chair. A man appears and asks respectfully, "Yes, sir?" I tell him, "John, get those storm windows off. don't mean tomorrow. The grass needs cutting, and do some- + thing about propping up the fence. Now, get cracking." He says, "Right away, sir." 1 lean back, light a dollar cigar, and splash a little more soda into my brandy. That's the dream, in essence. There are variations on it, depending on seasons. Sometimes I tell John to shovel the walk, and I splash a little more brandy into my soda, but it's the same dream. You can have your yachts, your Acapulco balconies, and. / your Cadiallacs. Just give me John. ¢ 1 It's something like taking And 1 | "i ==Toronto Telegram News Service 3 pe TT