OPEN FORUM

Reply to Sir Michael —

ALFRED C. CAMPBELL, New
Westminster, B.C.: Reading the
Vancouver Herald of November
17, I was surprised to find that
paper has an authority on High-
land dress and Highland dances
on its staff. His name: Sir
Michael Bruce, Bart.

In his column Sir Michael
Bruce stated.

“The sporran is not worn by
ladies and the travesties of male
attire worn by dancers at High-

“land gatherings are an affront
to the Gael...

« _. I know that what I have
said will be unpopular with
some doting mothers, but I am
quite certain that most sensible
people would prefer to be cor-
rectely dressed rather than a
laughing stock to those who
know what’s what.”

Travesty and affront are very
strong words to use when dis-
- cussing Highland dances, wheth-
er by Sir Michael or his men-
tor, whom he quotes.

At all the Highland games
where I have played for danc-
ers (and they have been: many)
I have never seen one dancer
incorrectly dressed or one who
did not conduct herself like a
lady. It has always been my
firm belief that “doting Scots
mothers” were responsible for
that. —

. There are very good reasons
why Highland dancers should
wear a sporan unless Sir
“Michael feels they should dance
‘in their pyjamas. He doesn’t
say what should replace the
sporran he so strongly objects
to. That information would be
most interesting.

However, I have seen pictures
of rent-collecting Scottish bar-
onets at Highland games who
looked as though their valets
had thrown their kilts on them
with a pitchfork — too far up
in the front, too far down in
the back.

What about them, Sir Michael?
You could hold a field day of
advice to them sufficient for
several columns.

It is regrettable but true that
we cannot all dress with the
opulence and elegance of baron-

ets. Many a famous Highland -

dancer has won first prize at
Braemar in the kilt her mother
used 20 odd years before.

Sir Michael asks: “Why, oh
why do doting mothers dress
their little girls up as they do
for Highland dances?”

The answer is because they
konw what they are doing. If
there happens to be one
does not know there are always
other “doting mothers” at the
games who will help adjust the

little girl’s buckle or plaid.
Quite simple.

Says Sir Michael: “The great-
est authority on Highland dress
today is Sir Thomas Innes of
Learney, Baronet and Lord
Lyon King at Arms... he is
the authority under the Crown
for anything pertaining to High-
land clans, families, badges and
dress.” Quite a handle cutting
quite a swath.

It is extremely doubtful
whether half-a-dozen Scots
mothers in Vancouver’ ever
heard of Sir Thomas or even
‘care to, but they have been
dressing their kids up for High-
land games these many years
without his or Sir Michael’s
assistance. Vancouver and ad-
joining districts since the pion-
eer days have been the home
of many famous pipers and
dancers who know “what's
what.”

When Sir Michael and Sir

who :

Thomas can approach with
proud step and eager fingers
at the games to play for some
smartly dressed lass while her
“doting mother” looks on they
may find themselves more in-
terested in how well she dances
rather than how well she
dresses.

But unfortunately for them
they will never have that thrill.

They can neither dance nor
play Monymusk, only write
rubbish.

When Sir Michael wanders in-
to the realm of Scottish history

and gives advice which is im--

pertinent, presumptious and
eondescending he is treading on
dangerous ground. He should
not be surprised if he provokes
much the same outcry the Van-
couver civic authorities stirred
up when they first forbade and
then wrongfully incarcerated
old John Sutherland for play-
ing his pipes on the streets.

Figures prove need

DR. JOSEPH BLUMES, Van-
couver, B. C.: “This year a Royal
Commission on milk confirmed
that the consumption of milk
by Vancouver children was the
lowest on the North American
continent. School children are
drinking ess than half the
minimum requirement recom-
mended by nutritionists.

This situation could have
dangerous consequences for the
children of this city. As a den-
tist, I have vivid evidence daily
of what lack .of calcium foods
ean do to children’s teeth.

You can’t force milk down
children’s throats, but you can
educate and encourage them to
drink it.. This responsibility
falls on such civic bodies as the
school board.

Drinking milk in school should
become as regular a habit as
learning arithmetic. A _ daily
milk break should become’ as
as much an institution among
school children as the coffee
break has become among adults.

Most major cities have begun
to solve this problem by provi-
ding free milk in the ‘schools.
I cannot see why a rich and
growing city like Vancouver
couldn’t do likewise.

Let's have fluoridation

J. D., Vancouver, B.C.: Al-
though Vancouver citizens won't
be voting on fluoridation this
year, I notice that the opponents
of this health measure are
bombarding newspapers with
letters denouncing it.

Flouridation has been endors-
ed without qualification by all
leading medical and dental
bodies in-Canada and the United
States. About 11 percent ofthe

total. population of the U. CY

drink fluoridated water, and

Wisconsin leads in the number
of communities using fluorides
(70 percent of Wisconsin resi-
dents get fluorides in their

water).

“Sheboygan, one of the first
three cities of the U.S. to add
fluorides to its drinking water,
has just completed its eighth
annual check on.the results of
fluoridation,” says the Milwau-
kee Journal. “It reports that
the number of missing, decayed
and filled “teeth among. senior
kindergarten pupils has drop-
ped from 4.8 per child to 1.78.”

Opponents of  flouridation
spout a lot of nonsense about
adding “rat poison” ‘to our
water. This silly argument was
answered by Alan Brown, con-
sulting physician at Toronto’s
Hospital for Sick Children and
professor emeritus of pediatrics,
University of Toronto, in a let-
ter to the press some time ago.
He wrote, in part:

“To state that public health
authorities propose to put rat
poison in the water in merely
an indication of ignorance of
the fundamentals of chemistry
and physiology and provides an
excellent example of the sub-
stitution of vituperation for
logic. Many of the normal con-
stituents of the human body, of
which fluorine in one, would
be poisonous if given in ex-
cessive quantities. This is true,
for example, of iodine and
chlorine. _ Iodized salt and
chlorinated water are now

accepted as normal means for
preventing certain diseases.”

“You can’t force milk down: children’s throats, but you can

educate and encourage them to drink it,” says Dr. Joseph Blumes,
independent candidate for Vancouver School Board, in a letter
on this page. He adds: “Most major cities have begun te solve this
problem by p roviding free milk in the schools.”

By BOB WARD

The sad, sad story of
Zillionaire

ASON Z. (for  zillionaire)
Forsooth was a_ successful
tycoon. And although the press
referred to the fact that his
headquarters was in the largest
financial centre in the country;
it could be said that his hind-
quarters were all over the
country.

Jason Z. was a man of many
interests. He was a director of
39 companies. He was chairman
of the board on more boards
than there are in a long board
walk. ”

He also dabbled in stocks,
bonds, mortgages, real estate,
and sundry other things.

Every time there was a big
drive to raise funds for starving
orphans anywhere in the world
(except Canada), or on any
Worthy Cause, Jason Z. was high
on the list of sponsors. It was
said about him that his exception
to Canada was based on the
fact that he felt that no one in
Canada had the right to be
either starving or an orphan.

Jason Z. refused to sponsor
just one project. He maintained
that the Community | Chest
sounded too much like a word
that made him shudder and he
proposed that they change the
name to Neighborhood Bosom
and that the symbol be a white,
rather than a red feather. When
those in charge refused to do
this Jason Z. showed that this
is indeed a free land by re-
fusing to sponsor it.

Yes, Jason Z. had his finger
in more pies than a pastry chef
at a large pie making establish-
ment. Of course, he was a dir-
ector of the pie making company
too, and could go around any
old time and put his finger in
any old pie he chose.

xt xt

The strange thing about Jason
Z. was that despite all. of the
jobs that he seemingly had, he
never worked.

Now. that statement isn’t
exactly right because sometimes
just to test themselves several
of the boards of directors that
he sat on clipped bond coupons
with dull scissors. Oftimes this
arduous task would put a cal-
lous on Jason’s finger,

Jason Z. used to display those
calloused fingers to business

“men gathered at businessmen’s

luncheons. “Hard work,” he
would say to great applause,
“never hurt anyone.”

And the reason everyone at
the luncheon applauded, it
might be said, was because none
of the people there had ever
worked either.

“What this country needs to
get back to,” Jason would: say,
“is ~good old fashioned hard
WORK.” And he’d spell it out
like that to make the word
sound like hard work.

503 at 5 og

Whenever Jason Z. spoke of
labor he always spelt it with

Forsooth

a Capital letter. “Labor,” he
would tell his overstuffed ls-
teners, “wants everything. First
they want toilets in the-plant — _
then they want them to flush.
“Labor,” he’ would go 0;
“is never satisfied., They 0
only want bread; they want
butter on it.” orig
Sometimes Jason would be
moved almost to tears when he
spoke of the demands that Laber
was making. And his business:
men listeners would also she
a bitter tear onto the tails °
their $25 shirts and vow that
Labor must be put in its place:
Naturally when Jason Z. made
his little talks about Labor need-
ing to roll up its sleeves and &€
back to WORK, there were al-
ways a flock of reporters aa
sent. And just as naturally al
of his speeches found promun-
ent place in all of the papers
in the land. i
The papers called Jason ‘A
Authority on Labor Matters:
And this was possibly due to
the fact that the firms he W4*
connected with had tried
break more strikes than @BY
other companies any other placé
in the world. Also Jason own®
the newspapers. ‘A cdito
Whenever Jason spoke ©
businessmen the newspapers
would declare “Forsooth Fore ~
sees Foreign Forces Foredoom
ing Forefathers Formula.” |.
Jason Z. pounded out [is
theories on WORK, the ®
for Labor to use its BRA 3.
while bosses used their BRAIN :
He wondered how long bo
could go on not only wanting
— but demanding — that *
eat regularly. f
He rhapsodized the ide@ °
the fairness of. Industry ™@*"
ing all of the rules — and Lab0" -
obeying them.
He eulogized the institu
that reaped in the profit. _.
Labor, he saw, as somethiné z
which needed to use its BRAY
Yes, Jason Z. really laid 7
on. “Workers should appret
ate all of the things we 4° 3
them. They must stop sei
ing things; they must get Pe”,
to good—old fashioned WORK. ;
Then one day while een
was making one of his speech
about LABOR to the Coupe”
Clippers Cocktail Club, 2 Oe
senger boy came running 1? © te
door with a telegram. The W*
was speedily dispatched 0
speaker’s table. re:
Jason got out his readin? \
glasses, disposing with the ised
which he usually used for fie
turing with. He read the ¥*
and fainted.
Apparently the
“Workers throughout C0
your plants refuse to ike
stoy Have all gone on sth”
stop No Work no profits ‘sto
You'd better stop talking sto?’
It sure stopped him.

@ Reprinted from Canadian UP
News

.

tions

? d
re rea!
wl untry

fo aren

Te Senha families in Canada’s

Eastern Arctic may soon
be a little better off because
the age-old problem of how
to clean eider down quickly
and efficiently has been solv-
ed by an Icelandic inventor.

A new machine is being
tested by officials of the Arc-
tic division of the depart-
ment of northern affairs and
national resources and results
to date show that it cleans
eider down better than any
other known method. Plans

Invention benehic Eskimos —

are being made now to CO}
duct experimental field tests
next summer. 3
The tedious and messy job
of cleaning eider down
been the reason that Easter?
Arctic Eskimos have not a ;
tempted to satisfy the f
demand for the soft insulat-
ing material. Under prese?
primitive methods the 40
is heated to carbonize forelé®
matter in it and then t 1
Eskimos rub it across pat aller

lines of sinew.
es

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — DECEMBER 2, 1955 — PAG? :