Tárogató, 1942-1943 (5. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1942-09-01 / 3. szám
14 TÁROGATÓ American Churches to the Enthronement of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The President emphasised during the interview that notwithstanding wrhat had happened in the last three years he personally retained his beliefs in democracy, in international collaboration, and in collective defence of world order. The people of Czechoslovakia had established a genuine democracy in the heart of Europe which was guided by the leading political principles of the United States. The present oppression will necessarily result in resentment against the brutal tyrants. The President told Professor Brown that the American Churches may play a very important part in the work of post-war reconstruction if they will lead their country to follow the line of President Roosevelt’s fine idealism even in peace time. It will require patience to see the return of Europe to normal collaboration, and the great American democracy may be a source of profound inspiration to the distressed countries when they achieve a free national life. The audience lasted forty-five minutes, and the guest was introduced to the President by Dr. Hnik, of the Czech Foreign Office. SO-COLLED TIN CANS It is curious that what we call tin cans are only 1.5% tin, the other 98.5% is sheet steel. Until recently all tins have been discarded. It was too costly to separate the tin from the steel and anyway, metals were plentiful. Nowadays, faced with a shortage of tin and steel, more economical methods of separating the two have been discovered and the drive to salvage all metal possible is on. In the United States 2,000,000 tons of tin cans are discarded each year. Experts estimate that 700,000 tons of these might be collected, shipped and processed economically. More plants for doing this are necessary. Already there are seven. When the cans are washed and shredded and treated with caustic soda and other chemicals, they render up about 25 pounds of tin oxide per ton. Previously the detinned steel thus obtained was only used for rough castings such as sash weights, but now steelmakers are eagerly demanding it. CANADA’S OUTDOOR SPORTS During 1939, Canada spent about three million dollars for sports equipment. The expenditure was divided as follows: baseball, $181,781; billiards, bowling and football, $288,124; golf, $482,400; hockey, $170,369; skiing, $252,904: tennis and badminton, $406,757; and sing tackle,* $141,146. But these figures cover only the goods made in Canada, and there were about three-quarters of a million dollars’ worth of equipment imported, which wrere probably divided in somewhat the same proportion between the different sports. WHERE FARMERS DIFFER The fact that one farming section may differ radically from another in its needs, even under the same flag, is seen in the United States in the action of the National Grange on the one hand, and the American Farm Bureau Federation on the other. The trouble arises over the Government’s policy of making reciprocal trade agreements with other countries. The Grange asks for protection for farm products, while the Federation thinks that the effects of the trade agreements has been helpful rather than otherwise to the farming interests of the country. This is but another illustration of the fact that the interests of one section of any great country, Canada, for instance, may not coincide exactly with those of another, and the only way of reaching agreement is by mutual concessions. “Live and let live” is a good national policy, and it is one which is, most unfortunately, forgotten all too often. —ONWARD. ACQUIRING GOOD TASTE By IIV. McMullen Someone has written that “all native tastes are bad. The taste of the young in music is abominable, in literature execrable. Good taste grows slowly through the effort to understand what is beyond us, the endeavour to appreciate what we cannot yet understand.” There is a sense in which this is true. It is undeniable that some children are bom with musical genius and that poets and orators are born and not made, but it is also true that even the most gifted need the careful pruning and training of what nature has provided. Slowly, often very slowly, we come to realize what is becoming and what is unbecoming, what is really beautiful and what is merely showy. To learn to do well is a matter of infinite
