that geographical consideration.

1 O hstbuurdnmn Covers Prince Edward Island Like the Dow Eublisner! every week-day morning at 165 Prince Street maroottetown, P.E.I.. by the Thomson Company Ltd. ‘in A. Burnett. Publisher and General Manager Prank Walker, Editor Member Canadian Daily Newspaper Publishers Association Member of The Canadian Press Member Adult Bureau of Circulation! 3!'_a1ch offices at Summerside. Montague and Alberton tmmesented Nationally by- Thomson Newspaper: Advertising Service

I4 King street West. ‘reroute. Out. 640 Cathcart St., Montreal 1030 West Georgia Street, Vancouver By Came: Charlottetown. Summerslde 813.00 per ID num. Elsewhere in P.E.l. $9.00. other Provinces and Us. $12.00 oer annum.

“The strongest memory zs weaker than the weakest ink.”

MONDAY, FEB. 1'7. 1958

Back-Benchers' Rights

Word from London is that re- form of the Commons is in prospect. Back-benchers of all parties have demanded more consideration in de- bates;’ and. the Government has pro- mised to treat the request favour- ably. ‘ I

This may encourage back-ben- chers at Ottawa to stand up for their rights. This virtual monopoliz- lng of thetime of the House by Cabinet Ministers and their par- liamentary assistants and those gen- erally considered to be prospective Ministers is one tradition that could be modified without doing any harm to parliamentary. government. As things are now, private members are, in effect, treated as children who should be seen and not heard except at rare intervals—usually when the House is half-empty. Now and then, a particularly energetic -individual insists on being heard;

FAEE 4

but he is likely to be regarded as a ‘

bit of a bore who should never have found a place in the House any- way. It seems’ to be taken for grant- ed that the front-benchers, . being. Ministers, former Ministers or potential Ministers, have more wis- dom than the rank and file.

This, of course, is a totally false premise. Under our system Cabinet Ministers are not chosen for their wisdom or experience, although they may happen to have a goodly share of each. They are chosen mainly on geographical grounds, so as to give each broad area of the country re-

presentation in the inner council,

This is fair enough; but, of course, the Prime Minister-can only take thel best talent availablefsubject to It is a hit-or-miss proposition at all times, and the marvel is that 3 it turns out as well as it does.‘ But’:-it_ is a fallacy to suppose tlla’t"‘an ary individual is turned into alpara- gonx of wisdom and power overnight because he happens to be included in the Cabinet or that a colleague

who happens to find himself on a

back bench is, by reason of ' that accident, lacking in Parliamentnry ski1l——or . sound common sense which is even more valuable.

Educational Challenge

The firstvimpact of the natural sciences on education was at the ex- pense of the humanities. It would be disastrous if this trend were to be iiccentuated to meet current de- mands. On this subject A brilliant ariible by ‘Peter J. Henniker-Heaton appeared in a recent issue of the Chnlstian Science Monitor.

l‘As ever more powerful djinns andf genies arebnbottled by technol-

ogioal advance,” argues the writer, -

“theli need for public awareness with thegwisdom and knowledge to con- trol. these new servants constructive- ly isyapparent. Even when the last \\‘a15l1ea.ds are beaten into tailfins, the need will still remain. Vast st reiclics of vacuous, ill-directed leisure, made possible by peaceful technological progress, could prove a peril to humanity only less fatal than nuclear conflict. The lesson of the dodo and its lost wing power is still valid. The humanities are needed to ensure that technological advance and its fruits are controlled and given benefical direction.

‘_‘The sciences and the humanities are not, in fact, rivals. As comple- mentary educational disciplines, mak- ing stern demands on all who pursue them, they are natural allies. In any struggle for priority in allo- cation of funds, pupils, and teachers, which the next few decades may see, the antagonists are likely to be on the ,one hand the genuine edu- cational disciplines, the humanities and natural sciences, ‘and on the other hand vocational training and soft-option elective courses of var- ious kinds.

“\/'oca1i<mal training is of great mlime to the community. Its instit- utions and their dedicated faculties merit support. But vocational train- ing is not education. If for prestige

- a trend (it probably doesn’t!)

or other reasons vocational training masquerades as education, the public is being imposed upon. If this im- position attracts funds and person- nel away from genuine education, the community is being robbed. “The fault here does not lie only with the purveyors of vocational

training. Those who offer thepeduca-'

tional disciplines sometimes fail in integrity, too. When they woo popu- larity by lowering their require- ments, when they compound with shortsighted industry or commerce to neglect the pure for the applied, the basic for the pragmatic, they are contributing to the same sort of confusion that is produced by .3. vocational course assuming the trap- pings of education. J

“If mental living standards are’ to be raised during the _next half century, if intellectual undernourish- ment, wherever it is found, is to be effectively alleviated, the distinction must be clearly drawn and honestly accepted between educational dis- ciplines and vocational training..As vocational training openly recog- nizes its limitations and as the, educational disciplines fearlessly maintain their standards, the world willbe able to make the most pro- fitable allocation of funds, person- nel, and ability.”

EDITORIAL NOTES

' If this winter's weather indicates this Province will have to expand its tourist accommodations to look af- ter an influx of visitors from Florida and other points South in the win- ter season. * it Iv

Proof of the superiority of the free way of life over the Commun- istic pattern is revealed in a statis- tical report which says that since East Germany became a Soviet satellite more than 2 million per- sons have fled to West Germany.

1» t it E

News of a federation between Iraq and Jordan, under Kings Faisal and Hussein respectively, is a wel- come development in the East. It should give strength to Jor- dan, which has required ,.financial subsidies, and has been threatened

. with absorption by the new Egyp-

tian-Syrian Arab Republic. - t t e '

To the $400 offered by the Liberal leader, Mr. Pearson, must be added, of course, th'e- $178-gmillion‘ -reductions an- nounced by "the Conservatives last fall. This means $,578—-or $78 million more than the ‘$500 million out which the Conservatives suggested in 1953, and which the Liberals then denounced as wildly irrespon- sible. Clearly, sorne bletter explana- tion of this astounding volte face is called for than the mystic words “cyclical budgeting.”

i' t -0’ Our citizens will extend a cor-

I dial welcome to all who are‘ partici-

pating in the ninth annual Canadian high school curling championships which open in Charlottetown today. This isthe first time the champion- ships 'have been played here, and the first time in the organization’s his- tory when all ten Provinces will be represented. They will be assured of fast ice at the Arena, and our Is- land curling clubs are going all out in their plans for making the visitors’ stay a'me‘morable and enjoyable one.

fl Y R '

A New York Times correspond- ent in Moscow reports that Nikita K‘hrushchev doesn’t drink nearly as much vodka, or other liquor as peo- ple in the West have been led to be- lieve and that he never actually gets drunk, rumours to the contrary not- withstanding. Well, that is good news. It would be calamitous if de- cisions affecting a country of 200 million people and perhaps the issue of war or peace for the whole world were in the hands of a chronic tip- pler.

e 4- e

Queen's County Liberals have nominated two strong candidates in Messrs. E. D. Reidrand J.-O. C. Campbell, Q.C. The Conservatives expect to retain the seats and the battle promises to be a most inter- esting one. It is expected, of course, that Hon. J. Angus MacLean and Mr. Heath Macquarrie will be renom- inated on the government side. Both have given a good account of them- selves and they are in a strong posi- tion as a result of their party’s re- cord—brief though its term of office has been—in furthering Mari- time interests. But with two such op- ponents as Messrs Reid and Camp- bell they will_ha_ve_ no room for com- placency.

Middle -

million tax cuts now.

' FOUR-STAGE ROCKET

Buried deep in the French- German border country, the once famed Maginot Line has been secretly overhauled to serve as a Western strongpoint in the event of atomic war. ‘

Not since thevtense days be- fore World War II have officers in the French Defence Ministry been so secretive about the con- crete and steel forts, emplace- ments and underground corrid- ors. ‘

The old line extends along the frontier from Switzerland to Bel- gium and scattered fortifications extend to the channel coast.

Some of the fortifications now are as closely guarded as they were in 1939 before Nazi Ger- many’s panzer divisions swept around the line at Sedan.

The main concrete network of 25 big forts dug more than 200 feet deep in spots, never suffered much damage. French‘ engineers started minor repair jobs after World War II but the corridors remained mainly-dank and un- lighted until Western command- ers began to seekburrows suit- able fgor nuclear command posts. RED BASES SCANNED . Despite the secrecy, the costly network is known, nowada ‘, ‘to be ready again. It houses - ing new__ communications head- . quarters, radar eyes, command

posts‘;\.and arms stockpiles. i

Some say atomic-weapons are

stocked in deep tunnels. Others deny it. atever the facts, pry- ing eyes are discouraged. \

Last August a‘ big radar scan-

ning‘ post was installed in an Al- sace portlon of the line. From ,there, monitors count the Com- munist planes landing and taking off at far away Prague, Czechos- lovakia. Other areas behind the -Iron Curtain are also watched.

There is plenty of room in the

old line for all sorts of secrets.

I Maginot Line Overhouled

The Associated Press, Paris

The corridors are seven stones down in spots. Railroads run underground within the forts. Some run for 13 miles or more. Communications lines also run here, linking the command and radar operations. -

Across the frontier similar act- ivities are reported going on in the old Siegfried Line, whch suf- fered worse damage during the war.

President Eisenhower played a role in bringing the line up to its present position of readiness. The French Army put it up to him

while he was top European com-

mander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces.’-. At that time the French wanted money to overhaul the line and they pointed out its strategic worth as being virtually invulner- able to air attack and thus a fine strategic storehouse for weapons. fuel, and ammunition. ‘

The French also pointed out that “the line is still there” and doing nothing.

WORK BEGAN IN '54

The response from Mr. Eisen- hower’s command‘ was apparent- ly favorable. The French started serious work in 1954 restoring the line from Arlon on the Belgian frontier, tothe Rhine. The sector from there to the Swiss border .got lesser attention later.

You can still get an argument

from French military tacticians and engineers about the value of the famed fortifications. It cost France about half a billion dol- lars to build, a very big sumin pre-World War‘II days. , ’ The forts were carefully hid- den in hills and woods. There were hundreds of lesser posi- tions. Artillery turrets rose from concealment to -fire, then sank back into the ground.

French officers insist that the line was a victim of its own pub-

“Sputnik,” we are told, has entered the dictionary of accred- ited words faster than any other candidate of the last decade. There is usually a wait of at least a year or two-—and often more—between the appearance of‘ a new word and its acceptance by the guardians of standard English. I

Part of its rapid election, of course, comes from the need of a word that is shorter and snap- pier than “earth-satellite.” But another reason, I am sure, is the fitting combination of sounds in “sput” and “nik.”

Syllable sounds rule the pop- ularity of words more generally than we realize. Ivor Brown, the British critic, has pointed this out in his six-volume study of word-derivations.

“L", for instance, is the ini-

”Sputnik” Enters Language

Sydney J. Harris in the Ottawa Citizen

tial of most terms for lust, lewd- ness, lechery, and so on; “st” is the beginning sound for the qual- ity of endurance, in men of sta- mina, who are stalwart, stout and staunch, and also strong, stubborn, sturdy, steadfast, stick- ers-to-the-end. ' . ON THE OTHER HAND

“Bl,” on the'other hand, usu- ally begins a word conveying dis- gust or annoyance—b1a-sted, bli- thering, blooming, blighted, and (in England) the ever - present bloody. -

The “f” sound beginning a word is also one of derision and con- tempt, which is perhaps why the

relatively new word ‘phoney”_

has driven the old word ‘bogus" right out of the market. True, such words as “fair” and “fam- ous” begin with “f,” but they are outweighed by filthy, feeble,

Pity the lovesick trlbesman in Africa. In the wife market, it takes more cash now than stock to‘ promote a merger.

In the good old-' days a tribal suitor could seal the marriage contract by giving the bride’s family a few cows or goats. Now cash payments are being increas- ingly required, and in some cases the premium is quite beyond a. youth’s reach. Girls of irresist- ible rank, charm or talent may bring $800 or more.

Even if livestock still appeals to the in-laws, there is the pro- blem of inflation. Among Africa’s Kuku, a wife used to cost about four goats, three hoes, three spears, and a quiver of arriws. A more recent report lists: two cows, one bull, five goats, one ram, four sheep, two spears, 40 to 100 arrows, and two to five hoes. Even where price controls exist, young suitors complain that fathers expect under-the-counter cows.

OLD CUSTOMS

Marriage by purchase is pro- bably as old as the institution, the National Georgraphlc Society

says. Most races have practiced

Inflation Hits Wife Morket ,

National Geographic Society’

and honored the custom. T..e idea of marrying for love is fair- ly new.

Ancient Babylonians had a well- organized system. Twice year‘) all marriageable maidens gather- ed before the temple to be offer- ed in wedlock to the highest bid- ders. Proceeds went to homely left-overs-as dowries-to enhance their chances next time.

Peoples of various lands have always had, different notions a- bout a suitable price for a bride.

Africa’s Bagandas had a tradi- tional price-three or four bull- ocks, six sewing needles, or a box of percussion caps. _

Tobacco pleases New Guinea's fathers-of-the-brides. In the Bis- marck Archipelago, 15 to 200 strings of shell money are fav- ored; in Banks Islands, money and pigs; Samoa, canoes; the Car- olines, fruits and fish. Mindanao prefers cloth, Chinese jars, and brass gongs, but seldom money.

Brides come high in Patagonia In years gone by, a girl Wlth property might command a con- tractual consideration of 100 hor- ses.

Australian aborigine families

licity. It was presented as a kind of wall, when it‘ was not intended for that. Furthmore, the German forces swept around the line and then its supporting troops were withdrawn to other areas. Fin- ally, the troops in the line were ordered to surrender by the Vichy government.

Despite‘ the surrender, one group of Frenchmen fought on for a month from a fort near Strasbourg. In 1944 several Ger- man groups did the same thing, despite the fact that the gun em- placements were pointing the wrong way.. One German fort literally had to be starved into submission. .

COSTLY MISTAKE CITED"

One of the great weaknesses, of course, was‘ that it left France’s border with Belgium

"lightly defended. France once

started to build more_ elaborate defenses from Sedan to the channel, but Belgium protested this might merely be an»invi- tation to Germany to violate Belgium neutrality.

So the line ended near Sedan, and when Hitler’s panzers star- ted to move, they simply swung around the end of the line above Sedan and on into France.

This move was aided by one of the great Allied blunders of the war. The Ninth French Army of Gen. Andre Corap had been stat- ioned to protect the corner of France where the line ended.

But he moved north into Bel- gium to ,meet a German force headed for Namur, leaving Se- dan to be covered by the Bel- gium Chasseurs Ardennais Divi- S1011.

The Germans’ responded by throwing an entire corps at the lightly defended sector, swept in- to France with only token opposi- tion, and in a few days had reach- ed the channel at Abbeville. It was a disaster which made the Maginot Line useless while still relatively untried. t

The Germans, too, saw the two top galleries were reserved for. troops, the third level for ready ammunition, the fourth for command services, the fifth was a hospital, the sixth a railway, and the seventh was used for deep storage of ammunition.

fatuous, futile, finicky, and fat- heads.

The “s1" words give us a sloppy, slithery, slimy associa- tion; while the “sc” words seem particularly fitting for scamps, scalawags, and skull-duggery in general; and, on the contrary, the “j” words give us a jolly, jocund, jingly feeling.

FOR. SNIDE REMARKS

Words beginning in “sn” are generally snide and sneering such as snob, snicker, snooty, snip, and sneak; likewise, the “sq” combination gives us such unpleasant terms as squash and squeal, squawk and squelch, squalid and squat. The word “square” for somebody out of the know caught on enormously fast,.as did “young squirt” of our parents’ day. '

The sounds of the alphabet are often as‘ important as the sense, in their influence upon our reactions. ‘Sputnik?’ is an ominous object, but a rhther gay little word—and its prompt ac- ceptance may signify our des- perate desire to’ turn this men- acing achievement into a car- toon joke. .

expect a gift of game, with per- haps a boomerang as a bonus. Those Eskimos who practice mar- riage by purchase welcome har- poons, skins, furs, and similar valuables. POOR MAN’S BURDEN

‘The custom has ever been a burden, of course, on the poor man. Sometimes payments hang over a husband’s head all his life. In the Chin Hills of Burma, wrote Edward Westermarch in “The History of Human Mar- riage,” it is “by no means rare to find men quarreling over the still unpaid portion of the mar- riage price of their grandmothers and other female ancestors."

Tribesmen of Netherlands New Guinea face an appalling outlay. If a youth marries a girl from another village, he has to pre- sent gifts not only to her family

but the entire population of the

village.

‘ your doctor probably will recom-

About Tonsils And Adenoids

By Herman N. Bundesen,. M.D. I THOUGHT the picture on ton- sils and adenoids was P1‘€tt_Y clear by this time, but my mail indicates it is not.

For a long time, many doc- tors recommended routine re- moval of both as a P1‘0t€°liV9 measure. However, in recent years we have become wiser and the general medical opinion has changed.

HAVE A PURPOSE

Both tonsils and adenoids, we now believe, have a definite val- ue. Apparently, they act as _a bulward against childhood respir- atory diseases. _ _ Therefore, we are less inclined to remove them unless enlarge- ments, infected tonsils and ade- noids, frequent colds or_ some oth- er obvious trouble indicates that an operation may be advisable. The fact that your youngster has one cold after another does not necessarily mean that his ton- sils are at fault. If there is no sore throat along with such colds, they may be caused by an_aller- gic condition and have nothing to do with the tonsils or adeno1ds- DEFINITE SIGNS '

If, however, the throat is sore with each cold, if the.neck glands become enlarged or if. there IS 3 definite sign of tonsilitis, then

mend removing them.

As a rule, doctors don’t like to take them out until the ypung- ster is about four or five years old. Since the tonsils and ade- noids do offer the child protec- tion, it is advisable, in most m- stances, to retain them as long as they are of value. Besides, when they are removed at this age, adenoids are apt to grow in again.

After the age of six or so. to!!- sils and adenoids probably are of little use to a child.

NOT A SIGNAL

I would like to stress, however, that the sixth birthday is not an automatic signal for you to call your doctor and arrange for the operation. If the tonsils and ade- noids don’t bother your young- 'ster, your doctor will tell you that they might just as well re- main where they are. . As a person grows older, the tonsils and adenoids will shrink and their functions will be vir- tually nil. , .