• Voice of the Press Canada, Die Empire and The World at Large CANADA la 0«nii\ Profanltyf Is damn a 8»c«r word? It not, w» lijkve only to confe«a thai wo have misused It for aiany year*. Not long ago, Governor Murray of OUabama annuunced that the word damn In not profanity, and tlia' to call « man a damn liar means no more than that he is a consummate liar. The italelKh (N.C.) news, owned by the eminent Hon. Josephua Daniel.i. recalls a decision by the Maryland supreme court to the effect that damn la not a swear word. The Petersburg (Va.) Index also cites a famous case. It seems that a certain Captain Carmichaol, then a member of consress, sent a postcard tlipouEb tho malls In which ho had pre- fixed a roference to tho eminent Gen. William Mal'jne with the word damn. Gen. Maliono took action, and the case was heard by a federal Judge who held that damn was not profanity .McAree in Mall and Kmplre. Toronto Taxi Fares For a city of Its slzo Toronto Is yoars behind others in taxicab trans- portation. Did you ever find a cruis- ing taxicab in Toronto when you real- ly wanted ItT Maybe they're there, but you'd never recognize them, be- ca.use distinctlrcuess prevalent la avery other city is lacltlng. Short ttips, especially, are too costly tor the&e depressed tim&s. A ride that cofits half a dollar ia Toronto can be had in Detroit or Cleveland for flCteea or twenty cent^-St. 'J'homas Tlmoa- Journal. Wanted Signs Will Gb Up This dcpros.slon isn't going to last torover; we have seeu tho lowest levels, It appears, and to-day there Is a pinpoint of liglii at the und of the tunnel. One of these days the "Help Wanted" eigna will be dusted off, a new and eager crop of young.sters w^ill have their names on the pay-rolls of the nation, and the ba<l years will be charged up to experience, - Ottawa Journal. A Fine Record Nineteen of twenty-one murders committed within V. o precincts of Greater lX)ndou were solved by the motropolltan police last year. This is a record tho autboritioa of the groat British metropolis may well be proud. Politics and slack court procedure are things that do not enter into tho ques- tion of justice in the Old Country. Hence this notable achievement. â€" Giielph Mercury. Canada Keeps Ahead Every country saw tho figures of its export trade diminish in ((uautities and values last year. But there are a few, and Canada is one of them, which have succeeded in difllcult times In rC'8Uibll»hing their commerce on a sane basis, that Is to say. In selling more, than they Iwught, and Importing les« than they exported. And we shall see, in a year's time tliat the agreements wa made ./Ith Britain and other couutrlea will have Improved the situation evon more. â€" LT.enement, Quebec. New Braille System T):o Impoi'taut aunounement has been made that, owing to negotiations persistently can led on by Canadian represontatirea, a now and improved universal system of Braille has be«D arranged which will be of great advant- age to blind students. lu the past it appears that the sys- tems used In Britain and the Unltad States have differed sufllclently to pre- vent the publication of t universal lib- rary in the Braille type. Dy the agree- ment that has been reached the best feat jres In both systems will be adopt- ed, and 150,000 blind people of the United Stales aud British couatrlos will bo able to enjoy an increased aumber of books lu their own langn- age. MoreoTor, the new system will be more economical in the printing of bcok».â€" Brentford Expositor. Most Beautiful Words Our aiiRgestion for the ton most bsauMful words in the Kngllab lang- uage is: "Vour application for posi- tion accepted. Report for work at elite â- â€"Toronto Saturday Night, An Unpardonabit Omission A. SiKinlsb newspaper devoted two columns to the report of a fashionable wedding and next day apologized for leaving out the names of the brld» ^d groom. The man In the case as- J*oU to be ovoi'looked but when It Knof to Ihe bride well, if this isn't ker jAa^ of days then human nature ttiuef tare changod « »boi> lot. â€" Bt'sntford Expoeltor. THE EMPIRE Britain Weathtrlng the Storm With drops of 37.3, 3S.7, and 31.1 par fMt. Ifi the oxponts of France, Amerl- pk, and Usrmaar reapectirely as oom- pva with 6.( In our own case, It la sbvlMus that we ars weathering the ftorm batter tbsA any of our rivals. •neb Industries as are active are those loatered by the recently imposed tariffs; and, bad as things are, we bare etrong grounds to be thankful (bat a National Uovernment has saved us fi'>ra a sit latioQ that migtit have been luflaitely worse. â€" Kdlnburgh Weekly Soolsman. Ceylon and Empire Preference The moet potent argument for Cey- lon's acceptance of Imperial Prefer- ence is provided by the Secretary ot State's analysis of Ceylon's trade po8i> tlou in relation to Empire countries and foreign countries. On the 1931 figures two-thirds of Ceylon's export trade goes to £mptre territories, the figures being Rs. 144 million to the Kmplre and Rs. 71 niilllon to foreign countries, out of a total of Rs. 215 mil- lion. The Import trade is proi)ortloned In almost exactly tho same ratio, Rs. 71 million out of a total of Rs. 213 million coming from foreign countries. Kconomlcally, it follows that Ceylon must stand with tho Empire or face al- most Inevtable disaster. â€" Colombo Times of Ceylon. Standards of Life in Australia The Australian worker has no la- alienable right to any particular stand- ard of living, or to a bettor standard than the worker of any other country. The present standard is 'moagro" only in comparison with the standard en- Joyed a few years ago. That standard was sustained by borrowed money, by abnormally high prices for Australia's primary ezitorts, and by mortgaging the future by means of the time-pay- ment system. It is a quaint idea that the Australian worker has an inde- feasible right â€" whmce obtained no one knows â€" to a regimen which In- cludes the best of food and clothing as well as such luxurie.s as moving pic- tures, liquor, bettlu gramophones, player-pianos, and wireless sets, and that he Is being cheated of his due when his reduced wages can no longer supi)ort such a standard. â€" Melbourne Argus. THE UNITED STATES Persian Oil Dispute In accepting for consideration and set- tlement the controversy between Great Britain and Persia over Persia's cancellation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company's concession, the Council of the League of Nations has seized an opportunity to redeem somewhat its failure in handling the China-Japanese controversy. The two conflicts are in no way analogous; they cannot be compared In their effect upon world politics. At the same time. If the lieague can bring this controversy to a, i)eaceful conclusion, it will prove that Its usefulness as a;, international arbiter has by no means been irre- trievably impaired and its prestige win bo greatly enhanced. It is the first time in which a country so well able to defend its interest as Great Britain has put them entirely into the hands of the I.<©ague when the issue is of such Importance as the protection ot its naval oil supplies. â€" New York Evening Post. Horse Sense A horse In Cleveland, Ohio, it is re- ported, went throug'i town without a driver, keeping to its own side of the street, stopping for red lights and pro ceeding when they flasliod grreen, and did not break a single traffic ordlu- anoe. A simtlax display of horse sense on the part of many motorists would make tho streets aud highways much safer.â€"Chrlstlan Science Monitor. Wise Spider When Mark Twain edited a news- I>aper in Mis.»ouri one of his subscribers wrote him that be had found a spider in his paper and wished to know whether It meant good luck or bad. Twain replied: "Finding a spider in your paper Is neither good luc' nor bad. The spidor was merely looking over our paper to see which merchant was not advertising, so that he could go to that store, spin his web across the door and lead a life of undisturbed peace ever afterward." â€" Walter Win- ch ell. ♦ Heavy Gale Destroys Shipping Television Principle Not New to Science Montreal. â€" Many of the principles embodied In television today are from 15 to 40 years old insofar as science is concerned, H. J. V^ennes, engineer c the Northern Klectric Conipany told the Progress Club recently. In tho course of an illustrated lec- ture on television, Mr. Venncs de- .scribed how a picture is tranEmitted from one point to another. He said that radio television is being carried on by some half dozen stations in the Ifnltcd .States at the present time. "While we have not reached the stage where wo are commanding the same public attention as radio," ha declared, "progreas is in the main.'' Mr. Vennes envisaged n Jay when television on a largo scale would be common to every hnuaehobler. When the wind blows in California this Is the result. A recent "Santa Ana" or dust-laden gale wreckcxl shipping In Los Angeles har- bor, dtowued one niau and piled oil derricks into a twisted mass of scrap. Functions of Modem Hospital Described Montreal. â€" Organization of a mod- ern hospital, the inter-relation of the various ui.its, and the fincti^ns of the different departments and their offi- cers, were explained in an address at a meeting here by Dr. H. R. Dunstan Gray. Dr. Gray made reference to the n;w hospital now being built, in which would be providv.»d important dtpartments not possible in the pres- ent premises. There would be an out- door department, also provision for social service, which had been found sue'., a useful adjunct of the modern hospital. Dr. Gray included in his lecture interesting items in regard to the ca e of the sick in ancient times. Ancient Grece had its institutions built on the mou .tains, with southern exposlure, and having verandahs on the style of modern sanatoria. Hydro- therapy was organized in connection with hot springs. Rome followed the example of Greece in providing care for the sick, although the ordinary slave was not giver treatment. An Egyptian papyrus described one of the first cases on record, that of a wo- man uffering from "the unswallow- able ball," a hysteric:.! affection. Rare Shell Able To Turn Two Ways Adelaide. S. Aust.-- A f res! -water .shell, which, unlike other shells, can turn both to the )• ght and to tho left, ha3 been found in South Austra- lian waters by Mr. Ernest H. Ising, presi ier.t of the field i.aturaliits' sec- ti'.n ai the Royal Society. It ha.s been named after him â€" Planorbis Isingi. The shell is about a quarter of an inch in diameter and the new species ia fairly common along the Rivet Mur- ray. Natural scientists state that all shells turn either to the left or io the right. Britishers Shown as Great Tea-Drinkers London.â€" Oojai.s of tea, rivers of cott'ee, trickling brooks of cocoa â€" that's t. comparative picture of old England's taste. "Statistics ;-how," said Douglas Woodruff, official of the Empire Mar- koti g Board, "that we in England drink Ave cups of tea per head per day, one cup of coifee a day and one cup of cocoa a week.'* French Plan to Reduce High Cost of Living Paris. â€" Forty miilion Frerchmen a;> preoccupied this winter with one big p'obiem â€" how to reduce the cost of li\ing. The people of France, almost alone in escaping the economic depression, have discovered they still hre paying predcpression prices for . Imost every- thing. Prices in France are higher than in ary other European country except Svitzerland. Research by governniont experts has revealed widespread profiteeri.ig in the retail food trade, especially among butchers. Veal roast in Paris 'st-« 4.5 to 5o cents a pound, beef roast 65 cents, rumpsteak ("hifteck") 50 cents, fresh roast pork 35 cents. An entire lamb can be bought for $2 on a r'arm, but a leg of lamb weighing a little over four pounds costs $2.13 here Brea '. costs about 4 cents a pound, butter over 50 ctr.ts, eggs 64 cents a 'Jozen, milk cents a quart, and beer to 20 cents a quart. Ordinary table wine is sold for 12 to 25 cents a quart. Apples and pears, of the domestic vs.riety cost 13 cents a pound, oranges 15 cents. Spinach is 5 cents pound, carrots 5 cents, tomatoes 10 cents, b -ans 14 cents. Flour sells for 6 ctnts a pound, sugar 7 cer.ts, salt 3 ctmts, coffee 55 cents. Alents here have come dov.n consid- erably. A three-room furnished apart- ment can be had for $65 to $90 a month. The same apartm'>nt, unfur- I ished, would rent for $500 to $600. Geo. Bernard Shaw **Greate8t Man** Says His Printer .Associate's Opinion of Noted Playwright Who Takes Unusual Interest Manu- facturing Books London, Eng.--No man is hero Io his valet, but if a writer is hero to his printer he must, deeipite. the ruling, be among the world's chosen few. Which bit of reasoning puts George^ Bernard Shaw, Irish wit and world- 1 renowned playwright, very high upon, the ladder of fame. "George Bernard Shaw is the great- est man on earth." says William Max- â- well, who has some autlkorliy in the matter, since as fine printer of Edin- burgh he prints all Shaw's books, has; a considerable collection of Shavlana and In addition has carefully consid- ered the claims of Mussolini, Ramsay MacDonald. Hitler and Gabriele D'An-l nuulo to the title of "grealest." Among all the galaxy of writers whose books he prints â€" Rudyard Kipling, the late Thomas Hardy, Hugh Walpole and Mazo de la Roche, to name only the more importantâ€" Mr. Maxwell pre- fers Shaw. Great In Mathematics "There is a greater man in mathe- matics," Mr. Ma.xwell .-dmits, 'Jthero ia one in physics. But taken by aud large there is no greater than Shaw." The Irish author takes as much in- terest in the manufacture of books as in their writing. 'Shaw likes the game of manufacturing books," Mr. Maxwell contIuu6<l. "He employs us to print them. Then they go down to his pub- Usher who has only the work ot sell- ing them and keeping accounts. Shaw's Wit Shaw does all his writing in short- hand. He then passes it on to his secretary who typos the material in triple spacing. He then works over these sheets making corrctions and these form the actual manuscript from which we set the bcoks. The writing is the clearest imaginable." Mr. Maxwell has a valuable collec- tion of first editions and examplea of fine printing. Among „ther things he hr a complete set of prompt copies of Shaw's plays, and these are in- scribed in the following terms: "This may be added to William Maxwell's collection of shop-soiled literary curi-' ositles." Piccard Says Trips To Planets Possible Washington. â€" Crof. Auguste Pic- card said last week that study of the cosmic rays, foi which he made his two balloon flights into the strato- sphere may help unlock trer.endoua erergy in atoms which might over- come the difficulties of ucnding rocket l>.Rnes on "round trips" to other planets. Then is no limit ic the heights which rocket planes may reach above the er.rth, Professor Piccard said, but predicted balloons and airplanes will not rise much further than the 10-mile height he reached last sumir.et, owing tu practical difficulties of construction. « Employment In Prance, is Increas- ing. Sir Malcolm Campbell To Have Wider Speedway Daytona Beach, Fla.â€" Nature has provided the fastest beach course ever fv.,- Sir Malcolm CampbeU proposed attempt to speed five miles a minute in his giant car Blue Bird II. The highest tide in mode'-n Florida history tore great chunks out of the s oreline sand dunes last fall. The dunes were washed down upon the beach and the constant pounding of breakers between now and February 10-20â€" the period set for the attempt â€" is expected to offer a wider speed- way than has ever before been util- ijied. With the hazard of a narrow courss eliminated. Sir Malcolm may achieve his am'oition of reaching 300 miles an hour. He holds the present record of 253 JLP.H., established last year on the beach. Balkans Now "Invaded" By Technocracy Belgrade, Yugoslavia. â€" Techno- cracy finally has reached th. Balkans, The Politica, Yugoslavia's biggest newspaper, recet;tly carried an article attempting to e.xplain it to the na- tion's agrarian population. This is rather diffic.ilt, for whereas a century ago it took the Serbian peasant 1,000 hours to do a cerUia piece of farm work, it now takes him 999 hours, his tools being practically um hanged. Th.- paper does not indulg. is an e'.torial appraisal. Training in Chicago Purchases Bride on Installment Plan Au uland. New Zealand. â€" These are boom days In the br • niarlcet among Solomon Island cannibnls. The ni tives are agog over news that Sari- tr-ons, of Sinerango, ha« paid a rec- ord price o* It "monies" (alwut $1,- 800) for • wir*. He t>oucht the duiky maid on the fnetalnient pla and will I'.'- the 'â- est of his life pafipf for hrr And while Alex Hard was mopping up at New burgh, L,ela Brooks Potter and I.aura McNaofhton. b iih of Toronto, trained at Chicago for next month's minted camlTSl. Lela has challenged Helen Blna of f'hicngo to race for the Indiio' championship. Violet Wellfounaer, carniv. i queen, alts on tho tenoe. The Dominion Coast-to C^bj; Halifax, N..S.- Acc»T(i'r-i r; the Canadian Tra e Conlmi^sitlne ir. tht» North of Englai.d, oysters from ths. Maritime Provincis .re rr-r^'uvuid a; of excellent qualiy. Deiciib'ng th«i • requirements of the 6rit:uh market, • the Commissioner says that oyslerf ost in demand are those whi.h *,!!, pack from 1,400 to 1,500 to a barrel. ' These, he believes, should fir«! a ready , r arket. The size of the burrsl re- ferred to is that used for appies or * floor. Frederictom N'.B. â€" The ten'h an- * Bual short eourse in agriculture con-, ducted at the Dominion Experimental, Station in Fredericto tjas recently been concluded with 3<J your.cr men* graduating. These bring ihc total • graduates for the 10 years- up- to '21)0. 'i he present year's graduate? aue al- most equally dividail as to origin. tl.ere ttieing IC Ei.glish-.speakiVg and 14 French-speaking students.. Mo itreal. Que. â€" Atrondli ro pre- liminary figures for 1930 issued tij the Dominion Statistician, on thjs Island of Montreal and Jesus Islr-nd ili^re were 13,(5S0 retail stores aiul 1.206 service establishments, wfth b-<isinass turnovers of $122,0SS,4C0 ur.ii S4.6,- 906,000 respectively. In Monjura-i! pi >per retail stores trans.icted lausi- ntss aggregating SS87,80T,T0O iiid the service establishments ^-1,282 tiOa. Ottawa. â€" Experts of Canacla"; poultry to the British Isles front AprL' 1 to September M, 1932, tctalltd 224,- 822 pounds, or more than fo-ir times the e.xport of 4S,S22 pounds ia iise ear- responding period ICSl. Regina, Sask. â€" According t &.r aa- nouncement by officials of the L-river sity of Saskatchewan, after li yeart of work, invohing 120,001' mi!es <A •ravel. Saskatchewan's soil snrvey : now compleied. In 1920 men;b'rs ol a" better farmii.g conferen e held v Swift Current propos.d a sar'.-ey K the soil, of the province is order t( classify and map them so us to a.Tsis' the development of soil types b>y syc ttms of fai-ming to which they w2rt best adapted. A soil map of tae west e. part of .;he province has been completed showing the mtcr so* types, and field work of th? present season brings almost to comp!e;i<.a ibt reconnaissance soil sUivey ox the mori- settled part of Saskt.tche n. LetnLridge, .Ailta. â€" For .ht- firsi time in history the 1932 crop r,l sugar beets in southern Albcr^j aver- i'.ged ov-r 10 tons to the acr--'. In- creased efficiency of the growers and a more libera! use of ct,nimercial fer tilizer arc given as the two main rea- sons for this exceptional result. Tbt sugar content was about IT per cent. and the beets came from th^ silo :r excellent condition. Calgary. Alta.â€" From 60 to 70 met have been employed in preparing tht old coke ovens of the Internationa! Coal and Coke Company at Coleman .Alberta, to fill a contract durir.g 193-5 for the Consolidated Mir.ir.g and Smelting Company at Trail. Critisa Columbia. Fine weather during the early part of the winter helpsd rapi: construction work. New Westminster, B.C.--.vlcKj:- cher's. Limited, is a com.>lete tobacc* manufacturing plant located at New Westminster, British Columbia. This factory has just commenced manufac- turing and packing "Totem" brand pipe and cigarette tobaccos fvt m the British Columbia grown plant. ♦â€"â- â€" - Titled English Woman Opens a Fish Shop Over a fishmonger's shop in the main street of Letchworth, Fr.g., ia painted the r.an.e "E. A. Keid." This is prosf-ic cno igh in it:,elf. The hi use- wife buying her cod and haddock never suspects that its smiling, tactful owner is one of two titled women in England to go into the fishn i ngers' business. She is Lady Reld, jvidow o< Sir 'J. Archibald O'Brien Reid, who, before his death in 1929, was an emineiit doctor, and an authority on alcoholism and the effects of heredity. Her companion in origin.Hl.tv and enterprise is Lady Rachel byi.g, who has a similar shop at Ascct. Looking at life from the other side of the counter has developed in Lady Reid a sympathy and understanding which makes her the most entUu-ii- astic of tradeswomen. When it was suggested t^iat she should opien a gown shop like s^o many hundreds have done before, she re- plied: "Yes, and have cit iit tccounir running for months and months!" Then an acquaintance who had been in the fish business before ti e war suggested that she might rii. '.veil if she tried this business. This appealed to her advciuuroui spirit, although she knew r.othini ahout either business or Billingsgati (the famous old fish market of iA>n don). Septemlier saw her with at immaculate refrigerator, • s|Kitles( counter, and strin^c of bloaten screening her windows. Every morning finds het at V.30 appropriately dressed in a white over all and a Breton fisherman's bereV opening fishâ€" all sorts and itzea, cleaning, beheading and examinitt| their anatomy. lAdy Reid ha» one assistant, ani he- son has become the chief account- ant To switch from a laxarif.i's homn sarrounded by a garden ot flowers, U thj distinctive smells of a fish sho|^ has not disturbed her. She is too in- trigued by the commerce of lif«.