By Bert Whyte QUR Dollar is shrinking, Mr. and Mrs. Canadian Citizen. js no longer worth 100 cents. fhin the past two weeks it has pped 15 to 20 cents in value. ire is a grave danger that unless jic pressure persuades the fed- government to call an immedi- halt to lifting of price controls, i currency will continue to de- ise sharply in purchasing power. ~ us review briefly just what is hap- Ing. Ehe government, through Don- “Gordon, Chairman of the Wartime 2s and Trade Board, has: = i Inereased the price of butter by cents a pound. : Increased pork prices up to four a pound. attra "Ur H Tncreased by 25 cents the price of ls, underwear’ and other articles of ang. ) Imereased the price of furniture bedding by 16 to 25 percent. ) Allowed steel prices to go up $5 mW: Boosted the price of lumber and rT King’s Broken Pledge ME MINISTER W. LL. M. KING, { a nation-wide broadcast on June ‘election which placed the Liberals ‘in power, stated to the people of daz ou have seen that by the price ceil- we have been spared the evils of tion; that your basic standard of g has been safeguarded, and that dollar today continues to be worth eents. Our veterans and their de- lents and those who receive pen- ; have not been robbed by inflated is? ‘+ Mr. King has broken his promise. sr pressure from the Canadian mon- sts his government has sanctioned lifting of price controls, thus reduc- the buying power of the consumers’ r and seriously lowering our Cana- “standard of living. The People Protest ivMinR KING and the monopo- sts who pull the strings backstage ‘not been able to lift controls with- stirring up a public hornets’ nest sriticism. Ganadians have reacted ply to his inflationary moves, and ests are pouring in to Ottawa from enant citizens, trade-union bodies, ‘ch and fraternal organizations, and ‘LPP and CCE. Toronto two labor aldermen, Dewar ruson and Norman Freed, are tak- the lead in organizing and spear- ling this protest movement. d. Ferguson, representing Ward Six, id Price Gontroller Gordon in the ie of his 118,500 constituents, de- idi. that the government continue tols and keep a ceiling on prices. euson also voiced the protests of self and the citizens he represents CIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE il '945, immediately following the gen-_ ‘It’s No Longer Worth Your Dollar Is Tumbling As Prices, in a radio broadcast over station CKEY, and continued his campaign against the high cost of living by issuing 30,000 copies of two leaflets in his ward. En- thusiastic help was given by voters in the distribution of these “paper bullets” of protest. “One example of the hardship lifting of controls is working on our citizens,” says Ald. Ferguson, “is the case of a veteran in my own ward. After serv- ing four years in the Canadian army overseas, this returned man had $600 coming to him under the re-establish- ment credit. He had used all his sav- ings to buy a small house, and intend- ed to use this $600 to furnish his home in modest fashion. Now, however, his $600 has shrunk to $475, because of the 25 percent boost in furniture prices, and he finds this sum totally inadequate to meet his needs.” Ald. Freed’s Message LD. FREED, labor alderman for Ward Four, spoke over CKEY last week and placed the issue squarely be- for his radio audience when he said: “A few days ago the Price Board an- nounced that the price of butter will go up four cents a pound. It is estimat- ed that the annual consumption of but- ter is about 300,000,000 pounds. A four- cent imnerease will cost the Canadian people $12,000,000 a year. The price of pork-has also been increased from one to four cents a pound. Mattresses, pil- lows, bedding materials, comforters, studio couches will be increased from 16 to 25 percent. What does all this mean to you? It means that your dollar will buy less goods. It means that we are moving into an inflationary period of price increases. “We are told that goods have been held back from the people because of price controls. Im other words, we are con- fronted with a sit-down strike on the part of the monopolists. “While prices are allowed to go up, wages are still frozen. The take-home pay of our working people has been greatly reduced. And as a result of price increases the working people have ac- Profits oom tually suffered wage cuts. This cannot but result in a lowering of our standard of living, a reduction’ in- the purchasing power of the people, a curtailment of the home market, and after a short- lived inflationary boom, a new depres- sion.” Will Milk Go Up ? federal government has already lifted price controls on many food stuffs, and there is no indication of when or where these inflationary moves will end. For some time it has been com- mon knowledge that King & Co. intend to abolish the present price subsidy on milk, whieh would result in a price in- erease of at least two cents a quart. Last week a delegation from the Tor- onto Housewives’ Consumers’ Association visited the board of contrel requesting cooperation from the board in protest- ing removal of subsidies. : ‘Workers would be unable to afford sufficient milk for children if the price were allowed to increase,’ said Mrs. Mary Arland. “We feel that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” declared Mrs. Elizabeth Morton. “We plan to hold a protest meeting on the matter.” Should milk prices go up from i1 to 13 cents a quart, it would mean an an- nual increase of close to $3,000,000 to the citizens of Toronto alone. Fighting Inflation He; retention of price controls is 2 bread-and-butter question to millions of Canadians. Action must be taken toe prevent further lifting of controls; ac- tion on a nationwide mass scale could even force the King government to re- consider and restore certain controls. Toronto’s labor aldermen have motions before the city council urging that it go on record in favor of retention of eontrols. A number of such resolutions passed by civic bodies from coast to coast, and descending upon the federal government, will have a powerful effect. Resolutions from trade unions, con- sumers’ organizations, church societies, ete., will force the government to hesi-,. tate before bending lower to the will of the monopoly capitalists. 100 Cents’’ No government can afford to ignore the will of the people. Vigoreus protests to Donald Gordon and Premier King de- manding continuation of subsidies on the basic necessities of life will force them to realize the extent of the dissatisfac- tion which exists in Canada today. Let- ters to the daily press will also help to make the government aware of the pulse of the people. : TLabor-Progressive Party public figures in Toronto (A. A. Macheod, MPP, J. B. Salsberg, MPP., Ald. Norman Freed, Ald. Dewar Ferguson, Ald. Gharles Sims, Councillor James Wilson of Long Branch, School Trustees Edna Blois and Hazel Wigdor) are sponsoring a post- ecard protest campaign which should win wide public support and result in thou- sands of cards being mailed to Ottawa. Addressed to Prime Minister W. LL. M. King, the postcard states, in part: “Your government action on price con- trols reduces purchasing power of the consumers’ dollar and lowers Canadian standards of living. This inflationary price boost is sanctioned while your government continues to forbid wage increases . £ submit that your gov- ernment must take action to improve living standards of the people—by con- tinuing; Subsidies on the necessities of life, by curbing excess monopoly profits, and by providing for just wage increases to workers and proper floor prices for basic farm products.’ ’ Citizens of Canada! Tet your voices be heard on this matter! Unity Needed LONDON.—A conference of top level British and Soviet government heads is eabed for this week in a letter to the Manchester Guardian from K. Zilliacus, head of the British Labor party’s x- ternal Affairs Committee. Such a con- ference is needed net only to reconcite British and Soviet interests in Iran and the Far Hast, he says, but more impor- tant to implement pledges in the Angio- Soviet Alliance “to cooperate in the po- litical reorganization and economic re- construction of Hurope and to render each other the utmost possible economic aid.” The Soviet Union must be a partner in the settlement of Middle East Af- fairs, Zilliacus maintains, because these territories cover “Russia’s back door.’ The Laborite also points out that “you cannot separate the Communists im Europe today from the coalition gov- ernments that have come out of the resistance movements. The main poht® cal force with which we must work for Socialist reconstruction is the working class leadership in Europe, in which the Communists now play a key part.” 1939 Prices MEAT Sirloin’ Steak 232-32. = 28e Round Steak ................ 2A4c Back Bacon ........-.---:+:. 33e¢ Blade Roast of Beef ........ 20¢ VEGETABLES Gelerya ee ee 5c a Bunch Carrots -....... 6 Bunches for i3¢ ERUITS Oranges .............-- 27¢@ Dozen Grapetruit: 3-5-2 = 4 for i%e Apples, Duchess, 6 qt. Basket . 35¢ DAIRY PRODUCTS Butter 325] 2s a 25c Ib. WISER 2 a eee 3le Dozen FISH Salmon Steak ........... 25c Lb 1946 Prices MEAT Sirloin Steak. 5.25 3. 49c Bound Steak ........./....:- 39e Back Bacon: 22255 ee 70c Blade Roast Beef ......... _... 30¢ VEGETABLES Gelery: (5 553 8: 2 Bunches for 25¢ Carrots ....... 2 Bunches for 15c PRUICS Oranges .............. 39c Wozen Grapetrait i272 3 for 25¢ Apples, Duchess, 6 gt. Basket . 90c DAIRY PRODUCTS BEVIGN Fes oaes 3 eee Seer ee Sea es 40c Lb. af gsi ery Ss ee re 45e Dozen Fish Salmon Steak .........:. 39¢ Lb. FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 1946 —. . #* +MY) PT. mE ah oe