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Village Squire, 1978-03, Page 41government give more incentives to small business to hire employees because they're more apt to use them than big business. Another factor discouraging small businesses is death duties which make it hard for a small businessman to turn over the business to his family when he dies. They'll likely have to go heavily in debt to pay the death duties. More likely, the plant will be sold to a larger company. The extreme burden of government tax . collecting hits hard at small businessmen. Did you know, for instance, that a local manufacturer has to collect and pay 12 per cent federal sales tax on everything he produces and send it in immediately, even if he hasn't been paid by the customer yet? If the customer doesn't pay his bill. the manufacturer not only has to take the loss on the cost of the product, but on the 12 per cent tax as well. In addition in Ontario the seven per cent sales tax is added on top of the 12 per cent federal tax for companies that retail their ov. n products. So. Prof. Peterson says, big business %.ins out because in some cases the government regulations are stacked in their favour and in others, they're able to get along with regulations easier. It's the little guy who gets it in the neck. But the tide may be turning, Prof. Peterson predicts. The key to the reversal is the energy crisis. Large companies have depended on technology based on cheap energy. Small companies use less costly systems and more employee input. The higher the cost of energy. the more the balance swings back to the small company. Strangely, the energy crisis may take us back to where we were before. At the turn of the century Western Ontario towns were thriving centres of industry and commerce. Each town had a large industrial sector. But cheap transportation made it easier for larger companies. based in_ cities to dominate the market through longer runs and more expensive machinery. Slowly the local industries dried up. This similar phenomenon was evidenced in places like the Maritime provinces where once - thriving economies went flat. It was easier to build things in Montreal and ship them to Halifax than to keep a plant running there. Thus began much of the centralizing of power in business and industry which has led to many of the political problems the country faces today. But Prof. Peterson sees the energy crisis as reversing the situation. Plants properly designed to meet the local market needs may make it possible to make things in Halifax or Seaforth, cheaper than shipping the product from Toronto or Montreal. This matter of proper design is one of the basics of Prof. Peterson's book. Like Schumacher he sees the need' for technology to be adapted to the needs of the people, not people adapted to the needs of the technology. In the early chapters he deals with examples of how, we've tried to export our complicated. high-energy, high cost technology to meet the needs of poor, energy short developing GIFTS FOR ALL OCCASIONS *Corn Flower Crystal •Blue Mountain Pottery •Jewellery •Stationery •Discount Health & Beauty Aids WILSON'S Health & Gift Centre Blyth, Ont. Phone 523-4440 nations. The attempts have failed miserably. But those who have specialized in turning modern technology into scaled down machinery to fit the local means and needs have benefited these countries greatly. A factor that often decides the scale of a modern plant is the kind of equipment that is made for it. Often the only available equipment from suppliers is huge, energy -gobbling systems designed for only the biggest industrial plants. But Schumacher established the Intermediate Technology Development Group in London England that specialized in designing equipment to fit the need, not forcing people to fit the equipment available. Thus two brickyards were built in Ghana at a cost of only $20,000 each that make use of low cost local materials and fuels and a high labour content to make bricks for local needs. A modern plant from Canada or the U.S. would have turned out more bricks in shorter time, but it would have cost $2 million dollars that Ghana didn't have and would hav used huge amounts of imported products and costly imported fuel that would have used huge amounts of imported products and costly imported fuel that would have been beyond , Ghana's means. Prof. Peterson argues that modern technology can be used in Canada to help rebuild a balanced economy and end regional disparity. He calls it "Appropriate Technology", technology which would make greater use of labour in regions where high unemployment is a problem, PLANNING A WEDDING? For the bride and groom we have special discount prices on room groupings. Drop in...we will be pleased to help you choose wisely, at money saving prices for beautiful rooms. BALL & M U TCH LTD. 71 ALBERT ST. CLINTON 482-9505 FREE STORAGE AND DELIVERY VILLAGE SQUIRE/MARCH 1978, PG. 39.