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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1969-03-06, Page 2PAGE TWO ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1969 elf A Big Industry Comparatively few people are aware of the fact that the slaughter- ing and meat packing industry in Canada has annual sales of over one billion dollars and is the fourth larg- est of all the manufacturing indus- tries in Canada. When one considers that this is only one facet of the out- come of agriculture in Canada and that Canadians are among the world's largest meat eaters, it makes one feel proud of the fact that he is asso- ciated with and living in an agricul- ture part of the country. It is true that industrial Canada is out -stripping agriculture. It is also true that the population trend has long been toward the industrial centres, that is, primarily the larger cities, so that even in western Can- ada where agriculture was the main industry and source of income for so many years the rural population is now only a fraction of that of the urban. But in spite of these facts, the country, and in fact all the world, still depends primarily for its sta- bility and food upon the farmer and rancher. There has always been a rather wide gap between the people of the rural and urban areas. They think differently, they live differently, and while they depend on one another for their existence, they still seem to be at logger heads with one another. Probably one of the widest gaps, in this day of dollar and cents think- ing, is the gap between what the farmer gets for his produce and the price the consumer has to pay. Some- where in between these two are a number of middle -men who are play- ing both ends against the middle— so should we say for the middle. It may be this difference in price, which is usually blamed upon the producer, which makes a good deal of the other differences which really should not exist. In any case, it should always be remembered by the manufacturing industries, like the meat • packing plants, that much of the industry in the urban industrial centres, could exist or operate if it were not for the dairy, ranch, grain and garden products of agriculture. Really, if the agricultural producers could band together long enough to oper- ate a successful strike or boycott, they could tie the country into a tighter knot than any other industry ever has. It makes one shudder to think of what could possibly happen in such a situation.—Nanton (Alta.) News. Getting Tired Of It The editor of the Stouffville (On- tario) Tribune has written the fol- lowing article and we concur with him on behalf of most small busi- nessmen. * * g "Small businessmen are getting tired of being pushed by government. They're complaining bitterly. "For individuals who aren't aware of it, the employer is having an in- creasingly rough time. If he looks after his own books he finds that many hours a week are necessary to take care of the various things such as tax deductions, Cand,da Pen- sion deductions, workmen's compen- sation, T-4 tax forms, etc.—all from the employee wages. To the em- ployee this may not sound like much of a job, but add them all together and you have a load that is becoming unbearable, and it's without remun- eration, just a heavy penalty if not remitted promptly. "The employer is required to de- duct the income tax from his help's -wages. This must be put to one side by the 15th of each month, a form must be filed and the tax remitted. Try being a day late and it will cost you ten bucks. We know. Then the Unemployment Insurance levy must be deducted, which the employer must equal out of his own pocket or business, stamps of the proper de- nominations must be purchased and placed in a book and cancelled. "Now we have the pension plan and again employers must deduct 1.8 per cent from the wages paid, to which he (the employer) must add an equal amount. This, too, will be remitted to the receiver general. "On top of all these are employers who participate in hospital and other benefits which also require deduc- tions. Now the groans are becoming loud and long. "In the commercial job printing such. as The Tribune operates, there are other loads to carry. Most busi- nesses gripe about the 5% sales tax. How would you like to collect 12%, add this one and collect 5% on top of it all. Both taxes are separate and need separate cheques. For the provincial work he gets 2% of the total tax which amounts to enough for a bit of postage and maybe a cigar, but for the federal collections he gets nothing, only a fat penalty if he's late"' We Like Letters The Citizens News is favored occa- sionally with letters from its read- ers. Newspapers like to publish letters, even when they disagree with editorial views. That's because peo- ple find letters interesting and read them. The editorial page has as its purpose the stimulation of thought, as well as the advocation of the newspaper's own opinion. Letters provoke thinking — and they are evidence of readers' inter- est. When you get the urge to write, here are a few tips to keep in mind. Keep it short and interesting. Let- ters to the editor get high readership because people are interested in other people. But they don't want to wade through long epistles. Use short sentences, keep para- graphs short. This makes your writ- ing interesting, too. Use a new sentence for each new idea. Write like you talk. Don't try to write like a college professor. Avoid sarcasm. This is very hard to handle, even for accomplished re- porters. You make a bad impres- sion if you start out to hurt some- body's feelings. Don't be cute. These attempts usually don't come off as the writer intends. Make your first shot the most tell- ing. Begin with your strongest argu- ment—or strike at the other side's weakest argument. Sign your name and list your ad- dress. Otherwise, your letter won't even be considered. You may request that your name be withheld, in which case the editor will honor your re- quest or not use the letter at all. Don't lay down an unconditional "no editing" rule. This usually results in rejection of the letter. Don't be hesitant to write when you feel strongly on a public issue. You would be surprised to know how much influence a citizen's letter in a newspaper has. Keep it short. Zurich News PRINTED BY SOUTH HURON PUBLISHERS LIMITED, ZURICH HERB TURKHEIM, Publisher J. E. HUNT, Plant Superntendent Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa, and for payment of postage in cash. Member: Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association Member: Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association Subscription Rates: $3.00 per year in advance in Canada; $4.50 in United States and Foreign; single copies 10 cetnt& The International Scene (by Raymond Canon) FREE TRADE - HOW FREE? Now and again I am indebted to another columnist for the topic of my article, and this is one of the times. A While ago I learned through G G. Bramhiil's column in the Simcoe Reformer that there was some funny business going on in the attempts of Canadian farm- ers to buy English tractors. The whole thing smacked of trade re- striction —a rather remarkable turn of events since lately about all one reads on the subject is what is being done to facilitate trade between countries. In spite of these advances, im- porting merchandise can still be pretty expensive in Canada, and you might like to know just what goes en when you try to do just that. First of all, the chances are that the goods you want to buy will have their price quoted in Ameri- can dollars, so you can add eight per cent to the price right there. When the merchandise does ar- rive, the customs boys go into ac- tion, and, depending on what you buy, you can count on paying up to three different taxes. There can be import •duties, sales tax, based on the quoted price of the mer- chandise plus the duty, and finally, an excise tax. If the goods are then sold retail in Ontario, there is a further five per cent tax, so both the federal and provincial governments don't do to badly by it all. That isn't all. The duty paid on imported goods depends on the country it comes from. If it orig- inated within the -Commonwealth, it pays the lowest rate. If it comes from a country which has what is called a "most favorite nation" agreement with Canada, it pays a higher rate. Goods imported from any other country pays the high- est rate. Sound complicated? It is. There are all sorts of regulations, and even dumping duties of the ens - tom officials think you are buying the goods too cheaply by Canadian standards. It all adds up to the fact that we still have a long way to go to make trade between coun- tries what is should be. But back to tractors. Is seems that Canadian farmers found out that English tractors manufactured in factories controlled by Ameri- can interests could be purchased far more cheaply than a similar From My Window I know other families have been all through it—several times in some cases. But this is the first child we've had to start to high school and somehow we're worried. Actually our teenaged torment is still in grade 8 and will be until June, Whether Hall and Dennis' are to blame, I couldn't say, but we had to escort, our lad to the high school in February for a kind Of indoctrination course. Almost every youngster there was accompanied by one or more parents. It was difficult to tell who was more nervous and con- fused. In our case, my son took the whole •outing in stride. He seemed to know exactly what was happen- ing and he was disgruntled to learn that I wanted to seize this opportunity to talk to the staff. "What do you want to talk to the teachers about?" asked my eager son. "I know the course I'm taking. I know what I want to do with my life. You mothers always want to make things hard for a fellow." I suggested we tour the building as all the other families seemed to be doing. "Haven't you ever seen a school before," queried my impatient boy. "If you want to follow the crowd, go ahead, but do you mind if I go with the ether guys for •awhile? I'm tired of doing nothing much." "Doing nothing much!" I excaim. "We're just making plans for the next five years of your life. You call that nothing much." "Gee, mom," he shrieked in des- perate whispers. "Hundreds of other kids have gone through this school. It isn't exactly like pioneer days. What's to get so excited," "Go ahead!" I say, knowing I shouldn't give up so easily but tao weary to continue the battle of right against might. "Thanks, mom," he smiles and saunters off down the corridor like he owns the place. No shy- ness of uncertainty there, I think. Fifteen minutes later I see my boy again. This time he's leaning causally against a locker door, chatting with some prissy missy in a mini -skirt. He chats easily. She responds with as much ease. They enjoy a little joke—and part like two old friends. At their age I would have died —just died—if I'd been that close to a strange kid of the opposite sex. Why my husband didn't even know the difference between boys and girls until he owned his first car! My soh turns and horses about with a group of fellows about his own age. Every one of those kids are as confident and as stare as the average adult anywhere. A teacher makes his appearance. Renew Your Subscription Now By Shirley Keller The boys show their respect by signalling "hello" but there is no shaking and ' quaking in their shoes. They are assured to a man! I catch my son's eye. "It's time to go," I say. "OK," he agrees. We walk through the school to the exit. He expresses this excit- ment at the thought of attending classes here. His eyes shine with the thrill of it all. He chatters all the way home about this and that. I remember how terribly terribly excited I was at the prospect of high school— and I recall how much I wanted it NOT to show. Maybe he's better prepared for high school than I was. Maybe he's just a better actor. Either way I'm concerned. How can you tell a boy of the heartaches he'll know there? The growing up he'll have to do? Maybe I shouldn't even try. tractor in Canada. The farmers then proceded to order some, but strangely enough, the English dealers were told to' stop selling them to Canadians or lose their franchise. The Canadians count- ered this by ordering a tractor through an English farmer, but then the Englishmen were forced to sign a statement promising not to resell the tractor. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture stepped in and with over $2,000,0011 in orders for the tractors, attempted to act as the Canadians' agent. They were informed that no spare parts would be available in Can- ada. This was neatly countered when some enterprising person noticed that the English tractors were identical with those made in North America, hence the parts were interchangeable. It is difficult to understand why all the roadblocks. England is badly in need of foreign currency, especially dollars. It may be that the American companies want the business for themselves, but are these companies so strong that they can tamper with trade policies set up by governments? Appar- ently so, but to date the last word has not been said on the matter. This is not the first time that such restrictive practices have hap- pened. A few years back we had another case, also involving the Americans, where a Canadian truck manufacturer wanted to sell trucks to Red China. Apparently the Chinese are good enough to buy our wheat but not our trucks, for under pressure from the parent company in the U.S. the Canadian company was forced to break off negotiations with the Chinese. It was never revealed just what the pressure was, but it is definite that it was applied. Since such trade restrictions in- terest me, I file away all reports on such things, and I have several other examples which I could quote if space permitted. Needless to say, while applaud efforts to snake international trade less complicat- ed and restrictive, I take with a grain of salt statements by some of these large company executives who come out in favor of free trade. What they often mean is that they're in favor of it, as long as it doesn't affect them. 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