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Home My WebLink AboutZurich Citizens News, 1973-09-27, Page 4PAGE 4 We are the inflators! Last week a woman stepped into our office to ask why we do not write some scathing remarks about the big oil companies. She obser- ved that it seems every time she fills the gas tank on her car the price has gone up another cent or two. She has a point there. About a year ago this column pointed out that the price of gas- oline in our area was considerably higher than in communities only a few miles to the east, and within a short time local prices actually went down by a fair margin. Today, however, the situation is vastly different, Inflation of an unprecedented nature has all of us in its costly grip, Not only gasol- ine, but virtually everything we buy has gone up by leaps and bound, Food is the most irrit- ating problem, but it is certainly not the only factor in a dizzying cost -of -living spiral. Our caller's contention that we are being ripped off by the giant corporations is no doubt quite true in some instances. But on the other hand the big corporations are also being ripped off by almost every source of labour and supp- lies. Both federal and provincial governments have high-powered committees busy looking for the answers to who and what are responsible for runaway inflation and they don't seem to be able to put the finger on any one rogue. Fact of the matter is that it is people like ourselves who cause inflation. The average man on the street and woman in the retail store is not only the victim of the price spiral, but its creator as well. There is only one way to stop inflation. It will cease only when enough people refuse to buy goods and services at the exhorbitant prices we are being asked. Precisely the opposite of financial depression, the cause of inflation is a mental state on the part of people with too much money in their pockets and an exagerated standard of what they consider necessities. Mat prices are high-- very high, despite the reassurance of the federal agriculture minister. Talking with a realistic young couple the other day, we found that they have run into heavy medical bills and the young mother said with- out apparent distress, "We don't buy much meat now. We eat less expensive foods instead." Inflation will cease only when demand slack- ens. The great danger is that when demand does decline it may slide right on down past the common sense point and we will find ourselves in an economic slump comparable to the days of the thirties. The Canadian government's recent decision to subsidize milk and wheat producers so that basic foods will stay within reach of the aver- age consumer is a wise one. There is tremend- ous and powerful opposition to the two -price system which has been imposed on the petrol- eum industry, but it is the only fair way to deal with an emergency which can eat into the wages of every Canadian. Hopefully such diet- orial pricing policies will not be required for too long. The less the government interferes with the market -place the better. However, putting the clamps on the prices of basic com- modities appear to be the one and only way to protect the average citizen until counterbal- ances begin to take effect. As a sidelight to the entire inflation probl- em, it is interesting to note the number of influential publications which have featured articles on Robert Stanfield, leader of the Opposition. In every case there has been leng- thy reference to his cool and intelligent app- roach to matters of national concern, It seems his personality doesn't matter so much now. (Mt. Forest Confederate) ZURICH Citizens NEWS PRINTED BY SOUTH HURON PUBLISHERS LIMITED, ZURICH HERB TURKHEIM, Publisher Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385 its e4 f� Member: • �� Canadian Weekly. Newspapers Association Ontario Weakly Newspapers Association 4'` Subscription Rates: $5.00 per year in advance in Canada; $G, 00 in United States and Foreign; single copies 15¢ ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1973 FAREWELL ENGLAND AND 4 ICE CUBES One last column about imp- ressions of England, and if you're already sick of them, turn to the classified ads. Cost. A holiday in England used to be relatively inexpen- sive, what with lower wages and food costs. Not no more. Costs have soared all over Europe and Britain is no except- ion. You can still have a cheap holiday there, if you want to squeeze every pence, just as you can in Canada. But that's no fun, on holidays. In the lovely old town of Chester, we paid about $15 for a room without bath. But break- fast was included. Good seats in London theatres cost from $8 to $10. Meals in a posh rest- aurant are about the same prices as in Canada --prepost- erous. Best place to eat is in the pubs, where, at reasonable cost, you can get a hunk of French bread and good cheese, or a plate of bangers (sausage) a slice of veal and ham pie, or a hot steak and kidney pie, Ice. If you are accustomed to ice in your drinks in hot weath- er, either forget it, or be prep- ared to fight for it. Order a dry martini and sit back waiting for something ice-cold and uplifting. What you'll get is a glass of lukewarm Vermouth, a concoction design- ed to send you screaming into the arms of the local W. C,T,U, We arrived in Edinburgh, hot, tired and dusty after a seven - hour train ride. Struggled with luggage, cab and got to our hotel room, after riding up in the littlest elevator in the world (No more than four pers- ons or 600 pounds). I was int- rigued by the thought of what would happen if four 200 -poun- ders got on. Anyway, when the porter arrived with our bags, we were stretched out, dying for a cold drink. I asked him to bring some ice. "Ice? Oh, yes, ice. Yessir." Ten minutes later he returned, toting a huge silver tray, bedecked with a sparkling white napkin. The piece de resistance rested in the centre of the tray-- a wine goblet with four tiny ice cubes in it. We roared. He was bewildered. We'd orderec ice, hadn't we? He'd brought ice. Courtesy, Canadians and Americans are friendly souls, on the whole, but our manners are not always exactly polished. We were struck by the courtesy and friendliness of the Brits, At bus stops, for example, there is no elbow -punching of old ladies, no sly kicks on the ankles, no every -man -for -him- self attitude. There is polite- ness, which, though pained at times, is very evident. There's an old tradition, fostered by movies and novels, that the English are extremely reticent, to the point of stuffiness, on trains. They're supposed to retire behind their papers, indicating each others' presence by no more than the occasional grunt or dirty look. Why, it's just the opposite. They'll go on and on and on, explaining things, being kindly and helpful until, sometimes, when your exhausted and don't feel like gabbing, you wish the old, grumpy stereotype were true. Only once did I have a slight unpleasantness, and it was my fault. We were catching a train, and were late. Sweating under the luggage, and with our carriage what looked like a quarter of a milw away, I looked wildly around for a port- er. The only one I could see was helping an elderly, crippled lady out of a wheelchair, to get on the train. I dropped my bags, gave the porter a hand at helping her up, then slung my luggage into the wheelchair and went beetling down the platform, pushing it. We arrived, and I started to unload my luggage from the wheelchair, to put it on the train. A rather stern railway official looked at my wife, who'd been galloping along behind me, looked back down the platform and spoke. "No. no. That'll have to go in the baggage van." I didn't know why, as it hadn't happened before, but with two minutes to go I didn't care. We put the bags in the van, and he started to fold the wheelchair and put it in. I said "Oh no. That belongs here. 1 -le turned purple. He had been looking over my shoulder for the invalid, probably expecting an old soul on a stretcher. It was the wheel- chair that had to go into the baggage van, not the bags. He had been completely baf- fled by this example of Canad- ian enterprise, was embarrassed by his error, and therefore grew a bit black in the countenance. I apologized, with a very sin- cere look, and offered to run the chair back down the plat- form, but he gritted something about the train leaving and another phrase or two I didn't quite catch, but which definit- ely contained the word, "bloody; Business and Professional Directory TEL. 238-8070 GERALD L. MERNER CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT 10 GREEN ACRES GRAND BEND, ONTARIO 80X 278 GRAND BEND, ONT. OPTOMETRISTS J. E. Longstaff OPTOMETRIST SEAFORTH MEDICAL CENTRE 527.1240 Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sat- urday a.m„ Thursday evening CLINTON OFFICE 10 Isaac Street 482.7010 Monday and Wednesday CaII either office for appointment. Norman Martin OPTOMETRIST Office Hours: 9.12 A,M, — 1:30.0 P.M. Closed all day Saturday Phone 235.2433 Exeter ages INSURANCES Robert F. 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