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Zurich Citizens News, 1975-05-15, Page 4PAGE 4 ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS The dollar figures! It has been said that figures don't lie but that liars do figure. Statistics can be juggled until they can be made to say just about anything that anyone wants them to say. Percentage figures are the worst kinds of deluders. Very often they tell us absolutely nothing or else they lead us far down the garden path in. delusion. One of the worst kinds of salary or wage increases is the kind that provides a 10 percent increase across the board. That simp- ly means that the laborer who is getting $500 a month will now get $550, and the blue collar or white collar worker who is getting $1, 000 a month will now get $1, 100 a month. Five in- creases of that nature finds the two workers with $800 difference in their salaries instead of $500 difference as there was. The gap between the rich and the poor grows wider each time. The alternative that is more acceptable, if there has to be a difference in wage scale, is to increase each by the same amount of dollars and not be percentage. Another classic example of percentage delusion that leads one estray is in the federal government's treasury board book on how' your tax dollar is spent. On page 19 of,that book comparisons are made between 1965-66 figures and 1974-75 figures. Showing how many cents out of every dollar spent is used to finance the int- erest on Canada's public debt. The chart indicates that in 1965 it required 14.4 cents of the dollar to finance this debt, whereas in 1974 it took only 13.3 cents for the same purpose. In actual dollars and cents, because of the tremendous difference in the size of the budget, the 14.4 cents was just slightly over one billion dollars in 1965; whereas in 1974 the 13.3 cents represented 2.9 billion dollars; almost three times as much in actual doll- ars. Two men each weigh 190 pounds. They must be equally healthy. But those are only part of the figures dealing with those two people. One of those men has a 44 -inch chest and a 36 -inch waist. The other has a 40 -inch chest and a 44 inch waist. But there are still some more figures. The first one is six feet tall and the second is five feet four inches tall. So one can readily see that unless all the figures are available and all the available figures are used, one can get a very distored picture from the figure he's looking at. If one adds to these complications the difficulty in getting accurate figures, even from the most sophisticated sources, he can see how hard it is to make any predictions regarding the future on the strength of the figures he can acquire. Here we draw an example from the very controversial energy field. Let us honestly face the fact that there is no possible wayof getting anywhere near an accurate total as to the amount of gas and oil reserves there are in the world. There are not two companies or two governments that can come anywhere near agreeing on this virtually inknown quantity, in spite of all the sophisticated and scientific research and calcul- atinns. In all of the figuring that is done by men, the figures concern- ing the dollars involved is the most common figuring done. Here also the miscalculations are tremendous. Don't count on figures to help you when the chips are down; even dollar figures won't help. Do we realty neednot er? The parliamentarians in Ottawa are getting set to create another statutory holiday, this one to occur in the middle of February when there is no place to go and nothing to do. It's all a bit reminiscent of the ancient Roman emperor who pur- chased public support by declaring special holidays on which the masses could go to the circus and watch the lions chewing on the Christians. Monday holidays are among the most costly extravagances known to modern business. These on -day interruptions simply add to every cost of doing business -which eventually must be added to the prices of the things we purchase. For thousands of workers across the land Heritage Day will simply be another day without income at a time when most families are finding it difficult enough to make ends meet. Tr fact there are several reasons why one -day holidays should be abolished altogether. The death toll on our highways on a summer long weekend is staggering and travel at Such tunes. has become so risky that many Canadian families refuse to travel while the big rush is on. Those who do fight their way to and from the rivers and lakes return to work in no shape what- ever to look after their jobs. It would make a great deal more sense to forget about the long weekends and add the nine or ten extra days in the year to the employees° annual vacations. With the trend to shorten- ed work weeks, three, four or five days, there is little reason to believe that an extra day in February has any real merit other than a vote -getter which costs the politicians nothing. ZURICH Citizens NEWS PRINTED BY SOUTH HURON PUBLISHERS LIMITED, ZURICH HERB T,URKHEIN1, Publisher Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385 ats a, I1Aember: OIA Canadian Weekly Newspapers, Association „'OWill1'Z Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association 1,,.f ' % Subscription Rates: $6.00 per year in advance in Canada; $8.00 In United States and Foreign; single copies 20¢ hiternational Sceiie (by Raymond Cannolij UNITY AMONG ARABS PAPER THIN An Arab friend of mine once said that if there was anything an Arab hated more than an Israeli, it was another Arab. I assure you he was only half joking and perhaps he wasn't joking at all. While the Arabs may be relatively united in their desire to see the state of Israel chopped to size, this unity disappears rapidly when it comes to other matters. The latest display of non - unity has taken place between Iraq and Syria and I am watch- ing this with more than the nor- mal amount of interest since 1 expect to be in Iraq some time next month and don't want the Syrians to hijack my plane on the way. The dispute is over the flow of water in the Euphrates River which may seem rather a silly thing to get excited about. However, take a look at a map of the area and you will see why The source of this river is in Turkey and it flows from there into Syria and thence into Iraq where it joins the Tigris and empties into the Persian Gulf. Those of you who have studied Ancient History in schoo: may recall the advanced civili- zations which existedalong these rivers but right now the Iraqi are not too concerned about the remains of these civilizations as far as their hist- orical value is concerned. They are far more concerned with how much water is flowing in the Euphrates. The Iraqi claim that they are only getting about half as much water as they should because Syria is busy filling up a large reservoir on this large river. This action added to the fact that the Turks have also divert- ed some more water farther up- stream, means that the flow of the water is so low that proper irrigation measures cannot be carried out in the breadbasket of Iraq which is where the Tigris and Euphratis meet, They also claim that, if the halving of the flow continues, the famous marsh Arabs near Basra will have no marshes to live in. On the basis of the facts which I have seen to date, I would have to go along with the Iraqi claim, especially as the Syrians have a real reputation for being loners. They have any number of technical agreements for their neighbours, for example, which they keep only so long as it suits their purpose. They blandly go ahead and violate thein whenever, for any polit- ical reasons, Syria decides to put the squeeze on one or more of these neighbours. Although, fdr example, both Syria and Ira( Iraq are governed by the same party, the Baathist, this does cut down on the plotting that goes on. To give you one ex- ample, Syria has been holding on to a few Iraqi exiles as poss- ible successors to the present Iraqi regime. Just recently Iraq was able to persuade some of these that all was forgiven and forgotten and that they could come home if they wished When this happened the Syrian government was reportedly so angry that it jailed about 200 army officers and government officials in spite. The Syrians are trying to down -play the whole incident and dismissing the argument over the Euphrates as a mere technical matter. In the same breath they accuse the Iraqi of resorting to treachery by making an agreement with the Shah of Iran who is not overly admired by the Syrians. Where it will go fromhere is anybody's guess and I can only hope that they don't come to blows while I am over there, This will give you just one example of the bickering that goes on between the Arab nat- ions. The next time you see a picture of a group of smiling leaders, you can bet that is just for the camera. I could give you several other examples more than one of which would revolve around another of the Arab odd men out -Col Qaddafi of L ibya. I am not trying to prove by all this that Arabs are a partic- ularly fractious group of people; it is just that I have been read- ing so much about the common THURSDAY, MAY 15, 1975 front the Arabs are putting up when it comes to oil. That, I assure you, is the exception rather than the rule. Varna 40H Carden Club (by Dianne Consitt) Our first meeting of the Varna 4-H Garden Club was held on May 5 at the home of Mrs. Jim Keys. We opened the meeting by repeating the 4-H Pledge and for business we elected officers. President, Kathy Peck; vice- president, Dianne Consitt; sec- retary, Laura Taman, and phone girls, Bonnie Voisin and Tanis Chuter. For discussion we talked about "Why Plant a Garden" and "How to Plan One." Mrs. Keys discussed about "Annual Flowers.' Our next meeting is to be held on May 12, at 7 p.m. in the home of Mrs. Joan Stephenson Banghart, Welly, 'Doig and Co. Chartered Accountants 268 Main St., Exeter ARTHUR W. READ Resident Partner Bus. 235-0120, Res. 238-8075 Business and Professional Directory wamosammanomemaseormsur OPTOMETRISTS J. E. Langstaff OPTOMETRIST SEAFORTH MEDICAL CENTRE 5274240 Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Sat- urday a.m.. Thursday evening CLINTON OFFICE I0 Isaac Street 4112.7010 Monday and Wednesday Call either office for. appointment. Norman Martin OPTOMETRIST Office Neural 9-.12 A.M. — 1:110- 0 P.M. Cloned all day Saturday Phone 23¢2413 Exeter INSURANCES Robert F Westlake Insurance "Specializing M General Inarressoe" Phone 236-001 m Zuriels Guaranteed arc Certificates 1 YR - 7 1/2 /o 2 YRS - 80/0 3 YRS - 8 1/2 %p 4YRS -9°/0 5 YRS - 9 1/2 Oh J. W. t MUM ZURICH PHONE 2364)111 ZIIIIMININOsenelsmosi AUCTIONEERS PIRCY WRIGHT LICENSED AUCTIONEER Kipping Ont. Auction Sale Service that is most efficient and courteous. CALL THE WRIGHT AUCTIONEER Telephone Hensel I M9)262-5515 )262.5515 Hugh Two FILSON and It AUCTIONEERS 20 years' experience of complete sale service Provincially licensed. Conduct sales of any kind, • any place. To insure success of your sale, or appraisal Phone Collect 666.0833 f4i-11�6i NOR/4 WHITING LICENSED AUCTIONEER A APPRAISER Prompt, Courteous, Efficient ANY TYPE, ANY SIZE, ANYWHERE We give complete sale service. PROFIT By EXPERIENCE Phone Celleet 215.1% 4 RESTER GERALD L. MERNER Chartered Accountant BUS: 20 Sondets E. — EXETER — 235-0281 RES: 10 Green Acres —GRAND BEND — 238-8070 �r.