Zurich Citizens News, 1973-04-26, Page 4PAGE 4
ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS
THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1973
To buy or to boycott
Number one item in current news is the high price of food
and the threat of boycott by American and Canadian house-
wives. The women who handle family budgets are worried
• because their dollars go such a short distance and farmers are
equally concerned because they need higher prices to pay for
the climbing costs they face in the production of foodstuffs.
President Nixon, of course, takes the one-man approach
and dictates a freeze on the prices of some foods, but his
action is not generally conceded to be a useful answer to a
problem which has far-reaching ramifications. Agriculture
Minister Whelan, here in Canada, continues to contend that
Canadians eat better for the dollar spent than do most people
on the face of the earth.
Mr. Whelan may be right --but the consequences for people
in the food industry will be exactly the same once the average
housewife is sufficiently disturbed to cut back on her purchases.
The law of supply and demand is inexorable unless the sticky
fingers of government are thrust into the action.
Certainly the farmer is entitled to more money for bis beef
cattle when his costs go up. Similarly the workman in a factory
is entitled to more money per hour when his wife cannot fin-
ance the family marketing on her share of the income. It's
what inflation is all about. When the workman gets his raise
the farmer's costs will increase --so will the price of food and
so will the pressure return to the workman again.
There is only one final answer --careful consideration of all
buying at all levels. A gradual return to what might be consid-
ered normal prices is a dire necessity if we are to continue a
prosperous society. Uncontrolled inflation will inevitably lead
to a financial collapse and another depression like we had
in the thirties. It is a good time for everyone to exercise com-
mon sense.
(Mr. Forest Confederate)
Pedal power is in
After playing second fiddle to the automobile for half a
century, the bicycle is making a comeback that could return
it to a place of eminence.
The result is the bicycle manufacturers and retailers are busy
turning out two wheelers in all shapes and sizes. Pressure groups
are lobbying for bicycle roadways in many towns and cities.
Look for pressure on the provincial government to establish bike
paths along the major highways.
The return to pedal power after decades of depending on
the internal combustion engine can only be good.
Executives who once depended on a Bentley or Lincoln to
drive to work can now take their CCM. Housewives can pedal
to the supermarket or corner grocery, students can cycle their
10 -speed to school. The bicycle has a hundred uses.
Cycling is also a form of preventive medicine, recreation
for all, as well as being a means of getting fresh air. There
is no pollution from a bicycle chain.
There are drawbacks. Cyclists can be a real menace to them-
selves on major roads where traffic is thick and the speed limit
is high.
What driver hasn't overtaken a cyclist heedless of the huge
machines rolling along the road, and swung out to avoid him
or her at his own peril?
Cycling, like any use of public roads, requires caution and.
strict adherence to safety rules. Cyclists are in a vulnerable
position when the argument is with a car, truck or bus.
Despite pressure, it will be many years before cycling paths
are constructed in this country. The great Canadian winter will
discourage even the most enthusiastic cyclist.
Despite this, the swing back to bicycles will help to keep
some cars off the roads, exercise muscles that have not been
used for years and take Canadians to the outdoors.
(The Acton Free Press)
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ITS THE FARMER
WHO SHOULD BEEF
It's a long time since I read
as much misdirected garbage as
I have in the past weeks, conc-
erning meat prices. Directed
garbage is when you hit the
target. Most of this hit the
wrong target --the farmer.
For some mysterious reason,
a lot of people look on the
farmer as a flinty, money-
grubbing character who takes
a particular sadistic pleasure in
gouging the poor working -man,
not to mention the downtrodden
executive, professional man, or
school teacher.
It's just the opposite. For
years, generations in this count-
ry, the farmer has been gouged
by the rest of us, and here's one
consumer who not only believes,
but knows, that the average
farmer has had a tinier share of
our twentieth century affluence
than any other segment of our
community, including those on
welfare, proportionately.
There are a few exceptions.
There are a few wealthy farm-
ers. Just as there are a few
wealthy school teachers. In the
-case of the farmer, it is the
roan whose forefathers were
lucky enough to clear a farm
near a big city -to -be. 1-Iis land
has become valuable for build-
ing and he can sit on it and
watch the value appreciate.
But he's not a real farmer any
more.
The real farmer is the fellow
who works Hours -per -week that
would have an industrial worker
screaming for the union, owns
one suit, hasn't had a holiday
in years, owes money at the
bank, and has a net income of
about $4, 000 a year.
He's got to be a gambler, a
fatalist, and a man in thom
hope springs eternal. He gamble
on the weather and the market,
must accept disaster with a
shrug, and mast begin each new
season with optimism.
More and more, in regions
of marginal farming and small,
mixed farming, we see that the
farmer must have a job in town
if he is to enjoy more than a
frugal living.
More and more we see that
it is only the big farmer or the
specialist who can meet the
bills and make a decent living.
More and more we see that
farming has become an industry
in which the investment in land,
machinery, supplies and labour
is inordinate in comparison to
the returns.
If an average farmer charged
himself wages for his own work,
Independent Shipper
to
United Co-operative
of Ontario
Livestock Dept
Toronto
Ship Your Livestock
with
Roy Scotc'hmer
Monday Is Shipping
Day From Varna Stockyard
CALL IBAYFIELD 565-2636
By 7:30 a.m. Mon
For Prompt Ssuwlca
•No Charges on Pick -sop
Y
he'd show a net loss. He'd be
better to put his money into a
hot-dog stand.
Let's take an average beef
farmer. He has no sock of gold
under his bed. He must borrow
money to buy stock, machinery,
feed, fertilizer. He must pay
interest on this money to our
established banks, which are no
less greedy than they were in
the depression. They merely
have a better "image" because
they have a big public relations
programme.
While his beef is becoming
beef, this farmer has nothing
coming in, except interest
charges on his loan. When his
beef is ready, does he set the
price? He does not. He sells it
at auction. Who drives up the
price? The beef -hungry consum-
er, that's who.
Marie Antoinette, of ill-fated
fame, said of the peasants who
protested that they had no bread,
"Let them eat cake." I'd rev-
erse that a bit and say of people
who say they can't afford beef,
"Let them eat barley." It's very
nutritious.
Perhaps I'm prejudiced. I
grew up during the depression.
If we had beef once a week,
it was probably hamburg. As a
kid, I was sometimes sent to
the store for some "dog bones."
These were beef bones with some
meat on them, and they were
free. The butcher knew darn
well what they were for -- a
good pot of soup --but he winked
at it.
Many a time our "dinner"
was pea soup and homemade
bread, with some preserves --
wild berries picked by ourselves -
for dessert. Nobody suffered
malnutrition in that family.
Sometimes our "meat" was
the ground -up skins of baked
potatoes, mixed in with onions
and fried potatoes. They gave
it the appearance and roughage
of meat, if not the flavour.
Jolly good stuff.
In prison camp, meat was
merely something you thought
about, like going to heaven.
But a bows of sweetened barley !
Now, that was heaven.
I'm afraid it rather irks me to'
listen to a working -man who
will buy a case of beer and a
bottle of liquor on Friday night
for $11. whining in the super-
market on Saturday afternoon
about the exorbitant price of
meat.
And even more disgusting is
the executive type. He's just
finished regaling you with the
details of his $1, 000 holiday in
the south, snorkeling, rum
punch cocktail parties, the
works, when his wife starts
howling like a hyena because
their food bill is up three bucks
a week.
There are some holes in the
chain of food prices. But don't
blame the farmer. He's the last
to benefit when prices go up,
the first to suffer when they go
down.
Show me a rich farmer and
I'll show you a rich weekly edit-
or, or a rich school teacher .
0
We prefer the old-fashioned
alarm clock to the kind that
awakens you with soft music or a
gentle whisper. If there's . one
thing we can't stand early in the
morning, it's hypocrisy.
OPTOMETRISTS
J. E. Longstaff
OPTOMETRIST
SEAFORTH M DICAL CENTRE
527.1240
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sat-
urday a.m., Thursday evening
CLINTOhl OFFICE
1 0 Isaac Street 482-7010
Monday and Wednesck y
Call either office for
appointment.
Nor: ,;an Martin
OPTOMETRIST
Office Hours:
9-12 A,M, — 1:30-8 P.:.,;
Closed all day Saturday
5.2433 Exe
Phone 1s ter._.e
INSURANCES
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1 yr 6 25%
2 yrs 6 75%
3-4 yrs....7,50%
5 yrs......7.75%
a . ,...EMIR
PHONE
ZURICH 226-4346