“loiind financial basis. But it would put

y?”

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The lnlnuil Ulllflllll Fulillnlilnl Co. Idllrw and Managing llirn-tor. J li- llllfllllfl Anuwlnto Isilllnr. Frisnli Walls". "The Strangest Memory is Weaker Than ‘ the Weakest Ink."

FRIDAY. MARCH 25, 1949

CIIARLOTTETOWN.

Living llosts 0n The Farm

There seems to be a general and growing impression among people complaining of the high cost of living that the farmers of Canada have been peculiarly exempt from the effects of high labor costs; in short, that the high prices of such foods as bacon, ham, eggs, beef, milk, butter, cheese and so forth represent straight profit to the farmer.

This fallacy, remarks an exchange, has been promoted to a considerable extent by the argu- ment over the admission of margarine to the markets of Canada. The contrast between the price of this product, largely manufactured from imported vegetable fats and oils, with the pre- vailing high price of butter has created th-e im- pression, especially in the minds of the city dwellers, that the Canadian farmer is a profiteer- lng monopolist.

This psychology overlooks the fact that the farmer suffers from high prices the same as ev- eryone else. As a whole, there are relatively few farmers who provide even a-ll their own food from their holdings, not to mention clothing, educa- tion costs, farm machinery and especially hired labor. » I l-n respect to the i-tem of labor, recent fig- ures published by the accurate Dominion Bureau of Statistics are illuminating.

These show that the labor cost on forms has been steadily rising during the last three years with no di-minishment in sight as yet. On the basis of pay per month with board, the average monthly wage of male farm help in Canada r059 from $63.29 in 1947 to $70 in 1948 and $104.34 1n 1949,'taking January of each year as a com- parative base. L

Monthly wages for male farm help without board, on the same basis, were-1947, $89.25; 1948, $100.09; and 1949, $104.34.

There was a great variation in these labor costs among the provinces. Steepest rises in farm labour costs have been in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan in the west and _New Brunswick and Quebec in the east. Manitoba farm costs have increased like the rest while Nova Scotia is the only province showing o de- crease in male farm help wages.

Socialist Society

lvor Thomas, M. P., former Colonial Under- Secretary and Deputy Minister of Civil Aviation in Prime Minister Attlee's Labor Government in Britain, recently resigned. ln doing so he made I speech in the House of Commons in which he iaidf

"For long, Mr. Speaker, l had hoped that the Labor party would be the best instrument for raising the standard of life, both materially and spiritually, of the poorer classes of the com- munity. But I see that ministers are bent on levelling down, not levelling up . . . Most Social- lst M. P.'s would be horrified if they could see the type of society they are unconsciously creat- lng . . . Hard work, thrift and honesty no longer pay. The paths of duty today lead but to the tax-gatherer's office. The incentive of financial independence, which has been the mainspring of our economic life for centuries has disappeared, cnd nothing has taken its place."

The Latest Epidemic

An observer and commentator in the United States declares the whole world is being swept by an epidemic of the "gimmies.” Nearly every- body desires to get something at the expense of somebody else. This epidemic grows out of a be- lief that governments somehow can provide aid and security for its people no matter what the cost and how far in debt it is already.

The more government provides, the more is expected of it. One of the penalties of gov- ernment assistance, notes an exchange, is a widespread lowering of the sens: of responsibil- ity. Individual stamina and self-determination expenses are going u_p. This parallel development has destroyed nations. lt enabled a few thou- sand barbarians to overthrow the vast Roman Empire. The Romans came to depend on the state for food, _shelter and entertainment. In their eagerness for free security they became so inse::'re lhev lest everything.

A state is just- a ltrrg: number of individ- uals. ln the end, it is subiect to the some limita- tions as the individual; it pays the some penalty lnr bad management. Take debt, for eicornpie. The United States government owes over 250 bil- lion dollars - more than $6,000 for every Ameri- can family. Other political sub-divisicns — states, cities, counties, school districts -— owe twenty billion. All of them are under terrific pressure to provide more services and still greater benefits. .All are having ‘to increase taxes and borrow money to pour out to a never- sotisfied public.

The popular idea is thafthese funds can Vbo obtained from the rich and big corporations --so that the maiority of people can have the benefits without paying the cost. But nobody gets anything for nothing; everybody shores tho debt. Everyone pays taxes — direct or indirect. There aren't enough rich people to enable the government to finance itself at their expense.

f government‘ took all the wealth of the cor- partitions, it,woi'ildn't put the country on ha l’ Q corporations out of business and workers out Qllloblfldidiiwhlle, all thattlis big companies

to government becomes a part of the cost e your they proiluce-fon-lmportant foc- ln the cost of living lormryhaiiy.

M of thus basic facts |oily t must eventually hop-

Ilivvriiirtliiiio-lv-lririlivdv flimr

0.1V .~ ‘ l y i

l EDITORIAL NUIES/

The Legislature Prorogues.

New Brunswick liad1a¥surplus of $2,032,418 last year, a-nd estimates another surplus, its tenth, of $119,278 in the current year.

y .

* w

The long suffering rural mail carillers have had their plight mentioned again in Parliament, but Postmaster General Bertrand offers little hope of improvement.

U 1 Discipline mustlhave been emphasized at rho Government caucus on Wednesday morning. There was a greatly subdued atmosphere in the afternoon and evening. U I I The United Kingdom Government lost £l0,000,000 ($40,000,000) on purchases of pota- tees and carrots last year to maintain fixed prices. Keeping the Old Country farmer solvent is considered to be of prime importance over

there.

Q i i

The announcement that the United States intends to test rockets with atomic warheads as well as other long ranqe weapons in Central Australia indicates that Canada is not the only Commonwealth country with which the Ameri- cans are on good neighbourly terms.

i

is i

Finance Minister Abbott's announced inlen- tion to continue the policy of postponing public works where possible is an eminently sensible one. To avoid competing for scarce and expen- sive materials and labour at this time and to have proibcts ready to take up the slack in case of unemployment is a policy that should com- mend itself to all. ‘

That the world would have been much hap- pier and would be better off today if the Ameri- can colonies had not left the British Empire in the Revolutionary War, is one of the subjects which four intrepid members of the governing board of the Cambridge Union will debate with American students on a month-long tour of the United States. That such a subiect will be dis- cussed without rancour seems to indicate that the negative has overwhelmingly the stronger

C1150. a

lt now can be fairly accurately estimated that Canadians consumed approximately 100 lb. of sugar per person last year, according to Ca- nadian Grocer. That would be close to 1,300,- 000,000 lb. and a record. That, at least, says the grocery business paper, constituted the sales of refined, and of this amount only,1,300,000_ lb. were exported. Lifting of the ration restrictions toward the end of 1947 opened the dpor for all the sugar industrial users and consumers want-

ed.’

i I

1 w w

The Archbishop of Canterbury says there are only three kinds of people in the world:

1. Communists.

2. Convinced christians.

3. Amiable nonentities.

In a sermon at on R.A.F. station the Arch- bishop. Most Rev. Geoffrey Fisher, said the first two know their goals. "Tho rest of the people of the world are amiable nonentities, contribut- ing literally nothing to the construction of the Kingdom of God." Carlyle terms them "Mostly fools!"

wrw i

Michael Davitt, Irish ogitaton, born this date 1846. He became a Fenian in 1865, and later became associated with Parnell in his Home Rule agitation. He was thrice imprisoned for sedition, which only made him the more popu- lar in lreland and Home Rule circles in Britain. He was a member of Parliament in 1892-3, and again in 1895-9. He caused serious disturbances in the House of Commons as an-obstructionist, and was removed from the HousejAfter the Pig- gott scandal, and the division of the Irish party, he threw in his lot with the Parnellites, and this served to accentuate his un-pcpularity in the of- ficial lrish party of which Mr. Jchnjdzvlcird Red- mond became leader. in his later ‘years, Dovitt, who did more to force the Irish issue to the front than any other politician of his time, re- tired from his activities and wrote The Fall of Feudalism in lreland which was published in 1904: "Home Rule m-ust be a means only to an end, and that end is Irish independence."

w A i

The lai'niers of Canada borrowed nearly $30,000,000 Ulill r the Farm improvement Loans Act during 1948, according to the Annual Re- port tabled in the Ho-use of Commons-by

total represents an increase of 61 per cent over the year 1947. Since March 1, 1945, when the Farm improvement Loans Act came into force, just under 70,000_individual loans have been made to a total value of $60,000,000. For the fourth successive year there have been no losses. Of the total of $60,000,000 lent under the Act, 57 per cent has been repaid. Farm Improvement Loans are mode through the chartered banks under a partial Government guarantee. Loans are made for a wide variety of purposes includ- ing the purchase of farm implements, the pur- chase of livestock, the financing of farm build- ings and the clearing and breaking of land. The loaning in 1948 by Provinces is shown

belowz‘ "No. Amount

Alberta . . . . . . . . . 10,962 $10,634,375.“ Saskatchewan . . . . 10,725 10,505,458!" Manitoba 4,788 4,552,345.37 Ontario 2,427 _ 2,260,050.52 British Columbia i.. .765 . 747,323.27 Quebec ‘ S30 447,359.12 Nova Scotia ...,, 90. “ 72.51533 New Brunswick 83 85,505.53 P, E. Island ,,_._.... 61 46,M6.70

80A}! $9,331,130.70

the, H-on. Douglas Abbott, Minister of Finance. This‘

AROUND QUEEN SQUARE

Charlottetown is a city of rec- tangles and red glay, regular in its streets, und uniform iii its col- our: but the advantages of a Iliu- nlion beautifully sloping to a fine esturlzil sheet of water have not hail justice done them. At some fului-c day. probably, there will be some sort of ‘Tyburrila’ or ‘Bel- zrriviii’. where mansion follows mzinshli in clustering magnificence. and one will be spared the feeling of having seen a whole town. after looking at one imparted-stone Col- onlul Building, which, alone in its glory, stands ‘like Patience on a monument. smiling at grief,‘ or l“ its risked amplitude. groveless and unshi-ubbed. one of those architec- tural ireauties which ‘when un- Bdvrllflliis adorned the most." While there is only ‘one import- erl-slone building. it would be a D115’ l0 g1“? design and ornament to ils approaches: the island ceri- not afford to hide a single stone by foliage. the visitor must have ‘a clear road and no favour‘ to see ii all. But were a real stone luuildlng not so grout n rarity. iherc- could be combined on 911"" sill-Hire, where the Colonial Building. stands. the richest ef- fects of colour under the diversi- fied and gorgeous hues of autumn foliage, tlie green carpetlngs at its base. and the ruby lines which would form its approaches. Here is wanted a colossal statue of Prince Edward lslanil, the late Duke of Kent; but it is unlikely that any one will open a subscrip- tion, or make is trial of arousing sufficient. interest in so desirable an undertaking. because so many frustrations always arise to such efforts where a community, like clay under the sun's burning. gets cracked by the heat of unprofit- able debate. and loses its cohesion. —From “The Progress and Pro- spects of Prince Edward Island," etc., 1861. by C. Birch Bagsier.

Lenten Meditations

The Times. Imndon

THE TWILTIGBT 0F I CIVILIZATION

In one of his weighty books. “The Twilight. of Civilization," M. Jac- ques Marltain. the distinguished Roman Ciitholic philosopher, diag- noses the conditions which have produced the present crisis for mankind. This is not, as the title might suggest. yet another expns- sion of pessimism: no real Christ- ian can foil n victim lo that. As M. llliiritain says: "If twilight ush- ers in night. night itself precedes day; and in human history it often happens. that the first rays of dawn are‘mingled with the twi- light."

The book is rather a piercing analysis of the contemporary hu- man situation; and not the least of its virtues is that it docs not stop short at diagnosis but confl- dently points out the way of re- COVGF)‘. .

An age that lives under the atomic menace is in dire need of at.- ientlon to the teaching of Christ. Half a century ago much of that leaching seemed to anti-Christians to have been superseded by the progress of science. This delusion has been liquidated by the discov- ery that science in itself is neu- tral rind it is the uses that men make of it which are crucial.

Even Christians seem sometimes to be infected by the tendency so to dilute llie tremendous sayings of Jesus that they almost lose their meaning. Atlieislli: humanism ad- vocates "the idea that man alone. and by himself alone, works out his salvation."

But experience proves that, as Marliain says, a world that "shuts man up in himself and separates him from Nature, Grace and Godl’ and "puts uslde God in order to be self-sufficient." is a world in which "mun loses his soul."

For if indeed this-ls God's world. arid God has revealed Himself in Christ, life, by substitutes hostile to iliiii revelation, must lead first in frustration and then lo the riixvcs. Nothing else will work in God's world but God's o\vn way of llfc: mun can fiilfll himself only in lifn \Vlll(‘li is "hid with Christ in Gorl."

Miiriliiin L‘.’lll cull all history to nvltnoss lo the truth of his peon- clusinii ilint "If a niglil of long cunilniiiincn ls not to come down on civilization it is on condition of . . the rediscovery of God." Mon iriusi "go back to the first to As Robert Louis Stevenson "Sursum cordn! . .' .

source of spiritual allergies," God. once ivrulc: Enter" Gorl."

FNVU i’

foi-“endgd is our brief,

G0_ sdngs. sweet play; “ Go. children of swift. lay and tardy sorrow; Ana some are sung. and that. was _ yesterday. Amd some unsung, and that. may be tomorrow.

Go. songs. and come not back lrorl your fa: way; ,

And if men ask you why ye flflllt and sorrow,

Tell them ye grieve. hearts know today.

know tomorrow. ' -hanelr Thompson.

o enltlllellllioliiillryliiltb nephew

for your l

Tell them-ye uni-lie. for your eyes

iiae ooh’ Io uttilsll sh laugh not,

Norway And The . Atlantic Pact

(By W.N. Ewer)

I am writing L111! article ln Oslo. Hes-e in Norway, one sees the European pattern from a dil- ferenl angle: yet it is the some pattern,

Only here one realises even more than in Britain how entire- ly the pattern has been created by Soviet policy: how Stalin is the maker of the Atlantic Pact.

It could be argued ttliough 1n- accurately) that. so for as Britain is concerned the Atlantic Pact and Western Union are the outcome of the expression of power polit- ics: that. in tneMiaaie East and in Asia generally, Britain end Russia have been rivals for more than a century past. that the So- vtet Union is an obstacle to Brit- ish “imperialist aims" and so on: and that. therefore Britain is seeking to build a. coalition against a rival great. power.

But Norway as well as Britain is to sign the Atlantic Pact. And she will do so not only of her own free "will, but. on her ovvri iiinlat- lve. That is the important point- Norway herself took the decision. There was no pressure on her to do so either from Britain or Am- erica. Hod there been _ this one realises also in Oslo -— sire would very probably have refused. There was a Soviet attempt. to bring ‘pressure on the Norwegians lo decide against Joining the pact. That at any rate was the inter- preiatlon the Norwegians placed on the Molotov proposals 01 a soviet. Norwegian "non-aggression" treaty. And tlie effect was to convince them finally of the need for join- ing the Atlantic group. '

a n a

Now Norway is not i3. great Power oi- an imperialist power. She has a long tradition not only of peacefulness hut. of paciflsm, She has (except under the com- pulsion of Nazi invasion) follow- ed a policy of strict neutrality. of aloofness from “power politics" or any kind and from coalitions of any kind.

Fhrlhemiore. the. Norwegian Labour Partyghes had a tflgdiflgn <1! silmmthv wlth Llie Soviet Un- ion rmd of something very like 51111175111? to the Western Powers. Sit it. is the labour government w li the finn and considered sup- Pflri 311d approval of the vast. ma. W10’ el 111e parry and of the trade unions. irvhicli has taken this decision.

N°TWBY had a tradition not only of peacelulness but of something very near la disarmament. And her economic situation today 15 one which makes any serious ex. pendltures on armaments a very heavy burden. She suffered grog; loss from the German war nn-d the German occupation. Hair her

merchant fleet. ._ he,- greatest ECQHOITliC asset. -- vras, destroyed. She is rebuilding it. and is repair-

ln! the war devastation, by e9. "P11"! n rvelme of "austerity" sirlclcr than even the British, To =i:ei“.'l niforiey or

, 1i if) 1.. cap;- g hnnpel‘ TEWVBTY. Yet. Norway. within lhe limits of cconomiq

Ymllbmll’. is rear-mini.

U O 0 .

Here then is ii country in whtgh “fiilillm? 8H1 disarmament have 3°91 lfiWPied ea the axiomatic w! o! policy. deliberately deczq. 1H8 to abandon both. The tirele- ion was not taken in a mood qt Panic or under the influence at

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