OT long ago the gov-
ernment raised the

price of milk 4c a
quart. The farmer received
fxactly nothing out of this
iMcrease, By the fall of 1946
the monthly consumption of
milk was 25 million pounds
Per month lower than the
Consumption in the spring
Of 1946, before price increases.
Haney ‘already getting too

€ of this essential food, re-
Ceived still less as working class
guiliba found their budgets
Stretched to the breaking point.
een, in a further con-
Aa m to profit-mad big busi-
ctiaae the government permitted
‘ Ost all the remaining price
ontrols to be swept aside. Like
ee in a trough, big business is
5 be permitted one last orgy
hanced by the ordinary people

-- Of Canada. Even the kids are

Contributing to this swine’s ban-
aoe for candy bars, a nickel
pore the war, are now to cost
C—an increase of 60 percent.
ne Strangely enough, chocolate

ars that were as rare as an
honest tory a fortnight ago, sud-

by |
BERT MARCUSE
and
EMIL BJARNASON

watched the record round the
world flight of multi-millionaire
Reynold’s Bombshell with great
interest. After all, it was the
public that financed this trip
which probably cost hundreds of
thousands of dollars.

Reynolds is the man who put
out the infamous Ball Pen. This
is the pen which sold originally
(early 1946) at $14.50. At that
price it was bought by hundreds
of thousands of ad-conscious,
gullible citizens eager to buy a
pen that would write under
water, on top of the Himalayas
—in fact, every place but at
your desk.

Subsequently tens of thousands
of these worthless pens were
turned back because they blew
out their ball-points, because the
fluid spilled out and ruined

MILK COMPANIES

ran Company, 1946 Net Profit .
quverwood Dairies, 1946 Net Profit, $202,000 ..
Parnation Company, 1945 Net Profit, $2,447,000

alm Dairies (Burns & Co.) 1945 Net Profit, $506,000

. 19% million—61.9% up over 1945

97.5% up over 1945
— 26.5% up over 1944
.. 85% over 1944

‘Dominion Dairies Ltd., 1946 Net Profit, $127,000 .. 140% up over 1045

Same profit as 1944
22.1% up over 1945
6% down over 1944

and Picardy Candy), 1945 Net Profit, $293,400 .. 19% up over 1944

@ It should be noted that the above net profit figures are all

tax, and income tax reserve.

arrived at after allowing for depreciation, interest, income

ee

denly appeared by the gross the
very day that the price went up.
Of course, big business must
_ find some excuse for all this—
even such a palably thin explan-
ation as the claim that labor
Costs are 85 percent of the sell-
ing price (see editorial in News-
Herald of April 14, 1947). But
the gigantic milk trusts (spec-
ialty: milking the farmers), and
the candy corporations don’t
Tush into print with their fin-
ancial statements. Neither does
the daily press. So let’s have a
look at their figures and see
Whether the spoiled workers,
who want everything, including
enough milk (yes, and even —
Candy), for their kids, have re-
duced the big shots to “near
_ bankruptcy. f
T is no wonder that the people
of Canada and the US.

FRipay, MAY 2, 1947
ee eae |

clothing, or simply because they
just wouldn’t write.

Today certain banks even re-
fuse to accept checks written
with these “amazing new pens”
—the reason: because the writ-
ing disappears altogether in

about six months and because

an impression of the signature

can be taken off the paper on
which it is written simply by
pressing the finger upon the
fnk’, Then the finger can be
pressed onto a new sheet of
paper and the signature re-
appears. A nice deal for forgers!

Still, Reynolds continued to
make huge profits because most
people don’t bother to protest
at being proven a sucker. But he
had to cut prices time after
time until today New York de
partment stores are seiling this
fabulous pen for 89c. But even
at this price globe-trotter Rey-

-nolds makes out all right. Fig-

ure the profits he must have
made at the original price which
was 16 times the present price,
or 1529 percent (yes, that’s right,
one thousand, five hundred and

twenty-nine percent!) higher
than today’s price.
: @

Ts case is admittedly excep-~
tional, but it does prove
something for the Vancouver
News-Herald’s claim that “total
labor costs are 80 to 85 percent
of every dollar the consumer
spends.” }

If we make the optimistic as-
sumption that labor gets half
of the present selling price of
the pen, or 44%c per pen—then
at the original selling price of
$14.50 for the same model pen,
labor was getting exactly 3 per-
cent of the consumer dollar.

No wonder Reynolds can fi-
nance round the world trips—

or maybe he simply wished to

see whether his pen could write
as high as the cost of living is
soaring—thanks to Reynolds and

his pen-pals.

One thing about Reynolds—
he has lots of company. The Fi-
nancial Post of April 12 reports

that 60 companies reporting their »

1946 profits so far, increased

May Day

‘ 7 3 ° 4 x
ALL READERS OF PACIFIC TRIBUNE

from ee i

Greetings 2

their profits, on the average 30
percent over 1945.
@

AT time of writing, Uren, the
timber controller, is closeted
with B.C. lumber barons seeking
relief from a pressing situation.
The situation arises from the
fact that H. R. MacMillan’s 481
shareholders, having been mulc-
ted of $1,537 in wages by each
of their employees have only
enough profits left to pay them-
selves an average of $5,200 apiece
in dividends. ;

How can these poor share-
holders meet the increaseq cost
of living without a price in-

‘crease? It is learned on good

authority that Uren will agree
to an increase of $2.50 to $3.50
per thousand feet in the price
of lumber. .
Roger Babson, goateed oracle
of big business, has a saying,
“Whatever goes up must come
down.” We are willing to go
out on a limb and predict that
this is going to happen to prices
—only we would add another
adage, “The bigger they come,
the harder they fall.” :
@
headlong scramble of bus-
inessmen to outdo each other
in hogging the swill is coming

up against the hard fact that
the trough is running dry.

The average wage in Canadian >
‘manufacturing industries last De-
cember 1 was 10c a week higher
than it was at V-E Day, while
the cost of living was at least
$2 a week higher for the aver-
age worker. During all the
months in between workers and
veterans have been cashing vic-
tory bonds and gratuity cheques —
to make up the difference. What —
do they do now? S

Some people call it a buyers’
strike. Others call it a falling ©

demand schedule. But what it

actually amounts to is that

goods can only be sold at prices —

that people can pay. And cap-—
italism knows only one method ~
of bringing prices into line with
people’s incomes — economic
crisis! were

It may not be tomorrow and
it may not be next week, but —
every day that the profit-prices —
inflation continues brings the
day of reckoning closer. And ins
the meantime, labor continues —
fighting to keep wages” abreast
of prices, housewives are organ- —
izing to fight soaring prices and
the protests pile in on MP’s at
Ottawa—put the price controls
back on.

Greetings - 3
This May Day

ALL READERS OF PACIFIC TRIBUNE

PARADISE THEATRE

LUX THEATRE

‘PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 1