Is this really a sense of humor, or have they all gone mad? _ “If this community is ever attacked by an atom bomb, Wusands of people may be injured.” Ig Se An absolute gem of understatement! Believe it or not, | 20Wever, this statement was written in all seriousness for aj imphlet called, “Emergency First Aid” — one of the many; defense pamphlets issued by the Canadian government. | Recently the government issued, No. 5 in its series lueprint for Survival.” This one is titied, “Survival in Likely “rget Areas.” for the drawings from the pamphlet, which are repro- ced below. But they certainly do not say what their authors tended them to say. : Can you imagine a government artist trying to dramatize’ Bh pen-and paper the moment the bomb hits your commu- | Mity? Here’s what he gets... o oars ieee a. whe wet “2. IMMEDIATE % 0 TO 2 MILES LETHAL TO MOST - 2 MILES AND BEYOND NO EFFECT _ The drawing, however, seems to suggest a number of et things, like: ++. fugitive from a horror comic... . + Save your own hide and damned be the rest rs svat can you expect, with machine guns in private shel- 8lass viewing windows to watch the horrors, and all the perce luxuries the moguls of Madison Avenue can eee Here is another one... 3 TO 5 MILES SLIGHT “0TO 3 MILES NEGLIGIBLE ' - 3TO 10 MILES ~ 10 TO 1S MILES fgtis one illustrat : ustrates the chapter called, “C! nie, in a Basement.” Did you happen to notice, that at 10 “S ftom the blast, the cozy family circle is actually smiling? Ne more example of this macawbre sense of humor be- z if you can stand more... pais one comes from the first booklet “Emergency First Either th lets and the re e people who create these pamphlets | wings in hear ae fusitives from a mental institute, ot. Sypyjtemselves do not really believe in their chances for ney The in a nuclear war. clea €re is only one defense — the comp. ran CaPons through worldwide, genera lete elimination of 1 and complete hey say a picture is worth a thousand words. This ma “Chance of Sur- ; + _-%€e is our only shelter! Germany extends ‘freedom’. €st German cabinet ne approved draft i. laws,” including ~ 8€ney constitution Ould surpress civil ~ 1Mpose a form of press censorship. The U.S. government im- mediately approved the pro- nosals, and _ British and French approval was expect- ed “any day now.” z ~ choice reported that “in a review of. Need consumer action to roll back prices By ANNIE S. BULLER HE living standard of the average Canadian family is being further re- duced by outrageously high prices on foods and other consumer goods. This deplorable situation will not be changed by' profiteers out of the good- ness of their hearts. The consumers who are the victims of these price-fixing monopolies will have to bat- tle for a reduction in prices so their families can get all the essentials that provide a nutritious diet. “The other day, while shop- ping in one of the chain stores, I met an elderly woman at the meat counter who began to complain about how she has to buy less each week because the dollar does not go as far as it did before. She agreed that steps must be taken by consumers to see that prices are reduced. It’s a’ common thing to meet women with whom you share a seat on the bus, and who will talk of their plight with you. HEALTH UNDERMINED The question of high prices, just as the question of peace, is uppermost in the minds of mothers who know that if prices are not reduced the health of the whole family is bound to be undermined. In low-income families, both father and mother have to work to make ends meet. The problem too often is that not all can get a job. I have seen women with sorrow and frustration in their faces, who are tired of the constant battle to make ends meet. They tell me they are tired of beans or macar- oni, or spaghetti — starch and more starch. The prices of meat are so high that many ‘families can only afford a bit of meat on the weekend. Here are but a few examples: Ontario beef is from 85c to $1.35 a pound, depend- ing on the cut; round steak is now $1.13 a pound; weiners 66 cents and side bacon $1.10 a pound. In many cases the is hamburger at 49 cents a pound. The same problem of high prices is true of all food pro- ducts and consumer goods generally. Let no one think the mono- polies are going to stop rais- ing prices on their own. The consumers must act. We see from a report in the press that ‘‘an increase in the price of bread is expected ‘in the Toronto area before the end of the year.” Is the price of bread to go up be- cause the bread companies lost money? Not at all. The contrary is the case. Canada Bread Co. Ltd., fo instance, has shown a profit of $362,633 — 11.3. percent higher than the previous year. Another example is the rise in profits of the Canadian supermarkets chain of Dom- inion Stores Ltd. The papers | REMEMBER ME? company operations ... Mr. McCormick indicated that Dominion Stores, by showing a 9.36 percent increase in net profit during the year ended March 17 to a record $7,500,- 000, did much better than the biggest U.S. supermarket chains,” And we can only agree with the comment in a United Electrical Workers union bul- letin in relation to this re- port: “Not bad for the people who control Dominion Stores! E. P. Taylor’s Argus Corp. holds about 24 percent of Do- minion Stores’ stock, enough . to give effective control. How many shares are also owned by Argus Corp. and Domin- ion Stores’ directors is not known. M. W. McCutcheon, recently appointed to the Sen- ate and Dief’s cabinet, E. P. Taylor’s right hand man, a director of Argus Corp., has been a: director of Dominion Stores for years.” HUGE PROFITS So these are the people who make the huge profits at the expense of the health and well-being of our growing generation and workingmen’s families as a whole. Their motto probably is: “Suffer little children, for we want to amass a fortune!” It becomes obvious to more and more people that auster-. ity means deprivation and suffering for the people, old and young. | The devaluation of the Canadian dollar resulted in a direct reduction of the purch- asing power of the consumer, brought about a new rise in prices, particularly on food- ‘stuffs and other goods import- ed from the United States. Another factor which keeps prices high is the sales tax, both federal and provincial. The research department of the UE in Canada, after a thorough study of the effect of sales taxes on the pockets of consumers, draws the con- ’ sharply - their heads together, clusion that ... “these sales taxes last year (Ontario tax in effect only four months) took a direct bite out of con- sumers’ pockets amounting to not less than $1.4 billions. This is eauivalent to about six cents out of every con- sumer dollar svent for goods and service in Canada.” CONSIDER NEEDS ; If the government would give consideration to the dire needs of the people instead of vrotecting the vrofiteering in- terests of the bie corporations. they would find other sources of revenue, like a capital gains tax. and higher taxes on the fabulous profits of: the monovolies. or they can cut military expendi- tures. By such measures, the rev- enue from sales taxes would be replaced and the abolition of these taxes would imme- diately reduce prices quite drastically and would raise the purchasing power of the people. Consumers have been very patient. The time to act is now! Many simple but very ef- fective things can be done now to force a reduction in prices — a telephone call to your friends, asking them to write to their parliamentary representative; collection of signatures on a petition for lower prices, at chain stores and factory gates; letters from individuals and groups to all levels of government, to the press and radio sta- tions; resolutions from organi- zations, ‘from union locals, ladies auxiliaries, church auxiliaries. Once a few women put good. novel ideas will be advanced on how to push forward the campaign to bring down prices. % This is the burning prob- lem which concerns all con- Sumers, men as well as women. Mass action will turn the tide in favor of the con- sumer. HELLO NSS ee