By NORMAN FREED

4 fees other day I came across
'a@ new book titled The
Waste Makers, by Vance Pack-
ard. (Available at People’s Co-
©p Bookstore, 307 W. Pender.)
- The author has written sev-
: eral books. He is an American,
intimately associated with the

advertising business in the
United States,

Although the title intrigued
Me I remembered the saying
that “one should never judge
@ book by its cover,” so I de-

Cided to read it and judge for
Myself,

I found it a most interesting
book. Its 327 pages are packed
With astonishing facts. The
Materials in it are based on an
extensive research from trade

dournals, business concerns,
eee unions and person-
al experiences,

Packard finds that the main
ety of the U.S. businessman is
Borrow, Spend, Buy, Want,
Waste.” ‘He declares that
_ built-in Obsolescence, a’ credit
i and a worshiip for the
: ew’ are wasting our re-
Ources and weakening our
Moral fibre,”
The author tells us how pro-
pus are built in the USA to
all apart, to be used up, to be
Wasted, Only the “new” is
S00d and credit is the answer
© everything. The public must
© pressured, exhorted, misled
to Spendiing and discarding.
eine man, woman and
18 ¢ uses up an average of
Ons of materials a year.
hese average family has put
Just three months from
tpg wuntey and most people
life in debt their whole adult

Eaunen it comes to waste eco-
my, the USA can claim first
8ce in the world.

he avera
ge U.S.
Sbends $500
Pack

family
: each year. just for
. oe < vee it buys.
amily throws ‘away
aie 750 cans a year; hund-
nee of bottles, jars, etc. In
Se Some day dumps may
€ to be excavated to get
© metal back!

eo Scrapped in 1956 were
the j a younger than in
19 ira € 1940’s. From 1957 to
regict although motor car
one Tation rose by less than
can ution the number of
Wards reakdowns leaped up-
i: by .over five million.
. dan act durability has gone
For nill at an enormous rate.
havesncoe Model T Fords
yard - €en: used to tow junk-
later : cars produced 25. years
Rance! Which shows how _in-
4, Cr the. late models are to

ne old: ones,
. that omer union tests. show
wet the first-line tire in 1954

WASTE— THE BASIS
OF OUR PROGRESS

could be used from 22,000 to
31,000 miles. By 1958 it was
down from 18,000 to 27,000
miles. Which perhaps can be
called progress in reverse.

A major steel company has
produced a_lead-coated steel
muffler that would last the
lifetime of a car. It would cost
eight cents more than present
mufflers. But they cannot sell
them. Instead, mufflers must
be replaced at least every two
years.

The U.S. market is glutted
with consumer products. The
only way to deal with a glut,
of course, is ‘‘to produce glut-
tons.’ Since they cannot put
it so bluntly, they call it
“creating. buying power.”

Campaigns are carried on
for double buying, disregard-
ing either needs or means.
Every family needs two wed-
ding rings, say the jewellers.
Two cars for every family are

a necessity, say the auto man-
ufacturers.

The other way of creating
“buying power” is to encour-
‘age the worship of the “new”
or “fashionable” over the old,
even if
“new” is inferior to the old.
“Tf it’s new, it’s good” is the
cry. “Throw away the old.”

(One day the people will
follow this advice and throw
away the old order for a new
one.)

Still another way of creat-
ing “buying power’ is -the
credit mania: “Buy Now—Pay
Later.” They make sure that
you are never, never out of
debt. And of course you pay
exorbitant interest. Indeed,
very few people can Say: “1
really own my home,’—or the
car, the refrigerator, the fur-
niture or even some of the
clothes they wear.

Packard) calls this ‘“‘a theory
of progress through planned
obsolescence.” As a matter of
fact, American capitalists fol-
low two theories: The first is
“obsolescence of quality,”
which causes a product to
wear out more quickly than
it should. The seconds is ‘‘ob-
solescence of desirability,”
which causes a product which
is still sound in terms of qual-
iity to become ‘worn out” in
people’s minds. or because of
styling or other changes ,1n
form or color, to become
“new.”

Such is the stuff of “pro-
gress” of the capiitalist sys-
tem. Can the people of the
Soviet Union and the. other
socialist countries _ compete
with such ‘progress’? Of
course. not.-They’ll have to go
a long way to “catch up” with
our waste economy.-

As a matter of fact, I don’t

STORY OF THE ‘MILESTONES’

N Jan. 14, 1960, a group
O of folk singers made
their debut at a public meeting
held at the Pender Auditor-
ium. Since that. time, this
then-nameless group has adopt-
ed the name of The Milestones,
has performed upon 32 occa-
sions as of January 1961, and
has sung its songs of peace,
labor. and friendship to ap-
proximately 5,500 people, and
at such widely - divergent
places as the basements of
private houses and the beauti-
ful new International House of
the U.B.C.

Who are the Milestones?
How and why were they form-
ed?

In December, 1959, four
young people got together and
discussed the possibility of
forming a folk-singing group.
They were Marlene Kay, Eu-
gene Komar, Ed Honcharuk
and Jerry Shack. They felt
that there .was definitely a
need for such a group in Van-
couver, and that folk-singing

in most cases the},

as such presented an excellent

| Vancouver folk singers
gain wide popularity

medium for any group of peo-
|ple who were interested in

| promoting international under-
; standing on a local level.

These four dedicated them-
selves to this task, and pro-
ceeded to try to find an accom-
panist for the group, since
none of them played the tradi-
tional folk instruments —
guitar or 5-string banjo. After
unsuccessful attempts had
been made to acquire two ac-
complished guitarists on a
permanent basis, it was decid-
ed to approach Harry Hoshow-
sky, who for many years had
been the foremost mandolinist
in the Ukrainian progressive
cultural forces, but had never
played the guitar. Harry
readily agreed and his first
public appearance with the
group was on March 19, 1960.

The cultural director of the
A.U.U.C., Karl Kobylansky,
had been acting as an advisor
to the group and sometime in
August of 1960 he was asked
to add his talented bass violin
playing and bass singing and

' the great Spanish dramatist,
struggle of the peasants against their feudal lord.

A scene from the new ballet “Daughter of Castle” pro-
duced in Peking. It is based on the Soviet ballet of the
same name which was adapted from a dramatic poem by

Lope de Vega. It tells of the

Moscow.

think they ever -will.

900 feet a minute.

Moscow TY tower to
be world’s highest

MOSCOW — Work has begun on a new 1,700-foot
television tower at Ostankino, on the outskirts of

The.tower, over 400 feet higher than the Empire
State Building in New York, the world’s highest build-
ing, will be finished within two years.

Sixteen stories up it will house a TV centre with
studio facilities. Above this there will be a tower, topped
by a 400-foot, 300-ton antenna relaying two color and
three. black-and-white programs over 75 miles.

There will be a “crow’s nest” restaurant in the
tower 390 feet up, and observation platforms at various
Jevels. There will be two 14-

passenger lifts travelling at

© |Your Land”:

he: also readily agreed.

This then, is the compositioz
of the group at present. All six —
members of the Milestones,
have been and continue to be ;
quite. active in the work of;
that traditionally-fine cultural ;-
organization, the A.U.U.C.+
This is borne out by the fact -
that, although the average age
of the group is only 30, they *
have a combined total of over
120 years’ work on the stage,
taking in such a wide variety
of subjects as dancing, drama,
pantomime, recitation, solo
and choral singing, orchestra -
and symphonic music. i

This varied background is.
reflected in their repertoire.
A perpetual list of songs to be
learned in the future is kept_
by the group, and any member
of the group (or any outsider) .
who feels that a particular
song should find its way into.
the repertoire has only to.
suggest it and the group will.
include it after a thorough dis-
cussion as to its merits.

About 90 percent of the 35
songs contained in the reper- ,
toire of today were evolved in
a workshop method of ar-

#3

}|rangements. For example, the _

first three songs learned. by
the group were: “This Land Is
“The Common-

wealth of Toil” and “The

| Banks of Marble”. All of these

songs have since undergone,
extensive changes, with “This
Land” alone. being altered at.
least a half-dozen different .
times. This points out the aver-
sion to a dogmatic treatment
of folk songs — well-known:
though they may be — and ik,
lustrates the fresh, creative
way in which these workshop
sessions are tackled.

It would appear that the
Milestones are: here to stay.
The name ‘Milestones’ at
first was misinterpreted and:
sometimes jokingly - mispro-
nounced. It was arrived at be«
cause the feeling of the group
was that every song and every
audience that was reached by
their songs represented ans
other milestone on the road te
peace and progress.

Recently, the Milestones
have been setting their own,
lyrics to accepted folk tunes,
and are now in the process of
writing the words and musie
to a song honoring the Iron-
workers who were killed in.
the infamous collapse of the
2nd Narrows. Bridge. . They,
have been invited to tour alk
the locals of the Mine-Miih
Union in B.C. and the -details,
will shortly be worked out.

- Yes, it.would appear that:
the Milestones are here .to:
stay.

February 17, 1961—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page %