RE our rents going
up? This is one ques-
tion, and in these
days of rising costs, a very

important question that has_

heen troubling the working-class
families for a good many
months, The Hon, Douglas Ab-
bott, federal finance minister,
Says that rent controls will be
Maintained throughout 1947.

But the working man who has

to rent a house or apartment
knows from reading even his
daily Paper that this won’t sat-
ISty property owners’ associa-
ions and landlords generally.
They were reported to be put-
fing strong pressure on Ottawa
fo relax rental controls, and the
chances are that the pressure
will now be increased to accom-
/plish this end.

»

Most landlords have not been
Going nearly so badly for them-
"Selves as they would have people

think, Every regulation, it is

said, has its loopholes, and the
landlords have managed to find

Quite a few. But housing is a

‘commodity very much in de-

mand, and like the purveyors of

other scarce commodities, many
landlords want to cash in on
_ the shortage. ¥

What this pressure to have
rent controls relaxed means in
the lives of many working-class
families can best be illustrated
by some local cases uncovered
by the LPP Women’s Commis-
Sion in a recent survey.

‘Take the case of one young
veteran recently returned from
‘England, who lives with his wife
8nd two children in one small,
cheerless room on Jackson Av-
®nue. They pay four dollars a
week for this room to an ex-
Acting landlady who raps on the
wall each.time the baby cries
8nd who insists that they go
— ut for meals.

__ How can further increases be
borne by people like the 73-year
ld pensioner on Powell Street,
Who pays $16.00 a month for
two dingy, box-like rooms, and
Who is forced to go out and try
to find work cleaning “in order

Manage at all.” What will a
Young mother do a few streets
&way, who pays seven dollars
Sut of her $16 a week for an
ight by ten room?

_ Continuing pressure for rent
Mereases is the latest of a series
“es developments which indicate
‘hat monopoly is driving prices
bo inflationary heights at a
Constantly accelerated speed,
forcing spending power down,
8nd generally paving the way
for the most catastrophic de
Pression in history.

PEOPLE aré concerned and
_they have reason to be, For
Starcely a day passes without
‘Word of further increases, Milk,
foal, laundry, tea, coffee and

shirts are only a few of the
essentials that have soared in

price in recent months.

eople show their concern in
their “Paces when they. handle
the shoddy goods offered for
double their prices. They show-
ed it particularly before Christ-
mas when they stood before the
counters laden with goods want-
ing to buy, yet flercely resenting
robbery at the hands of the big
companies, They expressed it in
words at every counter, if you
showed a willingness to talk to
them,

Some of them spent any way
while their money lasted and
January and February will be

,

by MINERVA MILLER

.

months of skimping for having
over-spent on a_ shrinking in-
come.

Of course the daily papers re-
ported that there was 4 glorious
spending spree. Never had the
people paid out so freely. An
examination would certainly re-
veal that the actual volume of
goods purchased had not gone

up at the rate of cash paid out.

No wonder the total was high.
People were paying outrageous
prices for everything they had
bought and were calling long-
deferred | essential purchases
Christmas presents, ;

tty
mc

T is not very long since Prime

Minister King was making
pious claims that his govern-
ment had protected purchasing
power. During most of the war
years, fairly stable price levels
were maintained. What apolo-
gists for King seem to forget
is that prices were allowed to
rise by 15.5 percent above the
1935-39 level before the lid was
clamped down. Handsome pro-
fits were already guaranteed be-
fore price control came _ into
effect.

During the years that follow-
ed, Canada won a reputation for
price contro] until late in 1945.
Then prices began to show rapid

and alarming increases, By Oc-
tober 1946, the price of food
had risen to 46.5 percent above
1935-39 levels. By the end of
the year, the total. increase was
27 percent over pre-war levels.

In view of the fact that the
bulk of the average working
person’s income is spent on
food, clothing and shelter, in
many cases the cost-of-living
will actually have increased by
more than 40 percent. And tak-
ing into consideration the. in-
creaseqd income tax, which may
amount to more than 10 percent
where both husband and wife
find it necessary to work and
the actual buying power of

every dollar is worth littl more
than 50 cents,

A “necessary evil” at best in
the opinion of the government,
it is no accident that the loosen-
ing of controls should coincide
with monopoly’s’ general offen-
sive against living standards.

Extremely sensitive to the
pressure of business, King is
committed to a policy of com-
plete decontrol. He expressed
it in these words a year ago:
“In moving toward the period
in which price control will no
longer be necessary, the govern-
ment believes that subsidy pay-

ments should continue to be

Those who know estimate that
the ending of the subsidies will
mean an increase of eight cents
in the price of butter and three
cents on a loaf of bread. Eggs,
meat and other farm products
promise to go up with no corre-
sponding advantage to hte farma-
ers,

And this is not all. Mrs. Paul
Smith, chairman of the Women’s
Regional Committee of the
WPTB, recently brought back
from Ottawa the cheerful news
that controls on household equip-
ment would soon be lifted, and
that cottons could be expected
to increase by 25 or 30 percent.

Government spokesmen still

Continuing pressure to have rental controls relaxed,
despite the government’s announcement, may yet bring
rent strikes to Canadian cities like this strike in

kept at a minimum and elimin-
ated as promptly as possible.”
e

“KIND subsidies !”

tune of the Financial Post

This is the

and King

line.
What’ will the ending of subsi-

dies mean in terms of price in-

promises to toe the

creases? Here are some exam-
ples:
The ending of subsidies on

fats, bread, milk,’ butter, cheese
and feed for stock will mean
increases in the price of almost
all the foods essential to the

working people, and will be felt —

most sharply in families where
there are children.

‘moment

We can have low-cost housing

3. Increased real estate taxes

would mean increased reven- .

ues for civic improvement and
expansion.

_ Unemployment would be con-
-Siderably decreased by such
& broad plan and money
Spent in subsidies would cre-
ate more employment than
the same money spent in, say,
toad building, since for every
dollar spent by the city, the
federal government would
pour many dollars more into

re local hands.

- Financial assistance would be

‘provided by the government ©

Most able to provide it —
the federal government.

OF course, acquisition of land
_* a first step in any housing
Program. We.would probably

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 11.

build our
cant lots
city. Then

first houses on va-
now owned by the
the area east of Dun-
levy, and other similar areas,
should be acquired by the city
and rebuilt as a whole, At the
same time, undeveloped land
should be reserved for large
seale housing projects,

Knowing what must be done
is important. Knowing how to
go about it is just as impor-

_ tant. So now we must plan on

immediate action to win our
long-term objectives. |

must begin with a cam-
paign to persuade the feder-

-al government to pass legislation |

setting up housing authorities,
a minister of housing, and the
machinery to grant housing

subsidies, This means Mass ac- *

tion by ervice clubs, church or-
ganization, women’s clubs, trade
unions and local boards of trade
and tourist organizations, The
action can take the form of di-
rect lobbying, mass delegations
to Ottawa, letters and wires to
government officials from indi-
viduals and groups, and so on.

Failing early action by the
federal government, we ' must
then attack our provincial and
municipal governments, to force
them to put pressure on Ottawa
and to provide a modest local
or provincial subsidy pending
federal action.

Overcoming the housing crisis
is a tremendous undertaking,
but we mustn’t let it throw us.
Canada has licked bigger prob-

lems than this, Our stupendous
war effort left the sceptics gasp-
ing, and we raised more money
for government spénding by the
ale of war bond than the most
cptimistic of us thought pos-
sible. :

With the example of other
countries before us, with the
sad evidence of slum damage on
our doorsteps, and with our na-
tional determination to make
Canada a country worth living

in to spur uS on, we can and
must look forward to a future
when Canada will be able to
guarantee every citizen, no mat-
ter how rich or how poor, 4
decent home in which to bring
up his family in happiness, dig-
nity and health. —

London’s East End in pre-war years.

try and blame rising Prices on
wage increases, although they
know quite well that major
price increases were granted in
key industries lik lumbr and
steel before wage. increases had
been won. And these are the
industris where due to high pro-
ductivity of the workers employ.
ed, the real value of the goods
measured in the labor they rep-
resent continues to fall far be-
low the monopoly-pegged prices.
e *
Be business is stepping up the
pace daily and the carnival
of profiteering can only lead
Canada td disaster unless an
aroused public moves into ac-
tion.

During the coming session of
parliament the whole future of
price control is on the agenda.
Decisive action on the rent is-
sue now is the Key to a streng-
thened fight along the whole
price front. :

Rents proved to be one of the
biggest mobilizing issues follow-
ing the First World War and
the campaign led to rent strike
action being taken in major
American cities. It can be the
issue around which a sweeping
people’s protest movement can
be built. < ;

Some of the immediate steps
that can be taken are:

@ Sending of telegrams and
resolutions of protest from all
trade union, housewives’, pen-
sioners’ and other progressive —
bodies.

@ Lobbying of all members of
parliament by interested organ-—
izations and individuals. ah
_ @ Organization of tenants’ |
councils on block or apartment _
basis. ater

FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1917