Ba eae ~ mic’ Prospects. He grapples “in this book with the problem GNP BELOW FORECAST in the financial and mone- _. tive government since 1957. * interest rates, to the encour- - a8ement of foreign capital ~ €8Nd~ hence to an exchange ' Glinka, $5.00 — ‘This text- Be » and factual material of gen- _ . €ral-chemistry: It can be us- _ &d by those who study the = = + aerate Bookstore, 307 West ~ Pender’ ‘St, Vancouver, Risk c. TROUBLED CANADA, by Walter L. Gordon (McClel- land and Stewart, $3.50). Available at Peoples Co-oper- ative Bookstore, 307 West Pender Street, Vancouver. Life has dealt a: blow to Walter L. Gordon, chairman of the famous Royal Com- mission on Canada’s Econo- of the divergence between economic activity in. Canada and the potential of which the commission believed it Might be capable. Looking at the results of the- five years since his re- port was published what does he find? | “The most remarkable) change shown in the table (of; distribution of total amviow! €d civilian labor force by} Sectors) is the reduction of, employment in agriculture from 817 ,000 in 1955 to 675,- 000 in 1960, a drop of 17.5 per cent. This is a much Sharper decline then was an-! ticipated by the Commission.” And further: “The 1955-60 trend of employment in non- agricultural goods-producing industries (resources, manu- facturing and construction) Was disappointing.” The commission had con- templated that unemploy- ment would run at about three percent per annum. “In fact, the ratio of unemploy- Ment (those on temporary lay-off and without jobs and seeking work) has been much greater than this, particular- ly in 1958, 1959 and 1960.” (The figures for those years are 7.1, 6.0, 7.0). The increase in gross na- tional product is below the Commission’s forecast. The estimate of index of growth of per capita output, antici- Pated to go. up four points between 1956 and 1960, ac- tually declined by four points, : As Mr. Gordon says: “In the last. few years the econ- omy has been stagnating and So there have not been €nough. jobs to go around.” First of the causes for the difficulties Gordon finds lies tary policies of the Conserva- “An overly restrictive mone- tary. policy leading to high (meee, ~ WORTH _ READING. | Genevel Chemistry by N. book. presents the theoretical mentals of chemistry. ~ Available ‘at People’s Co- premium on the Canadian dollar, constituted a chain of events especially throughout 1959 and 1960 which operat- ed to restrain the Canadian economy and thus contribut- ed to the unemployment problem.” Second is the foreign con- trol, largely American, of Canadian industry. Gordon points out not only the high degree of such control but some of the advantages that these foreign-held concerns have, which “are not avail- able to Canadians with whom they are competing.’ In addition he points out the effect of this on expand- ing Canadian trade: “. .. lack! of interest, or lack of adhoe ity to be interested, in ex- port business by a large pro- portion of all Canadian manufacturers of furnished goods, because they are own- ed and controlled by non- residents of Canada with other and wider interests, is one of the problems with which this country must con- tend.” WHAT SOLUTION? The solution? Here Mr. Gordon becomes troubled. He is a Liberal candidate in the coming federal elections, from many accounts slated to be the Liberal minister of finance, if his party should be successful. He surely must know that both the monetary and fiscal policy of the ‘Conservative government, and the deepen- ing of the crisis caused by foreign control of Canadian industry, particularly by the United States, is a result of the policies effected by his party previous to 1957. He recalls the words of his report, “many people have made speeches about the Commission’s proposals, made public at the beginning of 1957, and a great deal has beer said and written since then on the subject of foreign control of Canadian industry. But, apart from exhortation sometimes expressed .in rath- er truculent terms, very little real action has been taken. The result is that such con-’ Bordon has another look at a troubled Canada trol is becoming greater all the time.” How true; and yet, how barren in proposals for “real action” is this book. Having confronted the problem Gor- don then shies away with platitudes and hopes that somehow the trend can be changed. © THREE-WAY PROGRAM The final chapter “A Posi- time Program for. Expansion” forgets all about foreign con- trol and proposes a three-way program: first restore, confi- dence in the authorities (by electing the Liberals?); sec- ond, convince the public there will be financial poli- cies that encourage and pro- mote financial growth; and third, certain concrete meas- ures to stimulate economic activity. Among the last are such proposals as increased capital expenditures by the govern- ment, a municipal develop- ment fund, reduction of the exchange rate to stimulate the manufacturing industries, regional planning, particular- ly in certain depressed areas, vocation and retraining poli- cies, the establishment of a national economic council and a revision of the tax structure so that it “provides adequate incentives for en- terprise, imagination, and hard work on the part of in- dividuals and businesses and at the same time produces sufficient income for the government to function.” Some of this program, as for example the municipal development fund has vali- dity, but the absence of a really concrete program rela- tive to foreign control of our industry, and the ignoring of the role played by the big ex- penditure on armaments in Canada underlines the pover- ty of policies that will be ad- vanced by the representatives of monopoly, be they Conser- vative or Liberal. Mr. Gordon is right that there is a need for new dom- estic policies for Canada but his book indicates that they will not come from him. e PHYLLIS CLARKE A beauty spot in the Wuyi mountains near Fukien province in China. The area is noted for its, pandetapen which attract many visitors. each year. Beet |i mp ROBBIE BURNS ON WAR Ye hypocrites! Are these your pranks, To murder men and give God thanks, Desist for shame, proceed no further, God won't accept your thanks for murder. OPEN ey UM Winger Works? Bert Padgham, Popkum, B.C., Writes: In 1961 a press statement was made by the Department of Labour at Ottawa that un-organized ar- eas in Canada would be in- cluded in the Winter Works Program this year, so I im- mediately wrote. Michael Starr, Minister of Labour, Ottawa, requesting full in- formation on the matter and received a very. gratifying reply, On October 19th, 1961, we held a meeting of unemploy- ed in our community hall and as the chairman of the meeting, I asked those pres- ent to register and also those who would be unemployed in February, 1962. At this meet- ing a resolution was passed that we ask for two projects for Popkum: first, a $7,000 project to clean out the Pop- kum and Bridal Falls Creeks, and second, to work ona park and picnic site at Bridal Falls, $3,000. A total cost of $10,000. I ‘wrote the Minister of Municipal Affairs in Victoria J. D. Baird and also the M. L.A. for Chilliwack, Ken Kiernan, and I was sent two sets of applications which I completed and returned to Victoria. A few days later I was informed that our com- munity would have to raise 25% of the cost of these pro- jects before we could qual- ify, which would amount. to $2500, which was impossible in this area. I informed Vic- toria of our predicament, and I also stated that as they were the collector of our tax- es we felt that they should accept. their responsibility as our municipal council and therefore pay the 25% they ‘were expecting us to raise. We also received the support of the Winter Employment Campaign Committee of Chil- liwack on this matter. Now we are back where we started, nothing but passing the buck. This is a list of our unemployed residents at the present time: a road fore- two shovel operators, three truck drivers, two miners, one powder-man, two carpen- cers on painter, eleven’ log- 1 gers, and 12 labourers, a total of 35. Passing the buck is the pastime of governments, so quit stalling Victoria. Parasites Heretic, Vancouver, writes in part: I heard J. F. Ken- nedy lecturing the AFL-CIO. He sees the West sliding into a _depression,” “and looks’ to! labor for rescue. Just how does he expect them to -do this? By working longer hours and for less pay of course. He eats all the good food he needs or wants, but they must cut down. He has time for recreation and rest, but they must give up theirs. He has clothes that look well and protect him from the weather, but they must wear less. He lives in a comfortable home, but they should be content to shiver in tenements. What are these parasites, who rule over us by virtue of the wealth they have rob- bed us of, really offering us? The answer is, nothing but a depression or a war of exter- mination, or both. War Fomentors John Lactin and Nick Plotnicove, New Wesimin- ster write: Lately we read the good news about the suc- cessful round-up of terrorists and dope traffickers who were a great danger to the public, We also have an element which is bringing confusion and calamity to all humanity and should be dealt with by peace-loving Canadians. We are at liberty to ask the pro- per authorities for action in rounding up the formenters of war, in the same way they do with the terrorists and dope peddlers — before it is too late. Weavers say no to pledge The Weavers have shown once again why they are among the best-loved of America’s folk - song groups. The quartet last week refused to sign a loyalty oath stating they were not members of the COmmun- ist Party as a condition for appearing on the late- Jack Parr television show. As a result, the Nation- al Broadcasting Company barred them from the pro- gram. Fred Hellerman, spokes- man fOr the singers, said: “We feel very strongly that no private business | establishment such as NBC has the power or the right to require proof of a citi- zen’s patriotism.” : The four members of the group are Hellerman, | Lee Hayes, Ronnie Gilbert | -and Erik Darling. : January, 19, 1962—PACIFIC_ "TRIBUNE—Page_ 5.