mK: Mites. Warren, Vancouver Cnet, the Trudeau government a Minish Wer n 1968, they created Nd thie Y Of Consumer Affairs Now ha Public saiq “Hooray! We Meng t 4 government depart- Mica» @t will watch rising Ih iing A i With this thinking I wrote Wieas por d citing exorbitant Pactiogs. questionable retail chy "iim, oy I received stacks of te inp; phe Pages dealing with ton Tues of the Canadian Md ang One thing came out ee to oa No way was there < free f] any interference with tilesale Of profiteering in the Just Wh and retail sale of food. Utsumes has the Ministry of Sine it >. Affairs accomplished thay .38 created? dy bate it mandatory that Mden ¢.S have non-toxic fuzz. YS must be painted with Ox} : [aghast Synthetic Christ- Se a Se ee en a en eee ia ve Sk CO Ce eS ee n a ae they are having 0 tn 8 of a With electric kettles, | Mi e Markee after they were put | in Matonac Outside of playing Dle toys sand winding up i boy for, “© have nothing to , Baye Mids at © thousands upon Wd ye tS? f ister Mo dollars of the tax- ia to justify the " Affairs Ministry of Con- Xm t th bee of ¢ Ch hata With Review Board was tee She “ha €ryl Plumptre at its W in 3 a been particularly Vising us, via the 1 of the things we — the latest being at ground round thy lint: *, I forgot, it was under: Onsumers Affairs — steak was not actually round steak ground up, nor was ground chuck steak actually chuck steak ground up. “Rivers housewife knows and has not been hoodwinked into thinking that ground round steak at $1.69 per pound was round steak ground up when round steak was priced at $1.95. Nor was she so silly as to assume that ground chuck steak was actually chuck steak when there was a difference in price of almost 35 cents per pound. The average housewife knows that a butcher would not invest in ex- pensive machinery and spend a lot of time and energy to grind up meat at 35 cents per pound less than he could sell it by the piece and save the price of the machinery. As one woman told me when we were discussing the subject she could perhaps tolerate politicians peddling their own brand of gob- bledegook, but she resented them putting a label on her telling her she was stupid. * Ok OK Bob Stewart, Vancouver, writes: I hear-Canadians all around me these days protesting the demand by the U.S. secretary of agriculture that we Canadians eat American beef fed with the. car- cinogen diethylstibestrol (DES) — — or else! . : Not all people know the history of this however. And when it is examined, it puts the Americans 1n an even more contradictory position. For two decades now, world science has known that DES calves — which were fattened in only 1-1/2 years instead of the normal three — were unsuitable food and a host of countries banned the use of the hormone. : Finally in the U.S. in 1958, FOR ALL YOUR TRAVEL NEEDS {| Contact: _ GLOBE TOURS a 2679 E. Hastings St., Vancouver 6, B.C. 53.129, 254-2313 Beaver Transfer | Inflation is the most widely debated issue in the present federal election campaign. Deep down, inflation exposes the ills of the capitalist system which is in a world-wide crisis. But in each capitalist country the ruling circles" seek to tackle the problems arising from the crisis in the capitalist system by adopting measures to profit from inflation and to shift the major burden of inflation on to the backs of the working people. Recently a Soviet economist, S. Menshikov, writing in the trade union magazine, Trud, analyzed the disorders in the capitalist system causing inflation. The PT reproduces some of his main points- in the following article: The economy of the capitalist countries is in a sort of vicious circle. One of the chronic ills of present-day capitalism is the Congress passed the Delaney Clause forbidding the use of any cancer-causing additive. Yet it was not until January, 1973 that Canada and the U.S. took action, Canada by completely forbidding its use, the U.S. by forbidding DES feeding but still allowing ear implantation of the same substance. It indicates the contradictory position of the U.S. inasmuch as DES was already illegal in 1958. The fact is that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in- stead of being what it is supposed to be — a vigilant watchdog of the public interest — is big industry’s lapdog. At one stage, in the period between 1958 and 1973, the U.S. doubled. the amount of DES which could be administered to cattle. More recently, the FDA approved the use of DES as a “morning after’’ pill despite the warning of many medical authorities that this was reckless. As for our own food and drug department, while “it ean be commended for being forthright (at least since January, 1973), nevertheless leaves something to be desired. Reading labels on many packaged foodstuffs reveals that only the grocer and the food industry stand to gain from the countless additives and preser- vatives still allowed. “‘T understand that the Soviets have banned the use.of most such additives. Doran hits Liberals Rod Doran, New Westminster Communist candidate, told an all- candidates rally at Lochdale School last week sponsored by the North Burnaby PTA that the Liberal government in 1969 deliberately created unem- ployment with their. austerity ram. a said the Liberals had done nothing concrete to curb high prices, create employment, or take the heavy tax burden off. the working people. The Tories, he said, made their main attack in the 1972 election against the unem- ployed and not unemployment. ee Moving _ * Packing * Storage 790 Powell St. _ : Phone 254-3711 steady growth of prices. In the past, prices rose in time of in- dustrial upturns and dropped in time of crises. At present, they continue to rise even in time of crises. Bourgeois economists tell the people they should not worry because the current inflation is a creeping, not galloping one. But the people are none the better for it because life has become a sort of hurdle-race for them. Only strikes can help them prevent the absolute lowering of their living standards. Inflation is one of the most serious economic reasons for the aggravation of class antagonisms .in the capitalist countries. Even government leaders admit it is a national, number one problem there. What diagnosis has been set in the capitalist countries and how is this disease being treated? Widespread is the old theory’ of bourgeois economists that inflation is caused by the unbridled claims of the working class. Trade unions, they say, compel the capitalists to raise wages which, as a result, grow more rapidly than labor productivity. This increases the production cost of goods, and the capitalists have nothing to do but to raise prices in order to make profit and not to become bankrupt. Let us look into this question. It is said that capitalists are compelled to raise prices. But capitalist- owned factories work for the market, which may not accept these price increases. Hence, price increases are caused not by the workers, who are hit by the in- flation in the first place, but by disorders in the capitalist market mechanism. What are these disorders? DISORDER NO. 1. All capitalist countries without exception have in circulation paper money which is not converted into gold. With the circulation of gold, inflation would be impossible, because gold has an intrinsic value. With the cir- culation of paper money, the proper value of which is negligible, such strict bounds do not exist and a way is open for a systematic depreciation of the banknotes. DISORDER NO. 2. Not in- frequently, the state fills in the deficit in its budget by the emission of paper money. As a rule, this happens during wars or the drastic escalation of military spending. The spasmodic growth of the state demand and the emission of un- supported paper money upset the proportions of the market ex- change and lead to inflation. DISORDER NO. 3. Most of the markets in all key branches of the economy are dominated by. monopolies which impose their terms. By hoarding goods in warehouses, the monopolies can raise prices, thus making big profits. Increases in wages and salaries are thus a convenient Inflation exposes ills of capitalist system pretext, but not the cause. In the past few months the monopolies have been using the energy crisis aggravated by them in order to raise prices not only for petroleum products but for almost all articles of mass consumption. Hence, the real cause of the inflation lies in the domination of monopolies and the capitalist state or, in other words, in present-day state-monopoly capitalism. How does the capitalist state check the inflation? Let us take the history of anti-inflation measures taken in the U.S. in the past-few years. In August, 1971 the govern- ment declared a wage and price freeze and a complete ban on raising wages and prices. This extraordinary measure had_a class motive. Wages, not profits were: frozen. In the meantime, labor productivity kept rising and the amount of labor per unit of output was dropping. This means that profits climbed though wages remain frozen. During the second phase of anti- inflation regulation the govern- ment set the ceiling for the growth of prices and wages, but again, not profits. As a _ result of such regulation, in 1972 only the net profit of the U.S. corporations grew by 15% and the wages fund only by 9%. The share of the working people in the national income declined. Early in 1973, during the third phase of anti-inflation regulation, restrictions on price increases were lifted. As a result, the rate of inflation and the food prices zoomed. Such regulations, far from being effective, tend to aggravate in- flation and redistribute the national income in favor of the monopolies. Economists now hope that another crisis of overproduction may reverse the tide of inflation. In the opinion of the Big Business press, such a crisis is expected in - 1974. Hopes for a respite in inflation in connection with a possible crisis reflect the inability of the capitalist state to check the runaway prices. Recent experience shows that crises aggravate, not alleviate, the difficulties. In the United States, for instance, industrial output fell by 4.1% and unemployment shot up by 44% in 1970, while consumer prices went up by 6.2% and real wages dropped by 1.2%. A new crisis will not be any better for the working people. The ruling circles of the capitalist ~ countries link with a new crisis hopes for stepping up attacks on the positions of the working class. Under the present alignment of class forces this may only further sharpen the contradictions bet- ween labor and capital and un- dermine the theories of “social harmony’’ and of the “state of general prosperity.” =LASSIFIED ADVERTISING : (sce cena ae ER aR celiac HALLS FOR RENT COMING EVENTS JULY 28 — SUN and FUN — CELEBRATE CUBA‘S NATIONAL HOLIDAY, Sunday, July 28 at 3882 Yale St., N. Burnaby 2:30 p.m. - ? DINNER at 5:30 p.m. — ‘Cuban food. Spons.: Canadian Cuban Friendship Cttee. Proceeds to Cuban School for the Blind. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY. JULY 5. 1974_PA UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CULTURAL CENTRE — 805 East Pender St., Vancouver 4. Available for banquets, wed- dings, meetings. Phone 254- 3436. -WEBSTER’S CORNERS HALL — - Available for banquets, - meetings, etc. For rates, Ozzie 325-4171 or 685-5836. RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME — Now available for rentals. For reservations phone 254-3430.