_As-we see it _

+E ket Seog can you spare a dime—or at the very least, a nickel? “We regret,” _ says Imperial Oil in a blast of high-pressure advertising, “that the 3-cent increase in _ gasoline prices announced by the government is not sufficient to warrant our continuing to im- port gasoline into British Colum- bia. Our losses are now running at the rate of approximately two million dollars per year, and the increase announced would _ mot remove us from a losing _ Position.” So please come with at least five million dol- lars instead of just three. We really are hard up. And if you don’i—we'll cut off your gaso- -* Jine supply! There are some_ interesting angles to this gasoline delivery Strike. The first of these is the

Imperial is an approxi; os icture of the profits for _ the whole gigantic oil monopoly. _ This poverty-stricken monop- oly, seeking a modicum of re- Nef to keep its shareholders off the breadline (and readily get- ting three million from the _ Johnson-Anscomb Coalition with- - out regard to existing con- tracts or legislation) made a net profit in 1946 of profits and other taxes were de- ducted, Imperial Oi] still had $12,947,167 left. In 1988 net profits, which weren’t consider- ed bad in those days, amounted to $4,398,121. And after it had paid all taxes and taken care

for P

Published Weekly

of a lot of profits in sinking funds, capital stock investments and numerous other items of business procedure by which the monopolists cleverly evade legi- timate taxation, the company shareholders were able to pock- et $3,573,260 in dividends.

In 1940, the year of British Columbia’s “gasoline session” of the legislature, Imperial Oil’s net profits were $11,686,113. The 1946 profits of this octopus,

, « computed on the basis of its 1938 profit bal- ance sheet, are 4812 percent higher, Even when it has ‘made all the taxation pay- ments it simply cannot evade, its 1946 rakeoff in profits is “6 still 363.9 per “ope oa cesses cent above 1988, amd the company was

“highly gratified” with the 1938

showing. And these figures are

only for Imperial Oil’s Canadian 7 ions. ’

The overall operations of Im- perial Oil for 1946 as featured in the April 19 edition of the Financial Post were the high- est on record. The gross value of sales is reported at $195,872,- 230, a 12.5 percent increase over 1945, Capital expenditures alone in 1946 amounted to $20,696,000, which included the purchase of five modern ocean-going tankers at a cost of $8,420,486. “Earned surplus,” which is a polite term

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By THE TRIBUNE PUBLISHING COMPANY LTD. % _ Telephones: Editorial, MA. 5857; Business, MA. 5288 «Tom: McEwen: 2.50... Sstey eau Ba lets ow aly . Editor

Subscription Rates: 1 Year, $2.50; 6 Months, $1.35.

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Authorized as second-class mail by the

- FRMAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1948

post-office department, Ottawa

Sign the petition

H*.. you signed the petition calling upon the government to restore price controls and subsidies and roll back prices to 1946 levels? It may seem like a small matter, but the temper of the debate that has been taking place in the House of Com- mons during the past week suggests that the cumulative effect of a petition backed by the signatures of a million voters can have a decisive influence on the govern- ment’s policy.

This week the people have been given a picture of Prime Minister Mackenzie King sitting in the House impatiently drumming his fingers because the CCF members, and even a few members of his own party, have rudely insisted on discussing the question of high prices and lowered living standards. Unquestionably he must have found their pointed remarks more than a little embarr- assing. And his well simulated indignation when some CCF members questioned the

worth of his parliamentary committee sug- .

gests that Twentieth Century Fox may have been missing an opportunity when it did not cast him for “The Jron Curtain.”

The people will find little to divert them in his insinuation that the opposition parties have been playing politics on this issue. No amount of feigned indignation can conceal

By Tom McEwen

used by profits groups, reached the staggering amount of $50,- 2284,927 in 1946. ©

. .®

ABOR costs is one of the

main arguments used by the oil barons in making their case for the present price raid. In 1936 there were 50 refineries of one sort or another operating . in Canada, employing 4,7771 workers, with the gross selling value of the total output listed at $85,172,981. In 1946 there were 30 refineries in operation with 6,670 workers employed, . while the gross selling value of their total production is. list- ed at $200,233,529! From these figures it will be readily seen that the present argument of

ROA \ “labor costs,” like the cry of SSR

“communism,” is merely a cover- up for a barefaced robbery.

e HY J il

“Yes, it’s terrible.

a bees authorization of 3 cents 4 per gallon increase in the ,

price of gasoline announced by Premier Johnson, and the state- ments of Imperial Oil tycoon R. M. Pigeon and other heads of oit companies appearing in the press almost stmultaneously, canhot be passed off as a coin:

SNS

p aa

the fact that the government is playing poli- tics of the most shameful kind. Having over- reached itself in its arrogant disregard for the people’s welfare, its policies exposed by the greed of big business for profits, the gov- ernment is now forced to give some recogni- tion to popular demand. But it is still un- willing to take decisive action to restore to the people even a part of the living standards of which its policies have robbed them.

The government is showing its unwilling- “ness to act. But the debate reveals that many

“Liberal members are uneasy and that united

public pressure can force them to bring pres- sure upon the government in turn. Some, like Maurice Hartt, whose claim that restoration of subsidies would lead to national bank- ruptcy ignores the fact that lack of subsidies and controls is leading to a new depression, are weak apologists for big business and its government. And certainly Hartt does not speak for the people of working class Cartier once represented by Fred Rose. There are others, however, like George Cruikshanks, member for Fraser Valley, who know the strength of popular feeling and are forced to echo the clamor for controls and subsidies.

The petition, and the demand organized ‘by the campaign, can force a similar recogni- tion even from big business-insulated cabinet ministers, :

The campaign begins where the problem is, in your own home. Sign the petition now and get your neighbors to sign it, too.

We can't get a mew Cadillac now at any price, so we'll have to make do with our old 1947 model.”

cidence in timing. Rather does it appear that the Johnson- Anscomb sharks have conspired to mulct the people of British Columbia of $3,000,000 — with an added

threat that if another $2,000,000.

is not forthcoming, a vital in-

dustrial requirement will be ser- |

iously crippled—if not shut off entirely. era.

It is within the power of the provincial government and its Coal and Petroleum Board to hold the oil magnates to their 1940. price commitments; to demand a full investigation into the profits of Imperial Oil and its oil wolf pack, before au- thorizing changes in the gaso- line price structure.

The oil bosses have gone on strike against the people in a gigantic profit gouge. And the Coalition government, instead of

using its powers to protect the .

public interests, has aligned it- self with the monopolists against the people.

Coalition and the oil

Looking backward

(From the files of the People’s Advocate, February 11, 1938)

Big rallies in many Canadian cities this weekend will mark the tirst anniversary of the Fifteenth International Brigade of the Spanish Republican Army, composed of the Canadian, American and British battalions. ‘ A

The English-speaking battalions this week were at Valencia en route to a rest camp after « month of heavy fighting on the strategic Teruel front. According to unconfirmed press reports, casualties in the Mackerzie-Papineau Battalion were stated to be high,

* * *

“The first consideration is the securing of a market for nickel concentrates,” Col. Victor Spencer told shareholders of B.C. Nickel Mines at a special meeting held in the Medical-Dental Building last Friday when the question of shipments to Japan was raised by a shareholder. ,

Col. Spencer stated that comsiderable tonnages of lead, copper and other metals are being shipped to Japan from Canada at the present time and he felt that “should the occasion arise of the necessity of stopping shipments to Japan, undoubtedly the authori-

ties would take the necessary steps.”

_ A motion was moved by «a shareholder that the company refuse to contract with Japanese' agents, but was not approved Dy the majority. 5 :

* * *

Resolutions urging the federal government to put an embargo on all Canadian shipments of war material to Japan have been | sent this week to all unions affiliated to Vancouver Trades and Labor Council for endorsation.

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