Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 19, 1948, Winnipeg, Manitoba Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights Winnipeg free press Winnipeg thursday february 19, 1948 printed my published except sunday Winnipeg free press company 300 by Winnipeg ree press company 300 Cai Lin i Sirwet Winnipeg Manitoba. Authorized is second Sass matter by the Post Virice department. Ottawa. Victor Sifton. Publisher lord. General manager Grant Dexter. Executive editor Bruce Hutchison associate editor. Quotation in Stop Price fixing or. F. A. Mcgregor the commissioner of the Dominion combines investigation act has far too much experience in the intricacies of Combine investigation to make statements which he is not Able to Back up. His evidence before the House of commons Price investigation committee therefore is of special value. He has no axe to grind no political impetus to push him this Way or that. He said that evidence is accumulating to indicate that illegal Price fixing exists in various businesses. It is for these reasons that serious attention should be Given to what or. Mcgregor has to say and How he says it. It was not a. Blanket charge covering Industry or any particular Section of it. He discounted profiteering and hoarding and made it Clear that the evidence information received by his depart ment pointed to Price fixing. He gave no details except in one or two instances. First he went into the baking Industry whore he was., most specific. Have assembled a lot of information As to the practices of the baking Industry in both Eastern and Western Canada. Such details Asho gave included the charge that the baking Industry has endeavoured to Rig prices by bringing pressure to Bear on Independent grocery stores with the purpose of forcing them to sell at prices not lower than Wagon prices. The Public will await with interest the answer of the baking Industry. A Manitoba spokesman has already denied the charge. Then or. Mcgregor mentioned nine commodities in regard to which evidence existed or complaints had been received. Those were flour rolled Oats Coffee gasoline tires certain types of Medicine some types of men s Wear and radio sets and tubes. As his testimony continued he added the match Industry and the situation with respect to Sulphur used in their manufacture. His commission had also in the pricing of electric Light bulbs. A very keen interest or. Mcgregor for obvious reasons did not break Down his information in Case of the baking regard to these industries. Except the Industry he did not say which of the industries he had evidence against and which he had Only com plaints about. A Good Deal no doubt will be heard on both extremes about or. Mcgregor s Frank statement the committee. Business men of the conservative persuasion will be inclined strongly to deprecate these observations As a veiled attack on business. The Law against combination in fixing prices contrary to the Public interest is very Clear and no business which is conducted properly need be concerned in the slightest degree. There can be no Witch Hunting under the combines act. From the other extreme the . And the communists will exaggerate or. Mcgregor s evidence to the Point where it will seem that he has pronounced a doom upon free Enterprise. It will be said that Canadian business is riddled with combines and that Competition is a myth. A both kinds of criticism May be ignored. The conservative industrialist who has grown up secure behind Tariff Battle ments Long ago became unable to distinguish Between Protection and combination. The socialist on the other hand is clearly not an enemy of monopoly or of Price fixing. He is the real monopolist and Price fixer. He would fasten upon the country government monopolies or combines and prices fixed under the statute Law. It is Only under a free competitive Economy that monopoly and Price fixing must be carried on in secret with the fear of the Law behind every move its sponsors undertake. A combines investigation act under socialism would be an anachronism. It would not exist. It would be the Man who did want to compete by reducing prices or improving service who would find himself in trouble. 175 150 125 a r in or to part of original material on this Pae Only with use of credit line. fro. Press wage rates prices Cost of living Canada 1919 194-7 1926-100 175 150 125 income and food prices Canada 1919-1947 wage rates in mfg. Too a it 75 in wholesale 50 prices 25 0 i i i i t j t i i i t i t i i i i t i 1 1 1 1 1 i it it when we say that in birth land in spirit to represented the Liberal humanist tradition of newspaper Many More will this is one of the chief bulwarks against the moral chaos which the Fri chief fears. He writes the children of such Homes need help and the sunday schools can do much Inci Are doing much to bring Dod and religion into the starved souls youngsters. Our Sun Day schools arc not sending Forth children who easily Suc Cumb to life wrecking temptations. Instead the boys and girls who have gone to Sun Day school have been Well prepared for the entire Span of life. Be of such men there Are All too few. For in a world tragically Polar birthdays George l. Speers Vancouver . Born Owen sound ont., feb. 19, 1s63. Intend to. Government spokes men Are saying that the health scheme will go into Eifes on the appointed Day july 5j, whatever the doctors do. Hope is expressed that the doctors will change their minds but apparently the government will not even consider making any concessions to them. Not unnaturally thoughtful Bri tons Are uneasy at what seems to them to he an undemocratic Atti tude on the part of the govern ment in regard to this great National question. Here is what w. J. Brown. Independent Liberal . For Rugby wrote in the Lon Don evening Standard a few Days ago meantime a kind pre to from the Golden books intern Abbey Wal him i have Learned to look on nature not As in the hour of thoughtless youth but hearing often tiniest the still sad music of human Ity. Nor harsh nor grating though of ample Power to chasten and subdue. And i have Felt a presence that disturbs me with the Joy of elevated thoughts a sense Sublime of something far More deeply Interfuse. Whose dwelling is the Light of setting suns. And the round Ocean and the living air and the Blue sky and in the mind of Man. The Case in the strict principle of repress t defence of the plan or. Har Rison said would accomplish i one needed Reform anyway. It would the pocket boroughs of die he called them up to a reasonable Ilion in Rural its duty on fresh fish by approx mentation by population in defer ence to that tradition which comm for Killarney that the More sparsely settled coun i for that reason was Inot quit Clear who or. Pref on mately one halt cent a Pound. 1-or tayside ought to have less Whoso Carillon is Abov average in the number of voters should line up with the dissenters in the vote. For if proposal to six voting relationship it do j lice to such seats As his own. Canned Salmon however the constituency than in the cities remains the same. The charge had been willing to support is made that the Geneva treaties a. Thorvaldson s proposal for a encourage the Export of fresh fish to the United states at the expense of earning industries on the Pacific coast. This complaint is surely hard to sustain. The real obstacle is less the half cent reduction in duty ten favor of the country. Inspired by this example or. Thorak son went him one 1 Ler in the matter of Compromise when he Rose to address the House or. Harrison remained earnestly convinced it would be just to every one else. To him it was quite proper thai As or. Siu fabs a i the plan voters of wednesday. He would Amend his. Manitoba shr uld to classified a. Own proposal to make it a straight to he Era Lush a Ivov inc than the eight cent Premium. Even if the duty on canned Salmon had been Cut in 25 to 12 in two to on and a the Samc per is still doubtful i Jhc void trim the number of seats this situation would have the Legisla Luro from a Normal to 53, remedied. The United Stales of course normally exports canned Salmon in Large quantities. Can hearing this or. Turner of the air Force was slightly pained be Charr inc. Cause this was an idea which As an Ada s negotiators at Geneva would have made a bad bargain if they had foregone benefiting the visitor he had put to the fish Industry because last month. We Fly had t proved impossible to get All Thorvaldson Given him a word canned Salmon Industry in cheer at that time or at least second and third Clas. Following up this idea or. Turner s Igge sled that the principle applied immediately in the a credit line now but what the committee actually done was. For Sakir that the irom Rural constituencies might enjoy Solo Possession of the pres ent comfortable seats with kit Chen chairs supplied for suburban. Jets a Tapple boxes for the lower classes . The representative of had and St. Boniface. He All Inot sure what should be done others to Cleave Only to the the armed services Bui hoped might desire. One Point must be emphasized. Parliament has no authority to i approve of some of the Tariff changes made at Geneva and fashioned by or. Harrison of Kil they might be allowed a strap to reject others. It must accept All Blarney. This described hereinafter hang on. The changes As they now stand or As the plan proposed a quota sys i the i ote was taken. Or. Garson else repudiate them one and All. Tern three voters in Winnipeg and and his colleagues showed an sex no half Way House is permitted. St. Boniface to equal two voters ample of Cabinet Solidarity in give obviously. No far ranging reduce in the suburbs and Brandon to is their tacit approval to the Lions in Tariff duties can be made t c plan the services without some specific Industry Oday s scripture equally solid on the other j claiming that it has suffered in who Kins snid among the 1 j opposed of concur jury. The Only fair test is whether Canada has benefited when a general balance is struck in the National interest. Already it is evident that Canada s new treaties have passed this test triumphantly. Today s scripture then David the King Siirid thou Solomon my son. Know thou the god of thy . And serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind for the lord search eth All hearts and Al imaginations if thou seek him he will be found of thee. 1 chronicles rence was or. Hamilton whose own s land had been the sole source of Amity All through wrangles of the special com Mittee. All schools of thought were quite willing to leave s land alone ;