Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 29, 1968, Winnipeg, Manitoba To i saturday june 29, 1968 Busine wrap up. Cuts bulk shipping costs Vancouver up a Canadian Pacific railway official has announced that a new basis for charging for use of equipment is being developed which generally could reduce the Cost of bulk ship ments. Under the system said j. M. Livingstone car s traffic manager for bulk materials the car will pull your single car for you from Point a to Point b and Back at a Cost for he said there could be rates on a basis of a transportation charge plus an equipment rental charge. Under current bulk pricing systems costs Are based on a rental charge for each Day a car is used. Or. Livingstone told the chemical Institute of Canada the car will be prepared to lease for our tracks our locomotives our skills and our terminals and for a Price be prepared to move your equipment in train Load lots Between Points on our system at a Price below that generally charged real estate volume real estate sales across Canada through the multiple listing service is up is per cent in Dollar volume for the first four months of 1968, Over the same period last year reports the Canadian association of real estate boards. This compares with a 17 per cent increase in 1967. Total units sold through mls from january to april increased 13 per cent compared to a nine per cent increase in unit sales for the first four months in 1967. Mls is an exclusive service of Careb member boards. National mls sales for april total for units indicating an average sales value of per unit. April 1967 sales were for units or an average of British itt gets order new York do an order for More than million Worth of special data transmitting equipment has been received by a British subsidiary International Telephone and Telegraph corp. Said. The order was placed with itt s Standard Tele phones and cables Ltd. By the British Post office. Greater use of Gas shown new York do Gas utilities will spend about on new Plant and facilities adding about Miles of pipelines and distribution Mains Buell g. Duncan president of the american Gas association told new York Security analysts. Or. Duncan said the Gas Industry expects to add about Central residential air conditioning units up from last year. Five Gas cooking Range makers Are bringing out stoves with self cleaning ovens this summer to com Pete with self cleaning electric oven already on the Market he reported. Or. Duncan reported Gas is being chosen As the Means of heating for 84 per cent of All new Homes being built. The association has predicted the Industry will add Gas heated Homes . Low yield at Louv court Quebec do Quebec mining exploration co. Soquel said that information obtained to Date on its Copper Silver find in Louv court township of Quebec discloses that the Mineral Zed zone is of limited size and restricted to the top part of the Rock basement. As such it is not Likely to lend itself to commercial exploitation. Soquel a Quebec government mining exploration Agency earlier this month announced the Dis covery near Val d or on claims owned by Nagata mining and development Nemrod mining and Tim Rod mining co. Ltd. The Montreal based companies Are controlled by a group headed by Leo Brossard a consulting Engineer. North Coldstream Hopes Toronto do North Coldstream mines Ltd. Hopes to realize to from the disposal of the remaining Plant and equip ment at its property at Burchell Lake ont g. D. Pattison president told the annual meeting. The mine was closed last August following the extraction of All known Ore. Prospecting for base metals is under Way in Arizona and surface exploration has started on a 333-Elaim base Metal Prospect in the Patricia mining division of Ontario in. Which the company has a 50 per cent interest. Or. Pattison disclosed North Coldstream has invested some of its surplus funds by purchasing shares of Falconbridge Nickel mines Ltd. Maple Leaf Mills net Toronto do Maple Leaf Mills Ltd s net on the 12 months ending March 31 was on sales of direct comparison with a year earlier in t pos sible because of a change in the fiscal year end which resulted in an eight month period. Net for the eight months ending March 31, 1967, was sales were earned surplus for the latest year was charged with an loss on the Sale of the Ocean vessel owne d by the company. The vessel was sold because it was t contributing to profits an official said. Yukon Copper prospects Calgary do United Pem Tex Ltd. Said significant intersections of primary Copper mineralization have been encountered in several holes in the immediate Vicinity of the discovery Trench at its Copper Prospect in the White River area of the Yukon. Central Del Rio Oil Ltd. Of Calgary owns slightly More than 50 per cent of United Pem Tex and Silver City mines Ltd. Of Vancouver owns the balance. Mineralization was encountered following completion of feet of surface Diamond drilling in 11 holes. To provide information for further drilling an induced polarization Survey will be carried out Over 15 claims in the immediate Vicinity of the discovery. Gold is. The less than almighty Douay by j. A. Livingston a massive defeat brought by panicle converted into a strategic Victory ? the Strong men of inter National finance the finance ministers and Central Bankers of the world think so Hope so. They be regrouped after two lost Battles. The first was the devaluation of Sterling. The second was the surrender to Gold speculators. The free Market Price was allowed to go above an ounce. The third Battle like the others rages around paper Money. And International Bankers have taken the defense in their own hands. They have erected a barricade against fear born flight from the Dollar. Today billion Are at Large around the world. That s a lot of Loose Money. About billion Are held by Central Banks As reserves far More than they but How can they get rid of them Only by asking for . Gold. And the . Gold Stock is already Down to about billion. Normally this would amply cover swings in balance of payments surpluses or deficits. But the . Has been running consistent deficits of two and three billion yearly. Another billion Are held by Bankers businessmen and individuals. This is working Cap ital for All sorts of commercial transactions payments for imports and exports financing of new construction the acquis Ion of plants and companies. Like unsecured ballast on a hip such Dollar balances can wish from Rome to Zurich to London to Frankfurt to Nevy Fork in a fear environment Ash can become hot Money. A commercial banker said to me god forbid if some Day All Lese dollars move in the same he added please on t connect my name with the Dollar s formidable strength sowed its present anger. Dollars were so eagerly ought that the . Was Able or far too Long to finance Lauce of payments deficits Vith dollars. Money after All is Redit a non interest bearing of. Tore Bro Walsh chairman o j he s v e n ska Handel Banken Argest commercial Bank in i Eclen can declare i can t see a better currency than the Boom warnings rising Wall Street High interest expansion braise doubts about Prosperity. 54 56 58 60 42 64 66 6s j. A. Livingston too Many dollars Gold Central Banks drop to 54% of reserves As Dollar share rises to _ As of 65 40 62 44 source Inemo Tionel monetary fund Dollar. Think of the other choices. People talk about the Deutsche Mark. But if there is pension in West Berlin they la get out of Marks. Take the French franc. Ii something happens to. President de Gaulle communists in France would be Strong again i neglected to ask or. Bro Walsh if he is the seventh son of a seventh son. He made Iii p r o p h e s i e s before the French riots and East Ger Many s new restrictions on Access to West Berlin. Until Only recently say the last three to five years the Dollar was preferred to Gold. Dollars earn interest if invested in Treasury Bills or deposited in Banks. They can be Lent out in the euro Dollar Market. Gold is a negative earner. It costs Money to store. It has to be insured. It can t be physically transferred by Cable. It s a pure speculation on a Price increase. But the Dollar fails As a store of value. That s Why it has ceased to be almighty. That s Why it can become hot Money. A . Treasury 3% per cent Bond bought a decade ago for Sells for about 91 cents on the Dollar. Capital has depreciated nine per cent and the Bond yields nothing to the original purchaser inflation at 3.5 per Ceafy to four per cent a year clips the Coupon. Or take an a Bond. The interest rate has been boosted to 4.25 per cent. But after inflation real income is less than a per cent per annul. The Dollar is not alone. Inflation attacks All currencies the Mark the Swiss franc the French franc the dutch Guilder. In this age of Avant keynesianism Money has be come a catalytic agent an expediter of economic expansion a proliferator of employ ment an improver of Viag standards. But Money does not emerge catalytically unchanged. It gets eaten away in he process. Thus does the new economics Dow to the old politics. Cash becomes gradual confiscation an asset costly to hold onto. Taxes Rise prices Rise the Cost of services Rise. A ten Dollar Bill buys less and less. Workers demand higher wages of keep up with the groceries. And people with savings become skittish and fretful How to hedge against inflation some try Wall Street. Com Mon stocks Are just about at an All time Peak in the Standard and poor s and new York Stock Exchange averages. And Trad ing swamps brokers. They can t keep up with transactions. Nine teen Twenty nine was nothing like this. Anything that might Advance in Price supersedes income As a Protection against Cash and its equivalent Antiques paint Ings jewelry diamonds and real estate for instance. And then of course there s Gold the first Metal in the Bible genesis and Man s legendary store of value. To a French family Gold is wine and bread insurance against fiscal irresponsibility franc devaluation and invasion. Gold As a store of value Anc medium of Exchange antedate the Dollar. There s this legend a stranger in ancient Rome is brought before a magistrate who asks Are you a citizen do you have authority to be the stranger opens his shoulder bag. It contains Gold he declares i am a citizen the. World. Here is my pass but escape from paper Money into Gold is no longer possible Industrial users jewellers hoarders and speculators can still buy Gold in or Zurich or anywhere else with paper Money dollars or sounds or Marks or francs. But heir purchases won t deplete monetary stocks now Down to billion. This is the big change the new defence. If a wants Gold he has to gel it from a and then b gets the paper Money. Central Banks no Tonger cough up Gold and Swallow paper. This does t mean that paper Money., and specifically the Dollar As the world s dominant currency is Home free. Fau from it. If a thing Stampede takes place prices would go wild All Over the world. Such a flight from paper Money has never happened before. Always there has been some exit. One was Gold the other was the Dollar. Now Gold is out and the Dollar is distrusted. There s another possibility a Rush foreign holders of dollars into their own or other currencies Marks Swiss francs italian lire and so on. If this happened on a Large scale it would constitute dethrone ment of the Dollar after 50 years of supremacy As the number one world currency. Any such tendency would exacerbate the Dollar problem. A German who wants to convert dollars into Marks would take them to the German Bundesbank a Swiss would convert dollars at the Swiss National Bank and so on. But these Banks already have enough dollars. And they re Likely in the months ahead to get More. The . Balance of payments will be in deficit most of and probably into next. The number of dollars around the world will increase. Some of these dollars if not All will Lodge with Central Banks. Don t be surprised if Central Bankers in their anxiety Soliloquy be like Hamlet to hold or not to hold that is the question whether tis smarter for the Bank to Swallow. Dollars and risk ,. Devaluation or to draw Gold and beat the others to it thus causing an embargo. To act or wait no matter. No Choice Grants sleep at night nor rest by Day. A there s the rub that makes for pause. For who would take upon himself dissolution of the present system seeing not what worse might follow Central Bankers Aren t Apt to panic. They la try to act calmly deliberately and presumably in concert. Yet each Central banker has to save himself Fth St in Case of trouble. He music keep his Eye on Friendly neighbors is some colleague helping himself to . Gold the comment of Edwin stopper head of the Swiss National Bank is no Over statement we Are not in a comfortable monetary Environ who owns Gold world monetary stocks of Gold amount to about billion. The United states according to recent figures still holds the largest pile about billion. However the International monetary fund has a claim of one billion of this. Here Are the major holdings of monetary Gold in of Gold total United states 510.4 26.00 United kingdom 1.3 3.25 Belgium 1.5 3.75 France 5.2 13.00 Germany 4.2 10.50 Italy 2.5 6.25 Italy 2.5 6.25 Netherlands 1.7 4.25 Switzerland 2.6 6.50 Canada 1.0 2.50 Japan 0.4 1.00. Other 1.0 2.50 Industrial countries 31.8 79.50 less developed areas 2.7 6.75 latin America 1.3 3.25 Middle East 1.0 -2.50 other 1.0 2.50 All countries 94.50 International monetary fund 2.2 5.50 total 100 to accommodate France and great Britain with foreign currencies the International monetary fund sold million in Gold recently. These transactions Are not yet included in official reports but Are reflected in the above tabulation. Shuffle might lower food Bills by Margaret Kennedy a major shuffle among companies in greater Winnipeg controlled by the Garfield Weston group is causing some concern with in the retail and wholesale grocery Trade Here. As a result Consumers in some areas will be paying lower prices for food if they Are not already saving Money. The introduction of four econ Mart warehouse Type of grocery stores the con version of five shop easy markets into t o m a o y stores and the disappear Ance of four Loblaw super markets comprise the recent changes within the Weston group. In addition one a and p Market has become a Dis Caprice also a warehouse Type of operation and one Tom boy operator has switched to the Solo group. E c o n of Mart advertises Low prices because they have eliminated expensive store fixtures and Cut labor costs in half. The customer does All of the work except to tally the Bill. Goods May be purchased in Case lots or one at a time and the meat depart ment contains Only pack aged Frozen or smoked meats. Weston controlled companies Are traditionally in stiff Competition with one. Another and the pattern is followed in Winnipeg. The two senior companies Here Are West fair foods Ltd., whose head office is in Winnipeg and Loblaw Gro Ceteria Ltd., with head quarters in Calgary. West fair controls several subsidiaries at both the wholesale and retail level. These include Western grocers Ltd. Suppliers to the t o m a o y voluntary group mini Mart stores the g. Mclean co. Ltd., wholesale grocers Rogers fruit wholesale fruits and vegetables Dis play fixtures Man Ltd., and the econ Mart stores. Supermarket openings always draw Large crowds of housewives looking for bargains. They also own St. Joseph s Dairy suppliers of milk to the mini Mart stores. Loblaw Gro Ceteria com Pany Ltd., introduced its first supermarket Here in 1958, were soon the first to bring trading Stamps to the area. The stores Are partially supplied by Western grocers Ltd. Recently four of their Low volume supermarket buildings were leased to the new econ Mart division leaving six Loblaw stores in operation. They continue to Issue the trading Stamps As do stores belonging to the Iga group. According to m. D. Booty vice president in charge of marketing for West fair econ Mart Type of merchandising is Here to by the end of june there will be 14 econ Mart stores in Western Canada. For about two years we experimented with a Pilot store at Portage la or. Booty explained in a recent inter View. We tried All sorts of ways to merchandise Gro Ceries at yet with some Appeal to the Cus Tomer when we arrived at our present format and it was successful we began to flex our Muscles. Econ marts have been opened in other cities at Sites form Erly occupied by Ware houses Bowling alleys even a rival food Chain store. It is pure coincidence that the four Sites in Winnipeg happen to have been Loblaw he said. Or. Booty describes the merger of shop easy stores with the Tom boy group As a sound economic step. There Are now 28 Tom boy stores in greater Winnipeg of which four Are corporately managed. The others Are owned independently and As Mem Bers of the voluntary group participate in joint Adver Tising marketing aids and promotions. They must qualify As in other such groups As to size volume service and design in order to Wear the Tom boy insignia. Mini Mart has 28 units in this area Small neigh boyhood stores open seven Days a week and every evening too. Corporately managed the stores Stock a limited Choice of brands but a full Selec Tion of groceries As Well As some produce and a few packaged meats. Convenience foods such As to dinners Frozen pastries and ice Cream Are featured along with Jug milk which mini Mart introduced in Winnipeg. When the Loo Law stores closed display fixtures Man Ltd., another West fair affiliate handled the disposal of store fixtures and refrigeration. In turn they Are employed in furnishing econ marts which have different requirements. The firm manufactures As Well As distributes a variety of retailing equipment. Other Weston controlled companies operating in Winnipeg Are Gateway food factors Ltd., which imports foods Paulin Chambers co. Biscuit Aud Candy manufacturers and Weston bakeries Ltd. Also in the group by not manufacturing Here Are Mccormick and Weston. Biscuits. The econ Mart store is considered in the Trade As a warehouse Type of retailing. Winnipeg s first and big Gest discount supermarket was opened by the Codville co. Ltd., wholesale grocers in Topp s department store years ago. With almost Square feet of Selling area one of the largest in Winnipeg they depend upon huge volume to sell profitably at a smaller than Normal Mark up. The econ. Mart depends upon volume coupled with half of the labor costs of the conventional supermarket. Code file s hold the fran Chise for Iga stores in Manitoba and Saskatchewan another voluntary group with about 20 stores in Winnipeg most of them independently owned and operated. Still another voluntary group is Solo stores sup plied by merchants consolidated Ltd., a wholesale handling All lines of Mer Chandise. There Are now 54 Solo stores scattered All Over Winnipeg and each is owned and operated in Dependently. They specialize in delivering telephoned or Ders. Chain grocery stores have been getting bigger and More attractive. Besides Loblaw other corporate chains As Dominion stores Ltd. Have built eight stores in Winnipeg since 1959. Canada Safeway Ltd., operating 31 stores a greater has built or remodelled most of them in the past 10 years. A and p arrived on the Winnipeg scene in 1956, now runs five conventional supermarkets plus their St. Vital warehouse store. In Stark contrast the econ marts present almost a bombed out clutter. Between the two extremes the smaller in Dependently owned neigh boyhood grocers Sells his wares to customers he Calls by name and most of the time delivers the goods ;