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EDITORIAL , ONTARIO, ---- ees each province an annual sum equiva- fent in amopnt to the present income from revenue-producting assets. Pro- # : "Such is the patriot's boabt, where'er we roam: His first, best country ever is at home." WHO WILL REPRESENT CANADA? There* is to be a Dominion-Provincial Con- ference in Ottawa shortly, with the avowed pur- pose of finding a firmer foundation for greater Canadian unity. Such a conference will be most valuable and timely if it can accomplish its avowed purpose-- greater Canadian unity. Such a conference will be a tragedy if it does not accomplish that pur- pose, On every side one hears of strong representa- tion to be made by each of the several Provinces. But, who will represent Canada? Labour unions and manufacturers' Associations have gathered great force and abundance of sta- tistics with which to hammer:home their demands for recognition of their diverse interests. But, who will represent Canada? Farmers, and teachers, and professional men have exerted their minds to the utmost to ensure the protection of their several welfares. But, who will represent Canada? _ Are any of these chagppions of individual "rights" taking the trouble to study the Rowell- 56 0 Sirois Report 'constructively? .Or is the confer- ence to degenerate into a free-for-all, with no one to represent Canada If that is to be the outcome of the Conference, : - it had better never take place, particularly at this time of our great peril. : _Ontario's superiority complex can wreck all unity, Granting all its wealth, and its great in- dustrial development, these facts simply empha- size Ontario's responsibility and her duty to set a good example 'in establishing a national fin- acing based upon justice and equality of op- portunity to secure wholesome living through personal effort. x 5 Webster's Dictionary has a phrase that needs to enter into the very heart and life of our Can- adian p pl "nah The honourable and generous behavior associated with high rank or birth." Can we extend that ideal to. those who possess wealth, power, and "the world. blige' nobility obliges. . opportunity; or are these luxuries to kill fine _ The demand should be insistent that our Pro- vincial and other representatives should attend the conference with express purpose of finding points of agreement as a basis for more complete Canadian unity. Who will represent Canada? oe dep oo THE "MONOPOLY" MENACE Once upon a time a daddy frog went out for a hop. In his travels he saw a wonderful animal-- a cow--Home he leapéd to tell the little frogs all about it. But they couldn't understand his de- scription. So he blew himself up to show them the size of the cow--and he burst in the attempsh, What has that to do with business? Read this from J. P. McEvoy in the Rreaders' Digest. "Adolph Zukor set out to buy, build or control all the theatres after cornering the star market. Naturally, the other companies started to outbuy and outhuild Adolph. Result: Paramount at its peak owned or con- trolled 1600 theatres; Fox 1000; Warners 600; Loew and RKO 200 apiece. Second result: Enough pictures, good, bad, or indifferent, had to be made to supply all these theatres. Third re- sult: The necessity for making more than 600 fea- ture-length pictures -a year... And there aren't that many good actors and directors or good stories. How many good plays ate there a year? Half a dozen. Good stories? Fifty? Generous." That picture can be duplicated many times in The years are strewed with the wreckage of businesses that have been shouldered out by the enterprise and greed of great con- cerns. Business built on actual good service is legiti- mate. But business built on ruthless competition and the expenditure of great sums to gain mon- opoly is a curse to any country. Almost every small business ruined by -unfair competition re- places a citizen, who has a personal interest in his community, with an impersonal concern, com- pelled to center its interests upon dividends. The surest way of maintaining peace and good vision was also made for co-ordinated borrowing in-the future. 3. Taxes. The Commission re- commended that the Dominion alone should have power to levy personal in- come taxes, corporation taxes and suc- cession-duties, Revenue from these taxes should be retained by the Do- dpinion except in respect of a very im- portant rebate of corporation taxes collected from mining companies, such rebate to be paid to the province in which the mining company carries on its operations; 4. The present system of subsides from the Dominion to the provinces should be abolished; and 5. in its place a new system of national adjustment grants should be paid by the Dominion to the provinces, such grants to be sufficient in amount to enable each province to provide to its people educational 'and social ser- vices at a national average of quality provided each province would tax its people with average severity. Aid to War Effort He continued: I believe that the recommendations of the Report can be taken one by one and shown to make an immediate practical contribution to the war effort. Take for example the recommendation as "to corporation taxes. If I am right in suggesting that the present corporation tax struec- ture is stifling business expansion, a simplification of the same would tend to create an expansion of business ac- tivity. If this results, new wealth is produced, the national income rises and it is easier to pay the enormous costs of the war effort. Consider the provincial debt recom- mendations. If default occurs income will be diminished, taxes revenues will fall, business confidence will be lost, the burden of war expenditures will be made correspondingly greater and harder to carry. Consider unemployment recom- mendations, When -the war is over and men on active service are, demob- ilized and those in war industries fall out of employment, we may be faced again with another serious unemploy- ment problem. In 1929 we were faced with a catastrophe and in the follow- ing five or six years we dealt with the emergency badly and with great waste of human material assets. We had at least the excuse that we were coping with an unprecedented situation. We will have no such excuse next time. We must prepare for future unem- ployment and improve our administra- tive system at a time when unemploy- ment is low. When thé full force of unemployment strikes us, we will have no time to make necessary and proper changes. Our chance in this regard may never come again. Ontario's Position I very muck hope that we in On- tario, as the largest and most pros- perous province, will be able to take the broad view of this Report. It is foolish to suggest that there are not costs to be paid if the Report is im- plemented, and by the nature of things a fair proportion of those costs must fall upon Ontario; but it must THURSDAY, JANUARY 9th, 1941 or) character and generosity? - citizenship will be to promote the growth of the ; "France lost her liberty because nobody wanted number of citizens who have a: personal stake Tir to represent France. For years her government the community. had been torn by factions. Administration after Great transportation and other communication - administration followed each other with alarming enterprises are essential to any country, particu- ~ B rapidity. Each was for his faction, few if any larly such a country as Canada with its vast by were for France, A house divided against itself areas. Nor will it be possible at the present time cannot stand. It was built upon the sand, "The to carry on our war effort on small scale business rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, methods. But in the general run of life-work and beat upon that house, and it fell and greal and business it is well that each citizen should was the fall of it." yore be, able to give his best service apd to exercise Must we in Capada learn the same terrible les- his initiative as he cannot do if he becomes a : son as we continue to fight for our "rights" and mere cog in a great industrial machine, or a our individual "freedoms"? . : monopolistic business, v ig Sd | The Editor's brother, Mr. John Farmer, of London, Eng- I he land, has sent us the following: i " "A lady, refined, aged, weak, went into a London, Eng., Rowell- police station, and asked to see the officer in charge. The in- \ spector asked: ' 'What can I do for you, Madam?' : . 4 She said; 'I've had a live bomb in my. front garden for.24 Siro 1S ours. ¥ : : He said: 'Twenty-four hours! I'll send a squad to see to ; it at once!' She said: 'There is no need to do that. ~ Here it is,' and e port took it out of her hand-bag."'- . : \ NOTE--Mr. R. M., Fowler, in a re- cent address at Blackstock (reported in the Bowmanville Statesman) dealt with the Rowell-Sirois Report, which is to be considered at Ottawa this month. Some extracts of this address : follow: j | Recommendations : {The rec dations volume fills some 300 pages and deals with many matters which may be important to individual provinces and groups but which are collateral to the main re- : commendation of the Commission." I 7 ! would like to group together five main i «| recommendations of the Commission - which make up the Commission's main 1 financial proposals. T ; } 1. Unemployment: The Commis. sion recommended that the Dominion should be responsible for the entire cost and administration of unemploy- \ ment relief to all unemployed persons in Canada who are able to work. In "| addition;! the Dominion should have power to inaugurate unemployment in- ; surance and a national system of em- ! ployment offices; ; : "ay 4 2. Provincial Public Debts: The fies g WARNER A% : Commission recommended that the n air.raid bombs have reduced their homes to pathetic | Dominion take over the entire "dead. J Soe of Jebris; ut thess London children show the daunt. weight" debt burden of the provinces, Foss 8 "of their race as they play on a swing fashioned and it should do so by taking over all t : provincial debts and receiving from from & rope and a ruined lamppost. also be kept in mind that if the Report is not implemented there will also be costs to be paid and a great propor- tion of those costs would certainly fall upon the province of Ontario, I suggest that we mast realize here in Ontario that we are dependent in large measure upon the rest of Can- ada for our prosperity and that 'de- pendency creates for Ontario a certain responsibility for conditions in all parts of Canada. I would like to feel that Ontario would not shirk that re- sponsibility. v But on the lower and more practical ground, I think it can be argued that the deal for Ontario offered in the Re port is a very good deal indeed, The Commission has made certain calcula- tions, taking thé year 1937 as a base, of the financial efforts on each pro- vince of its proposals, The figures for Ontario show that the financial plan of the Report would produce an improvement in the provincial finances of Ontario by $5,326,000 and in the finances of municipal governments in Ontario an improvement of $2,388,000. Those are the figures for 1037. ! Ontario's Opposition It has been argued that the figures for 1987 are not typical and that if the year 1040 were taken the result wotilld be very different. Notably, an PORT PERRY STAR PORT PERRY elaborate argument was put forward by The Toronto Evening Telegram in its issue of November 15th, 1940; with headlines across a full page, The Tele- gram announces "Sirois Report Spells $10,000,000 Annual Loss to Ontario." The argument of the writer of the ar- ticle is that 1940 conditions are differ- ent to 1937 conditions and that under improved industrial and economic conditions of 1940 the profit in the plan of some seven million dollars on the 1937 figures is converted into a An elaborate table is prepared shsowing comparative figures for 1937 and 1940. These, the Telegram says, produce this result. The difficulty is that the Telegram has completely omitted $10,000,000 on the credit side of the Ontario ledger for 1940, namely the estimated amount that would be rebated to the province under the pro- visions for the mining tax rebate. In addition, the Telegram has taken for 1940 the same net debt service as was required in 1937 when actually the net debt service is increased by more than three million dollars. In other words, the alleged "net loss" to Ontario, as loss. | shown in the Telegram figures,/of over five million dollars is actually a profit to Ontario of more than seven million dollars. These figures illustrate how beauti- fully the plan compensates itself. 1937 and 1940, as the Telegram states, ave undoubtedly very different years but the financial result to Ontario in both years was approximately the same and in both years was a substahtial profit. Arguments such as the Tel}- gram put forward are, however, Adan- gerous and misleading because it is so dificult to check the misconception which/such arguments create. High Faith : I have discussed the Report, at- tempted to outline it and attempted to show that it will produce, for Canada as a whole and for Ontario in partic ular, great practical benefits. 1 have suggested that the recommendations will make an immediate contribution to the war effort, I feel moreover that the Report has a deeper signifi- cance. We are to-day engaged in a war in which we are fighting for more than our material possessions. We are fighting for our way of life, for the forms of government and society in which we believe. That fight must include the production of guns and tanks and aeroplanes to resist exter- nal aggression but I, for one, believe that we must also be prepared to fight against internal obsolescence and de- cay. The fight against external ag- gression and the fight against internal decay are parts of the same fight. We must match the perverted! faith of fascism with a faith in "democracy that is equally strong, equally capable of evoking loyalty and equally suc- cessful in commanding sacrifice. We must make our faith in democracy a living faith with a positive -belief in our ability to make our forms of gov- ernment work. Vision Needed As a nation, have we the courage to make. necessary -improvements in our system when the need is apparent and the method is placed ready to our hands? Have we the necessary vision, have we aggressive leadership to point the way? Have we understanding among the people of all provinces to follow our leaders unflinchingly? Beyond the practical advantages which I believe the Report will give, I feel that our actions in the next few months will provide a test of the char- acter of Canadian citizenship. Our action in regard to this report will give us a measure of the quality of our démeracy." -_--p-- = --e County Conncil COUNTY OF ONTARIO The first meeting of the Council of the Corporation of the County_.of Ontario for the year 1941-will be held pursuant to statutes 'in the Council Chamber in the Court House in the Town of Whitby, on TUESDAY, the 21st day of JANUARY, 1041, at the hour of two o'clock in the afternoon, Daylight Saving Time, | All accounts to be laid before the Council should. be' forwarded to the Clerk, properly certified, at least three days before the meeting of the Coun- cil, Dated at Whitby, this 7th day of January, A.D. 1941. Fi R.'DONALD RUDDY, County Clerk. od de 3 Watch your lAbel; it tells when your $1.50 per year in advance. 5 cents a single copy < subscription expires Two Interesting Letters Through the courtesy of the Rev. Joseph Denny, we are able to publish the following letters: 13 Buckland Lane, Maidstone, Kent, December €, 1940 Dear Uncle! What a surprise the postman brought me when he delivered the paper with my letter to you printed in it, and also thank you for your letter. I was very flattered, 1 never thought my English was good enough to put into print, Christmas will soon be here and if this reaches you in time we all wish you a very happy time and also a bright and peaceful New Year. Have you heard from aunt Jess lately, they have been having a dread- ful time down that way this last week. Some of our firefighters from this town had to go and help. Things have been niuch quieter here this last day or so, but there is a raid on at present and the guns have been blazing away at the raiders as they pass over. We have taken all our pictures off the walls in case the vibration shakes them off. Patrician only does lwo days at school now. Bombs have crashed the school trenches and whilst they are being repaired they are only hav- ing enough children that can be ac- commodated in the basement of the school, Since I last wrote to you there have been bombs dropped in all different parts of the town and many shops and houses have been destroyed. We were awakened at? 2.30 about a fortnight ago, the guns were blazing away and then four big bombs were dropped. We jumped out of bed and scrambled underneath, They fell on this estate and demolished part of a house, but thank goodness no one was hurt. The two children were sleeping under the stairs and. the parents were rescued through the window. Another morn- ing as folk were hurrying to work and children to school without any warn- ing whatever, a gunner bomber dived out of the clouds and dropped a large number of bombs, There were twenty- two business premisess razed to the ground and the whole street was de- stroyed, chaos was everywhere. Things would have been much worse had the siren gone, because people would have been trapped and drowned in the shelters because watermains, and gas and sewage pipes were broken. 1 was on my way to see Dad and the town was thick with dust. People were lying on the ground hurt and glass from shops all around was smashed. It was dreadful. Dad is very well, although the cold weather we have been experiencing has been very trying for him, but he still keeps as busy as ever. Gladys is learning to do Will's job as he has had to register under his age group. Jim has also registered, but of course Kitty cannot take his place because of the baby. Iet us hope that he will not have to go. Charles still does his journeys around the country and has got so used to secing the destruction caused by the bombs and land mines that he does not take any notice of them now anil rarely mentions places or inci- dents when he.is home. About our food. We manage all right. If one item is scarce we get something else. Eggs are practically unobtainable and are eight cents each when we do get one. We are be- ing allowed an extra four ounces of sugar and two ounces of tea each for Christmas, but no extra butter or margarine. We have been told that our meat allowance 'will be reduced after Christmas. We do not mind that because we cannot afford to buy wur full amount. Two shilling and two pence each, Milk is short. The dairy- men have to ration it to their cus- tomers as they think best, and the price has gone'up to nine pence a qt. Now I am not grumbling to you about things, they could be ever so mich worse. I am only trying to tell you how we are faring in this country. Various towns in this country have what is called "a war weapon week." Exhibitions are héld 'of various art- icles captured from the enemy of planes to encourage people to save. Maidstone wanted to collect half a million pounds In one week, and I' Am (Continued 'on page five) LJ Fatal Aliplang Crash LATE 'GEN. MacBRIEN'S SON KILLED Five members of the Royal Cana- dian Air Force died early on January 6th, in the flaming wreckage of a training plane near Rivers, Manitoba, Members of No. 1 Air Navigation School, under the British Common- wealth Training Plan, the airmen met instant death while on a night naviga- tional flight. The dead: Flying Officer M. D. MacBrien of Ottawa, the pilot, son of the late Sir James MacBrien; Sgt. E. J. Pink, Winnipeg; Sgt. G. J. Lewis, Toronto; Sgt. J. D. Ross, Assiniboia, Sask., and Leading Aircraftman L. J. Gray, Niagara Falls, Ont. The training school at Rivers is 145 miles west of Winnipeg, and has been operating a moith under the command of Wing-Commander R. Miller. Flying Oflicer MacBrien was the youngest son of the late Major-Gen. Sir Jas. MacBrien, formerly Commis- sioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. His mother, Lady MacBrien, resides in Ottawa. : News of the tragedy was received in Toronto from his elder brother, Squadron Leader W. R. MacBrien, who is also stationed in Western Can- ada. The brother wired an uncle, W. A. MacBrien, 72 Ardwold Gate. Flying Officer MacBrien was edu- cated at Ashbury College, Ottawa and R.M.C, June, 1939, holding rank of Battalion Sgt.-Major during the final year. Following graduation, he took up mining engineering and was getting practical experience in Northern On- tario at the outbreak of war. He immediately joined the R.C.A.F. with the rank of Provisional Pilot Officer. Since that time hE had made con- siderable progress and at the time of his death was instructing student pilots in the intricate asterial flying. According to the telegram received from Squadron Leader MacBrien, the plane and its crew of five, piloted by Flying Oflicer MacBrien, had just taken off on a night flight. The plane had only risen a short distance from the ground when the engines "conked out." In addition to Squadron Leader MacBrien, a third brother, Licutenant James MacBrien, is on active service with the B.E.F. and is believed by his uncle to have taken part in the Bardia campaign. 3 . Ll] Ld War Victims Fund The Local Army and Navy Veterans Unit 216 has voted a sum towards the "Evening Telegram War Victims' Fund." They are also asking all re- turned men individually to' contribute to this fund, to supplement the amount voted by the Unit. Also the general public are asked to contribute. No amount will be too small. Dr. Lundy, treasurer of the Army and Navy Veterans is author- ized to receive contributions in person or. by telephone, when they will be called for. Telephone 68w. The fund closes February 1st. "jan1é No Two-Year-Term in Reach Less than onc-tenth of those en- titled to vote on the Two-year Term By-law, exercised their franchise in Reach Township. Those who did voted down the: two year term--48 to 106. BOY SCOUT NEWS At this week's meeting, the new members tried their Tenderfoot tests, and those who did not, will try them next meeting. It is hoped the newer members and those of the senior members who have not yet been in- vested, will be before the end of Jan- uary. The Registration of the Troop will be postponed until then, wD All members are requested to bon hand for the next meeting Friday night at 7.80. 43 5 He graduated from RM.C. in - DAE mm a