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voice of the press canada the empire and the world at urge canada i the royal bank of canada tho president and the general man ager of the royal bank look forward to the year ahead with something like optlmum both with regard to their own institution and the dominion as sir herbert holt puts it prophesy continues to be dangerous my feeling is that present indications point to the initiation of a substantial recovery is 193 if a reasonable de gree of international common sense and cooperation can be assured montreal daily star living costs have shrunk a grocery firm in dutton ont has contrasted the buying power of the dollar in a most effective way in a window display the comparison is made between the prices of today and those of a tew years ago a bag of sugar costing 1775 in basis of the dia lion for the loss of all respejt and all authority manchester guardian world conferences opportunity i believe the road back to freer trade iie3 largely through such re gional agreements if as in the le- cent convention between belgium holland and luxembourg they in- voire no increase against any coun try secure a substantial and progres- sire reciprocal reduction and are opeu on similar terms to other countries for the rest the most useful action the approaching world economic con ference could take would be to lay down principles in the ligbt of which each country would undertake to re examine its own tariff system the most important of these would be a clear explanation and explicit con demnation of the compensatory or miscalled scientific principle of making a tariff equal to the difference of costs at home and abroad trade is based upon exactly the difference and young canadian carries all before him 1919 was used as a oasis u r uagei esocl play alongside this bag was placed the compensation for the difference k wi ore- of th6 verv the goods which the store was pre eared to sell for 1775 the same bag of sugar 3 packages o shredded wheat 2 of corn flakes 1 pound of tea 2 pounds of coffee 3 iians of salmon 1 jar of pickles 1 jar of olives 3 cans of tomatoes 2 cans of corn 2 package meal 1 package cake flour 100 pounds flour 2 pack ages pep 1c bars of soap 3 cans of cleanor 1 can of baking powder 1 jar of jam 1 box macaroni 2 cans of pumpkin 4 bottles ketchup 3 pack ages of corn starch 2 pounds of cheese 2 packages of oatmeal 2 cans spaghetti truly the cost of lying lias shrunk reiiiailably sault ste marie star few bright spots it cannot truthfully be said that 1932 is a good year for canada but the dominion did remarkably well despite the worldwide impasse here are a few facts from which may be extract ed a liberal measure of comfort last year canada retained world leader ship in the export of wheat printing paper asbestos was second in gold platinum and cobalt was third in wheat flour fourth in automobiles and wood pulp fifth in rubber tires can ada concluded the year with a favor able trade balance of 50000000 con trasted with au unfavorable balance of 10000000 ill 1931 kitchener daily record by tariff is destructive of the very foundation upon which trade rests sir arthur salter in the yale review enough to jo round if we could only see it for the first time in history the astounding ad vance of productive machinery and swift transport make it possible for everyone to be rich beyond tho bounds of utopian imagination men are not worse or much better than they used to be but they are the creatures o habit and tradition and fa altogether to enlarge their loyalties to fit n larger world when we can at last be rich by sharing why should we per petuate the greedy habits we learnt when there was not enough to go round new satesmaji and nation watch germany there is no longer anything to dread from prussias naval yards nor lier armament firms the challenge now is from her factory chimneys her modern industrial equipment and her potential financial position the ger mans vowed when they lost the war that they would win the peace there are significant signs h the vow will be kept london daily express publishers feel stress the oshawa daily times has changed from daily publicaton to three times a week and will be issued tues days thursdays and saturdays and one does not need to read the publish ers announcement to realize that the change has come about after every other possible means of retrenchment has been tried it is pointed out that the times started publication as a daily in 1925 and at no time since that time have any dividends been taken out of the business it has been a problem for many publishers to continue putting out a product of high calibre with diminish ing revenues but it may fairly be said that the quality of the average news paper still is unimpaired and that when everything is cheaper than ever before there still is nothing so cheap or necessary as your dally newspaper niagara palls review inviting enough we wonder why so many people ap- iiar anxious to spend the winters in florida the garden of canada is fciuoly inviting enough for anyone and its only about ten weeks to tho fir3t day of spring st catharines stand ard empire migration migration schemes to place british unemployed in unpopulated areas in different parts of the empire through slate aid have been triad out but on the whole their history has not been ono of outstanding success any scheme of the kind would depend up on tho ful cooperation of tho do minions and colonies with the moth erland and at present tho temper iu canada at least is against further im migration because of the existing widespread unemployment calgary horaid the empire prices of farm produce theie can be no effective rise in prices until thoro is an expansion in the purchasing power of the people of this country the cuts in wages must be restored the unemployed must bo put to work farmers who live near industrial districts need little convincing that tho inability of people ip buy agricultural produco- is tho cause of their own difficulties facte mara them in the face evory day london daily herald united stat c social trends the report of president hoover3 committee on social trends suggests strongly that the ills of the nation are to be laid at the door of the social theorists rather than of the business man the business m has done his job pretty well those who like to call themselves social engineers the politicians and the socitl workers among others havo fallen down america has lacked not mechanical but social invention tho committee finds our industries push ahead but our social mechanisms are laggard and tho substitutes which are attempt ed often prove even less serviceable than the institutions they replaced yet the specialists who have failed in their selfappointed tasks insist on dictating to tho very men who have succeeded in theirs chicago tri bune stock invades hollywood speaking of courage a real oldfas hioned stock company has crept into hollywood something of a feat in view of the fact that not a single other legitimate production graces the downtown theatres it is a genuine relic from the past even to the ante diluvian heroino with the rural accent who proves to be an opera singer in disguise even to the company man ager who steps out after tho second curtain to announce next weeks at traction san francisco argonaut united states to confer with britain on readjustment of war debts ramsay macdonald may head british delegation to wash ington outgoing government acts for democrats in issuing invitation to british ambassador although alex ilmd right of hamilton won three firs s a second and third at newburg ny to capture the championship he reurned home to find himself suspended because he neglected to secure permission from the ontario amateur skating association allen potts of brooklyn congratulates him y japan and the lauo 1 japan defies tho authority of tho teanue ho throatens to withdraw from membership no ono desires ihat yot worse things might happen jcf wo must chooso between condoning j apanwo action and losing japan as a foombor of the league of nations tho yolco is absolutely clear japanose loyalty la tho senso in which we fiave experienced it i no compoasa- britain doubles space at cne increased interest in cana dian market ascribed to parley montreal the federation of bri tish industries has made application for twice the space allotted them in past years at the canadian national exhibition toronto declared h w waters general manager of the ex hibition in an interview here increased interest in the canadian market on the part of the federation was ascribed by mr waters to the imperial eonomic conference for many years united states manufac turers have used the exhibition to feel out the canadian market said mr waters as a result they opened a canadian agency then a branch fac tory and finally have become members of the canadian manufacturers as sociation some of these firms have now been in the country so long that they are definitely canadian we hope that the same thing will happen with english firms and in fact with manufacturers from all over the em pire mr waters said it was one of his ambitions to institute a buyers show which would open two weeks before the exhibition was thrown open to the public b c looks for heavy lumber sales to uk victoria british columbia should sell 150000000 feet of lumber in the britisli market this year regardless of russian and other competition according to figures issued by hon n s lougheed minister of lands sales of radio sets lighter than in 1931 ottawa sales of radio receiving sets in canada during the third quar ter of 1932 totalled 31300 machines with a factory selling price of sl- 073905 while in the corresponding period of a year ago sales amounted to 76908 receivers worth s4641237 according to a report issued by the dominion bureau of statistics sales by provinces for the nine months ending sept 30 1932 as com pared with those for the first three quarters of last year show that the maritime provinces quebec and on tario took a smaller percentage of the total while sales in the prairie prov inces and british columbia were pro portionately higher in the maritime provinces the percentage dropped to 58 from 62 in quebec to 227 from 289 and in ontario to 408 from 432 in the prairie provinces the percent age rose to 215 from 131 and in brit ish columbia to 92 from 8c washington the united states administration have begun regotia- tions with great britain aiming at readjustment of the longtroublesome war debts in accordance with the newly made roosevelthcover agree ment secretary of state henry l stim- son called great britains ambassador sir ronald lindsay to the state de partment on friday an informed him by word of what had passed between mr hoover and the presidentelect and of the contents of the statement later issued the latter said the british government has asked for a discussion of the debts the incoming administration will be glad to receive their representative early in march for this purpose it is of course necessary to dis cuss at the same time the world eco nomic problems in which the united states and great britain are mutually interested and therefore that repre sentatives should also be sent to dis cuss ways and means for improving the world situation it was expressed by mr roosevelt that these negotiations may be com pleted before the next payments are due on june 15 france not regarded as defaulter it was made clear that mr roose velt does not regard frances failure to pay on december 15 as a default but rather as a deferment it was forecast too that the debt discussion would be kept physically separated from the conversations on means of improving the world economic situa tion with separate delegations handl ing the two problems t was regarded as obvious hero that mr roosevelt expects nations other than great britain to seek some new schedule of debt payments pos sibly although mr roosevelt would say nothing on the subject the new- president may make the discussions great britain maintains shipbuilding supremacy new york great britain and ire land maintained their shipbuilding supremacy of the world during the last quarter of 1932 lloyds reported last week while the united states tell from third place to fifth the rank ings do not include russia for which figures are not available production during the last quarter continued to the lowest levels in 50 years with only about threequarters of a million gross tons of merchant vessels in the hands of the entire ship building industry the report said vegetarian yes- ever since i havo given up meat i have had a desire to attain greater heights to climb friend and look for nuts i suppose employment index 875 during 1932 substitution of direct relief for public works lowered average ottawa the monthly average of employment in canada throughout the year 1932 was 801356 employees ac cording to a report issued by the do minion bureau of statistics this re presented a mean index of 875 us ing the figures for 192g as a basis 100 the 1932 average was 15 points below the monthly average for 1931 when the mean index stood at 1025 the report notes unemployment conditions in countries other than can ada it shows that latest reports from great britain indicate 2799806 persons insured under the unemploy ment insurance acts to be workless as at nov 21 1932 this was approxi mately 222 per cent of the insured workers in germany trade unions with 3- 432520 members reported 43g per cent of their membership wholly un employed in september 1932 in oc tober 1932 the number registered as unemployed under the compulsory un employment insurance acts was provi sionally given as 5109139 the index of employment in the manufacturing industries of the united states in november 1932 was 594 calculated on tho 1926 average of 100 says the report with regard to canada the report says that tho substitution of direct re lief for public works lowered tho aver age of employment iu 1932 iu 1931 mining casualties show decrease during 1933 toronto d g sinclair chief in spector of mines reported that from jan 1 1932 to jan 16 1933 thero were 1475 accidents and 25 fatalities reported to the minos department fronf mines metallurgical works quar ries and clay sand and gravel pits re gulated by the ontario mining act they represent a docreaso of 374 iu the total number of casualties and a decrease of 12 in the number of men killed from 1931 almost perfect murder greta garbo plans return to us soon stockholm greta garbo film ac tress was reported last week to be planning to sail soon for tho united states she was still ii stockholm although remaining in strict seclusion most oj the time the date of her sailing re mained indefinite but the screen 3tar was said to have made it definitely known she hopdc to get away on the return voyage to hollvwood in a short tine canadas fire losses toronto flro losses in canada during tho period ended january 18 1933 woro estimated by the mone tary times aa 1203450 firo losses since tho first of tho year to january 18 1933 aro estimated at 1289250 as compared with 1713125 for the corresponding period of last year with britain and possibly with others an instrument for seeking the tariff trades which he mentioned so fre quently in the course of his campaign it was considered that the economic discussion to supplement the debt talks lent itself admirably to such a purpose wolvldwide reaction worldwide reaction to the white house meeting was immediate in responsible british political quarters the move was termed the best nws in weeks an official spokesman in france de clared before the hooverroosevelt move was announced that france was ready to negotiate at the earliest pos sible moment concerning its debt now in default in belgium hungary poland and other defaulting nations as well as italy czechoslovakia and other coun tries the new united states move was tken under immediate consideration in germany an official spokesman de- c re 1 that nation welcomes every thing that will hasten a solution of the debts question macdonald may head dele gation london jan 20 premie j ram say macdonald probably will person ally head great britains mission to e united states to discuss the war dvbts crisis with presidentelect roose velt in the spring it was indicated in wellinformed quarters the premier regards the detts ques tion as one of the greatest tasks fac ing his socalled national govern ment and would be inclined to jtandle himself rather than entrust so vital and delicate a task to another macdonald is credited with achiev ing the lausanne reparations settle ment and hence it was generally re garded as logical he would attempt tj complete the other half of his job liquidating the financial aftermath of the world war a total of 11135334 mandays were worked on stateaided projects while in the eleven months ended november 30 1932 the total was only 7669164 7900 monthly reports an average of over 7900 employers reported monthly to the dominion bureau of statistics and says the re port they showed almost continually declining employment from month to j month iu 1932 the exceptions were j comparatively small increases record ed on juno 1 and october 1 over the immediately preceding months the highest peak for employment in canada since the bureau began col lecting this data was in august 1929 when 1100000 were shown on the pay rolls of the reporting firms the report says it might be mentioned that the pre sent depression has been character ized by a very general movement to retain as far as possible the usual work ing force by reducing the daily or weekly hours worked the earnings of tho persons included in two month ly reports on employment it avail able would in this way probably show in many cases a greater decline than the number on tho payrolls upon which the index numbers are calcu lated all industries and areas wore affect ed to a greater or less degree by the worldwide dullness in business the report says it recalls that although employment was maintained at a high er level in the service and trade divi sions than any other group these be ing associated with tho tourist tralllc nevertheless that trade was itself disappointing in 1932 the fluctuations of manufacturing woro narrow but logging and bush work generally wore at a lower level than in any preceding year of which mining transportation and communi cations the index numbers were con sistently low lower in tho first two than in any preceding pear of which records have been kept construction was also dull new diving helmet another chapter was written in londons almost perfect murder story when samuel furnace sus pect died mysteriously after taking poison while jailed a body found in sams blazing ofllco was thought to havo been his a laundry mark and two bullots in tho back indicated walter spatchott the victim 50009 policemen searched for furnaca spatchetta bod7 was propped la that chalf austrian financial status is reported bright basic switzerland tho austrian financial situation was reported brighter last week at the monthly board meeting of the bank for inter national settlements at which the banks 90000000 schilling loan to austria was renewed with prospects of an important tmortizacion payment in another three months the board nso renewed tho hun garian loan of 20000000 pengoes and the jugoslavian loan of 1000000 morris bernstein 16 demon strating his own homemade shal lowwater diving helmet tho young inventor remained submer ged in a tank for ten minutes candians should cqunt their blessings we have often said that in a period of depression canada is better off thau other nations proofs accumulate in support of this wellbased assertion employment during 1932 throughout the dominion was s75 per cent of tho normal 1920 standard as compared with 594 per cent in the united states during november last new york brokers are buying seats on the toronto stock exchange one reason for this is found in tho fact that canada now holds second place among the worlds gold pro ducers and that this inevitably means a growing business in mining activi ties tlie gold mines themselves havo contributed materially towards the stabilization of our national credit and the moderation of american exchange rates in face of the heavy mortality among united states banks there has not been a single bank failure in can ada either during the depression or for many years prior to the depres sion the stability of our banks and other great financial institutions has been a main factor in the steadiness with which the country is carrying on in the face of a prolonged worldwide economic crisis british exhibitors have agreed to oc cupy double their former space at the canadian national exhibition in tor osto next autumn owing to the steady sober char acter of the population canada has probably been freer from riots and social disturbances in a time of much stress than any other country of which we read nor should we forget canadas hap py immunity from such cruel oppres sion as that which afflicts soviet rus sia we have in mind particularly the famine conditions which exist thers today and the wholesale slaughter of intellectuals and better class citi zens which has taken puace under the leninstalin regime the latest out rage perpetuated in the land of the bolshevists is tho wholosalo removal of 45000 kulaks and other citizens to forcod labor in tho siberian mining and lumber camps canada is not afflicted by the fam ines plagues poisonous reptiles and rapacious wild animals which take t heavy toll of life lu some tropical countries wo livein the temperate zone tho climate of which tends to produco a vigorous race it has been well said that most of tho men who havo achieved great things in tho worlds history havo worn overcoats in company with all other nations this country is passing through a so- vere economic period but thoro is a growing feeling in the minds of most canadians that we have touched the bottom of the depression and that partly as a result of what was done at lost summers imperial conforenco and partly as a result of what is ex pected to ho achieved at tho coming world economic conference we shall mako real progress towards renewed prosperity oven during tho present year 1933 toronto mail and empire saving of 400000 on penal institutions toronto hon george h challies provincial secretary revealed last week that iu the posit ten yoars tho por diem maintcnanco cost per in mate of tho penal institutions of tho provlnco had boen docroased from 17448 to 90 cents a saving of 86 cents per day per person or a total departmental saving of 400000 in expenditure over that porlod last year mr challies stated hte per diem maintenance cost was cut 24 cents from that of the previous fiscal year brazils civil war debt placed at 50000000 rio do janioro brazils civil war debt placed at about 50000000 by mario guodes economist and writer will give tho government plenty of work for a considerable time ho says in an article in tho nowspaper jour nal do brazil guedos pointed out that the federal government during tho sao paulo re volution issued 400000 contos about 23000000 at official exchange in in ternal obligations sao paulo during uio r and to redeem its rebel cur rency issued 300000 contos about 21000000 in treasury notes tho 7 por cent interest on tho sao paulo federal issues will require 1900c conto a year about 3500000