The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Nov. 22) says, editorially:
"Farming in Canada is still conducted on a free enterprise basis. But the marketing of wheat from prairie farms has been socialized through the monopoly exercised by the Canadian Wheat Board. Storage of crops, pending shipment to ultimate markets, is normally a function of the marketing agency. In Canada, however, because the Government monopoly has been unable to make sufficient sales to keep storage space available in elevators, storage on farms is thrown back on the free-enterprise farmer as his responsibility.
"The only relief he has been offered is limited guaranteed bank loans at 5 per cent. In other words, he is called upon to fulfill a storage function which the Wheat Board should assume, and also to pay 5 per cent interest on any loans he may need to keep his household in cash until the monopoly can find enough markets to enable a resumption of grain movement from the farms."
For years following the War, compelled to sell wheat through the Government, our farmers received as much as a dollar a bushel less than farmers in the US and other countries were getting on the open market. The carrot held out to our farmers was the promise of world markets long after those of other wheat-producing countries melted away. And so Canadian farmers accepted a loss of several hundred million dollars, with their eyes on Mr. Gardiner's 'long-term benefits.'
At last the farmers have caught up with the carrot. And what a carrot it is! Not only have they forfeited world prices for years past, but that long-term market was just a political mirage — of liberal dimensions.
So that Mr. Farmer is now in this position: He has to sell his wheat through the Government. But the Government won't buy it because it has no markets. So Mr. Farmer, not permitted to sell his wheat on the open market, has to store it at his own expense — and pay 5% interest on loans against the wheat which the Government compels him to sell through them, but which they won't buy!!!
It's a dirty deal to Mr. Farmer. But, after all, he has long been supporting political parties which instituted or maintained this fantastic monopoly.
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Neither this journal, nor the French-language Social Credit paper, Vers Demain, had any circulation in Nova Scotia prior to last month. No educational work had been done in this province. But a few days ago this significant report reached our desk:
"Our first 'missioners' sent to N. S. entered the Province and began their contact with the people, in Saulnierville and vicinity, on the 5th of November. They are Urbain Lajeunesse and Jean-Baptiste Lavoie. In the first five days, November 5th to November 10th, they raised no less than 120 subscriptions — an average of 24 a day. Wherever the Social Credit message is carried, it goes home to every sane and unprejudiced mind."
A letter from Mr. Lajeunesse, as he carries the Social Credit message into Nova Scotia, makes these points:
(1) Nova Scotians are delighted to know that there is such a movement as the S.C. movement, and that it is steadily expanding across Canada.
(2) The local people accompany Mr. Lajeunesse and Mr. Lavoie from home to home, as they introduce the Social Credit message to new communities.
(3) Mr. Lajeunesse is taking between 20 and 40 subscriptions to the French-language and English-language S.C. publications each day, and is selling a very substantial quantity of literature.
(4) Mr. Lajeunesse notes in the Maritimes, as in the other provinces, a great disparity between the rich natural resources and the not-so-rich living standard of so many people. This unnecessary disparity, caused by purely financial limitations, plus the oppressive taxation, combine to make people "fed-up with the present financial system based on debt and taxation".
And as we go to press we learn that Mr. Lajeunesse interrupted his Nova Scotia trip for a day or two, returning to Montreal for a conference of S. C. "missionaries". He has now returned east, and hopes to move on to Prince Edward Island early in the New Year.
The Social Credit Movement is spreading into every section and corner of Canada. This journal is a powerful weapon in this educational crusade — a seed, as it were, and yet with the power to open minds and bring a new vision of society. And minds must be opened before intelligent action can be taken.
Introduce "Social Credit" to others; get friends and neighbors on our regular subscription lists; put good literature in their hands. Become a really active crusader in this expanding Social Credit Movement.
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We are inclined to agree with the view of our Australian correspondent (on page 8) that the lowering of prices to the consumer is perhaps the feature of Social Credit financial proposals which could be most effectively pushed at this time. This is because the dizzy spiral of post-war inflation has at every turn confiscated every increase in wages, and thus focused some attention upon this evil.
The issuing of debt-free credit, at the direction of parliament, to finance the reduction of prices to the consumer, would benefit every citizen, as a consumer. And it would not cause inflation because the creation of this financial credit would be for the express purpose of reducing prices — the opposite of inflation.
At the same time, unless the National Dividend is introduced, as we move further into the age of automation our workers, increasingly displaced by the machine, will become more and more tied to welfare schemes — which means a loss of benefits if they do not comply with rules and regulations made by bureaucrats. This must involve a loss of personal initiative and liberty.
The National Dividend and Price Discount would put the full abundance of this Age at the command and disposal of our citizens, without Compulsion, without all manner of welfare and insurance schemes, and with an increase rather than decrease in personal freedom.
On the other hand, we must reject the proposal of our correspondent for a revision of the "party" game of politics, which would place even more control over the selection and conduct of individual members in the hands of 'leaders' or 'parties'.
A Member is supposed to be a representative of his electors, not of some machine or 'party'. He is elected by and paid by his constituents, and his responsibility is to them.
Today the development of the all-powerful 'party' machine, and the apathy of the public, have combined to pervert democracy and place the Member at the mercy of his 'party' rather than responsible to his electors. It is the 'party' which selects him, not his electors; it is the 'party' which finances his campaign; and it is his 'party' which instructs him how to vote and what to support. Thus have our people no genuine representation or voice in parliament today. If our Members truly represented our interests and were responsive to the wishes of the electors, does anyone for a moment imagine that debt and taxation would have reached the levels of today!!!
And any move to place even more power and control in the hands of 'parties' and 'leaders' is another step in the wrong direction.
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STOCKHOLM: Compulsory savings, amounting to 10% of the amount of taxation deductible at source for the period July 1, 1955, to December 31, 1956, are contemplated by the Swedish government as an anti-inflation device in order to freeze part of the increased purchasing power resulting from wage raises this year... Estimated yield, 2½ million dollars, refundable to the "savers" in government bonds. Plan is not definite yet, but may also include encouragement of voluntary saving.
It's the old, old story. They take your earnings. They give you bonds — based on your capacity for further production. They keep on taxing you to pay the interest to you on the bonds they gave you in return for the wages they stole from you in the first place.
— "Canadian Social Crediter"
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Typical of 'democracy' today were the most recent municipal elections in Jasper Place and Edmonton, Alberta, where no more than 13 and 11.2 percent, respectively, bothered to vote, according to the Jasper Place Citizen.
Is this apathy partly because people realize, even if subconsciously, that all candidates and parties today, with few exceptions, represent the same policy? There is no real choice of POLICY.
Christmas today is too much obscured by material and commercial interests, and too often degenerates into an occasion for indulgence and ribaldry. Too many wake up Christmas morning not with a thankful and joyous heart, but with a sore head.
This Christmas let us strip aside the commercial and material veil as we commemorate the birth of Christ, thanking God for His Son, our Lord and Saviour.
And in the weeks and months after Christmas let us not forget our rich blessings, as we work with all our heart and mind and resources to bring our society and temporal order a little closer to the will and laws of God.
- Editor