The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

If you‘re not entirely committed to reporting negative news, may I offer a recent experience with the post office. My company operates the Farm Homestead Mail Coâ€"op, a direct mail service, reaching farmâ€" ers in Ontario and the Prairie provinces. Essentially, our houseâ€" holider mailings are directed to farmers only, and depend on the knowledge of local postmasters and Their ability to provide this selective service. Our most recent mailing to this market was an unqualified success and to the complete credit of postmasters and their staffs in the four provinces plus the national 1 am, however, growing a little tired of the almost daily attacks on Canada Post Corporation reported by news media. I‘m tempted to think what Michael Warren, the new Crown corporation‘s president, has called "post office bashing" has become the national pastime, reâ€" placing the weather, Trudeau, Clark, Broadbent or Air Canada (take your choice!) as a means of ridding ourselves of our hostilities. There may be a "new kid on the block" in international agricultural trade, but the shining new face of Canada‘s proposed Canagrex Corporation shouldn‘t lead anyâ€" one to believe that our national agricultur al community is in good shape. Recent parliamentary debate on the Caragrex legislation followed closely on the creation of a new superâ€"ministry of external affairs, which has been given a mandate to boost our foreign trade . Like my fellow businessmen, I regret the inflationary causes of the recent hike in pestal rates. Similarâ€" ly, 1 regret having to pay more for paper, envelopes, printing and the other overheads of my business, which is direct mail marketing. Commends post office Canagrex is a proposed Crown Corporaâ€" tion wÂ¥#rh is aimed at promoting the export of Canadian farm products around the world. With Canagrex and the new externaiâ€"trade ministry, the government The first chink in the armor showed last week, however. with the Farm Credit Corporation‘s announcement that it has already used up the $50 million provided in November‘s budget for lowâ€"interest loans to farmers. 4 £ hopes to convince the world of our agricultural and industrial promise and stability . Ron Jones, viceâ€"president of the Ontario Kederation of Agriculture says the FCC announcement could immediately jeopar dize the survival of about 3.000 farm Writer questions movie review I wonder, after reading Victor Stanton‘s review of ON GOLDEN POND and seeing the movie, what he has against seniors. I am also puzzled at his writing with such profound statements, after admitting that his dissatisfacâ€" tion puts him in a ‘"rather small miâ€" Does he have a stereotype image, that they cannot change or bhandle changes that are taking plsZe. Le. attitude towards sex, teenage braâ€" zenness? Or is he just repulsed by the exposition of the possible life changes that we must all look forward to, i.e. facing deterioration and death? He sounds to me as though he is somewhat jealous of Henry Fonda‘s and Katherine Hepburn‘s long actâ€" ing careers. Maybe it‘s his own age and sex which enables him to identify much easier with the younger men in the movie. WALTER McLEAN * Janet Schenk â€"121 University AVe. E. Waterioo Reagan‘s actions considered a ‘coverâ€"up‘ On Reagan‘s questionâ€"andâ€"answer meeting with the press, the presiâ€" dent stated his government would not send American troops to El Salvador, while at the same time his government is training military junta soidiers in the U.S. so that they can return home to kill their own flesh and blood. Looking in on Mr. Donahue‘s Thursday morning program he statâ€" ed that he had put in several calls to the State Department to have someâ€" one appear on his program to explain their position on El Salâ€" vador. Each time he called he got the umf answer â€" we will get back to you later. The later call never came. Reagan‘s repeated no comment on El Salvador questions to the press is in my opinion a coverâ€"up. W.D. Pope Count Ciano said: "Take firance; Germany has occupied fourâ€"fifths of it, but after all we Italians also have great economic interests throughout the whole country and, believe me, we are going to hold on to them in the near future. It never materialized. This line of thinking reminds me of what is going on today by the Reagan government regarding South America and other parts of the world. We now have an indication that Canada Post officials in British Columbia and the Atlantic provâ€" imces are willing to coâ€"operate in a similar way, thus giving us coverâ€" When World War II was at its peak in 1943 the Axis pow@rs were already arguing over how they would divide up Europe. Documents recently. deciassified by the U.S. National Security Agency reveal a conversation beâ€" tween Benito Mussolini‘s foreign minister Count Ciano and the Japaâ€" nese emissary in Rome: ‘"We are going to have a showdown and get a clear delineation of what is ours and what is the other fellow‘s." _ I for one, am optimistic about the future of the new Crown corporation and think your readers should know of at least one contented post office customer. accounts and sales department of age throughout English speaking rural Canada. The agriculture minister originally asked for $82.3 milliop and a staff of 150. He got $4.1 million and a staff of 12. Other MPs wondered whether the Canagrex board room would end up a dumping ground for political appointees. Still others voiced serious reservations about the new During the debate in the House of Commons several MPs suggested that the government itself had little confidence in the bill because it was a watered down version of Mr. Wheilan‘s proposal to cabiâ€" In recent months the agriculture minâ€" ister touted his Canagrex proposal as the cureâ€"all for Canada‘s agricultural woes But even in its fledgling state there is little indication that Canagrex could stem the rising~ tide of farm bankruptcies, or protect the struggling farmer from the economic uncertainties that haunt him. operations in this province. And, this at a time when most farmers have to borrow heavily in order to plant this year‘s crops. This kind of damage in the farming sector will have an obvious impact on consumer prices to urban residents in On tario. 40365 Westmount Rd. N. Waterioo D.R. Mackentzie 335 Lesmill Rd., Don Milis, Ont. Agriculture woes COMMENTARY Douglas J. McCready Wage and price controls in 1982 would not eliminate the price increases in oil and gas or electricity and when these add to the costs of business firms they would be allowed as price increases by any wage and price commission or board. Government would add toâ€"inflation by increases in taxes and interest rates because everybody says wage and price controls work only when accompanied by fiscal and moneâ€" tary restraint. If taxes or interest rates increase, costs of doing business increase. Consequently, business firms can legitimately raise their prices under the rules. It is dangerous to think that wage and price controls can improve our economy to the extent believed by many. The fact that between 1975 and 1978, there are some pretty respectable organizations like the Economic Council of Canada that agree with that stateâ€" Food prices in 1975 were increasing rapidly from previously initiated agricultural marketâ€" ing boards and shortages in beef and pork production. By 1978 food price increases were smaller partially because the marketing boards had become established and partially because the higher prices in meats had engendered an increase in production. A great deal of interest is being shown in wage and price controls these days. Both the Financial Post and Financial Times have had recent articles quoted as saying that the question was not ‘""if" but "when." First, much of the drop in price rises was due to the stabilizing dollar and the stabilizing food prices which were not included in wage and price control legislation. The doliar was dropping in 1975 and 1976 but by 1978 had stabilized near its current level. When the Canadian dollar is dropping, our imports on citrus fruits, coffee, and other items increase in price causing an increase in the price index. If the dollar stabilizes, our prices for imported goods stabilize too. Why did price rises fall between 1975 and 19787 And, why won‘t they fall if we put wage and price controls on now? Wage & price controls Dr. McCready teaches economics at Wilfrid Laurier University and is a regular contributor to national publications. Controls wouldn‘t eliminate increases in gas and oil crown corporation‘s relations and compeâ€" tition with existing Canadian trade agenâ€" cies and marketing boards. Those who had hoped that Canagrex would help in the international sale of small farm produce, such as vegetables in season, were dismayed during a briefing season with Agriculture Canada. Officials there couldn‘t name even one commodity they thought Canagrex could assist. Meanwhile, the depressed economy, worsened by the government‘s latest budget,. continues to take its toll on Canadian farmers. Most disturbing of all was the budget‘s treatment of capital gains tax â€" a tax which eats into the farmers‘ retirement incomes and contribâ€" utes to the rising cost of farmland. from the sale of a farm (and the subsequent tax) over several years. The new budget abolishes the IAAC and farmers now face paying all of that tax in the year their farm is sold. Previously the budget farmers could defer the impact of the tax through Income Averaging Annuity Contracts. This tax mechanism helped them spread income Roger Cober, president of the Waterioo Federation of Agriculture, says he pre WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 1982 â€" PAGE 9 Perhaps the one area most seriously affectâ€" ed by the ridiculous lack of economic policy on the part of our federal government has been the agricultural industry. Interest rates have driven farmers to starve cattle or abandon farms and even the most elementary economâ€" ics student know that when supply is cut, prices will increase. Thus food prices are going to shoot skyward and wage and price controls can do nothing to stop the process since the alternative to price increases is rationing and long line ups to buy underpriced items. , Interest rate policies have cut into the construction of new housing and rent controls have put a lid on supply. Many cities have a vacancy rate of one per cent or less. Either housing prices have to jump or there will be a phenomena of married couples having to live with parents and that just isn‘t a wish of most young Canadians. Again wage and price controls cannot get us out of this problem. This year the United States economy has experienced recession while the price index has fallen to well below double digit inflation. Whether Reagan‘s prescription for the econâ€" omy is the right one or not remains to be seen but the inflation rate has been lowered without wage and price controls and some emphasis is being placed on stimulating productivity through tax cuts. It is tim‘e, therefore, to change not only the players who appear in public but also some of the stagehands in the department of finance so that we can get on to making the last decades of this centufy, Canada‘s. Acceptance of wage and price controls on the part of the government in Ottawa would demonstrate a bankrupt policy. Canadians also need to be careful to avoid high interest policies or high sales tax policies since there only add to inflationary pressures. Obviously, Trudeau and MacEachen don‘t have the imagination or determination to introduce positive economic policies which would allow private firms to stimulate the Canadian standard of living. Canada need not follow the Reagan tax cuts but productivity can be stimulated by assisting those industries which are already most productive and encouraging private entrepreâ€" neurship in new areas. In Ottawa debate on the Canagrex bill has ground to a halt. In Parliament the .government came under heavy opposition pressure to prove that its scanty Canagrex budget would really be able to do what it promised. While Canada does need to sell more agricultural exports, it may be some time before the government reâ€"introduces the bill. Cober indicated that new farmers coping with a heavy debt load, unmanageable interest rates, and high input costs have been the first to go under in the region. Other longstanding Mennonite and family farm operations have been more fortu nate. sumed the Farm Credit Corporation was in trouble some time ago. The loss of the FCC‘s "last chance"" Joans could mean that several farmers in the Waterloo region, who are already in bad shape, will lose their farms. Instead of gazing longingly at potential foreign markets 1 believe the Liberal government might be better to look to "its own backyard." It should see whether Canadian farmers are adequately equipped to produce the goods the governâ€" ment is so anxious to market abroad‘ Canada shouldn‘t follow Reagan Time to change public players