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PAGE 4. WEDNESDAY, MARCH ILJ978, WHITBY FREE P~RES whitby Voice of: the Cou nty Town Michael 1 lhe nlv Whitbv newsaner indenendentlv Owned and opei lai iERVINO OVER 28,000 IREADERSr in Burgess, Publîsher-Managîng Editor Çomnmunity Editor Published every Wednesday Contributing Edtor Production Manager 'N Print & Promotiona' àby M.B.M. PubIishingi Manager ~Jand Photography Inc-bÇlassif ied Ad Manager 1 Phone 668-6111' Circulation Manager The Free, Press Building, 12 ,1 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. -Brian Wlnter -Jim QOuail -Marie Burgess -Robin Lyon -S. van Deelen »Sharon Lyon M4ailing Permit No. 460 Member of the: Better Business Bureau of Toronto Whitby Cabro onSc Simplify English sez nabor... Dear Sir: Mario Pei, eminent linguist, has said that English spelling is by far the most inconsistent on earth. Since I beli eve that it, is too late to dras- tically reform 'it, I arn suggesting in this first 'ar- tical some logical, prac- tical, moderate simplifica- tions, moïstly American. No more plural nouns in "-es",except for words ike "churches",,and why should -a few have two plurals, viz., banjo,,hero, mosquito, motto, no, zero et ai? Let's eliminate the 'useless plurals of- foreignisms like "potatoes, tomatoes, Negroes" (sp. and Pg., negros!). Restaur- ants could promote this on their menus, rncluding the short form "omelet' Why not always use the more reasonable, non- French spelling of words like center, theater and, of course, meter? _.The French influence seeins toc be suggested also in the spelling of "honour", where I invariably omit the &GU", as in "labor", "humor", _ which should deter one from the incor- rect "humnourous". The sanie rule applies to "be- havior" and "neighbour" (anyone at timfes'for "nabor"?) et ai. As editors know, I ai-- ways favor the useful ab- breviatiOns '4tho" and "6thru" (see Webster's New Collegiate Diction- ary), common for a long time in the U.S.A. Need- less to %ay. I also prefer to write "Scarboro", "dia- log", and naturally "de- program" (a person from a cuit) - a newly-coiied word. "Ae" appears pur- ist ic, if not stilted, when- used in words like anemie, orthopedic, anesthesia, esthetics, medieval, etc. And "ameba" can help- fully do withott"0'e", nor need "mianeuver" be spelled "m-anioeuvre"! Moreover,«: why bother doubling, eg., "1, t, p" when the first syllable has the primary accent? Tro wit: canceled, canceling, even cancelation. Other pertinent forms: dial, traveler, benefited, Wor- shiping, marvelous, jewel- ry, (of jewellery!). Finally, an Oshawa, teacher has well -said, "Advocates of reformn, have had to face a great deàl of active opposition as well as the apathy of the public." Literati will likely frown on my 'so- called "strictures", but many pupils, students, teachers, New Canadians will welcome, thought's provoking ideas. John Knott 17 Quebec,,St. Oshawa, Ont. Dear Sir, On behiaif of t] bership of the Canadian Legion3 112e Whîtby, 0O would like to thank a local in; by -ail accountss life of 'one of oi bers. Paul Heward, spciate Member Canadian Legion 152 Brookiin, was vis*ting the Branch on S February 4, 197 Comrade John F collapsed, victirT man's llife was later 'diagnosed as a the meni- heart attack. The prompt e Royal action of Mr. *eward in iBranch appiying resuscitation ntario, I techniques and his cool, publiciy efficient handling of this ian who, potential fatality undoub- saved the tedly saved Mr. Fitz- ur miera- gerald's, life and gained the admiration of al an As- those pre sent. of Royal We salute this young n l3ranch firefighter of the Scarbor- Ontario, ough Fire Department, >Whitby and offer a siricere 'Thank Satîirdav. you, Paul". 78, when ýitzgerald i of what Hlenry G. Perry, Preident. to the Edîtor x The Canadian Economvy There is a remarkable lack of confidence in Canada today. It has driven the stock market, that -most sensitive baro- uneter of public confidence, to. its knees. It has encouraged the hoarding of personal savings as a *hedge against an uncer- tain future. This in turn has reduced retail sales, created more unemploymrent and thus spun the spiral of business stagnation ever downward. The major thing that we suffer from in this country is, I think, that we are1 just totally locked into the view that things are bad -. it's a doom. and gloom kind of attitude which is self-fulfilling - the more we think that, the more it is going to be a reality. When we look around and we find that we aren't selling as many consumer goods, that people aren't spending money, people aren't investing, and every- one is blaming everybody else. The fact îs, that we pur- selves as individual human beings -- businessmen, consumners or oxtherwîse -- have begun to lose out own confidence. When we look at things like, unemploymneft statistics, that everybody's so happy te talk about, few people are wil- iing to concede that we have of ail the industrial nations the highest rate of increase in our employment force. We~ create more new jobs every year. The shortfall lies between an enormously fast growing labour force, and a very fast rate of job creation. In addition this couittry has done very well in its battie against inflation. The imposition of our wage and price policy has had a very positive and significant impact on our econonly. Critics of the governm-ent's programme have pointed out that inflation is once again on the rise and that an infhition rate of 10%7r per year wilI soon be upon us. If you think our inflation is bad then go to mnany of the other Western industriàl nations where the annual rate is double that of Canada. There is another imnportant elemnent which contributes to the stagnation. I refer now to wage rates and productivity in Canada. In ternis of plain, bard statistics. comnpared with our biggest partner and our closest economic neighbour. the United States.it was not long ago that everybody was crying activity ini t-lis coutntry there is a significant wage differen- tial. Aïid that dif-.ýrepnîi? is in favour of Canada, much to our disadvantage in the trading world. On top of that, flot only having a higher wage rate, we have a lower rate of productivity. When you combine those twofactors with another one: that we are the largest trading nation in the worid, in terinis of our population, you can understand where the difficulties really are. The fact of the matter is, we have priced ourselves out of' the intérna- tional marketplace. We need no longer be told that times are tough; that our dollar is declining on world mnarkets; that our productivity is below average and that ouf losses through labour, intrans- igence are appalling. If this is an emergency, then we should treat it like an emnergency. That means spending a littie less time talking about our probienis and a ittle more time doing somnething positive to improve the situation., We are the same people, in the same country, who a decade ago rejoiced in our good fortune in being Canadians; who rejoiced that we were bountîfully endowed with natur- al resources and that our industrial potential was unlimited. We approached the future with confidence, with energency and with prde, and with reasonable expectations for a high standard Of living, more leisure time and the security of uninterupted employmnent. 'Most importantly we lived in a-free country. And free- dom cardies wîth it apice which we are paying today. The pric is hatif you're ir--&esponsibie in the exercising of it yo'r oigto pay Lhe price. And' the fact is that in teris, of the demands thdt ail of us have made upon our own economy, one carinot help but conclude that they have been excessive -- understandable, but excessive. As for the governmnent, many people say that we should deny the freedom to pegotiate with labour and manage- ment, the rights of free collective bargaining. If you want to pay that price, then know what you're doing, because you're denying sorne basic fundamental humnan freedoms. In reality there is onily one way that anybody can live success- fully in this highly structured social world, and that is by individual personal responsibility, and collective responsi- bility. The solution to our problern does not rest so much in the Courts of the land or Parliament, it rests essentially in the attitudes of the Canadian people. We have a good country and its not going to fail apart. We have got to pull togethier, we have got to work together, we have got to have a littie confidenceand with these elemients this coiintryw$l Legion mem ber saves Letters ,râted by W-hitIbyresidents forWhi.tby residents.