Problems with ^M

[System Administrator]

This is for newbies, right? Can anyone tell me why a s/^M//g won't get rid of the 
annoying ^M on the end of each line of an imported Paradox database? Is there a better 
way? I know this has to be simple, yet I can find no reference in my plethora of Perl 
books.
TIA for any and all help - you guys are great and I appreciate the time you all put 
into this effort to help folks like me :-)