Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 18, 1946, Winnipeg, Manitoba Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights. The attack on Freedom r the final report of the Taschereau Kellock commission tabled in the House of commons on monday is a Bulky volume covering Many aspects of the espionage activities of a group of men and women largely Canadian citizens. The report not Only includes the earlier interim findings of the commission made Public in March but sets Down All the additional facts the commission has been Able to unearth since its appointment on february 5. With this report the commission has completed its task. It is intended in this context to Deal Only with one and the most controversial aspect of the inquiry. It is unfortunate that the method of procedure adopted by the government on the advice of the Royal commission should have Over shadowed the substance of the investigation proper. Public opinion has been More exercised by the threat to Freedom by the setting aside of individual rights than by the actual revelation of the existence and the operation of a spy ring in this country. This Swift focusing of Public attention doubtless came As a Shock and a Surprise to the government and the commissioners. But reflection will justify it. Nobody is deeply concerned about what happened to the spies As such. The liberties imperilled in this Case Are not the liberties of a handful of men and women who. In the service of communism were pre pared to forswear themselves and betray their country. By no Means. The liberties involved were the liberties of each and every one of us. If a government acting under emergency Powers and through a Royal commission would Brush the rights of some individuals however unworthy and they might be what guarantee can anyone have that under. Pretext or other his own rights would not be trampled Down a Many people have reserved judgment on this Point pending the final report of the commission. However unjustifiable the invasion of Basic individual rights May have seemed it has been a possibility that the commission and the government would be Able to produce a Case in justification. The facts As to what happened Are few . To prevent a meeting in London last fall Between a suspected spy and a russian agent the Canadian government passed an october 5, based upon the War measures act. This order authorized imprisonment right of counsel or Hareas Corpus. The rendezvous was not kept. The Canadian government regarded the order a dead letter. It was forgotten so completely that or. St. Laurent the minister of Justice declared to parliament in december that none such existed. By a sheer Fluke of Legal craftsmanship and absent mindedness pc6444 did not die with the War measures act on december 31, last. Had its existence been remembered it would have ceased to exist. Being forgotten it lived and was inadvertently carried Forward under the emergency Powers act which replaced the War measures act As of january 1. Because of this Accident the Royal commission appointed on february 5 to investigate espionage activities found at its hand Legal warrant for the confinement of suspects without right of counsel or of trial in open court and without right of communicating with others inside or outside their prison. Nine Days after the commission was appointed it recommended on february 14, that this october order be availed of by the government to detain spy suspects. The government acquiesced and the act followed. In its second interim report of March 14 the commission sought to justify the procedure on this ground we Are of opinion that should these persons be allowed communication with outsiders or Between themselves until their activities have been fully investigated some of the Basic purposes of this inquiry would be entirely Defeated the Pur poses Here referred to were not identified and it is the dogmatic and unsupported assertion of tightness in suppressing rights that has had the effect of causing Many to suspend judgment. In retrospect it is now apparent that the government was not prepared to persist in the use of Star chamber methods. With the arrest of or. Rose the communist member of Parlia ment on March 15, the Normal practice of Law was restored. Or. Rose was brought at once into open court. And on april 1, order in Council 6444 was rescinded. By its action in rescinding the order the government passed the most damning verdict possible upon its own previous acts and the commission that had recommended them and now with the final report the Case is Complete. The first Point to be noted is that the commission is now much less dogmatic in asserting the tightness of its course on March 14, the commission declared that otherwise some of the Basic purposes of this inquiry would be entirely now the commissioners say that they Felt that this method have much More Chance of effectuating the preventive intent of the order they Felt that they could not take the responsibility for advising otherwise. And they believe that had the Normal processes of Law been followed some of the spies would have escaped and the inquiry would have been hampered or at least partly ineffective. This is much less positive. It would be surprising indeed if the commission had found differently. It is further to the Point to note that in the report the commissioners state that the extra Legal methods employed did not produce the hoped for results. Some suspects did evade the net. Others could not be identified. There is really nothing to show that the inquiry got substantially farther than the original disclosures made by Igor Guzenko an employee of the soviet embassy at Ottawa in september last. The record presumably is now closed. No further justification of what was done is to be expected. The methods used were hateful. They were of the very essence of tyranny. The commission has failed to Clear its record. And the government notwithstanding its Early decision to Retreat must Bear the odium for an indefensible violation of individual Freedom. Let it not be said can t happen it has happened Here and at the hands of distinguished jurists and a Liberal government. The explanation no doubt is to be found in the hysteria of the moment. Few will believe that after sober reflection the commissioners would have so recommended or that the government would have accepted such advice. The lesson to be drawn is that in such matters As this Faith is not to be put in governments or. Commissions. The Only real guarantee is the will of men to maintain Freedom and their vigilance to that end. To tinted Ana Poi sned Winnipeg free press company limited 300 Carlton Winnipeg Manitoba authorized As second clan by me Post office department Ottawa. S1fiow. Publisher. Win. Lord. General manager. Department. Ottawa. Grant Dexter. Executive editor Bruce Hutchison. Associate editor. Winnipeg thursday july 18, 1946 figure is to be regarded As initial rate for Canadian currency when the fund begins to operate. Or. Ilsley is confident this pro poral will be accepted. As a result Canada will still have the right by her own Del vision and without the fund s approval to adjust our currency at a later Date by As much As 10 per cent either up or Down should circumstances so warrant. The present policy does not. Re Duce that Power in the slightest degree provided of course that the fund accepts the new rate As the initial figure for our cur Rency. The fund s consent to subsequent changes must be obtained Only after the Power of make adjustments up to 10 per cent has been exhausted by a member state there is a definite procedure for doing tills. But Little purpose will be served immediately by stressing these general rights. Or. Ilsley was emphatic in warning Canada that he did not propose to move the Exchange rate with every passing it is certainly True that free Dom of action must be retained by Canada with respect to variations in the purchasing Power of american currency. Parity May not be in our Best interests As a Long term policy in the Light of changing american but Exchange fluctuations Are an evil. They prejudice the country s enduring economic interests. Maximum stability consistent with changing economic need should be the Broad flexible formula within which Canada s Exchange policy now and in the immediate future should operate. It is of course unfortunate that the change in Canadian currency should have been made shortly before the declaration of rates to the monetary fund. But it was a decision thrust upon Canada by the rising Price level of the United states. It is in no. Sense a jockeying for position or advantage. Of i say i expected something a Little More the Taschereau Kellock report a foreign allegiance the communist party of Canada is proved to be an instrument of russian National policy. By j. H. Gray 0 the rules Are observed in commenting on or. Ilsley s decision to restore parity Between j the Canadian and american Dol Lar the Ottawa correspondent of the new York tunes suggested in passing that this drastic action by Canada seems to conflict with the rules Laid Down at Bret the Consumers association a most encouraging feature to those interested in the maintenance for the present of Price control in that should mean every is the aggressive policy now being adopted by the Manitoba House wives Consumers association. This week the association is tackling meat prices and urging its members to refrain from buy ing beef Over the seven Day period. The particular question at Issue is not nearly so important however As the fact that Winnipeg is producing an organization interested and pre pared to fight for the Price Ceil ing. Price controls can be maintained during the period in which it is necessary Only so Long As the people of Canada give them Active support and make Clear that they will Battle any increase which cannot be clearly established As urgently necessary for the maintenance of production. A particular responsibility Falls upon the housewife in this connection. She is the person with a detailed knowledge of buying conditions. She and she alone gets a daily lesson in costs and living expenses. Whatever the merits of the present Issue on which the con Sumers association has chosen to do Battle the fact that it is keeping a vigilant Eye on prices and has the Energy and courage to fight for the ceiling should be of considerable. Encourage ment to the government. The. Present months Are the crucial months. Housewives who take part in the association s planning Are rendering a service not Only to themselves but to the country also. The larger the number who join the More effective will be their stand. Congratulations Are due the pioneers in the movement. Ottawa the report of the Taschereau Kellock commis Sion proves by documentation that the communist party of Canada under any name is an instrument of russian govern ment National policy. That re port contains information which will make interesting Reading for Canadian communists for it. Will Tell them things about their party that Many of them never suspected. From it they will learn that every member of the party is card indexed in the comintern Headquarters in Moscow. They will learn that their party had its own secret Palice system which spied on the Ordinary members in the interest of strict party loyalty. Assigned by Moscow they will learn if they have not already suspected that then leaders get their instructions on policy from Moscow. They will learn that their leaders Are As signed tasks directly from mos cow. They will learn that their party has secret wings composed of persons who have never car ried party cards. They will learn in Short that in organization and operation their party differs in no important particular with the Ausland organization which Hitler set up to do the external dirty work for the German state. They will learn what Moscow thinks of them. The russians have a term for those who do spying for them. Page 97 of the report contains a reproduction of the russian s card on Sam Carr. The first line gives his name the second Lii is pseudonym and the third line reads since when in the net Canadian communists who were Active agents of the russian government were in the they were fish in a trap and All kinds of tricks Are used to keep them there. Russian spy system evinced an insatiable curiosity about the lives of its agents. They wanted to know details of their financial conditions. Of Sam Carr there was this notation financially secure but takes Money. It is necessary occasion ally to the records taken from the files in the russian embassy show that or. Carr was helped Many times. He was also the paymaster through which Money was passed from the embassy to Canadian spies. With Dave Rose of Montreal Carr was shown to be one of the main recruiting agents for the spy ring. Rose had been connected with the russian secret police As far Back As 1924. In 1942, he approached the director of this organization with an offer to do some work. His offer was accepted. It was he who got Many of the most important agents into the detailed records the. Russian records show How details of the lives of secret Wing members family got into the files. The attitude of wives toward the party was important. The arrival of children was duly noted. Facial origins were always noted. Both Carr and Rose took spec Ial courses of instruction in Moscow. Carr graduated from the Lenin Institute and Rose took a special course i 1930 while work ing i Moscow for the Young communist league. These men were important keys in the secret russian organization. That its existence cannot be blamed on the Over enthusiasm of the men stationed in the embassy Here is obvious. These men were simply trans Mission channels for orders from Moscow. New zealand explained by Chester a. Bloom 0 Ottawa fully two years world Supply of Wool in storage in the United states and great Britain plus Normal annual clips coming right along from Commonwealth producing countries constitutes dire threat to future Wool production Hon. Walter Nash finance min ister and Deputy prime minister of new zealand told a press conference Here. The problem said or. Nash is How. To get these immense War time Wool stockpiles into con sumption without putting Wool producers out of business. They fear a forcing Down of Wool prices to the. Depression Low of 1942 of two Pence a Pound in sufficient to pay even the Cost of freight. A joint organization to effect orderly disposal. Of the immense Wool reserves said or. Nash is operated by Australia new Zea land South Africa and the United kingdom. Each these countries also has a separate internal or animation to handle its share of production. Provides a ceiling method employed by the joint organization is to sell the Wool the stockpiles at the prevailing world Market prices and replace it As it is sold off by the new clips from the producing countries. In effect this method provides a ceiling. Where the Price tends to Rise above current not an exporter of Wool. Though or. Nash did not Iren Tion this Point the United states in an Effort to keep prices up to. Encourage a growing Wool during Industry in that country maintains a stiff Tariff against imported Wool. The Wool in the u. S. Stock pile happens to be there in such Quantity because it accumulated when German a boats were raiding Atlantic Argentina which has re to. Gently become quite a woo producing country is also not a member of the joint organization nevertheless Argentina is bound to Benefit from its operations. Or. Nash stopped off in Ottawa in route Home from London where he has been for some months attending various conferences with United kingdom other Commonwealth ministers. He had delayed returning As Long As he could in the Hopt of attending the postponed peace treaty meeting put off to july 29. But he is now forced to return since As minis Ter he must present the. New z a land budget in an election Ciar. The new zealand labor govern ment s term of office ends in october next. At present the government has 45 members against 34 nationalist party opposition and one inde pendent in a House of 80. Or. Nash touched briefly on the recent incident when new Price Vienas 10 Rise above current what is More those accepting world Price More Wool is zealand labor Union stevedores Money had to sign receipts. Such receipts would come in very Handy As blackmail threats if the spy Ever changed his mind and decided to quit there is no record of this happening in these cases. Tasks were assigned by mos cow. There is record of cables Back and Forth in connection with ironing out the details. Of information wanted. The embassy cabled Moscow asking for the Type of radar information wanted Moscow cabled Back and asked for specific categories. This was passed along to the agent who provided the material. The process through which the Canadian communist party fashioned the spy ring for Russia will be outlined article. In a subsequent the first of a series of articles the spy ring. From the stockpile deserves. When the Price tends to fall More Wool is bought from the producing countries and fed into the re serves. Or. Nash admitted that cur rent world Market prices for Wool on the average Are roughly about 40 per cent above the pre War Price. But he said it was difficult to strike an average As there were some 850 different rebelled against loading butter for the United states on the score that it was needed in Brit Ain. The explanation he , was simple. The United states wanted to buy ten million pounds of butter for its armed forces in the Pacific and sought it from new zealand. Butter Issue the new zealand government grades of Wool. The Wool in the arranged with great stockpile reserves is _ valued at Seu this Quantity to the u. S. About 170 million English pounds. At the recent Exchange rate fixed by valuing the English Pound at in buying terms of the Canadian Dollar this would represent Worth of the United or. Nash said is not a member of the joint organization for marketing of this Wool stockpile since the armed forces when the United states agreed to ship an equiv Alent amount of other fats to great Britain. The. Price paid new zealand by the u. S. For the butter was much higher than Britain paid for the equivali5nt fats supplied her by the u. S. And the new zealand. Credited Britain with the Dif Ference in the Price. United. States is an importer and this is the first of. Two articles. Your boat must be old before i agent was i cruised full details of his life and attitudes were sent to Moscow. It was in the espionage Headquarters in Moscow that the decision was made As to whether a Man was to be netted or not. An englishman for example who asked to be used As a spy was the subject of enquiries to mos cow. Moscow gave orders that he was not to be used and that no agent was to have any connection with him. It was Moscow which set the Price to be paid for the passport fraud. Sain Carr asked for getting done. This was rejected As preposterous and he got it done for when the various agents were paid for their work the _ amounts had to be checked Back to Moscow. The government and immigration ton Woods and subsequently for Exchange stabilization and Mone tary there should be no obscurity on this Point. The Canadian action is not in conflict with the Bretton Woods agreement. The International monetary fund created at Bretton Woods is being notified that the new apart from a postponed interim policy dealing with the admission of relatives of. Canadian citizens there is still at this late Date n0 Over All established Canadian immigration policy. Such is Long Over due. It should be clearly stated what the Dominion s intentions Are in regard to immigration and when such intentions will be crystallized into a working policy. Vague and indefinite denunciations serve no purpose except to confuse the Issue. The government is on record As interested but the words of Cabinet ministers., and the actions of the department of immigration Are strangely contradictory. The announcement this week by Hon. J. A. Glen that every Effort is being made to establish inspect tonal facilities in Western Europe would be More Welcome if there could be any Assurance that the efforts referred to would be Fol Lowed by results. Five years have gone by with no immigration. It would be interesting to know what plans the department has. Prepared in this interval for. The inevitable con sequences of the european War. The fact is that Large scale immigration is not feasible at present. But that should be no Barrier either to the preparation of a Long term policy or the admission to the Dominion of those who can be brought Over through the Good offices of relatives or through private channels. Nor is there any reason Why a definite Effort cannot be made to bring to this country a Small proportion of Europe s orphaned children who at present Are con fined in Camps on the continent existing on Flimsy rations and dependent upon work of Charit Able organizations. These children can be Canada s Best immigrants. They Are Young and if they Are saved before the damage to body and soul is too great they would be the perfect immigrant for the Canada of to Morrow. Or. King has announced that Canada will do her share if there is a general agreement on this matter. Why must Canada wait and More important still Why must helpless youngsters wait until in the undetermined future a policy is fixed which May or May not work out Canada need not always follow. It should be possible for the Dominion to Lead. Leadership so Given might produce the results the world is looking for. In any event it would guarantee the Good life to a few children and that is better than nothing. The need for action is pressing. Preferably an old boat. No on second thought it must by an old boat and not Worth More than ten dollars. I am not addressing this to men who can afford Good boats. I am not interested in yachts or the expensive cruisers. I am not addressing the Man who regards a boat As a toy but the millions of canadians to whom a boat is an old Friend arid the truest Mirror of life it self. Specifically i am considering Here a Flat bottomed punt built by Gerry Woods in the year 1913 Long encrusted with the slime of Trout and Catfish used for the hauling of Wood and the love making of two generations of Young folks in the Moonlight sold to me for in the year 1933, punctured on a Rock three years later patched with tin from a gasoline can painted Blue White Green and yellow from time to time As the paint was available and now lying on my wharf in the Contentment of old age. Philosopher required to paint such a boat requires no great skill. A dozen different people have done it including the Little boy next who with great labor mottled it red and Black one year and utilized it As an for minnows and crayfish. No Art is required but a deep understanding of life. Your boat Painter does not have to be an artist but he must be a philosopher. If he has not Learned philosophy at the beginning he will acquire it As he goes along or he will never be a Boatman. , to All exterior appearance is a Mere boat a Structure of half Rotten boards and Rusty nails but to the Practised Eye of the Boatman this is the life of Man in All its glory and All its failure. Here to begin with is adventure. It is the adventure which birthdays r. H. Fry Hartney Man. Born Hope tp., ont., july 18, 1867, by Bruce Hutchison men dream of and never under take. Sitting with Sand paper and paint Brush beside this Placid Lake the Boatman thinks of Distant seas and the Green islands of the South of norsemen and pirates and sea rovers who were his ancestors Long ago. But this boat is never going anywhere certainly no further than yonder Point where the Trout sometimes bite. Nor Are we going anywhere either. We pre tend we Are we make Brave preparations we lift our lives out with Long education assorted stores of knowledge and Rich cargoes to Trade with the natives. But we know from the beginning or soon find out that we Are not going anywhere. Our boat is moored to its Little wharf and there we sit dreaming. This boat is life s innocent vanity also. Like us it is slicked up every year and covered Over to hide the cracks and the decay. Like our women it is heavily coated with paint to disguise the wrinkles and ravages of age. We Boatmen know what lies beneath the paint but we Are joined in conspiracy to conceal it and on no other terms for men or boats is. Life tolerable the conspiracy must be maintained life must be coated Over every year and All the weak spots carefully masked or we should be unable to endure it. Therefore we Boatmen paint and painting we see the Core of things. Here too if you have the wit to see it is economic truth which men have lost in the hideous Clack of catchwords and slogans. The boat is our capital asset our productive apparatus with which we gather Wood Sand for con Crete fish sometimes milk from he farm across the Lake and exercise to sustain our health. The boat must be kept going even at the expense of our con sumption of goods. Instead of he paint which we Supply every year we could buy a Good dozen of Beer or enough tobacco for a Ivecek. But we forego these Lux uries this consumption to rain Ain our capital. It is a lesson which we Boatmen know but which the Public of North Amer Ica has yet to understand. Nay the boat is More than economics. It is democracy. All Boatmen Are free and equal. When he is covered with paint when his clothes Are stiff with White Lead his hands raw from Sand paper his skin turned by the Sun and wind who is to know whether the Boatman is Rich or poor educated or ignorant capitalist or proletarian jew or Gentile in the pure week end democracy of paint and Putty the Man who Las been powerful and fam Ous All week who has pushed his Fellows about and glittered in society is Humble and silent be fore the old Painter who has 30 Money in his pockets but has Learned the cunning of the the meaning of boats and men. Your old boat is. The great leveler of society. It is something still greater. It is the shrine of a rough and ready religion Lor men who do not go to Church. For Here with paint and Brush and Sand paper with Fine skill and the exertion of squirming Between the gun Wales the Boatman strives to express his private vision of Beauty his Little reflection of tie truth. Though the paint May Blister though the lines May waver and overlap do not scorn it. This is the work of men s hands. It does not come like most things now a Days out of a lifeless machine. It comes though you might not suspect it Erom the Boatman s Saul. It Symbol of life thus Day by Day and year by year he patches up his boat and patches at the same time his broken Hie. Better than any Man lie knows How the original Struc Ture wears out How the cracks appear and Widen in himself1 As in his boat How every year Ard every Day they must be called plugged up and painted until All men like old boats Are largely made up cunning patches. And the Boatman knows better than anyone How soon the Day will come when the Leaky Craft no More can be launched upon the water but must be left forever motionless Anc l forgotten on the Shore ;