Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 24, 1947, Winnipeg, Manitoba Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights. Winnipeg free press printed and published the Winnipeg free press company limited. 300 Carlton Street Winnipeg Manitoba authorized As second class matter by the Post office department Ottawa. Victor Sifton Grant Dexter publisher. Executive editor. We. Lord Bruce Hutchison general manager associate editor. Winnipeg thursday april 24, 1947 the railways real purpose until a few Days ago it was generally believed that the application of the railways now being heard by the transport Board at Ottawa is for a 30 per cent increase in the freight rates actually being charged at the present time. Indeed As the text of the evidence of the hearings makes Clear members of the transport Board themselves were under this illusion. But under Cross examination by counsel for the provinces and by the transport commissioners the . Has made it Clear that what the railways Are really asking for is the authority to raise rates by 30 per cent with themselves to be the judge of where they will raise rates and by How much. Before quoting the relevant passages from the evidence it May be helpful to explain what this Means. Under the railway act the transport Board fixes maximum or what Are called Standard freight rates. The railways free to charge less than these maximum rates so Long As in so doing they do not create what the statute Calls discrimination. The transport Board has always ruled that discrimination is a local matter. As Between shippers in a Given area or District. The fact that rates in the West Are higher than in the East has never been regarded As discrimination. As a Rule the maximum rates Are charged in the West because the railways have no Competition. This being a railway monopoly area they charge the highest rates allowed by the Law. And the maximum rates in the West on average have been declared by the transport Board on More than one occasion to be 15 per cent higher than the maximum rates in the East. But because of water Highway and . Railway Competition the railways have never charged the maximum rates in the East. They have charged less and have justified their action on grounds of Competition. Thus the actual spread Between East and West has been and is greater than appears on paper. A a at the outset of the present 30 per cent Case it was generally believed that the railways desired to increase the actual rates both East and West by 30 per cent. But what is intended is that the maximum rates that is what the railways May legally charge As distinct from what they Are charging shall be increased and the railways Given a free hand to increase or not to increase the actual rates As they see fit. Past experience proves that the railways will take full advantage of such an in crease in the West. It proves As Well that they will not do so in the East. There Are several passages in the evidence which establish the foregoing facts. One such appears at Page 3871 of the evidence. Commissioner Stoneman obviously had misunderstood the application. He believed it was for an increase in actual rates and not in the maximum rates. After an interchange with the . Counsel or. Stoneman put the question do i under stand that this is an application for a general increase of 30 per cent of the maximum Tariff or. Evans. . Counsel yes a Little later chief commissioner Cross intervened being clearly in doubt on this Point. He quoted from the application of the railways to show that they Are asking for an Advance of 30 per cent in the rates at present the chief commissioner tolls or rates at present charged. Not what they might charge under the Standard Tariff. It is the tolls or rates at present charged you Are asking for 30 per cent on the tolls or rates at present charged. Or. Evans if you would be Good enough to look at the language of the application it says in the manner outlined in schedule and schedule b says in the clearest terms All classes and commodity the chief commissioner yes presently charged. Or. Evans Well i would like to make it Clear that our application does and i think of necessity must cover Standard tariffs. I Don t think it would be practical to do otherwise the chief commissioner then put a hypothetical Case. If the maximum or Standard rate was 60 cents and the actual rate charged was 30 cents would the railways apply the 30 per cent increase on the 30 cent rate or the 60 cent rate. The answer was that it would apply on both. The railways however would be free to vary rates As they pleased below the maximum. They need not increase any rate unless they so desired. A a these facts have a special significance to the West where the Rule of the railways is to charge the maximum rates. In the West there is no Cape from such rates. The Rule in the East however is to charge lower than maximum rates because of Competition from trucks Waterways and . Railways. The West May regard it As a dead certainty that the 30 per cent will be charged and that the higher rates will remain permanently in Force. But there is no certainty that rates in the East will be raised by anything like this amount nor is there any certainty that such Eastern rates As May be increased will not be reduced in due course. The . Counsel was Clear on this latter Point. At Page 3870 of the evidence or. Evans opposed the suggestion that the Board should order an increase of 30 per cent in the actual rates now being charged. His reason was that if a new situation Deve Kips. The railways will Fino their hands tied so that they could not reduce rates to meet Competition if it should where this leaves the West is obvious. The granting of this application would substantially increase the existing disc Iriina fion against the West. It would wipe out All the Progress made by the West in the struggle for the equalization of freight rates East and West. At one time the discrimination was 40 per cent today it is 15 per cent. Half a Century of history should suffice to prove that the West has no intention of reverting to its former position. Will always be True. The communists Are always against the Best interests of this country. They cannot be trusted. The one thing that can be relied upon in communists in their absolute unreliability. Communists Are More than a loud mouthed minority. They Are a cell of conspirators pledged to Des Troy the existing order. That is their purpose and their Pride. Their arrogance of course greater than their ability or Power. But their work is advanced if the vast majority of citizens who loathe communism Are Blind to these tricks and tactics because of a sense of Security. The exposure communist activities in the housewives con Sumers association should make the task of the communists More difficult the next time they try to dominate and twist a legitimate organization into serving communist ends. It should now be Clear that a few trained communist agitators and organizers in key positions Are usually enough to enable the communist party to capture any organization it wishes to dominate. The wheat conference ends in failure the news from London that the International wheat conference adjourned on wednesday without be no Able to reach an agreement fill hardly come As a Surprise to most observers. For some time it has been of ious that the conference was encountering Many difficulties in its Earch for an International wheat agreement that would provide both or the allocation of supplies and he fixing of prices. Failure to re Woncile these differences has Rought about the breakdown of he conference. Thus another unsuccessful conference is added to he list of abortive meetings which Ince 1933, have been seeking in Ain for an International wheat it is significant that one of the main reasons for the failure of the Ondon conference was the object Ion expressed by importing coun Ries particularly great Britain hat the proposed agreement tried o fix wheat prices at too High a figure. In the past it has often been red that the principal obstacle to n International wheat agreement s the difficulty of getting the major sporting nations to agree. Now the. is overwhelming that in Orting countries also object to an agreement because it does not meet heir needs. Importing nations Are naturally the pattern of communist tactics one of the disturbing features about communist influence in the housewives Consumers association nov exposed to the Public is that so Many housewives apparently did not realize that the labor progressive party is simply another name for the communist party. The new name was born Early in the War when communism was banned in Canada because of its subversive activities. It should still be fresh in Public memory that the communist party was opposed to Canada s participation in the War. For canadians generally it was a War of self de Fence fought to save democratic civilization from being engulfed by a horrid despotism. The communists however had different ideas. They denounced the War As an imperialist War and did All they could to spread confusion about our War Aims and programme. That is Why the communist party was proscribed. Soon the labor progressive party Vas organized. Communist leaders were at its head and the rank and Ile remained the same. They had changed their name but they could not change their character their methods or their objectives. Now As always the labor progressive party is engaged in a conspiracy against democracy and Freedom. Another Point must be re Mem dered in examining the credentials of communists. They not Only opposed Canada s entry into the War during the terrible year of 1940 when Freedom was in peril they stood aloof and indulged in mis of making. They tried to provoke strikes arouse Industrial unrest hamper military enlistment and harm the War Effort. Then Russia was attacked b Germany and overnight the communists changed. At once they be Gan to support the War Effort they did not care about Canada about Britain and the common wealth about the survival free Dom. They cared Only about Russia their loyalty belonged to Russia not to Canada. That is As True today As it was yesterday and i let s Hope it s a bumper crop Ormula acceptable to both Export is and importers. A builder of Canada or. Alex Johnston s birthday is an occasion for wide recognition of one who has done much toward the making of this country. By Grant Dexter t ast night at Ottawa or. Alex i j Johnston was the guest of Honor at a dinner Given to him by his friends on his Soth birthday. There is nothing particularly significant in a Man s friends doing Hirr. Honor. But or. Johnston s birthday perhaps will be acceptable As an occasion for wider recognition of one whose name has Seldom been heard in the streets but who has played a significant part in the making of this coun try. The facts of or. Johnston s car Eer Are these he was born in 1867. Confederation year in Richmond county Nova Scotia. Upon leaving College he became a newspaper Man the editor and part owner of the Sydney record. He was elected to the Nova Scotia legis lature in 1897. He ran successfully for parliament in 1900, defeating sir Charles Tupper in Cape Breton. He was re elected in 1904 and be came chief whip under Laurier his country was being penalized y High Ocean insurance rates fixed y London underwriters and by res fictions imposed by International agreement upon the amount of Argo that a ship May carry in Canadian Waters. These injustices and Long existed and there had been Many Deputy ministers of Marine before or. Johnston s time. He 05 an the fight for Equality with ther nations in insurance rates and in loading capacity. He carried t on with such skill and Persutt nce that during his 22 years in office these excessive charges were n every Case substantially reduced perhaps no finer tribute though a and one. Could be paid him than hat there has been no improve nent since he retired fifteen years interested in lower prices and alter native sources of Supply. They Are necessarily critical of an agreement based on High prices and which May place the future needs of importers largely at the mercy of sex lolling countries. The Point will not escape Atten Ion among Canadian Farmers and he Canadian government that this criticism of International wheat agreements has been made by Sev ral importing countries and by none More vigorously than by the United kingdom. Iwas Defeated in 1908 was appointed Deputy minister of Marine and fisheries in 1910 retired because of ill health in 1932 and since then Lias undertaken occasional Public duties on Royal commissions or As the advisor of various governments on shipping and navigation policies. Since 1910, he has resided at of Awa. Hard to get but easy to spend it is doubtless a matter of Satis action to Premier Garson that his opponents in the legislature show men enthusiasm about spending the Ery substantial sums of Money rained by the province in the tax agreement with Ottawa which to worked so hards Long and so brilliantly to bring about. It took or. Garson As provincial treasurer and Premier some ten years to g a better Deal for Manitoba. Quite evidently if Given half a Chance he . Boys can be relied upon to spend it in about ten minutes. A memorial to Booker t. Washington to Honor a great negro and a great american to give Long life to the work he began Money is now being gathered across the ment of a memorial t. Washington. This to Booker Morial is to be in the form of an Indus trial training school at the place of his birth in Virginia. Born a Washington slave became Booker one of t. The leaders of his people and their Foremost educator. He believed that the negro would contribute to the Prosperity or to the de pression of the South in direct proportion to the educational opportunities open to him. So he fought ignorance in his race and worked that they could become assets to society. Booker t. Washington was an educator who emphasized the importance of Industrial training for the negro. For he saw this As the quickest Way in which they could become efficient and Independent this was his teaching and in keeping with it this school is to be set up. It will be an incentive to thousands of negroes. It will help to draw americans to Gether and promote among them inter racial Goodwill. He participated in history upon two occasions or. Johns on participated in historic events. In 1900, Marconi came to new Sundland for the purpose of erect no a station to prove that wireless transmission was possible. At that Ime Marconi was not a Rich Man. And his theories of wireless communication commanded Little in Ere St. And support. Encountering difficulties in Newfoundland mar Coni s Experiment was on the Point of being abandoned when or. Roh Stoh intervened. What would Lave happened had Marconi Given is an if of history. At Best the development of wireless would have been delayed by several years. Or. Johnston came to Ottawa persuaded Laurier and Fielding that Marconi deserved a Chance As a result was voted by the Canadian parliament to enable the Experiment to be Marie from Nova Scotia not newfound and. The spending of the Money was put in or. Johnston s hands he awarded the contract to build the necessary Plant to n. A a diodes True Blue conservative and father of e. N. Rhodes minister of finance in the Bennett government the Experiment As history tells succeeded. The second event took place h Washington in 1922, when As chief advisor to it. Hon. Ernest la Pointe or. Johnston took part in the signing of the first treaty the halibut treaty Ever enteric into by Canada in its own right As the administrative head of the fisheries department he was o. Course on the Canadian Side the chief architect of the treaty. A a a the record went no further or. Johnston would have his place in the Canadian Story. But the record does not end there. By no Means. There is no Farmer no town or City Dweller there is no Canadian but should be grateful to or. Johnston of Public services far beyond the Cas Ual Call of duty. Of Many such services three a be recalled. As the Deputy minister of Marine or Johnston became aware that i i Marine insurance takes the form 3f in annual policy covering ships ind their cargoes Over the seven was. But in these policies certain Vaters Are forbidden to ships sex ept upon the payment of addition in Money. Shipping companies thus and to pay extra to enter Halifax Saint John the St. Lawrence Van Couver Victoria or the Hudson Lay. And the extra charge of course Vas reflected in Ocean rates which vere a charge for example upon heat paid by Western Farmers and upon inbound goods again paid by Canadian Consumers. The struggle turned upon the lately of Canadian shipping lanes and ports in comparison with new York san Francisco and so Forth it proceeded or. Johnston not Only proved that Canadian Waters re equally As Safe but that Many wrecks which had occurred in other parts of the Atlantic were being charged against Canadian seaways As a result Many millions of Dol ars Are now being saved each year to the Canadian people. The loading of ships is a similar a tory. The Plimsoll headlines clearly painted on All ships Mark the depth to which they May legally be loaded. Here the argument was that Canadian water is not As buoy int. Hence you must not Load As deeply and hence too you must charge More for the smaller Load. Or. Johnston won that fight also although it took Many years to do so. And again every Canadian Bene fitted. He was of course the leading Canadian authority on shipping matters and As such was a principal figure in the conferences which by h. B. Led to the statute of Westminster and the repeal so far As Canada s concerned of the British Mer chant shipping act. His own Charm ail this leaves aside the Charm and variety of the Man himself this capacity for Friendship. Here All that need be said is that at eighty years of age or. Johnston finds about him at his Home most any evening of the week ministers of the Crown and Back benches High court judges and civil serv ants professors and newspapermen. Last night it was a birthday party. The guests included or. Alex Johnston c. G. Cowan Hon. J. L. Ralston Hon. T. A. Crerar. It. Hon. J. L. Ilsley it. Hon. C. D. Howe f. C. Mears Grattan o Leary Leonard l. Brockington. J. A. D. Mccurdy Donald Gordon g. F. Towers w. C. Clark Watson Sellar Emmett Murphy. Or. Justice Rand. Victor Sifton. K. A. Greene f. E. Bron son. Harold Daly Gordon Fogo Willis o Connor George v. Ferguson. Senator d. Mclennan c. J. Burchell r. H. Coates. Harold f. Innes h. C. Osborne j. G. Godsoe John Connolly. D. K. Mactavish Wilfred Eggleston s. G. Dobson e. H. Coloman. Barry German l. T. Martin. Or. We. Hutchison they really represented All canadians. X numbered As they Are by i oratory by the ninth week of the session those who follow these affairs Are Apt to take the attitude that even if a speech was Good they like it. Even so they had to agree that More than one listenable Effort was produced wednesday. One such was certainly or. Churchill s contribution to the Skeleton Zed budget debate. The member for the army was worried Over the fact that Manitoba has been losing population these last five years while British Columbia Lias been pulling in an additional so it was necessary to do a Little Stock taking to see what could be done with our Mani fold assets our soil fish Timber and minerals. He concluded that the course of Wisdom and vision Vas to develop these to such an extent that living standards would be. Pushed upward. That required Money for scientific research and the like. Where Are you going to get the Money or. Churchill was ready for that question before anyone thought to ask it. Simply by modifying the government s plan to retire the bulk of the Public debt in 24 years. Stretch out retire ment Over 40 years even 30, and divert the extra funds on hand to research and development Pur poses and to those purposes Only. True there would be More interest payable Over the longer term but the additional wealth produced would make this scheme Worth while. Thus through fiscal manoeuvres a variety of ideas. A. Hansford Iven the Power to govern them selves. Even so Brief a budget debate As this one could be counted on to bring Forth there was wanted to make City and suburban schools what country schools have always been the cultural and recreational Centre of each Community thereby encouraging peo ple to create their own. Amusement. And then or argue with his feet in the Good Earth of delo Raine spreading tidings of Rural electrification better roads More Snow plows and the achievements of seed Grain clubs. Modest in his demands about All he asked for that was not already in sight was a chemical Weed killer to Cope with sow Thistle. A or. Churchill hoped to lure thousands More people to live Here so that they could share with the present inhabitants the delights of a Manitoba Winter and think no More of enervating Pacific breezes. This kind of talk suited or. Gray very Well for next to his concern for old age pensioners he is most preoccupied with immigration and he offered further musings on the subject. Then he went off on a newer tack the Lack of local self government in Many parts of this province. Or. Gray could see no reason for unorganized or Dis organized municipalities. If be cause of poor land or Lack of industries they could not finance on their own account they should be helped out by the province and couple of other debates occupied the members while in another part of the building civil servants were debating How they were going to pry Loose from the Treasury those fatter pay envelopes for which they have waked so Long. Once again a . At tempt to get immediate Relief for old age pensioners following the example of four other provinces and without waiting for Ottawa met defeat. The House gave some More time too to the govern ment s holidays with pay Bill and this discussion found or. Stringer fearing that to set the Legal minimum at one week might cause some employers to reduce their present two week allowance to that minimum. Or. Collins of Dufferin said in one breath that holidays were Fine and in the next that they increased production costs and added to the consumer s Burden. This Bill went on to committee for further argument. A dozen others were finished with among them being or. Maccarthy s Little redistribution scheme for the school District of Ste. Rose do Lac. As he explained this meant fewer Rural trustees compared with those in the Village. Messes. Hansford Thorvaldson and Stubbs with re distribution dreams of their own took new heart. The session is almost Over but some committees still have unfinished chores. Unhappiest of them is the Hutt Erite enquiry committee which has a very Lively Wildcat by the Tail. One country member after watching the third instal ment of this probe As it Sank deeper and deeper into the fundamentals of civil Liberty summed up repress to Date rain from big Britain and the wheat crisis l Ondon United it was left to the kingdom to put from the Golden books Nelson Robert Soulby the Victory of Trafalgar was celebrated indeed with the usual forms of rejoicing but they were without Joy for such already was the glory of the British Navy through Nelson s surpassing Genius that it scarcely seemed to receive any addition from the most signal Victory that Ever was achieved upon the seas and the destruction of this mighty Fleet by which All the maritime schemes of France were totally frustrated hardly appeared to add to our Security or strength for while Nelson was living to watch the combined squadrons of the enemy we Felt ourselves As secure As now when they were no longer in existence. Birthdays a. J. Andrews k.c., Winni Peg born Franklin Centre que., april 24, 1865. Alex a n d e r Riddell Winnipeg born Ayrshire scot., april 24, 1s66. A. J. Walker e. Kil Donan born Liverpool eng., april 24, 1870. William Tracy Elm Creek Man. Born Wing Ham ont april 24, 1859. C. W. Pearce Winnipeg born Dorking. Surrey eng., april 24, 1873. The Intel National wheat conference out of its misery with the Curt statement that its delegation was unable to associate itself with this wheat these surprisingly Blunt words brought the conference to an end. Even the efforts of Norman Robertson Canadian High commissioner to Salvage something from the wreckage could not alter the fact that the meetings which of an on March is have failed. As matters now stand the Sug ested agreement will be referred to the International wheat Council at Washington in the Hope that this organization May be Able to secure agreement on the controversial Price clause. Even if this Remote possibility should come about the chances of agreement for the crop year beginning August 1 Are almost nil. Too High a Price the clause which finally brought the conference to a breakdown covered the crop years of 1949-50 and 1950-51. Here against United kingdom opposition and the opposition of our lesser importers., tiie conference had agreed upon min imum1 prices respectively and 51.10 Canadian per Bushel. This was too High for Britain though it Vas agreeable to ten of the fifteen importing nations. However they represented in bushels a smaller total of imports than the United kingdom and its supporters. But although it who ended All possibility of an agree ment there was much in the pro posed pact with which others of the participating countries were in disagreement. Only the United states and Ireland came out for the agreement As it stood in the last plenary session. Of the others who spoke each had some Point of Dif Ference. Canada pointed out that the agreement would not be pos sible without the United kingdom and there was a note of warning in or. Robertson s cautious state by f. B. W. Ment that the draft agreement would require careful in fact canadians might Well have found the draft indigestible even if it had been signed Canada was still bound by her bilateral agree ment with the United kingdom. The maximum she would have received for that portion of her exports taken by Britain under the kingdom agreement for this and the following crop year would have remained at even though the International pact maximum for the same period was . Under the proposed agreement Canada agreed to provide a total of bushels each year for five years beginning with this crop year. Australia was pledged to and the United states to against this the importers were asking for More than in the first year in the second in third and in the fourth. For the. Fifth year importers requirements were specified in Only one cases. These figures were Only Provis onal but even so it is difficult to see How the Gap of bushels bet Yeen the exporters to als and importers requirements could have been met without dras tic trimming. The British import figure in this provisional agree ment was set at bushels for four years with no figure specified for the fifth year. Apart from a Brief complimentary reference to Canada he Indian comment on the plan was almost entirely Adverse and there was a threat in the Indian suggestion that it might be to that country s advantage to return As soon As possible to self sufficiency Australia also found fault with the failure of the conference to specify equivalent minimum am maximum prices Fob Australia today s scripture Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me my father thou Art the guide of my youth Jeremiah while France saw a tendency m the proposals to restrict the nor Mal trend of prices. Brazil was not n Accord with the agreement Ither. The United kingdom statement argued that the world must face much lower prices for wheat than Hose which Rule at present but be want to see these lower prices achieved in a manner which pro acts the producers against hard hip and enables such switches As Are necessary to other forms of agriculture to be made without ser Ous dislocation and but having said that we feel that the Price scheme proposed in he agreement does not enable the Price to come to a reasonable figure sufficiently quickly. The United kingdom cannot afford to pay excessive prices for its imports 2nd the reduction of the costs of our imports is a corollary to the expansion of the volume of our sex another agreement but although the conference has failed to secure an agreement even among the delegates and1 this t is important to remember had still to be followed by an agree ment among the members ments the Long Days put in a Ondon have not been wasted entirely. Sir Gerard Rhu chairman of the conference said the delegates should at least get one Mark for they should perhaps get another Mark for endurance and a third1 for attempt ing something which experience in the past had shown to be most difficult. The situation now remains what it was before the conference started. The United kingdom Canada agree ment still stands and the suggestion put Forward by a Canadian Delegate that it was one of the main stumbling blocks to Success May not be far wrong. It is not a popu Lar agreement it is discriminatory and the persistence with which the United kingdom maintains it per haps indicates that Canada has not done As Well out of it As some canadians suggest ;