Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 30, 1948, Winnipeg, Manitoba Freedom of Trade Liberty of Equality of civil rights Winnipeg monday August 30, 1948 printed and published the Winnipeg free press company limited. 300 Cariton Street. Winnipeg. Manitoba. Authorized As second class matter by the Post office department. Ottawa. Victor Sifton. Grant Dexter publisher. Executive editor. Win. Lord. Bruce Hutchison. General manager. Associate editor. France in crisis i the fell of the French government reveals with a Start Ling Light the depth of confusion lying under the outer crust of Western Europe. The government fell in a quarrel Between the various parties which compose it a familiar spectacle in French politics and the almost inevitable result of a Multi party system. The quarrel centred around the determination of one Section of the government to Reform the National finances and stabilize the National Economy and the refusal of another Section to face the facts of France s present position. While this Issue is important enough in itself As a test of the nation s to recover its old strength still larger forces Are in play. The Brief governments which have been set up in France since the end of the War represent the historic attempt of democracy to find a Middle Way Between the extremes of right and left. On the right is general de Gaulle with his almost mystical belief in authority the latest of Many French men on horseback. On the left Are the communists who would establish a dictatorship under foreign control. In the Middle Are the moderates of several parties who sinking their detailed differences have tried to unite in a so called third Force to. Keep France free of foreign domination and of Domestic tyranny. How shaky their Alliance has become is shown by the rapid succession of cabinets and combinations during the last two years. The thing which is demoralizing the democratic process in France is the same thing which under russian Tutelage is tending More and More to Divide the world the deliberate attempt to polarize the world in two extremes the extreme right and the extreme left and to crush democracy Between them. For the russians if they cannot put the communist left in office the Success of the right is Best alter native for the russians expect that the people s revulsion against the right in due time will elevate the left., fascism ii their dialectics would provide a convenient if bloody Road to communism. In the nations Well grounded in the Middle Way of parliamentary democracy the russian calculations As usual have proved wrong. In Britain for example and in the other English speaking democracies neither extreme has been Able to make serious headway against the historic Liberal tradition that word being used without party but in France which has never Learned to manage the parliamentary system very successfully the russians see the very real Chance that de Gaulle will Talce office almost by default the Middle parties Are unable to hang together any longer. It is by no Means certain that this will occur and yet de Gaulle undoubtedly has been making great strides of late among a people who turn desperately from their present con fusion toward a Man who promises order. This in France is a Well established pattern almost throughout the nation s modern history a rhythm in which the nation swings pendulum like from one Side to the other. After the first revolution the dictatorship of Napoleon after Napoleon a Brief Span of democracy after that second re Public the second Napoleon after him the third Republic after the third Republic Petain. Is the fourth Republic to be followed by de Gaulle these prospects cannot be assessed within the politics of France. They must be considered against the broader context of european politics the fierce struggle to re erect a prostrate West amputated from the russian dominated East and to re democracy against Russia s determination to crush it. In this struggle France is a key Factor. First because the Western european Economy no matter How much Aid it May receive from America cannot revive without the revival of France which the chaos of French politics is retarding second because France is the Birthplace and Home of Freedom on the continent and its collapse there would be a shattering blow to Freedom and to the Power of the free world from the English Channel to the Mediterranean. A a the crisis in France is thus an integral and important part of the world crisis involving us All. It will be solved Only the Broad framework of the free world and directly the framework of Western Europe. For this reason the last important decision of the recent French governor sent is particularly significant. It proposed that the Western european nations accept or. Churchill s daring solution and begin the gradual construction of a european federation under a single european parliament. Such a scheme As or. Churchill said in his speech at the Hague possibly the greatest speech of his life cannot shape at of Europe proposed for the immediate future would have advisory Powers Only and it could not grow into an. Actual legislature without years per haps generations of experience. But a Start could be made and or. Churchill believes a Start must be made if Western european civilization As we know it is to endure. That this plan has ceased to be academic and is now practical politics is indicated by the announcement of the United states govern ment last week that it strongly endorses the suggestion of trance. Is called has been to America be fore and brought with him a voluminous baggage of intellectual confusion. As the Regina Leader Post recalls or. Johnson visited Saskatchewan in 1935 to preach the glories of social credit. When he was asked if socialism would be better than social credit he re plied decidedly he added this baffling contradiction i am still socialist in my heart. I am still Liberal in my head and would give you All Liberty. Russia does not seem to give this to you. Am conservative in my Bones and i love our Anglo Saxon ins Titu since then or. Johnson seems to have worked his Way out of the social credit system and the a plus b theory which he 1935, Canada was Stark mad to reject. More and More he has moved into the orbit of russian thought has visited Russia has been welcomed by the r is an people and used As a kind of Ven Erable show piece by the russian government. He remains a sincere Christian still in a state of. Con fusion but surely no menace to anyone. If he intends to visit Canada again As is reported it is to be hoped and expected that the Cana Dian government will not make the mistake of preventing his entry. Freedom of thought and con science Means nothing if it is con fined to Clear thought and excludes the contradictory thoughts of men like the Dean. And surely in the Grin times provided by the russian government we can use a Little comic Relief from one of its friends. He s gone . With Over others Peron endorses or. Duplessis Premier Duplessis of Quebec has received a notable Honor from the Argentine government the order of Liberator san Martin said to be one of the highest decorations in the South american Republic. The government of president Juan Peron which has thus endorsed or. Is fascist in philosophy and history. It represents Bhe forces in Argentine Lite which the United states government denounced in a famous Blue Book for their hostility to the democratic allies in the it is headed by a gentleman who is dictator in All but name. Few canadians could have expected that such a. Would find a Canadian statesman worthy of its distinguished consideration and fit to be marked publicly by its applause. Presumably or. Peron feels that or. Duplessis has richly deserved this Reward. Or. Duplessis is the gentleman on whom the conservative party is depending for any Chance of Suc Cess in the next Federal election in Quebec. The Argentine medal worn by or. Duplessis will be an interesting piece of baggage for the conservative party to carry through the election Campaign. The . Meets test of responsibility at the very moment when France is ready to go Forward with United states support the British government is holding Back. Or. Attlee who once said that Europe must federate or perish thinks this is no time to talk of federation because there Are other problems requiring All the energies of the British and other governments. Or. Churchill seems to the British socialist government is refusing to co operate in the great design simply because it is asked to associate with european governments Are not socialistic. Whether this be True not it will be a tragic thing indeed if any Chance to unify Western Europe economically and politically is lost at a time when Russia s whole programme of Conquest is based on the Assumption of Western Europe s disunity. It May Well be that France s problem and the similar problems of All its neighbors cannot be solved except by a. Measure of International integration a dilution of sovereignty such As the world has never seen before. The alternative to such a bold Union of the forces of Freedom against their enemy May be grave beyond reckoning As the recent French government and the United states government and or. Churchill appear to believe. Events in France strongly support that View. The curious Case of the red Dean or. Hewlett Johnson Dean of Canterbury appears to be an admirable kindly and bemused old gentleman. The most Rabid anti communist inquisitor in the United states Congress could hardly con Sider him a danger to the Ameri can Way of Jile. Yet his entry into the United states is forbidden by the because of his character itt should be noted but because he intended to come the guest of the american so yet Friendship society which the government considers subversive. The government s ruling in this matter will not damage the communist cause in the United states but if anything will Aid it. It gives the communists the Chance to utilize their favorite role of martyrdom. This is of no g r e importance of course but it is important that no free govern ment like that of the United states even in its minor acts do anything to infringe the principles of free speech and. Thus to imitate the methods of the communists. Red As or. Johnson the contents of new York new York is now engaged in the pleasant task of celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the found ing of the present greater City which sprawls from Manhattan Over Long Island and Westward across the Mainland a City not the largest in the world but in every Way unique. In their rejoicing Over the pres ent anniversary the papers present staggering figures to show the Phy Sical contents of the City the buildings the machinery the huge and Complex apparatus which enables the population of a country like Canada to live within a few Square Yards of. Stone and steel. But either contents no less import ant Are not included in this swollen inventory. People Are there too and they Are pretty important. One wishes that in measuring the contents of new York the papers would Tell us How much human happiness is contained in this toiling Anthill or in any other Metropolis. For one suspects that in the Metropolis after it reaches a certain Law of diminish ing returns begins to work. In creasing size brings decreased com fort decreased Speed of motion and perhaps decreased happiness for the Ordinary Man lost in All this vastness. Ondon Britain s p 1 a n n e Economy faces a crucial Tes on september 6 when represent lives of the country s organized workers gather at mar Gate for the annual conference o the trades Union Congress. In essence the issues have no changed since last year. The Mai problem confronting the will be How to revitalize the production drive which since Earl this year has lost its upward momentum and flattened out to steady 119 per cent of 1938. . Officials must also fac up. To the threat of new wage de important steel work ers Union is campaigning for wag losing tour with the rank and. File and Abdi eating from their position As the real leaders of organized labor in Britain. The executive of. The . A shown itself alive to the problem confronting the labor govern ment. It has endeavoured to hoi Down wages to maintain and in crease production and to Back the policies of labor which in. Manj cases have been in conflict will fundamental trades Union theory the . Accepted the direction of workers into vital Industry to Hoigh this implied the limitation of Freedom to work a jobs of one s own choosing. It Hai tolerated the continuation Long after the War of the control o engagements order which forcer1 workers to stay in certain Indus tries including mines and agriculture it has not opposed the use of troops to break Wildcat strikes sporadic strikes today s scripture Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon Earth where Moth and rust doth and where thieves break through and steal but Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven w h e r e neither Moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal for where your treasure is there will your heart be also. 6 19-21. Birthdays Andrew Walker p o r t a g e. La Prairie Man. Born Oyne Aberdeenshire Scotland. Aug. 30, .1869. George , Lyle. Ton Man. Born St. Williams ont aug. 1s72. William j. Norwood born Glas Gow Scotland aug. 30, 1875. But it has not supported the government without Cost to itself the massive transport and Gen eral workers Union has been the victim of sporadic outbreaks of unofficial strikes which have been led from the rank and file by men who in of. Often acted in direct opposition to the regular Union Leader ship. The Well disciplined Coal miners Union has been involved in walk outs which were denounced by its own. Union leaders including a thur Homer the Brilliant communist general Secretary of the miners organization. The Strain. Supporting the Over All plans of government and at the same time of maintaining the Confidence of the rank and file of the trades Union has resulted in a weakening of Union authority at a time when it is most . A the conference has been pre ceded by warnings from the executive of the . That full employment contains certain definite and real responsibilities on the part of the workers. In an offi Cial statement issued recently the Congress warned the one thing that can wreck All our plans for full employment would be failure to produce enough Coal steel textiles Machin Ery and other goods to sell to countries overseas. Without sup lies of food and those vital raw materials petrol Timber Lead Zinc Copper and a Host of other Industrial special correspondence our industries cannot keep going. At the same time the Labo government in an advertisement published in the British press a warned the workers of the unite kingdom of their slow Progress i 1948. The advertisement entitled How Are we doing in 1948 states that three facts stand out 1 our Advance has Slowe though in March apr and May total production was a much As one fifth again of the average for 1946 and a big Advance was made last fall there has Bee no marked Advance 2 there Are no untapped re serves of labor. 3 Britain is exporting mor and importing less but the a remains. Crisis programme among the controversial Resolution which will appear before con Gress is a crisis programme submitted by the National Union p Public employees a left win Union. This proposes for Examina Tion an alternative to the Freez no of wages a four Point pro gramme including the nationalize Tian of the brewing and tobacco industries controlled immigration and what is most remarkable in of traditional Trade Union at itunes the employment of prison cars in Industry. In addition the programme suggests the Transfer f workers from non essential to essential Industry presumably either by direct order to the individual workers or by the ration no of materials to industries which Are considered non essential a 0 far the government s authority to direct workers has Een used sparingly. But the important fact Here is that the Power o direct has been accepted and hat the unions Are falling in with to the extent of suggesting in Leir own programmes the use of his kind of Power. Another controversial Resolution ill be that proposed by the constructional engineers urging trip speedy nationalization of Iron and Teel. This is something the government is quite evidently divided Pon though the calling of a Spe Al parliamentary session for sept. 3, just after the . Meeting push through the parliament ill once More makes it seem that lose in favor of the nationalize the steel Industry have won it. The government s View is of Ourse its own secret. For publication it is still As much in favor t Public ownership As nere Are., straws in the wind. A Vernan committee of the Cabinet As been appointed to inquire into whole system of the control from the Golden books by g. F. Bradly the captains and the Kings pass by in purple and in Gold. They Rise they flourish and they die and All their tale is. Told one kingdom Only is divine one Banner triumphs still. Its King an outcast and its sign a Gibbet on Mil and administration of publicly owned business. It has not yet apparently begun its investigations but the results will be awaited with interest., meanwhile the . Will have met., the traditional struggle be tween its left and right wings w have been renewed. In the past two years the voting Power big unions As the transport and general workers has held the More extreme left in Check. Earl Louis Mountbatten o Ottawa five years ago. A horde of pressing american correspondents nearly mobbed the present Earl Louis Mountbatten at a Washington . Press con Ference. The then Admiral Moun t Batten commander of combined operations had come to consult with his . Colleagues on the development of troop Landing operations. Later he became com Mander Allied forces in South East Asia and subsequently the last British Viceroy of India. Mountbatten s management of Good Humoured that crowd of eager unruly american correspondents was a masterpiece of British Royal diplomacy. He an swered their questions smilingly. Put them on their patriotic and professional Honor hot to use off the record joked with them modestly denied he had in vented the famous Landing ships which disgorged infantry tanks and Cannon from opened bows on the beaches he explained the Dea was developed from William he conqueror s ships in 1066 which added horses on English beaches by the same method. He made a great hit with the . Press. So Earl Mountbatten sat in the parliamentary press gallery this at Ottawa and gave an exactly similar performance. The Ottawa correspondents however at in chairs or stood ringed around the room in quiet. Cana Dian decorum. But they Cross examined ear Mountbatten with no Ess thoroughness. Warrior statesman those who planned the commando raids the numerous troop land Ings under the guns of the navies and the air forces. Operational director of famous per haps greatest innovation of world War h a major invasion from beaches supplied by a movable port. No one Mountbatten told the press modestly claims the invention of Mulberry All the officers and engineers contributed their ideas. Or. Churchill had thought of the piers but that was even before Here was Man who As commander of Allied forces in Southeast Asia had completed the Job of driving the japs out of Burma and malay and saving in Dia. Then came his crowning Triumph the astounding feat As Viceroy of India in effecting peace Ful Transfer of a great Imperial Crown Possession into a Dominion of the Commonwealth and. With Al preserving the Friendship of India s rulers for Britain. What of his future going Back to the he said flatly i am a Navy Man went into the Navy when i was one year old on my father s ship i m a Sailor Clurn no to my Dieppe verdict this athletic Warrior statesman had lost none of his Charm in the passing years. Six fool two inches of solid Bone and muscle his hand some profile would command a Fortune at Hollywood. He has a Ong thin nose firm lips a Well rounded determined Chin grave dark Blue eyes with Quick glints of humor in their Depths and a sudden smile which wreathes his tanned face with an irresistible invitation to comradeship. But the Hick head of hair once dark Brown is sprinkled with Grey and no wonder. Behind this Manculics a record Only paralleled in the annals of the Drakes the Clives and the Church ills. Commander1 combined operations a chief among of Dieppe Mountbatten said if t were to be done again i should lot change Why briefly this Dieppe supplied incontrovertible a oof that seizure of a port to Supply s major invasion was not feasible out of that hard i Cru no grew Mulberry _ the port was taken instead to the invasion beaches in incredible Surprise for the enemy. Out of Dieppe Como thick volume of information n text Book used by Britain and America in invasions of Africa of Sicily of Italy and around the world. Combined operations had pain fully calculated that Channel conditions of weather wind and tide would allow not More than four Days to seize a port. Dieppe a Small port proved that much Onger time would be required to seize and hold it time for enemy reinforcement by air and Hind to smash the invaders. The alternative was without the big invasion might have been pushed Back into the sea. That was the pay off of Dieppe. Suffering from Prosperity a the shining Neu american made cars were lined up outside the equally new and Bright Brick hotel in. Banden Belgium much As in any of the More modern Small towns of can Ada or the United states. The Post office in Banden the school and the town Hall still smelt of wet plaster. The grounds around them were still a levelled and Barren. If you drove through Banden quickly enough on the main Road Between Luxembourg and Brus Sels you could Check it off men tally As the rather Brash begin Ning of a not very interesting town. If you drove through More slowly you could not help but notice the ruins of fireplaces and of old House Walls still cropping out of the tangle of Rass and weeds. Then you would realize that this was the end of a town not the beginning. The hotel the Post office the school and the town Hall Are. The Only Public buildings in Banden. They have All been built within he past two years. Before the War Banden was a goods i z e d town by Canadian standards. It boasted a population of Over and looked to the Timber Trade of the ardennes Forest to Spur its growth. One Day during the German occupation of Belgium under ground activity was discovered in the re Gion. As an act of reprisal the Jerman troops levelled the entire town. Every single Man. Woman and child was murdered. Yet today the new cars and the new buildings Are in Banden As they Are everywhere in Belgium this is the one country of Western Europe where a stranger feels that the effects of the War have really become part of. The past. In so much greater is the Prosperity of Belgium than that of any of is neighbors that the belgians Are actually suffering from the difference. The third peace time summer is proving a disastrous one for the belgian tourist Trade the county s third ranking Industry. Of end for example once a Prosper us International playground for by Claire Tisdale survivor of a great age Charles Evans Hughes was one of the survivors of a great age i the Republican party an age which seems to Dwarf party s it exists today. He was the con temporary and Friend of the first Loosevelt of Taft Root and Stim on. Of them Only Stimson is now live. All these men stand out As wants in american history and of hem Hughes was not the least. He belonged in his younger Days o that group of conservatives who Ere determined to maintain the listing american system but to form it Hughes first great pubic service was to investigate and pose evils in the insurance Busi Ess of new York state. His Suc Essi elevated him to the supreme court and there he took on the nature of a president. In 1916, favouring the United tates entry into the War As against Wilson s current policy of Hughes was the re ubi ican presidential candidate. When he went to bed on election ight it was with the Assurance hat he had been elected presi ent. When he Rose next morning t was to find that the late Cali Ornia returns had elected Wil on by a handful of votes votes hich might have altered the history of the world. When Harding took office in 1921 one of his few Wise acts was to appoint Hughes As Secretary of state. The internationalist was the prisoner of the isolationist govern ment but he made some Progress. The great Washington disarmament conference was largely Hughes work and it gave the world a Brief breathing space from the Cost of military preparation. But Hughes was struggling against a tide in world affairs which he could not resist and an isolation ism in his own country which Over whelmed him. Isolation it also overwhelmed his Succes Sor Stimson in the government of Hoover an outright isolationist who has since changed his mind. From the state. Department Hughes returned to the supreme court As chief Justice a Granite figure in Public in privates kindly patrician of the old school. Politics were behind him but recent revelations show was one of the main instruments in thwarting Puj Sevelt s attempt to pack the supreme court. The Rich and not so Rich is today threatened with ruin. Hotel and restaurant owners facing Crip pling losses have sent .111 urgent Appeal to their government save the situation. The trouble is thai we re too Rich and most other people in Kur Ope Are too was the Way one hotel manager expressed it. The British whose Long preference for Belgium s West coast has made it known As Little England Are prohibited by a Lack of currency from entering Belgium. The dutch Are in the same situation. The French Are allowed to bring a Small amount of Money Oul. With them. But because of the depreciated value of their currency and the High Cost of jiving in Bel Gium there Are few French tourists. Even the belgians Are desert ing their own favorite haunts in the ardennes and on the Sef coast to Holiday in France and Holland. Representatives of the belgian tourist Trade Are still wondering How their Indus try came to be overlooked in the recently signed commercial Exchange agreements with the Bene Lux nations and great Britain. With Belgium s Sterling holdings already in excess of the 000 pounds ceiling beyond which she can ask Britain for repayment in Gold or dollars these men de Clare that their Only Hope is a diplomatic representations. Wealth is pouring into Belgium ram her Radium interests in the Jingo. Evidences of that wealth can be seen on every the shops in the restaurants in Tho High proportion of expensive american cars in the degree to which the new look has invaded women s fashions. The fact How Ever that a three course meal in the most Ordinary of restaurants n Brussels costs 51.50 at least it just one indication of the serious maladjustment Between wages and prices now prevailing Here asja France and Italy. The concessions granted recently to As the re sult of the six Day strike of 000 Metal workers illustrate the drastic need for realignment. The Hughes never reached has undertake to to office and had to watch a Succes Jomp Lelly overhaul Lac Sion of inferior men take the place income tax scale and to raise the for which his talents and work minimum taxable wage level. It had so admirably equipped him. But he will live As a great figure in the records of his people a product of a time which produced greatness and was indifferent to it also guarantees to Issue a further francs Worth of re equipment tickets to permit Bel Gians to replace personal and household belongings lost or dam aged during the War ;