Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 08, 1948, Winnipeg, Manitoba Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights Winnipeg printed and published tic Winnipeg free press company limited 300 Carlton Street Winnipeg Manitoba authorized As. Second class matter by the Post Okiec Ottawa. Victor Sifton Grant publisher. Executive editor. We. Bruce Hutchison general manager. I associate editor. Winnipeg wednesday september or. Howe s forecast the speech to the Canadian National exhibition of it. Hon. C. D. Howe minister of Trade and Commerce was marked by determined and perhaps excessive optimism. He predicted with Confidence that shortages in the Canadian Market would end during 1949." he saw no Check to our Industrial boom1. Employment would remain at a High level. He believed that we have seen the worst of our shortage of . Dollars. Indeed he was convinced that the government s present programme is obtaining permanent results that will tend t8 make pos sible an Early lifting of artificial finally he gave the unqualified Assurance which clearly is not Over drawn that Canadian manufacturers can now compete on terms of Equality with the whole world. There is no harm in counting our blessings. We Are among the most fortunate countries in the world and the government has the to take credit for the vigorous Trade policies which have kept employment at such a High level. It certainly would get plenty of blame if there was a slackening of activity and of Industrial Progress. But it is Wise even in Good times to look ahead and see what problems have to solved if Progress is to be maintained. A the first major Point in or. Howe s speech was a report on. Our Exchange problem. The exceptional Powers taken by the government in order to Deal with this difficulty can be justified Only by necessity and by results. What has been done to the situation or. Howe gives this Clear answer comparing the first seven months Trade this year with last year total exports of merchandise advanced from million to million an increase of about 6 per far As our . Dollar reserves Are concerned the important matter is the shift in our exports to the . During this period Canada s exports to the . Increased by million while our exports to other countries decreased by million. On the import Side during the first seven months of. This year our. Total imports increased from million to million. However imports from the . Fell from million. To million dollars a drop of about 9 per cent. At the same time our imports from other countries in creased from million to million an increase of 38 per cent showing the Good results of our efforts to obtain supplies that have to be paid dollars. The figures speak for themselves. They reflect the immediate and of Industry to the Chal. Lenge presented by our Exchange problem. By direct Trade alone therefore Canada has managed in the past seven months to better its Dollar position by More than million As a result of having increased exports to the United states by ?200 million and having de creased imports from that country by the Drain on our Dollar reserves has stopped our Exchange position has improved and is getting still better because of our cur rent but difficulties still remain. It is a necessary criticism of or. Howe s speech that he tended to minimize these difficulties only1 some of which can be indicated Here. The Central weakness in our trading Structure today is that it rests on an elaborate and costly foundation of credit which cannot be continued indefinitely. Canada s policy of Loans and credits though fully justified in the circumstances and indeed made inevitable by them nonetheless produced a severe Strain on our financial resources and a ultimately had to be greatly modified. Had been for the timely Aid of the Marshall plan our Trade including our exports to Britain would Likely have had to be recast in drastic fashion. Canada is As much a beneficiary of the Marshall plan in one sense As Are the countries in Western Europe receiving direct help from the United states. For without this Stream of . Dollars pouring into. Europe these coun tries would have had no alternative but to Cut their imports from Canada. The effect would soon have been Felt in the volume of employment in. Canada. The Only sound basis for world Trade is to be found in the actual recovery of Europe which the Marshall plan is designed to stimulate. When that takes place world com Merce will again be measured As. It should be in goods and will no longer depend on variable gifts of . Dollars. That fact must be As apparent to Washington As it is to Pitawa. The practical problem facing the United states is to arrange for the desired entry of Canadian goods into the american Market on favourable terms and at the same time to reconcile these concessions with the most favored nation principle which forms part of its own National programme and the Geneva Trade treaties. This is admittedly a very difficult task. But it is not insuperable and or. Howe who told the Liberal convention he believes in free Trade across the Border will be one of those who will be Active in solving the technical and trading problems involved. It is estimated that about 15 per cent of Canada s current Trade or some millions a month is now being paid for by the. Marshall plan. Reports Ottawa indicate that we May have to resume a More vigorous external credit policy. We May for example decide to make available to great Britain the unspent portion of our loan amounting to More than million which has been Frozen for some time. This is one of. The subjects sir Stafford Cripps will Likely discuss with Canadian authorities on his visit to Ottawa. Another question that will probably be of major concern to Western that of the food contracts and the relationship Between our future agricultural programme and the requirements of the British Market. As is Well known these contracts would have blown up had it not been for the Marshall plan. While remembering the Strong Points Iii our present Posi Tion described by or. Howe it would be Wise to think As Well of the tasks that lie ahead. That is the Best Assurance that difficulties will be overcome and Progress continued. Estern Europe and has always anted it. At the same time Russia has a omitted a considerable move nent of certain specific Olish. Coal is the chief it of Eastern Europe into the in Trade for manufactures. Is it possible to assume there Ore that Russia is preparing to move the main Trade dams hat would be a dangerous asumption for Russia has never indicated any willingness to do this less Europe is unified Accord no to the russian hat is to say unified in a fashion hich will enable Russia to Dom Nate it. While that ambition persists it will be too optimistic to believe economic division of eur be ordered by Russia As a Frank attempt to wreck the Marshall Ian will be ended. Nevertheless the unnatural bar hers to Commerce will be removed intimately by the sheer facts of economics by the determination it Europe s Eastern satellites to it the goods they need. This de termination is Clear in Yugoslavia and All the other satellite countries and unquestionably is disturbing the politburo very Seri ugly. The makers of the Trade dam some time ago the russian government urged the United nations economic commission for Europe a study of Trade Between the Western half of the continent and the Eastern zone under rus Sian control. The commission accepted the russian suggestion. As any group any Lay men for that do the economic commission has concluded that Europe s greatest need is the old East West Trade which nourished it before the War. A re Vival of this natural Trade current the commission s report says is essential to Europe s recovery. Of course it is. But who is pre venting the resumption of this Strade not the Western nations which i Are desperately trying sume it. Not the United state which based the Marshall plan o the Assumption that this Trad would be moving freely again fou years hence. Not the russian satellites who Are hungry for Wes Ern european manufactured Good Russia alone is preventing the re turn to economic integration an sanity Over the continent As whole. It would be interesting to kno Why Russia proposed the unite nations study of Trade when must have realized before har that the study would certainly in diet the russian policy of rest i Tion. For some months now and no ably in of the be Lin the russian Poppa Ganda machine has been insisting that Russia wants Trade wit ome curious since the . National Conven iou placed in its programme the socialization of banking by the Tate taking Over the chartered Anks there has been a wholesome and widespread outburst of critic ism. Newspapers from the at Antic to the Pacific both con Ergative and Liberal and in Socia credit Alberta As Well As else there have protested that such policy would be the ruination if the country. The criticism and the protes against the proposed action an ully justified and the prediction if the result May be accepted As or rect. Is interesting to note tha conservative party spokesmen Anc he daily newspapers in Calgary and Edmonton Are Well to the fore rent of the tide of objection. A typical comment in Alberta is from he Edmonton bulletin thus state ownership of the Banks would leave Farmers manufacturers and everyone in the country at the mercy of the state planners and their bureaucracy. Alberta conservatives supported he social credit government in he recent Alberta election and pikes men for conservative party have adopted it As their own describing it Good Safe con Ergative administration. The daily newspapers of Calgary and Edmonton supported it in the elec Ion. 7but the social credit govern ment which the progressive conservatives claim As their own am which the Alberta newspapers sup Ort is the government which few years ago tried by Law am edict to destroy the chartere1 Janks. It instituted and still main Ains a system of Treasur branches at which banking done and which were and presumably still Are intended to sup Plant the chartered Banks ii Short the social credit govern ment which the progressive conservative party claims is its own and which Alberta newspaper support has for Many years Bee doing or attempting to do in of feet what the . Now offer As a definite policy. In the circumstances when the conservatives attack its Bankin. Policy the . May Well. Poin is Finger at Alberta and say what about your these Young men actually re resent the Cream of their Genera on. Many of them developed Lead ship qualities and took import it responsibilities in the services and Are capable of doing so in. Civ Ian life. Among the members of Manitoba s legislature for e x male three of the most Active representatives Are the men who t As service members for the my Navy and air Force. Some f the Best members in. The House f commons also Are younger men veterans of the last War. The trouble is that there Are not enough of them taking positions f responsibility in Public life certainly the City Council would e improved if there were some ble Young veterans sitting on it o would the school Anc be civic is the place to be regarding or. Peron s medals some comment was a few Day ago on the award o a medal by president Peron o Argentina to Premier Duplessis of Quebec. A correspondent writ my to this newspaper but Refus ing to allow of i name Points out that presiden Peron also awarded honors t msgr. Mau Rault Rector of Mont real University. Why the Corres potent asks was. Msgr. Maural not mentioned along with or. Duplessis in these columns he was not mentioned Telaus he is a private citizen whose affairs. Are. Not properly a Matte of interest to the Public All the Public acts of or. Duplessis As Premier of a g r e a Canadian province Are of legitimate Public interest. When Thos acts indicate sympathy with sue a Man As president Peron. They a subject to the criticism of a canadians who detest the Kin of policies which president Pero is enforcing in South America. From the Golden books John Jonne sleep with clean hands either kept clean fall Day by integ Rity or washed at night by repentance today s scripture remember now thy creator in the Days of thy cles. 12-3, Ivar veterans for office 3ne group in the City that All would be glad to see Tak g a More direct part in civic afire is the new crop of veterans any thousands of these Youngen have now become established civilian life in this comm nil and it would be a Good thing to e some of them standing for of Ceas aldermen or As members f the school aboard. There Are veterans living i wartime houses alone in the to. A great Many More have ought their own Homes. Their ibs Are Here their children Are tending City schools they belong i Community clubs and other soc 1 organizations. They have been established Long enough now to it the feel of the Community and Good knowledge of its problems hey have got their roots Down. Est of the time practising up for the three ringed circus a Good grounding in Public prob lems. The idea of War veterans run Ning for office specifically As vet Erans representatives is however not a Good one. Like other candid ates they should represent All the people. But in civic affairs what the various citizen groups on the Lookout for worthwhile candidates might take into account is the fact., that the Young men who fought overseas have had experiences of a sort that develop Toler Ance and judgment and a keen sense of what is at stake in these perilous times. There Are undoubtedly More of them around who would make sound Public representatives. The Amsterdam conference the tone is set the labor Day week lend president Truman set he tone of his election Campaign he contents of his speeches in were As expected the one a Little More strident than the acts seem to justify. The rather desperate character f the president s Appeal for re Lection was expressed in1 the Fol owing statement to american Abor if you let Republican reactionaries get Complete control of he government then i would fear lot Only for the wages and living standards of the american work a Man but even for our demo r Atic institutions of free labor and ree american Way the other hand nothing could have 3een More inflationary t h a n or. Truman s policies at a time when inflation might have been avoided or at least it was the unfortunate Vic irn of advice from or. Ace and the government. Econom its who insisted that the country needed a dose of immediate wage increases in the autumn of 1945" if it was to avoid a depression. The wage Price spiral thus launched is still spinning. M in other words if the re Mil icons win or Truman fears hat the whole american Way of Ife May be destroyed. This to out Ide observers at least sounds a hysterical in the Mouth of a president. It indicates that or. Truman is depending mainly on the support of organized labor or any Hope of re election and hat this Hope is not substantial. The fear Campaign of the Deino Ratic party would seem to reflect its own fears of defeat. Or. Truman seeks to create two ears in the minds of work no people. First _ the fear that he republicans would repeal the Wirich organized labor secured under the Long democratic administration starting with the Wagner act. Second the fear that he republicans will push prices up still further by inflationary policies at the Cost of the Ameri can household. The is held by Many labor leaders. E y regard the republicans Taft Hart by Law which or. Truman tried o veto As a calculated attempt to whittle Down labor s Powers. It h e a has not prevented labor from securing Large new wage increases n the last year and increases also Union membership but it is More As a Symbol than As a fact that the Law is detested by labor unions a Symbol which or. Tru Man obviously will carry across the nation in the next two months. The fear of Republican inflation Rill be More difficult to utilize. There can be no doubt of course that the Republican party policies in the Congress have been inflationary. The republicans reduced income taxes and thus in creased inflationary pressures. On r. Truman s later record on Price control is still More paradoxical. When he asked the Congress to retain Price control and it replied by passing a a to allow selective Price con Rol i the president . On ground that selective Price control is impossible. But today he s campaigning on the proposition that selective Price control alone an save the country inflation. Republicans like senator Taft have been Quick to Point out this inconsistency and they will doubt less a Pant it out continually unti election Day. But the president will try to obliterate the unfortunate record of his administration in this matter by the general cry that his party alone stands for lower prices while the republicans stand for High prices. Over simplification on both sides will Mark the election Campaign. Republican split the. President could much More convincing indictment of his opponents if lie concentrated on their record the Marshall plan Aid foreign Trade Republican inter nationalists Are. Constantly embarrassed by the isolationists within the party. Before the Campaign concludes it is to be expected tha the president will make full use of this split in the Republican party just As the republicans Are profit ing by the North South split in the democratic party. In any Case the bitter tone of the president s first Campaign speeches foreshadows Anc perhaps a Sorne Liat irrelevant election. Birthdays Charles e. Nicol Winnipeg born Stratford ont., sept. 8, 1856. Prof. W. F. Osborne Montreal born Quyon que., sept. 8, 1873. The churches report he draft report of the world Council of churches the protestant branches of he Christian Faith in open and unequivocal opposition to tic marxian communism and what it represents in the world. The Council meeting in Amsterdam made its stand not on the question of political and economic some hard words for nine be Isth Century capitalism but. On the attitudes which Are re presented in one and the other. The text of the report shows Low far the protestant churches assembled in joint convention went beyond the question of the formal organization of society and at tacked the materialistic premises of russian communism with its emphasis not on the individual Man but on the mass state not on the. Right of the human being to a say in his own destiny but on the belief that particular class by virtue of its role As the Beaver of a new order is free from the sins and ambiguities that christians believe to be characteristic of All human the Council s report one of the most forthright statements of the Christian position for Many years demanded that Man must never be made a Mere Means for politic Al and economic Man is not made for the state but the state for Man Man is not made for production but production for Man. For. Society to be responsible under conditions it is required people have Freedom to control to to change their governments that Power be. Made responsible by Law and tradition and be distributed As. Widely As possible throughout. The Community. It is required that economic jus Tice and provision. Of Equality of Opportunity be established for All members of Points of conflict re Able to criticize or Cor act them. Resistance to communism did of mean however that the Hurches automatically gave their Lessing to capitalism. The report emphasized that there Are also conflicts Between christianity and he latter. It pointed to the exploitation of the workers which Vas characteristic of Early Cap Taoism though it admitted these corrected in considerable measure. Serious inequalities the report Laid Down the main Points of conflict Between the Christian Faith and communism 1 the communist Promise of what amounts to a., Complete redemption of Man. In history. 2 the belief that a particular class by virtue of its role As the bearer of a new order is free from the sins and ambiguities that christians believe to be characteristic of All human existence. 3 the materialistic and deterministic teachings however they May be qualified that Are incompatible with the Christian belief in Man As a in god s image and responsible to him 4 the actual methods of communists in dealing with their opponents in the demand of the party on its members for an exclusive and unqualified loyalty which belongs Only to god and the policies of communist dictatorship in controlling every aspect of life. Report said that the Church should resist the Extension of any system which not Only includes re Pressie elements but also fails to provide the Means whereby the who Are victims of such repression is there time to finish the came it declared capitalism to be guilty of subordinating the meet no of human needs to the economic advantages of possessed the most Powter Over its it charged that it produced serious inequalities and that t kept the people of capital St countries subject to a kind of Fate which has taken the form of such social catastrophes As mass there Are few countries today n the Western Camp whose capitalism answers to the description in. The Council s resort. The Western democracies whose Polit Cal organization is the most advanced of any provide in their recognized principles of government the very rights demanded for Man by the Council s report. In the Western democracies there is the right to protest the inequalities real or fancied which individuals May believe themselves to suffer under there is the Power inherent in the ballot to change the government which produces the inequalities and there is the Power again by the vote to change the system under which these individuals live for one More to their own taste. The charges made against the it created a materialistic form of society in which i too much stress was Laid on the necessity for making Money As a Mark of Success is perhaps More difficult to answer. Indeed the materialism of the Western world must be decried but this material ism is restricted by the Christian background of Western Peoples which drives their system to seek constant improvement in. The lot of Man. The free world has slipped somewhat from its Christian base communism has never had such a base. It repudiates All religion. It takes sheer materialism fas its starting Point and denies both the existence of god and the divinity of Man. Monday night club was a great chattering Al and twittering going on. In the branches of the stately old Rees in front of the club last night. We made a mental note to Lake a peek into the Coal bin and pay last year s fuel Bills because when the Birds begin to flock in the City Hall Trees its a sure sign that the blustery winds of Winter Are not far off. When we got inside we found that the boys were in full cry As Well which of course is no. Cause for it was interesting o find that this time they were All warmed up about Freedom of speech. This also is an infallible sign. It Means that Ere. Long the blustery winds of an election will be upon us. It seems that following la couple of false starts after what he hoped might prove to be Lively issues nosed out very promising item in the report of the health committee. It was an amendment to the anti noise bylaw which called for allowing the use of loud speakers on the Market Square Between 7 . And Midnight and on sundays and holi Days. But 110 sooner had he ran his Issue out into the Short grass than everyone pounced on it. End of an Era in concluded so Long As the noise these people made was limited by the Power of , but and Lere he threw his hands above Lis head if you give them loud speakers what a. Tower of Babel it will we. Shuddered. Alderman Black a much trav Elled Man Drew attention to the fact that some o e the Swan Kiest outdoor forums in the world Man aged. To scrape along without loud speakers. He mentioned Hyde Park m London and the Market squares of Edinburgh Glasgow Belfast. He did t say anything about Tor where not so Long ago he himself Shook the British Back on their heels with a blast against their railway service Matching lungs messes. Forkin and Penner who May have had a hand in fashion ing the. Motion rushed in to save Alderman Forkin took the line that a loud speaker is a necessary Aid to free speech on the Market Square what with the Clanger of Street cars buses hooting taxis and what he suggested the Day of the soap Box is Over. To masses nowadays one must use modern equipment. Alderman. Forkin is a Fine Fel Low and i All understand his interest in this began Alderman. His lips puckered up for the kiss of death but i know this City i was raised near it. 11 have seen them All come and minstrels Snake Oil salesmen sin savers Witch he paused. We All agog. We had no idea the Market Square had such fascinating past. Citizens had some Aldermani Vjio mod Estly allowed that he d match his lungs with any Man believes that even the most timid men can de liver a bold speech with a loud speaker. He scorned such apparatus but was willing to let the weak Lings have it if they they had to. Declaring that loud speakers were not Only destroying the soul of Europe but were the worst enemy of free speech Alderman St. John pictured them drowning out the gentle tinkle of the Tambourine and the message of the Little Man. Who could not afford a sound truck or microphone. Alderman reminded him that amplification could to regu lated. All that was desired was to reach the Peanut Poppers on the outer fringe of the modest crowds who get their political education on the Market Square. On behalf of the . He promised that speakers would declaim in a Mon Strous Little voice. Up Rose Alderman Simontte. The very reason for this be said in solemn measured was because there used to be so much Racket on the City Hall Square that we could t carry on business Here in a hush fell Over the chamber. This indeed was an affair More serious than they . Hast ily the orators voted to Hill ;