Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 16, 1948, Winnipeg, Manitoba Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights leg printed and published the Tai pc free press company limited 300 Carlton Street Winnipeg Manitoba. Authorized Ait second Dun the Post department Ottawa. Victor Sifton Grant Dexter publisher. Saccu Uva editor. Win. Lord Bruce Hutchison general manager. Associate editor. Winnipeg thursday september 16, 1948 building a new Constitution for some time now interest has been fixed on the Ber Lin problem and the talks in Moscow. But other taking place in Germany which it would be unwise to Ign nor e. Chief among these Are the plans for a new Constitution for Germany. The eleven states in the Western zone Are meeting at Bonn to work out a Federal system. Meanwhile Russia is sponsoring a Constitution for the Eastern zone. Germany s divisions have led to a constitutional conflict. These two movements have at least two things in com inon. Both Are anxious to avoid the mistakes of the Weimar Constitution which Germany accepted after 1918 and both Are thinking in terms of a United Germany. In most other ways they differ. Russia s plan can be dismissed briefly. It really is a plan to. Continue russian control Over Germany. No opposition parties Are to be tolerated in the soviet zone and the Constitution is devised to favor communist tactics. The proposed Constitution in Short is simply the russian tech Nique and Czechoslovakia applied to Eastern Ger Many. V a the Western situation is More complicated. The first step in bringing the Western states together was taken by Britain France and the United states. They want a Federal system in order to reduce the Power of the Central German government. But they Are surprisingly vague about what a Federal system Means especially As to the 46 million germans in the Western zone. What they really Are after is a method of decentralization which will weaken the German state and diminish its capacity for aggression. A Federal system however does not necessarily imply a weakened Central authority. On the contrary it May mean the exact opposite. Federalism and de centralization Are not the same thing. There is another danger. Suppose the system intimately adopted does Lead As is planned to larger Powers for the variola states. What is to prevent one or two of these states from becoming the Centre of a drive to restore the Power of the Reich this was the historic role of Prussia in the unification of Germany. The same thing May happen again under new names. Moreover the German problem is now set against new european conditions. The emphasis on decentralization has been blunted by Germany s continued weakness. The task which faces the free world today is not to keep Germany weak but to Stop he from being a clog and a Burden on Europe. Russian Power will have new frontiers of aggression. In any event this whole question of the division Between the Central government and the states will be de bated by the conference at Bonn for the next two or three months. The Western Powers very wisely Are not trying to dictate the answer. This is the least they can do for any Federal system will carry enough odium As the creature of the occupying Powers. A a a the Bonn conference is being attended by representatives of the eleven administrations in Western Germany. An a Federal Constitution has been drafted by German experts As a basis., for discussion. According to this tentative plan the new state will be called Deutscher Lender or federation of Ger Man states. The phrase West German state has been de omitted. To have used it would have emphasized the partition of Germany and made it All the harder to end this division. Nor does the word with its evil Asso nations appear in the draft. The ultimate aim of the new state is said to be a United Germany in a United As proposed the new state will have no National Flag but its merchant ships and Trade missions will Fly the colors of the 1848 revolution and the Weimar red and Gold. The Central parliament is to have a membership of 400, with Berlin sending 30 deputies. There will also be As a second chamber a ranch smaller Central Council where each of the eleven districts will be directly represented. A a in Many ways the most interesting clause is the one dealing with emergency decrees. It will be recalled that the Weimar Republic was brought to its doom in part at least because the Power to govern by emergency decree was grossly abused. This later gave Hitler the Chance to wreck the re Public and to destroy All Liberty in Germany. The new. Constitution makers Are building three safeguards against a repetition of this danger. First no emergency decree May be issued by the Federal government without the consent of the Central Council. Secondly no emergency decree May be enforced for More than one month without the approval of parliament. Third no election May take place while Basic rights Are suspended. In the. Western states unlike the. Eastern zone elections Are illegal unless two or More parties Are participating. After the Bonn conference is Over it is hoped to have an election Early in the Spring. But much can happen before then. A Federal system is the most advanced form of democracy. It cannot be imposed from without. It May not be suited to German conditions at All. What is. Encouraging however is that the German people Are striking out for themselves and Are. based on Freedom. Even this is a precarious Experiment in View of Germany s past. But they have earned the right to try this Experiment without too much interference or dictation from the occupy ing Powers. S demand seems purposeless in is he is laying the foundation a some kind of political Man oeuvre from which he calculates arty gain May be reaped. Douglas and his gov already have re of making political footballs it of Public affairs that can be Etter handled and should be handled without political As repayment of set d rain debts. But if he undertakes o make a political football out of Anada s on hich it May be the very nce of humanity May depend he be going beyond the tolerance1 nost canadians. Anger season of yet Over a dry. Fall season again raises he danger signal regarding Tor St fires in the wooded areas of he province. And once More for Stry report the dismal act that human carelessness was he principal cause of the 200 or Bush fires in Manitoba this Pring and summer. Though to Date there have been Ess than the usual number of ires and the loss of commercial Reber has not been great the ver All acreage burned was great a and the critical season May extend another month or More. Ven though fires occur in out of the Way areas in scrub Timber he effects on wild and Normal precipitation Are in the Long rum Erious matters. And in any Case he present estimated loss of in commercial stands of Ember by fire this year is no in significant item. Forestry men say that the care Ess smoker is Public enemy nuer one in the Bush. Is ext then careless campers with settlers burning Brush arid grass Erry pickers and Sparks from Rains All contributing to the total lumber of fires. More Trees Are lost annually by hese fires in Canada than Are Cut own by commercial operators and one bad fire can clean out More Timber in a few hours than he reforestation programme can place in several years. No one hould go into the Bush without thinking of the great devastation he can cause by one careless lapse Vith a cigarette or match or by failure to put out a campfire. Or. Douglas and radio Active minerals deposits of radio Active minerals have been found at various Points in the pre cambrian shield area. Most of them have not been fully checked and tested As to. Their commercial possibilities or even whether or not they will yield materials that Are of value or May be required. The process of completing tests is slow and in Addi Tion the use of the minerals is still in the experimental stage. Two of these deposits or sup posed deposits Are in Saskatchewan. One of the two is already under development by the Cana Dian Crown corporation in charge of radio Active Mineral production and marketing and which works in conjunction with other branches of government. The other still awaits action and pre Mier Douglas in Regina recently demanded that the Federal Crown corporation should get Busy on it. And lie added his usual else. In this Case his or else was that he would ask she. British gov eminent to undertake rent on the theory that while Canada has first claim he wanted by government s is to be assured they would no go to an aggressor nation. H did not define an aggressor nation and on that Point opinions Dif Fer sometimes on Ide logic a grounds. Canada of course a the Only claim on the deposits an its Crown corporation a govern ment Agency is developing o checking them presumably Asra idly As it can and As it is Neces sary. As a matter of fact it a very few months since Prospect ors first reported finding indications of the second Deposit which has not yet been fully explore yet Premier Douglas is a 1 r e a d making threats aimed fat the fed eral authorities. Canada it a be taken for granted has no objection to British capital develop ing that or any other Deposit by any radio Active ores produced a under Canadian control and go the Crown corporation. In the circumstances or. Dou return to the hustings one of the reasons Why. Civic sections Are so Dull nowadays is hat there Ris not As. M Uch grass oots electioneering carried on As Here used to be. The radio has made it too easy for the candidate o get away from the audience instead of facing the hecklers arid questioners the candidate reads a written speech to a microphone. The result too often is a forced and preachy recital of civic ills and proffered remedies which Lores the average listener silly and ends to kill rather than stimulate an interest in the candidate am his ideas. How can people Worl up an interest in a Man when the majority of them Don t even know looks like and have no Opportunity to Exchange ideas with him quiz him heckle him and otherwise test his Mettle it is True that the radio has opened a new Channel to the pubic ear. But it is by no Means established that it is the Best one or civic electioneering. Civic speeches make heavy going for the listener when he. Only to Wist the Knob of his radio to ind something lighter and less taxing listen to. With More candidates in. The running for the coming election t is to be hoped rigid pattern of electioneering in recen years will be broken up. This Wil result if Campaign concentrate More on getting thei candidates face to face. Voters. More resourcefulness could be shown in getting people put t the Public Halls and forums when election issues can be presented and disc sized in democratic fashion instead of from the Ivory Ower of the broadcasting studio from the Golden books William Johnsom Abiy Heri Clitu they told me Heraclitus they. Told me you were dead they brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed. I wept As i remembered How often had tired the talk ing and sent my Down the sky. And now that thou Art lying my dear old Carian guest of Grey ashes Long Long ago at rest still Are thy pleasant voices thy nightingales awake for death he Tabeth All away but them he cannot take. Birthdays. A. R. Burkell Winnipeg born Roseneath ont., sept. Is 1850. Finnboga Hjal Narson Winnipeg born Iceland sept. 16, 1860. Edmonston Smith Winnipeg born Shetland isl ands Scotland sept 1871. Nicholas v. Bachynsky . Winnipeg born Eastern Galici Ukraine sept 16, 1887. It just comes in one flavor a realistic appraisal the Middle ground he speech of. Or. James t Al Byrnes former United states Secretary of state to the american bar association was not Only a defence of Potsdam and Yalta it was also a realistic appraisal of the present International situation. More important How ver than either was his pointed advice that there is a Middle ground Between Drifting into War and Drifting into our efforts should be directed now and in the years to come to building up that where men of Goodwill of All nations can seek peace on. Tie a Tual tolerance and understand in Byrnes was in office from uly january period in which As he he soviet Union recklessly squandered the tremendous Reser or Goodwill it had built in War. It did this by following a policy of non co opera Ion and aggression. Despite their denials there is ittle doubt that the soviet leaders believe there is an inherent con list Between the communist and non communist world. Communist geology superimposed on land o coed russian nationalism seek no outlets in warm water has accentuated expansionist world s problem or. Byrnes agrees that the prob pm confronting the is this great of continued aggression from the soviet Union but he Varns that recognition fact and opposition to it alone do not help us to move towards peaceful too much is at stake not patently to test out every reason Able Opportunity of improving our relationships. As Long As men con or about their problems even if heir language is profane there is always Hope of agreement. But if one of the. Negotiators stops talk no and his face turns White the other Man had better delicate balance up n which the peace of the world s poised. No Power wants or can Ford War. The soviet Union As tar. Byrnes not want Var arid is afraid of War Lien in the Kremlin convinced hat there must be conflict be Weer the communist and non communist. Are doing what hey Jean to by a policy of calculated aggression in Europe which will enable them to extend their defences further and Urther away from the of the soviet Union. A against such a policy ajl which even the., russians just realize contains at every Tep the risk of possible War the non communist world has no Al Ergative but to strengthen its de fences by economic and. Military co operation. Doing this does not he door is shut to negotiation or. talking stage .is.-.oyer. It merely Means that the West must while continue ensure hat the necessary precautions Are eing taken. I a Strong West. Can. Negotiate with Russia As divided West never could. It is that which makes Western important Chi Cox makes it imperative that or. Byrnes argues that because the struggle for peace is difficult there. Giving up the struggle. We can. Be forgiven if we strive for peace and fail. We will not be forgiven if cease to e the. Policy advocated by or Byrnes is eminently sensible. There is a grave danger the. , two Camps work of peaceful negotiation will be thrust aside As it is to recognize the policy of the soviet Union and the dangers inherent in it it is something quite different to argue that the record makes any agreement impossible. Intransigent and difficult As the soviet Union has been since the War it does Liot follow automatic ally that the soviet Union wants War. In fact the logic of events argues not that the soviet Union wants War but the opposite. The damage inflicted upon rus Sia by tie German invaders the destruction and dislocation which followed from three years of Brut Al War on its soil did not make the soviet Union stronger. It mad weaker. No one can. Read the mind o he Kremlin but the danger is that while soviet leaders fear War and probably would not consciously precipitate it they Are not Likely any Opportunity of adding o their strength and position if hey think they can do so without Canada take the Lead if necessary in forming an Atlantic Union. War will be avoided if it can be avoided by a policy of firm the soviet Union by restoring the Economy of the non communist Powers by playing for time so that the natural flow of Trade in Europe can work to enc the division of that continent arbitrarily imposed upon the Eastern nations by the soviet Union. Today the great difficulty is that the nations of the world Are so haunted by fear of War that they Are thinking too much about what would happen in the. Event of War and too Little about what would help them live together tin. value of Canadian Dollar special correspondence 0 Ottawa on May 27, last governor Graham towers of the Bank of. Canada testified to the House Price committee that he Money Supply of Canada had reached a Peak in october 1946, and there. Fras no further addition to since that Money Supply includes and Bank notes in circulation plus both current accounts and the checking portion of Sav nos accounts Iti Canadian Banks. At the Date of or. Towers the Canadian m o be y Supply was millions com pared to millions in of 1946. The latter total was pretty close to four times the Canadian Money Supply of millions at december 1938. Fur ther of accounts shows that the actual Peak was millions last april the month prior to or. Towers testimony. Thus Canadian Money available for daily agriculture Indus try and Domestic use. Continues at approximately four times the -1938 or. Himself was authority for statement that there. Is Money Supply and prices definitely a. Page committee Piort May 27, High prices reflected the pressure of Money Supply or purchasing Power on High demand for goods in Short Supply. But or. Towers was unwilling to term the Canadian Posl Ion could not. Be compared with a great Many coun tries where is Worth from to of what it used to be. Amount of decrease but or. Towers added i would sooner stick to the fact of our Case which is chasing Power in goods and ser vices of Doear is less than it was in 1939, by the amount which is indicated by the Price a committee member asked what the. Approximate Index at that time and or. Towers re plied he thought it was about 151. This Cost of living Index 3s based on the. Average prices Between 1935 and. 100. Actually the May . Index was we can assume that our Dollar Worth. About. 65 cents Ani term of the committee member. That is right answered or. Towers. But since May last the Cost of living Index Lias continued to Rise to 157.5 As of August 2, last. Accordingly by or. Towers Rule the purchasing Power of the Cana Dian Dollar has further declined below 65 cents relative to the . Index Advance from 153.3 last May to 157.5 on aug ust 2. Or. Towers maintained thera was no definite ratio relation be tween volume production and the Money Supply except if credit were inadequate production would be affected. But credit Wera adequate he said which it has been then production might go up or not but if it did it would not be due to inadequate credit. The Dominion Bureau of statistics is attempting to measure production on the volume not dollars taking 1938 As the 100. The calculations include All agriculture manufacturing logging lumber ing on this basis tha volume of production Index was 112.11 in 1939. The Peak due to War output was 183.7 in 1944 Tho Index dropped to 155.9 in 1945 to reconversion it climbed again slowly to 160.8 in 1946. The 1947, preliminary Index is 174.0. It seems pretty obvious that with Money Supply four times 1938 figure and production of available goods and food Only some two thirds to perhaps three quarters More 1938, therein answer to High prices or in reverse the decreased Purchas ing Power of the Dollar. One of the . S major fallacies is to quote big Post War or of its and dividends of corporations in of today s they were quoted in terms of or. Towers shrinking 65-cent Dollar the Pic Ture would be not such Good propaganda among workers who Are aware of the de creases in the goods their Money will buy. Canada spent about Mil Lions on the War High wages Wera paid for this production which was shot away. Much postwar expenditure also was non producing in the sense of supplying ate goods or care of veterans and increasing social Security. Why production relatively is rising slowly while credit or. Towers showed is adequate is another problem entirely. Revolution in Hollywood Phe other night i saw Danny x Kaye in the secret life of Walter the Public Exchange of compliments Between James Thurber the author of the sketch and Samuel Goldwyn the producer of the film had led me to expect the worst. But i decided to go anyhow because Danny Kaye is. Undoubtedly one of the great comics of our age. Mr., Thurber s accusations that or. Goldwyn has done violence to the Story is wholly justified. This is not Thurber s Mitty. The essence of Mitty s character lies in the glaring contrast the Hare like timidity of is daily existence and the heroic dream world into which he escapes from time to time. The Point of these shirt investigation 0 Ottawa Canadian shirt testifying before the special Price commit be Here one and All have voiced oud complaints Over shortages and High prices of dots. O. F. Dannacher vice presi Dent and managing d i r e c t o r 6f bin. Forsyth at one Point asserted that the. British labor government he termed it the in on government had pressed Brit so manufacturers to make the highest Price Cotton piece goods commanded prices. Or. Dannacher testified., they pretty Well controls the Type of piece goods produced. The be said earns greater income working Fine yarns Are very very expensive so the Union confine their efforts much As possible to the Union was u the Sellers Market were still on allocations from Canadian Mills based on a quota of their 1940 purchases. Every time they asked the salesmen for More goods they were told they were getting their share of production for that Basic year. Other sources of Supply were the United states according to their Dollar allocation one third of and great Britain where said or. Dannacher there is All kinds of yardage available for sell prices. Last week they had received their first ship ment of Yards from Czechoslovakia. The shirts made out of that material would retail approximately the lowest retail Price at which they could make shirts from the English material was Anc from the United states at approximately 56 per shift or. Dannacher said a very Peculiar situation obtained in. Brit Ain where the Union govern Mem h is firm said or. Dannacher had been trying for a Ong time to get a single yarn piece goods for cheaper shirting. Three months ago they demanded of their Manchester office the Rea son Why they Coald get none. The Manchester office sent them some fifteen letters from the English Mills producing piece goods in the unfinished state. Every letter or. Read something like this we regret we Are sorry we have no Yard allocation we do not wish to intimidate our employees so we gave it since then or. Dannacher Laid they had some quotations but the prices were shirts would retail anywhere from ?6 up it testified that All these retail prices Are on the , a -35 to 38 per. Cent markup by the the English cloth or. Dannacher said was Woven from egyptian Cotton which was away out of a. B. Today s scripture her sins Whitcr Are Many Are forgiven for she loved much but to whom Little is forgiven the same Loveth Little. By h. Steinhauer escapes is that after each one Wal or Mitty wakes up to find that is still Walter Mitty an insignificant Hen pecked Little Man. In expanding or. Thurber s Hort sketch into a full length film the producers were Ertain problems arising out of Hollywood tradition. First of All Danny Kaye has too much sex a peal to be made into a Middle aged Man. Of nondescript appear Ance. There is Danny there is also Virginia Mayo far cry from what. Mitty n Thurber s sketch must have looked like. Third it is an axiom n Hollywood that the love Story must end happily. And. Indeed any Man with half his senses in Good working order win. See that a girl Ike Virginia Mayo is not just Eft dangling without a Swain not even when the Swain is a. Shl Emiel like Walter Mitty. And so it comes to pass that Walter Mitty in .mr., Goldwyn s version relives1 the epic of the Milkman from had Een a. Sort of Walter. Mitty in Lis own right. Far from being the mouse like frustrate of Thurber s Ketch Mitty of Hollywood goes rom Success to Success wins the Beautiful blonde of his dreams tells his Boss to go to a very uncomfortable place and is rewarded by being Edi or of the pulp Chain for which he has been working As a proofread he thinks at Down to Earth the 100 he Man. In this conflict it is a foregone conclusion of course that brawn beats brain the Philistine literally knocks puny intellectual Down and Tram Ples on him or take that Uncertain. Feel with Melvin Douglas and . An. Insurance Man has settled Down to the prosaic domesticity of married life. His wife becomes bored and to escape from her boredom succumbs to the immoral lure of Art in the form of a pianist. The artist is a puny fellow a neurotic a boor and a Coward. The Insu Ranci Man the big and handsome Mel Vin Douglas decides to humor his spoiled wife in her culture crazy a while. Then he knocks the artist him out of the House and resumes a Happy exist ence with his disillusioned and repentant wife. Usual formula this is the usual Hollywood for Mula. Yet what happens in secret life of Walter Mitty 7" must not misled by the fact Mitty works ton a diag Azlant which specializes in cheap Mur Der thrillers he is the highbrow intellectual who ought to beaten in any contest with on Hon est to goodness Phllis lne. Yet dreamy useless intellectual gets the blonde he uncovers a gang of murderers and brings them to jus Tice he tells his bullying Boss for years i be done All your think ing for you and the Boss takes it and even rewards him with the r. Thurber As one highbrow to another., i sympathize with you. Or. Goldwyn has made mince meat of your Mitty. But let men Point out several things by Way of Consolation 1. This May not be your film but in Many ways it . Excellent picture., 2. What did you expect from or. Goldwyn the. Man about whom the Many anecdotes have collected 3. In your indignation you Over look the fact that the secret life of has. Introduced a most revolutionary thesis into repertoire. A. Favorite Hollywood theme depicts the conflict Between the fug brow intellectual and the handsome rugged aggressive business Inan Plain thinking associate Editorship. Most Aston Ishing is the scene 5n which the delicate intellectual plants his fist on the Well developed jaw of his dimwit rival in love. And that magnificent of animal manhood goes Down for the i Don to Lor a moment be Levi that or. to Ify the was unhappily driven into a situation that he had not thought out in and Vance. He needed a Happy ending in which the hero and wins the Beautiful blonde. Unfortunately he forgot that in this Case the hero was a screwball of a highbrow. The Jesuit is that for once the highbrow triumphs Hollywood Fianu. That you mr.-, Thurber could bring this about is surely Reward ;