Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 16, 1950, Winnipeg, Manitoba Freedom of r Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights leg pointed and published the Winnipeg free press company limited 300 Carlton Street Winnipeg Manitoba. Authorized As second Utasi matter by the Post office department Ottawa. Victor s1fton. Publisher. We. Lord. General manager. Grant Dexter editor. Bruce Hutchison. Associate editor. Winnipeg tuesday May 1950 keep up the fight announcements that the flood has receded slightly that the Crest of the water is now passing and that failing heavy stuns a gradual fall in the River May be hopeful statements and forecasts although very Welcome must not cause the slightest slackening of Effort on the dikes which protect greater Winnipeg. The greatest mistake that could be made would be to regard the flood peril As passed or even As passing. All the authorities Are in agreement that a time of great peril comes when the flood Peak is passing or has passed and when the water level begins to fall. Perhaps the chief reason Why this is so is a psychological one. The moment the attack of the Waters appears to be spent the tens of thousands of workers who built and maintained the dikes leave off this work in the mistaken belief that the Battle has been won. But there Are other and very practical reasons Why the turning Point in a flood is a time of acute danger. The dikes which now hold Back the water from so great a part of the metropolitan area Are piles of Earth topped and reinforced Sand bags. The Earth is spongy with water it could not be otherwise. The dikes will Settle or pack Down rapidly. They will tend to do so unevenly. As moisture accumulates at certain Points in these dikes there is always danger of break through. The sandbag facing is even More unpredictable because the surface firmness of Sand depends upon the amount of water in it. On great Ocean beaches at certain times the moist Shingle is As hard As pavement and automobile racers find the perfect surface for speeding. The same Beach when a Little drier loses All surface firmness the Sand being of the consistency of coarse powder. So when the flood Falls and the water drains out of the Sand bags the consistency of this facing on the dikes will swiftly change. Of freshly thrown up dikes the experts agree that very often they Settle or shrink More rapidly than the flood itself and thus in the very hour of Triumph frequently give Way. When this happens All that has been fought for in the grim Days when the Waters were rising May Well be lost. Under these circumstances defeat May Well be a direct con sequence of Over Confidence and Lack of experience on the part of the defenders. There is still another reason for vigilance. As All who have been on the dikes know there Are Strong currents in the flood. These currents Are not constant. They May shift with the rising or falling of the water or with changes in the impediments in the River s path. These currents Are tirelessly tearing at the base of the dikes. Erosion goes on constantly. At any time a Dike which appears to be Strong May be eaten away below the surface and topple into the flood. Obviously the longer the flood continues and the older these emergency dikes become the More this particular danger increases. Therefore the Public must realize that the Good news of these past 24 hours warrants no slackening of vigilance or Effort. The news indeed is Welcome and May Well offer a respite from the raising and extending of dikes. But the time thus gained must be applied to maintaining and strengthen ing the existing dikes and to guarding in every possible Way against misfortune. All the other emergency measures in hand when the Down turn in the flood Waters occurred should be pressed Forward. For example the evacuation of areas in special danger should proceed. There is every reason for renewed Confidence. But there is none for slackening the Effort at any Point along the line of Battle. Of premises when they Are re occupied will be of great import Ance. A Means of Access will have to be sought out and blocked up and great vigilance exercised for some time to come in the reoccupied areas. Municipal health authorities in greater Winnipeg Are doubtless Ivell aware of the menace presented by these rodents but when the Waters subside everyone Wil have to look to his own premises and take the necessary precautions. Year of Over billions As against the current deficit of billions. This is the estimate of the budget Bureau but some Laic experts of the Congress the Monitor reports estimate the next deficit at ?t.3 billions. The present situation the Moni Tor concludes cannot last. Sooner or it says the Bill for the cold War is going to be pre it will be presented not Only to the United states which already is carrying three quarters of the Cost of defending the free to All nations of the North Atlantic pact. Migration to Israel some highly interesting figures have been released on the move ment of jews to the new state of Israel. With an open door pol icy in operation and pro grammes of being financed and directed by United states groups no less than persons have been transported to the tiny Mediterranean Haven since the historic proclamation of May 14, 1948. From Europe theatre of the Hitler Ian persecutions Israel has now received with the con sequence according to the United states joint distribution commit tee that the problem of jewish displaced persons on that Contin ent has largely disappeared. There appears however to be a continuing problem in the soviet sphere where the Agency was last year forced to abandon its work order o the rumanian polish and czech communist governments. With the european pressure Hus decreasing attention has shifted to the moslem Arab lands which still count about jewish inhabitants. The most dramatic movement of the past year was in fact the mile air lift of yemenite from Aden to Israel known As opera Tion magic a More ser Ous problem for the Over taxed israeli resources is expected to be the summer influx of iraqis. This May involve people though existing transit Camps Are already bulging with newcomers iving under difficult conditions until they can be assigned to com Munal or co operative Rural Settle ments. It is expected that by the end of 1950 Israel will have attained population of with the government reportedly confident that another persons can be absorbed within the next five years. Even with the great Finan Cial Aid forthcoming from North american groups the burdens of absorption and sustenance being freight rate lesson the government of the United kingdom has authorized an in crease of 16 per cent in freight rates. The Cost to the Public will be millions per year or one per cent of the National income. The increase has come As a Shock o socialists who had thought that great economies in the operation of the . Railways would result from the creation of a publicly owned monopoly of rail transportation. No economies have resulted. Costs have gone up. The Manchester guardian observes obviously costs will now rot be reduced All the difficulties in the Economy will be allowed to Over Rule it. Cost cutting will look More impossible than Ever the monopoly will pursue its quiet bureaucratic life probably costs will slowly Rise and eventually the minister of transport will obligingly agree to put up charges the guardian s comment Illus trates the general disillusionment in the United kingdom with socialism. Socialism consists of nationalizing industries. The experience in the . Has shown that nationalization changes nothing no problems Are voided or simplified. All the difficulties faced by private ownership in Industry re main unchanged and very often become More difficult to Deal with under nationalization or socialism beware of rats election shadows a certain unreality As usual is overtaking the United states Congress on the eve of a con Gressional election Campaign every possible decision which could adversely affect autumn votes is being postponed until after the poll. Thus As the Chris uan science Monitor reports from Washington the great Economy drive launched at the opening of the congressional session has entirely petered out. Instead of economizing to reduce the current deficit in the National budget of Over 55 billions a year the Congress is embarked on a Campaign of to reductions which will increase the deficit. World says the Monitor Are growing steadily greater but nobody in Washington is doing much about America s much better than throwing them at each other monday night club by k. M. M. E thought the flood a sub Ling held before regular Council Jet capable of infinite elaboration and expected to pile at least a few sandbags with the aldermen at the regular meeting monday. But they said practically nothing about anything else. The flood or session was where the City would come out in meeting the huge expense of its flood fighting Effort so far. The province has not yet announced the policy under which Winnipeg and other municipalities will get the help promised by the Federal government which apparently will be channelled through the provincial govern when the boys Are reluctant to this itself is usually news that will Bear looking into. Wei meantime a letter was presented did so and Learned that they had from the City s Bank the Bank agreed beforehand to quench con Jot Montreal expressing its will Dentious argument during the Winsness o make available what amounts Winnipeg requires to meet flood expenses. some disquiet the drama at the auditorium o in april 13 the Winnipeg _ symphony and w i n n i p e g philharmonic choir presented the creation by Haydn in the auditorium. The River was 9.1 feet above Datum. By May 9, the flood barometer was at 2s.4, a red and White Flag waved Over the build ing and a great Volunteer organization playing to a much wider audience had opened its non Stop performance. The auditorium meanwhile had undergone a strange metamorphosis. Vanished were the concert crowds and. Evening clothes in their place leather jackets and overalls boots and Utility aprons. But some of the faces assumed by a Small state with vere unchanged and there were such limited economic potentialities Are staggering. The Progress of this unprecedented Experiment continue to. Command Lively attention and the Faith behind it the admiration even of those who remain sceptical of its Basic pre Mises. The Speed up Long ago the communist government of Russia adopted the hateful capitalist principle of unequal pay for unequal work in City industries. Where Marx expected that under communism each worker would contribute that he could to the general Good receive rewards according to his needs Stalin reinterpreted the communist doctrine As follows the consequence of wage equalization is that the unskilled worker lacks the incentive to become a skilled worker and is thus deprived of the Prospect of Advance ment we cannot tolerate a situation where a railway locomotive Driver earns Only As much As a copying in Stalin s Industry a system of piece work a Speed up such As labor unions in the Western world would not tolerate for a moment has produced the largest disparity of wages known anywhere. Now the russian government is determined to extend this principle to agriculture. Khrushchev a Mem ber of the politburo who evidently is to become the controller of first line of defence cutting its an russian agriculture has launched a Campaign to Speed up by m. W. Ance with group arrangements. Advice regarding movements is volunteers in number working in three shifts and rang it appears that a number of aldermen Are loaded for Bear but can t quite decide where to Dis charge their Buckshot. There is some disquiet Over the thought that some May be received As Well As Given and of course tis better to give than receive. Their strategy of silence May have a Little in common with Seneca s dictum to silence others be silent thus during the meeting a Cas Ual observer would never have suspected the City was locked in Battle with unruly nature f it were not for Alderman Scott. He came dressed in waders and windbreaker. But he Loo remained silent and preoccupied Bavins the air of a Man ready at the drop of a Bulldozer to Rush Back out to the dikes. What was worrying Council according to a reliable version we were Given of an informal Meel h a great Highway from the London times Halifax Nova Scotia is about As far from Van Couver Island As it is from mad rid and the forests the Prairies but the expense to Date has been heavy and there is consider ably More in sight. Aside from what will be done for individual flood victims the aldermen would like to know where the City will stand on the actual flood fighting Cost. An interim report on the City s flood fighting operations prepared by or. Hurst the City Engineer was made available. It throws some Light on the City s present Finan Cial position though no Complete picture is possible for the time being. The engineering department alone according to or. Hurst has spent Over is million. Its full re sources have been put at the disposal of flood control Headquarters under brigadier Morton. Thir cily department has received and issued Sand bags and handler almost the in lire output of gravel quarries in the area. It. Has Hart to buy a Good Deal of special equipment including a 400 . Diesel standby Generator to ensure continuance of the City s water Supply in the event of a Power failure. Flood fighting ing from executives to Drivers and the Rocky mountains present girl guides to elderly considerably exceed at any time transmitted by Loudspeaker to the number of evacuees who have waiting evacuees from a Booth to the right of the stage. The Range of controlled activities it is the basement with its bold red counter signs which but for the batteries of ubiquitous Tele phones might be taken for a Sec Tion of a department store. The placards merely hint at the Range of controlled activities Volun Teers boats waders medical nursing transportation shelter still flashes of color amid the press and information evacuee records. Thus Wei own financial House in the Congress it adds is not yet will ing to meet the fact staring it in the face that somehow and some one of the menaces to health where More Money must be raised. Which is bound to increase in the Wake of the flood is that presented by rats. These notorious carriers of disease will thrive under present conditions and after wards. Rats live As close As possible to humans because they like human food. They prefer this Type of food even though they have to for it. Just now the Way has been left wide open for them by evacuations. They will get to any foodstuffs left lying around in Homes and other buildings abandoned to the flood. The flood itself will have opened up Many new channels of approach for these subterranean scavengers to dwellings and store Tio utes. For the duration in Many areas there will be nothing to Check them. under Luch it wants to forget the whole mat Ter till after the very moment when the government Abandons its attempt to reduce military spending and asks for a heavy increase in Mili tary appropriations the Congress is Busy reducing excise taxes which will prove unpopular in an election. Early in the year press ident Truman suggested that these taxes be reduced somewhat but Only if the resulting loss in Rev Enue could be made up otherwise by plugging gaps in the income tax Laws and by further taxes on business. The Congress is going far beyond the president s recommendations in cutting excise taxes and so far is doing nothing to increase other revenues. With its Eye on the autumn poll the. Congress seems to be Assur ing a labor in All collective farming. In pravda he culminates against the present method of fixing the images of agricultural workers and deplores the leveling out tend ency whereby these workers Are paid for the Lime worked and not for the results achieved. He promises that this injustice will be removed. Workers in the Field who work harder will be paid More. Those who work less will find their wages reduced. Like Industry is to be placed so far As possible on a piecework basis. Inequality once the great social evil is being exalted in the soviet state As one of the main incentives to production. At a time when. Russia is adopt ing inequality in pay and in privileges in a most extreme form the free Enterprise system of the West Ern world is achieving a greater degree of Equality than perhaps. Is Good for the health and Progress free tightening the pattern that spoke of Community Solidarity of United Effort. Fleeting inadequate impressions to visit the building today is to receive a series of fleeting in adequate impressions now of a great City station with weary bag Gage Laden people killing time Over Coffee cups or enquiring anxiously for the next train now of a highly organized departmental store in the Sale season now As one glances at two tiered bunks army blankets or dust fighting Volun Teers of a mass War time shelter in some Large Centre. The auditorium is a bit of each and very much More. There is one Odd suggestion of continuity. The stage lights still play on a Busy group of moving people women in Bright dresses or aprons oddly mingling with men in overalls who shift the scenery As the play goes on. But the props have become cardboard car tons mountains of them for the stage is a food depot and immediately beneath is a canteen for evacuees supplementing a second in the basement for flood workers of All descriptions. On either Side of the main floor Are the . Clothing stalls. A slight Man hastily ejected from St. Vital measures warm under Wear a lady from St. Nor Bert gratefully accepts a Blanket baby sweater. The Centre compact mass of army bunks for Dike workers and there Are dormitories upstairs. It is the comparative darkness a shrouding this a which sets off in such vivid Relief the illuminated stage beyond. Aiding displaced persons in the forefront is a line desks where women workers file out disaster information Blue White or yellow. The blues Are for those desiring accommodation in Winnipeg the yellows for people in need of clothing or the Day s ration of food provided by the red Cross. Displaced persons moving to country Points receive two White cards one stamped serves As identification upon arrival at the accommodating Centre the other is a ticket collected on the red Cross train or bus. Those accepting red Cross Aid must govern themselves in Accord Are and enquiries adjacent to re cords is in effect a Bureau of missing persons presided Over by Saskatchewan commissioner col f. W. G. Miles. Together near the Centre Are care and maintenance and movement co n to o which assume of persons brought in perhaps by the array providing shelter and transit unti hey arc released to waiting municipalities throughout and even beyond the confines of settled Mani Oba. On sunday arrangements vere being completed to move 35c mainly English speaking persons by red Cross train to Roblin and Neepawa 600 French to Portage he two representing the first part of a movement ordered by the mayor of St. Boniface. But for the red Cross Arm bands worn by workers it would not always be easy to distinguish he homeless in the auditorium wrongs unless one sought for characteristic expressions those stunned bewildered looks on tired faces to which we have become sadly accustomed. Actually the Washington on the sur face the major achievement if the. Senate s debate on the mar Hall plan came when senator Taft persuaded his colleagues and even the Eca officials to take a look at Britain s apr Noria Ion of that sum will probably be Cut to a much lower figure before the appropriations from the Golden books Faith from Paracelsus by Robert brow Nln be sure that god Neer dooms to waste the strength he deigns impart ask the Gier Eagle Why she Stoops at into the vast and unexplored abyss what full grown Power in forms her from the first Why she not marvels strenuously beating the silent boundless regions the sky sure they sleep not whom god needs nor fear their holding Light his charge when every hour that finds that charge delayed is a new death. This for the Faith in which i Trust. Today s scripture finally Brethren whatsoever things Are True whatsoever things Are honest whatsoever things Are just whatsoever things Are pure whatsoever things Are of Good report if there be any virtue and if there be any Praise think on these things. Philippians birthdays e. T. Leech k.c., Winnipeg born Gorrie Huron county ont May 16, 18t6, Een filing through at the rate of 00 a Day. To see at close Range a vast Volunteer organization represent no a Cross Section of an entire Ity battling to replace confusion and despair with order and a Ense of re won Security is to appreciate that this is an hour of o mean Honor in the history of he Winnipeg auditorium. More arduous obstacles to travel and traffic than do the Waves of the Atlantic Ocean. To connect the opposite coasts of Canada by a continuous system of roads fit for modern motor traffic and having a total length of some Miles is an enor Mous undertaking for a country in addition to heading up the whole flood fighting Effort in the City in Early stages before the army took Over the engineering department has since provided sup plies and equipment a Large num ber of its personnel and has car ried on the pumping operations with the Aid of the fire depart ment at main sewer outlets. This All adds up to very heavy which great and powerful As is expense and according to our men its International position still the aldermen would feel much a population not very much larger than n e w that York. Greater London or easier if they knew just what por Tion of it will be taken off the City s shoulders. Facts on the Dollar Gap Britain s changed status by m. F. Committee has finished task. But there is Nuch More at slake Here than the intellectual ascend Ancy of or. Taft n the Serai e. What he has done and it is a Public service of High order is to bring England s accounts into a Ocus of clarity that has been in ;