Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 20, 1950, Winnipeg, Manitoba Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights Winnipeg free press printed and published the Winnipeg free press company limited 300 Cailton Street Winnipeg Manitoba. Authorized As Send class matter by the Post office department. . Victor Sifton. Publisher. We. Lord general manager. Grant Dexter editor. Bruce Hutchison associate editor. Winnipeg saturday May 20, 1950 no misunderstanding please with three possible exceptions it May now be said that negotiations Between the Federal and the Manitoba govern ments with respect to the red River Valley flood have made highly satisfactory Progress. A Brief resume will indicate the doubtful Points. On May 7, Premier Campbell wrote to or. St. Laurent stating that the flood losses would be so great As to be beyond the capacity of individuals organizations municipalities and even the provincial government to he the Federal government to formally recognize this situation As a National emergency and to give the province an Assurance of Aid commensurate with our or. St. Laurent replying on May 8, termed the flood a mis Fortune of the first order which no doubt is but another Way of. Saying it is a National emergency. He went on to or. Campbell of Federal assistance As follows i can say in. General terms that in arriving at the amount of our assistance to you we shall apply the same principles As those upon which our assistance to the British Columbia government in connection with the Fraser River Valley floods was the Sib called Fraser River Valley formula is Well known. In effect the Federal government paid 8.1 per cent of the Cost of fighting the flood of rehabilitating the prop erty damaged of building permanent dikes to prevent a recurrence 6f-.it. In keeping with the procedure followed in the . Flood the Federal and the Manitoba governments on May 17, announced the appointment of a Royal commission to ascertain All the essential facts necessary to determine the amount of the Grant which the Federal government should make to the government of Manitoba in order to assist that govern ment in discharging its responsibilities in respect to the said the quotation is from the order in Council appointing the commission. This procedure is both sensible and logical. Before the Federal government acts it requires information to the need. There Are however variations in the wording of the orders in Council passed at Ottawa with respect to the two floods. In june 1948, when the Fraser River Valley flood was at its height the Federal government acted upon a report of prime minister w. L. M. King. This report which is cited in order in Council 2644, declared the . Flood to be a National disaster so serious and pressing As to make it necessary for the Good government of Canada that the government of Canada join with the government of British Columbia in taking Relief and rehabilitation in every subsequent Federal order in Council regarding the Fraser River flood the words National disaster appear As a pre Amble or justification for the action to be taken. It May Well be that styles of such orders change but to far the Public record fails to show the Federal govern ment using these or analogous words in reference to the Manitoba flood. From the outset of the . Flood the Federal govern ment accepted responsibility for 75 per cent of the Cost of building permanent dikes which would prevent future floods in the Fraser River Valley. Bearing this in mind the order of reference to the Royal commission How appointed to inquire into the Manitoba flood is of interest. This order of reference after instructing the Royal commission to find out the Cost of fighting the flood of p providing emergency Relief required because of the flood and to estimate the nature and extent of the damage done proceeds to mention the Cost of emergency precautions to guard against the recurrence of such flood no such phrase As emergency precautions against a re Currence appears anywhere in the Federal government s orders in councils or agreements dealing with the British Columbia flood. From the outset the Federal government undertook to pay 75 per cent of the Cost of permanent not emergency precautions or works. Moreover the instructions to the Royal commission appear to contemplate no More than a single Cash Grant to the Manitoba government. The commission is told to gather to Gether All the facts on damage Cost of fighting of Relief and of emergency precautions against a order that Ottawa May be Able to determine the amount of the Grant which the Federal government should in the . Case the Cash Grant was made to cover Only one phase of the flood. The Federal government while unwilling to accept responsibility for damage to private property realized that it must help the province to do so. Therefore the million Grant. But this Grant to British Columbia was in addition to Ottawa s payment of 75 per cent of the Cost of fighting the flood and of building permanent dikes. The commitment to build dikes was entered into before the Cost could be known. Parliament passed the first vote of for Dike building in the 1948 session before the flood Hall fully subsided or the work been begun. Two later votes were required to Complete the work. There May be no significance whatsoever in the use of the word emergency in connection with the remedial works required in the red River Valley to prevent a recurrence of this National disaster. Nor perhaps is there any reason to believe that Ottawa seriously proposes to make a single Cash Grant rather than undertake a continuing liability As was done in building the Fraser River dikes. Nor again is there any particular reason to question the absence of the phrase National emergency in the pronouncements of the Federal government in the present crisis. All that is necessary is that it be understood that this province is proceeding on the Assumption clearly stated by Premier Campbell in his announcement of thurs Aid to those who have suffered such grievous the Federal government will Aid this province us generously in relation to the magnitude of the disaster As British Columbia was aided and very particularly will Bear its full share of the Cost of permanent remedial works will prevent these floods in future. Nay and the relatively narrow majority. The important Point is that the great mass of voters definitely do not associate the . With Forward policies or Progress. In nearby Toronto the voting in the constituency of Broadview was equally disastrous for the . Here the conservatives held the seat with about votes the liberals ran a poor second and the . Other than prof. George his de posit with Only votes. There was but one communist candidate in these two by elections. He is or. Charles Weir and ran in Broadview. He ran under the transparent Guise of labor progressive and polled 182 votes. His Deposit also is forfeit. The ratio of communists to non communists in this working Man s seat in Toronto is thus revealed As 182 to the flood from afar two different items in this paper the other Day served to remind Winni Eggers How the flood looks to people outside our City. One item spoke of he publicity which the flood is receiving in the United states practically every newspaper has treated it As a front Page Story for d ays on end news reels in have dramatized if. The sympathy of the people of the . Has been stirred first by the spectacle of isolated Rural communities exposed to the threat of encompassing Waters and later by the image of this Prairie City struggling against the forces of nature Jong its servant and now its unruly challenger. The other item will come Home even More closely. For it described the difficulty which former residents of the City now living elsewhere in Canada or across the Border Are having in obtaining news from stricken Winnipeg. There is delay in Telegram and letter services and on the Jong distance Exchange Only the monotonous and chilling message a delay of four to six. Hours and emergency Calls this City still in Good heart appreciates the concern of its friends and especially the anxiety of its former residents. Cd f and by elections speaking in the Hamilton West by election on May 11, or. M. J. Coldwell . Leader urged the electors by. Their votes to Tell the government which Way they wanted it to go Forward or backward left or right t o w a r d Progress or to no doubt in or. Coldwell s mind this advice was quite Clear. To Tell the government to go for Ward toward Progress would re quire in his estimation a . Yote. The electors of Hamilton West or. Coldwell will agree Are Good average Public spirited people. They would never want the government to go backward to Ward chaos. Undoubtedly they voted for the candidate and the policies which in their View would Best serve the country. This being the Case it must be a matter of some concern to or coldwell and to the . Generally that in the voting in Ham Ilton West on May 15, the . Candidate lost his Deposit. The voting was conservative Liberal and . It is True of course that this is a loss to the Liberal party. But against this is the consistent conservative tradition of the cons Titu unforeseen Factor the latest precipitation figures for the red River Valley As com piled by the Searle Grain com Pany important reason or this year s excessive flooding. From the great amount of Mois Ture in their soil Leavy Rains and from the amount of snowfall during the Winter it was apparent before the flood started that we were in for trouble. But no one dreamed less than a month ago that anything like the present Levels would be reached. What sent the River far above predicted Levels and what no one could forecast in Advance was the abnormal precipitation from april 1 to May 15. The Searle report shows just How much this precipitation was above Normal. For the whole red River Valley from Emerson to Winnipeg during the period april 1 to May 15, the Long term average precipitation has been just under two inches. This year during the same period it was 4.3s inches. It is impossible to estimate the exact extent of extra flooding caused by this additional 2.3s in Ches of rain spread Over a wide area. But it is obvious that it is responsible for much of our pres ent distress. Construction is actually under Way c inn or non Ca Stoie a Babi t a by e. K. Brown i Day i mean to strike a is one of his limitations one of the reasons Why he cannot Bear comparison with the greatest of novelists with Tolstoy or Balzac both of whom respond to action As strongly As Scott did but respond to feeling and thought just As strongly. Nother Power in Scott s fiction that gives him an advantage Over most novelists with younger readers is his love of variety. None his better books stays Long in one tone or at one level of society or among one Type of human being. It is True that his heroes and heroines Are Seldom tolerable. One Sharp critic has said with perfect truth that they Are barely tolerable when apart quite intolerable the moment they Are brought to Gether. Jeannie Deane is an exception but she is in Many ways unlike most of his heroines of a lower class and not blow for the author of this is something that i never expected to do. Most of my teachers were of scottish Des cent and i used to think that they foolishly exaggerated Scott s pow ers As a novelist and Queerly Blind to his defects. I can. Remember writing As a freshman a on the limitations of sir Walter in which i injuriously com pared him Vith George Eliot and Thackeray. I still think that Scott was Over praised to me i still think that he has glaring defects and i still prefer to Kead the Mill on the floss or vanity fair or the newcomers rather than anything that Scott Ever wrote. But the reaction against Scott has gone too far. Forty one titles the modern Library announces for autumn publication a series of forty one titles priced at 1 i 11j e More than i. 1 the regular ser Library books and intended for use in schools and colleges. Almost if the heroes and heroines Are n half the Cost of do not have in put regular series modern up win them for Ong at to me is merciful he flashes you i away into the company of a i s wonderful lawyers or fishermen or Small lairds or of those almost unmatched elderly eccentrics like Jonathan old Buck or Mause he Drigg. Finally there is his sense of Good fort carry holds the line the Southern bastion by k. M. M. Back around the fort Garry dikes to the River Channel. Flood locked fort Garry greater Winnipeg s first defence line against the rav Enous red River presents a remarkably close analogy to a Mili tary situation in Batta. The Overall operation in the metropolitan area has been in actual experience a planned withdrawal on both flanks leaving a Lone outpost fort Garry which now requires almost All round de Post Headquarters Are in the municipal Hall. It is closely ringed on three sides by its defensive works the dikes. The flood s main Axis of Advance remains the River Channel and adjacent area. But in the past few Days it has carried out a Strong in filtration on the right flank pos ing a definite threat to the City Jin the Mcgillivray pocket. This water poses two threats. More Strong South winds Pould Send it Twenty of the titles Are of English novels Jane Austen and Charlotte and Emily Bronte Are in the new series along with Defoe Fielding and Sterne Dickens and Thack Eray Hawthorne and Melville Meredith and Hardy Trollope and i Butler. But there is no novel by j Scott. Why is Scott so Little read in schools and colleges i am now Able to see that he has More for an older Reader than for a student. When you Are Young you miss very Little in a novel like Moll Fland ers or Jane but you miss a great Deal of what is Best in Scott. His humor has the Leisure Liness of Middle age and the mod orate sensible one in which he approaches everything but the in his work has an agreeableness to experience As great As and evil. The younger Reader May think he bikes books in which the relations Between Good and evil Are Complex and obscure in which the apparent hero turns into a villain or the apparent villain into a Good mar. And True. But really he does not. When the Good and evil Are firmly set off from one another As fierce the dramatic effects Are More strongly Felt. And it is the dram Atic effects that we readers for could Only be done by breach ing the railway embankment Well to South of the protected area. The breach was made by . Rail Way workmen at 6.30 . Friday. The fort Garry outpost shelters thu proved to be a behind the Dike on Manahan ave nue to the South the main flood Wall on the East and the Hudson Street Wall on the West which links up with Mcgillivray Boule Vard. In other words it is being pressed on the left by the River Channel and to front and right by a huge new Lake created in the past several Days. An outer defence Wall the . Emerson line pro Vides an outer defence Wall on the West but also pens in the water from a new direction. Pushed by Strong to kinds pushed along by Strong South winds the Valley flood Waters had swept North against their natural drainage course As far As Brunild and Sanford and then North East along the Mcdonald Road to Mcgillivray Boulevard aiming an out flanking left Hook at Tuxedo Crescent Wood and River Heights As Well As embattled fort Garry. Friday s Calm made possible a counter move calculated to weaken the thrust against Mcgillivray Boulevard and draw the water tumbling Over the Mcgillivray Dike and across the Flat lands into Tux Edo. Then again it might Wash through the railway embankment immediately West of he fort Garry outpost. If it did this it is feared the sudden pressure would overcome the Hudson Dike. This would flood the fort Garry pocket and outflank and flood a consider Able area in Crescent Wood and River Heights. Army engineers decided they would have to draw this water Back toward the River Channel around the fort Garry pocket. The teen agers a fact that should be Well digested by those who fret so strenuously about the behaviour of teen agers these Days is the splendid Job that has been done on the dikes by greater Winnipeg s Young people. Those who have been Down on the dikes know that there is hardly a sector that has not had a goodly number of teen agers fill ing sandbags or lugging them on the dikes in most causes setting the Pace for their elders with their Youthful Energy. By and Large the teen agers along with the majority of younger people in the City and environs have shown a capacity to pitch in and work take direction where necessary from the authorities and in general a sense of responsibility that adds up to a truly magnificent response in the present emergency. Other hindrances i n its report for the final Quarter of 1949 the economic co operation administration administer ing the Marshall plan observed that Western european countries were doing everything possible to increase their exports to the United states. But it added that All these efforts could be undone by High tariffs and other Hin United states tariffs Are a known Quantity Are lower today than at any time since 1913 and should be reduced still farther by the negotiations of the Torqua Jln conference next autumn. But the other hindrances to which the Marshall plan administrators refer Are an unknown and variable Quantity demoralizing to Trade. Often upset from the Golden books from Macbeth by William stake Speare tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this Petty Pace from Day to Day. To the last syllable of recorded time and All our yesterdays have lighted fools the Way to Dusty death. Out out Brief Candle life s but a walking Shadow a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no More it is a tale told by an idiot full of Lound and fury signifying nothing. Tariff. The customs officials May Lish operation. The engineers knew the pressure would be drawn off the West Wall but would be increased against the South Wall on Manahan Avenue a mud embankment thrown up by Bulldozer i a week or Sago and since topped with sandbags. An All night reinforcing Job was carried on thursday by Volunteer Crews. Then ten additional cars of Sand were rushed to the nearest railway Spur Early Friday and will proceed without let up until the engineers Are satisfied the Dike will hold. Race against time by late Friday the water in the Mcgillivray pocket had dropped but there Are o her elements in the Waverley novels that have a special Force for the Young Reader. Scott is a novelist of action he builds up to great scenes and these great scenes his Are Rich in suspense and almost overflow ing with physical Energy. I am thinking of course about the Good Waverley novels not about the Black Dwarf or the Lite end of another Slov what keeps readers is another Story. It is the insight into human nature and the Power to make All the elements in a novel cohere As indispensable parts of a great pattern. It is what makes War and peace the greatest of All novels and among our lesser achievements in the English language vanity fair and Middle March stand at or near one does not need to claim for Scott really did think that a place near the top to re action was More interesting than j Grot that he is ceasing to be a feeling and Many times More interesting than a thought. This widely read in schools and col Leges and elsewhere. The zoo and the flood wolves tails wagged by . Race Untray pocket Nan a r o p p e a a 7-Qu would t considerably. Though the situation Wolf won has been easing steadily there is still a lot of water to pour through the emergency spill ways on the railway line and meantime it is chewing away at the railway embankment where this protects the Hudson Dike. All comes Down to a straight race against time and the big question is will the water Drain off around the fort Garry outpost before it Breaks through the defences there have been Many dramatic episodes in the Long struggle against the red but surely none where Man s ingenuity has been so great and direct a Factor in put the goods into another Classi fending its threat. Fiction and charge a much High the Victory if gained will Beer Tariff. In Many Var i e to e s of a notable and Well earned one. Goods this risk is too Large for the exporter to run. He May lose All Chance of profit and suffer heavy deficits at the whim of the Tariff administrators. He can never be sure where he will stand when his they Are the incalculable Rul Ings of the customs authorities on goods finally move through Cus after months of de that fact More than any thing else discourages Trade. The customs simplification act designed to cure these abuses and strongly supported by the govern ment is now before the Congress of business its passage at the present session is doubtful even though the marshal plan administrators have argued Power fully in favor of its objectives. It offers a Clear test of the govern ment s programme of expanded imports and of the protectionist strength in the Congress. Even if it fails of passage now the classification and valuation of it do Buess be re introduced imported goods varying from Day to Day and from product to product. The foreign exporter knows what he. Is up. Against so far As he Tariff is concerned when he ships goods to the United states he can calculate the duty he must pay and decide whether he can sell profitably in the United states Market. But All his calculations can be and often Are upset by the customs officials who administer the Tariff. The foreign exporter ships a certain kind of goods which As it to him carry a certain in the new Congress next year. Until it or something like it is passed the value of All Tariff reductions made so far and those to be made at Torquay will be weak ened. In its practical and its psychological effect perhaps no single thing could do More to stimulate world Trade than the simplification of United states customs procedures the elimination of arbitrary rulings the Assurance to the foreign exporter that he will know in Advance precisely what duties he must pay to sell in the United states Market sin Boine Park. The Park As we found out a few Days ago is closed to All visitors Hose on foot As Well As those in cars. We had walked Wilh two children almost As far As the zoo before being spotted by Parks Board employees. They were quite about our getting out but since we had got that far they permitted us a Quick look at the animals before our departure. High and dry need of scientists and the United states particularly the former take unction to themselves As being particularly Quick in the know applied science flourishes on this continent perhaps especially As it pertains to machines. Some of this May have its roots in the character of a people not too tar removed from the Pioneer Days but some of it is traceable to the pull of industries taking scientists from the laboratories to the plants. Now fears Are beginning to arise that pure science May dry up ind with it applied science for the latter depends entirely upon the former. Sumner t. Pike acting chair Man of atomic Energy com Mission of the United states speak recently expressed the fear that the atomic Energy programme May in the next generation be Short of qualified scientists. Nuclear research is becoming More and More complicated More and More pushing itself against the barriers of the unknown. A of this Points to the fact that in Canada the universities and the research Council must be Alert to the discovering those with brains qualified for pure science a Small to the securing for. Them their rightful place and prestige. Think a Timber and pheasants. It was no Surprise would Ever step Soto see the Deer do the same thing completely out of character As Toltec arise they will come running to wag his Tail Over Iho presence of the front Fence in the Hope of a old enemy Man. Bui in eat even on the most the stress of the worst flood in crowded sunday in mid summer. Winnipeg s history that is exactly j but it was a matter of astonish Whai. The wolves Are doing at As Ament receive the Welcome parts of the Park arc badly hooded including the whole stretch North from the Pavilion but the zoo is High and dry and except for some seepage in the Bear pits none of the residents a Oear to be suffering any discomfort. There was about a foot of seepage in the Brown Bear pit but Parks Board employees had Low ered two Large boxes and the bears were taking their ease upon them. They seemed to be intensely bored in the whole affair. The bears however seemed to be the Only residents who were not pleased to have visitors. It is one thing to have a horde of humans screaming and pointing at you through the bars and quite another to have no visitors at All. The Birds rabbits wolves seemed to be pathetically Happy Over our arrival. The usually disdainful peacocks came running to the front their enclosure like chickens at feeding time and so did the Guinea fowl which was ours at the Coyote and Timber Wolf enclosures. I had just finished telling the Little girl that we were now going to Sec the big bad Wolf and what with my build up and memories of his wickedness and ferocity in Little red Riding Hood and the three Little pigs she was ail prepared to see a pretty Lough character. Whereupon the wolves made Complete chumps out of the Story writers and myself by running happily to the front of the enclosure to meet us nuzzling their noses up against the wire and wagging their tails like dogs. The happiest Tail Wagger of the lot was hat big Black fellow who usually spends a sunday running restless y up and Down bal fully eyeing the humans outside his great Angs. Slavering at the sight of Chubby Little girls. One of the compensations of be no a Parent is that until they reach the age of five or six most children regard their fathers and mothers As the font of All know Edge. This reputation for Omni science though undeserved is nonetheless Gratifying and helps carry the Parent through the next dozen years or so when his Stock As a Wise or even sensible Man Falls to a Low ebb. T Short birthdays brigadier Hector c. Habkirk born Wingham ont., May 20, 1s77. W. J. Young Griswold Man. Born Walkerton Bruce ctr qty ont., May 21, 1865. Today s scripture be fathers not your children to Wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the lord. Ephesians consequently it is disturbing to ind the honeymoon prematurely Cut Short by a four year old catch ing a Parent out As thoroughly As we were caught out because of those wolves. Perhaps she will forget but from the subsequent conversation that seems unlikely. It seems much More Likely that the one Clear re collection which she will carry into later life of the flood which drove her from her Home will be the picture the supposed big bad Wolf grinning with All the friendliness of a Collie and wagging his Tail like a dog ;