Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 8, 1955, Winnipeg, Manitoba Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights free press printed and published Dally East it sunday of the Winnipeg free press company limited. Too Cariton Street Winnies. Manitoba. Authorized As second matter to the Post Ohice department. Ottawa. Tom Kent editor Gratt Dexter editor r. S. Malone Victor Sifton Vica president president publisher we. Lord general manager Winnipeg saturday october 8, 1955 aldermen in wonderland if Lewis Carroll s Alice had inadvertently stumbled upon the Winnipeg finance committee on Friday she would have Felt quite at Home. For the aldermen were indulging in a preposterous display of inconsistency in which one says exactly the opposite to what he Means and nothing is exactly what it seems. The aldermen were discussing a request for an addition Al Grant of to the men s musical club which claims that it suffered a loss on last year s musical festival. It is admittedly difficult to decide How much if the City should contribute to this or that worthy cause or Cul Tural organization. But a rational policy on Grants must certainly take into full account the City s budgetary position. In Point of fact Council took its decision months ago and with due regard to the financial situation. The trouble is that it immediately proceeded to reverse itself. In yielding to the plea of one disappointed organization it virtually invited the others to come Back with requests that their cases be re opened. No one can blame the organizations for Tak ing the Council s performance More seriously than the Council s word. So after refusing a request three times on the reason Able ground that the City cannot find the additional Money within its present budget aldermen of the finance commit tee found themselves on Friday debating the matter once again. But they did have on the latest occasion an additional argument with which to support their own stated convictions. Before them was a report from the finance commissioner stating that the musical club in fact had not lost Money on the festival but rather on its other activities which the City could fairly claim it had no moral obligation to the circumstances the aldermen would have been perfectly justified in refusing the request. Three aldermen said so forcibly. But such presumably is the wonderland of civic politics that no Alderman Ever says exactly what he Means or Means what he says. For each of them immediately moved that the club should indeed receive some assistance. Or Slaw Bebchuk suggested or. C. E. Simonite and or. John Blumberg with much gloom about setting a precedent was prepared to go As High As and it was. A few weeks ago or. F. W. Crawford plaintively asked what is the Point in having a City budget if the finance aldermen of whom or. Crawford is one Are to be believed the answer surely is the budget this year has been consistently ignored. Additional appropriations already exceed More than one Mill on the tax rate and the end is not yet in sight. Yet there is not an Alderman on Council who not keenly aware that the civic budget this year was so tightly drawn that it barely admitted the possibility of any contingencies. Whatever May have been hoped in the Way of Good Fortune for this year s budget one thing is certain. It was never intended to cover non emergency appropriations consented to by aldermen with weak wills. The finance commit tee s recommendation on this Grant goes before City Council on tuesday night. Unless Council intends to make a Complete mockery of its budgeting its course is Plain. It should reject All such additional Grants. Vaccine vindicated earlier this year the Salk polio vaccination pro Gram in the United states bogged Down badly when a number of children who had received the vaccine later developed polio As a direct result of their vaccination. Canada fortunately did not have the same experience. That was because the Federal department of health and welfare insisted on a much stricter Check of the vaccine than did the . Authorities. So that while the United states was drastically revising its methods of producing and testing the vaccine Canada ordered vaccine production at the Connaught laboratories to. Be doubled in preparation for the 1956 immunization program. The Confidence of the Canadian authorities in the vac Cine was on the basis of the experience in this country fully justified. And now confirmation if it were needed has come from the United states. Preliminary reports on the 1955 vaccination program there show that among the seven million children Between five and nine who were vaccinated the incidence of polio was from 25 to 50 per cent lower than is expected in a group that has not been vaccinated. Few of the children who contracted polio in the second month after being vaccinated became paralysed which suggests that the vaccine diminishes the seriousness of the disease even if it May not always prevent it completely. And since new methods of making and testing the vaccine introduced no child has come Down with polio As a result of his vaccination. In line with these findings the executive Board of the american Academy of paediatrics has now reversed a decision it made last june that vaccination with Salk vaccine be discontinued and recommended that the pro Gram be resumed. This is heartening news for All parents. It. Should give fresh Confidence to those fathers and mothers whose children will be vaccinated with Salk vaccine in the coming year. Clear Kater Bay photograph by George Wauchope Winnipeg Reading the second vol ume of Donald Creigh ton s superlative biography of sir John a. Macdonald some How led recently to a search for original Campaign speeches by Joseph Howe and the Nova Scotia s forthright expressions led mysteriously in turn to Joseph Grego s parliamentary elections in the old Days. A certain critical newspaper Howe told the electors of Hants in 1s67, teemed with coarse and malignant defamation of himself uttering the foulest slanders the meanest one of Howe s contemporaries in a pamphlet of the same year referred familiarly to the British North America As a stupendous Monument of asinine stupidity and a blushing the robust physical Condi Tion that seems to underly such vigorous phrases does not appear to be As common in politics As it used to be. Grego s Book which was published in 13s6, provides ample evidence that electioneering has changed More than a Little in the past three or four Cen Turies. Grego surveys the Field in England from the stuarts to Queen Victoria and remarkably few of the. Stand Ard devices he says most British labor before its conference opposition leadership and spies London the autumn political season Here has begun in typical style with a Row in the National executive committee of the labor party. Like every other labor Row in the postwar period this has been leaked to the press in copious quantities the Only difference this time being that a Good Deal of the leak age took place even before the meeting was held. Last week the National executive met to consider a report on party organization or Lack of organization prepared by a special sub committee presided Over by or. Harold Wilson. Or. Wilson who resigned from the labor government in april 1951 in support of or. Bevan has since moved some what away from the levanites and is widely believed to be prepared now to give his support to or. Hugh Gaitskell who seems a certainty As the next labor Leader. The Wilson report Casti gated the party machine and Many of the party officials for the defeat in the last general election it declared that the balance had been tipped in favor of the tories Buji the superiority of the tory machine. This document would obviously have been highly controversial in any Case. What made it even More controversial was the fact that three Days before the executive met to consider it a full resume of the findings appeared in the daily Mirror and a fairly full summary in the news chronicle. When the executive commit tee met this gave Rise once again to a slanging match about press leakages. In the end it was decided to publish the report Only after some of the More stringent and More personal criticisms had been expurgated. What is of interest about this particular Row is not How Ever that it took place but that it has died away quickly. By g. S. C. The truth is that the labor party is in such a sluggish state that not even a major breach of elementary party Security like this can do More than stir up a passing storm. There is every indication that the forthcoming party conference at Margate will be somewhat More Lively and there is fortunately Hope that it will Cany the labor movement nearer to the goal of evolving a new and positive policy. A. New policy is far More necessary to the party than the streamlining of its electioneering machine. has been made circles of the need for a labor lord Woolton. The need for some organizational Genius who will give labor the Type of Slick Semi professional party machine which lord Woolton devised for the tories after 1943. Too Little attention has been paid however to the fact that lord Wool ton s activities formed Only one half of the conservative recovery plan while they were out of office. Even More important was the work done by or. R. A. But Ler and his Back room re search experts in devising a new conservatism to fit the age of the welfare state. Conference debates by indicating clearly that he is anxious to retire from the leadership As soon As possible. With this great uncertainty poised Over their Debales the delegates Are Likely to be More concerned with the Issue of the leadership than with tons of policy. By declaring himself opposed to any Leader born in the victorian Era or. Attlee has shrewdly withdrawn his support from or. Herbert Morrison As his successor. He has somewhat cautiously and obscurely called for a younger Man a move which strengthens greatly the or. Hugh Gaitskell. But the decision is not yet certain. Or. Morrison has some Strong backers for the role of caretaker Leader to carry on Tor a year or two until or. Gaitskell has proved himself More fully. Even a number of levanites Are pre pared to support or. Morrison if that is the Only Way to keep or. Gaitskell out. It would indeed be s. Supreme irony if or. Morrison were to find himself Leader of the labor party by the votes of the levanites Soho Long regarded him As virtually the Devil incarnate. Meanwhile the first wave of clamor about the Burgess and Maclean revelations has died away. One curious after math has been that the left Wing of the labor party which pressed so excitedly in 1946 for Reform of the foreign office on the grounds that it was riddled with class enemies now fills the air with cries about the dangers of a Mccarthy Witch Hunt. Catt Trie by Norman Ward about the caricature the parody of. Well known verses he Doggerel poetry Are frequently employed today. Grego describes a widely circulated caricature of 1s31, which anticipated the Reform act of 1s32 with a re enact ment of the witches incantation in Macbeth. Lord Brougham wearing a red Republican Cap is Given these lines Freeman s votes and Grants by charter first born rights in evry Quarter Law and Justice Church and King these the glorious spoils i lord Durham utters a verse that seems to me even lower in Quality savings Banks the funds and rent insurances and Money Lent orphans claims and widow s pittance throw them in to make a lord Russell gets off comparatively easily round about the cauldron go in the Constitution the dozens of poems quoted by Grego suggest a hypothesis that some candidate for a in either English or political science might Well investigate with profit that there is some thing about politics that brings out the worst in a poet. An Drew Marvell who sat for Hull in the 17th Century could turn a Graceful line. But reflecting on his parliamentary Collea gues in a dialogue Between two horses in which the two horses speak alternate coup lets he wrote that traitors to the coun try in a crib d House of commons should give away millions at every summons. Yet some of those givers such beggarly villains As not to be trusted for twice Twenty shillings. No wonder that beggars should still be for giving who out of what s Given do get a Good political verses have at least an epigrammatic Quality that is not general in most of the ballads and Broad sides cited by Grego. But the most vivid lines in the Book Are not by Marvell but by a 19th Century philosopher now greeting hooting and abuse to each Man s party prove of use and mud and stones and waving hats. And broken Heads and putrid cats Are offerings made to Aid the cause of order government and the leading Canadian expo nent of political poetry was probably grip now Long defunct but still famous for its caricatures of sir John a. Mac Donald. Grip the kind of a me that could be enchanted when Alexander Mackenzie appointed As his receiver Gen eral the honorable or. Coffin published Many quatrains like this report of an . To his electors what have we done constituents dear what have i of results to show let s see you mean by Way of work i be hang me if i grip could parody too. Its silent member s Soliloquy included these stirring lines to speak or not to speak that is the question whether tis better i should daily suffer the stings and promptings of unspoken purpose to a break Down Aye there s the rub. For who could Bear the quips and scorns of fools constituents disappoint ment neighbors jeers. Opponents scoffing proud wife s contumely the fading Hopes of office it s a belter speech than Many of those that have Actu ally been uttered at last in Ottawa today s scripture beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they Are of god because Many false prophets Are gone out into the world. I John restrictive trades practices commission sees a Combine looking into the Asphalt roofing Industry by Grant Dexter Menon on his own on the evidence of his latest speech on disarmament Lur. V. K. Krishna Menon of India is a much misunderstood Ritari. He has been misunderstood by conservative Ameri cans some of whom regard him As a sinister figure hand in Glove with the communists. But he has also been misunderstood by the russians who have Long courted him As an asian of leftist and from their standpoint highly useful views. The truth apparently is that or. Menon is a much better Coolidge Republican than most of the american republicans who have attacked him. Not Only does he advocate the policy of or. Frank Kellogg who was Secretary of state in the Coolidge administration he does so in the precise Lan Guage of the ill fated Kellogg Briand pact. There is Only one Way for this troubled world says or. Menon and that is for the nations to renounce War As an instrument of National this is an argument which would have fallen pleasantly upon russian ears in the Days when the world peace con Gress was in Flower. In its pre sent context it sounds More like a rebuke to Premier Bui Ganin and or. Khrushchev. Or. Menon asserts is not the first there must be Confidence then the nations must decide to abandon War. But the rus sians at the moment Are arguing strenuously that there birthdays w. J. Pollock Neepawa Man., born Forest ont., oct. 8, i860. A. J. Pybus Winnipeg born Huron county oht., oct 8, 1r68. Andrew Jamieson Brandon Man., born Dumbar Scotland oct. 9, f882. Must be disarmament their criticism of the Eisenhower plan for building Confidence through Aerial inspection and other safeguards is that it does not contain enough Dis armament. It is True that or. Menon s Call for a Flat prohibition on the use of atomic weapons echoes a slogan which has done the soviets some service. But a prohibition is something like a Promise in reverse. The West has been assuring rus Sia for months that Germany reared in nato will not be a threat to the East. Premier Bulgarin insists that he is still not reassured. Will he in serious negotiations on Arma ments be any More Content with a formal prohibition in backed by guarantees or will he spurn or. Menon s counsel and insist that dreams be reduced to schemes before Russia signs on the dotted line to it is the Lack of any such fundamental research at labor Headquarters today which makes the Outlook for the present opposition and indirectly for the country Bleak. Far too Many politicians on the left Are arguing that labor will sweep to Power in 1960 on a tidal wave of reaction against inflation. This May be so. But it is in the interests of the pub pc As Well As of the labor party that if there is another swing to the left at the end of this parliament the labor party is equipped with some Clear ideas of what it is to do when it comes to office again. Or. Attlee has done a Good Deal to numb the forthcoming Asphalt and tar roofing Are of interest to Day to nearly everybody. There was a time when wooden shingles dominated the roof ing Industry. As late As the 1930 a wooden shingles out sold Asphalt shingles by More than two to one. The turn came during the War and to Day Asphalt shingles outsell wooden shingles Many times Over. If the related Asphalt products of rolled roofing and siding sheathing and Insu lated Felts Are included the comparison with wooden Shin Gles is even More striking. The recent report of the restrictive Trade practices com Mission finding that a com Bine exists in this Industry is therefore of interest. The commission s report follows an investigation by the combines Branch of the Federal depart ment of Justice which has been under Way since 1952. The usual procedure was Fol Lowed in this Case. The combi nes Branch put in its report to the commission. The commis Sion held hearings at which the companies concerned appeared and were represented by counsel. The commission re port summarizes the charges and the defence and finds against the Asphalt roof ing companies. The evidence shows that the Industry has functioned As a Combine As far Back As. Records Are available. The earliest documents found dated in 1923, referred to the Combine As a Well established arrangement. Of Stop the Asphalt roofing Combine As described in the report of the commission consisted of two parts. First there was a merchandising plan and a Price list. The merchandising plan controlled in detail the Sale of these products. But without the list prices the plan was meaningless. A summary of the plan will indicate How the Industry Ope rated. The country was divided into four districts of which District 3 embraced the Prairie pro Vinces Western Ontario As far East As the boundaries of fort William and port Arthur and part of the . Peace River country. The products covered by the Combine were defined. The Trado was classified clo sely wholesalers 3 catalogue or mail order houses dealers roof contractors approved roofers and general contractors. Ways of doing business were also regulated in detail. Discounts were covered at length. Different classes of buyers got different discounts from the regular or list prices. The lowest prices were Given to the Federal government the provincial governments and the very Large buyers. Quantity rebates were worked out in an interesting Way. The Industry called the Calendar year the roofing year. A buyer got a relate regardless of How. Many manufacturers he bought from when his total purchases amounted to 600 squares of shingles. The rebate was 5 per cent. Large users got the rebate and the lower Price the moment their Pur chases reached this Point. Freight and cartage were equalized All Over the country. Every buyer was charged freight Only from the nearest Point at which manufacturing was done. A Manitoba buyer might buy a product made in Quebec but As there Are three plants at Winnipeg he would the freight Only from Winnipeg. More than he would be Given the Benefit of any free delivery zone exist ing at Winnipeg. As in most of. These Combine agreements there was provi Sion for standardization of pro ducts. Rules were also made for the disposal of seconds the half spoiled or bad run products. The aim Here was. To keep seconds off the Market. No attempt made to regu late prices of the preferred method of disposal was to junk them. A typical report was this from a British Columbia manager we As sure you however that to have arranged to dispose of this material in a manner so As not to be detrimental to the future Sale of this Type of agreement was reached on the Price reduction which would be Given for Winter Pur chases. There were of course frictional Points. These tended to further definition and agree ment. At the time of the Tina Tom a fruitful source of disagreement concerned Fea there were free de livery zones in every City. How much freight should be paid by the first buyer Over the line the second and the third As will be see this plan was meaningless without the list prices. These prices the commission report says were agreed to at meetings of Mem Bers of the Combine. The defence of the Industry was that this fact that there was no formal Price agreement Defeated the Charger of Ille Gal combination. The commis Sion found otherwise. In substantial Days the report the effect has been to maintain uniform Pri Ces terms and conditions of Sale for the products of the Asphalt roofing Industry regardless of the source of such products in Canada. The com Mission has no doubt that this has been the objective of Mem Bers of the association. Al though the objective May not have been fully realized at All times and on All occasions the arrangements and practises operated sufficiently effectively that there was no at tempt by any manufacturer to withdraw from them until after an inquiry had been the report concluded our View proceedings be taken As provided in the combines investigation act in seek a judicial restraining or Der which would forbid those practices and arrangements which have been so effective in maintaining a uniform Price Structure in the Asphalt roof ing Industry or other practices and arrangements among the manufacturers which would produce or be Likely to produce the same result. We Are of the opinion that the manufacturers should be enjoined from meet ing with each other for the purpose of discussing arranging accepting or reaching an understanding on prices Clas ses of customers or any fac tors or elements relating to or affecting the Price of Asphalt roofing and related products. The restraining order should be Broad enough to the Exchange of information which could be made use of to secure and maintain a com Mon Structure and Cost of ;