Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 13, 1956, Winnipeg, Manitoba Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights Winnipeg free press printed and published daily except sunday by the Winnipeg free press company limited. 300 Carlton Street. Winnipeg Manitoba. Authorized As second class matter by the Post office department Ottawa. Tom Kent editor Victor St ton president publisher Grant Dexter associate editor r. S. Malone vice president we. Lord general manager Winnipeg tuesday March 13, 1956 the Price of Liberty we h in the forms of a Liberal society of democratic government and individual Freedom and the Rule of Law. Much of its reality do we sustain the Price of Liberty is Siili re Nal vigilance. Let us look at some of the realities . A the. Elfva de level of parliament s control Over National affairs in Ottawa but at the grass roots level. If can t of liberals in our local affairs municipal and Provin Cial we hardly expect Good principles of government to survive indefinitely at Ottawa. In Winnipeg the instruments of democratic control Over . Is a tuition. The Active agents of a Liberal society Are sup to our aldermen. The ways of Winnipeg aldermen wonderful. Wonderful that is on account of the deep of conviction that obviously inspires their actions. The conviction in question is a deep Faith in their own capacity to f i ii most of the people most of the time and get away v. Ii it. Lii Confidence is based one must admit on experience but the time obviously is approaching when citizens Osbo do not like being fooled Are going to Start doing some thing to disturb Alderman in complacency. Trie Mimo fire would be a Good incident to Bear in mind at the next civic elections. The fire depart a is asked to conduct an inquiry. The fire depart Rnear did not do what i was told by its employers to do. It. Did not investigate it merely reported on the sequence of re fits As the fire without even pretending to appraise those even s. So what do the aldermen As represented in this matter by the chairman of the Public safety committee do about Here Are Alderman Taraska s words to City coun cil on monday nigh a inquiry was conducted by the fire department. I should t say inquiry. We got the sequence of events from tiie the significance of which May be crudely but accurately Pir As follows if an official knocks an Alderman Down and i ramp son him. The Alderman will say that it s just Fine exactly what he i old the official to do. The dignity of aldermen is their own affair. But their effectiveness is the concern of the people who elect them. We would be exaggerating of course if we said that this effectiveness is at present nil. Many Are quite Good at interfering with administration of a lot of Little matters of concern to individuals. But on general principles and policy Las week when the fire department report on the sequence of events was presented to it the Public safety committee decided that he Issue was too technical for it to understand and it could arrive at no opinion of its own about what the fire chief had to say. Alderman Taraska has since Learned his lines better. On monday he announced that the committee was no longer agnostic but positive it now sees nothing to enquire into. And in order to sustain this he proceeded to dismiss in most contemptuous terms the firemen who criticized the fire department. For their pains they were censured by the committee. But then after Cen Suring them. Or. Taraska turns round and brushes them aside on the grounds that they did not maintain their charges. What is involved Here is not Only the democratic control that aldermen Are supposed to exercise. It is also elementary Justice for the individual. So much for Winnipeg aldermen. But it must be said on their behalf that at least they do most Public business in Public democratically it is supposed to be done. Things Are worse in St. James where the Council last week turned Down by 6 votes to 2. Councillor Graham s attempt to practice the elementary principles of democracy and liberalism in local affairs. He sought to confine in camera meetings to a limited number of subjects such As wage negotiations that Are truly unsuitable for Public debate while they Are in process otherwise the first responsibility of elected representatives is to keep the Public fully informed on All decisions of the councillor Graham rightly said. But the elected Council of St. James did not agree with him. Here Are just two examples of Many. It is time we did some heart searching about our liberalism about the Devo Tion to democracy and the vigilance for Freedom on which we Pride ourselves. Sikh monday night club or. Shonson wants stirring kept there was once a poet who sighed As we re Call it for a House by the Side of the Road where he could watch the world go by and be a Friend to Man. We Are not sure what Road he had in mind but just in Case he has not hit upon a suitable location we would respectfully suggest that he take up his position on the Golden mar Gin of the carpet in the City s Council chamber. There in reasonable Comfort he will get a panoramic View of the life of a great City and feel if he is sensitive enough its very heartbeat in the passing show he will witness moments of Light co Medy but they Are unrehearsed and incidental a sort of Bonus for his patience. For the most part he will look not at the mayor and Alder men but through them to the people that they speak for and to the Snow banked streets that stretch away beyond the City Hall with their endless rows of houses mysterious islands of warmth and Light in the icy Winter darkness. But. These islands Are not isolated. They Are linked to Gether. And the strands that bind them have a common Cen tre in the lofty Council Cham Ber where at the carpet s Edge we. Have set our poet Down to we must improve the schools 3 prepare for effective living or Hospital care the Manitoba legislature on monday gave second Reading to Bill which implements the new system of financing Hospital care of indigents. The big has lip approval of All parties. Apart from its actual provisions about . Its principles Are world consider ing in relation to any general plan for Hospital insurance. This was Well pointed out in the legislature on monday and in the Long run it May he he kill s most important aspect. The usefulness of the Bill noes not. However depend on that. In its own right it is legislation in which the government can properly take Pride. The Row financial system is the outcome of last year s Dis Cussion Between government and hospitals and it actually went into operation or. January 1. The Bill is retroactive to that extent. Its chief feature is that for tiie first time the provincial government and the Between them will Bear the full actual Cost of care for indigent patients. Municipalities will pay 60 per cent the province 40 per cent. In the past the hospitals themselves that is to say in effect their financial sup porters and paying loaded with a substantial part of the indigents Cost be cause the government would not Bear its share of the Bur Den. The situation was brought into Sharp focus when the Winnipeg Genera Hospital last March made Plain the financial troubles thus caused to it. Or. Bend the health minis Ter showed unnecessary sensitivity on this Point when mov ing the second Reading of the i Bill. He went to some trouble to indicate that the Reform was duo entirely to govern i ment initiative and that the Winnipeg general crisis had nothing to do with it. He based his argument on the fact that the government bad previously Given notice of its in Tention to Call a conference to i consider Hospital finances. J would such an intention to hold a meeting have led to a Radical Reform by january 1, if the government had been left to its own devices instead of being sharply prodded by the Hospital authorities and Public opinion every Mani Toban outside the Kindergan i ten knows his government too Well to believe anything of the kind and it is a great pity that by this pointless pretence or. Bend tried to take credit from i where it is due and spoiled an i otherwise sensible argument. But this should not be permitted to obscure the significance of the Bill or to de Prive or. Bend and the government of the Praise they de serve for in the end taking Good advice and introducing Good legislation in this matter. To democratic govern jul ment is obliged continually to seek a Compromise be tween the Ideal the prac tical. This is an inevitable part of its function and one which is understood and accepted by the citizen. It is. How Ever also the function of government to strive to close the Gap Between the two. Any government which mistakes the citizen s reluctant acceptance of an unsatisfactory situation for enthusiastic support is making a big mistake. The problems involved in raising the academic stand Ards of a Public school system Are legion. It May be in fact that a government s reluctance to tackle such a task or even at times to admit that there is a task to be tack led lies partly in an aware Ness of the vast amount of work involved. If a reluctance to Lead pub Lic opinion or a disinclination to undertake so difficult a Job should deter a government from trying to improve a child s educational opportunities then it is guilty of in difference to Public welfare. There Are a number of Poss Ible starting Points in any at tempt to raise standards but perhaps the most obvious place to Start is with the Tea Chers. We All know that we need a. Higher percentage of Well qualified teachers. There Are Many theories As to How we might get them. Certainly larger salaries would help but what would surely help As much would be to offer the Well trained experienced teacher a greater Freedom to teach. A Good num Ber of our Best teachers have stayed with the profession in spite of the curriculum and in by Richard cordon headmaster of is. Johns Ravens court school spite of the multitude of restrictions and regulations which hamper them. In no other profession is such responsibility matched with so Little Freedom of action. Any mention of teachers must Lead inevitably to a Dis Cussion of those being taught. I a raising of standards will re 1 suit initially at any rate in fewer students reaching uni i verify level just As the re rent stiffening of Manitoba i n diversity Entrance require ments is going to do. By c. S. R. Watch the drama of a City Liv ing out its multitudinous life. On monday evening the Cen tre of the stage was shared by two very different sorts of players. Of the one sort there were Many who walked the stage in person. They were the owners of the City s older houses and they filled the pub Lic gallery to demonstrate their indignation at the City s recognition of the increased value of their property for the purpose of taxation. The other sort of players did not make a personal appear Ance but their presence was at least As keenly Felt. Strange unnaturally childish children so formed by nature or by whatever Power forms Little children that they can never grow up they could not leave the anxious tenderness that them somewhere out there among those secret is lands of warm Light to plead their Case. Retarded children was what their spokesman called them children who could give no thing but a hesitant or Winarti culled thanks for anything their fellow citizens might do for them. These children could not in the usual sense so the aldermen were told be educated. But they were for All that living human beings. They could respond to love feel fear and Joy and bitter sadness and they could be greatly helped by qualified and patient teachers. That help was close at hand. The Kinsmen s club had offered them a Hundred thou Sand Dollar school. It remained now for the City to take the Burden up and pay a Hundred dollars for each child each year. That would be about altogether. The Provin Cial government had already set aside an annual but without the City s help the whole plan might collapse. But the finance committee so said the spokesman had already been approached and the aldermen on that commit tee had turned Down the re quest. It was not the City s business such had been their argument to help retarded children. So now it was to the members of the Council As the representatives of the citizens of Winnipeg that the children were appealing. Would Council members give the matter their most Earnest thought the spokesman took his seat and nothing More was heard about retarded children. But the children Are still there and Earnest thoughts of them will continue to trouble the minds not Only of the aldermen but of every Man and woman who is proud to be a citizen of Winnipeg. This situation May be compensated for in various ways first by More Well qualified teachers secondly by an in j creasing awareness on the part j of High school students of the necessity for hard work thirdly by a greater flexibility i in the Entrance requirements j so that in the final years of High school greater emphasis May be placed on fewer sub a cols. After teachers and pupils we come to the subjects being taught and Learned. The Mani Toba program of studies says that the purpose of the school system is to pre pare Young people for effective this is a tall order for a far Flung school system to fulfil. The rather glib phrase of i festive living presumably in tends to suggest a purposeful life in which a person is Able to employ his or her talents and abilities. In order to pre pare a child for such a life it must surely be necessary to i develop those talents and Abil j cities to their fullest possible i extent in school. For a very i Large number of children we j Are not succeeding in doing Liis. A person unfamiliar with Canadian school systems might j not guess on Reading a pro j Gram of studies How inadequate Many of our courses a i tally Are. The Manitoba Book let is not untypical of others. I the divergence Between the expressed Aims of various courses and actual achieve ment is obvious to anyone at All familiar with the results. Before the Section on French in grades xxi and Xii we read the senior High school program in French is de signed to develop in the Stu dents an ability to read and understand simple French Reading material to under stand simple French spoken i slowly to express themselves with some facility in simple French both in speech and in writing and to arouse interest j in France and in the ways of j her people and in French can Ada with her cultural Trade i How Many senior High school students can read or i write usefully in French let i alone discuss sensibly the Cul i lure of French Canada j one of the major object j Ives listed in the English Sec Tion is to stimulate ind Penn ent thinking and another 1 specific aim is to stimulate i and refine the Pupil s sensations and a third i aim is to develop an a Precia lion of form in 1 can anyone who has studied notes from Ottawa birthdays or. E. Guthrie Perry Winnipeg born Ottawa ont March 13. 1873. Rev. Thomas Neville. Winnipeg born Manchester. England. March 13. 1869. Thomas w. Stone Clearwater. Man born water Loo county. Out., March 13, 1874. James a. Callander Hartney Man born Londes Borough. Ont., March 13, 1370. Mrs. Alice Murphy. St. James Man. Born Lynn Hurst. Ont., March 13. 1866. W. C. Mcavoy . Man born Hast Ings ont., March 13, 18s5. Is a possibility Al that the Federal govern ment May be prepared to Amend the Canada water conservation assistance act to in crease the Federal contribution to any major water control project a province might undertake. The government has been disappointed that the Prairies have not made greater use of this legislation to carry out flood control projects. Under the act the fed eral government now pays St i per cent of the Cost of an approved project the provincial government also pays 37l.i per cent and the municipalities concerned pay the remaining 25 per cent. An increase in the Federal contribution would be Good news for the Manitoba government which is faced with the need of undertaking major water control projects in the red River Valley the inter Lake country and in other areas in the province. A v Kcf members of Parlia ment claim that their numer Ous and Long speeches against the government s guaranteed Bank Loans legislation did not constitute a filibuster. But promises or. Hazen argue Kcf member for Assiniboia when Trade minister c. A. Howe introduces his Gas pipe line legislation the House will see a real this time the Kcf will not be alone. The conservatives Are deter mined to debate the Legisla Tion at length in an Effort to persuade the government to withdraw the Bill which pro Vides for the setting up of a j joint Federal Ontario Crown corporation to build the line across Northern a president Eisenhower s invitation to prime minister St. Laurent and Mexico s presi Dent Cortines to come to Washington for a meeting is simply the outcome of or. Eisenhower s desire that the three should Exchange views on problems of Mutual inter est. A Toronto newspaper Man s speculation that the meeting might result in Mexico helping to Man the Dew line in the far North was greeted Here with loud laugh Ter. A members of parliament Are getting tired of hearing about the trials and tribulations of wheat growers on the Prairies Victor Mackie so it came As a bit of a Shock the other Day when a member from. Kootenay Rose in the House and said he wished to ask a question on behalf of the wheat producers of British Columbia. In his last conference As chairman of the defence re search Board or. O. M. So Landt discussed the possibility of defending North America against an attack by intercontinental guided missiles. He foresaw a lapse of time be tween the development of the missile and an effective de Fence against it during that time whichever Side had the missile first would be the dominant Power he warned. Or. Solandt also spoke of the shortage of scientists in the Western world and said that More High school science teachers Are necessary if Canada is to increase its num Ber of scientists in future. Today s scripture bless the lord. 0 my soul and All that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the lord o my soul and forget not All his benefits. Psalm 103 1-2. English literature at All really believe that an Early novel by Hugh Maclennan an abbreviated article by Paul de Kruif and the first full length play Eugene o Neill Ever wrote Are Likely to stimulate thinking refine emotions or cultivate an appreciation of form one can find other examples and Fuller illustrations. The fact is. However that a raising of standards demands a full or and Richer program of studies. There Are various arguments against a strengthen ing of our present program and one of them brings me to my last Point or perhaps Back to my first. It is argued that a More demanding course of studies would be beyond the scope of Many Small Rural schools. By m. B. The answer to such an argument must be decisive. The Standard schooling is too Low. The difficulties of raising it in the cities Are very great the difficulties of even reach ing the present standards in Many Rural schools Are Many times greater. It is difficult to get really Well qualified Tea Chers in the City it is vastly More difficult in the country where comparative isolation and inadequate physical and human facilities usually pre clude the possibility of doing As Good a Job As a keen teacher would like to do. As we said at the beginning this is a. Highly Complex pro Blem. It is one which must be thoroughly examined. Perhaps consolidated school districts i May help attract More Good teachers to the country. Per haps a Royal commission or some similar group must be appointed to make a detailed examination of our present program. There will be Many ideas As to How the Job should be begun. The import ant thing however is that we do begin. To be run tinted or. Hryhorczuk the at Torney general spent a harrowing Day. Duff Roblin Lloyd Stinson and assorted opposition men were dissatisfied with the prison policy he outlined when he introduced his. Estimates last week. On monday they attacked. He fought Back gamely. But his efforts were in vain. To the opposition he had a bad Case. A year ago he faced the House As a new attorney Gen eral barely six weeks in his Job. He gave a speech telling of the improvements he would strive for in penal conditions and the administration of jus Tice. The opposition boys liked what he had to say. They took his statement of Good intentions at its face value. They gave his estimates Swift passage and wished him Well. But he had failed to trans Mit his words of a year ago into deeds. Hence his torments on monday. One of the Points on which he held Forth Hope last session was a reformatory for the reclamation of Youthful offend ers those Between. 16 and 25. Two prison reports one by the committee which investigated the december 1954, riot at heading Ley jail and the second by the welfare Council of greater Winnipeg recommended such an institution. There were 380 inmates in the prison at the time of the riot and 133 of them were be tween 16 and 25 years. In opposition eyes at least the pro portion of Young prisoners pointed to nothing More clearly than a reformatory. But not to or. Hryhorczuk. The farthest he would go on Mon Day was to say the idea was not yet dead and buried. His speech just before the House closed Down for the week end apparently posed As Many questions for the opposition parties As it answered. The heart of it was a stiff lecture on the duties of Church the Home the school and Community in preventing juvenile delinquency the Cradle of adult criminals. It was a proud attorney Gen eral that revealed to members on thursday his discovery of the great potentials of crime prevention and his bold decision to shift the major Effort of his department into this Field. _ it must have been a bitter disappointment to him to see the almost derisive response it got from the opposition Side monday. The opposition parties May have gone too far in discounting his proposal. This was particularly True of Duff Roblin. Obviously a vigorous pro Gram of crime prevention holds Promise of giving re sults. To the extent that or. Hryhorczuk is ready to give leadership to such a program he deserves encouragement. If he had indicated on thurs Day instead of monday that he was prepared to give this leadership he would have escaped some of the criticism that fell upon him. The weakness of the whole thing is his apparent willing Ness to neglect reclamation of offenders Young and old who Are already in prison or who will come before the courts in future despite the greatest efforts in crime prevention. This neglect is reflected in his failure to go for a separate reformatory for Young offenders. There was another Point in thursday s speech he had to Clear up. He left the impression that he had despaired of probation. But this was not so. He meant Only that he was satisfied with the emphasis now being placed upon it. Hell inaugurate adult probation in Manitoba this year another thing he did t make Clear thursday and Widen the present juvenile program. There were some Points on which or. Hryhorczuk still looked very weak on monday. For example he could offer nothing on segregation and re habilitation and nothing on the new system of jail inspection recommended in the report of the heading Ley riot committee. You Cor your course charted remembered words from letters to his son by lord Chesterfield never maintain an argument with heat and Clamour though you think or know yourself to be in the right but give your opinion modestly and coolly which is the Only Way to con Vince and if that does not do try to change the conversation by saying with Good Humour we shall hardly convince one another nor is it necessary that we should so let us talk something ;