EDNA RYERSON

Why Ontario: Tories fear
‘Fighting Mac’ of Bellwoods

A. MacLEOD, since 1943

* Labor-Progressive member of

‘the Ontario provincial constitu-

ency of Toronto-Bellwoods, em-

‘bodies all the finest characteris-

tics working people the world
Over admire and cherish.

The son of a steelworker, this
modest man has represented
Bellwoods for eight years and
has won the respect and love of
working people not only in Bell-

‘woods and across Canada, but in
“Europe as well. There he inspired
thousands to take up the fight
against fascism in Spain six
years before our government de-
clared war on Hitler.

The Drew-Frost Tories, stung
by “Mac’s” blistering attacks on
their policies, have many times
had to concede on _ legislation
based upon the people’s needs.
He has exposed again and again
the Conservative party’s love' for
the rich and their callous dis-
regard for, the needs of the child-
ren, the ‘aged and the working
men and women.

The youngest of a family of
four children, A. A. MacLeod
joined his father in the steel
plant of Cape Breton at the age
of 12. He learned at an early
age that there are two classes of
people in our country—the rich
who get richer out of the labor
of the many and those whose
only salvation is to fight united-
ly against that small group who
would like to take all and give
nothing. Mac went to work just

before the outbreak of the First ©

World War. By the time he was
16 he was a war veteran having
seen service in France with the
185th Battalion, Cape Breton

Highlanders, whose banners car-
ried the words, Soil na fear fearil
—The Breed of Manly Men.

A. A; MacLEOD
He blisters the Tories

In 1940 Macleod along with

several wellknown Canadians
euuched the Canadian Tribune.
This newspaper played an out-
standing role in rallying Cana-
dians to demand an all-out war
on Hitler fascism.

It was in 1943 that MacLeod
was first elected to represent
Bellwoods and he has maintained
the support of the people of his
riding ever since. His deep know-
ledge of the needs of the working
class family and _ his ability to
fight and achieve those necessl-
ties which mean dignity and de-
cency for the‘ people, have earn-
ed him the love of his friends

and the respect of his enemies.
He knows how war- expendi-
tures are taking away food from
the tables of working people. He
knows that’ the enormous profits
made by the arms kings are paid
for by the working man. He
knows too, that unless the people
unite around ’a five-power peace

pact, Canadian families will die ~

in a war which will gain nothing
and bring an aftermath too ter-
rible to contemplate.

A. A. MacLeod has
wrung from the Tories an elec-
tion-eve promise to pay 50 per-
cent of the cost of milk for On-
tario’s school children. What
this means to a Bellwoods family
is clearly put by a mother who
lives on Toronto’s Dundas Street
West:

finally

“Thank God for A. A. MacLeod.
I have’ five children—just think
what that- means to us. I die
for shame when I have to say
no to the kids when they ask for
more milk and I get mad too. My
milkman says he makes less when
milk goes up. It sure isn’t the
working man who gets the

preaks. I'll vote for MacLeod and -

so will my man. Tell him to
keep fighting because we sure
need him—I’m going to pray for
that man’s election and I’m go-
ing to tell all my neighbors to
vote for him too.”

Mac knows what a working
woman is up against when she
must care for her family and help
to bring in some money to meet
the terribly high cost of food,
rent, clothing. He has fought for
day care centres to be extended
so that women can have peace
of mind during their working
hours knowing their children are
safe and ‘properly cared for.

Thanks to A. A. MacLeod all
hospital cases are now X-rayed
for TB before entry so that those
who have the dread disease may
be cured and others not infected.
Nurses and hospital employees
who contact the disease, now get
compensation whereas before
they were left to the mercy of
charity.

The plight of the aged has
many times caused embarrass-
ment to the Tories at Queen’s
Park under the biting tongue of
the MPP for Bellwoods. He led
the fight against the shameful
jll-treatment by the Tories at
Queen’s Park and the Liberals
at Ottawa who provide the mag-
nificent sum of $1.30 a day. for
the many thousands who have
contributed. a lifetime of work
in our-factories and on our farms.
“$65 a month at 65 with no means
test” has been the slogan of A.
A. MacLeod.

The Fair Employment Practices
Act was made legislation in On-
taria as a result of the steady
pressure from MacLeod and his
partner in St. Andrew, J. B. Sals-

‘berg.

Mac, of course will tell you that
he alone could ndt have won these
forward steps. He is the first to
give credit to the pressure from
thousands of people who support
him and who know that unless a
people’s fighter represents them
at Queen’s Park their demands
will not be voiced in the House.

reo | |

American troops, as part of their ‘‘indoctrination’’ for atomic warfare, watched an A-bomb

blast at a testing site near Las Vegas, Nevada, recenily.

Picture at left wes taken one minute

after the bomb was detonated, and the picture at right, showing the familiar mushroom effect, was
snapped three minutes after the bomb went off.

PETER THOMAS

Whatever its size atom bomb is

terror weapon- we must ban it

HE Americans must have

been rather shaken by the.

recent atomic explosion in the
USSR.

For, immediately afterwards,
statement was
made by Gordon Dean, chair-
man of the U.S. Atomic En-
ergy Commission, in which it
was claimed that the U.S. now
has large’ numbers of atom
bombs of ‘varying design,
which could be used ‘in a
variety of ways.

an ‘official

Dean said that the Com-
mission was developing “lit-
erally dozens of different types

and kinds of special-purpose

‘atomic weapons,” including
big ones for big situations and
little ones for little situations.

\

The general principles of
atom bombs are known, and
We can draw some conclusions.
It seems probable that, despite
their smallness, the bombs now
being developed in the U.S.
are likely to be as destructive
as those dropped on Japan.

The principle underlying the
operation of an atom bomb is
simple. .

The material of the bomb is
radioactive. It is steadily

breaking down and changing .

atom by atom, into a different
material. As each atom
changes, it gives out one or
more particles, smaller than
atoms, called neutrons.

Now, the material of which
the bomb is made is such that
these neutrons themselves can
cause more atoms to break
down and so speed up, the
changing of the material.

A little of the explosive will
just go on changing: steadily,
but if a larger amount is made,
by bringing together suddenly
a numbér of small pieces, then
the number of neutrons pro-
duced by the steady break-
down of the material becomes
large enough to cause a con-
siderable amount of the ex-
plosive to break down almost
at once.

As a result a lot of energy
is set loose; this appears in
the form of heat, and an in-
tensely hot explosion occurs.

So we see that there is a
lower limit to the size, and
therefore the explosive power

of an atom bomb. It may be -

possible that with different
materials slightly s maller
bombs may be made, but the
difference cannot be ‘very
great. ;

It is generally believed that
the atom bomb dropped on
Hiroshima, where 100,000 peo-
ple died, was not very much
bigger than the minimum size.
This is the sort of bomb that
the Americans are proposing

to use as a tactical weapon.

The overwhelming desire for
Peace and the abolition of ter-
ror weapons that is felt by
the majority of people has
caused the leaders of the West-
ern powers to pay lip service
to negotiations with the
USSR. while, in fact, refusing
to enter into negotiations.

They are pressing ahead to
build up A-bomb stockpiles
and increasingly the war lead-
ers in the U.S. press for the
use of the atom bomb now in
Korea.

On the other hand, we have
had from the Soviet Union
a record of definite proposals
made over the last five years
to the United Nations for the
banning of the atom bomb.

Stalin repeated in his re-
cent interview with Pravda

‘that though the Soviet Union

does possess atomic weapons
it still wants to ban the atom
bomb, to destroy all existing
stocks of atomic weapons, and
to establish genuine interna-
tional control and inspection
of all atomic energy plants.

But the British Tories have
shown nothing but hostility fo
any definite proposals to ban
atomic weapons. And the rea-
son is not difficult to find.
They want to talk to the Sov-

‘let Union at pistol point, with

an overwhelming superiority
of armaments.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — NOVEMBER 16, 1951 — PAGE 9

e

8 ee