ers

AXEL ‘ WENNER-GREN

WHO IS WENNER-GREN ?

Pro-fascist record

haunts billionaire

Swedish-born Axel Wenner-
Gren, mystery man behind the
multi-million dollar scheme to
take over an area equal to
one-tenth of British Columbia,
doesn’t like to talk about his
pre-war Nazi connections.

“Long ago I have forgotten
about this deplorable matter
and I wish the public would
do likewise,” he said to Nor~
man Hacking, Vancouver
Province staff writer, in an
interview at Mexico City this
week.

Why was he blacklisted dur-
ing the Second World War by
Britain and the U.S.? Wenner-
Gren resorts to the anti-Com-
munist answer currently pop-
ular among all those accused
of war-time collaboration or
fascist sympathies.

“My personal guess is that
it was purely personal animos-
ity by one of the top officials
in Washington,” he told Hack-
ing.

“J have always been out-
spoken in my anti-Commun-
ist sentiments, and at that
time the Communists had in-
filtrated and had great influ-
ence in the state department.”

Plausible, but hardly in ac-
cord with the facts.

The 1942 edition of Current
Biography made this comment
on Axel Wenner-Gren: “He

‘was too mysterious and tco

friendly with people like Her-
man Goering to be as devoted

to democracy as he always
claims to be.” And earlier, in
1936, after a meeting with
Goering he had informed re-
porters the two of them had
parted “with no .compromise
of ideas but with mutual re-
‘spect between men who stand
firmly for their convictions.”

His respect for Goering led
Wenner-Gren to regard him
as the best hope for bringing
Nazi Germany into mediation
agreements and presently he
was reporied to be acting as
go-between for Goering and
British Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain.

But when Britain was fight-
ing for survival, the Churchill
government blacklisted Wen-
ner-Gren, accusing him of
“questionable activities,” of
trading with Axis countries
and of having ties with Goer-
ing.

Wenner-Gren himself lent
substance to the accusations
by remarking later that “if
there should be a stalemate
and a negotiated peace, I
might be of great use. I have
a good standing in Germany.”

He still has a good standing
in West Germany where he
conirols:the Ruhr steel indus-
try. And, whatever his plans
in B.C., they must be seen
against the background of a
resurgent: West German mon-
opoly, linked with U.S. mon-
opoly, expanding its interests
in this country. <

: MacPhee will probe

into U.S. dumping

Highlights of the MacPhee Royal Commission’s continued hearings into the
Interior tree fruit industry indicate the inquiry will be an exhaustive one in which
all branches of the complicated business of producing, packing, processing and mar-
keting the various crops will be thoroughly probed. Individual growers and interested
parties are all being urged to present their views, and while evidence is given under

oath, hearings are being con-
ducted in an atmosphere of
informality in order to en-
courage participation.

Commissioner MacPhee has
indicated that, in addition to
the schedule of hearings in
the fruit communities,
the inquiry will be pursued
outside the province with per-
sonal investigations of prac-
tices In competing production
areas and sales techniques used
by the industry in various
markets on the continent.

tree

At a later date the commis-
sion proposes to have a de-
tailed examination and review
of evidence given at the pre-
sent hearings.

The commission will sit
several times to examine
briefs and hear submissions

by any interest party or pri-
vate individual in other parts
of the province, and will re-
turn to any tree fruit locality
to hear any additional evi-
dence growers may wish to
present.

A major development in the
hearings was the announce-
ment made at Oliver by Com-
missioner MacPhee, that he
had noted the importance
growers are attaching to the
tariff question and U.S. dump-
ing, and would give it “serious
examination.”

Louis Hart, well known
Osoyoos orchardist, had just
claimed that only 15 percent
of the tree fruit growers in
his area were making a living.

Distress selling (of U.S.
crops) has become acute since
1950,” Hart said, lashing out
at the “unethical importation
of U.S. fruit” and pointing to
the fact that practically all
growers were compelled to
hold other jobs in order to
supplement their orchard in-
come.

Another grower, Douglas
Fraser, showed how dumping
of U.S. fruit allowed it to be
sold in this country below the
Canadian cost of production.

At an earlier hearing at the
north end of ‘the Okanagan
Valley, in Salmon Arm, sharp
issue was taken with the idea
that had been put forward by
a government horticulturist
that Salmon Arm was unsuit-
able for apple growing.

Multiplicity of packing

houses was cited as one of the
major problems. “With two
plants in the city and a third
at nearby Canoe,” J. G. Camp-
bell told the commission, the
area was geared to handle
500,000 boxes, while the pre-
sent production was about
100,000 boxes.

In Salmon Arm, as in Kel-
owna, Penticton, Vernon and
other Okanagan centres the

demand was pressed for a
special investigation to break
down the price spread between
grower and producer.

Sixty growers at Salmon
Arm oltfained a promise from
Commissioner MacPhee thiat
‘J will be spending a lot of
time exploring this spread.”
He announced that a special
study of this aspect is already
under way.

Wages top question

before [WA parley

Delegates to the B.C. district convention of the Inter-
national Woodworkers now in session in Vancouver appear
determined to press for a big wage demand in the approach-

ing negotiations.

The convention of the 32,000-member union opened Thurs-

day morning in the Georgia
Hotel and will run into next
week.

The big locals in Vancouver
and New Westminster have
gone on record in favor of a
30 percent increase. This

would raise the basic rate
from $1.59 an hour to $2.07.

Loggers’ Local 71, which
takes in all coast loggers ex-
clusive of Vancouver Island,
is demanding “ a substantial
increase.”

Duncan local, which includes
loggers and millworkers in
Duncan, Parksville, Nanaimo,
Ladysmith, Chemainus, Cow-
ichan Lake and Jordan River,
has demanded a basic rate of
$1.75 an hour plus a 20 per-
cent increase over and above
the initial raise. Other locals
have gone on record for sub-
stantial wage hikes.

While the wage formulas
advanced are varied, they re-
flect the resentment of wood-

workers whose wages have
dropped sharply in relation to
workers in other industries.
They also reflect a determina-
tion to rectify this situation.

The convention will discuss
the profit picture in the in-
dustry and the question of
markets. There is a strong
feeling that the lumber com-
panies are making more money
than ever before, even though
they are crying poverty.

It is reported that strong
currents within the union fa-
vor a policy of pressing the
federal government and the
employers to take active steps
to re-establish the China mar-
ket for B.C. wood products.
This question featured prom-
inently in tthe recent. Truck
Loggers’ convention and is €x-
pected to come before the IWA
parley.

The 160 delegates from ev-
ery part of the province will
nominate candidates for dis-
trict office.

Farl Robinson to give
concert, classes in city

An enjoyable program of
folk song and music is prom-
ised at Pender Auditorium
this Friday, February 22 at
8:15
son, well known American
folksinger and composer will
be the guest artist.

Composer of Lonesome
Train, Ballad for Americans
and other popular folk song
hits, Robinson will present

p.m., when Earl Robin-._

these and some of his latest
compositions to Vancouver
audiences. Admission to the
concert is $1.

While in Vancouver Robin-
son will appear on CBC’s TV
“Almanac”, Friday at 7 p.m.
On Saturday, beginning at 10
a.m., he will conduct a “class
room” period in Pender Au-
ditorium on the technique and
appeal of folk singing, open
to all interested persons.

FEBRUARY 22, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 9