Now hear
this e ee

The story is going the
rounds of the progressive
movement in this city about
a social affair the other night
which was spoiled by a cat.
Up to the time the cat
was introduced the affair
was a complete success. The
guests had eaten their fill of
a variety of food, including
some tastefully prepared sal-
mon sandwiches, and some
one had thoughtfully put the
empty salmon can on the
back porch for the cat to
lick. ‘

It was only when the guests
prepared to leave that some
one else opened the back door
and there was the cat — un-
mistakeably dead. And be-
side it was the empty salmon
can.

The guests looked at each
other and their uneasiness
began to reflect itself on their
faces. Could it have been the
salmon? The more they dis-
cussed it the less comfortable
they felt ... and away they
went to the hospital to sub-
mit to the indignities of the
stomach pump.

When the hostess, some-
what shaken, got back home
her neighbor was waiting for
her.

“Tm sorry about your cat,”
he said. “I found it dead on
the street. I put it on your
back porch so you would
know it was dead and not
go looking for it.”

4 * kok

Whatever the daily press
columnists may think, the
rumor that Tom Alsbury is
in line for a Liberal nomin-
ation has not been knocked
on the head by his transfer
from Fairview High School
of Commerce, where he will
be succeeded as principal by
Arnold Webster, former CCF

leader, to the still uncom-
pleted Killarney school. Until
he assumes his new post Als-
bury will -be on_ special
assignment.

The fact is that the Liber-
als in this province are try-
ing to strengthen their posi-
tion by wooing labor. But
they have to do it within the
confines of their U.S. “inte-
gration,” anti-national cold
war policies and that means
finding “labor’’ men who will
go all the way down the line
with them. ;

Alsbury, who thrives on a
red herring diet which would
make others gag, would be
just their man. And this might
explain why the Vancouver
Sun, which is no champion
of labor’s cause, finds every
pretext to quote Alsbury on
its front page. ‘

* aes

Headline of the Times —
“Atom-bomb city with an old
world charm — Nagasaki’s
mushroom growth’—London
Times.

By WILLIAM KASHTAN

Gas pipeline issue up

T should be obvious to all trade
| unionists that much more will
have to be done if an all-Cana-
dian publicly-owned pipeline is
to be. built.

So far, the trade union move-
ment has restricted itself to the
adoption of resolutions on the
subject.

The TLC and CCL, in their
joint submission to the Gordon
Commission on Economic Pros-
pects, have placed a united trade
union movement on record in
support of a  publicly-owned
pipeline, and a similar stand has
been taken by union bodies
across the country.

Still nothing happens.

The Board of Transport Com-
missioners has met and given
the Trans-Canada Company an-
other six months in which to go

~ ahead with the building of the

= KS,

re eg NS

Ss ~<

i ‘ecconssstlllaod iyi Svcs

DUST BOWL — a drawing by Margaret Shelton

The Doxology

®

to labor movement

U.S. controlled pipeline.

This fact and the position
taken by Trade Minister C. D.
Howe should make it clear that
insofar as the government is
concerned, it is prepared to flout
public opinion and ignore the
national interest.

Dai aad

It might be asked: How is it ©
possible for the St. Laurent gov-
ernment to go ahead with its
anti-Canadian plans, when the
entire trade union movement,
the CCF, LPP, farm organiza-
tions, wide sections of the press,
its own Liberal supporters, Con-
servatives, and others insist that
the pipeline be Canadian—even
though there are differences as
to whether it should be private-
ly or publicly owned?

The answer is simple. As long
as all those who want an all-
Canadian publicly-owned pipe-
line are disunited, the govern-
ment is able to manoeuvre and
go ahead with its own plan.

It is not enough for CCFers
and others to filibuster—as they
apparently intend to do in the
House of Commons. This is. of
some value, but unless it is
backed by a powerful move-
ment of the Canadian people,

‘headed by organized labor, the

government is not likely to
budge from its position.

It can be put this way: If the
organized labor movement real-
ly begins to fight for an all-
Canadian publicly-owned pipe-
line, such a pipeline will be
built. It is up to labor now.

ae oe

Toronto Labor Council (CCL)
is to be congratulated on its
decision to hold a public rally
on this issue. This could well
be duplicated in every city and
town in Canada.

Shouldn’t the TLC and CCL
now jointly undertake a whole
series of activities nationally,
provincially and on a _ local
level? By taking the lead on this
issue, the organized labor move-
ment can rally all other sections
of the population around it.
Why not take the lead in help-
ing to establish citizens’ com-

‘mittees everywhere for a pipe-

line built in Canada and control-

led by Canadians, as a publicly-
owned enterprise?

Such all-inclusive citizens’
committees, pressuring mem-
bers of parliament and govern-
ment, reinforced at the same
time by MPs who will fight for
the pipeline, could become an
unbeatable combination.

Is it too much to expect that
the TLC and CCL now and at
the Unity Congress will under-
take such acon? Implicit in it
is the’ role a united trade union
movement can and must play
in the coming period, to im-
plement the proposals in the
TLC-CCL joint brief to the Gor-
don Commission, which called
for “the preservation of a free,
independent Canadian nation.”

The battle for an all-Canadian ~
publicly-owned pipeline is part
of that historic struggle, and it —
will be made easier if CCF and
LPP trade unionists cooperate
to achieve it.

If what labor does now ca?
determine the success or failure
of the “battle of the pipeline,”
what it does can equally deter-
mine whether U.S. domination
of all phases of Canadian life
can be ended.

History has placed this task
for labor to serve, and the Cana-
dian Labor Congress at its
founding convention could well
afford to place this issue in the
forefront.'In doing so it would
place labor at the head of the

ETURNING from a trip to Ottawa in 1934, the late Liberal
Premier Thomas Dufferin “Duff” Pattullo gave an interview
expressing his delight at being back in B.C. (where the unemploy-
ed were numbered in tens of thousands) after the misery he had
seen elsewhere in the country.

_ Reading Pattullo’s cynical remarks, Paul Bjarnason, inter-
nationally known Icelandic-Canadian poet long resident in this
city, wrote The Doxology, a poem now included in his Odes and
Echoes, published last year.

I asked him why, in face of want,
He wouldn’t save the wheat.

He smiled with sympathy and said:
“With lots there’s less to eat.”

Again I looked. A squad of men ae
Was stationed all around,

Intend, I thought, on dumping grain

In tons upon the ground.

I asked my friend why this might be.

He spread his boney chest

And said: “These worthy men are here

To fight the ‘hopper pest.”

I rose and found the dawn unchanged,
The sunrise as of old.
The morning had its maiden blush,
. The midday still its gold.
I knew the evening’s quiet touch, 3
The sunset’s crimson hue.
The stars at twilight winked at me
Just as they used to do.

Once more I looked. I saw afar
Where ships at anchor lay,

Whose crews were busy pitching out
Their cargoes in the bay.

Again I quizzed. My friend replied:
“It’s plain as plain can be,

If apples grow too well they must
Be dumped into the sea.”

I walked afield and found the lea °

Still fragrant, thick and green.

The trees still waved their leafy arms,

In manner quite serene.

The robin sang, the brook still played,

The breeze felt just the same.
The cows at eve with udders taut

Looked innocent and tame.

It was not plain to me; but then

I thought it must be so. —

I felt appeased; yet one thing more

I wanted still to know.

I asked my friend to tell me straight
If we were in B.C.

He froze me with a sneer and said:
“Wake up! This is A.D..”

I wondered. It was all so strange.

I knew the people’s needs.

I thought the food plants and the grass
Had turned to useless weeds.

I thought that nature and the earth

Had suffered grievous change:

That rains had ceased, the soil had struck
And cows died on the range.

I said no more and turned to go,

When on my Startled ear

A soul-requiting anthem broke

7 In accents sweet and clear.

Methough I saw a great white dome

And on its portico

An angel sang: “The Lord be praised

From Whom all blessings flow 1” nation’s battle to preserve and
: PAUL BJARNASON safeguard its independence.

APRIL 13, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 4

I looked about and saw what seemed
A mumnyy in the rain,

Who with a span of mangy mules
Was plowing down the grain.

t

oh fuN ere Fa