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BOB WARD>

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aad

Season’s greetings all —

pop can give

this Xmas

’Tis four weeks before Christmas, the thought we just hate;
Coz frankly we're flatter than tea on a plate.

And with finances going from

badder to worse

We just had to hurriedly whip up this’ verse
To let all and sundry the sad tidings hear

We're not giving nothin’ but

Yup, citizens, only four more
happy weeks ’til the so-called
festive season. We've been rather .
conscious of this fact in the Ward.
household for some*time; for what
with debts, kids, and Abbott, the
“*festive’’ season is not one that
we can ignore. eee

We've been subtly campaigning
for some time in order to soften
the blow on Christmas morning
when the Ward young’uns wake
to find their feet in their stockings.
Whenever . White Xmas comes
over the radio, for instance, we ve
improvised and sing along loudly,

“We're dreaming of a dry
Xmas.” é

Then at night when we tuck -
the dear, little, innocent, angelic
devils into bed we work over
some of the nursery jingles. To
wit:

Christmas is coming and daddy's
awful flat
Please put a sawbuck in the eld

man’s hat hice
Tf you haven’t got a sawbuck a

five-spot will do,
Tf you haven't got a five-spot, to
hell with you.

The kids are particularly fond
of a little ditty that we sing soto
voce (whatever that means) to
“Little Boy Blue.”

Little boy blue, go soak your
head,

Daddy is broke and way in the
red. hes
So Senta Claus had better blow

Coz Abbott's got your father’s
dough. — &
‘On the theme of Abbott, we’

revised all stories about rabbitts

to abbotts and we always refer,
to them as “‘bad abbotts.”’

“Bad abbotts,’ we tell® our

 starry-eyed youngsters,. ‘“are worse

than ,hobgoblins, leprechauns, bah-

shees, sandmen, witches, or even

efficiency experts.”
And then the sweet, little, one-

time-long-age exemptions shout, -

“WHY, daddy?” We tell them:

“greetings” this year.

“Once upon a time there was a
‘bad abboit?’ He was just about
the worst abbott that ever made
a speech upholding ‘our way of
life... Worse even than burping

» yaucously at mealtime.

“Bad abbott lived in a big
house. Everything about him was
big—his salary—his stomach—
his head. He-was a five-ulcer
executive with a fifteen-ulcer sal-

ary. :
-“Bad-= abbott’s worst habbott
was ‘soaking the poor.’ E:ven
one of his waking hours,eand even
sleeping one, was spent thinking
up schemes for soaking the poor.
‘Let's soak the poor some more

‘was the most frequent expression

he used.
“One day, though, the people
got sick of being soaked.

' **‘T et’s soak bad abbott,’ they
all said. So everybody got a big
‘mouthful of water and they wait-
ed until ‘bad abbott’ tumed his
good eye and ‘whoooooosh.’ Why,
as fast as a boss can say ‘no’
they let ‘bad abbott’ have it.

“And just like the bad witch in.

‘the Wizard of Oz the ‘bad ab-
bott’ disappeared . . . and with
him went all other upholders of
‘our way of ‘life.’ nee

““Then,’’ we tell the kids, ‘‘the

surplus was put to proper use,
daddies didn’t get soaked any
longer and were able to buv nice
things for the kiddies, and Christ-
mas was really a time of ‘peace
on earth—good will to all men’.”’
But instead of having a happy
ending, we say, “But not this
year.” {
Roch-a-bye, hiddies; Santa is
dead;

‘We love old Santa—like holes

in the head.

Now that he’s gone there’s nothing

LON FOOT rei,
And “nothing” is just what you'll
gel this year.
e@ Reprinted from the Canadian
UE News. . es :

pe 4961

| TOTALIN. waa
MILLIONS UIA
fe 2aee aaa
pe1000 83332 S222
_ POPULATION ys Pew

| BUDGET
Betis

INCREASE
SINCE 1949

_ | MEASURED IN

LABOUR MAN
. YEARS PERI000

| OF POPULATION

f

aralive figures of the. U.S., Britain and_the

Chart shows comp
FR on armies, arms

come] v5.0 | Us. [USsay

budget and arms expenditures.

USSRE

rm

The World
hird cut in all three by 1952.

.

|
|

REARMAMENT OUTLOOK

RISING ARMS:

py

BRITISH* COLUMBIA PEACE C

Sr

OUNCIL

‘Dirty rat’ Meyer anticipates |
release, job in new Nazi army

S S. General Kurt Meyer, Hitler
¢ youth leader and murderer of

' Canadian prisoners-of-war, must
‘

be kept behind bars for life. This
is the stand taken by British

Columbia Peace Council. Prompt-

ed by news reports from Germ-
any revealing that Meyer is be-
ing allowed leave from prison to
romp with his wife and children,
the Council this week issued a
statement declaring:

“The next planned step is ob-
viously his release. This must
be prevented. Every worker for
peace should protest immediately

_to Prime Minister St. Laurent>

- To fail to undertake such a simple

act is to give tacit approval to
the plan for Meyer’s release and
his employment in the rebuilding
of the Nazi army.”

The statement gave this chron-
ological account of the Meyer
case to illustrate how the federal
goverhment’s treatment of Meyer
has finally ended in the pamper-
ing of “this dirty rat,” as he was
called in the House of Commons

_ this week by George Cruickshank

(Liberal, Fraser Valley);
| Meyer was found ‘guilty on
December 2% 1945, of being
responsible for the murder of
18 Canadian prisoners-of-war
who were shot, not in the
heat of battle, but cold-blood-
edly after they had been in-
terrogated. Their hands were
tied behind their backs.
* »
2 The next day Meyer was sen-

tenced to be shot by a firing
squad. ke

3 Meyer’s appeal for clemency
was refused by ‘Canadian
Military Headquarters
January 5, 1946. © :

on.

Nine days later his sentence
was commuted to life .im-
prisonment, A storm of pro-
test swept Canada. Mount
Pleasant Branch, Canadian
Legion, formed’ a “Hang
Meyer Committee.” 150 dele-
gates to Vancouver Trades
and Labor Council endorsed
the Legion’s stand. From
Victoria to Nova Scotia, Leg-
ion branches and_ district
councils demanded Meyer be

6 In February, 1949, Meyer, op-

Shot. Toronto’s Board of
‘ Control passed 1a motion of
“emphatic protest.”

K Meyer was flown to Canada
,and began to serve a life sen-
tence at Dorchester Peniten-
tiary. There he became pris-
_ on librarian and, according
_ to news reports, was given
preferential treatment.

portunistically sensing the
swihe in Canada from anti-
 facism to anti-Communism,
“approached his guardians
with an offer to give his ser-
vices to .withstand the Soviet

push on the western zone of
Germany.” (Vancouver Daily
Province, February 24, 1949.)
His plea’ for.a pardon was
Sent to the federal cabinet.

7 In January, 1950, at a time

wien American Occupation
authorities were
German war
wholesale lots
hower made his infamous
“let bygones be bygones”
statement, there were again
press reports that Meyer, “an
anti-Soviet expert,” might be
released. fs

releasing
criminals in
and. Hisen-

s

Suddenly, on October 18 this
year, Canadians were con-
fronted with the news that
Meyer had been transferred
from a Canadian prison to
Germany. This has been ac-
. complished by secret order-
in-council.

A few days later External
Affairs Minister L. B. Pear-
son admitted in Commons
that the Bonn government
had formally requested Mey-
er’s release. Defense Minister

Claxton assured the House’

that Meyer would not be re-
leaSed.

-

10 On November 25 of this year,
. Canadian Press_ reported
Doug. How went to visit
Meyer’s mother in Germany
and was surprised to find
Meyer himself at home, romp-
ing with his wife and child-
_ Ten. r ¥.

2

“Had How not stumbled upon
Meyer accidentally, the Canadian
people would still not have known
that this murderer of 18 Cana-

cur own government.

, the statement concludes.

dian soldiers is being pampered
by our government,” said the
council statement.

“In the interview with How,
Meyer has the gall to advocate
conscription ;for Canadian youth.
This coming from the man who
commanded the 12th SS Hitler
-Youth Division is an insult no
Canadian can swallow. Meyer be-
lieves there is going to be an- -
other war and he thinks Can-
adian youth should be trained
now to defend their ‘wonderful’
country. That an SS leader, who

murdered Canadians fighting in

defense of their country against
such fanatics as ‘himself, should
lecture Canadians on patriotism’
is disgraceful. Canada is a won-
derful country, and we didn’t
need Nazis to tell us so.

“The real danger of the Meyer
case lies in the rebuilding of the
Nazi army by Eisenhower and
Already
Canadian boys have beer sent to
Europe to join Eisenhower's
NATO-Nazi army, to become
eventually comrades-in-arms of
Meyer. This we must prevent.

“When Meyer’s sentence was
commuted from death to life im-
prisonment, Lt.-Col. Bruce Mac-
donald, who prosecuted him, said
Meyer is a ‘possible Hitler of the
future’ and should never be re-
leased. ‘Meyer is a fanatical
Nazi, an inspirational leader of
the Hitler youth, young and am-
bitious. . .’ said Col. Macdonald.

“Sensing the danger of releas-
ing Meyer, Col. Macdonald said,
‘If he is pardoned in 10 years, or
even 20, and goes back to Ger-
many while there is still any
smouldering remnant of Hitler-
ism, Meyer could easily become
an idol of the German people.’

“We appeal to all peace work-
ers and organized pe&ce councils,
to all trade unions and veterans’
organizations to begin now an
effective campaign to keep Meyer
behind bars where. he belongs,”
“The
matter should be particularly
raised in veterans’ organizations
and in the trade unions. Meyer
must not be released.”

e eace Council has called for a one-t

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — NOVEMBER 30, 1951 — PAGE 9