New machinery lightens th

e work of Soviet coal miners.

B.C. delegates found
~ Soviet Union country of

- "promise being fulfilled’

USSR as a country engaged in vast industrial and agricultural projects, where
d where “life is excit’ng, full of promise being fulfilled,” was drawn for
Exhibition Gardens he e Friday last week by three B.C. trade unionists who

A picture of the
living standards are rising an
those attending a meeting in }
recently visited the Soviet Union.

Society, marked the 34th ahniversary

Civic Workers
drive for ‘yes
vote on bylaw

Vancouver C.vic Employees’ Un-
ion, Outside Workers, has set up a
“Vote Yes Money Bylaw’ Cam-
paign Committee. The committee,
headed by phe union president ahs
Smith will’ conduct a publicity
campaign for a “Yes” vote on a
money bylaw involving $3,750,000
eartnarked for sewers, roads, pave-
ments, street lighting and other

civic improvements. ae
In Smith’s view $3,750,000 “will

only scratch the surface in provid- |
‘ing our city with much needed im-

provements, but if it is not passed
it will be a blow to the hopes for
planned civic development. It will
also mean that hundreds of out-
side civic workers will be laid off.

| viet

The meeting, he'd under auspices

“We were told to lay out our
own itinerary and no request we
made was refused—we travelled
10,000. miles in the Soviet Union,
mostly by plane,” Ken Smith, of
the International Union of Mine,
Mill and Smelter Workers, report-
par saw well-dressed people, and
none of the poverty to be seen on
the streets of comparable cities
in the Western countries,” Pearl
Wedro, of the International Union
of Fur and Leather Workers, add-
ed.

“J do not claim in the space of
26 days to know all about the So-
viet Union, but I for one have
been able to establish for myself
that the Canadian people are not
being’ told the truth about the So-
Union,” concluded Allister
McLeod, of the International
Woodworkers of America.

Ken Smith told the meeting that,
as a metal miner, he had been
particularly interested in seeing
Soviet hard rock mines.

“T found them to be just as high-
ly mechanized as our own, and
using similar equipment,” he said.

“But ‘what about the miners‘
conditions? |They have their pal-
aces of culture (here we'd call

re

The tender,
prphemer aa eer acdc at ha ame
oo ED OF PARADISE” -.
pier 2 let Aen Onin BROOKS :

ADULT ENTERTAINMENT

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C

“ PARADISE?

oml~

of the Canadian-Soviet Friendship

of the founding of the Soviet Union.

them union halls only there are
few such halls approaching them
in Canada). They have their san-
atoriums and holiday resorts
(three weeks’ holiday a year, three
months every third year).
they have pensions for miners at
50.”

Relating his discussion with Sov-
iet workers on the question’ of
peace, Smith said: ~ ‘

“J found no bitterness toward
Britain or Canada. I found a
great deal of suspicion of the
U.S. a feeling that the USS. is
threatening them. (And it is a
fact that wherever I went in Eur-
ope, in every country I touched
until I reached the USSR, there
were American troops.”

Pearl Wedro also told of her
discussions with workers in Soviet
plants she had visited “and
always I noted their confidence in
their growing mastery of tech-
nique, in their, own achievements.”

In one plant she visited the
radio was on. The program was
the Voice of America. The con-
versation went like this: ;

“But,” I said. “we're told you
are not allowed to listen to the
Voice of America.” They laughed.
“The only reason we don’t listen
to it is because we can’t stand
the traSh that comes out’ of it.
Maybe. people who don’t know
anything about life in our coun-

| try could believe such lies, but;

we live in the Soviet Union.’
Allister McLeod asked his audi-

ence, “How can I expect you to

believe what I have to tell you

about Russia?”-.and answered it
4

by stating:

“I can only ask you to believe
me as a worker, one who-has
fought all his life in the unions
for better conditions, Who at all
times ‘thas been a member and
Supporter of the CCF, who went
to Russia to see the facts for
himself.” eG p

One of the most frequently
voiced criticisms of socialism, he
said, “is that it tends to make
for uniformity and drabness. Mos-
cow’s building program is the most
effective repudiation of this argu-
ment, for every building eshas its
own distinctive architecture adapt-
ed to its own particular purpose
under a central plan.”

In one sentence contrived to con-
vey the essence of.the Soviet con-
struction program.

Telling of what he had seen
at Stalingrad, he observed dryly.
“These people have rebuilt a
whole city since the war—and
for seven years I’ve been trying

And |

‘"___ THE

SPORTLIGHT |

By BERT WHYTE——-

'HE intriguing case of a racehorse that wouldn’t eat oats unless he had
TE beer‘to wet his whistle, came up in London’s Old Bailey recently.
The judge, in trying to decide whether a “‘ringer’’ had won a race,
listened with interest to the story of a nag named Peaceful William,
which on rare occasions came to life and showed his heels to contenders.
Trainer Emest Hill explained that Peaceful William was partial ‘to
beer and stout with his meals. He liked a mouthful of oats, then a
couple of eggs, washed down with'a pint of stout. “If I wanted to
screw him up a bit for a real effort,” said Hill, “I would feed him
on molasses and*eggs and quite a lot of stout.” (It’s too bad living
costs are now so high that some of us can’t train on this diet for catching
the morning trolley.)

*

* *

With Christmas just a hop,:step and a jump away, I visited the -
People’s Co-operative Bookstore to see if M. Marks had any new
books in stock which would make suitable gifts for sports fans. Two
books by Ron McAllister, CBC radio sports editor, caught my eye.

Hockey Stars tells the stories of Turk Broda, Charlie Conacher,
Bill Cook, Babe Dye, Bill Durnan, Flash Hollett, Red Horner, Dick
Irvin, Aurel Joliat, Teeder Kennedy, Ted Lindsay, Ken Reardon,
Maurice Richard, Eddie Shore, Nels Stewart and Georges Vezina.

McAllister’s writing -style will particularly appeal to teen-agers
and*young hockey hopefuls. He looks at the heroes of the rinks with
an uncritical, nay, an admiring eye.

Football Stars, a companion volume, records the achievements of
such pigskin greats as Harry Batstone, Orm Beach, Ab Box, Lionel
Conacher, Royal Copeland, Frank Filchock, Tony Golab, Fritzie Han-
son, Joe Krol, Les Lear, Steve Levantis, Teddy Morris, Ted Reeve,
Dave Sprague, Warren Stevens and Brian Timmis.

The name of Harry Batstone brings to mind my introduction to
Canadian football in Kingston, back in 1924. That was the last year
lethat tiny Queen’s University dominated the’ national football scene,
with such great stars as Red Batstone and his famous sidekick, Pep
Leadley; Red McKelvey, team captain and plunger extraordinary;
Bud Thomas, the demon tackler; Evans at quarter and Lewis at snap.
Not to ferget Boo Hoo, the boxing bear, beloved mascot at Queen’s,
who used to pace back and forth tethered to a stake at one end. of
the field. (Once Boo Hoo got loose and the game had to halt until
some students rounded her up.)

Those were the days when we_all carried flasks on our hips. Girls.
rolled their stockings below the knees; Clara Bow was the “It” girl;
Jack Dempsey was heavyweight champion of the world; Valencia and
Barcelona led the hit parade but many of us still sang Yes, We Have
No Bananas; the Charleston was just giving way to the Black Bottom.

Saturday afternoon was set aside for football. The more affluent
students proudly wore huge coonskin coats; the rest of the school kids
and those other fans, like myself, who weren’t students but just avid
supporters of the Queen’s team, carted blankets and flasks of gin to

the stadium, where we sat in the bleachers and’ cheered the great
Batstone-Leadley combination on. to victory,

* * *
: Sports followers in the Soviet Union are pleased with a decision

made by the International ‘Federation for Volley Ball to hold the
world title competition in Moscow in August, 1952.

* * *

Having passed the 300-goal mark, Maurice Richard of the Can-
adiens is now out to break Nels Stewart's all-time mark of 323
goals. Montreal fans will give you odds he’ll accomplish his am-
bition within three months. What, no takers?

‘The moody and tempermental Richard played his first hockey
on the Riviere des Prairies, near his home in Bordeaux. When he
left school he joined the Paquette Club, where he attracted the
attention of Aurel Joliat. Later the Rocket moved up to play for
Verdun and the Canadien hockey clubs in the Quebec League. This
didn’t keep him busy every night, so-he also played many games

. in the Pare Lafontaine Hockey League. ©
In 1940 Richard was with Montreal Royals, when he broke an
_ ankle. In 1941 he fractured a wrist. These injuries almost caused
him to hang up ‘his skates. But: in 1942 Dick Irvin persuaded

Maurice to don a Canadiens’ uniform—and the rest is known to
one and all,

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE — NOVEMBER 16, 1951 — PAGE 7