Cu a ee IL ~ kederal govern ment knew of foot - mouth disease outbreak last November By NELSON CLARKE No new outbreaks of ‘foot and mouth disease h ave been reported. There is hope th will be localized to the Regina area, although it is much too early 'to be sure. But the terrilble economic problems which constitute nothing less than a national emergency of the first order, remain. The brutal fact is that Canada’s $125 million market for livestock and meat has ‘been lost. The responsibility for the disaster that has struck the livestock industry is ‘being placed squarely on the should- ers of the St. Laurent govern- ment by western farmers. No one can understand why it took federal authorities three months to diagnose the disease after its first appearance last November on the farm of Leonard Waas near Regina. Every farmer here asks: Why were not immediate measures taken last November? Why was the whole problem hushed up? ‘ There is full agreement here with the demand for a thorough investigation advanced by the Saskatchewan Farmers’ Union and the Labor-Progressive party. The source of the infections must ibe firmly established. But the’theory that the disease ‘was. brought to this country by a. German immigrant has ‘been viewed here from the outset with considerable reserve. - Farmers ask: If the virus of foot and mouth disease can' be so easily brought into Canada by immi- grants, why is it that in all the years of immigration into West- ern Canada this has never ‘hap- pened before? Between three and four million immigrants have come to Canada in the past 50 years, but none ever ‘brought foot and mouth disease. Saskatchewan farmers are de- manding that Ottawa give a full account to the people of the long delay in coming to grips with the disaster. They’ feel the fed- eral department of agriculture showed nothing but bungling in- competence. They charge ithe government with a deliberate at- tempt to stall off action. There ' is a good deal of talk that now would be a good time to fire Jimmy Gardiner. So far, federal authorities have failed to take the action requir- ed to save the Canadian live- stock from destruction. It will be remembered that even before the outbreak, hog and cattle mar- kets were beginning to: weaken. Cattle prices had dropped from around 30 cents to 20 cents a pound and were just ‘beginning to edge up again when the -ter- rible news of foot and .mouth disease broke. Exports to the United States has already stopped and there was even the beginnings of U.S. exports of cattle into Canada. It was clear the U.S. no longer needed nor wanted Canadian cattle and was already taking steps to limit the competition of Canadian beef. The outbreak of foot and mouth disease gave it the opportunity it had- been waiting for to clamp an em- bargo on Canadian exports, thus destroying completely the market upon which the pros- perity of the Canadian cattle industry is based. The LPP thas warned for years against any notion that the US. provides a stable market for Can- adian fart products, and the warning is now receiving tragic confirmation. In Mexico, the US. beef trusts used foot and mouth disease as the occasion | Why not ection sooner? | \ TOP: This animal shows symptoms of foot and mouth dis- ease: foaming at the mouth and blisters on the tongue. BOTTOM: Inspectors working to prevent the spread of the dread foot and mouth disease from the centre of its outbreak in south- ‘ ern Saskatchewan are taking tagion. taken sooner. e every precaution against con- But western farmers are asking why action was not on imports of Mexican beef. The Saskatchewan Farmers’ Union is now demanding an im- mediate floor price under cattle and hogs. Such actions. will need ‘to be accompanied by a ‘federal meat subsidy in order that Can- adian workers can afford to buy more Canadian meat. Expan- sion of the home market is all important, now that export mar- kets are gone. But it cannot be expanded unless there is a re- duction in the price of meat to the urban consumer through sub- sidy and not at the expense of for destroying 900,000 cattle, the farmer. hogs, sheep and goats. They have never lifted ‘their embargo ’ The St. Laurent government has already shown that by its subservience to Washington it is willing to sacrifice the Canadian livestock industry. It will take the fullest, widest action by the people and their organizations to compel the St. Laurent govern- ment to enact measures that will meet the immediate crisis: @ A floor price and subsidy on beef. @® Full compensation to every farmer. @ Maintenance of employ- ment for every packinghouse worker. : © A full investigation to bring to the light of day all facts concerning the outbreak. SASKATOON at the disease nygemeoss fi nf SPORTLIGHT | By BERT WHYTE———@ D®: Edith Summerskill, an extremely vocal member of the Labor party in England, recently wrote an article entitled “Why I Say Boxing Should Be Stopped” for a London Sunday paper. In a Daily Worker story published last week Joe Kay, former boxer with wide experiences of the ring, answered Dr. Summerskill. Here is part of his reply: ; “To talk of making boxing illegal is wrong. The history of the fight game Shows in any case that even when prizefigthting ee illegal 'thousands of people still carried it on despite the law. “Dr. Summerskill seems to think that ‘by making boxing illegal much of the ‘brutality in society today would cease. I ‘cannot agree that boxing is the cause of such brutality; many people are brutal who never see boxing maltches. What about Bees presenicday, fiction and films, don’t they damage people’s minds? “Tt is true, of course, that fighters are often exploited and sometimes corrupted and that many receive permanent injury- But all these things can be eliminated. Rules can be revised and strictly enforced so:as to ‘protect the boxer. : “The doctor says: ‘Injured boxers represent only a very small section of the community, but for every injured boxer there are, in the vast boxing audiences, thousands of young men who have become inured to (the ugly scenes associated with prizefighting and whbse finer sensibilities consequently become (blunted. Our prisons are grossly overcrowded. Gangs, even in those in prisons, commit vicious assaults on fellow ‘prisoners and- wardens alike. Aippalling cases of cruelty ‘to children, reported ‘in the press, ‘harrow our feelings ‘almost daily.’ “This amounts to putting the ‘blame for the baseness and * corruption of society on to ‘the fight game. And that is a charge * thalt cannot be substantiated. “Clean up boxing as much as possible under prevailing conditions, but it will never be a really ‘honorable sport until we have socialism in Britain. “There is a greater danger to humanity, ‘the danger of war which would create inhuman suffering for millions. The doctor would do well to take a lead in the fight for peace if she wishes to wipe out brutality in the world.” * * * People’s China will take part in the forthcoming Olympic - Games meet to be held in Helsinki this July. Pointing out that the All-China Physical Culture Association is the only organization representing China, a telegram sent to the International Olympic Committee states that no other group, including any organization of the Kuomintang clique on Taiwan, can legally represent China in any way and should not be permitted to compete. € * * KK me Eddie’s Boy stepped out of his class at Santa Aniita last Saturday when he tried to run down a bunch of better horses in the $50,000 San Juan. Capistrano handicap. The Vancouver horse didn’t dis- grace himself—he finished fifth in a field of eight—but he was never a serious contender. At the mile mark he was running fourth, but when®called ‘on couldn’t respond, and fell ‘back to fifth in the stretch drive. : * ee a British fight filberts were sorely disappointed by the poor showing Randy Turpin made recently in a tune-up bout with Alex Buxton at the Harringay Arena. Randy won when Buxton had to retire at the end of the seventh nith a badly cut left eye. But the British and Euro- pean middleweight champion who whipped Sugar Ray Robinson in — 1951 to hold the world crown for a few months, before losing it to Sugar in a return bout, didn’t look anything like championship calibre against the unknown Buxton... , ; Since the last Robinson fight, Turpin has been doing a turn itt the music-halls. He stepped into the ring with Buxton looking confident enough, but right from the start it was cpparent that his timing was off and his footwork. faulty. By the fourth stanza the fight had slowed up \ so much that referee Jack Burt warned both men to’ get cracking or be thrown out. Buxton’s eye was cut in the opening ‘round and troubled him allt the way. Once or twice he had Turpin hanging on for dear life, but failed to follow through and score an upset. Actually the Watford belter isn’t in Turpin’s class, but Randy was so bad he made ‘Buxion look almost good. : .Y * * * Vancouver will produce. better hockey players when hockey moguls begin to pay some attention to the primary job of develop- ing youngsters in their early ’teens. Because of the mild climate, local junior pucksters can’t build backyard rinks, but have to depend on hiring an indoor surface for practice and play. Trouble is, there just aren’t enough rinks. So the kids get up as early as 5 a.m. in order to get their precious hour of practice in the overcrowded Forum and Kerrisdale arenas. If they can squeeze in two hours a week they’re lucky, for most kid teams can’t dig up the $14 or $16 an hour rent. Until the hockey brass hats wake up and do something to assist the development of these local teams, don’t expect many ice stars to develop in Vancouver. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — MARCH 14, 1952 — PAGE 10