ring probe into t he
,7 lives on Novem ber
Mine Workers of America District 26.
Thomas MacLachlan, president of
that the Cumberland mine owned by the Dosco monopoly

there were suc

been brought

> of such conditions.

confirmed that
industry coal mining in Nova
Scotia has the highest death
and accident rate” in the coun-

MacLachlan
he scene of the ex-

commended all

operations of

mine
i

the famed draegermen volun-
teers, specially trained for such

work.

Reporters asked coal miners
why they went into the mines
was it worth it.

and

One of them replied: “What
else can you do here? We
haven’t had three full weeks
since August. There’s always
been something wrong at the
mine to stop work. I guess a
miner averages between $2,700
and $3,200 a year.”

Coal miners earn $11 a day
on the average, but short time
and high prices keep their
yearly wages down. Dominion
Coal Company, which operates
15 mines in Nova Scotia, one
of them the Cumberland work-
ings, reported net earnings of
$2,353,553 for 1955 up from
$1,898,105 the year before, but
after taking care of deprecia-
tion (a generous $1,610,451)

Many of the miners who escaped when a mine explosion at Springhill, N.S., trapped them
5,000 feet underground owe their lives to Charlie Burton (above) who directed them in
cutiing the compressed air pipe to obtain air.

Union wants probe
of Springhill disaster

SPRINGHILL, N.S.

disaster that struck Springhill,
nave been launched by the leaders of

the 12,000-member

bond and loan interest, its net
was down to a mere $147,490.

The parent organization,
Dosco, which includes steel op-
erations, showed a neat 1955
profit of $2,895,303 — showing
that the entire empire is mak-
ing a handsome profit.

A notorious feature of all
mining companies is that they
earmark very little for mine
safety and have for years re-
fused to sit on an equal basis
with the miners’ unions in the
government - backed accident
prevention associations.

Union safety committees
which turn up report after
report of bad conditions find
themselves boxed~ in when
they make demands for im-
proved safety. Improvements
that have been won have come
only through tremendous pres-
sure generated by the union on
the government.

Soil tests of Wisconsin and Illinois farm lands ;

that the radioactive chemical content of the soil

tium 90 — has doubled or tripled in two years.
Moreover, this penetration of radioactive fall

increased as a result of American, Soviet and Britis® —

bomb tests since the soil was
examined in 1955.

The Capital Times of Madi-
son, Wis., headlined Dr. Lib
by’s revelations, which caused
a sensation farmers
and other midwest residents.

The farms tested in Wiscon-

among

sin and Illinois showed the
following increases in the
strontium level between 1953
and 1955 measured in milli-
curies per square mile:

+ Holcomb farm: 5.1 milli-
curies in 1953, 14.8 in 1955.

+ Premo farm: 3.8 in: 1953,

10.6 in 1955.

+ Kurpeski farm: 4.0 in 1953,
10.4 in 1955.

+ Austin farm: 4.7 and 16.5.
+ McKee farm: 6.3 and 10.6.
* Van Winkle farm: 3. and
9.4.

+ Carver, farm: 3.3 and 8.9.

Dr. Libby declared that the
proximity of the midwest to
the Nevada bomb test centre
has exposed it to as much as
50 percent more of the bone
killing strontium 90 than other
areas of the world.

He explained that strontium
90 is absorbed into the human
body in milk, cheese, vege-
tables or animal meat and
causes bone cancer.

Dr. Libby, an Eisenhower
appointee, generally follows
the hush-hush policy of AEC
chairman, Admiral Lewis
Strauss, the Eisenhower ad-
ministration’s front man. He
said new evidence suggests
that strontium may not get
into the body from the soil in
anything like the high pro-
portion as previously believed.

He said that strontium
stored in the atmosphere
around. the world seems to
have remained at about 12
millicuries per square mile in
the past five years. The fallout
from this is extremely slow, he
said.

Smith Act test
in Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN

Just how free is Puerto Rico
— that issue was before Fed-
eral Judge Luiz Nazario, who
heard arguments for dismissal
of Smith Act indictments
against 11 Puerto Rican Com-
munists.

Defense Attorney David I.
Shapiro of New York urged
dismissal of the indictments
on grounds that the Smith Act,
a U.S. law, could not apply to
a self-governing common-
wealth.

The trial of nine men and
two women is scheduled for
November 26. Shapiro, a mem-
ber of the lawyers’ panel of
the American Civil Liberties
Union, is assisting a battery of
Puerto Rican attorneys, most
of them court-appointed.

NOVEMBER 16, 1956 — PACIFIC ‘TRIBU

Democrats _
sweep Wash |

By TERRY PETIU
ears SEAT

In its first and massive oy
trance into the political ‘abt
in Washington state buried
so-called “pight-to-WOTk igs
under an avalanche of 5°
— re-elected two key coner
sional candidates 4M° ond
sweeping gains in state |
legislative posts. {0

While labor was unl
deliver for its presi sup
ticket it did cut into “otal?”
port for Eisenhowe!- go
wide the Eisenhowe? gal
ticket ran behind the 347
average.

Here is labor’s box ©

@ Re-elected Dé
Senator Warren G.
and defeated Governot
B. Langlie, Eisenhow®
sonal choice, by @ quat i
a million votes. yal!

® Re-elected Dems
Congressman - at - laret el
Magnuson by an overWr
ing majority. ., gtate

© Elected Democrat ‘gov :
Senator Albert Rosellin ieee
ernor and made a cleat gt
of seven other state hip )
Besides the governor cs
Republicans lost the Horne
lieutenant-governo!; eas
general and_ state t
All partisan state ©
now held by labot-@
Democrats.

@ Elected cle '
in both the state pen
Senate which puts t f the

governor’s office a? inst ‘im
legislature for
in 12 years. :
the Democrats will resi 4
tion the state’s cor re
districts which a 4958
news for the GOP 1? ore J

Newly Democrat ty Wi
jumped back over as My
to vote for Eisenhow we
it returned Senato? a th l}
Morse to office f0 oq ott
time with a more ron fide
majority vote ole sf

also: :
< “Blected its first eal
cratic governor 12 - c0

@ Reversed he Des
of the legislature 4 + 69 es
ocrats took i Hs
in the state 110
sentatives and tied oe epi
of the traditionally
“an Senate.

In California, bi si
Democratic pat a
Congressional seats awe
the GOP, and pare’ of
can margin of con st 1
state legislature a :
vanishing point. ?
NE —

oe — ee