EOPLE who still have some
trace of manhood that has
not been squeezed out of them by
the crookedness of life under cap-
italist conditions, must have been
shocked by the blast of the Coal-
ition finance minister, Anscomb,
blaming God for
the Fraser Riv-
er floods.
: We often hear

of the meanest
man — the con-
temptible sneak-
thief who steals
pennies out of a
blind beggar’s
cup — but such
a one is a para-
gon. of high
moral calibre,
compared to this Anscomb, who,
Adam-like, tries to shift the bur-
den of his own political failures
on to the shoulders of someone
else, in this case God.

It might seem to some folks
throughout the province that such
an alibi for incompetence and in-
_ eptitude, for failure to measure

_"up to the needs of the trust ac-

cepted by the Tory-Liberal Coal-

ition government in Victoria, and
_ those that preceded them in of-

fice, is something new in political
depravity.

_ Such however, is not the case.
- History, particularly the history

*

Cee neu eo

of the classic land of capitalism,
England, provides many instances
where God, by one name or an-
cther, has been saddled with the
crimes of the capitalist class.
When the Puritans ruled New
England they paid a premium for
Indian scalps, starting in 1703 at
forty pounds and rising in 1720 to
one hundred pounds, although be-

ing good bourgeois, they cut this.

figure to fifty pounds in the case
of children under 12 years.

Later, when the revolutionary
war broke out, the British turned
the tables and got the Indians to
scalp the descendants of the Pil-
grim Fathers, for Pay of course.
God had to-take the blame for
that too, when the British par-
liament issued a proclamation
that scalping was a “means that
God’ and Nature had given into
cur hands.”

.

The vulgar, apologist economist,
Professor Andrew Ure, flourished
in the first third of the 19th cen-
tury. He wrote a book on the
“Philosophy - of Manufacture”.
That book shows that he was
much perturbed that parliament
should forbid children of 13 to be
exhausted by working 12 hours
a day. It made his liberal soul
imagine it was back in the dark
Gays of the Middle Ages. That,
however, did not prevent him

. 5a Mame Sl

: F Canada? A recent brief pre-
_ sented to the parliamentary com-
mittee on human rights by the

1 Daily Newspapers As-

sociation, would indicate that the
answer is definitely no.

This rather welcome ‘‘confession
_ of faith” from the CDNA cites a

number of examples of press “re-
pression” to underline its thesis,
among these being the Quebec

padlock law,

the Albe'rta

press act (which

aims to turn the

entire Alberta

' press into a

legislation
which permits

restrict or prohibit press advertis- —

‘ing by their members (an exper-
cience with which the labor press
is very well acquainted), and legis-

AVE we got a “free press” in

over that other chronic peculiarity
of our “free press”, its concept of
what constitutes “news”. There

was nothing said about the doings —
of the Canadian Manufacturers

Association and all such ilk, who
are daily portrayed in the venal
press as super-patriots, bufning
with zeal: to do good, as against

the portrayal of the noi poloi of
labor and socialism, who are daily
depicted as the sinister forces of
evil! ;

“The obligation of a free press,”

says the CDNA brief, “is to be
. truly free. It must be thorough,

accurate, and unbiased in its re-

_ porting, sincere and thoughtful in
its editorials, ‘and resistant to all
outside pressure.” Happy thought, |

far removed from reality.

Even the reactionary Toronto
Globe and Mail, which has devel-

‘oped the business of journalistic

distortion to a fine art, is in agree-
ment that our “free press” needs
some face-lifting to enhance its
“desideratum of integrity,” Most
workers will agree that that is a
gross understatement.

N the June 17 issue of the Van-
~ couver Sun, columnist Jack
Scott took a fling at defining

“freedom” of the press, On some —

topics of social and economic im-
port, we enjoy reading Scott's
breezy, refreshing comments, but
when the Sun's popular columnist
undertakes to hang a halo upon
the Brass Cheek monopolists of

the daily press, he -outrages his

Published Weekly ‘at 650 Howe Street
By THE TRIBUNE PUBLISHING COMPANY LTD.
Telephones: Editorial, MA. 5857; Business, MA. 5288

Tom McEwen ....... MO GP ie
Subscription Rates: 1 Year, $2.50; 6 Months, $1.35.

Printed by Union Printers Ltd, 650 Howe

Street, Vancouver. B.G

‘

Short Jabs

AN

from calling upon the millworkers
“to thank Providence, who by
means of machinery has given
them the leisure to think of their
‘immortal interests’.”” The 12-hour
day was blamed on Providence,
not the factory. owners.

When the Poor Laws were be-
ing amended to make them more
humane at the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution, one Tory
mouthpiece, a preacher named
Townsend, who signed himself “A
Well-Wisher of Mankind” wrote a
“Discourse on the Poor Laws.”
He was against any bettering of
the laws relating to the poor. His
thesis was that the Poor Law
“tends to destroy the harmony
and beauty, the symmetry and
order of that system which God
and Nature have established in
the world.”

Again, God had to take the
blame for the horrible and de-
grading conditions that made the
Poor Laws necessary. ~

To the crime of negligence or
stupidity, they add blasphemy,
these shining lights of “free en-
terprise,’ but I would like to
draw Anscomb’s attention to a
quotation from the Bible present-
ly being carried on the Vancouver
street cars which reads: “Be not
deceived: God is not mocked.
Whatsoever a man soweth that
shall he also reap.”

s We

own proven ability to see things

_in proper perspective. Such jobs

should be left to the Bob Morri-
sons, whom Nature has fitted —
mentally and otherwise—for such
slavish chores.

We agree with Scott that “es-
sentially the freedom of the press
is simply the freedom of the pub-
lisher”’, but our agreement ends
there. The publisher, as a cog in
a powerful ironclad “news” mon-
opoly, is not so moved by what
his readers may want, as by what
big advertising business political-

ly demands. The presentation of

“news” is slanted to suit the class
appetites of the monopolists. It is
not “here are the facts—judge for
yourself” as Scott naively puts it,
but here are what the press mon-

opolists say are the “facts”. Per-

ineigc e re

Scott does a column (which we
often like) “which is not exactly
representative of the publisher’s
views.” He apparently hasn’t yet
learned that a truly “free press”

under present standards and con-—

cepts of press “freedom” demands
the dishing out of morsels of solid
mental food along with a potful
of political pablum. That is a con-
cession which the pyess barons
and their powerful advertisers
give to their readers, Incidentally
it also boosts circulation — and
Hividendsdent oe he

In his Te Deum for our “free
press,’ Scott develops a concept
which is about as water-tight as

Finance Minister Abbott’s concept

of “supply and demand.” Scott
thinks that all that is the matter
with the gentlemen of the mon-
opoly press is that ‘they are “hin-
dered ... by a lack of imagina-

tion in their conception of what

makes news.” To overcome this he
pins his faith in “. . . the good old
castor oil of the newspapers,” a

 rabbit-pié recipe which allows a
- 50-50 coverage to capital and labor

on a “one-horse-one-rabbit” ratio.
Good old castor oil!

Canada Day

ie is for the’ worker. the farmer, and all the little people
of Canada to celebrate July 1—Canada Day.

The Mackenzie Kings and Brackens, the Johnsons and
Anscombs will make glowing statements, but it is they
who have placed Canada in its starkest peril since its birth
as a nation 81 years ago. Out of their fear of socialism and
capitalist collapse, out of their hatred of the people, these
internal enemies have betrayed Canada to the foreign power
of Yankee imperialism. Unchecked, Canada’s warmonger-
ing jackal role: will bring down on us the wrath that peace-
loving peoples reserve for aggressors.

American forces occupy our northland. Their brasshats
rule our services. Abbott’s austerity program shapes our
economy to Marshall Plan rule. Even Canadian political
olicies—even interference in trade unions—are worked out
by American geopoliticians. See

Americans scheme to snatch B.C.’s northern interior
through the PGE. The Coalition hands them our forests
“in perpetuity,” strengthens U.S. domination in pulp. Ship-
building and other industries are threatened.

This betrayal is built on domestic oppression. Soaring
profits slash living ‘standards while big business carefully
concocts nationwide violence, hoodlumism and attacks on
every democratic right. ’

And all*this is done under the screen of the type of
Hitlerian red-baiting that corrodes the very youth and soul
of a nation. Pook

But the people are turning. :

Seamen battling for the nation on Lakes picketlines,
Vancouver housewives marching in the street for lower.
prices, youth sailing for Europe with their message of peace,
embattled union negotiators rallying unions for wages and
jok security, Nanaimo workers uniting for labor’s rights,
voters turning from the old-line parties—these are cele-
brating Canada Day. Cr euy,

_ Patriots will join with them to renew a fierce determina-
tion that the future of our wonderful country is not to be
the no-man’s land for atomic war, but to stand up for
peace in the world. From our natural and human resources
we must build the progress, security, advancing living
standards, and freedom that 40,000 Canadians died for in
the people’s war, and that can only now be won throug
unity to elect CCF governments.

Canada is the people, not the profiteers.

Keep Canada independent.

hs Sa : eee : ‘ i ai
kate me, General, do you get unemployment insurance between

: LidelGns backward ©

(From the files of the People’s Advocate, June 30, 1938)

_ There is no doubt that considerable ashes will center Rape
the issue of cooperation with other groups when the sixth CCF
provincial convention opens at Kamloops this Friday, particularly
in view “of the attempts the Trotskyists will make to obtain a

white hoki on the CCF. : eag
year, a known Trotskyist, was elected
provincial organizer and the Trotskyists are hoping to utilize gains _
made through this key position to elect a full slate to office. .
z _They have succeeded in nominating Matthew Glenday for presi-
ent; es soe Fg first Ae gence J. Cloutier for secretary- —
treas : A, Ferguson, Bullock, Don Frank
ae the five executive seats. Be : ce Bia .
Bullock and Rod Young, avowed Trotskyist who was suspended
last year for having carried on continuous disruptive activities,
have both been nominated for chairman of the organization com-_

Reginald Bullock,

mittee, :

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 2, 1948—PAGE 8

‘ bie A : \