ISSUE RAISED IN US. SENATE Salk vaccine profiteerin By JOHN B. STONE WASHINGTON Thousands of vials of prec- lous Salk vaccine, the discov- ery that can wipe out polio- myelitis, are being destroyed in all parts of the United States. The reason — the vaccine must be used within a reas- onable period after it has been prepared or it cannot be uSed at all. The period after which the vaccine becomes “outdated” originally was three months, now ex- tended to six. The big drug .compan- ies that have a corner on production and sale of the precious preventa- tive, hold onto it for sale at a profit until it has reached the stage of uselessness. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of Americans who need the vaccine to pre- vent infection by the dread disease next summer or some summers thereafter go without 1t. The average price, accord- ing to health authorities here, is $6 for each injection of the vaccine by a private physician. Three shots are necessary to secure a reasonable chance of immunity. Although the gOv- ernment talks in billions of dollars daily, there are thous- ands of families whose mem- bers are in the age subject to polio which cannot afford $18. The millions of dollars pro- vided for the research that de- veloped the vaccine: came in from the dollars and dimes % 5 contributed by millions of Am- ericans, adults and children, in the annual March of Dimes commemorating the humani- trianism of Franklin D, Roose- velt. Dr. Jonas Salk, the scientist most personally responsible for development of the vaccine, renounced patent rights for himself. He wanted to give the discovery to the people. Ye 4 DR. JONAS SALK Private enterprise appropriated his gift Strachan says Socred budget, ‘Tacks consideration for people ’ VICTORIA, B.C. “A buSinessman’s budget, with no warmth and no feeling,” is how CCF leader Robert Strachan sees the budget presented by Premier W. A. C. Bennett. “There are no people in this budget; just cold, hard statistics and dollars. “People are still important,” stressed the leader of the opposition, leading off the budget debate Monday this week. “The measures of the success of this budget will live in the cold, hard figures of the market place. “The measures of its failure will throb in the minds of our university students ... it will be seated at the frugal table of our old age pensioners .. . it will be a ghostly figure walk- ing the corridors of our hospi- tals. “Its failure will be an ever present vision in the minds of the people all over the prov- ince who ask, ‘Have we done enough for humanity?’” Speaking only ' from notes, Strachan rambled from topic to topic, sometimes hitting the Socred government forcefully but often failing to follow through after he had found the target range. The CCF leader ripped apart the government’s boast that it gives a great deal of aid to municipalities. “Let me give you the fig- ures on the per capita munici- pal debt in each Canadian province,” said Strachan. “New ‘Brunswick, $102; Quebec, $154; Ontario, $151; Manitoba, $88; Alberta, $780; British Colum- bia, $181.° S “Under this government we have the highest. per capita municipal debt in Canada. Did I forget Saskatchewan? Well, there the per capita municipal debt is only $57.” Blasting the economic stran- gulation” of hospitals, Stra- chan pointed out that last “fis- cal year the two percent of sales tax tabbed for hospitals brought in two million dollars more than was allocated to hospitals. “It is time the government started thinking more about people and less about its sink- ing fund,” he _ said. “Soon those familiar ‘Sorry for ‘the inconvenience’ road signs will have to be put up at the doors of our hospitals when people drive up.” Failure of the government to give added aid to UBC “indi- cates that the premier is not aware of thé importance of the university to the life of our province,” he charged. The CCF leader envisaged Bennett as shovelling millions of dollars expeditiously from one column to another, from one page to another, and even from one year to another. “The premier seems suspend- ed in a sea of dream dollars that reach inland as far as the Rocky Mountain Trench,” he said. “But there is no lifebelt in evidence and it could be that he will yet drown in his sea of dollars.” Attacking the -Workmen’s Compensation Board, “which rejects case after case for no apparent reason and shows no more heart than an interna- tional business machine,” Stra- chan said he believed “justice will not be done until the pres- ent-board fis cleaned right out.” Despite demands in the U.S. Senate and House, the Fisen- hower administration refused to také the drug in the riame of the people. In a tragically bungling way, it made some available for younger children. The rest is left to private en- terprise. Outraged by the snafu in Salk vaccine, Oregon’s Demo- cratic Senator Wayne L. Morse has served notice on the Sen- ate that he will demand the Labor Committee investigate the situation and take correc- tive action. If necessary, he said, he will introduce a reso- lution on the floor. Similar de- mands are building up in the House. Morse says he wants “to find out why it is that this horen- dous plague which. constantly threatens the health of the Am- erican people cannot be more adequately checked by the full use of the Salk -vaccine that is available.” Morse recalls that when the question of distributing the Salk vaccine first came up, he was one of those who demand- - ed the government take over the great discovery and see ROBERT STRACHAN He answered Bennett’s “slan- derous charge” that the CCF opposed extension of the PGE by quoting at length from speeches of CCF members in past segsions, advocating the growth of the railway. Education Minister Les Pet- erson, only other speaker that afternoon offered in rebuttal the statement that in 1954 a CCF motion opposed the south- ern extension of the PGE. “Read the full motion,” shouted CCFers. “Go on read it. You’re afraid to read it.” “It’s in the records, you can read it there,” said the young minister, slightly flustered. “I must go on with my own speech if I hope to finish it tonight.” g charge MARCH 1, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE aj jo} ap to it that everyone who need h ed it got his share. ; ‘ “At that time, I was called 0 a‘creeping Socialist,” he co? © tinued, ‘‘because I propos | that the federal governme Le exercise jurisdiction ove? | ¢ distribution of the then limiter 0 supplies of - Salk vaechy Morse said that only amus him, but he added: “ “We have almost reached ny y point in this country that ae one makes a fight on the flo lg of the Senate for general ul fare legislation in keeping wr the general welfare clause ite 3 the Constitution of the ie : ed States, seeking to advane promote and protect the wer fare of the American peoP™| the reactionary forces of nation charge one with bel? a creeping Socialist.” a Morse says the present sit q ation in the Salk vaccine PP?) gram fully justifies the de taken éarlier for governm@ ‘control. ! City starts enumeration Starting this Friday*-Mateh 1, city hall canvassers will Ee at every home in Vancouvy” to prepare the 1957 civic. v? ers list. Every Canadian citizen se has resided in Vancouver ee January 1, 1957 and is 21 ye# of age or over is entitled ” vote whether owner or tena! male or female. Cards will be left where ? one is home. These cards mus’) - be filled out and returned city hall no later than May 4 Those who miss getting ©? the voters list during the p!® sent registrations will have er further opportunity betwee! : August 8-21 to register, bU they will have to go to cit hall. Those who want to savé themselves a trip to city hal should register when canvas sers come around or send a their cards before the May ! deadline, = ae Se Pa —— _ LABOR=-PROGRESSIVE ‘POINT of VIEW by: NIGEL MORGAN.