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EDITORIAL PAGE x

TOM McEWEN, Editor — HAL GRIFFIN, Associa te Editor — RITA WHYTE, Business Manager.

Comment

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Tom
McEwen
Porrors betta latiuked sa hoaatiof ale so

of “moulding public opinion” are al-
Ways a bit touchy about having their

‘ . ~
“Moulds” looked over. When some issue

Sf public concern crops up which ‘may
hot be to the liking of their monopoly
Raymasters, they rant loudly about its
Evils on the public weal. If however,
despite their efforts the public refuse to

SO “moulded,” they cautiously set
their editorial course to fit the current

_ Winds. In fact they do even better and

to create the impression that it was

Ir idea in the first place.

An extreme example of the diseased
editorial mentality is one Hank Green-
pun, editor and published of the Las
Vegas Sun of Nevada. During April of

S year Hank reprinted a series of his

“SPecial editorial columns in a booklet

ntitled “A Few Columns on Joe Mec-
Carthy.” In these editorial columns it
‘S clear that Greenspun is well acquaint-
d with the social, political and moral
depravity of the junior senator from

isconsin. McCarthy is a gangster, 2
Political crook, a racketeer, a homosex-

alist, a sadist, a moral pervert . - -

he most immoral, indecent, and. un-
Principled scoundrel to ever sit in the
United States senate.”

Having made all these eminently cor-
Tect deductions however, what conclu-
Sions does’ this scribbling “moulder” of
Public opinion draw? That Senator Mc-
Carthy is really a secret Communist.

There. you have it. By repeatedly
Planting the question, “Ig Senator Mc-
Carthy really a secret communist?”
®ditor Greenspun comes up with the
’stounding idea that he “really is,” there-
4Y helping along the cause of McCarthy-
ism in a manner best fitted to advance
the “cause” of McCarthyism, that is the
Compounding of confusion worse can-
founded. .

“This,” says Greenspun, “is the United
States of America today. A reign of
€rror is blanketing the minds of the peo-
Dle. The trouble with the American
People is that the onlookers always out-
umber the fighters. People who should

in there fighting McCarthyism are
as Willing to hold the, other fellow's

The real trouble is that there are too

Many editors like Hank Greenspun who -
to

@ as “progressives” and who help
keep the “onlookers” out of the fight
Wh out-McCarthying © McCarthy; who
Mould” public opinion in such a man-

og that the end-product becomes 2

-@ ) e-distilled McCarthyism.

Sporting a gorgeously hand-painted tie

{0 mateh his ice-cream suit, Harold E.

inch, CCF MP for Vancouver East

Wanted to know from Justice Minister

‘aly Garson why such fancy ties and
one, . Bobby” products made by Pris:
ers in Canadian penitentiaries couldn't
as a wider sale in Canada. Winch
id he “cannot understand” the objec-

Mons of organized labor to the sale of

Prisonmade “hobby” goods.

siali Queer question for an avowed So-

a ist to pose to a capitalist-ingrained
ister of justice! The labor movt-

7 €nt has never opposed the sale of
Obby” goods made in prison, but cap-

‘Malis being what it is, always with an

Ye to cheap labor and high profits, Brit-
Wagtd other labor- movements have
aged many a long struggle’ against

fyson-made products “competing” -on

© so-called free market.
few minutes research on the strug-
of British labor to protect itself
the exploitation of prison labor
d answer Harold’s question.:

from
Woul

“FALL IN, THE EUROPEAN ARMY’

No increase in bus fares

ITY and municipal councils on the
Lower Mainland are uniting to op-
pose the B.C. Electric’s latest demand
“for another fare hike. Welcome as
such actions are, citizens will remember
that on previous occasions the only real
fight against transit fare increases Was

conducted by people’s organizations, -

such as Civic Reform Association and
ratepayers groups.
Public wrath, combined with the prox-
. imity of civic elections, undoubtedly in-
fluenced Vancouver City Council to make
its public declaration _ opposing the
BCER’s demand. How vigorously coun-
cil members will battle the transit mon-
opoly at the Public Utilities Commis-
sion hearings may well depend on how
high the tide of people’s resentment rises
in the next few weeks. :
ading this anti-BCER struggle, as
ae fed others in the past, Mrs.
Effie Jones, president of Civic Reform
Association, has launched a petition ad-
dressed to the PUC and demanding that
the company’s application for increases
be rejected.
fivery trade unionist, every worker,
every housewife and’ every progressive

Peace can be

peace in South-East Asia can be won

at Geneva. It could be the prelude»

to a new attempt to secure agreement
between the Great Powers in Europe.

i ; d re-
It could bring world peace ani
lief from the erusning ‘burdens of re-

armament much nearer.

i from one
The top representative ‘
major state is missing — the United
States of America. John Foster Dulles
(who is in Paris) sent General Bedell
Smith to Geneva.

‘ that
There can be no, clearer proof
teen does not want peace in South-

Fast Asia or anywhere else. u

: alee aK a5
There are still many difficulties to
overcome at Geneva. It is not likely
that the expert committees will have

advanced very far to a cease-fire.

be
The final arrangements can only
made in face-to-face negotiations by the
political leaders.

Fortunately France is no longer rep-

~ resented by a government whose object

is to drag all the other imperialist states

into an “internationalized” war on the

peoples of Indochina but by a govern-
ment aiming at a compromise peace.

The absence from Geneva of John
Foster Dulles and Georges Bidault, his
French stooge, should multiply the
chances of peace.

citizen in the Lower Mainland should
sign his or her name to this petition
when canvassers call on them or ap-
proach them on the streets. Only in
this way can the PUC be made to realize

the tremendous public opposition to
any further fare increase.

Citizens can do more than sign their
names on a petition. They can, and
should, write of visit their MLAs and
register their demand that no fare in-
creases be granted. ‘

In a sense the B.C. Electric’s arrogant
demand for higher fares is a test of the
Social Credit government — which has
the final say, as it possesses the power
to overrule any PUC decision.

There are strong indications that the
Socred government and the B.C. Electric
Ihave been playing “‘footsie” recently.
The government indignantly denies any
such suggestion. Words are cheap. Un-
less the government acts to halt the
fare hike, citizens will know that for all

its vaunted pre-election promises, the-

Social Credit government has betrayed
the people and linked itself with the

- the B.C. Electric.

won at Geneva.

More difficult than the cease-fire will
be the political settlement. :

This must clear the way for the in-

dependence of all the peoples of Indo-.

china, the withdrawal of all foreign
troops and a policy of non-intervention.

Tt must be a settlement that all the
independent and semi-independent coun-
tries -of Asia can support, that is a
settlement that can provide no basis for
an imperialist come-back in this region.

The U.S. leaders are hostile to such
a settlement because every relaxation of
tension in the Far East is a deadly blow
to their policy of war with People’s
China. :

The more the recent ill-fated Berlin
conference is studied, the more its fail-
ure can be attributed to the rigidity of
Dulles and Bidault and to Eden’s acquies-
cence to their policy.

If France and Britain were today set
upon reaching a compromise with the
Soviet Union on the German question,
Dulles alone could not stop them —
the compromise could be achieved.

Peace in South-East Asia can be fol-
lowed by peace, disarmament and no
revival of German militarism in Europe.

That is why the eyes of all peaceful
and progressive people turn hopefully
to Geneva.

~ Hal
Griffin

R two decades the gross figure of

Mayor Camillien Houde has dominat-
ed the civic stage of Montreal. But
the illusion created for the rest of the
country by the floodlights of press pub-
licity is far different from the reality
as seen backstage by many citizens of
Montreal itself.

A newspaper legend has been created
around Houde as the stormy petrel of
French-Canadian politics. . Even his in-
ternment during the war for anti-war
speeches has been turned to political
account to make him “one of thé peo-
ple,” as he fondly describes himself,
and the fascist sympathies which in-
spired those speeches have been obscur-
ed. 5

Now Mayor Houde is to be challenged,
and by a man who-is determined to ex-
pose the corruption of Montreal’s civic
government.

xt % 5 o3

The other day, in Montreal, I spent a
few hours with Camille Dionne, who has
just been nominated to contest the
mayoralty as the candidate of the Civic
Reform Committee.

A ‘broad-shouldered man with twinkl-
ing blue eyes and:a ready smile, 35-

_ year old Camille Dionne has‘no illusions

about the formidable machine he is up
against. Behind Houde stands Premier
Duplessis, and Dionne has had his own
experiences with the anti-democratic ac-
tions of both.

He returned from five years’ service
overseas in the Second World War to
enroll as a law student at McGill Uni-
versity. Then the Duplessis regime
passed legislation to bar “Communists”
from: the legal profession, legislation
which like the Padlock Law can be in-
terpreted to embrace almost anyone op-
posed to Duplessis.

“So I packed up my books, bought
myself a bag of tools and went back
coe trade as a carpenter,” Dionne
said.

Only last April, when he was moving
from one apartment to another, mem-
bers of Montreal’s notorious Red Squad
seized his entire library, even the nur-
sery rhymes of his four-year old daughter,
Nicole. He now has an action against
the City of Montreal for $900 damages
before the courts.

Montreal has 99 councillors — 33 of
them elected by property owners only
(Class A), 33 elected ‘by property owners
and tenants (Class B), and 33 nominated
by 11 designated organizations (Class C),
of which Montreal Trades Council and
the Catholic Syndicates allow for any
semblance of labor representation. Over
the council is an executive of nine —
three from each category of councillors
— which is the real ruling body.

‘Jmagine a situation where 1, as a
tenant, pay $75. a year water tax and
the huge Coca-Cola plant pays $32.40.
That will give you some idea of Houde’s
policies,” Dionne said.

Through their undemocratic control of
the city’s government, Montreal big busi-

_ ness interests are trying to foist the

burden of taxation on small property
owners. But they reckoned without the
popular protest which has forced post-
ponement of a reassessment plan to
raise taxes 20 percent. And they reckon-
ed without Cammile Dionne and the
other candidates of the Civic Reform
Committee who will carry the fight
against the plan into the elections next
October.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JULY 16, 1954.— PAGE 5