Misrepresentation of Native Indians in U.S. pressi
demand for Point Four aid |

gas costs denounced

Candidates of all political parties »n the September 19
provincial election this week received a letter from Greater

Vancouver

oil and coal dealers associations containing

some damning facts about B.G Electric beasts that natural

gas will be a cheap fuel.

The these
points:

e Gas purchased from
West Coast Transmission will
cost B.C. Electric 35 cents per
1000 cubic feet. Rates: as low
as 36 cents to 40 cents per
1000 cubic feet have been
quoted to large consumers.
The average domestic user
wift pay $1.36 per 1000 cubic
feet. Would you not say that
the Vancouver householder
will be paying the cost of

supplying the large consumer
such as B.C. Sugar?

e Oil and coal have: been
accepted fuels for years. Now
it seems that these two fuels,
depended on in all emergen-
cies and the basis for the
large expansion in B.C., are
being sacrificed and asked to
be stand-bys in case of short-
age or failure to deliver nat-
ural gas.

letter makes

e@ Why is the rate for nat-
ural gas in Vancouver four
times the rate for Edmonton,
or more than twice the rates
for Saskatchewan and Mani-
toba, where pipeline distances
are about the same?

e Why does not the distri-
butor of natural gas for Van-
couver give information on
rates that can easily be under-
stood by the people who will
be paying the bill? The public
generally thinks that gas rates
will be reduced up to 40 per-
cent. What is not understood
is that the cost and not the
rate is to be reduced up to
40 percent. If this rate was
reduced 40 percent, the rate
would be 64 cents per 1000
cubic feet, whereas the rate
published for natural gas av-
erages $1.36 per 1000 cubic
feet.

e Some years ago Lloyd

Turner, then Vancouver Sun
business editor, wrote:

“And here’s how that will
happen. First, they say, the

pipeline, with the approval of

the Dominion, Alberta, B.C.
and the Northwestern States,
will lay down natural gas here

at approximately 40 cents per
1000 cubic feet compared with
about $1 for the equivalent
BTU’s in the present manu-
factured product in Vancou-
ver. This, in layman’s langu-
age, will mean a saving of
about 40 percent on present
coal costs, 30 percent on do-
Mestic gas and about half the
cost of oil. In other words, it
will be Me cheapest fuel on
the Pacific Coast.”

What are the facts? The rate
of 40 cents mentioned for nat-
ural gas now is an average
rate of $1.36. The saving of
40 percent on coal costs is not
a saving but an extra cost of
100 percent. Half the cost of
oil mentioned is not a saving
of 50 percent but, on the con-
trary, an extra cost of 25 per-
cent.

Why has the public been so
misled by so many wrong sta-
tements by supposedly res-
ponsible authorities?

e' The experience in some
cities of the United States
where the utility company
distributes both gas and elec-
tric power is that the users of
electricity are subsidizing the
cost of natural gas -distribu-

tion to make it competitive.
Could this happen to us in
British Columbia?

U.S. Communists announce
national convention date

NEW YORK

The Communist Party of
the United States will hold its
first convention since 1950 on

the Lincoln - Frederick Doug- -

lass weekend of February 9-
12, 1957, it was announced last
week.

Party spokesmen said the
long gap between conventions
was due to the imprisonment
of many Communist leaders
under the Smith Act, political
persecution and harassment
of party members. ,

The convention date was set
at the conclusion of a four-

day enlarged meeting of the
national committee in New
York.

The convention will be held
here. It will be preceded by
discussion throughout - the
Communist party and _ by
county and state conventions.

LincolIn’s and _ Douglass’
birthdays were chosen for the
convention date, sponsors said,
in order “to signalize the im-
portance of the present-day
civil rights fights in which the
Communist party was the
pioneer and which the party
continues to champion.”

SPOKANE
A resolution calling on the
U.S. government to develop
a comprehensive “Point Four”
program for Native Indians
was unanimously adopted by
85 delegates attending he re-
cent convention of the Affili-
ated Tribes of Northwest In-
dians.

This and other resolutions
will be taken to the annual
convention of the National
Congress of American Indians
to be held in Salt Lake City,
Utah, September 24-28 at
which a majority of the tribes
in the U.S. will be represent-
ed ;

Action of the convention
approved the objectives ofa
resolution introduced in the

U.S. Senate by Senator James
Murray (Dem., Montana). It

calls upon the Bureau of In-
dian Affairs to outline “an
American Indian Point Four
program to assist’ American
Indian communities to reach
the level of well-being enjoy-
ed by other communities in
the U.S.”

Joseph Garry, one of the
best known Indian leaders in
the U.S., was re-elected presi-
dent of the Affiliated Tribes.
As president of the National
Congress he will preside at
the Salt Lake convention. He
is the grandson of Chief Spo-
kane, after whom this city is
named, and a candidate for
the Idaho state — legislature
from Benewah county.

The resolution point
clares that any progralt
velop the economic
tural potentialities of
dians must have’ saf
to guarantee “that Ind
ture and identity not
stricted or destroyed.”

The resolution emp0s
overwhelming — sentimt
the Indian people that
bal system. not be dé
by the wholesale diSPé
urban centers but ratit
the Indian people
help in developing
sources of their land 4
skills of their people.

Seventeen tribes fre
ington, Oregon, Mont#
ho, Arizona and Utah
ficial delegates.

Sub drive starts September 1

Dear Reader;

Most of our readers agree that the
paper has become livelier and more
readable since introduction of a small-
er format and increasing the number
of pages from 12 to 16. But, as a
delegate te a Pacific Tribune readers’
conference last year said, “Even the
best paper won't sell
itself. We've got to
go out and sell it.”

We don’t claim that
our paper is “the best”
but believe that it is
constantly improving.
On September 15 our
annual drive for 1,500
subscriptions and renewals opens, and
we appeal to all our readers. friends
and supporters to “go out and sell the

paper” to work mates and acqié
ances .

Next week Ill be visiting Powe
River to help the drive get undet™
there, and later I will make a tout ©
Vancouver Island centres.

We are considering a plan to ©
brate the conclusion of the sub dsl
with a grand dance — admissio®
cash, but the securing of one
reader or three renewals. Moré
this later.

If EVERY reader would sig?
ONE new’ reader, our Ci
would double. It’s a pleasant thO™
How about a little action?

Rita WH)

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SEPTEMBER 14, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE —