‘
OU EET I

’ ’

don, and Southern Rhodesia are a

ng ways apart, but in other aspects,
Rot so much so. A PT reader from
®ep Cove (a Mr. Owen . . . or it could
"Auer... the handwriting is not too
far) gives us the horse-laugh on the
“etent federal elections returns. “‘The
=,” he says,” “put up exactly 100 can-
ates and every one lost his deposit
$200! $200 x 100 equals $20,000. Wot
Wallop. Only 58,483 votes out of
230,489, or a slight fraction over one
€nt. This should wake you up to
© fact that the people won't have any
oat ot you, They won’t fall for your
attempts to put Russia before the land
their birth. gee

he in his figuring our Deep Cove
os *spondent is slightly awry, but that
Ut the Most important thing. The
factor he overlooks is the Labor-
ial program which, unique in
Projected all the real issues of the

a aa election campaign into the public
bate
be ca

» And around a slogan which even
N find no grounds for disagreement
» Viz, Put Canada First! To do that
Lpp Well worth the efforts of the 100
anadidates and the amount com-
€d in “lost deposits.”” And, it may
"Added for the especial benefit of such
Pondents, these vital issues were
th coat by the Liberal “victory,” and
Ore like the Liberals (and because
em) are still with us.

Anoth

te €r item which incensed our Deep

he. Oracle was the special PT article

W eo Griffiths of the British Daily
leer On the coronation. By some
: ) Mental process, Mr. Owen (or
lan declares this article to be “a
_ ‘Tt of British working men.”

“ox Tecent coronation was first and

i oat a gigantic commercial enter-
Viseq’ SPonosored, directed, and super-
ed Y Britain’s landed, financial, and
Mage ocracy—which, by the way, is
Pathan” up of workingmen. It would
Ere S shock our Deep Cove critic and
who “think” like him to read
under like Keir Hardie and other
Piya of the British labor and social-
tiong» Ments used to write on ‘“‘coro-
Bilan Seneral and British ones in

ie Royal personages may be very

the « People personally, but despite

Pong ignation” of our Deep Cove cor-- -

ae the monarchy remains as al-

Symbol in the most democratic states,

ft exp) . Of the legal and vested rights
““Oltation—of workingmen! —

Una.
“he the impact of the urge to run
“Darke in their own way the people
ks Africa are giving the col-
POUbleg “WPire builders” no end of

Me «<" Becoming acutely aware that -

Reg 'g stick” method no longer pro-

of Cecil Rhodes, the carriers “of the
“white man’s burden” are compelled to
evolve new schemes for pulling the wool
over the eyes of the native people, and

_to keep the dividends at the normal

level.

A correspondent of Kyle, Saskatche-
wan, sent us a clipping from the August
6 edition of the Western Producer and
a lengthy letter containing his own views
on the matter,,It appears that the gov-
ernment of Southern Rhodesia ‘for the
first time in African history, is trying
an experiment of having a white man
regularly till the soil with his own hands
instead of having a black man do it for
him—at a wage of two to five cents
an hour.” ;

To put this experiment into operation
landless Italian peasants will be encour-
aged to emigrate to Southern Rhodesia.

They will be placed on 100-acre holdings.

and for the first two years they will be

_ put on “a salary, and bonus system” by

the government, The third and fourth
year of their tenure they will become

“‘sharecropper tenants,” and after that |

will begin buying their holdings on in-
stallments ‘‘at the normal market value
of the land.” : f

And they must fulfill all these home-
stead requirements ‘“‘without black la-
bor.” Of this demonstration “the gov-
ernment is said to feel, that the presence
of working European peasants will do
more than anything else to teach the
native African population to farm pro-
perly.””

Just how the native African population
could farm properly (even if they owned
their own land) on a two-to-five cents
an hour income, the government doesn’t
say. Perhaps the explanation can be
found between-the-lines in the Western
Producer news item. Land reserved for
“whites only” in Southern Rhodesia
amounts to 49 million acres. In this
block there are approximately 5,400

European ranchers and farmers owning
farms from 3,000 to 40,000 acres, worked

by native labor at the. “wages” speci-

fied.. Over two million native Africans
own less than three-fifths of the land
area held by 5,400 ‘‘whites”!

Thus it is not difficult to understand,
in the jargon of the “pukka sahib” (grand

gentleman) why the natives do not “farm ,

properly,” and why a “‘dirt-farmer” class
of white sharecroppers must be created
to give the natives ‘‘incentive’—and to
keep the profits rolling in for the land-
shark “empire builders.”

In the Deep South of our own con-

tinent the evolution of a “poor white

trash” class of sharecropper was the end
result of policies designed to make Jim-
crow exploitation more palatable to the
Negro people by its application to a
segment of equally exploited and desti-
tute ‘‘whites.” Hence the latest scheme
of the ‘white man’s burden” carriers in

Southern Rhodesia is not based upon ~

any altruistic or philanthropic motives

- towards the wellbeing of the native peo- —

ple, but simply the creation of a more
effective club for continued exploitation.

Doubtless the government of Southern
Rhodesia feels, in its close proximity to
Malanazism, that the black man will irk
less at the chafing of his chains if he
sees his white brother also in feudal

bondage? |

NPA bungles BEG stadium project

7 average Vancouver citizen must feel more than a little amazed
and frustrated by the prolonged exhibition of infantile bungling, in-
decision and shortsightedness at City Hail on the British Empire Games
stadium project and other preparations.

In preparation for a really great event, significant for Canada as
a whole as well as Vancouver, our Non-Partisan city council have put
on one of their best demonstrations of petty bickering, cheese-paring and
penny-pinching—an act which could lose Vancouver the opportunity of
being host to the BEG in 1954! .

That there has been partisan skulduggery in the planning and
letting of the stadium contract is now quite evident, not only by the half
million dollar shortage on the actual estimated cost, but also by the
Ae ig ge bickering on the planning and structure of the stadium —
itself,

It is reported that a group of citizens have come to the aid of the
NPA city council with the offer of $350,000 to get the stadium under
way according to original plans. This is indeed a sporting offer—were
it not for the joker in the deck. This group wants a lease on the operation
of the stadium following the BEG games. This is one way not to finance
public utilities, and it is the business of Vancouverites to see to it that
their NPA city solons don’t worm out of their responsibilities by playing
this kind of “‘lend-lease’’ game. One BCElectric in town mulcting the
public is more than sufficient. :

Back in 1928 Percy Williams brought an Olympic championship
to Vancouver,’ with precious little aid of any kind from his fellow
citizens. Just last week Douglas Hepburn broke a world weight-lifting
record at Stockholm—and had to almost beg the fare to get there,
without coach or other* assistance. Had Canada made it possible for
Douglas Hepburn to attend the 1952 Olympics, this country would
have been honored with another gold medal citation in the world of
sports. But Hepburn, together with other Canadian-sportsmen have a
serious NPA handicap to cope with—a handicap well demonstrated in

. the present NPA cheese-paring attitude toward BEG facilities.

The new stadium can be financed without the “‘aid’’ of lend-
Jease speculators. All that is required is a modicum of initiative and
vision on the part of our city council. A bylaw now to float a citizens’
BEG bond-issue in amounts within the capacity of every wage earner

would readily provide the funds for an up-to-date stadium to serve the

needs of new Olympic and national sports champions. Or, if the NPA
at City Hall and in Victoria could remove their holier-than-thou spectacles
for a brief period, a provincial or national sweepstake would provide
the required amount in short order.

The main shortcoming at City Hall is not the lack of funds, plans,
sites or other facilities to provide a worthy meeting place for local, Com- ©
monwealth and world sportsmen. Rather it is a total absence of vision,
resultant upon too long service in the interests of monopoly, and con-—
sequently unable to see Canada and what an event like the British
Empire Games means to and for this country!

~ Put Canada First in PNE

+ 7 fine results it did in the days

Pacific TRIBUNE
- Published Weekly at Room 6 - 426 Main Street, Vancouver 4, B.C.
Phone: MArine 5288 .
Tom McEwen, Editor — — Hal Griffin, Associate Editor
Subscription Rates: :

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One Year $3.00 Six Months $1.60

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a ted: by Union Printers Ltd., 550, Powell Street, Vancouver 4, B.C.
ed as second class ‘mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa

pier year ago Maclean’s Magazine edit-
orialized on the ““Americanization” of
the Canadian National Exhibition at
Toronto. It was in the nature of a pro-
test against Yankee domination. We
don’t know what effect it may have had
on this year’s CNE, but a. few hours
gandering around the Pacific National
Exhibition now in its last week in Van-
couver, shows the Yankee influence still
in the ascendency. : ae a
Ninety-nine percent of the Midway
clip-game setup is Yankee-owned and
operated, as are the bulk of the side-
shows and other alleged cultural talent.

The Yankee Shriners with their circus —

and other attractions also predominate.

Were it not for the splendid agricul-

tural and stock exhibits from Lulu Is- _

land, the Fraser Valley and the middle
west provinces, the PNE could be moved
down to Seattle . . . with very little to
indicate that it ever came from Canada!

National exhibitions are institutions
which, to serve their puropes, must por-

tray the culture, industry, progress and

wealth of the land of origin Over-
dosed with Yankee influence, the PNE

loses this objective. To correct this
national ailment the PNE requires a
large injection of Put Canada First into —
its organization, That would be good for
Canada and good for the PNE. oe

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — SEPTEMBER 4, 1953 — PAGE s_