By WILLIAM KASHTAN

Canada’s ghost towns of fifties

have people--butno employment

OSTtowns are in danger of

coming back again. In the
Hungry Thirties they were grim-
ly typical occurrences through-
out the country. I remember Co-
balt in northern Ontario — a
silver town which became as dead
as a dodo.

Today new ghost towns are
emerging on the Canadian land-
scape—places like Coleman, Al-
berta; which was once a flourish-
ing mining camp; towns and vil-
lages in the Ottawa Valley which
used to produce textiles. And
now Redditt, a railway town east
of Winnipeg, which, to all intents
and purposes, is to be struck off
the map as though it were swept
by a tornado.

Behind this growing blight is
human tragedy. After a lifetime
of labor, 134 miners and the fami-
lies have pulled up stakes in
Coleman—to go where?

@

There is no need for ghost
towns in Canada. And if they
are now emerging, the responsi-
bility rests with the St. Laurent
government whose policy of sub-
ordinating our interests to the
U.S. is destroying Canadian in-
dustry.

‘Consider the question of the
textile industry. The government
takes the position that the in-
dustry is expendable. If workers

By JOHN PITTMAN”

Progressive C

are thrown out of jobs, so much
the worse for them.

Yet everyone knows that the
problem isn’t an “over-expanded
industry.” The cause is US.
dumping. The U.S. press has

made no secret of the fact that ©

U.S. ruling circles consider the
textile industry in this country
unnecessary and are out to de
stroy and replace it.

The destruction of the industry
is aided by inadequate purchas-
ing power in the hands of the
Canadian people. Purchases of
textile goods have been dropping -
steadily since 1946—and this at
a time when employment was
fairly high and incomes appear-
ed to be high also. ‘

What accounts for this seemin
contradiction? The fact is: the
high and excessive taxation im-
posed by the U.S. arms drive has
eaten into our purchasing power
The Canadian people are not
able to purchase the goods pro-
duced in this country.

Dumping, excessive taxation
and inadequate purchasing pow-
er and not an over-expanded in-
dustry are responsible for the
ghost towns of the textile centres.

The same is true of the coal
mining industry. Mines are shut
down because it-is alleged that
conversion to oil and gas and, on
the railroads, diesel fuels, have

displaced coal. But the fact re-

mains that millions of tons of
coal come in from the U.S.—coal
which could well be mined in
this country’ and assure steady
employment for thousands of min-
ers for many years to come.

The same process is developing
in other industries.

@

These ghost towns are govern-
ment-made with a U.S. stamp on
them.

There will be many more of
them unless the trade union move-
ment steps in with both feet and
leads the fight to save industry
from destruction. Unfortunately,
instead of giving leadership to
this fight, some of the top trade
union leaders shrug their should-
ers and say, “What can we do?”
The fact is they have already
done plenty—in the wrong: direc-
tion. By supporting U.S.-made
policies they have become direct
and indirect accomplices to the
crime being perpetrated against
the Canadian people.

Ghost ‘towns and closed shops
can be prevented by the labor
movement. But the first and
most important thing that has to
be done is that the trade union
movement break with the “made
in USA” policies to which it has
been tied far too long, and ham-
mer out new policies which put
the interests of Canada and her
people first.

hinese newspaper

in US. fighting gov't frameup

"THE mighty government of the

United States of America is
preparing to add another chapter
to a century-old record of racist
discrimination against the Chin-
ese people. —

This time its target is to be a
fighting New York newspaper, the
China Daily News, and its editor,
Eugene Moy. ;

But unlike its persecution on
other occasions, such as the Asian
exclusion acts and the encour-
agement of . hoodlum violence
against Chinese in the U.S., this
time the government is trying to
conceal its racist blow. It will
prosecute Moy and the China
Daily News on a technical charge.

They published advertisements
of agencies of the Chinese Peo-
ple’s government, the U.S. _Sov-
ernment is expected to argue,
and thereby violated provisions
of the law prohibiting trade or
traffic- with “the enemy.”

Moreover, the government
holds that the intent of such ad-
vertisements was to “extort”

_ funds from Chinese in the United

States for the use of “the enemy.”

The government declared that

this “extortion racket” was based
0h demanding “ransom”

Chinese here for the lives and

liberties of their kin in China,

who were said to be threatened
with death or prison unless the
required sums of dollar exchange

were delivered. a

oe. :
This charge and the entire case
is a deliberate frameup.

The truth is that ever since
their arrival as immigrants in the
United States, Chinese have sent
funds to their families in China.

This has been going on for more

than a century.

Anyone who knows even a little
about the Chinese people knows
that the bond of kinship, the love
and veneration of family, is one
of the dominant features of their
culture. :

But with the expulsion of

FF

from'

Chiang Kai-shek and his remnant
Kuomintang regime and estab-
lishment of the People’s Republic
of China, the U.S. developed the
cold war against China. Korea
became an arena in which the
cold war turned to a hot war.
And China became “the enemy,”
with the Washington administra-
tion cutting off all communication
‘channels with the Chinese peo-
ple and dealing only with the re-
pudiated Kuomintang remnants
on Formosa. :

So that the advertisements in
the China Daily News offered the
Chinese in the United States a
means of continuing their nor-
mal and natural relations with
their parents, wives and children.

Obviously, therefore, the “ex-
tortion” charge is a phony one.
e

What is the truth, then, of this
attack on the China Daily News,
which, in contrast: to its Kuomin-
tang-controlled competitors, was
the sole publication among the
Chinese in the U.S. which fully
supported the U.S. war effort
against Japanese militarism. The
truth lies in these aspects of the
case:

+ For years the Kuomintang-
controlled competitors of the
China Daily News sought to drive
it out of business. When the
U.S. government launched the
cold war against China, they in-
stantly seized on the anti-Com-
munist hysteria, instigated hood-
lum attacks and a boycott of the
China Daily News. :

+ Collusion between the Kuo-
mintange clique and U.S. govern-
ment agencies results in syste-
matie attacks on all anti-Chiang
organizations and individuals in

_ the Chinese communities through-

out the U.S.

' + The allegations of an “ex-
tortion racket” charged by the
U.S. government and pro-Kuomin-
‘tang newspapers have been trac-
ed to Chiang Kai-shek circles in
Hong Kong and Formosa. These

circles were actually engaged in
extorting funds from overseas
Chinese to fill Chiang’s treasury.

» The persistance of the US.
government in pressing charges
against the China Daily News
must also be seen in the context
of the Eisenhower administra-
tion’s continued aggressive. pro-

_ gram against People’s China, its
financing and arming of Chiang’s
mob as a base of subversion and
eventual attack on China.

But the essence of this attack
is a racist one. It is a continua-
tion of the policy of jimecrowing
and discriminating against Chin-

- ese in the U.S. and of attempting

to crush all Chinese organiza-

tions and individuals who fight
for equal treatment of Chinese-
Americans.

‘GREEN FEATHER’ PARODY

Gin (sloe.) can lead
you fo ruin

OT only is the anti-McCarthy sweating. As he approached ee

“green feather’? movement be-
ginning to take hold in some U.S.
colleges, university magazines
are also taking swipes at the
current Washington TV perform-
er.

McCarthy is ribbed in cartoon
and caricature in Wampus, humor
magazine of the University of
Southern California, and becomes
“The Most Unforgettable Charac-
ter I Have Ever Met” in a parody
signed with the initials A.H.

It was in the bar at the Liar’s
Club that A.H. first met Joe.
Now take up the story in A.H.’s
own words:

He was a sober-faced individual
with five o’clock shadow and
hound-dog like eyes. As I shook
his hand, I felt rather odd. Then
I noticed he was staring at my
carnation.

“Red?” he inquired. ;

“Magenta,” I answered.

We looked at each other sul-
lenly. Then I broke the ice.

“Can I buy you a drink?”

“What would you suggest?”

“Vodka, perhaps.” .

-“Were you born in this coun-
try?”

“Ves,” ‘ :

“Been drinking vodka long?”

People began looking at us and,
rather than create a disturbance
I decided to change avin:

“I believe Tl have sloe gin
fizz instead,” I said.

“T’ve never had one.”

“Be my guest.” :

The waiter served the fizzes
“embellished with the dark red
color of the sloe gin. Immediate-
‘ly, Joe picked up his glass and
Seeuet. the contents against the
wall.

He backed away. from me,

Joe

exit, he yelled:

“Read any good books, Jate
ly?”

“Yes, I’m well-read.”

It was the wrong answer.

Immediately I was surrounded
by TV cameras, photographers;
men in black robes, an 4,
band playing “Seper. Fidelis.
two copies of | Led Three Lives
(or was it three copies’ of | &
Two Lives?) one old lady cry
in the corner (my Mother), ?
four chesty girls singing,
Lordie Do.” uN

On the advice of my lawye
played it cool and refused
answer any questions. Then «"
landed a low blow. i

He casually asked of me: f

“What was the nickname é
the little boy who sat next ses
you in your third-grade phY®
class ... the one with the fre¢
-and buckteeth?”

?

oa |
t about
How he had found ou on

where

that was beyond me, but I
I was finished. He had me
he wanted me. he

Not a noise was heard 12 ihe
room, save the dripping of ©)
sweat from my beaded brow:
lodked around for my 4 nce
but caught only a fleeting eee
of him as he disappé ted:
through the exit. I was bens:

“Well?” Joe asked smirki wy

Suddenly, I felt no pain.
not tell them? Why not?

*

a cause. I will be a martyr: Bis

“Red!” I screamed. “Red:
name was Red.” cell

Today, as I gaze from my Com
Window in the Sweet Afton ett
centration Camp, I ean Tem oe
ber vividly the man ca a

... the most unforgettabl
‘acter I have ever met.

H-bomb test footnote

KEN STEELE, Lucan, Ontario:

Many thanks for publishing ‘my -

article on Krakatoa in the April
30 issue of your paper. I read

with interest that excellent let-.

ter of Dr. F. A. Walton, New
Westminster, on the same page
and I would like to write you this
little note.

My reason for comparing the
Krakatoa eruption of 1883 with
the H-bomb test is to try to give
an explanation of the spreading
of radioactive coral dust particles
over an enormous area of the
earth.

~My article is not meant to be

misleading, to the contrary, it is
meant to give more emphasis to
the warnings of the physicists.

Volcanologists, knowing the his-
tory of the Krakatoa eruption of
1883, would have been able to pre-
dict the: wide spreading of radio-
active ‘coral dust particles after
the H-bomb test.

Telling people about the effects
of that eruption of 1883 would
prevent people taking a Polly-
anna or ostrich attitude, as Dr.
Walton termed it.

I would appreciate it if you
could bring this to the attention

OE DE. Walton and the people of

It is ours, isn’t it?
J.A., Vancouver: On May 22 I

read a “South American Report”
by A. T. S. Steele in the Vancou-

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — MAY 28, 1954 —

ver Daily Province. The Ne:
could, and for all I know did
his material from the U.9-

Department.

I was interested to n0 d
“Brazilian Communists af 7)
to have authored the sloga™» | ,
Petroleum is Ours,’ which oan
lot to do with persuading Bre

ian legislators to vote 2 1

foreign participation in a -
velopment of Brazil’s 0 °
serves.”

. Ale
Now, we need a few alte is of

gahs in Canada—‘The Iro2 er

Ours” and “The Water Pow 2

- Ours” and “The Oil is our ses!
_ while we still have anythiDe ”

to call our own. et:
pace

I can :
go on this way. I am living ~ |

get

co |
ae

‘

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