6 A HUGE job, a swindle

on the people” is
what a member of parlia-
ment said in 1891 about the
Esquimalt-Nanaimo Railway
grant. Now the Supreme Court of
Canada has ruled that this “swin-
dle on the people” is to continue
to the advantage of the Canadian
Pacific Railway and big logging
outfits, and to the detriment of the
people’s interests.

The Supreme Court’s decision,
holding that severance taxes can-
not be levied on CPR lands, is a
glaring example of monopoly in-
terests being placed before those
of the people. What is more glar-
ing is that in making its decision,
the Supreme Court reversed an
earlier judgment by the Appeal
Court of British Columbia which
declared CPR lands on the E, & N.
belt taxable.

If the Supreme Court ruling
stands, the province will not be
able to collect. fire protection
taxes, British Columbia aiso
stands to lose $6,000,000. in sever-
ance taxes, according to estimates
based on the prevailing tax of
$1.10 a thousand feet—and there
are close to six billion feet of good
timber still untouched on the land
empire which the CPR got for a
song.

What is the background of this
huge swindle of the people? How
_Was it that three thousand square
miles of the best timber lands in
B.c., situated on Vancouver Is-
_ land, came to be a special preserve
of the CPR? <
It is not commonly known that
since the eighties the. largest log-
ging companies from Alberni to
Victoria have not been paying

_ timber royalties as provided by
_. Taw, According to the deputy min-
ister of forests, these companies
would have paid nearly $8,000,000
into the public treasury in the
last ten years if they had been
paying the prevailing rates. The
- fact is that every year $900,000,
_ which should go into our provin-
cial revenue for services te the
_ public, is withheld by the big log-
ging monopolies who have pro-
cured land from the CPR.
®
JBACK of the E. & N. Railway
= tax case lies a sordid story of
@orrupt politics, land grabbing
sand large-scale exploitation in
which logging interests, the CPR
sand coal mining companies are
involved.

It all began back in 1884 when
the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Rail-

road Bill handed ovér the land
sand resources of the richest part
_. ©f Vancouver Island to the Duns-
muir family and associates, This
was the period in our history when
‘governments were corrupted by

_ Yailroad money; and vast ‘lands
abounding in natural wealth were

turned over in large portions to-

aspiring capitalists with influence.

The Dunsmuir family, which in

later years featured prominently

in our politics (James Dunsmuir

_ became premier and later lieuten-

_ ant-governor of B.C.) had both
money and influence.

The terms of the charter granted

them by federal parliament were
_ these: the company was to build
_ 82.9 miles of railroad from Esqui-
malt to Nanaimo at a cost of $3,-
250,000. In return, the company
received a subsidy of $750,000 from
the public treasury, plus nearly
_ two million acres of lands, which
were to be exempt from taxation
as long as it was used for railroad
purposes. Se
Hence for a mere $2,500,000 the
- Dunsmuir family acquired a rail-
road and a vast tax-free domain.
The railroad was incidental to
their plans. What they really want-
ed was the land, because this area
held’ some of the richest coal fields
in the west, and some of the finest
stands of Douglas fir on the con-
- tinent. In 1890 the worth of these
_ lands was estimated by a member
of parliament at $800,000,000.

uir
the
as

nsm
Du ro

Out of this deal the Dunsmuir
family accumulated a fortune
estimated at $30,000,000. The E.
& N. Railroad was finally taken
over about 1909 by the CPR
which acquired all the rights to
the land formerly held by the E.
& N. Railroad. 3

The importance of this belt for
logging purposes was rapidly
growing. By 1944 the railway sold

"Don’t stic

WE are Sous at the close of a.

. three day conference on the
problems of peace.
Nevertheless a conference, by

itself, solves nothing. We need to ~

ask: What of tomorrow? What
can artists, scientists, and profes-
sicnals do to help achieve an en-
during peace for our nation, for
the world, for a humanity already
bled beyond moral decency and
endurance?

We are adults and therefore
we know that despite the longing
of the decent human heart, and
cespite the simple logic of the
study, there is no single blueprint
and no aichemy of word or wish
that can achieve peace overnight.

For the length of his existence,
man has longed for peace and has

been periodically the unwilling

participant and unwilling victim
of war. In one aspect the history
of man is a miracle of achieve-
ment and beauty: of an animal
‘that is more than an animal; of
an exquisite sensitivity, aspira-
tion and tenderness; of mind pil-
ing knowledge upon knowledge,
adventure upon adventure, skill
upon skill and patience upon pa-
tience, until the conquest of the

763,500 acres to the logging mon-
opolies for $14,800,000—six times
as much as the original cost of
building the railroad! According
te: Commissioner Gordon Sloan,
who drew attention to the fact in
his report, all crown — granted
lands except the E. & N. R. are
at present covered by provisions
of the Taxation Act,

The timber monopolies escaped

your neck

environment is fantastic and

breathtaking.

But the history of man, in an-
other aspect, is the history of an
abbatoir and a graveyard. We
have murdered generations of
youth and piled skulls as high as
mountains, we’ have obscured the
sun with the ash of cities and
buried alive the private loves and
hopes of countless multitudes; we
have all too often sacrificed’ the
very sanity of life upon ithe
Lloody, stinking altar of some
men’s greed and power. es

It is time to end this. The world
is painfully ripe for an end to
it. s ;

3°

] BELIEVE we can do much, we
artists, scientists and profes-
sionals, vastly more than perhaps
we realize. But we can do little
or nothing if we are alone or
timid, slothful or unconcerned.

The sidewalk poets have al-
ready outlined the problem by
their bitter wisdom, “Don’t stick
your neck out,” they say: “feath-
er your own nest”; “keep your
nose clean”; “mind yur own busi-
ness.” This is the wisdom man-

~ By MAURICE RUSH

taxes by hiding behind the orig-
inal charter of the E. & N. Rail-
-road. Through high-priced legal
help they insisted that the provin-
cial government could not collect
timber royalties because the fed-
eral government had granted the
charter.” x
_ eae a

‘THE laws of B.C. are very clear

‘on the question of lands sold

by the E. & N. R. In 1884 the
*ovincial legislature passed an
act which makes the following
provision in Section 22: “The
railway lands shali not be sub-
ject to taxation, unless and until
the same are used by the com-
pany for other than railroad pur-
poses or leased, occupied, sold or
alienated.” According to this pro-
vision, the E. & N. iands were no
longer subject to tax exemptions
once used for other than railroad
purposes. z

The CPR and timber monopolies
chose to ignore this provision in
‘the B.C. Act. The CPR continued
to sell thousands of acres of the
best timber land for high prices,
and the logging companies
swarmed over the land like lo-
custs, cutting the best timher and
failing to observe the laws of the
province. ;

This situation evoked much
public criticism, and finally the
Railway Lands Timber Royalty
Act was passed in 1901 which
stated that timber royalties are
not a tax and that tax exemption
privileges (even where held) did
not carry exemption from royal-
ty. This act was never applied to
the E. & N. R, lands becaues of
the influence and power of the
‘railway and logging monopolies
—a power which has shown it-
self in the Supreme Court ruling.

The Sloan Commission, which
was set up to investigate the log+
ging industry, could not escape
dealing with the problem of the
BE. & N. R. lands. On the basis of

. the facts Sloan was forced to the
conclusion that “it is in the public
interest that a severance tax be
imposed upon all timber cut upon
lands .of .the .railway .company
after the same are sold or other- .
wise alienated by it.”

This recommendation of the
Sloan Commission will never be
put into effect by the Coalition
government because it is closely
tied up with the CPR and timber
monopolies. A recent example of
this tie-up is seen in the appoint-
ment of Eric Hamber to repre-
sent the government on the two-
man flood committee. Eric Ham-

_ ber is a director of the CPR and
the man who presented the CPR’s
case against B.C. on the E. & N.
tax issue!

The Supreme Court decision is
further proof of the need to elect
a CCF government to carry for-
ward the fight to prevent the
monopolies’ brazen violations of
the law.

out’ wisdom of sheep

ipulated by Chamberlain when he

returned from Munich and said,

“peace in our time.” -
Only it is not- wisdom at all, it

is a fraud. It is the wisdom of |

sheep who will only whine when
the knife is finally put to their
throats. It is the cynical sterile

wisdom of ignorance, fright and

despair. |

- What then are the tasks that
artists, scientists and profession-
als could set themselves in the
achievement of peace Anything
‘and everything that ig fitting to
the true assumption of  citizen-
ship! To be movers and shakers
to speak the truth, to educate!

The nation must shape their own |

lives and it is the people who

should decide the urgencies of

peace and war. — i
oe

AN independent organization

like the Arts, Sciences and
Professions Council can play an
indispensible part in the decisions
of the people. Specifically:

To establish a permanent Com-
mission for Peace that would co-
ordinate its activities as a part
of a National ASP Commission
for Peace, and that would cooper-

“«

ate with all groups working for
a peaceful world.

To investigate, publish, com-
municate facts and information
relating to the achievement of
peace, and to’ do so on the widest
scale of public relations that
funds and forces permit.
To bring together artists, scien-
tists and professionals on the wid-
est scale for the exchange of in-
formation, for influence upon one
another and for influence upon
the community. :

To deepen the currents of
thought in all fields, to examine,
be curious, challenge, explore —
and to do so in common for the
enrichment of American culture.
. To create, in short, an organiza-
tion of artists, scientists and pro-
fessionals that will move. its
“members and the community in _
the highest tradition «
culture and citizenshi :
® This is an excerpt from an

address given by Albert Maltz,

noted author and playwright

and one of the “Hollywood 10.”

The address was given before a

conference for peace sponsored

by the U.S, National Arts,
Sciences and Professions Coun-
cil. :

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 16, 1948—PAGE 4

¢ \