OPEN FORUM | e Comment on China JEAN EWEN, Vancouver, B.C.: In reading Tom McEw- en’s account of Sian in his series on China a delicious nos- talgia seeps through my being. I can almost smell the mag- nolias, azalias and oleanders and see the beautiful yellow and blue mosaic tiles at Lin- tung, the sulphur springs where Chiang Kai-shek was a prisoner. Tom’s facts are not quite as they happened, but suffice that it happened — great things start with under- currents and the events which lead to the Sian incident start- ed wih _fraternizing. I was there. The friendship between Chi- ang and Chou En-lai and oth- ers is of long standing. All are inescapably bound by bonds of togetherness and objectiv- ity in the affairs of the peo- ples of Asia. Their roots are deep in the past. The Cathay- cans wore silk and had a writ- ten language in the millenium before Christ. Is it any won- der that our modern barbar- ians sneer without understan- ding. Also perhaps, Chiavi does not have the power to accept the offer of friendship extended to him. Back in 1938 the Commun- ist members of the coalition (in Chunking) presented doc- umentary proof that a treas- onous plot was being carried on between the Japanese and Wong Ching Wei. That gentle- man pointed the finger of guilt at Chiang also, but he was re- quired to stay, to face it out and live it down. For a time it nearly wrecked the united front. Wong Ching Wei was al- lowed to escape. He became the puppet premier of China and his “government” oper- ated from Nanking. During that time I was in the Anhwie areas with the New Fourth Ar- my and the Communists had groups in Japanese-ruled Nan- king even in the _ so-called houses of government. The life of a puppet is in- deed filled with- gall. It was a well known fact that for all his bodily functions, even to see his wife, Wong had first to ask permission of the Jap- anese officer in charge — they never left him. His only func- tion of government was to sign edicts of the Japanese civil forces and to be seen with the Japanese at military par- ades and such. Now the pants of the Japan- ese military fit the Americans very well. It would be folly to confuse mercy and justice and the pound of flesh: The fact remains that Chiang is their man and the Americans are not going to give that charice to accept that outstretched hand. They can’t afford to. The quality of mercy is not less than the Japanese gener- al staff. I do not think that Chiang’s return (except for the morale boost to the Chinese people themselves) would in any way speed _ the recognition of China. = It is this non-recognition of China that corrupts and rul- lifies all the dealings the West has with the peoples of Asia and Africa. How can you make a deal or sign a treaty with an Indian, an. Arab or an Af- rican and at the same time say to six hundred million people, “You are not people,” when in fact China is an in- fluence to be reckoned with in the Afro-Asian block? How do you trade with a country without recognizing the people you expect to trade with? What brand of bootleg- ging do we conduct? How can we assure the natives of Kash- mir we do not want the green eye of the yellow god of Kat- mundu. Indeed an ounce of cor- rup:ion makes fragrant a har- rel load of laws. He liked OAP series J.B., Vancouver, B.C.: I wish to thank the Pacific Tribune for the wonderful fight it is putting up for an adequate living allowance for the senior citizens and to commend Jack Phillips for his very informa- tive articles. I have subscribed to the Pacific Tribune and its various predecessors ever since the first mimeographed copy of the Unemployed Worker ap- peared back in the early thir- ties, and you have fought con- sistently for the senior citi- zens. One good way for the senior citizens to help their cause would be. for every one of them to subscribe to the Paci- fic Tribune. That way they would help the paper that fights their fight and also learn a lot about economics to give them a better understand- ing of their fight. The following little ditty, offered with apologies to who- ever wrote Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet, is an appropri- ate one for the senior citizens when the end of the month comes around: Put on your old grey skillet Tho’ the soup bone barely fill it While I go and collect our scanty pay; Don’t let it boil over Or we'll have to eat old Rover On this our measly little pay day. Thanks for donations FOLLOWING is a list of donations received by the Pacific Tribune and are ac- knowledged with thanks. Fur- ther lists will be published over our next few issues. S.W., Rossland, $49.50; J.L., Vancouver, $3.10; J.P., Silver- ton, 50c; C.F., Cedar, $30.25; J.E., Vancouver, 25c; R.R., Rochfort Bridge, Alta, 50c; J.O., Vancouver, $5; O.N., Van- couver, $3; H.J.R., Vancouver, 50c; Miss D., Vancouver, $1; P.U., Vancouver, $2; K.T., Prince Rupert, $5.50; C.C. Kamloops, $1; C.H.M., Van- couver $5; J.I., Okanagan Mis- sion, $2; Mrs. A.S., Victoria, $4.50; W.G., Vancouver, $5; J.S.M., Ladner, $1; C.H.S., New Westminster, $1; D.W., Soin- tula, $1; H.M., Sointula, $1; K.Z., Van- couver, $5; A.L., Nanaimo, $1; J.O., Vancouver, $1; GS, Parksville, $1; A.T., Sointula, $2; R.G., Nanaimo, $3; W.C., Vancouver, $6; S.P., Vancou- ver, $6; A.M., Vancouver, $1; J.H., Campbell River, ‘$1; A.N., Vancouver, $l; R.W., Vancouver, $12.95; Mrs. H., Vancouver, $5; P.P., Ceepee- cee, $1; S.P., Vancouver, $1; J.K., Shawnigan Lake, $6; Mr. S., Vancouver, $1; S.E., Michel, $5; F.M., Sointula, 25c; E.R.F., Wainwright, Alta, 75c; E.K., Vancouver, $4; A Friend, Vancouver, $1; E.B., Vancou- ver, $5; J.I., Okanagan Mission, $2; Mrs. R.D., Vancouver, $1; W.B., Vancouver, 75c; C.H.T., Alberta, $2; J.L., Vancouver, This Friday, March 8, is the 48th International Women’s Day, proclaimed at an international women’s conference’ held at Copenhagen in 1910. In a message of greeting to all women and women’s organizations, the Women’s Internation-_ al Democratic Federation voices its pride in the advances women Have already made and in the contributions wome! are now making in every walk of life. “It is an inspiring fact that new millions of women are coming forward in the struggle of their peoples for national independence, progress and peace,” the message declares. $1; A.E.E., Vancouver, $1; L.G., North Surrey, $1; M.A., Vancouver, 75c; P.T., Prince Rupert, $1; L.H., Castlegar, $2; L.R., Vancouver, 50c; T.V.C., Vancouver, $1; J.A.T., Parks ville, $5; W.B., Vancouvel| $7.46; A.C., Cumshewa Inleb $6; M.T., Vancouver, $1; DM, Dollarton, $1; a well-founded rumor going the rounds im Vancouver that a_ big newspaper “merger” is in the offing; that the Van- HERE is couver Daily Province is buying out the Vancouver Sun. Such events are scarce- ly news anymore. As mon- opoly capital increases its stranglehold on the nation’s economic life, it also takes those monopoly measures (sometimes through neces- sity as well as design) to strengthen its influence on the people’s thinking. In all such monopoly con- centrations, whether in newspapers or other fields of exploitation, as Lenin pointed out in his Imper- ialism, “the general frame- = work of formally recognized free competition remains, but the yoke of a few mon- opolists on the rest of the population becomes a hun- dred times heavier... .” Thus we can have the “free competition” of a group of newspapers, one turning out editorial gyist for Liberal consumption, another grinding out typical Tory pablum for ailing Con- servatives, and still another probably turning out the homogenized vitamins of a Social Credit paradise, and all paying handsome profits to a single monopoly enti- ty—dedicated to one thing alone, the preservation of the sacred right of monop- oly to exploit the mind and body of a nation. The commercial press is already a very highly cen- tralized and compact billion- dollar monopoly in this country. The Southam, Thompson and Sifton chains of daily and weekly papers control a good part of news- paper publishing. Others like the Toronto Globe and Mail and the Toronto Tele- gram, and the Toronto Daily Star, while posing as “in- dependents” are also power- ful press monopolies in their own right. Regardless of policy differences, all draw their millions of dollars from the monopoly class interests they serve. : Linked together by an in- strument of their own crea- tion, the Canadian Press, and by other news-gather- ing agencies, the lords of the press serve up a daily diet of slanted world re- ports, relieved by locally’ gathered “human interest” stories which pass for news. Thus the greater the con- centration of monopoly cap- ital in newspaper produc- tion and distribution, the tighter the control on the people’s thinking. be