Sse Peel Gazette, one weekly papers, tion with its June publication costs as the North two TI hroughout ary notices of - are appearing more more frequently. grip of the other monoplies hered by the big dailies, the 7 ana Westminster bian, kept alive by the wan- tion. Vancouver's first was the News wn 1886 and eventually with the Morning Sun in 1917. ed in 1888 1888 and lasted until . The Province appeared later, in 1898 10 years Hal Griffin of Brampton’s ceased publica- 13 issue, reason.” América ments like this — the obifu- small papers and Caught in newsprint auc finding sn weeklies are it hard to survive. Even dailies are folding. Here . in sa A the Herald has gone under Now, where once there were four dailies. in the city, there are only two, linked through one , com- pany and holding an un- challenged monopoly. Their only. competition on the lower mainland is the New British Colum- ing strength of an old tradi- daily Advertiser, h started publication in merged The World was found- giving rising announce- The Sun is a comparative newcomer, starting in 1912 morning as a paper and switching to the afternoon field in 1926 after a series of mergers. In the past quarter - century morning papers have not fared well. The Morning Star, started in 1924, ceased pub- lication .1n 1932 arter a pro- longed: strike._ The Herald, a shoe - string venture launched cooperatively by a group of the Star’s old em- ployees, reached its peak circulation during the war years and thereafter slowly lost ground. which a 5 5 © The only real opposition has come from a number of labor weeklies, the B.C. Federationist during the First World War years, the Commonwealth during the formative years of the CCF and, since 1935, a succes- sion of weeklies of which the Pacific Tribune is the latest. Their circulation has been small compared to the Common- wealth, of which I was one of- the editors, reached 20,- 000 — but their influence has been tremendous. dailies — the Consider just one major politieal issue — _ the H. tests. When the Pacific Tribune began compaign- ing against the H-tests in 1954 it was the only paper warning of the danger. The dailies followed the official cold war line that there was no danger and! upheld them as vital to Western security. Now even the dailies are compelled to fill their head- lines with the world protest against H-tests. The Pacific Tribune’s voice was powerful © be- cause it spoke the truth and was independent-of the in- fluences striving to suppress that truth. Isn’t that the strongest of reasons for keeping this paper alive now that its ex- istence is endangered by the rising costs which are crush- ing other weeklies? But no ordinary weekly has the loyal support of readers who brought this paper into being and have maintained it through one of the most turbulent periods in world history. OPEN FORUM P. MELOFF, Thrums, B.C.: May we bring to public at- tention through your columns a matter af-utmost importance to the residents of Thrums and district. This area lis part of the an important Kootenays, as here are quite a number of small farmers who grow vegetables, fruits and berries to supply the residents of Nelson and Trail; d who can deny that the farmer is the backbone of a country’s economy. al This is a district hacked out of the wilderness into a beau- tiful and productive land. Yes, this land required much back- breaking toil, but there was always the hope that one day the tiller cf the soil would be rewarded by the fruits of his labor And lands, now through these gardens, fruit trees, for- est trees, and cultivated and uncultivated areas, a survey has been made for a right-of- way 60 feet in width by a natural gas company. This survey was made with aim of satisfying the engineers that it be carried an area as cheaply as to the company. And of the fact that other and ways are to avoid des- the sole in spite feasible available so as routes Prizewinning letters Each week the Paci- fic Tribune will present a book to the writer of the most interesting, en- tertaining and_ topical letter published on this page. Contributors are urged to keep their let- ters to a reasonable length. The prize-winning let- ter in our last issue was written by Carl Erickson, Vancouver, B.C. troying the valuable lands, the parties have cate- change responsible gorically refused to their routes. From their viewpoint it is more important that they make a good profit by going through gardens, cutting down forests end fruit trees and completely ignoring the pleas of the own- ers. In many cases the right of way cuts through the middle of properties, making them valueless for purposes of buil ing or subdividing. In the event the owners wish to sell the land for building or as a good frontage, this is now out of the question, for if the land is unsuitable for building pur- poses, who will*buy it? There are also cases where the right-of-way is within less than 10 feet of occupied homes. The easements presented to the owners for signing are al- most a complete abrogation of owners’ rights to the land for which they pay taxes. The gas pipeline company has not made any agreements or settlements with the owners of these lands. Oh yes, it has made a meagre offer which which may only be enough to cover the grass damage, but the unsuitability of this right- of-way to the owners is not taken into consideration what- soever. The damage which will be caused, the destruction to top- soil and subsequent crops, is irreparable. The truth is. that the company wishes to go through the properties for a song. Does this or any company have the right to dictate its own terms? Now we are threatened with expropriation proceedings. We appeal through you to the public. Can such actions be accepted and condoned in a free and democratic country? This letter is an outcome of a public meeting held: on June 5 in Thrums Hall, BOOKS The Sacrifice worthy winner of URVEYING the _ post-war Canadian novel from the distance of a decade it might have been argued that, it 4 achieved stature but “Jacke depth. It had competence and craft, seriousness and a certain sense of direction. What is lacked however was the “juice of life,” to use Humboldt’s phrase. Its treatment of people lack- ed feeling and, perception—the emotional dimension of hu- manism without which skill stops short of greatness. But, in fact, the generaliza- tion is rapidly losing useful- ness because of the work of Kreisel, Roy, Lemelin, Richler and now Adele Wiseman. Miss Wiseman’s The Sacri- fice, winner of the Governor- General’s Award for Fiction for 1956, a Canadian Founda- tion award of $2,700, and more recently, the annual Beta Sigma Phi award, draws its main strength from an all-per- vading humanism. Without this it would have remained a skillfully written, rather strange tale admired by but a few. With it it stands as the most satisfying winner of Can- ada’s major literary award for many years. o xt but appears to be succumbin - fatalistically to. the conse _— quences of the family tragedy: Miss Wiseman might have | left it at that, and the novel would have been fashionable: but empty. But in aj final act of will, a crowning assertion 2 humanism, Moses throws of the cross of “man-pursued-by- a-tragic - destiny - doomed - 1) walk-alone’? — and-dares ‘0! look at‘his fellow men in a new! and understanding way. % os % This humanism and under standing is not a Saroyanis? “isn’t - everybody- -wonderful bit of. cheap sentimentality. Miss Wiseman has a dee? if i love for the common people the workers. Isaac, doing piece work oD pockets in a garment facto!) thinks of himself as he work* “Someday I'll stand befor God and he’ll say to me, whil can you do to get into oa And I’ll‘say to him, ‘cole can make you a_ pair of pot kets.’ And He’ll say, ‘I’m so I’m a working man. I have ™ time to keep my hands in wy pockets. ; It is a warm work. It is not yet a great on wonders! Miss Wiseman attempted much. She wanted to illustr@ some timeless, universal li? between the Abraham of % and the Abraham of the nove’| In trying to abstract she 150" lates. She erects a pale arou the community in which the events transpire. | There is a rather vague, bie dowy feeling about the who" thing. To the extent Miss is? man tried to enlarge her the! to all time and all men si disembodied it. And, furth® in trying to lift the ther! higher. than its surrounding Miss Wiseman makes the nov! less of a Canadian one tha? , might have been. | Nevertheless The sacrift (obtainable here at the Pet ple’s Co-op Bookstore, “| West Pender, price $3.95) ‘i mains, because of its w@ sn and skill, an outstanding “al tribution to the Canad novel, a worthy winner 0 4 Governor-General’s Awat® 4 has added some. of the 4 der. missing in the Canadian no ROLAND penn PACIFIC TRIBUNE_—PAGE