FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES _ Power politics, money grabbing in fraudulent U.S. Seaway bill May 13, President Eisen- hower conducted a “historic ceremony;” with nine fountain pens he signed a bill authorizing the U.S. to construct a series of canals and locks along a 46-mile stretch of the St. Lawrence River © —the’ only part of the river that doesn’t lie wholly in Canadian territory. Horning in on the his- tory were 43 congressmen who looked over the _president’s shoulder as he set down his sig- nature. Present also was Cart ada’s ambassador. Some of the congressmen made speeches; the ambassador remain- --ed silent. The New York Times said “his (the president’s) action brought closer to reality a dream . of 50 years;” the claim was fraud- ~ ulent, the bill he signed a product of power politics and some grimy money-grabbing.. Most Canadians felt insulted and humiliated. 5° 3 Tee For 30 years the U.S. Congress has blocked joint development by the two countries of a vast 2,450- mile St. Lawrence Seaway that would open the heart of the North American continent in the Great Lakes to deep-sea shipping. By 1951 Canada had tired of this obstruction, announcing its wil- lingness and ability to construct the Seaway alone, entirely with- in its own borders. This threat finally stirred the belated congressional action that the president signed into law on May 13. But there was another factor: Eisenhower’s Secretary of the Treasury George Humphrey is a steel man. He is boss of the giant Hanna holding company, head of National Steel and Hollinger Steel and closely associated with Wheeling Steel. The Mesabi Range in Minnesota is running out of iron ore to feed his and other big mills in the Lakes region; ore in the future must be brought from rich de- posits in Labrador. So Humph- rey wanted a limited seaway to bring Labrador ore to Toledo, Qhio, and he got it. Columnist Drew Pearson point- ed out: “Going farther west than Lake Erie does not interest the steel companies, since their plants are largely in the Ohio-Pennsylvania area.” ‘ : Pearson also pointed out that one of KEisenhower’s closest friends is James Black and that, “Black gets over $100,000 a year to act as Washington representa- tive of Republic Steel.” 5g au % ¢ Canadians saw no history-mak-~ ing in Eisenhower’s nine-pen ceremony. Seaway for Panhandle? “ F Canada is so short-sighted as to make the U.S. a partner (in the St. Lawrence Seaway) let us at least demand a good price, such as handing back to Canada 600 miles of Pacific coast which by nature and by right should be- long to British Columbia, but which by a miscarriage of justice was awarded to the U.S. in 1903.” This is the conclusion of a let- ter in the Toronto Star May 23 from Allan B. Hobbs, Galt, Ont. (His reference is to the Alaska Panhandle.) ae Se Hobbs also declared:. “Surely .there are enough like-minded people in the Dominion govern- ment to prevent Canada throwing away that priceless asset — our control of the Seaway!” Day . Saturday From Ottawa, the New York _ Times reported that his signature as . . . does not automatically in- sure that Canada wil accept U.S. participation in the project. It EISENHOWER became evident today (May 18) that opinion within the cabinet was divided on the question of giving up the plan for an all-Can- adian Seaway... .” Said the Ottawa Citizen: “Can- ada’s own plans for an independ- ent enterprise are so far advanc- ed that this tardy measure is more an embarrassment than a source of satisfaction.” * The Toronto Telegram had an- other point: “The prospect that the Seaway when built may re- main a football of American politics and subject to malicious investigation by dimwit congress- men cools off any Canadian en- thusiasm at this late date for praising the House of Represent-— atives for voting for the Seaway.” R. H. Davis, president of Can- ada’s Atlas Steels Ltd.; told the Financial Post: ' “Canada will regret trying to work with the US. on this pro- ject. They will insist on supply- ing all labor and material. If we both agree to go along on a share basis and assume the U.S. agrees to put.it on our property, how would the U.S. go about jointly controlling the operation of this canal? Would they ex- pect to send officials to Canada with Army trucks, government paraphernalia, etc? In other words, would we have a Suez Canal running through Canada the same as Egypt has?” Said the Toronto Daily Star: “Canada’s patience with political log-rolling in the U.S. at the ex- pense of the St. Lawrence project long ago became exhausted. Cana- dians can stand on their own’ feet, pay for the full cost of the Sea- way and allow the USS. to use it at a price. Canada should get on with the project and end the she- nanigans.” Under the slogan “Keep the St. Lawrence Seaway Canadian,” the Labor-Progressive party said on May 11: “After delaying this St. Law- rence Seaway for nearly 50 years the U.S. now wants to horn in on this Canadian project and for $100 million clamp U.S. military rule over the St. Lawrence, Can- ada’s historic life-line from the’ Great Lakes to the Atlantic... . The U.S. Eisenhower Adminis- tration wants the St. Lawrence under strict Yankee Army con- trol to tighten Wall Street’s grip upon Canada. . . . The people must never permit the St. Lau- rent government to sign an agreement which allows the U.S. Army to establish a military zone of occupation on the St. _ Lawrence.” Eisenhower’s ceremony on May 13 might. have been historic after all: it could be the beginning of Canada’s declaration of independ- ence.—LAWRENCE EMERY in the National Guardian, New York. OPEN FORUM Memo for BCE transit victims EMIL BJARNASON, Trade Union Research Bureau, 339 West Pender Streef, Vancouver: On a recent trip to Toronto, I kept an extra record of all transit trips made during my stay. It should be of ‘interest to the victims of B.C. Electric “service”: Waited at Corner for Time Vehicle 12:30 p.m. 30 sec. 10:15 p.m. 9:30 a.m. 6:45 p.m. 9:00 a.m. 5:45 p.m. (9:35 a.m. 12:00 p.m. 10:30 a.m. 11:50 a.m. 1:30 p.m. 4:40 p.m. 10:00 a.m. Thursday Friday 30 sec. Nil Nil Sunday , Nil Nil Monday Nil Nil Tuesday 2 min. T min. 1 min. 30 sec.| 1 min. Seated or Standing Place | Seated King & Bay Seated Broadview & Bloor Seated Bloor & Major 7 standing Broadview & Bloor Seated Bloor & Major Aisle full Bloor & Broadview Seated Bathurst & Harbord Seated Lansdowne & Queen Aisle full Bathurst & Bloor * Seated Bathurst & Bloor Seated King & Dunn Seated Queen & Yonge ° Seated Bathurst & Bloor It must be admitted that none of the above trips took place betweer 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. I was able to observe that during that half hour the congestion and crowding of vehicles in downtown Toronto was worse than anything I have experienced in: Vancouver. However, this was before the opening of the subway which is reported to handle up to 40,000 people an hour and must therefore go a long way towards solving the rush-hour: problem. Please note that the above service was provided to the people of Toronto at the price of three tickets for a quarter. The fare has now been increased to five tickets for 50 cents, still a bargain compared with what we pay for standing room on the B.C. Electric. With qpologies be the pagulee song, Glacco-merre * Song and dance from U.S. ROSENBERG MEMORIAL "How are things in Guutemula ? There's o Grave Development there Fa mae ; ce —With apologies to n@toccat 1 Aim of campaign | | new trial for Sobell | NCARCERATED in Alcatraz Prison is a man who is serving a living death sentence of 30 years, not for any crime commit- ted, but for his refusal to testify against Ethel and Julius Rosen- berg and because he asserted, and has continued to assert, his own and their innocence of any crime. In their frantic efforts to ob- tain some one who could be co- erced into testifying falsely against Julius Rosenberg, the U.S. Attorney General’s office and the FBI came across the name of Morton Sobell, who was a classmate of Julius Rosenberg and a fellow scientist. ; Sobell was vacationing in Mex- ico with his family when he was kidnapped, beaten and dragged across the Texas border, while newspaper headlines created the _ impression that a “master spy” had been “caught fleeing.” Subjected to every conceivable harassment, Morton Sobell never- theless remained firm in his de- claration of innocence and it is a matter of record that it was not ‘until: 43 days after his arrest that the prosecution drew up its in- dictment against him. _ Just as the death sentence against. Ethel and Julius Rosen- berg was correctly understood, in part, as an attempt to “third de- gree” them into a false confes- sion, so the 30-year sentence against Morton Sobell arose from the same motives. At the time of the Rosenberg- Sobell arrests, the U.S. attorney general’s office made known that this was but the first of a series of _ “espionage” trials which it in- tended to prosecute. Such trials have not taken place. : They have not taken place be- cause Julius and Ethel Rosenberg chose death rather than betrayal, New city on Volga As work proceeds on the giant Soviet hydroelectri¢ P Kuibyshev, new cities like Stavropol-on-Volga (above) are for the project workers. Canada too, has its new cities Wy B.C. and, when the Sit. Lawrence Seaway is built, a new: Ci Bui Kitimat is a company-dominated town U.S., not Canadian aims. The new cities that could be bull! |. only when Canadian resources are developed by and for Be Iroquois. dian people. ‘ PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JUNE 11, 1954 — a because Morton Sobell endumd ; living death rather than 10> human dignity, and becaly 4 lions of people throughoU thet world shared doubts as yet o guilt, and voiced mistrust nich called “espionage” trials Hf rely on hysteria and perl stead of honest testimony: Morton Sobell must not Pé to rot away in prison. simply to think of the, wad quences of new “esPl0 oul! trials, the hysteria that -essit? folllow them and the reP? asset legislation that might be y sot in the U.S. and the countt! stool der its dominion, to unde alt how profoundly necessary i oda ip E Jet fs paign for Morton Sobell 15 i Steps to remove sobell os Aleatraz prison have alrea “ ye) taken and in the near motion will be put befor U.S. Supreme Court askiné new trial. Bs uf A petition to the US. opal on the question of the 9") of general’s conduct at the ine berg-Sobell @ase is already y ft fect, and the Columbia 1 view Journal (which has a opt the guilt of the Rosenbere ig) Sobell) is questioning the fice of the attorney general’s 0 spo permit new evidence to Pe 7, d to the courts, the conce? res for? catraz. SS aphe In Vancouver on Frid@¥ jyet 18, Mrs. Sobel will be 1 cogil speaker at a Rosenberg pene meeting to be held 1 Auditorium. ss bet q Julius and Ethel Bh ye died in the electric chal me ie ago this June 19 and Ai trol : death became the symb0 milli and human dignity around the world. puilt 4 5 poe