UID ie @ : Z po £D 2 J Pisa. 303 byger Mtzeuseerr ti. Vol. 6 No. 14 Vancouver, B.C., April 4, 1947 SS Five Cents CABINET UNDER FIR Price increases arouse wide protest ee Truman opposed @® Democratic Senators Claude Pepper (at right) and Glen Taylor, whose for- eign policy stand coincides with that of Henry Wallace, have challenged President Truman’s cali for U.S. inter- vention in Greece and Tur- key with a resolution to re- fer the problem to the UN. And in London this week, XM. “illiacus, acknowledged leader of back-bench Labor- ites, declared that Truman’s ‘Speech had made closer con- tact between the labor Movements of Britain and the U.S. imperative. —,. Atrocities committed by China in Formosa Ww SHANGHAI — John W. Powell, editor of the China €ekly Review, last week stripped some of the camouflage om Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang regime, to the further ™Mbarrassment of the U.S. State Department, by revealing at Chinese troops sent to Formosa to quell disorders had Perpetrated “unimaginable atrocities.” Powell, the only American correspondent to visit For- aoe charged that at least 5,000 Formosans had been killed rE thousands more imprisoned as troops suppressed rioting i Ovoked by flagrant Chinese misrule. Chinese administra- nate of the big island off China’s coast, he declared, had been Ra ned by greater oppression of the Formosans than during ® Japanese occupation. ise Ormosans are now reported to be near open rebellion 8ainst their Chinese oppressors, held in check only by ruth- *ss Kuomintang rule. 4 Shirer dropped by CBS @ William L. Shirer, noted author of Berlin Diary and one of the few remain- ing liberal commentators in American radio, has been dropped by the Columbia Broadcasting System. De- manding to ‘know why he had been dropped when his latest Hooper rating of 6.9 —some 5,000,000 listeners— was close to the highest of CBS Sunday daytime pro- grams, Shirer charged that he was being gagged for his liberal views. “I certainly consider it a move to gag me,” he said, pointing out that the CBS decision fol- lowed a pattern established by radio networks in recent months of dropping liberal commentators or moving them to less favorable times. OTTAWA — Popular campaigning for maintenance of controls on food and other necessities is making itself felt in Ottawa. This week twelve women representing organizations in the four western provinces arrived in the capital to begin lobbying for re-establishment of price controls at 1945 levels, res- toration of the milk subsidy and retention of rent controls. On Monday they saw Finance Minister Douglas Abbott and Reconstruction Minister C, D. Howe and when their pointed questions drew evasive replies they-proved them- selves more than a match for the two ministers. Mrs. Mona Morgan of Van- couver and Mrs. Marjorie Croy of Richmond, representing the Women’s Price (Continued on Page 8 — See PRICE INCREASES) Gov’t planned gerrymander MONTREAL—If Councillor Michael Buhay, Labor-Progressive candidate in Cartier, had won Monday’s byelection despite the fren- zied campaign to accomplish his defeat, the government had ready 2 complete redistribution plan that would have “wiped the consti- tuency off the map.” In face of this evidence of the King government’s determination to subvert the democratic processes it has already undermined rather than tolerate an LPP victory, the surprising fact is not that the Liberals won back the seat they lost to the LPP in 1943, but that Buhay was able to roll up an impressive 6,500 votes. The government’s waning prestige could not stand the loss of the byelection. With the ground already well prepared by the propa- ganda of the ‘espionage’ campaign that cost Fred Rose his seat and his liberty, the government brought all its forces to bear in support of its candidate, Maurice Hartt. External Affairs Minister St. Lau- rent, Defense Minister Brooke Claxton, Finance Minister Douglas Abbott were among the cabinet members sent to Cartier to spark the campaign. Communism, as presented by anti-communists, was made the sole ‘issue. This, and the well-greased operation of the Liberal machine in a riding notorious for corrupt election practices, won the seat. Labor act endorsed despite opposition VICTORIA, B.C.—Overiding the opposition of Labor Minister George Pearson and other Liberals to inclusion of the clause providing for government-conducted strike votes, Premier John Hart this week lined his Liberal majority up with the Conservatives to avert a threatened split in his shaky, Coalition and secure second reading for his Labor Concilia- tion and Arbitration Act. Trade unions opposed sections of the Act as interfering with their interna] affairs, restricting their right to strike and promoting raids by craft on industrial unions. Can- adian Manufacturers Association, whose representations wrote the disputed strike vote clause into the Act, found its strongest support among the Conservatives, backed by some Liberals, and they refused to accede to deletion of the clause when Pearson declared it was unworkable. Vote on the Act was 35-11, with the CCF’s ten members and Labor’s Tom Uphill voting against. © What they said about Bill 39 « Labor Minister George Pearson: @® My objection is that the supervised ballot is cumbersome and in some cases almost im- possible to apply. If, for instance, it had been required in last year’s IWA strike there would have been weeks and weeks of ‘delay and I don’t think we could have got a true vote. Tom Uphill (Labor, Fernie): @ Instead of industrial peace you'll have industrial war. It is an iniquitous bill, The United Mine Workers will never give up their right to strike. CCF Opposition Leader Harold Winch: @ The Tory influence in the cabinet has reached the point of rotting Liberalism. The premier and the labor minister have lost control, The bill is conclusive evidence the Tories rule the cabinet. Daniel O’Brien, president, and Harold Pritchett, secretary, B.C. Federation of Labor: @ The Act, when proclaimed, will not make for industrial peace but will, in its amended form, provoke industrial war, and will unite organized labor and the people in opposition and may well bring about the downfall of the government.