Not way to

Independence

A BAD start is often generously
excused with the hope of a better
ending. In capitalist politics, how-

éver, such wishful thinking is soon
ashed,

: Before the recent federal election
Conservatives were loud in their

€nunciation of the St. Laurent gov-.

‘tment for selling this country
Short to the U.S. financial royalists.

© Yoters were urged to “follow
hn” in order to restore their coun-
tty’s SOvereignty and independence.

Last week the people had their
fst major lesson on how small the
fference is between the two old-
Me “parties of monopoly capital;
tween the Liberal, Ralph Camp-
neys and the Tory, George Pearkes,
in the ministry of defense.

Fresh from his visit with Prime
Mister John Diefenbaker and De-
hetag Minister Pearkes, U.S. Secre-
lef. Si State John Foster Dulles

or Europe with an agreement
that automatically commits this
country to-involvement in any U.S.
ttomic war at the decision of a
Supreme U.S. commander. What-
ver political decisions follow in
Such an event; they must. inevit-
ably be shaped by the military de-
“sions already taken.

Small wonder that one of this
ountry’s top cartoonists, satirizing
the fact that in the event of war the
: Say will be under direct U.S.

*mmand, captioned his cartoon
With the observation that RCAF
Personnel “will have every oppor-
‘unity for promotion and American
“ttizenship.”’

The majority of people who vot-
*d against the Liberal regime: at

€ last election did so because they
Wanted an end to U.S. domination
~~ hot a continuation of it by an-
other party.

The Conservatives won wide sup-
Port with their promise to restore
© supremacy and parliament and
le sovereignty of this country.
nad must be compelled by popu-
Pressure to make good their
Promise,

\

(See

Pacific Tribune

Published weekly at
Room 6 — 426 Main Street
Vancouver 4, B.C.
Phone: MArine 5288
Editor — TOM McEWEN
Associate Editor — HAL GRIFFIN
Subscription Rates:
One Year: $4.00
Six months: $2.25
Canadian and Commonwealth

“Ountries (except Australia): $4.00

°ne year. Australia, United States
4nd all other countries: $5.00 one
year.

5 abe geri August 6, was the
12th anniversary of the first atom-
bomb dropped on Hiroshima, a
wanton, ghastly and needless ac-
tion of wat.

This one bomb killed 78,150 men,
women and children: and seriously
injured some 38,000 more. Another
13,000 were listed as ‘‘missing.”
Twelve years after the bomb is still
taking its toll of victims — 15 have

died this year from the so-called

atomic disease.

The full toll will never be known,
for some of the victims are still to
be born.
of future generations whose heredi-
tary defects and deformities were
created within the survivors of
Hiroshima on that August 6 twelve
years ago.

And there are still people who
talk about using the A-bomb and

Outlaw nuclear weapons

They are the children .

its still more terrible successor, the
H-bomb! Or resorting to the mon-
strous pretext that a “clean” bomb
is less meriacing that a “dirty” one.

Among the millions of the world’s
people, of every nation and politi-
cal belief, there has grown up in
the past 12 years a determination
that all nuclear weapons must be

outlawed, that the horror which’

was visited upon Hiroshima and
Nagasaki must be banished from
the earth.

Men of science have warned of
the fearful consequences’ to humani-
ty if nuclear weapons are ever used.
Now it is for the people of every
country to demand of their gov-
ernments that they act in the high-
est interest of every people by con-
cluding an international agreement
to ban the manufacture, test and
use of nuclear weapons.

Tom
McEwen

A DAILY press news item urging
a drastic tightening-up of the
B.C. Hospital Insurance Scheme
has my fullest approval
There’s a lot of “tightening up”
needed in BCHIS which wouid
be of great benefit to hospital
staffs, patients, and the general
public.

In addition to standing for a
half - baked hospital -insurance
scheme, the letters BCHIS couid
also be taken to mean Before
Calling Hold In Screams.

Phoning to hospitals on> the

condition of patients is often one
of the most frustrating experi-
ences. No doubt there are some
good reasons why this is so.
What with most hospitals badly
understaffed, and nursing and
other personnel run ragged for
a pay cheque which falls short
of daily living costs, and having
to observe all the “humahities”
meantime, one shouldn’t expect
too much from telephonic —in-
quiries to hospitals.
’ Following a long series of
whirrrrs on the phone and pa-
tient waiting, a voice replies,
“The Blank hospital. ‘Can we
help you?”

“How jis Mr. Peter Schultz this

9»

morning?
“S-C-H-U-L-T-Z.”

he’s reported in fair condition.”

“Thank you.” Some two hours
earlier Mr. Schultz had departed
this life: But doubtless, and in
keeping with the latest informa-
tion received, he was still “in
fair condition.”

“Hello, is Mr. McNab still in
your hospital and how is he
doing?”

“The information lines are

“Schmaltz? How is it spelled?”

“Oh, Mr. Peter Schultz. Yes, °

busy, sir. Will you call again?”

‘Hello, is Mr. McNab still in
hospital?”

“McNab, what McNab? Oh yes,
both are doing well.”

You see what we mean by an
all-round BCHIS “tightening up.”
Quite often the “information
lines” are not only busy. but
badly crossed up. The nurses
and others run off their feet,
over-taxed patients exasperated,
and inquiring relatives driven to
distraction; all because a Social
Credit government with an eye
to political propaganda thinks
more about “balancing” its bud-
get with the millions extracted
from a sales tax—originally de-
signed to “balance” hospital re-
quirements. 3
xt $e

An immediate tightening up Of
BCHIS might also serve to bring
those hospital managements to
their senses in their copying of
Premier, Bennett’s “You’re fired”
formula for dealingwith public
employees. The firing of regis-
tered nurses fighting for needed
wage increases and more effi-
cient hospital services, under the
pretext of “hospital reorganiza-
tion,’ is a form of ‘intimidation
which intelligent people no
longer condone. Firing nurses be-
cause they seek needed wage
increases is no. cure for an arth-
ritic BCHIS.

Securing money under false
pretenses is held to be a crimi-
nal offense. When the Bennett
government cancelled hospital in-
surance premiums and added an
extra two percent to. the existing
three percent sales tax, it was ex-
plained then (with much fanfare)
that the increase would ‘take
care” of all hospital requirements,

That extra two percent brings
in some $34 million. Add tlfis to
the millions garnered from the
three percent and the result is
obvious, that there is no need
for hospital staffs to be under-
paid, nor for hospital manage-
ments to be continually shouting
blue ruin - nor for the public
to be fleeced by sales taxes for
services they don’t receive. By
all) means, let us have a BCHIS
“tightening. up.”

“Armed robbery? Hell, no! P’m
just negotiating from strength.”

, Punic . a

Songwriter

WHEN Edward Drake came, into

my office the other day, with a
portable record player, and asked
if he could play some of the songs
he had written, you could have
knocked me over with the prover-
bial feather.

I’ve known Ed as a member of
my union for some years, but I
never had him figured as a poet
and song writer. A quiet bachelor
of 48,.a hard worker and a good
union man — that was my picture
of Ed until he played his songs for
me and then told me all about his
work, his dreams and his ambitions.

Ed has lived in Vancouver for
some 40 years and has a great fond-
ness for our city. Tired of hearing
songs about Paris, Vienna and Lon-
don, he wrote a song about his fay-
orite town, Vancouver.

When the moon shines over
Hastings Street,

And the breathless crowds their
vigil keep,

When the flowers bloom on Vic-
tory Square,

Beneath a sky so bright and fair,

That’s Vancouver!

The mountains tower around
our shore,

How could we ask fér any
more?

And when the winds blow from
the west,

It’s the salty tang we love the
best.

That’s Vancouver!

It was a. big moment for Ed, a
few weeks ago, when this song. was
played at a regular performance
of Kitsilano Showboat.

But Ed Drake is more than a man
with a hatful of dreams who hopes
to make the big time in true Holly-
wood style. He is a staunch labor
man who wants to help the labor
movement by giving musical ex-
pression to the aspirations of the
people. In a recent song, he wrote
about “the stiffs who work for
hire.”

We tote the timbers and drive

the nails,

We hoe the ’taters and sack ’em

too,

We load the trucks and drive

them through.

When I asked him when he first
became interested in poetry, he
replied, “About 30 years ago, when
I was attending John Oliver High
School.”

This country needs more Canadian
poets and song writers who will
stay in Canada, work in Canada
and give voice to the greatness of
our country. JACK PHILLIPS

August 9, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 5

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