OUR CHILDREN
Pre-school’ ~
education

AMONG THE minor frustra-
tions in the field of pre-school
education, at least as far as I am
concerned, is the comparatively
narrow field of information to
draw on. There are many excel-
lent books and pamphlets avail-
able and written results of many
Superior scientific surveys, but
rarely does the reader get even
a glimpse of what is happening
olitside Canada and the United
States,

Now comes the cheering news
that this situation is to be chang-
ed. I have in front of me a brief
but exciting report of a Confer-
ence on Early Childhood Educa-
tion held. in Prague and attended
by delegates from 18 countries
covering the five continents. This
conference which agreed that. “the
early years of a child’s life are
the formative ones, and the sur-
roundings, care and ihstruction
given them will be reflected
when the man, or woman is fully
developed,” has embarked on a
Program which is a tremendous
step forward, not only in the mat-
ter of raising the level of pre-
School education, but in the co-
Operation and interchange of
ideas and scientific data between
nations,

Delegates representing Britain,
United States, New Zealand, Den-
mark, France, USSR, Czechoslo-
vakia, and other countries, are in
the process of setting up a world
council, and have already planned
& world conference on the subject.

At any time this venture would
have been a worthwhile effort. At
this time it has particular merit,
Any effort toward understanding
and cooperation between nations
is a welcome sign. When the dele-
Sates. of 18 countries. say, ‘50,000
children born every day through-
out the world, form an immense
Slice of human wealth, It is ne-
cessary to prevent the destruction
of this precious human wealth,
and to encourage and help de-
Velop towards a richer and hap-

Pier life,’ we can add our,own ,

hurrahs. . —VERA MORRIS.

*

UN kids honor way dea |

In a ceremony aboard the cruiser Fresno, children of UN dele-
gates, wearing their native costume, toss floral tribute into the
sea in services honoring United Nations fighting men who died
at sea in the Second World War.

2ROBERS SILENCED

‘Who killed my husband?

ON THE EVE OF the U.S. electioss, the House labor
committee decided to investigate alleged Communist domina-
tion of the International Fur and Leather Workers. ‘The

.

union was conducting a militant fight against New York

‘| THINK ALL this

a

husband

That’s just where she was

wrong, as I pointed out to her.

A third world war, if we should

allow it to come by our failure
to speak against it, will not be a
distant struggle that we can fol-
low in the headlines, as we did
the last, reading of our husbands
and brothers and sons in action
“Somewhere in Europe.” It will be
a question of our children, our

‘homes, and the headline telling of

the atom-bombing of a city
“Somewhere in Canada,” may well

refer to Vancouver or Victoria.

We talked a lot in the last war
about us all being in the front
line, and in the sense that war
production was the key to vic-
tory, we were, but actually we on
this continent were as remote
from the fighting lines as it was
possible to be. Tragedy came to
us individually, in” the curiously
impersonal telegram telling of
someone killed in action. It did

talk about war is just terrible,”
one of my neighbors said to m

why we should fight Russia, and I certainly
going overseas again.”

e the other day. “I don’t see
don’t want my

fascism. It’s already being pre-
dicted that every marf between 18
and 40 will be conscripted, and
probably between 16 and 60, and
that will force thousands of us in- ©
tc industry, regardless of our
children’s needs. Only we won't
have trade unions to Protect us
because the destruction of the
trade unions, from within and
without, is essential to launching
a war against Russia

We have every reason in the
world for speaking out now, while
there is still time to ‘halt the war
plans of our governments. To
remain silent or indifferent is a
crime against our children—B.G. _

PEACE CONGRESS

Women raise

fur manufacturers, It was cam-
paigning for repeal of the Taft-
Hartley Act. Its leaders were sup-

Mr. Graham: Do you hold any
official position with the Fur and

‘Leather Workers Union?

porting Henry Wallace—and New "

York was a key state where Wal-
lace threatened both old-line
parties. That’s why the commit-
tee picked on the Fur and Leath-
er Workers for its “red smear”
inquiry.

But, the investigators, Repre-
sentatives Wingate Lewis (Dem.)

Mrs. Langer: I am a member
_ of the Joint Council.

Mr. Graham: You are the widow
of Morris Langer, is that correct?
. Mrs. Langer: That is right.

Mr. Graham: How long have
you been in the fur industry?

Mrs. Langer: Since my hus-

_and destroying everything they

fund in city

RESPONDING enthusiastically
to the suggestion that Dorise
Neiisen, former MP, represent the
women of Canada at the peace

not come to us in the collective
horror visited upon Russia and
Britain, wiping out entire families

had striven to accomplish, Next
time our families will be wiped

out, our accomplishments de- congress to be held in Helsinki
Siroyed: this month, progressive women’s
a a: + groups in Vancouver, Victoria and

elsewhere in the province have al-
ready raised $105 of the $200
they*have pledged towards her ex-

THAT'S WHY there must, not
be a next time. That’s why we

THE DAILY |
_ PROVINCE

(Owned by the Southam Co, Ltd. of mpomeny) eee

Is Still Produced
Behind an I.T.U.

PICKET

VANCOUVER TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION No. 226

band was killed by the gang-
sters. . ; ;

Mr, Graham: When was that?

Mrs. Langer: In 1988.

Mr. Schwabe: Mrs, Langer, do
you. have any. further statement
te make? Do you have a state-
ment to make of any kind?

Mrs. Langer: The statement
I have to make is, well, I am

and Max Schwabe (Rep.) both ap- —
pointed by Rep. Fred Hartley,
reckoned without a woman, Ida
Langer, whose testimony, reprint-
ed below, explains why they didn’t
allow her to occupy the stand
long. 3

Mr, Graham, What is your offi-
cial position with the Fur and
Leather Workers Union, Mrs.
Langer? :

Mrs. Langer: I am working
in the shop since my husband
was killed.

_ this Committee. I am working
in a shop. I had to go-to work
when my husband was killed, I
was wondering whether this
Committee would go for the
gangsters that killed my hus-
band; would go after the bosses
that hired the gangsters to kill
my husband? I wish this Com-

, mittee would do that. You know,
gentlemen, when I remained
with two kids I ‘had to raise
them... ‘ :

Mr. Lucas: Mrs. Langer, of
course, we sympathize with you
in losing your husband.

Mrs. Langer: What?

‘you in losing your husband. We
* . hold no brief for those who resort
~ $ to violence in labor disputes or
any other disputes, May I inquire,
i do you know whether or not the
leadership of your union is dom-
inated by the Communist Party?
Mrs. ger I do not know.

Mr, Lucas: All right.

Mrs. Langer:.I would like ,to
ask you a question.

Mr. Lucas: No, I do not want
you to ask me a question. You are
the witness today, Mrs. Langer.
Mrs, Langer, please tell me, if you
ean, do you know whether or not
Mr. Jack Schneider is a Com-
munist? L ;

Mrs. Langer: I do not know
whether anybody—

Mr. Lucas: You do not know?

Mrs. Langer: I did not ask

anybody, nobody to tell me that.
I want to ask you, Congressman,
why don’t you go for those.

i men, for those bosses that paid
. the gangsters to kill my hus- |
band. e

Mr. Lucas: Mrs. Langer that is
not the purpose of this inquiry.

:

é

" wondering why I was called to —

sf Mr. Lucas: We sympathize with -

women must speak out, through
our own organizations, our PTA’s,
Our auxiliaries, whatever groups
we belong to, against the huge
pretense of “defense” expendi-
tures, against consciiption. We
must not allow ourselves to be
fooled, as the women of Germany
were fooled, by all the anti-com-

munist propaganda that fills the~

pages of every women’s magazine
we pick up—or we'll pay the price
the women of. Germany are pay-
ing today. :

We'll pay the price, not only in
the actual horrors of war, but in
the loss of everything we have
gained in our fight for equality.
The fascist mentality that regards
‘women as fit only for the tasks
of bearing children and slaving
in the kitchen isn’t absent in our
country by any means. And let’s
not fool ourselves, war will bring

penses as a delegate.

Most of the money has been
raised through teas sponsored by
iriends and supporters of Mrs.
Neilsen here, Two such teas to

be held within the next few days __
' are those being arranged by Mrs. es
Dora Madley, in South Vancouver —

and Mrs. Flo Stanton, in the Dun-
bar district. ,

Mrs. Neilsen, who became a na-
tional figure as a result of her .

fight for democratie rights dur-

ing the war years, is being spon-
sored gy a representative com-
mittee called together by the Wo-
men’s Committee for Peace Ac-
tion in Toronto. The peace_con-
gress she will attend in Helsinki
is the second to be held by the
Women’s International Democrat-
ic Federation since its formation _
at Paris in 1945.

Comic oaks burn of A

Thirteen-year-old David

Mace officiates as grade school children

in: Spencer, West Virginia, burn 2,000 comic books held to be

mentally and morally harmful.

The books were collected in a

campaign initiated by the local Parent-Teacher Association.
PACIFIC TRIBUNE — NOVEMBER 12, 1948 — PAGE ll