" —Les Callan in Biches: Pic STAR

A stitch in time

Piccard to explore

for lost Atlantis

FROFESSOR Auguste Piccard,
the eminent Belgian scien-

tist, is to explore, in a bathy-
sphere, the supposed site in
mid-Atlantic of the legendary
sunken kingdom of Atlantis.

For 2,000 years mankind
has occupied itself with the
question of Atlantis, that mys-
terious submerged portion of
the earth first mentioned by
the Greek philosopher Plato,
who lived somewhere about
400 B.C. Plato had heard
about Atlantis from an old
Egyptian priest from Sais. His
description, Containing a
wealth of detail, can be sum-
med up as follows:.

There existed at one time
the Island of Atlantis, in front
of the Pillars of Hercules (Gib-
raltar).
er than North Africa and Asia
Minor put together. It provid-
ed the seafarers of «that time
a stepping stone to other is-
lands (Britain, Iceland?) and
to the “great continent oppos-
ite’ (America?), which is sur-
rounded by “that gigantic sea”
(the Atlantic Ocean?). The
island-kingdom of Atlantis do-
minated many countries. Its
sphere of influence extended
over Africa as far as Egypt,
and over the whole of Europe
to Etruria (Italy?). When en-
ormous earthquakes and floods
suddenly occurred, “the island
of Atlantis was swallowed up
by the sea and disappeared in
a single day and a single evil
nMighhs oS

Other historians of the an-
cient world have told of age-
old traditions of a submerged
eontinent and the disputes and
speculations about Atlantis
have continued over the cen-
turies,

Some 60 years ago a British
scientist took up the thesis
that the Azores and the Can-
ary Islands must be the moun-
tain- peaks of submerged At:
_ lantis. Then modern research
took up-the riddle. It quickly
came to the conclusion that it
could not be mere chance that
both the ancient Egyptians and

the Aztecs of old America, |

without having any knowledge
of or connection with each
_ other, at the same time built
- sphinxes and pyramids.

In ancient Mexico, at one

*

This island was larg-

_time, corpses were embalmed

just the same as in Egypt, and
among both peoples there was
current in ancient times the
legend of the building of the
tower of Babel. The Aztecs
also had in their mythology a
story of the fall of man. .

Some sort of ancient land
bridge must, therefore, at one
time have led across the pre-
sent watery waste of the. At-
lantic.

In 1898, quite by chance, the
first geological proof was
furnished that at the bottom
of the Atlantic there must be
what was once dry land.

In laying cables between
Brest and Cape Cod, one of
the submarine cables was torn
asunder in the neighborhood
of the Azores. During the ef-
forts to recover the severed
cable, a lump of tachylyte, a
glassy mass of lava, was
caught in the steel hawsers
and drawn up to the surface
from a depth of 3,000 metres.
Lava, however, can only hard-
én when exposed to air. .

Q
That was the first geological
proof that at one time there
must have been a mainland

in the Atlantic. The frag-
ments of lava, however, were
able to reveal still more. As
lava crumbles away in 15 ,000
years and “the pieces of lava
in question were greatly erod-
ed, it was concluded that the
flood disaster took place some-
what less than 15, 000 years
ago.

PROF. AUGUSTE PICCARD

By TIM BUCK

Pearson repudiates own vou
‘Keep Germany disarmed’

ITH the success of the Geneva
Conference last summer there
was an upsurge of hope among
‘ne peace-loving people of the
world. It appeared that the pres-
sure of the almost universal de-
sire for peace was bringing about
a relaxation of tension in inter.
national relationships.

Hopes rose for a long period
of peaceful coexistence between
the capitalist and the socialist
states.

Trade between the capitalict
states of Europe and the social-
ist countries increased by 43
percent for the first eight months
of this year.

Cultural exchanges expanded
tremendously. Political leaders
of capitalist countries visited so-
cialist countries in increasing
‘umbers and, invariably, agreed
that the best interests of capital-
ist countries would be served by
Feaceful co-existence and not by
war.

The extent and the growing
authority of the idea of peaceful
coexistence began to find ex-
piession in the declared aims of
some of the heads of imperialist
governments.

Sir Winston Churchill declar-
ed himself in favor of “a real
try.” Even President Eisenhow-
er was impelled to make careful

public statements to counteract ©

the well-founded world opinion
tiiat the government he heads is
opposed to the Soviet govern:
ment’s proposal for mutual ef-
forts to achieve peaceful coex-
istence.

There has been almost general
recognition of the new dilemma
that now confronts mankind.
That dilemma has been stated
tersely by Dr. Keenleyside of the
United Nations as the choice be-
tween “peaceful coexistence or
mutual atomic annihilation.” Of
the choice preferred by the over-
whelming majority of mankind

there is no shadow of doubt— ~

they want peaceful coexistence
and they want their governments
to join in a sincere effort to
achieve it.

ce] xt

During the summer, hopes for
a long period of world peace
were the highest they have been
since ex-president Truman pro-
claimed the bellicose aims of the
Onited States in March 1947.

Literally at that moment, how-
ever, the instigators of war, press-
ed by John Foster Dulles, struck
a threatening blow against the
very basis of those hopes — the
prospects of mutual action by
all the countries of Europe to
guarantee collective security. |

The blow that struck was reck-
less—it may even turn out to be
suicidal—but-its recklessness re-
veals the length to which those
cynical men will go in their
efforts to prevent achievement

of a stable peace in Europe. By
their Paris Agreement they de- —
cided to revive German, militar- :

ism.

In their frenzied haste to make
West Germany the strongest mili-
tary power in Europe, the imper-
ialist governments, pressed by
Lulles, decided to restore sover-
cignty to West Germany on two*
conditions:

+ That West Germany re-
arms on a massive scale and re-

establishes peacetime conscrip-
tion.

+ That the pemistavizaon
is carried through by a govern-
ment which represents the coal
and steel magnates of the Ruhr,
and the Farbenindustries (all of
whom are now junior partners
of United States monopolies)
and the Junkers.

The capitalist papers and the
CBC commentators don’t describe
it in the same words as I am

_ pretended

using but I have described exact-
ly the aim and purpose of the
Taris Agreement .and the condi-
tion (the only conditions) under
which it will be carried out.

% 503 %

The St. Laurent government is
‘ assuring” the people of Canada
Yithat the new German army will
be limited to 12 divisions and a
total of half a million men. But,
already, even before the Paris
Agreement is ratified, the min-
ister of the Bonn government in
charge of military organization is
proclaiming that government’s
plan is to enrol and train 600,000
men in the army, 200,000 “Fron-
tier Defense” troops and naval
f.rees 100,000 strong.

In other words, the half mil-
lion limit proclaimed to Cana-
dians by the St. Laurent govern-
rent becomes 900,000 men in
the announced plans of the West
German government.

Furthermore, the plans_ al-
ready announced are for an army
cyuipped even more definitely
for aggression than Hitler’s Weir-
macht was,

“ALLRIGHT! WHY NOT
LET ALL EUROPE
TALK ABOUT EUROPE?”

Get together

Hitler’s armored divisions each
had 140 tanks. The Nazi gener-
als who commanded then are
planning now, for the new and
“limited and ‘purely
defensive” West German army,
armored divisions with 280 tanks
each — and bigger tanks with
heavier armor and more powerful
ty than Hitler’s divisions ever

a

The St. Laurent government is
“assuring” Canadians that. the
West German government will
not be permitted to use atomic
or bacteriological weapons. That
so-called assurance is in fact a
Geception.. :

ae Konrad Adenauer has em-
phasized more than once that if
‘West Germany regains sover-
egnty, the government of West
Germany will decide what weap-

ons and what methods of war-

fare its army will use.

_ + The U.S. War Department
is starting them off already with
weapons for atomic warfare in

the form of 20 of the great
atomic cannon and atomic am-
munition right up at their east-
ern frontiers. The new German
army is to be part _of the same
command as those atomic can-
non from the very beginning.

The “assurances” being given
to the people about “limits” up-
on German armament are eynica
eyewash. If sovereignty is re-
stored to the Bonn government
on the condition that West Ger-
many rearms, then it is not the
other members of the proposed
‘West European Union” that will
control. Germany, but the other
way round.— Western German
that will control the West-Euro-
pean Union.

x og x

All the lessons of modern his-
tory emphasize that a resurgence
of militarism in Germany will in-
tensify the danger of war in
Europe and, they emphasize also, ~
that prior assurances of peace-
ful intentions provide no curb
upon aggression once the mili-
tary power is ready. Remember,
Adolph Hitler, in the speech with
which he reintroduced conscrip-
tion for military service in Ger- —
many, gave ‘a solemn assur-

- ance” to the peoples of the world

that he was reintroducing peace-
time conscription for military

service to build a mighty Ger- _

man army “not for war but to
preserve peace.”

It is clear that fae central
task confronting peace loving
people everywhere, today, is to
prevent the ratification of the
reckless Paris Agreement.

There is urgent need for united —
democratic action in Canada, to
persuade the members of parlia-
ment to refuse to ratify the
scheme cooked up with such ~
reckless haste at London and
Paris.

Every MP Bhvine be urged to
reply to the government’s mGc--
tion for ratification by quoting
the following statement made by —
its External Affairs Minister
Lester B. Pearson in Toronto.

during the Trinity byelection

campaign: “The best solution of —

all to the Franco-German prob- —

lem would be to keep Germany’
disarmed and neutral.” Ven

In that statement Pearson ~
spoke the truth. The fact that —
he contradicts himself regularly —
according to circumstances does ©
not in any way contradict the
wecessity for every Canadian who
wants peace to support the hope’
and strive for the promise sae
plicit in those words.

Action now to arouse Cana-
dian public opinion against rati-

fication of the Paris Agreement ‘

is “Action for Peace!” To stop
Canadian ratification of the Paris
Agreement is the decisive ac-

tion needed now to “Save Can-

ada from Another War.”

H-rain poisoning plants

SSG: proof that radioactive
dust is affecting plant and
vegetable growth in the Japan-
ese countryside came last week
fiom the Japanese government.
A ministry of agriculture
spokesman said’ in Tokyo that
mulberry leaves grown in some
parts were radioactive—and silk-
worms that ate the leaves had
become radioactive.
The spokesman said ,it was ne
aieved the plants had been. con-

-taminated by radioactive rain re-

ported to have fallen on many
parts of the country since this
spring. |

The news came as Carbon

of claims made by Dr. Tasushi —

Nishiwaki, professor of biophys-

ics at Osaka City University, —

earlier last month.

‘We have already found some ~
vegetables, notably onions, con-
taminated by the dust,” he said —
on a visit to London.

“We know that the body ac- —
cumulates radioactivity in the —
same — way that it accumulates —
lead poisoning. ‘Therefore if
radioactive vegetables or fruit —
are eaten in quantity the effect
will be cumulative.

“Some of the trace elements
in the soil will continue radio-
active for many years, sometimes
for centuries.” |

RAPIFIS TRIBUNE —_ - DECEMBER 3, 1954 . a PAGE ae