STYLES HAVE CHANGED, BUT...

Monopoly Booty Increases |

By TOM McEWEN

OME fifty years ago we
used to marvel at the|
Yand, mineral, timber and|

other resources steals by the}
pioneering tycoons of modern}
monopoly. Today, compared to

their modern resources _hi-
jackers, ‘the old-timers were]
pikers.

Of course, these early “pio-|
neers” didn’t do too badly as
can be readily seen from aj}
brief perusal of the record.
Outfits like the “gentlemen
adventurers of England trad-
ing into Hudson’s Bay” with
their catchy motto of “a skin|
for a skin”, did a masterly job)
of skinning the natives of the
day while grabbing off a few

million square miles of Canada|
| cessors.

to boot.

Then there was the CPR
which, despite its “old school
tie” origin, was no amateur
when it came to land-grabbing,
with everything above and be-|
low. Obliging tory or liberal
governments of the day always
described such grabs as ‘“‘con-}
cessions” to the CPR “empire|
Ider” for its great work of
“opening up” Canada.

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“That “opening up” touch}
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everything |
on, in-|

“opened up”
it could hands
cluding the public treasury, as
may be seen by the millions in|
it has filched over

get its

*‘subsidies”’
the years.

Objections to CPR treasury!
raids were invariably shouted
down by government spokes-

men, leaving a very well-
founded impression that the}

| bringing,
| grabbing off a

| dustry.

| large

| stretching from the Atlantic to
|the Pacific. They were grasp-|

,;CPR was “the government’,
. oe |
; One tory prime minister put!

it just about as bluntly as that.|

them up. In their day ‘they
knew nor practised any _ fin-
esse” or double-talk as their

| successors of today do. In their

Then we had other “empire
builders” in the railway busi-|
ness like the bewhiskered Mac-
Kenzie and Mann who, despite
their strict presbyterian up-
weren’t averse to
few million}
acres of real estate as a token
reward for
tivities.

“opening-up” ac-|

Unfortunately most of our|
present day school books por-|
tray the bulk of these early|
buccaneers. as “patriots” in-|

| stead of land-grabbing pilfer-|

ers; a halo they have preserv-|
ed down through the years to|
adorn the brows of their suc-|

Over on Vancouver Island;
the Dunsmuir family cut quite|
a swath in the grabbing busi-|
ness. Coal, timber, vast areas}
of valuable land, all went into!
the Dunsmuir swag bag, in re-|
turn for its “opening up” serv-|
ices. Having skimmed off the|

| cream, all it has left to be re-| ; }
| ces. This can be seen in some

membered by is a derelict in-

|

Any comprehensive history |
of the rape of Canada by these!
early buccaneers and “empire |
builders” ‘would . require aj}
volume to record their|
barefaced robberies. Their}
names and numbers are legion, |

ing and ruthless in their lust|

for profits and gain. They|
fought unions with hunger, |
club and gun, and all the

power of their state to back|

| ‘skin for a skin”

| fingers,
| against paying twice for fin-
| gers from the same hand, de-

| uppers”’,

| early

technique
they paid a bounty for human
and as a .safeguard

manded ‘‘scalps’’. Canny fel-
lows those early ‘‘opener-
they knew that a
native may have ten fingers,

| but only one scalp.

And they have been “‘scalp-
ing” ever since, but in a high-
ly modern way, with all the
decorum, finesse, plausibility
and double-talk of a ‘diplo-
matic harem. By highly organ-
ized techniques, shored up
with high-priced legal talent,
interlocking directorates, the
rulings of courts and the bless-
ing of bankers, priests and
government touts, the modern,
monopolist of today is_ less
crude than his predecessor of
a century ago, and therefore
far more skilled in pulling off
gigantic grabs and “give-
aways” of the people’s resour-

of today’s giveaways by Ot-
tawa, Victoria and other gov-
ernment centres, where the
handouts to monopoly dwarf
anything our earlier bucca-
neers ever managed. In the
days the grabs were
manipulated on the pretext of
“opening up” the country.

| Now it is done on the equally

phony pretext of “developing”’
the country.

In point of fact the modern
ern giveaways in the areas of
timber, water power, mineral

and other resources in B.C.)
and elsewhere, make the old!
“empire builders’ look like
third-rate pikers. Today it is|
done (and in a big way): with
the polished hand of an expert
shoplifter.

Thus when the grab is final-
ly completed and the opposi-
tion dust settled, we endow the
monopoly grabbers with ‘‘hon-
orary degrees,” chancellor-
ships of universities, chairman-
ships of “royal commissions”’
(to inquire into the grabbing
habits of others of their breed)
and like honors. This aura of
“respectability” assures the
perspective and success of fu-
ture grabs, while at the same
time safeguards the grabbers
from the class anger of the

robbed — the common people.

Meantime, of course, in this
modern age of gigantic giv@
aways to monopoly (foreig? |
and home-grown), the oily
sanctimonious smile and di¥
arming chatter of a Socred
pinch-hitter for Wenner-Gre?
or the BCElectric, is a much
better cover-up for a gigantlé
sellout or resources grab, tha
the saturnine ‘gimme’ soul
puss of a Dunsmuir or #
“Lord” Mount Stephen. Bul
the end results (for the com
mon people) are worse, mu©
worse.

In the old days they called
this monopoly grabbing “ope”
ing up the country’. In of
day it is “free enterpris¢!
busy as beavers “develop!
it”... for the enrichment ©}
the few on the impoverl®
ment of the many.

=

Canadian Monopolies
Betraying Canada

“The Canadian monopolists reject those policies whieh
can build Canadian industry and win new world market
As Junior partners of the U.S.A. they see Canada’s futur?
only in terms of more “integration” with the U.S.A. ant ;

have long ago rejected any idea of an independent Cal

adian — industrial

Canada’s national interests by making our country is

source of raw materials for the U.S.A. and dependent of ,

the U.S.A. for manufactured goods.” |
From Communist Party statement, “Let’s B

Masters In Our Own House.”

development.

They have petraye!