SAE NA Hoover-Taft statements show R a people whose government gets most of its orders from Washington, Canadians have more than a passing interest in the var- ious statements of top U.S. political and mil- itary figures. Some two weeks ago Republican ex- president Herbert “Hunger” Hoover made a speech which kicked the feet from under the Marshalized hangers-on of dollar imperialism. The burden of Hoover's spiel was that America had extended its “aid” and military commitments too far and too wide; and should therefore retreat behind a well-forti- fied Atlantic and Pacific line in “bold and cour- agéous” isolation. Of course “Hunger” Hoov- er didn’t say isolation, but he did define what kind of isolation he meant. It is axiomatic of Yankee “statesmen” in these hot-cold-war times that they never say what they mean — » or mean what they say! Hoover spoke for the die-hard right wing’ Republicans, also smarting under the ham- mer blows of the Korean People’s Army and the Chinese volunteers, and seeking a “way out” of a suicidal war venture now boomer- anging upon its conspirators. Like Senator Cannon, “Hunger” Hoover would like a full- scale world war against thé forces of peace, progress and socialism, but he would like the cannon fodder to be supplied by the Marshal- lized satellites of dollar-imperialism. Not see- ing that possibility in the immediate future, thanks to millions of jpeace-loving peoples in all lands, including America, Hoover paints a nostalgic picture of a ‘fortress America,” thumbing its military nose at the rest of the world, and living in splendid isolationist selfs sufficency,, Needless to say, the Hoover blast threw the Atlantic Pacters into a real political dith- er. Just when Britain’s Attlee was beginning to think his war conference with. “A-Bomb”: Harry Truman had reached “full understand- ing” along.comes Hoover to, knock the “un- derstanding’ props out. AS ‘though that weren’t enough to give the imperialist dollar chasers a large-sized ° headache, along comes the notorious Republi- can Senator Robert Taft with another ora- tion, Taft didn’t cut the corners as neatly as 1 Canada must decide own affairs Hoover, but made an awful dinge in the basic underlying thesis of U.S. foreign policy, that Soviet Russia had no designs for, and was not preparing, or seeking war with America. That rare glimmering of trath, spoken by a leading American “statesman” and war- monger, threw the top layers of diplomatic and military brass of the “Atlantic communi- ty of free nations” completely off base. And "little wonder. The whole pattern-of their war hysteria, war propaganda, aggressive war in KKorea and China, added to all their other in- terventions upon the economies and territor- ies of other peoples and nations, is founded -upon the false and oft-repeated assertion that the Soviet Union is out for “world domina- tion,” hence thé need “to build up our defens- es,” which is the imperialist method of cover- ing its provocative plans for anti-Soviet war on a world scale. Taft’s belated “opinion” that the Soviet Union has no ulterior designs on America does not stem from a growing desire on the part of this reactionary Republican chief for peace, nor a lessening of the provocative ob- jectives in U.S. foreign policy, No doubt as with Hoover, the “glorious victories” of ““Mik- ado” MacArthur in Korea had a lot to do with the simple truth forcing its way to the surface in the inner circles of the professional War conspirators. Taft's speech doesn’t indicate that the in- ner circles of Yankee imperialism are becom- ing “peace-minded,” but it does point up the fact that the top strategists of American im- perialism, with their armies on the run and “chunking out” of Korea, are being compel- led to seek revision of their plans for world domination — compelled by millions of people with arms and petitions in their hands, deter- mined upon peace. : “A-Bomb” Harry Truman’s most recent orations, designed mainly to undo the damage done to Atlantic Pact “morale” by the Hoov- er-Taft blasts, are neither new nor true, and fail to cover up the growing realization among millions of the world’s peoples, in- cluding the American people, that when war conspirators, like thieves “fall out,” the forces and possibilities for lasting peace are im- “measurably enhanced. TOM McEWEN As We See lt HERE was a time when the unwritten law of the sea was Accepted without question, and as obligatory upon all who could give needed aid to men who “go down to the sea in ships”. From long custom and usage these unwritten laws became part of what is now a voluminous international martitime code, accepted by all civilized peoples. Those who can remember that. far back will remember a night in May of 1912, when the “unsinkable” White? Star luxury liner Titanic, on her maiden voyage from Belfast to New York, struck a gigantic iceberg and went to the bottom of the ‘ North Atlantic with an appalling loss of life. They will also remember that it was an Ameri- -can ship, the California, one of a fleet owned by a powerful U.S. shipping corporation, which was closest to the Titanic, but whose officers disre- garded the SOS signals of the stricken vessel. Other ships of other flags, far from the disaster area, drove their engines to the breaking point to render aid to the doomed Titanic, ‘ One has only to turn back to the newspaper files of that day to grasp something of the public horror and indignation which swept the world at this barbaric violation of the ancient code of the sea by the master of an American ship; ~ Now we turn to another saga of the sea during the early days of 1951 when the Yuletide spirit was still among us, The Greek ship Pinelopi with a 9,000-ton cargo of sugar loaded in Cuba for Shanghai, China, called at the port of San Francisco for fuel oil. Instead of throwing its pipeline aboard and doing business in the good old-fashioned free-enterprise way, the powerful Yankee oil octopus draped its best “iron curtain” around the Pinelopi, a curtain which proclaimed the edict, NO OIL! Sugar could hardly be classified as “war material”, but the NO OL ukase was emphatic and final. j Unaware of how: “democratically” our free enterprisers can scuttle’ the codes of decent human behaviour, the Pinelopi headed for Honululu, hoping to be able to purchase fuel there to continue her voyage. Two days out of Honolulu the Pinelopi was advised by radio that there was NO OIL in that port. The USS. oil octopus had reached across the Pacific to shut off all sources of supply. With engines shut off the Pinelopi wallowed in the Pacific swell while her masters and owners radiod and dickered with Yankee and British oil magnates in Honolulu. NO OIL! The dollar-spangled iron-curtain was operating to perfection. ‘People’s China was to have no sugar, and the Pinelopi could go to hell or Davy Jones’ locker for all they cared. With her fuel tanks at low ebb the Pinelopi meandered back to Vancouver. WHlere of course she could buy oil—something every decent Canadian may still feel fairly good ‘about, but she had to unload 1,200- tons of sugar at the B.C. Sugar Refineries to take on the amount of oil needed to reach her final destination. No doubt the BCSR made a profitable deal in the transaction, since the “code” of capitalism is always to exploit another’s difficulties, but that is another story. However, don’t run away with the idea that full fuel tanks lifted the dead-weight of the oil octopus’ iron curtain. Far from it. These oily free-enterprisers had another card to play—pressure on the crew to desert the ship, another violation of maritime law. The crew consisted of about 20 Greek seamen with the balance made up of Puerto Ricans, Cubans and some Polish DP’s. “Don’t sail that ship to China,” warned the stool pigeon agents of dollar. imperialism, “the Chinese Reds will shoot you, throw you in jail, slit your throat. Don’t you know the Chinese are killing all our American and Canadian boys? Better-leave that ship in port.” But the Greek seamen, like millions of workers the world over, are learning to detect the foul propaganda themes and techniques of the imperialist warmongers. Having experienced at first hand the tricky and oppressive workings of Anglo-American “democracy” in their homeland, they are able to savvy its oderiferous aroma when served up to them in the port of Vancouver or elsewhere. While the witch-doctors of “our free way of life’ managed to frighten and intimidate a few of the DP, Cuban and Puerto Rican Seamen to get off the Pinelopi, 20 Greek seamen stood by their ship and sailed her out of Vancouver harbor a few days ago—destination, People’s China. There are certain laws against permitting a ship to proceed to Sea understaffed, but what are laws, codes, custom or traditions to the iron curtain manufacturers? The deliberate leaving of a ship, under-fueled, to the mercy of the sea, is in itself a crime comparable to that of the California disregarding the SOS of a stricken ship loaded with human beings. ‘ The incident of the Pinelopi serves to point up a number of characteristics inherent in our “free enterprise way of life”; first its utter disregard for the safety of life or property, in the pursuit of its own narrow selfish interests, and second, its readiness to toss over- | board all those ethical codes which express the line of demarcation between savagery and civilization. : The Pinelopi incident’ has a lot of lessons for Canadians, chief among which is to get our government, our country and our people out of this Yankee-dominated iron curtain business, and back onto ' the course of peace and normal relations with all our neighbors— among them China. Cl NG moon To ee EUV RIEU UN aE Published Weekly at Room 6 - 426 Main Street, Vancouver, B.C, By THE TRIBUNE PUBLISHING COMPANY LTD.” Telephone MA. 5288 | ‘ Mae ase.x? Tom McEwen ......... is siete Habs srivuer) cs stare Subscription Rates: 1 Year, $2.50; 6 Months, $1.35. _ Printed by Union Printers Ltd., 650 Howe Street, Vancouver, B.C. Authorized as second class mail, Post Office Dept. Ottawa PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 12, 1951 ‘— Page 8 Meee