What to give for X- mas

ONE, alas, are the days of
chivalry when men were men
and -mortal combat was a
straightforward matter; when
good and evil looked each other
in the eye across the business end
of a lance, a bow, or a six-gun,
Science has antiquated these
romantic images by producing
super-efficient weapon for mass.
killing, The moral issues have
become clouded by the imperson-
al undiscriminating nature of me-
gaton bombs and pervasive ra-
diation.
No one is more aware of this
quantitative change in the nature
of killing thantoy manufacturers,

Always abreast of the times,’

these upstanding free - enter-j
prisers are now supplementing
their still popular old favorites
—guns and knives - with scale
model replicas of the more so-
- phisticated weapons of today...
motivated of course by a praise-
worthy desire to give all children
a well-rounded education.

* * *

Many toy companies have their
Christmas lines out already. The
following are only a few of the
presents Santa will bring this
year to commemorate the birth
of ‘The Prince of Peace’’:

Paulite Plastics, Preston, On-
tario, Missile Launching Bases,
Missile Firing Assault Units,
United Nations Troops:
and Jeep, United Nations Army
Mobile Attack Forces and, in the
Civilian line, a Riot Squad Gun.,

Caper Toy Co., Ltd., Toronto,
Ontario: DC-8 Jets and ‘‘Cana-
da’s own Tiger Tank.”’

Somerville Plastics, Brama-
lea, Ontario. Exploding road.
Complete with soldiers to be
blown up.

Carzol Plastics, Montreal: Gi-
ant Battle Tanks.

These are but a few companies
and many other Canadian and A-
Merican manufacturers will also
be offering their wares. ‘Perhaps
One of them, wishing to enlighten
Children about nuclear fission,
Will produce a scale model Hy-
drogen Bomb, complete with
blast.

The question arises from this:
Should parents buy their children
Such toys? Most would prefer not
to but all who have had the un-
Comfortable experience of trying
to convince a stubborn, foot-
Stamping, child that he doesn’t

really want the toy know how dif-
ficult it is to refuse.

Many parents shudder at the
thought of their children playing
with such horrible miniatures and
thoroughly enjoying themselves.

But refusing children suchtoys
—perhaps alienating them from
their missile-packing playmates
—can sometimes have more seri-
ous consequences than giving in.

Children between the ages of
five and-10 have minds like putty
‘upon which lasting impressions
can be made. They want to be
like other children, to have the
things they have. A suggestion
from their parents that they are
somehow different may put them

in a mental dilemma.

If a simple explanation fails to
convince the child that he does
not want a toy and observant par-
ents can gauge their children’s
response, then he should be al-
lowed to have it.

But this does not mean that
parents are powerless to curb the
‘effects of outside environment
upon their children, They can
‘¢work upon’’ their minds to give
them strong and deep - rooted
ideas about war, despite the con-
tinual brainwashing process in-
flicted on children by this so-
ciety.

There are two key things for

parents to remember:
(1) Until children reach 10 or
11 only their parents have an open

_door to their minds.

(2) After this age the ‘‘private
entrance’’ becomes a ‘‘public’’
one. Children become more sus-
ceptible to other ideas and the
parents’ influence is tremen-,
dously and permanently dimin-
ished.

Keeping this always in mind
parents can use their ‘‘power’’
over their young children in a
constructive way.

By a process of friendly per-
susaion, evolving as the child
grows older into a straightfor-
ward explanation of their own
ideas and beliefs, they can large-
ly determine his future character
-and ideals,

Parents must walk the narrow

_ line between creating an inner

world too radically different from
what their children see outside,’
and allowing their young minds
to run rampant without trying to
‘channel their thoughts,
: * * * :
In a socialist Canadathere will

not be the same difference be-_

tween the moral standards of
home life and the outside world.
Children will not be faced with—
the host of conflicting ideas which
can be so injurious to their im-
pressionable minds.

An example of this dasinable ;
parity between social and family
environment is the Soviet Union
where today there are laws which
forbid the manufacture for child-
ren of replicas of war toys.

-  —Victor Williams

Belafonte comments...

Rabbi Abraham Feinberg of the
Canadian Campaign for Nuclear
isarmament recently interviewed
the well known folk artist, Harry
elafonte. Following is ar eport of
the interview as it appeared in “San-
tty”, publication of the CCND.
°
_ Feinberg: ‘‘What  relation-
Ship, if any, is there, in your o-
Pinion between the integration
Movement and the one for nuclear

WORTH
READING

The Call of the Cosmos, by K
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This is the first complete col-
€ction of the works of science
fiction by the great Russian
Scientist, K. Tsiolkovsky (1857-
1935), The author tells us about
Space travel by rocket, original
@Pparatus for maintaining life
Unctions during journeys to the
distant planets and the infinite
Teaches of the cosmos.

This book is a **must’’ for
€very science fiction fan as it
Compels one to think of the many
Problems of space travel, now
hat there is so much cosmic con-

disarmament?”

Belafonte;
who function without conscience
as far as the Negro people are
concerned - the men who believe
in segregationist conduct - are
generally the same people who
embrace the idea of nuclear test-
ing and nuclear weapons. Once
in a while there is an exception,
bit it’s so rare that it is almost
negligible.

**} would say the number one
thing that concerns the world to-
day is...whether or not there
will be an end to nuclear testing,
‘an end to armaments, and a be-
ginning towards turning the vast
scientific knowledge of nuclear
energy into peaceful uses, so that
we may be able to end starvation
in India, to end famine in China,
to bring water to the great desert
of Australia,

*‘and it would certainly be a
tremendous boon to most of the
countries of the world if all ofthe
spending that goes on for the wea-
pons race and nuclear testing
could be channeled into more
challenging and more productive
areas.”’

Feinberg: ‘*Coexistence be-

tween the Soviet Union and the —
“and the same.

United States is, of course, the
basis for any kind ofnuclear dis-

*¢T think that the men.

armament, and coexistence be-
tween the colored and white
peoples of the world is inasense
on the same level, isn’t it?’’

Belafonte: ‘‘Yes, it’sthe same
thing.’’

Feinberg: ‘‘Have you ever, if
I may ask this question, been un-
der pressure because of your in-
terest in the fight for Peace...?

Belafonte: ‘Yes I have.’’

Feinberg: ‘‘What form did it
take?’’

Belafonte: ‘*Letters, state-

ments, by prominent people in the
public eyes who feel that as an
artist, I should concern myself
with matters of art, and not with
things that assume to have only
political proportions. Then, my
answer is, you know, I really don’t
think Picasso and Leonard Bern-
stein and Frank Sinatra and my-
self and anumber of other people,
writers like Sean O’Casey, are
going to have any special places
that we will be able togotoin the
event of an atomic holocaust...’’

‘Feinberg: ‘You find the colo-
nial mentality, the slave - hole
mentality, and war-monger men-

‘tality are very closely allied to

each other?’’
Belafonte: ‘‘I think they’ re one

It’s a moral is-
sue.’’

Planned obsolescence

N o less an authority than the
National Observer, the
weekend edition of the WallStreet
Journal, warned recently against
the growing amount of shoddy
products, faulty repairs and
‘crumbling parts plaguing the Am-
erican consumer,

And the consumer is becoming
more angry as he discovers that
many of the products he buys -
at higher prices than ever before
- are practically useless immed-
iately after purchase.

The National Observer gives
example after example.

For example, a man who jumps
into his 1962 luxury compact car,
with it four-speed gear shift, and

starts to shift, when he discovers

he isn’t moving an inch.

The transmission has fallen out
and is lying onthe pavement. And
the car is just a couple of weeks
past the factory warranty,

**Lemons’’ of one kind or ano-
ther - cars, plumbing, applian-
ces, and much else are being
sold the American public which,
in recent years, has forgotten,

says the National Observer, the .

old adage ‘‘let the buyer beware.’’

Not only consumers, but many
retailers are complaining about

- the growth of shoddy merchan-

dise, the tendency of many manu-
facturers to cut corners and
cheapen their products - while
not reducing prices!

Junky clothing creates more
problems. perhaps than any other
single item, and this affects
working people especially be-
cause they can affordto buy onlya
limited amount of clothes and ex-
pect them to last.

Ranking perhaps even higher as
a source of complaint is the tra-
shy appliances, the unworkable
television and radio sets, the
poorly manufactured furniture -
and of course, those most expen-
sive luxuries - the automobile
which is a *‘lemon’’,

Some shoes being sold these
days, according to this Wall
Street Journal survey, shoes
which are often actually so poorly
produced that onelocal consumer
said: ‘‘They don’t wear out....
they break off in chunks.’’

The desire of many manufac-
turers to save money in produc-
tion, while creating what appears
to be very fancy and expéhsive
materials, has led to anincreas-
ed use of plastics - which often
quickly lose their shape, go to
pieces or become unworkable.

This is particularly true inthe
use of plastics in refrigerators,
the National Observer reported.

In many cases refrigerator doors.

do not work at all and repair
bills have been sky-rocketing
throughout the country.

In many cases manufacturers
have gone in for using units of
construction, so that it’s impos-

sible ‘to fix one small part with-
out tearing apart a large section
of a machine or device or app-
liance, An example of such shod-
dy manufacturing is a type of
wiring in a car which comes out
as one unit. When a shorted bat-
tery cable could not be fixed, the

whole system had to be replaced.

The general quality of shoddi-
ness in manufacturing, the Na-
tional Observer reported, is only
equalled by the fraudulence of
many of the so-called ‘‘warran-
ties’’ which actually turn out to

be practically useless - after you

read the fine print!
—ILWU Dispatcher

The world famed ‘Mokeoui Gomis will be appearing in Vancouver’s Agrodome
from Dec. 25 through to Jan. 5. Last year, while in Eastern Canada, the com-
pany was presented with a Canadian bear asa gift from the children of

Montreal.

RHYMES
with the times

John F, Kennedy woke at 3 a.m.,

was told of the fall of President Diem.
News item: *‘CIA role suspected’’—
Madame Nhu says it’s detected.

The corpse of Diem has been disposed.
Who was responsible? Everyone knows
with CIA and thousands of ‘*boarders’”’
he’d no longer carry out orders.

So with Kennedy’s plans and you know who
they carried out a palace coup.

Will the people benefit? What’s the score?
Will they continue that bloody war?

Whether it’s Nguyen Tho with gun or sword
it’s the people who’ll have the very last word.
They’ll build a peaceful and happy land
without gangsters of a foreign strand.

—Laboris

N