school in Toronto’s Ward
' School Trustee Edna Ryerson.

cornerstone for the new school building which will replace the
present one built 77 years ago.

: * A 10-year long fight for construction of a new public

‘a

5 has been won by progressive
Here she is seen laying the

Youth parley calls
for national flag

More than 100 young people representing 30 organizations,
participated in the first Canadian Youth Conference held here
May 12-13. Called by Toronto CCF Youth, all political, religious,
social and ethnic groups were invited to take part.

Delegates were unanimous in
favoring a distinctive Canadian
flag and the right to vote at
18. Since it was not a policy-
making conference, no decisions
were taken on other questions.

The Canadian gas pipeline caus-
ed a mild flurry during the open-
ing forum on “How Canada’s
Young People Can Get the Bene-
fit of Our Country’s Wealth.”
Representatives of the Young
Liberals, Progressive-Conserva-
tive, CCF, Social Credit and Na-

tional Federation of Labor Youth '

opened discussion.

Jim Service of the Young Lib-
eral Association said the gov-
ernment wanted private capital!
to build the pipeline because it
“didn’t want to act as an arbi-
trator between those in the west
who want a high price for the gas
and those in the east who want}
a low market price for buyers.”

Ted Rogers, Progressive Con-
servative, charged that Trade
Minister C. D. Howe lied when he
said there were no offers to build
the line except by Trans-Canada

Commenting on the huge Can-/

adian trade deficit to the U:S. for
1955, he asked: “How did we pay
for it? With common stock in our
mines, oil wells and now with the
same government wanting to loan
an American company $80 mil-
lion.” ;

His group did not object to
American investment in Canada,
Rogers stated, but Canadian in-
vestors should get at least the
same chances as Americans.

Bill Grant said CCF youth fav-
ored maximum production with
the best possible distribution of
the national income.

“We do not believe a few peo-
ple should accumulate by fair
means or foul a large proportion
of the national income and spend
it in Florida,” he said.

The CCF would achieve its aim
by nationalizing industries where
absolutely necessary and by a
better system of taxation.

Ben Shek, NFLY, called for a
program of national development,
through building steel and other
processing industries and a Can-
adian pipeline which would create
demands for thousands of skilled
workers... )

He proposed a cut in the arms
budget so the government could
_ help start a national sports pro-
gram, supply low-interest loans
to young. farmers, appreritice

' of conscription. :

training schemes and grants to
_ the arts.

TORONTO

_ The remaining day and a half
was devoted to panel and open
discussions on culture, education,
racial and religious . discrimina-
tion and conscription.

Wilf Horrowick launched a
lively discussion on conscription
with contention that Canada must
be armed and prepared for war.
Therefore, he said, he favored
conscription.

One delegate outlined his own
experiences as a volunteer in the
army for three years. It was pos-
sible to learn a trade, he said.
But they chose the trade for
you, like machine-gunner or para-
chutist. “Where will this job get
you on Civvy Street?” _

Steven. Endicott, NFLY, said

not one national or major youth
organization had spoken in favor,

Les Dawson, conference chair-
man, said Canadian army offi-
cers made statement favoring
conscription. These were con-
trary to government policy, but
no discipilinary action was tak-
en. “Those who oppose con-
-scription must use pressure in
the opposite direction,” he said.

All delegates agreed that the
conference was a good idea and
endorsed the idea of putting it
on an annual basis, with a special |
session to be called in the fall of

this year.

Gas rates sidetracked
by PUC charges Effie

The Public Utilities Commission is trying to sidetrack the right of all citizens to ques-
tion B.C. Electric Company spokesmen on proposed natural gas rates at a public hearing,
Civic Reform Association president Effie Jones charged this week,

In a letter to Mayor Fred
Hume congratulating Vancouver
City Council for objecting to the
May 24 “deadline” for gas pro-
tests set by the PUC and asking
for more time to study the ques-
tion, Mrs. Jones outlined three
reasons why the CRA feels a
public hearing is necessary:

@ The proposed rates would al-
low too great a spread be-
tween the price paid by the
B.C. Electric to the pipeline

and the price charged to the,

consumer.

Vancouver citizens pay the
highest residential electric
rates prevailing in any large
Canadian city. They want to
question BCE representatives
on whether gas rates are
kept high in order not to
compete with the sale of
electricity. ' :

Are the proposed. gas rates to
consumers inflated in order
to subsidize the rates to in-
dustry? A public probe
would give citizens’ spokes-
men a chance to grill com-

pany representatives on this.

issue.

B.C. rates will be about four
times those charged in Alberta
cities. BCE argues that “Alberta
is siting on a pool of gas.”

“Let me remind you,” ’ wrote
Mrs. Jones to Mayor Hume, “that
the B.C. Electric. at said last

Luckock of Toronto, president of the Congress

year’s hearing that the average
cost to the company of gas de-
livered at Huntingdon was 28.7

‘cents per thousand, cubic feet.

Deduct that sum from the rate
the BCE proposes to charge Van-
couver citizens and we will still

| be asked to pay three times as

much as citizens pay in Edmon-
ton.”

In a letter sent by Civic Re-
form Association to secretary N.
W. Mellish of the Public Utilities
Commission, the. CRA president
protested against the May 24
deadline for arguments against
the proposed BCE gas rates, and

then outlined in detail the CRA
position.

“Consumers will find it hard
to believe that distribution costs
are three times as high in Van-
couver as in Edmonton,” wrote
Mrs. Jones. “Or, again, why gas
should cost twice as much here

as in San Francisco, in view of
similar pipeline prices and gen-
erally higher wages prevailing
there.”

Proposed rates kill the possi-
bility that advent of natural gas
will provide an alternative to,
or competition with, the unrea-
sonably high price of electricity
in this area.

“We repeat again,’ concluded
Mrs. Jones, “that in the inter-
ests of the consuming public the
PUC should conduct a_ public
hearing on this matter in order
that all factors bearing on the
rates may be fully explored.

“In the meantime the CRA
suggests that the rate which
would adequately compensate
the company is that rate which
could be arrived at by adding to
existing Edmonton rates the price
‘paid by the B.C? Electric to the
pipeline company.”

Toronto Labor Council
backs Padlock fight

TORONTO

This city’s 60,000-member Labor Council, formerly an
affiliate to the Canadian Congress of Labor, has given warm
endorsation to the country-wide campaign against the notor-
ious Quebec Padlock Law. .

' ‘of Canadian Women, is visiting China to attend sessions

of the Women’s International Democratic Federation.

She “is

shown above chatting with Chinese delegate Teng Ying-chao

and others.

Delegates applauded Paul Nor-
'mandin, secretary-treasurer of the
Trust Fund to Contest the Pad-
lock Law, when he appealed for
support of all affiliates.

Council had already voted a
contribution and urged support of
its members for the campaign,

president Dave Archer announc-
ed.

(In Vancouver, the former CCL
body, Vancouver Labor Council,
gave $25 to the Trust Fund and
urged affiliated unions to back
the campaign to smash the Pad-
lock Lew.)

Normandin said that a test case
involving the validity of the Pad-
lock Law will be heard at the
fall sessions of the Supreme
Court. To cover expenses 2
$10,000 fund is being raised.

Study shows how segregation harms U.S.

NEW YORK

Development of the potentiali-

ties of U.S. Negroes through in-

tegration would result in “enor-

mous benefits” to the country,

according to a study just com-
pleted at Columbia University.

The study, entitled “The Negro
Potential,” calls the Negro popu-
lation “the single most under-
developed human resource in the
country.” j

It notes that severe discrim-
ination both in the South and
the North operates to hamper
the development of the Negro.
Only three young Negroes ‘out
of a hundred are graduated from
college, it. reports. Sa

Inferior schooling, segrega-
ted living and other forms of

discrimination are blamed for
having produced lower capa-
bilities and psychological handi-
caps for Negroes. The study
declares this situation will not
be changed without equal
integration of Negroes in U.S.
national life.

Among benefits which would
accrue from such integration ac-
cording to the report, is the estim-
ated increase of Negro high school
graduates. to 158,000 annually,
more than double the present
figure, and an annual increase of
Negro college graduates from
9,000 to 23,000 in a period of grow-
ing critical manpower shortages.

The 114-page study, written by
Dr. Eli Ginzberg of the Conser-
vation of Human Resources Pro-

ject at Columbia University, at-
tributes “spectacular”? progress of
Negroes in recent years to eco-
nomic prosperity, rather than to
changes in attitudes. It forsees
further progress if prosperity con-
tinues and Negroes improve their
utilization of new opportunities
now open to them.

“The assessment of Negro po-
tentialities is predicted on the
scientific theory that there are
no differences in the basic intel-
ligence or capacities of different
racial groups,” the New York

Times commented on the report. ;

The study, one of several started
in 1950 by President Eisenhower
while he was president of Colum-
bia’ University and reflecting his
concern with manpower wastage

May 25, 1956 —

drew a connection between the
Negro. potential and the U.S.
government’s cold war program.

It declared that failure to pro-
vide true equality for Negroes
weakened efforts to compete with
the Soviet Union for the minds
and hearts of millions not yet
committed to either side. ~

Along the same line, it took
issue. with U.S. General Mark
Clark’s recent claim that Negro
soldiers are inferior to whites.

It said the record of Negroes
in the Second World War was
“less good” that that of white |
troops, but attributed this to
handicaps suffered by Negroes iD —
civilian life and the segregated —
pattern of Negro troop utilization.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 2 —

{

during the Second World War, eS