e Kazan Saratov e Stalingrad Ef, Novosibirsk Sverdio vs "Omsk Barnaul § &. Ss. Fz. ees snovarseR Ipbinish Final section completed this yeap Taskent REA SHO: ETAILED mae 2 ‘Scheduled for completion in two to four Years. | EES Seek rer) OPERATING MAIN LINES: |. > ROUTE OF NEW TRUNKS { [TRANS-SIBERIAN Rie| oa FORMOSA od: “S ce Three commune USSR, China, Outer Mongolia, , cooperated in building the Ulan Bator-Peking rail line. New railway link | spans Gobi Desert new Moscow-Peking railway. By ALAN WINNINGTON PEKING, January 4 (by airmail) I have just acted here on the first passenger train from Ulan Bator along the It is a great day for the brother nations of the Soviet Gee China, and Mongolia, for the railway is their joint effort. As the first freight train pulled out of Ulan Bator on January 2 to the shouts of a noisy, jubilant crowd of 30,000 Mongolians, Chinese Premier Chou En-lai cabled Soviet Pre- mier. Bulganin that the new line would “strengthen eco- nomic and cultural ties between - our three countries... greatly promote political, economic and cultural development in the bor- der regions of China.” Not only history, but geogra- oe is being made. Man has conquered the pitiless salt wastes of the Gobi Desert. Look at any standard map of the area. Be- tween Ulan Bator and the first towns of China there js little more than an occasional_con- tour line. Now, beside the railway are eight settlements each of 4,000 people or more—and not in felt tents, either. There are houses, schools and workshops. There are radio, electric light and artesian -wells. Irrigation and crop growing has begun. Artesian wells are not dif- ficult to sink, All these cen- turies the desert has reigned, water has been waiting, only & to 30 feet below’ the dry sur- ace. Now it is being used to grow wheat, watermelons, tomatoes and other crops. The track was not easy to Suite 6 - 426 Main Street, Vancouver 4, B.C. Clip and Mail Tribune Publishing Company Limited, lay. Sandstorms and _ bitter, sub-zero cold hindered the work. But most. of, the labor was emechanized, including 98 per- cent of the earthwork and all tracklaying and_ballasting. Now, as Mongolia’s Transport Minister Uadam Suren pointed out, one diesel locomotive will haul loads in 36 hours that used to take 10,000 camels a month to carry. Yesterday morning our lux- ury German-built train reached the border of the Inner Mon- golian autonomous area of China, where the last rail sec- tions were bolted together by Premier Tsedenbal of the Mon- golian People’s Republic and Chairman Ulanfu of Inner Mon- golia. Hundreds of Chinese, Mongo- lian and Soviet railbuilders stood in the blizzard and cheer- ed the first train from China across the border. Then we got into our warm train and back- tracked to Dzamen Ud for a celebration party. Dzamen Ud is a complete new town in the heart of the Gobi Desert with _ splendid pre- fabricated houses and a theatre, where we ate, drank and watched a first-class variety program. The journey from station to station across this formerly re- » and electric * from Please enter my subscription to the PACIFIC ~ TRIBUNE. Name 1 fees 8 te $3.00-1 year........ Address» ....... $1.60-4 year........ mote desert, where only camels could carry goods, brings the meaning of this railway to life. Everywhere are water towers power, freight- loading stations and locomotives. The! railway is transforming the desert stage by stage, bring- ing better veterinary services, more wells, winter quarters for‘ animals and speeding trade. Life will gradually penetrate it farther and farther into the Gobi Desert, under which lies uncounted wealth that can be brought into use by the growing Mongolian work- © ing class. The railway is more than an example of cooperation of three friendly powers for their mutual benefit and the “mag- nificent gift of the Soviet people to the people of Mon- golia” described it. It is a vast trunk line connections between all Asian powers. It will help Europe and Asia destroy the effects of im- perialist embargoes. The first trains on the railway carried machinery to Asia, and grain, tung oil and peanuts to the Soviet Union and Europe. But 60 percent of the freights will be for Mongolia itself and the remainder will pay transit fees, thug helping to strengthen Mongolian economy. China will send this year four times as many.goods to Mongolia as in 1955 This is Mongolia’s Road to : |. life, the beginning of a new age for Central Asia—the age of the fruitful Gobi. On the train today I thought of Marco Polo. “In this tract,” he says, ‘neither beasts nor birds are met with because there is no food for them.” Socialist nations are changing that. Man has con- quered the formidable frontier of the Gobi Desert. as Premier Tsedenbal | through Asia widening . Continued YOUTH and vocational training, Glyn Thomas, B.C. secretary of Na- tional Federation of Labor Youth, said that it should hasten local action to cope with cur- rent youth problems. “The NFLY has urged Mayor Fred Hume to convene a youth conference here to discuss youth problems, and we are circulat- ing organizations asking them to press for an early date to be set for such a_ meeting,” Thomas. While commending the Com- munity Chest, the NFLY lead- | er added that it failed to con- centrate on one main point— the need for more parks, play- grounds and recreation cen- tres, in order that youth “can find a healthy outlet for their energies.” Opening of school gymns in the evenings for public use would be @ step in the right direction, he felt. Premier W. A. C. Bennett promised the report would be taken up “next week.” Mayor Fred Hume said he has not studied the report as yet but expressed himself in favor of “any move designed to coordinate constructive efforts in the youth guidance field.” He admitted lack of recreational facilities and trained personnel. “Prevention (of juvenile delin- quency) is better than cure,” he said. Vic Forster, Vancouver Labor Council (CCL) secre- tary, lauded the committee’s plan of apprenticeships for students incapable of carrying on adequate school work, and added that “the apprentice- ships themselves should be made more attractive.” Education Minister Ray Wil- liston claimed that the commun- ity programs branch of the de- partment of education is “broad- er and better” than the former Pro-Rec setup, which the Social Credit government scuttled. Mona Morgan, head of the B.C. women’s committee of the Labor-Progressive party, said that when discussing juvenile delinquency ‘the emphasis should be on prevention. The el- imination of crime-horror-sex- war ‘comics’ would be a big step forward in combatting crime.” She also advocated development of parks, and the use of school gymns for after-school sports. The suggested provincial probe of youth problems will be discussed at a meeting of the social action committee of the Vancouver Council of Churches this week. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 13, 1956 — PAGE 12 said ‘1952 provincial elections,” _ said. community centres,- Continued FORSTER they brought in radium. And that winter, I remember, an- other fellow and I ran a trap line (mostly weasel and a few mink, and some muskrat in the spring) but we didn’t ,get rich. “I came to Vancouver about 1932, when the depression was in full swing, and there just weren’t any jobs around. Some of us got city relief work, and on one occasion, working at Fraserview Golf Course, when it poured rain one day we organ- ized a strike against working in the rain — but at the crucial moment for action only three of _ us stood firm, and the ‘strike’ petered out.” ' It was during the depth of the depression that Vic Forster married a Scottish girl from Ayr, who had emigrated to Canada a year or two before. When his wife, Margaret, was having her first baby, Vic could- n’t get her into a hospital be- cause he’didn’t have the $35 de- manded by authorities — and the baby was born at home. Vic’s son is now 21 and he has three daughters, the youngest 15. Two of the girls are still attending school. $e 3 % In 1942, while working in a West Vancouver shipyard, Fors- ter was elected business agent of the Boilermakers Union, and later he edited the union paper, Main Deck. He also became a delegate to Vancouver Labor Council, and joined the CCF about the same time, but later “dropped out” because of pres- sure of other work. “I rejoined the CCF seven or eight years ago, ran twice ag a CCF alder- manic candidate and also con- tested a seat in Point Grey as a CCF standard bearer in the he For the past eight years Fors- ter has been an active member of the B.C. Woodworkers (the store fixtures plants) and is vice-president of the organiza- tion. In 1954 he was elected sec- retary of Vancouver Labor Council and has held that posi- > tion since. In 1954 Forster was a labor aldermanic candidate and polled 16,279 votes. This time, with the backing of both labor councils, plus some independent unions and progressive organizations, he hopes to be elected. But his election, he stresses, “depends upon a good turnout of labor at the polls.” The December, 1955, voting list will be used for the Febru- ary 1 byelection, with 222,936 citizens eligible to vote at 91 stations, which will open at 8 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Advanced: poll will be held January 27-28 at city hall be- tween 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. VIC hits freight hike Vancouver : Labor « Council (CCL) has asked the B.C. Fed- eration of Labor to call.a meet- ing of unions concerned over a proposed boost in grain freight rates to Vancouver. It also urged the BCFL to protest the proposed hike in rates to a Board of Transport Commissioners hearing in Van- couver February 7.