By HAL GRIFFIN TT discovery of gold on the Fraser River in 1858 that transformed British Columbia from the fur trading pre- serve of the Hudson’s Bay Company into the newest colony miners who made it. All around the rim of the Pacific, in the relatively empty lands of Australia and the west coast of North Ameri- ca, restless men were probing desert and wilderness for gold in those middle decades of the 19th century. The revolution- ary struggles of Europe, in Germany, France, Ireland and _ Ttaly, and the Chartist struggles in England, had uprooted thousands from their native lands and sent them seeking new lives on the still new, still ynknown frontiers of the ‘world. The development of the steamship was bringing even the ‘most distant lands within their reach. It was the era of ex- ‘panding capitalism, the period of Britain’s domination of world markets and, as Frederick Engels noted, “the above years (1848-1866) comprise the discovery and working of the Californian and Australian goldfields which increased so im- mensely the circulating medium of the world...” : In 1849 the cry of gold was heard in California. In 1851 it was raised in Australia, In 1858 it rang in the wilder- _ ness of British Columbia. And its last great echo was heard _ 40 years later in the Yukon. It was inevitable that men should turn their eyes north- ward to the unprospected rivers of British Columbia as the first rich yield of the California creeks diminished. For sev- eral years before the actual strike that precipitated the Fraser Rver gold rush, occasional prospectors had been pan- _ The Hudson’s Bay Company’s traders, alert to any penetration of the territory that threatened the company’s monopoly, were concerned about it and by 1856 James Douglas, as gov- ernor of Vancouver Island and chief factor for the company, Was noting the apparent riches of the Fraser in his reports to London. . eS On March 23, 1858 the inevitable happened. A man named Hill, one of a group of miners making his way up the Fraser River to prospect in the Shuswap country, panned gold from a sand bar below Fort Yale. The resultant gold rush was to create a new colony, shape a mass political movement for responsible government from what, until then, had been the grievances of a few colonists and ultimately give the new Canadian nation the full breadth of the continent in which to grow. But the setting in which the struggle developed had already been determined by 70 years of bitter rivalry decided far from North Pacific shores.. Toward the close of the 18th century the lines of expan- sion of three great European powers, Spain, Russia and Bri- _ tain, converged on the Pacific coast of North ‘America to contend for domination with the United States which, hav- ing won its independence, was also embarked on a vigorous expansion. The lure that drew them was control of the trade in _ fur-bearing animals, sea otter and fur seal, opened to Europe by Vitus Bering’s voyage to Alaska in 1741, By the time ruthless slaughter had reduced the wealth from the fun _ trade to a trickle, the prize had become control of territories whose gold and timber resources were-now becoming appar- ent. . British Columbia: the people’s story 1 - THE CONTEST FOR EMPIRE of British North America was an accident only for the ning the creeks flowing into the Fraser and finding gold. . oe The old HBC post at Fort Langley For Spain, preoccupied with the problems of maintain- ing its rule over the vast empire stretching from California to Argentina, in which the seeds of revolt already were . germinating, the expansion proved exhausting, The Spanish viceroys in Mexico knew the northern coasts from a succes- ~~ sion of navigators, beginning with Juan de Fuca and ending wtih Narvaez, the real discoverer of the Fraser River — Boca de Florida Blanca as he called iit. But the Spanish claim ended with the one major attempt made to assert it. ; In 1778, Captain James Cook sailed his ship, the Resolu- tion, into what is now Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island as ‘he probed northward charting the coast. His reports indi- cated the possibilities of extending the fur trade and several British and ‘American vessels followed him over the next decade. When the disquieting news reached Mexico in 1788 that James Meares, a British trader, hadi built a post at Noot- ka to develop the fur trade with China, the Spanish viceroy in Mexico was stung into action, He placed two warships under command of Don Estevan Joseph Martinez and ordered him to Nootka to assert Spain’s territorial claims and estab- lish its trading monopoly. Martinez reached Nootka in May, 1789 and, claiming that the British traders were committing an act of piracy, ‘occu- pied the post, seized Meares’ ships and carried some of their crews off to Mexico, And in leaving he shot and killed Cal-, licum, one of the most important of the Nootka Indians’ sub- chiefs. . From the time Sir Francis Drake, in 1579, sailed an undetermined distance northward along the Pacific coast, . claiming California for Britain as New Albion, Britain had ignored Spain’s pretensions that the Pacfic was a closed sea. Concluded on next page March 28, 1958 — PACIFIC TRIRQ) Source of USSR profit! MOSCOW TH SScond Watch Factory in Moscow is 4 modem enterprise equippeq with the — latest brecision machinery: — Last Year the factory sold goods for 418 million roubles. Of that total, 369 million — _went fot production expenses, leaving 8 profit of 49 million roubles. 3 In the USSR we use a dif ferent System of calculating profit. We ignore completely the cost of equipping and — building the enterprises =) such caPital expenditures are met by the state. We only con- sider actual Tunning expenses Where do the profits made by Soviet industry come from? Some ‘Wester eam perts” Ceclare that, “in Sd they aré createg Se the 2m pense Of the customer and are therfore an indirect tax. Were to re ally and dir If the workers without Means fo <4 v further de- VEIOD IRE AOD sti, Satisfaction | of such heeds as ; ices, edUcation, ae sa Karl Marx a Ce) century ago ie inted outa society, the labor at the oda society aS a w : oe Much hole, While the other, bigs ae would fOrm theip 3 4 other incomes, ages ani In the- USSR a part of their bore is thal ers create for .o.0 1° work: whole. Clety as a Practically, it ms three ways: Works out in Firstly, wages : OTe establishments = industrial — somewhat mor ae grow labor productivity Owly than Secondly, the machinery ang proves ffom ye Thirdly, all 4; head exPenses ively redXced _ Utilization of A big part s by the 8roWing al production, floor spa&e, the, ,,PFOduction — need to increas, (STC is no staff, to SPeng he office lighting, ete. More’ for Conseqently. h Ai made by a Sovie, ¢ _ Profi establishent ig , | dustrial process Of prog, °@ted in thi not an indirect 4.-10n. It is sumer haS noth} os it at ‘all. BS ALEXANDRE,