Mo's: FOUR firm:- GUARDIAN

.hlur|slng Dally (Founded ll lllf) Authorised as DQVUIIII Ulrua flail. Pans Offlol poplar-unreal, Olsa a.

The: lsluud tiuunllaa furnishing Ca. Idiom uurl Managing Dlrarsor, J I. Barlafls Annotate Editor, Iraals Walbaa.

YThe Strongest Memory is Weaker Than the Weakest Ink.“

CBABLOTTETOWN, MONDAY, JULY 4, 1949 A Liberal Warning

Prime Minister St. Laurent and the Canad- ion people are probably equally disturbed at the extent of the Liberal election success, says the OttawaCiiizen (Independent Liberal). Mr. St. Laurent's lot as party leader would be more com- fortable had he been returned with a moderate working majority. lnstead he finds himself head- ing an unwieldy legion in comparison to which the combined opposition in the Commons will take on the aspect of a corporal's guard. This top-heaviness holds latent possibilities for trouble that Mr. St. Laurent and his chief lieutenants must be already pondering.

And if the electors are worried as to whether they may not have overdone a good thing in re- ducing Parliament to virtually a one-party in- stitution, they have a sound basis for their fears. it will be difficult for the Government to resist the temptation to be complacent and self-satis- fied at the outcome of the voting. Should this result in inaction or a drastic deceleration in plans for social and economic advance, the na- tion would suffer. And Canadians would doubt- less feel that they had been frustrated by their own over-generosity toward the Liberal party.

With a clear majority in every province ex- cept Alberta, the Government's Parliamentary support contains nearly all the diverse elements in Canadian public life. To reconcile and direct these in coherence and harmony wi-ll tax the Prime Minister's sagacity as a politician and statesman. Canadian political history is replete with instances where overwhelming numerical su-periority has developed party schisms to the stage of disaster.

The Liberal party and the cabinet are al- ready, notes the Citizen, at odds on housing-the weakest point in their armor—-both as to per- formance and program. Other serious differences —ideological and sectional-—will inevitably arise. These inherent conflicts will be magnified by the size of the Liberal victory. And there is no long-

'er the over-present threat of defeat in Parlia-

ment to unite the government cohorts in the interes-t of survival.

l Tho Food Problem

r

Each morning 50,000 extra persons appear at the world's breakfast tables. Such was the ar- resting statement made before an American au- dience recently by Dr. J. W. G. MacEwen, dean of agriculture at the University of Manitoba. He was discussing world food problems and he was emphasizing a point the nutritionists have been trying to impress on people for a long time. lt is that the world's population is growing, that it ls already many millions greater than before the war. ,

That is a known fact, comments the Ottawa Journal, but the other side of the picture is not complimentary. There are more people but not more food for them to eat, and the possibilities of getting sufficient food are not too bright. It will take what may well be a revolution in thought among consumers and producers alike to in- crease the world supply of food to any appreci- obla extent. Producers will have to accept science to a degree they have been unwilling to in the past and consumers must abandon hopes for cheap food.

Dr. MacEwon argued "the key to many of the world's problems may be food" but also po t- od out that, at the present time at least, t re did not appear to be enough tillable land in the world to produce the food needed. It required two and a half acres to produce all food for a single person and only two acres appeared available. He suggested that science might have the answer, and out in Vancouver last week Dr. R. D. Sinclair, president of the Agricultural lnsti- tute of Canada, declared."lt is a fair assump- tion that in the race between population and food supply there is little hope for survival of the human race without the full-timed, vigilant, ap- plication of science to the problems of agricul- tute."

The great drawback to the universal accept- ance of scientific agriculture on the part of pro- ducers, suggests the Journal, is the insistence by consumers almost everywhere that food, as a rrgcessity, must be cheap. It has been cheap in the past, compared to most other necessities, largely because new land was available and old land was mined of its richness. Little or no at- tempt was made to conserve the soil, build back into it some of the richness taken out. Scientific farming means greater use of fertilizers, allow- ing Iand to rest and other practices liable to cost more than simply mining the soil and then abandoning it for richer fields. To reconcile an ever-growing population with cheap food ap- pears an impossibility.

Barter lleai With Argentina

The Anglo-Argentina trade agreement, sign- ed last week in Buenos Aires, has stirred up a lot of controversy at Washington, where some sena- tors see in it a threat to United States trade with South America, and there will be adverse comment in Euro "e. The official reaction‘ here, according to the ttawa Journal, is that Canad- ian trade with the United Kingdom is not affect- ed, but that is largely because we hm no sur- plus meat at present. The agreement is for five years and the Canadian picture ~could well change. \

An interesting feature of this agreement is that it appears to be o strai ht barter deal ba- tvreen two governments. The K takes Argentine meats and gives maeofacturol goods in return. Practically no cirrre ‘ "will change hands. lrit- ain hoe made such ols with other European countries but this is the first instance of straight

barter with an American hemisphere country, the main reason why Washington is obviously dis- turbed.

There is apparently some sympathy for Bri- tain's position in Washington, but that it is not going to stop criticism when powerful pressure- groups get to work. Britain needed meat, was short of dollars, and was adverse to the free conversion of sterling. The Argentine had plenty of blocked sterling but was short of dollars also because of heavy im-ports of U. S. goods in re- cent years. Traditionally Britain had been her best meat customer.

lt is all further evidence that because of the apparent inability of any nation to arrive at a solution of the vexed currency problem world trade is sl-owly grinding to a standstill and na- tions are being forced to resort to all sorts of expedients. Trade is a world necessity but with- out a medium of exchange it faces bad times.

JEDITORIAL NOTES!

_._,__ independence Day, U. S. A.

Summer camps now take the place of school so far as the city children are concerned. ln the country farm chores will be the order of the day.

I i I

The Province comes out tops again-this time in producing the best young essayist in Ca- nada on the subject of the Navy. Miss MacLean is heartily to be congratulated.

After the election, Finance Minister Abbott announces that Canadc, for from being in finan- cial straits, has a very substantial balance on hand for the first two months of the financial year. Of course, at that time. the reduced taxa- tion had not gone into effect.

l‘ i i

Toronto's three-year project for removal of overhead wiring downtown will make that city the builder's delight. The cost of putting wiring underground is high, but the resulting improve- ment in property values will go far to offset it.

I Q I

The Magnificent is under repair and her cap- tain and navigator convicted of responsibility for hazarding her. The worst development that could come out of it would be a "play safe" attitude on the part of the others..

i i i The British Royal Press Commission has come and gone and, not unexpectgdly, given the Press of the United Kingdom a clean bill of health. Loose charges of corruption, monopoly and bias failed to induce the Commission to as- sume control of an admittedly none-too friend- ly Labour press. I Q

Canada is in better shape than the United States in the view of a tourin-g English Labour journalist. Mr. Francis Williams of London says of our election-battered civil servants: "Your economists in the Dominion civil service are both intelligent and Iucid—a combination which is unusual among economists," he says, "They aro not living in ivory towers; they are practical men."

I I I

Forty-nine years ago, July S, i900, Sgt. Ar- thur H. L. Richardson, a Canadian cavalryman serving in South Africa with Lord Strathcona's Horse, won the Victoria Cross for his daring res- cue of a wounded comrade under fire . . . exact- Iy lS years later, July 5, i9lS, another Canadian earned the Empire's highest award at the cost of his life. He was Lt. Thomas O. L. Wilkinson, who, at the time, was serving with the 7th Bat- talion, the Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) in the imperial Army in France.

I

The British Columbia iraper manufacturers who attacked the principle behind the Maritimes Freight Rates Act as a "violation of the spirit of unity" in Canada overlook the background of that Act. The great industries of Ontario and Quebec could never have come into existence without protection, that is to say, at the expense of the primary producer in the Maritimes and the West. Some compensation in freight rates only begins to right the scale.

U I I

Comparisons, more or less odious, have been made in the Chronicle-Herald and Evening Jour- nal on the violence of the political oratory in days post and that of Mr. Drew today. But mod- ern demagogues are equally violent. Mr. Zillio- cus, late of the British Labour Party, he having been expelled, is to launch a national peace campaign. His first war cry should shake Trans- port House and Downing Street as Hitler's bombs never did, says the Spectator: "l am not going to see my grandchildren smashed to pieces in another war because a lot of blithering idiots on the National Executive of the Labour Party have gone cuckoo about Communism. l am going to blast these people out of the water before l have finished with them.” There speaks the leader of tomorrow.,Would-be leaders who have tried to put across their stuff about‘ blood, toil, tears and sweat and that sort of thing had better start

studying the new model. O I I

James Monroe, Fifth President of the Unit-

he served in the War of Independence, I _

a member of Congress 1783-6, and graa infla- onced the foreign policy, it being at his sugges- tion that it was laid down as imperative that in future after i820 no European nation should be permitted to' acquire territory in North America --now known as the Munroe ‘policy doctrine. He was governor of Virginia» 1799-1802 and again in l8l0-ll, and President in i816 and i820. He was a champion compromiser, especially on burning questions such as States’ rights, slavery, and relations with Great lritain;"'We owe it, therefore, to candor, and to the amicable rela- tions existing botween the United States and those European powers, to declare that wa should consider any attempt on their port to extend their system bi government to any portion of this hemisphere, as dangerous to_our peace and

safety." _

ed States, died this date 183i. Born in Virginia,

THE GUARDIAN. Cl-IARLOTTETOWW

After Tine-Out For Breath

i0 i Old Charlottetown

(And P. I. I.)

BELL-HANGEITS AD.

There were no technical schools in Colonial days, but expert crafts- manship was acquired and prac- tised. Following ls a typical ad- vertisement from the Prince Ed- vgard Island Register of February,

26:

"John O'Neil returns his most grateful acknowledgements for the liberal share of encouragement he has received since he came to this town, in the Bell-hanging line; he now most. respebtfully informs tho- public in general, that ln conse- quence ot his being disappointed in getting home to Halifax before the winter got too far advanced, he has hired Mr. Summer's black- smith shop in Pownal-street, next door to Mr. Marc's blacksmith, where he intends working at the Gun-smith and all kinds of house-

0-

hold work, viz., locks of every description. keys for old locks, and old locks repaired in the best man- ner; roasting jacks both smoke and wind-up. spits and spit-racks. grates, bell hanging, screw augurs, shell do. and deck glmblets for ship-building; fox, otter and bear traps; carrlole and coach-smith work, with several other articles not inserted. and hopes from his long experience in the above branches ta meet with a share of public patronage."

74.» £0’ fiber’

611w:

THE BARN

Rnlrr-srtrflnken roof, grown green and . n - libs- sparrows’ nests and starlings‘ nests; Dlshevelled eaves; unwieldy doors. Cracked rusty pump, end oaken floors, ‘ And ldly-pencllled names and jesis Upon the posts within.

The light pales at. the spider's lust, The wind fangs through the shat.- tered pane:

All will!!!’ hOD-rnoke spreads across The gaping frame Lo mead the loss And keeps out. sun as well as rain, Mlldewed with clammy dust.

The smell of apples stored in hay And homely cattle-cake is there, Use and disuse have come to terms. The walls are hollowed out. by

worms, But men's feet keep the mid-floor are, And free from worse decoy.

All merry noise of hens astlr

Or sparrows squabbling on the roof Comes ro the barn‘: broad open

door;

You hear upon the stable floor Old hungry Dapple atrikehls hoof. And the blue fan-fall's whlr.

‘The barn ls old. and very old.

But not a piece of spectral fear.

Cobwebs and dust and apeckllng sun

Coma to old buildings every one.

Long since obey made their dwell- ings here,

And here you may behold

and

Nothing‘ but simple wane

a enge; Your tread will woke no ghost, your voice Will fell on silence undoterred. No phantom walling will be heard. Only the farm's bllthe cheerful

npisa, The horn la old. not. strange. --Ed.rnund Blunders

h Thee the tatborlel flssdesls

IIIGIGI-

.i. P. ihsollrorsse 8 Sal

[fa The Flt That Canto Idea’ Causal Ialll all Isaak Cloth!!!

wo~§4tr<f0 PUBLIC ronrm

Thin oolaam to open to the discussion by correspondents of question: of Interest. Tbo Guardian docs not necessar- ily endorse the oplnlon of correspondents.

THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC

SLr.-—Sn much fervor was gen- erated, so much written, so much cast upon the air during the elec- tion campaign, it seemed useless to write anything so foreign to our thinking as the subject of temperance; but, perhaps, now that the smoke of battle has cleared. a few may read this let- fer.

Up in Ontario the saturation point has been reached. In the last decade the sale of liquor has in- creased from l8 million gallons to 73 millions; and now the head of National Breweries Ltd. is becom- ing worried. He foresees the de- cline of sales. and urges his sales- men to greater effort. "Sell your- selves, sell the company, sell the product. This is the crucial year." lThose" profit-hungry men have their ear to the ground and look into the future with fear. They don't care a “damn" for the people. they care only for profits.

It ls high time that not only Ontario, but all Canada should realize the mad waste of money spent in drink—last year 525 mil- lions. The toll of road accidents should slcken all decent people. Here in this little Province every few days someone is killed or wounded and drink ls the cause. For every dollar the Government receives in revenue it takes be- tween $2.00 and $3.00 to cover the damages.

The liquor traffic is is killing. poisonous business. with not one good recommendation. if any oth- er traffic or business destroyed so many characters and tilled so many graves society would rise in hot indignation and not rest until this business was put where it be- longs ln the realm marked "pois- ons". lo be handled with care. Instead. it is praised in song. boosted ln adds. and its purveyors proclaimed as men who love their country. -

The evils of drink are not im- aginary. For example take a com- mon case. Here is a young man. the worse of liquor. kills a woman with his car. He spent some months ln prison. Now the strain has broken his health, and his wife and family are suffering want.

Worse than this happens. Some years ego I stobd beside a young man condemned to death for shooting a woman, while under the influence of liauor. l saw the black cap pulled down over his eyes. I saw him drop to his death. After it was all over l saw his family. Whv do people care so little’! Why doesn't the Church care more? Some day Goth will '1 tar an answer.

T am, Sir. etch W. l. GREEN.

BIZAIOI-Nl AUTOMOBILES

VANCOUVER: - (C?) — Va- oatlmlng motorists may nova sour the nor-thwart ln comfort. An ocean vessel this summer le cam"!!! automobiles to Bksgwey. from there the cars will be taken by train to Whitehorse for a return dorm the Alaska highway.

BHIRIWBBURY. England — (OP) - Farmer T. Deddoee has so merry rabbits on his land he hea appealed to the police to find some "jolly good poachers."

Ill-I OI ELY, Oembrldleehire, Engllnd- (OP) - Among "spoo- ill dutlae" by Illa of my firemen ibis you was the oolleotlon ot

reeds for Kevr Gardens.

horn uma arenas:

CANBIRRA-(CP) - Aluminum therapy, e method developed in Canada; will probably be used to treat etlloosle ln Victoria indul- trioa. Silicosis is e disease caused

silica duet in the lungs at men

The Provisions Of The Statute Of The Council Of Europe"

An explanatory note on the pro- visions of the Statute of the Couri- cll of Europe prepared by the For- elgn Office has been issued ln London as a White P8P"-

ln the course of its introductory remarks the Paper says “The Sta- tute sets up a Committee of Min- later-s and rs Consultative Assembly, which together will form the Coun- cil of Europe. The Council ls thus a new experiment in international organization inasmuch as it pro- videg not only for co-operation be- tween governments in the Com- mlttee of Minister-a but also for collaboration amongst parliamen- tarians and other representatives of public oplnlon in the Consultative Assembly,

The Assembly is novel. lt will consist of all member countries ln numbers proportionately approxi- mate to their population and im- portance. The representatives will be nominated by any procedure which the respective governments may prefer, and it ls intended that they should generally reflect the main trends of public oplnlon in their countries. They will be free to speak and vote as they please and it ls intended that they stroll enjoy the privileges normally ao- corded to members of national parliaments.

The Assembly will (subject to certain limitations) debate matters of common interest and submit recommendations to the Committee of Ministers.

Thus the Assembly will not mere- ly reflect the meln groups of opin- ion in member countries: it should also in lls debates create and for- mulate a European oplnlon and in its recommendations tender united European advice to Member Gov- ernmenis."

The Paper then proceeds to give an explanatory precls of the pro- visions of the Statute, the text of which was published on its signa- ture at Si. James Palace on May 5th.

I O I

The principal functions of the Committee representing the gov- ernmental element in the Council of Europe and composed of the For- eign Ministers of the member coun- tries are, says the Paper, "To con- sider action required to further the aims of the Council of Europe, for example by proposing the conclu- sion of conventions or agreements or the adoption of a common policy on a given matter, and to contra.‘ the internal organization of the Council."

"The Committee's conclusions ere forwarded to the governments by the Secretary General and in cer- toln cases may take the form of recommendations on which govern- ments may be requested to report the action they have taken.

Recommendations being more sol- emn decislons than ordinary con- cluslons require Jhe, unflnimoui vote of the Committee: so also do reports on its work which the Committee will send .Lo_.fhe_,Con- sultative Agsembly."

The Paper summarizes the rules of voting in the Committee of Min- isters as follows:

"There are three types of voting in the Committee. namely by unani- mity, by two-thirds majority and by simple majority.

(a) Important questions are de- cided by the unanimous vole of the representatives voting, provided they are a majority of all repre- sentatives on the Committee.

(b) The ordinary run of questions are decided by a two-thirds major- ity of the representatives voting, provided such majority is also a majority of all representatives an the Committee.

_(c) Questions of procedure may be decided by a simple majority.‘

The Paper comments: “The ob- ject of this rather complicated for- mula-which has been to some ex- tent lnsplred by the unhappy ex- periences of the United Nations- ls to allow flexibility in voting ar- rangements while at the same time preserving the principle, to which some member governments attach great importance, that major decis- ions can only be arrived at, by common consent. '