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_______________.___-—-—- ‘ PAGE 4 SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1964.

Hurrah For Closure!

It is with relief that most Cana- dians will receive the news of the Liberal intention to move a vote of closure on Monday to terminate the marathon flag debate. No debate is permitted on this motion, and if adopted it will mean that the dead- line for debating the flag commit- tee report and the amendment call- ing fer the red ensign will be next Tuesday at one o’clock. Then the votes must be taken, if the wrang- ling hasn’t ended in the meantime.

The last time closure was ap- plied was in the pipe line debate under the St. Laurent government, but the circumstances then were quite different. The Opposition was as one in denouncing the measure at that time. Today, even some Con- servatives have advocated it, and the other minority parties will un- doubtedly support the move. The public too, for that matter.

Since the Conservative amend- ment for a national plebiscite on the flag issue went down to defeat, there hasn’t been a vestige of excuse for continuing this profit— less controversy. Mr. Diefenbaker himself must have realized that it was splitting the Conservative party, and that the longer it went on the less chance the party had of representing itself as an alter- native choice in the next election, whenever it came.

He may feel, now, that he has scored a victory by forcing his op- ponents to apply a measure which brought them into disrepute on the previous occasion, but we doubt whether it will be regarded in this light. He should have thrown in the towel before. We doubt, indeed, whether either of the major parties will get any political advantage out of the business. It’s been a bungle from the start, a monstrous im- position on the public intelligence, public patience, and public purse. The fact that we are to have an end of it is all that matters now.

Old Order Changes

Premier Shaw has intimated that the provincial government will con- tinue its practice, begun last year, of not hearing briefs during the coming legislative session. Briefs will be heard by the cabinet, and there will be no objection to the briefs being made public by the or- ganization that presents them; but there will be no more appearances before the legislative members. This

'may provoke criticism in some

quarters, but on the whole, we do not think the public interest will suffer thereby.

‘As we recall, the practice of submitting briefs and having them discussed in this public manner was begun when the Federation of Agriculture was formed. The prac- tice afforded a convenient sounding buard, both for the delegation and .for leading party spokesmen to underline the importance of our farm organizations. But the briefs themselves contained the meat of

l . the matter, and could have been

resented just so effectively to the minor organization that used

1 lie-given the red carpet treatment 4 by tho Legislature every year was

. Alliance. Members warm in their ad- WTto Prohibition at that time,

a.

. was the practice for the A1- delegation to lay down the

93- “on, telling them where :'M by omission or " “' and warning them that plug the loopholes in ' cements more zeal; I a i i it, the “right- of the Province"—

Giomliun '

meaning the militant prohibition- iats—would defeat them at the next election. It was amazing how these extremists were kow-towed to by both sides.

Their day ended when Premier Jones got mad at them at one of these annual affairs, bawled them out for trying to dictate to the House in this manner, and sent them home with a flea in their ear. Our recollection is that they never came back again.

More recently, the present gov- ernment had trouble with an Agri- culture Federation delegation whose complaint with regard to the man- ner in which the ARDA program was being run appears to have been justified at that time; but it could have been made to better purpose in some other way.

Then there was the Tourist As- sociation, which came to grief in a presentation they made against the proposed Northumberland Strait causeway, and got slapped down by Mr. Stewart.

For the most part, of course, these public hearings have gone off amicably enough; but their value has always been question- able, and we do not believe the heavens would fall if they were dis- continued permanently.

A Legal Hurdle Reference was made in these columns yesterday to the fact that we may have another plebiscite on the water fluoridation issue in Char- lottetown in the not too distant future. A convenient time for hav- ing such a vote would be at the next civic election in February. This was how Ottawa held its flourida- tion plebiscite last Monday, as noted. But a. point has come up in this connection, which is disturbing to those who are desirous of having the issue dealt with at that time. This relates to the Act to amend the Charlottean Waterworks Act, passed by the Legislature at the 1959 session in anticipation of the former plebiscite. The act author- izes the Commissioners of Sewers and Water Supply to fluoridate the water supply of the city to the ex- tent and by the methods approved by the Canadian Medical Associa- tion. It then states (Section 2): “The foregoing section of this amending Act shall not come into force until proclaimed by the Lieutenant-Governor—in-Council, and such proclamation shall depend on the result of a plebiscite by which a majority of the citizens of Char- lottetown voting thereat shall sig- nify their approval of such section; and the. City Council of Charlotte- town is hereby authorized to hold such plebiscite as soon as practic- able hereafter but not later than the date of the next general civic elec- tion, and all persons then qualified to vote for Mayor and Commis— sioners of Sewers and Water Supply shall be eligible to vote thereat.” The tricky point here is that the plebiscite shall be held “not later than the date of the next gen- eral civic election”—-that is, not later than the date of the civic election following March 25, 1959, when the Act was assented to. No provision for any subsequent plebis- cite is made. It is argued that an amendment to the statute would be required before one could be held. In that case, since the Legis- lature is unlikely to meet before the next civic general election, the prospect of having a vote on the issue at that time would seem to be dim. It could be held later in the year, of course, if legislative auth- ority were given, but a plebiscite at any other time than at a general election would almost certainly re- sult in an inadequate expression of public opinion.

EDITORIAL NOTES An all-Chinese bagpipe band in Hong Kong has refused to wear the kilt. They play Scottist tunes and they try to march like good Scots do. But no kilt. “We Chinese are far too shy" explains a spokesman. O Q i

The national executive of the Conservative Party has decided to delay its 1965 annual meeting until possibly October and to concentrate on party organization and publicity. Party officials said the action was taken because they believe there may be a spring election. But a Liberal commentator suggests, as another reason, the shortage of funds. A conference costs the party $50,000 to $60,000, and this would be a heavy drain on the slim re- sources being husbanded for an election cunpeign.

MCNAMARA’S BAND

MOSCOW'S u.s. DE Cultural Excho

Soviet intellectuals and artists who travel abroad do so only with the approval of the Soviet , Government. None 0 them, of . course, is avowedly anti-Soviet l or anti-Communist,

Yet depending on vag- aries of the cultural climate in Moscow there is a wide range in the caliber of the intellectual ambassadors. It may extend from those who are mouthpieces for the current Kremlin line to some who by Western standards have displayed genuine intellec- tual and artistic integrity.

Last week there was a storm over the first cultural delegation to visit the U.S. since the Brezh- nev-Kosygin regime came to

wer.

Charles A. Moser, assistant professor of Slavic languages at Yale, termed one of the six- member delegation — Aleksan- dr Chakovsky, editor of Litera- turnaya Gazeta -— “an ideologi- cal watchdog" for the Soviet re- gime: and another, poet Robert Rozhdestvensky, “a l m o s t thologically anti-American.”

EVIDENCE CITED The evidence cited by Profes- ‘ sor Moser and others in support of the charges included an arti- cle by Mr. Chakovsky in Prav- da last year in which he spoke contempluousl of ‘ 'theories' of the primacy of talent ideological content” and “th- idea that the author's gift is the only criterion for evaluating his work": and a series of poems by Mr. Rozhdestvensky after a previous American visit.

One of the poems about "spa- cialists on Russia" now working for the U.S. asks them if they recall “How you smashed the gun butts down on the babie» cribs" while serving the Nazis: another refers newsmen as "lions and jacks-ls" and compares "the rattle or (their) camera shutters" to “the clanking of rifle bolts"; still another entitled “missis- sippi," speaks of a river "fat with blood."

JAILED IN MOSCOW Some members of the Ameri- can inleilectua'l community -- including Yale Professor Fred- erick Barghoorn, who spent 16 ya in a Moscow Jail in the fall of 1963, as an espionage suspect

PUBLIC FORUM

This column la open to the diacuasieo by correspondents of questions of lease-

O In) 5

O I a a 9 3 O V

pondenta. All letters published are sub- fect to editing and condensation where necessary_ The Guardian Ia unable to enter into any oorrrupoudence reg-Ida letters

lug submitted.

WHITE CROSS APPEAL

Sir; - Again I am happy to commend to the citizens of Prince Edward Island the Can- adian Mental Health Associat- ion's White Cross Christmas Gift Program, which is conduci- ed for the benefit of the patients at Riverside Hospital.

The large majority of our pat- ients will have to spend the Christmas Season at the hospi- tal and, although we try to make it as happy is time as possible, in evltably there is bound to loneliness and nostalgia family and friends.

It helps immeasurably for those in side the Hospital to know that. those "outside" are interested in them and th e l r well -‘b e in g. The tangible ex-

for

much pleasure and happiness to the recipients. Only those of us who are present to see the happy smiles can begin to understand just how very much it does

mean.

Therefore. I urge you to sup- port thla project of the Canadian Mental Health Association and thus share your own Christmas i'oy with those who are less for-

I am, Sir. etc, R , MD.

LEGATION

ngme Besef With Difficulties

nipeg Free Press

— look exception to Professor Moser‘s attack.

Their attitude seemed to be that any cultural interchange with the Russians was tle than none because it helped “in learning and in refuting rival ar- titudes."

But others argued that strong criticism of the delegation particularly since it was the first sent to the U.S. by the new

regime — was essential in order to bring pressure on" the Krem- lin to permit some of the less doctrinaire intellectuals and artists to travel abroad.

‘In any case, they said that an uncritical welcome for the cur- rent delegation would amount to a slap in the face for those in the Soviet Union who were striving for greater intellectual freedom.

The New Barbarians

Bruce Hutchcson In The' Winnipeg Free Press

Not since the Dark A ges, when the Goths. Huns and Van- dals ravaged Europe, has unfortunate continent endured the migration that swept across it this year. Still, Europe has no right to complain. It eagerly emptied the migrant's purse while he limped home, b r o k e, exhausted, embittered and cul- tureless.

The historical fact. obvious and never mentioned in Europe, is that the Dark Ages have re- turned this time with n e o 11 lights. The barbarians are back again after the lapse of some 14 centuries, this tlm e on wheels.

But don‘t blame us barbarians too much since Europe would be barbarous even if we had never arrived. No, blame the affluen- ce of Europe itself and the inter- nal combustion engine.

IN PARIS

In Paris the Champs Elysees (which, with melancholy humor. means the Elysian Fields) has become the largest car park in the world. A double line of stat- ionary automobiles flanks the great avenue on both sides where flowers used to grow and down the central speedway traf- flc moves. bumper to bumper, at a speed of about 60 miles an

In re-

5' O I:

From the shelter of a side- walk cafe, over a cup of cof- fee costing 40 cents, I calculat-

with my watch that. on aver- age, one car passed every f o u 1' seconds, day and night. This is the Paris you never hear about in the novels, love songs and tou-

rist advertisements. This is the real Paris in the new age of barbarism.

Rome, naturally, is worse be- cause the Italian temperament, ripened by the southern sun, is even more Latin than the French And your modem Roman is not driving a car: in his imaginat- ion lie is fighting a bull. The El-

has been turned into one vast bull ring and the pedes- trian into the quarry of a blood sport. HARDER '10 DODGE

Both bull fighter and b u ll being trained from infancy in this ancient art, now mechaniz-

. no blood is shed, so far as I could see. but the ignorant stran- ger must be quick on his feet, like the old - time gladiators, to avoid sudden death beside the Colosseum.

A man of Rome tells me confidentially that he has hit at last on a cure for Europe‘s sup- reme traffic jam. His plan is wonderfully simple.

At noon some day, when all the cars are in the centre of the clty,,‘the traffic lights will be tur- ned off. No one will be able to move an inch, all drivers will soon starve to ‘deatli,'ifte ped- estrians will take the vehicle a away, burn them and bury the dead. Then Rome will be free and livable again.

p to now the city coun cil has hesitated to adopt this sen- sible remedy. In democratic pol- itics, I suppose, it is rather dif- ficult. Even drivers have voles. 3d“ without electoral driving

5 .

The Laughter-Makers

Hamilton Spectator

It was good to see Gracie Fields back in Canada again, playing, as always, to capacity audiences. With no more stage props than a crepe handker- chief, she enchanted her sud- ience. switching them from hil- arity to solemnity and back again at her will. Thi triumph of artistry, personality and hard training. We need not be surprised that it is so durab- le and that at 66 Gracie can make a triumphant come-back.

Like many artists of her gen- eration, Gracie went through the tough training mill of bur- lesque. Gruelllng rehearsals. au- diences that demanded high in- dividual standards and with them endless creative variety which the artist had to generate himself. that was old burlesque.

Then, there were the equally stern disciplines of one- week stands — facing a different au- dience every Monday night -- the dress-y Sunday train journ- eys, diema-l theatrical lodgings and, in Britain, heaven forbid, klpper for breakfast. These were the tests years ago. it ormers today, Gracie told an interviewer, can

when they have been done on television tiny: or three times e .

they are d

it you start saying that the past was better than today itisasign thatyou are grow. ing old, wrote Sidney Smith. the early nineteenth- ceninry cler. gymsn, whose wise and witty sayings are still repeated When it comes to comedians and pop-

ar songs, we no r choice than to admit the true of the' innuendo: WC. Fields

man of Mental Health.

www.cw

Harold Lloyd. Gracie Fields. Laurel and Hardy, Fred and Gracie Allen... and many more; whege are their counterparts to-

Happlly, a few are still witn' us in their autumnal years, and they have forgotten more a laughter- ing than many so- called modern comedians have learned. When one of their old films is revived. everyone and that includes the young — feel they have enjoyed a rich feast of real fun. Their humor is imperishable, and that is some. thing that can rarely be said about comedians today.

VOTING BAR

Only felons, aliens, lunatic- and peers are barred from vot- ing in a British general election

—andanyooeunder21yesuof

VIIIIIIIIIIIAE It’s Here The New "McCuilecb"

' CHAIN saw

"The Wooden-’s B e I 3 Friend".

I

W’”I’”l’l_’

,-

sumac Keith Cumiebeei

fllreethhMI-flfll

' a l l

Insurance And Suicide

By Dr. 'I'heodorelt. Van Dellea Several months ago we wrote about the increasing frequency of one-car crashes. inrwhlch there was no logical reason for the accident. We intimated that some of these casualties prob- ably were sulcides, alcoholism. or both. A Cincinnati reader sur- vived such on experience and wants to help anyone wit thoughts along this line. he w lea “My one- car

street, completely a t r a i g h t highway, eight lanes, brightly lighted, with not another car in sight. drinking ex- cessively prior to the accident

d was on my w to acquire a bottle of sleeping pills, hoping to put myself to sleep pal-man.

enliy.

"In my twisted thinking the telephone pole was an oppor- tunity to save the family the embarrassment of a suicide. It. seemed foolproof except that I survived (with three broken hubs and minus five teeth) and was able to get about again 1% years later. My problem ap- pears to have been twisted thinking and alcoholism. I am treating this disease through group therapy with Alcoholics Anonymous."

Distorted thinking and alcoho-

lism are lethal companions when it comes to driving. The same can be said of emotional len-

sion and physical fatigue; they impair the reaction time of most individuals. was one of the 200,000 people who attempt suicide every year for surcease. She sought this way out to protect her family from scandal and poverty.

We wonder how many accl- denls also are a deliberate act of self- destruction to obtain a liability insurance settlement? These schemes often subject in- nocent partie 5 to liability claims, especially when the pe- destrian purposely walks into a moving car, bus, or subway train. The car that rams a fast moving train belongs in the same category Such accidents are difficult to evaluate unless the evidence is carefully sifted.

Suicide is a tragedy, but dou- ble damage occurs when inno- cent victims are involved. The most serious is bombing a plane to collect on a large policy. It is here that detailed investigations often uncover the culprit. Suic- ide is preventable, providedthe potential candidate is recognized and treated via a combination of psychiatry and persuasion.

A ARTERIOSCLEROSIS A. R. B. writes: Does u s l n t: more than the average amount of sugar cause hardening of the arteries?

- r

EPLY

A London nutritionist (not a physician) believes in this theo~ ry 0 date, I have seen no can- firmation of this hypothesis.

HARDENED AOBTA

D. D. writes: What would be - r diet for a person with calcification of the aorta?