superficially correct.

THE GUARPIAN'_CEéB_I1QTTP__TQWN

1947

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THE GUARDIAN

Morning Dally (Founded in 1887-. Authorised so Second Class Mail, Post Office Department. Ottawa.

President, inn A. Burnett; Vice-President, Wm. B. Burnett; Seem-Tread, G. M. Burnett; Editor and Managing Director. .I. R. Burnett; Associate Editor. Frank Walker.

I f'The Strongest Memory is Weaker ‘Than , the Weakest Ink."

CHARLOTTETOWN. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22,

Green Pastures

decause the American former is selling his export commodities for their full world market price, and because he_is enjoying an extraordin- arily high range of prices for produce domestic- ally consumed, there is a tendency in Canada to

- EDITORIAL NOTES -

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| --—r— l Now that the packing house strike is over, 'the question is just what is the status of "the former Canada Packers Limited Packing Plant" and what becomes of its former employees?

Steel is still one of the greatest bottlenecks in the world today. A plentiful steel supply |viould go far towards setting almost every coun- try on its feet again economically. i i i i

l A market for another 2,000,000 bushels of ‘our disease free potatoes is going some, without la doubt. The Premier has good reason to boast Iof this on the eve of an election. l G I i I ~' Australia, which last year exported only 6,000,000 bushels of wheat, expects this year to send to Britain more than 75,000,000 bushels. It is expected that a five year contract with the U. K. will be negotiated.

conclude that American agriculture is luxuriat-a

ing. Evidence submitted to the Federal Govern- ment's agricultural committee during its ex- tended hearings in Washington this summer will dispel that idea. The Country Guide thus sums up the situation:

The fact is that things are not too sunny for

I vast number of American farmers, faced as.

th:_v are with costs which overshadow their high nccrne. Many of them make too little money, according to census figures, and thousands of them have been ruined by temporary gluts and '05s of war-time markets. Despite the fact that agricultural production rose steadily from I919 to I929, gross farm income dropped from $I6.9 Eiilliafr to $12.9 billion, and farm wealth declined ‘rom $79 billion to $58.1 billion.

Present price support schemes do not give riid in proportion to the need. It is estimated that l0 per cent of the farmers sell 50 per cent of farm commodities reaching market. It is obvious, so witnesses said, that this top ten per cent hove been getting the largest share of the benefits. lt is likened by political opponents to the help- the-rich schemes of the Republican party.

While this is a domestic issue on which out- siders will have no opinion, it discloses a harden- lng attitude on the part of American agriculture which is bound to make itself felt in any effort to adjust the U. S. export-import balance. Presi- dent Truman's brush with the wool growers earlier in the summer is probably the first in a series with different farm interests. The presi- dent is deeply conscious of the connection be- tween trade and foreign affairs, but he will meet well entrenchd opposition from all sides in secur- lng the passage of adequate measures to place European, and for that matter Canadian, trade with the United States on a secure foundation.

Mr. Brown's Resignation

The departure of Mr. Frank H. Brown, C.B.E., from his post as Deputy Minister of National Revenue, says the Globe and Mail, calls renewed attention to the deplorable confusion that ex- ists in that important department. Mr. Brown tendered his resignation last March, scarcely four months after accepting the appointment. He was prevailed upon to continue in office until a successor could be found. Now, after seven months of waiting, the Government has accepted his resignation, but his successor has not ap- peared.

"Mr. Brown," says the Toronto paper, "can scarcely be criticised for leaving his department without direction. He showed commendable pati- ence in remaining as long as he did at a job which he clearly found unpleasant and it cannot be said that the Government did not have ample time to secure a replacement. But the fact that ‘he found it necessary to submit his resignation after being in office less than four months and Ottawa's inability to produce a successor suggest that departmental affairs are certainly not as they should be. The public can only wonder why.

"lt is true that the task of supervising in- come tax collections — the chief duty of that past-is a big one. More names are on the Do- minion's tcx rolls now than ever before and the method of computing assessments during some of the war years was complicated in the extreme. lt is common knowledge that Income Tax officials are years behind in their examination of returns and the tremendous backlog of work that has accumulated reportedly beggars imagination. The reason for this colossal breakdown of gov- ernmental machinery, however, is less apparent when the other side of the picture is reviewed.

"Offsetting the larger tax roll and more complicated calculations is the fact that the Gov- ernment has saddled Canadian employers with much of the work and most of the responsibility for tax collections. Before the war, income tax was purely an individual matter. Each taxpayer had to calculate his tax, report it and pay it per- sonally. The most intensive kind of personal sup- ervision was necessary to keep the collections coming in. But, since I941, employers have been the compulsory cashiers of the Government.

"By deducting income tax at the source, Ottawa obtained, automatically, at least 90 per cont collection from the biggest group of tax- payers In the country-the wage and salary earn- ers. Employers were required to hire extra staffs and do the bookkeeping and calculating that the Government required. Ottawa saved time and trouble at the employer's expense. A great bur- don was shifted from the Income Tax branch to businessmen across Canada and, it is to be pre- sumad, a largo number of civil servants were freed from this work to handle other phases of the tax collection program. Yet the department contrnuos to get further and further behind in its work.

v "This may be regarded as purely a mech- onicol problem, but such on assumption is only It is the end result of a ‘cumulative chaos arising from on unwieldy, in- equitable, lorry-built, patched-over tax structure. Tho mechanical problem will be cleared_ up only when the Government acknowledges the prime need for a complete overhauling of the system ha", Nothing loss will suffice.”

It was largely due to Britain's refusal to make of Germany a "rural slum" that only 682 industries are being dismantled for reparations in the British and U. S. zones instead of more than l,600 as was originally planned.

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Annuitants have the reputation of belnj long livers, but perhaps the most outstanding case is that of Rev. Arthur Sewell of Landon, England, who has drawn an annuity from the Sun Life of Canada for 24 ycars, and now, in his 106th year is still going strong.

‘l ¥ I! M ‘ A Chicago boy of four swallowed a nail, then surgeons made him swallow a magnet with a thread attached, pulling nail and magnet out by the way they entered. That is more won- iderful than pulling non-existent rabbits out of a |c0njurer's hat.

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I l War Assets Corporation is disposing of the Government-owned steel plate mill and ingot .ma-iufacturing plant in Sydney. With the pros- lpect of profitable operation through the use of ‘high grade are from newly discovered deposits in Labrador it would be a pity to see the plant bought in and closed by Ontario or Quebec in- terests. , I I I I To the Counfy Court for Yarmouth County, N. S., as to many of the rest of us "forthwith" means, not immediately, but in a reasonable time. Other terms have shown the same develop- meat-presently, at once, immediately and even this instant do not necessarily negative any in- tervnl of time whatever. fi i

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Abel Janszoon Tasman, Dutch navigator, died this date I639. He explored the south- eastern Pacific, commanding Van Dicman's ex- pedition to circumnavigate Australia in I642 discovering Tasmania (which he named Van Die- man's Land) New Zealand, Friendly Islands and Fiji Islands. He made several subsequent voy- ages of discovery, publishing an account of his “experiences. Later Van Dicman's Land was re- named after him as Tasmania.

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Mr. James M. Macdonnell, M.P., Progres- sive Conservative financial critic, has been adopted for Muskoka-Parry Sound by which name his seat will be known undcr the Redistribution Act. In his acceptance, MrfMacdonnel declar- ed: "Mr. King is really not a leader-he's just a great vote-getter. He gets votes by waiting ta see which way public opinion, will jump. And like Old Man River, he just keeps drifting along."

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Lord Beaverbraok at the age of sixty-eight has decided to retire from British political life and to spend the remainder of his years between Fredericton, N. B., and Bermuda. The announce- ment said while Lord Beaverbrook would make periodic trips to England to maintain contacl with his newspaper interests, "his place of resi- dence from now on will be Fredericton. In his retiring years he will devote most of his time to building up the university," to which he has been a generous contributor.

Many a true word is spoken in jest. Lord Chorley, a Labour Peer, in proposing that Mr. Churchill's cigars be taken away in "punish- merit" for his criticism of the Attlee government was expressing the all-too-common modern at- titude that the executiire branch of goverpment, as well as the courts, may punish those who op- pose its wishes.

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Eire, which lolled in luxury during the war and immediately thereafter, now is beginning to lexpcrience some of the austerity which has characterized life in the other two-thirds of the |Disunited Kingdom. Everything, even austerity, 'comes to him who waits; only the six days per .weck, 3l2 days per annum people win out all lthe time in consonance with Divine prevision as iwel! as provision.

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1 As already announced Canada has sent a gift to Bethnal Green's Public Libraries in Lon- ldcn for which the children of tliat Borough will ‘have reason to be grateful all their lives. lt is I500 children's books cf the highest literary 'quality and the way in which this generous gilt ‘has come about is interesting. Last December Bethnal Green Public Library issued a report which appeared in some Londcn daily papers ‘and which spoke of the destruction of millions at books by enemy action during the war, which, together with the present paper shortage has ‘made it difficult to obtain the books essential to any children's library.‘ The report was read by Toronto's Chief Librarian, Mr. C. R. Sander- son,‘ and as a result, a campaign was begun, under the auspices of the Canadian Library ‘Association, in .which every Canadian boy and ‘girl was asked to send books to Bethnal Green. Soon books were pouring in to Toronto from all ,over Canada fsom schools, social organizations and from children and adults alike. Some chil- ‘dram sent their pocket money. Others their savings.

llotos By Tlio flay

As our‘ readers well know_ this newxspaper has no -use for intoxi- cants. We often get. the impression that tho liquor lndust y " a us equally unnecessary 1f not. as its Publlo Enemy No. l. But in fairness we should like to say s word in commendation of the American dlstlllers who agreed to shut down for 00 days and to turn over for European aid their present slacks of grain. -Chrtetlon Science Monitor.

Not for us to say we shouldn't have diplomats roving over the world, seeing that. Qhnt seems to be the prevailing practice. We only suggest meekly the danger of our getting delusion of grandeur, lm- agining that. we're o. great. world power, and taking on commitments that. we're not ready to underwrite. With a nation, as with an individ- ual. there is such a thing as grasp exceeding reach. - Ottawa Jour- ual.

The great American hot dog was introduced in 1900 st. the Polo Grounds in New York when I-Iorry Mazely Stevens added something new to his peanut and candy con- cession-e ivlener in a bun with mustard and pickle. Americans lied eaten wieners in buns before but not. with mustard and plckle. From a s2 concession. Stevens built up n million-dollar business as he installed stands in the nation's ma- jor league ball parks and race tracks. Hot. dog preferences vary from East to West. Edsterners like theirs lightly spiced and order lhem “hold everything." West of the Alleghenles, people demand more tang and layers of onlon. pickle, and mustard-"the works." Americans eat. 419,000,000 pounds of hot dogs s year-iz pounds per person. - Chicago Dally News.

"The capitalist system," summed up a wise American spokesman the other day, “is already providing what. communism says it hopes to provide some generations hence." That. exiplains the fundamental dif- ference in life an our side of the iron curtain and life on the other side. That. in fact, explains the lron curtain itself. If and when. on the for side of that. curtain, they ever reach the stage where ‘people enjoy the some amount of goods and ser- vices we enjoy on ours, plus the f-reedom ,\ve have to live as we please, then we wil1 have to admit that. their system is comparable to ours. Until then, however, we should be thankful that we are liv- ing where we are. - Financial Post.

In the twenty-flve-yesr period from 1920 to 1045 there were tiwen- t,-six officially reported mllk- borne epidemics in Canada, each with thirty cases or more. These twenty-six outbreaks, attributed to consumption of unpasteurized milk, accounted for 702 deaths from typhoid fever, paratyphoid, and septic sore throat. In the same per- lOCl there were numerous other lesser outbreaks of the same dis- ease and of undulant fever, also milk-borne. These minor epidemics also accounted for numerous deaths. For instance there were of- ficially reported, 1,124 cases of un- rlulant fever. an extremely difficult disease to diagnose, in the years 1940-45. Twenty-three deaths were attrlbuteg to this disease in that. 1161;100- —‘ St. Thomas Times-Jour- us . ‘

A person can agree exactly with every one at the "Security Prin- ciples" announced by the State De- partment as governing its current check of its employee and still ob- ject. to the final result. which seem- ingly is that of an American citi- zen can be tried without a jury, without e bll1 of particulars being rendered, without being given an opportunity to confront his accus- ers. Then he can be found guilty without explanation of about. as serious a charge as we can think of at the moment. Dismissal under such circumstances means that. the person dismissed is barred from employment in any other depart- ment of the government and pro- bably from most American business concerns. — New York Times.

When comment-- men do expen- sive drinking on trains, tipping waiters generously and treating all round, other passengers know that the spending ls on an expense ac- count and that. in the end the customer pays. When o. firm that. has raised the price of its product 150 per cent. has s bar at. the head office, customers know that they, not. tho flrm, are standing the shot. When national trade conventions are held and empty bottles by the dozen are collected each morning iu hotel corridors, the extravagance is passed on to the consumers. When executives at Christmas and l-‘ew Year's throw spectacular par- tles, the accountants know where the bill is included in general ex- pense and, of course, the cost. ls passed on to the consumer. -Tem- perance Advocate.

Twenty-five million weary Ameri- can automobiles are falling apart faster than repclrmen can put t-hem back together. The difficulty fsntt. n dearth of ropcirmen. It's lack of replacement parts to keep the senile buggies ticking. Monu- facturers are making parts st three times the pro-war rate, but. ln tho race to keep up ivlth demand they arr being left at the starting post. Some 27 mllllon- passenger oars are on- the rpsds today. Nine out of ten, say suto statisticians ore four or more years old. Tho "average" vehicle has seen the frost of eight winters. “The oars are tired and battle-scarred." says one garage man who can't begin to flll re- quests for ports. "Not only are their insides wearing out. fut, but s! they get shskler they rip more Senders off each other on the roads. And don't ask me for s new fon-

der." - Wall Street. Journal

PUBLIC FORUM

This column is

“ the drsonnton by corra- lpqndents of now-lulu s" lnureat. Tho Unnrlottowvrri Guardian doea nothseeosanr- u; endorle tho opinion o! correspondent.

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' i. open to

NEWFOUNDLAND AND CONFEDERATION

'Sir,-—lvlay I briefly as the irn- portance of the subject will per», mlt. support the recent. claim of Nova Scotlifs Prime Minister" Hon. Mr. MacDonald, that. “Canada's nine Provinces should be consult- ed before Newfoundland ls brought. into Confederation" iCnnadlan Press Reporter‘), also Hon. Mr. MacDonald's statement that —— “whatever is done 1n this regard ought to be done realistically and not by the use of fictions as has been followed lu certain cases."

Historians, educators and poli- ticians are responsible for con- cealing the truth and teaching “flctions" or incorrect theories re- garding the Canada with which we are concerned: such teaching is the basis of the cloumfall of this Confederation and causing the people of the Maritime Provinces especially to needlessly submit to the unprecedented injustice from which they have suffered at the hands of successive Governments and Parliaments of Canada and their apparently unconstitutional bureaucratic offshoots such as the Canadian National Railway Com- pany, the National Harbours Board, and others, which have been incorporated (through no fault. of their own) without being obliged to ‘ecoguize and respect. the responsibility of the Federal Government. and Parliament. "to make laws" and provide services to promote the objects which are de- fined in the documents which con- stitute our national set-up.

In the main those off-shoals are permitted to operate as commer- cial projects whlch with other things, make practically impossible good Federal government. pertain- ing to inter-provincial transporta- tion and trade especially, and economic Justice and fair-play for the Maritime Provinces generally, ln connection with certain objects oif the Confederation including “the regulation of trade and com- merce" among the Provinces which is a defined duty of the Federal Parliament.

To reach a correct conclusion regarding Hon. MJ‘. MacDonald's claim it ls necessary to know what. the present Canada ls, which knowledge can be found only in the documents irhich constitute the Dominion of Canada nud de- fine the nature of its government- al machinery and bow it. is cou- stltuted to function and what. are its duties and objectives. The con- stitution of Canada's government- al machinery is one thing and the constitution of lls legislative au- thority and the naiuro of its Executive Government. are other things all of which are defined.

Every adult Canadian should be educated accordingly, but our edu- cational institutions make no nt- tempt to teach the fundamental principles of Canada's constitution nor the science of Federal Gav- ernment pertaining to this nation but mislead Cairaclinns to believe that this nation is constituted with the British system of govern- ment and that. the constitution of the Dominion of Canada is n. constitutional development. of the Province of Canada (Quebec and Ontario only) based on the Que- bec Act. 1774; such are the kind of "fictions" which emanate chiefly from Toronto and Ottawa and are taught in the schools of the Marltimes. The system of gov- ernment which hns gradually been imposed upon this federal nation of Provinces by politicians since it started to function, 1s not the sys- tem of government vrhlch ls pro- vided for in the documents which constitute it. According to high authority a Provincial Govern- ment. can stop any action by the Ottawa Government if lt. ‘ls re- pugnant to the documents which unite these Provinces federally.

The basis of correct. knowledge is the document which the six- teen authorlzed delegates of the four original Provinces agreed lo In 1866 and which the British North America Act. 1867 defines as an "agreement" and the Privy Council 1931 defined as the "orig- inal contract." and the Privy Council, 1937, defined as “the ln- ter-provlnclal compact. to which the B.N.A. Act. gives effect": such authorities seem to declare tliat not. one word of that document. and the laws which give effect to i‘. can be changed morally or law- fully without. the consent. of the Provinces which are parties to ll;

Section 1 of this document. reads -"The best. interests and present and future prosperity of British North America. will be promoted by a Federal union. under the Crown of Great Britain. provided such union can be effected on principles just. to the several Pro- vinces": note that. the name of the territory concerned is British North America not. Canada: there has been no territory or land dlvislon of America. named Canada since 1807 when it was discarded as the name of s section of British North America. chiefly ln the 5t. Low-

‘the Provinces which agreed

renco watershed: notn the words "federal union" also the words "federally united“ in the B. N. A. Act and that the word “people” is not. in that Act and that. the Provinces are the units for the welfare of which Canada is con- stituted to function.