PROFILE

BY FRED PATEMAN

US. generals knew their
man in picking Alexander

as Santa Monica

F ALL the British generals
who could have been chosen
to wield the whitewash brish
over American activities in Ko-
rea, Lord Alexander of Tunis,
Churchill’s minister of defense,
was the most logical choice.
Ever since the Tunisian cam-
paign of the Second World War
Alexander, former governor-gen-
eral of Canada, has been a close
friend of Eisenhower, Bradley
and other leading war lords of
“the United States.
When Hisenhower was chosen
as Supreme Commander for the
invasion of Europe he tried hard

 TORD ALEXANDER
The Americans preferred him
to Montgomery.

to get Alexander as his chief

British aide rather than Mont-
gomery.

General Omar Bradley, reign-
ing chief of the United States
war machine, said recently in
his account of the invasion:

“Had Alexander commanded
the 21st Army Group in Europe
we could probably have avoid-
ed the petulance that later was
to becloud our relationships
with: Montgomery.

“Although I was unaware of
. it at the time, the British re-

General shocks

by speeches on

Major General Daniel H.

Hudelson, who says ‘“‘the de
cision of what happens in Korea
_yests with the American people,”
is proving one of the most popu-
lar luncheon speakers in South-
ern California.
-Hudelson commanded Califor-

nia’s 40th Division in Korea.

‘Since he returned in June and
shocked the Pentagon by saying
the United Nations troops could
‘be driven out of Korea, at any
time, Hudelson has made a con-
tinuous round of speaking en-
gagements,

Most of his audiences have
been businessmen’s groups, such
Chamber of
Commerce and Long Beach Ro-
tary Club.

Hudelson emphasizes the cost
of the war in blood and money

that could go for peaceful uses.

“We (the 40th) suffered 82
killed, 298 wounded and five

- missing in action during our

stay,” he says, ‘Of course, cas-
ualty rates cannot be appreciat-

ed by the families of the cas-

ualties.
“Tt costs $445,000 a day to

keep a division in the field. The

40th cost the taxpayers $202,-
475,000 for its six months in
orea.””

jected WBisenhower’s bid for
Alexander. .. .”

So the American favorite was
left in command in Italy, while
Montgomery was put in charge
in France, and irritated the
brash Americans mightily by his
refusal to knuckledown at every
turn.

Alexander, however, continued
to show his partiality toward the
American forces. :

As he himself told the House
of Lords in the Korea debate, he
used to consult his American
deputy chief-of-staff in Italy on
American opinion:

“T would call him in and ask
him, “Is, that all right?’ And
he would say, ‘O.K., chief,
that’s all right.’” :

With such a background it is

no wonder that after the politi-
cal darling of America, Chur-
chill, paid his visit to the United
States in January of this year,
he announced the appointment
of Alexander as British minister
of defense.
e :
Nor is it any wonder that it
should be revealed that Alex-
ander®*had submitted to the cen-
sorship of General Omar Brad-
ley the points of speech he was
proposing to-make to the British
parliament. :

General Bradley objected to
the now notorious passage about
reserves, and atlhough Alexan-
der had said practically the same
thing while he was still in Korea,
the passage was dutifully re-
moved.

Apparently Lord Alexander
believed he had a greater res-
ponsibility to the U.S. adminis-

tration at Washington than he

had to the British parliament.

In Korea he told British ser-
vicemen that they were in a re-
hearsal for World War III.

At no time did he reply to the
appeal addressed to him by Brit-
ish prisoners of war for a speedy
end to hostilities and their early
repatriation,

Pentagon
Korean War

“Hudelson has been taken out

of active service and now is an

executive for Genera] Petroleum
Corporation. He considers him-
self a ‘‘citizen soldier” and is
scornful of wasteful, blundering
regular army leadership.

Hudelson reiterates the point

he has made almost daily since
returned—‘‘We could not hope

to stop the vast hordes of Chin-

ese.”
“They have one million front

line soldiers in Korea.” he said. -

“and could outnumber us by 50
to 1 if they decided to take the

loss of the great numbers of cas-

ualties they would suffer in driv-
ing us out.” : :

‘Hudelson emphasizes:

“‘We have our foot in the door
(in Korea). We can’t get it out
and«we are not strong enough
to get it in.”

“We are not strong enough to
advance to the Yalu river, it
would be suicide to retreat while

- still engaged with the enemy. If
we send our Air Force in for an
all-out attack, they will start
using their air force.

“The decision of what hap-

pens in Korea rests with the Am-
erican people.”

Reply (at length)

‘N. E. STORY, Vancouver,
B.C.: A letter appeared in this
column recently, in which its
writer deals with the ‘boom and
bust” nature of capitalism as
expressed in the B.C. pulp and
paper industry. I believe the
characterization of the paper in-
dustry contained in that letter is
not entirely correct.

To avoid misunderstanding,
let it first be said that the pre-
sent writer is well aware of the
inevitability of cyclical crises in
capitalist economy and that the
capitalist world hovers near the
brink of one at the present time.
However, let it also be said that,
owing to the contradictions in-
herent within capitalism, al-
though the root causes never
differ, the development to crisis
may occur differently and with
different timing not only in in-
lividual capitalist economies,
but even in section of one econo-
my.

In the B.C. pulp and paper in-
dustry, then, it is true that a
superficial appearance of reces-
sion exists, but it fails to stand
the test of closer scrutiny. In
actual fact, the paper industry
in Canada has not yet entered
a period .of recession, but the
companies have consciously fos-
tered the illusion that such a
recession exists. This is not to
imply that the paper industry
enjoys the same favorable con-
ditions it enjoyed immediately
following the war.for, after all,
it is conditioned by the general
trends.

The statistics and arguments
advanced by the letter writer
coincide, in the main, with those
advanced by ‘the employers.
Stripped of al] extraneous com-
mentary, the sole complaint the ~
companies have is that the pulp
market has declined. (‘‘Pulp’”’
is crude paper which is later re-
converted for manufacture into
finished products; sulphite pulp,
for example, is essential to the
manufacture of newsprint.) To
bolster their arguments, com-
pany spokesmen point to the
shutdown of Woodfibre mill, a
layoff of about 75 workers at
Prince Rupert mill, and to large
inventories at other platns. ~

Let us consider these argu-
ments:

V Woodfibre was closed for
much-needed overhaul and was
reopened before the end of June,
within a week after industry-
wide negotiations had broken
down. :

Vv Prince Rupert mill layoff
“was a simple discard of surplus
workers acquired during initial
operation of this new mill. No
cutback in production was indi-
cated,

* ¥V Either it is customary in
the industry to accumulate sur-
plus pulp during the favorable
wet winter season to provide for
the drier summer months, or it
is a surplus deliberately planned
to coincide with annual union
negotiations and general labor
“unrest,” or itis the result of
poor planning. More than like-
ly, it is a combination of all
three factors. Significantly, for
many years the companies have
complained of a similar reces-
sion in the late spring, only to
be producing at a faster pace

“than ever by the fall of the year,

when the new labor contracts
have been safely signed and

_ Sealed for another year.

Finally, let us note certain -
over-riding factors:

V No serious surplus of pulp

*

in fact exists at the present time.

V Sulphite pulp is requisite
to the manufacture of newsprint
(comprising one-fifth or more of
the finished product). The
newsprint market is so healthy
that the companies have been
able to institute a genera] price
increase of $10 per ton on the
U.S, market within the past two
months.

V Planned and-actual expan-
sion of the pulp and paper in-
dustry in this province is of an
unprecedented size in the cur-
rent period.

V Pacific Mills’ actual profits
in the fiscal year ending April
30 have continued to rise de-
spite doctoring to imply the op-
posite. In that period, sales

rose from $27,668,877 to $30,- -

653,015 or nearly $3,000,000
increase, while production. rose
by nearly 3,000 tons from 162,-
992 to 165,879 tons. This re-
flects the general trend in pulp
and paper. :

All the forgoing will suggest
to the reader that, despite the
general trend to recession in
the capitalist world, the pulp
and paper industry has not suf-
fered a decline and likely will
not suffer a decline for at least
one or two years. The talk of

decline in the paper industry is .

company propaganda. designed to
spike workers’ demands in the
current wage negotiations and
to protect the
swollen profits,

They ask for it:

READER, Vancouver, B.C.:
The Hon, Clarence Decatur
Howe, minister of trade and

commerce and minister of de-.

fense production in the Liberal
government at Ottawa (which in
its own estimation can do no
wrong and, contemptuous of
democratic procedure, acts as
if Canada belongs to the Liberal
party and not to the Canadian
people, and apparently believes
that it governs by divine right)
is second in authority -in the
government only to Prime Min-
ister Louis St, Laurent.

Recently (see Hansard, May
21, 1952, page 3255) Clarence
had the effrontery on the floor

of the House of Commons to
“If we want to get. away”

ask.
with it who is going to stop us?”

The recent election in British
Columbia surely has answered
his question.

It must be crystal clear to him,
from recent happenings, that
Canadian voters from coast to
coast are sick, tired and thor-
oughly disgusted with Liberal-

ism in all its branches. nt

The electors of British Colum-
bia have shown Mr. Howe that
the Liberal party is on the way
to oblivion!

They have shown him that the |

old patriarchal gang, headed by

Senator J. W. deB. Farris, which —

has been in,control of the mis-
management of this province for
many, many years, and which
appointed its proteges to all the
legal administrative posts, viz.,
the chief justice of the Court of
Appeal, the chief justice of the
Supreme Court, and the attorney-
general, has been firmly and
completely rebuked and discred-
ited.

The “old gang’? must now re-
alize that when the bosses cease
thinking of political power as a
trust and a privilege, and begin
thinking of political power in
terms of inherent ownership,
then the system becomes vicious
and corrupt. '

fantastically-

The next federal election will
prove this. At the present time
the Liberals have 11 out,of 18.
B.C. seats in the House of Com-
mons. Next federal election —
there will be 22 seats. The Lib-
erals will be lucky to win four
of these. :

The defeat of the Vancouver
Centre machine, which Maclean’s
magazine, in its February 15 is-
sue, declared ‘‘competes with
that of Montreal-Cartier for the
gamiest reputation in Canada,”
proves that Campney cannot pos-
sibly be elected.
Dougall hasn’t the proverbial
chance of a snowball in h--- of
being re-elected in Vancouver
Burrard. Jimmie Sinclair may
possibly carry Coast-Capilano,
but Art Laing hasn’t a chance in

‘the world of winning Vancouver

South. : P

The arrogant, dictatorial atti-
tude of the Liberal party has
resulted in its being at the bot-

tom end of the totem pole!

One hit, two errors

COAST READER, Campbell
River, B.C.: Permit me to draw ~
your attention to what appears
to be errors or neglectful writ-
ing by your editors.

For instance, your July 11 is-
sue, page 8, an article entitled.
“Gruber denounces.” etc. In
the first paragraph purporting
to be an opening statement of
a case of victimization. one is
at a loss to discover what ‘‘the
dismissal of six musicians” is
about. :

One would imagine in 15% in.
of space there would be some
clarity regarding the facts: of
the case. Hans Gruber is Te
ported as having devoted @
whole column to a review of
the case. Surely there would
be enough information there
for the PT to establish its facts
on. If not, the “issue”? is UD -
in the airsand has little mean-

ing,

Again in the same issue oD
page 11, in the first’ paragraph
on “Len Williams,” in antici-
pation of a civic welcome earned

by Williams as the biggest thing —

that’s happened to this towd-
What town? Here again thé
tendency is shown to overlook
the fact that the PT is a pro-
vincial-wide newspaper. a con-
cern sometimes bordering on an-
noyance with our away from
Vancouver readers. ‘

Realizing the impossibility of
pleasing everyone, there is how-
ever a tendency for the PT t0
be biased in Vancouver's favor,
a difficulty’ provincial sellin8,
agents have to combat,

On page 1, same issue, we find
“City woman reports on USSR.”
One may ask, ‘Which city?” ATe
there not several cities in B.C-?

It may be possible to considel —
a Vancouver edition, when bi —

issues merit special headlines

for Vancouverites.

Coast Reader's first point 1%
well taken, Casual readers
not have known why the si*
Toronto musicians had been di&
missed. Regular readers would
have had no such difficulty }€
cause the case had been fallY
reported in earlier issues.

The second point is not S —
well taken. .(And the name is
Len Walters, not Williams.) J¢
is a long established newspape®.
practice generally. follo
throughout the English
world to refer to the city of
publication as ‘this city.” Hence
the use of-such terms as “citY
woman.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JULY 25, 1952 — PAGE #

Jack Mac-