- Gov’t must cash
its “blank cheque’

By NIGEL MORGAN

Matsqui Prairie today is a shocking mess of dirt and grime, desolation and death.
But what strikes one even more than the damage left by the month-long flood waters is the
courage and determination of the thousands of flood victims now returning to clean up the

debris that once was home and to replant the soggy,

den for the lower mainland.

sour soil that once was a fertile gar-

Now that the flood waters have receded one has only to enter a ruined area to see

. vividly displayed the grievous crime of those whose downright neglect and penny-pinch-
ing policies are responsible for the hardship and distress visited upon the flood victims.
Matsqui’s main thoroughfare presents a dismal, heart-breaking scene and might well

be renamed “Debris Street.” Barns, chicken houses, “Chic Sales”, old boxes; oil drums, book
cases, baby cribs and stray tables and chairs litter the roadsides, gardens and farmlands in
haphazard fashion. The swift-running waters swept buildings far from their original sites.

One small house came to rest on top of another, blocking the highway.

The ground is

strewn with huge planks, firewood, fence rails, pillows, clothes and curtains.

Inside homes, the warped floors, broken windows, stoves rusted red, mouldy wall-
paper and scattered debris give a clear indication of the terrific job of restoration and re-

placement necessary to make thousands, of dwellings again liveable.

is everywhere. The fertile
delta lands today lie as lifeless
as the city sidewalk. They are
covered with a half-inch of dirty
grey slime that in the sun has
caked in a hard crust over the
dead weeds and rotten grass.
Plants, shrubs, fruit cones and
trees of every description have
had all life choked out of them
by the deep, silted flood waters.

Septic tanks flooded by, the on-
rushing waters have backed their
filth into the homes. Gyproc and
Plaster have cracked and fallen in-
to the wetness as if an earthquake
had struck. Chesterfields and. other
furniture are swollen and rotted
beyond repair. Radios, refrigerat-
ors, sewing machines have been
mutilated and irreparably ruined.
Precious family pianos and veneer-
ed dining-room and bedroom suites
lie peeling like the birch tree in
the fall. Pictures, needlework, lin-
ens, clothes—all the treasured me-
mentos and gatherings of a life-
time are utterly destroyed.

Heartrending is the thought of
the tremendous task of scrubbing
and scraping and replacing neces-
sities. Terrifying is the hardship
and toil of reconstruction and re-
habilitation which the flood vic-
tims face. Criminal] is the action of
those slick politicians whose cun-
ning and double-talk has denied

that full aid which was rightfully |

expected by these unfortunate vic-
tims of this terrible national
disaster.

Some stinted action has been
grudgingly taken by the Coalition
government for the amelioration of
hardship. But it is the same here
as with the Coalition’s evasion of
the need for fully adequate run-
off and flood controls, which are
a distinct need additional.to pump-
ing and dyking. These Tory-Liberal

_hirelings of big business have fail- |
ed to show the. statesmanship and
take the decisive action required |
by this grave emergency,

The result is that the privation

_ faced by scores of victims this fall
and winter will be as bad or even
worse than that endured in the
depths of the depression, |

‘Death is everywhere!

And in the meantime

“There is a surplus of raspberries in the province,”
to Premier Johnson. But this is scant consolation for
whose canes, like those shown above,
waters. Even if an unwilling government is forced to . provide
them with new canes they must wait three years for the first crop.
they have to live. That’s why they must be
compensated for loss of income.

—Pacific Tribune Photo.

according
growers
have been destroyed by flood

x

The provincial legislature at
the special session gave the gov-
ernment a “blank check.” The
need now’in each of the flood
areas is a Farmers’ and Resi-
dents’ Committee to unite the
people to stretch and cash that
blank check to meet the basic
needs. In turn, coordination of
the efforts of various district
committees will be n to
prod an unwilling government
to action.

In addition to the provisions for
pumping, aid to dairy herds, dyk-
ing repairs, house reconstruction,
fertilizer and seed provisions, there
must be won the right to restitu-
tion for income losses, plus reim-
bursement for damaged furniture
and clothing. The government can
still be compelled to act—the need
cannot be denied.

“Wallace or war’ sloga

n raised —

as Progressive Party launched

By ARNOLD SROOG

—WASHINGTON.

The founding convention of the new Progressive Party opened in this historic city

last weekend amid scenes of

Keynoter Charles P. Howard decl

lace or war.”

Howard, Negro jRepublican in Iowa for 30

new party, denounced the Demo-
cratic and Republican parties’ con-

‘Swollen and rotted’

ventions held in this same hall as

—Pacific Tribune Photo.

This shows the ruin to which thousands of flood victims are
returning—and there's not much that can be salvaged. After
they have put in the weeks of work required to make fiood-dam-
aged houses habitable, they must begin the task of replacing the
furniture and personal possessions it took them years to acquire.

Unless the oe is forced

years before many

to come to their aid, it will be

them can make good their losses.

uproarious enthusiasm.

ared the central issue of the campaign to be “Wal- .

years until he swung to support of the

“carbon-copy fonventions’ and
said “you can still hear the echoes
of the back-room deal and the ma-
chine - made sellout.”

Striking the main note of his
address and what promises to be
the heart of the forthcoming na-
tional debate on foreign Policy,

‘Howard roused the delegates with

this declaration: ‘

“What is at stake is the very
survival of civilization—is the
life of our own sons. I repeat that
our crisis can be solved only at
the conference table and never on
the battle-field,

“The White House has said it

is tired of talking over differences.
And I say we are tired of dying
over them. ‘
»“The diplomats of the carbon-copy
parties have proved that they are
not interested in seeking peace.
And that is why we of the new
party say, the choice is Wallace or
war!”

Earlier in the day, Henry A. Wal-
lace, nominated as the Progressive
Party’s candidate for president, told
a press conference:

“If I were president today, I
would as one of my first acts put
out an executive order ending all
segregation in the armed forces.”

He added he would also press
for spéedy enactment of Fair Em-

REPORTS: BEAR OUT PACIFIC TRIBUNE ‘CHARGES

Coalition government disregarded own flood warnings

Records of government depart-
ments fully document charges made
in the June Pacific Tribune, at the
height of the flood battle, that the
flood danger “was known in plenty
of time for full preparations to be
made to stem off a disaster.”

These records are so complete
that they thoroughly puncwre
Finance Minister Anscomb’s at-
tempts to blame: the flood ruin on
an “act of God” rather than the
criminal negligence of the Coali-
tion government,

The water rights branch of the
department of lands and forests
was able as long ago as April 1, in
its snow survey and runoff fore-
east report, to make the following
prediction under the heading “Flood
Hazards”:

“Qn account of the lateness

of the spring, the possible increase

in snow since the end of March
and the lack of snow melted to
date, there is a potential flood
hazard on the Kootenay River,
North Thompson River and into

cipitation occur from now on.”

On May 1, a full 24 days before
disaster struck, the same branch
reported:

“The flood potential reported
as on April 1 has however been
accentuated owing to the late-
ness of the spring and lack of
any thawing to date of the snow
at higher elevations. This flood
potential exists on most streams
in the province and must be
emphasized with respect to the
Kootenay, Columbia, Thompson
and Fraser rivers, and their trib-
utaries as well as on coastal

streams. Protracted warm wea-

ther or warm rains could produce

@ flood hazard very quickly.

Flood prevention agencies should
therefore be on the alert.”

This is full proof the Pacific Tri-
bune’s June 4 charges that from
meterologists and government en-
gineers for “months there were re-
ports of the huge snowfalls piling
up in the mountains. It was known
that the early spring freshet was
light, leaving a terrible amount of
water to be carried away later. It
was known on the basis of reports
early in May that if a spell of hot
weather were to combine with all
the other factors, a dangerous sit-
uation could develop,

“All this was known in plenty of
time for full preparations to be
made to stem off a disaster. There
was time for the complete over-

‘Premier

hauling and strengthening of tne
dykes. There was time to plan a
complete anti-disaster organization
that could swing into action on a
moment’s notice.”

Yet it was not till May 31, a full
week after disaster had come, that
“Boss” Johnson finally
proclaimed a state of emergency.
By that time there were inunda-
tions at Agassiz, Dewdney, Mission,
Langley, Port Mann, Barnston Is-
land, Nicomen Island, Harrison
Mills and Matsqui.

The damning indictment in the
government reports has been bared
to the public by a Trade Union Re-
search Bureau brief for the B.C.
Federation of Labor, but has been
suppressed by all daily papers.

ployment Practices legislation

(FEPC).

The press conference was the
scene of the most unprincipled
heckling of a candidate for public
affairs ever heard in this historic
city.

Led by Wall Street's favorite
heckler, Westbrook Pegler of the
Hearst papers, and the “Socialist”
red-baiter, Norman Thomas, the re-
porters ignored Wallace’s attempts
to get down to business on real
campaign issues.

Wallace chided the newsPaper- J
men ‘for having been derelict in
their duty toward their profes-
sion because they failed to press
vigorously \for a complete investi-
gation of the murder of George
Polk, Athens’ correspondent for
Columbia Broadcasting System.

Much to the chagrin of the re-
porters, Wallace opened the press

conference with a declaration rul-
ing out any questions on “commun-
ism.”

He read a prepared statement re-
iterating some previous remarks
on the subject, which made _ his
hearers very unhappy.

When Pegler rose to
him, Wallace said:

“I will never engage in any dis-
cussion with Westbrook Pegler.”

And when Pegler’s question was
repeated by: another reporter from
the Los Angeles Times, Wallace
added:

“.., Or with one of his stooges.”

Howard's keynote address to the
convention called the roll of a) bill
of particulars against the old par-
ties.

“They have killed the OPA,”
Howard said. “They have passed
bill after bill in the private inter-
est. They have knifed labor unions
with the Taft-Hartley slave law.

“They have lifted the ceilings on
rents and killed the plans for low-
cost housing.

“Theq killed the anti-lynch bill.
They killed the anti-poll tax bill.

“This killing was the joint han-
diwork of Republicans and Demo-
crats, a majority of both parties,
plotting together in a Congress-
ional Murder, Incorporated.”

Howard listed the issues of the
campaign on which the new party
offers the American people “the
precious right of choice” as run-
away prices, jimcrow America,
housing, national health insurance,
$100 a month old age pensions, $1
an hour minimum wage, rePeal of
the Taft-Hartley Law, and repeal
of the draft. :

question

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 30, 1948—Page 2