The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 5

PAGE FIVE The VANCOUVER SUN: Junp 8, 1971 5 The politics of poverty On reflection, K. L'DALL Mr. Churchill From a column by STEWART ALSOP American weekly news magazine. in Newsweek, the Behtcndt, Het Parool, Amsterdam but not out of Europe!" ing stare. "But will America stay the course?" I answered the question with a confident (and slightly intoxicated) "Yes." I would now answer the question with an almost equally unequivocal "No." Times have changed, of course, since Mr.

Churchill asked his question. Stalin is dead, and so is the Soviet monopoly of Communist power. In the post-Marshall-plan era, this country suffered from a Miss Fix-it complex, and our commitments were greatly overexpanded. The Europeans' contribution to Europe's defence has for 20 years been grossly inadequate, and the American military bureaucracy has never provided a fair return in combat power on its immense manpower and money investment. Above all, the Vietnam war has been a major national tragedy.

All this is true, but it is also true that Mr. Churchill's question remains the key question today, as it was when he asked it over the port. The fashionable view is that the nuclear weapons have rendered the old concept of the balance of power obsolete, and that power is not therefore something to worry about. Unfortunately, Ihis view is not shared in Moscow. Russians stronger The U.S.

reconnaissance satellites have brought back indisputable evidence of an immense Soviet effort to gain nuclear-missile superiority. There is equally hard evidence of a major Soviet effort to gain naval superiority, and the Soviets already enjoy decisive ground combat superiority on the continent. Meanwhile, this country, while still involved in a costly war, is spending less on national defence in terms of percentage of gross national product than before the Korean War, In recent weeks it has seemed more and more evident that the answer to a question Winston Churchill once asked, at the end of a long and bibulous lunch, is "No." The year was 1948. I had been wandering about the continent, and had run into Randolph Churchill, the great man's only son, who asked me to lunch at Chartwell. The lunch was at first an intimidating occasion.

I had thought it would be a large gathering, and I could be as inconspicuous as a fly on the wall. Instead, there were only the great man, Randolph and myself. Mr. Churchill (as he was then) appeared in a rumpled siren suit, and he looked like a grumpy old baby. When Randolph introduced me, his only response was a disapproving "Hrrumph." He blossomed There were no cocktails.

We sat down and drank our soup in nervous silence, broken only by an occasional "Hrrumph." Then in came a bottle of champagne, and then another. The effect on Mr. Churchill was that of the sun on a flower. He began to talk, and he talked wonderfully well wisely, wittily, and maliciously. Over the port and cigars, he talked about the then current scene, which he painted in gloomy colors, and with reason Stalin had blockaded Berlin, and there had been the take over attempts in Azerbaijan and Greece, the coup in Czechoslovakia, and iuch else.

The United States had responded, at first with agonized reluctance, with Greek-Turkish aid, the Marshall plan, the beginnings of NATO. "America," Mr. Churchill mused, puffing his cigar. "America. A great and powerful country, like a strong horse, pulling the rest of the world up behind it, towards peace and prosperity." Then he fixed me with an accus big assist from Leonid Brezhnev, after the administration had mustered all the elder statesmen of the "strong horse" period, including old Harry S.

Truman himself. But this was a rear-guard action, and almost certainly the last. The elder statesmen represented the internationalist Democratic tradition of Roosevelt, Truman and John Kennedy. The liberals who now control the majority party have turned instead to the counter-tradition of "America first." Robert A. Taft is their unlikely hero.

There is no doubt that the liberal Democrats are onto a good thing politically. This country's basic instincts are isolationist, and the American voters are clearly fed up, not only with the Vietnam war, but with the whole boring, expensive, dangerous business of being the world's No. 1 power. US. in decline This being a democracy, the voters will no doubt have their way, and the United States, after its brief period of primacy, will cease to be the world's No.

1 power. It will cease to be "a strong horse." There is a curious new flaccidity, a mysterious mushiness, about American life and thought that may be incurable. So the answer to Mr. Churchill's question is very probably "No." and much less on strategic weapons than in the Eisenhower era. Defence manpower is being cut hack by 40 per cent and more, and if the draft ends we could soon have fewer men in uniform than before the second war.

'Annual scare' The fashionable response to this contrast is to dismiss the hard evidence of the Soviet missile program as mere Pentagon propaganda "The annual spring scare," to quote the title of a recent New York Times editorial. All the Democratic presidential candidates but one favor further sharp cutbacks in defence. All the Democratic candidates but one are at best equivocal about the New Left demand that all logistic support for the South Vietnamese armed forces be ended, while the Russians and Chinese continue to supply the North Vietnamese with all the arms they need. But perhaps the best evidence that the answer to Mr. Churchill's question is likely to be "No" was provided by the scare over the Mansfield amendment to cut the American troops commitment to NATO in half, without hearings or prolonged debate.

The amendment was given a very good chance of passing, with the support of the liberal Democrats. It was only defeated, with a By MORRIS From an article in The Progressive, a liberal magazine published monthly in Madison, Wise. The writer is a Democratic member for Arizona in the U.S. house of Representatives. President Nixon calls it a "monstrous, consuming Governor Ronald Reagan, "a cancer eating at our Time magazine, "a living nightmare." It is a monster which affects the lives of 13.5 million Americans, costs more than $14 billion a year, and gets bigger and costlier every day.

I am referring, of course, to the national scandal called welfare, and I am disturbed by the fact that one of the main roadblocks to reform of our antiquated, cruel welfare system is a segment of the liberal community that may be putting partisanship ahead of the needs of the poor. There are not many readers of The Progressive who are on welfare. And it is pretty easy for liberals to point to the bogeymen of Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon to justify just about any position they want to take. But I think it is time that we at least start listening to some conservative voices, even if we think they are wrong, and in listening, perhaps help put poverty and welfare above partisanship. Here is one of those voices, with a message I like: "I believe that the American people feel that with the high production of which we are now capahle, there is enough left over to prevent extreme hardship and maintain a minimum standard floor under subsistence, education, medical -care, and housing, to give to all a minimum standard of decent living and to all children a fail' opportunity to get a start in life." That was Senator Robert A.

Taft in 1949. It is a sad commentary or the snail's pace nf progress, and the divisions in the liberal world, that the conservative "Mr. Republican" could say that two decades ago and be regarded as marching in the ranks of liberal thinking today. It is a sad commentary on the divisions in the liberal SEE JAPAN. HONG community that a mart with Richard Nixon's checkered past could be offered up as the author of welfare reform in the 1970s.

Yet in the Family Assistance Plan his administration has offered more in the way of fundamental change for the good in the country's well-intentioned, but basically bad, welfare system than we were able to achieve in a decade of New Frontiers and Great Societies. Deep within me I have a hidden fear that perhaps some of the liberal opponents of the president's plan are spurred in part because it was Richard Nixon who proposed it. If that is true, it is a terrible price they are asking the poor to pay so that we may continue to play politics as usual. Game of the name By 'PENDENNIS' From the items column in The Observer, London. We have been invited to join an Anglo-Canadian organization called The Names Society and are toying with the idea.

In an article in the society's bulletin a member lists the names used by her fiance to address her. They include: Cheeky, chunky, cuddly, grippy, humpy, porky, podgy, slurpy, floppy, chunky chops, hot chops, red chops, freak face, freckle face, cuddly duddly, killer diller, tricky dicky, fuzzy head, cuddly turn, rumble turn, flapper feet, green feet, kipper feet, lucky legs. NON SEQUITUR There is nothing intrinsically wrong about bargaining with the Soviet Union for a reduction of opposing forces in Europe, but the process is somewhat irrelevant if U.S. reduction is advisable anyway. It is easy to demonstrate that the U.S.

is overextended militarily abroad, in Germany, Vietnam, Korea and elsewhere. St. tarns Post-Dispatch KONG. $999 n. low' art of films follows old pattern By RAYMOND WILLIAMS In the 18th century, anyone whose talents could rise to an essay was likely to feel himself entitled to despise those was just on the point of creating the richest and most permanent imaginative work we have ever had.

CINEMA TWO TO A 8 ED. 'lL'lHt5Wlt have traditional cultural sanction the novel or the theatre than if it's in this other form, film, which still, after more than half a century, is felt at best to be making its way. It is, then, ironic to remember that both the theatre and the novel, in earlier periods, were seen as "low" forms. By puritan moralists, certainly: apprentices wasted their time in Elizabethan theatres; young men (young ladies were different, little more could be expected of them) steeped themselves in fantasy, and lost their sense of practical reality pouring over the latest novels. But the forms were also seen as low by the current defenders (it would be wrong to say representatives) of traditional high culture.

Philip Sidney attacked the Elizabethan theatre when it TAIWAN HAWAII iff cially and culturally mobile, the excluded women. Such cases could be generalized to a rather simple thesis: that the great new movements begin in popular interests; that they are carried through by new kinds of artist, from outside the traditionally cultivated class; that from the speculative popular market, and from the mobile talents then commercially attracted to it, much of the really new and valuable work comes. VOLVO SALE Low milPMUP dfmos all with balance of factory warranty, radio, etc. ready to bo. Volvo 1H 1 automatir.

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But what interests me more is the recurrence of a situation which most theories of cultural development would seem to be powerless to explain. The Elizabethan theatre, as an institution, was begun by speculators. The writers who poured into it were very much new men: socially and culturally as mobile and as experimental as the form they learned to create. The novel, similarly, found its first home in Grub Street, or at least very near to it. Its popular commercial basis, right through to the Ifllh century, again attracted many new kinds of writer: the so Public smoking Editor, The Sun, Sir AH British Columbians with an ounce of common sense will be glad at the proposed elimination of cigarette advertising in B.C.

But it won't help much, as long as the cigarette companies can rely on the promotion of their products by individual smokers, offering free samples to anyone dumb enough to accept them. Especially young people are the victims of this form of drug-pushing. Isn't it hifih time we outlawed all promotion of cigarettes, whether by the industry or by individuals? Another thing that should be outlawed is smoking in confined public areas. There arc laws against air pollution, why don't we apply them to public smoking? 1 do not want to mb smokers of the privilege of smoking themselves to death, but what gives them the right to force their filthy fumes down my throat and my children's? G. HENNKVKLD 453 Municipal Tenticton Hairy story Editor, The Sun, Sir According to the Associated Press a New York dermatologist went to Switzerland and told them that Women's Lib may he contributing to female baldness, saying that "loss of feminity might be evolving from assuming male duties and demonstrating in the streets." I don't believe a quarter of the IhiiiKs 1 read but all the things 1 see, so if some women will slop shouting at their husbands at.

home, on the street, or In the supermarkets, their hair should thicken up you don't have to look in Ihe mirror now, you can do that tomorrow I IVOR HARRIES 018 Cardrro I wonder how many people now, when they think of the arts of the 20th century, think first or even at all about films. It seems to me that in the last 50 years film has produced at least as many major works as any other form you could think of: many more, I From a British Broadcasting Corporation radio talk, later printed in The Listener, the BBC's weekly magazine. would say. than its most evident analogue, the stage play. There have, of course, been a great many bad and mediocre films, but that is ajamil-iar situation also in the theatre and in fiction.

Yet almost any contemporary work gets more general respect, more attention, if it is in one of the forms that Checkmate Editor, The Sun, Sir In a letter May 31, John MacPhail is critical of my refusal, on behalf of the University of British Columbia, to make available the library of the Graduate Student Centre to the chess players Fischer and Taimanov. Three weeks before the tournament, at some inconvenience to the centre, I arranged facilities and services that were pronounced satisfactory by the Canadian Chess Federation. On the afternoon before the match was to begin the Russian captain demanded the library; Fischer had accepted the arrangements. The Graduate Student Centre is a private club with a membership of about 2,800. I refused to ask the members to vacate their library for a period of three to four weeks.

This is not the way in which students are treated at the University of British Columbia. I have two comments to make to Mr. MacPhail. First, guests owe a certain courtesy to hosts, Second, it is wise to acquire command of the facts before dashing irresponsibly Into print. MALCOLM McGREGOR Chairman, Board of Directors, Graduate Student Centre, University of B.C.

Medical costs Editor, The Sun, Sir I read the article "Our Health System is Sick" (The Sun May with Interest and agree with most of the sentiments expressed. In her conclusion Lisa Ilohlis pointed out correctly that "the exploding population and exploding medical costs are on a collision course" and went on to suggest that medical services will have to cost more and at the same time he less wasteful. However, what she Ignores is the alternative: Some action rnnrernlns the exploding population. Just at "It is ob It's in your interest to conic to Guaranty because: There arc longer hours at most ofour offices where you can get cash and make deposits at greater convenience lo you. You can use our companion chequing account (4'c on minimum half yearly balance) and saving account to take care of both, sides of your financial life.

Myopic insight Editor, The Sun, Sir Your columnist, James K. Nesbitl, writes a fascinating article when dealing with B.C. historical topics but fails dismally as an analyst of the contemporary scene. His statement, to the effect that he can't find a Canadian who is willing to cut his standard of living in order to preserve his Canadian independence, shows a myopic insight into the feelings and desires of many Canadians. I have asked a number of friends and acquaintances whether they would accept a lower standard of living in order to foster Canadian independence and the answer has been unanimous yes.

The one reservation they have is that the captains of industry, commerce and government might take advantage of the people's desire for independence in order to enhance their own personal financial status in our society. Strong parliamentary supervision of our path to cultural and economic independence could ensure that the attendant economic upset would be distributed fairly among all citizens of Canada. I realize that my unofficial survey of friends and acquaintances hardly represents valid sampling of Canada's demographic distribution. However, It does demonstrate that James K. Nesbitl hasn't looked far enough when he states that he can't find a Canadian willing to cut Letters In the erillnr must he signed by and hear the address nf the writer.

The shorter the better. A pen name may be used only In special rases. The Sim may edit for brevity, clarity, legality or taste. his standard of living for Canadian independence. Mr.

Nesbitt also makes much of his supposition that U.S. culture in the form of hit musicals such as Hello Dolly and South Pacific might be denied to eager Canadian audiences, In the first place, the legitimate desire of Canadians for independence will most likely result in emphasis on the offerings of Canadian culture rather than the prohibition of the prolific cultural outpourings from south of the border. Evidence of this trend is seen in such government agencies as the. Canadian Film Corp. and in the meteoric rise in popularity of Canadian popular singers and song writers.

This trend is even more likely if the moderate approach advocated by the Committee for an Independent Canada is adopted by our governments, both federal and provincial. In the second place, and this is a purely personal observation, it appears that Mr. Nesbitt might have chosen a more attractive and sophisticated representative of American culture than Hello Dolly and South Pacific. In fact, I feci that Mr. Nesbitt.

by his choice of examples has weakened rather than strengthened his arguments, The statement by Mr. Nesbitt that "the United States Is where the action is is quite true. Revolutionary anarchism, bombings, police assassinations, political murders, disaffected youth, cities unlit and unsafe for human habitation are all symptomatic nf this action. We would he most unwise in Canada to continue to follow slavishly the American example. Mr.

Nesbilt should shift his attentions north of the border In order to realize that there are very exciting social, political and economic trends here In Canada in Ihis the latter half of the twentieth century. GEORGE COPLEY West Second vious that people are going to have to pay more" for their medical care, it is equally obvious that with the present growth of the population of Vancouver no amount of reassessment and reorganization will enable the medical services to keep pace with increasing numbers of patients. The rise in the cost of providing the best possible care for patients, due to improved and usunlly more expensive equipment and treatment which it is impossible to deny them, and the increase in cost of basic services, is an immediate problem which must he faced. But the long-term answer is not more and more hospitals and hospital staff to cope with a never ending climb in population, the answer is to halt the population explosion. Only when this is recognized and some form of population stability achieved (as proposed by groups such as Zero Population Growth) thus enabling us to predict future demands on such resources as hospital beds, only then will long-term planning of the type the health service needs have some relevance.

Only then can we he sure that there will he a bed, as Lisa Hobbs puts it, "when our turn comes." (Dr.) P. F. FANCOURT SMITH .1011 West Third Non-census Editor, The Sun, Sir Will you please let the general public know just what is the use of a census. I was always under the Impression that, a census was to "count the heads" to find the total population of a country. With all these hippies wandering around with no fixed address, thousands of them, just where do you send their census forms? It's just a waste of money and time for evervhndy.

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