Unfilled Grave

Canada's Supreme Court last week tossed another handful of earth into the unfilled grave of Alberta's Social Credit experiment. By a 6-to-1 majority it decided that the Alberta Debt Adjustment Act of 1937 was unconstitutional.

Social Credit, as preached by pallid Premier William C. ("Bible Bill") Aberhart, never really got started in Alberta. Most of its legislation was vetoed by the Dominion Government or turned down by the courts. But for six years Bible Bill maintained himself in office by an expert mixture of patronage, oratory and extraordinary legislation. One Aberhart law pettishly forbade the courts to declare any Social Credit legislation unconstitutional.

With beautiful simplicity, the Debt Adjustment Act had set up an adjustment board, had provided that no resident of Alberta needed to pay a debt unless the board agreed. This the board would hardly have done, since Social Creditors feel about debt the way Christian Scientists feel about pain. To wheat-poor, debt-ridden Alberta farmers this had sounded too good to be true. Last week they found it was.

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