“\and justice on its route.

3389 W. Pender

gp. The Us
Wute wv

Reader urges wider
‘Tron Crown’ showing

MLM., Vancouver, B.C.: The film
The Iron Crown, shown last week
at the Studio, was neglected by
the press and poorly promoted by
the management. Except for a
“fear review” in the News-Herald,
it has been buried in silence. I am
writing this letter because I be-
lieve efforts should be made to
have other: theatres show this
splendid film.

The Iron Crown is an Italian-
made historical film of tender
beauty, oftentimes magnificent in
its realistic pageantry of lifegin
the middle ages. It is possible
that other theatre managements
will be reluctant to let you see
this film, for it dares ih no uncer-
tain terms and with great artistry
to speak out for peace, justice and
brotherhood.

Based on an old legend from
‘Byzantine in the year 1204, a small
cotorie of priests reverently are
bearing the Iron Crown “seditious
propaganda” which brings peace
On its
‘long journey to Rome on the edge
of the kingdom of Kindaer, a land
‘orn by strife, its tyrant ruler in
endeavoring to dispose of the Iron
“vown, loses it in quic's¢ nd.

Zz

The opening scenes of the pic-
ture rank with the greatest on film
art, as hand to hand medieval
combat ends in slaughter, rapine
and pillage and devastation. From
then on the symbolic occasion-
ally bogs down in being a bit far-
fetched. There are & good few
flaws and faults to the film but
these. are more than countered by

ran

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its genuinely colossal mass scenes
of medieval life. In contrast with
Hollywood, history lives in this

‘film. Through the struggle against

tyranny depicted there breathes a
zest of life, love and hope in some
of the most vibrant action ever
seen on the screen, The genius of
Sergei Eisenstein for film making
has had profound influence on the
makers of TRS Tron Cro

‘The ee ais of the middle
way” is an apt phrase used by
John Howard Lawson in his pene-
trating book, Our Hidden Heri-
tage. No wonder Lawson, pro-
ducer of some of Hollywood's
few lasting movies, languishes in
a U.S. prison, and the Vancouver
News-Herald last week came out
with a blast against this film
theme as a cloak for “red propa-
ganda.” ‘Actually the philosophy
of The Iron Crown is as much
Christian ethics as it is commun-
istic. Actually there are a good
few details in it that a commun-
ist can constructively criticize. But
the ‘'News-Herald sees it as “a
dirty cloak,’ as indeed, it sees
anything that savors of peace.

Is there no standard
of transit service

VOTER, Lulu Island, B.C.: Is
there any arrangement, in the
BCER agreement with the city,
for an adequate standard of ser-
vice based on the number of pas-
sengers? Say ,so many buses to
so many passengers. ,

If there isn’t — and from the
poor servicé we get, there doesn't
seem to be any such arrangement
—then the BCER stands in the
happy position that the more profit
it makes, the higher its fares will
have to go.

Here's my reasoning. The com-
pany ig allowed a certain rate of

profit on its capitalization, To in-.

crease this profit the BCER simply
has, to reinvest profits as capital.
By giving rotten service it in-

creases profits; in the ‘following \

year, it needs higher fares to
make its legally-allowed rate of
profit.

Wildwood proud of
dental clinic work ~

KEN GIBSON, Wildwood, B.C.:
For some time past this district
(school district No. 47) has been
working hard to get a epreventive

801 POWELL ST.

MAY DAY foe Sata

THE FISHERMAN .

i )

NE 1829
pecans

ous Deparfinent
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dental clinic’ going. Mrs. A. Mc-
Phee, a Westview® school board
member and a member of the 2
Parent-Teacher Association and
other organizations, has been par-
ticularly active.

On March 21 a meeting was call-
ed to get things rolling. The fol-

~ Jowing are the) Dental Clinic Board

members: J. P. Dallos, J. H. Ford,
H. N. Patterson, Mrs. A. McPhee,
K., Gibson, Dr. R. Patterson, Mrs.

Michelson, Mrs. V. Hughes, F.
Clark, H. Marco, R. Spinks, Mrs.
E. Radford.

<<

At the next meeting the follow-
ing officers were elected: chair-
man, R. Spinks; vice-chairman,
Dr. R. Patterson.

The sum of $9,000 has been ap-
proved by the school board to get
the clinic started for the first
year, and after that it should take
care of itself. The sum of $6 will
be charged each child only if
work is done): It is sincerely
hoped that this dental clinic assist-
ance Will spread not only’ through-
out the province but throughout
the dominion: g

ny

In other words, do as
the government's doing

MRS. A. ANDERSON, Fruitvale,
B.€.: I enclose a little poem which
I hope you will find suitable to

'\ print. It is called “The Exploiter.”

.

TI would gather up the sunbeams
I'd not leave the poor a spark,
And unless I got a profit
They might labor in the dark.
These producers and consumers
. Are such jokes that I must laugh,
I would take their wheat and roses
Leaving them the thorns and
chaff. .
. Oh, V’H boost the price of living
And IV'll shorten up the weight,
T'll manipulate the markets
And inerease the charge of freight,
For I find the sweetest comfort
In this game I’ve learned to play,
Pinching poor folks all the harder,
Forcing poverty to pay.

4 i
Oh, Vil plant discord among them,
Sow suspicion in their ranks,
When I’ve got them where I want
them,

Then Pll give my god the thanks,
For it’s thee, almighty dollar,
That I worship in my day,

And it’s up to me to hustle,

’ And make harvest while I may.

Oh, V’ll fatten en the farmer,
And Ill skin the working man,
Yes, I'll trim them to a finish,
“And enslave them if I can.

And their silly agitation,

I would stop it sure for fare,
I’d put meters on their windpipes,
And impose a tax on air.

ae

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>

The autobiography
of a working woman

“Some seed feli on good ground and brought forth
fruit”—Matt XIII, 8

‘Edited by MARGARET FAIRLEY

N previous instalments, | the
author told of \her childhood

in England, how she was aban-
doned by foster parents, placed in
a home, shipped to Canada to
work on a farm when she was 10
years old and sent back as “‘in-
corrigible.” A few years later
she returned to Canada to escape
the dreary prospect of spending
the rest of her life in a Lancashire
tailor’s sweatshop.
Y husband was an American
and we lived in Philadelphia.
But soon after the war started he
joined the Canadian army and
was sent overseas. So began the
first of three episodes when I have
lived asa soldier’s next-of-kin. As
I write I have reached the same
status again. Each episode has
been bitter. Blood money is what
the allowance feels like to me.
There has always been the ter-
rible knowledge that my country
needed my men for war but not
for peace. I know with every
bone and drop of blood in my
body that to start a war, and to
say or do anything that makes
war more likely, is wickedness
and sin in the full religious sense
of the word, and that if I could
not see the strength and beauty of
socialism growing in the world I
would give up all hope for my
children and grandchildren. It is
a wonderful comfort, when things
are at their blackest for me pér-
sonally, to think of them, and the
life which will be theirs if we do
our part now. x
I was. still

very religious in

those years of the first big war. I

always hate to hear it called a
“sreat” war. Big it was, but not
great. I lived for my little boy,
and was happy when he was hap-
py; just like every young mother
in the whole wide world. (How
happy those young Korean moth-
ers were only a few months ago).
But my religion did not help me
much. I had joined a narrow sect,
the kind of church which could
not feed my mind or my heart.
My husband returned wounded
from France, and for a time work-
ed as a railwayman. When the
men went out on strike I could no
longer pay the dues to the church,
so I drifted away. Another -in-
stance of drift in my life, but one
not quite without purpose. My
eyes. were being opened. ‘
He went to work on a farm,
where he was badly injured. We
were at our wits end and return-
ed to Canada to begin a long fight
for an army pension. It is the
same story; men in the United
States army are finding the same
difficulty to get allowances and
pensions. The Patriotic Fund
eventually helped us, and my hus-
band was given a pension of $14
a month. He went out to work by
the’ day, and he got some relief
work, but was hit on the back by
a steam shovel and incapacitated
sa
I don’t know how we lived. We
had to fight every inch of the
road, for every meal. We had now
three children, cold, ragged. un-
dernourished. I watched them
every day, just like mothers every-
where. By this time I had learn-
ed a lot. Why haven't all who
lived as I lived learned the same?
Really I don’t know. Perhaps the
story of how we got our sugar had
come at the right moment for me,
and other people had not been so
lucky. That must be it. Anyhow

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — APRIL 27,

I was able to see through the cur-
tain of lies which had tried to
keep me and all like me quiet and
humble. I was, soon after the first
war, beginning to understand that
it was not a law of God or of na-
ture that made and kept us poor,
but a system of society, controlled
and manipulated by men.

These years before and during ;
the depression were years of des-
perate poverty and sickness. We
‘were way down below the level of
human dignity, our bedding in
rags, our dishes broken, our rooms
cold, our children hungry, People
who were comfortable as usual
during those years can never
know what it was like for us.

Can I explain? Men in prison
do not see the outside world, but
we could see it, had to see it every
day. Inmates of hospitals do not:
see the healthy world, but we.
looked at it all the time. Health ©
and good food and warm clothes
were displayed all around us.
Again jand again we heard that
these things were not ours because
we did not» want to work, that we
misspent our relief money, that
we were unemployed because we
were drunkards, that we liked liv-
ing in dirt and squalor, that we
were happier when we were over-
crowded. Have you heard these
things said? I have.

CHAPTER 4

N 1933 we took up a government

grant.of farm-land in Muskoka. |
It was called farm-land, but it was
all rocks. The shack was an old —
log-hut, which looked so pictur-
esque; the floor was rotten and
the walls were cracked. The gov-
ernment: gave us no tools. You
may think by now that I am a
professional grumbier, but I am
only telling the truth. We had our
twa broken bodies and our three
childrn and a sack of carrots
which we got in exchange for an
old phonograph.

We just managed to live. And I
want to say again and again that
we were not worse off than thou-
sands of others. If it had been
just us, the story would not be
worth telling. I only tell it be-
cause I can shout for joy now that |
so many people are out of the
system for ever, that hunger is —
beaten in China and that there
won't be many more depressions
anywhere in the world again , My
children and my grandchildren |
will hold up their heads in health”

- and pride.

-When my boys were in their
teens they left home in search of
work. They rode on the freigh ts,
they worked in the ief camps.
They met kindness and harshness
and so grew to manhood. At home
the suspicion of government of-
ficials, lest I got too much relief,
hung over me like a shadow. They
“hunted my house, presumably for
buried treasure; they questioned.
the neighbors; they cut off relief
milk becausé I had Siesigee 5 ccF
meetings. :

How could men sink so low?
How could they do it? My heart
was breaking, , but they had “no-
heart to break, and I believe it
was my sense of superiority to
them which kept me going and
keeps me going still. It is the, basis
of my class feeling. When you
know that you stand with the best |
in human history you can laugh
at your tormentors, as I laughed
at those inspectors; -

(To be continued) ‘

1951 — Page 9