Heats:

ebruary 15, 1935 _

Wor

WORKERS” NEWS

ers’ Correspon:

_ Page Three

ce

Ed. Note: The following letter
‘rom 2 Foreign Born Worker is
‘printed as received. To edit it
“}rould spoil it.

Crescent Valley, B.C.

ear Comrade:

4 Writing you from these back-
_ oods where I didn’t start to do any
tal things yet, and in preparation
jetting my three meals just a same.
would like to write you about my
vavel. It may not be as good a
tadine matter, as you are accus-
med to haye, but it will serve the
feed of variation of reading.

Zi ieft Winnipese on Thursday nizht,
1e first night of snow. In the yards
sere were many travelers waitine
Hr the train, but when the train
arted, the bull (rail road police)
siased a bunch of them, and the
her bunch of about half a score
gad the comrade of yours safely
.arded the train. I think the chased
re glad to have some kind of:ex-
ise to postpone their travel. Very
kely they preferred the disappoint-
‘Sent to the dreadful drift. We got
93 42 fiat car, behind some iron pipes,
jaded on the car about 3 feet hich,
| quite poor windbreak. For some
me a fine snow was drifting, stuck
=: the face and melted. At first it
eas amusing, but soon became un-
sarable, then I diyed into my collar
»' the coat, so that my cap formed
lid over the coat, which contained
ie traveler, and now I didn’t give a
2mDn if a pile of snow drifted over
7 © and I would be sittings like an
)skimo in a snow hut.

4 There Sa sleepine car on a freight
fain. It's called tender. And very
2nder tender too. It caresses a
@aveler with warmth by steam con-
acting pines and soothes him with
sot. Talk about porters. Every-
ody on a tender becomes black
orters themselves. Amd for white
asets: there was a real white sheet
=: snow on this particular night:
oot and cinder get into your eyes,
) ose, ears and under the color, which
ecomes a rough emery cloth and
tratches with sharp cornered cin-
}2rs.

We came to Brandon half frozen
i the flat car, and afier all were
iawed up in the round house, found
at the number of an engine going
‘est, climbed up on its tender and
son fell asleep.

Couple of hours jater I found an
mpty box car and role in it alone to
foose Jaw. TI let one train go, be-
ause there was no empty cars, and
he night was too cold to ride on
ae open. I spent the night in the
ox car, in a nightmare of shivering
old, dozed once in a while and
falked from end to end most of the
jime. In the morning I went to town
>. wash and haye a lunch, and when
eturned to the yards I found a com-
anion, After waiting for about half
Pf the day at the bonfire we boarded
be train and rode in comfort of a
lean box car to Swift Current.
From Swiit Current to Medicine
fiat we were carried on a real swift
urrent of speed. It was a passen-
rer train speed. Very likely the train
rew have seen us, two passengers,
itting at the side of an oil tank and
ed the train accordingly. The funny
yart is: My partner put his heavy
‘oat into pack sack when going to
‘estaurant and forgot to take it out
ind crawl into it, before he boarded
che train. It was impossible to
Stretch out and put the coat on, at
the side of oil tank, so he was freez-
ing for hours, while the coat was in
the pack sack on his back and
couldn't comfort him.

At Medicine Hat I missed the
train and was left there for half a
Say on Sunday. My morning impres-—
sion on the town of cleanliness, space
and abundance of trees, soon changed

sbi

Proletarian Travellers

Escape The Cold Winter

es

“his Working-class Writer Tells in Fine Descrip-
tive Style of Hardships Endured While

Fleeing Ftom Prairie Winter

nto disgust when I have met so
many nuns in their sanctimonious
dresses, and marching veterans of a
couple score strong with 8 and 4 tin
medals on the brest, led by squealing
band, clad in red. These represented
the glory past. The veterans were
followed by recruits.of about same
number, and short squeaks of mili-
tary command were heard. These
represented the glory coming. The
town mob lined all the sidewalks in
a state of exultation.

In the eyenine of the same day I
reached Calgary. After three sleep-
less nights I needed a couple days of
rest. Next day I participated in
demonstration of striking relief work-
ers, which was quite a contrast to

the military march of Medicine Hat.

Many thousands took part in the
demonstration, men, women and
children. There was a regiment of
women with baby carriages. Sing-
ing of revolutionary songs, three
cheers and three boos to those, who
deserved them helped the parade to
be quite lively and interesting. The
Strikers delesation didn’t get satis-
factory answer from the City Coun=
cil, so it was resolved to send the
delegation once more after supper,
and support it by masses gathered at
the City Hall. The gathering re-
sembled rather a carnival than a
Gemonstration, songs, cheers, boos,
and drolleries. The comrades can
Sing very well, too, and I think some
of their short pieces were improvised
right on the spot. Qne street was
plugged up entirely and police tried
to escort the traffic through the
crowd on the street, then a few boys

took a car by the fenders, the driver

stepped on the gas, but the engine
was Stalled immediately and the car
was pushed backwards, out of the
crowd. After that the traffic was
detoured- to another street.

- i was told, many times, that in
B.C. the freight trains are watched
very closely for the travelers. It is
quite true. There are four kinds of
police on the job, the bulls, the town
police, the provincial, and the moun-
ties. They inspect every empty box
ear, so the travelers climb into the
coal and are gondolas to ride in com-
parative safety. Iobody afraid very
much of being arrested, for jails are
not much different from the concen-
tration camps, where most of the
travelers waste their lives as out-
casts, segresated from the rest of
the fiving creatures. Now they look
for some kind of jobs to get into the
lifes tracks, and escape demoralizing
effects of the camps.

Here are the lofty mountains
again. Some with glacier peaks,
some with dull heads, but all with
great big forest on their slopes. The
mountains are separated from each
other by canyons, gorges, ravines,
gullies, and valleys. The ereat tow-
ering Pyramids raising their heads
to the sky, embracing you from every
side, and annihilate the ~ horizon.
Here are noisy, swift and clear
and rivers with shallow
rapids and foamy waterfalls. And
clear cut margin of the snow line
about the middle of mountains, as a
verge of two seasons—fall, below,
and winter, above—gradually coming
down every week.

streams

In town of Cranbrook I was de-
tained for more than 24 hours be-
cause there was no freight. I was
gone 2 miles away, in the morning,
where the steep upgrade is, and
freights go very slowly, and waited
there till the late at night, piling
up curses on the C.P.R. service.
When, at last, I boarded the train,
I found some companions to finish
my travel with.

How are things in your City?

I remain, your comrade,

John Taruss.

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Please send THE B.C. WORKERS NEWS to:

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6 months... 8 months

for which I enclose $_..........-----.-..-

ANOTHER MAN
DEAD RESULT OF
PROFIT SYSTEM

Bosses Responsible Go
Scott Free Under
Capitalism

Death caused by a faulty socket
was the reward reeeived by Hugh
Hadden MacDonald in payment for
five years’ service aS second engin-
eer at the Joseph Chew Shingle Co.

On investigating the chief found
MacDonald slumped over a grinding
machine, the light being half un-
serewed was out, and above the
socket shot out sparks. MacDonald
could be seen lying on top of the
machine but the chief found it ne-
cessary to screw in the globe before
he could see what was wrong, and
when he touched MacDonald the
body fell heavily to the floor.

Help was called and soon the
wounded man was rushed to the
General Hospital, where a young

house surgeon looked at the dirty
face, clothes and hands, asked the
driver where he picked him up and
when told on Laurel Street, ihe am-
bulanee driver was told to take him
to the morgue. No respiration or
stimulant was given.

The city electric wiring inspector
condemned the extension as it was
not covered under a city by-law
which ecalis for a positive line in the
eentre of a socket and a nesative
line on the case. He stated the ex-
tension was wired exactly backward
and it was due to this cheap worlk-
manship that death was caused,

The burial took-place next day at,

3 p.m.
Church.

Wext day on arriving home from
a visit to the fresh grave of their
father, the sons found a bailiff in
the home of the youngest son at
6295 Boundary Road and at the time
of writing your reporter had to duck
group of militant neighbors
“friend’’ bailiff out on his

at the Collingwood United

aS a
heaved
ear.
Fight against cheap wiring and
for shop committees.
Fight against bailiffs and for Full
and Free Unemployment Insurance.
Worker.

Kamloops -

On The Move

Results Proves Correct-
ness of Struggle

Kamloops, B. C.,
Feb. 7th, 1935.
Editor, “B. C. Workers’ News’:

Dear Comrade: The most outstand-
ing grievance in Kamloops is the
case of V. R. Moxam and his family
consisting of seven.

This worker, for the last three
years, has been travelling
out of B. C. and Alberta, working
here and there. His wife contracted
T, B. and, on advice from medical
authorities, was instructed to bring
her to the dry belt. One of his
children being born in Kamloops,
and being acquainted with the dis-
trict, he moyed his family here.

On applying for relief he was re-
fused on the grounds that he was
a transient.

in and

The Unemployed. Workers’ Protec-
tive Association took up the case,
and after campaigning,. in the form
of 1600 leaflets being distributed,
mass meetings, mass delegations,
demonstrations, finally concluding
challenge of debate to the

with a

local Liberal M. L. A., Relief and
Health Officers before a public
meeting, but they refused to ac-
cept it.

After these actions, of which the
local people have never seen the
like, all three demands, which are as
follows, were granted:

1. That the family be immediately
moved to more comfortable and suit-
able avfarters.

2. That the family be immediately
placed on permanent relief.

3. That the family receive imme-
diate medical and dental attention.

These actions have proven to the
unemployed that only through
struggle can we gain. The member-
roll] increased from 50 to 100.

Comradely

ship
yours
IMs as

GORDON GRANT

Room 29
163 West Hastings

SOLICITOR FOR THE

St.

CL.DL.

EXTRA FUEL
ALLOWANCE AT
CRANBROOK

Communists and C.C.F.
Members United

To the Editor, B.C. Workers News:
Dear Comrade: On behalf of our
organization, accept our proletarian
greetings on the birth of the “B.C.
Workers News,”’ the organizer of the
British Columbia workers. Qur or-
ganization is an alliance of the
workers of the C.C.F. unemployed
workers and Communists who see
the need of a united stand against
the attacks that are being made
upon the living standards of the
toiling masses. We are busy pre-
paring for the National Unemployed
Congress and we hope that a Cran-
brook delegate will be seated at this
important working class congress.

As a result of the activity of the
Workers Protective Association we
had a delegation appear before the
City Council. Later the workers of
Cranbrook received an extra $5.00
for fuel during the cold spell.

We offer a suggestion to the “B.C.
Workers News” and that is: ‘“‘Allot
one column to the news of the un-
employed organizations, and ask
them to elect a reporter.”

We feel sure that the workers in
the Interior of B.C. will support the
paper, beeause it has not a _ sec-
tarian. policy, and is alive to the
struggles of the workers and their
organizations.

Comradeéely yours,
R, Adams.

C.C.F. Official ‘‘Fired’’
For Presiding At
Tim Buck Meeting

GALT, Ont., Feb. 9.—David Will-
iams, vice-president of the Co-opera-—
tive Commonwealth Federation con-
stituency council for South Water-
loo, today was asked to resign from
his position.

Mr. Williams said he expected the
move, aS he presided at the meeting
last night at which Tim Buck, sec-
retary of the Communist party of
Canada, spoke. The C.C.F. consti-
tution provided for expulsion of any
member identifying himself with the
Communist movement.

CORRESPONDENCE

Editors’ Note.—The copy of ietter
below a request
for publication. We are pressed for
space, and have cut one paragraph
out. this will meet the

Wwas™received with

Trusting
situation.

Victoria, Jan. 30, 1935.
The Bditor, The Commonwealth,
Vancouver, B.C.

Sir,—Attention has been drawn to
a letter to your paper
answering a charge by the Provin-
eial Workers’ Council regarding the
use made of funds during the joint
campaign in December for increased
relief and other matters. We
not concerned with the main point
at issue, but our indignation has
been aroused at a statement in one
part of the letter that
women delegates had been housed in
a “cold, dirty and smelling house.
Also the matter of some of the dele-
gates having to pay for their meals.
Six women were among those who
stated that they would look after
themselves, but later announced they
would like our assistance for accom-
modation. We have the
these women, the leader of whom
Miss Gutteridge of the C.C.F.
Unemployed ’ Section. These women
advised us that they were not fin-
ancially able to do better than what
we could, and they were billeted at
the-Clifton House. This hotel is in
the centre of town, two blocks from
the city hall; the Columbia is oppo-
site it, and the St. Francis on lower
Yates Street,
Chinatown,

All were inspected by the commit-
tee before arrangements were made
for the housing of the delegates and
with one exception (among the six)
all gave the committee their hearti-
est approval for the manner in which
As to the meals.

addressed

are

some six

names of

Was

and none of them in

they were treated.

on the day of arrival at 3:30 p.m,, a
meeting was held at the C.C.r. Hall,
and the committee were unable to

present their plans for the accommo-
dation of the delegates until after 6

o'clock. Some of the cafes close here
at 7 p.m., and naturally there was
considerable delay and contusion
when from 30 to 40 arrived unex-
| pectedly. We were unable to leave
the meetine to prepare the caterers

| for this; as we had no ic

“which

POST OFFICE
GRAFT IN U.S.A.

$12,000 Paid To Carry
One Letter

The following extracts from the
annual report of Postmaster General
James A. Farley of the United
States is very enlightening and ex-
poses the graft going
boasted civilization.

on in our

There has been 25,000 postal em-
ployees laid off Since the crisis; there
were 256,956 employees in 1929,
was reduced to 229,646 by
June 30, 1934. Wurther economies
were met by reducing the wages of
the lower paid in the postal service
through the spread work plan. At
the same time the subsidies to trans-
port companies
panies increased.
companies increased as follows:
321,692,000 in 1932, $25,228,000 in
1933, $28,692,000 in 1934. In the same
period $55,000,000 was paid to air-
Way companies which is controlled
indirectly by the firm of J. P. Mor-
gan. As a result of these huge
grants to private companies the
postal service showed a gross oper-
ating deficit of $54,961,000. The in-
erease of postal rates from 2c to 3¢
on letters cost the American people
$75,000,000 in one year.

and airway com-
Ocean shipping

(Note: An investigation is now be-
ing held into the huge post office
graft that has been going on, but
there is every possibility of it being
whitewashed for it affects those who
eontrol the investigators, the Mor-
gans, Rockefellers, etc... and when
such graft as this news item exposes,
(taken from the “Vancouver Sun’’) it
will soon be hushed up:

$12,000 Subsidy for Each Letter.

“Washington, Nov. 1—As the new
administration continues to dig: into
the records of postal subsidies it
finds things that shock even a poli-
tician.

“On one occasion three ships left
the same American port on the same
day. Each ship carried one letter.
Each ship received $12,000 for the
one letter it carried.

“This has significance for Canada,
whose merchant marine must com-
pete with such subsidies.”’

the meeting would last. We cer—
tainly were not prepared for the dis-
ruptive tactics that ensued mainly
from two of the signatories of the
letter. Some of the delegates offered
next day to pay their share of the
expenses, and a few insisted on this.
Four dollars was paid to the chair-
man of the committee, and as for the
rest a motion was passed at the next
meeting that the matter of refunding
the amounts expended by the Vic-
toria committee would be taken up
by the joint committee at its next
meeting in Vancouver, and réeim-
bursements made, This has not yet
been done.

A- unanimous vote of thanks and
appreciation was given to the com-
mittee for its reception and accom-
modation of the delegates, and this
refutes the contemptible charge
made in the letter.

The committee would be glad to
have this letter given the same pub-
licity as the one appearing in your
paper. A copy is being sent to the
“B.C. Workers News” and the **Voice
of the Unemployed.”’

Yours truly,

(Signed) Harry Krueger,
Hans Krueger,
B. Caley, Chrmn.,

Housing and Feeding Committee,
B.C, Joint Committee.

NOTICE

To raise funds with which to
refund the debts incurred in de-
fending workers arrested ~ for
their labor activity, the District
Executive Committee of the Ca-
nadian Labor Defense League is
staging a huge bazaar on Thurs-
day, Friday and Saturday, April
4, 5 and 6, at the Orange Hall,
Vancouver.

The District Committee
all workers’ organizations to keep
the dates, April 4, 5 and 6, open
so as to avoid confliction.

urges

NOTICE
Longshoremen all
friends are invited to the Auditorium
(mext to Arena) on Sunday, February
17 at $8 p.m. to hear Brother Russell
(Union delegate to Russia)

their

and

Soviet

the situation

. Questions

and

there.’ will be

e a report on his “‘Visit to Soviet |

or the}

COLD, HUNGRY
IN LAND OF DUCE

Revolting Poverty of the
Masses — Blackshirts
Supplied with Plenty

A letter has come to hand from
an Italian woman now in Emeland,
who returned to Italy somet ime ago
with a friend. The letter states in
part, “Italy under Mussolini is a
terrible place to liye in. We were
nearly froze, and if we had to come
to Italy broke we would have starved
to death. .In Torino the workers are
So very poor they cannot bathe, and
in the worst parts of the city they.
Stink even. It was a terrible shock
for me to see such destitution. They
talk about slums, but there is noth-
ing in Vancouver to compare with it
here. If I was you, dear friend, I
would forget about this place and
never think about coming back to
Italy. I am leaving ... here whilst
I go to England, as soon as TI get a
half decent place for her to stay,
I hope to see her again in Can-
ada. The poverty here is revolting,
the only working people who are
decently fed are the Blackshirts,
and they get 22 lira a day. The
workers and the farmers get little
or nothing, and have no standard of
living one could define. I nmany
cases they are living in a state of
semi-starvation.” :

Name withheld.

Beware of This Des-
picable Exploiter

A. M. McGovern is in the wood
business with a woodyard at the foot
of Dunleyy Avenue. Wpon orders
from the Government Hmployment
Office I went to see this man.
UWpon arrival he informed me that
he was paying the magnificent sum
of $1.25 per cord for rickwood, 75¢
for 4-foot wood, so if I wanted to
take a contract for the whole
amount of the wood, which amounted
to 30 cords, I could get it for $22.50,
On top of that I would have to carry
this wood 200 feet and pile it. This
human rat Knows the miserable con-
ditions of the workers and is trying
to squeeze a few nickels and dimes
out of the labor of the workers who
haye been blacklisted from the relief
camps and from those who are liy-
ing on the meagre relief. He figures
that the workers on relief will take
this job on so that they can get a
little money for tobacco and ne-
cessities. ALA.

LETTERS TO THE
EDITOR

Editor, B.C. Workers News:

Our sub-press committee took up
the question of better distribution of
the workers’ press in our area. Our
committee was only composed of five

members, and they were- over-
burdened with work in the class
struggle already. However, we all

were acquainted with Lenin’s teach-
the importance of
literature distribution, so we de-
cided to find workers who are class
conscious, and entrust them with
seme work of distribution of the
paper. To get these workers we
wrote a letter to the Ward 3 Work-
' Protective Association. They re-
ponded us the use
of their hall for a social gathering.
Not only that but many of their
members volunteered to help us that
evening, especially the women mem-
bers.

We trusted the workers to sell
tickets for the affair, and many
workers who do not belong to any
organization at all sold quite a few

ings regarding

ers
Ss

With allowing

tickets. We raised ten dollars. F.
Peters won the first prize and A.
Dahl won the year’s sub. to the

“News.’’ We found that if we fol-
low the teachings of Lenin, and
broaden out our activity we easily
break down our secretarianism and
the distribution of literature is in-
creased tremendously.

Lucien Gagne,
Pr Sub Committee No. 2.

Less

held over until next

DANCE

ORANGE HALL
Corner Gore and Hastings
EVERY
Tuesday, Thursday
and Saturday
from 9 12
a7

Music by
ORANGE HALL ORCHESTRA

“Gestapo”’
week.

to

SAYS CHURCHES
FOSTER POVERTY

tices Real Christian
Doctrine

Feb. 7th, 1935.
Editor, “B. €. Workers’ News,”
Vancouver, B.C.
Dear Sir: To the intelligent mind
one of the most obnoxious rackets

confronting the public today is
charity. Why Should any govern-

ment be relieved of its responsibility
in caring for the unemployed and
needy. Churches, and other so-
called charitable organizations, have
been responsible for foistin= this
burden upon the shoulders of the
workers, and relieving Gapitalism of
its responsibility, Charity, as every
one knows, is deterimental to busi-
ness. The handing out of second-
hand clothing, shoes, Stoyes and fur-
niture, hampers the production and

distribution of Commodities. Result
—more unemployment.

Under Communism this racket
would speedily disappear. Capital-

ism has but one idea—make the poor
poorer. The ery of the churches has
been,’ “The poor ye shall always have
with you.” This doctrine is being
‘questioned very closely today. The
church under their capitalistic mas-
ters cannot have anything else but
poverty, drunkenness and prostitu—
tion. Russia’s ungodliness is loudly
lamented by the Judas Iscariots, the
betrayers of the people, yet she has
abolished in ten short years the
three aforesaid evils which our capi-
talistic christian organizations haye
failed to abolish up to the present
time. To my way of thinking Rus-
practices the christian doctrine
in its fullest meaning- Strange to say
our pastors and “ministers who
should haye been the first in the
field to fight for legislation that
would emancipate the workers re-
mained aloof the background.
Evidently by their actions they were
mot concerned about the rich re-
wards to be reaped for sacrifices in
the hereafter,
CAPITOL HILL PRESS CLUB.

Sia,

in

All On Picket Line

Demonstrating their solidarity
with the striking shingle-weayers at
Boundary Hill, a truck-load of
women went out to the picket line
on Tuesday morning last. Aithough
they- were not called upon to do any
actual fighting, the women were all
prepared for it. The Women’s La-
bor League Branches haye wunder-
taken to send two women every day
to help in the kitchen.

Native Indian Woman
Denied Relief

The hand in glove policy of the
Bennett Government, which co-
operates With Fascism, is shown
again in a recent case of an Italian
worker who left his ship here in
1926, and married an Indian girl in
North Vancouver. About a year
ago he was forced to’apply for
relief. Through this he was traced
and the steamship company with
which he had been employed applied
for his deportation to the Immigra-
tion Department. He is now on his
to Italy, his wife being left
without any means of support. Hay—
ing married a white man, she does
not come under the Department of
Indian Affairs, and no other depart-
ment claims jurisdiction in her case.
It is high time that the Indian
Workers organized alongside the
white workers, thus welding the only’
weapon to be used against discrim-
ination of this nature.

way

SING AS YOU FIGHT

(Lune: Lieber Augustine)

The more we stand together, to-
gether, together,

The more we stand together,

The mightier we'll be.

All workers uniting, for freedom all
fighting,

The more we stand together,

The mightier we'll be.

(Lune: Auld Lang Syne)
et petty squabbles be forgot;
The workers’ cause is right;
A winning battle must be fought,
So let us all unite.

Chorus:
Then march along, the fight is on;
Tet all your yoices ring,
And fighting still, with right good
vill,

The Internationale sing.

When you have read this paper,
pass it on to your friend.

Tf you don't subscribe to this

paper, send in a sub now.

Declares Russia Prac--