preted the world change it.— Philosophers have only inter- in various ways; the point, however, is to B.C Wor ERS NEWS Make the New Year more pros- perous fer the workers at the expense of the rich by building the United Front! VOL. 1 Published Weekly Single Copies: 5 Cents SS No. 51 VANCOUVER, B.C., FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 1936 -Mussolini’s Enemy s Advance; Po- sitions Recaptured RAINS COMING Will End Hostilities For Five Months; Privations In Italy May Lead To Revolt Reports of events in war-stricken Ethiopia show the dire plight in which Mussolini now finds himself. Italian forees have been more than halted—they are now in the same position that they were in more than two months ago. They are still 500 miles from their objective. Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, with al- most insurmountable obstacles in their way. : Over 100,000 Ethiopian troops are . Strongly entrenched south of Makale. A similar force is massed further South at Dessye, while another force - of 50,000 is near Addis Ababa. ' italian forces on the northern front are finding it impossible to advance, the enemy have crept around to their /rear and continually Harrass them ' by guerilla warfare. In: the south | matters are no better; the rapid ad- "vance of Italian troops, aimed at | cutting off supplies to Ethiopia from French and Enelish Somaliland has collapsed. italian Planes Bomb Dumimies Bive thousand Ethiopians have _crossed the Ethiopian border into Eritrea and captured the important town of Adi Qualia, only 40 miles “south of Asmara, capital of Eritrea. Ten italian tanks were captured and two Ethiopian towns recaptured in a battle south of the Eritrean border when Mussolini’s forces were smartly | oubmanoeuvered. Hundreds of straw /dummies were set up in a valley “which the Italians expected to take. Italian planes mistook the dummies for soldiers, started a bombardment ‘and were followed by an advance of ‘Italian troops. Heavily armed Ethi- -opian troops who had been layine in ‘concealment then advanced and in- flicted heavy casualties on the trapped Italians. Reports of the bombing of a Swed- ish Red Cross Hospital in’ Ethiopia, first dispatches statine nine Swedes as killed, stirred tremendous resent- ment throughout Sweden. In Stock- hoim the Italian Minister kept be- hind barred doors, and a special po- lice fuard was thrown around the lezation. Swedish Government Protests Hospital Bombing The Swedish Government has asked Great Britain to obtain on its behalf a complete report of the bombing, Sweden having no diplo- matic representative in Ethiopia. It was stated from Rome that the pombine was fully justified, although it Was not intended the hospital be hit. The claim was reiterated that Ethiopians are misusing the Red “ress insignia. In Geneva consterna~ tion reigns at this act so shortly following on the bombing of an American hospital at Dessye. Defeat of Italian arms in Ethiopia, hortagce of food and other necessities m Italy, are causing severe discon- ent amongst the populace. Authori- ative quarters in Rome admit there 1as been a devolt in one detachment Mf troops stationed at Tripoli, Libya. hn the course of which a lieutenant vas killed by his men. The war in Ethiopia has already ost Italy $250,000,000. Mussolini > spending at the rate of $40,000,000 er month. The next three or four nenths will be critical, if Italy can erce a Separate peace from Ethi- pia, in which the League of Nations as no Share, he may “save his face’’ or the time being. Jf not, the com- lencement of the April rains, ending he campaicn for five months, will 2e the national finances of the coun- yy crash in ruins and will leave taly facing a severe crisis which lay lead to revolution. ANKS MERGING BRANCH OFFICES Annual bank reports in Canada ake reference to the closing of amerous branches, with elimination duplication in many smailer wos through mergine of branch fices. This method is being devised order to maintain profits at their Tmer levels. The banks claim that the reasons ey are forced to merge are due the heavy taxation to which mks are subjected, to the decline revenues from loans, reduction of e interest rates, and to the un- otitably small levies made by the nks for making collections. A eynic is one who knows the rice of everything and the value f nothing. Ethiopian Armies Halt| Troops Being Forced Back; Italy Faces Crisis HOW ABOUT IT, MR. PATTULLO? Premier Pattullo said at Squamish, October 3, 1933: “The new Liberal Gov- ernment would at once pro- eeed to aid payroll indus- tries of B.C. Work and wages will take the place of the dole and young men will no longer be herded in these camps in enforced idleness.” B.C. HEALTH IS SOCIAL DISGRACE 94 Per Ceni of Children In Gne School Suffer With Defective Teeth “Health conditions in B-C. are so bad as to constitute a social disgrace - . - there is far too much ill health that is preventable if attacked in a Proper manner,’ declared Dr. H. M. Cassidy, director of social welfare for the province, in a public address in Victoria Monday last. An eamiination of children in one city school showed that 94.5 per cent of the pupils had defective teeth. Of 26,626 men and women on relief who were examined, 3,778 were sufferine total disability, 4,- 6657 partial disability, and 2,047 temporary disability. The above figures taken as repre- sentative of the whole 86,423 persons on. relief in British Columbia mean that less than 60 per cent are medi- cally fit. How lone they will remain So on present relief rations is a mat ter of conjecture. Wage-earners Cannot Afford Medical Treatment Dr. Cassidy was expounding the benefits of health insurance, and maintained that the inability of wage earners to pay the cost of treatment was responsible for much of the ill health in B.C. today. Of what aid would the proposed Contributory Health Insurance Act now in the hands of the Hearings Committee of the Lesislature be to the huge army of unemployed? They will receive no benefits from the Act, while the em_ ployed worker will take what it actuality means—another wage cut! The workers of British Columbia certainly need a Health Insurance Act, but it must be one which will cover all workers in the province, employed and unemployed alike, and at no cost to the workers; it must be non-contributory health insurance. Relief Camps Change Over February 15 Gow’t. Commission Of Three Proves to Be Elusive Relief camps of British Columbia and Alberta will be placed under the jurisdiction of the Department of luabor about February 15 intimates Hon, Norman Rogers, Minister of Labor, The Rige Commission which is at present in B.C. are expected to have their report completed and recommendations ready by January 15. This Commission has thoroughly investigated operations of the C.C.C. camps in the U.S. and have been in consultation with Department of Wational Defence officials through- out Canada, also paying a trip to Dundurn camp, near Saskatoon, at the commencement of the strike, which is still proceeding there. Camp workers of G.C. have as yet had no opportunity to appear before them. The Relief Camp Workers Union, B.C. District, attempted to arrange an interview on the arrival of the Commission in Vancouver, but found them to be elusive. Two of the three members of the Commission had pro- ceeded immediately to Seattle, and would go from there to Victoria. Chairman of the Commission, R. A. asked the Union to “watch the movements” of the Commission and possibly an interview could be arranged upon their return to Van- iz= ss, couver, Immediately upon their return from Victoria, however, the Com- -mission entrained for Princeton, where they will interview officials in charge of camps in that district. NO WONDER B.C. WANTS A LOAN Five Hundred Dollars for Eats When an Alien Drops In Below we publish a copy of the bill for eats on the occasion of the Vice President of the United States dropping in on Mr. Pattullo. Most housewives will appreciate it, be- cause they know how embarrassing it is when company drops in, and little Jimmy is mished Over to the corner grocery for a dime’s worth of tea. The government is Situated more fortunately, however, because all they have to do when the trea- Sury runs-low is crack on another sales tax on the common people. It will be noticed that the Suests must have conducted themselves fairly decently, because there’s a record of only one bromide; maybe the poor fellow wasn’t feeling very good! B.C. taxpayers should con- sider themselves lucky he didn’t drop in at Christmas. Victoria, B.C. Provincial Government of B.C. Dinner for Viee President - J. W. Garner of the U.S.A. In Account with The Empress Hotel, Oct. 16 to 300 dinners at Gct. 16 to 1 Syphon ...... -50 Oct. 16 to 1 Bromo. Cafe.. -30 Oct. 16 to GOD, ....... 3.25 Oct. 16 to Cigars and Cizarettes: ope 21.50 $490.55 STILL SOLID IN DUNDURN STRIKE Mounties Stop Delega- tion of Citizens to Camp DUNDURN, Sask., Dee. 22—Des-_ Pite splitting tactics used by the an- thorities, over five hundred workers are still solidly on strike in Dun- durn relief camp, near Saskatoon. When the Rigg Commission visited the camp, Staying five days, they admitted there had been mis- demeanors on the part of camp of- ficials in the past but that these officials had heen discharged. A proposal that the men return to work, with the tyo men discharged to be reinstated’ in another camp, and other demands taken up with the Dominion Government Jater, was unanimously rejected. The workers insisted that their comrades must first receive consideration. Workers on strike were threatened with loss of pay (20c per day) and told they would be charged 60ce per day for board. Those Soinge out of camp for the Christmas holidays were promised a bonus of $1.20 if they would return to work by Friday noon. : +A deleeation of Saskatoon citizens who had paid one visit of investiga- tion to the camp, were stopped on the read by R.GM.P. on the ocea- sion of another attempted visit. The camp is being kept stricty isolated. It is reliably reported that large numbers of R.G@.M.P. are beine con- centrated in Saskatoon and Regina in preparation for Smashing the Strike. : Who Are The Advocates Of Force And Violence? United Front in F rance Faces Most Vicious Fascist Terror PARIS, Dec. 4.—Exiracts from French fascist newspapers with ap- peals for terrorist acts against Her- riot and other prominent Statesmen were read out by Guernu, Radical- Socialist leader and vice-chairman of the foreign affairs committee, in the course of a debate in the Cham- ber of Deputies on the question of dissolving armed fascist leacues. “You may kill this man without any qualms,” one of the quotations read. *“This man should not be shot in the back.’ “All these bloodthirsty inciting Statements appear daily in the fascist press hut no one takes the trouble to call these Scoundrels to account,” declared Guernu amidst loud applause. The speaker held up a photo- 3300 AUSTRALIAN SEAMEN ON STRIKE SYDNEY, Australia, Dee. 30—Al]_ though union leaders recommended against it the majority of the Sea- men’s Union of Sydney and Mel- bourne went out on strike early this month for the 48-hour week and het- ter workine conditions. About 3500 seamen are involved. It is estimated that the ship bosses have lost half a million dollars in eoastal trade since the strike started. Wearly 10,000 workers are affected by the tie-up. The government is taking the side of the bosses and threatening to re- fuse government licenses to seamen who are participating in the tie-up, thus backlisting strikers. SOVIET ORE FOR TACOMA SMELTER TACOMA, Wash., Dec. 28.—With a cargo of gold ore valued at half a million dollars in her holds for the smelter, the British freighter S:S. Anglo-Columbian arrived here from Leningrad, the last vessel out of that port this season. While the port of Leningrad is ice- locked, Shipments to the smelter from the Soviet Union will be for- warded from Odessa, on the Black Sea, the U.S.S.R.’s winter port. Twenty-five per cent of the ore re- ceived at the smelter Gomes from the Soviet Union. Hifteen hundred tons of Ore are processed daily by a crew of 1,000 men, the highest in the smelter’s history. S. AND B. WEBB WRITE NEW BOOK LONDON. — The publication of “Soviet Communism,’ a new book by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, has created a stir here. The work, which gives a compre- life, is hensive account of Soviet deseribed by Professor Harold Laski as marking a new epoch in the western conceptions of human aims. The Commission comprises R. A. Rigg, labor department official; Dr. Bradvwin, Frontier Collerze; and Humphrey Mitchell, who at the 1935 Trades & Labor Congress. of Canada termed the heroic On-to-Ottawa trekkers ‘“Comic-opera Revolution- ists.” sraph showing fascists at Shootine practice. Turninge io the minister of home affairs, Guernu Pointed out that one of the SToup was the leader of the Italian fascists in Paris and asked the minister what he thought Wof French and Italian fascists shoot- ing together on French territory. “And now I turn to the fovern-— ment,’ the speaker said. addressine himself to the ministerial benches. “You either know the facts which 1 have read here, or you don’t know them. If you don’t know them, I accuse you of ignorance; if you do, then of complicity. “Either the sovernment will change its methods, or we _ shall change the government,’ Guemu concluded amidst stormy applause. iS MURDERED IN NAZI CAMPS PARIS.—Hiehteen anti-fascists de- taimed in the concentration camp of Hohenstein, Saxony, recently dis- appeared from the camp, reporis “Humanite.” Hor some time the rela- tives were kept in complete ignor- anee regarding their fate. It has now been established that all the missing anti-fascists had been mur- dered on orders of the camp com- 1.000 VOTE FOR TIM BUCK IN TORONTO All Forces Of Reaction United In Defeat Of Mayor Simpson In Toronto; Huge Vote For Buck "FACE GAS OR QUIT’- COAL CO. Inquest Shows Cause of Death; Coal Company Ignored Complaints (By Wire) NANAIMO, Dec. 31.—Inquest held today on body of dead miner Hous- ton. Dr. Giovanda testified that death was caused by carbon-mon- oxide poisoning. Inquest adjourned to Friday. Inspector Wance reports blood sample shows sufficient quan- tities of fas to cause death. Miners frequently complained of headaches and other effects of gas but. these complaints were ignored by company. Miners were told to “either £