Your eabscniption has expired if the number on your label is below this number Renew it NOW. B.C. Workers NEws Spain is the battleground of the world struggle between fascist barbarity and democracy. Sup- port the heroic Spanish people! FULL NO. 103 Published Weekly VANCOUVER, B.C., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1936 Single Copies: 5 Cents aS VOL. IL., No. 5£ Oo TRIKE CLOSES P. Dirt Flies In City Hall As Handling Of Jubilee Financing Is Disclosed Waste and Extravagance Charged to McGeer; Received Huge Sum Ottawa, to “Grease Palms’”’ at It Is Alleged; McDonald Demands Royal Commission to Investigate Mess. TAXPAYERS TO PAY DEFICIT Vancouver Golden Jubilee which it is charged will show an estimated deficit of $100,000, was ordered probed on a vote of five to four at 2 meeting of the City Council held Monday. Aldermen McDonald, Wilson, DeGraves and Harvey were opposed to the motion, on the grounds that they felt that the Golden Jubilee Com- mittee should be allowed to conclude its own private probe. Charges of exploiting the Jubilee funds were levelled at McGeer by ©. E. Thompson, deputy chairman of the committee and close associate of the mayor's. Mr. Thompson in-¢ formed the Council that the Jubilee functions would have wound up with sufficient funds to meet all expenses had they not been ex- ploited by the mayor. Madcap Ventures. Madcap ventures in which extra- ordinary expenses were used up, were also laid to McGeer. Among these was the visit of Sir Percy Vin- cent, Lord Mayor of London, which cost the Jubilee Committee $10,000, and payment of $25 for a cocked hat and $500 for a gown, the same one Gerry wore during the circus. Thompsen also stated that the mayor had gone around trying to organize another committee when he found that the others would not bend to his demands for money. Requests for a check for $1000 for “out-of-pocket” expenses in Ottawa were granted the mayor. Palm Greasing J. K. Mathieson, manager of the Golden Jubilee, added to the charges by telling the council that McGeer had come into his office while he was alone and asked him to make eut a check for $1,000, intimating that he would need it to “grease the palms’ of news writers in Ot tawa. This, he reports, was re- fused. “At one meeting the mayor said that my pants pocket was buttoned too tightly and I would have to pay individual news waiters if I desired the necessary publicity for the Jubilee,” stated Mathieson. Phone calls from Ottawa on un- important matters were also laid te MeGeer by the Jubilee manager. The mayor's “luridly blasphemous language” came under fire of Mathieson who said it was so bad (Continued on page 2) See DIRT FLIES TEXTILE BARONS REAP DIVIDENDS Workers Paid Miserable Wage, Will Unionize Plant MONTREAL. — (FP)—Dominion Textile Workers, who recently raised their hourly minimum from 914 to 12%% cents by a short strike, are laying plans for union organ- ization. The company, largest of its kind in Ganada, manufactures the bulk of Canadian textiles. Its vice- president, Sir Herbert Holt, one of the wealthiest men in Canada, is president of the Royal Bank of Canada, G. Blair. Gordon, son of Sir Charles Gordon, is genera] man- ager of the company and president of the Bank of Montreal. The an- nual report announces the company is paying 150 per cent dividends on original investments. SHERBROOKE, Que: — (FP) — One hundred and fifty employees of the Dominion Textile Co., after a short strike, returned to work when the management promised a minimum wage rate of 1212 cents an hour with assurance that de- mands for higher wages would be considered. MOSCOW.—(FP) Russia only eight towns Ukraine had streetcars. Now 18 have streetcars. The new lines serve mainly factory districts. In Czarist in the Mitchell Dies Of Injuries After a week’s losing struggle for life, Andrew Mitchell, $15 Burrard street, succumbed in St. Paul's Hospital on Saturday night to in- Juries sustained when struck by 2 ear driven by Harry N. Church at the south end of Burrard Bridge, midnight, December 19. The deceased was a native of Glasgow, Scotland, and prior to his coming to Canada in 1928 he worked as a clerk in one of the ship-building concerns of that city. Fer many years Mitchell took a keen interest in the labor move— ment, and until late in 1934 acted as secretary-organizer of the Workers’ International Relief, when the work of that organization was taken up by the trade unions and other or- ganizations. Mitchell, who was unmarried, leaves a brother, sister and his mother to mourn his death. Arrangements have been made to hold a proletarian funeral, from G. W. Hamilton Funeral Parlors, 19 Kingsway, Saturday, Jan. 2 at 3 p-m. : POSTALWORKERS WIRE PROTESTS TO GOVERNMENT Considerable Mail Re- turned Undeliverable Christmas Day Wancouyer's letter carriers have just been convinced that mail de=- livery on holidays is unpopular, not only with themselves but with a large number of business houses. Considerable mail had to be re- turned to the post office because many of the places it was address- ed to were closed, and the mail could not be left. This hangover of mail kept post- men busy and only by Monday af- telmoon were they able to catch up with it. The postal staff here in Vancou- ver remembered Premier MacKenzie King on Christmas Day by sending him a Wire which was a polite pro- test, as well as being a kind wish. The wire read as follows: “Hon. W. I. Mackenzie King, Ottawa.—Hope you enjoy your Christmas dinner. We are working.” The Prime Minister ironicaly re- plied: “Your kind wire just received. I have been working double time for months and still am. Hope you are jess pressed and better able to enjoy your Christmas dinner.’ Business at the post office, where the staff worked a full day, was dull, sale of stamps and money or- ders was practically at a standstill. Letter carriers made one delivery of mail. Work on holidays and Saturday afternoons was started on Decem- ber 6, and according to the Hon. J. CG. Ellicott, postmaster-general, Was inaugurated to relieve unem- ployment, ‘but so far the postal workers see it as a move to increase their hours of work. ' Overthrow it by Fascist reaction,” Ministers Urge Christians To Aid Spanish Loyalists NEW YORE — (FP)—Attacking the false propaganda of Fascists that Spanish loyalists are fighting religion, 56 Protestant clergymen, €ducators and editors joined in Signing a public statement drawn up by Right Rev. Robert L. Pad- dock, retired bishop of the Episco- pal Church. “The issue in Spain today is clear- ly the defence of democracy in the hands of a legally elected govern- ment against the violent.attempt to the signers declared. “Ne Christian who cherishes €ither religious liberty or the prin- ciple of democracy and liberty can fail to support those who are sacri- ficing their lives in beating back this desperate attempt to return to feudalism and the rule of privilege in the hands of Fascists.” The statement declares that re- ligious liberty exists for the first time since the republic separated church and state. Stories of church- burning have arisen from the use of churches by Fascists for ar- mories and fortifications. The so- ealled religious issue is termed a political one, having to do with privileges outside the field of reli- Zious freedom. During an exhibition of tion, a Geneva fireman shows what little effect water has on a blaze started by 2 the sky. Se League City Sees Air Raid Effects latest anti-aircraft devices and means of defence for the civilian popula- bomb dropped from H. GUTTERIDGE C.CF. CANDIDATE IN BY-ELECTION Seven Others May Yet File Nomination Papers At least eight candidates are ex- pected to file nomination papers to contest the city council vacancy on January 13, caused by the disquali- fication of A. M. Anderson, GC F., because of a part-time job he held with the city engineering depart- ment. Miss Helena Gutteridge has been chosen as the standard-bearer of the C.C.F. by a meeting of the dis- triet council. Miss Gutteridge was one of the original candidates to contest the elections on December 9, but was disqualified on a techni- eality. Since then she has had the technical point settled, and is now qualified to hold the aldermanic position if elected. Wm. Black, who was a runner- up in the elections and was con- Sidered as the choice of the C.CF., has been withdrawn owing to Miss Gutteridge being renominated. What About Crone? Besides Helena Gutteridge, six others are definitely in the field seexing the vacant post. They are: L. D. McDonald, H. L. Corey, W. W. Smith, George Walkem, George Buscombe and P. GC. Gibbens. J. J. McRae has been re-consider- ing his former decision not to con- test the by-election, but so far has not definitely made up his mind. While there was some talk and rumors of upsetting the election through court procedure, this has now subsided to some extent. If such a course were embarked upon by a group of ratepayers, it would be done on the status of Fred €rone of the Crone Storage Com- pany, who has had business rela- tions with the city while serving as an alderman, which is contrary to the by-laws of the city. The Crone Storage Company had the contract of moving the furni- ture and files from the temporary city hall to the new building. Rumors have it that Mayor-elect G. C. Miller collects a two per cent commission on all electrie light flobes sold to the city by the Ca- nadian General Plectric. { Vessel’s Cargo Is Hot To Union Men . Vessels loading in YWancouver with unfair lalsor are running into endless trouble. The crew of the Wew Zealand freighter, “Limerick,” which loaded here with strikebreak-— ers in mid-December, has been de- layed in Honolulu through the re- fusal of the crew to man the ship with strikebreakers working the cargo. The ship finally sailed for Auk- land, leaving behind 31 members of the crew who refused to sail. It is reported that six of the passen- gers volunteered to assist the of- ficers. a ne It is predicted that the New Zea- land unions would back the stand of the crew, and extend their support to the Pacific Coast strike. Fifty members of the crew of a Japanese liner now in port have Pan-American Union Favored By Students University Daily Warns Against Britain’s War Asreements MONTREAL. — FP) — Canadian students strongly oppose conscrip- tion and would favor a Pan-Amer- ican union, according to answers to a questionairre sent out by the Mc- Gill University Daily to ten univer- sities in six provinces. The Daily says in editorial com- ment on the survey: “More strong- ly than any other view, under- graduate opinion throughout Can- ada suggests that, while American Support of Canada is essential and invaluable to our safety, this sup- port would not be forthcoming if we were entangled to any particular degree with Great Britain in for- eign or domestic allegiances. We should be firmly aware of this deli- cate point and for this reason tread cautiously the tight-ropes of British war participation or agreements.” sent a statement to the strixe com- mittee pledging support. Unions of several continental European ports have given notifi- cation that noe cargo from the strike zone would be handled by the mem- bers. Loeal Unions Organizing The B.C. locals of the Interna- tional Longshoremen’s Association. 38-126 Vancouver and 38-130 YVic- toria, announce satisfactory prog- ress with their organizing plan. When the local strike was called, an invitation was extended to the men on the job (ho were not mem- bers of the 1.1L..A.) to join the strike and become L.L.A. members. All guns of the shipowners were directed towards preventing a gen- eral exodus of their men into the T.E.A. However, the backing of the 40,000 U.S. coast maritime work- ers, and the chance to end the vici- ous company union system in B.C. ports and substitute the rank and file controlled LL.A., is proving a better drawing card than shipown- ers’ propaganda. The Coast Situation Despite the strikebreaking poli- eies of J. P. Ryan, head of the In- ternational Longshoremen’s Asso- ciation, who has declared war on the Pacific Coast strikers and is reyoking the charters of Atlantic Ceast unions who support the Pa- eific Coast maritime workers, hun- dreds of ships are tied up on the Atlantic Coast and thousands of Atlantic Coast longshoremen have downed tools in support of the Pa- eifie Goast strike. Other Atlantic Coast unions have issued an ultimatum to the ship- owners, threatening an extension o ithe strike if a settlement of the Pacific Coast strike is not soon reached. Marine firemen and sailors have reached a tentative agreement, but acceptance of the agreement by the unions will not be voted upon until all other unions involved have also reached a tentative agreement. Marine Cooks and Stewards have not yet reached an agreement with the employers on the §8-hour day, nor have the licensed personnel (Masters and Mates) reached an agreement on the question of pre- ferential hiring. _ Britain Prepares To Draw U.S. Into War ment they used had to be adapted By ELIOT JANEWAY Systematically the British plan to involve American industry in its re- armament program is advancing from industry to industry. The last three months have already wit- Nessed a remarkable erowth in British orders for American metals and aircraft. Latest war industry to. be in- cluded in the British war order boom is engineering. During October, 1936, U.S. exports of industrial machinery rose 36 per cent over the figure for October, 1935. In volume and in Value, they eeded machinery ex- ports for any month during the five years. War necessities lke even bombing planes, can eured anywhere. But machinery ders by governments that are arm- ing have a more profound sisgnifi- eance, : copper, be 7 A Bargaining Lever Governments that are girding themselves for war become com- pletely dependent upon the coun- tries Supplying them with mach- inery. In 1916, virtually the entire War industry of the allied powers American en- All the equip- depended upon the gineering industry. by American machinery. Engiland’s Strategy is now the Same as it Was in 1916. The pros- perity ef American industry is to be made as dependent as _ possible upon the continuation of British War orders. Thus Britain hopes to acquire terrific barzainine power in Washimeton. The Baldwin sovernment has surely heard of the Nye investiza- Gon. But the huge scale on which it is handing out war orders in this country shows how Jightly it dis- misses the general indignation Higher Wages Won By German Workers BERLIN. — (FP)—Despite Nazi terrorism, German workers still dare now and then to strike for their rights. At a metal plant in Mannheim employing 1,000, workers Struck Unanimously when a to compensate for hifher g tS was refused them. The strike. which lasted 12 only four hours, in- cluded even members of Nazi or- Sanizations. Attexr four whours’ | | } gulf, Brazil among the American people against the way British war orders were used as a bait to drags this country into the World War. Canada To Share Orders Another long overdue line of Senatoria] investifation during the next Congress is the aircraft indus- try. Amon aircraft companies cur- rently angling for British orders are Bellanca (Newcastle, Del.), Glenn lL. Martin (Baltimore), and Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Co. (Buffalo). In addition, Bellanca, Pratt & Whitney, Hairehild, Consolidated and Wright al] handle U.S. military orders, but they Plan to handle British orders through their Canadian plants, thus circumventing lesislation forbidding foreign goOvernments from buying War materials used by the U.S. gov- ernment, In anticipation of orders from the war-ridden far east, 70 per cent of U.S. airplanes will be built in California during 1937. Below the spent $500,000 on mili- tary planes during the closing we ks of 1936. Poreshadowine similar ac- tion from Mexico, Kuhn-Loeb Opened negotiations to float a new Nesotiations the wage increase was loan to the Mexican government as granted, the year closed. ’ LOCAL MEAT PLANT 25 Workers, Executive Fired; 20 DEBS COLUMN AID SPANISH LOYALISTS NEW YORK-—FP—Over 500 anti- Fascists have volunteered to join the Eugene V. Debs Battalion for service in Spain since announce- ment by New York City Socialists that they would seek to raise $50,- 000 to send trained soldiers and technicians to the aid of the loyalist government. “The only compensation that volunteers will receive will be the defeat of Fascism and the small sum the government pays its own troops,” they declared. “We do not want mercenaries.” Inquiries may be addressed to the Socialist Party at 21 E. i7th St. New York City. Son Of Wealth Serves Spain MONTREAL—FP — Hazen Sise, fraduate of McGill University and son of one of Canada’s richest men, is in Madrid serving the loyalist government at the side of Dr. Nor- man Bethune who is in charge of the blood transfusion service. Sise is driving an ambulance. Paul F. Sise, his father, is a di- rector of the Royal Bank of Canada, the Bell Telephone Co., the Royal Trust, Dominion Bridge, and the Lake of the Woods Milling Co. Hazen’s uncle is president of the Bell Telephone Go. of Canada. He holds directorates in the Bank of Montreal, the Royal Trust and the Consolidated Paper Co. Montreal Capitalist papers know of Hazen Sise’s service to the Madrid govern- ment, but so far have published nothing. MINING PROFITS SOAR; WORKERS’ WAGES STATIC Nickel and Copper Lead All Metals in Per- centage Increase OTTAWA, Dec. 28.—Profits from the mining industry in Ganada Sky-rocketted to a new hish level for the first ten months of 1936 as estimated in a review of that in- dustry by the Hon. T. A. Crerar. federal] minister of mines. By the end of December the in- erease in profits to the shareholders will be approximately $30,000,000 Over that of 1935, where share- holG@ers received $58,000,000 divi- gends in reund figures they wilt then receive $75,000,000. Leading all metals in increased production per centages are nickel and copper, two metals which are used extensively in the manufacture of Ammunition and war machinery. These metals show an increase of 25 and 17 per cent respectively. Hstimated values of the five metals and their per centage in- creaSe Over 1935 are: WNicke] $55,615,000, increased 25 Per cent. Copper $38,000,000 increased 17 per cent. Gold $130,000,000, increased 12 per cent. Lead $11,703,000, increased 10 per cent. Zine $10,915,000, increased 10 per cent. While a few more men haye tound Jobs in the mining camps throughout Canada, wages zener- ally have remained at a standstill. Organizational efforts of the Imter- national] Union of Mill, Mine and Smelter Workers to gain higher wages is being met with the em- Ploying of Strikebreaking and spy- ing agencies. , Walsh and John Winerty, including Of Union 0 Walk Out Rank Attempt to Smash Real Union and Estab- lish Company Union PLANT IS PICKETED Union-smashing reaction spoke at the local P. Burns Co. plant Tues- day night when 25 members of the Packing House and Meatcutters” Union, including the entire union executive of seven, were fired. Or— ganized labor answered Wednesday morning when 200 Burns’ plant workers went on strike, demanding reinstatement of the discharged em- ployees. All strikers are union men and comprise almost 100 per cent of the employees. Office workers and a handful of others continue scab— bing but plant operations are at a comparative standstill. Plant Being Picketed At the special union strike meet— ing Wednesday afternoon. a strike committee of fifteen was formed The seven discharged executive members plus Seven rank and file strikers Were elected to form the- committee. Pickets have heen or— ganized and are picketing the en= tire plant. “We are cutting down justifies Mr. Wrlliamson, Manager of the plant. In contra— diction to this statement, lacal papers carried P. Burns Co. ads. for more truck drivers on Tuesday, the Same day the 25 were fired. Several of those fired were truck drivers, one haying been with the company for 13 years. Tricky Arbitration Offer —_ Declaring, “It is the policy of the company not to recognize unions,’” Mr. Williamson offered to meet a small delegation of strikers, not te include any of those discharged, te mediate a settlement through Mr Harrison, Dominion Fair Wage Of ficer. Upholding their right to bar— Sain as a trade union, the strikers refused to arbitrate under Such ob-— viously union-splittine tactics. Several recent incidents at the Burns plant prove that the Tues— day night move was but the cul- mination of a lons-brewing plan to Smash the union which was organ= ized and chartered last April. Ia September a union delegation repre- senting the plant workers inter- viewed the general manager and re- guested that tim@ and one-half pay be granted for Saturday afternoons worked. The company safely circled this issue by not working the men stafil™ generat (Continued on page 2) See STRIKE CLOSES MOONEY RELEASE BELIEVED NEAR 14,000-Page Transcript Attests Prisoner’s Innocence NEW YORK. —(FP) — Windings and analyses of 13 months of hear Ings on the Mooney case conducted by a referee for the California state Supreme court will be presented to im by both sides on January 4, one month before the 20th anniver— Sary of Mooney’s conviction and im-— prisonment. Flying to New York with the 26 volumes of testimony totaling 14,000 Pages fathered in these hearings, George TT. Davis, attorney for Mooney, told newspapermen here that for the first time all evidence in the case had been heard and@ that Mooney is closer to freedom than he has ever been before. Though Davis declared that he could not see how any court could overlook the overwhelming evidence of Mooney’s innocence in the testi- mony now gathered, he added that the case would be immediately brought before the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. Davis will confer with Frank P: e€o-coun— sels, here. Vernon Jobless Organize To Better Miserable Conditions VERNON, E.C., Dec. 28.—The un-7 employed and relief -worlcers of | Vernon, compelled by the intoler- able conditions of starvation im- posed upon them by the civie au- thorities, have organized. At their first mass meeting, which was not advertised, they turned out, by actual count, 120 strong. The fact that the city of Vernon is not paying more than about 65 per cent of the relief allowance scale allowed by the federal authorities, the fact of the city of Vernon au- thorities forcing one-armed and | “ one-legged men to work out their relief allowance, of old men 65 years of age forced to work on relief gangs till the day they die, of babies of relief families dying of malnu- trition, has stung the Yernon work- ers into militant action. By the time this appears in the press the membership in the Vernon Unemployed Association will be 200 strong. A higher standard of living and total abolition of seript in lieu of eash, are for the present, the im- mediate aims of the organization.