This
Week in
the House

Western

Canada’s

The People’s

Leading Progressive

Newspape

dvocate

r

DRIVE TOTAL

$2728

FULL NO. 148

<== Published Weekly

VANCOUVER, B.C., FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1937

Single Copies:

5 Cents

VOL: Iii, No. 44

CF members this week
did much to enhance
their reputation as forming
the ‘ginger group’ of the pres-
ent legislature.

Harold Winch (CGF, Vancouver
Cast) who is still by Many years
the youngest member of the house,
was ruthless in his condemnation of
the government’s policy, or lack of
it, on unemployment.

“When I look around at all the
grey heads, the bald heads and the
block heads, it makes me winch,”
he cracked as he opened his at-
tack.

According to Premier Pattullo, he
observed, the fovernment was ca-
pable of meeting its obligations be-
Cause of its resources. Qn the same
promise, therefore, it should be ca_
pable of meeting its social obliga-
tions to the people on relief.

No member on the government
benches attempted to refute his
assertion that conditions’ of the
“tincanners” were intolerable.

“In one tier of cells in Vancouver
jail I saw thirty-two boys housed
with one toilet, one washbasin,
one towel, and one boy with syph-
ilis,” he declared.

Qne could only attribute the reply
of C. T. Kenney (Lib, Skeena) that
work and wages have come to Brit-
ish Columbia to blind party loyalty.
Faces in the gallery assumed cyn-
ical smiles and even Kenney looked
less confident than he sounded.

He was taken to task by Sam
Guthrie (CCF, Cowichan - New-
castle) now back in the house after
twelve years. The blunt honesty,
colorful oratory and extraordinary
vigor of this fine old Scotsman has
alreaay endeared him to the gallery.

A veteran of the Nanaimo min-
ers’ strike of 1912, Guthrie claimed
the attention of the whole house
by his appeal for justice for the un-
employed. Promised work and
wages they had instead, he charged,
been thrown into prison camps,

@

AST Thursday being Guy

Fawkes’ Day, Tom Uphill (La-
bor, Fernie) provided considerable
entertainment when he moved for
appointment by the speaker of a
Special committee to proceed forth-
with to search the basement for
Sunpowder. If ever a legislature
needed blowing up, this one did, he
remarked succinctly.

e

INCH, Sr. (CCF, Burnaby),

made a notable contribution
Monday when he urged restoration
of the elected municipal council in
Burnaby. Asking that the present
commission be abolished he urged
that the right of the people to a
voice in the control of their own
affairs be respected.

He also asked that Burnaby be
made a two-member provincial con-
stituency on the ground that if
Victoria, with 28,000 electors rated
four representatives, then Burnaby,
with 17,000, rated two.

Health questions were also
brought sharply to the attention of
the house by the elder Winch when
he declared that more than 7,000
British Columbia school children
are today victims of malnutrition.

He declared that there were 140
such cases in Burnaby, 108 in
Chiiliwack, 72 in Kelowna, 36 in
Summerland, 179 in Prince Rupert,
and 343 in New Westminster.

Producing estimates to show the
decline in health among children
in the province, Winch also pointed
to an alarming increase in the num-
ber of mental defectives, total num-
ber of which he placed at 525.

@

BE CCF resolution introduced

by L. A. Shepherd (CGF, Delta)
and seconded by Dr. Lyle Telford
(CCE, Vancouver East) calling for
abolition of tolls on the new Fraser
River bridge at New Westminster
was ruled out by the speaker. Diy-
ision resulting from a challenge of
this ruling sustained the speaker,
with the Conservative opposition
supporting the government.

The CCE resolution followed an |
intensive campaign for abolition of
bridge tolls conducted by a board
committee representative of farm-
ers, trade unions, the CCF and
some Conservatives, including John
Hunter, mentioned as a possible
candidate in the next federal elec-
tions.

This committee sponsored several
protest meetings in New West-
minster and the Fraser Valley, and
initiated a petition which was
Signed by an overwhelming major-
ity of Fraser Valley residents.

Premier Pattullo’s misplaced re-
tort to Shepherd when he moved
the CCF resolution to adjourn the
heuse on “a matter of urgent pub-
lic importance” to consider peti-
tions against collection of tolls on
the bridge was: ‘“‘We don’t want to
make a burlesque of this house, do
we?” i

Harold Winch, CCF whip, flung
the retort back at the Premier: “It
may be a burlesque to the Premier,’
he exclaimed, “but not to the rest
of the province.”

e

HEN the house reconvenes

after the holiday, Colin Cam-
€ron (CCE, Comox), recently eject-
ed from a big logging camp when
he sought entry to canvass for sig-
hatures to a petition in support of
the trade union act, will present
his “Act Respecting Industrial
Settlements.”

This act provides that “employ-
ees of the individual, individuals or
company conducting such indus-
trial enterprise who live on the
property of such employer, whether
in indiyidual houses, bunkhouses or
boarding houses, shall be deemed
tenants of the employer with all
the usual rights and privileges of

a tenant.’

Seven Cafe
Waitresses
Reinstated

Sitdown Changed To
Open Picketing With
Public Support For
Walkout.

PICKETS BANNED

N EW WESTMINSTER,
BC, Nov. 11. — Reinstate-
ment of seven waitresses in
the Royal City cafe here
Thursday, after a blanket in-
junction against picketing
had been issued, is attributed
to wide public support for the
girls and assistance rendered
by local unions.

Last Friday, one of the girls was
discharged because she refused to
tell another waitress that she was
fired, when ordered to do so by the
cafe manager.

Decision to stage a sit-down
strike was police officers the girls
walked out and picketed outside.

Application for a court injunction
against picketing was sranted by
Justice Manson to T. P. Elder, to
apply directly to the seven wait-
resses, the business agent and sec-
retary of Local 28, Hotel and Res-
taurant Employees’ union of WVan-
couver, who were investigating the
situation, and to all others. ‘

Previous to the injunction, the
picket line and public support
proved so effective that the cafe
closed doors at an early hour Sat-
urday evening, the busiest night of
the week.

NINE UNIONS AID

Spontaneous support was given
by nine local unions representa-
tives of which met and elected a2
delegation to go to the cafe man-
ager, and prevail on him to rein-
State the girls.

Observers state that since Man-
ager Trass took over the cafe last
August, great friction has been
caused by his policy of firing girls
for no other reason than those of
@ personal nature, the recent
trouble being the explosion point

Resentment against the court in-
junction is expressed by New West-
minster citizens, especially in view
of the fact that T. P. Elder. who
requested the injunction, is legal
counsel for the Company union
has gained foothold in a small
number of cafes in Vancouver.

Vancouver
Meet Greets
Soviet Union

Cablegrams sent
To Pres. Kalinin,
Spain, China

Thunderous applause from a
packed meeting at Beacon Theatre,
Sunday, greeted reading of a cable-
fram sent in the name of Art
Evans, chairman, to President M-.
Kalinin of the Soviet Union.

The cablegram read: “A mass as-
sembly of Vancouver citizens greets
you while celebrating the twentieth
anniversary of the October revolu-
tion. The USSR is the hope and
inspiration of the toiling peoples
of the whole world. We pledge the
Soviet fatherland all support
against Fascist pacts. “Long live
the Soviet Union.”

A cablegram to Bob Kerr, poli-
tical commissioner, Mackenzie-Pap-
ineau battalion, congratulating
Canadians in Republican Spain for
their efforts in defending democ-
racy, was enthusiastically endorsed
by the meeting.

Another message addressed to
the Chinese National Salvation
movement stating that the cause of
China in its struggle against the
aggressor, is also the cause of pro-
gressive Canadians, was received
with applause.

Hit Discrimination

SALMO, BC, Nov. 11.—Dismissal
last week of officials of the Mine,
Mill and Smelter Workers’ Union,
employed at the Kootenay Belle
and Reno gold mines, is looked
upon by the miners as an attempt
to smash their rapidly growing or-
ganization, the management hint-
ing that any but a ClO union was
acceptable to them.

SC
PHONES TO

MAY TA
ICHER

Employ Jobless, Clear Slums

Communists Propose Civic Housing Plan

[ees by the Communist party
of British Columbia this week
is a three-point civic home build-
ing-slum clearance program calling
for immediate erection in Vancou-
ver of 500 four and six-room
houses as a means of providing
employment at union wages for a
large number of jobless men, re-
lieving the acute housing shortage
and enabling an effective start to
be made in clearance of the city’s
slum areas.

The plan would be financed with-
out additional cost to resident tax-
payers by levying taxes on incomes
derived by foreign investors from
BC mines and on logs exported by
foreign interests.

Points of the program are:

1. Build better homes for our
citizens.

2. Clear Vancouver’s unsanitary,
over-crowded slums.

3. Provide work for our unem-
ployed at union wages without
additional cost to resident tax-
payers.

Full text of the program follows:

A survey of housing conditions in

.s

Vancouver reveals a shocking state
of affairs for which an immediate
solution must be found.

Whole families, including chil-
dren of both sexes and various
ages, are liying and sleeping to-
gether in one room under condi-
tions which constitute a constant
menace to health. Other families
are existing in dilapidated build-
ings and basements lacking ade-
quate sanitary facilities for which
exorbitant rents are demanded be-
cause of the present housing short-
age.

While these deplorable conditions
exist competent tradesmen and lab-
orers are idle, workers who, if put
to work, could clean up the slums
and produce the materials for and
do the work of erecting suitable
buildings to relieve this housing
shortage.

; Erect 500 Houses.

These conditions can and must
be remedied. The shortage of
houses in VWancotiver combined
with the need for shim clearance,
as well as the need for providing
employment, requires immediate

erection of 500 four and six-room |
houses.

A civic housing and slum clear-
ance program for Vancouver com-
plete with necessary cultural and
recreational centres would absorb
a large percentage of our unem-
ployed. Payment of trade union
wages on such a project would guar-
antee not only a higher standard
of living for our unemployed and
their families, but, by virtue of
increased purchasing power, stimu-
lation to the trade of small mer-
chants and businessmen. This, in
turn, would serve further to create
other employment.

Without imposing any more bur-
dens on the middle and small tax-
payers a civic housing and slum
clearance program can immediate-
ly be launched.

The city of Vancouver can pro-
cure from the provincial govern-
ment a long term loan at interest
rates not exceeding 11% per cent,
interest when due to be consol
dated with the original loan. The
provincial government would hold

a first mortgage on all houses
m2

erected under the plan and the
loan would be repaid from rentals
after deducting city taxes, water
rates and upkeep.

Tax Foreign Profits.

The question naturally arises:
Where is the provincial government
going to get the money? Considera-
tion of the figures given here pro-
vides the answer.

Revenue from the gasoline tax
during the fiscal year amounted to
$2,530,155.02; from the liquor tax,

$3,015,902.57—a total of $5,546.058.19.
These are actual revenues from
taxes already in effect and much
of it could be used to finance the
housing and slum clearance pro-
ject.

Further revenue for the project
could be secured by levying a tax
on incomes derived by foreign in-
vestors from British Columbia
mines.

In the last fiscal year investors
in BC mines netted profits of ap-
proximately $50,000,000. Of this

(Continued on page 5)

See HOUSING

Fir—n—

Harold Griffin

hi —n—oh

Acting editor of the People's
Advocate, who this week was re-
elected executive director of the

Vancouver Theatre of Action,
formerly the Progressive Arts
Players of Wancouver.

Support the Boycott And Stop This

z.
he sd

hr—n—,

Ss

Above a bemb is seen exploding on a bridge of the Hongkone-Hankow railway as Japanese planes carry

their systematic devastaiion of China inland.

Fishermen Rap Monopoly

Charge Japanese Buyers
Sell Frozen Fish As Fresh

Charges that Japanese fish buyers are swindling the
public by palming off frozen fish as fresh and charging prices
accordingly, were made at a mass protest meeting of herring
gillnet fishermen held in the Pacific Coast Fishermen’s union
hall, 164 East Hastings, recently. Government investigation
of these sharp practices was demanded.

Refuse Many
Relief Work

Number Of Single Men
Turned Down For Work
In Forestry Camps, Say
Union Officials.

Rejection by relief authorities of
many BC young men applying at
the city registration office for for-
estry camp work has created 4
problem that must be faced sooner
or later by provincial officials,
states the secretary of the Relief
Project Workers’ union this week.

<—

On the excuse that they were not |

registered for the camps by Oct-

27, these men who proved residence |

in BC are denied both work and
relief, government officials order-
ing them
place of residence, despits the fact
that in many of these places no re-
lief is given.

back to their original |

The grievance committee of the |

union is taking up the cases and
demanding of the government that
some action be taken before these

men become desperate. Hospitaliza- |

tion is also being sought for those
who are sick and
into the camps.

refused entry |

Gillnetters stated at this meeting
that Japanese buyers obtain her-
ring by the boat-load from Galiano
Island saltery at $10 per ton, put
them in cold storage and sell at
leisure to the wholesalers at $40
per ton, who in turn sell by the
pound to retailers.

“Not only does the public suffer
by this swindle but we gillnet fish-
ermen are forced to accept low

prices from the buyers or dump | known in BC, is the outstanding

whole ‘boat-loads, because of the| figure in the CIO woodworkers’

reserve of cold storage herring,” | organization, which enrolled $2,000 |

declared one spokesman. American and BC workers in its |
Seine fishermen, laboring in all| ranks.

kinds of weather for the herring Congressman John M. Coffee of

catch only to receive $1.75 per ton| Tacoma and Senator Lewis B.

from the salteries which have a |
monopoly of the industry, was an- |
other charge made at this meeting, }
the secretary being instructed to |
Write a brief on the situation for |
presentation to the government and |
to demand action.

Mark Anniversary

CUMBERLAND, BC, Noy. 11.—
Celebration of the twentieth anni-
versary of the USSR was a great
success here, union organizers from |
the camps and mines taking a lead-
ing part in the program .

Meeting was held under auspices
of the Communist party, with Fer- |
gus McKean, provincial organizer, |
as Main speaker. McKean jin his |
address, dealt with the role of the |
Soviet Union in the fight to main- |
tain peace and democracy. |

Entertainment provided by local
talent rounded off the evenine.

| tions,

Pritchett
Ordered To
Leave U.S.

Deportation Of
Union President

Denounced
SEATTLE, Wash., Nov. 11.—UIti-
matum by G. W. Tyler, acting
Seattle district director of the

United States Department of La-
bor’s Immigration and Naturaliza-
tion service, that Harold Pritchett,
president of the International
Woodworkers of America, must
leave the United States by Nov. 22,
was met by a torrent of protests
this week. :

Pritchett, a Canadian citizen, well

Aid Of Organized
Labor Sought By
City Ratepayers

Organizer Bradbury.

Three Reductions in Rates Have Been Con=
ceded By BC Teiephone Company Due To
Pressure From Petition

Campaign, Says

organizer, to the PA Thursday

phone rates, Bradbury stated:

to make a point by

tories to the petition, claiming’

doubtful point.

taken by Commissioner
tolls was a fine thing for
an imposition anyway:

Extra Day’s
Work Sought

‘We'll See What Can Be
Done,’ Council Replies
To Request For Christ-
mas Assistance.

Swellenback acted promptly to stay
the deportation of Pritchett and
Senator Homer T. Bone’s aides in-
dicated he would take similar steps.

Pritchett, whose deportation was
stopped last summer only
vigorous protests by public officials,
WCE and other labor groups, ap-
plied recently for an extension of
visiting privileges pending a deci-
sion by the US consular general

| on his application for a permanent

residence visa.

Before his visa application could
be acted upon, however, he was
notified that he must leave the
United States.

Endorsation of Alex Fordyce,
trade union aldermanic candidate
in the forthcoming municipal elec-
Was made at the last busi-
ness meeting of Vancouver and Dis-
trict Waterfront Workers’ Associa-
tion.

after |

| A promise to “see what could be

done” was made by aldermen to a
| delegation of the Workers’ Alliance
| this week on a request that an ex-
tra work-day for the Christmas
season be allowed men on the city
projects scheme, and another day
for needed fuel.

Declaring that the city treasury
Was empty, Alderman Cornett,

GENERAL DISSATISFACTION SHOWN

Numberless telephone calls, letters and statements to the
Federated Ratepayers’ campaign committee for a reduction
in telephone rates indicate that at least 2,000 people will in-
struct BC Telephone company to remove phones from their
residences at once, declared W. R. Bradley,

petition campaign

“Telephone subscribers are far from satisfied with the
action of the company in arbitrarily raising rates in face of
over 20,000 signed protests and before the Railway Commis-
sioners have given a verdict,” Bradbury continued.

Asked as to his reactions to the recent enquiry into tele-

“Qur committee does not expect favorable comment on
the campaign from the Vancouver daily press, because of
heavy advertising, although these papers
lie-spirited and all that sort of thing.

~However as to the hearing itself, one could not help
noticing that Senator Farris, company counsel, tried hard
questioning the intelligence of the signa-

boast of being pub-

that they were confused. Per-

sonally, I think that people with limited incomes understand
very clearly what the campaign is all about.

“Farris, clever lawyer that he iS,
personal telephone account would be aired to strengthen a

made sure that my

“Then there was the somewhat disappointing position
A. G. Stoneman, that abolition of
citizens. The point is that tolls are
what Vancouver
reasonable rate, and they are not getting this.”

people want is 4

PETITION STRONG FACTOR

proposed that he begin a campaign
| among business men to provide two
days’ work for the approximated
5,000 heads of families in need of
the extra work. Delegates pointed

| chairman of the finance committee,

|
|
|

| out that there was not sufficient |

| time for such a campaign.

men of the advice tendered by Hon.

G. C. Pearson, who suggested that |

the city comptroller whisper in the
ear of the bankers to obtain neces-
Sary funds, as was done, Pearson
claimed, by the federal government
with success.

| Alderman Cornett promised to
| discuss the matter with the Mayor
| to see what could be done.

One delegate reminded the alder- |

Bradbury declared that the pe-
tition campaign caused the 10-
cent, though inadequate reduction
on residential phones, also a2 10-
cent reduction monthly, for busi-
ness men who have been paying 50
cents a month rent for the use
of monophones, and lastly, a re-
duction of $1.50 for the installa-
tion of phone extensions which
used to cost $2.50.

In the opinion of Bradbury, Van-
couver business men should cer-
tainly check up on rentals charged
for use of monophones which cost
only 72 cents, although the tele-
phone company, through a subsidi-
ary company, lists them at a much
higher figure.

Feeling that they are being held
up by the company, many people
have announced to Bradbury that
they intend to insist on the official
ten days’ notice of termination of
contract (in writing) after paying
the usual rate of $2.20, as specified
in telephone books.

“I am convinced,” said Brad-
bury, “that if other responsible
people representing bona fide or-
ganizations such as the Trades
and Labor Council, which en=-
dorsed the fight for lower rates,
will associate themselves with the
present campaign committee of
the Federated Ratepayers, a fur-
ther, more thorough canvas would
result in, not 2,000, but 10,000
protests by the present method
of discarding telephones from

residences,”

i