SACRULITE Page Six : THE PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE December 17, 1987 Farmer-Labor Co-operation Is Need Hizh Costs, Low Returns Hit Farmers In Province “My kids need warm clothing, my wite’s needs repairs, and the mortgage company is holle !? This was the answer given to my query: The same answer might have been given by oves the necessity of united action by farmers the things that worry me you?” to a Fraser Valley farmer. workers. It is this similarity of needs which pr and working people. Other farmers in the Valley re- peated much the same story. Poultry farmers protested against the exorbitant freight rates they have to pay on their feed, freight rates which penalize the domestic prower to the benefit of the rail- | ways and ocean shipping lines. The charges per ton on feed grain from the average station in Alberta to Valley points is $6.80 per ton. For export purposes the grain is brought to Vancouver for $420 per ton. The farmer pays the difference of $2.60 per ton because he lives in British Columbia. it is possible to bring in corn from the Argentine and South Africas at much lower costs than our own Canadian feeds from Al- perta. As a result of the high feed prices this year, partly occasioned by the wheat crop failure on the prairies, itis estimated that Val- ley poultry farmers have eut their output by 20 per cent this season, because they find that the prices paid to them by the wholesale dealers do not nearly compensate them for the increased cost of pro- duction. _ Quotations Show Spread. Quotations issued from the office of G. R. Wilson, Dominion govern- ment egg inspection service, por- tray the spread in effect between the producer and consumer. Quota- tions are of November 10: Paid to producer for Grade A large, 34 cents per dozen. Paid by retailer to wholesaler, 39 cents per dozen. Paid by consumer to retailer, 48 cents per dozen. : Spread between producer and consumer, 9 cents per dozen. The same grievance of an out-of- | proportion spread between pro- g@ucer and consumer is felt by every farmer in the province. Potatoes, which are now under control of a marketing scheme, are : Sensational - LOW PRICE New 1938 band. NO TUNING, NO DELAY. 8-tube performance. 5 STATIONS IN 5 SECONDS without looking at the dial. ~ Only $4.95 cash j te and $1 a week. WALLS & BRADSHAW SEE THE NEW 1938 MODEL BATTERY SETS Priced From 52.80 Complete With Batteries * Wye also have a large assortment of Reconditioned ELECTRIC AND BATTERY MODELS At Prices to Suit Your Budget * EASY TERMS GENEROUS TRADE-IN ALLOWANCES | — at — WALLS & BRADSHAW Wharf & Commercial Phone 65 NANAIMO B. C. By; VAL CHRISTIE been waiting years for a new coat, my home ring for its interest—those are some of “What's worrying many city still a source of big profits to the parasitic wholesale houses on Water Street, Vancouver. Exist | ence of a Market Board has un- doubtedly stabilized the market to some extent, and we no longer find wholesale potato buyers paying farmers $6 or $7 per ton and sell- ing to retailers for $40 per ton. collected November 18 shows: Gems Locals Ton Ton Board price to grow- er... $17.00 $15.00 Board sells whole- saler at .......... 19.00 17.00 Paid by consumer at chain store... 31.80 27.30 Spread between grow- , er and consumer. $14.80 $12.30 Same In Qxanagan. That more or less the same sit- uation exists in the Okanagan amongst the fruit growers is evi- dent in the following excerpt from a letter written to me by an apple- grower: “The chief obstacle to fair re- turns,” he says, “is the slice that the wholesalers and middlemen are taking before the producer gets his hands on the money.” We further states: “Before the founding of the Market Board, shipping was carried out by num- erous independent packing houses who would compete for the mar- ket by. shipping five carloads to a place that could consume only one. The co-operatives were not able to get a big enough membership to Phone 14 Reasonable Rates When in Nanaimo, stay at COMMERCIAL HOTEL Newly Decorated and Fur- nished—Hot and Cold Run- ning Water — Steam Heat in Every Room @ Fully Licensed Premises e Nanaimo, B.C. J. Benny Mer. control the shipping. Now the Market Board has succeeded in making the independent shippers sell through the board and the waste of fruit has been somewhat eliminated, and a small profit is assured to the fruit grower who often in the past was in the red after selling his fruit.” Most growers agree that the Boards have been of assistance to them, but they believe that much yet can be accompanied, that the unfair profits made by the whole- saler must be drastically cut, that by doing this the producer will be able to get a fairer share of the proceeds of his labor and the con- sumer will be able to buy at a more reasonable price. Many-growers are also of the opinion that the Board should be of a more democratic nature, that members should be elected and controlled by the growers them- selves. The Provincial Marketing Board under which the various marketing schemes are run is ap- pointed by the provincial govern- ment. The schemes operating under Board sponsorship, such as the BC Goast Vegetable Marketing Scheme, are of a slightly more democratic nature. Delegates to the scheme are elected by the regis- tered “producers,” but on investi- gation we find that “producers” is construed to be only the actual owners of land, and does not in- clude tenant farmers. Readjust- ment of the Marketing Board along these lines would meet with the approval of a majority of growers. Milk producers are also finding it difficult to keep their heads above water, due to expensive feed and the inadequate price they receive for their product. One ten-gallon can or 100 pounds ) (—— BAIRD BROS. TRANSFER GENERAL HAULING GOAL and WOOD RELIABLE SERVICE @ Phone 927 578 Bradley St. > Ss BUY at... - BUY HERE A Practical Gift ... UNDERWOOD or Se = SESS This advertisement is ELLAMS DUPLICATING MACHINE EASY TERMS ARRANGED — Sold by — printers FILMER’S stationers Commercial Street, Nanaimo not published or Gussola’s Style Shop Commercial Street — Nanaimo STYLISH LADIES’ READY-TO-WEAR & MILLINERY MEN’S FURNISHINGS AND HATS We Specialize in WORK CLOTHINGS at Popular Prices We Aim to Please! TYPEWRITE a Phone 241 $009 9F 90009090000 000F 090094 ' Mr. and Mrs. Dick Coe. He is president of Loeeal 7293, UMWA, Cumberland; has been victimized many times for his union activities. fe x te of milk will produce four pounds of butter-fat at 33 cents per pound —assuming that the milk is grade “A” and 4 per cent. On this basis returns are: Butterfat, $1.32; skim milk, 20 cents—making a total of $1.52. Out of this return the pro- ducer has to pay rental of cans, freight charges and redemption fund, which amount to about 30 “cents, not including cost of feed or labor. When it is considered that the city milk consumer is paying 10 cents a quart, or $4 per gallon, it is evident again that there is a huge gap between producer and consumer prices. Elimination of these gaps is the big’ job ahead for farmers, but not alone is it their task, it is equally of concern to the consumer, and the organized Jabor movement must offer its assistance to any efforts made along these lines. Many other problems are crying for solution. Educational facilities jin rural areas are absolutely in- adequate. Many children are un- able to attend school because of the great lack of facilities. Many of those who attend school are hampered by the lack of trans- portation. Many children walk miles every day back and forth to school. They leave home at 7:30 in the morning and often do not reach home until 5 o’clock in the evening. Gonsolidated school areas, which are under control of the provincial board of education, have proved to be no solution to the school ques- tion. The provincial authorities are more concerned with institut- ing economies than with the in- creasing of educational facilities. The question of drainage and dyking is a recurrent one in many areas, especially the Serpentine flats, Matsqui, Agassiz, etc. The tolls now inflicted with the open- ing of the Pattullo bridge are also a sore spot with the farmers in the Valley, increasing as they do the already high cost of feed and other farm necessities. -enays and the Peace River. MALKIN’S BEST COFFEE DATE STAMPED Guaranteed FRESH! Just as the logger, fisherman, or factory worker turns to trade unionism as a defence against the employers, so the farmer is build- ing up his own organizations, Cco- operatives, and ratepayers’ clubs. Together with this are the geo- graphical divisions which have a tendency to split up the farming population, to illustrate which f need only mention the Fraser Valley, the Okanagan, the Koot- De- spite these difficulties a united farmers’ movement must arise out of the scores of local and sectional movements now in existence. Hon. John Hart, provincial min- ister of finance, in his budget speech on November 10 clearly out- lined the importance of agricul- ture to our provincial economy with following statistics of basic industrial production for the year 1937: Lumbering ———--. —. $79,000,000.00 Mining, ---.- 70,000,000.00 Agriculture 53,230,000.00 Fisheries -.....---- 17,500,000.00 Total = $219,730,000.00 Labor Must €o-operate. Organized labor cannot ignore the conditions which exist in the third largest basic industry in the province and must offer its assist- ance and support to the growers and producers in their efforts to | provide a decent standard of living for their families. One of the jobs that the labor movement will have to tackle is that of exposing the old line politi- cians who continue to keep the people of the province as whole. divided against each other. These |! political hacks attempt to breed distrust of the labor movement among the farmers by statements to the effect that labor’s only in- terest in them is to cut down the prices they receive for their goods. Tf city dwellers protest against high prices these misleaders im- mediately construe it as a plot plot against the farmer and very conveniently overlook the fact that Se =oyesats displayed by the Liquor Contr 5AS Farmers .. Shareholders Comprising the GROWERS WINE CO., LTD. Presents a New Creation Brandy — Rum — Logan COCKTAIL ol Board or by the Government of British Columbia Glass Wool Used To Insulate Soil NEW YORE, Dee. 16.— Glass wool has been used in chemical laboratories for many years, but it is now leaving the laboratory and finding its way to the farm. The wool is composed of regulation glass, heated and blown into vast quantities of hair-like fibers which can be rolled up into balls or flat- tened out like porous blankets. When spread over the soil it in- sulates the ground against frost, insects and rodents and keeps seeded furrows and flower patches Warm and safe through a severe winter. Light from the sun filters through and growth starts even before the snow is entirely gone. The Cornell Department of Flori- culture is responsible for this de- velopment. The wool is manufac- tured and put up in bales by the Corning Glass Works and other companies. A bale of glass wool weighs very little and is cheaply priced. A glass blanket can be used indefinitely. the consumers’ rage is not directed against the farmer, but against the common enemy of both farmer and consumer—the food trusts, the wholesalers, the interests which bleed the farmers and fiold-up the consumers. Wever was it more necessary than at the present time to haye- a united movement of the common people of the countryside and city. Toward this end the progressives of all organizations, trade unions, co-operatives and political parties must strain every effort. Y; 46 WHEN IN NANAIMO, PATRONIZE ... The Eagles FOO OY) PPP PI’ “£ PP SSS. y a) co PP Hotel The Organized Home in Town EAA SO ~ PPPPILI PLP LISI LI I PII % © COMFORTABLE ROOMS e GOOD MEALS Under the Management of GEORGE DLXON et PPPS Phone 711-O GLA bbb be A St PP PPPS Hear About China!... Chinese National Salvation Command MR. JOSEPH HOPE PUBLIC MEETING Oddfellews Halil Nanaimo December i9 8:30 P.M. Sunday, SEASON’S GREETINGS from NEWCASTLE HOTEL Hot and Cold Running Water — Steam-Heated Rooms — Dining Room with Courteous Service @ LICENSED PREMISES 8 - Phone 1024 \Finds Cause Of Disease Dutch Chemist Succeeds In Isolating Compound Responsible For Foot, Mouth Disease AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, Dec. 16.—An important step toward further knowledge of ultramicro- scopic life has been» made by 42 Wetherlands chemist, Dr. L. W. Janssen, who has succeeded in identifying the chemical compound held responsible for foot and mouth disease. He said it was 4 phosphoric protein. Dr. Janssen followed the lines indicated by the research of Dr. Wendell M. Stanley of the Rocke- feller Institute of Medical Research at Princeton who, about a year ago, discovered a tobacco plant disease that was not due to bacteria, but to inanimate matter, albumen of extremely heavy atomic weight. Besides giving new hope to farm- ers the discovery is considered of preat scientific value. Boycott Japanese Goods. sts ESib=S i UR Ra es Pi Gi Rg Rt Ee c.C.F. CHRISTMAS FROLIC Whist 7:30 to 9 — Dancing 9:30 to ... SUPPER WES MORRIS ORCHESTRA LADYSMITH AGRICULTURAL HALL on CHRISTMAS NIGHT LADIES 50c GENTS 75c The Event of The Season se ed Compliments of the Season — from... LIGE & BUTCH at the HOTEL NANAIMO SScCe “Where Old Friends Meet’ For GENERAL INSURANCE at LOWEST COST consult Phone 444 NZ Sins <> 430 Stewart Ave. Nanaimo CRESCENT | LEO. F. LE PAS. Season s United Mine Workers | of America: Cumberland Local No. 7293 Sends The PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE Greetings to MAY YOUR CIRCULATION GROW! dees