RECENT PRICE BOOST UNJUSTIFIED, TELFORD CHARGES COUNCIL INVESTIGATES HIGH BREAI Western Canada’s Leading Progressive The Peoples Advocate Newspaper VANCOUVER, B.C., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1938 Soviet Ambassador Brings Greetings Hopes For China’s Victory ONG KONG, Feb. 24.—A warm expression of Soviet sympathy for China was given by Luganets Orelsky, the new Soviet ambas- sador to China, when he presented his eredentials at Chunking to Lin Sen, chairman of the Chinese na- tional government. The new ambassador’s speech was a striking departure from the formalized statements usually ) made on such occasions. He said, according to Reuter: *“T am the proud bearer of an important and urgent message ' which I wish to deliver before any- * thing else. “The USSR has the utmost sym- pathy towards her friendly neigh- bor, China, and wants to see her emerge victorious in the present struggle for the preservation of her existence and. independence.” Orelsky flew from Hankow to Chungking after being held up several days by Japanese air raids. He was the first foreign diplomat to be accredited at the new Chi- nese capital. Soviet Russia was the first also in Valencia after the out- break of the Spanish war. Soviet military preparations in the Far East, as the threat of Japanese aggression grows, are de- scribed in the China Mail by a Reuter’s correspondent who has just concluded a tour of Soviet Mar Eastern territory. “With new aeroplane and sub- marine bases under construction, the Soviet maritime provinces are virtually on a war footing,” he writes. “In Viadivostock there are over 100 submarines already commis- sioned, while additional wunder- water craft are arriving by rail in sections and are being assembled for immediate service. “At the same time whole stretches of the coast line are hbe- ing fortified, while new aeroplanes and submarine bases are under construction in isolated regions.” Describing one such base, the writer declares that hundreds of planes are available, and that the drone of the engines of planes fly- ing in mass formation is almost continuous. At the same base 20 submarines and many surface craft are also concentrated, and put to sea on manoeuvres almost daily. Vernon Aids China Fund Tag Day Is Planned As Newly - formed Medical Aid Committee Starts Campaign VERNON, BC, Feb. 24. — The newly-tormed Medical Aid to Ghina committee here, which al- ready has raised $90 for the fund, is now planning a tag day. Representea on the committee are: Vernon Junion Board of Trade, Oddfellows; Woodmen of the World, Chinese Benevolent Association, Vernon branch of the Gommunist party, Young Com- munist League, senior and youth sections of the ULFTA. A com- mittee has also been formed to re- ate aa pees ceive and make up bandage ma- terials. A capacity audience filled Burns Hall, Thursday of last week, to hear Mrs. Hamilton Watts, presi- dent of Vernon Jubilee Hospital. and Paul lim Yuen, young Cana- dian-Ghinese high school student, speak on Japan’s invasion of Chine. A collection of $73 was taken. Ghairman Hopping, junior board of trade, expressed thanks to the Seottish Daughters’ Society for use of the hall. . US Income Higher NEW YORK, Feb. 24—(FP)— The national income for 1937 is estimated as $67,534,000,000 by the Wational Industrial Conference Board, employers’ organization. This is 5.5 per cent over 1936 and 15 per cent less than the 1929 peal of over 79 billions. Salaries and wages accounted for United States’ 69 per cent of the 1937 income. Dividends increased 10 per cent over the previous year. Boycott Effect SEATTLE, Wash., Feb. 24. Trade figures clearly show the ef fect of the Japanese boycott here. Seattle ,entry port to the US mar- ket for Japanese goods, shows a drop over the past eight months from $1,462,450 to $684,290. Over 200 From B.C. .. The Flower of Canadian Youth — Are Defend- ing Democracy in Spain. Families Shelter Beneath Shrines Retugees Crowd Into Temple At Nantao SHANGHAT, China, Feb. 24.—In these tempestuous days, many Chinese people have wondered what the gods are doing to allow such’ destruction and terror loose in the country. Were ; they just looking an unmoved while millions of their worshippers were enduring terrible sufferings under their very eyes? Asks City To Probe Cafes Committee Rejects Ald. Gutteridge’s Proposal For Investigation of Con- ditions. Representation on an investiga- tion committee of organized labor and women’s organizations to eheck up on sanitary arrangements for employees in city cafes was sought by Ald. H. Gutteridge in social services committee this week but without success. Medical Health Officer J. W. Mc- Intosh denied a charge made by Ald. Gutteridge that-there was a noticeable slackness in enforcing health regulations, stating that his staff was doing the best it could under the circumstances, and that if the council were informed that some of its readily passed bylaws would cost a few thousand dollars to enforce, bylaws would be treated more seriously. Ald. Gutteridge imsisted that some cafes were neglecting to in- stall sterilizing and dishwashing apparatus and to provide adequate rest room facilities for girls. Her object in proposing the committee, she said, was to get expert assist- ance for overworked officials. The inevitable “oriental ques- tion” was introduced by a Mrs. Mortimer, who professed to be shocked by the number of orientals working in city cafes. The proposal of an investigating committee was rejected by council. Otto Suomela B.C. Logger, and member of the Finnish Organiza- tion now with Canadians in Spain. x Our Objective: An individual parcel for every B.C. boy in Spain and one hundred other volunteers. .. . Estimated cost, $4 per parcel. If you cannot make up a pareel, cash is acceptable. Friends of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion 43 - 615 West Hastings Street - - TRINITY 4955 SP Vancouver The city protector gods in the historic city temple in WNantao have been alive to the sufferings ef the people, at any rate, for throughout the whole period of hostilities in Shanghai, their temple provided a place of refuge for the terror stricken masses. When the Japanese turned their attentions to Wantao, the area surrounding the temple was converted into a zone of safety by the International Refugee committee, with the mu- tual comsent of both the Chinese and Japanese, and a promise was extracted from both sides to re- spect the neighborhood as a neu- tral one. Today, despite the fact that hostilities have ceased in that area, the people still cling to the district, mainly because they have no other place to go, and 200,000 of them are crouching at the very feet of the gods, living in shops and houses, in streets and on stair- ways, and receiving their food from the Refugee committee. Many Housed in Tempie A visit to the area revealed the following conditions: The Great South Gate of Nantao City, with its stout tiled roof, shelters several families who have fashioned wide bunks from boards, under the pro- tection the roof affords. The court- yard just beyond the gate is full of people tryng to shelter as best they can, and the gay stalls of curios, which once attracted thou- sands of tourists, are closed and shuttered. In the temple itself, many more are housed. The entrance hall, do- main of the Goddess of Mercy, shelters a score or more families beneath the shrines. Upstairs the French sisters are conducting a clinic. The room is large and yet it is overcrowded with people begging for attention. The sisters sometimes treat as many as 1,500 patients in a day. The hall containing the 500 lohans is filled with more families. There is the acid smell of burning wood, and little trousers and coats are hanging on the shrines to dry- Salvage of hundreds of homes is there, piled at the very feet of the images. Meanwhile, the city gods still look down. protector Boycott Japanese Goods. . Refreshment Parlors * “Where You Meet Your Friends” COR. HASTINGS & COLUMBIA STREETS Telephone Seymour 2391 Civilians Machine-sunned Volunteer Tells Of Raid On Hospital By CHARLES ROSCHLY Member of the Mackenzie Papineau Battalion MADRID, Spain, Feb. 24—It was a bright clear morning. From the window of my room in the hospital just outside Madrid I looked up at the cloudless blue sky. All of a sudden I caught the low drone of airplanes and presently I saw then, ten in all, flying in V formation, straight toward the hospital. Instead of making directly for the trenches behind the hospital, I stood in the window and watched the bombs falling. The sunlight caught them as they fell from the big black fascist bombers so that they looked like silver comets rushing to earth. ~ nearly paid with my life for my delay in getting to the trenches. A terrific explosion shook the building and the impact sent me to the floor. Smoke and dust were everywhere. A bomb had gone right through the roof on the other side of the room. More explosions shook the build- ing as I ran down the stairs and I had only just turned the corner in the big hall when another bomb struck the stairs, demolishing them. The trenches were crowded with nurses and patients and people from the town and f had a hard time finding cover. The planes had passed over and were now coming back to bomb the hospital a sec- ond time. I could hear women and children screaming as bombs fell all around us, filling the air with flying stones and earth. When the bombers were gone we ventured out of the trenches, but fifteen minutes later they re- turned, this time flying very low. Again the earth shook under the explosions and the air was filled with debris. Is Hit in Explosion Then, all at once, there was a terrific explosion right beside me. I had a feeling as if someone had flashed a strong light in my face and at the same time given me a blow on the head. When I came to a doctor and a nurse were work- ing over me. I was almost afraid to move for a minute. I moved my hands. They were all right. Then my legs. They were all right, too. Finally, the realization penetrated my dazed brain that I had escaped unhurt. The trench, shallow though it was, had saved my life. Later, when the bombers had gone, some fascist scout planes came along. The civilians were leaving the trench to return to the town and when they saw the Re- publican colors on the fascist planes they naturally thought these were our own pursuit planes. Div- ing low, the fascists machine- gunned the people before they could seek the shelter of the trenches again. This is not the first time the fascists have used this ruse. They have no respect for women or chil- dren. Theirs is a ruthless warfare of annihilation. I have seen so much tragedy in this one bombing that, if I ever had any doubts as to why I am here, they are now entirely dispelled. Two Seats Won SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, Feb. 24. —The Communist party won two seats in the recent elections for Costa Rica’s one-house legislature. Total Communist vote was 7000. Hitler Wars On Religion ‘With 82 Schools Closed I Have Right To Talk Of Persecution,’ Cardinal Says LONDON, Eng., Feb. 24.—(FP)— Besides purging his generals, Adolph Hitler, mad dog of Europe, is warring on established religion —Catholic, Protestant and Jewish. The frameup “sedition” trial of Rev. Martin Niemoeller, leader of the Confessional Church, and the charges of Nazi persecution made by Cordinal yon Faulhaber, Cath- olic archbishop of Munich, are the latest evidence that the Nazis are determined to crush all who do not slavishly accept their doctrines. In religious matters, Hitler neo- paganism turns the clock back not to the Middle Ages, but to prehis- toric barbarism, to the worship of Thor and Wotan. Wiemoeller, Protestant chief, is convinced that his trial is a pre- arranged farce so far as chances of obtaining justice are concerned. The Wazis are conducting it in secret and have ousted four repre- sentatives of the confessional synods called as witnesses. MWNie- moeller dismissed his attorneys and abandoned any attempt to defend himself .Twenty-five other pastors are behind bars, 65 are exiled from their communities and 40 stand ex- pelled from their parishes. The Munich archbishop, in his address to Catholics, declared: “When 82 Catholic schools are elosed and 15,000 children in my diocese are deprived of Catholic training, I have a right to say there is persecution.” Religious persecution in Ger- many has had repercussions in Fascist Spain. There, General Franco, under instructions from Hitler, has denied Catholic clergy the right to read portions of the Pope’s encyclical which refer to persecution in Germany. The Jes- uits are leaving Franco’s territory in protest. Endorses Federation BOGOTA, Columbia, Feb. 24.—A furor was caused in the Columbian Congress, now in session, when 4 congressman endorsed the building of a South American federation of labor as the basis for a front against fascism. He pointed in particular to the danger of a coup similar to that of Vargas in Brazil. The recent national trade union convention at Cali proposed such a federation to other Latin American labor movements. The proposal already has the support of the PRICES Burden Is Placed On Consumer CCF Member Claims Bread Sold In City Is Poor Quality, Short Weight MAKES CHARGES The recent increase in the price of bread was unjustified. Much of the bread sold in the city is underweight and of poor quality. Small bakers are vic- timized. These were some of the charges made by Dr. Lyle Telford, MLA, when the civic enquiry into high bread prices headed by Ald. John Bennett, was resumed last Friday at th city hall. se : Telford also charged that a com- bine exists and that com an stocks are watered. Pere Producing a trade magazine, Telford asked representatives of the Master Bakers’ Association ene 82 enquiry, why reput- ble bakers did not stop the adyer- tising of a high-speed mixing ma- chine guaranteed to make 199 Ibs. of flour absorb 144 Ibs: of water. Master Baker J. McGavin replied he was “willing to bet $100 there is no such machine.” -Modern high speed machinery, Tan E. Davidson, spok : : , Spokesman for Master Bakers’ Association repre- sentatives, said, make it possible to obtain a maximum of 270 loaves from a barrel of flour. Telford retorted that a produc- tion of 366 loaves from a barrel of flour was claimed for the ma- chine advertised, and asked: “How is it that small bakeries in the city can get 20 more loaves than the maximum you state with- out modern machinery?” Davidson asserted it was “all nonsense” to talk about there be- ing too much water in bread sold in Vancouver, because flour would absorb only so much water. The city inspector had the right to check on weight and he believed all that was lost was a little water, “which can be compensated by tak- ing a drink at the meal table’ “Bakers are getting a miserably poor return and in many cases are losing money,” he claimed in deny- ing charges that a combine exists and that there is collusion between bakers) and millers: Important questions of flour quality, stocks and prices, he stated, were beyond their control. ; Pressing his charges, Telford opined that it was beyond his prov- ince to give all details, but that the city should investigate for the public benefit. The Newfoundland government, he said, had discontinued use of Canadian flour because inyestiga- tion had shown that malnutrition resulted from the bleaching pro- cess. In New Zealand, bread was now 51% cents a loaf since the gov- ernment had adopted certain meas- ures. In England, a £lb. loaf was now 19 cents. He pertinently asked why Camp- bell’s bakery here was advertising a fleet of new delivery wagons, while master bakers claim “miser- ably poor returns.” He stated that bread in the United States is 8.7 cents a loaf and that government figures show cost of ingredients as 2.6 cents a loaf. “Allowing one cent for wages in producing a loaf, look at the spread which the public has to pay for,” the doctor declared, suggesting that the same situation existed in Van- couver. The CCF member contended that the consumer was foreed to pay “for the vicious practice of watered stock.” “~ want to see the consumer and producer get together,” he de- clared. “I want to see the con- sumer get a better deal and it will be when we get action from the city council in this vital matter.” Urge Amendment Of Neutrality Act NEW WORK, Feb. 24—(FP)— More than 60 leaders in education, journalism, religion, labor and poli- tics, including former Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson and Wil- liam E. Dodd, former US ambas- sador to Germany, urge amend- ment of the neutrality act to ren- der it inapplicable to Spain. Their plea is expressed in letters to Pres- ident Roosevelt and the foreign af- fairs committees of both houses of Congress. The signers state that the pres- ent policy toward Spain assists the insurrection and prolongs a war “fraught with great danger to democratic institutions.” It de- | clares that “a reconsideration of the matter will disclose that ship- ment of war materials to the estab- lished government of Spain would not threaten or endanger the eace of the US.” : The amendment which the let- ter asks for is “srounded in well- recognized principles of interna- tional law and is strictly in ac- cordance with historic American powerful CTM in Mexico. foreign policy.”