HINT STANLEY PARK GUNS SCANDAL | oO Our Readers S week The People’s Ad- vocate is being published in smaller format. That we > should be forced to take such ha step at the termination of a ‘successful financial drive will be a keen disappointment to our readers and loyal support- "ers. None feels this disappoint- ment more than the editors of ‘this paper who have worked to make it a mighty popular or- 'gan of the people, an organ un- fequalled for the clarity of its ‘views and unexcelled in its presentation of the news. ' During the course of the past year we have seen the founda- tion for such a paper slowly Ytake shape. We have seen its \ circulation and its influence 'srow. Its prestige has become Vthe pride of our friends and the concern of our enemies. * But at the same time, the /financial deficit has also grown and not so slowly, a deficit that ‘is covered neither by our in- ) come from sales and advertis- ing nor by the proceeds of our * drives. At the end of a year, despite extraerdinary meas- ures, we are forced to admit ‘that the strain is too heavy, ‘that we must retreat for a time and consolidate our financial "position if the paper's life is not to be jeopardized. ' Higher publishing costs, in- 'cluding the recent increase in the price of newsprint, have » added to our difficulties for all 'the stringent economies ef _ fected. F e : S step is only temporary, : to enable us to adjust our ' finances. We can assure our readers that neither our news or feature services will suffer beeause of it. How soon we can revert to the larger size, or even an eight-page paper, must depend (Continued on page 2) Press Drive Nears Close Last-Minute Efforts Will Enable Success By W. RAVENOR Keen rivalry marks the race be- tween Vancouver committees for the Advocate-Clarion press drive diploma in the last few days of the drive. Vancouver Centre has 115.9 percent; Transportation Commit tee, 114.5 percent; Vancouver East, 141.7 percent; East Joint Commiuit- tee, 103.8 percent; with further Vic- toria Day dance receipts to come. Trade union sub-committees ral- lied with $12.55 from Local 28, $10 of which was raised by Annie Clozza; Woodworkers are up to 58.8 percent; Tile-setters sent $3. Grand total for all union commit- tees is $756.46. Burnaby sprang a surprise when it jumped to $4.8 percent, leaving behind Worth Vancouver and New Westminster which sent in $3.30 and $3 respectively. Wancouver Centre has reached $467.11 to top its 1937 score by $8.54. Its sub-committee located at WVic- tory Square boasts the highest showing of all territorial commit- tees with score of $65.50, or 218 per- cent, attained by twelve members. Vancouver East stands at $253.65. Wotable achievements of its mem- bers are H. Asson, $15.30; J. Cun- ningham, $9.50; O. Lowen, $8.00; Ed Cinetz, $7.00; and J. Elliott, $6.50. Details of high scores of Little Mountain Committee and of John Lesire were not reported at press time. In Southern BC, Okanagan Val- ley stands at $114.63 to beat its 1937 total by $1.48, with more promised. Salmon Arm with objective at $40 has advanced to $49.08 and needs but 27 cents to reach its 1937 rec- ord. Vernon has risen to $22.05 to Pass 1937 score by $1.30. Kelowna has sent in its first $6, but will likely send more before the final Gone. Enderby with $35 stands out well in comparison with $11.75 in the October campaign. Altogether, Southern BC which raised $399.93 (Continued on page 6) see DRIVE S = ap Canada’s Leading Progressive The People’s Advocat Western Newspaper FULL No. 176. SS © VANCOUVER, B.C., FRIDAY, MAY 27, 1938 Single Copies: 5 Cents VOL. IV, No. 20 Citizens Pa' As Jobless CANNERS WILL NOT BARGAIN With the same determina- tion shown by the city jobless, BC coast fishermen maintain a fartlung picket line on land, while union fish-boats patrol under the slogan “No Price Agreement, No Fish.” Added to the mounting pressure on Commissioner of Fisheries G. S. Pearson this week were five telegrams from as many fisher- men’s Liberal organizations de- manding immediate arbitration to force price negotiations on greedy cannery operators who besrudge fishermen a summer stake to feed their famiiles in the winter and keep off relief. | Wegotiations between the Pacific Goast Fishermen’s~ Union and five blue-back salmon operators were held Wednesday night, the opera- tors offering a price which is a quarter of a cent lower than last year’s price for blue-backs, which was 6 cents. The offer was im- mediately wired to all fishermen’s union locals on the Gulf of Georgia, with a request that answers be sent back to union headquarters immediately. Promptly the union local at Deep Cove answered, “Of- fer not accepted. Recommend tie- up.” Union leaders Jack Gavin and George Miller declared that while the price offered was very low, at least there were negotiations tak- ing place in this branch of the in- dussry. They made it clear, how- ever, that the blue-back question had little to do with the main sec- tion of the industry and arbitra- tion which affects gillnmet and seine caught salmon. : Press reports that Hon. J. EK. Michaud, federal minister of fish- eries, ignored three separate peti- tions signed by hundreds of BC fishermen against the granting of fish trap licenses this year, when he failed to bring the petitions be- fore the House of Commons has aroused widespread resentment among coast fishermen. During a debate in the House (Continued on page 6) See FISHERMEN President Cardenas of Mexico, who personally com- manded the forces to smash the fascist-aided revolt of General Cedillo. Cedillo’s headquarters have been Captured, his forces driven back. Reject Free -- Movie Passes Projectionists Still Picketings Hollywood Members of Local 348, Motion Picture Projectionists’ Union, still picket the Hollywood Theatre on West Boradway as the manage- ment continues adamant in its re- fusal to negotiate. There has been no change in the situation since the union decided to install a pic- ket line 10 days ago on the re- fusal of the owner's son to join the union. The union has offered to allow the owner’s son to remain outside the union, provided he works with 2 union man, but this offer, made in conjunction with the grievance committee of the trades and labor council, has been rejected. Instead, the management of the theatre is threatening to bring action against the union for picketing. The theatre owner is offering free tickets but there are few takers. The matter is expected to come before the next meeting of the Trades and Labor Council when a move to place this theatre on the “We do not patronize list’ will be made. PROTEST SENT TO OTTAWA Serious charges of ineffici- eney and squandering of fed- eral defense finds were lev- elled- this week against officials entrusted with the six-inch gun displacement at Stanley Park, and a letter to Minister of De- fenee Ian Mackenzie demand- ing a probe has been forwarded by a group of workers who have been employed on the project. While as many as 75 men have been employed, the Advocate learn- ed, only nine are now on the job, and over them are six officers, from captains to colonels, whose job is to supervise the work of which tbey haye but superficial knowl- “eage. PHIS can be verified by any | who care to investigate for them- selves, the men state. The fact that it is a “cost plus” job in which there is much to be gained by those in charge, is re- sponsible for the lack of efficiency and economy, is a statement in- cluded in the charges, the men elaiming that the sites at Point Grey and Point Atkinson should have been started on weeks ago in preparation for gun displacements. One complaint states that it is a vicious practice to take a large group of men off the city relief rolls for such short terms of em- ployment, which prevents them from re-applying for relief until wages are spent. A conscientious employer would organize the work much more sensibly and avoid the present disruption, they state. Inefficiency in the building of a nearby road resulted in costs being doubled, is another accusation. Another sore point to the militia- men employed is the fact that Dick Stanton, one-time chauffeur for ex- Mayor L. D. Taylor obtained the sinecure of “employment agent’ at a salary of $175 a month, and holds it down even when a mere hand- ful of men are working. The men declare bitterly that they are at the mercy of whims, and that the buying of beer on pay day plays a large part in the term of their em- ployment, causing constant chang- ing. Chief Thomas Adolph of Fountain Dies Champion Of Indians’ Rights pion of their rights. a road that leaves the Cariboo high- way northward across the Thomp- son at Lytton and follow its wind- ing course high above the Fraser to Lillooet you will see the little poverty-stricken farms where the Indians live. Water is scarce on these sun- scorched benches and without water nothing will grow in this parched country. Water would transform these farms, but al though irrigation schemes have been discussed for years and more than one warped flume bears silent witness to schemes that failed, the farms still lack the life-giving water. Two miles beyond Lillooet, still high above the Fraser but in a spot where the steep canyons give place to a flatter country, is Fountain. Here is evidence of poverty and hardship and a faint trace of 2 Tf you take the twisted, dusty? By HAROLD GRIFFIN LILLOOET, BC, May 26.—Chief Thomas Adolf, for 28 years head of the Fountain Indians and an executive member of the Allied Indian Tribes of British Columbia, is dead and by his passing the Indian bands of the Interior have lost an outstanding leader and tireless cham- more prosperous past before small- pox decimated the Indians’ num- bers and ruthless exploitation their rights. For a short space the road runs straight and rutted past the few fields where the Indians attempt to wrest a living from the soil. That it is an unsuccessful attempt is evident. On the porch of an aban- doned store three Indain children play while a mongrel dog keeps watch. An Indian youth leads a horse across a field which will be green with alfalfa in the months to come. Otherwise, there is no sign of life. Here it was, on Empire Day, that his people buried Chief Thomas Adolf who had pleaded their cause at Victoria and Ottawa so well and so long. But Victoria was more concerned with natural resources than the welfare of those who once possessed them and Ottawa was politely heedless. Only last spring Chief William Adolf and a delegation represent- ing the Indians of Hountain, Lil- looet, Lytton, Texas Creek, Payi- lion, Seton Lake and Bridge River, hiteh-hiked to Vancouver to plead the case of their starving people, hundreds of whom were forced to exist on $3.50 to $5 a month relief. Today their lot is little, if any better. I spoke with young Chief Wil- liam Adolf here. He spread his hands in a gesture of despair. “We have appealed to Indian agents and higher authorities for redress of our grievances without anything being done,’’ he said. “Now we must appeal to the white people whose struggle is the same as ours to assist us in obtaining our rights.’ Police Cost enied Work Mast Rally In City Demands Gov't Act Thousands of Vancouver citizens massed on Powell Street grounds last night to protest government inaction in finding a solution for British Columbia’s gravest unemployment situation since 1935 and to demonstrate the tremendous popular demand for a federal program of public works on a scale designed to meet the problem. : Among those who addressed the rally were Mrs. Dorothy Steeves, MILA; Malcolm Bruce, central committee member of the Communist party; Donald McBean, Vancouver Youth Coun- cil leader, representing the Young Liberals: Rev. R. IN. Mathe- son; Dr. Lyle Telford, MLA; Mrs. E. Mahon and Mrs. Stuart Jamieson. 2 While Mayor Miller pleads that the city has no money to provide temporary relief for single unemployed who have oc- cupied the post office and the art gallery for the past week, police costs to the taxpayers are soaring. Special police have been mobilized, every downtown store, theatre and building of any importance has its detail of police guards. Women Aid Unemployed _ In Struggle By WM. PURVIS “You hold the fort and we'll see that you are fed,’ is the women’s pledge to the boys staging their sitdown protest in the city, and a visit to the campaign comissariat at 805 East Pender will afford ample proof that the pledge is be- ing carried out. Ever since Rev. Hugh Dobson of the Ministerial Association poured ridicule on May- or G. ©. Miller's — demand of ten -_ days ago, that 1800 single un- employed go to the prairies to find work; when the Unit- ed Church rep- § resentative in a moving speech urged the city & council to take drastic action irs. Lusk to change the present crimin- al attitude of the federal govern- ment, the sympathy of thousands of men and women has been ex- pressed in gifts of money and food. Everywhere one can hear “They daren’t club the boys down in face of such mass support.” It was mainly through efforts and representations of the Mothers’ Council that other women’s organi- zations, church congregations and unions have been galvanized into action, and representatives will meet to organize support on a big- ger scale. In the opinion of the €roup of women which has worked night and day on the men’s behalf, this rally will not be confined to the question of supplies and comforts, but will intensify the struggle to attain the inauguration of 4 fed- eral works program, the men’s ob- jective. For behind this showing of good spirits and irrepressive energy which finds outlet in singing and Sames, anyone with a desire to understand can see the grim de- termination of young men, who, tired of being pushed from pillar to post, are intent on arousing not only Vancouver but the Dominion to the need of a new deal for the unemployed. Asked about those who are do- nating money and kind, Mrs. Jean Pelton of the Mothers’ Council, in charge of the Pender street head- quarters, smilingly suggested copy- ing a list from the telephone direc- tory in order to avoid missing don- ors. A young Chinese had just come in with a truck-load of vege- tables which he had obtained in a (Continued on page 6) See WOMEN Prowler cars patrol the streets ceaselessly. © Wednesday marked the first ar- rests of single men seeking public support to enable them to eat. More than i100 tincanners were picked up, brought before the court and remanded: There is no room for them in Oakalla and they now face the prospect of being herded like crim- inals into the prison camp at De roche, opened when tincanners were arrested by the score last year, or sent to Piers Island, where Doukhobors were similarly herded not so long ago. Youth Groups Give Assistance Vancouver youth organizations are to the fore in rendering as- Sistance to the single unemployed in their struggle for work and wages. In a telegram to the BC delegates attending the National Youth Congress at Toronto, Donald McBean, treasurer, Vancouver Youth Council, and prominent young Liberal, stated that it was up to the federal government to in- augurate a works program and re- lieve the situation. In a whirlwind effort, the Wil- liam Lyon Mackenzie branch of the Young Communist League collected 750 packages of tobacco, 75 pounds of bologna, 30 pounds butter, 150 loaves of bread and $16. The provincial committee of the Young Communist League has be- fun a campaign to raise $500 in the next few days. Sea Hoods Cafe, at 46 West Hast- ings Street, gave an example to other eating houses when the man- agement supplied 690 single unem- ployed men for the bare cost of ma- (Gontinued on page 6) See JOBLESS Miners Gain Wage Boost Report Tentative Pact Signed With Company NANAIMO, BC, May 26.—Press releases state that 2,000 Vancouver Island miners gained a 5 percent wage increase when a tentative agreement was signed Wednesday by United Mine Workers and Cana- dian Collieries. For the past ten months the miners have denganded wage and contract adjustmenets only to be met with evasion and pleas of pov- erty by the company. An arbitra- tion board called in at the request of the miners, has been deliberat- ing on the dispute for several weeks. Pat Conroy, vice-president of District 18, United Mine Workers, was present during negotiations, and he will appear before different conciliation boards appointed in Southern BC and Alberta as a rep- resentative of the miners.