———— ee ee 2 CAL CITY NURSE Hill efusal to Disallow Padlock Law Hit ISSION BOMBED “We had to take materials across country by caravan be- cause the railroad had been bombed. While we were out on the flat prairie with no pro- tection of any kind, two Japa- nese bombers spotted us. They swept down the full lensth of the caravan at a height of about 200 feet. Then they circled back, dropped three bombs, circled back again, dropped another three bombs, and came back yet again. “All in ali they dropped fourteen “bombs without actually hitting the caravan once. They were fiying So low that we could see the pilot in the cockpit of one plane. “One bomb exploded about 15 feet away from me, tearing my trousers, bruising but not injuring me. We iost 22 mules and four men Were seriously wounded.” This is how Miss Jean Ewen, Vancouver nurse with the American medical mrssion attached to the 8th Route Army in Worth Ghina, describes her narrow escape from death in a Japanese bombing attack in a letter to a Chinese friend in this city. Miss Ewen is a daughter of Tom Ewen, Dominion committee mem- ber of the Communist party, is now at Sian, headquarters of the famous Ghinese 8th Route Army. Communists Meet Friday From all the important centres of British Columbia leading Com- munists will be in the city this week-end for the provincial con- ference of the Communist party which opens Friday evening at the Ukrainian Labor Temple. These are the men and women who, ‘day in and day out, take the lead in the people’s struggles, whether for a works program, union organization or merely for elimination of a dangerous level ' crossing. Bie issues will confront them, following the main report of Fergus McKean, provincial secre- tary and Malcolm Bruce. Here *mnew political developments will be reviewed in the light of resolutions passed at the recent central com- Smittee mesting of the party and the task of achieving the democratic front discussed — Representatives of the CCE and other progressive organizations have been invited to attend. The conference will conclude Saturday evening in time for a sup- per dance and social gathering to be held in the Paris Cafe. Advocate Sales Soar By 2300 Average weekly net increase in Advocate sales over a period of the past four weeks has been 2,375 copies. This figure does not in- clude the restricted extra edition published on June 20 for circula- tion in Vancouver and Island points. iImclusion of these sales brings the total weekly net crease to 3,125 copies. The Advocate has been intro- duced to thousands of new read- 2rs in the past month, proving conclusively the demand for a2 live, Clear lJabor-progressive newspaper in this province. by City Leaders MONTREAL, Que., July 14.—Arbitrary judgment of Justice Minister E. Lapointe in refusing either to disallow the Quebec padlock law or recommend its submission to the Supreme Court was protested this week by R. L. Calder, KC, president of the Civil Liberties. Union, in a press statement. Justice Minister Lapointe, R. L. Calder declared, used a technicality to thwart the democratic will of the Canadian peo- ple and had been grossly partial in his application of the reference to the section-of the Supreme Court Act. “I was struck by the statement that most of the protest came from outside Quebec. This is undoubtedly irrelevant and self- revealing. Here the politician speaks and not the custodian of the constitution. “Lapointe forgets that with the radio barred, the press silent and halls unavailable, it is impossible to tell the French-Canadian Catholic constituency what the terms of the Act are. 200 Jobless Hop Freights On Monday Open Branches in- By WIM. PURVIS Two hundred single unemployed lads will board the freight Monday night for Kamloops—“The first or- @anized contingent of British Co- lumbia’s expeditionary force of job- seekers,” to use the Irishism of Provincial Organizer Paddy Ross, of the Relief Project Workers’ Union. Cordova street headquarters was crowded Thursday with animated groups of young fellows fixing up for their exodus. Ross declared they were “full of beans’’ at the prospect of action, and because of the fact that with government rec- opnition of relief there was no immediate necessity of soliciting. Mingling with the groups it was easy to obtain the general yview- point. They were going out to comb the countryside for the jobs which Hon. G S. Pearson, Premier Pat-— tullo and Mayor Miller claim are to be had for the asking. “Guess well have to compete with the home town boys for the odd jobs,’ one lad smiled. There seemed to be no doubt but that every hamlet would be visited (Continued on page 6) See JOBLESS “On this: point, wauld it not .béJog—| ~- Union Wilh THE APAN RAID PE © PL. Ee ADVOCAT British Columbia’s Progressive Home Paper Full No. 183. VANCOUVER, B.C., FRIDAY, JULY 15, 1938 SS 5 Cents “Ignorance is not an opinion. “On one point IT am in full con- currence with the minister. He states that it would be better to test the constitutionality of the act by concrete case rather than to refer the abstract question to the supreme court. We are further upheld on this point by Lord Hewart of Bury, Chief Justice of England. “But if three of us are right ical to repeal the reference to sec- tion 55 of the Supreme Court Act rather than exhibit gross partiality in its application,” he asked. The section referred to gives: the government the right to refer—on petition—any provincial legislation to the supreme court for hearing. Calder emphasized the inconsist-" ent nature of the power of disal- lowance which in the early peti- tion some months ago was con- Sidered “obsolete,’’ whereas today the disallowance safesuard was used effectively by the monied in- terests to squelch Alberta legis- lation. : Leaders in British Columbia pub- lic life this week vigorously con- demned the failure of the federal government to disallow the ultra- reactionary padlock law. In an interview with the Ad- vocate, Mrs. E. Mahon, who is well known in progressive women’s cir- cles, and Reconstruction candidate in the 1935 electorate, said: “This is one more instance of indifference and. fear which seems to have descended on Ottawa. A continual allofness from problems that affect our national unity and growth, seems to have become a fe- tish with the federal government. “The government seems to be playing for time, in the hope that (Continued on page 6) See PADLOCK ; (AN EDITORIAL) AN OUTRAGEOUS DECISION HE LIBERAT. federal government, elected on a platform of civil liberty, has again broken faith with the people of Canada. Smothered beneath layers of opportunist language, the minister of justice’s decree makes it clear that the federal cabinet cynically disregards the will of the people and knuckles down to the pro-fascist inclinations of the Duplessis government of Quebec. Every fascist and reactionary in Canada is overjoyed. But the wishes of millions of Canadians, including many in the province of Quebec itself, have been flouted. The federal government’s attitude can and must be changed. The Quebec padlock law, a flagrant violation of the elementary rights of free Canadians, can be swept away just as was Section 98 of the Criminal Code. What is needed is more expression of public opinion than ever before. To let things slide now would be the worst pos- sible mistake. Every organization and group of people, every individual, should let the minister of justice know that he must take steps at once to use federal powers to end this attack on the liberties of the people of Canada. Let Lapointe feel the protest of every one who values the right of trial by jury and the independence of the courts! Guarding The Border | Behind this Czechoslovakian machine-gunner stands an efficient army prepared to defend democratic Czechoslovakia from the ray- ages of Nazi invasion. Rebuffed once by the firm attitude of France and the Soviet Union, Hitler is again reported to be planning to attack the little republic. Unity Urged ESSENTIAL TO LABOR, SAYS STEWART “The main thing is that now more than ever before, trade union unity.is of paramount importance.” So stated C. M. Stewart, executive member of the Vancouver Trades and Tabor Couneil, in an interview with the Advocate this week on recent developments in organized labor in BC. While he iS a member of the executive which vetoed the decision 7 of delegates to hold a protest meet- ing against the events of Bloody Sunday, Stewart disassociated him- self from the veto. He maintained that the meeting was decided by one vote, and that the principles of trade union democracy were vio- lated by the veto. How would this unpopular veto be reflected in the annual election of officers of the trades council? Stewart was asked. “When it is considered that lit- erally thousands of workers in BC are outside of the trade union move- ment and are at the mercy of em- ployers intent on reducing the stan- dard of living; that company union- ism 1S rampant in the province; and that a big fight is looming on the Conciliation and Arbitration Act, then the need of a united central labor body is clearly seen,” Stewart replied. Asked if the left-wingers in the council would nominate a full slate, Stewart declared there was no in- tention to develop a struggle on the personnél of the executive at the expense of important trade union questions. He stated that every Senuine trade unionist should be interested in the policy laid down by the Trades and Labor Congress at its 1936 convention and reiter- ated in 1937, that of maintaininge a united trade union movement in Canada. There were certain elements in the trade union mevement who would like nothing better than to see the left wing put up a battle for the election of a full new slate in this election, Stewart opined, and this would be used by them as 2 lever to split the council. It is because of such insincere individuals, blind to the best inter- ests of the movement, that full de- mocracy should be utilized and jealously guarded, Stewart con- tinued, in order that those finally elected shall be truly representa- tive of the unions. In reply to a question regarding the nomination of Alex Fordyce to run against vice-president Birt Showler, Stewart said: “Left-wingers in the council, in my Opinion, are penerally agreed that Showler has left no stone un- turned in carrying through a split- ting policy in the council, and there- fore f fully agree that it is in the best interests of a body such as the executive of the trades council that be have no voice in its delibera- tions. This of course is my opinion. The election result will show how many share this view.’’ Stewart also declared that the trade union movement in Canada is facing a critical period, which, if mot passed successfully, would aiford an open door to employers and other enemies of the legitimate trade unions. He asserted that re- actionary agents of the right-wing leaders of the AFI, were now tour- Ing, Canada to manoeuvre a split of certain sections from the Cans-— dian trade union movement, giving aS an instance their efforts to pre- vent delegates from international unions attending the Trades and Labor Congress, tember next. scheduled for Sep- QUARRIES BID IS HIT BY LABOR That the sensational pro- posal made this week by Coast Quarries, Lid, that the com- pany would turn in a tender to the provincial department of public works, “three percent [below the lowest “bidder,” is” due to chiselling practices on the wages and conditions of road workers employed by this company is shown by the fol- lowing statement from work- ers at Dogwood Creek, Nanai- mo, published in the Advocate in April of last year: The item stated: “Men are working a i0-hour a day at 40 cents an hour, paying $1.05 for board, forced to live in quarters so limited that some of them actually sleep in the wash- house on mattresses which have seen two years’ service. “A kitchen staff sleeping on raf ters over the kitchen stove in a windowless shack, tents leaking, blankets supplied by the crew. Men quitting every day.” Coast Quarries Itd. is stated to have contracted for over $150,000 worth of provincial roads in the province, its tender being the loyw- est in each case. The company sent a $30,000 cheque, the amount of other tenders, with the offer toe gO 3 per cent. below the lowest. The cheque was sent in after other offers were published in the press. Hon. EF. M. McPherson, minister of public works, has not turned down the unusual tender, the Ad vocate learned, but -will consider it further. S=Sibs d=4 Nab 4 B=aib= a b=albaalbxe ba P= aib=a Fad b= ql b=aibean=ap=g pea Fa bapeaPT ERS CAS) STARTING NEXT WEEK Hal Griffin on bisscsero sere JAPANESE ESPIONAGE and ECONOMIC PENETRATION in British Columbia ESS a SES SESE TG Bad 4b = 4-4-4 bd) = 4 b= basil db walb aq pad b=ab=q ore “4 beiasiaei igs Arey