CENTS British Columbia’s Progressive Home Paper The People's Advocate CENTS VANCOUVER, B.C., FRIDAY, JULY 29, 1938 eS © FULL NO. 185 OF POLICE Eyewitnesses reported to union officials in Vancouver this week that the provincial police boat at Blubber Bay, BC, where workers maintain a picket line, is being used tc take the place of tug boats, cap- tains of which refuse to help break the strike there asainst labor policies of Pacific Lime Company. : A protest against this illegal practice has been wired to At- torney-Genersal Gordon Wismer. Meanwhile, Garfield King, well known barrister, is conferring with i4 witnesses and eight strikers for the trial taking place this Friday in Vancouver. The eight strikers, accusedof resisting arrest are out on bail, three others arrested later being remanded and for whom bail will be arranged by the union. Savage police clubbing for a few minutes on July 13, character- ized the attack on the picket line where the arrests were made. One woman, a striker’s wife, was beaten, blood streaming down her face. Strikers blame Timekeeper Jones and Manager Peele for pre— cipitating the attack. The union this week issued an appeal for funds, to be sent to Tod McLennan, BC Coast District Council secretary, at Labor Head- quarters, Beatty street in Vancou- ver. SINGLE JOBLESS WELCOME PROBE “We agree with the authorities that if acts of sabotage did take place during the firefighting on Vancouver Island, those respon- sible should be exposed and dealt with accordingly.” John Matts, serious young lead- er of jthé single unemployed, made this statement to an Advo- cate reporter this week “But we don’t intend to be Taade the goat in this situation, many angles of which are coming to light,” Matts added. Producing sworn qtatements from men recently returned from island fives, Matts pointed out the hollowness of many charges. Qne statement declared that it was not sugar in the gas tank which stalled a2 pump as charged, but the mishandling by incom- petent operators who tried to run ¢he engine with siraight gas when a mixture of oi] and gas Was required. Another statement said that Men were dismissed aS soon as a fire died down somewhat. and when a2 wind came up there was chaos. Still another declared that Laylor, a forest ranger, Started a back fire in a variable wind. ; Pumps run without oil, abusive language, little and poor food and bad) ‘organization «were other charges made in the statements. A broadeast over CKMO, this Priday at 6:30 pm. will be the answer of the single unemployed £9 sabotage charges. Youngest Executive BILL STEWART Secretary, Local 28, Hotel and Restaurant Employees’ Union, recently elected to the executive of Vancouver Trades and Labor Council. YOUNG UNION HEAD SEEKS LABOR UNITY Clear heads, irrespective of age, are most appreciated by the trade union movement. The recent elec- tion of Trades and Labor Council officers proved this when dele— gates chose 25-year-old Bill Stew- art, who is probably the young- est trades council executive in the Dominion, for the executive. Stewart seemed more anxious to talk about perspectives of the Canadian trade union movement than to give his biography. “Frankly, I am worried as to the outcome of the Trades and Labor Congress which meets September 12, at Niagara Fallis,”’ Stewart stated. “There is a dan- ger that certain elements who de- liberately close their eyes to big issues will concentrate on juris- dictional and other less important questions.”’ This capable young Scot, hail- ing from St. Andrews, where he was born, getting his schooling in Glasgow, and working at odd jobs until the age of 16 when he came to Vancouver, knows that labor’s salvation depends on its ability to retain gains and press forward for more. This will be the position of the Trades Coneress, Stewart de- eclared. “For two years now,’ he said, “a progressive national lead- ership has prevented splits in the ranks, and during this period over 50,000 Ganadians have been signed up in the trade unions. We can- not go backwards now.” Stewart declared it to be not but also only his Own opinion, that of his union, Local 28, Hotel and Restaurant Employees, that the coming Congress should t ke a strong stand against reaction- ary individuals whose policy of division would wreck the Cana- dian trade union movement. PLOT OF CANNERS EXPOSED Ten thousand dollars was Paid recently by big salmon packers, it is understood, for the compilation of an audited consolidated costs and prices list with which they intend to back up their claims of in- ability to pay salmon prices de- manded by organized — fisher- men. The government-appointed ar- bitration board which meets next week on salmon prices has been preceded by preliminary meet- ings between big packers and fish- ermen. These meetings were ar- ranged at the suggestion of Judge Dennis Murphy. Fishermen de- clare there are considerable dis- erepancies between the consoli- Gated statement and the one dravn up by BC Packers. The pilchard fleet went out last Sunday after a three-week tie-up in which negotiations between packers and solidly organized fishermen took place. Packers held out for a cut from $3 per ton for pilechards, the price paid last year, to $1.75, pleading lack of markets. An agreement was finally signed with Iocal 44, United Fishermen’s Federal Union for $2.75 a ton. The union also succeeded in placing an extra man on each tender. Crews ~will now be five in number. PIER FIRE DRAWS BITING COMMENT By WM. PURVIS The crowd couldn’t iaugh at the pitiful streams of water di- rected by firemen at Pier D, but the wise-cracks were irre- pressible. Those tiny hoses were links to the devastating Island forest fires. It was im- possible to see the one without thinking of the other. A voice from the crowd: “Those unemployed will sure get hell for this.”’ And when the laughter had died down, the sardonic remark: “Theyd sure be up against it if someone put the axe to that hose.”’ The fire’s terrifying swiftness brought more than one shout of “Where's that fire-boat?” Fragments of discussion heard among the crowd were revealing. Perfect strangers would point out the strong wind-draft rushing be- tween pilings and causing the flames to leap sky-high. “T blame the government for not making the CPR box those piles up with concrete,” remarked the old- ish man just behind me. “Well, you know how far it would get with that outfit,’”’ said another. One young fellow heatedly as- serted that fire apparatus on the dock would have fallen to pieces had there been time to use it. Many bystanders expressed the general idea that insurance com- (Continued on Page 5) See FIRE © Bases Established By Fascist Agents Here; Linked With Nazis (This is the second article in a series revealing the alarming extent of Japanese espionage British Columbia). and economic penetration in By HAL GRIFFIN Commenting on British Columbia coastal defense plans in its issue of April 7 this year, the magazine Ken stated: “Rumor, and thus far only rumor, has it that Japan has oil and other fuel supplies stored at lonely spots along the BC coast, ready for naval attack. It is even claimed that the J apa- nese have complete navy bases out-of-the-way inlets on the north coast. Japanese interests are said to be working iron deposits and “Queen Charlotte Islands, ready for use on some of the timber resources on the remote a little known group about 80 miles west of Prince Rupert.” Oil Bases Established On West Coast Ken named no specific places, gave no facts, but that the rumor was not without foundation is in-= dicated by strangely elaborate Japanese developments at the Surf Inlet mining camp on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Whatever mining work has been done, there is no doubt about the fact that the harbor has been dredged to a depth of 70 feet and tunnels constructed which would be eminently suited to the storage of oil. Nor is this an isolated instance. There are known to be at least four other places on the -west coast of the Island where similar bases have been established under the supervision of a Japanese naval captain, Kuridji Mabata, Sent to BC from Tokyo expressly to take charge of this work. Most significant of all Japanese espionage activities here, showing how the fascist agents of Japan, Germany and Italy work together in their subvensive efforts to under- mine democracy, is the fact that there is a direct link between Jap- anese and German spies in BG. Iam not able at the present time to reveal the name of the individ- ual who acts as the contact, al- though I can state that the per son is by no means unknown in Wancouver society circles. Japanese Spy Posed As Storekeeper Some two or three months ago Royal Canadian Mounted Police learned, somewhat tardily, that a certain Japanese storekeeper oc- cupying a store not far from the docks in the west end of the city was by a strange coincidence also a colonel in the Japanese Imperial Army. He had a fine set of photo- eraphs of the Vancouver docks and harbor in his possession and some excellent maps. The morn- ing after police evinced an inter- est in his activities he left preci- pitately for Tokyo. it was around this time, too, that RCMiPolice heard of a powerful Japanese wireless station at Steveston, BC, which was daily in direct communciation with Tokyo. When a hurried investi- See ESPIONAGE (Continued on page 6) Cave Academy STUDENTS FROM ALL OVER CHINA By DR. NORMAN BETHUNE (Below ws published the first of three articles written ex- clusively for the People’s Advocate and Daily Clarion, Toronto, by Dr, Norman Bethume, famous Montreal surgeon who now heads the American Mfedical Mission in China). YENAN, CHINA. HIS is the story of what must be the most unique university in the world—a huge college, with an enrolment of 3,500 students, situated 225 miles from a railway, where one can 3 hear, on its “campus” (the courtyard of an ancient temple) every language in the world spoken. the palaces of millionaires, the cloistered walls of famous colleges, from the slums of Canton, from the wind swept deserts of the north, from the trenches in Shantung, sons and daughters of Kuomintang gen- erals, peasants, industrial workers, writers, cinema actresses, soldiers of the old Red Army, not yet 20 years of age, with ten years of practical fighting experience be- hind them. Officers, girl students, Boy Scouts—every class, every pro- Its students have come to it vo] fession ,every trade in China, is re presented. Their class rooms are in the 500- yearold temple, in the open fields, in cool, deep caves dug into the hills. Here they work, study, sleep, eat, and sing. They come here for 6144 months, then graduate and re- turn to their cities, their villages, to the trenches and to the shops to spread among their friends and (Coneinued on Page Five) See BETHUNE S UNITY OF CANADA IS URGED EDMONTON, Alta., July 28. —Problems of Dominion con- cern must be met on a national basis. So said M. J. Coldwell, MP, national chairman, in his opening address to the national convention of the CCE here Thursday. —~—Referring to the Rowell Com- mission on Dominion-provincial relations, Coldwell scored those provineial governments which re— garded themselves not -as com- ponent parts of a nation, but as sovereign states within the Do- Minion. He warned against the threat of fascism in Canada and urged all democratic people to fight for the maintenance of civil, religious and economic liberties: Demands for housing and public works programs and shortened hours of labor were noteworthy points of his speech. Deploring desertion of the League of Nations method of set- tling international disputes by the government of Great Britain, Coldwell asserted that sooner or Jater the world would accept again the ideal it represents. Mrs. Grace MacInnis was elect ed president of the CCE youth movement, succeeding Rev. T&T. C. Dougias, MP, for Weyburn, Sask. LOYALIST DRIVE MAKES BIG GAINS BARCELONA, Spain, July 28.— Bascist offensives against WValen- Cla in the east and Estramadura in the southwest have been brought to a standstill by the surprise of- fensive launched by loyalists south of the River Ebro, in which govern- ment troops have pentrated 20 miles into fascist territory, captur- ing large quantities of arms and munitions and enveloping Gan- desa, Franco’s regional base some $0 miles southwest of Barcelona. A government communique stated that 15 villages had been captured and 4000 prisoners taken. Gandesa was reported to be cut off except for the Gandesa-Alicante main highway which was under dir- ect fire from government batteries. Despite fascist air attacks, zoy- ernment forces were still stream- ing across pontoon bridges across the Ebro although fascists blasted dams in the Tremp sector in a desperate effort to halt the loyal ist drive. The principal aim of the goyv- ernment to relieve pressure on Valencia has been accomplished. The slow, painful offensive of the fascist southward down the coast, already reduced to a crawl by stern loyalist resistance, has now been halted entirely. Battering vainly against the Miaja line of fortifications in the mountains outside Valencia, the fascists have lost heavily. @nce again Mussolini’s dream of a quick victory for Franco has been Shattered—and time is with the republic.