] ' ful. July 14, 1939 THE PEOPLES ADVOCATE Page Thres . Enter-Continent News the world, the a He ‘eee People’s Republic, bordering on the USSR in the Far East, has been rocketed into the headlines during the past three weeks by a series of Japanese aerial invasions, all unsuccess- the sky. and Kobdo, lie Japan* covets the Mongolian People’s Republic, To the north which is also known as Outer Mongolia, as a channel ef imvasion towards the Soviet Union’s strategic Lake Baikal region. Mongolia, from which the Mongol conquerors of the middle ages set forth, is today a vast country of cattle breeders known as arats. Farming is vir- tually unknown, and livestock raising is the people’s most important livelihood. The poor cattle breeders were the driving motor in the anti-fuel, anti-imperialist revolufion which freed the country in 1921. The Mongolian People’s boundaries, of occupation in miles (roughly territory of the Republic was proclaimed in 1924. The Republic is one of the highest countnies in gressive social p the Revolutionary People’s Party verage altitude being 5,000 to 6,500 feet above sea level, while mountain peaks covered with eternal snow jut thousands of feet higher into The most Ulan Bator while important towns, 3,000 feet above sea level, Ulyasutai is 3,400 feet up. and west huge mountain barriers mark off the political boundaries with China and the Soviet Union, but the eastern and southern where the Japanese have their forces Manchuria and so-called Inner Mon- folia, are protected only by arid desert land. The Republic, with an area of 580,000 square equal to the area of Texas, New Mexico and Oregon together) has a population of 900,000, somewhat larger than Maine’s. From the i153, 000,000 head of ecattle within the present Republic in 1913, the pro- olicy of the government, headed by in 1920, has re-_ sulted in an incréase to 32,200,000 in 1937, the latest year for which complete figures are BOG 5 In 1924 the acreage sown with hay was less than 4,500 acres, today it is more than 400,000 acres. In pre-revolutionary Mongolia the arats (poor breeders), who were alone subject to taxation, held an average of 21.6 “bodos” of livestock. The bodo, or livestock exchange unit, was equivalent to one camel, a horse and a cow, seven sheep, 14 goats and so on. But the Lama monasteries held an average of 209.5 bodos and the princes 861.4. The princely holdings have since been expropriated and the mon- astery holdings reduced from 20 percent of the total livestock to about one percent. industrial enterprises, non-existent before the revolution, have been set up with the technical as- sistance of the Soviet Union, and are devoted chiefly to working up local materials. in the aps Covet Outer Mongolia As Weapon Against USSR Ownership of land, mineral deposits, forests and water. All citizens were granted equal rights; the minimum voting age is 18, with universal suffrage. The supreme authority is the Congress of represent atives of the five “aimaks” (provinces), forming the Great Huruldan or Chural. The Mongolian People’s Republic is.an outstand- ing example of the development of a democratic, non-socialist revolution along non-capitalist lines. The Republic, which had the aid of the Soviet Union in driving off its feudal and imperialist enemies in the days of its formation, is bound to the Soviet Union today by a treaty of mutual assistance. Under this treaty, troops of both nations have the right and duty to aid each other to resist aggres- sion. This treaty has been sealed in the blood of Soviet and Mongolian soldiers and airmen who have to date turned every Japanese frontier violation The Constitution of 1924 placed all power hands of the working people and abolished private into a defeat. Labor Unity SUMMER WORKS CAMPS 10 CLOSE AT END OF JULY Pearson Refuses To Divulge Future Plan For Sinsle Jobless Hopes that the summer pro- ject camps for single unem- ployed men, opened during the latter part of May, would be continued as work projects faded this week with an an- nouncement by Hon. G. S. Pear- son, minister of labor, that the majority of camps would be closed by August 1. Bhe announcement came from the minister in a reply te the Re- lief Project Workers’ Union re- guest seeking the department’s permission for delegates to leave camps to attend the union conven- tion to be held in Nanaimo this weekend. What other pians ment may have to relieve un- employment distress among the single men was not made known by the minister. “J meed not repeat,’ the min- ister’s letter to the union states, “that there is no basis for a union of Project Workers as quite obviously enrollees in these pro- jects are not employees and the usual employer-employee relation- ships does not exist, consequently the govern- TI have never officially recognized the RPWU.” The letter berated the union, blaming it for the trouble which has arisen from time to time, and stated the tectics employed “were mot in the general interests of the men.” The letter referred briefly to the new scheme of splitting the work time into shorter periods and that the majority of camps would be closed by August 1. However this reply has un- daunted the officials of the RPWU who are busily furthering prepa- ration for their convention which will be held in the hall of the United Mine Workers of America in Nanaimo on Saturday and Sun- day, starting at i0 am. Some 50 delegates from the i7 projects now in operation are ex- pected to attend the sessions where such questions as works plans, deferred pay and minimum Wages will be taken up and cer- tain ‘recommendationg made to the government. The Relief Project Workers’ Union has repeatedly made repre-— sentations to the Hon. G. S. Pear- son to continue the project camps as reforestation projects, which woulda not only make for the elim- ination of fire hazards but ensure a plentiful supply of timber and ic a large extent conserve salmon Spawning srounds. WOMEN'S CLUBS URGE EMBARGO WINNIPEG, Man—A ban on export of Canadian nickel and copper to Germany and Japan was Gemanded in a resolution passed at the closing convention session ef the Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Wo- men’s Clubs after Miss Margaret Clay, librarian for the city of Victoria, BC, had addressed dele- gates on the issue. Chinese women and children were being murdered with Japa- Mese shellS obtained from the Canadian sale of Japanese silk hose, Miss Clay said. “We Canadian women must work for the time when employ- ment in Canada does not depend on the wholesale murder of inno- cent women and children in non-— a2geression countries,” she em- phasized. Miss Clay was elected president of the Federation for the 1939-40 term. Mrs. Laura E. Jamieson, MLA for Vancouver Center, who attended the convention, was one of three women chosen to attend the sessions of the Pan-Pacific Union in New Zealand next year. > Reaction Defeats Plan To Affiliate SU Trade Unions bers, and as a result the eight rejected the British proposal on trade union movement by a vo City Hall Highlights This Week ELIEF cases in the city for June, while slightly less than in May, are still higher than a year ago, Relief Administrator Bone reported to city Social Ser- vies Committee Monday. There were 9516 cases for June this year, involving 23,013 per- sons, an increase of 271 cases and 321 persons over the figure for June last year. The figure for May this year was 10,102 cases involving 22,692 indivi- duals. City expenditure for relief in June was $215,655 $229,197 in May. ° RESOLUTION presented to Social Services Committee Monday from Grandview Unem- ployed Association urged civic officials to draw 60 percent of skilled and unskilled labor to be used on low rental housing projects from its relief lists. e INDING that cost of settling accident claims where the city is liable comes to much less than payment of insurance premiums, aldermen in city pro- perties, licenses and claims com- mittee Monday decided against accident insurance. s LDERMEN at Social Services Committee Monday decided to move cautiously in the matter of adopting a single milk deliyv-— ery system. Warning that the city “should keep it= fingers out of the pie” until the matter is further in- vestigated, Alderman Helena Gutteridge added that while the city might be makine= contribu- tions to an efficient delivery system, it might at the same time be adding to unemploy-— ment by doing away with jobs. A letter from Mayor Telford stating that he had received “a more or less concrete offer for milk which looks better than anything we have had before” further strengthened the resolve for caution. compared to °o ONTRACTS amounting to al- Cc most $200,000 awarded at Mondays meeting of the Yan- couver School Board show prom- ise of some relief to the problem of over-crowded schools in the city. Approval of the loan necessary for the work has been received from Minister of Finance, Otta- wa, and work is to begin imme- diately for tentative ceccupation in mid-September. Contracts include an elemen- tary school at Sixteenth and Gamosun, gymnasium and four- ‘room addition to King Edward Wigh School, gymnasium addi- tion to John Oliver High School, and elementary four-room annex to Kerrisdatle public school, Thirty-eighth and Crown street. NEW WESTMINSTER, July 13 —Work projects to relieve unem-— ployment, provided under new ar- rangements with the dominion and provincial governments, will be stu- died by a committee headed by Mayor Fred Hume. Assisting the mayor are Aldermen Sullivan, Jack— son and Trapp. ZURICH, Switzerland—Reaction won a victory in the higher councils of the International Federation of Trade Unions here last Saturday despite the expressed will of its 18 million mem- triennial congress of the IFTU affiliation of the powerful Soviet te of 46 to 37. The British resolution, introduced by the trade union dele- gation from Great Britain, and the only one before the Congress y after a similar Norwegian resolu- tion had been withdrawn, urged resumption of talks with the So- viet trade unions in accordance with the decision of the IFTU London Congress three years ago. The whole weight of the French trade union movement, represented at the Congress by Leon Jouhaux, was thrown behind the resolution, and a last-minute appeal in a let- ter smuggled across the border of Austria and signed on behalf of 75,000 Austrian workers was intro- duced in an attempt to swing sup- port behind Soviet affiliation but the reactionary leadership was able to swing a sufficient number of the national trade union centers behind it to defeat the measure. The decision was not even rep- resentative of the feeling of the unions voting against the resolu- tion, in the opinion of observers. Countries voting in favor of So- viet labor’s affiliation were Great Britain, France, Mexico and Nor- way. Tt is known, however, that the Polish unions favored the resolu- tion but withdrew support at the last moment under pressure of Polish reactionaries. Wew Zealand and Argentina, it was felt certain, would have voted for unity but their delegates failed to arrive in time. There was no Canadian delegate present. The Spanish delegate represent ing the outlawed Spanish trade unions, arriving at the last mo- ment, was refused a vote, while the Chinese delegate, representing unions not yet officially accepted into affiliation, had no vote. In addition, the message from the Austrian workers, delivered to the Gongress, was refused a public reading on the floor by IFTU Sec- retary Schevenals. Due to these factors, it is con- fidently believed by observers that had the full voting strength of the unity forces been mobilized, the reactionary groups would have been defeated, The achievement of international trade union unity, to include the full weight of the millions of So- viet trade unionists as well as the American CIO, is considered by labor men as a determining factor in the fight against Hitler aggres- sion and for maintenance of peace, since such a powerful labor coali- tion would have to be taken into consideration by the governments of the democratic powers. HOUSEWIVES PUBLISH PAPER Housewives all over the province this week hailed appearance of the “Trousewives’ Report,” official or- gan of the Housewives’ League of British Columbia, as a tremendous advance in the fight for protection of consumers’ interests and those of the population generally. With its slogan “Raise Living Standards, Reduce Living Costs,” the bulletin, shortly to be called “The BC Housewife,” will find a ready welcome in any home where women, or men, for that matter, have to make ends meet Providing a medium for inter- change of ideas and progress in the League’s twelve branches, the bulletin will also contain articles by prominent people in League life on topics of imterest to every housewite, such as housing, health, menus, etc. The July issue contains several useful recipes particularly applic— able to meatless weeks when menus are hard to arrange. ejected | iF TU ESCORTED by their Londen, march through the streets during an ARP drill to teach them what to do if Hitler’s bombers roar over England. teachers, @ REALITY OF THE FUTURE? school children of Chelsea, City Works Program Will Absorb 3500 Married Men Initial steps to inaugurate a $440,009 unemployment relief works program, which will transfer some 3500 recipients from relief rolls to payrolls, sot underway this week when aldermen tentatively gave the scheme their stamp of approval. The Civic Board of Works will pass on the plan before submitting it for final ratification to the City Council next Monday. Under the Dominion-Provincial agreement to share the cost on a 50-50 basis the city will borrow $300,000 to which will be added about $145,000 for ma- terials and administration. Maintenance of unemployable and indigent persons by the two governments, which saves the city about $200,000 annually, made pos- Sible the undertaking of the fol- lowing projects: 1. A $100,000 sewer program, to- ward which the city will contribute $45,000- Installation of 26 lateral and semi-trunk sewers each rang- ing in cost from $700 to $15,000 will be undertaken. > 2. A $200,000 street, lane and park improvement plan, toward which the city will contribute $60,000. 3. The balance of $40,000 from the relief saving will be held in reserve for the city’s share in developing False Creek flats park and recrea- tional center, a project that has been demanded by labor and com- munity organizations for some con- Siderable time. All unemployece men will not be employed on the projects, but those engaged will be paid 50 cents an hour for a 40-hour week. The first month’s work will be paid in full and in succeeding months a por- tien of the men’s wages will be held in reserve to keep them off relief rolls for a month after worl: ceases, Fascist Consulates Try To Disrupt Mac-Pap Picnic Audacity of fascist consular officials in Vancouver reached a new stage when at their insistence provincial police officers called on the committee in charge of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion picnic at Seymour Park Sunday with a demand for discontinuing the “Hit Hitler’s mapaees WCF Pickets Halt After a considerable discussion the committee declined to remove the effigy of Hitler but did condes- eend to rename it “Der Dictapa- tor.’ One committee member sug- gested the only consideration that could be made would be to substi- tute the effigy for the original. WW. He. Mahler, Nazi consul, has declined to comment on whether or not he was the complainant in the case, but the police inferred that the consuls had protested. Pienickers were indignant that the Nazi consul should protest when agents of his country are threatening Canadian citizens and allowed to go unchallenged. VERNON, July 13—A series of public open-air meetings are being sponsored here each Sunday by the local branch of the Communist Party to deal with topical ques- tions and the elections. The first, held on July 9 attended by some 60 people, was addressed by T. Harper and & A. Oxenford, Okan- agan organizer for the Communist Party, and by a2 member of the unemployed organization, Scrap iren Shipments BELLINGHAM, Wash., July 13 —Picket lines established by the Washington Commonwealth Fed- eration Monday successfully halt- ed loading of scrap iron destined for Japan aboard the Danish MS Wordvest at Municipal docks. Broad sections of the commun- ity were actively represented by pickets, including Rev. Joe M. Warner, pastor of the First Christian Church, and Floyd Wil liams, president of the CIO Bell- ingham Industrial Council. Picket limes were maintained continuously for four hours and removed at 5 pm. VICTORIA, BC, July 13.—‘“‘Public Sympathy is now 100 percent with the Chinese people in their conflict with Japanese invaders,’ declared Miss Soo Yong, brilliant Chinese actress, during the course of a Short address to the Democratic Book Club Wednesday Fifteen per cent were sympathetic with Japan’s aims in 1838 but due to education and organization public opinion had changed esreatly. CITY DEMANDS REDUCTION ON TRAMWAY FARES Plan Appeal Before Utilities Commission On Wider Changes City Council will prepare for a showdown with the BC Elec- trie Railway Company on re- ductions in domestie lighting rates and basic streetcar fares next year and in the meantime will content itself to press for five demands. Wext Tuesday a City Council spe- cial committee will sit down with the private utility executives to work out a renewal of the agree- ment for a one year period on the basis of the city’s demands. Demands which the city will Seek this year are: i. Reduction in tickets for school children from eight for 25 to 10 for the same price. 2. Increase of $25,000 in the yearly $125,000 now paid by the company to the City Council for the right to operate its cars on city streets. 3. Sale of six-day passes for $1 either with or without the present seven-day pass now available at $1.25. = 4. Continuation of a program for modernizing the street cars at the rate of five each month. 5. Increase in the number of an- nual passes to civic employees from 225 to 250. This is in addition to the usual rights of firemen and policemen in uniform to travel free. in view of these immediate modifications in the agreement Mayor Telford agreed to postpone the fight for a reduction in the present seven-cent fare and stated the city would need time for pre- parfme its. prief to the fPublic Utilities Commission, Corporation Counsel McTaggart, City Comptroller Frank Jones and Engineer Brackenridge stronsiyv advised against making any appli- cation to the Commission while a Showdown on the issue was still being considered, but did recom- mend that the city study the whole matter thoroughly in con- junction with experts. Housewives League of BG, Kerr Road branch, made representa- tions to the City Council for the reduction in children car tickets, but no cognizance was taken of the five tickets for 25 cents for adults nor was the Trades and Labor Council’s request for an all-night service for night workers included in the demands. “WILE CONTINUE MASS EVICTION’ NELSON, BC, July 13.—Protest- ing in their traditional manner by nude parades and demonstrations harassed Doukhobor families in the Winlaw and Slocan Park dis- tricts are being forced to buy back their land and property from the Sun Wife Assurance company or be evicted. “As long as I am selling land there will be no eviction,” de clared R. N. Wilson, Sun Life rep- resentative in the district, “but when they stop buying evictions will continue.” Total lands and properties of more than 5000 Doukhobors in the Southern interior of British Co- lumbia are held in the communal system by the Christian Commu- nity of Universal Brotherhood. Granted foreclosure proceedings against the Brotherhood for 2a mortgage amounting to $250,000, the Sun Life began wholesale Seizure of Doukhobor land Tast week. Sheriff M. E. Harper and twelve deputies were sent into the area to serve foreclosure notices threatening loss of home and land to the whole Doukhobor communi-_- ty unless it agreed to buy back the mortgage. A further mortgage of $250,000 is held by the National Trust com- pany against majority of Doukho- bor residents in other parts of the province.