NEW YORK, NY—It is
MWBritish and French banks her

‘Sritish and French concession
; According to the announce

i

jj} vision among Chinese in the

| French and Japanese consuls.
{ Tt is poimted out, howeve

he Settlement will aid Japan in
solving at least some of her dif-
Seulties in the occupied areas.

More important is the general
P2greement which the settlement is

selieved to presage or express.
Recently some significant state-

‘ments on deyelopments in the Far
‘Bast have been published in the
‘United States. :

The Foreign Policy Association,
for instance, observed in a recent
ulletin:

_ “At present Japan is mainly
‘facto arrangement (reached in
‘practice without diplomatic for-
mality) with the western powers
regarding China—a result that
.might be furthered by a Japan-
p ese pledge of non-interference
fF with the Netherlands Indies.

Tokio’s nuisanze value as | re-
gards the Netherlands Indies is
considerable and should perhaps
claim a price. Will the price he
Daid by the western powers at the
“expense of China?’’

The bulletin continued:

“So long as this country con-
@ tinues to supply the major portion
of Japan's imports of war mat-
®erieis, the possibility of a compre-
hensive Far Eastern arrangement
at China's expense remains open.”
HINT UNDERSTANDING.

More recently there have been in-
dications that some understanding
®and working relationship between

the United States and Japan may
have been reached. Despite the
= morai embargo’ more than 50 per-
® cen; of California’s oil is being ex-
ported to Japan. and this again is
'connected with recent Japanese
j raids on Chungking which, accerd-
Ning to Japanese army officials, is
= to* be bombed daily until the na-

tfionalist government surrenders,

‘Appeasement’

apan Pact

tecent settlement of Japan’s claims to Chinese silver held in
ig ; :

part of the silver, in return for which the Japanese blockade of
$182,125) of the 40,000,000 yuan of Chinese silver now held by
4 British and French banks will be released for purehase of

iy -) 5 -
}) Canadian wheat to be distributed under international super-

silver will be sealed in bank vaults in the presence of British,

derives little benefit from release of part of the Silver, actually

widely reported here that the
e involves more than release of

S at Tientsin will be lifted.
ement, 2.194.000 (approximately

occupied areas. The rest of the

r, that while Japan apparently

and Premier Admiral Yonai's state-

ment that Japay Goes not regard

the presence of US warships at

Hawaii as a menace to Japan.
These developments are in con-

trast to the threatening statements

appearing in the American press
only a few weeks ago.

But Today Abroad predicts that
appeasement will fail with Japan
as it faileg with Germany, It gives
as its reasons:

1. Japan wil] not turm north. The

relative superiority of the

Soviet Union continues to in-

crease at a faster rate than

Japan’s bankrupt capitalist

economy can returm even to

its normal state of operation

—if it can. ‘

, Japan will not succeed in the
west. China’s strength in-
creases relatively and absolute-
ly, while Soviet aid te China
also increases,

. Japan’s internal situation will

force a showdown before next

year. The factors in this situa-

w

o3

tion are:

(a) National elections are
scheduled for the spring of
194%,

(b) Japan’s people, already

Sick of war, are organizins to
put an end to the militarists’
eule by means of the ballot.
(ec) The new privations which
the budget imposes will speed
this development.

\(a@) To maintain their rule, the
militarists will resort to ex-
treme and desperate measures
before the scheduled elections.
(€) Most likely eScape is an ad-
venture eastward—toward the
East Indies and the United
States.

Suspended Unions
To Ask Reinstatement;
Urée Labor Unity

In an efiort to maintain un
ain Vancouver and counteract

scheduled to be held in Burrard Hall on June 12 would estab-

lish a dual labor body, represe

‘by AFL International Representative Charles Hughes this week

“announced cancellation of the
all former afiiliates seek reinst

A statement released +9 the press said:

Wage Scale
Meet Held

LAKE COWLCHAN, BC. — Plans
+0 hold 2 wage scale conference in
Vancouver on June 30 to set union
wage rates in the logging industry
fwere formulated ai a meeting of
ER Sa Oe Woodworkers union
Idistrict council here this week.

The conference, which will be held
‘at union headquarters, 16 East
Hastings street, will meet during
‘the customary fire prevention shut-
idown period and will have delegates
irom all camps to lay plans for a
Imore energetic campaign to boost
fwages a Collar a day.

' Already the union has secured
pay increases for a number of log-
gers which, if computed on an an-
nual basis. aggregate more than
$150,000, Nigel Morgan, district sec-
‘retary told the Advocate.

| he union leaders pointed out
jthat with wages in Washington log
jcamps $1.50 a day higher than in
‘British Columbia and with logs
maintaining a steady high price, the
jdemand for a dollar a day wage in-
“ereaSe is a modest one.

Woman M_P.
Proposes Plan

OTTAWA, Ont. — Mrs. Dorise
‘Neilsen (Unity, North Battleford)
has given notice of a motion pro-
‘posing a national health insurance
“scheme. ; 3

The scheme proposed by Mrs.
Neilsen is “to safeguard the health
‘of the nation, which will be
jeopardized by the present war, to
‘provide:

1, Full medical mspection of all
citizens under the supervision
of responsible Dominion health
officers.

/2. Free medical and hospital

- treatment of all families whose
combined incomes are below
$2,000 per annum.

3. A system of voluntary low-
cost contributory health in-

| surance for all others.”

nion Formed

GLACE BAY, NS—Construction
Rorkers here have organized under

union, with Murdoch

Glarke as president, Sydney Taylor,
Mce-president, Ernie Clarke, treas-
et, Harry Walden, financial sec-

ttary and Ralph Woodburn, sec-

ity of the trade union movement
false rumors that a meeting

ntatives of 17 unions suspended

meeting and recommended that
atement on the council.

“This meeting has been interpret-
ed in certain trade union circles as
being the preliminary step to the
formation of a dual labor body in
BC.

“The committee ieels that this
misinterpretation is only serving to
create undue confusion in the minds
of union members and the general
public and can only serve the in-
terests of those who are opposed
to organized labor as a whole.

“Té is not, nor was it ever the
intention of the undersigned to
form dual organization, but rather,
to decide as a group, in what man-
ner this unfortunate situation now
confronting our trade union move-
ment could best be ironed out. We
also realize full well the necessity
of maintaining, during these criti-
cal times, a united trade union
movement and with this object in
mind, take this opportunity of
urging that those suspended unions
which have not already done so
apply for reinstatement into the
council immediately.

“This policy is in complete ac-
cord with the position of the sus-
pending unions in the past — that
of maintaining unity and a true
interpretation of trade union de-
mocracy.”

The statement was signed by
Secretary Don Maxwell, Retail
Clerks union, local 279; President
W. Stewart, Hotel and Restaurant
Employes’ union, local 28; Secre-
tary J. Humphreys, Bakery and
Confectionery Workers’ union,
loca] 468; Secretary W. Burgess,
United Fishermen’s Federal union,
local 44, and Secretary S. Hughes,
Meat Cutters and Butcher Work-
ers’ union, local 94.

Warns Against
Sixth Column

TORONTO, Ont—Warning that
groups “outside the law can only
lead to the spread of panic, individ-
ual injustices and to internal dis-
sention,” Toronto Civic MLiberties
Association, through “its secretary,
John A. Dewar, has sent a letter
to Justice Minister Lapointe de-
nouncing sixth column activities.

Said the letter: “At this time it
is Necessary to preserve calmmess
and good judgment and not to al-
low natural fears to cause hysteria.”

Memorial Erected

TORONTO, Ont—Conceived in
1937 to mark the centenary of the
Upper Ganada rebellion in 1837, a
memorial to William Lyon Mac-

FOR PEACE. PROGRESS AND DEMOCRACY

The ADVOCATE

Vol. 6. No. 22. Full No. 283.

VANCOUVER, B.C., FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 1940

6

5 cents

PEOPLE OF BALKAN COU

FEAR NEW EXTENSIO

first arrivals from wartorn Europe.
Sosua, donated by former President Rafael Trujilles.

New Home For Refugees.

LAND in the Dominican Republic beine made ready for plantine shortly before the
The settlers are taking over a tract of 26,000 acres at

See Threat
To Labor
At Trail

‘Anti-Alien Drive
May Be Used To
Defeat Demands

TRAIL, BC — With Italy’s

entry into the war this week,
the danger was seen here that
anti-alien agitation would be
utilized to divide workers in
Consolidated Mining and
Smelting company’s Trail-Tad-
anac smelter in an eftort to
cheek the present campaign
for higher wages and better
living conditions.
Only last week 22 employes of
the company, some of them Ger-
man-born, others of German des_
cent, were informed by President
S. G. Blaylock that he had the
‘goods’ on them and that their em-
ployment at the smelter would be
terminated immediately.

They were given ten hours to ac-
cept the company’s offer to employ
them at labor gang rates of pay on
prospecting work in the Northwest
Territories and told that later, if
their conduct proved satisfactory,
they would be permitted to have
their wives and children with them.
When one man protested that his
father had fought in the British
army during the last war he was
Warned not to say too much.

While the number of workers of
German birth or descent employed
by CMS is small, there is a large
number of Italian workers at Trail.
Many of them fied from Italy in
the early days of the fascist regime
and during the past few years have
attested to their antifascist stand
by combatting the efforts or or-
ganizers sent to Trail by I Fascio,
Italian fascist group in Vancouver.
Italian workers in the smelter
have been told that they will be al-
lowed to continue in their employ-
ment. They have also been told
that they must accept responsibility
for all their nationals and that
failure on their part “to prevent
sabotage of any kind by their na-
tionals will be fatal to Italian in_
terests with the company.”

HYSTERIA SCORED.

John McPeake, organizer for
Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers
union, expressed the fear that anti-
alien hysteria would provide the
cover for blocking the efforts of all
employes, regardless of birth, to ob-
tain higher wages. He pointed out
that the union had made consider-
able progress towards organizing a
majority of smeltermen and said
that Italian workers might now be
so intimidated that they would fear
to participate in union activities on
the additional ground that such
action might be regarded as “sabot-
age.”

Referring to the company’s ulti-
matum to its German workers, Mc_
Peake asked why the authorities
had not been notified if they were
engaged in Nazi activities. On the
other hand, he stated, if there were
no evidence against them, * other
than that they were German-born
or of German descent, why were
they to be separated from their
families at such short notice?

‘We must ask ourselyes if this
is not an instance where the com-
pany is capitalizing on the war
situation by compelling these men,
under threat of losing their em-
ployment, to open up new sources

kenzie, Canada’s ‘little rebel, has

been placed in Queens park here.

of untapped wealth for the CMS in
the far north,’ he said.

McKean Arrested;
Calgary, Winnipeg
Aldermen Held

Fereus McKean, provincial
secretary of the Communist
party at the time the party
was declared illegal by Jus-
tice Minister Lapointe last
week, was arrested in the
city Wednesday, it was,
learned. Details of the ar-
rest and charges were not
immediately disclosed.

In Calgary, Ald. Pat Leni-
han, acquitted of a charge
laid under the Defense of
Canada regulations last De-
eember, was again arrested
Tuesday and held without
bail.

In Winnipeg, Communist
Ald. Jacob Penner has been
taken into custody pending
a federal decision on his im-
ternment, Manitoba’s At-
torney-General W. J. Major
revealed. Penner has sat
‘continuously ou Winnipes

.

city council since 1934. :

Pay Tribute
To Turner

Funeral services for the late
Basi] Lionel Turner, better known
locally under the name of Bob
Thompson, assumed for domestic
reasons, who collapsed and died
from a heart attack at his office
last week, were held Monday from
Genter and Hanna’s funeral chapel.
Interment was made in Returned
Soldiers’ plot in Mountain View
cemetery.

Turner was born at Guelph, Ont.
in 1894 and in Apri 1916 enlisted
with the 12th Field Ambulance
corps in Winnipeg, serving Over-
seas with that unit, in which he
attained the rank of corporal, until
demobilized in 1919.

He came to this province in 1930
and worked continuously for the
labor movement until his sudden
death on June 4.

Surviving ate his mother and
two brothers, EB. R. Turner at home
in Gilbert Plains, Man., and Ww. kK
Turner in Saskatoon. Two cousins,
Jack and George Warren, reside
in New Westminster.

Malcolm Bruce, a Close friend
and associate, in a brief address
paid tribute to the deceased, of
whom he said he had died as he
would have wanted to—in harness.

“The greatest tribute we can pay,

the greatest lasting. tribute, is for

those of us to carry on the work
in which he was engaged, he de-
clared.

Representatives of the Last Post
and other returned soldiers’ or-
ganizations were present] at the
Jast rites. A funeral oration was
delivered by William Bennett at
the graveside.

Pallbearers were Jack Chivers,
W. M. Seivewright, Fergus Powers,
Jack Sutherland, William Church

and Wilfred Robson.

Language
Groups
Dissolve

Pass Resolutions
Protesting Ban
On Organizations

Dissolution of seyeral cult-
ural language organizations
declared illegal under the De-
fense of Canada regulations by
Justice Minister Lapointe last
week became effective under
protest by resolutions of proy-
incial branches of the banned
organizations.

The order-in-council, which went
into effect Thursday of last week,
outlaws organizations embracing
nearly 2,500,000 people in Canada.
Largest single group was Ukrainian
Labor Farmer Temple association
which throughout the Dominion
owned 110 halls, with an estimated
value of $20,000,000.

In a Statement to the Advocate
this week Alex Sholdra, former
provincial organizer of the ULFTA,
said that the membership express-
ed surprise when the order was
made known since “our association
was strictly educational and cult-
ural. We had members of every
political conviction, which the or-
ganization never interfered with.

“There is not one person in Van-
couver who can point to one illegal
activity of the organization,” he
declared, adding that it was 98
percent anti-fascist and “very de-
finitely democratic.”

“While the ULEFITA, its women
and junior sections, and the Can-
adian Ubrainian Youth Federation
have disbanded, the hall at 805
Bast Pender street is still open and
concerts and cultural activity will
be conducted by the Workers
Benevolent Association, an insur-
ance organization, and the Dram-
atic Musical Circle, which are not
illegal,” Sholdra stated.

FINNS ADD PROTEST.

Finnish Organization of Canada
dissolved itself last week by ex-
ecutive resolution, but protested
that its organization was non-
political in character and was en-
gaged only in keeping alive the folk
dances and songs of its members’
native Finland.

Croatian Alliance, it was learned,
had taken similar action. The
Croatian Educational hall, recent-
ly built at 600 Campbell avenue,
was closed, and whether the hall
was considered covered by the
ban could not be ascertained.

Canadian Labor Defense League,
which provided legal counsel for
labor prisoners, closed its district
offices here Saturday. 2

“There is no organization of
people more bitterly opposed to
Nazism or fascism than ours and
we consider the declaration of Hon.
Earnest Lapointe as absolutely
contrary to the democratic prin-
ciples long cherished by the Can-
adian people,” a. former official
told the press this «week.

It is understood that the League
for Peace and Democracy passed
out of existence at the outbreak of
war.

Russian Workers club disbanded
Saturday. No official statement was
made by officials of the Communist
Party of Canada and Young Com-
munist League, both of which or-
ganizations closed their offices here
several months ago.

(of prime importance.

Entry of

RIES
WAR

Italy

Into Conflict
Increases Threat

SOFIA, Bulgaria—The Balkans, proverbial ‘powder keg.’
of southeastern Hurope, today are again the scene of feverish
intrigue as the contending powers strive for strategic positions.
The question asked in eyery country this week as Italy entered
the war was whether this action would prove the match ex-
tending the flame of war to the Balkans.

_ The very geographical position of the Balkan countries
which lie on the erossroads between Hurope and the raw mate-
rial source of Asia and Africa, the efforts of major European
states to establish their unchallenged rule over the eastern
section of the Mediterranean and the Suez canal zone make
the Balkans the southeastern Hurope a place of outstanding
stragetic importance, particularly at the present time.

The strategic positions of Greece, Turkey and Hgypt are

Greece, with her first-class naval bases

at Piraeus, Salonika, Salamis, and such vantage points as Corfu,
Patrai, Suda Bay im Crete, and others, from which the commun-

ications of Britain and France

with their Asiatic possessions

and Italy’s routes to her African colonies could be intercepted, -
plays a special role im this respect.

The Balkans and southeastern
Burope have an aggregate area of
about 330,000 square miles, includ-
ing Turkey in Europe. With their
vast forest Jands, mineral deposits
and oil, comparatively fertile soil
and large output of agricultural
produce, these countries represent
a coveted prize. Their population of
50,000,000 makes them a rich mar-
ket for manufactured goods.

A marked increase in export of
Taw materials and food  stufis,

which account for more than 80

percent of the total export of the
Balkan countries, can be reported
in recent years. The export of
leather, timber, minerals, oil prod-
ucts, vegetable oil, tobacco — the
basic items in foreign trade — has
increased one and one-half fold in
the last few years.

At present Germany has the up-
per hand in the Balkan markets.
She is the chief buyer of raw mate-

(Continued on Page 2)
See BALKANS

Charge Steel

lnterests

Behind Hamilton Attack
On Labor Alderman

HAMILTON, Ont—(CUN)—Ald. Harry Hunter, assistant
regional director of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee
and vice-chairman of the Canadian CLO, became the target of
an antilabor campaign, ascribed by Controller Sam, Lawrence
to big business interests because Hunter was ‘‘an active trade
union organizer and a danger to the boss class,’’ as Hamilton
city council last week voted 15-4 to ask Hunter for his resigna-

tion.

Encouraged by resolutions passed
by the AFI, in this open shop
centre, the attack on Hunter was
led by Ald. J. R. Evans—himself
described as a pro-fascist by Ald.
Thornberry — who asserted that
Hunter was a communist.

Denying that he was a com-
munist, Hunter declared:

_ = know I am not liked by the
industrialists in this city or in Can-
ada. I believe I am doing eyery-
thing I can to fight for the Gana-
dian peoples freedom and I want
to stress that those who shout the
Joudest about treachery should be
Watched, for, as all history has
shown, that is the mentality of the
fifth column. I have never been a
cheap politician, but I have fought
continuously for what I thought
Was good for the working men, and
in doing so I haye had to fight
against the interests drawing profits
from the very life blood of Canada.

“I am not on trial, but there are
other people here on trial. Ald.
Evans says I should resign to
declare my loyalty and let time
tell, but I will not resign, for my
loyalty to the Canadian people is
clear. The civic liberties of the
people must be protected from big
business interests who would take
away their rights. Mass hysteria
plays into the hands of the enemies
of the Canadian people. I am not
a communist. I am a trade union
organizer and always have been.”

Ald. Thornberry expressed the
Opinion that the steel companies
and big business interests in Ham_
ilton were behind the attack on
Hunter because of “their hatred of
trade unions and industrial demo-
cracy and anything which might
force them to pay living wages.’

“Those who support this motion
against democratic principles will
live to see the day when they re-
eret it,” Controller Lawrence, lead-
ing CCF member, declared. “Let me
say to Evans I have a grave sus-
picion that the danger of the Tro-
jan horse and fifth column is not
from the working class, but we may
haye, as members of the working
class, more and better reasons for
introducing a motion asking for the
resignation of Eyans: It looks as
though Eyans is being used as the
Trojan horse for the boss class.”

Ban On Radios

SIMLA, India—The government
last week cancelled all public and
commercial radio licenses and an-
nounced severe penalties for any-
one found listening to broadcasts
from ‘Germany’ or any countries
allied with Germany or occupied by
Germany.

Arbitrate
Dispute

Application for a conciliation
commissioner to bring St. Paul’s
hospital management and its em-
playes, members of St. Paul’s Hos-
pital Employes’ ‘Association, to-
gether to settle a dispute over wages
was’ made this week to the prov-
incial labor department by the as-
sociation,

Labor department officials have
returned the application to the or-
ganization to comply with the regu-
lations of the Industrial Concilia-
tom and Arbitration act by mak-
ing application on the proper
forms.

_The recently-formed organiza-
tion comprising 80 percent of the
staff, has been conducting negotia-
tions, for an improvement of wages,
working conditions and better rela-
tions between employer and em-
ployes.

Officers of the association are:
ids 12 Hemingway, president; H. D.
Gould, vice-president and T Ruth-
etford, secretary-treasurer.

McPeake Will
Attend Meet

TRATL, BC—John MecPeake, in-
ternational representative ot In-
ternational union of Mine, Mill and
Smelter Workers, has been dele-
gated to attend a meeting in Van-
couver to establish a British Col-
umbia Labor Council.

IMitiative in calling the confer-
ence was taken by International
Woodworkers of America which
felt the need for establishing a2
new ‘house for Jabor’ to unite those
organizations not affiliated with
Vancouver and Victoria trades
councils.

The meeting has as its immedi-
até aim adoption of a policy to
bring about unity, a constitution
and an organizational and legis-

lative program to benefit labor,

7