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° Letters From @u; Readers :

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© couver met to take action on “slam conditions” prevailing on

SEGS.

’at Murphy writes:

sbrought us to such a high
lard of perfection that there
more need for progress. If
is so, there is no need for
y-paid Seamen’s Union of-
Ss.

bureaucratically states that

fas not from the NUS and
) the men who passed it were
ftransit.” The union is the
abers of the union, who are
Sang in industry and paying
} be union’s upkeep. it is the
fibers who are slaving on
bs; and know the conditions on
1. Our union officials mostly
ya life apart from us, be
s= disinterested in our wel-
& ‘and if we waited for their
Sip of officialdom on anything
S is democratic and to our
vests we would wait a lone
}. Since they do. not speak
h or us we must speak up for
§ elves. :
1 the men who passed the
plution were not “in transit’
join ships. They included
Ha crews sailing as passen-

and the crew of the ship
f& The passenger crews num-
di more than 1,000 men. Men
F sea haye no opportunity to
t delegates to attend the an-
l1 general meeting of the
lon; “which is the only place
Mien have a chance to express
opinions; therefore, their

fesolution was unofficial, that ~

| Ships sailing under British registry, conditions substantiated
| by such writers as Alan Morley writing in the Sun. Last week
the local press printed a statement by George Thompson, or-
| ganizing secretary of the British National Union of Seamen,
4 apologizing for the “slum ships’ and attacking members of
his union who “dared” propose union policies.
The following letter is a reply by Pat Murphy, active
member of the National Union of Seamen, now on the high

= Tie Editor.

*he press statement by George Thompson, secretary of the
onal Union of Seamen in New York, clearly exposes his
ude to the seamen who pay his upkeep as their repre-
ative. Instead of truthfully recognizing the need for im-
fements on British ships he takes the stand that the union

only method of participating is
by passing resolutions and for-
warding them to the union for
discussion. The resolution was
handed over to the union dele-
gate in New York before 50 wit-
nesses. If more than 1,200 dues-
paying members have no voice in
their destiny there is something
radically wrong somewhere.

In a Montreal mass meeting,
moreover, the resolution was
again endorsed. A delegate of
the union was present, also, when
some seamen from @ ship in port
handed up a copy of a resolution
Signed by the crew. The resolu-
tion was once more endorsed in
Vancouver — and again in the
presence of a union delegate.

Thompson is aware of this.
His “unofficial” angle is just a
weak thrust at us — because we
haye broken through the first
barrier of his dictatorial pow-
ers. George Thompson, inci-
dently, was never elected by
any body of seamen to act as
their representative. He was
selected by his friends on the
executive council in London,
his name unknown to labor.

Thompson cites as a wonderful
example of the work of our ex-
ecutive the fact that they have
secured the ratification of a rec-
ommendation that was made at
a Geneva conference in 1936. This
applies to welfare ashore in the

leaman Answers Official’s
{pology For ‘Slum Ships’

Three weeks ago merchant seamen in the Port of Van-

form of Merchant Navy Clubs.
We appreciate these clubs, and
hope that by patronizing them
we help to cover their expenses.
We also know (and Mr. Thomp-
son seems to forget), that people
and organizations subscribed
funds to install these clubs, trade
unions of Canada ineluded. But
we are not going to allow shore
welfare to blind us to bad condi-
tions aboard.

Seamen are industrial work-
ers, and should be paid accord-
ingly. Qur demands and ideals
are very modest and easily sat-
isfied. Qur shipowners are not
so modest in their fight for
huge profits and guarantees of
continued profits after the war.
The few matters we want recti-
fied would give the seamen
more encouragement while fac-
ing the terrible risks and en-
during the hardships at sea
under war conditions. We ask
only a square deal; we're not
asking for special privileges.
George Thompson, when he at-

tends a London union conference,
travels by luxury liner. After a
pleasant holiday — during which
he lives on the shillings contri-
buted by poorly-paid merchant
seamen — he will return to his
automobile and luxurious way of
life he pursues in the United
States.

In the opinion of those same
merchant seamen, which is based
on Thompson’s past actions, the
necessity of his attending the an-
nual meeting is small. His re-
port is not so important, they
feel, that he must make a special
voyage to present it personally;
he could write it on a piece of
paper and send it airmail. A
copy of the minutes of the annual
meeting would then give him all
the information he requires about
the conference. With space on
ships of prime importance for
the use of people and materials
necessary to the war, what is the
object of his trip? What mandate
does he carry? If he has a man-
date, whe gave it? And exactly
whom does he represent when he
goes there? Not the working sea-
men!

Rast to West

K. Antoft, editor of the
Marine Worker, official organ
of the Industrial Union of
Marine and Shipbuilding Work-
ers of Halifax, writes:

We would like to be put on
your mailing list to receive The
People. We issue a union paper
and we have found your paper
very helpful in keeping in touch
with developments in the west
coast shipyards. —

We are placing you on our
mailing list for the Marine Work-
er, and hope that you enjoy read-
ing it. Perhaps by keeping in
touch with each other the marine
workers from the two coasts of
Canada can find a greater degree
of unity and reach a common un-
derstanding of the problems fac-
ing the workers in the shipbuild-
ing industry.

Reereation
H. Loveng of Vancouver
writes:

As a restaurant worker I have
an opportunity to get in touch
with many people and observe
many things, and one of the things
that impresses me is the loneli-
ness of the boys from the praries
and the soldiers from different
parts of Canada, even from Eng-
land.

Many of them complain that
“this sure is a dead town, just
shows and restaurants to attend.”
Most of them are looking for
companionship. They miss their
mothers’, sisters’ or girl friends’
company and wish that for just
one evening they could enjoy
something more than the usual
fish and chips and a show after-
wards.

There are a few recreation
rooms in the city, but all the boys
don’t know about them. In ad-
dition, more recreation facilities
Should be made available. There
is no reason why Vancouver
could mot open up theatres,
dances and other amusement cen-
ters on Sunday. It has been done
in other places and could be done
here. In addition, some women
who can spare the time should
get together and plan for the
opening of further recreation
rooms for lonely boys or girls.

This is a people’s war, yours
and mine. We mothers especial-
ly should be interested in trying
to ease other mothers’ sons and
daughters loneliness. If we do,
we will be doing a big job in help-
ing to win this war.

= s
Canning Fruit

Mrs. J. S. Gibb, RR 1, Oyama,
B.C., writes:

In your news article of recent
date (regarding sugar rationing
and the government’s position on
sugar for soft drinks, candy, etc.)
you overlooked one important
factor:

By making it impossible for the
housewife to preserve an ade-
quate amount of fruith for the
family, the powers-that-be play
directly into the hands of the
commercial canners in yet an-
other way. The fruit market be-
comes glutted almost from the
start and the canners may set
their own prices from the early
season, and, instead of canning
culls, over-ripe fruit or surplus
stock caused through one condi-
tion or another, they will grade
out all the inferior fruit offered
and pay cannery prices for what
should be table fruit. This has
happened for many years in the
handling of tomatoes.

Gommercial canning can be
more economical than kitchen
canning but the results are cer-

*

PINIONS contained in

these columns are
strictly those of the writers.
We welcome correspond-
ence, but ask that letters
be held to 250 words.

tainly not of the same quality as
home canned fruit.

From a retailers’ point of view,
the elimination of soft drinks
would not be any great hardship.
Unless the turnover is quite large
and consistent, the cost of ice to
cool these drinks, the loss of a
few bottles, etc., the profit is very
small. Ice water, Chilled milk
and the despised tomato juice
would go a long way to replace
the soft drinks that require sugar.
But then—such chain businesses
as Coca-Cola and Orange Crush
and Pepsi-Cola, ete., would not
like it. :

Farm Tenantry

Bert Huffman, Newton Sta-
tion, writes:

The tendency in our prairie
provinces toward tenancy and
peasant farms is alarming.

The latest farm statistics just
released from the 1941 census
show a sinister drift toward peas-
antry. These statistics show that
one-fifth of all the farms in the
three prairie provinces are oper-
ated by tenants. The increase in
tenant farming since the 1931 cen-
sus is 25.3 percent.

Mortgage companies, the CPR
land department and the Hudson’s
Bay land department are gradual-
ly evicting the families who have
made these prairie homes and
turning them over to renters.

The first and most vital task of
the future Socialist state is to take
over and adjust the .land—the
earth from whiéh springs all
wealth; to stop speculation in
land, gambling in land, the mort-
gaging of homes, the eviction of
families from homes they have
laboriously builded, and a division
of labor that will produce the
greatest return from the land and
give the greatest comfort and se-
curity to those living upon the
land,

There can be no permanent se-
curity for the farmer until specu-
lation, mortgaging, trading and
gambling in land is stopped by
state ownership.

We might as well begin think-
ing about it right now and right
here in British Columbia.

Insurance

A shipyard worker writes on
freedom from want as follows:

There is a lot of talk today
about “insurance against want.”
We have now what is called state
insurance, or unemployment in-
Surance, at six cents per working
day, and if a person were out of
work he would receive around $12
per week. One has to admit that
is something, but when all is said
and done it is chicken feed and
lowers a person’s purchasing
power immediately he receives it,
and if out of work any length of
time he eventually looks around
for cheaper accommodation in an
attempt to live on the handout.

The man in the street should
demand a better deal for a work-
er or soldier who is unemployed
through accident, sickness, old
age or war injuries, as he is en-
titled to live as he did prior to
any of the foregoing. The state
should therefore be asked to con-
tribute in the same proportion as
the employer and the ‘worker,
thereby increasing his “home in-
surance,”

A person when unemployed ig
entitled to 75 percent of his pay
when he is unemployed through
the causes mentioned, and if the
government is reluctant to help,
there is no doubt the working
Man would contribute extra out
of his pay to protect his home,

Pee