of Voncouver
strongly pro-
ourts uphold-
syd’s eviction
* Chen family
» Having been
. Chen I_ fully
truggles and
"provide edu-
Bre for their
owing that
vaid rent on
_for over ten
-r enough to

4

‘ ld be thrown

ciating such
‘ne wealthy

the housing’
cng a |few
wed by evic-
-y rental. As
‘ss in the 500
-ie_could not
,), 50 and $60
(se and allow

=n order. But
-; picketed by
Ssive Party
_2edings won.
however up-
“is eviction
_s have again
rs notice. It
che people of
top to. such

otherwise
-ust who will

>
SevnrEsy

consider it”

decided to

-n at $20. So-

AT DO YOU THINK? °

MIDPILEEEEELOEPeL eee SE PSOPP UE IPigteessCLiTiiviiiriirirud tr riiiititiristitiiiiiiiitisiiiiititiitiltiiti ttt tity
EEERDESESESUSSIISUCESUCLASERULESR SEES RDE BSR! ro I tess z

can keep P.A. punching.

Drive. =

LPP Provincial Leader Extends
Greetings To P.A. ~

I am happy to extend anniversary gréetings to the
Pacific Advocate, its staff, and readers. At the same
time I want to appeal for your active support of P.A..s
Press Drive which opens on November 1.

P.A., the fightingest little paper in the west, has a °
real contribution to make. It can give answers and show
the direction we must travel to complete the elimination
of fascism and the establishment of peace, security and
freedom for all. It is subscriptions and contributions that

I am confident you will do all in your power to make
it possible for P.A. to continue fighting with us for the
kind of B.C., a Canada, and a world we want. Our best
greeting to P.A. will be our efforts in the current Press

NIGEL MORGAN.

be the next victim. The truth
is the City Council are merely
agents of the Property Owners
Assn. To curb or abolish these
reactionaries we must strive
hard to elect workers and
thiereby .' assure democratic
representation in civic afafirs.
Wm. Blakey

Civic Alliance

Editor P.A.: a Ae ee
Is there any possibility pf the
progressive forces in Vaneou-
ver coming together as they
did in Edmonton last week to
form a Civic Democratic, Alli-
ance with committees estab-

(UST Py LL THAT TRIGGER tee #

— PACIFIC ADVOCATE

lished to work in civic research
and for observation of- City
Council and -.School Board
meetings. The Alliance to be a
permanent body with its elect-
ed members called upon to
make periodical reports to
general meetings of the mem-
bership. The objectives of the
Alliance were stated to be the
selection by democratic con-
vention of a slate of worthy
representatives of the people,
as representative as possible

of all-classes and all sections of

progressive opinion.

The candidates chosen by the
Alliance in Edmonton, for the
Mayoralty Aldermanic and
School Board seats are from the
LPP and CCF political parties
the Trade Unions and one is a
secretary of the Alberta Farm-

ers. Union while business men
/

and artists are also repre-

sented.

&

It seems to me that if we

want to clean up the mess at

the City| Hall and elect City

representatives of the people

we cannot do better than fol-
low Edmonton’s example.

JACK LEE

A Racket

Sir:

The liquor rationing situa-
tion has long been recognized
as a farce. Its greatest asset
has been to the brewers, dis-
tillers and bootleggers, for un-
doubtedly its most outstanding
ing effect has been. to broaden
their clientele. The subtle psy-
chology of offering an extra
case of ale in November as a
‘bonus’ is one evidence of this
customer increasing racket. It
is high time this situation was
looked into, but since liquor
sales increase Provincial Gov-
ernment revenue, we can expect

little action from that source.

Water it down and increase
the sales seems to be the motto.
A. CONSUMER.

CUCRcarEnencacceucctscsusssecueoseeaucsersay

Shor t Jabs by Ol’ Bill

SAMUEEDOUDEEDOGRESOORSCESSCCCCEdessonsnansseneevexsostesMaESoPeaePOTesOCLesUnesegaersreeasarseeucepareageeseveace

Mathematics Gone Mad

QNE of the LPP candidates in the recent provincial elections spoke
over the air as the returns were coming in. In opening his remarks
he said, “We are not happy about the result of this election .. .”” I found
myself agreeing with him. I certainly did not feel as happy about the
eee of this election as I did about the French elections of a few days
efore.

However, despite the reverses suffered by the working class, which
were the only possible outcome of the dog-in-the-manager CCF policy of
refusing to recognize any other body than their own, as a part of the
labor movement, there were notes injected into the csmpaign which
might be considered as contributions to the world’s fund of humor if it
were not for the tragedy of it.

The Nova Scotia elections two days before our own in B.C., were a
sort of breaking of the ice. Here the Winch system of mathematics was
developed, undoubtedly to confuse and delude the electors of British
Columbia. Archimedes and Euclid; Descarte and Napier of Merchiston;
Clerk Maxwell and Einstein; all of these are names of men who are,
or were, geniuses in the world of mathematics. But their day is over;
as mathematical geniuses they are now so many duds. Their brilliance
in comparison with that of the mathematical genius of the “black haired
boy” leader of the CCF. is like the shine of a tallow dip against the
noonday sun. .

The “dynamic boy leader” is very pleased with the CCF vote in the
Nova Scotia election. It has gone up, he says, from one percent in 1937
to seven percent in the next election to 14 percent in-the latest election.
From one to seven to 14. The old gag about figures and liars—what is it?
Figures can’t lie but liars can figure,” is applicable here, for anyone
who means business can do wonders with figures, particularly if he
figures in percentages. .

What really happened in Nova Scotia in 1937 and 19417 In 1937.
One candidate named Mercer, not running as a CCF. candidate but as a
labor candidate, in Cape Breton, polled 3396 votes, probably one per-
cent of the total vote cast. In 1941 there were six candidates running as
CCF’ers and- in the 1945 elections two weeks ago, there were 20 CCF.
candidates. So clever boy Winch gets the double play, one to seven to 14
percent. In B.C. on the morning after the election the same phoney
baloney system of mathematics is being used to fool the people of this
province. We are told that the CCF. popular vote has increased from 34
percent to 37 percent, but we are not told that there were four more
eandidates in the field. 3

For instance, here is a very interesting table of comparisons be-
tween the 1941 election and the 1945 one:

1941 1945
Harold Winch we ee eee IBS 71 10,508
Mrs. Jamieson __. 7,434 - 6,852
Grant MacNeil] __...........W. «9596 8,024
Mrs. Steeves ____ : weee 4,209 3,878
E. E. Winch ___-_.-_........ ... 6,444 5,725
Sam Guthrie . 2,757 : 3,431

You may see that these figures, which have not been juggled in
any new system of mathematics, show how the popular vote is not fit-
ting into Harold Winch’s new system. ;The only improvement is in the
case of Sam Guthrie—and the LPP was supporting him in his campaign.
These figures show how much worth there is in percentages.

This percentage business reminds me of a story George Bernard
Shaw, one of the owners of the London Daily Worker, used to tell. He
was opposing somebody or other where percentages had been used. To
offset the effect of the other fellow’s argument, Shaw told us about a
British regiment in India in which 50 per cent of the teetotalers died in
India and the other 50 per cent were invalided home.

That looked like a very impressive case against teetotalism until
Shaw explained that the regiment was a Scottish one and there were
two teetotalers in it. They were taking a walk one day when they
were attacked by a tiger. One of them was killed and the other was
so badly mauled that he had to be sent back to Scotland on a stretcher.

Critics???

PERHAPS no group of scribblers take themselves more seriously than
the art, dramatic and musical critics who dabble in art for the daily
newspapers and of course, in a less ostentatious way, for the “hardly”
earned dollars that keep the wolf from the critical docr. There are,
however some notable exceptions!

They are on safe ground while they confine their “critique” to the
lighter, gossipy persiflage which makes wordage and nothing more.
But when they step out of that safe haven and attempt to deal with
fundamental questions which involve artists, no matter whether they
be poets, painters or* musicians, in the moving stream of life, they
demonstrate that their work has no constructive value to society but
is a class barrier to social progress. °

One of these gents opened out on Paul Robeson in the Montreal
Daily Herald, a few days ago. He wailed that it was deplorable that
Robeson should use the concert platform “for bitter commentaries on
Franeo Spain, the capitalist system and the oppression of Jews and
colored people’’. .

He likes Marx, this critic, “in small dezes while the gang clusters about
the cuspidor.” He is on that admission, a spittoon philosopher. But for Paul
Robeson ‘ to mix up Marx and Moussorgsky, and the Communist song,
Joe Hill, with Monteverdi,” this is a terrible crime. “The God-given
artistic gifts” should not be so wasted in his way of thinking. :

Art for art’s sake! Such is the burden of his song. One wonders if
this “eritic” is aware that the artist must also be a man or woman; that
the artist, if he or she is to give a true expression to his artistic talents,
must not only become a part of opposing forces in social development
but must use his or her talents for or against progress. ook

One wonders if this “critic” knows that in the hungry thirties, the
artists had to line up in the relief lines in thousands and be called long-
haired chisellers” by the Hearst press. There are many who do not
know that..

SATURDAY. NOVEMBER 3. 1945

Be ee