eg : Dey : uf ES ian ai . The veterans of B.C. are doing meat job in Organizing veterans taj advancing legislative campaigns % provincial and federal for ‘er and adequate rehabilitation : @ures. mpe effective unity between organ- 0 rigcalls the lurking danger of division Sge ranks of the working people. , ¥; can be no doubt, that certain em- Wrs and other reactionaries were = Gon causing strife between veterans ion-veterans and creating: disunity ae the common people. Og > main struggle on the home front adie 750,000 veterans is for jobs and this. Sixty thousand veterans are S/Iployed, 300,000 are in need of s and a large number (at least srcent) are working for disgrace- vages of less than 50c per hour. provincial and dominion govern- s must be forced to act to end these tions for which there is abso- » no need. admire the staunch and vigorous i of the Vancouver veterans who aht about the occupation of the On This example aided in focusing t@ial attention on the terrible hous- af ituation which is so particularly c § for veterans. Mr. Alex. Walker, H#qion president of the Canadian n, im a speech at Toronto Satur- «Might (March 9) demanded govern qi action for low rental subsidized ismiug and calls upon all veterans to t@for this demand. Mr. Walker also n6@ on the unemployment situation Miche inadequate training facilities. aise point he sharply rebuked the government iz carefully chosen in which he stated: “One would -@et think it (the government) was 2,0 Sabotage its own rehabilitation Va DP 4 labor and the veterans’ -movements fet-Labor Unity Win The Peace i) ne : - LESLIE HUNT, Toronto—~- Certainly Mr. Walker correctly eyalu- ates the feeling of the veterans in these matters. Besides these important struggles, veterans will have to boldly assert their voice on the critical issues threatening ._ the peace of the world once more. The provocative manner in which the Kine government is using the alleged spy evidence, even before a court has passed judgement in the cases; the truculent attitude and atomic bomb diplomacy of the Truman administration; the Chur- ’ chill speech with its threat of war on the Soviet Union and the indefensible imperialist policies of the British labor government, are all ominous warnings that powerful enemies of peace and in- ternational] cooperation are at work. Churchill chose as his main objec- tives, an attack on the common people’s widespread friendship with the people of the USSR and a disruption of the Big Three unity. His proposal for an armed alliance against the Soviet Union “was a suggestion that the USA, Great Britain and the Commonwealth take over the anti-comintern pact so long held by the former fascist powers, Ger- many, Italy and Japan. This is the road to war—and an attempt to subvert our victory to a revival of fascism. We must fight to counteract it. Veterans must play an important role in the fight for peace. ize public opinion for peace. Demand action against Franco and other fas- cist powers. Demand the continuance and strengthening of Big Three unity. Expose the anti-Communist phobia and ~ the real interests of the people. peace, jobs and houses. The example of the B.C. veterans is red_baiting as an attack on the We want one the nation can be proud of. You show the road forward, the road of triumph for the Common peoples’ - needs. We must mobil-_ - \Viodernize Veterans’ Land Act IVAN BIRCHARD a5 em vE of the big problems facing the Legion Gonvention will be the aiding '#} of veterans who desire to take up farming as a livelihood, and the old I@-erans of the First World War can give valuable help to the new vets in iss regard. Ve this objective. ui ©itractor. rove plars. Wise some condition has not met with approval. i Z oes the delays of red tape and frustration the present system entails, is ced to the conclusion that there is still a mortgage company complex per- Mating the whole administration. Y= Strong action to gain improvements are urgently needed if Veterans are " The government should arrange to help t™ veteran select his land and to secure a contractor and building supplies. fmt as it was necessary for Wartime Housing to take drastic measures and i eel during the crisis of the war, there is an equally urgent need for ilar action to help re-establish our Veterans. There must be no repetition the cold-blooded handling of Weterans of the First Great War in land “reap the benefits they deserve. lgtlement schemes. The Veterans’ Land Act was framed to provide the ex-serviceman with means of Securing a farm or small holding. The application of the act : @ ler prevailing conditions of inflation and speculative prices falls far short Real Estate speculators have forced land prices beyond all reason and siding contractors are hitting a new high. Werests by careful administration of the Act to prevent him from being yped becomes no more than a worthy objective in practice. Wen no provision made to really safeguard the veterans by government Petion, to secure land before the real estate sharks got hold of it, or to pro- fle reserves of builders supplies, and to assist Veterans in securing a : -resent administration leaves the onus entirely up to the Veteran with the ®ninistration constantly holding up action while committees and inspectors There is the constant danger of the loan being vetoed be- Safeguarding the Veterans’ There has The veteran who over- ° (ic TRIBUNE — PAGE i1 Unity In War — Unity In Peace G.’s and Red Army men celebrating their fraternal unity when the armies of the United States and the Soviet met My Friend ‘I JACK PHILLIPS, Vice-President, A Y FPRIEND«‘‘Mike” is quite a realist. | met him near Fa- laise, back in “44, just after he had come back to rear echelon with a sprained ankle. “What happened?” 1 asked him, “Aw, nothing!” he replied, “a couple of Jerry planes started to strafe us, and [I twisted my ankle running for shelter.” Mike had a simple, approach to life. Ex-miner, and militant trade unionist turned infantryman, he liked to present his views on any and every subject, by numbers. Once when i asked him what “his war aims” were, he defined them as follows: @ Win the war. ® Get back home in one piece. @ Get a good job and a good home. @ Win the peace. More than 20,000 “Mikes” will be rep- resented at the provincial cOnvention of the Legion, which will be held in Van- couver on March 18, 19 and 20. Behind these 20,000 veterans of the Legion in B.C. are several times this number who are not members—but who have a di- rect interest in the outcome of the con- vention. Nationally and provincially the Legion is the largest, the most authoritative and the most aggressive organization of ex-servicemen. The “Mikes” of this last connic: nave won their first point: the enemy has gone down to military defeat, utterly and beyond a shadow of a doubt. As to the second point, thousands of our eX-servicemen are maimed and disabled for the rest of their lives. This eonvention of the Legion must formu- late concrete proposals to raise pension levels, to bring pensions into line with actual living costs. For instance, the rate for a 100 percent total disability to all below the rank of captain only allows $1880 a year for a pensioner, his wife and child. Thus, a veteran who has completely lost his earning capac- ity on the labor market is compelled to spend the rest of his life lying on a mere pittance. A single veteran, tot- ally disabled, receives a pension of only $900 a year—about $17.00 a week. The present pension scale must be revised to meet the sharp increase in the cost of living. A pension is not charity, but it is compensation for a personal sacrifice. We must not be parsimonious in this direction. straightforward — and his family can enjoy life .. . in the field, in Germany. like’ Hastings East [Legion Post For the vast majority of “Mikes” who have come home, a good job and a good home are the main prerequisites for successful rehabilitation. A good job means good wages and decent working ~ conditions. It means personal security and the opportunity for personal hap- piness. A good home means more than shelter and a place to raise a family in. It means a place where the veteran in an atmosphere conducive to good health, good living and neighborly spiagt. While it is true that the new vet- erans feel the mounting crisis of un-— employment and housing shortage more sharply than any other section of the community, it is also true that the prosperity of the veteran depends upon the general level of prosperity for the nation. When employment is scarce and wages low, veterans suffer. When houses are not available for people in the low income class, veterans in this class are homeless. When there is an artificial shortage of building materials, when speculative real estate sharks and con- tractors make a_ killing out of this shortage, veterans are fieeced out of their hard earned savings and gra- tuities. : Only a program of full employment, high purchasing power for the masses and expanding social security for all, can guarantee the success of veterans’ rehabilitation. I feel sure that the 300 or so “Mikes” at this convention will imject a note of moderation into the official and semi- official atmosphere of political hysteria. By all means, let our government take the necessary- steps to protect the na- tion—but let us keep our feet on the ground. The best way to protect our eountry is to support the principles of Yalta and Potsdam, to make UNO what it should be: an assembly of nations dedicated to the freedom, prosperity and democratic progress of all the peoples in the world. The 30,000 “Mikes” who died in this war, will be the unseen audience who will watch over the delegates in con- vention. Unseen, but potent, they will serve to remind their comrades that the wisest course is not to fight another war, but rather to fight for the elimina- tion of war from the catalogue of hu- . man affairs.” FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 1946 we ws Ss IT tu To