THE B.C. LUMBER WORKER

ePage Seven

how effective The Lumber

J Worker has been can be judged
py the number of successful cam-
that have been conducted

its pages, After the 1934
it fought for stabilizing the
Workers Industrial Union
the job. It led in the drive to
merge the LWIU with the Broth-
ehood of Carpenters and Joiners
in Washington and Oregon, then,
en it became apparent that no
union could grow under the dom-
ination of “Big Bill” Hutcheson,
darified and fought for the estab-
lishing of the IWA under the CIO

i

It was the first and for a time
the only agency conducting a drive
for improved safety conditions, a
campaign now shared jointly by
the union, government and man-
agement, It was one of the few
yoices consistently raised against
depletion of our timber reserves.
‘The present Royal Commission on
Forestry is partly the result of
the paper’s early warnings. It
fought for and helped win im-
proved labor and social legisla-
tion. It helped clarify for the mem-
bership the great political issues
prior to the war, advanced pro-
posals, many of them now in effect,
which aided the lumber industry's
Participation in the anti-fascist war
and materially advanced the day
of victory, and is now giving the
‘woodworkers of B.C. a correct lead
in the winning of the peace. It has
Deen, and is now, one of the best
educating and organizing forces in
the industry. It is the good right
arm of the International Wood-
workers of America in British Co-
lumbia,

\ don’t misunderstand me —
not everything printed during
those first five years can stand
the critical estimate of the pres-
ent. There were pages in the files
Which I found myself turning over
» Pages containing state-

C GRAFF, grand old pioneer
nism in the lumbering in-
who died in 1938 after a
illness brought on by his

Sacrifices to build the
Port Alberni. The Eric
rial Hall, owned by

‘1-85, stands as a tribute to

work.

authenticity. Per-
will take a charit-

Bert Melsness, editor-on-leave,
now in Canadian army.

all, our movement was young and
I was much younger.

But there is one statement in
Particular over which I lingered
proudly as I reviewed the files,
though at the time it was written
it must have looked like a foolish
boast. It had to do with an at-
tempt by LWIU field organizers to
enter the camp of the Elk River
Timber back in the winter of
1934, an attempt which ended in
their being badly beaten and es-
corted down the track. I wrote an
editorial comment on. that inci-
dent, addressed specifically to the
management, in which I promised,
among other things, that “we
would be back.” I didn’t have to

Paper in Canada |

eat those words, even if I did have
to wait nine years. Because the
union did come back, in 1943, and

. now the Elk River Timber is not

only organized, but covered by
the union agreement.

°

INALLY—and here I run the

tisk of descending from the
sublime to the ridiculous — no
birthday greeting to The B.C.
Lumber Worker would be com-
Plete without a mention, at least,
of that strange figure known as
“The Bulleook.” His origins are
mysterious, and are probably as
devious as some of the thought
processes exhibited in his column.
For ten years he has staggered
around the skidroad acquiring
what he is pleased to call—and
with good reason—the “dirt” for
the next issue, and has meantime
defied every attempt to lift the
veil of anonymity which surrounds
him. Far be it from me to expose
him now. I can respect that par-
ticular quirk in his nature, even
if I can’t admire his other char-
acteristics. Let him go his way, re-
dolent of cheap bootleg “dehorn”
and a suspicion of even cheaper
perfume, his baggy, bloodshot
eyes drooping, his shambling gait
unsteady. Let him go his way—but
let him also keep mailing in the
whisky-stained pages of his latest
column, for he too has helped to
make The B.C. Lumber Worker
one of the finest trade union or-
gans in Canada. Happy birthday
to both of them!

One of the milestones in IWA progress-was the opening of
the Hiring Hall. Picture shows Dan Barbour, manager,

standing” before the entrance:

Hello, Boys!

When | heard that my old
friend Al Parkin was going to
do a ‘special’ for The B.C. Lum-
ber Worker | says to myself
right away, “No special issue of
The B.C. Lumber Worker would
have any value if 1 were not in
it.” So here | am with a story
about when some of us old
members “visited the Capilano
Brewery once.

* I was sent along as the repre-
sentative of the rank and file
to act as a steadying influence
and keep an eye on the officials.

cials keeping an eye on me is
beside the point—that’s my story
and I’m stuck with it.

You know I have spent many
evenings in camps listening to
erudite discussions on the best
of several accepted methods of
concocting the noble brew but
after my visit to the brewery
such discussions will leave me
cold. Man, oh man, the processes
that stuff goes through. In this
article lack of space must pre-
yent me from treating our visit
as fully as I would like to but
I do think a quick glimpse would
interest you boys in camp—and
make you properly envious.

The first thing that impressed
us on entering the brewery itself
was the scrupulous cleanliness of

care is taken to insure that the

That I ended up with the offi-

whole process is carried on un-
der the rigid sanitary conditions
on which the management ‘insist.
On leaving the office one runs
smack into a huge machine about
half a block long and half that
width. This machine is for the
sole purpose of washing bottles
— and it washes them, what I
mean,

Mr. Jones opened up the ma-
chine and showed us more
brushes, drills, gauges, steriliz-
ers, conveyors, etc, than you
could shake a stick at, If they’d
pull that thing down and turn
me loose on it I'd build you a
linotype, concrete mixer, a Ford,
an Austin and three kiddies cars
—but no bottle washers.

Close to this machine, in the
southwest corner of the main
floor, is a brass tap beneath a
shelf on which rests five or six
glasses. The brewery employees
pass and repass this tap’ without
displaying the slightest sign of
amazement or emotion of any
kind — but we achieved some
amazing results from this piece
of equipment, *

From here we were personally
conducted by Mr, Frisby through
the rest of the brewery and giv-
en an interesting insight into the
actual manufacture of the pro-
duct. First we were shown huge
bales of hops stored under re-
frigeration to insure freshness.
The company uses huge quanti-
tles governed by the various re-

quirements of the brew. Then we
were taken to the grain room
and shown the barley used in the
mash. I discovered some barley
of a decidedly brownish tinge
and enquiry elicited the informa-
tion that this was a special blend
of grain and malt used in the
manufacture of dark brews. I re-
frained from displaying my ig-
norance by admitting that her
tofore I had attributed this in-
triguing color to the éffects of
Copenhagen and tobacco.

Down on the main floor, in the
southwest corner of the room is
a little brass tap beneath a shelf
on,which rest some glasses.

From here we were shown a
room through which the wort, or
unfermented beer passes on its

_ way from the brew kettle. (This

room, by the way, thoroughly is
air-conditioned by elaborate ma-
chinery, and I’ve set up house-
keeping in lot smaller construc-
tions than the piece of solid cop-
per which they called a brew
“kettle.”) After the wort has
cooled to a temperature of ap-
proximately 38 degrees the yeast
is added, and is passed into fer-
menting tanks where it remains
from 12 to 20 days.

In the southwest corner of the
main floor is a brass tap beneath
a shelf on which are some
glasses.

Now we go into the storage
room. Shades of Paul Bunyan!
We stood there snd gazed at huge

Bullcook Tells Story Of Visit To Brewery

tanks containing an aggregate of
three hundred thousand gallons
of beer. Imagine that! A compe-
tent mathematician could prob-
ablly reduce that to headaches
for you—or you could do it your-
self if you lived long enough.

It is interesting to note that
these tanks are huge structures
built of handpicked Douglas fir.

From here we were taken to
the main floor where the bot-
tling and labelling machinery
was explained to us. In the south-
west corner of the room was a
prass. tap beneath a shelf, etc,
ete.

We again reiterate our appreci-
ation to the management for
their courtesy on this visit, and
for their cordial invitation to
once more visit their plant. As
we left, I noticed in one corner
of the southwest corner of the
main floor, some taps under a
row of shelves on which were
millions of glasses.

So long, boys and girls!

Editor’s Note: It has been
brought to our attention that
the above article suspiciously
resembles an article entitled,
“There’s An Old Copper Tap
in the Brewery,” by the Roving
Reporter, appearing in The
B.C. Lumber Worker of Feb 14,
1939. When next the Bullcook
comes into this office he will
be questioned about the matter.

| the whole establishment. Every