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April 19, 1951

B.C. LUMBER WORKER

Page 9

PRICE CONTROLS REFUSED
BY 149-54 VOTE

A number of Liberal M.P.’s who have frequently given
voice support to labor were conspicuous by their absence
when the vote was taken in Ottawa on the.CCF motion

for price controls.

By 149-54 the motion was rejected.

Liberals: 149 dpposed.

Line-up of the parties was:

Conservatives: 31 infavor; 11 absent.
CCF: 12 in favor; one absent.

Social Credit: 10 in favor.
Independent: One in favor.

Voting of B.C. members is shown below:

READ AND
Burnaby-Richmond

T. H. Goode (L) ..........Against
Carihoo

G. M. Murray (L) ........ Against
Coast-Capilano

James Sinclair (L) ......Against
Comox-Alberni

J, L. (Gibson (Ind) ....... Against

Fraser Valley

G, A. Cruikshank (L) ..Against
Kamloops

E. D, Fulton (PC)
Kootenay-East :

J. A. Bryne (L) ...
Kootenay-West

H. W. Herridge (CCF)
Nanaimo

G. R. Pearkes (PC) .

REMEMBER
New Westminster
‘W. M. Mott (L) ..

Skeena
E. T. Applewhaite (L) Against

Against

Vancouver
Burrard
J. L. MacDougall (L) ..Against
Centre

R. O. Campney (L)
East ~

Angus MacInnis (CCF) Absent
Quadra

H. C. Green (PC) .
South

Arthur Laing (L) ..
Victoria

R. W. Mayhew (L)
Yale

0. L. Jones (CCF) ..

ares Against

-For

Against

Against

.-For

MacInnis to Howe:

“Wages ARE Controlled”’

In a lively clash with Trade Minister Howe during the
debate on price control in the House of Commons, the Vancouver
East member, Angus MacInnis, declared that the wages of
workers are now controlled, and that the Minister should spend
some time in the chain stores to see people looking hungrily at

things they would like to have

_The Trade Minister had pre-
viously stated “There is too much
of a tendency for people to look
to governments for solutions of
their problems.”

Those Promises

“Smagine a government that
made so many promises two
short years ago,” exclaimed Mac-
Innis, “coming to this House and
saying now that people have a
tendency to look to government
for a solution of their problems.”
He recalled the Liberal election
slogan, “Elect us and we will
solve your problems.”

Wages of the working people,
on the other hand, are controlled
already, Mr. MacInnis declared.
“No trade union, no matter how
Powerful it is, can boost its own
Wages without going through the
legal procedure that is laid down
by the laws of this parliament or
by the laws of the legislatures of
the provinces, When it does get
an increase, it gets an increase
that has been adjudged proper in
the circumstances by a board that
has heard the evidence. a

Mr. MacInnis said that at no
time had the trade union move-
ment said it would not accept
Wage controls. But the Van-
couver East member said he
could not take the position that

r is a commodity in the same
manner as cabbages, plows and
harrows. He believed that the
type of thinking that puts the
energy of human beings into the
Same category as saleable com-

SAN FRANCISCO
— TAILORS —

LOAN MONEY ON

and cannot buy.

modities “is going to get us into
trouble.”

It would be amusing, if it were
not so tragic, said Angus Mac-
Innis, that the antagonists of
price control are stout defenders
of what they still choose to call
free enterprise. The member for
Vancouver East put things very
simply and directly:

Profiteering

“I am afraid these honorable
members do not understand
that free enterprise does not
apply any more. There is
scarcely any industry outside
of farming where free enter-
prise operates unhampered or
where today the law of supply
and demand is working. I could
draw attention to cases now
before our courts of alleged
monopolies to control prices, so
that every time you light a
match you are adding to -the
wealth of a small group of
people. Every time you buy a
loaf of bread you are adding
to the wealth of another small
group of people who not only
set their prices but police those
prices.”

Welfare Sacrificed

The Vancouver East member
concluded, “There is in my opin-
ion a case for price controls. That
case is the deplorable economic
condition of thousands in Canada
who are trying to eke out a living
on incomes which are wholly in-
adequate.” He named pensioners,
those on small superannuation
allowances, those on social assist-
ance, and unorganized workers
with low incomes, as well as
small businessmen and marginal
farmers. “The welfare of these
income groups is as important to
us today in the world in which
we are living as is the defense
of this country through military
effort, because if we do not make
secure the lives of our people
while we haye the means to make
them secure, we cannot defend
ourselves from those evils that
have overtaken all governments
who refused to look after the
welfare of their people.”

PRESIDENT OLUMN By J. Stewart Alsbury

CABINET MINISTER TERMS
LABOR BRIEF ‘BILGE’

“THE scene in the Railway Committee Room of the House of
Commons when Congress officers presented the CCL sub-
mission to the Ministers of the Crown will live in our memories

as a terrible disillusionment. and frustration.

Certainly. some

of the men who hold portfolios as Ministers should be held in

contempt of democracy.

Near me was a Minister, gen-
erally regarded as a power in the
Cabinet, and who
has frequently
tried to lecture
organized labor,
quietly “ducked
out” after the
first five minutes. "
Another Minister:
was overheard to!
say “To heek Ns
with this bilge, ff ia
I'm off to eat.” Ve

Nothing Doing

The Prime Minister suavely,
but very deftly, parried all the
thrusts made by our spokesmen.
All his fine words, translated into
the language of the street meant
“nothing doing”.

Filling that large committee
room were hundreds of sincere
trade unionists, who were attend-
ing there to press earnestly for
justice on behalf of those whom
they represented.

They first told the Government
that they were aware of the
menacing world situation and
that they would not shirk their
rightful responsibilities. They
merely asked that the terms of
their participation in the na-
tional effort should be fair and
such as to inspire men to the
defence of democracy. Their
public-spirited overture was
rudely rebuffed.

No Action

No action will be taken by the
Government to protect cur living
standards against price robbery.
Indeed the recent budget bears

{

ai

most heavily on those least able
to pay. additional taxes. Cer-
tainly, the costs of living will
soar skywards.

The workers on whom the
country must depend in any
grave national emergency are not
allowed any voice in determining
policies which deal directly with
their welfare.

The excessive profits which are
reported almost daily in the
newspapers, and which represent
an unbalanced distribution of in-
come, are evidently considered to
be in the national interest al-
though they represent an addi-
tional burden on thousands of
struggling families.

The Congress made a good
case. It was stated in terms that
must command the respect and
| support of all right-minded citi-

zens. The Congress was speak-
ing not only for the organized
workers but for the whole com-
munity of workers and farmers.

Political Action

As representatives of the Con-
gress Unions we took this form
of political action to secure pro-
tection of the welfare of the
workers. Quite obviously the
profit-making interests have a
program of political action that
works smoothly to their advan-
tage.

It is high time that organized
labor worked out -a program
which will make certain of more
satisfactory results for labor, and
I mean make certain without
dependence on the friends of big
business that we met in the Capi-
| tal,

WHO
SAID THIS?

“Rising prices unless controlled
will make it more costly and
therefore more difficult to finance
the war. Rising prices, uncheck-
ed, will spread confusion and un-
certainty in industry and trade.
They will hinder production and
the proper distribution of sup-
plies.. They will make the cost of
living rise more rapidly than
wages and salaries. The value
of savings will be materially les-
sened. The result would be hard-
ship to nearly everyone, and
hardship in very unequal
measure.

“Rising prices—a rising cost
of living—do not have the same
effect on all households. The
smaller the family income and
the larger the family, the more
serious the hardship imposed. For
those with small incomes,
rising prices of clothing, food and
other necessaries may mean seri-
ous hardship, while for those
with larger incomes only luxuries
and small comforts may have to
be given up.

“Rising prices thus serve to
aggravate the inequalities in
society, and to throw the heaviest
burdens on those least able to
bear them. Wartime experience
has shown that prices rise faster
than wages or salaries, and bear
more heavily still on those who
live on small pensions or life say-
ings.

“The truth is that all but an
insignificant minority of the
population would be worse off as
a result of rising prices, if prices
were permitted to rise unchecked,
and, in general, the relatively -
poor would suffer more than the
relatively well-to-do.” — (Labour
Gazette, 1941, pp. 1362-2).

MACKENZIE.

KING!!

CCL CHIEFS
TO MEET

The Executive Council of the
Canadian Congress of Labor has
decided to summon an emergency
session of the heads of all CCL
unions to consider the relation-
ship of wages with regard to
prices. Date and place of the
meeting has not yet been deter-
mined by Pat Conroy, secretary-
treasurer of the Congress, who
was named as head of the com-
mittee, but he said the session
would be held as quickly as pos-
sible.

The Canadian Congress of
Labor’s action came within 24
hours of a conference between
CCL officers and representatives
and Prime Minister St. Laurent
and the Federal Cabinet.

Announcing its decision to con-
sider the wage position, the CCL
stated the government had per-
sistently adhered to a stubborn
position of refusing to give seri-
ous consideration to price control.
This policy had been adopted by
the government despite the fact
of repeated indications that the
Canadian people as a whole were
demanding the control of prices.

$100,000 A YEAR

Charles E, Wilson, the U.S.
mobilization czar, let it slip re-
cently that he’s drawing a
$62,000 a year pension from his
old company, General Electric.

G.E. dividends were thought to
be boosted by another $18,000 a
year. On top of that he gets
$22,500 a year from the govern-
ment.

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