10

B.C. LUMBER WORKER

2nd Issue,

Local 1-71

Navy’s Skipper

Ken Ga

Loggers’ Navy, flagship of
Local 1-70, IWA, sailed during
recent weeks with a new skip-
per and crew, for the isolated
camps on the Mainland.

For domestic reasons, the
former skipper, Ozzie Mattila,
resigned his post to accept em-
ployment in Vancouver. He has
been replaced by Ken Garbutt,
and the second crew member is
Bob Ross,

Ken Garbutt was formerly a
member of the CSU and has had
extensive experience at sea.

Bob Ross, who accompanies
him as International Organizer,
has a long and excellent record
with Local 1-71 and was employ-
ed as rigger at Beaver Cove be-

rbutt

fore accepting his present post.

Englewood

Financial Secretary Fred Fie-
ber recently paid a visit to the
Englewood Camps and found
that all camps were 100% IWA
with the exception of Camp “N”,
which is rapidly nearing the de-
sired objective. He reported that
the confidence expressed in the.
Union is a marked feature of a
thriving organization in the
Englewood Division,

Meeting held at Camp “N” be-
tween representatives from all
camps and management success-
fully ironed out the remaining
difficulties regarding seniority

throughout the division,

>-Year Rap For
Slush-Fund Bribe

OTTAWA (CPA)—Until two
years ago, any Canadian could
have laid a charge against the
Steel Company of Canada,
which would then haye been
prosecuted, for making contri-
butions to the Liberal and Con-
servative parties, according to
Justice Minister Garson speak-
ing in the Commons this week.

The Minister made the state-
ment during a discussion on the
revision of Canada’s Criminal
Code under a section laying down
penalties for anyone “. . . being
a party to a contract with the
government directly or indirectly
-.. gives ., . any valuable con-
sideration for the purpose of
promoting the election of a can-

didate or a class or party of
candidates to the parliament of

conviction, is five years imprison-
ment.

Stanley Knowles (CCF Winni-
peg North Centre) asked whether
Steleo, “which undoubtedly has
contracts with the government of
Canada”, could be prosecuted on
the admission of its President H.
G. Hilton, before the special com-
mittee on industrial relations in
1946, that his company made
“contributions to political
parties.” 4

If Mr. Knowles felt that Steleo
had committed an offence under
the section, said Mr. Garson, he
had every right to lay a charge
against Steleo and the company
would then be prosecuted. Con-
servative lawyer-M.P. Davie Ful-
ton (Kamloops) informed the
Minister, that under the statute
of limitations, however, that right

Canada . . .”. The penalty, on

to lay a charge had now expired.

Public Enterprise
Excels Private

g CHICAGO (CPA)—The myth that private enterprise
is always more efficient than public ownership has been
once more debunked. This time it.was by the Chairman
of the biggest publicly-owned power project in the United

States. »

Gordon R, Clapp, Chairman of
the Tennessee, Valley Authority,
told an audience at the Univer-
sity.of Chicago that in construc-
tion of two similar power plants,
the publicly-owned organization
was both faster getting into op-
eration and its product was
cheaper than in the case of its
publicly-owned competitor.

In 1950, the U.S. Atomic
Energy Commission called on
both TVA and a group of five
privately-owned. utility compan-
ies, known as Electric: Energy
Ine., to provide power for its
atomic installations at Paducah,
Kentucky. TVA was to build a
power plant at Shawnee, Ky., and

Electric Energy Inc. was to build
a similar plant at Joppa, Illinois,
The Joppa plant was scheduled
to be in operation three months
ahead of the Shawnee plant.

Wrong Horse

Mr. Clapp explained that both
organizations suffered from de-
lays in delivery of equipment, and
labor difficulties. The original
completion dates were revised, he
said, “Trade journals and some
of the daily press heralded this
‘race’. After a while, however,
the eries of the professional spec-
tators died down. It began to be
apparent that the wrong horse
was coming in ahead.”

The TVA plant at Shawnee
went into operation while the
Joppa plant was still under con-

TVA kept “well within” its es-
timate of $147.50 per kilowatt for
power. Electric Energy Inc. had
to raise its estimate by nearly
50 percent from $126 to $184
per kw.

FISHERMEN
CONSIDERED

OTTAWA — Labor Minister

Gregg has announced that his De-.

partment is studying the possi-
bility of including fishermen un-
der the provisions of the Unem-
ployment Insurance Act.

Fishermen, at present, are not
eligible to draw unemployment
insurance, benefits mainly because
a large number of them come
within the category of self- em-
ployed persons...

TYCOONS
SMOKING

OTTAWA — Public interest in
a possible connection between
cigarette smoking and cancer of
the lung has caused the Canadian
tobacco industry to donate $100,-
000 to the Canadian Cancer In-
stitute for research into lung can-
cer, The action follows similar
assistance from U.S. and British
tobacco companies to cancer re-
search in the wake of the wido

_ struetion, In addition, said Clapp,

publicity given to the subject,

COFFEE
WORRIES
BAKERS |

CHICAGO (CPA) — Mem-
bers of the Bakery and
Confectionery Workers Union,
(AFL) are worrying about a

reaction they’re worrying about
concerns the present rising cost
of coffee, Coffee is the drink
that doughnuts are dunked in.
The BCWIU members make
doughnuts. Hence their worry
about coffee prices.

If the price of coffee increases
so much that people stop buying
it, say the union members, the
dunkers will not be needing the
doughnuts. No other beverage of-
fers the “deep down dunking de-
light” of coffee, they hasten to
add. :

Now the union has called for an
investigation into the reasons for
the sharply increasing price of
coffee and they want the price
of coffee brought down so that
the public can enjoy that “d. d.
d. d.” with, of corse, union made
doughnuts.

FINNS
SET UP
LOTTERY

HELSINKI (CPA) — The
Finnish Government has re-
sorted to a lottery with a dif-
ference in order to solve its
financial problems.

Finding the state coffers nearly
empty, the new Finance Minister
who took over in July, went to
the Bank of Finland for a loan.
Officials of the state-owned bank
were unable to help because par-
liament has imposed a limit on
the amount of credit that may be
granted to the state.

$43,000 Prize

After trying various other
sources, the Minister decided to
launch an unusual “lottery bond”
issue. Each 1000 mark bond gives
the purchaser a chance to win a
ten million mark ($43,000) prize,
the draw to be held next Febru-
ary. After five years the bond
holder will get his 1000 marks
back without interest.

Experts figured that the lottery
angle would encourage the sale
of bonds while the government
would be able to raise the money
needed without paying any in-
terest on it,

TLC UP

OTTAWA — Membership of
the Trades and Labor Congress
climbed more than 9% during
1958, TLC reports. Current mem-
bership is placed at 562,748, al-
though it may be higher.

TOTAL RISES

OTTAWA — Labor income in
Canada reached an all-time high
during 1953, despite falls in the
monthly totals from September
onwards, the Dominion Bureau of
Statistics reports, The year’s to-
tal was $11,653 million against
$10,748 million in 1952.

“OLD DOC”

Dr. R. Llewellyn Douglas has
moved his Dental Office from

9 East Hastings St. to 712
Robson St., Vancouver, B.C.

NEW ADDRESS

DAILY LAY-OFFS
REACH 4500

By LORNE INGLE

OTTAWA (CPA)—Nearly 4500 Canadians are losing
| their jobs every day. And this is over and above those who
are laid off from one job but are fortunate enough to find

| other work. The figures are official. According to Labor
| Minister Gregg there were 524,000 people looking for
chain reaction. The particular | Work in Canada on January 28rd.

| On December 12 the total was
338,000. 'That’s an average in-
Jerease of 4,428 per day in the
intervening period. And the Jan-
uary, 1954 figure is 140,000

higher than the January 1953

*| figure. All these figures are pro-

| bably low. They show only those
who are registered with National
Employment Service offices.

U.S. Slump

In Washington the Census
Bureau has taken a second look
at the unemployment figures it
has been issuing. More complete
surveys led the Bureau to in-
crease its estimate of the total of
U.S. jobless in January from
2,359,000 to 3,087,000. This is an
increase of 728,000 over the pre-
vious figure and led a U.S. Fed-
eral Reserve Board official, W.
W. Riefler, to say last week that
the “dip” in business activity had
been sharper than was known
when the President’s Economic
Report to Congress was present-
ed on January 28th.

Cartadian Labor men have be2n
ltrying to tell Ottawa oifici
that the present methods of mea-
suring Canada’s economic ills are
unsatisfactory. Maybe the U.S.
experience will help convince
them.

Business Failures

Another measurement of eco-
nomic trouble is the number of
business failures. Dun and Brad-
street figures released last week
showed the number of commer-
cial failures in 1953 in Canada to
be 23 percent higher than in
1952. And the total liabilities of
bankrupt firms were 40 percent
higher. Figures for the last three
months of 1953, however, showed
that the trend was getting worse
toward the end of the year, The
number of failures was 65 per-
cent more than the last three
months of 1952 and the total of
liabilities was 125 percent higher.

Government figures, issued by
DBS, are more complete than
Dun and Bradstreet’s but they
are not yet available for the last
quarter of 1953. DBS officials
say that there is such a mass of
reports coming in under the
Bankruptcy and Winding Up Acts
that they are behind schedule in
computing the figures. When
these figures are available, how-
ever, there is no doubt that they
will show about the same in-
crease in the rate of bankrupt-
cies as Dun and Bradstreet
figures.

Jail Preferred

Statistics, whether of unem-
ployment or bankruptcy, are cold
and lifeless. Each case in the
524,000 unemployment total car-
ries its own tale of hardship,
misery and heartbreak. One story
out of the 524,000 came to light
in a Montreal court last week.

An armed man held up a candy
shop. Shortly afterwards he sur-
rendered to the police and was
charged with robbery. In court
62-year-old Philip Coutanche
pleaded guilty and asked to be
sent to the penitentiary. Then
his story unfolded. He was un-

Alex B. Macdonald

Barrister & Solicitor
Notary Public

751 Granville Street
VANCOUVER, B.C.

Telephone TAtlow 6641 ¢

employed—and what are the job
prospects for a 62-year-old man
when half a million others are
also looking for work?—he had
no relatives; he had no place to
sleep; he felt he was Tosing his
self-respect by standing in line
for food and clothing at a local
refuge; and there was still a long
three years ahead of him before
he would be eligible for his old
age pension cheque.

‘He knew that armed robbery
was a penitentiary offence and
that in the penitentiary he might
learn a trade—where there was
food and warmth and shelter.
The Judge ordered an investig:
tion into his story and after get-
ting a favorable report turned
him over to the Salvation Army
where he is now working in the
shoe shop of the rehabilitation
centre. But there are still 523,999
others, Is the Salvation Army
supposed to look after them all?

DBS NOTES

Tobacco Products: Over 93% of
the national output is produced in
Quebec.

Petroleum products used for
heating, cooking and lighting to-
talled 1,220,200,000 gallons in
1952, about 17% more than in
1951 and nearly nine times as
much as a decade earlier,

Chocolate bar output rose 7%
last year to $91,988,668 or more
than 39 bars per capita,

Vegetable oils industry manu-
factured $51,932,000 worth of
products in 1952, a 14% drop
from the 1951 value of $60,202,-
000. : e
Tobacco products were valued
at an all-time peak of $389,773,-
891 in 1952, up $48,129,758 or
12.5% over 1951. Excise duties
and taxes accounted for 64% of
the total as against 66% in the
preceding year.

Divorces numbered 6.055 last
year, 421 or 7% more than in
1952, the rate per hundred thous-
and Canadiahs advancing to 41.0
from 39.1. However, both number=
and rate were considerably lower
than in the peak year of 1947
when 8,199 decrees were granted
for a rate of 65.5.

Electric Refrigerators: Output
of household types increased by
37,260 or nearly 16% last year to
274,126 but was still 19.5% short
of the 1950 postwar peak of
341,596.

Telephone systems employed
48,207 persons or one for every
70 telephones in service in 1952
as compared with 47,387 or one
for every 66 telephones in-1951.

Infant & Junior Foods: 46,869,-
644 lb, were canned last year,
kee or 51% more than in

52.

SAN FRANCISCO
— TAILORS —
LOAN MONEY ON

Suits, Overcoats, etc,
Loggers’ Boots, Sleeping
Bags, Suitcases, Radios,

Watches and Rings

Expert Wotch Repairing

—_—_.

UNREDEEMED

Suits ond Caulk Boots
For Sale

MAIL ORDER
52 West Hastings Street
VANCOUVER, B.C,

i