10 B.C. LUMBER WORKER. BANANA FIRM GETS POWER By MARTIN LEVINSON “Will the Foreign Office now address its official cor- respondence to the new government of Guatemala or to the United Fruit Company?” This question was asked in in the British House of Commons by Labor M.P. John Strachey about a month ago. We don’t think that he was too far off the beam, because from all appearances the giant banana company had a big hand in the recent Guate- malan fracas. Now appearances may be de- ceiving, but the first actions of the new dictatorship sure seem to bear this out. The old govern- ment under Col. Arbenz Gusman had passed land reform legisla- tion and had given the exprop- viated land to the land-hungry peasants, Since the United Fruit Com- pany was the largest landowner in Guatemala, naturally it was the most affected by this pro- gram. With almost indecent haste after his victory Gen. Castillo Armas, leader of the new govern- ment, suspended the reform law. We can guess that this action met with the approval of the United Fruit Company. H Company Run In Guatemala, and in the rest of Latin America, the United Fruit Company means more than bananas. It also means sugar, molasses, cacao, a’vailway of 1514 miles, and a navy of 65 ships. It means 8,000,000 acres of land and 100,000 employees. It means that certain Latin American countries like Honduras are practically run by the Company. It also means high profits for the United Fruit Company and exploitation for its employees, It means a constant struggle by liberal governments against the vested interests of foreign investors who are drawing out the wealth of Latin America and leaving very little for the people. When I was in Costa Rica, Presi- dent Jose Figueres told a group of us that out of every dollar's worth of bananas sold to the U.S. only 20c remained in the country. The rest went to United Fruit Headquarters in Boston, The Company’s fight against liberal and progressive governments in Latin America goes on; in Gua- temala, at least for the present, this fight has been won, Other Factors Of course there are other fac- tors in the Guatemalan situation. One of these is that the old Gua- temalan government, at least at the end, was strongly influenced by the Communists. The Com- munists had gained control of the largest trade union federation; this federation in turn had con- siderable influence over the gov- ernment. Because of this, an at- tempt of non-Communist trade unionists to set up their own national organization met with opposition from the Government. A number of free trade union- ists were thrown ‘into jail or ex- iled. Of course we condemn A DICTATORSHIP OF THE RIGHT these actions, but we wonder if the actual strength of the Com- munists in Guatemala has been overemphasizea. According to a report in the N.Y. Times, there were only about 2,000 Com- munists in Guatemala; only four held office in the 56-member gov- ernment. But as usual, they were quick to take advantage of con~ ditions favorable to them. When the old right-wing dic- tatorship of Ubico was over- thrown in 1944, it was succeed- ed by a liberal government. Under this government a Labor Code was established, the Gua- temalan Institute of Social Security was set up, and, some- what later, land reform meas- ures were undertaken. There were almost no Communist in- fluence. Why did it grow? In our opinion, one of the most important reasons is to be found in the efforts of the Guatemalan Goyernment to get a better deal from the United Fruit Company. Certain actions of the American Government seemed to stamp it as an ally of United Fruit—for example, the United States press- ed the Company’s claim against Guatemala for 15 million dollars for expropriated land. In the mind of many Guatemalans it became difficult to distinguish be- tween the United States of Am- erica and United Fruit of America. This situation was tailor-made for the Communists. They used the growth of anti-Americanism to pull away from the influence of the U.S. and turned toward the U.S.S.R. Extensive trade was developed with Iron Curtain coun- tries, And when the Organiza- at Caracas passed a U.S.-inspired resolution against Communism obviously aimed at Guatemala, it withdrew from that organization further convinced of American enmity, U.S. Supported Government, The new U.S.-supported gov- ernment of Guatemala may be anti-Communist, but there are signs that-it’s anti-democratic as well, It extended for another 30 days the suspension of all civil liberties put into effect by the previous government. It disfran- chised all those unable to read or read — about 73 percent of the population. ‘When is the U.S. going to start getting worried about dictator- ship of the right in Latin Ameri- ca? When is it going to stop supporting exploitation of Latin Americans by American com- panies? When is it going to re- alize that people can’t live by anti-Communism alone? And most important, when is it going to start supporting those forces and movements in Latin America which are working for economic and social progress? Delegates elected to repre- sent Local 1-85, IWA, at the IWA International Conven- tion, in Milwaukee, August 28 to 27, are as follows: John Squire, Jack Moore, Les. Otterson,. Tara Singh, Ed. Cox, Tom McMurphy, Jack Whittall, Norman Rob- ertson, Roy Cooke and Len tion of American States meeting Randall. : INSTRUCTION IN INDUSTRIAL FIRST AID pondence Courses leading to Ind approved by the Workmen's Compens: orréspondence Course in Timekeeping and available shrough Col First Aid Certifle: Board of B.C. Al Basic Accident Prevention. THE INDUSTRIAL FIRST AID ATTENDANTS ASSN. OF B.C. , 180 West Hastings Street Vancouver 3, B.C. ~ $850,000 Melon Cut — Senior officials of British Columbia’s biggest private power concern have handed themselves a tax-free gift that already amounts to nearly $850,000 and is very likely to continue to increase in value. The details, which remained undisclosed for seven months, were revealed recently. Last December, officers of the B.C. Power Corp., whose subsid- iary, B.C. Electric, provides transportation as well as power and light for the greater Van- couver area, set aside 135,000 shares in the company. A total of 48 company executives were given options to buy the shares at $16.02 each at any time dur- ing the next ten years. ‘At the date of the option, B.C. Electric stock was quoted on the stock exchange at $17.75 a share. This represented an immediate gift, to those eligible for taking up the option, of $1.75 a share— a total of nearly $235,000, Paper Profit Today the share price is quot- ed at around $22.25 which means that the total “paper profit” al-| ready made on the deal is around $850,000. The price is likely to continue its climb. However, even if the price should suddenly drop well below the option price, the officials con- cerned need not suffer any finan- cial loss. Because the option on the-shares has been given, it need not necessarily be exercised. Any appreciation in the value of shares can be treated as a “capital gain” and thus be im- mune from personal income tax.| ‘This makes the stock option offer particularly attractive to the off. cials concerned. Profit Rise The company, as a whole, has made considerable progress since the war in modernization and de- . velopment. Its rates for and transportation have jumped considerably. Profits for the last three years have been: 1951, $2, | 913,834; 1952, $4,005,070; and 1953, $4,595,257. British Columbia ranks second only to Quebec as a source of power potential. Nevertheless the rates charged for power are rela~ tively high (compared, for ex- ample, with Ontario whose rate per kilowatt hour was $1.25 in 1951 against B.C.’s $2.25) while power consumption in the prov- ince is relatively low. Finland’s Unions | Plan Education By B. Tenhunen (Mr. B. Tenhunen, Editor, Va- paa Sana, gathered the informa- tion for this article on a recent trip to his homeland.) TORONTO (CPA) —Finland’s Trade Union School is recognized as one of the most important adult education institutions in the country. Operated by the Central Orga- nization of Finland’s trade union movement, this modern college is located at Kiljava, about 60 miles from Helsinki, amidst picturesque surroundings on the shore of a beautiful lake. While it has only been in ex- istence for four years, it has al- ready established a fine record as a centre of learning. It conducts both a long winter-semester course dealing with such subjects as labor legislation, social prob- lems and matters of cultural in- terest, and specialized short-term courses arranged by various trade unions for practical instruction. Youth courses are also popular. During the summer when the Olympie games were in progress, the ICFTU (International Con- federation of Free Trade Unions) held its third international Sum- mer School at Kiljava. Ultra-modern The construction of this ultra- HUB HUMOR “How about a game of checkers, Cactus?” There's a time for everything. Now’s the time to get one of our 2-pant suits at $55. Newest styles and. shades. Buy yours ot- THE HUB with FREE CREDIT. 45 EAST HASTINGS modern project was itself a les- son in cooperation and teamwork. A great deal of the construction and equipment was contributed by members of unions. Materials came from union shops all over the country, When completed the buildings were valued at about $600,000. The government con- tributed about $80,000 of this amount. The balance came from trade union and other sources. Running on an economic basis, the school provides complete ac- commodation for the labor stu- dents. Last year about 50 stu- dents took the full-term course, about 200 took the short-term courses and almost a hundred took the summer course. The teaching staff is made up of both university teachers and trad unionists. : “But, little boy,” said the Jib- rarian, “what on earth do you want with a book, ‘Advice to Young Mothers’ ?” Said the little boy: “I’m col- lecting moths.” Listen to GREEN GOLD GOR, THURS. 7 P. M. VACATIONS — APPROVED Approval of a resolution on paid vacations was a major re- sult of the 37th International Labor Conference, held recently in Geneva. The ILO recom- mendation states that workers, with a few exceptions, should have paid vacations of two weeks for 12 months’ service, with proportionate leaye for short service. Sick List Vancouver General Sisters Alison Brown and Pearl Hodgson of the W.A,, Local 1-217, IWA, visited the’ following pa- tients in the Vancouver General, Hospital, July 15th, distributing candy, cigarettes and copies of the B.C, Lumber Worker? Carrigan, Prince George—Feeling fine. Roberts, Nelson Island —Improv- ing. Klenk, Prince George—Ill. Higginson, O'Brien Logging—Fine, Stoney, Chemainus—Fine, Henderson, Bay Lumber—Improv- ing. Luktick, Port Alberni—Improving. Byrd, Prnce Rupert—Fine, Melnic, Kennedy Lake—Fine, Quaye, Cranbrook—Fine, Lind, Chemainus—Fine, Gordon Larson, Prince George — Fine, Antoine Blauchard, Sylvan Bay— Fine, Douglas Pryor, Harrison Lake — Fine, Leondor Motts, Britain River — Improving. Leslie Coe, Mud Bay—Improving. Paul Landry, Kliidala Arm — Im- proving, B. Eckert, Williams Lake—Fine, Aristocrat. .... REAL | Anniversary. RYES | Viscount. . . Special Reserve DRY GINS MELCHERS hore timo dabdddilae flab Garrison Club (The Luxury Gin) London Club (The Cocktail Gin) melchers 8 years old .. 5 years old .. 4 years old -.. 3 years old space QUALITY BRANDS - This advertisement is not published or displayed Control Board or by the Government of me “