2 B.C. LUMBER WORKER “ ‘a “2nd Issue, May Scott Exposes False Front By JACK SCOTT (Reprinted from The Vancouver Sun) (In his regular column, “Our Town” which appeared in The Vancouver Sun, May 20, Jack Scott dealt in an objec- tive and penetrating way with the attitude taken by some sections of the community toward present unemployment. For that reason it is reprinted below, by courtesy of The Vancouver Sun. It merits widespread attention as it advo- cates a commonsense recognition of the fact that unem- ployment is causing serious damage to the economy and requires genuine remedial measures rather than attempts to “wish it away.”—EpIToR) The curious condition of our economy these days makes some mighty strange musi I heard yesterday — as it hap- pened, right after a phone call from an old friend who was ask- ing my help in getting a job —a radio commercial from Seattle by an automobile agency. It went something like this: “Folks! Got those recession blues? Worried by the pessi- mists? Well, don’t let them get you down! Let’s chase the gloom away. Let’s keep Ameri- ca prosperous. Come on down today and buy a new car!” Since my. friend — one of 25 laid off since Christmas in his firm — is in immediate danger of losing his car to the finance com- pany this message seemed doubly ludicrous. Yet it is right in character with the kind of noises that are to be heard from leaders in industry and finance on both sides of the bor- der. It seems you can’t pick up a paper these days without reading some soothing words from the big fellows who are chucking us under the chin and assuring us that everything is going to be hunky-dory, that the staggering unemployment figures and the dif- ficulties of making ends meet under inflation are just temporary inconveniences, that any kind of realistic appraisal of them is rock- ing the boat. * * * I believe that our daily news- papers are bungling the job of telling us just how serious the situation really is, that far too much space is given to those Chamber of Commerce Poll: annas and their statements tended to calm any alarm and not nearly enough space is given the hard facts that make the alarm genuine. Of late several of the British newspapers which reach my desk have been featuring stories on the recession as it affects both the United States and Canada and it seems deplorable to me that these papers should be viewing our troubles more objectively than our own daily press. The dignified Times of London, for example, recently dealt grim- ly with our unemployment situa- tion — four-and-a-half million in the United States, more than half- a-million in Canada — and the News-Chronicle front-paged a re- port from Detroit where its cor- respondent reported 250,000 un- employed, soup kitchens set up and day-long queues at the City Welfare office. Detroit, of course, is the auto- mobile city, and the News- Chronicle man writes, “Here is the heyday of the debt collector. In haulage trucks they cruise the streets checking their lists with parked cars. Two hundred a day are seized.” Quite a con- trast to the Seattle dealer’s idea. The Observor cites the hand- ing out of emergency benefits for the jobless as a stop-gap measure enhower, without which 's would have had literally to stop buying anything at all and to stop paying the time payments with which every American work- ing-class family is saddled.” Duncan Lake Cowichan (Graham HANEY DUNCAN BUSINESS GUIDE LOUTET AGENCIES LTD. INSURANCE AND REAL ESTATE J. Lindsay Loutet Gordon R. Loutet HANEY BUSINESS GUIDE “ESQUIRE” MEN'S WEAR Complete Stock of Work and Dress Clothing “THE STORE WITH THE POPULAR BRANDS” 131 Jubilee St. S. Shore Road Mowatt) BRITISH COLUMBIA PORT ALBERNI BUSINESS GUIDE MacGREGOR’S MEN’S WEAR For Everything A Man Wears tk WORK, SPORT or DRESS We Can Afford To Sell The... BEST For LESS! WOODWARD STORES (PORT ALBERNI) LTD. “YOUR FAMILY SHOPPING CENTRE” Closed Wednesdays All Day Phone 1600 Hours: 9 - 5:30 KELOWNA MEMBERS of Local 1-423, IWA, pose for their picture in the new bui jing the Local Union and Interior Regional Officers share. Group are from left, Elmer Heitt; S. A. Muir, Financial Secretary; G. Major, W. Schumaker, J. Welder, President; N. Reibin. Another London paper, The People, quotes-a Canada-wide survey by its Ottawa corres- pondent (he reports 400 men a day queuing up at soup kitchens in Edmonton) and summarized his report by noting, “I forecast eight weeks ago that the number of Canadians on the dole would increase. It has — to an extent far beyond by worst fears.” * * * ‘The labor press in Canada, too, presents a picture that is so much more stark — and, I believe, so much more accurate — that one wonders if the daily press papers aren't guilty of distorting the pic- ture in the name of optimism, the hope that if we elevate our eyes delicately from our troubles they'll go away. These papers hammer away at the real causes of inflation, the price-setting by large and fre- quently monopolistic groups that have the working man at their mercy. The Chamber of Commerce boys may call it propaganda, but the cold statistics show that corporation profits continue to gallop merrily far in excess of the wage gains of organized labor. There of course, arguments and theories on both sides, but any one who is exposed to the British papers and to the union papers is bound to feél some con- fusion and to wish that there might be some reporting in the depth of our own press to give us a true assessment of where we stand. I know where my unemployed friend stands. He's in heavy trouble. And I can’t believe, mul- Jodoin Defends Labour's Rights “IT have been both shocked and amazed at the vicious attack made on organized laboursin Canada by Percy M. Fox, president of the St. Lawrence Corporation Ltd , in his annual report made public today,” said Claude Jodoin, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, recently “Mr, Fox is aparently unable to understand the fundamental dem- ocratic right of Canadian workers to make their own selection of the organization which will represent them in bargaining. The fact i that over 70 per cent of the or- ganized workers in Canada have selected organizations of an inter- national nature with membership in both Canada and the United States, This is the right of Cana- dian workers, just as it is the right of Mr. Fox’s company to have people from New York and Phil- adelphia on his Board of Direc- labour | uch terms s and grafters’ and alien approach to Canadian nee and then care- fully avoids the possibility of be- coming subject to libel by failing to name names. “The record of the labour move- ment in Canada, including both ational and international unions, is a clean one. Our Congress has repeatedly stated that if there is anything wrong’ we would like to know about jt because we are quite prepared promptly nd effectively with it, as our con- Hitution provides. Slanderous in- uendos direcied wholesale against people who give leadership to la- bour organization in Canada make ne contribution to the good and welfare of either industry or Ia- bour. “Mr. Fox makes an ardent plea for a better ‘basic relationship be- tween Canadian management and Canadian labour.’ There is need for such a relationship but it will never be established if spokesmen for management of the rank of Mr, Fox make such unwaranted at- tacks. Thousands of well-known and highly-respected people who havé given their lives to the labour movement will resent his state- ments. They will resent even more his self-assumed role of wanting, as part of management, to dictate the form of organiza- tion Canadian workers will have. “We are thankful we in Canada still have that right of choice; if we should ever lose it, as Mr. would seem to desire, it will be a sad day for democracy.” Warning Re Trade unionists in British Columbia were again warned re- cently by District President Joe Morris, IWA, to be on guard against the activities of under- cover employers’ organizations seeking “right to work” laws @ 4 re wenes THERE LOGGERS’ AND LUMBERMEN’S CHOICE For Over 35 Years Watson's Leather JOHN WATSON LTD. Gloves Union Made by VANCOUVER, B. peated similar to those with which em- ployers “have shackled trade unions in some of the States. In dealing with this matter he said in part: ‘An organization designed to promote union-wrecking ‘right-to- work’ legislation in Canada, and called the ‘Committee for Econ- omic Rights and Freedom’ was officially condemned by resolution at the recent CLC convention, “The resolution called on the incoming officers of the Congress to investigate the ‘anti-labor union act! of the group and ‘take any action they deem necessary, including publicity and represen- tation to the Federal Govern- ment.” It is anticipated that in British Columbia, the B.C. Federation of Labour will take action in con- formity with the policy outlined by the national body. eee