HIGHER MILK PRICES UNDERMINE HEALTH

seal aed matte ee crea nt a INRA Eh MNT SE i aT aa Nt OE PET As Ua ll i RS

. ae

Curb profits, lower taxation
on consumer goods, forum urges

CURBING PROFITS on essen-
tial articles) reinstituting of an
excess profits tax and lowering of
taxation on consumer goods were
three methods suggested to the
federal government in a resolu-
tion passed by 100 Vancouver citi-
zens at a public forum on high
prices, held in Medical Dental
Auditorium here last week under
auspices of the Canadian Congress
of Women.

Speakers at the meeting in-
cluded Dr. Stewart Murray medi-
cal health officer; Homer Stev-
ens, business agent of the Fish-
‘ermén’s Union; Dorothy Lynas,
Congress executive member; and
Alderman Anna Sprott.

“Since June consumption of
milk has dropped 10 percent,”
said Mrs, Lynas. “Boosting of the
Brice from 17 to 19 cents a quart
will cut consumption still further.
And price increases have affect-

ed nearly all consumer goods.
From August, 1939, to September,
1950, average increase on 21 ar-
ticles used almost daily is 90 per-
cent. This list doesn’t include
milk, bread, coffee, tea or meat.”

Ald. Sprott, who chairs the so-
cial service committee at city hall,
expressed herself as greatly per-
turbed over high prices, and said
that “every time people come in
to see me their cheeks look a
little more sunk in than on the
previous visit.”

‘We have an economic illness in
our midst today,” commented Dr.
Stewart Murray. “My department
is concerned with the health of
the people, but prices rising as
they are today, people are finding
it increasingly difficult to live up
to normal health rules.”

“Trade unions are negotiating
for higher wages to try and catch
up with the spiral of inflation,”

~

WORLD CONGRESS DELEGATE

Mary. Clarer outstanding

Mary

young worker for peace

A FEW WEEKS 280,

Clarer, outstanding young Toron~

to peace petitioner, was lying in
Women’s College Hospital, recup-
erating from an operation she
had undergone. :

Weak and ailing, Mary contin-
ued to work for peace in her ward
among the patients. ,

When I visited her she was
proudly displaying to another
patient the medal awarded her by
the World Federation of Demo-
cratic Youth. (The medal, which
Mary was using as a buckle on
her housecoat, was recently pre-
sented to a number of exemplary
young peace fighters throughout
the world).

Mary, who is going to the Sec-
Ond World Peace Congress as 4
representative of Canadian youth,
was telling the other patients in
the ward about the peace Move-
Ment—and winning new support-
ers, too.: .

ik * * )
- TO UNDERSTAND what
makes this young Toronto office
worker such a dynamic and devot-
ed worker on behalf of the people,
let’s go back several years.

Mary was born in Montreal
twenty-four years ago, the daugh-
ter of a working class family. Her
father, a presser, was active in
his trade union.

She was brought up in a pro-
gressive Jewish environment and
was a pupil in the Morris Win-
chevsky School in Montreal.

After spending two years at
high school, Mary was forced to
look for a job to help support her
famly. fe

“My father used to take me
with him to mass meetings, and
I learned to understand the pro-
gressive movement and what it
meant for the working people and
for the youth,” Mary explained.

Her brother served overseas in
the last war in the Black Watch,
@ division almost entirely wiped
Out by the Nazis. “Too many sons,
brothers and sweethearts were
killed in the last war for us to
enter into another — horrible
Slaughter, only five years after
the end of world war two,” Mary
Said, :

In 1946, Mary joined the Youth
Division of the UJPO and soon
became a member of its executive.

Mary sang in the Montreal Jew- :

ish. Folk Choir and she often

/

MARY /CLARER

sparks the sing-songs at parties
and affairs. She has written many
fine songs herself, the best known
being the peace petition song rm
Gonna Put My Name Down, of
which she is the co-author. She

also collaborated with Joan Oren- _

stein to produce the Salute to the

‘Youth of Winnipeg pageant per-
formed by the National Federation

of Labor Youth last June.
* * *

MOST IMPORTANT, of course,
has been Mary’s work on the
world peace petition. From the
beginning of the campaign in May,
Mary was out petitioning almost
every day and collected more than
2,000 signatures. If not for her
operation and consequent illness,

she would have collected many

mere names. ! :

I asked her how she felt about
going as a delegate to the second
World Peace Congress.

“Tm very excited about the
whole thing,” she answered, “es-
pecially since T’ll have a chance
to meet and talk to people from
almost every country. I'll have a
lot to tell them about our peace
movement and expect to learn a
lot from them to tell people here
when I get back.”

‘When Mary returns from the
Congress in December, she is g0-

‘ing to be married. “I want to live

a normal, peaceful, life and raise
a family, as do all young Can-
adians. That's why I’m working
in the peace movement. All of us
ean do a lot more for peace. We
can popularize the new proposals
of the World Peace Congress at
our clubs and societies. In _ this
way our government will know

that the people are determined to
have peace and must be reckoned

with.”

BEN SHEK

“men’s organizations,
‘groups and others, urge that the

said Homer Stevens. “It is not
true that high wages are causing
high prices; it is price increases
on over 200 commodities which
necessitated unions taking action
to raise lagging wages.”

As an example of how wages
fail to keep pace with zooming
prices, Stevens sait that in 1943
fishermen received 17 cents a
pound for sockeye salmon and in
1950 they receive 27 cents. But
in the same period the wholesale
price of an 80-pound case has
jumped from $18 to $33. \

Audience discussion followed
the speeches and revealed a strong
resentment against action of E.
‘C. Carr, the provincial “One-Man
Milk Board,” in allowing last
week’s milk boost.

The resolution passed by the
meeting pointed out that it is be-
coming “increasingly difficult for
families to maintain a healthful
standard of
prices’ and declared that “in-
creases are unjustified in view of
the extremely high level of pro-
fits.” i

“This public forum of Vancou-
ver ‘citizens ,representative of
public officials, trade unions, wo-
community

government take the necessary
steps to bring prices down by
curbing profits, and suggest tHat
the government should tax ex-
cess profits and lower. taxes on
consumer goods,” the resolution
concluded. :

RADIO TALK

(BC sponsors —

women’s series

FOR THE NEXT few months
you can, if you want, get away
from soap operas. Oh, they'll still
be on the air, of course, but now
you'll have an alternative. The
CBC is sponsoring a special calen-
der of programs for women which
should effectively dispose of John’s
Other Wife’s Other Husband.”

“Our Children in Tomorrow’s
World”, a series of talks which
began on November 2 and will
continue every Thursday for the
next six weeks, offers some inter-
esting titles. On November 16 the
topic will be, “The Atomic Threat
—Wars Must Not Happen”, and
on December 14, “Shock Absorb-
ers—Propaganda Must Be Sifted.”

Unfortunately, CBR here is not

carrying this first series, so why

not phone or write asking this
station to include these talks on
its programs? :

Another series, which began on
November 6 and is earried by
CBR every Monday at 1:45 p.m., is
entitled “Club Clinic’ and deals
with organization and running of
clubs. Speakers are women com-
munity leaders drawn from var-
ious parts of the country.

Still another feature is the news
commentaries by women heard

daily from Monday to Friday at

1:56 p.m.

In the new year, women’s letters
to the prime minister will be read,
and if you feel like writing him
(who doesn't?) you can get the
information on how to go about
getting your letter aired over
this program by writing CBR or
your local CBC station.

Views and comments on these
programs will be welcomed by
this page—so why not start list-

ening and let us know what you

think about them.

!

living at present’

a AR Ai ME EV La

LC Ss

A COMMITTEE set up by the
B.C: Parent-Teacher Federation
has investigated the problem of
school children stealing lunches
at school and now it has made
the comprehensive report on the
plight of destitute families and
the effect on the children especi-
ally.

The committee was set up fol-
lowing reports of last spring that
children of unemployed employ-
able men were going hungry be-
cause their parents were not re-
ceiving unemployment benefits.
The chief cause of the distress
seemed to be the number of un-
employed persons not, eligible for
either unempolyment insurance or
social assistance.

The committee’s findings are
based on the following reports in
the city of Vancouver and sur-
rounding area. Of the families
who registered with the Commu-
nity Chest, some had not been in
insured jobs, others had not ac-
quired enough insurance stamps
and others had exhausted their
benefits. Ten were awaiting pay-
ment of benefits and in the mean-
time needed food. Since assist-
ance may be granted to unemploy-
able people, efforts of otherwise
ineligible applicants to qualify by
finding some disability good en-
ough to merit a medical certifi-

‘cate were noted by the committee

which commented that “it is un-
fortunate that anyone who really
wants a job should, is order to
obtain food, endeavor to be clas-
sified as unfit.

Last April, three cases of hun-
ger Were found in Seymour School.
In one case the father was injur-
ed, placed on Workmen’s Compen-

_ their children and the youngsters

sation, returned to work, and let
out of work with no insurance
available. In Sir, James Douglas
School, four families were found
to have insufficient funds to feed

were seen Stealing lunches. In
yet another school a family ‘of
eight was found with half a loaf
of bread — no other food and no
money. The school staff and the
Metropolitan Health Unit “scroun_
ged” food for this family for five
weeks until the father got work
because the authorities refused to
lift a finger.

The committee has suggested
that a study be made through the
city schools again this winter, and
that if possible, funds be set up —
to provide lunches for children
when the family is destitute. They
state there is urgent need for re-
vision and coordination of all
forms of unemployment assistance
and suggests that the National
Federation is the body that should
continue to urge the federal gov-
ernment to bring about such re-
vision. : ‘

Surely no parent ¢an sit by and
see children go hungry. It is im-
portant that every mother and
father assist their local PTAs in-
their fight for hot school lunches. —
If it is impossible to have free.
lunches immediately for all child_
ren, then the whole program
should be subsidized in order that
the cost to the child is kept to
minimum. The health of the
younger generation must be pro-
tected and it is up to us as par-
ents to see that everything pos-
sible is done to meet the needs of”
our children. —B.G.:

target.
lowed two weeks.

week:

_ Ship and Steel,
Victory Square. 36;

TOTAL, 703.

TOTAL, 465.

UB TOTAL in the 1950 Pacific Tribune drive now ~
stands at 1,168, with 832 subs needed to reach our.
Vancouver press groups have only one week
left to hit their targets; provincial supporters are al-
lf everyone pitches in we can still
go over the top. Here's the record up to Monday this

VANCOUVER SCOREBOARD

52; Grandview, 41; Kitsilano, 38;

West End, 31; Norquay, 30; Elec-
trical, 28; Renfrew, 25; Capitol Hill, 25; Commercial,
23; Vancouver Heights, 19; Central Burnaby, 18; Hast-
ings East, 17; Sea and Shore, 16; Halperin, 14; Fair-
view, 14; Maritime, 14; Advance, 13;
Moberley, 13; Forest Products, 12;
Civic Workers, 9; Niilo Makela, 8;

7; A. E. Smith, 7; South Burnaby, 6; Olgin, 5; Strath-
cona, 5; East End, 4; Georgia, 3; Waterfront, 2; North
Varcouver Area, 62; NFLY, 9; miscellaneous, 72.

PROVINCE SCOREBOARD

Nanaimo, 70; Alberni, 69; New Westminster, 42;
Victoria, 36; Sointula, 20; Fort St. James, 17; Notch
Hill, 16; Campbell River, 14; Lake Cowichan, 12; Sal-
mon Arm, 8; Fort Langley, 7; Whonnock, 7; Cumber-
land, 6; Vernon, 5; Powell River, 5; Kamloops, 4; .
Michel-Natal, 4; Woodfibre, 4; Copper Mountain, 3;
Britannia, 3; Albion, 2; Websters, 1; Cambie, 1; Fernie,
1; Mission, 1; correspondence, 7; miscellaneous, 84.

Bill Bennett, 13;
Point Grey, 12;
Building Trades,

RUSH IN THOSE SUBS!

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — NOVEMBER 10, 1950 — PAGE 1