OPEN FORUM

BCE expansion

S. R., Vancouver, B.C.: The
B.C. Electric is using the peo-
ple’s money to buy land for
speculation and to cut down
its income tax.

“Money for expansion is
sadly needed,” says the BCE.
“That’s why electric rates must
be increased.”

Here’s one reason the BCE
needs money. It has already
bought 10,000 acres at $1,000
an acre and it still wants to
buy 10,000 acres more.

One person on the County
Line Road at Aldergrove sold
40 acres for $38,000 cash to the
BCE. Several other farmers
around the Aldergrove dis-
trict have also sold out. Three
years ago this same land was
selling for $200 an acre.

No wonder the BCE needs
money for expansion!

Why not do this?

C. J. C., Nanaimo, B.C.: “Is
there a need for the Pacific
Tribune?” Of the several peo-
ple whom I visited for contri-
butions and to whom I put
this question, every one an-
swered that though they may
disagree with many LPP poli-
cies, they feel that publication
of the Pacific Tribune is a tre-
mendous asset to the workers
of the province. In a period
when the LPP is under serious
criticism by many of its friends,
it is reassuring to see that it
is recognized as leading in at
least one area—that of public
education in socialism and the
facts of the class struggle.

Subscribers to the Pacific
Tribune should therefore try
to come to some clarity in
their minds as to whether they
are merely passive readers and
curiosity seekers, or whether
they believe in the work of
the paper and are truly sup-
porters,

To do this effectively we
must dispel a lot of myths,
such as the impression that a
true worker for the Pacific
Tribune nust of necessity
mount soap boxes and roar
out like an angry boilermaker,
peddle the paper on street cor-
ners, and collar people for con-
tributions.

We must reassure our friends
that, though we should be
grateful to those with the
courage to speak out in public
for the policies of the Pacific
Tribune, we can help with the
hundreds of seemingly insigni-
ficant little jobs which should
make up the real, purposeful,
relentless mass action of the
people themselves, socialist at
heart and determined to make
an end to this teetering sys-
tem if not in our generation,

then most assuredly in the
next.

Here is one thing the aver-
age supporter can do. Mail
your paper weekly, after read-
ing it yourself, to some friend
or even to some name picked
out at random from the phone
book. If everyone were to do
this consistently we could
double the number of people
reached by the Pacific Tri-
bune and inevitably lead to a
large percentage of new subs,
which we need to put the paper
on a paying basis.

Historical series

B. C., Nanaimo, B.C.: In sell-
ing the Pacific Tribune around
this city in recent weeks, I
have found that many of the
people who buy it do so for
Hal Griffin’s B.C. historical
series. A number of them have
told me that it should be pub-
lished in book form, and I
agree. It is something that has
been badly needed for a long
time and now that such a work
has been done, it would be a
pity to leave it as a newspaper
serial.

“Ma, we’ve got the cost of living beat.”

Ah, some few cared.

A new race forged.

We evergreens.

Forever by the western sea

By the western sea.

Centenary

A hundred years since this land’s birth —

A time when tyrants tramped the earth.

And who then knew, and who then cared

Such fruits might bloom where the gold-mad dared?

Some came to flourish, some to fleece,

Yet one and all came seeking peace,

And they in time a new race forged

From those whose homes the tyrants scourged:

Some fished, some farmed, some felled huge trees,
And traced fresh towns with tasks like these,
Built cities, warmed them with their blood
Black with coal-dust, grey with mud:
Gave bone and blood.

Then, too, came privilege and drone

4 y

And the long struggle for our own:
L

A hundred years we evergreens

In varied unions filled the scenes:

And like our nation so far-flung
“Our greatest songs are still unsung.”

We'll taste the tang of being free

JOHN HARDING

Remember the days
of Bennett Buggies”!

UNEMPLOYED WOOD-
WORKER + (ex-stubble jump-
er), Nanaimo, B.C.: The pres-
ent serious unemployment
situation and growing signs of
another major economic de-
pression in the making pose
the questions: Is history about
to repeat itself? And what will
become of the youth of today
who will be the citizens of

tomorrow?

In order to bring these ques-
tions into sharper focus, let
me relate a little of what hap-
pened to us, the generation
now in its forties, whowere
the youth of the great depres-
sion, the period known as the
Hungry Thirties.

While all sections of the
country suffered in those dark
days_of depression, the prairie
provinces were, I believe, the
hardest hit, especially the huge
areas where drought continued
for years, piling misery upon
misery.

That era can best be illus-
trated by the coming into be-
ing of what came to be known
as Bennett Buggies. What were
Bennett Buggies, you may
ask?

Well, they were a prairie
innovation that grew out of

necessity when the farmers
could no longer afford to buy
gas and licenses for their old
cars. Being thrifty and prac-
tical people, they took the
motors out of their cars, fash-
ioned buggy hitches to them
and there you had a. Bennett
Buggy, named after the Con-
servative prime minister of
that day, R. B. Bennett.

These horse drawn vehicles
became quite popular. They
eame in many models—de luxe
sedans, coaches, coupes, closed
touring cars or just plain four
and even  six-seated “bob-
tailed” touring cars.

It was a common sight to
see the young folks with a
team of snappy young horses
go by on the way to a dance,
picnic or to church.

In Saskatchewan, some folks
couldn’t afford even Bennett
Buggies, so they cut these four-
wheelers down to two-wheeled
carts and called them Ander-
son Carts, after the Conserva-
tive premier of the province.

Continuation of the drought
and hard times forced many
farmers to move out. It was
common to see caravans (usual-
ly covered hay-wagons), with
all the farmer’s household ef-

re
May 30, 1958 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PA

fects inside followed by ont |
or horses tied behind he#

ei | |
west and north to the ie |
River country and other p@

Thousands of single me? and
teen-aged youths took to ridi
the freights in search of lt
sive jobs. \

A lot, like myself, neadet
for B.C. Seeing the peautifl’ |
mountains and lakes, the fot
ests and fruit orchards fot (
first time, we thought w° ha
really found the ‘ promi
land. However, we soon foun
out that while the climate wat
ideal, and.the scenery super’
you couldn’t eat scenery:
there were no jobs.

We used to say that the ee
advantage of B.C. was that yr ft
could starve without freed t
to death first. ;

Now the question that poth-
ers me and I believe many °
us who experienced those J
days is whether another agi
eration —our own childre?” |ll
must go through a period *
want in the midst of pier a

‘

ee ae ee A, -

Are the youth of today: ©
to speak, going to turn th
Hot Rods into Bennett fe,
gies (or should I say ee
baker Buggies)? Will alk
have to take to the rein \
search of jobs? Are they ae &
to end up in relief camps ie obs Ny
lar to the tar-papered ste %
of Bennett’s slave camp5 ® ,
Hungry Thirties?

Are the youth of today et
to become another “Lost os
eration” which nobody 8° ok
to care about in those da¥®

4

Or is the youth of 1068 i \
ing to. be helped, first ° 28 1%
to ensure that it will 2° so \
future, by outlawing af
weapons and preventint he
other world. war? Wil onl
labor and farmer movem™ ive
unite their forces 4! wid
them the opportunity nt
and develop this rich © oie ‘D
of ours into the most me ne Ne
and advanced industrl@ jg
tion of the world, wit? ul
highest educational @°% sj
standards, to livé i
and happy life in iis al Fe
relation and peace with
other nations? i

mp
Although I have not atte the

ed to give the answers ave
questions I have raised, Nel 1 fy
tried ta show the paral of }
the problems of the YOU" gay!
yesterday in order tha day
may help the youth of tute
find the road to thel! ” . of
Let’s have some discuss!

the subject. f