ne MDa LAA LIL | D>. bess = : rT FD | fp il ly 4 Wale6-- No: 45 Vancouver, B.C., Friday, November 7, 1947 <2 Fic tenes | 4 BCElectric claims refute | STREETCAR FARE HIKE PLANNED 9 YEARS AGO | ee Modern Paul Revere @® A new Paul Revere, on a ' mission no less urgent than that of his historical prototype, is Senator Glen H. Taylor (Dem. ‘Idaho), who is traversing the United States on horseback to &rouse the American people to the dangers of the Truman ad- ministration’s foreign policy. Senator Taylor believes that the American people have not been Siven the full story of their Sovernment’s differences with Russia and that the truth is being concealed from them by high officials following a hostile And provocative policy. ® Here Senator Taylor is shown with one of the two Arabian mounts he is using om his. trip just before he left California for New York. Profits hit all-time high OTTAWA — Canadian Corporations in 1946 made higher profits than ever be- fore. After government taxes, profits amounted to $739,000,000 which, com- Pared to 1938 when profits Were a measly $375,000,000. Taking a total of invest- ment income and gross cor- Porate profits, the figure is actually $3,059,000,000 — One third of the national income to a few thousand People. The Dominion Bureau of Statistics revealed these figures this week in its na- tional accounts, income and ©xpenditure tables. Thus, Canadian corpora- tion heads, owners of in dustry, made a profit of ap- Proximately $115 (before taxation on declared profits) from every man, woman and child in the country. Comparison of profits to real wages of workers, far- mers and salaried people shows an actual decrease of eight percent, according to an analysis of DBS figures. In 1938 the percentage of salaries and wages in the total product of the coun- try, was 62 percent. In 1946, it had dropped to 54 per- cent. Wages, salaries and supplementary income in 1946 was $5,113,000,000. While profits from in- vestment rose from 17 to 20 percent, consumers took a beating by being able to buy only 66 percent of goods and services pro- duced, compared to 72 per- cent in 1938—in spite of greatly increased produc- tion. It is doubtful if Canad- ians ate more in 1946 than in 1938—indeed milk con- sumption alone is down millions of quarts a month. But reflecting the increased cost of living, Canadians spent a little over one bill- ion dollars more for food in 1946 than they did in 1938. DBS reveals that Cana- da’s gross national product —explained as the market value of all goods and ser- vices produced in the coun- try during the year—is $11,417,000,000. This is more than double the 1938 figure of $5,141,000,000. National income in the same period was $9,464,000,000 compared to $3,972,000,000 in 1938, Headlines from Vancouver daily newspapers in ect 1942 and 1943 were lifted from the files.this week to remind a foot-weary public that four and five years ago the BCElectric was intimating that it would have.to apply for a higher fare after the war. The headlines were also a direct refutation of the transportation monopoly’s argument that if it conceded strik- ing street railwaymen their full demand of 20 cents an hour wage increase and the 40-hour week it would have to seek a 10-cent fare, thus endeavoring to place the onus for higher fares on the Street Railwaymen’s Union in Vancouver, Vic- toria and New Westminster. On January 7, 1943, the now “unfair” Vancouver Daily Province carried this headline: BCELECTRIC DOES NOT ANTICIPATE PEACETIME RAISE IN RATES EX- CEPT IN FARES AND GAS PRICES. And the Public Utilities Commission has already allowed the company’s ap- plication for higher gas rates. On November 23, 1943, this headline appeared: BOOST IN STREETCAR FARES, POWER RATES, SEEN IN REPORTS, and a day later, CORNETT RAPS BCELEC- TRIC REPORT — SEES HIGHER CAR FARE, GAS RATE. And on January 26, 1944, the headline was: BOOST IN STREETCAR FARES, GAS RATES, AFTER WAR SEEN. This week the Housewives Consumer Association here reaffirmed its stand that the BCElectric could afford to meet the demands of the Street Railwaymen’s Union without raising streetcar and bus fares, charging that the BCElectric’s financial statement for 1946, showing extraordinary charges for repairs and maintenance of equipment and tracks, created a misleading impression that the transportation system was operating at a loss, when previous financial statements showed a steady profit. The hard-hitting housewives’ organization demanded that a full public hearing be held before any application for an increased fare is allowed. Typical of public reaction to the BCElectric’s claim that it was operating at a loss was this letter to a Vancouver newspaper this week: “I understand the BCElectric is losing over a million dollars & year on their transportation system. If this is true—and it must be, A. E. Grauer says so—why was he so anxious to get a new 20-year franchise which, by the way, the public had no say in? “I think it would be much wiser to lose a million and not ask for more grief and lose $20 million. “This statement alone is enough reason to demand a public erquiry.’ As the Pacific Tribune went to press this week members of the Street Railwaymen’s Union were reported to be taking a vote on a proposal brought back by their representatives after conferences with civic and company officials. Exact wording of the ballot was being withheld until completion of the vote, but it was freely reported that the offer being voted upon was the 10-cents an hour wage increase rejected before the strike was called, the only concession being a six months advance in the date the 40-hour week will come into force, from the spring of 1949 to the fall of 1948. With the company still refusing to give more than this minor concession, it was expected that the amended offer would be rejected as decisively as the earlier one. (Contimued on page 8 — See BCELECTRIC)