CVU DIVUIG WHIIICS

on ‘Bloody Sunday’

By STEVE BRODIE

(Second of series)

: el when ex:chief of police
Boe Was known as “‘Wonder
a _He gave evidence on oath.
eect day, in case after
: tim : a on or about a certain
: is € had been obstructed in
ae uty. by a succession of boys.
— sehe of whom weighed over 120
came: With his handsome
hae lilted as just the right
B €. he swore on his oath that
_,. Was obstructed ten times a
es ae representing what the late
er described as_ the
ae easily obstructed police
in the world.
eyuore notable occasion, Van-
Mr ae Mr. Conservative,
hig fi a) Smith Johnson, a
re ay member of the
ip a work rarely took him
With h ¢ lower courts, reacted
ont Oo ins at the proceedings in
i leave to speak. he
i as to the men’s right to
Ran ae trial, since they had
: Earested at varying times
aaa White-faced and
Scie a questioned the legality
te whole procedure.

ae a Whining sanctimonious
% iin ee uate Wood said, “I
emplovn df there was adequate
not be et these men would
have. ere, It_grieves me to
every + deal with these cases
Smith Jon On the reply of Mr.
ae Ohnson that, “the courts
Matex. yi used to support a
emplov of no policy on un-
MovinGiat by federal and
Wepre ae authority,” the men
Cua aa only to be
tigen the following day. When
ae procedure prevailed.
anpeuirs an Smith Johnson,
trie : again in this story. as he
BI ae help the victims of
oy “ody Sunday.’ when- he

Ped leave he ake
Ee Main BTA ec the courtroom
: ca In tears, at the
es i © of law without justice.
remem people know, or
er. that great. good

Man, 4

law but loved justice
cle tried to do right
others it Was right. and unlike
Teo Made no political gains
“anc Us efforts. Had our courts
few Police listened to the very
a of his calibre who
Manners, vc, result of what was
have ne then they would not
CNemieg Cn on the image of
tie Of social justice, which
Question pe makes them a
ae Stitution | and sneered at in-
those of. 4 is no satisfaction to
result { Us who warned of such
ae “T told you so.”
Rape eS Against such. a
s°Kground of unnecessary
leartyy Inept government. and
Courts. supported by
= Previgne toes foreign to all
—Nstieg | Concepts of law and
M Canada, that the Van-
Place Ost Office sitdown took

ores

met HI the elected leadership
hag <.. "€Mployed Association
ee AC: Me experience of police
know png the years and well
When os rots were started and
Iefonce ols were needed. AS a
ie iMfittratee provocation by
-* S¥ster fd agents, the group
Men Sey employed. Each ten
"esponsible a group leader
and hig. to the division leader
deputy. Many attempts

were made to provoke trouble by
agents armed with I.D. -cards
taken from arrested members.
These failed of course, as a new
face showing at the 5 p.m.
meeting where cards were
checked by group leaders, meant
only one thing. and those so dis-
closed usually left the hall at a
speed worthy of Olympic trials.
The press and its tactics were
hard to combat and it. did
yeoman service in instilling fear
into the Canadian people. per-
suading them to accept the in-
dignities and privations of the
thirties rather than demand an
end to them An_ occasional
editorial lamenting the mass un-
employment and poverty of the
time would appear just often
enough to assure the public that
the editor was not without com-
passion. However should news be
scarce, it was a poor reporter in-
deed, who could not justify his
$15.00 weekly by discovering a
Red plot at 60 Cordova Street in
time for the home edition.
When these items appeared;
we usually sent a delegation to
enquire into the source of these
dire tales of impending revolu-
tion. The city editor of whichever
newspaper had committed the
latest act of provocation would
tap his forehead, look very wise,
and say mysteriously. **We have
our contacts. We know what's go-
ing on down there.”
When on the afternoon of May
20. 1938, we took over the Post
Office, the Art Gallery and the
Georgia Hotel. these hot shot
reporters were chasing down
details of a double headed pansy
in Stanley Park, or was it a five
legged calf born at Abbotsford?
From the editor down to the
most junior reporter. we knew
our activities would receive a
hostile press. Men now praised
as. being among Canada’s great
journalists wrote slanted and fic-

-ticious accounts knowing exactly

the kind of news required by the
front office.

As an example of the kind of
reporting we could always ex-
pect, take this paragraph from a
Vancouver paper June 21, 1938.
James Dyer, later of the Ottawa
press gallery, interviewed me in
my bed at St. Paul's hospital.
and had me reported thus:— “I
was sleeping in my apartment,
when a messenger was sent from
the Post Office. as unusual police
activity required by presence.”

This reporter, the police, and
all other newsmen, knew that I
slept each night on the floor with
the other men. These men would
never have followed a leader who
did otherwise. It was local
newspaper policy to hint at huge
sums being available, “to the
leaders” and the news staff went
along. or else, so this lic had to
be inserted in the first published
account.

During the thirty day occupa-
tion, the press tried mightily to
undermine the tremendous
public support that the sit-
downers had earned by quiet

‘behaviour and strict discipline at

all times. The first stories told
how these reporters found lots of
the men who wanted to leave the
buildings but were intimidated

by bullies like me. As I stood He ee

tall and weighed 138 Ibs. at the
time, this became a common
joke.
; Cont'd. next week

LABOR COMMENT

According to Statistics Canada
there were 56.300 people
employed in the British Colum-
bia forest products industry in
November, 1972. The breakdown
was as follows: Logging and
Forest Service: 16.500: Saw,
Shingle. Planing: 31.700. Veneer
and Plywood: 8.100.

The Economic Report
prepared for the Region Number
1 Wage and Contract Conference
of the International
Woodworkers of America. held

in Vancouver from January 31 to:

February 2, 1974, is very infor-
mative. For example, there is
the following extract from
Return On Sales: 1972 and 1973”
(for the first nine months of the
year):

¢ B.C. Forest Products had an
increase of 168 percent in net
profits on an increase of only 57
percent in sales.

¢ Crown Zellerbach Canada
had an increase of 162 percent in
net profits over an increase of
only 32 percent in sales. :

e International Paper had an
increase of 57 percent in net
profits on an increase of only 10
percent in sales.

e MacMillan Bloedel had an in-
crease: of 166 percent in net
profits on an increase of only 36
percent in sales.

e Scott. Paper had an increase
of 55 percent in net profits on an
increase of only 13 percent. in
sales,

¢ The Canadian Woods In-
dustries as a whole had an in-
crease of 193 percent
profits on an increase of only 25
percent in sales.

These figures show a whopping
increase in profits for the first
nine months of 1973, as compared
with the same period in 1972.

Over a period of ten years |

(1963-73) the sales of nine com-
panies approximately doubled
and two more approximately
tripled. MacMillan Bloedel.

- which in the first nine months of

1973 increased its sales by 36 per-
cent, as compared with the same
period in 1972, is expected to be
in the billion-dollar class once
the full reports for 1973 are
published. Fortune magazine

in net:

published an annual list of the 300

largest industrial companies out- -

side the U.S.A., ranked by sales.
MacMillan Bloedel joined the
300-Club in 1972.

~According to the Economic
Report. nearly 80 percent of the
B.C. log harvest goes into saw-
mills for cutting into dimension
lumber. We are further informed
that nearly 80 percent of the
lumber produced in B.C. is
shipped to the U.S.A.

Despite the chronic. housing
shortages in the U.S.A. and
Canada, the report refers to the
“record levels for housing con-
struction for the past three
years.” “It has kept the British
Columbia lumber industry
operating at near capacity
levels.” If this is the case, it
staggers the imagination to
guess what would happen to this
industry if all levels of govern-
ment in Canada and the U.S.A.
would give housing the priority it
deserves, particularly in the big
metropolitan centres. f

x *k *

In reviewing the price situa-
tion, the report shows that a very
high peak was achieved in the
early months of 1973, followed by
a decline. However, the report
goes on to say that current prices
“are still very respectable and
continue to reflect a very sub-
stantial lumber demand.”

An interesting section of the
report deals with cash flow. that
is. the .total of profits plus
depreciation plus depletion plus
deferred taxes. A few quotations
are in order:

e In addition to net profits
after taxes. corporations have
available for further in-
vestments huge amounts of
money which are variously call-
ed “depreciation allowances.”
depreciation: charges,” “‘deple-
tion allowances.” etc. These
funds are available primarily for
the purchase of new plants and
equipment to replace plants
and equipment that presumably
are worn out — or as Compensa-
tion for Using up a resource that
belong: to all of the people. -

e For many corporations,
not most of them, depreciation
plus depletion allowances are

substantial wage hike

now larger than net profits.

~ ¢ For each two dollars a cor-
poration is allowed to set aside
for depreciation it avoids paying
approximately one dollar in tax-
es.

e All indications are that
deferred taxes will never have to
be paid, At the very least. they
are interest free loans; but in
fact they are “grants-in-aid” to
corporation giants who have no
real need for welfare.

e All but one of the cor-
porations received allowances
(depreciation. depletion and
deferred taxes) which were
higher — in some cases con-
siderably higher — than net
profits after taxes in 1972. On the
other hand, only four of them had
allowances higher than profits
after taxes in 1963. showing the
trend towards making operations
look less profitable than they ac-
tually are by shifting profits to
allowances ~ and not paying on
taxes.

Since this cash flow. profits
plus allowances, is used ex-
clusively for the rapid growth of
the corporate giants, it is obvious
that the power of the small group
of individuals who control this
cash flow continues to grow.

The report points out that
these corporations are now of
gigantic size. or are owned or
partially owned by giant cor-
porations. They are no longer
purely wood products companies

they are conglomerates

operating in a number of in- -

dustries. Many of them have
operations outside of Canada, in
the U.S.A.. Japan, Germany and
other countries.

Thus we see an industry which
is pre-eminent in the economy of
the province growing rich and
expanding in Canada and other
countries out of the wealth gain-
ed through exploitation of labor.
access to our priceless forests
for a nominal return and cash
subsidies from the. federal
government. In the historical
sense, this is an industry which is
ripe for socialization.

In the immediate battle that
lies ahead. the coniing wage
negotiations which are due to
open shortly, this is an industry
that can truly afford a substan-
tial wage increase to its workers,
a shorter work week. a cost-of-
living allowance and other over-
due improvements. This is not an
industry which can plead poverty
without inviting the scorn of the
working people in the industry
and the general public.

BUDGET

Cont'd. from pg. 1

~

ment. through its taxation
powers, was prepared to reduce
the great disparities in income
and wealth between the small
and privileged group of wealthy
British Columbians and the great

many low and middle income
earners.
“We believe that) such a

redistribution of wealth is essen-
tial if we are going to create a
society in British Columbia
which is more justin its division
of the material benefits of our
resources and technology.
Hopefully. the government will.
in the future. address itself to
this important task.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1974 PAGE 3