. ‘ \ , Nis vs Wite Guise replies to Thompson DON GUISE, business agent, Vancouver Civic Employees Union, Local 28: The daily press quotes Mayor Thompson on June 15, 1950, as making the following state- Ment on the subject of union se- curity for Vancouver civic work- ers: : “The answer is absolutely ‘No’, but I will make a sporting offer, We'll put it to a plebiscite and if the taxpayers say ‘No’ then you can be satisfied. If they say ‘Yes’ We will have to tackle Victoria again,” - . In other words, if the taxpayers Say “No”, you can go to the devil. If they say “Yes”, you can go to _ Victoria, Seeing that the ICA Act already Permits union security, and that Vancouver civic employees bar- Sain under this act, we consider that no plebiscite is necessary. If the mayor considers that plebis- Cites are necessary on matters of. . internal policy, we suggest that Plebiscites be held on the follow- ing subjects: 1 — Shall citizens have the right to jay-walk? 2— Shall the BCElectric have the Tight to double the cost of trans- Portation? 3—Shall grocery stores | have the right to give you eleven €8gs for the price of a dozen? Sounds silly, doesn’t it? But we Say it is just as silly to call for & plebiscite on union security for Vancouver civic workers. They bargain under the ICA Act and are entitled to union security. The truth of the matter is this: Vancouver City Council is opposed to union security and they are trying to hide behind a contro- Versy over provincial-municipal Yelations. 2 Housing got Scant notice DOROTHY LYNAS, North Van- couver: Of the more than 1000 delegates attending the Canadian Congress on Social Work at the Hotel Vancouver last week, only 11 showed up at the Housing In- Stitute, while several others drop- Ped in as visitors. This would Seem to indicate that as yet social _ Workers, along with government authorities and many other organ- izations, do not appreciate the desperate need for housing and its relation to other problems. In my opinion, the role that housing plays in health, juvenile delinquency and human dignity. Was overlooked. No mention was Made of the millions of dollars that are being spent in the cold War—millions that could provide adequate homes for Canadian People. ; Dr. Leonard Marsh, UBC, who Was chairman of the: Housing In- Stitute, stated.that “Canada ‘has always had overcrowding ever Since our cities and towns became Worthy of the name.” Since 1931, Some 163,000 families have been living in combined dwellings; this figure has risen to 250,000 since 1941 and is considerably increased today. ( Marsh stated further that “the &reatest weakness of the post-war | housing plan is the lack of @ low- rental, government - subsidized housing scheme and lack of aP- Propriate legislation and means to deal with the situation.” . “We fell behind in our backlog of housing in the thirties,” he con- tinued, “and even in the boom years housing never kept pace with the demand.” “Prior to 1988 there was no pub- lic machinery for housing. The . National Housing Association was advocated years before it became effective. During the war for the first time we had low-rental hous- ing with government aid. This as- sistance was rendered through Central Mortgage and Housing — with the emphasis on the mort- gage rather than the housing. Marsh pointed out that home ownership is not the answer to the ‘housing problem. Half the people in need of homes.cannot take ad-. vantage of NHA, building costs have risen above wages, and homes built with mortgages are unfeasable because of interest costs. : Another speaker, Mrs. H. L. Luffman of Toronto, said that “present day housing is all right for the man at the top but it is the man who can only afford to pay from $20 to $30 per month who is the forgotten man.” Ald. Elizabeth Wood, New West- _ minster, said that rents for the New Westminster housing project had jumped from $67.50 to $85 2 month. ; The Institute agreed that solv- ing of the housing problem re- quired: e A low-rental, government-fin- anced housing scheme, with par- ticipation by municipal govern- ments. e Group housing projects should be near schools, local clinics and shopping centers; such projects should also provide for recreation- al activities of children, with playrooms, playgrounds, swim- ming pool and day nursery. ; The Housing Institute emphasiz- ed many things with which there is little room for dtsagreement. What is needed is an energetic drive to bring the program into life; an end to cold war policies and the spending of millions of dollars preparing for war. Weir explains : f term ‘Yankee UBC STUDENT, Vancouver: In John Weir's poem, “Paul Bun- yan”, which the Pacific Tribune printed some time ago, the follow- ing line appears: “Paul Bunyan didn’t do it for the money-grab- bing Yanks.” I think this line should not be used. As the word “yank” most commonly refers to an inhabitant of the United States, the line implies that all Americans are “money grabbing.” This is not true. It is the capitalists who are money grabbing. Capitalism may have corrupted many Americans, put certainly not the majority of them. Lots of “Yanks” are pro- gressives, fey aS * THE PACIFIC TRIBUNE turn- ed over UBC Student’s letter to John Weir, who has this to say in reply: ) OF COURSE, nobody but a racist would identify a whole people with its reactionary ruling class. That’s elementary for every progressive person. What is more, the hope for world peace lies in the final account in the hands of the masses of American (and Ca- nadian) people. We believe that they will curb and ultimately sweep aside the U.S. war-makers and new would-be world conquer- 113 Yous Departinent hs at He Veete. ors. If we’did not believe this, if we identified the American people with Wall Street, then we would have to come to the conclusion that war is inevitable. We have the greatest love and admiration for the progressive Americans who are fighting their own war-making and money-grab- bing rulers. And we have faith that the American people will eventually settle accounts with Wall Street and its war govern- ment. a But until they do, the U.S, gov- ernment, and multi- millionaires ‘are doing their dirty work in their name. Truman isn’t the American people, but it is Truman who de- cides American policy (on orders of Wall Street, naturally). We are confronted with “Amer- ican” intervention in Greece and China, “American” war bases all over the world, “American” atom bombs, “American” re-Nazification of Western Germany, “American” obstruction of peace in the United Nations. And conversely, the other peoples of the world are fighting “American” intervention in their affairs, “American” war-monger- ing, “American” Marshallization, “American” occupation. The only way to change that is _ for the American people to change their government and its policies. The term “Yankee”, by the way, never: meant “an inhabitant of the USA.” We have never heard U.S. Negroes, or ‘southerners called Yankees, for example. Originally, Yankee was a term for the New Englanders, where manufacture first started in the U.S. In the civil war the Yankees were progressive. vis-a-vis the southern slave-owners. But the Yankee manufacturers also were pioneers of modern American cap- italism which has become the most reactionary force within the U.S. and in the world today. The words “Yankee” and “Yankee en- terprise” became synonymous with the money-grabbing U.S. big shots and their hangers-on. That’s how the outside world ‘regards the term, anyway, and so do plenty of Americans. While noting the difference, we ‘would say that the term “Yankee” ’ in relation to the American people is used in a somewhat ‘similar way as “Prussian” was in relation to the German people. Quarter-wits on war drums : SAM REYNOLDS, 2833 ‘West 22nd Avenue, Vancouver, B.C.: With so many quarter-wits beat- ing the war drums, peace becomes the main issue of the day. While acknowledging this, it is well to remember. other issues also. For instance, the Yankees have just had another circus about “mercy killing’. This writer has — been surprised at the number of people who have suddenly become interested in favor of mercy kill- ing. : : When one remembers that many capitalists would poison their own grandmothers for a two-bit profit, then it should be easy to under- stand that mercy killing could be a number one weapon in the hands of the capitalists, ; _ Air injections for incurables to Hitler ovens for undesirables is a very short step. Anyone who thinks that the capitalists would not use “mercy killing” in an at- tempt to prolong their system, should go back to kindergarten. LP ighting Fund E Communists fight for peace because to permit a third world war, with all its horrors of atomic*and bacteriological mass destruction of populations, would be a crime against humanity. We fight for peace because we are firm supporters of the principle of the peaceful co-exis tence of the socialist and capitalist countries. We are firmly corwinced that our fight in defense of peace is a struggle in the true interest of all democratic people.” —TIM BUCK ELGIN RUDDELL REPORTS ——— E LPP convention in the metro- _ politan area over the weekend gave real impetus to the National Fighting Fund drive. Delegates realized that every dollar donated to the LPP will be a dol- lar used in the fight for peace. “Most tangible evidence of the enthus- iasm displayed by LPP members is the donation of $100 turned in by a member of the Sea and Shore club. “Victory Square club decided to raise $800 instead of a proposed quota of $550, and some other clubs are also upping their targets. “We urge every LPP club to tum some money in to the LPP provincial office, Room 503, Ford Building, before July 1, so that there will be no blanks on the scoreboard when the first tally is made. “In Vancouver plans are getting under way for the big labor picnic in August and all clubs are asked to note that the picnic proceeds will form part of the Na- tional Fighting Fund. Ticket sales will be credited to club quotas.” oy Te TARGET | $10,000 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JUNE 23, 1950—PAGE 11