At celebraticn honoring Tim Buck's 20 years of leadership

_ Seven young Toronto artists worked many hours to produce this splendid full color backdrop and head of Tim Buck for the February
4 Massey Hall celebration honoring the LPP leader’s 20 years of Communist leadership. In foreground of the stage at Massey Hall were
Kate Fountain of Edmonton, member of the LPP national committee,
is seen pinning a flower on Ted Buck’s lapel. Harry Binder, Montreal LPP organizer (extreme left), and Peter Dunlop, Hamilton, are also

seated Tim Buck, with his wife

seen in the picture.

Alice, son Ted and daughter Olive.

}

OKANAGAN FACES MARKET CRISIS IN 1950

Apple growers demand subsidy

By MAURICE RUSH

VERNON, B.C.

Ottawa’s “cold war” marketing
policies are hitting Okanagan fruit
growers hard this year. That. is
the conclusion you come to after
observing the situation as I have
done the last few days.

Not since the “Hungry Thirties”
when apple growers raised the
slogan “A cent a pound or on the
ground” has their concern /been
more widespread and openly ex-
pressed.

The predicament of the growers
in the Okanagan Valley—heart of
British Columbia’s fruit industry
—can be summed up as follows:
The 1949 crop is running into

market difficulties, with no visible
market for millions of boxes. In

1949 there was a bumper crop of
éight million boxes, of which only
four millions have so far been
marketed.

Failure of the (United States
apple crop in 1948 opened unex-
pected markets for Okanagan
fruit last year. This year, how-
ever, the U.S. has a surplus of

apples for export, and is using its
economic advantages under the
Marshall plan to sell apples to

countries which formerly bought
B.C. apples. For example, Britain
this year bought U.S. apples and
paid hard cash for them, whereas
GCkanagan apples could only get

on the British market in large
quantities as a gift.
Adding to growers’ plight are

the additional facts that the 1949
cost of production per box of
apples was the highest in the in-
dustry’s history; and that as ‘a
result of the record-breaking cold
winter next year’s earnings will be
skimpy.

Many thousands of young. trees
have been frozen and will be
unproductive next year, The
stone fruits, which provided a
cushion for apple growers in the
event their apple crops failed,
have been practically destroyed
by the long frost.

The crisis in the Okanagan can

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WHAT'S DOING

Woodworkers Social and Dance —
Saturday, Feb. 25. Dancing, re-
freshments. Victoria Community
Hall, 43rd and Victoria Drive. 8
to 12 p.m, Tickets, incluring 2
refreshments stubs, $1.

Fund-Raising Social and Dance —
Saturday, March 4, 830 p.m.,
Lower Hail, Russian People’s
Home, 600 Campbell Ave. Re-
freshments. _ Admission $1.00.
Sponsored by Maritime and Vic-
tory Square Clubs, LPP.

Dance and Social—Entertainment
and refreshments. Maccabee Hall,
2237 Main St., Friday, March 3.
Auspices Building Trades Social
Club.

You are invited—Pacifie Tribune
Social, March 4, 830 p.m., at
. 4 and 6 West llth. Good time for
all, Sponsored by Burrard Sec-
tion.

HALLS FOR RENT

BIRTHS

Oldtime Dancing
To Alf Carlson’s Orchestra
Every Wednesday and Saturday
Hastings Auditorium
Phone HAstings 1248
Moderate Rental Rates
For socials, weddings, meetings.

Dance, Clinton Hall—
2605 East Pender. Dance every

Saturday night. Modern and
Old - time. Viking’s Orchestra.
Hall is available for ‘rent

HAstings 3277.

Russian People’s Home—
Available for meetings, weddings
and banquets at reasonable rates:
600 Campbell Ave., HA. 6900.

MEETINGS

Turner—To Ruth and Bill Turner
on February 115, 1950, at Grace
‘Hospital, a son, William John.
Weight 8 pounds, 5 ounces.

SALLY BOWES—

INCOME TAX PROBLEMS.
Room 20, 9 East Hastings:
MA. 9965.

PT Dixieland Trio—Available for
dances and socials. “Assure a
successful evening”. Quality tops,
rates reasonable. Cali MA, 5288
for booking, : :

Notice—We would like to have
volunteers to. help us during the
Press Drive. If you can assist
“us, please call MArine 5288.

4

Swedish-Finnish Workers’ Club
meets last Friday every month
at 7.30 p.m., in Clinton Hall.
BUSINESS PERSONALS
SIMONSON’S WATCH Repair —
We repair Ronson’s Jewellery,
all types of watches and clocks.
7ll East Hastings, Vancouver,
CRYSTAL STEAM BATHS—

Open every day. New Modern
Beauty Salon—i1763 E. Hastings.

HAstings 0094.

— | rT oe

}

FIRST CLASS CARPENTER

Cabinets, remodelling, new
homes, city or country, M.
Vaselanak, 360 Chatham Street,
Steveston, Phone: Steveston
108-Y.

0.K. RADIO SERVICE. Latest
Factory Precision Equipment

Used. MARINE SERVICE, 1420
Pender St. W. TA. 1012.

;not fully be seen unless it is also
understood that the average fruit
grower is heavily in debt. Some
people estimate that as many as
seventy to eighty percent of the
growers Owe money to- packing
houses and banks.

In view of this situation, the
announcement by officials of B.C..
Tree Fruits Ltd., marketing agen-
cy for Okanagan fruit, that one
million boxes (one out of eight
packed this year) will be given
away as a gift, came as a shock. j
Officials of B.C. Tree Fruits ex-
plained that if the apples were not
given away the growers would
have to pay just as much to dump
them as it costs to send them to
| New Westminster for shipment to
| Britain.

| The mood of Okanagan growers
| was most clearly expressed at Ver-
inon and Coldstream last week.
| Arising out of concern for their
economic future, rank-and-file
meetings of growers requested an
official meeting of the two locals
to discuss a course of action.

This joint meeting was finally
held and a strong resolution was
adopted demanding that the fed-
eral government subsidize the
Okanagan crop out of its special
fund of $200,000,000 set aside in
1944 to maintain decent prices
for farm products.

Demand of Okanagan growers
for a, federal government subsidy
based on the average price for
the three-year period, 1946-48, is
one that should be supported by

all labor and farm organizations.

Gov't has
police state
blueprint

Secret measures and legislation
worked out in offices of the depart-
ment of justice, unknown {to Cana-
dians, are ready to impose a black
police state rule on Canada, as soon
as the cabinet so orders.

This became clear following an-
nouncement by Justice Minister
Garson that his department is not
advertising its particular brand of
repression in advance for public
In effect, Garson is
nose at parliament

consumption.
snubbing his
and the people.
Actual violations of civil liber-
ties are being permitted to go un-
checked by his department as part
of the plot to weaken democratic
resistance to the projected police
state measures, ;
Evidence of the increased acti-
vity of RCMP agents, provocateurs,
spies, is to be noted wherever po-
pular movements are forming, as
with unemployed, and youth orga-
nizations and the peace movement,
Artificial inflation of “spy” Incl

dents like the Czech legation
reprisals, talk- of a mystery man
“Mr. X”, the Tory clamor about

alleged “communists” in the civil
service, and the film board, actual
attacks on the meeting places of
workers and other democratic or-
ganizations — all are part of the
Garson gestapo state plan.
Whether the measures will aPe
forced into the public eye during
the coming session is not known.
Reluctance of Garson to “adver-
tise what we have done” is taken
here as a sign that the govern-
ment is acutely conscious of the
mass resistance developed to Sec-
tion 98 legislaticn during the
thirties, and the strong campaign
which led to the notorious La-
Croix Bill being “talked out” on
two occasions in the House of
Commons. , ;
The fact that Wilfrid LaCroix is
remaining mum and shows no sign
of putting his bill forward is also
taken as evidence that this former
Arcand associate has been pacified
by the St. Laurent government with
promises of similar legislation.
This much was admitted to this
correspondent in an exclusive in-
terview with the Quebec MP during
the last. session of parliament.

Women urge halting
of uranium shipments

Demand that shipments of Ca-
nadian uranium to the U.S. be
stopped until a clause is inserted
in the Canadian-U.S. contract guar-
anteeing that it will not be used
in the manufacture of atomic
bombs was unanimously passed at
a tea meeting in Pender Auditor-
ium last Friday, sponsored by the
Women’s Committee for Peace Ac-
tion,

Guest speaker was Mary: Kar-
dash, who described her recent
trip to Moscow to attend a meet-
ing of the Women’s International
Democratic Federation, and de-
clared that “the women of the world
do not want war.”

a
PATRONIZE
OUR ADVERTISERS

PUBLIC MEETING
“EMPLOYMENT WITHOUT WAR”
MAURICE RUSH

; Provincial Organizer, LPP
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25
at § p.m.
TECHNOCRACY PA

COURTENAY
COURTENAY CLUB, LPP

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 24, 1950—PAGE

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