BCElectric “Tf any other company showed &@ deficit of $1,600,000, this would seem to be a serious matter,” commented Mrs. Jones. “In ordin- ary bookkeeping a deficit is a loss; and a loss of that amount is no joke. “But there’s a joker in the BCE deck. Under the BCE’s highly in- genious bookkeeping system a de- ficit is not a loss. And its ‘cost of service’’ includes income tax on profits the company has not earn- ed. This is therefore a purely fic- titious cost. ‘Cost of service’ also includes bond interest which the company- is not liable for and has no intention of paying. “AN of ‘this is conveniently con- _ vealed behind an elaborate facade of government regulations. The company argues that the Public Utilities Commission allows it only -5.3 percent on its capital. A very modest return! : “What they don’t tell you is that in computing the rate of profit, the PUC allows the com- Pany to deduct bond interest at the rate of four and. one-half to ‘six and one-half percent. In point of fact the rate of interest on BC#lectric bonds is 3.42 percent. ‘Charlie McCarthy’ Carrothers jooks the other way while the Shareholders pocket the difference. “The PUC also allows the com- pany to deduct six percent divi- dends on preferred shares before computing the return to the com- mon shareholders. Actually, the rate of dividends on preferred shares is 42 percent. On $23,000,- 000 of preferred ‘stock, that’s a sizeable difference. . “Now if you take $7,390,032 net income, which the company made last year, there are two things you ean do with it. “One is to treat it according to PUC rules. This means that you figure the income tax on $9,000,000 instead of $7,390,032, boosting the income tax deduction by $600,000. Then deduct bond interest and preferred dividends as if the com-| pany had paid six percent. After} making all of these deductions | there is nothing left for the com-' mon shareholders. “The other way is to figure what actually happened. Deduct the income tax actually paid. Harvard University has appoint- ed the first Negro professor in its more than 300-year history. He is Dr. William R. Hinton, clinical professor of bacteriology and immunology in the Medical School. - SEAMEN -| slump Trade with USSR could halt layoffs By RUPERT LOCKWOOD LONDON The pattern of the Great De- pression won’t be. repeated in the toward which Britain is now heading rapidly. Last time “distressed areas” scar- red South Wales, the Midlands, Lancashire, parts of Yorkshire, the shipbuilding centers and coal- fields, while London and the south maintained a relatively high em- ployment and income average on coupon - clipping. “invisible ex- ports,” world brokerage, banking, insurance, and other forms of im- perial tribute. ry But the City of London is no Jonger the world’s banker, broker and trade center. The looming: slump will strike Savagely at the heart of a decayed imperialism. all Canadian vessels from the East Coast. In. Genoa, Italian dockers de- clare their solidarity with the British stevedores and the Can- adian seamen, and refuse to un- load the 2877-ton- Canadian ship Captain Polemis. In Auckland, New Zealand, the Transport Workers’ Federation has asked. its affiliates not to handle cargo from the SIU-man- ned Canadian Ship, Ottawa Valley. | In Canada, Support for the CSU grows steadily, as trade unions see more and more clearly ‘that the fate of their own unions hangs in the balance. If the seamen’s strike—greatest and ,most’ import- ant single struggle in this coun- try’s labor history — is smashed, then no militant union wil] be | safe. Canadian Seamen’s Union lead- ers are ready now, as at all times since the strike began, to reach a just and amicable settlement. The strike was not of their choosing. The responsibility for the acute The Evening News admitted not long ago that unemployment in the | London area is “rising more rapid- |\ly than ‘anywhere else.” ' Layoffs are occurring in unex- pected industries. The Metal Work- |er, organ of the Engineering Shop | Stewards’ National Council, re- |Ports among factories laying off men or going over to part-time employment the Victoria Machine Tool Company, Wilkinson Sword (Rootes subsidiary) Adremas (Ac- |ton), Metro-Vickers, and, at Shef- field, the Darwin factory and Lay- cock Engincering Company. Reasons given for layoffs in- clude: “To cheapen production to ‘face American and-German com- \Petition”; “Certain countries are cutting their imports.” | In the Great Depression, Soviet {oot allowed the British machine tool and electrical industries to survive, \ Now British capitalists, under American pressure, are refusing’ | to fulfill Soviet orders, aven (though Russia has supplied against laelivery of machine tools, timber, 763.000 tons of locomotives, etc., ;cOarse grains without which Brit- ish livestock would have died and |breakfast foods coud not have been de-rationed. In-any case, the Marshall plan- Company, Ratcliffe Tool Company this week joined the movement to boost. acts on the company’s 10-cent fare request. CCF Civic Affairs Council took a stand against the application for an “‘interim fare increase’ and urged the PUC to undertake a complete new appraisal of the BCE’s properties to determine a true basis upon which “fair re- turn” could be calculated. (CCL and CCF leaders will find pertinent facts and figures on BCE manipulations in the state- ments of Efe Jones in another story on this page.) Defend rights parley called NEW YORK More ‘than 400 leading Ameri- cans have endorsed the July 16-17 Bill of» Rights Conference to be held in New York’s Henry Hudson , Hotel. Listing a series of “new dangers” to the Bill of Rights which they said, are creating “a profound uneasiness among , thoughtful peopld,” the sponsors issued a call to ‘those willing to ‘defend their liberties.” Among the sponsors are Dr. W. E. B. DuBofs, Dr. Henry Seidél Canby, Prof. Thomas I. Emerson, Howard Fast, Prof. Fowler Harp- er, Donald Henderson, Charles P. Howard, Rep., Vito Marcantonio, Paul Robeson, Rt. Rev. Arthur , W. CCL, CCF take stand against fare increase Following the militant lead given by Effie Jones in the ““fight-back™ campaign against BCElectric’s fare increase scheme, two public bodies oppose: the applied-for ticket price Vancouver Labor Council (CCL) at its meeting Tuesday this week decided to ask for a “complete investigation into the financial structure of the BCElectric’’. before the Public Utilities Commission ——— Phone rate protest wins hearings Strong protests to federal au- thorities from the Civic Reform Association against granting ° higher telephone rates to B.C: Telephone Company without heat ings being held in Vancouver prov- ed effective this week. Mayor Charles Thompson has_ indicated he has received word that such local hearings will be held. “Representatives of the Civic Reform Association will demand the right to appear at the hearing® and present our case against the proposed phone rate increases said Elgin Ruddelil,. CRA vice — president. ; Vancouver Labor Council (CCL): in a resolution sent to the Feder Board of Transport, is asking 10 an investigation into the B.C. Tel@ phone Company’s financial stru& ture. \ Seiners settle prices dispute Salmon seiners are off to ers fishing grounds this week, so ing settlement of a dispute tween the Fishermen’s Union ie cannery operators over compe tive prices and other terms. Ss The new agreement settles price Moulton, Dr. Harlow Shapley and Henry Wallace. Deduct the actual bond interest and preferred dividends. If you do that, the common stockhold- 3 ers have left $2,378,346. Out of. ; : that they paid themselves $1,- : 600,000 in dividends and left nearly $800,000 in the kitty. “Does all this sound complicat- ed) What it all boils down to is that with the approval of the PUC, the company is allowed to political and economic crisis de- iners don’t like supplying raw ma- veloping in Britain lies directly terial to meet Soviet industrial or- at the door of the Canadian cans hae é Those British capitalists who Sie Bnd. Phe Bast Const oper ent allowed prejudice to block | ators, the flow of Moscow gold into their This week the CSU cabled pockets are very happy about it. States the general manager of Frime @Minister Attlee asking ‘py itish “Electrical Engineering, S. him to use his influence with the Canadian shipowners to bring jand also provides union gains Be {two contentious points; all W by Paul J. Kern, former president ;}done on nets will be paid eet: of the New York Civil Service the owner of the net; and t for" Commission, acting chairman of Will be no charge for the crew dio the sponsoring group. declared any installation or rentals of 7# the conference was intended to telephone. provide an avenue for all Ameri- | Homer Stevens, secretary, ane é cans, regardless of political belief, ) William Rigby, research di to “examine anid protect infringe- ame Signed the new agreement on b ments on the Bill of Rights and A. (Lane: \“Our business experi- ences with the Soviet Union have half of the union. ‘manipulate its books to show a joss of $1,500,000 where they “ac- tually made a.profit of $2,400,000. “Why not expose this fallacy in the public hearing on street car faren? A good idea! But the in- imitable Dr. Carrothers has taken care of that. At last year’s public hearing, when the Civic Reform Association tried to expose the fin- ancial set-up, he laid down a rul- ing that the company’s financial costs and rate of profit had been dealt with in 1941 afd are not now a proper subject for discussion! “The mere fact that interest charges are a couple of million dollars lower now than in 1J41. is no reason why the travelling pub- lie shouldn’t go on paying six. and one-half percent on bonds that no longer exist, even if it does mean a 10-cent fare—according to the peculiar reasoning of the BCElec- tric.” Mrs, Jones added a_ parting shot: “A city the size of Torontc still sells car tickets at four for 25 cents. Montreal, twice the size of Vancouver, also maintains the four for a quarter. rates. But in Vancouver the greedy BCEHlectric is proposing to introduce the high- est transit rates in Canada. It is about a settlement. The CSU also wired Arthur MacNamara, deputy minister of labor at Ot- tawa, setting forth conditions un- der which it was “prepared to immediately call off the deep- ‘sea strike. The union is willing to accept hiring of seamen through Can- ada’s National Employment’ Serv- ice instead of through union hir- ing halls, providing experienced seamen be given preference of em- ployment. It is willing to sign a new working agreement with ship- owners based upon the agreement in effect last year. So far will the seamen go, but no farther. Now it’s up to the government. "Have a coke!! It’s on Marshall In 1947, countries now under the Marshall plan spent 59 times as much in the U.S. for freight cars | as for Coca Cola and similar bev- erages. In 1948, after ERP went ‘into effect, these countries spent up to the people to see that they don’t get away with it. almost twice as much on bever- ages as on freight cars. \ ben extremely happy. We have al- ready done a considerable amount of business with the Soviet Union, and the terms of payment are rig- jidly adhered to. In fact it is quite ja common experience for us_ to get money from the Moscow Nar- odny Bank several days before it is actually due. “We have found all members of the Soviet tvade delegation ex- tremely easy to get along with. _The last contract we signed was for 2,850 50 kw diesel Sets to a total value of £5,700,000 , (around $22,200,000).” generating | reaffirm our traditional liberties of speech and press, pulpit, and politica] advocacy,” RECESSION But if, as is far more probable, jpotre one of those who don’t need 4 recession, you’ll fight now for trade with Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and China, for housing and other construction projects which will help to keep your pay cheque coming in, * Thankful to be in America 2 fe: | heey / DP's ‘slave labor j DALLAS e being Bo ns; Southern farms and plantatio according to Miss Ruth EB. representative of Church Service, Inc. in a report Displaced Europeans ar : jain cost, DP’s are afraid to comp” of any mistreatment, Miss charged. | sa se CSU STRIKER BRINGS IN 11 SUBS Election workers for Tom Mc- Ewen, Pacific Tribune editor who ran as LPP candidate in Burnaby- Richmond, are busily sorting elec- tion data these days in preparation for the big job now facing them— the conversion of every vote for their candidate into a new sub- _ scription to the PT. “We have 1500 potential Pacific , Tribune readers in Burnaby, and ,we’re going out to sign them up,” Say the election canvassers, “We are ‘confident that a determined, ‘planned campaign will turn every A aay vote into a sub for the readers each during the- |July and win a place on labor press or Roll. In Vancouver Center intentions. Meeting Tuesday evening under the chairmanship of Fel Ashton, ts and win or the paper Plans for increasing street : also drawn up. ace bh At another m Tribune readers people pledged t eeting of Pacific this week. ten O secure three we PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JULY 15, 1949 — P88 Burnaby canvasses election lists — of month 5 the Hom eae the list of July ° Here’s getters to date: VANCOUVER it CSU Striker’... .4-+:++*: re oe. Audrey Brandon ..---°*""" 2 Bert Whyte Soigeo te eee R. Oldenberger ..--++*""" PROVINCE 8 Ernie Weed, Trail .--:"" ee J. Ormerod, Mission -+"""" 9 D. Jackson, Hornby Is: :*° rt)