{A WOOLWORTH GIRL ‘Profile of Ba By JACK PHILLIPS Barbara Hutton, owner of the F. W. Woolworth stores in many countries, is 48 years old -and she has been married six -times. Although she has never made a success of marriage, ; she is still hopeful of meeting | the right man, preferably a “young man. Barbara’s personal fortune is estimated to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 mil- lion: The F. W. Woolworth Company of New York has stores in the U.S.A., Mexico, Germany, Britain and Canada. Up until recently Barbara own- _ed stores in Cuba, but now they belong to the people. These ‘Woolworth stores are the only ones in the world that sell the ‘elassics of Marxism-Leninism. - This girl is one of Barbara Hutton’s employees. She is a member of the Retail Clerks Union, and is currently on the picket line at Woolworth’s store in Port Alberni, fighting for a living wage. The wage of the strikers was 85c an hour before they went on sitike June 16. If she earned $1.25 an hour, which a_ conciliation -board granted, it would take this girl six years to earn neatly as much as Barbara Hut- ton spends on one champagne party. In 1960, Woolworth’s had 2,- 075 stores in the U.S.A. and Puerto Rica, 248 in Canada, 8 in Mexico and 99 stores in West Germany. .Woolworth’s also has another 1,053 stores in Britain, Ireland, West Indies and Southern Rhodesia through its British holding company, . which is controlled by the U.S. company. : It is reported that in 1960 the U.S. firm (which owns the} Woolworth stores in Canada) enjoyed a consolidated “earned surplus” of $412.5 million, after taxes, The British Com- pany is said to have earned: $100 million before taxes in the same period. All this explains why Bar- para Hutton, who inherited the Woolworth fortune, has been able to spend money on such rbara Hutton years. It is nothing for example, for Barbara to spend $15,000 on dresses in one afternoon or to fly into Paris and throw a party at a cost of $21,000. She has a gleaming white palace in Tangier and a $450,000 house in Regent’s Park, London, Eng- land, among other places of residence. In order to give her 21-year old son a home in Los Angeles, U.S.A... one _— that would do justice to his mother’s position in society, she spent more than $500,000. This is the woman who has been twice a Mrs., twice a prin- cess and once a baroness. Like so many “poor: rich’’ people, she has devised a rationale to explain the frustrations of her idle existence: “If a woman has more money than most men, all pleasant men stay away from her because they fear they will be accused of liking her money more than her. She is surrounded by leeches who keep the nice people away.” This is from a woman who was spoon in her mouth, who has never worked a day in her life and whose prodigal spending is made possible by the bitter ex- ploitation of thousands of shop- girls in many countries. Even as she has lived like a leech on the sweat and toil of these shopgirls, so have her numer- ous husbands and_ eligible}. friends regarded her as fair game. : But the frustrations of Bar- bara Hutton must seem neglig-|- ible to the Woolworth shop- girls who are walking. the picket line in Port Alberni, B.€. The strikers’ wage, before the walkout, was 85 cents an hour. The company refused to ;/ accept a recommendation from a conciliation board that it be raised to $1.25. The board further recom- mended a union shop, paid stat- utory holidays, sick benefits and a bonus for night work. The company also refused to accept these recommendations. This should explain why ‘and Drug Clerks Union em- ployed by Woolworth in Port Alberni have beén on strike since June 16. It should also explain why information pick- ets have been posted at Wool- worth stores in Vancouver, Vic- toria, Nanaimo, Powell River, Prince Rupert, Prince George and Dawson Creek. If a shopgirl employed by a Woolworth store in B.C. was paid $1.25 on hour, as recom- mended by the conciliation board, her gross pay would be $2600 in a year, based on a forty hour week. In six years, this girl will earn less than Barbara spends for one cham- pagne party. Think of that, an reader, next time you have the urge ot go shopping in a Woolworth store. Better yet, why not dis- cuss the strike in your trade union or in any other popular organization you belong to, with a view to helping the Re- tail Food and Drug Clerks Union? If the strike is won at Port Alberni it will be easier to organize all the other Wool- worth stores in the province. Barbara has had more than her share or the good things a lavish scale for so many of life these past few years. born with a platinum) members of the Retail Food} larger than ever. And what is the nature of the crisis facing our city? It is two fold. First the policy of refusal at City Hall to fight for Vancouver, to challenge the policies of the senior gov- ernments. The clearest indication of this policy is the complete si- lence of the Council on the question of who is to get the power from the Columbia: Ri- ver development. Obviously Vancouver City Council should be spearheading the demand for Columbia River power. One must conclude by Coun- cil’s policy (and it .is. policy) is aiding the sell-out of Canad- ian development and directly sacrificing Vancouver’s inter- est. To take the other decisive question. The one of develop- ment of our port.. Vancouver requires its Council to’ lead the fight for policies of dev- elopment of manufacturing and processing of raw mater- ials here .and promotion of trade around the rim. of the Pacific. Such a policy would mean thousands of jobs for our- unemployed and youth. What does City Council do? The answer again is nothing. e “The second source of the financial dilemma which con- fronts it. Vast sums ‘are need- ed for transit and traffic, pub- lic works, schools and parks, slum clearance and housing, and a host of other things. Equally apparent is that the yield from current taxation policies is quite inadequate to meet the need. This is not a new dilemma but it is becom- ing more acute. The NPA’s taxation policy (and again it is a policy) is to tax those least able to pay and extract only token amounts from those best able to pay. ‘This NPA policy is only too apparent in the field of real property tax. This starts with undeérassessing the big land- owners, big commercial and in- dustrial establishments. Now with a loaded assess- ment they compound the in- justice by a system of exemp- tions on improvements that relieves big industrial, com- mercial and palatial homes still further from paying tax- es. All the while, refusing to relieve the small home owner by granting basic exemptions. - It is against the background of these basic big business pol- .icies and because of them, that the crisis’ facing our city has developed. A. fight for new policies in the interest of the people has been emerging and taking shape. Big business thought to stifle and head-off this development when it ab- olished the ward system and organized its election machine, the NPA. However, it has been repeat- edly challenged and dissatis- faction has grown and spread. The ratepayer organizations, that largely disappeared after the abolition of the ward sys- of silence and inaction, that it | crisis facing our. city is the} Challenge ‘to big business. shown in recent civic vote Big business can take very little satisfaction from the recent civic election im Vancouver. While it is true that, in the main the candidates serving their interest were elected, it is equally true that the civie crisis brought = by their policies looms HARRY RANKIN, in a first bid for council, polled 11,512 votes. He ran 10th in a list of 24 candidates, beating out all the CVA candidates. A review of the vote shows that he would have been elected by voters east of Cambie. Failure of easi end voters to send him to ciiy council again proves correct- ness of Rankin’s fight for a ward system. MONA MORGAN, a vicious anti-communist cam- paign conducted by the daily despite press and other candidates, beat out at least two of the CVA candidates and doubled her percentage vote over last year. = tem, have sprung up again in local communities and have re-established a Central Coun- cil. The organized labor move- ment has increasingly recog- nized its responsibility to its members and has participated in some civic struggles. That it has not done more can be attributed to the big business agents in its ranks. The other big business or- ganization, the Civic Voters Association, created the im- pression (when it was first launched), that it was a genu- ine reform movement, how- ever any illusions on that score have been shattered. Its complete bankruptcy is best illustrated by the desertion of its candidates to the NPA if they get the chance. The main burden of the ‘struggle for reform policies has been carried by the Civic Reform - Association and by progressive independent can- didates some of Whom are Communists. e The Business Tax § (still needing reform), has been adopted in place of the former financially discriminatory Lic- ense By-Law. The B.C.E. is now publicly-owned and some form of a ward system will be won shortly. Other major re- forms are needed. i“ The progressive independent -| bid for Council, while enter-/ || ing the | ‘| sueceeded in rallying an im- candidates in the recent élecd tion have every reason to be- encouraged in the good fight that was conducted and the fine vote achieved, While none } of them were elected, two of ‘them at least.are principle con." tenders. in their respective fields. : Harry Rankin, endorsed bya the Central Council of Rate-7 payers, emerged from the big-3 gest aldermanic slate in. years” as a ‘serious contender for? Council. In fact regardless off the kind of ward system that . may be established he wouid] be elected from the East side of the City. The continuation | by Rankin of his efforts for Vancouver will lead. to: his election. 4 To point up the contrast and} to emphasize the crisis of the” NPA and their lack of confi-” dence in their elected repres+7 entatives they had to resort to | using two direct representa+ tives of big. business, Bell-] Irving and Banfield. While” these men ‘were elected, they. will have more difficulty im concealing their representa-— tion of “monopoly ‘interests. : John Chitrenky, in -his firsts campaign very late, | portant vote and has laid the- Joundation. - for an increased Donald Greenwelk: . Park Board candidate, very | nearly held his vote of 1960 although one third less people voted. . Mona Morgan, candidate-for Council, is well known for her years of courageous hard work in championing policies for the people,-Because she is also- well known as a, Communist, rshe bore the brunt of the vio- lent campaign .of the Daily’ Province to distort the aims, objectives and democratic methods of the Communists. Progressive-minded~ people can be encouraged in the fail- ure of the Province campaign because Mona Morgan, far from losing ground, nearly doubled her percentage of vot- es as compared to last year. ~ : s The campaign served — to- sharpen up the issues and lay the ground-work for big strug- gles ahead. q The opening weeks of -1962 will be focused on tax police) ies in Vancouver. The new in creased assessments will meat” higher taxes for home owners” and increased rents for ten ants unless a major campaig® © for tax reform and a lower mill rate is waged. | “Tt will mean also a new, higher lével struggle for Fed- eral aid to municipalities in place of armaments. It is not too late to save the Columbia River development for Canad@- and Vancouver if City coum can be made to act. The many sided reform gram in the interest of t the for- people can be won if the ces opposed to the big busines policies of the NPA Count! in motion and eve? this are put loosely united around: common, program.