| eens

One frail shoul-

‘der shows the
Sear

years, together

Se

IAAL

Pini

Protest wins action

\
By EFFIE JONES
James Avery was nearing the

 €nd of the road. Propped up by

Pillows, gaunt and sick and speak-
Ing with difficulty he gave me a
brief history of his life.

In 1887, as a child of six years,

_ je was brought by his parents

from Britain to this new land and
Settled in Sudbury.

At the age of 18 he was working
@ 10-hour day at 10 cents an hour
laying ties on : é

e railway.

received
of

Then on
through the

With thousands
of immigrants
from Europe
and China, he :
Worked .at every menial job he
Could find, in order to feed and
clothe his wife and 11 children.
Three ‘of his sons served Canada
M the Second World War.

Now, at 72, sick and disillusion-,

ed, he pleads for something that
Seems almost impossible to get in
ancouver—rest with the neces-
he medical care in a_ hospital
ed. \

x x *

His landlady, Mrs. Victoria Fred-
erick, has given him the best of
attention. | However, with three
Small children to care for herself,
She realizes that medical treat-
Ment, only possible in a hospital,
will relieve’ the sufferings of her
friend. And toward that end, she
Is putting up a strenuous fight

With the authorities.

“He cared for my home and

_ little ones when I was in hospital

aving a cancerous growth re-

Pensioner victim of
\callous treatment

moved from my throat, so I’m

fighting to get for him the care
he so badly needs,” she said.

Mrs. Frederick informed me
that she had contacted the Social
Service Department, the Mayor's
office and the police, and all to no
avail. Then she phoned me and
asked me to call.

& * x

When I arrived two young city
social workers were also there.
After making a phone call, one of
them told Avery that it was im-
possible to get him into a hospital.

And then, to the amazement of
those present, she produced a
form and asked the patient to
sign it, in order that the City of
Vancouver could claim $45 out of
his Old Age Pension cheque “when
he was in hospital” to pay for his
hospitalization. :

However, Mrs. Frederic k
thought otherwise. “Oh, no you
don’t, dad!” she exclaimed. “They
can’t get you a bed so don’t sign
it.’ Avery did not sign.

Next day they informed me that
just one half hour after I left an
ambulance arrived and took the
sick man to Vancouver General
Hospital. ;

I was not surprised, but I won-
dered how many of the growing
number of the Old Age Pensioners
of this city are being subjected to
this callous treatment ‘in their
twilight years.

And when are the members of

the Old Age Pension groups g0-
ing to break the “non-political”
ban in the constitution of their
organizations and become “politi-
cal” and fight for their needs and.
rights? i ;
And when are the authorities
going to start to build that 500-
bed addition to Vancouver Gen-
eral Hospital? :

Penner addresses _

“We want no more crosses row on row; we want
Our youth can live and help build our country,” said
National secretary of the National Federation of
ing an “End the War in Korea Now” rally in

unday evening.

Penner, young Second World
ar veteran, said that peace is
Nearer today because “the people’s
fear when they heard President
Eisenhower’s threats to extend the
War was translated into positive
action for peace, and the result
is the present peace talks in Ko-

5 Tea.’

The Soviet Union and People’s
China have been working a long,

long time in the United Nations

‘Tor peace in Korea, said Penner.

AT)

Ow it is no longer possible for

_ the United States to brush aside

their peace offers. There is hope

1 the air today—but it would be
very dangerous to think that a

Cease-fire can be taken for grant-
ed. The people must seize this
°pportunity to enforce peace.
“We Canadians should bombard
Ottawa with demands that no

~More Canadian soldiers be sent to

Orea, and.that our troops in Ko-

Tea should take part in no offen-

ie Sive action while the peace talks |

are on. ;
Penner came to Vancouver from
Oronto to attend the National
Federation of Labor Youth pro-

- Vincial convention which was held

ere last weekend. The parley

Was attended by some 25 delegates

Tom many provincial points.
Tie Lawrie was re-elected B.C.

Provincial leader of NFLY for the

Coming year.

city “End War’ rally

peace so that

orman Penner,
Labor Youth, address-
Pender Auditorium

jincial secretary

Citizens’ committee forces"
council to reverse decision,
wins city site for BEG pool

Public pressure forced Vancouver City Council to reverse a previous decision Wednesday this
week, scrap its ill-advised plan to locate the British Empire Games swimming pool at University of
British Columbia and decide that the pool will be built in a central location within the city.

Aldermen unanimously approved a December money bylaw that will assure building of the pool

on a city park site. There is every
indication that the bylaw will re-
ceive overwhelming approval from
Vancouver citizens.

“The people have won a great
victory,” said Ernie Lawrie, prov-

Federation of Labor Youth, first

organization to take a stand op-|-
posing the UBC site and demand- |
“A great |

a central city location.
deal of the credit must go to Percy
Norman of Vancouver Amateur
Swimming Club and the other

swimming groups in the city, who |

did so much to rally the labor
movement and the public on the
issue, with the result that a Citi-
zens Committee For a Greater
Vancouver Swimming Pool was or-
ganized.” :

it is understood that the Citi-
zens Committee will continue to
operate and will actively cam-

|paign for adoption of the money

bylaw. Some 42 organizations are
supporting’ the movement, which
represents about 130,000 people
in the Vancouver area.

Acting as spokesmen for the
Citizens Committee, Percy Nor-
man, Jack Kelly and Alec Gordon
told aldermen on Tuesday that
they were prepared to fight their
campaign by advertising, public
meetings and other means.

While city council bowed to pub- |

lie pressure, it is significant that
its whole approach to the prob-
lem has been a dollars and cents
one — with no discussion on the
needs of young people for swim-
ming and other sports facilities in
the city. : i

Council’s inept handling of the
BEG pool issue highlights the
bungling which has accompanied
all preparations for staging of the
British Empire Games here in
1954.

Last week a blast at Games of-
ficials in Vancouver came from K.
S. Duncan, honorary secretary of
the Empire Games Federation,
who wrote from London complain-

ing about the lack of publicity be-_

ing sent to Britain. “Not one in
a hundred Britons realizes yet that
the Games are to be held in Van-
couver 15 months from now,” he

charged.

of the National | -

Jou HINES
Unions urged
to prepare

for May Day

“In addition to entering floats in |

the 1953 May Day parade we’re
asking trade unions and other
participating organizations to sup-
ply a number of parade marshals,
so that everything will run like
clockwork this year,” May Day
secretary John Hines told the
Pacific Tribune this week.

Permission to tag at the
Georgia Viaduct assembly point
after a two-year city ban on all
tagging was termed “a victory for
labor” by Hines.

A souvenir May Day program
will be published this- year and
advertisements are now being soli-
cited.

Final meeting of the May Day
committee will be held April 22

V eteran
miner sets
example

A veteran of the old Western |
Federation of Miners walked into
the Pacific Tribune office this
week and handed editor Tom Mc-
Ewen $10 “to help keep the paper
going.” He said, in explanation,
“Your paper is an antidote to the
poison press of the capitalists. I
hope your circulation continues to
grow.”

This week our press club work-
ers, in the midst of the financial —
drive, also turned in subs and re--
newals which hit the figure of

Most people, picking up their
local paper in any city or town
of this country, do not realize
that they are reading Wall Street
propaganda, supplied by cheap
syndicated services and, with rare

exceptions, echoed by local writ-
ers.

The Pacific Tribune exposes the
lies of the capitalist press, fights
for Canadian independence, peace
and socialism. It supports every
battle of the workers for a better
life. Ca oe

To the hundreds of workers who
buy the PT from street salesmen _
or news agents, we say: “How —
about taking a sub?”

The scoreboard this week: _
Nanaimo, 5 subs; North Vancou-
ver, 4; Point Grey, 4; Grandview,
3; Courtenay, 3; Surrey, 3;

Strathcona, 3; Fairview, 2; Mob- —

erley, 2; Vancouver Heights, 2;
Kitsilano, 2; New Westminster,

in Pender Auditorium.

2; Salmon Arm, 2. Fees

Now they’re for everything they were against

Liberals irying to bury black record —

By HAL GRIFFIN

British Columbia’s ‘Liberals, re-
viewing provincial issues from the
back benches of the opposition
after 19 years on the government
front benches have had an appar-
ent change of heart. They are
now opposed to most of the poli-
cies they formerly advocated, even
those they defended so zealously
—_ and unsuccessfully — on the
hustings last year- " igsk
eeting in convention a -
Cae this week, 750 delegates to
the Liberal provincial convention
spent less than an hour making
these decisions: j
| To cut provincial taxation in
Bice) qunder Liberal premiers
John Hart and Byron Johnson, the
Coalition government steadily in-
creased taxes on working people
and resisted all demands that the
big corporations be bornpelied
bear a greater share of the ax

load.)
“\
to a flat $10.

To cut private auto licenses

"

‘(Despite consider-

able pressure from the Automo-
bile Association of B.C. for lower

‘auto licenses, the Johnson Coali-

tion government, from which the
Conservatives had already with-
drawn, flatly refused to consider
any reduction last year.)

e: To remove the three per-
cent sales tax from all meals
and on all purchases of 30 cents
and under. (The Johnson-Ans-
comb government ignored wide-
spread popular opposition in in-
troducing the sales tax and con-
tinued to ignore appeals for rais-
ing the 50-cent exemption on
meals to compensate for rising
living costs.) ; :

e To scrap the Rolston For-
mula and have the provincial gov-
ernment finance 80 percent of edu-
cation costs, reduce school taxes
on farm lands and provide educa-
tion grants on a per capita basis

according to pupils enrolled and

teachers employed. (All these
points, corresponding generally to

demands made by the B.C. Teach-
ers Federation, Parent - Teacher
Associations, labor and farm org-
anizations, were rejected by the
Coalition government.)

« To revise the Industrial}
Conciliation and Arbitration Act
immediately. (When the Coali-
tion’s infamous Bill 39 was intro-
duced, organized labor conducted
one of the greatest popular cam-

in 1947, officially tendered his
resignation to the convention.

“The opportunity for us to make
a comeback is very bright in-
deed,” he said. E- ee

“Tf we come out of this conven- |
tion united, there is nothing that
can prevent the election of a
Liberal government on June 9.”

Nobody believed that, not even

paigns of recent years in an un-|Byron Johnson himself. Other-

successful effort to defeat it.)

- It took the delegates less than
an hour to agree on this program,
but it has taken.the Liberal lead-
ership weeks to decide on a new
Liberal leader. This week they
decided on Art Laing, MP for Van-
couver South, who was purged by
Byron Johnson for opposing the
Coalition three years before the
voters purged Johnson himself.

The defeated Liberal premier,
Byron Johnson, who narrowly won.
the leadership over his defeated

attorney general, Gordon Wismer,

wise there would have been more
eager candidates for the leader- —
ship and less reluctance on the
part of those named to take it.

There is even doubt as to the
ability of the Liberals to retain —
the six seats they held in the last —
legislature. When voters go to
the polls this June they will not
be called upon to return Liberals
as the party in office. ae

For all their brave words, the
Liberals face a bleak prospect and
the chill of popular disapproval is
being felt even on distant Parlia-
ment Hill. © :

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — APRIL 10, 1953 — PAGE 7