Tachise McBride’s answer was the one his government had
nny consistently: “The provincial executive is not in agree-
am on this question of the vote for women, and for my part

the i able to subscribe to the views you' offer today.” And

t! Suments he used to support his refusal were typical wot

mie es by opponents of the measure. “The hehe

Ment ‘ Neglected and women would no doubt sit in parla

ind em they had the yote, then form a women's party

Mn the affairs of the country,” he claimed,

: ee he was reminded that in his early political career
favored giving the vote to women, he evaded the issue
ution 8 that “fifteen years ago. when I was a one
if it i eee that I would support the women s franc vee
rtish C be shown on a vote that a majority of women o
Hee “Olumbia of age and the wives and daughters of

Msubjects were favorable to having the ballot.”

e a the women were not to be denied. In 1916, when
Were Be aeeittives faced the polls under W. J. Bowser, rile
4 peeled to submit the question of women’s suf bs

Teferen, frendum. The overwhelming majority by which : he
Stound ‘a carried, 51,892. votes to 94,606, left no further
Nier H or evasion and the new Liberal government of Pre-
-C. Brewster proceeded to write the enabling legislation.

5og x x

Word’ did in every country, the outbreak of the igs
Ncialigt ar posed fundamental questions of principle ooh 1e
Thejy pe ement. of Canada. From their platforms anc in
t ee Socialists had long thundered their serena
Ppose pSist war. Now it was no longer a question of eing

to imperialist war in general, but toa particular war.

oor More than a year before the outbreak of war British
of yt had been in the grip of a depression, with thousands
Cities “mployed walking the streets of Vancouver and other
thein i °w the railroad construction contractors exploited
1, wien was illustrated by the B.C. Federationist on July
Mop ' In this report from Lillooet:
‘long e Te are hundreds of men hiking from camp to camp
Ailiwa: € lines of construction of the Pacific Great Eastern
lig, 2 10oking for work. They tramp from Squamish to
“pal thence on to Clinton, Quesnel and Fort George. ... -
here are Poles, Austrians, Slavonians, Italians, Ameri-
ieg : anadians, principally navvies although many mechan-
iN the Meluded. They sleep out at night in the sagebrush or
bush. I know of many instances where the unfortu-
Yhe Ve gone two or three days without food, excepting
4 few berries they picked along the road... .

oT
The Contractors sublet the work to gangs on the under-
roe, teY Pay a stated price per yard for moving earth

2 hou, 4nd that no man shall be paid more than 25 cents

lea hen war was declared the unemployed, like the black-
Our be miners of Vancouver Island, ‘were cynically told,
ng and country need you — we don’t.”

py deep in the hearts of thousands of workers the
ME oa ®n to the war grew and found expression in the mili-
‘nd oe against conscription led by the Socialist party
W919. C, Federation of Labor, which had been formed

went ®w the militant Socialists attempted to answer the
Dean, Posed by the war was indicated by an article
«x_8 in the B.C. Federationist on August 21, 1914:
the @ Tady the question has been asked, where are now
*t con Man socialists? Where is the working class movement
There Rental Europe? Just where they always were. Just
Manas pe Working class movement of Britain is—in the
i. the Philistines... .
Yoga : May be taken for granted, however, that when the
{here °f battle and the dust of conflict have passed away
"une Ibe found in every country a Huge increase in the
= Who will be capable of fixing the responsibility.”
Place "en the legislature opened in January, 1915, John
‘One in one answer. Replying to the speech from the
ran he” € said there was no real issue in the war “and there
The GiOne for the working man as long as capitalism exists.
% Rey invasion of Belgium had provided Britain with
BNE a, Se but it was not the cause of the war. Parker Williams
hen, , ther answer. To his statement that the socialist moye-
thes, 8 Opposed to war he added his personal opinion that
sitest road to peac? would be “over the broken carcass
hp. In i. militarism.” : ds
‘Came “ 16-17, when national registration and conscription
Sldly .-Minant issues, the organised labor movement moved
; Ae the struggle to oppose them.
Ay, tts meeting on January 4, 1917, Vancouver Trades

T Council. adopted a resolution reading:

Until the mines were closed down and it became a ghost town
in 1919, Phoenix (above) was a Socialist party stronghold. John
McInnis, who years later was to sit as a CCF MLA for Prince
George, lived here in 1907 when he won election as a Socialist
in the old Grand Forks constituency.

“Whereas, the government of Canada has declined to
accede to requests of organised labor that wealth be con-
scripted and the basic industries of Canada nationalised; be it

“Resolved, that this council is opposed to the scheme of
registration, and urges the working people to decline to
answer the questions or sign the cards.’

When R. B. Bennett, director of national service, charged
that those opposing national registration were guilty of traitor:
ous conduct and in the pay of Germany, the council replied
with a second resolution pointing out that Bennett himself
wag a munitions manufacturer and a direct beneficiary of war
industry and demanding that he either substantiate his charges
or apologise publicly,

The B.C. Federation of Labor, which had demanded
“that conscription be not put into effect before it has been
submitted to referendum vote of the people of Canada” at its
Revelstoke convention in January, 1917, itself undertook a
referendum of all its affiliates. The question it asked was:
“Are you prepared to place in the hands of the executive of
the B.C. Federation of Labor the power to call a general
strike in the event of conscription, either military or indus-
trial, being made effective by the dominion government?”

In June and July, 1917, the Socialist party, Social Demo-
cratic party, B.C. Federation of Labor and Vancouver Trades
and Labor Council cooperated in organising a series of public
meetings in Vancouver and Nanaimo to rally. popular opposi-
tion to conscription. Among those who addressed the meet-
ings were A. S. Wells. secretary of the B.C. Federation of
Labor, J. H. McVety, president of Vancouver Trades and
Labor Council, R. P. Pettipiece, managing editor, and E. T.
Kingsley, associate editor of the B.C. Federationist, Victor
Midgley, Jack Kavanagh, Helena Gutteridge, W. W. Lefeaux,
George Hardy, W. A. Pritchard, Joe Naylor, James Hodgkin-
son and Walter Head.

On September 3, the B.C. Federation of Labor met in
convention at Vancouver to hear a report that the anti-con-
scription referendum had been approved by a vote of 1,841
to 576, with 25 unions voting for it and 15 against. The con-
vention itself overwhelmingly endorsed the referendum by a
vote of 56 to 8, combining it with a recommendation that the
B.C. Federation of Labor enter candidates pledged to fight for
repeal of the Military Service Act in the forthcoming federal
election. Reporting the convention’s decision in its September
7 issue, the B.C. Federationist carried the headline: “First
unwilling conscript to be signal for “down tools.” ”

But the B.C. Federation of Labor did not use the power
conferred on it by referendum vote and convention decision.

On September 17 the Trades and Labor Congress opened
its convention at Ottawa. In the officers’ report was this
section which in effect repudiated the anti-conscription stand
taken by the previous two conventions:

“While the congress cannot stultify itself to the degree
of either withdrawing or contradicting this year its firm and

Concluded on next page

Scrolls for |

pioneers

HE B.C. Centennial Com-

mittee has already issued
1,288 commemorating scrolls to
provincial “pioneers.”

The pioneers fall into three
categories—there are 64 so far
named who lived in B.C. before
it became part of Canada.

Each is over 87 years. old,
because union with Canada
tock place July 20, 1871. Some
are over 100 years old.

Bulk of the pioneers are in
the second group to be hon-
ored, thase who lived here be-
fore the arrival of the first
trans - continental’ -passenger
train. There are 628 in this
class. Each of these must be
72 or older because that event
took place in July, 1886.

Finally, there are 596 pio-
neers who lack “time’” qualifi-
cations, but have earned recog-
nition for contributions to their
communities over a great num-
ber of years.

Pioneers in this class are
chosen by local centennial
committees.

Weswh Tt
Many of the letters sent to
the B.C. Centennial: Committee
to nominate “pioneers” form a
ccllective history of the pro-
vince:

“My. grandparents . . . sold
their farms in Ontario and
came to New Westminster in
1859 . . . their fifth child was

. christened James Douglas,
after their friend, who gave
Hing pole :2) er

- a needle or an apple
cost $1 each...”

... Mr. ———— was one
of the first white children to
attend the Indian Mission
School at Mission, B.C. ... ”

“ ...My mother... wasa
member of the first normal
school graduating class... ”

oe eee
Some of the pioneers have
attained great age.

Prince George has singled
out Margaret Mary Bouchet,
103, who was born at Fort St.
James in 1855, the daughter of
a Hudson’s Bay trader.

Mrs. Agnes Russ, “over 100,”
oldest person on the Queen
Charlottes, with five genera-
tions of descendants number-
ing over 100, will be honored
at Skidegate.

Chilliwack has 100-year-old
John Alexander Gray, who will
receive his scroll as a resident
since 1875.

Kamloops will honor, among
others, 96-year-old Wo San, or
Charley. Wo as he is also
known, who came to Victoria
in 1881 to help lay steel for the
CPR’s first line to the coast.

June 20, 1958 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 9