FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1959 Peace Congress brief presented at Ottawa OTTAWA—A delegation from the Canadian Peace Con- gress this week presented a brief to the Department of External Affairs on Tuesday this week, asking the Canadian govern- ment to take a lead in getting positive action on seven points dealing with stopping the arms rate, banning nuclear weapons, recognition of China, settling the Berlim=question and pro- moting trade with all countries. The seven points are: 1. Stop the arms race. The human and econcmic waste is appalling and it will end in war. 2. Stop all nuclear tests. 3. Preserve Canada’s free- donr to exercise independent judgment in any defense inte- gration with the United States or with any bloc. 4. Recognize the People’s Re- public of China and give the U.N. ‘seat to the real repre- sentatives of China. _ 5. On the question of Berlin and Germany stand firmly for negotiation now and the avoid- ance of positions resting on the assumption of solution by mili- tary force. (The brief quoted the West German Defense Minister Franz Strauss as saying recently: “We live in a technical age and the combined power of our allies is sufficient to raze the Soviet Union from the world” and later in a 1958 television broad- cast saying, “Germany may have to fight an atomic war alone.” This stresses the urg- ency of insistence on peace- ful solutions). = P 6. Promote trade and cul- tural relations with all coun- tries, especially with ,the so- called “Iron Curtain” countries. 7. Trouble spots such as Korea and Vietnam and the MiddlesEast are aggravated by the continuation of the cold war division of the world and the building of atomic bases, A change in the political clim- ate must be brought about be- fore these tense situations can be resolved. Prices, costs squeeze hits all sections of farmers WEBSTERS CORNER, B.C. —The annual meeting of Local 406 of the Farmers Union of _ B.C. was held here on Febru- "ary 2. Problems facing British — Columbia’s diversified ‘farm- ing were widely discussed, and the conclusion drawn that irrespective of whether it was dairy, fruit or other . diversified products, all sec- tions of the farmers were caught in the squeeze between prices and ‘costs. EYEGLASSES ON CREDIT Payments as low as 50c Weekly Granville Optical 4 825 Granville MU 3-8921 ~ Oppdsite .Capitol Theatre ) Officers elected for 1959 to conduct the administration of Local 406 were: president, D. Reimer; vice-president,. Mrs. G. Hilland; directors, G. Carl- son, M. Kaupinen and M,.Ya- kowesen. Mrs. Carlson was appointed local — secretary- treasurer. Some indication. of the eco-~ nomic plight of the primary producers can be seen in an outline given by a member. In business as a poultry pro- ducer for over 25 years, he kept a careful record of pro- duction returns. This record shows that from a_ sizeable flock he cleared one dollar per month, or an annual “pro- fit’ of $12. He noted that he “was fortunate in that he hatches his own flock, other- wise his annual profit for the year would have looked more sick.” CLC MUST_ACT Jobless figures show no drop TORONTO—Despite claims of recovery, no drop in unemployment is discernible. is being made of the fact that the number of unemployed or unemployed insurance 1s NOt high as was the case last year but the figures issued by the Department of Labor d a give a complete picture. Left out is the growing number of workers on relief. Left ou the natural growth of the labor force and the increasin find work. Left out, too, are the workers on part time. With all these groups added. the picture is much worse. Even the claims of recovery need careful examination. The Financial Post recently drew attention to the fact that des- pite increased production in some sectors of industry, “in- dustrial production has been on a plateau for about a year” and “is only half way back to boom time levels.” F From this the paper draws the conclusion that “the area where the greatest slack has yet to be taken up is the la- bor force. And prospects are that this is going to be a soft spot in the economy for a long time.” : These two conclusions, ex- pressing the fact that no real expansion is taking place in the Canadian economy, is borne out by an analysis of the unemployment figures. Very few of the unemployed are women, only 40,000 out of the total of 414,000 Canadians considered to be without jobs and seeking work in last Dec- ember’s labor force survey. This indicates that the re- covery, such as it is, is taking place in certain sectors of in- dustry such as clerical, office, sales and light industry, that is, industry which generally employs women. On the other Hand indus- try which normally employs men, that is, basic industry, is still faced with relative over- production or what capital- ists economists choose to call excess capacity. It is the work- ers in these industries that are hardest hit by the slump. But even assuming a meas- ure of recovery in these in- PUBLIC — MEETING — SUNDAY, FEB. 22 - 2 p.m. “SOCIALISM and UNEMPLOYMENT” SPEAKERS: H. Pritchett - Charles Caron ‘Auspices: North Van. Section, LPP Everybody Welcome By WILLIAM KASHTAN dustries, there is no assur- ‘ance that all workers now laid off will be rehired. Tech- nological developments of various kinds and semi-auto- mated processes are displac- ing not only unskilled but skilled workers as well. In fact it is estimated that around 25 percent of all work- ers presently unemployed may not get their jobs back and will become chronically un- employed, unless the trade union movement undertakes a far more vigorous fight for policies of full employment than is evidenced at the moment. Not least to note is the fact that a substantial percentage of the unemployed are young people without seniority and those over 40 years of age. Of the 1,717,000 persons be- tween 45 and 54 years of age For a jobs program no theme of LPP meeting The unemployment crisis and what can be done to create jobs will be discussed at a Vancouver East public rally at the Clinton Hall, 2065 East Pender Street, on Sunday, February 22 at-8 p.m. Main speaker at the rally will be Harold Pritchett, well known to thousands of work- ers in industry. The meeting will be chaired by Donald (Dusty) Greenwell, trade un-. g number of young people who call _ “Headlines . in the labor force in Dect ber, 104,000, almost 10 cent, were without jobs ame seeking work. Both the continuing unemployment and its SP features gives no groun complacency in labor’s ! There may be a view: in 0 quarters that the thing 10 is pay attention to the employ and organized workers, § let the unemployed fend themselves. But what is ed is a_ strengthening unity of employed and ume ployed. Monopoly would nothing better than to PD employed against the ployed and vice versa at @ expense of both. The ‘Canadian Labor gress certainly should be much, much more than in this regard. ionist and active comm worker. 3 “Tt is high time the auth ties brought forward a P to help the unemployed thousands of destitute lies,” Harold Pritchett told Pacific Tribune this we about ‘propo: projects’ in the daily p are no substitute for the th sands of jobs necessary if } chen cupboards are to filled.” ; ONE NIGHT ONLY IN VANCOUVER. Miss Clara Kmitto Famous Polish Prima Ballerina $ of the Wroclaw Theatre of Opera and Ballet will be presented on | SUNDAY, FEB. 22 -8 p.m. INTERNATIONAL CINEMA 756 Granville St. ef ~— Everyone welcome — ee : ae F : February 13, 1959 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAG!