BURNABY BYELECTIO

N FEBRUARY 18

Ball strong

BURNABY, B.C.

Burnaby voters go to the polls this Saturday, Febru- ary 18, to fill the council vacancy created by the death of Councillor J. G. West, with six names on the ballot representing Municipal Im- provement, CCF, Non-Parti- San, and three independent candidates.

Former Councillor Harry

Ball, candidate for the Mu- nicipal Improvement Asso- ciation, who polled more than 2,200 votes in last De- cember’s election, is conced- ed an excellent chance of heading the poll after his fighting campaign in sup- port of several thousand Burnaby unemployed. ' Ball has also made an is- sue of the BCElectric’s cur- tailment of inadequate Bur- naby Lake interurban ser- vices on the plea that .rev- enue was insufficient.

contender

HARRY BALL

Mary Kardash to speak to city women’s meet

Fresh from a meeting of the

Women’s International Democratic

Federation in Moscow, Mrs. Mary Kardash, wife of William Kardash, LPP member of the Manitoba legislature, comes to Wancouver _this week to report on her trip to the conference.

This Friday, February 17, Mrs. Kardash will speak at an after-

noon tea in the canteen at Pender Auditorium, 339 West Pender, or ganized by the Vancouver Women’s Committee for peace action.

At 8 p.m. the same evening she will address a meeting in the Ukrai- nian Labor Temple, Steveston, and on Saturday, February 18, she will visit Victoria.

Returning to Vancouver, Mrs. . Kardash speaks. at Tatra Hall, Queensboro, New Westminster, at 2 p.m., and in the evening will address a concert-meeting in the ‘Ukrainian Labor Temple, 805 East Pender.

On Monday she crosses to Van- couver Island again and speaks at the Eric Graf Hall, Port Alberni, at 8 p.m. I

Her last public appearance in Vancouver will be on Tuesday, February 21, at 8 p.m., in the. Uk- rainian Labor Temple, where she will address a meeting organized by the English-speaking branch of the AUUC.

_ Mary Kardash represented Ca- nada, along with Mrs. Libby Park, from the Congress of Canadian Women and Mrs. Dorise Nielsen from the Peace Action Commit- tee, at the Moscow conference.

_ Delegates attended from 59 coun-

tries, representing 81,000,000 wo-

‘men. The fight for peace and the | defence of the economic rights of | women were among the key is- sues discussed,

Mrs. Kardash, the former Mary _ Kostiniuk, has been active in the progressive movement since her

nian school and orchestra. In 1938 she represented the Canadian Ukrainian Youth Federation at the World Youth Congress at Vassar University, and on her return made a speaking tour across Canada.

Jobless® told to be patient

: QUEBEC CITY. ‘The newly formed Council of Jobless in this city recently sent a delegation to city council to pre- sent demands for work and wages and, until such was forthcoming, an increase in unemployment in- surance benefits,

The delegation urged Mayor Borne to appeal to federal and provincial authorities for public

'works ‘projects for the city. The

group asked that unemployment

insurance payments be increased to.

$15 a week for single men, $25

weekly for married men, plus $2:

a week extra for each dependent. Mayor Bornegsaid the unemploy- ed must be “patient”; the city would try to lock after its own residents first, he said, before tak- ing steps to remedy the “deplorable state” of transients ‘who spent no more than three or four months per year in the city.’ He didn’t add that many of these so-called “transients” are sailors, bush wor-

_ youth. She was a member of the! Winnipeg Ukrainian labor orches-| tra and later taught in the Ukrai- |

kers and stevedores. He offered no direct promises of aid ‘to either “residents” or, “transients”.

-Maclanis answers LPP club,

backs cash relief demand

_, Angus MacInnis, CCF MP for Vancouver East, this week rejected an invitation to meet with a dele- gation from Renfrew LPP club to discuss questions relating to unem- ployment and rent control, but he did outline his party’s position on both subjects in a written reply to the club’s request.

_ Stating that the CCF has “always pet. - Yent controls,” MacInnis went on to say that “we are carry- ing on a continuous agitation for _ the building of low-cost, low-rental - homes.” ae Dealing with the unemployment _ crisis, MacInnis wrote: “I have my- Self in letters to the Prime Minis-

ter ahd to the Minister of Labor, urged immediate cash assistance to those unemployed not covered by unemp ent insurance and the providing of work as a more per- manent means of preventing unem- ployment.” ;

Speaking for Renfrew LPP club, Margaret Stables said: “We are glad to know Angus MacInnis’ stand on these issues, but we feel that words alone are not enough in the present emergency, and would have welcomed an opportu- nity to meet MacInnis and propose action on a common program of aiding the existing organizations of unemployed workers who are fight- ing for work and wages.”

moving in rhythm.

the unemployed.

who are married and haven’t yet been tossed out of their homes; who are still eligible to draw $18 and a few cents unemployment in- surance benefits each week to feed and clothe their families.

Such a person is Gordon Kerr, 8296 Porter Street. A slim, bespec- tacled man of 49, Gordon doesn’t look like a veteran of this last war. He was 40 when he donned the uniform in September, 1940. Long past the age when you’d expect him to. carry a rifle. But Gordon joined up, went overseas in 1942, and was not demobbed until 1946.

Kerr said goodbye to khaki in Calgary, and came to .Vancouver with his wife and two children. He‘ worked fairly steadily as a laborer on construction jobs for three year's and carries a union card in the Construction and General Labor- ers’ Union, Local 602. ,

“IT got laid off last October 3, and have only been able to pick up casual jobs since then,’ says Gor- don,

“Knowing the fight the unem-

ployed had to put up for work in

the Hungry Thirties, I joined the Vancouver Unemployed Action Association as soon as it was formed, and I’ve been actively signing up members and collec- ting funds to help send an umem- ployed delegation to Victoria next month to demand a works program from the government.”

Kerr collects his insurance bene- fits, but once when he secured a few days’ work it took him some time to get back on the lists. “I was really hard up,” he. said, “and final- ly had to visit the Returned Sol- diers Club and ask for ‘aid. I was given a voucher for three dollars’ worth of groceries at Woodwards. If you want to see jobless veterans, just call around to that Service Club and you'll see plenty.”

x * *

I took his advice, went to the third floor of the Shelley Building, just across from the WVamcouver Sun, and bumped smack into a line of 150 hungry-looking fellows, waiting for the office to open,

“What’s the score on this do?” I asked a chap.

“Are you a vet?” he replied,

Ae a Si4e

“Got your

‘Yes’ f

“Get in line then. You'll be all right, if you manage to make it before they close up. I got turned away yesterday when I was nearly to the door.”

“What do you score when you make it?” I asked.

“A meal ticket worth 40 cents at

the Wonder Lunch on Carrall. If you're very lucky, a free flop.” _ “As a matter of fact, I’m not after a meal ticket,” I said. “I’m a re- porter from the Pacific Tribune, and want to find out how conditions in the Hungry Fifties compare with the Hungry Thirties. I graduated from that depression, and from what I can see, this one isn’t any improvement.”

Men left the line-up to bombard

\

discharge papers?”

a gander at the central city mis- sion, a crummy joint if there ever was one. I came out of hospital clean, went there one night and got loused up.”

“Sample the slop at St. Vincent’s and see how,it sits on your stom- ach.”

“Try the Wonder Lunch. You gotta get a 35-cent meal to get three buns with it to fill you up. No soup or dessert on our meal tickets. Amd margarine, not but- ter,” ‘

“Drop around for a flop at the

Sally Ann. That’s if you’ve got

me with advise, “Go down and take |

40 or 50 cents to spend. If you're

Vets who made head now stand in breadlines

By BERT WHYTE

Five years ago they were heroes. You read about them in the papers. ‘‘Canadians Cross Rhine,” screamed the headlines. Later they came home, home to the “‘land of the free and the home of the brave’’. Thousands jammed the sidewalks, cheered the conquering heroes as they marched past, arms’ swinging, chests out, heads high. And the bands played glorious music, stirring marches to set blood tingling and feet

j

The bands and the cheering crowds are long gone, but what of the heroes of yesteryear? Some are in business, or working at steady jobs, swallowed up in the anonymity of everyday pursuits, And some haven’t found it so easy to find a permanent niche in society—some have been pushed into the ranks of

These heroes of yesterday have to beg handouts today. The fighters for democracy have been granted the freedom to sleep under bridges, and in boxcars and flophouses. Among the “‘luckier’” ones are those

Peace speaker

“Who Threatens World Peace?” is the title chosen by Hilary Newitt Brown for the speech she will give Friday, February 24, at the Electrical Workers’ Center, 111 Dunsmuir, under auspices of Vancouver Peace Assembly, She is well known in this province as a lecturer and writer,

broke, save your breath and shoe leather.”

“Tell the people of Vancouver how we live. Make ’em asham- ed of unemployment. Tell ’em we're tired of handouts; we want work,”

The office opened at 2 p.m. and I went inside and watched one harassed secretary try to cope with the crush of hungry vets. She fin- ished with the first ten men, then told me: “We handle from 100 to 150 men a day, but have to put a limit on the number of meal tickets and food vouchers. The money comes from the Poppy Fund. But there are far too many unemployed veterans for us to deal with.”

I talked to a few of the veterans. A young Scottish namesake of mine, from Glasgow: “The relief system is better in the Old Coun- try. Not so humiliating, I came over here, gandy-danced for the CPR, then got laid off, so what are you going to do?” oe

Jack Gilmore, 47, hairdresser, and winner of a gold medal at his trade: “I: worked all through the depression days of the thir- ties. Went overseas. * Came back and now this depression has’ got

me. Take a look at my shoes, |

worn clean through looking for

UNION HOUSE | ZENITH CAFE

105 E. Hastings Street VANCOUVER, B.C.

work, but nothing stirring.” * * * I left the building and walked

|| back to the Unemployed Action As-

sociation headquarters at Pender

|| Auditorium, 339 West Pender. Wal-

ter Whittaker, unemployed sea- man, was drawing a leaflet adver- tising a meeting of jobless - this

|week, He was full of fight.

“We're going to organize the job- less in Vancouver and fight for work and wages,” he said. “They can kick us around but they can’t beat us. Next week we plan to send a delegation to city hall demand- ing cash relief... we’re working Out a proposed scale now.

“Our 400 members have collected 1500. signatures and more than $200 in our campaign to win sup- port for our demands-on the pro- vincial government. We hope to raise a thousand bucks and send a big delegation to Victoria next month to meet the cabinet. We know that the only way we'll get any work is to organize and fight fOr 36:

Walter has the right idea. The jobless crisis in Vancouver and throughout British Columbia has gone far beyond the stage where it can be solved by the efforts of a few charitable organizations, how- ever genuine their efforts may be. The situation calls for action by the unemployed themselves, sup- ported by all decent citizens, Anda that’s the program hammered out by the members of the Unemployed

Action Association. When their membership numbers thousands instead. of hundreds, they'll be

strong enough to force civic, pro- vincial and federal authorities to

take action to alleviate the present crisis,

Brother’s Bakery Specializing in Sweet and Sour Rve Breads 342 E. HASTINGS ST. PA. 8419

Hastings Steam Baths OPEN DAY and NIGHT Expert Masseurs in A itendance Vancouver, B.C,

HA. 0340 766 EY Hastings

Wells Ideal Bleaners

Work done at Working Men’s Prices 3840 Oak St. - BA. 3022 RESIDENCE 6875 CURTIS ST. GL. 2675-F We Call for and Deliver

_ Phone Any Time Lochdale Credit Union Member

Your Support Appreciated

ERY

$ Jack Cooney, Mgr.

PACIFIC 9588

MEAT MARKET

119 EAST HASTINGS

VANCOUVER, BC, __ FREE DELIVERY Supplying Fishing Boats Our

Nite Calls GL. 1740L

Specialty

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 17

, I950—PAGE 2