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WEST END WOMEN TAKE THE LEAD

How orie-tenants’ league

is serving the community

IF YOU LIVE in Vancouver's West End, once the finest and now among the shabbiest of the city’s residential areas, the chances are you've heard of the West End Tenants’ League. This organiza- tion, since it was formed last fall, has earned the support of the 200 residents who now take Part in its activities by the issues ‘ it takes up and the work it does to get something done about them.

As a resident conscious of the high rent I was already paying for the privilege of living in this “Overcrowded and under-serviced area, I promptly joined the West

End Tenants’ League when it was

organized last fall to fight for re-

tention of rent control. ¢

I wasn’t surprised to find that fully two-thirds of the members were women. After all, it’s women, ~ Who generally have the problem of stretching the pay_ or pension cheque’ to cover rent, food and any other bare necessities they. can afford at ever-rising prices. Women are forced to spend most

of their time in the home, how- | -

ever drab and crowded. it may be. Women. must constantly worry about the safety of their children, forced to live in fire-traps and Play in the streets.

So it’s little wonder that we Women in the West End, seeing the lifting of rent controls as the last straw to an already over- heavy burden, took the leading

part in organizing against this 8reatest single threat to our liy- ‘ing standards, and joined our Voices with thousands across Can- - ada. 2

Our efforts were rewarded when rent controls, with some’ excep- tions, were retained for another f year, and we felt a real sense'of _ accomplishment in knowing that Our modest West End Tenants’ League had played its part in this very real crisis, Then we asked ourselves: should we disband?

* * *

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THROUGH MY work on the grievance committee I realized there was and still is a real need ©

for a tenants’ organization, to which people could bring’ their - many problems and get organized assistance.

For example, 2 woman on social assistance came to us in tears. ‘Her landlady was demanding $23 €@ month for rent (she had paid $15 for the past nine years). This ‘Was, of course, out of the ques- tion, and she was being threaten- ed with eviction, She couldn’t find

* a room at a rent she could af-—

ford, and the social service _ Wouldn't give her any proccess : rent allowance.

That was six months ago. “The ‘3 woman is still in the same Place, still paying $15 a month, and the’

_ Services which were withdrawn have been restored. '

In another case, a working wom-

an had already been ordered by —

_ Judge Boyd to vacate, and court charges of over $50 were being demanded. The Tenants’ League intervened and were able to show

' th&t the landlady had been most

inconsistent and unfair. As a Te-

sult, nothing more was heard

about the court charges.

This same landlady forced an-

other tenant to move by the sim-

ple process of having the electric wiring torn out of the building,

in her haste to gain possession Of |

the premises, ostensibly for com-

mercial use. Rather ironically, she _ Now has to abandon the project,

as the building has been con-,

demned and must be torn down.

It was unfit for commercial use, yet pees had. been living there! - *« Ke DO. Soo remember the disas- trous Hornby Street fire? More than a dozen people lost all their possessions. Six were seriously injured in jumping from the sec- ond and third floors, and two of these are still in hospital more than three months later. The fire fighters gave wonderful service, and the re" End Ten-

wtiss Krock, is kindergarten worth while? I'd hate to study all the way up to college and then have the H-bomb bump us offi”

This cartoon by Galbraith actual- ly appeared in the Toronto Evening Telegram.

«

A

‘No immunization against A-bombs‘

_ THE FOLLOWING _ notice was tacked to her door by 2 London housewife:

_ “My> 9-months-old daughter drinks pasteurized milk ag pro-

_ tection against tuberculosis. She —

has been vaccinated and im- munized against diphtheria and whooping cough, ;

“But there is no protection against atom bombs. : < “This afternoon I am going to the House of Commons to see my MP to enlist his help in’ ‘stopping the fi gaiare of these. horror bombs.

“J am going for the sake of my child and yours.”

ants’ League was able to help these people, but prevention is

- better than cure. The Tenants’

League, alarmed at the danger of a serious fire in the rows of old tinder-dry houses in the West End, demanded that the city coun- cil make a survey and asked for changes in the present inadequate fire regulations. The council endorsed the Fire and Police yCommittee’s report

which admitted that ‘the -divers-»

ity in construction and design of these buildings (converted room- ing houses over two storeys) along with the crowded living conditions, greatly increases the fire hazard,” but still’callously concluded: “In our opinion, our building and fire regulations afford reasonable safe* ty to our citizens, and» compare very favorably with any city in North America, as our records would indicate.” We ate determin- ed not to let the matter end here!

A delegation led by Vancouver Housing Association, and repre- senting many organizations, in-

League, interviewed the council on’ the shortage of accommoda- tion.

Five years ore the end of the war, the council still refuses to recognize the need for subsidized low rent, low cost housing, and

at this late date, is “experiment- ing” with a limited project of per- haps 200 units, for ne as apa pen- sioners.

Ald. George Miller siete this quite clear when he said, “We _don’t want the people to get the mistaken idea that the ciy coun- cil is going to play Santa Claus, that they can get something for

nothing. The city council -has no-

intention of launching a subsi- dized low rent project, and never

will as long as I am on the coun- ei”

Certainly, the Tenants’ League has not outlived its usefulness. The West End needs bigger and better schools, recreational cen-

ters, and playgrounds, Our or- ganization needs many more mem- “bers, especially women, to work

: together and make our commun- ity a safer, better place to live. —MAY PEN ECE ES. :

cluding the West End Tenants’.

THE OTHER DAY little oe raced in aeiely from . school with the tremendous news that the following day was sports day ‘and that she simply had to have a pair of white shorts. This meant, of course, that some of the girls would have white shorts and others navy, — but our young daughter preferred white. Well, as usual, the cash was ving a sewing machine, antiquated as use from it, so after supper we rum-

short, and anyway it’s no good it may be, without getting the f maged round for some material and

some flour bags. Shades of depression, I thought, as we cut out the shorts while Grandma recalled some of the uses she had sans for flour

bags twenty years ago.

Just as bread, beans and pota- toes were the staff of life in the thirties, so too the flour bag emerged as the modern version of the fig leaf. Civilization does in- deed progress, for to hold up the flour bag panties, Grandma made full use. of the great technical strides in the rubber industry by cutting up thin strips of an inner , tube as: a. substitute for elastic. ; » Yes, those were the “good old

days” of hard work, honesty and ~

thrift that we are so often advised —by people who have never stood in a relief line—to return to.

It had its consolations, however, although not for men like George Drew, for out ofethe struggle for survival Grandma obtained her socialist convictions.

ide bo aS.

THERE’S BEEN a lot of talk about juvenile delinquency in the past few months, but precious lit- tle has been done ‘about it. The so- c&lled Youth Committee set up by Mayor Thompson hasn’t a youth- ful person on it, and when it was

suggested by members of the Na-,

tional Federation of Labor Youth that a conference of all youth or- ganizations be called they were told they were there to listen, not to make suggestions.

We know our boys and girls have plenty of good ideas and more than enough gumption to

_ carry them out. In Winnipeg the young people set a striking ex-

ample of how well they could or-

ganize and work in time of crisis.

Thousands of boys and girls worked on the dykes and in can- teens for 24 hours at a stretch, and they certainly proved that the modern youngster can shoulder re- sponsibility if given a chance.

When we talk of the need of.

_ youth activities for our sons and daughters we don’t mean just the a aah ee of a His gerd night

finally in Grandma’s trunk we found

ri)

Milk poured down

sewers in Paris

MILK FLOWED as freely as water into Paris sewers recent- ly. More than 20,000 quarts were > poured down the drain during _ the Whitsuntide holidays by the . Fermiers Reunis Company. One - of the largest of the six com- panies which form the milk

milk dumped, fearing it couldn’t be sold at the current high ©

“Are they trying to force us te

drink Coca-Cola?” was one

woman writer’s bitter comment.”

Oy dance. We need a much broader outlook than that. There should

' be sports, camps and hiking trips, for surely no other place has more to offer in the way of outdoor ac- tivity than our own province.

However, it’s not only recrea=

tional activities that are needed but also the opportunity to de- velop cultural talents. There’s nO jack of musical and literary talent _ among our young people, as any school teacher can tell you, but _ there’s a decided lack of facilities — for expression and appreciation. _

» Young people need the oppor- tunity to discuss and debate, te embark on a project and see it through. They need encouragement and* commendation, but most of all they need a chance to show what they can do—and they'll do it—B.G.

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IDEAS | GALORE

Make Sati own lamps __

DO YOU ‘WANT some extra drawer space? Perhaps your daughter needs .a new dressing table? Or junior a play box? May- be you want to make your old furniture modexn or some garden seats, or ideas for your new home. And you surely ‘can use an extra lamp or two. Well, with some handy tools, old furniture, empty bottles and ‘a ‘little ‘imagination

and work, you can get all ehere. ona more at very little cost.

Let’s start with the lamps. With a 32-0z, empty ink pottle, a cork, a small switch ahd a little in- genuity you have all you 3 need to “make one. ‘

A pooklet \ebntaining all kinds of ideas to help you in making your home —, oF room —— more cheerful at ‘little cost can be ob- tained by writing Lena Lipsey at Tribune. And if you’ ‘wish to discuss any particular problem, she'll ai her best to help

yOu ke SAE ee

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“WHAT'S DOING? -

OPEN AIR, DANCING at! Swedish

- Park. ery Saturday night. Dancing from 912. Arne John- son’s Orchestra.

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SOCIAL & DANCE, Saturday, June 17, 8 p.m. Russian People’s Home,

600 Campbell Ave., lower hall. Ad- |

mission 50c. Refreshments. Spon- sored by Maritime Club, LPP.

‘PICNIC: at 1 p.m. siimday, June 18, at Lulu Island on No. 2 Road, between Frances and Maple. Aus- pices Lithuanian Literary Society. Everybody welcome.

SWEDISH-FINNISH WORKERS’

CLUB meets last Friday every |

month at 7:30 p.m, in Clinton Hall.

BUSIN. ESS PERSONALS

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| CRYSTAL STEAM BATHS—Open

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DECORATING PAINTING, GRAINING, PAPER

- HANGING. For free estimates, |.

call FAirmont 3129-M.

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CLINTON HALL, 2605 E. Pender, Phone HAstings 3277. Hall is available for rent.

RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME — Available for meetings, weddings, and. banquets at reasonable rates, 600 Campbell Ave., HA. 6900.

NOTICES _

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SALLY BOWES INCOME TAX PROBLEMS — Rm. 20, 9 East Hastings. MA. 9965. A. Rollo, Mgr.

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" PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JUNE 16, 1950 PAGE a

_IN THE TRIBUNE”

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