EADERS OF PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT TAG FOR JOBLESS t tol Western Canada’s Leading Progressive Newspaper te | VANCOUVER, B.C., FRIDAY, MAY 20, 1938 Athiopia [In Spain =2 mE Tener emer Ald, Gutterid ge Raps | Far From_ : Statements Of Mayor o Conquered Tells Council Tag Day Was Efficiently Sussolini’s Difficulties ‘ncreasing As Unity Of People Strengthens __ §.esistance. MANY REVOLTS ONDON, England, May i19— ess Mussolini gets help} he will it difficult to hold Ethiopia ex- t at the cost of sacrifices so in- rable that the Italian people, fontented as they already are, 7 ultimately revolt. his is the opinion of the New cesman and Nation as expressed yu recent article based on exclu- information from Ethiopia. Fussolini’s difficulties in Ethiopia Ss @ acute. He has been obliged to Sorsgeadraw 10,000 Italian workmen thefause he could no longer feed or oF fee them and their places have Stiga taken by Ambharis. &=]ne of the chief reasons for the GREGe, Italian victory was the lack fWig unity among the natives of iopia arising from their racial religious differences. Whole es were bought by the ‘Italians the Emperor’s armies melted yy like snow in a night. ~ 4) alian annexation and foul meth- i employed by the Italians to in their hold on the country A e€ produced a measure of unity — #32 as has never before existed. b&@ istians, Moslems and Pagans ec sunk their differences and the ™@ stance to the Italian invaders lore extensive, more united and ‘e effective than it has been at m time since the occupation. It ikely to be intensified during coming rainy season. Sefore the war the Italians had uited a large number of Ethi- ens, especially from Gojjan in E west of the country, who were - m@ acted by the pecuniary advan- “8-s offered them. They were “@Haed in Libya and sent to Ethi- ee when the war began. Large nce ibers of them have deserted and iopians recruited for service in 5S va haye escaped and returned ™ Ethiopia to aic their fellow- *“@ atrymen. Moreover, many of the ® rean troops in the Italian army e@ gone over to the Ethiopians, all these desertions are increas- Gaining Ground he Ethiopians are gaining und and their resistance is dening. Trained Ethiopians and trean deserters are teaching Mm the use of modern weapons, fwhich they were completely ig- Z Sant, and they are becoming less less afraid of the Italians. bn air raids have much less ef- than was formerly the case, @iiough great aerial activity con- @ies on the part of the Italians. fhe Ethiopians could obtain ade- = te supplies of arms and war ‘wterial, they might well succeed imately in driying the Italians & of Ethiopia. a the north there are revolts in Pnbien and Sokota led by Deja- ¢mch Nailu Kebbede. In Gojjan in i @# west there have been revolts “wler Ras Nailu’s grandson whose i} @irender with 1,000 men was re- fpted in the “Times” of March 14. = @ Shoa, in east Ethiopia, where Ethiopians are led by Dejamach t@sre Mariam, the railway to uti and the main road to the fst are frequently cut. In Bako she south there are revolts under jamach Bayena. In Gurafarda, mira and Kaffa in the south- Bst many Italian garrisons have Fd to be withdrawn and roads I Lost Ambulance At Belchite life. Tommy Sims of New Westmin- ster, Victor Himmelfarb, Toronto pharmacist, and Gedeon Menard of Montreal, travelled to Spain to- gether. When they applied for visas to the Canadian government they were asked to’sign a statement that they would not bear arms for either side in Spain. They were told that their papers would be fixed up for them in Paris. But in Paris the Canadian consul told them that he had no knowledge of the matter and communications to the govern- ment at Ottawa brought no re sponse. Ottawa, apparently, was not in- terested, although concurrently $100,000 worth of airplane paris were being shipped from Canada to the fascists in Spain. Crossed Pyrenees On Foot Sims and his companions were undeterred. They shipped the am- bulances ahead of them to Valencia and crossed the Pyrenees on foot with a guide. From Aibacete, headquarters of the famous Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, Sims’ ambulance was Sent to the Huesca front. He was in Lerida last fall, on route to Valls near Tarragona on the coast, with wounded, when low-flying fascist planes bombed a school, killing 80 children and wounding scores more. There was anger in his voice when he told me about this. At Christmas he went down to the Teruel front where fascists bombed a hospital, despite the fact that it displayed a conspicuous red eross. Planes strafing the road ma- chine-gunned his ambulance too, putting two bullets through the radiator. Percy Batson of Toronto, who was with him as second chauf- feur, was wounded and died in hos- pital later. Later he was transferred to an- other part of the Teruel front, to unsafe. mn Sarrion, when learning from bitter Victoria TUESDAY, MAY 24th By HAROLD GRIFFIN Royal City Man Returns Home The first task Tommy Sims, 34-year-old New Westminster man who was chosen last July to drive one of the two ambulances presented to the Spanish government by the Communist Party of Canada, was given in Spain was that of picking up women and children wounded in a fascist bombardment of Granen, then 15 miles behind loyalist lines on the Huesca front. Throughout this young Irishman’s story of his experiences in driving an ambulance in Spain for the past eight months as he told it to me upon his return home this week the sav- agery of fascist totalitarian warfare runs in an unbroken crimson thread. He saw whole streets of buildings destroyed in towns behind the lines. They housed only old men, women and children, for the young men were all away at the front. Fascists ma- chine-sunned his ambulance from the air. Hos pital tents had to be set up in olive groves to conceal them from the fascists. To display the red cross was to invite attack. And he was in Barcelona too, in the merciless bombings earlier this year which took tremendous toll of civilian TOMMY SIMs. experience, hospital tents were set up in olive groves to hide them from fascist planes engaged in levelling nearby towns and villages to piles of ruins. Sims paid a tribute to the ef- ficiency of the Canadian SBlood Transfusion, organized by Dr. Nor- man Bethune of Montreal, now in China, and later taken over by the government. He told how, in the stern fighting around the strategic city when casualties were high, Alan May brought an emergency consignment of blood for transfusion purposes over the most difficult of roads. He told too, how loyalists when they entered Teruel] found stocks of British foodstuffs and other sup- plies abandoned by the fascists in retreat, mute tribute to the worth of Chamberlain’s boast that “Britain is strictly neutral in the Spanish war.’ “In March I was sent to Bel- chite,’* Sims related. “It was here that I lost my ambulance. Backed by enormous strength in artillery, tanks and planes the fascists ad- vanced south and east of us, cutting our only road of retreat at Escatron and isolating Canadian, American and British volunteers of the Inter- national Brigades in Belchite. “We effected a retreat, but we were forced to abandon al] heavy equipment, including my ambul- ance. Our readers were to retreat to Alcaniz and we accomplished this without loss of a man by night marches through the mountains. “Sometimes, during the day—we were five days in the mountains— we would see fascist tanks rolling along not far away, but we man- aged to get through all right.” How the loyalists stopped the fas- cist offensive at Lerida—they still _hold the greater part of the town on the far bank of the Ebro—and how farther south they held the fascists first at Caspe and then at Tortosa is already splendid history. Afterwards Sims drove a 45-pas- senger Hispano-Suiza bus, trans- porting wounded from the new fronts. He had only made two trips, however, when Dr. Friedman of the American Medical Bureau, in charge of front-line first-aid work, asked him not to bring the bus to the front again as it was too easy a target for fascist planes, During this time, Sims said, he transported as many wounded women and chil- dren refugees to the rear as he did wounded soldiers. What does Sims think of the future? He shares the confidence of the Spanish people in the eventual triumph of their cause, recalling Premier Negrin’s state- ment that every day strengthens the government and weakens the fascists, that the last word is al- ways with the people. Managed; Financial Statement Prepared Insinuations that there was improper handling of tag day funds made by Mayor G. C. Miller in city council this week were effectively answered when Ald. Helena Gutteridge, who sold tags to aid single unemployed, produced and read to aldermen a receipt given to her by tag day officials. Wilson Pleads For Jobless Relates Plight Of Job- less Over Fifty Years A plea for single unemployed men near 55 years of age was made by Ald. H. D. Wilson at this week’s meeting of the city council. He stated that a great number of old men were being cut off relief, many of them in a pitiable condition and pressing aldermen to take action on their behalf, Mayor G GC. Miller stated the city could not bear the present cost of $1,100 per day to look after these cases, and expressed disappoint- ment that while the provincial gov- ernment had stated its intention of making the position of the young Single jobless men clear, this could not be said of indigent cases. He Stated that the executive of the union of BC municipalities would make representations to the pro- vincial government on the question of responsibility for indigents. Said Ald. H. L. Corey: “I would dearly love to know why a man under 55 is termed an old man. Some of our finest statesmen and best workers on the relief projects are around this age and [I fail to see why special consideration should be given.” “Try and get a new job at that age,” Ald. Gutteridge interpolated. “T’ll answer that one,’ Ald. H. DeGraves declared: “Our police and firemen are considered too old at 55 and they are generally in fair condition, although I don't agree with this ruling.” League Plans Panel Series Foreign Policy Topic For First Discussion A panel discussion on “Britain’s Foreign Policy and Its Effect on Canada’’ will be held in St. An- drews-wWesley Community Hall on Wednesday, May 25, 8 p.m. Amonk those participating in the discussion will be Mrs. Stuart Jamieson, Women’s International League; R. H. Robichaud, Vancou- ver WNews-Herald; Mrs. Edward Mahon, and Miss M. Portsmouth, Ganadian League for Peace and Democracy. There will be no attempt to evolve a cut and dried opinion. It will not be a debate; nor will there be any speeches, merely a discus- sion without formality as though no audience were present. This will be the first of a series of panel discussions which the Canadian League for Peace and Democracy hopes to arrange, and an expression of opinion from prominent citizens and organiza- tions will be sought on important questions of the bay. ARMS FOR SPAIN Day DANC TOWN ALPINE ORCHESTRA Value of $35 in Prizes on Advance Tickets Only Auspices Cosmopolitan Concert Committee implying that Vancouver Youth Council had failed to carry out its promise to help supervise collec- tions and disbursements, the mayor stated that Ganon W. Cooper, St. James Anglican Church, was the only outside individual on hand, and that others who offered to as- sist were told they were not want- ed. Mayor Miller also declared that men were coerced into the Relief Project Workers’ Union by the threat of refusing them any benefit from tag day receipts. Promptly denying that any such conditions had existed, Ald. Gut- teridge paid tribute to the ef- ficiency of the committee, stating that all cans were numbered and a receipt given to all collectors after the money had been counted before them. “They even had an adding ma- chine on hand,” Ald. Gutteridge Stated, “and a full financial state- ment will be given to the city coun- cil signed by Donald McBean, treasurer of Vancouver Youth Couneil, so such irresponsible state- ments made here had better have been left unsaid.” Ald. Cornett deplored any hasti- ness and urged that the council wait until the financial statement was submitted by the single men’s organization. Library Crowded Ald De Graves Thinks More Space Necessary Sooner or later Vancouver will ave to face the question of furnish_ ing a more commodious library for the increasing number of books and objects of art now stowed away in the basement. This state- ment was made to the city council this week by Ald H. DeGraves, who declared that he was perturb- ed at findings on a visit to the city library that many things which should be on display to the public were tucked away in the basement. The mayor didn’t think much could be done about it, but support for a better building was forth- coming from other aldermen. The question arose when a letter Was read to the council which re- quested that the valuable library of Sir Matthew Beghbie, now lying in the library basement, be loaned to a women’s organization in Vic- toria. Windsor Fascists Active In Schools WINDSOR, Ont., May 19.— The Italian fascist organization here is flooding the city with propaganda, especially in the form of textbooks adapted for children of Italian parentage. It is stated that Italian fascist teachers are permitted to cross the border freely from Detroit to Windsor, and that every effort is being made to get all children of Italian descent to attend special fascist classes. Leaders of the Italian fascist group are Luigi Meconi, sub-post- master, a Guiseppe, provincial liquor store employee. Pender and Burrard REFRESHMENTS PROCEEDS TO THE PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE AND CLARION WEEKLY PITIZENS CONTRIBUTE $4,800 TO SINGLE MEN | The People’s Advocate | Mayor’s Charges Refute Collection Supervised, _ Audited By Canon Cooper, D. McBean, Says Union. MAYOR REBUKED Forty thousand Vancouver citizens wore tags last Satur- day, bearing the slogan, “TI Favor a Works Program,” and the magnificent sum of $4,761 was collected by approximately 1,400 single unemployed men and their supporters who vigs- orously rattled cans at all bus street corners. : _ Comments of many of those buy- ing tags were indicative of the strong public support of the men in their demand for work and wages and many citizens stopped to voice their indignation at the attitude maintained by federal and provincial governments. Hyen Pre- mier Pattullo himself dropped a 25-cent piece in his can, but with- out comment. At tag day headquarters Canon Wilberforce Cooper of St. James Anglican Church, and Donald Mc- Bean, treasurer of Vancouver Youth Gouneil and Young Liberal leader, with the tag day commit- tee, supervised the collection, count- ing of monies and issuance of re- ceipts to each collector. It was agreed that the funds be distrib- uted without discrimination to the men over a period of five days at the rate of 60 cents per day. Among those out tagging were A. M. Stephen, provincial president of the League for Peace and De- mocracy; Harold Winch, MILA; Leslie Morris and Tom Hwen, cen- tral committee members of the Communist party; Ald. Helena Gutteridge; Fergus McKean, pro- vincial secretary of the Communist party; and H. Gargrave, provincial - secretary of the CCF. Insinuations made this week by Mayor G. €. Miller that there were irregularities and lack of super- vision by the tag day committee, were answered by John Matts, sec- retary of the Relief Project Work- ers’ Union, in the following press release: Charges Refuted “The Relief Project Workers’ Union wishes to explain to the gen- eral public and those who gener- ously supported the tag day Sat- urday, that the statements attribut- ed to the mayor in a press report this week are entirely unfounded and misleading. : “We regret to learn from the statement that the mayor had ul- terior motives in granting us a tag day; that he intended to use the tag day as a weapon to tie the unemployed boys down. We had hoped that we had made a friend in the mayor and that he under- stood and sympathized with the single unemployed. “As regards the inference made, that we had coerced the single un- employed into joining the union, His Worship should have consulted the citizens whom he appointed to watch the procedure of the tag day, rather than the underworld of in- formers. No single unemployed man was asked to join the union or was turned away because of reluctance in this regard. These citizens will vouch for that. And the ‘dotted line’ the Mayor refers to with such insidious and hidden meaning, was the register kept by the tag day committee to safeguard funds col- lected from being accessible to that underworld fringe of petty-chisel- lers as prevalent in Vancouver and elsewhere and low enough even to be parasites on the unemployed if the opportunity presented itself. “The Relief Project Workers’ Union assures the public that its aims are at all times to protect the single unemployed men.”