January 18, 1935

Bac a

WORKERS’

NEWS

Page Three

EAST OF ROCKIES|

PORT ARTHUR, Jan. 5.—(ALP)—
Over 400 single unemployed demon-
strated through the main streets of
the city this afternoon, demanding
that the city authorities take care
of their needs.

TORONTO, Jan. 8.—(ALP)—“We
get no milk, then you can keep the
baby,”’ was the ultimatum of John
Luzychi, 24-year-old worker, and his
wife, Stella, when they walked out
of the city relief office on Church
Street, leaving their 4-mounth-old
baby behind them on the counter.
Later the pair were arrested out-
side the office of the City Welfare
Department on College Street.

MONTREAL, Jan. 10.—(ALP) —
Premier Bennett is assured of a
warm welcome into the fold of the
Federation of Labor Clubs of Quebec,
the Brown Shirt Fascist movement
of French Canada. Omer Langlois,
secretary of the federation, has been
appointed to represent the organiza-
tion on a committee of welcome
which will meet Mr, Bennett on his
arrival next Tuesday.

“We are getting behind Mr. Ben-
mett because he is now pursuing the
gocial policies we have advocated for
years,” said J. C. J. Rancroft, pres-
ident of the federation. ‘There is no
intention of smashing the constitu-
tion or doing anything other than
in a lawful and orderly manner. Mr.
Bennett is asking for a mandate
from the country in what he pro-
poses, and naturally he will use
force if necessary, to stamp out any
attempt to block his efforts to carry
out that mandate. In that we will
support him. We are simply Cana-
dians and Christians.” ;

WASHINGTON, D.C: —(By Fed-
erated Press and ALP)}—While Cana-
dian workers are preparing to stage
@ monster battie to obtain non-con-
tributory unemployment insurance,
working class forces in the United
States are consolidating their forces
following the successful conclusion
of the National Congress for Unem-
ployment and Social Insurance,
which concluded sessions here on
January 7th. The demands of the
Congress, which was on a wide
united front basis, were presented

PROVINCIAL MILK
MARKETING ACT

Affords Protection For
Wealthy at Expense
of the Poor

The Editor, B.C. Workers News:

Sir,—Further fascisation of the
state apparatus is being led by R.
B. Bennett and guided by Premier
Pattullo of B.C. to further hog-tie
the milk producers of the Fraser
Valley in the form of the Provincial
Marketing Scheme. The Natural
Products Marketing (B.C.) Act,
Statutes 1934, Chapter 38, is the
most vicious piece of farm legisla-
tion ever placed on the statutes of
B.C. An analysis of the act reveals
that there is not the slightest trace
of democracy in the entire act, the
producers of milk and milk pro-
ducts being at the mercy of an auto-
cratic board. The _ Provisional
Marketing Board of the Milk Market-
ing Scheme, who were appointed by
an Order in Council of the B.C, Gov-
ernment consists of Mr. Hugh Da-
vidson, 1221 Thurlow Street, Van-
couver; Mr. Thomas McArthur, Har-
ris Road, Pitt Meadows, and Mr.
Wm. Park, Pitt Meadows. They will
be directly responsible to the Provin-
cial Marketing Board, which in turn
is responsible to the Dominion
Marketing Board, and will hold office
until March 31, 1936. If a poll is to
be held in 1936 these same gentlemén
will hold the poll, and are given ex-
tremely wide powers, which bar
more democratic people from being
elected. (Sec. 34, a to j).

The above board is given extremely
wide powers over the producers’
agencies, dealers and consumers of
milk, All those producing milk for
sale in fluid form or for manufac-
turing purposes must register with
the board. Only those who have two
cows or less, an@ who use the milk
for home consumption are exempt
from registration. Under section 14
the board may regulate the time and
Place of marketing, designate the
agency or agencies through which
the product shall be marketed, and
prohibit the marketing of the pro-
duct through any other agency (a
and b). The board may order any
agency or agencies to supply a
dealer with milk in such amount or

to Congress, to the White House and
to government departments.
pf same. 9 2kA_ deal

> NATIONAL LUNCH
(Continued from Page 1)

see to it that their orders are carried

out and to.see to it that anything

that is not eaten is saved.

* * *

The letter drawn up by this
worker, from which the above is
taken, was sent to the Board of In-
dustrial Relations, through the
medium of ‘his Union, and received
the following reply:

Re; National Lunch.

Dear Sir,—I have your letter of
the 26th inst., with enclosure, re the
above.

As you are probably aware some
of the matters referred to in your
letter are entirely outside the juris-
diction of this department. I refer
particularly to your complaints re-
garding the preparation of food and
the sanitary conditions of the kit-
chen, These are all matters that
come under the City authorities, and
the only way to have them rectified
is to refer them to your own City
officials at the City Hall.

The working conditions of em-
ployees, however, are matters that
come under our jurisdiction, and I
can assure you that, from time to
time, our inspectors have investi-
gated at the National Lunch.

Our efforts in administering these
laws would be greatly- facilitated if
we could procure a greater measure
of co-operation from the employees
concerned. Our chief difficulty is in
procuring the necessary evidence
that will be accepted by a police
magistrate in the court.

Frequently, the only way that
such evidence can be procured is
through employees or ex-employees,

If you can assist us in procuring
such evidence, I can assure you that
your help will be greatly appreciated,
and we will not hesitate to take the
case into court.

I am taking steps to have your
complaint investigated.

Yours truly,
ADAM BELL,
Deputy Minister of Labor.

*_ se &

The above letter should be con-
vincing to any worker that the
Minimum Wage Act is useless to the
working class of B.C, It means that
if you complain, then you will sure
lose your job, and not only that, but
you will be blacklisted in all the
other plants, and it’s a cinch you

of such kind as he may require. The

} FSIS Prog suOHeey ergsnp | ou

will get no assistance from the gov-
ernment in fighting against

cts

|PERCY BENGOUGH SUSPENDS
MILITANT SHINGLE WEAVERS

(Continued from Page 1)

ing -on instructions of Bengough.
This individual stated that we would
not be allowed in the Labor Temple
as he had taken up the Union
charter, The workers immediately
proceeded to another hall and after
the wages had been discussed a com-
mittee was clected to interview Ben-
gough, who flatly refused to meet
them. Shortly after this incident
some of the members of the Union
received letters, a copy of which is
as follows:

Dec. 31, 1934.
Dear Sir and Brother:

I wish to acquaint you with the
situation regarding the above local.
I received a letter from President
William Green dated Dec. 18th, au-
thorizing me as the official repre-
sentative of the American Federa-
tion of Labor, to investigate carefully
the activities of the Shingle Weavers
Local Union 17813, and to require
from that local the expulsion of all
members who are recognized as ad-
herents of the Communist Party or
its affiliations, and if necessary to
take up the Charter and to re-
organize the local on strict Trade
Union lines, in order that it may
function as a loyal Trade Union in
strict conformity with the constitu-
tion and laws of the American Fed-
eration of Labor.

In view of what has taken place
at the last meeting of the local on
Friday, Dec. 21st, when the financial
secretary, Brother Thomas, and
Brother Lockart and other loyal
members declined to accept nomina-
tion for office, I had no alternative
but to suspend the charter and re-
organize the local. I wish to assure
every loyal member that his stand-
ing in the organization will be pro-
tected. In the meantime I have ap-
pointed the following officers to con-
duct the affairs of the local during
the reorganized period: :

President, F. Stevenson.
Vice-President, C. Ferguson.
Financial Sec.,-D. W. Thomas,
Recording Sec., E. Lockart.
Guardian, R. Jones.”

The next meeting of the local will
be held on Friday, Jan. 4th. We urge
you to do your utmost to attend so
that we can get the local back on

the

even keel and functioning as a Trade

nion. toa do the wa ra ormed

members, fight for the right of local

autonomy, to stand solid and fight
against the mill owners and those
who support the wage-cutting policy,
and against discrimination of mili-
tant workers in the industry.” As
the six suspended members withdrew
they were met with loud applause
for their stand against reaction,

Bengough then installed the AP-
POINTED officers into their posi-
tions. The president has not paid
dues since he was forced to resign
as president of the Union 18 months
ago. This man was working at a
mill when the wages were under in-
vestigation by a committee and
found to be lower than the union
wage scale. The president installed,
he then called for a motion to make
the Union open only to sawyers and
packers, which is only a small frac-
tion of the industrial workers, there-
by making the Union a craft union
in the full sense of the term. The
workers refused to accede to this re-
actionary policy, however, and de-
feated it. Secretary Thomas then
advocated cutting the packers’ wages
from 15 to 12% cents, which would
be much lower than the minimum
wage proposed by the government of
forty cents per hour. This went over
worse than the other, and it was
noticable that Bengough had to call
Thomas to one side and tell him to
“pipe down” because he was work-
ing the machine so crudely, especi-
ally when his own boss had agreed
to pay the 15 cents for packers.
(This is 15 cents per square and not
per hour.—Ed.)

Resentment runs high among the
shingle weavers since the latest re-
actionary tactics of Bengough are
being brought more clearly to the
minds of them, Many who were of
the opinion that he was O.K. before,
now see that we were correct in
naming him a misleader of labor. Not
only that, but great indignation ex-
ists among the trade unionists in
Vancouver, and members of other
locals of the A. F. of L. can see very
clearly that if they resist wage-cuts
and lengthening of hours of labor,
and attempt to forge unity of the
workers to resist them, then Ben-
gough and his gang of reactionaries
in the A. F. of L. will take away

JAN APPEAL T0

their charters, and suspend active

¢

ALL B.C. YOUTH

Our Future Depends on
What We Do for the
Youth Now

“In times of depression money does
not circulate with the same velocity
us it does when conditions are nor-
mal.”

“It is the turning over of com-
modities and goods that make for
prosperity.”

“The evidence afforded by in-
creased buying during the Christmas
seuson suggests that times are sure-
ly improving.”

These and hundreds of other such
misleading statements are to be seen
daily in the capitalist papers. These
soothing words may satisfy the
wealthy bankers and bosses, but
what of the Youth who are: out of
work?

Figures issued by the relief de-
partments give the lie to those who
try to delude the workers by stating
that prosperity is returning and un-
employment decreasing.

In Montreal there are 150,000 pes-
ple on relief, and in Toronto 100,000
direct relief recipients. In Vancou-
ver there are 1,600 familes, and in
Winnipeg 8,500 families dependent
on the Government.

In other towns and cities, 60 per-
‘cent of the population are on direct
relief. Nor is this all. Relief cuts
are being imposed all over the coun-
try,heads of families are being forced
to work for their meagre allowance.
Evictions are in evidence on all sides. |

What Has 1935 to Offer
the Youth?

Boys and girls of unemployed par-
ents are forced to attend school
poorly clad, underfed, and with in-
sufficient books and supplies to com-
plete their education. When they
finally emerge from school they have
no prospects for employment, but are
forced to enter concentration camps,
or in the case of girls, to enter the
homes of the rich.as domestics for
barely more than their maintenance.
The recent Camp Workers’ strike in
B.C. has revealed to the public the
unbelievable circumstances the youth
have to tolerate under the IRON

- WORLD EVENTS

MOSCOW, U.S.S.R.,—{ALP)—It is
estimated that at least 2,600,000 fac-
tory workers, office employees, ele-
mentary and high school pupils, et
al, take their daily meals in com-
munal restaurants at their places of
work or study, reports the ‘Moscow
News.” During the last three years
there has been an enormous growth
in the number of such restaurants
and factory kitchens, the total in-
creasing from 586 in 1931 to 2,241
today. Four million main dishes,
1,000,000 buns and meat, jam and
rice pies are served daily. Every
Moscow factory and shop has its
own restaurant, comprising a total
of 1,137. Three years ago there
were only 311 in all the city’s indus-
trial establishments. School dining-
rooms have increased from 63 in
1931 to 360 today.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8.—{ALP)—
President Roosevelt, in his budget
message, has asked Congress to pre-
vide a total of .$870,922,292 for na-
tional defence in all its phases, in-
cluding non-military and construec-
tion work proposed for the War and
Navy Departments.

SAARBRUCKEN, Jan. 9.—(ALP)
—At noon today Nazi gangsters at-
tacked a group of anti-Nazis in
Wellingston Street. This is just the
latest of a long series of vicious at-
tacks which have been made by the
armed thugs of Hitler, who are at-
tempting to terrorize the Saarland-
ers into voting their way on Sunday.

Documents and plebiscite materials
have been stolen daily by these thugs
from anti-Hitler offices and the
Nazis are brazenly opening a ‘“‘mus-
eum” of these stolen papers, ten
miles over the border in Germany.

SAARBRUCKEN, Jan. 6.—{ALP)
—tThe tension that is felt through-
out Europe broke out here today in
sharp battles between Nazi terror-
ists and anti-Nazi forces.

More than 160,000 anti-fascists
marched here in one of the great-
est demonstrations Hitler seen since
the latter came to power. All had
come in answer to. the.call-of the
“Liberty Front,” the united move-

HEEL OF THE N.D.C. Hundreds
of young men who were bold enough
to demand improved conditions, are

ment launched by Communists and
Socialists in support of the status
quo.

It was after the huge mass meet-