‘Passing the buck’ on the vital issue of needed social security By IRVIN P. SWARTZ At times the question arises as to how mutch social legislation has been passed ‘by our governing bodies owing to the» organized strength of our trade unions and how much has been passed by the “good will” of the government. Perhaps a glance into a section of our people who so far have been unorganized, would bring out crystal clear the fact that everything we have gained that has been of any benefit to the workers, has been by long and difficult struggle. There is no adequate social legislation, either federal or pro- vineial, for the care or treat- ment of unemployable persons. Anyone who is temporarily or permanently disabled and “unfor- tunate” enough not to have been erippled while in the armed forces, or while working in in- dustry, becomes a charge on his or her family. Even the ones in the enviable position of losing their limbs which is the last mentioned cate- gory receive a very meagre al- lowanee while anyone of us who becomes crippled by arthritis or any one of the thousand ways we may become unemployable are cast into that limbo of for- gotten men and women, a mill- Stone dragging down those we love most, waiting out the end-— less days and nights in pain and torment where death would be a welcome visitor and the spectre of suicide hovers over the bottles of pink pills begged from the local relief ~board_ The Secial Service Department of B.C. does not give financial assistance to handicappecG per- sons, but insists that they learn arts and crafts in order to in- erease the family budget, or starve, A disabled person must crawl. out of bed or be propped up in a chair to chop, chisel and carve bits of wood, not to pass away the tedious hours, but in order that he May earn enough money to prolong a painful and monotonous life. Of course a fam- ily can liquidate their belongings down to about two hundred dol- lars and go on relief which would be fifteen dollars a month each for Man and wife. : The following is a letter from Premier John Hart of June 27 to a young married man of Van- couver, who has been crippled with arthritis for a number of years: “¥ have for acknowledgement your letter of June 25, and note what you have to say with re- spect to Social Security meas- ures in general. “Please be advised that the government of this province has instituted the most advanced social measures of any province in the Dominion and have en= dorsed the broad principle of social security as outlined in GREETINGS to Pacific Tribune -.-. from... DR. W. J. CURRY the program presented by the province of B.C. to the Domin- ion authorities’ The institution of this program awaits the final settlement between the Domin- ion and the province with re- gard to matters of location.” Of. course the Dominion-Provin- cial conference broke down and the crippled people must = still carve totem poles for our big shot tourists. : ‘ The following is an extract from a letter of J. H. McDonald, executive assistant to the minister of National Health and Welfare: . Im the first place the amount referred to was not a gift, but a loan which would enable Great Britain to purchase more goods from Canada, and thus. maintain 2 higher level of em- ployment in this country. The loan is repayable. It is quite true that it was not necessary for the Dominion te consult the Provinces in the matter. Inter national affairs and interna- tional trade ‘are both matters which come exclusively under the jurisdiction of the federal government. “In these and other federal fields the Canadian parliament can legislate as it sees fit, but when it-comes to 2 HEALTH QUESTION (emphasis mine, IPS.) for instance, federal ac- tivities in that field are con- fined to matters of an interna- tional and interprovincial nature and to the care of members of Public owned transit urged The North Vancouver Branch of the Labor Progressive Party in its regular meeting in August went On record as supporting public ownership as the best form of municipal transportation, as well as being revenue producing, quot- ing a revenue of $11,500 from fif- teen West Vancouver municipally owned buses. It criticized the limitation of the vote On the by-law only to rate- payers, stating that all citizens of a community are either direct or in- direct taxpayers and as much af- fected by municipal transportation as ratepayers. it also called for a defeat of the by-law, leaving open the doors for the citizens of North Vancouver and District at civic election time te decide what bus or street rail- way system they would like. + However, the Army & Navy charged personnel a 10% eutfit as a goodwill PURCHASE CERTIFICATE Dept. Like the ten million FREE —THANK YOU! Army & Navy | og To — 10 Discount + rerned me Like most merchants, we are short of men’s clothing. DISCOUNT on their civilian gesture: Stores and save an extra 10 PERCENT .. overseas to servicemen, we take this method of saying Vancouver and New Westminster will continue to give dis- Bring your PRIORITY to the Army & Navy CIGARETTES we shipp ed Dept. Stores “the armed forces, Indians, im= immigrants, lepers, etc.” In other words if you happen to be an immigrant with leprosy you will be cared for, but if you have lost both hands, you must learn a trade that will ac- commodate your feet. Unemployable persons have a two-fold handicap. Being unem- ployed and eking out a living on charity they are unable to strike.” A person who has to be lifted out of bed can hardly be expect- ed to attend a union meeting. It is very difficult for them to form an organization that would bring pressure on the government or gain wide public support. Hon. of Health, Ottawa, say: “Thank you for your letter of June 27 with further reference to the question of guaranteeing security to persons so handi- Capped that it is not possible for them to earn their living. “TJ can appreciate and wunder- Stand your opinion that the sit- uation calis for drastic a ‘tion and I have noted your sugges- tion that the Dominion gov- ernment take over the opera- tion of the Provincial Depart- ment of Health on the grounds that the present lack of secur- ity in sOme quarters constitutes a national] emergency. In the event of such action being taken by the Federal Government, I am sure that the Provincial zsov- ernment would promptly refer the matter to the courts, which would, without question, rule that the matter was not a na- tional emergency and that the Dominion had overstepped its constitutional powers. Brooke Claxton, Minister has this to “fT do not want you to as Sume that the attitude of the Dominion government in health and welfare matters is a de featist one. It is not. The fed- eral government had hoped in all sincerity that agreements would have been reached at the Dominion - Provincial conference which would have put all prov- inces in a better position to dis- Charge their responsibilities, and would have given to Canada improved and extended health and welfare services.” How deftly they pass the hand- ball! Can anything be more clear than only through the organized Might of the workers can we have real social security. British unions to amalgamate LONDON. — British engineering workers unions are now balloting On 2 possible merger, which would create a new union with over 1,400,000 members. The unions in- volved are the 900,000-strong Amal- Gamated Engineering Union and the Confederation or Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, which was formed through an amalgam- ation of 40 smaller unions and has over 500,000 members. Joe Scott, AEU executive com- mittee member, said the merger would be “one of the biggest and most important moves in the his- tory of British trade unionism.” The AEU executive committee has asked for a positive vote in the balloting. ' Millmen and power plant workers of the Grandby Co. at Allenby and Princeton, B.C., on parade where a few years ago the late Arthur at Princeton. ‘This is the town Evans was kidnapped by company hoodlums and ordered out of town. Today the whole area is solid behind the demands of the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers for a 29-cent per hour wage increase, the 40-hour week and improved working conditions. - A new governor- general z By OBSERVER From Ottawa Comes the rumor that a B.C. mining ty- coon, Charles Arthur Banks, is slated to succeed Lieutenant- Governor W. C. Woodward in that post. Press reports are very meagre as to the qualifications of Mr. Banks for the job, but three are listed :- —that Mr. Banks was assistant in Britain to the Hon. € .D_ Howe, minister of reconstruction, and in the recent honors’ list was created a “Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George” for his Services, —that Mr. Banks piled up a for- tune of millions in B.C. mining from such enterprises as B.C. Silver, Premier Gold, Bulolo, and other mining properties Burnaby opposes transit control A wmunicipally-owned bus service for Burnaby was ad- vocated by Councillor Harry. Ball at open-air meetings in Confederation Park and Broadview last Sunday. The meetings, sponsored by the Burnaby LPP, heard Ball give details of successfully operated publicly-owned bus systems in West Vancouver, Regina, Saskat- chewan, and Edmonton. Ball blasted BCER attempts to secure 2 monopoly on transporta- tion in Burnaby. “When the Blue Line and BCER contracts were before the Council, Councillors Philips and Gartland moved the BCER contract be accepted be fore the Blue Line offer had even been considered,” he re- vealed, “but when Councillors West and Jones moved the Blue Line offer be accepted, Reeve Morrison refused to put the ques- tion to a vote.” The meetings passed resolu- tions advocating public owner- ship and calling on the people of Burnaby to elect councillors in December who would not sell the municipality down the river for the BCER_ WAND STUDIO . “Anything With a Camera” - 8 E- Hastings St — PAc. 7644 Vancouver, B.C. JOHN STANTON Barrister - Solicitor - Notary 502 HOLDEN BLDG. 16 E. Hastings St. MAr. 5746 —that before he went to work for Canada’s war effort, Mr Banks lived in a pent-house atop San EFrancisco’s posh Fairmont Hotel, and that he returned ‘to tCanada three weeks ago. It would seem that like the late unlamented Sir Harry Oakes fame, Mr. Banks has little in the way of residence te qualify him as a Canadian. We don’t doubt but that he did a good job while in the service of the Hon. © D. Howe. Most of these patriots coming under the general cate— gory ef dollar-a-year-men did quite well for themselves and their respective enterprises dur- ing the war years. . The strike of 2,500 B.C hara- rock miners for better wages, bet ter working conditions, the right of collective bargaining, union Sse- curity, and an end to the “closed town” system of company-domin- ated areas, may explain in part Why Men of Bank’s type can amass millions in mining and live in foreign pent-house climes, while the miners and their fam- ilies grub in the muck for a pittance and live out their lives in company-erected shacks. If we must have a governor- general let’s have one whose life and work epitomizes British Go- lumbia virility and progress. Our province can well afford to dis- pense with the Harry Qakes var- iety of paracitism. A hard-rock miner, rather than one who has ‘mined’ the miners, could better fill the post of lieutenant-sovernor of a province which has become great because of the toil of its wealth producers. National Affairs Monthly August Issue 4Now Out 4 IMPORTANT ARTICLES: “Challenging Issues At The Coming Labor Conventions” J. B. SALSBERG “B.C. Woodworkers’ Strike” HAROLD PRITCHETT Hundredth Anniversary Of Marxism” TIM BUCK R. PALME DUTT Order Now from < Peopie’s Co-operative 3 Bookstore 337 W. Pender MAr. 5836 2 STALIN CUSHION COVERS MAILED POSTPAID $1.50 Wholesale to Clubs and Dealers A. B. WAEDER 1507 Burke Rd. RE 6, Westminster HIGH QUALITY LOGGERS AND WORK BOOTS HAND - JOHNSON’S BOOTS 68 West Cordova Street - - MADE Phone MArine 1612 > PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 6 FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 1936 © of Kirkland Lake and Bermuda -