JINEMPLOYMENT WIDESPREAD

ITHE

freOPLE’S ADVOCATE

British Cclumbia’s Progressive Home Paper

} VANCOUVER, B.C., FRIDAY, JULY 22, 1938

\sk Special Session Of

Legislature

jatepayers, Business, -CF Represented On ?etition Circulated In city

JOBLESS Ql S QUESTION

‘Support from city taxpayers “sought for a petition calling > “the immediate convening _ the provincial legislature,” cope with the desperate situ- -on of the unemployed. Spon- ced by the Taxpayers’ De- ‘ice League and signed by Ar- ‘ld Webster, prominent CCF

ider; A. EF. Barton, PhD, ssident of the Federated tepayers’ Association: and

liam Dick, well known city ‘Simess man, the petition has en sent to the city council th-a request that the council felf petition Lieut.-Governor lic Hamber to convene the suse.

urther excerpt from the peti-

“e

4 urges the government =

| take measures making intelli- «& provision for the needs of in- ent unemployed persons in our ye or in other parts of the pro- Sey?

Pending the meeting of the city -ncil on August 8, Edmund D. ancis, provincial secretary of the ‘spayers’ Defence League, plans have the petition read and ex- ined in a series of broadcasts, 3t being over CKMO on Friday, 'y 22, at 7.30 p.m.

nion Activity Brings Gains

NEW WESTMINSTER, BC, July —Union activity of workers at aser Mills has caused the man- ement to rectify glaring injus- es that have been going on for ars in order to allay unrest lone employees.

“ollowins exposure in the mber Worker, official organ of liworkers, the night foreman was ed recently. This man started > system of docking the fuel ne for intervals when the mill S cutting cedar, intervals varying mea few minutes to longer riods.

mdiscriminate laying off of men s been stopped, as also the prac-

€ of installing relatives of fore-|

m in place of older employees.

ARMS FOR SPAIN

LUCKY JIM sey¥* 5

on “Everywhere On”

COAST BREWERIES LIMITED

ICOUVER NEW WESTMINSTER~ VICTORIA iS advt. is not published or dis- ‘ved by the Liquor Control Board ths Govt. of British Columbia.

amount was promised monthly for

Communist Leader

PHIL GISBBENS who, at a recent city conference ef the Communist party, was elected secretary of the Vancou- ver City Committee of the party.

Many Towns Aid Friends

Meatcutters First To Assist Returning Vets

First union to respond to the MackenziePapineau Battalion Re- habilitation Eund for Ganadian volunteers returning from Spain was Local 94 Meatcutters’ Union, at New Westminster, with a cheque for $5.

British Columbia with 250 of its volunteers in the front-line struggle to protect Spanish and world democracy, has the task of raising $600 toward the $3,000 dominion total fund to welcome over i100 men, wounded and sick next month. The provincial office of the Friends of the Mackenzie- Papineau Battalion is working hard to realize this modest quota.

Other donations received this week were: County Line branch of the Langley Prairie Workers’ and Ratepayers’ Association, which sent $1, with a pledge to raise a Similar amount monthly; Grassy Plains, $4.20; West End branch of the Communist party, $1; from’ Nel- son, a number of Russian, Ukrain- jan and Croatian workers $5 was received, and a pledge for this

Spanish orphans.

Jobless Man Hurt

HH. Bekhoff, 46-year old single unemployed man, one of the 300 men who left by freight for the interior Monday to search for work, was brought back to Vancouver the following day with a fractured shoulder and hip. Bekhoff, who is now in Vancouver General Hos- pital, fell from a freight train at Katz, east of Agassiz.

Help China!

Come to the

CHINESE GARDEN PARTY KILLARNEY — 2890 Point Grey Road

on

FRIDAY, JULY 22nd — 8:00 P.M. Chinese Fan Dance, Fortune Telling, Dancing to a Modern Orchestra

COLLECTION for MEDICAL AID to CHINA

Co- ieee Committee to Aid the War Sufferers Chinese Benevolent Association

Features:

ADMISSION 2

Auspices:

RS

selves,

Book Gives Records Of 15th Brigade

Exploits of English-

Speaking Volunteers In Spain Related By Themselves

WAR HISTORY

From the Commissariat of War of the 15th International Brigade the People’s Advocate this week received a volume containing the records of Cana- dian, American, British and Irish volunteers in the Spanish People’s Army.

There are five Brigades—the i1ith, composed of German, Austrian, Duteh and Scandinavian volunteers; the 12th Garibaldi Brigade of anti-fascist Italians; the 13th Dombrovsky Brigade, composed of Czechs, Poles, Jugoslavs and Bulgarians; the 14th French Brigade; and the 15th Brigade in which are the majority of the English-speaking volunteers.

“Here is the story of your own kith and kin: British, Irish, Ameri- Can and Canadian volunteers who, seeking neither pay nor preferment, but inspired by an ideal, left home and security for a foreign land and war,” a cover note to the book States.

“Here, by the participants them- is told how they stowed away- in boats and hitch-hiked across continents, how they forded rivers and climbed the Pyrenees, Tisking death even before they reached Spain.

“Here, the fighters tell how, ill- armed and ill-trained, they fought in the bloody battles of Jarama and held their trenches for four and a half months without relief.

“Hlere are first hand accounts of the Brunete offensive: the storm- ing of Villanueva de la Canada, the two weeks battle for Mosquito Crest when hunger, thirst and sun- stroke were added to the horrors of modern war, and where men never— theless held out against the greatest concentration of artillery and air- plane attacks hitherto seen in war.

The volume contains an inspiring message from Dolores Ibarruri, Spain’s beloved Pasionaria, who writes:

“Many of your comrades sleep the eternal sleep beneath the earth of Spain. Qver their graves shall wave the laurels of triumph and the unfading flowers of our remem- brance. Comrades, whom we 5° deeply love, be assured that your Sacrifice will not be in vain. ~

“And tomorrow ... on that vic- torious tomorrow that is already dawning on the horizon over Spain, we shall be able to repay the debt of blood we owe you, by helping you to conquer for your respective peoples,' the peace, the wellbeing and the liberty for which so many heroes are today fighting and dying in Spain.”

A short history of the Mackenzie- Papineau Battalion is written by Willo Makela, word of whose death in Spain from wounds received in

action was received this week. RESET AL RRO RT ROR AER EOE EE DOE

international

Songs of New China,

7

to the People’s Advocat

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DNE THIRD OF CITY’S YOUTH JOBLESS

lYouth Council Survey Shows Comprehensive Federal Works

Program Is Immediate Need Half Of Collingwood Residents Between Ages 16-30

Unable To O

btain Jobs,

Survey Statistics Reveal

Widespread public demand for a comprehensive federal program of public works received powerful support this week when the survey of unemployment conducted by Ven Conv es Youth Council revealed that 38 percent of the city’s young men and women between the ages o

16 and 30 were without work.

The extent of unemployment among young people was shown by the survey conducted in Dunbar, largely a middle-class district Although only 5.42 percent of men and women over 30 were found to be unemployed, 30.40 percent of those in the age-group 16-30 were unable to

obtain jobs.

Directed by Murray Colclough, the survey covered five districts—Kitsilano, Dunbar, Grand- view, Collingwood and Mount Pleasant. A total of 1077 residences in 60 city blocks with a popu-

lation of 3747 were visited by

canvassers who elicited that:

- HOUSE COVERAGE OF SURVEY

Number of City Bilge ks ee A

Wumber of Dwellings —._ 3) Dwellings vacant _______. 5 Refused co-operation __ wo) ot home (3 calls) —_- = 9

Total dwellings canvassed 179

% coverage dwellings .. 91 Total population ~ 790

Ss cP S SF re =

9 = as)

G. = =) — og @ 4 Bo eee es © 2 Z 2. =e = 12 13 41 12 60 6 7 0 3 21 6 7 ) 3 21 0) 12 2 2 19 21 12 10 9 51 226 179 444 234 962 89 80 93 94 90 757 832 538 830 3,747

EMPLOYABLES, 16 to 30 YEARS OF AGE

Number of men —.......__ 118 61 92 56 124 451 Number of women _...___ 86 64 89 38 50 327 Total, both sexes __.___ _._ 204 125 181 94 174 778 Unemployed men —......... 37 12 37 25 41 152 J men unemployed -_ - $1.35 19.67 40.21 44.64 33.06 33.70 Unemployed women 28 26 40 23 32 149 % women unemployed — 32.56 40.61 44,94 65.26 64.00 45.57 Total unempl’d, both sexes 65 38 17 48 73 301 % uanemployed _. 31.86 30.40 42.54 51.06 44.95 39.69 EMPLOYABLES, OVER 30 YEARS OF AGE Number of men —._. 183 198 A117 189 864 Number of women —. 418 25 3 13 122 Total, both sexes 201 223 120 202 986 Unemployed men 9 43 38 53 180 Yo Men unemployed —_ 20.90 4.92 21,72 32.48 28.04 20.83 Unemployed women _..___ 16 2 8 1 ak 28 %e women unemployed ._.. 25.3 BEESEE 32:00 33.33 7.69 22.95 Total unempl’d, both sexes 53 Ai 51. 39 54 208 % wnemployed —_...._..... 22.08 5.42 22.87 32.50 26.73 21.09 TOTAL EMPLOYABLES Number of men —__. 244 290 173 313 1,315 Wumber of women 82 114 41 63 449 Total, both sexes __ = 326 404 214 376 17,764 Unemployed men 21 80 63 94 332 % men unemployed __.. 25.08 8.61 27.59 36.41 30.03 25.25 Unemployed women —_..._ t4 28 48 24 33 A777 % women unemployed _. 29.93 34.14 4241 58.54 52.38 39.42 Total unempl’d, both sexes 118 49 128 87 127 509 % unemployed —_ 26.69 15.03 01.68 40.65 33.77 25.85

PLACE OF BIRTH

% born in Canada, 16-30 _. 88 85 87 82 83 85

% born in B.C., 16-30 ________. 28 48 50 55 61 55

Born British Emp., over 30 91 92 84 86 87 88

Born in for. lands, over 30 9 8 16 14 13 i2 RECAPITULATION

Unemployed youths (16-30)—301 or Unemployed persons over 30—

-208 or 211%

33.7% Os employables. of employables.

Total unemployed, both age groups—509 or 38. 1% of employables.

Comment On Survey

Young Communists Urge Jobs, Recovery Program

Issued this week over the signature of Maurice Rush, pro-

vincial secretary, a statement

made by the provincial council

of the Youngs Communist League of the Vancouver Youth

Council’s survey declares:

“It is only a few days since the efforts of the single unemployed youth in British Columbia to force government action to give them jobs came to an end.

“Bor weeks both the federal and provincial governments remained The excuse of Premier Pattullo was that there were jobs but that the men did not want to work.

“Prompted by the plight of the Single unemployed youth and by their desire to make Canada a better place to live in, the Vancou- ver Youth Council undertook to carry through an extensive survey to determine the extent of unem- ployment among young people.

“The results of the survey tear the cover from the secrecy with which governments have concealed the true extent of unemployment in Canada. They give an indisputable but definite answer to the charge that if youth had the stuff of the old pioneers they could find em- ployment and a future in Canada.

“Now that the true situation is laid bare, what is to be done to

meet it? Hon. Norman Rogers, minister of labor, has admitted that private industry cannot absorb

the unemployed. Meanwhile, the scourge of unemployment affects almost every Canadian home like a dreaded disease.

“Independence and initiative are being sapped from our young peo- ple. No future is open to them in industry. Surely the time has come when a responsible government Must act to save Canada’s best guarantee for the future—its youth.

“The cry today is for jobs. The energy and brains of our youth which could so well be occupied in making Canada a better place to live in are being wasted. The Young Communist League of Brit- ish Columbia maintains that the first responsibility of our sovern- ment must be to release these tremendous reserves by introducing immediately a job and recovery program.

“Buck-passing must go by the board. The facts of the Vancouver survey must compel our govern- ment to act.”

1. Of the 1764 persons classed as employables, 986 were over 30 and 778 under that age. Gf the 986 over 30, 208 or 21.09 per cent were unemployed and, of the 773 between the ages of 16-30, 30i— 152 men and 149 women—were without work, 2 percentage of 33 per cent.

2. Unemployment was highest in Gollingwood where the survey showed 40.65 per cent of the total number of emiployables unable to get jobs. Im this district more than half of those under 30 years of age, 51.06 per cent, were un- employed.

3. BHighty-—five per cent of those between the ages of 16-30 in all districts were born in Canada, 55 per cent of them in BC. In the age group over 30, 83 per cent were bor within the British Empire and only 12 per cent out- side.

The survey classed 1983, 53 per cent, of 3474 persons visited as dependents, including in this cate— gory housewives, retired persons, students and children.

Areas with large transient popu- lations and high income sections were purposely omitted from the survey as not being representative of the city as a whole.

The ‘sampling’ method used in making the survey received praise from Professor C. W. Topping of the University of British Columbia who commented:

“The generalizations are sound for the districts included, but, of course, would not apply to the whole of BC”

In forwarding its findings to Hon. Worman Rogers, federal minister of labor, and Hon. G S. Pearson, provineial minister of labor, the Youth Council stated:

“The Youth Council has long con- tended that before the problem of unemployment can be satisfactorily dealt with, its true extent and in- cidence must be known. It is our Sincere hope that this survey will stimulate the governments in Ot tawa and Wictoria to cooperate in a province-wide survey of the un- employment problem.”

Commenting on unemployment in Canada this week, P. R. Ben- gough, Vancouver Trades and Ta- bor Council secretary, stated:

“In order to make any headway we must take the long range view and realize that modern industry can maintain production levels with lesS man-power than even a few years ago.

“Today the workers are employed for too long hours and to distribute labor we must shorten the working day and week and, at the same time, maintain standards of living.”’

Woodworkers Meet July 30

The second annual convention of the BC Coast District Council as an affiliate of the International Woodworkers of America, will be held July 30-31, at Beatty street aabor headquarters, it was an- nounced this week.

Wotices have already gone out to all locals, requesting setting up of a constitution committee to bring suggestions for a permanent con- stitution before the convention. Basis of representation at the con- vention will be two delegates from each local, in addition to the exe- cutive board member. Wo delegate union members will be admitted to the convention as visitors, with neither voice nor vote.

Spokane Fascist Meet Protested

SPOKANE, Wash, July 21—F tive men and four women were arrested when police attacked anti-fascists demonstrating outside a downtown hall against a meeting of the fascist

| Silver Shirt organization.

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Labor News Highlights

TUESDAY and FRIDAY, 6 pm, CKMO Presented by The People’s Advocate in cooperation with Dr. R. Llewellyn Douglas

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