Page Four
THE FISHERMAN
Tuesday, November 21, 1K0
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Representwa The Grounded Fishermen And Shoreu'orkt
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Published every Tuesday except the last Tuesday of each month by The Fisherman Publishing Society, 301 Powell Street, Vancouver, B.C. Telephone MArine 1829 — Advertising Bates on Application
Editor .................................... GEORGE NOBTH
Subscription Bates: $2.00 Per Year Printing: 8,500
Authorized as second-class mail by post office department, Ottawa
Peace, Communism And Madness
THERE was a picture in a Vancouver paper last Saturday of herring being loaded at Terminal dock for shipment to China. We welcomed the news but not the accompanying explanation which stated: "Red herring in the true sense of the word is this shipment . . . bound for Hong Kong for sale in Red China."
The fine fat herring caught by our fishermen in Gulf waters, salted down and packed in 500 pound boxes are fine food for the body. But red herring as every school boy knows are poison for the mind. Red herring are subterfuges dragged across the trail of any discussion to confuse and obscure the issues involved.
To see and smell red herring "in the true sense of the word" one should inspect not the cargo hold of a slow boat to China but the editorials and news columns of our daily press. The supply will be found to be limitless as well as valueless.
Last week we had more than an average supply thrown at us. Most people are so surfeited with the stuff that they no longer pay very much attention to it but we suggest that if Rip Van Winkle' were to awake up and read last week"s newspapers he would come to the conclusion that it is generally accepted that war is inevitable, that anyone who speaks up for peace among the peoples is a vicious "peace-monger." that anyone who signs, a petition tor banning the use of atom bombs is subversive, and either a communist or a communist dupe or communist-dominated.
We think all of these conclusions are prime examples of red herring.
We think that those who encourage the view that war ■ is inevitable do so either because they wish to discourage people from domg anything while there is still time to avert it or because they themselves favor what is sometimes called in polite forms "a .preventative war" which simply means "let's start shooting." As U.S. Secretary of the Navy Matthews in his speech at Boston on August 25. 1950 put it:
"To have peace we should be willing, and declare our intention, to pay any price, even the price of instituting a war to compel cooperation for peace.
"Only the forces who do not want peace would oppose our efforts -to transform the hostile nations embroiled in the present international conflict into a tranquil world. They would brand our program as imperialistic aggression. We would accept that slander with complacency for, in the implementation of a strong affirmative, peace-seeking policy, though it cast us in a character new to a true democracy—an initiator of a war of aggression—it would win for us a proud and popular title—we would become the first Aggressors For Peace.
"It is a role which, in my opinion, we cannot escape. It is a cause to which we shall be compelled to dedicate our total and ultimate resources. From no other course can there be effected the salvation of the free world."
We think that the vast majority of Canadians regard such views with abhorrence, that the same majority favor peace and favor the banning by all governments of atom-bombs in the same way as poison-gas is presently banned. We think that the vast majority of Canadians agree with the Council of Governors of the League of Red Cross Societies which at its most recent meeting adopted a resolution which:
"... again asks the governments in the most urgent manner possible to put into force effective measures to prevent and exclude the use of blind weapons of atomic energy and of any other similar effect as being incompatible with the honor and the conscience of the peoples."
We think those who suggest that Canadians who share such views are communist-dominated, are making themselves recruiting sergeants for communism, for if all those citizens and organizations who stand for and wish to work for peace are to be dubbed communists or communist-dominated then indeed Canada could be considered as full of communists.
We regard as a prime example of a communist-dominated individual the late James V. Forrestal, once U.S. Secretary of Defense, who committed suicide after his mind broke under the weight of his obsessjon that he was surrounded by communists. .
We think, to be frank, that while the purveyors of red herrings might not all be legally adjudged as insane they more and more act as if they were.
Continued From Page 1
STEVESTON CIRCLE SETTING BRIEF
"Some fishermen who fish the channel at nights have the mistaken idea that circle setting interferes with night fishing in the channel. This is not really the case since there is no circle setting at night. As a matter of fact, circle setting works to their advantage, insofar that the channel is one of the few places where fish can be caught at night. If circle setting were banned it would increase the congestion in the river at night. This would increase traffic hazards, because in order to catch fish at night we must make our drifts right in the traffic channel.
"It is impossible to see all vessels in the dark under all conditions, and it is equally impossible for the skippers of all steamers and other vessels to see all
nets and fish boats under all circumstances, which results in much torn gear, wrecked boats; and sometimes lives lost. On top of this the herring boats are going up and down the river at this time of the year so that half the time it is almost impossible to get a drift in at night at all.
"Actually it would be no different than it has been until this year since we were never inter* fered with in the past as far as circle setting was concerned. If circle setting were banned, then the rest of us would be compelled to compete with those fishermen who are already fishing the channel at night. By allowing circle setting fishing is more widely dispersed with le.>=s hazards.
"The Steveston local frankly admits that although we have no
desire to break fishery regulations, yet we wish to catch fish in the easiest possible way with the least risks to life and property while at the same time procure the best grade of fish. We also have no desire to bo misunderstood by the public in general. There are very definite reasons why fishermen have been circle setting. We are not deliberately breaking the law in the same sense that a fisherman does who deliberately poaches during a closed period or the fisherman who fishes inside boundaries. Circle setting has no effect on conservation so long as there is sufficient escapement to the spawning grounds. In fact, it is possible that too many fish can get up the river, and the last fish to go up may destroy the spawn of the first lish that went up.
Parks Board Employee Reports Members Are Sticking To Union
VANCOUVER Civic Employees' Federal Union Local 28 is continuing its fight for the right to elect its own officers without outside interference, and by all reports, it is receiving full support from the rank and file members of the Union. As part of its campaign to inform Union members on what is going on in its struggle for. autonomy, the Union is sponsoring a series of broadcasts telling the facts of the case and the sentiments of the civic workers themselves.
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One of the broadcasts, delivered by a Parks Board employee, Reginald Bailey, tells some of the reasons behind the solidarity of the Union membership in their desire fcr retention of the democratic right to elect leaders of their own choosing. ' "I was surprised to read in the newspapers a few days ago," Bailey comments in his five-minute talk delivered on November 17. "that hundreds of our members had deserted the Union. Believe me," he declared, "that is not a fact.
"Where I work, in the Parks of our City, our members are solid and united behind Vancouver Civic Employees' Union Local 28.
"We have old timers in our department and younger men, like myself.
"The old timers are behind the union and its present administration for the following reasons:
"1. The union has done an excellent job in establishing good wage scales and good working conditions.
"2. The union has established a good working relationship with the Board of Park Commissioners and grievances have been properly handled.
"3. Last' year, the union was successful in adjusting the rates of many skilled and semi-skilled workers—something that needed doing for years.
"The younger men are also behind the union for the same reasons. But more than anything, we look up to our union because it is run by young men, men who are either young in years, or young in spirit, or both.
"In other words, the very men who have been suspended by Vice-President Carl Berg of the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada are the most aggressive, most capable, and most respected leaders in the union—they are builders of the labor movement in the truest sense of the word."
Continuing, Bailey remarks that. "I see that Thomas Gooderham, Congress organizer for Vancouver Island, is helping Carl Berg. The basic wage for outside civic workers in Victoria is $1.03—compared with our rate of $1.14 per hour. I would suggest that it might be better if Gooderham would offer his services to this group of TLC workers.
"Back in Edmonton, where Carl Berg comes from, the basic wage for an outside civic employee is $1.01%—including a cost of living bonus, compared with our rate of $1.14 an hour, without a cost of living bonus.
"We have paid per capita to the Trades and Labor Congress for 33 years. There were many periods during this long span when we were just about on the rocks, but no vice-president Carl Berg came to help us.
"Now, after we have done a
CIVIC WORKERS FIGHT BACK
LISTEN TO OUR RADIO BROADCAST
CKMO — 1410 ON YOUR DIAL
EVERY MONDAY *- WEDNESDAY — FRIDAY
At 7:00 p.m.
- November 22, 24, 27, 29, Dec. 1
As a free Trade Union, we are fighting for the, right to elect our own officers and run our own business, free from outside interference.
VANCOUVER CIVIC EMPLOYEES' UNION (OUTSIDE WORKERS) LOCAL 28
first class job in getting more wages and better conditions, and after tripling the membership in three years, an organizer is sent in—allegedly to help us.
'"I would suggest that Congress organizers should be sent to centers where workers are crying for organization," the speaker declared. "I am proud of the fact that more than one million Canadian workers belong to trade unions and I am proud of the fact that the Trades and Labor Congress
of Canada is the largest trade union center, but I must point cut that less than one-third of Canada's wage and salary earners are organized. I would much rather our Union was spending money to help Berg organize the unorganized instead of spending money to fight Carl Berg.
"In closing, let me remind you, there is only one issue in dispute with Vice-President Berg, the right to elect our own officers and run cur own internal business free of outside interference."
"One of the main problems that we are, up against is that i: is almost impossible to catch any quantity of chums in the day time under the present restrictions. And at this time of the year night fishing is far more difficult than it is during the summer time as the weather is extremely heavy now. Half the time there is a gale blowing, and since this is our way of making a living many a fisherman is forced to risk his life (not to mention cold and stoi my weather), in order to catch fish at night. Since the chum is a valuable fish as a food product, we do not see why we should have unjust legal restrictions placed on fishermen who are willing to face danger and hardship to procure these fish for the benefit of the public.
"It must be recognized that the vast majority of the fishermen have been circle setting since it is the only way in which chums can be caught successfully with the least amount of hardship and danger to those catching these fish.
"If circle setting were made legal then everyone would have the same opportunity. In any case it would not. alter fishing as it has been in the past. It would however, protect us from a situation where a small group of fishermen are penalized every year. This practice is extremely unfair to these fishermen. All fishery regulations should be interpreted in such a way that all fisheimen meet with the same kind of justice.
"This local wishes to stress that the important thing for us to achieve is to hammer out a policy that will work to the benefit of the greatest number of fishermen.
"Members of this local voiced very strong objections to the methods of using decoys by the patrolmen in order to apprehend fishermen while making circle sets.
"It was brought to our attention that even members of the fishery department expressed opinions that it would be better if circle setting were made legal. As it is they have no choice in the matter. They have also been placed in the doubly embarrassing position of having a small number of fishermen harrassing them about the other fishermen circle setting.
"After a thorough discussion, the Steveston local feels that it would be representing the interests of the vast majority of the fishermen of this area by showing the fishery department and other responsible authorities that the most logical solution to this problem would be to legalize circle setting."
SEMI-ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 1
8
The semi-annual General Meeting of the Pacific Coast Fishermen's Mutual Marine Insurance Company, will be held on Thursday, November 30, 1950 at 2 p.m. in the Civic Centre, Prince Rupert, B.C.
H. A. Christenson,
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More Herring Clearances Listed
Up to last weekend, nine herring vessels had cleared with the UFAWU in addition to the ones reported in The Fisherman.
They are the Aliford Bay, Cala-malka. Neptune I, PvUth B. Snow Drift, West Coast, Reel Fisher, Merry Chase and Co-operator IV.
In releasing the list, Union President George Miller announced that a number of boats left port without clearing, thus violating the decision of the herring fleet. A list of these vessels will be published in the next issue of The Fisherman and in the meantime, the Union organizing boat "Chiquita III" now on the west coast with Homer Stevens and Ted Foort aboard, is being supplied with the names.
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