The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-07-01

1924, there was a reduction of Al per
cent or an actual reduction of $14S,37S
of duty paid by all the farmers. 1t
is no pleasant spectacle to see the
farmers so shamelessly betrayed by
INSCRIPTIONS politicians who have
wormed themselves into their graces
under the banner of the progressive
party" In the division on the budget,
seventeen of these "progressives," in
Guiding the whip of the party, voted
for the government despite the decis-
ion to the contrary of the party eau
Gus as whole.
So much for the protection of the
farmer. How about the workers?
Last winter there were close to one
hundred thousand unemployed. All
this time the government agencies
were working overtime artifically
stimulating immigration by means of
lying propaganda abroad. The immi-
grants came into the country only to
swell the army of the voorhees,. All
winter the unemployed maintained an
agitation for work or maintenance.
They got neither. Unemployed
marches were organized on the pro-
vincial legislatures. Delegations
went up to ottawa from the Trades
Councils (Toronto) to ask for main
tenance either in the form of "doles'
or insurance. The government replied
that 1.-THE country could not afford it,
that "doles" were "demoralizing, /"
that under the British North America
act, the federal government had no
power to deal with such a question,
and was there any unemployment
anyway? Meanwhile men starved or
eked out miserable existence on
private charity. The budget main
tains perfect silence on the question
Of unemployed maintenance
For months the miners Of Western
Canada carried on a desperate strug-
gle against wage reduction of SLIT
a day. They were finally starved into
submission by the operators and their
union organizations broken by COM
pany unions. The whole world is
aware of the heroic struggle of the
Nova Scotia miners against a wage
reduction of ten per cent dictated by
the monstrous British Empire Steel
Corporation (BESCO.) But the bud
get says not word about mines nat.
ionalization, not word in the meter
osts of the workers. What the budget
is concerned about is the protection OF
the British Empire Steel Corporation,
which is given an increase in the duty
on slack coal of from fourteen to fifty
cents ton. Premier Armstrong OF
Nova Scotia, Besco's hired man,
himself admitted that under this tar.
riff increase Beseo could afford to
pay the 1924 rates. They are trying
to cut and at the same time enjoy a
fourteen cent advantage per ton over
the selling price they had claimed to
effect by their wage reduction. But
did the budget make any provision for
the miners to be given living wage
at the same time that Besco was beint
given its handsome little tariff dona
ton? The military forces, in trench
helmets and armed with machine
guns, who have invaded Nova SCOTS
to coerce the miners, that is the ans
wer Of the government and Besco.
A LII tho usual signs and portents
\ point to an election this fall. Ap
preparations have already been made
for public works in constituencies Of
strategic Importance for the govern
ment. Five million dollars for the
Quebec harbor. and many moro mil
lions for the Toronto viaduct and the
Montreal South shore bridge. Thf
governments concession TO American
capitalists OF the Carillons water
power may not be unconnected Will
the collection of fat campaign fund
Government Offices have been trans