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- Written by: Bryan W. MONAHAN
- Category: January
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Society as an industrial concern — an organisation for producing goods and services — is only one aspect of Society. In another aspect it can be likened to a Club; for example, a Sports Club, which exists to afford to its members facilities for participating in various types of sports and games.
The organisation of such a club derives from its purpose. The most general purpose in the case under consideration is to afford a choice of various games to sportsmen. This general purpose is represented by a general committee, and it is the business of that committee to see that resources are available to those who wish to play football as well as to those who wish to play cricket or contract bridge. The rules this committee is entitled to make, therefore, are concerned purely with such general relationships, and are largely concerned to see that the football section does not secure a monopoly of resources.
The rules of particular groups — football, cricket, tennis etc. — are the concern of those groups, and are the function of special committees. Now, as most people, and all sportsmen, are aware, the rules of a game are only, very exceptionally either altered or added to; and when they are, it is with the object of making the conditions of the game more congenial to the player. An improvement in the materials which the game is played may form a justification for altering the rules; and so may the test of a long experience of a particular rule. But such alterations are the particular concern of those participating in the game in question.
There are two vitally important considerations governing the conduct of a sports club. The first is freedom of association. Freedom of association means that individuals are free to join or leave the club as they wish, and equally that they are free to participate in one or other or several of its different activities.
It is not fully true that an individual is free to join, in most cases. In general, he must possess some qualification. In the first place, he must be acceptable to the existing members; in the second, he must (usually) be a bona fide player, either wishing to learn the game, or able to play it.
As regards leaving a club, this is technically called contracting-out. The ability to contract-out of a club, or a section of a club, is of extreme importance, for it is this that safeguards the rights of an individual; it ensures that the conditions governing a particular activity are acceptable to those participating, for if they are not, those concerned will cease to participate, and the activity in question will come to an end. This is the absolutely essential complement to rulemaking. The election of a committee to make rules is merely a convenience; what does matter is the sanctions which can be applied to that committee; and the ultimate sanction is the right to withdraw from its jurisdiction...
"Genuine democracy can very nearly be defined as the right to atrophy a function by contracting out. It is essentially negative, although, contrary to the curious nonsense that is prevalent about 'negativeness', is none the less essential for that reason.
"This genuine democracy requires to be carefully distinguished from the idea that a game is necessarily a bad game simply because you can't or won't play it, and therefore the fact you can't play it is the first recommendation for a chief part in changing the rules. On the contrary, that is an a priori disqualification. For this reason, if for no other, a period of discipline in the prevailing social and economic disciplines in, say, the early twenties, seems highly and pragmatically desirable. No play, no vote. Bad play, Grade 3 vote. But you needn't do either.
The other aspect of this matter is the playing in specific games. Teams for games are not elected; they are selected: And the team itself is under a captain. In matches, we have passed out of the sphere of policy, into the sphere of administration or technique. Consequently, we have the hierarchical form of organisation, and an individual's position in the hierarchy is dependant on his qualifications. And the test is in results, in matches won in competition. As everyone knows, those who fail in the test are replaced, until in time the best possible form of technical administration - the best team - is produced.
The second vitally important general consideration is the idea of sportsmanship. Sportsmanship is an unwritten code which is above all particular games, and is above even the general rules of a multi-sport club. In one aspect it constitutes the ethical system of the club; but it also transcends any particular club...
Sportsmanship is an invisible criterion governing admission to a club; and it is a supra-personal standard restraining the capricious use of the power of contracting-out. Again, it circumscribes all the rule making within the club. No rule incompatible with the code of sportsmanship is conceivable in practice.
A further important principle of a club is its financing. Normally the revenue of a club is derived from the subscriptions of its members (we are excluding the "club" which really exists to make a business out of sport; which employs professionals, and derives its revenue by exhibiting to the public the performances of its employees. But in passing, it may be noted that the existence of genuine clubs exerts a powerful influence on the behaviour of the professional associations.). The income of the members is derived from sources outside the club, and contributed to the club. The committee has the spending of the funds; but it has to justify to the members generally the rate of subscription proposed in relation to the programme of general activities contemplated. Thus members will not approve of unlimited subscriptions to acquire unlimited playing grounds, nor to pay the wages and salaries of redundant employees; nor to accumulate disproportionate reserves. It is incumbent on the committee to show the advantages expected to accrue to the members generally from our contemplated expenditure; and the power to withhold the necessary funds resides in the members. When a general programme is approved, it falls to the committee to carry it into effect; and a failure is properly rewarded by the dismissal of the committee.
The various activities carried on within the club — the games, the social life, the administration of its affairs — are the functional activities of the club. The general pattern of these is derived from the individual desires of the members expressed in their proportional support of these activities. The relative emphasis on one game rather than another comes directly from the number of those who prefer one game to another. On the other hand, one member may participate in several functional activities; he may play two or three games, as well as become a member of the committee. His precise position in the club depends on his choice and on his ability; he may captain the cricket team, but be the first reserve of the football team; he may be the Treasurer, and at the same time "help out" by serving at times behind the bar. The time he spends in various functional activities is determined by his free-will, but conditioned by his "sports-manship". His submission to his captain is voluntary, but — in the ideal member at least — his discipline — self-discipline — is perfect.
It is easy to see that elections play but a small part in the conduct of such a club. For the most part majority decisions are expressed in the actions of the members, as in the playing of various types of games. Provided the cricketer finds the facilities he desires, it is a matter of no consequence to him that perhaps the majority prefer to play tennis. He is concerned only when the majority is so overwhelming that the minority is insufficient to constitute a team, Then he is free to consider the reasons why the majority prefers tennis, and either to give it a trial, or to leave the club, since it no longer serves his specific purpose.
But no member would submit to having the game he would play throughout the season determined by a majority vote in the election sense. Or, what is a variant of the same thing, that he should vote for a committee which would have the power of telling him how much of his time he should spend in the club, and what games he should play in that time.
"Supposing I where to say to you, I am organising a cricket club. You are all cricket enthusiasts, so I feel sure that you will join my club, and will deposit all your title deeds, stocks and shares and other valuables with the secretary as a guarantee that you will obey my orders — you would probably remark that, under the circumstances, you think you'll play golf.
"But supposing you had been brought up to believe that you must play cricket, and you must join my club, and that, of course, placing all your eggs in my basket was only a formality. And supposing that, when you were all neatly registered, I were to say: 'This organisation, which we humourously call a cricket club, is really planned for plainer living, higher thinking, and more painful dying, and you can't resign' — you would complain, wouldn't you? To which the answer is, 'No, you wouldn't, because you, in fact, don't. Most of you merely say that more people must join the club "full employment."
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- Written by: T. V. Holmes
- Category: January
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It is a fact...
1. that "money" is not wealth, it is only a claim to wealth, ie. to goods and services.
- 2. that "money" costs practically nothing to produce and is, with negligible exceptions,... created by the banks in the form of "finance credit", by writing figures in a ledger.
- 3. that "real credit" is quite different from "finance credit". Real credit is the potential capacity of the community to produce and deliver wanted goods and services.
- 4. that 'real credit" is essentially the property of the community considered as individuals working in association, and "finance credit"'. is no more than the "right to draw upon the community's real credit.
- 5. that "finance credit' should as a consequence, be controlled an exercised by the sovereign community in its own best interests.
- 6. that the banks claim a monopoly right to create and lend "finance credits to the community against collateral security" as they consider satisfactory to themselves. "They create the means of payment out of nothing", (Encyc. Britt. 14th Edit.) and charge interest on it.
- 7. that the community must always borrow its "finance credit" or "money" from the banks and must repay it with interest.
- 8. that the community has no other means of repaying its bank borrowings than by the faxation of its citizens or the price of its goods for sale.
- 9. that such "repayment" by the community to the banks, whether in respect of principal, interest or amortisation, is physically and mathematically impossible of execution.
- 10. that the community thus finds itself in ever-increasing debt to the banks and as a consequence under ever-increasing control by the banks and those who control the banking system.
- 11. that the community is thus under constant duress by the banks to deliver that which it does not produce and may not create — "finance credit" or "money".
- 12. that the community is only able to function at all as a viable economy through the willingness of the banks to create and lend ever larger amounts of "financial credit" to the community, and since no community can "borrow" itself our of "debt", no community today can escape a state of ever increasing "debt bondage" to the banks.
- 13. that the community, as a result of its ever increasing debt to the banks, is forced to demand even higher prices for its goods and services ("'inflation") notwithstanding that the "real cost of production (i.e. "man hour" cost for a given production) justifies ever lower prices. Knowledge and invention thus insist upon lower prices, at the same time as ever-increasing bank debt insists upon higher prices.
- 14. that any reduction in the amount of "finance credit" lent by the banks to the community ("deflation"') is at once reflected in unprofitable trade, unemployment and social unrest.
- 15. that "insolvency', formely a rare personal misfortune, has in consequence become a constant state of the community. The community may be as rich as Croesus in its real credit capacity to produce and deliver wanted goods and services, but it can never repay its "bank debt".
- 16. that "insolvency", formerly a state of affairs in which the individual was unable to "give satisfaction" to his creditors, either in goods or money (pay" from Latin "pax"; French "paix"; "peace" or "satisfaction giving") has become a constant state in which the community is never allowed to give satisfaction to its bank creditors.
- 17. that as a consequence, the community's bank creditors are always in a position to have the last word in determining both the nature of the community's economic activities and the extent of those activities.
- 18. that the community because of its "insolvency" is treated by the banks as though it had suffered an "economic defeat", with ithe banks themselves as "victors" requiring the "unconditional surrender" by the community of its sovereign rights into their hands.
- 19. that every community today, not excluding the U.S.A., is in effect being "administered in bankruptcy" (i.e. "administered by the banks"') and is subject to a virtuaľ "bank occupation" as though by a foreign power.
- 20. that "banking" today is under extra-national control and its policy and principles are increasingly centralized under a world "Finance Credit Monopoly".
- 21. that since he who pays the piper is considered justified in demanding the tune which he requires, the Finance Credit Monopoly dictates the kind of civilization and culture which the communities may enjoy by dicta ating the manner in which they shalt use their several real credit potentials, and is thus primarily responsible for the state of the world today, itis tentsions, fears, strifes, uncharitableness, and constant fear of the onslaught of the'Hi-Bomb" or "World Communism".
- 22. that the banks, by means of a false and artificial "insolvency", which they impose upon the community, and by their refusal to allow the community to direct and enjoy it's own real credit potential, have usurped the effective sovereign rights of the Queen in her parliament" which they have lodged in the "Banker in the Parlour", and are thus not only primarily responsible for the troubles which at present afflict humanity, but for the fact that humanity's road to escape is barred.
in the supplement of Credit Notes, December, 1961 (Emphasis and quotation marks supplied).
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- Written by: Louis Even
- Category: January
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Social Crediters speak much of the money system; of financial credit which serves as money; of the restriction of credit. They condemn the restriction of financial credit in the face of the physical possibilities of filling needs. They demand a money system which will serve instead of hindering.
The insistence by Crediters on these points lead them to be treated as people who think that money is true wealth, who attribute to it a magic power which will bring forth production out of nothing, replacing farms, mines, factories, transportation, professional services, etc. Nothing could be further from the truth. Social Crediters, better than anyone else, know how to make the distinction between wealth and money; between wealth, which is a reality, and money which is nothing more than a numerical representation of this wealth; between the source of wealth and the origin of money.
Money, a permit
If money is a representation in figures of wealth it is also a permit to activate the means of production from which issues wealth, or to draw upon the products and services offered which are wealth when they meet and fill needs. But this permit is not wealth no more than is the permit to drive a car on the highway, the car or the highway; no more than a theatre ticket is the theatre or the seat therein; no more than a railway ticket is the train.
A permit has no value unless that to which it gives permission, exists. An automobile license would have no value if there were no autos or no roads on which to drive them. A theatre ticket would have no value if there were no theatre or no plays to present in the theatre. A railway ticket would be useless if there were no trains.
On the other hand, what would an automobile owner, be likely to think, if, on asking for a license for his machine, he were told that he could not have one because there were no more?
Or, imagine the following scene. You present yourself at the ticket counter in the railway station:
- "A ticket for Toronto, please."
- We're so sorry, but there are no more."
- No more! Are the trains filled to capacity?"
- Not at all. Only about one quarter of the seats are taken. We have plenty places on the train. But we have no tickets."
You'd be justified in thinking this company was run by imbeciles.
You can see the importance of a permit when the thing to be utilized exists. And you can see the importance of money to permit the use of production offered for use or for the mobilization of means to realize potential production. And if money is refused, or is rationed, when there is an abundance of products and services available, are we not right in thinking that the money system is controlled by idiots or malefactors?
Asset and liability
Now, once again, it is not money which is the true wealth. And, inasmuch as it is a permit to obtain goods and services, money plays a role which is directly the opposite to that of the producer of goods. The permit to consume is a permit to destroy.
I buy from a farmer a sack of potatoes worth $2.00. The potatoes constitute real wealth, coming from the earth and the work of the farmer. My $2.00 is my permit to obtain goods, whatsoever I choose, to the value of $2.00. I apply this money to potatoes. This wealth, produced by the farmer, is going to be consumed by my family. That is, destroyed. My $2.00 was a permit to destroy this wealth.
There is no doubt but that this permit was an asset; without it I could not have laid hold of this wealth of nutrition. But it is also a fact that my $2.00 did just the opposite of production. It the $2.00 was an asset for me it was a liability with regard to this wealth.
What is true of my $2.00 with respect to the sack of potatoes is true of all the money in the country with respect to all the real wealth of the country.
In any national balance sheet which conforms to economic realities, you must classify as assets all production and every source of the production of wealth; and classify as liabilities all money and every source of money which confers an effective demand, a right to this wealth.
This is what Major Douglas has done in that one of his works which he always called his favorite, The Monopoly of Credit, on page 22 of the 3rd edition, where he presents a balance sheet for "Great Britain Limited", as follows:
| ASSETS | LIABILITIES |
| (Population. Education. Morale) i.e. Human potential. | National Debt |
| Policy | Bankers (Potential creators of effective demand) |
| Organization | Insurance Companies (Mortgage and Bondholders) |
| Natural resources | Cash at call |
| Developed power | Taxation for Public Services |
| Plants (Railways, Buildings, Tools, etc.) | |
| Public Services | |
| Goodwill (Tradition, reputation, etc.) | |
| Work in Progress | |
| Consumable Goods |
This form of balance sheet is certainly not in conformity with the usual manner of presenting the national balance sheet, but it is, without doubt, in complete conformity with the true and real nature of facts. The Social Credit view of things is always related with economic realities which is evidently something orthodox economists and political hacks lack.
The basis of financial credit
It is absurd to pretend that the financial credit issued by the banks is based upon species (metal money) or script money (bank notes) owned by the banks. Such money is a liability. A liability is never based upon a liability.
If the banks maintain a certain proportion between tangible money and money which appears as figures in the ledgers, it is only because of the percentage of cheques presented to the bank for cashing instead of deposit. But neither financial credit nor paper or metal money would have any value unless they had some corresponding asset.
In a paper read before a Social Credit seminar held at Melbourne, Australia, last September 24, Mr. W. R. Browning, a long-time Crediter and one of the first to write on Social Credit in Australia, spoke as follows:
"A bank loan is of worth only if the community has already produced wealth and services which it can buy. Therefore the only natural limit to the creation of credit is the ability of the community to honour that credit. From this angle, the whole resources and wealth of the community may be considered as assets against which all money and credit are a liability."
Which is what we have been explaining above. Mr. Browning then adds:
"Whatever is physically possible is financially possible."
If this has not come to pass in practice, if things physically possible, and wanted by the community, are not realized, through the fault of the financial system, this is simply because the controllers of money and credit have created an artificial obstacle.
Mr. Browning then goes on:
"From every angle, the community is therefore the ultimate owner and creditor of all credit created by the banks. This moral relationship should be legally expressed. Just as the borrower is in debt to the bank, so the bank should be indebted to the public and this relationship should find expression in a system of National Bookkeeping.
"The banks, whether private or Commonwealth (national), should be indebted to the Treasury for every loan granted, and released from that indebtedness when the loan is repaid. By this means both the Commonwealth and the Trading banks would become agents of the Government on behalf of the public, and the financial sovereignty of the government firmly established."
Accounting according to the facts
Mr. Browning proposes neither the confiscation nor the nationalization of the banks. He does not even suggest that there should be any change in the method of granting loans through the creation of credit. But he does insist that the banker cease to consider himself proprietor, owner, of the financial credit which he issues. This financial credit is nothing more than the expression in figures of the real credit which belongs to the community. It is a permission, a permit, to make use of the country's capacity to produce, which is after all, a good appertaining to the nation and not to the banker.
When the banker creates and lends out financial credit, it is community wealth, community goods which he is expressing in figures, figures which the community has agreed to recognize as being of the same value as money. So it is clear that in fact it is the community, the population of the country, which lends through its intermediary, the banks. The bank is only the agent of the community, or if you wish, the agent of the Treasury, a community service administered by the government.
That which the banker lends is neither his own money nor that of the depositors. It is the credit of the nation, of which the Treasury is the duly authorized depositary and guardian. Thus the Treasury is the creditor and the banker is the Treasury's debtor, for the amount thus inscribed under the loan made by the banker. Since this credit is then loaned by the bank to a borrower, the banker becomes the borrowers creditor and the borrower becomes the bank's debtor. But what is loaned is always the property of the community.
When the borrower reimburses the bank he ceases to be the bank's debtor. Cancelled by repayment, this amount of credit ceases to be a liability on the goods of the community. Thus, the banker himself is freed from indebtedness to the Treasury.
All such transactions should be set forth in a system of national accounting drawn up by the Treasury or by the Bank of Canada functioning as the agent of the Treasury.
The techniques of such a system should present no problem once the decision was taken and the necessary orders given. If the system is able to foist on the nation a system of accounting which falsifies facts, it is certainly capable of instituting a system which will be a true mirror of physical realities in the realm of economics. As far as the people and their representatives, the government, are concerned, their is no question of finding experts, but rather of taking the decision.
We shall return to this subject.
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- Written by: E. Vanderkloet
- Category: January
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The following article, with above title, is taken from an article published in The Guide of August/September, 1961, entitled "Does the New Party have the answer?" The New Party' referred to here is, of course, the New Democratic Party under socialist Tommy Douglas. The article is written by one of the editors, E. Vanderkloet. The Guide is the official organ of the Christian Labour Association of Canada with its publication offices at 90 Hadrian Drive, Rexdale, Ontario.
Planning, as understood by socialism and communism, must be preceded by a power concentration into the hands of the State. We emphasize the word "concentration", that is, the State becomes the ultimate and final authority on all matters pertaining to human life. Without this total power of the State, planning is impossible. Planning includes control over all phases of society: Freedom of action by individuals and particularly by the various institutions and associations of which society consists will upset the carefully planned plans of the planners and make planning impossible. Therefore, first of all, economic life will have to be brought under control. The New Party program is quite clear on this score. The better part of this program is devoted to the economic sector of life. True, it recognizes a certain form of private industry and it assures that Canadians will be able to evaluate and criticize the public plans".
But an ominous note is struck when it adds immediately "that private groups and individuals will be in a position to adapt their own plans to those of the government". (page 10 Draft Program). Planning, however, will not be restricted to economic life. The whole of life will have to be brought under control. For instance, an Investment Board will be established which will control the volume of investment and also "channel investment to the most socially desirable projects". Naturally, it will be this same (socialistic) Investment Board which will also determine which project is socially desirable and which is not. And by what standard or norm will this body go?
Fields such as labour, education, and arts will all be planned. This is not always expressly stated but it is not difficult to read between the lines what the planners have in mind. They have in mind a totally collectivistic and regimented society. Personal initiative must give way to the demands of planning. In order to make the public planning-minded", the government of course must also have control over the so-called information media such as radio, television, and press. Again we quote the draft program:
"The New Party will make funds available to enable the C.B.C. to expand greatly the fine work it is already doing in developing Canadian talent and producing Canadian programs. It will also see to it, that private stations contribute their fair share to this important effort". (emphasis ours) Apart from the fact, that many — including us — have grave doubts about the so-called "fine" work of the C.B.C., we strongly object to compelling private stations to broadcast or telecast programs, which come straight from a government dedicated to the "proper" education of the public.
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- Written by: Jean-Pierre Richard
- Category: January
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$15 a month per child – to guarantee a minimum of nourishment
Their poverty is great
The Union of Electors is demanding that the government of Mr. John Diefenbaker increase the family allowance rates to $15 a month for each child. So great is the poverty in a vast multitude of families across the land, that this source of revenue is the sole means of nourishing the children and keeping the family alive.
If Mr. Diefenbaker is as solicitous for the welfare of each and every Canadian as he made himself out to be during his campaign for election to the premiership, then he most certainly cannot turn a deaf ear to the groans of the poor. If he does, then he can hardly expect those Canadians who are sympathetic to the condition of want existing in our country, to lend a ready ear to his demand for support in the elections which he proposes this year.
Let Mr. Diefenbaker and those of his colleagues responsible for the material welfare of Canadians read the cases listed below and then ponder the text from the Epistle of St. James the Apostle:
"And if a brother or sister be naked and want daily food, and one of you say to them: Go in peace, be ye warmed, yet give them not those things that are necessary for the body, what shall it profit ?" (St. James, II - 15 / 16 )
Trefflé Bérubé, Rivière Verte, N.B.
5 children from 16 years to 14 months. Another on the way. The father is 45 years old and has been unemployed for 3 years, sick since 1960; ulcers of the stomach and defective leg. Their only revenue: family allowances amounting to $26 a month. They owe $1,000 and the father has been in prison from time to time because of his debts, Paying $2.00 a month rent.
Oscar Michaud, P. O. Box 60, Dundee, Restigouche Co., N.B.
2 children, a year and a month. The father, 47 years old, sick for 3 years, hasn't worked. He must pay taxes each year: $11. on a house measuring 24 x 20 feet. Revenue: family allowances amounting to $12.00 a month.
Francis Aubé, St. Jean Baptiste,... Restigouche Co., N. B.
6 children. Father, 53 years old, worked for a month, was hurt in an accident at work, has not received any compensation. Only revenue: $38.00 in family allowances. Debts: $500 to the doctor. The house, 28 x 23 feet. He is not eligible for help from the Welfare Committee because it is the Accident Commission which is concerning itself with his case. This Commission has done nothing to relieve this distress so far, and while waiting he and his family go hungry.
Abraham Leblanc, R. R. 5, Moncton, N.B.
. 2 children, 8 and 10 years. Father, 55 years old, unemployed for 7 years. Revenue: family allowances of $14 a month plus $20. Annual taxes on his house, $103. The house is 16 x 25 feet. He owes one year of taxes.
Théodore Bourgoing, Ste-Thérèse Colombière, Saguenay Co., Quebec
5 children, Father 60 years old, unemployed for 6 years, sick for 4 years. The mother likewise is sick. Family allowances, $32. No other revenue.
Lionel Guay, St-Aimé-des-Lacs, Charlevoix Co., Quebec
5 children from 13 years down. The father is an invalid, not having recovered fully from an operation on his spine 7 years ago. Mother anemic and very thin. Only revenue: $30 family allowances. Last July they received $130 from the Welfare Committee but have received nothing further since, despite promises. Debts: $643.79 to the hospital. A certain Mrs. Edouarda Lezinskua, an official of the Welfare Bureau, went to visit them; among other insulting remarks, she told the mother not to waste so much!
Armand Mallet, Haut St-Simon, Gloucester Co., N.B.
5 children, from 10 years to 4 months. The little girls have only one dress each. $26 a year in taxes on their little home of 14 x 24½ feet. Owe $115 in back taxes. Family allowances, $32 a month. The children and the mother are perpetually ill. The doctor says that they are simply undernourished. They have no wood for heating purposes.
Pierre Basque, P. O. Box 305,Tracadie, N.B.
The mother wrote us as follows: "I am writing you a few words to ask your help. I am a poor mother with 10 children. My husband is always sick and unable to work. We have no potatoes, no wood for the winter and no clothing. I don't know where to turn for help. Everyone around here is poor. If only you could send me a bit of clothing for the children who go to school. Even if it is somewhat worn, I can remake it for I have an old sewing machine. I have a daughter who will soon be 16 years and who goes to school. Another is 14, another, 13 in February, another 11, others at 9, 7, 6 and 4; 2 boys, one 18, the other 16. Both without work, it takes a lot to feed and clothe such a big family. If you could see your way to helping me I would be very happy for my little children, because in all this it is they who suffer the most.
Édouard Hébert, R. R. 1, Fontaine, (Kouchibouguac) N.B.
6 children from 17 to 2 years of age, Father; 52 years old, a fisherman, is ill with heart trouble and asthma, expects to be forced to enter the hospital almost any time now. The mother is suffering a nervous depression. They live in a shanty. No electricity. No beds. The children sleep on the floor on blankets. They owe a hundred dollars in taxes and owe for their stove. The government has so far refused them the invalids pension or the allowance for needy mothers.
Lionel Langlais, St-Just du Lac, Témiscouata Co., Quebec.
Here is a letter he wrote us last October 1: "Quite some time ago I wrote to Cabano asking for Social Assistance. I was refused. The excuse they gave was that since I was a farmer I could not be considered as a needy person, I have 5 children. A farmer who has 4 cows which don't give a great deal, is not in a very good position to feed a family of 7. I have no unemployment insurance stamps and no work near my place which would permit me to keep an eye on things at home. I don't earn a cent, and believe me, this doesn't help to make life any easier. I have been obliged to sell one of my cows in order to feed the family."
Mrs. Émilien Tremblay, Rivière Éperlan, Saguenay Co., P.Q.
Here is her letter: "My husband is without work and we haven't a cent to our name. We are going to lose our house. It is not a big house only 18 x 16. We have 6 children who are undernourished and soon will not have a house to shelter them from the weather. Can you understand what pain it causes a father and a mother to be in such a position? I am writing you all this in the hope that you will be able to help us keep our little home. We can't buy food from any of the stores because of what we owe them. We can't pay for medicine and food.
Paul-Émile Bouchard, 35 St-Jérôme, Matane, Quebec
6 children, of whom one has had an accident, another is sick. The father is ill with stomach ulcers, almost unable to work at all. They have no aid, no revenue other than that which they get from the family allowance cheque.
Alfred Lévesque, St-Marcellin, Rimouski Co., Quebec
2 children. The father is laid up from an accident. He receives $ 12 a month compensation, which along with family allowance brings his monthly revenue to $24. Four people have to live off of this. They live in black misery. They have been unable to get any social assistance.
Alphège Bouillon, St-Marcellin, Rimouski Co., Quebec
2 children in the house. Father sick. No pension.
Charles-Henri Desrosiers, St-Marcellin, Rimouski Co., Quebec.
14 children. The father without work, without unemployment insurance, without unemployment assistance. He has received from the Social Welfare office $55 all told, in spite of the fact that this office promised regular assistance.
Paul-André Emond, Riviere Mailloux, Charlevoix Co., Quebec
The following is from his letter of October 7: "I have been looking for work and have been unable to find any. No unemployment insurance stamps. I am married and my wife is pregnant. This is very hard on a husband. I have a house to keep up and payments to meet each month. I am in the greatest need. Please help me.
Ludger St-Pierre, R. R. 2, Cherbourg, Matane Co., Quebec
8 children. The father is unemployed, suffering dreadfully from eczema. The family is very poor. The house is practically uninhabitable. The Welfare office is unwilling to give them any aid. According to the law they should be receiving $150 a month.
Hector Marceau, St-Thomas-Cherbourg, Matane Co., Quebec
2 children to look after. Husband sick. They have been refused unemployment assistance. They should get $100 a month.
Oscar Gauthier, St-Thomas-Cherbourg, Matane Co., Quebec
4 children to care for. Unemployed, no revenue. Asked for unemployment assistance in April; was refused. Should get $120 a month.
Theodore Langlois, Port Daniel East, Gaspé Co., Quebec
8 children. Unemployed. No income. Receives no unemployment assistance. Should get $160 a month.
Gerard Bouillon, St-Gabriel, Rimouski Co., Quebec
Writes as follows: "We are unable to give our children the medicine, the clothing, the shoes which they need. As for food we can supply them with only the bare essentials. We have 7 children ranging from 1 year to 11. What little revenue we have must go on payments we have to make.
Wilfrid Chapados, Gascons, Bonaventure Co., Quebec
Writes us as follows: "I am writing to you with regard to social aid. I filled all the necessary formulas at the beginning of August — which means that I have sent quite a few cards to the Selective Office, all without any reply. I am the father of 7 children and it is now 3 months that I have not earned a cent. Please help me to obtain the social aid which I need..."
Eustache McGraw, Hacheyville, Gloucester Co., N.B.
7 children, ranging from 13 years to 7 months. The monthly income: $44 in family allowance. They live in a shanty 15 x 16 feet. You can see daylight through the cracks in the wall. They must pass the winter there. Taxes: $20 a year. Arrears in taxes: $75. Owing to the stores: $125. They are desperately in need of clothing.
Lazare McGraw, Hacheyville, Gloucester Co., N.B.
9 children from 16 to 3 years. The father...is: sick and without work. Their income $56 in family allowances, $40 in food, a month from social aid. Their little cabin is: 15 x 16 feet. Yearly taxes amount to $23.40. They are $125 in arrears. They owe $203 to the various stores, They also need clothing.
Jos. Alfred LeBreton, Tilly Road, Gloucester Co., N.B.
Has been an invalid since the age of one. He is now 35.... He is obliged to walk with a crutch. He does not receive the any invalid pension. The doctor at Fredericton said he wasn't sufficiently invalided. He receives $20 a month in social aid.
Frank Lavigne, Lorne, Restigouche Co., N.B.
4 children. An invalided daughter of 27 who has never received the invalid pension. Income : family allowance, $16 a month plus $52 in provisions. School taxes, $40, county taxes, $5, owe $200 to the grocer. They have no money with which to pay. The father and the children are in desperate need of clothing.
Éric Cormier, Richibouctou Village, N.B.
6 children, from 11 year to 1. All girls. The father is an invalid with a defective arm. He has been refused the invalid's pension. Aid from the social welfare was cut off in the month of August. Before August he had the privilege of ordering at the stores on the account of the Social Welfare bureau. But he could order only food. He could not buy thread or soap. Family allowance comes to $38 a month. He should be paying $26 a month on his house. He already owes $466 on it. The children have no shoes.
Éloi Wade, Tipperary St., Shediac, N.B.
8 children, from 15 to 2 years. The father is sick. He manages to work in the summer for $1 an hour. In the winter he is unemployed. Their house has been sold for taxes amounting to $46.
Thomas Phermigion, Sayabec, Matapedia Co., N.B.
He wrote us on October 10: "I am writing to ask you for information about unemployment insurance, for I have been without work since December, 1960, and I have looked everywhere and have been unable to get any. Since last May I have been trying to get unemployment assistance but without too much success. I had help for only 2 months and since then I haven't received anything. I have 7 children."
Joseph Breault, Brown Road, Chatham Head, N.B..
6 children, all at home, from 5 years to 3 months. The father is 43 years old, a veteran of six years, he has been in the military hospital at Lancaster, and has also received a hospital bill to pay. He has not been able to pay for his land and house.
Mrs. Olivier Morin, St-Basile, N.B.
She writes as follows: "I have 17 children and I am expecting another in November (1961). My husband cannot work. He has ulcers of the stomach and intestines. He does not receive any invalid pension. We have only our family allowance off which to live. We cannot manage 3 meals a day; it's hard enough to manage 2. Myself, I am having trouble with my heart. I have asked for assistance under the aid for needy mothers, and the invalid's pensions for my husband and myself. I got nothing. We are living in the woods in an old house. It is heartbreaking when our children ask us for food and we have nothing to give them. I don't know how we are going to get through the winter. We have never been in a worse position. We are treated here like animals, not like other human beings. How tragic it is when we ask for help and no one will help us, I would certainly, like to see my husband working, but he is too sick. If only I could work! But there is no work. I have 17 children to care for and a sick husband."
Mrs. Clarence Boudreau, rue Principale, Shediac; N.B.
A widow, 55 years old. 4 children from 26 to 16 years. A daughter of 20 is an invalid. She receives absolutely no money. No family allowance. She has to pay $85 a year in taxes.
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So, Mr. Diefenbaker, here are the poor! What are you going to do about them? These examples we have given above are not just so many figures in the files of the Dominion Bureau of Statistics. No, Mr. Diefenbaker, these are human individuals — men and women with their children, Canadians who do not know where to turn for their next meal, or whether or not they will have a roof over their heads tomorrow.
Mr. Diefenbaker, these are Canadian citizens, citizens you promised would not go hungry or in want under your regime.
What are you going to do about them, Mr. Diefenbaker?
Those of our readers who may have been touched by the account of these sad cases might satisfy a desire to help these people by sending them packages of clothing or food. Even a letter of sympathy would be deeply appreciated by these poor folks. How much more satisfying is this close personal type of charity; how much more it is real charity in comparison with the big business charity campaigns organized and staffed year-round by full-time professional charity organizers! Such a practical way of showing our real sympathy for the lot of these poor ones will not only fulfill, in the true sense, the divine precept to feed the hungry and clothe the naked; it will also provoke us to join with others in helping to correct the nefarious system which makes such conditions possible.