This column first appeared in the Victoria Daily Times on June 1, 1940.
On May 6, an Alberta woman wrote me a letter that I shall endeavour to answer. It is a good letter, written with vigour and honesty. She says that she and many other women are disturbed and unsettled in their thinking. I quote the letter, in part:
鈥淎 great many of us,鈥� she writes, 鈥渁re all mixed up in our thinking. Desiring to be patriotic, we flew into the hog-raising industry with all our hearts, and now 鈥� flop! We knitted and knitted and are now being informed by some that it is all a racket of the wool companies.
鈥淲e do not want conscription but we do not like to see our Canadian boys enlist while young men of foreign extraction stand around in the street. We enjoy hearing about your beautiful garden and of your onions and thrips, but we would like better to have your counsel on some of these vital topics of the day.鈥�
I will begin with the knitting. The wool dealers have not engaged in any racket. It is true that the price of wool has gone up, but the rise in price has not been excessive. The advance in price on English wool has been offset by the favorable exchange rates. Canadian knitters, therefore got their English wool at the same price.
Canadian wool growers are getting a better price for their wool this year than last, and the indications are that the price will continue to rise, but not unduly, for there is a price board in sa国际传媒 carefully scrutinizing all these matters. You can always hear strange rumors about the Red Cross, the YMCA and other bodies of unselfish and patriotic people. These rumours are entirely without foundation and I would advise you to put them all out of your mind.
You enclosed a clipping from one of Mr. Gardiner鈥檚 speeches, in which he said this was going to be a tough year for farmers. I realize that farmers all across sa国际传媒 were encouraged to go into hog-raising when the British government decided to take 5,600,000 pounds a week of bacon from sa国际传媒, and I know that in this province of British Columbia hog-raising was increased about 50 per cent.
Mr. Gardiner points out that the warring countries had naturally stored up as much food as they could and that it probably will be a year before their supplies are exhausted, but Great Britain still takes the amount of bacon contracted for and I notice now that in Canadian cities there is an effort being made by the butchers to get the Canadian people to eat more pork and the price as far as I can make out has only been reduced one cent per pound.
Is it not true that these spring months are the time when the largest number of hogs are brought into the abattoirs? I understand that the usual number is about 88,000 hogs per week, but this has increased to 95,000, and this month that is what is causing the surplus. Would it not be well for farmers to hold back some of the pigs and let them run out on the meadows for a month or two to equalize the supply? Couldn鈥檛 you give them a 鈥渉oliday without salary鈥� to lessen the pressure?
I certainly would not call the raising of pigs in sa国际传媒 a 鈥渇lop,鈥� though certainly the high prices of the last war will not come this time. You must remember that everybody in sa国际传媒 is a consumer and therefore everyone is benefited when the prices remain reasonable.
Now you speak of the men of foreign birth, standing on the street, while our Canadian boys are on their way to Europe, and here, again, I must warn you against hasty generalization. No one can make a sweeping statement by merely looking down the street.
The men on the street, whom you saw, may have been turned down by recruiting agents, or they may have been men engaged in some useful occupation here at home. You would have to examine many records before you would be in a position to say whether or not the new Canadians are enlisting.
I think I know how you came to be feeling depressed, rebellious, abused and hard-done-by. You didn鈥檛 arrive at this state all by yourself. You had been at a gathering, perhaps a tea. Perhaps you were the dominant spirit there. I could see it was a good meeting 鈥� everyone spoke! And when the meeting broke up, you were all convinced that the farmer was being victimized and everyone else was profiting at his expense.
Now I hope you will take a longer and wider view of this whole matter. Think of the sacrifices that some people are making in this war. Think of the British fishermen who go out on their boats, braving the danger of hidden mines and swooping German planes. Think of the blackouts in England, and the constant nerve-wrecking dangers that threaten the people there; and spend a little time just in being glad that you are alive, and be glad you are in sa国际传媒.
Determine to use your energy, and undoubted gifts, to help in this gigantic struggle. Remember we are all in the same boat, and no one must rock it, for the sea is deep and treacherous.
I am sure that you can do a fine service if you will study the question of refugee children. There are 9,400 of them in England right now, waiting for homes and transportation to come to sa国际传媒. I am sending you some literature.
Call in your friends and tell them about these children. Give聽them a talk on the whole question of refugees and our responsibility. There is a great deal of misapprehension on the subject.
Remind them that the United Empire Loyalists were refugees, and look at the contribution they made to the cultural and industrial life of sa国际传媒. In 1840, many liberal-minded Germans took refuge in sa国际传媒 and the United States, bringing music and culture, mechanical gifts, cleanliness and thrift.
We have room for many more people in sa国际传媒. If we deny the 鈥渞ight of asylum鈥� to the disinherited people of Europe, we will surely repent in bitterness some day.
While I was writing this reply to your letter, I stopped to listen to the new prime minister, who says the war aim of the Allies is victory, for without victory there will be no survival, and so, he concluded: 鈥淟et us go forward together!鈥�
I want to say that to you, and to add this word 鈥� we save ourselves in direct ratio to our efforts to save others.
