Two
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THE   PRINCE   GEORGE   CITIZEN
Thursday, March 1, 1934
PRINCE GEOKGE CITIZEN
ft weekly newspaper devoted to the upbulldlm of  the  City  of  Prince   George  and
Northern  British  Columbia.
Published Every Thursday By
CENTRAL   INTERIOR  PRINTING   CO..   LTD
R.  A.  Runwlck.  Editor.
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SOME   SIDELIGHTS  ON HOSPITAL FINANCE.
'PHE directors of    the  city
hospital
have taken off a statement of those in arrears to the hospital for treatment, as at the end of the year 1933. It is an interesting statement which might readily be used as a directory, if not as a city and district "Who's Who." Prior to the preparation of the • statement a number of accounts of dubious collection value were written off, but what was left was sufficiently impressive, amounting in the aggregate to more than $16,000 as the amount owing the hospital by some 320 persons, some of whom can't and some of whom won't pay their hospital bill.
Included in the list are the names of several persons who have passed on since the hospital obligations were incurred, but the executors of the deceased evince no more interest in hospital accounts than do the debtors who were restored to health and strength through hospitalization. This attitude of persons in debt to the hos-pial is probably more or le.-.s general throughout, the province, in which event it explains the desaerate financial position in which many of the hospitals find themselves. In the na'ure of the service rendered by hospitals it follows many persons who are given treatment will be unable to pay for the same, and that, at the end of the year there will be .shown an impressive statement of those in debt to the hospital, but even this hardly prepares one for a statement closely resembling in point of volume that of the unclaimed balances in the chartered banks.
Therp is no more justification on the part oftho.se who can pay their bilLs in holding cut on the hospital than there is for holding out on the grocer,   or  <he butcher  or  the baker.
was a minimum, wage in effect with respect to the lumbering industry rhere was some friction when it was ntrcduced, but in time it was accept-jd and observed fairly well. Later on ^he legislation was attacked, and held oy the courts to be invalid by reason of the procedure adopted; but the right of the province to enact legisla-Mon of the kind was not seriously challenged. In again approaching the question of a minimum wage to govern the lumbering industry a greatly changed condition is presented from that which obtained when it was first introduced.
In the first instance the industry in "his section was going at virtually top speed. There was a good market for the spruce lumber in the United States and on the prairie provinces, and the price obtainable was satisfactory and left a good profit margin. Today the B. C. softwoods are excluded from the United States market, and the prairie market; has been virtually non-exist-net for the past two years. With one or two exceptions the outlook has not been sufficiently encouraging for the local millmen to engage in logging. In one instance logs which have remained in the water for a number of years have been left there for the reason the market price for lumber would not pay the cost of manufacture, quite aside from the cost of putting the logs in the lake. In other mills for the past two years, utilizing a very cheap labor, ttlie owners have been cutting their sawn lumber^through the planer and marketing it for what they ould get, aside from their logg'ng cos^s.
Within the past few weeks there lave been signs of improvement for the local lumber industry. The mill-men are still shut out of what was formerly their chief market in the United States, but they have a prospect of compensation in the export market to the United Kingdom and he Orient. The prairie market is also said to be showing signs of life. But even if these prospects material-ze the market price for lumber will be very much lpwer than when the mills operated under a minimum wage
movement, and along the lino that the proposed Bank of Canada has not been given sufficient powers.
The Bank of .Canada is to have the sole right of issuing currency. This privilege is at- present enjoyed by the chartered banks, with a requirement to post specified gold reserve with the federal government. Under the new legislation the chartered banks will bo required to call in their bank notes gradually until 75 per cent have been retired by the end of 1945.
The best financial brains available have made a study of the banking system of Canada. It is their opinion that, safe as the Canadian banks have been found to be in periods of depression, their first concern has been the interests of their shareholders to the neglect of the welfare of the Reople of Canada as a whole, and that 'this attitude resulted in an unwarranted restriction of credit and a slowing down of industrial and commercial activities, of the  chartered
The managements banks  are    by   no
means enthusiastic over the prospect of the creation of the Bank of Canada, but under the circumstainces this cannot be viewed as a serious indictment. It is said newly mined gold will be purchased by the Bank of Canada at the prevailing gold price. The people of Canada will be in a better position a year from now to say how much cheaper and freer the Bank of Canada has made credit throughout the dominion.
I
T actually takes
than 1# worth of Magic Baking Powder to make a cake, and you can count on good results— every time! No wonder Canada's cookery experts say it doesn't pay to take chances with inferior baking powder. Bake with Magic and be sure!
MAGIC
MADE IN CANADA
"CONTAINS NO ALUM." This statement on every tin is your guarantee that Magic Baking Powder is free from alum or any harmful ingredient.
 Richmond school trustees have decided to take out accident insurance for the pupils attending the municipal schools. A blanket pol'cy for Richmond have been secured at a charge of $152. Blanket accident insurance has been carried in Burnaby for some time. It is not carried in Vancouver on the score of expense. Despite the recent judgment against the Vancouver board for $8000 it is cefntended that spread over- a ten-year period insurance would have cost more than the judgment.
\ N  amendment   to  the  Agent-Gen-
 eraj   Act
.....    .............   has  been   intro-
f 40 cents an hour. Will this factor , ducpd in the le£rf.siature do6s no* je taken to account in the fixing of indicate tne C]osin{T of b. C House, he new nrnimum wage, or will fram- The ampndment makes the aimers of the legislation take the position o^eral removable at the instance of any branch of industry which cannot | the executive council ins'cad of the carry a fixed minimum had better be j legislature as formerly. Had there I snuffed  out?                                           j been any present  intent'on of clcsinc j
B. C. House the amendment would be i unnecessary.
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p.   S.   LEARY,     member   for   Kaslo-Slocan   has   been     named   as  the
these of commerce. In 1871 Moberly was put back on the job of finding a pass through the mountains. It was known that Indian and white traders had been passing through the Yellow-head for years and he was instructed to direct his exploration to that section. Even the most superficial investigation must have demonstrated the advantages of the Yellowhead over any of the suspected passes at more southerly points. Moberly was re-called to Ottawa in 1874, and had all his engineering data on the Yellowhead forwarded by the Wells Fargo Express. He arrived back in Ottawa to see it completely des'-royeel_ in the Pacific Building fire in that city. This f're contributed to the cheating of the Yellowhead out of recognition, bu1 it is held the promoters of the transcontinental ra'lway desired a line closer to the United Stages, so that it might share in the- business associated with development south of the boundary line. In any event the location   offering   through   the   Yellow-
put through the Yellowhead it is conceivable development in British Columbia would have proceeded at a mc;e rapid rate. There probably never would have been the duplication in the Canadian Northern and Grand Trunk Pacific systems, which later became consolidated in the Canadian National, and the dominion would no:
be burdened railway debt, builders  have
with its tremendous The pioneer railway been  given    unstinted
RHODES  INTRODUCES BANK LEGISLATION IN COMMONS.
||ON.   E.   N.  Rhodes,  miister   of   finance, on Thursday introduced in
the house commons the government's I Liberal   whip   in   the   legislature.   Dr l       f        h            i         f    h           h     J          i
maintenance, and it presents the best-kind of argument for strictly state hospitals, and The meeting of their cost of maintenance by means of a health or even a hospital tax. People resent being taxed at every turn  but   experience has  shown  most
Caucus. _o---------
That it is done cannot fail to be dis- i plan   for  the   creation  of  the   much- ; J, J.  Gillis. of Yale, has been elected couraging to those who give of their 1 talked of central bank. The legislation   chairman of •the time and their means to aid hospital   in the main follows the recommenda- j
tions cf  the Lord  McMillan  commission.    The  new institution    is  to  be
known   as   the   Bank   of   Canada   and
will have  its  headquarters in  Ottawa
with branches in the several provinces.
The original capital of the bank will
bo  S5.000.000.    Shares  will be  offered
of the .special taxes to be necessary j to the public in denomintions of $100. to prevent a certain element, in the j but no individual will be permitted to community  form  .side-stepping  all  of j held more than fifty shares.                'Rejection
their obligations. They might all be} Following the example set- in the. covered by the much abused income I United States congress the Central j lax. which carries the advantage of j Bank will take over all of the gold in. collec-ion in weekly installments as ! the chartered banks as well as the i the income is earned and makes for i gold reserves in the federal treasury : a   general   levelling  of    the   taxation-1 paying  for  the  same  at  the  rate  of
$20.67 .an  ounce.    The  difference  be- !
tween  this  price  and  S35,    the  price :
fixed  in   the  United   States  will  give j
*he Bank of Canada additional work-
Poor Judgment Caused Canada's Railway Problem
of    Yellowhead  Pass Marked   the   Beginning  of Present   Difficulties
praise, but of late there has been a disposition to speculate on how much different the picture would have been had they elected to cross the mountains through the Yellowhead. where ntaure made the crossing easiest, rather than undertkea to coirend with the difficulties presented in Rogers' pass.
----------------0-------------—
TOUHEY GANGSTERS GIVEN LIFE SENTENCES FOR KIDNAPPING
burden.
-------------o-------------
MINIMUM  WAGE   MEASURE PRESENTS   DIFFICULTIES.
REPORTED ON IN  1874
 announcement,    from    Victoria
Its Advantages Largely Respon-
 wk
 ing capital.   When instituted the bank  il
 g
sible for Duplications of Later Years
 g     p         Wn instituted the bank
thaf. the provincial government 1 will act for the Dominion of Canada will shortly enact a minimum wage | and it will also have power to make policy, which will cover all industrial i leans to the .several provincial gov-activii:cs, ha.s been received with some   ernments,
misgivings  by   the    men   engaged   in      Hon.   E.   N.   Rhodes   in  introducing
lumbering in this section of the pro- j the legislation, said  it marked a sic-- ¦                                                      .      ,
vince.    There  are  three  sides to  the |, hificant advance in the economic and   endunnB monuments furnished in the
Canada's railways, as great en^in-eerng fea".s, have perpetuated the names of scores of men wh» were connected   with   their   building.     The
wa.s conveniently forpot'en.
The syndicate which had been formed to construct the railway across the continent engaged the services of Major A. B. Rogers, an engineer who had come to the front in railway construction, to find the pass which the Palliser expedition had fa;led to find fifteen years before. Assisted by his nephew Albert L. Rogers 'he work was undertaken, largely cm the strength' of Moberly's opinion that a pass could be found. The Rogers party retraced Moberly's path up t<he Illecillewaet nnd in'time the pass wns I discovered. As a result Canada trot ! its frst line of railway through the Rockies, and the great struggle was marked with the names of Rogers' Pass, Albert Mountain. Albert Glacier. Alber*. Canyon, all associated with the discoverers of  the  pass.'
It i.s interesting to speculate how much different the history of Canada would have been had the men behind the C.P.R. project displayed better judgment in. the selection of their pass through the mountains. They knew of the Yellowhead Pass, but rejected it for the much more difficult Rogers Pass. It i.s nearly fifty years since the railway was completed through the mountains at a cost so heavy that British Columbia has over since been subjected to the burden of excessive  freight rates.
Had  the  first line  r>f  miUfcv heon
Chicago, Feb. 23—Roqer Touhe his two henchmen, Gu> Schaeffc Albert Kater, were
an<
anc
ninety-nine    years
each imnri-
nrnimum wage issue, that of the men whese wages are affected, that, of the
financial development of the dominion, and he questioned  if the principle of
„;„„„        .            ~       — ,V       —   ---       l  "v  M"w"uncu   u   me  principle
millmen whose-costs are affected, and   th? legislation would be challenged !Sal°       £ ft1 C Wh^e inter<*te are !      lit    Th
°
.....,       rf   .   ,   ,       ,      interests are ! parliament.    There has been insistent directly  affected  by the  operation  or   demand from the prairie provinces for
down of the sawmill
it is desirable that all who labor shall be paid the highest rate of wages their employment can .stand. In setting up a minimum
the instituting of a central bank, and it remains to be seen whether it will measure up to the expectations of its proponents. There will be little criticism   of   the   chief    features   of   the
 as   in   fixing   the   minimum
 !                           ef    features   Sf   the
°.bear   Ration   in  the  house of  commons
suffic-ently    hi<iii    in may   make   conditions
one .section  it o   onerous   in
 us   in
another that it may be found impossible      to      continue       \o      operate
as Mackenzie King has stated the Liberal party approves of the establishment of a central bank. Such criticism as may be levelled against the measure will probably come from
at   a   profit.     Some  years   ago   there   those in sympathy with the C.  C. P.
Keep on the Sunny Side of Life"
the 1934 ALL-BRAN Booklet should  be  read  by  Everyone
their pan in the kidnapping Facie:-,   better  known   as Barber."   The   defence   end< set  up  tho  contention   ;. 'napping   had   been   staci : to   create   .sympathy   : connection  with   his  ;. •¦¦ tion to Great-'Britain of  swindling,  the  s* •:iid  to have ran into
of dollars.    Factor  is   '. made restitution in sonn
¦ ; which is iral millions id  to    have
but his
was not ab'p to compen
victims.
Pasteurized —
MILK — CREAM
and BUTTER
INTERIOR CREAMERY
ALL-BRAN
Served as a tasty Cereal or   cooked into Fluffy Muffins
Bread or Omelet
per dozen
Oraiig
-___ 35^          3 do:
es
3 dozen for
The Corner Grocery
Phone   168L1
building of the mountain sections that have s'nee become part of the Canadian National system are of too recent origin to require much.in the way of comment, but rienrly two generations have passed since the men responsible for the location of the C.P.R. line through the mounta'ns did thpir stuff.
The first move in the building of ,a Canadian transcontinental line of railway through the moutains was not nrado by the Canad'an gewernment. As far back as 1857 the British government had interested itself in the matter of rail connection from the Pacific coast, and in that year Captain Palliser was commissioned to find a sui'able pass at some point north of the international boundary. What Great Britain Sought was a military road, with commercial p^csibil-i':cs a secondary consideration. Captain Palliser's expedition was weil equipped. He went over much of tne ground travelled by engineers who were to come after him. but after throe years of close study he reported the bu'lding of a railway through the mountains  an utter  impossibility.
When Captain Palliser retired from 'he field no further attempt was made to wrest the secret of a pass from tho great mountain range for a period of five years. It was in 1865 that Writer Mubcrly, whose name hns been given "o the lake in the Peace River district began his study of the problem. He discovered Eagle Pass, and had made his way a considerable distance up the Illecillewaet. along wh;ch the C. PJt. was destined to bo built Gome years later, when his Indians became trouble cme, refused to proceed further and Moberly was forced to turn back.
In another six years Eastern Canada was endeavoring to bring British Columbia into the Canad'an federation. Direct, rail connection with the rest of Canada was made an essential po'nt by British Columbia, and the Canadian government became the directing force in place of the imperial authorities, and military considerations were  made subordinate to
WORTH    SAVING   FOR
To the traveller, Canada offers endless variety and the person who saves In order to explore it has a worthwhile objective. The most effective method of saving money is to follow a definite plan of deposits in a Savings Account at regular intervals.
THE
ROYAL
OF      C A
N
BANK
ADA
PRINCE GEORGE BRANCH    -     W. L. HORNSBY, Manager