Elliot Lake, the perfect dictatorship, financially and police-wise

Elliot Lake is not a municipality situated in Russia or China. It is located in Ontario, Canada. It is 95 miles by road to the north-west of Sudbury.

I went to Elliot Lake. I visited there for 20 hours among its prisoners. For the inhabitants of Elliot Lake, all of them, are virtually prisoners. I slept in a trailer, one of the signs of the progress of financial dictatorship and a sign also of the decadence of the family.

Elliot Lake is a town built about uranium mines. Thirteen mines have been opened there in five years.

Improvement district

Big financiers, forming large companies, have made agreements with the governments at Ottawa and Toronto to invest their millions in the exploiting of uranium. But the federal and provincial governments get their share of the benefits.

These great companies took possession of vast sections of the land over and about the mines. The mines themselves account for an area 25 miles in diameter, but the terrain reserved for the companies could extend to Chapleau, 70 miles on one side, and to Blind River, 50 miles on the other. The companies are exempted from paying any taxes for a period of five years.

There is no municipality at Elliot Lake. It is what is known as an Improvement District. So there is no elected mayor, no elected councillors. The administrators are appointed by the companies.

Nor is there such a thing as court of justice at Elliot Lake. Judges, such as they are, are appointed by the companies. So it happens that when a company which is the plaintiff, and some poor man, who is the accused, appear in a case, the company is at one time the plaintiff and the judge. One can well imagine what sort of verdicts and sentences would be handed down in such a Court of... Justice!

At Elliot Lake, one has always the police at ones heels. There are three bodies of police there to maintain order; the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Provincial police and the Company police. Surveillance is very strict. Everyone is most carefull not to commit the slightest transgression, such is their fear of the police. But anyone suspected of transgression is hauled in, guilty or not, and the judge is the accuser. In one year alone, Elliot Lake, which has a population of 10,000, levied more fines on its people than Sudbury which numbers some 60,000 inhabitants.

And such fines are held back from salaries by the companies, as are all the miners' debts.

Is this not a perfect police state, such as exists in Russia? But instead of being controlled by the Communist dictatorship it is controlled by the financial dictatorship.

A land of trailors

The mines were opened in 1955. 1957 there was not one single family dwelling in Elliot Lake; but there were 8,000 trailers for families in addition to single rooms, at $100 a month without board, for single men.

An ordinary trailer of 4 compartments costs $6,000 with an additional amount of $3,000 in interest. The total amount is payable over a period of 5 years. The trailer itself will probably hold together for a period not exceeding 5 years. The seller must be protected. The miner buys his trailer and the price is held back from his salary by the company.

The holder of a trailer pays $35 a month to the company for the rent of the land on which the trailer is situated. This land is not sold. And yet the companies have not paid a cent to buy the land.

In addition, the trailer-dweller must pay water and electricity which comes to $20 a month. So the poor trailer owner must pay $55 a month to park the trailer which he has literally sold his shirt to buy.

The pure water which God placed on this earth for the benefit of everyone, is brought to these trailers, befouled by the rusty pipes used by the company. It's so dirty you simply can't wash anything clean in it. It's too disgusting to drink. Families will go five miles to get water from a spring until such time as the companies get around to placing these springs under lock and key in order to sell the water. Those families which had the misfortune to place their trailers on Crown land were summarily ordered to get off by the company. If not the proprietor of the trailer was fined $100 for a few days delay. There could be no argument, mind you, for the company was at once the accuser and the judge and even levied the fine on the accused's pay envelope.

And how wretchedly these poor souls live in their little trailers! For these narrow containers must play the part of a house for a family. The mother must be something of a genius if she is to keep everything clean and orderly in such confined quarters. The use of every inch of space must be carefully calculated. They have to live with only the strictest necessities for there is no room for anything else.

The trailer is not a sign of civilization but of decadence. Our ancestors who opened up this country lived in spacious dwellings, in dignity even though they may have lacked so many of the so-called blessings of our modern era. And yet we, their children, lived cramped and crowded and beset on every side by the strangling rules and regulations and laws devised by this dictatorship of finance! We have been robbed of our inheritance by this dictatorship and nowhere is this so well exemplified as in Elliot Lake!

Rent at $215 a month

At Elliot Lake, those who don't buy trailers can pay rent for dwellings belonging to the company. $125 a month! $90 a month for a basement! One poor woman was overcome with joy in striking on a bargain: an apartment for only $115 a month!

The province of Ontario, in all justice, belongs to the citizens of Ontario. The Crown lands are the property of the citizens of Ontario. These lands were given to the companies by the government. The company built houses thereon. Then they rent these houses to Ontario citizens who are in fact the proprietors of this land and who have never received a cent in expropriation funds for this property. And the proprietors of this land, the citizens, are now obliged to pay rent to the companies which in turn paid nothing for these properties!

What a remarkable resemblance to the banking system. Society's credit belongs to the citizens of the country. The Banks take possession of this credit with the permission of the governments. And then the Banks turn around and rent this credit to the citizens, charging them interest as rent!

The financial dictatorship at Elliot Lake seizes not only credit but land as well.

The proprietors of houses

The companies eventually set up prefabricated houses on these lands for families. At first, the companies did not sell these houses to the miners. But since the sale of uranium has slowed down because of the discovery of uranium mines in New Mexico, U.S.A., the companies have begun to rid themselves of these houses by selling them to the miners. A miner will pay anywhere from $23,000 to $25,000 for a house which isn't worth more than $8,000. Capital and interest, like all other debts, are witheld from the miners wages by the company. As for the worth of these houses the story is told of one housewife who put her laundry out to dry. One end of the cord was attached to the house. It rained and the weight of the wet clothing pulled the side of the house out so that there was an opening in the roof. So much for these prefabricated houses!

So the new householder is now obliged to pay property taxes. But to whom is he to pay them since there exists no municipality at Elliot Lake? Who is to get these taxes? The companies, of course. Has there ever been a like dictatorship?

If you were to buy a piece of land, build a house on it and then sell it, would you be permitted to collect the taxes on it? Never in your life!

But the companies at Elliot Lake have not even bought the land on which these houses are built. They have built houses on the land and are now selling them. And they are charging taxes to the buyers of these houses!

Which goes to prove that these companies have not only acquired the terrain at Elliot Lake but have also acquired the supreme power over all the inhabitants dwelling there. This is a power which no government, federal or provincial, has the right to cede to any private interests. Such a procedure militates against the human individual. It is anti-constitutional here in Canada. And most certainly it is contrary to the spirit and the letter of the Bill of Rights recently voted upon with such pomp and publicity at Ottawa.

It goes without saying that the "proprietors" of Elliot Lake also pay school taxes. It would be interesting to define exactly what authority they have over their children and their education in these schools.

The faithful of Elliot Lake have their churches which they have paid for. It would not be surprising to learn one of these days that these churches also belong to the companies. At any rate, bells are forbidden on these churches. One might say that the church in Elliot Lake is the Church of Silence, as in Russia!

When miners are killed accidentally at Elliot Lake the news is published by the sound of sirens, which is in itself a diabolical sound. The people of Elliot Lake have not the right to bear such victims to their last resting place to the sound of Church bells, which have been and are traditionally the herald of a better life for the dead. Instead, they must make do with the police sirens, which are never anything other than the herald of misfortune and evil doings.

At Elliot Lake the taxes are going up as they are everywhere else. One property owner told us: "I was paying $240 taxes a year. The company collected this from my pay envelope at the rate of $20 a month. Then, lo and behold! one fine day $30 was missing from my pay envelope for these taxes. The taxes were increased "without any notice or ceremony. From $240 a year to $360 a year!"

At the beginning, the water tax was $45 a year for two years. Today it is $120 a year!

Evicted from their homes

A number of miners who did not wish to set up homes at such a cost desired to establish themselves on Crown lands outside the territory reserved to the companies. They went to Blind River to the office of the provincial government and asked to buy a lot on the Crown lands. The government at Toronto refused to sell this land. And they refused permits to construct houses on this land. But the official in charge there, trying to be a good fellow, said: "Go ahead and settle there; no one will disturb you."

So the miners went ahead and began to establish little settlements around Gravel Pit and Dunlop Lake, houses and gardens.

But this did not enter into the calculations of the companies which had houses to rent at high rates at Elliot Lake. They ordered the little settlers established on Crown lands, to get out of their houses and quit this land. They were brought up before the "court" established at Elliot Lake, whose judges represented the companies. Needless to say, these little proprietors of Gravel Pit and Dunlop Lake did not win their cases before this court at Elliot Lake. The small proprietors then appealed to the court at Sault Ste. Marie. There, they won. The companies, in turn, appealed to the provincial Supreme Court at Toronto. This court likewise found in favour of the small settlers.

The companies did not take their defeat lightly. And it was reported in a local paper that, in spite of the judgment of the provincial supreme court, the houses at Gravel Pit and Dunlop Lake were burnt or demolished by bulldozers.

Every night police sirens could be heard screaming along the roads of Gravel Pit and Dunlop Lake warning the inhabitants to get out of their houses. Police agents entered, revolvers on their hips, frightening the poor women whose husbands were working on the night shift. Some men were even dragged off to jail during the night.

By July 20, all the families with four or five exceptions had been driven from their houses. They abandoned their goods under threats of bodily harm. One poor fellow told me that he had been obliged to quit his property, his house and garden, which had cost him $2,500 in addition to all the labour he had put on them. He had to take his family and lodge them in a hole that cost him $85 a month. He earns but $140 a month. He must pay $10 income tax. His old house has now been demolished.

Another poor chap who had been obliged to give up his house did not wish to see it razed to the ground. So he took the drastic step of sleeping each night by the road leading to the house so he could keep an eye on it. He is hoping that justice will some day come to Elliot Lake.

Last July, and perhaps the situation still maintains today, the few families which resisted at Gravel Pit and Dunlop Lake, were receiving every day visits from the bailiff or a detective at $70 a visit, an expense which was charged to the luckless householder, and held back from his pay. The visit of the bailiff lasted 12 days. So this came to $840 per victim.

What mean of protesting have these unfortunate people? They are all miners completely at the mercy of their bosses. And apparently there is no government or police force to protect the honest citizens of Elliot Lake. The law of the supremacy of the strongest reigns there; it is dictatorship arrived at the ultimate of its power.

One of the evicted who had been brought into court, fainted before the judge. He was carried off to the hospital. But the real cause of his illness was not removed. He knew that he would be obliged to surrender his house to these pirates.

Controlled business

At Elliot Lake all the stores are the property of the companies. No one else has the right to open any sort of a business in this district, that is to say, in any part of the territory right to Chapleau, 70 miles distant.

All of the stores are grouped together, central to the thirteen mines. Which means that some women have to go from 5 to 8 miles to shop. In the beginning there was an autobus service in the town. This was discontinued. Now a citizen absolutely must have an automobile so that the husband can get to work at the mines, so that the wife can go shopping, so that the family can get to church on Sunday. It's at least a 5 mile trip to get to church, more for some.

If you have no automobile there's nothing to do but go out and buy one. The cost will be deducted from your salary.

If you want to help others, and yourself, by going from door to door with merchandise to sell the police will arrest you and you'll be fined. If you wish to carry on this type of business with permission you must pay $4,000 (four thousand) for a permit.

A woman who did the hair of a neighbor was fined. A haircut costs a $1.50.

At Elliot Lake you are obliged to heat with oil, even though the forests round about abound with wood for heating. You must buy your oil from the companies.

Salaries

The miners are enticed to Elliot Lake by the lure of big salaries. When the mines first opened 5 years ago, many miners did considerable overtime work and some earned as much as $450 a week. But such high salaries lasted not more than 3 months. And during this time the money from such salaries, soon disappeared. For example, a single man could rent a room for not less than $100 a month without board. And the rest went for like costly necessities.

Then the salaries quickly went down to $200 then to $150. Now they are at $375 a month. Meanwhile the miners are paying to their union the very generous fees of $5 a month. And there are some miners who pay $5 a day in income tax. All taken from their pay envelopes!

In Ontario, the workers have the hospital insurance premium taken from their pay, which is $52 for father and mother. In addition to this the worker pays the doctor $4.50 a month, and a life insurance premium of $3 a month.

There is a small hospital at Elliot Lake where there is never enough space. The beds in the public ward cost $21 a day of which the government pays $18.

And the miners who lose their jobs because some mines shut down and others cut their hours of operation, lose their revenues. Of course, you can't live without money at Elliot Lake. The stores do not give credit.

So the unemployed have to leave. Those who bought houses have to abandon them. But they are still responsible for their debts, especially those on their houses follow them as long as they live.

Those who rented houses at $125 a month are also responsible to the companies.

The companies exacted guarantees from the government before going to open the uranium mines. But our government never dreamed of getting some guarantees for the poor miners and their families.

Those who own trailers have a chance to escape. For after all, trailers are mobile homes of a sort? They are very practical in this our day and age when the common story is one of displacement and constant moving of families.

But to move a trailer costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $500. For an unemployed man without salary, $500 is a lot of money!

The Ministers at Ottawa, Churchill and Fleming, promised that they would have the trailers moved free of charge. But this promise was good during three weeks only. It was just time enough to get their friends moved — or the friends of their friends. After the three weeks, the order was countermanded and the unemployed were once again obliged to move at their own expense.

At the beginning of August there were 800 empty lodgings at Elliot Lake. The unemployed are moving out leaving their dwellings and houses but taking with them their debts and their misery.

Exodus to New Mexico

A uranium mine has opened in New Mexico in the United States. The company which is running this mine is recruiting miners from Elliot Lake. The salaries paid at this mine are very tempting, just as were the salaries of Elliot Lake five years ago. And if they are going to New Mexico, the families of the miners are being moved at the company's expense.

What a windfall for the unemployed of Elliot Lake! Likewise, what a boobytrap! Just like that laid for the men who went to Elliot Lake when it was opened. Let all those who are lured by the siren promises of this other company heed the fate of those who went to Elliot Lake. You are only climbing out of the frying pan into the fire.

Stay where you are Canadians! Stay in your own country, in your own province, in your own village! You are unemployed? You haven't enough to eat? Then lift your voice and shout out your misery so that the whole world will know of it. The country owes you, at the very least, a decent subsistence. And it will give it to you. It is the dividend which you should demand, loudly and clearly; a dividend which is your due, which will assure you of the necessities of life. For do we lack goods and products here in Canada? You don't have to go to the United States in order to seek food. There is here in Canada, in superabundance, all the food you need, all the clothing you need, all the materials necessary to make you a lodging, and we are not talking of these disgraceful trailers, but of houses worthy of the dignity of citizens of the rich country of Canada? Stay in Canada, Canadians. We shall join our voices to yours, we and all other Canadians who are indignant at the shameful blot on Canada that is Elliot Lake! We shall cry out that the government may deliver its people from the dictatorship of finance!

The criminal negligence of governments

The cynicism of the financiers is absolutely beyond credulity. One could not imagine that their could exist men so heartless. Yet anyone who makes the trip to Elliot Lake will soon have dispelled any illusions they may have about the charitableness of High Finance. High Finance is without heart, cynical to the last degree. But then what are we to say of our governments, of our ministers, who are accomplices of, if not co-beneficiaries with, the financiers.

The government at Ottawa did all in its power to make sure that the Elliot Lake financiers did not lose their millions and that they would draw enormous profits from the mines in the short space of five years. The mining companies repaid all their obligations before the date when repayment was due. They have never paid taxes. They have sold all the uranium they mined to Ottawa at a good price. They even made a profit from the money invested by the federal and provincial governments at the beginning that is to say, they have made profits out of our tax money. Inumerable privileges were granted them by the governments. And they had the forces of the police, federal and provincial, to use against the miners.

And now that the mines must close down because the contracts with the United States will not be renewed, the government at Ottawa is making it possible for the company-owned stores there to go on making money by setting up a prison and by making a training camp for soldiers, 800 of them. And the soldiers and the jailers, paid by our taxes, will make it possible for these stores, with exclusive rights, these stores, property of the financiers, to go on making money!

The facts as we know them today might justify us in believing that Ottawa knew at the very beginning that it would not be possible to supply uranium to the States after 1962 and that the whole organization and the setup which we call Elliot Lake was nothing more than a grand design intended to make millions for the financiers in the short space of five years at the expense of the Canadian taxpayer.

Be that as it may, we cannot but marvel at the great care taken by the government to protect and make fruitful the investments of the financiers. Nothing was left to chance!

But what did the governments do to protect the miners and their interests?

Everything was at the service of finance; nothing was at the service of the families there. Money was exalted and worshipped. Even the human person was sacrificed to it.

The miners ruined their health in the mines; their salaries were pillaged; they lived like prisoners during this time; they were persecuted by the police and harrassed by inhuman laws and regulations; they were laden with debts which many of them will never escape as long as they live; they were chased and hounded and finally driven into the ranks of the unemployed. They were sunk in despair because there was no government, no minister to whom they could turn for help?

Yes, it is with reason that we say that our governments have become the lackeys of the financiers. They don't represent the people in the least. The ministers who made frequent trips to Elliot Lake saw nothing of the misery of Canadian citizens, nothing of the cynicism and cold-bloodedness of the financiers, saw nothing of their own complicity in this heinous plot! And they call themselves, men of state?

This financial dictatorship is a pack of wolves which devours the sheep with the aid of the shepherds which are our so-called governments. In truth our governments are made of men who are either foolish or malicious! In either case it is high time that a radical change was made in the way they conduct themselves.

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Lunacy versus leisure

The concentration of research and development on space flight may lead to a reduction of the effort which can be spared for new weapons. Until now space travel and weapons engineering have advanced together but the point at which one can only be carried at the expense of the other, may already have been reached. (If that is so there may be some incidental goin from encouraging space venture by the Two Great Powers.) Another possibility is that a nation like the United States may find it easier to spend some of its wealth on space than to indulge in social experiments such as for example, the four or even three-day week.... Whether rockets are preferable to leisure is a matter of taste.

(The Guardian as quoted by The Social Crediter).