HfHINtiflOH
Usual Labor Reaction
Capital For Industry
Cabinet Changes
Rumored
j “Flash” Campaign On
Washington—The labor ques
tion is at the top in Washington’s
official problems as this is written.
V great deal hinges on the outcome
of the union situation in the au
tomobile industry. It is not yet
clear whether the Administration
intends to back up the American
federation of Labor, which has
shrewdly taken the best possible
advantage of the provision for col
lective bargaining in the National
Recovery Act, or whether it will
content itself merely with seeing
ro it that organizations of em
ployees are not dominated by their
employers.
The Federation is engaged in a
vigorous attempt to establish the
principle that no union is a good
union unless it is an A.F.L union.
Employees in many industries have
organized their own union. In
every case the Federation has set
up the claim that these "company”
unions do not give the employees
the right to choose their own
spokesmen for bargaining purposes
with theit employers. In some
instances they are doubtless right.
In other instances they have been
able to get a few hotheads, discon
tented and dismissed employees to
set up the claim that tjhey have
been dicriminated against.
General Johnson, ^administrator
of N.R.A., has accepted the com
pany union in one of the most im
portant cases, in which he is satis
fied the employers kept their
hands off and still the workers
voted to organize inside the com
pany. That doesn’t please the
Federation, which wants its own
men to act as employees’ spokes
men.
One result of this situation is a
larger number of strikes, and
larger strikes, than have been
known for many years. Some of
the cooler heads in Washington
regard this strike situation calmly.
They point out that every period
of recovery from past depressions
has been marked by labor strikes
and disturbances.
Any revival in business looks
like a good time for worker to de
mand a bigger slice of the pre
sumptive profits. So, these ex
perienced oldsters say, the recovery
must be under way, else these la
bor leaders would not be making
such a disturbance.
It seems'pretty clear from the
point of view of Washington that
recovery is progressing, not steadi
ly but by fits and (starts. March
has been a better month than Feb
ruary was, so far. The outlook
for April is even better. But
there is nothing clear yet as to how
things will be going in May and
June, and some new doses of in
flationary stimulant, in one form
or another, may be necessary be
fore Summer is well under way,
The Administration has still a
good many medicines in its saddle
bags that haven’t been tried on tht
patient yet.
There seems little doubt that
some form of legislation permit
ting "capital loans” to industry
from R.F.C. funds in part and ir
part by authority to* Federal Re
serve Banks to rediscount long
time paper, running three to five
years, will be enacted before Con
gress adjourns.
What is holding back indus
try is shortage of capital funds
These are usually raised, in norma
times, by new stock and bond is
sues. Under the Securities Act
private capital is afraid to invest
and corporations are afraid to of
fer new securities. Commercial
banks cannot and should not make
long-term loans.
So the Government must come
to the rescue in a new direction
and in addition to providing fot
these long-term loans the expecta
tion is that there will be some
changes in the Securities Act tc
enable the obtaining of capita
funds from the huge reserves oi
private capital which is anxioui
to find investment in industry bui
has been hampered in doing so.
Washington gossip has it that a
least three members of the Gabine
may be replaced before long. Thi
feeling that Secretary Dern of thi
{Continued on Page Four)
The Carolina Watchman
FOUNDED 1832—101ST YEAR SALISBURY, FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH 30, 1934^ VOL 101 NO. 3 5 PRICE 2 CENTS
ItSUE CALL FOR AIR MAIL BIDS
- o . . . . .. - — - - - -
__ V-.
AIWS
BRIEFS
DUKE EXECUTIVE DIES
W. S. Lee, noted electrical en
gineer and Duke Power company
executive, died at his home near
Charlotte, Saturday of a cerebal
hemorrhage. He was 62 years old.
FRAZIER IS SELECTED AS
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Selection of Clifford Frazier as
the keynote speaker at the Re
publican state convention in Char
lotte, Wednesday, April 4, is an
nounced by State Chairman James
S. Duncan. In addition to deliv
ering the keynote address Mr.
Frazier will -.serve as temporary
chairman of the convention.
132nd CHAIR VICTIM
North Carolina’s electric cha'
took its 132nd victim last week.
He was Walter Thaxton, 30-year
old Person county negro who died
for the murder of Butler Gentry,
Person prison camp steward.
Gentry was murdered and robbed
on the night of November 24,
1933. Thaxton, who did not ap
peal to the'Supreme court, was ex
ecuted just four months, lacking
one day, from the day he murder
ed Gentry. He was convicted
January 30, his 30th birthday.
FIND LONG-WRECKED
PLANE
Heavy summer thaws enabled
two mountaineers on muleback to
find the wreckage of a Pan-Am
erican-Grace airliner and the bodies
of nine men who started from
Santiago. Chile, 20 months ago for
a flight across the world’s highest
air route. The mystery of its dis
appearance, which led scores of
searching expeditions by plane and
mule into the Andean mountain
fastness, previously when the men
sighted the plane, ins untrod and
unmapped, was solved nose buried
in the slaggy slope of Cerro Del
Plomo, almost due east of Santi
ago.
FAKE OIL KING TAKES
POISON
C. C. Julian, one-time million
aire oil operator of Oklahoma and
California, fugitive from justice in
the United States, took poison iu a
fashionable Shanghai, China, hotel
Sunday. His body was buried by
his friends.
FOURTEEN MEET DEATH
IN FIRE
Flames swept the building of
the federal transient relief lureau
in Lynchburg Saturday when the
old building caught fire and 14
wanderers taking housing there
lost their lives. James Alexander
Green of Charlotte was among the
number.
GET 150 GALLONS OF
CORN JUICE
Officers raided the home of O.
H. Phifer on the Plaza road ex
tension between Charlotte and
Hickory Grove Saturday, and dis
covered a cleverly concealed stock
of whiskey, 25 cases. The hiding
place was discovered after much
digging with picks and probing
around the barn. Phifer arrang
ed bond for $300.
NEGRO CONFESSES MURDER
On Friday night near Lancas
ter, S. C., Bernard McCullen, em
ployee of a filling station, was
clubbed to death, his clothing sat
urated with gasoline and his body
burned. Suspicion pointed to
Cudjoe Jines. a negro, who was
later arrested and confessed to the
slaying and robbery. Young Mc
Cullen’s remains were sent to
Washington, D. C., his former
home.
WAR IN FRANCE
Sharp fighting flared in pro
vincial France Sunday when poli
tical extremists battled each other
on the streets of Toulon, ignoring
the plea for peace of Premier
Gaston Doumergue. Foreign in
visions is feared as a result of cur
rent internal unrest, but 3 million
veterans stand behind the premiei
to save France from civil war and
foreign invasion.
Sponsors of Jackson Day Dinner I
Pictured above are eight of the
chief sponsors of the Jackson Day
Dinner to be held in Memorial
Auditorium Raleigh Saturday
night. March 31 under auspices of
the North Carolina Young Demo
cratic Clubs. Top, left to right:
Mrs. May Thompson Evans, High
Point, president of the State Young
Democratic Clubs; Thomas A.
Banks and Miss Mable Penny, both
of Raleigh, president and vice
president, respectively, of the
Wake County Young Democratic
Club, host club for the dinner.
Center, left to right: Doyle D.
Alley, Waynesville, vice-president
State Democratic Clubs; D. Ed.
Hudgins, of Greensboro, speaker
for the Young Democrats at the
dinner; T. Kern Carlton, of Salis
bury, treasurer of State Young
Democrats. Bottom, left, John C.
Rodman, Jr., Washington, N. C.,
secretary State organization, and
Mayne Albright of Chapel Hill,
students, representative of the State
organization.
Johnson Advised
Against Blanket
Cut In Hours
Spokesmen for a major division
of coded business advised Hugh S.
Johnson, the recovery administra
tor, against a blanket reduction of
working hours and corresponding
wage increases.
Retailers, wholesaler's and con
umers’ service representatives told
the NRA chieftain that increased
employment could be expected
from further trial and "proper
enforcement” of present codes.
Any "arbitrary edict” imposing
shorter hours and higher wages,
they ^aid, "wcfild be violative of
the spirit of the partnership ar
rangement in which business and
government have engaged.”
If the recovery administration
is not willing to give present codes
further trial the committee sug
gested that division NRA admin
istrators and code authorities should
begin studies of individual indus
tries to determine whether they
could increase employment.
In such studies it was urged that
consideration be given to wages
and hours prevailing in other
similar industries to the amount of
re-employment already attained by
the industry ufcder study, its finan
cial ability to* assume additional
burdens and the availability of ad
ditional workers.
Takes a lot of argument ;c
loosen up money, but morals seem
to do so witRbut any particulai
effort.
Purchase New
Forest Areas
Government Acquires 154.420
Acres as National Forests in
23 States.
The national forest reservation
commission has -approved purchase
of 154,420 acres of land as addi
tions to national forests in 23
states.
The tracts lie within national
forests in the Great Plains area,
Appalachian region, Ozark moun
tains and the Southern Pine re
gion.
The average price per acre was
$2.97. Purchases were made from
the fund of $20,000,000 allocat
ed from Civilian Conservation
corps funds and brought to 3,
233,862 acres the total bought
since last spring.
States in which land was nur
chased included New Hampshire,
Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee,
North Carolina, South Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Miss
issippi, Louisiana and Arkansas.
You may not be able to tell the
difference between the mush
rooms and the toadstools which
you pick up in the fields, but any
way the undertaker will be able
to tell which it was.
Many Tickets Sold i
For Jackson Dinner
Big Democratic Wow-Wow Will
Be Held In Raleigh On
March 31.
Fourteen hundred tickets to the
Jackson day dinner to be held at
Raleigh Memorial auditorium on
March 31 have been sent to the
counties and many of them are
calling for additional tickets, Mrs.
May Evans, head of the Young
Democrats of the state, announces.
Attendance is expected to be 1,500
or more.
A full afternoon and evening is
planned. The executive com
mittee meets in the afternoon, a
rally will be held from 6 to 7
o’clock in the evening, the dinner
proper from 7 to 10 and dancing
from 10 to 12 o’clock.
Senator Bennett Champ Clark,
of Missouri, son of the former
speaker of the' house of represen
tatives, will be the principal
speaker* Others will be former
Governor O. Max Gardner, Sena
tor J. W. Bailey, Governor Ehring
haus, and others.
The occasion, as formerly, is to
be a notable gathering of Demo
crats of the state, young and old,
men and women.
MONEY WAR
World governments were warn
ed Sunday by 16 internationally
famous industrialists, bankers, and
economists that further delay in
monetary stabilization might lead
to a "new wave of currency insta
bility.’’ The experts are members
of the International Chamber of
Commerce, and called upon, all
governments to utilize the present
propitious opportunity to stabilize
their currencies.
.GOOD
MORNING
"My wife is always asking for
money.”
"What does she do with it?”
"I don’t know. I never vive
her any.”
MODERN FARMING
Tory (seeing his first windmill)
—"Say, Uncle Herman, that’s
some electric fan you have out
there cooling the cows.”
FROM WRITER TO
MERCHANT
"Did you know that I have
taken up story writing as a ca
reer?”
"No; sold anything yet?”
"Yes; my watch, my saxophone
and my overcoat.”
KITCHEN COIFFURE
She (making talk): "I hope
you like marcelled hair.”
Young Rural (staying for din
ner) : "I don’t think mother ever
fixed rabbit that way.”
PLAIN INDICATION '
Nurse: "I think he’s regaining
consciousness, doctor. He tried
to blow the foam off his medicine.”
THE QUADRUPED
"Can you crawl on your hands
and knees?”
"Sure I can.”
"Well, don’t do it. It’s baby
ish.” .
ARGUMENT FOR
SOFT MUSIC
She (with newspaper): "Here's
an English writer advocating
merry chimes at funeral.,.”
He: "It would never do in this
country.”
She: "Why not?”
He: "We’d feel we verr.’t do
ng right by our knell.”
UNDRESS TO PLAY
Sandy: "Pat, is it the thing to
be takin’ off your coat to play
the big drum in public?’'
Pht: "Sure, it’ts not half so
bad as takin’ off yer pants to play
the bagpipes.”
THEN AND NOW
Grace: "To think you used to
catch me in your arms every
night.”
Jack: "Yds, dear, and now to
think I catch you in my pockets
every morning.”
LOST NERVES
Police Officer (to man sitting
on doorstep at 3 a. m.): "What’s
the matter sir? Lost vour key?”
"No, sir, lost my ne ve!”
FAIR WARNING
"Is there any"danger!” a^led the
old bachelor "in dying whiskers
black?”
"Well,” replied the barber "Jake
Smith did it and married a widow
with six kids.”
THROUGH
"What’s happened to old Jones?
I have not seen him for some time.”
"Oh. He went on a govern
ment mission to get inside infor
mation of cannibal life in the Pa
cific, and I think he must have
got it.”
MEANING ONE THING
"Do you really think times have
changed, my dear?’’ said a young
woman to her grandmother.
"I think they have”, said the old
lady. "When a husband returns
home from office on the V: 1 % now
and discovers his wife sewing on a
tiny garment, it means only one
thitig—she’s making a new even
ing dress.”
SHALL HAVE THE BEST
A lady walked u» to a flower
seller in London and asked for a
shilling’s worth of blossoms. Af
ter the purchae the lady inquired:
"Will you be here next Wednes
day, as I shall want some flower'
for my daughter. She’s coming or
that day.”
"She shall have the best in th<
market, ma’am”, the woman ans
wered. "What is she in for?”
Air Lines Will
Get Contracts
In Two Months
Old Companies Must Reorganize
To Be Eligible.
TEMPORARY CONTRACTS
Congress to Have Ample Time to
Pass New Air Mail Legis
lation.
Postmaster General Farley has
announced plans for returning the
air mail to private hands, and in
effect ordered to complete reor
ganization of every major aviation
transportation company.
He imposed a blacklist, requir
ing that any company which
wants to bid for mail contracts
must discharge any responsible of
ficial guilty of collusion or fraud
in connection with the so-called
"spoils confe^jnce” of 1930. But
he softened this by saying that
representatives of aviation com
panies who -were summoned to the
conference could not be held
blameworthy, and made provisions
for the submission of briefs by re
organized companies to prove their
eligibility to bid on new contracts.
The administration hopes to end
army transportation of air mail
within two months, granting tem
porary contracts to be superceded
by longer agreements when a per
manent air mail bill is passed by
congress.
There was no suggestion that the
old companies with the old offir
cials could do business privately
if they desired. Rut it is gener
ally recognized that mail contracts
are a necessity for most air lines if
they are to maintain profitable
passenger service. Most observers
felt that Farley’s order amounted
by inference to a command to the
airlines to meet the administra
tion’s requirements or go out of
business.
Advertisements for bids on the
temporary contracts will be ready
this week and will call for bids
within 15 days. Successful bid
ders must start operations within
30 days after acceptance.
The temporary air mail plan is
designed to end the army air mail
(experiment as soon as possible,
without requiring congress to rush
through a permanent air mail bill
which might have serious defects.
Ample time for consideration of
provisions of a permanent bill is
now assured the congressional
committees, which already hdfve
heard much conflicting testimony
on ways and means of handling
mail contracts.
I _
President Ends The
Auto Strike Threat
President Roosevelt and Recov
ery Administrator Hugh S. John
son brought peace to the automo
bile industry with a compromise
settlement under which a board
representing the president vwil!
pass on all questions of employe
representation, discharge and discri
mination.
The employer, under the agree
ment, affirm their obligation to
bargain collectively with "freely
chosen representatives of groups,
and not to discriminate in ary way
against an employee on grounds of
his union labor affliations.”
The troublesome question of
whether union members, in order
to be entitled to representation by
a union officer, must make known
their identity to the employer is
taken care of by a roundabout
compromise.
The workers lost their plea for
a new election under national la
bor board auspices to determine
who properly is entitled to repre
sent them.
AUTO TAGS REDUCED
A 25 per cent reduction in the
price of auto tags will become ef
fective Saturday, March 31, R. E.
Ramsey, manager of the local
branch of the Carolina Motor club,
announces.