THE CHARLOTTE HERALD
(Founded January, 1917.)
Official Organ of The North Carolina State Federa
tion of Labor, The Charlotte Central
Labor Union and Affiliated Crafts
And
The North Carolina Farmers’ Union.
Published Weekly Sy The Herald Publishing
Company of Charlotte
At 82 South College Street, Charlotte, N. C.
Telephone 4126 Postoffice Box US'
JAMES F. BARRETT....Editor
TOM P. JIMISON_.Contributing Editor
DR. H. Q. ALEXANDER___Farm Editor
Six Months_$1.00 One Year-$2.00
Always b ousting for a better community,
stronger men, protected womanhood and unlimited
opportunities for childhood.
Wfe are endeavoring to promote a closer affilia
tion and a more effective co-operation between
producers and consumers for the common good of
all.
■ Communications on any and all subjects of
general interest solicited. No communications,
however, containing a personal atatck on any
m&n or woman will be published. Words and acts
of public men and women may be as severely
criticised as the writer may desire, but the line
is drawn on personal attacks.
Entered as second-class matter at the Postoffice
in Charlotte, N. C., under Act of Congress, March
8, 1879.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1923
RIGHT, BOY, ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.
In last Sunday’s Charlotte News there was a
double column head on the front page reading
lik^ this:
“TEXTILE MANUFACTURE CLOUDED WITH
GLOOM AND UNCERTAINTY.”
Then over on another page in the same issue
appeared this heading:
“MILL STOCKS ARE STRONGER. 25 MILLS
SHOW NET ADVANCE OF 24 POINTS DURING
THE WEEK.”
The article under the first heading was a state
ment from Secretary Hunter Marshall, Jr. That
under the second heading was a dispatch from
Gastonia.
One or the other statement is right. And it
is equally certain that the other statement is
wrong.
If the textile manufacturing business is cloud
ed with gloom and uncertainly, it stands to reason,
then, that mill stocks are not advancing in price.
Hard-headed business men of Piedmont Carolina
are not\buying stocks, at an advanced price, in
an industry mat is clouded with gloom and un
certainty.
No doubt both authors of the statements pub
lished in The Sunday News are confident they
have the situation well ahalyzed, yet both cannot
be right. One is optimistic; the other pessimistic.
Mr. Marshall was especially pessimistic in his
statement on the future condition cf the industry.
He s£w one bright light in the situation, however,
and that was the thorough understanding and co
operation of the textile workers. They’re fine,
Mt. Marshall says, in that they ask not the un
reasonable of their employers.
Mr. Marshall goes further, and comments on
the fact that “the workers and the employers are
of the "same blood,” etc. That may be true, but
if it is this same blood is not receiving the same
kind of nutrition.
Tf Mr. Marshall will go with this writer, and
-talk with some of these workers in whose veins
(he same blood flows as that which flows through
the Veins of the employers, and advise them how
to best live on $11 a week he will be doing the
workers a great favor.
THE BROCKMANNS.
About one year ago the city was suffering from
the big fire that occurred on South Tryon street.
At that time The Herald predicted that upon the
ruins there would appear more magnificent build
ings. This prediction has proven true. Among
the business houses that suffered from that fire
was Brockman’s Book Store. Business was going
nicely for the three Brockmann boys. There are
three of them, young, energetic and full of life.
They knew not the extent of their own capabili
ties, for the test had never been put upon them.
The fire came, and they looked upon the
pile of ashes, the wreck, ruin and havoc wrought
by fire. No moments were spent in idle regret.
No troubled furrows were noticeable upon the
brows of these boys. They simply went to work,
and youth and energy had full play.
This week the people of Charlotte are paying
tribute to the worth of these three young men.
A handsome new building now stands upon the
rjiins of a year ago. The building is stocked, com
pletely, and is many times larger than the stock
carried before the fire.
There is a great lesson in this for all people.
Let not misfortune dampen one’s enthusiasm.
What the Brockmann’s have done, any one can do,
providing they have the grit, the determination,
the willingness to work, that the Brockmanns
have.
Israel Zangwill, coming to America tells us all
about everything, says we have here a culgar
co i i try where everything is anything but what
it .should be. Oh, well, Israel. If that’s the way
you feel, we’re sorry you came and don’t stub
your toe on the gang plank. Last winter we had
shoals of European lecturers and .writers and
highbrows of Various kinds coming over to tell
us their secrets, at so much per tell. This year’s
tide has already set in and another flood seems
to be on the way. It we don’t entirely succeed
in putting ourselves en rapport with the thoughts
of our visitors, of course we will find it agreeable
to shell out the price of admission tickets—and
perhaps that’s what they’re here for anyway.
Who knows?
Congress i* in session. The welkin rings. The
Congressional Record, comes but as of yore. Pal
aver proceeds piously. It is all interesting. One
thing that remains to be seen, as always, is wheth
er "'’’'rressmen will talk and act now in accord
ant ’ with their proclamations of campaign days.
Immigration will be one of the first big issues to
the front. Cheap and foolish employers want
immigration. Congress may try tricks with immi
gration, seeking to tack impossible provisions onto
the measure*. It will .be a very good thing for
the American people to keep in close touch with
their congressmen during this session, writing
personal letters in clear, unmstakable language.
The Revolutionary Interna*
tionalism of the British
Labor Party.
BY WILLIAM ENGLISH WALL1N£
JpARTIAL and incomplete reports' did not
reveal the full significance of what took
place last suramer.dt the International So
cialist Congress at Hamburg.
The British Socialist-and-Labor Party in
telectuals and revolutionary pacifists are
driving the whole European labor movement
to the Left. Kautsky, speaking for the Ger
man Socialists, reminded to the British (in
their own magazine) that hitherto the In
ternational had always "recognized the
right of every nation to self-determination”
and "its right to defend itself aganst vio
lence.” But the British Party first went on
record in its own Congress jfor the interna
tional strike against “any war entered into
by any government, whatever the oseten
sible object of the war”—and then, at Ham
burg, swung the whole International to its
view.
The foundation of the new Socialist and
Labor International, reorganized at Ham
burg last May and officered and led by the
British, were laid to the International pa
cifist congress held at .the Hague in Decem
ber, 1922, under the auspices of the Inter
national Federation of Trade Uniofis—the
Socialists’ "economic International/’ This
Congress included also the political Socialist
and Labor Parties, the revolutionary non
Socialist pacifists, and even representatives
of the Soviets, camouflaged as trade union
ists.
The Hague Congress, led by the British
intellectuals, endorsed the proposed inter
national insurrection known as the inter
national general strike, as it had already
been organized by the International Feder.
aiton of Trade Unions.- Mild criticisms of
fered by a few British Trade Union leaders
like Henderson and the bitter protests of
Jouhaux, the French labor union leader, and
of Vandervelde of Belgium against using the
insurrection' strke against defensive war
was brushed aside.
The very' invitations to the reorganized
Socialist and Labor International that fol
lowed six months later at Hamburg were
based upon the acceptance of this resolu
tion of “The Hague World Paece Confer
ence”—'—so that all dscussion of the revolu
tionary, foundation of this International was
outlawed and is outlawed from now on!
From the setting up of an international
body to execute these plans for revolution
against all governments, it was but a short
step for Hamburg to endow the Socialist and
Labor International with an authority higher
than that of any government and to declare
that “IN CONFLICTS BETWEEN NA
TIONS THE INTERNATIONAL SHALL BE
RECOGNIZED AS THE HIHGHEST AU
THORITY” and that every one of its reso
lutions accepted as a self-imposed limita
tion on the autonomy of affiliated organiza
tions s”
The British intellectuals have thus achiev
ed more for revolutionary internationalism
in the first year of their preponderance'
than the German Left Wing—restrained
by the far greater power of the labor unions
in the German government—had been able
to achieve in half a century! What they
have done is not only to endorse an inter
national revolution under certain contingen
cies, but to lay dowli ,the foundations of an
international revolutionary supe^r-State.
WHAT IF IT WERE YOUR WIFE?
Those people who are rejoicing over the coming
into North Carolina of the New England manu
facturers would do well to take the matter home
with them, and study this thing from a close, per
sonal viewpoint.
The chief reason given for the South’s advan
tage over New England in textile manufacturing,
is that of “restrictive legislation” in New Eng
land. ,
What is that “Restrictive legislation?”
It is the 48-hour week for the women and child
ren in the textile industry.
Then the South’s great advantage over New
England is that the South has no “restrictive leg
islation” like the 48-hour week for women and
children!
, In other words, it is because women and child
ren in this Southland of ours can be worked just
any old number of hours that gives the South an
“advantage” over the New England states!
What an advantage to boast about! Such a
source of pride—Great God of the Universe!
Is the South to boast of its “advantages” over
New England, simply because the mothers of the
South and their offspring can be worked longer
hours per week than the New England states will
allow their women and children to work?
Ah, you who boast about this thing—take it
home with you. Suppose it were YOUR wife, or
YOUR mother, in the textile industry, and it was
HER labor, the fact that SHE could be worked 55
and 60 hours each week, and longer, and you
should read about the South’s “advantages” Over
New England1, and that “advantage” existed be
cause YOUR mother or YOUR wife did not have
the protection of the “restrictive” legislation that
protects the women of New England, would YOU
enjoy reading about these “advantages?” \
Let capital come to North Carolina—all that
will come. But let’s tell the truth about the mat
ter. Let’s be honest with ourselves and with the
world. Let’s state plainly that there is no 48
hour law in North Carolina for the women and
children in the industries, and that there’ll me ver
be one just so long as the cotton mill owners can
keep their own stockholders and their ownpaid
lawyers in the legislature, as they have done in
the past. Let’s say to the New England manu
facturers: “Come on. Sell out up there, where
you are hounded With “restrictive laws” that keep
you from working the women and children over
48 hours a week. Come on down here, where you
can work our women and children 55 to 60 hours
a week, and then run right through the dinner
hour, too, and make even more than 60 hours a
week, if you want to. Come on, you’re safe, for
we’re not going to have that old 48-hour law, for
we have our own stock-holders and our own paid
attorneys in the legislature, and there is no
danger of “restrictive legislation” being enacted
here!”
0 Lord God of Justice and Right, arouse our
people to a sense of their duty to the women
and children in our industries. God forbid that
our leading newspapers should any longer camou
flage this question.
X '
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
^ .
WONDERFUL RECORD OF BROTHERHOOD OF
LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN AND ENGINEERS.
Editor, The Herald:
On Sunday, December 2nd, meetings were held
throughout the United States and Canada cele
brating the fiftieth anniversary of the founding
of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and
Enginemen. On December 1, 1873, eleven loco
motive firemen .'in''the Service ofthe Erie Railroad
met in Port Jervis,' N!eV York) and under the ldatf-?
ership of Joshua; A. Leaeh, started this greatfor
ganization on its career of service to humanity.
The Brotherhood now has a membership of
118,000, who are enrolled under the banner of
“Protection, Charity, Sobriety, and Industry,” the
motto of the organization since its beginning.
Through , the beneficiary department therfe has
been paid in death and disability claims to the
members and their dependents more than thirty
million dollars. ' The order has in force $150,
000,000 in insurance, and its total assets are $11,
438,037.78. In recent years there has been es
tablished a Pension, Accident Indemnity, and
Funeral Benefit departments to further aid the
membership.
To the locomotive firemen and engine hostlers
this great institution has meant reduction of work
ing hours, increase of wages, the dignifying of
their toil, and improved conditions of health and
home. It has steadfastly advocated a saving wage,
because a saving wage means a comfortable home,
educated children, self-respect and good citizen
Through ift National Legislative Department,j
in conjunction with other organizations of labor,
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and En
ginemen, hasj advocated legislation of benefit to
all the people. An investigation of such legisla
tion will show an unselfish purpose in view. It
will show that in practically all instances public
safety, education and health are the controlling
idea and purpose of their legislative- measures.' AH
bits considered by congress to improve health con
ditions and the extension of educational- oppor
tunities in the public free schools have had their
health support. The Federal Safety Appliance
Law, that places air brakes and all other safety
appliance on railroad trains, was obtained by these
organizations after ten years of struggle and sac.
rifice. Its approval is said to haVe been the last
official act of President Harrison. *
In Texas these organizations, through their
state legislative departments, have sponsored many
laws that merit commendation by the general pub
lic. They championed the first Child Labor Law
of Texas, enacted in 1903, and introduced by
Representative Callan, a union pointer. Among
those measures receiving their effective support
are: Compulsory School Attendance Law; Free
Text Book Law; Nine Fifty-four Hour Law for
the protection of women workers; Law Requiring
Electric Headlights on Locomotives'; Law requir
ing two outlets to mines,; Health, Safety and Com
fort Law for female employes; LaVtf requiring rail
roads to maintain signal lights oil all main line
switches at night, and provide derail switches on
all main line sidings!; Law creating the State De
partment of Labor; Law to protect workmen on
high buildings from falling great; distances and
numercfus others of like character - '
Through the kindness of the editbr of this pub
lication the above facts are givfefilpublicity-as a
tribute to the thousands- o$ patriotic' men and
women who belong to these 'otgafiizations, and
who have performed these unselfish andvrighteous
deeds. , >, j -
Respectfully,' '
JOSEPH A; MYERS, :
Commissioner of Labor of Texas.
Austin, Texas. 1
FROM PENS OF OTHERS
DON’T WORRY ABO|UT NEW PARTIES.
„ ‘ ' (Labor.) -i« . *
A great many well-meaning men and women
are busily engaged formulating plans for new
political parties. We always have manifestations
of that kind about twelve months in advance of
a presidential contest. Some of the movements
die before their names can be inscribed on the
ballots in November. Others are more fortunate,
but few have any importance > bearing on presi
dential elections. i
As a rule, the interests Which make a business
of controlling government encourage these move
ments, because they have a tendency to divide
the opposition. It is significant, however, that
these same interests leave no stone unturned to
place their favorite candidates on the ticket of
the major parties.. THEY WANT RESULTS, and
they do Hot permit sentiment to sway their judg
ment. LABOR feels that the workers can very
well afford, in this instance, to follow the tactics
of the opposition. »
The workers should not “belong” to any politi
cal party. They should judge all parties and all
candidates by the principles they advocate and the
records they have made.
Instead of wasting time organizing new parties
they should bestir themselves and endeavor to
control the parties already in existence.
As LABOR has repeatedly pointed out, the
primary is the istrument through which this re
sult can be achieved. The American workers are
fortunate in having that great weapon of democ
racy. ...
In other countries political parties are the pri
vate possessions of comparatively limited groups.
The state does not attempt to interfere in their
control. £
THIS IS THE ONLY COUNTRY WHERE
LAWS HAVE BEEN ENACTED GIVING THE
VOTERS THE RIGHT TO NAME THE. CANDI
DATES OF ALL PARTIES. Naturally, the poli
ticans do not like the system, but that is only
another reason why the people, and especially the
workers, should take advantage of it. a
It may l?e that in 1924 both old parties will se
lect reactionaries as their standard bearers. IN,
THAT EVENT A GREAT NEW PARTY WILL
BE ORGANIZED OVER NIGHT. J, ,r .
In the judgment of LABOR, however this iss,
not the time to organize that party. The workers
should concentrate their efforts on plans to put
forward candidates on ope, or both, of the old
party tickets in all states which have genuine pri
mary laws. If they fail in the primaries they will
have plenty of time to consider their party ac
tion.
That these suggestions are sound was amply
demonstrated in last fall’s political contest, when
the workers achieved unprecedented successes by
ignoring partisan appeals and voting for progress
ives without regard to party affiliations.
The tactics which won in 1922 will be equally
successful in 1924 if the workers will only, insist
that they, “belong” to no party, but‘ that they are
prepared to affcist.in making all parties;:“belong”
to the people."1
The Case of Craig; little Autocrats Are Fjo More
American Than A Big Autocrat on a Throne
HARLES CRAIG, New York City
:'m'- f1" ^comptroller/ Was sentenced to sixty
’i T&Sys in jail for contempt of court#
'"Ci’airhadsaid'thingsthatthe'judge
'■*.* eortstfued as contempt. ’The' supreme
• court has upheld the conviction.
„ President CbblMge may ‘ pardon Craig,
but that doesn’t wipe out what the courts
/ A- have dailfiUiv
Craif is a high official with many friends
and these friends are making an issue of
V- the case. Many wage earners have been
less fortunate. But if contempt of court
can be walloped, let it not matter who
does the walloping.
Contempt, in most cases, is what a
judge calls any remark that he doesn’t
like. In contempt cases the judge pro
ceeds to call before him the accused per
son, to try him forthwith and to pro
nounce sentence.
There is nothing like it. The judge is
the complainant, the prosecutor, the jury
and the judge. He is the Whole works.
The judge who sentenced Craig might
call'the publication of these words con
tempt. It has been done. But there is in
America a freedom of speech and of the
press that somehow has got to be upheld.
The Craig case has kicked up resent
ment in high circles. - It ought to be re
sefated. We have no czars m America
and we can't afford to have judges-who
act like czare and do the things that czars
do—and for Which czars have been
thrown in the discard.
A pardon for Craig will help Craig and
it will to some extent rebuke the cpurt.
But what w.e need is a thorough revision
of the whole law,’ governing contempt.
We need something that Will put little
judges in their proper places, that will
prevent the upgrowth of little tyrants,
that wjill know the real difference between
America and Russia.
1
VICTORY FOR
PRINTERS HERE
INpIANAPOLIS, Ind., Dec. 5.—
Generally . prosperous conditions in
the printing industry throughout the
United Statse and Canada have con
tributed to a reduction in the num
ber of union printers drawing strike
benefits in the strike for the 44-hour
working week in commercial printing
shops, according to a statement is
sued by Charles P. Howard, acting
president of the International Typo
graphical Union.
The strike has been proceeding for
No Need To Fuss
About It
If you bought a car that had
been used, and it was pur
chased from some one who had
not told you the whole truth
about it, and the thing will not
run for love nor money nor
with gasolene or kerosene,
there’s nothing to gain by los
ing your temper and fussing
about it.
WE TELL YOU ,
THE TRUTH;*
THE WHOLE TRUTH,
AND NOTHING BUT
THE TRUTH—
About the used cars we sell
you. We do this for two
reasons: .
FIRST—We like to be hon
est. -
\ SECOND—When we sell a
car that has been used, we al
ways hope to sell that same
person a new car some day,
and if we fool him about the
used car, we have little chance
of ever selling him a new car
—therefore we TELL THE
FACTS about used cars.
We have some genuine bar
gains in used cars, and we’ll
sell them on *very easy pay
ments.
Dail-0 verland Co.
436 W. Trade Phone 2596
GET YOUR MATTRESSES
AND BOX SPRINGS
RENOVATED
Made over like new. Our work and
service is first class in every particu
lar.
J. T. A. LAWING’S MATTRESS
FACTORY * r
Charlotte, N. C.
PHONE 1S88-J
thirty months and 1,845 members
drew benefits in the last month, a
decrease of 111 from the preceding
month. Shops located in . 66 cities
are still affected by,the strike. The
sum of $16,228,922.81. has been col
lected for purposes of the strike since
M,ay 20, 1921. .
‘‘In the past month strike rolls
have been discbntinued in a number
of jurisdictions by order of the ex
ecutive council,” the union statement
said. “It must be recognized that
no organization has ever attempted
the payment of such high benefits
for such a long period. Generally
speaking business conditions are good
and those removed from the strike
rolls should have but little difficulty
in finding employment in the indus
try. In all but a few jurisdictions
there is a smaller number of mem
bers unemployed than is usually the
case.”
TAKING HIS TIME.
Boy—“That was a very rude man,
father, to push you from the ’bus.
He ought to be punished. Will God
punish him?”
Father—“He is already punished,
ny son, for I have his watch'!”—
From “What the Butler Winked At.”
(T. Werner Laurie).
*, 'V f i
How the women do applaud the
ne’er-do-well stage hero who gives
his wife* a carnation instead of i pay
envelope! Did you ever try it?
WHY GO HUNGRY?
Regular Dinner
Like Mother Used
To Cook
ONLY 40 CENTS
Long’s Cafe
12 South College St.
AI1 Signs Point To—
WENTZ
When folks want signs
painted. Somehow one just
naturally thinks of Wentz *
when they think of a Sign.
WENTZ SIGNS
216 East Fifth St.
You didn't get off to that Hunt on Thanksgiving, eh ? Well
THE HUNTING SEASON
IS STILL ON
—and we still have some guns and
shells, and you still have that long.
ing for a day in the fields
and woods, and you
won't be much account
until you satisfy that
longing,. so .borne on down
here and get the Where
with-all for hunting.
w
CLARK-WIGGINS HARDWARE CO.
“If It’, Hardware, We Have.It”
235 South Tryon St. Charlotte, N. C.
Seaboard
Air Line
Railway
Announces
Low Round-Trip Winter Tourist Rates
From All Principal Stations to Winter
Resorts in . «
FLORIDA
■ " ■- r ■ ■ • ■■■ ■ ■■ i
Tickets on sale from October to April with liberal
stop-over privileges at intermediate stations in each
direction, carrying final return limit June 15th, i924.
Fast through trains With convenient Pullman Sleeping
Car service during Winter tourish seaqpn.
Forufurther information call on Ticket Agents, or
address
Mh
W. L. Morris E. WvdLong
General Passenger Agent; Division Passenger Agent
.tfqrfolk, Ya. , . v CharMte, N. C.
■ ; ' : ■ ' . • ■