Newspapers / The Charlotte Herald (Charlotte, … / Jan. 4, 1924, edition 1 / Page 2
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JOINT COUNCIL MEETING HEARS REPORTS. OF I. W. W. ACTIVlflES : OV Ij^fi ' ;■£ tfi r a; vf (Continued from Page One.) ploying one hundred per cent native born Carolinians in their mills. Reports were made that the vari ous locals are contributing funds to the unions of Germany, in response 1)6 the call from the executive coun cil of the American Federation of Labor. It was reported by the A. F. of L. that the unions of Germany have just about been swept out of existence by the financial condition of that country, and an appeal was made for support. It is being given from locals throughout North Amer ica. Siappmg It to the Lexington Workers Lexington made an interesting re port, showing just how organization helps, and just how the employers will take'advantage of their workers when they are not organized. Years ago tfie mills always started up be fore work time, ran throughout the noon hour, and) for some time after quitting time in the evening. When Lexington was organized, this prac tice was stopped, because the work ers wjould not stand for it. Well, the unions have gone down there, dread fully, so a few weeks ago some of the mills started up before work time. They waited a day or so to see if there was to be any kick. There was none, because there was no organization in those mills. Then the mill began running through the noon hour. No kick. Then they started running right , on after quitting time. /* +■ f 1N0 KICK. Soane of the weavers thought it o. k. for they argued that inasmuch as they worked by the piece, their incomes would be greater. But when no objection was raised by the work ers1 to the running of the mills be fore work time, during noon hour and after quitting time, the employers knew they had the workers by the strange hold, and made a reduction of two cents on "the cut bf cloth, leaving the workers with less wages than they received, although making much more cloth for the mills. Four Sheriffs and One Preacher. One member of the North Char lotte local reporting for that section, stated that North Charlotte had four deputy sheriffs and one awful min ister to contend with. Between the civil officers, special officers, mill of ficers and the celestial policemen, this delegate said North Charlotte had the hardest battle of any local in the south. But they’re sticking, this representative said, although the workers are afraid to be seen about the hall. Dues are being paid on the sly, and several meetings have been held ‘‘down town,” at places where the special officers could' not report those attending. - V Starting Up at Midnight. Some of the mills have resumed an old praceice that was absolutely abandoned so long as the union was ‘ strong, and that is the starting up of the mills at midnight on Sunday .nights. Now several mills are send ing around the homes of the work er,, waking them up at 11 o’clock ** Sunday nights, and starting the mills -as^wi;as4he Sunday is declared over by the ‘strike of the clock. Consider able resentment was registered against the resumption of this prac tice. Woman Could Get Job But For -' Husband. *. One of the delegates reported that his wife had been ihformed gy the mill official that if her husband-would leave that community, she could have work in the mill. In other words, if the wife would send her husband and father of her children away, then \ she could have the great privilege of working in that mill. The fact that the man at the head of this mill is a Sunday School superintendent made this proposition sound all the more cold-blooded, savage and barbarous. This man in /question had worked almost all his life for the owner of the mill in ..question, had given his life to that man, and now that mil owners* officials wanted this worker to leave his family and if he would do that, why then the wife and moth er could work in that mill! Good Reports. But all reports were not so black. There were reports of mill owners and officials who are working with and for their employes, and it is in those mills that the industry is run ning full time, the people appearing interested in their work, and the ! communities prospering. It was said by some of the delegates that the time is rapidly approaching when the textile workers will be allowed a Voice in their working and living conditions, their wages and their hours of labor. Great applause greet ed the sepQrts of the delegates whose employers are dealing with the work ers in a fair and square manner, i A Million Dollar*. < “This. is a mfflion dollar corpora (tion, brothers and sisters,” one del ©gate said in the closing moments of the meeting. “The textile union is ^ worth at least a million dollars in cold cash to the textile workers of the Carolinas. By that I mean that we are receiving a million dollars a year more than we would be receiv ing if there were no organization. _ We could easily be getting another million If we were fifty per cent or ganized/and two millions a year more if we were 85 per cent organized. Help* Even the Unorganized.' Continuing, this speaker said, “Em ! ployers who fear the organization of their workers, give them considera tions that the workers would never ( receive were it not for the organiza tion, and the employers' fear of it. Whether there is a textile union in your commtmity or not, let it be un derstood that the union is a valuable asset tJo you. Whatever you may have received in the way of consid eration has been the direct result of the influence of the textile union.” Other delegates in support of this view told of how the employers had been forced, through the activties of organized labor, to relinquish their hold upon the childhood of the Car olinas; how the little children had to f he literally torn from the grasp of I the mill owners, and how hours of - labor , had been reduced in spite of t strenuous efforts on the part of the f manufacturers to keep the hours as t long each week as possible. 1 in the facevof this proof, however, it was stated, there are some workers yet who believe they can get qlong without the textile union. It was said that some workers will allow a preacher who is in the employ and on the flkyroll of the manufacturer, turn the workers against the union, while others will fall for that wel fare slush and hot dog bait, and cuss the union for all that’s in them. It was said, however, that this brand of blue bellies will soon answer the call of the ,6reat beyond, and will be laid awiay where their bones will bleach in the red clay, and no longer will be here to stand-in the way of the advancement of a great mass of people. McNally and Lockey. Tom McNally, printer, and tC. ,P. Lockey, organizer for the Firemen and Oilers, made splendid addresses, and greatly encouraged the delegates present. Both speakers pointed oUt the futility of employers to fight off the organization of the workers. That has been tried for years and years, and each year sees the labor move ment grew stronger and finer, more effective and more influential. A Cowardly Son of a Gun. President James F.'Barrett read a letter he had received from some bird who was afraid to sign'his name to the document. The letter was signed “Textile Wprker,” and was in the nature!of comments on a letter of invitation that the Council had sent to the porkers of North Char lotte to attend he Council meeing. It was pointed out that the letter was written, evidenly, by a mill official of North Charlotte, or one of the bootlicks of that section. The writer of the anonymous letert was roundly cussed, and if he has any manhood at all in him he’ll whip Jim Barrett or take a licking, for it is evident that some one at the meeting was sent there to report on the proceed ings and very naturally told the cow ard who wrote the letter just what was said about him. Helped the*'Union, However. There was a great lesson in the letter, h'owever, for it was pointed out by the delegates just how far some of the employers will go to keep their workers from organizing. It is a foregone conclusion and an in disputable fact that any employer who objects to his workers^ joining their own organization is actuated solely by the desire to keep the workers entirely subject to his own mind and orders. In other words, he wants to rule their lives, and he doesn’t \qpnt the workers to have any voice at all in their living or wprking conditions, wages or hours of labor. Therefore, it was shown, the employer who opposes the organ ization of his workers will kill, fig urately speaking, anything or any body in order to remain even as the slave-owners of olden times—abso lute lord and master over men. The Council went on record as warning the workers to pay no attention to any reports that are put in circula tion by the employers and their boot lickers about those who are working their lives away for the advancement of the men, women and children of the textile industry. So the blue bellied devil who wrote the letter to Barrett really helped the cause he was trying to tear down. Best Meeting Yet. .;The Meeting was pronounced one of the most important and far-reach ing ever held by the workers of the ■South. After the open meeting in North Charlotte, the officials of the various locals met “down town” where there was no danger of spies, and planned for the opening of the organization campaign, which will soon be announced by the Interna tional officers. Brother Jones of ISfooresville opened the meeting wjith prayer,i ai|d Brother Brown of Concord, asked God’s blessing and guidance at the close of the meeting. The next meeting will be held on the last Saturday afternoon in Jan uary in Huntersville. It is certain, almost, that M!rs. Conboy will be at that meeting. HOLb PRISONERS AS WAR HOSTAGES An admission that Vurlen Orr and Luther Wise, railway shopmen sen tenced to serve from seven to 10 years in the state penitentiary of Arkansas, are held as “hostages of war” in the strike on the Missouri and North Arkansas railroad is seen by the American Civil Liberties Ujnion in a telegram just received from Governor Thomas C.- McCrae. The message is an answer to an ap peal for the release of the two strik ers made before Christmassy a com mittee of prominent liberals on be half of the Civil Liberties Union. The governor denies the charge by the Union that Orr and Wise, in pleading guilty last January while the court house at—Harrison, Ark., was surrounded by the mob which had lynched E. C. Gregor, did so “under duress.” “The sworn testimony of the trial judge taken by the legislative com mittee which is nowi in my posses sion,” he wires, “shows that the pleas iof guilty of Orr and Wise were not under duress. I believe the state ment of the judge, and most respect fully decline to extend qlemency un less the pending negotiations for the settlement of the strike and all con trovrsies growing out-of it are ami cably settled by the contending sides.” Commenting on this message, Prof. Harry F. Ward, chairman of the Civil Liberties Union, stated that from information obtained by inves tigators, it is obvious that the two men “had a choice between safety in prison or lynching at the hands of a mob which was bent on violence.” The refusal to release the men be cause the strike was not settled, he added, “looks like a case of bolding hostages pf war. It is an amazing stand for the governor of a state to take.” It is understood that settlement has been readied by the railroad and and the shopmen unions, and that Orr and Wise will soon be at lib erty, „ WARNS LABOR AND FARMERS TO BEWARE LYING PROPAGANDISTS . • -{ • > ^ By tirtcfiKrtloaal Labor Hows Sorvieo. WASHINGTON, Jan. 2—Warning against the propaganda which repre sents the interests of the fanners and the industrial workers as diamentri cally opposed was sounded in the House by Representative George Huddleston of Alabama,Mn a speech flaying the propagandists, and. Expos ing the unseundness of their “ar guments.” v Mr. Huddleston declared that there was a widespread propaganda at work, designed to keep farmers and industrial workers from cooperating. “Labor is told,” he*said, “that the high cost of food and clothing is due to high prices on the farm. The farm er is told that the high cost of the aritqles which he buys is due to high wages exacted by the factory worker. It is boldly stated to both that the interests of farmers and labor cannot be reconciled, that they cannot act together. The propaganda even goes to the extreme of asserting that the hardships wihich each of the groups suffers are due to the other group.” Weird Tales /of Labor’s Earnings. Pointing out that much of the pro paganda aimed at farmers and labor ers is fallacious -and urging co-oper ation between the two groups of workers, Mr. Huddleston said: “In furtherance of'the propagan da, the farmer is told weird tales as to the earnings of labor. It is re counted what a great quantity of the products of the farm a day’s wages ■will buy. If the farmer goes to buy a pair of shofs or an agricultural instrument, the high price demended will be charged to extravagant wages exacted by labor for its production. “On the other hand, the city labor er is told that the high cost of food is due to profiteering by the farmer, that the high price of clothing is caused by the exactions of the pro ducers of cotton and wool, that shoes are expensive because hides are high.. Indeed, by the same misrepresenta tions are producers of different kinds of farm products set agains te^ch other and prejudice invoked between members of different mechanical crafts. “Upon no other common subject is there so much misinformation afloat S'o industrious are the peddlers of the propaganda that the very air is saturated with false impressions as to the return which producers and workers of all kinds receive for their labor. The farmer has little idea of the fearful economic strain to wnicn industrial workers everywhere are subjected. The latter frequently as pire to go to the farm. They i know little of the hard and stinted lives of those who till the soil. The industrial worker does not know that the farm er was successfully deflated in 1920, while the farmer does not yet realize that labor resisted such deflation with 'only partial success and at a tremen dous cost and sacrifice, and that labor's adversaries are yet deep in their plans for the destruction of its organizations and its complete sub jection. Rule by Sowing Strife. "The source of inspiration for the effort to prevent cooperation between farmers and wage earners is obvious. Small groups ire enjoying the chief benefits of our .economic and politi cal system. They have seized upon political power and are using it for their selfish advantage. They have usurped economic positions which enable them to exploit their less en terprising or less fav*ored fellow citi zens. Through monopolies, oppres sive trade practices, and by pervert ing our economic system they have collected the bulk of the wealth of the Nation into a few hands, have made industry their personal servant, and have monopolized our mineral wealth, water powers, and other natural resources. Only the farms are now left in distributed ownership, and year by year holdings of farm lands are increasing in size and the number of farm workers who own their own land becoming smaller. Even owners q^mall farms have be come, throug^a mortgage system, mere tenants, in substance, of great financial interests. "These email but powerful groups are able to rule T>oth in the political and economic world be cause of the lack of cooperation among the masses—the failure of the masses to work together. They rule by creating jealousy and prejudice among the various groups of the people and by setting the units of the people to fighting each other. Once the masses come to an understanding and learn to work together the dominion of the selfish classes will crumble into dust. ' “There is a present reason for the effort to keep labor and the farmers apart. They are finding each other out. They are coming more and more to know that their interests are not hostile but in close harmony. They are awakening to a fuller reali zation of their common interests and a recognition of their common enemy. The situation is not satisfactory to the powerful selfish groups. It seems that their victims are about to get together The selfish interests would set labor and the farmers to tearing each other. They would again divide the producers so that those ‘who toil not, neither do they spin,’ man continue to dominate and to re ceive the best of everything. Parasites Are Favored. “It is indeed a queer situation that those who do the hard, diyty,' and disagreeable work of production should be expected to remain con tent with the sheerest necessaries of existence, while those who follow oc cupdtions of little or no vajlue to so ciety continue to enjoy not only the first fruits of the system but practi cally all of the favors of government. Such a situation is possible only when the producers are divided, are fighting each other. And this the dominant few know full well. “They realize that their suc cess hangs up6n disunion and strife among the producers, and so they and their affiliates, their parasites, and all the array which their in fluence is able to muster, are bent upon promoting strife and sowing dissension pricing the masses'" of H the people which it is their pur* pose to exploit. They know that it is only by keeping the masses fighting each other that those who ride at ease upon their shoulders may remain secure in their seats. “The two points upon which there is greatest need for cooperation be ' tween farmers and wage earners are ih the economic and political fields. There is a desperate/effort upon the part of the opposition to prevent them from coming together in either ac tivity. Both are told that the inter ests of the other group are in conflict with theirs, and every sort of false propaganda is put forth to promote enmity and strife between them. Let us examine in the light of reason and known facts these, issues and see whether there is harmony of in terest between 'farmers and wage earners upon these points. GROWERS GET GREAT RESULTS RALEIGH, Jan. 2—Confident that if the spinnerti of Manchester and Liverpool districts will deal direct with the cotton cooperative market ing associations, they will receive carefully graded cotton. Arno S. Pearse, Secretary of the Internation al Federation of Master Cotton Spinners and Manufacturers, has sent out a statement to the members of that organization. Mr. Pearse spent several months in the South last summer and visited th Cotton Growers’ headquarters at Raleigh. He made a personal inves tigation of the methods employed in grading and classing cotton and ex pressed himself as thoroughly satis fied. In his sttaement Sent to all spinners in the Manchester and Liv erpool . districts, Mr. Pearse said. “We have convinced ourselves that the men at the head of the or ganizations are straightforward, anx ious to come into touch with the spinner direct and satisfy him in eVery respect,” he says. “The organ ization could obtain from existing well-reputed exporters; there arfe men amongst these who have specialized knowledge'of the Liverpool, Havre, and Bremen-markets and we have learned from private conversation with these graders and convinced o.urselves that the grading is done most carefully. The main advantage as regard the farmers as a class are that they re ceive an average price for the whole season’s cotton, and that if a grow er raises one single bale of a cotton superior to the rest he will receive adequate price for the same, whilst formerly any small quantity of better grade or staple cfltton had to be sold together with the bulk.” RAILWAY CLERKS OPEN BANK: FEDERATION BANK IN NEW YORK MAKES ^GREAT GAIN By International Labor New* Service. WASHINGTON/ Jan. 2. — The number of labor banks is still grow ing. The latest labor organization to open a bank isr the Brotherhood of Railway Clejkg, Which has just opened a national. bank in the new seven-story building erected by the / LAMPS $14.95 Friday and Saturday, January 4th and 5th 95 Cents Cash Balance 50 Cents a Week on Your Light Bill Table lamps with silk shades and glass shades Polychrome and Mahogany Stands— Floor Lamps and Bridge Lamps— These lamps will not last long at this uni^sual price and terms* so come early and make your selectipn. Southern Public Utilities Co. Phone 2700 i Brotherhood in Cincinnati, O. Over twelve thousand persons visited the bank on opening day to inspect the beautiful new banking rooms, leaving $311,000 in deposits. At the end of the day the bank’s total assets amounted to $755,000. It is capitalized a $200,000, with a surplus of $50,000. Among the l^rge deposits was one for $50,000 made by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The Brotherhood of Railway Clerks National Bank is cooperative in that shareholders’ dividends are limited to 10 per cent and profits in-excess throf are distributed among savings deposit&rs. To make the bank serve the Broth erhood’s large menibership through out the United States and Canada, as welU'as -workers in general, a sys tem of banking by mail has been per fected. Arrangements are also be ing made wjth correspondent banks in other cities which will accept de posits for the Brotherhood bank. In New York City, the union owned Federation Bank is making a rapid growth. The bank’s resourc.es have increased from $50,000 on May 19, 1923, to $3,700,000, and are ex pected to reach the $4,000,000 mark within a short time, according to Peter J. Brady, president. The Central Trades and Labor Council of New York, which wias ac tive in founding the Federation Bank, recently attacked the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Brother hood Investment Company, the hold ing company for the bank which the engineers are to open in New York. Resolutions adopted by the council charge that the Brotherhood repre sentatives, in selling stock for the near bank, \are ~ clajpung th^jt the Brotherhood is a strong advocate of the “open shop” and has never in dulged in a sympathetic strike. The Council resolutions declare that the Brotherhood Investment Company is not entitled to either the support or cooperation of organized labor. Saying a blessing these days over three burnt flap-jacks and two rub ber beans floating about over the soup makes a fellow feel li' changing his stock of grace lor a good stuffed club and asaerlNbis rights aS an American laborer. The ox may know his keeper’! voice, and the ass his master's crib,' but I’ll be darned if the average fel low knows bis friend, or he would' quit whooping himself hoarse for old party suckers. -i WHY V GO HUNGRY? Like Mother Used To Cook ONLY 40 CENTS Long’s Cafe 12 South-College St. 4 #* I WE HAVE INAUGURATED THE A Low Priced Finished Laundry'Service Everything washed thoroughly clean—every thing ironed beautifully-and everything^ returned neatly folded and ready to use or wear. Practically the only difference between it and our finest family service is that no starch is used. But this little difference makes it possible for us to offer it to you at a very low price. v v Just bundle up everything—all the flat work, “your clothes,” the children’s things, soft shirts and men’s underwear, and have your laundry call for it. When you compare the cost with that of a “washwoman’’ you will be surprised how much you can save. Here is what your family bundle will cost finished the HO-MESTIC way: 12-lb. bundle—half flat Work-$1.32 14-lb. bundle—half flat work-___!—$1.54 16-lb. burtdle—half flat work-_H___$1.7$ 18-lb. bundle—half flat work.-'.---$1.98 20-lb. bundle—half flat work-----$2.20 22-lb. bundle—half flat work____—$2.42 24-lb. bundle—half flat work--$2.64 26-lb. bundle^—half flat work-$2.86 28-lb. bundle—half flat Work-_$3.08 30-lb. bundle—half flat work-:__$3.30 The price for this service is 8c per pound for washing the entire bundle and ironing the flat work PLUS . * , 6c per pound for carefully finishing the wearing apparel. MINIMUM BUNDLE—$1.25 i ' Send it, ■ I $ .;c N v - The Charlotte Laundry Model Steam Laundry Sapitary Steam Laundry ■m m s ■
The Charlotte Herald (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 4, 1924, edition 1
2
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