r».e ONLY REALLY INDEPENDENT WEEKLY in MerVAiiburg County lor a Weekly, Its Readers Represent the LARGEST BUYING POWER in Ch&rtotu Official Organ Central Labor Union; endorsed by State Feder->' ion of Labor 71/ Che Charlotte labor Journal Patronize our Adver tisers. They make YOUR paper possible by their co operation. thfhl, Honest, Impartial AND DIXIE FARM NEWS Endeavoring to Serve the Masses Veil. VI.—No. 14 YOUR ADV1RTIRIMINT IN TNI JOURNAL IS A 8000 Investment CHARLOTTE, N. C., THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 1936 JOURNAL ADVERTISERS OESfRva CONSIDERATION OS TNI RtfAOER S2.00 Per Year StATE FEDERATION CLOSES MEET; III R. LAWRENCE RE-ELECTED PRES.; NEXT MEETING TO BE AT ASHEVILLE " (Special to Charlotte Labor Journal) ^ WINSTON-SALEM, Auk. 13.—The North Carolina State Federa tion of Labor closed its 30th annual convention here yesterday evening. Gcorge L. Gouge, southern representative of William Green, A. F. of L. president presided over the election of officers, which resulted in the re-election of President K. R. Lawrence, and Secretary Sandi er; also J. H. Fullerton, as first vice-president. H. L. Kiser, of the Plumbers and Steamfitters, Charlotte, was made a vice-president. The convention adjourned to meet next year in Asheville. R. W. Eddins, take greater interest in poli tics wis made by President Lawrence in hisi annual address, delivered shortly after opening of the conven tion. [Lawrence demanded fair elec tion laws, abolition of the absentee ballot and elimination of markers at the pqlls except for the blind and other physically incapacitated. Tuesday, the second day of the con vention saw the body advocating old age pensions and unemployment in surance, abolition of the general sales tax add of capital punishment in North Carolina and state control and taxing jof the manufacture and sale of liquor, also approving a 43-point legislative program. The entire pro gram was adopted with discussion of only orje of its points, that of capital punishpient, the 43rd item in the list of objectives. The Clevenger murder case (Asheville) was injected into the discussion of the capital punish ment plank, but after State Presi dent R. R. Lawrence, who is chairman of the legislative committee, demand ed inclusion of the abolition plank in the report, it was adopted with only three disesnting votes, one of which was cast in an emphatic tone by Del egate Blaine, of the Asheville Paint ers’ Union. Blaine had referred to the capital case in stressing the need of capital punishment. Speakers at Monday’s Session in cluded Dr. Ralph W. McDonald, run ner-up candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor in the re cent primary, who acclaimed Presi dent Roosevelt “the balance wheel of America and said benefits of the New Deal should be brought to North Carolina.” “While nation after nation is in the midst of a blody storuggle be tween facism and communish, the Democratic philosophy of Roosevelt carries the United States forward in a new conception of balance and fair ness in the inter-relations of prop erty and human rights,” McDonald said. North Carolina, he said? stands as one of the few which has not bene fited by the spirit of the New Deal. The state, he asserted, has done noth ing about unemployment insurance and old age pensions, while in farm legislation it lags far behind Roose velt. “Recognition of the rights of labor have been foremost in the policies of Roosevelt, but North Carolina has not yet caught step with the national Democratic party in this matter,” McDonald said. Emil Rieve, national organizer of the American Federation of Hosiery Workers, told the convention his fed eration would launch in North Caro lina the most intensive organizational campaign ever waged among hosiery worners or the South. John A. Peel, third vice-president of the United Textile Workers, re ferred to the American Liberty League as “termites working at the foundation of our nation.” Peel named specifically A1 Smith, the DuPonts and John W. Davis “and others of tehir ilk,” who he said were before “President Roosevelt on bend ed knees in 1933, asking him to do something, and who, now that the profits are rolling in again, would undermine the progres sthat has made the profits possible.” Howard Colvin, a conciliator of the Department of Labor, criticized *he Supreme Court which he said “can’t see the working man’s side of our present economic scheme.” He listed the various legislation effecting the status of the laboring classes which had been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, and others which had been declared constitutional. “Never in any similar period in the recent history of labor has so much been done for the working man, nor in any period 10 times as long,” Colvin said. “For every $100 paid to labor 10 years ago $159 is being paid now.” Big business is the onlv complainant, yet it is making profits in millions now where it was taking losses four years ago.” A report of the federations edu cation committee recommended high er wages for teachers, a complete un MORE— | ionization of the teachers of the state, school supplies of warm lunches for the children and uniform school systems. On Tuesday delegates attended a banquet and dance. Election of of ficers and selection of the place for the meeting next year will mark the closing session tomorrow. ROOSEVELT HERE ON SEPTEMBER 10TH The date and time of President Roosevelt’s visit to Char lotte has been definitely set at around 5 p.m„ Thursday, Septem ber 10th. the President to remain an hour or an hour and a half. A bis: ovation is being planned for the president and it is more than likely that Charlotte will have 25,000 visitors on that day. The merchants will reap a harvest, the hotels and restaurants will do a land-office business, and the people will get to see and hear Mr. Roosevelt in a short talk. If all signs point right Charlotte is going to give the President a rousing reception. PCMTINSNY COM MSN om Timir topics CHATTING ■V HARRY BOAT! Under date of Raleigh, If. C., August 5, it was stated that 85 names, one of the longest lists for a single day in several months, appeared on the daily tabulation of automobile license revocations. This number brought the total revocations to 4,391 since the law became effective last November. Most of the permits were listed as having been taken away following convic tions for drunken driving. Since gasoline and whiskey will not mix, it may be safer to put the whiskey in the gas tank. In Greensboro, N. C., last week two men charged with breaking into a service station claimed they merely needed a sandwich and some cigarettes after an all-night tour of several counties while pretty well intoxicated. Judge Warlick did not see the matter in the same light and insisted that the men serve one year each for their misdoing, ending with the remark: “If you don't quit blaming everything on liquor you’re going to ruin its reputation. Such doing practically ruined liquor 20 years ago.” ^ Concerning this subject of drink we find in the Book Proverbs, Chap ter 31, these words: 4. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: 5. Lest they drink, and for get the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. 6. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. 7. Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. This last paragraph appears to be ons which many who drink have m mind when starting out for a good time, so-called. Have diistinctly in mind a former fellow workman who was known for periodic sprees and violent temper when so afflicted. This party was one of the large group who de velop the habit of weeping while in his cups. At other times life, seemed happy as fortune for the moment seemed to smile upon him. Many times has he told me that while drunk he (in his mind) had the finest kind of a job, and was perfectly happy. But when sane reasoning came back to him, his purse was empty, his head too large for his hat, and it was necessary for him to return to the same old work which he was so happy to have left while he was celebrating. While on this same subject following will be found some pertinent ques tions regarding this “joy maker” (?) of the present day and time. This article was headed: “Did You Ever Hear of These Fools? Did you ever hear of .a man who lost his job because he was a total ab stainer? Did you ever hear of an insurance company that offered reduced prem iums to booze addicts? Did you ever hear a woman saying, “My husband would be the best husband in the world if he would only drink? Did you ever hear of a chauffeur who could drive his car with more safety if he took a snort of alcohol before starting out? Did you ever hear of a railway engineer who stood better wtih his em ployers if he patronized the saloons? Did you ever hear of an Arctic explorer who stocked up his supplies with liquor in order to keep warm? Did you ever hear of a child who complained because his daddy did not come home half soused? . Did you ever hear of a man who objected to his daughter marrying a man because he was not a booze addict? Did you ever hear of a woman &»uplaining because her husband spent too little time in the groggery instead of spending his evenings at home? Did you ever hear of a murderer on the gallows declaring that his ab stinence practices led him to his predicament? Did you ever hear of a man who beat his wife and thrashed his baby because he was sober when he came home? Did you ever hear of a house owner who charged, hiph rentals be cause a saloon had been set up next door? Did you ever hear of a banker who threw up his hat with joy because a snake-hole was opened close by? , Did you ever hear of a mother who consented to her daughter becom ing a barmaid in order to help civilize the dump? Did you ever hear of a preacher delivering a better sermon because he was half shot? 5 Did you ever hear of a gink who boasted that he could “drink or let it alone,” who actually did let it alone? Did you ever hear of a “moderation society that advocated total absti nence”?—W. E. (Pusseyfoot) Johnson. GREEN CLAIMS “MINORITY RULE VS. MAJORITY RULE” IS THE REAL ISSUE; AND ASKS “SHALL MAJORITY RULE”? WASHINGTON. D. C.—William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, in an address before the National Press Club here, warned that the basic principle underlying the establishment and activities of the Committee for Industrial Or ganization is the destruction of democratic procedure and ma jority rule in the government of the American Federation of Labor. He said there was absolutely no truthful foundation for the claim set up by the C. I. O. that the issue is craft unionism vs. industrial unionism. He pointed out that the A. F. of L. had in fact chartered a number of industrial unions, including the United Mine Workers of America, and asserted that in the mass produc tion industries the Federation “will apply the industrial form of organization in the broadest and most comprehensive and con structive manner possible.” Turning to the government of the American Federation of Labor, Mr. Green explained that its policies are democratically laid down by the annual conventions of the Federation and that every decision is reached by the principle of majority rule. He charged that the Committee for Industrial Organization 1935 was established to destroy the organization policy which the 1935 convention of the Federation adopted by a large majority, and held that the basic question before the Federation and its Ex ecutive Council is not forms of organization but the preservation of democratic procedure and majority rule which have always been its fundamental principles. Mr. Green cited the last address made by Samuel Gompers before his death in 1924 urging the continuance of the principle of voluntarism in the labor movement as an essential element of human liberty, and declared he would not “betray the trust im posed on him by President Gompers “or cast a reflection upon this great message.” . .. -- i. mi i»-ii—i—i—i—i WINSTON-SALEM, Aug. 12.—The state Federation of Labor, at its final session here today, turned to admin istrative matters after deciding upon a legislative platform for the year. The federation advocated old sige pensions and unemployment insur ance, abolition of the three per cent sales tax, state control and taxing of the manufacture arid sale of liquor, and doing away with capital punish ment. Emil Rieve, national organizer of the American Federation of Hosiery Workers, told the convention his un ion would launch in this state the most. intensive organizational cam paign' ever waged among hosiery workers of the. South. The federation’s education com mittee recommended higher wages for teachers, a complete unionization of the teachers of the state, school sup plies of warm lunches for the chil dren and uniform school systems. Bill Sharpe, former president of the Winston-Salem Newspaper Guild, urged that delegates contact news paper men in their communities with a view to having them organize un der the American Newspaper Guild, which was recently granted a charter by the American Federation of Labor. The value of the world’s annual fish catch is estimated at $800,000, 000. About two and one-half million Americans are hay fever sufferers. PRESIDENT SENDS A MESSAGE AND LEWIS ADDRESSES LABOR NON-PARTISAN POLITICAL LEAGUE WASHINGTON, Aug. 11.—Amidst reminders of the dispute over wage and hour legislation, labor’s Non-Partisan league pledged itself late yesterday to national organization for re-elec tion of President Roosevelt, as a base for “establishment of a liberal party” in 1940. Following the reference to 1940 by Geqtrge L. Berry, presi dent of the league and an official in the administration, the con vention by resolution indorsed the organization “as an instrumen tality for the furtherance of liberalism in our country.” By the way of leading up to their action, a message from Mr. Rose1 velt had been read, coupling men tion of Supreme Court decisions with a statement that “a return to reac tionary practices is ever short lived.” “During the past three years,” he wrote, “we have endeavored to cor rect through legislation certain of the evils in our economic system. We have sought to put a stop to certain economic practices which did not pro mote the general welfare. “Some of the laws which were en acted were declared invalid by the Supreme Court. “It is a notable fact that it was not the wage-earners who cheered when those laws were declared in valid. I greet you in faith that fu ture history has so repeatedly.. and effectively shown, that a return to reactionary practices is ever short lived.” _ Gathered in the small ballroom atop the Willard hotel, upward of 50 delegates from the country over ap plauded the presidential welcome and speeches by Berry, John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Work ers ;and Sidney Hillman, president of the Amalgamated Clothing Work ers. All three portrayed the political campaign as one between the c forces of liberalism and reaction, contend ing the interest of wage-earners were repersented by the Democratic ticket while financial and big industrial in terests were backing Landon and Knox. “We know from the decisions of the Supreme Court,” said Hillman, “that unless we have a government sympathetic to labor, there is no way to work out problems like technologi cal unemployment. The only answer is a shorter work day and wo "k week. We propose, after this elec tion, to demand legislation outlawing sweatshops and requiring decent wages.” J “It is time,” said Lewis, “for labor to be awake. It is time for the work ers to’ organize politically. Organ ization of this league should cause the exploiters of labor to ask whither are they drifting.” Arms waving, the mine workers’ head, referred to changes in the form of government elsewhere and shout ed that “breakdowns come when the people do not get their share of the national wealth. “And the Republican party has the brazen effrontery to ask the Ameri can people to elect a pitiful puppet responsible to Standard Oil, the steel interests, the bankers of New York and Chicago, and the Hearst newspa pers,” he added. Pointing to a bust-length portrait olf Roosevelt by his side, Lewis called him “the greatest humanitarian who ever served in the presidency.” Ap plause greeted predictions that Penn sylvania and New York would go Democratic. Apropos of the league’s course after November, he said only “we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Ruminating Over “Simnybrook-Faren” | Just got a letter from “Aunt Lot tie” Wiseman, of “Sunnybrook Farm,” up in Western North Caro lina, about eight miles west of Spruce Fine on Highway 19-E, with an alti tude of 3,000 feet, and about a city block (or two) from the North Toe river, and nestling at the foot of the mountains, with a babbling brook running very close by. At once we commenced to smell fried country ham, real ham gravy, fried chicken that you could really eat, good old country snap beans boiled with real fat back, country eggs that you could rely upon, gathered as used from all over the place, milk with real cream and buttermilk with a golden grain of butter here and there; we could taste corn on the cob that a man without teeth could eat; real corn bread and honey just from the hive; to say nothing of the little inciden tals that in town one can not get really fresh and rather scantily at that. Sweltering at 96 we could see those fortunate enough to be domi ciled at ‘ Sunnybrook’’ donning their coats and wraps as evening drew on, and though “we” had been sick, for two weeks could feel an appetite coming on, and, in our mind’s eye as i the ides of evening came upon us and the heat had us almost to the mat, a feeling of revivication crept over us, and a languishing and fading appe tite felt an uplift. No, Aunt Lottie, we can’t come up yet, but before the fall is well upon us hppe to be able to see the moun tains in all their bauty and abide with you and “Uncle Robert” for a week. So here’s day-dreaming from now till then. The Philippine islands were so named after King Philip of Spain. It costs Uncle Sam about 1 cent to make a dollar bill. In Italy, kissing in public is legal only at railway stations. J I FIGHTING WAR AND FASCISM BY DINSMORE WHEELER The responsibility for war does not’ rest solely on pot-bellied old men who connive in Wall Street nor on the beribboned diplomats who olav with chips that don’t belong to them. To be sure, they write the plays, set the stage, sell the tickets, tack up the posters, and pass out the handbills. But if the rest of us refused to be hoodwinked when they send out the call for puppets that they can manipulate by tying strings around our hands and feet, there wouldn’t be any big show, The war-makers hold out the lures of excitement, of lucrative jobs, of fighting for justice and freedom, of fat profits. Anyone who makes or sells anything, as Charles Beard points out, is in a position to be kidded into believing that war will be a good thing for his business. But in the end, it is the Merchant of Death who engineered the rotten mess that makes the 400% profit and we are the ones who pay for it. We lend money to ourselves and our allies (who later find themselves unable to pay back) in order to have a short burst of prosperity. When it’s all over, there is a little matter of twenty-two billion dollars in red ink which we’U leave, in our last will and testament, to our grandchildren. We fight to line the pockets of profiteers and are left holding the bag. But they don’t tell us. that at the time. We have to find it out when it is too late to do anything about it. Years later we wake up at the bottom of the pile to find that the victor has lost as well as the conquered. The world is bound to lose because every nation is saddled with stag gering debts and a new crop of hatreds and rivalries is generated that only prepares the way for another catastrophe. Wealth is not created but de stroyed. The young and fit are blown to pieces, or maimed, blinded and crazed. Those who return physically intact are cynical and sour when they discover what it was all about. War sweeps the world with a plague of savgery, and destruction becomes an end in itself. Science, when properly used, has infinite possibilities for improving man’s condition. But it is the great double-edged sword and, employed in the service of war, it can drive us back into the mud from which we have so painfully emerged. k ■ The next world war, which we can keep America from entering if we guard against it, may turn the clock fifty centuries. Is the temporary gain if economic advantage worth it? There are two sides to many questions. But not to this one. The negative answer, unless we are enemies of civili zation, is the only possible one. Emil Rieve Out For McMahon’s Toga As Pres. WINSTON-SALEM, Au*. 12.— Emile Rieve, national president of the American Federation of Hosiery Workers, will be a candidate for the presidency of the United Textile Workers, it was intimated at the North Carolina Federation of Labor convention hejre yesterday. R. R. Lawrence, North Carolina labor president, in introducing: Rieve as a speaker today, said he was “re liably informed” that the hosiery leader would be a candidate at the textile anion convention in New York in September.