North Carolina Newspapers

rite ONLY REALLY INDEPENDENT WEEKLY in MerV a it burg County for a Weekly, Its Readers Represent the LARGEST BUYING POWER in Charlotte Official Organ Central, Labor Union; standing for j the A. F. of L. Che Charlotte labor Journal Patronise oar Adver-1 Users. They make YOUR paper possible by their eo- [ operation. Truthfvl, Honest, Impartial AND DIXIE FARM NEWS Endeavoring to Serve the Masses VoL VL—No. 16 You* advert iscmcnt im Tni journal is a •ooo CHARLOTTE, N. C„ THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 1936 IOURNAL AOVCRVIKRR Odtnvk CON SI O KM A ▼ ION 09 £«) V_ thi raadir i cr I CRT >.0<f I SENATE IS DEFIED BY DETECTIVE AGENCIES WHO DESTROY RECORDS OF LABOR SPYING ACTIVITIES WASHINGTON, D. C.—Six officers of the Railway Audit and Inspection Company, a detective agency with offices in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Pittsburgh and St. Louis, defied the - authority of the Senate Civil Liberties Committee in its investiga tion of industrial espionage by refusing to obey the subpoenas issued by the committee to appear at the first hearing with the ‘ company’s records and documents. Not only did the six officials flout the authority of the committee by re fusing to appear before it, but, ac cording to testimony submitted by the committee’s agents, officers of the company began a wholesale de struction of the documents as soon as I the subpoenas were served on them. , These astounding facts were re vealed at the hearing held here by Senator Robert La Follette, chair man of the sub-committee authorized by the senate committee on Education ‘ and Labor to make the investigation. 1 The determination of the company I to resist the authority of the com i mittee was made known by its coun ' sel, who declared he had advised his t clients that the senate resolution un der which the inquiry was being held was unconstitutional and ex ceeded the senate’s power. During the entire hearing it was learned that Justice James M. Proctor j in the United States court for the j District of Columbia had acted on 1 the request for an injunction, made { by L. Douglas Rice, of Philadelphia, ' a stockholder of the company, re straining the officials from appear in'” before the committee. Although Justice Proctor did not issue the in junction, he directed the defendants to appear in court four days later and show cause why a preliminary j injunction should not be granted. Despite the refusal of the com pany’s officials to appear, Senator j Le Follette continued the hearing by ; placing tse committees’ agents on the 1 stand to tell how they had in part j circumvented the destruction of the i company’s documents by requisition ling from building superintendents ’ the waste paper from the concern’s | various offices and patching the fragments together. Twelve pieced otgether letters and memoranda were submitted showing the spying activi ties of the company, while bales of other torn bits of paper have still to bef itted into complete documents. One of the patched up letters was from W. W. Groves, at Pittsburgh, addressed to G. E. Ivey, the Atlanta manager of the spy concern. Much of it concerned the placing of “hook ed men,” a term to describe active spies masquerading as workers who go into industrial plants with a view to learning labor secrets and making friends with the labor leaders so as to ascertain in advance what is going on. The “hooked man” in this case was Mr. W. H. Gray, whom Groves said was “experienced in hooking and ‘does a first-class job along this line. When the testimony regarding the destruction of the documents was concluded Senator La Follette declar ed it “disclosed the grossest kind of contumacy ever witnessed under a Senate subpoema,” adding: “It show's the grossest and most flagrant contempt of the United States Senate. As far as the chair man of the committee is concerned, every legal remedy that can be taken to punish this flouting of the Senate will be prosecuted with greatest vigor.” The officers of the industrial es pionage organization thus described by Senator La Follette are W. W. Groves, president; W. B. Groves, vice-president; L. Douglas Rice, vice president and general manager; 3. E. Blair, secretary-treasurer; Robert S. Judge, former counsel, and J. C. Boyer, alias O’Keefe, an employe in the Railway Audit and Inspection central offices in Pittsburgh. James F. Burns Friend Of Labor Is S. C. Nominee For U. S. Senator COLUMBIA, S. C., Aug. 2fi.—Senator James F. i Byrnes, vigorous supporter of the Roosevelt adminis tration. and a friend of or | ganized labor, won an over whelming victory over his anti- New Deal foes in | Tuesday’s Democratic pri mary on the face of partial returns. With 1,272 of 1,474 pre cincts reported, the State’s junior senator had 198.813 votes against 17,923 for Thomas P. Stoney, former Charleston mayor, and 9,714 for Col. William C. Harllee, i retired marine of Dillon. FIRST LESSON Scotchman: Now then, son, double p your fist tightly, like this. His Wife: Say, teaching our boy bow to fight? I Scotchman: No, I am teaching him how to carry a penny to Sunday school. t t Roosevelt Workers To Meet Wednesday Sept. 2, Moose Hall A meeting of the Labor Non Partisan Political League will be held next Wednesday night at the Moose Hall, South Tryon Street, about 8:45, immediately after Central Labor Union has completed a curtailed meeting. The organization has as its main object the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt as president, and all union men and their friends are urged to be present, when J. «H. Fullerton, of Charlotte, w’ho is the North Carolina chairman of the league, will preside and an organization perfected. This League will not, we understand, work for or against any candi date in the field, but is aiming all of its guns against Presi dent Roosevelt’s enemies. Every worker organized or unorganized who stands for Roosevelt and the New Deal, is urged to be pres ent. This organization is going to prove a factor in the Roose velt campaign and in J. H. Ful lerton, its state chairman, has an indefatigable worker and a loyal supporter. Be on hand, bring a friend, and let’s start wtih a banner or ganization in Charlotte. Time: About 8:45 P. M. Place: Moose Hall. Date: Wed nesday, September 2. FRANK BARR TO DO UNEXPECTED; HIS MARRIAGE IS ANNOUNCED; CEREMONY TO TAKE PLACE AT UNION Columbia, S. C., Aug. 16. To the Editor of The Labor Journal: One of the most interesting and unique weddings to occur in labor circles in the state will be that of Mrs. Ruth Morton, wife of the late Royal W. Morton, of Charlotte, to Mr. Robert Francis Barr, recently of Charlotte, but now residing at Colum bia, S. C. The ceremony will be per formed at Union, S. C., home of the Irrespective bride, on September 3, 936, by the Rev. Dr. Chick, pastor f the Union Methodist church. ! Mr. Barr has been active in labor Circles over the state for'many years, having recently served a term as president of the Charlotte Central Labor Union prior to his moving to Columbia. S. C. He is now on the production staff of W- B. Guimarin t Co., of Columbia, S. C., plumbing ^nd heating contractors. Mr. Barr is a member of the Plumbers and Steam fitters Union of Columbia. | The couple, after a short honey moon, which includes a very interest ing automobile tour, will make their home at Columbia, S. C-, where Mr. Barr is indeed no stranger both to business men and union men alike, i Friends and acquaintances in the labor movement who have for many years been laying wagers that the genial labor leader would remain a bachelor are now quaking in their shoes as September 3 approaches. So hopeless seemed the case of Mr. Barr ever becoming a Benedict that these skeptics are still saying “it ain’t so.” The host of friends and acquain tances of Mr. Barr in the two Caro linas will doubtless shower him with congratulations and good wishes, for his services in their behalf has been legion. —F. T [Going to try to be in Union for the occasion—Ed.] [The above article was prepared for publication last week and was in the forms, but was “lifted’ awaiting verification. Mr. Barr was a visitor to Charlotte last week-end and called upon The Journal, verifying the statement. It was the last time, we guess, that we will see our friend in the single state of blesesdness, for when he visits Charlotte on Labor Day he will have joined the Benedicts and be enjoying wedded bliss, and may the Lord have mercy on his soul.—Ed.l PUTINtNY OOMMIti * ON TlMILr TDfiet CHATTING •Y HARRY BOATS It may be recalled by some readers that about a year or more ago two boys in Chicago, at play in the cellar of the home of one of the boys, did some digging, as boys frequently do. As a result of their labors they un earthed a large sum of money which had been buried some time before by some unknown person. The home was a rented one, and the owner claimed the find. The money was put into the hands of the court, and finally the judge decided the money belonged to the boys and it was returned to them. The above is incidental to the following story which is of a somewhat similar nature. This story appeared in the daily papers also, but the best report is discovered in the Christian Century and is here given as pub lished: . “The story has a faint flavor of Maupassant’s ‘The Necklace, but Jt happened last week in New York. A young man named Aleck Krunoclcy, who had been out of work for many months, got a PWA job and set to work with a gang that was making a park at the waters’ edge. His own was not quite so ideally located, for part of the time he had to work in the water. In delving there he brought up a bag that seemed very heavy. He succeeded in hiding it fro mhis fellows, got it home, opened it, and found $1,060 in twenty-dollar gold pieces. He knew that gold could not bte kept by private owners. At any rate he knew that his title to this treasure trove was somewhat clouded. Being an honest youth, he wanted a clear title. So he took the gold to the nearest police station and told his story. He was congratulated on his find, arid was told that the authorities would keep the gold six months and then, if ho owner appeared, it would be his. Naturally, he was very happy, ,and mentally spent his money several times over in comforts and luxuries for himself, his mother, and his step-father, and still had enough left to make a large deposit (still mentally) in the savings bank. His mother had urged him to hold out a few coins for a few press ing needs. One does have pressing needs after sevral months without work, and his step-father had no work either. But no, he said, he had no right to that. He must turn it all in: A few days later he was called to the police station and the news was brpken to him, as gently as such news could be broken, that the coins were counterfeit. His fortune had evaporated. The woman who has the little store down on the corner said: ‘Well, he’s got no money, but he has credit. Everybody knows he is honest.’ It is something to have that left after a fortune has evaporated.” That is the end of the story as written. But there is more yet to be said. It pays to be honest, even though one may sometimes seem to lose as a re sult of honesty. It will be retailed his mother urged him to keep out a few coins for “prssing needs.” No doubt there were pressing needs. Perhaps many of them. It will also be recalled the coins he found were declared counterfeit. First, it was unlawful to own gold coins, and he was in danger of legal entanglements had lje retained them, since Uncle Sam has called in all gold moneys Again, evjen though it be legal to own gold, had he en deavored to spend any of the money he would have been in the meshes of the law for passing counterfeit. Truly this young man found what would have been a bag of trouble hid he not been born with a mind and determi nation to be honest with himself and the world. Place yourself in the position of this young man and decide if you can what your actions would be in! such case. Honesty is the best policy, but on the other hand, when one has! been short of cash for a long time and sud denly comes into possession of a bunch of it, the human mind begins quickly to work, and it shows many angles to the case in question. Money is the root of all evil, and had this young man decided on the wrong course his find would have sprouted many evils and given him a world of trouble, all caused by the fact that he hajd finally secured a job with the PWA, which Uncle Sam established With a View to alleviating suffering and need and put ting more satisfaction and comfort in the way of our unfortunate citizens. All honor to this young man for his honesty, and here’s hoping the next time he comes into possession of sudden wealth! it will be the real thing and that he will know how to handle it. 1,250,000 NEW HOMES NEEDED ANNUALLY SAYS A. F. OF L SURVEY; 2,300,000 DEPENDENT ON BUILDING Recent issues of the Monthly Survey of Business have em phasized the creative possibilities of America’s highly efficient industrial equipment. If this equipment is used to its full ca pacity, all American workers may have work and can produce enough to give every family a comfort level of living. In this issue we deal with one industry, building, showing its part in creating this comfort level of living and suggesting steps which may be taken to help it meet the requirements. Building construction is one jot our four great basic producing industries. Normally, it creates constructions worth more than 10,000,000,000 each year, and 2,300,000 workers depend on it for their livelihood. Beside direct employment in building, one mpn em ployed in the materials industries is needed to provide the building sup plies for each worker on the construe tion job, and one in the consumer goods industries to provide his food and clothing. Thus far the fate! of the building industry affects 4,000,000 workers in other industries, ini addi tion to its own 2,300,000 or a total of nearly 7,000,000. Records covering building contracts awarded in the 37 eastern states show that about 4% of the wealth created by building each year| is in homes and apartments, 30% in | facto ries, office buildings and public util ities, 25% in public works an<j pub lic buildings, and 5% in other build ings. Home building is the backbone of the industry, business building the next most important, and public construction normally accounts for about one-quarter of the whole.! During depression, home building almost ceased, dropping from 840,000 homes built in 1928 at the peak of the building boom, to 123,00 Oin 1933, or less than 15% of its 1928 volumne. Contracts for factory and commer cial building dropped to less than 17% of their 1929 value, and although pub lic building was not so drastically cut, tax losses reduced it to barely 40% of 1929. This virtual disappear ance of private buildings so cut em ployment that by March, 1933, less than 600,000 of the industry’s 2,300, 000 workers still had jobs—jthree fourths were out of work. When those thrown out in ' materials and consumer industries are added, this m*nt unemployment for 5,100,000 in all; There can be no prosperity [with out recovery in building, yet building has lagged behind other industries on the road out of depression. There fore. the gains of this year and last, which have finally lifted building to nearly half (43%) its 1929 lvalue and definitely started it towaijd re covery, have strengthened confidence throughout the business world. Also re-employment in building and relat ed industries has added greatly to the nation’s buying power. The level of building activity in the first half of 1936 has been twice that of 1933. Over 400,000 men have gone back to work in the industry since March 1933, and probably about dou ble this number in material and con sumer goods industries, a total of about 1,200,000. There are still, however, 1,300,000 unemployed in building and over 11,000,000 in Am erican industry as a whole. While private building in 1936 is more than doubling its 1933 volume, it is significant that the industry still depends to a large extent on public funds. In normal times public con struction is only one-quarter of all construction, today it is more than half (51%); private building today is only 29% of its 1929 value, public construction 76% of 1929. The public consctruction being done today includes road-building (a larger volume than normal), flood control, schools, libraries, city halls, water works, sewers and the like, financed either through PWA or other public funds, and housing projects provid ing some 18,000 homes. In looking forward to the future we may well consider whether public building should not permanently play a larger part in our national building program and whether it should not include the building of lost cost homes which would not be profitable for private enterprise. We will consider first the outlook for private building, next tho present housing shortage and the function of public building in remedying it. BUILDING OUTLOOK. Private building in the lats two decades has been subject to very great changes from boom to depression and back to boom. During the war, building practically ceased, leaving the nation in 1920 with an acute building short age. Then began a boom period when in its efforts to make up the shortage, building construction ex ceeded all previous records. This lasted through the nineteen twenties, ROOSEVELT LABOR DAY RALLIES CALLED FOR BY THE NON-PARTLSAN LEAGUE; FULLERTON N.C. CHAIRMAN Smaller Demonstrations Everywhere Are Called For in Proclamation by Labor’s Non-Partisan League to Back President in Record-Breaking Show of Workers’ Solidarity. In a proclamation received here, Labor’s Non-Partisan League calls on all League state chairmen tb ar range a series of mass demonstra tions in support of President Roose velt on Labor Day. Plans already are underway here throughout the state for a state-wide response to the call from Washington. It is planned that there shall be one principal demonstration in each men in the state and that there shall state, to be attended by the state chairman and all of the vice chair be other demonstrations in as many cities and towns as possible through out the state. If the plans are carried through and it is evident they will be — Labor Day will witness the greatest dem onstration of American labor politi cal solidarity ever recorded in all of our national history. Maj. Berry has asked all state chairmen to plan these meetings at once and to let nothing stand in the way of their success. In each meeting a declaration of support of President Roosevelt will be adopted. State chairmen have been asked to arrange local radio facilities wher ever possible. “I believe we can say it is already assured that there will be Non-Parti san League Labor Day mass meet ings in every state in the union, unit ed by a single purpose, marking in dramatic fashion the uprising of the workers in support of the President,” said Maj. Berry in writing to state chairmen. “And there will be hun dreds of smaller meetings through out, the states. I look for the great est political spectaclei of our time and I feel confident we shall not be dis appointed.” At the same time Major Berry announced formation of a Woman’s Division of Labor’s Non-Partisan League. All state chairmen have been asked to begin the building of a wom en’s division immediately and to en list in each state the leading women, including those who are friends and sympathizers of albor as well as those who belong to labor organizations. Major Berry pointed out that there are fully two million women now or ganized in women’s auxiliaries of un ions. “It is a fact beyond doubt that the overwhelming majority of these organized women and' their friends favor the re-election of President Roosevelt and will want to share ac tively in the triumph of his re-elec tion,” he said. “Their economic in terests are in no way different from those of the men who make up the labor movement. Added to the wom en who are in auxiliaries there are thousands who are active members of unions. We can count on the sup port of at least three million women for re-election of President Roosev velt.” Major Berry expressed himself as more confident than ever of the suc cess of the campaign. “Not only are we assured of success in achievement of our immediate objective, but we shall go on from there with the building of a strong, permanent or ganization reaching into every Con gressional district in the United States. “The case of the opposition re veals its weakness every day. The banding together of the great ex ploiting interests of the nation in the opposition camp is impressing upon labor, with fresh emphasis the vital necessity of uniting solidly in support of the President. No amount of Re publican oratory can conceal or dis tort the issues. The forces that drove the nation to the very brink of ruin are supporting Governor Landon and he welcomes their support, making his cause one with theirs. Our task is to mete out overwhelming defeat to that menace to everything that American labor values, preserving lib erty and the fundamental remocracy of our country. Labor’s Non-Parti san League is in action everywhere with that single objective as our task for 1936.” State chairmen will be responsible for arranging the nation-wideseries of mass meetings. [J. H. Fullerton, first vice-presi dent of N. C. State Federation of La bor and president of Charlotte Cen tral Union, is the North Carolina Chairman of the League.] THE CONSTITUTION WAS MADE FOR THE PEOPLE The Constitution was made for the people of the United States, not the people for the Constitution. This is the fundamental fact which eco nomic Tories overlook in the howling that accompanies the conflict between the progressive social legislation recently enacted by Congress, and the re actionary majority of the Supreme Cpurt. It is along this line that Associate Justice Harlan F. Stone, who is usually found in the progressive minority of the Supreme Court, sounded a call for common sense and a broad consideration of the rights of the masses in interpreting the Constitution in his address at the Harvard Tercentenary Conference on the future of the common law. Justice Stone said: “We are coming to realize that law is not an end, but a means to an end—the adequate control and protection of those interests, social and eco nomic, which are the special concern of the Government and hence of law; that that end is to be attained through reasonable accommodation of law to changing economic and social needs. i “Just where the line is to be drawn which marks the boundary between the appropriate field of individual liberty and right and that of Government action for the large good is the perpetual question of constitutional law. It is necessarily a question of degree which may vary with time and place.” |t is apparent to all sincere citizens that the aims of the framers of the ConAitution and those responsible for the Federal social legislation enacted by the last two sessions of Congress are the same—both desire a just bal ance between individual liberty and the authority of the Government. Those who framed the Constitution were not confronted with child labor, starvation wages paid to large groups of workers, denial by many em ployers of the essential right of their employes to organize for the protection of their economic liberties, and an industrial system so managed that mil lions of toilers are thrown into the unemployed army. In these directions it is clear that the spirit of the Constitution confers on the Federal Government the duty to enforce the intent of the Consti tution in protecting the general welfare of the people. In discussing the guarantees of the Constitution relative to personal liberty and property rights, Justice Stone said: “The chief and ultimate standard which they exact is reasonableness of official action and its innocence or arbitrary and oppressive exactness. “There is need for a continuity not of rules but of aims and ideals j which will enable government, in all the various crises of human affairs, to continue to function and to perform its appointed task within the bounds of reasonableness.” As Justice Stone views the question, the text of the Constitution al ways means the same thing, but in translating its ideals into Federal law Congress should take into consideration the social needs and institutions of the time. Justice Stone has hit the nail squarely on the head by directing public attention to the fact that the Constitution was meant for living people— that it is not a set of static rules by which men long since dead sought to hamper the legitimate aspirations of succeeding generations and impose servitude and poverty on a large portion of our citizens and their depend ents. “No,” said the union man to the company “union” stool pigeon, “I haven’t anything up my sleeve, but I have a union label in my pocket.” reaching a peak in 1928. During the present depression, private building has again dropped to almost nothing, leaving the country today with an acute housing shortage. Now that the industry is again on the upward | road, with a shortage to make up, we • may expect another period of high building activity. JOHN FERGUSON, SR., LEAVES FOR UNION HOME IN COLORADO J. L. Ferguson, Sr., who has been connected with the Charlotte Ob server as linotype operator, for near ly 18 years, left Monday for Colo rado Springs, Col., where he will en ter the Union Printers’ Home. Mr. Ferguson recently suffered a ner vous breakdown. His friends hope for him a speedy restoration to health.