Newspapers / The Charlotte Labor Journal … / Oct. 8, 1936, edition 1 / Page 1
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The ONLY REALLY INDEPENDENT WEEKLY is Merkftiiburg County Por « Weekly, Its Readers Represent the LARGEST BUYING POWER in Chariot!* Published for the bene fit of Organized Labor and all its interests. Che Charlotte labor Journal Patronise oar Adrer tisers. They make TOUR paper possible by their co operation. 1 ruthful, Honest, Impartial AND DIXIE FARM NEWS Endeavoring to Serve the Masses Vol. VI.—No. 22 ▼ova AavaBTieaaurr ra Tmi joumu la a CHARLOTTE, N. C., THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1936 JOUMMAi. AOVtRTieiM DUtSVK """ ~ $2.00 Per?*S LEWIS SAYS A. F. L MUST CANCEL1 SUSPENSION ORDER BEFORE PEACE CAN BE RESTORED IN LABOR RANKS WASHINGTON, Oct. 7.—Reports of peace overtures between the American Federation of Labor and the Committee for Indus trial Organization were denied by John L. Lewis, head of the “rebel” group. Asserting there had been no “peace conversa tions.” Lewis said the position of the Committee for Industrial Organization was unchanged. If William Green, president of the A. F. of L. wants peace, Lewis said at a press conference, “ all he has to do is have his (executive) council rescind its action whereby the 110 C. I. O. unions were suspended, and ;then we will take up the matter of I identifying and spotting those indus tries which are to be organized along industrial lines.” j The break between the Federation | and the 10 unions resulted from for 1 motion of the committee headed by iLewis to organize big industries into i single unions. The dominant faction •of the A. F. of L. has favored craft 'unionism. Coming 48 hours before the Fed •eration council is scheduled to meet •here to prepare its report on the rift |for the national convention next •month, Lewis’ statement dampened jhope that peace might be effected jat the council meeting. His remarks were prompted by statements of Green at Hyde Park, N. Y., yesterday, exressing hope for peace and suggesting that spokesmen for the C. I. O. might attend the council meeting Thursday. Lewis interpreted the recent action of the International Typographical union in voting moral and financial support to the C. I. O. as placing it in the same category as the 10 sus pended unions. Green last week ex pressed the opinion that the I. T. U. is not in the category, because it can join the C. I. O. only by means of a referendum, which was not voted. “If the council is consistent,” Lewis asserted, “it will be compelled to suspend the I. T. U. to complete the job it started out to do. If it does not suspend the I. T. U., that will be an admisison of error in the first instance." I » » w w m w m PRESIDENT GREEN SEES ROOSEVELT ELECTION, WITH LABOR LINED UP •ALMOST SOLIDLY BEHIND HIM HYDE PARK, N. Y., Oct. 6.—William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, carried to President Roosevelt yes jterday tidings that prospects were brighter for peace in the in ternal dispute of organized labor over craft and industrial union ism. Green said he also told the President at luncheon that nine tenths of labor — both organized and unorganized—would vote for Mr. Roosevelt and declared his prediction was “very accurate hnd conservative.” I He £aid he ngured tne voting {strength of labor as a whole at “prob hb!y 8,000,000.” On the basis of his >0 per cent calculation, which he said *-as founded on nation-wide reports ind contacts, th*4 would mean 7,200, >00 labor votes in November for Mr. Joosevelt, Expressing confidence of healing he breach of Federation ranks over he issue of organizing workers ac ording to the trades at which they vork or along industrial lines regard ess of crafts, Green said the matter could be considered Thursday at a neeting of the Federation executive ■ ouncil in Washington. Tentatively the President had set •'riday for the start of a political oray into the West. The itinerary tvas completed in rough outline to £ay, but White House officials kept <t secret until they had worked it out 4own to the last details, j Green said “probably” representa tives of the unions in John L. Lewis’ committee for industrial organization would be invited to the Thursday meeting. These unions recently were suspended from the Federation. ! "Everybody connected with the con troversy,” Green asserted, “is becom ing a bit more temperate in point of diew. It is of tremendous importance tnat we maintain a united organiza tion.” st A compromise proposal advanced by tyavid Dubinsky, president of the In ternational Ladies' Garment workers’ union, one of the C. I. O. group, was described by Green as embracing “a sort of conciliation” and expressed d view that at the Thursday meeting *^ome steps will be taken looking to 't se settlement of the whole problem.’’ Dubinsky suggested that the com mittee for Industrial Organization be V rapped if the Federation would give h isuranee that a campaign to organize t le steel industry would be carried on Effectively. Green said the contro versy was not so much over organi zation of the steel industry on an in wL ausinai rainer man a cran Dasis as •over the creation of the committee, Which he called a “rival organiza tion.” (In New York, Dubinsky disclosed that he was speaking for -U*t Inter national Ladies’ Workers union, of which he is president, when he made his peace proposal, conditioned on an asurance that the campaign to or ganize 500,000 steel workers would be continued. Dubinsky said he had spoken with out the authorization of John L. Lewis, chairman of the committee for industrial organization. An aide said delegates fro mthe garment workers' union probably would go to Tampa to attend the convention.) Green gave his reason for the la bor vote: “This administration speaks labor’s language and humanitarian policies, and the administration ought to be continued by those who inaugurated 'them.” The Federation chief said he had talked over with the President the question of personnel and funds to 'administer the Walsh-Healy act, pro viding that all who do business with the government must conform to min imum-wage and maximum-hour labor standards. The act became operative Septem ber 28. Green said the act had one big weakness. That, he said, provides exemption for wholesalers, which would let manufacturers set up “fake wholesole organizations” which would conform with the standards while the tnanufacturers “could do as they pleased.” Murphy said the Detroit political speech probably would be made out doors and was expected to deal with “industrial gains and recovery made.’ He said Michigan automobile cen ters had been helped particularly bj the administration through rising purchasing power that has permitted the buying of more cars. Vj^ay For Labor Peace Seen By Dubinsky I NEW YORK, Oct. 5.—The Times sdys David Dubinsky, prominent _1 ember of the Committee on Indus trial Organization, said yesterdav tljat body would give up its campaign oil the condition that the American Federation of Labor permit vertical unionization of the steel industry. |The newspapers say he made the statement, speaking in the name of thje International Ladies Garment Workers union and the other affil iates of the C. I. O., 10 of whom were refcently suspended from the federa tion for their activities, at a conven tion of the cap and military depart ment of the garment union here. •The Times says that William Green, president of the federation, informed off Dubinsky’s statement, said in a telephone conversation from Wash ington that the development was “most significant and helpful.” Green was quoted as saying, refer ring to Dubinsky and Max Zaritsky, millinery union president who joined him in the “peace” proposal, “they represent the spirit of conciliation, which is precisely what is needed in th^s very deplorable situation.” 'Subscribe for The Journal I Central Labor Union went back on regular schedule last night, meeting each week at 7:30. President Fuller ton presided. The matter of parking meters was reported on by the com mittee and “finis” written in the mat ter. Reports of locals were good. The board of trustees made a report which was received as information. The matter of underpaid taxi drivers was brought up, and was ordered looked into. Other committee reports were heard and communications read of interest. Paul R. Christopher, of the U. T. W. was present and made a healthy report on organization in this territory. The attendance was small, due to inclement weather, but a fine spirit was shown by those pres ent. SCHOOL TEACHERS’ LOCAL TO MEET MONDAY NIGHT There will be held Monday night at 8 P.M. the first fall meeting of the Charlotte Teachers local, it was an nounced on the floor of Central body last night. | CHAINING I HARRY ■OATS At 4:30 o’clock on the! morning of Sunday, September 6, this writer, accompanied by Mr. Hugh Sykes and his wife, boarded their automobile for a journey overland to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where was to be held the annual convention of the International Typographical Union. As the Union Printers Home is located in that beautiful city, the convention is held there once every ten years, in order that those who may attend shall have the opportunity of visiting and inspecting this beautiful institution which has been built as a place of refuge for themselves when old age or sickness has made it unable for them to follow their chosen path in earning a livelihood. As this article has to deal primarily with the journey and its pleasures, a more detailed description of the Home ipay follow in a later article. Since we had started at a very early .hour, wei stopped in Asheville, N. C., for breakfast, then procleeded on to Knoxville, Tenn., where we arrived in time to attend church and have lunch-! From Knoxville we traveled to the Mammoth Cave, Ky., arriving in the early evening. As the following day was Labor Day, there Was a large crowd there and all accommodations were taken up. However, We joined a party which visited this particular section of the cave, known jas the Frozen; Niagara, a beautiful and in in structive trip, which I am unable to describe in a manner satisfactory to myself. i . _ . Leaving the vicinity of the Cave we proceeded to Cave City, Ky., where we took supper and managed to secure accommodations in private homes, as all public quarters were already taken up.; 1 _ Monday morning we stjarted again, arriving in Louisville, Ky., in the early forenoon. Riding about the city a ‘short while we crossed the Ohio river over the municipal bridge to Jeffersonville, Ind., where a short stop was made to visit friends Of former days. Once more we started on our journey westward, through Vincennes, Ind.l formerly known as Fort Sill, on to East St. Louis, 111., wherO the Mississippi river was crossed over a bridge about two miles long, and op into St. Louis, Mo., where the second night of the journey was spent. It Was a warm night, and from my hotel room could see men sleeping on the grass which formed the lawn of an abandoned post office. ■ Riding for an hour or tnore about tie city in the morning, we were again on the highway dnd j night put us in Kansas City, Mo., where the third night was spent in a Pew and up-to-date hotel. The following morn ing we traveled about this large and very, clean city, visiting among other places the Union station, ip front of which took place the gangster battle several years ago in which seven persons were killed. Crossing the Missouri river into Kansps City, Kan., we pushed forward during the day through couptry which was very strange to our eyes, since there were no trees, but just rolling prairie lands and treeless hills, all the time traveling uphill, which p7e did not realize, as the ascent was so gradual, until early evening brought ps to the small but interesting city of Hays, Kan., where we stopped for the pight. A few imiles east of >Hays we passed through the first oil field of the journey, apd there was oil and plenty of it. Resuming our journey the next mornipg, we reached Denver, Colo., in the early afternoon, and we were much pleased with the clean and bright and cheerful appearance of the city, made rpore so because of the decorations in honor of the convention pf the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which was to be held the following week. Applying at a hotel for quarters, the clerk replied by inquiring how loing we wished to stay. On being informed our stay was to be just over onej night, he gladly gave us rooms, stating that all space had been engaged for the following] week or more by visitors to the convention, and they were being held in peserve for the occasion. Next morning Was spent in viewing thp beauties of this interesting city, then once more we were on pur way to our] destination. Being only 73 miles a wav, the distance was soon] covered and wp were at last in the city for which we had started six days before. Crowds were already gathering, but little dif ficulty was experienced in securing comfortable quarters for the eight busy days which were passed there. bright sunshine, and only once we were sleeping. While it was The entire trip thus fpr was made i did rain occur, and that waP at night while . _ extremely warm, w7e did not] seem to mind the heat, as the air was dry. The air was not the only thing pre met as we traveled on, but streams were also dry, many of them as dry gs the roadbed, jand in some instances grass was actually growing on the bottom. Through Missouri, Kansas and eastern Colorado corn had been eaten by the grasshoppers, and other crops had suffered from drought. Grasshoppers werP so numerous they actually clog ged the front of the autompbile and must jbe swept off in order to give air to the engine. j (This story will be continued next week) No Bank Failures And No Smokeless Stacks Seen Now During his Pittsburgh speech on last Thursday night President Roose velt gave utterance to the following regarding bank failures and stagnant ed industry: “And, incidentally, tonight is an an niversary in the affairs of jour gov ernment which I wish to celebrate with you and the Americaiji people. It is October 1st, and it marks the end of a whole year in which there has been not a single natiohal bank failure in the United States^ It has been 55 years since that kind of a record has been established. 'You and I can take this occasion to rjejoice in that record. It is proof that;the pro gram has worked. j “Compare the score board which you have in Pittsburgh now jwith the score board which you had j when I stood here at second base in this field four years ago. At that time, as I drove through these great valleys, I could see mile after mile j of this greatest mill and factory area in the world, a dead panorama of silent black structures and smokeless stacks. I saw idleness and hunger instead of the whirl of machinery. Today as I came north from West Virginia, I saw mines operating, I found bustle and life, the hiss of steam, tjhe ring of steel on steel—the roaring;song of industry, x x x” MILL EMPLOYEE DIES OF HEART FAILURE UNION, S. C., Oct. 5.—A motor ist found William Jones unconscious last night on a roadside, 'btu the 32 year-old weaver at the Lockhart mills was dead when he reached a hospi tal here. Coroner George Noland said death was due to heart failure. BURLINGTON MAN JOJURNAL VISITOR Sonny Davis, of Burlington, N. C., a prominent labor man, was in the city this week, and put in some good work over Rock Hill way, with pros pects of organizing a good branch of the U. T. W. at that place in the tear future he tills us. Here's luck. -T Winborne Asks Workers To “Know Their Precincts” ■ _ The Democratic party’s precmt by-precinct organization this fall will be |he most complete in the history of North Carolina politics—if plans of State Chairman J. Wallace Win borpe are carried through. “So far we have made more prog ress[ toward a complete organization than we have ever made this early in the 'campaign,’’ said the chairman. “Thiere are three reasons for this. Fir^t, there si North Carolina’s great admiration for President Roosevelt and! its determination to give him a record majority. Second, progress ive jnen and women throughout the Statie realize that with Roosevelt and Hoey heading the federal and state governments, with prosperity return ing. we may-expect four years of un precedented advance along lines of education, social legislation and ma terial advance. And, finally, we are receiving the closest co-operation from; the county chairmen and other party leaders." “Know your precinct,” is the text the chairman has preached on at each of the district meetings, at which he conferred with the local officers of the party. He has urged that the precinct chairmen take a house-to house poll of the precinct to discover the potential Democratic strnegth, check the Democratic names against the poll books to see that everybody is registered, and make plans to get out the entire vote on election day. RAtEIGH, Oct. 4.—The state la bor department reported last week its inspectors uncovered 172 violations of the state labor laws during August, which goes to show that the depart ment pf labor must be on its toes, and evjen at that the number might have bpen doubled had all cases been uncovered. ; NEiy YORK, Oct. 2.—Demanding a 20-per-cent increase in pay and $40 a-month minimum, the Workers’ Alli ance of America, a WPA union, an nounced it would conduct nation-wide demonstrations the last week in Oc tobeh, and march on Washington, probably election eve. l LABOR PEACE IS A POSSIBILITY AS EFFORTS BEING MADE TO HEAL BREACH THAT IS NOW EXISTING t _ WASHINGTON, Oct. 5—For the first time in many weeks there appears some prospect that the schism in the American Federation of Labor might possibly be healed before the breach becomes irremediable. Tentative talk of a possible basis for peace was heard on the eve of the quarterly meeting of the executive council of the A. F. of L., a meeting which the split in the labor organization is ex pected to be a major topic of discussion. The conciliation talk did not oriin nate here, however, but in New York. The New York Times quoted David Dubinsky, International Ladies’ Gar ment workers leader, as saying the committee on industrial organization would give up its campaign on condi tion that the A. F. of L. permti ver tical unionization of the steel indus try. Dubinsky made his statement on behalf of his union and other affil iates of the C. I. 0., ten of which were recently suspended from the American Federation of Labor for “rebellion.” The C. I. O. is seeking to organize steel and other mass production workers into large vertical (indus trial) unions, each one taking in all workers in an industry regardless of the particular craft they work at. The American Federation uY Labor executive council is dominated by men who say many workers should belong to horizontal (craft) unions, each worker joining the union of his particular trade. However, these leaders insisted the C. I. O. group, headed by John L. Lewis, was not suspended because of this difference of opinion but because the A. F. of L. could not countenance a rival or “dual” organization within its fold. The executive council, before sus pending the rebellious unions, sought unsuccessfully to get them to disband the C. I. O. On hearing last night’s activities, President William Green, of the A. F. of L., told the New York Times that the develop ment was “most significant and help ful.” Referring to Dubinsky and Max Zaretsky, millinery union presi dent, who joined him in the peace proposal, Green said “they represent the spirit of conciliation, which is precisely what is needed in this very deplorable situation.” Whether the executive council would take up Dubinckv’s Offer was not known, although Green and other leaders in the anti-C. I. O. camp have repeatedly declared they were not opposed to vertical unionization in itself. It was believed that de tails of the proposed peace settle ment might be discussed at length before any final decision is reached. The executive council meeting to morrow, faces the task of drawing up a report on the “rebellion” to be sub mitted to the annual A. F. of L. con vention at Tampa, Fla., November 16. Green has said the report would be factual and would make no recommendations. “The council, he said, “deplorer the situation and would like very much to end it and create unity and solidar ity in the movement.” A BLUE PRINT OF BIG BUSINESS MORALS The Senate Civil Liberties Committee, now probing the Labor spy industry, is really making a blue print of the moral code of Big Busi ness. And the lines in that blue print do not differ so very much from those of a diagram of the moral principles of a penitentiary as one might think. By sworn testimony concerning known transactions, the committee has ffctablished: That Big Business thinks it has a perfect right to hire known criminals to fight its own workers. Twenty per cent of an average group of strikebreakers had police records. That Big Business holds it has a right to set hired thugs to beat ing strike pickets with pick handles, just to stir up trouble. Cases of this kind have been sworn to before the committee. That Big Business believes it has a right to use deadly weapons against men who want higher pay or better working conditions. The committee has the receipted bills paid by corporations for machine guns and rifles for “industrial purposes.” That Big Business claims the right to trap striking pickets to their deaths by electrifying fences. One case where this was done was told to the committee under oath. The difference in moral ideals between Big Business and A1 Capone does not seem to be spacious.—Detroit Labor News. Maj. Fletcher Wants Action For 48-Hour Week-Would Ban On Workers Under 16 RALEIGH, Oct. 2.—Maj. A. L. Fletcher, State commiifcioner of la bor, said yesterday he planned to present two bills to the General As sembly of 1937, which would limit all industrial employes to 48 work hours a week and prohibit children under 16 years of age from working in favtories or textile mills. Fletcher, recently elected president of the International Assocation of Governmental Labor Officials, re turned here today from Topeka, Kan., where he had been attending a convention of the association. Model State child labor and maxi mum work hour laws, similar to the ones he will present were drawn up at the session. He said that if the State Legisla ture refused to pass an act limiting work hours to 48 a week for all in dustrial employes, “We’ll try to get the bill passed for women, at any rate.” Under the present statute, wom en are allowed to work a maximum of 55 hours a week. The proposed child labor bill would prohibit the employment by manufac turing enterprises of any boy or girl less than 16 years of age, and would require children between the ages of 18 and 16 to obtain certificates from labor officials before they could be hired. The State child labor law now in effect prohibits the employment in certain work of children less than 14 years old, and requires children be tween the ages of 14 and 16 to have certificates. WOMEN’S MEETING TONIGHT Charlotte Typo Auxiliary will meet at the home of Mrs. A. B. Furr, 1006 South Boulevard. Mrs. Hugh M. Sykes will report as a delegate to I. T. U. Auxiliary convention at Colorado Springs. Women’s Union Label League will meet with Mrs. H. A. Dumas, 530 W. Seventh street, and a full attendance is desired as business of importance will be brought up. A check for your subscription would be appreciated. Typo Union 338 Held Their Monthly Meeting On Sunday The meeting of Charlotte Typo-, graphical Union No. 338 was well at tended last Sunday afternoon. Out side of the regular routine the main feature was the report of Delegate Hugh M. Sykes on the International meeting at Colorado Springs, Mr. Sykes being a delegate from No. 338, and his report both on the home and the convention proper was one of much interest and enlighltening to the members. He told of the stand taken in industrial unionism and gave the reasons for such stand, wmcn seemed to have been carried by the smaller bodies and not the larger lo cals. His report on conditions at the Home and the treatment of inmates, Charlotte having two there., was one of praise for those at the head of the institution and the union men making it possible. Col. Harry Boate, who accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Sykes on the three-week trip, also made a few remarks as to his observations, and took issue with Delegate Sykes as to a certain mid way attraction at the Fort Worth ex position, which the Colonel was in veigled into attending. Mr. Sykes, in telling of the incident before the Colonel took the floor, stated there were ten thinly-clad ladies in the per formance, but he was corrected by Borther Boate, who said there were seventeen, which is another incident to prove that the Colonel is a “close observer.” Vice-President Henry Stalls presid ed in the absence of President Ray Nixon, and Recording Secretary Beatty was unable to attend so read ing of the minutes of previous meet ing was dispensed with. Th list was submitted by the com pany at a hearing late yesterday on the firm’s exceptions against an election held at the plant in Septem ber under direction of the labor board. The lection was on the basis of an eligible list of 964 employes, which tho board certified after the company had declined to submit an eligible list. The count showed 487 employes participating—exactly one-half of the original eligible list—with 471 favoring representation by the to bacco workers international union.
The Charlotte Labor Journal and Dixie Farm News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Oct. 8, 1936, edition 1
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