Newspapers / The Charlotte Labor Journal … / July 1, 1937, edition 1 / Page 1
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TW ONLY REALLY INDEPENDENT WEEKLY fai Medtleabarg C—|y tm a Weekly. Ha tlM LAKUK8T BUYING POWER la Official Organ Central Labor Union; standing for the A. F. of L. Che Charlotte labor Journal Patronise oar Adver tisers. They make YOUR paper possible by their co operation. 7 rvtkfhl, Honest, Impartial AND DIXIE FARM NEWS Endeavoring to Serve the Masses Vol. VII.—No. 8 CHARLOTTE, N. C„ THURSDAY, JULY 1, 1937 92.00 Per Year TO TEXTILE WORKERS— DO NOT ORGANIZE C. I. O. C. 1.0. OPPOSED BY THE PUBLIC, WHICH PREFERS THE A. F. OF L BY 3 TO 1, SAYS FORTUNE SURVEY The U. S. public is overwhelmingly against John L. Lewis and his C. L O., and his sit-down technique is highly unpopular even among factory workers, according to the Fortune Quarterly Survey, whose scientific sampling of public opinion on this subject is revealed today with the publication of the July issue of Fortune Mairnzmp. Of those questioned, including all walks of life, 29.8 per cent favored the A. F. of L-, while the C. I. O. polled only 10.8 per cent. Six and four-tenths per cent favored both union movements. Against bout were 17 per cent, 24.7 per cent did not know what they preferred, 11.3 per cent were indifferent. The only group favoring the C. I. O. was the factory workers, 27.2 per cent of whom backed the Lewis faction as against 21.5 per cent of the A. r. of L. . . “The very negativeness of these results is decisive,” Fortune reports, “for it shows that 53 per cent of the nation has gone through a barrage of tons of news print on this lively struggle in a mood of hostility, in difference and indecision. “On the positive side it is also de cisive, because those who favor one of the rival union organizations line up nearly three to one with the old A. F. of L., against the C. I. O.. And this means that John L. Lewis has a tremendous job of public re lations before him, if as William Greene (A. F. of L. leader) says, ‘or ganized labor cannot win strikes or establish and maintain itself as a vital force in the economic life of the nation’ without the support of public opinion.” A break-down of the figures re veals that 35.9 per cent of the pros perous class and 41.6 per cent of the executives preferred the A. F. of L. to the C. I. O., while only 7.3 per cent of the prosperous class and 8.2 per cent of the executives leaned to the C. I. O. Even the Door were with the A. F. of L. by 29.1 per cent to 13.8 per cent, leaving the C. I. O. su preme only with factory workers, 272 to 21.5 per cent. PKttININT COMINT CHATTING L BY i HARRY BOATS It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.” That is a saying which one may hear almost any day, and there is a certain amount of truth in it. Misfortune to one person may be the means, and frequently is the means, of bringing good fortune to another. Such was the case of one young lady in Florida. The real estate crash in that state a few years ago made it neces sary for her to make her own way in the world. This she proceeded to do. Her first effort was in a small night club, where her talent was recognized. She next landed in New York, and from there advanced to the screen, where she is now a star. i Another story tells how misfortune and the loss of wealth taught a once wealthy man how to live and enjoy it. This man was. at one time worth about two million dollars, and his wealth was still growing, when the crash hit him a few years ago and the birds on his dollars all took wings and de parted. Yes, he was discouraged and knew not which way to turn. Finally he packed a few clothes in a grip and departed for a quiet fishing trip. After four months he returned, and is now devoting his time to writing prose and poetry and says he does not want wealth again. He is making enough to live on and is well pleased with life. He says: “I went broke, and I like it. I wouldn’t have another fortune if you gave it to me. I’ve found the way to live and I intend to follow it the rest of my life.” Many times do we hear the story that wealth is not all there is to life. Wealthy people have been known to destroy their life because they have lost interest. Those of the middle class and the poverty-stricken are also known to at times become discouraged and pursue the same course when they seem ingly find no interest in life. This being true, it seems that each individual must seek for and find that in life which makes the greatest appeal, and pursue that course to the end, in order to find happiness. It may be that the Ten Commandments will help, should an effort be made to follow them. They tell us God said ‘‘Thou shalt have no other Gods before me. Thou shalt not make any graven images, nor bow down and worship them. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not steal.” In fact, thou shalt not do many things which we as a peo ple are more or less in the habit of doing, and when the harvest is reaped we are not pleased with the crop. The graven image which man worships most is the dollar. And in effort to get possession of the dollar we break all the commandments, and when we grot that which was sought, we immediately start a new hunt for more. Recently was repeated a story of a conversation between a Jew and a Gentile. The Jew said the Gentiles had stolen the Ten Commandments. To which the Gentile replied: “That is all true, every word of it. But we were honest about it. We did not keep any of them.” That may be a true story intended as a joke, but there is much of truth in. The news of the day proves we did not keep them, and seemingly have no idea of again appropriating them to our own use. • • * It may not be news to many of us to learn that the United States Inte rior Department has opened up a distillery in the Virgin Islands, in an effort to place the islands on their financial feet. Some one has drawn a cartoon on the subject, stating “If Virgin Island liquor is good for Uncle Sam’s Interior Department, it should be good enough for ours.” And re cently a congressman produced a bottle of this fiery liquid in the House of Representatives. When objection was made to such an exhibit in the legis lative halls, he replied that it was government liquor, made with tax money, and if it is proper for the government to make it, certainly it was not im proper for legisdlators to bring it into the house which legalized it. There are two sides to every question, and there is a reaction to all human acts. That was the reaction to the government manufacturing liquor. We should not be surprised to some day learn the government has opened up a depatrment store and is selling wedding outfits. They are at the present time in the real estate business. LABOR CONDITIONS ARE PUBLIC CONCERN 1 do not prize the word cheap. It is not a word of hope, nor a word of cheer, but it is a badge of poverty and a signal of distress. Cheap merchandise means cheap men and cheap men a cheap country. To the Textile Workers of North and South Carolina: It is advisable for you to think twice before joining: a C. I. O. organization. The American Federation of La bor has a textile organization with which you may become affiliated, and does not carry with it a CHECK-OFF SYSTEM, that would become a detriment to you in case you objected to same in securing employment in another mill where the same system predominated. The C. L O. is slipping because it is not working along the lines of true Americanism. The A. F. of L. believes in organization, and will so warn all parties concerned, but, it believes in organization as laid down by Samuel Gompers and the founders of the A. F. of L., which has secured for the work ers every law now upon the statute books looking to the betterment of their condition, both economic and social. A. F. of L. organizers are willing to assist you, and will give you the benefits of a sound and sensible plan whereby the ends you wish to attain ay be reached. Beware of a “flash in the pan." It means nothing to you or yours. Hie A. F. of L. has never bowed or bent the knee to Capital; it has never asked anything unreasonable; it has always asked for ARBITRATION, MEDIATION and CONCILIATION; it has fought the battles of the workers in the dreary and drab days; it has won by a sane and sound doctrine, and is still winning battles; it has placed the “common” man, both of the “overall and white collar” type, in their present position of social equality, and with every effort, every deprivation, and with the suffering of the pioneers those unorganized have been benefited. The C. I. O. will never benefit the Southern worker. The A. F. of L. will. It will bring you benefits, it will bring you harmony, good will, good fellowship, and an under standing between you and your employer that will not be chimerical, but of a lasting nature. And, in conclusion, when the A. F. of L. makes a contract, minus the Check Off, it will be held inviolate A. F. of L To Open Branch Offices In Charlotte At An Early Date SAVANNAH, Ga., June 25.— Geo. L. Googe, southeastern representa tive of the American Federation of Labor, announced the A. F. of L. will open a southern district office here about July 1. The office will represent the A. F. of L. on the South Atlantic coast. Googe said that “in ten industrial centers in the interior of the South district offices, fully staffed, will be | rapidly opened.” He mentioned Bir mingham and Charlotte specifically. “The American Federation of La bor,” Googe said, "is launching a systematic, non-sensational organiza tion drive among all industrial work ers, the service trades and white collar workers.” He added: “There will be no con doning or association with the rep resentatives of the so-called Com mittee for Industrial Organization, whatever. We will resist the irre sponsible activity of the C. I. O. and its Communist associates at every turn.” (Since the above apeared, Mr. Googe has informed the group that a district office, will be opened in Charlotte at an early date.—Ed.) One pair of meadow mice could have 275 billion descendants within 10 years—if every descendant lived and bred normally over that period. This is approximately 5,000 meadow mice for every square mile of land surface on the entire earth. Subscribe for The Journal 1,100 Portland Stores Sign Up With The Clerks PORTLAND, Ore.—T h e Retail Grocery Clerks Union of Portland hit the boH’s-eye in organization achievements when it negotiated agreements covering over eleven hun dred chain and independent grocery stores in this vicinity, involving more than three thousand clerks. The agreement includes all the Safeway Stores in Portland, Gresham and Oregon City, in addi tion to stores operated by Hudson-. Duncan and the Fred Myer Company. For the purpose of negotiating an agreement with the union the stores formed an organization known as “Food Employers Inc." Under the agreement head clerks, both men and women, will be paid $27.50 minimum wages, with appren tices starting at $17.50. Women deli catessen and bakery workers will re ceive a minimum of $20 with appren tices starting at $14. It is estimated that the annual increase in wages provided by the contract will amount to over a half million dollars. PAPER MAKERS UNION FORMED IN RICHMOND RICHMOND, VA.—Paper Makers Local Union No. 161 has been or ganized in Richmond. The charter was presented and the members and , officers obligated by H. M. Monahan, i A. F. of L. organizer here. Two quarts of water and two quarts of alcohol make only 3 4/5 quarts, when mixed. GREEN DISCOURSES ON AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS-WARNS TO WATCH CANNED MUSIC SITUATION To the Editor of The Journal: The American Federation of Musicians held their annual con vention at Louisville, Ky. Charlotte this year sent twice the delegation from local 342 they sent last year, and had the largest local in the Southeast, as well as the most representation. It is a well known fact that musical circles are recognizing Charlotte, N* C-, as a musical center. When professional musicians and their organizations begin to notice real work being done, and pass the word around the United States, a great deal of good is done for the city of Charlotte. The Charlotte delegation can truthfully report that every delegate to the A. F. of M. conven tion has heard about Charlotte, N. C., and has a wholesome resoect for it. Of course the resolutions we intro duced and fought for may have something to do with the advertise given Charlotte, besides the fact that our local turned in the largest per centage of gain of the 789 locals present in membership. These reso lutions pertain to the use of canned music made by union musicians, and used for purposes other than con tracted for by musicians, as well as control of records where they are us ed as unfair weapons in the hands of our good friends who use enter tainment. Our resolutions were sweeping in character, but were referred to the incoming international executive committee favorably by the law com mittee, which included ex-Atty. Genl Ansell of the U. S. Our legal Wash ington representative, and in case action cannot be taken within 30 days from the close of said convention, then a special convention of the A. F. of M. is to be called. Proof that actually our musicians have been legally despoiled of their rights to records, etc. in radio, films, etc., abounded in our last convention in such an amount, that there is no doubt our legal rights are about to be something more than bits of paper, to be shelved in courts for years. Every suit brought against this robbing of musicians has been upheld 4 in both Superior Courts of the United States and Circuit Courts of Appeal. Our friends, the illegal users of records for commercial pur poses, are in for a rude awakening from the A. F. M., as the resolutions were passed unamimously. Radio of course is the largest transgressor. They take a record plainly marked “not licensed, or not to be used for broadcasting pur-1 poses” under which agreement our j musicians made these records, and play them night and day. What makes the situation worse, is the fact that our musicians are thrown out of work by the illegal use of their own records, by companies who are granted the right to operate radio i stations without any cost to them by the government, and the irony of it all is, that many a musician is on the WPA being paid by the government, when he ought to be paid by the radio station for his own creations which they are using. Their attitude is that the Supreme court has not passed on it. Our attitude is that all the other courts have. This particular problem is very sweeping in character, but the so lution as far as the musicians are concerned is here. Our position is that we obey the law of contracts, and that those who don’t must pay. If a judgement is rendered against a musician, it is only necessary to await several Supreme court de cisions before collection occurs. A case in point is the decision of the United States courts that the agree ment of the Goodyear Tire Company with Sears Roebuck, as to tire re tailing, was against the Anti-trust laws of the United States. Because it took five years or more to get this decision, every independent tire deal er in the United States was either a financial failure, or badly broken, simple because of the element of time involved. WATCH THE CANNED MUSIC SITUATION. The C. I. O.-AFL controversy was unanimously shunted back on the shoulders of our able president, Mr. Joseph Weber, with instructions to continue in his efforts to bring peace to the labor ranks. He is a member of the A. F. of L. committee which is formed for that purpose. We think radio is in for a lot of explaining, and change of tactics, es pecially since the president of one of the large chains made about a quar ter of a million in salary, bonus, etc., besides drawing the largest amount of dividents from stock, which earned about 80 per cent on invested capital, last year alone. (See our weekly articles about Collective bargaining principles.) This same president is one of those men who was just recently mentioned by the treasury department of the United States as avoiding the moral in tent of the income tax law to the amount of the payment of thousands of dollars. WM. S. GREENE Sec’y. Local. 342. The Typo. Union Knows What Contracts Mean A difference in the methods of old, established unions and C. I. O. up starts in the automobile and steel in dustries is to be remarked in the set tlement of the strike of mailing room employes of three Pittsburgh news papers. The new C. I. O. custom of; sitting down was followed by these A. F. of L. affiliates, it is true, as it is that they forced all three papers, to discontinue publication, which breaks a newspaper's heart. But it was m the behavior of the parent union, the Internationa] Typo graphical, that we find a comforting reliability. The newspapers were on the point of resuming publication: with I. T. U. members brought in from other points when the strike was settled. In short, the I. T. U. was prepared to use strike-breakers to put an end to a strike that was both unauthorized and in violation of a contract. It has happened at least twice in recent hectic months that unionized employes of newspapers have struck on their own initiative, and each time the parent union has allied itself with the publishers. More than that could hardly be asked unless the offending strikers were to be disciplined by suspension or expulsion from the un Editorial, Charlotte News, July ASsTiftAvrv Lfbel ,*• the ^eat-rft qSah!Jf the beat INSURANCE for Trade Unionism mg conditions for every worker. Subscribe for The Joumn. (Brought out of the records and readopted December 9, 1936) NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS AND BUSINESS MEN A resolution adopted last year as to The Labor Journal and solicitation of funds in the name of Central Labor Un ion was brought out of the minutes and republished as in formation. The resolution reads as foDows: “Resolved, That we publish in The Charlotte Labor Journal, that we do not condone any solicita tion of advertising except for The Charlotte Labor Journal, purporting to represent labor, unless over the signature of the secretary of the Charlotte Cen tral Labor Union.
The Charlotte Labor Journal and Dixie Farm News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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July 1, 1937, edition 1
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