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VOL. VIII—No. 16
«•<*• AOVMTlHMNf IM TUI
iNVntHRNT
CHARLOTTE, N. C., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1989
$2.00 Per Y(
CENTRAL LABOR UNION 100 PER CENT
BEHIND TEAMSTERS & CHAUFFEURS
IN STRIKE ON SOU. TRUCKING CO.
The first fall meeting of the year for the Charlotte Central
Labor Union begun under favorable circumstances, with the an
nouncement of a new organization of the IEBW, which makes
three different bodies of this organization in this jurisdiction.
The meeting started off slowly, as the various delegates still had
8:00 P. M. in their minds as the beginning of the meeting time.
From now on the meetings are held every Wednesday night, be
ginning at 7:30 P. M. The Endy Bros. Carnival will be spon
sored by the C. C. L. U. the week beginning September 25th. Just
about this time in the meeting the President recognized “Our
Mac,” of the Teamsters and Chauffeurs, who announced a strike
on the plant of the Great Southern Trucking Company. This is
about the first time in many months the C. C. L. U. have had
their assistance asked. The minutes of the C. C. L. U. show that
for many months our T. & C. local have been making attempts to
get the owner of this business to obey the Wagner Relations
Act, a Constitutional piece of legislation, which he evidently
either doesn’t like, or doesn’t intend to obey. Being hungry does
not give a man the right, legally, to steal. The fact that practi
cally 100 per cent of the working employes of the Great Southern
struck Wednesday, is conclusive evidence that a majority of that
plant are in the T. & C. local. This is another case of absentee
ownership, with no authority being given the actual manage
ment of the concern here in Charlotte. Of course the decision of
the C. C. L. U. was to uphold our Teamsters and Chauffeurs local
100 per cent, and give every assistance we know how, to seeing
that the Wagner Act is lived up to, by this employer. The meet
ing adjourned to look over the strike situation out on States
ville avenue. Everything there was being handled peacefully,
and with absolutely no confusion or trouble. The fact that aU the
drivers and handlers were outside the business rather than inside
of course had plenty to do with the peacefulness of the situation.
Where there are no workers to do the work, there can be no work
done. Thus ended the first meeting of the C. C. L. U. for the fall.
Allied Printing
Trades Council
Met On Sunday
The regular monthly meeting of
the Charlotte Allied Printing Trades
Council was held Sunday in Moose
hall and business of routine nature
was transacted. Reports on label ac
did the Donnelly non-union shop of
Chicago, 111., come in for a share of
the discussion. '* " * 1
The Chicago Allied Printing Trades
council has been waging a war on
this shop for several years and the
Chicago council’s activities were
greatly augmented by an action of the
recent I. T. U. convention, which di
rected that all local typographical un
ions in the United States and Can
ada give their fullest co-operation.
Therefore, the local council requests
the co-operation of all union men in
furthering this campaign against
the non-union Donnelly plant.
Charlotte Printers
Have Lively Session
Sunday Afternoon
The regular monthly meeting of
Charlotte Typographical Union No.
338 was held in Moose hall Sunday
afternoon and was largely attended.
A feature of the session was hearing
the reports of delegates, including
those who attended the International
Typographical Union convention in
Fort Worth, Texas, the N. C. State
Federation of Labor meeting in Ra
leigh, Charlotte Central Labor Union,
and Allied Printing Trades council,
An interesting feature of the I, T, U,
delegate’s report was that regarding
the authorization of the convention
to its officers to exert their efforts to
bring about closer co-operation be
tween the allied printing trades in
the future.
Several new members were taken
in and obligated and favorable and
interesting reports were given on or
ganization work in general.
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tivities were rendered
BEGINNING
OF THE END(?)
The following significant news item
appeared in Tuesday’s Charlotte
News, and those within the “inner
circle” will be able to discern the
handwriting on the wall. We quote:
“The local office of the CIO’S Tex
tile Workers Union of America was
settling down into a 'stable organi
zation’ today as the.labor group en
tered its phasq of permanent organ
ization. *
“Henry I. Adams, director for
North Carolina, with offices here,
said this morning that he will take
over the duties which formerly fell
upon the shoulders of Seth P. Brewer.
“Mr. Brewer announced last Sun
day that he had resigned as director
of negotiations and contractural re
lations for the TWUA in the state.
He joined the organization in 1937
until the organization work was fin
ished.” [(?) Selah.]
H. L. McCrory Now
Full Time Organizer
Team’t’r-Chauffeurs
H. L. McCrory, of the local Team
sters and Chauffeurs, is now a full
time organiser for his union, and is
doing a good job. He has always
been a faithful worker, not only for
his own organisation but he has help
ed to form and keep going numerous
locals in Charlotte, giving much time
gratis along organizational lines,
having headed the organization com
mittee of Central Labor Union for a
year or more. The Journal wishes
him every success and wishes to as
sure Borther McCrory that it will co
operate with him in every possible
way. He was in Washington, D. C.,
last week on business concerning his
organization,
Truck Drivers Gain
Increased Wages
At El Paso, Texas
EL PASO, Texas.—Truck Drivers
Local No. 541, A. F. of L, affiliate,
announced that a new union agree
ment with all union trucking compa
nies in El Paso had been approved.
A substantial wage increase and a
decrease in hours was secured for
city dock and pick-up men. A higher
wage rate was also obtained for line
drivers. The union has agreements
with seven large motor freight and
express lines,
CHARLOTTE «•**•
LOW WAGE POLICIES OF THE SOUTH
ARE CONDEMNED BY FLETCHER
IN TALK AT THE ROTARY CLUB
Speakinr, he said, “a» a south
erner,” Major Arthur L. Fletcher, as
sistant administrator of the wage and
hour division of the United States
Department of Labor, declared in an
address at the weekly meeting of
Charlotte Rotary Club yesterday that
“the low wage virus has been allowed
too long to spread its contamination
through the South’s economic blood
stream.”
“Even where we ourselves have
been able to assemble the capital and
the tools of industry so that we might
participate in the profits, we seem to
have been primarily concerned about
the presumed disadvantages of high
wages to ourselves as manufacturers
and business men and to have lost
sight of the benefits in which we
might participate,” said Major
Fletcher.
Speaking on the subject, “Wages
and the South,” the former State
Commissioner of Labor in North Car
olina defended the Wage and Hour
law and argued that the South would
be benefited instead of injured eco
nomically by paying the same level of
wages as are paid in the North.
He was introduced by Rufus M.
Johnston, the club’s program chair
man, who said he and Major Fletcher
served together in the United States
army on the Mexican border and in
Europe.
“We need to realize that as long as
we ‘make it cheap’ we can expect noth
ing better than a cheap economy in
the South,” Major Fletcher asserted,
adding that “we’d like to have the
northern industrialists pay high wa
ges so that their workers can buy our
cotton textiles, our tobacco and our
lumber, but we haven’t been suffi
ciently concerned about paying wages
high enough ourselves so that our
own workers can buy our products^
“Once more with our hands we have
been strangling a big part of our po
tential market.
“It is here that the Wage and Hour
law steps in. The law says that the
employer engaged in interstate com
merce, or in the production of goods
for interstate commerce, must pay a
living wage, as it guarantees that,
while one employer is doing that, the
other fellow is going to have to pay
a living wage, too.
Nevertheless, there are those who
would have us believe that m some
way the Wage and Hour law is a car
fetbag measure imposed upon the
outh. The fact is that the law could
not have been enacted without the
votes of those Southern congressmen
who supported it in accordance with
the wishes of their constituents. The
South, as well as the North and West,
to-anted it.”
Major Fletcher here quoted at
length from statements of Southern
congressmen who favored the Wag
ner labor act, which he said originally
drafted by Senator Hugh Black, of
Alabama, and Representative Con
nery, of Massachusetts.
The speaker said: “Have you
heard of any southern industrialists
saving: ‘It may be all right for
northern factory owners to expect a
return of 7 or 8 per cent on their in
vestment, but as for us well be per
fectly satisfied with 3 _ per cent be
cause we have such a fine climate’?”
Major Fletcher explained that the
operation of the law will prevent cer
tain minority employers, paying un
reasonably low wages, underselling
their competitors -and driving them
out of the market unless the latter
also reduce wages to the level of the
small minority.
He cited figures compiled by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics to show
that the average cost of living in the
North is only 3 per cent hgher than
in the South and that “the lowest liv
ing cost, as well as the highest, was
in the North, and that there were
greater variations from city to city in
the South and from city to city in the
North than there were between the
northern cities as a group and the
southern cities as a group.”
Facts
With PHILIP PEARL
This is not a Labor Day message.
It is a “morning after' report. Bo
don’t read it until after Labor Dav,
We just want to make that clear
at the outset because a letter we re
ceived this week from an esteemed la
bor paper in St. Louis. The editor
asked us for a Labor Day message.
Well, it was a great compliment, but
we were forced to reply that, not be
ing one of the “big shots” in the la
bor movement, we would have to de
cline the offer. „
That, however, was not the full rea
son for passing up the opportunity so
graciously provided. It is our convic
tion that Labor Day is not a very good
reading day. It is a holiday. To
many people Labor Day represents
the last summer week-end at the
beach. To others it means parades,
bands, cheers, picnics, speeches, Dag
waving, or any other kind of celebra
tion. So we thought the situation
over and decided if we expected to
get anybody to read our stuff we bad
better save up our message until
after Labor Day and avoid a lot of
tough competition. Here |t is;
“Let's keep our feet on the ground
Short and sweet. Judged by Lib
erty Magazine’s timing methods, it
takes only one-tenth of a second to
read. It covers a lot of ground and a
lot of feet. As we look it over, we’d
like to let it stand just as it is. That
would permit our readers to fill in
the blanks and save us the trouble,
But we might supply a few hints as
to how to apply the advice.
PEACE, PEACE!
Let’s keep our feet on the ground
with regard to what is going on in
Europe. They’re in a terrible mess
over there all over again* But it’s
their mess. It is not ours. No mat
ter what happens, even war, we must
be determined to keep out of it at any
cost. Any cost would be cheap com
pared with the fearful toll our entry
into another European war would ex
act from us
Uur horror oi Hiller matches any
one’s. The sickening spectacle of a
single bully, a mad, conscienceless dic
tator lost to all sense of honor and
decency, plunging millions of people
into despair by constant threats of
war, makes us all feel like fighting
just to rid the world of such a men
ace to its security. But let’s keep our
feet on the ground. Let us remember
that the conditions which made Hit
ler’s rise to power possible grew out
of the selfish and short-sighted "set
tlement” of the last war. - Let us re
member that the last war was fought
to “save the world for democracy."
See what has happened to democracy
since! Let us not be stampeded into
another war by such slogans as "save
democracy for the world.” The so
called democratic nations of Europe
brought their present troubles on their
own heads by trying to carve up their
enemies at the close of the last war.
They are now paying for that sin.
Hitler is their baby. They have lost
many nightB’ sleep carrying him up
and down to keep him from squawk
ing. Now that these methods of
appeasement have apparently failed,
it is their job to make him behave or
slap him down. Go ahead and slap
him down if you have to, say we, but
don’t ask us for help. We’re out of it
politics and labor
It won’t be long now before the
propaganda floodgates of politics are
thrown wide open for the 1940 cam
paign. Again, we say, let’s keep our
feet on the ground. Let us not be
stampeded one way or the other by
promises or charges. Let us, rather,
give a little thought to what ails us
as a nation and vote for candidates
who offer a constructive cure.
Unemployment, as a word, is begin
ning to lose its significance. It nas
been used too much. It has become
too familiar. It has lost its horror.
But it is horrible! Just think of the
tragedy of a man or woman with a
family to support trudging the streets
trying to find honest work to earn a
living and being turned away from
every door. Think of what goes on in
that man’s mind and that woman’s
mind. Multiply that tragedy by ten
million and then perhaps we may get
the idea of the vast extent of this
cancerous sore in our ecoonmic sys
tem
Unemployment is an emergency. It
is just as much an emergency now as
it was seven or eight years ago when
it first beeame acute. Prophets of
doom are willing to concede that be
cause the emergency has lasted so
long it is now chronic—a condition
that will always be with us. We insist
that all other considerations be
waived in the face of this emergency.
We know by now that Government
relief is not a cure for unemployment.
Nor is government pump-priming.
They help relieve the suffering caused
by unemployment. But they do not
cure it. No one will dispute the fact
that the only way to cure unemploy
ment is to provide jobs for the unem
ployed in private industry. How can
that be done? It is a problem for
Government, business and labor to
work together. First of all, it is ab
I solutely necessary to wipe out the dis
I trust that now exists. Business dis
trusts Government. Government dis
trusts business. If we’re going to
keep our feet on the ground, those
boys had better get together, and soon.
PEACE. PEACE AGAIN
There remains but one more word.
Organized labor must get its feet on
the ground. So long as the C. I .0.
exists that will continue to be a dif
ficult problem. The C. I. O. now is a
hateful svmbol to the American mind.
It must be wiped out. Labor peace
and unity must be achieved soon in
the interests of labor and the whole
country. That can only be done by
the dissolution of the G. I. O. and the
return of its unions to the American
Federation of Labor. Come on back,
boys. The door is open.
PATRONIZE
JOURNAL
ADVERTISERS
LOCAL DIVINE TELLS OF MUTTERINGS
U. S. WORKERS; SAYS SOCIAL INJUS
TICE !MORE DANGEROUS THAN WAR
As the nations of Europe were
plunged into a new World war Sun
day, Dr. R. L. Ownbey, preaching at
the Myers Park Presbyterian church,
warned his congregation that Amer
ican democracy faces a more therat
ening danger than being drawn into
a foreign war.
This danger, he said, is a social in
justice that persists in spite of recent
efforts to correct it.
Dr. Ownbey paid his respects to
such people as cry out against the
Christian Church’s taking a hand in
an economic situation such as America
faces. “These people,” said he, “ad
vocate the preacher’s declaring only
the simple gospel—the more spiritual
and less economic the better—but I
tell you that, if questions like this
are not the church’s business, she had
better go out of business; and if she
refuses to recognize the moral obliga
tion in such a situation, the church in
America may find herself forced out
of business as was the church in Rus
sia an<^ as the church in Germany is
on the verge of being. Jesus is the
Church’s example of making these
things its business.”
Dr. Ownbey thanked God for better
conditions among the laboring class
in many quarters of the United
States, for a growing spirit of broth
erljness between many mill owners
and their employes, and for the thou
sands of capitalists who have the
greatest good of their employes at
heart. In sharp contrast he read sta
tistics that condemn other thousands
of industrial plant owners.
“One large corporation,” he said,
“distributed 350 millions in divi
dends to stockholders in 1936-37 and
added 54 millions to its cash reserves.
In 1938 that same corporation dis
charged more than 100,000 employes,
though its profit that year was 102
millions. The chief eecutive of that
company, his salary more than half a
million, when asked what was to be*
come of his idle workers, replied, ‘It
matters very little to me.’
“Some impossible situations exist in
America. The richest country in the
world, its private fortunes unequaled
anywhere, and its banks overflowing
with idle money, America has, in con
trast, the largest army of unemploy
ed and the longest breadline in the
world.
“A study of 1936-36 reveals that
6,700,000 families had average in
comes annually of $307; whereas 87
families in the highest salary bracket
had incomes averaging $1,800,000 to
each family. A family in the first
group would have to work six thou
sand years to have an income equal
to one oft,the families in the higher
bracket. v
“Thousands of the underprivileged
have been os buffeted about in their
efforts to get bread that they have
lost their morale. Their self-respect
is gone, their courage shattered; they
have been so undernourished physi
cally that spiritually they are broken
down.
“Can we expect the disinherited
mililons of American people to go on
indefinitely, acquiescing supinely in
such conditions? The America of to
morrow will suffer beyond our imag
ination if this aspect of the «wi«|
crisis is not immediately and adequate
ly remedied.
“Would. Jesus be silent in the face
of the social ills were He here today?
Would he commend the shrewdness of
the man who is able to make half a
million a year and pass by without
compassion the family living on $307?
He condemned social injustice in Bi
ble days; our Lord would not be
silent now. Such parables as ‘The
Rich Fool’ and ‘The last Judgment*
which we have read today, are our
proof of this.”—Observer.
A “Veteran” Passes
Us A Few War Notes
NEUTRALITY: America remains
neutral? America will not be neutral
in fact until Congress passes tbe bill
for real neutrality proposed by PresL
dent Roosevelt. Until that happens,
the U. S. is a partner in deed, if not
in fact, with Germany, and its
aggressions.
POLISH FRONT: Germany in the
first week of war drives Poles into
more compact defense, with their
seizure of Polish territory. Germany
uses bombs on Polish Capital, bomb
ing it many tithes a day, as well as
bombing other important towns and
villages. Germany’s victorious? Yes,
so far. I
FRENCH FRONT: Your guess is
as good as mine. The French seem
to be mobilizing the largest army in
modern history. That takes time, as
any World War veteran who served in
France will tell you.
BRITISH FRONT: The Athenia,
a British passenger vessel torpedoed
with many American and Canadians
fleeing the War zone, without notice.
It sems nearly all are saved. The
usual blockade of German ports by
the British navy easily effected. A
British success. Many British col
onies declaring War on Germany, with
Canada still undecided at this writing.
WM. S. GREENE.
Cincinnati Hotels
Sign Agreement
A.F. of L. Workers
CINCINNATI^ Ohio—Following
negotiations extending over a num
ber of months, the contract between
the Hotel Employes Council, com
posed of unions affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, and
the Hotel Association was finalized
here. Signatories for the Hotel Em
ployes Council were John Hurst,
president; Otto Zoecklein, secretary,
and Fred Rasser, treasurer. The
Hotel Association signatories were
Daniel M. Myers, president, and W.
Deininger, secretary.
The agreement contains a provision
for vacations with pay for all em
ployes retroactive to July 1. It was
stated that the vacations provision is
not usually found in hotel workers
agreements in other cities.
The Cincinnati Hotel Association
includes the Alms, Fountain Square,
Gibson, Metropole, Netherland Plaza
and the Sinton.
Through the Hotel Employes’ Coun
cil thirteen union bodies will benefit.
They are the Bartenders, Bakers and
Confectioners, Building Service Em
ployes, Carpenters, Cooks, Cleaners
and Dyers, Electrical Workers, Sta
tionary Engineers, Firemen and Oil
ers, Painters, Waiters Local Unions
72 and 541, Waitresses and the Mis
cellaneous Workers.
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|
Sparrow Tries todscc*
VENTNOR, N. J.— A sparrow that
made its nest in the eaves of Frank
Tabasso’s house in Ventnor, N. J.,
picked up a lighted cigarette on the
sidewalk and carried it home.' The
nest caught fire and so dia the
house. The damage was slight.
NEW YORK.—A barefoot woman
skipper and a crew of six men came
to port recently in a 90-foot ketch
and completed a new saga of sail*
ing, a story of a woman who never
sailed before, but decided she liked
it. So she sailed 30,000 miles and
stayed out three years.
“I thought it would be nice to go
for a trip,” said Mrs. Marion Rice
Hart, captain and owner of the
ketch and sister of Mrs. P. Hal
Sims, the bridge expert “It just
happened. We got around to the:
East Indies and I thought, *We may
as well go on.‘ ”
The peacock blue hull of the ateel
ketch Vanora, built in 1002 on the
lines of a fishing boat, and bought
by Mrs. Hart from a British naval:
officer, was bleached to an uneven'
aqua shade by the sun and water.
Her square sail and topsail. Jib;
and mizzen were weather marked
from r,040 days at sea. She’d been;
in 101 ports since Mrs. Hart—bored!
with her life as a sculptor and with!
her house, garden, and servants at
Avignon, France—bought the ketch'
and started out from Portsmouth,;
England, on an August day in 1836.
I When they reached a new port the
I captain and crew would inquire,.
“What new wars have there been?” ;
They got a radio at one port, but it;
never worked; so in their leisure
they trailed fishing lines or played;
rhummy. Once they caught a shark
and dined on shark meat. They sel
dom used the vessel’s auxiliary mo-'
tor. !
Except for a cruise around the
Greek islands once before as a pas
senger on a 70 foot vessel, when the
sails weren’t used, Mrs. Hart was a
neophyte sailor.
On completion of the three year
cruise the members of her crew ex
pressed admiration for her nautical
ability. r |