jn» OWLT REALLY INPlPtNDENT WEEKLY la Mecklenburg County
> Weekly Its Readers Btprwait tlw LARGEST BUYING POWER h Ctarirth
Official Orgaa Central
Labor Union; standing for
the A. F. of L.
Chr Charlotte labor Journal
Patronize our Adrer
Users. They Make YOUR
paper possible by their
co-operation.
Truthful, Honest, Impartial
Endorsed by the N. C State Federa
tion of Labor
AND DIXIE FARM NEWS
Endeavoring to Serve the Masses
YOUR ADVERTISEMENT IN TNI JOURNAL ID A
INVESTMENT
Deserve consideration or
VOL. X—NO. 1
CHARLOTTE, N. C„ THURSDAY, MAY 16, 1940
$2.00 Per Year
HAM AND EGG, TOWNSEND, C. L 0.
WILD PENSION PLANS EXPOSED
BY FEDERATION ORGANIZER
WASHINGTON, D. C—Rattle
brained pension schemes which prom
ise the moon to gullible aged persons
were exposed and assailed by the
American Federation of Labor.
President William Green sent to
affiliated organizations copies of a
new pamphlet called “A Rainbow Pot
of Gold, or Dependable Income For
Old Age,” which blasts the fallicies
of the Townsend, “Ham and Eggs”
and CIO pension scremes and presents
the honest, workable program of the
American Federation of Labor.
Summed up, the A. F. of L. pro
gram provides for the following ob
jectives:
1. “Jobs first with good wages and
working conditions.
2. “Insurance next to provide in
come and a reasonable protection
against huge expenses during periods
of unemployment and illness for the
worker and his dependents.
3. “Income in old age which is in
reasonable proportion to the whole
program of social protection.
“That is a plan,” the A. F. of L.
pamphlet declares, “organized labor
can honestly support and for which
our millions of workers can reason
ably work. That is a program worth
paying for, one which keeps a fair
relationship between individual and
social efforts.”
In a preface to the pamphlet, Mr.
Green charged:
“Persons baiting you with Town
send plans, ‘ham and eggs,’ or soft
promises of $60 a month when you
are fifty-five or sixty, if single, and
$90 if married, never tell what the
plan will cost, who will pay for it, or
prove that you will really get it.”
This the pamphlet proceeds to do.
It shows that the CIO pension scheme
of $60 a month to single persons and
$909 a month to married couples would
would cost the Government over six
and a third billion dollars a year if
paid only to persons over sixty. Yet
in no year to date in the nation’s his
tory has the entire total of Federal
tax receipts aggregated six and a
quarter billion dollars. In other
words this impossible scheme would
take all the money the Government
raises by taxes and leave nothing for
the operation ? the G^verament.
But that is only the beginning of the
story. For the proportion of old peo
pie in tne population is sieaauy in
creasing and it is estimated in the
pamphlet that 14 bililon dollars a
year would be the bill for such pen
sions by 1980.
Who is to pay for such pensions?
The Government?
“Let no worker deceive himself that
those huge sums could be raised with
out new taxes which he would have
to pay,” the pamphlet says. “He would
have to sacrifice during nis productive
years to provide more income for each
retired person than he has for the
members of his own family.
“There is no magic in the payment
of pensions which permits the Gov
ernment to supply some pepole with
incomes without taking money for
those incomes from other people. The
care of the aged is an obligation which
we have always had and which we ex
pect to meet, but the amoutn of such
vention of the A. P. of L. unanimous
care must be reasonably related to our
total income and the other demands
made upon it.”
The pamphlet made the same de
vastating analysis of the Townsend
analysis of the Townsend and “ham
and eggs” plan.
In an acocmpanying letter, Mr.
Green pointed out that the 1939 con
ly went on record against too gfeat
extravagance in one phase of the so
cial security program at the expense
of tax increases for workers and fail
ure to provide for other pressing needs
such as more adequate unemployment
compensation, disability coverage and
health insurance. The convention de
cided that the next step in improving
old age insurance should be to widen
coverage in the social security pro
gram.
“The American Federation of La
bor is working to get the coverage of
the law extended,” Mr. Green said in
his letter. “Later as the whole pro
gram of social insurance is brought
in a well-rounded fashion to more ade
quate levels, it may be possible to im
prove the benefits of old age insur
ance.
“In the meantime, I believe we
should serve our membership by tell
ing them honestly that they will gain
more from a well-rounded develop
•yodt of the social security program
suan by hvping for the enactment of
legislation providing large pensions
for everyone over some specified age.”
LIBERALISM AND LABOR MUST JOIN
HANDS AND FIGHT OR MUST QUIT
Have the forces of Liberalism and of Labor, prospered as
they have and grown strong in the seven years of the New Deal,
become lazy and inept at a critical moment?
It would appear so as one scans the news and comment
emanating from Washington. There, to all intent and purposes,
guided by malignant foes, the ebb tide against Liberalism and
Labor has set in. Labor, lax and tardy in matters political, today
sees the forces of reaction out-shouting, out-voting and out
maneuvering them.
Smart, election-year politics is being played in Washington
and keen-eared politicians are hearing almost everything except
the challenging voice of Labor. This is evidenced by two votes,
recently taken in the House of Representatives, which bode no
good for the American workers.
The first of these was the passage of the tricky Walter-Logan
bill, a back handed attack upon the entire social and economic
program of the New Deal. The other, the 233 to 141 vote for
taking up and considering amendments to the Wages and Hours
law—recorded over the personal plea of President Roosevelt.
The Walter-Logan bill strikes at every Federal agency, in
cluding the National Labor Relations Board, Social Security Board,
Securities and Exchange Commission, even the Tennessee Valley
Authority, in that it gives Federal Courts sweeping power over
these and many other agencies of a quasi-judicial nature. Bitter
foes of such Governmental boards will, if this bill gets by the Sen
ate, have the very weapon to strike them down through intermin
able litigation whereas under existing regulations they have met
defeat at every angle.
To think that these New Deal agencies are so firmly estab
lished as to be impregnable, and cannot be done away with, is
sheer folly.
Leading the fight to amend the Wages and Hours law, natu
rally, is the “gentleman from Georgia,” Mr. Gene Cox, hard-bitten,
vociferous union-baiter. Hailing from one of many districts in
the South where the Negro and poor white citizen is clubbed away
from the ballot box with a poll tax, Gene’s unafraid. He’ll have
rich reward from miU and factory barons and powerful corpora
tions if their wishes can be written into law.
These two set-backs point a clear lesson for Labor to learn
and use: FIGHT or QUIT. The battle is today and it fights vic
toriously on the Wagner Act and the Wages and Hours law will
be torpedoed.
To quote the Hosiery Worker:
“May the guns, or take to the boats.”
CONSECRATION
Five barley loaves, little fishes—
My scanty store— .
I lay upon the altar of my heart.
Would it were more!
Wilt thou in wondrous condescension
These deign to touch
That meagerness may multiply
And mite be much?
O, Galilean, Hope of all who hunger,
Fill Thou my soul
That I may offer starving, stumbling
children
A loaf that’s whole.
—Sister Mary Denrise, R.S.M.
Subscribe For the Journal
The Class Must Go On,
Lonely Student Finds
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Rich
ard Andrew, Harvard junior from
PleasantviUe, N. Y., thought he
surely would be excused from a
lecture when he turned out to be
the only one of the class of 10
present.
Prof. Frank S. Cawley thought
differently and proceeded to out
line his lecture carefully on the
blackboard.
Then he discoursed on the sub
ject for 90 minutes as Andrew
sat alone and listened.
THE JOURNAL ENTERS ITS TENTH YEAR
The Journal enters its tenth year of continuous publi
cation — an all-time record for any Labor Paper in this sec
tion. Under the same editorial management and ownership
The Journal has retained the respect and good will of its
constituency. It has endeavored to be fair, both to Capital
and Labor, yet, at all times espousing the principles of the
American Federation of Labor. It has ever put its adver
tisers to the front, all things being fair and equal, urging
labor to patronize and spend its earnings with the concerns
making their paper possible. Many locals subscribe for The
Journal in groups, and its circulation has grown in recent
months, going into the homes of a class spending over $6,000,
000 a year in Charlotte.
The Journal thanks its friends and asks co-operation
as it journeys towards its Decennial edition — one year from
now.
PRES. N. C. STATE FEDERATION
LABOR COMPLIMENTS JOURNAL
UPON ITS NINTH ANNIVERSARY
Spencer, N. C., May 10, 1940.
Mr. W. M. Witter,
203 South College St.
Charlotte, N. C.
Dear Brother Witter:
I was glad to hear from you again mid I am glad to give you
the short letter of commendation for the Ninth Anniversary
issue of the Charlotte Journal.
I think the Charlotte Labor Journal has been and is a real
asset to the American Federation of Labor in North Caro
lina. I know that it has been tried and tested but has stood
up for the American Federation of Labor. I am proud of this
paper with its fine editorials, and Brother Witter, I think you
should be commended for your long and faithful service to
the American Federation of Labor. I wish you many more
successful years with your paper.
With best wishes to you and family, I remain,
Fraternally yours,
C. A. Fink, President.
N. C State Federation of Labor.
- ■
J. A. MOORE, PRES. CENTRAL BODY
CONGRATULATES LABOR JOURNAL
UPON ITS NINTH ANNIVERSARY
• ! *** . _
MR. W. M. WITTER, Editor
Charlotte Labor Journal,
Charlotte, N. C.
Dear Sir and Brother:
On behalf of the Charlotte Central Labor Union, I ex
tend to you our greetings and congratulate you on your firm
stand with the Great American Federation of Labor.
Personally, I believe you have been loyal to our great
cause to a financial disadvantage to yourself and family »nJ
for this, if for no other reason, we Join you in happily cele
brating this your ninth anniversary.
Fraternally yours,
J. A. MOORE, Pres.,
Charlotte Central Labor Union.
Henry A. Stalls, Pres. Typo Union
Former Journal Business Mgr.,
Sends Labor Journal Greetings
Mr. W. M. Witter, Editor,
The Charlotte Labor Journal
Dear Sir and Brother:
Labor, through the efforts of The Charlotte Labor
Journal, has made great strides forward during the past nine
years and along with others I extend my most sincere good
wishes for the continued progress of The Journal and the
labor movement.
It was with a very modest beginning nine years ago
that the wnt*r and W. M. Witter, the present editor, began
publication of The Charlotte Labor Journal. We had many
obstacles to overcome and also became involved in many
debacles but the good ship has weathered the storm as is
attested by the splendid volume of advertising appearing in
this issue.
. The Labor Journal has conducted its columns on the
strictly up and up,’ adhering strictly to those principles
expounded by the American Federation of Labor by toeing
the mark and letting its chips fall where they may. In this
manner it has always been respected, both by labor people
and the general public.
From the start The Labor Journal was destined to have
a very important part in the upbuilding of the labor move*
ment in Charlotte and surrounding territory. It has and is
serving that purpose, therefore, I know that although un
certainties and misunderstandings may arise, your paper
will continue to weather the storms and will sail on into that
port, where peace, prosperity and good will prevail among
mankind.
I extend to you the good wishes of every member of
Charlotte Typographical Union, which, by the way, is the
oldest union in Charlotte.
Yours fraternally,
HENRY A. STALLS, President
Charlotte Typographical Union.
MECKLENBURG INDEPENDENCE
DECLARATION FESTIVAL TO BE
HELD IN CHARLOTTE MAY 19-22
Mecklenburg County, North Caro
lina will celebrate the 165th anniver
sary of the signing of the Mecklen
burg Declaration of Independence
with a gigantic festival May 19-20.
On May 20, 1775, more than one
year before the signing of the Ameri
can Declaration of Independence, a
band of patirots met in the log court
course at Charlotte, county seat of
Mecklenburg county, and signed a doc
ument declaring themselves free and
independent of the rule of George III,
king of England.
The highlight of the celebration this
Snnng will be an historical pageant,
The Birth of Independence,” which
will be given on three nights, May 20,
21, 22 in the Memorial Stadium. The
climax will come with the coronation
of the festival queen at a ball to be
held the night of May 21. Also on
the program will be Army maneuvers,
speeches, parades, concerts tours, ex
hibits, a pet show, a horse show, a
flower show, street dances and a mar
ble tournament.
Plans for the festival were initiatec
by the Charlotte Junior Chamber ol
Commerce. Other civic, patriotic &nc
fraternal organizations are co-oper
ating m staging the event. Approxi
mately 2,500 persons will participate
in preparations for the festival ant
m its presentation. The cast of the
pageant,, which is being written anc
directed by John B. Rogers Co., oi
rostona, Ohio, will contain 600 oi
more people.
Charlotte is a city of 100,000 popu
lation m the heart of Piedmont Caro
Unas It is known as the Queen Cite
°f, 4South, and to its citizens a\
the hornet’s nest.” The latter nick
name was applied to the village oi
Charlotte during the American Revo
lution by Lord Cornwallis, who tern
poranly made his headquarters there
After a week in the village, a weel
during which snipers routed severa
foraging parties of his troons, he lef
saying “Let’s get out of here; thh
r»?Ce ll ®, verlt»We hornet’s nest.’
The pithet has stuck..
18 mu$h controversy abou
rs a M*^Tek°f ■?? ?uch documen
$• * Mecklenburg Declaration of In
dependence. But the late Dr. Alexan
Northrrhami- dea? of education ii
Carolina during his day at
ways answered doubters with th
>******~rm'» j
question, “Would you deny the exist
ence of the American Declaration of
Independence if Dolly Madison hadn’t
had presence of mind enough to res
cue it when Washington was burned
j in the War of 1817?”
The people of North Carolina were
(of a strongly independent strain. The
patriots of Mecklenburg County were
no exception. Colonel Thomas Polk,
military commander of the county,
called a meeting for May 19, 1775, of
eighteen delegates to discuss the grow
ing discord with the Mother Country,
England. When the assembly met,
half the men of the county were pres
ent.
The meeting was held in the log
courthouse. While it was in session, a
horseman brougth the news of the Bat
tle of Lexington. The sacrifices of the
patriots aroused sympathy among the
Mecklenburgers, and the rout of the
British made them bold. A commit
tee of three men -was appointed to
draft a Declaration of Indepenodence.
On this committee were Colonel Wil
liam Kennon of Salisbury, a lawyer;
Dr. Ephriam Brevard, a physician;
and the Rev. Hezekiah Balch.
The report of the committee was
submitted after midnight. The chair
man put the question for its adoption
at 2:00 A. M., May 20, and the ac
tion, of the delegates was unanimous in
its favor. At noon, Colonel Polk read
the proclamation from the courthouse
steps to a gathering of several thou
sand.
Captain James Jack was deputized
tb take a copy of the declaration to
Philadelphia, where the Continental
Congress was prepared to express
loyalty to the King and to deny the
charge of a desire for independence.
It was considered that to take the
action on the Mecklenburg Declaration
would have been out of place.
All documents about the meeting
and the original copy of the declara
tion itself were destroyed by fire
which burned the home of John Mc
• Knitt Alexander, secretary of the
convention at which it was adopted,
in 1800, Most historians have express
ed skepticism about the declaration,
but no true Meckleniburger doubts
that it was a great a reality as the
American Declaration of Independ
Sa00; „Jhe date of its signing, May
^2’ x1,775' 18 on the flag of the State
of North Carolina.
WM-s.greene lauds journal
ON ITS NINTH ANNIVERSARY
W. M. WITTER,
CHARLOTTE LABOR JOURNAL
Dear Brother:
thteyTr V0"' Tl" Char,°“« Ub«r *>«nuU, on
W Mu^h A ,'rsi‘rv' AH of I-abor in Charlotte owes
Ler „T :i rmeafrb'e Kra(i,ud' f»r hard wlrklhl
The American^F^derathm ^ot ££ kMP ‘h' P*« *<“»*■
valiant fight to nmonn w I^bor owes you thanks for a
“Fifth Column” acUvHfes lHhinM11 the laSt f<LW yearSp from
lotte owes you a HapivBirt hnLv l membershiP- Char
servative labor movement wi hin u \he rejen.tion of a «►
Charlotte Central Labor I In in ?S boundar,es- And the
Happy Birthdays J °'Ves you nine bi« hearty
&2”vWu“S'lha’1 lh*‘At *5 £
you, and you efforts. THarppyrbirthda.y.f Si”“re m'n behi”<l
} WM. S. GREENE, Sec.,
Charlotte Central Labor Union.
- n-|nnj II
Vice-President Campbell Congratulates
Labor Journal Upon Its Anniversary
Mr w M Charlotte, N. C., May *4, 1940.
Mr. W. M. Witter, Editor., *
Charlotte Labor Journal,
Charlotte, N. C.
Dear Sir and Brother:
Would indeed feel insensate should I fail to tak* «hi<.
Mnhrnwy A labor paper that has alway,
doctrine r»f n,* and at the same time expounded the
bSi'Federation of Labor; oneThat’a
STy is AtlanHc alTi^ms. vears 8in" that eva,l,“l
Tuhe Labor Movement in Charlotte is proud to know that
to fhJanShlirmediV,,iI whKereby’ they may voice their message
fcef? of an inestimable value tob£
cat^d^.idtoX’v"i? thT. "°wie cause to which we all arededi
and which will ultimately inure to the everlasting
w /Lf OUr 80c,aI and anomic advancement. g
I amW th 8,nCere PersonaI regards to you and Mrs. Witter*
Sincerely and fraternally yours,
W. S. CAMPBELL,
Vice-President State Federation of Labor.
Journal Readers Co-operate With Those
Who Advertise In It.