Tht ONLY REALLY INDEPENDENT WEEKLY to Mecklenburg Comity
Par a Waekfr Its
the LARGEST BUYING POWSR ta
Official Organ Caatral
Labor Union; standing for
tk* A. F. of L.
Che Charlotte labor Journal
Users. They Maks YOU*
paper possible by thsfr
co-opera tioa.
Truthful, Honest, Impartial
Endorsed by tke N. C. SUte Fedora*
tton of Labor
and dixie farm news
Endeavoring to Serve the Musset
VOL. X—NO. 14
tow MwniiunT in t«i jwowu m a
CHARLOTTE, N. C* THURSDAY, AUGUST 15,1940
12.00 Pw Yaw
Charlotte Gets State A. F. of L Convention In 1941
WILL OUR DEFENSE PROGRAM VITAL
IZE OR SAP OUR NATIONAL ENERGY?
ASKS A. F. OF L MONTHLY SURVEY
Our country is fast swinging, into
a defense economy. This fact is of
prime concern to all of us. Defense
production forms but a small part of
our whole national output, should use
only 7 per cent of our normal peace
time facilities, according to one esti
mate. Yet defense activities will have
right of way over all others in our
industries, and, if men are drafted,
even in our homes. The energies of our
ablest business executives, labor lead
ers, working men and women, in fact
the time and ability of all us will be
diverted to building up a great mili
tary machine.
Since we have idle man power, idle
plant capacity and high productive
efficiency we can handle $5,000,000,
000 of defense production yearly
without destroying our hard-won la
bor gains or reducing the national
living standard. We can even improve
greatly our present national welfare
by giving defense jobs to the unem
ployed, bringing idle plants into ac
tivity. But if the defense program is
not carefully guided, it can disrupt
our economic life, causing booms in
some industries and depressions in
others, destroy labor standards, leave
mills and men stranded after the first
years of intense activity are over.
National defense can either vitalize
or sap our Whole national energy, de
pending on how well we keep balance
between defense production and the
other 93 per cent of our activity. Since
control oyer defense policies rests in
the hands of the President, our fu
ture depends to a degree never be
fore known in peacetime on his deci
sions. To insure balanced planning,
representatives of trade unions,
farmers’ associations, business men’s
groups must sit on all policy making
boards. Only thus can tne voice of the
people be heard and heeded, democ
racy be preserved.
In Europe, even before the war,
armaihent production greatly reduced
living standards. With our liigher
productivity, this is not necessary.
We can produce a higher income per
person than any other country in the
world. The chart shows that our per
capita income of $432 compares with!
$401 in England, $345 in Germany,
$$321 in Sweden, and $$267 in France.1
We produced this higher income with
a work week 8 hours shorter than
that of France and Germany, 11
hours shorter than that of England
and Sweden. We are immensely more
able to maintain a military machine
without reducing our labor standards.
Foreign countries today are making
enormous,sacrifices. In England, con-:
sumer goods production has been sac-!
rificed to armaments, living costs'
are up 20 to 25 per cent Workert,’
families pay a $147 tax on $2000 of
income, $43 on $1500—incomes which
are exempt in this country. In addi
tion, sales taxes of 12 per cent on ■
all necessities except food and 24
per cent on all luxuries such as fur
niture, cosmetics, must be paid. The
workers’ living is reduced to the bar
est essentials. Work hours have been
lengthened from 44 or 48 to 60, and
in some cases 72 in the warring coun
tries.
These records warn us of the im
mense disruption to normal life which
accompanies an extreme war effort.
We in America are not at war; our
task is to build our national strength,
to prevent such disruptions. To do
this we must get the unemployed back
to work, raise living standards, see
that increasing industrial income
flows to wage earners in wage in
creases.
Man Power—Federation unemploy
ment estimates show that 374,000
went back to work in June. Nearly
60,000 were taken on by defense and
related industries, 176,000 by farms.
Unemployment is still at high levels,
with 9,661,000 out of work in June,
19490; this compares with 10,143,000
in June, 19399.9 Most recent estimates
show 2,500,000 likely to be re-em
ployed by June, 1941, due to the de
fense program; accounting for the
probable draft of 1,000,000 men and
allowing the normal increase of 560,
000 in working population, unem
ployment will probably decline to
about 6,600,000 by June, 1941.
High Profits Ahead.—Government
funds will be poured into industry at
a rate which makes previous pump
priming!ook small indeed. For fiscal
1941, we have a prospective Federal
budget of 313,600,000,000 (of which
16,000,000,000 is for defense). This
compares with $9,666,000,000 in fis
cal 1940 and $3,848,000,000 in prede
pression 1929. Production and profits
will be lifted to high levels. Pros
pective profits of 400 leading indus
trial corporations for 1940 amount to
$2,280 million, which almost equals
the average of 1916-17, high points
of the last war, and approaches the
prosperity peak of 1927-29 (average
$2,568 mill fern yearly) and the recov
ery peak of 1937 ($2,412 million).
Full-year 1940 profits will exceed last
year by 23 per cent. First half-year
gains over last year are even more
striking: Profits of 400 corporations
were up 59 9per cent; earnings were
10.9 per cent on net worth compared
to 7 per cent last year. This high per
centage earned on net worth equals
that of 1937, the post-depression peak.
Corporations have not increased
wages as much as their earnings per
mitted. A larger flow in income to
workers is vital. Newly created wealth
must lift the living standards of low
income groups. We need the flow of
their buying power into non-defense
consumer goods industries, to keep
these industries growing in a normal
way, prevent top-heavy defense de
velopment, build up our national well
being. We must also see that ade
quate machine tools are released to
consume industries to allow their ex
pansion.
THE MARCH OF LABOR
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THE JOURNAL has by far
the largest city circulation of
any weekly published in Char*
lotte. Your ad in The Journal
will bring results from the
workers.
NO HURRY
First Convict: "Say, Buddy, how
Iona: a stretch you got?"
Second Convict: "I’m in for life.
How about you—when do you get
»utr
First Convict: ‘‘Twenty-five years.”
Second Convict: "Say, will you
mail a letter for me on your way
mtr
Aluminum Co. Jobs Almost 100 Pet
A. F. of L—Men On Nantahala Project
Coming Into Union In Large Numbers
FRANKLINTON, N. C., Aug. 10.
—A local union of Hod Carrier*, Com
mon and Construction Laborer* ha*
been organized here and the charter
installed, with Harold Dalrymple as
president, Jess Thompson as vice
president, and J. L. Barnard, Jr.,
recording and financial secretary.
Eligible workers employed on the
Glenville job of the Aluminum com
pany has joined the local almost one
Hundred per cent, and employes on the
Nantahala job are said to be coming
into the local union in gratifying
numbers.
The Glenville job is being done by
the contracting firm of Morrison
Knudsen Construction company. This
job includes a large dam at Glenville
and a tunnel.
The Nantahala job, also a dam and
tunnel, is being done by the Utah
Construction company, and 3200 men
are to be employed on both jobs when
either get into full action.
When it was announced that the
Aluminum Company of America had
let these jobs for construction of pow
er plants, the CIO sent a man by the*
name of Carney, of Baltimore, into
this mountain section with a crew of
CIO organizers, to sew the job up for
the CIO. Local men, under leadership
of Mr. Barnard, beat the CIO to bat,
however. John S. Turner, of the Hod
Carriers International came here and
assisted Mr. Barnard. Holt Ross,
Southern Representative of the Inter*
national, also came here and did
splendid work.
LABOR DAY, 1940,
BEING PLANNED
ON LARGE SCALE
- !
ATLANTA, Ga., Aug. 10.—When
in September to take stock of the
America pauses on the first Monday
progress that has been made in Labor,
the large scale celebrations that are
being planned in practically every one
of the 815 cities where Central La
bor Unions function will be the most
impressive message of Labor's ad
vancement ever made in this country.
George L. Googe, Southern Represen
tative of the American Federation of
Labor, is experiencing much diffi
culty in finding Labor Day speakers
for the numerous cities calling upon
him for speakers.
Hundreds of Central Labor Unions
are returning this year to the old
time programs including Labor Day
parades. America will hear on Labor
Day of the astounding progress made
by the American Federation of Labor
during the past year, and learn that
it is now larger by far than ever
before.
TEAMSTERS ASK
FOR BEST TYPE
AS DELEGATES
WASHINGTON, Aug-. 12.—Daniel
JI Tobin, leader of the Teamsters’ Un
ion (AFL) tossed a little fatherly
q$rice on behavior when he called
on his organisation to send “only
the finest type of men” as delegates
to the union’s September convention
Declaring that tlm teamster’s were
reputed to have til best conducted
conventions with the “best kind of
legates,” Tobin wrote in the
.msters’ Journal that Washington
s no place for “hoodlums or unde
ble characters.”
There is no such thing as ‘fixing’
thing in the City of Washing
he said. “All policemen are un
the supervision of the Federal
rament.*'
ALWAYS
^‘Don’t you think, there’* something
brutal about footbAur’
“Yes, the price of the seats.”
Typogi
Tak
raphical Notes of Local No. 338
en From the L T. U. Journal for
August, 1940, By H. A. Stalls, Pres.
Scale negotiations were opened in
April on wages and hours, but to
dnte only two meetings have been
held with the publishers, due to ill
ness of one of the publishers and
also because of the fact that the
pressmen are negotiating for an
agreement. Joe A. Wilson is assist
ing the local pressmen, and Sloan G.
Springfield, I. T. U. representative,
is here to assist the local printers in
negotiations. A meeting is scheduled
for July 19. The piece scale dies
January 1, according to an agreement
negotiated last year, and Charlotte
typographers desire that a good scale
of wages with stabilised hours shall
replace the present agreement. Repre
sentative Springfield was present at
the union meeting in July and gave
out some valuable data relative to
negotiations and other matters. Mr.
Springfield and the writer have or
ganized the mailers in Charlotte and
a temporary union has been set in
motion. Representative E. L. Thayer,
who is handling the lUleigh Times
strike, also assisted in forming the
mailers’ union during June. A char
ter has been applied for and no doubt
will be granted by the time this ap
pears.—W. M. Witter, one of the
three living charter members of Char
lotte union, has been confined to a
local hospital several days suffering
an attack of asthma, and his many
friends hope for a speedy recovery.
He is editor and publisher of the
Charlotte Labor Journal and has been
identified with the labor movement
here for more than forty years. Mr.
and Mrs. Witter had the misfortune
to lose their youngest son, John Q.
Witter, 26, who passed away in New
York last month. The body was
brought back and interred in the fam
ily plot at Monroe.—Claude L. Albea,
News Linotype operator, city council
man and former mayor pro tern, has
returned from more than a year's stay
in the veterans’ hospital in Columbia,
IS. C., and is back at work. — The
union meetings are well attended and
a request for an extension of Juris
diction may be asked of the Execu-i
tive Council in the near future. Sev
eral surrounding towns are seeking
information from local officers as to
this possibility and if local unions
cannot be formed in these smaller
towns it might be advisable to tie them
on to the Charlotte Union. Representa
tive Springfield is making a survey
of the field*—R. W. Pridgen, of the
News chapel has taken up residence at
the Home for treatment and word
from him states that he likes it fine
out there and that he is getting along
very well. Walter Pope, another Char
lotte boy, has been in the Home for
three years or more and is also show
ing signs of improvement—The lo
cal union has endorsed a Richmond
resolution in which the Virginians are
seeking the 1941 I. T. U. convention
—therefore we join in in saying—
Richmond in 19411 Another resolu
tion eras adopted at July meeting aril
ing for the abolishment of the ap
prentice training school in the G. P.
O., and North Carolina senators and
remesentatives are being urged to
support measures to this end.
THIS IS WHERE
FRESH AIR CAMP
WOULD COME IN
NEW YORK, Aug. 10.—It took a
police emergency call to quell twelve
year-old David Hershkowitz’s tantrum
over his mother’s request that he take
a bath.
David really put on a show. Folks
from all around his East Side neigh
borhood came to watch the spectacle
of a husky lad standing perilously
close to the edge of a third-floor fire
escape and shouting to his mother:
“If you won’t leave me alone, I’ll
take a jump.”
Somebody called the cops. Two pa
trol cars answered, and out of one
stepped Patrolman Edward Stack.
David'yielded at the sight of the uni
form—and took his bath.
FROM HOLLYWOOD!
Mother: “I don’t think you’re tak
ing this marriage of yours seriously."
Daughter: “Well, after all,' Moth
er, it’s only my first.”
THE STOOL PIGEON
This poem is dedicated
To stool pigeons far and wide—
They may be white on the outside
i but they’re yellow deep inside.
In each department there is one,
I’m sure you’ll all agree;
It certainly is discouraging
Each day their face to see.
}
Whenever we are talking shop
That guy is always there.
To listen and remember—
He sure gets in my hair.
He thinks nobody knows it,
And that he’s getting by;
Each day he tells on someone new
And thinks he’s very sly.
He’ll pat you on the back and say,
“We’re comrades in the strife.”
But he’s looking for a soft place
In which to stick his knife.
It you can say that you have none,
And know that it is true,
Three cheers for your department,
We’re handing it to yon.
But if this poem applies to yon.
I’d climb down off that stool,
And be a U-N-I-O-N member
Instead of a bosses’ tool.
—EDITH DANIELS,
Des Moines, Iowa.
MMMMMMMMMMMSMMSM
FTNK AGAIN HEADS STATE BODY;
FISHER CONTINUES AS SEC.-TRE’S.;
EXECUTI’E COUNCIL ABOUT SAME;
ANOTHER V.-PRESIDENT ADDED
The meeting of the State Federation of Labor at Dur
ham this week proved to be one of the best attended and most
constructive conventions held in many years. There was no
display of fireworks, but calm deliberation, and a sincere
desire to build the labor movement in North Carolina along
lines that would not only benefit members of the A. F. of L„
but to lift up the workers in the lower strata. Durham as
host city gave the convention and its delegates and visitors
a hospitable reception, good fellowship, good will and friend
ship prevailed, and the Durham Central Labor Union, along
with its affiliated locals deserve credit for the manner in
which they entertained and provided for those in attendance.
To the Washington-Duke hotel, under the management of
Alton Bland, a vote of thanks should be given, for every
courtesy and consideration was extended. So, its good-bye
Durham, and all hail to Charlotte, the convention city of 1941.
The meeting in the “City of the Bull” was great, and next
year this writer and the hosts of labor hopes to be alive to
greet you one and all in the Queen City of the South
Charlotte. The editor wishes to thank the convention for the
re-indorsement of The Charlotte Labor Journal, which it has
carried for ten years, and knowingly has never violated one
precept of the American Federation of Labor.
The Charlotte delegation was an active part of the con
vention; it received consideration as to committee assign
ments, chairmanships, etc., and can boast of two members
on the executive board—first vice-president and a vice-presi
dent.
So, (low in Charlotte, let’s get going for 1941, and be
ready to give welcome to one of the most American bodies of
all organizations—birring none—the American Federation
of Labor.
The Journal is using an AP article, appearing in Thursday ww»
ing’a Observer, on the closing day of the Convention, which follows:
DURHAM, Aug. 14.—Re-election of C. A. Pink of Salisbury as
president of the State Federation of Labor for another one-year Urn
and an address by State Labor Commissioner Forrest Shufocd this
afternoon brought the 34th annual convention of the State federation
to a close here. Fink’s re-election over George Kndall of Charlotte,
the only other nominee, was declared unanimous by the consnaMsm
after the first ballot. t /
Stating that “North Carolina needs a State wage mnd~hour ^Sw?*~*
Labor Commissioner Shuford congratulated the federation for its un
selfish efforts to bring about the passage of such a law.
Charlotte was chosen the the 1941 convention city.
H. L. Kiser of Charlotte was re-elected first vice-president of the
convention by acclamation. H. G. Fisher of Salisbury defeated Earle
F. Charles, also of Salisbury, for the office of secretary-treasurer.
Fisher’s re-election later was declared unanimous by the »—»HU«i
delegates. As sergeant-at-arms, Broadie Cooke of Durham succeeded
John K. Roberson, also of Durham. A. E. Brown of Durham, was re
elected federation chaplain.
With the exception of the Raleigh district, all North Carolina dis
tricts re-elected their representative vice-presidents as follows: R. W. •
Ingle, Asheville; W. S. Campbell, Charlotte; W. L. Causey, Greensboro;
G. D. Sexton, Winston-Salem; M. F. Johnson, Durham and C. B. Korne
gay. Wilmington.
K. T. Smith of Raleigh succeeded Joe Powers of^ Raleigh as vice
president from that city.
The convention voted to add one more vice-president to its list of
seven making a total of eight . .. "
PARASITIC INDUSTRIES
By DR. CHARLES STELZLE
“Parasite” is the name usually giv
en to a plant or animal that lives on
or in some other organism, from which
it derives nourishment. But the name
may be applied to certain kinds of
organizations which exist only be
cause they attach themselves to other
organizations, as a result of which
they are given standing or even life
itself. Naturally, they themselves do
not fail to make a contribution to
others, but as a rule they are a dis
tinct detriment—or worse.
Such, for example, is an industry in
the community which is not self-sub
porting. It remains alive only because
healthy industries are giving of their
life-blood to maintain it. An industry
is not self-supporting unless it pays a
living wage. Such an industry not
only deprives workers of a living
while they are employed, but it be
comes a charge on the community and
on other legitimate industries which
in the last analysis are comnelled to
take care of the derelicts — the cast
off workers — of these pirate enter
prizes. Whenever a new business seeks
to establish itself in any city, it should
be compelled to make a complete
statement as to its standards of
working conditions and wages paid,
and if it comes up to the requirements,
it will be worth something for it to
be given a clean bill of health.
Every city owes it to those who
are trying to be fair to the workers
and to the public to protect them from
business pirates and parasites, and
every new business enterprise that
expects to profit by the city's reputa
tion and accumulated values — social,
economic, and commercial — should
be compelled to give a guarantee that
it will not selfishly lower standards
or degrade working conditions.
It is absurd for anybody to insist
that he has the right to come into a
long and well established community
and take off the cream, leaving only
skimmed milk for those who paid the
cost of getting the cream. And yet
there are individuals who claim an
inherent right to conduct any kind of
an enterprise they please, pav what
they please, and run their affairs as
they please, regardless of what such
action may do to the general prosper
ity of the community.
In the larger industries commis
sions should be appointed to stand
ardize working conditions for the en
tire industry, either locally or nation
ally. Many of these industries are al
ready well organized, but the purpose
of the organization is almost entirely
defensive — that is to protect mem
bers from labor union demands and
| from unfriendly legislation and simi
lar matters, which have to do purely
with their own commercial interests.
But such action is mostly negative. It
doesn’t go far enough.
There should be constructive action
which would include human and so
cial relationships, and which may
help raise such standards in all other
industries. This would benefit indus
try as a whole as well as all workers.
If this were done, there would soon
be no room in any community for an
i industry that declines to pay a living
wage or maintain fair standards.
The LABOR JOURNAL
SERVING THE A. F. OF L IN
PIEDMONT, NORTH CAROLINA
STRIVING FOR THE RIGHTS OF THE WORKERS —
AND A FAIR DEAL FOR THE EMPLOYERS