V,
Labor Is On Tbe Job For Victory
The ONLY REALLY INDEPENDENT WEEKLY in Mecklenborg CountySSgggSiiASSiCnSinS twCBmLENTMSTFor a Weekly Its Readers Represent the LARGEST BUYING PO)¥ER In Charlotte
Che Charlotte labor Journal
VOL. XII—NO. 31
Endorsed by the N. C. State
Federation of Labor
YOU* ADVIIITISIMKN* IN Tm| JOURNAL IS A GOOD
IMVCSTM1MT
AND DIXIE FARM NEWS
CHARLOTTE, N. C„ THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1943
Official Organ of Central Labor Union; Standing
_for the A. F. L.
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journal Aovi*ti«krs Dcskrvc Consideration «
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12 YEARS OF
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A MESSAGE FOR 1943
FROM GEORGE L. GOOGE,
SOU. REPRESENTATIVE A.F.L.j
TO THE OFFICERS AND MEMBERS,
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR UNIONS
OF THE SOUTHEASTERN STATES
GREETINGS:
Heretofore it has been customary for me to extend the'
season’s greetings at this time of the year, and express my sincere |
wish for a prosperous New Year for all of our members. For j
obvious reasons, I cannot bring myself to the customary usage 1
of wishing for a prosperous New Year upon this occasion. In-1
stead, 1 express my sincere wish for a New Year that will bring i
peace to the peoples of the world and a victory for our beloved
country and her allies that will make this peace a reality.
The monumental task facing the membership of the American Federation
of Labor in 1913 is so great that it would be appalling were it not for the
fact that the members of the American Federation of Labor are so inherently
and impulsively patriotic, and so thoroughly devoted to democratic ideals
and love of freedom, that the task of preserving these things diminishes in |
size and loses much of its terrors.
We of the South have experienced dictatorship in years gone by; we have
experienced chattel slavery as a legalized institution; w have lived in eco
nomic and industrial servitude. Chattel slavery was destroyed three quarters
of a century ago, and is now but a memory; economic and industrial servi
tude has been almost eliminated in this great Southland of ours through the
activities of the American Federation of Labor.
It is because labor in the South wants no semblance of slavery or servi
tude in any form that it so unanimously supports our war efforts to prevent
a dictatorship supplanting our democratic processes.
Labor throughout the country and especially in the South, has demon
strated during the first year of the war its loyalty, its ability and its de
termination to win this war. We shall be called upon to do more in 1913,
and can be depended upon to do’still more, in our great cuontry’s efforts
to preserve our ideals and our freedom.
None of us can foretell what 1943 will bring to us. All of us know, how
ever, that our best interest can be served and our nation’s security best pro
tected through our organized effort, and I am pleading with all members
of our groups not only to remain steadfast in their Local and State organi
zations, but to work as never before in bringing still other workers into their
proper groups in the family of the American Federation of Labor.
I trust that as many Local Unions and Central Bodies as possible
throughout our entire Southland will send representatives to the great Sou
thern War Labor Conference to be held in Atlanta on January 16 and 17, at
which time our city, state and national leaders will diligently plan for the
best and most effective way of so serving our nation that our democracy will |
be preserved and our continued freedom and liberty assured.
Thanking each and everyone of you personally for your splendid support j
of our ideals in the past, and praying for an early victory and peace and 1
family reunions, I am
Sincerely and fraternally yours. .
GEORGE L. GOOGE.
Southern Representative
American Federation of Labor.
NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS
I met a man at the edge of the road. And I asked him
for a light so that I may know the way. He told me to put
my faith in God, then, I’ll not need a light, nor will I need
to know the way.
A SINCERE WISH FOR VICTORY AND A
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO
OUR FRIENDS, SUBSCRIBERS AND
ADVERTISERS FQR 1943.
Charlotte Labor Journal
A NEW YEAR MESSAGE FROM
A. F. OF L. PRESIDENT WM. GREEN,
SETS GOAL FOR 1943 VICTORY
By VVILLIAM GREEN
President, American Federation of Labor
Let our goal be victory in 1943!
As we face the New YTear with high resolve, let us all join
in a united determination to let nothing stop us in working and
fighting for the attainment of that goal in the months ahead. I
know that the hearts and minds of American workers are re
solved on bringing this war to a speedy and victorious finish by
surpassing all previous records for production.
Our millions of boys in uniform are ready to give their liv*>s, if neces
sary, to destroy our enemies—the enemies of freedom and humai. decency.
In like spirit, those on the home front will cheerfully assume in the
New Year such additional sacrifices as they may be called upon to bear ir,
order to help our fighting forces and speed the day of victory.
This past year has been one of suffering and turmoil for the American
people, as our nation mobilized its full strength for combat on the fighting
fronts. But. compared with the people of other lands, we have thus fai
been spared the worst effect of war. And instead of being weakened by thi
drain of war requirements, our nation has been strengthened morally and
physically by the supreme call to service. We are united as never before
against the enemy’s challenge to our way of life. Labor and management,
working together in a cooperative spirit, are accomplishing miracles of pro
duction. In the year ahead, labor and industry will back up our men on the
fighting fronts with the greatest output of planes, tanks, ships and guns the
world has ever seen.
For this reason and because of the demonstrated superiority of our fight
ing men in battles against the enemy on land and sea, it is not optimism
but common-sense to look for a decided swing in our favor in the fortunes of
war during the coming year.
America and her Allies are now on the offensive. We are determined
never to halt until the hateful and intolerant forces opposed to us are
crushed for all time.
So let us look forward now to that glorious victory—a victory which must
bring lasting peace in its wake and provide opportunity in our own land and
all over the world for an era of social and economic and political advances
which will wipe out the distgraceful oppression and cruelty of man toward
man in past years.
In that spirit, I extend to America’s soldiers, sailors and marines, her
production soldiers and her vast army of patriotic and cooperative citi
zens, best wishes for a happy and victorious New Year.
Journal Readers Patronize Journal
Advertisers
FLASH
MR. WESTBROOK PEGLER SPOILS
NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION
The way NOT to begin a New Year is to hold a grudge or
be mad at anyone, but Westbrook Pegler declares no “armistice”
in his daily stint of acrimony, slander, distrust and hatred, so it
is only fair that he be answered in kind whenever the occasion
presents itself.
For the year 1942, we kept count of Mr. Pegler’s effort to be
come America’s “Horst Wessell” (it also goes for the way it
sounds, too), and while we did not think to begin this score until
the year was well on its way, we believe that the proportion is
fairly accurate and a closer check-up would not find us more than
“an attack” or two out of the way. Here is the box score of Mr.
Pegler’s crusade for 1942: with the qualification stated:
For the year 1943 we will keep a more accurate account, still
on second thought, we think we will just forget the whole thing.
Attacked Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt___34 timer
Attacked President Roosevelt---'_7 times
Attacked American Federation of Labor-61 times
Attacked the C. I. O-----22 times
Attacked Charlie Chaplin_3 times
Attacked Italians in America__:_7 times
Attacked ALL other foreign born in U. S. A._11 times
Attacked Wetidell Willkie. 5 times
Attacked Russia, our ally____1_19 times
Attacked HITLER - 2 times
CARRIED FORWARD FROM PREVIOUS YEARS:
Condoned lynching_2 times
“MIEUX HITLER QUE BLUM.” that is French and was the watchword
of the French “Westbrook Peglers” before France fell. It means “Better
Hitler than Blum." (Liberal Premiem of France) . . . Our Westbrook Peglei
says in effect. “BETTE RHITLER THAN THE A. F. OF L.—Mrs. Roose
velt, Wendell Willkie, a Russian Victory, etc.”
McNUTT CHAMPIONS LABOR’S
EFFORT FOR VICTORY IN AN
ANSWER TO SENATOR BAILEY
In a reply to a letter from our own Senator Josiah Bailey,
Manpower Comm:ssioner McNutt has warned that “it is un
fair to condemn the whole labor movement because of occa
sional abuses,” rind has foiim JJy challenged union critic* to
henceforth subbmit evidence (not vituperation) to the com
mission.
McNutt issued the full text of his correspondence with
Senator Bailey, after our Senator has issued excerpts from his
own letters to McNutt.
Senator Bailey had written that he had received protests
over “the activities of organized labor in demanding pay
ment of initiation fees” on war projects. Workers were hie
ing forced to join unions “against their will,” Bailey asserted.
In response McNutt wrote: “I find that generally speak
ing. local and international labor organizations restrict their
fees and dues to reasonable and frequently nominal sums
which cannot properly be regarded as in excess of a fair con
tribution which the worker should make to an organization
devoted to his interests.”
Labor Baiting By Big Dailies
Necessitates Better Support
Of Nation’s Labor Press
Authorized by the American Federation of Labor’s 22nd
annual convention in Toronto, Canada recently, President
William Green will soon appoint a special committee to ex
plore ways and means “by which further assistance can be
extended to the labor press and which would report its find
ings to the exeuctive council.”
Asserting that the one field of expression which is wholly
friendly to and cooperative with labor is the bona bide press,
the resolutions committee urged the convention to give more
than a perfunctory vote of thanks to the labor press for the
way in which ii has rallied to labor’s cause and fought labor’s
battles during the pest year.
Appropriately enough the committee leveled sharp criti
cism at the prejudiced commercial press when it said:
“Through the news columns of the daily press, through
syndicated articles of hostile columnists, through newspaper
advertisements, magazine articles and books, and even over
the radio, the anti-labor poison is spread.”
In addition the convention also commended the efforts
of the publicity and information service of the AFL and re
ferred to the executive council without recommendation a
proposal df the International Ladies’ Garment Workers*
Union that the AFL establish a new public relations depart
ment.
A 1943 MESSAGE TO LABOR
By FRANCES PERKINS
Nineteen forty-three will demand toil and sacrifice from all of us
so that our American way of life may be preserved, our American in
stitutions safeguarded and freedom of speech, freedom of press, free
dom of religion, freedom of assembly and equal justice to all be main
tained as a noble heritage and as a sacred trust.
That toil and that sacrifice will be gladly given by the workers
of these United States. They will continue to carry on successfully .the
task of providing the materials and weapons needed by our Army
and Navy on many fighting fronts.
The sldll, the high efficiency and the great speed of America’s
working men and women and the cooperation between them and man
agement will do the job and do it thoroughly for the preservation of
American lives and homes and to contribute in full measure to the
ultimate and complete victory of the United Nations.
FREE LABOR WILL WIN
MOORE LOOKS WITH CONFIDENCE
INTO THE FUTURE OF LABOR
MANAGEMENT PROSPERITY
By J. A. MOORE
There never has been a time in the history of mankind when
workers were in greater need of organization than right now.
At the age of six, when children enter school, they work un
der school organization and continue to do so until they finish
college. At the end of the:r college course, when they enter some
business or profession, whether it be lawyer, doctor, merchant,
or manufacturer, they are still connected with some organiza
tion.
It was the organized labor movement that formulated and established
the doctrine of high wages, which is now accepted as essential to sustained
prosperity. It was the organized labor movement that initiated the shorter
work day and work week and urged them as superior economic policies. It
was the organized labor movement that demonstrated that production in
accord with standards of human welfare is good business. It is the or
ganized labor movement that is demonstrating how practical it is for man
agement and workers to have a real partnership in work of industry. The
trade union movement furnishes workers an opportunity for growth through
work; it is a dynamic educational institution as incapable of limitation as
life itself.
' Militant psychology on the part of some employers has been a menace
to industrial peace and progress. Both management and workers can join
together for the great objective of industrial peace, and they should be
free to do so.
The principles and policies of the American Federation of Labor are
sound* they have been formulated by men possessing knowledge gained
through many years of practicaLexperience in trade-union affairs, men who
have actually worked at their trades and know the needs of those who toil.
Yet, there are men today, many of them never having worked at a trade
who profess to he deeply interested in the welfare of the wage-earners, who
openly state that the policies of the American Federation of Labor and its
affiliated National and International Unions are all wrong; that they are
obsolete and wholly impractical and do not meet the needs of the workers
today. These same people characterize the officers of the whole trade
union movement as reactionary and autocratic. >
What do these gentlemen propose to do for these wage earners? What
have they done at any time to bring the wage level of those among us who
toil up to the level in other States of the Union? What have they done
to reduce the necessity of joining a union? Nothing.
Conscious of all the needs of the toiler the American Federation of
Labor is working wholeheartedly to meet them, the Federation has no magic
wand by the waving of which all evils confronting labor can be eliminated,
but it does possess a knowledge of the remedies necessary and is using
every practical means at its command to correct these evils.
The American Federation of Labor can point with pardonable pride
to its achievements in the way of establishing better working condi
tions, higher wages, and shorter work day for its members than can any
other labor movement in the world. There is not another country on earth
»kere jhe working man’s standard of living wUl eve* rer-iVl* compose
this country s, but the la »or movement fa not satisfied to rest upon
this record. It will continue progressively onward toward the establish
ment of complete industrial justice for toiling masses in America. That
we have far to go before this goal is reached cannot be denied. We know
no short cuts, however, the day of arrival could be hastened, if those who
profess to be so profoundly interested in the welfare of the wage-earner
would cease their criticism of the policies of the labor unions, cease lending
aid and comfort to those that openly oppose us, and throw their wholehearted
influence and support in the work of bringing unorganized workers into the
Unions under the banner of the American Federation of Labor. Co-opera
tion in this manner seems to us the most impoprtant thing anyone can give
if he possesses a sincere desire to be helpful in aiding the American worker.
GOOGE ASKS FULL ATTENDANCE
OF LOCALS IN OUR TERRITORY
AT LABOR CONFERENCE JAN. 16-17
W. M. Witter, Editor
Charlotte Labor Journal
Atlanta, Ga., Jan. 5.
Thank you for fine support you have been giving the
great southern war labor conference to be held in Atlanta,
January 16-17. With heads of all government war agencies
and executive heads of the A. F. of L., and our International
Unions participating, we hope this conference will hasten
America’s victory over enemy nat:ons and preserve here at
home that liberty and freedom for which our forefathers
gave their lives, and to the preservation of which the Amer
ican Federation of Labor has dedicated its full resources.
We are depending upon you to see to it that every local union
in your territory sends full delegations to this important
conference.
GEORGE L. GOOGE,
Southern Representative A. F. of L.
Typo Auxiliary
Xmas Party At
Home Mrs. Cleaver
Woman’s Auxiliary No. 107 to
Charlotte Typographical Union No.
338 held their December meeting and
Christmas party at the home of Mrs.
E. G. Cleaver, 1609 Scott Avenue, De
cember 28th.
This meeting was scheduled to be
held December 21st, but do to illness
among several members, the meeting
meeting was postponed.
We had a very nice meeting and
gifts were distributed to everyone,
from the Christmas tree.
Mr. W. M. Witter, Editor of The
Labor Journal, who recently returned
from the Printer’s Home at Colorado
Springs, Colorado, was guest speaker.
He gave a very interesting talk about
the home and the individual care giv
en to every one who goes there. The
souvenir book showing pictures of the
buildings and the grounds was of
great interest to all of us.
The date and place of the January
meeting will be announced later.
“They worried, still they worried;
they worried, but alas! they worried
about a lot of things that did not
come to pass.”—Kleiser.
THE MARGIN BETWEEN FREEDOM
AND SLAVERY FOR LABOR MAY
BE TEN PERCENT
BUY WAR BONDS EVERY WEEK
OUT OF EACH PAY ENVELOPE