" "I. ip u
Editorial
CHARLOTTE LABOR JOURNAL AND
DIXIE FARM NEWS
Published Weekly at Charlotte, N. C.
Addreaa All Communications to Peat Office Bos 1061
Telephones 3-3094 and 4-6608
Office of Publication: 118 East Sixth Street, Charlotte, N. C.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $2.00 per year, payable in advance or
6e per copy.
ADVERTISING RATES for commercial advertising roaaonable.
H. A. Stalls, Editor and Publisher . W. M. Witter, Associate Editor
Entered as second-class mail matter September 11, 1931,-at the Poet
Office at Charlotte, N. C., under the Act of Congress of March 8,1879
Official Organ of the Charlotte Central Labor Union and Approved by
The American Federation of Labor and the
North Carolina Federation of Labor
The Labor Journal will not be responsible for opinions of corre
spondents, but any erroneous reflecting upon the character, standing or
reputation of any person, Arm or corporation which may appear in
tbs columns of The Labor Journal will be gladly corrected when called
to the attention of the publisher. Correspondence and Open Forum
opinions solicited.
AUGUST PRODUCTION AT HIGH PEAK
The American industrial machine in August maiked its
best month since V-J Day, with production n#*? capacity of
basic materials, Civilian Production Administrator John D.
Small revealed in his monthly survey.
The CPA report showed major gains in employment and
in many consumer-durable goods industries. Vacuum clean
ers, radios, electric ranges and electric irons ,were estimated
at productive levels from 40 to 65 per cent above prewar
output. Automobiles, of which 241,000 were produced in
that month, stood 16 per cent above the monthly average
during the years 1030-39. Of the major “hard goods” items,
only refrigerator* and sewing machines were .below the pre
war figures. The agency estimated employment in August
at 58,000,000.
Building materials made "spectacular gains," with in
creases or from 20 to 36 per cent in one month in the out
put of plumbing fixtures and other critical construction
products. The production of nails, a reconversion bottleneck,
climbed 18 per cent to the highest levels so far this year.
"This record of achievement,” Small said, "has probably
. never been surpassed in the history of building materials
production over a comparable period of time. Indeed, it
compares favorably with the rates of production increase on
military production programs of high urgency achieved dur
ing the war period.”
In the textile field, the report said that qpttoA broad
woven goods hit their highest point of the year ih August,
with a production rate of 183,000,000 yards a week.
Small indicated that he anticipated a decline in shoe pro
duction during the coming months as a consequence of the
decline in cattle slaughter, which deprives tanners of hides
and leather.
The high production, Small said, was an indication that
inventories, hitherto unbalanced, were being corrected. This
means that a company will not have to hold up distribution
to the public of a finished product because a single item
necessary for it was not available.
The Department of Commerce, meanwhile, reported that
manufacturers’ inventories during August reached a new
high of $18,300,000,000, or a gain of 325 million dollars
over July,
BUILDING TRADES TACKLE HOUSING PROBLEM
Leaders of more than 1,500,000 AFL building trades work
ers tackled one of the Nation's outstanding problems—the
housing shortage—at the annual convention of the Building
and Construction Trades Department of the American Fed
eration of labor in Chicago.
Opening discussions at the conclave revealed that there
is no lack of labor in the construction industry, nor is there
likely to be one for a long while. In fact, one of the serious
headaches facing the department is the fact that there are
not enough jobs to go around, due to the failure of the
Nation’s construction program to hit top stride.
Acting President Richard Gray and Secretary-Treasurer
Herbert Rivers agreed in their report to the delegates that
the chief causes of the delays in getting vitally needed con
struction projects started throughout the country are con
tinuing scarcities of building materials and bureaucratic
mishandling of the distribution of available materials.
It was expected that the delegates would adopt strong
resolutions calling for immediate expansion of the produc
tion of building materials and supplies and the creation of
large stockpiles of materials to assure uninterrupted work,
once construction begins on a large scale.
On the legislative side, it was considered a foregone con
clusion that the convention would go on record overwhelm
ingly for prompt adoption by the next Congress' of the
Wagner-Ellender-Taft Bill.
This bill provides for centralization of Government author
ity over housing construction in a single Federal agency,
with the maximum of encouragement to private enterprise
to fill the housing needs of the long-suffering public. The
bill, originally sponsored by the AFL, offers a clear and
workable blueprint for a 10-year construction program to
provide the American people with 15,000,000 new dwelling
units, both in industrial centers and in agricultural areas.
It includes a certain amount of public housing and slum
clearance for those in the lower income brackets whose
needs cannot be met by private investment on a profitable
basis.
The convention enjoyed the largest turnout of delegates
in the history’ of the department and large numbers of Gov
ernment and industry representatives attended as observers.
The department officers submitted detailed reports of the
work of the Wage Adjustment Board in eliminating inequi
ties in local wage structures.
One of the most encouraging aspects of the reports of the
department officers was the disdosure that stoppages of
work due to jurisdictional disputes have been almost en
tirely eliminated.
WIRING : LIGHTING FIXTURES : REPAIRS
APPLIANCES
GJL and Birdseye Lamps A Fireplace Equipment
FSas it Phone 3-3749
ECOJBMT ELECTRIC COMPUY
I 109 West Sixth Street
Charlotte, N. C. I
r - v 1
RUTH TAYLOR SAYS:
THE GOLDEN RULE
In an excellent editorial in \
New York paper recently, there
wah one sentence which greatly
impressed me. "The only rale that
works both ways is the Golden
Rale.”
The Golden Rale is the one rule
that if sincerely followed could
bring permanwit and enduring
peace to all tne world. Nation
would no longer war against na
tion, nor people against people,
class against class, race against
race, creed against creed.
The Golden Rule is the solution
to all of the problems that beset
our world today—and it begins
with the individual. It does not re
quire wealth to apply it. It needs
but a sincere belief in justice and
fair play and an honest desire to
put into practice the second great
commandment, “Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself.”
The Golden Rule is a personal
rule of life. It does 'Wot demand
great sacrifices. It does pot- de
mand great deeds of courage. It
demands only that each man do
unto his neighbor as he would be
done by.
J
Under the Golden Role, there
are no master races or Herren
volk. The rich cannot say “My in
terests are vested in me.” The poor
cannot cry "My needs come first.”
The employer cannot put his prof
its first, nor the worker his wages.
Nor can any croup, by virtue of
class or color or creed, claim spe
cial privilege.
Under the Golden Rule there is
no discrimination and all men not
only have rights but responsibili
ties. Rights are but the rewards
! of duties well done—and the full
duty of man, which is the distin
guishing mark that has lifted him
above the beasts of the field, is
that he assumes responsibility for
I the right of his neighbor.
The Golden Rule is the law of
brotherhood. It is the law of kind
ness and of friendliness. It is the
law which can be followed by the
humblest as well as by those in
highest authority. The Golden Rule
is the law of love—of that love
I which is the fulfilling of the law.
| "Therefore all things whatsoever
' ye would that men should do to
! you, do ye even so to them! For
I this is the law and the prophets.”
WORKING IT OUT
By FRANCES PERKINS
A very effective Labor Day
speech by the Honorable Lewie
Schwellenbach, Secretary of Labor,
calls attention to a new problem
in discrimination against individ
uals. He makes a particular plea
against discrimination in employ
ment with regard to people who
have a physical handicap.
It is indeed one of the saddest
spectacles in American life to see
men denied employment in which
they could earn a living and sup
port their families because they
Have lost a leg, or even a finger
in some accident; because they
have a chronic but arrested dia
betes; because they are arrested
tubercular cases; because they
have a mild murmur of the heart;
or less than perfect eyesight or
hearing.
No one wants to suggest that a
man who is blind be given work
to do which is totally dependent
upon his eyesight or that an ad
vanced heart case be asked to do
laborious work involving heavy
lifting. But in many industries it
Is a practice to require a physical
examination of all applicants for
work and to refuse to hire people
with slight handicaps for work
which they know themselves able
to do.
The need for a job is perhaps
greater for a man with a physical
handicap than for any other. He
often has to incur large medical
bills in the prevention of serious
collapse or disability and he, more
than the ordinary person, feels the
need of laying up a little money
for possible periods of illness and
for his wife and children if he
shouldnt’ live to old age.
Sometimes the refusal to employ
is cited as exaggerated humani
tarianism but men and women who
have a handicap are themselves the
best judges of what they are able
to do and what their best total
interests impel them to do. There
is a school of thought among some
employers which holds that people
with slight or serious physical de
fects are more likely to have acci
dents and that if they do have
industrial accidents their physical
sbility to work may be more se
riously affected than in the case
of * man in perfect health. There
is. unfortunately, also the fear that
the compensation cost will be ai
little high in such cases. This
sometimes is enough to lead a ■
company to the inhuman employ
ment policy of excluding all but
those in perfect health and phy
sique.
In order to meet this insurance
problem, some states have estab
lished what is known as a "second
injury fund” out of which such
woriyjrs can be paid in case of a
second injury. The whole attitude
of denying work to handicapped
people is inhuman and against the
interests of the individual workers
of the United States.
Insurance was meant to socialise
and spread the cost of an accident.
Common humanity urges a recon
sideration of this discriminatory
attitude and a recognition of a
man's right to work at job which
he decides will not too greatly en
danger his life and health.
As a matter of fact, during the
war years when there was such
heavy demand for labor these very
handicapped people were employed
without question and did effective
and important work, often of high
skill. Blind people, deaf people,
people with all forms of chronic
and inactive illnesses worked and
p-oduced in the war effort. They
demonstrated how capable they
I arc of earning a living and con
tributing to the public good if a
little intelligence is exercised in
the selection and supervision of
their work. Industrial management
learned how to employ these peo
ple in a moment of necessity; in
dustrial management must now
learn how to continue that em
ployment and so give the handi
capped man or woman a fair
chance to be self-supporting and
contributory. A man with a bad
heart or an arrested tuberculosis
is not likely to live longer and
more happily because he is with
out a job, without income, and
without the comfort of the self-re
tpecting knowledge that he carries
on.
All men mus die and something
must be left to the good Lord in
the way of decision as to when
that time has come. In the mean
time let those who want to work,
work in the fields in which they
are already skilled or can be
taught the necessary skill.
Discrimination of all kinds —
whether on racial or religious
grounds—in opportunity to earn a
living is unjust, but discrimination
because of physical handicaps is
cruel.
V 8 *>W
CAFETERIAS
*MWU . IMBM . CHMfANOOQ* . mONVtU , AlUWtA
Some of The Things We
Lend Money on
Silverware
Kodak.
TypnrrHara
All Mm» Strictly Coofldentiml. Whea to Need
•f Moaey W« Never Fall You.
rSSliajbljT loajTco^ ~
121 E. TRADE ST. (Next to Mk’i)
Unde Sam Say*
R ATCLI FFE’8
FLOWERS
431 h. Trymm
Wmmmmmm
7133
It Pays Ts Trade With ■
DOGGETT
LUMBER CO.
311 R. Park An. P>wi 3173
awwwwwwwwwMwww
START
\ I >mm.
JmHOw
THE COMMERCIAL
NATIONAL BANK
Charlotte. N. C.
New and Reconditioned
PIANOS
For the best value in NEW or
reconditioned pianos, select
yours from our stock of nearly
100 instruments. Setinway,
Mathushek, Winter, Howard,
and many others. Prices to
suit everyone.
ANDREWS MUSIC CO.
“Oar 51st Year” ,
“Steinway Headquarters"
231 North Tryoa Street
DeVONDE
Synthetic Cleaners, Dyers
Hatters, Furriers
Seven Points Why We Are One
of the South’s Leading
Syathetie Cleaners
1. Restores original freshness
and sparkle.
2. Removes carefully all dirt,
dust and grease.
3. Harmless to - the post deli
cate of fabrics.
4. Odorless, thorough cleaning.
3. Garments stay clean longer.
jB. Press retained longer.
7. Reduces wardrobe upkeep.
DeVONDE
Call 3-5125 304 N. Tryoa SC
irMiMt T<
PARKER-GARDNER CO.
8iBM 1999
119 W. Trad*
9297
«3* }
» J
A FRIENDLY CHURCH
rOTOUM MEMORUL BAPTIST CHURCH
my
Worship Services
11:00 s. m.
T:S0 p. a.
Training Unioa
6:00 p. m.
Dr. William Harrison Williams, Pastor
1
For Indigestion, Soar Stomach and Gas, Toko
NA-CO TABLETS
MONET BACK GUARANTEE
SELWYN CUT RATE DRUG STORE
NEXT TO POST OFFICE
vnTSM«c»iftAMps
Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co.
VandhL - UJstalhaAA. VltutuaL
3-wwioL CLuociedian.
t'hone 6129
Charlotte’s Fastest Growing Organizations
“KNOW THE ICE CREAM YOU EAT*
OUR PLEDGE OF QUALITY ON EACH PACKAGE
PET DAIRY PRODUCTS CORP.
Big Star
★
Little Star
F«W Slant
PM «rk Ur mn at Am —Hara.
SUPERMARKET- PRICED, tmml
StatM. YnI bm |U pm Ail
BIG STAR
^ COLONIAL
STORES
The Labor Journal is a Choice Advertising Medium
Martin’s Department Store
RELIABLE MERCHANDISE ALWAYS
AT LOW PRICES