North Carolina Newspapers

WIRE or WRITE to v. Toar Coigrennea ia Protost Agoiost All AHTI-LABOR Bills; CHARLOTTE LABOR JOURNAL CHARLOTTE. N. C.. THURSDAY. AUGUST 28. 1917 _ VOL. XVII; NO. 16 By WILLIAM GREEN President of the American Federation of Labor This year Labor Day finds the nation’s workers existing under the ominous shadow of the most oppressive anti labor law ever enacted by Congress. There can be no real hope of future progress and the enjoyment of the free. American way of life for the wage-earners of our country while the Taft-Hartley Act remains on the statute books. As yet, the full impact of this reactionary law has not been felt by labor, but as time goes on its provision will stifle the growth of organized labor, weaken the trade union movement in our land and make it increasingly dif ficult for American working men and women to keep their heads above water. _. The American Federation of La bor does not propose to submit to such oppressive and repres size conditions. On this Labor Day, I call upon every member of our organiza tion to join in an unrelenting campaign for the repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act. A# true Americans, the mem bers of the American Federation of Labor will rally to meet this challenge. We are determined not to let our freedoms be throt tled. We are ready to fight with every legitimate weapon at our command td protect our right to improve working and living condi tion® for ourselves and our fel low workers. We will not will ingly or supinely permit the forces of reaction to capture con trol of our country. Let me make this clear. The American Federation of Labof has just begun to fight. We will use our economic strength to the fullest extent to protect the rights of our members in con tract. negotiations with employers. We will take advantage of every opportunity to challenge the legality of the slave labor law in the courts. But even such measures are not enough. In the coming year, labor must exert its political strength as never before in his tory. We must unite to defeat for relection every member of Congress who voted for this ob noxious law. We must join in electing to our national and State law-making bodies candidates who are truly representative of the will of the people and will not succumb to pressure by the sel fish, big-business interest now dominating the 80th Congress. Only in this way can we bring about the prompt repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act. Only in this way can we succeed in the enact ment of social justice legislation which is so acutely needed by the American people, like health in surance, an adequate housing pro gram and in minimum wage measuring up to the standards of health and decency. Today full employment has be come a reality in America. The goal of sixty million jobs has been reached. But this surface pros perity is based upon a number of temporary factors, such as the huge export demand and consumer shortages resulting from the war. J<ow is the time to build for permanent prosperity in America, a prosperity shaded by all of our people, a prosperity which will eliminate poverty and needless human suffering. This kind of prosperity is with in our grasp. It requires the fullest co-operation between free labor and free manag^mfifit, with Government intervention, limited to the establishment of minimum standards which will assure decent homes, decent wage floors and decent health conditions for the American people. In fighting for the repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act, labor i* striving for the attainmant of these goals. FLOUR MU. WORKERS RECEIVE RICE INCREASE Buffalo, N. Y. — The AFL'a Fleur Mill Workers numbering 2,600 workers negotiated a new agreement with five flour mills in this milling center. WILLIAM GREEN . Local Labor Asks Congress To Save Charlotte QM Depot Charlotte Central Labor Union at it* meeting this week adopted a resolution addressed to all of North Carolina's members of Con gress, and Senators Hoey and Um stead, asking that they do every thing possible to provide suffi cient funds to maintain the Char- ' lotte .Quartermaster depot .in! opers^ion. It is understood that! the facility here is to be closed I for lack of sufficient funds with | which to operate it. Congressman Jones has received ! a local labor delegation and has promised that he will do every-! thing within his power to have the $20,000,000 Army institution ' kept in operation. It is under-1 stood that Mr. Jones will contact Secretary of the Army Royall in an effort to forestall present ! plans to deactivate the QM depot. i Letters and copies of the reso lution were also addressed to; Mayor H. H. Baxter, Clarence Kuester of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, the newspapers of this city and to President Tru man and Secretary Royall in Washington. The resolution fol lows: Whereas, it has been called to the attention of the Charlotte Central Labor Union that the War Department has made plans to close the Chralotte Quartermaster Depot, which during the peak period of the war and shortly thereafter employed abojt 2,100 people, and Whereas, it is understood that the Quartermaster Depot repre sents about $20,000,000 invest ment, which undoubtedly can be utilized to further advantage by the U. S. Government as an ac tive facility, and Whereas, the Charlotte Depot, in our opinion, could be operated as a very useful plant for the ac commodation of both a storage and shipping point for the large number of textile products which the „ War Department purchases from the Mills of the Pledmcnt sections of the Carolina’s, and Whereas, through such usage the facility could employ many hundreds of North Carolina's dis abled Veterans, their wives or their families, and Whereas, it is the belief of Charlotte Central Labor Union that if the Plant is completely deactivated and put on the auc tion block for sale that such pro cedure would greatly jeopardize the Nation in case of another sud den attack from the outside, and (Ceatinued on Page 4) History of Labor Day Labor Day rightfully belongs to American workers who toil dil -en'ly day, after day to contrib ute their share to the greatness of this Nation. Long before Labor Day became a legal public holiday it was cel ebrated by workers as a day of festive activity and rest from their daily tasks. It was the creation of laborers, not of poli ticians. It was the brainchild of a union carpenter 12 years be fore Labor Day was proclaimed a national holiday by Act of Con gress. Peter J. McGuire, a native of New York City who joined the ranks of America’s toilers while still a child, was the father of the observance in honor of the country’s working people. In May of 1SS2. he stood be fore the newly organized Central .abor Union of New York City -rd proposed that one day of the year be set aside as a genera? holiday for the working' masse*. McGuire suggested that the holiday be known as Labor Day md that it be set for the first “i->.y in September, which would put if midway between two national holidays—the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving. Other delegates to the meet ing enthusiastically embraced the -<ea. A committee was named and soon preparations were under way for the initial celebration of Labor Day. Approximately two years after this first Labor Day, the 28 del egates to the fourth annual con vention of the American Federa tion of Labor held in Chicago adopted the following resolution: ‘•Resolved, That the first Mon- j day in September of each year be' i apart as a laborers’ national j •k ay, and that we recommend) :ts observance by all wage work- j ers, irrespective of sex, calling or ] nationality.” »v ng the next few years or ganized lhbor devoted its‘atten tion to securing state, legislation making Labor Day a Jesral holi tav. As early as 1887, Oregon enacted the first State law, but this measure designated the first Saturday in June as Labor Day.! This was changed to the first Monday In September in 1893. Ultimately, 23 States proclaimed j Labor Day a legal holiday. The Labor Committee of the House of Representatives in May of 1894 presented a favorable re-1 port on a bill making: Labor Day i legal public holiday, By J une 26 of that year Con gtessional action on the -bill had been completed and two days later the measure was signed by Presi dent Grover Cleveland. The pen used by the President was turned ’ver to Representative Amos J. f’ummings of New York City, who ponsored the bill in the House, ummings then sent the pen to President Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labor. Thus, a dozen years after Mc Guire first advanced the idea of l special holiday honoring labor before the Central Labor Union of New York City, the proposal had the approval of the American people, expressed through their elected representatives at Wash ington. Over the years since 1882 much has been said concerning the sig nifiicance of Labor Day. One of the best statements was made by Samuel Gompers^jirejddant of the American Federation of Labor^ in an editorial written 46 years ago fpr the American Federation ist. While the reference to the Nineteenth Century is remote, Gor-pers’ remarks are timeless in point. He wrote: “No day in #ie calendar is a greater fixture, ore which is more truly regarded as a real holiday. or one which si so surely des tine! to endure for all time, than the firs Monday ijn September of each recurring; year, Labor Day. “Labor Day differs in every es sential from the other holidays of the year of ary country. All other holidays are in, a more or less degree, connected with con flicts and battles, of man's prow ess over man, of strife and dis cord for greed or power, of glories achieved by one nation over an other. “Labor Day, on the other hard, marks a new epoch in the annals of human history. It is at once a manifestation of reverence for the struggles of the masses against tyranny and injustice front time immemorial: an im petus to battle for the right in < ur day for the men. women arid children of our time and gives hope and ^encouragement for the ttair.ir.ent of the aspirations for 'he future of the human family. “It is devoted to no man. living >r dead; to no sect, sex, race or nation. It is founded upon the highest principles of humanity, is as broad in its scope as the universe. “!t was not given to but con •uered by labor, and established ''s a holiday before any legisla ture. state or national, enacted it into lav. ’•The ‘marching taiiers in the Labor Day demonstration* sig nalize no martial glory, brutal domination, conquests or warlike pomp. They are, in their essence, the manifestations of the grow ing intelligence of the workers who recognize that peace is as essentia! to successful industry and real progress as air is to lung-breathing animals; that jus tice to the toilers hag too long be-n denied: that in the midst of the civilization at the close of the Nineteenth Century, wrongs too gross, widespread and well known to require mention here, still abound; that if man is to be free the-time to' come, eternal vig ilance must be exercised organi zation of the workers proclaimed, maintained and extended; educa- ■ tion of the educated as well as! of the masses be furthered and j nurtured, and agitation of labor’s wrongs endured and rights de nied undertaken, with all the zest and energy begotten by devotion to a cause which is at once holy, noble, pure, lofty, just, wise and humane.” Newspaper accounts have pre served for us the color attendant upon the celebration of the first Labor Day in New York City when American labor, led by Peter J. McGuire, paraded in orderly fashion through the streets of the city. Of the picnic in Elm Park fol lowing the parade, one newspaper aid: “It had been arranged that each union would have a certain portion of the grounds marked out for itself, and this facilitated a greater fraternising than other wise could have been observed. “As it was, fellow-workers and their families sat together, joked together and caroused together . . American and English, Irish and Germans, they all hobnobbed and seemed on a friendly footing, s though the common cause had establishei a sense of closer brotherhood.” From mid-afternoon to night fall there was speechmaking. One •f the ^est-received speakers, of With evening came a still larger ourse, was McGiure himself, crowd, for only a fraction of the city’s employer* had decreed a holiday, and the Central Labor Union had advised all whose em ployers desired them to work to do so. Fireworks and dancing both had important parts in the after-dark portion of the festival. Greetings CHICAGO LABOR DAY RALLY SET; 6REEN TO TALK ON NATION-WIDE RADIO HOOKUP Chicago, — Approximately 100, 00 persons are expected to jam Soldier Field here for tho great est Labor Day celebration in the city’s history. Final plans for the gala event which will start at 1:30 p. m. were announced by William A. Lee, president of the AFL’s Chi I cago Federation of Labor which is sponsoring the celebration. The j Federation embraces 375 local un i ions with a combined member ’ ship in excess of 400,000. Principal speaker of the after noon will be William Green, pres ident of the American Federation of Labor. Governor Dwight H. Green of Illinois and Chicago’s Mayor Martin II. Kennedy have also been invited to attend. Mf. Green’s address will be car ried over a nation-wide radio net work. The exact time of the broadcast will be announced at ( a later date. An elaborate and varied pro-; Irani o ree entertainment has' een arranged including ten eir- J ;.-Us acts, midget auto races, and parades by local posts of various Veterans’ organizations and fra ternal societies. Radio, screen, *nd stage stars are also sched- ■ uled to appear on the program. Music will he furnished by a 60 piece American Legion band anJ by one of che best of America’s “name” bands. Not only are the tickets free, but the holder of the lucky one will receive a brand new 4-door sedan as door prize provided that he is present at the rally. CHEMICAL WORKERS UNION ROUTS CIO IN NLRB VOTE Portland. Ore.—Local 133 of the AFL’s Chemical Workers Union scored another AFL victory here when it defeated a CIO affiliate in an NLRB election held to de termine the bargaining agent; for employes of the Portland Gas and Coke Company. , Despite the familiar raiding' tactics employed by the CIO, the j AFL group won out by a vote of 325 to 213, with 85 employes not voting. Of these 85, a sizeable majority were ‘reported to favor the AFL. The CIO claimed to represent a majority of the employes, but as he election results testify the claim was based upon little else than over enthusiasm. Typical of other CIO misrepresentations was the statement to company employes that the CIO represented millions of workers throughout the United States and CCanada. What the CIO failed to include in that statement was the situation in the Portland area. There a recent survey disclosed AFL mem bership stands at 73,000 while the CIO has managed to scrape up! only 5,600 members. ' t v GEORGE L. GOOGE Charlotte Carpenters ToHoM Labor Picnic Monday At Cordelia Local Union Carpenters will hold a Labor Day picnic at Cor deiia Park beginning Monday at 10 o'clock and lasting until 4 in the afternoon of Labor Day. All members of organized Labor are invited to participate in this af fair. The picnic will be one of those old-fashioned bring-your basket times and a nice program hag been arranged for the oc casion, according to W. C. Nolen, business agent of the local Car penters Union. Several hundred carpenter mem bers and their famili.es and friends will take part in this Union pic nic, it is expected. GOV. DEWEY SALUTES LA BORS PROGRESS; SAYS GAINS IMPROVE PUBLIC'S WELFARE By THOMAS E. DEWEY (■uYrrnur of New York “Our state and our country have come a ionic way since a small minority of workers celebrated the first Labor Day. The inter vening time has been a period of progress oeyond compare in the history of industrialism. “The pioneers of unionism faced misunderstanding, indifference, even violent hostility. Many peo ple still alive can remembre how the earliset Labor Day proces sions sometimes marched through sparse lines of jeering spectators. “It took determination and physical as well as moral courage to join the struggle for fair treatment of the men who work for wages. On their side they had not only their courage but the conviction that they were right. i *| “Today the people of New York realize that -they were right. A great many of us have forgotten that there was ever any argun ent about it. We take labor unions for i gran ted, in fact we cannot visualize our state without well conducted organizations of mea and women banded together for jollective bargaining. Labor Day in this year 1947 is a festival m (Continued on Page 5) Southern Leader Declare* “Re peal" <>f Taft-Ha'rfley Act the Focal Point On the Agenda of Every In ion. Urges Strong^ Campaign for Af hliation With Stab- Federations and Central Bodies To Further Repeal Movement. Stresses Importance of Building Political Strength Where It Counts—On Regis* cat ion Lists and In the Ballot Boxes. By GEORGE L. GOOGE, Southern Representative, AFL Over sixty Labor Days have rolled around since Peter McGuire of the Carpenter’s Union had his brilliant idea for the dedication of the first .Monday in September to the laboring people of America, No Labor Day in all those year* has been so challenging to our courage and fortitude as un ion men and women as this Labor Day of 1947. • From the source where we have least reason to expect or deserve this attack, the Congress of the United States and the legislatures of several Southern states, we have been affronted and heseige i by summary and restrictive leg islation which . denies our funda mental rights as workers and citizens. Claiming a people's mandate to punish and destroy the effective nes sand power of labor unions, these law making bodies daring to speak in the name of the com mon citizenship in sta,te and na tion have passed these monstrous laws. Nothing in our long history of service and usefulness to the working people of America has merited or forecast this deliberate blow to the integrity and pro ductive value of the institution of American trade unionism. In fact, we have done our work too well to suit the ruthless ■snd pred atory business interests of this country. We have raised wages too high to suit them, shortened hours to their great annoyance, provided vacations and five-day weeks and have otherwise con tributed to the happiness, pros perity, and well being of our country. In respect to the Taft-Hartley Act, our platform is contained in the ringing statement issued by A. F. U Conference, July 9: “The repeal of this notorius legislation shall he our fixed ob jective. We shall never be rec onciled to the acceptance of this legislation. We shall oppose it— fight it at every step and every opportunity until we bring about its repeal. Our action in this re spect will be based upon the fact that we regard the Taft-Hartley Law as a slave measure, Un American, vicious and destruc tive of labor’s constitutional rights." I Not since the days when a labor I union was a conspiracy has the weight of law and government ! been thrown so savagely and so patently against the right of the working people to organize for the purpose of improving their situation in our competitive eeon I iimy. We will not be destroyed, j Unionism is a faitn. Let Labor Day remind us» how deep is that ; faith and how enduring will be , the organizations which we have built to that faith. Let us also have good work3 to accompany our faith. We must take our duties of citizenship and of suffrage more seriously than has been our practice, particular ly in the South. Despite the special difficulties of poll tax and other disqualifications it is the obligation of our members and their families to quailfy them selves as voters, and to vote. This primary obligation of citizenship should be ohserved as a matter of course by union men and wom en. Another matter which is of great Importance to our AFL or ganization structure is that of af (Continued oa Page 4)