Editorial CHARLOTTE LABOR JOURN *L & DIXIE FARM NEWS Published Weekly at Charlotte. N. C._ U A. Stalls. Editor and Publisher W. M. Witter, Associate Editor Entered as second-class mail matter September 11, 1981, at the Post Office at Charlotte, N.C., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1819 SUBSCRIPTION KATES: $2.00 per year, payable in advance or 6c per copy. ADVERTISING RATES for commercial advertisin» reasonable. Official Organ of the Charlotte Central Labor Union and Approved by The American Federation of Labor and the North Carolina Federation of Labor Address All Communications to Post Office Boa 1061 Telephones 3-8094 and 4-6502 Office of Publication: 118 East Sixth Street, Charlotte. N. C. 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, firm or corporation which may appear in the columns of The Labor Journal will be gladly corrected when called to the attention of toe publisher. Correspondence ar.d Open Forum opinions solicited. SCHWELLENBACH URGES CONGRESS TO RETAIN 40 HOUR WEEK. LIFT HOURLY WAGE TO 75c Secretary of I abo’r Schwellenbach struck at critics of the Wage-Hour Act who seek to lengthen the work week beyond the 40-hour limit set by the law and to repeal the law’s overtime provisions. Testifying before a House labor sub-committee holding hearings on proposed changes in the 9-year-old law, Mr. Schwellenbach also urged quick action to increase the hourly minimum w'age from the present 40-cent level to 75 cents. Noting that the law sought to establish a 40-hour work week as a “normal schedule” by requiring time and one half payments for ail time worked after 40 hours. Secre tary Schwellenbach told the committee: ' “I think that events have proven the wisdom of this congressional action since the basic work week and over time provisions were maintained through the war. with the1 highest production in world history, in spite of teh shift from the civilian work force of millions of our best work ers. At the beginning of our defense program, there were arguments similar to these now being advanced, that the overtime requirements of the Fair Lalnir Standards Act would hinder production. Events clearly disproved these assertions. in tne ngni oi inese iacis proposals now win* nvwp to eliminate or weaken thd overtime provisions of the act are unjustified. We have passed through the war and re conversion period without sacrificing this basic standard of our labor legislation. With a present labor force over 10 million larger than the wartime force, we certainly can achieve full production without sacrificing this basic safe guard. “Should the time.come when serious unemployment again threatens our economic structure, we shall be grateful for having on the statute books a law which will serve to prevent the anomaly of men walking the streets begging for work while other workera are being forced to work long and burdensome hours.” In calling for a new 75-cent minimum, the Secretary of Labor said the 40-cpnt minimum was not intended “to be a final goal” and that, changes in wage and price reltion ships since 1938 mde made it “clearly obsolete.’’ Contending that the amount of money involved in an in crease to 75 cents would represent only 1 per cent of the ation’s wage bill, Mr. Schwellenbach added “the economy of our country ca nabsorb with ease” such an increase. CHICAGO FEDERATION ADOPTS PROGRAM, DESIGNED TO PROMOTE INDUSTRIAL PEACE Affiliates of the Chicago Federation of Labor adopted a program designed to eliminatf jurisdictional disputes and to promote industrial peace in the Chicago area. The CFL approved a report of its Committee on Judis dictional Disputes which pledged the federation “to aid in the voluntary adjustment of jurisdictional disputes” and “to continue its efforts to settle other difficulties on a fair basis without resort to strikes or any form of concered work stoppages.” Avowing that it is not the intention of the CFL, to inter fere with any decisions of local or international unions, or in any way o trespass on the autonomy granted these un ions by the AFL’s constitution, the report declared the purpose of the program is to promote the voluntary ad justment of any disputes which may arise. Chief points of the program designed to accomplish the declared purpose of the CFL include the following: (1) Appointment of an advisory committee on juris dictional dlsputs on which all contesting unions will have representation and will have the authority to appoint otie additional member. (2) The committee will respond to reuqests made upon it for, consideration of any dispute, or it may take action upon its own initiative." Findings and recommendations of the committee will be reported to the CFL for the guidance of all its affiliates. (3) The refusal of any union to co-operate in the for mationof the xommittee. will be reported to the CFL’s ex ecutive board. ■-—__ (4) Work stoppages .as a means to enforce Jurisdictional demans should bet avoided. (6) Efforts on the part of the CFL to eliminate all work stoppages that “can and should be adjusted at the conference table.” (6) Request to all affiliated unions to report contem plated or existing strikes to the CFL in order that it may attempt “to have the parties reach a proper, peaceful and amicable settlement. EMPLOYER URGES RISE IN MINIMUM WAGE J. Spencer Love, president of the Burlington Mills Corpora tion. urged all progressive manufacturers interested in the welfare of the nation to support the mow-nu d to increase the minimum wage level. In a letter to Representative P. K. McConnell, chairman of a subcommittee of the House Education and labor Com mittee, he pointed out it was common practice to cut wages in order to procurespeoific orders at narrow nv ; Ins. This was frequently offered to labor as an alternative to idle ness’, he added, and finally wound up in a de " spiral which brought the average wage to stub a low level the ntioa'a economy almost stalled. The surest way to avoid a nrorren.t of th>s suiation, he emphasized, is a revision upward of mhihm;>o wage lev el.; "to l*c sci • r*««o.isbh relationship to labor** pres ent-day living costs.” TOC WORKER 0 TRVIN6 ’ TO ft* A (OKI *J A 4 mu civfLORMvr n * SAUMURS. Ml Mlf JUT QECIVfO AN ANIWIR TO Mte application. Z DON'T (U VOU HAVE TO WO«V /(BOUT, JOE. WEE* wwn, pbobstant ^ AMD VOue ANCIfTOM WERE BNSUfMi TOU DON’T SET THE POINT, MOTHEQ ITS THE IDEA OP ASKING BUCK QUESTIONS. N NATIONAL LABOR SOVW «• -e=«B=» THOM MS AREN'T MW'lEO WITH S9UIRI4 TUI LACT OlMi WO* sfOPl! THAT HMD A PUCE TO UVI. THEY WANT TO AlAKE SAlESflURS v ah UNAAAUUCAN TOWN. TOO! f WHter* TMi UMON SOT TO 00 WITH FLINTY! wrVS SOT EVERV RACE AND k OJj RANKS WS CANT ALLOW OUR MEMBERS TO M BARRED FROM FWOiNG a place to UVE BECAUSE THEV 60 TO A DIFFERENT CMJRCH. MILLION MORE WOMEN IN FACTORY JOBS; NUMBER OF EMPLOYED UP 30 PER CENT Washington. D. C. — Women hold about one-fourth of all fac tory production jobs, the same >roportion as in 1939, according o a recent study released by the Bureau of Labor Statist'cs. In actual number*, however, over 3.1 milion women were working in factories in 1947 com pared with about 2.3 m'llion in 1939, the Bureau of Labor Sta tistics survey disclosed. W’h e the number of women employed was 38 per cent above the prewar year, the employment of men in creased by nearly 40 per cent during the same period. The gain in women’s employ ment was about equally divided between the durable goods or “heavy" industries and the non durable goods industries, which marufacture largely finished products for consumers. The ad dition of 460,000 women Tn the hard-goods industries indicate* that many of the gain* made by women dbring the war have been retained during the post-war pe riod. The greatest increase took place in radio and phonograph manufacturing, where over half of the johs are now held by women. In the soft-goods in dustries. which cusomarily hire large numbers of women, employ ment ia currently about 510,000 higher than the 1939 level. The apparel industries alone increased the'r employment of women by >ver 180,000, women holding 4 out of every 5 production .toi..t a. j he time of the 1947 survey. Other industries that have sub stantially increased the number of women employed include iron and steel, nonelectrical machinery, non-ferrous metals, furniture, and chemihals. 31 BOBUS PAYMENTS EXCEED 1 1-2 BILtlONS Chicago.—Bonus payments to GIs aggregat'ng more than 1 1-2 'tilllion dollar* have beer, author zed by nine states, the Federa ton of Tax Administrators re ported. Six other states have taken in | itial legislative action toward j granting the bonuses, the feder ation Baid. The next step in all six will be approval or rejection on bonus bond issued by the vot ers some time next year. The nine states in which bon uses have been approved are Ill inois, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Vork, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Bonus referenda will be held * next year in Indiana, Iowa, Min nesota, North Dakota. South Da kota, and Wisconsin. Approval of a 400 m'llion bonus bond issue in New York Increases the state’s gross public debt more than 70 pee cent, the re port said. The bonds will be re tired with revenues from a 10 NORGE HOME HEATER I I f per cent increase in the state in come tax rate and a 1 per cent per pack boost in the cigarette tax. The 300' millions of Ohio bonus bonis will be paid off with pro ceeds from increased state prop erty taxes. The federation esti mated the average Ohio home owner will pay an extra tax of *15 a year for the next decade.« Vermont in 194? became the f.rst state to provide a bonus for Wor'd War II veterans, and so far is the only state to finance the grants without borrowing money. ADMINISTRATRIX'S NOTICE Having qualified as Administra i ‘rix of the Estate of Marvn R t Be