Devoted to
the Interests
of the
A. F. of L.
and the
Working Man
ARLOTTE LABOR JOURNAL
Labor Weekly, Presenting Labor News and Views Without Fear and Without Favor
Dedicated
to the
Continued
Industrial
Growth of
North Carolina
VOL. XIX; NO. 34
CHARLOTTE, N. C„ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29. 1949
Subscription Price $2.00 Year
■ m ■ " . .. 1 . ■ .. .. mf -11 ■ 1,111 * ..... "L .... - . ..■■■■■■■.I ■ ..-..... ■■■■.
Growth Of Co-Ops Can
F<y*r stall Depression
Ana Inflation - Voorhis
St. Paul.—The nation can escape
depression and inflation if 15 to 20
percent of its business is conduct
ed through cooperatives.
•V
t is the belief of Jerry Voor
his, former California Congress
man and executive secretary of the
Cooperative League of America,
who addressed the 68th AFL con
vention.
“If we can build cooperative
membership to a point where 15
percent of the nation’s business
is done by them, the competition
of cooperative enterprise would
be able to prevent either a serious
deflation or a severe depression
from ever taking place again,”
Voorhis said.
He said that with that number
of people in cooperatives it would
be possible to break the strangle
hold of any monopoly in this coun
try.
“Cooperatives exist for just one
purpose: to give tt> the people
economic power as citizens, to dhrw
them together for the meeting of
common needs, and to enable them
to have something to say about
what is produced, how much is pro- j
doced, and the quality and price of I
goods and services,” Voorhis said.
'If the bargaining power of the peo
ple, through their cooperatives, can
be made great enough we can even
save this nation from the danger
of ecoorimic collapse at any time
in the future.”
Voorhis said that if only one
quarter of organized labor joined j
with a good percentage of others
people in cooperatives in the next i
3 years, the country could have an!
economy that was fairly proof j
against the ups and downs of the ;
business cycle.
He said cooperatives are asking;
no special favors from the govern
ment in tax exemptions. He said
any business, including coopera
tives, should pay income taxes on
their earnings. On the other hand,
he said, if it suffers a loss or
doesn’t make a profit it ought not
to be taxed.
Voorhis said cooperatives have
reduced the cost of insurance as
much as 40 per cent in many lines;
made credit available to millions
of people where is was not avail
able before and at a fraction of
former Interest rates; and brought
electricity to rural areas for the
first time.
AFL Helps L
Labor Fight
Communists
St Paul.—The AFL helped Lat
in-American trade unions in the
past year to clean out Commu
nists, fight oppressive reactionary
government interference in their
affairs, and improve working con
ditions.
This progressive report was sub
mitted to the AFL's 68th conven
tion by Serafino Romuladi, AFL
representative for Latin-America.
He said 142 delegates from 47
organizations in 22 countries and
fraternal delegates from 11 other
organizations attended the second
conference of the Inter-American
Confederation of Workers held in
Havana last September. This was
a substantial increase since the
federation was organized by the
AFL at Lima. Peru, in January
194?.
' Romualdi said the infant organi-!
zation had broken the Communist
grip on Cuba and Mexico, and had
established itself in Paraguay,
British Guiana, Trinidad, Santa
Lucia. Virgin Islands and Ecuador.
“The Communists are through in
Mexico; they are through with the
Mexican labor movement for good,”
Romualdi said. He said as for Cuba,
“once the stronghold of commu
nism in the Western Hemisphere.”
the best proof that communism is
dead there is shown by the esta,b-1
lishment of headquarters of the
Inter-American Federation in Ha
vana.
“The most important point we
have emphasized has been the need
to improve the conditions of the
wage earners south of our border
in order to raise their standard of
living,” Romuladi said. “Although
Latin America with its 20 republics
does not offer a Uniform pattern,
in practically every country the
working population is still condem
ned to a miserable existence, in
some cases far below the subsis
tence level.”
He called low wages the “curse
of Latin America” because they
have led to economic stagnation,;
prevented expansion of markets
and kept down purchasing power.
“By helping 150.000,000 Latin
Americans to increase their pur
chasing power we prepare the
ground for an expanding foreign
market for our own surplus indus
trial products,” he pointed out.
Gray Lists Threats To
Public Housing Program
wasnington.—Kicnard J. uray,
president of the AFL Building
Trades Department, nailed misrep
resentations made by Sen. Harry
P. Cain of Washington against
AFL President William Green and
the AFL.
Mr. Gray was in the audience of
labor union members at Pasco,
Wash., early in December when
Senator Cain, who had requested
permission to address the group,
told the AFL members that Mr.
Green and the AFL had refused to
accept any amendments to a re
vised labor bill in the last session
of Congress.
Mr. Gray took the floor immedi
ately after Senator Cain to give
the lie to the senator's charge and
to state some of the evils of the
Taft-Hartley law, which make its
complete repeal necessary.
The AFL official said the ex
penence points up the necessity for
every union member and officer to
know what is wrong with the Taft
Hartley law and why the AFL
wants it repealed. Such knowledge
is'the only sure way to combat the
misrepresentations made by Sena
tor Cain and others of his ilk.
Meanwhile Labor’s League for
Political Education criticized Sen.
Robert A. Taft of Ohio for claim
ing “outsiders” into Ohio to influ
ence voters in his campaign for
re-election.
“It so happens,” the League Re
porter said, “that the most influ
ential labor leader who has spok
en against Taft in the Buckeye
state is a native and a resident of
Ohio. He formerly served in the
Ohio Senate. We mean President
William Green of the American
Federation of Labor.”
AFL-CIO Leaders Happy Over Big Job Well Done
New York—AFLand CIO leader* who worked together to e*
---- --._ f establish the world's strongest anti-corn
manist interaational labor group wind ip their trip to and from the London conference with smiles and
handshakes. Shown arriving from the founding meeting of the International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions are front row, L to r* AFL Vice-President Charles.J. MacGowan, president Boilermakers;
A PL President William Green; David MacDonald, secretary-treasurer of the CIO United Steelworkers;
AFL Vice-President W. C. Doherty, president Letter Carriers; and back row, L to r„ AFL Secretary
Treasnrer George Meany; CIO Vice-President Allan S. Haywood, and APL Vice-President George M.
Harrison, president Railway Clerks.
--—l
FRANK
EDWARDS
noted corrjmtentator
ON RAPIO STATION
WAYS, 10 P. M.
GGMPERS MEMORIAL/
1,000.000 NEW m
- MEMBERS IN «9S0
ltoic»«rrato»«f Ufcor 1
Reading from left to right:!
James A. Glenn, Legal Counsel for'
the American Federation of Labor,j
Washington, D. C.; J. L. Rhodes,
Southern Director of Organisation.
American Federation of Labor, At
lanta, Georgia; and Harry E.
O’Reilly, National Director of Or
ganization, American Federation of
Labor, Washington, D. *?., stand
ing before a large picture of the
late Sampel Compere below which
is inscribed the declaration for a
1,000,000 new number campaign
in 195(h This picture was taken of
a display before the Southern Or
ganizing Conference of the Amer
ican Federation of tabor in New
London.—3. H. Oldenbroek, lone*
time firm friend of the American
Federation of Labor, waa chosen
general secretary of the new anti*
communist International Confeder
ation of Free Trade Unions formed
here In December. Mr. Oldenbroek
ia erecutire secretary of the Inter*
national Transport Workers Feder
ation most powerful of the world
trade union secretariats e« ported
to wo-k in close cooperation with
the new international body. In that
position he has made a legion of
frienda among AFL officials and
members of the maritime, railroad,
teamster and other unions.
Green Participates
In London Ceremony:
London.—AFL President Wil-1
liam Green participated in the
opening ceremonies at the new
medical and rehabilitation center
in South London built with $200.
000 raised by the AFL and other
American trade unions.
Mr. Green said in a speech that
Great Britain had made great,
progress in health and social serv
ices.
Orleans, Louisiana, D< comber l
and 4.
The Conference was one of tw(f
political purposes. First to launch
an organization drive as a Centen
nial Memorial to Sampel Gompers
and the launching of statewide ral
lies on an organizing and political
organizing basis to be held in each
of the states during the month of
January, I960.
1949 National Income
Probably Be 220 Billions
THIS COMPARES WITH 87 BIIXION DOLLARS IN
BEST PROSPERITY YEAR BEFORE WAR.
With the continuation of the Roosevelt-Truman eco
nomic policies, the United States has achieved a stable
prosperity, as well as a reasonable price stability. Con
struction remains at a high levei. Income and buying re
main very strong and will be even stronger in 1950. While
the highs of 1918 will not be repeated this year or next,
i we must remember that in 1918, there was a temporary
inflationary boom. There was always a Question whether
a long period of readjustment would set in. But the furth
e,* events ot 1919 have set this worry aside. Business con
ditions improved after the middle of the year and were still
going strong at the end of this year. The New Deal-Fair
Deal has so t rtitied the country with sound* national pol
icy that it has made our economy strong and resilient. Cor
poration earrings are the highest in history and, AFTER
TAXES, management is getting greater profits than at
any time in the history of the United States. Over 60 mil
lion people are gainfully employed. Small business has not
hit its stride, but the election of a real New Deal-Fair Deal
. Congress in 1950, will result in the necessary adjustments
lo give small business their proportionate share of irreater
ironts.
Underlying all of this is tjio main philosophy of the
!toosevelt-Truman policies—the elimination of fear. Under
he Democratic administrations of the past 17 years, the
working men and the farmer and the white collar man, all
iave acquired the confidence that .they will not be left in
lespair in an economic emergency and, with the elimination
)f that basic fear, people can go ahead and advance
jMPeeper* -
If President Truman gets a truly liberal Democratic Con
gress in 1950, this industrial stability should become
stronger and stronger until it will have become impregnable.
First Woman Ambassador to United States
Washington.—Seated at her desk in the Embassy ef India,
Madame Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit talks te visiters about the democratic
aims and the freat needs of her country and its people. The AFL’a
(8th convention in St. Paul urged the United States to “welcome and
support the Asian Relations Conference called by democratic India
and its great Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as a positive step
toward unifying the free nations of Asia in mutual defense of their
newly-won freedoms.** Madame Pandit is a sister of Prime Minister
Nehru.
AFL Men Listen to World Labor Debate
London.—AFL Vicc-PreaidenU W.
of Letter Carriers, and Geerge
of Railway Clerka, with Geerge
aatioaal representative, left to right. listen to opening dehate
International Confederation of Free Trade Union*.
C Doherty, president National
George M. Harriaen, preaident
George P. Delaney, ArL Inter*