Newspapers / The Charlotte Labor Journal … / Nov. 23, 1950, edition 1 / Page 1
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VOL. XX; NO. 29 CHARLOTTE, N. C., THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1950 Subscription Price, $2.00 Per Year *3i Labor Journal Releigh Correspondent Writes On Status Of State Contracts By SCOTT SUMMERS f RALEIGH, N. C.—(CNS)—All the fuss about the un built Agriculture Building annex has turned up some inter esting items. It all started about two weeks ago when bids were opened on the annex, and found to be $13f7,000 more than the available cash—some $1,000,000 appropriated for the pur pose by the 1049 legislature. That brought an explosion irom Agriculture Commissioner L. Y. “Stag” Ballentine. Stag was quoted as accusing the Governor, the Board of Building and Grounds and others of sidetrack ing the Ag Building Annex for the Highway Building—now be ing constructed. And everybody concerned has denied any connection with such a move. In fact, they say nothing of the sort happened. More than eight months ago. Governor Scott warned all de pArtoiMit IimmIs' members of the Board of Building and Grenada, and others who had anything to de with the State building program that they had bettor got a move on. Ho aaid prices wore not Ukoly to gat bettor, and “some of you are going to got cangbt with year pants down If yon hoop on waiting around.” Some of the official* were of the opinion they should wait for hotter . jMftees,. jm thejt J«M *»l more for their money. Then came the Korean war, and along with it scarce mate rials and steadily increasing prices The outcome has been that many departments find the otoney appropriated is not enough to cover their planned buildings. Ballentine says responsibility for erecting the Ag Annex is not his. And, according to the law, it is up to the Board of Build ings and Grounds to see that that building is erected. Dr. Henry Jordan, highway commission chairman, was re sponsible for tbe highway building. He did not wait around, but kept the wires hot and heckled architects and en gineers until his plans were ready. He then pushed tt through until the contracts were let. and the work started. Consequently. the highway building will be done with the appropriated funds. The story behind all the furore KMMLta.bf.tUi;_ The same engineering firm had the contract for the Ag Annex, the new Health Build ing and three buildings in Dur ham. Ag Annx plans—calling for a fire story building—were ready before the highway build ing contract was let. Bat the Boerd of Buildings and Grounds decided that they had enough money to add another floor or two and sent the plans back for this revision. The Board claims this should have taken very little trouble, just a repeat on lower floors. Meantime, the story goes. Dr. Jordan got hold of this same firm and told them he wanted them to do the plans for the Highway building, if they would do it immediately and give it full priority. The BLOODSHED BOXSCORE Killed Not. 17 tfcre Nor. It 12 Injered Not. 17 thro Nor. 20 147 Killed Hire Not. 2* tide ymr 827 Killed tlire Nor. 20. 1940 742 Iejered tlire Not. 20. 1950 10.047 Injered Hire Not. 20. 1949 . 8,528 company agreed, with Capitol Hill source* saying that the company felt it already had the other contracts in the bag and could go ahead and grab this quick money. Thft company says it had an adequate staff to do all of the jobs simultaneously. Other folks say they think giving the high way building priority slowed down the planmaking for the other buildings. If this is so, then the Man lies with the Board of Building and Grounds for letting the company get away with such a more. They could have insist ed on—and watched to see that It was done—the company giv ing priority, if any was to be given, to the buildings for which they alreetfy had con Ballentine admits that he had not pushed for the building. He said it was not up to him to do ao. that it was the responsibility ojMUfc BfeSirtl of Buildings and Grounds. The Governor denies categor ically that he had anything to do with the delny. He says he has not opened his mouth to anyone connected with the building program in an effort to get any building put in frent of another. It is a matter of record that he has consistent ly urged all to do everything they could to speed up their own buildings. Meanwhile, the Ag Annex still is just a bundle of plans. The Board of Building and Grounds j voted the other day to ask the j Legislature to add . the extra j 1157,000 needed plus a sliding j scale to take care of any in- | creases in prices. It also asked j contractors to add 45 days to the 1 normal 30-day period allowed for acceptance of bids. According to the statutes, the Council of State can take enough money from the con tingency fund to finish a build ing—if the council decides it is an emergency. Whether this can be interpreted te mean that CAE funds could bo used to add to the money needed for the building has not been decided. And the Council of State hue not been naked te determine whether er not an “emergency” exists in Agricul ture Building office apace. The general opinion around i Capitol Hill is that plans would ! have been ready and the contract I for the Ag Annex let some time ago if Ballentine had pushed the matter. They admit the legal and technical responsibility batongs to the Board of Building and Grounds, but think the agricul ture commissioner could have ex erted considerable influence had he tried. One member of the Board of Building and Grounds said that Ballentine “has never opened his mouth to mo—or at any hoard session—about the new THANKSGIVING, 1950 ALL AMERICANS CAN BE THANKFUL FOR Highway Safely Advisory Committee Holds Meet Raleigh, K. Tf—The Governor’s Advisory Committee on Highway Safety this week mailed invita tions to members of four of its sub-committees to attend meetings the latter part of this week and next at the Institute of Govern ment in Chapel Hill for final dis cussion of their work, John A. Park of Raleigh, chairman of the Advisory committee, reported. The meeting schedule is as fol lows: Sub-committee on Accident Rec ords and Reporting, 11 a. m., No vember 24. Sub-committee on Driver Li censing, 11 a. m., November 28. Sub-committee on Traffic Courts and Violations Bureaus, 11 a. m., November 29. Sub-committee on Traffic Law Enforcement, 11 a. m., November 30. At the meetings, the sub-com mittees will complete work on re ports of their findings in their particular fields and prepare rec ommendations to be submitted to the Governor’s Advisory Commit tee early in December, when the group plans its final meeting. At the December meeting, the Advisory Committee will review recommendations of sub-commit tees and outline plans for a pro posed highway safety program to be submitted to Governor Scott and the 1951 General Assembly. The Institute of Government has been assisting the Advisory Committee and its sub-committees in making a study of the highway accident situation, compiling find ings and answering questions arising at the Governor’s High way Safety Conference in June. Following are names of mem bers on the various committees from the Charlotte area who were invited to attend meetings this week and next: Accident Records and Repott ing: Henry L. Harris, Albe marle R. H. Huffman, Cherry ville; H L. Thompson, Charlotte. Drivers Licenses: Paul G. Stoner, Lexington, chairman; W. B. Harrison, H, JfcsHsovsr, Ed R. Rowland, Charlotte; J. J. Tarl ton, Rutherfordton. Traffic Courts and Violations Bureaus: E. Earle feives, Greens boro, chairman; N. L. Boggs, Statesville; Joseph T. Carruth ers, Greensboro; Joe Donovan, Lexington; J. J. Hamlin, Ruther fordton; L. W. Henkel. Charlotte; Tom Leath, Rockingham; J. E. License Applications For New Tags Are Being Mailed Oat RALEIGH, N. C—The Depart ment of Motor Vehicles this week began its hnnual task of mailing out application cards for 1951 li cense plates to 1,125,000 motor vehicle owners, the Department reported today. All the cards are expected to be in the mail by the end of the week, prepertory to the sale of 1951 license plates, which begins on December 1 and continues through January 31. The license plates will be on sale at the cen tral office in Raleigh and at 80 branch offices throughout the State. When applying in person for license togs, motor vehicle own ers should bring their application cards and fee with them. When applying by mail, vehicle owners should enclose the card and the fee. Motorists who do not receive their application cards, either be cause they have changed their ad dresses or for other reasons, should give the make and motor number of their vehicles in ap plying for 1961 licenses. The Department has changed the color of plates this year from black and orange to red oa white. The usual six-numeral tags and R or W plus five numerals will be used on passenger ears and various combinations of letters and numerals will be used for other types of motor vehicles. Motor vehicle registration this year is expected to near 1,200, 000. If 1961 registration exceeds this figure, another letter will be added in the passenger car series. Oaks, Greensboro; Tom Wolfe, Albemarle. Traffic Law Enforcement: Thomas Banks, Raleigh, chair man; Isaac T. Avery, Jr., States ville; A. L. Bechtold, Charlotte; R.L. Brinson, Jr, High Point; Bay A. Cline, Concord; Robert F. Far ley, Greensboro; Stanhope line berry, Charlotte; Frank Little john, Charlotte; R. W. Moseley, Charlotte; Kerr Craigs Ramsay, Salisbury; W. Z. Smith, Gastonia. New Minimum Wage Be Considered On Dec. 15 Amendment of the 75-cents-an hour minimum wage determina tion for employment in the scien tific, Industrial and Laboratory Instrument Industry on Govern ment contracts let under the Walsh - Healy Public Contracts Act will be considered at a pub lic hearing in Washington on De cember 15, Secretary of Labor Maurice J. Tobin announced yes terday. Scheduled by r. Granville. Jr., Acting Administrator of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Di visions, the hearing will open at 10 a. m in Room 1214, Depart ment of Labor Building. Formal notice of the hearing appears to day in the Federal Register. ^Under provisions of the Public Contracts Act, the Administrator of the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions conducts hear ings to obtain evidence to enable the Secretary of Labor to deter mine prevailing minimum wagas in an industry, to apply to em ployees performing on Govern ment contracts for more than (10,000. The present prevailing minimum wage has been in effect since January 25, the same effec tive date as the 75-cents-an hour minimum under the Fair Labor Standards — the Federal Wage and Hour Law. Reconsideration of the current minimum wage for the industry was deefcted upon, Grimes said, because a wage survey of manu factoring establishments in the industry made last May by the Scientific Apparatus Makers of Ame-ica, following a panel con eren 'e cf management and labor representatives with officials of the Department of Labor, Indi cates that the present 75-cent rate may not reflect the prevail ing minmum wage in the indus try. Interested persons are in vited to submit wage data, he added, including data m to changes Which have taken place iti the wage structure of the in dustry since the time of the sur vey; In addition, the hearing will be open to the submission of data, views and arguments as to whether any new wage determi nation should continue the pro visions for the employment of learners or apprentices at sub minimum rates. Consideration will also be given to the propriety of the present definition of the industry. Copies of the format notice of the hearing, containing the cur rent definition of the industry, and tabulations of wage data prepared at the request of the Wage and Hour and Public Con tracts Divisions, may be obtained from the Divisions’ Washington office upon request. Advance notice of intention to appear at the hearing ahould be filed with the Acting Administra tor. An original and four copies of statements in lieu of appear ances may be filed up to the opening of the hearing. T WHILE YOU'RE CONSIDERING MY DISABILITIES' DON’T' OVERLOOK my ABILITIES!! - Don't Be Mentally Handicapped, Mi. Employed EMPLOY PHYSICALLY handicapped mam ■ r I « I - FRENCH TEACHER MAKES A PENETRATING ANALYSIS OF TRADE UNIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. DESIGNED TO ENLIGHTEN FRENCH WORKERS “The most miserable of the c^peed workers in the United i«tates knows a liberty and a se curity undreamt of by those who are ‘building socialism* in the same way as others 5,000 years ago carried the stones of the Pyramids." That is the final sentence in an artieto-written by Roger Hag nauer, member of the French Workers Education Team to the United States, for the monthly magasine, “La Revolution Prole tarienne,” under the title “Six Weeks in the U. S. A. — Facts Too Moving to Digest.” Hagnauer, a leader of the teacher's union of the non-Com munist OST - Force Ouvriere, makes a penetrating analysis of the trade union situation in the United States directed toward making French workers under stand that life in the United States is better than life under a dictator be Stalin, Hitler, or somebody else. For example, he says: “It is childish to pretend to adopt American ideas, for there are no American ideas. There is only the American form et life. One must experience it be fore feeling a determining in fluence. This Empiricism — mis judged by so many—appears to me as the most' striking Expres sion of liberty, real liberty, that which is true power and not a formal right." Hagnauer’s favorable analysis of American Labor and industry is regarded by EGA labor ad visors as especially significant and helpful in the French battle against Communism because Hag nauer and his group have in. the past been severely critical of the United States. His opening paragraphs re flect the intense battle being fought in France by the minority non-Communist unions against the totalitarian concepts of the usurping and tightly organized Communists: “Do you remember those fam ous Workers’ delegations to the U. R. S. S., which, after three weeks of “conducted tours,” brought back to the mass of the French people a highly colored picture of the land of ‘socialism/ I thought about them, 8 years ago on reading in L’ATELIER organ of French-speaking Hitler ians — accounts of delegations, also 'workers' in the country of 'Strength through Joy* or ‘Joy through Strength.* The connec tion was obvious since several people—for example the famous Teulade—played in the two esses the role of traveling salesman for ‘totalitarian junk.* "I recalled these two memories at Washington last month, when an American journalist asked our interunion delegation to the U, S. our impression of American life "The ruthlessness oy which a number of us repulsed all at tempts to use for means of prop aganda conclusions that we had not yet reached and that we did not wish to reach without serious thought-caused neither surprise nor emotion on the part of our questioner. And ne one among the administrative representatives or the American unions appeared to be hurt or even put out by this reserve. Man-dated represen tatives of the C. G. T.—F. 0„ the C. F. T. C., and the C. G. a —we had set out with the idea of studying workers’ education in the C. S Not only were we sup plied with abundant information on the subject. Not only were we put in direct contact with the men, the women, the organisa tions, the groups, whose activi ties were directed within the area that we wished to study, (Continued On Page 4)
The Charlotte Labor Journal and Dixie Farm News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Nov. 23, 1950, edition 1
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