North Carolina Newspapers

RALEIGH, N. C. — Mach talk has been made about the “inde pendence” of this legislature, how it could not be bulldozed by Gov ernor Kerr Scott and how it had a mind of its own. Most of this conversation has come from the extreme conserva tive, er anti-Scott forces. These folks—sitting in the sad dle at the beginning of the 1951 General Assembly some four weeks ago—suddenly have dis covered that “independence” is a two-edged sword that is likely to cut their own throats. These folks also have discov ered that the Legislature is di vided into three parts: (1) The ultra-conservative, hold-the-Iine, no new taxes—no new spending group that includes the anti Scott boys—although all of this group in by no means anti-ad ministration despite the fact that the leaders generally are “agin Scotters”; (2) the “down-the-line” supporters of Scott who, if any thing. think he was too conser vative in his recommendations to the Legislature; and (3) the law makers who are not on either side but are oonsidering each in dividual measure with an open mind, trying to do what is best for North Carolina. Fortunately,, the latter group is the largest. Incidentally, most of the freshmen senators and representatives fall into this cat egory. They have not lined up on either side, although they are resentful of the ramrodding at tempts of the ultra-conservative group-particularly as evidenced in the stacking of committees — at this writing are leaning to ward the administration and the liberal side of the fence. The conservative leadership lost ground with the- committee appointments, but the investiga tion of the building of the State Fair coliseum—which they were sure would cast discredit upon the administration — turned into a boomerang that had them talking to themselves /by last weekend. The would - be Legislature bosses discovered that killing the coliseum, which at first seemed to have universal favor, was heartily opposed by agriculture leaders. These leaders at a pub lic hearing told a special com mittee investigating the building that it would be a big boon to agriculture and industry in North Carolina—particularly to the cat tle industry* which they labeled as Tar Heelie’s greatest field for “cash crop” growth. And many of the legislators, when they found that the coli seum would not be a basketball or ice-skating areana, but would be used primarily as a live stock arena, decided that it was not the monstrosity it had been at first pictured. They learned, too, that it would cost the State quite a bit of money to welch on its contract to build the coliseum, and many of them did not like the idea of the State trying to get out of a contract anyway. They learned, too, that the investigation had been promoted back of the scenes by some would-be political string-pullers with a primary aim of emtoaras aing the administration. Ironi cally, one of these ambitious big wheels now is talking about how “disappointed” he is in one of the legislators fighting the hardest for discontinuance of the colise um. This same would-be king maker helped to instigate the in vestigation, it is reported, de spite the fact that ho at one time fought for the coliseum and also coaributed to the election campaign of the very legislator he now is tossing to the wolves. All of which adds up to this: Ton can expect some knock down dragout legislative fights. The balance of power in the Legislature may swing to the ad ministration. And he wh> messes with top level politicos freqiently finds his fingers singed. Incidentally, a lot of the law makers are waking up to the fact that that “hold the line' recommended budget really is a “back of the line” budget. It left out even the contingent pay raises for school teachers; it left out some 16,500,000 for the hospital building program, and it ignored merit pay raises for State employees under the gen eral fund. Just adding up those items comes to something like $25,000, 000. Add in money enough to take care of enough teachers to keep the teacher-load the same as it is now and you get pretty close to the $30,000,000 mark. Add upkeep and staffing of permanent improvements, and you get mighty close to the $38,000,000 that Governor Scott asked for in addition to the recommended budget. Even some of the conservatives are beginning to talk as though the governor knew what was I needed. However, they still are fighting extra taxes. Their aim, appar ently, is to cut enough money out of the $44,000,000 still un spent or not yet contracted for in the permanent improvement kitty to make up the difference. A few questions asked in the | joint finance committee sessions would indicate that several of the boys will stage a fight to put theaters back under the sales tax and to eliminate many, if not all, of the sales tax exemptions. A bill probably will be intro duced this week giving ABC of ficers the right to go into every county in the State in an effort to stamp out bootlegging, j Now, the ABC investigators | can go only into those .counties I having legal sale of liquor or beer ad wine. The measure would have the effect of setting up a state-wide unit similar to the Federal gov ernment’s Alcohol Tax Unit, ; which is the scourge of white liquor makers. Much has been said about lax ity of law enforcement in so : called dry counties. In many of them you can buy liquor easier and cheaper~than you can in those counties having state ABC stores. Public apathy, indifferent law of ficers, and in some instances pay offs are responsible. This bill would give ABC of ficers the right to go Into any county in the State to make in vestigations and arrests of boot leggers and other violators of the liquor, beer and wine laws. Its backers claim it would in crease enforcement of the laws immeasurably and cut down boot legging to a minimum. ironically, opposition is expect ed from the drys—who yell for a state liquor vote but in many instances don’t bother to try to enforce the prohibition laws in their own dry counties. Incidentally, the Allied Church League has declared war—come 1952—on all legislators who aren’t militant drys. This organisation does not approve the present bill before the legislature, which would call for a vote on an all-wet or an all-dry State. It will draw up one more to its own liking and seek some legislator to in troduce it. Such a bill would call for an all-dry or an “as is” state —the Allied Church League being afraid to take a chance on a real test of wet and dry strength. Their attitude is “we want to quit selling liquor but we den’* want to take the remote gamble that you might win and be able to sell your hooch in our territory.” And they claim such a vote should be taken in the name of democracy. This corner believes the State would go dry if a ref erendum were to be held, but the question should be honestly j answered and not on a half-way basis. Backer* of the “Hamilton'” pay bill drew in their horns and their bill last week. Originally intro duced to pot Judge Luther Ham ilton of Merehead City back on the retirement pay roll, * It ran into trouble from lawmakers who didn’t feel a bill should be passed GREATER NEED THAN EVER The working people of America need strong Labor Un ions today more than ever before in our history. Without such Unions and without the economic gains which can be made only through such Unions, the future would look ex tremely dark. These Unions must carry fflrough their plans to make this nation 100 per cent Union organized, in every craft and in every jurisdiction. Not only are strong unions needed by the working people; they are the greatest need today of free American enter prise in business and industry. For, without these strong Unions as a bulwark against the growth of communism, free enterprise will perish from the earth. The Unions, however, have a tremendous task ahead of them in organizing the unorganized areas, for business and industry and anti-Union leaders in politics do not always see eye to eye with Labor. • • • As Executive Vice President Dave Beck told the Com monwealth club in San Francisco recently, communism does not flourish in the Chambers of Commerce, or the service clubs, because these organizations are composed of men who are reasonably successful financially. They are far from poverty. They enjoy good living and they have confidence in the future for their families. Of course, they want no part of communism. Communism grows only in befuddled minds, or where poverty and filth and squalor are prevalent. The vast ten ement districts of the big eastern cities breed communism; Down south where men are still slaves to brutal bosses, communism is spreading. It is among those who toil for their living that the commies set up their cells. That is why commies are always trying to infiltrate the Labor Movement. Take away the causes of poverty and sonaJor. imke men free from the fear of poverty, give them confidence in the future, and communism will die. Communism is a liar. It lies about what it has done in Russia. It lies about what it intends to do elsewhere in the world. For communism is simply the guise under which vicious and unscrupulous men are seeking to rule the world. Communism in Russia has reduced the wage of the average Russian worker to $308 a year. This is official from Soviet propaganda. Meanwhile, through its trade inefficiency perhaps, communism has given the Russian people the highest level of living costs in the world Eggs cost 34 cents each, when they can be had at all. in Moscow, Butter is $2.30 a pound. Soap is $1 a bar, which probablv doesn’t bother the commies, but poor shoes at $100 a pafr and overcoats at $450 must be important items in the land of the big snows. • * • We are at war with communism. It is a war which Raa* sia will be happy to wage so long as there are any Chinese soldiers left to fight. Maybe Russia will put her commie troops in some day but probably not until the puppet red governments have bled themselves dry. That’s the Rus sian way. We are not fighting to rule the world. We do not want the other fellow’s land. All we want is to be let alone so t}iat we can work out our own problems in our own way and in our own time. We know there is room for vast im provement, but wTe insist on doing it by our constitutional methods and without giving up our rights and liberties That’s why we are fighting. That is also why America needs strong Unions and a strong Labor Movement. For there is no group more strongly convinced of the benefits and future of our Ameri can way than Labor. —Washington Teamster. just for one judge's benefit. Many of the legislators feel that the laws on retirement of judges should be rewritten entire ly Among other things, they have discovered that judges do not contribute to their own retire ment They don't put one penny in the State employees retirement fund. That caused some raised eyebrows. It probably will cause the bill to be much amended, if it ever sees the light of day again. And there was some speculation that if and when it is passed it will either leave Judge Hamilton out in the cold or name him specifi cally. You can expect a concerted ef fort and considerable pressure to get Governor Scott to name Bruce Etheridge of Mantoe to the Board of Conservation and De velopment to succeed the late Roy Hampton of Plymouth. The conservative forces already are pushing the "Duke of Dare" —who resigned as director of the Department of Conservation and Development becuase he and Kerr Scott dhbit exactly see eye to eye. Should be right interesting to watch the parade. Senator Junius Powell of Co lumbus has been introducing all kinds of measures aimed at put ting more stringent restrictions on the highway laws. They range from outlawing stock car racing to putting more severe penalties on speeding, drunken driving, and the Hke to lowering certain speed limits. But just because he introduces them docent mean that he is for them. You see, he's chair man of the Senate Roads Com mittee. Custom has it that the chairman of this committee in j introduces Motor Vehicle De partment-sponsored bills, whether "he personally hacks them or not. Legislators dodge questions on senatorial redistricting much in the same way they would evade sach queries as “have you beaten jyour mother-in-law lately.” They j feel like they can’t win, no mat Iter how they answer. Most of the districts would lose by redistricting, end no law i maker wants to go on record as ! favoring, something that would [ hurt his section of the State. Charlotte, Greensboro, et al, : will yell, but it wouldn’t be at I all surprising if the constitulion I al requirement for rediatrietiag i every 10 years is ignored by this session of the General Assembly. The first bill really doing any ; thing about reorganisation of the various state agencies as tossed in by Senator, Tom Sawyer qf Durham, who happens to be the brother of Dr Roma S. Cheek. You no doubt recall that it was Dr. Cheek’s study of State gov ernment that started all the lat est fuss about reerganisaion. Sawyer’s bill would submit the constitutional -question to a vote at the next general election. If favored, the Legislature would be authorised to combine the various agencies into IS — other thaa those agencies headed by elective officials. It also would set up a merit system, covering nil but elective officials and top appoint ive brass. Two other bills on .reorganiza tion have bean Introduced, but they merely call for commissions to study the pqsqibility pf zuch a. move. In the pasf, such meas ures haws resulted in nothing be ing done. Sawyer’s bill, if passed {and voted upon by the homefolks .favorable would make reorganize jtion mandatory. t ! AFL COUNCIL PLEDGES IKE FULL SUPPORT Miami.—The AFL executive j council pledged' wholehearted sup port to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhow i er as Supreme Atlantic Com mander. i The text of the cablegram signed bv AFL President William Green follows: j *‘The AFL extends to you as Supreme Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza tion its heartiest appreciation of your inspiring and dynamic ef i forts to expand, mobilize and uni fy the armed might of the free peoples in the interest of preserv ing world peace. “We pledge to you our whole hearted and undivided energies toward rallying the many millions of workers in the ranks of inter national free trade unionism for loyal and energetic support of the cause of peace and yourself as the first soldier of this sacred cause. “Far more than military weap ons will be required to win the fight against Russian imperialist aggression, whose advance agents and traitors paratroopers are the subversive, totatlitarian com munist outfits in the free lands.” KEENAN PICKED AS ‘CONSULTANT* Washington.—That labor voice in the National Production Au thority is not going to be at the operation or policy-making level bet aa “consultant.” NPA Administrator William H. Harrison appointed Joseph Keen an of the AFL and Ted Silvey of the CIO “aa special consultants to advise in the selecting of staff personnel.” Mr. Keenan served as vice chairman of the War Production Board during World War II and after the war was labor advisor to Gen. Lucius D. Cleg, military governor of Germany. He con tinues active in the AFL. having recently been named Secretary of the APL Building Trades. BUSINESSMEN DEAL WITH THE COMMIES Senator Herbert O’Connor (D., Md.) pointed out to the Senate American businessmen talk a good anti-Communist game while carrying on profitable trading with Red China. “The astounding fact is that as late as a few weeks ago ship 1 ments of highly useful materials were on the high seas being tranported on United States flag ships to Communist China,” O’Connor states. Last fall O’Connor headed an in vestigation into shipments of American goods to Communist countries. O’Connor went on to tell the Senate: “As late as November 16, 1050, a shipment of 34,672 pounds of . . steel sheets were allowed to leave New York In the steamship Igadi destined for Taka Bar, Red China. . . . “Since the outbreak of the Ko rean war on June 25, 1950, six 'shipments involving almost 50 million pounds of cotton are known to have been exported to Manchuria and Red China direct.” r . GET THIS BOOK ON BOWLING <ON THE CUPP | New York. — Glass Bottle Blowers Association (AFL) I* giving sway a 20-pace record book for bowlers. In addition to space for recording 120 frames, it contains information for begin ners, and a page of accurately de fined bowling terms. A free copy of the book can be obtained by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the association, 12 South 12th Street, Philadelphia 7, Pa. Labor Helps the Navy Washington—High praise for construction “know-how” contrib uted by organized labor to train ing of Navy Seabees, was voiced by Rear Admiral Joseph F. Jolley,, chief of Navy Civil Engineers, in a talk before the executive coun cil of the AFL Buiidiitfr and Con struction Trades. Jan. 19. AFL is assisting the Navy in recruit *ng 70,009 competent construction men over draft ago fas the Seabee Reserve. NLRB Clamps Down On Labor Unions For Alleged ‘Sharp’ Organizing Tactics WASHINGTON.—In recent decisions of the NLRB, new precedents in labor-management relations have been es tablished. By dcisions in two separate cases, the Board tightened its procedures and standards of Board elections In one case, an election was set aside because the winning union circulated a marked sample ballot bearing the name and title of the NLRB regional director. In the other case a regional director’s dismissal of the union’s protests against voting by certain employees, was upheld because pk>yCT,n,°n **a< ^a, e<^ to serve its exceptions on the em KEENAN RESIGNS LLPE POST; 1952 PLANS BEGUN Miami. — The administrative committee of Labor’s League for Political Education accepted the resignation of Joseph D. Keenan as director at its mid-winter meeting. The commitee adopted a reso lution expressing appreciation for the servcies rendered by Mr. Kee nan, who has been elected secre tary-treasurer of the AFL Build ing and Construction Trades De partment. A subcommittee was appointed to seek a successor to Mr. Kee nan, who has served since 1948, and another to map a financial program for the 1952 presidential campaign. Preliminary plans for the cam paign were discussed. The finance com mi tee consists of AFL Vice Presidents George M. Harrison and Matthew Woll and Richard Walsh, president In ternational Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes. “JOIN US,” GREEN URGES UNORGANIZED Detroit.—AFL President Wil liam Green dartariara^the AFL “is the orgfcnisation of the unorganised, se that workers ev erywhere can attain and secure higher living standards.” Speaking to the Detroit and Wayne Couty Fenderation of La bor. Mr. Green said: “Unorganised worker are workers without the right of franchise in economic life—in capable of taking part in and en joying the benefits of that sys tem of economic democracy which we are trying to expand and im prove in this country. “Workers who are denied trade union membership, or who fail to seek it, are as helpless and im potent in our economic life as those who are denied, or fall to use, the right to vote.” FOOD PRICES HIT ALL-TIME PEAK Washington.—Retail food prices rose 1.2 per cent to a record high level between December IB and January 2. The Labor Department estimat ed priees reached 218.9 per cent of the 1935-39 level, 1 per cent above the previous record high established July 15, 1958. Since the Korean outbreak, prices have risen 6.9 per cent. The biggest increase was 4.7 per cent for fats and oils. The- next biggest increase was for dairy products, up 3.5 per cent. Prices of meats, poultry and fish rose 1.7 per cent. 1951 UNION SHOW WILL BE HELD Washington.—Ray F. Leheney, director AFL Union Industries Show sponsored by the Union La bel Trades Department, stated that any rumors to the effect that there will not be a 1951 labor management exhibition are un founded and untrue. Until the President of the Unit ed States issues an order declar ing that there will be no trade shows during the emergency the show will go on, Mr. Leheney said. It will be held at Soldier Field, Chicago, 111., May 18 through May 26. SEEK 5,000 LOCALS Washington.—The AFL Nation al Federation of Post Office Clerics began its annual Bring-*-Brother Campaign January IS with a goal of 125,000 new members and 5, 000 locals by May 15. The clerks now have 4,796 locals. .... in two cmm, unanimous Board panels found the United Mine Workers had violated the law by "restraining and coerc ed employers in the exercise of their right to refrain from union activity ” Miners had ' paraded around six non-union mines in the Kentucky fields. In another case, a trial exam iner ruled that thei-e was no evi dence to prove that UMW had, in the 1950 contract negotiations, “insisted upon a union shop or a welfare fund with benefits re stricted to union members.” In two other cases, NLRB or dered unions to bear the full cost j of hack pay for employes whose i discharge had been caused by the union. In each case the unfair labor practice charge was filed by the employe, only against the un ion. In one case the Board found a seaman’s discharge was caused by the union instructing members not to sail on any ship that em ployed him. BUILDING TRADES ELECT JOE KEENAN TO RIVERS POST Miami.—Joseph Keenan, direc tor Labor's League for Political Education, was elected secretary winter executive council meeting. Mr. Keenan, former Interna tional representative of the Inter national Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and secretary of the Chi cago Federation of Labor, suc ceeds the tote Herbert _ Rivers, who died last December 6. Mr. Rivers held the position since 1937. Wage stabilisation, housing legislation and the impact of fed eral controls on construction were among the many issues taken up by the department’s council. MATT WILL RE-ELECTED VICE-PRES. 6TH TERM New York.—Matthew Woll, president of the International La bor Press of America and AFL vice president, was re-elected vice ^ president of “CARE," for his sixth • consecutive term. Since incorpoartion of “CARE” as a non-profit government-ap proved co-operative relief agency, Woll has represented A PL's re lief arm, the Labor League for Human Rights, pne of 26 mem ber agenda of “CARE.” I* its five years’ operation “CARE” has distributed ten pillion food and textile packages, valued at more than 6100,000,000 to individuals abroad. AID HOUSING More Than One Vets Loan Washington^—Republican Rep. Jacob K. Javits, New York, in troduced new legislation which would enable veterans to obtain more than one home loan within the prevailing loan guaranty lim its of the GI bill. Under the Houaing Act of 1950 the law enables a veteran to ob tain a home loan guaranty up to 60 per cent of the amount bor rowed up to a maximum amount of $7,500. Under the Javits bill the vet eran can again exercise his bene fits under the GI bill for a new loan of the difference between the amount perviously guaranteed land $7,600 without being limited ! to the single loan already made. CONNOLLY APPOINTED Washington—Secretary of La bor Maurice J. Tobin appointed William L. Connolly, director U. S. Bureau of Labor Standards, as chairman of the Federal Safety Council. He takes over assignment tat addition present auuea.