Out Of 16 Cities Studied
Some Showing Lower Prices
‘"Retail food prices in
gHHrthern cities, with the ex
. «eption of Jacksonville, Mo
jflp and Savannah, remained
jpenerally stable during June,
.-according to Brunswick A.;
JBtagdon, Regional Director of
Ae U. S. Department of La-1
Snr’s Bureau of Labor Sta
tistics in the South. Of the
jBxteen selected southern
^ cities included in the June
survey, approximately two
thirds reported fractionally
loser prices and the remain
ing cities showed no change
or fractionally higher prices.
Changes during the month
varied from an overall de
•cline of 0.8 per cent in Birm
ingham and Houston to an
increase of 0.8 per cent in
JSavannah. Retail food prices
jobowed little or no change
during June in Charleston,
little Rock and Winston
Salem.
Of the important food items
iachuk-d in this monthly survey
retail food prices, fruits and
vegetables, fats and oils, and
«hkkens led the downward trend
ia most cities. Fruits and vege
tables showed the greatest de
cline in Birmingham, down 4.1
jper cent, in Houston 3.8 per cent,
and 2.4 per cent in Norfolk. Fats
\aad oils were down generally, led
fey drops of 3.2 per cent in Mo
bile, 2.9 per cent in Jackson, and
*7 per cent in New Orleans.
rCbicken prices were lower in m
majority of southern cities — 4
per cent or more in Atlanta and
Jbaoxville and substantially high
er ia Mobile—8.4 per cent, and
«wr 6 per cent higher in Birming<
bam and Jacksonville. Although
•dairy products were down over 2
jper cent la Memphis they re
mained stable during June in
Snoot cities.
<z<kk pnces, nowever, rose iud
ntantially daring the month, vary*
img in increase from 0.1 per cent
In New Orleans to 5.4 per cent in
Richmond and 9.8 per cent in
'Winston-Salem. Retail prices of
leverages and sugar and sweets
-remained firm with higher prices
reported in Dallas, Charleston,
suid Knoxville.
Meats, poultry and fish prices
■were generally stable during June
—lower prices were noted in At
lanta, Little Rock and Richmond,
and fractionally higher prices in
nix of the remaining cities.
Cereals and bakery products
-were lower in most southern
cities, varying in decline from 2.9
per cent in Jackson to 1.3 and 1.1
per cent respectively in Birming
ham and New Orleans.
KMERGENCY DEFENSE
HANDBOOK PUBLISHED
Planned to appear quarterly, a
anew “Handbook of Emergency
^Defense Activities” has been is*
word by "the Genera] Services Ad*
ministration.
The handbook is a guide to
.Federal agencies, all or part of
•wfhose functions are devoted to
mobilization or to other related
jphasefc of the defense program.
"To assist the public in reach
ing the proper service in connec
tion with the defense program,
ttlw handbook presents brief or*
'atanizatipna] outlines and the
names, addresses and telephone
.numbers of officials of emergency
•defense agencies and their field
•offices, together with similar data
«a the Department of Defense
asad the U. S. Coast Guard.
For ready reference, there are
included a subject index, a name
index, a list of commonly used
abbreviations for Government
agencies, and a separate list of
•officials from whom information
snay be obtained concerning addi
tion Federal agencies.
The handbook may be pur
chased for 25 cents a copy from
■the Superintendent of Documents,
Government Printing Office,
Washington 25, D. C.
“TIME-BOMB”
“We’re sitting on an economic
time-bomb . . . ‘Business as usual’
fees an ominous ring to me at a
time when men are dying in bat
tle in Korea for a free way of
life."—Economic Stabilizer Eric
Johnston in a radio speech, June
3rd.
I
Confessions Of
A Strikebreaker
By E. W. SCRIPTS,
Founder of Scrippe-Howard
Newspaper Syndicate
I was 19 when 1 was interested
in a certain corporation that em
ployed skilled labor. The work
men declared a strike. There were
less than 40 laborers, nearly all
known to me personally. I had
little respect for their wisdom or
common sense. The strike began.
It was significant of my self-con
ceit and my cheek that I went be
fore the board of directors and
told them that I had a way of
breaking the strike if I were per
mitted to do certain things. I
laid out before them my plan
which seemed to them good.
Inside a week I had replaced
every striker with as good a man
as himself. No matter how! Then
the old workingmen came to me
to tell what their agreements had
been and what their present hard
ships were. As I said ‘I knew all
of them personally. At their so
licitation I visited a number of
their homes. I saw things that
made me feel ashamed at the
part I had been playing.
Without saying anything to the
old-fossil directors. I undertook
to make the acquaintance and
learn something about the char
acter of the strikebreakers. All
or nearly all the strikers were
married men with families. Every
one of the strikebreakers was un
married and comparatively young,
some of them very young. By
one means and another I and the
I old workmen persuaded every one
of these newcomers to leave. In
| order to save the faces of the
dignifted, superior men who
formed the directorate of the
company, the old workingmen
made some concessions in their I
demands and were alTowed to re
turn. It was not more than two
weeks later that business as usual
was going on in that institution.
The men whom I had been deal
ing with were members of the
union. For the first time I
learned from them what unionism
meant and what its history had
been. And then I had had this
i experience with the directors, who
were really not directors, at all,
but merely old foos-foos, who
were themselves directed by an
employe manager.
From that time on in such a
small way as 1 could, I have been
leveling my guns at the employer
class, whether they be capitalists
of mere borrowers of capital.
FEDERATION MEETING
OPENS NEXT MONDAY
..i . . -
(Continued From Pax* D
rector of Organization Joseph Ja
cobs, Vice President R. S, Whit
mire of Asheville, and other top
officials of the UTWofA, will be
in charge of these meetings of
the textile workers. Plans have
been completed for haring dele
gations from all plants in West
ern North Carolina and some
from other sections of the state,
and from other states, attend
these meetings and discuss with
International officials the hest
way to bring the unorganized
groups into the Union. Pay rates
in Union plants will be compared
to the rates prevailing in unor
ganized plants, and benefits en
joyed by the workers in Union
plants in addition to the wage
rates, will be studied.
Local Unions of the Upholster
ers Internationa] Union will meet
prior to the State Federation con
vention to prepare a complete
statement to the convention prop
er about the gains that have been
made for members of the Uphol
sters. This International has nu
merous strong local organisations
in this section and in other sec
tions of the state. C. F. Brad
ley, of Asheville, is vice president
of the Upholsterers International,
and is in charge of this rapidly
growng Internationa] Union.
Delegates attending the con
vention from local unions of the
Fire Fighters Association over
the state will hold a meeting and
compare notes of the advance
menu being made by the mem
ber* of fire departments in sev
er*! cities of the state. C. D.
CATTLE FEEDER SAYS
HIS PROFITS JUMPED
An Illinois cattle feeder has
told Sen. Paul Douglas (D., 111.),
who led the light to cut meat
prices, to stick by his guns.
“The present set-up made my
farm operator and myself above
average profits on 51 steers we
fed out this last season,” this
small farmer in the heavy cattle
feeding section of northwestern
Illinois wrote Douglas June 27.
Douglas put the letter in the June
29 Congressional Record.
“Personally we do not want a
change,” continues the farmer,
whom Douglas did not name, "but
in fairness to the city consumer
and laborer under present wage
set-up there should be some type
of control. ; .
“There has got to be a leveling
off of the wage-food spiral some
where to avoid a national econom
is blow-up. Stick by your guns.”
nfnsicy ui nsnc»iiir, i cvviiuy
elevated to the state presidency
of the Fire Fighters Association
of North Carolina, will be in
charge of this conference.
Delegates from Police Local ,
Unions throughout the state also
will meet in a specfal pre-con- j
vention gathering 10 compare j
notes and make suggestions to |
the State Federation of Labor con- |
vention. The Asheville local of
Police will have a most interest
ing story to present to their state
council meeting, and later to the
convention as a whole.
Another group, the furniture
workers branch of the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners, will have a very interest
ing report to make to the Furni
ture Workers division of the Car
penters ahd Joiners. J. C. Ray,
president of the local at the Black
Mountain plant of Morgan Manu
facturing company, one of the
best locals in the state, will be in
charge of this pre-convention
meet.
So, you see, Saturday, Sunday,
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday,
August 11 to the 15th will be busy
days for the Organized Labor
Movement.
nusincs»ME?l STILL
GOING FULL BLAST
Claims that high taxes ruin a
businessman’s incentive are not
true.
You can take the word of the
Harvard School of Business Ad
ministration for that. Prof. Thom
as Sanders says in a study, “Ef
fects of Taxation on Executives,”
just published by Harvard:
“The evidence is* overwhelming
that the business executive is put
ting a full measure of work and
energy into his regular job. His
grumbling at the taxes he pays,
and his wry illusions to morking
most of the time for government
rather than for himself are only
a superficial front on the large
fact that his effort is not abated
by reason of them. He is still
going full blast”
L a E. W. WINS CO-OP.
■ 1 n
Greenville, Texas.—The Inter
national Brotherhood of Electric
al Workers, Local No. 69, received
a twenty-to-one favorable vote in
* recent National Labor Relations
Board election among the em
ployes of the Farmers Electric
Co-Op., Inc.
When you see a Union Shop
Card you know the firm which
displays it pays Union wages and
observes Union working condi
tions. Non-Union firms do not
display the Shop Card. Look
for it!
Former OPA Head Says There’s No
Evidence Inflation Has Aided Labor
The former head of OPA, Ches
ter Bowles, says “there is no
shred of evidenee that labor gen
erally has profited from inflation.”
“Weekly take-home pay for
workers in manufacturing, ex
pressed in the purchasing power
of 1951 dollars,, has scarcely
moved in the last six years,” con
tinues Bowles. "The real wages
of government employes and of
fice workers have gone down.
Construction workers and retail
workers alone over the six-year
pull are slightly better off on the
average. . . .
"When we look at corporation
profits . . . certain facts stand
out spectacularly . . . Corporation
pfofits are now running at a rate
in excess of $50 billion before
taxes, and $24 billion after tax
es. This represents a corporation
profit increase of close to 100 per
cent since the peak war period,
cither before or after taxes.
“Manufacturing profits after
taxes are now 17 per cent on in
vestment, which is more than
double the percentages of the
boom year of 1029. And 50 per
cent of all corporation dividends,
according to the Securities and i
Exchange Commission, are con- j
centrated among 61,000 people!
. . . This uneven economic picture
has already resulted in consider
able bitterness on the part of the
general public.”
N. C. BUILDING TRADESMEN
REPORT SUCCESSFUL MEET
(Continaed from Page 1)
president-at-large for North Car
olina.
Among the North Carolina del
egation attending the meeting
were P. M. Taylor, Henry C. Saw
| yer, G. L. Hitchens, J. B. Mills,
Jr., W. N. Ray, Oscar Bryant,
C. S. Woods and Carl L Bowen,
all of Durham, John Lovett and
Phil Hughes of Charlotte, Askew
of Goldsboro and Knopf of Win
ston-Salem.
The next meeting of the South
eastern Building Trades will be
held in Louisville, Kentucky some
time in January.
A resolution presented at the
Washington conference by Perry
Taylor and H. C. Sawyer of Dur
ham in which the Durham dele
! gates pointed out the inequities
I m wage scales throughout the
! southeast a? compared with the
rest of the country follows:
WHEREAS it is impossible to!
keep workers from migrating to)
higher wage rate areas, so we
might service the various defense
| plants under construction in the
I Southeastern States.
WHEREAS the cost of living
: in the Southeastern states are on
a par with the northern states,
and on several commodities they
are much higher,
WHEREAS the wage rates In
several Southeastern states are
below the national average for
building tradesmen.
WHEREAS the wage stabiliza
tion board said that they were
going to make concessions in low
er paid areas.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLV
j ED that this Southeastern Con
! ference respectfully request the
Wage Stabilization Board, td taka
off the wage ’ freeze for these
areas until these areas are given
a chance to equal the national av
erage wage rates.
Respectfully submitted by
The North Carolina
Bulding Trades Council
P. M. Taylor, President
i H. C. Sawyer, Secretary.
LABOR'S FUTURE BOUND UP IN POLITICS
“Whatever future organized labor has in this country is
bound inextricably in politics,” says an editorial in the East
Tennessee Labor News of July 5.
"We must register. We must vote. We must elect
liberal and social-minded Senators and Representatives. The
same is true of city, county and state officials.
"Proof that our future lies in politics became even more
pronounced . . . when Congress passed a weakened exten
sion ... of the Defense Production Act.
"Congress very carefully ordered Price Administrator
DiSalle not to put into effect administrative orders to roll
back prices on several lines of goods. That keeps prices up.
"Now what did Congress do for wages? Well, Congress
kept them frozen at 10 per cent above January 15, 1951,
KNrclS • • •
‘‘The maze of governmental laws, restrictions and special
privileges go un-understood by average people. What we
do understand, though, is that our weekly pay-check
wont keep the home fires burning. We also know that
Congress has something to do with this state of affairs.”
THE PLASTERER'S GLEE
We are a band of plasterers \
We beautify man’s home,
Without our magic art
Oh, say, what would be Greece
or Rome?
It was Hiram Brave, a widow’s
son,
God’s temple*4id adorn,
And the plasterer’s trowel
Made it seem as though of
beauty born.
v
The Sistine and the Vatican,
St. Peter’s majestic dome.
Were by the plasterer’s trowel
Prepared for the grand cartoons
of Rome,
Until a Titian, a Raphael, and an
Angel in glorious frescoes
shine
That might be said to be born
of the brain or Jove Divine.
The splendors of our Capitol,
And of the Taj Mahal,
The Parisian’s pride—fair Notre
Dame,
And London’s grand St. Paul,
Are to the plasterer’s art accred
ited.
The plastic art by God to man
was given that bo might
man’s enlightened heart ce
mented be to heaven.
Then glory be to the plasterer
art,
So beautiful and bright;
It cheers both man and woman’s
heart.
With life, with love, with light.
We meet upon the level,
We part upon the square;
In union sweet our true hearts
beat,
And joys and sorrows share.
We are a band of plasterers,
By love’s cement united;
By the trowel and not the sword
Our brotherhood is knighted.
—Plasterers Journal.
DIVIDEND CHECKS
VS. DRAFT NOTICES
“This is not the time to give
priority to the fat dividend check
over the draft notices ..■.**
So said Jack Shelley (D., Calif.)
June 29 while the House was de
bating a new controls bill.
“A wild inflation,” Shelley said
in arguing for a strong price con
trol bill, “can be more devastating
tq our chances of survival than
an atomic bomb attack unless we
provide ourselves with the de
fenses necessary to stop its
spread.
“Prices of many individual com
modities . . . sky-rocketed alarm
ingly in response to rigging of
the markets by unscrupulous prof
iteers.”
BOGGETT
211 K. Park Ava Phase «17»
LUMBER CO.
II Pays To Trade Witt !
START
CCCHUli.
THE COMMERCIAL
NATIONAL BANK
Parinr-tardMr G§.
4
KEY FOR “WAS IT A GOOD UNION MEETING”
After you add op the “yea” and “no" responses of the ques
tionnaire on Pace 2 of the Labor Journal, here is how Dr. Murphy
would interpret your see re:
Ratinq of Meeting: compare the “yes” column:
Score 20-18—Excellent meeting.
17-15—Good meeting.
14—Fair to poor meeting.
For Indirection, Soar Stomach and Goo, Take
NA-CO TABLETS
MONET BACK GUARANTEE
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SERVING THE SOUTH
WITH GREATER
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•
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•
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HOW UJCKV
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# #
WELL, YOU MIGHT find a gold mine, providing you know
where to look. Maybe you’ll inherit a fortune from a
rich uncle, if you’re got a rich unde.
But, in the final analysis, it’s usually the guy who looks
ahead, who plans and works and saves for the future, that
ends up with all the marbles.
Here, as in no other country in the world, you’ve got a
chance to do just that. Experts predict that during the next
ten years this country will experience the greatest economic
boom in its history and ...
There’s no time like the present for you to start salting
a little something away—each month—in V. S. SAVINGS
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