Newspapers / The Charlotte Labor Journal … / Nov. 29, 1951, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The Charlotte Labor Journal and Dixie Farm News (Charlotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Children Must Have More School Room Now, Officials Claim Washington, D. C. (ILNS). Youngsters can’t wait for need* ed school construction and the na tion must work hard to catch up on it, two reports just issued by the Federal Security Agency’s Office of Education declare. The reports outline school construc tion needs and emphasize the es sentiality of education in the na Issued for use during Ameri can Education ' Week, observed November 11-17, the reports are “They Can’t Wait,” an illustrated pocket-size leaflet, and tabula tions showing school enrollment trends from 1920 to 1968, esti mated classroom needs, and the amounts of money spent for school facilities since 1920 in terms of 1961 costs. Today's Crisis Stressed “They Can’t Wait” is already in second printing at the Govern ment Printing Office. The 24 page leaflet summarizes the im portant contributions of the schools in training for good citi zenship, the urgent need now for more school buildings and more teachers to educate the 8,000,000 additional children who will be enrolled in the schools by 1960. “The publication stresses the critical situation facing today’s schools and the important role of education in strengthening na tional defense.’’ Rail I. Grigsby, Acting U. S. Commissioner of Education, commented. He further pointed out that this theme reemphasized a state ment made at the opening of the current school year by Earl J. McGrath, U. S. Commissioner of Education, who warned: “To develop our manpower sources over the long run, we can not continue to postpone sehoolhouse construction. Chir schools are stiil struggling desper ately to recover from the effects of a 20-year lag in new school construction—a lag which had its origin in the depression of the 303 and was further intensified by the shortage of labor and materials during World War II. “The point is that the present generation of children must have a sound education now or not at all You can’t put children into educational cold storage ‘for the duration’ and later put them in an educational hothouse” Dr. Grigsby said the tablna tions reveal the number of class rooms needed each year until 1957-68—a total of 600,000 to ac commodate public elementary and secondary school pupils. Class rooms needed by nonpublic ele mentary and secondary school pupils will increase this total by about 12 per cent. Pupils’ Total Nearly Doubles The report on pupil enrollment trends covers the years 1917-18 to 1957-58. An indication of the critical need for current and fu ture school construction may be found in a comparison of total , public and nonpublic elementary ' and secondary enrollment figures (reported for the 10-year period 1920 to 1930 immediately follow ing World War I, and for a cor responding period 1946 to 1956, y immediately following World War V II Hie total increase in number of pupils for the first 10-Vear period was 5,029,182 as compared with an anticipated increase of 9,870,459 from 1946 to 1956. They were very young, very much in love; and obviously the railroad station was the only place they could find to demon strate their affection. Whenever a train was due to depart, they hurried over to the gate and en joyed a long and fond embrace, as though one of them was seeing the other off for the last time. A sympathetic redcap, watching their performance, finally came up to them and suggested; “Why don't you go across to the bus terminal? One leaves there every two minutes." Judire Oscar O. Ellrd, of Win ston-Salem, who has announced that he will be a candidate for Associate Justice of the State Supreme Court in the Democratic primary to be held'May 31at. Oscar Efird Announces For Supreme Court Oscar O. Efird, Winston-Salem attorney, a former judge and for mer law teacher, announced re cently that he will be a candidate for Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court in the Democratic primary which will be held May 31. He will op pose Itimous T. Valentine who was recently appointed to the Court. In making this announcement Mr. Efird said: “I have decided to (worn* a candidate for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court aft er having been urged to do so by a large number of my friends throughout the State. They have pointed out that I broke a long standing precedent in the I960 Democratic primary by running against an outstanding member of the Supreme Court, and that the excellent vote I received was an expression of confidence by the people of our State.” Mr. Efird who is 59 years of age, graduated from Roanoke College with an A.B Degree, and did graduate work in history and economics at Princeton University where he received a M. A. degree in 1913. He studied law at the University of North Carolina and at Harvard Law school, graduat ing with honors from the latter institution. For two years he was a member of the faculty of the Law School of the University of North Carolina. He is a mem ber of the Phi Delta Phi legal fra ternity. From 1927 to 1941 he was judge of the Forsyth County Court which had jurisdiction in civil rases comparable to that of the Superior Court. Since 1941 he has , practiced law in Winston-Salem. He is a member of the Forsyth , County Bar Association, the , North Carolina Bar association and the American Bar association, and is licensed to practice law I before the State and Federal , Courts, including the Supreme , Court of the United States. He . is a member of the Winston-Sa lem Rotary club. A veteran of , the first world war, he served in the judge advocate's office of the 20th division. He is a member of the American Legion. Mr Efird is well known to the sportsmen of North Carolina. He , is a member of the Forsyth Coun ty Wildlife club, and has served as president of the Carolina Field Trial club, the North Carolina Skeet Shooting association, the Winston-Salem Rifle * Pistol dub and the Forsyth County Isaac Walton league. » j STEALS “COLD” CASH Haslett, Mich.—It was really “cold cash” which a thief stole from Ivan Palmer, of Haslett, when someone took $100 from the deep freeze in the basement of his home. CONGRESSIONAL JUNKETS Each year, hundreds of Congressmen cir cle the globe at government expense. The Question always comes up whether these pilgrimages, at taxpayers' expense are in the interest of the public. At the present time, there are over one hundred Congressmen abroad. Of these, 30 are on trips to various Latin American coun tries. The legislators in the Latin Ameri can countries are from three different con gressional committees, with different mis sions but covering the same territory. Certainly, some of these trips are costly, over-lapping and wasteful. On the whole, however, these trips are worth while in that they give the legislators an opportunity to study at first hand conditions and countries all over the world. It is, of course, vitally important that our nation’s leaders are not provincial in their thinking _ CONGRESS—19.>2 There are many indications that the next session of Congress, beginning in January, will be one of the shortest in years. Both Democratic and Republican leaders in Wash ington say they want the second session of the 82nd Congress to end in June, 1952. This 'theme is often heard in November and De cember, it is true, but with the political sit | uation what it is today, there is a real chance this time that the next session may be a short one. The Republicans traditionally meet first in political convention, and meet in June of 1952. The idea of many leaders in Congress at present is to get Congress, adjourned in time for G. O. P. members who are going to Chicago to get there free from congression al demands. > Certainly, the strong Taft forces in Congress are going to press hard for such adjournment. The Democrats meet a couple of weeks after the Republicans, also in Chicago. If the democratic picture isn’t any deafer than it appears right now, many Democratic Con gressmen and Senators will be eager to get away from Washington by June also. Yet. sn spite of all this valid reasoning, if Con gress adjourns in June, 1952, it will surprise most of Washington’s veteran newspaper corps—who. have heard this song before, and worked the Capitol corridors all through the summer months. THE PENTAGON—SOFT CHAIRS The Senate Preparedness subcommittee reported recently that there were too many admirals and generals in the Pentagon, and too many civilians. That is something most Washington newsmen knew already, but something difficult to correct. With the country engaged in actual fighting, the jnan who insists on cut-backs in military appro priations leaves himself open to attack from clever foes that he is jeopardizing national defense. And, of course, there are few Congress men. and fewer civilians, who have the time to become expert enough on the vast manpower requirements of the defense establishment to put their finger on this spot, or that spot, and say: “This can be '•ut; this staff should be halved . . etc. ! Knowing that manpower is being wasted is not enough. One must have the facts, to show where it is being wasted. The Senate subcommittee supplies some of those facts. There are 361 general and flag officers in the Washington area—only 36 less than at the high point in World War II. There are over 90,000 civilians working for the Defense Department — compared to 98,071 on VE-Day. But today there are only 3.5 million men in service compared to more than 12 million on VE day. In other words, practically as much military brass, and as many civilian work ers, are being used today, to run a military machine a third as.large as the World War II mcahine, as were required to run the all-out machine in 1945. That, of course, is progress in reverse, and the kind that the American taxpayer seems to be struggling under. The De fense Department should ta' immediate action to correct th-. jureaucratic tendency, and there are in » -ions that the depart ment is already concentrating on this prob lem, and on another program, which could ease the taxpayer’s load in 1952. On the first Doint—too many soft-chair workers— the Defense department has promised the subcommitee to study the indictment and report its findings. ARMS SPENDING SLOW What many people in the United State? co not realize is the fact that our gigantic defense program has several months yet to go before it reaches anything like full scale operation. There will be several months yet before U. S. business will feel the full impact of defense spending. Although we have been at war now for almost a year and a half in Korea, only one dollar out of each four, made available by Congress for the arms program, has been spent. Congress has already author ized almost 150 billion dollars for the U. S. arms program. Only 35 billion has been spent! And it is expected that Congress in January will authorize another 50 to 60 billion more for arms. It appears that industry is passing through the get-ready stage. Conversion has brought unemployment that defense work has not yet absorbed. Unemployment and slack will more than be absorbed when the arms program hits mass production and then peak production. • From an extensive study of government defense contracts, the U. S. News and World Report estimates that defense spend ing will increase by 50 per cent in the next six months, and that this high level of de fense spending of about 60 billion a year will continue for years. Bear in mind that this estimate is made assuming that there will be no big-war sacre. FARM OUTLOOK According to the U. S. Bureau of Agri cultural Economics, the American farmer should do about as well next year as he has this year. If all-out war gets closer, the farmer will do even better. One problem that will face the farmer is a labor scarcity. As a matter of fact, more than a million persons left the farm last year. This exodus is twioe as high as the average each year for the past ten years. Liquid assets of the farmers of the United tSates is today estimated at about $20 billion dollars as compared with $4 billion in 1940. In the past ten years, the dollars value of real estate in farms has more than doubled. During the year end ing in March, 1951, the value of farm land has risen in every state in the union, ex cept Maine and New Hampshire. Generally speaking, 1951 has been a good year for agriculture. This seems to be due not only to high prices but to high produc tion. For example, the price of wheat, corn, hogs and milk, on October 15, 1951, was lower than the average monthly price re ceived in 1948, while cotton, tobacco and beef cattle were substantially higher. NEWS AND VIEWS By ALEXANDER 8. LIPSETT (An ILNS Feature) When the wizard* of induztry wonder aloud which way to turn and whether America is not head* ed for ruin and ultimate perdition, the rest of us—that is, those who account for the bulk of the na tion—may be excused for showing equal bewilderment. Charles E. Wilson, he of Gen eral Motors and not the defense mobilixer formerly of General Electric fame, recently told a col lege audience in Michigan that the principal cause of inflation was not high wages but faulty federal flscal and tax policeia, j government credit abuaes, and excessive military and other pub lic spending. From president A. M. Homer of Bethlehem Steel, , speaking elsewhere, came the warning that the country was | headed for a^tmash-up of irre | sponsible economic policies, in cluding the Minsistent and insati ' able, pressure for ever higher wages,” go Unchecked. • * • Curiously enough, there is mer it in both contentions. The head of GM eras perfectly justified in j pointing out that our problems -cannot be solved by wage, price I and production controls, and that the government should “fulfill its -basic responsibility for establish ingr sound monetary policies which will deflate excessive demands and take the pressue off prices.** But from there to the defense of five-year labor contracts with built-in escalator clauses and oth er gobble-by-gook is a lone way, and it is not a primrose path either. It will take more than Mr. Wilson’s persuasive argu ments to convince millions of workers that long-term agree ments and escalator clauses are 1 anything but a snare and a de j lusion; that a tie-in between wages | and living costa serves any other ' purpose but that of boosting prices and speeding inflation. Contracts of this kind, with a wage freeze thrown in for good measures, obviously interfere with the worker’s opportunity to make CCon tinned On Page I) Saving By Workers Vital To Prevent Slump As Defense Tapers Off, A. F. Of L Claims UAW Asks For Advisory Group On Wages, Eta Cincinnati, Ohio (ILNS).—The ninth national convention of the United Automobile Workers of America, A PL, closed here 1 o i vomer 9 with all officers and rm gional directors unanimously r* elected. Approximately 400 del egates from all arts of the country met in daily session t plan a broad and comprehensive program on the organizational, economic and legislative fronts. The delegates heard International President Lester Washburn re port four years of progress and advancement with membership gains exceeding 40 per cent since the last convention. The convention called for dras tic amendments in the Defense Production Act and to the wage stabilization program. It sup ported stronger social security, public housing, national health insurance, and fair employment practices. Probably the convention’s most important action was calling upon the President to establish an ad ministrative and congressional ec onomic advisory committee com posed of leaders from labor, busi ness. and agriculture. The pri mary function of this group would be to work toward the mainte nance of a proper balance of wages, prices and profits to guar tanee that no one group would reap any selfish gain at the ex i pense of any other. Among the nationally known speakers was Vice President Al | ben W. Barkley. Others were Ewan Clague, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics; 1 George Hampel, Jr., director of the Wisconsin State Feedration of Labor’s political department; Harry O’Reilly, organisational di rector, American Federation of Labor; Phil Hanna, secretary, Ohio State Federation of Labor; William S. Tyson, solicitor of la bor for the Department of Labor; Joseph D. Keenan, former head of LLPE, and many others. Important constitutional changes were authorized by the conven tion, among which was adoption i of a regional fund program rais I ing dues 50 cents a month in those locals where regional funds are not yet in existence. This dues increase is one of the small est to be reported by any inter national union in recent years. OIL REFINERY MAINTENANCE TO CRAFTS Old Ocean, Texas. — The em ployes of the Maintenance Depart ment of the Phillips Oil Company voted overwhelmingly for the American Federation of Labor organisations in an election held i July l&th when Local No. 211 of the United Association of Jour neymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting In dustry received certification by a vote of 14 to 1 in group A. Group B voted 14 to 1 for the International Brotherhood of I Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders i and Helpers. | Group C voted for Local No. 213 of the United Brotherhood of , Carpenters and Joiners of Amer • ica in a unanimous vote. Group D voted for Local No. 1716, International Brotherhood of j Electrical Workers in a unani mous vote. j Group E voted for Local No. j 211 of the United Association of 'Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry by a unanimous vote of all the employes in the depart ment. t Group F voted for Local No. 450 of the International Union of , Operating Engineers in a vote of |4 to 1. SAVINGS DROP DRASTICALLY IS FINDING Washington. D. C. (ILNS), Workers* savin**, have dwin dled, the American Federation of report* and emphasizes that a wage policy enabling worlt — to save is a vita! need. •ent huge expansion of bas ic industries for the defense pro gram raises the question, “how can these plants be kept busy after the defense peak is past?” the AFL says in its current La bor’s Monthly Survey. Giving a few figures on defense expansion, the federation points out that this is the greatest peace time expansion in U. S. history and observes: “It is a question whether we are not overexpanding in some industries. In any case it is clear that, after defense needs have tapered off, much of this greatly expanded plant capacity will have to be kept busy producing con sumer goods. Where is the buy ing power to create a huge new demand?” • The federation recalls that after World War II, smooth conversion Peacetime activity, avoiding de pression, was accomplished chief ly “because workers had accumu tMtMt an immense volume of sav ings” Workers and other groups with incomes less than 14,000 yearly had savings of 964 billion. These savings and wage in creases (before the 1043 freeze) whHL built »P income, were the main sources of consumer goods demand “which has kept indus try busy at near capacity levels right up to’ the present time.” But workers’ savings have dwindled due to purchases of autos, appliances, homes and higher cost daily needs, the fed eration finds. The average savings of skilled and semi-skilled workers dropped fast from 9400 to 9150 in 3 years. The average savings of the un skilled “were quickly cut from 950 to sero in one year.” “Savings Mast Be Rebuilt” In 1961, workers have been able to rebuild their savings a little. But the average savings of the skilled and unskilled workers of 9200 this year will buy 9174 worth at 1947 prices. The un skilled worker’s average savings of 920 buys 917 worth at those prices. “Warkers* average sav ings today are barely more than 1-3 what they had in 1947—scant support for the huge new pro ducing capacity.” Clinching its argument for a savings were, the federation says in conclusion: our country cannot depend on hlffh income groups to keep the new capacity busy and workers employed. For today (1960—lat est figure), people with incomes of less than $5 000 a year (chiefly wage and small salaried workers) buy 62 per cent of all consumer goods and services sold. People with more than 15,000 buy scarely more than one-third of the total. For the lower income groups (under $5,000) make up%> per cent of the population; they need more and spend more proportion ately than those of higher in comes. Savings of worker* must be rebuilt as rapidly as possible." MAINTENANCE AIRCRAFT WORKERS VOTE FOR I.B.EW. Ft. Worth, Tex.—The Interna tional Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 116, was author ised to bargain for the employes of the maintenance electricians department of Consolidated Vul tee Aircraft Corporation. - »' COUPLE WED 71 YEARS Butler, N. J.—Mr. and Mrs. Horace Francisco recently cele brated their 71st wedding anni versary. Both aref6 years old.
The Charlotte Labor Journal and Dixie Farm News (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 29, 1951, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75