AND DIXIE F ABM NEWS
VOLUME XXI: NO. It
CHARLOTTE. N. CL. THURSDAY. DECEMBER *. 1M1
MmipUd
Jobless Insurance Boosts
Morale And Aids Defense
Washington, D. C. (ILNS).
Unemployment insurance is
making an important contribution
to the defense program even
though employment is at a high
level and unemployment national
ly shows a downward trend, the
Department of Labor’s Bureau of
Employment Security says.
Information received from the
state employment agencies shows
that in thousands of instances
workers laid off in recent months,
because of material shortages or
declining demand for consumers
goods, have been tided over tem
porary periods of unemployment
through the receipt of weekly un
employment insurance payments.
The reports showed that even
though total employment set rec
ord highs in the summer months
and unemployment dropped to a
postwar low, not all areas bene
fited from the rising manpower
requirements for defense. In a
substantial number of areas, un
employment increased as scarce
materials were channeled to de
fense plants. Declining demand
for textiles, apparel, and other
lines of consumer goods in a num
ber of other areas also resulted in
layoffs. The unemployment in
surance system cushioned the
shock of rising unemployment and
helped to maintain community
purchasing power.
In view of the continuing in
crease in the cost of living and
the prospect that in the next few
years unemployment will be spo
radic and of short duration, the
greatest need in this period is for
adequate weekly benefits. Twenty
states increased their maxi mush
weekly benefits amount by sums
waging from $2 to $7.80. Five
states provided up to $30 basic
benefits (far claimants without
dependents). No state now pro
vides a maximum of less than
$20 and only 18 provide lets than
$25 maximum.
Bureau officials said that the
unemployment insurance program
also aids the defense effort by
assisting in the staffing of de
fence plants. Workers seeking
unemployment insurance benefits
are required to file initial claims
with the local offices of the state
employment security agencies.
This, the bureau said, brings
large numbers of workers to the
local office who can be offered
jobs in essential industries where
suitable job openings exist.
Strike On Agaiist
Insurance Company
Washington, D. C. (ILNS).
A nation-wde strike involving
more than 111,000 insurance agents
employed in 86 states and the
District of Columbia by the big
Prudential Insurance' Company
is now underway as contract ne
gotiations between the company
and the Insurance Agents Interna
tional Union, AFL, were stymied
over the matter of compensation.
Thfe union is seeking a substan-i
tial increase in pay- and a boost
in the agents’ weekly guarantee
from $35 to $55. A company of
fer of $5.11 a week was rejected
by the union negotiating commit
tee as being “wholly inadequat?.”
George L. Russ, president of
the IAIU, said that “the com
pany’s offer is not only inadequ
ate but over 50 per cent of -the
agents would receive little or
nothing fro mthe offer.”
The union official pointed out
that “the insurance agent must
deduct from his pay all automo
bile expenses and all other Inci
dental expenses such as postage
in curred by him in selling in
surance and servicing the policy
holders on his debit. With this
expense mounting rapidly, the
Prudential agent is confronted
with a grave economic problem
which the company so far has re
fused to recognise.”
Talks between the company and
the union opened October 1 and
were called off by the union Oc
tobr 19. The U. S. Mediation and
Conciliation Service intervened
and negotiations were resumed in
New York with- Commissioner
Thomas G. Daugherty presiding.
Margarine Ban
Prom Costly
New York City (ILNS).—La
bor’s determination to press far
repeal of law* barring the sale
rt yellow margarine in New York
itate was strengthened by publi
cation of a report showing that
the ban is causing the loss of
millions of dollars worth of busi
ness each year to retail grocers.
Repeal bills will come up in the
legislature early in 1961.
The New York State Food
Merchants Association made the
report, based on a surrey among
grocers in New York counties
Ordering on other states.
The report charges that:
1. Thousands of New York
consumers are driving across the
itate line into Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, Connecticut and Massa
chusetts where yellow margarine
» legally sold.
2. Many New Yorkers are
buying their groceries in nearby
itates at the same time stock up
>n yellow margarine.
3. The average loss of business
imong grocers in border counties
who participated in the survey
was 65,000 a year. ,
4. Food stores in Penasylvania,
New Jersey, Connecticut and Mas
sachusetts report a sharp rise in
sales. Sales of yellow margarine
to New Yorkers have skyrocketed
and are going higher every week.
On behalf of the association it
was said that while it had been
known that many New Yorkers
were buying yellow margarine in
neighboring states where it is
legally sold, the association had
not realized “just how seriously
grocers are being harmed.”
Three out of five grocers par
ticipating in the survey said that
they had lost business since yel
low margarine had gone on sale
in neighboring states. “For our
grocers, whose profit margins are '
very small, this annual loss of <
more than 66,000 is extremely
serious,” it wss added. ]
Freight Rate
Boost Opposed
Washington, D. C. (ILNS).
Four federal agencies have tied
with the Interstate Commerce
Commission an opposition to a
petition by the nation’s railroads
for further hearings on their re
quest for freight rate increases.
Participating agencies are the
Office of Price Stabilization, the
Department of Commerce, the
General Services Administration,
and the Tennessee Valley Author
ity.
The railroads had petitioned the
ICC for a 16 per cent increase
in freight rates. • They were
awarded a 9 per cent increase in
the eastern territory (the area
north of the Ohio and eaat of the
Mississippi rivers) and a 6 per
cent increase in the southern and
western territories and between
territories on August 2. They
hare asked that the hearings be
reopened on the grounds that the
award was inadequate.
In reply to the railroads' state
ment that, even with the increased
rates granted, their operating in
come for September was 41 per
cent below that of September,
1960, the protesting agencies
pointed out that a single month
of operation is insufficient time
upon which to base accurate ap
praisal of the effects of the
granted increases.
Any judgments of findings pre
dicated on operating data which
did not include the last 4 months
ef 1951 would be speculative, the
4 agencies contended, and advo
cated that data for a still longer
period be required.
t
CORRUPTION IN INTERNAL
REVENUE
The Presidential decision to re
organise the Bureau of Interna
Revenue meet* with the over
whelming approval of the major
ity fa the United States. Cor
ruption in this bureau can d<
more to undermine the averagi
citizen’s respect for his govern
ment than in any other.
Obviously President Truman be
came thoroughly disgusted witi
the situation in the Internal Rev
enue branch and realised that t<
allow it to continue might b«
political suicide for the Demicrat
ic Party. Whether or not his ac
tion restores the confidence oi
the people in the country’s tai
collectors is yet to be seen.
Even those who -think the Pres
ident has allowed great leniencj
in other departments will applaud
the President’s action in this case
His suggestion that collectors b«
placed under civil service, rathei
than be appointed through a pat
ronage system, has also been sup
ported strongly in all sections of
the country. . Under the present
system, a tax collector is often
hampered in the performance of
his duty by the fact that he owes
his job to a certain group or a
certain person. This conflict of
motivation facing collectors today,
under the patronage system, can
be eliminated by adoption of the
civil service appointment system.
FARMS GROWING LARGER
The Census Bureau has report
ed that between 1940 and I960,
U. S. farm* became fewer but
larger. While 713^)00 farms dis
appeared in the decade, the aver
age size of farms in the United
States increased from 174 acres
in 1940 to 210.5 acres in 1960.
While part of the decrease in
the number of farms may be at
tributed to a change in the defi
nition of a farm, as made by the
Census Bureau, there is positive
proof that farms are growinj
fewer but larger. Although 870,
000 fewer persons were workin«
on U. S. farms in 1960 than in
1940, the acreage being farmed
did not show a corresponding de
crease. The number of horses
and mules showed a rapid de
crease.
More than a million additional
tractors were reported on farms
in 1950, as compared with ths
1940 total, while the number oi
horses and mules decreased 3.700,
990 in the last five years of the
(Coatinueed On Page 1)
9 Cfjrtstmas Wist)
REN all the world is blessed with Christ
nas good cheer, we are happy in the nf»
- Jry of all your kindness and the evtdefc*
of your generous thoughtfulness to as. Wo are
thankful that God’s great Gift to nan brought the
only Savior to oar souls. And so amidst inspiring
memories we send you this Message of Christaaas
Greetings and Goodwill, lift you to the throne of
Christ, and earnestly wish you “God’s Blessing.**
May this blessed Yuletide come to you to sweeten
past disappointments, cheer you in the midst of
miscarried plans, bind up the bruised spirits and
make you stronger and braver for life’s struggles.
May there come a great dominant incentive for a
higher and holier experience, and may the Holy
Christ, the Almighty God-Man of Bethlehem and
Calvary, call you to a life of service and tender
ministry. *
NEWS AND VIEWS
1— I ' ———
By ALEXANDER 8. LIP8ETT
(An ILNS Feature)
Eric Johnston and Michael Di
Salle, heads of the Economic
Stabilization Agency and of the
1 price Stabilization Office, re
spectively, are leaving their poets
•ooa. The public and organised
labor in particular will bear up
under the lose, 1 am sore. As
to the bureaucrats fattening on
government expansion into the
areas of legitimate business, they
will thrive in the future as they
have in the past.
In a homily announcing his re
turn to the 9125,000-a-yaar presi
dency of the Motion Picture As
sociation, Eric Johnston produced
a few pearls of wisdom. Predicting
that the Economic Stabilizer’s
task would hereafter consist
chiefly in administering estab
lished policies and that the next
few months should be compara
tively free of inflationary dangers,
he said:
“When this Economic Stabili
zation Agency was sot up last
year, the national economy was
threatened by inflation pressures
whkh fallowed the outbreak of
the Korean fighting. Since that
time, due to wage and price con
trols, the threat of inflation has
subsided . . ."
see
That, simply, ain’t so. The con
trols impbeed by Johnston’s
agency had as little to do with
halting the inflationary trend as
Mike DfSalle’s excursion into
boef-pricing had to do with stop
pin* the meat price spiral. What
happened was that the people,
unable to buy goods at prices j
within their earnings, swung into I
tction. In other words, by ex*
siting constant vigilance and
pressure, the consuming public
forced producers and retailers to
t>ehave.
Add to this the mounting pro
duction of livestock and excessive
merchandise inventories, and it
is obvious why prices, with or
without federal intervention, had
to reach a relationship more in
keeping with actual circumstances
than government formulas. In
deed, it is not too much to assume
that Washington’s latest control
experiment retarded this develop
ment and even froze prices at
levels unjustified from the coo
miner's viewpoint. *
• • •
Regarding the current inflation
lull, there is more behind it than
the masterminds cam to admit.
While we are told of astronomical
defense appropriations and of
rising armament production, rela
tively little is actually accom
plished. Neither the U. S. ship
ments to Europe (armaments in
sluded, nor the employment fig
ures at home bear out the ex
travagant official claims dinned
into the public ear.
In fact, September employment
in consumers goods industries
showed, according to the If. 8.
Department of Labor, the highest
Inyuffb since the and of World
(Continued On Pago S)
On-Job Accidents
Cost Seven Millions
Washington, D. C. (ILNS).
On# worker in every 7 was in
jured in occupational §rcirfent«
and attt worker U £4 •<**}
tend • disabling injury and lost
time from hia job, the District
of Columbia Conference on In
dustrial Safety was told. Fred
C. Thomas, head of the industrial
safety division of the Minimum
Wage and Industrial Safety
Board, made the report.
First of its kind to be held in
the nation's capital, the meeting
was the 19th of such conferences
that have been held throughout
the nation in a drive to cut down
deaths and injuries from on-the
job accidents.
Thomas told the conference
that private employers reported
80, 582 nonfatal injuries and 53
fatalities in this area last year.
Coat to industry for employe
compensation and medical charges
in 1960 was $1.5 million, accord
ing to Thomas. Indirect cost
from damaged or destroyed ma
terial, equipment or other prop*
erty, delay in replacing experi
enced workers, work stoppages or
slowdowns and other accidents ef
fects amounted to 4 times the
direct cost he said.
Thomas said this $7.5 million
cost was in addition to the human
suffering and loss of income to
the employe and his family.
Safety Gaia Reported
During the last 9 years, the Dis
trict’s injury frequency rate has
been reduced 35 per cent, Thomas
said, but he declared there is
still much to be done.
It is a “patriotic duty to keep
every man and woman on the
production line for the emergen
cy,” said a statement sent to the
conference by William L, Con
nolly, director of the Bureau of
Labor Standards of th U. S. La
bor Department and chairman of
the Co-ordinating Comittee of the
President’s conference on indus
trial safety.
OCTOBER HOUSING STARTS
OFF
Washington, D. C. (ILNS).
Home builders started 86,000
new permanent nonfarm dwelling
units in October, a decline of 6,
000 units, or 6 per cent, from
September, according to prelimi
nary estimates of the U. S. La
bor Department’s Bureau of La
bor Statistics.
Mexican Exodus
Is Investigated
Memphis, Tenn. (ILNS). — A
mass exodus on foot of about
100 Mexicans from a bif Tennes
see plantation because of what
they charted was bad food and
poor pay resulted in launching of
a join United Statee-Mexican in
vestigation.
Angel Cano, Mexican consul
here, aaid his government had de
manded the inquiry on conditions
that might have caused the work
ers to quit their cotton-picking
jobs and tramp the roads toward
home.
Forty-nine of the laborers, their
feet blistered by a 100-mile hike,
received government-paid lodging
and food in Memphis. They left
the Terry Jamison plantation in
Tiptonville, Tenn., after complain
ing of the food and pay. More
were reported on the way here.
Twelve others walked from Reis
er, Ark , 00 miles away. Cano
said the workers would be sent
back to Mexico.
In Atlanta, J. L. Rhodes, south
ern organising director of the
American Federation at Labor, de
clared Mexican laborers sssking
employment in this country were
“completely at the matey «f some
unscrupulous employers.*
The basic problem, Rhodes as
serted, is that Mexicans were
brought into the country without
the proper machinery to protect
them. He called for d tripartite
board to negotiate and enforce
terms of Mexican-employer eon
tracts. The board would repre
sent government, the employe!*
and labor.
Several laborers told Consul
Cano and W. 0. Crittenden of
Atlanta, a representative of the
U. S. Labor Department, that
other Mexicans hod hem thrown
n*d j»>l when they hod tried to
farbrough, ad- '
m it ted jailing: 15 or 20 and re
turning: them to Jamison’s planta
tion. But in Tiptonville, the Lake
County sheriff, J. C. Haynes, de
nied throwing workers into jail
because they hod tried to run
away.
Jamison complained that the
workers had walked out on their
contract. He criticised the con
troversial labor contract negoti
ated by the United States under
which Mexican laborers were
hired for work in this country.
Fred Robinson, manager of the
Reiser Supply Co., said that re
cent bad waather had been the
source of irritation among the
800 Mexicans employed by his
Arm, including the 12 who walked
to Memphis.
“They have lost 6 or 7 days
of work iff the past few weeks,”
he said. "That means they haven’t
made any money during those
days and they're disgruntled.
We’ve had 60 or 60 of them leave
for this reason.”
CONSUMERS HELD
KEY TO INFLATION
Washington, D. C. (ILNS).
In th« current price picture,
consumers still hold the key to
inflation and they are acting with
“sound common sense,” the
American Federation of Labor
■ays in its latest Labor’s Month*
ly Surrey.
“No buying upsurge has de
veloped; savings arv on the in
crease,” the A FI. says. “Since
most consumers are workers, this
is a tribute to the wisdom af
men and women who work for
wages; it is due also to the de
cline of workers* haying power
due to taxes.
“Retail stores, tacking a big
demand from conaarm rs, hare cut
their buying from fartoriee so as
to use up inventories. They still
have large supplies on hand,
though laas than last summer.
Therefore the demand is not
enough to raise prices significant
ly anywhere, either in storaa or
factorial”
The survey refers to the grad
ual riaa hi prices as shewn by
the Consumer Price Index and
saya that “barrintr panic buying
by consumer). n<* sharp rise is
expected during the rest of 1961.”