The potters herald. [volume], March 20, 1941, Image 5

About The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982

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Thursday, March 20, 1941
Dreary Future
(.Continued lrum Page One)
though a truce would be established,
and a working averment reached. To
day, however, .said Mr. Bevin, as a
result of the common sacrifices which
each side has been called upon to
make and which each has made with
a patriotism almost unrivaled, that
Labor has discovered an error in its
own thinking and its own ideology
that there is in fact a deeper level
of unity between Capital and Labor
in their mutual responsibility for
sacrificial service that they had never
known or realized before. To me
this new insight of British Labor is
one of the most profound observations
that has come out of the present
conflict and should give us in this
country an appreciation of our under
standing of the mutuality of interest
that does prevail in the rendering of
industrial service.
Capital, Management and Labor,
which together compose industry do
have a common interest and a com
mon public responsibility. This is
ever reflected in the continuing and
continuous operation of our national
economic system. If, then, our pres
ent industrial order is to survive its
major purpose must be to promote
satisfactory human relations and nati
onal security. On the success or fail
ure of that achievement depends not
alone its own welfare and continued
existence but that of the whole of
the nation.
I aiid my fellow workers and trades
unionists are and have been convinced
it is possible to promote satisfactory
human relations and make secure our
national safety under our present
economic and industrial order. In
deed, we are persuaded that the en
during basis of cooperation between
Capital, Management and Labor, for
the promotion of these objectives is
essential if we are to safeguard not
alone the principles of democracy but
the very life blood of free enterprise
and the liberties of free workers.
Today Europe is again engaged in
another world war. Regardless of its
ultimate outcome, Europe faces bank
ruptcy and social revolution. And we
cannot hope to escape or evade its
dire consequences. We here in A.ner
ica are not free from the dangers
inherent in this conflict. Considered
in the larger sense, from the broader
point of view, and in keeping with
its true historical background and per
spective, this conflict is not merely an
c',her outbreak of continual Europear
turmoil. It is the crisis toward which
all nations have slowly but surely
progressed ever since the birth of
mankind. This conflict is a war of
all mankind—in which all fronts are
merged into one—the front of gov
ernment ...fey. ...tew defer$i.iig itself
ajgainst the onslaught or government
by man.
The extent to which we as a people
are influenced by this trend will be
the extent to which we will have lim
ited and restricted our system of free
enterprise and restricted the liberties
of our people.
Today, the business community in
our land is alarmed by the intrusion
of government into the whole area of
our economic life. It complains of
taxes and public indebtedness, while
it favors more or less the benefits of
inflationary public spending. It wantt
to maintain if not increase the price
level of its products, while it resists
the efforts of labor and of agriculture
to do likewise. There are still those
employers who dream and imagine
that their business is purely a per
sonal affair and who propose to run
it to suit themselves. It is mainly men
of such an attitude that have made
for present day tendencies, legislative
and otherwise.
If our system of private enterprise
is to continue, if business management
is to continue to function as under our
present economic order, if we are to
realized that "unity" in industry so
essential for the maintenance and
preservation of our democratic ideals
then it must he willing and be pre
pared to accept the sharing of respon
sibility of providing for the security
of others besides its own.
In dealing with employes, managers
of corporate structures have been
prone to consider labor only as a com
modity. But in the nature of things
labor is not a commodity. Labor is
what a man is Capital is what a
man has. Labor power is a com
modity but labor is also one of the
parties to a transaction, namely, the
agreement to employ on the one hand
and the agreement to furnish services
on the other hand.
Involved in labor's program of col
lective bargaining and of joint action
is but another implementation of that
principle of democratic action and con
trol and under which there has been
the greatest development of the sys
tem of private ownership of property
But if those who are opposed to the
application of democratic controls to
industry have their way, we shall most
certainly find ourselves following the
road which leads straight to that other
form of autocratic control of both
government and industry, namely the
totalitarian or fascist system of so
cial control.
There has been lialf a century of
experience of organized labor in
America. Out of this experience there
have arisen and endured labor organ
izations which have tested and tried
the methods of democracy. These tests
embrace both internal methods of con
trol and the development of indus
trial relations with their employers
.Numerous examples could be cited
illustrate both the method of col
lective bargaining and of joint action
as caused by the trade unions. I need
only refer on this occasion to the
.JOHN A UKIKI.P
GARFIELD'S 5TJLL TOUGH!
o v e s u i k a u i n
Potters International Union, to its
constructive leadership, to its remark
able service, to the welfare and sta
bility of the industry and to its in
valuable contribution to the general
community and community life of
which its members are a part. Then,
too, the leaders of the industry are
to be commended highly for their
prudency and foresight—their fairness
and understanding of modern require
ments.
The results that have come from
this constructive activity, continuity
of service, technical skill and long
experience are not only remarkable
but are indicative of the pattern
which we should attempt to follow if
we hope to avoid the pitfalls of other
lands. This is no new thing in Amer
ican history. The only new thing is
the recognition by industry of the
sanity and reasonableness of collective
bargaining and by and for labor and
of joint action between organized em
ployers and workers.
From the beginning, organized la
bor has wanted to substitute the coun
cil table for the strike, the boycott,
the picket line, the wage cut, the
lockout, the yellow dog contract, the
injunction, etc. Continuity of em
ployment is a condition of continuity
of income. From the beginning, la
bor has been anxious to meet man
agement—the other party to the trans
action—on a reasonable and business
like basis. There should be no oc
casion for any other method of deal
ing. That this has not been done is
not something which can be laid
primarily at the door of organized la
bor. Its responsibility has been the
lesser one.
That it became necessary to enact
into a law what should have been
accepted as an operatinf principle was
inevitable in the presence of the
great disorder and social breakdown
from which we have not yet recover
ed. May I state definitely and un
equivocally the Wagner Labor Re
lations Act would have been wholly
unnecessary if employers in the past
had given a full measure of recogni
tion to labor as a co-partner in indus
try.
Insofar as the Fair Labor Standards
Act is concerned, labor is not free
from fear regarding undue encroach
ment by government into the realms of
determining wages and hours. It is
admitted that an economic situation
has arisen which has made it a hu
manitarian necessity for the State
and federal governments to fix a
floor under which wages may not go
and a ceiling beyond which working
hours may not reach. Labor would
much rather change the economic
situation that causes these low wages
and long work hour evils than ac
cept the thesis that government reg
ulation of wages and hours must in
crease because unemployment cannot
be cured.
We recognize fully that there is
ever present the danger of the use
of governmental powers to fix definite
ly the given sum of wages or the
particular length of the work week
for all industry and to determine not
alone our industrial and 1 abor re
lations but to prescribe the form and
character of our trade and labor or
ganizations. This would lean strong
ly toward such a re-adjustment of our
governmental relations to the daily
life of all our people as to constitute
an encroachment upon those areas of
life and action which we ought to
preserve in the field of free and volun
tary action of the people themselves.
Ultimately it rests with industry
as well as labor what path we shall
follow—voluntary collective bargain
ing or a means of industrial fascism.
It is evident on every hand that we
have entered a new era a new day
—requiring a new approach as well as
an enlarged sense of public duty and
responsibility. If business objects to
recent governmental enactments and
which will undoubtedly be supplement
ed with time and experience, it can
best meet these threalened changes
by self-regulation supplemented by
the cooperative support of labor.
We need now to proceed more than
ever to a more clear and accurate
definition and recognition of the
place and the rightful claims, both of
a
k n i e
"The Sea Wolf"," rousing screen drama based on Jack London's famous novel.
Ida Lupino and Edward G. Robinson are also starred in the thriller which
opens Sunday at the Ceramic.
in
I i s
capital, organized or unorganized, and
of the workers, whether individually
or in association as well as the claims
of government. The extent to which
we can succeed in operating on thi.
plane will determine the extent to
which we need to have recourse to
law.
The accomplishment of this goal
will mark a tremendous step forward
in social progress. It will provide
for greater security and certainty of
industry and of living, both for the
owners of capital and for those
whose main dependence for their liv
ing must be the labor of their hands
and brains. The substitution of team
work for antagonism will produce
much greater results both in indus
trial production, in social order and
the safety and security of our national
and democratic existence.
Quite aside from labor's interest in
reasonable wages and hours of work
standards, the just recognition of hu
man rights, the establishment of
equitable industrial relations and the
promotion of the national security and
prosperity, there is labor's concern
in the constructive development of so
cial welfare. Workingmen and women
are integral parts of community life
and the building up of a social wel
fare structure is part of the progress
that civilization achieves.
Consideration for social welfare
necessarily looks into the distant fu
ture to make wise provision against
the exigencies of illness, unemploy
ment, periods of depression and the
inevitable twilight of life that comes
with advancing years. In making
these provisions thei'e is need indeed
of cooperation between the State, the
employer and the worker. The task
must be visualized, planned and sus
tained definitely as a three-cornered
responsibility. This is equally truf
of all our present day social and econ
omic problems if we are to conserve
the principles of freedom and per
petuate the ideals of democracy.
For these and all other problems re
lating to and arising out of our in
dustrial life—including taxation, un
due restraints upon cooperative ef
fort, governmental intervention, etc.
etc., we propose the discipline for
democratic practice in industry. This
we hope to see developed directly
within industry itself knowing full
well that unless this is accomplished
we shall have a further development
of the application of disciplines
through the indirect, round about, and
therefore wasteful channels of gov
ernmental action.
Finally, we have come to realize as
never before that a new world is in
the process of being fashioned upon
the ruins of the old. The cities of
the Old World which are being de
stroyed by bombs and shells, mark not
only an end of many of these his
toric .structures, but the end of a
civilization of which they were a sym
bol. We must needs begin the physi
cal reconstruction of many of these
cities as soon as the war is over but
what is more significant is that we
must begin to build upon a new found
ations with an appreciation of new
values. And that new world which is
in the process of being born that new
world to which we must give our best
thoughts for its reconstruction must
be built upon the principles of social
justice, upon a decent respect for the
rights of the individual and basically
upon mutability of labor and manage'
ment.
U. S. Court Upholds
Validity of Poll Tax
Cincinnati, Ohio.—The constitution
ality of a poll tax levied by the State
of Tennessee was upheld here in a
decision by the sixth L\ S. Circuit
Court of Appeals.
"The right to vote i a political
right, which the people of a state may
appropriately condition through fun
damental law or legislation," wrote
Judge Xenophon Hicks. "The pro
visions requiring payment of the tax
as a prerequisite to voting do not so
much connote a levy as they do an
effective method of collection."
Ask for Union Labeled Merchandise,
THE POTTERS HEKALU
Three Hundred
Irani. '1 :,o)
tbridged either by i'lose who are
worn to uphold the
or
jjy those
who would use them :loak malicious
acts. We must insist n the rigorous
persecution of all sub-, reive elements
but by due process of .iw.
It is important to r-member, much
as we may condemn totalitarianism
for its methods and hjectives, that
totalitarianism abroad is a result of
conditions and cause |n post-war
Europe. So, too, let is be mindful
that the menace to American democ
racy is not a'°"e from v.ithout, but as
well from within.
It is evident the movement of de
struction is rampant 'hroughout the
world. The philosophy of despair has
its fantastic adherens everywhere.
And the lean body is
easy
prey to the
teachings of reaction masked under
pretense of progress. Those who see
wisely into the future must, if we
are to be saved from fires m#re con
umirig than those we have known,
so shape our course is to offer this
hideous wrath of destruction no foot
hold.
This is a time when
scene from
a
of us must
take counsel together not of our fears
but of our faith in those immutable
principles of liberty and of democracy
which after all undergird our western
civilization.
American labor Is making its con
tribution to the economic, religious
social and cultural foundation and se
curity of our democracy which can
hardly be overestimated. Labor's con
tribution to American democracy has
been impressive, far-reaching and con
tinuous. It is a contribution which
begins with the very beginning of
America and will continue so long as
America continues to exist. For the
labor movement partakes of democ
racy. Democracy is the life of the
laborf movement it is as well as one
of its surest guarantors.
William Gladstone said more than
three generations ago: "The trade
union is the very bulwark of democ
racy." Bulwark, indeed! It is, I re
peat, the rock upon which the move
ment of labor has been founded—it
is in turn the very foundation of a
truly democratic society.
A. F. Fights CIO
(Continued from Page One)
the Lincoln Plant of the Ford Motor
Company at any time. We seek a de
termination of the issue raised by the
representatives of the C. 1. O. as
quickly as possible. We will abide by
the decision of those participating in
the election in conformity with pro
visions of the Na'ional Labor Iiela
tions Act."
"iTeir to
the
SOCIAL SECURITY AND THE
•CKIAL
9 9 9 9
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—rrr~.
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Many workers are now changing
jobs or taking their first job as a
result of the national defense pro
gram. Most of these jobs are covered
by old-age and survivors insurance
under the Social Security Act.
A series of eight brief articles has
been prepared for the Potters Herald
explaining the steps each worker
should now take in connection with
his social security account to avoid
delays or difficulties when he or his
family are ready to collect insurance
benefits.
Any worker who does not have a
social security account number card
can obtain one at the Social Security
Board office.
No. 3
Wages of each employe covered by
old-age and survivors insurance are
credited to his account every three
months as employer.-.' reports are re
ceived by the Social Security Board.
In nearly all instances the employe's
wages are reported under the name
and social security account number a.
they are shown on his account number
card, and they are added on his ledger
sheet in a matter of seconds.
However, if some discrepancy turns
up in the name or account number,
the ledger sheet will not clear the
machines used for posting wages. It
is thrown to one side and thereafter a
Moat! g.j
CM
e
5 5 0
5 0 O
9 9 1 4 3 7 2 8 4
9 9 1 4 3 7 2 1 4
9 9 1 4 3 7 2 6 4
9914372 ft 5,
6 3 0 0 0
9 9 9 9
9 9 9 9
9 9 9
9 9 1 4 3 7 2
9 9 1 4 3 7 2
7 3 U
n the ceiit)aT'iftii e of the Soeia: Security Loard -:v n eii.pi"..• wages
are recorded on a separate ledger sheet which has his name and social security
number. Each quarter, the employe's wages as reported by his employer are
added on his ledger sheet by electrical posting machines.
ajain
,'T isn't so long since the days of Saturday
night baths, when the washtub was placed in the middle of the
kitchen and, one by one, the family bathed, while Mom heated
more water on the stove!
Today, automatic hot water is a necessity for dozens of
household uses. And yet there are many homes which do not
enjoy the real advantages of fully-automatic hot water—water
that is clean and rust-free, automatically controlled for tem
perature and instantly available regardless of the family's
uneven demands.
Improvement in Gas water heaters in the last few years has
been just as marked as those in automobiles, radio, and air
planes. Gas water heaters today cost less than the best ones
10 years ago, and are so much more efficient that they actually
cost less to use, too.
i If you are getting along without the benefits of modern
Gas water heating, you're missing something! Investigate
any one of many types of modern Gas water heaters, and
you'll see why!
The Manufacturers Light & Heal Comply
West Sixth St. Phone 85 East Liverpool, Ohio
THOS. II. STEVENS, Dist. Mgr.
NEW
JOB
1
1 0 5 0 0
1 0 5 0 0
6
37 0 1 0
37 1 01 o
00
3b 9 oo
38 I 0
1
0
1 5 o 1 a
1 2
check must be made to clean up the
error.
This necessitates asking the employ
er to check back on his records and
frequently he must call on the em
ploye, if still in his employ, to get
the correct information. This annoy
ance and waste of time can be avoided
if the employe and employer will take
the simple precaution of seeing that
the employe's correct name and social
security number are reported. If the
mistake cannot be corrected, it might
mean that some of the employe's
wages could not be credited to him
Since the amount of insurance
benefits for the worker or his family
will be based on his wages, it is im
portant that the Social Security
Board's record of his wages be ac
curate and complete.
WAR ON WANT URGED
Washington, D. C.—One of the
surest ways in which the aims of de
mocracy can be achieved is to insure
freedom from want, speakers on the
American Forum of the Air declared
Representative Dirksen, Illinois, said
the nation's efforts must be directed
toward generating prosperity at
home, developing security for the
people, preserving our system of gov
ernment and the rights of minorities
All speakers agreed the U. S. must
keep out of war.
PAGE FIVE
Facing The Facts
With PHILIP PEARL
Will Rogers would have a tough
time if he were alive today. All he
knew, he used to say, was what he
read in the papers. Such sources of
information are not what they used
to be. If Will Rogers had to rely
on them today for accurate inform
ation, he wouldn't know what he was
talking about. And the millions of
Americans who do have to rely on the
newspapers for their information are
being sadly missed and misinformed.
We refer particularly to labor news.
If we are to believe the labor news
published in the daily press, the entire
national defense is being crippled by
strikes. That is untrue. If we are
to believe the newspapers, defense
production has been seriously ham
pered and delayed by labor trouble.
That is untrue.
What are the facts President
Roosevelt stated them succinctly at a
recent press conference. He declared
in a statement fully supported by
statistics that work stoppages due to
strikes have affected only one-fourth
of one per cent of defense production.
There is absolutely no cause for
public alarm about strikes, the Pres
ident said. He denounced the news
papers for publishing highly "ex
aggerated" stories about labor trou
bles. Public fears are being needless
ly aroused by these scare stories, he
emphasized.
"Labor Speeds Defense"
We don't have to take the word of
President Roosevelt alone, supported
as it is by the records and facts, for
this encouraging picture of the de
fense labor situation. Full corrobor
ation comes from the National De
fensefense Advisory Com mis-ion which
has been entrusted with the task of
directing all defense activities.
Under the title "Labor Speeds De
fense," the Defense Commission has
just published a booklet giving or
ganized labor credit for having made
"a remarkable record" of cooperation
in the defense program. This booklet
disclosed these facts:
"1—Work stoppages due strikes
in American industry during the year
1940 accounted for an average loss of
less than two hours per year per
worker.
"2—Th I'.-jnc- u: in perspective
when compared with the time lost
through industrial accidents. On-the
job accidents accounted for an average
idleness of more than one day per
worker, or upward of four times that
due to strikes. And the figure for ac
cidents does not include the tremend
ous loss resulting from more than
ll,ouo deaths.
"3—There has been a 47 per cent
decline in the number of man-days idle
due to strikes during the first six
months of the defense program over
the corresponding period of 1939.
"4—The number of men involved in
strikes was only about half as great
during the first six months of the de
fense program as when the United
States was actually at war twenty
four years ago. This is all the more
significant when it is realized that to
tal non-agricultural employment is 22
jer cent larger today."
Enemies of Labor
We have quoted these statements
because they are factual, because they
come from an official Government
source arid because they expose the
scare stories published in the news
papers as just plain silly.
Then why, it may well :ed, do
the newspapers publish such stories?
As we see it, there are three possible
reasons. First is ignorance of the
facts—and the extent of ignorance in
most newspaper offices about labor is
astounding. Second is the headline
urge which prompts some editors to
"blow up" insignificant stories far be
yond their true news value just be
cause of a lack of legitimately spec
tacular news.
But finally, and more sinister, is
the third reason—and that is that cer
tain newspaper publishers because of
their economic predilections would
like to see labor in the United States
shackled by legislation. Newspapers
under the control of these publishers
have been responsible for the greater
part of the scare stories we have seen
in the press during the past few
nths.
\'ow v. A Federa
tion of Latjor win maicn our patriot
ism our unselfish patriotism
against that of any newspaper pub
lisher. We are deeply concerned with
the success of the national defense
program. We are making sacrifices
daily to assure uninterrupted indus
trial production. We do not want
strikes. We are doing our utmost to
avoid them. We have succeeded in
avoiding them to a great extent. The
records will show that although the
A. F. of L. is the predominant labor
organization, fewer than 10 per cent
of defense strikes have originated in
A. F. of L. unions.
We want these facts to be known
.111.i we ask you to help us inform the
public of them becausc we are going
to need all the support we can get to
fight off anti-labor legislation in Con
gress sponsored by the prennial ene
mies of labor and widely promoted by
false pfpajranda app^arinsr in the
BRITISH COAL MINERS WARNED
London.—Speaking before the coal
miners of Durham, Ernest Bevin,
Minister of Labor, warned that pro
duction must be continued without in
terruption, since under the best of
conditions the coal situation would be
serious next summer and winter. It
is up to the miners to produce mure
with fewer men, Bevin declared.