The Butler County press. [volume], May 15, 1925, Image 3

About The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946

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V
(Note.—This is the firfist of
two articles by Mr. Ohl, in which
he discusses unemployment and
its prevention.)
"America owes no man a living,"
said a statesman recently, "but Amer
ica does owe every born soul an oppor
tunity to earn a livelihood."
"Why doesn't America give us that
opportunity?" ask the jobless, the
unemployed, those who are able, ready
and willing to work. For years labor
has been asking these pointed ques
tions: Is unemployment necessary?
Should labor continue to bear its en
tire cost? Can it be prevented? How
can the evil be mitigated? How is
unemployment connected with many
of the larger problems of labor, of
the consumer and the community?
Of all the ills that beset the minds
of labor, unemployment ranks first.
Unquestionably, it is the most per
sistent and also the most perplexing.
Of the 70% days' wages which the
average worker loses annually, of
a day is lost due to labor troubles,
3 to accidents, and 7 to sickness.
Unemployment causes a loss of 60
days' wages—30 due to no work and
30 to part time work.
The Hoover report estimate of the
time building workers lost due to no
work of 86 days per year is regarded
as too low. In the Chicago negotia
tions for an $1,800 annual wage, a
$10 a day wage was conceded after
agreeing on 180 days as the average
work year out of a possible 300. This
leaves 120 days' unemployment due to
no work. The unskilled have most
unemployment of all. At all times—
The Glare
of Summer
Sun!
Unemployment Prevention
Labor's Next Step
By HENRY J. OHL, Jr.
President, Wisconsin State Federation of Labor
Will soon be with us.
With it comes the ac
companying strain on
the eyes. Better be pre
pared with glasses that
will relieve such strains.
We fit them, providing
we find that your eyes
need them after a most
thorough examination.
If you do not need
glasses we'll gladly tell
you so.
SCHIPPER
Jewelry & Optical Co.
156 High Street
David Webb
FUNERAL DIRECTOR
The most modern Limousine
and Ambulance in the city
PHONE 48 219 MAIN ST.
vHT
regardless of his age—the fear of "no
job" is dominant in the worker's mind.
The unemployment fear is constant.
It hangs over him every moment he
is at work: It demoralizes him while
denied work.
Labor's loyalty to industry is
shown in the records of the post
war period when increased production
per man was urged as a patriotic
duty. The only reward for the gen
eral response to this plea came later
when the factory gates were shut and
nearly eight million were deprived of
the right to earn a living. A serious
study of the unemployment problem
would be illuminating to the student
of social unrest who hopes to under
stand the mind of the rebellious wage
worker. Nothing deserves more con
demnation than the lack of accounta
bility on the part of those who are
responsible for unemployment.
Many employee's still actually be
lieve that unemployment is a good
thing for business, as an aid to dis
cipline and low wages, and a means
of "keeping the laborer in his place."
Such employers are not conscious of
the natural and inevitable trend of
modern industrial life. Low wages
reduce the purchasing power and the
fear of no work commands respect
only in periods of extreme distress.
It is not effective most of the time.
Industry must treat men as men, as
humans in a democracy.
Nowhere is the new spirit more
strikingly manifested than in the
agreement recently concluded be
tween the miners' union and the prin
cipal coal mine operators renewing
the existing wage scale for three
years. Bituminous coal mining has
long been recognized as a conspicuous
offender in the matter of irregular
employment. We are told that nearly
200,000 men could be transferred to
other industries if coal mine oper
ation were made regular—a most im
portant consideration at a time when
shortage due to restricted immigra
tion.
But the public has an even greater
interest in the statement, on trust
worthy economic authority, that if
mine operation were regularized, the
earnings of all bituminous miners
could be increased 20 per cent, the
cost of coal to the consumer could be
reduced by 10 per cent, and the oper
ators could make profits on 40 per
cent longer operating time. The new
wage agreement, entered into by both
miners and operators, with deliberate
design, is expected to drive many un
stable coal mines out of business,
with a gradual stabilization of em
ployment in those that survive.
American industrialists are proud
of their ingenuity and resourceful
ness. They are first to admit that no
job is impossible to their industrial
initiative if it has to be done. That
spirit is being invoked to overcome
the effects of the new immigration
restrictions. It has been successfully
brought into play by some employers
MM »M-*M-MMMMMMMMM
Yes!
o&uz
and some industries to improve indus
trial relations by stabilizing employ
ment. Plans for unemployment in
surance now in operation in a number
of individual plants and in indus
tries, notably the garment and the
clothing industries, have proved a
success and point the way to effective
action by industry generally.
Notable progress is being made
also in the building industry in the
direction of providing all-year work.
The engineers' report, however, that
relatively little is being done by those
in a position to spread out the work
over the year. The average building
worker loses over 31 per cent of the
possible work time each year. Prob
ably this industry also wlil not real
ize the possibilities of preventing un
employment until it is asked to pay
for part maintenance of involuntary
unemployment.
We all remember how employers
claimed that they could not prevent
accidents. Now that the law holds
them liable for part of its cost, they
have gotten busy on the prevention
of the risk. Similar precautions are
expected with unemployment for
both risks, while different, are admit
tedly preventable in a large measure.
The railway shopmen are also con
fronted with the problem of irregular
work. While railway managers con
cede it entirely practicable and pos
sible to stabilize employment, rail
way shopmen are frequently forced to
lay off for six or eight week periods.
An examination of payroll figures of
railway shops shows marked irregul
larity in volume of employment. The
figures show that the amount of
freight car and engine repair work
that is turned over to the shops is
fairly constant throughout the year.
Still the number on the payroll of one
typical shop normally employing
around 4,500 varied as much as 40
per cent over the year. Obviously
this is not due to no work, but to
poor planning, a management func
tion.
MINERS WIN
Ohio Judge Holds Interna
tional Can't Be Sued For
Shooting of Non-
Unionist
By International Labor News Service.
Indianapolis, Ind. The United
Mine Workers of America won a legal
victory in the common pleas court
of Belmont, Ohio, when Judge Turn
baugh sustained a motion by the
counsel of the international union to
quash the summons and return in a
suit for $250,000 against the organi
zation as such.
The action of the court in quashing
the summons and return was based
on the argument of counsel for the
organization that the United Mine
Workers, being an unincorporated as
sociation, could not be sued.
The case was that of Ella Majors,
executrix of her husband, John I. Ma
jors, against the United Mine Work
ers. John L. Lewis, international pres
ident Philip Murray, vice president
William Green, then international sec
re tary-treasurer the district officials
of Ohio, and the officials of subdis
trict 5 of Ohio in addition to a num
ber of individuals.
John Majors was shot to death on
June 27, 1922, following an alterca
tion with a group of some 200 men
near a strip mine in Belmont county
where le was working as a n n-uniin
miner.
The complaint alleged that the
United Mine Workei*s' organization
was responsible for Majors' death.
The court held that the union was not
sueable. It was pointed out that the
only recourse of the plaintiffs is to
sue the various individuals.
Subscribe for The Press.
19
$
.50
for one of these
ALL WOOL
Tailor made, ready to wear
UNION MADE
SPRING SUITS
The low price does all the talking for the
remarkable values, and when you see the suits
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tailoring and fit is that of regular $25.00 suits.
See them tomorrow.
Dunlap Tailors
18 South Third Street
THE BUTLER COUNTY PRESS
The Double
Test
By CRITTENDEN MARRIOTT
(©. 1926, Western Newspaper Union.)
TJENRY VAN STORMOUT stamped
•LA up the three steps to the broad
porcli. At the top he paused and
glared at the exceptionally hundsome
young woman who had come to the
door to meet liiiu.
"Mr. Harvey in?" he demanded.
The girl studied him curiously. "No,"
she answered at last. "Dad won't be
In till night. But I'm the business
manager of this ranch. 'Spose you sit
down and talk to me."
"Thank you," he said, less gruffly
than before. "I'm Mr. Stormout," he
continued. "I'm a business man, here
on business, and I believe In putting
things plainly. My son, Jack, is infatu
ated with you and wauts to sacrifice all
his prospects by marrying you. I want
to buy him off and I'm prepared to pay.
What's your price?"
Once more the girl studied the man.
"You're gambling that I can deliver
the goods," she observed "and I'll
play that you are right, and lay my
cards on the table. I've done a good
deal to pull Jack out of the dregs.
Your son got here In an empty car.
He had fled from New York because
he thought he had killed a waiter in
a hotel when he was drunk. He was
a bundle of dirty rags when a brake
man flung him out of the car and un
der my horse's feet. I'd ridden over
for the mall. Coming that way he
seemed to be a special charge on me.
So I told Jim Harris, dad's foreman,
to put him in the wagon and take him
to the ranch and try to make some
thing out of him. That was three years
ago. Three years! I suppose you've
been hunting for him ever since?"
Van Stormout grunted. "You sup
pose wrong," he snorted. "He'd been
going to the dogs for three years be
fore that and 1 wiped him out of uiy
books. But when my younger sou died
two months ago I started a search. If
he's still a sot—"
"He isn't. He hasn't touched a
drop for more than two years. But If
he had stayed a sot whose fault would
it have been?"
"1 can see that I owe you a good
deal," repeated Stormout. "But, my
dear young lady, can't you see that his
reformation makes It all the more
necessary for him to marry his class?
The Stormouts are a very old family.
They go back to—"
"To Adam! I know! So do the
Harveys. But wait! I'm not through
yet. About six weeks ago 1 saw some
of your search propaganda in the Tuc
son Star telling ail about Jack and the
waiter and ail. That put it squarely
up to me and no time to lose, it was a
case of put up or shut up. So I threw
myself squarely at Jack's head."
"You did what?" Van Stormout was
bewildered.
''Proposed to him! I knew Jack had
been in love with me for at least two
years and I know that he'd never ask
me till he got that waiter off his mind."
"Humph." Van Storiuout's feelings
were sadly mixed. "You didn't tell
him that—"
"I didn't tell him any truth, I lied.
I told him that he had been Identified
and that officers were on the way from
New York with extradition papers for
him. And I offered to marry him and
start lor one of those Central Ameri
can dumps where there isn't any ex
tradition. I've got plenty of money—
not so much as you have, I reckon, but
plenty and 1 said I'd put up lor the
two of us. Oh! I sure did make love
to him, all right. And it would have
about killed me If he'd taken me at my
word. But I had to know, of course."
"Kno% what?"
"Know if he was yellow or clear
white. And he turned out white.
Turned me down flat. God bless him.
1 knew he was white but—Lord! How
1 did love that boy. But I still had to
prove him the other way."
"Eh?"
"Show him the primrose path, of
course. So I told him that I had been
lying—that there weren't any officers
after him that he hadn't even stunned
that waiter, let aloue killed him that
you had a l'at calf ready to kill if he'd
come home and last 1 showed him the
story in the newspaper."
"And then?" Van Stormout was
breathless.
"Then he said that he preferred
hicken to fat veal any day and thai
he meant to marry me and stay here
and that you could go to h—1. 1 knew
he'd say something like that, but I was
scared to death that he mightn't."
Van Stormout, looked about him.
'Here' seems to be a pretty good
place after all," he observed. "LooLs
a lot better to me than it did when 1
i-.-miu* iifiir 11Hiir ago. Probably It'll
make a man of Jack in time."
in ume.' tie's a man, already!"
Nellie's tones were Indignant.
Van Stormout snickered. "I'll take
your word for it," he agreed, hastily.
"Shake"—lie held out his hand.
Nellie took it. "Sure thing, papa,
she chuckled.
Van Stormout chuckled, too. "Not
yet," he cautioned. "Perhaps later
when I think it's time—"
"Time? Humph! I see it is time t»
put you wise to a few th'ngs. Jack and
I were married yesterday. And Jack's
coming up the walk right behind you.
Shake again, papa—for keeps!"
And Van Stormout shook.
So Sudden
He—I love the umxl, the true, the
beautiful, the innocent—
She—This is rather sudden, but 1
think father will consent.
LOW WAGES IN SOUTH
Washington.—Low wages and long
hours is the rule in the Louisiana
paper and pulp industry, according to
information made public by the
United States bureau of labor statis
tics.
Average earnings per hour in the
southern pulp mills is 27.3 cents, as
compared with 49.1 cents in Michigan
and Ohio. The average full-time
hours per week are 60.3 in New
England and 67.3 in Louisiana.
i M1 IU
LONG HOURS
Low Wages and High Prices
Brings Steel Companies
Fat "Surplus"
Washington.—American steel capi
talists were on the top notch of
wealth accumulation during the World
War, according to figures on the war
time profits of the steel industry
made public by the federal trade com
mission.
The figures show that the average
earnings of the steel companies were
7.5 per cent of the investment in 1915,
21.7 in 1916, 28.9 in 1917, 20.1 in
1918, with a four-year average of 20.2
per cent.
The commission adds that during
1917 and 1918 federal taxes took a
large portion of these profits.
The commission states, however,
that the computation relative to the
return on investment includes the ag
gregate amount of stocks, bonds and
"surplus." By surplus is meant the
amount accumulated from year to
year after fat dividends have been
paid on both preferred and common
stock.
That is to say, the steel companies
by means of low wages and long hours
for the workers and high prices to
consumers, make enough profits to
pay dividends and set aside large
amounts of excess profits in the so
called "surplus."
Then they declare themselves en
titled to an investment return on the
surplus and the federal trade com
mission implies that it is a legitimate
charge.
All of which means that the people
of the United States are compelled
to pay the steel companies prices high
enough to include interest on bonds,
and dividends on preferred and com
mon stock, and, in addition, to provide
an enormous surplus. Then they are
required to pay an investment return
on the surplus itself.
OMAHA TYPO UNION
To Entertain Printers At
Legion Convention
By International Labor News Service.
Omaha, Neb.—Printer's attending
the American Legion national conven
tion here next September will be en
tertained by Omaha Typographical
Union No. 1U0 at centrally located
club rooms, V. B. Kinney, secretary
of the union, announces. All guests
of the convention will be welcomed
at the printers' headquarters, but the
rooms will be maintained especially
for reunions of the typos. Of the
70,000 union printers in the country
during the World War, 7,343 saw
service and 251 were killed in action.
Names of all the printers who served
in the war are being inscribed on a
bronze tablet, which will be placed in
the Union Printers' Home at Colorado
Springs or in the new headquarters
building of the International Typo­
a i a I n i u n i n i n i i a n a o i .-
i -2
Straw
Hat
Head
quarters
v
'^T*.*.-- •4™ .V "-»T^irrv
Hamilton Outfitting Co'*.
Forced to Vacate
-Sale
Never before have such extraordinary furniture
values been offered—and perhaps not again for a
long, long time. We're bound to sell every piece
of furniture, every rug, every yard of carpet,
every stove or range, every floor or stand lamp,
every refrigerator, every kitchen cabinet—in fact,
everything in our store—before we open our new
store. Here you can save dollars upon dollars on
needed house furnishings. Come now—this sale
wall not last forever. And remember—you can
buy at sale prices on TERMS TO SUIT. Note a
few of our many items:
5-PIECE BED ROOM SUITES In Walnut finish.
Suite consists of Bed, Dresser, Chiffonier, Drpgsing
Table and Bench. Forced to CA
Vacate Sale. Special at JuO.Dl)
COLUMBIA ELECTRIC IRONS 6-pouncl Irons.
Guaranteed for five years. A real $5.00 QQ
value. Forced to Vacate Sale price
ALUMINUM KETTLES—12-quart size, splendid
ity aluminum. A wonderful value at the QC^
Forced to Vacate Sale price of
5-PIECE BREAKFAST SUITES—In either Gray or
Ivory Enamel finish. Consists of Table and 4 Ghairs.
A real $30.00 value. 7C
Forced to Vacate Sale price
SEWING ROCKERS—A fine Sewing Rocker
Oak finish. Our regular $3.00 seller (J| QO
Forced to Vacate Sale price
$48 KITCHEN CABINETS—Golden Oak finish a con
veniently arranged, well made Cabinet.
Forced to Vacate Sale price
A
k' 11
1
T—easy
''A
t/y/A
50 YEARS OF RELIABLE SERVICE
qual­
«/DC
in
~l-
Pick 'Em Out
Tomorrow At
HEY'RE easy to pick—easy to look at
on the pocketbook. We're feat
uring all the new straws that are finely
made, finely shaped and fairly priced.
There are fancy bands, wider brims, head
conforming models.
Sennets and Splits $2 to $5
Imported Swiss Straws ....$3.50 to $6
Panamas and Leghorns 85 to $7
Fine Bangkoks $8.50
Positively the finest line of straw hats we
have ever shown for the money. Get yours
NOW while selection is best.
J-t
Straw
Hat
Head
quarters