The Butler County press. [volume], October 22, 1926, Image 1

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

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VOL. XXVI. No. 28
By JOSEPH A. WISE
Staff Correspondent, International
Labor News Service
Detroit, Mich.—Henry Ford's wide
ly heralded five-day week is the bunk,
according to old-time union friends
who have resided in Detroit for many
years and who claim to be well in
formed as to the Fordian labor pol
iey, which, they say, is a highly per
fected low wage and "open shop" pol
icy, exploited by means of skillful
advertising, in such a manner that the
multi-millionaire auto king is pictur
ed in the minds of the peoples of the
earth as "big-hearted Hank," whose
heart is overflowing with philanthropy
and the milk of human kindness.
The five-day work week is not a
new departure in the Ford plants,
according to these trade union friends.
The employes in these plants were
put on a five-day basis many months
ago, it is alleged but the announce
ment of the "new" policy was so tim
ed as to be made at the psychological
moment when it would attract the
widest possible attention in order that
sales of Ford cars and farm machin
ery might be promoted to the .fullest
extent and at the same time nullify
in the greatest possible degree any
moves made by this year's convention
of the American Federation of Labor
toward unionizing the automobile in
dustry.
With these purposes in mind, the
superlatively organized Ford publicity
machine cut loose with a tremendous
blowing of horns concerning the new
Fordian "philanthropy" just prior to
the convening of the big labor con
clave in this city.
Philanthropy had nothing to do with
the inauguration of the five-day work
week by Ford, it is claimed. His sales
of cars had been greatly reduced
through heavy competition from firms
manufacturing moderately priced
cars.
This keen competition left Ford in
the positron of having a huge and
highly developed industrial machine
which could turn out a much larger
pl-oduct than the market could con
•sume. How to meet the situation was
a serious problem until the idea of
the five-day week was hit upon. The
advertising possibilities were not the
least of the considerations.
The public has been led to believe
that Ford is paying his employes six
days' wages for five days' work. This
is so only in a few rare instances, it
is said. Only "those who deserve it"
receive six day's pay for five days'
work. To "deserve it" an employe
must be a "star man." All Ford em
ployes wear badges. "Star men" have
a star added to their badges. These
"star men" are employes who have a
"drag" or who have been able to meet
the Ford requirement of producing as
much in five days as they formerly
produced in six days. It goes without
saying that only a limited number of
men can meet this requirement.
Ford's Five Day Week Not All
That It Seems Plan Seen As
Scheme to Sell More "Lizzies"
The Ford wage scale is interesting.
The top jvage for skilled mechanics is
$7.20 a day. A few men receive $10
a day, but these are foremen, and
there are foremen who do not receive
that much.
A beginner is paid $5 a day for a
period of three months. If it is de
cided after that length of time that
the new man will make the kind -of
employe that Ford wants, then he is
advanced to $6 a day.
Following this the pay o£ the em
ploye is advanced in multiples of 40
if
Occasional
ONE
of die most
attractive of this
season's offerings
this occasional table
with top 30x30 inches.
Made in quartered
gum and very beauti'
fully finished in an*
taque mahogany effect.
The Price ^27 ^00
K-R-E-B-S
Third & Court
T"
cents until he reaches $7.20 a day,
where he stops unless he qualifies as
foreman, whereupon he has a chance
obtain not more than $10 a day.
The advances in pay to skilled men
go from $6 to $6.40 a day, from $6.40
$6.80 and from $6.80 to $7.20 a
day, which is the stopping point.
There is no advance in the rate for
overtime, which is worked at straight
time. Overtime is worked frequently,
but an employe is compelled to lay off
equivalent number of hours the
following week.
Summed up, the -five-day week in
the Ford plants means that an em
ploye who formerly received $30 for
six days' work now receives $25 for
ve days' work, and the fellow who
formerly obtained the top wage of
$43-20 a week is now the proud re
cipient of $36, and a strict rule
against overtime at single price, price
and a half or any old kind of price.
Ford is very fickle in his loves, it
said. He will take a sudden and
unexplaineable fancy to a man and
ipidly advance him. Then, when the
victim has reached a dizzy height up
the ladder in the Ford organization,
brick hits him and he is knocked
to the ground.'
This side of the Ford nature is
well known to Ford executives, it is
said, with the result that each en
deavors to make hay while the sun
shines against the day of the Fordian
displeasure.
DUFFY CELEBRATES
Secretary of Carpenters' In
ternational 25 Years
By International Labor News Service.
Indianapolis, Ind. Frank Duffy,
general secretary of the Brotherhood
of Carpenters and Joiners of Amer
ica, has just celebrated his "silver
anniversary" as general secretary of
the brotherhood.
Members of the general board ten
dered Mr. Duffy a dinner at the Elks
lub in honor of his twenty-fifth year
as secretary of the organization. At
the reception preceding the dinner his
friends and associates presented him
with a large hall clock as a token of
the esteem in which he is held.
Congratulatory messages were re
ceived by Mr. Duffy from John L.
Lewis, president of the United Mine
Workers of America William Green,
president of the American Federation
of Labor John R. Commons, of the
economics department of the Univer
sity of Wisconsin Charles W. Morey,
president of the Chicago Technical
College, and scores of other friends
and admirers over the country.
Local unions of the brotherhood in
New York, Indiana and other states
have celebrated the anniversary.
Mr. Duffy took office July 2, 1904,
and has seen the brotherhood grow
from a membership of 87,000 to more
than 400,000. The secretary's office
in 1901 was located in Philadelphia,
but moved to Indianapolis a few years
ago when the brotherhood erected a
fine building to house its various de
partments.
Mr. Duffy is secretary of the gen
eral executive board, secretary of the
board of trustees and editor of the
Carpenter, the official organ of the
brotherhood. He is also a vice presi
dent of the American Federation of
Labor and is held in high esteem in
trade union circles over the country.
SHORTER WORKDAY
Brings Reduced Costs
British Columbia
Industries
-ti,
In
By International Labor News Service
Montreal.—The enforcement of the
eight-hour day involving reductions
of the hours of labor in British Co
lumbia has not only failed to produce
the dire effects predicted, but has
actually been the cause of reducing
the costs of production in various in
dustries, the board of adjustment un
der the British Columbia hours of
work act reports.
The reason for this is that, kl order
to comply with the eight-hour day
act, a complete reorganization of sys
tems in many industries was found
advisable, and more efficient methods
have been worked out. This reorgan
ization in some cases has been accom
panied by a very substantial decrease
in the number of Orientals employed
Formerly, the report says, it w.\s
the policy of a large number of em
ployers in British Columbia to try
to bolster up production by cheap la
bor and long hours. But it appears
that the enforcement of the eight
hour day has induced employers to
turn their attention from the plan of
grinding labor to consideration of
means of improving methods and pro
cesses. With better adjustments
it has been found that with the em
ployment of a superior class, it is pos
By International Labor News Service.
Detroit, Mich.—With one great
program adopted in the form of a
resolution laying plans for the organ
ization of the mighty automobile in
dustry, with its million directly em^
ployed workers, the American Feder
ation of Labor convention took a sec
ond great step in adopting a declara
tion declaring for a shorter work
week.
The shorter work week is regarded
as imperative, not only for the wel
fare of the workers in high speed
industry, but as a measure necessary
to the salvation of industry itself.
Labor believes—and backs its belief
with figures—that not only must la
bor earn high wages to bring purchas
ng power into proper relation to pro
duction, but the masses must have
the necessary free time to enable
them to USE the commodities of
modern industry.
New Move Seen As Vital
To Workers and Industry
Shorter Week Necessary
It was pointed out that more and
more products—such as automobiles,
l'adios, pianos, clothes—depend for
their use upon the time men and
women have for their use. Labor
deems the shorter work week neces
sary to prevent industry from piling
back upon itself in wreckage.
But vastly more important to the
workers is the fact that in modern
high speed industry, more free time
is necessary for the recovery of the
human system from the strain of
work that is keyed to machines and
must follow thej3peed of machines.
Fewer Hours of Toil Imperative From Humanitarian
as Well as From Economic Viewpoint, American
Federation of Labor Holds.
Labor's Statement
Here is labor's pronouncement on
the shorter work week—a pronounce
ment as epochal as labor's pronounce
ment for the eight-hour day.
"The American trade union move
ment devoted its early effort to
sible to equal the production of the
longer day and at the same time re
duce production costs.
These production results on
shorter workday were effected in spite
of a substantial increase in the pay
roll.
The number of Orientals employed
in the province has been reduced to
11 per cent of the total employes.
The reduction applies to Japanese and
Hindus the Chinese increased slight
ly. Immigrant workers from north
ern Europe showed a relative in
crease.
niii fjr'-n ffi'ujlji
FASHION TAILORS WIN
New York.—After a week's strike
1,200 men and women tailors employ
ed in fashionable Fifth avenue estab
lishments reduced the work week
from 44 to 40 hours and raised wages
$3 a week. The contract is for two
years, but the workers reserve the
right to reopen the wage scale if in
creased living costs warrant.
HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22,1926
The Melancholy Days Have Come
I
F. of Orders the Legions to
Move Up in Great Struggle For
Shorter Work Week in Workshops
shortening of the work day until fin
ally its original goal, the eight-hour
day, had been established.
'Since the American Federation of
Labor at the time of its birth declared
for an eight-hour day, an astounding
change has taken place in methods of
production. Power plants generate
energy in almost inconceivable vol
ume. This power is applied to ma
chinery which has revolutionized
man's power to produce. A new sci
ence has developed—the chemical, the
mechanical and the production engi
neer have joined hands and developed
a directing control of power, machin
ery and the management of produc
tion which has greatly increased the
production capacity of our industrial
plants.
Even Greater Output Coming
'On every hand there is evidence
that we are at the beginning of meth
ods of production which will rapidly
increase man's present power to pro
duce.
"But already a condition has devel
oped which gives concern to every
thinking man, to every investor and
manufacturer, as well as to the wage
earners.
"So great is the present capacity of
our industrial establishments to turn
out manufactured goods that many of
them are compelled to close their doors
many weeks each year. The reports
of the United States government tell
us that several of our basic industries
if operated at full capacity for six
months each year, would produce
more than their present annual out
put.
Real Wages Outstripped
"There is one feature connected
with the problem being considered
which has already been covered by the
wage policy adopted by the American
COAL MINE
Disasters Kill 243 in August
By International Labor News Service
Washington, D. C.—There is no let
up in the slaughter of coal miners.
Month after month it is the same
dismal story of death in the depths
of the earth.
In August, coal mine accidents
killed 243 men, according to the
monthly report of the United States
bureau of mines. Of this number, 211
fatalities occurred at bituminous
mines and 32 at anthracite mines
Included in the number of deaths for
August was one major disaster at the
Clymer No. 1 mine in the bituminous
field at Clymer, Pa. This disaster
was a gas explosion caused by an
electric arc and resulted in the death
of 44 men.
Records of ^he bureau of mines
covering the first eight months of the
present year show 11 major disasters,
causing five or more deaths each, with
•fL'.'-V
Federation of Labor. It is a fact
that man's power to produce has at
a rapidly increasing rate outstripped
the real wage paid. There must be a
market which can purchase the prod
uct of our industries, and that mar
ket is regulated by one basic strength
the real wage received by the work'
ers.
But your committee is dealing with
but one phase of the problem, the
number of hours which should be
established in our industries. At first
our movement devoted itself to short
ening the hours of labor, but modern
methods of production, the high ten
sion of machine operation, the special
ization which forces thousands to per
form the same meaningless operation
thousands of times per day has placed
strain upon the worker's nervous
system which is more enervating,
conducive to physical and mental fa
tigue than many more hours of labor
would be where the work called for
the constant use of the worker's cre
ative power. Modern methods of pro
duction more and more tend to make
machine of men. For this reason,
in addition to many others, it is es
sential that not only should the daily
hours of labor be reduced, but in ad
dition, that the number of days per
week should also be shortened. For
social reasons, as well as those of an
economic character the American
Federation of Labor is justified in de
claring for a shorter work week as
energetically as it did the past for
the establishment of the eight-hour
day.
Labor Economics Sound
"Employers and investors accused
our movement of endeavoring to limit
production by reducing the hours of
labor. We listened to these accusa
tions when we established the ten
hour day. They were made when the
nine and the eight hour day were es
tablished, yet today the proof that
our economics were sound, is found in
the fact that the volume of production
per capita is many fold greater than
when the ten-hour day was the rule.
"For economic as well as humani
tarian reasons the time has arrived
when the number of days worked per
week should be reduced."
an aggregate loss of 255 lives.
From January to August of th
present year 1,575 men have been
killed by accidents at the coal mines
throughout the United States.
TOO MUCH PRODUC
TION
Manchester, N. H.—F. C. Dumaine
treasurer of the Amoskeag Company
is the latest to give a left-handed ap
proval to the shorter work week,
his annual report he states that cot
ton machinery can produce more goods
than the world requires.
In
The company is the largest manu
facturer of cotton goods in the world.
It opposes organized labor and main
tains a company "unroit"
MINERS ARE FLEECE®
Denver.—Non-union miners in this
state are being fleeced through short
weight, reports John Gross, secretary
of the Colorado State Federation of
Labor.
N
f.-
4 -V
By International Labor News Service.
Detroit, Mich.—John P. Frey, in a
notable address before the American
Federation of Labor convention here,
dealing with the proposed drive for
a shorter work week, produced start
ling figures to show the increase in
American labor productivity. Mr.
Frey said:
"The statistics for Europe for the
last quarter of 1925 tell us that in one
of the European countries the average
amount of coal mined per day per
miner was nine-tenths of a ton. In
a country where the miners produced
the largest amount of coal per day
in Europe it amounted to 1.10 tons per
day. Our statistics indicate that in
the United States the average during
the same quarter was 4.56 tons. I
computed the wage rates as paid in
Europe, compared them with the
wages paid here, and if the American
miner was to receive the same wage
rate per ton of coal mined in the
United States as is now being paid in
Europe he would have to be given a
25 per cent advance immediately.
Motor Productivity Soars
"A few weeks ago General Motors
declared a stock dividend of 50 per
cent. There were several reasons for
that—one, a matter of production.
In 1919, or six years ago, General
Motors had 85,980 employes. Last
year they had 83,274 employes, or
2,702 employes less than during 1919,
but in 1919 General Motors produced
391,938 automobiles, while last year
they produced 835,902 automobiles,
or, stating it in another way, last year
the workers employed by General
Motors produced over two automobiles
for each one produced by the workers
in 1919. The output per man was
more than doubled. I find that state
ment is supported by the statistics of
the United States bureau of sta
tistics."
Labor Queries
Questions and Answers on La
bor What It Has Done Where
It Stands on Problems of the
Day Its Aim and Program
Who's Who in the Ranks of
the Organized Toilers, etc., etc.
Q.—What are the three days set
aside by organized labor as its own
days?
A.—Labor Day, the first Monday in
September Labor Sunday, the Sunday
preceding Labor Day, and Labor's
Memorial Sunday, the fourth Sunday
in May.
Q.—Is the American Federation of
Teachers the only teachers' union in
the world?
A.—No. There are teachers
unions in various European countries.
In France the National Union of
Teachers includes a majority of the
elementary teachers of the nation.
Q.—What is the Samuel Gompers
memorial room?
A.—It is a room in the American
Federation of Labor building in
Washington, D. C., containing the
desk, chair, books, writing materials
and other things used by Samuel Gom
pers in his office in the federation
building. It also contains portraits
and pictures of the dead labor head
and a large collection of medals,
curios, World War relics, books and
papers belonging to Mr. Gompers.
Q.—What is the procedure for
changing the constitution of the
American Federation of Labor?
1
A.—Article XVI of the constitution
says: "This constitution can be
amended or altered only at a regular
session of the convention and to do so
it shall require a two-thirds' vote."
ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR
How American Labor Speeds 1
Production and Thus Cuts
Its Wages Below Europeans
"They tell us, since they have es
tablished this new department, that
since 1914 tHe per capita production
of automobiles is a little over 200 per
cent, or that the men in the automo
bile industry today per man produce
three automobiles where they only
produced one in 1914.
Steel Output Answers Gary
"We have read in the papers, Mr.
Chairman, that President Gary, of the
steel trust, is alarmed over a five
day week. The statistics of the de
partment of labor proves that since
1914 the per capita production in the
steel industry has increased 50 per
cent, and during that period the
eight-hour day has replaced the 12
hour day for over one-third of the
employes of that corporation.
"We have no conception, until we
begin to delve, of the enormous in
crease there is in production. Taking
some figures which were published re
cently by the Pollock Foundation, we
are told that in some departments of
the steel industry two men are now
doing the work formerly done by 20
men, that two men, working with a
machine* have replaced 14 others, that
in the handling of pig iron seven men
now are doing the work which for
merly required 128. We are told by
the statistics collected by our own
government that the output per capi
ta of our employes in the textile in
dustry is fifty times as great as it
was in our grandfathers' days.
Real Wage Rates Here Low
'The fact is that the wage earners
in this country are not only produc
ing at a rapidly increasing volume,
sometimes doubling their output per
man in a year, but the American
workman, Mr. Chairman, because of
this fact, is working for a lower wage
rate for what he produces than the
workmen in the so-called low wage
countries of Europe."
Saturday Specials
FRESH SHOULDER RIBS 7
Per pound ...
SMOKED CALA 7fl„
HAMS
FANCY BOILING BEEF
Per pound
I 118 High Street Telephone 4506
tHIHIMIIMMfMHMMWl
is the present member
American Federation of
Q—What
ship of the
Labor?
A.—The A. F. of L. executive coun
cil reported as follows to the Detroit
convention, just held: "The average
paid-up and reported membership for
the year is 2,813,910. National and
international organizations are re
quired to pay only the per capita tax
upon their full paid-up membership,
and therefore, the membership re
ported does not include all the mem
bers involved in strikes and lockouts,
or those who are unemployed during
the fiscal year, for whom tax was not
received. A survey of the member
ship of the national and international
organizations and the unions directly
affiliated with the A. F. of L. indi
cates that because of strikes or unem
ployment there were at least 500,000
members for whom per capita tax was
not paid to the A. F. of L. Adding
this number to the 2,813,910 paid-up
membership will give a grand total of
3,313,910 members."
HOSPITALS PROTEST
LOW INJURIES' PAY
Atlantic City.—Hospitals care for
workmen's compensation cases below
cost, according to a resolution adopt
ed by the American Hospital Associa
tion. It' was stated that inadequate
rates make it necessary to call for
charitable contributions to make good
the deficiency.
"Under present conditions the bur
den of proper treatment of compensa
tion cases is oppressive, unjust and
contrary to all economic principles,"
it was stated.
UNION TYPOS SCALP FOE
Topeka, Kan.—At the recent pri
mary union printers defeated Jess
Miley for superintendent of public in
struction. Mr. Miley was too friend
ly to an anti-union printing estab
lishment, while assuring the typos
that he is "a friend of labor."
n.
K.-. l,w.
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