The Butler County press. [volume], March 18, 1927, Image 1

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

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By International Labor News Service.
Washington, D. C.—Wages have
increased and hours of labor decreased
for workers in the cotton mill indus
try since 1913, but wages are still
miserably low, especially flrhen meas
ured by the decreased purchasing
power of the dollar.
The same is true of wages and
hours in the woolen and worsted in
dustry.
These conclusions are drawn from
a study of payroll records of cotton,
woolen and worsted mills made by the
United States department of labor.
The federal investigators studied pay
rolls of cotton goods mills in New
England and in the Southern states
in which the cotton goods industry is
centered. The investigation of wool
en and worsted mills' payrolls was
made in the North.
Average Wage $17.48
The average weekly wage in the
cotton mill industry has increased 105
per cent since 1913,, but men cotton
mill workers made only an average of
$18.67 a week last year, which is
$3.11 a day, or about $81 a month.
Women made an average of $15.89 a
week, which is $2.65 a day, or $68.85
a month.
Cotton mill wages were highest in
1920. They dropped in 1922, took a
spurt upward in 1924 and have been
falling since then. Average full-time
earnings per week of males decreased
from $20.87 in 1924 to $18.67 in 1926,
those of females from $18.15 to $15.89
and earnings in the industry as a
whole from $19.72 to $17.48.
The only occupation in the factory
that pays an average of more than
$30 per week requires an average of
only 25 men. Two other occupations
requiring together an average of
about 28 to a factory pays $26 a week.
Three other occupations requiring to
gether an average of 75 men pay be
tween $20.50 and $22.25 a week.
These are all men. The others, both
men and women, get an average of
under $20 a we$k and as low as $11
and $12.
Miserable Pay for ,Women
These are average wages the coun
try over and are higher than the
wages of Southern mill workers and
lower than those of Northern mill
workers. The usual wage for men
workers is from $12 to $16 and $17 a
week in the Southern mills and from
$18 to $24 a week in the Northern
Miserably Low Wages Paid
In Cotton and Woolen Mills,
Government Study Reveals
JOIN THE
A N O U
mills. For women, the usual wage in
the South is between $10 and $15 a
week, and in the North $15 and $25.
A similar study of wages and hours
in the woolen and worsted goods in
dustries in 1926 shows a decrease of
approximately 8 per cent,in full-time
earnings per week between 1924 and
1926, the average earnings of men in
all occupations combined having de
creased from $28.44 in 1924 to $26.87
in 1926, those of women from $22.84
to $20.61, and of men and women
combined from $26.17 to $24.21.
As with the cotton goods industry,
1920 was the peak year for wages in
woolen and worsted mills. Between
1920 and 1922 there was a pronounced
decrease. This was followed by an
increase in 1924, and this increase
was followed in turn by a decrease
in 1926.
Bad Economic Condition Indicated
The figures reveal that many thou
sands of textile workers are getting
wages barely sufficient for existence
and give point to the demand of Sen
ator David I. Walsh, of Massachu
setts, for an investigation of economic
conditions. Senator Walsh introduced
a resolution for such an investiga
tion but it was not acted upon because
of the long-drawn-out filibuster in th(
closing hours of the senate sessions.
MEETING CALLED
To Plan Unionization of Mo
tor Industry
By International Labor News Service.
Washington, D. C.—By authority
of the executive council of the Amer
ican Federation of Labor, a meeting
has been called for March 24 at the
A. F. of L. building in Washington to
consider plans for the organization
of the automoblie industry.
This is to be continuation of an ad
journed meeting held last December,
at which it was decided to convene
representatives of the interested
unions who should carry power from
their respective organizations to
waive jurisdictional barriers to a
united drive.
A resolution passed at the last ses
sion of the executive council advocat
ed that, workers in the auto industry
be organized into federal unions until
such time as sufficient strength is de
veloped to warrant separation into
their respective crafts.
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10 Strtrtfi Third PKoiv^ 3G6
Total of Deportees is
Unknown Mystery
To Fear
By CHESTER M. WRIGHT
Editor, International Labor News
Service
Washington, D. C. Deportation
without trial, in cases numbered per
haps by the hundreds, certainly by the
scores, has thrown a new prison ship
into the category of hated hulks of
world history. It is the Maximo Go
mez, which lies in an isolated section
of the bay at Havana, Cuba. Through
it, during the past year, have passed
many of Cuba's most truly patriotic
sons. For the foreigner in Cuba the
Maximo Gomez has been a constant
menace, a hovering iron demon.
Within the last two weeks I have
talked with men who have gone
through this stark prison ship. The
Maximo Gomez was taken from the
Germans during the World War. It
is without accommodations for prison
ers. That it has not become a pest
hole is a sheer miracle.
Number of Deportations is Mystery
Deportation is the fate reserved
particularly for foreigners whom the
president of Cuba does not like, or
who are reported to him as undersir
able. So terrible is this floating dun
geon that men fear it second only to
death. No one knows how many de
portations there have been within the
year. A thousand? Two thousand?
Five thousand? No one, save perhaps
the highest government officials, can
tell. Therein is a part of the horror
of it. It swallows men and they do
not come back.
Cubans, too, are deported. There
was one Cuban who ran for a local
political office. His election was con
tested on grounds of non-citizenship.
His record was examined and Presi
dent Machado himself certified to the
man's Cuban citizenship. One yea?
later—just recently—President Ma
chado issued an official order for de
portation of the same man as a "per
nicious foreigner."
High Union Official Victim
Another Cuban himself told me his
story. He is the father of 17 children.
He was a high union official. He was
ordered deported, exiled for one year.
He was taken from the Maximo Go
mez and put on a ship for Cadiz,
Spain, via New York. In New York
harbor he escaped. He was recaptur
ed and taken to Cadiz. From there
he got word to his family. He was
penniless. He got a chance to work
his passage back to Cuba, arriving
there on the day his period of exile
expired. He is today under threat
of death and he walks in the shadow
of that threat.
Deportations are by official order
and the daily papers of Havana chron
icle them briefly, as if they were mar
ket quotations, or ship clearances. On
the day I left Havana I read the notice
of two such deportations.
Men marked for deportation, via'the
Maximo Gomez, have no recourse at
law. The writ of habeas corpus does
Enter—Exit
Three Secretaries in Succession Is Loss of One
Union—Men Marked Have No Recourse at
Law—Maximo Gomez Swallows Union Men
ind Political Foes of Machado.
Prison Ship in Havana Harbor
Is Terror of Cuban Workers
Adds
Toilers
Among
not exist. If, in an unusual case, the
prisoner's friends discover his arrest
in time and sue for a writ, it is craft
ily withheld until the prisoner is on
the high seas, beyond reach. Thus
the fiction of maintaining the law is
somewhat maintained. But men who
go down into the bowels of the Maxi
mo Gomez come up again only to be
put aboard ship for over seas.
Spaniards Now Avoid Cuba
Most of the deportees have been
Spanish. So has the terror of the
prison ship spread that Spanish sea
sonal immigration for the sugar sea
son has practically ceased, forcing
upon the unhappy island a new and
serious problem. The sugar season
runs from 90 to 120 days. It is han
dled by incoming seasonal masses of
workers, formerly mostly Spanish.
With these workers literally afraid to
come to Cuba, fearing deportation or
death, black Jamaicans and Haitiens
are manning the fields this year.
They come in for the season, the em
ployer engaging to see that they de
part when it is over. Experience has
taught that they do not all go home.
Many remain, creating a new prob
lem. Their living standards are low
er, their regard for Cuba nil.
Three Secretaries Deported
One of the most amazing of the de
portation cases involves the organiza
tion known as the Federation of
Workers of the Ports, or Longshore
men. A little more than a year ago
the secretary of this organization, a
Cuban with a large family, was exil
ed for a period of a year.
The union elected a successor to the
exiled secretary. This secretary was
at once deported. Another successor
was elected and he, too, was deport
ed. After the deportation of this
third successive secretary the union
stopped electing secretaries.
W. F. CAHILL & SONS
Funeral Directors
Established in 1875
The Last Word in INVALID CAR
Equipped with all first aid for Doctor and Nurse. Long
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The union of longshoremen for a
long time did not function at all under
these heavy blows. It now functions
in a quiescent manner, knowing per
fectly well that it may not indulge in
any of the normal activities of a trade
union.
The Maximo Gomez feeds upon men
who are charged only with what are
termed political offense they are
charged either with beinrc dangerous
radicals or pernicious foreigners. The
bogey of bolshevism cloaks the whole
black performance. Cuba's president
knows that the American government
hates bolshevism. So it usese that
pretext. I know bolshevism. I hunt
ed for it in Cuba. Examination of
typical deportation cases proves that
bolshevism has nothing to do with
feeding the hungry Maximo Gonuz.
Lese majesty is one of the crimes
that sends men there. Trade union
activity is another. Every other pos
sible charge is secondary and all other
charges put together would not give
the festering prison ship a good
week's meal of human misery in a
year.
Mystery of Ship Terrifies
You arrive at the toll of this boat
that rolls in the blazing sun thromrh
perusing newspaper files, through
checking up with men whose
Chair Seats Caned
A Specialty
FRANK GEORGE
1351 High St. Phone 4332-X
5%
Interest
Compounded
ON SAVINGS
THE COLUMBIA
SAVINGS
& LOAN CO.
612 61
A KENTSCHLER ffl&j
By International Labor News Service
Indianpaolis, Ind .— According to
the vote of union carpenters of the
District Council of Carpenters of Cali
fornia, the agreement between the
union and the Industrial Association
of the Bay region has been ratified by
the members. The vote was 1,732 for
and 623 against.
Under this agreement the strike is
officially terminated. The District
Council agrees to retire from the
building material business on both
sides of the Bay. The Industrial As
sociation agrees to abolish the mate
rial permit system, except in cases
where the contractors refuse to pay
he $9 a day wage scale to carpen
ters.
According to information from
headquarters of the United Brother
hood of Carpenters and Joiners here,
the ratification of the agreement was
not expected. Although the agree
ment was not altogether what the
union desired, it was the best one
that could be negotiated under the
circumstances, it was said.
General Organizer Muir, of the
union, who had charge of the situa
tion in California, says that in his
opinion the agreement is a step to
ward collective bargaining which will
lead to a satisfactory solution of the
itnYv
W
friends
and associates have "gone the route,"
through men who have friends "on
the inside"—through such devious and
hai*d-to-find agencies are the partial
figures secured. Nobody who will tell
knows the whole story. The mysteri
ous picking up a men in the dark to
feed the Maximo Gomez ranks next to
the terror of the mysterious death in
Cuba today.
W Y
ONE DOLLAR PER YEAH
Union Carpenters Approve
Settlement of Strike In
California Bay District
WHITTALL RUGS
Are Non-Competitive
WHITTALLS ARE WOVEN FOR YEARS OP
SERVICE —NOT MERELY TO SELL
SITIML II!
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industrial problems which have caused
so much dissatisfaction in this dis
trict.
The strike had been on for many
months and the action of the employ
ers compelled the international union
to go into the material business in
order to supply contractors employing
union carpenters with supplies. Un
der a plan of the Industrial Assoica
tion, contractors employing union la
bor exclusively could not buy build
ing material from dealer-members of
the association. Contractors were
forced to agree to use union and non
union carpenters on a fifty-fifty basis.
WE
PAY
HITTALL Rugs have never sought to enter
into competition on a price basis. Such
a thought was not a part of Matthew J.
Whittall's plan.
All during his lifetime, even when his mills were
struggling almost for their very existence, Whit
tall rugs and carpets were always priced on the
basis of the best materials and the utmost manu
facturing care, regardless of the prevailing rug
market.
Mr. Whittall was firm in the belief that a pro
duct of superior merit must, eventually, receive
recognition, and wrhat he believed, he followed
unswervingly.
There were times, many of them, when the
maintenance of this quality principle was a real
hardship. Yet, despite these handicaps, Mr.
Whittall had the gratification of seeing his busi
nes sincrease steadily and constantly year after
year.
M. J. Whittall Associates would no more think
of abandoning its fifty-year-old policy of pro
ducing the highest type of machine-woven fab
rics than of transgressing the ethics of good
business.
It is true that even today Whittall Rugs and
Carpets command a higher price than the ordi
nary run of floor coverings. But when the cost
of a rug is divided by the years of service it gives
(the only safe index to actual rug value) the re
sult is overwhelmingly in favor of Whittall
quality.
Let Whittall rugs demonstrate to you the prac
tical economy of buying the best in floor fabrics.
Look for the name
WHITTALL'S
THK MARK OF Ql YLITY
woven''into the back of the
rug you buy
Hamilton's Exclusive Selling
K-R-E-B-SRepresentative
THIRD AND COURT
Get an Ozite Rug- Cushion for your Whittall
5%
ON ALL SAYINGS
Compounded Semi Annually
The West Side Building
and Loan Association
Main and Streets
on
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