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

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VOL. XXVII. No. 32
By International Labor News Service.
New York City. According to
"Facts for Workers," the monthly
publication of the Labor Bureau, Inc.,
fifty-eight wage increases, two de
creases and four renewals of scales
were reported -to the Labor Bureau,
Inc., during October, 1927. The
building crafts led with nineteen ad
vances, transportation workers were
a close second with eighteen in
creases. Clerks and maintenance of
way men on four roads and dis
patchers, engineers and section fore
men, totaling thirteen in all, were
awarded higher rates. The other
gains accruing to transportation
workers went to teamsters and driv
ers in four industrial centers and to
the employes of one street railway
company.
"With earnings, employment and
the cost of living all lower than a year
ago, how do the workers share in the
prosperity of the United States and
what will the effect be on the con
tinuance of prosperity?" asks the La
bor Bureau, which continues: "There
is a menace in the growing volume
of unemployment. The gainfully oc
cupied have been able to maintain
their standard of living. The prices
of the necessities of life have been
cut about as much as their ability to
pay. But maintaining the status quo
is not enough if we are to have con
tinued prosperity, especially where it
means maintaining the standard for
a dwindling number of workers.
No "Depression" Here
To
Labor Bureau Sees Gain
In Unemployment Menace
To Continued Prosperity
"Description of present industrial
conditions would be untrue if it were
made in exaggerated terms. We are
not enjoying as much 'prosperity' as
we did in 1926 and 1925. On the
other hand, we are not in the kind of
slump which is ordinarily described as
'depression.'
"A brief review of the more impor
tant figures will make this clear.
There were somewhere near 5 per cent
fewer persons on factory payrools this
September than a year ago. Every
reporting state shows a decrease:
every reporting industry has less em
ployment except textiles. The weekly
earnings of those at work average
slightly less—about 1 per cent—than
last year. The cost of living has fall-
FAILURE OF R. R.
Have Safety Devices
Kills Three
By International Labor News Service
Washington, D. C.—Failure of
railroad to use ^automatic train safe
ty devices was directly responsible
for the death of three railroad work
era in a collision in Indiana, the inter
state commission declares.
The collision occurred between
passenger train and a freight train
at Francisco, Ind., on the Southern
railway line, September 3. It would
not have occurred had adequate auto
matic train stop or train-control de
vices been in use on the line, the
commission says in a report on the
accident. Three employes were killed
and seventeen other persons injured
in the collision. The commission add
ed that an adequate block signal sys
tem would probably have prevented
the accident, which was caused by
an open switch in defective condition
Thrift
Come
[N OUR LADIES'
DEPARTMENT
Very Special!
Low Rayn Boots
all colors..
mmm
$1.95
fen by about the same amount. Pro
duction in most industries is below
the level of a year ago, with a few
exceptions—these being petroleum,
boots and shoes, cotton and silk.
Stocks of materials on hand are 12
per cent larger than last year, while
unfilled orders are 22 per cent small-
Railroad car loadings are 4 to
per cent below last year, showing
reduced distribution of goods, while
wholesale and retail trade have fallen
off somewhat. Building contracts
awarded are less than in 1926.
Last Year Set Record
"It must be remembered that 1926
was the year of highest levels of pro
ductive and sales activity in our his
tory, and therefore that a decline of
not more than 5 per cent under 192(5
levels does not spell poverty. Some
industries, of course, are much harder
hit than this—for instance, automo
biles, steel, coal. But others art
less so.
"On the improvement side of the
picture it must be noted that bank
clearings outside of New York city
showing the amount of money that
changing hands by check—are slight
ly larger than in 1926. Part of thi
mprovement may be attributed to tin*
more favorable position of sections
of the farmers. Those who have cot
ton to sell can sell it at higher
prices. Wheat, with a fairly lanr
crop, is commanding a good price.
The animal industries are in as fa
vorable a position as they have held
for 10 years.
"Largely on account of the increase
in crop prices the average of whole
sale farm products prices has risen,
but prices of most industrial and
manufactured products continue to
fall.
Many Factors Involved
"Authorities are disagreed as to
what is in store for the future. This
will depend on whether, and how
much, the automobile industry revives
upon the introduction of the new
Ford, on the effect of agricultural
improvement upon the market, on the
demand for building construction, on
the order of railroads for improve
ments and equipment, on foreign trade
and many other uncertainties. So
far, there js no sign of a striking
change in either direction."
LABOR'S WAGE STAND
UPHELD BY BUSINESS
Portland, Ore.—In a speech in this
city President Green took a sly dig
at economists and business men who
formerly discredited organized labor's
theory of high wages.
"It is now agreed," said the trade
unionist, "that high wages and busi
ness prosperity go hand in hand.
Wages are translated into better food,
better clothing, better shelter and in
to more leisure in which to enjoy
life. It is for these that the Ameri
can worker, through the A. F. of L.,
demands a higher and still higher
wage."
MANY ILLITERATE VOTERS
New York.—Under a state law new
voters must take a literacy test
when they register. The recent regis
tration showed that one-seventh of
the 32,113 men and women who took
the test failed to pass.
The best smoke—Standard, 5c.
Down to
Shoe Basement
I
OUR LOW OVERHEAD SAVES MONEY FOR YOU
Specials Friday and Saturday
MEN'S
DRESS OXFORDS
Black and Tan
Rubber Heels
$2.90
Thrift Shoe Basement
By International Labor News "Service.
New York City.—Presaging one of
the most important injunction bat
ties In American labor history, the
New York supreme court, Part 1, has
agreed to a postponement of the in
junction hearing asked by the Inter
borough Rapid Transit Company
against the entire membership of the
American Federation of Labor to per
mit the executive council of the A* F.
of L. to prepare a defense.
President Green, Vice President
Woll, W. D. Mahon, president of the
Amalgamated Association of Street
and Electric Railway Employes, and
others conferred here prior to the
hearing on the traction application
for its blanket injunction.
The Interborough seeks to prevent
organization of its employes and it is
to that end that it has sought to en
join three million wage earners from
"interfering" with its employes or its
"company union."
"If the Interborough can enjoin the
whole American Federation of Labor
the whole working cla«s might as well
liiiiiiiiiiiiuuiiiuuiiiuiiiiiiuiiiiiiuiiiis^
Lower Prices
OUR CHILDREN'S
Baby First Step .Shoes, all
sizes and
colors
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Interborough Injunction
Precipitate One of
Battles in History
Postponement to Give
A. F. of L. Time For
Defense Preparation
i
DEPARTMENT
98c
1
Under Dow's Store
mz 4\y
THE BUTLER COUNTY PRESS
A E N
Labor s Big Annual
TURKEY BAZAAR
At Labor Temple Auditorium
SOUTH SECOND STREET
Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Nov. 19,21,22,23
Bring a Friend. Everybody Invited
be enjoined," said Vice President
Woll.
Mr. Woll questioned the right of
the Interborough to set up and direct
the Brotherhood of Interborough
Rapid Transit Company Employes.
"It never was intended that a char
ter," said he, "should give to any cor
poration the right to organize labor
unions and determine industrial rela
tions. The attempt of the Interbor
ough, if sustained, will bring an eco
nomic serfdom as vicious as the land
serfdom of old."
The whole nation is watching the
outcome of the injunction suit. In
this fight the city administration is
the deciding factor as well as the
courts. Politically the voters have
overwhelmingly voted $3,000,000 for
more subways. The traction coi
panies are fighting both the workers
and the city. At the polls they lost.
Feverishly both sides, the traction
interests and the union, are preparing
for an economic test, the companies
enrolling their "reserves," station
agents, clerks and outsiders for emer
geney striking duty. The Amalga
mated is enrolling members.
Meanwhile the nation is watching
the historic legal test in which the
traction interests seek to bind by le
gal ruling the arms of all of the
3,000,000 members of the American
Federation of Labor, so they may not
lift a finger to aid the traction em
ployes.
President Mahon says no railway
workers have the responsibilities, the
hard work and the low pay of subway
workers in New York. He has been
in London, Paris, Boston and Phila
delphia and in none of these places
do ten-car trains rush through dark
ness on two-minute headway carrying
1,750 passengers as they do here.
With such a strain on them the sub
way motormen as well as the guards
get less pay than the laborer in the
building trades.
The Interborough has whipsawed
the city and the public on every occa
sion heretofore, putting over contracts
which made the city a heavy loser in
DEATH PENALTY
DOOMED
Williamette, Ore.—The death penal
ty will eventually be abolished, de
clared Hon. George Rossman, of the
state supreme court, in an address
to law students at the Williamette
University.
The jurist predicted that capital
term sentences and convicts will be
Plea May
Most Historic'
of American Labor
v..
HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1927 ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR
subway operations although city
money financed the construction of
the old subways. The whole issue of
-labor and politics is mixed. The in
junction case may clarify it. If a re
volt should break out among 14,000
I. R. T. employes and an equal num
ber of the B. M. T. New York will
have the biggest traction strike on its
hands in its history. The Traction
Trust seems to be spoiling for a fight.
Kn
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By International Labor News Service.
Washington, D. C.—Rules of build
ing trades unions requiring contrac
tors to pay the wage scale and grant
the working conditions of the city
in which they are domiciled, no mat
ter where the work is being done,
were upheld by the District of Colum
bia court of appeals in a decision af
firming the action of the lower court.
The latter tribunal had set aside an
injunction granted the Barker Paint
ing Company of New York, which
had a contract for the interior paint
ing of the Walker Hotel, now known
as the Mayflower Hotel, of this city.
The company, by virtue of the un
ion rules, is required to pay painters
$10.50 a day for five days a week,
which is the New York scale. The
Washington scale is $9 a day for five
and a half days a week. When the
company came to this city it attempt-
UNION
Elevator Operators Sign
Two-Year Pact
By International Labor News Service.
Chicago. Continuing more than
twenty-six years of peaceful wage
negotiations, the Building Managers'
Association of Chicago and the Eleva
tor Operators' Union have signed a
two-year agreement. The agree
ment is effective from November 1.
It provides that the Building Man
agers' Association shall not discrim
inate against the members of the
union that eight and one-half hours
shall constitute a day's work week
day overtime, Sunday and holiday
work shall be paid at the rate of
time and a half if uniforms are re
quired they shall be paid for by the
employers, and there shall be
strikes or lockouts during the term
of the agreement.
Wages shall be from $122.50 to $140
a month, according to the class of the
building, and elevator starters shall
receive $10 a month more than the
regular operators.
DEFEAT MINIMUM WAGE
Duluth.—City commissioners de
feated the minimum wage ordinance
that was urged by organized labor
THANKSGIVING
Dining Suites
MAKES IT A GAYER DAY
FOR ALL YOUR GUESTS
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District of Columbia Court
Upholds Union in Requiring
Payment of Highest Wages
I
If our Puritan ancestors had half our conveniences which they would call luxu
ries then, they would probably consider it "Seventh Heaven." So the offering of
Dining Room Suites specifically to celebrate Thanksgiving, but in reality for every
day celebration, is an offering you musn't overlook. If these same Puritans could
have Dining Room Suites like the ones we are showing, their privations would have
been nil. You have the opportunity—a rich opportunity, one that saves you consid
erable money. Plant an early visit this week to reserve your choice in time for the
Thanksgiving feast.
The good things of life are bought on the basis of Charge Accounts. You have
the same privilege on any furniture you buy here.
EVERYTHING MARKED IN PLAIN FIGURES
According to union rules a contrac
tor domiciled in one city and having a
contract in another city must adopt
the scale which calls for the highest
wage and th^ shortest work week.
UNION WAITRESSES
Celebrate Quarter Century
of Progress
By International Labor News Service.
Chicago.—The silver anniversary
of Chicago Waitresses' Union No. 484
was celebrated by a dinner-dance in
the Cameo room of the Morrison Ho
tel November 2. President Carrie
Alexander was the toastmistress.
Edward Flore, president of the
Hotel and Restaurant Employes' In
ternational Alliance, journeyed from
his headquarters at Buffalo, N. Y., to
assist the Chicago local in celebrating
its twenty-five years of growth.
Other speakers besides President
Flore were Victor A. Olander, secre
tary-treasurer of the Illinois State
Federation of Labor Steve Sumner,
business agent of the Chicago Milk
Wagon Drivers' Union Agnes Nestor,
president of tihe Chicago Women's
Trade Union League John C. Stag
genburg, executive board member of
the Hotel and Restaurant Employes'
International Alliance, and Mary Mc
Dowell, former head of the Welfare
Department of the city of Chicago.
TEAMSTERS ORGANIZE
Rock Island, 111.—Teamsters in this
city, Moline and Davenport have
launched an organizing campaign.
They are assisted by their interna
tional organization.
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ed to hire painters by the Washing
ton scale, but the local officials of the
Brotherhood of Painters and Paper
hangers insisted that the New York
scale be paid. The brotherhood was
enjoined by the lower court and after
the case was heard on its merits the
injunction was dissolved and the com
pany appealed.
The appellate court sustained the
contention of Sheehy & Sheehy,
counsel for the brotherhood, that the
rules involved were not arbitrary or
illegal and that the enforcement of
these rules by brotherhood officials
was not a conspiracy in restraint of
trade or in violation of the anti-trust
laws.