The Butler County press. [volume], May 03, 1929, Image 1

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

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VOL. XXIX. No. 4
'HStfF**
Cincinnati, Ohio (I. L. N. S.)—Un
der the direction of Robert B. Hes
keth, their secretary-treasurer, mem
bers of the Hotel and Restaurant Em
ployes' International Alliance and the
Bartenders' International League of
America are "all set" for an inten
sive organization campaign in May
and June.
Mr. Hesketh and the other officers
of the union have been working
months on the plans for the campaign
and are much cheered by reports from
local unions which are coming into
headquarters here every day. Local
unions are showing great activity and
have made all plans to get into the
May-June campaign with enthusiasm
and effectiveness. Central labor coun
cils and state federations are co-oper
ating, and the outlook for a substan
tial increase in membership is vrey
promising.
Secretary-Treasurer Hesketh, affec
tionately known among cooks and
waiters as "Bob" Hesketh, expects to
be able to make an encouraging re
port on membership and organization
activities and progress at the 25th
COAL-MINE FATALITIES IN
MARCH.—Accidents at coal mines in
the United States in March, 1929,
caused the death of 178 men, accord
ing to information furnished by state
mine inspectors to the United States
Bureau of Mines, department of com
merce. Twtenty-nine of these acci
dents were in the anthracite mines of
Pennsylvania the remaining 149 were
in bituminous mines in various states.
Reports made to the bureau of
mines for the first three months of
1929 show 530 fatalities in coal mines.
Of this number 419 were at bitumin
ous mines and 111 at anthracite
mines.
WAGE AGREEMENTS MADE IN
SWEDEN.—It is reported that agree
ments, to run for the next two years,
have been reached between the em
ployers and the employes in the ma
chine-shop and saw-mill industries of
Sweden. Minimum wages in the ma
chine shops remain unaltered but have
been extended to include laborers who
are 18 and 19 years of age, wheresas,
previously, the age limit was 20
years. A slight increase in wages has
been written into the saw-mill agree
ment.
SURVEY OK PUBLIC SERVICE
RETIREMENT SYSTEMS.—A sur
vey of public service retirement sys
tems in the United States, Canada
and Europe recently completed by the
United States Bureau of Labor Stat
istics is summarized in the April
number of the Monthly Labor Re
view. Great diversity is shown in the
age and service requirements of these
pension schemes. In the United
States systems, retirement on pen
sion is allowed at ages ranging from
50 or under to 70 years, while in
Canada such retirement is optional
at 65, which is also the most common
age set for European countries in
cluded in the study, only two coun
tries having as high a requirement
as 70 years for all employes.
SENATOR SHIPSTEAD IL
Weakened by an attack of influenza,
Senator Shipstead, farmer-labor, of
Minnesota, is confined to his home in
Washington, D. C., under the care of
a physician. The Minnesota senator
left a sick bed to attend the meetings
of the agriculture committee on the
farm bill, but he suffered a relapse
and was forced to return to bed.
ALLEN-A HOSIERY £0. LOSES
ANOTHER CUSTOMER.—It is u
long way from Kenosha, Wis., to
Santa Barbara, Calif., but it is not too
far for the growing force of organ
ized labor to make itself felt in con
nection with the fight that the Allen
A Hosiery Company is waging
against the union of their workmen
at their Kenosha factory.
At Santa Barbara, the Hughes, one
of the popular dry goods stores of
the town, had formerly been pushing
the sale of the Allen-A hosiery and
bad worked up a thriving trade for
that line of goods. Last week a
skimpy two or three dozen of rem
nants were being offered at a sacri
fice price as the final step in closing
out this line of hosiery.
Inquiry developed the fact that the
proprietor of the Hughes, who ap
preciates the value of customers with
union pay checks, had decided to dis
continue handling the Allan-A ros
iery line when he learned that con
cern was engaged in a fight against
organized labor, and that his many
Y
S
J&'-*
I
Cooks and Waiters' Union
Will Make Big Two-Months
Campaign For New Members
"The Moving Finger Writes,,
About Labor Events
general convention of the organiza
tion, which opens at Kansas City, Mo.,
Monday, August 12. The convention
will be held in the Hotel Muelbach,
which will be convention headquar
ters. The call for the convention
urges that it be made one of the most
representative ever held. It says:
"The principles of our organiza
tion, its aims and objects, are just as
sound, vital and constructive today as
ever in the history of our movement.
With the steady and material changes
in the catering industry there is in
creased need for the steadying influ
ence and combined wisdom of our rep
resentatives to emphasize these facts
and to so direct our steps as to guar
antee continued endeavor in concord
with our platform, our aims and ob
jective.
"This gathering offers an opportun
ity for legislative enactments that
will enhance our organization and
attract to its banner those many
thousands of catering industry wage
earners who seem to be undecided
about affiliation."
union customers at Santa Barbara no
longed wanted to buy that brand of
hosiery.—Union Labor News, Santa
Barbara.
MOVEMEN FOR VACATIONS
WITH PATc GROWS.—The extension
of the movement for granting vaca
tions with pay in industry is shown
by the number of trade agreements
which have provisions for paid vaca
tions for the workers covered by the
agreements. The Monthly Labor Re
view for April contains an article on
the subject which shows that 71 of
the trade agreements received by the
bureau of labor statistics since 1926
have such a provision, the service pe
riod required for eligibility for a va
cation with pay usually being one
year. The length of vacation varies
from 6 to 15 days. These agreements
cover locals of bakers, brewery work
ers, commercial telegraphers, elec
trical workers, hotel and restaurant
employes, marine firemen, oilers and
water tendei's, meat cutters, railway
clerks, retail clerks, sailors, stenog
raphers, bookkeepers and typists,
street railway employes, telephone
operators, teamsters and chauffeurs,
train dispatchers, typographical work
ers and yardmasters.
YOUNG WORKERS IN DANGER
OUS LOGGING CAMPS.—Some of
the larger lumber and logging com
panies of Oregon realize that the in
stallation of machinery in the logging
camps has brought about greater in
dustrial risks in the employment of
young workers. At their suggestion
the state child labor bureau now re
fuses to issue permits for employment
in the camps to boys under 16 and
advise raising the age limit to 18.
Some expert loggers have suggested
that the age limit be raised to 21
years.—From the Weekly Notes on
Child Welfare Topics, U. S. Children's
Bureau.
MACHINISTS'
STRIKE MAY GO
TO CONGRESS
Washington.—Tricky maneuvering
by delegates to the Federation of Cit
izens' Association may result in the
war of the American La France Com
pany of Elmira, New York, against
organized machinists being thrown
into congress.
This city is governed by three com
missioners appointed by the presi
dent. These officials refused a hear
ing to organized machinists who
wished to protest against the pur
chase of fire apparatus from a con
cern that employs notoriously un
skilled labor and whose representa
tives are involved in bribery of Min
neapolis councilmen.
The machinists appealed to the
Federation of Citizens' Association,
where anti-union influences resorted
to parliamentary objections. The
meeting adjourned without taking
action and the machinists will under
take to have committees of the house
and senate grant them hearings the
district commissioners denied.
UNION ORGANIZER DEAD
New York.—Otto Nichola, organ
izer United Garment Workers, died
in ttyis city. He was well known
among trade unionists.
01
Hit
(Copyright, W. N. U.)
By OLIVER E. CARRUTH
Washington, D. C. (I. L. N. S.)—
Strikes and industrial unrest in North
Carolina are a direct result of a pol
icy long pursued by that state
though it has been somewhat modi
fied in recent years and there are in
dications of a further change of
heart. In brief, the policy of North
Carolina has been to invite northern
capital to the state on the plea that
employers were free to exploit work
ers to the limit, there having been no
laws to regulate or protect the toil
ers.
These facts are brought out in an
extraordinary circular issued by the
North Carolina department of labor
some thirty years ago and in an in
terview with John P. Frey, secretary
treasurer of the metal traded depart
ment, A. F. of L., and long prominent
in the International Molders' Union.
The circular is in the possession of
Mr. Frey and is here reproduced.
Recent events in the south, includ
ing events at Elizabethton, Tenn.,
have revived Mr. Frey's memories of
pioneer organizing work in the south
ern states.
Organized Carolina Molders
About 28 years ago, Mr. Frey visit
ed Winston-Salem, N. C., to organize
molders in the six foundries of that
city. At that time there were no trade
unions in Winston-Salem and no
knowledge of trade unionism on the
part of the workmen, who worked
under conditions of semi-peonage.
In time thorough organization was
brought about, the molders being in
formed that they must learn to work
together as trade unionists before it
was advisable to make any attempt to
improve their terms of employment.
After some months a modest request
was made for a wage increase and
establishment of the ten-hour day.
Interviews with the foundrymen oper
ating the smaller shops secured satis
factory results. A visit was then
made to the largest foundry, the own
er of which was a typical southerner
of the old school.
"So, you're the man who has been
organizing my molders," he said when
Mr. Frey introduced himself. "X
want to have a talk with you, but
must ask you to wait fifteen or twenty
minutes."
Finds Officials Presnet
When Mr. Frey entered the inner
office he was introduced to two men,
one the city prosecutor, and the other
the sheriff. They lost no time in in
forming him that he was a contempt
ible agitator trying to stir up dissen
sion and strife in a happy community.
There was a train leaving at six
o'clock that night, and Mr. Frey was
instructed that he would have to leave
Winston-Salem on that train. Let Mr.
Frey tell in his own words what hap
pened afterward:
"After telling them what an Amer
ican's rights were, and assuring them
that if they endeavored to carry out
their threat they would be held re
sponsible, I left them and devoted
several days in discussing the local
situation with the members of the
union. As a result the molders quit
the shop, and sometime afterwards a
satisfactory settlement was made.
"What had impressed me in partic
ular was the evident collusion of the
local authorities. How could such a
condition possibly exist in the United
States? What understanding was
there between employers, sheriffs and
other public officials which brought
the authorities to the employer's beck
and call?
THE BUTLER COUNTY PRESS.
HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, MAY 3,1929
Miss May Arrives
North Carolina Reaps Fruits of Policy
Aimed to Lure Labor-Exploiting Mills
Interviewed State Officials
"A visit was made at Rale igh, the
state capital, for the purpose of inter
viewing some of the state officials,
One of these was the newly appointed
state commissioner of labor. The
information he gave cast a flood of
light upon the industrial policy of of
ficialdom in North Carolina at that
time. The state government was
eager to secure capital from the
north for the purpose of developing
its industries. It was seeking to se
cure the building up in the state of
large industries, financed and directed
by northerns. The inducement the
state was offering was as cheap and
helpless labor as could be found in
any state of the Union.
"Among the pamphlets issued by
the state government and mailed in
large numbers to northern bankers
and industrialists was one which was
probably the frankest invitation for
outside capital to come in and exploit
native labor which has ever been is
sued in this country. This invitation
to outsiders to come in and exploit
North Carolina labor read as follows:
'A fine chance for cotton mill in
vestment in North Carolina.
'No strikes. No laws regulating
the hours of labor and the age of em
ployment, cheap labor and the home
of the cotton plant.
'Northern capital cannot find a
better investment than cotton manu
facturing in North Carolina with her
fine waterpower and grand climate.
'This department will be pleased
to give any information desired in
regard to sights, power, etc.'
"As this circular had been issued
by the North Carolina department of
labor, it is not surprising that bank
ers and manufacturres heavily invest
ing in North Carolina, expected the
state authorities to make good. If
little children and women have been
exploited in the cotton mills of North
Carolina, the state authorities have
been fully as responsible as those who
invested their money in the cotton
mills and other industries.
Workers Still Exploited
"Progress has been made in enact
ing legislation protecting women and
children in North Carolina and other
southern textile states, but when we
read that in the mills in Elizabethton
and many other places, women's
wages are as low as $9 a week when
we learn that it is necessary for all
of the members of the family to work
so that the income will be sufficient
to sustain them when we learn that
women work ten and more hours per
day, and that a Prussian-like disci
pline is carried out during working
hours, it is not difficult to understand
that the wage earners in this section
of the country are still mercilessly
exploited.
"The willingness to have its labor
exploited has not been confined to
North Carolina. It is found in prac
tically every textile and industrial
section of these southern states.
The inducement is still held out to
bankers and manufacturers. Their at
tention is still called to the fact that
the hours of labor are longer than
elsewhere, and the wages lower, and
that there is less legislation protect
ing labor.
"What has recently occurred in the
textile industry is an evidence that
the southern wage earner is reaching
a determination to protect his in
terests in the same way which other
workmen have found so effective—
through trade union organization."
VJELL WE. W0M
SEE tAUCH OF
PILL TOR A
VJHILE
U
HOLDING" COM
PANIES
Are Latest Gouging Plan
New York.—"The holding company
menace dominates the utility field
and should be destroyed," said Henry
Ward Beer, president af the Federal
Bar Association, to a group of
churchmen in this city.
The attorney urged a curb on prof
its of these corporations. "No ho
ing company," Jie said, "quite so
:u-
curately illustrates the 'milking
o
the public' as the American Telephon.
and Telegraph Company, a holding
company which monopolizes and
COP,
trols more than 85 per cent of all th
telephone companies in this count r-.
"No higher powered propaganda
aces are on any corporation payroll
in America than those which repr*
sent the telephone trust. Every ti:: n
it opens a new circuit or strings
wire to a distant point, it actua l,
has the president of the Uni
States pose with the president of
telephone trust and has our presidt
IO
make glowing tribute to its wond
ful achievements. Then follows ',••••
mulcting charge for service, as ill.
trated by its own admission."
Mr. Beer questioned the right .i
"the telephone monopoly to charge
cents to transmit your voice from n
Bronx (a section of New Yoi'k cit
y
to Coney Island when the supre:i
court of the United States is sat
ficd that a ride on a train for ih
same distance is not worth more tKao
5 cents."
CANADIAN SHOP MEN
MAKE WAGE ADVANCE
Toronto, Ottawa.—Organized si
men employed on Canadian railroi*
won substantial wage increases. T1
were represented by the Federa
Shop Crafts, affiliated to the RJ
way employes department, A. F. of
Machinists, boilermakers, carnr n
blacksmith, electrical workers, sh*
metal workers, steamfitters, iio:
molders and pattern makers are u i
vanced 5 cents an hour, making n
basic rate 79 cents. Helpers, coiu
cleaners and other employes receivi
a 2- e n a v a n e e n e w s a e W i
become effective May 1. More than
35,000 workers are benefited.
The increase is in line with w&i:<
increases that were started by organ
ized shop men employed on the Nev.
York Central lines, and which haw
been accepted by nearly two scoi'
systems. Several anti-union railroad
have been swept into line rather tliai
have their company "union"
collapse
GUSTAVE GEIGES RE
SIGNS
Philadelphia, Pa.—Gustave Geige
president American Federation o
Full Fashioned Hosiery Workers, ha
resigned. The executive board named
two candidates. Branches of the fed
eration may name additional candi
dates. The nominees are Emil Rievt
of Milwaukee, and Carl Hoffman, of
Paterson.
Mr. Geiges suffered a nervous
breakdown because of the fight
against the Allen-A Hosiery Com
pany of Kenosha, Wis., that locked
out its employes more than a year
ago*
Chicago (I. L. N. S.)—Labor organ
izations throughout the country con
tinue to hammer away at Sears, Roe
buck & Co. and Montgomery Ward
& Co., big Chicago mail order houses,
because these firms have let their
huge printing contracts to the non
union R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co.
Some of the most effective work is
being done in cities where one or both
of the mail order houses have branch
stores. For example, both houses have
branches at Little Rock, Ark. W. A.
Stotts, secretary-treasurer of the
Central Trades and Labor Council of
that city, has written to W. W. De
Wolf, president of Typographical
Union No. 16, 332 South LaSalle
srteet, Chicago, that he not only has
written letters of protest to the home
offices of the two mail order houses
at Chicago, but that the grievance
committee of the Little Rock central
body has interviewed the managers of
the local branches of both houses.
Ralph Moore. e°**T*»tary of the
MINERS
Miners Get Wage Reduction
Pittsburgh, Pa. The anti-union
Pittsburgh Coal Company reduced
wages 7 per cent for its 9,000 em
ployse. Wages wer ealso reduced in
anuary, last year. The Qarnegie
teel Company and other coal corpor
ations have taken similar action.
President Morrow, of the Pitts
burgh Company, blames competition
with the anti-union West Virginia
field for the wage cut.
The Pittsburgh concern was among
the first to violate the Jacksonville
agreement, signed with the United
Mine Workers. The contract-breakers
made the same defense—competition
Third
^^5?r^..
The New Sleep-Rite
WASHABLE
MATTRESS
Washable
Why! The Sleep-Rite Mattress
is insulated against Moisture and
Body Heat
The old style mattress is the only thing on
the bed that cannot be cleaned easily and fre
quently. A vacuum cleaner may remove some of
the dust, but it cannot take out spots and stains.
The Sleep-Rite Washable Mattress is a mod
ern mattress because it is a mattress unharmed
by soft water and sunlight. Spots, stains and
other discolorations can be quickly and easily
washed out with soft water and without remov
ing the ticking.
The materials used in Sleep-Rite Mattresses
are in compliance wTith bedding laws of all states.
The very highest quality of woven ticking is
used and the beautiful designs are absolutely
fast color and will not fade.
When you buy a Sleep-Rite Washable Mat
tress you get the most serviceable mattress that
can be made—and you can always keep it clean,
odorless and looking like new, with the utmost
comfort.
KREBS
•-*&:
•v, .«•- -ii -W. *.
/fr^''*
tetyifr'ry- ^f fy
ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR
Central Bodies Wage War
On Big Mail Order Houses
Trades and Labor Assembly of Deca
tur, 111., writes of the same situation
in that city. John G. Goleeke, presi
dent of the Federation of Labor, Fort
Wayne, Ind., makes the same report
for that city. Claude Downer, secre
tary, Trades Council, Lake Geneva,
Wis., has sent a letter of protest to
Sears, Roebuck & Co. and to the
branch store of that fii'm in Mil
waukee. Letters of protest have been
sent to both firms from central bod
ies of the following cities:
Belleville, 111., A1 Towers, secre
tary Santa Rosa, Cal., H. E. Rob
erts, secretary Clinton, la., George
C. Campbell, secretary St. Peters
burg, Fla., V. F. Thompson, secre
tary Lawton, Okla., W. A. Walker,
secretary. It is confidently expected
that more than 100 cities yet to be
heard from will respond. Copies of
letters of protest, it is requested,
should always be sent to President W.
W. DeWolf, of Typographical Union
No. 16, Chicgao.
with the anti-union fields of West "Vir
ginia and Kentucky.
The organized miners protested that
wage reductions were no solution for
mining ills and that the low-wage
policy would only result in cut-throat
competition that would reach the star
vation point for workers.
The unionists' prediction has been
verified. Wage cuts in one field have
been met by other reductions by com
petitors while conditions in the in
dustry becomes more chaotic.
Non-union miners employed by
these concerns are compelled to ac
cept bad work conditions. Any worker
who suggests trade unionism is vic
timized.
"It is a disgrace to think of a basic
industry floundering in the grip of
such conditions," said P. T. Fagin,
president Pittsburgh district, United
Mine Workers.
-T
SIS
Court