The Butler County press. [volume], February 21, 1930, Image 1

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

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v
VOL. XXIX. No. 46
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Living
wages, good working conditions and
the right to organize are strongly
upheld by the industrial committee
of the National Council of Catholic
Women in a report submitted to the
council. The report has been approv
ed and is being widely distributed.
The committee, which reported
after two years of activity, includes
Agnes Nestor, well known Chicago
trades unionist, and Gertrude Mc
Nally, secretary-treasurer of the Na
tional Federation of Federal Em
ployes.
Chief features of the report are as
follows:
"We hold to the right of a living
wage for all men and women who
work. We hold that men are entitled
from their work to receive at least
enough money to support a normal
sized family in decent present com
fort, with the opportunity to provide
through insurance for the normal
risks of sickness, accidents, old age
and unemployment.
"We hold that the just wage for
women in return for normal work
should be at least sufficient to sup
port themselves in decent comfort.
Equal Pay for Women
"We hold also to the justice of
equal pay for women when they do
equal work with men.
"Moreover, we not -"nly believe
that general economic prosperity is
enhanced by general high wages and
salaries, but we hold that wage work
ers and salaried workers have a claim
to an equitable share in the great
wealth of our country and of the con
cerns in which they work.
"We hold, also, that they are en
titled at their work to as healthful
and as safe working places as are
practicable and that the work of
women must not throw gross dan
gers to morality in their way.
Right to Organize
"We hold to the right of labor to
organize. To organize in labor
unions and to organize in consumers'
co-operative societies is both a right
and the normal means of assuring,
respectively, wage justice and price
justice and is the first means to be
used to obtain fair working condi
tions and fair prices.
"We hold to the right of protective
legislation. It is supplementary to
private action and as the Encyclical
of Pope Leo on the Condition of La
bor says: 'Whenever the general in
terest or that of any particular class
suffers or is threatened with mischief
which can in no way be met or pre
vented, the public authority must step
in to deal with it.' Under a repre
sentative government like ours, it is
our duty to see to it, so far as we
may, that public authority takes the
action its function requires of it.
HIS IS
/"tP
HOME
STOR
Catholic Women Uphold Basic
Rights of Workers in Report
Advocating Economic Justice
From Hamilton Owned Stores
TRUE BLUE COMMUNITY STORES are owned
by Hamilton people. Their prices are reasonable,
service good and quality the best.
THE TRUE BLUE COMMUNITY STORES
IN HAMILTON ARE:
JACOB LIPPHARDT—Phone [phone] North E St.
GEO. CUSTER—Phone [phone] Central Ave.
CHAS. D. KIRN—Phone 49 7th and Campbell
STITSINGER BROS.—Phone [phone] Main St.
GEO. SCHRODER—Phone 1856 5th and Chestnut
CARL SCHNAPP—Phone 1642. 11th and Ludlow
HERMAN PETZOLD—Phone 1041-L 1695 Kahn Ave.
LOUIS HENES—Phone 3520-R 6th and Heaton
RICHARD F. GRAF—Phone 4859 17 Journal Square
MONARCH GROCERY—Phone 4700 2nd and Dayton
C. G. STEINECKER—Phone 4373-R 1140 Grand Blvd.
BAECKER BROS.—Phone 2659-R. 2nd and Hanover
Higher Status Sought
"We seek, too, a higher status for
men and women in their occupations
We wish to see their worthiness as
human beings and workers recognized
in industry so that they will no longer
be considered mere 'hands.' We wish
to see them share through their rep
resentatives, in £he decisions of the
concerns of which they are a part
We wish to see them share in the
increased productivity of our country
and of the concerns in which they
work.
"We urge all this," continues the
report, "not solely because of love for
abstract justice, abstract equity and
abstract charity, but because we want
justice, equity and charity to be the
rule of every-day life. We can then
better use material things as a ladder
to the kingdom of God on earth and
in heaven."
POSTAL UNION
In Support of Bill to Reduce
Hours
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Post
office employes will get the 44-hour
week throughout the country if the
bill sponsored by Congressman Ken
dall, of Pennsylvania, becomes law.
But they will not get it if the post
master general can have his way. Ho
says he can get plenty of post offici
workers on the old schedule of hours.
The postmaster general told a con
gressional committee he wanted to
run the department on business lines
and pointed to the deficit as a reason
for not giving employes the modern
work-week.
Thomas F. Flaherty, secretary
treasurer of the National Federation
of Post Office Clerks, tore apart the
old age argument of the department
and made it clear that under the
present policy the department's work
ers are being made to help pay the
cost of subsidies and other charges,
including free mailings.
Flaherty declared production has
grown tremendously in recent years,
as shown by a 55 per cent gain in
postal receipts compared with a gain
of only 17 per cent in personnel.
REDUCE COMPETITION
Des Moines, Iowa.—The Iowa rail
road commission holds that reduced
competition in bus transportation is
in the public interest. The old cry,
"competition is the life of trade," is
forgotten.
Read the Fress.
Buy Groceries
SEE
ADVERTISEMENTS IN
DAILY PAPERS EVERY
THURSDAY
(Copyright. W.N. Ul
By C. S. GARRISON
Birmingham, Ala. (ILNS)—Labor
in the South is anxious for organiza
tion. Workers are losing their ti^nid
ity and coming out boldly to mass
meetings held by craft organizers un
der the direction of the American
Federation of Labor. Cards are be
ing laid face up on the table
H. H. Emmons, of the Boot and
Shoe Workers, and James L. Hurst,
president of the Alabama Federation
of Labor, held meetings at Huntsville
and Anniston, Ala. Representatives
of ten or twelve crafts gathered at
Huntsville. As a result of the meet
ing charters are expected to be grant
ed to the bricklayers, carpenters,
plasterers, plumbers and printers,
and perhaps some others. From this
nucleus a central body will be
formed to function in Huntsville.
At the Huntsville meeting a work
er arose and said the time had come
for organizing. He pointed out that
ho had worked in a textile mill for
two years. His last pay day—for a
two weeks' period—he received $15.90,
or about $7.50 a week.
Merchants to Fight Chains
About the same time that the
Huntsville labor preliminaries were
in action some 200 merchants of that
city met and organized a union to
fight the chain stores. Some time
ago organized labor of Huntsville ap
proached the merchants and asked
them to get behind trade unionism
and help the workers get more pay
that they might spend more with the
merchants, but they were turned
down. Now that the shoe is on the
other foot the merchants are asking
labor to get behind the move to oust
the chain stores. In fact, labor lead
ers interested in the Southern cam
paign have been asked to address the
merchants' organization along this
line. An opportunity for a little co
operation on both sides has been
pointed out by President Hurst, of
the Alabama Federation of Labor.
President Hurst was optimistic
concerning organization in Alabama.
"We'll have charters for several local
unions before the week is out," he
said in discussing meetings in vari
ous localities contiguous to Birming
ham.
Meetings in Other Towns
A meeting at Anniston was attend
ed by some 250 craftsmen and pre
liminary steps taken to form a num
ber of local unions. At Decatur, Ala.,
a mass meeting was held by groups
of textile workers and others prelim
inary to locftl union organization
work.
At Bessemer, Ala., a mass meeting
was held at the county building and
all the crafts of the town were repre
sented. Frank Hull, an organizer for
the potters, had charge of the meet
ing. "There is a strong desire among
the workers for organization," Mr.
Hull said. "A building program for
the town has been planned and the
building trades workers are anxious
to he organized. Conditions are bad
U
THE BUTJLER "COUNTY PRESS.
Times Have Changed
910 WTHROW1
that SNOW BAIL,
Alabama Workers Flock to
Union Organization Meetings
Show They Feel Time Has
Come to End Exploitation
Charters for Many Crafts Soon to Be Granted as Result
of American Federation of Labor Campaign—Organ
izers Find Wage Earners Anxious to Join Unions.
in all the industries of this town
The moulders have a live organiza
tion and there is co-operation between
the members and the business men
of the town. The moulders' building
is a sort of community center and
social functions there are attended by
business men and other citizens of
the town and their families."
Unions Seek Help
In Birmingham organizers have
been sought by acetyline welders and
boiler makers to help strengthen
their local unions and obtain more
members. The wage scale of the
welders is about what the employers
wish to pay, ranging from 40 to 50
cents an hour with a bonus in some
cases.
A small manufacturing concern in
Huntsville went out of business and
17 families, dependent on this plant
for existence, were thrown on the
charity of the community. The wages
paid the bread-winners were barely
enough to keep the wolf away a day
at a time. A business man of the
town in discussing the situation ob
served that workers shouldn't have
such big families. He also said that
16 hours a day was not too much
work for any man. "I work that
much every day," he said. At the
time he was sitting in a swivel chair
smoking a fairish cigar.
Labor Asks Fair Deal
"It is conditions of this kind that
the American Federation of Labor
hope to change," President Hurst, of
the Alabama Federation, said. "These
people are being exploited and it is
not fair. All the A. F. of L. wants
is a square deal. We ask nothing
more."
Southern employers, as a rule, ap
pear to be more tolerant of trade
unionism under the direction of Pres
ident William Green, and a few of the
more progressive who do not wish
to be quoted, do not hesitate to say
that cheap labor is the industrial
handicap of the South. Highly paid,
efficient labor means prosperity, they
declare, and will be the industrial sal
vation of the South.
NEW ORLEANS CAR
LINES AGAIN WIN
IN FEDERAL COURT
Injunction Issued Against Jitney
Drivers at Behest of Public
Service, Inc., is Upheld By
United States Circuit Judges.
New Orleans (ILNS)—The Public
Service has won again. The fifth
United States circuit court of appeals
has upheld the injunction granted by
District Judge Wayne G. Borah in
federal court here enjoining some
1,100 operators of unlicensed jitneys
from competing with New Orleans
Public Service street cars without
first complying with the regulatory
ordinances of the city. Th& jitneys
-.f'-.-K s A V
VES FATHER, I CAN NOT
TtLL A UE, I PIP IT
HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21,1930 ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR
began operation here during the
street car strike last year.
In an opinion by Judge N. P. Bry
an, as the oracle of the court, the
appellate tribunal upheld the right of
the New York Trust Company, trus
tee under company bond issues, and
individual bondholders, to obtain the
injunction and it also affirmed Judge
Borah's ruling that the "jurisdiction
al amount" was tested by the total
amount sought to be gained. Appeal
was taken from Judge Borah's ruling
by former Judge Richard Dowling,
representing a group of 36 jitney op
erators, who argued that in so far as
his clients were concerned the amount
involved was less than the $3,000 fig
ure required to obtain federal court
jurisdiction and that a remedy at law
was provided in the provisions of the
city ordinance fixing penalties for
failure to comply with its terms. The
appeal was taken in the name of
Michael Adam, one of the jitney oper
ators.
After reviewing the terms of the
ordinance requiring bond and other
provisions for licensed jitneys, and
the apparent admission of the legal
ity of the ordinance, Judge Bryan de
clared that "the appellant was not
legally entitled to enter into competi
tion with the Public Service corpora
tion.
"That corporation," he continued,
"had a standing in court to prevent
the unlawful invasion of its franchise
rights even though those rights were
not exclusive. The ordinance in ques
tion, while it provides a penalty for
violations, also prescribes the condi
tions upon which the city of New Or
leans will permit use of its streets
for jitneys. The penalty provisions
do not take away or affect the right
to protect against damage to private
property and that right to protect
extends to anyone who can show a
special damage differing in kind or
degree from the general damages
suffered by the community of in
terest.
"We therefore find the trustee and
bondholders competent to bring this
suit."
UNEMPLOYED IN
N. J. EAGER FOR
JOBS ON JURIES
Jersey City, N.
J.
(ILNS)—A $2
increase to $5 a day in the pay of
jurors, which recently went into
effect in New Jersey, brought out
more than 300 applicants recently for
jobs as jurors in Hudson county. It
is the first time on record the sheriff
has not had to hunt men to serve.
There were 225 men waiting to sit
on juries one morning and more than
300 the next day. The applicants
consisted principally of men out of
work who hoped, with the usual ten
days' service, to earn $50 during the
term.
MADISON RETAILERS
COPY UNION SYSTEM
Madison, Wis. Retail business
men in this city have long opposed
organized labor's plan of favoring
their friends, but the chain stores
have forced these retailers to change
front.
"Persons who wont' patronize us
have no right to expect that we will
patronize them," declare officers of
the Retails' Association.
Trainmen's Head Sees Shorter
Work Day As Only Salvation
o
New Orleans (ILNS)—Only a sur
gical operation can save the United
States from the disease of unemploy
ment which is sapping its strength,
according to A. P. Whitney, grand
president of the Brotherhood of Rail
way Trainmen, who came here for a
brief visit. The surgical operation
which must save the country, Mr.
Whitney declares, is the adoption of
a shorter working day. Unless this is
done, and quickly, he believes the
country faces one of the greatest
crises in its history.
Mr. Whitney was one of the rep
resentatives who conferred with
President Hoover last December, and
he pledged the 100 per cent co-opera
tion of the Brotherhood of Railway
Trainmen in the president's program
for a cessation of wage disputes. At
the same time he informed the presi
dent of his views upon the urgent
need for shortened working hours, in
order that there may be jobs enough
to go around.
"There is widespread unemploy
ment in every walk of life," Mr.
Whitney declared. "It exists not only
in the ranks of labor but among busi
ness and professional men as well.
The cause is easily seen in the de
velopment of the machine age. Ma
chinery is replacing workers every
where, for the greater efficiency
which machines make possible elim
inates jobs available now to train
men and enginemen than there were
five years ago. The same is true in
nearly every other line. The actual
number of jobs is fewer now than be
fore, while our population continues
to increase.
"It is useless to hope and pray for
a return of 'better business' to elim
inate unemployment. It is not bad
business that is creating unemploy
ment. It is unemplyoment that is
creating bad business.
"Business cannot improve until un
employment is eliminated, for the un
employment destroys the purchasing
power of the people. The one solu
tion therefore, is to shorten the work­
Use Hoover Konate Against Moths
WONDERFUL
REBUILT
00VERS
'iifi*.*#''' -V-
beating-sweep i ng
brushes
Tcompletely
ing hours so that jobs may be creat
ed for all the workers now idle, and
at their present level. This will be
done. It is .inevitable. When? I
don't know. But if it is not done
within, say, three years, we shall see
millions literally walking the streets,
jobless."
Mr. Whitney, who was accompanied
by the vice president of the brother
hood, W. H. Hamilton, both of Cleve
land, Ohio, paid his first visit to New
Orleans in 12 years, and was on his
way to Houston to lay plans for the
1931 convention of the brotherhood.
CLERGYMEN APPEAL
FOR JOBS FOR IDLE
Philadelphia, Pa.—Local clergy
men, in response to an appeal from
the Chamber of Commerce, asked
their congregations to create as much
work as possible in the next 60 days
for unemployed persons.
The committee's appeal said it was
"necessary at this particular time to
provide any work which can be fur
nished" until summer construction
work began.
TRICKY BONI S PLAN
REPLACES WAGE CUT
Manchester, N. H.—-The Amoskeag
Manufacturing Company, operator of
the largest cotton mill in the world,
will pay a 5 per cent bonus to un
organized workers in this non-union
plant. Wages have been reduced and
the bonus is a partial restoration of
these rates.
The bonus will average less than $1
a week, as the mills are running on
half time on the 54-hour basis. The
management notified its company
"union" that it is impossible to grant
the 50-hour week.
Stockholders will also be paid a $1
dividend, the first since 1924. In
creased profits, it is stated, has been
due to "economy, plant modernization
and not capacity production."
NOT A
GENUINE
HOOVER
FACTORy REBUILT
WITHOUT THIS
NAMEPLATE
HINK of it—genuine Hoovers,
gone over and rebuilt
in the Hoover factory by Hoover ex
perts, with every mechanical part put
n first-class condition, and selling
for only a fraction of the cost of a new
machine!
More Modern Than When New
Even when new these machines did not have the ball
bearing brushes with which they are now equipped.
New belts, new bags, new cords All* are guaranteed
for 90 daya Without ball-bearing brush no machine
is a genuine Hoover Com pan v Rebuilt.
Baby Hoover, $19.95 cash
Hoover Special, $24.85 cash
K-R-E-B-S
ISP, /,
THIRD
COURT
V!
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