The Butler County press. [volume], August 22, 1930, Image 1

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VOL. XXX. No. 19
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Anoth
er blow at the yellow dog contract
has just been delivered by the Kan
sas supreme court in a decision filed
with the legal information bureau of
the American Federation of Labor.
The decision is being studied by
President Green.
The decree of the court is not yet
available, but the language used by
the court in leading up to the decree
appears to leave no doubt as to the
general character of the decision.
The case before the court was not a
yellow dog contract case, but was a
surety bond case. The issue, how
ever, was practically identical with
the issue in yellow dog cases and the
court's language made that clear.
The issue involves the public policy
of such contracts.
The court dealt with the issue in
terse, vigorous language, laying down
postulates that are, it is believed here,
bound to enter into future court deci
sions dealing with the yellow dog
issue.
The court holds that in signing a
document as a condition precedent to
obtaining a job the employe does not
have a free chance to exercise his
will, but is under a form of coercion.
The case was the Fidelity and De
posit Company vs. Davis, 284, Pac.
430, decided in February, 1930. The
agreement required by the surety
company bound the employe to any
666
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Men Attention
ALL MEN'S
WALK-OVER
SHOES
CARRY THIS
LABEL
-^pOT
^WORKERS UNION
UNION "AMP
factory
Leifheit's
Walk-Over Boot Shop
214 High Street
All
Court Lashes Yellow Dog
Principle in Bonding Case
Applicant for Job is Under Coercion, Intent Upon Getting
First Pay Check, and is Not Free to Exercise Will,
Says Kansas Supreme Tribunal.
Established 1879
Richman's Clothes
ALL ONE PRICE
$22
settlement made by the surety com
pany.
"Employes who are required to give
fidelity bonds before entering upon
their duties," says the court, "are not
in position to bargain or quibble with
surety companies upon the form of an
indemnity contract required before a
bond will be issued. They need the
job. It is their means of livelihood.
They will sign such contracts as a
matter of expediency without regard
to whether they are freely and will
ingly entering into the contract.
He does not have full understanding
of the rights which he is waiving.
He signs the contract merely as a
means to an end, namely, to get on
the job and get his pay check start
ed. It probably cannot be said that
under such conditions, strictly speak
ing, the employe is compelled to sign
the contract under coercion, such as
would be recognized in the law as a
ground for subsequently avoiding the
contract.
"THe learned Professor Wigmore
argues that such a contract can al
ways be avoided, if any fraud or co
ercion is used in its inception, but
that the courts are, therefore, not
ousted from their jurisdiction by such
contracts because the question of
whether or not there has been a meet
ing of the minds, and a consent free
ly given, can always be litigated in
the court. The trouble with that ar
gument is that from a practical
standpoint the employe really does
not have any chance to exercise his
free will in the matter, and while the
law would not recognize it as coer
cion, yet he is forced to sign such a
contract in order to qualify for his
job by giving the requisite bond."
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Ry S. GARRISON
Birmingham, Ala. (ILNS)—Labor
Day in the South in 1930 will be con
siderably more than a red number on
a calendar, according to information
coming to the Southern campaign
headquarters, Paul J. Smith, chair
man of the organization committee,
said today.
In almost every Southern city of
any industrial consequence plans are
under way for a Labor Day celebra
tion and a real rally of the organized
forces of the South. Labor Day com
mittees are seeking speakers to pre
sent the message of labor to those
outside the fold of trade unionism.
Rally programs are being prepared
in scores of cities and communities
where the Southern organization com
mittee of the American Federation of
Labor has been working.
Green at Syracuse Morrison in South
Many of •e leading industrial cen
ters of the South made valiant efforts
to obtain the services of President
Green to speak, but inasmuch as he
had long since accepted an invitation
from organized labor of Syracuse,
N. Y., to speak there on that day he
was forced to decline.
Frank Morrison, secretary of the
American Federation of Labor and a
veteran of the movement in America,
is scheduled to speak in Baltimore.
Other prominent leaders of the
A. F. of L. have accepted assignments
in various points in the United
States.
Holt J. Ross, president of the Mis
sissippi Federation of Labor and a
representative of the A. F. of L, in
its Southern campaign, will speak in
Jackson, Miss.
Dixie Fired By Union Campaign
The unusual interest manifested in
Labor Day in the South is indicative
of the tremendous interest in trade
unionism in Dixie, Chairman Smith
said. "Workers of the Southland are
beginning to realize that their only
economic salvation rests with their
membership in organized labor, and
chese workers are anxious for the
dawning of that day," Smith said.
"Reports coming to the Birming
ham headquarters from organizers
and other field workers are that the
South is in deadly earnest in respect
to organization, and this includes col
ored workers, too. More people this
year will hear Labor Day messages in
the South than have ever heard them
before."
Chairman Smith said that the com
mittee was expanding its organiza
tion activities, the new program to
include active organization work in
Louisiana and Arkansas. Holt E. J.
Ross, a representative of the Ameri
can Federation of Labor, would, he
said, make a survey of conditions in
these two states in respect to unem
ployment and .the strengthening of
existing trade unions and in gaining
additional support.
Morrison to Be at Three Big Meetings
Under the plan three big mass
meetings will be held, in New Or
leans, Monroe and Meridan, at which
it is expected that Frank Morrison,
secretary of the American Federation
THE BUTLER COUNTY PRESS.
Low Bridge
op?
Labor Day to See Concentrated
Union Enthusiasm in
Rallies To Be Staged in All Southern Towns
More People to Hear Labor Message This Year Than
Ever—Green in Syracuse, While Morrison is Booked
in South.
of Labor, will speak.
Despite the enervating heat which
has baked the Southland for weeks,
the work of organizing has gone
steadily forward, Chairman Smith
said. In Nashville and other points
in Tennesse nearly all affiliated un
ions are active in organization work.
One for all and all for one seems
to be the philosophy of the trade un
ionists in the drive now on. Painters
and carpenters at Jackson, Tenn., for
example, are assisting in organizing
the auto mechanics and cafe wait
resses.
In Winston-Salem, N. C., the cen
tral body is actively at work and af
filiated unions have helped in organ
izing carpenters, printers, bricklay
ers, painters and others.
Reports show that prospects are
bright for organizing the bakers,
street car workers, sheet metal work
ers and other crafts.
Gorman Blames Mills for Showing
In the textile field workers are
flocking to the union despite threats
of discharge by the mill management.
At a mass meeting held by the un
ion textile workers of Danville, Va.,
Francis J. Gorman, international vice
president of the United Textile Work
ers of America, discussed the situa
tion, and unequivocally blamed the
mill management for conditions as
they exist in Danville today, follow
ing the closing of Mills 3 and 4 for
60 days. He pointed out that work
ers from outside cities had been
brought into Danville to take the
places of local employes who were
discharged because they had the
temerity to join a labor union and
now some of the mills were closing
down and these duped workers were
left without jobs.
In respect to closing down of some
of the textile mills in Danville, Mr.
Gorman made it clear that the in
ducements at first held out to work
ers for steadier work were false and
bore out the contention of the union
that the recent 10 per cent wage re
duction would in nowise help the tex
tile situation. He declared the com
panies hoped to force the workers
into a strike and thereby relieve the
companies of any responsibility or ex
planation in shutting down the mills.
Union Offers to Help Mill Owners
Gorman said the first half of 1930
showed business in the mills had been
more productive and profitable than
the two previous years, demonstrat
ing that the union had materially
helped the situation, regardless of the
opposition of company officials.
Gorman demanded that the com
panies carry out their promises to
stockholders and change over and
produce marketable goods. He de
clared the mills had the equipment
and that with a co-operative agree
ment in force every one concerned
with the industry would profit. He
said at this time there was a market
for white goods and the union was
ready to assist in the securing and
maintaining of this market
if only
given a chance to do so.
Read the Press.
HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 1930 ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR
&
DAVIS DECLARES
TURN FOR BETTER
ALMOST AT HAND
Calls Policy of Government and
Business Reversal of Old Pol
icy—Scattered Wage Reports
Indicate No General Trend.
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Secre
tary of Labor James J. Davis, over
a national radio hook-up, declared
that the nation-wide building pro
gram, together with the new tariff,
will result in a return to normal labor
and business conditions. He referred
to the policy of the government and
of the nation's business executives
as "an absolute reversal of past ex
perience, when it was the policy to
shut down public works at the
first
sign of depression." He further
stated that "after former crashes the
country often had from two to six
years of slack times."
In the matter of wage changes dur
ing the month of June, the depart
ment of labor reports that in the field
covered by their returns, seven es
tablishments in five industries report
ed wage-rate increases averaging 9.1
per cent, and affecting 6,918 employ
es while 63 establishments in 16 in
dustries reported wage-rate decreases
averaging 9.4 per cent and affecting
10,784 employes. Nineteen of the 63
decreases were made in saw mills,
affecting 4,108 employes, and the re
port states that "no especial signifi
cance can be attached to any other of
the changes reported." Though much
is made of these figures in some
quarters, they are generally regarded
as meaningless because of the small
number of plants and men involved.
The long-term wage agreement
reached in the anthracite coal field,
between the miners' union and the op
erators' organization, was claimed by
Secretary Davis to be in line with the
trend established by the activities of
President Hoover, and he said that "it
will have a far-reaching effect on
business generally."
In his radio address Secretary
Davis also said that "Hard times
have not prevented other employers
from setting up advanced humanita
rian reforms." He mentions the Steel
Corporation and the Republic Steel
Corporation, which he says have
abclished the 12-hour day and seven
day week in the continuous operation
plants, and have instituted the eight
hour day. He also claimed that the
same has been done in the plants of
the Atlas Cement Company, and said:
"Such a thing never happened in for
mer slack Urges. The policy then was
to cut wages and lengthen hours."
At the headquarters of the Ameri
can Federation of Labor it was as
serted that the organized trades have
held their own during the present
crisis, in the matter of wages, and
have been able to prevent any cut in
the wage rate. It is also true that
the organized trades have here and
there relieved the unemployment
pressure by a shortening of the work
ing day or week, thus using more
men.
SECURE FIVE-DAY WEEK
Arkansas City, Kans.—Organized
carpenters here established the five
day week.
Washington (ILNS)—In a survey
of group insurance, United States
Commissioner of Labor Statistics
Ethelbert Stewart this week disclos
ed that this form of protection has
grown so rapidly that 75 companies
were writing group insurance in 1926
and more are engaged in the effort
today, though the first policy of that
kind was not written until 1911.
The total amount of group insur
ance now in force is nearly $10,000,
000,000, Commissioner Steward said.
At the end of 1912 group insurance
in force amounted to $13,172,198,
while at the end of 1926 the total has
soared to $5,600,000,000.
Commissioner Stewart pointed out
that many employers have taken up
group insurance as a means of sta
bilizing working forces, though some
assert they are actuated by a desire
to reward good service. An addi
tional reason assigned is that employ
ers find that many employes do not
carry individual insurance, many, be
cause of age or condition, can not get
it, and death leaves a burden on the
employer anyway. Group insurance,
they point out. is protection for all
employes and a safeguard for the
employer.
Policies $500 to SI.000
In most cases, ^.the commissioner
stated, the policies are for $500 or
$1,000 per employe.
From the beginning group insur
ance, when paid for by the employer
or when operated under a contribut
ing scheme, has been regarded by
labor as a.form of coercion which the
employer calls stabilization, though
its effectiveness in that direction, at
least where young men are concerned,
has been doubted, as Commissioner
Stewart points out.
Entry of union labor into the in
surance field has brought a new and
powerful factor into the group insur
ance business. When group insurance
was first written its operations were
governed mainly by regulations is
sued by insurance commissioners.
Gradually a body of law was created.
When union labor entered the field
there were laws in many states which
prevented insurance of trade unions
Chair
U. S. Shows Amazing Growth of
Group Insurance For Workers
First Policy Written in 1911, Total Now Close to Ten
Billion—Entry of Labor Into Field Brings Protec
tion for Union Members, Regardless of Employ
ment Changes.
Wait for the Majestic
Electric Refrigerators
August
Furniture Specials
1 Walnut Wall (fOQ 7C
Desk «VLU.tO
1 Rose and Taupe Upholstered $10 7^
1 Mohair 4Q7 Cft
Davenport
1 3-Piece Fibre Porch
1 Troy Sunshade it 9 7
Glider
1 Estate Gas Stove £1 7C
(demonstrator)
1 Red Leather Occasional
1 Walnut Velour Upholstered 414 7C
Rocker «Pl4.l «J
1 Caramel and Ivory tl/4 7C
Stroller 3
1 Breakfast Set, 417 K(\
5-piece
1 3-piece Stick Reed
1 Cogswell Chair, Velour 49Q 7C
Upholstered *]£•/. f*J
1 3-piece Antique Walnut Bed djl OQ Oft
Room Suite «pI£*7.l/U
1 Antique Walnut 49/1 7C
Vanity
1 8-piece Antique Walnut 01 OA 7C
Dining Suite «Jl£»
1 3-piece Mohair Living Room
All of the Above Are Real Values
KREBS
Third Court
as groups. Employers could insure
employes, but unions could not insure
their members.
One of the first efforts made by the
Union Labor Life Insurance Company
was for modification of such laws. In
the important industrial states laws
barring unions from group insurance
have been repealed and great num
bers of unions are insured as groups.
TEAMSTERS GAIN
Harrisburg, 111.—Teamsters reduc
ed hours and increased wages.
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O A N
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