The Butler County press. [volume], January 02, 1931, Image 1

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

Image provided by: Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH

                
V SLJ
C:''
&«:
rl
if
:tVfc,
j*
i, 1 ." ,. .'."l i j*.
v
W.:
:c v Y^.i-
^r
VOL. XXX. No. 38
:4_
By CHESTER W. WRIGHT
Danville, Va. (ILNS)—With up
raised hands—the hands that ran the
Dan River Mills until tyranny drove
them out on one of America's most
heroic strikes—the members of the
striking Textile Workers' Union here
stood and repeated a pledge to stay
out until union recognition is achiev
ed.
Vi^e President Francis J. Gorman,
of the United Textile Workers, led in
repeating the impressive pledge, a
pledge of loyalty, of determination,
of the will to win, regardless of how
long it takes.
The intoned pledge, recited phrase
by phrase, "on my sacred honor," and
on through the declaration, was said
by men and women whose faces could
be seen only through the sea of hands.
From the stage, where Gorman stood,
with solemn face reciting the sternly
worded bond, there seemed only an
endless sea of the palms of hands. It
was a picture of strength, a token of
the impotence of mills without hands.
Strikers Take Solemn Vow
To Win Union Recognition
Consecration to Unity Voiced
The chorus came back, phrase by
phrase, in a rising crescendo of sound,
pitched in the solemn key of conse
cration to unity in defense of a sacred
principle.
It was1 the impressive answer to
those who say the strike is weaken­
CANE-CUTTING
Machine Adds to Sugar
Crisis
Washington.—Cuba's vast army of
Unemployed is swelled by a cane-cut
ting machine which, operated by three
men, will replaCe 200 men, said Ethel
bert Stewart, commissioner United
States Bureau of Labor Statistics
writing in a local newspaper.
"""The sugar interests of the world
are now striving to stabilize (limit)
production, but the machine's appear
ance at this time, according to Mr.
With Upraised Hands, Thousands of Danville Workers
Pledge Faith to Continue Fight to Victory—Dra
matic Meeting Effective Answer to Reports Walk
out Is Weakening.
Stewart, will shatter the effect of any
agreement made by the sugar grow
ers.
"From a humanitarian point of
view," continued Mr. Stewart, "the
machine is needed. "There is perhaps
no labor still performed by human
hands that is as hard and as labor
ious as that of cutting, piling and
loading sugar cane. Nowhere in all
the field of labor, within my expe
rience ,is a machine so needed from
a humanitarian point of view, but
its presence will be harmful to an
agreement between the growers."
•... The commissioner refers to the in
troduction of this machine as a
^catastrophe which may make it so
cially and politically impossible to
raise sugar in Cuba.
"Thus our progress feeds our de
spair. An industry which, taking it
by and large, has paid the least at
tention to its obligations to the world
of mankind which in every country
employs and seeks to employ the
lowest in the scale of civilization, and
which, in every country in the world,
with the exception of Hawaii, pays
the lowest wage of any industry in
that country, has produced a labor
situation and a level of labor intelli
gence which will probably smash the
machines as fast as they are intro
duced and reproduce the experience
of the Manchester anti-machine
riots,"
MILLIONS CANT CARE
FOR NEW YORK IDLE
Washington.—The millions of dol
•Tjirs raised in New York for unem
ployed is but a "drop in the bucket as
compared to what is needed,"' said
Senator Copeland, in discusirig pro
posed relief on the floor of the senate
"My city has been extremely gen
erous," said Mr. Copeland. "It has
ALL WOOL
v
Look for
the Number
"t *s
i v
ing. It was a pledge to those through
out the land who are sending help.
The words surged forth like a great
poem, cadence, the courage of a peo
ple, the promise of a people and the
hope of a people.
The solemnity and the sheer beauty
of this dramatic ceremony was fol
lowed in executive meeting by re
ports of hard, cold fact, showing how
tightly the lines have held. This cor
respondent heard the reports to that
meeting. By actual count, it can be
revealed, only eight out of 229 loom
fixers, the former total working force,
have gone back to work and of these
eight only five have remained in the
mills as strikebreakers.
Strike Grows in Strength
The strike has grown in strength as
the weeks have turned into months
These descendants of fighting men
and heroic women grow in their con
viction to fight until victory is won.
They do not think about giving up.
They merely wonder how long it will
take the mill owners to discover that
the union cannot be smashed.
"If there are representatives of
Harry Fitzgerald in this hall," the
meeting was told, "let them tell Fitz
gerald that the American trade union
movement will support this trike un
til you go back to work as a union,"
and the meeting roared its apprecia
tive cheers.
raised $8,000,000 tti take care of the
immediate emergency, but $8,000,000
is only a drop in the bucket compared
to what is needed to relieve human
suffering in the section of the coun
try where I live, and I believe that
is true of every portion of our great
country."
FORMER UNION
Hosiery Mill Reopens With
Non-Unionists
Philadelphia, Pa. (ILNS)—Hiring
strikebreakers from out of town, the
Schletter & Zander full -fashioned
mill of this city opened this week
after a several months shutdown and
utterly ignored their own ex-workers
a number of whom are being support
ed by the union through its relief
committee. For ten years at least
the Schletter & Zander mill, normally
employing some 600 people, had been
a union shop. Reorganization of the
Brown-Durell jobbing firm, through
which the mill had sold its goods
caused a shutdown of the plant late
in the spring. Since that time the
workers have had to shift aE best
they could. A large proportion of the
force have loafed since then and
number are seriously up against it
and would be destitute but for the
assistance the Philadelphia branch »f
the American Federation of Full
Fashioned Hosiery Workers was able
to render.
Richman's Clothes
OFFICE WORKERS'
UNION TO OPEN
WORK BUREAU
Made in Our Own Factory
And Sold Direct to You
No Middleman's Profit
Richman Bros. Co.
Hamilton, Ohio
128 High Street
OPEN UNTIL 9 P.M. SATURDAY
Philadelphia (ILNS)—The Book
keepers, Stenographers, Typists and
Assistants' Union, Loeal No. 18049.
will open a public stenographic office
the purpose of which will be to secure
work for its unemployed members.
It is believed that a number of unions
and other organizations which cannot
now afford regular office help will be
able to secure some expert assistance
through the opening of this bureau.
Even during hard times organization
work is continuing and girls are be
ing taken into the union.
METAL WORKERS STRIKE
Paterson, N. J.—A 10 per cent
wage cut by the Wright Aero- Cor
poration resulted in a strike of 300
machinists and metal polishers.
W W Aaa ml £x
ALL
VOL
Opposite
Geurt House
-szl-* W 5 y i
•2 .? —... -•••,•• ..^a^g^iaSt ., 1_.-.^ .j't«IjI-.?r^ ^asfcgjl'f,? V .tAj**. '*.- .. ..i.n.»^ .v" .»:- ."-
0
w
w
Mil
VOL
HIS
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Em
ployment and payrolls in manufactur
ing industries dropped to the lowest
point in years in November, accord
ing to the index of the -Umted States
department of labor.
The index figure for employment
fell to 77 and that for payrolls to 68.
In November, 1929, the corresponding
figures of the index were 95 for em
ployment and 95 for payrolls. These
figures are relative to a base of 100
points which represents the average
number of workers and average ag
gregate payrolls in the 12 months of
1926.
The index thus means that in No
vember, 1930, the number of wage
earners employed was 77 to each 100
who were working in 1926. The total
payroll of November, 1930, was in the
ratio of $68 for each $100 disbursed
in 1926.
*?*%i*v sr.jjssji' «y t5?'
-i 1 1 1 1
I.
VOL VOL
W
(Copyright, W. N. U.)
Figures Indicate Some Unemployment in Prosperous 1929
Due to Displacement of Workers Improved
Machinery.
In 1923, the index shows that 107
EX-VICE RAIDER
OF BOSTON COPS
GIVESHIMSELF UP
Big Grafter in New York
and Near Boston for
Months, While Police
Claimed to be Hunting Him
Boston (ILNS)—Ollie Garrett, de
bonair ex-vice raider of the Boston
police department, defies the world
to find the treasure he has secreted,
and which he obtained by extortion,
fraud and corruption. In five years
as a raider he banked $127,000. He
has the effrontery and low measure
of public intelligence to tell the world
he is "broke."
Garrett, for whom the Boston po
lice were "searching" for about four
months, walked into the Charles
street county jail in Boston and gave
liimself up. He had been in New York
city and in Franklin, Mass., near
Boston, most of the time. While in
New York he was with a notorious
white slave and narcotic gang.
The hunt for Garrett cost Suffolk
county approximately $20,000. Bos
ton policemen, high and low, claimed
to be "scouring the country" seeking
him. It is quite evident nobody in the
Boston police department wanted to
locate the elusive Garrett, who jump
ed his bonds, which had been placed
at a ridiculously low figure when one
considers the 101 counts against the
policeman who was posing as a re
former of public morals and, simul
taneously, with the connivance of
several other policemen and politi
cians, filling several banks with his
ill gotten wealth.
This is the police department, ex
posed as one of the rottenest in the
world, which was set up as the ideal
by the late police commissioner, Ed
win U. Curtis, and by the then Gov
Calvin Coolidge at the time of the
y i i V
A»
:i AiU. uJf'
i
7
Another Volume Completed
Factory Employment and
Payrolls Lowest in Year,
November Index Shows
Big Drop From Year Ago
persons were at woirk for each 100
employed in the base year, while the
payroll total was $105 for each $100
paid during 1926.
The index of 1923^ is higher than
that of 1929 when industrial output
was the highest in history. By com
parison with 1923, therefore, the
prosperous year of 1929 shows some
unemployment. This is in line with
findings of the United States Census
Bureau, which reports that in recent
years the number of wage earners on
manufacturing payrolls is smaller
than 10 years ago despite the fact
that output has increased steadily
since 1920. Workers thrown out of
employment by the introduction of
mproved machinery have not been
finding work in new industries as fast
as they needed positions, it is indi
cated. This accounts for a certain
proportion of the present unemploy
ment which, is thus shown to be not
wholly due to economic depression.
Boston police strike. The Curtis
regime was followed by that of Her
bert A. Wilson, who had been active
as a politician. As a result of the
exposures surrounding the Garrett
scandal, Wilson was forced out by
Gov. Frank G.- Allen. The latter ap
pointed E. C. Hultman, also a poli
tician and representative of Charles
H. Inness, for many years a repub
lican boss in Boston as well as an at
torney. Inness is affiliated with the
Boston taxi trust, which threw the
union drivers out of work and hired
out-of-towns. The police strongly
f^vor the trust.
BUILDING WORKERS
REDUCE WEEK TO
AID UNEMPLOYED
Fort Worth, Tex. (ILNS)—Skilled
building craftsmen of Fort Worth
numbering more than 700, have
agreed with contractors to work only
four days a week to relieve unem
ployment. It is estimated that about
250 men can be put to work through
this sacrifice of employed men giv
ing up a day and a half of their five
and a half flays of weekly work. Sheet
metal workers also have agreed to
work on a four-day basis to give their
fellow-workers a chance to eaigi some
money.
RICH SILK FIRM
Refuses Fair Wages To
Workers Who Replaced
Strikers
Hazelton, Pa. (ILNS)—The strike
against the mill of the Duplan Silk
Corporation in Hazelton is four weeks
old.
Injunction proceedings followed
conferences between union leaders
and mill officials which broke down
when it became apparent the company
did not wish to seriously consider any
conditions for settlement at the time
V
5
j»
~'-V'
,fjIf'.
11
WiVOli WUVOljWt-
w
}r
COUNTY" L'HKSS.
HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, JANUARY 2,1931 ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR
]D
u
VOL
State Mediator L. Hines arranged the
onference.
William F. Kelly, first vice presi
dent of the United Textile Workers
of America, says that wages in the
Duplan mill are lower than in any
important silk weaving plant in the
East and earnings are in many in
stances even less than those of the
Danville, Va., workers. Adult work
ers are taking home as little as
and $9 per week, while children are
earning $6 and $7 per week. Adults
are being laid off and minors between
14 and 16 hired.
The company has laid off 750 em
ployes during the year as aresult of
installing a crude stretch-out system
of the same type that has caused so
many strikes in Southern mills. The
average task of the 1,600 employes at
work when the shutdown took place
s increased 40 per cent by the
operation of the stretch-out system
Three reductions in pay have been
made during the present year.
According to financial reporters the
Duplan is one of the two best finan
cially fixed silk plants in America
and a story was carried in the New
York papers recently telling of the
retirement of some $150,000 worth of
preferred stock out of surplus.
RAILROAD UNIONS
MAY JOIN A. F. OF
Cleveland, Ohio (ILNS)—Propos
als for affiliation of the. four big rail
road brotherhoods, numbering about
500,000 members, with the American
Federation of Labor, are under con
sideration, it was revealed here by
A. F. Whitney, president of the
Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen
"I do not think there are any insur
mountable obstacles in the way of an
agreement," a statement by Whitney
said. "Time has brought about a bet
ter feeling and there are possibilities
for an affiliation."
President Whitney, James A. Far
qUharson, legislative representative
and S. R. Harvey, assistant presi
dent, will confer with a committee
of American Federation of Labor of
ficials wtthin a short time, it was an
nounced.
HOOVER NOMINATES
THE JUDGE WHO
RULED FOR CLERKS
Houston, Tex. (ILNS)—Federal
Judge Joseph C. Hutcheson, Jr.. who
decided against the "company union"
of the Southern Pacific railroad in
the action brought by the Brother
hood of Railway and Steamship
Clerks, has been nominated by Presi
dent Hoover to be judge of the Fifth
circut court, at New Orleans. Hutche
son was appointed to the United
States district court bench here by
President Wilson in 1918. He is a
democrat.
"DON'T 'BUDDY' ME"
SOLDIER TELLS SCAB
J)anville, Va. (ILNS)—A strike
breaker, passing into the Schooliield
mill past a soldier guard said:
"Hello, buddy how you'all?"
"Don't you 'buddy' me, you blank
ety, blank, blank. If it wasn't for
you, you blankety, blank, blank, I
wouldn't be here. Get the hell outa
my sight.'
W
ijfrr*)
A
.tf" ...
Vr'i^-v/ .f- -«iy ?.vvr^Trr,-? .:*:
•.'**»
Cleveland, O. (ILNS)—Members
of the Brotherhood of Railroad Train
men and the Brotherhood of Locomo
tive Firemen and Enginemen have
agreed to reduce their monthly mile
age to provide work for unemployed
members of the two organizations.
The reduction of mileage reduces
the wages of those sharing their jobs
with the unemployed, as payment is
on a monthly mileage basis.
Arthur F. Whitney, president of the
trainmen, announced that the plan of
his organization is now in operation
on 12 lines.
Negotiations are under way, he
said ,to extend the plan to all the
railroads of the country. Even if
COUZENS CONDEMNS
Wage Cutters Who Would
Destroy Self-Respect
Washington.—Senator Couzens lost
his fight to have the administration's
116,000,000 construction bill include
provision for the prevailing wage
in that locality, the eight-hour day
and employment of local labo r.
'I certainly am licked in this case,"
declared the Michigan lawmaker who
expressed a willingness to have the
bill defeated to "find out how far the
state and federal governments are
willing to go in the depression of
wages."
"As far as I am personally concern
ed," he said, "I would be perfectly
willing to have the bill defeated in
preference to giving contractors
$llfi,000,000 for the purpose of de
pressing wages. In other words, the
$116,000,000 is only a drop in the
bucket, but it is enough to enable
them to go out and tempt thousands
of unemployed to surrender their self
respect and accept whatever wage the
contractor sees fit to pay.
'If it is necessary in this country
for conditions to be worse in order
to have them get better, I am for
making them just as bad as it is pos
sible to make them in order to ac
complish that result.
'If that sort of thing is necessary
to waken the employers, the federal
and state governments to the neces
sity of maintaining standards of
Union Railway Workers
Cut Mileage to Aid Idle
brotherhoods of Trainmen and Locomotive Firemen and
Enginemen Put Plan Into Operation on Many Lines.
Starts Tomorrow
SATURDAY
STRAUSS' SEMI-ANNUAL
:--W\* %'r i
&
adopted on all roads, he added, it
would not care for all of the 40,000
unemployed out of 180,000 members.
David B. Robertson, president of
the firemen and enginemen, said that
his organization had put into effect
reductions in mileage on many roads
throughout the country, but still had
about 30,000 idle out of the member
ship of 110,000.
Alvany L. Johnson, president of the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi
neers, said that the employed mem
bers of his organization had agreed
some months ago to share their work
with the idle, but he added that un
employment among engineers was
almost negligible.
wages, then we had better go the
limit and find out just how far the
state and federal governments are
willing to go in the depression of
wages.
"I have nothing further to say, for
I think I know when I am licked, and
I certainly am licked in this case."
HOOVER SAYS:
"Prevailing Wage Rate" Is
U. S. Policy
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Presi
dent Hoover this week announced
that it will be the policy of the United
States government to require con
tractors on government work to pay
the rate of wages prevailing in their
communities.
Trade union officials look with
some hope to the future, in view of
this announcement, while holding that
in the past there have been bi'eaches
of this policy in notable instances.
The President pointed to the white
house conferences in which mainte
nance of wage rates was agreed upon.
He said the example of industrial
leaders in maintaining wages had
been followed by the government,
with what he termed minor excep
tions, and these, he said, had been
corrected.
ACCIDENTS DROP
Harrisburg, Pa.—Industrial acci
dents in November, this year, were
the lowest since May, 1922.
CLEARANCE
SALE
You Will Find Greater Bar
gains Greater Values On
Apparel for oMen and Boys
and Shoes for the Whole
Family Than Ever Before!
O E
and S AV E
CLQ7HI
"'4
V .. S*
mr
1
4*
•si