The Butler County press. [volume], July 31, 1931, Image 1

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Vol. XXXI. No. 16
Ari
By C. S. GARRISON
Indianapolis, Ind. (ILNS) —The
tide of organization in the ranks of
the United Mine Workers, which has
been at ebb for a long time, seems
to be coming in, according to reports
from various mine fields of the bitu
minous region.
Despite the refusal of certain oper
ators to agree to a calling of a gen
eral conference to find a solution to
the ills that seem to be eating the
industry, organizing work among the
miners is going forward and with en
thusiasm.
It was agreed among factors in coal
production that the industry is sick
and is getting no better fast. Officers
of the United Mine Workers, of
course, have a decided interest in the
coal industry, representing several
hundred thousand persons dependent
on it for life itself. They wished a
general conference of operators,
miners and the public to devise some
sort of method to put the industry
on its feet. The declination by oper
ators, called by Secretary Lamont, to
participate in such a meeting, while
,not final as far as the industry is con
cerned, shows, mine officials say, that
operators—some of them— are con
tent to go on in the old dog-eat-dog
metlftd of competition and the devil
take the hindermost.
Operators Offer No Remedy
Incidentally it might be mentioned
that the operators offer no remedy
themselves and apparently are not
willing to accept suggestions from
other sources.
Thus the coal industry is left hang
ing and with no net under it. The
miners have a sincere—if selfish—de
sire to see the coal industry put on
an even keel. Mining coal is their
bread and butter, and if they get no
work they starve.
It is this sentiment that has start
ed the workers on Uie road to re-
REVIVAL IN SPIRIT
OF ORGANIZATION
IS URGED BY WOLL
Labor Executive, Advocat
ing Higher Wages, Pleads
For Fuller Use of Organ
ized Workers' Economic
Power.
New York City (ILNS)—A revival
of the spirit of organization and fuller
recognition of the economic power of
the wage earners are big needs to
day, Matthew Woll, vice president of
the American Federation of Labor
and president of the Union Labor
Life Insurance Company, told the In
ternational Longshoremen's conven
tion here.
"We need a revival of the spirit of
organization," Mr. WoSl said, "and
we need to preach the economic power
of the wage earners. We must organ
ize our power as consumers. If we
buy from non-union stores we strengt
en the hand of our opponent. We de
nounce capitalism, but aren't we the
ones who built it up? We've been
enamored with economic theories of
the past and it still persists today.
Speaking the voice of labor, I say that
labor has nothing to lose and much to
gain by forging the chain of organ
ization."
Tide of Organization in Ranks
4f Coal Miners is Fast Rising
Wage Cuts Attacked
Assailing wage cuts as retarding
business recovery, Mr. Woll declared
that the depression had emphasized
four fundamental principles on which
to base a better social order.
These, he added, were that the re
duction of wages decreased purchas
ing power, and restricted markets
that a constant reduction of working
hours per day and working hours per
week would give employment to every
one that price cutting was as detri
mental as wage cutting, and that
there should be united planning by
labor, industry and government for
economic development five or ten
years hence.
"Wages in America," Mr. Woll said,
"are generally conceded to be on a
higher level than elsewhere, but the
average industrial wage throughout
Amtrohmc* Service
Phone 35
With Bituminous Industry Desperately in Need of Sta
bilizing Force and Even Greater Chaos Threatening,
Workers See Union as Balance Wheel and Flock Back
to U. M. W.
habilitate their old organization.
Since the contract between the Pitts
burgh Terminal Coal Corporation and
the United Mine Workers of District
No. 5 has been negotiated, and the
Scott's Run field in West Virginia has
been reorganized, the rank and file of
miners vision a return of the union,
and they are re-establishing their
membership by the thousands in
Pennsylvania and other soft co^l dis
tricts*
In most of these districts, wh'ere
strikes have been in force and where
the workers have started new local
unions, the so-called National Miners'
Union—a communist outfit—has sent
in disturbers by the score to muddy
the waters and carry on a campaign
of violence and sabotage. The red
element predicted the blow-up of the
contract in District 5 and said openly
they expected to keep the mines on
strike. In this they failed, as home
2,400 men—United Mine Workers—
are at work under the new agree
ment.
Action Is Imperative
Officials of the United Mine Work
ers have pointed out to President
Hoover and cabinet members that
something must be done to prevent
thousands of American citizens en
gaged in digging coal from absolute
stavation this winter. A man with
no work and his family starving and
ragged is easy meat for red propa
gandists bent on setting up a "dic
tatorship of the proletariat" in
America.
Level headed mine workers declare
union organization is the balance
wheel, and are bending their efforts
to restore the union to its former
place in the industrial sun. Notice of
the signing of contracts between the
union and three Tennessee coal com
panies has been received at headquar
ters and the work there and else
where continues.
the country is no more than $25 a
"Anyone who believes that a 5 or
10 per cent reduction in wages would
bring prosperity fails to understand
economics, or is merely deluding him
self. If we were to raise those in
comes from $25 to $35 a week, it
would stimulate activity and increase
our purchasing power by 30 per cent.
The question is not one of only main
taining high wages. I think it is more
important now that wages be in
creased."
IMMIGRATION DECLINE
HELPS EMPLOYMENT
Washington.—Immigration for the
calendar year 1931 ^ill not exceed
50,000, and deportations will reach
20,000, leaving a net immigrant in
crease of but 30,000, Secretary of La
bor Doak predicts. Immigration has
passed the 50,000 mark every year
since 1831, when the total was 22,633.
The department of labor holds that
the decreasing number of immigrants
of benefit to the workers in the
United States because nearly all im
migrants are potential wage earners.
The oversupply and consequent un
employment of many classes of labor
today is attributed to the unlimited
immigration in the past.
INDUSTRIAL CODE
FOR COAL INDUSTRY
New York.—The Russell Sage
Foundation has elaborated a state
ment of principles for the peaceful
settlement of wage disputes and for
mine management in the coal indus
try.
Overproduction and wasteful use of
coal, leading to disputes over wages,
are given as the chief cause of dis
turbances.
The code gives the operators a free
hand in hiring and firing men with
the proviso that miners shall not be
discriminated against because of
activity in union affairs.
Operators are also given a free
hand in the introduction of labor
displacing machinery and devices.
It is suggested that miners laid off
to reduce the force shall be reinstated
in their former positions when the
force is increased.
C. W. GATH CO.!
Funeral Directors
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Chairs and Tables R«nUi
17 So. Street
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{Ooorrtfht, W. If, XJ.
By JOSEPH A. WISE
Chicago (ILNS)—The widely pub
licized indictment by a Chicago grand
jury of the officers of Moving Pic
ture Operators' Union No. 110 of this
city was characterized by Thomas E.
Maloy, business representative of the
union, in an interview with Interna
tional Labor News Service, as an at
tempt, through bribery and corrup
tion, to break his union as an initial
step in a plot to wreck other strong
unions in Chicago.
"They have tackled us first because
we have the strongest union, the high
est wage scale and the best working
conditions," he said. "We will win,
however, because we are etrnallyand
everlastingly right."
Jack Miller, business representa
tive of the Illinois Exhibitors' Asso
ciation (employers' group), who also
has been indicted along with Maloy,
was present during my interview
with Maloy. Miller, who is charged
with having corrupted Maloy with a
bribe of $50,000, treats the whole
matter as a huge joke.
Miller Ridicules Charge
"If I gave Tom Maloy $50,000, I
don't see what I got for it. I have
been beaten in every scale negotia
tion, but we still manage to do busi
ness. The whole trouble results from
a desire of some independents to
break the existing wage agreement,
but I will not be a party to it. I
can't forget that the union stood by
its five-year agreement during the
war period, when to do so worked
great hardship upon the operators.
We were so impressed with the atti
tude of Mr. Maloy and the union dur
ing that period that we voluntarily
granted the union a 33% per cent
increase in wages at the expiration
of the five-year agreement."
The present agreement runs until
January 11, 1932. Owing to the de
pression, some of the independent ex
hibitors have raised objection to the
provision which calls for two opera
tors in each booth. Failing to force
the union to waive that contractual
feature the independents went to the
state's attorney and complained that
the union was "running" their busi
ness. The June grand jury refused to
return a true bill. The July grand
jury has returned a true bill. The
independents now offer to have the
indictment quashed if the union will
agree to permit one operator in each
booth to work for one-half the scale.
Union Stands Firm
The union is standing pat and has
authorized the officers to sper.d the
entire sum in the treasury, amounting
to $25,000, to defend the union's posi
tion.
In a formal typewritten statement,
handed to me for the infoi-mation and
guidance of the readers of the labor
press throughout America, Mr. Maloy
says:
"The indictment which has been re
turned against my associates and my
self is a typical example of what or
ganized labor always has to contend
with in its fight against capital. It
is only fair that organized labor gen
erally should know that we entered
Vl*'?*
w.
Road Pests
Of?
Movie Operators' Business Representative De
clares Certain Employers Are Attempting to
Break Organization! as Part of General
Indictment of Union Executives
Denounced as Attack on Labor
Assault on Strong (Chicago Trade Unions.
into a wage agreement with the ex
hibitors of Chicago in all good faith,
which entitles us to have the present
number of men in every booth up to
January 11, 1932. This is a legal and
valid agreement and the independent
exhibitors know that they could not
win if they fought it in any court of
law, so they have gotten together and
sought by extra-judicial means to at
tack this contract and once more dis
organize the labor element of Chi
cago.
Bribery Effort Charged
"I am reliably informed, and can
prove it if necessary, that at a con
ference of some of the independent
exhibitors they figured it would be
cheaper to raise a fund and attempt
to use it for the purpose of bribery
than it would be to carry out this
contract. My entire career as a trade
union officer has been spent in fight
ing this kind of graft and bribery.
I have refused this bribe and I chal
lenge the independent exhibitors to
try to use this money to bribe or pave
their way into the graces of the law
enforcing officials of this county and
by so doing attempt to destroy and
break the contract which is legal and
binding and which they entered into
with their eyes open.
"Not only have I turned down this
offer, but some months ago I turned
down an offer of $200,000 to break the
contract by taking one man off the
job in every theatre in the city of
Chicago. I informed them at that
time that it was not in my power to
grant such a concession and that it
would have to be voted upon by the
members of the organization. Since
they they have collected an amount
equivalent to ten weeks' salary for
each operator from each theatre own
er, and I have canceled checks to
substantiate this statement.
Fight is Against Labor
"They also state that they are not
quarreling with the union, that they
only want to have somebody at the
head of the union whom they can deal
with. It is very plain to be seen that
this fight is not with me, but that it
is against organized labor of the city
of Chicago. In attempting to place
somebody of their own choosing at
the head of this organization so that
they can 'do business' with him, they
are trying to put themselves in a posi
tion to spend large sums of money
to their own advantage and liking
"We are just asking the public to
be patient and watch very carefully
the result of the forthcoming trial, if
any."
100,000 IN BREAD LINES
SEEN IN SASKATCHEWAN
Montreal.—One hundred thousand
unemployed persons will have to be
fed by the provincial and federal gov
ernments of Canada next winter, ac
cording to a prediction made by
Howard McConnell, provincial treas
prer and minister of municipal affairs
for Saskatchewan.
HUNDRED HURT
AS COMMUNISTS
ATTACK MINERS
District President P. T. Fa
Ran Injured When Reds
Seek to Break Up Meeting
of United Mine Workers.
Canonsburg, Pa. (ILNS)—Commu
nists again demonstrated their bitter
hatred.of the legitimate labor move
ment by storming and attempting to
break up a meeting of the United
Mine Workers of America at the
Curry baseball field here. More than
100 persons were injured, five severe
ly, when the attack of the commu
nists was resisted.
Among those hurt in 20 minutes of
fighting with chairs, bottles and
stones was P. T. Fagan, president of
District No. 5, United Mine Workers,
Miss Mercedes Murray, 22-year-old
daughter of Philip Murray, interna
tional vice president of the United
Mine Workers, fainted during the
clash.
State police, who arrived at the
scene after the worst of the fighting
was over, arrested six persons, includ
ing a girl.
The attack on the miners' meeting
was made by members and sym
pathizers of the National Miners' Un
ion, a communist organization. The
National Miners' Union members had
held a meeting of their own on the
Beck ball field, nearby. At its con
clusion, 250 of their men marched to
the U. M. W. meeting place.
As the intruders descended on the
field, cat-calling, jeering and shout
ing, a thrown brick was the signal
for a rush toward the speakers' plat
form, where Mr. Fagan, Mr. Murray
and other U. M. W. officials, and
Harry Cook, burgess of Canonsburg
were seated.
Fighting their way through the
crowd of 500 men who had gathered
to hear the U. M. W. speakers, the
invaders wrecked the platform. Later
the communist forces marched
through the city, but returned later
to jeer upon hearing that the U.
W. meeting had been resumed. State
police had arrived by that time, how
ever.
Mr. Fagan, who received severe
head cuts and was unconscious for
15 minutes, was among the most
seriously injured.
Wages and Jobs Slump
For New York Workers
Albany, N. Y.—Both pay rolls and
the number of employed workers in
New York state suffered heavily in
June, according to an announcement
by Industrial Commissioner Frances
Perkins.
The number of workers employed
in June was 15 per cent less than last
June and 25 per cent less than in
June, 1929. Payrolls were 23 per cent
lower than in June two years ago
The average weekly earnings of fac
tory workers dropped to $26.34, show
ing a loss of 62 cents since May
Average weekly earnings have not
been down to the present level since
the early jnonths of 1923, it was
asserted.
I
COUNTY PRESS.
HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, JULY 31, 1931 ONE DOLLAR PER TEAR
Holders.
Ottawa (ILNS).—Scandalous reve
lations of contributions of about
$1,000,000 to political party funds, of
rake-offs of several millions to Sen
ators, ministers and others, and re
tainers of nearly half a million to
20-odd law firms has given a black
eye to private development of power
resources.
Before the parliamentary commit
tee, investigating charges of the
farmer-labor group, President R. 0.
Sweezy and Secretary-Treasurer
H. B. Griffiths, of the Beauharnois
Power Corporation testified to giving
$800,000 to the liberal party through
Senators Haydon and Raymond. It
had been proposed that they give
$200,000 to the federal conservative
party, but this fell down. The pro
vincial conservative of Quebec, led by
Mayor Houde, of Montreal, however,
got $30,000.
Lid Finally Forced Off
The farmer-labor group forced off
the lid in the interest of their public
ownership of public utilities cam
paign. It is not news that the old
parties traded special privileges for
campaign funds, but by mutual con
sent attempts to throw in light were
mostly sidetracked in the past.
Sweezey gave $120,000 to John
Aird, Jr., son of Sir John Aird, pres
ident of the Canadian Bank of Com
merce, thinking it was going to the
Ontario conservative party and would
help him get a contract for power
from the Ontario Hydro-Electric Com
mission. Aird admitted he had
pocketed the $120,000 without doing
anything to even try to earn it. He
thought a corporation planning to
spend $70,000,000 would not miss a
small amount. Senator W. L. Mac
Dougald, controlling a $12,500 com
pany with no assets but a rejected
application to exploit power from the
St. Lawrence, held up Sweezey's cor
poration for about $1,000,000 and a
large block of shares. In this game
MacDougald was assisted by a for
mer deputy minister of railways and
canals.
Other Officials Benefit
Hon. Walter Mitchell, a former
minister in the Quebec government,
got a rake-off of $789,000, the same
Kn
Power Corporation Gave?
Graft With Lavish Hand
Farmer-Labor Group in Canadian Parliament Forces
Astounding Revelations of Millions of Dollars Given
to Politicians by St. Lawrence River Concession
Our Business
Adjustment
SALE
Ends
Saturday
Night
Buy Now For The Future
Lowest Prices Since 1913
HIGH IN QUALITY—LOW IN PRICE
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4
as Frank P. Jones. Hon. J. L. Per
son, another minister in the Quebec
government, was associated with a
rake-off of about half that amount.
Senator Raymond admitted making
a personal profit of $529,600.
The concession to develop power
from the St. Lawrence river at Beau
harnois, 15 miles above Montreal,
which produced so much easy money,
was granted by the Terchereau gov
ernment of Quebec, and the former
Mackenzie King government at Ot
tawa. Some engineers told the par
liamentary committee that the Beau
harnois scheme would "butcher" the
St. Lawrence deep waterway project.
LABOR'S WAR
On Dry Act Gains National
Headway
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—With
live co-operation in almost all sec
tions, results are coming in rapidly
in the national membership campaign
of labor's national committee for
modification of the Volstead act, it
was announced at national headquar
ters here.
Local committees of the organiza
tion are active in scores of cities,
building the local committees into
labor councils, metal trades councils
and other local bodies are backing
up the campaign and in many cases
special committees have been appoint
ed to assist in the work of organi
zation.
A plan to offer opportunity for co
operation to the entire trade union
press has been developed and an ex
planation of the details will go for
ward to trade union editors this week.
Each member will receive the em
blem of the national committee and
a membership card, showing his
standing, and will be enrolled in the
local organization for active work in
the mobilization of sentiment.
Wisdom makes but a slow defense
against trouble .though at last a sure
one.—Goldsmith.
DC
-IV-L-D-iJ
THIRD COURT
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