The Butler County press. [volume], July 31, 1931, Image 2

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

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THE PRESS
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FRIDAY. JULY 31, 1931
A SILLY SEASON ANTIC
Other seasons may come and go
but the silly season never departs
We hear now that the state depart
ment has suggested that the surren
der of Lord Cornwallis be not de
picted in the coming Yorktown ses
quicentennial celebration.
The state department denies, as
usual, having made the suggestion
but the Yorktowners declare the sug
gestion was made and that the pur
pose was to avoid hurting the feel
ings of Englishmen.
The surrender of Cornwallis
brought a gain to the whole world
and the Englishmen of today are as
much the gainer as anyone. The fa
mous capitulation should be included
because it is history and mighty good
history, and the United States state
department should abandon bogey
chasing for some more useful occu
pation.
-:o:-
EINSTEIN AND MOONEY
Some newspapers have been criti
cising Albert Einstein, world famous
scientist, for asking Governor Rolph
of California, to pardon Tom Mooney
and Warren K. Billings.
A sample of the criticism comes
from the Evening Star of Washing
ton, D. C., which admits that on ques
tions of science Einstein speaks with
authority, but contends that he is not
qualified in any manner to pass judg
ment upon the merits of the Mooney
Billings case. After intimating that
Einstein must have only knowledge
of the Mooney-Billings case and that
perhaps he does not take into con
sideration the full history of the case
the Star sapiently observes that "His
action does credit to his heart if not
his judgment."
The argument is weak. For all the
Star knows, Einstein may have closely
studied the famous California case
If he did, it undoubtedly convinced
him that Mooney and Billings have
been the victims of a great injustice,
an injustice which California courts
seem powerless or unwilling to rem
edy.
Einstein's plea for a pardon was
well taken and did credit to his heart
as well as to his judgment.
ASK FOR
A BEACON 0FOLALITYF0POVEP4O YEARS
s
At All Dealers
THIRD WINTER OF UNEMPLOYMENT
The third winter of unemployment is approaching. Those charged witfy
surveying the condition agree that the situation will be much more serious
than during the two previous winters.
It is not expected that there will bo any diminution of the 6,000,000
now estimated to be barred from work. Indeed, the indications point to an
increase above that number.
Welfare workers state that during the first four months of 1931 reliev
ing the unemployed cost about 75 per cent of the total for 1930. It is said
that this increase does not necessarily indicate an increase in the number of
out-of-works during that period. It means that workers suffering continued
unemployment or having intermittent work had spent their savings in order
to buy a living for their families and finally reached the poverty status and
became the unwilling recipients of charity relief.
On the charity side the situation is not cheerful. Relief organizations
admit that large numbers of persons of moderate means who normally sup
port community chests and similar funds will be unable to contribute as
liberally this year as formerly. It has been quite customary for large em
ployers to pledge large sums to charity organizations and then in reality
compel their employes to pay a large portion of the pledge although the com
pulsion was masked under the guise of voluntary contributions. But with
so many employes on reduced earnings resulting from part-time work and
other forms of wage reductions the employers will be unable to tap this
source of charity contributions the coming winter.
Every sign indicates that the bulk of next winter's necessarily immense
fund to provide at least 6,000,000 unemployed workers and their families
with the means of life and health must come from public funds.
Reliable statistics show that in 1929 about 60 per cent of the
WORDS OF WISDOM FROM
EMPLOYERS
The Bulletin of the Electrical Guild
of North America, published at
Pittsburgh, says:
"Price-cutters are wage-cutters
and force others to become wage
cutters.
The same publication also de
nounces the system which permits of
cials to classify as a "responsible
bidder" any bidder who can raise
bond. Every move looking toward
establishment of better standards of
work and life is a good move and
not all employers, are blinded by
what seems to be immediate s&lf
interest.
:o:
UNION WAGE IS PREVAILING
WAGE
When the playground department
in Los Angeles, stood out like a mav
erick against all other city depart
ments and determined it would pay
wages ranging from $1 to $3 below
the union rate, the Los Angeles Cen
tral Labor Council decided it was
time to fight. The money had been
voted by the citizens to provide work
for unemployed, and that it didnt
mean destroying standards.
direct family relief in 100 representative cities was paid out of public funds.
In 1930, with the total relief cost greatly increased, public funds paid 72
per cent.
Applying for a mandate to compel
payment of the union rate, the unions
won a sweeping victory for their con
tention from Judge Walter Guerin
who decided that the prevailing wage
was as contended by the applicants
Judge Guerin went further and de
clared that the state's legislative bod
ies and the people of the city had
by actual decision, taken a stand
against wage cuts and for the main
tenance of standards.
This decision should be of tremen
dous importance. The union rate is
the prevailing rate. There is and can
be no ofher prevailing rate.
:o:
KEEPING UP THE WAGE LEVEL
Whether or not there is an organ
ized movement afoot to reduce the
general wage level, there have beer,
enough signs of a movement lately
to warrant President Hoover's state
ment advocating continuance of the
During the coming winter the total cost of providing the unemployed
with the requisite amount of food, clothing, shelter, and schooling for chil
dren of school age, will exceed the cost during either of the two preceding
winters. Private charity organizations like the community chest are mak
ing arrangements for a federated drive in October for $82,000,000 for win
ter relief work. The drive for private charity funds has the official back
ing of the president's emergency committee for employment. But the
major reliance must be on public funds.
Municipal and county public funds are under the control of bodies re
sponsible to the voters made up largely of working people. The workers
through their trade unions and other organizations should be able in an
organized way to see to it that the only limit on private charity and the
appropriation of public funds for relief of the jobless shall be the provision
of decent living standard for all unemployed workers and their family
dependents. Anything less will be a discredit to American institutions.
cost
of
present high level. Wage reduction
is so traditional a "cure-all" for bus
iness depression that it was certain to
be proposed on a grand scale sooner
or later. Some bankers now argue
with a show of reason, that a fixed
wage level at a time of falling prices
amounts to an increase in real wages.
But there are many, and stronger,
arguments on the other side. While
some workers have undoubtedly prof
ited by the increased purchasing
power of the dollar, millions have
been working only part time, and
many more have been called upon to
support unemployed relatives. A
wage cut now would not only reduce
their consuming power, it would
cause distress to their, dependents
Moreover, while such temporary ex
pedients as lay-offs and part-time
employment may be abandoned with
business recovery, the general wage
level, once down, takes a long time
to rise again, and the hard upclimb
retards natural expansion.
The final argument in favor of
high wage level is the one sponsored
by the president in the fall of 1929
and now urged anew. It is that high
wages mean the high standard of
living which is essential to modern
prosperity.
There are indications that we are
slowly moving out of the long de
pression. Employment has shown a
slight but steady increase each month
since December, 1930. If employers
can keep the wage level generally
unimpaired, this upswing will be ac
celerated. On the other hand, a gen
eral wage reduction now would have
a bad psychological effect and might
plunge us deeper than ever into de
pression. Editorial in Cincinnati
Times-Star.
:o:
NO DEATHS
In fourteen years, from 1917 to
1930, inclusive, 68 Class I steam rail
roads in the United States operated
continuously without a single passen
ger being killed in either collisions
or train derailments, the two most
feared eventualities in railroad oper
ation.
It is hard to grasp the significance
of these figures, the National Safety
Council says. These roads traveled
during this period 51,000,000,000 miles.
That is equivalent to 277 round trips
from the earth to the sun. Or, if you
were speeding along at fifty miles
per hour it would take 117,000 years
to make the journey.
Yet in all this mileage not a single
passenger's life was sacrificed in
either of these types of train acci
dents. Surely a record of which the
railroads can be proud.
:o:
JOB MERIT
The greatest and most stieeessftil
English novelist of the generation
died recently. He left a large estate,
or so the newspapers spoke of it.
Hitherto unheard of, they reported,
Arthur Bennett, who wrote novels
about industry, had left an estate of
$500,000. He was the world's richest
man-of-letters. During the same
week an American soup king died.
THE BUTLER COUNTY PRESS
John Dorrance. He left an estate
of $114,000,000 soup had been 228
times more profitable than prose. But
John Dorrance was just a poor man
beside gasoline kings, auto kings,
aluminum kings, steel kings and bond
kings. He was a mere piker. Soup is
nothing compared to unedible other
commodities, w-
This contrast a&bfti Suggests the
question: How much is a man worth?
Was John Dorrance's service to so
ciety worth 228 times more than the
service of Arnold Bennett? We think
not. We know that money return is
no criterion of service. We can al
most say that it measures worth in
versely to its merit.
Perhaps in an industrial #ofcld
where intelligence and reason have a
chance to operate, jobs will be eval
uated on the basis of their Service.
The Cherry
rp Where with o«r
Little Hatchet
1
about
we tell tho truth
many
things, sometime* pro­
foundly, sometimes flippantly,
««nietimes recklessly. ...
Bernarr MacFadden, the new owner
of Liberty Magazine, announces to
the world that in the three months
since he bought that weekly publica
tion he has made $200,000 in profit,
thus reversing the long story ante
dating his purchase.
MacFadden says he made this show
ing by the simple expedient of elim
inating administrative charges that
became unnecessary when the weekly
was brought into a combination, a
little expansion of already existing
organization serving to handle the
added unit.
This is the old, old story of com
bination.
Administrative costs are saved, pur
chases can be made at lower unit
costs, and everybody is happy except
those who have to walk the plank be
cause of consolidation.
But the business merger is heart
less. It cheapens unit costs, but finds
no way, by and large, to do anything
to smooth the road for the man who
gets fired. He is the goat, though the
rest of us may profit here and there.
Mergers don't always bring cheap
ened costs. Sometimes they serve to
afford a basis for new stock and
bond issues which demand greater
profit margins for interest and divi
dend purposes.
Sometimes generation-rafter genera
tion goes on paying tribute to the
gentlemen whose watered stock must
earn its keep, legitimately or other
wise.
There are many classical examples
of that.
"Business is business," we have
been told, down through the ages
Which merely means that in business
you have to put profit above every
thing, and let the human equati^
shift for itself.
Perhaps that is right enough, at
that, for if the human equation will
but organize so as to make its power
effective it can mighty well shift for
itself.
Business organizes for greater
power and effectiveness. Working
people should do the same. UNTIL
THEY DO, "business" will be "busi
ness," whether we like it or not.
Mergers, improved machinery
new materials—all the discoveries
and developments of a "straight line
production" age have served to make
it easier to produce what we need and
to do it in much less time.
But because "business" is the
watchword, humanity gets only
part of the great benefit possible. We
know how to turn out goods, but we
do not know how to distribute the
goods as to make a healthy, happy
nation of men, women and children
free from the fear of poverty.
That, gentlemen of finance and
manufacture, is the next job.
And it will be done.
It will be done pretty much at the
speed with which men and women
learn to organize.
One good way to create the spirit for
organization and the understanding
necessary to good organization is to
spread labor papers.
Every union should have a commit
tee constantly on the job getting la
bor newspapers into the hands of non
union workers.
It is an everlasting disgrace that
American labor newspapers do not
have double and quadruple their pres
ent circulation. Give them that and
watch the unions' rosters grow!
Organization, today, to get any
where, must be based on knowledge
vision, understanding of our sur
roundings. The ant is the perfect
example of organization of one kind.
But the work of the ant is today as
it was a thousand years ago. Human
organization requires more than in
stinct. Human organizations today
must keep pace with the world around
them.
Organize AND KNOW WHY.
Learn it by reading trade unions
newspapers.
Read the Press.
JACK WOODFORW
((c) by McClure Newspaper Syndicated
\VNU Service.I
THE
8:50, from Bainbridge,
out oi the tunnel on the east slope
of Ilolyoke hill and started climbing
the grade toward Westminster. The
engineer looked up at Mike Watson,
hand grimly on the throttle as usual
this was the trickiest grade on the
line. Plenty of steam was needed, and
a steady hand on the throttle. The en
gineer had the usual good head of
steam up he shook his head grimly
and cursed to himself as he looked
at Mike. Mike would, he knew, in a
minute, pull ak series of idiotic toot-a
toot, toots on the whistle. He always
did, despite the desperate strain on
the climb when every ounce of steam
was necessary. It was a small thing,
but the fireman always felt furious
about It. He took a certain pride In
trimming his fire to meet every emer
gency he played upon the oil feed
control as a virtuoso plays upon a
violin he could calculate the steam
needed to a nicety, without blowing
the emergency by getting to much
and then Mike always had to go and
mar the performance with his idiotic
toot-a-toot toots.
The fireman was a bachelor. De
spite this, he could realize the neces
sity of some men marrying, even If
they were railroaders but how as
ordinarily level-headed a fellow as Mike
could, after years of married life,
toot-a-toot toot at his wife every time
he passed their bungalow, built on the
hill near the track where Mike nightly
passed with a long freight, was more
than the fireman could understand.
And every time she heard the toot«
a-toot toot, she came out upon the
porch, with the porch light on, and
waved her handkerchief. Marriage
the engineer could understand—but
such monkey business as that—!
Sure enough, as they reached the
center of the grade, to the fireman's
disgust, the toot-a-toot toot sounded.
The fireman stepped to a window and
spat disgustedly. There she was, on
the porch, as usual the porch light
on, waving a fool handkerchief like an
idiot of a high school girl. The fire
man started to expectorate again—
for he always expectorated twice over
this nightly" performance—when a
sight that almost caused him to swal
low his plug held his eyes. A man had
rushed upon the porch. He had
grasped Mrs. Watson by the throat
and was shaking her head from side
to side with obvious murderous Intent.
Mike brought the long train of emp
ties to a standstill with a yank at the
airbrake that sent compressed air
whistling and screaming to the end of
the train. The cars bumped against
each other from end to end of the
train, as though furiously Indignant
and intent upon destroying them
selves.
Mike took a long Iron bar with him
as he Jumped out of the engine and
started up
the
hill. The fireman, auto­
matically looking back to the end of
the train, out of long years of rail
road experience, noted with satisfac
tion that the brakeman was running
back down
the
27
track with a lantern
and flares. He followed
Alike
up
of the most
When Mike burst upon the porch,
the man who had been rigorously
strangling Mrs. Mike vanished within
the house. He managed to get the
door locked. Just as Mike threw him
self against It so that Its firm wood
creaked alarmingly. Mrs. Mike threw
herself upon him. But Mike, uttering
bellows of rage, threw himself again
and again at the door.
The fireman aided Mrs. Mike. At
last they got him calmed to the point
of listening to her.
"It was Davey Wharton," she
gasped. "Davey, the switchman from
up the track. Number two tunnel had
a cave-In. He telephoned the dis
patcher, but you had Just cleared and
It was too late. He tried to set up
flares, but he couldn't get them light
ed, on account of the wind and then
he heard you coming. He knew you
always whistled at me, and that
waved back. There wasn't a minute
to explain to me ... so he just
grabbed me and made off he was mur
dering me, figuring you'd come if you
saw that."
The fireman sal down heavily upon
the porch floor. He gazed at his
fingers and carefully tapped them. He
was figuring out for the second time
what his old age pension would be,
and this time with the pleasurable
knowledge that he would actually get
It, unless he again engaged in some
Quixotic performance.
Succeed, by all means, but do not
attempt to do so at the expense of
other people. It seldom, if ever
works.—C. T. G.
A Leader for
xA$k Tour
DON'T CARRY |j
-v IT OVER
By DOUQLA8 MALLOCH
WHEN
a nsaa was hoy.
Just so big and no bigger,
Then it wasn't a joy, **•.*.
Not to puzzle and flgger.
With a shanty the school,
And the President Grover,"*
Then the regular rule
Was to carry things over. -Vs
Oh, that teacher of mine
5
(I don't know what It gained her)
Gave me four into nine,
But it left a remainder.
Ev'ry lesson each day
Left a three or a seven.
Then I found out the way—
Didn't carry It over.
T/
After that it was heaven.'
I eould add and divide
And not leave any letfta*,
Tes, whatever I tried
It would always come even.
When a flgger that fussed
At the end I'd discover,
That was easy—I just
Then I got out of school
And the problems were bigger,
But I found It a rule
For whatever you figger:
Though there's care all the W9J,
There Is worry and sorrow,
Make it part of today,
Not a part of tomorrow*
There Is plenty of pain,
There is doubtln' and grietln*.
Don't let it remain,
Make your problem come even.
Start the morning as bright
And as free as a rover:
It
there's trouble at night.
Don't you carry it over!
(©, 1930, Douglaa if*!loch.)
O
Through
Woman's Eyes
ft* «Ims
the
Incline toward his home, painfully
conscious that he was breaking at
least
cherished
rules
of the railroad. But Mike was Mike
—fool that he was and Mrs.
Mike was Mrs. Mike, even If she did
act like a school girl. Mentally, as he
ran after Mike, the fireman com
puted how much old age pension he
might have had coming but for this
break tonight. He formulateo alibis
to present to the superintendent. But
he could think of no alibi which might
account for the desertion of one's en
gine on the main Une for a mere
thing like murder and a mur
der to which he was wholly unrelated
at that.
THE BLIND MONSTER
Tful
WO wealthy women, both beauti
and talented, with a large cir
cle of friends and "everything to live
for," were found dead in a luxurious
bungalow in southern California.
They had been each other's closest
friends. It was found that in the will
of each the other appeared as benefi
ciary. One was a former actress, of
considerable social and artistic stand
ing, the other a beautiful young artist
and society woman. They had been
Inseparable—and now they were dead,
shot by the hand of one of them, a
murder and a suicide.
And what do you suppose waa the
cause of this tragedy? A great sor
row? A financial loss so devastating
that it would have changed the course
of their lives? A hopeless lover tri
angle? No, indeed just jealousy on
the part of one of the women because
her friend, after having outshone hor
at a dramatic club, was now invited
to a luncheon to which she was not
invited.
A murder and a suicide over an in
vitation to a luncheon.
That is the incredible thing about
jealousy. It has no sense of values.
I have always thought that Jealousy
should not be personified as green
eyed, but as blind. It always affects
people so that they are not only un
reasonable, but absolutely bereft of
all Judgment and all sense of values.
That is why It is not so incredible
as It would seem that a woman should
kill her best friend and herself over
nothing more Important than an lnvl
tatlon to a luncheon—when that wom
an was in the throes of the most blind
ing, the most corrosive, the most stu
pid, the most insane of all emotions,
namely jealousy.
Says Part-Time Plan
Keeps Many at Work
Washington.—Employers are urged
to divide auailable work among as
many employes as possible in a state
ment by Fred C. Croxton, acting
chairman of President Hoover's emer
gency committee on employment.
A survey made by the committee of
fifty-five firms employing 1,056,325
workers shows that on May 15 the
employers had put 316,086 on part
time work, compared with 289,953 on
March 1.
Miami Gives Laborers
$1 Wage Rate Boost
Miami, Fla.—The Miami unem
ployment committee has raised the
wages of about fifty men employed
at odd jobs around the city from $2
to $3 a day. The attention of the
committee was directed to the fact
that what is technically described as
"common labor" receives $3 a day
and that the unemployed should not
be victimized by paying them one
third less than the prevailing rate
of wages. The committee is under
the control of Mayor R. B. Gautier.
Subscribe for the Press.
Ml U/
HOOVER HOPES TO
CURE COAL ILLS
Washington.—The question of call
ing a national conference to consider
economic problems in the bituminous
coal industry, which John L. Lewis,
president of the llnitfid Mine Workers
of America, requested President
Hoover to convene, was undecided at
the conclusion of a two-day confer
ence between officials of the Mine
Workers' Union, Secretary of Labor
Doak and Secretary of Commerce
Lamont.
President Hoover still hopes to find
some means of bettering conditions in
the soft coal industry.
"We have heard both the miners
and the operators," Secretary Doak
Said, "but have reached no conclu
sion. There will be further confer
ences before a final report is made to
President Hoover, but I do not know
at this time who they will be with."
Secretary Doak complimented the
miners for having made a very able
presentation of their case.
"We think conditions in the bitu
minous industry are desperate from
u human standpoint and are steadily
petting worse, and therefore believe a
conference should be called/' declar
ed President Lewis.
Spokesmen for the Miners* Union
supported this view with statements
of fact. They emphasized the posi
tion originally made in their request
to President Hoover to call the con
ference, that coal operators should
recognize the rights of employes in
mining communities, permit them to
assemble, and to join the organization
of their choice. They also emphasized
the desirability of operators dealing
collectively with their employes
through workers' representattives and
of setting up a wage structure to
stabilize the industry.
In addition to Secretary of Labor
Doak and Secretary of Commerce
Lamont, the government was repre
sented by Hugh L. Kerwin, director
of
the conciliation service
of
tl^e de­
partment of labor.
President Lewis was accompanied
by ten officials of the United Mine
Workers.
The conference with the Mine
Workers' Union is the second in a
series the secretaries of commerce
and labor are holding at the direc
tion of President Hoover to ascertain
whether there is ground in which all
elements in the coal industry can be
brought around a common table. The
first conference consisted of coal
operators who were called to Wash
ington by Secretary Lamont.
Insanitary Drinking
Fountains for Workers
Washington. Employers in the
majority of approximately 1,500
workshops scattered throughout 21
states impose insanitary drinking
fountains on their employes, declares
the women's bureau of the depart
ment of labor.
The bureau claims its survey of
drinking fountains reveals that the
large majority of the fountains are
capable of transmitting 15 specific
diseases, from tuberculosis to the
common cold.
In most of the states the only reg
ulation is the prohibition of the com
mon drinking cup, and even this reg
ulation is inadequately prescribed in
17 states.
There was a time when nearly
every advance made by organized la
bor came as a result of open fight
ing. Now far more is often gained by
co-operation.
Men Attention
ALL MEN'S
WALK-OVER
SHOES
CARRY THIS
LABEL
WORKERS UNIOh
Factory
Leifheit's
Walk-Over Boot Shop
214 High Street
Jlour
For ty-Five Years
Grocer