The Butler County press. [volume], October 07, 1932, Image 1

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

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VOL. XXXU. No. 26
Washington.—Following up their
refusal to discuss proposed wage cuts
with railroad managements, represen
tatives of 21 railroad labor organiza
tions declared any further cuts at
this time "an unsound and destruc
tive policy," and asked President Hoo
ver to make additional Reconstruction
Finance Corporation loans to the rail
roads conditional upon maintenance
of present wages.
Pointing out that railroad employes
are now working under a 10 per cent
reduction agreement, Which expires
February 1, the railroad unions,
through the Railway Labor Execu
tives' Association, pi'esented a state
ment to President Hoover, which said
that "when there are some hopeful
signs that the depression may have
run its course, when there is renewed
hope of early economic recovery, the
railway employes find themselves
menaced by further reductions in
wages."
"We have supported and will con
tinue to support and advocate the use
of all of the resources of the govern
ment to relieve unemployment dis
tress and to aid and promote indus
trial activities which will increase
employment," the statement contin
ued. "But when the government is
making such efforts we submit that as
a part of its policy there should be
unyielding opposition to reductions of
CONTRACTS PLAN
To Beat Thirty-Hour Law
On Big Job
New Orleans (ILNS)—That the
South is determined to circumvtent
the law of the United States in re
gard to the shorter work day, while
money was given communities and
states with the stipuation that labor
should not be employed more than
HO hours a week, is evidenced by in
formation from Greenville, Miss.
Mississippi river levee contractors
there express the belief that the gov
ernment 30-hour week for common
laborers on contracts to be let in
October for new levees from five
miles north of Friar Point to Stovall
will reduce rather than increase jobs
for delta workers.
The average day's work on tjhe
levees by common labor is now 10
hours a day, according to contractors.
The change inaugurated by the gov
ernment, they said, will allow labor
ers only three days' actual work with
each company a week.
How to Beat Law
Contractors said laborers new em
ployed on the levees will automatical
ly work in a cycle when the 30-hour
week regulation becomes effective,
which would mean that the laborers
will be switched from one job to an
other as soon as each one of them
finis hes a 30-hour stretch nf work
with one company. The clauses in the
contracts to be let in October for
Men Attention
ALL MEN'S
WALK-OVER
SHOES
CARRY THIS
LABE
WORKERS UNION
Leifheit's
Walk-Over Boot Shop
214 High Street
Ambulance Service
Phone 35
«m y
Unions Ask Hoover Help In
Fight Against Wage Cuts
Railroad Labor, Denouncing: Employers' Policy, Ask
President to Make Government Loans Conditional on
Maintaining Rates of Pay.
wages with all the evil consequences
to which we have referred.
'We believe that in the present sit
uation the government of the United
States has the power in the case of
the railroads, which are seeking and
will evidently continue to seek the
aid of the government to impose as
a condition of such aid that the rail
roads shall not participate in the un
sound and destructive policy of reduc
ing wages, breaking down the stand
ards of living and reducing the pur
chasing power of the wage earners
upon which the prosperity of all es
sential industries must depend."
"Labor when used and property
when used in railway service are pro
ducing practically the same revenues
as before," the labor executive added.
"Unemployed labor is not being paid
any unearned income. But unemploy
ed property is demanding payments
of unearned income out of reduced
wages.
'We again insist that it is eco
nomically unsound and socially unjust
to reduce wages in order that labor
may be compelled to pay a dole to
idle capital."
Following the visit of the labor del
egation to the white house, Secre
tary of Labor Doak announced that
the president had expressed the view
that he felt it was desirable that the
question of wage reductions should
be deferred until the end of the year.
work in Coahoma county provide 30
hours' labor a week a** the minimum.
Levee contractors say this may lead
to lean employment and inefficiency
in the common labor class inasmuch
as laborers will have to switch jobs
every three days to keep busy.
Examples
of
Old Story
The Lawrence Construction Com
pany of Jackson, Miss., engaged in
the paving of Sidell-Lacombe project
near this city, cut wages of their la
borers to ten cents an hour, resulting
in temporarily tying up all work.
However, a compromise was effected
and the men returned to work at
12^ cents an hour.
The plant of the Bogalusa Paper
Company is operating seven days a
week. The Gaylord Corrugated Box
Company has increased working time
to two 12-hour shifts instead of two
10-hour shifts. This plant is working
Saturday nights and Sunday.
RAIL WAGE
Issue Shifts Base as Post
ponement is Announced
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Presi
dent Hoover announced an appeal to
rail executives not to press the wage
issue, but to allow time for expected
recovery in railroad operations, and
the acquiescence of the roads in this
program.
This dramatic move pushed apart
the structure built up by the roads in
the preparation of public sentiment
for a wage-cutting movement.
By the same token, it may have
operated to take the steam out of
wage-reduction moves in other lines.
Immediately on the heels of the an
nouncement traffic gains were re
ported by the roads for August, with
a decline in losses of net operating
revenue.
Another move, with a problematical
outcome, was the naming of a board
of five to study the railroad situation
and to make public recommendations.
On this board are Calvin Coolidge, A1
fred E. Smith, Bernard Baruch, Alex
ander P. Legge and Clarke Howell
Sr. It is expected this board will rec
ommend a legislative program.
Robert G.T
ay lor Mortuary
Formerly
THE C. W. GATH CO.
Home Owning Gains
Funeral Directors
Home-owning families now num
ber 46.8 per cent of all families in
the United States. This proportion
just announced by the U. S. Census
Bureau is the result of a door-to-door
count of the entire country. The num
ber of home-owning families is grow
ing faster than the number of all
families. In 1920, the proportion of
home-owning families was 44.6 per
cent.
Chairs and Tables Rented
17 So. Street
v V
Q[
FINANCE REtOMSTfiOCnON
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Build
ing toward a tremendous drive for
increased consumer buying, the A. F.
of L. Monthly Summary of Business
just out crashes down with sledge
hammer force on the wage cutter and
points to him as the block in the path
of recovery, using charts, facts and
figures to force home the lesson. The
Survey is hopeful—it is almost tinted
with optimism, but it sees the hard
and ponderous fact in the center of
the situation—buying must begin and
it cannot begin except as wages are
paid to furnish the money.
The federation lists gains and they
make a fairly imposing showing:
1—Unemployment rise was checked
in August.
2—Coal mines are more active.
3—Increased car loadings show
goods beginning to move to market.
4—Prices of goods are beginning
to rise.
Then the fly that still walks sticky
footed across the ointment. Banks
not yet supplying credit, retail sales
still lagging.
'Confidence is Spreading"
The federation then presents its
diagnosis, briefly:
"The gains taken together are too
modest to rouse enthusiasm, but they
DO hint that since the end of financial
panic we may have entered a period
of convalescence to develop into cure
until consumer buying picks up."
What loss of wages has meant is
pointed out in relation to the decrease
in automatic production, discontinu
ance of telephones, doubling up of
families in rented homes and fall in
purchase of such consumer commodi
ties as textiles, clothing, furnishings
and the things that go into the cur
rent of retail business. The federa
tion survey says workers operate
more than half the passenger auto
mobiles and it agrees with Business
Week that workers with incomes un
der $5,000 a year buy 83 per cent of
the goods and services consumed each
year.
The effect of wages on retail busi
ness is presented by the survey in
graphic form. It is shown that by
July this year wage earners' in
comes, in terms of goods they will
buy, had fallen 50 per cent below the
1929 level, and retail trade had
followed right along, to within one
per cent. Retail trade in July was
51 per cent of the 1929 level, which
is proof to business that business
interests lie with labor and not with
Wall street.
Wages Basis of Prosperity
The survey points out that, with
prices rising consuming power must
fall, unless wages also rise, so that
the only route back to general pros
perity is through rising wage levels,
That many companies could pay
wage increases is declared and the
survey finds proof of the assertion in
the fact that, "even now at the bot
i
Car Loadings Gain andi "Confidence is Spreading,"
Says Review of National Field.
'-®^T i8*"fTy^ rwr^-™ff-' 5
AGZlQjLjy
Cheer Over Gains Shown Dimmed
By Lag of Industrial Payrolls
Monthly Survey Hopeful, Citing Many Indications of Im
provement, But Wage-Cutter is Branded as Block in
Road to Prosperity—Unemployment Checked and
s V
HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1932
A Lift
1
Wages Must Be Basis of Recovery
In United States, A. F. of L. Says
torn of depression" ifloany are pitying
increased dividends. It is pointed out
that in the last eight months 190
corporations have paid extra divi
dends and 27 have increased their
regular dividends.
"The time has come to reverse this
trend," the federation asserts. Our
object from now on should be to raise
wages, not reduce them. Only thus
can we build up buying power and
keep business rising. The wage de
flation theory arose in a scarcity
economy where production could not
supply enough for all. But times
have changed we are suffering from?
problems of over-supply and under
consumption mass production indus
tries cannot grow unless mass buying
increases."
Hours Must Be Shortened
The federation goes on to point out
"Hours must be shortened as well,
but if shortened hours mean just
another income cut, this move will
not be fully constructive. Every
effort should be made to give work
ers an hourly wage increase to com
pensate at least in part for their in
come loss."
The Survey points to clear evi
dences of growing resentment at un
employment and deflation. While the
tremendous loss in purchasing power
by labor is cited, the loss of fifty per
cent by the farmers is cited, in con
nection with the farmers' strike of
the middle west. "The last month's
slight improvement in business can
not adjust their fundamental prob
lems," the Survey says. "As winter
approaches we may expect uprisings
to increase."
So, the federation regards the out
look with appreciation of the im
provement thus far shown, but ques
tions whether improvement will come
fast enough to ward off the possible
shock of serious consequences this
winter.
C. OF C. BACKS
Forty-Hour Work Week For
American Industry
Wshington, D. C. (ILNS)—Ten
hours behind the facts, the United
States Chamber of Commerce this
week announced a vigorous campaign
to put American industry on a 40
hour week during the depression.
Whether this means that the
Chamber wants a 40-hour week for
those who have jobs, or a 40-hour
week for all wage earners is not
stated.
In any event the directors announce
a call to all employers to inaugurate
a work week of 40 hours as the maxi
mum.
Some trade unionists point out that
this is at least a step in advance for
the Chamber, since it definitely wipes
out the 48 and 44-hour week.
4
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Cannot Meet Situation
On the other hand, it is pointed out,
the Chamber is 10 hours behind the
facts and cannot result in full em
ployment, for the simple reason that
a 30-hour week would be required to
restore employment for all. Nothing
short of the 30-hour week will serve
to re-create employment for the 11,
100,000 now out of work and the
Chamber of Commei*ce is standing
for a slight palliative rather than a
cure.
The Chamber of Commerce an
nounces that its campaign will be in
behalf of all workers, white collar and
mechanics, so that 40 hours per week
shall be the maximum for all workers.
Here Are Committeemen
Among those attending the meeting
at which this action was determined
upon were Walter S. Gifford, of the
American Telephone & Telegraph
Company Walter C. Teagle, Standard
Oil of New Jersey Henry I. Harri
man, New England utilities magnate
W. Litchfield, Goodrich Tire & Rub
ber Company Silas H. Strawn, for
mer president of the Chamber Lewis
E. Pearson, New York banker I^red
W. Sargent, president, C. & N. W.
railroad.
The report on unemployment, out
of which came the 40-hour action, was
headed by Mr. Litchfield. The Cham
ber estimates that 800,000 employers
are affiliated with local Chambers of
the organization. Direct appeal will
be made to each of these in the cam
paign to limit the work week to 40
hours.
KOTEL WORKERS
IN MAIL CAMPAIGN
Cincinnati, O. (ILNS)—"We've got
to win" is the keynote of a letter
writing campaign now under way to
increase membership in the Hotel and
Restaurant Employes' Union, under
direction of the international officers
More than 750 individual letters
have been mailed to central labor
councils and state federations, each
carrying 500 cards advei'tising the
Hotel and Restaurant Employes.
These letters and cards are expect
ed to do the work of organizers and
to pave the way for organizers to
come later.
Secretary-Treasurer Robert B. Hes
keth calls attention of the central
labor councils and state federations
to the fact that most persons patron
ize a restaurant or hotel at some time
or other, many of them nearly every
day, and that the co-operation of these
patrons will accomplish much for the
organizations.
Careful instructions as to the use
of the cards are contained in the cov
ering letter. The value of trade un
ionists' patronage in hotels and res
taurants is pointed out as a means of
winning good will for the union. The
union is makir.g progress in spite of
depression and is making use of every
available legitimate means of contin
uing its growth.
FAILURES FEWBR
Commercial failures are occurring
less frequently throughout the United
States, according to reports compil
ed by R. G. Dun & Co.
A reduction in the number of In
solvents has been reported each week
for five weeks.
2
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New York City (ILNS)—Engineer
Taylor and his stopwatch time study
3 out of the picture. Taylorites
have come
of view.
Estate
THIRD
^"v'X
TY PRESSi'^-lf 1
"Last Word" in Time Study
to a more modern point
But the hunt for speed-up methods
goes on forever, and now comes an
electrical jigger into the industrial
arena to keep such tabs on a man
and his work as were never kept
before.
The new device is called the
Chronolog, to be manufactured by the
National Acme Co., Cleveland. It
will permit such a check-up on pro
duction as Taylor never dreamed of.
The Chronolog can be installed on a
giant press that stamps out half an
automobile body, or to fancy little
machines that wrap up pills that may
or may not do what the labels say
they will do. The Chronolog finds the
idle time and chalks it down. No get
ting away from the electrical record
it makes.
Test installations are said to have
resulted in 20 to 83 per cent increase
in production, thus piling more goods
per man hour onto a market in which
UNION
JOBS
Increase While Jobless Total
Grows
Washignton, D. C. (ILNS)—Trade
union membership gained some dur
ing August and the first part of Sep
tember, but the total of national un
employment rose from 11,400,000 to
1,500,000,000, the A. F. of L. unem
ployment report just shows.
For industry generally lay-offs
about balanced gains in jobs.
The report says small industries
news laid men off and that about 100,
000 were released in agriculture, ac
counting for the growth of total un
employment.
"Unquestionably the winter just
ahead of us holds suffering never be
fore experienced in this country and
no adequate means are yet in sight
to prevent i,t" said President Wil
liam Green. "Leaders of the govern
ment reconstruction program are hard
at wnrk on to ioh?.
V
ONE DOLLAR PES YEAB
Is New Electrical Jigger
When Little Mister Chronolog Is Fastened to Your Ma
chine You Are Checked on Every Lost Motion and
Every Idle Moment—Device Increases Output.
goods have no place to go because
buyers have no money.
When the worker starts his ma
chine the record is written on a tape.
That tape keeps the record all day.
The worker can see it as he works
and the foreman can see it whenever
he comes around. The boss can see
it before golf and after golf, too, if
he comes back.
Cumulative time is recorded, idle
time is recorded and production is re
corded. If there is a shutdown a red
light flashes the news to the fore
man. The worker dials the reason and
the Chronolog chalks up time out for
whatever may be the reason. At thi3
point the device provides the worker
his alibi for not working. The ma
chine keeps on marking up idle time
and the reason until the machine is
in operation.
But while machines are running the
Chronolog catches every lost motion
and every idle moment. Its net re
sult is to speed up the worker, pile
more goods per hour onto the market
and, in piece-work shops, to result in
lower rates, as per the custom, for a
worker "mustn't get rich on the job."
but getting men back to work by the
million is necessarily a slow task and
unless progress is speeded by whole
hearted co-operation of all, millions
of families will have to be supported
by charity."
Charges Near-Peonage
In Mississippi Camps
New York City (ILNS)—Charges
of virtual peonage on Mississippi
flood control work amounting to a
"national disgrace" have been made
by Miss Helen Boardman, former Red
Cross worker, just back from the
flood control region. Her charges co
incide with organized labor's charges
made long since. Miss Boardrnan's
information has been presented to
Brig.-Gen. George B. Pillsbury, who
is investigating for the war depart
ment.
Advortw Tho
PRICES SLASHED
oil
the genuine
E A O A
-and three handsome new models added
to the line. All models have the Intensi
Fire Air Duct and other exclusive
Heatrola Features.
"LJERE are facts that you ought to know
There are dozens of different makes of cabi
net heaters on the market. Some people call them
all HEATROLAS. But there is actually only
ONE Heatrola. The Estate Stove Co. invented
it (in 1921), patented it, registered its name in
the U. S. Pat. Office, advertises it. We sell and
recommend it.
There's satisfaction in owning the original, the
best-known article in any line. In the case of
heaters, there are important POCKET BOOK
reasons why you want
the genuine Heatrola.
Its patented Intensi
Fire Air Duct turns
waste into warmth—
saves lots of fuel. Its
Jointless Ash Box and
other exclusive fea
tures give you warm
floors, greater clean
liness. Don't risk the
family's health. Don't
deny yourself longer
the comfort and con
venience of a Heat
rola. In our opinion,
prices will never
again be as low.
Ip
HEATROLA
"There is only ONE Heatrola—
ESTATE builds it"
HlqhinQuantii-LowmTrice
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