The Butler County press. [volume], March 31, 1933, Image 1

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TOL. XXXII. No. 51
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Or
ganized labor's long fight for modifi
cation of the Volstead act ended in
victory when the Cullen-Harrison beer
bill was passed by congress and sign
ed by President Roosevelt. The bill
became a law just nine days after the
president had recommended it to con
gress.
Enactment of the beer bill was
hailed by labor as marking social and
economic progress. "It is a distinct
step forward upon the road to eco
nomic recovery," and "will provide
work for many thousands of idle peo
ple," President William Green, of the
American Federation of Labor, said.
President Roosevelt used four pens
in signing the bill, which were given
to Senator Harrison, Representative
Cullen, the American Federation of
Labor, and the American Legion.
The new law legalizes the sale of
beer and wine of not more than 3.2
per cent alcoholic content, by weight.
It becomes effective at midnight in
all states having no enforcement act.
Labor's national committee foi mod
ification of the Volstead act estimates
this means beer will be sold in 23
states. Signing of the bill waa the
signal for activity in breweries all
over the country. In Milwaukee thou
sands clamored for jobs at eight big
breweries.
"The final enactment of the beer
bill into law marks a distinct step
FORMER UNION
Heads Sentenced to Prison
By N. Y. Judge
New York City (ILNS)—Judge
Knott in general sessions sentenced
Sam Kaplan, former president of
Local 306, Motion Picture Machine
Operators' Protective Union of
Greate New York, and Theodore
Greenberg, former member of theex
ecutive board, to six months in the
penitentiary, following their convic
tion on charges of coercion for ex
pelling nine members. Kaplan and
the ohter officers of the union were
ousted by the International Alliance
of Theatrical Stage Employes and
Moving Picture Operators last year.
The court imposed fines of $500
each on four members of the union
and fines of $250 each upon four other
members.
Twenty-two members of the local
originally were named in the indict
ment, which was based on the charge
that the complainants were attacked
and expelled from the union in 1929
because one of them, Alexander Pol
in, a former business agent for the
local, had applied to the supreme
court for an accounting of the local's
fund. The nine subsequently were
ordered reinstated to membership by
the court of appeals, but this was
followed by an effort of the Kaplan
majority to expel them on new
charges.
Last November, while new litiga
tion was pending in the supreme
court against the Kaplan faction,
Kaplan and the other officers of the
local were deposed by the officers of
the international union and an elec
tion of new officers was ordered.
The trial before Judge Nott began
about a month ago with 21 defend
ants, one of the 22 having died. Judge
Nott ordered the jurors to acquit six
of the defendants, and five others
were acquitted after trial.
CEYLON WORKERS
FORM UNIONS
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Work
ers in the big island of Ceylon, south
of India, have built up a strong trade
union movement in ten years, by fol
lowing sound trade union tactics, al
lowing no divisions in their ranks,
and striving to improve their condi
tion now instead of in some far dis
tant Utopian future. The story, tolo
''TL'\^~' '*'"r''" ".-
v V
Labor Hails Beer Bill As
Great Progressive Step
Will Give Work to Big Army of Idle—Law Long Advo
cated By Trade Union Movement Marks Social and
Economic Advance, Green Says.
forward upon the road to economic
recovery," Mr. Green said, following
its passage. "In operation it will pro
vide work opportunities for many
thousands of idle people. Every com
munity in the nation will be helped
economically. It is difficult to correct
ly estimate the number of idle peo
ple who will be given work through
the rehabilitation of the breweries
and through the demand which will
be created for farm products, sup
plies and material. It is clear, how
ever, that the number of people who
will be accorded an opportunity to
work, as a result of the enactment
of the beer measure, will run into
hundreds of thousands.
"Labor advocated the enactment of
the beer bill for economic as well as
social reasons. The direct beneficial
and helpful effect which it will have
upon the unemployment situation
will be manifested quickly. It will
be reflected in the building of brew
ing manufacturing plants, in the
modernization and repair of others,
in increased transportation, truckage
and« hauling and in the demand for
materials and supplies which go into
building construction and into beer
manufacturing. Besides the enact
ment of this law will satisfy a social
demand for the manufacture and sale
of a beverage which has been deter
mined by congress to be non-intoxi
cating."
by the International Federation of
Trade Unions, will come as a sur
prise to many, who have thought of
Ceylon as a backward country in
which a labor movement could not
exist.
Ten years ago a Ceylon worker, A.
E. Goonesinha, set about th etask of
organising his fellow workers and to
day the All-Ceylon Trade Union Con
gress is one of the most powerful
organizations in India. The congress
includes chauffeurs, hotel and domes
tic workers, seamen, street car work
ers, electrical workers, tailors and
peasants."
Organization was difficult, because
Ceylon is divided into huge tea, cof
fee, cocoa and rubber plantations and
the employers were bitterly hostile to
organization of the workers. Goone
sihha's reply to the employers' com
bined offensve was to bring about
strike after strike, forcing the un
wiling employers to come to reason.
Today almost all the trade unions in
Ceylon are recognized by the employ
ers. As a result of an agreement,
joint machinery for the settlement
of disputes has been set up and most
controversies are settled by arbitra
tion and negotiaton.
Organzaton has been made syste
matically and methodically much re
mains to be won, but the workers have
been progressing on sound trade un
ion lines. In their militancy they are
second to none, but they do not waste
much time on academic discussion.
They believe in the dictum "an ounce
of practice is worth a ton of the
ory."
Malnutrition in Schools
Gains 55% in Five Years
New York City (ILNS)—Malnu
trition among school children in all
parts of New York city has increased
55 per cent and in Bronx Borough it
has nearly doubled since 1927, Miss
Pauline Murrah, director of the
nutrition advisory service of the New
York Chapter of the Red Cross, said
in reporting on a five-year study.
The study, Miss Murrah said, more
than justified apprehensions of a
committee which reported to the Red
Cross 14 months ago that "there is
great anxiety in the minds of all in
terested in public welfare as to the
after-effects of the present emergency
on the health of the people it is
feared that the results may well be a
great increase in malnutrition and
lowered resistance to both fatigue and
disease."
VOTERS' ATTENTION
The last day for registration for the Special Election May 2, 1933,
is April 12, 1933. All persons who have not registered or voted in the
past two years must register to be elig.'ble to vote at this election. This
Includes persons becoming of age and those who have moved since the
last election. You may register at the court house on or before the
above date. The office of the board is open dailv and you can register
any time. REGISTER NOW.
u
"*'•*•. "j,
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COPSES/
(Copyright. W. N. U.)
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Strong
opposition to President Roosevelt's
plan to recruit 250,000 jobless men
and put them to work on reforesta
tion and similar conservation proj
ects, under military control, at $1 a
day, was voiced by organized labor.
The bill for putting Roosevelt's
plan into effect was denounced by
President William Green of the
American Federation of Labor, in
vigorous terms, and Chairman Wil
liam P. Connery, Jr., of the house la
bor committee, refused to introduce
it. The bill was then introduced by
Majoiity Leader Byrns.
Green declared some provisions of
the Roosevelt plan were "highly ob
jectionable," and urged that the ele
ment of "forced labor" in the pro
posal be eliminated. Connery an
nounced he could not "father a $l-a
day wage for married as well as sin
gle men," and said that throughout
his career in congress he had sought
to maintain living wage rates.
In an endeavor to overcome a ris
ing tide of opposition, President
Roosevelt summoned members of the
house and senate labor committees
to the white house to discuss the
measure with him. He failed to win
over Connery, who said he could not
support the bill in the form proposed
by the president. He offered sugges
tions for amendment of the measure
but these were not received favor
ably.
In submitting the plan to congress,
the president said he was asking no
new funds at this time for the woi'k,
and that the use of money already
appropriated for public works would
be sufficient for several months. La
bor men say that analysis of the sit
uation indicates that the money to be
used would come from funds which
were to be spent for public works,
on which the 30-hour week would pre
vail, with payment of standard rates
of wages.
In his statement on the bill, Mr.
Gregn, on behalf of organized labor,
said that the regimentation of labor
through enlistment in a civilian con
servation corps, under military dis
cipline and military control, as pro
vided in the bill, will awaken "feel
ings of grave apprehension in the
BOARD OF ELECTIONS.
H. B. Grevey, Chairman.
Fred M. Stitsinger, Clerk.
1 V
Labor Fights Roosevelt Plan
For Workers' Conservation
Green Expresses Strong Opposition
To Low Dollar-a-Day Wage
Urgres Standard Rate of Pay and Assails Enlistment Fea
ture of Scheme—Connery Refuses to Introduce Bill.
STHE BUTLER COUNTY PRESS W
April the First
OH
90/,
hearts and minds of labor." He con
tinued:
"Military control and military dom
ination, with its segregation plans,
transgresses in a very large degree
upon the free exercise of labor and, in
itself, is repugnant to those who are
earnestly endeavoring to bring about
the restoration of normal economic
and industrial conditions.
"In addition, labor will be greatly
alarmed because it will fear that the
imposition of a form of compulsory
service, under military control and
army rates of pay, will depress and
lawer wage scales and wage stand
ards paid and established for similar
work.
"The enlistment feature, with time
of service circumscribed, the substitu
tion of the military code for the con
ti*ol of civil units, the lower grade
of pay, wherein workmen enlisted in
the civilian conservation corps would
compete with free labor and would
render valuable service at a rate of
pay much lower than their training
and qualifications warrant, the en
forced separation of the breadwinner
from his family or the locality in
which he lives are some of the out
standing features of the proposed
legislation which are highly objection
able and to which labor must, in self
defense, interpose its objections.
"Labor has suffered much and is
daily undergoing great hardships, but
bad as the situation is we cannot
believe that the time has come when
the United States should supply re
lief through the creation of a form
of compulsory military service and
through the substitution of the mili
tary code and military control for
civil procedure and practical methods.
"In opposing the legislation sub
mitted, labor earnestly recommends
that a plan of employment of idle
workers in reforestration and recla
mation and other items covered by
the bill be formulated, providing for
the employment of standard rates of
pay under voluntary conditions of
employment, and that the element of
'forced labor' and military service be
completely eliminated and stricken
from the plan of employment to be
followed."
ECONOMY BILL
Aid to Big Business,
Farmer-Laborite
Say
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Sav
ings effected by the emergency econ
omy bill, just passed by congress and
signed by President Roosevelt, will
benefit big business to the tune of
$500,000,000, the farmer-labor mem
bers of the house charged in a state
ment scoring the bill.
The bill, the farmer-labor repre
sentatives further charged, will be the
signal for the beginning of another
campaign of wage cutting in private
industry, and will seriously cripple
the American luring people JMid the
s
WHAT A PAIN IN
THfc
fOOT
I
DJOOLO
HAVE,
HAP 1 KICKED If
"Army"
overwhelming majority of the veter
ans.
The statement was issued from the
office of Representative Magnus John
son, ocf Minnesota, former farmer
labor senator. Johnson announced
all five members of his party in the
house approved the statement. All
five voted against the economy bill.
"No provisions were made in the
measure to justly cut the salaries of
high-paid government officials," the
statement said. "Nothing was men
tioned of reducing costs of govern
ment by reorganization of countless
bureaus and commissions."
The farmer-laborites said, how
ever, that the bill would cut the pay
of federal employes in the lower
brackets, and that additional budget
balancing would be made at the ex
pense of the veterans.
"This action of congress goes fur
ther than that," the statement con
tinued.
"It is the signal for all enter
prise, public and private, to lower
salaries, and it is hard to under
stand just where this vicious
circle of salary cutting and
slashing will end.
'We were besieged with telegrams
from persons representing big busi
ness to vote for this bill ,and why?
The tremendous savings realized by
paring of employes' salaries and vet
erans' relief will mean a saving of
approximately $500,000,000 to corpo
rations, banks and other big business
in tihs country. It is just another
repetition of big business dodging and
the American people again shoulder
ing the burden of governmental oper
ation and maintenance."
AKRON LABOR
Wages Fight Against Non
Union Theatres
Akron, Ohio. Akron Motion Pic
ture Operators' Union No. 364, after
exhausting every other means of set
tling its controversy with the man
agement of the Orpheum Theatre, of
ficially boycotted the concern and or
ganized a picket patrol of the estab
lishment. Pickets working in shifts
paraded in front of this downtown
theatre and handed cards to prospec
tive patrons and passersby, stating
that the house was unfair to organ
ized labor and urging them for safe
ty's sake to patronize theatres that
employ experienced and competent
union men.
The picketing campaign laflso in
cluded the following non-union the
atres: State Theatre, Liberty Theatre,
Thornton Theatre, Dayton Theatre,
National Theatre, Palace Theatre,
Peoples Theatre, Gem Theatre, and
Regent Theatre.
In its determined fight in the inter
est of decent wages and hours for
motion picture operators the local
union, No. 364, has the hearty back
ing of the Summit County Central
Labor Union and the Ohio State Fed
eration of Labor.
Truth is strong next to
*"-.*•
'.
HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, MARCH 31,1933 ONE DOLLAR PER TSAR
the
Al­
mighty. Give me liberty to know, to
utter, and to argue freely, according
to conscience,
above all liberties.—
Mil&QBU
_%
In New York, the nation's biggest
theatrical center, the League of New
York Theatres has virtually admitted
defeat in the battle to cut the wages
of union stagehands and musicians.
Dr. Henry Moskowitz, president of
the league, announced the organiza
tion realized its "helplessness to
fight the unions" and that it would
adopt a policy of watchful waiting.
In theatrical circles his statement was
interpreted as a tacit admission of
defeat.
Despite threats to close, theatres
belonging to the league remained
open, with the stagehands and mu
sicians standing pat on their refusal
to accept a wage cut. The workers
pointed out that the managers were
granted reductions when the existing
contracts were signed, and declared
they could not accept further cuts.
In Cleveland, Indianapolis and other
THIRTY-HOUR WEEK
Bill Reported Favorably By
Minnesota Lawmakers
St. Paul, Minn.—The labor committee
of the Minnesota house of represen
tatives reported favorably the bill
providing the five-day week and six
hour day on public works.
The bill was supported by Repre
sentative Roy Weir, a member of the
labor committee George W. Lawson,
secretary of the Minnesota State Fed
eration of Labor Edwin L. Hudson,
business representative of Carpen
ters' Local Union No. 7 James J.
Chrystle, president of the Minneap
olis Building Trades Council A. J.
Mclinerney, business representative
of the Plumbers' Union, and R. Man
gni, business representative of the
Bricklayers' Union.
Representative Weir and machinery
made it possible to erect buildings in
about half the time formerly requir
ed. Even in normal times painters
were unable to obtain work for more
than three months in the year.
"This bill will not increase the
cost," he added, "but gives the worker
a chance to share in the benefits of
machinery. The argument that this
is not the time for such legislation
must fail because it is only in times
of stress like the present that social
legislation is obtained."
Mr. Lawson pointed ou tthat where
the Reconstruction Finance Corpora
tion made loans for projects it was
stipulated that the six-hour day and
five-day week must be applied.
Mr. Hudson declared the machine
age made shorter hours for the work
ers necessary. He said the six-hour
day and five-day week on the Minne
apolis post office job would have pro
vided work for from 70 to 80 addi
tional carpenters.
7
4
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Theatrical Unions Wage
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THIRD H,1h
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.,
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Big Fight on Pay Cuts
Stangehands and Musicians Score Success in New York
As Managers Virtually Admit Defeat in Wage
Slashing Drive—Theatres Close in Some Cities When
Workers Refuse Cut.
New York City (ILNS)—Organized
theatrical workers are fighting all
over the United States against wage
slashes and are scoring many suc
cesses.
cities, theatres were closed when
stagehands, motion pictui'e operators
and musicians made determined ob
jection to further "deflation" of their
pany.
Indianapolis Theatres Close
Indianapolis, Ind. (ILNS)—Threats
to close all theatres in Indianapolis
for an indefinite period have been piit
into effect by owners following failure
of wage conferences between the mov
ing picture operators, stagehands and
musicians' local unions. Unorganized
employes of the theatres—between
800 and 1,000 workers—have accepted
wage cuts, some as much as 50 per
cent, managers said.
Recently the Lyric Theatre here, a
combined vaudeville and picture
house, closed because the workers re
fused to take a cut. Moving picture
operators have a wage scale of
around $64.50 for a 45-hour week.
Union officials said the employers
were trying to force a cut beyond all
reason, and they believed the present
scale was not excessive.
30-Hour Week Bill Drawn
For Michigan Legislature
Lansing, Mich.—Assistant Attor
ney-General George Murphy announc
ed that he was preparing a bill to be
introduced in the state legislature
providing the six-hour day and five
day week for all Michigan workers
with the possible exception of domes
tic labor and farm help.
This is in line with the platform
adopted by the 1932 convention of the
democratic party in Michigan as a
measure to solve the unemployment
problem.
Emil Salsbury, Indianapolis
Labor Leader, Dies at 64
Indianapolis, Ind.—Emil Salsbury,
secretary of the Indianapolis Central
Labor Union for 15 years, died here
March 18 from a stroke of paralysis,
at the age of 64.
Mr. Salsbury had long been promi
nent in Indianapolis labor circles. He
was a member of the local Stone Cut
ters' Union and had been pi*ominent
in the councils of the Journeymen
Stone Cutters' Association of North
America, having been a delegate to
that body many times. He had been
an employes of the Park Board Com
missioners for twelve years. He was
highly respected by his friends and
co-workers in the labor movement.
CEMENT WORKERS GIVEN
10 PER CENT PAY RAISE
Bonner Springs, Hans. (ILNS)—
Simultaneously with an announce
ment of an increase of 10 cents a bar
rel in the price of cement to dealers,
the pay of employes of the Lone Star
Cement Co. wa sincreased 10 per
cent.
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