The Butler County press. [volume], December 07, 1934, Image 2

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

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THE PRESS
tifFICIAL ORGAN OF 0*CANIHS UkBO*
OF HAMILTON AND VICINITY
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HHtO tAIOO PRESS ASS
Member!
Ohio Labor Press Association
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t« addressed to The Butler County Press, S26
Market Street. Hamilton, Ohio.
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iMtion.
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Entered at the Postoffice at Hamilton,
Ohio, as Second Class Mail Matter
Issued Weekly at U Market Street
Telephone UN Ha»ilt»n, Okie
indorsed by the Trades and Labor
Council of Hamilton, Ohio
Endorsed by the Middletown Trades
and Labor Council of Middletown, O
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1984
CLEAN UP THE AUTO INDUSTRY
President Roosevelt has instructed
the research and planning division of
the NRA to make a study of the auto
mobile industry, and determine what
steps can be taken to lessen seasonal
fluctuations in employment, and give
every auto worker the benefits of a
regular and dependable yearly wage.
Leon Henderson, of the NIRA, will
have charge of this industry, under
express instructions that he shall col
laborate with the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
This is good news, even though con
siderably overdue. Labor conditions
In the auto industry have been a dis
grace for years. With a high nominal
hourly wage—high, that is, from the
viewpoint of a sweatshop proprietor
automobile employment is so unstable
that the yearly wages are cruelly
small.
The president himself speaks of a
case in which a man was paid $10 a
day—and worked 65 days in the year,
and said he had been advised that
average earnings in the auto industry
were less than $900 a year.
The inquiry, if pushed properly, will
uncover worse cases than the one re
ported to the president. It will show
that for year after year employment
in auto factories has varied 50 per
cent within the twelve months—and
sometimes even more. It will show
that the worker is required to bear,
not only the cost of seasonal fluctu
ations, but the cost of the uncertainty
of supply as well. A shortage of al
most any article may ''hold up the
line," and when that happens, the
men bear the cost, not the manage
ment.
But of more importance yet, in the
long run, is the infernal speed-up sys
jbem which has developed in the indus
try. Workers are paced by the moving
|flt which carries the parts which
men must put together and the belt
Ends a Cold
SOONER
PROVED BY 2 GENERATIONS
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paper
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is made to move at a rate just short
of the utmost that human nature can
bear.
In some cases, even this limit is
passed. There are letters from auto
workers showing that on a certain
machine, the pace is so terrible that
frequently 10 different operators try
that machine within a month.
The automobile industry is long
overdue for a cleaning which only ab
solute liberty for labor to organize in
that industry can procure. A late
start is better than none but it de
mands a vigorous follow-up.
:o:
IN THE INTEREST OF ALL
The farm co-operative movement
is, first and foremost, designed to help
the agricultural producer—to obtain
for him a larger share of the final
seiling price of his product, and to
make his production methods more
profitable and efficient.
In carrying out this purpose, the
consumer is not "stung," he is, on the
contrary, immensely benefited. It is
necessary to him that a constant sup
ply of first-grade farm products be
always at his beck and call. He wants
food of quality, and at a fair price.
And that is what the co-operatives
strive to give him. When a farmer
gets more for what he raises, it does
not mean that the consumer is the
victim of profiteering—it simply
means that the money he pays to the
retailer has been fairly distributed
between those who produced the prod
those who handled them between
ffcrrn and market, and those who *u}id
them to the public.
From another aspect, the farm co
op ife aiding the urban resident.
Farmers of the country normally pro
vide the largest single consuming
source for the products of our fac
tories. The drop in farm income is one
of the most burning problems of de
pression.
At1
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THE RISING TIDE OF ORGANIZATION
It's in the air—a vibrant hope that sees leading into tomorrow a road to
better things. It's a contagious something, an infectious spirit of courage and
inspiration that extends from the toiler in the bakeshop to the actors behind
the footlights from the teachers in the public schools to the yet unorganized
workers in the steel plants from employes and clerks in the offices of the
federal government to miners delving far down in the depths of the earth.
To highly skilled and unskilled, to those with high standards of living and
those with low, to those of American customs and ideals, to those yet un
familiar with the traditions and language of our land, there comes the vision
thrilling with new opportunities, with the assurance of the attainments of
rights and justice.
This thing which brings hope to so many, which points out the road to
better things, is that intangible, invincible, powerful revolutionizing force
called organization.
Organization is the way whereby the toilers of all ages have found
redress from wrongs and have secured greater opportunities.
Organization has been tested and found effective. There is nothing about
organization that belongs to a particular group of workers, to special kinds
of work, or to any particular degree of skill or kind of preparation for work.
Organization is a universal principle that has a meaning for those who
work with their hands, with their brains, or with both. Workers of all call
ings must learn that there are principles of human welfare which are of
paramount importance. Conditions of daily work and living will not be in
accord with these human principles of human welfare unless those workers
primarily concerned have some conception of their interests, and are pre
pared for sustained efforts to realize their ideals.
Organization is only an intelligent attitude toward every-day problems—
the fundamental things of life. It is a preparedness for the best development
to take advantage of opportunities that constantly arise as well as prepared
ness against exploitation, a narrowing of life's horizon, and a cramping of
individuality.
Organization of an economic nature has a meaning for all workers,
whether they be bakery workers, ditch diggers, or actors, "Wops" exploited
by steel corporations or teachers by public school institutions. It is funda
mental, protective, and secures for workers things which are the foundation
for all betterment and progress.
The primary step in this machine age of speed and production is to
secure more leisure for needed recreation. This must be supplemented by
increased wages that make leisure a real avenue to better living and self
government and freedom, necessary for self-respect. Economic contracts
dealing with personal services or labor power are a necessary protection.
Human nature and the spirit of the business world are of such a character
that all concerned in its affairs must have defensive and aggressive agencies.
Those who work for wages (even wages termed salaries) have the same
kind of problems to solve, the same kind of opposition to overcome. Economic
organization is the only agency that offers any practical effectiveness. The
pjipblem of securing fairer, more just relations between employes and em
ployers is the same regardless of the degree of skill or intellectual attain
ments necessary for that particular work. Effectiveness in bargaining, power
to enforce demands, skill in organizing economic power are the means to
secure just compensation and improved conditions under which work is done.
Many who hold themselves aloof from "contamination" with trade
unions, who hedge themselves about with "professional" pride, work longer
hours and for less pay than do hod carriers and common laborers. Teachers
and government clerks need economic organization just as badly as do the
most skilled among the workers in the bakery plants, the packing houses
and the steel mills.
Organization is intelligent self-interest. All who work for wages have
much ki common. As the captain's lady and Nora O'Grady were sisters
"under their skins," so there is a kindred spirit that unites all workers for
fundamental interests regardless of superficial distinctions and nomenclature.
There is coming for all workers a better life, a brighter day, through
economic organization, for the maintenance of principles of human welfare—
an organization which vivifies, democratizes and makes beautiful the world
of woffk and life.
the co-ops gradually
make progress, and farm income
rises, all classes of American citizens
will reap the benefit of stimulated
buying and increased purchasing
power.
Today farm co-operation is one of
the greatest social and economic
forces in our national life. It has
done much in its brief lifetime and its
period of greatest achievement still
lies in the future.
:o:
ONCE MORE—OUR DECREPIT
HOUSING
A survey just made shows that in
the lower East Side of New York,
where the ground is priced as if it
were carpeted with $10 bills, 35 per
cent of the area is covered by build
ings valued at $5,000 or less. Nearly
all are obsolete all ought to be torn
down to make room for decent hous
ing in place of slums. To add to the
difficulties always encountered in
slum clearance in this country, this
land and the (2,870 buildings wfcich
occupy it are scattered among much
better improved and managed prop
erty.
This report is just the latest of
scores of surveys which show the all
but unfillable need of housing. Sober
estimates are that not more than one
third of our population are rightly
housed, and that another third are
lodged under conditions which are a
distinct menace to their own health
and the public welfare. The new in
terest in this basic problem is en
couraging, but it will not be fully val
ued until it shows forth in building
jobs.
——-?o:—
THE BUTfcER COUNTY PRESS
N
TOE TRAGIC TAX
We all kick over the taxes saddled
on us by politicians—but how many
protest about taxes we impose upon
ourselves? There are any number of
these, and, one of the heaviest is due
to the economic coat of the nation's
.*t\£
automobile accidents. It is the tragic
tax.
Investigators say that at least 95
per cent of motor accidents are avoid
able. They cannot be blamed on the
automobile, but on the driver. They
are due to some failure, some sin of
omission or commission on the part
of the man or woman behind the
wheel. In spite of intensive work by
the authorities and safety associa
tions, we go on*just the same, smash
ing and crashing, killing and maim
ing, flaunting the laws and regula
tions.
And we are paying plenty for it.
According to estimates compiled by
the National Bureau of Casualty and
Surety Underwriters, 35,000 or more
persons will be killed this year, and
more than a million injured. Statis
ticians estimate the total economic
cost of all this to be between one
and a half billion and two and a half
billion dollars when all the items are
added. Assuming that two billion dol
lars approaches the correct figure, it
means a cost of about $16.66 for
every one of the 120,000,000 persons
in the United States. That is indeed
a tragic tax to pay for our own reck
lessness.
———:o:
UNMORAL PROFIT
Postmaster General Farley reports
$12,161,415.03 profits for the fiscal
year ending June 30, 1934. That, he
thinks, is something to boast about.
It isn't. It's something to regret. It
is unmoral. Those earnings came
out of the reduced wages of under
paid and overworked handlers of mail
and from excesive postage rates paid
by the people.
Why should the post office depart­
•. *-,
A Leader for
(jAsli Your
7/53 £%.?£ "Sg'f v ,.,^}f
ment which renders such valuable
service to the people year in and year
out be expected to make earnings,
when departments of the government
that contribute nothing but spend mil
lions are cheerfully supported and
no questions asked and no opposition
recorded
Presently congress will make vast
appropriations for navy and army
supplies, munitions, ships, and death
dealing appliances that will be wasted
and overtaken by obsolescence by the
time they are completed.
It is hoped that some congressman
will have the courage to take up the
matter of better treatment of post
office employes as to hours and man
ner of employment, and as to decent
wages and, in some spots, less of the
tyrannical attitude of those clothed
with a little brief authority.—Inter
national Oil Worker.
:o:
WHAT NEXT?
Rayon is now being produced ex
perimentally from slash pine at the
Georgia state engineering experiment
station at Georgia Tech. Research
workers are studying the possibilities
of its commercial production, which
would be of great value to farmers
who have land with suitable pine. The
Ambulance Service
Phone 35
9
•••&
Santa Will Count Out
the Amount You Need
Leave it to the merry old boy, St. Nick himself, to
provide you with a good Christmas. He'll help you
—if you help yourself. In other words, if you start
a Christmas Savings plan and save a little bit each
week, when next Christmas comes around you'll find
it a very, very merry one! Begin an account today.
The Hamilton Dime
Savings Bank
10 NORTH THIRD STREET
Robert G.Taylor Mortuary
Formerly
THE C. W. GATH CO.
Funeral Directors
pine pulp is the same as that froin
which newsprint has been made.
&&T grand business is not tt v BOfc.
what lies dimly at a distance, but to
do what lies clearly at hand.—Carlyle.
Advertise hi The Press.
Buy
Christmas Seals
SEASONS GREETINGS
1934
Help
Fight
Chairs and Tables Rented
1? So. Street
Jlour
Forty-Five Years
Grocer
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WISDOM
It is too late to pull the rein when
the horse has gained the brink of the
precipice the time for stopping the
leak is past when the vessel is in the
midst of the river.—Hugo. V
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Tuberculosis
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