The Butler County press. [volume], December 14, 1934, Image 2

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

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THE PRESS
6N1CIAL OKGAN OF OBGANIZSD LABOft
OV HAMILTON AND VICINITY
PUBLISHERS
wist 53
ESS
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the Middletown Trades
and Labor Council of Middletown, O
1IRA
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1934
CHRISTMAS IN EVERY HOME
The call is out for scattering cheer
in every Hamilton home again thi3
year. If you haven't heard it, simply
accept this as a personal call to you
and answer. Answer it with some
thing substantial that will help^arry
out the purpose of that great move
ment, "Christmas In Every Home."
Let it not be said that a single child
in Hamilton had cause to lose faith
in the coming of Santa Claus for the
lack of toys, candy, fruits, etc.
Activity is running rampant these
days in the Christmas store in the
Lehman building, Eight and High
streets, where Thomas G. Nolloth,
general chairman of the Christmas
program and his band of faithful co
workers are shaping everything up
that the job will be done completely
and successfully.
There were 1425 needy families on
file Christmas list last year, and Mr.
Nolloth believes this number will be
increased to 2,000 this Christmas. So
it can be seen that more help is needed
this year, there must be a greater re
sponse to the call than ever before if
every child in Hamilton is to be re
membered and made happy. All that
is needed to make the movement a big
Success is for all those who can, to
give generously of funds, fruits, jams,
jellies, canned goods, and toys.
DO IT NOW!
-:o:-
EARLY MAILING
Postmaster General James A. Far
ley, in a letter to all postmasters,
urged them to put forth every effort
to deliver the Christmas mail in their
office by midnight, December 24.
"Experience has proven," quotes
Mr. Fan'ey, "that many parcels in
tended for Christmas gifts are not
0.
delivered before Christmas Day, due
in the most part to circumstances over
which the mailer has no control. To
the recipient, especially the young
boy or girl, it may mean the cherish
ed hopes of months blasted, disap
pointment and sorrow pervading a
young life at Christmas time."
In consequence, the Hamilton post
office is calling upon the mailing pub
lic to aid in so far as it is possible to
carry oat the desires of the pastmas
ter general. "It is well," advises Post
master Henry B. Grevey, to give suf
ficient time for the postoffice to get
your mail delivered. Mail early
enough, considering the destination,
so that the parcel will have at least
24 hours in the city to which it is ad
dressed, always remembering that
there are thousands of other parcels
going to the same city from many
other points and directions."
The postmaster further urges the
public to prepare their Christmas gifts
properly, using heavy wrapping paper
and strong twine, and, in cases where
the gift is fragile, see to it that it is
mailed in corrugated cardboard.
AND, BY ALL MEANS, INSURE
IT.
:o:
PRIMING INDUSTRY
The plan to subsidize industry by
underwriting greater production
through a sort of governmfent insur
ance may be a good one if it will
help reduce the number of unemploy
ed, says an exchange, and then con
tinues: But nowhere in the plan
itself, is there a definite understand
ing that more workers are to be em
ployed. There is an accepted conclu
sion that if the government will as
sure industry of a market for more
products, industry must employ more
workers to produce that added quan
tity of goods. The two, however, are
not necessarily related and one does
not have to follow the other.
Our technical development being
what it is, it is not at all beyond the
realm of possibility to see quite a bit
of added productivity develop with a
negligible increase in employment. It
has happened in the textile industry,
just to cite one example, and it can
happen in other industries as well.
The American Federation of Labor
has repeatedly shown how increased
productivity was brought about with
relative decreasing number of
workers. What would prevent an em
ployer from utilizing his machinery to
the utmost to turn out the quota of
goods alloted to him, with the mini
mum labor power possible? At least,
as far as the plan has been made pub
lic, there is nothing to stop employers
from following such a procedure, as
they undoubtedly will.
In other words, while the talked of
plan may stimulate production, it
does not necessarily have to stimulate
workers' purchasing power nor dimin
ish to any large extent the nnmber
who are now unemployed.
To raise productivity through gov
ernment subsidy without at the same
time seeing to it that the number of
workers employed is alto increased,
THE COMPANY UNION CRISIS
(An editorial from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
The fundamental issue underlying all the major controversies which
have arisen under the New Deal is whether popular government shall be
subject to the domination of groups. In the flight against the regulation of
security selling and stock exchanges, the challenger of the government is
the money power. In the battle for the company union, the challenger is
selfish industry, with the money power so largely responsible for the economic
ills that beset us.
As the Roosevelt administration has come to grips with the financial
group, so it is now joining the issue with those employers who would set
themselves above the state and thereby imperil the American experiment
in self-government. The company union has been a threat to the success of
the recovery program from the very outset. It is now a menace in scores of
industries. The agreement of the leading steel company executives to "resist
all attacks" on their company unions should make it evident to everyone
how basically important the question is.
There are two major aspects of the company union problem as it appears
before the country now. The first is not whether Section 7-A of the recovery
act permits company unions, but whether company unions formed under this
section have been organized and are maintained in accordance with the guar
antee that workers have the right to organize or join any labor organization
of their own choosing and to select representatives without "interference,
influence or coercion" on the part of their employers.
Joseph B. Eastman, federal co-ordinator of transportation, who is fac
ing the company union problem in his dealings with the railroad companies,
says frankly that information which he has compiled from the response of
railroads to his questionnaire shows many such organizations are not organ
ized and operated in accordance with the law. How many organizations of
this sort exist is not known, but President Roosevelt has hit on the right
way to bring them to light by ordering polls, under the disinterested auspices
of the National Labor Board, wherever a substantial number of employes
declare that their employers are violating Section 7-A. Nothing, as we have
said before, is fairer or more just, and any employer who intends to comply
with the recovery act will welcome the government's interest and help.
The second major aspect concerns the efficacy of the company union as
a labor organization. Impartial studies by the Russell Sage Foundation
have shown that company unions have little in common with national trade
unions, either as to functions or aims. Being unaffiliated with a larger group,
members of company unions can take no part in comprehensive labor welfare
programs. They must confine their activities to the plant at which their mem
bers are employed, a limitation which prevents them from helping other
workers who need the benefits of organization and aid from the outside.
Another serious defect of the company union is that it provides a system
which is not conducive to labor leadership. Company union officials are
not so much of the workers' choosing as of the employers who pay them.
It is plain that the workers' interests are better served when they are free
to name their officers and to contribute the dues which reward these officers
for actvity and vigilance in behalf of labor. The disadvantages which mem
bers of a company union face when they strike against unfair working con
ditions are too obvious to mention.
Labor, if it would advance itself, will take advantage of every opportunity
to root out unionism which is not bona fide. Industrial leaders, if they mean
what they profess, will accept the president's election- plan. Government, if
it is not to be the servant of special interests, will not yield an inch.
The company union issue must be settled sooner or later, and the sooner
the better for all concerned.
would certainly create added consum
ing power for employers, but without
any assurance whatsoever that any
added consuming power would be sim
ilarly created for the workers.
If it were to turn out so, we would
have a slight upward industrial flurry.
The employers would be a little richer
and the workers would be just about
where they are with recovery in a
similar position.
If we want recovery we must be
assured that more workers are to be
employed. The proposed plan gives
no such assurance.
-:o:-
NATION NEEDS CUTTING
Final returns in the long undeter
mined New Mexican senatorial elec
tion showed Bronson Cutting appar
ently elected, though his opponent is
contesting the result and is striving
to bring about a recount. Reactionary
elements opposed to Senator Cutting
are undoubtedly aiding him in this
move.
Senator Cutting's record richly en
titled him to a return to the senate.
It was a record strongly approved by
labor, which holds that to keep him
out of the senate would be a blow for
progress and the New Deal. His vic
tory was a victory for the progressive
voters of New Mexico, just as Senator
La Follette's was in Wisconsin. Elect
ed as a republican, Senator Cutting
has been an independent during his
term. Naturally he has been an out
law in the view of old line politicians
of both parties. But a majority of
the voters of his state have supported
him regardless of party labels, and
the 14fttion is the gainer for it.
:o:
CANNOT EVEN DO RIGHT
BY MISTAKE
The National Association of Manu
facturers has published a program for
the restoration of prosperity. Here
are some of the most important items
in that program:
A federal sales tax on all manufac
turers, levied at the point of origin,
Mid the proceeds divided with the
states.
"Abandon all forms of government
competition, which, as examples,
threaten industry, thwart private in
itiative and retard recovery, i-i
JLM \J JL AJJUAI V-/V/ J. A A A»UUM
"Protect men in their right to work.
"Prohibit sympathetic or general
strikes or lockouts, blacklists and boy
cotts.
"Do not deprive individuals or mi
norities of the right tb bargain for
themselves."
There is much more to it but these
are fair samples and a more perfect
program of reaction and ruin never
was offered, not even by NAM.
A general sales tax is the surest
and safest device for relieving wealth
from taxation, and putting burdens
on poverty. It is a direct tax on living
expenditures. The man who must
spend his entire income to maintain
his family must pay taxes on all of it.
The rich man, who pays only a frac
tion of his income on living ex
penses, sees three-quarters or nine
tenths of his profits go wholly un
taxed.
Just how prosperity would be help
ed by abolishing the TVA, which has
already reduced electric light rates
in this country by many millions a
year, no one has explained. On the
labor clauses, when NAM says that
men must be protected in their right
to work, it means that employers must
be allowed to enlist private armies
to crush strikes and the "right" of
individuals to "bargain" with great
corporations is only a "right" to take
whatever starvation wage the boss
chooses to pay.
"It is not that you should do wrong
by design," said the famous letter
writer, Julius, to a near-statesman of
his time. "The miracle is that you
should never do right by mistake."
The National Association of Manu
facturers repeats that miracle, year
in and year out.
•k-.
1
A Leader for
Oisl{ Tour
:'z
i
THE POWER OF THE LABEL
The union label is an invaluable
force in organization. The necessity
for the label is ever present. Labor is,
after all, the employer of labor. Each
of us in our capacity as a purchaser
of the necessities of life becomes an
employer of labor. Organized work
ers spend by far the greater portion of
their wages for the things labor has
produced. The only reason this buying
power does not dominate the market
in the interests of organized labor,
and consequently all labor, is because
organized workers do not do their
duty when spending their wages. They
do not always buy the product of the
work of organized workers. Why?
The power of the union label is
alive, pulsating with energy, and it
needs only our word of demand to
make it a giant in the ranks of organ
ization.
i,r in.-niM.n.
WHAT NEXT?
Plans to introduce streamlined
Diesel-powered freight trains with
a speed of 80 miles an hour on the
German railroad system were recently
announced. The trains will probably
consist of cars similar to the "Zeppe
lin on Wheels," otherwise known as
the Flying Hamburger, which will be
Ambulance Service
Phone 35
KlLl/*
Wi
1
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 finj
it a vary, very merry one! Be^in an account today.
JLlie Hamilton Dime
Savings Bank
•"fftf TT TV®"
W NORTH THIRD STREET
SSeM&jv
Robert G.T
ay
lor Mortuary
Formerly
w.
THE C.
reserved for the transport of express
goods. Twenty trains on the order of
the Flying Hamburger are planned.
-:o:-
WISDOM
Meft lbVe to hear of their power but
have an extreme disrelish to be told
of their duty.—Burke.
UTILITY
SCARCE
Subscribe f®r the Presa.
GATH CO.
Funeral Directors
.£..''4r,. \"v5S»j-'"V'iI?
Chairs and Tables Rented
17 So. Street
Jlour
Forty-Five Years
Grocer
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..<p></p>UNIONS
York.—A survey of fsofe-
lic utility companies, conducted by
one of organized labor s star oppo
nents, the National Industrial Con
ference Board, shows that these con
cerns, many of them fostering "com
pany union," have been right success
ful in maintaining their working or
ganizations on a non-union basis. The
concerns covered in the survey em
ployed 578,912 workers, or 49 per
cent of all employes of the industry.
Of this number, only 1*2 per cent
dealt with their employers through
organized labor unions. Another sur
vey told a different story, however.
Of 760,000 railroad workers covered
in a s-r.rvey made by the same board,
approximately 75 per cent bargained
with heir employers through organ
ized labor unions.