The Butler County press. [volume], April 26, 1935, Image 1

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Fund Report Shows.
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Labor
votes union when it has the chance.
The Twentieth Century Fund has
just published the results of a study
of labor elections, held under the aus
pices of government labor boards.
Leaving out the automobile industry
for the moment, of 204,582 ballots
cast by workers, 138,017, or 67 per
cent, were cast for regular trade un
ions 61,401, or 30 per cent, went for
company unions, and 5,164, or 3 per
cent, indorsed individual representa
tion or some different method of bar
gaining.
Workers Vote For Union
When Given Free Choice
Only 30 Per Cent of Ballots in Government-Supervised
Elections Cast for Company Unions, Excluding Cha
otic Voting in Automobile Industry, 20th Century
In a word, considerably more
than two to one, voted for the
union. Where elections were held
in the textile industry, the union
vote was three to one, and the
longshoremen who were polled
went more than three to one in
the same direction.
Of the automobile workers voting,
12 per cent voted union, 11 per cent
company union, and the rest, 77 per
cent, voted for individuals or "other"
forms of bargaining. The reason for
this chaotic voting is not far to seek.
The Automobile Board's notice of the
nominating election in the Chevrolet
forge division read thus:
"In this election each voter will
nominate one person for representa
tive of his voting district, and he will
also be given the opportunity, which
he is free to avail of or not to avail of,
to indicate the group, if any, with
which his name is identified.
"The method," says the study pub
lished by the fund, ''does not lend itself
readily to the designation of an organ
ization as the representative. Unless
GREIF VIOLATOR
Of 7-A By Ruling of Labor
Board
Washington, D. C. tILNS)—L. Greif
& Bros., Inc., of Baltimore, Md., one
of the biggest men's clothing manu
facturing concerns, with plants in
Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia,
violated Section 7-A of the recovery
act by threatening to close its plant
at Staunton, Va., if the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America made
progress in unionizing its employes,
the National Labor Relations Board
has ruled.
The board also found that the com
pany, by its initiation of the Mutual
Benefit Association and by its par
ticipation in its affairs, interfered
with the right of its employes to self
organization under Section 7-A. The
evidence on which this finding was
based was that, after the passage of
the national industrial recovery act
the association was organized, not
upon the initiative of the employes
but upon the initiative of the man
agement. The by-laws were prepared
by the management, and the manage
ment had a hand in selecting the
officers.
The company was required to cease
participating in the affairs of the Mu
tual Benefit Association and to dis
continue attempts to influence em
ployes in their choice of membership
in labor organization.
The company was asked to notify
the Labor Board within 10 days that
members of the Amalgamated were
regularly back at their former posi
tions without discrimination and
molestation, and it was also required
to cease participating in the affairs
of the Mutual Benefit Association.
The Greif case has been before
NRA authorities for many months.
•S
the voters went to the trouble of writ
ing in the names of organizations,
their ballots were counted for individ
uals."
Even with this blind wording of the
ballot, and with the espionage in
which the automobile industry seems
to surpass all others, more auto work
ers voted for the true union than for
the company union.
This compilation of figures ought to
end all quibbling about ''minority rep
resentation," and other devices for
fogging up the landscape, labor execu
tives point out. When workers have
a chance to express their real wishes,
they vote overwhelmingly for real
unions.
STEELSTOCKHOLDERS
Attack Big Pay of Chief
Officials
New York City (ILNS)—There wa
hot time in the meeting of the
stockholders of the Bethlehem Steel
Corporation last week. Four stock
holders present tried to cut the sal
aries and bonuses of the three offi
cials of the company: Charles M.
Schwab, chairman of the board Eu
gene G. Grace, president, and R. E.
McMath, secretary.
Schwab's salary is $250,000 a year,
Grace's $180,000, and McMath'i:
$58,000, or $488,000 for the three
This roused the wrath of Leopold
Coshland, a stockholder who was
present who declared that it was
'not fair nor honorable" for Mr.
Grace to take such a salary when the
company had lost money for two years
and made only a small sum in 1934.
''A few years ago," said Mr. Cosh
land, "Mr. Schwab said he was giv
ing up many of his activities on ac
count of his advanced age, but that
Bethlehem would always remain near
est his heart. He was wrong in his
anatomy. He has held Bethlehem Steel
nearest his stomach, and we have been
his meal ticket!"
Big Losses Reported
Mr. Grace in his annual report said
that the Bethlehem had lost $20,000,
000 in 1932, and $9,000,000 in 1933 but
had made profits of $550,000 in 1934.
In other words, the total sum left
i'or the stockholders is only a little
more than the salaries paid to three
officials.
Mrs. Mary F. Gallagher, a widow
living in New York and a stockholder
of the Bethlehem, put in her word for
Mr. Coshland.
"No wonder Father Coughlin
preaches about blood money,' she said
"He knows what he is talking about
There is too much of this. Here we
(the stockholders) without a cent
while you men store up millions. Mr.
Grace should know that there are no
pockets in shrouds!"
Tractor, Truck Delco Light Parts
Workers Poorly Paid
Now is the time to get that Tractor, Truck and Lighting Plant
in shape. We have the Parts and the equipment to do almost anything
you want done in order to put your machinery in shape. Get ready
for 1935 as it is going to be the best year you have had for a long time.
Let us figure with you on your needs.
Mr. Coshland spoke again, saying
that according to the president's re
port, the Bethlehem has 44,000 work
ers, earning 67 cents an hour by hard
laborious work, while three officials
were collecting almost half a million
a year. He proposed that the salaries
of these three officials be limited to
20 per cent of the profits of 1934, which
would work out at $110,000, instead of
$488,000 actually paid.
This was voted down, of course the
insiders were in complete control but
this plain speaking is considered
sign that legal proceedings to cut the
Bethlehem salary list may be looked
for almost any time.
Savage Auto Supply Co.
636-38 MAPLE AVENUE PHONE 116
Under Present Rates.
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)--A poll
of congress indicates there is enough
sentiment in favor of lowering the tax
on 10-cent cigarettes to pass a bill
providing for this, if the proposal can
be brought to a vote at this session.
A flood of letters from all parts of
the United States supporting labor's
effort to keep these union-made prod
ucts on the market has greatly helped
in the development of this sentiment.
The Allied Tobacco Workers' Council
has asked that this expression of sen
timent be continued, even though sen
ators and representatives may be get
ting too many of them to answer them
promptly.
Some attention must be given by
congress to tax matters at this ses
sion. Whether the tobacco tax mat
ter receives final action has not been
ascertained positively. It will un
duobtedly come to a hearing, for it
has been introduced into the house by
three members of the ways and
means committee. The individual
bills, identically worded, are H.
5450, H. R. 6124, and H. R. 6368.
All Pay Same Tax
At present, all cigarettes pay the
same tax, $3 per 1,000, no matter
what the selling price. Under the
pi'oposed law, there will be a gradu
ated tax according to price. Ten-cent
cigarettes will pay a tax of $2.70 per
1,000 15-cent cigarettes will pay as
now, $3 per 1,000 and higher priced
cigarettes will pay $3.30 per 1,000.
Clearly, the new rates would be
much fairer than the old. At present,
the flat tax of $3 per 1,000 works out
as a levy of 252 per cent on the whole
sale value of the dime cigarettes, and
a levy of 126 per cent on the whole
sale value of 15-cent cigarettes.
Ten-cent cigarettes are A LI
UNION MADE.
Labor's Friends Penalized
Fifteen-cent cigarettes are made in
overwhelming proportion by the Big
Four tobacco companies, which are
bitterly anti-union.
The present law puts a penal
izing tax on labor's friends, and
in substance gives a bonus to its
enemies.
That contrast alone should rally all
union labor to fight for fair play for
union tobacco workers.
Under the present schedule, ten
cent cigarettes will be taxed to death,
They made their first appearance on
a large scale in 1932, when tobacco
prices dropped so that the indepen
dent tobacco companies saw that they
could pay the existing tax, sell pack
ages at 10 cents, and still come out
THE BUTLER COUNTY PRESS.
VOL. XXXV. No. 3 HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1935 ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR
OW
00 V.' 1
UOPtTOt*
PITCHES AH
SttUTS'fM 0Ui
VAM PjNTTH
Poll Indicates Strong Congressional Sentiment For Fair
Tax on 10-Cent Cigarettes, Which Are Product Of
Union Labor and Are Threatened With Extinction
11111.1.|
ress to Lower Taxes
On Dime Cigarette If Given
Chance to Vote on Proposal
ahead. They cut a big swath out of
the Big Four business, and their com
petition raised the price of tobacco
to the growers. The Secretary of the
treasury of the United States has
testified to that.
Tax Now Prohibitive
But now that tobacco prices are up
to a decent level again—thanks in
part to the bidding of the indepen
dents, it is impossible to pay the pres
ent tax on cigarettes, sell them to re
tail at 10 cents a package, and still
come out even.
The two chief firms making
dime cigarettes, Axton -Fisher
and Brown & Williamson, are 100
per cent union. They pay union
wages and deal with the repre
sentatives of the workers. They
sent telegrams to the White
House calling for a cigarette code
that would be fairer to workers
than the present one. W. F. Ax
ton, president of Axton-Fisher,
who died recently, was a staunch
friend of the unions for 35 years.
Organized labor is making a coi
centrated drive to pass a tax la
which is fair in itself, which will gi1
the only friends of labor in tobaci
manufacturing a chance to stay
business, which will maintain the cor
petition by which the 10-cent ciga
ette manufacturers boosted the fan
er's price.
Jobs, Pay, Gain
In Pennsylvan
Philadelphia (ILNS)—The numb
of wage earners on the rolls of Pen
sylvania facotries increased about
per cent and the amount of wage di
bursements 2 per cent from the mi
die of February to the middle
March, indices of the Federal Reser
Bank of Philadelphia show. Wor
ing time, as measured by employ
hours actually worked, also show
a gain of 2.6 per cent. These chang
indicate that factory activity sin
the middle of February was wi
maintained, the Federal Reserve Bai
said.
HOMELESS MEN ON RELIEF
St. Louis, Mo. (AFLNS)—Fro
November 1, 1034, to April 1, of tt
year, 10,442 persons sought aid at
Bureau for Homeless Men. Appac.
tions fell off during February an
March a thousand from the averac
of the previous three months.
ARETflEY PLAYING WAY?
3EE,I
HOPE
GUESS IT A!NT
RAlNl/sic3 "THERE.
\MATA 0REAK-
in
THEY6WE
TOM A CHANCE TO PITCH.
\AJHEN HE'S R16HT HOWY
vNHiT'ltt
Small Investors Gyped
By "Broker" Racketeer
Carson City, Nev. (AFLNS)—An
injunction secured by officials of the
federal securities commission closed
the office* of the Colonial Trading
Company.
Government investigators said th*
concern had collected around $328,000
from small investors and used the
money to speculate on the commodity
exchanges of Chicago and Winnepeg,
that the managers of the oufit pyra
Canada. The government charged
mided money received, paying divi
dends to early investors with money
received from new accounts.
W:
I
THIRD
BE SURE IT IS A
NATIONAL LABOR
BOARD
Orders Election in Kelsey
Hayes Wheel Company
Plant
By A. F. of L. Newe Service.
Washington.—The National Labor
Relations Board ordered an election
by secret ballot to be held within two
weeks by employes of the Kelsey
Hayes Wheel Company of Detroit,
Mich., to determine whether they
want to be represented by the United
Automobile Workers' Federal Labor
Union No. 18677, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, or by
the Employers' Association, a com
pany union.
In announcing the order for the
election, the board said the union
claims a membership of 2,167 of the
company's employes and that 914
have signed cards, petitioning the
board to conduct an election. The
company union claims a membership
of 1,960.
The board stated that the contin
uance of the competitive status be
tween the two employe organizations
will lead to conflicting demands and
discord among the employes. It there
fore concluded that an election to de
termine proper representation to bar
gain with the company would be in
the "public interest."
The board pointed out that the Kel
sey Hayes Company started its com
pany union shortly after the enact
ment of the national recovery act in
1933, which contained in Section 7-A
what congress intended to be a ban
on company-promoted unions.
Lumber Mill Workers
Fight Slash in Wages
West Helena, Ark. (ILNS)—Notice
of increased hours and reductions in
wages as posted at the Chicago Mill
and Lumber Company plant here pre
cipitated a strike of approximately
600 workers. Company officials said
that they planned to cancel NRA lum
ber code regulations because of the
recent withdrawal by the government
of an appeal before the supreme court,
which was a "test" of the code's con
stitutionality.
Jasper, Ala. (ILNS)—More than
200 lumber mill employes are on strike
demanding wage increases. Approxi
mately 75 workers walked out at the
R. H. Carr Lumber Company. Another
140 were on strike at the Jasper and
Eldridge plants of the Cleveland Lum
ber Company. The strikes caused 15
sawmills in Walker county to shut
down.
GENUINE
HOOVER
^Sfieciat^
nstructed at the Hoover factory
Prices aa low aa
$19.95
taslr*,/'
Easy term*
Small down payment
if
ill
Every Hoover Special carries
a Hoover guarantee tag,
which is positive assurance
that the cleaner you buy has
been reconstructed by the
Hoover Company itself. It
has back of it—not some irre
sponsible, unknown firm—
but the honor, pride and
workmanship of a great com
pany. It is carefully and
completely rebuilt by the
Hoover factory's own skilled
ISfciSi
experts. Old parts are re
placed—not by cheap parts—
but by genuine, new Hoover
pieces. Result: marvelous
Hoover efficiency and service,
guaranteed for ONE FULL
YEAR.
Hoover Special Model 105
can be purchased, this month
only, at the remarkably low
price of $19.95—the lowest
offer Hoover has ever made.
Take advantage of it now.
•z.R./p.'WK
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