The Butler County press. [volume], December 25, 1936, Image 1

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

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By JOSEPH A. WISE
Chicago (ILNS.—The offer of John
D. M. Hamilton to resign as chairman
of the Republican National Committee
"lis a result of the widespread criti
cism of his handling of the 1936 poli
tical campaign, together with loud
and insistent demands that the party
policy be liberalized, has caused some
peculiar reactions on the part of cer
tain gentlemen who were closely asso
ciated with Mr. Hamilton in that cam
paign.
For example, there is Arthur M.
Curtis, Republican national committee
man from Missouri. Mr. Curtis is loud
and vehement in his defense of the
policy pursued at the Republican na
tional headquarters in Chicago last
fall.
Curtis Trying to Dodge Blame
For Making "Open Shop" Bureau
He told a reporter foe a daily news
paper that if Mr. Hamilton was forced
to resign, then all of the state chair
men should also resign because they,
one and all, were equally guilty with
the Republican high command in car
rying out those policies.
Reasoning Is Not Good
To the unthinking that would ap
pear to be good reasoning, but to
those who know the facts it is sophis
try used in the hope that it will get
Mr. Curtis out of a deep hole of his
own digging.
The Republican National Committee
selected an executive committee com
posed of its members to have direct
charge of the campaign, which was
.managed so crudely that some mem
bers of the national committee who
Wi'iv nut members of the executive
Missourian Seeks to Crawl Out of Deep Hole of Own Dig
ging by Demand that All G. O. P. State Chairman Quit
If Hamilton Resigns—Not Alone Responsible For
Blunders of Republican Campaign, Is His Plea.
MINE OPERATORS
Ask Longer Week at Pres
ent Wage
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Eight
soft coal mining companies have noti
fied John L. Lewis and through him
the United Mine Workers of America
that they, the companies, will demand
an eight- hour day and 40-hour week
with no increase in pay over the
7-hour day and 35-hour week now
prevailing under a contract which ends
March 31,1937. Their letter to Lewis
says:
"The operators offer to the United
Mine Workers of America a continu
ation of the present wage schedules
per day, per ton and per yard that
the work day be established on an
eight-hour basis of a five-day week
that the hourly rates be adjusted in
accordance therewith so that the same
earnings per day per worker will be
maintained as is now paid for a seven
haur day and that the unit rates
for piece work remain the same as
under the present Appalachian wage
agreement dated September 26,1935
At least three companies in which
the Mellon interests have sizeable in-^
vestments in the eight signers of this
letter. They are the Pittsburgh Coal
Company, Koppers Coke Company
and Consolidated Coal Company.
It is considered there is no chance
that the miners will consent to this
substantial wage cut. For one thing,
the anthracite operators have signed
a new agreement, going into effect
April 1, continuing the 35-hour week
For another, the soft coal miners have
been planning to ask a 30-hour week
with the same wage as at present.
The present basic wage is $5.50 a
day in nothern fields, and $5.10 in the
South.
The manufacture and sale cif unfair
merchandise are going to create many
unemployed employers.
Let's make 1937 the banner year for
the union label.
vv
committee have been outspoken in
their criticism in private conversation,
and a number of state chairmen and
others have made the air blue when
discussing the subject.
Arthur M. Curtis of Missouri was
one of the "big shots" at Republican
national headquarters in Chicago last
fall. It was he who organized the
"open shop" division and tried to hide
it ten blocks away from the regular
headquarters. He was in supreme
command of all activities in reference
to the labor vote. He took the cyn
ical attitude that the unorganized wage
earners could be cajoled or bludgeoned
into voting the way that Curtis and
his colleagues wanted them to vote.
Showed Profound Ignorance
Curtis also believed that the un
organized wage earners as a rule were
against the unions. He also did not
know better than to set up his "open
shop" division headquarters within a
stone's throw of the offices of several
very large unions and in the heart of
one of the world's largest trade union
centers. He hugged the delusion that
he was slick enough to come from a
small Missouri community and put it
over on the wage earners of America.
Now that deserved punishment is
about to overtake him, he becomes
frightened and pleads that he alone
was not guilty. Of course there were
others. It took a lot of money to pay
for the destructive policy followed by
Curtis, and those who gave him the
money are equally guilty with Cur
tis and his playmate and chief assist
ant, Robert Kratky of St. Louis.
7,000 Glass Workers Strike
At Libbey-Owens-F. Plants
Toledo, Ohio (ILNS)—Nearly 7,000
workers walked out at the three Lib
bey-Owens-Ford bat glass works here,
in Chai'leston, West Virginia, and
Shreveport, Louisiana. This com
pleted the tie-up of all the main flat
glass works. Pittsburgh Glass Com
pany workers have been out since
October, and the Libbey-Owens-Ford
plant at Ottawa,^ Illinois, has been
closed down for two weeks.
All told, nearly 14,000 men are out.
The plants are being kept warm in
most places, however. The two com
panies affected produce about 85 per
cent of the flat glass and their prod
uct is indispensable to automobile
making.
Reports from Detroit say the auto
plants have stocks of glass to last
for months. This is the kind of state
ment always made, however and the
general belief is that the pressure on
autos will be felt within three weeks
to a month at most.
New Inquiry Ordered in
Vice Coercion Charges
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—The
senate campaign expenditures com
mittee has ordered its chief investi
gator, Louis Glavis, to make a new
inquiry into charges that several busi
ness firms in Pennsylvania's 20th
congressional district sought to in
timidate employes into voting the re
publican ticket in the national election
At the same time it dismissed num
erous similar complaints against sev
eral large Ohio and Pennsylvania cor
porations, including the Timken Rol
ler Bearing Co., Canton, Ohio the
Carnegie-Illinois Steel Co., Clairton
Pa. the Jones & Laughlin Ste6l Co.
Aliquippa, Pa., and the Glen Alden
Coal Co., Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Unfair buying is as great a crime
as unfair selling.
The union label is. the heart of
labor unionism.
Overhaul That Truck, Tractor,
Automobile or Stationary Engine Now
Get All Your Parts, Supplies and Service at
SAVAGE AUTO SUPPLY CO.
636-640 MAPLE AVE. HAMILTON, OHIO
A Home Owned Store
Where they have parts for Automobiles, Trucks and Tractors
MOTORS REBORED PINS FITTED SLEEVES INSTALLED
-V
(Q|Hi
THE J'UTL.ER COUNTY PRESS.
VOL. XXXVI. No. 38 HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25,1936 ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR
hl, W N. I' W/,
Regulation Is Necessary
"The crash of the speculative boom
of 1929, the creeping economic paraly
sis which followed it, the uninter
rupted and ever-widening circle of
unemployment which grew concur
rently with that paralysis, and the
critical condition which developed in
our banking system in 1933, all af
forded specific and factual evidence to
show that private enterprise cannot
safely be permitted to administer
business and industry entirely free
from governmental intervention.
"The market for the products
of industry must depend upon the
buying power of the people. It
will expand and contract in con
formity with the increase and de
cline of buying power. Conse
quently, if our present economic
system is to be preserved, indus
try must be so administered as to
provide for a return to the people,
who constitute the market, of
buying and consuming power suf
ficient to purchase and use the
products of industry.
"The committee believes, therefore,
that the industrial policy of this na
tion should now be one designed to
Christmas Night
',f//
Labor-Employer Meeting Urges Nation Make
Increased Bi
Adequate Wages Must Be Paid, Selling Prices
Lowered and Other Steps Taken to Balance
Production and Consumption, If Present
System Is To Endure Conference Says.
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—The
conference of the Council for Indus
trial Progress recently held in this
city named a committee to restate the
objectives of the National Industrial
Policy report, adopted last March and
now reaffirmed. The conference was
composed of representatives of labor
and management. The chief points of
the restatement are as follows:
"The Committee on National Indus
trial Policy recognizes that under our
form of government it is commonly
understood its citizens are accorded
the widest exercise of freedom to en
gage in open and fair industrial com
petition with one another, to exercise
initiative and enterprise, and, spurred
by the incentive for profit, they are
accorded the widest degree of freedom
to continually develop and improve in
dustrial facilities and thus most ef
fectively contribute to the national
well being.
"Notwithstanding this recognition
of individual rights, industrial ex
perience and economic facts conclu
sively show that this objective has
not been fully and completely real
ized. For this reason, the public wel
fare demands that that degree of
governmental restraint shall be ex
ercised on private industry which will
require its management and owner
ship to administer business and in
dustry in such a way as to preserve
and protect social justice, equity, and
fair dealing.
increase the buying power of the con
suming market through the mainte
nance of adequate wage scales, the
progi-essive lowering of selling prices,
wherever and whenever made possible
through cost reductions, by reason of
technological or other production im
provements, and the reduction of
capital and debt charges which bur
den industry and increase the cost of
goods."
Four Recomn^endations
The committee, on the generaliza
tions given above, makes four recom
mendations:
1. Production control. The com
mittee believes mankind will be best
served by an economy of abundance,
and that production control should
be an emergency measure to check the
destruction of social values.
2. Hours and wages.—The commit
tee advocates a minimum wage in in
dustry and the payment of substan
tial overtime rates both to curb un
fair practices and add to the buying
power of workers.
3. Trade practices.—The committee
believes that national policy must
curb unfair competitive practices.
4. Permanent advisory council.—
The committee strongly recommends
the creation of a permanent national
economic council, members appointed
by the President by and with the ad
vice and consent of the Senate.
Union Truck Drivers Win
Strike in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pa. (AFLNS)—Abriei'
strike by Truck Drivers' Local N
107, International Brotherhood of
Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Stablemen and
Helpers of America, won a distinct
victory in union recognition, with tht
question of hours and minimum wages
to be determined by a fair practices
committee, headed by Mayor Wilson.
The walkout was called at the pro
duce terminals of the Pennsylvania
and Baltimore and Ohio railroads,
spreading rapidly to loading plat
forms of merchants along the Dela
ware river, for a time theatening the
loss of $1,000,000 in perishable goods.
Six hundred cars of perishables were
on the siding when the strike was
called, after previous futile attempt
to gain union i-ecognition and thus
bring about wage and hour adjust
ments desired by the workers.
Patronize the firms that display the
union label and advertise them, to your
friends.
Coordinate your family budget with
union label products.
Hackuratd, turn, (tackwatd, & time, In yout flight I
Make me a kid again, juli £ot to-night!"
General Electric Workers
Turn Down Company Union
Schenectady, N. Y. (ILNS)—At an
election held under the direction of
the National Labor Relations Board,
employes of the General Electric
plant here rejected the company union
and voted in favor of the United Elec
trical and Radio Workers of America
as their representative in collective
bargaining.
The vote was:
U. E. R. W. A., 5,111.
Workers' Council of the General
Electric, 4,033.
STRIKING AUTO PARTS
WORKERS WIN VICTORY
Niles, Mich. (ILNS)—A 12-day
strike of 6550 employes of the Kaw
neer Manufacturing Company, maker
of automobile parts, ended when com
pany officials agreed to union demands
for seniority rights, shorter working
hours and prevention of layoffs.
MAYOR LAGUARDIA
New York City Executive Vetoes Big
Order For Business Machines Be
cause of Concern's Unfair
Labor Practices
By A. F. of L. News Service.
New York, N. Y.—Organized labor,
solidly supporting the striking em
ployes of the Remington-Rand, Inc.,
protested so bitterly over the award
of a contract by the city of New York
to that firm for business machines,
that Mayer La Guardia vetoed the
ordinance that was intended to auth
orize the purchase. The amount in
volved was $126,795, net, after deduct
ing trade-in allowances.
The Central Trades and Labor Coun
cil, A. F. of L. affiliate, led the pro
test of labor that resulted in the Con
troller agreeing to use the present
equipment "until some future time
when an adjustment may be made."
In his veto message, Mayor La Guar
dia stated that "application may again
be made when normal conditions are
restored." Over 1,500,000 cards are
used for filing in the Finance Depart
ment, where the proposed new equip
ment was to be placed.
The Remington-Rand strike has
been in effect since last May. An in
vestigation by the National Labor Re
lations Board has revealed that the
firm has used gun-play, labor spies
and about all the despicable tricks of
violent anti-unionism in an effort to
defeat the striking employes, who are
still holding firm.
Five More States Adopt
Unemployment Insurance
By A. F. of L. News Service.
Our Christmas and Our
Hew Year U)i$h for you
Washington, D. C.—Spurred by the
desire to obtain for their states the
statutory share of the federal gov
ernment's unemployment insurance
tax levied on payrolls, effective Jan
uary 1, the legislatures of North Car
olina, West Virginia, New Mexico,
Virginia and Ohio have enacted, with
in thfe space of one week, laws drafted
in accordance with the federal social
security act granting compensation to
thousands of unemployed workers.
In most of the states the benefits
for the unemployed are not available
until 1938—a year after the federal
law becomes effective.
TIFF MINERS END STRIKE
Potosi, Mo. (ILNS)—A strike of
2,000 union tiff miners in Southeast
ern Missouri was ended on December
16.
The strike was called off by Organ
izer George Cole, for the International
Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers' Un
ion, because the "Miners were unable
to continue without the necessities
of life."
Agitation for union-made goods will
find its compensation in your pay
envelope!
IS THAT EACH*DAY WILL BE
ONE OF PEACE, PROSPERITY
AND PLENTY
Hlfk In Quatlttf-bomktVric*
1 V.,,