The Butler County press. [volume], April 23, 1937, Image 1

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,»f-
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Pro
testing strongly against any cut in
federal relief, William Green, presi
dent of the American Federation of
Labor, has issued a statement declar
ing that the federal works program,
even now, is falling short by at least
1,000,000 jobs of providing for unem
ployed families where health and
morals are in danger. He called for
a federal program that would em
ploy 3,000,000 idle in the coming year.
AFL Demands Work Plan
To Employ All Unemployed
Green asserted that thousands of
needy, applying for relief, were being
turned away.
"In planning for the 1937-38 fed
eral budget, we must recognize that
the present federal works program is
inadequate." he said. "We must
have a program planned to give work
on useful projects for the unemployed
it should not be on a relief-roll basis.
It is an insult to self-respecting
American citizens to tell them 'y°u can
not have a job unless you declare
yourself a pauper.'
More Jobs Vital Need
"Such a policy, if pursued beyond
the emergency, will tend to make
paupers of millions who will later be
needed for responsible work. By
planning now for a program to pro
vide 3,000,000 jobs it is reliably es
timated we can care for those un
employed who are in serious need dur
ing the 1937-38 fiscal year.
"With 9,722,000 now unem
ployed, we cannot possibly count
on reducing unemployment below
an average of 7,500,000 in the fis
cal year 1938—not even if the
rapid gains of last year continue.
Green, Reporting Reemployment Slowing Up, Declares
Federal Program Inadequate and Urges Policy to Give
Jobs to 3,000,000 During Fiscal Year Ending in 1938.
A works program averaging 3,
000,000 is the least that can ade
quately provide for those in need,
and even this leaves 4,500,000
without regular income."
Reemployment, Green said, seems
to be slowing down.
"In all, only 280,000 have gone back
to work since January and employ
ment is not yet back to the December,
1936, level," he said. "In February,
1937, our preliminary figures show
9,722,000 still without normal work in
industry or government, compared to
10,002,000 in January and 8,990,000
in December.
Many in D«?sperate Need
"Of these unemployed in February,
2,939,000 had work at some time dur
ing the month ended February 15 on
PWA, WPA or other federal emer
gency projects. All of the remaining
6,783,000 are in need of work, but for
Jury Indicts
Pearl Bergoff
New Haven, Conn. (ILNS)—James
H. Rand, Jr., president of Remington
Rand, Inc., has been indicted here
by a federal grand jury for violation
of the Byrnes law, which forbids the
transportation of strikebreakers
across state lines. Pearl Bergoff,
whose boast is "I Break Strikes."
was indicted at the same time by the
same grand jury for the same offenses
The two brought strikebreakers from
New York to Middletown, this state.
After the evidence had been pre
sented, the grand jury took only 10
minutes to reach a decision.
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many of them the need is so desperate
that health is being undermined and
irreparable injury done to children.
"Just how large this number many
be no one knows. We do know that
from 300,000 to 500,000 families,
where the breadwinner needs work,
have been visited by relief agencies
and found to be in serious want.
These families, although work is de
nied them, are being temporarily tided
over by local relief."
HUDSON PLANT
SETTLEMENT
Ends Last of Big Automo
bile Strikes
Deti-oit (ILNS)—The last of four
automobile strike settlements took
place when an agreement was signed
between officials of the Hudson Motor
Co. and representatives of the United
Automobile Workers of America.
Naturally and properly, it was signed
in the office of Governor Frank Mur
phy whom one newspaper man call
ed the "only living rival of Assistant
Secretary of Labor Edward McGrady
as an angel of industrial peace."
Like the Reo settlement the day
before, the Hudson agreement fol
lowed the lines of the Chrysler settle
ment which in turn was B&sed large
ly on the agreement between CIO and
General Motors. In all four cases,
the union is recognized as bargaining
agent for its members.
In all, the company pledges itself
not to discriminate against union men,
or to foster a company union. In all,
the workers pledge themselves not to
resort to a stoppage of work before
the period named in the agreement
expires and in all, the workers prom
ise not to solicit members on com
pany time and property.
The Hudson Company has about
11,000 workers.
Two Cabinet Resignations
Forced in Ontario Strike
Toronto (ILNS)—The strike in the
General Motors plants of Ontario are
quite likely to have as a by-product
a special election in this province.
Premier Hepburn demanded and has
received the resignations of David
Croll, minister of labor, and Arthur
Roebuck, attorney general because
they did not approve what the pre
mier calls his "fight against the Lewis
organization and communism in gen
eral."
Both resigned, Mr, Croll remarking
that he "would rather be marching
with the workers than riding with
General Motors," and both criticising
sharply the belligerant help which the
premier is giving to the company.
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Ontario labor is up in arms at the
performance. The general anger at
Hepburn's attitude is believed to have
hastened the action of 5,000 garment
workers of Montreal, who have walked
out since the Hepburn manifesto.
& The workers will remain "half slave
and half free" until all consumers buy
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P'
(Oi.yrlchf, W. V
THE BUTLER COUNTY PRESS.
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Imme
diate action on the Wagner-Steagall
housing bill was urged by William
Green, president of the American
Federation of Labor, in appearing be
fore the senate committee on educa
tion and labor. Warning that the
present housing shortage constitutes
threat to continued recovery, he
emphasized the need for quick action
throughout his statement.
VOL. XXXVII. No. 3 HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, APRIL 23,1937 ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR
Green said the bill is needed to re
lieve unemployment, to help elimi
nate slums, and to provide low-rent
housing for the workers of the country
in order that their purchasing power
may not be curtailed as rents rise un
der an "acute" housing shortage.
"The task before us is so great, the
ramifications *of the problem are so
many that it clearly becomes the pub
lic duty of this congress to act NOW,"
Green told the committee. He con
tinued:
"One of the basic objectives of this
measureis to help alleviate the present
and recurring unemployment. Today
after more than four years of recov
ery, 9,700,000 wage earners are still
without normal employment.
Warning: Housing Shortage Menaces Recovery,
Labor Head Urges Bill to Relieve Unemploy
ment, Help End Slums and Prevent Cut in
Menace in Housing Shortage
"Despite stimulated activity in the
construction industry as a whole, un
employment among skilled mechanics
as well as laborers in the building
trades—those whose normal employ
ment would be in the construction in
dustry—is still so heavy as to hold no
hope of immediate reemployment un
less the activity of the private indus
try is supplemented by government
assistance.
"At the same time, the housing
shortage with which we are confront
ed represents a real threat to the re
covery itself. What are the inevitable
consequences of a housing shortage?
The most important of all is a drastic
increase in rents. In the absence of an
adequate remedy, rents are bound to
go up faster than wages. If we permit
this to take place, we will not only
accept the enormous housing deficit
losses to the purchasing power of the
wage earners and thereby permit the
very basis for our recovery to be
wiped out.
"To safeguard our recovery, to in
sure its balance is our foremost, our
most pressing problem, a problem
which we must not fail to solve."
Acute Shortage Near
Repeating his previous warnings
that the nation is approaching an
acute housing shortage, "a shortage of
sanitary and decent dwellings for peo
pie with small incomes," Green quoted
figures to prove a serious housing de­
The Sedative
w
Green Asks Speedy Passage
Of Wagner Housing Measure
Workers' Purchasing Power Through Sharp
Rise in Rents.
ficit and to show what must be done
to meet it.
'In the next 13 years," he said, "we
must construct 16,000,000 additional
dwellings, or in other words, make
additional dwellings available at the
rate of about one million and a quar
ter a year. We must remember, how
ever, that in the past seventeen years,
we have only constructed about half
this number. We must also remem
ber that the largest number of dwell
ings we have ever constructed in one
year was 850,000 or 400,000 dwellings
less than we should be constructing
every year for the next thii-teen years.
Doubling up and overcrowding is the
only alternative to a housing program
which will meet these needs.
"The Wagner bill contemplates con
struction of new housing to take care
of the needs of families with incomes
of less than $1,500 a year. These are
the families that cannot afford new
housing at prices that can be offered
by the private enterprise."
Asks Action Now
In closing, President Green pointed
out that the Wagner bill contains
safeguards for both labor and con
sumer interests. He stressed the fact
that the measure provides for high
labor standards and the payment of
prevailing wages. He declared that
the bill "is in a very real sense labor's
bill" and added:
"The Wagner bill will enable us to
make a modest beginning toward the
solution of one of our greatest social
and economic problems. It is an es
sential beginning of a program that
must be carried on over a period of
years, if it is to succeed and that
it will succeed I have no doubt, for
today labor stands as one in its sup
port of this bill, and in the years to
come it will continue to give its united
support to the program developed un
der the terms of this bill.
"The workers have waited long for
this program to begin. Labor is im
patient over this unnecessary delay
I know that I voice the earnest wish
of the entire organized labor move
ment in America when I ask you to
delay no longer, but act favorably
upon the bill—niw."
CANADIAN RELIEF TOTAL
Ottawa (ILNS)—There were 1,186,
090 persons on direct relief in Can
ada during February, while 81,835
persons were employed on relief proj
ects, making a total of 1,265,925 de
pendent on public assistance. This is
more than one-tenth of the population.
Advertise in The Press.
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Carpenters' Union Board
Forbids Sit-Down Strikes
Indianapolis (ILNS)—Sit-down
strikes were forbidden among union
carpenters in a statement issued by
the general executive board of the
United Brotherhood of •Carpenters and
Joiners.
'We will not permit members to
take possession of property that does
not belong to them through the meth
od of sit-down srtikes," the board
said.
"The board will not countenance
any action on part of our members
in departing from the well-tried
methods of organizing that have been
successful in years gone by."
VIOLATION OF WAGNER ACT
CHARGED TO COAL COMPANY
Fort Worth, Tex. (ILNS)—Viola
tion of the Wagner labor act was
charged against the Lone Star Gas
Company by 162 striking workers who
are members of the United Associa
tion of Journeymen Plumbers and
Steam Fitters.
They charged that requests for a
conference with company officials had
met only with evasion and delay.
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PAID TO KILL
Agents of Harlan Operators
Tell Senate
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Ben
Unthank, who might be called the
murder supervisor for the Harlan
County Coal Operators' Association,
drew a salary of $1,800 a year but
had an expense account which ran
from $7,000 to $9,000. With this fund,
he hired the actual killers or attempt
ed killers but three of them have
testified before the La Follette civil
liberties committee that he paid
them only from $30 to $100 each fbr
the job.
There would seem to be a rakeoff
somewhere in this neighborhood. But
Richard C. Tackett, one of those hired
for the job of blowing up a union
organizer, testified that Unthank
paid hin—Tackett—wages for the
six months that he spent in jail, and
looked after his family besides.
The man to be blown up—with 15
sticks of dynamite furnished by the
chief deputy sheriff—is Lawrence
Dwyer, United Mine Workers' organ
izer, 72 years old and a modest hero
if ever there was one. He told the
committee, as it resumed its hearings,
that he had "a charmed life," and
that he had been shot at, dynamited,
and attacked by company-paid deputy
sheriffs "so many times that I can't
remember all of 'em." In the dyna
miting under discussion, which occur
red in Novembei*, 1933, the explosion
tore away the wall of his room, "an'
slammed me against the ceiling." But
he got only a few scratches.
George S. Ward, secretary-treas
urer for the Coal Operators' Associa
tion, admitted under Senator La Fol
ieite's grilling that he had kept a
close account of the association's in
come, but did not put down expenses,
because "I have anticipated an inves
tigation for the last three or four
years."
The association got its money by
an assessment of one-half cent a ton
for coal produced, which was doubled
when labor troubles were expected.
Expenses for fighting unions were
several times as great as those for
conducting rate cases.
MARYLAND AGAIN DEFEATS
CHILD LABOR AMENDMENT
Annapolis, Md. (ILNS)—Hope for
ratification of the child labor amend
ment by Maryland this year disap
peared after the Maryland house of
delegates rejected ratification by a
vote of 76 to 31. The vote represented
a slight gain for ratification forces as
the house turned down the proposal by
a vote of 91 to 12 in 1935.
CANADIAN RAIL PAY
TO BE RESTORED
Ottawa (ILNS)—Under govern
ment pressure, the Canadian railway
companies have undertaken to make
successive increases in wage rates so
that pre-depression rates will be re
stored by February 1,1938. The joint
committee of railway unions has rec
ommended that the men agree to this.
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