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

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

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Massillon (ILNS)—Hell has broken
loose in the wake of Tom Gilder once
more. A swarm of deputies and po
lice, using submachine guns and tear
gas bombs, fired into a crowd assem
bled near union headquarters here,
killing two persons and wounding a
dozen more, not counting those dis
abled by the gas.
It was as wanton and needless an
attack as that in South Chicago, and,
like the other, occurred a few hun
dred yards from- the gates of a Re
public Steel mill.
Following up their "victory," the
police, while the National Guard stood
by, utterly wrecked the headquarters
of the CIO, nearly demolishing the
building, smashing windows and bat
tering in the front wall. Also, they
confiscated all records, including
union charters.
Fire Without Warning
"They asked for it," said Chief of
Police Switzer. "We poured in all we
had on them, and if they want any
more, we'll give it to them!"
Harold J. Ruttenberg, research di
rector of the SWOC and an eye-wit
ness, gives this account of the row:
"Special deputies, city police and
armed gunmen of Republic Steel, sev
eral of whom are mill foremen,
opened, without cause, bullet, buck
shot and tear gas fire upon a crowd
of strikers and pickets outside union
headquarters in Columbiana Heights.
"Prior to the first shot, I saw and
heard three deputies tell a motorist
to turn his lights off, which he did
Then I heard a deputy say, 'Let's
bust them up,' then 1 heard shots and
smelled tear gas."
Ruttenberg said the police group
"opened fire without provocation."
Murder Was Planned
Frank Hardesty, also an officer of
the CIO, telegraphed as follows to
Senator La Follette, chairman of
Drug
k
Clerks Land
Increase Pact
•.'»•« I'"^
Bullets and Tear Gas Fell
Many
fche
senate civil liberties committee:
"This shooting and murder was
planned and executed as part of
premeditated plan to shoot down in
nocent workers to inspire terror in
others. We can supply you with
the names of some Republic Steel
CINCINNATI
Wage
Cincinnati, Ohio (AFLNS) An
agreement, which Jack Hurst, presi
dent of the Central Labor Council,
said is one of the finest of its kind in
the country, was negotiated here be
tween the King Drug Company and
the Registered Pharmacists Local
Union No. 1157 and Retail Drug
Clerks Local Union No. 821.
The agreement is of the closed
shop type, covering employes of all
ten King stores in Greater Cincinnati.
The separate contracts with the two
unions regulate wages and working
conditions of approximately 100 em
ployes. Pharmacists will receive
total wage increase of $11,000 an
nually. The wage scale for clerks
remains the same, but their commis
sion on sales will be doubled.
Under the agreements, weekly
working hours of the pharmacists
will be reduced from 64 to 55 Vfe, those
of male clerks from GO to 50, and
those of female clerks from 52 to 44
Sundays, holidays and vacations with
pay are also included.
The contracts were the first to be
negotiated between the American
Federation of Labor any any drug
firm in Cincinnati. The locals were
organized several months ago.
Joseph Landow, A. F. of L. organ
izer, and J. E. Chapman, organizer
for the retail clerks, represented the
unions in the negotiation proceed
ings.
St
Union
Buck-Shot and Gas Fumes Sweep Over Crowd at Union
Hall Near Plant of Republic Steel
VOL. XXXVII. No. 16 HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, JULY
Workers
foremen who participated in the
shooting."
Most of the wounded men were in
jured by bullets—police and National
Guard bullets. When the main row
was over, deputies swarmed through
the town, arresting 150 union men
without warrant and clapping them in
jail. Mayor Henry W. Krier has in
structed the police to permit no
further meetings and to disperse all
gatherings. It is martial law on the
will of a city official.
This is what a "back to work"
movement means in a town dominated
by Tom Girdler.
PUBLIC
Ownership Law Enacted By
Wisconsin
Madison, Wis. (AFLNS)—Just be
foi*e the adjournment of the Wiscon
sin legislature, Governor Philip F. La
Follette signed the "Little TVA" bill
under the authority of which Wiscon
sin is authorized to establish a public
power system thi*ough the Wisconsin
delevopment authority, a non-profit
corporation financed by the state.
Under the terms of the new law the
Wisconsin develepoment authority, al
ready incorporated, is authorized to
promote public ownership and opera
tion of utilities and to carry on work
connected with the internal improve
ments which are denied the state by
its constitution.
The terms of the act also authorize
the W. D. A. to engage in the power
business itself through constructing,
leasing and buying power sites, lines
and dams, which will be paid for by
the corporation's own securities.
Limited to Utilities
With only banking, investment and
building and loan business specifically
exempted by the terms of the act, op
ponents of the measure charge that
it will be possible for the W. D. A.
to invade practically every field of
industry. Administration spokesmen,
however, vigorously denied this alle
gation, and said that the W. D. A.
would not be expanded beyond the
utility field.
The law carries an initial appro
priation of $10,000, with an annual
appropriation of $60,000 beginning
July 1, 1937.
Praised by La Follette
In a statement commending the
purposes of the law, Governor La
Follette said:
"Wisconsin has always stood for
orderly progress and today again our
state takes another important step
forward. In the years to come, I pre
dict that this day will be remembered
as a milestone marking the beginning
of a sound and constructive program
that will mean a great deal to the
future prosperity of Wisconsin."
A. F. OF L. HEADQUARTERS
OPENED IN FLINT, MICH
Washington, D. C. (AFLNS)—The
American Federation of Labor has
established an office in Flint, Michi
gan, with Organizer Raymond Bel
lamy in charge.
Representatives of national and in
ternational unions are requested to
contact with Mr. Bellamy at the Du
rant Hotel in Flint, when they are in
that territory.
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP
WINS SUPPORT IN ALASKA
In a recent election at Nome,
Alaska, the citizens voted 208 to 90
in favor of municipal ownership of
public utilities. The municipal owner
ship policy w&s started in Alaska two
years ago when the city of Ketchikan
took over its electric light and power
plant and telephone system.
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HAMILTON, OHIO—A Home Owned Store
J"' V1»"
(Copyright, W. N. U.)
THE BUTLER COUNTY PRESS.
Whether the wage and hour bill
goes through to enactment in this
session depends almost entirely upon
labor and members of congress who
ai'e friends of labor and are quietly
sending out the cry for help.
Legislative Jam May Bring Defeat to Labor
Measure—Hope for Proposed Law Rests In
Quick Action of Labor Forces for Early Enact
ment.
The cry is for labor to go into
action.
Some members, ordinarily friends
of labor, are telling friends quietly
that they are glad of the chance to
dodge on an issue in which labor
shows no deep interest.
Other members, earnest in their
friendship, frankly say they wish
labor would turn on the heat so sis to
check the weak ones.
With the passing of Congressman
Connery, an entirely new phase en
ters the house of representatives
labor picture.
Hague in the Saddle
Mary Norton, new chairman of the
house labor committee, is utterly
responsive to the wishes of Boss
Frank Hague, of Jersey City, capital
of her congressional district. Thus
Frank Hague, less liked by labor now
than some time ago, assumes from
his Jersey bailiwick a big place in the
national labor legislative picture.
Frank Hague has to be counted in
now.
Up to this time Congresswoman
Norton has been extremely cautious
in doing or saying anything about the
wage and hour bill. If and when it
reaches the floor in the house it will
be piloted, not by her, but by Con
gressman Robert Ramspeck. Ram
speck has a fine labor record but he
doesn't appear to be boiling with
energy about the wages and hours
bill.
Bill Faces Log Jam
There is a strong likelihood that
the bill will be strangled in a legisla
tive jam. The senate committee has
reported the bill out, hoping the
house would adopt its report. The
house committee members seem to
have no great appetite for that, pre
ferring to make their own report.
With two widely differing reports,
a jam may come through inability to
•get agreement in conference. There
are indications that some of the
strategy being used is for the de
liberate purpose of tying up the bill
Labor, with a load of work and
trouble on the industrial field, isn't
burning the sidewalks to get to Capi
tol Hill these days. But labor's de
mand for the bill has been registered
clearly enough and most of the im
portant suggestions of both labor di
visions have been fairly well met.
Labor Forces Must Act
However, friends in congress make
it fairly clear that unless labor really
._ -t
W.-
Zi,
Our Best Friend
Wage and Hour Bill Needs
Strong Support For Passage
and earnestly turns on the heat and
steams up its demand, the wage and
hour bill may easily be among the
casualties of this session. The court
bill is being used as an excuse, but tin
court bill may be washed out of the
way quickly. Then will come tin*
danger of a quick adjournment before
labor knows what has happened.
Those who point out these serious
possibilities are unwilling to be
quoted, but they beg that somebody
sound the alarm which they are in n
position to sound publicly and openly,
although they are eager to do their
share in congress in helping to reg
ister a response.
WAGE EARNERS
In the Lead in Home Owner
ship
Chicago (ILNS)—Cities in which
more wage earning than business ami
professional families of the same in
come own their homes have come to
ight. They are convincing the home
building and home owning commit
tee of the United States Building an.!
Loan League that popularization of
owned homes must reach up to the top
incomes as well as down to the small
est incomes on which ownership
GO SU JOHN
KNOW
WHAT
WJTMOUT
im­
possible.
The committee points to some sur
prising figures which the Bureau o'
Labor's urban study of consumer pur
chases has brought out. Report
from five cities in the 10,000 to 50,00
group have been made public in tin
survey and they show that community
habits have a great deal to do with
the way families take to the idea
getting themselves a home.
Workers Own Most Homes
Among the business and profes
sional people with incomes between
$2,000 and $3,000, in three of the fiv»
cities surveyed, it was found,
smaller percentage were home owner
than among the wage-earners makin
the same money. In two of these
same cities a like contrast is seen le
tween the home-owning habits of th
professional and wage-earning group
with incomes between $1,500 and
$2,000.
Savings and loan associations which
are closer to the home-owning ambi
tions and practices of the workim
man have long felt that this grouj
formed much more of the backbone
3i»bscrib« for The Pr«aa
iA i'JeJks JLm *f£ar$' i i ''.KZSU
of
the home ownership movement than
is generally recognized. This helpiu
study by the Bureau of Labor gives
supporting evidence.
1937 ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR
ACCOUNT NUMBERS PASS
THE MARK OF 29,000,000
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—The
Social Security Board at the end of
June had received 29,954,821 applica
tions for account numbers. New York
leads the list with 4,292,366, and
Pennsylvania is second with 2,781,098.
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HUM
BETHLEHEM'S VIGI
LANTES EXPOSED
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Writ
ing in the Nation under the arresting
title of "O Little Town of Bethlehem,"
Allen Grobin tells how the "back to
work movement" was brought about
in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
First, the report was circulated that
if the strikers won, the Cambria mills
would close permanently, and the
Bethlehem Steel Corporation would
make its steel somewhere else. Next,
the Penn Traffic Store, the only de
partment store in Johnstown, laid off
25 to 50 per cent of its clerks on the
day of the strike. Then other stores,
under pressure from the one bank,
stopped all credits. Grobin prints at
length the letter which one store
keeper wrote to one of his customers.
"On June 15," says Gi-obin, "five
days after the strike broke out, 5
leaders of the vigilantes met with the
two strike leaders, David Watkins
and John W. Stephenson, at the Luth
eran Church on Vine street. S. H.
Heckman, head of the Penn Traffic
Store, who was one of the organizers
of the vigilante citizen's committee,
told Watkins and Stephenson that—
'The business men of the Greater
Johnston area will absolutely refuse
to permit the employes of the Beth
lehem. Steel Company to organize and
bargain collectively with their em
ployer, as such procedure would be
harmful to our business.'
"I have in my possession a steno
graphic report of that conference."
STREET CAR MEN GET RAISE
Cincinnati (AFLNS)—An agree
ment negotiated by the Cincinnati di
vison of the Amalgamated Associa
tion of Street and Electric Railway
Employes and Bus Drivers with the
management of the Cincinnati Street
Railway provides for a wage in
crease of five cents per hour for men
in all departments, one week's vaca
tion with pay for all employes, an
increase of $10 per month in the guar
antee to extra men, and a pension of
$50 per month for aged and disabled
emploves.
Suburban Days
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