The Butler County press. [volume], November 14, 1941, Image 1

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

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A
Small Plant Closings Threaten
New York City (ILNS).—Floyd B.
Odium, chief of the Office of Produc
tion Management's new Contract Dis
tribution Division, visualizes his tre
mendous job of spreading defense con
tracts to scores of thousands of the
nation's smaller factories as one, pri
marily, of "democratizing defense."
Serious Job Threat
Odium will call to his service at
least 500 skilled engineers as the key
men in the organization of thousands
that he will assemble to carry on the
new division's work through a na
tional network of field offices, he re
vealed in an article, published in the
McGraw-Hill industrial magazine, Fac
tory Management and Maintenance
(Factory).
Some 200 field offices will be opened
by the division in an effort to speed
defense work to most of the 200,000
lesser industrial plants which come
under the head of "Small Business,"
Odium said.
Odium stressed the seriousness of
the threat to the jobs of as many as
2,000,000 workers but warned that the
Contract Distribution Division was
created "somewhat belatedly" and
could not proceed too hastily because
"a major mistake in policy might set
us back any number of irredeemable
months."
RAIL UNION HEADS
REJECT AWARD OF
EMERGENCY BOARD
Chicago (ILNS).—Compromise pay
increases recommended at Washington
by the emergency board set up by
President Roosevelt to investigate the
railroad wage dispute were rejected in
a statement signed by executives of
the "Big Five" operating brother
hoods.
"The board's recommendation as it
applies to railway workers repre
sented by the transportation brother
hoods is a twin sister to the Gurley
bonus plan which the organizations re
jected in mediation and condemned
as un-American before the President's
board," the rail labor chiefs said.
The Gurley plan, a railroad scheme,
provided for graduated pay increases
based on indices of cost of living and
rail revenues.
"Invitation" to Strike
"The report, as we see it, is an en
graved invitation for transportation
men to leave the service," the state
ment continued.
"As a whole the board's recommen
dation is the most disappointing of
any recommendation rendered by a
federal tribunal in the past 50 years.
"The chief executives of the five
transportation brotherhoods regret
that they cannot advise or recommend
that it be accepted."
J. J. Goff, assistant president of the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen
and Enginemen, said the labor heads
oppose the recommendations on two
grounds, the suggested increase is not
adequate, and it is only temporary.
The workers want an increase in basic
rates, not a bonus, he pointed out.
329 South Second Street
2,000,000, Says 0PM Official
Spirit of Co-operation Not Bred in Idle Shops, Floyd B.
Odium Says—Smaller Plants Gasping for Materials,
Men and Machines Idle, One of Defense Problems.
SOCIAL and CARD PARTY
Every Friday Night
THE SPOT FOR REAL ENJOYMENT
Three Big Problems
"On the one hand, big plants choked
with gigantic defense orders, new
plants rising daily," Odium declared.
"On the other hand, shutdowns, cur
tailments—little plants gasping for
materials. Men and machines throt
tled into idleness at a time when crisis
cries fOr every ounce of production!
That is the situation as we come to
grips with one of gravest consequences
of total defense.
"In 'priorities unemployment,'
we face an economic problem, a
social problem, and a military
problem. At stake in its solution
are not only production—vitally
needed today—but the preserva
tion of our civilian morale and our
economic stability as well. A key
to the success of the whole de
fense effort may be found in the
words of Woodrow Wilson, who
said: 'The highest and best form
of efficiency is the spontaneous co
operation of a free people.'
"The spirit of co-operation is not
bred in idle factories, it does not
spring from the hearts of jobless men.
Economic stability will be lost if our
smaller industries, the very founda
tion of our industrial greatness, the
employers of 60 per cent of our work
ing force are ailowed to crumble."
Suggested Increases Temporary
The labor executives' statement was
issued as a call was sent out for a
speedy meeting here of representatives
of all the workers involved in the dis
pute. In addition to the brotherhoods,
14 non-operating unions are asking
increases.
The emergency board recommended
temporary increases to expire on De
cember 31, 1942. It proposed that the
350,000 employes covered by the op
erating brotherhoods receive a IVz per
cent wage increase instead of the 30
per cent they had demanded.
The 800,000 employes covered by the
14 non-operating unions would receive
an additional 9 cents an hour, or an
average increase of 13 per cent over
present scales, far short of what was
asked.
Small-House Contractors
Sign Detroit A.F.L. Pact
MOOSE HOME
At 8:45 P. M.
CHICAGO MARKET CO.
Front and High Sts. Phone 5000
SMOKED CALAS 22k
CHUCK ROAST ». 19k
SIRLOIN STEAK ... 23c
Detroit, Mich.—Under a new con
tract, several thousand carpenters in
Detroit, formerly working on small
houses under non-union conditions at
wages under $1 an hour, will get 30
per cent wage increases, the Carpen
ters' District Council of Detroit an
nounced.
The contract was signed with the
Builders' Association of Metropolitan
Detroit. The new scale is $1.25 an
hour, a 30 per cent increase. The
work week is reduced to 40 hours and
double time is paid for Sundays and
holidays.
AFL DISCUSSION MEETING
New Orleans (ILNS).—Problems of
affiliated unions of the A. F. of L. in
Louisiana will be discussed and a fu
ture program of organization dis
cussed at Baton Rouge, November 18.
Frank P. Fenton and George L. Googe
of the A. F. of L. have signified their
intention to attend.
Hamilton, Ohio
(WNU Service)
New York City (ILNS). —A pro
gram of after-the-war world recon
struction "upon the basis of improved
labor standards, economic adjustment
and social security" was submitted to
the International Labor Conference
here by the American delegation. The
program, backed by all the labor, em
ployer and government members, was
presented in the form of a resolution
to be voted on by the conference.
With the declaration that "the vic
tory of the free peoples in the war
against aggression is an indispensable
condition for the attainment of the
ideals of the International Labor Or
ganization," the resolution said:
"The close of the war must be fol
lowed by immediate action, previously
planned and arranged, for the feed
ing of the peoples in need, for the
provision and transportation of raw
materials and capital equipment nec
essary for the restoration of economic
activity, for the reopening of trade
outlets, for the resettlement of work
ers and their families under circum
stances in which they can work in
freedom and security and hope, for
the changing-over of industry to the
needs of peace, for the maintenance
of employment, and for the raising of
standards of living throughout the
world."
"Fullest Collaboration" Urged
To accomplish this program, the
resolution declared, "the fullest col
laboration between all nations in the
economic field" will be required. Such
collaboration, the resolution said, "will
set tasks of organization and admin
istration calling for the highest abil
ity and for the most sympathetic un
derstanding of the needs of the
peoples."
Government intervention in em
ployer-employe relations, except where
special conditions make it necessary,
was criticised by American and Brit
ish delegates, stirring a lively discus
sion at one session.
Robert J. Watt, international repre
sentative of the American Federation
of Labor and American workers' dele
gate, urged a "hands of?" policy by
government, saying:
"Labor is vitally concerned with the
defense program. When labor's wel
fare is properly safeguarded the bene
ficial results affect the entire commu
nity. Collaboration must exclude the
interference of government, especially
in the internal affairs of labor unions.
Some Interference Desirable
"In instances of substandard indus
tries government interference is de
sirable, however, through such legis
lation as minimum wage laws and
maximum hours. Nor should govern
ment be excluded as a mediatory agent
THE BUTLER COUNTY PRESS.
VOL. XLI. No. 33. HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1941. ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR
TMJO HOND^tPTH AMP
SIXTEENTH RE6IMENT
CAMP SOOTT, TENN
U. S. Delegates to IL0 Offer World
Plan of Reconstruction,
American Delegation Submits After-war Program to the
International Labor Conference—Discuss Government
Intervention in Employe-and-Employer Relations.
in industries where collective bargain
ing has been established firmly and is
of long standing.
"But the American Federation of
Labor is opposed to compulsory legis
lation governing labor, including com
pulsory arbitration. Direct negotiation
between labor and industry, without
government interference, is far su
perior to the invoking of any official
tribunal, temporary or permanent. In
the last analysis, unless labor and
management—I mean labor and not
merely the A. F. of L. or C. I. O.—
can collaborate to meet the problems
of a world threatened by savagery
there is no hope."
True Representation Defined
As to the question of labor repre
sentation on government agencies, on
which he criticised the administra
tion, Watt said that "representation
imposed from without is not true rep
resentation in the sense in which it is
understood by people accustomed to
the use of the ballot box."
"Labor representatives should be
designated by labor itself," he de
clared.
Watt's view was supported by Har
old Stewart Kirkaldy, secretary of the
Iron and Steel Trades Employers' As
sociation of Great Britain and by Sir
Frederick William Leggett, chief in
dustrial commissioner of the Ministry
of Labor and National Service.
EMPLOYMENT AT
NEW HIGH MARK
Washington, D. C. (ILNS). Con
tinued expansion of industry increased
employment approximately 218,000 be
tween August 15 and September 15,
setting high records, Secretary of
Labor Perkins reported.
"The advance in employment and
payrolls for all manufacturing indus
tries carried the indexes to new record
high levels, the employment index
reaching 135.6 per cent of the 1923-25
average, the payrolls index rising to
163 per cent," she announced. "Total
civil non-agricultural employment in
September amounted to 40,065,000, an
increase of approximately 439,000
over August.
"The increase for all manufacturing,
however, was of slightly less than the
usual seasonal proportions, as the ex
pansion in heavy metals and fnachin
ery industries tapered off. Silk and
rayon goods and hosiery experienced
substantial employment dislocations
and the increase in the automobile in
dustry was less than usual in accord
ance with the effort to conserve crit
ical and strategic raw materials.
to
on High Labor, Economic Standards
Model LB-530
0
mm
be Based
"In wholesale trade employment and
payrolls showed virtually no change.
In retail trade, while the increase was
less than usual for the month of Sep
tember, both employment and payrolls
were at significantly higher levels
than last year.
"Marked gains in non-agricultural
employment between the middle of
August and the middle of September
occurred in the industrial state?
New York, Michigan, New Je
Pennsylvania and Indiana, as
suit of continued gains in factory
ployment."
CHARGES
While It Plays!
,r
NO BATTERY
REPLACEMENT
WORRIES
No Other Portable Has Any of These Advantages.
1. NO BATTERY REPLACEMENT WORRIES
2. HAS SELF-CONTAINED NEW AIRPLANE-TYPE STOR
AGE BATTERY AND CHARGER
5. PLAYS ANYWHERE ON ITS STORAGE BATTERY
4. SELF-CHARGES WHILE PLAYING ON AC
5. CHARGES ON AC SILENTLY, IF DESIRED
6. PROVISION FOR CHARGING FROM AUTO BATTERY
MODEL LB-530—Operates on AC or Storage Battery. Built-in
Beam-a-scope located in lid. Additional- Window Antenns.
Case finished in brown simulated leather.
Come in for a Demonstration. See it! Hear ill
THIRD Htqh ht Qualttii-Lmlmlklc*
:.'
STRIKES HELP NAZIS,
WARNS LABOR
Washington, D. C. (ILNS).—In
Food Stamp Plan Declared
Unfair To Small Grocers
New Orleans (ILNS).—Three mil
lion dollars worth of food stamps were
sold in New Orleans in the last 14
months in addition to one million, one
hundred thousand dollars worth of
free blue stamps used to purchase
supplies of the Surplus Marketing Ad
ministration. Independent, and smaller
groceries—the corner grocery store—
charge that the chain stores are rap
idly taking their trade, inasmuch as
they (the smaller stores) cannot carry
a majority of the supplies available
for the blue stamp users, thereby
throwing the bulk of the purchases to
the larger stores.
FARM WAGES BEST SINCE 1930
Washington, D. C. (ILNS).—Faced
with a declining supply of available
workers, farmers have been able to
keep hired men this fall only by
sharply increasing wage rates, the De
partment of Agriculture reports. Ag
ricultural wage rates on October 1
had advanced to 165 per cent of the
1910-14 average, 5 points over July 1,
36 points over a year ago, and were
qt the highest level since 1930.
Automatically
Self-Charges While
Operating on AC
"'"*1
a
vigorous criticism of strikes in de
fense industries, the Office of Produc
tion Management declared work stop
pages aid the aggressor nations.
"The defense program which is
growing larger every day," the state
ment said, "depends for its success on
the patriotic support of labor and
management. Uninterrupted produc
tion is the pressing need. The inter
ruption of work by strikes or slow
downs is the greatest help the aggres
sors can get these days when material
on the battlefield is everything."
The statement went on to direct at
tention to the government machinery
set up to settle disputes and con
tinued
"The Office of Production Manage
ment fully endorses the voluntary sys
tem set up to handle disputes, and it
expects all parties involved in the
production of defense material to take
no action that will impede production.
"Time is short. We need the man
hours your country needs your
strength and skill. Let us have all
the co-operation and help possible."
$44-95