The Butler County press. [volume], June 23, 1944, Image 1

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

Image provided by: Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH

                
v
H!
i-
COMPULSORY
SERVICE BILLS
ARE DOOMED
1
Washington, D. C. Congressional
leaders have come to the conclusion
that all pending proposals for com
pulsory labor conscription are "dead
ducks" for this session, at least, and
are now seeking to draft legislation
merely to control "turnover" in war
plants.
This was indicated after hearings
opened on the new Bailey-Brewster
"woi'k or fight" bill, which would make
workers liable for penalty service in
"work battalions" for failure to trans
fer to jobs in war industries.
This latest dodge of the "national
service" advocates received such a
cold reception from the first group of
witnesses to testify before the Senate
Military Affairs Committee that it
probably will be pigeon-holed 'in a
hurry.
The bill was roundly denounced by
Lewis G. Hines, a legislative repre
sentative for the American Federation
of Labor, who told the committee that
such legislation was bound to do more
harm than good.
Expressing the policy laid down by
the AFL Executive Council, Mr. Hines
insisted that "free and voluntary serv
ice is far superior to coercion." He
charged it was ridiculous to say that
the bill ought to be passed to show
the men in the armed forces that labor
is supporting them.
"Our boys don't need that kind of
assurance" said Mr. Hines. "What
they need is the truth. When they get
the truth about war production, they
will know beyond question that we are
backing them up."
More Smokes Asked
For Service Men
To the Members of the
AMERICAN FEDERATION
OF LABOR,
Greetings:
Undoubtedly, you are aware of the
fact that the American Federation of
Labor through I. M. Ornburn, Secre
tary-Treasurer of the Union Label
Trades Department, last year under
took a plan to send good will mes
sages overseas in the form of FREE
UNION LABEL RALEIGH cigar
ettes. At first the response was very
gratifying, as millions of RALEIGH
cigarettes were shipped by our locals
to all parts of the world, SPREADING
GOOD WILL for organized labor.
Month by month, however, due to
many think that "Victory is just
around the corner," donations, based
upon the requirements of the men now
overseas, have dropped.
We know that the recipients of
these FREE cigarettes appreciate
them, because thousands of letters and
cards of thanks have been received by
all locals from American fighters in
all theaters of war. No small number
of the letters are from our own mem
bers who are now using guns and
grenades instead of the tools of the
trade. All of them are unanimous in
their appreciation of the FREE cigar
ettes being furnished by labor, espe
cially since American smokes are
rationed and hard to get in some bat
tle areas. War correspondents, Red
Cross workers and high Army and
Navy officials all agree that cigarettes
from home do more for the morale of
our boys thariy other one thing.
According to the Secretary of War
Mwe
shall have twice as many men
overseas in 1944 as in 1943." There
fore, twice as many smokes will be
needed this year. With this in mind
I urge all locals that have not partici
pated in this nation-wide move of
spreading good will for union workers
to GIVE THIS YOUR SERIOUS
CONSIDERATION. And I urge those
locals that have been sending cigar
ettes to continue this patriotic and
morale-building campaign.
With best wishes.
Fraternally yours,
WM. GREEN, President,
American Federation of Labor,
B"y the time a man gets to the top
he wonders why he struggled so hard
to get there.
rf
JJ
oc
^--v'^ 1 ..
v.v.v.v.v.v.v.
Y. .V.'*XV V.'V
(WNU Servlc*)
ITALIAN LABOR LEADER
MURDERED BY NAZIS
Rome, Italy.—Bruno Buozzi, Italian
Socialist labor leader for the last 40
years, was brutally murdered by Ger
man Elite Guard men along with 13
other prisoners just before the Allied
capture of Rome.
Sign or Buozzi was a owner Deputy.
As a Socialist he fought Benito Mus
solini in the years preceding fascism.
He was an exile in France when the
collaborationists turned him over to
Mussolini. After the overthrow of II
Duce, he resumed leadership of the
Socialists and became secretary of the
General Confederation of Labor. Then
he fell into German hands.
HARRY BRIDGES NO HERO
TO THIS CIO UNION
Hot Springs, Ark.—Harry Bridges
is no hero to some of his fellow CIO
members.
The CIO Aluminum Workers' Un
ion, meeting here, adopted a resolu
tion demanding the removal of
Bridges as CIO California Director,
charging him with supporting "every
reactionary movement by anti-labor
forces in this country." Among speci
fic counts cited against him were en
dorsement of labor conscription, sup
poit for Sewell Avery's stand in the
Montgomery Ward case and other ac
tions "to the detriment of organized
labor."
ITALIAN-AMERICAN
PICNIC A SUCCESS
That big picnic which is held an
nually by the Italian-American So
ciety of Hamilton at the Butler Coun
ty Fair grounds, was again a success
last Sunday. A large crowd was there
all day and until the fire works display
at ten o'clock. The committee of that
organization is well pleased with the
attendance from Hamilton friends as
well as from other surrounding cities
New Beer Permits
V. W. Thomas, Rainbow Gardens
1301 Garfield, Middletown, D-l.
Application, Carl Schnapp, 1124
Vine street, Hamilton, C-l.
We have the resources in America
and therefore we are resourceful
David Webb & Sons
FUNERAL HOME
PHONES 48-78 ROSS AT "D"
1 A
i
r'.V'
s
,,41 4
.- .,•••/:' '"•.-••••• S
What's Cooking?
mm&
'ARTHUK
All Strikes Off, Green Cables Gen. Eisenhower
AFL Pledges $750,000,000 To War Bonds
Leaders of AFL organizations in
every part of the country rallied to
the call for redoubled service and re
ported production going full blast on
the nation's production front.
At the same time, Army and Navy
chiefs paid high tribute to the long
production battle waged by the na
tion's workers which made the inva
sion possible.
The industrial incentive division of
the Navy declared in an official re
lease:
"The pledge of union workers to
build a bridge of landing craft to
storm the shores of Hitler's Fortress
Europe. Over 4,000 vessels took part
in the initial invasion, great numbers
of them being LCI's (Landing Craft,
Infantcy) and LST's (Landing Ship,
Tank)."
American, output of combat planes
is now at a rate greater than 4 to 1
in comparison with Germany's and
better than 7 to 1 compared with
Japanese production, Charles E. Wil
son, chairman of the Aircraft Produc
tion Board revealed.
Military experts said these figures
showed why Hitler's Luftwaffe failed
so miserably to prevent the invasion
of Normandy.
D-Day found U. S. production of
aircraft since Pearl Harbor soaring
above the 180,000 mark. The War De
partment disclosed that artillery pro
duction has been stepped up enorm
ously this year. Shipyards tripled the
production of landing craft within the
past six months.
Thus, as Lieut. Gen. Alexander A
Vandegrift, commandant of the U. S.
Marine Corps, said, "our expanding
strength comes, at the source, from
the people who are building and pay
ing for our weapons."
In the AFL "Labor For Victory"
broadcast over a nation-wide NBC
network on June 11, Mr. Green said
"Today, more than 1,500,000 mem
bers of the American Federation of
V 1 'I.'-*
v
..-•
•••-•.•.-
THE BUTLER COUNTY PRESS.
VOL. XLIV. No. 12. HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY JUNE 23, 1944. ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR
Labor's Full Strength Mobilized To Support Invasion
As Military Leaders Praise Past Achievements
Washington, D. C.—Labor mobilized
its maximum strength across the
length and breadth of America to back
up Allied invasion forces, fighting on
the beachheads of France, with over
whelming superiority in war material
over the enemy.
Forty-eight hours after D-Day the
docket of the National War Labor
Board was cleared of any and all
strikes involving AFL unions and
President William Green cabled the
good news to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower,
in command of the Allied expedition
ary forces.
Following up this all-out support
on the production line, President
Green called on the 7,000,000 AFL
members to buy at least $750,000,000
worth of War Bonds in the current
Fifth War Loan Drive.
"Let's buy more to shorten the
war," the AFL chief appealed.
.' •.- -. -. ., .. •,-'
0
Labor ai'e serving in the armed forces
of the nation alongside of other boys
from all walks of life.
"Today, the 7,000,000 members of
the American Federation of Labor
serving on the production front here
at home, are working harder than ever
before to give our fighting men the
backing and support they need.
"Today, out of the vast flow of
planes, ships, tanks, gunsvand ammu
nition, pouring in record quantities
from our industrial facilities to the
fighting fronts, more than 85 per cent
is made by union labor.
"By providing the armed forces of
the United Nations with overwhelm
ing superiority in the weapons of war
we can make ultimate victory certain
and bring it nearer.
"From now on that will be the su
preme objective of all American work
ers—an objective that must outweigh
all other considerations. All our hopes
and prayers for the safety of our
loved ones overseas and for victory
in 1944 must be ti'anslated into calm
steady, unremitting hard work."
On the same radio program, three
of America's outstanding war heroes
paid high tribute to labor's production
achievements which they have ob
served while visiting war plants since
their return to this country. Asked
what he thought of the efforts of
American workers, Charles E. (Com
mando) Kelly, holder of the Congres
sional Medal of Honor, said:
"They're doing a swell job. The men
and women I saw were working hard
and turning out a lot of stuff. I was
very much impressed."
"They are really turning out the
stuff, all right."
Machinist's Mate H. J. Hulstrom, of
the Seabees, who is a member of the
Operating Engineers local union at
San Francisco and has been decorated
with the Purple Heart after being
wounded in action, said of his tour of
production plants:
"I was mighty proud of our folks
wherever I went. I saw men from 16
to 60 doing their part on the produc
tion lines. I met grandmothers, moth
ers, wives and daughters of service
men on the job backing up their men
Some went to work at daybreak, some
on the graveyard shift. But one and
all wanted to do their part to win the
war."
Monkey's Outing Sunday
That annual outing and picnic of
the Monlcey Mutual Aid Society will
be held at Monkey hall and grounds
South Monument avenue, next Sunday
June 25, all day and evening.
Dancing, games and amusements
have been arranged by George
Thompson, chairman and his assist
ant Jess Pochard. Admittance at the
gate will be free. ?,
•T*'• *.
V
4*
.f y ,'• ""V
1
Washington, D. C.—George Meany,
secretary-treasurer of the American
Federation of Labor, berated the De
partment of Labor and its Bureau of
Labor Statistics for failure to perform
their statutory duty "to foster, pro
mote and develop wage-earners' wel
fare."
At the annual meeting of labor re
search personnel called by the Bu
reau of Labor Statistics, Mr. Meany
flatly charged that this agency is at
tempting to keep its cost of living in
dex down in order to cover up the
government's failure to keep living
costs down. He added:
"The Secretary of Labor does not
represent the views of labor in the
Cabinet."
"The so-called Acting Commissioner
of Labor Statistics (A. F. Hinrichs)
has by his actions assumed the ap
pearance of a bureaucratic monkey on
stick who moves up and down in
conformity with the dictates of ad
ministrative wage policy."
The BLS has prostituted its re
search functions to an administrative
objective."
"There are sharp indications that
the price-control policy of the govern
ment, having failed to keep living
costs down, the administration decided
ELMER E. BERRY DIES
Services were conducted Thursday
at 10:30 a.m. for Elmer E. Berry, 64,
864 Forest Avenue, who died Monday
at Fort Hamilton Hospital. Burial was
in Greenwood Cemetery. Berry is sur
vived by his widow, Clara two daugh
ters, two brothers and two sisters
He was a mattress maker by trade
some forty years ago and was an
active member of the Mattress Mak
ers' Union.
39*
TERMS
Meany Berates Labor Department
For Unrealistic Living Cost Index
COMFO
've never are
reame
U
W I E K N I
v i w-
the next best thing to do was to keep
down the cost-of-living index. In this
policy the BLS obsequiously ac
quiesced. We are led to the inescapable
conclusion that the bureau has be
come identified with an effort to
freeze wages, to the extent that it is
no longer a free agency of statistical
research."
"There is no national labor policy
and no unification of administration of
labor legislation for dealing with la
bor problems."
Mr. Meany contended that the BLS
is contributing by its silence to the
popular deception that it keeps a cost
of living index whereas, in fact, it is
merely an index of some retail prices.
He also asserted that the items in
cluded in the index were predominant
ly those over which the OPA had ex
ercised tight price controls.
w "Consciously or unconsciously," the
AFL official added, "the bureau has
permitted this fact to cause a serious
downward bias in its measurement of
the amount of increase in retail prices.
Workers today have to depend heavily
on foods and other items not priced
by the bureau. Because of these de
velopments the index no longer gives
an accurate measurement of price in
creases of goods bought by workers."
STRIKE AT FORD PLANT
Approximately 800 employees at
the local Ford plant went on strike
Tuesday morning. The strike was
started, some employees stated, be
cause of the discharge of a woman
employee who could not begin to do
all the production work given to her.
The strikers are members of the
United Automobile Workers, CIO.
7
e "Mattress Within A Mattress'
BEAUTYREST OF TODAY'S MATTRESSES
For comfort, quality, and fine tailoring White Knight
is the Beautyrest of felt mattresses. In fact Simmons
has included many Beautyrest features in White
Knight. It has deep, felted layers of all-white staple
cotton .. an "inner-mattress" with still more staple
cotton exclusive pre-built border to keep edges
from sagging Beautyrest cover fabrics, French edge,
flat button tufts, and handles. The matching White
Knight Box Spring has deep coil construction, well
upholstered. $39.50
fptsis
THIRD High in Quality-UwmTrict.
fC\
*.
C0URT
V
"V i-» J"
I
7
31