The Butler County press. [volume], June 30, 1944, Image 1

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

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Washington, D. C.—The Bureau of
Labor Statistics officially admitted in
a release on June 16 that its index
"does not show the full wartime effect
on the cost of living."
Hailing this confession of the truth,
A S e e a y- e a s u e e o e
Meany declared that the BLS index no
longer can be considered a yardstick
for the restriction of wage rates.
As a member of the War Labor
Board, Mr. Meany made it clear that
organized labor will now renew its
drive for realistic wage adjustments
to meet the factual and heavy in
creases in living costs not reflected by
the BLS index.
The Department of Labor's refresh
ing avowal of the inadequacy of the
BLS index came after Mr. Meany and
other labor spokesmen had exposed
the BLS figures as a guide to com
puting living costs and as a basis for
establishing wage rates. The official
statement said:
"The BLS index average changes in
retail prices of selected goods, rents
and services bought by families of
wage earners and lower-salaried work
ers in large cities. The items covered
{^presented 70 per cent of the expen
ditures of families who had incomes
ranging from $1250 to $2000 in 1934
1936.
"The index does not show the full
wartime effect on the cost of living of
such factors as lowered quality, dis
appearance of low-priced goods and
forced changes in housing and eating
away from home.
"It does not measure changes in
total "living costs"—that is, in the
total amount families spend for living.
Income taxes and bond subscriptions
are not included."
CONGRESS EXTENDS
FOOD SUBSIDIES
Washington, D. C.—Senate and
House conferees agreed upon extend
ing Federal food subsidies for another
year but were still hotly debating
amendments to the OPA bill which
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Invasion News Peps UP War Prodution
Absenteeism Drops Nelson Reveals
Hen Constructive Benefits To War Effort Found
In Official Survey Of Workers' Response
To D-Day Challenge
C. Advances on
the war production front are keeping
pace with progress on the invasion
fronts, WPB Chairman Donald M.
Nelson announced after an official sur
vey.
The survey, he said, showed that the
landings in France proved a "shot in
tke arm" to the war effort on the home
front. He listed these constructive
benefits:
1. There is a "new invasion spirit"
on the home front and the tension of
waiting and wondering has lifted, with
consequent benefits to war output.
2. Employe morale and production
have been stimulated through front
line dispatches which mention specific
equipment in action, such as landing
craft, sky trains, tanks and planes.
Everywhere, plant workers are con
fident that their products are now "in
on the invasion" and they are proud
of it.
3. The upsurge should be reflected
soon in new pi'oduction records.
4. There has been a definite drop in
absenteeism, with many Labor-Mari
agement Committees reporting speci
fic cuts running as high as 50 percent.
This has been reported from every sec
tion of the country.
5. There are some specific examples
of a lessening of the labor turnover
problem, with fewer workers asking
for releases. It is too early to judge
whether this is an indicative trend.
6. There have been some instances
of a greater willingness by non-work-
BIS ADMITS INDEX
GIVES FAULTY VIEW
OF TRUE RISE IN COST
ers, chiefly women, to seek war plant
employment.
7. Practically every Labor-Manage
ment Committee conducted some sort
of in-plant prayer service on D-Day.
There were "no demonstrations but a
sober determination." Many plants
held mass rallies, highlighted by pray
ers and renewed production pledges.
War bulletins are being issued
throughout most plants.
8. Most Labor-Management Com
mittees were preparing their Fifth
War Loan Drives when D-Day came,
and workers "jumped the gun." Every
region reports plants where purchases
rose, sometimes doubling and tripling
previous records.
9. Red Cross blood donor drives
were being conducted by many Labor
Management Committees when inva
sion came, and here, too, there was a
tremendous increase in interest, with
goals quickly met and surpassed.
10. Many regularly-scheduled La
bor Management Committee meetings
held during invasion week pledged
themselves to meet production quotas
and mapped p!ans to concentrate on
new production drives. In some in
stances, workers voluntarily requested
higher production schedules.
The survey, which is representative
of the nation's 4,650 Labor-Manage
ment Committees covering 7,300,000
workers, was conducted chiefly
through interviews by regional and
district managers of the War Produc
tion Drive.
threaten to bring about inflationary
increase in prices of many articles.
In a last-minute appeal to Congress,
AFL President William Green urged
renewal of the Price Control Act with
out any of these destructive amend
ments. He said:
"More disruptive to war production,
morale and productive capacity than
any other event on the home front
since the outbreak of the war is tho
series of price-raising and profit seek
ing amendments to the Price Control
Act proposed in Congress in the last
few days.
"While American soldiers are fight
ing on the beachheads of Normandy,
their families at home are threatened
with being pauperized by rising
prices while the great mass of the
American public is investing every
available dollar in the Fifth War Loan
Drive, the very value of the bonds is
being placed in jeopardy by these in
flationary proposals while American
workers are joining in the greatest
concerted production effort industry
has ever made, they are confronted
with another upward cost of living
spiral.
"Cost of living control is not a par
tisan issue but a war issue. American
labor regards every amendment de
signed to raise prices or weaken price
enforcement as an act inimical to the
winning of the war. The workers of
America, their families and friends
will mark and well remember every
move made to raise prices and thwart
price enforcement, for every such
move is bound to weaken our nation's
power to win."
Important Invasion Role
Performed By Seabees
Washington, D. C.—The Germans
are learning about the Seabees the
same way the Japs did—the hard way.
The Navy has now revealed how the
versatile Seabees, most of them re
cruited from organized labor, con
structed the many U. S. Naval amphi
bious bases which supported our
forces attacking the continent.
CHICAGO MARKET CO.
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CHUCK ROAST
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In record time the Seabees took
over thousands of acres of British land
occupied scores of harbors to turn
them into advanced amphibious oper
ating bases, supply depots and mainte
ance units from which U. S. Naval
vessels carried the Allied Army to
European beaches.
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VOL. XLIV. No. 13. HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY JUNE 30,1944. ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR
WE'LL BUY WAR BONDS
WITH OUR SAVINGS-SO
AFTER THE WAR WE CAN
BUY UNION LABEL GOODS
*USE UNION SERVICES/
-SlEEiO4
MAINTAIN AMERICAN LABOR STANDARDS
X. M. ORNBTJRN, Secretary-Treasurer
Union Label Trades Department, American Federation of Labor
NION men and women should in
vest every dime they can spare
in the purchase of War Bonds and
Stamps. They should do this for two
reasons: First, to help win the war,
so that their sons and daughters, fath
ers and sweethearts, may return to
their homes and second, to build up
a reservoir of money which will en
able them to maintain the American
standard of living after the war.
Workers are now buying over 475
millions of dollars of War Bonds each
month. When the war is over these
uncashed bonds in the hands of work
ers all over the country will be avail
able for the purchase of many things
which we cannot now buy because of
the exigencies of war. By releasing,
in the post-war period, this flood of
purchasing power, jobs will be created
for men who will be discharged from
our armed forces and war plants.
And in order to keep the American
standard of living intact, the men who
are employed after the war must re
ceive union wages and be employed
under union working conditions. How
can we be certain that our money is
being used to insure union wages and
union working conditions to the work
ers of America There is only one
way—we must purchase only goods
bearing the Union Label, and patron
ize only services displaying a Shop
Card or Service Button.
Economists have been shouting
about the dangers of inflation they
have been shedding tears because
some workers have been getting more
wages during the war. They have
PROMPT RELEASE
OF TEACHERS IN
ARMY URGED
Washington, D. C. (ILNS).—The
Army and Navy should demobilize
qualified teachers and guidance spe
cialists somewhat in advance of other
service men to staff depleted faculties
and assure the veterans educational
opportunities when they are dis
charged, the National Education As
sociation says in a research bulletin
Another call for immediate atten
tion to the provision of counseling op
portunities for demobilized service
men and women was sounded by the
American Council on Education in a
report sent to the Veterans' Adminis
tration. That report held that reliable
counsel should be available for a cor
poral in Calcutta who takes a notion
to become a Milwaukee mechanic, or
for a submarine sailor who says he
wants to study archaeology at Har-
,'•".<p></p>COUNTY
BUTLER PRESS
FOURTH OF JULY 1944!
UNION LABEL TRADES DEPARTMENT
pointed with alarm at what they de
scribed as a "dangerous inflationary
gap" which was calculated to bring
sky-rocketing prices.
But the Federal Reserve System has
punctured their fears. This venerable
and conservative institution has re
cently come forward with figures to
show that this so-called "inflationary
gap" has been plugged up because the
workers have invested their excess
earnings in War Bonds and Stamps,
instead of squandering their money on
useless articles.
This being true, if the government
will continue to hold prices in line,
the workers can continue to invest 10
per cent of their wages in the pur
chase of War Bonds.
So on this Fourth of July of 1944—
the birthday of the Republic—the
workers of America can show their
patriotism in no greater way than by
backing up the war effort by the pur
chase of War Bonds and Stamps—the
safetest investment in the world,
backed up by the integrity of the gov
ernment of the United States.
The Union Label Trades Depart
ment, therefore, urges all members of
labor union, union label leagues and
women's auxiliaries to get ready to
maintain the American standard of
living during the post-war period by
continuing to buy War Bonds and
Stamps!
Thus, after the war, we shall all
have money to buy goods bearing the
Union Label and maintain the Amer
ican standard of living.
The N.E.A. bulletin suggested that
the federal government pay all or
nearly all of the cost of readjusting
war veterans for civil life, and at least
half the cost of rehabilitating civilians
forced out of war-plant jobs.
Metal Polishers Waive
Initiation Fee For Vets
Cincinnati, June 22.—Honorably dis
charged veterans from the armed
forces of the United States, if suitably
qualified, will be admitted to member
ship in the Metal Polishers, Buffers,
Platers and Helpers' International
Union without payment of initiation
fees, it was announced today by Ray
Kelsay, the organization's President
Secretary-Treasurer.
"We will be proud indeed," Mr. Kel
say declared today, "to have among
our membership those of our armed
forces who wish to practice our craft
And we don't feel that these boys
should pay an initiation fee for the
privilege of working with us.
Kelsay
We
that our's is the privilege."
Mr.
»,
v
Executive Board of the Metal Polish
ers' Union has established a rule de
signed to continue in good standing,
with payment of dues or assessments,
THIRD
feel
stated also that 1
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ATHERTON HIT BY
UNION LABOR
LEGIONNAIRES
Chicago. Strong condemnation of.
the anti-union policies pursued by the
ruling powers of the American Legion
was voiced at the two-day National
Conference of Union Labor Legion
naires here. More than a hundred dele
gates from 212 trade union Legion
posts attended.
Brunt of the attack fell upon Na
tional Commander Warren Atherton
for his advocacy of draft-labor legis
lation and for his refusal to send mem
bers of the Legion's National Labor
Relations Committee to the meeting.
Edward Ahrens, representing the
Chicago Federation of Labor, declared
that the way to make "men like Ather
ton understand that we veterans are
not in accord with his policies," is for
union members who have served in
uniform to "join the Legion and make
ourselves heard."
Resolutions adopted at the confer
ence assailed the "deliberate attempt
of anti-union forces" to smear labor's
war record, called for constructive
post-war policies and liberal provi
sions for veterans of this war and
supported full collaboration among
the United Nations to bring about
lasting peace after victory.
BUY BONDS
all members now serving in the armed
forces. The rule further provides that
such members immediately become
participants in the Union's benefit
program.
An American Federation of Labor
affiliate with practically all of its
membership working in war indus
tries, the Metal Polishers have not had
a stoppage of work since the "no
strike" pledge was made to President
Roosevelt by AFL leaders the day
after the sneak attack on Pearl Har
bor.
CHOICE OF
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safe and rugged carriage .. and you want one that's smart
and easy to handle.
A Thayer folding carriage is ruggedly built... and as
handsome as it's sturdy! A Thayer baby is cushioned against
shocks and jolts fully protected from bad weather.
He rides in deeply padded upholstery. The carriage is of
all-steel construction (yesy steel!) with wire wheels, rubber tires
and self-oiling bearings.
Don't take chances with baby's health and safety. Play
safe with Thayer, "the greatest name in baby carriages."
As advertised in
Good Housekeeping
Ladies' Home Journal
Woman's Home Companion
and Mademoiselle
Guarantied
Good Houi*kMpinj
Hiqh in Quality -Low in Trice co U HT
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