Evening star. [volume], April 09, 1937, Page A-5, Image 5

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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Peace Prevails in the Main
With Settlement ot
Hudson Dispute.
Ey thp Associated Press.
DETROIT, April 9.—Peace pre
vailed in the automotive industry be
low the Canadian border today,
clouded only by verbal exchanges be
tween the Ford Motor Co. and the
Committee for Industrial Organiza
tion.
With the settlement of the Hudson
Motor Car Co. strike last night, the
United States was without a major
automotive dispute for the first time
since November 18 That was the
last of a series of strikes that affected i
225,000 employes of four automobile
producers in addition to many parts
suppliers.
"Our serious trouble in the motor
Industry is ended.” declared Gov.
Prank Murphy in announcing that the
Hudson agreement had been signed in
his office at Lansing.
In the record, however, was an as
sertion by Henry Ford that the Ford
Motor Co. will never recognize" any
union, and a prediction of John L.
Lewis, generalissimo of the C. I. O.,
that Ford would deal "in time” with
the United Automobile Workers.
Says Plant Is an Arsenal.
Lewis declared that enrollment of
Ford workers was continuing despite
"intimidation and coercion.” He said
that the vast Ford Rouge plant had
been converted into an "arsenal.” but
asserted Ford's efforts to combat the j
union "will not gain him the end he
seeks.”
The New York Daily News, in a spe
cial dispatch from Washington, said
Ford might meet the challenge of the
C. I. O. by inaugurating a wage rate
of S10 a day and improving working
conditions.
Ford was not accessible for com
ment. He has been in Ways. Ga.. but
Is expected back in Dearborn this week
end. In 1914 he electrified the in
dustry by establishing the $5 daily
wage. The present basic minimum is
$6 a day, but a Ford representative
said recently wages were being “con
stantly adjusted" with numerous in
creases of 5 and 10 cents an hour,
The News said that Ford would give
his men more money than the union
has asked for; that he would meet
w ith representatives of his employes
to adjust differences, but that he
w ould not recognize the union nor even
consider a “closed door.”
Confer on Grievances.
High officials of the U. A. W. A.
Went into conference this morning
with General Motors executives, but
neither group professed to know
whether a strike in the Oshawa (On
tario) plant of General Motors of
Canada would be discussed.
The primary purpose of the con
ference, a union spokesman said, was
to discuss grievances of General Mo
tors employes at Pontiac, Mich., where
two strikes were settled last week.
Homer Martin, president of the
TJ. A. W. A., and Wyndham Mortimer
and Ed Hall, vice presidents, were
meeting with H. W. Anderson, director
of industrial relations, and Floyd O.
Tanner, director of manufacturing for
the corporation.
A General Motors spokesman said
that all negotiations on the Canadian
strike were being carried on at
Oshawa, although, he said, corpora
tion officials here were “very much
Interested” in the outcome.
The terms of the Hudson settle
ment, except for a few minor al
terations. were the same as those
which started 65.000 employes of the
Chrysler Corp. back to work. The
11,000 workers of Hudson's Detroit
plants have been- idle since March 8,
the day strikes started in the Detroit
Chrysler factories and the Reo motor
car plant at Lansing.
The Chrysler strike settlement was
signed Tuesday; the Reo compact,
also patterned after the Ciirysler
accord, on Wednesday. Reo workers
poradfd out of their plant last night.
A truce in the 44-day General
Motors strike on February 11. sent
back to work 135,000 of that corpora
tion's employes and additional thou
sands on pay rolls of dependent con
cerns. The G. M. final agreement w-as
reached March 12.
This week's three strike settlements
opened the way for 2.200 Reo workers,
the Chrysler and Hudson employes
and those of several parts manu
facturers to return to work.
Gov. Murphy, whose administration
has been beset by major labor dis
turbances in Michigan ever since he
took office, January 1, and James F.
Dewey, Federal labor conciliator, con
ducted the negotiations between the
United Automobile workers of America
and the various managements in re
storing peace to the automotive in
dustry.
In each instance the union and the
respective managements voiced satis
faction with the final terms.
Sees Better Underrtanding.
A. E. Barit. Hudson president, said
the latest “agreement will result in
a better understanding and harmony
between the men and the manage
ment.” He said his plants would be
operating normally within a week to
10 days.
T. M. Doll, president of the Hud
son U. A. W. A. local, said: "We ap
preciate the help Gov. Murphy has
given and we believe the union got a
fair deal.”
Sit-down strikers have occupied
the Hudson plant for a month. As
ir. the case of other sit-downs, the
strikers themselves will be asked to
ratify the agreement (at 2 p.m. E.
ST). A union mass meeting has
been announced for tonight.
Strike
(■Continued From First Page.)
belts strung over their shoulders and
pistols at their sides, moved into
Toronto from Ottawa and other posts.
The troopers were ordered to strike
duty today—the second day of the
walk-out—as authorities here heard
reports that strikes were spreading to
other Industries.
A union meeting was called tonight
at the McKinnon Industries plant, a
General Motors subsidiary at St.
Catharines, Ontario, for a vote on
whether employes there should join
the strike. The plant employs 1,700
men.
In Montreal, officers of the Interna
tional Longshoremen's Association said
they would refuse to work ships of the
Shipping Federation of Canada in all
but a few ports. Their action would
be chiefly effective in United States
^hTbor?. thev everted. A
* Five hundred workers at the Gei*
Ford Plays as Union Issues Defi
While John L. Lewis, head of the Committee on Industrial Organization, was defiantly stating
that he would have to recognize a union and plans were being made to unionize his 150,000
employes. Henry Ford was enjoying himself playing with the children on his plantation at Ways,
Ga. He is shoivn on a irood pile entertaining a group of boys and girls with a story.
—»Copyright, A. P. Wirephoto.
eral Motors plant in Windsor were
laid off because of the Oshawa strike.
They decided to picket the Windsor
plant, pending a settlement at Oshawa.
Protest to Parliament.
In Oshawa officials of the United !
Automobile Workers of America tele- j
graphed members of Parliament pro- j
testing against the calling in of police ■
reserves. They said, "We are main- !
taming perfect discipline here."
Thompson particularly attacked Pre
mier Hepburn's assertion that "the
! government completely concurs in the
! attitude of the company that is going
to remain clear of the domination of
professional labor profiteers of the C.
I. O."
"Hepburn is trying to crush you for
trying to sell your labor at the best
possible price," Thompson told a mass
meeting of 2,.i00 strikers.
Thompson also shouted that General ,
Motors could not win even "if you j
bring 10.000 red coats in here."
Mayor to Bar Militia.
The Mayor of Oshawa, Alex Hall,
told the strikers he would not permit j
either the Canadian or Ontario gov- j
ernment to send militia or police to
intercede in the strike.
"Enforcement of law and order is 1
the duty of the municipality,” the j
mayor said, “and I have not requested
any assistance to enforce law and
order.
"So far there has been no indication
of wholesale lawbreaking and I have
no reason to believe there may be."
Meanwhile 20 male office employes
returned to work in the parts depart
ment offices of General Motors amid
shouted protests of pickets.
Union ledaers, however, agreed to
their entry.
"Tighten up the lines, don’t let them
in,” the pickets shouted when the
workers first appeared at the parts
building and stood across the street
from the entrance.
C. H. Millard, president of the Auto
mobile Workers Union local, told the
closely-knit picket line, increased from
30 to 100. to let the 20 enter th plant.
"It is to your advantage that w'hen
this thing is settled the work goes
right ahead as usual," he said. “These j
office workers will be insuring that I
work goes right ahead as soon as the j
plant opens. There will be no attempt
at production."
The lines maintained by the 3,700
strikers opened up and the workers
went through.
Hepburn declared every effort would
be made to stop invasion by “agitators"
from the United States into Ontario
industries.
“We know what these agitators are
up to,” he explained. “We were
advised only a few hours ago that
they are working their way into the
lumber camps, the pulp mills and our
mines.
"Well, that has got to stop—and we
are going to stop it. If necessary
we’ll raise an army to do so.”
Mayor Hall declared, however, that
while there was no doubt “the gov
ernment could have 300 well-equipped
militia in this city within three hours
and 3.000 within 24 hours,” they were
not going to come in here unless there
is desperate need for them,” adding:
“They cannot come into this city
without civic request.”
Not Sit-Down Strike.
The workers, who threw picket lines '
about the General Motors plant after !
they quietly walked out yesterday
morning, described the strike an "an
old-fashioned walkout" and not a "sit
down.”
There was no disorder. The plant ]
gates were closed after the breakdown
of negotiations which had lasted more
than a week.
All beer parlors, brewers’ warehouses
and government liquor stores were
closed by authorities for the duration
of the strike.
In addition to union recognition, the
strikers demanded the full "Detroit
agreement” signed between the Amer
ican union and officials of General
Motors in the United States.
It provides for a 40-hour week, time
and-a-half for overtime, establishment
of a grievance committee and seniority
rights, all of which, excepting only
recognition of the union, the company
agreed to discuss.
James B. Highfield, the General
: Motors plant manager, said: "The
present unfortunate turn of events has
been precipitated upon the authority
of a visiting organizer of the United
Automobile Workers.”
The company officials had declined
to enter negotiations until Thompson
withdrew, when they were carried on
with local union heads.
Highfield added the company was
‘‘at all times willing to negotiate
points of the American union’s de
mands if they had any application in
the Oshawa plant.”
Harry J. Carmichael, vice president
and general manager of General Mo
tors, said the firm was not opposing
organization by labor, but would not
negotiate, under any conditions, with
any one except its own employes' cam
A '
' Rather than see any vioRiWe,"
Carmichael said, “no attempt is being
made to operate the plant.
“Our office force in the parts de
partment were tefused admittance to
their division, and when they later
tried to enter they were forcibly pre- !
vented from doing so, which means
that our products in the hands of
consumers from coast to coast are
being prevented from receiving proper
service.
"Both of the above acts we consider
illegal.”
American Support Promised.
Thompson declared he had talked
with Homer Martin, intei national
president of the union, in Detroit and
Martin had promised "American au
tomobile workers will support the Ca
nadian workers to the limit.”
“The American union.” Thompson
said, “has told General Motors there
that ‘as soon as you send one car
across the line to Canada to help
break the Oshawa strike, you'll never
make another car in the United
States.' "
Martin, who was scheduled to at
tend the meeting of strikers at
Oshawa last night, failed to appear. 1
It was reported he had returned to
Detroit w’hen the plane in which he
was traveling was unable to land at
Hamilton Airport in the darkness.
The Canadian Federation of Labor,
through its secretary-treasurer. W. T.
Burford. supported the stand of Pre
mier Hepburn against the C. I. O.
The organization has shown Ca
nadian workers, Burford said, "they
have nothing to learn from the
United States except what to avoid."
*-•
Judiciary
(Continued From First Page !
promptness seems Entirely at variance !
with the facts. Enlarging its numbers i
as proposed would, the Chief Justice !
assures us, hinder rather than expe
dite the promptness of its decisions.
"Furthermore, unless the new ap
pointees were, in effect, pledged in ad
vance to support certain measures, the
social-political results desired by the
President could not be guaranteed. If
the new- appointees were actually
chosen for this purpose, and with pub
lic understanding that such was the
case, the time-honored prestige of the
court would instantly and justly col
lapse. No judiciary made up of po
litical "yes” men could maintain public
confidence and respect.
"There simply is no emergency such
as requires this ravaging of the court,
and the greatest emergency faced by
the administration is entirely outside
the present influence of the court and
one which the administration seems
unwilling, or helpless, to face.
“Until every reasonable effort has
been made by more carefully drafted
legislation and by constitutional i
amendment, if necessary, to secure ,
the kind of social and economic
changes desired by the administration, |
the effort to pack the court must be
condemned as un-American and ulti
mately sure to destroy certain of the
foundation stones upon which our Re
public rests.
Public Opportunity Denied.
“The people have had no opportu- ;
nity to express themselves on this j
policy, which the President never
mentioned during the recent cam
paign and which his own previous j
utterances, as well as the platform of I
the Democratic party, gave no citizen
any reason to anticipate. To spring
it now and to try and whip into line
the huge Democratic majority in Con
gress is a flagrant instance of political
bad faith which it would be difficult
to match in our entire history.
"Once our confidence in the good I
faith of the Chief Magistrate and the
impartiality of the Supreme Court is
shaken, the end of our form of gov
ernment is in sight.”
Following Prof. Cain to the stand,
Ooudert said:
“It is perfectly legitimate to agitate
for changes in the powers of govern
ment. But it is wholly illegitimate to
attempt to bring them about by indi
rection. The decisions of the Supreme
Court should not be changed or in
validated by creating new justices
with the expectation that their minds
will be of such a caliber or flexibility
as to adopt their interpretation of the
Constitution to the will of Congress
or the executive.
“It would, indeed, be better to abol
ish the function of judicial review than
to retain the form while abandoning
the substance.”
Coudert expressed himself strongly
in favor of a constitutional amend
ment instead of the court bilk
In his testimony Prof. Cain argued
that enactment of the bill would have
an adverse effect on business revival.
Cain coupled his prediction that
passage of the bill would result in a
business slump with the assertion that
the objectives of the measure are
inimical to the American system of
government and the independence of
"Enactment of this bill,” he de
dared, “would tend to increase uncer
tainties and doubts in regard to gov
ernmental policies which affect busi
ness and industry. Nothing so dis
courages private enterprise as insta
bility in government.
Investment Hazard.
“No man seeking investment for his
capital is likely to assume the hazard
he would be compelled to assume if in
terpretation of the constitutional
guaranties were to vary with varia
tions of public opinion. His failure to
invest in industrial enterprise would,
of course, result in fewer jobs for
working men, a diminishing of their
purchasing power, lessening demand
for manufactures and corresponding
business stagnation.”
Members of the committee today
began preparations for secret debate
on the bill after they had been told Mr.
Roosevelt already has under con
sideration two drafts of a law to revive
the N. R A., declared void by a unani
mous opinion two years ago.
It is expected the committee mem
bers will wind up the hearings in about
a week, and then begin consideration
of its report on the court bill, along
with several proposals to modify the
measure and a score of proposed con
stitutional amendments that have been
submitted.
The President has insisted on pas
sage of the bill "as is,” but many of
the committee members have an
nounced their determination to fight
for substitution of a constitutional
amendment.
The text of one of the two bills to
revive Federal control of wages and
hours in industry was submitted to
the committee yesterday by Siegfried
F. Hartman, New York lawyer. Hart
man said he had drafted the bill in his
capacity as chairman of the Legal
Advisory Board of the Council for In
dustrial Progress, set up by Maj.
George L. Berry, acting as Federal co
ordinator for industrial co-operation
under appointment by the President. |
His bill and a companion measure. !
also prepared by the council, are now
under consideration at the Depart
ment of Justice, Hartman said, and a
report from the Attorney General may
be expected “within a few weeks."
Basis for Control.
Hartman said his draft would base
the proposed Federal control on the
power of Congress to regulate inter
state commerce by providing penalties
for unfair competition between per
sons engaged in interstate commerce
and their competitors in or out of that
field of commerce. The measure
would prohibit the following:
1. All forms of deception of the pub
lic by persons engaged in interstate
commerce, regardless of the com
petitive feature.
2. All forms of competition hereto
fore held to be unfair within the
meaning of existing laws.
3. Certain other practices in com
petition now generally recognized as
contrary to existing standards of fair
ness.
Work for Federal Agency. !
A Federal agency would be set up
to regulate price discriminations, sales
below cost, sale In interstate commerce
of goods made by child labor or under
sweat shop conditions in competition
with goods not so manufactured.
The President would be authorized
by proclamation to prohibit the ship
ment of goods manufactured under the
proscribed conditions into States hav
ing laws against such products.
The proposed bill would contain the
following congressional declaration of
its policy:
“Interstate and foreign commerce
generally have for many years been
substantially burdened and restrained
and otherwise prejudicially affected
by various acts, practices and methods
committed or adopted by persons en
gaged in interstate of foreign com
merce in the course thereof or in the
course of competition in «or with inter
state or foreign commerce. * * *
“It Is therefore hereby declared to
be the policy of Congress to enlarge
the field of legally prohibited unfair
competition in Interstate and foreign
commerce, to discourage and prevent
the gaining of competitive advantages
in such commerce by unconscionable
means. • * *”
Scrambled Nestmates.
CONCORD, N. C. </P).—A cat and
her four kittens occupy the same nest
with laying hens on the W. M. Sherill
farm.
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LAWS HELD CURE
FOR LABOR UNREST
Schwellenbach Urges Use
of Wagner Act Ma
chinery.
By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, April 9—Senator
Lewis B. Schwellenbach, Democrat,
of Washington, said last night that
much of the Nation’s Industrial unrest
could be ended if both capital and la
bor would ’’freely use the machinery
now provided by the Wagner act to
make operative the principle of col
lective bargaining.”
"Capital should abandon all forms
of espionage over labor, all kinds of
subsidized company unions and the
use of strikebreakers,” he said in a
speech prepared for delivery at the
"town meeting of the air.”
"As long as industry spies on b bor,
or sets up its own pet union, or brings
in professional strikebreakers to render j
a lawful strike useless, it will be diffi
cult to convince labor that the scales !
of industrial democracy have not been
weighed against it.
“If capital abandons the unfair and
arbitrary practices which I have
enumerated, labor may then fairly
be compelled to abandon retaliatory
practices adopted in real or feigned
self-protection against capital’s un
fair and arbitrary methods—for in
stance, the sit-down strike and the
refusal to hold elections to permit the
workers themselves to choose their
own union and their own representa
tives to bargain for them.”
Courts Blamed.
He said the attitude of the courts
on industrial legislation to some ex
tent "has impaired the sanctity of
the law in the minds of large sections
of the community.
"It is unfortunate.” he declared,
"that the courts have refused to recog
nize laws which the community deemed
necessary if we were to attain some
measure of equality in the bargaining
power of capital and labor.”
Walter Gordon Merritt, labor counsel
of the New York Real Estate Board,
said the cause of the present trouble
is "the attitude of public officials, and
the character of laws which have been
passed by State and Federal Legis
latures leading to the conviction on
the part of labor leaders that in a
large measure they can do w'hat they
wish without restraint on the part of
government.”
-•—
Progressive Chinese women study
ing in schools of Japan have organ
ized, and have adopted as their slogan
"Do Women's Part for the Welfare of
Humanity,”
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