The Chicago star., July 13, 1946, Page 2, Image 2

About The Chicago star. (Chicago, Ill.) 1946-1948

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
2
Hwvfi en P ie was opened the bird began to sing
blml *snt that a dainty dish to set before a king?
1 PRICES AND YOU I
an editorial
THE CHICAGO STAR, JULY 13, '1946
Nearly two weeks have passed since the
murder of OP A.-
Rent and food prices have zoomed for
the stratosphere. Millions of unorganized
Americans, along with trade unionists,
have learned the hard way that price controls
must be restored.
There is no justification for the price frenzy
of the past two weeks. Surveys taken months
ago consistently showed 80 percent of the peo
ple favored a strong OP A. But Congress is at
war with the American public.
Our job therefore is to whip the gougers
and force Congress to restore real price con
trols. We must refuse to pay tribute for the
privilege of living.
Organize and fight in every legal way
against skyrocketing rents. Form tenants’
Franco cops
kill union head
Murder of Spanish trade union
leader Ramon Via by General
Franco policemen was reported
A reporter's day in Renters Court
(Continued from Page 1)
over and pokes her tenant —'
“comes in late, gets drunk,;
knocks over the chairs. He does*
it deliberately.”
* .* * i
THE tenant is a worn little
man sweating in a soiled shirt.
He says he works until “two in
the morning as foreman in a
tool company.”
“Besides,” he says in defense,
“She never has hot water for
me to take a bath, and she wants
to take my refrigerator.”
A bitter argument explodes
over the question of who owns
the refrigerator and Judge
Holland looks at deputy Gold
berg, says “Put the witnesses
undbr oath.”
* * *
IK one breath, the deputy
clerk rattles off a terrifying
oath which the witnesses take.
leagues on a building and on a community
basis, to hold the line against exorbitant rents.
In cases of threatened eviction, demand a jury
trial.
•
Buy generally only bare necessities. Manu
facturers, wholesalers and retailers out to
make a quick killing must be curbed. Let the
$1 per pound steaks and the $3 nylons rot in
the showcases.
Meanwhile continue the flood of letters to
your senators and congressmen and to the
WMte House. The doctors of dividends are still
trying to extract the teeth of new price con
trol legislation. Rally, demonstrate and fight
for a genuine OPA. Insist that President Tru
man veto every fake measure shoved on his
desk.
The battle to restore real price controls is a
battle we can and must win.
this week by the Chicago Com
mittee lor Spanish Freedom.
A special underground report
from Toulouse, French border
town, declared that Via, pres
ident of the El Balurante Ste.el
Company’s local, was shot down
in the streets alter his escape on
May 1 from a Malaga jail.
Now the landlady is saying
“Nothing stops you from taking
a bath but the water.”
“The water’s never hot,” the
tenant wails, ignoring a warn
ing nudge from his lawyer.
“You drink so mueh you’d
drown if you got in the tub,”
she retorts and the furore has
to be quieted down by the
baliff.
■* * *
JUDGE Holland sits through
the sizzling arguments seeming
ly not listening.
Landlord Mrs. Ranghild Wil
ferling, 5812 W. North Avenue
breaks the icy barrier between
tenants and owners when she
tell* the Judge "I don’t like to
evict the Katzeznbachs. They’re
nice people and wonderful ten
ants.”
Surprised at the warmth.
Judge Holland says, “Then ean’t
Via, was a former member ox
the executive board of the Ma
drid steel workers and had taken
refuge in the home of friends.
After his discovery and ar
rest, he was shot under the
“law of flight”. Owners of
homes in which he took refuge
were hanged and bayonetted.
you two just talk this thing
over?” • < ■
The fcattenbachs and Wilfer
ings look sheepishly at each
other.
Nick Katzenbach, his wife
and four children live on the
2nd floor of Mrs. Wilferling’s
apartment building.
* * *
MRS. Wilferling says she's
being evicted, too, from her
shop at 5114 Fullerton and
needs the space to store her
furnishings.
Judge Holland continued the
case for 75 days.
One nervous landlord is
standing before the Judge,
flanked with friend* and
charges hi* tenant with “shoot
; ing 24 times in. the hack yard.”
*He produces shells to prove it.
~,..***
“WHAT were you shooting
Rep. May - He
made war pay!
Here’s how to make a mrlHon in 42 easy war-months.
Buy “letter-heads” for a dummy company and then buy
a Congressman.
This was the formula for the fantastic war fortune made
by the Erie Basin Metal Products Company of Illinois, it was
charged this week by the Sen
ate war investigating commit
tee.
* » »
“BOUGHT” Congressman was
charged to be Rep. May (Dem.,
Ky.) who led the fight to have
anti-fascist courses stricken
from the Army’s orientation
program.
May was wartime chairman
of the influential house military
affairs committee.
Makers of the millions in
cluded a Chicago family who
operated the 16-company
“paper” empire which received
$78,094,101 in war contracts.
* * *
WITH incomes totaling $l,-
690,918 for the years 1940-’45,
Teamsters to test
Hobbs Bill in court
NEW YORK—(FP) —Possibility of a test case challeng
ing the constitutionality of the Hobbs so-called anti-racketeer
ing law, recently signed by Pres. Truman, was seen here by
officers and attorneys for Local
807, Inti. Bro. of Teamsters
(AFL).
A 4-year fight by the IBT end
ed in 1943 when the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that the activities
against which the Hobbs law are
legitimate union practices.
Local 807 attorneys declared:
“Under the broad language of the
Hobbs law any activity of the
union could be considered illegal
on the ground that it interfered
Vets housing
Veterand were urged to speed
up action on housing this week,
in a letter sent to members of
he Veterans Housing Committee
by Chairman Elmer Gertz.
Pointing out Chicago's veter
ands are not getting action on
housing, Gertz urged committee
members to redouble their efforts
to shake off the lethargy of pub
lic officials on the housing ques
tion.
He emphasized that not only
has Governor Green failed to call
a housing session, as has been
done in other states, but that the
highly-touted Chicago temporary
housing program has been allow
ed to collapse.
at,” asks the Judge.
“Rats. Rats your honor,” he
says. “The landlord invited me
down to shoot rats under the
building.”
The plaintiff’s council
charged that landlord and ten
ant had gotten along well- until
they quarreled at a picnic over
a difference of opinion about the
proper way to slice ham.
* * «
“BESIDES” says the landlord
“he’s got a bowler rooming in
his flat that comes in late at
night and drops his ball on the
floor.”
'T never heard that ball
drop!” the tenant shoots.
It takes less than ten minutes
to get a decision in Renters
>eourt.
How long it will take to house
the evicted, the court has no
say.
the Joseph T. Weisses’ and
Allen B. Gellman’s, 3540 Thorn
dale avenue, were . linked with
Murray and Dr. Henry M. Gars
son, self-made “experts on re
organization,” and to Rep. May.
May is the leader of the Con
gressional bloc favoring placing
United States atomic energy
wholly in the hands of the War
Department officials.
The Kentucky representative
also led the recent fight to ban
distribution of the pamphlet
"Races of Mankind” to Gl’s.
In the first great post-war ex
pose of war grafters, May was
charged with having taken
bribes as high as $5,000 to
swing contracts to the Illinois
War contract combine.
with interstate commerce.”
The courts could interpret the
law to put down strikes or picket
ing or almost any activity of the
teamsters, they said, or of any
transport union or other union
whose activities affect interstate
commerce which would mean
a large part of the labor move
ment.
t
UAW to hit
inflation July 16
Anti-inflation day for United
Automobile Workers (CIO)
was set this week for July 16,
it was announced by UAW’s
Detroit offices.
The top policy committee of
the world’s largest union,
stated that all local UAW lo
cals would be asked to work
out arrangements with their
employers to close shop for a
half-day on July 16 in order
to allow members to demon
strate.
In case of refusal by em
ployer, local leaders were ad
vised to stop work for no more
than two hours and participate
in demonstrations.
V „ i J
T ME CHICAGO
★
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