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Friday, Jane 13, 1941 Greatest Danger Lies Within The United States The greatest danger to the United States tonight is not from without, but from within. That danger is the increasing number of strikes in indus tries where materials vitally neces sary to our national defense are to be manufactured. In the face of the tragic events in Europe, Africa, and Asia, and consid ering the possible consequences of these events upon our country, it is imperative that we find a solution for the strike rrfenace now. The time for words has passed. The time for action has come. Combined reports of the War, Navy and other government depart ments show that there were more per sons on strike in plants making equip ment for our national defense during last week than at any previous time since our defense preparations began. President Roosevelt recently said, “Never before since Jamestown and Plymouth Rock has our American civilization been in such danger as now.” In the light of this warning it seems unbelievable that strikes in essential defense industries, instead of decreasing, are constantly increas ing both in number and extent. This condition cannot longer be tol erated by either the government or by the people of the United States. It is our NUMBER ONE problem. Neither can we forget that the Uni ted States is formally pledged by law to furnish all aid to Britain, short of war. Billions of American dollars have been appropriated to provide this aid, in weapons, munitions and equipment. It was but a few days ago that there was much debate in and out of our government over whether or not the United States Navy should actual ly convoy ships to England. Many in our country favored this course, in spite of President Roosevelt’s state ment that “convoys mean shooting and shooting means war.’ ’ However, I believe that even if we did convoy and by that means suc ceeded in taking every shipload of war equipment safely to the British, that convoying would not have pre vented the loss of as much material for Britain as had already been lost through production failure due to strikes. In short, more goods would likely reach the British without convoys if ( strikes were entirely eliminated here, than would reach England with con voys but with strikes continuing. Likewise, consider that taking more goods to Britain by the convoy meth od would involve this country in war, whereas getting more goods to Brit ain through the elimination of strikes in the United States would accomplish the same results and not involve us in war at all. It seems clear to me, therefore, that all steps urged upon our govern ment which will likely involve us in actual war are out of place until we do all we can to prepare ourselves and to aid Britain through measures short of war. Now let me show you how very much we could do for our national defense, or for the aid of the Brit ish, without our involvement in war, by successfully solving the strike problem. From January Ist to June Ist this year, strikes in plants making mater ials for national defense have result ed in the loss of approximately four million man days of work. Do you know that in four million man day it is possible to build 1400 medium bombing planes - planes weighing 15 tons each and each ca pable of carrying three tons of bombs ? Think what 1400 of these powerful weapons of the air woulcj mean to our national defense, if we bad them today. And consider, too, what these 1400 bombers would have meant to Great Britain either at home or in Greece, or in Asia and Africa. In these K>st four million man days we could build 4100 modern pursuit fighter planes. Think what these planes would mean to our national defense if we had them now! And what they would have meant in Brit ain, or in Crete! To show you what else might have been done with these lost four mil lion man days resulting from strikes, let me tell you that in that time we could have built 425 Flying Fortres ses, those gigantic ships, those dread naughts of the skies, that have a cruis ing range sufficient to fly all the way across the ocean and back, and ca pable of carrying tons and tons of bombs. These Flying Fortresses are recognized by all as the very finest defensive and offensive weapons that any nation can possess. We all know that our lack of ade quate defense at home is dangerous as is our failure to supply the Brit ish with more weapons. Delay in ac complishing these objectives but pro longs the struggle and lengthens Ozark Smile Queen ' c .u Jki y " ~'" Jimmie Dell Tillman From 14 contestants entered from three states, judges selected Jim mie Dell Tillman, 17, of Clarks ville, Ark., as this year’s Ozark Smile Girl. tragically the casualty lists. More over, such delays actually invite ag gression, actually make attack upon our country more probable. Remember, too, there are hundreds of thousands of young men in the military training camps of this coun try; men who but a few months ago in the shop and the foundry, in the counting house and on the farm, were following the pursuits of peace. From such work they were taken up on order of our government; told to give up their work, to leave their families and homes regardless of the sacrifice involved, and train for a year in a military camp at subsistence and pay beginning at s2l a month. They were told this was necessary because a great crisis confronted us— that the nation’s safety was imper iled. They were told they must mas ter the use of new arms and weapons, in order to defend America, and must do this quickly, without the slightest delay. I wonder what these drafted men think of that now, as they read daily of the increasing number of strikes in plants supposed to manufacture the weapons they await. What must they think, as month after month passes, and they still do not receive the planes, the anti-aircraft guns, the ar tillery, the machine guns, the tanks, and the other equipment with which they must familiarize themselves. Much of this equipment they might have had and learned to use by now, if four million man days had not been lost through strikes in 1941. The soldiers, too, have heard that “Never before since Jamestown and Plymouth Rock has our American civilization been in such danger as now.” What must these soldiers think of a government which takes them from their homes and work, compels them to go to camps in order to train with modem weapons and then sits idly by while those who have not I been drafted strike and stop the flow of weapons, without which weapons the sacrifice of the drafted men counts for nothing. Undoubtedly they think exactly | what you and I think about it. I am advised that it is the foremost topic of conversation throughout the train ing camps of the United States. And who are these drafted men, these hundreds of thousands of young Americans who are now wearing the nation’s uniform? Are they not the sons, the brothers, and the husbands of the great masses of working peo ple of this country? While these strikes continue and spread, the faifti - the morale -of soldier and civilian alike sinks lower and lower. Morale is a thing of the spirit. Its very essence is faith. With the soldier it is the confidence that his government will support him; that it will leave nothing undone to see that he is supplied with everything neces sary to make him effective, particu larly when the nation’s safety is in danger. Without the highest morale, which stems from a faith in his gov ernment, the soldier’s effectiveness as a fighting man is seriously im paired. Consequently strikes are a double menace. First, they prevent the fighting forces from receiving the equipment they must have to defend themselves and the nation; second, by so doing, the morale of the fighting WANT ADS GET RESULTS forces and civilians alike is constant ly lowered. Then, too, it has been shown that many of these strikes have been forc ed upon the workers of the nation by small cliques, well organized and of ten operating by strong arms meth ods. These small groups have not hesitated in cases to threaten, terror ize and coerce the workers. I am un alterably convinced that the strikes in the United States, for the most part, are opposed by the overwhelm ing mass of the workers themselves. I am sure that the great mass of those in. industrial establishments, employees and employers, are just as patriotic and just as willing to sac rifice, in this hour of national dan- > ger, as any other group of our peo ple. It is because of these circumstances that there is a rising tide of resent ment throughout the nation, against the increasing industrial stoppages, i Everyone is demanding that the Fed eral government take firm action. In the press, on the air, in the voice of the man in the street, we hear it again and again. They are saying: “It is not right for the Federal government to exercise its power to compel young men to leave their fire sides to serve a full year in our army camps and perhaps eventually to give j their lives? in defense of this nation on some bloody battlefield; and at the same time for the Federal govern ment to fail to exercise its power to so regulate industrial relations as to make sure our fighting men shall have the arms and munitions which they must have quickly to defend America in her present hour of dead- j ly peril.’ ’ Yet, in the face of strike after strike, the Federal government has sat supinely by, applying a little salve here and there, asserting that the strike menace was not serious, while| more and more valuable time is wast ed, less and less munitions are pro duced, and essential equipment re mains “on order.” I believe that this industrial un rest is in part caused by our one sided labor policy, by the govern ment’s tacit approval of the sit-down strikes, and of governmental coddling of Communistic labor agitators dur ing recent years. Quite often the Labor Act, as administered, is more of an aid to the professional agitator than it is to the laboring man. It has served in many cases as a vehicle; for subversive elements to stir up dis putes and unrest. It has proven in many cases as unfair to those it was supposed to favor as it has to the great mass of citizens who are indirectly affected by it. This was abundantly proven by the exposure of the brazen labor election | frauds at one plant in the Middle West, the output of which was ex-| tremely vital to the entire national defense program, j Here was a strike forced against the wishes of the ma jority of the men in the plant, which closed down operations for more than two months. Even if there were no present na- YOU GET THIS $8.95 Double Automatic IRONMASTER marked for ail types of WM 1 jBIB-JI p AUTOMATIC Hjfllfvf: kZw$A 9 Easiest to handle—light in weight—en- KW| ■ tirely Automatic. • Self opening • Self fl locking • Self closing! Sets up as you set ||f 1 I No stooping orbending. Has the exclusive, sShIMI if I ■ patented lock-ring that holds table rigid, •Am* j| ' J steady, solid when set up. Folds compactly BM/tiilYOU ironing Wfkm THIS *l- SET UwkMiS—" Pay Only $1.25 Down —$1.45 Monthly ASK ANY EMPLOYEE OR CALL FOR HOME DEMONSTRATION Eastern Shore Public Service WORCESTER DEMOCRAT, POCOMOKE CITY, MARYLAND tional emergency, it would be a good thing for the employer, the employee, i and the general public, if the Labor Relations Act were overhauled and its defects corrected. But whether this is done or not, ways and means must be found to remedy our growing industrial sick ness, to insure the settlement of dis pute between employer and employee without resort to strikes, so long as the safety of this nation is threat ened by involvement in a devastating war. Who knows? Upon the success of our whole national defense effort may well depend, not only the future of our country, but of the entire world. 1 And the heart and soul of our defense effort consists primarily in the pro duction of arms, munitions and equip ment for our Army, Navy and Mer i chant Marine, and for the British, at the earliest possible moment. In the face of that situation, strikes in essential defense industries are luxuries which we cannot now afford. We must set up definite machinery which will settle disputes without strikes, so long as our nation is in danger so that products may contin ue to flow from our defense indus tries in the national interest. And as stated, so long as this gov ernment, through the medium of the Draft Act, takes men from their good positions and their homes and com pels them to serve a year in training camps, on mere subsistence and s2l a month, in the national interest, that same government, if it means to give these men the full measure of sup port, must insist that industrial dis putes be settled without resort to strikes. In applying such a remedy, no es sential right which labor now has need be taken away. Labor would retain its right to collective bar gaining through representatives of its own choosing, to present to the employer its grievances, which should be reduced to writing. The employ er should be required to answer, and both the complaint and the answer should be given to the public. Finally, if it is impossible for em ployer and employee to agree, the matter should be referred to a Board on which labor has a representative, the employer has a representative, and the public has a representative. A decision of the majority of the three should be final and binding on employer and employe alike. In other words, the public would make the de cision by being the third member of the Board. If the employer failed to accept this verdict, he should be severely penalized, and if labor fail ed to accept the verdict, it should be severely penalized, too. Thfs is but an outline of the plan which I feel sure could speedily be whipped into shape. Or if a better plan can be devised to end strikes then let us have that plan instead. The point is that strikes must end, that labor disputes must be settled by arbitration, that the nation’s welfare comes first, that the drafted men in the training camps shall not be let down, that the American nation shall be put in a state of complete national defense at the earliest possible mo ment. To these ends, each man, em ployer and employee, farmer and ur ban dweller, rich and poor, high and low, must contribute his share. Such sacrifices are in the interest of the general welfare and are part of the obligation we all owe our govern ment. I do not believe, certainly as an initial step, that it is necessary for the government to take over the in dustrial plants, in order to eradicate the strike difficulty. Ido not believe they should be taken over, unless the employer has been in the wrong. The taking over of industrial plants is exactly what the Communists and the totalitarians want the government to do. That is one of the primary ob jective of the Communist Party, a fundamental tenet of its political philosophy. Communists and totali tarians are promoting these strikes, trying to obtain during this emergen cy what they were unable to secure in more normal times. We should not fall into the trap they are setting for us. In sum, the American people want their government to set up fair and equitable machinery for the settle ment of industrial disputes and the outlawry of strikes in plants making defense equipment during the present emergency. They are entitled to have it. Who knows? Unless we can meet this challenge, unless we can keep these plants open and in constant production of defense materials, un less we can achieve total national I Special Valuelln Gift Boxes! l | BRANDON SHIRTS x - x M I • 99% Shrinkproofl Give Dad an armful of Brandons t this Sunday and show him how y BHSSMjfpUW ; high he rates in your heart! ** J||||P^T Brandons fit better, look better. 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Because, before war came, such coun tries failed to put themselves in a state of adequate defense. Now their portion is blood and tears, toil and sweat. Over there, no less than here, men The World's News Seen Through The Christian Science Monitor An International Daily Newspaper T 'rathful—-Constructive—Unbilled— Pm from Snuitlnnil mm Bdhorials Art Timely end Instructive end Its Dafly Features, Together with the Weekly Magazine Section, Make the Monitor an Ideal Newspaper for the Homo. The Christian Science Publishing Society One, Norway Street, Boston, Massachusetts „ Ptke t #I.OO fIAMPLI COPY ON BEQUEST talked continually of their rights and privileges, and failed to think at alt of their duties and responsibilities. Thinking thus and acting thus, they lost everything. Today, they have neither privileges nor responsibilities. They are but slaves, men, women and children, broken, disillusioned, hun gry and without hope. This country must not walk that road. We must not embrace these tragic mistakes which have been the downfall of great nations. In thi> country we must prepare completely and quickly. Strikes must en<h America must live. Condensed, evaporated and pow dered milk may be kept in small space and if not kept too long be fore they are opened, do not require a refrigerator temperature as does fresh milk. Page 3