Sisal—‘Good Neighbor’ Product
Sisal, the fiber made from the henequen plant of Yucatan, touches
upon the life of every American. For most wrapping twine around the
m „,l or express package we get is sisal-made. And the bread we eat was
made from flour made from wheat bound up in the field with sisal
tmne, for American farmers have never found an acceptable substitute.
Har, with its increased demand for wire and steel products, has forced
twine and rope into new roles of importance, thus creating for sisal the
greatest demand in history.
A big ship unloads 10,000 bales of Yucatan s "green gold,” as sisal is
known, in the Port of New Orleans, to be converted into binder twine
for the nation s “breadbasket
Left: A bale of sisal has just been opened in a Notv Orleans rope
factory, and the strand* arc being fed into a breaker machine. Right:
Tfiete long, golden strands are about to become yarn.
This machine is a preliminary processor, which cards out the fiber:
and lays them parallel to each other.
Now in yarn form, rolled on bob
bins, the sisal is being spun into a
small ball of rope by the girl at the
machine.
. I Coils of finished rope made from
i sisal are about to begin their jour
. ney to the far corners of the coun
| try.
Washington Digest
Serious Labor Situation
Hinders Defense Effort \
f
Members of Congress Also Demanding Facts ,
On Charges That Big Business Plays
Favorites in Defense Contracts.
By BAUKHAGE
National Farm and Home Hour Continental
WNU Service, 1343 II Street, N-W,
Washington, D. C.
The explosion in the defense set-
up in Washington foreshadowed in
these columns two weeks ago is
about to take place. At least, as
this is written, the fuse is being laid
if not lighted. Senator O’Mahoney
of Wyoming and Representative
Coffey of Washington are both de-
manding facts connected with
charges that big business is playing
favorites in the defense contracts.
But an equally amazing story lies
behind the way labor has been dealt
with in the defense program. Part
of the facts have leaked out piece-
meal, some are still very much un-
der cover. Put together they make
an amazing revelation of what was
behind the President’s delay in
taking action in the captive mine
strike and also how bungling all
along the line forced the adminis
tration into the worst labor situa
tion that has arisen since the de
( fense program started.
The trouble began when it was
decided to take the settlement of
certain labor disputes out of the
United States Conciliation Service
and place it in the hands of the
Defense Advisory commission with
branches headed by William S.
Knudsen and Sidney Hillman. Up
to that time from 95 to 98 per cent
of the labor disputes were settled by
the Conciliation service. But the
remaining 2 to 5 per cent were slow
ing down defense and it was decided
that Mr. Knudsen’s staff represent
ing industry and Mr. Hillman’s staff
representing labor could settle the
recalcitrants. The theory was that
Knudsen’s men would crack down
on industry and Hillman’s on labor.
But it didn’t work that way. Each
favored his own kind.
Mediation Board Founded
So the National Defense Media
tion board was founded. All went
along smoothly for awhile, although
more and more criticism was heard
; that the board was exceedingly pro
labor and achieved settlements by
the simple process of conceding to
| labor’s demands.
| Then the board made a mistake.
It handed down one decision which
opened the way for the United Mine
Workers union shop demands which
I smashed the board, threatened the
i administration’s foreign policy and
created the worst labor crisis that
the country has faced in many a
long day.
The decision I refer to was in the
' case of the Bethlehem shipbuilding
plant in San Francisco. The A. F.
of L. union demanded a union shop,
that is, that any man working for
the company a certain period would
have to join the union. The board
granted this demand, thus forcing
20 per cent of the plant’s non-union
workers to join the A. F. of L. One
member of the board, Cyrus Ching.
representing industry, held out
against the decision. He foresaw
that it would create a precedent.
i When the decision was announced
i it was stated that it should not be
| taken as a precedent. This pious
j statement was like giving the baby
a piece of candy “if he won’t ask
for another.”
Once the A. F. of L. had received
this concession the C. 1.0. stepped up
and said: “I want one, too.” The
result was the famous Federal Ship
building and Dry Dock company
case of Kearny, N. J., this time a
shipyard on the East coast. Against
the vote of the members of the Na
tional Mediation board representing
industry, the union was given
“maintenance -of - membership”
which is a diluted union shop. The
company refused to accept the deci
sion and the navy took over.
Another Precedent
Here was another precedent,
whether the board meant it or not.
i And it didn’t take long for John
Lewis to take advantage of it and
put in his demand for the union shop
in the captive coal mines. If he
i had planned it that way he could
not have been provided a better
opportunity to vent his ancient
grievance against the President and
I set himself right in the middle of
a national issue.
If the case of the Bethlehem Ship
building workers was good, Lewis’
was far better. C. 1.0. has a 95 per
cent membership in the captive coal
mines. But not the kind of a95 per
cent that most people think it. Not
5 per cent non-union workers scat-
BRIEFS ... By Baukhage
In BV4 years the Civilian Conser
vation corps has brought 100,000 il
literates to the Fourth Grade level
of being able to rend and write. This
is the only compulsory educational
course in the CCC.
The net income of farm operators
during the first nine months of this
year increased one-fourth as com
pared with the corresponding period
of last year, according to the de
oartment of commerce.
THE COS’ rir r A C °—^DEMOrpxm
tered here and there in all the
mines. But full per cent mem
bership in ma J . nes and none
perhaps in a w small ones
The Nationa jnse Mediation
board voted a °7" Mr - Lewis’ de
mand for a u shop an d pan
dora’s box flew open. One of the
things that en \ e . • .. was , a highly
paradoxical ana gniy painful situ
ation. For the do r, by taking tnis
rare anti-labor s ep, had virtually
left the operators in the position
that if they had yielded in the later
negotiations they would be in the
position of suppor mg Lewis against
the government, bull the situation
might have been saved if something
had not happened when the Presi
dent called the operators and Lewis
and Secretary-Treasurer Kennedy
of the United Mine Workers to the
White House.
When the men came in the Presi
dent did what his labor advisors
hoped he would. He made a briel
appeal to both sides to get together
and settle the question, since a
strike must be avoided. If he had
stopped there all might have been
well. But he went on and said what
Lewis felt was prejudicial to his
case. This not only woke all the
smouldering anger in the breast ol
John Lewis but when the commit
tee of 200 C. 1.0. advisors heard
about it they were just as mad.
His feeling was reflected when he
turned down the President s later
proposals.
President on the Spot
And the President was on the
spot. Congress was insisting on
strike legislation. Speaker Sam
Rayburn had promised it. Others
were demanding that the troops be
sent into the captive mines at once.
That, wiser heads who knew the
temper of the miners believed,
would mean a strike in all the mines |
and the army would have to beat I
its bayonets into pickaxes.
So the President paused, wrote |
a conciliatory letter to both parties. 1
Meanwhile, congress could stew but I
, the President was pretty sure that \
its members would not take the \
initiative of alienating vote
with primaries roming up in the
' spring and elections next fall. The
prospective candidates for re
election wanted the onus to be
placed squarely on him.
Whether the Conciliation service
could have handled the captive mine
strike as it is stili handling the other
98 per cent of the cases of labor
disputes no one can say. But it is
clear that it was mishandled by the
Mediation board and it is likewise
clear that if critical congressmen
finally crack down on Mr. Knudsen’s
iiiictiij' udih uu”-- **** . iwiuum a
dollar-a-year men for showing fa
vors to business they have plenty of
grounds for cracking down on Mr.
Hillman’s stalwarts who created the
pattern of labor partisanship that
came near severely injuring not
only the defense program but the
administration’s foreign policy as
well.
• *
A Rip-Snortin' Texan
Comes to Washington
Another Texan lias come to Wash
ington and the moment of his arri
val was on historic one. We have
had a lot of rip-snortin', ringtailed
wildcats from all parts of the coun
try, some human, and some not
quite. Now we have something that
will make even the Texas delegation
in congress sit up and take notice,
for this unwilling delegate from the
Lone Star State is the wildest of
them all.
He is a Texas long-horn. A steer
with an eight foot spread of horn
He is 12 years old. He weighs 1,200
pounds and he is admittedly wilder
than anything in the zoo where he
has been given the place ol honor
—right up near the entrance.
Most people do not know that the
Texas long-horn is rarer than the
buffalo which he once displaced on
the Texas plains. He is a direct
descendant from the wild cattle
which the Spaniard* brought to
America when they came. Those
cattle could walk endless miles to
water. They ware bred and de
veloped to meet conditions that
existed a hundred years ago in the
great Southwest. Then water was
piped and ditched into the great
ranches and the fatter, easier go
ing Herefords were introduced
The long-horn had the muscles and
the endurance but he did have the
meat, so he began to disappear.
George Sumpson, a Washington
| correspondent ,rom the Middle
West who is also a correspondent
for Texas papers and a keen devotee
of America's flora and fauna, start
ed out three year* ogo to get a
long horn for the Washington
“n’e had his troubles. He simply
could not get hold of a real, simon
pure long-horn. There were semi
domesticated beasts but none of the
real, wild-eyed np-roarmg variety
that have made the long-horn as
much a symbol of America as the
eagle itself. |
Bar num Had Plugged Holes
And Was in the Money
Whe/i P. T. Bamum, as a young
man > left Danbury, Conn., to
make his way in the world, he
Jeft numerous unpaid bills behind
him. To one creditor the imagi
native showman said with great
intensity: ‘Til pay you what I
owe you as soon as I get rich.”
The other laughed and eyed the
youth disdainfully.
“That will be when a sieve holds
water,” he jeered.
But in a few years the master
showman was well on the road to
success, and with great satisfac
tion wrote the man the following
note:
“Dear Sir: I have fixed that
sieve.”
Ideals as Stars
Ideals are like stars; you will
not succeed in touching them with
your hands, but like the seafaring
man on the desert of waters, you
choose them as your guides, and,
following them, you reach your
destiny.—Carl Schurz.
Longer mileage and greater durability result :
from the use of Vitamic rubber, produced by { HI
adding a new rubber vitamin called Vitalin \ t
Protection against skidding and side-siips
because of the pafented Safti-Lock Gum-Dipped l||§|§|lj#^
Cord Body and Super-Speed Construction. ALLOWANCE
Here’s the tire that will give you outstanding
Home & Auto Supply Store today and equip
your ear with a set of these amazing tires.
■«,»0T0.U,A«WT.ACT0.,.../(lsi*f olt \ ?•>«*«>"«
fXTRA TRACTION BAR LENGTH ” TRUCK-BUS TIRE
MR. EXTRA _ '".mUmi"
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UP to 215 EXTRA INCHES
OF TRACTION BAR fiij cost and has all the patented
LENGTH PER TRACTOR jfl / I Firestone Construction I
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MEANS. to fit and Y± ton
buktooe right'in the center of jk fjCtStOltt
the tread provides extra traction HUgH ali-TIACTION
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0 K 11 K ‘
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BC „ namt from th« an
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OWOUND GRIP TIRE toUa >-
IHI QUICK-STAATINO COMIINATION A WA»M CAI FOR nil MONIY
PSn .u?/. ont firestone firestone Afes.
INI ANTI-FRfIZI BUBBATTERIES and HEATERS
I **3-1 Here is complete, SPARK PLUGS Larger cores, extra Mi ik j|
■■HI ,„„„ i,,,-,,, „ij Put these two to efficiency and low fcV /i
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weather protection for cara, « mr qu | c kly in any hcilcrs rcsl TUH
trucks and tractors. ™ weather. bargains.
Helen to the Voiee of Fir-ton* with Iliehard Crook,. Marparet Bj>takt mnd the Fbreetone S^mphonp l
I Orchestra. under the direction of Alfred IValtAAßtAim Mondoy 9vtningt. over N. B. C. Rod Network I
NEW IDEAS
for Home-Makers
By RUTH WYETH SPEARS
THESE conversation chairs so
much at home in a Victorian
setting would be just as smart in
a modern room. They are com
fortable too, and any man who
can nail together a box of one
inch pine boards can make a
frame for one. The lady with
needle and thread then takes over.
If ready made spring cushions are
: used it is best to buy them first
1 and then plan the box base to fit.
» The dimensions in the diagram
r tilt the back and seat at comforta
-1 ble angles. Domes of silence at
the four corners of the base makß
the chair easy to move
...
NOTE—If you would like to make 0
hooked rug like the one in front of the
fireplace, Mrs. Spears' Add-ASquare pat
tern shows how to hook a rug in smaU
sections to l>e sewn together. Ask for
Pattern No. 201, and enclose 10 cent*,
addressing:
MRS. RUTH WYETH SPEARS
Drawer 10
Bedford Hills New York
Enclose 10 cents for pattern No. 201.
Name
Address
— —
The Soul
About what am I now employ
ing my own soul? On every occa
sion I must ask myself this ques
tion, and inquire, what have I now
in this part of me which they call
the ruling principle? and whose
. soul have I now? that of a child,
. or a young man, or of a feeble
i woman or of a tyrant, or of a
- domestic animal, or of a wild
t beast?