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Show UTAH LABOR NEWS, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH. JANUARY 14, 1938 Page 4 PRESIDENT ROOSEVELTS TALK AT JACKSON FEAST Here is a dog being (Continued from Page 2) tail. our wagged by a efficiency and strengthens 1 have recently described many resolve to outlaw the methods by which such control is achievec other activities that should not be and to reestablish the independ tolerated in our democracy price ence of local or regional enter- rigging, unfair competition directed against the little man, and prise. an Let me give you example. monopolistic practices of many As you know, I have been discuss- kinds. Call them evils, call them them unfortunate ing the problem of the electric abuses, call no difference. makes anc It facts. utilities with business men to your me to and durGive officials give lawyers and public the deffor credit the two. or month the government ing past inite intention to eradicate them. Can Understand I am convinced that the great Give to me and give to your govmajority of local or regional oper- ernment the credit for believing ating utility companies can come that in so doing we are helping to an understanding with the and not hurting the overwhelming ingovernment and with the people majority of business men and States. United in the of the territories which they dustrialists Will Be Eliminated That would enable them serve. We hope and believe that these to obtain, within their own localities or regions, all of the new capi- evils and abuses will in greater tal necessary for the extension or part be eliminated by cooperative action of that overwhelming maimprovement of their services. But most of these operating jority. The White House door is open companies are owned by holding companies pyramided holding to all our citizens who come ofwhich are finance fering to help eradicate the evils companies not operating utility that flow from undue concentracompanies, companies. Very few investors in tion of economic power or unfair who offer to the operating companies have lost business practices money. But thousands of invest- do all that is possible by cooperors have lost money in buying ative endeavor and to aid in corholding company securities which rective and helpful legislation had blue sky above them instead where necessary. We know that there will be a of tangible assets behind them. a mere handful of the total few Evils Prevent men and bankers and combusiness of of That evil utility holding who will fight to the industrialists not in will control grow pany ditch to retain such autothe this because come last to govdays control the industry over ernment has now passed laws to cratic in the country of the finances and occurrences prevent similar With this the future. But we have not yet as they now possess. corrected the existing evils that mndful it is going to be a fight a cneerful fight on my part, but flow from mistakes of the past. We cannot condone their con- a fight in which there will be no no letup tinuance. compromise with evil It has been estimated that there until the inevitable day of victory. Once more, the head of the naare outstanding some $13,000,000,-00of electric utility securities tion is working with all his might and that the substantial control and main to restore and to up-lothe integrity of the morals of this total is vested in the hands of democracy our heritage from of the owners of less than of the total. That means the long line of national leaderfrom Jefferson to Wilson that the ownership of about 4 ship and controls securities the cent of preeminently from Andrew per Jackson. the other 96 per cent. 96-in- ch ch ' Heres where else, when the crowded as- hearted? for the answer was too sembly stood up in grim and rev- obviously, No. erent silence as a tribute to the ' The delegates h ehdardMa The delegates had heard Murray The nightshirters of today who memory of our murdered brothers menace our liberties are not only and a pledge that they have not relate the shocking figures of un- network papers and said, your answer! the Ku Kluxers and Black Legionnaires. Fully as menacing to the national welfare are the reactionaries of the labor, industrial and political world who clothe their mental nakedness in nightshirt ideas and then cry communism against all who disagree. What Girdler Might Have Seen Tom Girdler should look in on this convention and see what we have here, said Chairman Philip Murray at the first convention of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee in Pittsburgh. If Girdler had looked in, he would have seen a thousand serious-- and purposeful delegates, representing hundreds of thousands of steel workers from every, center of the industry in the United States and Canada. He would have found these delegates vigorous in debate, but orderly and already accustomed to the democratic of union organization. Girdler might have blanched at the storm of indignation which stirred these steel workers when they spoke of the Memorial Day massacre outside the South Chicago plant of the Republic Steel Corporation; and when they denounced the killing of seven others steel workers by the hired thugs and assassins of the steel corporations. He might have hung his head in shame and wished he were some minded, self-assur- ed self-discipli- ne died in vain. A United Convention If Girdler had looked in on this first convention of the S. W. O. C., he could not have failed to be impressed with the unity of purpose of these hundreds upon hundreds of representatives of the nations steel workers. Minor differences arose but were quickly ironed out. These men had built up a union of half a million in a year and a half. They had organized 1,080 lodges and won contracts with 445 companies. Many of them had been through the fire of a long and bitter strike. Through unity they had wTon wage increases, improved working conditions and a new sense of independence. They knew that unity and solidarity were necessary to maintain these gains and to push forward to unionization of the whole industry. No Faint Hearts Here If Girdler ever believed the lies of his press agents about John L. Lewis and the C. I. O., he might have been surprised at the demonstration which occurred when the C. I. O. leader appeared on the platform. For nearly half an hour the delegates stood cheering and applauding with infectious enthusiasm, or d through the aisles with banners of welcome and shouts of union solidarity. No one inquired in the fashion, Are we down- snake-dance- time-honor- ed employment in the steel industry-- 28 per cent of the workers laid off completely 57 per cent working from one to three days a week, and only 15 per cent working full-timThey knew from their own experience just what these figures meant. But they also knew that in the present depression they were this much ahead of the last depression, that now they had a union to fight for them, to protect- the standards of those still employed and to demand adequate relief for the jobless. Seriously and purposefully, the delegates set about the work of consolidating and strengthening their union, establishing unemployed committees, and adopting a program to cope with the economic emergency. Political Action If Girdler had looked in on the S. W. 0. C. convention, he might not have liked the program of political action adopted. He might have seen in its demand for more democracy a threat to the unfettered rule of economic royalists like himself, and to their right to run the country into a depression whenever they choose. He might have disapproved the steel workers intention to follow up their fight for economic emancipation through union organization, with a fight for political emancipation and for the right to live in communities free from corporations domination to a point (Continued on Page 7) e. - 0 ld $600,-000,0- 00 LOOKING AHEAD (Continued from Page lj craft unionism to modern industrial unionism. That too is his privilege 'and his right. Federal regulation of sweatshftp wages and excessive working hours is another modern fandangle that seems not to have met with Mr. Freys approval. All of which is fine and dandy, so long as Mr. Frey keeps his nightshirt on, doesnt go around frightening the neighbors, and doesn't try to force his nightshirt ideas on millions of Americans who happen to have other ideas. But these millions are going to protest vigorously when Mr. Frey, or anybody else, opposes legislation in the name of American labor; and when he and other craft officials say the workers in modem industries must have craft unions or none at all. The Bed old-fashion- ed wage-and-ho- ur Bogy Part of the nightshirt technique for scaring the neighbors and making them stick to grandpas ideas or go further back to those of the cavemen is to raise bloodcurdling yells about Communism. Just as certain nations, uttering the excuse that they are stamping out communism, commit crimes at which t savages would blush, so in our own land those who would undermine our democratic institutions do it under the same hollow pretense, said Ickes nations in his speech about nightshirts. Every candidate for office in America wrho lacks a real issue proceeds to shout communism. Any male or female hysteric, gluttonous for notoriety and unscrupulous about achieving it, can always uncover a red network. Employers who deny to their workers the right to associate together in a labor union for the common good of all, frequently declare that they do so because of communistic influences which are at large in their factories. What To Do When Slipping These remarks bring to mind a couple of recent instances to which they might well be applied. There was the Tammany candidate for mayor of New York in the He last election, for example. found himself slipping so badly, with not an issue in sight, that he resorted to crying communism against the successful ticket, which was supported by nearly all the labor unions as well as by many business interests, including that previously unsuspected Bolshevik Mr. John D. Rockefeller! Then there was a meeting in Washington not so long ago, at which A. F. of L. organizers were given a pep talk and told to "go out and fight the C. I. O. One of the organizers, searching around for an issue, called out from the back of the room, With what? And John P. Frey, it is related, held up a sheaf of red As An . . . Read what the Highest Authorities in the advertising field say about the pulling power of the Labor newspaper from an advertising standpoint: A labor paper is a far better advertising medium than an ordinary newspaper in comparison with circulation. A labor paper, for example, having 2,000 subscribers, is of far more value to the business man who advertises than ordinary papers with' 12,000 subscribers. Read From Cover To Cover Many business men do not stop to think that every line in a labor paper is read by nearly every person to whom it is sent or in whose hands it may happen to fall. The labor paper is read more closely by its subscribers than those of any other form of publication. The ordinary newspaper is taken to the home, read and then cast aside and never touched again. The labor paper is saved by the housewife and its advertising columns consulted when she wishes to make a purchase. 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