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Show UTAH LABOR NEWS, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH. APRIL 9, 1937. 6 SECTION MAN HAS LABORS RIGHT WHEAT INSURANCE NEXT WEEK TO SIT DOWN BILL IS PASSED IN HISTORY MISERABLE WAGE The section hand, or the maintenance of way employe on the railroads in Utah receive a starvation wage, lie is perhaps the lowest paid human being in the state. This should not be. lie is an important cog in the routine of railroad work, lie protects the safety of the travelers. He must know his work. Without him the railroad could not operate. This week the Utah Labor News received a communication from a gentleman who is interested in the welfare of the section hand. He said the average wages of section men in Utah is less than $500 a year. Just recently the railroad officials called a conference of sec-- , tion foremen in Salt Lake City," the letter said, "and the foremen were tojd to go back home and tell the workmen if they ever ask for more wages they will all get fired The letter says, If a strike is needed anywhere, its among the section men. The church is sending missionaries into every country of the world, and frequently induces cheap labor to come here as converts. I feel sure the heads of the church would not care to work for less than $500 a year and keep a family. The head of the church is also on the board of directors of a great railroad system in Utah," the writer noted. Isnt it about time to investigate the conditions under which section men work in this state? sit-do- Predicts Higher Wages for Women By A. F. of L. News Service. (Looking Forward to Look Back WASHINGTON After a April 11 Gibraltar ceded to discussion covering every England, 1713. of the subject the senate April 12 Henry Clay, American phase born 1777. statesman, a call without roll the passed Thomas Jefferson, wheat crop insurance bill to inApril 13 sure what farmers against crop American president, born 1743. failures due to tornadoes, floods, April 14 President Lincoln faand drouth other causes, tally wounded, 1865. hail, Baltimore Lord maintain the buying power of such April 15 farmers and provide stable sup- (George Calvert), born 1580. April 16 Federals capture Coplies of wheat for domestic consumption and the orderly flow of lumbus, 1865. that product in interstate comApril 17 Virginia seceded from the Union, 1861. merce. pro-long- The measure creates a federal crop insurance corporation within the Department of Agriculture, financed by capital stock amounting to $100,000,000, which will be subscribed by the government. Under the plan a wheat farmer may insure his crop with the federal gpyernment, paying the premiums in cash or in wheat. An academic opposition to the bill was expressed by Senator King of Utah, who visioned the experiment as another invasion of the field of private endeavor by the federal government which he predicted will end in state socialism with the government the promoter of all sorts of activities. The government, he said, will be the godfather, the godmother, and the wet nurse of many activities which belong especially to the states, to communities, and to individuals. I see no end of the long, long trail that leads from a proper individualism, with the benefits to be derived from the exercise and development of the abilities of the individual, to that goal where state socialism, with all the evils incident thereto, will have been real- By A. F. of L. News Service WASHINGTON The Womens ized. Bureau of the U. S. Department of In reply to this argument. SenLabor estimated that the supreme courts decision upholding the validity of minimum wage legislation for women would result in wage increases ranging from 20 to 30 per cent for w'omen workers in many states. Miss Louise Stitt, minimum wage supervisor of the bureau, said that the decision affected about 6,000,000 women, directly and indirectly. She was confident that minimum wage laws would be enacted soon in Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, South Carolina, and New York. A Nevada law fixing an $18 wage for women has just been signed by Governor Kirman. The Ohio law has been appealed to the supreme court, but in view of the decision on the Washington state Law the appeal will of course be withdrawn. Miss Stitt claimed that about 55 per cent of women employed in industry reside in states having minimum w?age laws. As a genershe added, al rule, womens wages are about 50 per cent below mens. Minimum wage legislation generally has the effect of raising the minimum from 20 to 30 per cent. She said the labor department did not believe women would be displaced in industry as a result of this increase, because they were quite generally employed on types of work particularly suitable to them. Soviet Gold Buys U. S. Products By A. F. of L. News Service The Daily Telegraph of London, England, reports that consignments of newly mined gold from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics with an estimated value of is being shipped to the United States. It is assumed the purpose of the consignment of bullion is to pay for the Soviet Unions recent large purchases of metals and rubber. $190,-000,0- 00 Safety and Health to School Children (Continued from page 4) containing the usual materials in your school? 34. Do you feel that you are placing present and future health and safety first in the case of every child in your school and to the best of your resources ? Our American schools have done much in the past through health, physical, and safety education, to keep our school-goin- g population safe and in sound health. May our cooperative efforts to make all schools safe and healthful continue unabated, Commissioner Studebaker said. ed ator Frazier of North Dakota, pointed out with realistic pragmatism that crop insurance by private companies had failed because the premiums charged have been so high as to make that kind of insurance prohibitive to the average With regard to Senator farmer. fear that individual initiKings ative was being destroyed, Senator Frazier said: The senator referred to the bill as socialistic, but that doe3 not hurt my feelings at all. One may call it socialistic, or may call the whole plan socialistic if he desires, but the American farmer is entitled to some help from the states and from the government, and this is a step in that direction. Plans Federal Wage Legislation By A. F. of L. News Service WASHINGTON President Roosevelt indicated at his press conference here that he would advocate Federal legislation fixing minimum wages regardless of the supreme courts decision affirming the constituionality of the Washington state minimum wage law for women and minors. He said he was convinced that state legislation alone would not meet the problem of protecting the workers from low wages imposed by many employers. Mr. Roosevelt announced that he would request Attorney General Cummings for an opinion whether the supreme courts decision overruling its decision in 1923 holding the District of Columbia minimum wage law unconstitutional automatically revived that statute, or if a new law must be passed. , If reenactment of the District of Columbia law became necessary, the President implied that the statute should cover workers of both sexes. He added that such an objective ought to be nation-wide. Low Rent Fixed For PWA Houses The Much Quoted Jefferson When the United States was young use was made of young as For instance, well as old men. Thomas Jefferson, whose birth in' 1743 we celebrate on the 13th o April, was only 26 when elected to the Virginia assembly. At 36 he was a member of congress am governor of Virginia. Nearly al important biographers rank him as one of our quartet of greatest men. Washington, Franklin and Lincoln being the other three. The epitaph this third president of the U. S. wrote for himself tells Here lies quite a bit about him: buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia. This friend of and defender- of the poor, this advocate of am practicer of religious tolerance, this believer in equal and exact justice to, all men of whatever state was the son of an unlettered father of unusual common sense and a refined mother who descended from a long line of lawyers, physicians, statesmen and noted clergymen. He was a college graduate lover of books, a brilliant example of what may be gained by humbly reading about the experiences of others. He was an excellent mathematician, a lover of music and an adept in the use of his mother tongue. He was a man of great vision far ahead of his times. Despite his great accomplishments he was a poor manager of his own finances. In his inaugural address he said: Let us then, with a courage and confidence, pursue our own federal and republican principles, our attachment to our Union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the hundredth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties to the acquisition of our industry; to honor and confiredence from our fellow-citizensulting not from birth but from our actions, and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoran overruling Frovidence, ing which, by all its dispensations, proves that it delights in the happiness of man here, and his greater happiness hereafter; with all these blessings what more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still, one thing a wise and more, fellow-citizefrugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities. - s, ns tenants whose annual income exceeds . five times the amount of the rent. (Continued from page 5) preventing evolution of a means of peaceably settling labor disputes. The critics fan out pretty quickly. Their contentions are based on vague phrases like which has been used to describe everything from compulsory education to the child labor amendwhich ment, and communistic, includes wage and hour legislation and free speech. Defenders Make Hits The defenders, on the other hand, have come through with a pretty high batting average. Senator Thomas, with his background as a Mormon missionary in Japan, went- back to Confucius founder of (600 B. C.) and Lao-tzthe Taoist religion, to find confirmation of the theory that are bearers of a venerable tradition. The story of the Thomas told a national radio audience, is contained in the history of English kings, Chinese butchers, Homer's Odysseus and Ghangi. That should certainly reads the motto of English kings. With embellishments, that goes for n strikers, too. sit-dow- Culinary Alliance Shows Growth Thomas Startin, secretary and business agent of Salt Lake Culinary Alliance No. 815, reports membership gains and signing of additional houses, which now display the union house card. The month of April is the beginning of a spring membership drive and indications are that many new members will have been enrolled when the campaign closes. Economic Highlights - (Continued from page 3) prices? Will the income of the public at large go ahead along with rises in the price index? Will the consumer accept higher prices and not cut down his buying? These are vital questions, which only time can answer. In the meantime, the reader may consider it certain that prices will squelch upstarts like J. Ham Lew- continue to go ' up all along the is, Ellender, Hoffman and D- line. Most commentators also reetroits Superintendent of Police. gard it as certain that shorter hours and higher wages are ineviHeinrich A. Pickert. Thomas speech can be used ef- tably coming in most industries. fectively to show that workers in The administration is at least tacChrysler plants may hark back to itly favorable to labors aim state classical precedent for their ac- governments have shown disinclithe law in such tions, while police evictors, swing- nation to enforce sit-doas matters strikes. tear-gas clubs and ing brandishing and machine guns, have nothing Business briefs of interest folmore valid to base their claims o of some state low: upon than the say-sRETAILING: Business Week judge like Alan Campbell or Paul V. Gadola. reports that in 1936 retail trade 14 per God and Right At My Side, grossed $37,161,000,000 cent more than in 1935, 23 per cent less than in 1929. NEWS and COMMENT CONSTRUCTION: According to FebruEngineering News-Recor15 was construction (Continued from page 1) per cent ary the than average weekly greater and pull together for their advancement. There need be no jealousies for 1936, in spite of bad weather or rivalries between our cities and in many sections. Private buildtowms. If we persist until our goal ing is up 145 per cent, public is reached all who have helped may building down 30 per cent. RAILROADS: Traffic, both take credit. But let us not forget and freight, is holding that it is not credit we are seek- passenger to relatively good levels. The ining, but finer and better cities and faces legislative difficuldustry towns in Utah. the brotherhoods along ties, Let our slogan be: Many minds demands forwith 20 per cent wage are better than one when one good )OOStS. purpose dominates the many MOTORS: Production continues minds. good. New strikes are in prospect, lowever, in some plants, notably Real Enemies those making accessories, tools, The National Industries News etc. Service of Washington, D. C., is TAXES: Higher taxes upon furnished free to those newspapers both industries and individuals that may desire that kind of news are regarded as inevitable. Broadservice, i.e. big business propagan- ening of the tax base may also da. come. The current Federal budget This particular propaganda news is already distorted the years deservice is very much worried lest ficit will exceed previous fore;he fascists or communists take casts. over the United States, and asks, SECURITIES: There have been Isnt it about time America was fairly wide fluctuations in the handed back to the Americans? stock market lately, due in part to As far as we are conemed our profit-takinSpeculation is ramisworries are not over fascism nor pant, especially in communism. They will never get sues. The general tone of the marto first base in a democracy. But ket is upward. we have just reason to fear worse enemies than those mentioned. Dont look for an easy job un-JeThe real enemies of American you want to make it hard for 'folks to find you. (Continued on Page 8) e, sit-dow- ns sit-dow- n, d, g. low-pric- ed ss Best Wishes to Labor PARK CITY CONSOLIDATED MINES COMPANY By A. F. of L. News Service NEW YORK Rents in the PWA Harlem river houses apartment project, costing $4,279,-00site becovering seven-acr- e tween 151st and 153rd streets on the Harlem river, will average $7 per room monthly, according to an announcement given out here by Public Works Administrator Harold L. Ickes through the office of the housing division of the PWA. The figure will include hot and cold water and heat. Gas and electric charges will be billed to the tenants at a combined average flat rate of $1.42 a room monthly. No families will be received as low-rent- al. WELCOME, LABOR, 0, WHEN IN LOGAN ITS General Office: 625 Eccles Building Ogden, Utah GaSav of Logan, Inc. 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