The Greensboro patriot [August 11, 1919]

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TKXGREENSBORO PATRIOT
PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY.
E5TABLISHED 1821. GREENSBORO, N. C, MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 1919. VOL. 98. NO. 64
WAGE QUESTION
WHEN S«E IS ENDED
,m¥\X TELLS HINES TO
*£SnHSR WAGB QUESTION
OS ITS MERITS.
^WBCton. Aug. 7.-President
tonight notified Director
ment, but before this conference DDipin rvDIICDC PATIfl?
took place or could take place. lo-,»"IAllj UMLISKo QUUvK
cal bodies of railway shopmen took
action looking toward a strike on
the first of August. As a result of
this action, various strikes actually
took place before there was an op-portunity
to act in a satisfactory or
conclusive way with respect to the
wages. In the presence of these
f:lson
a»era
Hines that he was author-!
>rfio t^e up the demands of
"^e resident said that the letter
him by Senator Cummins.chair-
* I ,he committee on interstate
imerce. "had set me free to deal
W', mink best with the difflcult
of the wages of certain
employes."
led: -The chief obstacle to
.on has been created by the
hemselvea. They have gone
PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON
PAYS PRODUCER LESS THAN $5
BARREL, FOR POTATOES AND
SELLS THEM FOR S20.
strikes and the repudiation of the
authority of the representatives of
the organizations concerned, there
..iroad shop employes for higher |Caa ^ no conalderation of the mat.
ia?e5 and decide them on their ter ,n controver8y UnU1 m em_
ployes return to work and again rec-ognize
the authority of their organ-ization
the whole matter must be at
a standstill.
Ready to Deal Fairly.
"When federal control of the rail-roads
began, the railroad adminis-tration
accepted existing agreements
between the shopmen's organization
and the several railroad companies,
and by agreement machinery was
created for handling the grievances
of the shopmen's organization of all
the railways, whether they hpt'
questi >:i
class- "f tUe ra,lroad
3«t
.1 de
. i a strike and repudiated the
Authority of their officers at the very
foment when they were urging ac-
,ioi in regard to their interests."
TOe President's decision was an-nounced
tonight from the Whit*
House in the form of a letter sent by
lira to Mr. Hines. The President
aid thai "until the employes re-turn
to w0lk an(l a5ain recognize
iie authority of their organization
iae wkole matter must be at stand-s-
ill."
President Free to Aet.
The President's letter follows:
"I am just in receipt of the letter
Iron. Senalor Albert B. Cummins,
rtairman of the senate committee
on interstae commerce, which seti
M free to deal as I think best with
•.be difficult question of the wages
o( certain classes of railway em-ployes,
and I take advantage of the
occasion to write you this letter, in
order that I may. both in the public
interest and in the interests of the
railroad employes themselves, make
ibe present situation as clear and
JeSnite as possible.
"I thought it my duty to lay the
ouesiion in its present pressing form
i before the committee of the senate,
because 1 thought I should not act
Jjion the matter within the brief in-terval
of jovernment control re-
Washington, Aug. 7.—"My net
profits clear of all expenses average
about $700 a week," said an ob-scure
groceryman who has probably
a stock worth $2,000, "and if these
intermeddlers who are trying to reg-ulate
everything under the sun will
only keep their hands off of my bus-iness
I'll soon make enough to re-tire."
This groceryman sells neither
lower nor higher than the rest of
the Washington dealers for their
prices are all about «ne same. They
! agree on prices regardless of the
original cost. The producer gets
only a small share of the amount
;exacted from the consumer. Neither
I the producer nor lue consumer is
(considered in the gigantic game that[d0 anything that is essential, and
while the iron is hot for them to
strike for that independence.
Whatever may ultimately be done
to meet the demands of labor it is
certain that Immediate action will
be taken to reduce the cost of liviag,
for that question is so pressing that
neither the President nor the Con-gress
can escape the responsibility
that is weighing heavily upon them,
and it may be expected that all
other matters will be put aside that
this vital matter may be adjusted.
Congress, however, is trying to
"pass the buck" to the President,
as that body in this critical moment,
when no one knows the right road
to take, feels that the President has
all the power that is necessary to
solve the problem without requiring
embarrassing action on the part of
Congress.
Everybody realizes now that the
revelations that were made by the
United States "government in its
prosecution of the war have taught
the people that their government
has the resources and the power to
PRESIDENT ADDRESSES
CONGRESS ON LIVING COST
PRESENT HIGH PRICES NOT JUS-TIFIED
BT SHORTAGE OF
SUPPLIES.
sion depend the affairs of nations
everywhere. It is in this supreme
crisis—this crisis for all mankind
—that America must prove her met-tle."
CARMEN OUT AT CHARLOTTE.
WINSTON AND GREENVILLE.
is engaged in by the profiteers. Their having this conviction the people re-plan
is to levy as high a tribute on ly on the government to restore
the necessaries of life as the con- j the business of the country to a nor-sumer
can possibly pay. |mai basi8.
One of these thrifty profiteers■
•'•oretofore l.a;I .V: iiuncf*" nt 2<-!i-nite
agreenunt* o> not. There raa
be no question, therefore, f the
readiness of the government :«> deal
in a s,>:ri: of fuirness and by r;tti- ' ,
lar methods with any matters the n«rcnas«d a barr« of potatoes from UXOIjE 8AM GOING AFTER
men may bring to their attention.
"Concerned and very careful con-sideration
is being given by the en-tire
government to the question of
reducing the high cost of living. I
fects every Individual in the natiotn
HOARDERS AND PROFITEERS.
Washington, Aug. 9.—Tangible
results from the investigation of
hoarding and pro.", leering initiated
by Attorney Ceneral Palmer are ex-the
producer for less than $5, and
j within an hour he sold his purchase
! for exactly $20, making something
over $15 on this one barrel of po-tatoes.
It is the same way with all kinds
need hardly point out how Inti-'ot """^ Produce, meats, poultry. | pected to develop ln tne irnmediate
mately and directly this matter at- '',*h and "hatever «*? «~» tof~* . future as the result of an order to-and
if transportation is interrupted, t!", Peon,e-tn* retail dealer charg-; day directing the entire secret ser-it
will be impossible to solve it. " " enormous profit. Whatever vice of the bureau of investigation
T_h..is i,s a t.i.me' _w.hen every empl.oye may..be said, a,bo.u. t the. fprof,iteering° Il.„o aassssiisstt tmhee flonrrcceeRs nnooww aait wwoorrkn
of the railways should help to make,°" the P*rt,° th" who,e",,e.r and , trying to uncover instances in which
the processes of transportation more 'the «na"«"acturer the retailer .. cer- ,he puDlic has been -ouged by the
easy and economical rather than
less, and employes who are on
strikes are deliberately delaying a
settlement of their wage problems
and of their standard of living.
They should promptly return to
work, and I hope that you
urge upon their representatives the
immediate necessity for their doing
so."
The effect" of the President's de-cision,
it was believed, would be to
put a sudden end to sporadic
tainly getting his in the present Megal control of prices,
mad rush for unprecedented profit j officials of the department of jus-
—the producer and the consumer tice said reports from many sec-are
the goats. | tions of the country showed the
A report made public to-day by search for evidence of extortion in
the department of labor shows that the necessities of life was proceed-wiUfam'Ue8
in 25 cities ot the country ing vigorously and it was indicated
paid 16 per cent more in June for that many prosecutions might come
22 standard articles of food than very soon,
the average in 1918. | Announcement also was made to-
There are other things besides /day that Congress would proaeed
food that is closely related to the promptly with legislative measures
high cost of living. Among these recommended by President Wilson
gaining, without their acquiescence ' strikes throughout the country, de- nothln* is more '™Portant than the in his address yesterday as neces-and
approval. Senator Cummins' 'nounced as illegal by union officials, 'Drice ot 8hoe8" Tne federal trade | sary to stop the "vicious practices
letter, which speaks the unanimous! but involving perhaps 80.000 men commission, which has made an in- which have been largely respons.-
Mgment of the committee, leaves'and to some extent normal traffic. ™*tiSa"on of this matter, made ble for the rising cost of living.
M free and indeed imposes upon ' It was taken for granted also that Dub^c • ^^LH^H^JUS^ H^ll!,li"" ' '" ' M'-"""'" "u' <
ae the duty to act. ! the menace of a general strike to
"The question ot the wages of' compel higher wages to meet in-failroad
shopmen was submitted, | creased living costs likewise was
?oo will remember, to the board of i removed by the President's action,
railroad wares and working condl- if Director Hines orders an increase
the railroad administration in wages, since the railroad admin-istration
now is operating at a loss
either an advance in rates on a con-gressional
appropriation will be nec-essary
to provide the money. The
bomb in the camp of the profiteers, in the house that appropriations
This report asserts that excessive ' would be made at once to enable
profits by packers, tanners, n.anufac- the government departments to at-turers.
wholesalers and retailers tack the problem, and Chairman
has served to put the price of shoes Haugen announced the agricultural which they went into storage and
Washington, Aug. 8.—President
Wilson laid several specific proposals
before Congress to-day for checking
the high cost of living, but at the
same time declared permanent re-sults
could not be expected until
peace time basis were fully restored
by ratification of the peace treaty.
High Prices, the President told
Congress, were not justified by
shortage of supplies either present
or prospective, but were created in
many cases "artificially and delib-erately"
by "vicious practices." Re-tailer*,
he said, were responsible in
large part for extortionate prices.
strikes No Remedy.
Strikes, the President warned the
labor world, would only make mat-ters
worse and those who sought to
employ threats or coercion were
only "preparing their own destruc-tion."
Leaders of organized labor
the President said, he was sure
would presently yie:t: to second so-ber
thought.
"Illegal" and "criminal" were the
words the President used in charac-terizing
the methods by which some
present day prices have been
brought about.
Present laws, he said, would he
energetically employed to the limit
to force out food hoards and meet
the situation so far as possible, but
to supplement the existing statutes
he specifically urged the following:
Licensing ot all corporations en-gaged
in interstate commerce, with
specific regulations designed to se-cure
competitive selling and pre-vent
"unconscionable profits" in the
method of marketing.
Extend Food Control.
Extension of the food control act
to peace times and the application
of its provisions against hoarding
to fuel, clothing and other neces-sities
of life, as well as food.
A penalty in the food control act
for profiteering.
A law regulating cold storage,
limiting the time during which
goods may be held: prescribing a
method of disposing ot them it held
beyond the permitted period and re-quiring
that when released, goods
bear the date of storage.
Laws requiring that goods releas-ed
from storage tor interstate com-merce
bear the selling prices at
Ifo
•Jsi February, hut was not reported
spon by tae board until the 16th
ft July. The delay was unavoidable
localise the board was continuously
'Waged in lealing with several . 14 principal railroad, unions in a
up to the present figures. The committee would begin hearings
packers come In for their share ot Monday on legislation to control
pointed censure for their part in the time foods could be held in cold
forcing abnormal prices on the storage.
country. | The senate interstate commerce
"The public." safd the report. ■ committee discussed suggestions ot
wjo-p .n„a..t.e.„r.s, af_fec.t.ing c,lasses of,' ..,.." "had to nav nrire« for :hni>« that the President that interstate ship- joint communication to the director, ha° «> pay prices tor shoes that ___«_ K„ ,_„„„
Bnployes who had not previously re-
('!VO'l consideration. The board
»'« living apprised us of this ina-
™™». at any rate for the time being
10 free upon recommendation, it
" Nearly our duty to proceed with
,?."■"" in llle n°Pe of disposing
s"ike,s Sharply Rebuked.
nu are therefore authorized to
I J 'o the railroad shop employes
I ^l ,he 1'iestion of wages they
j* raised will be taken up and
"ered on its merits by the di-seiiftr-.
il in conference with
' lllllv accredited representa-
■ i hope that you will make it
'l" the men concerned that the
■n»a administration can not deal
roblrms of this sort or with
h*
sub-committee
ieneVaT^r'^Keated t7e "latTer"' | not only could not be justified be- ™nts of necessities be controlled
Trecedi^thrmatng pubH of cause retail shoe dealers took too * a licensing sys.em. -d Chair-thermPtreeusmidegntm's
eletter byB oPnly a few muchh p„r.„o„n.t. hblul.t bhemcamuwse ttnhee dAena)l-. man Cummins announced that
hnnw. was an annnnnrpment hv .1 er had to Pass on to the consumer WOUia
T Forrester presidenT ot the the excessive profits received by Monday to recommend such legisla-irotleZTot
TeZ Freight, butchers for bides and also the ex- "on as it should decide was neces-
Express and Steamship Employes, cess profits of tanners
that the 450.000 men of the union , manufacturers."
would begin balloting tomorrow as. "Some relief from the intolerable
to whether they should strike im-' prices paid by consumers for shoes
mediately or await further govern- may be had," the commission said.
mental action.
'IV Problems affecting the men. ex-
Shopmen Returning to Work.
Washington, Aug. 9.—Officials of
j the railroad aministration said to-night
they expected a great im-provement
in the strike situation
over Sunday, with virtually a full
force in all shops by Monday. Their
uKh the duly chosen officers
resulurly constituted organi-i"'
1' their authorized commit-
"*is of so various a na-
Pthe
I "''ion
l'*s.
■Jr^ ..., i
|:»tii i '""ctinK s° many men can
*a, r*]t with except but in this
I'atho • '"niou wl»ch brings the
law... y of tne authorized repres-f
the organization into
'"credits it. must inte'r-
' not prevent, action al-
The chief obstacle to a
a been created
Native,
5th- or dis,
" *ith
"*""-:•. '
%i0n
"by—
"1. A rigid enforcemeht ot the
laws against monopolistic control
of commodities:
"2. Legislation forbidding pro-ducers
of hides engaging in the tan-nin?
business: and
"3. The adoption of -a device In
the distribution of shoes that will
shoe sary
| There were indications at the
White House that President Wilson
might let the high cost of living
share with the league of nations in
the speaking tour which he soon is
to make. The President has been
devoting virtually all of his time re-cently
to the economic situation and
has come to believe that the impor-tance
of the question demands dis-cussion
equally with the big inter-national
problem, to explain which
was the prime purpose of the tour.
requiring that all goods destined
for interstate commerce bear the
prices at wihch they left the hands
of the producer.
Enactment of the pending bill
for the control of security issues.
Additional appropriations for gov-ernment
agencies which can supply
the public with full information as
to prices at which retailers buy.
Treaty Ratification Urged.
Early ratification of the peace
treaty so that the "free processes
of supply and demand" can operate.
Immediate steps by executive
agencies ot the government promis-ed
by the President included:
The limiting and controlling of
wheat shipments and credits to fa-cilitate
the purchase of wheat ship-ments
in such a way as not to raise,
but rather to lower the price of flour
at home.
Sale of surplus stocks of food
and clothing in the hands of the
government.
The forced withdrawal from stor-
Charlotte. Aug. 10.—Operatives
of street cars in Charlotte, Winston-
Salem. Greenville, S. C, and Ander-son,
S. C, went on a strike last
night, according to announcement
to-day by Albert E. Jones, organiser
of the Amalgamated Association of
Street and Electrical Railway Em-ployes
of America. The announce-ment
was made at 2 o'clock this
morning.
The announcement said the car
men were organized 100 per cent
and that they voted unanimously
to strike. Jones counselled them to
conduct the strike in an orderly
manner.
A committee of the several locals
is on duty at the car barn under or-ders
to dissuade any possible strike-breakers
from taking out the cars.
More than 200 men are involved,
including 120 Charlotte men.
Greenville's operatives earlier in
the evening had taken their vote, \
and also declared unanimously in
favor of striking.
Winston-Salem's telegram was
received at 2 o'clock this morning.
The demands of the car men in-clude:
That the street car com-pany
agree to meet and treat with
the Charlotte division of the Amal-gamated
Association of Electrical
and Street Railway Employes of
America on all questions, grievances
and complaints that may arise be-tween
them.
That to prevent strikes grievances
complained of shall, upon failure to
adjust through conciliation, imme-diately
be submitted to arbitration
by a board of arbitrators composed
ot three men. Should the arbitra-tors
fail to agree, the state Supreme
court will be requested to select the
third member of the board of arbi-tration.
That the wage scale for motor-men
and conductors be: To those
ot less than three months' service,
41 cents an hour; those of three
months' service and less than one
year, 43 cents an hour; those of one
year service or more, 45 cents an
hour.
That nine hours shall constitute a
day's work.
That members of the association
other than motorraen and conduc-tors
shall be paid the same per-centage
of increase as is granted to
motormen and conductors, the
working hours to be the same, and
all Sunday work to be paid for at
rate of time and a half.
That men assigned to operate one-man
cars receive one and one-half
times that amount paid to opera-tives'
of the regular two-man type
of car.
That the men shall have a choice
of runs at least two each year and
more often if conditions demand it.
; acquaint the consumer wtih the sell-reports
indicated the men were re- jng prjces Qf ^ manufacturer-turning
to work gradually as the
situation was explained to them,
though radical groups in some citie9 inR . 6 " . * ■-. . _....—. relief from excessive prices of every-were
refusing to go back
Confronted by the necessity of do-something
to give immediate
without
wage increases.
:tn IV...
I ?r1!t.. nselves.
and
thing that enters into the daily life
! of the general public official Wash-
* j ington, though thoughtful, consid-
WI1I be Criminally Prosecuted. ^^ and deliberative, is neverthe-
Washington, Aug. 7.—The gov- je8a in a state of feverish expect-ernment's
case against the five big anCy and uncertainty. Republicans
packers will be p:aced before the and Democrats alike are anxiously
federal grand jury which meets at awaiting developments. night at
by the Chicago three weeks hence. This jne time when all governmental
They have gone on ! mean8 that crlmrr.a: prosecution forces have been concentrated on
Big Crowd Expected.
Wilmington. Aug. 7.—Arrange-ments
have been made so far for the
accommodation of 1,000 persons
who are expected to attend the com-bined
convention of the good roads,
county commissioners and automo-bile
associations ot the state, at
Wrightsville Beach. August 13-15.
Applications tor reservations are
coming in daily and some estimate
the attendance will be 1.500, in-cluding
hundreds from nearby
counties who will motor to the city.
PROMINENT NEGRO PLEASED
WITH GOVERNOR'S ANSWER.
Raleigh, Aug. 7.—James H.
Young, prominent negro leader of
Raleigh, who has considerable fol-lowing
in the state, has personally
expressed his aproval of the answer
Governor Bickett sent to the Chi-cago
Herald-Examiner about the re-turn
of many negroes to the South.
Colonel Young says the governor
age and sale of surplus stocks in ' has hit the nail on the head in
'will be instituted.
'V,..
■ ■. i..
r"!>udiated the authority
''' rs at the very moment j
•''••'" Urging action* in re-' Fell lOO Feet to Death.
" l|s interests. | Eagle Pass. Texas.. Aug.
: r""tt3mber that a con- Lieutenant W. H. Tillisch,
yourself and the ! lington field. Houston, and E.
the high cost of living problem there,
'are injected into the situation com-! Served Her Right.
(plication ot far-reaching propor-j Wilmington. Aug. 7.—A white
1 tions. Demand on the part of the woman who aided and abetted her
of El- labor people for nationalization ot. 13-year-old girl to marry a nan 50
(j.!tha railroads is looked upon as a yeara of age, has been sent to the
private hands.
Rpoommendations Made.
General recommendations in-cluded:
Increase of production.
Careful buying by housewives.
Pair dealing with the people on
tli? part of producers, midd'.eine.i
and merchants.
That there be no threats and un-due
insistence upon the Interest of
a single class.
Correction of "many thing*" in
i lie relation b<;' ween capita' an 1 la-bor
in remotei to wages pa! condi-tion"
Pi ! •! ( r.
every phase of the n.essage sent th<>
Chicago paper.- He is a believer in
the South as the natural home for
| the negro man. and says that the
j members of his race who remain
; here, or return to the state, and fol-low
the line of work suggested by
the governor, or those suggested*"!)/
the late Booker T. Washington and
; his followers, will make more sub-stantial
progress than the race
could make in any other part of the
country, no matter what political
rights they may attain in these other
sections.
. Industrial equality. Young says.
' must be the stepping stones on whieh
In coi cl-iding the President made the race may hope to come into its
a plea for «'pllberate. tntelli.<>n. na-tion,
reminding Congress that an
unbalanced world was .looking to
the United States.
"We and we alone." he said,
now hold the world steady. Upon
own. and that can be better attained
in the Southern states where the
people, who has had several thou-sand
years start on the black race
in the pioneer work of civilisation,
really understand and sympathize
national ajree- day.
I
pendence, and that now is the time away to school.
lour steadfastness and self-posses- with the efforts of the negroes.
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^rfii.-.««i_»- - - MMMMM^^M