The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1927-10-08
LABOR FARLEY
TAKES STRIKING
STEPS ON ISSUES
Tone of Conventions First
Week Is Conservative;
Big Problems Wait.
BY DAN CAMPBELL

Onltcu TEcSS OtdH Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 8-Marked
by significant action on problems of
national and international scope, the
first week of the forty-seventh an
nual convention of the American
Federation of Labor drew to q close
here today with the termination of
business sessions still indefinite.
A plea for a new wage policy
based on the productivity of the
American worker; action favoring
removal of all discrimination against
the Negro race and an attack upon
jurisdictional disputes as the great
est foe of organized Labor were the
highlights of week of intense &C
tivity.
Many Questions, Remain
While more than ten resolutins
havel been acted upon >favorably
ninety-seven yet remained to be
brought to the convention floor.
Among them were many of the
most important problems, including
the Boulder Dam question, inter-
vention in Nicaragua and China
and the solution of the Mexican i'm
migration dispute.
Although the tone of the conven-
ton has been for the most part
conservative, the strong denuncia-
ton of communism by President
William A. Green and the proposal
that wages be increased on the basis
of the production ability of the
worker, lent sensational aspects to
the conclave.
An address by John P. Frey Of
Cincinnati, secretary of the metal
trades department of the Fedora
ton, launched national movement
for increased wages for organized
workers demanded increased pay
on increased production"
The new basis which is expected
to give labor for the first time a
reliable rule of measurement by
which it may discover a reasonable
wage demand, is looked upon as the
forerunner of important action.
F'rey's address indicated that la
boris first need was a statistical bu-
reau through which the worker
would gather his own facts concern
ing productivity and make his own
interpretations of the statistics COM
piled.
His proposal was also interpreted
to indicate that the time is not re-
mote when labor will demand to see
the ledgers of capital that it may
force increases in wages proportion
ate to the increases in production.
Consider Davis Plan
The suggestion of Secretary of
Labor James j. Davis in an address
before the convention, that jurisdic-
tional controversies be settled
through central organization of
all trade unions, created for that
purpose, has caused a startling re-
action among the delegates.
Following the address by Davis,
the convention sympathies turned
toward dissolution of the Fedora
TONS national board of jurisdiction
al awards of department disputes on
labor, and the problem has grown
increasingly serious.
In his address, Davis declared that
jurisdictional disputes had, more
than any other element, tended to
divide employer and worker and
further that it was the greatest
obstacle in the way of collective bar
gaining.
While some officials of the Fed
GRAFTON were reported to be definite
ly opposed to bringing the matter of
forming such central organization
to the floor, others were said to
favor the idea.
Resolutions now pending before
the convention demanding the Gov
eminent exercise a more strict en-
forcement of immigration laws as
applied to entry into this country
from Mexico, may be shelved as a
result Of Mexican labor's PROPOSE
ton to assist in the solution of the
problem.