The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1934-08-17
GOVERNMENT CASTS
ANXIOUS EYE over
MANY LABOR FRONTS
Cotton Textile Workers Threat
to Strike Most Serious
Problem Now
PRICE RISE CAUSES STIR
Green's Statement That HIGHER
Wages Must Follow Ad-
vance Significant

vance Significant
washington, Aug. 17.-R)-The
threat Of q nationwide strike in COT
ton textiles found officials watching
the trend Of the cost OF living with
some concern Friday.
Some foresee possibility that II
living expenses continue to mount, a
wave Of strikes for higher pay might
conceivably result.
Wholesale commodity prices last
week reached their highest point since
March, 1881. Food prices were among
the leaders. When q workingman
sees his living costs going up, he
wants more pay to meet them-and
sometimes Is willing to strike for it.
That is q situation on which ad-
ministration officials dealing with la
Dor problems are keeping q close
watch.
They noted William Green's state
ment at the Atlantic City meeting of
the American Federation Of Labor
council that II the cost of living Is to
be affected, it is proper and just that
wages also be lifted to higher levels"
Textile Threat Chief Concern
Chief concern of Washington labor
officials Friday was the action taking
Thursday by the cotton textile work
ers calling for strike within the
next two weeks.
Thomas F. Mcmahon, reelected
Friday as president Of the United
Textile Workers of America, declar-
ed that only President Roosevelt could
avert general strike in the cotton
textile industry.
Mcmahon said:
President Roosevelt is the only
person in Gods green world who can
stop the general strike"
He said that under the mandate Of
the convention issues Thursday there
was no doubt of the strike being called
unless the president forces the lead
ers of the textile industry to sit down
at the conference table with repre-
sentatives Of the United Textile
Workers.
He added that General Hugh john
son, MIRA administrator, was mot
high enough up" to be able to do
anything about the strike"
Mcmahon made these statements
to newspaper men following his re-
election which was by reclamation.
OF General Johnson, he continued:
TN spirit Of courtesy only we
would thank General johnson for
anything he could debut the presi-
dent Of the United States is the only
man powerful enough to force the
Textile industry to meet U.s."
Mcmahon Contradlcts German
Mcmahon said that the cotton tex
tile employers had never recognized
the United Textile Workers as the
collective bargaining representative Of
their employees.
McMahon's statements followed
shortly the assertion by Francis ].
German, who was unanimously re-
elected first vice president Of the un-
ion, that the general strike ordered
on or before September might not
eventuate.
German interpreted the assertion
Of power by the conservative element
among the delegates in this mornings
elections as meaning that the strike
call might be employed only as po-
tential weapon with which to force
negotiations looking toward SETTLE
mellt of their complaints.
Il the cotton textile workers threat
to strike materializes it will be the
greatest walkout since the passage Of
the national industrial recovery act.
Half million persons work in the
cotton mills and quarter million Of
other textile plants. The union claims
q membership Of 100000.
Most Of the mills involved are In
New England and the south. Dele
gates from strike-torn Dixie, one Of
them SCARED and limping, led the
fight for the mandatory strike call.
Deadline September !
Only IL hours notice Of the strikes
actual start Is to be given employers,
but the headline" for the Walkout was
fixed as September l.
German said the unions major OBJ
jectives are: Better enforcement Of
minimum wage standards: Adjust
ment Of the "stretch-out," or giving
operators extra machines to watch.
Meantime, cast an anxious eye at
other sectors where labor disputes
are brewing.
A bus driver was hurt early Friday
In what Chicago police listed as the
first violence Of the union bus driv-
ers' strike. Ballbearings were hurled
into his bus, striking him.
No word was forthcoming about
federal efforts to settle the Aluminium
industry strike, centering ct Pitts
burgh, Pa, but from the same city
came defiance Of the national steel
labor board. John H. Meek, counsel
for the West Virginia Railway COM
pany said the firm would resist with
every legal means the boards order
for an employe election.
The labor relations board ordered
an employe election among Mime.
apolis' truck drivers, hoping determ.
nation Of representation would helr
settlement Of their strike.
! Continued On Page q