The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1934-01-02
Pickets Pace Before Business
Establishments While
Merchants Protest
AFFECTS AUTO INDUSTRY
Michigan Metropolis Also Has
Staggering Financial
Mess to Overcome
This Is the first Of IL articels on
America Under the Blue Eagle"
By WILLIS THORNTON

by WILLIS 1HONNYON
Six months OF the recovery pro-
gram are history.
What have they done for America
and to her?
Just have returned from 5000
mile journey, taken with the sole pur-
pose OF getting answers to that ques-
ton.
stopped in q dozen key cities, talk
ed to literally hundreds of business
men. MIRA leaders, bankers, buns,
travelling statesmen. editors, labor
leaders. farmers. butchers. bakers and
candlestick makers.
Come along with me on that Jour-
ney. Let's see America under the
Plue Eagle.
First to Detroit, Michigan's great
,ity Of a million and a half people
m whose neighborhood are built SO
ner cent of Americas motor cars.
Detroit. Jan. 2 It is blustery
winter weather In this lake city,
but pickets walk YEARLY up and down
before q downtown restaurant.
You might see that In any big city.
But In Detroit you see 1t with a Diff
ference. A great sign is plastered over
the front of the restaurant. It Is the
employers answer. in the same me-
iium. to the signs carried by the
,,ickets.
these picketing racketecrs are
unknown to us. We have no
strike. These people never worked
for rs. could mot work for MS. They
are using the NRA emblem to
mislead the people,"
Struggle For Weeks
This petty little row would mean
nothing II 1t were not typical also of
many bigger employers In the Glib
braltar OF the open shop. But 1t is
typical.
Inside, the proprietor tells you in
iignantly. They are trying to union
lie us by torce!" So whenever the
rickets appear, out comes the proprie-
tors signs, or sometimes his own pick
cts.
When the picketers withdraw.
down comes the signs. One picketer
carries the legend: II worked for this
restaurant Q years, days week. l3
hours q day as Chef
Who is right? I can't tell.
The Compliance Board found no
NRA violation. The silent struggle
# rival pickets had gone on for eight
weeks when saw it. But business.
aCted. was fairly brisk inside the res
taurant.
It is this bitter struggle between
he open shop and collective bargain
irg that makes the NRA a particular
:<,oint Of friction in Detroit.
Clash Bitter Over Unions
The merchants like NRA, for their
business volume has increased. But
the motor manufacturers forced
through, until next September. extern
zion Of their merit clause" In the
auto code. which permits them to hire
and fire employees without regard to
lnion membership.
So the rumor and rumble Of labor
troubles hangs heavy over Detroit for
the new year.
And that Is unfortunate, for the
auto capital Is shooting the
works" on 1894. Municipally
bankrupt, haunted by : dreadful
banking mess, facing . staggering
relief program which even the
CWA Jobs have not ended, De-
troit simply must 90 well above
1888 auto production in 1884 or
face . crisis.
It Is . city where discussion Of
sound money" Is almost overshadow.
ed by the local problem Of sound
scrip" Scrip has even been counter
feited widely. Up to now, tax collec-
tons have kept scrip sound by re-
deeming it in money when due.
Crisis on Way
But by next July there may be $24,-
100000 In scrip outstanding-and the
haunting problem here is: will tax
collections enable the city to re-
deem It?
Nevertheless. you hear much talk
about money. Here Detroit has q de-
cided allegiance. It's business leaders
are naturally conservative, inclining to
o:d-fashioned sound money"
But with depreciation Of the dollar
abroad. Detroit awoke one morning ia
find signs Of life In its export trade
which was almost dead. And this city
manufactures more goods for export
tEan any other.
Business Gets Better
One by one, foreign markets like
Australia were finding that cheap
American dollars enabled them to buy
} American cars. Such companies rs
General Motors and Chrysler reported
big increases In foreign sales, and one
important auto producer sees an in
c. ease Of 40 per cent in export sales
Merchants, who had . Christmas
business Is per cent better than las1
years, also saw an increase in retail
trade coming across from the border
cities Of Canada because Of the nev
exchange rates.
SO Detroit hesitates, thinks ther,
L - a