The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1938-07-07
Potters Prdised
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Potters Prdised
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on over the radio in the larger cities
of our country. The exhibit of your
organization put on at the American
Federation of Labor Union Label and
Industrial Exhibition is especially
worthy of repetition in the larger
cities of the East and West. The pot
terry exhibit, to my mind, was the out
standing feature of that exhibit. There
are many thousands of Americans
who, as result of what they saw in
your exhibit, know, for the first time,
how the tableware which they use is
made
Your organization, after lot Of
persistent pressure, finally had the
government, through the findings OF
the Department of Labor under the
Walsh Healy Act, set forth your mini
mum wage as the minimum wage to
be paid to all pottery workers engaged
in producing articles for use by the
government. This action will elimin-
ate some of the unfair domestic COM
petition you have had to contend with.
Some of the non-union manufacturers
who have been paying some of their
workers ten and fifteen cents an hour
less than your minimum wage, must
either pay their workers more or are
now prevented from seeking govern
ment work.
Despite your activities, and some Of
the results | have just referred to, if
you wish to retain your job opportuni-
ties. as |. know you do, you must make
up your mind to virtually fight to dc
so.
There is no other labor organiza-
ton in our country which must face
the unfair foreign competition you do
When government figures show, after
an exhaustive investigation, that some
$3.50 of all pottery purchased in the
United States each year is the product
of foreign workers, and, that $50 OF
these foreign made articles come from
the slave wage paid workers of Japan
you would be justified in expecting
that our government officials would
be concerned and try to help those
, American workers who have, through
such imports of foreign made pottery
articles, been deprived of job oppor-
tunities which, as Americans, are
rightfully theirs.
Yet, in the face of these known
facts, we find our State Department
officials seeking to lower the little
tariff protection you now have in or
der that additional foreign made pot
terry articles can be more easily de-
livered into the American market. You
: are justified in asking, are these gov
ernment officials really thinking OF
the millions of our own people, unable
to secure any employment and de
pendent upon the Relief Rolls, or, dc
they realize what they are doing?
In answer, | am compelled to sa!
that you do not appreciate the influ
ence of the International Bankers, wht
profit through the purchase and SALE
4 of credits, the influence of the Auto
: mobile Manufacturers, the influence
S of the Gamers, the influence of th'
r Office Appliance Makers, or, of th'
f large Cotton Brokers, all of whom arr
seemingly more interested in exports
which normally account for less thai
ten per cent of our commerce, thai
they are with what happens to th
other 80 per cent carried on who'll.
= within the United States.
/ The Inconsistency of our Public of
k ficials, yes, their confessed ignoranc
: is shown by their reference to wha
t they term our present small imports
i Is it possible that they do not know
r that every large foreign nation, yes
: the small nations as we'll as utilizing
e to the fullest these manpower for tn
S production of war munitions for wha
= they allege is self defense. Of course
S they do.
e However, these bankers and the in
e dustrialists | have referred to ar
& seemingly more concerned with dolla
d profits than they are as to whethe
y or not you have a job or you are de
pendent on the w. P. A.
Years ago, to protect the job op
portunities of our American workers
It Congress enacted an Asiatic Exclusio
o Law. In other words we denied entr
IS into the United States of all Asiatics
II which includes those of Japan. Latel
e we enacted laws restricting the entr
II into the United States of immigrant
J. from other countries. No public off
> cial of national standing, especially i
J. recent years, has made even the sue
Is gestion that the Asiatic EAclus.on La,
or the Restrictive Immigration La