The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1939-08-24
Fdcing the Facts
With PHILIP PEARL

to keep up with them.
From Atlantic City came the best
news in a long while. That is not only
our own characterization but also the
considered opinion Of the press and
public. We refer, of course, to the
far-reaching and progressive plan
adopted by the Executive Council of
the Building and Construction Trades
Department of the American Fedora
tion of Labor for banishing all juris-
dictional strikes in the construction
industry.
No greater step could be taken by
organized labor in the self-determina-
tion of it's own problems. Henceforth
it is provided that jurisdictional dis
putes will be settled without any in
terruption of work.
This step was hailed by the Execu-
tive Council of the American Fedora
tion of Labor, meeting in Atlantic
City, as a spur to construction activ-
ity and boon to labor, business and
the public alike. John Coyne, newly
elected President of the Building and
Construction Trades Department, de-
clared it automatically turned on the
green light on the road to recovery
Mayor La Guardia of New York City
said he was Immediately preparing to
rush twenty-five million dollars worth
of home construction.
Our hats are off to President Coyne
nd l. in ha mil nd
Construction Trades Department. Pres
ident Coyne certainly has started off
his administration auspiciously. More
power to him. He can count on all of
organized labor to help him.
The Boys Are Marching
Fifth Avenue on a hot Saturday
afternoon in New York is usually a
quiet place. All the shops are closed
Most of the crowds are away cooling
off at the beach. Traffic is light.
But not so last Saturday.
The greatest parade in labor's his
tory made Fifth Avenue echo with the
tramping feet Of labor's hosts and the
resounding cheers of 10000 working
men and women as they hailed the
President of the American Federation
of Labor, William Green.
President Green marched himself at
the head of the parade, all the way
from 18th to 55th streets and then
stood for hours under boiling sun on
the reviewing stand to salute the
happy ranks of shirtsleeved marchers.
There were bands, and floats and
flags and banners galore and celebri-
ties were forever having difficulty in
getting out of each others way, but
the thing that impressed us most was
the glowing face of President Green
as he stood there responding to the
tributes of his own people. To a man
who for so many years has been carry
ing the burdens and the problems of
American workers on his shoulders
through times of peace and times of
stress, this convincing demonstration
of loyalty must have lightened the
load and given him new inspiration to
carry on with undiminished vigor.
While we're on the subject of i'm
pressions, the public officials of New
York City and New York State must
have gone away from the parade with
pretty good idea of the strength and
the power and the spirit of the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor. No other
labor organization in the world, let
alone the United States, can show so
many workers in so many fields united
in a common cause.
A State Congress of Labor
A few days later, New York labor
demonstrated that it can not only
march but deliberate. The 10th an
nual convention of the New York
State Federation of Labor convened at
the Hotel Commodore with more than
800 delegates in attendance. 1t was
truly great State Congress of La
Dor.
In addressing this convention, Presi-
dent Green emphasized the fact that
the American Federation of Labor
stands for labor peace and unity. He
pointed to the repeated efforts made
by the Federation to avoid breach
and to its unceasing attempts since
the formation of the C. |. o. to bring
it back into the fold Of the A. F. of l..
Without hesitation, he placed full and
complete responsibility for failure to
achieve peace where it belongs-on
the leader of the c. |. o., John L..
Lewis.
Referring to Lewis recent pro-
nouncement that peace was "impossi-
BILE" and to his further move to raid
the building trades unions, President
Green asked the delegates directly:
"Will you red-blooded men and
women permit anything like that to
happen
The answer was a deafening "Now
1t seems to us that the public Of
ficials of this country who are friends
of labor and who earnestly and sin
cerely desire to see labor reunited in
the interests of progress should by
this time see the light. 1t is no longer
sufficient for them to issue pious ex-
pressions of their hope for peace. The
time has come when they must, even
if it is uncomfortable, take the re-
alities of the situation into account and