The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1942-07-31
FACING
THE -
FACTS
With PHILIP PEARL


They're off again! The gang that
is determined to lick labor first and
then, maybe, Hitler, has started put
ting on new pressure. This time it's
for a law-how touching is the faith
of those who think all ills can be cured
by law!-to freeze wages.
Again the hue and cry has been
taken up. Again the daily newspapers
are pontiicating about imitation. Again
the high-pressure radio columnists are
predicting doom.
1t started this time with the Ma
tional War Labor Boards decision in
the Little Steel case. The board
granted an increase of A cents day
in wages, as against the unions de-
mand for a dollar day. This deci
sion was wholly unsatisfactory to la
bor-both the A. F. of L. and the CIO.
For the board attempted to set up
formula for the settlement of future
wage disputes.
Now this formula is no good as far
as labor is concerned. 1t was agreed
to by the industry and public repre-
sentatives on the board but the labor
members dissented. Strangely enough,
the public press regards the formula
as victory for labor and dangerous
one at that.
The newspapers are worried not
about Little Steel but about other en-
ployers in America, for whom they
serve as public defenders. They fear
that if all other employers will have
to pay similar increases in wages,
profits will diminish. So, naturally,
they are screaming about imitation.
Labor Offers a Remedy
But the best guarantee against in
fiation has now been offered by labor
itself. The program submitted to Con-
gress and to President Roosevelt by
the American Federation of Labor is
a sure cure for initiation if it is faith
fully carried out.
For instance, the newspapers and
the employers assert that if more
money is put into the pockets of Amer
lean workmen in the form of wage
increases, this additional buying power
inevitably will result in imitation.
Now initiation is more dangerous to
poor worker than to millionaire.
AS President Green pointed out, the
millionaire stands to lose only part of
the value of his wealth from initiation,
whereas the worker may lose his bread
and butter, his health and even life
itself.
So to guard against such disastrous
imitation, the A. F. of L. program pro-
vides that in the future wage increases
shall be paid in whole or in part in the
form of war bonds-a special series
of bonds that could not be converted
into cash until after the war
This plan demolishes the argument
of the reactionaries that wage in
creases result in initiation, because it
will be impossible to spend the money
until after the war, when it will come
in handy as an offset to possible de-
fation.
But will the newspapers accept and
cheer the A. F. of L. plan? Not a
chance! For they are not worried as
much about initiation as about gains
for the workers. They are using the
imitation scare as another excuse to
shift the entire burdens of the war
on the backs of the workers. And
some public officials, including Leon
Henderson, are trying to cover up
their own deficiencies and mismanage-
ment by going along with the reac-
tionaries in making labor the scape-
goat.
Thumbs Down on Wage Freezing
Why doesn't labor accept the N. w.
L. B. formula, some may ask. Because
it is a tricky form of wage-freezing
1t ties the income of labor to the cost
of living as of a certain date and
freezes it there. Let US serve notice
here and now that labor will not stand
for any form of wage freezing by leg
islation or by government edict. AS
President Green says, this is a life
and death matter for the workers
| themselves and for the trade unions
that represent them.
Control of wages alone - whether
by siphoning pay increases into war
bonds or by any other means will
not of itself prevent imitation. In the
| first n1ann MANY nannla seem tn for