The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1943-01-07
FACING
THE FACTS
With PHILIP PEARL

The first crack out of the box from
1.-THE new Congress will be another raid
ON labor and social welfare legislation
The newspapers are already beating
the drums for such a move and GER
ltainly there are enough labor haterS
and publicity-mad crackpots in Con
lgress to lead new charge.
Nevertheless, our major New Year
lprediction is that all such legislative
raids on the standards of American
workers will fail again, just as they
lhave in the past two years.
This is not an unfounded prediction,
based entirely on hope. We have de-
finite assurances that the very forces
on whom the labor-haters rely most
heavily for voting assistance will not
Support them. We mean, of course, the
newly reinforced Republican minori-
tiles.
Every overture by the reactionary
Southern Democrats to the Republi-
cans for the formation of an anti-labor
coalition in the new Congress has been
|repudiated by the most influential Re
publican Congressional leaders. Senate
Minority Leader McNary and House
Minority Leader Martin both have
spurned such invitations and have
made it clear that the Republican
Party does not intend to be pillOried
as an 'anti-labor" party to please any
ones game.
Labor On Its Toes
Just the same it behOOveS every
member of organized labor to be more
lon the alert than ever before during
this year to prevent the enactment of
dangerous Legislation which will not
|Only impair labor standards but en-
danger the war effort
The opposition is tricky. It will not
advance bills which are openly anti
labor. 1t will camoudage them with a
falsely patriotic veneer. 1t will pro-
pose measures supposedly intended to
increase production and cut prOduc-
|tiOn costs, but hidden behind these
|praiSeworthy motives will be the dag
|ger aimed at labor standards
The outstanding example of this
|clever strategy is the recurrence of the
|campaign against the 4O-hOur week.
Again an insidious attempt is being
made to fool the American people into
believing that the hours provisions of
the Fair Labor Standards Act are a
limit on working time in war indus
tries. OF course, there is no such thing
OF course, the law merely provides
that time-and-a-half overtime be paid
for hours in excess of 40 per week.
When this basic fallacy in their
campaign is exposed, the anti-labor
|propagandists immediately swi C n
their argument and contend that the
requirement of paying overtime forces
employers to reduce the maximum pos
sible dorking time because they cannot
afford extra labor costs. This argu
ment, too is viciously untrue. Empoly-
ers are not paying these extra costs
They are passing them on to the Gov
ernment.
At this point the labor-haters raise a
new outcry. They say the Government
is being buried in debt and the people
are being Overburdened with taxes
just because Of the extra overtime
costs in war production. Another lie
The increased production and lower
overhead made possible by longer
hours of operation cut the unit cost of
hn I,.t uh ny1l pn =
Of overtime.
Tell Your NeighbOrs
That just about demolishes the
propaganda against the 4O-hOur stand
ard-that, plus the fact that war pro-
duction plants are being operated
wherever possible much longer than 10
hours Il week.
But the fact remains that it is
easier to make charges than to answer
them; that laborS enemies command a
far greater control over press and
radio and other means of communica-
tiOn than the friends of labor, and that
many people who hear the charges and
begin to believe them never have an
opportunity of hearing the other side
of the case
Therefore, labor will have to re
double its own educational campaign
this year. 1t will have to be ready to
meet false propaganda with facts. 1t
will have to remain constantly ON
guard against new assaults.
Fortunately, those who administer
our Government and make its laws
realize that labor is making an amaz-
ing record in this war They know the
miracles of production American work
erS have wrought with their hands and
brains. They know the voluntary sacri-
fees and constructive leadership which
organized labor has eXerted to spur
the war effort. These facts will deter
our wiser lawmakers and legislators
from upsetting The applicant.
For that is all that anti-labor legiS-
lation at this time is likely to accom-
plish. 1t will not add single hour to
war production. 1t will not save the
Government Il dollar. 1t will only
cause resentment and inject turmoil
into the fairly smooth-running war
production program. 1t will not help
\ ~ ian, IN, a., Il.