Evening star., 1943-05-02
First Class of Labor Leaders
To Leave Harvard This Month
District Man Amonq
14in AFL and CIO
Group Tokine Course
BY the Associated Press.

Group Tokine Course
By the Associated Press.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass, May L.
Harvard University graduates its
first class of labor leaders this
month, a new milestone in its long
history, with both the labor men and
their professors expressing the hope
that the experiment will find favor
with unions and universities
throughout the country.
Fourteen representatives from the
| American Federation Of Labor and
the Congress of Industrial Organ
izations came to Harvard last fall
on scholarships designed to return
them to their unions as better labor
leaders"
They came from Iowa, Ohio, New
York, Wisconsin, Massachusetts,,
Pennsylvania and the District of
Columbia. They represented unions
OF garment, hosiery, hat, cap, mil
linery, radio, machine, electrical,
woolen and worsted workers, paint
ers, GLACIERS and railway clerks.
(The District representative is
Joseph G. Mcintosh, SO, hydro
plant operator, who has been in
ternational representative of the
international Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers since 1899. Mr..
Mcintosh, native of Alabama,
was employed previously by the
Alabama Power Co., Birmingham.
His family lived in Arlington, Va,
but moved to Cambridge during
his course of study at HarvardD
The IA ate, lived and studied on
equal terms at the worlds richest
university with "the bosses SON." and
that, the labor fellows said, was a
whole education in itself.
AS one union man put it, with a
twinkle in his eye, Harvard stu
dents were better teachers than the
professors and books because they
gave us an insight into how poppa s
mind works"
Learned Others Viewpoint.
Good-natured joshing between the
labor fellows and students evidenced
friendly give nd-take spirit by
which each came to learn and re-
| spect the other fellows viewpoint,
he added.
When Harvard invited the unions
to join the experiment, it stipulated
that the unions should select the
men. and asked that selections be
based on general intelligence,
capacity for leadership and devotion
to the labor movement" rather than
past schooling The university said
it was not interested in training
union men who would "use the fell
lowship as stepping stone to leave
labor"
The result was group of men
whose educational backgrounds
ranged from leaving school at the
age OF IL to masters degree in law
The average age was 27la, the
Oldest was 80. All but one were
married. Harvard paid half the
tuition fee, with the other half
coming from the individual unions.
In varying amounts. the unions also
subsidized the living costs of their
representatives.
All OF the labor men said. how
ever, that they had made personal
financial sacrifices. In some cases
the wives went to work to support
their husbands through school.
Carried Heavy Schedule. =
From the instruction side. the pro-
fessors saw as a real compliment to
the union representatives, the fact
that, after being out of school for
years and with some of them lacking
even a high school education, they
could undertake a course of study
heavier than is carried by the aver
age university student and come out
with a scholastic record that COM
pared favorably with the boss son.
The labor men took three principal
courses, economic analysis" trade
union problems and policies" and
human problems of administra-
ton" They participated also in a
seminar on "the economics of col
lective bargaining" took six weeks
OF course on management con-
trolls" carried hefty burden of out
side reading and prepared a research
thesis on a topic of interest to the
individual and his union.
Weekly dinners and round d-table
discussions were held with top-pee
leaders from the industrial, business
educational and labor world. All
talk was strictly off the record, sc
that every one was free to take down
his hair.
A union laborer could shift his
cud of tobacco and ask, Yeah, but
what's this union educa ton business
got to do with me and the wife ano
kids?"
The answer should come from the
labor fellows and Prof. Sumner
Sclichter of the Harvard Business
School, Wisconsin liberal who has
taken an interest in labor problems
and who was a moving force in set.
ting up the Harvard labor fellowship
plan.
Union Man Gives Answer.
Frederick NJ Kelley, assistant sec.
retary and business agent. United
Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers of America stated:
THE answer to that question i
another question we trade union fel.
lows have asked ourselves many
times: will I bring more to the con.
ference table as a result of this
course?' I am convinced that, un.
J less am an utter and complete dull.
lard, must emerge at the end o1
the year with better tools of my
trade than when I entered"
Explaining the need for such
training, Prof. Slichter said there
are at least 100, 900 trade union ad-
ministrative officers in the United
States and the better trained these
executives are the better it will be
| For Information that is honest
| Reference that Is redl-
| Just ask your netghbor about
! L The Fxneral Home OF Deal.