The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-06-14
Fair Enough

Idiots': Nots.-1h. Sta, and the News .eeep. NO
his readers M. articles serve the good purpose Of
BY WEsTBROOK PEGLER
NEW YORK.-There is a proposal in Con-
gress to pay $40 week to war production
workers during layoff, or reconversion period,
and additional grants for their dependents
Aside from the fact that a great many of
pay of their lives with multiple pay in many
families, and were presumed to be saving
portion of it in war bonds for the very pur-
pose of tiding them over the slack period
when production tapers off, there is another
important issue to consider. That is the in
justice OF rewarding the underserving along
with these who have worked faithfully and
we'll and the arbitrary equalization of ineoual-
ity
Probably the majority of these workers have
done as well as they could under the condi-
tons governing their effort. Lack of material
has, at times, retarded production and incom-
petent and even bad management have been
a drag. But there is absolutely no doubt that
many who would qualify for recognition and
reward out of the public Treasury and at the
future expense of good citizens including re-
turned fighting men, have earned nothing but
the contempt of the rest of the people. There
fore, in considering any such proposal, Con-
gress should take the muzzes off procurement
and selective service officers of the fighting
forces and let them tell the truth OF their ex-
periences with loafers and Slackers. They
could a tale unfold.
The recent sit-in strike of the Brewster Air
plane factory workers when the plant was
about to close. emphasizes particularly mean
case. The Navy, itself, made a mess of the
Brewster project and the management was
bad from the beginning. But, by some psyche
logical freak, this project attracted a large
aggregation of ostensible workers bitterly de-
scribed by an officer of one of the armed
services in highly uncomplmentary terms
When there was work to be o they
wouldn't work. When Navy flyers needed
planes they stalled their days away. loafing
gossiping smoking in the rest rooms whis-
thing out the windows, sleeping on the job and
striking over trivialities. The boss of their
union, calling himself De Lorenzo and vari-
GUS other Names defied the Army to draft
the bucks among the sordid buns of his loyal
personal following and got away with it be-
cause he making up the recommends
tons for deferments and presenting them to
selective service through the company's Of
hell and when one of the armed guards in
one of the plants, who, himself, had to belong
to De Lorenzo's union, reported bum for
spending seven hours in the gents room in
two days, the union suspended him for con-
duct unbecoming union man and kept him
idle indefinitely by the device of refusing to
hold trial of the charges.
The evil disposition personified by de Lo-
reno himself, infected others who were ex-
tremolV to info or;%
spread throughout the job, employing as many
as 10000 men and women at high wages
those who might have wanted to do decent
days work for reasons of personal dacency
were stopped. This was a rotten plant and
the record of the staff as a whole is a dis
grace, deserving not reward but reproach
The loafers even developed a grapevine to pass
the word from unit to unit when inspectors
dropped in so that the sleepers could be
reused and the loafers lolling the window
sills and on the floors against the walls could
have time to drag their weary frames erect
and make a pretense of backing up those
brave fighting lads to whom some of their
leaders talked so sentimental in their knocking
repetition of the celebrated mp strike
pledge of William Green and Phillip Murray
There is large, printed record of all the
evidence in this particular case for the guild
ance of Congress in deciding on any plan for
reconversion pay. Such plan would call for
selection and discrimination lest the Stacker
be rewarded like the best but justice demands
that the effort be made in all cases. If selec-
ton has been fair and feasible in picking men
to fight under the draft law the same system
should be used in this new process lest the
entimental word, Equality be invoked to
establish rule by which the worst share alike
with the best.
| Brewster is conspicuous and outra geous
case but it is not the only one
Who wants to reward the eight rubber COM
pany employees of Akron who were convicted
OF beating up worker who refused to reduce
his production? The Ohio Supreme Court has
told the story in affirming the convictions of
the eight on charges of assault and battery.
The Supreme court found that the victim was
taken from his machine hustled to parking
lot and beaten and kicked suffering among
other injuries, broken jaw
| Why did they do this, these men who would
now receive pensions for themselves and fanl-
lies for helping. the brave lads overseas to win
the war?
In the language Of the Supreme Court the
injured mans only offense was "a Whole-
day to facilitate the production OF war ma'er-
| ialS."
V
/ Russian newspapers continue to refer to tne
Nazis as .Hitlerites. far better tag, THINKS
Zadok Dumkopf would be 'Hitlerongs!
-V
| The barn swallow and the night hawk, az.
cording to Photographs, nest in Alaska ~
| x,yrfor IN o,1ov and Argentina. just COu-