davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04
Why We Must Cut Prices, Boost Wages
Thot's the Best Way TO Sustain Buying Power
ond Assure Generous Prosperity to All Glasses

James G. Rogers, Jr, deputy administrator, Office Of Price Admin
New York a few days ago said:
After the wr reduced production costs resulting from increased
efficiency must be handed on to the consumer in the form of lower
prices and to the worker in the form of higher wages"
Reduce prices and increase wages! That's impossible" some may
exclaim, but it is as sane rs anything any public official has uttered
during all the discussion of our postwar problems.
Everyone can see that the productivity of American workers is
increasing by leaps and bounds If employers attempt to reap all the
benefit, we are pretty sure to run into a depression, much broader and
deeper than any we have heretofore experienced,
That will be because the masses of our people will lack the buying
power to purchase the output of our factories, mines and other indus
trial establishments. Once buying power is shut off, the most selfish
of employers will find it impossible to keep his head above the water
for any length of time.
Even the government experts who chung 81 tenaciously to the
now thoroughly discredited Little Steel Formula arc willing to
concede that the hourly rate of wages for American workers must be
sharply increased as soon IS war contracts begin to rn out. If that is
not done, it is obvious that the workers carry home" wages will be
greatly reduced because the worker will no longer have a chance to
earn overtime. Only an increase in the hourly o r daily rate a com
pensate for this loss.
But If profteers arc permitted to run wild and to boost prices like
so many bushes men are doing right now, the worker will not benefit
from any increase in wages he may be able to secure. Such increases
will be taken from him by the profiteer in the form @ increased prices.
- Labor.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04
100000 STILL GET LESS
THAN 4Oc AN HOUR

Althoug am minimum wage of
40 cents an hour has been estab-
lished for all the 2 1000, 600 work
ers protected by the Fair Labor
Standard Act, over 1000, 900 of the
workers outside it's protection still
r paid less than 40 cents an hour,
L. Metcalfe Walling, Administrator
of the Wage and Hour and Public
Contracts Division, said recently
in a Labor Day statement.
Actually, there are more work
ers without its protection than are
covered by the Act" Mr.. Walling
said. Parallel state legislation is
needed to provide a similar bull
Wark against postwar wage slash
ing, deflation and consequent UNI
employment. Here is an opportun-
ity for those who advocate state,
rather than Federal, action to de-
monstrate the sincerity of their
stand."-U. S. Department of La
Dor.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04

ain vicious people. He is our
friend"
Possibly one ource of this rap
port between the Franco govern
ment and Churchill arises from
the fact that British industrialists
have wide holdings in Spain. The
British owned and controlled Bar
cellona Traction, Light and Power
Co. earned a 300% profit last year.
According to the Wall Street Jour
nal, the utility company showed
an income for the year 1943 of
$14, 644 ,096 as against expenditures
of 81, 1864, 687. This leaves a net
balance of So, 779409.
The investment profit for last
year was transferred to the earn
ed surplus of the company, which
row amount to Sd, 1908, 675.
The ownership of the company,
according to the American hives
tors Annual, is 91% British, 81
Dutch and 80 American. The
company has no Spanish investors.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04

our entire history. 1t provides for
unemployment insurance, educa-
ton, industrial training and re-
training and, finally, assistance in
finding jobs. Everyone agrees that
the returning soldiers and sailors
should have every possible break.
They will get it.
Next como the great industrial
corporations. Every care has been
exercised to give them all the
breaks. The tax refund, the easy
and quick sale. Of surplus property,
the rapid pulling Of the govern
ment out Of business, the generous
arrangements for contract termina-
ton - these and other similar
provisions make of the big bust
nessmen our most pampered class.
But that is about the end of the
tale SO far as pampering and care
and help r concerned. Some pro
visions have been slipped in here
and there to support farm prices.
But these will benefit exclusively
the big farmers and the food pro
cessors. The little farmers will get
precious little help. And as for
the workers-they are placed en-
tirely on their own.
There we have it. Some are
helped. Others are not. And those
least cared for-those left out in
the cold-are the Wage-Workers.
What are we to think of the ex.
ponents of free enterprise and in
dividual initiativ& When they
take tender a r of certain class
is it possible that they have no
fear at all. of weakening their
fiber and turning them into vassals
Of a bureaucracy?-From The New
Leader.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04
PROFITS
AND FRANCO
By Bernard Johnpoll

The Spanish Fascists have Chur-
chill to thank for remaining in
power.
This statement does not come
from a Socialist or liberal organ.
If emanates from the Spanish F'al-
ange itself.
The Falanga de Oviedo, official
newspaper Of Spain's totalitarian
party in an editorial in its August
18th issue, just arrived in the
United States, said, "The question
of who will win in Europe is not
a material matter to Spain. Our
Red (meaning republican, friends,
who we know to be secretly plot
ting for a revolt against our lead
er, believe Churchill and Roosevelt
will Gust Generalissimo Franco.
But they have another guess com
ing.
"The British and American gov
ernments will do business with us
and will back our government.
THEY ARE NO MORE PRO-RED
(democratic) than we: Mr.. Church
i'll has called our enemies in Brit
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04
Can't Regulate Man.Eating Tigers

"Cartels" Note that word. You will be constantly running into it
from now on. 1t means a contract or agreement between big business
men of two n more countries to limit output, raise prices and soak
the public wherever possible.
The printed stories of a hundred hearings show that men who form
International cartels honor no flag and never permit the interest of any
country to interfere with their profits.
A writer in a Washington paper suggests that this administration
has decided that instead of outlawing cartels, it will undertake to
regulate them. Nothing could be more futile.
n might as well talk about regulating" a man-eating tiger.
If cartes ar permitted to develop, they will have 81 much money and
influence they will regulate the regulators in a very short time.
When a business becomes so big and strong that it is a monopoly,
1T should be taken over and operated by the government and all chance
OF private profit eliminated. A better way is to see that cartels and
trusts are not permitted to secure a foothold-natonaly OF interna-
tionally-Labor.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04
CONFESSION

When the late "Gabe' Bouck was
representative from the Oshkosh
district, Wisconsin, a pension bill
came up before the House to his
great vexation. While his personal
convictions were directly opposed
to it, his political interests were
strong enough in the opposite di-
rection to whip him into line.
On the day the bill came up for
final disposition, a fellow member
met Bouck in the space behind the
last row seats, walking back and
forth and gesticulating excitedly to
the accompaniment of explosives
which would hardly look good in
print.
Whats the trouble, Gabe?" in
CURED his friend. "Why all this ex-
citement?"
"Trouble?" snorted the irate
lawmaker. Trouble enoughl That
pension bill is up, and all the CO.
wardly nincompoops in the House
are going to vote for it. It is sure
to pass-sure to pass"
But why don't you get the floor
and speak against it--try to stop
it," suggested the other.
TRY to stop it?" echoed Bouck.
"Try to stop it? Why Pm one of
the cowardly nincompoops my
self" From the Wall Street
Journal.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04
Free Enterprise
For Whom?

In Congress the bipartisan wing
is riding high. It's leaders con
stantly echo the Dewey song of
free enterprise. Americans are
never, never to be slaves of the
bureaucrats. Their moral fiber is
not to be weakened by WPA hand
outs. They want no doles and no
directives. Each one is to be left
structly alone to grow rich as the
result of his own lusty efforts.
Free enterprise-but
Returning soldiers are proper
ly--to get every sort of break.
Great corporations are to have
every sort of help.
Big farmers and food professors
get price support, small farmers
get big troubles.
Little businessmen get kind
words.
And
Wage-Workers are allotted all the
advantage to being left on their
own.
This is the upshot of a whole
network of laws which will set our
course for years to come. The
measures passed and soon to be
passed r complicated, detailed
and carefully thought out. Any
one who lays them end to end can
easily figure out their general
direction.
The sponsors of these measures
sing both high and low Of indivi-
dual initiative, but the ony group
of citizens who are not to be pam
pered with public help are wage
workers and working farmers.
What goes on here? If the free
enterprise believe what they say,
this in the nature of a compliment,
a favor, an advantage. If they
don't believe their own words, ii
is a slight, an insult, a handicap.
Congress has adopted or is about
to adopt measures dealing with
termination of war contracts, dis
posal of what is called surplus
property and rehabilitation both
civil and military. These measures
affect millions of men and many
billions of dollars worth of prop
erty. A clearly defined principle
or perhaps it is a prejudice-runs
through the whole network.
We start with the veterans. Out
of the whole lot the only law that
we all support is the G.. /. Bill OF
rights. 1t is the best measure OF
the sort which we have adopted in
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04
END LITTLE STEEL
TO BOOST BUYING,
AFL MONTHLY URGES
Wants Overtime Pay Continued
When Work Is On 40HOur Base

When Work Is On 40Hour Base
WASHINGTON (FP). - To off
set a $12 billion drop in workers
buying power through return to a
40-hour week and loss of overtime,
wage rates must be raised now, the
AFL Monthly survay stated Sept.
II. 1t called for an end to the
Little Steel formula to increase
postwar buying power.
eve anticipate that unles wage
rates are raised now, workers
buying power will be 1871 to 20%
below the amount needed to sup
port full employment and full pro-
duction,' the Survey said. "Unless
there is enough buying power in
the hands of the public to create
a demand for full production, there
will not be enough jobs for all
after the war"
The survey showed that Amer
lean workers buy three quarters
of all the consumer goods and
services produced by American
industry.
The Little Steel" formula has
frozen wage rates at $50 above
January, 1941, while figures show
living costs are 28% higher, it
said. Unless wage rates are raised
now, buying power will fall short
of the amount necessary to support
full production and employment"
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04
SECRET OF

Trying to bring home to his
audience the evils of drink, the
speaker was telling them how his
own life had been influenced by
total abstinence.
Three years ago." he said
proudly, there were two men in
my office holding positions super
ior to mine. One was dismissed for
drunkenness; the other was led in
to crime, and is now serving a term
in prison, all through strong drink.
So / am now head of my depart
ment. I ask you" he wound up,
what has raised me to my present
position?"
Drink" came the unexpectedly
reply from the back of the hall.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04

The American Trucking Association is running large newspaper
ads in a n effort to enlist public support against conflicting State laws
and regulations affecting highway transportation. The ads, for instance,
cite laws in one State which Limit loads to $1,000 pounds, while the
limit tin the neighboring State is 5000 pounds. For a truck line travel
ing IN a highway through the two States-"the same highway, the
roadbed and construction" says the ad-ths means re1oading, or
re-routing, o II not operating at ALL Hundreds of such conflicting regua-l
lions on loads, insurance, licenses, operating fees, mileage fees
complete the confusion, and all of this, says the Association, adds to the
operating expense and boosts the price of everything we buy.
We suppose that any attempt to force the adoption of uniform laws
and regulations by States would be hollered down as a violation of
State rights" but w hope the Association will not let that deter it
Brewery Worker.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04
THREE, PLEASE

Three slightly deaf men were
motoring from the north to Lon
don in an old, noisy car, and hear
ing was difficult. AS they were
nearing the city, IN asked:
ut this Wembly?"
NO" replied the second, "this
is Thursday
so am l." put in the third,
lets stop and have one"
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04
IN THE WIND
From THE NATION

We have it from one who is in
a position to know that several
Republican bigwigs went to Daryl
Zanuck during the filming of
Wilson and offered to make
difficulties unless it were suppress
sed. Zanuck told them he was per-
fectly willing to suppress it, be-
cause he had a better idea for a
movie anyhoW-the life and times
of Warren G.. Harding. That ended
the argument.
In the midst of a war against
Nazism, Clifton D. Gray, president
of Bates College, Lewiston, Maine,
has sent to educational agencies
throughout the country a letter
advising them of a vacancy in his
faculty, containing this sentence:
The situation makes it necessary
for III to consider only those can
didates who have utilization with
some branch of the Protestant
church, That seems to be the chief
qualification. Some teaching ex-
perience is desirable but appar-
emily not essential.
A reliable source in the book
publishing field informs us that
an effort was made to have Carl
GARNER write the official bio
graphy of Thomas E. Dewey, which
has just appeared under the Nc
GraW-Hill imprint, the idea being
that then it could be presented as
"a great piece of Americana"
rather than as a campaign docu-
ment. GARNER, who knows his
Americana, wasn't interested.
The forthnightly News Com
ment' of Canada's Cooperative
Commonwealth Federation sums
up the past session of the Canadian
Parliament as follows: "a small
group of c. c. F., about one-fift-
zenith of the Liberal membership,
but backed by an ever-growing
popular opinion, was able to force
the government to adopt social
legislation, some of which has been
in the Liberal platform for a
quarter-century 49,. The evidence
is incontrovertible that it has
reached the statute book because
the Liberals felt that it offered
their only al of stemming the
rising tide of c. c. F. support
History may we'll record that no.
party -. ever accomplished so.
much before actually assuming
power"
Tom Y. Chan, a leader of the
Chinese community in Chicago and
a member Of the committee that
sold o than $4,000, 900 in war
bonds during the Fifth War Loan
drive in Chinatown, died recently.
He expressed a wish to be buried
in Rosehill Cemetery near his first
WiIC, VIM Wdo Jul lCd CllCIC LWcIIby-
four years ago. Cemetery officials
said no. For the past twenty years
they have catered to a restricted
clientele.
Festung Europa: The Slovakian
Nazi paper "Gardista'' warns that
an Allied victory would mean that
the country would return to sense
less equal suffrage and to the un-
natural dogma of equality"
This want ad slipped past the CEN
0 into a Copenhagen newspaper:
Apartment of three rooms and
bath wanted at end of war, no
later than October L."
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04
STOPPED

He: Whatever became of those
old-fashioned gals who tainted
when a boy kissed them?"
She: HUH Whatever became of
the old-fashioned boy who made
them faint?"
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04
A LIBEL IN KANSAS

Out in Crawford County, Kans.,
a m wrote to the ration board
for extra gasoline which she need
ed because she was "teching skoll."
But the board turned down the
request, deciding If she were a
"skoll techer", she shouldn't be.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04
TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

rs this the pugilist who was run
into by a motorist?" asked the
house surgeon.
mo; he's the motorist who ran
into the pugilist."
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04

Young persons are creatures of
impulse, old persons are creatures
Of habit.-G. B. Cheever.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-10-04

Health is the greatest of all pos
sessions; a pale cobbled is better
than q sick king.-Bickerstaff.
Dirva = Field. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1915-current, 1944-08-11
NuO RedakciiOs.

Nuo Redakcijos. Sekanti aprasy-
mai bus is pereito Pasaulinio Karo Lie
tuviu zygiu uz savo Sales nepriklauso-
n1ybe ir tautos laisve. Tie ivykiai de-
JOSH prizes 25 metus ir taip pat 1919 me-
tais lygiai 25 metal atgal nuo siu dienu.
Daugiausia cia bus nusvieciama ivykiai
jau paciu Lietuviu atlikti ir pergyven-
ii savoje nepriklausomoje salyje, kuri
dar buvo tampoma tarp Rusu, Lenku ir
Bermontininku. Temikite, tai bus ap-
rasymai ivykiu kovai uz apgynima Lie
tuvos kada j jau buvo paskelbta nepri-
Neapimsime cia nei Nepriklausomy
bes skelbimo Vasario 16-tos akto, nei
kitu priespradiniu, tiktai laikus kuomet
Lietuva jau buvo savistove, parodymui
ka j dar pergyveno Xxi sayo nepriklau-
somybe apgyne nuo tu paciu kaimynu
kurie ir siadien tyko Lietuva pavergti,
Vokietija sumusus. Vokieciu okupaci-
jos ir per ana kara ir dabar buvo tik
pereinami laikotarpiai ir kaip dabar
taip ir ana karta nesudare Lietuvos uz
valdvmo ir pavergimo pavojaus.
Sic padavimai yra surinkti Petro
Rusecko ir isspausdinti "SAVANOR1Q
zYGIUOSE" II tome.
Kadangi aprasymas apima jums IL
nomas vietas, gal but ir pazystamus
zmones, Sis skaitymas jums bus labai
prie Strides, todel patariame iStisai SEX
ii kiekviena Dirvos numeri.
Dirva = Field. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1915-current, 1944-08-11

karta pasake:
= Verksiu, verksiu ir verksiu! Bet
tu mano asaru nematysi. Jas tematys tik
keturios sienos.
Mamyte ypac gasdino isklerusios mo-
terys ir subobeje vyrai. Esa, ka tie Lie
tuviai padarysia! Juos Vokieciai ir boil
sevikai issaudysia arba pakarsia, nes ne
turi nei ginklu, nei nieko. Tx tevukas
nepaise tokiu kalbu.
- Jeigu musu vaikas neis, taip pat
neis Lietuvos ginti ir kiti tai kas ja, varg-
Sc, uzstos? - tare jis. - Turf kas nors
Prasidejo visoje Lietuvoje komitetu
rinkimai. Buvo renkamas ir musu vals-
Claus komitetus. State kandidatus. Pri-
eina prie names viena moterele ir sake
kad ir as statyciau save kandidatus.
- Aciu, aciu, tetulyt, bet negaliu, -
padekojau. - AS pasiruoSes vaziuoti ka-
riuomene.
= ! kokia? - nepaprastai nustebus
klausia stora zemaite
i Lietuvos, Vilniu.
Moterele dar labiau nustebo ir valan-
delei nutilo. Paskui pradejo kalbeti. il,
pasirodo, tikisi kad atvaziuosianti Ame-
rikos kariuomene ir Lietuva apginsianti, O
Lietuviams tik vieno tereikia - iSsirinkti
valseiu komtetus ir laukti Americas ka-
riuomenes ateinant. Moterele netikejo
mano zodziais kad patys Lietuviai galetu
isteigti savo kariuomene ir apsiginti. Ia
rus kad as tik bereikalo be Americas ka-
riuomenes zusias, gailestingai palingavo
galva ir nuejo.
Tokia musu kaimieciu nuomone teko
girdeti ir kitur. IS ekur plito tie gandai
kad Americas kariuomene atvyksianti
Lietuva, nezinau. Bet, apskritai, tuomet
daugelyje Lietuviu buvo jauciamas liur-
biskas savo jiegomis nepasitikejimas. Tat
NUNS labai pakenke Nepriklausomybes
kovu nletu.
Seka: KLEBONO PALAIMINIMAS.
Dirva = Field. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1915-current, 1944-08-11
PESTININKAI
NUO VAIKO SVAJONIU PRIZE SAVA-
NORIO ZYGIU
Senp zmcnip pasakojimai bel pranasingi
regejimai

- Vaikai, jus dar galite sulaukti tu
laiku kada vel bus Zemaiciu karalius ir
ZemaitiSka kariuomene! - Sitaip karta
baige pasakoti mano tevukas apie pilla-
kalniuose uzkeiktas Lietuviu If Zemaiclu
kariuomenes. - Tos kariuomenes kelsls
ir atvaduos is Maskoliu jungo Lietuva ir
Zemaitija.
Tevykas. motute ir kiti senukai daug
pripasakodavo apie uzkeiktas Lietuviu
kariuomenes, tunancias uzsidariusias kali
nuose. Tai, ziurek, Velykoms gaidi be-
piaunant, Sis iStrukes, toll beges, ir PRIDE
ges prie Dubysos piliakalnio, ismukes j
If dinges Besivejanti gaidi moteris pa
macius ten daug pasiruosusios zygiuoti
kariuomenes, kuri pasakius kad laukianti
valandos kada reikes jai iSeiti prizes Mas
kolius
Arba stai, Velyku ryta, Pasiauses uki-
ninkui pasirode kad is tvarto suoliais IS
trukes jo arklys ir nubeges tiesiog bu-
vnsio PaSiauSes vienuolyno vietove. Ten
arklys dinges. Tx buve girdeti pozemyje
vienuoliu giesmes, kad netrukus vel cry
sianti senove il busia atstatyta viskas ka
Maskoliai yra sugriove. Ukininkas, cry
zes namon, RADIO savo arNi tvarte. Tai
buve tik pranasingas regejimas.
)duSldItSld pIlpdSdkOudVO dple uL-
keiktas karalaites, kurios prisisapnuoda-
vusios seniems kareiviams ir prasydavu-
sios ju isgelbeti. W tai jos zadedavusios
tapti ju zmonomis ir atiduoti valdyti ze-
maiciu krasta. Ir daugybe panasiu pasa-
ky pripasakodavo, kurios daugiausia bu-
vo susijusios SUI Velykomis. Liaudis su-
siedavo savo svajones bel tautos atgijimo
lukesti SUI prisikelimo Svente.
- zemaiciu kunigaiksciai per Divide
simts penkis varstus ugnimi nupustyda-
vo, ir joke priesai negaledavo prie ju pri-
eiti, - daznai sakydavo tevukas apie Ze-
maiciu kunigaikscius. - O kai zemai-
CLANS budavo blogai, jie pradedavo prie
savo dievo Perkuno melstis. Perkunas
stodavo zemaieiams pagalba ir priesus
iSmusdavo.
Uzburtai kariuomenei besikeliant
Manyje, tuomet dar kokiu 7-1O metu
vaiko mintyse, kildavo senoves pasiilgi-
mas, meile senoves dievams, ir tikejau kad
Lietuva bus nepriklausoma.
Liaudies pasakos ne tik vaikams SUI
keldavo svajoniu, bet ir patti liaudis, is lu-
pu j lupas jas kartodama, gaivino savyje
Wilt kad Lietuva atgysianti ir busianti
nepriklausoma. Esa kelsis "uzkeikta" Lie
tuviu kariuomene ir isvaduos Lietuva.