Montana labor news., 1944-11-02

|SIUkY Vi SlDNEY
'HILLMAN DEBUNKS
G. 0. P. B0CYMAN
When u republican friends opened
up their campaign in Montana some of
their big gupns were leveled at Sidney
Hillman, chairman of the C. 1. o. Polit-
ical Action Committee. They tried to
start a communistic scare. It didn't
work so good because there are hundreds
of good citizens of Great Falls and other
cities VIII are members Of the G.. !. o.
The Tribune a fe wweeks ago published
the statement made before a congress
ional committee by Mrs. Hillman. This
committee did not find that anything
unlawful had been done. Indorsecent Of
the candidacy of President Roosevelt was
what alarmed the republicans. The Tri-
bune of course did not have much per-
sonal information in its library relating
to the family tree Of Mr.. Hillman. In its
issue of oct. Is the st. Louis Post-Dis-
patch has editorial comment upon the
subject. Following is the text of this edit
orial under the heading, who Sidney
Hillman Is"
The biggest, baddest wolf Of the presi-
Dental campaign is Sidney Hillman. To
hear the republicans tell it, the man is
equipped with horns and tail and he will
certainly ruin the country if the presi-
dent is reelected.
Head of Model Labor Union
Just who is Sidney Hillman anyway?
Sidney Hillman is an old familiar fig
ure in this country whose name and
career are well known to millions Of citi-
zens. We are not speaking of the Hill
man who has suddenly become the re-
publican party's bOdyman, but Of the real
flesh-and-blod Hillman.
Since 1915, Hillman has been presi-
dent of the -Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, often described as
the model labor union of the nation"
one Of the reasons for this title is that
Hiuman, now being described as an evil
and subversive force, is noted for CO.
operation with employers as well as con-
Germ for employees.
Many an employer in the garment
trade will testify that Hillman told the
exact truth when he defined his philoso-
ply as follows:
We cannot ask from industry more
than it can soundly afford to give.
/. A union may win a strike and find
that it has lost both the industry and the
union. We cannot defeat an industry
when we do that, we defeat ourselves.
Labor must be ndustry-concious.
Under Hillman's leadership, the Am
algamated has done some amazing things
If a garment manufacture in Newark
or Birmingham or st. Louis appears to
be losing business because his goods no
longer please the public, it has been the
custom of Hillman's union to send a
squad of expert style designers to i'm
prove the product. OF course, Hillman's
primary interest is to preserve jobs, but
the effect of this policy has been to pro
teot capital, too. The style designers
and other union experts hav often thus
production techniques, to increase vol
cooperated with employers to improve
ume and prfit, to reduce overhead anc
to modernize styles. Hillman's union
has even lent money to manufactures ir
order to keep them in business.
Hillman a Banker, Too
For this man painted by the republi-
cans as something dangerous to the re-
public is a banker, too. His union or
eanized banks in New York and Chicago
in 1922. They are good banks. They
came soundly through the depression
because of their conservative policies.
And this labor leader, this friend O.
garment manufactures in distress, thi
banker. is also in the insurance business
His union pioneered in unemployment
insurance, and has paid out a smuch a
a million dollars a year in bad times.
Hillman, they say, is of foreign birth
Well, that awful indictment is true. HI
was born in Lithuania in 1887, and camt
to this country at the age of 20. 1t
, Gen. William Knudsen, appointed will
Hillman to head the OPM, is also Of for.
eign birth. He was born in Denmark il
1879. What Of it, in either case?
Millions Of Americans are of foreigi
birth. AS the president said recently
I'VE are all descended from immigrants
all except the American Indians" Ant
there is doubt among an~thropologist
that ever the Indians are an exception
Since when, in the United State, is it
sin to be of foreign birth?
The all-time low in the chatter b o
Hillman is the reference to hsi rabbinica
education. This is a cheap appeal t
anti semitimism. Hillman is proud q
, that education. He tells Of it in hi
sketch in Who's Who in America.
It is said of Hillman, too that he wa
a revolutionary in Russia. Sure he wa
He agitated against the despotism Of tn
car. as did millions Of other brave me-
He appealed for a 10-hour day for Rus
sian workmen. For this, he was sent t
Z Jail. How many Of his present detract
/ ors would have the CUTS to go to jail &c
Z an ideal?
i Communists Oppose Hillman
! Is Hillman a radical, a communit part
! member, a fellow-traveler? AS a mai
I ter of fact, he has been attacked mol
3 savagely by the communists in the pa
years than by republican speakers in tn
campaign. They have called him a "ls
bor-faker' and other choice names. Hill
: man for years fought communist inf
tration of the Amalgamated and the
4 n M oil thir 1nas fnrgntten becalls