davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11
When Bruss Hats Plan To Control

We have made it clear on a number of occasions that w ar salts
fled to permit men trained in military matters to run the war. How
ever, W are equally strong in on conviction that military cliques
should not be permitted to become the rulers Of or civil government
This is not to say that a man o woman surrenders any Of the
rights OF citizenship when donning a military uniform. But it is to say
that the liberties of the people are menaced when military groups gang
Up to impose undemocratic controls upon the entire nation.
Two cases can illustrate the point we have raised here. One is the
agitation for permanent peaceIine CONSUMPTION and universal military
training. We think highranking military people would show better
taste by keeping out of the controversy that has been provoked by the
suggestion OF such a way of life for future Americans. It ii too easy
and too logical-to observe that miitarists want a large standing army
mor eto Keep their rank and feather their own nests than to safeguard
democracy and advance the interests OF mankind.
The other example of what we consider bad taste-or Worse-s
the manner IN which some Brass Hats n driving for a national work
Oh jail law. We are opposed to a labor draft, and will be opposed for
1t least so long as the proposal is to draft workers to serve in private
industry for private profit.
However, recent developments justify at least a strong suspicion
that the Influence of miitarists with a yen for al American brano OF
ascisn has been used to fake a labor shortage and thus give justnica-
ton to the demand that Americans submit to compulsory servtude in
private industry.
Even though a labor draft law were to remain operative for the
turaton Of the a w e would look upon it with dstaste. But we don't
believe that the American people could easily free themselves from
such a straijacket one they permitted it to be fastened upon them.
Here, we submit, is something about which military personages
should speak softly and merely IS individual citizens, if at all. We are
still old fashioned enough to believe that the military is the servant of
the civilian government and modern enough to remember that there
are other nations in which democracy died when the military wrote
The rules of ife-Reading Labor Advocate.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11
Union FOR Five Neiqhbors

Five good neighbors of ours, the Central American republics of
Costa Rlca, FL Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, IRE
thinking seriously one more of an ancient Observation-Disclosures
the United States should give them every encouragement to that end
Their future may not look so important to us in these davs of epic
word issues But they have tremendous opportunities for progress
States
Today the most populous among them, Guatemala, has a popura-
ton little over 100000, and there n fewer people in all five than in
Limos But they occupy almost as much territory as Illinois, Michigan,
wisconsin and Indiana combined; and competent students agree that
they can support a far larger larger population, O al imneasurabiy
higher standard of living, if sane measures for economic and social
progress are taken.
Federation, of course, would not solve everything. Crop diversi-
hcahon, scientific farming methods, cooperative use of modern farm
machinery, new industries and, above all, rapid continued rise in edu-
cation, are all required. But sound federation should stimulate all those
by eliminating tariffs, pooling intellectual leadership, en-
couraging investment on favorable terms and making for more stable
government The United States, which leads in imports to each of them.
would stand to gain valuable foreign trade by Central American pros
perlty. BY decorating, moreover, these countries could look to a rising
role in all lnter-American affairs and in the United Nations.
The movement for federation has gained by the inauguration of
as president of Guatemala. He is working hard for union. Personal am
a young liberal, Juan Jose Arevaldo, formerly a professor of education.
bitons of individual politicians who do not want to lose power may
delay progress. But the federative idea seems to have more chance
CT successful Roadway than it has had for a long time-The Chicago
Sun. ",
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11
CHINESE CURRENCY
CONTINUES TO SOAR

The incredible initiation of Chi
nese currency in the last seven
years is revealed in International
Labor Office statistics. Based on
ar index number of 100 for 1887,
the latest index floats at 44,431 for
May, 1914, compared with IL, 789
in October, 1943. The cost of liv-
ing in Japan, on the other hand,
rose from a 1943 average of 1853
to 1875 in September.
Latest available figures for
Latin America show that the cost
of living is steadily increasing in
several countries. Figures for the
United States, Great Britain, Can
ada, New Zealand, India and Aus
tralia show only slight variations
between the latest index number
and those of the previous year.
The figure for Germany has also
remained constant, the index num-
Der for October being 81 compared
to 80 for October, 1943.-World-
over Press.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11
Meet vunce Muse Anfi-Union Ruckefeer

The Scripps-Howard newspapers have been investigating Vance
Muse, notorious racketeer, who as head of the Christian American
TO put over anti-union laws and more particularly a ban 0 n the union
shop"
The Scripps- Howard people can't be accused of being over friendly
to organized labor. That makes the results of their inquiry all the more
interesting.
Muse is described as "a 6-foot4 Texan who wears 1o-galon hats
but who saves his cowboy boots for trips north" He emphasizes the
word Christian in the name of his association" and insists that the
object of his crusade is to promote Americanism, religion and righte-
BUSINESS and combat evil forces that would destroy faith in God and
Jesus Christ, the church, the home, the American system of govern
ment" I
asked Muse what church he belonged to, he confessed: Il don't belong
to any church; never joined one" thus confirming what Rev F. Free
Ark, said recently when he denounced the christian American Asso-
citation" as neither Christian American"
Muse operates out of Houston, Texas, where, in a small office,
Muse, his wife and three clerks grind out mimeographed weekly re-
leases, enough to wallpaper half of Houston in a years time" Wotman
summarizes his conclusions:
81 found Muse was a smart promoter-but strictly a promoter. He
cuts n o ice whatever in his own state. He wraps himself in the flag,
Quotes the Bible and operates by means If an apparently inexhaustible
set of mailing lists. Call them sucker lists if you like" Muse told me.
Before his present crusade, Muse toied diligently for bankers,
industrialiNs and others willing to kick in financially He promoted
nigh tariff; propagandized for the sales tax "a Senate committee called
his project taxing a loaf of bread), and he fought the 8-hour day for
railroads.
ment sponsored by Frank E. Gannetts Committee for Constitutional
Government. This would put a rs per cent ceiling o all Federal in
come, gift and inheritance taxes, compared to the present "a per cent
limit.
Rather proudly, Muse conceded it was he who printed and dis
tlouted the photographs OF Mrs Roosevelt at Howard University
established in Washington by the Federal government to provide
Negroes with higher educaton) that were used widely in the South to
stir racial prejudice against the President.
His conscience and his 'granddaddy' who wore the Confederate
uniform, Muse explained, forced him to circulate them"
Some idea of the money side of Muses. racket is revealed by the
report of a Senate investigating committee away back in 1896. In four
years, Muse and his associates gathered in $780, STA. The dupont family
the Democratic National Committee, kicked in with s., 1000, and Sloan,
president Of General Motors drew his check for S., o0O-Labor.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11

nuele, and a number of lesser Of
ficers of the SIM.
These men quite naturally felt
themselves betrayed. Had they not
been faithful servants of the mon
archy and the Marshal? Under ex-
animation they s'squealed," and the
evidence they gave, it is reliably
reported, would, if made public,
force a general purge of the whole
Badoglio crew, the rich Fascist
angels of banking and industry, in
GLIDING many men now working
hand in glove with the new occu-
plying authorities. 1t would have
been a sharp defeat for Churchill
and his policy in Italy and for the
Allied military and political reg
ime, a victory for the forces of the
democratic left in Italy. The word
went out that Roatta must not
come to trial Americans recently
back from Italy have reported this
without qualification. They do not
l<now-or at least they have not
told-Who gave the order. But
Roatta's escape saved both Fascist
hold-overs and Allied officials
from acute political embarrass-
ment. The motive is there, not to
be questioned; but many men
share it.
One thing we are sure of is that
things won't stand still for long.
For the Italian people have shown
that they will not forever stand
being kicked around and sold out.
They are sick of being ruled by
leftover Fascists held in office by
Allied officials; sick or seeing Fas-
cist criminals protected by their
fellows in office or by Allied in
tervention. The Roatta story isn't
over-but enough has happened to
show how the Italians feel about
their present bosses.-(From The
Nation.)
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11
LJUBLJANA NAzlS
PREPARE CITY FOR SIEGE

WASHINGTON. - Units of the
Yugoslav Army have already
drawn near the chief Slovene city
of Ljubljana, TANJUG said in a
recent dispatch recorded for owl
by FEC monitors, and the Ger
mans are preparing for the last
hopeless stand"
The entire population of the city
has been modified to dig trenches
and shelters in the city and vici-
nifty, the dispatch related. I'm the
suburbs Wehrmacht units are drill
ing in street fighting methods. The
entire town is surrounded by wire
entanglements and exit is permit
ted to German officers and their
servants only. These servants
bring food into town and sell it at
high prices on the black market, as
there is very little food left. Street
car service has been discontinued
because of the shortage of electri-
city. High school students have
been modified while the univer-
sity buildings were requisitioned
by the Todt labor organization.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11
Slovenes Prepare Plons for
Confiscufion of German
HOLDINGS i'm SIovenio

washington. - The Slovenian
National Liberation Committee has
completed plans for the confisca-
ton of property owned by German
nationals and by citizens of Ger
many, TANJUG said in a recent
broadcast relayed to the Office of
War Information.
According to the broadcast, "22
large estates in Slovenia belonged
to German nationals, mainly citi-
zens of Germany. These estates
consist of $4,000 hectares of forest
land, 1000 hectars of pastures, and
5000 hectares of the finest vine
yards"
In addition, TANJUG said, "the
Germans held 40 per cent of the
iron industry, so per cent of tex
tile plants, so per cent of the chem
ical industry, 70 per cent of the
leather industry, 80 per cent of
the capital in 13 mining enter
prises, 20 per cent of the capital
in the chemical industries, and
OWNED all the GENET factories in
Slovenia."
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11
in THE WIND
From I'll NATION

Samuel B. Pettengill, a prolific
writer of tracts extolling free en-
terprise, has this to say in a leaf
let currently being distributed by
the Committee for Constitutional
Government: 1.-The present holler-
;ng for sixty million jobs is a con
game, pure and simple. Let us
not fall off the earth reaching for
the MOON"
John Leuthold of Breckenridge,
Colo, writing to the Denver Post
Of March II, quotes with approval
Pope Pius's speech contrasting "a
peoples government by honest and
f~ar-seeing men" and "a democrat
ic state left to the whims of the
masses" II claim" says Leuthold,
that there il practically as big
an intellectual difference between
the honest and ~far-seeing men
whom the Pope had in mind and a
human mass formation as there is
between the cowboys and the
steers" And the editor comments,
mot a bad comparison
Alex Small, a staff writer for
the Chicago Tribune syndicate,
came East about six weeks ago to
write up the magazines for his
readers. This is from his report on
The Nation and the New Repub-
lie, as it appeared in the Tribune
and other papers of March 10:
Like Harper's and the Atlantic,
these weeklies are read by people
who have weight in their COM
munities. Ii asked which has the
more the effect on policy, the
Saturday Evening Post with it's
3,400,0 600 circulation or The Ma
ton with it's $4,000, my choice
would be the latter. -. They are
for war, war everywhere and with
everyone who is not of their reli-
gion. An itch for mischief especial
ly seems to possess the dynamic
EASho WCJ, bO0dy Vic OOIIllIl-
ating spirit of The Nation. If there
is anything anywhere to add to
the misery of this tortured world,
any blazing injustice, any despic-
able sham, any foul deed, you may
be sure that the New Republic and
The Nation are for it,"
Festung Europa: Vidkum Quis-
ling having taken over the Norwe-
gian Kings summer residence near
Oslo, all bushes on the road lead
ing to it have been removed F..
And down in Denmark the Nazi
Gauleiter, DIR. Werner Best, travels
between his villa and his office in
an ambulance.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11
MAN-POWER PROBLEM
IN GERMANY

Germany's desperate labor ulti-
matums in occupied countries are
receiving an increasingly militant
reply from the workers. In Hol-
land, Minister of Justive Goedhart,
broadcasting from London, warned
his people to stand firm.
mot a single man must register
not a single employer must con-
tribute, not a single civil servant
must help, and no one shall ask
for the deceptive piece of paper
called exemption" he declared. In
response to this and similar calls,
the Dutch resistance movement set
afire or blew up a number of labor
exchanges, thus destroying man
power lists. Just one day after the
broadcast, posters urging resist
ance to the NaZi DEGREES went UP
in all Dutch cities.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11
"EvERY LABOR MAN
A "cOOPERATOR"
URGES ALL LEADER

Waukegan, Hl.-"I am interest
ed in seeing every possible mem
Der of the trade union movement
a member of c~oopratives. He will
work out his buying problems in
his co-ops and his job problems in
his union"
So said Arnold lander, general
president of the State, County and
Municipal Employees of America,
AFL, in his keynote address be-
fore the Co-ops and Labor Confer
ence on Organization held here in
March. The other keynoter was
Joseph Mattson, regional director
of the United Auto Workers, CLIO.
lander and Mattson wer intro
duced by Louis Warrington, as
sistant organizational director of
the Ohio Farm Bureau.
1T is only through cooperative
organization that the ordinary
man can influence decisions on
production and prices, "Zander
continued. But | would not choose
to have cooperative enterprises
run by unions for union members.
This has been tried without sue
cess enough to recommend it.
Though our movements have much
in common, though labor repre-
sentatives are here to explore
e of common interest with CO.
operative leaders, it is still good
administration to serve separate
segments of our common interests
in separate organizations"
s The ALL leader declared that
1.-THE history of the cooperative
movement in this country and
abroad includes examples of out
standing success in opposing mo-
nopolies and c~artels. Cooperatives
have broken the power of cartels
which they held through patents
and price agreements. Credit
unions have broken the power OF
the money lenders. And Cooperat.
ives have reconcilled high wages
with full production at low prices
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11
APOSTLES or DISASTER

The National Manufacturers
Association reports that it now has
figures to prove that a maximum
of Sc, 1000, 900 jobs are going to be
available after the war. Without
going into detail, this seems plain.
The NAM thinks we have got to
have four or five million unem-
ployed. That's the meaning of it's
report.
These apostles or disaster seem
determined to talk us into another
depression. 1t cannot be possible
that they actually believe we can
go through another debacle on the
economic front, without paying a
terrible price. Yet, they keep re-
peating the doleful yarn that we
must look forward to armies OF
jobleSs men and women walking
u streets.
At a recent hearing before the
state senate at Olympia, Wash,
employer representatives followed
each other to the rostrum, singing
a common song: the song of job
lessness when this war ends. 1t is
surely fortunate for this nation
and for this state that we have
chief executives who do not be-
lieve in a return to disaster eco
Monies after peace is reestablished,
but who believe in nor jobs and
an even higher standard of living
for all Americans-The Washing
ton Teamster.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11

They have stretched the dollar and
thus increased the purchasing pow
err of consumers"
The cooperative movement is a
practical movement he added. 1T
protects the workers as consumers
in order to improve their lot. BY
organizing into consumer coop
eratives, we increase the purchas-
ing power of individual consum-
ers and protect them against ex-
~ploitation. Both co-ops and labor
have as their objective the raising
of the standard of living of the
common people"
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11

Congress was asked to lift the restriction o the size of the ma
tional debt to 800 billions.
1t will be "upped" to 800 biions-and beyond later.
Bankers who used to bewal the growth of the national debt now
view it with pleasure. 1t has become their meal ticket.
Last June, the government securities constituted 72, per cent of
their earning assets In the Sixth War Loan drive they increased their
holdings by nearly seven billion dollars.
Pay the war debt? You can forget about that for a long time to
come. If the debt was paid, the bankers would starve. Or in the more
polite language of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce:
increasing dependence of the banks upon earnings from govern
nent securities point to a probable desire OF their part to hold a con-
siderable volume a permanent investments, which would have a bear
erS Journal. s.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11
CHAMPION EAVES-
DROPPER

Three turtles decided to have a
cup of coffee. Just as they entered
the restaurant it started to rain, so
the biggest turtle said to the littlest
turtle, GO home and get the UNI
brella."
The little turtle said, II will if
you don't drink my coffee"
I'VE won't" said the other two
in unionism.
1t was two years later that the
big turtle said to the middle tur-
tie, well, l guess he isn't coming
back, SO we might as we'll drink
his coffee.
Immediately, a little voice call
ed from just outside the door, ''If
you do, / won't 60"
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11
ITALIAN MYSTERY THRILLER

When Mario Roatta walked out
of the Virgilio Army Hospital in
Rome he wrote the first chapter in
a mystery thriller that is still un-
finished. Nobody knows what the
ending will be or exactly who the
villain is; too many necessary
clues are still hidden behind the
blackout curtains Of the Allied mi
litary censorship. Still, the facts
already in hand are worth Exam
lining. They are suggestive if not
conclusive.
Roata is supposed to have been
i'll as the result of an automobile
injury. (Was he really ill?) This
was the reason given for his deten-
ton in the army hospital instead
of in prison. Press reports stated
that his wife had called on him
about nine o'clock on the evening
of his escape-long after visiting
hours. (Why was she allowed to
come at that time?) Then, it seems,
the lights went out for an hour
(Why?) At the end of an hour the
lights came on, and, presto, the in
jured prisoner had disappeared
through guards, locked gates, and
over the high prison wall. (HoW?)
He is still at large; the police are
looking for him with the help of
the Allied authorities" (Where is
Roatta hiding? Who is protecting
him?)
Now let's 60 back a little. In
any crime story the first things to
do r to look for a motive and
then figure out who had the best
! opportunity to do the deed.
Roatta was a wholesale murder
err and terrorist and Marshal Ba-
doglio's longtime chief of staff.
He was on trial not only for his
official conduct during the glori-
u days of the Ethiopian cam
paign and later in Spain and later
still in Greece and Yugoslavia. He
was on trial also for reasonable
acts committed at the head of the
SIM, the Fascist military intel
ligence service. After the 1943
armistice Badoglio had kept Roat-
Ia in this post with the full know
ledge and approval of the British
and American authorities. He was
dropped only when both Yugo-
slavia and Greece, in the late
autumn of 1943, demanded the
right to try Roatta as a war Grim
inal; he was charged among other
things with the mass murder of
hostages, including women and
children.
Throughout the Fascist era in
Italy Roatta was a favorite of the
leading industrialists who main
tanned Mussolini in power and of
the Black Shirt elite. They valued
him because he knew leftist and
liberal Italy and had no scruples
about crushing opposition by
blackmail, murder, and bribery.
When Badoglio came to power
Roatta was obviously the man to
handle the delicate job of shifting
Italy from the losing to the win
ming side in the war without dis
locating the social, financial, and
industrial order established by fas-
cism. This was what the British
Tories wanted, too. But Count
Sforza, as head of the purge com
mission, apparently took seriously
the armistice provision that Italy
be purged of Fascists. At any rltc
he had Roatta arrested along with
: an underling, Colonel Santo Ema-
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11
ANIMAL BLOOD USED
IN RUSSIA

Soviet hospitals are using animal
blood with great success. Inject
tons of 100 to 200 cc's per trans
fusion have a positive effect on
badly wounded soldiers accelerat-
ing healing, raising vitality, i'm
proving appetite and sleep, and
curing avitaminosis. The hospitals
have special herds of donor" COWS,
fed chiefly on lucerne, which con-
tains a high percentage of Vitamin
A. Experiments have shown that
animals can give safely more than
20 liters of blood a month. (WP.)
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11
Pipelines held heovy
Competition for Rolls

Emergency pipelines, built with
Uncle Sans money, are going to
give the railroads some heavy
competition when the war is over,
according to the Bureau of Sta
tistics of the Ice.
The bureau declares that it will
cost less to pipe petroleum prod
ucts to the East and distribute by
truck than if rails were used.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11
MOVE is UNDER WAY TO
MAKE NJ. CAROLINA DRY

Raleigh, N. C. - Six months
after the war North Carolinians
will vote in a referendum on MAX
ing the state bone dry. A bill was
introduced in the legislature this
week making the verdict effective
should it carry. The measure has
the support of Governor r. Gregg
Cherry and the Allied Church
League Of North Carolina.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1945-04-11
MISGUIDED CRITICISM

Assistant: mo, madam, we hav-
emit had any for quite a long time"
Manager (overhearing): ooh,
yes, we have, madam; l will send
to the warehouse and have some
brought in for YOU" And then
aside to the assistant he said:
Never refuse anything; send out
for it,"
AS the lady went out laughing,
the manager demanded of the as
sistant: What did she say?"
Assistant "She said, we haven't
had any rain lately