Montana labor news., 1946-02-28
CAMPAIGN COST
NEARS MILLION

NEW ~NORk-HP)-Thc Nationa.
association OF Manufacturers is spend
inp a conservative estimate Of So50,00O
on is current huge publicity campaign
Ter aholishing price control and curb
ing organized labor. Federated Press
has learned.
While the NAM group relations dc
partment" was unwilling To tell I'P the
cost of It's current series Of Jour full
page ads running III $50 daily and $50
weekly newspapers advertising aecn-
ciss consulted by IP estimated it as
follows. according to current advertis-
ing rates:
Placing the four full-paec ads in
$50 daily papers would cost approx
matcly $4,000 Tor space alone. Run
ming the ads in $50 weekly papers
would o another 100000. and it
would take at least another $4,000 for
production OF the ads and avcrtising
agency fees.
An NAM spokesman stressed that
IN aus WHY iOi StliNid Ntlt8kioiidl
purposes" but said: 1--WE don't quite
know what they cost" which struck
Fps advertising consultants as strange
They must be ashamed they said.
The first al, Let's Take Stock Now,
was a general introduction Of the cam
paien which has three themes Save
production from price control Fail
labor relations and Reduce govern
mcnt spending The second ad, Let's
Tackle Imitation While We Can. de-
mandcd immediate removal OF all price
sontrols. The other ads arc expected
To demand curbs on labor to restore
equality OF labor and management"
blaming recent strikes on the unions
and the Wagner act. and reduction
OF corporation and profits taxes pre-
venting the government from spend
ing much money on social security.
housing or projects for full employ
ment,
The NAM group relations depart
mcnt' also told ZIP the ads were not
a part Of the regular activities Of the
National Industrial Committee, MANS
propaganda arm, whose annual budget
for spreading the NAM message
harm, wumcn's and church groups is
about one million dollars a year. Thus
NAM actual and projected propaganda
expenditures for 1910 are hitting close
to the two-million dollar mark already,
and the year has just begun.
Part Of this propaganda is paid for
by the public. Manufacturers deduct
NAM dues from taxable income Of
their corporations or add it Indirectly
to the price Of the product. Most Of
American industry is, represented in
the NAM but il is dominated com
by the nations largest corpora
According to the LaFollette com
more than so per cent OF NAM
is contributed by the 262 larg-
est companies in the United States.
five largest contributors being the
Duponts, General Motors. Ernest r..
National Steel, L. S. Steel and
Monsanto Chemical.
In a nationwide broadcast February
-. Economic Sterilization Director
Chester Bowlcs warned that the ""irre-
sponsible leaders OF the NAM have
threatened a "sitdown strike against
the American people" Their full page
ads say in effect, Pay us the prices
ask or we won't produce the goods
you need he said.
Bowles attacked as "one of the most
arguments that has ever
been attempted the NAM ads claim
that price control hampers production.
profits are now the high
est in the nations history with the out
look "exxcellent" Tor 1916, he as
As Tor the MANS claim that we face
initiation because OF a shortage OF
goods and too much money, Bowles
gu that there is no real short
age Of goods. The goods are being
lpardcd by the corporations in a hold
for higher prices, he said, warning
the forces OF fear and greed
which drive a selfish minority to the
'oint at which they are willing to sac
-iiioc the whole future OF our country
Q their WI selfish demands"
II is indeed a desirable thing to be
well dcscended. but the glory helonns 10