davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1946-03-27
INITIATION

The new wage and price regulations issued by Chester Bowles,
director Of economic sterilization, marks one advantage over previous
orders from the Office OF Price Administration. 1t is frank enough to
admit that prices will rise or the basis of almost any wage increase
which is granted. On the other hand, the economic stabiizer pointed
out that wage and salary increases would generally be limited to the
overall rise in the cost of living of 1870.
The point of course is that the movement of prices skyward has
not been arrested anywhere along the line. This jump, which has been
particularly hard on workers, has been consistent since the beginning
of the war.
With the end of the war, when labor suffered a severe loss in
takehome pay due to the sharp cut in overtime, down grading and
many other factors, BoWles was placed in the seemingly gallant role
of stemming the rising price tide. Whatever role Bowles felt he was
playing, the facts contradicted all his optimism.
For ever if one accepts the figure Of a 800 rise in cost of living
since 1941-AFL and CO figures have placed it at close to SOFT i
important to note that the Monthly Labor Review February, 1946)
reports that the most important items in a workers budget, food and
clothing, have continuously risen, and that, as of December, 1945, food
prices had increased 4% and clothing prices 1870 since 1941.
The key point is that since the imposition of the price controls in
May, 1912, food costs rose 20% and clothing costs to consumers have
risen 23%. These are the official figures which all of Bowles' optimism
cannot laugh away.
This means that capitalist manufacturers, with the aid of the
government, are winning the battle against the workers. They have
gotten all the price rises they hav asked for; their strikes n never
lost and they have a new wage sterilization order which will prevent
wages from touching prices
This is the old, old capitalist pattern and it will not be ended until
the capitalist system itself is ended-The Call.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1946-03-27
Who Is Putting Up the Money!"
Congress Should Find the Answer to Thot Question;
Capital Is "seethins" With Lobbyists, Says Roybvrn

"Who is putting up the money!" Andrew Bieminer, vigorous young
Congressman from Milwaukee,, put that question to the House last
week. He was referring specifically to the barrage which is being
parenty they have teamed up"
The physicians are terribly excited over President Truman's health
insurance program. The drug manufacturers wish to have a free hand
to poison people with patent medicine" of all kinds.
Biemiller is not seeking to interfere with the constitutional rights"
@. these propagandists, but he thinks Congress and the public should
know who is putting up the money" >#
A little later, Rayburn of Texas, Speaker of the House, told his
colleagues that Washington was "seething with utility lobbyists" Their
object att the moment is to cripple rural identification. u
There are literally scores of other "lobbies"-aggressive, we'll paid
fighting every proposal before Congress which even remotely threat
ems to reduce the profits of various special privilege groups.
There is 10 law against this sort of thing, but as young Bieminer
insists, Congress and the people have a right to know "Who is putting
Up the money"
On a number Of occasions in the past, when Congress was faced
by somewhat similar situations, it has named lobby investigating"
committees. When the committees were made I'll of the right men. they
always struck pay dirt" and before they finished they cleared the legis-
lahve atmosphere. -+
Similar committees could do the same thing again. who's putting
up the money!" House and Senate owe it to themselves, as well as to
the people, to get a complete answer to that question-Iabor.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1946-03-27
.soiiioquy OF q Bomb
AS Overheard by GIOVANNI

Il am the Atombomb!
The Miracle Brain-Child of
Science
The Ultimate Expression of Chris
tan Civilization
All the Blessings of Capitalism
concentrated in a Capsule!
The Fire Prometheus stole from
Heaven purified and perfected!
The Final Summation and Proof of
Progress!
In Me an Epoch ends, a Time is
born!
I am both Threat and Promise,
Both Silvia and Vishnu, the De
stroyer and Preserver.
All that is Evil and Good in Man
is in Me!
ALL, peace, plenty, security and
prosperity, or
War, woe, want, insecurity and
Canibalism-
l am the Harbinger of Happiness
on Earth or Heralder of Despair,
Proclaimer of Life and Goodwill
or Death and Hate to ALL
1t is for YOU, o Man, to choose!
PERISH with Capitalism, or LIVE
in Industrial Democracy
I have said, l have spoken,
I, the Creature, proclaim to my
Creator a Millennium on Earth or
a Thousand Years of the Iron
He'll
AS YOU will it, o Man, SO be it
with You'll"
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1946-03-27
new CONSTITUTION

Some of the finest wordsin Freedoms vocabulary grace the new
constitution proposed for Japan, but before becoming too optimistic,
we should be wise to remember that the document is the product of
a government absolutely lacking in democratic elements. The proposed
constitution is merely one more concession which Japans "od gang
has had to make under pressure from the japanese people and the
occupation authorities. And while the people have seized their oppor-
tunity to establish a democratic press and begin rebuilding their. shat
tered political and labor organizations, the old order still retains the
which controls the police and has sole responsibility for the conduct
of the coming elections, IS well as for passing N candidates, has been
virtually unchanged by General MacArthurs wel-publicized purges.
While top military fascists have been arrested a war criminals, they
have almost invariably been succeeded by former subordinates with
similar outlook but less conspicuous records. Under these circumstances
it is not surprising that the fine words of or directives have been
sabotaged. The new constitution will receive the sam treatment so
long a the present japanese bureaucracy rennains-The Nation.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1946-03-27
WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?

The fact that judges have resorted to injunction proceedings since
the a ended is bringing outraged protestes from the ranks of or
ganized labor
We might join in the protests, but, to be truthful about it. we're
not at all surprised when the laws of the land are turned against the
working class.
We wonder what the workers of this nation expected. Did thew
really think that they would get the same kind Of consideration after
the "a ended-When they would not be needed-as they received
during thu war when they had the profit-takers over the barrel?
All through the wal we were painfully conscious of the fact that
we were making ourselves unpopular by warnings of what is now
about to happen. We said tina. the time for workers to Use the power
was when they were poWerful-and needed. That was the time for
them to take independent political action-not merely to win favors
from a president, but to build a new economy in which wealth would
be created for the benefit of everybody instead of for the profit of
owners. - 4nltsf
Some of our critics called our proposals trHe and hackneyed. They
said e yer not practical. Well, injunctions m practical enough when
they are used against workers in a glutted labor market.
Reading Labor Advocate.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1946-03-27
Steel Tries To Bride
RUruI Press

Away out in Oregon, at The
Dalles, is a brave little paper call
ed The Optimist." Recently the
publisher of "The Optimist'' re-
ceived a letter from the American
Press Association, announcing that
it was pacing advertising for the
American Iron and Steel Institute,
which is a propaganda agency OF
the steel interests.
Now that we have succeeded in
selling the steel industry or the
wholesome and powerful influence
of the rural press, it is up to the
publishers to keep them Sold"
wrote the American Press Associa-
ton. 1t continued with the warm
ing that 1.-The future of steel adj
vertising in rural newspapers de-
ponds on how the weeklies treat
the steel industry.
Two editorials were enclosed,
just to show what the American
Press Association had in mind.
Both wer violently %anti-labor. One
emphasized that farmers all over
the country r demanding" con-
gressional action against unions.
It would be interesting to ascer-
tain how many weekly papers ac-
copied the bride offered by the
American Press Association. IN
fortunately, that part of the record
is missing. All we know is that
"The Optimist," at The Dalles,
Ore, refused to sell it's soul for a
mess of pottage. So we doff our
chapeau to an honest publisher.
Labor.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1946-03-27
How Texans Are Couqed on Power

A friend in Texas points out that the Texas Power and Light Com
pany plays a big part in the politics" Of the Lone Star state, while
charging the customers exorbitant rates.
Our friend pays $541 for 10 XVIII. He wishes to know what he
would pay for the same amount of Juice" if he lived in Washington
or in Ottawa, capital of the Dominion of Canada.
AS we figure it out, his bill would be S26 in Washington. That
total the tidy sum of S3264. Putting it another way, our friend is paying
vice as much in Texas as he would in Washington.
However, if he lived in Ottawa he could do still better There 10
XVIII. would cost him 81 90. That would be a saving of So 3 a month,
or SAL Is in a year.
Charging such rates. the Texas Power and Light Company can
very we'll afford to play a big part in polrics"-Labor.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1946-03-27
By MiHburn p. Akers

Increasing discussion of a third
party movement, resulting from
the legislative impasse by the con-
gressional coalition of Southern
Democrats and Northern Republi-
can reactionaries, has brought forth
varied comment.
Some persons, such as Former
Interor Secretary Harold L. Ickes,
who himself left the Republican
party in 1912 to follow Theodore
Roosevelt into the Bull Moose
movement, maintain it can not be
done. That, of course, depends
upon what one wishes to accom-
plish by a third party movement.
The United States has had many
third parties. Few have won office.
But almost without exception each
has had a profound effect upon
American life.
Mr.. Ickes certainly knows that
the Bull Moose party, by bringing
about the defeat of the Republican
party, was indirectly responsible
for the enactment of the Adam
Sol Eight Hour Act, the Federal
Reserve Act, and many other pro
gressive measures of the first Will
Sol administration. 1t was the re-
dictionary attitude of the Repub
lican party upon such needed socia
reforms that caused Mr.. Ickes ano
others to leave that party.
X
The Populist party, in an earle,
era, failed to win national office
But, r its death, its agitation hac
brought about the enactment, by
an older party which had Ions
fought such measures, of the Sher-
man Antitrust Act and the basic
law regulating railroads unde,
which the Interstate Commerce
Commission now functions.
! What is the present Republican
party itself if not a third party ir
origin? It came into being directly
as a protest against the Kansas
Nebraska Act. 1t was born when
the Wings and the Democrats were
the two major parties. For a time
it functioned as the party of lib
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1946-03-27
Some Odds and Ends

Here's a proceeding success
story: Soft drink manufacturers
say they have been operating under
a price ceiling for years, and with
considerable success. No matter
what happens to production costs,
5 cents for a bottle of pop is a
psychological ceiling. Any advance
above that level brings a sharp
drop in consumption. The industry
holds that it's spectacular progress
in spite of this price limitation is
the result of it's ability to cut costs
through increased efficiency. -
From NewsWeek's Periscope De-
partment.
The cost of living climbed dur
ing December in 81 of So industrial
cities surveyed each month by the
National Industrial Conference
Board, big business research outfit.
Famous last words: Honest to
goodness, officer, I didn't know
that atom was loaded"
Every auto speeder should have
his picture taken SO the news
papers will have it on hand when
he is injured in a smash-up.
Give a woman an inch and she
gets the idea she is a ruler.
If the Government had followed
the advice of the National Associa-
ton of Manufacturers and aban-
doned price control during the war,
it would have cost the nation $685.
900, ZOO, 900, increasing the cost of
prosecuting the var by $30,000,-
000,0 00 and the cost of living by
$50, 900 600, 900. MANS current
full-page ads don't mention this
fact, but NAM members know it.
-T.B.W.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1946-03-27
rs Harry end Winnie

1t has been learned from the
most reliable of sources that the
President of the United States and
the leader of Great Britain's Loyal
Opposition operate on a first-name
basis.
To Mr.. Truman >and Winston
Churchill, they are Harry and
Winnie.
But it wasn't always thus. When
franklin D. Roosevelt was Presi-
dent and Churchill was Prime
Minister of Britain it vas Winnie
and Mr.. President.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1946-03-27

to all other foodstuffs, if the
Wreckers of price control have
their way.
Lobbies r similarly working to
raise clothing prices, rents and
everything else on which your
wages are spent.
If the robber gang are successful,
real wages will be cut again and
again by leaping living costs; and
the value of war bonds, insurance
and other savings will shrink to
the lowest point.
If you think this is alarmist talk
consider what happened after the
First World War.
Shortly after the 1918 armistice,
with no price controls, living costs
started to skyrocket. By June,
1920, they had more than doubled
over the pre-War level.
This initiation brought nothing
but misery to most Americans.
Wages could not keep up with in
creased prices, and the workers
real earnings were not restored
until the 1905 and CLOS big
organizing drives.
Along with lower real wages
came increasing unemployment and
reduced farm earnings.
Factory payrolls shrank 44% be-
Ween 1919 and 1921 and the num-
Der of unemployed rose by more
han five million. Average earnings
t factory workers declined from
$3.50 in 1920 to 5000 in 1921.
Net income of farmers, mean
while, declined from $8.8 billion to
So billion between 1919 and 1921.
and average farm income shrank
rom $1,36O to $3.50.
i i
TO preserve the purchasing pow
er of your wages, and to prevent
unemployment and depression, the
robber-campaign of the price prof
teers must be counteracted by the
greatest popular campaign ever
conducted to maintain price con-
trolls.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1946-03-27

under a world scientific secretariat
composed Of men who had the
knowledge to blow UP the earth.
The American Atomic party
would undoubtedly be investigated
by the House committee on un-
American activities.
But the congressman would get
nowhere, for among the leaders
of the party would be conservatives
like Owen j. Roberts, former as
sociate justice of the Supreme
Court.
Indeed u present congressman
might soon have to look to their
jobs, for there would be Atomic
candidates running for office on
the burning issue of the age.
And any President would have
to look to his job who sent a bill
to Congress On atomic power with
out knowing what was in it.
Our Atomic statesmen would not
be satisfied with mild reforms, or
anything so anemic as the United
Nations organization.
There would be a single plank in
their platform-a world inspection
authority equipped to search out
and destroy any atomic bomb any
where on the earth.
The international would not be
divided by i~deologies, for it would
know that the peaceful uses of
atomic power would soon make
class struggle meaningless.
1t would recognize one enemy
secrecy, and any nation that tried
to hide its affairs would be recog-
nized as the common foe of man.
kind.
The Atomic International is
bound to win, and we might as we'll
become members. In the words of
William L. Laurence, who witness
ed the effect of the Nagasaki ex-
plosion:
Atomic energy is here to stay;
the question is whether we are
From The Chicago Sun.
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1946-03-27
LOOKING AHEAD
BY Len De CauX

Beware of pickpockets, highjack-
ers, confidence men, and all other
sWindlers and tricksters, when you
draw your pay these days.
If you don't watch out, they'll
not only take the money from your
pocket, but the food from your
table, the clothing from your back,
the roof from your head and your
savings from the bank.
The slickest, Notwithstanding
beSt-organized gang in history is
operating now on a nationwide
scale to rob the public.
They don't wear masks, or carry
gats or marked cards, so you may
not recognize them at once. But
they're after your dough all the
same.
They r Well-dressed, respect
able-looking gents who haunt
Washington hotels, the Hobbies OF
Congress and the corridors of gov
eminent agencies.
Their higher-ups may be found
in Wall Street, the more expensive
clubs and other hang-outs of the
profiteers in every city.
You a read their spiel in full
page ads and the editorial columns
of most daily papers.
y = Il
The gang is led by the Natl
Assn. of Manufacturers, which is
spending close on a million dollars
for an advertising campaign against
price control.
But Chester BoWles has also
named other names, such as the
Natl. Retail Dry Goods Assn, the
Natl. Assn. of Real Estate Boards
the packers lobby, and the Wal
Street spectators who are lire
sponsibly whooping it up for in
flation."
The real estate gang has already
made the House vote against rea.
sonably-priced housing for '.eter.
ans and others, by rejecting price
ceilings on homes and subsidies fol
loWer-cost construction.
The rest of the gang are work
ing to wreck the price control &C
by attaching every possible amend
ment to allow higher prices ant
prevent real enforcement.
They have already got the Senat,
to vote a 500 cut in the OPA';
deficiency appropriation.
All these activities are designed
to steal your wages as effectivel,
as with a blackjack down a darl
alley.
When OPA controls were re
moved from citrus fruits, prices o
oranges, lemons and grapefruit
rose at once from so to 1907 An,
the same, or worse, would happeI
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1946-03-27
Manifesto for an Atomic International
By Kenesaw M. Lundis II in the Chicago Sun

l think the time has come to Or
ganize a new international.
The First International was
founded in 1864 by Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels under the slogan
workers of the World, Unite"
After a few years it fizzled out
and was followed by the Second
international, which collapsed UNI
der the nationalist tensions OF
World War I.
The Third, or Communist, In
ternational was founded at Moscow
in 1918, dedicated to the violent
overthrow of capitalist govern
ments and the creation of a world
proletarian society.
But the Third International was
formally disbanded during World
War IL, when Communist Russia
gave up world revolution for a pro-
gram of nationalistic. expansion.
Whether our new international
could be called the fourth is open
to some question, because the late
Leon Trotsky started a private or
~ganiZation of his own under this
number.
In any event, the number doesn't
natter
The Atomic International would
be based on a doctrine more revo-
lutionary than anything Karl Marx
ever dreamed of. Instead of class
warfare, nuclear fission.
Instead of dialectical material
ism, the destruction of matter. The
surplus energy theory.
The atomic manifesto would
make the Communist manifesto
look pale. 1t would say:
"Proletarians, capitalists, doc
tors, lawyers, vegetarians, meat
eaters, Republicans, Hottentots
have everything to lose, including
their lives. They have a world tc
win. Denizens of the world, unite
In every country an atomic party
would be organized, operating
Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1946-03-27
WANT q THIRD PARTY?
HERE'S WHAT THEY DO

erals. But 1t was soon captured by
the freebooters. 1t is the only third
party which rose to the status of
a major party nationally.
1t is true that third parties, as
a general rule, do not win office.
But they create conditions which
cause the politicians in control of
one or both older parties to heed
the protest in which the third party
originates.
Certainly no one who reads
American history would deny the
influence of the 1910 Liberal party,
the 1848 Free Soil party, or even
that of the 1926 Native Amer
lean, or Know Nothing party.
The short-lived Labor Reform
party, f%orerunner of the Green
back party of 1864, was not
without effect upon the American
system. There have been a host of
others, some beneficial, some mi
micable, but few without effect.
None a say that the Liberal Re-
publican party of 1872, the Anti
Monopoly, the Union Labor or the
United Labor party-all of the '80s
were entirely lost causes.
Third parties, as a balance of
power between the two major par
ties, have had a long and profound
effect upon the American scene.
Their possibilities should not be
lightly dismissed. The mere fact
that they seldom win control, and
that they are usually short lived,
means little.
The criterion, in considering the
formation of such a political move
ment, should be whether it will
exert a beneficial influence upon
one or both of the major parties,
causing it or them to take, in their
bid for third party support, more
progressive attitudes.
One should not leave the subject
without inquiring what, if not a
third party, is the present con
gressional coalition of Southern
Democrats and Northern Repub-
lican reactionaries?
(FrOm The Chicago SUM
The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1946-11-14
Miller Sheets
Vows Are Spoken

Announcement has been made
here this week of the marriage
of Miss Bessie Miller, daughter
of F. T. Miller and the late Mrs.
Miller, of Wagner, to Richard
Franklin Sheets, son of Mrs. Eu-
lala Sheets and the late Lemuel
Sheets, of Laurel Springs. The
marriage was solemnized on Oct
ober 26 at the Presbyterian man.
Sc at Glendale Springs with Rev.
j. W. Luke, officiating, using the
double ring ceremony.
For her nuptials the bride wore
a suit Of teal blue with black &C
cessories and shoulder corsage
of red roses. The couple was un-
attended.
The bride lis graduate of
Nathan's Creek high school and
for sometime has been employed
at the Mayflower beauty shop.
The groom attended Nathan's
Creek high school also and only
recently received his discharge
from the navy after three years
of service. He is now employed
at Graybeals drug store, here.
The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1946-11-14

Mr.. Wallace Lee Parton, of
Virginia, visited Miss Blanch
Miller at Crumpler during the
week end.
Sunday visitors of MIR. and Mrs.
Wiley Miller, of Crumpler, were
MRS. Junior Miller and daughter,
Beulah, Mr.. c. d. Miller, Mr..
and Mrs. Tommie Blevins and
children, and Mr. and Mrs. J.
w. Michael and little daughter,
of North Wilkesboro.
Miss Grace Miller, Of Crumpler,
left Sunday for North Wilkesboro,
where she will stay for some
time.
Sgt. Clarence Baker, son of
Mr.. and Mrs. Charlie Baker, of
Crumpler, who has been in the
army for two years, one year of
which was spent overseas, arriv-
ed home recently. He will re-
ceive his discharge the last of
the month.
Sunday dinner guests of Mr..
and Mrs. T. L. Shatley were Miss
Gladys Shatley and Mrs. Roy Will
lard, of WinSton-Salem, Mr.. and
Mrs. Wade Williams, Mrs. Clifford
Goodman, Mrs. John Witherspoon