Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1948-02-06

unions, which al
ways have been parasitic rackets
but, for long time, were Wistful
in their tatters, the tinker and the
sawyer, the digger and the mason
prey on all the others who need
homes.
Like the wrestler In the FRI
day night comedies IN a thou
sand gamey pits across the
country, they even clamp toe.
holds on themselves and howl
in anguish at their own inhu-
mainly. They are, on the aver
age, artisans Of low CONNIE.
tence. They stall. One craft de-
liberately and deity impedes
another, the only art Ii which
all Of them are apt. They spoil
expensive material and they
nOnchalantly bOtch work, th 5
wasting hundreds Of thousands
Of hours worth never less than
81 an hour, often as much as SIS.
Agents Of the building unions will
resent the statement Of these we'll
known truths with letters to the Vox
Pop, threatening the paper with
nameless horrors. However. /. per-
sonally, never did pay them any
heed and editors nowadays hold
them in no higher respect than so
many retired brigadiers, ministers
or high school principals. The fact
is recognized that the. building
unions are a blight on the social
and moral life of the country, a
burden on the earnings Of all the
people and a spirochete in the eco
nomic bloodstream. BY their extor-
tons in the guise Of wages and
working rules they have been more
responsible for the shortage Of hous-
ing than any other factor including
even the SNUG suburban corruption
Of the dealers in materials. This has
prolonged the period Of crowding
and strain far beyond any reason
able necessity.
CRADLES OF CRIME.
The penalties will yet be paid on
the gallows by irritated spouses who
shall have taken toll of their in
laws and others in close quarters,
made spiritually intolerable by the
odors Of cabbage, laundry and pipe.
smoke. twenty-five years from now.
BARNS begotten in squalor, inter-
viewed by parole boards from o.
shining to Folsom, viii falter dumb
ly that they took to the wicked
streets from ratty flats in York
vile or Edgewater and drifted from
fruit-stand pilfering to narcotics.
tax evasion and homicide.
The few new quarters which
have slowly risen since the war
actually are the first appreci.
able additions to our general
dOmicile since 1888, when the
Roosevelt depression made per-
manent the cycIicaI Hoover
slump. They we're so long
a-building, however, that the
blue sink and laundry tub had
given way to pink and the pink
to yellow by the time the first
occupants got in.
The lag in housing has been 90
ing on since 1929 and we are now
almost two decades in arrears in a
nation where delapidation is fast
owing to the rapacity Of the arti.
sans, contractors and SPECTATORS
which makes for fimsy building
in the first place. A 2O-year-old
house is still in the shakedown phase
in Europe, barring war. But in the
United States it is obsolete. priInv
with SCOT, defiled with the lewd love
lyrics of adolescents writ in imper-
ishable chalk, and well on its way
to the slums.
ONE CAUSE OF INITIATION.
AS Congressman Gwinn reported
for the Congressional Record. the
unions run up the cost Of building
artiacially and unnecessarily and
without the slightest eventual bene-
fit to the employees who draw this
pay. To be sure, there is an illu.
sion Of wealth in an envelope hold
ing $l49.88, including arbitrary over
time, featherbedding and, in many
cases, portal-to-portal and mileage
graft. But the internal revenue win
catch up with most Of these wicked
rich, and even if they should escape
they will pay the inhationary rate
for butter, eggs and meat and for
the rent Of their own housing. In
fine, they are broke. The work.
ing stiff. drawing from two to three
times his normal and reasonable
pay for full employment, should
have the sense not to cry out against
imitation, for he is only bowling down
his own absurd wages.
Congressman GWinn's, report
said that after hearing 80 wit
nesses and examining many
cases, his subcommittee had
established that unions, by
themselves or in combination
with contractors and suppliers
Of materials, have mOnOpolized
construction In many whole
cities and some areas extend.
inc well havon1 The cite.