Milford chronicle., 1960-12-02
SIoN%

free nation in which government is SER
want, not master.
A PLANT is KEPT OPENED
The Wall Street Journal recently carried
an interesting and unusual little news story
concerning a group of union workers and
union officials.
The union men concerned are employed
by a company which manufactures various
kinds of electrical equipment used in auto
mobiles and boats. But high costs had made
it necessary to close one of it's plants unless
some kind Of remedial action was taken.
Company officers proposed an incentive pay
plan under which going wage scales would
be maintained but the productivity of
workers would be increased. In other words,
it became matter of more work for the
same pay check.
The result: Union officials approved, and
the union membership voted for the plan al
most unanimously. The plant will be kept
open, its production increased, and the jobs
involved have been saved.
This group of union workers and Off
cials. and the company, faced and solved a
problem in the one sound way. 1t is prob
lem which is becoming more and more gen.
eral in a long list of industries and enter
prises. Wages and other payroll costs go
uD and up-While manhOur production goes
down or remains static. Then the competi-
tive power of the industry involved becomes
steadily weaker-particularly when it must
meet foreign competition. Layoffs and plant
closures become unavoidable.
Let's have the highest possible wages
and working conditions in this country. But
we can only have them without serious un-
employment, if we have maximum produc-
tion for each wage dollar.
&~%a0~
LIMIT POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS
Was this years Presidential campaign
the last in which candidates will tour at
breakness speed for months on end, exist
on a subsistence basis so far as sleep and
food are concerned, wear themselves and
all the many members of their encourages
out, and perhaps exhaust the minds and tenn
pers of the electorate?
That, of course, is something of rhet-
orical question, and only time and events
can provide the answer. But many politi-
clans, newsmen and others who had active
parts to play in this years battle for the
White House think that the answer should
be a resounding "Yes!
Marquis Childs is among them. He trav-
eled with both the Nixon and Kennedy par
ties. In one of his syndicated columns he
wrote, about three weeks before election
day: 81 have talked with small business
men, ranchers and farmers in Montana
California and Arizona, and whatever their
political preference they had one wish in
common and that is that the campaign
should come to an end. Going on for nine or
ten weeks it has an increasingly unsettling
effect The business of the nation and the
world seems to stand still while the conflict
grows louder and angrier".
In an era which is forever gone there
paigning. Means of communication and
transportation were primitive by compari-
son with those of today. If a candidate was
to be seen and heard he had to hit a long,
long trail But now planes and trains whisk
him about in almost no time. Radio and tel
evision are at his beck and call, to carry his
voice and message to tens of millions of
people in all the states. 1t is for this rea-
son, primarily, that many now look on the
traditional type of campaign as an un-
healthy, unnecessary and excessively expen-
Sive anachronism.
Moreover, the wear and tear on the can
didates is fearsome. Mr. Childs quoted Sen
ator Kennedy as saying, at the end of Ia
hours of grinding work, 81 can't imagine
why Adlai Stevenson ever thought that he
wanted to do this for third time. And he
tells of a weary Mr. Nixon after 20 hours
of campaigning, trying to speak at midnight
to an airport crowd through a faulty loud
speaker.
Moreover in Mr.. Childs' view, much of
this effort is entirely wasted He writes,
'The outstanding conspicuous example is
the airport rally. Most airports are five to
ten miles from the center of town. If the
organization works hard it is possible to get
crowd of few thousand out to hear the
candidate. !. But he will be talking to the
faithful and the converts who have long
since determined to vote for him." There
is small political profit in that.
More important by far, Mr. Childs adds,
g. the longer a campaign runs the more
the atmosphere is heated up and the greater
likelihood that Americas position in the
world will be badly hurt. And there is al
ways the possibility that one of the candi-
dates may succumb to the enending strain.
cor,cihlo Tina limit choIlld ho