RURAL OBSERVER PRESS BUREAU

25 California Street - San Francisco

Release No. 3

4-2

SAN FRANCISCO, December 8.

The Associated Farmers of California became a national threat to civil
liberties at the conclusion of their state convention here yesterday, when a
conference of Pacific Coast leaders laid plans to spread the organization across
the country.

Under fire from the LaFollette Civil Liberties Committee, the Associated
Farmers took the offensive in this plan which they hope will play down any ex-
position of their methods of support.

"Plans for the national organization call for the creation of individual
state units, to which the Associated Farmers of America will render all possible
aid," stated Howard Shoemaker, of Hood River, Oregon, President of the Pacific
Coast organization.

"The Associated Farmers of Minnesota already have been organized and agri-culturalists in Arizona are now in the process of organization," he said.

Wisconsin, Illinois, Idaho, Nevada, Texas, New Jersey, Florida, Missouri,
Montana, Colorado, and South Carolina also have announced plans for forming Asso-
ciated Farmer units, Shoemaker stated.

In California, Associated Farmer leaders of ten northern counties, last Mon-
day shook in their boots when they were called to face the LaFollette Committee
to produce records and files. The Committee will investigate approximately 65
cases of Civil Liberty abuses in connection with 180 agricultural labor strikes.

At the state convention, Thursday, John Watson, newly elected president,
told his followers to move in on the cities.

"We are not worried about public opinion on the farms," he said, "so we must
advance to the frontier of ruthless minority labor racketeers and radical dicta-
tors and establish our Maginot line in San Francisco and other danger points and
there tell the people about their affairs."

Watson's speech followed that of Almon A. Roth, head of the San Francisco
Employers Council, who asked Associated Farmers to join with them to smash the
water-front unions in the city.

Attended by nearly 2000 well-dressed and smooth-handed gentlemen and fur-coated ladies, the convention concurred in a long series of resolutions that were

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aimed at every civil liberty in the books.

Among the resolutions were those asking for outlaw of the closed shop, of
hiring halls, of secondary boycotts, the five-day week and work slow-down.

With a pat on the back for the Dies Committee, the convention asked for the
outlaw of the Communist Party and roundly condemned John Steinbeck's "Grapes of
Wrath".

In his outgoing speech, retiring President Holmes Bishop took a shot at both
the organized farmer and organized labor. Defending so-called individual bargain-
ing rights, he warned the banker farmers against farm marketing organizations that
would seek to represent solid blocs of producers. The same warning he applied to
labor unions.

Hank Strobel, violence organizer during the "It Can Happen Here" Salinas
Lettuce Strike in 1936, who was elected new treasurer openly gave credit to big
business for the successes of his organization.

"I would be derelict in my duty if I did not extend thanks to employer
groups in metropolitan areas, who time and again have rendered valuable aid to
our committees," he said.

He told the farmers that the organization was not going to sit idly by and
allow restrictions to be placed on business.

Governor Culbert Olson, who at the opening hearings of the LaFollette
Committee Wednesday, commanded county officials who were involved in the recent
cotton strike to turn over files and records requested by the Committee, came in
for much slander and sniping throughout the convention.

A lengthy resolution, passed by the Board of Directors, in effect told the
Governor of the State that affairs in the counties were none of this business.

Carey McWilliams, State Director of the Division of Immigration & Housing,
and author of the wide-selling study of California's migrant problem, "Factories
in the Field", also came in for his share of slander. He was classed by the
Associated Farmers as "Farmers' Pest No. 1".

In speeches on the riot in Madera last month, and the widespread violence
in the Earl Fruit Company strike in Marysville last spring, Associated Farmer
spokesmen denied that there had been any real strike.

The LaFollette Committee hearings will reconvene December 13th, to continue
the probe of the Associated Farmers with much additional interest growing out of
the Associated Farmers' Convention of December 7th and 8th.

CONFIDENTIAL NEWS SERVICE

Simon J. Lubin Society, Inc.

25 California St., San Francisco

By Special dispensation of
the Board of Directors

December, 1939

Vol. 1, No. 8

CONFIDENTIAL. FOR USE OF MEMBERS ONLY. NOT FOR PUBLICATION. The Confidential News Service is furnished to members of the Simon J. Lubin Society of California, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of California. No issue or portion of the service may be reproduced or published in whole or in part without the written consent of the society being first had and obtained.

## LAFOLETTE CIVIL LIBERTIES COMMITTEE

On June 6, 1936 a notable event took place in Washington, D. C. It was during the 74th Congress of the United States, and the chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, Senator Elbert D. Thomas, had just been empowered (under Senate Resolution 266) to appoint a subcommittee. The subcommittee was "to investigate violations of the rights of free speech and assembly and interference with rights of labor to organize and bargain collectively."

In the late fall of 1936 another notable event took place -- in California. The spot was Salinas' lettuce sheds. Prime movers in the strike-breaking terrorism of Salinas were: Associated Farmers, Inc.

Also in the late fall of 1936, the Simon Lubin Society was born. It was green and new on the business of vigilantism and civil rights, but Salinas was something you didn't need microscopic lenses for. The Lubin Society was setting out to aid agricultural workers and small farmers. Here was a good place to start. Learning of the LaFollette Civil Liberties Committee, the Society drew up and filed its first resolution and accompanying brief with the Committee -- calling attention to Salinas and asking for an investigation of Associated Farmers, Inc.

But the LaFollette subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor was busy. All over the entire country people were gathering evidence, drawing up resolutions, filing requests for investigations of civil rights violations. What, after all, were a few lettuce sheds in Salinas compared to Goodyear Tire and Rubber, Chrysler automobiles, Republican Steel, the Chicago Memorial Day massacres, bloody Harlan? And what was the Associated Farmers, Inc. and its strike-breaking machine compared with the apparatus used by the National Association of Manufacturers?

The LaFollette Committee was busy. It had $15,000 to start with. Senate Resolution 266 empowered it to subpoena files, records, administer oaths, take testimony, hold public hearings and report back to the Senate. It could also make recommendations for the enactment of remedial legislation as it deemed necessary.

## CIVIL LIBERTIES DEFINED

Violations of civil liberties, said the Committee, involves not only interference with the policy declared by Federal statute, that labor has the right to organize and bargain collectively. Violations of civil liberties, OUTSIDE the field of labor relations, involve academic freedom, public assemblage, freedom of the press, coercion by vigilante groups, and deprivations of the rights of free speech and assembly through local laws and local courts.

The Committee considered ALL violations of civil liberties equally important. But because of its limited funds, and because violations in the labor field had become so blatant, it decided to concentrate on labor relations first of all.

## SCOPE OF GENERAL INQUIRY

Among the questions to be answered by the Committee were the following:

1. How extensive is the use of spies, strike-breakers and munitions by American industry? What is their cost to industry?

2. To what extent is industry organized to provide itself with a system of company spies and police; to what extent does it purchase these services from outside agencies?

3. What agencies furnish these services and what are the mechanics of their supply and use? How lucrative is the business?

4. How are spies and strike-breakers recruited?

5. Is the use of labor espionage, strikebreakers, munitions occasional and sporadic or is it a well-established policy in American industrial life? If the latter, who sets this policy?

6. Is there need for Federal regulation of these practices and, if so, is there a basis for effective regulation within the framework of Federal powers?

Simon J. Lubin Society, publishers, RURAL OBSERVER, special pamphlets and research studies concerning California Agriculture.

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INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE

It was impossible, said the Committee, to scatter investigators at random through the millions of workers, organized and unorganized, "whom the spying system is now known to touch." The Committee therefore deemed it advisable to "lay bare the machinery of espionage and to discover, by examining agency records, which industrial communities suffer espionage in its most concentrated form. This, once learned, a sampling method could then be adopted for the examination of both labor and industry."

FORTY-FIVE VOLUMES

From August, 1936 through July, 1938, the LaFollette Civil Liberties Committee had its hands full. The results of its investigations comprise no less than 45 neatly bound, paper volumes of testimony and reports, documented every inch of the way, scholarly, careful accounts of the most hair-raising evidence ever written into the annals of labor anywhere in the world.

Important hearings have been conducted as follows:

August, September, 1936: Railway Audit, National Corporation Service, involving the Lake Erie Chemical Company and Pinkerton Detective Agencies (as these have been used in strike-breaking)

January, 1937: Tennessee Coal & Iron, Corporations Aux. Co. Chrysler Corp.

February, 1937: Pinkerton Detective Agency and General Motors

March, 1937: Wm. J. Burns Inter'l Detective Agency, Goodyear Tire & Rubber

April, May, 1937: Harlan, Kentucky

July, 1937: Chicago Memorial Day Massacre, Republican Steel

March, 1938: National Association of Manufacturers

Ohio Rubber; National Council of Industrial Defense;

National Metal Trades Association

July, 1938: Little Steel

Republican Steel; Youngstown Sheet & Tube, etc.

THE RECORD

It's all in the record. For instance -- the Pinkerton Detective Agency and the Railroad Audit and Inspection Company totaled a gross business of $6,511,891 between 1934 and 1936. During the same period, General Motors paid out $889,764.11 for anti-labor espionage. Industrialists have been spending hundreds of thousands of dollars annually for munitions with which to break strikes. In one year Republic Steel bought four times as much tear gas equipment as the largest law enforcement purchaser in the Nation. In Republic's arsenal were 552 pistols, 64 rifles, 245 shotguns.

Behind the careful, objective and factual evidence are dramas, plots, stories of police, detective and munition systems beyond the wildest imaginings. Lives and unions wrecked, violence and coercion a routine matter, handled with smoothness and outward decorum.

AND IN CALIFORNIA?

While the LaFollette Committee was busy, Associated Farmers, Inc. was also busy. Busy building its apparatus from field to shed, to cannery, to warehouse, until now it has reached the San Francisco water-front -- the result of its own perverted "five-year plan" coming to fruition on the very eve of the arrival of the Senate Committee.

That the Senate Committee does not come here on the basis of clues and idle rumor is obvious by merely glancing at any one of the 45 volumes of testimony it has compiled on other anti-labor groups. The Committee does not have sufficient funds to scatter its shots. It must be remembered that its present working budget is only $50,000 -- exactly half of what Congress allotted to Mr. Dies, who certainly needs few dollars if documentation and scholarly proof cost money. The Committee is here because Associated Farmers, Inc. is now not only a major threat to labor, but actually embraces the entire scope of the Committee's definition of civil liberties violations -- within the labor field and outside it. California's political and social future may well depend upon whether Associated Farmers, Inc. are exposed now or allowed to continue.

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THE HEARINGS

Judge Louderbeck's courtroom (room 258) in the U. S. Post Office at 7th and Mission Sts. in San Francisco, has been jammed during the three hearings held to date. Patiently, men and women have waited to hear the story of Associated Farmers, Inc. Thus far, aside from subpoena questioning of witnesses to ascertain what records they have produced, the crowded courtroom has heard experts testify on statistical matters relating to California migrants, the prepared lengthy statements supplemented with all manner of chart and diagrammatic material. These reports, essential from an academic viewpoint, seem a far cry from the flesh and blood story of degradation, vigilantism, coercion and violence characteristic of California agriculture, the essential as background to the hearings themselves.

Labor requirements, labor markets, wages, crops, soil and climatic conditions, figures (sparse) on ownership and control of the land itself, all read into the record by scholarly experts, finally invoked one humorous limerick from a member of the press which passed from hand to hand at the press table: "Don't tell us of carrots and cotton; we want facts on the guys that got shotten."

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DECEMBER 13th HEARING

Balfour-Guthrie, Ltd.: Under subpoena were the following: Robert Lewin, Pres., Balfour D. Adamson, Chairman & director (director also of CalPak), Charles B. Weeks, ranch superintendent of Brentwood Ranch, Alex M. Brown, in charge of Land Operations, and their attorney.

Questions by Senator LaFollette revealed the following:

a/ Balfour-Guthrie, Ltd. has two subsidiaries -- Balfour Investment Company (on land operations), and Balfour-Williamson (London operations). Major stock-holders are in London and have voting control of the company.

b/ Balfour Investment Company owns 5800 acres in California:

1/ Calipatria (Imperial Valley) 4200 acres

2/ Strathmore 135 acres

3/ Brentwood (Contra Costs) 4100 acres

c/ Labor bill in 1937 was $367,000.

d/ Among records submitted was a cancelled check, made out to LAKE ERIE CHEMICAL COMPANY, sellers of industrial munitions.

e/ In general, reluctance to submit records, showing financial or interlock tie-ups. Officials of Company requested to return on Saturday, 16th.

Sheriff Overholt, Fresno County: Requested to produce records, Overholt revealed that he had finally consented to bring records showing extra deputies hired, salaries to deputies and other peace officers, payments and considerations made from public funds for this work, with the exception of one undercover job in 1937 paid for by Associated Farmers, Inc. through FRANK PALOMARES, of the Fresno Labor Bureau! Undercover agent employed by Overholt from 1933 through present time, is member of TEAMSTERS UNION!

District Attorney Mordecai of Madera County: Refused to bring records, and filed answering brief with Committee stating objections, upheld by a ruling obtained by EARL WARREN, Attorney General. Senator LaFollette pointed out that cases cited in support of Warren's "opinion", bore on records subpoenaed by Judges only and not by any legislative or Senatorial investigating body.

Alonzo L. Crawford, San Francisco: Subpoenaed personally and in the name of the UNION OF CALIFORNIA CITIZENS, upon questioning revealed that the UNION is a "patriotic organization", pledged to "educate the people on the dangers and destructiveness of Communist teachings," et al. Is secret, has 20 members, no dues collected, no minutes kept, no correspondence, no records, no connections with Associated Farmers, Inc., or Industrial Association. Crawford, upon leaving the court-room, was seen conversing with Allan H. Painter, attorney representing HOIMES BISHOP of Associated Farmers!

uopwa-34

RURAL OBSERVER PRESS BUREAU

Release No. 1

4-2

SAN FRANCISCO, December 6

The long-awaited LaFollette Committee investigation of civil liberty abuses in California opened in San Francisco this week with Governor Culbert Olson heading a long list of witnesses called to testify.

Olson, who appeared Wednesday in response to an invitation sent to the Governors of California, Oregon and Arizona, opened his testimony with a stern request that county officials in Madera and Fresno counties cooperate with the Senate Committee.

In telegrams sent to Sheriff W. C. Justice and District Attorney George Mordecai of Madera and to Sheriff George Overholt of Fresno, the Governor requested that the officials turn over files and records which they had refused to produce at subpoena hearings Monday.

Speaking on the violence in the recent cotton strike in the San Joaquin Valley, Olson said that the Administration would tolerate no further violence in California agriculture - from either side.

"I take advantage of this occasion to serve notice to employers and to employees, and in particular, to local law enforcement agencies in the rural counties, that we intend to maintain, not only civil liberties, but the public peace in this State," he said.

The forty-eight page report read by the Governor to the Committee covered practically every phase of the migratory labor problem in the State.

Economist Paul Taylor of the University of California presented an even lengthier survey of the problem in a testimony that covered his findings during twelve years of study.

Taylor drew a sharp line between the small farmer and the corporation type farmer in his approach to the labor problem. Over a third of the farmers in the State, he said, employed no hired labor at all.

"Plainly," Dr. Taylor said, "The activities of these small farmers, and the large additional percentage who employ but little labor, are no part of the problem which your Committee is here to study."

Page 2

Labor troubles in agriculture, he pointed out, "occurred between those individuals or corporations who are more properly called "agricultural employers" (rather than farmers) and the numerous workers they employ."

He warned that the migratory problem in California was a "preview" of what would happen in agricultural areas throughout the country.

"This very thought is startling -- every American farmer who is in the path of those forces is potentially an agricultural laborer who someday may be forced to depend for subsistence on wages earned by working on the land of another." Taylor showed.

The professor's lengthy report presents countless records and statistics to show that California agricultural labor troubles were far out of line with national averages. He also presented facts on the increase of absentee and corporation ownership of farm lands.

The hearings Wednesday were presided over by young Bob LaFollette (Prog. Wisc.) who listened with rapt attention to the story of California labor troubles. Both he and Senator Elbert Thomas, (D. Utah) interrupted testimony to ask pertinent questions on the nature of the State's problem.

At the hearings' opening Wednesday, Henry Fowler, chief counsel for the Committee, outlined the scope of the investigation with charts and records on labor troubles since 1933.

Out of 180 strikes, Fowler showed that acts of violence had been reported in 65. He presented further material that told of crops affected, reasons for strikes, and numbers of workers involved.

Preliminary hearings Monday called Associated Farmer leaders from 10 northern counties as well as State officers to produce files and records. Also subpoenaed were corporation representatives, county officials, and citizens committee leaders.

From the individuals called and the material collected, it was apparent that investigations would cover the Salinas lettuce strike in 1936, the Stockton Cannery Strike in 1937, the Earl Fruit company strike in Marysville this spring, and the recent cotton strike in Madera.

RURAL OBSERVER PRESS BUREAU

Release No. 2

4-2

TO LABOR EDITORS:

This is second of a series of releases you will
receive on the LaFollette Committee investigations in
California.

Because these investigations will deal with the
Associated Farmers, who have announced their plans of
forming a nation-wide organization to spread their
anti-labor program, the news will be important to all
parts of the country.

We, of course, have no money and would appreciate
it if you could send in enough to cover postage and such
items.

Yours,

EDITORS, The Rural Observer

SAN FRANCISCO, December 8. Crowds packed the hearing room in the post office building Monday, as the LaFollette Committee officially opened its long awaited investigation of the Associated Farmers and other anti-labor groups.

Governor Culbert Olson, called to testify on the opening day, sternly rebuked District Attorneys and sheriffs who had been involved in the recent cotton strike and demanded that they turn over materials requested by the Committee.

The officials, Sheriff W. O. Justice and District Attorney George Mordecai and Sheriff George Overholt, who had refused to supply subpoenaed records and files to the Committee, received telegrams from Olson which requested that they turn over the material immediately.

"I take advantage of this occasion to serve notice, to employers and to employees and in particular to local law enforcement agencies in the rural counties, that we intend to maintain, not only civil liberties, but the public peace in this State." the Governor said.

The sheriffs and District Attorneys in question had a few weeks ago permitted Associated Farmer goon squads to beat and harass cotton strikers in Madera and Fresno counties, and then later arrested and brought charges against the strikers.

"I intend to follow up such incidents as the disturbance in Madera this fall and to see to it, in this and in all other similar incidents, that the law is not enforced with an unequal hand," the Governor said further.

"As long as workers are not organized in California agriculture they are likely to be subjected to discriminatory treatment of one kind of another," he said.

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In the opening testimony Wednesday morning, Chief Counsel Henry Fowler, of the LaFollette Committee, presented the outline of the Committee's investigation and laid the ground for the hearings.

"Since 1933 there have been 183 strikes in California agriculture," he said. "In 65 of these acts of violence, civil and criminal disturbance have been reported."

Fowler presented further charts and statistics which showed California agricultural labor troubles and civil liberty violations far in excess of any part of the country. Speaking of county anti-picketing ordinances, Fowler showed that they coincided with the major agricultural areas and were almost identical in appearance. That the Associated Farmers sponsored these acts has long been claimed by the Simon J. Lubin Society and other farm authorities.

Paul Taylor, University of California economist, in a 10,000 word testimony gave a complete picture of the agricultural labor problem of the State and branched out to include the entire nation on some aspects. Taylor drew a sharp line between the small, working farmer and the Associated (corporation) farmer. He showed that over a third of the small farmers in the State employed no hired labor at all.

"Plainly," he said, "the activities of these small farmers, and the large additional percentage who employ but little labor, are not part of the problem which your committee is here to study." Labor troubles in agriculture, Taylor said, "occurred between those individuals or corporations who are more properly called 'Agricultural employers' (rather than farmers) and the numerous workers they employ." Warning that the migratory problem in California was a "preview" of what would happen in agricultural areas throughout the country, Taylor said,

"This very thought is startling -- every American farmer who is in the path of those forces is potentially an agricultural laborer who some day may be forced to depend for subsistence on wages earned by working on the land of another."

From the materials collected it was apparent that the committee would cover every major agricultural strike since 1933. In particular the recent cotton strike, the Earl Fruit Company strike in Marysville, the Salinas cotton strike, the Stockton cannery strike, and the Apricot strike in 1937 were mentioned, with plenty of dope on the waterfront.

At the close of the hearings Wednesday, the Committee adjourned until December 13, at which time witnesses will be called for further probing of anti-labor activities. The hearings will be open to the public.

MEMORANDUM

Jan. 20, 1940

TO: Mr. Henry H. Fowler

FROM: Senate Civil Liberties Committee Union

SUBJECT: Confirmation of meeting between Mr. Fowler and Union negotiating committee

(1) In answer to an inquiry about the schedule concerning staff extensions, etc., a wire was sent to Mr. Holstein. Schedule subsequently arrived.

(2) A wire was sent to ask the status of Mr. Arkin's appointment. Answer received.

(3) The former request of the Union for a budget statement was reiterated. A wire to Mr. Holstein was dispatched.

(4) The Union requested a statement of Mr. Fowler on the possibility of the Committee's paying to staff members who did not wish to make the return trip to Washington in the usual fashion, the equivalent in cash of rail fare home. Mr. Fowler said that he would investigate the possibilities of such action.

(4) It was agreed that efficiency ratings and job descriptions would be submitted to each individual member of the staff before being turned in to the agency concerned.

(5) It was agreed that seven days' per diem would be paid staff members for the trip home, and that the mileage allowance for those who will drive would be based on official figures for the southern route.

(6) Mr. Fowler made clear the meaning of the phrase "after necessary cleaning up of routine detail" from his previous memo, and estimated that a minimum of a week to 10 days would be required for such "cleaning up".

(7) Mr. Fowler instructed Miss Love to take further action in the matter of the stenographers' schedule, to include hiring of necessary personnel.

(8) Mr. Fowler agreed that an absolute minimum of two weeks leave as compensation for overtime would be granted each member of the staff. He also agreed that three weeks would be arranged is such a settlement was possible, and that staff members would be free to take such leave whenever desired before expiration of appointments, provided such members were not required for the writing of the record or report.

MEMORANDUM

Jan. 20, 1940

TO: Mr. Henry H. Fowler

MEMORANDUM

December 27, 1959

TO: Mr. Henry H. Fowler

SUBJECT: Staff Per Diam

In order to prevent any misunderstanding regarding the amount
of per diem to be paid to members of the staff of the Senate Civil
Liberties Committee while on the West Coast, the Senate Civil Liber-
ties Committee Union requests a written confirmation of the agreement
on this matter reached in September, 1959, in Washington.

It is the intention of the members of the Union now
in San Francisco that the agreement was as set forth in the Committee
Procedure Manual, Part I, Section 3, 1, with the exception that "four"
be inserted in the blank space in line seven of said paragraph.

At the time this agreement was made in Washington, there was
some discussion of a possible readjustment of the per diem rate in
the event that the $10,000 cushion was not required to maintain the
staff on the West Coast after February 1, 1960.

So that there can be adequate discussion of this matter, we
request a tentative budget statement.

December 23, 1939

TO: SENATE CIVIL LIBERTIES COMMITTEE UNION

FROM: Henry H. Fowler

SUBJECT: Staff Per Diem

In order to prevent any misunderstanding regarding the amount
of per diem to be paid to the staff of the Senate Civil Liberties Com-
mittee while on the West Coast, it should be stated:

(a) That the word "four" should be inserted in the blank space in Line 7 of Paragraph D, Part I of the Procedure Manual.

(b) That the substance for four months from the date of departure means the date of departure of each individual.

In accordance with the request for a tentative budget statement I am asking Miss Love to communicate with Mr. Holstein, Secretary of the Committee, and request that such a tentative budget statement be prepared immediately and submitted forthwith.

CC: Mr. Holstein
    Miss Love

December 28, 1939

TO: Mr. Holstein

FROM: Henry H. Fowler

SUBJECT: Staff Appointments

I am referring to you a copy of a memorandum I
have received from the Union. Will you prepare immediately
and transmit with several additional copies, information in
answering Items (a), (b), (d), (e) and (f).

Will you also furnish supplementary information
each week so that this very important matter can be kept up
to date continuously.

I know you have been thinking and acting continuously about this problem because of your various memoranda to me. It does seem appropriate now to inform the staff generally of the situation as it concerns each one so that we will avoid (a) unexpected terminations, (b) terminations before opportunity for taking earned leave as has been provided, (c) terminations before opportunity for assistance by the Chief Counsel and Secretary for permanent placement has been afforded.

CC: Miss Love

MEMORANDUM

December 27, 1959

TO: Mr. Henry R. Fowler

SUBJECT: Staff Assignments

(1) In order that the economic hardships of staff members changing residence may be minimized, the Union requests that full information concerning assignments and travelling orders be given promptly and with longer notice than in the past.

(2) The Union requests a complete statement of the plans of the Committee for the duration of the stay on the West Coast.

(3) The Union thinks it necessary that during, and immediately prior to, the next hearings a rigid schedule be adopted and adhered to which will regulate the working hours of the stenographic and clerical staff.

MEMORANDUM

December 27, 1939

TO: Mr. Henry H. Fowler

SUBJECT: Staff Appointments

1. The Union requests that there be prepared within one week of this date and maintained for inspection by any staff member in both S.F. and L.A. offices, schedules showing the following:

(a) Names of all staff members.

(b) Termination dates of present appointments or loans to the Committee.

(c) Whether or not the services of each will be required after such date.

(d) What, if any, arrangements have been made for the renewal of appointments or loans of staff members whose services will be required after the expiration dates of their current appointments or loans.

(e) The amounts of leave which will have accrued at the termination dates of the appointments of staff members whose appointments are temporary or contingent upon employment with the Committee.

(f) The dates on which staff members will have to cease work on the West Coast in order to return to Washington and take their leave prior to the expiration dates of their appointments.

2. The Union is at present considering the matter of compensation for overtime. The above mentioned schedules will necessarily have to be revised when adequate compensation for overtime has been agreed upon between the Union and the Chief Counsel.

3. The Union requests that the above mentioned schedules be continuously kept up to date.

MEMORANDUM

December 27, 1939

TO: Mr. Henry E. Fowler

SUBJECT: Staff Per Diem

In order to prevent any misunderstanding regarding the amount of per diem to be paid to members of the staff of the Senate Civil Liberties Committee while on the West Coast, the Senate Civil Liberties Committee Union requests a written confirmation of the agreement on this matter reached in September, 1939, in Washington.

It is the common recollection of the members of the Union now in San Francisco that the agreement was as set forth in the Committee Procedure Manual, Part I, Section B, 1, with the exception that "four" be inserted in the blank space in line seven of said paragraph.

At the time this agreement was made in Washington, there was some discussion of a possible readjustment of the per diem rate in the event that the $15,000 cushion was not required to maintain the staff on the West Coast after February 1, 1940.

Meeting, January 4, 1940, 5 P.M.

Rm. 525 New Post Office Building,
Los Angeles, California

The meeting was called to order by the President.

For the benefit of those not present at the meeting held on December 27, 1939, in San Francisco, the President described briefly the circumstances leading up to that meeting.

The minutes of the previous meeting were read, corrected to include the vote taken to reduce the initiation fee from $1.00 to $.25, and approved. Sister Vinton moved that the vote taken at the previous meeting be considered as proposing an amendment to the Constitution reducing the initiation fee and first month's dues from $1.00 to $.25 and suspending further monthly dues; and that, in conformity with Article VIII of the Constitution, the Constitution be so amended. Seconded. Carried unanimously.

Negotiating Committee Report: Chairman Vinton read the memoranda presented to Mr. Fowler at the December 27 meeting, and Mr. Fowler's answers thereto, point by point. Discussion.

In connection with the schedule of working hours for stenographic help, it was moved, after discussion, that Brother Wilson or Sister Vinton speak to Miss Love within the next day for the purpose of securing information as to when such a schedule will be completed and put into operation. Carried.

Moved that the Negotiating Committee contact Mr. Fowler and make an appointment to meet with him to ascertain what progress has been made on the various points raised in the memoranda between the Union and the Chief Counsel, and report back to the Union. Carried.

Brother Clark made a motion that the Negotiating Committee be thanked for their efforts in connection with the memoranda transmitted to Mr. Fowler and his replies thereto. Carried.

There was discussion on the point covered in the memorandum regarding time of return of the Los Angeles staff after close of the hearings to Washington. It was felt necessary to get clarification on the question of what is meant by "cleaning up" in Los Angeles after the close of the hearings--what staff members will be necessary, what they will be doing, how much time to be spent on it.

Discussion re reclassification of staff members. Brother Flato pointed out that, upon return of the staff members to Washington and their respective agencies, a request will be made by the agency to the Committee for efficiency

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ratings and job descriptions. He said that last year the Union sought to have the management submit such efficiency ratings to the individual concerned before transmitting them to the agency in question. It was felt that the Union should again make this request, and also request that job descriptions be submitted to the individual concerned for review.

Discussion on question of overtime. Brother Wilson reported on the system worked out last year with the management. Brother Flato said that Mr. Holstein had informed him that an effort would be made to give two weeks of overtime at the close of hearings in California to each member of the staff. Discussion. Moved and seconded that the Negotiating Committee take up the question with the Chief Counsel, asking for a minimum of two weeks leave for everyone. The amount of overtime in excess of the minimum to be asked for was left to the discretion of the Negotiating Committee after looking over the records available. Carried.

Moved that, since Sister Mary Roberts is not in Los Angeles, some other member of the Los Angeles staff be elected to the Negotiating Committee. Seconded. Carried. Brothers Abe Kramer and Charles Clift nominated. Brother Clift elected.

Brother Slosberg suggested that the Negotiating Committee raise three other questions with the Chief Counsel. First, amount of travel time and per diem to be allowed for return to Washington. Second, when staff members will be permitted to take the amount of overtime granted, before or after reporting to Washington. Third, whether or not there is to be any choice as to method and route of return travel to Washington--for example, will the Committee pay equivalent of railroad fare one way, via China if the staff member so desires.

NEW MEMBERS JOINING:

Tony Haber
Irene Hageman
Abe Kramer
Elaine Kramer
Ann Rosener
H. Slosberg
Sidney Zagri
M. J. Litwack

Meeting adjourned, 6:30 P.M.

Helen L. Slonaker,
Secretary-Treasurer

January 8, 1940

TO: Henry H. Fowler

FROM: Elwood W. Holstein

SUBJECT: Staff Appointments

There is transmitted herewith a schedule and accompanying
explanations which should enable you to answer the main questions posed
by the Union committee. The information is presented in the same
sequence as requested:

(a) Names of all staff members who are on temporary appointments expressly for the work of this committee are listed on the attached schedule. I will forward within two days a schedule covering those other employees regularly connected with Government payrolls and temporarily loaned to the committee. It does not appear that the problems of this latter group are as pressing as those of the temporary appointees.

(b) Termination dates are listed for all staff members holding temporary appointments. They should not signify, however, that every staff member will be carried till the end of the period listed opposite his name. For example, it may be found necessary to discharge an employee whose appointment still has considerable time to run, even when his accumulated leave has been deducted, in order that we can use the payroll credit thus established ( where civil service restrictions permit ) for the salaries of other staff members who, either because of seniority or their indisponsability to the committee, must be kept on for longer periods than are provided by the agencies previously paying their salaries.

(c) To be determined by the Chief Counsel.

(d) The schedule shows the arrangements that have been made and are being made for the extensions of temporary appointees. These extensions will carry the entire staff beyond the period needed for their work in California. Upon decision by the Chief Counsel as to whose services will be required after such date, renewed negotiations can be begun for further extensions of any whose appointments will not be of sufficient duration for this purpose. Those regularly assigned to Government agencies will be treated similarly, as will be explained in a separate memorandum.

- 2 -

Holstein to Fowler 1/8/40

(e) Schedule shows the approximate amounts of leave due the temporary appointees through January 31. There should not be a variance of more than 2 hours from the exact amounts due in any case. The base, January 31, was chosen because it is my impression that the California inquiry will be completed within a week or two after that date. It would not be practical to calculate the exact amounts due until it becomes more certain what disposition will be made of the staff at that time.

(f) It will be seen from the schedule that no one will be compelled, solely as a consequence of taking his accrued leave prior to appointment expiration date, to leave the West Coast before February 15.

MEMORANDUM

Jan. 20, 1940

TO: Mr. Henry H. Fowler

MEMORANDUM

Jan. 20, 1940

TO: Mr. Henry H. Fowler