Media
Issue Date
1943-10-22
Volume
5
Issue Number
29
Plaintext
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IF ANYONE ASKS A MAN
\T0 JOIN A UNION. I'LL'
\THR0WHIMINJA1L/
jj^>RE3RS JOQ
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ATLANTIC AND GULF DISTRICT,
SEAFARERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA
VOL. V. in NEW YORK. N.Y., OCTOBER. 22. 1943 No. 29
GULF ORGANIZING
DRIVE PLANNED BY
SEAFARERS & AFL
Gulf fishermen and towboatmen are going to be organized on a big scale under the
banner of the SIU! This was the good news that came out of the American Fe'deration
of Labor's annual convention held last week in Boston. The convention went on rec
ord unanimously to send AFL organizers into the area at once and bring the benefits of
unionism to those marine workers who are now being exploited by the shipowners and
fish buyers.
Kilgore Report Toes
NMU-Stalinist Line
Savannah Branch Wins
Fight To Crew Ships
Named For AFL Men
By Charles Waid
Don't know whether or not you have heard about the
launching of a ship by the Georgia Federation of Labor
here at Savannah, Ga., but the Georgia Federation of Labor
-put on a bond drive to pay for a Liberty ship and the
priviledge of naming it and when the bond drive was over
they found that they had sold^
enough bonds to pay for two
ships and name them. The first
of these, the S.S. Jerome Jones,
-was to be launched and the keel
for the other, the S.S. Robert
Fechnei-, was to be laid fhat same
day. Everything came .off ac
cording to schedule and the Jer
ome Jones was launched and the
keel for the Robert Fechner laid
in record time.
- I had taken it for granted that
this ship would be alloted to a
Company who had a contract
with the SIU but I found out that
the WSA had alloted the ship to
-the American Export Line; an
NMU outfit and they already had
'gotten a crew together and they
•were here in Savannah. Although
; the committee of the Georgia
.Federation of Labor had been in
jWashington 3 months prior to the
•launching to get this ship liamed
;for. a Labor Leader in Georgia,
the Board of Allocation claims
it was an over-sight on their part
in aiioting this ship to a com
pany with an-NMU-contract.
\irell, I really hit the ceiling:
.and got busy and contacted
everyone I knew who would be
able to hplp in straightening out
this matter. I wrote Dushane in,
Washington and Morgenthau, the
Sec.-Trpas., and it wasn't two
day's time before the South At
lantic Steamship Line called me
to inform me that they had been
' (Contimted on Page 2)
Labor Was Right;
Wage Hike Solves
Manpower Needs
Organized labor has been
proven right again in its conten
tion that good wages and decent
working conditions will "lick"
manpower shortages. The latest
"proof of the pudding" is at Boe
ing Aircraft in Seattle.
Several month? ago Boeing was
in a desperate, plight .because of
inability to recruit enough work
ers to meet military schedules for
flying Fortresses.
All sorts -Of propaganda meth
ods were tried in an endeavor to
mobilize needed help. The army
threatened to cancel contracts
right and left in the Seattle area
in order to -force workers out of
other plants, into Bpeing's.
BROWN CALLED IT
"NIBBLING"
President Harvey W. Brown of
the International Association of
Machinists, which has Boeing un-,
der a union shop agreement,
warned that these methods were
"mere nibbling" at the problem.
'The "real trouble," he said, is
that wage rates were too low
compared with shipyards and
{Continued on Page 3)
By Matthew Dushane
Senator Harry M. Kilgore, Chairman of the subcom
mittee on War Mobilization, submitted a report to Con
gress on October 7th. This report dealt with mobilization
of shipping resources.
Pages No. 1 to 3 deals with "Summary of Findings."
Under this heading the commit-•
tee reports on the surrender of
Italy, and the crumbling of the
Axis powers. However, the re
port lays special stress upon the
tonnage of merchant ships avail
able and recommends that the
bulk of the tonnage be diverted
to the Atlantic in an all out ef
fort towards the complete elim
ination of Hitler and his Euro
pean satellites;
It is interesting to note the po
sition taken in the report regard
ing the South Pacific Theatre of
operations.
"Today, with our military
shipping divided almost evenly
between the Pacific and the
Atlantic', we can conduct only
limited operations against the
Japaneg.e while mounting a
major offensive in Europe. In
short, concentrating shipping
in the Atlantic is three times
as effective as in the Pacific.
Three times as many troops
can be transported, three times
the volume of munitions can
be carried to batter down the
more powerful enemy."
On pages No. 4 and 5 we find
some more statements that are
very interesting.
"The unexpected drop in
sinkings and the unprecedent
ed ship building program in
the first 8 months of 1943, tem
porarily outran the military
and civilian transport pro
grams . . . essential lend-lease
supplies of munitions and food
have been cut repeatedly for
alleged lack of shipping space.
(Continued on Page 4)
The request for AFL aid in or
ganizing this area was presented
to the convention in a resolution
submitted by Brothers Harry
Lundeberg, John Mogan and Pat
McHugh. The SIU delegates
point out to the convention the
fact that our union did not have
the funds with which to launch
an organizing drive of the scale
needed to cover the Gulf. The
convention's committee on reso
lutions studied the SIU request,
and submitted the following re
port to the assembled delegates:
"Your committee gave con
siderable attention and time to
this resolution and had before
it the sponsors, as well as Di
rector of Organization Frank
P. Fenton.
"The woric outlined in the
resolution covers a tremendous
area, practically the entire salt
water shore line of the United
States, but apparently the most
needs seem to be in the Gulf
area.
"Your committee recom
mends that the Executive
Council and the Director of Or
ganization assign organizers to
the Gulf Coast area to attempt
to work out an organizing pro
gram among the fishermen and
(Continued on Page 3)
Notables at the AFL Convention in Boston which closed last week after voting to aid the
SIU in organizing the Gulf towboatmen and fishermen. Left to right: AFL Secretary-Treasurer
George Meany, Under-Secretary of War Robert Patterson, Major General Sherman Miles and
AFL President William Green.
•- «•
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' Page Two THE SEAFARERS LOG Friday. October 22. 1943 1
I u;
U
SEAFARERS LOG
Published by the
SEAFARERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION
OF NORTH AMmiCA
Atlantic and Galf District
Affiliated with the American Federation of Labor
HARRY LUNDEBERG ------ President
110 Market Street, San Francisco, Calif.
JOHN HAWK ------- Secy-Treas. '
P. Q, Bo$-25,<g6i'':ion P., J^Iew 3ferk City
MATTHEW DUSHANE - - - yiTasdnngton JRjep, ,
424 Jth Street, N. W., Washington, D. C.
• V * !4PS
Directory of Branches
;fRepoT?T orv
^^ASHIIVSrOIV
E-* •
BRANCH ADDRESS PHONE
NEW YORK (4) 2 Stone St BOwHng Green 9-3437
BOSTON (10) 330 Atlantic Ave Liberty 4057
BALTIMORE (2) ,14 North Cay St Calvert 4539
PHILADELPHIA 6 North 6th St, Lombard 7651
NORFOLK 25 Commercial PI Norfolk 4-1083
NEW ORLEANS (14) ..309 Chartres St Canal 3336
SAVANNAH 218 East Bay St Savannah 3-1728
TAMPA 423 East Piatt St Tampa MM-1323
MOBILE 55 So. Conception St Dial 2-1392
PUERTO RICO 45 Ponce de Leon Puerto de TIerra
GALVESTON 219 20th Street Galveston 2-8043
FT. LAUDERDALE 2021 S. Federal Highway... Ft. Lauderdale 1601
PUBLICATION OFFICE;
ROOM 213, 2 STONE STREET
New York City BOwling Green 9-8345
E£tor's Mail Bag
Crew Benounces Slop Chest Chisel
Editor;
We, members of the SIU,
would very much like the slop
chest situation ort these Liberty
ships investigated. The case of
ours, the S.S. J. G. Hibben, is be
yond description. We know :that
any action taken ,by the .union
w-ill be too late to do us any .good
but prompt action by the union
officials may make it a lot easier
for any brothers who have the
misfortune to be caught in a like
manner.
We have been informed that
the slop chest is no longer in the
Captain's hands, but is now the
property of the Maritime Com
mission. If so, we understood the
Government supported the Mari
time Commission pnd we want
to know who is collecting the;
profit, or shall we say graft.
The quality of these articles in
the slop chest is not worth men-;
tioning as everything is second,
•or third hand merchandise and
the quantity is so small that wc;
are at sea about one and a half
months an,d the supply is running
out. Needless to say the prices
on these articles is not second or
third class prices but first class.
•Some articles are. not even on
. board, such as heavy underwear,
which is in direct violation of the
articles we signed. This was real
necessary for going around the
Horn in mid-winter. The heavy
socks are all thirds and there are
no white socks to be had. One
crew member tried to buy a
small size pair of dungarees and
bad to settle for a pair of navy
dungarees that was traded in to
the slop chest. Even these were
two sizes too large. Tlie shoe,
situation tops them all; we are
paying $4.12 a pair for shoes that
could be bought ashore for one
half that price or even less. They
Are all rubber soled and heeled—
they should ^never be allowed in
the engine room and are so
poorly made they fall apart in a
month's time. That is, of course,
providing they don't get wet as
the cardboard in them comes out
much faster if they get wet.
Shorts are so that after one
washing you could use them for
mosquito nets and the handker
chiefs are made to sell for ten
cents but they have all been re
jected, so they do us the iavor
of letting us have them for nine
cents. They have no large sizes
in kakhi shirts or small sizes in
kakhi pants. All the articles they
have are too large for the small
fellows and too small for the big
fellows. We do not know whether
or not this has been brought to
the union'.s attention before and
we hope the situation is rem^
edied so it will not have to be
brought up again, and we also
would like to know the outcome
of this affair on our return.
CREW OF THE
S. S. J. G. HIBBEN
ADVERTISEMENT
PHILLIPSBURG, N. J..
October 5 — A torpedoed
seaman, home on a month's
leave, applied for a new "A"
gasoline ration book to re
place one he lost. The OPA
said he would have to ad
vertise the loss before an
other could be issued.
He placed the following ad
in an Easton, Pa., paper:
"LOST —In Mediterranean
Bea, "A" gas ration book.
Horace A. Smith, 574 Con
gress St., Phillipsburg."
C. -Waid, Agent, SIU, Savan
nah: G. Wakefield, field repre
sentative of the RMO, sent a let
ter to several S.S. companies and
the union, to the effect that the
union ...apd the., .RMO- .had-.,.an.
agreement whefeby if in any
port .there was a shortage of men,
the RMO would supply union
men from the next nearest port.
In this case the Savannah agent
was informed by the RMO that
SIU union men were available
in Charleston, and that the SIU
agent would have to get his re
placements from Charleston in
the future and not the Gulf.
The union has no agreement;
with the RMO as outlined by Mr.
G. Wakefield. Our contracts caU
for the union to supply men to
the employers' vessels, and they
must be supplied from our
union hiring halls. Charleston
has no SIU hall, therefore the
Savannah agent has the author-;
ity to get replacements from the;
Gulf. However, the agent may;
make some kind of an arrange
ment with the RMO to ship SIU'
union men who may be in
Charleston.
Any arrangement that the Sa
vannah agent may reach with
the RMO would have to be ap
proved by the membership. This,
I feel, should be done to protect
the membership of the SIU,
otherwise the RMO will be load
ing SIU ships with non-union and
NMU men, who will be enjoying
the benfits of the SIU contracts
while SIU men pound the beach
and be subject to induction into
the army for over-staying the al
lotted time ashore.
J. Flanagan, Agent, SIU, Balti
more: Several crew members of
the S.S. Walker Taylor requested
to be paid off of the vessel 24
hours after all cargo was dis
charged. Master refused. Crew
left the vessel and • they were
given a six months' suspension
by the 9.G.
This was done on the grounds
that there was ballast in the hold.
The ballast had been in the hold,
for three trips, aiid the vessel
started to reload with the same
ballast still aboard!
Advised Agent Flanagan to re-i
quest a rehearing on the case and!
also request a transcript of the'
proceedings on the original trial.
The trial was held in Norfolk.
Flanagan advised that, he would
contact the agent there and relay
all the information he has ofi the
case.
Regarding the food shortage on
the Seas Shipping Company
scow, the WSA is working on
this case.
M. Trainor, Agents, SIU, Nor
folk: Re:S.S. ( ) and crew's
claim for an attack bonus, the
board has sent the following
communication:
"We have determined that
the attack on Algiers, during
the .morning of August 27th,
1943; consequently, port attack
bonus is payable to the crew
menibers of the S.S. I )
if this vessel was at Algiers at
the time of the attack on this
date."
Advised all Agents to tack a
copy of this on their bulletin
board so that they can .enter a
claim for the crew members who
were on the ship at the time of
the attack.
NATIONAL
WAR LABOR BOARD
The Maritime panel will meet
Monday and Tuesday. The
MM&P has ten cases — M£1BA
has eleven cases—^NMU has one,
case—ACA, one case — Comm.'
Telegraphers Union, one case—
Inland Boatmen, CIO, -one case,
SAVANNAH BRANCH
WINS CREWING OF
SPONSORED SHIPS
{Continued from Page 1)
allotted the Jerome Jones and I
could get busy and get them a
crew together. Well, J had
enough men registered in this
port for a whole crew without
having to get one gandy dancer.
So there she sailed, a ship paid
for by the Georgia Federation of
Labor and manned by an SIU
crew.
Have also heard that the WSA
has already alloted the S.S. Rob
ert Fechner to the South Atlantic
Steamship Line, to be turned
over to them when she is com
pleted.
Shipping in this port for the
last couple of weeks has really
been good. Shipped everyone
with pants on that I could get
my hands on, and I mean I real
ly. picked this town clean and am"
still looking for sailors and es
pecially ABs. Shipping surely
does look bright in this port for
the next couple of weeks. I will
be needing men with all ratings
in all departments and, don't,
have anyone registered here. Any
of you men who are ready to
ship out can come on down here
and do so. Don't think you will
be on the beach for long from
the way things have been going. I
Have really had me on the run
looking for men lately.
New Insignia
For Merchant
Seamen
MONEY DUE
EMIL DUPONT: You have 211/2
hours overtime coming from the
Calmar Line.
• • •
Crew whicli paid off the S. S.
William Balterson, October 1943,
have an attack bonus coming.
Collect Bull Line.
• * •
SHELTON and*DOWLING of
the last trip of the S. S. Gebrge
E. Hale, have disputed overtime
coming. Collect at Waterman
Line.
• • *
Deck Department of S. S. Peter
Zingas which paid off Oct. 1943,
have overtime coming. Collect
from Bull Line.
* « •
Steward's Department of S. S.
Kofresi, which psdd off Oct. 1943,
have money coming for extra
meals. Collect Waterman Lind!
Steward's Department of S. S.
Peter Sanger, Voyage No. 1, see
New York Patrolman Hart con
cerning extra meals and bonus
money coming.
All American merchant sea
men arc to receive identifying
insignia under a recent authori
zation by Congress, the Wat;
Shipping Administration reveal
ed last week. Seamen and of
ficers who have served in Ameri
can vessels since Dec. 7, 1941, or;
on any foreign fiag vessels oper
ated for the United States Mari
time Commission or WSA, will
be eligible to wear the new em
blem.
The Seamen's Service Awards
Committee will be responsible
for the issuance of the insignia,
which will be a circular gold and
silver emblem, consisting of a
background of a compass card in
gold on which is mounted a Fed
eral shield in silver with a sup
erimposed gold anchor with Uni
ted States Merchant Marine let
tered around the medal.
The WSA has also authorized,
under similar Congressional ac
tion, ithe award of Mariner's Med
als, Combat Bars, War Zone
Bars and service fiags and but
tons in further recognition of
meritorious war service by sea
men. The Mariner's Medal is to
be awarded to men who are
wounded or suffer physical in
jury in enemy action. The com
bat bar is being issued to seamen
who serve in a ship which is di
rectly attacked or damaged by
an instrumentality of war. The
War Zone Bars will be present
ed for service in war theatres.
The merchant marine service
fiag and service lapel buttons
are for display by members of
the immediate families of sea
men serving in the American
Merchant Marine during the war
period. The service button, of
enameled - metal, will carry a
miniature design of the service
flag.
CARL JACOBSON
See Mr. Williams, Rooln 1045,
42 Broadway, New York City.
NORMAN RENNINGER
Contact Miss Ada Harrison,
3819 Manila Ave., Oakland, Calif.
Si
;
ILO Marine Division, Five tow-
boat companies in Baltimore. SIU
Great Lakes, involving appr(>x-
imately 32 companies. SIU, At
lantic & Gulf District, Smith &
Johnson Company.
-• All cases that are refercd td
the National War Board for ap
proval, under the boards ruling
must be processed by the board's
analyist. The panel is then given
the results of the work the ham
and eggers do, and are supposed
to act on the anlyist's report.
• .1 -'-'i t Mii'f " 1^' " • •-i)
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http://www.pdfcompressor.org/buy.html
;Fj;iday,October 22, 1943 THE SEAFARERS LOG Pag© ThxM 7
Gulf Organizing Drive Launched
•y
{Continued front Page 1)
Jow boalmen in lhat ierrilory
on a Ixial basis."
Brother Frank Fenton will now
consult with Lundeberg and East
Coast officials, and organizers
•will be appointed and sent to
•work in the very near future.
Already requests for aid have
%een coining into SIU headquar
ters from towboatmen and fisher-
tmen throughout the south, indi-
,eating thai these workers - know
.the score on unionism and what
4t can do for them. Hundreds of
•workers are merely waiting the
.appearance of an BIU man to
sign them up.
But make no mistake, the
tshipowners are waiting also—de-
•termined that their workers shall
-not receive decent wages and
working conditions. There is a
stiff struggle ahead, but" we are
.certain that before long the Gulf
•coast is going to be union!'
Following is the text of the
SIU resolution presented to the
AFL convention:
WHEREAS, The members of
the Executive Committee of the
Seafarers' International Union of
North America has petitioned the
American Federation of Labor
for assistance in organizing a
large group of 30,000 worrkers in
•the fishing industry from Browns
ville, Texas, at the Mexican Bor-
<Jer to Norfolk, Virginia, and
throughout the Pacific Coast and
Alaskan territories, and
WHEREAS, The Seafarers' In
ternational Union of North Am
erica has established local unions
•throughout the Nation, some of
which have been operated with
only partial success, while local
unions in the New England
states and Pacific Coast Ports
-have been operated with total
•success, and
WHEREAS, The Seafarers' In-'
-ternational Union has striven
diligently to organize the fishing
industry, and ,
WHEREAS, Their financial
.ability is so limited as to prohibit
, an organizing drive on a large
•scale, due to the fluctuating op-
lerations such as confront the sea-
jnen, fishermen and fish cannery
workers during the war period,
and
, WHEREAS, They have exten
sive information regarding the
fishing industry, and
WHEREAS, They have defin
ite proof that wholesale exploita
tion is taking place relative to
the fishermen who deliver the
•catch, and
WHEREAS, Large groups of
these fishermen live on incomes
which are actually lower than
those of the sharecroppers of the
deep south, and
WHEREAS, The officers of the
Seafarers' International Union of
North America, further petition
the American Federation of La-,
for to lend assistance in a prob
lem involving Towboatmen,
which problem has ari.sen in the
past few months and is due sole
ly to the war effort and enemy
.submarine activities, and
WHEREAS, The United States
•Government has construe ted
some 5d0 new tug boats and large
numbers of oil barges which are
to be operated on otir inland
waterways, and
WHEREAS, They have been
successful in establishing a Tow-
boatmen's Union in New Orleans,
Louisiana, with some of the ma
jor operators in the peacetime
period, and
WHEREAS, It now develops'
that these new oil barges arc to'^
be operated on a twelve-hour!
work day baisis, and
•WHEREAS, They find that the
Government agencies have
awarded these barges to compan
ies having a twelve-hour work;
dhy and no union relations, and
WHEREAS, The Seafarers' In-,
ternational lUnicn is unable to'
attempt this widespread organi
zing campaign at this critical
time, and
WHEREAS, Their sea-going;
members are being shifted from
one part of the nation to another,
and
WHEREAS, Because of the war
they are compelled to establish
temporary offices and "inove out
to little ports never before hearc
of, which has involved an in
crease in personnel and a corres
ponding increase in overhead ex
pense, and
WHEREAS, They find that the
amount of revenue the interna
tional has on hand with which to
operate renders the situation to
an impossible status, and
WHEREAS, They further fee
that unless the American Feder
ation of Labor can come to their
rescue in this war emergency
that some dual or would-be dual
union is likely to intervene, and
WHEREAS, A Federally own
ed Corporation known as Federal
Barge Lines, which operates all
traffic on the Mississippi River
has established an eight-hour day
with overtime in excess of eight
hours, therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Ameri
can Federation of Labor now in
convention assembled at Boston,
Massachusetts, goes on record to
give the Seafarers' International
Union of North America the ne
cessary financial assistance to
carry through to a successful
conclusion an organizing cam
paign among the fishermen,
bargemen, and towboatmen in
the above mentioned field.
AFL MEMBERSHIP
SHOWS BIG GAIN
BOSTON — The dues - paid
membership of the AFL at the
end of its fiscal year, Aug. 31,
1943, stood at 5,939,021, Secre
tary-Treasurer George Meany re
ported to the convention.
This represents a net gain of
457,440 members since the last
annual report made to the Tor
onto convention in 1942.
However, the total does not
include the membership of the
International Association of Ma
chinists which paid per capita
tax on 328,500 members in 1942
but withdrew its affiliation in the
past year. Thus the gross gain in
new members for the year was
actually 785,940.
Mr. Meany also submitted a
detailed financial report for the
year, showing receipts of $2,-
422,934 and expenditures of $2,-
010,029, with a balance on hand
of $1,680,076 at the end of the
fiscal year. Receipts and expen
ditures are broken down into
separate and detailed categories.
Reports received from affili
ated unions showed that they
had paid out a total of $22,965,-
611 in death, sick, unemploy
ment, dir ability and other bene
fits to members during the year.
iVfachinists
Return To
Fedemtion
BOSTON, Oct. 7—^The mem
bership of the American Federa
tion of Labor was brought to 6,-
564,141, the highest in its history,
today by the return of the Inter
national Association of Machin
ists.
Announcement that the machr
inists' union, which left the AFL
on May 27 because of a jurisdic
tional dispute with the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters, was
ready to return to the fold was
made by George Meany, AFL
secretary, at today's convention
session.
After long applause the dele
gates ratified a report of the ex
ecutive council which contained
a letter from Harvey W. Brown,
president of the machinists'
union, stating that his union was
withdrawing its resignation.
The machinists, said Mr.
Meany, had 625,160 members and
were now restored in full stand
ing, as they had paid their per
capita tax for the months since
May. The amount was $45,281.
President William Green, who
welcomed the machinists back,
said that the negotiations which
preceded settlement of the juris
dictional dispute proved that good
sense, tolerance and fairness in
negotiations usually resulted in
ending such disputes.
Inasmuch as the United Mine
Workers are assured of reinstate
ment in the AFL within a rea
sonable time, delegates today ex
pressed satisfaction that the fed
eration would have a member
ship of 7,164,141 once the 600,000
miners were back in the fold.
Around The Ports
BOSTON
Labor Was Right;
Wage Hike Solves
Manpower Needs
I attended the AFL Conven
tion that was held in Boston the
past two weeks, along with
Brother Pat McHugh, Secretary
of the Atlantic Fishermen's
Union.
Your union, the SIU had a res
olution requesting the AFL to
put on organizers to organize
the fishermen and towboatmen
in the Gulf. As a delegate to the
AFL Convention, yours truly,
along with Brother Pat McHugh,
had to appear before the resolu
tions committee to show cause
why these organizers were need
ed. After explaining to the com
mittee the geographical outlay
and the territory that must be
covered, the committee recom
mended to the executive council
that our resolution be concurred
in.
It was brought out at the Con
vention " that over two million
members of organized labor are
now serving in the armed forces.
Joseph P. Ryan, President of
the International Longshoremen's
Association, took the floor and
gave quite a talk on what the
seamen were doing and paid
great tribute to the late Andrew
Furuselh, also Harry Lundebeig,
Duke Dushane and Whitey
Hawk.
I would like to remind the
members of our union to stress
the importance of the Social Se-
ciurity Act to the members of
their family or dependents, that
in the event thai-they pass on to
contact the' nearest Social Se
curity Board and put in a rlainfiT
If they fail to make a claim with
in a certain period they wiU lose
all rights under the Social Secur
ity Act.
The Port of Boston is experi
encing the heaviest shipping rec
ord in history. We are having
quite a few West Coast ships
here and I believe there should
be a West Coast representative
stationed here in Boston as they
have as many as four to six
ships here daily.
At this time I would like to
mention that the five Flaherty
Brothers, John, Cy, Bill, Eddie, I
forgot the other boy's name, have
all received their tickets and are
sailing as mates or engineers. I
believe this makes some sort of
a record.
A salute to our galldnt mem
bers.
JOHN MOGAN, Ageni
JhiL. ^tahcA, fiMAAu —
MANPOWER PROBLEM EXAGGERATED
IN ORDER TO SMEAR AMERICAN LABOR
{Continued from Page 1) .
other war industries in the re
gion.
After attempting every other
nostrum, government officials
finally decided to try Brown's
remedy." Army chieftains des
cended on the National War La-
jor Board and demanded that it
grant a substantial raise to Boe
ing workers ,regardless of "hold
the line" regulations or other or
ders. The board complied, re
classifying the workers so as to
give them increases of about 15
cents an hour, Tt did so, it said,
only as an "experiment."
This week, it was revealed the
"experiment" has been a spectac
ular success. "Business Week," a
magazine of industry, far from
partial to workers, made a
checkup and found that workers
are flocking into the Boeing plant
at so rapid a rate thgt the com
pany may soon have to put out
"no help wanted" signs.
Whereas employment previous
ly was dropping, the company in
three weeks was able to make a
net gain in its rolls of 1,518
workers, and the rate of increase
is growing each week.
Have the "brass hats" and
other government officials delib
erately exaggerated the serious
ness of the manpower situation
in order to foist shackles on the
nation's workers?
On the pretext of a critical
scarcity of labor, army and navy
chiefs, with.the backing of Tories
in Congress, have been clamoring
for a so-called "national service"
law, under which workers would
be drafted for the profit of pri
vate employers.
However, confidential figures
circulated among research men
in the War Production Board and
War Manpower Commission,
which LABOR was privileged to
see, revealed this week that the
manpower shortage, for the coun
try as a whole, is much less crit-
1943, to July, 1944, to replace men
inducted into the armed forces
and to supply additional workers
to war industries.
Thus, if Princeton is right
and the enormous waste it cites
were eliminated, the country
would have a surplus rather
than lack of workers .
Princeton's report blames the
appalling squander of labor di
rectly on managements. "Ineffi
cient managerial conditions, poSr
plant layout, lack of cooperation
between department heads, in
terruptions of work caused by
poor scheduling" are among
abuses listed in the report.
Bad working conditions are al
so described as a major factor in
wastage of labor. Lack of ade
quate grievance machinery, un-
ical than the public has been led healthful ̂ surroundings, tyrannic
al foremen, complicated wage
setups, failure of management to
take workers into their confi
dence are evils recorded by the
university.
"Do not expect the employe to
accept unnecessary hardships in
the working environment just
because it is war-time," the uni
versity emphasizes. "In encour
aging employes to give steadily
the .maximum ..in - ..production,
management must maintain
working conditions conductive to
employe well-being."
—Labor
to believe.
An even more sensational dis
closure as to manpower came
from Princeton University. No
one needs be told that Princeton
is not a champion of organized
labor, yet, in an independent
study made by its department of
economics, the university arrived
at the conclusion that employers
are wasting the equivalent of 5,-
000,000 workers.
That's at least a million more
than the very highest govern
ment estimate of labor needed
for the 12 months from July,
ATLANTIC AND GULF SHIPPING FOR
WEEK OF SEPT, 27th TO OCT, 8th
DECK ENGINE STEWARD TOTAL
SHIPPED 680 344 582 1606
REGISTERED 530 397 380 1307
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Page Four THE SEAFARERSLOG Friday, October 22, 1943
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5b •.
WAR PROFITS GO UP AND UP
Kilgore Report Toes
NMU-Stalinist Line
{Continued from Page 1)
In the case of Russia, shipping
space has been allocated for
only two-thirds of the muni
tions and food promised under
the protocal."
The repoi't then goes on and
gives a great plug in for the War
Shipping Administration. It
states that the WSA should have
charge of all shipping from the
factories to the final destination.
It blasts the Army and other
government agencies, and throws
Orchids at the WSA.
Then the East Coast Long
shoremen are taken over the
hurdles, and the set-up on the
West Coast under the domination
of Hdrry Bridges is given the
green iight and is supposed to be
a bed of roses and is recommend
ed for the East Coast. However,
in regards to the wage question
no mention is made that Harry
Bridges is pleading that the
wages of the East Coast Long
shoremen are receiving are high
er than the West Coast and that
they should be granted an in
crease. This is being done under
the usual ballyhoo of stabiliza
tion.
The Merchant seamen are then
given a flock of orchids, but it
is interesting to note in what di
rection the_ line runs.
"The men who man our mer
chant ships are doing a magni
ficent job. The crews are ef
ficient and their morale is
high. Adequate number of sea
men have volunteered or have
been recruited so that ships
sail fully manned and with
only negligible delays. The
number of seamen on Ameri
can ships has nearly doubled
.in the last year. There have
been no strikes. Discipline has
been excellent in spite of the
difficult living and working
conditions imposed by wartime
conditions. Despite high casu
alties from enemy attacks, la
bor turnover has been lower
than in war industries ashore.
American seamen have deliv
ered the goods."
From the above it would seem
that the seamen are at last get
ting credit from a government
committee on the splendid work
that they are doing. However,
' there is a reason for the above
build-up, and here it is.
"American seamen are he
roes. Thousands have died
under bombardment and tor
pedo attack. They and their
' organizations, particularly the
National Maritime Union, have
" acquitted ̂ themselves with hon
or. The appreciation of
American people is theirs.'
Well, there, you have it,
•mention is" made of the
no other branch of wat indus
try has there been a manpower
agency so well equipped to
meet its responsibilities. It has
done a good job."
The above quotation on the
committee's report deals onl;'
with the WSA division, headed
by Captain Edward Macauley.
The committee, in putting a plug
in for Captain Macauley's di
vision of the WSA, follows the
usual line that is carried in the
Pilot.
When a fisherman who knows
his business goes fishing, he
would use the bait most appro
priate for the fish that he intends
to catch. In the final analysis of
the report, it boils down to these
simple facts:
1. The committee went out of
thpir way to lay the ground
work on the Commies argument
for a second front. Which was
picked up and published in the
Daily Worker the same day that
the committee's report was made
public.
2. The plug for the WSA, and
when mention is made regarding
the WSA it means Captains Mac
auley's division, certainly fur
ther leads us into the belief that
the Captain's division has and is
playing ball with the Commies
of the NMU.
3. The plug regarding the West
Coast longshoremen, under the
Control of Harry Bridges, and
the particular stress laid on the
NMU activities in this war, lead
us to the following conclusions:
That some members on the
staff of the committee are either
Commies or fellow-travelers.
The report states that Henry
H. Collins, Jr., is the executive
secretary; other staff members
included Lincoln Fairley and
Leigh Athern. These three staff
members are cited by the attor
ney general as being members
and sponsors of subversive set
ups fronting and controlled by
the Communist Party. Leigh
Athern was connected with the
"YANKS ARE NOT COMING"
movement on the Pacific Coast.
And that, my friends, is how
Russia operates.
The table below sets forth a comparison between the wartime profits of twenty-
nine prominent American corporations and the profits they made before the war bo6m'
developed. It is a question of great concern to all Americans whether our distribution
of war income is disproportionately increasing the size of incomes received by wealthy
individuals and large companies. i
• In addition, workers have a (Figues are in thousands of dollars)
1936-39
Company Average
American Car ft Foundry 72
American Locomotive 1,462
Atfl^rican Rolling Miii Co 4',346
American Type Founders, Inc. 131
American Woolen Co -—831
Aviation Corp —599
Bath Iron Work 260
Bendix Aviation Corp 2,627
Bethlehem Steel Corp 19,269
Blaw Knox Co. 1,257
Borg-Warner Corp 5,585
Budd (Edw. G.) Mfg. Co 236
Crosley Corp 258
Crucible Steel Co. of Am. 1.901
Fairfield Aviation 274
General Electric Co 44,115
Jones ft Laughlin 1,580
Mack Trucks, Inc 620
Martin (Glenn L.) Co 2,084
Otis Elevator Co 2,696
Pullman, Inc 6.232
Remington Arms Co., Inc 1,185
Republican Steel Corp 5,801
Sperry Corp 3,986
Studebaker Corp 1,040
United Aircraft Corp 5,161
United States Steel Corp 45,098
Westinghouse Mfg. Co 14,674
Youngslown Sheet ft Tube Co. 6,785
Per- First Half 1943
eentage compared to
$ 7,056 9700 Unavailable
7,552 417 + 175
9,231 114 + 12
2,161 1550 + 86
6,824 + 37
5,324 + 1
3,743 1340 + 129
15.890 505 + 3
38,188 98 + 5
2,276 81 + 34
9,716 74 + 17
5,222 2113 —35
i:738 574 ^599
8,308 337 —3
1,131 313 + 23
62.081 41 —11
11,143 605 —2
4,488 624 —5
9,659 363 Unavailable
5,273 96 + 46
17,042 173 —19
7.354 521 + 91
20,187 248 —26
7,945 99 + 77
2,548 145 + 152
20,994 307 + 47
96,819 115 Unavailable
21,216 45 + 86
13,564 100 —6
HERE'S THE RECORD
ON MEMBERS OF THE
KILGORE COMM.
LEIGH, ATHERN — Graduate
of University of California and
Harvard Law School. In 1938-39,
Attorney for Lafollette Commit
tee hearings in California. In
1939, labor relations counsel and
Ihe administrative assistant, Cali
fornia State Relief Administra-
no' tion. January, 1941 to date, prin-
i;
I
AFL cipal Attorney, Office of Price
-Unions. The committee put a , Administration,'Washington, D.C,
•plug in for the unions affiliated j The Western Worker 2/11/37
with the CIO, and praises in shows him a member of the Citi-
-particular the NMU. Now let's [ zens Committee for Repeal of the
see what the committee's views San Francisco Anti-Picketing Gr
ave on the WSA.
"The War Shipping Admin
istration, in the office of the
f.
deputy administrator for labor
gelations, manning, training
and recruitment has been op-
dance. Notice of a meeting of the
People's Legislative Conference,
held 2/27/37, named Athern as
Secretary.
Articles appearing in Peoples
World, 5/14/40 stated Athern, a
erating an adequate recruit- j delegate on Ellis Patterson's slate
ment and training program. In in the "recent presidential pri
mary" will analyze the election
returns at a meeting of Labor's
Non-Partisan League's club.
6/21/40 i,s.sue of the San Fran
cisco Chronicle named him as a
sponsor of the "Peace Ballot'
conducted by the San Francisco
Coordinating Council for Peace,
which was branded by the West
Coast police as Stalinist in
spired.
Mr. Harper L. Knowles, Chair
man of the radical research com
mittee of the American Legion,
Department of California, testi
fying before an executive hearing*
of the Congressional committee
on Un-American activities at
San Francisco, Cal., on 8/2#/40;
(Executive hearings, page 1496
and 1497).
THE CHAIRMAN — "Do you
know any other official whose
name is on this letterhead who is
a member of the Communist-
Party — Mary Moore, for in
stance?"
Mr. Knowles—^"I am not in a
position to verify her member
ship in the party. You are look
ing at the face of the letterhead.
On the reverse side ai'e other
names. Dr. Thomas Addis is a
known commuhist; Leigh Athern
is a known communist."
Mr. Stedman —"Wasn't Leigh
Athern attorney for the LaFol-
lette committee on the Pacific
Coast?"
Mr. Knowles—"He was inves
tigator ' for the LaFollette Com
mittee in their California hear
ings, and according to informa
tion supplied me, was active in
gathering official information.
That is, information in offcial
files for the committee and also
the Communist Party. Much of
the material that , he covered
during his' investigation showed
up in communist literature. For
instance, in the Harry Bridges
deportation trial."
"Other known Communists
mentioned by Mr, Knowles as be
ing on the above mentioned let
terhead with Athern were —
Louise Bransten, Germaino
Bulcke, J. Vernon Burke, Revels
Cayton, Rikc-e R. Elesser, Lou
Goldblatt, Sam Jaye, Alex Noral.
All the others appearing on the
letterhead are active fellow
travelers, known to us here in
the Bay area as such."
Affidavit of Arthur James
Kent, County of Los Angeles,
State of California, to the Con
gressional Committee on Un-
American activities, dated 11/2/38
—(Excerpts from this affidavit
are as follows) "1 make this af
fidavit voluntarily, at my own
initiative. In the years 1932-33-
34-35-36 and until Sept., 1937, 1
was a member of the Commun
ist Party; and in the years 1936-
37 1 was a membership director
of the Communist Party at San
Francisco, and in charge of po
litical activity of the Party. I
was personally acquainted with
the leading members of the Com
munist Party in California in
those years. For almost a year
prior to June 1937, a strategy
committee of the Communist
Party would meet with certain
members of the California Legis
lature, and sometimes also with
justified grievance against large
profits at a time when their own
incomes have been subjected to
severe controls .
Many of the companies listed
in the table have inultiplied-
their pre-war profits so rapidly
that taxes have been unable to
catch up with them. Fourteen of
the twenty-nine companies made .
ten times as much in 1942, be
fore taxes, as they averaged, in
1936-39. Almost all multiplied
their pre-war income, before tax
es, by four. In several cases the
percentage increase was num
bered in the thousands. Inas
much as a corporation may not
be required to pay a tax in ex-''
cess of 80% of its total profits, a
1000% increase in profit, before
taxes, leaves the company with
double its normal income.
Ship Built By AFL Meh
Presented To Chinese
RICHMOND, CALIF. — The
United'States has transferred to
the Chinese government a Lib
erty Ship built here at the Per-
manente Metals Corp. yard by
AFL workers. The ship, named
for Generalissimo Chiang Kai-
shek, "was presented to Chinese
representatives by Edward R.
Stettinius, Jr., Lend-Lease Ad
ministrator. It will enter the
trans-Pacific trade as a training
vessel for merchant seamen.
all as I suggested. Further,
Plunkert reported weekly, dur-
ng the legislative session, to the
tops fraction of the Communist
Party," namely, Schneiderman,
Spector or Gannet, Athern and
myself." (Hearings, pages 2983-
2984).
Henry H. Collins, Jr., Washing
ton Committee for Democratic
Action. National Federation for
Constitutional Liberties, Panel
member at conference—^Descend-
ents of the American Revolution,
Member National Council.
Marian Anderson Citizens*
Committee — Member, Forest
Glen Md. . American Committee
for protection of Foreign Born-r
Member, board of directors.
Lincoln Farley, member Wash
ington Book shop, cited as a C.P.
front by the Attorney General.
Member, American League for
other sympathetic persons who! Peace and Democracy, cited a? t|
' " - • a C.P. front by the Attorney'
General. •
were not actual membei-s of the
Party.
1 was also ,in 1936-37, fraction
secretary of the conference for
progressive political action, the
fraction being all party members
in,various Caiifornia Cities who
were leaders in political action.
As such secretary, I was instruct
ed by the leaders of the com
munist party — Schneiderman,
Spector, or Gannett, what legis
lative bills were to be pushed
and by whom; then I would con
tact Leigh Athern, official secre
tary of the conference, and he
would contact those assembly
men, or Plunkert would do so, or
Leo Geyer would contact them,
A
The above persons; Henry H.
Collins, Jr., Leigh Athern and
Lincoln Farley, are staff mem
bers of the Subcommittee to in
vestigate the National Defense
program. ' . . ;
The Chairman of the Commit
tee is the Hon. Harley M. Kil
gore, Senator from West Virginia
and on October 7, 1943 Subcom-
mitte Report No. 3 was Submit
ted to Congress, on Mobilization
of Shipping Resources. ^
Keep In Touch With-
Your Local Draft Board,
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IF ANYONE ASKS A MAN
\T0 JOIN A UNION. I'LL'
\THR0WHIMINJA1L/
jj^>RE3RS JOQ
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ATLANTIC AND GULF DISTRICT,
SEAFARERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA
VOL. V. in NEW YORK. N.Y., OCTOBER. 22. 1943 No. 29
GULF ORGANIZING
DRIVE PLANNED BY
SEAFARERS & AFL
Gulf fishermen and towboatmen are going to be organized on a big scale under the
banner of the SIU! This was the good news that came out of the American Fe'deration
of Labor's annual convention held last week in Boston. The convention went on rec
ord unanimously to send AFL organizers into the area at once and bring the benefits of
unionism to those marine workers who are now being exploited by the shipowners and
fish buyers.
Kilgore Report Toes
NMU-Stalinist Line
Savannah Branch Wins
Fight To Crew Ships
Named For AFL Men
By Charles Waid
Don't know whether or not you have heard about the
launching of a ship by the Georgia Federation of Labor
here at Savannah, Ga., but the Georgia Federation of Labor
-put on a bond drive to pay for a Liberty ship and the
priviledge of naming it and when the bond drive was over
they found that they had sold^
enough bonds to pay for two
ships and name them. The first
of these, the S.S. Jerome Jones,
-was to be launched and the keel
for the other, the S.S. Robert
Fechnei-, was to be laid fhat same
day. Everything came .off ac
cording to schedule and the Jer
ome Jones was launched and the
keel for the Robert Fechner laid
in record time.
- I had taken it for granted that
this ship would be alloted to a
Company who had a contract
with the SIU but I found out that
the WSA had alloted the ship to
-the American Export Line; an
NMU outfit and they already had
'gotten a crew together and they
•were here in Savannah. Although
; the committee of the Georgia
.Federation of Labor had been in
jWashington 3 months prior to the
•launching to get this ship liamed
;for. a Labor Leader in Georgia,
the Board of Allocation claims
it was an over-sight on their part
in aiioting this ship to a com
pany with an-NMU-contract.
\irell, I really hit the ceiling:
.and got busy and contacted
everyone I knew who would be
able to hplp in straightening out
this matter. I wrote Dushane in,
Washington and Morgenthau, the
Sec.-Trpas., and it wasn't two
day's time before the South At
lantic Steamship Line called me
to inform me that they had been
' (Contimted on Page 2)
Labor Was Right;
Wage Hike Solves
Manpower Needs
Organized labor has been
proven right again in its conten
tion that good wages and decent
working conditions will "lick"
manpower shortages. The latest
"proof of the pudding" is at Boe
ing Aircraft in Seattle.
Several month? ago Boeing was
in a desperate, plight .because of
inability to recruit enough work
ers to meet military schedules for
flying Fortresses.
All sorts -Of propaganda meth
ods were tried in an endeavor to
mobilize needed help. The army
threatened to cancel contracts
right and left in the Seattle area
in order to -force workers out of
other plants, into Bpeing's.
BROWN CALLED IT
"NIBBLING"
President Harvey W. Brown of
the International Association of
Machinists, which has Boeing un-,
der a union shop agreement,
warned that these methods were
"mere nibbling" at the problem.
'The "real trouble," he said, is
that wage rates were too low
compared with shipyards and
{Continued on Page 3)
By Matthew Dushane
Senator Harry M. Kilgore, Chairman of the subcom
mittee on War Mobilization, submitted a report to Con
gress on October 7th. This report dealt with mobilization
of shipping resources.
Pages No. 1 to 3 deals with "Summary of Findings."
Under this heading the commit-•
tee reports on the surrender of
Italy, and the crumbling of the
Axis powers. However, the re
port lays special stress upon the
tonnage of merchant ships avail
able and recommends that the
bulk of the tonnage be diverted
to the Atlantic in an all out ef
fort towards the complete elim
ination of Hitler and his Euro
pean satellites;
It is interesting to note the po
sition taken in the report regard
ing the South Pacific Theatre of
operations.
"Today, with our military
shipping divided almost evenly
between the Pacific and the
Atlantic', we can conduct only
limited operations against the
Japaneg.e while mounting a
major offensive in Europe. In
short, concentrating shipping
in the Atlantic is three times
as effective as in the Pacific.
Three times as many troops
can be transported, three times
the volume of munitions can
be carried to batter down the
more powerful enemy."
On pages No. 4 and 5 we find
some more statements that are
very interesting.
"The unexpected drop in
sinkings and the unprecedent
ed ship building program in
the first 8 months of 1943, tem
porarily outran the military
and civilian transport pro
grams . . . essential lend-lease
supplies of munitions and food
have been cut repeatedly for
alleged lack of shipping space.
(Continued on Page 4)
The request for AFL aid in or
ganizing this area was presented
to the convention in a resolution
submitted by Brothers Harry
Lundeberg, John Mogan and Pat
McHugh. The SIU delegates
point out to the convention the
fact that our union did not have
the funds with which to launch
an organizing drive of the scale
needed to cover the Gulf. The
convention's committee on reso
lutions studied the SIU request,
and submitted the following re
port to the assembled delegates:
"Your committee gave con
siderable attention and time to
this resolution and had before
it the sponsors, as well as Di
rector of Organization Frank
P. Fenton.
"The woric outlined in the
resolution covers a tremendous
area, practically the entire salt
water shore line of the United
States, but apparently the most
needs seem to be in the Gulf
area.
"Your committee recom
mends that the Executive
Council and the Director of Or
ganization assign organizers to
the Gulf Coast area to attempt
to work out an organizing pro
gram among the fishermen and
(Continued on Page 3)
Notables at the AFL Convention in Boston which closed last week after voting to aid the
SIU in organizing the Gulf towboatmen and fishermen. Left to right: AFL Secretary-Treasurer
George Meany, Under-Secretary of War Robert Patterson, Major General Sherman Miles and
AFL President William Green.
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' Page Two THE SEAFARERS LOG Friday. October 22. 1943 1
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U
SEAFARERS LOG
Published by the
SEAFARERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION
OF NORTH AMmiCA
Atlantic and Galf District
Affiliated with the American Federation of Labor
HARRY LUNDEBERG ------ President
110 Market Street, San Francisco, Calif.
JOHN HAWK ------- Secy-Treas. '
P. Q, Bo$-25,<g6i'':ion P., J^Iew 3ferk City
MATTHEW DUSHANE - - - yiTasdnngton JRjep, ,
424 Jth Street, N. W., Washington, D. C.
• V * !4PS
Directory of Branches
;fRepoT?T orv
^^ASHIIVSrOIV
E-* •
BRANCH ADDRESS PHONE
NEW YORK (4) 2 Stone St BOwHng Green 9-3437
BOSTON (10) 330 Atlantic Ave Liberty 4057
BALTIMORE (2) ,14 North Cay St Calvert 4539
PHILADELPHIA 6 North 6th St, Lombard 7651
NORFOLK 25 Commercial PI Norfolk 4-1083
NEW ORLEANS (14) ..309 Chartres St Canal 3336
SAVANNAH 218 East Bay St Savannah 3-1728
TAMPA 423 East Piatt St Tampa MM-1323
MOBILE 55 So. Conception St Dial 2-1392
PUERTO RICO 45 Ponce de Leon Puerto de TIerra
GALVESTON 219 20th Street Galveston 2-8043
FT. LAUDERDALE 2021 S. Federal Highway... Ft. Lauderdale 1601
PUBLICATION OFFICE;
ROOM 213, 2 STONE STREET
New York City BOwling Green 9-8345
E£tor's Mail Bag
Crew Benounces Slop Chest Chisel
Editor;
We, members of the SIU,
would very much like the slop
chest situation ort these Liberty
ships investigated. The case of
ours, the S.S. J. G. Hibben, is be
yond description. We know :that
any action taken ,by the .union
w-ill be too late to do us any .good
but prompt action by the union
officials may make it a lot easier
for any brothers who have the
misfortune to be caught in a like
manner.
We have been informed that
the slop chest is no longer in the
Captain's hands, but is now the
property of the Maritime Com
mission. If so, we understood the
Government supported the Mari
time Commission pnd we want
to know who is collecting the;
profit, or shall we say graft.
The quality of these articles in
the slop chest is not worth men-;
tioning as everything is second,
•or third hand merchandise and
the quantity is so small that wc;
are at sea about one and a half
months an,d the supply is running
out. Needless to say the prices
on these articles is not second or
third class prices but first class.
•Some articles are. not even on
. board, such as heavy underwear,
which is in direct violation of the
articles we signed. This was real
necessary for going around the
Horn in mid-winter. The heavy
socks are all thirds and there are
no white socks to be had. One
crew member tried to buy a
small size pair of dungarees and
bad to settle for a pair of navy
dungarees that was traded in to
the slop chest. Even these were
two sizes too large. Tlie shoe,
situation tops them all; we are
paying $4.12 a pair for shoes that
could be bought ashore for one
half that price or even less. They
Are all rubber soled and heeled—
they should ^never be allowed in
the engine room and are so
poorly made they fall apart in a
month's time. That is, of course,
providing they don't get wet as
the cardboard in them comes out
much faster if they get wet.
Shorts are so that after one
washing you could use them for
mosquito nets and the handker
chiefs are made to sell for ten
cents but they have all been re
jected, so they do us the iavor
of letting us have them for nine
cents. They have no large sizes
in kakhi shirts or small sizes in
kakhi pants. All the articles they
have are too large for the small
fellows and too small for the big
fellows. We do not know whether
or not this has been brought to
the union'.s attention before and
we hope the situation is rem^
edied so it will not have to be
brought up again, and we also
would like to know the outcome
of this affair on our return.
CREW OF THE
S. S. J. G. HIBBEN
ADVERTISEMENT
PHILLIPSBURG, N. J..
October 5 — A torpedoed
seaman, home on a month's
leave, applied for a new "A"
gasoline ration book to re
place one he lost. The OPA
said he would have to ad
vertise the loss before an
other could be issued.
He placed the following ad
in an Easton, Pa., paper:
"LOST —In Mediterranean
Bea, "A" gas ration book.
Horace A. Smith, 574 Con
gress St., Phillipsburg."
C. -Waid, Agent, SIU, Savan
nah: G. Wakefield, field repre
sentative of the RMO, sent a let
ter to several S.S. companies and
the union, to the effect that the
union ...apd the., .RMO- .had-.,.an.
agreement whefeby if in any
port .there was a shortage of men,
the RMO would supply union
men from the next nearest port.
In this case the Savannah agent
was informed by the RMO that
SIU union men were available
in Charleston, and that the SIU
agent would have to get his re
placements from Charleston in
the future and not the Gulf.
The union has no agreement;
with the RMO as outlined by Mr.
G. Wakefield. Our contracts caU
for the union to supply men to
the employers' vessels, and they
must be supplied from our
union hiring halls. Charleston
has no SIU hall, therefore the
Savannah agent has the author-;
ity to get replacements from the;
Gulf. However, the agent may;
make some kind of an arrange
ment with the RMO to ship SIU'
union men who may be in
Charleston.
Any arrangement that the Sa
vannah agent may reach with
the RMO would have to be ap
proved by the membership. This,
I feel, should be done to protect
the membership of the SIU,
otherwise the RMO will be load
ing SIU ships with non-union and
NMU men, who will be enjoying
the benfits of the SIU contracts
while SIU men pound the beach
and be subject to induction into
the army for over-staying the al
lotted time ashore.
J. Flanagan, Agent, SIU, Balti
more: Several crew members of
the S.S. Walker Taylor requested
to be paid off of the vessel 24
hours after all cargo was dis
charged. Master refused. Crew
left the vessel and • they were
given a six months' suspension
by the 9.G.
This was done on the grounds
that there was ballast in the hold.
The ballast had been in the hold,
for three trips, aiid the vessel
started to reload with the same
ballast still aboard!
Advised Agent Flanagan to re-i
quest a rehearing on the case and!
also request a transcript of the'
proceedings on the original trial.
The trial was held in Norfolk.
Flanagan advised that, he would
contact the agent there and relay
all the information he has ofi the
case.
Regarding the food shortage on
the Seas Shipping Company
scow, the WSA is working on
this case.
M. Trainor, Agents, SIU, Nor
folk: Re:S.S. ( ) and crew's
claim for an attack bonus, the
board has sent the following
communication:
"We have determined that
the attack on Algiers, during
the .morning of August 27th,
1943; consequently, port attack
bonus is payable to the crew
menibers of the S.S. I )
if this vessel was at Algiers at
the time of the attack on this
date."
Advised all Agents to tack a
copy of this on their bulletin
board so that they can .enter a
claim for the crew members who
were on the ship at the time of
the attack.
NATIONAL
WAR LABOR BOARD
The Maritime panel will meet
Monday and Tuesday. The
MM&P has ten cases — M£1BA
has eleven cases—^NMU has one,
case—ACA, one case — Comm.'
Telegraphers Union, one case—
Inland Boatmen, CIO, -one case,
SAVANNAH BRANCH
WINS CREWING OF
SPONSORED SHIPS
{Continued from Page 1)
allotted the Jerome Jones and I
could get busy and get them a
crew together. Well, J had
enough men registered in this
port for a whole crew without
having to get one gandy dancer.
So there she sailed, a ship paid
for by the Georgia Federation of
Labor and manned by an SIU
crew.
Have also heard that the WSA
has already alloted the S.S. Rob
ert Fechner to the South Atlantic
Steamship Line, to be turned
over to them when she is com
pleted.
Shipping in this port for the
last couple of weeks has really
been good. Shipped everyone
with pants on that I could get
my hands on, and I mean I real
ly. picked this town clean and am"
still looking for sailors and es
pecially ABs. Shipping surely
does look bright in this port for
the next couple of weeks. I will
be needing men with all ratings
in all departments and, don't,
have anyone registered here. Any
of you men who are ready to
ship out can come on down here
and do so. Don't think you will
be on the beach for long from
the way things have been going. I
Have really had me on the run
looking for men lately.
New Insignia
For Merchant
Seamen
MONEY DUE
EMIL DUPONT: You have 211/2
hours overtime coming from the
Calmar Line.
• • •
Crew whicli paid off the S. S.
William Balterson, October 1943,
have an attack bonus coming.
Collect Bull Line.
• * •
SHELTON and*DOWLING of
the last trip of the S. S. Gebrge
E. Hale, have disputed overtime
coming. Collect at Waterman
Line.
• • *
Deck Department of S. S. Peter
Zingas which paid off Oct. 1943,
have overtime coming. Collect
from Bull Line.
* « •
Steward's Department of S. S.
Kofresi, which psdd off Oct. 1943,
have money coming for extra
meals. Collect Waterman Lind!
Steward's Department of S. S.
Peter Sanger, Voyage No. 1, see
New York Patrolman Hart con
cerning extra meals and bonus
money coming.
All American merchant sea
men arc to receive identifying
insignia under a recent authori
zation by Congress, the Wat;
Shipping Administration reveal
ed last week. Seamen and of
ficers who have served in Ameri
can vessels since Dec. 7, 1941, or;
on any foreign fiag vessels oper
ated for the United States Mari
time Commission or WSA, will
be eligible to wear the new em
blem.
The Seamen's Service Awards
Committee will be responsible
for the issuance of the insignia,
which will be a circular gold and
silver emblem, consisting of a
background of a compass card in
gold on which is mounted a Fed
eral shield in silver with a sup
erimposed gold anchor with Uni
ted States Merchant Marine let
tered around the medal.
The WSA has also authorized,
under similar Congressional ac
tion, ithe award of Mariner's Med
als, Combat Bars, War Zone
Bars and service fiags and but
tons in further recognition of
meritorious war service by sea
men. The Mariner's Medal is to
be awarded to men who are
wounded or suffer physical in
jury in enemy action. The com
bat bar is being issued to seamen
who serve in a ship which is di
rectly attacked or damaged by
an instrumentality of war. The
War Zone Bars will be present
ed for service in war theatres.
The merchant marine service
fiag and service lapel buttons
are for display by members of
the immediate families of sea
men serving in the American
Merchant Marine during the war
period. The service button, of
enameled - metal, will carry a
miniature design of the service
flag.
CARL JACOBSON
See Mr. Williams, Rooln 1045,
42 Broadway, New York City.
NORMAN RENNINGER
Contact Miss Ada Harrison,
3819 Manila Ave., Oakland, Calif.
Si
;
ILO Marine Division, Five tow-
boat companies in Baltimore. SIU
Great Lakes, involving appr(>x-
imately 32 companies. SIU, At
lantic & Gulf District, Smith &
Johnson Company.
-• All cases that are refercd td
the National War Board for ap
proval, under the boards ruling
must be processed by the board's
analyist. The panel is then given
the results of the work the ham
and eggers do, and are supposed
to act on the anlyist's report.
• .1 -'-'i t Mii'f " 1^' " • •-i)
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;Fj;iday,October 22, 1943 THE SEAFARERS LOG Pag© ThxM 7
Gulf Organizing Drive Launched
•y
{Continued front Page 1)
Jow boalmen in lhat ierrilory
on a Ixial basis."
Brother Frank Fenton will now
consult with Lundeberg and East
Coast officials, and organizers
•will be appointed and sent to
•work in the very near future.
Already requests for aid have
%een coining into SIU headquar
ters from towboatmen and fisher-
tmen throughout the south, indi-
,eating thai these workers - know
.the score on unionism and what
4t can do for them. Hundreds of
•workers are merely waiting the
.appearance of an BIU man to
sign them up.
But make no mistake, the
tshipowners are waiting also—de-
•termined that their workers shall
-not receive decent wages and
working conditions. There is a
stiff struggle ahead, but" we are
.certain that before long the Gulf
•coast is going to be union!'
Following is the text of the
SIU resolution presented to the
AFL convention:
WHEREAS, The members of
the Executive Committee of the
Seafarers' International Union of
North America has petitioned the
American Federation of Labor
for assistance in organizing a
large group of 30,000 worrkers in
•the fishing industry from Browns
ville, Texas, at the Mexican Bor-
<Jer to Norfolk, Virginia, and
throughout the Pacific Coast and
Alaskan territories, and
WHEREAS, The Seafarers' In
ternational Union of North Am
erica has established local unions
•throughout the Nation, some of
which have been operated with
only partial success, while local
unions in the New England
states and Pacific Coast Ports
-have been operated with total
•success, and
WHEREAS, The Seafarers' In-'
-ternational Union has striven
diligently to organize the fishing
industry, and ,
WHEREAS, Their financial
.ability is so limited as to prohibit
, an organizing drive on a large
•scale, due to the fluctuating op-
lerations such as confront the sea-
jnen, fishermen and fish cannery
workers during the war period,
and
, WHEREAS, They have exten
sive information regarding the
fishing industry, and
WHEREAS, They have defin
ite proof that wholesale exploita
tion is taking place relative to
the fishermen who deliver the
•catch, and
WHEREAS, Large groups of
these fishermen live on incomes
which are actually lower than
those of the sharecroppers of the
deep south, and
WHEREAS, The officers of the
Seafarers' International Union of
North America, further petition
the American Federation of La-,
for to lend assistance in a prob
lem involving Towboatmen,
which problem has ari.sen in the
past few months and is due sole
ly to the war effort and enemy
.submarine activities, and
WHEREAS, The United States
•Government has construe ted
some 5d0 new tug boats and large
numbers of oil barges which are
to be operated on otir inland
waterways, and
WHEREAS, They have been
successful in establishing a Tow-
boatmen's Union in New Orleans,
Louisiana, with some of the ma
jor operators in the peacetime
period, and
WHEREAS, It now develops'
that these new oil barges arc to'^
be operated on a twelve-hour!
work day baisis, and
•WHEREAS, They find that the
Government agencies have
awarded these barges to compan
ies having a twelve-hour work;
dhy and no union relations, and
WHEREAS, The Seafarers' In-,
ternational lUnicn is unable to'
attempt this widespread organi
zing campaign at this critical
time, and
WHEREAS, Their sea-going;
members are being shifted from
one part of the nation to another,
and
WHEREAS, Because of the war
they are compelled to establish
temporary offices and "inove out
to little ports never before hearc
of, which has involved an in
crease in personnel and a corres
ponding increase in overhead ex
pense, and
WHEREAS, They find that the
amount of revenue the interna
tional has on hand with which to
operate renders the situation to
an impossible status, and
WHEREAS, They further fee
that unless the American Feder
ation of Labor can come to their
rescue in this war emergency
that some dual or would-be dual
union is likely to intervene, and
WHEREAS, A Federally own
ed Corporation known as Federal
Barge Lines, which operates all
traffic on the Mississippi River
has established an eight-hour day
with overtime in excess of eight
hours, therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Ameri
can Federation of Labor now in
convention assembled at Boston,
Massachusetts, goes on record to
give the Seafarers' International
Union of North America the ne
cessary financial assistance to
carry through to a successful
conclusion an organizing cam
paign among the fishermen,
bargemen, and towboatmen in
the above mentioned field.
AFL MEMBERSHIP
SHOWS BIG GAIN
BOSTON — The dues - paid
membership of the AFL at the
end of its fiscal year, Aug. 31,
1943, stood at 5,939,021, Secre
tary-Treasurer George Meany re
ported to the convention.
This represents a net gain of
457,440 members since the last
annual report made to the Tor
onto convention in 1942.
However, the total does not
include the membership of the
International Association of Ma
chinists which paid per capita
tax on 328,500 members in 1942
but withdrew its affiliation in the
past year. Thus the gross gain in
new members for the year was
actually 785,940.
Mr. Meany also submitted a
detailed financial report for the
year, showing receipts of $2,-
422,934 and expenditures of $2,-
010,029, with a balance on hand
of $1,680,076 at the end of the
fiscal year. Receipts and expen
ditures are broken down into
separate and detailed categories.
Reports received from affili
ated unions showed that they
had paid out a total of $22,965,-
611 in death, sick, unemploy
ment, dir ability and other bene
fits to members during the year.
iVfachinists
Return To
Fedemtion
BOSTON, Oct. 7—^The mem
bership of the American Federa
tion of Labor was brought to 6,-
564,141, the highest in its history,
today by the return of the Inter
national Association of Machin
ists.
Announcement that the machr
inists' union, which left the AFL
on May 27 because of a jurisdic
tional dispute with the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters, was
ready to return to the fold was
made by George Meany, AFL
secretary, at today's convention
session.
After long applause the dele
gates ratified a report of the ex
ecutive council which contained
a letter from Harvey W. Brown,
president of the machinists'
union, stating that his union was
withdrawing its resignation.
The machinists, said Mr.
Meany, had 625,160 members and
were now restored in full stand
ing, as they had paid their per
capita tax for the months since
May. The amount was $45,281.
President William Green, who
welcomed the machinists back,
said that the negotiations which
preceded settlement of the juris
dictional dispute proved that good
sense, tolerance and fairness in
negotiations usually resulted in
ending such disputes.
Inasmuch as the United Mine
Workers are assured of reinstate
ment in the AFL within a rea
sonable time, delegates today ex
pressed satisfaction that the fed
eration would have a member
ship of 7,164,141 once the 600,000
miners were back in the fold.
Around The Ports
BOSTON
Labor Was Right;
Wage Hike Solves
Manpower Needs
I attended the AFL Conven
tion that was held in Boston the
past two weeks, along with
Brother Pat McHugh, Secretary
of the Atlantic Fishermen's
Union.
Your union, the SIU had a res
olution requesting the AFL to
put on organizers to organize
the fishermen and towboatmen
in the Gulf. As a delegate to the
AFL Convention, yours truly,
along with Brother Pat McHugh,
had to appear before the resolu
tions committee to show cause
why these organizers were need
ed. After explaining to the com
mittee the geographical outlay
and the territory that must be
covered, the committee recom
mended to the executive council
that our resolution be concurred
in.
It was brought out at the Con
vention " that over two million
members of organized labor are
now serving in the armed forces.
Joseph P. Ryan, President of
the International Longshoremen's
Association, took the floor and
gave quite a talk on what the
seamen were doing and paid
great tribute to the late Andrew
Furuselh, also Harry Lundebeig,
Duke Dushane and Whitey
Hawk.
I would like to remind the
members of our union to stress
the importance of the Social Se-
ciurity Act to the members of
their family or dependents, that
in the event thai-they pass on to
contact the' nearest Social Se
curity Board and put in a rlainfiT
If they fail to make a claim with
in a certain period they wiU lose
all rights under the Social Secur
ity Act.
The Port of Boston is experi
encing the heaviest shipping rec
ord in history. We are having
quite a few West Coast ships
here and I believe there should
be a West Coast representative
stationed here in Boston as they
have as many as four to six
ships here daily.
At this time I would like to
mention that the five Flaherty
Brothers, John, Cy, Bill, Eddie, I
forgot the other boy's name, have
all received their tickets and are
sailing as mates or engineers. I
believe this makes some sort of
a record.
A salute to our galldnt mem
bers.
JOHN MOGAN, Ageni
JhiL. ^tahcA, fiMAAu —
MANPOWER PROBLEM EXAGGERATED
IN ORDER TO SMEAR AMERICAN LABOR
{Continued from Page 1) .
other war industries in the re
gion.
After attempting every other
nostrum, government officials
finally decided to try Brown's
remedy." Army chieftains des
cended on the National War La-
jor Board and demanded that it
grant a substantial raise to Boe
ing workers ,regardless of "hold
the line" regulations or other or
ders. The board complied, re
classifying the workers so as to
give them increases of about 15
cents an hour, Tt did so, it said,
only as an "experiment."
This week, it was revealed the
"experiment" has been a spectac
ular success. "Business Week," a
magazine of industry, far from
partial to workers, made a
checkup and found that workers
are flocking into the Boeing plant
at so rapid a rate thgt the com
pany may soon have to put out
"no help wanted" signs.
Whereas employment previous
ly was dropping, the company in
three weeks was able to make a
net gain in its rolls of 1,518
workers, and the rate of increase
is growing each week.
Have the "brass hats" and
other government officials delib
erately exaggerated the serious
ness of the manpower situation
in order to foist shackles on the
nation's workers?
On the pretext of a critical
scarcity of labor, army and navy
chiefs, with.the backing of Tories
in Congress, have been clamoring
for a so-called "national service"
law, under which workers would
be drafted for the profit of pri
vate employers.
However, confidential figures
circulated among research men
in the War Production Board and
War Manpower Commission,
which LABOR was privileged to
see, revealed this week that the
manpower shortage, for the coun
try as a whole, is much less crit-
1943, to July, 1944, to replace men
inducted into the armed forces
and to supply additional workers
to war industries.
Thus, if Princeton is right
and the enormous waste it cites
were eliminated, the country
would have a surplus rather
than lack of workers .
Princeton's report blames the
appalling squander of labor di
rectly on managements. "Ineffi
cient managerial conditions, poSr
plant layout, lack of cooperation
between department heads, in
terruptions of work caused by
poor scheduling" are among
abuses listed in the report.
Bad working conditions are al
so described as a major factor in
wastage of labor. Lack of ade
quate grievance machinery, un-
ical than the public has been led healthful ̂ surroundings, tyrannic
al foremen, complicated wage
setups, failure of management to
take workers into their confi
dence are evils recorded by the
university.
"Do not expect the employe to
accept unnecessary hardships in
the working environment just
because it is war-time," the uni
versity emphasizes. "In encour
aging employes to give steadily
the .maximum ..in - ..production,
management must maintain
working conditions conductive to
employe well-being."
—Labor
to believe.
An even more sensational dis
closure as to manpower came
from Princeton University. No
one needs be told that Princeton
is not a champion of organized
labor, yet, in an independent
study made by its department of
economics, the university arrived
at the conclusion that employers
are wasting the equivalent of 5,-
000,000 workers.
That's at least a million more
than the very highest govern
ment estimate of labor needed
for the 12 months from July,
ATLANTIC AND GULF SHIPPING FOR
WEEK OF SEPT, 27th TO OCT, 8th
DECK ENGINE STEWARD TOTAL
SHIPPED 680 344 582 1606
REGISTERED 530 397 380 1307
.1 »
I •
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m- '
Page Four THE SEAFARERSLOG Friday, October 22, 1943
I*
IW
5b •.
WAR PROFITS GO UP AND UP
Kilgore Report Toes
NMU-Stalinist Line
{Continued from Page 1)
In the case of Russia, shipping
space has been allocated for
only two-thirds of the muni
tions and food promised under
the protocal."
The repoi't then goes on and
gives a great plug in for the War
Shipping Administration. It
states that the WSA should have
charge of all shipping from the
factories to the final destination.
It blasts the Army and other
government agencies, and throws
Orchids at the WSA.
Then the East Coast Long
shoremen are taken over the
hurdles, and the set-up on the
West Coast under the domination
of Hdrry Bridges is given the
green iight and is supposed to be
a bed of roses and is recommend
ed for the East Coast. However,
in regards to the wage question
no mention is made that Harry
Bridges is pleading that the
wages of the East Coast Long
shoremen are receiving are high
er than the West Coast and that
they should be granted an in
crease. This is being done under
the usual ballyhoo of stabiliza
tion.
The Merchant seamen are then
given a flock of orchids, but it
is interesting to note in what di
rection the_ line runs.
"The men who man our mer
chant ships are doing a magni
ficent job. The crews are ef
ficient and their morale is
high. Adequate number of sea
men have volunteered or have
been recruited so that ships
sail fully manned and with
only negligible delays. The
number of seamen on Ameri
can ships has nearly doubled
.in the last year. There have
been no strikes. Discipline has
been excellent in spite of the
difficult living and working
conditions imposed by wartime
conditions. Despite high casu
alties from enemy attacks, la
bor turnover has been lower
than in war industries ashore.
American seamen have deliv
ered the goods."
From the above it would seem
that the seamen are at last get
ting credit from a government
committee on the splendid work
that they are doing. However,
' there is a reason for the above
build-up, and here it is.
"American seamen are he
roes. Thousands have died
under bombardment and tor
pedo attack. They and their
' organizations, particularly the
National Maritime Union, have
" acquitted ̂ themselves with hon
or. The appreciation of
American people is theirs.'
Well, there, you have it,
•mention is" made of the
no other branch of wat indus
try has there been a manpower
agency so well equipped to
meet its responsibilities. It has
done a good job."
The above quotation on the
committee's report deals onl;'
with the WSA division, headed
by Captain Edward Macauley.
The committee, in putting a plug
in for Captain Macauley's di
vision of the WSA, follows the
usual line that is carried in the
Pilot.
When a fisherman who knows
his business goes fishing, he
would use the bait most appro
priate for the fish that he intends
to catch. In the final analysis of
the report, it boils down to these
simple facts:
1. The committee went out of
thpir way to lay the ground
work on the Commies argument
for a second front. Which was
picked up and published in the
Daily Worker the same day that
the committee's report was made
public.
2. The plug for the WSA, and
when mention is made regarding
the WSA it means Captains Mac
auley's division, certainly fur
ther leads us into the belief that
the Captain's division has and is
playing ball with the Commies
of the NMU.
3. The plug regarding the West
Coast longshoremen, under the
Control of Harry Bridges, and
the particular stress laid on the
NMU activities in this war, lead
us to the following conclusions:
That some members on the
staff of the committee are either
Commies or fellow-travelers.
The report states that Henry
H. Collins, Jr., is the executive
secretary; other staff members
included Lincoln Fairley and
Leigh Athern. These three staff
members are cited by the attor
ney general as being members
and sponsors of subversive set
ups fronting and controlled by
the Communist Party. Leigh
Athern was connected with the
"YANKS ARE NOT COMING"
movement on the Pacific Coast.
And that, my friends, is how
Russia operates.
The table below sets forth a comparison between the wartime profits of twenty-
nine prominent American corporations and the profits they made before the war bo6m'
developed. It is a question of great concern to all Americans whether our distribution
of war income is disproportionately increasing the size of incomes received by wealthy
individuals and large companies. i
• In addition, workers have a (Figues are in thousands of dollars)
1936-39
Company Average
American Car ft Foundry 72
American Locomotive 1,462
Atfl^rican Rolling Miii Co 4',346
American Type Founders, Inc. 131
American Woolen Co -—831
Aviation Corp —599
Bath Iron Work 260
Bendix Aviation Corp 2,627
Bethlehem Steel Corp 19,269
Blaw Knox Co. 1,257
Borg-Warner Corp 5,585
Budd (Edw. G.) Mfg. Co 236
Crosley Corp 258
Crucible Steel Co. of Am. 1.901
Fairfield Aviation 274
General Electric Co 44,115
Jones ft Laughlin 1,580
Mack Trucks, Inc 620
Martin (Glenn L.) Co 2,084
Otis Elevator Co 2,696
Pullman, Inc 6.232
Remington Arms Co., Inc 1,185
Republican Steel Corp 5,801
Sperry Corp 3,986
Studebaker Corp 1,040
United Aircraft Corp 5,161
United States Steel Corp 45,098
Westinghouse Mfg. Co 14,674
Youngslown Sheet ft Tube Co. 6,785
Per- First Half 1943
eentage compared to
$ 7,056 9700 Unavailable
7,552 417 + 175
9,231 114 + 12
2,161 1550 + 86
6,824 + 37
5,324 + 1
3,743 1340 + 129
15.890 505 + 3
38,188 98 + 5
2,276 81 + 34
9,716 74 + 17
5,222 2113 —35
i:738 574 ^599
8,308 337 —3
1,131 313 + 23
62.081 41 —11
11,143 605 —2
4,488 624 —5
9,659 363 Unavailable
5,273 96 + 46
17,042 173 —19
7.354 521 + 91
20,187 248 —26
7,945 99 + 77
2,548 145 + 152
20,994 307 + 47
96,819 115 Unavailable
21,216 45 + 86
13,564 100 —6
HERE'S THE RECORD
ON MEMBERS OF THE
KILGORE COMM.
LEIGH, ATHERN — Graduate
of University of California and
Harvard Law School. In 1938-39,
Attorney for Lafollette Commit
tee hearings in California. In
1939, labor relations counsel and
Ihe administrative assistant, Cali
fornia State Relief Administra-
no' tion. January, 1941 to date, prin-
i;
I
AFL cipal Attorney, Office of Price
-Unions. The committee put a , Administration,'Washington, D.C,
•plug in for the unions affiliated j The Western Worker 2/11/37
with the CIO, and praises in shows him a member of the Citi-
-particular the NMU. Now let's [ zens Committee for Repeal of the
see what the committee's views San Francisco Anti-Picketing Gr
ave on the WSA.
"The War Shipping Admin
istration, in the office of the
f.
deputy administrator for labor
gelations, manning, training
and recruitment has been op-
dance. Notice of a meeting of the
People's Legislative Conference,
held 2/27/37, named Athern as
Secretary.
Articles appearing in Peoples
World, 5/14/40 stated Athern, a
erating an adequate recruit- j delegate on Ellis Patterson's slate
ment and training program. In in the "recent presidential pri
mary" will analyze the election
returns at a meeting of Labor's
Non-Partisan League's club.
6/21/40 i,s.sue of the San Fran
cisco Chronicle named him as a
sponsor of the "Peace Ballot'
conducted by the San Francisco
Coordinating Council for Peace,
which was branded by the West
Coast police as Stalinist in
spired.
Mr. Harper L. Knowles, Chair
man of the radical research com
mittee of the American Legion,
Department of California, testi
fying before an executive hearing*
of the Congressional committee
on Un-American activities at
San Francisco, Cal., on 8/2#/40;
(Executive hearings, page 1496
and 1497).
THE CHAIRMAN — "Do you
know any other official whose
name is on this letterhead who is
a member of the Communist-
Party — Mary Moore, for in
stance?"
Mr. Knowles—^"I am not in a
position to verify her member
ship in the party. You are look
ing at the face of the letterhead.
On the reverse side ai'e other
names. Dr. Thomas Addis is a
known commuhist; Leigh Athern
is a known communist."
Mr. Stedman —"Wasn't Leigh
Athern attorney for the LaFol-
lette committee on the Pacific
Coast?"
Mr. Knowles—"He was inves
tigator ' for the LaFollette Com
mittee in their California hear
ings, and according to informa
tion supplied me, was active in
gathering official information.
That is, information in offcial
files for the committee and also
the Communist Party. Much of
the material that , he covered
during his' investigation showed
up in communist literature. For
instance, in the Harry Bridges
deportation trial."
"Other known Communists
mentioned by Mr, Knowles as be
ing on the above mentioned let
terhead with Athern were —
Louise Bransten, Germaino
Bulcke, J. Vernon Burke, Revels
Cayton, Rikc-e R. Elesser, Lou
Goldblatt, Sam Jaye, Alex Noral.
All the others appearing on the
letterhead are active fellow
travelers, known to us here in
the Bay area as such."
Affidavit of Arthur James
Kent, County of Los Angeles,
State of California, to the Con
gressional Committee on Un-
American activities, dated 11/2/38
—(Excerpts from this affidavit
are as follows) "1 make this af
fidavit voluntarily, at my own
initiative. In the years 1932-33-
34-35-36 and until Sept., 1937, 1
was a member of the Commun
ist Party; and in the years 1936-
37 1 was a membership director
of the Communist Party at San
Francisco, and in charge of po
litical activity of the Party. I
was personally acquainted with
the leading members of the Com
munist Party in California in
those years. For almost a year
prior to June 1937, a strategy
committee of the Communist
Party would meet with certain
members of the California Legis
lature, and sometimes also with
justified grievance against large
profits at a time when their own
incomes have been subjected to
severe controls .
Many of the companies listed
in the table have inultiplied-
their pre-war profits so rapidly
that taxes have been unable to
catch up with them. Fourteen of
the twenty-nine companies made .
ten times as much in 1942, be
fore taxes, as they averaged, in
1936-39. Almost all multiplied
their pre-war income, before tax
es, by four. In several cases the
percentage increase was num
bered in the thousands. Inas
much as a corporation may not
be required to pay a tax in ex-''
cess of 80% of its total profits, a
1000% increase in profit, before
taxes, leaves the company with
double its normal income.
Ship Built By AFL Meh
Presented To Chinese
RICHMOND, CALIF. — The
United'States has transferred to
the Chinese government a Lib
erty Ship built here at the Per-
manente Metals Corp. yard by
AFL workers. The ship, named
for Generalissimo Chiang Kai-
shek, "was presented to Chinese
representatives by Edward R.
Stettinius, Jr., Lend-Lease Ad
ministrator. It will enter the
trans-Pacific trade as a training
vessel for merchant seamen.
all as I suggested. Further,
Plunkert reported weekly, dur-
ng the legislative session, to the
tops fraction of the Communist
Party," namely, Schneiderman,
Spector or Gannet, Athern and
myself." (Hearings, pages 2983-
2984).
Henry H. Collins, Jr., Washing
ton Committee for Democratic
Action. National Federation for
Constitutional Liberties, Panel
member at conference—^Descend-
ents of the American Revolution,
Member National Council.
Marian Anderson Citizens*
Committee — Member, Forest
Glen Md. . American Committee
for protection of Foreign Born-r
Member, board of directors.
Lincoln Farley, member Wash
ington Book shop, cited as a C.P.
front by the Attorney General.
Member, American League for
other sympathetic persons who! Peace and Democracy, cited a? t|
' " - • a C.P. front by the Attorney'
General. •
were not actual membei-s of the
Party.
1 was also ,in 1936-37, fraction
secretary of the conference for
progressive political action, the
fraction being all party members
in,various Caiifornia Cities who
were leaders in political action.
As such secretary, I was instruct
ed by the leaders of the com
munist party — Schneiderman,
Spector, or Gannett, what legis
lative bills were to be pushed
and by whom; then I would con
tact Leigh Athern, official secre
tary of the conference, and he
would contact those assembly
men, or Plunkert would do so, or
Leo Geyer would contact them,
A
The above persons; Henry H.
Collins, Jr., Leigh Athern and
Lincoln Farley, are staff mem
bers of the Subcommittee to in
vestigate the National Defense
program. ' . . ;
The Chairman of the Commit
tee is the Hon. Harley M. Kil
gore, Senator from West Virginia
and on October 7, 1943 Subcom-
mitte Report No. 3 was Submit
ted to Congress, on Mobilization
of Shipping Resources. ^
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