Media
Issue Date
1943-09-10
Volume
5
Issue Number
24
Plaintext
OFFICIAL ORGAN OP THE ATLANTIC AND GULF DISTRICT,
SEAFARERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA
VOL. V. 267 NEW YORK. N. Y., FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 10, 1943 No. 24
I'X.'
WAAMLooks
Like Film
Flam
What appears to be another
racket at the expense of the mer
chant seamen, blossomed out in
New York last week. This latest
collection of free loaders is en
titled "Women's Auxiliary of the
American Merchant Marine, Inc."
and its avowed purpose is to col
lect old clothes for the seamen
and to comfort their wives while
they are at sea. The old charity
racket, in other words.
This time, however, something
new has been added—fancy uni-
forips. Last week the New York
Times ran a picture of Mrs. Ada
Mae Roll, founder and president
of the WAAMs. She was decked
out in the official WAAM's mil
itary uniform, and a face that
would hardly bring cheer to a
shipwrecked sailor. She had that
fierce, preditory look of a profes
sional do-gooder.
Of course, an organization can't
be denounced merely because its
founder wears a high pressure
hat and a man-eating expression.
There are sounder reasons for our
suspicions concerning this set-up.
To^ljegin with, the seamen don't
need charity, don't want charity,
and will refuse it if offered to
them. Anyone who starts such a
move is likely to be figuring on
lining their own pockets. Fur
thermore this outfit has all' the
earmarks of a phoney. It has
never come near the union to dis
cuss the problems of the seamen,
it has not even contacted the
United Seamen's Service. No
{Continued on Page 3)
War Prisoners Used By Shipowner
To Upset Wages And Conditions
OWI White
Washes WSA
That fink herders- delight, the
War Shipping Administration, is
in the process of being perfumed
and "sold" to the American peo
ple. The Office of War Informa
tion has taken on the task of por
traying one of the most ineffici
ent, bureaucratic and anti-labor
arms of the government as a mo
del of enlightenment and effici
ency.
The OWI released this week 12
single typed pages of publicity
entitled "Merchant Shipping of
the United States in War Time."
It purportedly contains the en
tire "magnificent record" of the
WSA and the Maritime Commis
sion in meeting the war crisis in
merchant shipping.
Of the 12 pages of superlatives,
it is significant that only one
quarter of one page-is devoted to
the WSA's handling of labor re
lations. And yet it is this very
point that provides the key *to
the whole record of bimgling. It
is the WSA bureaucrats' hatred
of organized labor, it is their
determination to impose a gov
ernment fink hall on all coasts,
that has led the bureau into the
most devious maneuvers and the
most unbusiness like and ineffi
cient practices.
The WSA record of building
and sailing ships could have been
increased many fold had not the
{Continued on.-Page 3)
No Souvenirs Are Allowed
Says Fuss Budget Wyckoff
War Shipping Administration
Washington. D. C.
September 6, 1943
Mr. John Hawk, Secretary-Treasurer
Seafarers International Union of North America*
Room 213, 2 Stone Street
New York, N. Y.
Dear Mr. Hawk:
The Enforcement Division of the U. S. Bureau of Customs has
called to my attention what appears to be an unintentional infrac
tion of Articles 78 and 90 issued by the U. S. War Department re
garding the possession of captured Axis equipment.
It appears that on many merchant vessels returning from
theaters of war members of the crew have obtained by purchase or
barter from inhabitants in those localities, arms, munitions, discard
ed helmets, etc., as souvenirs.
Under the Articles of War mentioned above, all discarded or
captured Axis material is the property of the United State and un
authorized possession thereof is a violation of said Articles and such
material will be confiscated by the Customs and other authorized
United States law enforcement agencies wherever found.
I am forwarding this information to you in order that you may
advise the members of your union of the facts herein, for their
guidance.
Very truly yours,
HUBERT WYCKOFF,
Assistant Deputy Administrator
for Maritime Labor Relations
In Memoriam
BROTHER
Joseph R. Gillis
(Able Seaman)
Born August 8. 1900. Died in
Or an. North Africa.
July 17. 1943.
In Memoriam
BROTHER
Edward J. Perritt
(Fireman. Oiler. Watertender)
Born. October 14. 1902. Died
in an accident in New York
City on August 30. 1943.
WLB DOUBLE CROSSED MINERS—ICKES
Death came to these miners before a living wage. 19 members of the United Miiie Workers are
shown being carried out of the Sayreton. Alabama mine of the Republic Steel Company.
The union has charged that Republic Steel flagrantly ignored many safety laws .in the operation
of **»'« mine—and is directly rei^nslble for the explosion which snuffed out these lives.
In a weekly magazine of na
tional circulation, Secretary of
the Interior Harold L. Ickes this
week gave the inside story of
the long three-cornered contest
between the United Mine Work
ers, coal operators and govern
ment agencies over wage in
creases for coal diggers.
"Crisis on Coal," Ickles' article
was called, and in it he made be
hind-the-scenes disclosures.
The document largely sustains
claims made by labor leaders —
many of them bitter critics of
John L. Lewis—that the contro
versy could have been adjusted,
if the War Labor Board had not
barred a settlement, except on its
own terms.
Before the article- went to
press, it passed through the
hands of the Office of War In
formation and the WLB. Both
agencies demanded drastic
changes to tone the piece
down and soft-pedal criticism of
the board, but Ickes declared the
proposed revisions came too late
to be included.
Ickes said flatly that, contrary
to the WLB's stand, the Miners
{Continued on Psge 4)
t •
By A. B.
The trip is over, the boys all
paid off and are hunting for an
other ship with good CQoks and
a square captain, so here goes for
a try at the highlights of last trip.
The most important event of
the trip, and the most dangerous
as far as our union is concerned,
was the skipper's use of war
prisoners to break down our con
ditions. But to start at the be
ginning.
Sometime last April, one of the
South Atlantic's palatial "Liberty
Belles" came steaming into the
port of New York in search of a
crew. As usual, the dispatcher
rounded up a full crew and the
good ship crossed the bar headed
for a point in North Africa.
Going over the weather was
perfect; enemy opposition was
light and so was the food. These
maritime cooks are sure honeys.
So far I have eaten Hungarian
Goulash, Norwegian Goulash, Po
lish • Goulash and at least five
other varieties. Last trip though
when the cook finished com
pounding a stew, and being stuck
for a name, it came on the menu
as VICTORY GOULASH. It was
lousy, but did not result in any
deaths. The biggest beef on the
way over, was the food.
We finally made port, discharg
ed our cargo and pointed our fair
ship's bow for home. Then they
slapped a few hundred war pris
oners aboard and said "GO".
When the Master saw them com
ing aboard a big smile lit up his
face, as he thought "My troubles
are over. Think of the work that
I can get done this trip, without
paying overtime, and what a rec
ord I will have with the com
pany."
When we finally sailed through
the nets on the home stretch the
prisoners were turned-to, paint
ing the ship down. Those mon
keys were all over the ship with
a pot of paint and a brush in
nothing flat^ (just think of that
overtime). Every night the Bo-
s'un had to hunt the ship down
to make sure that he had knock
ed them all off. They only used
an average of ten a day and they
were given the liberty of the ship
without a guard.
The cooks sent out an SOS arid
shortly after, the cry was heard
and a couple of them showed up in
{Continued on Page 4)
New Orleans Mailing
Address
All mail for union brothers
in New Orleans should be ad
dressed in the following man
ner:
John Doe *
General Delivery
Seamen's Postal Unit
Custom House Station
New Orleans 16. La.
Vil
,, , t •,
http://www.pdfcompressor.org/buy.html
Pag® Two THE S EA FARERS LOG Friday. Sepiembor 10, 1943 ^
" "rl;
SEAFAREKS LOG
Published by the
SEAFARERS' INTERNAlldNAt WlOlS
OF NORTH AMERICA
Atlantic and Gulf District
Affiliated with the American Pederation of Labor
HARRY LUNDEBERG - - - - - - "President
110 Market Strwt, Fraaclsco, Calif.
JOHN HAWK - - - - - - - Secy-Treas.
P. O. 'Box 25, Statidh P., New York City
MATTHEW DUSHANE - - - Washington Rep.
424 5 th Street, N. W., Washington, D. C.
• • •
Directory of Branches
BRANCH ADDRESS PHONE
NEW YORK (4) 2 Stone St BOwling Green 9-3437
BOSTON (10).. 330 Atlantic Ave Liberty 4057
BALTIMORE (2) 14 North Gay St Calvert 4539
PHILADELPHIA 6 North 6th St Lombard 7651
NORFOLK • 25 Commercial PI Norfolk 4-1083
NEW ORLEANS (15) ..309 Chartres St Canal 3936
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 9-8346
Twelve Million Jobless Seen
After This War Is Ended
WASHINGTON, D. C.—Under
the best, of circumstances, the
post-war unemployment problem
is certain to be "critical." If ade
quate steps to deal with it are not
taken in advance, it may be "de
vastating."
So declares the post-war divis-
"on of the Bureau of Labor Stat
istics, which warned that at least
12,000,000 persons may be unem
ployed six months after the war
ends. At least 7,OOO,OO0 will be
separated from payrolls immedi
ately after the war ends, it said.
"The problem," the report add
ed, "must be tackled now, lest
the nation be led to the brink of
another and even more terrible
war."
A six-point program to cushion
the shock was advocated. It calls
for rapid reconversion of indus
try to peacetime production, a
public works program, financial
assistancie to demobilized soldiers
and war workers, and the volun
tary withdrawal from labor
iharkets Of wOmen, school-age
y<)uths and over-age employes.
Prediction was made that 1,-
500,000 workers will be turned
adrift by the aircraft industry
alone, and that the reduction in
shipbuilding may be equally se
vere. The automobile ^industry,
the report said, is expected to
drop Xroin a wartime peak of
300,000 to 2bO,bb6 and wiU never
climb back higher than 600,000.
The bureau said welders, rivet
ers, turret lathe operators, ma
chinists, tool and die makers and
other skilled workers will feel
the impact most "arid will have to
trarisfer to other kinds «5f work.
The outlook of the unskilled
tvorkers was pictured as being
even more desperate and the
board said they haye a hard pe
riod of readjiistirierit ahead.
"Ramprint Uriempioynidrit," th^
country was told, will cause all!
iorts of social terisibhs hh'd fric-'
tions that may produce social dis
orders of the gravest nature.
The bureau asserted that the
nation leans on a slender reed
when it places complete reliance
on the unemployment insurance
system to tide workers over the
period of readjustment. It could
not possibly stand the shock, the
report insisted, and that conten
tion was upheld by Ewan Clague,
director of the bureau of em
ployment of the Social Security
Board, in a radio broadcast.
"bur present system," Clague
said, "just won't be able to pay
all the benefits to which persons
are entitled if there is as much
unemployment at the end of the
war as is expected."
He pointed out that the reserv
es are in 49 separate state funds,
while Unerriployrhent will be
largely concentrated in a few
centers. Ue also recalled that
inillions of workers have rio claim
whatever ori these furids, because
they are riot covered by the So
cial Security system.
Other weak liriks cited by
Clague are thaf payments are too
small arid for too limited periods.
A married mari with a family, he
emphasized, receives no more
thari a single man.
Honoir Roll
S.S. WALTER RANGER ....$18.00
C. KRANNICH B.OO
O. BELL "S.OO
S. S. TEXMAR 4.00
S. S. ALCOA SCOUT 4.00
S. S. F. A. WALKER 3.00
D. CAHOON 2.bb
T. CARR 1,50
J. W. STEt>HENS 1.00
J. LAROCQUE i.bb
J. ROGERS 1.0b
JAMES K. KANE LOO
Oi\
^ASHii\GTorv.:
• BV MATT4IEW PiiWAQfLffi
Here is the continuation of the
story ()f the fight led by Andrew
Furuseth and the A:FL for sea
men's rights.
1^22
It had been the gefteral opinion
that the idea of a ship subsidy
would never again be broached
in Congress. But the belief was
based on the ccinterition that
there riever would be such a
Congress as is now in session.
Further, never before have the
same tactics been applied. Thir
teen years ago when the last ef
fort was made to foist such a
scheme Updn the country, a great
majority of the newspapers were
opposed to it. Those who favor a
ship subsidy now have seen to it
that no stich condition shall in
terfere with the present bill.
They had the biggest advertisirig
agency in the U. S. placed at the
head of the shipping board.
Through this agency the chair
man of the shipping board has
free entry into every newspaper,
in the country. It has proved a
most remarkable combination
and the ship subsidy bill is now
for sale to the American public.
Its glories are set forth in the
most brilliant language. The
chairman of the shipping board,
who was selected to make the
sale, is conducting a wide spread
campaign to secure the legisla-:
tion. No sooner had the bill been
introduced than the seamen dis
covered the menace to thehi in
its provisions.
it would repeal that section of
the seamen's act which guaran
teed the right of seamen to leave
a ship in a safe harbor. It also
provides for a merchant marine
reserve, which the seamen de
nounced as a strike breaking
agency.
As a bait for the seamen to be
come members of this naval re
serve, they are to be given a re
tainer of a month's wages. So
many protests about these two
clauses were' made that the chair
man promised to eliminate them.
He contended, however, that if
this were ddne the seamen should
suppdrt the bill. This they have
refused to do.
Two conferences were held be
tween the representatives of the
AFL and the chairman of the
shipping board, during which the
later submitted the same plan to
secure the (iodperation of labor
in support of the bill. The
chairman also used ariother ar
gument to secure the support of
labor. This Was that as soon as
the ship subsidy biU should have
been passed, thousarids of men
riow idle in the ship yards would
be given employment. At' the
sarrie time he said that the ships
owned by the shipping board
were "junk" and ought to be
sunk in the sea. There are a
number of other dangerous pro
visions in the bill which effect
the taxpayers in the U. S. It is
prdposed to sell to private ship-
TOTAL .t.$47.50
THE NIGHTMARE CREW^
A long trip it was from Ihdia's slrand
A payoff,,^ some wine, and iHe sun
With hot kasts from some NMU Pilots
Which by the "head" were hung!
Till 1 ddzed in my iitter weariness
Sleepy with fever arid l^ooze,
Ovdrpb^'ered by fumes from the Pilot
I slumbered in fitful snooze.
Till wild drOairis fibpded tny anxious mind
Ahd I fancied myself on a ship.
Shanghaied through Currans "Job Trust" Hall
With ah NMu
Ye Gods! when I crossed tHfe gari^fv^ay
What strririgO sight triet my gazO,
The phbriiesi Crew that Ship fever krifew
^tobd fhere iri riiy Sigiit arrayed.
FOr thfe Rbsiih's triaffe was Curfan
Still Veiling—"A ^eCbhd Frbnt!'.'
McKehzie was fhfere fes fen oiler
With Stein the irieSSphrik rhnt!
Myfers .was fhfe Able Sfefeirifeti
With "Finky" Sniifh fes thfe
Dare mfen §0 to sfea ^ith Such a trierifegfe?
"Twas one for thfe Hfefbfes' Rbok.
Thfeir sfe'^agbirig ^efer tv'fes a tirbwdfer Speech
Arid a Sriiii^e ;frbih, ShySte'r Riil;
They had Marltitnfe Laws with iridfexfed ilSws
dh theSe I gazfed ^ iiii!
The jiicturfe of Currah hurig fever the buriks,
Aribthfer, in irifessrbbihs
Whiife a greasy dfeck bf phbhy hiferkfed cards
Were there tor tHfe gferiiblers tfeb.
I wfekerifed in frigiii fetid swferfe by the Gbds
Wb iribfe wbtild 1 siyiggie thfe wirie,
'''^ivfeS bUt a drfeahi. Bill;!{ it wferfe friife
*1^ jiiffe ^ish't ^I'th fe ihih dime!
%'br I ihiiik 'ibb ktiicih Hi thiis Rfettferfed frfehife
To face the sea with such crew—
The Comniunist cash register "searneri"
Who's checkoff the NMU.
—^ap-Ati'-Lift.
owners, ships that cost $200 id
$250 per ton to build, for anyn
thing that can be obtainfed. "These
ships may be Sold for $20 per ton
or less.
The purchasers can borrow,
from the shipping board two-
thirds of the purchase price, and
sufficient money to amortize them
at 2% interest. All to be payable
within fifteen years. During this
period the purchasers can oper
ate the vessels. They will depre
ciate as much as 75%. At the end
of fifteen years the purchasers
can tie them up at some dock
and say to the shippirig board,
"You keep thdm for what we owe
you."
This bill is being widely mis
represented as a measure inteiui-
ed for the necessary mairitenanco
and upbuilding of the American"
merchant marine. The facts are
that its enactment into law will
bring about conditions under
which all managers and operaf-
ors of ships must regard politiiis
as the prime factor in their busl-
riess, and efficient management
as a secondary consideration of
comparatively little importance.
The AFL*-hereby condemns the
said ship subsidy bill as inimical
to the public interest, and partic
ularly destructive to the nation's
hopes and aspirations for sea
power.
1923
The greatest blow to the priv
ileged few was the defeat of the
ship subsidy bill. The arguments
in favor of the ship subsidy bill
were all such flagrant misrepre-
seritations that the number of
opponents continued to grow Un
til the members of the Senate
were convinced that they would
mean political suicide if theiy
vcited for such a measure. Ah
outstanding fact in regard-to the
opposition to the bill was that
labor was the only bfgartizatioh
that openly fought against its
passage. It can be said without
fear of contraction that had it riot
been for the AFL and its affili
ated organizations this pernicious
legisiation would have been driv
en thrbrigh Cdrigreb tinder the
wiiip arid spur of paffy regular
ity fend the fefer bf loSs of patron-
rige.. ~
The AFL wishes to fcali atten
tion to the UridiSpUted historical
fact thfet sea power, the ability
to stKicesSfully compfete Or fijght
at "sea, dcpcrids upbri the tj^e,
criferacter and ability Of the ria-
tibri's sefemen. Ships, guhs, tbpls,
etc;, fere fell important, but the
essential requirement fbr-success
is loyal arid (Competent sefemen.
History teaches Us that ilatibns
refusing to recognize this truth
have slbivly but inevitably Ibst
power arid coritrol of the sea.
America's policy for success upon
trie sea lias been clearly defined
"in the seameri's act Of 1915. Sym
pathetic enforcement of the law
will bririg greater results than
trie trarisfer of billions Of dollars
frdm the U, S. TreasUrj' to the
private feccbUnts of the Shipown
ers. Ship subsidies are like
crutches —• they lessen iriitlative
and create a spirit of dependence.
A mari Or an mdustry deperident
Upon criitcries ultim.ately be
comes a slave to trie habit, i.e.,
the cflitciies.
http://www.pdfcompressor.org/buy.html
to. il43
>•
THk ^EXFARERS LOG Pago Tfaroii ^
.
NEW YORK
On my desk at present are
three requests from ship's crews
tp have the Steward removed,
jThe Pickens of the South Atlan
tic Line has an NMU man who
got aboard without clearing thru
our Halh This man will be taken
off. The Stewed of the Dunbar
is strictly k.G. He will be taken
'dflE. The crew of the'Alcoa Point
er is in the meeting tonight arid
' we will hear about him later in
the meeting. Just about every
other ship that comes into this
port has a large number of beefs
against the Steward and they
usually want him suspended for
90 years.
Food is controlled. The stew
ard cannot order what he wants
like he did in peace time. Ships
are stored upon the basis of so
many ounces of each item of
food per man and the Steward is
required to see that every one
has eriough to eat and that the
food lasts for the entire voyage.
If he is a good guy and gives
ihe crew everything they ask for,
he runs short of several items be
fore the trip is over and the crew
Says that he doesn't know his
Business rind thrit "he hkd no rfght
to take a steward's job. If he
tries to spread the food out even
ly frir the whole trip, he is called
a belly-robber. In either case, an
angry crew demarids that actiori
be taken against him.
Given a Liberty ship which was
built to carry a crew of about 40
men, he finds himself with a
green galley crew and first trip
messmen and is expected to take
care of 300 prisoners, 118 armed
guard, 26 gun crew, an indefinite
number of passengers and the
regular crew of about 40 men.
By the time the trip is over, he
is a perfect, subject for a psycho
pathic ward, and the crew wants
to fire him out of his union. O.K.
boys. Go ahead and give them
all 99 years but don't forget that
everytime you do, you are. get
ting. rid of an experienced man
and a union brother and replac
ing him with either an NMU or
a RMO main arid see how you like
them. Think it "oyer, fellows, be
fore you raise Hell with your
next steward and remember that
one-third of our membership are
steward's Department men.
JOE VOLPIAN, Patrolman
Washes WSA
Out of the
by
3C. .
Focil
We viSited the Food Trade Vocatidrial School at 208 W. 13th St.,
due to the insistence of Tdnf Schiavone and Shakey Moore, who
were sore that more SIU men didn't take advantage of the oppor
tunity.
We met Mr. Citriano who is in charge of the school. He inform
ed us that the school was the property of New York, and was sub
sidized by the USMC fdr the purpose of having better cooks,and
bakers about American ships. All seamen who have made one trip
to sea are eligible to enter the school and take the four week course
cooking, butchering, baking and steward work. The governinerit
pays the trainees $6 per diem. The facilities in the school are first
rate and the men teachers there kriow their business. If the trainee
is arixious to learri Ke can be taught the most modern and easiest
methods in handling his first or second cooks' job. Even some of
the old timers would be surprised if they entered the school, and
would find but that there was somethifig iriore they cdiild lerirri.
Some of the Brothers may have heard that it was an NMU
project. Nothing Of the sort. The NMU offered the USMC a room
in their building, arid with their usuril ballyhoo iriade it Ibdk as tHe
i)r6ject belonged to them. At first the boys had to go to the NMU
Ho collect their pay, but the cdmplaint of Brother Gomez quickly
tihariged thrit, and they are libW being paid off at the school. The
school has a ^eat rilariy of the NMU sweater girls there, but that
shouldn't stop an SIU man from triking the courSe, if he really wants
to learn. The schdol is riot interested iri your uriion riffiliatioris, riil
it wants to do is make you a better cook arid baker.
I'his school is riot being riin by the RMO, and you're riot a
Sheepshead Bay ritiff by attending it. There rife no Uniforms to Werir
while there except a white ripron. When you've finished the
course you rire riot obliged to Sail for the WSA, Afiriy Transport
Service or any other fink outfit. If you are interested iri attending
the school, you can get further iriformation at 39 Broadway, ROom
No. 300. See Lieut. Welsh.
{Continued from Page 1)
yard stick (does-it-help-smash-la
bor) been applied at every turn.
It is no -vVonder that the OWI
only devotes one quarter of a
page to the question of labor re
lations. They would be hard
pressed to -write more than that
without openly falsifying the rec
ord. As it was they came close to
doing exactly that.
"The War Shipping Adminis
tration has issued Statements of
Policy with all maritime labor
organizations," says the public
ity release. "These in effect re
tain the union hiring halls arid
the procedures of collective bar
gaining."
The implication here is that
the WSA voluntarily accented
the "Statement of Policy" "and
has since observed it in all good
faith. The seamen know that this
is a lie—whether or not the OWI
is aware of it. The "Statement of
Policy" was -wrung from the
WSA by determined unions.
Since having grudgingly signed
this Stalemerit, the WSA has at
tempted to circumvent it or,
when they felt strong enough, to
Operily sabotage it.
All the OWI propaganda ma
chinery can not alter these facts.
In an explanitory letter accom
panying the publicity released,
the OWI remarks that the "re
port" is designed to meet the
needs of "editors, writers, com
mentators, broadcasters, program
planners, photographers, and
others concerried with presenting
the news." We have no doubt
but that 90% of the editors,
commentators, etc., will present
the "news" just as received from
the OWI. The orily place in
which the real facts have an op
portunity to be heard now days is
in the only free press left in the
country—^the labor press.
JjlOJfL JM, pJdL&A,—
PROiPIlTEERS AND THE CX)ST OF LIVING ^
WAAMLooks
Like
Flam
KEEP CLEAR WtTH YOUR DRAFT BOARD
By obsrirving thfe fttllriwiiig siriiple iristructioiis you will
continue to receive defeftuent frorii iriilitary seiwice. Fail
tb dbSrihre these fiiles kiid yoU may wind up in the army.
WjttEH klGOTi'jG dN: Give the clerk or skipper all the
ihfbrmatitfn n^eessriry to fill out RMO Card No. 47 (Green
Carfi),
WKriEN sm OFT: See that Ckfd No. 48-A Is j^rbjh-
p^rly filled out by skipper or clerk.
Shli> but beftite yoiir Ullbtttia time riu^bfe has e^ifed.
If you have hot yet flllefi ottt the Grfien Cai^a, eohiact ydur
draft board let kfiow that |ybU are saiiirig.
{Continued from Page 1)
sponsors of the movement have
been made public, nor have the
requirements for memberships.
No specific program is enunci
ated. All we know is that officeSj
have been opened .at 152 West
42nd Street, and that radio time
has been contracted for. No
doubt the next WAAM move will
be to lower the boom on the
suckers.
All union men should warn;
their wives and girl friends (and
any "live ones") to keep a Weath
er eye out for this V/AAM Aim
fiam.
Ernest Linne Palmer
Sam L. Barclift
Marshal J. Gieleek
S. JosepHsbri
Keep In i'diich With
Your Local Draft Board,
Organized labor has repeatedly
charged that profiteers are almost
solely responsible for high liv
ing costs, and has insisted that,
if it wished to do so, the admin
istration could redeem its pledge
to roll .back prices simply by
squeezing out extortionate profits.
These claims have been sup
ported up to the hilt by the Of
fice of Price Administration, but,
for reasons that are left to the
imagination, the sensational facts
have not been disclosed to the
public.
Expert of the O.P.A. have de
termined that wholesale food
dealers increased their profits be
tween 1939 and 1942 as high as
500 per cent. This startling in
formation is contained in Volume
6 of the O.P.A. series of "War
Profits Studies," which are not
public documents, but are intend
ed only for use of the agency's
officials.
The facts and figures in this
study are not 'only a blistering
indictment of war profiteers, but
are equally an indictment of of
ficials who have permitted them
to get "away with murder."
Here, boiled down for quick
reading, is what the O.P.A. has
discovered but has kept secret:
Three out of every 10 food
wholesalers reported profits for
1942 more than 300 per cent high
er than in 1939, and for half of
these concerns profits rose 500
per cent or more.
Seven out of every 10 food
middlemen more than doubled
their profits, and four of these
seven had at least a 200 per cent
rise.
Evenmore startling is the
O.P.A. disclosure that in many
instances higher profits were har
vested ori a declining volume of
business. In almost every case,
profits increased much more rap
idly than sales, making it as
plain as a pikestaff that whole
salers took advantage of the em
ergency and the complaisance of
O.P.A. to jack up prices.
"Wholesale food grocers," the
confidential report says, "realized
twice as much on every dollar of
sales in 1942 as in 1939. Sales
were up 43 per cent, but profits
rose over 200 per cent. The larger
companies showed the greater in
creases in sales, but the smaller
concerns reported the greater in
crease in profits."
That paragraph tells the real
story of what has happened to
wages and the cost of living.
With fbbd taking about half of
the worker's -weekly wages, these
figures lay the most serious in
dictment of war profiteering at
the door of food middlemen, who
beat down the farmers at one end
and rob consumers at the other.
Declaring that in the past four
years the wholesale grocery busi
ness has been transformed from
a "marginal to a profitable in
dustry," the report declares that
wholesale grocers are earning an
average of 25 to 50 per cent on
invested capital.
Today all wholesalers are rid
ing the "gravy train," which cdri-s
trasts with their position in 1932,
when about 20 per cent actually
lost money. i
From the outset, it may be
noted, wholesalers have been the
petted darlings of the O.P.A. Un
der the boisterous and blunder
ing Leon Henderson, they were
permitted to write their owni
ticket, mainly because their o-wii
representatives had been in
trenched in key positions in the
agency.
When Henderson established
price ceilings, back in 1942, the
prices of wholesalers were 20 pel*
cent out of line with those of re
tailers. This meant, of course,
that it was the retailer -who was
to be squeezed when he had tq
replenish his stocks.
Instead of rolling back whole
sale prices, the O.P.A. permitted
retailers to hoist their ceilings,
and that is the explanation of an
increase of almost 50 per cent iri
the' prices of food paid by con
sumers.
The O.P.A.'s confidential report
shows conclusively that had the
O.P.A. forced wholesalers to
make a 20 per cent price reduc
tion, their profits would still have
been larger than anybody should
be perimitted to take in -war or:
peace time.
Another point that may be
worth mentioning is that, while
the O.P.A. remained silent about
the extortion of food wholesalers.
It passed out to the press garbled
figures purporting to show that
workers were the real profiteers.
—LABOKi
MONEY DUE
Crew of last trip of S. S. Ore-
liiar have $125 attack bonus com
ing. Collect Calmar Line, Nevr
York City.
Crew of last trip of S. S. Benj.
Bourn can collect 12 hours over
time from Mississippi Line's Nevr
York office.
Crew of last trip of S. S. Johri
P. Poe have extra day area bonus
coming. Collect at nearest Bull
Line Office. •
Crew of S.S. Able Stearns can
collect port bonus for Sydney.
See Captain Respess, Bull Line.
New York City.
J. Panfoja has money cOr
from the Bull Line for the I
voyage of the Eleanor.
The following crew members
of the S.S. Ironclad have bonus
money coming from the Water
man Line: L. Hall, A. DeFelice.
E. Bright, J. Lafaso, J. Narbvak.
G. Small, J. Naylor, J. McKenna.
and E. Talbot.
INGEBRITSEN: You have 61
hours overtime coming from the
Robin Line.
MCLAUGHLIN: You have 6
hours bveftiriie coming from thri
Rbbiri Line.
ATLANTIC AND GULF SHIPPING FOR
WEEK OF AUG. 23 TO 28 INCLUSIVE
DECK ENGINE STEWARD TOTAL
SHIPPED 336 291 255 882
REGISTERED 233 208 139 580
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Page Four THE SEAFARERS LOG Friday. September 10. 1943
War Prisoners Used By Shipowner
•p
11'i
•X-
{Continued from Page 1)
the galley and were busy prepar-
• ing a mess of the Italian national
dish for the crew. They came to
stay, and stay they did for the
whole trip. They did not confine
themselves to their own food, but
were doing a lot for the cooks in
preparing the crews' stew pot.
A barber shop was duly open
ed with great pomp and cere
mony just outside of the chill
boxes and convenient enough to
the meat chopping block that it
was nearly always covered with
hair. But what's a little hair in
the grub, after all meat is ration
ed. (Price—^two packs of Luck-
ies; Proprietor — one prisoner of
war).
The. Engineers were not to be
outdone in building up their rep
utation. Their cry for help was
answered and several prisoners
were detailed to the engine room.
One of the wipers was promoted
to Engine Room. Bos'un (Same
Pay) and put in full charge.
Needless to say, no military
guard was put in the Engine
Room while these men were
working. However, the wiper
Was instructed to keep a sharp
tvatch on their behavior in case
ithey reverted to Fascism, and to
take appropriate action if a move
was made to take over the ship:
(The brave wiper).
• I wonder if the soldiers who
captured these prisoners did so
with the idea of undermining
American labor standards?
; I wonder if when a Company
guaiantees us safe working con
ditions, they are sincere?
I wonder if American seamen
are willing to place their lives in
jeopardy, in addition to torpe
does, bombs and mines?
Boys, if the next ship you join
they say it is for a one-way pas
sage, it is nothing serious, it just
means that you will take the ship
to North Africa and walk home
to collect transportation—if you
arrive within ten days of the pay
off at the original port of en
gagement. The prisoners wil
work their way back.
All these beefs were taken up
with the Naval Intelligence in
Norfolk. So far, we have heard
of no action being taken though
Thing it over well, boys. It is
your Union and these are your
conditions, that are being sold
down the river.
13 Labor Leaders Honored
At Liberty Ship Launching
Members of the crew of S. S.
Malt W. Hanson should contact
Richard M. Cantor. 51 Chambers
St.. New York City.
JOHN WAZALIS
Your book is at headquarters
office. Your clothes are at the
New York Customs. Pier 61.
JOHN E. DaROCHA
Get in touch with your draft
board in Savannah.
JOHN SOLOMON WIGFIELD
Your union book and Coast
Guard Pass are at headquarters
office in New York.
Keep In Touch With
Your Local Draft Board.
SIU And Tanker Members
On West Coast
Central Registering and Dispatching Office
Open in SUP Headquarters at San Francisco
For SIU Members and T, C*8 in
Deck, Engine and Steward Departments
Increased shipping on West Coast by SIU members
has made it necessary to open a separate and complete
business office to be devoted solely to registering and car-
^g for the needs of SIU members in all departments.
All SIU members in San Francisco are required to im
mediately register in SIU office at 59 Clay St. SIU members
in SUP Branches on the West Coast are to register in the
respective SUP Office and I'eceive an SIU shipping card.
SIU shipping cards will have preference on SIU ships and
will be recognized by all SUP Dispatchers. SIU Deck mem
bers will have second preference when SUP rneniber's are
available.
For Further Information:
Call your union offices and tanker organizers at the
addresses listed below. You will always finds somebody at
these numbers excepting at night.
SEATTLE, WASH.—86 Seneca St.—Phone Elliott 6752.
—^E. Coeistei or Johnson.
PORTLAND. OREGON—111 West Burnside St.—Phone
Beacon 4336—John Massey or C. Atkins.
RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA—257 Fifth St.—Phone Rich
mond 4021—Louie Glebe or Banks.
VANCOUVER, B. C.—340 B. Cambie St.—Phonp Pacific
7824—Hugh Murphy.
WILMINGTON, California ^ 440 Avalon Blvd. —Phone
4449.
NEW YORK Cmr — 105 Broad St. — Phone BOwling
Green 9-^530—^Morris Weisberger.
SAN FRANCISCO-59 Clay St.—Phone Exbrook 8229—
Phil Conley.
WASHINGTON-— The Mari
time Commission has announced
that 13 Liberty ships scheduled
for launching in the near future
will be named for former labor
leaders. Labor Day ceremonies
in various shipyards featured
teunchings and the laying of
keels of some of the vessels.
The roster includes such not
ables as Heywood Broun, mem
ber of the CIO and first head of
the American Newspaper Guild;
Joshua A. Leach, founder and
first president of the Brother
hood of Locomotive Firemen and
Enginemen; Robert Fechncr, who
served for years as a representa
tive of the American Federation
of Labor and was first director of
the Civilian Conservation Corps;
and William B. Wilson, Secretary
of Labor in President Woodrow
Wilson's cabinet.
Other names of distinction on
the list are: Jerome K. Jones,
AFL leader in Atlanta, Georgia;
Patrick Henry Morrissey, one
time grand master of the Broth
erhood of Railroad Trainmen;
Edgar E. Clark, who served as
president of the Order of Railway
Conductors of America and was
later appointed to the Interstate
Commerce Commission by Presi
dent Theodore Roosevelt.
Further illustrious names in la
bor history to be assigned are:
John I. Nolan, international vice-
president of Iron Moulder's Union
and former Congressman - from
California; Ben T. Osborne, exe
cutive secretary of Oregon Fed
eration of Labor; Michael Casey,
president of Interhatiohal Team
sters, Chauffeurs and Warehouse
men; Albert J. Berres, of the
Metal Trades of AFL; George
Uhler, president of Marino En
gineers Beneficial Association,
CIO; Arthur M. Huddell, presi
dent of International Union of
Operating Engineers.
Labor leaders for whom Lib
erty ships were named in cere
monies held Labor Day, 1942,
New Sub Menace
Hinted By Knos
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 —The
airplane won this summer's Al
lied battle against' submarines,
and as a result German U-boats
apparently are being equipped
with xiiofe anti-alrcfafl weapons
preliminary to a new challenge
for control of the Atlantic sea-
lanes.
This appraisal of the enemy's
intentions was given today by
Secretary of the Navy Knox and
was supplemented by figures re
leased by the naval high com
mand.
The great part played by the
airplane in the anti-submarine
campaign's success was disclosed
in the naval report summarizing
operations during May, June and
July. During this period the Al
lies sank 90 U-boats and pretty
well scotched, at least for the
time being, the threats to theii;
trans-Atlantic supply routes.
The Navy said American forces
alone sank at least 29 enemy sub
marines in those three months.
Of these, 26 were destroyed by /
James Duncan, John
and John W. Brown.
Mitchell
Ickes Reveals
War Labor Board
Double Cross of U.M.W.
{Continued from Page 1)
deserved wage increases and, in
I'act, they would have been jus
tified in abrogating their two-
year contract after Pearl Harbor
and demanding pay boosts then
and there.
They would have been granted,
too, he said, because then there
were no wage freezing regula
tions. But the union conscient-
oiisly stuck to the terms of the
contract and did not press for
wage rate amendn^ents until ex
piration of the pact.
OPERATORS
"SHADOWED-BOXED"
During the long negotiations
that started in March, the oper
ators ..only .."shadow-boxed" ..as
far as bargaining i^ concerned,
Ickes asserted.
"Certain gentlemen were firm
in the intention there would be
no settlement with the Miners,"
he said. "They said 'no' to all
suggestions, finally throwing the
dispute into the lap of the War
Labor Board, toward which an
influential group had been work
ing from the outset."
At a critical stage in the con
troversy, just before midnight.
May 31, Ickes said he called in
Lewis and Charles O'Neill,
spokesmen for the Northern op
erators, and proposed a tempor
ary contract.
This would have provided ap
proximately a dollar-a-day in
crease to the workers, a.s part
payment on the union's claim for
"portal-to-portal" pay,' covering
travel time spent underground.
The full amount would, mean
while, be determined by an im
partial commission.
DISPUTE NEAR SETTLEMENT
Both sides indicated the com
promise would be acceptable,
Ickes decliu'ed, adding: "I believ
ed the dispute might be settled
within 24 hours."
However, the WLB threw a
"monkey wrench." It ordered
the Miners and operators to • stop
negotiations.
AFL Denounces
Labor Conscription
Moves By Brass Hats
were: Samuel Gomner-s, Andrew' airplanes had
Furuselh, Peter J. McGiiire, <">=
of the three bagged by naval sur-.
face forces.
Knox told a press conference
that there is reason to believe
that the Germans are calling in
their U-boats to put anti-aircraft
guns on them and he was empha
tic that the battle of the Atlantic
has not been ended.
"It's as sure as sunrise that
they will be back in there again,"
he, said. "There is no reason to -
believe that we have disposed of
the submarine menace."
Knox replied affirmatively
when asked if small aircraft car
riers have not largely met the
need for air "protection in Middle
Atlantic areas beyond the effec
tive patrol range of land-based
aircraft.
\
Bakke Made Co-chairman
Of War Shipping Panel
The National War Labor Board '
has announced the appointment
of E. Wight Bakke, professor of
economics at Yale University, as
co-chairfnan of the WLB 'Wat;
Shipping Panel.
Professor Bakke has acted as
public member of many WLB
panels, and has also served as a
board referee in several cases
during the past year.
"Brass hats" in Buffalo were
accused this week by Frank Fen-
ton, A. F. of L. organization di
rector, of putting over a scheme
of labor control that is an enter
ing wedge for a plan to conscript
workers for private bosses.
The plan was authorized, he
said, by Mrs. Anna Rosenberg,
New York state director of the
War Manpower Commission, in
violation of policies laid down by
the labor - management policy
committee of the national com
mission.
Mrs. itosenberg is known to be
close to the White House and has
the President's ear, but has been
the center of frequent heated
controversies.
She has held jobs with various
Federal agencies, and one of the
bitterest outbursts against her
occurred when it was found' she
held a lucrative 'position with
Macy's in New York while draw
ing government salaries. As a
result of the attacks, she gave up
the private job.
Fenton, who is a member of the
national committee, inslructed
A. F. of L. unions in Buffalo to
disregard the scheme and declar
ed he would demand that the
commission order Mrs. Rosenberg
to abandon or alter it.
TIED TO JOBS
Under the Buffalo program,
which is the most sweeping in
the country, a curb is placed on
the free movement of aU male
workers in the area. No such
worker can take a job, nor can a
boss employ him, unless approv
ed by a committee of arniy and
navy agents.
"These military men have been
telling workers they have to quit
jobs they hold and take new
ones, in specified plants, regard
less of the wages paid," Fenton
said.
In other communities, labor-
management committees must be
consulted before any manpower
In Memoriam
BROTHER
William Cantrell
(O. S.)
Born Sept. 25. 1911. Died in
Gran, North Africa,
July 17. 1943.
regulations are put Into effect,
but in Buffalo labor's opposition
was overridden, he declared. Lo
cal labor chiefs have branded the
present setup a "labor servitude
plan."
THE ENTERING WEDGE
"If compulsion is clamped dowrt
on labor in Buffalo, attempts will
be made to extend it elsewhere,'/
Fention said. "So far, at least, we
have no 'draft labor' law iii thil
country, and we won't tolerate
efforts to put into effect the esr
sence of such a law by round-;
about methods." , ,
''f.\
•I'v/.i >- .. •,
http://www.pdfcompressor.org/buy.html
SEAFARERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA
VOL. V. 267 NEW YORK. N. Y., FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 10, 1943 No. 24
I'X.'
WAAMLooks
Like Film
Flam
What appears to be another
racket at the expense of the mer
chant seamen, blossomed out in
New York last week. This latest
collection of free loaders is en
titled "Women's Auxiliary of the
American Merchant Marine, Inc."
and its avowed purpose is to col
lect old clothes for the seamen
and to comfort their wives while
they are at sea. The old charity
racket, in other words.
This time, however, something
new has been added—fancy uni-
forips. Last week the New York
Times ran a picture of Mrs. Ada
Mae Roll, founder and president
of the WAAMs. She was decked
out in the official WAAM's mil
itary uniform, and a face that
would hardly bring cheer to a
shipwrecked sailor. She had that
fierce, preditory look of a profes
sional do-gooder.
Of course, an organization can't
be denounced merely because its
founder wears a high pressure
hat and a man-eating expression.
There are sounder reasons for our
suspicions concerning this set-up.
To^ljegin with, the seamen don't
need charity, don't want charity,
and will refuse it if offered to
them. Anyone who starts such a
move is likely to be figuring on
lining their own pockets. Fur
thermore this outfit has all' the
earmarks of a phoney. It has
never come near the union to dis
cuss the problems of the seamen,
it has not even contacted the
United Seamen's Service. No
{Continued on Page 3)
War Prisoners Used By Shipowner
To Upset Wages And Conditions
OWI White
Washes WSA
That fink herders- delight, the
War Shipping Administration, is
in the process of being perfumed
and "sold" to the American peo
ple. The Office of War Informa
tion has taken on the task of por
traying one of the most ineffici
ent, bureaucratic and anti-labor
arms of the government as a mo
del of enlightenment and effici
ency.
The OWI released this week 12
single typed pages of publicity
entitled "Merchant Shipping of
the United States in War Time."
It purportedly contains the en
tire "magnificent record" of the
WSA and the Maritime Commis
sion in meeting the war crisis in
merchant shipping.
Of the 12 pages of superlatives,
it is significant that only one
quarter of one page-is devoted to
the WSA's handling of labor re
lations. And yet it is this very
point that provides the key *to
the whole record of bimgling. It
is the WSA bureaucrats' hatred
of organized labor, it is their
determination to impose a gov
ernment fink hall on all coasts,
that has led the bureau into the
most devious maneuvers and the
most unbusiness like and ineffi
cient practices.
The WSA record of building
and sailing ships could have been
increased many fold had not the
{Continued on.-Page 3)
No Souvenirs Are Allowed
Says Fuss Budget Wyckoff
War Shipping Administration
Washington. D. C.
September 6, 1943
Mr. John Hawk, Secretary-Treasurer
Seafarers International Union of North America*
Room 213, 2 Stone Street
New York, N. Y.
Dear Mr. Hawk:
The Enforcement Division of the U. S. Bureau of Customs has
called to my attention what appears to be an unintentional infrac
tion of Articles 78 and 90 issued by the U. S. War Department re
garding the possession of captured Axis equipment.
It appears that on many merchant vessels returning from
theaters of war members of the crew have obtained by purchase or
barter from inhabitants in those localities, arms, munitions, discard
ed helmets, etc., as souvenirs.
Under the Articles of War mentioned above, all discarded or
captured Axis material is the property of the United State and un
authorized possession thereof is a violation of said Articles and such
material will be confiscated by the Customs and other authorized
United States law enforcement agencies wherever found.
I am forwarding this information to you in order that you may
advise the members of your union of the facts herein, for their
guidance.
Very truly yours,
HUBERT WYCKOFF,
Assistant Deputy Administrator
for Maritime Labor Relations
In Memoriam
BROTHER
Joseph R. Gillis
(Able Seaman)
Born August 8. 1900. Died in
Or an. North Africa.
July 17. 1943.
In Memoriam
BROTHER
Edward J. Perritt
(Fireman. Oiler. Watertender)
Born. October 14. 1902. Died
in an accident in New York
City on August 30. 1943.
WLB DOUBLE CROSSED MINERS—ICKES
Death came to these miners before a living wage. 19 members of the United Miiie Workers are
shown being carried out of the Sayreton. Alabama mine of the Republic Steel Company.
The union has charged that Republic Steel flagrantly ignored many safety laws .in the operation
of **»'« mine—and is directly rei^nslble for the explosion which snuffed out these lives.
In a weekly magazine of na
tional circulation, Secretary of
the Interior Harold L. Ickes this
week gave the inside story of
the long three-cornered contest
between the United Mine Work
ers, coal operators and govern
ment agencies over wage in
creases for coal diggers.
"Crisis on Coal," Ickles' article
was called, and in it he made be
hind-the-scenes disclosures.
The document largely sustains
claims made by labor leaders —
many of them bitter critics of
John L. Lewis—that the contro
versy could have been adjusted,
if the War Labor Board had not
barred a settlement, except on its
own terms.
Before the article- went to
press, it passed through the
hands of the Office of War In
formation and the WLB. Both
agencies demanded drastic
changes to tone the piece
down and soft-pedal criticism of
the board, but Ickes declared the
proposed revisions came too late
to be included.
Ickes said flatly that, contrary
to the WLB's stand, the Miners
{Continued on Psge 4)
t •
By A. B.
The trip is over, the boys all
paid off and are hunting for an
other ship with good CQoks and
a square captain, so here goes for
a try at the highlights of last trip.
The most important event of
the trip, and the most dangerous
as far as our union is concerned,
was the skipper's use of war
prisoners to break down our con
ditions. But to start at the be
ginning.
Sometime last April, one of the
South Atlantic's palatial "Liberty
Belles" came steaming into the
port of New York in search of a
crew. As usual, the dispatcher
rounded up a full crew and the
good ship crossed the bar headed
for a point in North Africa.
Going over the weather was
perfect; enemy opposition was
light and so was the food. These
maritime cooks are sure honeys.
So far I have eaten Hungarian
Goulash, Norwegian Goulash, Po
lish • Goulash and at least five
other varieties. Last trip though
when the cook finished com
pounding a stew, and being stuck
for a name, it came on the menu
as VICTORY GOULASH. It was
lousy, but did not result in any
deaths. The biggest beef on the
way over, was the food.
We finally made port, discharg
ed our cargo and pointed our fair
ship's bow for home. Then they
slapped a few hundred war pris
oners aboard and said "GO".
When the Master saw them com
ing aboard a big smile lit up his
face, as he thought "My troubles
are over. Think of the work that
I can get done this trip, without
paying overtime, and what a rec
ord I will have with the com
pany."
When we finally sailed through
the nets on the home stretch the
prisoners were turned-to, paint
ing the ship down. Those mon
keys were all over the ship with
a pot of paint and a brush in
nothing flat^ (just think of that
overtime). Every night the Bo-
s'un had to hunt the ship down
to make sure that he had knock
ed them all off. They only used
an average of ten a day and they
were given the liberty of the ship
without a guard.
The cooks sent out an SOS arid
shortly after, the cry was heard
and a couple of them showed up in
{Continued on Page 4)
New Orleans Mailing
Address
All mail for union brothers
in New Orleans should be ad
dressed in the following man
ner:
John Doe *
General Delivery
Seamen's Postal Unit
Custom House Station
New Orleans 16. La.
Vil
,, , t •,
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Pag® Two THE S EA FARERS LOG Friday. Sepiembor 10, 1943 ^
" "rl;
SEAFAREKS LOG
Published by the
SEAFARERS' INTERNAlldNAt WlOlS
OF NORTH AMERICA
Atlantic and Gulf District
Affiliated with the American Pederation of Labor
HARRY LUNDEBERG - - - - - - "President
110 Market Strwt, Fraaclsco, Calif.
JOHN HAWK - - - - - - - Secy-Treas.
P. O. 'Box 25, Statidh P., New York City
MATTHEW DUSHANE - - - Washington Rep.
424 5 th Street, N. W., Washington, D. C.
• • •
Directory of Branches
BRANCH ADDRESS PHONE
NEW YORK (4) 2 Stone St BOwling Green 9-3437
BOSTON (10).. 330 Atlantic Ave Liberty 4057
BALTIMORE (2) 14 North Gay St Calvert 4539
PHILADELPHIA 6 North 6th St Lombard 7651
NORFOLK • 25 Commercial PI Norfolk 4-1083
NEW ORLEANS (15) ..309 Chartres St Canal 3936
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 9-8346
Twelve Million Jobless Seen
After This War Is Ended
WASHINGTON, D. C.—Under
the best, of circumstances, the
post-war unemployment problem
is certain to be "critical." If ade
quate steps to deal with it are not
taken in advance, it may be "de
vastating."
So declares the post-war divis-
"on of the Bureau of Labor Stat
istics, which warned that at least
12,000,000 persons may be unem
ployed six months after the war
ends. At least 7,OOO,OO0 will be
separated from payrolls immedi
ately after the war ends, it said.
"The problem," the report add
ed, "must be tackled now, lest
the nation be led to the brink of
another and even more terrible
war."
A six-point program to cushion
the shock was advocated. It calls
for rapid reconversion of indus
try to peacetime production, a
public works program, financial
assistancie to demobilized soldiers
and war workers, and the volun
tary withdrawal from labor
iharkets Of wOmen, school-age
y<)uths and over-age employes.
Prediction was made that 1,-
500,000 workers will be turned
adrift by the aircraft industry
alone, and that the reduction in
shipbuilding may be equally se
vere. The automobile ^industry,
the report said, is expected to
drop Xroin a wartime peak of
300,000 to 2bO,bb6 and wiU never
climb back higher than 600,000.
The bureau said welders, rivet
ers, turret lathe operators, ma
chinists, tool and die makers and
other skilled workers will feel
the impact most "arid will have to
trarisfer to other kinds «5f work.
The outlook of the unskilled
tvorkers was pictured as being
even more desperate and the
board said they haye a hard pe
riod of readjiistirierit ahead.
"Ramprint Uriempioynidrit," th^
country was told, will cause all!
iorts of social terisibhs hh'd fric-'
tions that may produce social dis
orders of the gravest nature.
The bureau asserted that the
nation leans on a slender reed
when it places complete reliance
on the unemployment insurance
system to tide workers over the
period of readjustment. It could
not possibly stand the shock, the
report insisted, and that conten
tion was upheld by Ewan Clague,
director of the bureau of em
ployment of the Social Security
Board, in a radio broadcast.
"bur present system," Clague
said, "just won't be able to pay
all the benefits to which persons
are entitled if there is as much
unemployment at the end of the
war as is expected."
He pointed out that the reserv
es are in 49 separate state funds,
while Unerriployrhent will be
largely concentrated in a few
centers. Ue also recalled that
inillions of workers have rio claim
whatever ori these furids, because
they are riot covered by the So
cial Security system.
Other weak liriks cited by
Clague are thaf payments are too
small arid for too limited periods.
A married mari with a family, he
emphasized, receives no more
thari a single man.
Honoir Roll
S.S. WALTER RANGER ....$18.00
C. KRANNICH B.OO
O. BELL "S.OO
S. S. TEXMAR 4.00
S. S. ALCOA SCOUT 4.00
S. S. F. A. WALKER 3.00
D. CAHOON 2.bb
T. CARR 1,50
J. W. STEt>HENS 1.00
J. LAROCQUE i.bb
J. ROGERS 1.0b
JAMES K. KANE LOO
Oi\
^ASHii\GTorv.:
• BV MATT4IEW PiiWAQfLffi
Here is the continuation of the
story ()f the fight led by Andrew
Furuseth and the A:FL for sea
men's rights.
1^22
It had been the gefteral opinion
that the idea of a ship subsidy
would never again be broached
in Congress. But the belief was
based on the ccinterition that
there riever would be such a
Congress as is now in session.
Further, never before have the
same tactics been applied. Thir
teen years ago when the last ef
fort was made to foist such a
scheme Updn the country, a great
majority of the newspapers were
opposed to it. Those who favor a
ship subsidy now have seen to it
that no stich condition shall in
terfere with the present bill.
They had the biggest advertisirig
agency in the U. S. placed at the
head of the shipping board.
Through this agency the chair
man of the shipping board has
free entry into every newspaper,
in the country. It has proved a
most remarkable combination
and the ship subsidy bill is now
for sale to the American public.
Its glories are set forth in the
most brilliant language. The
chairman of the shipping board,
who was selected to make the
sale, is conducting a wide spread
campaign to secure the legisla-:
tion. No sooner had the bill been
introduced than the seamen dis
covered the menace to thehi in
its provisions.
it would repeal that section of
the seamen's act which guaran
teed the right of seamen to leave
a ship in a safe harbor. It also
provides for a merchant marine
reserve, which the seamen de
nounced as a strike breaking
agency.
As a bait for the seamen to be
come members of this naval re
serve, they are to be given a re
tainer of a month's wages. So
many protests about these two
clauses were' made that the chair
man promised to eliminate them.
He contended, however, that if
this were ddne the seamen should
suppdrt the bill. This they have
refused to do.
Two conferences were held be
tween the representatives of the
AFL and the chairman of the
shipping board, during which the
later submitted the same plan to
secure the (iodperation of labor
in support of the bill. The
chairman also used ariother ar
gument to secure the support of
labor. This Was that as soon as
the ship subsidy biU should have
been passed, thousarids of men
riow idle in the ship yards would
be given employment. At' the
sarrie time he said that the ships
owned by the shipping board
were "junk" and ought to be
sunk in the sea. There are a
number of other dangerous pro
visions in the bill which effect
the taxpayers in the U. S. It is
prdposed to sell to private ship-
TOTAL .t.$47.50
THE NIGHTMARE CREW^
A long trip it was from Ihdia's slrand
A payoff,,^ some wine, and iHe sun
With hot kasts from some NMU Pilots
Which by the "head" were hung!
Till 1 ddzed in my iitter weariness
Sleepy with fever arid l^ooze,
Ovdrpb^'ered by fumes from the Pilot
I slumbered in fitful snooze.
Till wild drOairis fibpded tny anxious mind
Ahd I fancied myself on a ship.
Shanghaied through Currans "Job Trust" Hall
With ah NMu
Ye Gods! when I crossed tHfe gari^fv^ay
What strririgO sight triet my gazO,
The phbriiesi Crew that Ship fever krifew
^tobd fhere iri riiy Sigiit arrayed.
FOr thfe Rbsiih's triaffe was Curfan
Still Veiling—"A ^eCbhd Frbnt!'.'
McKehzie was fhfere fes fen oiler
With Stein the irieSSphrik rhnt!
Myfers .was fhfe Able Sfefeirifeti
With "Finky" Sniifh fes thfe
Dare mfen §0 to sfea ^ith Such a trierifegfe?
"Twas one for thfe Hfefbfes' Rbok.
Thfeir sfe'^agbirig ^efer tv'fes a tirbwdfer Speech
Arid a Sriiii^e ;frbih, ShySte'r Riil;
They had Marltitnfe Laws with iridfexfed ilSws
dh theSe I gazfed ^ iiii!
The jiicturfe of Currah hurig fever the buriks,
Aribthfer, in irifessrbbihs
Whiife a greasy dfeck bf phbhy hiferkfed cards
Were there tor tHfe gferiiblers tfeb.
I wfekerifed in frigiii fetid swferfe by the Gbds
Wb iribfe wbtild 1 siyiggie thfe wirie,
'''^ivfeS bUt a drfeahi. Bill;!{ it wferfe friife
*1^ jiiffe ^ish't ^I'th fe ihih dime!
%'br I ihiiik 'ibb ktiicih Hi thiis Rfettferfed frfehife
To face the sea with such crew—
The Comniunist cash register "searneri"
Who's checkoff the NMU.
—^ap-Ati'-Lift.
owners, ships that cost $200 id
$250 per ton to build, for anyn
thing that can be obtainfed. "These
ships may be Sold for $20 per ton
or less.
The purchasers can borrow,
from the shipping board two-
thirds of the purchase price, and
sufficient money to amortize them
at 2% interest. All to be payable
within fifteen years. During this
period the purchasers can oper
ate the vessels. They will depre
ciate as much as 75%. At the end
of fifteen years the purchasers
can tie them up at some dock
and say to the shippirig board,
"You keep thdm for what we owe
you."
This bill is being widely mis
represented as a measure inteiui-
ed for the necessary mairitenanco
and upbuilding of the American"
merchant marine. The facts are
that its enactment into law will
bring about conditions under
which all managers and operaf-
ors of ships must regard politiiis
as the prime factor in their busl-
riess, and efficient management
as a secondary consideration of
comparatively little importance.
The AFL*-hereby condemns the
said ship subsidy bill as inimical
to the public interest, and partic
ularly destructive to the nation's
hopes and aspirations for sea
power.
1923
The greatest blow to the priv
ileged few was the defeat of the
ship subsidy bill. The arguments
in favor of the ship subsidy bill
were all such flagrant misrepre-
seritations that the number of
opponents continued to grow Un
til the members of the Senate
were convinced that they would
mean political suicide if theiy
vcited for such a measure. Ah
outstanding fact in regard-to the
opposition to the bill was that
labor was the only bfgartizatioh
that openly fought against its
passage. It can be said without
fear of contraction that had it riot
been for the AFL and its affili
ated organizations this pernicious
legisiation would have been driv
en thrbrigh Cdrigreb tinder the
wiiip arid spur of paffy regular
ity fend the fefer bf loSs of patron-
rige.. ~
The AFL wishes to fcali atten
tion to the UridiSpUted historical
fact thfet sea power, the ability
to stKicesSfully compfete Or fijght
at "sea, dcpcrids upbri the tj^e,
criferacter and ability Of the ria-
tibri's sefemen. Ships, guhs, tbpls,
etc;, fere fell important, but the
essential requirement fbr-success
is loyal arid (Competent sefemen.
History teaches Us that ilatibns
refusing to recognize this truth
have slbivly but inevitably Ibst
power arid coritrol of the sea.
America's policy for success upon
trie sea lias been clearly defined
"in the seameri's act Of 1915. Sym
pathetic enforcement of the law
will bririg greater results than
trie trarisfer of billions Of dollars
frdm the U, S. TreasUrj' to the
private feccbUnts of the Shipown
ers. Ship subsidies are like
crutches —• they lessen iriitlative
and create a spirit of dependence.
A mari Or an mdustry deperident
Upon criitcries ultim.ately be
comes a slave to trie habit, i.e.,
the cflitciies.
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to. il43
>•
THk ^EXFARERS LOG Pago Tfaroii ^
.
NEW YORK
On my desk at present are
three requests from ship's crews
tp have the Steward removed,
jThe Pickens of the South Atlan
tic Line has an NMU man who
got aboard without clearing thru
our Halh This man will be taken
off. The Stewed of the Dunbar
is strictly k.G. He will be taken
'dflE. The crew of the'Alcoa Point
er is in the meeting tonight arid
' we will hear about him later in
the meeting. Just about every
other ship that comes into this
port has a large number of beefs
against the Steward and they
usually want him suspended for
90 years.
Food is controlled. The stew
ard cannot order what he wants
like he did in peace time. Ships
are stored upon the basis of so
many ounces of each item of
food per man and the Steward is
required to see that every one
has eriough to eat and that the
food lasts for the entire voyage.
If he is a good guy and gives
ihe crew everything they ask for,
he runs short of several items be
fore the trip is over and the crew
Says that he doesn't know his
Business rind thrit "he hkd no rfght
to take a steward's job. If he
tries to spread the food out even
ly frir the whole trip, he is called
a belly-robber. In either case, an
angry crew demarids that actiori
be taken against him.
Given a Liberty ship which was
built to carry a crew of about 40
men, he finds himself with a
green galley crew and first trip
messmen and is expected to take
care of 300 prisoners, 118 armed
guard, 26 gun crew, an indefinite
number of passengers and the
regular crew of about 40 men.
By the time the trip is over, he
is a perfect, subject for a psycho
pathic ward, and the crew wants
to fire him out of his union. O.K.
boys. Go ahead and give them
all 99 years but don't forget that
everytime you do, you are. get
ting. rid of an experienced man
and a union brother and replac
ing him with either an NMU or
a RMO main arid see how you like
them. Think it "oyer, fellows, be
fore you raise Hell with your
next steward and remember that
one-third of our membership are
steward's Department men.
JOE VOLPIAN, Patrolman
Washes WSA
Out of the
by
3C. .
Focil
We viSited the Food Trade Vocatidrial School at 208 W. 13th St.,
due to the insistence of Tdnf Schiavone and Shakey Moore, who
were sore that more SIU men didn't take advantage of the oppor
tunity.
We met Mr. Citriano who is in charge of the school. He inform
ed us that the school was the property of New York, and was sub
sidized by the USMC fdr the purpose of having better cooks,and
bakers about American ships. All seamen who have made one trip
to sea are eligible to enter the school and take the four week course
cooking, butchering, baking and steward work. The governinerit
pays the trainees $6 per diem. The facilities in the school are first
rate and the men teachers there kriow their business. If the trainee
is arixious to learri Ke can be taught the most modern and easiest
methods in handling his first or second cooks' job. Even some of
the old timers would be surprised if they entered the school, and
would find but that there was somethifig iriore they cdiild lerirri.
Some of the Brothers may have heard that it was an NMU
project. Nothing Of the sort. The NMU offered the USMC a room
in their building, arid with their usuril ballyhoo iriade it Ibdk as tHe
i)r6ject belonged to them. At first the boys had to go to the NMU
Ho collect their pay, but the cdmplaint of Brother Gomez quickly
tihariged thrit, and they are libW being paid off at the school. The
school has a ^eat rilariy of the NMU sweater girls there, but that
shouldn't stop an SIU man from triking the courSe, if he really wants
to learn. The schdol is riot interested iri your uriion riffiliatioris, riil
it wants to do is make you a better cook arid baker.
I'his school is riot being riin by the RMO, and you're riot a
Sheepshead Bay ritiff by attending it. There rife no Uniforms to Werir
while there except a white ripron. When you've finished the
course you rire riot obliged to Sail for the WSA, Afiriy Transport
Service or any other fink outfit. If you are interested iri attending
the school, you can get further iriformation at 39 Broadway, ROom
No. 300. See Lieut. Welsh.
{Continued from Page 1)
yard stick (does-it-help-smash-la
bor) been applied at every turn.
It is no -vVonder that the OWI
only devotes one quarter of a
page to the question of labor re
lations. They would be hard
pressed to -write more than that
without openly falsifying the rec
ord. As it was they came close to
doing exactly that.
"The War Shipping Adminis
tration has issued Statements of
Policy with all maritime labor
organizations," says the public
ity release. "These in effect re
tain the union hiring halls arid
the procedures of collective bar
gaining."
The implication here is that
the WSA voluntarily accented
the "Statement of Policy" "and
has since observed it in all good
faith. The seamen know that this
is a lie—whether or not the OWI
is aware of it. The "Statement of
Policy" was -wrung from the
WSA by determined unions.
Since having grudgingly signed
this Stalemerit, the WSA has at
tempted to circumvent it or,
when they felt strong enough, to
Operily sabotage it.
All the OWI propaganda ma
chinery can not alter these facts.
In an explanitory letter accom
panying the publicity released,
the OWI remarks that the "re
port" is designed to meet the
needs of "editors, writers, com
mentators, broadcasters, program
planners, photographers, and
others concerried with presenting
the news." We have no doubt
but that 90% of the editors,
commentators, etc., will present
the "news" just as received from
the OWI. The orily place in
which the real facts have an op
portunity to be heard now days is
in the only free press left in the
country—^the labor press.
JjlOJfL JM, pJdL&A,—
PROiPIlTEERS AND THE CX)ST OF LIVING ^
WAAMLooks
Like
Flam
KEEP CLEAR WtTH YOUR DRAFT BOARD
By obsrirving thfe fttllriwiiig siriiple iristructioiis you will
continue to receive defeftuent frorii iriilitary seiwice. Fail
tb dbSrihre these fiiles kiid yoU may wind up in the army.
WjttEH klGOTi'jG dN: Give the clerk or skipper all the
ihfbrmatitfn n^eessriry to fill out RMO Card No. 47 (Green
Carfi),
WKriEN sm OFT: See that Ckfd No. 48-A Is j^rbjh-
p^rly filled out by skipper or clerk.
Shli> but beftite yoiir Ullbtttia time riu^bfe has e^ifed.
If you have hot yet flllefi ottt the Grfien Cai^a, eohiact ydur
draft board let kfiow that |ybU are saiiirig.
{Continued from Page 1)
sponsors of the movement have
been made public, nor have the
requirements for memberships.
No specific program is enunci
ated. All we know is that officeSj
have been opened .at 152 West
42nd Street, and that radio time
has been contracted for. No
doubt the next WAAM move will
be to lower the boom on the
suckers.
All union men should warn;
their wives and girl friends (and
any "live ones") to keep a Weath
er eye out for this V/AAM Aim
fiam.
Ernest Linne Palmer
Sam L. Barclift
Marshal J. Gieleek
S. JosepHsbri
Keep In i'diich With
Your Local Draft Board,
Organized labor has repeatedly
charged that profiteers are almost
solely responsible for high liv
ing costs, and has insisted that,
if it wished to do so, the admin
istration could redeem its pledge
to roll .back prices simply by
squeezing out extortionate profits.
These claims have been sup
ported up to the hilt by the Of
fice of Price Administration, but,
for reasons that are left to the
imagination, the sensational facts
have not been disclosed to the
public.
Expert of the O.P.A. have de
termined that wholesale food
dealers increased their profits be
tween 1939 and 1942 as high as
500 per cent. This startling in
formation is contained in Volume
6 of the O.P.A. series of "War
Profits Studies," which are not
public documents, but are intend
ed only for use of the agency's
officials.
The facts and figures in this
study are not 'only a blistering
indictment of war profiteers, but
are equally an indictment of of
ficials who have permitted them
to get "away with murder."
Here, boiled down for quick
reading, is what the O.P.A. has
discovered but has kept secret:
Three out of every 10 food
wholesalers reported profits for
1942 more than 300 per cent high
er than in 1939, and for half of
these concerns profits rose 500
per cent or more.
Seven out of every 10 food
middlemen more than doubled
their profits, and four of these
seven had at least a 200 per cent
rise.
Evenmore startling is the
O.P.A. disclosure that in many
instances higher profits were har
vested ori a declining volume of
business. In almost every case,
profits increased much more rap
idly than sales, making it as
plain as a pikestaff that whole
salers took advantage of the em
ergency and the complaisance of
O.P.A. to jack up prices.
"Wholesale food grocers," the
confidential report says, "realized
twice as much on every dollar of
sales in 1942 as in 1939. Sales
were up 43 per cent, but profits
rose over 200 per cent. The larger
companies showed the greater in
creases in sales, but the smaller
concerns reported the greater in
crease in profits."
That paragraph tells the real
story of what has happened to
wages and the cost of living.
With fbbd taking about half of
the worker's -weekly wages, these
figures lay the most serious in
dictment of war profiteering at
the door of food middlemen, who
beat down the farmers at one end
and rob consumers at the other.
Declaring that in the past four
years the wholesale grocery busi
ness has been transformed from
a "marginal to a profitable in
dustry," the report declares that
wholesale grocers are earning an
average of 25 to 50 per cent on
invested capital.
Today all wholesalers are rid
ing the "gravy train," which cdri-s
trasts with their position in 1932,
when about 20 per cent actually
lost money. i
From the outset, it may be
noted, wholesalers have been the
petted darlings of the O.P.A. Un
der the boisterous and blunder
ing Leon Henderson, they were
permitted to write their owni
ticket, mainly because their o-wii
representatives had been in
trenched in key positions in the
agency.
When Henderson established
price ceilings, back in 1942, the
prices of wholesalers were 20 pel*
cent out of line with those of re
tailers. This meant, of course,
that it was the retailer -who was
to be squeezed when he had tq
replenish his stocks.
Instead of rolling back whole
sale prices, the O.P.A. permitted
retailers to hoist their ceilings,
and that is the explanation of an
increase of almost 50 per cent iri
the' prices of food paid by con
sumers.
The O.P.A.'s confidential report
shows conclusively that had the
O.P.A. forced wholesalers to
make a 20 per cent price reduc
tion, their profits would still have
been larger than anybody should
be perimitted to take in -war or:
peace time.
Another point that may be
worth mentioning is that, while
the O.P.A. remained silent about
the extortion of food wholesalers.
It passed out to the press garbled
figures purporting to show that
workers were the real profiteers.
—LABOKi
MONEY DUE
Crew of last trip of S. S. Ore-
liiar have $125 attack bonus com
ing. Collect Calmar Line, Nevr
York City.
Crew of last trip of S. S. Benj.
Bourn can collect 12 hours over
time from Mississippi Line's Nevr
York office.
Crew of last trip of S. S. Johri
P. Poe have extra day area bonus
coming. Collect at nearest Bull
Line Office. •
Crew of S.S. Able Stearns can
collect port bonus for Sydney.
See Captain Respess, Bull Line.
New York City.
J. Panfoja has money cOr
from the Bull Line for the I
voyage of the Eleanor.
The following crew members
of the S.S. Ironclad have bonus
money coming from the Water
man Line: L. Hall, A. DeFelice.
E. Bright, J. Lafaso, J. Narbvak.
G. Small, J. Naylor, J. McKenna.
and E. Talbot.
INGEBRITSEN: You have 61
hours overtime coming from the
Robin Line.
MCLAUGHLIN: You have 6
hours bveftiriie coming from thri
Rbbiri Line.
ATLANTIC AND GULF SHIPPING FOR
WEEK OF AUG. 23 TO 28 INCLUSIVE
DECK ENGINE STEWARD TOTAL
SHIPPED 336 291 255 882
REGISTERED 233 208 139 580
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Page Four THE SEAFARERS LOG Friday. September 10. 1943
War Prisoners Used By Shipowner
•p
11'i
•X-
{Continued from Page 1)
the galley and were busy prepar-
• ing a mess of the Italian national
dish for the crew. They came to
stay, and stay they did for the
whole trip. They did not confine
themselves to their own food, but
were doing a lot for the cooks in
preparing the crews' stew pot.
A barber shop was duly open
ed with great pomp and cere
mony just outside of the chill
boxes and convenient enough to
the meat chopping block that it
was nearly always covered with
hair. But what's a little hair in
the grub, after all meat is ration
ed. (Price—^two packs of Luck-
ies; Proprietor — one prisoner of
war).
The. Engineers were not to be
outdone in building up their rep
utation. Their cry for help was
answered and several prisoners
were detailed to the engine room.
One of the wipers was promoted
to Engine Room. Bos'un (Same
Pay) and put in full charge.
Needless to say, no military
guard was put in the Engine
Room while these men were
working. However, the wiper
Was instructed to keep a sharp
tvatch on their behavior in case
ithey reverted to Fascism, and to
take appropriate action if a move
was made to take over the ship:
(The brave wiper).
• I wonder if the soldiers who
captured these prisoners did so
with the idea of undermining
American labor standards?
; I wonder if when a Company
guaiantees us safe working con
ditions, they are sincere?
I wonder if American seamen
are willing to place their lives in
jeopardy, in addition to torpe
does, bombs and mines?
Boys, if the next ship you join
they say it is for a one-way pas
sage, it is nothing serious, it just
means that you will take the ship
to North Africa and walk home
to collect transportation—if you
arrive within ten days of the pay
off at the original port of en
gagement. The prisoners wil
work their way back.
All these beefs were taken up
with the Naval Intelligence in
Norfolk. So far, we have heard
of no action being taken though
Thing it over well, boys. It is
your Union and these are your
conditions, that are being sold
down the river.
13 Labor Leaders Honored
At Liberty Ship Launching
Members of the crew of S. S.
Malt W. Hanson should contact
Richard M. Cantor. 51 Chambers
St.. New York City.
JOHN WAZALIS
Your book is at headquarters
office. Your clothes are at the
New York Customs. Pier 61.
JOHN E. DaROCHA
Get in touch with your draft
board in Savannah.
JOHN SOLOMON WIGFIELD
Your union book and Coast
Guard Pass are at headquarters
office in New York.
Keep In Touch With
Your Local Draft Board.
SIU And Tanker Members
On West Coast
Central Registering and Dispatching Office
Open in SUP Headquarters at San Francisco
For SIU Members and T, C*8 in
Deck, Engine and Steward Departments
Increased shipping on West Coast by SIU members
has made it necessary to open a separate and complete
business office to be devoted solely to registering and car-
^g for the needs of SIU members in all departments.
All SIU members in San Francisco are required to im
mediately register in SIU office at 59 Clay St. SIU members
in SUP Branches on the West Coast are to register in the
respective SUP Office and I'eceive an SIU shipping card.
SIU shipping cards will have preference on SIU ships and
will be recognized by all SUP Dispatchers. SIU Deck mem
bers will have second preference when SUP rneniber's are
available.
For Further Information:
Call your union offices and tanker organizers at the
addresses listed below. You will always finds somebody at
these numbers excepting at night.
SEATTLE, WASH.—86 Seneca St.—Phone Elliott 6752.
—^E. Coeistei or Johnson.
PORTLAND. OREGON—111 West Burnside St.—Phone
Beacon 4336—John Massey or C. Atkins.
RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA—257 Fifth St.—Phone Rich
mond 4021—Louie Glebe or Banks.
VANCOUVER, B. C.—340 B. Cambie St.—Phonp Pacific
7824—Hugh Murphy.
WILMINGTON, California ^ 440 Avalon Blvd. —Phone
4449.
NEW YORK Cmr — 105 Broad St. — Phone BOwling
Green 9-^530—^Morris Weisberger.
SAN FRANCISCO-59 Clay St.—Phone Exbrook 8229—
Phil Conley.
WASHINGTON-— The Mari
time Commission has announced
that 13 Liberty ships scheduled
for launching in the near future
will be named for former labor
leaders. Labor Day ceremonies
in various shipyards featured
teunchings and the laying of
keels of some of the vessels.
The roster includes such not
ables as Heywood Broun, mem
ber of the CIO and first head of
the American Newspaper Guild;
Joshua A. Leach, founder and
first president of the Brother
hood of Locomotive Firemen and
Enginemen; Robert Fechncr, who
served for years as a representa
tive of the American Federation
of Labor and was first director of
the Civilian Conservation Corps;
and William B. Wilson, Secretary
of Labor in President Woodrow
Wilson's cabinet.
Other names of distinction on
the list are: Jerome K. Jones,
AFL leader in Atlanta, Georgia;
Patrick Henry Morrissey, one
time grand master of the Broth
erhood of Railroad Trainmen;
Edgar E. Clark, who served as
president of the Order of Railway
Conductors of America and was
later appointed to the Interstate
Commerce Commission by Presi
dent Theodore Roosevelt.
Further illustrious names in la
bor history to be assigned are:
John I. Nolan, international vice-
president of Iron Moulder's Union
and former Congressman - from
California; Ben T. Osborne, exe
cutive secretary of Oregon Fed
eration of Labor; Michael Casey,
president of Interhatiohal Team
sters, Chauffeurs and Warehouse
men; Albert J. Berres, of the
Metal Trades of AFL; George
Uhler, president of Marino En
gineers Beneficial Association,
CIO; Arthur M. Huddell, presi
dent of International Union of
Operating Engineers.
Labor leaders for whom Lib
erty ships were named in cere
monies held Labor Day, 1942,
New Sub Menace
Hinted By Knos
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 —The
airplane won this summer's Al
lied battle against' submarines,
and as a result German U-boats
apparently are being equipped
with xiiofe anti-alrcfafl weapons
preliminary to a new challenge
for control of the Atlantic sea-
lanes.
This appraisal of the enemy's
intentions was given today by
Secretary of the Navy Knox and
was supplemented by figures re
leased by the naval high com
mand.
The great part played by the
airplane in the anti-submarine
campaign's success was disclosed
in the naval report summarizing
operations during May, June and
July. During this period the Al
lies sank 90 U-boats and pretty
well scotched, at least for the
time being, the threats to theii;
trans-Atlantic supply routes.
The Navy said American forces
alone sank at least 29 enemy sub
marines in those three months.
Of these, 26 were destroyed by /
James Duncan, John
and John W. Brown.
Mitchell
Ickes Reveals
War Labor Board
Double Cross of U.M.W.
{Continued from Page 1)
deserved wage increases and, in
I'act, they would have been jus
tified in abrogating their two-
year contract after Pearl Harbor
and demanding pay boosts then
and there.
They would have been granted,
too, he said, because then there
were no wage freezing regula
tions. But the union conscient-
oiisly stuck to the terms of the
contract and did not press for
wage rate amendn^ents until ex
piration of the pact.
OPERATORS
"SHADOWED-BOXED"
During the long negotiations
that started in March, the oper
ators ..only .."shadow-boxed" ..as
far as bargaining i^ concerned,
Ickes asserted.
"Certain gentlemen were firm
in the intention there would be
no settlement with the Miners,"
he said. "They said 'no' to all
suggestions, finally throwing the
dispute into the lap of the War
Labor Board, toward which an
influential group had been work
ing from the outset."
At a critical stage in the con
troversy, just before midnight.
May 31, Ickes said he called in
Lewis and Charles O'Neill,
spokesmen for the Northern op
erators, and proposed a tempor
ary contract.
This would have provided ap
proximately a dollar-a-day in
crease to the workers, a.s part
payment on the union's claim for
"portal-to-portal" pay,' covering
travel time spent underground.
The full amount would, mean
while, be determined by an im
partial commission.
DISPUTE NEAR SETTLEMENT
Both sides indicated the com
promise would be acceptable,
Ickes decliu'ed, adding: "I believ
ed the dispute might be settled
within 24 hours."
However, the WLB threw a
"monkey wrench." It ordered
the Miners and operators to • stop
negotiations.
AFL Denounces
Labor Conscription
Moves By Brass Hats
were: Samuel Gomner-s, Andrew' airplanes had
Furuselh, Peter J. McGiiire, <">=
of the three bagged by naval sur-.
face forces.
Knox told a press conference
that there is reason to believe
that the Germans are calling in
their U-boats to put anti-aircraft
guns on them and he was empha
tic that the battle of the Atlantic
has not been ended.
"It's as sure as sunrise that
they will be back in there again,"
he, said. "There is no reason to -
believe that we have disposed of
the submarine menace."
Knox replied affirmatively
when asked if small aircraft car
riers have not largely met the
need for air "protection in Middle
Atlantic areas beyond the effec
tive patrol range of land-based
aircraft.
\
Bakke Made Co-chairman
Of War Shipping Panel
The National War Labor Board '
has announced the appointment
of E. Wight Bakke, professor of
economics at Yale University, as
co-chairfnan of the WLB 'Wat;
Shipping Panel.
Professor Bakke has acted as
public member of many WLB
panels, and has also served as a
board referee in several cases
during the past year.
"Brass hats" in Buffalo were
accused this week by Frank Fen-
ton, A. F. of L. organization di
rector, of putting over a scheme
of labor control that is an enter
ing wedge for a plan to conscript
workers for private bosses.
The plan was authorized, he
said, by Mrs. Anna Rosenberg,
New York state director of the
War Manpower Commission, in
violation of policies laid down by
the labor - management policy
committee of the national com
mission.
Mrs. itosenberg is known to be
close to the White House and has
the President's ear, but has been
the center of frequent heated
controversies.
She has held jobs with various
Federal agencies, and one of the
bitterest outbursts against her
occurred when it was found' she
held a lucrative 'position with
Macy's in New York while draw
ing government salaries. As a
result of the attacks, she gave up
the private job.
Fenton, who is a member of the
national committee, inslructed
A. F. of L. unions in Buffalo to
disregard the scheme and declar
ed he would demand that the
commission order Mrs. Rosenberg
to abandon or alter it.
TIED TO JOBS
Under the Buffalo program,
which is the most sweeping in
the country, a curb is placed on
the free movement of aU male
workers in the area. No such
worker can take a job, nor can a
boss employ him, unless approv
ed by a committee of arniy and
navy agents.
"These military men have been
telling workers they have to quit
jobs they hold and take new
ones, in specified plants, regard
less of the wages paid," Fenton
said.
In other communities, labor-
management committees must be
consulted before any manpower
In Memoriam
BROTHER
William Cantrell
(O. S.)
Born Sept. 25. 1911. Died in
Gran, North Africa,
July 17. 1943.
regulations are put Into effect,
but in Buffalo labor's opposition
was overridden, he declared. Lo
cal labor chiefs have branded the
present setup a "labor servitude
plan."
THE ENTERING WEDGE
"If compulsion is clamped dowrt
on labor in Buffalo, attempts will
be made to extend it elsewhere,'/
Fention said. "So far, at least, we
have no 'draft labor' law iii thil
country, and we won't tolerate
efforts to put into effect the esr
sence of such a law by round-;
about methods." , ,
''f.\
•I'v/.i >- .. •,
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