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Tfct Ban well PttpU SmII—U Ban wad. & C. Tkanday. Jaly a» 1187 STRIKES DONT BOTHER THE SOUTH Not As Much As the North and East, at Any Rate—Dixie Begins to Enjoy Results of Campaign to Attract Industries. — — % ' I f .-4 . ' 4# i ■■'ti&'foi iimdw * | mj&Mf 4 tifS I i i- fel Contented workers, these! They are enjoying themselves in a recrea tion hall built by a large paper manufacturer with plants in several southern eKies. By WILLIAM C. UTLEY PECTACULAR strikes of re cent months in the North and East, with their accompanying publicity, have largely ob scured from the public con sciousness the industrial awak ening that is taking place in the South. Yet southern industrial leaders feel that labor troubles outside Dixie will soon be re flected in increased southern migrations as industry spreads out to avoid the difficulties root ed in over-concentration. Fortunately for the South, which In the last 18 months has pressed a determined campaign to attract new, manufacturing plants, its compara tively quiet labor conditions have stood out in serene contrast to the hectic scenes which have filled the northern stage. Department of Labor reports show that the number of workers involved in strikes steadily increased in both the North and South during the last six months of 1936, the latest period for which official records are avail able. But the totals are heavily against the North, which suffered 894 strikes, involving 372,495 work ers, as compared with 105 strikes, involving 29,134 workers in Dixie. The North had its greatest num ber of strikes in August and Sep* tember, with 187 in each month, but 163 strikes in October involved the most workers—95,172. The South had 24 strikes in August, keeping 4,- 663 from employment, but 11,596 were kept out by 16 strikes in Oc tober. Sooth Is Non-Union. During the six-month period 40 to 00 per cent of all new strikes oc curred in four states—New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and California— with Illinois and Michigan account ing for a sizeable portion of the re mainder. During the same six months only two important strikes took place in the South—one in the Chevrolet and Fisher bodies plants at Atlanta, and one in the plant of the Celanese Corporation of Amer ica at Cumberland, Md. Both were settled amicably. Scarcity of strikes of either “sit- down’’ or walkout’* variety in the South is easily explained. The South is relatively non-union. With indus try less concentrated than In eastern sr middle western regions. It is leas waceptible to strike epidemics. Some industrialists deem it prob able that public opinion will have outlawed the “sit-down” before the South can be effectively unionized; U “alt-downs” should appear, state and local governments should profit by the experience of their eastern and middle western neighbors in handling them. Wages and employment in the South have increased more rapidly than in other sections, while hours have not increased as much, and this undoubtedly has some bearing on the absence of strikes. The wage differential between the South and other sections was. approximately 33.5 per cent in 1933; by December, 1936, it had narrowed down to 21.9 per cent. Since the southern work er, according to economists, can maintain the same standard of liv ing as his northern counterpart at 30 per cent less cost, the South may now claim virtual parity as far as real wages are concerned. • Dixie Woos laiastry. Xt is not hard to see why industry Is attracted by the opportunity the South affords for decentralization. For instance, Detroit and Akron could be peralyzed la their produo more difficult to carry out and might end in a workers’ revolt. Southern states are now making it easier than ever before for indus tries to migrate to points within their borders. The first year of Dixie’s industrial promotion drive— 1936—brought $322,000,000 in new plants and equipment, the greatest one-year development ih history. Leading the pack were paper com panies with investments totaling $60,000,000 in new plants; petro leum refining, with $50,000,000 in new distributing plants and pipe lines, and iron and steel manufac turers with a $53,000,000 expansion program. During the first quar ter of 1937 the pace was main tained, with $92,964,000 in industrial and engineering construction con tracts awarded. Prominent among the reasons for this sudden metamorphosis of a civ ilization that seemed destined to re main permanently agricultural, has been the extension of hydro-electric power to the most remote regions, resulting in an abundance of cheap energy in placet which had been without It owing to lack of coal for generating or lack of distribu tion lines from hydro-electric plants. In addition, the South pro vided a reedy market, lower con struction and maintenance costs, and plentiful raw materials. Of it, Arthur D. Little, the noted indus trial engineer, said, “Nowhere is there likely to be a greater exten sion of Industrial activity.** Now the South has “gone out after the business.’* States have conduct ed active publicity and “selling" campaigns, making generous offers. These included exemption from tax ation for new industries and outright subsidies in the form of free factory sites, free buildings and state- trained labor. Leche Revives Louisiana. Louisiana was one of those which took the lead, capitalizing on under developed natural resources and on new, man-made ones. It stressed the fact that “nowhere in the world is there a greater opportunity for the development of a chemical in dustry than Louisiana, where salt, sulphur and gas occur in close prox imity.’* It advertised and “sold" its 4,700 miles of inland waterways, its 14,000-mile highway system, its 10 trunk-line railroads, its large per centage of native American white population. It aggressively promot ed its mineral and timber wealths and tts greet basic crops of rice. esOsa sad sugar, supplemented by heavy industrial taxes, had prevent ed much industrial growth in the last decade. But when the nfew gov ernor, Richard W. Leche, was elect ed he outlined a plan to revive the state industrially. The plan, which was adopted, re pealed the objectionable license tax on manufacturing establishments; effected a more equitable tax on oil refining; encouraged establishment of a livestock industry by removing the tax on cattle, sheep and hogs; created a board of commerce and industry to court industry; appro priated $100,000 for promotion, and proposed a constitutional amend ment giving the governor permis sion to grant tax exemptions for ten years to new plants and additions to existing plants. Effects were not long in coming to notice. Building permits soared; so did department store sales, elec tric power consumption, manufac turing sales, post office receipts, wholesale grocery sales and other indices. Problems of state finance and legislative problems kept Gov ernor Leche from starting his in dustrial program with the full gusto he would have liked, but his own personal efforts brought into the state 15 new industries ranging in value from $100,000 to $3,000,000, employing 1,000 in their construc tion and giving permanent employ ment to nearly 6,000. Mississippi Follows Lead. Florida is wooing industry with a tax exemption law and is granting municipalities permission to erect buildings for manufacturers. Cities are vying with each other to attract new factories, although insisting that they must be engaged in light manufacturing, such as garments, small housewares, etc.—no plant which emits objectionable fumes need apply. Agricultural Mississippi, eager to replace the lumber mills that have left “ghost towns” along the rail roads, has adopted a plan to “bal ance agriculture with industry," which was sponsored by Gov. Hugh White. In addition to tax exemption for five years, it offers free facto ries and free factory sites which, if the manufacturer maintains a specie fled payroll for a stated period of years, become his property in most cases. The factories are built by the municipalities in which they are situated, the cities issuing bonds to cover the cost. Other states are proceeding along the same lines. Alabama offers ten years of freedom from taxes. Mary land’s countries may grant perma nent tax exemption on manufactur ing machinery. Arkansas, with a population 70 per cent rural, has thrown its working cap in the in dustrial ring with a large fund to advertise the state’s natural re sources and manufacturing advan tages. North Carolina has just ap propriated $250,000 to herald its at traction as a field for industrial ex pansion. Texas uKnow considering an appropriation It $1,000,000 a year for the next five years to advertise the state’s resources. Southern Markets- Grow. To date efforts have been concen trated upon attracting industries which could process the raw mate rials of the various regions. Louisi ana, with its thousands of acres o! rolling pine land, now leads the South in the securing of paper anc pulp factories—largely a new south ern activity. The textile industry has moved almost en masse to the Carolinas; the South now produces 52 per cent of the nation’s textiles, while New England, for more than a century the seat of this industry, now produces only 38 per cent As industrial payrolls provide a constant stream of wealth tor south ern workers, the markets below the Mason and Dixon line are constant ly gaming M importance l<euiaiana Is offering manufacturers a new field ef industry with n cent chemical discoveries ef the possibilities of converting sugar can tops Into industrial alcohol. Inset: Gov. Richard W. Leche signing coi tract to give a container manufacturer ton years tax exemption on a< diUon to plant, to coat $4M,006. ! STAR 1 j DUST j * Movie • Radio $ ★ * ***By VIRGINIA VALE*** E velyn daw is going to play the lead in her very first picture, and as if that were not enough to make her Holly wood's Cinderella of the week, she tops it by being a girl who can keep a secret. For six months she has known that she was going to be given a big screen opportunity and she hasn’t told a soul. Even so, when she learned that her big chance was to be nothing less than prims donna opposite James Cagney in Grand National’s “Something to Sing About" she nearly swooned. Victor Schertzinger, well-known composer and the motioippicture di rector who gave Janet Gaynor her first chance and Grace Moore her second, is responsible for Evelyn’s opportunity. • Carole'Lombard still has a sleek town car, a limousine and a roadster or two, but she isn’t using them much these days. Every afternoon when she finishes work at the studio, up drives a station wagon all filled with fishing paraphernalia and driven by Clark Ga ble and off go the two most irrepressi ble merrymakers of Hollywood. She claims she likes the station wagon better than the limousine and she’d rather go fishing than attend a fashionable party. Clark agrees with her. Carole Lombard Two newcomers to Hollywood are setting Hollywood fashions and ev eryone is wondering just how far these new trends will go. Sigrid Gurie, the exquisite young Norwe gian actress whom United Artiste imported to play opposite Gary Coop* er in “The Adventures ef Maree Pole” goes in for simplicity. Louise Hoviek, most famous of strip-tease artists in her burlesque days when she was known as Gypsy Reee Leo, pose for pictures in bathing Mltot shorts, er even negligees. I ——vK—— Nick Foran’s brother Jimmy graduated from Princeton medical school just a few weeks age and walked right into a contract to act in pictures for Universal. Buddy de Sylva, who is producing s musical extravaganza called “Merry Go Round,” saw Jimmy doing aome im personations of Washington politi cians and was so amused he per suaded him to postpone his career in medicine for a while. Jimmy will certainly be welcome on the Universal lot Grewn-aps la Hollywood may plead tor a chance to watch Rehart Taylor er Jean Crawford er Lalsc Rainer at work, hat ehildrea aaaai- meosiy beg to he allowed to visit the Grand National let. Them Is a reason, er rather a let ef them. Grand National Is rapidly aeqaMaf a see made ap ef the most talented All over the country picture fans are enthusiastic over Claudette Col bert’s grand comedy, *1 Met Him in Paris," but in Hollywood it looks as if the run will never end, because the same people come back to see it again and again. Almost any night you can find in the audience Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Tay lor, Marlene Dietrich, her husband, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Opal Craven, known to radio lis teners from coast to coast as “the Lullaby Lady’’ of the Contented Hour, has been appearing pro fessionally in the en tertainment world since she was seven. With Frank Black and the Continentals she shares top bill ing on this concert program that has run without interrup tion for more than five and a half years. In private life Opal Craven is the wife of a prominent Chicago insurance man. She began singing lullabies in real earnest about a year ago when her husky son was born. Opal Craven ODDS AND ENDS—Joan Crmcforfi idea of grand fun it to ga down to e radio nation when her husband or ana of hot friends it broadcasting and Jobs the mob of offstage noises . . . M-G-M has found a war ** finish Jam Harlow's lass picture m Saratoga, m using only long skats of e double. The premem audience ap> proood mightilj , . . Foul Hakeem lifts his mapsifiemt ooko in tong in m Eista V. c » mf umm LIE RE is something * A practical, something sweet, and something or namental for your mid summer wardrobe. Simple As Toast and Coffee. At breakfast time you need the crisp shipshape style of the little model at the left. He’ll proffer that eight o'clock kiss with alacrity and fervor when you greet your hubby in this pleasant surprise. Make it of a gay tub-well cotton for greatest usability. Lines That Livo. For luncheon in town, for cut ting up touches on the Club ve randa you can’t find a more fetch ing frock than the one in the center. It combines sweet swing with nonchalance. Never has a de signer given more flattering shoul der and waist lines than these. “And what about the skirt?" you ask. Obviously it has the most finished flare in town. Chiffon, ac etate, or sporta silk will do justice to both the flare and you. Milady. Axd If Axtema Comes. It's a help to have a dress like the one at the right around for it gives that feeling of prepared ness. Prepared in case a cool Fallish day or evening is slipped in without warning. Than, too, it won't be long before cool days will be the rule rather than the exception. So it would seem a logi cal as well as a fashionable step to set about making this elegant model right away. Be first in your crowd to show what's new under the fashion sun tor Fall. The Pattons. Pattern 1354 is designed for sizes 34 to 46. Size 36 requires 4% yards of 35 inch material. Pattern 1307 is designed for sizes 12 to 20 (30 to 40 bust). Size 14 requires 8% yards of 39 inch material plus 7% yards of ribbon for trimming as pictured. Pattern 1324 is designed for sizes 14 to 30 (33 to 42 bust). Size 18 requires 3% yards of 39 inch material plus It yard contrasting, and 1% yards of ribbon for the belt and bow at the neck. Send your order to The Sewing Circle Pattern Dept, Room 1030, 211 W. Wacker Dr., Chicago, XU. Price of patterns, 18 cents (in coins) each. m OROUN SdkmffOt if Be a Friend i Held It! The only way to have a friend is The greatest remedy for anger to be one.—Emerson. I is delay.—Seneca. CHEW LONG BILL NAVY TOBACCO TQ LIFE’S LIKE THAT By Fred Neher |