University of South Carolina Libraries
THE NEWBERRY SUN. NEWBERRY. S. C. SELLING STEEL INCREASE WASHINGTON. — Most of Pros! dent Truman’s appointments are very brief. Senators get five min utes with him. Congressmen get from 5 to 15 minutes. Cabinet mem bers frequently get only 15 minates, So recently eyebrows went up when the White House biuletin board listed OPAdministrator Ches ter Bowles for a full hour with President Truman. Observers knew that the heat was on to increase the price of steel, and sell to in flation’s No. 1 enemy on giving the nation its first big inflationary shot in the arm. When Bowles entered the Presi dent's office, the die was already cast. Truman had decided that steel prices were going up. His job was to sell the idea to Bowles. Truman himself had been sold by his old friend. Reconversion Czar John Snyder of St. Louis, who in turn bad been wined and dined by the steel people in Pittsburgh. Chester Bowles also had talked with big steel leaders. His talks were far more energetic, more per suasive than Snyder’s. Bowles once ran one of the best advertising firms in the nation, is an excel lent salesman. All his salesmanship was turned on big steel leaders. “Too are going to have a bigger margin of profit than yon realize,” he told them. “Ton are t now working 44 hours in the mills and 52 hours in your cap tive mines. When you drop to 40 hours, you will net a big saving in overtime. The price of scrap iron is now at ceiling. It will drop in the spring, which means more saving. Production per man went up to 10 per cent after the last war. It will do the same after this war, which will save you 100 million dollars alone. Ton can’t tell what your profits will be. So why not try out a new increased wage scale without a sharp price hike? Try it out for six months—then come back and we’ll examine the whole ques tion again. If you need a price increase then we’ll give it to you.” Bowles is a persuasive talker. He has more charm than any Washing tonian since Franklin Roosevelt. Bui he m;.de no impression. “After the last war, steel wagev soared even without union pre» sure,” Bowles summarized. “So difl prices. And once inflation gets go ing, you’li have labor coming back until they get, not a 30 per cent increase in wages, but 50 per cent or even 75 per cent. You can’t tell where this thing will stop.” EUROPEAN REFUGEES Some of Jimmy Byrnes' expediters have really pepped up old-line state depa’iment diplomats when it comes to admitting European refu gees. When President Truman first pro posed filling unused U. S. immigra tion quotas bv admitting homeless refugees from Europe, state depart ment diplomats said they had neither funds, nor the personnel- nor per haps even the disposition. However, some of the South Carolina blood which Byrnes has injected into the state de partment (men who drink coca- cola instead of tea) decided that Presidential orders should not be kissed off so airily. Though no money was a’^ilable, they finally went to the bureau of the budget and squeezed out enough cash money to hire new consular personnel. Already they have start ed flying supplies to Eu’.-ope to set up special offices to screen refugees and give them visas. Old-line diplomats are leaning back in amazement. They have nev er seen so much speed before. SHE MERRY-GO-ROUND Last spring the department of agriculture quietly agreed to ad vance France 750,000 tons of sugar from the Cuban crop. French colo nial crops at that time were down to practically nothing and even what we loaned the French permitted a per capita consumption of only 22 pounds annually, compared to our 64. This friendly move is paying off now, however; because under the terms of the agreement, practical ly the entire French West Indies crop for this year comes to us. It Is somewhat larger than was antici pated, and current estimates are that we will receive about 900,000 tons. . . Henry Morgenthau’s boo 1 on Germany, which appeared last fall, is not the only book the for mer secretary of the treasury will write. During his 12 years of close association with President Roose velt, Morgenthau made painstaking notes on every conversation he had with FDR — and except for Harry Hopkins he probably had more than any other cabinet officer. CAPITAL CHAFF The radio time for Senator Taft’s attack on Truman’s addres. to the uation was reserved for hi;, by the 'Republican national committee. . . . When Henry Kaiser signed his new contract with the auto workers, he remarked: “Dick Thomas (UAW president) is the man who came to the west coast last year and con vinced me that I should take over the Willow Run plant and make automobiles. That puts the re sponsibility on his shoulders to fee to it that I have the men to d? he Job.” News Behin the/N: „ By PaulMallon j Released by Western Newspaper Union. CHANGE AGAINST FACT FINDING PROPOSAL WASHINGTON. — An editorial surveyor has reported 72 per cent of the newspapers approved Mr. Truman’s fact-finding solution for labor claims at first, but suddenly turned around and in one week dur ing December (22 to 29), 65 per cent attacked the plan. This he considered a strange and ; inexplicable turnover of public opin- 'ion, or press opinion, and he criti- icized it. He said the change came about when the Truman fact-finding board for General Motors was con fronted with the union proposition of going into company profits to set fu ture wages on this basis. My analyst friend has simply been confused, as have most readers of the current labor news, by the emotion of oppos ing factions. The truth behind the matter is evident. Mr. Truman advocated the fact-finding solution out of the ex perience of the railroad union brotherhoods, who have enjoyed its operation for more than 15 years. The idea of establishing a public concept of the facts, with 30 days’ cooling down be fore strikes, in the case of the brotherhoods, never entered the question of how much the rail roads were making. PROBLEM OF DETERMINING FUTURE REAL PROFITS The idea of going into company profits of the past for a wage scale for the future was developed by the union in the Genera) Motors case, merely because the company had war profits and the union wanted bigger wages. In the every-way- similar steel case, the same CIO unions have taken an opposite stand because there were no steel profits. Mr. Truman is now movie? to in crease the price of steel through Mr. Bowles in order to create money by which the steel com panies can raise the union wages. The simple truth is thus shown to be that the unions want a wage in crease — for whatever reasons they can concoct, for the reason of prof its in the General Motors case, for the opposite reason necessitating a price increase in the steel case. This is the essence of the mat ter, and anyone who indulges himself in any economic rea soning about the matter is wast ing his time. Thus the newspaper editorial ists are proven by the facts to be right in changing their stand. The Truman fact-finding solution has been headed by union pressure into ascertaining company profits in the General Motors case. These are past profits, based on war business, and the manufacture of different products. The union would be entirely logi cal if it demanded a distribution of these profits to the workers. That would make sense, but it is entirely illogical in contending that these past profits should measure the fu ture wage scale, because the same profit is not guaranteed for the future. FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE ALL WAGE CONSIDERATIONS Indeed, the profits of -General Mo tors henceforth will be measured by entirely different considerations — the volume of production, the future cost of materials, the extent of sales, the effects <5f advertising, ef ficiency and a thousand other fac tors. Past profits on war business have absolutely nothing to do with the case. When the Truman fact-finding was turned into that illogical vein, naturally its advocates turned against it. They could not, in justice to simple reasoning, do otherwise. Indeed, the unions themselves concede the falsity of the prof its basis of establishing future wages by repudiating their own motors doctrine in the case of steel. A straight-forward, just applica tion of fact-finding would have fol lowed the principle of the brother hoods example in the case of mo tors, steel, electrical workers and all others, computing the increase in living costs, measuring what in creases in wages had been granted, subtracting these, and proclaiming a just, sound wage increase. The solving could be done by simple arithmetic. A principle could have been established which would be a yardstick for all cases. The trouble with the union case and the sympathetic administration | handling of it is that no principle has been established. In one case the unions make one economic claim; in the other they make the opposite; and the administration tries to do their bidding in both in stances. How then, could there pos sibly be anything else but confusion and strife? What the situation requires is the establishment of a just principle, s common yardstick based on simplf truths. The war administration ha< one in the Little Steel formula. SAVES PERSONAL BELONGINGS AS FLOOD WATERS RUSH ON ... A high hat, battered cage eontain- ing pet cat, and several pails and containers which held her most cherished possessions, were saved from the home of Mrs. C. W. Voyles, Atlanta, Ga., as the swollen Chattahoochee river flooded her home. AIRBORNE DIVISION HAILED IN NEW YORK CITY ... Maj. Gen. James M. Gavin, 38-year-old commander of the 82nd airborne division, and his staff lead the parade of his 13,000 battle-seasoned troops up the can yon of Fifth avenue. New York City. Thousands bailed the troops, symbolic of our victorious fighting forces. Most of them have since been discharged, although more than 1,000 have re-enlisted. This is believed to be a postwar re-enlistment record and has proven a big boost to new enlistments in the armed forces. G.I.’S LIFE INSURANCE GIVEN TO COLLEGE ... Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Johnstone, Downington, Pa., are pictured in their home looking at photograph of their son, Robert S. Johnstone, 18, who was killed on Luzon. His parents have established a scholarship at Lafayette college, using his insurance money, with the provision that a Japanese student be given first consideration. They will add some of their own money. LOAFER’S GLORY . . . This fellow was on his way to Loafer’s Glory, N. C., when he decided to turn this crossroads into his own private loafer’s glory. The name was given by more or less spiteful neighbors of former days. The name took hold and stuck. YOUTH CARVES A CAREER . . . Bill Burnham, 17, Encino, Calif., has made his wood carving hobby pay. Using life animals for models, Bill has begun to cash in on his excellent work. His latest order was from a motion picture studio working on scenic background for a new pic ture. Bill has three live deer, a buck and two fawns at his home. WINNING FRIENDS . . . Mrs. Ar thur Vandenberg, wife of the U. S. senator from Michigan and delegate to the UNO, is shown making friends with a London tot. Mrs. Vandenberg is spending her sojourn in London studying social conditions. I’l'EW would ever have thought, a *• few years ago, that the time would iPOme when pro golfers would head 'he pack at the pay-check window. But this strange event has taken place. Byron Nelson finished 1945 beyond the $60,000 mark while Ho gan, McSpaden and Snead were somewhere in the neighborhood of $25,000 and $30,000. I doubt there was any $25,000 ball player last season. Hank Greenberg came back at his old salary i round $55,000, but Hank only played half the campaign. DiMag- gio, another high- priced star, didn’t get in at all. Such stars as Marty Ma rion and the Cooper Brothers were in the $13,000 class. I don’t know how Byron Nelson much Hal Newhous- er and Dizzy Trout pulled in, but I doubt that it was over $25,000, if that much. But there was no ball player who made anything like the amount By ron Nelson made from competition, and this doesn’t include his income from other sources. Few professional football players draw as much as $5,000 a season. Before the new league barged in anything from $250 to $300 a game was good pay for all except such outstanding stars as Sammy Baugh, Sid Luckman and Don Hutson. Players Will Profit It will, of course, be different with the new All-America Conference league shopping in the market. The arrival of the new league will be tough on the bank accounts of club owners in both circuits, but it will be a big financial harvest to the football players—for a while, any way. For example, I know of two or three stars now under contract to the new league who in addition to healthy bonuses are to get $10,000 a year. And Paul Brown, the ex-Ohio State coach now with Cleveland, has a long-time contract at $25,000 a year. But Paul is a coach, not a competitor. There will be no pro football player making one-fourth of (ghat Byron Nelson gets. In the two major baseball leagues the average pay is from $7,000 to $8,000. So far as the stars go there will be a big jump next spring when Greenberg, DiMaggio, Gordon, Dick ey, Wakefield and a few others will get from $20,000 to $55,000. Big league payrolls will be far different in 1946 than they were in 1945 where all attendance records were broken with rather cheap casts. The Big Fight There will be one major exception as far as pay checks go. This takes in Joe Louis and .Billy Conn. Louis knocks over 37% per cent of some thing better than a million dollar gate, including ail the side lines. The Louis share will pass the $500,000 mark but when the keen, eager and alert tax collectors get after him, this amount will drop to less than $50,000. Conn is supposed to get 12% per cent of this all-time record gate, but he will do better than .xll right. Conn will at least move up into the $200,- 000 bracket. If the returns from mo tion pictures and television reach the figuie many think they will, these amounts will be heavily increased. But what good will that do when one collides with an 80 or possibly 90 per cent tax assessment? Louis is supposed to owe the government $117,000 for back taxes, not includ ing a substantial amount he alst owes Mike Jacobs. Joe will be lucky if he ever gets even again. Com also owes quite a chunk, and wil! also be struggling to get even sjti square with the world. So don’t waste too much envy nn Louis and Conn. Some Jockeys Get Rich Whn it comes down to the big money-makers we still have to fig ure in jockeys such as Eddie Ar- caro and Ted Atkinson, to mention only a pair. Both must have passed the $75,000 mark this year. There are others who are beyond the $40,- 000 mark with their 10 per cent from big stakes. And what about Arnold Kirkland, the contract rider for the Maine Chance stable with more than $550,000 piled up in purses? They’ll tell you the baseball play er lasts longest in professional sport but when I think of Ken Strong, Ar nold Herber and Mel Hein with their total of 57 years in football—or Sam my Baugh and Don Hutson and oth ers who have been doing well enough after 10 or 12 years, I begin to wonder. Sarazen Lasted 20 Years Pop Anson, Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Larry Lajoie and a few old- time stars lasted from 20 to 24 years. But these are the exceptions. Gene Sarazen has carried on as a winning golfer for over 20 years. Gene is also an exception. There have been few to match Hagen and Sarazen. Maybe Byron Nelson and one or two others will. But in the meanwhile, Nelson, taking down from $50,000 to $60,000 a year, doesn’t need all U at extra time. Grandma SPEAKIN'... SOCIAL NOTE: Luke Peabody, most generous man in Pike County, is flggerln’ on buyin’ his wife a brand new plow so’s she'll be able to git the plowin’ done quicker this spring. • • • COOKIN' NOTE: Best idea fer buyin’ margarine is to always git a Table-Grade Margarine... one that’s made special fer use on the table. Nu-Maid Marga rine’s Table-Grade. As nice a tastin’spread fer bread as there is. JUST A NOTE: Stingiest people I know are those folks who ain’t got a kind word to spare fer anyone. • • • SPECIAL NOTE: Heavens, tt ain’t no secret that when I want to bake an extry-flne cake or pie, I don’t use no flat-tastin' fat fer shortenin’. No sir-e-e, I use a Table-Grade Margarine. No- Maid's a hundred percent Table- Grade . . . with a mild, sweet, fresh-churned flavor. Table-Grade M ARGARINE 'QUINTS' always relieve coughing of CHEST COLDS WITH MUSTEROLE “I WAS A VICTIM OF CONSTIPATION!” “Found Relief In Famous Breakfast Food,” User Writes Suffer from constipation? Then read this unsolicited letter I “I was a victim of constipation for many years, trying all sorts of medicinal remedies, but to no avail. Then I tried KELLOGG’S ALL-BRAN, and after the first trial experienced relief. I now eat. KELLOGG’S ALL-BRAN every nay aa part of my regular diet. The sufferiecs from constipation have vanished and I am: overjoyed at feeling like a new person at' the age of 26. I am passing this news along so that others who are suffering may { find relief.” Mrs. Beatrice Meyer, 251 j Hawthorne Ave., Newark, N. J'. You, too, may never need an-' other harsh laxative, if your con-j stipation is due to lack of bulk in; the diet. Just eat a dish of deli- cieus KELLOGG’S ALL-BRAN j every day, and drink plenty ofj water. If not satisfied after a 10- day trial, send empty carton to’ Kellogg’s of Battle Creek—and get double your money back! ALL BRAN is not a purgative. It’s a wholesome food made from the vital outer layers of wheat. It pro vides gentle-acting bulk, which helps promote normal laxation. Get ALL-BRAN at your gro cer’s. It’s made by Kellogg’s of Battle Creek and Omaha. ~ , I WAS AN ALCOHOLIC I know the misery from th* curse of drink; the agony to loved ones, the loss of happiness, money, health, job. . . . BUT I know how to break the spell of whiskey. Tell me your problem. NEWTON. Dept. AL * P. O. Box 881, Bollywood 28, California. SNAPSHOT ENLARGEMEfiyS Lustrous, over-size Chrome-Tone prints. Develop and enlarge 6 & 8 exposure rolls 33c; 12 exp. 50c; 16 exp. 60c. Quality work. No ’‘extras.'* FLORIDA SNAPSHOP SERVICE Box 371 - fort Myora, Fla. STRAINS, SORENESS CUTS, BURNS A favorite household antiseptic dress ing and liniment for 98 years—Hanfor&’s BALSAM OP MYRRH! It contains soothing gums to relieve the soreness and cche of over-used and strained muscles. Takes the sting and itch out of burns, scalds, insect bites, oak and ivy poison ing, wind and sun burn, chafing and chapped skin. Its antiseptic action less ens the danger nf infection whenever the skin is cut or woken. Keep a bottle handy for the minor casualties of kitchen and nursery. At your druggist—trial sine bottle 35^ household size 6St; economy size $1.25. a a HANFORD MFG. CO* Syracuse N.Y.