Davies Lays Off 25-Yr. Men; Co. Pleads Hard Times; Women Get Jobs At Lower Pay   [print]

Theo. H. Davies & Co., Ltd., is laying off five employes from its grocery department office, one with 31 years of service, all of Japanese ancestry, at the end of this month—and is doing this with only the least bit of publicity. In place of the veteran employes who have stuck with the company "through thick and thin," as one of their colleagues said, the Big Five firm is hiring young women at much smaller salaries, and those who are being let go at the end of this month are "breaking them in" on the job.

"It makes me sick to see these veterans going through that ordeal—like being forced to dig one's own grave before the execution," said a Davies employe.

Watches for Long Service Ironically, two of the five employes with the longest service have received gold watches from the company, with much fanfare, for staying with the firm 25 years. Two employes with 24 years of service were to qualify for the watches very shortly.

Charles H. Holt of the personnel department, said that it is company practice to award watches to employes who stick with the firm for 25 years.

Those involved in the layoffs are:

• Isao Takei, 50, with 31 years of service;

• R. T. Idemoto, 48, 27 years of service;

• Ichini Naramoto, 47, 24 years of service;

• M. Nishigaya, 48, 24 years of service.

• M. Morita, 31, 10 years of service.

Like Family

Because of the layoff of old-timers "who are actually like family members to us," said an employe, "morale here among employes, including the haoles, is at an all-time low in all departments." "Why only Japanese? This British company takes us cheap," remarked an employe with a gold watch award to his credit. "What's a watch? We stay on because we want security." An old haole employe told his colleague in a department other than grocery, that he could not sleep for nights after he heard the "bad news."

"We worked so long together. Who is going to be next?" he is reported to have said.

Another suggested a cut in wages for all to keep on these men "until business improves in the grocery department."

Bosses "Explain"

Low morale in the one block building near Honolulu's waterfront caused the company to issue an explanation of the layoffs to employes. John E. Russell, president of the company, wrote to employes, in part:

"A situation has arisen in our grocery department which has made it necessary to discontinue a few positions. I want to report this to our staff fully and promptly ... (six days, Aug. 21, after the five were informed of their discharge). To meet this situation, we have had to ask a few well-liked members of our grocery department to seek positions elsewhere.

"Important retailers have been cooperatively buying directly from the Mainland. The number of firms in the wholesale grocery business has increased.

"This means a smaller potential share for each remaining firm. It has meant more intense competition and lower margins. The only way we can continue to operate our grocery department satisfactorily is through more efficient operation. The operations of the department were not satisfactory in 1950, and have been less so this year."

Hope for Security

Davies employes say they stay on with the Big Five firm because they want security and this has kept all the veteran employes, including the five discharged men, with the company. Some say they took several cuts in salary during the lean years of the 30s. Some were offered higher paying jobs during and after the war but preferred "security to a few years of high paying jobs."

Lose Insurance

The five who will be laid off have group insurance policies of $10,000 per man, toward which they have made payments, but they will get nothing from this when they sever their connection with Davies.

"At their age, If they were to take out a ten thousand-dollar policy, the premium would be terrific and how can they afford it now?" said an employe. Depending on continued employment, three of the five have built homes and these are mortgaged. They will receive severance pay up to four months' wages. One of the five has six children.

Some employes say that the grocery department made high profits during and after the war, and during lean years it carried the other departments. Why can't other departments carry the grocery department, if it isn't doing so well? they say.

"Who is going to be next? What's seniority around here?" are the common remarks heard around Davies.

"This is an extreme anti-union outfit and this might open the eyes of some employes," one said. "You've got to turn somewhere for protection."

Mrs. Patricia Lord, trained nurse of 20 years practice, went to babysit one day in mid-July at the home of Dr. Richard C. Durant, at 910 Pahoa Place. As a result of what she saw there, she went next day and made complaint against Dr. Durant, charging him with flogging one of his children.

Although, Mrs. Lord says, the warrant was made out by one of the assistants in the prosecutor's Bethel St. office, and although she saw it signed by Judge Griffith Wight, it has not been served to this day. Her action was taken, Mrs. Lord says, upon the urging of Officer Art Dietrich of the crime prevention division of the police department, after Dietrich had heard from her an account of what transpired that day.

Early In the day, Mrs. Lord says, she observed large welts on the body of one of the Durant children, but when she asked the origin of them, the child was silent. Almost Immediately after Dr. Durant returned home in the afternoon, she says, she heard a disturbance and a series of sounds that she thought were blows. When she entered the room, she alleges, Dr. Durant was flogging the child with a strap. Mrs. Durant was standing nearby, watching, the nurse says.

Inserting herself between Dr. Durant and the child, Mrs. Lord says she forced him to stop.

"He might have struck me," says Mrs. Lord, "for he was still angry and his eyes were popping. But instead, he tried to fold the strap up in his hand." The Durants told her the discipline was necessary, the nurse says.

The C-C prosecutor's office, confirming that Mrs. Lord had made such a complaint, said the case, instead of being prosecuted immediately, had been turned over to the juvenile court because a child is involved.

"I don't understand why an adult should be, turned over to the juvenile court," says Mrs. Lord. "If this thing had happened on River St. the warrant would have been served right away."

The Durant residence is in a restricted haole area of Kahala. The juvenile court is presently investigating the case.

By Special Writer

     
                       "General" Moncado         Delegate Farrington                        

If Delegate Joseph R. Farrington has his way, "General" Hilario C. Moncado, "Master" of the Filipino Federation of America, will be allowed to remain permanently in the United States. Such, at least, is the portent of a bill sponsored by Mr. Farrington in Congress shortly before he left Washington to return to Hawaii.

Since Mr. Farrington has been unavailable for comment since his return, there is no way of knowing what motives impelled him to introduce the bill in behalf of a man who has been unable to get citizenship, despite three years of hard trying, and who has resided on the Mainland for the major portion of the time since his return from the Philippines in 1948. A spokesman at the FFA headquarters on Fort St. said the "General" is now living in Los Angeles and is not expected to return to Hawaii. In the meantime, a residence at the corner of Oahu Avenue and Armstrong St., purchased for thy "Master," and with a "throne room" planned remains vacant except for a caretaker.

Behind Respectability

Moncado's rise to respectability, like his present influence with Delegate Farrington, has puzzled observers who recall that when he first began organizing his federation in the late 20s, both dailies accorded his group short shrift in their columns and refused his advertisements.

Later, when Moncado evinced an anti-union attitude and instructed his followers that union membership was not compatible with membership in his flock, the dailies began giving him serious treatment and accepting his advertisements.

The "Master's" followers, however, enjoyed a diet somewhat slimmer than that available to most plantation workers even in the early days. They were encouraged, for the good of their souls, to go without meat and to exist largely on peanuts and honey. Men who worked with them on jobs often complained that the FFA members were too weak to do their share of the work.

They were also encouraged to let their hair and beards go unshaven, and they were distinguishable then, as today, by their beards and the caps with which they covered their heads.

Moncado Is Bon Vivant

But the "Master" and a number of his higher officials have never been known to follow such Spartan schedules of living. On his return to Hawaii from the Philippines, after being acquitted of charges that he collaborated with the Japanese during the war, Moncado stayed at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel with his beautiful wife, "Brigadier" Toy Moncado, and spent much of his time on the golf courses.

His chief representative in the Territory, Benny O. Escobido, is well known as a bon vivant at local bars and restaurants.

Moncado and his officers have apparently risen to a level where earthly pleasures can no longer contaminate them. According to his early literature, Moncado graduated from the "famous Indian College of Mystery" at the age of 9 with three degrees and then "wrote a book in the Kabalistic language entitled 'Equifilibrium,' meaning equality, fraternity and liberty." He admitted, too, that he was the "third representative of God in direct succession to Christ and Rizal."

During the early days, one of Moncado's chief aides was "Angel Ping Pong," so-called because, according to the "Master," he bounced back and forth from the followers to the "Master" on errands.

The military mien and title of the "Master" were revealed to Hawaii in September, 1948, when he returned here wearing five stars on his shoulders and cap and dark glasses amazingly like those worn by General MacArthur.

His commission and that of his wife were derived from the "Army of World Crusaders," which appears to have been founded by the "Master" himself.

Also, on the same occasion, Moncado revealed that he was a graduate of the "American Military Institute." When a reporter asked Mr. Escobido where that institution is, he answered, "Washington."

But the reporter was unable to locate an army officer or a military man who had ever heard of it.

Since the war, the membership of the FFA has declined from thousands to an estimated 1,200. An outstanding reason for the drop in membership is that, whereas Moncado originally professed that one of his principle objectives was independence for the Philippines, he now maintains that the republic should revert to something like dominion status under the U. S.

Another reason, as shown by the high percentage of Filipinos in all unions, may be that his former members found the hocus-pocus from the "Indian College of Mystery" a sad substitute for the better wages and living conditions available only through strong union organizations.

                          
 Pvt. Yonamine                                      Pvt. Tamaki

American soldiers who are prisoners of war in either Korea or China have been writing home to their families and a few letters received by parents here have been published in the newspapers.

"Didn't Expect This"

Private Yoshio Tamaki, 19, third son of Mr. and Mrs. Shigeichi Tamaki, 2111 Nene St., Honolulu, wrote to his family on March 16. His letter was published in the Hawaii Times (Japanese section)

Aug. 4. Addressed to his sister Barbara, the translation of the letter says:

"Everyone in the family must be worried because I didn't write for a long time. As a matter of fact I was so busy during the past three months that there was no time to write a letter. Is everyone well at home? I'm as healthy as ever. I am a prisoner of war now caught by the Chinese communist soldiers on January 1, of all days. They are very kind. I didn't expect this. By the way, what do they think about the war over there? I only pray that it will be over soon. My buddy, Francis Wright (Gulick Avenue, Kalihi) is also here as a prisoner of war. He says that he also wrote home. I don't know anything about Kiyo. That's all for today. I will write again when I have the opportunity. From YOSHIO"

Mrs. Katherine Wright, mother of Francis mentioned in the letter, said that she had not heard from her son but is waiting for his letter.

Mother Hugged Letter, Wept

The Hawaii Times reported of another family receiving a letter from their son, who evidently is living in China. The Times of Aug. 8 said in its Japanese section, from which the following is translated:

"Private Kiyomi, third son of Mr. and Mrs. Kamasuke Yona-mine of Old Mill Camp, Aiea, was reported by military authorities as having disappeared at the Korean front in December of last year. However, upon receiving the happy news on March 16 that he is alive somewhere as a prisoner of war, his family and relatives were very much relieved and they have been hoping to hear very soon from him personally. On Aug. 1 a letter arrived from Private Kiyomi. His mother, Uto, pressed the letter to her bosom and wept.

"His parents came to this paper and cordially requested us to write about it. They want to share their joy with various people who had shown sympathy.

Living Comfortably

"Of course, the letter is written in English. It states that he is in good health and is living in an apartment under the Chinese Volunteers. Sanitary conditions are good and the food is very satisfactory, like eating in a chop suey house. So please don't worry. He is now being sent to school and is learning the language of the common people. He is getting a sufficient supply of daily necessities and is living comfortably."

Four hundred twenty-two out of 430 restaurants in downtown Honolulu surveyed by sanitary inspectors were found to meet the board of health requirements.

This figure represents 98 per cent of the restaurants surveyed for permission to operate during the fiscal year beginning July 1. 1951

It was the effort of a theater manager to give his place an aura of respectability which led Monday night to a police raid which produced a quantity of heroin, equipment for using the narcotic, and a .25 caliber pistol, the RECORD learned.

Because Kamanuwai Lane, "Tin Can Alley," has been placed out of bounds to servicemen, Manager William Ferreira of the Beretania St. burlesque theater made a move which he hoped might impress Hawaiian Armed Services Police favorably Since servicemen comprise the majority of Ferreira's patrons at the burlesque house, his business has fallen off considerably since the street has been declared out of bounds.

Put Up Lights

So Ferreira erected a string of lights extending from his theater, up "Tin Can Alley" to Beretania St. from which the theater takes its name.

But four men who disapproved of the lights for reasons best known to themselves, remonstrated with Ferreira and, in the parlance of the underworld, set out to "work him over."

Arrested by police and released pending the swearing out out of a warrant by Ferreira, they were named as Peter Ka-huhu, Moo Moo T'ua, Tinei Sua and Albert Akui.

It is believed that the police found evidence, some time during this arrest, which led to the narcotics raid a short time later, led by U. S. Narcotics Agent William Wells, on a location along the lane known as "The Hole." It was this raid which resulted in the haul of narcotics and narcotics apparatus.

"My food," says Don BeachComber, "is not Chinese food or any other kind of food. It's beachcomber food."

Explaining why his establishment, in his opinion, is too unique in character to have its employes organized into a union, the proprietor of the restaurant of the same name at 2318 Kalakaua Ave., adds: "No Chinese cook can cook my food. I've trained my people myself and brought them with me from the Mainland. My chef has been with me for 15 years."

A. A. Rutledge, president of Local 5, Restaurant Employes and Bartenders Union (AFL), says that this is beside the point. The employes of the restaurant want a union, Mr. Rutledge says, and they are entitled to an election. The union asked a consent election of employes, according to National Labor Relations Board regulations, but Beach-Comber wouldn't give his consent. Instead, he told the RECORD, he has sent a "very strong protest" to the NLRB at Washington against the election or any attempt to organize his employes.

Waiters "Least Important" The union, says Beach-Comber, has signed up the waiters and "the waiters are the least important people around a place like mine."

His employes here and on the Mainland have never been organized, Beach-Comber says, because they get better than union wages.

"The best way to get to the point of that," comments Rutledge, "is to say that he pays his bartenders $1.25 an hour, while right across the street at the Royal Hawaiian and the Moana they get a union wage of $1.65. He pays his waiters 50 cents an hour and right across the street they get 95 cents."

Beach-Comber says the union can't supply personnel who can mix the 68 rum drinks he serves. Rutledge says that, too, is beside the point since the employes aren't seeking a union shop, but merely union recognition.

Among other things, Beach-Comber says his chef—the one who has been with him 15 years— wouldn't like a union.

"He's never cooked under those conditions," Beach-Comber says, "and he doesn't know anything about them."

When the union approached him in Chicago at his restaurant, Beach-Comber says, he showed his menu and asked if it could furnish personnel to cook his dishes and prepare his drinks. The union couldn't and that was the end of the organizing talk, he says.

"Honolulu," comments Rutledge, "is not Chicago."

If Don Beach-Combor's food isn't Chinese he'd better make it a little plainer to his customers. Said a tourist who ate there Monday night after arriving on the Lurline: "I've eaten Chinese food in Los Angeles and I thought that's what it was. I figured I was paying about a dollar extra for atmosphere."

The Steiner property adjacent to the Waikiki Bowling Lanes, presently a center of controversy in the Waikiki beach dispute at City Hall, may be leased at $1,300 a month on a 30-year lease—if the lessee will agree to build a hotel within seven years.

That was the finding of a potential lessee who called the Hawaiian Trust Co. (acting as agent for the Steiner Estante), and immediately, questions were raised in his mind.

Since the property along with all other beach property to the Poni Moi Road extension, is on the master plan of the C-C planning commission, the commission has consistently refused all requests by owners for permits to build.

If if is not possible to get a permit to build, and if such a" situation is known when the lease is signed, can the lease be legal? It can, says a lawyer, until the time the board of supervisors has condemned the property and made some substantial step toward purchasing it for public use.

But that, says another lawyer, is just one man's opinion.

Maui—Small farmers on this island who lease land from Robert von Tempsky, got socked for a big loss when the Maui Vegetable Growers Association irritated the big landowner.

As adviser for the Maui Vegetas adviser for the Maui Vegetable Growers Assn. von Tempsky Recently, as has happened many times in the past, the association advised the farmers to control the supply of produce to the market. Consequently, tons of mature crops were plowed under.

Because of disagreement over the harvesting and marketing policies, some farmers have left the organization.

The association cut von Tempsky's salary from $300 to $150 a month. When this happened, the farmers complain, von Tempsky turned around and raised the rent of the farms leased from him by $5 an acre.

"This evidently more than made up for the $150 loss in salary," a farmer said.

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Aruba, Netherlands West Indies (FP)—For the first time in history, the immense Standard Oil of New Jersey refinery here has been shut down by a strike.

Oil workers, hitherto without a union, have hastily formed an organization to press for a 20 per cent wage increase. They now average about $3 a day, far below wages paid in neighboring Venezuela, source of the crude oil which Standard refines on Aruba under the protection of the Dutch flag.

Paradise for Oil Company

The world's two biggest refineries are now shut down. Abadan, the largest, is shut down in Iran as the result of a dispute between the Iranian government and the British oil company, which was nationalized. Aruba's refinery is the biggest in the Western Hemisphere, employing 7,000 and refining nearly 500,000 barrels a day. Aruba has been a paradise for Standard of Jersey, known locally as Lago. There are practically no labor laws in The Netherlands West Indies aside from primitive workmen's compensation. Nothing resembling the Wagner Act has ever been permitted to trouble either Standard of Jersey or Shell's big refinery on the nearby island of Curacao. Unions have been organized in both Standard and Shell but their leaders were discharged or bought out. Standard has an employe representation plan similar to that existing in Standard's U. S. refineries in Bayonne, N. J., Humble, Tex., and elsewhere before the Wagner Act. It is apparently around the framework of this company union that the rebellion of Standard employes was organized.

Contract Labor System

Any effort to organize Standard has been severely hampered by the giant company's labor policy of divide and rule. It has imported thousands of Negroes from the small poorhouse islands of the British West Indies. These workers are under contract and may be returned to their native poor-bouses at the company's discretion for infraction of the rules. Standard refused to hire any Jamaicans because that island has a "union" reputation and the company wants no "agitators."

The other part of the refinery force has been recruited from native Arubans, a people of mixed Indian, Negro and white heritage who speak Papiamento, a language confined to Curacao and Aruba. This tongue, a mixture of Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English and Indian, effectively separates the native workers from the imported English-speaking Negro West Indians.

In addition to the barriers of race and language, the Dutch government has sown religious dissension by favoring the Catholic church. All governors sent out from Holland are Catholics and parochial schools are more lavishly supported by public tax money than the public schools.

$9,630 Profit Per Worker

Under Dutch protection, Aruba has been a gold mine for Standard of New Jersey. The tremendous refinery was placed here to escape from the political uncertainties of Venezuela. One result has been that Standard's refinery employes in Aruba earn about one-third as much as the Venezuelans who produce the oil from Lake Maracaibo.

With no union to protect them and a government strictly controlled by Dutch imperialists allied with Shell Oil, a Dutch firm, the workers have had no chance up to now to demand economic democracy. As a result, Standard's Caribbean subsidiary made a profit of $167,000,000 last year, or $9,630 profit on the labor of each employe.

New York (FP)—Still obedient to "the chief," who died at his palatial Beverly Hills, Calif., home August 14 at the age of 88. the editors of the Hearst press eulogized publisher William Randolph Hearst as a "colossus" and a "great outstanding liberal."

The New York Journal-American and other Hearst papers carried a Burris Jenkins cartoon showing the Statue of liberty in mourning for the departed founder of yellow journalism.

Those Who Mourned

The cartoon brought to mind a less reverent view of Hearst held by Supreme Court Justice Sherman Minton, who quipped back in 1936: "He would not know the Goddess of Liberty if she came down off her pedestal in New York harbor and bowed to him. He would probably try to get her telephone number. He would not know the freedom of the press if it sprang full panoplied from the Constitution in front of him."

Hearst's death drew a flood of conventional tributes from such public figures as Bernard Baruch, Henry Ford II, Lord Beaverbrook, Judge Harold R. Medina, Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker and General Douglas MacArthur, for whom the entire Hearst network of newspapers, magazines and radio stations served as a personal publicity outlet.

The octogenarian's papers displayed flattering pictures of the boss. He had selected them himself and stored them away in a safe to be used after his death. Most of the pictures were at least 15 years old. For over the last decade of his life, Hearst lived in seclusion on his fabulous 270,000-acre San Simeon estate, which stretched for 50 miles along the California coastline. His fear of death was pathological and the word was never mentioned in his presence.

Known for Hypocrisy

In death, as in life, Hearst's name was synonymous with hypocrisy. The pious, highly moral tone of the standard Hearst paper editorial page, its motto: "Truth, justice and public service," was in bold contrast to the sensational mixture of lies, gossip, smears and lurid sex stories that filled the news columns.

"Let us ... pay good wages for good work and give good work for good wages," was the saying selected to run as the standing editorial page quotation from the publisher in the Journal-American August 15. This post-mortem attempt to portray Hearst as a fair employer was hooted at by American Newspaper Guild (CIO) members, who recalled that some of the most bitter and longest strikes in Guild history were waged against Hearst papers.

Hearst not only fought the union of his own employes but consistently sided with other employers in their union-busting efforts. He was a pioneer red-baiter. He spotted a "red plot" in every union organizing drive that featured the New Deal decade. His venomous attacks on labor resulted in a widely effective "I Don't Read Hearst" boycott campaign in the '30s. The United Auto Workers (CIO) in 1936 placed all Hearst papers on the unfair-to-labor list and a People's Committee against Hearst was formed with some 112 AFL unions as members.

Father Wouldn't Prostitute Pen

His syndicate, King Features, distributed the columns of "poison pen" Westbrook Pegler. The founder of the ANG, Heywood Broun, received a financially attractive offer to work for Hearst after he was fired from the Scripps-Howard World-Telegram. Broun turned it down. His decision was reportedly influenced by Hearst columnist Arthur Brisbane who, while trying to persuade Broun to join the press chain, could not restrain himself from admitting, "My father would not have worked for Hearst." His father, Albert Brisbane, was a famous 19th century Socialist.

Hypocrisy also underlay Hearst's role as self-appointed chief patriot of the U. S. Right up until the U. S. entered World War II, the Hearst press featured stories penned by associates of Adolf Hitler. Alfred Rosenberg, a member of the Hitler government, once boasted that Hearst "begged me" to write for him. The Hearst press front-paged by-lined Rosenberg stories presenting the Nazi viewpoint. A purported interview with Hitler by Hearst Correspondent Karl von Wiegand, circulated by International News Service June 14, 1940, was one of the many hoaxes Hearst put over on the American people. It was later disclosed that the "interview" had been prepared in the Nazi propaganda ministry and handed to von Wiegand, who wrote he had personally interviewed the fuehrer and could assure the world that Hitler and Germany desired peace.

The Hearst press was most influential on the West Coast in promoting the "Yellow Peril" antiOriental propaganda of the early 1900s. It maintained that tradition during World War II, building the "Jap scare" on the West Coast to a degree far beyond that of the local Advertiser—while AJA soldiers were fighting America's war on many battlefields.

EXIT HEARST-William Randolph Hearst, regarded as publisher enemy No. 1 by organized labor, and sounding board for the "yellow peril" anti-Orientalism, died Aug. 14 at the ripe old age of 88. (Federated Pictures)

A riot was narrowly averted at Waianae Plantation on March 4, 1897. Several Japanese laborers refused to work and were locked up in jail. Some 200 others—the whole Japanese labor force—gathered to protest. Fifteen police guarded the jail and the white population gathered at the manager's house.

"Hickey, the Hakalau luna who was found guilty of manslaughter in the second degree yesterday and recommended to the mercy of the Court by the jury, was sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor for five years by Judge Carter this morning, in the Circuit Court. The man who died was a Chinaman."

—The Independent, August 25, 1897

President Elpidio Quirino, who says the Philippines take lessons in corruption and graft from Washington, took a lesson from the late Al Capone recently, when he made a bid to buy gambler Mickey Cohen's armored, bulletproof Cadillac limousine.

The president, who has made the Philippines a police state by suspending the writ of habeas corpus, doesn't feel that he is safe any more in his own country.

Quirino's plan to get himself an armored car did not pan out, according to M. M. Monosco, publisher and editor of Laging Una of Los Angeles. Wrote Mr. Monosco:

"This very special job cost the much-publicized gambler $17,100, but the state of California refused to license it and Mickey never got to drive the expensive vehicle. President Quirino will never get to ride in it either, because Mickey sold it for $12,000 to a Bill Jenkins, manager of the Texas Stock Car Racing Association before the bid from Manila arrived. - Said Mickey sadly: 'Right after I agreed to sell 'to Jenkins, I got a $16,000 offer from the Philippines government to buy it for the president. How d'ya like that?"

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The security of all Americans is threatened by the recent Supreme Court decision which upheld "the conviction of the 11 Communist leaders and their lawyers and the more recent jailing of other Communist and working class leaders in New York, California and Washington," said a. press release issued Aug. 17 by the Communist Party of Hawaii over the signature of Chairman Charles Fujimoto.

"It is precisely because the Communists have been fighting for peace and democracy and against war and fascism that they become the target for the first attack," the statement said.

Drive for Bigger Profits

The "big financiers who control our government" are set on a policy to "dominate the world and to use the whole world to extract bigger and bigger profits," the statement continued. The "reactionary rulers of our country have already indicated that they will pursue this policy even at the cost of starting a third world war— an atomic war which threatens the very existence of our civilization."

In this period "the foremost issue confronting all people is the issue of Peace or War, Democracy or Fascism. In this situation the right to speak and struggle for peace and democracy against war and fascism become 'dangerous' to the war policy of the ruling class," the Communist Party said.

And it stated that the Bill of Rights is "being systematically destroyed" because of the "growing sentiment of the people for peace, which threatens the war program of the rulers of this country."

Constitution Violated

Commenting on the Supreme Court's decision on the Smith Act which upheld the lower court's conviction of 11 Communist leaders, the statement quoted the dissenting opinion of Justice Douglas who said: "I repeat that we deal here with speech alone . . . Not a single seditious act is charged in the indictment."

This decision violated the First Amendment, and the Fourth, Fifth and Eighth Amendments have been violated in the arrest of Communists and others since, the statement read. The Fourth Amendment guarantees against arrest and search without warrant. The Fifth Amendment gives protection against self-incrimination, and the Eighth prohibits excessive bail.

In the present situation, the "rights and liberties of not only the Communists but of all the people are in danger," and the Communists will stand firm to fight for the rights and a peaceful world, the statement said. They will join with others in this struggle, the statement concluded.

When Lee Maice, executive director of the Hawaii Housing Authority, set out to find out why the City and County of Honolulu had never cashed checks paid by the HHA "in lieu of taxes," to the amount of $24,127.59, it turned into something like a game of "button, button, who's got the button?" Mr. Maice communicated with the city and county after he found that the checks which represent a contribution to defray the expenses of city services to the Kalakaua and Kamehameha housing projects, had never been cashed. Since they had been sent last March 2 and their receipt had been acknowledged March 6, Maice felt that they ought to be cashed so he could bring his books up to date. Whatever answer Mr. Maice got, the answers the RECORD received were illuminating in some ways and bewildering in others.

Controller Paul Keppeler didn't know, officially at least, who had the checks. He thought probably the supervisors' finance committee might have done something pertinent.

Auditor Leonard Fong didn't know, but said he was going to find out since his office is interested, unofficially anyhow, in any checks payable to the city which have not been cashed.

Sterling Knows Score Clerk Leon Sterling was one man who did know. He said the treasurer, Wm. Chung-Hoon, has the checks pending an opinion by the C-C attorney as to whether the general fund or the division of garbage disposal under Supt. Llewelyn "Sonny" Hart, is to get them as pay against garbage collection at the two housing projects during the past two years.

Treasurer Chung-Hoon admitted he has the checks and he admitted he's also custodian of the general fund, but he claims he has no power to cash the checks.

"I'm Just holding them for him, the clerk," he said. "I'm just holding them for safekeeping because I have a big. vault here. I can't cash them. He'll have to do that. I'm not going to get into it at all."

Attorney Is Bottleneck

A return to Mr. Sterling brought documentary evidence that Mr. Chung-Hoon, whatever he may think, is not awaiting the pleasure of Sterling, but that of the C-C attorney. Report 605 of the finance committee, dated March 13, contains a statement that the committee "recommends that the checks be accepted with thanks and that the city and county treasurer be requested to hold the said checks for safekeeping pending an opinion from the city and county attorney ..."

The part of the story that no official will tell, officially that is, is that Mr. Hart has sought to get the money deposited against accounts accruing from garbage collection, whereas others feel the money should go to the general fund. At the same time, they say, Hart's department should not be held liable for uncollected accounts.

The problem rises, of course, from the fact that Hawaii Housing Authority property is government property and therefore, non-taxable. There is considerable doubt as to whether Hart's or any other C-C agency can legally collect fees from the HHA, and it is to resolve the problem that the HHA sent the checks, one for $15,736.71 and one for $8,390.88 "in lieu of taxes."

The C-C attorney's office, which has been sitting on the matter ever since last March, had no one available and willing to comment, but it was said informally that an opinion will be given very soon. perhaps this week. Until then, Mr. Maice's books will have to wait.

Gov. Thomas E. Dewey, who will soon be making public speeches and giving press releases, on his 25,000 mile trip to the Far East countries, indicated how deeply he observes and from what angle when he talked to his fellow Republicans during his stopover here.

"It has been a mystery," he said according to the Advertiser, "how this island under a Democratic administration could remain Republican for 50 years. That is unique in the whole history of the United States and there must be a magic secret.

"I think it now is entirely clear. You have established a monopoly; a monopoly on the people of good will and public spirit. Your national committeman does the hula and your national committeewoman writes Hawaiian-songs...The United States has found the loveliest people in Hawaii."

It is not hula and Hawaiian songs and "Alo-o-o-HA" as Dewey learned to say it, but land monopoly, economic and financial monopoly, red baiting to keep laborers from playing strong roles in politics, and control of politics by getting supposedly Democratic governors to appoint Republicans to key positions that have made GOP dominance possible. And Republicans with Democratic garbs are too plentiful in the Demo ranks.

To give an example of how the Republican bosshaoles controlled the plantation workers and their haole staff in the pre-union days, we quote Henry A. Rudin, 16 years director of welfare on Waialua Plantation, who said on Aug. 14, 1936:

"I need only call your attention to the fact, easily proved, that I am the only haole man or woman who ever worked for Waialua Plantation who wasn't compelled to sign the Republican roll. I alone, through all these years, refused to sign the roll."

The attitude of the Republican boss-haole class whose predecessors overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy was well expressed by W. N. Armstrong, editor of the Advertiser, Aug. 16, 1897, when he said:

"We, as a business community, don't care about this 'backbone' (of future citizens). We are after cheap labor. 'Scrubs' will do for us, if they arc only cheap. The missionaries can always be turned loose on them."

Dewey's platitudes sound empty and hollow. They could not have sounded hollower if he had told Chiang Kai-shek in Formosa, "It is a mystery to me why you left China but the people of China will some day welcome you back."

Today marks the 178th day of the Lanai strike where about 800 pineapple workers are demanding wage increases, union shop and seniority rights, among other demands.

The long longshore strike of 1949 lasted 176 days. The employers called arbitration "communistic" then and refused to arbitrate when the dock workers were willing to go back on the job while an impartial third party studied and ruled on the controversy. The employers finally gave in and some of the big bosses said after the strike that the demands had not been unreasonable.

* *

Federal conciliators gave up and before they departed said: "Arbitration is a sound method under which work could be resumed immediately and the major portion of the pineapple crop saved. Arbitration ... is one of the proposals made by us (and) was accepted by the union and rejected by the company."

Employer mouthpieces tried to impress the public that the union had proposed arbitration in this instance and screamed away to divert the public's attention from the $25,000,000 crop which they would waste in the attempt to break the union. Whoever pro, posed arbitration and supported it as a means of settling the dispute acted in a constructive manner.

* *

Arbitration is a Nemesis to Hawaii's big employers who have dominated the economy and politics of the Territory so long that they would not trust even the courts, unless they control them. Arbitration is like getting a ruling from a court, and the arbitrator is chosen from the public. Big Five employers indicate by their refusal to arbitrate that they are either afraid or distrustful of the impartial member of the public.

That's how dictators are, like monarchs of old and a few who still remain, jealous of their power and grip on the people which are challenged more and more.

* *

The Strike Bulleting of the Lanai workers, Aug. 17, says that 172 bags of rice were received from the pineapple union's Local, ILWU, in Honolulu. Sugar, potatoes, coffee, soap and other supplies also arrived by scow.

More than a ton of aku was also received by the strikers' soup kitchen by air freight. This also was shipped in by the Local.

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The 11/2 cent classification raise offered in the package deal by employers, in addition to the nine cent across the board offer was this week called by the ILWU an effort to set the workers against each other and split the union over the contract.

The proposal would have highly varied effects on the 10 different grades of workers, the union pointed out. Lower grades, the union said, would receive increases of 91/2 and 101/2 cents an hour while higher grades would get increases of as much as 141/2 cents an hour. Even the nine-cent offer, the union said, can mean an actual reduction in take-home pay for some employes if it is adopted without any guarantee of work opportunity.

After considerable delay, the sugar employers presented their package proposal to union negotiators late this week and the ILWU, after studying it over the weekend, pronounced it far from "complete."

Although the employers' package represented some improvements, union negotiators said, they pronounced the package actually a quick-selling job. If the package were looked into closely, they said, a number of pitfalls for the membership would be revealed. The improvements included:

• Better seniority section.

• Improved vacation terms, with vacations more nearly accessible to workers, though without guarantee on minimum vacation pay.

• Extension of contract coverage, though some fundamental problems are left unresolved.

• Provision for stop-work meetings.

• Two holidays with pay—Christmas and New Year's.

Security Sought

Seeking security in all fields, as it has in the past, the union condemned most strongly the failure of the employers' package to provide anything stronger than promises. Recalling that "we were supposed to have a 48-hour work week in 1950-51," the union reminded the employers that actually the total of man-hours dropped in 1950 almost to the point where it was in 1946 when the sugar strike lasted six months.

Under such conditions, the union viewed the long term suggested by the employers—three years and three months—as a strait jacket for the members in every respect except wages.

And over the issue of wages, the union and the employers had again recessed general negotiations, subject to call. In the meantime, subcommittees were working out other issues, but the deadline of August 31 was drawing steadily nearer.

Have you noticed that the radio spokesman for the pineapple companies speaks of "industry" when he really means "management"? A line may go something like: "Industry offered a cent and a half raise in classifications, but the union refused." Which brings up the interesting speculation: Which is the more clearly essential part of say the pineapple industry—the executives who draw the high salaries, or the men who actually raise and harvest the pineapple?

* *

Les Boatwright, one of the four MC&S men mentioned by the NMU's phony picket line before the Lurline in San Francisco some weeks ago, finally sailed as a member of the engine room crew with the blessing of President V. J. Malone of the Marine Firemen, Oilers, Watertenders and Wipers. but the rank and file didn't like it. Just how. much they didn't like it is told in the latest issue of the "Black Gang News," a paper published on the coast as "the voice of the rank and file."

The News reports that plenty of rank-and-filers protested his shipping at a meeting, and in a highly questionable vote, a motion to yank him off the ship was lost, according to a chairman whose impartiality the News appears to doubt. Once on the ship, Boatright was barred from the wipers' quarters by the wipers themselves, and "several members of the black gang quit the ship rather than sail with him."

No union man likes a union-buster.

* *

Charles Somma , SF longshoreman of Local 10, ILWU, is the latest reported "screenee" to be taken into the armed services afterward. After World War II, Somma, who served with the Navy, Joined the Naval Reserves. He was screened off the waterfront as a longshoreman on the grounds that he was a "security risk." A short time later, he was called back into the Navy and he now goes through the same installation several times a day from which he was barred as a longshoreman.

"It's not security they're after," said Somma, "but union-wrecking."

* *

Reuben Wong, employe in the C-C building department's plumbing division, was due to get out of Queen's Hospital last Sunday after he had spent a week there being treated for abdominal injuries suffered at a party. Though no one wants to talk about it, the truth is that Wong's injuries were the result of a one-sided fight with another employe in the same department who has. been pretty worried about the whole affair ever since. It is understood that Wong's alleged assailant is paying the bills and hopes no further settlement for damages will be asked.

* *

The 'Tiser may have been asking for trouble last week when it editorialized about Rudy Eskovitz's reported efforts to organize the police force. The 'Tiser advised "organize somewhere else Rudy."

"How about the Advertiser?" cracked one of Ray Coll's employes.

* *

Jan Jabulka, who has not yet been succeeded on the Advertiser as managing editor, is said to have been responsible for the placing of the pictures of Orientals on the front page of the society section in Sunday papers. Since Jabulka's no longer there, the number of those pictures is decreasing noticeably.

It's still a tight secret as to why Jabulka quit or was fired, or whatever. One guess is that he and Allan McGuire, 'Tiser treasurer, failed to get along.

* *

Did you know that the Chinese dominoes used for many games, and by local gamblers for pai kau, are made on Long Island rather than in China? Cheaper sets made by the Long Island plant which also makes dice and other such apparatus) are shipped to Hong Kong and sold there as Chinese products. But those used in the islands come direct.

The game, pai kau, is played by gamblers in most Chinese communities of the Mainland, though it is called "pai kew." In Vancouver, a variation of the game is called tai mao.

One reason vice squad arrests of pai kau players have seldom resulted in convictions is that officers don't know the game and can't be sure whether or not gambling was actually in progress, although officers have often asked gamblers to teach them the game.

* *

Honolulu's dailies had themselves a field day interviewing the Canadian nisei sailors who were recently in port, and they seemed to prove varying things. One sailor told the Star-Bulletin he was surprised to hear that Japanese aliens should have trouble getting citizenship here. It's fairly easy in Canada, he said, for any Japanese who has been a resident of the Dominion for a number of years. Another told the Herald he was surprised at the large number of nisei in professional life here. Few in Canada are allowed to prepare themselves for the professions, he said.

* *

"POP" Warner, who ran a cubbyhole restaurant at 1170 Smith St. until this week, is looking for a job as short-order cook. He had to close up when Caesar Lopez, his landlord, raised his rent from $200 a month to $300. The only obvious reason is that Smith St. is on bounds again for service personnel and maybe the landlord thinks the "take" ought to be bigger.

"Pop's" former customers recommend his cookery to any employer.

* *

When Lawrence Campos decided to go into direct distribution of his milk to customers, instead of supplying 8,000 quarts a day to Dairymen's, some milk producers expected a price war (RECORD, Sept. 14, 1950). Last weekend the Campos Dairy sold milk for 25 cents a quart, five cents less than Dairymen's, Moanalua and Rico This, however, was only for a day.

* *

"The Democratic Party won't be able to put up a slate in the Fourth District come next election, and I mean a Demo slate," said E. A. Brenner of the Democratic Oahu County Committee. "The Republicans may run some stoogies on the Democratic ticket and pay their expenses but they are not Democrats."

In all the space given to Gov. Thomas E. Dewey in the local dailies last week during the New Yorker's stopover here, nothing was mentioned about his refusal to appear before the Kefauver crime investigation committee. Former New York City Mayor O'Dwyer did and his administration's crime connections got dragged out in the public view. * *

The Advertiser of Aug. 19 says editorially: "The governor (Dewey) represents the best in American political life and his name is outstanding on a list of outstanding men who have governed the state of New York, which is a nation within itself."

Franklin D. Roosevelt was governor of New York and he was outstanding. Dewey is a smalltime politician, stacked up against the late FDR.

* *

Murphy and Aloha Motors advertised in the dailies during the past weekend that they "now find (themselves) with more inventory than we can warehouse properly."

"We have $3,000,000 worth of new Chevrolet cars and trucks, Oldsmobiles, GMC trucks and used cars and trucks of all models and body types," continues the ad. And it tries the scare propaganda:

"We might add that a 10 per cent price increase and a proposed increase in the excise tax is now awaiting final decision in Washington . . ."

* *

In Detriot cars are being warehoused in open parks and because of lagging sales throughout the nation, auto layoffs are hitting the city's workers pretty hard.

* *

A collector for a downtown appliance firm mentioned the scare-buying propaganda which the appliance companies used after the Korean war started. Future shortages were emphasized and remembering the situation during the last war, people bought. Now the collectors are having "an awful time collecting" and some of the people are irritated when the bill collectors come around. They tell the collectors that appliances still flood the market and they were fooled into buying in a hurry.

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"The labor relations at the Honolulu Sake Brewery & Ice Co., Ltd., are a disgrace to the community. We have records of employes who have worked nearly 20 years and are still paid only $1 or so an hour," wrote the Joint Council of Teamsters No. 79, over the signature of Arthur A. Rut-ledge, president, to Sen. Wilfred C. Tsukiyama, on August 21.

The Joint Council's letter appealed to Sen. Tsukiyama as vice president and a member of the. board of directors of the company, and stated that "if you will interest yourself in what has been going on, you will see to it that the rights of your employes at the Honolulu Sake & Ice Co., Ltd., are respected." It also sent the senator a copy of a letter the union wrote to Daizo Sumlda, president of the company.

Exploit Old Japanese Customs

The senator, who is held up by the boss-haole elements in the Republican Party as a pillar of Americanism in the Japanese community, was told by the union that: "The management of your company has for years deliberately exploited their employes by taking advantage of the practices and customs of the older Japanese people who give respect almost equivalent to reverence to their employer." On the picket line which was organized the morning of Aug. 16, morale was high among the strikers.

Boss In Shiny New Car

"Old Japanese style, old Japanese style !" said a striker disdainfully. "How can you feed your family on Japanese-style pay and what do you get for loyalty? Work 20 years and still get a dollar like almost everybody else? And at home you must give your wife and children umeboshi (sour pickled plums) and takuwan (pickled radishes) . Food is high and it takes money to fill your stomach even with rice alone."

"Yes, Sumida and the rest of the brewery bosses like Japanese-style relationship and want us to live like old-style Japanese immigrant laborers. But Sumida comes here in a shiny new Olds-mobile. Now, is that American or Japanese style, or boss' style?" asked another striker. Almost all the sake brewery workers were either born or raised in Japan. All are of Japanese descent.

"Humph," said a third man, "you missed the point," he told the previous speaker. "How does Sumida get to ride in the Olds-mobile? You and me and him and him worked like slaves for cheap pay and that is why he made the profits. Does he return something for loyalty of the workers?"

Five Respect Picket Line

Sixteen workers of the brewery are on strike, but on Tuesday, 21 were not working. Five respected the picket line, according to reports, and stayed home. The picket signs said:

"On Strike," "We Want American Conditions" and "No Raise, No Work!"

The strike began last week after the consent election held to determine whether the workers preferred representation by the Brewery Workers' Union, Local 502 (AFL). The vote was 19-16 against union representation.

The strikers are demanding an increase in wages. In the letter to Sen. Tsukiyama, the union said the brewery is paying in its ice department alone, only 60 per cent of the wages paid by the Oahu Ice & Cold Storage Co. The sake company pays $1 as against $1.50 to $1.60 in the unionized shop.

Workers Have Courage

The union this week filed objections with the NLRB in asking the election be "set aside" on two points:

(1) That the employers gave erroneous information to the union and the NLRB on casual employes and the supervisory authority of two other employes, all of whom considered pro-company, were allowed to vote.

(2) That the management representatives visited the homes of employes to advise them to drop the union and made threats of reprisal against them if the union won the NLRB election.

The union's letter to Arnold L. Wills, officer in charge of the NLRB office here, commented:

"This is the first instance of a company of this size owned by Japanese and with Japanese employes where the employes had the courage to stand up and exercise the rights guaranteed them by our government, as against the usual attitude taken by those of Japanese ancestry who work for Japanese employers, which is one of complete subservience and docility."

Business in the ice department of the company was reported by informed sources to be down more than 50 per cent. Usually the company sells about 180 cakes of ice per day, each weighing 300 pounds. Now the figure is between 60 and 70.

Foreman's Job But Not Pay "Ice peddlers respect the picket line and they must be buying ice at Oahu Ice where union conditions prevail," a striker commented. A Japanese woman driving an automobile, stopped by the picket line to ask where ice was being sold. But when she saw the picket signs she drove the nose of her car into the plant's gate, then backed out, smiled and drove away. "That makes me feel good," said Sosei Yogi, a six-year employe, who has been a relief man for four years. Mr. Yogi has relieved workers who receive $1.05 and a few who earn $1.10 an hour, and at one time a foreman when the latter went on vacation, all at his regular rate of $1 an hour and no overtime after eight hours of work, unless he had put in 40 hours of work.

A union organizer warned 34 employes of the Honolulu Sake Brewery & Ice Co., Ltd., not to quit the Brewery Workers' Union 13 years ago, but three employe representatives advised otherwise and the workers left the union.

"This time, let us believe the company and quit the union. And if, hereafter, the company should betray us, then we should take action again with determination," argued Ichitaro Kawanishi, and two others, Ishigami and Tanaka, according to an article in The Voice of Labor, Japanese section. December 22, 1938.

"If You Quit . . ."

James Cooley, representing the Brewery Workers' Union, told the employes to stay with the union because "the company had given in to their demands in fear of the union. If you quit the union, you can't hold the company to its promises and you won't have the power to protect a blacklisted employe . when he gets fired. Remember, also, that a non-union man can't get the protection of the Wagner Act."

The employes of the sake brewery first went to the union when the company tried to get around the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

The Honolulu Sake Brewery was forced to, reduce the 48-hour week to 44 hours under the Pair Labor Standards Act. But in doing so, it cut the employes' pay for the four reduced hours, instead of paying overtime.

The 34 employes of the company demanded no reduction in pay. The company rejected this demand and the workers sought aid of the union.

Management Rewards Sellouts

Alarmed by reports that its employes were meeting with union representatives, the management pleaded with Ishigami, Tanaka and Kawanishi, who were spokesmen for the employes.

Tanaka, according to oldtimers among present strikers at the brewery, was promoted to a foreman. He is no longer with the company. Kawanishi is today a supervisor in the sake department, well-rewarded for his role during the 1938 labor dispute. When the employes followed the advice of Kawanishi and his two partners, Cooley said:

"It is obvious that the company will eventually get even with them. I'm sorry that the employes don't realize this. Anyhow, the union will be glad to respond whenever they come for help."

"Favoritism Is Policy"

Today, the strikers carry the picket signs of the Brewery Workers' Union. And it has taken 13 years for the sake brewery workers to make firm demands of their employers, and to seek union representation.

Many of the oldtimers are gone. Most of the present employes have been on their jobs less than 10 years and those who have worked 20 years, get $1.05 the same as the others. Seniority means nothing.

"Favoritism is the policy," a striker remarked.

Among the militant strikers on picket duty today, there is none who would follow a Kawanishi who would say:

"This time let us believe the company and quit the union." The picketing strikers laugh, hoot and hurl strong words at ones like Rinta Ikuno, a pro-company ice platform worker, who told the strikers the other day that they may have to stay out six months but if they win, he would join the union.

By Staff Writer

Factionalism and dissension in the police department may have brought the administration of Chief Dan Liu into the tightest spot of its three-year duration. Yet those on the inside of the situation feel it is not, after all, a very threatening crisis for Chief Liu.

Press releases by Charles Kendall of the Hawaii Government Employees and Rudolph Eskovitz of the CIO, wherever it is in Hawaii, are interpreted only as reflecting the factionalism obliquely.

Kendall is making his strongest pitch, it is believed, because he is losing members of his organization.

Eskovitz is believed to be making a noise like an organizer which he hopes will be heard by the home office which pays his salary.

Vice Called Motive

The real factionalism rises, insiders say, from the ambitions of certain subordinates and officials who would, if they had the opportunity, set up an alliance with elements of the vice racket for the financial benefit of both sides. Primary among such elements of the underworld are gamblers, and it is understood that certain officials have already made use of their positions for the purpose of shaking down games. The officials, though not directly connected with enforcement of gambling laws, have managed to extract some payoff from gamblers by pretending an influence they don't have.

When the gamblers try to stop the payoffs, the police grapevine says, the implicated officials inform on them to the vice squad and arrests follow.

When the gamblers play ball and get their payments in on time, the inside story continues, the concerned officials act as informers for them, giving tips and generally acting as pipelines whenever possible.

Liu In Comparison

So in the present police stir, observers have been inclined to weigh Dan Liu's merits and faults against those of his possible successors. Despite what they condemn as a lack of familiarity with some police conditions, and despite his efforts to enforce unconstitutional laws, such as the "move on" law, Liu's integrity and conscientiousness have never been questioned.

On those two counts, serious critics of the police department usually adjudge the chief head and shoulders above any of his probable successors.

"The real trouble in the department," said one official, "is that they still have those cops who were charged with accepting bribes and who were never tried."

So maybe the unrest in the department should really be laid at the door of ex-Gov. Stainback, who halted the police trials several years ago by removing the prosecutor, Joseph V. Esposito.

Chicago (FP)—Repeal of the Smith, Taft-Hartley and McCarran Acts was demanded here by officers and stewards of the International Harvester Tractor Works Local, who branded them as "hysteria laws."

The International Harvester Co., leading producer of farm equipment, owns 45.3 per cent of the industry's total assets.

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By Eddie Ujimori

Supervisor Manuel Rodrigues (D) was asked: "Are you going to run for this same office next year?" He said: "Yes; this is my third term in office and I'll run again for the 4th term as a supervisor or for some other office." * *

ON AUG. 15, the representatives of HGEA and UPWA met at the HGEA office in Wailuku to set the time and place to hold the debate between Charles Kendall and Henry Epstein of these organizations. Thomas Noda, of the UPWA, told the RECORD that the date of the debate will probably be the middle or the latter part of September and the first debate will be held at Waiakoa, Kula, on HB 50. The UPWA wants to hold a meeting there, according to No-da, because employes of the Kula Sanitarium requested it. The second night of debate, the question will be: "What Organization Should Government Employes Belong To?" One of the main reasons why this debate cannot be held sooner is that the Rev. Mineo Katagiri, who will act as moderator, will be in Honolulu during the latter part of this month and on Aug. 8 and 9, the UPWA will hold its Territorial conference in Hilo.

* *

Many have asked: "How can David Trask, executive secretary of the HGEA on Maui, be a good union man with his wife working for the HC&S Co. as secretary to J. E. Milligan, director of industrial relations, and to A. L. Priest, personnel director?"

With that in mind, this writer had a talk with Trask, who said: "Sure, my wife works for the HC&S Co. as a secretary to Milligan and also to Priest, but that's sugar union and I have nothing to do with it. Now that I'm HGEA executive secretary, I'll go right down the line for the HGEA members only," Doesn't Trask believe in the saying: "Union men are. brothers," or "An injury to one is an injury to all"?

* *

R. K. Rogers, assistant superintendent of the plantation engineering department at HC&S, has time after time said that the McGerrow Village Road, worn out by HC&S dump trucks carrying trash from the mill, "will be fixed in two weeks." How long will the plantation give the run-around to the HC&S employes living at McGerrow Village?

* *

Col. William Boyem, director of selective service for the Territory, told the writer recently that there is a vacancy on Draft Board 10 and that he would like to see it filled by a person of Japanese ancestry. He said the Maui supervisors should be approached on the subject in an effort to get the board to agree on a nomination which could then be forwarded to the selective service board in Honolulu.

We know, incidentally, that at least one member of Board 10 would like to see an AJA on the Board to avoid criticism of the present monopoly of the board by haoles.

* *

Chairman Eddie Tam of the Maui board of supervisors showed either a lack of confidence or fear of the public at last Friday's informal meeting of the board. When a certain subject came up for discussion, Tam proposed to his board members:

"We cannot discuss this subject as the public is present and listening and we will have to retire into my private office."

* *

Willie Crozier, one of the interested members of the public, stood up to protest the star-chamber session which would deny the people information as to how their money is being spent by the officials who are also paid by the taxpayers.

* *

Put on the defensive, Tam blurted out: "Well, here is Charlie Young from the Maui News and Crozier reporting for the Honolulu RECORD. Go ahead and print it!"

Whereupon Crozier stood up and told Tam sharply and bluntly what he thought of him, and members of the public seemed to agree with him.

* *

When the board was discussing the question of charging for garbage collection, Supervisor Shigeru Miura received a suggestion from an indignant public member. Calling Dr. Miura aside the man asked the supervisor to make a recommendation instead that the County of Maui hang a meter on everyone's neck and charge 25 cents for every 1,000 cubic foot of air inhaled. This extreme example was suggested to show that the poor man can be taxed until he can't breathe the air he needs to survive. The idea was to tax the big boys, the land monopolists and the big employers.

Washington (FP)— The new increase in personal income taxes which the House decided would hit Workers Sept. 1 apparently is going to be delayed until October 1.

But watch out. Chairman Walter F. George (D., Ga.) of the Senate finance committee said his bill could not possibly be passed by Sept. 1, but he also said bad news was in store for small and medium income earners.

He let it be known that senators don't like the straight 12% per cent increase on personal income taxes voted by the House. Instead, George said, the Senate committee will probably vote for a straight "two or three percentage point increase all along the line in personal income taxes."

This, tax experts pointed out, will not be so hard on big incomes, but will take the major increase out of low incomes. In other words, the bulk of the new taxes will come from workers. George hopes to have the new bill in the shape of law before Oct. 1. That would mean small income earners, who took a 20 per cent increase last Oct. 1, will get practically the same treatment this year.

By Edward Rohrbough

The recent Associated Press dispatch from Hong Kong reporting the death of "General" Tu Yuehsen in that city illustrates perfectly the manner in which the American press and its news services prefer fiction to truth—if that fiction emanates from some source favored by the State Department.

"Fabled" Tu Yueh-sen, according to the AP story, ''took over Shanghai" back in 1927 "during the early days of the struggle for power between Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists . . . later turning the city over to Chiang." This tidbit is a new addition to the fable and will come as a considerable surprise to all who know that period of Chinese history, and even to those who may have read Andre Malraux's novel, "Man's Pate." All such will know that Shanghai was "taken over" by the city's own workers, under the direction of Chou En-lai, often a negotiator for the Chinese Communists in recent years, and that THEY turned the city over to Chiang.

Workers Were Slaughtered

Where Tu and his gunmen from Shanghai's Green Gang get into the story is the next step, after Chiang had made a deal with the foreign governments, when they participated in slaughtering thousands of the same men who had turned the city over to Chiang. It was this sell-out and slaughter which estranged Madame Sun Yat-sen so that she refused to participate in the doings of Chiang's Kuomintang until he promised, nine years later, to fight the Japanese invaders. Her condemnation was extremely embarrassing to the leaders of the Kuomintang Party, which her husband had founded, but she was adamant. When a Kuomintang general, still in 1927, tried to get her to attend the Kuomintang unveiling of a monument to Dr. Sun in Nanking, she still refused and he became angry.

Randall Gould, former editor of the "Shanghai Post and Mercury," years later reported the exasperated general as saying: "If you were anyone but Madame Sun, we'd cut your head off!"

"If you were the kind of revolutionaries you say you are," answered the beautiful Soong Chingling, "you'd cut it off anyway."

But that's all rather far from Tu Yueh-sen and his Green Gang, which admittedly controlled most of Shanghai's opium traffic in the years before the Japanese invasion. The AP story's next paragraph is as phony as the last.

"When the Japanese captured Shanghai," the story goes, "Tu moved in again. He controlled the city of 5,000,000 when the Nationalists (Kuomintang) came back in 1945."

Effort That Failed

Ha! Did he now? The truth is that in July of 1945. Tu came through Fukien on his way from Chungking, as one of a party of three, and according to the best sources of American and Chinese information at the time, he was out to see if he could get into Shanghai to be there when the expected landing of American troops on the China coast should take place.

The two other members of the party were General Tai Li, often called the "Chinese Himmler," and Captain (later Rear Admiral) Milton E. Miles of the U. S. Navy.

The three skylarked about in the area "behind the Japanese lines" for about a month, approaching to within a hundred miles of Shanghai, and then returned to West China.

Tried for Narcotics

But it is certain that Chiang felt obligated to the Green Gang's chief, and in the days after the immediate entry into Shanghai, it was proposed that Tu be made mayor. Anti-Tu elements in the Kuomintang however, succeeded in bringing him to trial for violations of the narcotics law and if court records of that period still exist they should show that Tu was found guilty and given a suspended sentence of nine years.

Even Chiang is said to have felt that it would look bad to have a mayor with a nine-year suspended sentence over him, so someone else got the job.

There is no reason to doubt the AP's accuracy on the point that Tu was 63 years old when he died, though it may seem a bit surprising that such a man should die in bed.

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The Honolulu Retail Pood Price Index rose 2-10 of one per cent the one month period ending in mid-August and the index now stands at 148.2, according to figures released by the Bureau of Research and Statistics of the Territorial Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The current index is 2.2 per cent higher than three months ago, 1.4 more than six months ago and 7.4 per cent greater than that of a year ago. Of the nine different food categories that make up the index, six showed increases ranging from 1-10 of one per cent for cereal and bakery products and beverages to 2.7 per cent for the egg group. Dairy products declined 1.2 per cent, miscellaneous food items dropped 2.3 per cent and fats and oils decreased 4.5 per cent from last month.

The egg group leads the upward movement with a 2.7 per cent increase over last month, making it the fourth consecutive increase for this group. Large island eggs sold at an average of $1.049 per dozen and Mainland medium eggs averaged 81.6 cents a dozen.

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Running down other nationalities, in public print, is of course no monopoly of boss-haole elements. The following remarks are from the pen of Sometaro Sheba, editor of the Hawaii Shinpo, early in 1909. Local Japanese say this was expected of Sheba, who was bitterly hated by his people as being the planters' "dog." Sheba wrote:

"The Filipinos are lazy; the Porto Ricans are vicious ..."

"The Filipinos are of Malay extraction and inferior in intellect, brawn and industry to the Japanese or Chinese. The Porto Ricans are of a mongrel race and have inherited the vices of a dozen inferior peoples with the virtues of none."

"These Spaniards, of whom there are about 300 left in the Islands (out of 2,200), positively cannot and will not stand the kind of treatment they are getting from the Portuguese lunas who are put over them. The lunas favor their countrymen and anyone else besides a Spaniard, and this the latter will not abide. I know of instances where the Portuguese luna has leaped into a room where a Spanish family were sleeping in the early morning jerked the bedclothes off the husband and his wife, and ordered the man to work in the fields."

—F. J. Dutra, quoted in

Honolulu Police: Labor Spies

(The following description of the Honolulu police department of 15 years ago is taken from the pages of The Voice of Labor, August 17, 1936. It is by a member of the Honolulu police department as told to the editor, Corby Paxton).

A few months after this expose appeared, the role of the police as labor spies was brought out in an NLRB hearing. Allen Taylor, recently convicted of dope smuggling, then sergeant of detectives assigned to waterfront duty, testified that he reported on an average of once a week—to ex-Governor Lawrence M. Judd, head of the Industrial Association of Hawaii. On what did he report? Stowaways from the Coast. The Big Five-controlled dailies, the police commissioners who are dominated by these employers, and other employer instruments, are all against union organization of the police force.)

"The Honolulu. Police Department, of which I have been a member for the past few years, is being used by the Big Sugar and Shipping Interests to spy on the waterfront labor unions, union men and labor organizers.

"Ever since the unions began their organizational activities here, members of the police department, under the supervision of that servile puppet of the police commission, Chief Gabrielson, have been used to stoolpigeon and rat on their own Hawaiian brothers because they happen to be members of a labor union.

"Under the present setup, many applicants to the police department have to serve a stoolpigeon apprenticeship for a certain length of time before they can become full-fledged members of the department. Last year one of these applicants served his apprenticeship by joining the Longshoremen's Union and acting as a spy from within the union. Every day this "union man" made his reports to the police department concerning the organizational activities of the union, and gave detailed accounts of what happened at the meetings—who the various members were, who attended the meetings and other choice bits of news that he could gather around the union hall. I want to say that this vat served his apprenticeship well. Today he struts around in his new uniform, quite proud of the slick job he pulled off. He is now a traffic officer. "Members of the police department are forced to spy on working men because they organize unions to better their conditions. But the chief of police never sends any of his stoolpigeons to spy on the Chamber of Commerce or the Hawaii Sugar Planters' Association, nor the Industrial Association.

"There isn't a union man who arrives in Honolulu who doesn't come under the surveillance of the Honolulu Police Department's system of espionage. Working hand-in-hand with the shipowners' police, the Industrial Association and other anti-labor outfits, stools are sent regularly to the waterfront to make a check on the so-called "alien agitators." Lists of all maritime union men are kept on police department files, and as soon as they arrive in port, their every move is watched. Just let one of them so much as get into a little brawl on the waterfront and they're ready to throw him into jail and toss the keys away."

By Frank Marshall Davis

The Dewey Philosophy

In his speech at a luncheon meeting here Saturday, Gov. Thomas E. Dewey of New York, two-time unsuccessful presidential candidate, stated flatly the backbone of bi-partisan foreign policy when he said:

"The time is coming when it will be necessary to draw a line and say: 'This is the free world and no part of it shall be allowed to become Communist.' "

The truth of the matter is that Dewey is late, as usual. That became our official policy with the signing of the Atlantic Pact. Our aid to the French in Indo-China and our intervention in Korea are the results of this policy.

But what burns me up is the naked gall shown by Dewey and the rest who shape our foreign policy when they assume that America has some divine right to dictate to other peoples and nations the kind of government they may have. It is a contemporary version of the master race theory we were supposedly trying to destroy in Nazi Germany.

Force and Violence To Deny Self-Determination

What Dewey says, in effect, is that we must use force and violence, if necessary, to keep a nation from accepting communism even though the majority of the people of that nation have expressed a desire for communism.

As a matter of fact, the people of America have the right to establish a socialist or communist government if they so desire. The right to replace one form of government with another is an historic right. It was the backbone of the Declaration of Independence and was repeated often by Lincoln, the immortal leader of the party whom Dewey pretends to follow. Some 200 years ago an English king had Dewey's idea and used force and violence to try to keep the people of the 13 American colonies from forming the kind of government they wanted.

But Dewey is not interested in the desires of the people to improve their lot. Had he lived, during the days of Jefferson and Hancock and Franklin and the others who laid the cornerstone for our nation, I firmly believe he would have sided with the British. In his speech here Saturday, he praised the French forces in Indo-China and the English in Malaya. And what are these forces doing? They are trying to crush the efforts of the non-white peoples of Indo-China and Malaya to win independence and control of their lands, just as did the people of the 13 colonies less than 200 years ago.

Colored People Interested In Status of U. S. Negroes

To further show Dewey's character, not long ago Doris Fleeson mentioned in her syndicated column that Dewey, while in Singapore, was "shocked to find an incident of racial prejudice involving a few hundred people out of 150,000,000. is front-page news in Singapore and elsewhere and considered worthy of a four-column photograph on page one." This "incident" was the recent race riot at Cicero, Ill., a suburb of Chicago.

To Dewey, this disgraceful spectacle was a minor thing. His indignation was not that such could happen in America, but that it should get around to the rest of the world! What Dewey refused to see is that the majority of the people in Singapore are as dark or even darker in their skin coloring as the Negro war veteran who was the victim of mob action in Cicero. And to the people of Singapore, there is this unanswered question: If America is as democratic as it claims to be, if the U. S. has the kind of government which Dewey says it has, why are there such incidents as the Cicero riot aimed at a fellow citizen purely because he is the same color as the majority of the people of Singapore? You get the idea that none may criticize or change one iota of what Dewey calls the "free world." This means that the colonial peoples must be content with their inferior lot under their white European masters, while internally we are expected to turn our backs on a Cicero riot and give three extra-loud hurrahs for Dr. Ralph Bunche. Anything else is communism and must be fought.

Actually Calls for International Loyalty Probe

What Dewey and the rest of our foreign policy makers are calling for is a kind of international loyalty probe.

Here at home individuals have been blacklisted and fired from government jobs and private employment because they dared openly to fight against conditions and practices which they believe to be completely contrary to democracy. They opposed the status quo; automatically, they were disloyal.

The people who are fighting to throw off French and British domination in Indo-China and Malaya also oppose that status quo. They, too, are disloyal. And by putting them down, the French win praise from Dewey for helping preserve the "free world."

The free world of Gov. Dewey is being molded into the shape of official America, with its reverence for the status quo. That means the undiscriminating preservation of what is bad along" with what is good, and in this we have the basic weakness of the whole matter.

Can We Stop, Change For the Better?

I know of no person with even moronic intelligence who wants to toss out the many good things in America. But in the eyes of certain powerful people, an attempt to eradicate anything evil is interpreted as a move to wipe but everything. It's either all or nothing at all. Do not harm one little hair on the head of our beloved status quo, or you will be considered an outlaw.

That, as I see it, is the Dewey philosophy. Even with our guns and planes and money and atom bombs, how much of it can we force upon the rest of the world?