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| index / Volume 4 / Volume 4 No. 6 |
pages 2 l 3 l 4 l 5 l 6 l 7 l 8 |
Mrs. Valdez
"I am a Filipino but not out of place in a haole family. In an ILWU haole family, I mean. I belong to the ILWU," said Mrs. Catalina Valdez.
The medium-set woman with round, soft eyes, smiling face and gesturing hands, had come to Hawaii from her native Philippines in 1926 as the wife of a plantation laborer. She was trying hard to explain to her listeners that she had a pleasant surprise during her recent visit to California which is known for anti-Oriental racism.
"Always Remember"
When Mrs. Valdez was chosen to represent her Federated Women's Auxiliary of Kauai, at the San Francisco convention of the women's group, she had many questions in mind, particularly the "distasteful" matter of discrimination.
"But I belong to the ILWU. That gave me courage to go to San Francisco alone," she said with a smile.
She stayed with white and Negro families, and proudly says: "Always remember, no discrimination in ILWU."
Saw "America At Its Best"
She said discrimination is a "terrible thing" which all non-whites detest and abhor and she was happy to see "America at its best among our workers."
Ever since the Women's Auxiliary was organized a couple of years ago, Mrs. Valdez has quickly risen to a position of leadership.
Recently she made a trip to Lanai to report on her Mainland experiences to the strikers and their families. In a matter of days she had the women organized into an auxiliary unit, the officers elected and was helping to bring about their fuller participation in the long strike now more than six months old.
"Women can disrupt a union if they do not understand how important it is to their husbands and to their families, but at the same time, they can be a strong element in the labor movement," she said.
Push Husbands From Behind
"I tell the women, 'Instead of hindering the union work of husbands, push them from behind,'" she emphasized with a sharp gesture of her right hand. The next minute she was talking to her husband, Noberto Valdez, a truck driver at Kekaha Plantation, who encourages her activities in the auxiliary.
"I was away from home so long when I went to California. Then I went to Lanai. He made many sacrifices, and all for the union. Without his help I cannot do these things," she explained, and recounted their earlier experiences on the plantations when there were no unions for sugar workers. "I tell the new immigrant Filipino workers about the happai-ko (loading sugar cane on railroad cars by carrying the stalks on the back), and only one dollar a day. And I tell the union brothers that when they hold meetings they should invite women. If the men do not attend meetings, women must put pressure on them."
"Pork Chops" Confuses Wives
As she said this most emphatically she paused, then smiled warmly.
"Let me tell you how much there is to learn about the union of which our men are members. Once I was explaining the pork-chop program which I saw in California, Then some of our auxiliary sisters sighed and said: 'I haven't eaten pork chop for a long time.' And I had to explain that pork-chop program is union language for bread and butter struggle as well as for better conditions, not pork chops you fry to eat. Our husbands use this kind of language and we must understand them." Like all union wives, she said, she hears smears against the union; coming in the form of red-baiting or attack against union leadership.
"My answer is always, 'Go to the union and find out what it has done and is doing for workers, all workers.' If our husbands' wages go up, salaries of even the white collar workers go up. And as I always say, the bosses kept us divided—Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese, Koreans—each in different camps. The union brought us together and even on the Mainland, you can go and enjoy, even if you are not a haole, in ILWU homes."
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The arrest of seven individuals under the Smith Act gave a clear warning to all that their "rights, living standards" and the hopes of all are gravely endangered, Attorney Harriet Bouslog told nearly 4,000 union members, their families and friends of labor at a Labor Day celebration at Lihue, Kauai.
"These seven are a part of the whole national pattern which shows that the people in power in our country today will not tolerate any criticism or attack upon their announced plan to make America and the world an armed camp," Attorney Bouslog explained.
She spoke of the contributions of Jack Hall, one of the seven, to the trade union movement in Hawaii. She analyzed the motive behind the present arrests, of the role of "disgruntled, so-called labor leaders, the Izukas and the Kawanos," of the witch-hunt of the un-American committee and its counterpart here. "The attack upon the liberties of all working people and true democrats did not, however, begin with the arrests of these seven," she continued. "It is a course and policy that has been followed by our government since the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt."
(Attorney Bouslog's speech will be covered more fully next week, since it gives a clear and broad picture of the meaning of the arrests.—Ed.)
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Departing strikingly from the traditional AFL "non-political" stand, John A. Owens, local head of the AFL, told a Labor Day crowd of about 1,500 at Iolani Palace that the American Federation of Labor will definitely enter into political action.
"It will be necessary," he said, "for us to try to get into office people who represent the working men and women of the Territory of Hawaii." Introduced by A. S. Reile of the Central Labor Council (AFL) as, "the man who represents the AF of L in the Territory," Owens pointed out housing as a prime target for such political action, and he said many of the working people live in homes which remain upright "only because the termites are holding hands."
Owens said the AFL is participating in the fight against Communism "right up to the Iron Curtain," and he expressed the hope that before long "even peoples behind the Iron Curtain may find the freedoms they enjoyed years ago."
He did not elaborate as to whether his reference was to the Russia of the czars or to governments formed since World War II.
Must Seek Wage Parity
Delegate J. R. Farrington, introduced by Reile as an "old friend who has the aloha of all working people," advised labor to "put ahead of everything else, parity in wages between what is paid on the Mainland arid in the Territory of Hawaii."
Calling the United States government "our greatest employer," Mr. Farrington said the govern ment needs here require 21,000 persons. 6,000 of these being classified.
"Uncle Sam has always been a good employer and has set the pace," Farrington said, "and that should continue. The lower level (of wages) should not be used." A step toward securing parity with Mainland wages, Farrington said, would be the inclusion of the Territory in the cost of living statistics compiled by the Federal department of labor.
Admiral W. R. Dowd said the U. S. Navy is not only the largest employer here, but all over the world. He suggested that labor might well dedicate Labor Day to the reading and understanding of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Col. J. R. Seward of the U. S. Army, said any war of the future will be "total" and will, of necessity, involve working people to a higher degree than any previous war.
Citizens To Share
"If the winner of such a war is a country like ours," said Col. Seward, "the citizens will share in the victory."
But if a "dictator" should be the winner, Seward said, "under any conditions but ours—would do away with the right to bargain, or even the right to vote on whether you'd strike or not."
Treasurer William B. Brown, speaking in the absence of Gov. Long, asked labor to "think well" before entering into any situation that might "impair labor peace."
Mr. Brown said the governor had asked him to congratulate the AFL and to promise to support them as "I believe I have their support."
Supervisor Nick T. Teves, speaking in the absence of Mayor John H. Wilson, said he thinks good labor relations are a matter of good public relations.
"With good public relations," he said, "you will have peace."
The program was preceded by a parade from River St. along Beretania to Miller St. and down Miller into the Palace Grounds The parade included 679 marchers of the Unity House, headed by A. A. Rutledge, which includes both AFL and independent unions and 417 AFL marchers headed by Owens, for a total of 1,096 in the entire parade.
Boy Scouts March
Included in the Unity House segment of the parade was a troop of 48 Boy Scouts led by their scoutmaster, Tadami Naito, who is also president of the general teamsters union.
Following the program, free beer was served at Unity House on Kalakaua Ave., in an "open house" that received 2,000 guests.
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Two teen-age girls who escaped from Kawailoa Girls' Home July 25 are reported
by police to be "harbored by underworld characters." Underworld sources say they
are also involved in the prostitution and narcotics rackets.
The weekend raid on a Vineyard St. location, which resulted in the arrest of
80 persons, is reported to have been aimed at apprehending the pair of girls.
The RECORD learned that one of the girls did, in fact appear at the location a
short time after the raid.
As a matter of policy with juveniles, names of the girls were not released,
either by police or by Miss Eileen Ukauka, superintendent of the home who said
the July escape was the only one in the past eight months.
Shortly after their escape from the home, the RECORD learned, the girls visited a number of persons in the hope of gaining sanctuary, one
who was visited said they did not say they had escaped from the home.
When one of the girls mentioned "shock treatments," he became suspicious and
ordered them to leave. Later, according to report, the girls made contact with
the underworld characters who are alleged to be harboring them now.
"Shock treatments," said to be given as a part of the "cure" for drug
addiction, has also been alleged to be given as punishment for incorrigible
juveniles. According to information received by the RECORD this week, the girls
are generally located in a North School St. establishment. It was in the same
vicinity, the RECORD reported some weeks ago, that a meeting occurred between
certain officials and members of the prostitution racket, in which a "juice
line" was said to have been set up.
Reports of that meeting had it that, for the payment of $10 per night, a
prostitute could operate without legal impediment. The Vineyard St. location was
also rumored to be on a "juice line" of its own, though the weekend raid jarred
the faith of some in the immunity the place enjoyed.
Drug Use Alleged
A person who has seen the girls said both had indulged in
the use of marijuana cigarettes and that one had recently been using heroin.
Although use of narcotics by local juveniles has often been rumored in the past,
U. S. Narcotics Agent William Wells said not long ago that all such stories,
when run down, have proved groundless. .
On the Mainland, pimps and procurers have made use of marijuana to lead
prostitutes into the heroin habit. Once addicted to heroin, the prostitutes come
almost entirely under the control of those who can supply the drug.
Speaking of the Kawailoa escapee said to be now addicted, a local person
said: "If she's hooked on that stuff, she'll follow him (the procurer) around
like a little puppy dog."
The men allegedly involved in harboring the girls are of Mainland origin.
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When a navy plane carrying Mrs. Phyllis June Horne took off from Barbers
Point May 27, the 10 day jail sentence she was to serve beginning the following
morning became a big joke. Left behind was a Honolulan whose left arm had been
amputated in an accident caused by her reckless driving.
With Mrs. Horne flew her husband, William F. Horne, aviation ordnance chief,
who got his orders of transfer about the time of her conviction.
Like Massie Case
"Just like the Massie-Kahaha-wai case where the convicted murderers spent
only one hour in custody, and that in lolani Palace. The navy swung its weight
then, too" said Ernest Freitas, the man with the amputated arm who is turning
every stone in trying to get Mrs. Horne back here to serve her sentence and to collect damages due.
At the time of the conviction, according to Freitas, Horne told Judge Robert
M. Yates at the Pearl City court that be would "buy her time" to keep his wife
out of jail.
Judge Yates is reported to have answered that if he were to allow Horne's
request, it would mean "no punishment at all." But Judge Yates on May 25 gave
Mrs. Home the weekend to straighten out her household affairs. May 25 was
Friday. On Sunday night, May 27, the Homes left for Treasure Island, Cal., and
out of the jurisdiction of the territorial courts.
Couldn't Roll Off The automobile accident happened on the old Aiea road near
Waiau shortly after midnight, March 25, when Mrs. Home and four sailors plowed
into Freitas'
car. Freitas says he pulled far off to the edge of the highway when he saw
the speeding car coming toward him on the wrong side of the road.
Because Freitas was driving with his left elbow on the door, his arm was
completely chopped off by the collision and fell on the road. Mrs. Horne's car
kept going and according to Freitas stopped only when its front tire blew out.
"I sat beside the road, asked a passing driver to get me an ambulance,"
Freitas said. "He got the police instead. All this time Mrs. Horne and her four
companions, none of them hurt, did not even come to see me and the police had to
bring them to the scene of the accident."
The police charged her with driving on the wrong side of the road. There is
no proof that she was drunk, says Freitas, "although she admitted in court that
she had two beers and a highball." A few days after the accident Mrs. Horne
visited Freitas at the South Shore Hospital and according to him, said
everything happened so fast she did not know what actually took place. She asked
if he wanted tobacco and toilet articles and promised to be back the following
day but never returned.
When the case came up May 4 Mrs. Home did not show up. She did appear on May
11, accompanied by her husband who had in the meantime returned from Okinawa.
She then pleaded guilty and asked for two weeks before the imposition of
sentence. Then on May 25 Judge Yates sentenced her to 10 days in jail and
suspended her license 12 months. "Was the two weeks requested necessary for her
husband to get his transfer in order? I never stop wondering," says Freitas.
Others who have heard of this case recall the Kahahawai-Massie sentence where
the navy beat the local law.
Freitas has asked Judge Yates to bring her back and says he has been told
that this would cost the government too much money.
He has gone to Delegate Joseph Farrington and was told that he should get an
attorney. The Delegate promised he would do anything to help him. The navy
officials at Barbers
Point and Pearl Harbor have told Freitas that there is nothing they can do.
Mrs. Home is a civilian and she was involved in a traffic accident tried in
civil court. Before Mrs. Home left, Freitas' lawyer got service on her for
damages. The case is not on the calendar yet and there is doubt as to whether
Mrs. Home can pay the damages. Her car insurance had expired.
Freitas, a jack-hammer and buster operator on construction jobs prior to the
accident, is receiving welfare assistance. He has been hospitalized from March
25 to May 22 and July 17 to August 17. He has had two operations and recently he
had bone and silver plate insertions in the stub of the arm amputated above the
elbow.
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"One for the book!" That is what an official from the Territorial land office
told the RECORD, but checking revealed to him that G. M. Coney of Kauai, does
indeed, have konohiki fishing rights on the Huleia stream, which flows into
Nawiliwili Harbor.
The disclosure came after Kauai residents in the area had told the RECORD Mr.
Coney prevents boats from travelling on the Huleia, citing his konohiki as basis
for his action. The land office here, though surprised to find that such rights
exist, did some research and found further that Coney had upheld his rights once
in a suit. Though the details of that suit are virtually unknown here it was
believed that the konohiki had been questioned by some individual who wanted to
fish Huleia's waters. Attorney General Warren D. Ackerman, Jr., said no such suit has been filed by the Territory and he added
that, although the Territory is in process of acquiring konohiki rights in
coastal waters near several islands, it is not trying to buy any that may be
held on inland waterways.
Date Back To Kings
The konohiki rights, dating back to the days of the
Hawaiian kingdom, have been maintained according to the Organic Act, Mr.
Ackerman said, and there are cases in which private individuals actually own
stream basins as well as fishing rights.
The konohiki, passed down in the same manner as real estate, gives its holder
a fishing monopoly in a specific area. Although only one type of fish is named
in a konohiki, courts have interpreted the right as allowing the konohiki owner
power of permission over other types of fish in the same area. Rights of access
or passage, Ackerman said, are entirely separate from konohiki rights, and could
be held only when the private individual owns the stream basin. In most cases,
the Federal government claims ownership of any navigable stream, though,
Ackerman said, streams of that size are virtually non-existent in Hawaii.
Although some konohikis have been purchased by the Territory, many others remain
in private hands since the legislature has never appropriated enough money to
buy them all.
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Longshoremen lead parade in Wahiawa, leaving the waterfront for the first time on Labor Day to march
in sugar-pine district
Rejoicing over the conclusion of the sugar negotiations, pledging continued
all-out support for the Lanai pineapple strikers and angry at the arrest of
union leader Jack Hall along with six others under the Smith Act, nearly 5,000
workers and women auxiliary members from Honolulu's waterfront, shops and
factories, the sugar and pineapple plantations, all of ILWU, paraded with
members of the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union, Independent Taxi Drivers Union
and the United Public Workers of America in Wahiawa on Labor Day.
Led by Joseph (Joe Blurr) Kealalio, president of the Territory's
longshoremen's union, Local 136, ILWU, the workers marched through the town of Wahiawa on California Ave. to
Fred Wright Park for assembly.
Consolidation a Milestone
The dock workers who left downtown Honolulu and its
waterfront for the first time on a Labor Day to parade in the heart of the sugar
and pineapple districts, led the procession in their customary white caps and
blue working gear. Many had worked all night, going to Wahiawa shortly after
getting off their shift.
Behind them came the sugar and pineapple workers, bearing banners and
placards that spoke of the consolidation of their unions which was observed as a milestone
of progress in Hawaii's labor history. For the sugar workers who only two days
before did not know whether or not they would be forced to take strike action,
Labor
Day for the first time was a paid holiday under the new agreement, waiting
for rank and file ratification. \
Unity and solidarity of the laborers, which speakers later mentioned made
possible the successful sugar contract negotiations with Big Five employers,
stood out sharply as wave after wave of smiling workers marched in the bright
sunshine.
Thousands who lined the route of the parade saw the forest of placards
carried by individual marchers, with slogans that hit the big employers who
constantly try to crush the unions, right between the eyes.
"ILWU Forward; Backward Never!" "ILWU, Pioneer of Decent Wages." "Traitors
and Two-bit Politicians Cannot Bust the ILWU." "We Shall Not Be Divided."
"Bosses Make More Profit, Workers Get Less." "Sugar and Pine One Big Union."
"Labor Is Prior To and Independent of Capital" (Lincoln's statement).
"We Are For Peace." "Intimidation Will Not Scare Us." "Mabuhay Jack Hall."
"Thought Control Under Smith Act."
And the Marine Cooks and Stewards hit hard at the threat to the
long-fought-for gains of seamen and dock workers on the West Coast waterfront. A
large placard said: "Maintain Our Democratic, Hiring Hall Practices."
Eight floats were in the parade. Green and white taxies of the Taxi Union
also carried placards calling for" the support of the Lanai strike now in its
sixth month. For Wahiawa, this was the first Labor Day observance of this
magnitude and oldtime residents said this parade was different from those of the
military stationed nearby. Others said this was the "best" or the "biggest"
parade ever held there.

Goldblatt Keynote Speaker
Louis Goldblatt, secretary-treasurer of the ILWU,
who had participated in the sugar negotiations, told the 9,000-odd people who
gathered at Fred Wright Park that "unity and solidarity" of the workers made it
possible "to conclude a very successful sugar contract."
The ILWU official reviewed the meaning and history of Labor Day, which
originated with the struggle for an eight-hour day. The May 1, 1886
demonstration in Chicago for an eight-hour day was marred by bombing, and
subsequently, four leaders of the working class were executed on a frameup
charge. May 1 became Labor Day throughout the world, showing international workers' solidarity, and in this country, this caused the ruling element to set
aside the first Monday in September for Labor Day, in 1923.
"In one way, this was done to take the minds away from Labor Day, May First,
of international solidarity," Mr. Goldblatt said.
The frameups or labor leaders in this country from the Haymarket of 1886 to
Bridges-Robertson-Schmidt and now Jack Hall, were hit by Mr. Goldblatt, while at
the same time he pointed out the achievements of labor, in bettering conditions
for all. Labor's contributions for free public education, fight against child
labor, for fair labor standards, safety, health and sanitation are never
credited to the working people in the textbooks which children of workers use in
schools, he said.
Labor Traitors To "Junk Heap"
People who fight for the betterment of laborers
and are persecuted and victimized, will live as heroes, but "traitors, finks and
stool pigeons will be swept onto the junk heap of history," he said .
emphatically.
Justo dela Cruz, vice president of the sugar workers on Oahu, pointedly
remarked that "Rizal and others are revered today but in their times were not
loved by the ones in power. But the majority of the people loved them."
James King, attorney of the firm of Bouslog and Symonds, explained the Smith
Act under which Hall and the six others here are charged with advocating and
teaching the overthrow of the government by force and violence. This act, he
said, is contrary to the First Amendment, which guarantees free speech! press,
assembly and with them the right to listen and to read publications. He read
from the dissenting opinion of Justice Hugo Black in the case of 11 U. S.
Communist leaders convicted under the Smith Act:
"These petitioners were not charged with an attempt to overthrow the
government. They were not charged with overt acts of any kind designed to
overthrow the government.
"They were not even charged with saying anything or writing anything designed
to overthrow the government." Like Justice Black, Mr, King said he looked
forward to calmer and normal times bereft of hysteria and added that by Labor
Day next year he hoped the First Amendment would be in "full force."
The Rev. Emillo C. Yadao gave the invocation and Henry Epstein, regional
director of the United Public Workers of America, was master of ceremonies.
The Federated Women's Auxiliary of the ILWU, served hot dogs and cold drinks
at Fred Wright Park.
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company's supervisory staff who threatened layoffs if the men joined the
union and voted for it to represent the workers.
Strikers at the Honolulu Sake Brewery & Ice Co., Ltd., still picketed the
plant at Pauoa as the strike entered its fourth week. They expected the
government to set aside the unsuccessful election for union recognition because
of unfair labor practices by the company.
The employes have reported intimidation by members of the Once the employers are ordered to cease unfair labor practices, it was
reported that the Brewery Workers Union would recommend that the men return to
work under improved conditions, permitting the men to have their union.
The company makes a high rate of profit but has kept down the wages of
employes and practically ignored bad working conditions. It has been successful
in this by playing upon the old Japanese custom of loyalty of its workers to
employers. Where the company pays from $1 to $1.10 per hour to employes, other
unionized breweries in Honolulu pay $1.50 and more, and provide workers with safety gear and work
clothes, as in the case of cold storage workers.
[PAGE 2] [back to the top]
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For weeks the big buildup in the press and over the radio centered on the
Washington administration's anticipation of Soviet Russia's objections to the
Japanese peace treaty provisions as drafted by the U. S. Speculation ran the
full gamut and several weeks ago news reports put out feelers that Russian
delegates would accept the treaty draft and pose no difficulties in the way of
the U. S. campaign to have the agreement signed by all participating nations
without changes. On the other extreme, U. S. officials publicly announced that the Soviet Union can take the treaty as drafted or be excluded from the
conference.
When the Soviet government announced that it would send delegates to the San
Francisco conference, high U. S. officials said that foreign delegates may come
to sign the treaty but not to alter its provisions. And as the delegates began
pouring into San Francisco, United Press reported that a tough set of procedural
rules to gag opposition to the treaty would be pushed through by the U. S. and
British delegates.
The draft treaty, prepared by John Foster Dulles, had been altered slightly
not long ago when the Philippines and other countries strongly objected to the
soft terms of non-reparations and provisions granting Japanese rearmament.
Opposition still exists but to a large extent, it has been silenced by U. S.
pressure and so many of the dependent nations are "going along" in order to be left in line to feed at the "Dollar Trough" which the
administration fills by putting the squeeze on the American people in the form
of higher taxes.
The Presiden'ts speech at San Francisco this week warned the Russian
delegates to keep their hands off the Japanese treaty. This was clear indication
that opposition, not only from the Soviet Union, but from any nation, will be
blocked. In another speech addressing the Democrats, he spoke of the terrifying
and fantastic weapons the U. S. possesses. This shaking of the big stick was
reiterated in other ways when Truman addressed the peace conference delegates,
saying that attempts to change the draft treaty would result in being branded as
an advocate of war.
India, which wants the return of Formosa, Chiang Kai-shek's refuge, to China
and inclusion of the Peking government in the UN, refused to attend the
conference. The Peking government was not permitted to participate in the treaty
conference by the U. S. England, which has diplomatically recognized New China,
prevented the U. S. from inviting Chiang's government on Formosa. Of both these
forces, the Chinese Communist-led forces fought the Japanese invaders and in
doing so, grew from three divisions to a force of a million armed men, with the
support of the people. And when the war ended, Chiang, whose government had
frequently made deals with the Japanese occupiers of China, became gradually
discredited and his government's corruption precipitated its downfall.
The Dulles-drafted peace treaty brings an uneasy tension in the Pacific. In
order to safeguard their sovereignty and security, the Philippines, Australia
and New Zealand want a military alliance with the U. S. as protection against
Japanese military resurgence. And the administration's line to these countries
advocates a strong Japan to fight communism in Asia. But the monster to these
nations, from past experience, is Japanese militarism, with which Dulles wants
them to live in concert.
From Australia this week, former Foreign Minister H. V. Evatt spoke in clear
and simple language, stripped of diplomatic doubletalk that "the overwhelming
majority of Australians are convinced that the proposed Japanese peace treaty
menaces the physical and economic safety of the South Pacific and Southeast
Asia."
Mr. Evatt said also that his people are convinced that the treaty "openly and
unashamedly deserts all standards of international justice for the fatal objective of temporary expediency.
"Now all the tragedies of the past apparently are to be reenacted. Agreements
will be treated as scraps of paper. The products of low-standard labor
conditions in Japan will be allowed to swamp countries with higher living
standards. Japanese big businessmen and militarists will again be armed and will
soon be on the march."
Most revealing of the role played by Dulles in pressuring the nations seeking
dollar assistance to take the peace treaty provisions as prepared by the U. S.
was nakedly pointed out by Evatt who was reported by UP dateline Canberra,
Australia, Sept. 4, to have charged Dulles with not consulting a single Far
Eastern expert while in Australia.
What all of Asia fears today is that the peace treaty drafted by Dulles would
dress up Japan, and those being attired with war gear are the purged war
criminals from higher to lower ranks. And once dressed up, these Japanese would like to
go places, and in a militaristic atmosphere, they would look for aggression
again, beyond the shores of the narrow islands now crowded with 80,000,000
people.
In Japan, the people oppose the conditions imposed by the U. S. After the
signing of the treaty the U. S. would hold on to military bases. Already the U.
S. has more air bases there than Japan had during the peak of its military
might. And today, Japan is a "privileged sanctuary" for U. S. airmen, just as the press says Manchuria is a "privileged sanctuary" for the
Chinese air force in the air battle over Korea.
Neutrality is a condition desired by war-weary Japanese. Last November, when
newspaper polls and polls in factories were showing that the Japanese
overwhelmingly opposed foreign military bases in Japan, Yoshishige Abe,
president of the Peers' School and former minister of education, wrote in the
Asahi Hyoron:
"We should not be ashamed of our inability to fight, but on the contrary, we
should positively arouse the will not to fight. I am firmly convinced that
Japan's freedom and independence cannot be found except through this course."
The mood of the hundreds of thousands of Japanese workers was reported in the
Spotlight, publication of the Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy,
thus:
"Shipyard workers at Nagasaki resisted for a time orders to repair transport
ships for the Korean war. Four hundred members of the Mitsui Shipping Co. union
gathered six times as many signatures to the Stockholm Pledge. Radar engineers
of the Jindai branch of the Telecommunications Research Bureau refused to go to
Korea. Despite the arrival of 2,000 police, Mitake plant workers of the Fuji
Industrial Co. (formerly Nakajima Aircraft) resisted conversion to war
production. Yokohama dockyard workers stamped the wrong addresses on finished
goods destined for Korea."
Even John Foster Dulles, in order to placate fears of resurgent Japanese
militarism among Australians and New Zealanders, used as his argument the mood
for neutrality in Japan. He said: "In Japan, I received thousands of
communications from individuals and organizations. All pleaded against
rearmament."
What if the peace treaty is signed as is? Would it make possible the ramming
of rearmament down the throats of the Japanese people? Would the military
recruits, relied upon to do the fighting if war should break out, battle with
the zeal with which they fought for the emperor? In the end, would they be
better than Chiang's or Syngman Rhee's troops?
Or would the Japan of Hiroshima and Nagasaki assert the anti-war temperament
and bring progress and peace in Asia? All this is tied up with developments in
China and India, neither of which is represented at the signing of the treaty in
San Francisco.
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French Legislators Vote Themselves Pay Boosts
Paris (ALN)—Members of the French national assembly have voted themselves
another cost of living salary boost after having refused labor's demand for a
system to guarantee the real wages of the workers.
After one increase in March, the legislators got their nose in the government
feedbag again in August, coming out with an annual compensation of 11/2 million
francs. The most highly skilled French workers earn less than a third of that
sum in a year and the wage of the unskilled is about equal to the two raises the
parliamentarians gave themselves this year.
Socialists, followers of Gen. Charles de Gaulle, Catholics and independents
voted for the pay boost, which found only the Communist deputies in opposition.
Has Truman Doctrine Helped 15 Million Turks?
Ankara (ALN)—Fifteen million Turks are living in indescribable misery, the
newspaper Kudret said here, reporting: "Not only in the most remote villages of
the countryside, but also in big towns such as Ankara, Istanbul and elsewhere,
starv-
ing masses of the Turkish people are living in slums."
Special camps for beggars have been established by the Turkish authorities on
the outskirts of Istanbul to prevent them from "making the town look ugly,"
according to another newspaper, Aksham, which said large numbers of destitute
children are also in the camps, sleeping on stones in the open air.
Less than 40 per cent of the able-bodied population has regular employment,
according to another Turkish paper, Zafer. The number of unemployed workers rose
by 32,000 in the first six months of this year, Aksham disclosed.
The death rate in Turkey is appalling as a result of hunger and lack of the
most elementary medical care, but young Dr. Alstash, whose fate is typical of
many of his colleagues, is forced to sell fruit in the Istanbul streets since he
cannot find a job in his profession, Cumhuriyet, another newspaper, reported.
Meanwhile, the Turkish ministry of health announced recently that there will
be no vacancies for doctors until 1954.
British Ask Insistence On Cease-Fire
London (ALN)—The British Peace Committee "called attention to the grave
danger that failure to agree at the Kaesong negotiations may lead to an
intensification of the Korean war and the spreading of the conflict throughout
the Far East."
It urged "all lovers of peace to impress on the British government the
universal demand for a new initiative to insure that these negotiations do not
break down and that the conflict which is still destroying the people of Korea
and the manpower of the countries fighting in Korea be brought to an end."
It recalled that Lord Jowitt in the House of Lords on July 31 expressed the
government's belief that a truce line would be "obviously in the neighborhood of
the 38th. parallel."

More Communist Jailed--FBI arrests under the Smith Act include three district leaders of the communist party from Western Pennsylvania. Arraigned at Pittsburgh were (left to right): James Dolsen, a reporter for the Daily Worker; Andrew Onda and Benjamin Lowell Careathers. (Federated Pictures)
[PAGE 3] [back to the top]
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San Diego, Calif. (FP)—The issue of racial discrimination hit the convention
of the floor of the California Federation of Labor when a Negro delegate charged
the AFL body with permitting employment discrimination and intolerance.
He said not only is no Negro on a federation committee, but many union locals
continue to bar Negroes from membership. When a resolution was offered requiring
that one of the 24 state vice presidents of the federation be a Negro, it was
defeated, with Negro delegates leading the opposition.
"We Negroes don't want to gain recognition this way," a delegate angrily
declared. "We don't want to come in by the back door. We want to be elected on
our merits." The convention called on AFL President William Green to coordinate
opposition of AFL organizations in California, New Mexico, Texas and Arizona to
the illegal entry of Mexican workers. It proposed laws to bar Mexican labor,
even under contract, except where a definite labor shortage exists, and
requiring that such labor be paid the same wage scale as American workers.
|
Washington (FP)—The following letter appeared in the August 24 issue of the
Washington Post:
"I raise the question: Are we becoming a police state?
"Last week I was near one 9f the capital's public libraries in company of the
cultural attache of one of the foreign embassies here. A young (police) officer
walked by; first he stopped by a man sitting on a bench, asked him for his
identification, which he could not show (the man was in working clothes),
accused, him of being drunk.
"The man protested and gave the name of his employer. The officer dragged him
across the street to a phone and then forced him to sit down on the pavement.
The phone call obviously resulted in the clearance of the man. Our 'enforcer'
crossed toward the park surrounding the library. He started then to force all
colored people to stand up, raise their hands and subjected them to a) search.
He didn't net anything, but forbade them to sit down on the bench where they
were and pushed them away.
"This display of power did not escape my attention or that of the diplomat.
It reminded me of the days I spent under German occupation in Europe. The
diplomat smiled and asked me if this was enforced democracy. I smiled and did
not answer. As an American, I was embarrassed.
"I agree that there must be discipline and that the law must be enforced but
through my work abroad and my years as a correspondent I have learned that too
much of these methods leads the way to very unfortunate regimes. (Signed) H. R."
|
"You know they have discrimination there," says Mrs. Elizabeth "Cherry"
Takao, just back from a visit to the Lanai strikers. "The bosses even
discriminate against each other."
What Lanai workers pointed out to her was that the biggest bosses live on the
tops of the hills, while the lesser bosses live down the sides according to
their respective ranks and, of course, salaries.
"When you get down to the bottom," she says, "that's where the workers live.
They have other kinds of discrimination. Each racial group has its place to swim. They
don't have signs, but everyone knows just the same. Then, you heard about the
swimming pool they're making? That's for haole kids."
Mrs. Takao and 10 members of her Local 152 orchestra from Honolulu visited
the strikers last week to provide music for a pre-Labor Day program held
Saturday night. Other members of the orchestra are from Hawaiian Pine,
California Packing Co. and Libby's, all in Honolulu.
Can Hold a Year
They can hold out a year, said the strikers, who have already
been out longer than any workers in Hawaiian history, if they continue to get
support from their brothers on other islands.
"The brothers there have developed a way of living," Mrs. Takao said, "and
it's so well organized you wouldn't know there's a strike on—it operates so
smoothly."
Keystone of the success of the strikers' way of life, Mrs. Takao says, is
cooperation. When the morale committee hears of a wife who's having a hard time,
they assemble and go visit her to help her catch up and get ahead with her work.
Even the school children help with office work for the union, says Mrs.
Takao, and wives take an active part in nearly everything that goes on. The
women have been brought into action by the organization last month of the Lanai
local of the ILWU Women's Auxiliary under the leadership of Mrs. Catalina Valdez
of Kekaha, Kauai who also represented the Women's Auxiliary at the international
convention on the Mainland.
Wives Strong In Strike
"Before," says Mrs. Takao, "husbands didn't tell their
wives much of their union business, but now the wives insist on knowing."
It's all part of the realization that when the breadwinner of the family is
on strike, the whole family is on strike with him.
Although Lanai air is heavy with the smell of rotting fruit, Mrs. Takao said
the workers told her more than half the pineapple might still be saved if the
company were to settle the strike this week.
"They say it's the best crop in years," Mrs. Takao reports, "and to think the
company is letting it rot instead of settling the strike."
Police Watched Cadagan
Among organized duty groups set up by the strikers,
says Mrs. Takao, are teams of men and women who prepare meals and do kitchen
work, and there are the union police. When C. C. Cadagan, Hawaiian Pine vice
president, took a short vacation on Lanai recently, the union police kept him in
sight all the time.
"He asked why they were following him," Mrs. Takao says "and one told him,
"The brothers told me not to let you out of my sight.'" A huge crowd turned out
Saturday night for the program, she said, and she was surprised to find that
everyone present was a union member or from a union family. In addition to the
music, the members heard speeches by ILWU officials Koichi Imori and Shiro
Hokama.
As an agreement on a sugar contract was arrived at by union and management
negotiators last weekend, President Tony Rania of Local 142 immediately
announced that union food stores, piled up for the possible emergency of a
strike if terms were not met, will be turned over to the Lanai strikers.
President Rania said also that, with sugar settled all possible support will
be thrown behind the men and women on Lanai who have been striking against
Hawaiian Pine for almost six months.
|
What ILWU spokesmen termed "the best agreement ever negotiated in the
Territory" for sugar workers, was signed Sunday in Honolulu after union and
employer negotiators had come to terms in Hilo late Saturday.
The agreement gave 18,000 workers benefits totalling 13 cents an hour and
providing so many improved changes in procedure that a union spokesman called it
a "new suit of clothes," and not "an old suit patched up."
Improvements outside the wage increase included:
• Reduced requirement for evidence the union presents before an arbitrator.
Formerly, the union had to have a "preponderance" or 51 per cent of the
evidence. Now only a prima facie case is required of the union and the company
is expected to present evidence.
• Three paid holidays, Labor Day, Christmas and New Years, with time and a
half to be paid on other holidays.
• Work opportunity to be given a "regular work force," comprising employes
with more than a year of service in preference to part-time or temporary
employes.
• Overtime to be paid after 40 hours a week except for 26 weeks when overtime
is to be paid aftter 48 hours. Establishment of a 40-hour week and a
Saturday-Sunday weekend was seen by some union men as the most important social
gain of the agreement.
• Additional union security in the form of stronger union recognition and
increased dues deduction.
• Supervisors to be stopped from performing work which has generally been the
province of unclassified workers.
• Two weeks' paid vacation for employes with more than two years' service. One week paid vacation during the
first year, based on a 44-hour week.
• Seniority to be the governing factor in
layoffs and downgrading.
In the wage agreement the "escalator clause," tieing increases to the market
price of sugar, was retained from the former contract. The job classification
system at the present price-wage schedule, brings the wage minimum to $1.011/2
an hour, with the top classified workers getting $1.69. The five "high-cost"
plantations on the Big Island received special consideration in the contract,
four of them being allowed to take a five per cent across-the-board wage cut if
the price of sugar drops below $117 per ton. But the cut includes everyone from
the manager down.
These four—Hilo Sugar Plantation Co., Onomea Sugar Co., Pepeekeo Sugar Co.
and Hakalau Sugar Co.—pay the same wage as that negotiated by the rest of the
companies when the price of raw sugar is $124.01 per ton. From $124 down to
$122.01 the basic wage rate is 95% cents, and from there down to $117.01, the
rate is 91 cents. The "high-cost" plantations win pay overtime above 48 hours
for 44 weeks of the year and above 40 hours for the remainder.
Olaa Sugar Co. will pay the wages negotiated by the majority of the
companies, but is also allowed the lower overtime pay schedule.
|
Clarksville, Ind. (FP) — About 1,100 employes of Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Co.'s
Clarksville plant stayed away from their jobs August 27, honoring a picket line
set up by four striking salesmen from New Jersey.
Almost no one but maintenance and protection workers entered the plant, and
production at the southern Indiana soap factory was halted.
The New Jersey strikers are company salesmen, members of Local 153, Office
Employes International Union (AFL). The local is on strike at the Jersey City
plant.
Flying Pickets
No workers at the Clarksville plant are a part of the strike, as no salesmen
work out of this office and there are no members of the office workers union at
the plant. Production Workers here belong to the Chemical Workers International
Union (AFL).
The four pickets from New Jersey arrived by plane over the weekend and set up
their picket line before the arrival of first-shift workers over Monday morning,
August 27.
Spokesmen for the chemical workers said their union held no meetings to
discuss the picketing or to adopt policy. They said they were leaving it up to
each individual worker to decide whether to cross the picket line. Practically
none of them did. Strike Issues
AFL truck drivers refused to deliver shipments and a few AFL building
tradesmen, performing repair work at the plant, refused to cross the line.
The strikers said 41 salesmen are on strike at the New Jersey factory, where
2,500 other employes are honoring their picket lines. Strike issues are bonuses,
union security, seniority benefits and improved working hours, they said.
|
New York (FP)—Prosperity has disappeared around the corner for thousands of
textile workers, the Textile Workers Union (CIO) reported here.
|

Successful conclusion of the sugar negotiations, with terms of agreement
still to be voted on by the rank and file, came about because of employer
respect for union solidarity and strike preparations made as precaution if the
workers were forced to take such action by the Big Five. The above photo shows
Mobilization Strategy Committee members of ILWU Local 142, Unit 23, Lihue,
during a meeting to set up the strike strategy program. The executive board
members, seated left to right, are P. Contrades, M. Morita, G. Gallardo, F.
Silva, J. Nogani, A Miyia, C. Sasaki, hidden behind Miyia, J. Bernal and J.
Matsuyama. Standing, left to right, are H. Nakamoto, H. Ibe, S. Sumida, M.
Nishioka, M. Arinaga, T. C. Manipon and Y. Morimoto. Not in picture are W. Paia
and Frank G. Perriera.—Photo by J. B. (Jerry) Smith
[PAGE 4] [back to the top]
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One police officer, according to the grapevine, changed his mind about rough
stuff, at least temporarily, a couple of weeks ago. It was in Waikiki where the
officer is supposed to have slapped one young man around in an unofficial
manner, which inspired bystanders to make uncomplimentary remarks. To silence
his opposition, the story goes, the cop assumed a threatening attitude toward
one of the men-about-town nearby but the reaction was not what he expected.
"All right," said the young man. "Go ahead and take a punch if you think
you're tough."
The young man is not at all husky. On the contrary, he looks a little
fragile, but the cop made no further move. Probable reason: the young man is
closely related to one of the town's most important politicians.
* *
The incorrigible unit at Oahu Prison, recently taken out of use, had been
used about 16 years for the purpose of housing the prison's hard cases, and was
always called the "new unit" by prisoners. Its elimination is seen as a definite
step forward in penology here.
* *
Hawaii Meat Co. truck bearing license 56-883 was last Friday the vehicle of
the old unsanitary practices exposed by the RECORD months ago as its workers
unloaded at a King St. market. The meat was hauled over the uncovered tailgate
upon which the truckers would have to stand as they got at the rear half of the
load. The Department of Health says it has 20 inspectors around town looking for
infractions like that.
* *
H. M. Armstrong, manager of the Benson-Smith stores here, reacted to a recent
Gadabout item as if it were an electric signal. The item, which inspired a
number of B-S employes to congratulate the RECORD, reported the dissatisfaction
of both store managers and employes with the manner in which personnel policies
are being carried out. Armstrong introduced the. item at a meeting of the
managers, it is reported, read it and then did his best to find out who gave it
to the RECORD. He invited any who don't like the policies to find employment
elsewhere, report has it.
* *
Big news in San Francisco's Chinatown these days is the murder of a man who
had just won a lottery, the prize being from $25,000 to $35,000. The victim's
throat was cut from ear to ear only a little while after his winnings were
delivered to him, and the money vanished, of course. Police haven't decided,
according to late correspondence, whether or not it was an "inside job."
* *
"Never be a yardman, or do any kind of work like that for the haoles," a
Japanese mother told her son, whom we interviewed last week. The woman had been
a housemaid for more than a dozen years for a haole known as a very religious
man. The family insisted she come early to work and stay late when necessary,
and to do plenty of extra work without pay when parties were being given.
"But they wouldn't even let her eat the food that was left over," said the
son. "I think they'd rather give it to the dog than to her."
When she finally quit, the mother was getting $12.50 a week, but the family
always kept it coming a week behind.
Which reminds us that less than 15 years ago, $2.50 a week was better than
average for housemaids (haole) in West Virginia, for which the maids "lived in" and got one-half day off out of seven.
* *
When negro women, working as housemaids in the south during the war began
asking as much as a dollar a day, the indignant white women who hired them began
blaming Mrs. Roosevelt. They manufactured tales that would have exercised the
imagination of the Nazi propagandists about how the Negro women had formed
"Eleanor Clubs" whose chief object was the confounding and frustration of their
white employers. Silly as such stories were, many of the white employers
pretended to believe them.
* *
When Gov. Long asked one Democrat, at a get-together at Washington Place
recently, what he thought was the best move toward uniting the party, he got the
answer that his own appointments are the only measure by which party
sub-chieftains can estimate his feeling toward them. He should keep unity in
mind, the governor was told, while considering men for positions.
* *
More than 200 marchers from both the ILWU and AFL parades danced Labor Day
afternoon at a vivacious entertainment given at The Party House, 1870 Kalakaua
Ave., by the United Public Workers of America. Music was by Johnny Almeida and
his orchestra and hula dances were performed both by entertainers and guest
artists from the crowd.
* *
Clayton Moe's appointment to be first assistant to C-C Engineer Karl
Sinclair, is the subject of considerable corridor speculation in City Hall. It
is rumored that Moe couldn't qualify for the P-6 rating he got along with the
job rising from the P-5 he enjoyed in the division of sewers. It's a question to
be asked of D. Ransom Sherretz, civil service personnel director.
* *
Edward Pea would be the logical man to succeed Frank Shaner, formerly
assistant to Roy McBean in the division of automotive equipment. Pea ranked next
to Shaner, who died in a fishing mishap recently. But there is talk that someone
else may be slated for the job.
* *
"Goodbye, My Fancy," currently playing in cinema houses here, is something
more than the light comedy the dailies make it out to be. It's about the attack
on academic freedom in these times of hysteria. A physics professor is suspect,
it seems, because he talks to his students on current events and affairs other
than the purely material aspects of his subject. There's comic relief, all
right, but there's more to ft than that. We recommend it as a diversion from the
horse-operas which are general Saturday night fare.
* *
Local 999 of the Teamsters' Union (AFL) was back in full strength in the AFL
parade, indicating a complete survival from the split of more than a year ago
when Henry Gonsalves tried to take the local over. Gonsalves is presently
reported in the business of making and marketing lamp shades.
* *
The Commercial Club, often alleged to be a spot where card games go
unmolested by police action, moved into the fifth floor of of McCandless
Building and gave itself space to accommodate more members than ever before.
|
Subversive List Blasted As 'Purely Hearsay Declaration'; 'No Competency'
New York (FP)—The U. S. Court of Appeals August 22 unanimously reversed the
perjury conviction of former government economist William Remington, and lashed
out at Attorney General J. Howard McGrath's "subversive" list as a "purely
hearsay declaration."
In a decision written by Chief Judge Thomas Swan and concurred in by Judges
Learned and Augustus Hand, the court returned the ease to the district court for
retrial. Former Commerce Dept. Employe Remington, one-time employe of the
Commerce Department, was sentenced to five years in prison by Judge Gregory
Noonan after his conviction on a charge of falsely denying membership in the
Communist party at a grand jury hearing.
The reversal upheld the defense argument that Noonan's charge to the jury
defining what constitutes membership in the Communist party was too "vague and
indefinite."
The judges held that Remington "never learned until the filing of the
government's brief on appeal just what overt acts the prosecution contended proved his membership in
the party. Prosecution's Behavior Criticized They were sharply critical of
Prosecutor Irving Saypol's behavior in the courtroom and his frequent references
to the attorney general's list of so-called subversive organizations.
"The list is a purely hearsay declaration by the attorney general," Swan's
12-page opinion said, "and could have no probative value in the trial of this
defendant. It has no competency to prove the subversive character of the listed
associations, and. failing that, it could have no conceivable tendency to prove
the defendant's alleged perjury even if it were shown that he belonged to some
or all of the organizations listed."
Saypol was criticized for harping on the fact that one witness, had changed
his name for professional reasons from Bernard Rosenberg to Bernard Redmont.
This, the court said, "could only serve to arouse possible racial prejudice on
the part of the jury."
|
The Hawaii Government Employees' Association on Maui has been losing members
steadily for some time, it is reliably reported, and that loss has inspired HGEA
officers to try taking strong steps. One of these, of course, was the hiring of
David Trask, Jr., to lead organizing on the Valley Island.
Observers in a position to know say HGEA membership dropped from a figure
close to 700 to no more than 250.
* *
Maui Democrats have generally acted less hysterically about red-baiting than
their party colleagues on Oahu.
"We have anti-labor elements," said one of them, "but those are smart enough
to know that if labor walks out of the party, there won't foe very much left."
It's a lesson a number of Oahu elements have still to learn—unless, of
course, they're inspired by motives rising from the GOP.
* *
Chairman Eddie Tam has been subjected to criticism in the past by labor from
time to time, and rightly so. But Chairman Tarn was never one to be stampeded by
hysteria and there are militant union men who don't forget that kind of calmness
when election time conies.
* *
Supervisor John Bulgo (D) said that Harold Rice tried his best to dump him
(Bulgo) and even went as far as to make a bet with Al Burdick that Bulgo would
not win the last election.
Miss Jane Ichiyasu of Lahaina Meisho YBA, won the Territorial oratorical
contest held at. the Puunene Meisho hall on September 1. Jane recently
celebrated her 16th birthday. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tsuyoshi
Ichiyasu, the eldest of five children. Others are Janet, Joyce, Jessie and
Erwin. Jane is a junior at Lahainaluna high school and her ambition is to become
a school teacher.
* *
Supervisor John Bulgo told the RECORD: "The waterworks board goes and hires
an engineer who doesn't know a damn thing about water. Then they go and lay pipe
wherever a new subdivision is opened without first developing the sources of
water supply."
Bulgo asked Chairman Eddie Tam and County Engineer Hamada if there will be
enough pressure to go up to the fourth story of the new Central Memorial
Hospital and, according to Bulgo, Tam, and Hamada couldn't answer.
|
San Francisco —The Marine Cooks and Stewards Union membership in San Francisco
voted unanimously Aug. 30 to condemn J. Howard McGrath's attack on Judge Metzger
for his refusal to set excessive bail on ILWU Regional Director Jack Hall, and
others arrested under the Smith Act:
"The administration you represent is now openly attempting to eliminate all
justice, jail any labor leader and oust any judge standing in the way of the
government drive to destroy every labor organization that protects its members
and refuses to be subservient to the employers and the Truman administration,"
the wire to McGrath charged.
The wire to the ILWU sugar workers signed by MCS President Hugh Bryson,
stated: "MCS membership outraged by arrest of Jack Hall and attempts of
government to persecute the judge , who set bail." Sent prior to the sugar
negotiations agreement, MCS pledged full support to the Territory's sugar
workers.
President W. H. Ruffin of the National Association of Manufacturers told a
businessmen's dinner June 6 that nearly $5 billion could be cut from the
"non-defense budget with nothing but good resulting."
The Australian ballot was first adopted in the United States by Massachusetts
in 1888. It was first proposed in Australia itself in 1851.
|

Purchasing power of the dollar has been cut almost in half since prewar, this chart shows. It was prepared by Labor's Monthly Survey on basis of government figrues. (Fed. Pic.)
[See what your dollar is worth now. Scroll down and click on inflation calculator] inflation calculator
[PAGE 5] [back to the top]
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By Staff Writer
Substantial pay increases for members of the fire and police departments are
being delayed by City Hall red tape, according to this writer's observation, and
it would seem that the origin of this particular kind of red tape is
attributable to individual jockeying for position on the board of supervisors.
Vehicle for the increases would have been the $3,338 appropriation asked by
the civil service commission for the work of classifying positions in the two
departments. Without the classification, governmental experts say, the firemen
and policemen cannot receive the substantial increases voted them by the
legislature during its last session.
The finance committee, after reporting the appropriation out favorably August
14, met opposition headed by Noble Kauhane when the supervisor said he thought
the work might be done by the wage standardization board, when that board begins
to function on a Territory-wide basis.
Long Wait Seen
But those who sought the appropriation have pointed out that
such action may be far in the future and that police and fire departments on
three outside islands have already been classified.
The work would have been done here, civil service spokesmen told the board,
had not Albert Lee, personnel expert of the commission here, been called up for
military service. The work appropriation became necessary and the job was
advertised. Only one application was received—that from Research Associates.
Mr. Kauhane's opposition was enough to scare the appropriation back into the
finance committee again, and the next time, August 28, they reported it out
recommending rejection — thus reversing their previous stand. Proponents of the
plan to have the work done outside say the amount asked, $3,338, would amount to
little more than six months' salary which would normally be paid Mr. Lee who
drew $548 per month. The job of classifying the two departments, comprising 886
positions, would take Lee six months or more, it is estimated.
Two who voiced strenuous support for the appropriation were James Trask,
dissenting member of the finance committee, and Mayor John H. Wilson.
"How," asked the mayor, "can you expect to get the work done if you won't pay for it?"
Supervisor Teves, who has often opposed what he calls the interference of
supervisors in the administration of departments, is in the position of having
to explain his flip-flop.
In the meantime, firemen and policemen must wait.
|

Waialua Sugar Unit float told the story of increasing productivity, higher profits for employers and fewer employes in the sugar industry.
The pineapples and sugar which the workers produce, the plow and the black
carabao (water buffalo) which is a symbol of the toiling peasants of the
Philippines and a graphic illustration of the diminishing job security of
workers in Hawaii's basic sugar industry— all on floats—added color and interest
to the Labor Day parade at Wahiawa.
The white ship float of Unit 18, United Sugar Workers, Waialua, exposed the
conditions in the sugar industry, showing mounting employer profits, reduction
of work force but increase in productivity, a condition warning the workers of
the need for a stronger union to struggle for job security.
Productivity Up, Man
Hours Down
Figures printed on the white ship said man hours on the sugar plantations
dropped by 10 million between 1947 and 1950, thus:
1947 ........................ 50,545,000
1948......................... 46,178,000
1949 ........................ 43,503,000
1950 ........................ 40,557,000
The number of employes dropped 3,403, thus:
1947 .............................. 22,743
1948 .............................. 21,381
1949 .............................. 20,258
1950 .............................. 19,340
Productivity "zoomed up by 111/4 tons per employe," thus:
1947 ...................... 38.35 tons
1948 ..................... 39.06 tons
1949 ...................... 47.19 tons
1950 ..................... 49.69 tons
Total industry payroll went down $7,000,000.
The writing on the float said: "HSPA (Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association)
figures for past 4 years prove sugar workers deserve more pay."
Carabao Is Symbol
Unit 17, United Sugar Workers, Kahuku, symbolized the struggles of the
thousands of Filipino workers in their native homeland and advances made here
under their union organization by the simple figure of a black carabao and a
wooden plow.
Filipinas in colorful native costumes sang and danced on the float.
Units 4, 5 and 6, ILWU Pineapple Workers Union, introduced a float decorated
with sugar stalks and "pineapple fruit, emphasizing the consolidation of Locals
,142 (sugar) and 152 (pineapple).
The longshoremen had a float and a large banner, Waipio pineapple workers
introduced a float and so did the Waipahu sugar workers. The Kahuku and Waialua
workers had two floats each in the parade, bringing the total, number of floats
to eight.
|
"A surprise even to many hog raisers," said a farmer last week as he heard of
a litter of seven Durocs that averaged 158 pounds at four months and two weeks.
The thoroughbred Durocs owned by Harold Lloyd and Daniel Chock are at their
farm located at 701 Wawamalu St., Koko Head district.
"We feed them grain, all dry feed and no slop," said Lloyd. "The pigs eat
about four pounds a day and they put on weight at an unbelievable rate. In five
months or so they are ready for market."
Local garbage fed hogs are generally ready for market in about 8 to 10
months.
The partners Chock and Lloyd, who are raising thoroughbreds for breeding
purposes, brought in the original stock from the Mainland last year.
Recently the Choak-Lloyd hog farm imported thoroughbred Tamworths, which will
be crossed with the Durocs. The partners say they have been getting orders for
breeding stock from schools and individual farmers.
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The Advertiser, editing the news to suit its views, gave the AFL Labor Day
parade frontpage coverage, but didn't devote so much as an item to the ILWU
parade at Wahiawa.
Instead, the 'Tiser ran a paragraph in its AFL story reporting that the
Territory's "other large labor union," the ILWU, staged its parade at Wahiawa
and its Secretary-Treasurer Louis Goldblatt, was the principal speaker.
"Other" is good! The ILWU comprises all organized plantation labor for the
sugar and pineapple industries as well as the longshore and miscellaneous urban
industries.
It's almost like when the 'Tiser used to omit pictures of Orientals from the
front page of its Sunday society section a year or so ago.
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Minneapolis (FP)—The techniques of "McCarthyism" were denounced as a menace
to American colleges in a resolution adopted by the U. S. National Student
Association here, representing 600,000 college students.
Adopted by a vote of 220 to 43 after prolonged debate, the resolution charged
that "there is a contraction of freedom on the American college campus, due to
the present fear of being called 'Communist' or 'subversive.'"
The resolution was introduced by the delegation from Wisconsin, home state of
Sen. Joseph B. McCarthy (R), whose name has become associated with the smear
technique.
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Special Correspondence
San Juan, Puerto Rico—Cock-fighting, considered a national sport in Puerto
Rico, was introduced from Spain in the 16th century. It was outlawed for a
period following the Spanish-American War, but some 10 years ago the ban was
lifted and the sport is now carried on under strict regulations by the
government's department of parks and recreation.
Fine for Illegal Cockfight
Upon building a cockpit the owner pays a construction fee of $100 and annual
license fees ranging from $150 to $400, depending upon location. The judges and
officials are appointed by the commission and infringements of rules governing
the sport carry heavy fines. An unregistered or illegal cockfight carries a fine
of $500. Receipts of the commission go into the general fund for improving
recreation facilities.
Cockfighting is usually conducted on Sundays, and as many as 20 matches may
occur in one day. The spectators are seated in circular galleries and often
"betting runs high. Two dollars is the minimum bet which may be made and the
bets run into thousands. Fighting birds last as long as 10 fights, but are
usually so crippled after that they must be withdrawn.
Best Birds From Spain
Fighting birds are being bred in Puerto Rico, but the best ones come from Spain, and cost from $25 to $100.
Good birds are retired for breeding purposes, and may bring as much as $1,000.
A cockfight may legally run for 40 minutes, but hot bouts take much less
time. The better fights are usually over in from eight to ten minutes. Birds
must be of the same weight and the steel spurs with which they are equipped must
be of the same length.
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A. A. Rutledge, head of Unity House, which comprised considerably more than
half the marchers in the AFL Labor Day Parade, failed to appear when A. S.
Reile, master of ceremonies called his name at the end of the program.
Reile told the crowd that he was "put out" by Rutledge's non-appearance and
that the "Teamsters ordered him to speak and when the Teamsters order the
general usually obeys."
For a number of years there has been some disagreement between the two AFL
factions over the Labor Day program, and Rutledge has expressed disapproval over
the policy of inviting "name speakers" who do little to help labor between
holidays and who, he feels, merely add to a false prestige by appearing.
Both Rutledge and many of the Teamsters have expressed dissatisfaction with
what they believe is an effort to use Rutledge to hold the crowd by having him
last on the program It was the second straight year the Teamsters' agent did not
speak
Unity House comprises the teamsters, dairy workers, hotel and restaurant
employes and the independent transit workers.
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The new world alliance with resurgent militarist Germany and Japan as close
and full allies of the U. S. will undoubtedly cost the American taxpayers
billions of dollars. There was a time only a few short years ago when the same
propaganda whipped up by reports of "unidentified submarines" near our shores or
of flying disks was enough to raise a scare for putting the bite on Congress for
military appropriations.
With appropriations now running into $60,000,000,000, the imaginary submarine
stunt is not enough to maintain a high war fever. Thus we find General Ridgway
getting tough in Korea, ordering the bombing of Rashin, only 17 miles from the
Soviet border, at the time Congress is debating military appropriations. And
high State Department officials bluntly say that they took the chance that the
Soviet Union might be provoked.
This country is driving hard on the road to war. Everyone knows that to speak
of peace makes the speaker suspect, for in the prevailing hysteria and
near-insanity, the administration says flatly that only the Communists and their
sympathizers want peace to let the guards down of the "freedom-loving" nations.
And all the while the war mobilization which postponed a recession and
growing unemployment two years ago is given booster shot after booster shot by
Congress in the form of appropriations. The greatest fear of the leaders of this
country is genuine peace. It is a national phenomenon that war mongering is
accepted as a patriotic contribution.
The Magazine of Wall Street said May 5 that "were it not for the new defense
program, today would doubtless find us in some sort of recession . . . Any de-,
crease in the rate of arms spending, and even more so, a decline in such
spending could create serious problems of overcapacity."
In order to postpone depression the economic rulers of this country, with the
administration it controls, planned a war economy. But even this poses
difficulties, for today, because there is no big general war to consume the
weapons produced, the hectic search for warehouses is underway.
Now that the country is geared for war, there is very little talk of Marshall
Plan civilian aid. And because the dependent nations, from Britain to
Luxembourg, all beg for dollar assistance, they too, must arm and keep arming
for war. If there is no war, then the end result would also be a bust.
The big industrialists in this country are thinking in terms of generations
of armament, or at least they say so. This is preposterous and the people, taxed
and abused year after year, would rebel.
This is why we have the present campaign to silence people, the kicking of
the First Amendment in the teeth and the upholding of the Smith Act to jail
Communists, alleged Communists, then fellow-travellers and finally, all critics
of government.
Although we have gone far on the road to militarization, we still can turn
back and build homes, schools, peacetime industries with goods made available to all.
We would then win friends throughout the world. We do not need to shake the big stick of the A- and H-bombs. In Korea, the refugees who have sought allied lines did not pay tribute to democracy but they did pay tribute to the rain of high explosives and jellied gasoline.
Abroad, people fear the Americans who would destroy a whole village from the air to get a single sniper. At home, fear stalks the land as more and more people are arrested. The double-barrelled propaganda of the war scare and the red hunt must be stopped by an awakened people. The nation must be brought to its senses and its face turned to the future of peace and prosperity for all here at home, and friendship abroad.
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By Frank Marshall Davis
Dicatorship of the Mind
Last week's column, titled "What Is Loyalty?" in which the question of safe
and disloyal ideas was discussed, was written before the seven local arrests.
This new development therefore makes it possible to raise the issue of thought
control on a concrete local basis.
The tempest around Judge Delbert Metzger's decision to reduce bail and an
editorial in last Friday's Star-Bulletin, show with amazing clearness, how far
we have gone down the road to dictatorship of the mind.
Our system of government provides for separation of the executive, the
judicial and the law-making branches. This is supposed to provide checks and
balances, to keep one from complete domination over the others. But it looks now
as if this basic concept is being tossed out of the window, along with the First
and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution.
Thought Control Now Covers the Courts
Judge Metzger has served two terms. From all I can gather, he has an enviable
record for strict adherence to the spirit and the letter of the Constitution. He
evidently believes wholeheartedly in an independent judiciary. In his decisions,
he has been guided by his conscience and the finest traditions of American
jurisprudence. In the past, that is all we have asked of a judge.
But today, it is different. When Judge Metzger refused to bow to the dictates
of the executive branch of government in the setting of ridiculously large bail
in the case of the seven accused of violating the Smith Act, powerful members of
the law-making branch of government and the White House announced he would be
purged.
What this means it that thought control now covers the courts. Those judges
who believe in an independent judiciary are to be intimidated and liquidated,
when possible, if they refuse to bow to the dictates of Congress and the White
House. Instead of preserving the Constitution, they are to subvert it to the
convenience of Washington. No matter what the Eighth Amendment says about
excessive bail, they are to ignore the Constitution and set excessive bail if
Washington so orders.
Some Will Not Succumb To Prevailing Hysteria
But it is comforting to know that there are some men of such high principles
and sound belief in democracy and the Constitution that they will not succumb to
the prevailing hysteria. Judge Metzger is one of these Supreme Court Justices
Black and Douglas are two others who stand as beacons in the deepening gloom.
By no stretch of the imagination can they be called Communists or
fellow-travellers. Instead, they are sufficiently far-sighted and level-headed
enough to know that the official pattern of anti-Communist action threatens the
traditional rights of all Americans.
For once we accept the principle that one group may be outlawed and jailed
for holding unpopular beliefs, what is there to prevent this from happening to
any other minority group if it pleases those in power?
I think that coming generations—if the world survives the threat of atomic
annihilation—will look upon the Supreme Court decision in the Smith Act in much
the same way that we now glance back at the infamous Dred Scott decision of
nearly 100 years ago.
Swallow Race Bias, Says Star-Bulletin
It was on March 6, 1857, that Chief Justice Roger B. Taney handed down a
majority decision holding, in effect, that "a Negro has no rights which a white
man is bound to respect" and stating that the Declaration of Independence and
the Constitution were not for Negroes.
As in the recent Smith Act decision, there were two dissenting justices.
History has proved the majority of seven wrong in the Dred Scott case and the
two dissenters right; I believe that history will prove Chief Justice Vinson and
the majority of six wrong when they stated, in effect, that "a Communist has no
rights which others are bound to respect" and indicated that the Declaration and
the Constitution are not for them.
Coming now to the Star-Bulletin lead editorial of Friday, August 31, the
final paragraph stated, among other things, that any time you find a man or a
newspaper trying to "overplay alleged 'race discrimination' . . . beware!"
To me, the meaning is obvious. In the drive for bigger and better thought
control, the afternoon daily would have the victims soft pedal or swallow race
discrimination without protest, under the threat of being called "Communists."
If I or any other victim of jim crow object to such treatment, or if a newspaper exposes and opposes such undemocratic conduct, then those
who refuse to conform to white supremacy are to be termed "disloyal" and
"subversive."
As a matter of fact, race discrimination cannot be overplayed.
After all, it has no business existing in a democracy. It must be completely
eliminated, and the only way to get rid of it is to expose it and fight it. To
those who have never been hurt by the white supremacists, race discrimination
may not be real and can be viewed only as alleged, but to the families of the
Martinsville Seven and of Willie McGhee, or to that air force veteran in Cicero,
Ill., or to those who are barred from public places in Honolulu solely because
of color, it is a cruel fact. And no amount of name-calling or thought control
will keep us from fighting against it until it is completely destroyed.
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Attorney Thompson's Conspiracy I.
Attorney Frank Edward Thompson (1875-1944) was a "respected" citizen of
Honolulu. He had practiced here since 1900, in partnership with other successful
lawyers, and stood near the top of his profession, being attorney for the Matson
Navigation Co. He had been chairman of the Community Chest Fund, president of
the Bar Association, Exalted Ruler of the Elks.
It is true that Pablo Manlapit had accused him of offering Manlapit a bribe
to pull his Filipino followers out of the 1920 sugar strike, but then Thompson
had in return, accused Manlapit of soliciting a bribe for the same purpose.
Go Back "Where He Came From"
Max Weisbarth was a tough and rugged seaman. He was not the sort of person a
respectable man like Mr. Thompson would like to see living in Honolulu,
especially as Mr. Weisbarth was also a very militant member of the Sailors Union
of the Pacific. As such, he was sent, in company with Charles W. Post of the
Marine Firemen, to reopen the union hiring hall, closed for many years, and
begin organization on Honolulu's waterfront.
This was in August 1935, a date which may be taken as the starting point for
Hawaii's modern labor history.
The day Mr. Weisbarth arrived, he received a message at his hotel to the
effect that "he would be dumped out at sea if he didn't go back where he came
from." Weisbarth, being a native Hawaiian, felt he had already gone "back where
he came from."
Seamen's Institute Manager Implicated
On August 20, three men appeared in district court, charged with plotting to
beat up Weisbarth and Post. Two of them, young waterfront toughs named Thomas H.
Blaisdell and Nicholas Akana, had been arrested after severely beating a
60-year-old seaman, Karl W. Olsson. His beating, they confessed to police, was
an error; they had been promised $150 for beating Weisbarth and Post instead—and
the man who had promised them the $150 was Garnett M. Burum, manager of the
Seamen's Institute.
The Seamen's Institute is an institution, now some 115 years old, where
seamen "on the beach" can live cheaply until they are able to ship out of
Honolulu. It is supported in part by funds from the Honolulu Community Chest. It
is run by a board composed chiefly of businessmen; the chairman in those days
was George H. Angus, vice president of Theo. H. Davies, Ltd., Shriner,
Legionnaire, ex-president of Oahu Country Club.
In court, the two goons refused to verify their confessions, on grounds of self-incrimination. The case was dismissed for lack of evidence, only to be brought up again in circuit court on October 18. This time the two roughnecks got suspended sentences of 13 months. Mr. Burum did not appear in court; his lawyer, Fred Patterson, made a merely formal argument
for him, and he was fined $200.
Davies Boss Sticks Up for Burum
Union seamen thereupon boycotted the Seamen's Institute and The Voice of
Labor demanded to know why the public's money should be allotted to an
institution whose manager took part in such conspiracies. When Mr. Burum
professed an interest in organized labor and spoke of running for the
legislature on a labor platform, the Voice gave him a loud raspberry.
Mr. Angus and the rest of the Institute's board, however, kept Burum at his
post. They thought he had been "framed," said Angus.
A few months later, on January 23, 1936, when the janitor opened the doors of
the union hiring hall on Maunakea St., he found seven stick of dynamite,
complete with cap and fuse, tied together with friction tape, a few inches from
the door. It was never discovered who had left the dynamite there.
Organization continued on the Honolulu waterfront. The stevedoring companies
used policemen as labor spies, intimidated and fired union ' men. The ILWU
appealed to the National.Labor Relations Board, and in a hearing before trial
examiner George O. Pratt, the whole background of anti-union activities by
Honolulu employers was dragged into the light. Included in the hearing was the
alleged Burum-Blaisdell-Akana conspiracy. (To Be Continued)
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