Ford Philosophizes But Fails to Think
Lee, Algernon
Ford Philosophizes But Fails to Think Anti-Union Closed Shop Boss Should Jfe Slow to Brand Unionism as "Monopoly of Jobs." By ALGERNON LEE OLATO thought that it philosophers were kings or kings...
...the Federation News reprinted it: Answer: If you have six cows, the 'Socialists take three and leave you three...
...Ford really believes what he says...
...These gems of economic royalist philosophy are called Fordisms...
...to stinrolte the th* trification of industry...
...Detroit, May 18...
...It is not so...
...Local Dayton also contributes $25.00 to the convention...
...Mary Abbott...
...Joseph I. Smith...
...He has received a letter from the Milwaukee Retail Furniture Dealers' Association, which reminds him that they "need your furniture, hut they also want to receive the support and patronage of the union people here in Milwaukee...
...Each of the sponsors of the bill wanted one to commemorate their success in bringing protection once.more to women and minors against starvation wages...
...Larry S. Oavidow...
...Shorts of the Week...
...The latter could be direct, through organised publicity and buyers' Strikes, though this method offers no means of proving that the prices are too high...
...J. Boyan, Ohio...
...Two to one, hell start: "Oh, they want to divide everything up...
...Probably not...
...At Pittsburgh «t J937 a bright one begins, Letters to the Editor: ?Itn< inclad* fmU nuie mm* sOSf...
...have any great amount Of new Workers' housing, and certainly not any great subsidized development, until the banks have liquidated the great holdings of real estate which fell into their hands during the depression...
...But, unfortunately, he does not injure himself alone...
...The large schism implies and involves all the smaller ones...
...Here is one of them: "A monopoly of jobs in this country is just as bad as a monopoly of bread...
...And' in Great Britain a co opera tor can buy almost anything he needs to eat, wear, or furnish his home in his cooperative stores...
...The chief of these are the TVA,( Boulder Dam, the Grand Coulee development on the Columbia River in Washington, the Bonneville development on the same river in Oregon, the Fort Peck Dam on...
...He injures all...
...About 90 per ceat_# the farms do not have the ligbttag and the simple comforts that h»* become a commonplace in n*1^ middleclass dwellings in are* communities...
...He gives employment or denies it, as may suit his interest...
...Likewise one can not appreciate the artist's painting unless one gets the proper perspective by standing away at some distance...
...A Foreigner Looks at theTW is a little book...
...A Milwaukee firm, P. E. Kroeh-ler, has been placed by the Upholsterers' International Union upon the "unfair to labor" list...
...No worker in modern industry can individually control his job...
...Labor conscription in war-time now seems likely to be dropped from the Sheppard-Hill bill, due to the vigorous vocal, telegraphic and letter-bag objections of Labor...
...We expect to have a very live group at work in Minnesota...
...The best excuse that could be made for it would be that it was said in the heat of passion...
...Dependable Editor of The New Leader: We don't want to miss even one paper we can depend upon for truth and that is for all the workers and farmers...
...The acquisition of wealth is perhaps the went possible criterion of intelligent Let us have no fear—as indaSy is socialized, there will le e» dearth of men capable of Ane> ing and managing it far bene than the capitalists have ever dsn...
...Ask the first...
...The reviewer is pleased * recommend it to New Leader rear era...
...and now of some partisans of the A.F.ofL...
...As you know, this is a .very strong ¦ onion city...
...In brief, the disintegration is really a sifting process, and there proves to be more good grain and less of chaff and dirt than we had dared to hope...
...The worker may be thankful when he gets a job, and it does him no good to complain when .the boss takes it away...
...It has taken a foreigner—a distrfl-guished French authoress—to give us Americans a clear, coi»* prehensive picture of one of the greatest social experiments a modern times—the TVA...
...Approval Editor of The New Leader: The New Leader is getting to be a wonderful paper...
...We shall have delegates from Florida and Georgia, from Texas, from Arizona, and from California—and these are b$ no means all of the distant states in which our incipient organization already has outposts...
...Republican you meet, what is his idea of Socialism...
...The ideal of labor solidarity cannot be maintained in the smaller bodies of it is rejected and derided in the larger ones...
...So long .as the workers are isolated individuals, each trying to get and hold a job regardless of his fellows, each one's job is controlled by his boss...
...The project is really intended to be an example of comprehensive social and economic planning, including besides power production, the production of fertilizer, improvement of river navigation, flood control, prevention of soil erosion, reforestation, and the r...
...Once free from that convection, they can act all the more effectively as Socialists...
...There are over 70,000 members of various labor unions, and, if these people in any considerable number refuse to p or e h a s e Kroehler merchandise, it will be absolutely essential to have seme other line to sell...
...Prominent actors passing through picket lines of the striking- studio workers, their own demands secured, were not cordially received by the workers to whom they had failed to give fraternal support...
...Is it any wonder that he n> poses himself to be a man of broad knowledge and high intelligence...
...We will take away, their children...
...reorganization of agriculture SSI industry in this region...
...The British labor movement Uses the "yardstick" method of pressure on unfairly high prices, through the cooperatives...
...Of those rank-and-file members who were not ousted at Cleveland and did not soon afterward sever relations with the national office, the greater part were not accomplices in the work of disruption, but only dupes—not wrong, but only somewhat slow to see the point...
...And the dual organization will go on unless the A.F.ofL.-C.I.O...
...All farmers and workers should subscribe...
...By G. C. seward V •?*EN pens were used -by Gov-* ernor Lehman in signing the minimum wage bill in Albany last week...
...These we will educate to become new Germans...
...For this relief, much thanks...
...And we have men and women who, whether young or old in years, have not grown weary or disheartened, who know their Socialism and have faith in the working class...
...Gordon Baking Co...
...whose authenticity is not questioned, that John L. Lewis, addressing the ladies' garment workers' convention at Atlantic City, and speaking of the A.F.ofL.-C.I.O...
...But that is not all...
...Electricity supply is not the only or even the most important aspect of the Tennessee Valley development...
...So far as our rather long memory and our rather wide reading serves us, no man holding a high and responsible position in the labor movement has ever before committed himself to such a doctrine as this...
...They all km* it so well that they are likely « assume that eevryone know* it But does Henry Ford know it...
...It would be a wonder if he had...
...the Misouri River in Montana, and the Casper-Alcova project in Wyoming...
...On many of these, they are receiving no income, having closed them rather than make the repairs necessary for safety...
...We are not going to...
...Mr...
...By "a monopoly of jobs" the Monarch of Tinlizzieland of course means a trade union which work-ingmen (such as are non-fools) organize and maintain without asking the employer's permission or advice, and by means of which they agree not to work below certain wages nor beyond certain hours and agree further not to work with men who refuse to come into the union with an equal share in the rights and benefits of membership and an equal obligation to obey its rules...
...As thus: "He was a judge, take him for all in all, we hope we shall not look upon his like again...
...The most conservative estimate of the cost of projects currently being considered by the TVA is $350,-000,000, of which $169,000,000 is to be allocated to the power development...
...and we should like to have yon let...
...Once a national organisation has been set up and definite work laid out for the membership, we shall have a revival of activity here in Ohio and no draft in other states...
...He succeeded—that is, t» became enormously rich...
...If not actually represented at Pittsburgh we shall he there in spirit...
...Henry Ford is perhaps an extreme caaa, but he is typical...
...But it cents** more meat, more thought, more I* formation than cen be fousdJP books many times its weight *¦ cost...
...Books • • • and Writers More Power to Us A FOREIGNER LOOKS AT THE TV A. By Odette KHB> Published by Longmans, Green and Company, New York 89 pp...
...Cleveland in 1936 closed a dismal chapter...
...f * And a necessary first ste» toward the socialization of iasndrj is the strengthening of the uiues'i organization of the wage * or ken with the training in thoerht sat the development of social feehaf which organized action brisfi shout, as well as the betteranat of material conditions witkeii which few workers are likely to think constructively for the fate* MUCH THANKS SEEKING to express the feelings evoked in our bosom by the retirement of Justice Van Devanter we are moved to quote, with something less than verbal accuracy, from Shakespeare...
...Lack of organization among the workers means e monopoly of jobs —a monopoly held and utilized by the employers—and that is indeed a monopoly of bread, a monopoly of all the good things of life...
...According to the author, <** main points of TVA's power pdkf are (1) to make America electa* ity-conscious...
...1.25...
...It means just the reverse—that they are getting back on the right path...
...If he has a job, he can eat...
...The total cost of these six projects, including the present plans for the Grand Coulee and TVA developments, has been variously estimated from about $675,000,000 to $775,-000,000, of which a large fraction would have to be allocated to the power phase of the undertakings...
...If such a collectively maintained equality of opportunities and of responsibilities could rightly be called a monopoly, we should say, not that it is as bad, but that it is as good as a monopoly of bread...
...The savings banks' of the city are said by city officials to own nearly 4 per cent Of the 67,000 old-law tenements in the city, and to hold mortgages on about 38 per cent more...
...As a young man, with a mental, ity and a culture typical ft fht small-town petty business men «f forty or fifty years ago, but rt% below the average of his c.au, j, got in on the groundfioor ia n industry which was bound to e> pand for decades and, becauat% was an expanding industry, yidt ed an abnormally high rate of profit...
...Just to remind ourselves once again that we are living in a world of utter misconception of Socialism, its meaning and its intentions...
...But no responsible man permits himself to be carried away by passion in delivering a premeditated address on a highly important subject before a body of delegates representing a quarter of a million working people...
...The rest is silence.' NOT SUCH A BAD THING...
...Considering his background.it would be a wonder if he did set Winning wealth and power sal adulation without ever having to think outside the routine of suet a business as his, is it any wonder that he has never learned to think...
...If there are any who have lost hope and courage, let them stay at home—no, let them come, not to spread gloom,- but to get inspiration...
...ing out as a philosopher...
...Indeed, if he has refused to join the union he has no right to complain...
...For an unthinking mas...
...Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri—within that compact area there is an enormous opportunity for worth-while activity...
...But this does not mean that they are tearing away from Socialism...
...Dayton, May 18...
...W« will withhold both If requested...
...Outside tha field, as he has shown again and again, his ignorance is abysm] and his thinking capacity ia ahaoat nil...
...In that case he deserves what he gets...
...May-' be you think that nowadays this ^dividing up" conception of Socialism 4s replaced by some rational economic ideas about or some sober and decent respect for the most important system of economic thought current in our time—one that ia rolling up political support all over the world...
...All power to those who are earnestly and intelligently trying to restore peace in the labor movement...
...If Plato was right, there is now a dawn of rwpeij us Americans...
...The plan is for the agency of the E.R3...
...Hollywood stars know what it feels like - to be booed, now...
...schism, said: "The lack of unity in the labor movement does not seem to be such a bad thing...
...Every day is now bringing news that freshly verifies the first part of that prediction...
...paid $18,576.27...
...Paul, May 17...
...If the second part has as yet been verified in only a Caw cases, those cases are prophetic The scabbing will come if the dual organization goes on, no matter whether anyone wishes it or not...
...It gives more information on the condition of world affairs and economies than all the old-party papers combined...
...Nothing in his judgeship became him like the leaving it...
...All this is as elementary as A-B-C, as obvious as two times three equals five plus one...
...The present list, however, includes almost all those important industrial states in which the Socialist Party had substantial strength in its best days...
...Ten members joined at once and we have about fifty more definitely in view...
...Probably there will be more, but not many more...
...The positive side of- the picture is that everything now points to the probability that we have passed the dark part of our road, that we shall rum the corner from frustration to achievement at Pittsburgh next weekend...
...A late May Day echo: Herr Hitler, speaking in Berlin— "There are those still among its old fogies who are no longer good for anything...
...What makes the sure and not very slow fade-out of ThomtTotskism worth noting is that it is only a clique that is passing from the scene...
...inevitable development — namely, the rise of a really independent Labor Party...
...by declaring that unity of the labor movement is more important than any particular form, of organization, that organizational forms and methods can be improved without a split and are not likely to be improved by a split, that the interest of the unorganized as well as of the already organized workers demanded the speedy healing of the schism, and that some of the leaders on both sides were much to blame for words and actions which tended to widen the breach rather than to close it We predicted that the split in the general movement would produce dual organization in its component parts, and that dual organization would lead to mutual scabbing...
...There are two forms of consumer-pressure which anions can bring to bear: Pressure to settle labor disputes fairly and promptly, and pressure on unnecessarily high prices...
...NOW WE TAKE THE UP-GRADE IT is in no spirit of mere negative resentment that we welcome each step in the disintegration of that remnant of the once justly proud Socialist Party which remained with the confu-sionist and factionalist national "leaders" after their pyrrhic victory at Cleveland a year ago...
...the Fascists take all six and make you feed them, ¦ hut they take the milk...
...At this writing w know of only eighteen states that are to be represented...
...philosophers, the people would be justly and benenciajjy governed...
...the Communists take all six...
...He paid $17,683...
...It is currently noted that proposals of the New York Municipal Assembly's committee on low cost housing to turn from new building projects to the rehabilitation of "old-law" tenements is highly approved by the banks...
...The California labor movement, liberals and radicals, encouraged by the recent Supreme Court decisions in the Oregon syndicalism set case, and the Angelo Herndon case, are moving again to secure repeal of California's vicious criminal syndicalism act...
...Mem, hers of cooperatives in Great Britain represent, with their j famines, more than half of the nation organized as buyers...
...Of such, in very large measure, is the kingdom of capital...
...iy IRVING B. alt man 1JT has been said that frequently one can not see the forest ©» account of the trees...
...We hope—perhaps we ought to say we are hoping against hope—that the great conference of union officials called by the American Federation of Labor to meet at Cincinnati will rise to the occasion and find a way to make it easy for aii who are not willfully bent on schism to cooperate in the restoration of peace...
...as against the A.F.ofL...
...The time is ripe for setting up a flexible but well-knit national organization of democratic Socialists and launch a campaign of propaganda of ideas which the people, and especially the working people, are more ready to receive than they ever have been before...
...Nothing is therefore mm probable than that Mr...
...to create a market *» as wide and cheap a consn«p*s of electricity as possible...
...It is becoming clear that the Wisconsin comrades cannot much longer keep up even the empty form of affiliation with a national executive which is bent on promoting intrigue and disruption in the labor movement...
...PRESIDENT GREEN might well be shocked at the report...
...Month by month since then, individually or in groups, they have been reaching a clear view of the facts and breaking with the clique...
...as against the C.I.O...
...and it is worth while to consider what would inevitably have happened if the leader of the dominant party had been in direct mental succession to Herbert Hoover...
...Even if we do have to give two credits to quote it, we'd like you to read this "definition" of the difference between Socialist, Communist, Fascist...
...If it ia "not such a bad thing" to have the labor movement of the whole nation split, it must be still less of an evil to have a split in each of the state federations, in each city central body, in the international unions of each trade or industry, and in each of their locals...
...to put eJee tricity and electricity-using sst*j ances in every available home sea farm...
...To the wage worker the job means bread...
...By ALGERNON LEE OLATO thought that it philosophers were kings or kings wen...
...Ford's knowledge and abilities are extremely limited...
...When will our American progressive labor unions realize this opportunity and take advantage of it...
...Like Solomon of old, he embodies a* wisdom in short and simple sentences...
...to reduce the costs of eso> ation and the rates applied to a* consumer...
...Prospects for S.D.F, editor of The New Leader: I share your opinion concerning the general political and economic situation as it affects the prospects of our movement for democratic Socialism...
...2) ¦** ing America elect ricity-consetoel is a matter of education...
...I am confident that if we do oar work well at Pittsburgh we can set up a national organization which will make a definite contribution, modestly at first.^but in' a gradually quickening tempo, toward What we all believe is an Coughlin Big Buyer of Time on Radio Station CHICAGO.—Father Charles E. Coughlin was the second biggest buyer of radio time during March on the Mutual chain in which The Chicago Tribune has one of the leading stations...
...Guysville, O. t » • • Twin Cities Organized Editor of The Now Leader: A small but promising Twin City branch of the Social Democratic Federation was organized here on May 13...
...The Chicago Daily News carried it editorially...
...Terse and plain, isn't it...
...3) It will bring electricity J the farm...
...Hi knows how to do a profitable holiness in the manufacture and ash of cheap automobiles...
...Why print such stuff...
...Something recently happened in Milwaukee which might well —and happily—become an old story when union members habitually use, their consumer-power...
...Ohio Wai Be There Editor of The New Leader: Lester C. Coy and Oscar K. Edelman have been elected to represent the Social Democrats of this city in the convention at Pittsburgh...
...One of our biggest industrial kings is blossoaj...
...If he has no job, he must go hungry...
...They will do the job...
...By means of type and printer's ink, which Solomon in all his glory did not possess, he has these deep sayings posted 'up all over his kingdom, so that wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err...
...us know if there is say probability of this situation between year company and the unions being cleared op in the very near future...
...Things had been done which whe have no right to forgive, but which we might in time forget...
...Is he guilty of willful falsifieshei when he gives out those Fordism of his...
...nothing is easier than to beliefs whatever tallies with his wishes, serves his interests, flatten ak self-esteem, and soothes his conscience...
...It is almost an insult to the intelligence of our readers for us to take up #-space in saying it...
...and ts» TVA is doing a swell job in «* connection...
...to receive tenancy of old houses for one dollar per year, and to return them renovated at the close of a three-year term...
...Whoever controls his job controls his bread...
...On several occasions within the past year The New Leader has brought down upon its head the wrath, now of some partisans of the C.I.O...
...And convincing, too—if you are the kind of wayfaring man that the prophet specifically mentions...
...schism is brought to an end...
...Madame Keun reveals to us the fad that the Tennessee Valley Authority project is but one of» series of a larger program which includes waterway, *©od co* trol, irrigation, and other developments...
...It was a great danger...
...Harold G. Kemper...
Vol. 20 • May 1937 • No. 21
