NAWSA SUBJECT FILE Johnson, Ethel M. Country School Ma'am Of The Olden Days By Ethel M. Johnson Reprinted from South Atlantic Quarterly Vol. 48, No. 3, July, 1949 COUNTRY SCHOOL MA'AM OF THE OLDEN DAYS ETHEL M. JOHNSON Conditions in the public schools at the present time, unsatisfactory as they admittedly are, represent a tremendous advance over those prevailing a generation or so ago. During the first decade of the century my sister and I, both in our early teens, began to teach in the ungraded public schools in rural Maine and New Hampshire. The fact that neither of us at that time had been to normal school or college or had even graduated from high school is some indication of the standards, or rather lack of them, then existing. The only educational requirement was ability to pass the annual examination for teachers, which was given by the superintendent of schools and was concerned with elementary and grammar grade subjects and current events. There was nothing on literature or science; nothing on teaching methods or on child psychology. Those passing the examination were given a certificate authorizing them to teach in the town. Later they were assigned to such schools as were in need of teachers. The major academic accomplishment for success as a country school teacher in those days was a knowledge of arithmetic and algebra and ability to solve the problems at the back of the textbook without the aid of a "pony." This was considered the real test of the stuff that was in a teacher. Mathematical ability inspired respect, even awe, in both parents and pupils. A small girl, when told that her teacher who possessed this skill was going to be married, refused to believe that her idol was of clay.. When the marriage actually occurred, she lamented: "Oh, Mamma, isn't it a pity when she could do hard examples so easy!" Those who lacked this skill were regarded as failures in the teaching field, irrespective of their proficiency in other subjects. With it, they required little else. Having been brought up by my father on Colburn's Mental Arithmetic, I fared fairly well in this respect both as pupil and teacher. The model teacher was expected to be of "good moral character." The teaching certificate carried endorsement to that effect. She- 374 The South Atlantic Quarterly the majority of country school teachers, then as now, were of the female sex—was also expected to be able to maintain discipline in a mixed school of boys and girls ranging in age from four or five to twenty-one years. Sometimes the youthful teacher was confronted with pupils both older and larger than herself. In one school I had in my classroom a young woman who had taught for one or two terms and who was my senior by several years. In the rural public school of that time normal training for teachers was the exception rather than the rule. Among the many teachers who flitted across my youthful horizon I remember but two who were graduates of normal schools. Only one had any college training, a young medical student, who was working his way through college. He "took on" the winter term and the big boys who were occupied on the farms during the spring and fall as a means of helping towards his expenses. According to my juvenile standards, he was by no means an improvement over the "lady teachers," who taught during the first and third terms of the school year, when younger pupils predominated. About the only recollection I have of this budding physician is that one day he caught a mouse in a trap in the schoolroom and cut off its tail as an experiment, to see if it would return to the trap or seek other fields in future. As I did not approve of these proceedings, I expressed my indignation by sticking out my tongue at him when I thought he was not looking. Unfortunately, I miscalculated his range of vision; in consequence I was made to stand in a corner the rest of the afternoon as an object lesson for the other pupils. Only the exceptional teacher tried to train her pupils to think for themselves. Teaching was largely a matter of forcing the children to learn by rote. History, geography, and physiology were chiefly exercises in memorizing. The teacher sat at her desk with the open textbook in front of her and listened while pupils recited, parrotlike, the words in the text. Those with good memories were rated promising "scholars." Without this gift they were "dullards." I remember as a small girl at school sitting at my desk with my physiology textbook propped up before me, repeating over and over to myself the words, "A person fed on starch alone would die. It would be a clear case of nitrogenous starvation. " What "nitrogenous" meant, or why I could not live on a exclusive diet of starch, Country School Ma'am of the Olden Days 375 I had not the faintest notion. Yet I was praised for my ability to rattle off the meaningless words when the class was called to recite. Reading was for the most part practice in pronouncing words connected in sentences. Sometimes a conscientious teacher imparted a little information as to the meaning of the more difficult words encountered or explained the use of the punctuation marks. Usually she permitted the pupils to read in turn a paragraph or stanza from the day's selection, commenting only when one stumbled or mispronounced a word. McGuffey's, Lippincott's, Clinton's, and Swift's were among the school readers used. They included both prose and poetry. "Moses at the Fair," "Ichabod Crane's Ride," "The Death of Little Nell," "Excelsior," "The Charge of the Light Brigade," and "Annabel Lee" were among the favorite selections. Spelling was another test in memorizing. The class stood in front of the teacher, the best speller at the head of the line. The teacher gave the words to the pupils in turn, beginning with the first. If a pupil failed to spell correctly the word assigned, the next one below who did took his place above the one or more who had failed. My sister, an exceptionally good speller, usually took and held the place at the head of the line. She was always in demand at "spelling bees," either as captain of one of the opposing sides or as the one most eagerly sought by the captains of the competing teams. I did fairly well both in school and at the "bees," as I rarely had much difficulty with words of five or six syllables. The little words of one or two syllables, such as "which," "sketch," "ankle," and "uncle" bothered me more. Such plebeian words were rarely included in the tests. The schoolhouses of those days were as primitive as the instruction. The country schoolhouse was almost invariably a one-story, one-room building. There might be an entry or woodshed attached, but the general arrangement was the same. Rows of heavy double desks of unpainted wood, frequently whittled and carved with the initials and other decorations of previous users, extended from the rear of the room to the center. A wide aisle separated the "boys' side" from that of the girls. In the middle of the room was a wood burning stove of cast iron, the pipe running across the room to the chimney at the back. This marked the sex division of the school. On a platform on the opposite side was the teacher's desk and chair. 376 The South Atlantic Quarterly The "desk" was usually a heavy wooden table with a drawer. On the wall behind the teacher's desk was the blackboard and perhaps a map of the United States. At one of this side of the schoolroom was the entrance. The other two sides had windows overlooking the rows of desks. There might even be two windows at the rear, one on either side of the chimney. The older pupils sat at the rear desks, the younger children at the front. The row of desks nearest the teacher had setteelike fronts, which served as recitation benches. When one of the arithmetic classes was called, the pupils took their places on these seats. Then, one by one, they were summoned to the blackboard to "work" the problems in the day's lesson. The desks at the back of the room were the favorite ones because of the comparative privacy they afforded. With several rows of pupils in front, a sitter on a rear seat was fairly well screened from the teacher except when she chanced to walk up the aisle. Pupils with a penchant for unprescribed reading could prop their geographies up on the desk in front of them and apparently be absorbed in preparing their lesson while in reality engrossed in reading the story of Peck's Bad Boy or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn surreptitiously concealed behind the geography frame. Adjacent to the school house was the outhouse, divided into two sections, with separate doors for the boys and the girls. The outhouse was of the earth closet type and was frequently most unsanitary. At the school which I attended until I reached my teens, the outhouse was close by the windows on the girls' side of the schoolroom. In late spring and early fall, when the heat made it necessary to have the windows open, the odor from this outhouse was extremely offensive. The building was poorly constructed, unpainted, with cracks between the roofing boards that permitted the gales and snows of winter as well as the rains of autumn to enter unchecked. In an effort to remove the nuisance, the big girls and the teacher joined in a petition which was presented to the superintendent of schools on one of his periodic visits, urging that the offending outhouse be torn down and a new one built at the rear of the school building. The petition brought no result. The superintendent, however authorized the construction of a woodshed back of the schoolhouse for the stove wood, which had formerly been piled on one side of the entry in the school building. Country School Ma'am of the Olden Days 377 The schoolteacher of those days had to be a woman of many trades. There was no janitor, no school nurse or visitor. The teacher had to assume all of those functions as best she could. She built the fire herself on the chilly mornings unless she could persuade the big boys to help. She swept and dusted the schoolroom except when the big girls assisted her. If Johnny got a splinter in his foot or Mary cut her finger, it was the teacher who administered first aid. When the Jones twins had whooping cough and stayed out of school, the teacher called at their home to see how they were progressing. These arrangements gave the teacher a closer touch with the home life of her pupils than the majority of teachers have today. So, too, did the teacher boarding system. Father, who was a veteran teacher, experienced the "boarding round" practice, which was in effect in rural communities in New England during the middle and latter half of the nineteenth century. According to this practice, each family sending children to school was expected to board the teacher for a week. Perhaps it was rather unsettling for the teacher to have to pack up at the end of every week and start in with a new boarding place. It did, however, have the advantage of giving the teacher an intimate acquaintance with the families of the pupils that could not otherwise have been gained. By the time my sister and I began teaching, this custom had been changed. At the town meeting the spring of each year, the town fathers auctioned off the boarding of the teachers. The lowest bidders got the teachers. What the teachers got can be imagined. As the amount paid by the town was small, the teacher was expected to make herself useful around the house. She took care of her room, helped with the dishes, and assisted the children in the family with their lessons. Men teachers, who were usually employed only for the winter term, were given a higher salary and a more generous board allowance. Consequently, they were not required to engage in extracurricular activities. Often the food in these bargain boarding places left much to be desired. In some of the places to which I was assigned, I would have starved had it not been for the week ends spent at home and the food packages sent me during the week by a thoughtful mother. Fortunately, the boarding week was short. The teacher was not supposed to arrive for her first meal before Monday noon: preferably not until Monday evening. Her last meal for the week at her boarding 378 The South Atlantic Quarterly place was Friday noon. At one place where I boarded breakfast invariably consisted of lumpy, undercooked oatmeal with skimmed milk, bread and butter, greasy doughnuts, and muddy coffee. Dinner, which came in the middle of the day, was usually boiled potatoes, fried fat salt pork or sometimes dried salt cod fish, perhaps one other vegetable such as cabbage, turnips, beets, or mustard greens, bread and butter, and dried apple pie. On Thursdays there was a "New England boiled dinner," composed of a variety of vegetables - cabbage, turnips, beets, carrots, and potatoes - all boiled together to a watery consistency with a piece of gristly and tough corned beef. Sometimes the main dish for the Monday dinner would be warmed-over baked beans from the Saturday's baking. Supper was customarily fried potatoes, the boiled ones left over from dinner serving as base, bread and butter, dried apple sauce, either pie, cookies, or gingerbread, and tea. There were probably enough calories. But, as I did not eat meat and did not care for starchy foods, the diet was definitely of the slimming variety for me. At another boarding place the food was fairly good. The room, however, was another matter. I had a small, stuffy attic bedroom, which was exceedingly hot in June and was infested with bedbugs. Once I succeeded in persuading the superintendent of schools to let me board at home. It meant a lower allowance for board money, but I fared much better than at any other boarding place in my somewhat brief teaching career. My best boarding place, aside from home, was in connection with my last school. By this time I had graduated from high school and had attended normal school nearly a year. In consequence, I was given the munificent salary of six dollars a week and provided with an excellent boarding place with family friends, who lived within easy walking distance of the school. Out of the kindness of their hearts and their regard for me, these friends had given the schoolhouse a thorough cleaning before the opening day. They had swept and mopped the floor, scrubbed the desks, washed the windows, and polished the stove. Everything was spic and span when I arrived. The big boys regularly attended to bringing in the wood and building the fire. The big girls took turns at sweeping and dusting. I was always fortunate in these respects, far more so than many rural teachers. I remember one unfortunate woman who had to struggle daily Country School Ma'am of the Olden Days 379 with a stove that refused to draw and thus smoked; occasionally, the sections of its long pipe that ran halfway across the schoolroom sagged apart, depositing a mess of soot on the floor and over the desks and everything in sight, to say nothing of the problem of putting it together again. My sister fared less well than I in some of her boarding places. It was the practice in the town where she started teaching to give a new teacher the meanest school in the town. If the novice survived this customary initiation she was admitted to the regular teaching staff. This test school was located in a remote spot, difficult of access, dreary and uninviting in appearance . The people living in that section of the town represented a backwash; they were for the most part poor, ignorant, and shiftless. Some had the reputation of being "light-fingered." The children were dirty and unkempt. Many of them wore the same clothes without a change from late fall to early spring. Some were infested with vermin. Although my sister was fond of children, she was obliged as a matter of self-protection to keep these youngsters at a safe distance, to say, "Stand back, little dears," when they crowded too close. The schoolhouse, a small, dilapidated, wretched affair, would have insulted a flock of respectable hens. There was no decent boarding place available. The school board selected for my sister one of the few so-called "respectable" families in the neighborhood. This family consisted of a man, who professed and practiced "poor health," his hard-working wife, and one child, who attended school. They had a run-down farm, one cow, one pig, and a small garden in which they raised potatoes and beans. The wife did most of the work both in the house and outside. As the family had practically no income, the meals they served were meager. Breakfast consisted of boiled potatoes, fried salt pork, and muddy coffee without either milk or cream. Dinner was a repetition of breakfast, except that on rare occasions there might be a few beans. For supper there would often be nothing on the table but a bowl of cold boiled potatoes and a pan of skimmed milk. In this school my sister had to contend with a small imp of six years who had a most unpleasant method of retaliation when not allowed to have her own way. Whenever this happened she would stage an unauthorized exhibition. If there were visitors in the school, so much the better. Her star performance was to undress 380 The South Atlantic Quarterly publicly. This act was a combination of cancan and reverse strip tease. First she would remove her panties. Then, turning her back to the visitors, she would throw her skirts over her head. The curriculum of the ungraded rural school varied considerably according to the interests of the pupils and the ability of the teacher. In addition to the three R's, there would be spelling, geography, history, physiology, and perhaps bookkeeping and algebra. Sometimes the teacher by request gave instruction in plane geometry and Latin. The number and age of the pupils were other conditioning factors. As previously noted, the age spread might be from kindergarten to college. The number of pupils in a rural school might be as few as fifteen or as many as forty. The school week was from Monday through Friday, with two sessions a day. The morning session started at nine and extended to noon; from twelve to one was the lunch hour; the afternoon session ran from one until four o'clock. Usually there was a five to fifteen minute recess period at the discretion of the teacher in the middle of the morning and afternoon sessions. Some teachers gave separate recess periods for the boys and girls. More frequently they shared these periods. During recess the smaller girls played "Drop-the- Handkerchief," "Hide-and-Seek," or "Ring-around-a-Rosy." The big girls went for walks, picked flowers, and exchanged gossip with their neighbors. The boys, large and small, played ball, the little boys serving as both applauding spectators and eager retrievers when the ball bounced over into Farmer Brown's pasture. As soon as recess was announced, the boys would dash pell-mell from the school house, shouting at the top of their lungs, "Three Old Cat, my first bat!" The teacher was expected to be at the schoolhouse fifteen or twenty minutes before ringing the morning bell in order to look for pupils who arrived early and to see about starting the fire on mornings when heat was needed. She frequently remained an hour or more after the close of school in the afternoon, marking papers, making out reports, sweeping and dusting, and getting ready for the next day's work. Sometimes she remained to talk with one of the pupils who had to be disciplined. Customarily the morning session was opened by responsive reading of a chapter from the New Testament, followed by the teacher Country School Ma'am of the Olden Days 381 and pupils repeating in unison the Lord's Prayer. Sometimes in the afternoon the teacher would read aloud to the children. I used to do this as a reward for good behavior on the part of the pupils and also as a means of acquainting them with good literature. Ruskin's King of the Golden River, Hawthorne's Tanglewood Tales, and Washington Irving's Sketch Book were among the titles used. In one school I used Bullfinch's Age of Fable in this way. The pupils had never heard of Greek or Roman mythology. One of the big boys said that "of course it was all a lot of lies, but rather interesting." It did have the advantage of preventing my pupils from making the mistake a girl in one of my sister's classes made when she started to read a poem from a new textbook. The title of the selection was "Cupid and Psyche," which she read as though it were "Cupid and Physic." As another way of encouraging reading habits among many pupils, I gave books as prizes on the last day of school. The last day of the term was usually a gala event. The parents, other relatives, and friends of pupils visited the school to hear the children recite "pieces" they had memorized and to see the prizes awarded. My sister and I, as school children, having excellent memories, always did well on these occasions. Not so, Joseph, a fat little boy with a thick tongue and slow brain, who was one of our childhood schoolmates. He had the greatest difficulty in memorizing the briefest selections. An older pupil to whom he appealed for help, being something of a wag, taught him the lines: Needles and pins, Needles and pins, When you get married The trouble begins. Joseph labored over these lines, twisting his heavy tongue around them until finally he seemed letter perfect. On the eventful "last day," however, when he was called to the platform to "speak his piece," he was gripped with stage fright and could not recall the order of the words. "Pins and needles--" he started out. Then, realizing he had got it wrong, he stopped and shifted from one foot to the other. He tried again: Pins and needles, Pins and needles-- 382 The South Atlantic Quarterly By this time the other pupils were giggling. Joseph hesitated, flushed, and made one final desperate attempt: Pins and needles, Pins and needles, When you get married Pins and needles-- He stumbled to his seat amid the shrill applause of the younger members of the audience. Sometimes on the "last day" the teacher provided refreshments for pupils and parents. I remember serving homemade ice cream and cake on one such occasion. I also remember that the problem boy of the school, an unregenerate little wretch who refused to study and who spent his time outside of school tormenting the other children and abusing animals, devoured seven dishes of cream. I wondered unsympathetically if he would burst. I also wondered, with more concern I must confess, if there would be enough to go around. Fortunately there was. The school year ranged from twenty-four to thirty-six weeks according to the amount of money voted for schools at the town meeting. It was divided into three equal terms of eight, ten, or twelve weeks each. Between the spring and fall terms there was a long intervening summer vacation from late June to early September. Teachers were paid only for the weeks when the schools were actually in session. For the varied duties she performed the country teacher received from two dollars and a half a week with board, if she was a beginner, to possibly either or even twelve dollars a week with board. Such a magnificent salary as the last-mentioned was paid only to an experienced and highly successful teacher assigned to one of the larger schools in the village. Even those receiving the higher salaries frequently found it necessary to fill in the long vacation with some other employment. Many women teachers worked as table girls at some of the near-by resort hotels in the White Mountains during the summer vacation. Not infrequently they made as much at this side line as from their regular vocation. Many regarded teaching in country schools as a stopgap until something more interesting materialized, which resulted in an exceptionally high turnover among rural teachers. Sometimes there Country School Ma'am of the Olden Days 383 would be a different teacher for each of the three terms of the school year. This was noticeably the case in the more poorly paid and less desirable schools. In the case of the younger women teachers, marriage removed a considerable proportion. Some, like myself, went on to college and other careers. There were others, like my sister, who after graduating from college took up a specialized form of teaching. Some, like my father, were born teachers. In spite of the hardships involved, in spite of the meager monetary reward, there were, fortunately, men and women who were willing to make rural school teaching their lifework. They found in it, no doubt, a spiritual satisfaction that compensated for its material shortcomings. Unpublicized, inconspicuous heroes and heroines, they devoted their lives to developing sturdy citizens from the crude material that came to their hands. Frequently without special training themselves, they none the less possessed the true instincts of the educator and leader. They instilled in their pupils a respect for independent thought and judgement. They were in truth "of good moral character," and their lives served as an inspiration and challenge to the boys and girls who were privileged to attend their classes. On many of their pupils they left a lasting impression. A successful businessman said to me recently, speaking of his first teacher, that she was and always would be a vital influence in his life. It was through such teachers the rural countryside that the "little red schoolhouse" of olden days --which as a matter of fact was frequently a little white schoolhouse, or more likely, an unpainted one -- came to exert so powerful an influence on the life of the nation. THE MINERS ASK ONLY FOR JUSTICE Your attention is directed to PAGE 26 32 JANUARY 1947 TWENTY CENTS American FEDERATIONIST LABOR HIGHLIGHTS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT IN the United States has reached a point, says President Charles J. MacGowan of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, where "it must give to the workers a consideration that goes beyond the bare essentials of sustaining life." Mr. MacGowan declares that managements which deny their employes any voice in job evaluation and classification are taking an "untenable" position. AN INCREASE IN CHARGES OF refusal to bargain with the unions representing their employes has been reported by the National Labor Relations Board. Charges of discrimination against employes for union activity are also mounting. Employers' deliberate violation of the law of the land obviously threatens industrial peace. THE A.F. OF L. IS SENDING A mission to Argentina this month to check on labor conditions in that country under President Peron. This delegation is composed of Arnold S. Zander, Lee Minton, William L. Munger, Miguel Garriga, Serafino Romualdi and Philip Pearl. The trip to Argentina will be made by plane. LABOR AND MANAGEMENT MEN constituting the U.S. Conciliation Service's Advisory Committee have issued an important statement supporting the American system of free collective bargaining. The text of this timely and significant declaration will be found on Page 9. INSURED UNDER THE SOCIAL Security Act as the year ended were 35,500,000 wage and salary earners, according to an announcement by the Federal Security Agency. TO HELP DEFRAY THE COST OF a medical research project whose object is to find the cause of rheumatic fever, the Joint Council of Teamsters at Chicago has voted an annual appropriation of $2500. TEN THOUSAND TEACHERS IN New York have been compelled to take additional part-time jobs to augment their classroom earnings. Even though teachers' salaries in the metropolis are among the highest in the nation, earnings are insufficient for maintenance of a decent standard of living during this period of inflated prices. The American Federation of Teachers is spearheading the nationwide fight for pay increases for teachers. SECRETARY SOL CILENTO OF the Distillery, Rectifying and Wine Workers International Union, writing in the monthly journal of that organization, points out that numerous examples of "excellent" labor-management relations have been forgotten in the "furore" over certain work stoppages. "Organized labor could and should do its utmost to hold on to its legitimate gains," Mr. Cilento declares. SLOWLY THE FIVE-DAY WEEK IS is coming to Great Britain. Government- operated dockyards and ordnance plants are working a 44-hour, five-day week, coal miners will go on a five-day week in May and negotiations are going on with a view to establishing the shorter week for other workers. A COLOR SLIDE-FILM TO PUSH the union label has been produced by the United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers. Titled, "Good Men and True," the film traces organizational efforts from 1822 on. It was in 1822 that pioneer hatters who had formed a union were convicted of conspiracy. AS 1946 ENDED, THE NATION HAD fewer people on strike than at any time since V-J Day, the Department of Labor reported. No major A. F. of L. strike was in progress. FIGHT INFANTILE PARALYSIS. Join the March of Dimes. [*page 26*] AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST Official Monthly Magazine of the American Federation of Labor January, 1947 William Green, Editor Vol. 54, No. 1 Labor The Workman demands an adequate wage, sufficient to permit him to live in comfort, unhampered by the fear of poverty and want in his old age. He demands the right to live and the right to work amid sanitary surroundings, both in home and in workshop, and the right to provide for his children's wants in the matter of health and education. It is his desire to make the conditions of his life and the lives of those dear to him tolerable and easy to bear. Wherever there is anything wrong there is abundant food for radicalism. The only way to keep men from agitating against grievances is to remove the grievances, and as long as things are wrong I do not intend to ask men to stop agitating. As long as there is something to correct, I say Godspeed to the men who are trying to correct it. There can be no settled conditions leading to increased production and a reduction in the cost of living if labor and capital are to be antagonistic instead of partners. I believe that the industry and life of our people and of the world will suffer irreparable damage if employers and workmen are to go on in a perpetual contest, as antagonists. The only way to keep men from agitating against grievances is to remove the grievances. An unwillingness even to discuss these matters produces only dissatisfaction and gives comfort to the extreme elements. The real antidote for the unrest which manifests itself is not suppression but a deep consideration of the wrongs that beset our national life and the application of a remedy. IN THIS ISSUE ERNIE BEVIN'S FAMOUS RING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 THE NEW YEAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Green 3 THE MINERS ASK ONLY FOR JUSTICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 IN FLORIDA'S FOOTSTEPS . . . . . . . . . . .. Joseph A. Padway 6 WE KNOW HOW TO FIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sam J Byers 8 THE GRANITE CUTTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Laurence Foley 10 LABOR AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION . . . Harry J. Hagan 12 DEATH SUMMONS E. E. MILLIMAN, FRANK KASTEN . . . . . . 14 PUERTO RICO MOVES ALONG . . Nicolas Nogueras Rivera 15 EDITORIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Green 16 FARM WORKERS SEE THE LIGHT . . . . . . . . . . H. L. Mitchell 18 ASSIGNMENT IN BRUSSELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lloyd Klenert 20 IN ABE LINCOLN'S STATE . . . . . . Reuben G. Soderstrom 22 WHEN THE WORKER BECOMES SICK. . Louis P. Marciante 23 PERFORMERS' UNION GROWS TO MATURITY . . Matt Shelvey 25 BRITAIN'S UNSUNG HEROINES . . . . . . . . . . Ethel Johnson 26 BAKERS' PROGRESS IN THE SOUTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 WHAT THEY SAY What They Say . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 LABOR NEWS BRIEF. . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 JUNIOR UNION PAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . Annabel Lee Glen inside Cover THIS MONTH'S COVER: Railroad men—skilled workers, good citizens, sincere trade unionists Published at A. F. of L. Building, Washington I, D. C. Editor—William Green. Managing Editor—Bernard Tassler. Twenty cents a copy, $2 a year. Entered as second-class matter at Washington Postoffice and accepted for mailing at special rate of postage provided in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917. On sale at leading newsstands. Paid advertising is never accepted. PRINTED IN U.S.A. UNION - WATERMARKED PAPER Ernie Bevin's FAMOUS RING BACK in November, 1915, a burly young trade unionist from Great Britain came to San Francisco. The purpose of his visit was to attend the thirty-fifth annual convention of the American Federation of Labor as a fraternal delegate from the British Trades Union Congress. The young man's name was Ernest Bevin. In 1915, World War I was in progress, and so when his time to speak came, Delegate Bevin discussed the bloody conflict and the part in it which British labor was playing. An eloquent, deeply moving oration, it closed with these words: "Even yet I believe that the Brotherhood of Man will not be a mere platitude of the platform, but will be an achievement of the forces of labor." At that A. F. of L. convention of over three decades ago Ernie Bevin, a dock worker, met William Green of the Mine Workers, Matthew Woll of the Photo-Engravers and many other American labor leaders. Before the convention adjourned it gave Mr. Bevin, as a memento, a ring bearing his initials. A few weeks ago in New York, where Mr. Bevin, now the British Foreign Secretary, was attending the conference of the Big Four Foreign Ministers, an informal luncheon for the one-time fraternal delegate was given by six leaders of the A. F. of L. -- President Green, Secretary-Treasurer Meany, Vice-Presidents Woll, Knight and Dubinsky, and Robert J. Watt, the Federation's international representative. Mr. Bevin revealed at this luncheon that the ring given him as a token of friendship in 1915 is now used by him as his personal seal on all official documents of the British Empire which require the signature and seal of the Foreign Secretary. The face of the ring, bearing the initials E. B., is shown above, at right; the inside of the ring, with inscription, is at the left. THE NEW YEAR By WILLIAM GREEN IN 1947 America must find the answers to the all-important problems of peacetime progress. Our country must keep alive the spirit of international cooperation through which the United Nations can lead the world to an era of permanent peace, based upon justice to all nations. At home, our people must revive the spirit of national cooperation for the protection of our fundamental freedoms and the attainment of lasting prosperity and security. There is a tremendous job ahead of us. We must hold the engulfing tide of inflation without inviting a reactionary tide of deflation. We must build millions of new homes for our citizens and especially for ex-servicemen who now lack a decent place to live. We must increase production to meet the needs of our people and to bring about a long overdue reduction in prices. We must keep wages and purchasing power high so that industry and agriculture can be assured of a domestic market for the tremendous flow of factory and farm products. These are some of the minimum and urgent tasks facing the nation. Beyond these immediate goals, we must provide by law a full measure of social security for the American people so that the fear of poverty, the danger of destitution in old age and the risks of illness without proper medical care can be banished from our land. This constructive program requires a high measure of national unity and the same kind of fighting determination to overcome all obstacles which brought us victory in the war. But today, I regret to report, war- time unity has for the most part disintegrated and America is being torn apart by dangerous tensions. The key factors in our industrial life are pulling and hauling against each other in an economic tug of war. The powerful forces of management and labor which should be part of the same industrial team-- working together, producing together and progressing together -- are now, in many instances, struggling at cross purposes. That is not consistent with the American way of life. It is equally obnoxious t to the fundamental philosophy of the American Federation of labor. We in the American Federation of Labor believe sincerely in teamwork between labor and management. We Fitzpatrick in St. Louis Post-Dispatch THE LUCKY SEVEN? have found through long years of experience that it works and that it pays. When industrial peace reigns, when labor-management cooperation is firmly established, production booms, jobs are plentiful and prices can be reduced. The workers benefit, the employers gain and the public as a whole prospers. Our great hope for 1947 is that this will become the accepted policy of all American businesses and labor. Then we can capitalize on the many elements in the present economic situation which are favorable. As President Truman's Council of Economic Advisers reported recently, the nation's productive abilities are almost unlimited and the demand for food products and factory products is backed up by an unprecedented accumulation of purchasing power. Then what is stopping us from going ahead? In my opinion, it is the lack of a broad understanding between industry and labor that they are indispensable to each other and that both owe a joint and fundamental responsibility to the public to live together and work together in peace and harmony. The first step toward such an understanding is a firm pledge and commitment to respect and safeguard the free enterprise of industry and labor. Industry has now been freed from government controls. It should be satisfied. It should not seek the imposition of new government controls on labor, either by legislation or administrative order. That, in the end, would mean government control of business, too. Economic stability and economic progress can only be gained through economic freedom. The American way of life is not static. It must keep changing for the better all the time. Organized labor recognizes this truth. It is time industry also understood it and conformed to it, instead of trying to apply the brakes and throw our economy into reverse. The American Federation of Labor hopes that in 1947 the forces of reason and progress will triumph over the few extremists whose refusal to keep in step with the times threatens the welfare of our country. In anticipation that the great promise of the future will be fulfilled, I extend to all members of the American Federation of Labor and to the American people as a whole best wishes for a happy and prosperous and peaceful New Year. JANUARY, 1947 3 The Miners Ask Only for JUSTICE —— Diggers of coal say government as an employer must obey laws like others. ——— THE MEN who go into the mines to dig the coal upon which much of this nation's industrial prowess depends are second to none in their love of America and their determination to remain forever free. Mine workers have always been noted, in every land, for their refusal to let themselves be converted into slaves. On the democratic soil of these United States the mine workers' spirit of resistance to oppression has been particularly strong. Of course, there was a day when the American coal digger, though he loved freedom as much then as now, had to forget his ideals and submit to the crushing conditions imposed by the avaricious owners of the mines. That unhappy era began before the United Mine Workers of America came into being and continued through the first decades of the union's life. While pro-employer administrations winked or lent open support, the operators used such weapons as guns, blackjacks, starvation of women and children and the blacklist to crush the individual miner who dared to espouse virile trade unionism. Many an older man in the coal regions retains vivid recollections of the violence and the calculated cruelty to which the mine-owning barons resorted, without the slightest interference from government, in their campaigns to destroy the United Mine Workers and keep their employes underpaid, hungry and cowed. Today the American mine worker can and does hold his head high. His union has won him earnings and security far superior to anything known to his predecessor of a quarter-century ago. As a member of the mighty fraternity of workingmen, the modern coal miner knows that he is the equal of any man. He knows that his rights must be respected by the owners and operators of the mines as well as by every other citizen, high or low. And the miner also knows that the prodigious advances which he and his fellows have made in the past two decades were achieved through the agency of their trade union, the United Mine Workers, and would vanish in a twinkling if the enemies of labor were to succeed in destroying the union. In fighting for the economic advancement of the mine workers of the nation, the U.M.W. also fights for the welfare of all America, for whenever hundreds of thousands of men and their families are lifted to higher levels of health, security, and general well-being, the achievement is an important gain for the country as a whole. Increased purchasing power placed in the hands of our miners would spell greater prosperity for our farmers, for the makers of radios, refrigerators and clothing and, indeed, for almost any business activity whose prosperity depends upon the patronage of large numbers. True it is, of course, that the mine workers' union fights primarily for its own members. That is the proper function of a real trade union. It is a function which has been carried out— and carried out most effectively over the years—by he U.M.W. But let no intelligent worker fail to see that economic progress by the miners is also beneficial to him. Wage-earners are together in the economic boat. If government or any other force can snatch the oar and bash in the heads of coal diggers on Monday, the same force can wield the oar with similar effect against bricklayers on Tuesday and against office workers on Wednesday. Recently the nation saw the government of the United States using not an oar but a sledgehammer on the miners. During most of 1946, while the owners continued to draw their profits—profits of no mean proportions—the government had the mines in its charge. As time passed, grievances developed. The miners then asked for adjustments and, as they had every right to do, sought to present their complaint and plea for remedial action to the Secretary of the Interior. That gentleman, instead of meeting in good faith with the miners' representatives and trying to work out a fair and equitable adjustment, decided to emulate the hard-bitten, labor-hating tycoons of an unlamented past. He refused to consider the merits of the miners' petition; instead, he determined to employ the forces of government to do for the operators what they themselves had never been able to accomplish, even in the palmy days when they were a law unto themselves. The government's resort to the anti-labor injunction remains fresh in everyone's mind. What the Supreme Court will have to say remains to be seen, but whatever the decision of our highest tribunal may be, the workers of this 4 AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST country will always remember with intense indignation the spectacle of government placing itself above the law and deliberately refusing to respect and obey a statute, the Norris-LaGuardia Anti-Injunction Act, which the government is required to uphold and enforce. When the government went into court to attempt to strip 400,000 Americans of their right not to work when they saw fit not to work, it acted in clear violation of the plainly worded constitutional guarantee against involuntary servitude. When an ordinary citizen flouts the Constitution or the statutes, the newspapers roundly assail him, and such condemnation is entirely proper; but when the government itself, whose officers are sworn to defend and uphold the Constitution and the nation's laws, violates a well-known law which has been on the books for fourteen years, the newspapers applaud and cheer. But when the venal editorials have long been forgotten the workers in the coal fields and their fellow workers everywhere will still remember and still resent a government's shabby and immoral deed. It is pertinent here to point out that much of a misleading nature has been printed in regard to the earnings of the miners. There has been a deliberate effort to persuade the general public that the mine workers are rolling in wealth. The obvious purpose has been to make it appear that the miners have been and are today without justification in seeking pay adjustments. Is there any truth to this propaganda? No, there is not. Not an iota. In May of last year, when the Krug-Lewis agreement was signed, the miners did secure a pay increase. That increase was long overdue. Then, as living costs continued to rise, this increase was pretty well wiped out. Labor's Monthly Survey, in its December issue, showed the inadequacy of the miner's wages as compared with those of workers performing far less hazardous jobs. The miner's average wage for a nine-hour day, the Survey reported, is only $11.85, while it is from $15.67 to $18.52 for a longshoreman. The truck driver in a coal mine, in constant risk of accident and disease, gets only $12 for his nine-hour day, while A. F. of L. truck drivers in fourteen cities, working in the fresh air and sunlight, have already won $14.25 to $16.91 for nine hours of work in one day. Then if the pay of an electrical worker in a coal mine is compared with that of an electrical worker in building construction, it is found that the worker risking his life deep in a mine receives from $5 to $7 less per day than his fellow wage-earner in the construction industry. As for the hazards of coal mining, no one has stepped forward to dispute that for every worker killed in an American factory, twelve workers are killed in the mines. In the coal regions the newspapers carry stories every working day about miners who have lost their lives while practicing their most dangerous trade. In every coal-producing state the widows and orphans of miners are numbered in the thousands. The simple fact of the matter is that, even if the miner's pay were to be increased most substantially, he would not be properly compensated for the great contribution he makes to our economy and for the constant hazards he is compelled to endure. It is also a fact—a sad fact—that the nation rarely considers the pressing problems of the mine worker, his needs and worries, his desire to take care of his family and educate his children and enjoy the rights and privileges of American citizenship that are so often written about and discussed. The miners, as represented by the United Mine Workers of America, have always been self-reliant and determined. They have won higher pay and better conditions over the years through the exercise of their combined strength. They intend to continue to gain better pay and better conditions in the years ahead in the same manner —through the one institution which the wage-earner can always look to with confidence, his own union, the U.M.W. The operators are sadly mistaken if they imagine that at this late date they will be permitted to destroy what has taken half a century to build up. On the other hand, if the operators will bargain in good faith with the United Mine Workers, the industry can provide a fair return to management and a decent livelihood to its employes. Use of anti-labor government official and illegal resort to "inunction law" represent a futile and foolish approach. The miners of this nation will never meekly accept the status of slaves. The United Mine Workers and the operators can settle their problems in the American way, around the table, without the interference of outsiders. The union has always favored direct negotiations with the operators and has always been ready to bargain in good faith with the operators. Now it is for the operators to decide whether they are ready to discard the stupid plan of using government puppets against the mine workers of the nation and, in lieu of that ill-advised program, sit down around the table with representatives of the U.M.W. and work out a settlement fair to all parties. The operators beat their breasts and assert that they believe in free enterprise. If they really do, let them prove it by practicing it now in the all-important field of labor relations. Life in the Mining Towns [From a Letter in the Christian Science Monitor] In December, 1893, my father was a coal miner. He was working for $1 a day, and that day was twelve hours long. Furthermore, the mines in northern West Virginia, where I have spent all my life, shut down for more than six months. The miners were desperate. They would work at anything for even 50 cents a day to get bread for their children. Well do I remember the coal strikes of 1904 and 1908. The miners were working for 40 cents a ton and for a ten-hour day they got 15 to 17 1/2 cents an hour. I remember when we had nothing in the house to eat but soup, beans and potatoes. Our clothing was patched until it wouldn't hold any more patches. e had to go without shoes when it was cold enough to freeze ice. Those are the conditions the miners worked under until the Wagner Labor Act was passed. When I was nearly 14, my father took me in the mine to work on a mining machine. For ten hours' work I received $1.25. My father then made about $3. During the winter months we saw daylight once a week—on Sunday. In the community where I live and the one where I now teach—both are coal-mining communities—there isn't a single family that has a bathtub. There is no water in the houses. A central pump has to supply as many as ten families. Playgrounds? Community centers? Movies? The miners would think that the earth was coming to an end if they had any of them. And the company stores still get most of the miners' hard-earned money. Miners don't make the wages some people say they do. All miners have to pay for their explosives and when a man makes $12 he has used $2 worth of explosives. Then there are lights and smithing to be deducted. Rents are high for the kind of houses the miners live in. JUSTUS A. DEAHL. Tunnelton, W. Va. JANUARY, 1947 5 IN FLORIDA'S FOOTSTEPS Arizona, Nebraska and South Dakota Prohibit Closed-Shop Agreements Legislatures have become stamping ground for foes of trade unionism by JOSEPH A. PADWAY A.F. of L. General Counsel IN THE November elections the states of Arizona, Nebraska, and South Dakota adopted amendments to their state constitutions outlawing any and all types of closed-shop or union-security agreements. Under these amendments any provision in a collective bargaining contract which requires union membership as a condition of employment is prohibited. The amendments apply to all agreements, whether entered into prior to the time the amendment was adopted or at a subsequent time. The amendments seek to dissolve union-security relationships, no matter how traditional in the industry or trade and no matter whether desired by employers, labor organizations and all employees involved. These amendments were patterned after a similar amendment adopted by Florida in 1943. There are proposals for similar laws in many other states of the Union, as well as nationally through federal legislation. The American Federation of Labor 6 AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST has pledged itself to exert every possible effort to defeat these amendments in the courts. A decision in any one state holding the amendment unconstitutional will not only operate to invalidate all existing amendments but will discourage attempts to pass additional anti-closed-shop laws in the future. There is no right, outside of the right to strike, which is more sacred to organized labor or more necessary for its protection and security, if not for its very existence, than the right to seek and to obtain union-shop or other forms of union-security agreements. Experience over the many years since the workers of country first sought organization has demonstrated conclusively that the union shop is the only practicable means of preventing the undermining of an established labor organization by discriminatory or other practices of an employer, of maintaining union wages and conditions by preventing cutthroat non-union competition, of achieving a real equality of bargaining power and, finally, of insuring an equality of sacrifice by requiring that all who enjoy union wages and working conditions achieved through years of struggle and deprivation share in the costs of such benefits as members of the union, rather than participate without contribution as "free riders." Knowing the importance, indeed the indispensability, of the union-security principle to the trade union movement, opponents of organized labor have singled it out for attack by passing and seeking to pass laws such as have been passed in Florida, Arizona, Nebraska and South Dakota. The American Federation of Labor is resolved to carry the battle in all states to the highest courts in a determined effort to preserve labor's traditional prerogatives. We assert that such laws are arbitrary, discriminatory and a deprivation of fundamental rights. Furthermore, such laws conflict with federally granted rights, such as the right to negotiate for union-security agreements guaranteed by the National Labor Relations Act. In accordance with its commitment, the American Federation of Labor has assigned the writer and his associates to the task of defeating these unconscionable laws in every state where they arise. We have already commenced litigation in Florida challenging the laws passed there, but that litigation, which was commenced in the federal courts, has been returned by the United States Supreme Court to the state courts for a prior construction and interpretation of the law. Similar litigation before the state courts of Nebraska, Arizona and South Dakota is now in preparation. Herbert S. Thatcher, who is an associate of the writer and has been active in much litigation involving anti-labor laws in the past few years, has just returned from a trip to Nebraska, Arizona and South Dakota where he met with officials of the State Federations of Labor of those states, together with their attorneys. Specific lawsuits have been drawn up which will serve to bring before the courts the various legal issues involved under the challenge to the constitutionality of each state law. Unlike Florida, neither Nebraska, Arizona, nor South Dakota, acting through its Attorney General, is asserting any active role in enforcing the law. The laws contain no specific penalties, either civil or criminal, for a violation thereof available to the state. Accordingly, the contemplated lawsuits will take the form of injunctions requiring employers to comply with existing union-security provisions, together with a request for a declaration by the court of the rights and duties of labor organizations, employers and the individual employes under the amendments. In our suits we shall contend that the amendments violate the federal Constitution in numerous respects, among them being impairment of obligations of existing contracts, arbitrary denial of the right to contract in the future, discrimination in favor of non-union employes as against union employes, and conflict with the Wagner Act. It is proposed that the suits will be instituted in Nebraska and Arizona immediately after the first of the year. In South Dakota it is expected that the Legislature may take some action to implement the amendment, pending which there probably will be no enforcement. Therefore, no suit will be immediately instituted in that state. However, a determination in any state will be conclusive as to all states. Of the three pending sets of litigation in Florida, Nebraska and Arizona, whichever case is first decided by the State Supreme Court will then immediately be appealed to the United States Supreme Court if the decision is adverse. A decision on the merits in either Nebraska or Arizona by the State Supreme Court can be expected by March or April. This means that if an appeal to the United States Supreme Court is necessary, it could not be heard by that court until early next fall. However, pending this litigation, the A. F. of L. organizations are advised to insist on union-shop contracts, thereby preserving the status quo, and, as we are informed, employers, with but few exceptions, are cooperating in preserving the status quo. All litigation in respect to the various anti-closed-shop laws or constitutional amendments is being conducted by the American Federation of Labor in conjunction with the respective State Federations of Labor. The utmost cooperation has been secured from the State Federations and their counsel, and it is expected that this litigation will proceed rapidly through the courts. In the meantime, it is urged that unions experiencing difficulty on account of these laws refrain from instituting separate suits, but bring all such difficulties to the attention of their State Federations of Labor. The American Federation of Labor and the State Federation will keep the membership informed as to the progress of the litigation. Teachers Set Wage Minimum Terming the crisis facing the public schools "a national tragedy," the Executive Council of the American Federation of Teachers has issued a statement urging all local affiliates to work for minimum salaries of $2500 a year. The Council charged that one teacher in six in the public schools is not qualified or adequately trained, and pointed out that increasing salaries would attract more qualified teachers and solve the teacher shortage by making it unnecessary for teachers to leave the profession to secure a living wage. "We believe that every child in the nation is entitled to at least a $2500 teacher," the statement declared. The Council called also for smaller classes. Overcrowding was held to contribute to teen-age delinquency. "A large part of the crime and delinquency problem facing the nation has resulted from overcrowding of classes caused by the teacher shortage," the Council said. "The estimated cost of crime and delinquency in 1946 probably will be greater than the profits of all American industry during the same period. "Economically as well as socially, the crisis facing the public schools is a national tragedy. It is a situation which requires the services of the best teaching talent in the nation. The nation cannot afford to continue the loss of many of its most competent teachers." The Council urged that teachers be freed from political fear and be assured democratic working conditions. JANUARY, 1947 7 ——— Cooperative laundry was started in Phoenix to teach recalcitrant employers folly of refusing to negotiate ——— We Know How to Fight By SAM J. BYERS President, Laundry Workers International Union AT Phoenix, Arizona, the Laundry Workers International Union discovered that the laundry owners would stoop to any kind of chicanery to prevent their employes from joining a union and obtaining decent wages and working conditions. The employes of the Phoenix Linen Supply responded readily to our appeal to join Local 287 of the Laundry Workers International Union. Within a short time we had signed up a majority. Last February they voted for a union, 66 to 14. But the Phoenix Linen Supply refused to sign a contract. This company was under Army control when the other laundries in Phoenix received OPA permission to raise their prices. We cooperated with the Phoenix Linen Supply in the preparation of its petition to OPA for increases which would bring its prices into line with those charged by other laundries in the city. The company, voicing gratitude, promised to bargain with us. But as soon as the price adjustment came through the company promptly forgot its promise. The company's next move was to inform us that we would have to negotiate on a citywide basis for all the laundries in Phoenix. The Phoenix Industrial Council was authorized to represent all the laundries. We commenced negotiations with the Council. While we were having our troubles, the Teamsters were having theirs. They had signed up the drivers of the Phoenix Linen Supply. The Industrial Council didn't want to bargain with the Teamsters. Then one of the drivers was discharged for union activity and negotiations stopped completely. Conciliator Lyle Johnson attempted to bring the parties together again, but was unable to get management to agree. The A. F. of L. locals in Phoenix had been cooperating 100 per cent, but after this final provocation they decided something really effective had to be done. They decided to open a cooperative laundry to serve the barbers, butchers, hotels and restaurants. The money for the machinery and the linens was put up by A. F. of L. local unions in Arizona. Among the contributors were the Bartenders, Teamsters, Painters, Butchers, Bakers, Office Workers, Street Railway Workers, Laborers, Carpenters, Typos and many others. The Laundry Workers International Union pledged all-out financial assistance to promote the cooperative venture and the local A. F. of L. unions guaranteed that they would provide sufficient funds to continue the operation as long as necessary. The Cooperative Laundry began service to Phoenix barbers on July 18. It was a success from the start. This success has been achieved in the face of violent opposition from the laundry owners. They have done everything in their power to wreck the venture. When the Cooperative Laundry first started, it did not have enough 8 AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST towels to supply all the barbers in Phoenix. The Phoenix Linen Supply discovered this and immediately notified the barbers that it would discontinue all service unless every barber in Phoenix refused to patronize the union laundry. When our organizer learned of the company's ultimatum, he immediately boarded a plane for Los Angeles. The next day the union laundry had enough towels to supply every barber in Phoenix. Within forty-eight hours of the company's ultimatum union towels were being delivered to the barber shops. The barbers, jubilant, set the towels supplied by the Phoenix Linen Supply out on the sidewalk. If left to its own devices, it is probable that the company would have negotiated with us at this point. However, the Arizona open shoppers, who have adequate resources for a long fight, wanted to use the Phoenix Linen Supply as a guinea pig and the company allowed itself to be so used. To make certain that the union laundry would have a large enough supply of towels to continue its excellent service to the barbers, General Secretary-Treasurer Charles Lindgren in Chicago obtained a large quantity and sent them to our local in Phoenix. Towels also poured into Phoenix from our locals in St. Louis and San Francisco. The Hotel and Restaurant Employes in Phoenix are ready to put towels from our laundry in every restaurant and the bartenders will put them in every tavern. This isn't the first time our union has tried running a laundry when the industry refused to bargain with us. Our Local 49 in Spokane, Washington, started and operated a laundry in that city when it came up against the organized opposition of the industry. The fight in Spokane was carried on for five years. In the end our local obtained the contract which management should have been ready to negotiate at the outset. In Spokane we fought for five years. In Phoenix we will fight for ten years, if necessary. Time and expense mean nothing where a fundamental principle of unionism is involved. The Phoenix laundry is operated under a permit from the Phoenix Cooperative Association, which also provided the machinery. The local unions in Phoenix are making the Cooperative Laundry a permanent business and enlarging it, so that it will be able to handle all of the linen supply work in the city if the laundries continue to refuse to recognize and bargain with their employes. The initiative and militant spirit of our members and their determination to overcome the obstacles placed in their path will win. Morale is high. Ultimately our Phoenix employers will see the folly of their course. They will realize that the Laundry Workers International Union is a labor organization that is to be respected and dealt with honestly and fairly. Committee Backs Free Bargaining FAITH of labor and management in the American system of free collective bargaining was affirmed last month in a statement of policy adopted unanimously by the Labor-Management Advisory Committee of the United States Conciliation Service. A. F. of L. members of the group are Frank P. Fenton, director of organization, and Boris Shishkin, economist. The management members are H. W. Steinkraus, president, Bridgeport Brass Company; Louis Ruthenburg, president, Servel, Inc.; V. P. Ahearn, executive secretary, National Sand and Gravel Association, Inc., and Clarence O. Skinner, Automotive and Aviation Parts Manufacturers, Inc. The Advisory Committee's statement: "The postwar government policy of free collective bargaining places full responsibility for continuous production on management and on labor. There is now no labor board to fix wage rates or order conditions of work. Disputes over these issues must now be settled by give and take at the bargaining table. "This is as it should be. The policy of free collective bargaining is the policy recommended unanimously by the President's Labor-Management Conference on Industrial Relations. Under this policy the government's role in collective bargaining is limited to one of voluntary mediation through the United States Conciliation Service. "In this difficult period of transition we recommend that the Conciliation Service preserve a maximum flexibility in its mediation program. The daily mediation efforts of federal conciliators are assisting in the prevention of many strikes and in the settlement of those that do occur. To supplement their activity, we recommend the further development of four major mediation techniques for special types of cases. No one of these techniques is a cure-all; each one, in its proper place, may be useful in assisting management and labor representatives to arrive at a voluntary settlement of their own problems. "(1) Special Conciliators. We recommend the establishment of a panel of men nationally known for their work in labor relations, these men to be used as special conciliators for major industrial disputes. "(2) Tripartite Mediation. In some types of disputes the use of representatives of industry and of labor to serve in an advisory capacity with the conciliator in his mediation efforts will be helpful. Panels of industry and labor representatives should be established by the Conciliation Service for this purpose. "(3) Voluntary Arbitration "(A) Grievance Procedure— Wherever it appears that union-management relations would be improved by the arbitration of disputes over the interpretation or application of the terms of an agreement, we recommend that management and labor write into their collective bargaining agreements a provision using arbitration as a terminal point in the disposition of all grievance issues subject to arbitration under the agreement. "(B) Basic Contract Terms—New contract issues should be determined by the parties at the bargaining table. However, there are disputes in which the Conciliation Service may usefully recommend the use of voluntary arbitration to resolve such issues after all mediation processes have been exhausted. "(4) Emergency Boards. We recommend for cases of national importance, where normal mediation efforts have failed and where the parties consent, that emergency boards of inquiry be appointed from outside the federal government to conduct hearings on the issues and to publish findings based upon evidence submitted at those hearings. "Members of the Labor-Management Advisory Committee believe that a system of free collective bargaining can work. We believe that any form of compulsory arbitration or 'super machinery' for disposition of labor disputes may frustrate rather than foster industrial peace. "With collective bargaining freed from all wartime controls, we believe that American industry and American labor can and will assume their individual and joint responsibilities for the production of the goods and services so necessary to a prosperous peacetime America." JANUARY, 1947 9 The Granite Cutters By LAURENCE FOLEY President, Granite Cutters International Association SO FAR no one has been able to find records giving a connected amount of organization among granite cutters in this country prior to the formation of the National Union of Granite Cutters in March, 1877. However, there were many local unions spread along the Atlantic coast, as is proved by copies of constitutions and by-laws, and these locals had a system of exchanging cards. Organized granite cutters in Washington, D. C., petitioned President Andrew Jackson to support a plan to build a granite bridge over the Potomac River at Washington, a plan that was adopted one hundred years later. The span is the magnificent Arlington Bridge. At about the same time, organizations of granite cutters in New York City were making vigorous protest against the use of convict labor in the cutting of granite for municipal purposes. Brief mention here and there in documents shows that locals in different parts of the country were active from 1820 to 1877. National Union Formed in 1877 In 1877 a small number of granite cutters met at Rockland, Maine, and formed the National Union of Granite Cutters, which was to change its name to Granite Cutters International Association of America in 1905. Thompson Murch was elected secretary-treasurer, which was the title given to the chief executive. The new organization was faced by conditions that required ability, energy, perseverance and fortitude of the highest order in those who had determined there must be a change. There were ten- and twelve-hour work days, ten in winter, twelve in summer, piecework was the rule and earnings were very small. Company stores and company boarding houses made heavy inroads on the small earnings, and it was not unusual for the granite cutter with a family to be told on pay day that no money was due him, and worse, that he owed money to the company store. Labor unions at that time were regarded as a menace to employers and to society. This feeling was especially strong in the villages and small towns, where many granite cutting plants were located. Because of the existing prejudice and hostility, granite cutters had to organize secretly at first, and this was very difficult in the small communities where everybody knew everybody's business. Unconquerable and unswerving resolution, joined with the eagerness to bring about organization, overcame all resistance, and soon after the initial action at Rockland the national union had chartered branches all over the country. This was not brought about by paid officers. There was no such office or officer in the union. Every man carrying a card was an organizer. Always noted as a man with restless feet, the wandering granite cutter carried the gospel of economic and social betterment into every hamlet and town where granite was cut, and let it be said, too, wherever these union missionaries found groups of granite cutters they found men willing, and more than willing—eager—to be organized. Thompson Murch continued in the office of secretary-treasurer for two years and then resigned because of his election as a member of Congress from Maine. Most of his contemporaries have passed on and there is little documentary evidence to give a definite impression of his personality. It is evident, however, that he must have been a remarkable man to win election to Congress in those years, when affiliation with organized labor was regarded as a stigma. Josiah B. Dyer succeeded him in the office of secretary-treasurer. Mr. Dyer wielded a powerful pen, was an accomplished strategist. During his fourteen years in office the organization forged steadily ahead in improving working conditions. The hours of the working day were shortened, wages were increased, the monthly payday was cut down to payday every two weeks, and the company store evil was curbed. Adjustment committees were formed and recognized, thus providing a way for the amicable adjustment of all grievances. In 1881 the union applied for a charter from the Trades and Labor Assembly, as the American Federation of Labor was then known. The charter was issued, and from then on the organized granite cutters have been affiliated with the national trade union movement. It can be understood that betterment in working conditions was not brought about without struggle and sacrifice. The blacklist and the courts were weapons freely used by employers, but the indomitable spirit of union granite cutters regarded the use of these weapons as indications of the need for stronger and better organized effort. Repression and injustice acted as stimulants to the determination to maintain and perfect organization, no matter how great the sacrifice. Finally in 1892 the employers massed all of their forces and resources in a supreme effort to destroy the National Union of Granite Cutters. The question raised by the employers to provoke the conflict would seem to those not understanding the situation to be an insufficient cause for a quarrel. The employers demanded that all agreements expire on the last day of December, instead of on the last day of April, as was the custom. At that time granite cutting operations were almost at a standstill in the winter. Under these conditions the employers were in a position to dictate terms of new agreements to be put into effect on January 1, while the employes were in an advantageous position to insist on equitable terms for new agreements when the agreements went into effect on May 1. As the union could not agree to the change in the date demanded by the employers, the employers locked out their employes. The lockout affected pretty nearly the entire industry, and months lengthened into years before the 1892 lockout was really ended. When it did end, however, the employers' organization was dead and the union was alive, inspired with the determination to repair damage done during the years of strife. James Duncan Named to Office In 1895 James Duncan was elected secretary-treasurer, continuing in the office until 1912, when the title was changed to international president. He served as international president until 1923, when he resigned after having held the office of chief executive for nearly twenty-nine years. He was an able executive, remarkably gifted as a writer and orator, and his influence was a powerful factor in shaping the policy of the whole American labor movement. His association with the American Federation of Labor began soon after its formation and lasted until his death in 1928. His memory will be revered while trade unionism endures. During his term as international president union granite cutters were constantly forging ahead. The eight-hour day was won, then the Saturday half-holiday, weekly paydays were 10 AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST established and the company store passed off the scene completely. Piecework was eliminated and wages were increased from $2.50 per day to an $8 minimum. As the years rolled on, however, changing conditions brought new and exceedingly serious problems. The introduction of the pneumatic tool in the early part of the twentieth century brought a health hazard into the industry that was unknown up to that time. Granite cutters immediately directed attention to the dust made by the pneumatic tool and pointed out that this would increase in the amount of dust would be injurious to health. In 1909 the Northfield, Vermont, branch objected to the use of a tool that had been proved to be especially injurious. Called the "bumper," this tool was a heavy pneumatic hammer driving a four-pointed object that raised clouds of dust. The objection to the use of this tool was met by a lockout that lasted for months, and included all the branches in the Barre, Vermont, belt, the largest granite cutting district in the world. The lockout ended the use of the bumper but emptied the treasury of the union. However, the calm, unflinching courage and sacrifice of its members against brought it safely to shore. An attempt to put a $3 daily minimum into effect in 1900 was not wholly successful, but it did come about a few years later. A convention in 1912 decided that a $4 minimum would be established on or before May 1, 1916. The date for the increased minimum to go into effect was set far ahead in order not to interfere with existing agreements, which had been negotiated from 1900 up to 1919, and ran for four- and five-year periods. The request for the $4 minimum naturally met with opposition, but it went into effect at the appointed time. The entry of the United States into World War I found nearly all branches of the Association bound by long-term agreements at the $4 daily rate. Living costs soared, wages in all other lines rose and finally representatives of the employers and of the Granite Cutters met in the early part of 1919 and agreed to an upward revision of wage rates all over the country which brought the minimum up to $8 per day in 1920. In the latter part of 1920 and lasting through 1921 there was a slackening of business and employers demanded in 1921 that wages be reduced to $6.40 per day minimum. Granite cutters refused to accept the suggested wage reduction. The refusal was followed by another lockout. The few members who were working assessed themselves heavily and supported those locked out. At the end of 1922 and the beginning of 1923 the situation broke and a few firms signed for an $8 minimum rate. They were joined by others and finally almost all firms signed. The introduction of machinery on a large scale since then has brought about revolutionary changes in the industry and along with these changes have come more problems. The wisdom, moderation and fortitude that have characterized the policies and actions of the union granite cutters for more than half a century will solve these problems in a way that will elevate the moral, intellectual and social condition of all connected with the industry. In 1923 Sam Squibb was elected international president and held the office until his death in 1935. During his term of office there were troublesome times also, but the union again weathered the storm, and in 1940 was able to establish a minimum of $9 per day for granite cutters all over the country for a five-day week. This has been steadily increased and now granite cutters are working under an $11 per day minimum. The writer was elected to succeed Sam Squibb in the early part of 1936 and is still serving in that capacity. Great strides have been made in organizing and reorganizing among granite cutters; new locals are forming every day. Many new apprentices have started within the past year under the government's apprentice training program, and things are moving very satisfactorily in the granite cutting industry at the present writing. ——— A quarry at Barre, Vermont, in world's foremost granite-cutting district JANUARY, 1947 11 Labor and Vocational Education By HARRY J. HAGEN Vice-President, International Union of Wood, Wire and Metal Lathers THE LABORING man, when he thinks about trade and industrial education, feels that it should provide the training needed for gainful employment in the occupation chosen by the individual. He feels that this training should be of such a nature as to prepare a person for entrance into that occupation and to equip him to make satisfactory progress as time passes. Labor certainly recognizes that the successful mechanic is happily adjusted socially, physically and mentally. Trade unionists, not only as a group of employed people who are organized but also as citizens of this republic, look to the schools to provide for all the youth of the land, regardless of race, creed or color, the general basic education and the respect for the ideals of liberty which are the foundations of our nation. The schools should put each youth in possession of the tools of learning— reading, writing and arithmetic. The schools should also provide opportunities for instruction in the industrial arts and in home economics, and credit for these subjects should be on the same level as that accorded other subjects. To a man interested in labor, it appears just as essential for an American youth to be trained in the use of his hands as it is for him to be trained in foreign languages or other subjects less essential to the earning of a living. This does not mean that labor expects the high schools to turn out finished craftsmen in any line. We do recognize, however, that the skill which guides the artist's brush or the sculptor's chisel or the ordinary hand- or machine-driven tool is as essential in fulfilling the development of mind as is learning from books alone. Labor is also cognizant of the fact that industrial arts or home making or any other type of training which enables the fingers to do in a skillful way what the brain conceives is not confined entirely to the mechanical trades but includes many types of office skills, the sewing and cooking skills and artistic development in many lines. ——— It is just as essential, the author holds, to train a youth to use his hands as it is to instruct him in foreign languages and the other cultural subjects ——— ——— MR. HAGEN ——— The training of apprentices is more important today than at any time in the past. During the war much was accomplished by training people to perform a limited number of operations well. Unquestionably this procedure helped greatly in the winning of the war. But today we face new problems. We want production sufficient to meet the needs of mankind and a little extra to add joy to living. We also want something more. We want our workmen to be intelligent workmen. We want quantity and quality of production. The mere acquisition of a few hand skills that produce quantity is not enough in the way of training the postwar worker. Many technological changes took place during the war. New production methods which were developed in the course of the war are now being introduced into peacetime industry. These technological changes and new methods have increased the need for vocational training. It is evident now that, although great efficiency was developed in the production of war material, no new training procedure was found which can approach well-planned apprenticeship. This is especially true in the development of building trades workers. The skilled trades, with their apprenticeship periods of three or more years, should look to the school to provide not only instruction in related subjects, such as mathematics, drawing or science, but also the coordination of the school work with the practical side of apprenticeship carried out in the shop or on the job. To turn out a journeyman with a knowledge of and experience in the basic skills of his trade requires 12 AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST that the apprentice shall be put through a systematized course of training on the job. Neither employers nor labor has wholeheartedly assumed the duty of preparing progressive instruction courses in skills nor set up the machinery that will insure to every apprentice some exposure or experience in each of the basic skills. Without this supervision it is possible for a man to spend years of his apprenticeship in a specialty or on a job in which his initial skill is of too much financial benefit to his employer and to the apprentice for either to insist that he go slower and take on new jobs to learn new skills which eventually he will have to have if he is to be a well-rounded mechanic. As an illustration, consider an apprentice in the sheet metal trade who works for a contractor whose business almost exclusively is the installation of steel ceilings. When this man emerges from his apprenticeship, if he should spend all of his years as an apprentice in that particular specialty shop, he will be completely untrained in many of the minor and major basic skills that are expected of a sheet metal worker in the construction industry. Labor believes that intensive programs of training for trade, industry and commerce should be restricted to those who are 17 years of age or older and should be given immediately preceding entrance into industrial life. Experience on the job, either as apprentices in mechanical trades or as junior office workers, will build upon the foundation of school training to the advantage of the youth and the employer. When we think of trade and industrial education we really think in terms of apprentice training. Apprenticeship has many advantages for both the youth entering industrial service and for the society in which he is going to live. It is organized labor's sincere desire that the apprentice shall be made to feel and trained to meet his social obligations. We want our apprentices to see their responsibilities to their fellow men. The development of an intelligent, socially adjusted workman cannot be plotted in terms of definite mathematical procedures that lead to an end goal. We recognize that the training of apprentices is a many-sided job. In St. Louis in the prewar days there was an extensive and successful program of apprentice training as well as a large and successful program of adult education. The war years interrupted both parts of the adult education program. Now, with the training of veterans on the job under the G.I. Bill of Rights, apprenticeship is bigger than anything the St. Louis schools experienced at any time in the past. This program covers seventeen separate crafts. There is a total registration of 1,000 apprentices. Whenever an industry, represented by an advisory committee, can furnish fifty apprentices to attend school one half-day per week, the St. Louis public schools, with the assistance of state and federal agencies, put on a man to teach these apprentices and spend one-third of his employed time in the supervision of the apprentices on the job. The object is to see that practical experience keeps pace with school training. It has become a common practice to set up local apprentice committees. From these local committees have come some excellent training procedures. Some localities are more fortunate than others. For example, Chicago has Philip L. McNamee as Assistant Superintendent of Schools in charge of vocational education. He is a man who started as a tradesman and, although he has reached a high level professionally, has kept in touch with labor and guided his associates to provide the type of training needed by apprentices. Paralleling Mr. McNamee's work in Chicago has been that of Fred J. Jeffrey in St. Louis. This wise and patient educator is admired by everyone who has been privileged to work with him. His enthusiasm for trade and industrial education has been a constant source of inspiration. There are many others in various parts of the country to whom praise should be given. They are people who are doing excellent work in their own communities. Nationally, however, it is evident that we lack a program of sufficient magnitude and quality to turn out the skilled, intelligent craftsmen needed. Labor has had a most important part in placing in the hands of vocational educators the tools for doing the job and funds for carrying on trade and industrial education. Every convention of the American Federation of Labor has given consideration to the education of American youth. Full-time school attendance laws and child labor laws tied to school attendance have been enacted through the efforts of organized labor. Every law pertaining to the furnishing of funds for vocational training on the federal level was passed with the assistance of labor. What better evidence of labor's interest in education and vocational training could be cited? Labor looks to the public schools to support apprentice education and trade extension or employment extension education in all lines. The facilities required for such a program in every community should be conveniently accessible to apprentices and employes. There is a need for the establishment of a national program of trade and industrial training which meets the requirements of the workmen of our country. Organized labor stands ready to assist in any way possible in the accomplishment of such a program. ——— There Are Now 7,233,258 of Us Figures compiled by George Meany, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Labor, show that membership of the A. F. of L. increased from 7,151,808 on August 31 to 7,233,258 by the close of the year. MR. MEANY This gain reveals the lack of truth in reports that the organized labor movement in the United States has suffered a setback in recent months. The new membership total is the highest in the history of the American Federation of Labor. Substantial increases in membership have been reported from the South, where an intensive organizing campaign has been under way in recent months, and from every other section of the country. Whatever may be happening to unions affiliated with other organizations, it is certain that the American Federation of Labor is surging forward, winning new adherents daily in almost every field of wage-earning endeavor. A particularly noteworthy growth in membership has been taking place recently among teachers, insurance men, government workers and other white-collar employes. Today's A. F. of L. membership is close to three times as large as that of fifteen years ago and is greater by approximately 3,000,000 than the total back in 1940. After World War I the membership of many unions fell off rather sharply, but a similar development is not anticipated this time. For the wage-earners of America have learned that organization spells higher pay and increased security. ——— JANUARY, 1947 13 Death Summons E. E. Milliman, Frank Kasten _____________________ THE LATE E. E. MILLIMAN TWO international presidents of American Federation of Labor organizations died last month. They were Elmer E. Milliman, who had served as the head of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes since 1940, and Frank Kasten, leader of the United Brick and Clay Workers for thirty years. Death came to Mr. Milliman, one of the best-liked leaders in the American labor movement, on the last day of the year, in a Detroit hospital to which he had gone for a major operation. He was 56. His sudden passing came as a great shock and was mourned not only by his own members and railroad workers in general, but by all labor. He had rendered notable service to the American Federation of Labor on many occasions. William Green, president of the A. F. of L., expressed the sorrow of American labor. He said: "No one can adequately appraise the great loss which the hosts of labor have sustained. He was an outstanding leader, possessed of the highest degree of honor and integrity." Elmer Milliman was born at Mount Morris, New York, where he attended grammar and high schools. Subsequently he studied engineering for a time in Rochester. During a decade of service with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad he became deeply interested in the economic problems faced by his fellow workers. He was elected general chairman of the Maintenance of Way Employes for the D. L. & W. System and a few years later, having made a most impressive record, was promoted to the office of secretary-treasurer of the international union. Eighteen years later Mr. Milliman was elevated to the presidency, winning reelection in 1943 and again in 1946. Mr. Kasten succumbed to heart disease December 12 at the age of 68. His passing is a heavy loss to the American labor movement, which he has served ably for a period of three decades. Mr. Kasten, a member of Local 3, had an important role in the memorable strike of the Brick and Clay Workers at Brazil, Indiana, thirty years ago. On that occasion Judge Anderson, an "injunction judge," ordered the jailing of every union officer who had anything to do with the strike. Despite the judge's actions, the union refused to crumble and was ultimately victorious. One of the smaller affiliates of the A. F. of L., the union headed by Mr. Kasten nevertheless enjoyed high esteem during his presidency, thanks in large part to him statesmanlike policies. Outspoken and determined, he followed sound procedures in fighting for the economic advancement of the workers whom he represented and was always ready to extend full cooperation to all sister organizations. Other recent deaths: SAMUEL SHORE, 55, vice-president, International Ladies' Garment Workers Union. ELMER SPAHR, treasurer, Bricklayers, Masons and Plasterers International Union. WILLIAM KAUFMAN, vice-president ——— THE LATE FRANK KASTEN emeritus, Metal Polishers, Buffers, Platers and Helpers. V. A. ZIMMER, 60, director, Division of Labor Standards, U.S. Department of Labor. 14 AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST ——— Sugar is a major crop, and unions have stricken to obtain better wages for workers both in fields and mills PUERTO RICO MOVES ALONG By NICOLAS NOGUERAS RIVERA Secretary-Treasurer, Puerto Rico Free Federation of Workingmen ——— THE AUTHOR ON July 25, 1898, American troops landed in Puerto Rico and the working people of the island started a new life under the American flag. Almost a year later Santiago Iglesias, born in Spain, founded the Puerto Rico Free Federation of Workingmen. This was something new for Puerto Rican labor. The date was July 18, 1899. During the 400 years of Spanish control over the island, the working people had suffered under the exploitation of a privileged class. They had labored from sun to sun for a pittance. There were no school facilities for their children. Owning no property, they did not vote. In the initial report rendered by Charles H. Allen, first Governor of Puerto Rico under the civil government established in 1900, we can read that out of 322,393 children of school age, only eight per cent attended school. Now over 80 per cent of the school population of nearly 450,000 children has the opportunity to attend schools. There is a staff of nearly 7,000 teachers and there are 6,000 schoolrooms. The Puerto Rico Free Federation of Workingmen affiliated with the American Federation of Labor in 1901. This development was considered as a historic event by labor in Puerto Rico. Fraternal relations with this powerful labor institution of the United States, it was felt, would give strength to our local movement in its efforts to transform the economic, social and political life of Puerto Rican workers. Gompers Visits the Island Four years later President Samuel Gompers visited the island. His visit created a better understanding between the American Federation of Labor and its state branch in Puerto Rico. In 1917 a new organic law for Puerto Rico was approved by the Congress of the United States. American citizenship was granted to the people of the island. This political evolution favored decisively the cause of organized labor in Puerto Rico as represented by the Free Federation of Workingmen. As any other labor organization in any part of the world where there had been oppression, tyranny, exploitation and reactionary forces, we have offered the lives and blood, the liberty and tranquillity of leaders and members of our glorious institution in the humanitarian endeavor to create social justice, free trade unionism and democracy and a better understanding of the inalienable rights of labor. Since its inception the Puerto Rico Free Federation of Workingmen, with the support and assistance of its parent organization, the American Federation of Labor, has achieved unprecedented gains in the economic, social and political fields for the working people. From 1899 to 1940 the toiling masses of Puerto Rico were united under the banners of our institution, the only labor organization in the island. In 1940 a dual movement, apparently sponsored by the government under Professor Tugwell's administration, emerged from the ranks of the so-called radical groups, producing confusion and weakening the bargaining power of the workers in some of the industries. In the sugar industry, where the Puerto Rico Free Federation of Workingmen had won substantial economic gains for the workers in agreements covering 140,000 employes in the fields and mills, the dual movement appeared and created dissension (Continued on Page 32) JANUARY, 1947 15 Editorials by WILLIAM GREEN Not Compulsion but Cooperation THE DAWN of 1947 finds the world beset by problems of maintaining peace. Our citizens were conscripted to fight the war against dictatorship and compulsion. But war could only wipe our totalitarian governments and create opportunities for freedom. Development of the institutions of freedom is the obligation of those who make the terms of peace and use the opportunities thus created. To do these things wisely and effectively is a trust we hold from those who died for the cause. Upon the United States has fallen major responsibility to achieve this purpose, and the future of democracy depends upon our ability to make the democratic way of life effective for ourselves and helpful to the rest of the world--the way to peace with progress. We are the one great country in which economic freedom still exists. Our first duty is conservation of this priceless heritage. The elements in the problems of peace between nations of peace within each nation are the same and interrelated. Peace comes only to men of goodwill and where men do unto others as they would have others do unto them. The institutions and the ways of peace must be continuously safeguarded against those who seek special advantage or gain. Men of goodwill predominate when individuals are assured those basic rights essential to personal dignity and responsibility. These rights assure both political and economic freedom, with a voice in both political and economic governments. The nature of economic government is a major decision which nations must make. The democratic or functional way puts control over the enterprise in the hands of those essential to its operation--each group responsible for its own distinctive function. The bureaucratic or totalitarian way puts all groups under outside control and planning. There is no compromise between these two methods. The United States, with our pioneer background, our rich material resources, the resourcefulness of citizens, together with their devotion to personal freedom, developed and benefited by free enterprise--or private government within our economy. To prevent monopoly and other types of exploitation, we enacted legislation prohibiting harmful practices without interfering with management's functions or right of decision. As a result there has been opportunity for those with ability to get ahead and their progress must be shared by others if it is to be maintained. To this end legislation was enacted protecting workers against invasion of their rights by employers or the judiciary and guaranteeing their rights to bargain collectively with their employers. With these new opportunities workers have organized unions and advanced wage standards, so that workers are sharing more equitably in social progress. They have established for themselves rights and security more in keeping with their contributions to production. As the union becomes a way of life to its members, it becomes strong and effective. Each union reflects the spirit and habits of its industry and specific employers. Where management has been hard and ungenerous, unions have been forced to use similar tactics to establish rights and secure justice. Organized labor has been the pioneer standards-making agency for industrial workers. For new standards or new rights have been secured without great struggle. It was a long, hard struggle to abolish child labor so that the children of the poor might have a chance. It has been equally hard to protect the lives and limbs of adult workers--for safety and sanitation cost money. It is even harder in some industries to maintain the worker's right to contract-- the right that distinguishes free workers from forced labor. For workers acting collectively are as strong economically as management, and that strength results in a more equitable distribution of the returns from joint work. The strong union not only secures fair terms and conditions of work, but it takes up grievances as they develop and gets them adjusted so 16 AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST that they do not breed unrest and revolt. The strong union earns the respect and the cooperation of its members, so that there is discipline and fulfillment of duties. Every contract is signed by two parties--management if there is to be industrial peace. Through collective bargaining unions and management can develop an economic government the influence of which extends throughout the plant and industry. This influence is constructive where goodwill exists and where the necessary information is available to provide the basis for wise policies. We believe management can, without revealing trade and production secrets, provide workers with records showing their various contributions to production, the amounts produced, returns from sales and amounts paid for materials, management and overhead, taxes, total wages, total salaries, dividends to stockholders, profits and the reserves necessary to maintain and advance the enterprise. Such records constitute a proper basis for collective bargaining. Because management has not made financial and production records available, the information used by unions has been derived from public sources. Management could undoubtedly build up understanding and respect for its own responsibilities by giving such information. Where collective bargaining has been firmly established, the union cooperates with management to reduce the costs of production as well as to share responsibility for efficient production. Such cooperation gives the unions an additional claim to records showing distribution of gains resulting from elimination of waste and increased productivity. While progress toward these ideals is unequal, as long as there is opportunity for betterment, progress will follow. Under the practices of free enterprise our nation has developed the most advanced economy in the world. Economic agencies can act promptly and efficiently as the need arises and are concerned with economic purposes. They have not interfered with free choice and responsibility wither of workers or of management. It is this free choice that has assured initiative and responsibility on the part of unions and management. But the very fact that unions are strong and resourceful, with a keen sense of responsibility for the welfare of their members, will occasionally lead to open breaks between management and labor. It is not humanly possible for two groups, with some conflicting as well as interdependent interests, always to reach agreement easily. When strikes come they may inconvenience many and disrupt other industries. There is confused talk of "rights of the public," with little mention of accompanying duties and no discussion as to who the "public" is. The fact that workers have quit their jobs makes them the target for the public's complaints. However both farmers and industrial employers have conducted effective although less obvious strikes. Always some person or some group asks for a law to force strikers to work without considering that compulsion for any one group will inevitably lead to compulsion for all. Neither management nor labor wants an economy controlled by the government, for that means control by politics, with continuous political interference in collective bargaining. Political intervention kills collective bargaining and slows down progress for workers. There is no compromise between these two policies. Having to get through strikes is one of the costs of freedom. Nor is this a policy of doing nothing. On the contrary, it brings direct responsibility for strengthening collective bargaining. We suggest the following steps to that end: First, Management should supply responsible unions with the facts and records needed for collective bargaining. Second, Congress should appropriate funds for the Department of Labor to collect and disseminate information on best practices in collective bargaining. Third, Congress should authorize an Extension Service in the Department of Labor (similar to that for farmers in the Department of Agriculture) providing all workers with information to promote their welfare. Fourth, Congress should appropriate funds necessary to develop and strengthen the Conciliation Service of the Department of Labor. All of these things can be done to facilitate orderly government in industry without depriving any group of freedom. If we would maintain our democratic way of life we must maintain economic freedom for workers and management through cooperation. If we substitute compulsion for cooperation at home we cannot promote democracy through the United Nations. What we do in the United States affects not only us but conditions opportunity for all nations. Unless democracy and freedom are established in all countries, we limit the possibility of world peace. JANUARY, 1947 17 Cotton country gave birth to Tenant Farmers Union. Under a broader name it now moves into other regions Farm Workers See the Light By H. L. MITCHELL President, National Farm Labor Union THE AUTHOR ON AUGUST 23, 1946, the American Federation of Labor chartered the National Farm Labor Union. Jurisdiction over workers employed on farms, ranches, plantations and other designated units in the United States and adjacent islands was given to this union. The National Farm Labor Union consists of 30,000 members organized into 210 local unions. The majority of the present members are employed on cotton plantations of the mid-Southern states, though organization is being extended to farm workers on both the East and West Coasts. The National Farm Labor Union was formerly known as the Southern Tenant Farmers Union. Eighteen sharecroppers, eleven of them white and seven Negro, formed its first local on a cotton plantation in eastern Arkansas in July of 1934. Among its first members were a few white men who had once belonged to the Ku Klux Klan. There were also some Negroes who had held membership in a colored association formed for the purpose of providing legal aid in securing fair crop settlements with their landlords in Phillips County, Arkansas. The colored association was wiped out in one of America's worst race riots, the Elaine Massacre of 1924. A statement was made at one of the first union meetings that, as long as the Negro and white workers organized in a union representing both races, no outside force could ever destroy their organization. There were predictions made at the time the union was first formed that farm laborers could not be organized and that the organization could not last. However, the union stood the test of time. In 1935 a strike of cotton pickers was called. Wages of less than 75 cents per day were offered. Cotton pickers in three counties stayed home and wage rates rose to $1.25 per day. The next spring thousands of field workers went on strike for $1.50 for a ten-hour day. Picket lines were broken up. Union meetings were raided. Families were evicted. Houses were burned down over the heads of the members. Several men were shot, a few were killed. Forty-two workers were arrested for striking and forced to work out fines on a privately owned plantation. At its fifty-fifth annual convention the American Federation of Labor adopted a resolution approving the organization of cotton field workers. President William Green responded to the plea to help the struggling union in the South. A. F. of L. affiliates all over the country sent aid to the strikers. President Lewis of the United Mine Workers sent in an organizer to help. Support from a sympathetic public was enlisted. The federal government intervened at last and the head of the plantation thugs was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for holding 18 AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST men in peonage on his private plantation. Organized mob violence ceased soon after. The strike ended. So much attention had been attracted to the plight of the cotton field workers of the South by newspaper publicity that the Communist wreckers came on the run. They invaded our union, seeking to rule or ruin. Despite the vigilance of the native leaders, both Negro and white, Communists secured a key position or two in our organization. The first documentary evidence of methods used by Communists to infiltrate, take over, rule and ruin unions came into the possession of the man who was then president of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union. This was in the form of a written appeal to the Central Committee of the Communist Party for the sum of $500, to be used to take over the union for the party line. The writer of the document, long suspected as a Communist leader, was put on trial by our Executive Board and promptly expelled for his attempt to sell the union to the Communist Party. In the meantime, the union had been maneuvered, through promises of complete autonomy, into joining the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers, now known as the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural and Allied Workers, an affiliate of the C.I.O., which was Communist-led from the day it started. After two years of internal strife our organization ceased affiliation with this C.I.O. outfit. Slowly, the job of rebuilding the organization was carried forward. By the time World War II started, we were well on the road back. This time there were no Communists included in our organization's ranks. They were barred by constitutional provision not only from holding office but from membership as well. Seeking to be of service in the common effort to win the war, our union took the unprecedented step of encouraging its members to transfer into unions having jurisdiction over the war plants. We organized a mobile farm labor force and aided the government in transferring farm workers from one area of the country to another to help cultivate and harvest food and fiber crops essential to victory. Both state and federal governments placed restrictions on the free movement of farm labor. Representatives of the American Federation of Labor serving on the War Manpower Commission and War Production Boards joined us in the fight to utilize the services of the partially employed Negro and white farm laborers of the South, who even then in the midst of the war were employed only 125 days a year. Due to local interpretation and enforcement of the laws restricting the movement of farm labor in wartime, it was not possible to cooperate directly with the government agencies after 1942. However, a way was found to transfer unemployed workers from the South to areas where they were needed. Local A. F. of L. unions in the meat and canning industries arranged with employers to provide transportation for our members to jobs under the jurisdiction of the A. F. of L. unions. There they were employed as temporary or seasonal workers. Several thousand workers were recruited from the cotton fields of the South and transported to jobs in the North, East and West. The cost of recruitment and transportation of organized groups of workers was much ——— For all too long the agricultural employe has been America's forgotten man JANUARY, 1947 19 less and more efficient than similar transactions undertaken by government agencies. The transfer of partially employed farm labor, during their off seasons on the farms of the South, to other areas for employment in food-processing industries and on farms has been continued since the war ended. This is an ultimate solution to the problem arising from the unorganized movements of migratory labor following the crops throughout the United States. Our union is working on a program to organize all farm labor at the point of origin and proposes to direct workers to places of employment under union contract. Agriculture is America's largest industry. There are over 2,000,000 hired wage hands employed in this industry. Nearly 50 per cent of the nation's farm products are produced on large-scale commercialized farms that are factories in the fields. It is the workers on these farms that the National Farm Labor Union is interested in organizing. We are not interested in organizing the occasional hired hand on the small family farm. Since we are one of the youngest national unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, we need the help of other unions, the State Federations, the central labor unions, the organizers, and the rank and file members in building our organization in every industrialized farming area of the nation. The last convention of the American Federation of Labor pledged support to an all-out campaign to organize farm workers throughout the country. This campaign is now under way among the citrus workers of Florida and in the Southwestern states. Organization is scheduled to begin shortly on the Pacific Coast. ASSIGNMENT IN BRUSSELS By LLOYD KLENERT Secretary-Treasurer, United Textile Workers of America THE American Federation of Labor, as the predominant American labor organization, represented American textile labor at a conference which recently met in Brussels under the auspices of the International Labor Organization. The conference was called to deal with the chaos and confusion in textile production and distribution the world over, arising from the devastations of war and the controls and restrictions of the postwar period. The International Textile Committee of the I.L.O. met November 14-22 with delegates representing labor, management and government from the major textile-producing countries. The two labor delegates from the United States and one labor delegate from Canada were from the United Textile Workers of America, A. F. of L. In addition to the writer of this article, the other delegates were John Vertente, Jr., of New Bedford, a member of the U.T.W. Executive Council, and Arthur Spivey of U.T.W. Local 137, Huntingdon, Quebec, Canada. The significance of the sessions of the I.L.O. Textile Committee in Brussels goes far beyond its recommendations on the establishment of international minimum labor standards and the freeing of trade from unnecessary barriers and restrictions. The conference provided a program by which world economy (not only textiles) could establish a sounder and more stable basis, free of all impediments to the flow of goods from country to country. Furthermore, the conference experienced the interesting interplay of individual personalities, and especially labor personalities, representing union groups with ties both to the A. F. of L. and the W.F.T.U. Many intimate talks with various labor leaders, representing countries ranging from South Africa all the way to Belgium, produced the impression that affiliation with the W.F.T.U. stemmed initially from a firm desire and hope for the establishment of a more effective international trade union center. Now, however, these same people have reached the point where their original enthusiasm has been considerably watered down as a result of further reflection and sorry experience. Slowly but surely they are coming to the realization that the affiliation of their national organizations with the W.F.T.U. was a blunder. They have found themselves aligned with elements that do not function as independent and free trade unions as we in the American Federation of Labor understand those terms. I am convinced that the labor organizations of many countries will disaffiliate themselves from the W.F.T.U. and seek the establishment of an organization committed in deed, as well as words, to the principles of free, democratic trade unionism not subject to any government or political domination. Many of these labor leaders, especially from the smaller countries, confessed ——— MR. KLENERT ——— in private conversation their total ignorance of the basic political implications involved when they joined up with the W.F.T.U. They simply followed the lead of the British and French trade unionists. The truth of the matter is that they are not at all hostile to the American Federation of Labor. On the contrary, they have great esteem and warmest feelings for us, as they are fully conscious of the great aid rendered to them during the war and since by the American Federation of Labor. The recommendations made by the American labor delegation to the International Textile Committee meeting were very favorably received. We called upon these representatives from all over the world to recognize the fact that stabilization of the economy of 20 AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST each country required stabilization of the economy of the world. For the textile industry, we said, this meant not only meeting the need for reconstruction of devastated textile industries in war-ravaged countries. We had to plan for the development of international trade competition in the industry on the basis of such factors as skill, quality of production, efficiency in management and highly developed capital equipment, rather than on the basis of sweated labor under substandard condition as in the Far East. In line with this objective, we specifically proposed the effectuation of the 40-hour-week convention, which had been adopted by the I.L.O. in 1937 but actually ratified by only one country, New Zealand, and actually put into practice by only one other country, the United States. We also urged, in this connection, the development of uniform, homogenous and internationally comparable statistics on wages, hours and other standards as a basis for the ultimate establishment of an international minimum wage in the textile industry of the world. Finally, we called for the passage of a convention on equal pay for equal work for men and women. We told them that this latter proposal had already been adopted in the United States through laws in six states, and that our Congress was being pressed for Federal legislation along these lines. The conference adopted a proposal emphasizing the necessity of plans being made in each country to secure full employment for textile workers. It urged the cooperation of government, management and labor in utilizing raw materials and equipment fully and in furthering measures of international economic cooperation. The conference also recognized the growing trend toward the 40-hour week and urged all countries to make known their attitude toward early ratification of the 1937 convention on the 40-hour week in the textile industry. Another resolution recognized the disinclination of former textile workers to return to the mills and the reluctance of young people to enter the industry. It was recommended that the industry be made attractive by payment of suitable wages, by security of employment, by promotion on merit and by opportunity for training for higher skills. It urged all countries to declare their support of international policies aimed at guaranteed adequate minimum weekly wages in the textile industries, and called upon employers' organizations to negotiate with labor unions with a view to determining a guaranteed adequate minimum weekly wage. The conference took action on a whole host of other subjects, such as sanitation, accident benefits, insurance against the risks of unemployment, sickness, maternity, retirement and old age. Regarding the latter, the conference requested that the I.L.O. prepare a study on social services, with particular attention to those affecting textile workers, and make recommendations as to the best methods by which to make them effective in every land. It also recommended studies on the disparities in wages among the various textile countries, on international agreements regarding the textile industry, and on unfair trading practices and methods of distribution in the world textile industry, especially those of Japan and Germany. In the course of my trip to and from Europe, I was deeply shocked by the signs of wartime devastation still evident in and around the area of London. The living conditions of the English, in the way of food, clothing and shelter, are for all practical purposes just as austere and severe as they were during the war. No newspaper account can portray the conditions of scarcity and hardship still being borne by the English. The full extent of their sacrifice can only be fully realized by living with them and witnessing their present tribulations. The world truly owes a great debt to the English for the fight they made, for the sacrifices they have endured and for the hardships they are still enduring. Relief organizations should certainly give particular heed to the need of the English people. They should remember that help should not only be given to those who cry the loudest for it, but should be sent especially to those who are truly needy and fully worthy. In contrast to the sufferings of England, I was indeed happy to witness the evident speedy revival of the Belgian economy. While by American standards their conditions fall short, compared with England and France they are in a relatively fortunate position. Food is sufficient and industry is working, providing job opportunities for practically all the people. In Belgium the basis has been laid for a healthy recovery. ——— You Don't Read About It in the Papers Harry Brugman was a member of Local 16 of the Hotel and Restaurant Employes. He was a devoted husband and father. He wanted to take care of his family. One day Mr. Brugman took sick. Then he died. To Mrs. Brugman (third from left in photo) the union handed checks totaling $2745.50—$150 international death benefit, $100 local sick benefit, $1000 local death benefit, $1000 group insurance death benefit, $375.50 for hospital bills, $120 in disability payments under the group insurance plan. Local 16, which operates in New York City, has had an insurance plan since 1935 under which each member's beneficiary receives a $1000 death benefit. But only last year the union added a group insurance plan. Under the latter a second $1000 death benefit was provided, as well as hospitalization and disability payments. Every year unions of the American Federation of Labor pay out millions of dollars in benefits of various types—death benefits, sick benefits, unemployed assistance, old-age pensions and other benefits. The report of the A. F. of L. Executive Council to the last convention listed payments aggregating $43,108,000 for the year 1945 and $36,299,000 for the preceding year. JANUARY, 1947 21 In Abe Lincoln's State By REUBEN S. SODERSTROM President, Illinois State Federation of Labor THE years of the recent war may be regarded as the most critical period in the history of the Illinois State Federation of Labor. The national governmental policy in wartime was friendly enough toward existing wages, conditions and practices, but was inclined to discourage changes and new labor activities. The energy of the labor movement and its officials was needed to carry on war-related projects and endless war conferences. There was some opportunity to build up and strengthen local and international unions, but this was not uniformly true of central bodies and State Federations of Labor. The development and growth of the Illinois State Federation of Labor, however, was satisfactory. Each year there was a substantial number of new affiliations. Although it was difficult at times to hold our annual conventions on the traditional date provided by our constitution, there was no interruption in the continuity of these great annual gatherings. The delegates were discommoded somewhat with respect to hotel accommodations, but somehow they were able to live through it and come back smiling the next year. The practice of holding conventions regularly, without any skipping or interruption, has been helpful in making our State Federation great. During the past year, in compliance with instructions from the American Federation of Labor, the Lithographers and the Machinists have been dropped from membership. The Progressive Mine Workers withdrew when the United Mine Workers returned to the American Federation of Labor. This resulted in a net loss to the Illinois State Federation of Labor of approximately 14,000 dues-paying members, and a decline in the per capita tax receipts threatened. Steps were immediately taken to bring unaffiliated local unions into the fold to replace those who had been dropped. The drive to accomplish this was successful. Approximately 120 new affiliations have been received during the past twelve months. The added membership will more than offset the losses. Many local unions in Illinois are experiencing a noticeable growth in their membership. This is reflected in increases in per capita payments to the State Federation of Labor. Today the State Federation has a total membership which is the highest in history. During the past year the University of Illinois has established a Division of Labor and Industrial Relations in accord with the request of the Illinois State Federation of Labor. A comprehensive curriculum has been prepared. The staff is being organized. In a short time we will be in a position to see clearly what is being done and how it is being done. In due time, extension courses will be provided and, it is hoped, a means of contact with the university will be set up in the larger cities of the state. All of this will take time, of course, and persistent efforts on the part of all who are interested. The response of the university authorities to requests of the officers of ——— NEXT MONTH >> >> W. C. Doherty, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers and member of the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor, is the author of a brilliant article on Germany which will appear in our February issue. Mr. Doherty's article, based on first-hand observation, is essential reading for every American interested in lasting peace. ——— the Illinois State Federation of Labor thus far have been most gratifying. The Legislature is not likely to deny any reasonable requests for such funds as may be needed for the university to extend its work in this respect. The recent issue of a state bonus for war veterans was made a campaign football by the two major political parties. The Illinois State Federation of Labor looked to veterans' organizations for guidance in respect to the subject of bonus legislation. The legislative representatives of the Illinois State Federation of Labor also insisted that ways and means be found to furnish the state bonus expenditure without any increase in the occupational sales tax. The Legislature complied with labor's two suggestions; namely, to grant a bonus approved by the veterans' organizations and to accomplish this without any increase in the existing sales tax. Approximately 70 per cent of our soldiers and sailors in World War II came from the homes of wage-earners. All organized labor gave active support to the bonus and it was adopted by a thumping majority. The Illinois State Federation of Labor has the proud record of having been primarily responsible for the enactment of every item of progressive labor legislation placed on the statute books of Illinois during the last sixty-odd years. The Federation and its associated organizations have carried the full brunt of defending the labor movement of the state against the onslaughts of its enemies in the field of labor legislation. Throughout its history the officers of the Illinois State Federation of Labor have never failed to be on guard at the state capital during every session of the Illinois Legislature. There has been no slip in this steadfast watchfulness over the years. The knowledge gained through experience has been passed on from one group of officers to the next, resulting in an accumulation of information in regard to legislative matters unequaled by that of any other organization in the state. Fully as important as the task of promoting favorable legislation is the corresponding work of preventing the passage of unfavorable laws. The Illinois State Federation of Labor has been alert on this front also. Today the State Federation of Labor is deservedly recognized as the great defender of the working masses of Illinois. Illinois wage-earners still need to establish a system of disability insurance under which workers whose loss of wages is due to illness or accident not covered by the workmen's compensation law may receive weekly benefits. Such benefits ought to be comparable to those which wage-earners receive now when they are unemployed. An attempt to enact legislation of this type will be made in the session of the Illinois General Assembly which convenes this month. Vigorous efforts will also be made to extend and improve the Workmen's Compensation Act, the Occupational Disease Act and, of course, the Unemployment Insurance Law. 22 AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST When the Worker Becomes Sick By LOUIS P. MARCIANTE President, New Jersey State Federation of Labor MR. MARCIANTE NEW JERSEY labor has been preparing for the session of the Legislature opening this month. We are hopeful that at this meeting we can secure the enactment for the workers in our state of a sick benefits law that will be a model for the rest of the country. In New Jersey we have every facility for a model law. The Postwar Economic Welfare Commission, appointed by the Governor to study this and other legislation, has had plenty of time to study a suitable measure. New Jersey has to its credit $182,000,000 that can be made available as a result of the passage of the Knowland bill by Congress. New Jersey is one of only four states where employe contributions are made to the unemployment compensation fund. We feel we have justified the policy of the New Jersey State Federation of Labor, which was to insist that employes should contribute to unemployment compensation. While at the time of the enactment of the Unemployment Compensation Act we felt employe contributions should be made for the specific reason that workers would acquire a vested right in the shaping of the policies and administration of the law, we also had in mind the utilization of employe contributions for exactly what we are now considering, sick benefits. It was our thought, too, that the more money contributed to the fund, the more would be available for distribution. That premise was borne out later; last year New Jersey liberalized unemployment benefits to a considerable degree. For many years the State Federation of Labor has had a bill introduced in the State Legislature that would create a sick benefits fund, using the one per cent employe contribution. The passage of the Knowland amendment to the Social Security Act comes as a windfall of considerable proportion. With $182,000,000 lying in escrow for our use, no Legislature can afford to ignore it; some type of measure will be enacted, I am sure. The kind of law that will be passed is our most grave concern. We contend for and insist on a state fund, administered by the state in the same way as unemployment compensation is administered. From the standpoint of maximum benefits, efficiency of administration and economy of administration, we feel it must be administered by the Unemployment Compensation Commission. On the basis of Rhode Island's experience, we estimate the cost of administration will not exceed one-tenth of one per cent. There have been several hearings held by the Commission on this proposed legislation. The New Jersey State Federation of Labor has led the fight for state administration, but we have met with the bitterest kind of opposition from the insurance companies' lobby. They see for themselves a beautiful plum if a system of private insurance can be devised and pushed through the Legislature. The sum of $182,000,000 is a pretty sweet morsel, so the insurance companies can be counted on to put up a real fight. It was rather amazing to listen to the testimony of the insurance lobbyists. ——— Maximum benefits for the man who lies ill are the goal of New Jersey labor JANUARY, 1947 23 They stressed the supposed liberality of the states with respect to unemployment compensation. They attempted to utilize the experience immediately after the war's end, when it was claimed persons took advantage of the law. They did not hesitate to rig figures deliberately to support the charge that Rhode Island workers were using the sick benefit fund as a vacation fund. We exposed them so thoroughly on that point that they beat a rather inglorious retreat. Just what comparison they were trying to make was not too clear in my mind, for sick benefits are one thing and unemployment benefits are another. If there was some bad administration of unemployment compensation immediately after V-J Day, it could be ascribed to a most abnormal case load resulting from war plant shutdowns. The various administrations had a manpower problem, too. It may be that there was some malingering on the part of workers after the war, but who has endowed insurance companies with infallibility? Have they never been rooked or bamboozled? If Private Insurers Enter Picture This much is certain: If insurance companies are allowed to do the insuring they will accept only the better risks. They will either refuse to underwrite the less acceptable risks or set so high a premium that the industries least able to pay will again get it in the neck. This is what happens to employers in unemployment compensation under the system of "merit rating." Those least able to pay invariably pay the most. We can expect a system of merit rating with sick benefits if private insurers enter into this picture. New Jersey's labor movement very forcibly brought to the attention of the Commission that this money we were talking about was our money. We asserted that the Knowland amendment precludes the receipt by private insurance companies of one penny of the money that was contributed by New Jersey working men and women. And we served notice that we would go to court to prevent any system in which private insurers participate if the Legislature passed that kind of measure. The New Jersey State Federation of Labor is deeply indebted to the Rhode Island State Federation of Labor, and particularly to Brother Arthur Patt, of Providence, who is a member of the Rhode Island commission that administers the only sick benefits system now in operation. Brother Patt did a magnificent job for us at the hearing, where he was the outstanding participant, and also in giving a great amount of valuable advice which we are using in formulating the bill we will support. The New Jersey commissioners questioned Brother Patt for well over an hour and certainly gave his statements greater consideration than those of any other witness. We are indebted, too, to the United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters, which sent George Brown of its research staff to assist us. His testimony was most helpful to us and will result in helping to create a good bill. If we can succeed in establishing a really sound system of sick benefits in New Jersey, it will help consolidate faith in our system of private enterprise and in our system of government. We are in pretty good shape with respect to workmen's compensation in New Jersey. That is, when we are measured in comparison with most other states. The law, as amended year before last, gives us a maximum payment of $25 a week with a minimum of $10. The schedule for various injuries has all been revised upward. Unemployment compensation got an upward revision last year. Our rate was increased to $22 a week for twenty-six weeks. It had formerly been $18 for eighteen weeks. The benefit formula was changed from one-fifth to one-third, which was the most important feature of all so far as the actual receipt of benefits was concerned. The coverage was reduced from employers of eight or more to employers of four or more. So if the sick benefit law is adopted in rather decent form we shall have placed ourselves in the forefront of the states along with the little pioneer, Rhode Island, in advanced social legislation. California, too, is presently studying a sick benefits law, and it may well be that the impetus gained as a result of these two states adopting it may start a trend that will cover the country. Because this is the first time in many moons there has been a report of New Jersey labor's legislative activity, it may be appropriate to mention that within the last few years we have adopted an anti-injunction measure, a daylight delivery of milk bill which forbids the delivery of milk before seven o'clock in the morning, and a state mediation law. Some few years ago we adopted a minimum wage law for women and minors whose provisions with respect to wages and hours can be revised by the Commissioner of Labor with the advice of a fact-finding board set up by him. This measure has met with some considerable success, and is currently being revised upward in its different groupings of workers. Like labor everywhere in our nation, we in New Jersey may have to face a real fight. Last year the Legislature adopted a measure that purports to prevent strikes in utilities, though it does nothing of the sort. It may well be that we will be confronted with an attempt to put teeth in the law that presently exists and which is an inept measure. The enemies of organized labor are in full cry and there is no reason to believe we will escape the impact of the campaign they are waging. If the anti-labor forces undertake to carry out their nefarious program during 1947, we can be counted on to render a full measure of resistance as our contribution to labor's fight for what the worker justly deserves. 10 Years Ago in the FEDERATIONIST THE REPORT to the Tampa convention showed that we should build approximately 13,000,000 home units before 1945 in order to avoid a housing shortage. Our housing program goes to the very heart of our American standard of living. Unless the physical background is provided, family life and the home spirit suffer. * THROUGHOUT ALL of Europe we find that the first step to the establishment of a fascist dictatorship is the suppression of the free labor movement. In our own country labor seeks to maintain a free labor movement as the guarantee of free institutions. WE MUST establish for all mankind those minimum social rights which our minds and consciences concede, if we would keep open the way for human freedom and progress. Unless our institutions and practices accord with this dynamic principle, they lack the essential of permanence. * SEVERAL LOCAL unions have negotiated an agreement with the St. Regis Paper Company in upstate New York carrying a flat two-cent-an-hour increase in wages, making the minimum rate now 42 cents an hour. * THE FUNDAMENTAL task before us is to transfer from an economy of scarcity and poverty to an economy organized to give plenty for all. This is a difficult undertaking but one upon which we must embark if we would save our civilization. 24 AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST Performers' Union Grows to Maturity By MATT SHELVEY, National Director, American Guild of Variety Artists MR. SHELVEY FIFTY years of effort by the performers in the variety field—vaudeville, night clubs, ice shows, water spectacles and so forth—to establish an effective organization for the betterment of their wages and working conditions will reach a climax in Chicago next month when the first national convention of the American Guild of Variety Artists is held. The variety performers were not behind their brother artist in seeking organization, but unfortunately they had to wait and go through waste motion before an effective instrument—the American Guild of Variety Artists— came into being. A.G.V.A. was formed in 1939 by the Associated Actors and Artistes of America, governing body of the talent unions in show business, with the consent of the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor. In 1943 the writer was appointed director of A.G.V.A. by the Four A's. To Frame Constitution In the years that have elapsed we have been able to bring our organization to the point where we are preparing to hold our first national convention to adopt a constitution and erect a solid, permanent structure. We have grown big enough and stable enough to take our place alongside Actors' Equity, the American Federation of Radio Actors, the Screen Actors Guild and the other organizations of entertainment professionals. We have repaid every cent of the debt we owed the Four A's and have, at the same time, established a sound financial basis for the operation of our organization. We pay one of the largest per capita taxes of any show-business union. Our membership has jumped from 22,014 in July, 1943, to 42,553 in July, 1946. In addition, we have been able to establish many major improvements in the working conditions of the variety performer. We have: (1) Set up a system of written "basic minimum" agreements stabilizing the wages, hours, rehearsals, number of performances and rights of the performer in the night clubs, vaudeville theaters and so forth. (2) Set up a system of franchises for agents (who sell the services of performers) and bookers (who buy them) by which the activities of these men are governed. (3) Formulated a standard uniform employment contract setting out the rights and obligations of employe, employer and middleman (agent or booker). (4) Established the universal principle that a performer, if contracted for, must be played or paid, no matter what the circumstances may be, unless A.G.V.A., after investigation, grants special exemption. (5) Put an end to a racket which had fed for many years upon the profession, the so-called "celebrity night" where the performer worked without payment, and supplanted it by a system of controlled "celebrity" appearances for which the night club owner pays and posts a cash bond in advance. (6) Established a system of cash security bonds from night club owners to protect the worker in an industry where the life of various enterprises is frequently short and given to sudden termination. (7) Cut the universal seven-day week of night club chorus girls to a universal six-day week and, simultaneously, raised their minimum salary standards. (8) Negotiated a contract, now in its final stages of discussion, with the key theater chains showing vaudeville to curtail the number of performances that may be given without extra compensation. These are some of the important gains we have made. The Four A's already has approved the draft of a constitution. The draft will be submitted to the convention. Since ours is an organization of migratory workers, it has been decided that all members in good standing who are in Chicago for professional reasons or come there to attend the convention will have accredited standing as participants and voting rights on the basis of one vote to one member. The Chicago convention will elect a non-salaried National Board of Directors and name a day-to-day operating head of A.G.V.A. The position which the writer now holds, based as it is on a directive of the Four A's, will be eliminated. Following the convention, A.G.V.A. is prepared to implement its plan for 1947. The activities listed below will not be our only ones for the year, but are those we now have in prospect. We will: (1) Undertake a drive for a 20 per cent increase in the basic minimum wages of most chorus girls and principals employed in night clubs. (2) Clean up the unpleasant and unhealthy dressing-room conditions which prevail in more than half of the night clubs and a small group of vaudeville theaters, and which have plagued the profession for years. (3) Put an end to the practice in many night clubs of forcing female entertainers to "mix" socially with patrons. (4) Establish a shorter week and higher minimums for chorus people in traveling shows not now under contract. (5) Extend our agent-and-booker franchise system to certain brackets of the industry not covered heretofore. Though we are a young union as compared with some of our sister organizations, we are making rapid strides and hope to continue to make them. JANUARY, 1947 25 Responding to their country's call, women said goodbye to their kitchens and assumed hard, dangerous jobs BRITAIN'S UNSUNG HEROINES Munitions Workers Served Nobly in Freedom's Cause, Though No Bands Played for Them When Victory Came By ETHEL M. JOHNSON ACCLAIM for the gallantry of the R.A.F. Recognition for the heroic exploits of the Royal Navy, the merchant marine, the commandos, the "desert rats" and the airborne troops. This is as it should be. For these groups all contributed greatly to the successful outcome of the late war. There was, however, another group in Great Britain whose work, though far less known, was also vital to the outcome. For them no marching bands with waving banners, no monuments of bronze or marble, no names emblazoned on a golden scroll. And yet without their work and sacrifice, their willingness to face up to real dangers —dangers in some respects not unlike those encountered at the front—the war could not have been prosecuted, much less carried to a successful conclusion. I refer to the women war workers of Great Britain and, in particular, to those who worked in the munitions plants, in the explosives and filling factories. Where the hand grenades, the bombs, detonators and other implements of destruction with which the fighting forces were equipped were made, there was constantly before the workers the possibility of serious injury, of permanent disablement and even death. Yet the women working in these plants did not falter. Many of them had never worked in a factory before. Many had never previously worked outside their homes. Uncomplainingly they left their kitchens and their drawing rooms in answer to their country's urgent call. In the peacetime years before the war, there were around 6,000,000 women gainfully employed in Great Britain. That represented approximately one out of every three in the group 14 years of age and over. The war brought a tremendous increase in the number of women working outside the home. With practically every able-bodied man of military age called to the forces, and with constantly increasing demands upon industry to meet the war requirements, this was inevitable. Women represented the only available labor supply aside from young boys, old men and men physically unfit for the services. Britain at war had a labor draft "with teeth." The government could enter the home and tell the housewife that she must go to work at some essential job. But, in general, it was not necessary for the government to use its drastic powers. The women responded willingly to their country's call. Many of these women went to work in munitions factories. For there the need was most urgent. These were either government-owned and operated plants or conducted under government supervision. The major part of the work was carried on in plants directly operated by the government— the royal ordnance factories. At one period during the war there were more than forty of these royal ordnance factories in Great Britain. During the period of peak production, nearly 2,000,000 women and girls were engaged in munitions and related work, with nearly 250,000 in royal ordnance factories. The royal ordnance factories were of three types. There were engineering 26 AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST plants, where the bomb cases and other containers were made, as well as guns and various mechanical devices; explosives factories, where the actual explosives, such as cordite and powers, were manufactured; and the filling factories, where the explosives were put into shells, bombs, fuses and detonators. In each type of factory, women were employed. By far the major number, however, worked in the explosives and filling factories. They represented two-thirds of the entire labor force in the explosives factories; in the filling factories, from 60 to 75 per cent. The royal ordnance factories, giant establishments, the majority constructed during the war, were operated by the Ministry of Supply. Because of the nature of the work, the explosives and filling factories were located in remote country sections. They were, however, sizable communities in themselves. One of the largest of the filling factories had at the peak approximately 35,000 employes. It covered a ground area of 2,000 acres; and a walk around its enclosing fence meant a twelve-mile stroll. Where They Came From The labor force was partly local, partly "imported." The local workers were drawn from sections within a twenty-five-mile radius. The "imported" workers were sent from distant parts of England, even from Scotland, Wales or Ireland. They included many single women and girls. Living arrangements were provided for such employes in hostels. For the convenience of married couples, houses with separate flats were constructed outside the factory grounds. I was given an opportunity during the war to visit two royal ordnance factories—an explosives and a filling factory. At the explosives factory I stayed at one of the staff clubs near the factory grounds. At the filling factory I was at one of the hostels—a mammoth establishment whose dormitories could accommodate 1,000 persons. I had opportunity to see the employes at work and at play, at meal times and in their living quarters. Cordite for rockets was the product manufactured at the explosives factory which I visited. This factory employed at the time some 2,000 women and girls. More significant than their numbers, however, was the responsible nature of their work. With the exception of the nitro-glycerine plant, where only men were employed, women worked in every part of the factory. Girls operated the control room for the acids plant. They tested the mixture at the mammoth towers where the acid was stored. They worked in the nitro-cellulose plant, in the blending sheds, the paste sheeting houses, in the rolling mills and the press houses. The girls in this factory were an especially fine-looking group. They wore natty uniforms consisting of immaculate white wool trousers, blouses and jackets, white wool turbans and, in the case of the girls in the acid plant and in some sections of the nitro-cellulose plant, knee-high rubber boots. The factory was located in a remote country section on the Midlands, about four miles from the nearest town. The work was carried on in a series of widely separated plants and in a great many individual units. There were some 560 separate buildings on the factory grounds. In many of these only a few girls worked at one time. The raw materials for cordite by themselves seem innocent enough. In the case of rocket cordite, they are virgin white paper; glycerine, familiar to the uninitiated public for its soothing effect on chapped hands; and nitric acid, which is a powerful caustic. The nitric acid is combined with the paper to form nitro-cellulose, which in turn is combined with nitro-glycerine to make cordite. So effective was the training given the workers, so remarkable their courage, that when an accident occurred, the other girls in the building, after being taken to the canteen for tea, would return to their machines and proceed calmly with their allotted tasks. For the munitions factories the work had to go on, no matter what happened. Beyond the obvious perils to life and limb, there were other difficulties involved in the work. For many girls work in munitions factories meant being uprooted from their homes, transported to a distant region and placed in unfamiliar surroundings in some remote and lonely section of the country, far from any settled community and far from their families and their friends. For these girls war work meant reorienting themselves to an en- entirely new form of institutional life. The women drawn from the locality of the factory who commuted to and from their work were largely housewives. They added to their household tasks the day's work in the factory—a day made longer by the hour or two required by the trip to and from the plant. Like other housewives in Great Britain, they had to meet the problem of marketing in wartime. During the greater part of the year they rose when it was dark, for wartime Britain had daylight saving time throughout the year and double daylight saving in the summer. They traveled to and from their work in the blackout, and in many instances they worked throughout their shift in a blacked-out factory. In addition to these physical handicaps they worked under great nervous strain. For added to the tension of the work itself, there was the uncertainty as to whether they would find their homes still standing when they returned at night. There was also the possibility of a direct bomb hit on the factory where they were working, a possibility made more terrible because of the nature of the work in which they were engaged. Notwithstanding these problems, they continued pluckily at their dangerous tasks. During the tragic days of Dunkirk the women munitions workers and other war workers throughout Great Britain worked unrestricted hours— sometimes working until they dropped exhausted at their machines. But they did not complain. A woman employed on the night shift in a war plant was asked if she liked night work. "No," she replied frankly, "I can't really say that I do like it. But if it means bringing our boys home from the war any earlier, then I love to do it." That statement typified the spirit of the women who toiled in Britain's war plants. Time after time when enemy bombers were overhead the women working in war industries refused to leave their machines, keeping doggedly at their tasks like soldiers at the front. And that is what many of these women workers actually were—soldiers in the front line of war industry. Many of them were unconscious heroines. Some gave their health, others even gave their lives so that the essential work might go on, so that their combined efforts might contribute to ultimate victory. Their work was not dramatic. But it was essential. Without it the battles could not have been won. So, when we recall the gallantry of the armed forces, let us also remember the women war workers of Great Britain. Let us salute them for their service; and let us give a special salute to those who risked their lives day after day in the munitions plants. JANUARY, 1947 27 Bakers' Progress in the South ONE of the busiest and liveliest of organizations in the big Southern campaigns of the American Federation of Labor has been the Bakery and Confectionery Workers International Union. A young man from Chattanooga by the name of Curtis Sims is chiefly responsible for the fine showing which this union has been making in the organizing drive in Dixie. Formerly the president of the Chattanooga Central Labor Union, Brother Sims refuses to be pompous or profound about his methods. "We just go from town to town," he says. "If you've got the workers you can get the contracts." "Town to town" means from Tennessee to Texas, and it takes fast moving to add thousands of members in an industry in which the average unit employs no more than seventy-five. ——— Organizer Curtis Sims, a real go-getter Mr. Sims, an international representative, hasn't just organized his bakery workers. His contract situation is watertight, too. In Southern establishments under contract now the union shop prevails and the wage rates range from 65 cents an hour to a top of $1.40 an hour. Often the minimum is 80 cents rather than 65. When the Bakery and Confectionery Workers undertook organization in the South in 1938, some bakery workers were receiving as little as 15 cents an hour for their labor. ——— The union has brought the employes a number of improvements. Colored or white, union bakery workers receive the same wage rates The union is having very little trouble with the dual movement. "We don't worry about the C.I.O.," says Mr. Sims. "They haven't got anything in the way of bakery workers except in Birmingham. Their contracts are so inferior to ours they can't get to town. They can't cut in on us with sweetheart deals." The Bakery Workers recently handed Harry Bridges quite a trimming in Dallas. The 600 workers in the Loose-Wiles cracker factory there were taken away from the left-wing C.I.O. longshore leader. The Bakery Workers' field in the South is 40 per cent Negro in personnel. The union has a strict no-discrimination policy. "We put one local in a city, mixed local, black and white, takin all products—breads, cakes, biscuits, crackers, pies, candy and so on," Mr. Sims explains. "We take in everybody without regard to race, creed or color. Where the Negroes want it and the Negro membership potentialities are enough to maintain our type of charter, we put in a colored local. We have only three such—Savannah, Charleston and Wilmington. Otherwise our Southern locals are all mixed. "Negro and white wage rates are the same. We get all we can for everyone. In New Orleans there are ninety-one shops and we have ninety-one contracts. We have Negro head bakers and Negro foremen and foreladies. They supervise white and Negro workers. We have Negro owners employing white workers and we bargain with the Negro employers for the white workers. Everything works out all right." Mr. Sims directs three organizers. One of them is A. B. Searcy, an energetic, sincere young Negro unionist who came out of the trade in Savannah, Georgia. Mr. Searcy brought about the organization of his fellow workers in Savannah and now he is doing an excellent job "on the road." Mr. Sims is pleased that his organization has doubled its Southern membership in recent months, but he isn't kidding himself. Ten thousand workers in his industry are under contract in the South, he says, but there are more than 75,000 still unorganized. The Bakery Workers' recent campaign work has been in New Orleans, Dallas and Oklahoma City, in Kingsport and other East Tennessee cities, in Montgomery, Alabama, and in Jackson, Gulfport and Clarksdale, Mississippi. Asked about plans for bringing trade unionism to the big unorganized field in the South, Mr. Sims says: "We'll just go from town to town. If we can get the workers, we can get the contracts. We intend to keep plugging away until the South is completely organized." 28 AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST WHAT THEY SAY Edgar L. Warren, director, U. S. Conciliation Service—The United States Conciliation Service offers, to both management and labor, the greatest reservoir of skilled intermediaries available in the country. When a commissioner of conciliation enters a dispute, collective bargaining is not abandoned; it is resumed and strengthened by an impartial and experienced third party. The conciliator enters the dispute only on invitation. He has no authority to act as judge, no power to force a settlement. His sole purpose is to assist labor and management in reaching a satisfactory agreement. The Conciliation Service is well aware of the fact that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. When it is called in early in a dispute, the chances of settlement are best, and the losses to labor, management and society resulting from work stoppage are cut to a minimum. For this reason it is emphasizing, both to its commissioners and to their respective "clients," the importance of calling in the Service before the differences between labor and management have reached serious proportions. James B. Burns, president, American Federation of Government Employes —For many years there has been a national campaign against government employes, engineered by powerful and wealthy interests whose purpose it is to evade paying taxes to the maximum extent possible. These people do not consider in the least the value of essential government services that may be disrupted by mass firing of employes. They have, of course, no consideration for the employes themselves. They are concerned only with the salvage of as many of their dollars as possible from the income tax collector. They constantly clamor for sales taxes, to put still greater burdens on working men and women. As a result of their well-financed campaign, government employes have been much maligned. They are accused of being tax-eaters and with cluttering up the payroll, though everyone who is familiar with the fact knows that government employes generally are both overworked and underpaid. Government employes are 100 per cent loyal to Uncle Sam. They don't want waste and inefficiency, and they keep it at a minimum. Left alone, they would themselves cut the payroll as fast as it could be done without impairment of important services or undue hardship to anyone. But that isn't good enough for the "economy" crowd. It wants to fire people, whether they are needed or not. The American Federation of Government Employes believes these loyal, patriotic working people deserve a better break. Victor A. Olander, secretary-treasurer, Illinois State Federation of Labor —The right road out of insecurity is through the cooperative effort of the workers themselves in that form of organization universally known as the trade union movement. There is no other way. No one has ever pretended there was any other way, except the slave owners of past generations who argued glibly that they and they alone were competent to determine what was best for those whom they kept in chains. Slaves were held to be incapable of taking care of themselves. That was the function of the master. Enemies of the trade union movement today are taking exactly the same position as the "masters" of almost forgotten years. They regard the workers as a subordinate class, to be led, right or wrong, by their alleged superiors. It is an unfortunate fact that many workers themselves believe that sort of nonsense. It's all a lie. This is free America. One man is as good as another. We are all equal. That's the basic law of the land. That's what our forefathers fought and died for. That marks the American trail down through history. That's why America was born. That's why America lives. That's why America thrives. Now remember, brothers, that with freedom comes responsibility. Let's face that responsibility and thus preserve our freedom while we put it to the best use. That we can do more effectively than we have done if we can arouse among ourselves a clear understanding of its great significance. This is no vain cry of a man becoming weary of the struggle. It is the rallying call of one who knows that the union ship can weather the storm if its crew is fairly disciplined, its hatches battened, its sails properly trimmed, with steady hands at the wheel, and every man of the crew fully conscious not only of his rights and privileges, but also of his duties and responsibilities. General Dwight D. Eisenhower— The disputes that yet separate nations can hinder but they must not prohibit attainment of the common goal of all peoples. If there is room in our own country for every shade of political and social and religious thinking and expression, there is room in the world for different philosophies of government, so long as none is dedicated to the forceful imposition of its political creed on others. Those who talk of war as inevitable should understand that the misgivings and fears they arouse, the uncertainty they provoke can impede and halt universal development of peaceful relations, in which lies the only complete security. Prudence and realism are mandatory—but irrational fear, impossible of solution, is the first step toward collapse of all orderly effort among men and nations. Cooperation can be established between people of divergent social and political beliefs if it is based on mutual respect and mutual understanding. Frank Morrison, A. F. of L. secretary emeritus—As employers have the right to develop their businesses and expand their profits in a legitimate way, so workers have equally the right to promote opportunities for their self-betterment and the advancement of their welfare. Trade unions assert that workers have the right to a voice in determining the conditions under which they shall give service. Unions appeal to the manhood of workers. It is only by combining in trade unions that workers can deal with their economic problems in an orderly and constructive way. The policies of the trade union movement are based upon sound economic principles. Labor never pleads for special privileges. The creed of organized labor is all-embracing, welcoming wage-earners without regard to sex, religion, politics or color. JANUARY, 1947 29 LABOR NEWS BRIEFS Local 858, International Association of Fire Fighters, Denver, has organized about 99 per cent of the eligible men, although the local received its charter only last June. Full backing of organized labor was secured by the union in a recent campaign for a pay increase. Local 194, International Typographical Workers, Joliet, Ill., has negotiated a contract with newspapers in that city which provides a 25-cent hourly raise and reduction in the work week from 40 to 38 3/4 hours. Federal Labor Union 20206, composed of employes of the Herschel Manufacturing Company, East Peoria, Ill., has negotiated a contract boosting wages 10 cents an hour and calling for six paid holidays. The Ohio State Federation of Labor has drafted a legislative program containing thirty-three points for submission when the Ohio General Assembly convenes this month. Local 99, Ladies' Garment Clerks, New York City, has obtained a wage increase of 12 1/2 per cent in a new contract with fifty retail apparel firms. Increases of from 15 to 27 cents an hour have been gained in an agreement negotiated by Local 634, Meat Cutters, and Local 7, Retail Clerks, with several retail food stores in Denver. An 18 1/2-cent hourly wage increase has been won by Division 1377, Street and Electric Railway Employes, in arbitration involving the Valley Transportation Company, Harrisburg, Pa. In an NLRB election held at the Linde Air Products, Company, Indianapolis, Local 135, Teamsters, was victorious. Approximately 200 workers at the California Frozen Foods Company are now covered by a union contract. Members of the International Longshoremen's Union at Savannah, Ga., have concluded an agreement with six companies in that city which provides a wage increase of 15 cents an hour. Members of the Cheyenne, Wyo., local of the Plumbers and Steamfitters have obtained a pay boost of approximately 19 per cent in an agreement with the Cheyenne Plumbing and Heating Association. A five-year closed shop agreement with a 12 1/2-cent hourly increase has been entered into by the Painters Union at Tucson, Ariz., and the Painting Contractors Association. A pay hike of from 10 to 15 cents an hour has been won by Local 32, Cigarmakers Union, Louisville, Ky., for employes of Reiss-Debnay Cigar Company and Schoer Brothers Company. In a new contract signed by Local 20, Printing Pressmen and Assistants, and four Minneapolis printing firms wages are increased $10 a week. A wage hike of 20 cents an hour and a pension clause were among the benefits gained by Division 1381, Street and Electric Railway Employes, Chicago. Local 16, International Stereotypers and Electrotypers, Minneapolis, has negotiated a new agreement with the daily press of that city which provides a wage raise of approximately $10 per week plus other benefits. Carpenters at West Palm Beach, Fla., have signed a contract with the Contractors Association providing $1.85 per hour, the highest wage for carpenters in the South. Among other benefits, a weekly raise of $3 has been secured in a contract between the Retail Clerks' and Woolworth's in Atlanta, Ga. Local B-302, Electrical Workers, Contra Costa County, Calif., has won an hourly rate of $2 an hour through negotiation. A general increase of $20 a month has been gained by members of Local 19, Office Employes Union, in a first agreement recently negotiated with the Burkay Company of Toledo, Ohio. ——— President Green was on hand when Walter Reed Hospital got recording apparatus as a gift of Washington's C.L.U. and Building Trades Council 30 AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST Members of the United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers employed by the Capson Hat Company, Fall River, Mass., have obtained a wage increase of 15 per cent, a health fund and paid vacations through a new contract. Besides a 10 per cent wage increase, a health benefit insurance plan has been won by Local 95, United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers, at the American Hat Company and the M. Kutz Company, Atlanta. Along with a number of improvements in working conditions, a general pay raise of 18 cents an hour has been obtained by Local 38, Distillery Workers, at the George T. Stagg Company, Frankfort, Ky. An increase of approximately 18 1/2 cents "across the board" has been obtained by Local 542, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, in a pact with nine wholesale grocery concerns at San Diego, Calif. Some 400 bakers, members of Local 2, Bakery and Confectionery Workers Union, employed by thirteen wholesale and retail bakeries in Chicago, have received a wage increase of 17 cents an hour. Local 62, Amalgamated Meat Cutters, North Chicago and Waukegan, Ill., has negotiated an agreement with food dealers providing a shorter work week and a raise in pay. Local 155, Bakers and Confectionery Workers, Waterbury, Conn., has secured substantial wage increases at the Schneider, New York and Raymond bakeries. Members of the United Garment Workers employed at the Marcus-Loeb Company, Atlanta, have won a 20 per cent wage increase in a new contract. Local 259, Meat Cutters, and Local 988, Retail Clerks, have concluded negotiations with forty-two food stores at St. Joseph, Mo. A pay hike of 30 per cent has been won by Local 170, Retail Clerks, in a new pact with E. Gottschalk and Company, Fresno, Calif. Local 137, Office Employes, has obtained weekly wage increases averaging $10 at the Elmira, N. Y., branch of Moore Business Forms, Inc. A union hiring hall provision and a 15 per cent wage increase have been won by the Masters, Mates and Pilots. Local 11, International Chemical Workers Union, Los Angeles, has signed a contract with the Pacific Chemical Company providing a wage increase of 15 cents per hour, the closed shop and other benefits. Members of Local 180, Laundry Workers Internation Union, Dubuque, Iowa, have gained wage increases ranging from 8 to 14 per cent in negotiations with the Lorenz Laundry. Local 320, Firemen and Oilers, Louisville, Ky., has obtained pay raises of 14 1/2 cents an hour at the Armour Creamery Company and the Lexington Water Company and 15 cents an hour at the Corhart Refractories Company. A daily minimum of $5 and recognition of the union have been won by 12,000 members of the Lumber and Sawmill Workers in the Canadian pulp-wood industry. The Standard Brands Corporation and the Continental Baking Company, Dallas, Texas, have been persuaded to give hourly wage increases, respectively, of 30 cents and 52 cents to members of the International Union of Operating Engineers employed by them. Wage increases of 17 per cent for plant employes and $8 and $9 weekly for retail and wholesale drivers have been obtained from the Nashville (Tenn.) Pure Milk Company by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Members of Public Service Employes, Federal Labor Union 23291, have obtained a 7 1/2-cent hourly increase, on top of a 10-cent boost won last August, from the Davenport (Iowa) Water Company. Journey bookbinders, members of Local 12, International Brotherhood of Bookbinders, Minneapolis, have received a pay boost of 21 1/2 cents an hour in an agreement with Moore Business Forms, Inc. A cost-of-living clause in a contract between Local 1861, Upholsterers, and the Northome Furniture Company, Dubuque, Iowa, has resulted in a fifth raise for the workers in the past year, totaling 25 to 30 cents an hour. ——— Meet Miss Colleen Sullivan, who was chosen recently in Detroit as 'Miss A. F. of L.' Signed agreements providing a monthly increase of $26 for 150 employes have been negotiated with five Fresno, Calif., wholesale grocery firms by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Members of Local 119, United Cement, Lime and Gypsum Workers, Mobile, Ala., have gained a 14-cent wage increase in a contract recently negotiated with the Ruberoid Company. Improved working conditions and a 20-cent hourly increase were obtained in a contract negotiated by Local 5, Office Employes International Union, with the Denver-Chicago Trucking Company of Denver. In a first contract with the Manis Manufacturing Company, Staten Island, N. Y., the Ladies' Garment Workers Union has gained a wage increase of 16 per cent. Local B-1031, Electrical Workers, has concluded a contract with the Jefferson Electric Company, Bellwood, Ill., which calls for higher pay, paid holidays and a liberal vacation plan. Local 26, Bakery and Confectionery Workers, Denver, has concluded an agreement with the Denver Bread Company and the Town Talk Baking Company providing hourly increases JANUARY, 1947 31 for miscellaneous workers of 17 1/2 cents for women and 5 to 10 cents for men. Local 2767, Lumber and Sawmill Workers, Morton, Wash., has negotiated a substantial wage increase for tie mill workers in that area. In an NLRB election held at the Atmospheric Nitrogen Company, Henderson, Ky., the International Chemical Workers Union was victorious by 171 to 7. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters at Harrisburg, Pa., has obtained a 12 1/2-cent hourly wage hike for over-the-road drivers and a 10-cent raise for city drivers. Wage increases of 15 cents an hour, along with other benefits, have been gained by members of Local 3, Retail Clerks, from Freimuth's and Wahl's Department Stores at Duluth, Minn. Local 344, Fire Fighters, Detroit, has been voted a 63-hour week in place of 73 1/2 hours by the Common Council of that city. Puerto Rico Moves Along (Continued from Page 15) The whole political machinery of the government seemed to be at the service of the dual movement. Our Federation was accused of being "too conservative" and even "reactionary" because it denounced the Communist group and its disruptive actions. During the war our Federation adhered wholeheartedly to the no-strike policy of the American Federation of Labor and vigorously defended democracy, while the dual movement ranted, joined up with the so-called Latin American Confederation of Labor headed by Mr. Lombardo Toledano and sought the cooperation of foreign politicians and labor leaders. In the long run the government seems to have learned some good lessons from its experiences sponsoring movements by politicians, by the so-called radicals and newly coined labor leaders. The government has learned quite a bit about the nature of the Free Federation in the negotiations that preceded the signing of agreements by its own Water Resources Authority and Land Authority with our unions. The government has seen evidences of the sincerity and honesty of our institution and of our concern for the public welfare. The employes of the Water Resources Authority are members of the Electrical Workers Union. No strike has been ordered in this industry and excellent labor-management relations prevail. Concord until June, 1950, is guaranteed by an industrial peace treaty which was summarized in our report last year to the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor. This agreement boosted wages and assured other important gains for the workers. The industrial peace treaty has been hailed as last year's most constructive labor-management agreement. It assures industrial tranquillity, labor stability and fair participation of employes in the annual benefits of the employer. The Water Resources Authority is the backbone of the industrialization program of the government. And the success of the Authority is in the hands of our union, which is acting as a responsible organization. The same favorable experience has been enjoyed by the government in dealing with our union in the first sugar mill run by the Land Authority, another governmental agency. The agreement has been faithfully fulfilled by the parties. The first year of operation has been a success. Over $33,000 was distributed among the mill workers under the profit-sharing clause of the collective agreement and entered into by the Land Authority and our Factory Workers Union in Arecibo. The Puerto Rico Free Federation of Workingmen is, as it always has been, the island's most powerful and responsible labor organization. It controls the electrical industry. It dominates the waterfront. It has the greatest number of sugar mills organized. It has a strong union of agricultural workers. It has an island-wide agreement with the Porto Rico Telephone Company, a subsidiary of the International Telephone Company. It controls the majority of the employes in the rum industry. It has the strongest unions in the bread, ice, laundry, tobacco stripping and foundry industries. The substantial progress that trade unionism has made in Puerto Rico has been accomplished under the pressure of adverse conditions. Puerto Rico is small and densely populated. In an area of only 3,600 square miles there live nearly 2,000,000 persons. Puerto Rico has few industries. The principal ones are practically seasonal. Although thousands of workers are affiliated with our organization they cannot afford to pay high dues to their respective unions. The per capita tax charged by the Free Federation is as low as four cents a month. The work of the Federation has been mainly educational. There has been a lack of the necessary economic incentives to afford some kind of stability to the leaders and officers and to develop those programs necessary for a thorough understanding of the advantages of trade unionism and its usefulness in creating the appropriate climate for a true democracy. The Puerto Rico Free Federation of Workingmen is aware of the fact that, under any circumstances that may be created by pressing factors, it will have to march toward the future hand in hand with the American Federation of Labor, faithful to the principles of social justice and associated with those organizations in the United States and in the world capable of preserving democracy and those individual and collective rights that guarantee the life and happiness of freedom-loving and democratic people in a free and truly democratic world. ——— Electrical Workers and Water Resources Authority signing 'peace treaty' 32 AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST JUNIOR UNION PAGE By ANNABEL LEE GLENN Dragon Killers "A NEW year is like a great adventure!" declared Violette. "Yes, it is," agreed Mabel. "Don't you think so, too, Fred?" "Oh, in a way," her brother replied. "But then every day is, as far as that goes." "My father says each new day is a challenge," said Mabel. "Dad is like that," shot back Fred. "He thinks we should kill a dragon every day or so, just for exercise." "Kill a dragon?" asked Violette. "Yes, like the knights in the days of old," Fred explained. "That's what I call it when he gives out with the challenge talk. He knows I'm kidding him, but I have to or he gets too serious with us." "Dad has lots on his mind these days," Mabel said. "Anyway, it's like mother says, it's for our own good." "Yeah, and I tease him for his own good," retorted Fred. "If we don't keep him cheered up he's going to worry himself sick about everything in general. But let's forget it. I want to get my skates on and cut across the ice. I'll race the both of you to the pond." And, so saying, he dashed away from the girls. Mabel and Violette raced after him. Vi caught up with him, but try as she would, she could not pass him. All three were breathless as they came to the edge of the pond. They were greeted by shouts from their friends who had arrived earlier. Quickly fastening their skates, Fred pulled Violette to her feet, and the two skimmed out across the frozen lake. Oh, it was fun to feel the sharp woind sting their faces and hear the swish of blades on the ice! Mabel and Roy passed them, and as they circled around they mingled with a dozen or more school friends. The pond was the most popular spot after school, for the boys and girls enjoyed the winter sport of ice skating to the fullest. Someone had started the bonfire near the edge of the shore and a happy crowd gathered around it to warm up. As Violette and Fred stopped to change partners with another couple, Fred said: "Don't get lost, Vi. I want to skate with you up as far as the sunken post and back, to practice for the contests next week." "I'll be around," she said gaily, and glided off with Jack Prentiss. It was almost dark when, an hour later, they prepared to go home. The fire warmed them and gave them light as they changed from skates to shoes again. Roy walked along with Mabel, and Fred and Violette discussed their chances of winning the partner contests to be held the following week. Violette lived next door to Fred and Mabel so, after saying goodnight, Roy continued his way homeward while the other three entered their houses. "High time you kids got in," Mr. Jackson greeted Mabel and her brother. "Your mother was beginning to worry." "It just gets dark early," Mabel reminded him. "Say, Dad, what's the big smile about?" asked Fred, as he noticed his father's countenance. "Yes, Daddy, what is it? You look happier than I've seen you look for about a month." "Wait until we're at the table," said their mother, who had entered the room. "The food is on, and we should eat while it's hot and good." "Your mother is right. I'll tell you as we eat," their father said as he held the chair for her, then seated himself. "Dad, before you say one word, let me guess," said Mabel. "You've killed a dragon, haven't you?" "Well, if I haven't killed him, I have him pretty well licked," her parent answered. "What was the challenge this time?" inquired Fred. "Well, my two dear children," he said expansively, "I wish to report that your father, as a member of his local union's committee, has this day, along with several others, signed a working agreement which will take care of his job, and consequently his family, for another year." "Oh, Daddy, really?" exclaimed Mabel. "You mean what's been worrying you is settled now?" "That I do, my darling daughter, and I think I'm about as happy as a man can be." "Well, Dad, that sounds great," said Fred. "But what was it all about? I mean, what was the difficulty?" "That's easily answered. You see, the agreement we were after had a lot of opposition from the employers, and we knew we had to have a fair agreement or else there would be trouble, which neither side wanted. This last month or six weeks has been about the toughest I've put in for a long time. A man thinks of his family pretty seriously while negotiations of this kind go on. And, kids, I wanted you and your mother to have the best I could get for you. I guess I'm just like every other father in the world in that." "Gee, Dad, I'm glad you got what you wanted so your job will be better," said Fred. "Everything's fine as of now," his father replied. "But for a while the ice was pretty thin." "And that's a bad feeling," said Mabel. "I like the ice solid under my feet." "Yes, and the dragon slain," said her father, winking at his wife as he used the expression of his son and daughter. "Come now, let us have a good dinner." Don't Leave It to Charley. Union Business Is YOUR Business. Attend Meetings Regularly! Trade unions are an integral part of a democracy. As a free trade unionist you enjoy privileges that are denied to workers in many other lands. Through your union you have achieved many economic gains and can gain many others in coming years. Your union can serve you more effectively if you will participate in its affairs, attend meetings regularly, learn more about its policies, make known your own views as to the course you would like your union to follow. Just paying dues is not enough. Be active! Go to meetings! Do your duty as a free worker in a free land! ATTEND MEETINS REGULARLY! [*dup*] [*page 78*] Journal of the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN The Art of Survival Susan B. Riley Re-educating the German People Helen C. White Will War-Opened Doors Close to British Women? Ethel M. Johnson Our National Commission for UNESCO Kathryn McHale Vitalizing a City Arts Program Kathleen Ressler Bills for AAUW Support Bessie C. Randolph Invitation to Texas Margaret Lee Wiley 1947 Convention . . . Meeting Needs in Higher Education . . . Gift Parcels and International Grants . . . Those Petticoats in Science . . . Should Teachers Strike? . . . News and Notes WINTER 1947 ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN MDCCCLXXXII American Association of University Women National Headquarters: 1634 I Street, N.W., Washington 6, D. C. ——— BOARD OF DIRECTORS President—DR. HELEN C. WHITE, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 1st Vice-President—DR. MARGARET M. JUSTIN, Division of Home Economics, Kansas State College, Manhattan, Kans. 2d Vice-President—DR. MARION E. PARK, Slowly Field, Plymouth, Mass. Treasurer—MRS. FREDERICK G. ATKINSON, 2400 Blaisdell Ave., Minneapolis 4, Minn. REGIONAL VICE-PRESIDENTS N. Atlantic—MRS. ROBERT D. GLASGOW, 1013 Washington Avenue, Albany 3, N. Y. S. Atlantic—DR. GILLIE A. LAREW, Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Lynchburg, Va. N. E. Central—MRS. EMIL E. STORKAN, 77 Emmett Street, Battle Creek, Mich. S. E. Central—DR. SUSAN B. RILEY, George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tenn. N. W. Central—MRS. THOMAS ARON, 1039 Boswell Street, Crete, Nebr. S. W. Central—DR. ANNA POWELL, North Texas State Teachers College, Denton, Tex. Rocky Mountain—MRS. CHARLES J. OVIATT, Sheridan, Wyoming N. Pacific—MRS. ERIC ALLEN JOHNSTON, Winter address: 3101 Woodland Drive, N. W., Washington, D. C. S. Pacific—MRS. EDWARD C. LANPHIER, 517 Crescent Avenue, San Mateo, Calif. COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN Education—DR. LAURA ZIRBES, 117 Arps Hall, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio International Relations—DR. LOUISE PEARCE, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, Princeton, N. J. Social Studies—DR. MABEL NEWCOMER on leave. Vice-chairman, MISS ANNE M. MUMFORD, 2324 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, Calif. Membership and Maintaining Standards— DR. JANET HOWELL CLARK, University of Rochester, Rochester, N. Y. Fellowship Awards—DR. HOPE HIBBARD, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio Fellowship Endowment—DR. META GLASS, Roslyn, Route 2, Charlottesville, Virginia Legislative Program—PRESIDENT BESSIE C. RANDOLPH, Hollins College, Virginia Economic and Legal Status of Women— JUDGE SARAH T. HUGHES, Fourteenth District Court, Dallas 2, Tex. National Clubhouse—MRS. CLINTON L. DOGGETT, 4421 Watkins Avenue, Bethesda, Md. ——— General Director—DR. KATHRYN MCHALE Comptroller—MRS. JAMES K. MCCLINTOCK HEADQUARTERS STAFF DR. KATHRYN MCHALE, General Director MRS. JAMES K. MCCLINTOCK, Comptroller MRS. HARRIET AHLERS HOUDLETTE, Associate in Childhood Education MISS HELEN M. HOSP, Associate in Higher Education DR. HELEN DWIGHT REID, Associate in International Education MISS EDITH HYSLOP, Associate in Social Studies MISS LURA BEAM, Associate in the Arts MRS. FRANCES VALIANT SPEEK, Secretary to the Committee on Economic and Legal Status of Women and the Committee on Legislative Program MRS. RUTH WILSON TRYON, Editor, and Secretary to the Committee on Fellowship Endowment MISS MARY H. SMITH, Administrative Associate JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN VOL. 40 WINTER 1947 NO. 2 CONTENTS PAGE THE ART OF SURVIVAL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Susan B. Riley 67 THE RE-EDUCATION OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Helen C. White 70 WILL ECONOMIC DOORS OPENED TO BRITSH WOMEN IN WAR BE CLOSED IN PEACE? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . Ethel M. Johnson 78 A LADY FROM CHINA LOOKS AT OUR FACTORIES An Interview with Dju Yu-bao 81 THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR THE UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kathryn McHale 84 TEXAS—WHETHER TO GO, AND WHITHER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Margaret Lee Wiley Illustrations by Catherine Neal 87 MEETING NEEDS IN HIGHER EDUCATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Helen M. Hosp 91 SCHOOLS—FIRST CLAIM ON THE PUBLIC CONSCIENCE . . .Board of Directors 95 EDITORIALS What Country—?. . . . . . From Subcommission to Commission. . . . . . .The International Assembly of Women at South Kortright. . . . . . . Women at International Conferences . . . . . . News of Women in National Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 VITALIZING THE CITY ARTS PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kathleen Ressler 101 AID TO UNIVERSITY WOMEN OF OTHER COUNTRIES Reconstruction Aid Grants. . . . Yes, Gift Parcels Are Needed. . . . International Study Grants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 LETTERS TO HEADQUARTERS . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 THE BIENNIAL CONVENTION, Dallas, Texas, April 14-19, 1947. . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 AAUW NEWS AND NOTES: No Discrimination in Membership. . . . . .The Crisis in Public Education . . . . . . . . Liberalizing the General Education Requirement . . . . . Nominations for National Offices . . . . . . . . . . .Place of Next Convention . . . . . . And Maine Makes Forty-eight. . . . . . . . . . . Canada Scene of First IFUW Conference Outside Europe. . . . . . . .Newcomb College Seniors Send Gift for International Reconstruction . .. . . . . A New Federal Aid Bill . . . . . . . . . Vassar Scholarship . . . . . . . . Footnote on Texas Fellowship Funds. . . . . AAUW Grant to British Fellow . . . . . Fellowship Resigned . . . . . . . .Educational Supplies for Europe . . . . . British Fund . . . . . . . Film on "One World or None" . . . . . . . . For Whom Is General Membership? . . . . . . . . . AAUW Adds Seven New Branches . . . . . . Dallas Cook Book . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 SELECTING BILLS FOR AAUW SUPPORT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bessie C. Randolph 118 WHAT AAUW BRANCHES ARE DOING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 ————— Contents of the JOURNAL are indexed in the Education Index. Subscription price to those ineligible to membership, $1.00 per year. Published quarterly, October, January, April, and June. Entered as second-class matter at the post office at Concord, N.H., under Act of March 3, 1879. Publication Office: 10 Ferry Street, Concord, N.H. Editorial Office: National Headquarters, 1634 I Street, N.W., Washington 6, D.C. ——— For International Relations Chairmen and Others. . . "We Earn the Future" contains ideas useful to every chairman * Practical suggestions on selecting speakers, forming discussion groups, activating study groups, gaining insight into this tense period in world history * How to make study groups fruitful . . . dynamic . . . "extroverts" . . . find "patterns for clarity" in the confusion of world affairs * How to keep up with international problems through alert, informed discussion groups . . . discover the essence of good discussion techniques * How to make your influence felt locally, nationally, and internationally AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN This booklet may be obtained from national headquarters for the price of: 25 cents each. Five for $1 AAUW, 1634 I St., N.W. Washington 6, D. C. Send for Your Copy Now! ——— ——— this catalog will suggest exciting programs time now to reserve the films you may wish to show masterpieces of America's foremost film producers, a great variety of educational films, and dozens of short subjects and cartoons are catalogued in this book. Every one is available from Films Incorporated for showing on 16-mm school projectors. By making cancellable-film-reservations immediately, you can assign to films an important part of your program burden. your free catalog is ready now. To receive it promptly mail the coupon. Then, even/if your plans are only tentative, don't hesitate to make reservations. The sooner you do the surer you are to get the popular features when you prefer them. films incorporated New York 18—330 W. 42nd St. Chicago 1—64 E. Lake St. * San Francisco 4—68 Post St. Portland 12, Ore.—611 N. Tillamook St. Dallas 5—109 Akard St. * Atlanta 3—101 Marietta St. Los Angeles 14—1709 W. Eighth St. MAIL COUPON TO ADDRESS NEAREST YOU Please send me my free copy of the School List catalog. Name _________________________________ School ________________________________ Address _______________________________ We have the use of a 16-mm * sound * silent projector ——— VOL. 40 JANUARY 1947 NO. 2 The Art of Survival BY SUSAN B. RILEY THE Smithsonian Institution has a new exhibit. It is intricately wrought of old bones and gutta-percha and is based equally on fact and imagination. Its creators are proudly sure that it is a complete and accurate reproduction of the extinct dodo which died of stupidity sometime during the seventeenth century. Life on its Indian Ocean island was so safe and so easy that the dodo became defenseless, and with the arrival of settlers the birds were slaughtered by man and beast. The earth, the very ground under our feet, is filled with the record of vanished forms. Layer upon layer, round upon round, are laid the vestiges of animal life that once lived and populated the earth but which through weakness, through stupidity, through lack of ability to adjust themselves to changes in water, air, heat and cold, perished. But other forms have evolved, have moved into higher manifestations of life, have, like the nautilus, been prepared to leave "the past year's dwelling for the new," to recognize when a shell has been outgrown and a past has been low vaulted, and have had the ability and courage to build new temples. To the first type, a new era has always spelled death; to the second, a greater life. Man's life has never been easy. It has never been static. It has been subject to mutations, to natural calamities, to manmade wars and persecutions. But now in the thinking of many people Man faces the greatest threat of all to his survival. For on August 6, 1945, the world moved into another new era, one to challenge all the powers of adaptability, carrying as it does the promise of an expansion into the universe or a contraction into annihilation. Only the ignorant are today fearless. The wise are humble, baffled, and filled with a sense of urgency lest there perish not necessarily Man, who has often proved himself tough and ingenious, but those qualities of mind and spirit which mark his slow upward climb from primordial days. We need no confirmation other than that of our own hearts to know that we are a fear-ridden people. The non-intelligent admit their fear in their very denial of it, in their pitiful attempt to rebuild the old world in which they felt safe. But the intelligent recognize the causes for their fear and set about to remove those causes. But above all, they nullify their fear with faith. In a time of denial they make their affirmation, and lest they be accused of being moral but ineffectual, they translate those affirmations into actions, their faith into faith with works. THE imperative affirmation which needs to be made at this time is our own belief in the importance of clear and informed thinking which is the goal of education. It is by the act and nature of thought that man is distinguished from other animals, and individuals within the human race are distinguished one from another. For all, but particularly for those whose instrument of thought has presumably been sharpened by the discipline of higher education, the times call not for evasion but for exactness, not for an emotional and subjective coloring of events but for a 67 68 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN realistic and logical interpretation of them. On the power of right thinking, Pascal has said in The Philosophers: Man is but a reed, the most feeble thingin nature. But he is a thinking reed. . . . All our dignity, then, consists of thought. Let us endeavor then to think well: this is the principle of morality. By space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like an atom; by thought I comprehend the world. More and more in recent years, in this endeavor "to think well," we have become increasingly conscious of the oneness of mankind, and that for purposes of the common good, now even of the common survival, mankind is not divisible into racial and national parts. We are groping toward the transcendental idea of the Unity of all things, believing with John Donne that "No man is an island entire of itself," but that we are all "involved in mankind." TO BELIEVE that we are involved in mankind commits us to the support of certain current issues -- government loans to less fortunate nations, food for starving peoples, better relationships among races, the correction of economic injustices, the whole program of the United Nations, which is based on the idea of the oneness of mankind. So important is it to spread this belief that in the future the children in our schools should be required to learn not only that preamble to our great national document which begins, "We the People of the United States in order to form a more perfect union" but also the one which says, "We the people of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war . . . to reaffirm faith in the fundamental human rights. . . . and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom . . . do hereby establish an international organization known as the United Nations." Those of us who believe in the unlimited possibilities of directing men's actions by influencing their minds (which we briefly call education) feel that there is no more important division of the United Nations than the Educational, Scientific, and Cultural. To that phase we university women should give our whole-hearted attention, being prepared individually and through the program of the national AAUW to implement its purposes and functions. BUT it is not only education in international relations with which we need to concern ourselves; public education within our own country is facing one of the major crises in its history. The most acute of the critical factors is the shortage of teachers. Not enough young people of superior ability are going into teaching as a profession, teachers who left the field for some form of war services are not returning, and those still in the classrooms are beginning to look longingly at greener and less rocky pastures. For they have discovered that the world is filled with things they can do and do well, and although some of them genuinely love the art of teaching they are finding too hard the actual or prospective burden of long hours, exacting schedules, low returns on the initial investment in preparation, and an uncertain economic future. There should be in every community a deliberate campaign to make teaching in its schools attractive. And making teaching attractive means more than raising salaries. It means, also, the chance for a normal life, for social acceptance, for creative experiences to balance deadening routine, and the full dignity and status of a professional life. There is still another phase of education for which we should at this time feel a heightened responsibility, the most personal and feasible of all, -- the continued education of ourselves. For the slow process of learning is never done. It is easy to lose our zest for learning, to become indifferent to the challenge of new ideas, to read and think below our maximum intellectual power. To the continued education of college women our Association is dedicated, and our very membership THE ART OF SURVIVAL 69 in the AAUW is proof that we have in turn dedicated ourselves to this end. But a passive absorption of learning is not enough. A truly educated person should feel a definite and personal responsibility for evolving in his own thinking a pattern of the world as he wishes it to be. The test of the validity of his education is the active assistance he gives towards making this pattern as actuality. WHEN the Persian poet grieved that he and his Love could not conspire with Fate "to grasp this sorry scheme of things entire," his chronology of shattering the world to bits and then remolding it nearer to his heart's desire was that of purposeless dreaming. In the hard realism of our times, we know that to keep it from being shattered to bits as we must remold it first through the power of the educated and moral intellect which is greater than even the power of the atom. One of the contributions which women have made to the history of culture is preservation. In the long evolution of society, generic Man has represented the forces of destruction, generic Woman of conservation. Women have more power than they have dreamed of. If their latent strength was once aroused and organized, they could accomplish miracles. They could even stop war. In the aggregate, there have been only three hundred years during which the world has been free of war. But this has been a man's world. If women cared passionately enough to consider the whole world their home and if women of all nations and races would unite, they could speak our boldly and say: "No more of this talk of World War III. Find another way to settle your differences. But we'll have no more talk of war. For in this Atomic Era we must live in peace if we would live at all." WHAT does all this have to do with the dodo? The dodo brought about its own extinction. Ceasing to exercise its wings in the far upper reaches of the air, it lost the use of those wings and became a groundling. Forgetting to look up and beyond, it became myopic and could not see stronger birds of prey swooping down upon it. Constantly feeding in lush lands, it grew fat and cumbersome. It became careless of its young. It neglected to surround its home with security. When in the natural scheme of things there seemed to be no good reason why it should continue to breed others like itself, it ceased to be. But man has wrought too painfully and too greatly to be swept into oblivion. By that faculty which distinguishes him from lower animals he can survive destruction by even that which he himself has created. For reed though he be, he is a thinking reed, and through his intelligence, purified and clarified by the right educative forces, he can move on to higher planes. To that end we, as women charged with the preservation of culture and as educated people whose responsibilities are made greater through our privileges, stand committed. A condensation of an address delivered at the Biennial Conference of the Northeast Central Region of the AAUW, Chicago, May 11, 1946. The author is Vice-President of the Southeast Central Region of the AAUW, and associate professor of English at George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tennessee. The Re-education of the German People BY HELEN C. WHITE Member, U. S. Education Mission to Germany WHEN I was in Germany last summer, I heard a story of the wonderful exhibition of children's books that was circulating through the American zone that may well be taken as the keynote to a discussion of German re-education. It seems that the librarian who planned that exhibition was so concerned at the dearth of modern constructive children's books in Germany that she determined to secure as many examples as possible of the fine work being done in that field in other countries so as to bring them to the attention of German educators and possible writers of children's books. To that end she wrote for samples to a number of governments, including those of two countries that had suffered grievously from German occupation. She was hardly surprised when she received flat refusals from these two with the added observation that their people had suffered too much at the hands of the Germans for them even to consider doing anything to help Germany. To both countries she wrote at once, saying that she did not blame them; she only wanted them to understand that it was because she wanted to see the present generation of German children brought up in the ways of peace and international friendship so that when they reached their strength they would not be a menace to their neighbors, that she had asked for help. The answer to both letters was the same, a prompt and large shipment of very beautiful children's books. That story puts very well the approach of the American authorities in Washington and in Germany to their task. The basic aim of our occupation of Germany is to do everything we can to convert Germany from a threat to the world's peace to a good citizen who will deserve to be admitted to the fellowship of peace-loving peoples in the United Nations. That is not something we can accomplish by fiat or by compulsion. It is not a matter of something we do to Germany but of something we persuade and help Germany to do to herself, and to keep on doing. It is a matter of education. NOW anyone who knows much of the processes of education knows that it is neither a simple nor a speedy matter. Changes must be carefully considered not only in themselves but in their context of community life and value. The processes of change must penetrate very profoundly into the individual and social situation to be effective. That takes time. Al this the American authorities who have to do with this problem very fully appreciate. Hence the decision of the War and State Departments last summer to send a mission of educators to the American zone of Germany to survey and to evaluate the work that is being done by both German and American educational authorities. That mission was composed of experts in elementary, secondary, university, workers' and adult education, in teacher training, in psychology and educational research, in youth activities. it was a group of experts to give an English teacher pause, but it was a very pleasant and stimulating group to work with, and the English teacher can testify that she had at least a chance to learn a great deal in a very short time. Nobody pretends that the month to which the professional commitments of this group limited the mission was anything 70 THE RE-EDUCATION OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE 71 thing like ideal for the breadth and complexity of their task. But the War and State Departments in Washington and the officers of military government in Berlin saw to it that everything possible was done in the preliminary briefing to equip us for our mission. WE LEFT Berlin under the escort of an admirably experienced and well informed young American educator who had fought his way into Germany and stayed to help with the reconstruction. With us went, also, as expert adviser and interpreter, a former member of the Prussian ministry of education who had given up a distinguished career as an educational writer for his democratic convictions. At Wiesbaden, the capital of the Land (or state) of Greater Hesse, we divided into teams to visit elementary and secondary schools, teacher-training institutions, universities, and so forth. Usually we of the university team began our visit at each institution with a conference with the rector and some of the deans and senior members of the faculty. The formal report of conditions at the university soon yielded to a more informal, and so far as we count tell, quite candid answering of questions, and then presently asking of questions. Then there usually followed a more or less extended tour of the institution. In this way we went through a representative section of the three lander that comprise the American zone of Germany, Greater Hesse, Wurttemberg-Baden, and Bavaria, the university team visiting the universities at Frankfurt, Marburg, Heidelberg, Munich, and Erlangen, the Technische Hochschulen of Darmstadt and Stuttgart, and the College of Agriculture at Hohenheim. Everywhere we were warmly welcomed by worried university officials anxious to tell their troubles to interested fellow professionals, and extended every courtesy and facility for our inquiry. Although the universities were not always in session, we did have a chance to see some of them operating under great difficulties. And we had some chance to talk with students, though not so much as we would have liked. Perhaps the most important fact that emerged from our study was that it was not lack of education that caused the German tragedy. Germany had a very highly developed educational system, firmly entrenched in German life, with standards and traditions in which the German people have taken great pride. Indeed, one of the most striking characteristics of the psychology of the educators with whom we talked on every level was their faith in what the German system of education had been before Hitler. The grounds of that faith are, I think, quite obvious. The scholarly attainments of the old Germany, the high degree of literacy, the excellent trade and technical training, are known and appreciated the world over. BUT from the point of view of a democratic society, that old pre=Hitler education had very grave shortcomings, and it is not difficult to see a connection between those shortcomings and the national disaster. Basically, the old education was a caste education. It was based on the premise that there is a relatively small proportion of the population that is capable of intellectual training on the higher levels. It was judged very important to select that potential intellectual elite out of the mass of the population as early as possible in order that its training might be got under way. To this intellectual elite the German people looked not only for their specialists in the learned professions and research but for their religious and political and social leaders as well. The great mass of the people were to be trained in more limited and more specialized vocations. Again, the choice had to be made early in order that the specialized trade and vocational education might be as thorough as possible. From about ten years of age, the education of the average German child flowed in very definite channels that would lead to a special call- 72 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN ing, and to a special place in society. Theoretically, intellectual capacity was the key to the process of selection. But in practice the relatively high cost of academic education and the general outlook of the various social and vocational classes militated against any free play of natural selection. AGAIN, there is no question of the efficiency of the process, but acceptance of such a system is possible only on the basis of a general social attitude that is completely alien to the democratic ponit of view. For the whole system is based on the idea that there are a small number of elite destined to be the leaders and that the great mass of the population are to be content to be the followers. Taken in conjunction with the traditional German docility and concern for order, the result is a social system peculiarly suited to strong direction from the top. What could be done under the drive of the popular passions of excessive nationalism and militarism had been demonstrated. THE dangers implicit in the caste basis of German education were recognized in Weimar days, and some real progress was made in their amelioration. Curiously enough, the Nazis too, in the confused early days of their movement, had attacked the caste system in education and had made certain tentatives of reform that were afterward betrayed. More than once in our criticisms of the German educational system and in our suggestions for reform, our mission came up sharply against the fact that the German educator had heard what we were saying before, from quarters which he was anxious to forget, and that acceptance of those changes had been the opening wedge for changes which neither he nor we would want to see repeated. For the Nazis not only took over the German educational system and made it the instrument of their program, but they proceeded to pervert and adulterate it to a degree that is difficult to comprehend. The result is apparent in the complaint met everywhere that students coming into the universities out of the Hitler-period schools are simply not prepared to do university work on the old level. The whole educational system suffered, too, from the insulation imposed by the Nazi regime, joined to the deliberate misinformation which was the staple of public propaganda, and heightened by the break in communication during the war. The result was that all through the German universities we found a desperate sense of professional isolation and a great hunger for knowledge of what was going on in the rest of the intellectual world. THE defeat of Germany ended the Nazi system of direct propaganda that had so thoroughly vitiated the educational system. But it by no means eliminated the Nazis and their followers -- or their textbooks and educational materials -- from the schools and universities. When our forces occupied Germany, they closed the educational institutions that were still undestroyed and forbade the opening of any schools until plans and personnel could be examined and approved. This involved a gigantic task of scrutinizing and sifting, the famous process of denazification about which there has already been so much discussion. The need nobody denies. The mechanical character of the process to which we resorted is pretty generally conceded, too. But it was a more difficult business than is always recognized. There seems to be no question that some of the early members of the party were drawn by the promises of reform, social and political and educational, which the Nazis made in the beginning. And not all the people who, then or later, refused to join them were liberals. There were traditional nationalists and militarists who despised the party and all its works, and who held off as long as they could. But whatever is to be said for or against denazification as we conceived of it, there THE RE-EDUCATION OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE 73 can be no question of the seriousness with which we carried it through. The figures of teachers excluded tell their own story, the proportion dismissed varying with the district from 50 to 90 per cent. Everywhere we met staff shortages. Everywhere we found teachers struggling to carry impossible student loads, -- as many as eighty-three students per teacher in the elementary schools of Bavaria, for instance. THE figures on the age of teachers are equally disturbing. The average age of all the teachers in the schools of Greater Hesse at the time of their re-opening was fifty-two. When one thinks of the flood of anxious and eager young men pouring into the German universities, one could wish that there were a few more at least of younger instructors to bridge the gap between them and the men of another generation. For these are the men of another generation. They are, many of them, the men of Weimar. Over and over again, we found that our German colleagues were thinking of the Weimar days as a sort of golden age to which they wished to get back. Many of these men had paid heavily for their loyalty to the liberalism of Weimar. But this is another day. They certainly do not have the authority of success with which to win the politically suspicious and disillusioned and confused younger generation now pressing about them. When one thinks of the conditions of life in Germany today and the demands for reorientation and fresh adaptation that we are making of these middle-aged to old men this winter, it is hard not to think of the young men who have been excluded by the process of denazification and to wonder if there is any way in which some at least of them might be retrained and put to work on probation under very close supervision. Some experiments have been tried in this direction, notably in the Bremen Enclave, and they might well be extended. Of course, there have been various schemes for emergency teacher training and recruiting. But there is always the problem of professional quality to be thought of. It does not help a new educational approach if its supporters can be challenged on the grounds of professional competence. Some real progress is being made in widening the possible sources of teacher supply, often in the teeth of long-standing professional prejudices. For instance, more women are being used in elementary school teaching. Some die-hards fear a feminization of the lower grades; some reformers, on the other hand, are making large assumptions as to the more pacific influence of the supposedly gentler sex. In the universities I visited, I could discover no danger of "the monstrous regiment of women." But women are finding some places, especially in fields like language and literature and medicine. The denazification of school materials and books would seem an easier matter to handle than the denazification of teaching staffs, but under the conditions of German life today even that has its difficulties. From all reports, there was not much difficulty in finding out whether a textbook was dangerously nationalistic or militaristic or Nazi. The propaganda was pretty blatant. The difficulty is replacement in a situation where almost everything needed is wanting, -- above all, paper, which is in almost catastrophic shortness of supply. ON THE clearly positive side of re-education there is undoubted progress being made, especially in the university world. German administrative authorities are quite aware of the dangers of over-specialization, and they are taking practical steps to broaden the outlook of university students. To appreciate what they are actually doing we need to remember that traditionally when a German student reaches the university, most of his general education is behind him; he is seriously preparing himself for his profession or his research specialty. And at the present 74 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN moment, like our veterans, most of the German students are in a great hurry to make up for lost time, and get ready to find their places in what they know is a much tighter and closer race than anything we can imagine. The considerable progress which the German universities have been able to make in this direction takes different forms in different institutions, of course. Every Tuesday the Forum Academicum at Frankfurt gives public lecture and discussion meetings on "Deutschland, Europa und die Welt." At Heidelberg one day a week is entirely devoted to general courses. The response is said to be excellent, the lecture halls being crowded to capacity. At Erlangen compulsory courses are prescribed with a more direct eye to the general re-orientation of students recovering from Nazi education. The courses in critical thinking and in the principles of law and justice, for instance, are reported to be very popular. Marburg offered its students an admirable international summer course this year. And plans are well advanced at Darmstadt to provide the engineer with the richer cultural and social orientation he will need if he is to take a greater responsibility for the whole society he serves. THE German student, especially the veteran, is cautious about anything that savors of political propaganda, all observers agree. He knows that he has been deceived once, and he is confused enough about the world in which he finds himself. But he is pathetically eager to learn about the outside world, and to make contact with it. All the army and education officers who have taken part in the work with youth groups report that German young people in general in the American zone are very eager indeed to learn about American life and interested in what they hear of democratic values and ways. Perhaps still more important, German youth at the university and in youth groups have become very much interested in the techniques of democratic action, in discussion groups, forums, and panels, which they have been encouraged to explore. In all these ways real progress is being made, and deservedly, because of the patient and devoted work that our education officers and German helpers who have had some experience of life in England or America are putting into it. BUT a great deal remains to be done, if anything widespread or lasting is to be accomplished. Some of the things that need to be done are a matter of basic organization. Take, for instance, the problem of too early specialization. Ten years old is much too early for making vocational choices. To extend the present basic grundschule from four to six years would postpone the basic vocational choice for two years at least and give all German children a longer period of common educational experience. With the present crucial shortage of school plants, it is doubtless too much to ask that all the specialized courses into which students go from the grundschule be brought into one common plant, but the present segregation of students in different channels of training should be broken down by some organization of the different types of schools into larger administrative and social units and the provision of common activities that will bring these young people together as potential citizens and human beings. And some common training of their teachers would unquestionably help to bridge the present chasm between them. The system of trades education is too firmly grounded in German life to be basically altered, in all probability, and it has its undoubted advantages. But there is no reason why more in the way of general education should not be provided for the boy or girl apprentice even if this involves some sacrifice of the fine craftsmanship that has been the glory of this system. It is hard, indeed, to see how Germany can ever become a functioning democracy THE RE-EDUCATION OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE 75 when the majority of her citizens receive so narrow and limited a training. In a different way the same principle of a broader orientation applies to the university. The traditional independence of the German university has often been envied by American professors, but there is no question that the closer relations of the great institutions of our country to the communities which support them have made them more responsive to the immediate needs of the world around them. The responsibility, for instance, which the American university takes for research in education at all levels, and for teacher training and through extension programs for public education at large, is something which the German university might well consider if it is to fulfill in a democratic society its traditional function of providing leadership. BUT the development of a genuinely democratic system of education is a matter of more than organization. It is, also, a matter of aim and method and spirit. It takes a broader view of the world's interest to free a people from the clutches of national obsessions; it takes a confidence in humanity in general and in one's relation to it to free the individual from the fear and self-interest and arrogance of a caste or class. It takes the humility that results from a perception of one's place in the universe and not just in a social hierarchy, and the confidence that springs from co-operation with others in wider usefulness, to give the average citizen the human poise that makes possible the free give and take of democratic life. These things cannot be mechanically accomplish by propaganda; it may be doubted whether, in any effective sense, they can be taught, but they can be caught by the infection of example, by the contagion of experience shared. We need to put more men and women into the teaching and advising job in Germany than we have yet thought of doing. One professor in a German university teaching and living in that community will do more than any amount of indoctrination. The same is true of teacher training, of the training of youth groups and adult study and discussion groups. But the teachers we send to Germany must be the right men and women. They must be first-class professionals, for nobody else will command the respect of the Germans, who have a very high standard in such matters. They must know Germany and the Germans and the German language; they must appreciate the importance of what they are doing, not only for the Germans but for their own people as well. ON THE other hand, no foreign importation can ever be as effective for educational innovation and reform as the native who has gone abroad and come back with a vision of what could be done in his own country. I have met young Germans like that already, men who caught their vision in a prisoner-of-war camp. "There is a student here," said one of the university officials at Frankfurt when we had finished our preliminary conference, "who is very anxious to see you. He has been at Wisconsin." It was at Camp McCoy, in the PW camp there, that he came in touch with some of our professors, whose names he gave me for friendly remembrance. I have not yet had time to find out what they did to or for that young man, but I can testify that it made a lasting impression. And so of other young men who were reached by the education programs in our camps. I came across quite a number of them who were working very enthusiastically in key positions, one at an American Information Center, another as rector of his university, another as a member of his land ministry of education, and another as a professor of English. Limited as it was, that effort to give some vision of American life has already borne very precious fruit. Everywhere we went in Germany we found a great eagerness for opportunities to send German students and teachers 76 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN over to America. Of course, there have been some pretty glowing pictures of the American scene painted in Germany recently. But I am quite sure that the reality as a reality will be sufficient to fire a new generation of German scholars and teachers to undertake what, in the last analysis, only they can do. But they must have help. Democracy is not a system that buds from despair or flourishes on misery. The bombs that laid waste blocks and blocks of German cities leveled a good many pretensions, but they also destroyed the tools of work. Bare hands are slow. And the dazed and bewildered human animal finds that the daily struggle for the basic food and shelter leaves little of that overplus of imagination and energy that is indispensable to creative work. Even now, a year and a half later, professors complained of tiring after four or five hours' work, and the number of students who collapse after their examinations is growing. The daily ration in our zone now -- 1500 calories -- will hardly suffice to stay the fall in body weight or the appalling spread of tuberculosis that is worrying our health authorities. It certainly will not give the average man the extra strength needed to take a fresh view of his profession and to start a thorough-going reform in a situation which would tax anybody's resources to meet the minimum. AMERICAN universities are finding the press of students difficult enough this fall. But not only do the German universities have the veterans, as we do, but 10 per cent of the places in the universities must very properly go to the DP's, the survivors of concentration camps and slave labor deportations, and some political fugitives from the ideological storm of our day. Then there are the Germans expelled from the north and the east, pressing in upon the universities as upon all the resources of a shrunken Germany. The problem of housing bedevils practically all universities and educational institutions. In a town like Darmstadt it is hard to see where students can live unless they burrow under the rubble or pile into cellars. In Frankfurt, they must travel miles every day to find shelter outside the city. And even if the student is sheltered, there is still the problem of heat. The lack of coal is, like the lack of glass, one of the basic problems of the whole zone. At the University of Frankfurt, in a hall salvaged from the wreck of the main building, boards and cellophane have been used to close the high windows, and tables and benches jammed in so that the bodies of the students will warm each other a little. For the only heat will be from the fireplaces. Even so, it will be warmer than the quite unheated room at home, and these students are better off than the students in the Technische Hochschule at Darmstadt who must sit on backless benches taking notes hour after hour on their knees. For there is much more lecturing in German universities even than before, for want of books. The young English professor at Munich told me that he was determined to change the too theoretical discussion of literature with which he had been familiar in German universities for the more realistic study of the text which he had found at the University of Cambridge where he had himself been a student before the war. But when he took up his new chair at Munich, he found that every single English and American book in the university library had been burned in the raids. And even the lectures are running into difficulties, for students are lucky if they can find a scrap of paper to take notes. Many are using the margins of newspapers, and newspapers are not too plentiful in Germany just now because of the same paralyzing paper shortage. These things would be hard enough to cope with if one could be sure it was just for one winter more. But the future of a still divided and occupied Germany is as dim as ever. That the vocational choices THE RE-EDUCATION OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE 77 of young Germany should be guided with an eye to the future needs of their country is admitted by all. Some guesses can be made on the present outlook; for instance, not so many doctors and more engineers and architects, and more opportunity for women who must earn their own and others' livings. But it is hard to be sure of very much when the economic basis of German life is so uncertain. There is every reason to believe that the young German will set to work with a will if he can see some future ahead, however distant and hard to be won. This is a very difficult world for all young Europeans today, and the best assurance is not too sure. But young people do not usually ask for an easy job. Some prospect of fruitful usefulness is what they want, and the world would be already doomed in which that could be denied. In other words, the re-education of the German people is a very possible but a very considerable undertaking, far more than the American people have yet begun to face. It will take more attention than it has yet received from the American public, and it will cost more than we have yet thought of putting into it. It will mean more Americans in Germany than the present staff (at least double the present number was the judgment of the mission); it will mean provisions to bring Germans to America to get ready to work in Germany. It will mean more building materials, coal, paper, glass, food, in Germany, and more books and educational materials. Some of the latter can be sent over now on an emergency basis by individuals and organizations; but the need is too vast for private effort alone, and something more than emergency relief is involved. THE longer we let opportunity slip, the longer it will take, and the more it will cost. But we should remember that the cost of one airplane carrier, to bring the old battleship measuring rod up to date, would go a long way on the program the Education Mission recommended, while it would only be the beginning of what we would have to spend if we failed to carry through what we have undertaken. For the teacher, there is always another consideration. It is a pity to see such human potentialities abused or wasted if there is a chance that they can be salvaged for the good of a very needy world. Will Economic Doors Opened to British Women in War Be Closed in Peace? BY ETHEL M. JOHNSON DURING the First World War, English women thronged into industry. But after the close of that other war a large part of these women were replaced by men. Is history going to repeat itself in this respect? In World War II, practically all women in Britain who were free to work and able to do so were employed, or in the Auxiliary Services. In addition to activities directly connected with military action, British women undertook the most difficult and dangerous kinds of employment --employment formerly considered work for men. Now that the fighting is over, how many of them will remain in Britain's labor force? What is the attitude of the women themselves with regard to retaining their wartime gains? Are they more effectively organized than in the past and so in a position to make their wishes felt in case they desire to keep the industrial advances they have made? Are there other factors which affect the situation and which may bring about a different outcome, from that which followed the First World War? One factor which may help to influence the outcome is the increase in trade union membership among British women in industry. In 1937, women members of trade unions in Great Britain numbered slightly over half a million. At the peak of wartime employment, in 1943, the number of women in trade unions was nearly two million (1,875,000). The most recent official figures, those for 1944, are 1,805,000. Some further reduction in union membership among women is predicted now that the war is over and some women are returning to their homes, leaving because of marriage, or going back to former employment in occupations that are not organized. But even with these reductions, trade union membership among women shows a striking advance both in numbers and per cent over the prewar days. This is especially noteworthy when compared with the situation after World War I, when trade union organization of women was still in its infancy. Through their trade union membership and through suffrage women are in a far stronger position today, both economically and politically, than in 1918. OTHER factors that have a bearing on employment opportunities for women are Great Britain's commitments abroad and the troubled international scene which requires Britain to keep a considerable number of troops in Europe and in the Near and Far East. Less important, but still of some influence is the fact that of the men who have already been demobilized, some are taking advantage of the training courses provided by the government. This means that for the time being a number of men who would normally be in the labor market are not at present available for work. Added to this is the fact that Great Britain has a serious labor shortage and an urgent need to expand production for the foreign market as well as to meet some of the long-pent-up domestic demands. Not only is there a scarcity of labor at the 78 ECONOMIC DOORS OPENED TO BRITISH WOMEN IN WAR 79 present time, there is indication that this scarcity will continue for an appreciable period. It would seem from this that the prospect for employment for women is excellent. In fact during the early part of the summer of 1946, the government sent out an appeal to women who had left their wartime jobs for their homes to return to work. It should be noted, however, that the postwar demand for women workers is not necessarily in the new employments which they entered during the war. It is rather in some of the conventional occupations of women that the need is greatest. There is a demand for women in the textile industry, in shops and stores, in hospitals and similar institutions, and in the various forms of domestic service. The level of wages in these employments is appreciably below that in the war industries in which women were extensively employed. THERE has been some advance in wages in these occupations since the prewar days. In the case of domestic service, the government has had an inquiry made with reference to improving conditions and has published a White Paper embodying recommendations looking to that end. It has in fact already acted upon the basic recommendations in the report and has set up this summer a National Institute of Houseworkers and an Advisory Council to help in providing training and in establishing standards for domestic service. Through the Wages Councils there has been a gradual lifting of the wage scale in many of the lower paid employments. Recently a new scale of wages and conditions of employment for domestic employees in the mental health service has been adopted by the National Joint Council for the Staff of Hospitals and Allied Institutions in England and Wales. The Cripps report on the Cotton Textile Industry calls for higher wages and better working conditions in the various branches of this important woman-employing industry. This is all to the good. It does not, however, answer the question, whether the broader economic opportunities opened to women during the war--opportunities not only for higher wages but for new types of employment and for more responsible positions--will be continued in the postwar years. In individual cases where women have demonstrated exceptional aptitude for certain types of work they will probably be kept on, at least during the present labor shortage. The government gave recognition to women in wartime appointments, and has continued that policy in the postwar years. The major problem, so far as numbers are concerned, is that presented by private industry. Here the attitude of women themselves as expressed by their trade union organizations is one of the important factors. IF THE postwar Conferences of Unions Catering for Women Workers give a true picture of the attitude of women in industry in Great Britain today, it would appear that many women are determined to hold on to their wartime gains. At their conferences after the close of the war, there has been evident a spirit of militancy among the younger women. A new ferment had been working during the war years, when women carried the brunt of the industrial load and a heavy part of the civilian defense as well. They had been performing responsible work for the nation and knew their own worth. This new attitude on the part of working women is indicated by such statements as these, made at their public meetings: "We have demonstrated during the war that we can do good work, as responsible and as hazardous work as that performed by men. We do not ask for special privilege. We want equality in representation. We want to be treated as responsible individuals. We want tangible results, not flowery words. We are through with being an appendage. We want to have a responsible part in the labor movement; to take part in policy making, and to cease being merely an advisory group." 80 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN The chairman of the Conference of Unions Catering for Women Workers- Dame Ann Loughlin- referring to postwar work for women, said that women naturally would be reluctant to return from the well-paid jobs they had during the war to some of the traditional employments for women, characterized by low wages and poor working conditions. THIS note was again stressed in the resolutions adopted at the Conference held in the summer of 1946: This Conference is of the opinion, that if women are to be induced to remain in employment in the numbers deemed necessary during the postwar period, the welfare arrangements throughout industry must be brought up to the highest level attained during the war in the more favored industries. The Conference urged greatly improved wages and conditions of employment as a means of attracting and retaining women in the industries where they are most urgently needed. Dame Ann Loughlin in her address as chairman, although recognizing the gains that had been made, urged the need for stronger organization among women and a greater sense of responsibility on their part. "I think as women," she said, "we have got to the stage in our development where we must stand on our own feet and not depend upon anyone. We must, as women, be strong enough to have a voice and shape the policy in our own unions; to have an equal share in the management of the branch and its administration in area and local councils, National Executives, and Committees, as well as the workshop level. It would be true to say," she continued, "that women are on the march, but not all women. If we as women are ever to get the measure of attention that women deserve we must be more articulate." There are still obstacles to be overcome before full economic equality has been achieved by women in Great Britain. Better facilities for training for the more responsible and better paid positions; removal of prejudices in industry and elsewhere; wider participation of women in trade unions, and especially in trade union policy making; appointment of women to career positions in the foreign service- these are some of the objectives for which the leaders of women in industry in Great Britain are working. Remarkable progress has been made during the past few decades, especially during the war years. Much of this is permanent advance. Today with able leaders, with fairly strong trade union organization, a friendly government, a favorable labor market, the postwar employment picture for women is certainly encouraging. Nor is the progress by any means confined to industry. Opportunities for professional training which in the past have been closed to women are now open to them. The government is naming women to responsible posts in its ministries and on committees and commissions. It is even recognizing them in the diplomatic service. One by one the barriers of the past are falling down. Yes, the women in Great Britain are on the march. As special assistant to the U.S. Ambassador in London during two years of the war, Miss Johnson studied problems of industrial and social welfare, visiting mines, industrial establishments, and ordnance factories in various parts of England, and keeping in touch with trade unions- especially those in which women were most largely represented. Before the war she was director of the U.S. Branch of the International Labor Office. A Lady from China Looks at Our Factories With the help of a grant from the AAUW Reconstruction Aid Fund, Dju Yu-bao has been observing safety and welfare practices in the United States that might be employed in the reconstruction of industry in China. WE SAT at table at the AAUW Clubhouse in Washington- three members of the staff and Miss Dju Yu-bao, factory inspector from Shanghai. Industrial safety was the subject that had brought her from China to the United States to study, but it was of art that we talked. "When I first came to your country," Miss Dju was saying in her quiet voice, "I was not comfortable in my mind. I did not know why. Then I found the trouble. In my country, everything speaks to the mind, - the curve of the roofs, the lines of a building, the form of articles of everyday use, all have a meaning. But here, these things did not mean anything to me. So I began to try to understand. Now it is better: what I see here '- your architecture and the forms of things I see - speaks to me a little, too." But it was not to look at the outside of buildings or the forms of our products that Miss Dju had been spending a year in visiting American factories, talking with safety engineers, and studying labor regulations. China is on the brink of a great industrial development, she believes. Much was lost during the war, and now, when the reconstruction of Chinese industry is getting under way, it is necessary to know the best practices for industrial safety and the welfare of workers. "How did you become interested in industrial conditions?" someone asked - a natural question, for Miss Dju's calm face suggests the school teacher rather than the factory executive. "That began a long time ago," was the answer. "Early in my teens, the aunt of a friend took us to Tai Ho Lake for a holiday. That is on the outskirts of an industrial town about seventy miles from Shanghai. As the train came near the city, I saw many chimney stacks belching smoke. People told me they were factories. After we got off the train we saw children in groups on the street, looking so weary, their faces pale and anemic. They had no expression of youth and gaiety - so different from the children I had played with in my home town. "'Who are they?' I asked. 'Child labor,' I was told - children who followed their mothers or neighbors, working on silk filatures. "After I got home, that sight came to my mind repeatedly. I happened to pick up a poem of Kipling and I saw, 'Do you hear the cry of children...' I shed tears by myself in my study. I did not even tell my mother, but I made up my mind that I must do something about such conditions." What Dju Yu-bao did was to go back to that city, in 1918, as a primary school teacher. With the help of her church and the cooperation of a silk manufacturer, a settlement house was started, with clinic, nursery, a day school for the children of silk reelers, and a night school for women who worked in the mills. At first, it was the boys who came to the day school; most of the girls were at work in the factories. But within six months the enrollment had changed from boys to girls. But Dju Yu-bao felt the need of a college background as a basis for a sounder approach to the problems which interested 81 82 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN her so keenly. She enrolled in Ginling College, specializing in economics and labor problems. After receiving her degree in 1924, she conducted night schools for workers and organized industrial committees, under the sponsorship of the YWCA, the National Christian Council, and her church. From 1927 to 1929, she studied in the United States at Peabody College in Nashville and at the New York School of Social Work. She visited factories in England, and in the summer of 1929 enrolled in the Geneva School of International Studies, keeping in close touch with the International Labor Office. "When I got home in 1929," Miss Dju told us, "I joined the silk industry, working with technicians and experts who were trying to improve silk. By introducing motion studies, we changed the machinery. By introducing a central boiling system, automatic stirrer, and other mechanical devices, we got rid of child labor. Training was given to increase the skill of workers. We improved the working conditions by shortening working hours and introducing recess periods, which increased production and enabled the workers to double their wages." For twelve years Miss Dju worked in Shanghai, first as factory inspector for health and safety conditions and later as chief of the welfare section. "Gradually there was a rise in standards in Shanghai," Miss Dju said with quiet satisfaction. "Trade by trade, we made a steady drive, improving mache safety, provisions for industrial hygiene, and general working conditions." With the outbreak of hostilities in 1937, many industries were moved inland, and on the invitation of manufacturers Miss Dju went to West China, supervising industrial plants to improve working conditions, and teaching labor problems in one of the universities. "Better standards and more suitable installations followed the erection of hundreds of new plants," Miss Dju explained. "Still, ignorance of elementary principles led to abuse of machinery and wasteful operation. On the other hand, more and more employers in China were coming to realize that industrial safety and accident prevention are good business policy as well as humanitarian measures." Believing that a strong industrial safety program must be developed to keep step with the rapid industrialization that was under way in China, Miss Dju decided to return to the United States to study the industrial safety movement here. "I was fortunate to come at a time when America is carrying on a very active program of safety," she said. "The Women's Bureau arranged visits for me to learn of the administrative work of the U.S. Department of Labor; then I traveled under the guidance of different state departments of labor and the federal regional offices. I visited 120 industrial plants in eleven states, besides social and educational agencies. I attended a month's course in safety training given by the Greater New York Safety Council. It was a novelty in the records of the Council to have an oriental woman from China with the same interests as the supervisors and foremen of this country!" "What was your impression of American factories?" we asked. "It was so amazing to see some of the ideal factories, with the workers so well dressed, highly decorated with cosmetics, sitting beside the beautifully guarded machines, fully at ease, watching productions coming out as commodities ready to be distributed to consumers. Some plants had perfect working conditions, good housekeeping and proper layout of work area, with good lighting system, ventilators and humidifiers. Everything was in its place. Cool, light green color for walls gave workers a calm atmosphere. Everywhere cleanliness and good order, which makes employees respect the company and the factory. It assists in improving quality of products, efficiency and safety of workers, and uplifts their morale and pride. "personal protective equipment was provided in most factories. Workers had A LADY FROM CHINA LOOKS AT OUR FACTORIES 83 to wear protective clothing against mechanical and chemical hazards. I saw air controllers and vacuum cleaners widely used in order to keep the working place free from dust. Everywhere I saw the latest safety devices in use." "But all our factories are not like that. You must have seen only the best!" someone interrupted. "That was the purpose of my coming here, to seek the best and to take home the best - the new ideas, new methods and practices that can be put into practice in my country. It is not worth while to pay attention to what I cannot learn from. There are too many good things to see." "What factories here interested you particularly?" "I have been particularly interested to visit the factories which have interests and branch plants in China. In the first place, I visited them for courtesy. Secondly, I visited them in order to form good relationships and good will. And thirdly, I visited them to see their standard or working conditions," (here there was a canny twinkle in Miss Dju's eyes) "so when I go back to China, if I see the working conditions of the branch plants there not satisfactory as to stands, I can say, 'I have seen the fine conditions in your plants in U.S.A. Why is it different here?'" "How do you think the management will respond to that?" we asked. "Oh, I will use tact!" - and now the twinkle came out in the open. "I never forget what I learned in the New York School of Social Work: use tact, get managers to work with you." "Then you feel hopeful about what can be done in China?" "Of course China is an agricultural country, very young in industrial development. Physical improvement of industrial conditions depends on improvement of the economic conditions. Legislation and inspection are still in the initial stage. But Chinese industrialists, stirred by war needs and a sense of patriotism, have shown great initiative and capability for industrial development. There is a desire for better conditions of reconstruction and recovery. "I am going home to struggle with the idea of industrial safety and to participate in the program of reconstruction and rehabilitation of China. This trip has given me new strength. I feel as if I had been reconverted. I shall go home with a new spirit, new ideas, new methods, and better suggestions for the development of my country. It is my earnest desire that I shall support my government to have better labor legislation and more efficient enforcement. I shall cooperate with the public and the private industrial agencies for the promotion of better industrial conditions. I shall work with labor for better understanding and recognition of their rights and their privileges in taking part in production. I shall give suggestions to the manufacturers for them to run the industries on a sound basis. I shall do my very best to utilize this valuable experience and to start the movement of industrial safety in China." Somehow, we who listened caught the spirit of confidence in Miss Dju's voice; we had no doubt of the influence her "tact" would exert. And we were proud that AAUW had contributed to that influence, by giving Dju Yu-bao a grant of $1000 from the Reconstruction Aid Fund to help finance her visits in this country to factories and agencies concerned with labor problems. Sometimes we of a highly industrialized civilization must feel a sense of terrible responsibility as we see the inexorable extension of the machine age to nations unprepared to meet its problems. Through Dju Yu-bao we shall be able to help not only in the reconstruction of a war- ravaged country, but in its transition to new way of life. The United States National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization The purpose . . . is to contribute to international peace and security by promoting cooperation among the nations through education, science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for all without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations. - UNESCO Constitution, Article I AS THIS JOURNAL goes to press, the first General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is being held in Paris. Five delegates represent the United States: Assistant Secretary of State William Benton heading the delegation; Archibald MacLeish, poet and former Librarian of Congress; George D. Stoddard, President of the University of Illinois; Arthur H. Compton, Chancellor of Washington University; Anne O'Hare McCormick of the New York Times. Alternates are: Chester Bowles, Public Administrator; Milton Eisenhower, President of Kansas State College; Charles S. Johnson, President-elect of Fisk University; George N. Shuster, President of Hunter College; Anna Rosenberg of OWMR. Preparation for this first UNESCO meeting has been going on for many months, and AAUW may take pride in its part - direct and indirect - in laying the groundwork for UNESCO's work. On the Preparatory Commission for UNESCO, the United States Delegate, with the rank of minister, was Dr. Esther Caukin Brunauer. Dr. Brunauer held one of the Association's fellowships in 1926-27, and gained familiarity with the international field, and with the role of education in relation to the international understanding during her service as AAUW Associate in International Education from 1927 to 1944. In recent months, Dr. Brunauer has literally commuted between Washington, London, and Paris. AAUW President Helen C. White was one of her technical consultants when the Preparator Commission held its final session in London this past summer. The general recognition of the contributions made by these AAUW members brings a bit of reflected glory to each member of the Association. AAUW also has - and will continue to have - an opportunity to help in shaping and strengthening the earnestly desired "cooperation among the nations through education, science, and culture," through the United States National Commission for UNESCO. The Constitution of UNESCO recommends the establishment of a National Commission in each of the several member nations to serve as an advisory body to the official delegates to the conference of the Organization. The broadly representative character of the U. S. National Commission gives promise that the people of this country 84 U. S. NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR UNESCO 85 will work through and with UNESCO to build the "defenses of peace" in the minds of men. Of the one hundred members of the Commission, fifty were representatives of national voluntary associations chosen by the Department of State for their interest in the aims of UNESCO. The Commission itself will select ten additional organizations. Further, the Department of State was authorized to select "forty outstanding persons," - officials of the national government, representatives of state and local governments, and fifteen chosen at large. The President of AAUW and the General Director are members of the National Commission, the former as one of the "forty outstanding persons" selected by the Department of State, the latter as the AAUW representative. The Commission elected as its chairman, Milton Eisenhower. The General Director of AAUW was one of fifteen elected to the Executive Committee. The following excerpts from the notable address given at the opening session of the National Commission in September by the Honorable William Benton, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, set forth the role and functions of the National Commission as conceived by the Department of State: You are not only an unprecedented body but a body without precedent. Here you are, a national conference, but meeting in the International Conference room of the Department of State. You are made up in considerable part of representatives of national voluntary organizations and yet you are created by the will of Congress and appointment by the Department of State. You give for the first time in our history a collective brain to the whole nervous system of American culture, science, education and means of communication. Everything that you may now do will establish a precedent. You will have the opportunity to insure that this Commission makes a distinctive place for itself in American life and in world culture. This is an unprecedented opportunity. Further you are the potential instrument through which UNESCO acts in this country to win support for its program and to carry it forward. You are in touch with our schools and colleges, and with organized private groups throughout this country; it will be your task and your opportunity to bring these organizations, and the tens of millions of individual human beings which comprise them, into active participation in the work of UNESCO. This is one of the greatest opportunities and the greatest challenges that educators and intellectual leaders of this or any other country could be offered. The world cannot find unity by seeking agreements merely in the political and economic spheres. The Constitution of UNESCO clearly recognizes this. In conclusion, I shall remind you of a line from its preamble: "A peace based exclusively upon the political and economic arrangement of government would not be a peace which could secure the unanimous, lasting and sincere support of the peoples of the world . . . the peace must therefore be founded, if it is not to fail, upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind." UNESCO has been formed to prosecute this search for intellectual and moral solidarity in the minds of men. It is the mandate of this National Commission . . . to inspire and to assist all people in this country to construct in their own minds, and in the minds of their neighbors, this intellectual and moral solidarity. Only in this way can this Commission help to build the true defenses of peace. Not only did Congress authorize the Department of State to organize the National Commission but it gave the Department continuing responsibility for and to the National Commission. The Department, in other words, is ordered by law to listen to what the National Commission has to say. The Department is also authorized to provide the secretariat for the Commission. Mr. Charles A. Thomson is the Executive Secretary of the National Commission with offices in the Department of State, Washington 25, D. C. AAUW branches can obtain from him at any time up-to-date information on the progress of UNESCO and suggestions as to what can be done locally to participate actively in the work of the National Commission. Suggestions concerning UNESCO, for the consideration of the National Commission, should be sent to the General Director of AAUW. You are expected to make hardheaded 86 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN proposals, urge them for this government, push them with UNESCO representatives, and publicize them through your channels of communication. It was the business of the National Commission at its first meeting in Washington, D. C., September 23-26, 1946, to consider the nature and scope of the work of UNESCO in relationship to the first General Conference of UNESCO, scheduled for November 19, 1946. In this first meeting, the Commission undertook to develop priorities, - to advise where UNESCO's funds and energies have the chance of making the greatest impact - and most speedily. General agreement was reached to urge the United States delegation to press for: A process of learning, teaching, and thinking together, so that the peoples of the world will come nearer to establishing international peace and security Exchanges of students, teachers, books, artists, and scientists International conferences and treaties and conventions to help accomplish these ends, as the ILO has done for more than 25 years Rehabilitation in the educational, scientific, and cultural fields, in war-devastated countries A world-wide war against illiteracy as a barrier to international understanding International agreements to end restrictive copyrights, censorship, etc. The removal of nationalistic "drumbeating" in history textbooks Agreement on the best methods of teaching, and on standards Pilot projects as demonstrations to the world of methods now found in certain schools, libraries, museums, and art centers A study of the causes of national misunderstanding If UNESCO is to be the key to international understanding, it must reach the people of the world now, in time to break down prejudices, and build up real understanding. If it fails to do that, if it pays only lip-service or pen-service to the idea of "peoples speaking to peoples," UNESCO may turn out to be of little real value as an instrument of peace. In the spirit of that anxiety, the AAUW General Director, at the September meeting of the National Commission, offered the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted as expressing the number one priority: WHEREAS, consistent with the resolutions unanimously adopted by the UNESCO Preparatory Commission on July 12, 1946, and in view of the reports at this conference, at the meetings of the Preparatory Commission, and by UNRRA and the American Press concerning the deplorable lack of facilities for the education of youth and adults in the war-devastated countries; the destruction of school buildings, libraries, museums and laboratories; the extreme shortage of books and other basic educational supplies and materials; and the urgent need of technical and professional assistance and counsel from the United States; and Recognizing the vital importance to the future peace of the world of rehabilitating not only the bodies but also the minds and spirits of those who have been subjected to the horrors of war and to the miseducation imposed by ruthless conquerors, Be it resolved that the National Commission for Educational, Cultural and Scientific Co-operation go on record as urging UNESCO to place a high priority during 1947 upon projects for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of education in those countries devastated by war, and Be it further resolved that this Commission urge American agencies concerned with education to give serious consideration to ways and means whereby each may cooperate with the Commission for International Education Reconstruction in rebuilding of education facilities in the war-torn lands to the end that educational opportunity may be made available to all people as the right of each individual and the basis for international understanding and world peace. The next meeting of the National Commission will be held in January 1947, when the United States Representatives to the first Conference of UNESCO will report on the extent to which the National Commission's advice was followed, or what happened to alter the picture when the delegates of the twenty nations met in Paris in November 1946. KATHRYN MCHALE General Director, AAUW TEXAS . . . . Whether To Go, And Whither By Margaret Lee Wiley Line Drawings by Catherine Neal Texas branches look forward to the coming of April, when the national convention of the AAUW will be held in Dallas and Fort Worth with the Texas Division and its forty-five branches joining in the welcome. Diverse gateways open into Texas. If you fly, all our hills and plains, valleys and canyons will lie open to you under April skies of rare beauty. If you come by car or by bus and train, variety awaits you. Entering Texas from the west, from California, Arizona, and New Mexico, you may choose El Paso as your gateway. You may not remember the Coronado more than five hundred years ago could march northward by way of El Paso del Norte or that you are following the Old Southern Overland Mail Line of the 'fifties or that you will hear stories of the conquistadores who searched for the Seven Cities of Cibola, but you will be aware that picturesque Juarez is just across the bridge and that the tiers of the Texas city rise in bright sunlight against a natural backdrop of sculptural and stark desert beauty. Entering from the northwest by Amarillo, you will see oil fields, Panhandle _____ DR. MARGARET LEE WILEY, professor of English, East Texas State Teacher's College, is president of the AAUW Texas State Division. Her publications include biography, as well as poems and articles. MISS CATHERINE NEAL, assistant professor of art at East State Teacher's College, is a member of the Commerce Branch. wheat and cattle ranches, a land of mirages, distances, wind, and sunshine, green pastures in springtime with yellow wildflowers. "Like tarnished brass," said a local ranchman, looking out from an escarpment across the plains. Several miles off the main highways and the railroads are the Palo Duro Canyons. The region is full of interest for paleontologists and historians, and its significance is recognized in journals and museums, notably the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum on the campus of the West Texas State Teachers College. From the high plains Fort Worth and Dallas may be reached by way of either Lubbock and the South Plains or Wichita Falls and north-central Texas. From St. Louis you may come into the state by the railroad center Denison, where travelers by train separate for Fort Worth and Dallas; but whichever direction you take, you will enter a region of Texas which is swiftly becoming industrialized. This part of Texas is hardly distinguishable from a few other states where agriculture is yielding place to industry. Farm houses are being moved into towns or are being rented to city workers who leave the fields untilled. In many fields the autumn rains drenched the cotton in full-open bolls which were still unpicked in early November. The countryside is changing face as the cultivated fields go back to grass, but with the scarred furrows still showing through, the changed 87 88 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN economy looks to the traveler like neglect. If you enter the state from the northeast by Texarkana, you will see signs of lumber among other industries and will travel the road that may someday be known as the Big Bend Trail, for it will lead across the state to the mountains of the Big Bend country and the Rio Grande. — Equestrian Statue of Robert E. Lee Robert E. Lee Park Dallas, Texas. — If you come into Texas from the east, leaving Louisiana at Shreveport, you may drive to Dallas through flourishing Texas oil towns and may find it pleasant to stop in Marshall, still reminiscent of the Old South, though its unique charm comes from a successful reconciliation of plantation manners with modern business. The bayou country and a Texas city with shipping, cotton, chemical, oil, and lumber industries are for those who will come to the convention by Houston and Beaumont. Texas members of AAUW also will travel these roadways to Dallas and Forth Worth and will be joined by South Texans —from the Rio Grande Valley and the citrus fruit orchards, from Corpus Christi with its deep-water ship channel, from seaport Galveston with its protecting seawall, and from San Antonio, the "Alamo City," with its missions and the Governor's Palace. The diversity of Texas converges in Dallas and Fort Worth, which are only thirty miles apart and which comprise the largest center of population in the state. Accessibility of Dallas and Fort Worth to the Southwest, density of population, availability of wealth beyond the satisfaction of immediate material needs, and creative interests of long standing have made possible entertainment in the two cities which is enjoyed by men and women from all over the Southwest. From all Texas and from other states they come to Dallas for the annual Metropolitan Opera season. To both cities come visitors for concerts, drama, and ballet. Auditoriums that will be used for AAUW sessions have been used for many concerts and dramas: the McFarlin Auditorium on the Southern Methodist University campus in Dallas and the Will Rogers Memorial Auditorium in Fort Worth. The world's greatest writers and lecturers appear, bookstores flourish, book review sections and art criticism are popular in local Sunday papers. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Antal Dorati, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Hall of State have lent a permanence to cultural interests in Dallas, as the Botanic Garden and the Ruth Herbarium in Trinity Park have lent permanence in Fort Worth. Visitors in April will enjoy the drives and trails through the natural forest of Trinity Park with its lawns, springs, and lagoons. — The Aquarium — one of seven buildings in Dallas's Civic Center. — In each of the convention cities is located an institutional member of the American Association of University Women: the Southern Methodist University in Dallas and the Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. Less than forty miles away is the nation's largest residential college for women, the Texas State College for Women, where an AAUW international study grantee from Greece is now a student. On the campus, the Little-Chapel-in-the-Woods TEXAS—WHETHER TO GO, AND WHITHER 89 was built as an original creation in regional art; and annual programs in creative writing are widely attended by writers of national reputation. In the same town of Denton is the largest Texas State Teachers College. In the state capital, less than two hundred fifty miles from the convention cities, is the University of Texas with its notable rare-book collections and the Garcia Library. There are a number of colleges and universities in the area, among them Our Lady of the Lake College, Incarnate Word College, and Baylor University with its Browning collection. Several colleges and universities have reached beyond the state border to maintain summer teaching and cultural centers in Mexico—the Texas State College for Women, Trinity University, and the Sam Houston State Teachers College. Perpetuating the slogan, "The cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy," Texans have maintained a large number of senior colleges, to mention all of which would extend beyond the limits of this short article, denominational colleges and state: the Mary Hardin-Baylor College for women, the Texas Technological College, the Medical College, the College of Mines and Metallurgy, the College of Arts and Industries, and the regional teachers colleges. Wide interest in science, literature, philosophy, and the arts is manifest in societies where men and women meet for discussion, as in the Academy of Science, the Archaeological and Paleontological Society, the Conference of College Teachers of English, the Fine Arts Association, the Folklore Society, the Geographic Society, the State Historical Society, the West Texas Historical and Scientific Society, the Panhandle-Plains Historical Society, the Texas Institute of Letters, the Philosophical Society, and the Poetry Society of Texas. The arts and philosophy in Texas spring from the simultaneity of diverse cultures. Texas is at the same time within the southern bounds of Anglo-America and on the northern border of Latin America. To some Texans London and Plymouth, Paris and Calais seem nearer Texas than Mexico City and Juarez. To others, Latin America is just across the Rio Grande. It is not accidental that Wedgewood and Haviland and Mexican blown glass and hammered tin are all in Texas houses. The six or seven flags that flew over Texas have been chronicled by years, but the various cultures in Texas cannot be catalogued in temporal layers. — Triple Underpass — Dallas. — Dallas and Fort Worth are within the flower belt of the bluebonnet, the state flower of Texas and one of some four thousand native flowers that thrive in Texas soil. It flourishes on hills and prairies in North Central, Central, and Southwest Texas and is seen in gardens as far north as the Texas Panhandle. Fields of bluebonnets far surpass bouquets in beauty, particularly when red poppies have been broadcast among them as they bloomed in former days on the campus of the state university, or as they 88 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN economy looks to the traveler like neglect. If you enter the state from the northeast by Texarkana, you will see signs of lumber among other industries and will travel the road that may someday be known as the Big Bend Trail, for it will lead across the state to the mountains of the Big Bend country and the Rio Grande. — Equestrian Statue of Robert E. Lee Robert E. Lee Park Dallas, Texas. — If you come into Texas from the east, leaving Louisiana at Shreveport, you may drive to Dallas through flourishing Texas oil towns and may find it pleasant to stop in Marshall, still reminiscent of the Old South, though its unique charm comes from a successful reconciliation of plantation manners with modern business. The bayou country and a Texas city with shipping, cotton, chemical, oil, and lumber industries are for those who will come to the convention by Houston and Beaumont. Texas members of AAUW alo will travel these roadways to Dallas and Forth Worth and will be joined by South Texans —from the Rio Grande Valley and the citrus fruit orchards, from Corpus Christi with its deep-water ship channel, from seaport Galveston with its protecting seawall, and from San Antonio, the "Alamo City," with its missions and the Governor's Palace. The diversity of Texas converges in Dallas and Fort Worth, which are only thirty miles apart and which comprise the largest center of population in the state. Accessibility of Dallas and Fort Worth to the Southwest, density of population, availability of wealth beyond the satisfaction of immediate material needs, and creative interests of long standing have made possible entertainment in the two cities which is enjoyed by men and women from all over the Southwest. From all Texas and from other states they come to Dallas for the annual Metropolitan Opera season. To both cities come visitors for concerts, drama, and ballet. Auditoriums that will be used for AAUW sessions shave been used for many concerts and dramas: the McFarlin Auditorium on the Southern Methodist University campus in Dallas and the Will Rogers Memorial Auditorium in Fort Worth. The world's greatest writers and lecturers appear, bookstores flourish, book review sections and art criticism are popular in local Sunday papers. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Antal Dorati, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Hall of State have lent a permanence to cultural interests in Dallas, as the Botanic Garden and the Ruth Herbarium in Trinity Park have lent permanence in Fort Worth. Visitors in April will enjoy the drives and trails through the natural forest of Trinity Park with its lawns, springs, and lagoons. — The Aquarium — one of seven buildings in Dallas's Civic Center. — In each of the convention cities is located an institutional member of the American Association of University Women: the Southern Methodist University in Dallas and the Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. Less than forty miles away is the nation's largest residential college for women, the Texas State College for Women, where an AAUW international study grantee from Greece is now a student. On the campus, the Little-Chapel-in-the-Woods TEXAS—WHETHER TO GO, AND WHITHER 89 was built as an original creation in regional art; and annual programs in creative writing are widely attended by writers of national reputation. In the same town of Denton is the largest Texas State Teachers College. In the state capital, less than two hundred fifty miles from the convention cities, is the University of Texas with its notable rare-book collections and the Garcia Library. There are a number of colleges and universities in the area, among them Our Lady of the Lake College, Incarnate Word College, and Baylor University with its Browning collection. Several colleges and universities have reached beyond the state border to maintain summer teaching and cultural centers in Mexico—the Texas State College for Women, Trinity University, and the Sam Houston State Teachers College. Perpetuating the slogan, "The cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy," Texans have maintained a large number of senior colleges, to mention all of which would extend beyond the limits of this short article, denominational colleges and state: the Mary Hardin-Baylor College for women, the Texas Technological College, the Medical College, the College of Mines and Metallurgy, the College of Arts and Industries, and the regional teachers colleges. Wide interest in science, literature, philosophy, and the arts is manifest in societies where men and women meet for discussion, as in the Academy of Science, the Archaeological and Paleontological Society, the Conference of College Teachers of English, the Fine Arts Association, the Folklore Society, the Geographic Society, the State Historical Society, the West Texas Historical and Scientific Society, the Panhandle-Plains Historical Society, the Texas Institute of Letters, the Philosophical Society, and the Poetry Society of Texas. The arts and philosophy in Texas spring from the simultaneity of diverse cultures. Texas is at the same time within the southern bounds of Anglo-America and on the northern border of Latin America. To some Texans London and Plymouth, Paris and Calais seem nearer Texas than Mexico City and Juarez. To others, Latin America is just across the Rio Grande. It is not accidental that Wedgewood and Haviland and Mexican blown glass and hammered tin are all in Texas houses. The six or seven flags that flew over Texas have been chronicled by years, but the various cultures in Texas cannot be catalogued in temporal layers. — Triple Underpass — Dallas. — Dallas and Fort Worth are within the flower belt of the bluebonnet, the state flower of Texas and one of some four thousand native flowers that thrive in Texas soil. It flourishes on hills and prairies in North Central, Central, and Southwest Texas and is seen in gardens as far north as the Texas Panhandle. Fields of bluebonnets far surpass bouquets in beauty, particularly when red poppies have been broadcast among them as they bloomed in former days on the campus of the state university, or as they 90 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN are often seen with the gray and rose of the Indian paint brush in the fields. The small bonnet-shaped flower, blue touched with red and white, is grouped in pyramidal clusters with the tip holding in bud long after the lower flowers have opened. April is the month for Texas bluebonnets. Most of the redbud will have bloomed in March, but dogwood should be blooming in East Texas during April, equaled in beauty only by the magnolia among the flowering shrubs of the forest belt. To the desert belong the century plant, the yucca, the bear grass, the Spanish dagger, and the cactus, but they are seen in gardens in almost any section of the state. Diverse Texas has a variable climate. It has become almost proverbial that he who sows in Texas has no confidence that he will ever reap, for rains do not fall in seasonable regularity. Sunshine may bathe Fort Worth and Dallas during the convention, but it is prudent to have rain clothes in the traveling bag. Although the three-piece spring suit worn on the journey may be comfortable during early April, especially with air conditioning generally used, the likelihood of summer days in April argues for the blouse and skirt or the crepe frock. As the train approaches the station in Texas and the porter takes the luggage, the traveler looks out the window, picks up her coat, lays it across her arm, and says to a fellow-passenger, "One never knows what to expect in Texas." — Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum and Auditorium Fort Worth, Texas — Meeting Needs in Higher Education The Student Deluge The 1946 student is being currently defined as "an otherwise qualified individual who has a place to live and can find someone to teach him." Hence there is more than statistical interest in this year's report of an all-time record enrollment of two million students in the institutions of American higher education. These institutions, almost without exception, have individual enrollment increases varying from 10 to 500 per cent. New York University's enrollment figure, jumping from last year's 47,000 students to an estimated total of 55,000 this year, is unprecedented for any American university. We seem to be entering upon a new plateau in higher education, where within a decade the previous peacetime high of 1,500,000 college students is likely to go to a 3,000,000 enrollment. The public press has commended academic leaders in various states and institutions for their enterprise and ingenuity in coping with the present student deluge. But, as the press points out, it is "one thing to provide emergency facilities, and quite another to expect the colleges to do work of pre-war quality." This fact should spur on educational groups, among them the AAUW, to find ways to alleviate elements on the liability side, such as crowded campus living. Happily, an excellent example is at hand. Kansas Housing Campaign The Kansas Division of the American Association of University Women, through its Student Housing Committee, has compiled information in a bulletin, "Facts and Figures on Housing Conditions in Kansas State Schools," concerning the serious inadequacies of student living quarters in the state schools of Kansas. The information is being circulated by the AAUW and other organizations having membership in the Kansas Council of Women. The Council, organized thirty-five years ago for united action among women of the state on issues designed to promote the public welfare, seeks in this present program "financial support from the state for adequate housing of college students as a part of the provisions made in state-supported institutions of higher learning for effective educational opportunity of Kansas." This is not a new interest for the Council. One of its first projects was securing a residence hall for women at each of the state institutions of higher learning, thus assuring desirable living conditions to many college women through the years. As the president of the Kansas Division of AAUW says of the national Association, "The American Association of University Women has had as one of its objectives the adequate housing of college students from the beginning of its organization in 1882. It is one of the major considerations of the Committee on Membership and Maintaining Standards in determining the eligibility of colleges for membership in the Association." Student Distribution Voluntary educational organizations can assist also with the problem of student distribution by getting and publicizing current information on institutional accommodations. Data assembled by the U.S. Office of Education indicate that some institutions still have unused classroom and housing facilities. This is important 91 92 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN to know, as enrollments this fall have by no means reached the peak that will result from veterans' education, authorities point out. For their long-range planning, educators visualize the present freshman class load passing on into the sophomore year but matched by an equally large freshman class in 1947-48; the "bulge" to reach the junior year in 1948-49 and the senior year in 1949-50. To accommodate the shift, institutional plans will need continual revision. Pennsylvania State College, through the cooperation of smaller colleges in Pennsylvania, placed its freshmen in some twenty of these institutions with the understanding that they would be accepted on the Pennsylvania State campus upon the satisfactory completion of two semesters' work, or, if they prefer, remain in the college to which they had been assigned. All these colleges were carefully examined in advance as to facilities, teaching personnel, laboratory equipment, academic standing, and scope of instruction. Of more than 7,000 applicants, only one refused to consider enrolling at another college. Minnesota is seeking full utilization of the facilities of all institutions of higher learning in the state through a process of joint registration. The plan enables students to make certain that their program in the first and second years in one institution will conform to curricular requirements of another college to which they expect to transfer later. The Indiana Conference on Higher Education similarly seeks to solve enrollment problems through a program of cooperative action by Indiana's thirty-three colleges and universities. Such plans seem a safeguard against the danger of assembly-line teaching, feared as a current threat to higher education. Additional deans and counselors have been sought also, in institutions with increased enrollments, in order to aid the individual student on academic, vocational and personal problems. Services of Women's Colleges The women's colleges too are aiding in veteran enrollment, by making their classroom, laboratory, and library facilities available to veterans resident in the vicinity. Some social functions are arranged for the men and women students; in a few colleges they share the dining-room or cafeteria; the general pattern, however, is not that of coeducation. Veterans classes are held usually in the late afternoon and evening. Special deans or coordinators of the men's divisions have been appointed. The women's colleges are making these provisions for men students, believing that educational institutions should be of service to the entire community, in accordance with current needs. Rockford College, which celebrates the one hundredth anniversary of the granting of its charter in February, has today fifty young men beginning their studies at the college. When Anna Peck Sill wrote in her diary, "Today commenced school, and laid the foundation of Rockford Female Seminary. Opened with fifty-three scholars. O Lord, fit me for my work and glorify Thyself thereby," she may have envisioned an institution of higher learning for women, but she could not have dreamed of the widening influence of the Rockford College of the present day. For appreciation of the ways of reaching out into the community practised by modern colleges, illustrations from Rockford are very apt. Lecture and concert series given at the college are open to the public; visiting poets, scientists, authors and other distinguished men and women who come as visiting professors to the campus also give of their time and talents to city organizations. For twenty-seven years Rockford College has had an adult education center with late afternoon and evening classes open to both men and women. This fall more than 300 are enrolled in the 26 courses offered. Fourteen of these courses are given with or without credit from the College; 12 courses are offered on the college campus by the University of Illinois MEETING NEEDS IN HIGHER EDUCATION 93 extension division in cooperation with Rockford. There is a speech clinic, sponsored by the college in cooperation with the Illinois Division of Services for Crippled Children, which offers re-education to handicapped children and training for college students who wish to become teachers in or directors of such clinics. A vocational counseling service is open to Rockford College students and to men and women of the community. Another community service of Rockford College is the "earn and learn" program leading to the degree of bachelor of science in mechanical engineering. Rockford College, together with the Cooperating Council of the city of Rockford and the Illinois Institute of Technology, offers courses for two years' work on the Rockford College campus and two years' work at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, with alternating semesters of actual work in Rockford industrial plants. The entire program covers five years. Heads of industrial plants in Rockford are enthusiastically cooperating in the engineering program. Educating for Tomorrow Another "hundred-year-old" among the women's colleges, MacMurray, at Jacksonville, Illinois, celebrated its centennial in October. The start of its second century was heralded primarily as the beginning of an ever-growing and greater period of service. One of the program features at the MacMurray centennial was a panel discussion on higher education for women, in which Dr. Kathryn McHale participated. Two of the interesting questions raised by the panel were: "What are the common objectives of both sexes in a college education and how can they best be attained?" and "In what ways should women's education be different from that of men?" A new bulletin of Pennsylvania College for Women, entitled "Educating for Tomorrow," treats these very questions. Concerning the common objectives of both sexes in a college education, the bulletin enumerates three life functions which every mature person must perform; these are vocational, personal and civic in character. As these functions are interpreted, the vocational means preparation for earning a living through a type of occupation best suited to the personality, aptitude, and education of the person concerned. This involves continued guidance. The personal function or objective is understood as including that range of activities and interests, beginning with health and continuing through to the numerous creative arts, which enrich the life of the individual. The civic function is the development of a concern for the well-being of others— particularly crucial in a democratic society, whose effectiveness is dependent upon the integrity and responsibility of the individual citizen. Education for occupational purposes, it is further stated, for both men and women, should be broad, in most cases, rather than narrow, and provide for vocational mobility. This latter point is held to be particularly significant in the case of women, "whose vocational commitments are necessarily less definite and more changing than in the case of men." Continuing with a thinking-through of the ways in which women's education should be different from that of men, the bulletin offers: It still remains true that the major share of family responsibility is borne by women, and that most women find their careers in the home. This involves responsibility for the upkeep of the home, for the care of finances, for the rearing of children and for an increasing number of outside obligations. No college for women can pretend to offer a complete education unless it prepares young women for the many and varied opportunities which they now share with men and also for those areas still predominantly feminine in character. Regarding the subject of education for living and the job, the Pennsylvania bulletin sets forth the necessity for fuller recognition of the organic relationship 94 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN which exists between the "academic" and cultural on one hand and the contemporary and vocational on the other. A reconstruction of the entire curriculum is needed in terms of an interpretation of liberal education viewing these emphases "as two aspects of a common educational matrix rather than as separate, and often conflicting, forms of education." Emphasis on General Education An increasing number of educators are thinking along this very line, namely, that since general education and specialized education are two aspects of the same college process, "they should go hand in hand from the freshman through the senior year." They are critical therefore of the new college programs that call for concentration upon general education in the first two years. It is, however, only upon the methods of providing for general education that there is any considerable divergence among educators in higher education today. It is quite safe to say that curriculum committees in most institutions are fairly well agreed upon the importance in a democracy of a general education for all. This conviction, be it noted, has been held continuously by the AAUW. In fact, the Association's requirement of a background of general education in all approved degrees was maintained during both the great wave of interest in vocational training that dominated American education following the first World War II when again the values of general education were questioned. So-called "basic courses" are one of the newer means of providing for general education. In many institutions, a basic course is being required in each of several large areas of learning. Some institutions regard these areas broadly as three,-- science, social science, and humanities. What these and similar designations encompass is explained, of course, by each institution. Mount Holyoke, for example, announcing a new curriculum to go into effect September 1947, sets forth a new grouping of subjects into four principal divisions, namely-- 1. The literature and arts--for standards of taste and judgment and for experience with living. 2. History, philosophy, religion--for human experience in perspective and for interpretation. 3. Economics, sociology, political science, and psychology--for understanding social institutions and processes. 4. Mathematics and the natural sciences-- for practice in concrete and logical thinking and in observation. In addition to these groups, the great majority of students will be required to study the fundamentals of reading and writing, and of personal and community health. Basic courses differ from the widely established "introductory courses" in that they are planned for the general student who may never continue in those subjects and their aim is to provide a vital relationship between the subjects and the student's own life and thought. The old introductory courses often failed as a means of fulfilling the desired end of general education, it is contended, since they were introductory only to other courses which in the main the students never took. These basic courses are not encyclopedic either, as the early survey courses-- which dominated the general education movement for a long time--were apt to be. The new basic courses are selective rather than inclusive and are planned to furnish not only the knowledge that man in a free society should have but also to motivate the individual to appropriate action in that society, in other words, to an acceptance of his personal responsibility. "We are not put into this world to sit still and know," said one educational leader, "we are put here to act." Experimental Courses Several current courses at Vassar College are an outcome of debate last year, among students as well as faculty, on the MEETING NEEDS IN HIGHER EDUCATION 95 educational policies of the college. A student summarized the needs the students felt: They wanted a more realistic curriculum in relation to the world for which they were being equipped. They asked for wider correlation so that the interrelationships of fields of knowledge would be clear; they asked for interdepartmental courses based not on fields of knowledge but on fields of activity, where knowledge was seen in action. They wanted the contemporary significance of the past emphasized. "Today's Cities" is the title of a frankly experimental course, which takes the full time of a student in her third term, a course whose theme is technology and democracy in a city. It is focused on today's dominant culture, and involves six teachers from five departments and frequent field trips. The theme is treated from the points of view of physics, social sciences (economics, political science, sociology), psychology and the arts, especially English. The faculty, as the chairman of the course is pleased to point out-- used what progressive education has taught about individual needs of students, what traditional academic thoroughness has taught about approaching subjects, and what experience with communities has taught about the interaction of people, institutions and subjects. From their study of today's cities, students can later extend the principles they learn to a national and international scale, and approach larger and more remote situations with some understanding of the toughness of the problem. Without such approach, the chairman believes, "they are almost sure to be verbally glib about the world order they read of and discuss." Some of the other course experiments at Vassar, which are to be described in the alumnae magazine, are "The Tennessee Valley Authority," the study of a region and regional planning, which involves five departments and a two-weeks' bus trip to the Valley; and "Freedom Seminar," wherein a faculty economist, philosopher, and psychologist explore with twenty seniors the concept of freedom in the western world. HELAN M. HOSP AAUW Associate in Higher Education NOTE: The resolution on teacher-recruitment, quoted in this column in the Fall JOURNAL (page 21), was attributed to the Chautauqua conference through an error in copy-editing. This excellent resolution came from the American Council meeting. Schools--First Claim on the Public Conscience THE AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS are the schools of all the people. What our democracy provides as a common education for every man's child is the foundation on which the security of American life depends. The basic attitudes of mature citizens are profoundly influenced by the personal and educational guidance for which teachers and schools are responsible. The social imperatives of education are clear. They give teaching a first claim on generous public support and confidence. The American Association of University Women therefore expresses its deep and urgent concern for the status of the American teacher and for the future of the teaching profession, and its considered conviction that the status and civic prestige of teachers have first call on the public conscience and on public funds. --Declaration of the Board of Directors American Association of University Women EDITORIALS What Country---? What country had in 1940 twice as many adults who had never gone to school at all as it had students in institutions of higher learning? Which world power had to reject 676,000 young men for service in World War II because of mental or educational deficiency? Which country in World War Ii had 350,000 young men of military draft age who had to sign their names with a cross (x) thus? In which country with high mechanical "know how" were there ten million citizens who were functionally illiterate in 1940? (Functionally illiterate means being able to read but not able to interpret what is read well enough to follow simple directions.) Don't look on page 500 for the answers. Look among your own worst fears, for the answer to all these questions is--THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, that land of every man's dreams, that land of opportunity to which our ancestors came, full of hope and ideals for a country that should give to each citizen a chance to realize his highest development. Some of the figures quoted are the result of the careful studies made for the 1940 census; others were uncovered by the war emergency; all make us bow with shame! Can our country's voice be heard toward peace and freedom if it is the voice of a high school freshman? (The average education of citizens twenty years of age is ninth grade.) Can our signature on documents of state be respected when it represents the crosses of hundreds of thousands of illiterates? Must we have more arguments such as these before we see clearly that states must work together to raise the level of education in all areas at least to a minimum high enough to provide for adequate citizen participation in our democracy? We are citizens of the United States of America, not of California, New York, Rhode Island, Mississippi, Arkansas, or Nevada. At a time when we are eagerly striving for "one World," surely we must unite the efforts of all forty-eight states to prepare the citizens of our country for their role as citizens of this new world. Rich and poor states alike are bound together by roads subsidized in all states by federal aid; a stronger unifying force can be built by asking of our Federal Government a subsidy to the states for strengthening human resources through education. We have long known that the fine education provided by rich states could not keep up with the ignorance crossing state lines from those areas where money is scarce and children numerous. We shall have a true United States of America only when education, that first function of each state, is also envisioned as a cooperative responsibility of all the states acting together to instruct their Federal Government to help with the problem of equal educational opportunity for all citizens. From Subcommission to Commission The story of the United Nations Subcommission on the Status of Women, begun in our Summer 1946 issue, is here continued. It is of special interest to AAUW because of our parallel efforts to 96 EDITORIALS 97 improve the economic and legal status of women. The Subcommission has now been made a full Commission--the Commission on the Status of Women. This action was taken by the U.N. Economic and Social Council in June, on motion of the United States delegate, Mr. John Winant. The new Commission on the Status of Women is empowered-- to prepare recommendations and reports to the Economic and Social Council on promoting women's rights in the political, economic, social, and educational fields (and to) make recommendations to the Council on urgent problems requiring immediate attention in the field of women's rights. The Council also requested the Secretary-General to arrange for-- "a complete detailed study of legislation concerning the status of women--the practical application of such legislation." . . . The League of Nations in 1937 had initiated a study of the legal status of women throughout the world. The results of its three years of work were made available to the Subcommission as the basis for a fuller study. The League material is now to be brought up to date and amplified, with emphasis on the need for analyzing practice in the application of the law, rather than relying on formal statutes that may not have been fully observed. (From Department of State Publication 2600.) The Commission on the Status of Women is to consist of one representative from each of the fifteen Members of the United Nations selected by the Council. The fifteen countries selected to nominate members are: United Kingdom, India, Australia, Denmark, France, Soviet Union, United States, Venezuela, Costa Rica, China, Turkey, Syria, Mexico, Byelo-Russia, Guatemala. Judge Dorothy Kenyon has been chosen as the United States representative. Judge Kenyon is ideally qualified for the post. She is nationally and internationally known as a leader for the advancement of women in all fields, a leader experienced, practical, and successful. A particular qualification is her service as the United States member of the former League of Nations committee of jurists charged with studying the legal status of women throughout the world. Judge Kenyohn is a member of the AAUW New York City Branch and a former member of the AAUW national Committee on Economic and Legal Status of Women. Women's organizations had forwarded to the United States Government the names of women to be considered in nominating this country's representative on the Commission, and Judge Kenyon's name had been among them. In addition, the Liaison Committee of Women's International Organizations, with offices in London, has been bringing up to date its classified international register of the best qualified women, and had sent to the United Nations Headquarters a preliminary list of names for the Commission on the Status of Women and for the Human Rights Commission, while seeking additional nominations for the commissions on health, economics, and trusteeship. The International Assembly of Women at South Kortright Women can think together. Surmounting every barrier of race and creed and ideology, two hundred women from fifty-four nations lived and thought together for ten days at the International Assembly of Women, facing earnestly some of the most fundamental economic, political, and social issues of our time. The Catskill countryside, flaunting October's scarlet and gold magnificance, provided an idyllic setting. Even women who had led underground resistance movements in the occupied countries were able to meet those from Germany, Japan and Austria without rancor. One tense moment came during the Assembly's singing of a series of national anthems when the Austria delegate arose--and broke the tension dramatically with her request for the Blue Danube Waltz! Within seconds women of every nationality were crowding the small open 98 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN space in the Assembly hall, dancing together to the lilting familiar strains -- Turk and Italian, French, Belgian and German, Arab and Jew, Hindu and Mohammedan, Chinese and Japanese and Filipino -- their differences fused in a sense of unity that had its effect on all subsequent deliberations. There were moments when ideological differences or conflict or national interests became apparent, but an amazing degree of common thinking led to practical unanimity in the findings on all major points. In their findings, the delegates unanimously gave first place to respect for human dignity, the right of every individual to be treated as a human being without any sort of discrimination. Freedom of religion, freedom from fear of oppression, aggression, and intimidation, and freedom for political action they listed as essential human rights entailing corresponding responsibilities. They added other specific rights, including the right to mental and physical health and sound nutrition; to compulsory free general education by properly trained and remunerated teachers; to equal pay for men and women under proper working conditions, and to time for leisure, even for mothers and housewives! They emphasized our responsibility as citizens to know our own government, to participate actively in political life at the local, national and international levels, and to perform community service. They urged that women of competence should fill important political positions, by election or by appointment, within their nations and in international agencies. They advocated legislation to provide high standards of education, health, and social services. They endorsed the long-term plans of the FAO and World Food Board, the objectives of the International Bank and Monetary Fund, and cooperation by all governments with the new International Trade Organization in lowering tariff barriers. In view of the present urgent emergency, they proposed that each country should accept an allocation of displaced persons in proportion to its financial contribution to the United Nations. There was universal insistence that these grave national and international problems must be approached with integrity and moral courage. As one of the eighteen sponsoring organizations, AAUW can be proud of having had a share in this first really representative postwar gathering of women from every part of the world. Many delegates were leaders among university women of their own countries, incidentally bringing us first-hand information about sister associations -- foretaste of next summer's IFUW Conference. This International Assembly of Women at South Kortright will have far-reaching intangible results in terms of mutual understanding and the discovery of common interests transcending racial and ideological barriers. Women at International Conferences Sharing in the deliberations of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in Flushing Meadow Park near New York City beginning in October 1946. were four women delegates: Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt of the United States; Mrs. Vijayalakshmi Pandit of India; Miss Minerva Bernardino of the Dominican Republic; and Mrs. Agnes F. R. McIntosh of New Zealand. Mrs. Pandit made history by being the only woman so far to head a delegation. A sister of Jawaharlal Nehru, co-leader with Gandhi of the Congress Party and now head of the transitional Indian government, Mrs. Pandit has devoted most of her life to working with the Congress Party. She is Minister for Public Health and Local Self-Government in the United Provinces Cabinet in India. A number of women were also present as alternates and advisers. Alternates included Helen Gahagan Douglas of the United States, Mrs. Amanda Labarca of EDITORIALS 99 Chile, Mrs. Aase Lionees of Norway, Mrs. Bodil Begtrup of Denmark, and Dr. Gezina H. J. van der Molen of the Netherlands. Among the advisers were Mrs. W. S. New of China, Mrs. Julia Drake-Brockman of Australia, and Mrs. Ingrid Semmingsen of Norway. Mrs. Lionees was chosen rapporteur of the Assembly's social, humanitarian, and cultural committee, in charge of writing the committee's report to the General Assembly. She is an economist, chief woman officer of the Norwegian Labor Party, which includes 40,000 women members, and is editor of the party's monthly magazine. Though the number of women taking leading, official parts in the Assembly was so strikingly small a representation of one-half of the human race, it is reported that in many ways women made their presence and their interest felt at the opening of the General Assembly in October. Women working for the Secretariat sat on a dais below President Truman and Secretary-General Trygve Lie. Women sat in delegations and as special guests. Women were eager listeners in the visitors' galleries. Women reporters helped "cover" the Assembly. Women everywhere seemed to play a relatively silent but important role in this meeting. This is the comment of a woman reporter, Nancy MacLennan of the New York Times, who was assigned to the meetings. As this is written in November, the first General Conference of UNESCO is in progress in Paris. The five United States delegates include one woman, Anne O'Hare McCormick of the New York Times. The five alternates also include one woman, Anna Rosenberg of OWMR. Dr. Esther Caukin Brunauer, who has been serving as United States representative on the Preparatory Commission for UNESCO, will be present for the Paris sessions. A fuller account of the conference will be found elsewhere in this issue, prepared by the AAUW General Director, Dr. Kathryn McHale, who has been appointed to the executive committee of the U. S. National Commission on international Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Cooperation. The other woman named with Dr. McHale to the executive committee is Dr. Maycie K. Southall, professor of education at George Peabody College for Teachers and president of the Association for Childhood Education, also an AAUW member. News of Women in National Life The election brought no wreath of victory to those striving to increase women's participation in national affairs. The grand total of women elected to the 80th national Congress is seven -- a reduction of four from the eleven women in the 79th Congress. Compensatory aspects there are, it is true, in the campaign -- in the numbers and the quality of the women who contended in it. It will be well to realize these factors and to build for the future on them. As the Washington Post columnist, Malvina Lindsay, points out: Never in any American political campaign have so many women of outstanding minds, character, and background been on the stump. They definitely set new standards in campaigning. Generally they talked about the real issues the country faced, rather than political red herrings and trivialities. They campaigned vigorously, yet without name calling, and demagoguery, without stopping to appeal to voters' ignorance, prejudices, provinciality, personal greed, or childishness. Whether or not these women come back two years or four years hence to fight again, they will have the last word ultimately because they have set their electorates to thinking. While we continue to be indebted to them all, we shall miss the able former Congresswomen who were defeated. Miss Lindsay expresses the very general reaction: The House will miss the clear, profound thinking and quiet dedication to duty of Chase Going Woodhouse, who brought an expert knowledge of economics to a place where it was sorely needed. It will miss the fine in- 100 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN and broad womanly understanding of Emily Taft Douglas, and the dauntless courage and intellectual poise that lay behind Helen Douglas Mankin's Georgia accent. It will miss the cool brain, scintillating sentences and bold defense of minority rights that Clare Booth Luce, who is retiring, provided. Our regret over the failure of Olive Remington Goldman to become Congresswoman from Illinois is tempered, at least, by pride in her campaign, which was waged largely on principles, international and domestic, that AAUW supports. Whatever the outcome, that kind of campaigning lifts the level of politics Of the seven women elected, two are newcomers to Congress: for the Republicans, Mrs. George V. St. George, of Tuxedo Park, in New York's 29th Congressional District; for the Democrats, Mrs. Georgia Lusk, county superintendent of schools, representative-at-large from New Mexico. The five re-elected are: for the Republicans, Mrs. Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts, Mrs. Frances P. Bolton of Ohio, Mrs. Margaret Chase Smith of Maine; for the Democrats, Mrs. Mary T. Norton of New Jersey, Mrs. Helen Gahagan Douglas of California. Frances Perkins, former Secretary of Labor, returned to Washington in September, appointed by President Truman to be a member of the Civil Service Commission, succeeding Lucille Foster McMillin, who resigned. This is the President's only appointment of a woman to a top post, meaning one in which the occupant reports directly to the President. In the short time since her acceptance of the post, Miss Perkins has vigorously indicated her determination to cut red tape in civil service procedures. Fear expressed recently that Reorganization Plan No. 2, approved by Congress, would make "displaced persons" of several women executives has evaporated, for the individuals have been retained in key posts. The Federal Security Agency now includes the Children's Bureau (operating under the Social Security Administration), but Miss Katharine Lenroot continues as the Bureau's chief. The Bureau's industrial division remains in the Labor Department. The new Office of Special Services in Federal Security Agency has a government career woman as director—Mrs. Jewell W. Swofford, formerly chairman of the U.S. Employees Compensation Board, now abolished. Director of FSA's new Office of Inter-Agency and International Relations is Mrs. Ellen S. Woodward, formerly member of the Social Security Board. There is news, too, of women in other than government circles. In September it was reported that Josephine Roche, president of the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company, had returned from eight months' study of the coal situation abroad,—preparation for writing a series of articles on Europe's coal problems. "The British Ministry of Fuel and Power were wonderful," she was quoted as saying. "They permitted me to go into the coal regions and examine some of the mines. The over-all picture, I'm afraid, is bad. Haulage is slow, cars are too small, and there is a lack of modern mining practices. Production per man per day is one ton as compared to our six tons per day." The first operator in Colorado to unionize the miners, Miss Roche is well known in Washington, where she was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury of 1934 to 1937. On November first Dr. Martha Lucas was inducted as the fourth president of Sweet Briar College, succeeding Dr. Meta Glass. Miss Lucas was graduated from Goucher College in 1933 and holds degrees from George Washington University and the University of London. Representing AAUW at the inauguration was Dr. Kathryn McHale, General Director. The centennial celebration of MacMurray College, Jacksonville, Illinois, was held October 6 to 10, 1946. the AAUW General Director, Dr. Kathryn McHale, was a symposium speaker on Higher Education of Women. The honorary degree of L.H.D. was conferred upon her at the centennial exercises. Vitalizing the City Arts Program BY KATHLEEN RESSLER IN Katherine Mansfield's A Cup of Tea, Rosemary pulls up at the "perfect flower shop in Regent Street" and, inside, peremptorily orders, "I want those and those and those. Give me four bunches of those. And that jar of roses. Yes, I'll have all the roses. . . . No, no lilac. I hate lilac. It's got no shape." She takes home with her ready-made bouquets a girl of the streets to whom she serves tea in the Lady Bountiful manner with great satisfaction —to herself. Too often the AAUW program planner exclaims with the same bright-eyed enthusiasm —and regrettable lack of standards, "I'll have a review of Delta Wedding. And the history of the Russian Ballet. And oh, yes, the use of passementerie in Victorian styles. That carries us up to Christmas." And the members come out with precisely what Rosemary's guest did—a cup of tea. In two important respects our city arts groups often fail to meet their responsibilities: they do not come in touch with the creative in the individual members, and there is no identification with the community. The reasons for failure are several: The substitution of formalism and precedent for creative effort. Over-sophistication —Rosemary rejects the unfashionable lilac, the chairman makes the facile, popular choice. The convenient assumption that because the city has its symphony, —— The author, who was arts chairman of the Cincinnati Branch, 1944-46, is one who practices her own preachments. During ten years in college administration and teaching, she wrote a number of short stories and professional articles on speech and radio that were published; she is now at the University of Michigan at work on a psychological novel. —— theatres, exhibitions, museum, or college, the AAUW may complacently sit back, saying, "All is well," and listen to a review of the current best-seller. The job of handling the arts in the city need not be a matter of beating haphazardly about to fill in the gaps. The approach must be realistic and energetic. One must begin with the city. What is being done? A community arts survey is entailed with a clear-eyed estimate of functioning services. Conferences with heads of the museum of fine arts, adult education council, symphony and artist series, the arts college, the inter-organizational council give the groundwork. THERE will be obvious strengths and glaring weaknesses in the over-all program of the city. It is wise to support and utilize the first. In Cincinnati, for example, there is a strong symphony organization, citywide. Here the role of AAUW is that of patron, encouraging attendance and subscribing to tickets. But such activity, it should be said at once, is, in terms of the branch's stature in the arts, at third remove; the second being the course in music appreciation, with study of specific compositions, but the first-hand experience coming in the choral group or ensemble playing. Where there is an apparent need but no existent agency, the AAUW arts section may make a civic contribution in initiating the medium of expression, utilizing its resources of personnel to afford the creative opportunity, to supply the nucleus of the movement. In Cincinnati the civic theatre had closed chiefly because the director had gone off to war. No other local facilities were available for adults. 101 102 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN A long-range plan was set up for a dramatic workshop under the arts section, headed by an AAUW member who was instructor in dramatics in the local university. Original plays and adaptations came from individual members and the radio workshop, so that by June four short productions had been accomplished, in addition to the discussions at regular meetings of current plays and excellent movies. One of the originals, written especially for and played to the local Consumers Research Conference, illustrates the possibilities of bringing members into play production, and serving a civic organization. Repeat requests came from other city groups. For the Christmas program there was coordinated effort on the part of three workshops: radio techniques were used to produce an original and an adaptation of a Christmas play, the personnel coming from the drama and radio groups, with one professional musician, and the AAUW choral triple trio. MEETINGS of the drama workshop for the next year were planned for a progressive study of plays, including casting, selection, staging, sets and costuming, culminating in a final public performance of the three-act First Lady in the university theatre. Service committees for all stage work, assembling of props, making sets, were drawn from the membership, as were those for ticket sales, promotion, advertising. Consequent study in this workshop that year included the dramatic reading of an original radio play by the writer, and two short plays brought in by a university group. With such sound beginnings this workshop may only continue a study of legitimate plays, of movie and radio criticism; but its experiences in active production should prove the first step toward re-establishing a civic theatre, and toward a long-range policy governing its participants, financing, permanent quarters, and direction. But it is important that the AAUW members maintain a participative status, not merely one of patroness—valuable as that may be. The creative experience of puppetry also recommends a workshop, building puppets and stage, costuming and production. Particularly is this valuable in a large community where the children's theatre is neglected. SOMETIMES there comes a burgeoning of interest in an activity not served through an organized workshop. If so, be flexible. Have the courage to create the medium. Such happened at Cincinnati two years ago with the opportunity to do a radio show, with responsibility for handling scripts, acting, and production. That experiment, which kept a volunteer committee working valiantly through a very hot summer to meet deadlines, proved— as mere theory would never do—the need for specific instruction of members eager to contribute. Study hours were therefore set up, and all possible opportunities to put members or their radio continuity on the air were utilized. In its second year this workshop served its community ably: it handled radio publicity, writing the continuity, for the Greater Cincinnati Consumers' Conference, a city-wide affair supported by fifty women's groups, featuring a panel on 1946 living costs, a style show, a panel discussion and legislation on foods, shelter, clothing. As a Listening Post, it evaluated and recommended good radio programs. It served as a judging audience for WLW's trial of a new woman's participation show. It was chosen to handle publicity for the civic committee managing I Am an American Day. At the request of the Adult Education Council, the workshop wrote a series of scripts on cultural affairs booked for the city. Soon, of course, it becomes necessary to assess such a group, its direction, its function. While radio is not yet the eighth art, still so long as a group does creative work such as radio acting and writing, then, even though a stepchild, it is under the arts wing. Should its function narrow VITALIZING THE CITY ARTS PROGRAM 103 essentially to that of a listening post, or its service to publicity and advertising, especially for other civic groups, then it clearly belongs in another AAUW division. THE literary phase of the arts program offers some tricky psychological snags. For it is in the large city that the dramatic reviewer flourishes. The policies of an able arts chairman may be vitiated by an insistence on reviewing grown traditional but embracing little art and less aesthetic criticism. If the branch has been spoon-fed on book reviewing, then let one other than the arts chairman assume the responsibility. If there must be so-called literary groups—and owing to the pressure of reactionary precedent, it is not always possible to replace them—then by all means make them into genuine study groups, with limitation to one movement, one novelist, one genre, so that the year's unified theme builds into real knowledge, away from mere "appreciation of the literary." Such a performance as a review of Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, plus another French author, in one afternoon, followed by tea, is illustration enough of what not to attempt. Yet it is in the large city that the creative writer should find stimulation and depth of background to enrich her work. Probably none is so desirous of solitude, so timid of bringing out her product. Early she must be set upon the right path by competent advice. She should know whether she can and wants to do poetry, the novel, plays, short fiction, and whether her stuff is marketable. She must, in short, assume the professional, workmanlike attitude. The AAUW member has come of age enough to eschew the secreting of manuscripts in a bureau drawer. To raise standards in writing, to keep the group from becoming closed, insular-minded, provincial, a critic should be obtained (and paid) to read the manuscripts and meet with the writers on occasion. Professional standards are thus brought to bear. The arts chairman herself can insist on them with a sub-chairman willing to build toward distinguished writing by insistence on output and constructive criticism. Even if the large city has a paucity of such critics within its own walls, within a radius of a hundred miles there will be several who for a reasonable sum will be obtainable. With city planning a live issue today, architecture and landscaping offer opportunities both for artistic work and service to the city. Writers, sketching and photography groups could well combine in making a study of the historical landmarks, the early homes, churches, inns, of a given period, and in forming a permanent record, thus arouse feeling for the origins of the people settling the city. A revival of doorway design, of fireplace pattern, of the stairwell, may afford architecturally some ideas indigenous to the renascence of building. Ultimately a publication might result. The drama groups could produce through plays the history thus revealed, and herein lies excellent material for a dramatized historical radio series. These hold promise of strength, vividness, and possibility of an integrated pattern. At the outset it will be recognized that there will be various degrees of attainment in an ambitious program. Its success can be measured rather accurately, however, by the formula: p/m x qt x ql = V. Participants (writers, actors, musicians) from total membership times quantity, times quality, equals total value or effectiveness. WHAT is the meaning to the AAUW and the city of a well-integrated arts program? Active participation of individuals in art projects is encouraged, with creative, deepened purpose. Aesthetically they come alive. Members lift themselves out of the social "woman's club" pattern into tangible production; an emotional awareness 104 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN of one's place in the social order is heightened and brought to realization. There is constant sifting and weighing of standards which, brought sharply in focus, cannot remain static. The arts work becomes enmeshed in the life of the city itself. The common experience of the past, the present, possibly of the future, gains fresh expression. Art serves the purpose it should: it is communicative, growing, stimulating. Finally, more is offered both members and the community than a cup of tea. Aid to University Women of Other Countries Reconstruction Aid Grants Contributions for Reconstruction Aid are coming in steadily from the branches - but applications for assistance, too, are mounting rapidly. Any branch that has collected Reconstruction Aid funds is urged to send them in as soon as possible, since requests for assistance will be reviewed in January. These are the most recent awards: DR. RUTH W. PICCAGLI, born in France, Italian by marriage - a grant for "refresher" study in the United States. Dr. Piccagli was the wife of an Italian captain who was shot for aiding the Allies; and she herself was sent to the dreaded extermination camp at Osciecim. Released by the Russians, she returned home to find all her possessions confiscated or destroyed. Dr. Piccagli received the check from AAUW in October 1945, but was unable to get passage from Florence until the following June. During the summer she worked in the Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, and at the Gaylord Farm Sanatorium, Wallingford, Conn. (Her specialty is treatment of tuberculosis.) She now has a residency in the New York Infirmary. DR. HANNA HIRSZFELD, chief of pediatrics at the University of Wroclaw, Poland - a grant for essential drugs for her children's clinic. Dr. Hirszfeld, in this country last summer with her husband, who had a Rockefeller Fellowship, appealed to AAUW for help in carrying on her clinic: "we have no medicines, no surgical instruments. The Germans destroyed our medical books. We have no sheets for the beds - indeed, no beds." A wholesale order of most essential drugs was shipped to her, and arrangements were made to send medical books. MRS. GENARA S. M. DE GUZMAN, president of the Filipino Nurses Association - funds for study of nursing education in this country with a view to improving standards of nursing in the Philippines. Mrs. de Guzman studied public health nursing in this country in the 'twenties; in the Philippines she was engaged in nursing and public health work, and was for twelve years director of nursing education. She is a member of the Philippine Association of University Women. Mrs. de Guzman went to London last summer to represent the Filipino Nurses Association at the meeting of the International Council of Nurses; the AAUW grant is enabling her to visit schools and colleges giving nurses training and public health agencies in this country before returning home. DR. IDA DE BOBULA, president of the Hungarian Federation - a grant to cover transportation to this country for the meeting of the International Assembly of Women. Dr. de Bobula studied at Bryn Mawr College in 1924-25, and at Western Reserve in 1926-27. She is now in the Hungarian Ministry of Education, and is director of Sarolta College, a residence for women students, which is being operated under the most difficult circumstances - no heat, no blankets or other bedding; no chairs; food limited to substitute coffee with milk powder in the morning and soup or porridge for dinner. Dr. de Bobula, when at Headquarters, told AID TO UNIVERSITY WOMEN OF OTHER COUNTRIES 105 us a little of what the war had meant to Hungarian university women. "The former president of the Hungarian Association, Dr. Arato, whom many will remember for her study of secondary education sponsored by the International Federation, was killed in the bombing. Other former presidents, Dr. Margaret Magyary and Dr. Krepuska, died in tragic ways. The vice-president lost an arm; most members lost their homes and belongings and members of their families. Many members were imprisoned. Now the situation of university women, as of all middle-class workers, is very difficult. A salary of $25.00 a month is above the average. Everyone is tired and undernourished. But the university women's association is in the process of reorganization." Dr. de Bobula reports that women of her country are now awakened to the importance of taking part in political life. "One of the few good results of our terrible sufferings," she says, "is the fact that women now realize that politics affects their families and their individual lives." Of her country during the way she says: "We were too weak to resist overwhelming forces, but we - the university women as well as the simple country women - always thought of you as Allies." Yes, Gift Parcels Are Needed "Are the gift parcels still needed?" This question is often put to national Headquarters of late. And the answer, coming from many quarters, is Yes, in some places more than ever. Another cold, hard winter faces the European countries. Some are in better circumstances than a year ago; in others, tuberculosis and other effects of malnutrition are increasing, and the long strain of inadequate food and clothing and crowded living conditions, added to reconstruction tasks of overwhelming proportions, is sapping courage and energy. Against that background, the parcels sent by AAUW members, with contents carefully and imaginatively chosen, have brought a response out of all proportion to their monetary value. Two letters of appreciation are printer under "Letters to Headquarters." They come from two of many recipients who are distressed because they cannot make out the senders' addresses and so cannot express their thanks. If you find it difficult to dispatch a package yourself, you may wish to take advantage of the services of CARE (Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe, Inc.), which will send food packages to addresses you may designate in Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Germany (American and British zones and sectors in Berlin), Greece, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, and Poland. For $10.00 CARE sends to the addressee a package containing food designed to maintain an American soldier adequately under combat conditions for ten days. This service has been recommended by well known relief agencies, including the Unitarian Service Committee, which transmitted Refugee Aid Funds for AAUW during the war. Two lists of names of university women who will receive and distribute parcels have been published in the JOURNAL, in the January and Summer issues, 1946. Others are given below: Greece The ending of UNRRA operations on December 31 means a very critical situation. Food, clothing medicines, and other relief supplies are badly needed. Add to names already given: Mrs. Nik. Papadaki, 38 Delphi Street, Thessalonica, Greece (widow of the Rector of the University of Salonika; two sons - one a university student, one 16; daughter, 18; in extreme need). Poland The need is, literally, for everything. The president of the Federation is: Mme. T. Meczkowska, Chmielna 25, Warsaw. These additional addresses are furnished by Miss Helena Belinska of the Polish Embassy in Washington: Dr. Dorabialska, Polytechnic Institute, Lodz. Dr. Mieczyslawa S. Ruxer, Archeologia Klasyczna, Uniesytet Poznanski, Poznan, Poland (a university professor). 106 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN Miss Eva Moklowska, Ul Prazmowskiego No. 59, Krakow, Poland (a student). Mrs. Janina Kulcvycka, Plac Inwaligow, No. 10, Warszawa-Zoliborz (a high school teacher). Mrs. Maria Huttel, Ul Obroncow No. 31, Warszawa-Saska Kepa, Pol. (a teacher; has a four-year-old son and an ill mother). Mrs. Jawiga Strauchowa, Ul Polna No. 40, Warszawa, Poland. Miss Helena Blum, c/o Miss Helena Marcoin, Ul Pierackiego No. 27, M 1, Krakow. Mrs. Zebrowska, Ul Szczuczynska No. 3, Warszawa-Saska Kepa, Pol. (a 94-year-old teacher in desperate circumstances). Mrs. Hanna Szweminowa, Osrogek Architekury Cielesnica, p Jano Pogllaski (has a six-year-old boy). Miss Ewa Ponikowska, Ul Lwowska No. 7, M6, Warszawa, Poland (very desperate case; several years in a concentration camp and now tubercular; very tall, 24 years old). Hungary Mail service is improving; parcels are getting through. The food situation is desperate. See list of most-needed foods in October 1946 General Director's Letter, page 22. Soap, candy, and peanut butter are especially valued, as well as clothing of any kind. Inflation has hit the professional class hardest; students and university women are in great need. use these addresses: Dr. Ida Bobula, Budapest III, Zsigmond Kiraly - utja 114 (president of the Hungarian Federation of University Women). Dr. Gizelle Dedinsky, Vorosmarty - utca 49, Budapest VI (vice-president of the Federation). Korea Ewha Women's University (the Women's Christian University of Korea) sends word that eleven-pound packages may now be received. There is need, particularly, for clothing and other supplies for girls who have slipped through the Russian lines to the college, with no possessions at all. Pieces of plain, dark materials - cotton or woolen - will be more useful than American clothes. Address: Dr. Helen K. Kim, President, Ewha Woman's University, Seoul, Korea. International Study Grants Everywhere we hear praise for the AAUW International Study Grants. "They are the very best thing you can do for us," said Dr. Louise Kraus, of the Luxembourg Federation, when she visited Headquarters. And every international committee, commission, and conference, from UNESCO to the State Department, repeats the message: Bringing students here to study is the best way to build friendship between the United States and other countries. We are proud to find that the AAUW program for international students - launched before V-E Day - is now developed beyond that of any other volunteer organization. Forty students from Europe (counting those on International Study Grants and on Fellowships) were awarded grants for study this year in the United States under AAUW auspices, - thirty-seven from the liberated countries and three from England. Of the forty, three have not yet arrived but are expected shortly. Forty awards seemed a splendid accomplishment last spring. But we have just been told that the U. S. cultural relations attaché in Shanghai received 180 applications for next year within three weeks after the AAUW grants had been announced! We shall have to outdo our own record to keep pace with the enthusiasm and hopes that these grants have aroused. Letters to Headquarters Those Petticoats in Science TO THE EDITOR: The article, "Science Out of Petticoats," in the last issue of the JOURNAL is a timely antidote to the over-enthusiastic reports of the marvelous opportunities for women in science today. It is well to consider the difficulties and obstacles which confront a young person who is going into science as a profession, and to point out, if possible, ways in which certain of the problems may be solved. The remedy which is suggested is excellent: "regard the woman chemist as a chemist rather than as a woman." The authors, however, fail to stress sufficiently that this should be a "reversible reaction" and not a remedy which, according to the, "can be applied only from above by men at the head of management"; it must also be applied by the women in the chemical profession. As chemists there are certain handicaps which as a group we cannot escape. A large number of women will always leave the profession for marriage and homemaking and as a consequence we constitute a group which might be called "potentially impermanent" and our employment value, particularly for responsible positions on the scientific staff of industrial organizations, is definitely lessened. It is unfortunate, in my judgement, to regard this as discrimination against women in the chemical profession; it is rather against a group of chemists whose professional interest is likely to be only temporary. The individual chemist can and does overcome this handicap from time to time, but it demands, I believe, a rather higher quality of work than might be expected of a man whose choice of a profession is assured. The situation for women in industrial chemistry is complicated by the fact that during the war years a considerable number of women with very limited training in chemistry have taken chemical positions and are classified as women chemists. The group as a whole suffers through the lack of professional standards of the few. This is regrettable but inevitable in a field where there are comparatively few women, and every effort must be made to emphasize within our group the importance of being chemists, without any special "rights or privileges" because we are women, and with a rather heavier burden of proof of our fitness for responsible positions if we are to keep open the door of opportunity for women in the postwar era. The authors have done the profession a service in pointing out so clearly the problems in connection with employment and advancement. with the more enlightened policy which some industries are already showing and with a more responsible professional attitude on our part the situation should be greatly improved. From the point of view of a person who over a long period of years has encouraged young women to enter the chemical profession, the opportunities which are now opening seem almost limitless and the obstacles to be encountered seem less formidable in comparison with the past. EMMA P. CARR We are glad to be able to pass on these comments from a woman scientist who is recognized as the leading woman in chemistry 107 106 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN istry. Dr. Carr, as chairman for thirty-three years of the Chemistry Department of Mount Holyoke College, has trained and helped to place many a young woman chemist. Bouquets for JOURNAL Authors TO THE EDITOR: Here is a little bouquet for the JOURNAL . . . I was in the home of a branch president for a visit before taking the midnight bus. She is new -- and her branch is new -- and she confessed to me that she had felt some reluctance to take on another organization. But, she said, "When I got the JOURNAL, and found what a wonderful magazine it is, and what the Association's views re on the things that seem to me to be important, I became an enthusiastic member." May I add that the Summer JOURNAL, which I had considered the very best number yet, has been equalled if not surpassed by the Fall number. I do believe that Dr. White's "What is America?" in the Summer JOURNAL should be required reading for every member! M. O. TO THE EDITOR: May I send a word of praise for the JOURNAL? Although my husband's work frequently carries us into isolated areas, the stimulating articles and news notes in the JOURNAL give us a feeling of being in touch with happenings in universities throughout the country. The use of a lucid, personal style of writing for subject matter which, unfortunately, too often invites tedious, unimaginative prose results in interesting, discussion-provoking articles. We both thoroughly enjoy each issue. E. D. R. Orchids to all the generous and lucid contributors who make the JOURNAL possible! Are Teachers' Strikes Necessary? TO THE EDITOR: A good many families are anxiously discussing teachers' strikes. Has AAUW taken any "stand" on the matter? When I heard that our local teachers were talking about striking for better salaries, my feeling was: "They can't do this to us!" My husband (being a lawyer) explained that a strike of public employees just couldn't take place. Legal opinion was against such strikes. Public administrators denied the right to strike to municipal and state employees. (Don't you remember what Calvin Coolidge said about Boston?) Collective bargaining agreements between employees and public authorities nearly always declare that he strike will not be used. The public simply would not stand for strikes by their employees. Then I repeated what we had been discussing at the AAUW meeting on Better Schools, Just this year from there had been a strike of teachers in a township system in Ohio. Pennsylvania led the list with two or three strikes among teachers. In Norwalk, Connecticut, the teachers refused to work last September. (My husband said that the teachers didn't have contracts. Isn't this the John L. Lewis technique?) We were told of an impending strike among the men teachers of Minneapolis and right next door in St. Paul a teachers' strike was brewing. Apparently teachers "can't" strike -- but they do anyway. With a coal strike on our hands and with other strikes threatened by various labor organizations what is happening in the public employment field? Are we to expect that more public employees will join labor groups? Will they strike until their salaries reach a level comparable with those in industry and private employment? What are we the public going to do about it? Some people are saying that our local teachers won't strike because they are members of a profession. I am not so sure. My husband says he would gladly horsewhip LETTERS TO THE HEADQUARTERS 109 a doctor who threatened to strike when we needed him. But is it the same thing when a teacher strikes? Are we to say that there is never a time when revolution is necessary? Is it possible that our teachers are, in many communities, facing salary and other employment conditions which they cannot and should not be expected to endure? If so, should we be surprised when a strike takes place? I don't think we should be surprised, but I do think we should be ashamed. In my opinion strikes among teachers are unnecessary. I think they are unnecessary and could be prevented if those of us who believe in schools would be willing to do something about certain basic things. For one thing, salaries of teachers are usually determined by schoolboards and school administrators. Shouldn't all teachers have a right to discuss their salaries before they are decided for the year? There are communities, mine is one, where the teachers are afraid to operate a real, independent teachers association. More than one teacher has told me that they are almost afraid to breathe. I think we parents can insist that teachers have full freedom to meet and discuss their problems without threat of losing jobs or rank. But the heart of our problem is: are we willing to pay the taxes necessary to provide decent salaries? Oh yes -- we say that teachers should be well paid but do we vote at the elections to increase the millage rate? Do we vote for members of the state legislature who keep their promised to provide adequate state financial aid? I think teachers strikes are unnecessary because they can be prevented, but we shall have to pay for prevention through time and money, not with platitudes. My husband agrees on this! E. V. A. AAUW has taken no "stand" on teachers' strikes. What do other members think about this method of correcting the teachers' situation? Parcels Bring Thanks DEAR FRIENDS: I am sending you my best greetings from Poland and the ruins of Warsaw, accompanied by the expression of true gratitude for your kindness to me. Thanks to your initiative, I received in August, September, and October some packages with food and clothing. I feel very touched with the kindness shown by the American people toward us. There is not a single family which does not mourn the loss of some of its members. Those who were spared that cruel fate have to work for those who cannot experience the joy of participating in the reconstruction of their country. We double and treble our efforts in this work and we find our reward in the intense increase of life and activities of the country. Your packages are a great help in sustaining our strength, which in some overworked people may be failing. Thanks to your packages, we can enjoy such rarities as tea, coffee, chocolate, and fruits. Many of us have lost everything. . . . Yet, we do not dwell on the losses suffered by all of us; we are mainly interested in the work for a better future. We thank you for everything you are doing for us. You give us proofs of the real spirit of charity and, thanks to it, those of us who have lost our beloved ones feel less lonely. That spirit of love and charity will unite us all. Therefore, we receive your gifts without humiliation as we know that they are the proof of sympathy for our people. We share them among ourselves, so that the greatest number of persons may have the proofs of your spirit of love and charity. God bless you. ZOFIA NIEMOJEWSKA-GRUSZCZYNSKA ul. Szczuczynska 9.I.p., Saskakepa, Warsaw, Poland DEAR COLLEAGUES OF THE AAUW,-- There has been a constant flow of parcels since last spring from the different branches of the AAUW -- the last from you at Headquarters in Washington 110 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN --to us, Finnish fellow-members of the Federation. They have been addressed either to our President, Miss Wiherheimo, or to myself. So far we have been receiving about 180 packets containing clothing and food, and four food parcels through CARE. No words can express our gratitude. You ought to be able to be eye-witnesses on the occasions when we have distributed the contents of those gifts to get a right idea of our grateful feelings. We have already had four distributions and shall have one more next Saturday. Every member has been welcome to choose something suitable from the clothing, and everyone has been given some soap, spools of thread, and tins of food. Our branches in the country have also got their due share of the goods. If you can imagine what it means to be without, say, such a small thing as soap or thread for years and to be a mother of a big--or even a small family--you understand what these parcels have meant for us. As to food and clothing, everything has been most welcome to ease the situation, for the shortage of clothes begins to be great and the food rations are much too small for anyone to live on. The kindness of our relatives in the country where they can grow vegetables has been the helping hand for those who have relatives and friends in the country, but even their helpfulness is not inexhaustible. So what to have for the next meal is really a problem sometimes--much too often actually. Milk, butter, and meat are out of reach almost. The tins you have sent have really been a blessing therefore-- and the coffee in the parcels has been the nectar of the gods, something to brighten up our lives. We have tried to reach every sender of the parcels by means of a letter of thanks, but as the addresses have sometimes been smeared on the way, and also we are sure that there are many who have helped to fill the parcels without putting forth their names, we thought that we should like through the Headquarters to let them know how grateful we are. As a small and very modest token we are sending you two books on Finland to show what the country and the nation are like that you have so generously helped. Please convey our sincere thanks to everybody there at the Headquarters and through them to everybody who has given a kind thought to us. With best wishes and Christmas greetings, on behalf of the Finnish Federation of University Women. Yours very sincerely, IRMA RANTAVAARA Runeberginkatu 46 C 49 Helsinki, Finland The Biennial Convention Dallas, Texas, April 14-19, 1947 The Program As this JOURNAL goes to press, the general outline of the convention program has been agreed on, and details are rapidly being filled in. On Monday morning, April 14, there will be registration at the Baker Hotel; presidents of state divisions and presidents of branches will meet in small groups, according to the size of their membership, to exchange experiences and discuss their respective problems. In the afternoon the convention will be formally opened. President Helen C. White's address will strike the keynote of the conference. It will be followed by presentation of recommendations for action which will come up for vote on the final day. In the evening the convention will be entertained at the Southern Methodist University. The program, arranged in recognition of Pan American Day, will present a speaker on the contrasts and similarities of the cultures of Latin America and the United States, and their importance in building our American future. A reception and fiesta will follow,--the special entertainment of the Texas State Division and the Dallas Branch. Tuesday morning, April 15, will be devoted to international relations, with outstanding speakers to illuminate critical problems and help us think through to AAUW's contribution to their solution. At noon there will be Regional luncheons; and the afternoon session will present a speaker and panel on the demands the modern world is making on higher education --and how they may be met. At the dinner meeting, the Committee on Economic and Legal Status of Women will present speakers who can talk form practical experience on women in political and civic affairs. On Wednesday, April 16, Education and Social Studies will join forces in a searching discussion by distinguished speakers of the challenge which our social and economic problems pose for education. For this entire day, the convention will be transported in toto to nearby Fort Worth, and the Fort Worth Branch is arranging an evening program "in the western tradition." Thursday will be given over to small workshops on questions raised in the preceding discussions--and others that need to be raised--all in relation to "What can AAUW do about it?" The evening meeting will be devoted to the arts. On Friday, April 18, the convention will act on business matters,--election of officers, the Legislative Program, approval of institutions, resolutions, etc. And in the evening, as the close of the convention, the fellowship dinner, long a high point in AAUW conventions, now presenting a larger program that includes aid for our sister university women who have suffered most heavily from the war. Room Reservations To be sure of accommodations, convention delegates should send their requests for rooms immediately to the Room Reservation Chairman, Miss Edna Rowe, 4921 Five Oak Street, Dallas 6. All reservations are to be handled by Miss Rowe. No single rooms are available; the choice is between double room with double bed (quoted at $4.00-$8.90) and double room with single beds ($5.00-$9.00). Indicate 111 112 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN your preference as to type and price, and Miss Rowe will make reservations as nearly as possible in accordance with your preference. Prices quoted are as of November; hotel rates may be affected should there by any general change in prices. Two hotels, the Baker and the Adolphus, just across the street from each other, will jointly serve as convention headquarters. Registration will be at the Baker. Registration by Mail Convention delegates need not begin their stay in Dallas with a long endurance test in the registration line. An efficient plan for advance registration by mail makes it possible to get the whole procedure over with, quite painlessly, before leaving home. These simple steps will insure you against a long wait for registration: (1) Your branch president sends your name to national Headquarters in Washington with a request for a credential card designating you as a delegate or alternate. (2) When you receive your credential card and advance registration blanks, which will be mailed to the branch president, retain the credential card, and mail the registration blanks (filled in and accompanied by a check) to the Dallas chairman. (3) Retain the acknowledgment which will be sent you. When you reach Dallas, present this and your credential card at the A.A.U.W. registration desk at the Baker Hotel, where your envelope with all tickets and papers will be awaiting you. Late Registration If an application for credentials reaches Headquarters too late to permit mailing the credential card and registration blanks, credentials will be held at the National Information Desk at convention headquarters. No credentials can be issued without presentation of the membership card as identification and evidence of membership. If the application for credentials has not been sent to Headquarters, a member who wishes to register as a delegate or alternate must present a letter of appointment from the branch president, as well as her national membership card, in order to secure credentials. Exhibits Because of the uncertainty of shipping, only exhibits that are brought by the delegates themselves can be shown. Records of work on some phase of the community program outlined in the May General Director's Letter are requested. Post-Convention Tours Many of Texas' forty-six branches wish to extend their hospitality to delegates desirous of seeing more of Texas and the Southwest than Dallas and Fort Worth. Interest, already has been evinced in post-convention tours to Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Kerrville, and the surrounding ranch country, Brownsville and the Rio Grande Valley, El Paso and Carlsbad, New Mexico, New Orleans, Monterrey and Mexico City. For information write to Mrs. L. V. Stockard, 6944 Lakewood Boulevard, Dallas, stating the place or places you wish to visit and the mode of transportation desired. And please write soon. Miss Rachel Foote, a member of the Dallas Branch who has paid frequent visits to Mexico, has made arrangements with one of the travel agencies for a special all-expense tour to Mexico for convention visitors. Since Miss Foote herself will accompany the group, members will be sure of an understanding interpretation of what they see, which will greatly enrich their experience. The week's trip, April 19-26, begins with a flight to Mexico City by plane, and includes motor tours through some of the most magnificent mountain scenery of Mexico. The cost is $260. The number that can be included in the group is limited; reservations should be made now. For details, address Miss Rachel Foote, 3630 Armstrong Avenue, Dallas, Texas. AAUW NEWS AND NOTES No Discrimination in Membership The national Board of Directors met in Washington December 6-8. One of the important problems that came before the Board was the question of eligibility to AAUW membership. A resolution was adopted reaffirming the Association's membership policy--that "all women who meet the educational requirements are eligible to membership," and making it clear that under the national By-laws "there can be no authorization for any discrimination on racial, religious, or political grounds." The resolution was unanimously adopted, on motion of Dr. Susan B. Riley, Vice-President of the Southeast Central Region, seconded by Dr. Gillie Larew, Vice-President of the South Atlantic Region, as follows: The Board of Directors of the AAUW considers it imperative at this time to reaffirm its established membership policy that all women who meet the educational requirements are eligible to be members of the Association. Under the national by-laws and under branch by-laws, which may not conflict with those of the national, there can be no authorization for any discrimination on racial, religious, or political grounds. The Board, therefore, takes for granted that the branches will practice within their own groups those principles which are in line with the Association's history, it's expressed international policies, it's membership in the International Federation of University Women, and its deep concern with all agencies seeking to rebuild a world shattered through discriminations and intolerance. The Crisis in Public Education The Board discussed with deep concern the crisis which faces our public schools, --the lack of well trained teachers, the thousands of temporary appointments of teachers who are not adequately prepared, the diminishing number of students in teacher-training institutions. "At this rate," one member remarked, "there will soon be no teachers. Except for a few grey-heads who hang on out of loyalty, the teacher in American life will be extinct." A declaration was adopted calling for steps to raise the status and prestige of teachers as a "first call on the public conscience and on public funds." The declaration is quoted in full on page 95. Liberalizing the General Education Requirement The Committee on Membership and Maintaining Standards presented a reinterpretation of the general education requirement for AAUW--approved degrees. Reiterating the convictions that higher education should provide a background of general education--in natural science, social science, and the humanities --the committee proposed to accept for membership institutions or individual schools within institutions in which a basic core of general education is required in fulfillment of the requirements for graduation. In case a curriculum seeks to combine or integrate these values in a new experimental way instead of by the usual courses, the committee would consider the proposals in terms of these general values. In this way some common denominator for membership may be maintained in the face of the increased divergence in curricula that inevitably results from increase in specialization. This proposal would affect only the present general education requirement for approval, leaving the other academic requirements and the requirements for proper provisions for the housing, health, and social needs of women students as they stand at present. This proposal was accepted by the Board of Directors. It will be discussed more fully in the next JOURNAL. 113 114 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN Nominations for National Offices The Committee on Nominations asks that all suggestions for nominations to the national offices that are to be filled at the Dallas Convention be sent as speedily as possible. AAUW members are asked to consider searchingly the nature of the responsibility which will fall to the Association's officers in these critical times, and to suggest to the committee possible nominees of a stature to meet the challenge which national office in such an organization as AAUW carries. Address the committee chairman, Dean Margaret S. Morriss, Pembroke College, Brown University, Providence 6, Rhode Island. Since members of the Board of Directors are elected for a two-year term, all members of the Board will be elected at Dallas. Under the By-law provision that "officers shall be eligible for re-election for two succeeding terms only" (Article VIII, 4a), the following are not eligible for re-election: President, Dr. Helen C. White Rocky Mountain Regional Vice-President, Mrs. Charles J. Oviatt Northeast Central Regional Vice-President, Mrs Emil E. Storkan The chairman of the committee announces with regret that the Second Vice-President, Dr. Marion Park, has indicated that she will not be able to stand for re-election. The committee hopes that many members and groups will indicate whom they would like to see in these positions of national leadership. Recommendation of a person for office must be accompanied by a biographical record (five copies, if possible) giving information on her training, experience in AAUW, and qualities of leadership. Place of Next Convention Branches that wish to extend an invitation for the 1949 Convention should write to Headquarters immediately for a list of facilities needed for handling an AAUW national meeting. The chairman of the Committee on the Place of Next Convention, Mrs. C. S. Bluemel, 4501 S. Frank Street, Denver, Colorado. Information on hotel and auditorium facilities should accompany the invitation. And Maine Makes Forty-eight The forty-eighth AAUW state division has been formed! In October, AAUW branches in Maine, the only state not organized, banded together to establish a stage organization. We heartily welcome this forty-eighth state. The completion of state organization, coming in this postwar period, reminds us that the state division in AAUW was an outgrowth of World War I. The first state conferences of branch representatives were held in Illinois, Michigan, and Kansas, in 1915, 1916, and 1917, respectively, and resulted in such a "notable accession of information, enthusiasm, and friendliness" (to quote the AAUW History) that organization on a statewide basis followed, and the idea soon spread to other states. Not only have branches found themselves strengthened by sharing experiences through their state organizations, but the state divisions have rallied support for state legislation, planned and directed many valuable state projects enlisting the cooperation of the branches, and devised ways of applying the philosophy and objectives of AAUW to particular needs within the state. As the Association continues to grow, the state officers and chairmen are an increasingly valuable link between the national organization and the local groups. Canada Scene of First IFUW Conference Outside Europe The first postwar Conference of the International Federation of University Women will be held next summer in Toronto. The last such gathering was in Stockholm prior to the outbreak of war in 1939. The IFUW Council, composed of one member from each country—the chairman of the International Relations AAUW NEWS AND NOTES 115 Committee of each affiliated national association—will meet prior to the Conference on August 11. Among the agenda items will be the election of officers for the next three years. After the close of the Conference, August 14, the newly elected officers and members of the Council will act on recommendations referred to them. The AAUW will have five voting delegates and five alternates. Because of housing difficulties attendance will have to be limited, but AAUW will be allowed about two hundred non-voting delegates, appointed on the basis of outstanding interest and service in the AAUW international relations program. This will be the first IFUW Conference held outside of Europe, though the Council met in Boston in 1931; undoubtedly many AAUW leaders will be eager to participate. Requests for places may be filed with the Associate in International Education. Every effort will be made to accredit as many as possible of those who wish to take advantage of this opportunity to see IFUW in action. Newcomb College Seniors Send Gift for International Reconstruction A splendid gift of $505 has been sent to AAUW Headquarters by last June's Newcomb College graduating class. The class asked the treasurer of the New Orleans AAUW Branch to forward this fund, with the request that it be used in some way to help university women abroad in the reconstruction of their universities. AAUW appreciates deeply the spirit of this gesture of the Newcomb seniors, and the practical assistance offered to women who have suffered from the war. The use of this generous gift will be decided when the International Study Grant and Reconstruction Aid awards are made in January. A New Federal Aid Bill Approximately thirty national organizations were represented at a meeting on November 19 called to discuss the question of Federal Aid to Education in the next Congress. The group, which included AAUW representatives, considered various proposals for federal aid bills, and then voted approval for a new measure which should be primarily an equalization measure, granting funds to states for public education with safeguards for the state control of education written into the bill. Already Congressional leaders are considering possible educational legislation, and the views of this group will doubtless influence the writing of a new bill. Watch AAUW publications for the announcement of this new legislation and its relation to AAUW's legislative program. Read the chapter on "The Kind of Citizens We Have" in the new pamphlet entitled Our Children, The Annual Report of the Profession to the Public, published by the National Education Association, and available free of charge at their headquarters, 1201 16th Street, N.W., Washington 6, D. C. This chapter shows beyond all doubt how great is the need for federal subsidies to education. It is from this pamphlet that some of the striking figures on educational deficiencies in the United States are quoted in the editorial on Federal Aid to Education in this issue of the JOURNAL. Vassar Scholarship Again an AAUW national member interested in the field of child development —preferably one who has shown potential leadership qualities—will have the opportunity of attending the Vassar Summer Institute. Here are gathered together professional and lay persons for the purpose of understanding better the development of the child in relation to our complicated civilization and its many problems. The AAUW Vassar Scholarship carries full living expenses for one adult for a four weeks' period. If a child is to be registered, there is an extra charge. Requests for 116 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN application blanks may be sent directly to Mrs. Harriet Ahlers Houdlette, Associate in Childhood Education, National Headquarters, AAUW, 1634 I Street, N.W., Washington 6, D. C. Applications must reach Headquarters by April 15. Footnote on Texas Fellowship Funds To the $2,000 contribution from Texas to International Study Grants, reported in the Fall JOURNAL, should be added $244.82 which was sent as a supplement to the Helen Marr Kirby Fellowship stipend. Of the four "named grants" of $500 each, listed from Texas branches, full credit for the Lola McDaniels Sells International Study Grant goes to Fort Worth —a splendid contribution. AAUW Grant to British Fellow One more has been added to our number of foreign fellows in the United States, through a gift from a former fellow who wishes to remain anonymous. Thanks to this gift, the Awards Committee was able to make a grant of $750 to Mary L. Woodward of Doncaster, England, for graduate work in geography at Radcliffe College. Miss Woodward holds a law degree from Oxford University; during the war she prepared topographical and detailed geographic studies for the Admiralty. Miss Woodward had received a fellowship granted by Radcliffe College, but without the supplementary award from AAUW would have been unable to manage the year in this country. The balance of the gift of $1,500 was assigned to one of the International Study Grant holders. Fellowship Resigned Miss Margaret J. O'Brien, who was awarded the Vassie James Hill Fellowship for 1946-47, has resigned the fellowship. She wrote the Committee on Fellowship Awards that she had found she could not satisfactorily complete the biographical study of Nathaniel Culverwel which she had undertaken as her fellowship project. She has therefore relinquished the fellowship, returning the major portion of the stipend. Educational Supplies for Europe When UNRRA announced free shipment of educational materials in November, all AAUW branches were notified. Many letters and the notices that promptly appeared in branch bulletins indicated that—as was to be expected —AAUW members welcomed this opportunity to contribute to educational reconstruction in the war-devastated countries. Arrangements were made through the Commission for International Educational Reconstruction, of which AAUW is a member. British Fund When Miss J. Marguerite Bowie, IFUW treasurer, visited Washington Headquarters in connection with arrangements for the Toronto Conference, she gave us some truly awe-inspiring figures on the fund which is being raised by the British Federation. For assistance to university women of the occupied areas, the British Federation has raised £13,000. Also the BFUW has set itself a goal of £400,000 for the enlargement of Crosby Hall. Their hope is to double the accommodations for visiting scholars there. All this adds up to well over two million dollars—and the British Federation has approximately 2,000 members! Film on "One World or None" Chairmen of international relations will be interested in a dramatic new film produced for the National Committee on Atomic Information, called "One World or None." Full information can be obtained from Film Publishers, Inc., 25 Broad Street, New York City 4, from whom the film may be rented for theatrical showing at approximately $7.50. Your local theatre manager will be interested to include it in his program if you call it to his attention, or your branch international relations group could underwrite AAUW NEWS AND NOTES 117 the cost as a project of service to your community. Branches using 16mm. sound projectors can rent 16 mm. sound prints at a very nominal fee from most film libraries, including those maintained by state universities, colleges, and local boards of education. This film would be an excellent basis for discussion of the national and international problems ahead in the control and utilization of atomic energy. For Whom Is General Membership? Each year a good many members drop out of the AAUW simply because they do not know that general national membership is available to them for $2.00 a year and that they need not necessarily be affiliated with a branch in order to keep their contact with the Association. The $2.00 national dues entitle the general member to a subscription to the JOURNAL and to membership in the International Federation of University Women. Moreover, a member thus maintains her connections with the organization and has the satisfaction of knowing she is helping to promote national and international progress by joining hands with other intelligent women associated in the AAUW. If you know of any member who is moving to a town or city where there is no AAUW branch, remind her of the general membership available to her. AAUW Adds Seven New Branches New branches recognized since the publication of the Fall 1946 JOURNAL number seven and are located in four states. They are: ARKANSAS—Harrison Rogers Searcy KANSAS—Great Bend MARYLAND—Garrett NEW YORK—Batavia Kingston The total number of branches is now 959. Dallas Cook Book Texas hospitality has been embodied concretely by the Dallas Branch in the form of a cook book of tested recipes from members of the AAUW in Texas, which is being sold to swell the convention entertainment fund of the Dallas group. From a multitude of favorite recipes contributed by Texas members, the most typically southwestern dishes were chosen. The result is 150 pages of mouth-watering suggestions, dedicated (to quote the Foreword) "to the proposition that cooking and college do mix." Those who wish to test that mixture, Texas style, may order the Dallas College Club Cook Book of Texas Recipes from Mrs. Norman G. Hardy, 3409 Mockingbird Lane, Dallas. The price is $1.00 a copy, plus 10 cents postage. Selecting Bills for AAUW to Support BY BESSIE C. RANDOLPH Chairman, Committee on Legislative Program THE wise selection of measures to be supported under a given item of the AAUW national Legal Program is one of the most difficult and anxious duties assigned to any of your national committees. This difficulty grows out of the very nature of our program. For the set-up of a national Legislative Program by biennial conventions, two alternate procedures are possible. One is the adoption of a specific platform detailed point by point and rigidly fixed for two years. Even if the immense initial difficulty of agreeing on those points could be overcome, there would still be the danger that most, perhaps all, of the points so laboriously adopted might become obsolete or dangerous before the next convention could revise them. The alternative procedure is to adopt a list of general objectives or items, not too long and rather broadly stated, leaving the selection of emphases and national measures thereunder to national committees as representative in organization and personnel as possible. This is the procedure that has been approved by convention vote. The wisdom of endorsing principles rather than specific bills was demonstrated during the war. The writer was a member of the Committee on International Relations from 1937 to 1941, and representative of that committee on the Committee on Legislative Program for the same period. Returning in 1943 as chairman of the latter committee, she, in common with others who had this particular gap in their national service for AAUW, found that the months before and after Pearl Harbor had brought astounding changes in the outlook for the Legislative Program. Everybody recognized the onset of a vast emergency in which even the simplest internal legislation might have vital results on international policy. This particular biennium supplied an extreme but instructive example of the uselessness, or worse, of adopting a specific, detailed program of legislation in advance. On the other hand, the delegation to any committee of the power of selecting measures for AAUW support under the principles laid down in the Legislative Program involves dangers of which the national committees are well aware. THE initial selection of a bill in any one of the four subject-matter fields (Education, Social Studies, International Relations, Economic and Legal Status of Women) by the national committee for that field, and its recommendation to the Committee on Legislative Program, involves on the part of the committee a careful and matured knowledge of the content of each measure and its rightful relation to a given item of the Legislative Program and to other proposed measures, state, national, and international. Ordinarily, the Committee on Legislative Program meets once a year in the autumn, although extra meetings have been held in the last few years on account 118 SELECTING BILLS FOR AAUW TO SUPPORT 119 of the war and of the biennial Convention of 1945. In the weeks preceding the meeting of our committee, the four subject-matter committees have been hard at work formulating recommendations from their respective fields. They have had the expert and continuing help of state legislative chairmen, of reports and letters received from branches, officers, and individual members of AAUW, of the Associates and others at Headquarters, and of special organizations in Washington. AS AN example of the process of selecting one or more specific measures under an item of the Legislative Program, let us take one under Education: Item 1— Federal aid to states, under conditions safeguarding state control, to equalize and extend or improve public education for all the people, including provisions for the developmental needs of children, youth, and adults. This item, as adopted by the 1945 Convention delegates, had been re-worded with great care to allay the fears and meet the wishes of the nation-wide membership to safeguard state control when grants for public education are received from the Federal Government. The need for such a safeguard had been fully and rather sternly expressed in the period when the Legislative Program was being drafted. Moreover, in the period of more than twenty years in which the Association has supported federal aid to education, a body of opinion has been clearly expressed by successive conventions. Therefore the committee members have a course already charted, and the leeway in choice of a bill for AAUW support is not wide. In fact, of all the bills introduced for federal aid to education in the last two sessions of Congress, S-181 and S-181 amended were the only ones which came directly under AAUW's principle, which specifies aid to public education and the safeguarding of state control of education by placing the burden of responsibility upon the states, while giving to the Federal Government, in the last analysis, the responsibility for a fiscal review. The weeding out of such measures as S-717, sometimes called the American Federation of Teachers Bill, and S-2499, the Murray Bill, became almost an automatic process because of the fact that each specified aid for private schools and AAUW's long-time efforts have been given to aid for public education only. Nevertheless, much time was spent in studying the provisions of these discarded bills to discover whether any portions of them offered features which might be suggested for incorporation in a bill supported by AAUW. All bills were analyzed for the methods of giving federal grants, methods of apportionment, and the way in which various responsibilities were designated. Interestingly enough, the bills supported were more sound in these provisions than the bills which attempted to find a method for aiding all private schools as well as public schools. WE ARE fortunate when bills come so clearly and definitely under convention items that little if any doubt can arise in the minds of the committee members or anybody else as to their propriety. For example, the provisions of the General Housing Bill, S-1592, correspond closely with Item 6 of the AAUW Legislative Program: Coordination of federal housing functions through a national housing agency to integrate efforts, with community participation, to achieve good homes and good neighborhoods for every family; measures designed to reduce the cost of housing production by private enterprise; and provision for public housing for low-income families for which private industry is unable to provide. S-1592 is, in fact, a particularly good example of the type of legislation AAUW committees like to review. Too often bills before Congress are designed to tackle a single facet of the total problem. The 120 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN General Housing Bill was formulated on broad basic principles, the same principles voted at the 1945 AAUW convention. Another good example of a bill which fits our item without question is S-1178, Women's Equal Pay Bill, which is supported under Item 14: Opposition to discrimination in employment and property rights on the basis of sex or marital status. In a considerable number of cases like the above, not only has the item been on our legislative agenda for years, but a given bill insubstantially its present form has been supported, and there is no problem except the ever-present one of application to new conditions as they arise. AS ANOTHER example, this time from the international field, let us take a measure selected under Item 13a: Amendment of the Constitution to provide for ratification of treatise with approval by a majority of both houses of Congress. Replies to the tentative legislative program submitted to the branches during the winter of 1944-45 showed a strong opinion that the Item as originally submitted, "Modification of the existing two-thirds requirement for senatorial approval for ratification of treaties," was not specific enough, and it was accordingly amended before the Convention to read as quoted above, thus making both houses responsible for the approval of treaties. Several measures were introduced in the 79th Congress, varying verbally but all embodying this principle. It soon became apparent that the only one of these which stood a chance of serious consideration was the version sponsored by the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Since the wording of this resolution, H.J. Res. 60, conformed precisely to the terms of item 13a, it could be supported without hesitation, and we testified for it before the Judiciary Committees of both House and Senate. Like all other national committees everywhere, ours has the problem of meeting the varying points of view in an enormous country where sharp and sometimes irreconcilable differences between regions and interests exist. Moreover, the committee must keep a vigilant eye on the practical outlook for the passage of the bill. Better support a proposal which is not ideal, but which can command enough votes for enactment, rather than insist on an ideal measure which will be passed only in the far future, it at all. Every new measure, however poor, brings practical experience to those who have to live under it, and can later pave the way psychologically for the very law we wanted in the first place. Here, compromise as one of the arts of statesmanship must be used by the committees. Sometimes the measures coming before Congress in original or amended form, or even treaties coming before the Senate for approval before the President can ratify. Equally important is the administration of an existing law through rules, adequate personnel, etc., and above all through the determination of public officers to make it work successfully. A moderately good law enforced in intelligent and determined fashion is worth far more than a law of ideal excellence which is enforced weakly if at all. When a measure does not obviously come as a matter of course under a given item, or when a measure is a very new application of an old principle, or when extensive and fundamental differences cloud the issue, the committee considers in detail the length and extent of study on the subject within the Association, and the existing or probably degree of agreement in the membership. Often, of course, the question does not get as far as the Committee on Legislative Program, for the pertinent subject-matter committee (which may be pictured as the watch-dog for legislation in its field) will have considered the measure and will have turned the proposal down if it finds the amount of SELECTING BILLS FOR AAUW TO SUPPORT 121 study insufficient and the disagreement excessive. For example, in 1940-42 it was proposed to the national Social Studies Committee and the Committee on Economic and Legal Status of Women that the Association support the federal Geyer anti-poll tax bill. The poll tax at that time was in effect in eight Southern states (now seven). It was said that this action could properly be taken under the legislative item, "to protect civil rights." After discussion, the two committees felt that although the bill did come directly under the "civil rights" item, so many uncertain factors existed that further inquiry must precede and guide any action. Accordingly, letters were sent to state chairmen of social studies, status of women, and legislation. They were asked to report the extent to which branches and state boards had studied the question, to give their estimate of AAUW opinion, and to express their personal views. The returns showed an absence of any real study and a great divergence of opinion. A point at issue was whether the poll tax could best be attacked by state or by federal legislation On the basis of the evidence, the two committees refrained from recommending to the Committee on Legislative Program any action on the federal anti-poll tax bill. The Legislative Committee discussed the bill and the returns received by the committees, but it never placed the measure on the Association's active program. IN GENERAL, however, the Committee on Legislative Program, when approving action on bills, does so because the measures clearly carry out principles which have been long on the Association's program, voted by successive national conventions, so that the membership must be presumed to be familiar with them. After all, the primary work of our Committee on Legislative Program is to select under convention items those points of emphasis, and therefore of study and continuing thought, which the branches and divisions consider of paramount importance. The selection of specific legislative measures to implement the point of emphasis is secondary. WHAT AAUW BRANCHES ARE DOING Services for Exchange Teachers Bring Praise, Pleasure to Branches Applause and appreciation are being extended to AAUW branches in states participating in the teacher exchange program with England, for their services in helping to orient the newcomers. The New York City Branch is the recipient of compliments from the State Department and the U. S. Office of Education, as well as from the school officers and the teachers themselves, for the services which a committee of the branch, under the president, rendered the teachers upon their arrival from England. Giving a more detailed picture of some of the services extended to the exchange teachers and the pleasure thus derived, a letter from Bay City, Michigan, reads in part: Our exchange teacher is Miss Jeanie Arkieson of Alva, Clackmannshire, Scotland, and we are enjoying her very much. She shares an apartment with one of our members, and we have voted to extend the privileges of the organization to her during her stay in Bay City. This was done not only because she is an exchange teacher, but also because we find her a charming person in her own right. Miss Arkieson attends our monthly general meetings and spoke at the initial meeting of our International Relations group where she presented interesting material on postwar problems in Great Britain. A lively question period followed her formal remarks. Our study group seldom reaches more than twelve people but the night Miss Arkieson spoke, there were thirty of us. She plans to become a regular member of this study group and I'm sure she will bring us a new viewpoint. In Toledo, Ohio, the Board decided at a recent meeting to assume this year's membership for Miss Marie Stoll, who went to England as an exchange teacher, and to give this as a courtesy membership to Miss Cynthia Ewing, who came from Cambridge, England, to replace Miss Stoll. Two British teachers were guests at the opening dinner meeting of the Southern New York Branch, which voted to assume the dues of the two AAUW members who have gone to Britain. From the West Virginia Division a letter confidently declares that their Miss Jennie Backus "will represent them well" in England. A story about Miss Backus in an issue of the West Virginia School Journal was arranged for by the Division. Twenty-nine states, at present, are participating in the exchange teacher project, which is regarded as an important one in building international understanding. A brief account of this program was presented on page 34 of the Fall JOURNAL, 1946. Philadelphia Branch Entertains By Proxy at European Parties Invitations to a holiday tea in Paris were issued to guests of Reid Hall in France by the Philadelphia Branch members, who were to be hostesses by proxy, via Madame Bedier, president of the French Federation. A similar invitation was sent to the British Federation to hold a party at Crosby Hall, British university women's center in London. The novel idea planned by the branch was to send packages of tea, sugar, coffee, lemon juice, mints, "gingerbread mix," and evaporated milk to the two federations and then ask the halls to "manage" such a tea. 122 WHAT AAUW BRANCHES ARE DOING 123 The invitation to members of the federation read in part: Would the guests of Reid Hall be our guests at a tea or party given sometime during the Christmas Holiday season? . . . We should like to become acquainted before the tourist arrangements permit us to travel to Paris to pay our respects to you. The branch looked forward to the fun of packing the party items for the overseas holiday entertaining, long in advance of the dates set. Louisiana Branches to Distribute Membership Leaflet Locally Supplying the college guidance collections of local libraries and of high school principals with a copy of the latest AAUW membership leaflet is one project the Education Committee of the Louisiana Division is hoping the branches of the state will undertake. The leaflet, which contains a list of AAUW-approved institutions and requirements for membership, is issued by the national Association. it may be instrumental in interesting young women in educational standards for higher education, as they become informed that graduates of certain colleges are not eligible for AAUW membership. In some cases pressure of alumnae on college administrators to bring their alma mater to higher standards has been motivated by the failure of a woman to gain admission to a local AAUW branch, according to the state education chairman. The state committee also has asked each branch to present a copy of the JOURNAL regularly to at least one local library. World "Hot Spots" to Be Discussed "Hot Spots of the World" is the intriguing topic selected by international study groups of the Philadelphia Branch. At the first meeting the membership separated into four study groups to discuss Russia, the Far East, the Balkan countries, and Latin-America. As the membership has expressed a desire to learn of each group's research, panel discussions will be held from time to time on an individual "hot spot." The College Park Maryland Branch is contributing a true service to the community by arranging a series of public lectures this winter on "International Relations in the Atomic Age." Given by eminent authorities, the lectures will emphasize American-Russian relations in such areas as the Balkans, the Middle East, China, Japan, and Germany. Organizations and individuals throughout Prince George's County have been invited to cooperate in this project. Massachusetts Legislative Program In its legislative work last year, the Massachusetts Division focused special attention on selected items of the national program: housing, civil rights, non-discrimination against women in employment, and a constructive foreign policy. For special study and support in the state legislature, the items related to these national measures were selected, as follows: 1. Jury service for women 2. Equal pay for equal work 3. Statewide certification of teachers in public schools, the specific requirements to be discussed and approved by branches after submission of plans by the state education chairman. 4. Improved housing within the state. This was interpreted to mean that the branches should study their communities and support ordinances which offer a solution to local problems as well as watch the state bills introduced in the legislature. Materials, including diagrams and discussions of procedure in the state legislature, membership lists, and summaries of bills, were sent as an aid to the branches by the state chairman. Members of the Boston Branch represented the state division in testimony before the Judiciary Committee on behalf of bills for jury service for women, and also watched developments on the equal pay question. 124 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN An action program on housing was inaugurated by the North Shore Branch, under the stimulus of the legislative chairman; library exhibits, book lists, and a forum on the subject were used to promote better understanding of the problem. The branch also studied the twenty-one housing bills introduced in the legislature. Branches Report Signs of Progress In Getting Women in Public Office Further reports on progress made in getting qualified women appointed to public office (see April 1946 JOURNAL, page 189) show that favorable results are being obtained. Below are some facts taken from the branch Status of Women reports for 1945-46. Peru, Ind. - Peru has long had an old rule barring married women from teaching. Also, men teachers automatically were paid $100 more than women teachers. Through the efforts of some of our members on committees, both of these situations were corrected in 1945-46. Crawfordsville, Ind. - We continued our efforts of last year to have a woman on the school board and on the county hospital board. We have not succeeded yet, but the men are now awake to our vote in the approaching elections. Plymouth, Ind. - One of our members is now on the school board. AAUW was largely responsible for this appointment. For the first time in the history of the Plymouth schools, a woman became a member of the Board of Education. Richmond, Ind. - The mayor has appointed two women, one to the Board of Education, one to the Parks Board. Salina, Kansas. - The Status of Women Committee arranged a branch meeting at which the superintendent of schools spoke on the contribution of women in the armed forces and in the life of our city. In the discussion period he said that he was thankful to have a representative woman (whose election was sponsored by AAUW) on his school board. The president of Kansas Wesleyan University reported that following AAUW suggestion, he now has three women on the Board of Directors of the university. Iron Mountain, Mich. - The branch vice-president was elected to the school board last year. Manistee, Mich. - We are supporting a woman for member of the board of education in the coming election. Mankato, Minn. - Supported as candidate for the state legislature a member of the branch. (Note: A new October leaflet obtainable free from Headquarters suggests, "Support a Qualified Woman for the School Board." It gives facts from an NEA survey on the kinds of people needed on school boards and how they may be selected.) "Extra!" Edition of Bulletin Calls Members' Attention to Legislation Extra! Extra! Applause to the San Diego, Calif., Branch for its emergency news treatment of the questionnaire on the 1947-49 legislative program! An "Extra!" edition, in vivid yellow, of the branch Bulletin was printed and mailed October 15, calling upon all members in tall letters to "READ! STUDY! CONSIDER! Refer to the JOURNAL - Spring 1945 - Summer 1946 (Copies on file in clubrooms.) Express your opinion by voting on the enclosed ballot and mail it to us at once, or place it in the ballot box at clubrooms or at the October general meeting. Ballot Deadline, October 31, 1946." The extra, a single broadsheet, gave all the national legislative items, and under each some facts on bills supported and some questions that had come to the mind of the branch board, here passed on to start members' thinking. The extra introduced itself in this way: We are living today in a complex world where expansion of population makes it impossible for the individual to have as great effect on government directly as was formerly possible. Consequently, individuals working for certain legislative action have found that group action is more effective - namely by lobbying in the best sense of the word. Objections are made to the AAUW Legislative Program because legislation is a controversial question and the objectors felt that [page break] WHAT AAUW BRANCHES ARE DOING 125 not all AAUW members approve of the stand the national Association takes. This is your chance as an individual member to stand up and be counted on each item of the proposed program. A ballot is included in this bulletin. We ask that you mark and return it to us. We will necessarily presume that those of you who do not vote are giving consent by silence. Missouri Branches Are Active In State Legislative Program Procedures that "make a state legislative program tick" are to be found in the 1945-46 report of AAUW action on legislation in Missouri, which was sent by Mrs. William L. Bradshaw, state legislative chairman. Because of the adoption of a new state constitution in 1945, the state legislative program was abnormally heavy. The Legislative Committee, with the help of related chairmen, tried to follow major bills affecting items in education, social studies, and status of women. Part of the state policy was to send a delegate to the General Assembly when public hearings were held on bills related to major items on the state legislative program. "The new state constitution allows raising certain limitations which have existed for years on school taxation," writes Mrs. Bradshaw in her report. "In many towns and cities where we have branches, the AAUW members did active work toward raising the school tax. The Kansas City Branch was active in the campaign and plans to continue the fight this year." Since the tax for library purposes is inadequate or non-existent in some of the towns where AAUW branches are located, those branches were urged to support the county library movement. From the Chariton County Branch, which was active in securing better appropriations for the state social security commission, came the following report: Being a county branch, we have been able to keep various sections of the county informed concerning proposed legislation through social science classes in the high school and through women's organizations in the local communities. The Fulton Branch reports: Individual members have served on committees and worked out surveys showing discrimination in employment on the basis of sex and marital status. The trend seems to be toward equalizing salaries of men and women, and a trend toward a single salary schedule for high school and grade school teachers is pronounced. A useful idea came from the Boonville Branch, which had been cooperating with another women's group in a bi-weekly interview with the member of the General Assembly from their district. To make branch chairman conscious of the merits and usefulness of the AAUW General Director's Letter, the state Legislative Committee sent cards to the branch chairmen and duplicates to the presidents reminding them of the arrival of the GDL and of its importance to their work. When a call for action on an important bill was sent out from national Headquarters, postals were sent to the branches by their state chairman urging them to write their Congressmen and Senators. It was often possible to include the request in the sheet, "What the other branches are doing in legislation." Playing up national bills and requests in the legislative section of the state bulletin, and the special legislative sheet sent to branches did more than anything else to get a good response from the branches, it was felt by the state chairman. Branches Consider Women's Vote Current reports show several instances of branch concern with women's vote and its effectiveness. Birmingham, Ala. A survey of the voting habits of women in the county, made by the State of Women Committee, brought out some interesting facts concerning the poll tax. Of the non-voters, approximately three-fifths gave non-payment of poll tax as their reason for not voting. Many of the voters commented unfavorably on the poll tax, particularly 126 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN about the cumulative feature. The poll revealed that there is among Birmingham women a live interest in the requirements for voting, with sentiment strongly against the poll tax. Statesboro, Ga. A special program planned by the Status of Women Committee was addressed by Mrs. Helen Coxson, former representative and now member of the Pardon and Parole Board. After the group discussion, committees were formed for the purpose of getting all eligible persons registered and ready to vote in local and state elections. Representatives of local clubs were invited to attend this meeting to help make plans. The theater, telephone, newspapers, and posters were media used to further the publicity campaign. Results of a poll taken in the branch and a local woman's club were as follows: (1) registration and voting - 70 per cent registered, 75 per cent voted last year; (2) jury service - 70 per cent believe in jury service for women, 25 per cent were opposed, and 5 per cent were doubtful. Wisconsin Members See Candidates About Women on University Board Working to have a woman appointed to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, AAUW branch presidents and members in Wisconsin took advantage of the opportunity offered by the fall elections to call upon state senate and assembly candidates to get their promise to support such an appointment. The slogan presented in a letter to the branches was, "Remember: A pre-election promise is worth a dozen post-election ones." Mrs. John L. Defandorf, state president, and Mrs. George G. Town, state chairman of the Status of Women Committee, stressed the following points in their jointly addressed letter to the branch presidents: You know that our State Division AAUW has been concerned for some time because there has been no woman on the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin. Now our 29 branches have a chance to do something about it. It is a first step, but a necessary one. Will you, as branch president, with one or two of your active members, make a personal call upon the candidates running for state senate and state assembly in your district and ask them before the election? . . . Remind them that almost every other state in the Union has at least one woman on the governing body of its university. . . . Candidates also were reminded that the answer and help they gave would be publicized in the papers and in statewide publicity. The Wisconsin Division plans to work with a number of other groups in trying to get this appointment. At present it is in the midst of compiling a roster of women qualified for appointment to state boards. Annual Art Summary Gives Details Of Individual Branch Projects, Background for New Plans Telling in detail what the branches are doing in the arts and providing an indispensable record of background for the new year's planning is the annual summary, "Branch Art Reports 1945-46," now available upon request and at no cost. Reports of art programs have come from 351 branches. This excludes 83 branches who used art as an accessory to general meetings only. In public attendance at community art events, last year's figures of 183,000 increased by about 41,000 over the preceding year and are now exceeded only by a dozen of the nation's largest museums. Member attendance in study and practicum had totaled 5,279 on June 30 when these data were closed. The largest community participation was in exhibitions and the next in theatre for children. Writing groups sold $4,609.34 worth of manuscripts, bringing total sales since 1939-40 to $15,610. Branch efforts which have taken the requisite vision, personal participation, study, administrative skill and time to [page break] WHAT AAUW BRANCHES ARE DOING 127 bring about what seem like results which may be measured in terms of art or public art education include at least seventy-five. Among large city branches, Cincinnati more than any other is shaping a course away from the isolation likely to shelter urban groups, into a positive function in city life. A report about their re-orientation appears elsewhere in this JOURNAL. Among county branches, one which persists in memory is Napa County, California (200 members, five in arts): The program now in its second year is a workshop in marionette construction, 50 hours study and 50 hours practicum, carried on by two members. The idea is to teach school children marionette construction, costuming, stagecraft, and drama in the simplest way so they can actually use this medium of expression in school work or at play. The cost is practically nothing; we used scrap materials. At present, the audience has been 250 children from kindergarten to fifth grade. Later we hope to offer the community something and next year we hope to have some of our own plays to produce. For reasons of space, all the other illustrations of this issue are selected from the state of New York. This is because New York State will have before its legislature in 1947 a bill which will propose an annual expenditure of $75,000 from public funds for the work of living artists. (For details, note the Committee for a New York State Art Program, Hudson D. Walker, chairman executive committee, 2790 Grand Central Terminal Building, New York 17, New York.) While New York may for a long time be exceptional in an undertaking of this kind, members who expect that at some later day their own state or city may have a similar decision to make, will be interested to reflect on what kind of solid preparation for civic thinking in terms of art should be going on now. (New York has 36 AAUW branches, 19 of which do work in the arts.) The items following, cited with the population of the town when it is not a large one, and sometimes the size of the branch and the number of members interested in the arts, represent what they are doing: New York City - Under the grave difficulties of lethargy inherent in a metropolis which "has everything," the arts group has been trying to canalize arts appreciation toward Chinese art and is working on a project for a cultural exchange with China. Albany - Classes in writing, painting in oils and water color - some of the work accepted in regional exhibitions - play reading and theatre groups which presented two plays study courses in the symphony, and interior, design. CLARE TREE MAJOR THEATRE ENTERPRISES 24th Season Reservations Received Now For Next Season Write for Brochure CLARE TREE MAJOR Chappaqua, N. Y. FOR THE CHILDREN PENROD - SLEEPING BEAUTY ALICE IN WONDERLAND MAID OF THE NILE - ROBIN HOOD HANS BRINKER OR THE SILVER SKATES FOR ADULTS MACBETH - TWELFTH NIGHT THE MERCHANT OF VENICE TAMING OF THE SHREW Children learn ethics, discrimination in entertainment, speech and manners through fine plays. Children's Theatre serves the cultural life of your community and contributes liberally to your funds. These sincere, understandable, beautifully costumed productions are winning enthusiastic endorsement everywhere. Full evening entertainment. Write for A.A.U.W. comments. Your community will thank you for bringing these delightful plays to it. 128 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN Peekskill (population 17,311; 85 members, 12 in arts) -- The writing group of six members has begun publishing a monthly news sheet of interest to all our members -- and 900 children attended the performance of "Rip Van Winkle." Garden City, New York (population 11, 223; 106 members, 32 in arts). -- A considerable surmounting of the miasma which sometimes settles on suburban groups under metropolitan influence: -- "creative writing; arts workshop for the preparation of leaders of children's groups in other organizations; music appreciation, with one program of member participation (organ, cello, violin, and piano) and one sponsoring of a concert by a county symphony orchestra; literature in the hands of a committee to evaluate and plan a group worthy of AAUW standards, according to seven points -- accessibility of materials, libraries, university extension courses, member wants, co-ordination with branch activities, leadership and desirable program scope." Jamestown (population 42,638; 138 members). -- Museum Round Table and survey looking toward the establishment of a local museum. Oneonta (population 11,731; 75 members, 7 in the arts). -- "Writing, two exhibitions of sculpture and one of painting (demonstration by Suzanne Sivercruys) -- the general aim to further local understanding of modern art." Schenectady (population 87,549; 475 members, 260 in arts). -- Excellent integration of study, practicum and project, -- creative writing, with two juvenile novels published, and the production of a handbook for about 300 young adults coming under the program of the Adult Education Division of the local schools; study course in the technique of book reviewing, with practicum outside the AAUW; drama study course with branch production of two plays which could be presented in individual local schools at the school's request; sponsoring the Clare Tree Major plays for 5,000 children; sponsoring for the second year at the request of the local museum the Greater Schenectady Art Exhibition; continuing participation in city planning, "Interest in the graphic arts is growing rapidly in this community and we feel that this policy of initiating and carrying through a program in a field not yet established in the life of the locality is in keeping with the national program. The close agreement between general civic aims here and the philosophy of the material issued from national headquarters is more than a coincidence." Adirondack, Glens Falls (population 18,836; 91 members, 14 in arts). -- The writing group has written a history of the branch, 1920-1945, beginning with the original declaration of twelve "for what we can give to the cause of education, not what we can get out of this organization, we enroll ourselves as charter members of this branch." Also a vocational guidance play about going to college, "To Go or Not To Go, Is the Question." An exhibition of color reproductions -- Giotto to Picasso; exhibition of Ben Shahn canceled "for reasons outside the control of the branch." Herkimer (population 9,617). -- Exhibition, "Only Yesterday," in public library. Buffalo (578 members, 175 in arts). -- Study courses in drama; American folk music; antiques; "movie-makers" (pracitcum in motion pictures, 30 hours); "Quillians," a writing group with substantial sales; program in co-operation with the International Institute. Sewanhaka (Floral Park, 12,950).--Six members interested in writing have spent 200 hours on their work, of which 60 went into the writing, designing, and printing of 500 copies of their own newspaper, The Candle. This was regarded as a community project, since it involved a record of community participation and was presented to the branch as a contribution to the tenth anniversary. All the work, including the rolling of the press, was done by the group, with the help of a technical advisor in printing and the use of the printing department of the Sewanhaka High School. All members have done and sold some writing, sometimes illustrated with their own photographs. "We have bigger and better plans for next year. We have enrolled in the printing course of the Sewanhaka People's College for 1946-47, some to study lay-out, make-up, and design, others to learn to operate the linotype. We are going to work at the trade of publishing." The psychological climate of states makes them different and no one state can stand for the national whole. The New York emphasis on writing is offset by Middlewestern interest in the drama, and far Western interest in assembling their own exhibitions -- of which more later. PRESIDENTS OF AAUW STATE DIVISIONS ALABAMA - Miss Henrietta M. Thompson, University of Alabama, University ARIZONA - Miss Winona Montgomery, 1529 West Lewis Street, Phoenix ARKANSAS - Mrs. E. M. Archer, 3518 Hill Road, Little Rock CALIFORNIA - Mrs. George Graves, 2922 Evergreen Street, San Diego 6 COLORADO - Mrs. C. A. Neeper, 259 Davis Street, Monte Vista CONNECTICUT - Dr. Vera M. Butler, 775 Ocean Avenue, New London DELAWARE - Mrs. Herman R. Phillips, Box 425, Milford FLORIDA - Mrs. C. R. Allgood, 2908 Isidro, Tampa 6 GEORGIA - Mrs. Margaret Blair, Dawson Hall, University of Georgia, Athens IDAHO - Mrs. P. C. Feddersen, 2311 West McKinley Street, Kellogg ILLINOIS - Miss Hilda A. Stein, Southern Illinois Normal University, Carbondale INDIANA - Mrs. Wayne C. Kimmell, 411 East 48th Street, Indianapolis 5 IOWA - Dr. Pearl Hogrefe, Department of English, Iowa State College, Ames KANSAS - Miss Helen Wagstaff, University of Kansas, Lawrence KENTUCKY- Mrs. Kervin G. Bullitt, 560 Sunnyside Drive, Louisville 6 LOUISIANA - Miss D. Vickers, Box 89, College Station, Hammond MAINE - Dean Edith G. Wilson, University of Maine, Orono MARYLAND - Mrs. C. L. Everson, 7303 Dickinson Street, College Park MASSACHUSETTS - Dr. Victoria Schuck, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley MICHIGAN - Mrs. William B. Hubbard, 1205 Maxine Street, Flint MINNESOTA - Mrs. Lawrence D. Steefel, 2808 West River Road, Minneapolis 6 MISSISSIPPI - Miss Eleanor Zeis, 519 Arnold Avenue, Greenville MONTANA - Mrs. Melville Blackford, Route 1, Lewistown NEBRASKA - Mrs. Herbert F. Thies, 2006 Avenue C, Scottsbluff NEVADA - Mrs. A. J. Brimacombe, 820 South Fourth Street, Las Vegas NEW HAMPSHIRE - Mrs. Lloyd P. Young, 251 Maine Street, Keene NEW JERSEY- Mrs. Arthur J. White, Harding Road, Elkridge, Red Bank NEW MEXICO - Miss Clytice Ross, Box 455, Las Cruces NEW YORK - Mrs. Austin Evans, Montrose NORTH CAROLINA - Mrs. R. A. Herring, 807 East Lexington Avenue, High Point NORTH DAKOTA - Mrs. E. J. Cassell, 525 Third Avenue, N.E., Jamestown OHIO - Dr. Mary C. Hissong, 2984 Neil Avenue, Columbus 2 OKLAHOMA - Mrs. W. L. Moreman, 1215 North West 34th Street, Oklahoma City OREGON - Mrs. C. D. Winston, South Oregon College of Education, Ashland PENNSYLVANIA - Miss M. Elizabeth Matthews, 400 North Third Street, Harrisburg RHODE ISLAND - Mrs. Joel D. Austin, 24 Rose Court, Providence 6 SOUTH CAROLINA - Dr. Rosamonde Wimberly, Converse College, Spartanburg SOUTH DAKOTA - Mrs. William Bubbers, 815 South Menlo Avenue, Sioux Falls TENNESSEE - Miss N. Louise Moffett, 1717 Autumn Street, Memphis 12 TEXAS - Dr. Margaret Lee Wiley, 2207 Mayo Street, Commerce UTAH - Mrs. LaVal S. Morris, 168 North First East Street, Logan VERMONT - Mrs. H. W. Abraham, 77 Overlake Park, Burlington VIRGINIA - Dr. Mildred E. Taylor, Mary Baldwin College Staunton WASHINGTON - Mrs. Arthur H. Pohlman, 133 South Franklin Avenue, Wenatchee WEST VIRGINIA - Miss Laura Rector, 1407 Thirty-Ninth Street, Parkersburg WISCONSIN - Mrs. John L. Defandorf, 5353 North Santa Monica Boulevard, Milwaukee 11 WYOMING - Mrs. Vernon S. Griffith, Box 1247, Sheridan RUMFORD PRESS CONCORD, N. H. For Study Groups and Program Planners If you are organizing a study group, planning a branch program, or just trying to catch up on things every citizen should know, send to AAUW Headquarters for materials. Here are some of the study guides, pamphlets, and kits of publications assembled for your convenience, which may be obtained by writing to the AAUW, 1634 I Street, N. W., Washington 6, D. C. International Relations We Earn the Future. - A guide for leadership, by Gladys Murphy Graham 25 cents 5 copies, $1.00 Your Foreign Policy. - A quarterly analyzing developments in our relations with the rest of the world, and with the United Nations. Bibliography and program suggestions on each topic Single copy, 25 cents Year's subscription, $1.00 Study Guides for Background Understanding the USSR. - By Nancy Scott 10 cents Postwar Treatment of Germany. - By Helen Dwight Reid 10 cents American Relations with Eastern Asia. - By Meribeth Cameron 10 cents American Foreign Policy. - By Helen Dwight Reid - revised edition 10 cents Status of Women "The Election Is Over and I Won." - AAUW experience in encouraging the election and appointment of qualified women to public office 15 cents Endorse a Qualified Woman for the School Board. Leaflet Free Branch and State Programs Relating to the Status of Women. Handbook for chairmen. October 1946 25 cents Education Our Schools in the Postwar World. - From the U. S. Office of Education's "Know Your Schools" Series 10 cents Youth Centers - An Appraisal and a Look Ahead. - A survey, with concrete proposals and examples, issued by the Recreation Division of the Office of Community War Services Free Your Community Advisory Center. - How to organize a community advisory center for veterans and all others; issued by the Retraining and Reemployment Division, U. S. Department of Labor Free Services to Children. - A kit of useful materials on nursery schools, play groups, and extended school services 50 cents Social Studies Monetary Plans for the United Nations. - A layman's guide to proposals of the International Monetary Conference, by Mabel Newcomer, member of the U. S. Delegation 15 cents Consumers in the Postwar Economy. - A study guide on how our peacetime economy can better serve consumers' needs, by Caroline F. Ware 15 cents Medical Care for Everybody? - A handbook on federal health insurance, including a summary of health needs, existing resources, and various programs 15 cents The Arts Branch Handbook in the Arts (25 cents), a statement of aims and methods, lists on pages 28-29 thirty-three study guides in the arts; and Branch Art Reports: 1945-46 (free) summarizes branch application A Letter from the American Embassy in London ETHEL M. JOHNSON, A'18 With reference to my work as special assistant to the Ambassador at the American Embassy here, it is largely concerned with industrial health, safety and welfare in Great Britain. Through the courtesy of the Ministries of Labor and National Service, Supply and Fuel and Power, I have had opportunity to meet many Government officials and to visit a number of industrial establishments. This has involved trips in the Greater London area, to the Midlands and the Western part of Great Britain. At the request of the Factory Department of the Ministry of Labor, I gave a lecture on industrial safety work in the United States at the training course for plant safety officers conducted by the Department and the Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents in Llanfairfechan, North Wales. In addition to this special work, I have completed some studies previously undertaken dealing with the International Labor Organization. The most ambitious of these studies is a report on "Women and the I.L.O." This discusses the action taken regarding women by the agencies through which the Organization operates -- The International Labor Conference, The Governing Body, and The International Labor Office -- the recognition accorded to women, and the opportunities afforded them. During free time -- vacations and holidays -- I have been trying to see as much as I could of the country. In this connection I have made two trips to Scotland in quest of scenery, places of historic interest, and ancestors. Candor compels me to admit I have been most successful in the first-mentioned two quests. In June I went to Edinburgh, Inverness, Fort William, Oban and the Isle of Mull. In September I repeated part of the trip, going again to Edinburgh and Inverness, then on to Novar at Cromity Firth which is an arm of Moray Firth. Scotland is a fascinating country. The Highlands with the hills, mountains, gorges, rivers and lakes in rich profusion remind me of the wilder parts of New England. Some of the sections in the northern part of Scotland, as the Glencoe Range, are a bit forbidding, especially when a Page Eight Space prevents our giving all the important positions Miss Johnson has occupied, but the list includes such posts as executive secretary of Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission; a commissioner of Massachusetts Department of Labor and Industries; economist for California State Unemployment Commission; director of State Minimum Wage, Cost of Living Survey for New Hampshire; assistant organizer, member of New Hampshire Commission on Unemployment Reserves, New Hampshire Commission on Interstate Compacts; member of section on conditions of Employment of International Labor Office, Geneva, Switzerland, economist Washington Branch, director Washington office; representative of Governor of Massachusetts in 1929 at White House Conference on Child Welfare; representative of Governor of Massachusetts to First Interstate Conference on Labor Legislation, National Conference of States on Labor Legislation, Conference of Governors at Biloxi. She is the author of monographs, essays, and articles. Of her present work as Special Assistant to the Ambassador, Miss Johnson says: "I appreciate very much the privilege of working again for Ambassador Winant. I had the pleasure of working for him when he was Governor of New Hampshire; when he was Chairman of the Federal Social Security Board, and when he was Director of the International Labor Office. . . . He is greatly loved by the English people, -- loved, admired, and respected. An English officer said to me recently that England has been most fortunate, in that during both World Wars the United States sent over to her such great men, such fine and understanding men, as Ambassador -- Walter Hines Page during the World War I and John G. Winant during World War II." Scotch mist hangs over the mountains. The lakes, or lochs, surrounded with woodland and hills are very beautiful. Loch Lomond is especially lovely. I took the steamer ship up the entire length of the loch. Although it rained all day, the loch itself was beautiful and so was the surrounding country, particularly the ETHEL M. JOHNSON, A'18 magnificent mountains at the head of the loch. A kind-hearted lady whom I met on the train from Edinburgh to Glasgow on the way to Loch Lomond assured me that "Loch Lomond looks its best when it rains." On another day there was a delightful trip to Melrose Abbey and to Abbotsford where I saw the home of Sir Walter Scott and many of the treasures that he had collected. There was also a pleasant afternoon at the Forth Bridge which is impressive whether seen from below or from above as one crosses by train. Edinburgh and Inverness, which I visited on both trips, have a romantic past. Both are wonderfully located and possess great scenic beauty. Perhaps it was because I had read H. V. Morton's "In Quest of Scotland" just before making the June trip and had steeped myself in the story of Scotland's tragic Queen and the Jacobite Movement that the one city seemed filled with the personality of Mary, Queen of Scots; and the other, He was a man of patience. In contradistinction to the whining, touchy, hair-trigger, or swashbuckler temper, he knew how to bear tribulation uncomplainingly, and how to wait imperturbably for the fulfillment of a plan or purpose. He was a man of courage, -- physical courage, even in Gethsemane and on the cross; intellectual courage, even when he knew that enemies were trying to trap him; moral courage that kept him firm for the right even when weariness and monotony, depression and disillusionment would have made it easy to quit. He was a man of reverence. His reverence was like a pure white sunbeam which, upon the rain-drops of his deeds and words, shines like a beautiful rainbow, the seven colors of which are respect, deference, honor, homage, devotion, obeisance and veneration. He could not trifle with anything that was sacred. He believed in the sacred worth of human personality. He believed that every man, woman and child was valuable, not because of their race or creed, not because of their economic status or social position, but because they were immortal children of God. Therefore, he hated every sin that marred or defaced the image of God in the soul of man. He was opposed to everything that dwarfed or blighted or blaster human personality. THE forgoing is but a sketchy outline; but enough to suggest that God means to win in the end by the incarnation of his spirit and ideas and ideals in the hearts of men. The "one world" about which Wendell Willkie set this generation dreaming can be made only out of men and women who think and live on Jesus' level. General Douglas MacArthur had it right in that great speech he delivered on the occasion of the formal surrender of Japan: "The problem basically is theological . . . It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh." Bishop James C. Baker, a graduate of Boston University, was one of four distinguished religious leaders who recently visited Japan. He had some wonderful experiences there, including several visits with General MacArthur, in whose administration he has implicit confidence. He told me that in one conversation, the General said: "I understand that some critics back home say that we are soft. What do they want us to do, bash in the heads of these poor people with the butt-ends of our muskets? I want the American soldiers who are here to recommend new ideas to these people, ideas of peace and democracy that they have learned in their homes and schools and churches. If we can get the Japanese people to accept these ideas, it will guarantee the peace of the Orient for a thousand years." Bishop Baker's conferences with Japanese Christians gave him courage and hope for the future. Among other things, he said that plans were being made for the rendition of The Messiah in Tokyo this Christmas, with a chorus of three hundred voices, composed of one hundred American G.I.'s and two hundred Japanese. May we not hope that this is prophetic of a better future? One hundred American soldiers and two hundred native Japanese Christians singing together at this Christmas tide: "Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. The kingdom of this world is become The kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ ; And He shall reign for ever and ever, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords! Hallelujah!" "This Man shall be our peace!" RETURN OF MAJOR HOLTZ TO U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE U. S. Attorney Edmund J. Brandon announced the return to his post of Assistant U. S. Attorney of Major JACKSON J. HOLTZ, CBA 27, Law'29, upon termination of his military service. Major Holtz had first entered the Attorney's office in September of 1937 following his service in the Massachusetts Legislature, and was Assistant until April of 1942 when he was granted leave of absence by Mr. Brandon to take up his military duties as a member of the Officers' Reserve Corps. In military service, upon completion of advanced training courses at Chicago and the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland, he was assigned as Chief of [head-shot photo] Security and Labor Relations Branches at the Boston Ordnance District covering approximately eleven hundred munitions plants throughout New England. Upon his termination of military service at the Boston Ordnance District, he received a commendatory citation from Colonel H. B. Sheets, Commanding Officer, which stated in part: "Your outstanding administrative ability and supervision of the activities of the branches and your exceptional loyalty and conscientiousness constitute a contribution to your country during the period of war emergency in which you may well take pride." Previous to his appointment as Assistant U. S. Attorney, Major Holtz was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives to which he was elected (Continued on Page Fifteen) Page Seven with that of "Bonnie Prince Charlie" and of Flora MacDonald. In front of the castle at Inverness, which is on the site of the historic one where Lord Gordon held out against Queen Mary is a beautiful life size statue of Flora MacDonald looking out over the Ness and the country beyond. At Culloden Moor where the Jacobites made their last stand, a moss grown cairn marks the battle ground. It is inscribed "to the gallant Highland chieftains who gave their lives for Scotland and their Prince." It was a mellow, golden day in early September when I made the trip to Culloden Moor. With the distant blue hills on one side and the blue waters of the Firth on the other and the Moor itself covered with purple heather, it did n not seem a forbidding spot, though the many rocky slabs with the names of Highland clans and the inscription over the Well of Death gave mute testimony of the tragic events for which it had been the setting. From Inverness I had a delightful motor trip along the banks of the Caledonian Canal, which is in fact mainly lochs connected by canals. For twenty-two miles I rode by the shores of Loch Ness but never once got a glimpse of the Loch Ness Monster. I was informed that the Monster had gone into seclusion during the war but would probably reappear after the war was over! I did get a magnificent view of Ben Nevis; its great rocky crest partly covered with snow. After a night at Fort William there was another motor trip through glens, lakes, and mountains to a little station, from which I went by train to Oban, and then from Oban by steamer to the Isle of Mull. In both Scotland and England I found the people friendly and helpful and deeply appreciative of the wartime assistance given by the United States. I am glad to have had the opportunity of experiencing a little of what the British people faced during the war. I was not here during the Big Blitz or the Little Blitz or the Battle of Britain. I was in London however, during the greater part of the Flying Bomb period and throughout the Rocket, or V.2. period. I now know what the black-out means -- I had never known in the United States. I feel the greatest admiration for the British people in meeting these difficulties and dangers with such courage, firmness of purpose and such cheerfulness. I think their attitude is well illustrated by that of a saleswoman in one of the shops on Regent Street which I visited in early August, 1944. It was noontime on a glorious summer day -- the time when the flying bombs were sent out most frequently. While I was in the shop, the "alert" sounded and then the klaxon indicated that the danger was imminent. It was my first experience away from my lodgings and office and I was not certain as to the appropriate procedure -- whether one made a wild dash for the shelter or dived unceremoniously beneath the counter. I asked the saleswoman what one did under such circumstances. She looked at me in surprise and replied, "We pay no attention to those things!" Another incident which illustrates the attitude of many of the British people to America occurred when I was lunching at the English Speaking Union. A lady sitting at the table with me on learning that I was a vegetarian inquired if I had had any "shell" eggs. It was only after I came to London during the war, that I realized the vast distinction between eggs in and out of shells. Even the dried eggs are rationed. This was in the late Fall when shell eggs were something that one read about but rarely saw. I replied that during the four months I have been over here I had had one shell egg on my ration. She told me that she lived outside of London and kept a few hens, and that she came into town from time to time. "I am going to bring you some fresh eggs" she said. "Oh! no," I protested, "you must not do that, I know how precious shell eggs are and there are others more worthy than I." "But you came over to help us," she said. At first I did not understand what she meant, then I realized that she was trying vicariously, through me, to thank the American Army and Lend-Lease. VETERANS (Continued from Page Two) ginia, Stanislaus, Music '40, both from America and from Scotland where she is now making her home, as Mrs. Michael A. Sinclair Scott. (Ed. Note: Lt. Gallagher had been listed as "Missing in Action" and then as a Japanese war prisoner, and it is with great delight that we bring this word from him and welcome him back. He attended a rehearsal of the Choral Art Society of which he was formerly a member, during his brief stay in Boston. He is to report in the near future to Quantico for further study , as he plans to remain in the Marine Corps for some time. His home is now at 70 Lincoln Avenue, Rockville Center, Long Island, New York, and he would be glad to hear from any of his friends.) Vocational and Counseling Information The Vocational set-up at the University at the present time comes under the direction of several persons. Mr. Norman H. Abbott (178 Newbury Street) is director of the University Placement Service. Mr. Abbott and his assistants are giving as much counseling service to the returned veteran as time allows, along with his placement service to them. At the start of the veteran's association with the Office of Veterans Center at 688 Boylston Street for information and counseling, which office will refer him to the proper Department within the University where he will get further information and help in the particular work in which he is interested. For direct contact in a definite Department, the veteran or enrolled student should get in touch with the following persons: College of Business Administration (685 Commonwealth Avenue), Mr. Robert L. Peel; College of Practical Arts and Letters (27 Garrison Street), Miss Carla Paaske; College of Liberal Arts (688 Boylston Street), Miss Katherine Hilliker, or Miss Mary Lichliter of the University Department of Student Counseling. AT the School of Education is one of the best organized units at the present time, under Dr. Wendell Yeo. Any one of these Departments is ready to help the returned service man or woman at any time. In the Office of the Veterans Center is a veteran of this war, Paul H. McIntire, who is naturally very glad to assist another veteran in his rehabilitation problems. the number of returned veterans enrolled in the University is now over 1,000, of whom five are women in the School of Education. The most interest shown tends toward vocational training; journalism, business management, advertising, and distribution. United Farmers' CO - OPERATIVE . . . serves B. U. CAFETERIA and B. U. DORMITORIES with MILK and CREAM . . . -- Ask for UNITED FARMERS' PRODUCTS May we suggest that you patronize our advertisers Page Nine Promote Good Will Promote Your Health Your feet are important Treat them kindly . . . . Insist on Leather Soles for Your Shoes Nothing Takes The Place Of Leather John E. Daniels Leather Co., Inc. Sole Cutters 15 East Street Boston, Mass. Page Ten May we suggest that you patronize our advertisers Ninette de Valois Issues an Invitation to the Ballet Invitation to the Ballet, by Ninette de Valois. London: The Bodley Head. 12s. 6d. net. New York: Oxford University Press. $5. EVEN FROM the exceptionally gifted, art demands, before it reveals its secrets, a more or less severe training. In other words, its messages have to be paid for. Yet how many people go to concerts, the opera, and art galleries, expecting to get something for nothing? This untrained, "get-rich-quick" public abounds at the ballet, which of all art forms, provides the best entertainment value. But it demands a knowledge of at least three different arts. During the last few years, literature on the ballet has so multiplied that no reviewer now hears the postman's knock without a certain misgiving. Experience has taught him to expect the usual book with charming Degas-like photographs of dancers offset by a letter-press, the enthusiastic ignorance of which must startle even the flattered subjects of the pictures. Fortunately for the author, although his ears may burn, the opinions of choregraphers, inventors, producers and directors of ballet on this type of book rarely ever reach print--which is seemly. When Karsavina wrote her autobiography, "Theater Street," first published in 1930, she set a standard impossible for the dilettante--whom the dictionary rather rudely defines as "smatterer, one who toys with subject or concentrates on nothing." There could be no better corrective of the amateur balletomane's [photo of man playing flute] Georges Duhamel, Author of "The Pasquiser Chronicles" (Dent), Reviewed in These Columns on Jan. 26 point of view than "Invitation to the Ballet." Ninette de Valois, who, in spite of her name, is Irish, is not only head of the only permanent English Ballet-- the Vic-Wells--but the choregrapher of at least three ballets of major importance. Very fittingly, she begins her book with a couple of chapters, headed "Genesis," on Diaghileff and his company. As she herself was a member of the company for two years (1923-25), and danced with it later on several occasions, we are given a vivid, inside picture of its everyday history at that period. There used to be an idea--it may still persist--that the artist is a vague, dreamy creature who, so far as practical affairs are concerned, doesn't know enough to come in out of the rain. Miss de Valois is certainly not that kind of artist. To every phase of her subject she brings a keen practical intelligence and a gift of analysis that might well be envied by a critic, particularly the critic of ballet. In fact, in a chapter called "Two Angels of Criticism" she provides him with a table of analysis which solves the ever-recurring problems raised by two conflicting forms of criticism. The ballet critic is chiefly interested in the dance and thus fails to see the relation of the part to the whole, while to the music critic with his special training, the whole is more important than the part. It is pointed out, however, that the choregrapher's first approach to the work is his introduction to the music; therefore the music critic's basic method of criticism is precisely the same basic method as that used in the structure. But crammed into these 300 or so pages is material enough for several books, and an embarrassed reviewer soon discovers that, to do the job adequately, he would have to write a separate review for every chapter. The one on "The Choregrapher," for example, reminds us that Fokine, Massine, Nijinska, and Balanchine are still the paramount figures, "which means that within the last 14 years no one of any importance has emerged from the ranks of the major choregraphic source--the Russian Ballet." This is scarcely a good omen for the future. But "today's drum-tapping, leaping dervishes from Central Europe," the abstractionists, the modern German and the modern American schools, will not enjoy the author's analysis of their aesthetics. Even their "new" is but an insignificant part of the old and their work is based on "a destruction of rather than an evolution from what has gone before." Like Karsavina, Miss de Valois points out that the classically trained choregrapher can successfully employ the methods of the German school in production, "while the same cannot be said for the German choregrapher (or, for that matter, the German executant), in face of the classical principles." But enough has been said to direct the reader's attention to the best book on ballet since "Theater Street." By studying it and getting a better conception of ballet as a whole, he will have taken an important step in a training which, in its way, is as necessary to the spectator as it is to the artist. W. H. H. S. Read what THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR says about ALDOUS HUXLEY'S inspiring new book ENDS AND MEANS An Iowa Fairy Tale From Phil Stong The Rebellion of Lennie Barlow, by Phil Stong. New York: Farrar & Rindhart. $2. PHIL STONG is not commonly thought of as a writer of fairy tales. Neither his "State Fair" nor even the more romantic "Buckskin Breeches" earned him any such reputation. "State Fair' started him off with acclaim, but that was as a realist of the rural regions, and "Buckskin Breeches" showed him able to write a stout tale of pioneering days in his Middle West, but these and his lesser works did not leave a reader divided, as his latest novel does, between elemental glee in a story that insists, whatever may happen, upon being finished in one sitting and the uncomfortable feeling that the characters are not convincing. They do not convince in spite of the paraphernalia of realism with which they are surrounded. Consider the chief character, the adolescent Lennie, lovable, admirable, but, like many other boys in fiction, far too adult. Lennie was a newcomer in Pittsville, Iowa, brought there by his parents from the South-- Tennessee, Louisiana, and Missouri, through Nebraska and Arkansas to Iowa, in a 16-year ordeal of stopping, working, having vicissitudes, and moving on. Yet Lennie's father is described as being effortlessly efficient and thoroughly honest, and his mother as one who let no grass grow under her feet. Since Lennie's grade age was three years behind his chronological age, he had the misfortune to be put in Miss Marcy Latham's sixth grade. Miss Marcy was a septuagenarian who disciplined with a paddle. She as backed by a school superin- wreckage of her favorite brother, whom she had tended all the years since he was wounded at Chickamauga. Lennie Barlow, too, reared in the traditions of a remote corner of the South, was still fighting the Civil War. He declared hostilities on Miss Marcy, the school superintendent, and on Pittsville in so far as it put him in Coventry for being a Rebel. Finally, a more tolerant spirit prevailed, promulgated by the village doctor, and encouraged by the young woman he had meant to marry, until they quarreled about "discipline." The fairy tale ending shows Lennie accepted as leader among his mates, admired by a sweet little girl, assured of a permanent home because his father has been able to buy a farm, and double-promotion out of Miss Marcy's domain into the eighth grade. And the doctor marries his young lady. The doctor's break with his fiancee does not ring true. The Barlows' stanchness and ability belie their nomadic history. Lennie's victory is too sudden and too complete. Whether the Civil War still is being fought in Iowa is open to question. Yet, in spite of these strains on the reader's credulity, there is something in the homely incidents of The Book Window The Impressionists, by Wilhelm Uhde (Oxford, $3). Once more evaluating a school in a scholarly way, and reproducing in color and black-and-white, in generous size, paintings that made history. The Life of Paul Gauguin, by Robert Burnett (Oxford, $3.50). A well-considered retelling of incidents in the life of non-conformist the story, in the reporting of ordinary conversations, especially among groups of men, something evidenced in a hundred small, authentic touches that keeps one tied to the book until it is finished. W. K. R. Plight of the Share-Croppers You Have Seen Their Faces, by Erskine Caldwell and Margaret Bourke-White. New York: Viking Press. $5. PERSONS FAMILIAR WITH Mr. Caldwell's many pleas for betterment of the lot of the Southern share-croppers will seek in his newest book for his thoughts about what can be done about it. This book is largely another outcry that something should be done, now or never, with the shadow of three different makes of cotton-picking machines looming across the fields, threatening to dispense with the six weeks of handpicking that is now the period of highest hope for the share-croppers and tenant farmers. Many thousands of people are waiting in the cotton industry for an improvement in their lot that will assure them a bare subsistence level, Mr. Caldwell's book asserts. None of the plans for relief of this economic distress has worked. No plan can work, he believes, unless it is accompanied by re-education and supervision. There are two means of bringing about a change, he concludes: collective action among the tenant farmers themselves or government control of cotton farming. Mr. Caldwell maintains that there is urgent need of a non-political government commission to make an authoritative study of tenant farming in the cotton country. The plantation system is integrally for the benefit of the landlord at the expense of the worker. On the other hand, the worker has been brought to such a low morale by the conditions under which he has been living for generations that, on the whole, he cannot be regarded as a responsible unit individually. Mr. Caldwell tells his story for the most part in his customarily crushing laconic style. His indignation is implied rather than expressed and thus has all the more force. Margaret Bourke-White's photographs are first-rate examples of pictorial reporting done with integrity. THE BIBLE and the HISTORICAL DESIGN By Mabel A. Dominick, Ph.D. Formerly Professor of Biblical History at The Principia; now Teacher to Adults. A PERSPECTIVE c. 4500 B. C.--A. D. 1914 (including a historical survey, the continuity of the design and the characters) Price 11/ - net. Postage 7d. Folder sent on request. European Agent--The Raeburn Gallery, 83 Piccadilly. Book Dept., London, England WEBSTER'S COLLEGIATE FIFTH EDITION and the uncomfortable feeling that the characters are not convincing. They do not convince in spite of the paraphernalia of realism with which they are surrounded. Consider the chief character, the adolescent Lennie, lovable, admirable, but, like many other boys in fiction, far too adult. Lennie was a newcomer in Pittsville, Iowa, brought there by his parents from the South-- Tennessee, Louisiana, and Missouri, through Nebraska and Arkansas to Iowa, in a 16-year ordeal of stopping, working, having vicissitudes, and moving on. Yet Lennie's father is described as being effortlessly efficient and thoroughly honest, and his mother as one who let no grass grow under her feet. Since Lennie's grade age was three years behind his chronological age, he had the misfortune to be put in Miss Marcy Latham's sixth grade. Miss Marcy was a septuagenarian who disciplined with a paddle. She was backed by a school superintendent who enforced education with a piece of rubber hose. Perhaps the story is a crusade against corporal punishment in Iowan small-town schools. However that may be, it is supposed to belong to the 1930's. Lennie's desk was in the "Long-legged Row," where he got into trouble at once by refusing to sit beside Ossie Bennings, whom Lennie called a "nigger." It was the first time the word had ever been heard in Miss Marcy's room, and she used the paddle on Lennie with a fury that disturbed even the aggrieved Ossie. Miss Mary had for a lifetime been paying for the war that was fought, as she looked at it, to prove that colored folk were as good as white people. The cost to her was represented by the permanent home because his father has been able to buy a farm, and double-promotion out of Miss Marcy's domain into the eighth grade. And the doctor marries his young lady. The doctor's break with his fiancée does not ring true. The Barlows' stanchness and ability belie their nomadic history. Lennie's victory is too sudden and too complete. Whether the Civil War still is being fought in Iowa is open to question. Yet, in spite of these strains on the reader's credulity, there is something in the homely incidents of The Book Window The Impressionists, by Wilhelm Uhde (Oxford, $3). Once more evaluating a school in a scholarly way, and reporting in color and black-and-white, in generous size, paintings that made history. The Life of Paul Gauguin, by Robert Burnett (Oxford, $3.50). A well-considered retelling of non-conformists painter who has much influenced modern art. Off With Their Heads, by Victor Wolfgang von Hagen (Macmillan, $3), recounts the experiences of a white man among the headhunting Jivaros of the Upper Amazon basin. English Painting, by R. H. Wilenski (Hale, Cushman and Flint, $3.50). Starting with Gothic times this thoroughgoing study concludes with the Pre-Raphaelite movement and its immediate effects. THE BLUE MARKING CRAYONS For Lesson References Easily erased from thinnest Bible paper, complete outfit, including 12 crayons and erasive material, by mail, ONE DOLLAR. Money refunded if not satisfied. Foreign shipment $1.10 W. & K. PARSONS 58 Parkwood Blvd., Mansfield, Ohio thoughts about what can be done about it. This book is largely another outcry that something should be done, now or never, with the shadow of three different makes of cotton-picking machines looming across the fields, threatening to dispense with the six weeks of handpicking that is now the period of highest hope for the share-croppers and tenant farmers. Many thousands of people are waiting in the cotton country for an improvement in their lot that will assure them a bare subsistence level, Mr. Caldwell's book asserts. None of the plans for relief of this economic distress has worked. No plan can work, he believes, unless it is accompanied by re-education and supervision. There are two means of bringing about a change, he concludes: collective action among the tenant farmers themselves or government landlord at the expense of the worker. On the other hand, the worker has been brought to such a low morale by the conditions under which he has been living for generations that, on the whole, he cannot be regarded as a responsible unit individually. Mr. Caldwell tells his story for the most part in his customarily crushing laconic style. HIs indignation is implied rather than expressed and thus has all the more force. Margaret Bourke-White's photographs are first-rate examples of pictorial reporting done with integrity. THE BIBLE and the HISTORICAL DESIGN By Mabel A. Dominick, Ph.D. Formerly Professor of Biblical History of The Principia; now Teacher to Adults. A PERSPECTIVE c. 4500 B. C. -- A. D. 1914 (including a historical survey, the continuity of the design and the characters) Price 11/- set. Postage 7d. Folder sent on request. European Agent--The Raeburn Gallery, 83 Piccadilly, Book Dept., London, England WEBSTER'S COLLEGIATE FIFTH EDITION WEBSTER'S COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY FIFTH EDITION AN ENTIRELY NEW BOOK Completely New Edition WEBSTER'S COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY FIFTH EDITION Based on Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition The Best Handy-Sized Dictionary 110,000 ENTRIES 1,800 ILLUSTRATIONS The Best Handy-Sized Dictionary because it defines all the most commonly used words, selected from WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY, Second Edition--the "Supreme Authority" in courts, schools, and editorial offices--and is edited with the same careful scholarship. 110,000 entries; 1,800 illustrations; 1,300 pages; $3.50 to $8.50, depending on bindings. Purchase of your bookdealer, or order from the publishers. Write for New Quiz and Picture Game--FREE. G. & C. Merriam Co., 942 Broadway, Springfield, Mass. Read what THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR says about ALDOUS HUXLEY'S inspiring new book ENDS AND MEANS "Mr. Huxley's latest book is an examination of what men of good will can do to stop the lamentable regression of civilization today. It is a book of enormous scope...which ranges from politics to religious beliefs and is packed with ideas."-- The Christian Science Monitor. $3.50 HARPERS THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, FEBRUARY 9, 1938 Page Eleven Wings on His Feet ICE SKATING is doing its share these days to help put winter sports in the class of big business. Stores are selling more skates than ever before, for people who have been watching the amateur and professional carnivals are now going in for practice in the thoroughgoing way that causes any hobby or pastime to yield its full possibilities in the way of diversion. According to Roy Shipstad, now heading the second annual tour of "Ice Follies," much of the pleasure of the spectators arises from a feeling that those skillful ice maneuvers are expressive of the onlookers' yearnings to skate. That is why he keeps the accent on the note of showmanship, rather than trying to build an entertainment out of purely exhibition turns. Not too much is to be made of the difficult things, he says. That is, the spectators should not be specially conscious of the details of an expert performance. Those who know the niceties of ice skating will appreciate what is being done, but the general spectator is out to have a good time at a show that combines grace, skill and humor, in a setting that is handsome to the eye and has a well-handled musical background. * * * Mr. Shipstad's remark reminded the writer of Fred Stone's story of perfecting a one-arm handstand by means of four years' practice, and getting only a few scattered handclaps when he finally showed the stunt to an audience. The feat was so difficult that he had been obliged to accomplish it in a smooth way in order to do it at all. The finished product, for this reason, looked ——— 3 OLD VIRGINIA FOODS FOR $1 1 jar genuine Smithfield Ham Spread. 2 doz. Old Virginia Beaten Biscuits. 1 box Old Virginia Black Walnut Chocolate Cream Fudge. WHITE'S 513 E. GRACE ST. RICHMOND, VA. ——— so easy that the spectators were mildly bored. Stone never did it again in public. So Mr. Shipstad makes no special window dressing of stunts that the spectators cannot hope to master short of many years' apprenticeship—those switches from inside to outside edge spread-eagles, those adagio spins in which he swings Bess Ehrhardt with one arm, those Jackson-Hains spins with which he traverses the length of the arena in three movements. * * * He prefers the free style, because it adds to the pleasure of the majority of the spectators. "I don't mind even when there is a flaw in one of my figures, the sort of thing a judge would give you a demerit for in a competition," he says. "Having made a slip, I can do it over correctly, and perhaps some onlooker will be encouraged to try skating." Roy has the teacher's angle, having been coach for the Baltimore Skating Club. Before that, he was an instructor in his home town of St. Paul, Minn. It was in St. Paul that Roy and his brother Eddie got their start as skaters when they were small boys helping to scrape and sweep the ice in the outdoor rinks. They have been together ever since, with Eddie chiefly following the comedy branch that is so helpful in building up a rounded entertainment. Eddie's specialties are done with Oscar Johnson. They have worked together for 16 years in their horse act, their Bowery dance characterizations, and other turns. * * * Roy has gone in for straight skating, the free style, in which, of course, he makes use of the school figures as foundation for all his numbers. He managed to pick up all these figures while making a living out of scratch exhibitions in the Northwest. One of his teachers was C. I. Christianson, a roller skate champion at 35 and an ice champion at 51. Christianson was a night telegrapher on the Northern Pacific, and used to go skating afternoons through the long winter in the Minnesota lake country, where they count on skating from Thanksgiving until April. Then there was Julian Nelson, who brought from Sweden the figures of the continental ——— Fred Hess & Son THE SHIPSTAD SMILE MAKES THIS LEAP SEEM EASY, BUT HAVE YOU EVER TRIED IT? ——— style. Nelson's four daughters are now doing a much-applauded mazurka in the "Ice Follies." Skaters up St. Paul way thought Roy was tops in exhibitions, so they raised a fund to send him to the national championships at New Haven, one year. He arrived half an hour late, and hurried on to the ice in the sweater and trouser get-up that he had traveled in from St. Paul. For the first time he saw top-notch competitive skaters in the academic costumes, including tights. He had to put several of his figures together to catch up with his place on the program, but finally came out of the competition in third place among the 30 contestants, which he still feels was doing very well. * * * He was 17 then, and had been runner-up for the Northwest Championship when he was 15. To make a living out of skating, he then turned professional. One engagement, at the College Inn, Chicago, lasted for 16 months. It was there he skated with Miss Bess Ehrhardt on a 34-foot rink. From this long engagement and association with Edward A. Mahlke, Oscar Johnson, and his brother Eddie, grew the plans for the "Ice Follies" of last year. This year the tour is to last until April 7, winding up with a week's performance in the Chicago Stadium. Roy Shipstad today is called the American professional figure skating champion, but he is as much interested as ever in persons who are just discovering the delights of skating. He encourages everyone to increase their knowledge of varied figures as a means of adding to their pleasure in skating. Too many are content to go round and round in one direction. As soon as they can skate left to right they should practice circling from right to left, so as to get the feel of all four edges. Back skating, in both directions, should follow, then figure 8's, with a resulting gain in freedom and length of line. * * * To Roy Shipstad, skating after 20 years is still fun. The smile with which he carries off his tango number is not put on for the occasion. For an hour it played across his face as he talked with the writer over a lunch table in Boston. He is all for expression in skating. It is expression, response to the spectators, that has made Bess Ehrhardt such a favorite, he says, and her ability to improvise, seemingly, with a cartwheel or some other unexpected bit of acrobatics to vary the effect of graceful straight work. Then there are the possibilities of swing music, which he is experimenting with now, as a means of giving variety of rhythm to the figures. March tunes as well as waltzes are also used in the "Ice Follies." The possibilities of design in line maneuvers are being explored in the ensemble numbers. One coiling and uncoiling turn arouses some of the heartiest applause of the evening. There is nothing difficult about it, but it is enormously pleasing to the eye. * * * Roy remarked that skating favors a girl, when the effect of charm is sought, whereas a man must take care not to pause too ——— Learned From the Wasp NEXT TIME you discover a wasp busily at work building its nest, watch closely, for you will be observing the process that taught men how to make paper out of wood. That is, if it happens to be a social wasp that you observe, for this species builds papery nests, while the solitary wasp constructs cells of mud or sand. In building its home, the social wasp likely as not will take a sliver of dry wood from a fence rail or some other handy object. This is carefully chewed into a pulp, moistened and, when worked into a paste, is spread out to dry. * * * Tirelessly continuing this process, the hymenopterous insect, as the naturalists classify it, eventually completes a fine new home, a cone actually made of pulpwood paper such as forms the basis of the $1,000,000,000 paper industry of the United States. The wasp fastens its abode to the overhanging bough of a tree with paper bands also of its own manufacture. From the time, 2000 years ago, when the wisdom of the Chinese philosopher, Ts'ai Lun, was written on the bark of the mulberry tree, many different materials have been used for recording words—rags, seaweed, cabbage stalks, potatoes, asparagus, bananas, straw, and many others. But, less than a century ago, a machine was devised by a German which successfully ground wood into pulp, and marked the turning point for the paper industry. * * * 2 doz. Old Virginia Beaten Biscuits. 1 box Old Virginia Black Walnut Chocolate Cream Fudge. WHITE'S 513 E. GRACE ST. RICHMOND, VA. ——— at 51. Christianson was a night telegrapher on the Northern Pacific, and used to go skating afternoons through the long winter in the Minnesota lake country, where they count on skating from Thanksgiving until April. Then there was Julian Nelson, who brought from Sweden the figures of the continental ——— COT BED SINGLE BED TWIN BED DOUBLE BED EXTRAWIDE BED Get THE RIGHT SHEET EVERY TIME The little projecting cloth tabs on Pequot sheets have double utility. In the first place, they help you buy the right size sheets for your beds in the store. And ever after, they help you select the right size sheets from your linen shelves. Since these tabs are found only on Pequots, the longest-wearing sheets and the most popular sheets in America, they are also your guide to greatest value. Pequot Mills, Salem, Massachusetts PEQUOT SHEETS AND PILLOW CASES ——— * * * He was 17 then, and had been runner-up for the Northwest Championship when he was 15. To make a living out of skating, he then turned professional. One engagement, at the College Inn, Chicago, lasted for 16 months. It was there he skated with Miss Bess Ehrhardt on a 34-foot rink. From this long engagement and association with Edward A. Mahlke, Oscar Johnson, and his brother Eddie, grew the plans for the "Ice Follies" of last year. This year the tour is to last until April 7, winding up with a week's performance in the Chicago Stadium. Roy Shipstad today is called the American professional figure skating champion, but he is as much interested as ever in persons who are just discovering the delights of skating. He encourages everyone to increase their knowledge of varied figures ——— 3 BIG PKGS. ONLY 10¢ WORTH 30¢ BIG GARDEN HUCKLEBERRIES From seed to berries same season. Thousands of delicious, juicy berries. ONE INCH IN DIAMETER. Wonderful for pies and preserves. Send 10c today for 3 generous pkgs. GOOD LUCK GARDENS, Dept. 63 PARADISE, PA. ——— ——— Baby Ruth Candy Slice and Serve Supply limited. Catalog FREE. ——— for expression in skating. It is expression, response to the spectators, that has made Bess Ehrhardt such a favorite, he says, and her ability to improvise, seemingly, with a cartwheel or some other unexpected bit of acrobatics to vary the effect of graceful straight work. Then there are the possibilities of swing music, which he is experimenting with now, as a means of giving variety of rhythm to the figures. March tunes as well as waltzes are also used in the "Ice Follies." The possibilities of design in line maneuvers are being explored in the ensemble numbers. One coiling and uncoiling turn arouses some of the heartiest applause of the evening. There is nothing difficult about it, but it is enormously pleasing to the eye. * * * Roy remarked that skating favors a girl, when the effect of charm is sought, whereas a man must take care not to pause too long in a pose lest the men in the audience think him a bit sissy. He accepts all that as a part of his study of showmanship, as it applies to the modern ice carnival, and laughs it off. E. C. SHERBURNE ——— Tirelessly continuing this process, the hymenopterous insect, as the naturalists classify it, eventually completes a fine new home, a cone actually made of pulpwood paper such as forms the basis of the $1,000,000,000 paper industry of the United States. The wasp fastens its abode to the overhanging bough of a tree with paper bands also of its own manufacture. From the time, 2000 years ago, when the wisdom of the Chinese philosopher, Ts'ai Lun, was written on the bark of the mulberry tree, many different materials have been used for recording words—rags, seaweed, cabbage stalks, potatoes, asparagus, bananas, straw, and many others. But, less than a century ago, a machine was devised by a German which successfully ground wood into pulp, and marked the turning point for the paper industry. * * * In manufacturing newsprint today, chunks of wood from the forest are forced against a great grindstone, the resulting wood pulp, mixed with the water, flowing into the gigantic paper-making machine that is perhaps 100 feet long. The water is squeezed out, the pulp dried and given the desired finish, and paper comes rolling from the machine at the unbelievable speed of 1000 feet a minute. It is said that American newspapers use enough newsprint in one year to reach to the moon and back 75 times. And, of course, other papers of the very finest quality are also made from wood pulp. And the little wasp taught men how to make it all! Page Twelve THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, FEBRUARY 9, 1938 Playwrights Courageous Many Things Happen to the Aspiring Dramatist Before the Curtain Rises on His Masterpiece, More Things Happen Before It Descends, and Apparently Not All of Them Are Unpleasant By Eric Forbes-Boyd MANY REASONS TEMPT the would-be author to open his career with a play. One of the weightiest, I think, is the ease with which the story's setting is dealt with there. In a novel the characters generally move about more, and the action is constantly being suspended while the author does some necessary furnishing and decorating. Nor can this be merely a catalogue: the work has to be done, so to speak, with the reader in the house— not for a moment must he be irritated by crude and too obtrusive operations. Something like this takes place: "John put his hat and stick down on the old-fashioned horsehair sofa, and stood with his back to the great oak mantelpiece, awaiting with trepidation the coming of Uncle William. The somberness of the paneled room oppressed him, and the squat little bureau in the corner, reflecting the wavering light from the fire, seemed to wink at him with swift, furtive malice"—and so on; while all the time the author is bursting with impatience to bring in Uncle William, and let the fun begin. For, speaking generally, when action is in abeyance, the novice feels the weight of responsibility on his imagination to be oppressive. He is immediately afraid of being dull. Now with a play not only is something happening all the time—for even a speech is an event—but he can run up his scene at the outset, and be as slapdash as he pleases. "Fire in grate R. Horsehair sofa R. C. Bureau down L., etc."—and there it is, perhaps for the whole play. Many an ingenious beginner, with leanings toward the "costume" romance, has bethought him, too, that he might save much research by making his attempt a play instead of a novel, and starting off with a comprehensive statement, such as: "The drawing-room is furnished in Early Victorian style, circa 1840. Costumes to match." He has always heard that producers have their own opinions on these matters; and what could be better than to give them carte blanche! There are other advantages. The play is far shorter than the novel; and as Stevenson once declared, "it is the length that kills" in a first attempt. In addition, dialogue has a pleasant and familiar aspect; and to write as one speaks appears a less daring venture than to attempt the purveyance of that indefinable magic, a good prose style. In fact the disadvantages attaching to a play hardly become apparent to the author until the play has been written. Then he needs qualities, of courage and perseverance, far in excess of those required by the novelist. for production is a more remote goal than publication. The cost involved in putting on a play, and hence the desire of managers to minimize their risks; the competition, the necessity of having ——— HOMER SIGSBEE PRODUCTIONS INC. CONSCRIPTED! OR THE LAST RECRUIT. "HOMER DEAR, I'VE WRITTEN A PLAY FOR YOU I'M SURE YOU WILL JUST LOVE IT!" "EXCUSE ME, SIR, BUT I HAVE WRITTEN A PLAY I AM SURE. . . . . ETC. . . ." "I HAVE WRITTEN A PLAY, SIR, I AM SURE . . . . . ETC. . ." "MORNING MR. SIGSBEE I HAVE WRITTEN A NEW PLAY! . . . ! . . . ETC." STAGE DOOR ——— ——— IN LONDON'S BRIGHTLY LIGHTED PICCADILLY CIRCUS ——— the right cast available; and not least, the customary delay, unknown in the publishing world, of getting his manuscript read—all these things conspire against the new playwright. Again and again it has happened that a play, which has afterwards made a hit, has been upon its travels for years before being accepted. One famous play by a well-known author is reputed to have flown from pigeon-hole to pigeon-hole for 12 years before coming to roost in the West End for a record engagement. Such successes as "Marigold," "Journey's End," and "Ten-Minute Alibi" all experienced considerable delay before they were produced; and one could extend the list. The tyro may undertake this part of his task through an agent, by approaching managers directly, or by getting his manuscript read by an influential actor or actress to whom the "star" part would be likely to appeal. Assuming that our man has "placed" his effort, he is snow in for another trying period. At rehearsals he must submit to the martyrdom of seeing his work altered by others, or, more fortunately, be constrained to alter it himself. Nevertheless he is unlikely to encounter the conditions that exist in the popular imagination: the temperamental leading lady who wants a new scene worked in to give her the opportunity for that particular display of virtuosity for which she is so well known and justly famous, the comedian who thinks up "gags" overnight, in favor of which he cuts your dialogue the next day, the producer who looks upon the author much as the cow regards the gadfly. These are stock characters who are pretty well out of stock today. The author will find, on the contrary, the most efficient and disciplined cooperation, combined not only with ——— with cruel and ironic persistence; and the mutter and movement of the players is but an owlishly solemn ritual whose meaning has long since become obscure. Nothing "comes over" quite as he had expected, effects are lost, or are subtly distorted, and it is difficult for him to see how it has happened. He has not the technical knowledge to make recommendations, and, picturing the first night, he feels himself another Frankenstein. It is with amazement and gratitude that he fails to detect any sign of consternation in the bearing of the cast and the producer. And so comes the opening night, which, whatever the critics may say of it on the morning after, is nearly always, in the case of a first play, an astounding success to the playwright. He can scarcely believe his ears when the first laugh ripples through the house, and is no less moved by the attentive silence that greets his serious scenes. For the first time he dares to contemplate that final ordeal, his speech—but only in the intervals. At other times he watches entranced, while a play of which he had given up hope comes to life. Financially, there is considerable difference between the possibilities, or at any rate the probabilities, held out by a novel and by a play. Seldom does it happen that a first novel is a great success, whereas in the case of a play that occurs comparatively often. A first novel that has been moderately successful in Britain, will yield £300 or £400. The average for first novels generally must be somewhere between £50 and £100. On the other hand, a moderately successful play that runs for, say, three months in London's West End may quite well bring in £1000 or even more, in royalties, with the possibility of touring, amateur, American, There are other advantages. The play is far shorter than the novel; and as Stevenson once declared, "it is the ——— publication. The cost involved in putting on a play, and hence the desire of managers to minimize their risks; the competition, the necessity of having ——— HOMER SIGSBEE PRODUCTIONS INC. CONSCRIPTED! OR THE LAST RECRUIT. "HOMER DEAR, I'VE WRITTEN A PLAY FOR YOU I'M SURE YOU WILL JUST LOVE IT!" "EXCUSE ME, SIR, BUT I HAVE WRITTEN A PLAY I AM SURE. . . . . ETC. . . ." "I HAVE WRITTEN A PLAY, SIR, I AM SURE . . . . . ETC. . ." "MORNING MR. SIGSBEE I HAVE WRITTEN A NEW PLAY! . . . ! . . . ETC." STAGE DOOR "LET ME TELL YOU SIGSBEE I HAVE WRITTEN A PLAY MYSELF—I AM SURE . . . . ETC.!!! . . . . . . REHEARSAL TO-DAY ? WRITTEN A PLAY I'VE WRITTEN A PLAY I'VE WRITTEN A PLAY HOMER SIGSBEE PRODUCTIONS INC. DO NOT DISTURB! HOW TO WRITE A PLAY. MAY ——— "Marigold," "Journey's End," and "Ten-Minute Alibi" all experienced considerable delay before they were produced; and one could extend the list. The tyro may undertake this part of his task through an agent, by approaching managers directly, or by getting his manuscript read by an influential actor or actress to whom the "star" part would be likely to appeal. Assuming that our man has "placed" his effort, he is snow in for another trying period. At rehearsals he must submit to the martyrdom of seeing his work altered by others, or, more fortunately, be constrained to alter it himself. Nevertheless he is unlikely to encounter the conditions that exist in the popular imagination: the temperamental leading lady who wants a new scene worked in to give her the opportunity for that particular display of virtuosity for which she is so well known and justly famous, the comedian who thinks up "gags" overnight, in favor of which he cuts your dialogue the next day, the producer who looks upon the author much as the cow regards the gadfly. These are stock characters who are pretty well out of stock today. The author will find, on the contrary, the most efficient and disciplined cooperation, combined not only with courtesy and consideration to himself, but with a deference to his judgment that, if it be his first contact with the stage, will often embarrass him. Yet, tactfully but firmly, overwhelming reasons for altering his script will be produced. Sometimes the revision will be drastic. There was an occasion, after the second rehearsal of a certain play, when the producer took the author aside, and "You see," he said gently, "we shall have to re-write the whole play." He was right, and they did it—in a couple of nights! Perhaps, though, the greatest of the playwright's trials is the fact that in the course of rehearsal his play is apt to lose, for him, all significance. The lines become unendurably stale; the jokes, echoing gloomily through the empty auditorium, recoil upon his head ——— the cast and the producer. And so comes the opening night, which, whatever the critics may say of it on the morning after, is nearly always, in the case of a first play, an astounding success to the playwright. He can scarcely believe his ears when the first laugh ripples through the house, and is no less moved by the attentive silence that greets his serious scenes. For the first time he dares to contemplate that final ordeal, his speech—but only in the intervals. At other times he watches entranced, while a play of which he had given up hope comes to life. Financially, there is considerable difference between the possibilities, or at any rate the probabilities, held out by a novel and by a play. Seldom does it happen that a first novel is a great success, whereas in the case of a play that occurs comparatively often. A first novel that has been moderately successful in Britain, will yield £300 or £400. The average for first novels generally must be somewhere between £50 and £100. On the other hand, a moderately successful play that runs for, say, three months in London's West End may quite well bring in £1000 or even more, in royalties, with the possibility of touring, amateur, American, and Continental rights, and with better chance the novel of being made into a film. Naturally, royalties, although they are calculated on the gross takings of the theater and are not affected by the expenses, are dependent on a number of variable factors: there are good and bad contracts from the author's point of view, there are large and small theaters, and "moderately successful" is capable of wide interpretation. Once he has read the criticisms of his play, the author may look for no further shocks, until he encounters "Last Week" pasted across the boards in front of the theater. Even if his play is made into a film, he will not have to fight his battles over again; for he will usually find it too difficult to get on the battlefield—except as a spectator. THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, FEBRUARY 9, 1938 Page Five Labor Compacts: Promise or Problem? Interstate Agreements, Such as Recently Legalized, Will Affect Wages, Working Conditions, and Other Matters, Presumably to the General Advantage of Employer, Employee, and Public By Ethel M. Johnson [*Jul 9, 1938 - C. S. Monitor*] OF LARGE SIGNIFICANCE in its potential influence on the future course of labor legislation is the little-heralded action of the Seventy-fifth Congress during the closing days of the session in giving its consent to the Minimum Wage Compact negotiated in 1934 by seven northeastern states. This compact —the first interstate agreement in the field of labor legislation in the history of the country—provides for establishment in the compacting states of minimum wage-fixing machinery of the mandatory fair wage type. Action on the resolution providing Congressional sanction for the compact, introduced in the Seventy-fourth Congress by Congressman Tobey of New Hampshire, was delayed through uncertainty as to the constitutionality of minimum wage legislation. The measure had passed the House in 1936, when the United States Supreme Court invalidated the New York Fair Wage Law— an act of the kind stipulated in the compact. After the favorable opinion of the Court in March of the present year upholding the Washington State Minimum Wage Law, the bill was passed by both branches of Congress. It was signed on Aug. 12 by President Roosevelt. That action validates the compact and makes it effective between the states that have already ratified it and in any other states as soon as they take the required action. The Minimum Wage Compact has been ratified by the Legislatures of three of the seven signatory states—Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. * * * Perhaps the question arises—What is an interstate compact? What is its object? How does it work? Why is the consent of Congress necessary? And what is the significance of an interstate agreement on labor legislation? Tucked away in the Constitution of the United States is a provision, unfamiliar to many, which reads as follows: "No state shall enter into a treaty, alliance or confederation. . . . . No state shall without the consent of Congress enter into any agreement or compact with another state." Thus, indirectly, the constitutional basis for the compact is established. The compact, therefore, is a device which may be utilized between the states subject to congressional approval. It is a formal contract, binding in effect, permanent in nature and involving a continuing obligation. Doubtless originally intended as a check on too great independence on the part of the "sovereign" states, this requirement for congressional sanction serves to give federal support in making the compact effective as well as in safeguarding the legitimate interests of noncompacting states and guarding against unwise action or any encroachment in the field of federal powers. Interstate compacts go back to an agreement in 1620 in the cabin of the Mayflower. And the form of government of the United States rests on a famous compact signed in 1787, known as the Constitution. * * * Although interstate compacts have been employed for many years, in the past they have been utilized mainly to adjust problems of a physical nature between two or more states. They have been used in settling boundary disputes, in arranging for joint control of interstate bridges or bodies of water in which several states claimed rights. Only recently has attempt been made to apply the compact method to the broad field of labor and social welfare legislation. Such utilization of interstate compacts was discussed by the Eastern Interstate Conference on Labor Legislation, which met in Massachusetts in January, 1933. A committee, under the chairmanship of Governor John G. Winant of New Hampshire, now Assistant Director of the International Labor Office, was appointed to look into the possibilities of the compact device in raising and unifying labor standards between the states. Senator Henry Parkman Jr. and Representative Christian Herter of Massachusetts introduced into the Legislature about this time a resolution, adopted the same year, creating the Massachusetts Commission on Interstate Compacts Affecting Labor and Industries. This commission was authorized to negotiate with similar commissions in the other New England states and with New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania for the purpose of securing greater uniformity in the labor laws of those states and assuring more adequate standards of protection for wage earners. Similar commissions or delegations were appointed by the Governors of the other states mentioned. These commissions, meeting in conference, constituted the Interstate Conference on Labor Compacts. The program adopted by the Interstate Conference called for drafting and negotiating interstate agreements on such matters as minimum wage, child labor, hours of employment, night work, industrial home work, workmen's compensation, unemployment insurance, and industrial safety standards. The first compact drafted by the Interstate Conference was that on minimum wage-fixing machinery. This compact was signed in Concord, New Hampshire, on May 29, 1934, by commissioners and representatives of the Governors of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and Pennsylvania. Selection of the place for the ceremony was in recognition of the services of Governor Winant in promoting minimum wage legislation and in the development of the interstate compact movement. The Minimum Wage Compact was ratified on June 30, 1934, by the Massachusetts Legislature, which at the same session enacted the legislation required to meet its terms. New Hampshire, which already had a minimum fair wage law, ratified the compact the following year. Rhode Island took similar action in 1936 and also in that year enacted legislation to meet the requirements of the compact. The Congressional consent recently given brings the compact into effect between these three states. * * * Congressional approval of the Minimum Wage Compact is particularly significant at the present time in view of the renewed interest in minimum wage legislation following the recent favorable opinion of the United States Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of such legislation. Nearly half of the states now have minimum wage laws—22 in addition to the District of Columbia and the Territory of Puerto Rico. Ten of these laws are of the type specified in the compact— those of Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Under the compact each state must set up an unpaid tripartite commission representing industry, labor and the public. The chairman of these state commissions will constitute an Interstate Commission, to which the President will be invited by the Governors of the compacting states to appoint a representative. This Interstate Commission will be empowered to investigate matters involving the compact and the laws which implement it. Its powers are limited to conducting inquiries, making recommendations and publishing the reports of its findings and recommendations to the states. * * * A state wishing to withdraw from the compact would be permitted to do so on meeting certain conditions, involving notifying the Interstate Commission and waiting for a specified time. Any state may at any time become a party to the compact by taking the necessary action required in ratifying. Each state, in ratifying the compact, pledges that it will enact legislation to establish and maintain the minimum standards specified. It also promises that it will make provision for the continuing State Commission required and for enforcement and supervision of the operation of the laws relating to the compact and the laws enacted to make it effective. These provisions would be included in any labor compact. In addition to this, the Minimum Wage Compact prohibits the payment of an unfair or oppressive wage. It provides for an administrative agency in each state with authority to investigate the wages of women and minors; to appoint wage boards upon which employers, employees and the public shall be equally represented; to enter wage orders after a public hearing based on the recommendations of the wage boards, such orders to be directory— that is, recommendatory—for a definite period, after which they may be made mandatory and carry a penalty for noncompliance. * * * The type of minimum wage legislation provided for in the compact, it should be understood, does not fix a specific minimum rate; but instead establishes machinery by which the individual state may, through the agency of wage boards for separate occupations, set up minimum fair wage rates for women and minors in those occupations. This will not necessarily result in identical minimum rates in the different signatory states. Increasingly the problems of regulating labor and industrial conditions transcend state lines. The potential sphere of action of the Federal Government, it is true, has been vastly extended by recent interpretations by the courts; there are still, however, limitations. Difficulties inherent in the federal approach are exemplified in the fate of the Fair Labor Standards Bill in the first session of the Seventy-fifth Congress; and in the earlier invalidation of the N. I. R. A. Regional divergencies continue to present obstacles in the way of national labor legislation. It should be understood that the interstate labor compact is not a substitute for state labor laws or for federal "No state shall enter into a treaty, alliance or confederation. . . . . No state shall without the consent of Congress enter into any agreement or compact with another state." Thus, indirectly, the constitutional basis for the compact is established. The compact, therefore, is a device which may be utilized between the states subject to congressional approval. It is a formal contract, ——— This commission was authorized to negotiate with similar commissions in the other New England states and with New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania for the purpose of securing greater uniformity in the labor laws of those states and assuring more adequate standards of protection for wage earners. Similar commissions or delegations ——— wage laws—22 in addition to the District of Columbia and the Territory of Puerto Rico. Ten of these laws are of the type specified in the compact— those of Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Under the compact each state must ——— James Sawders "INCREASINGLY THE PROBLEMS OF REGULATING LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS TRANSCEND STATE LINES" ——— The type of minimum wage legislation provided for in the compact, it should be understood, does not fix a specific minimum rate; but instead establishes machinery by which the individual state may, through the agency of wage boards for separate occupations, set up minimum fair wage rates for women and minors in those occupations. This will not necessarily result in identical minimum rates in the different signatory states. Increasingly the problems of regulating labor and industrial conditions transcend state lines. The potential sphere of action of the Federal Government, it is true, has been vastly extended by recent interpretations by the courts; there are still, however, limitations. Difficulties inherent in the federal approach are exemplified in the fate of the Fair Labor Standards Bill in the first session of the Seventy-fifth Congress; and in the earlier invalidation of the N. I. R. A. Regional divergencies continue to present obstacles in the way of national labor legislation. It should be understood that the interstate labor compact is not a substitute for state labor laws or for federal measures. The compact, as applied to labor legislation, sets up certain minimum standards between the states. It is not intended to take the place of legislative action by the separate states or by the Federal Government. Perhaps the chief contribution of the interstate labor compact movement will be its educational value. If the movement succeeds in directing public attention within the states to the weak spots, the gaps and omissions in their labor laws, and to the need for more adequate standards of protection for labor in the interest of employers, employees and the public; if it forces recognition of the importance to all sections of the country of greater harmony in the labor laws of the various states; and if it further results in a determination to secure greater uniformity in these laws—then, regardless of the methods employed to bring about the changes, it will have served a useful purpose. Page Six THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, FEBRUARY 9, 1938 [*Johnson Ethel*] The International Labor Organization Discussions at Meetings of the A. F. of L. Excerpts from the Report of the Executive Council and from the Proceedings of the Sixtieth Annual Convention of the American Federation of Labor, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 18-29, 1940 Distributed by the Washington Branch of the INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 734 JACKSON PLACE WASHINGTON, D. C. 1941 ALLIED PRINTING TRADES COUNCIL UNION LABEL WASHINGTON 33 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE The International Labor Organization, Report of the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor .......... 3 Address by Hon. John G. Winant, Director of the International Labor Office, with remarks by President William Green .......... 7 Report of the Committee on International Relations of the American Federation of Labor .......... 14 2 THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION ^1 Despite the European war, the American Federation of Labor has continued its active participation in the work of the International Labor Organization. In accordance with the decision of its Governing Body, the International Labor Organization carried on its work as long as possible at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. This decision had the full support of the member countries and of the work and employer representatives. The Organization has continued the regular work as far as possible, and in view of existing conditions special attention has been given to social problems in wartime and to the solution of labor problems which will arise in the post-war period. Ratification of I. L. O. Conventions has progressed, and the International Labor Office, which is the Secretariat of the Organization and a world research center on labor and industrial problems, has carried on with its investigations, technical consultations, and the publication of its reports. In November-December 1939 the Second Regional Conference of American States conducted by the International Labor Organization was held in Havana, Cuba. The American Federation of Labor was represented at this conference by George M. Harrison, President of the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks, with Miss Rose Schneiderman, of the United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union, as adviser. Robert J. Watt attended the conference as the workers' delegate representing the Governing Body. The conference unanimously adopted the Declaration of Havana which contains the following statement: The representatives of the governments, employers and work people of the American Continent: PLEDGE the unwavering support of the governments and peoples af the American Continent for the continuance with unimpaired vigor of the efforts of the International Labor Organization to accomplish its high purpose of achieving social justice; and PROCLAIM their unshaken faith in the promotion of international cooperation and in the imperative need for achieving international peace and security by the elimination of war as an ^1 From Report of the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor to the Sixtieth Annual Convention, pp. 179-182. 3 instrument of national policy, by the prescription of open, just, and honorable relations between nations, by the firm establishment of the understandings of international law as the actual rule of conduct among governments, and by the maintenance of justice and the scrupulous respect for treaty obligations in the dealings of organized peoples with one another. During the two-week session the conference concentrated on the three problems of particular interest and importance to American countries, namely: the administration and operation of social insurance and how best to extend its benefits to agricultural workers; devising ways and means to improve the conditions under which women and children are employed, and how best to deal with the problems of migration. First was a recommendation that indemnities be paid for all occupational diseases instead of the limited list for which industry is now held responsible. Another recommendation adopted by the conference was that private insurance companies operating for profit be eliminated from the field of workmen's compensation, and the third recommendation adopted was an agreement by the delegates that compulsory government unemployment insurance must ultimately replace existing non-government systems. The report of the committee on women and children followed in most respects the recommendations of the I. L. O. experts whose reports were published in advance of the conference. In addition to their recommendations the committee recommended and the conference adopted their suggestion to oppose home work and employment of children. The problem of proper and adequate training for the young was considered by this committee and their recommendation that a system of "apprenticeship training" be inaugurated was approved by the conference. The committee on migration developed a blue print for national and international machinery to facilitate the transfer from the Old World of persons seeking permanent homes in the New World. Leaving for other organizations the special problem of political refugees, the I. L. O. committee concentrated on how to guarantee that the ordinary immigrant can be sure before leaving home that he is going to a place where he is wanted and where his talents can be utilized. The Governing Body of the International Labor Organization met in Geneva, Switzerland, in February, 1940. The American workers' delegate attended this session. The committee of experts appointed to examine the annual reports submitted by member countries outlining the measures they had taken to apply the International Labor Conventions, met in Geneva in April, 1940. 4 Nearly six hundred reports which had been prepared and sent to the office since the outbreak of the war were submitted by the member states for the Committee to examine. The program suggested by the director and approved by the Government Body included among others the study of the following problems: 1. Men disabled in war. Their right to compensation, vocational and social rehabilitation. 2. Problems of organization of the labor market arising out of the war. 3. Vocational retraining as a continuous means of adapting the supply of labor to the demand. 4. The influence of the war and mobilization on the conditions of work of women. 5. The adjustment of wage rates to changing prices. 6. The adaptation of social insurance to mobilization and war. 7. Agricultural problems of Central and South America. 8. Industrial relations in colonial territories. 9. The housing condition of workers and their families. Arrangements had been made for a meeting of the Governing Body in June and for the regular session of the June conference in Geneva. The development of the war necessitated postponement of these meetings. Finally the breakdown in communication facilities forced the personnel to seek a haven in the Western Hemisphere. Through the cooperation of the Canadian Government temporary offices for the staff have been established in Montreal in connection with McGill University. Contact with the Americas has been maintained from the outset by the International Labor Organization. Four of the International Labor Conferences have been held in the Western World: the first General Conference in Washington, D. C., in 1919; the First Regional Conference of the American States in Santiago, Chile, in 1936; the World Textile Conference in Washington, D. C., in 1937; and the Second Regional Conference of American States in Havana, Cuba, in 1939. It is natural, therefore, that the provisional office for the staff should in the present world crisis be set up in the Western Hemisphere and that the meetings should be held on this continent where there can be close cooperation with the American labor movement. The American Federation of Labor has played an important part in the development of the International Labor Organization. Shortly after the opening of the first World War in 1914, Samuel Gompers, President of the 5 American Federation of Labor, with characteristic vision introduced a resolution at the convention of the Federation in Philadelphia, calling for a world labor conference to be held at the same time and in the same place as the peace conference at the conclusion of the war. That resolution, which was unanimously adopted by the convention, was responsible for the creation of the International Labor Organization which was established at the close of the war to advance labor standards throughout the world and to promote the cause of world peace. It was Samuel Gompers who presided as chairman of the Labor Peace Conference in Paris which drafted the Constitution of the I. L. O. and it was the labor principles proposed by Samuel Gompers which became the basic charter of the organization. The International Labor Organization was founded on the principle that lasting peace can be assured only if it is based on social justice. To this end, a democratic world organization representing workers, employers and governments was created. Through the efforts of the I. L. O. standards of working conditions have been improved throughout the world. Some 67 conventions or labor treaties have been adopted, and 860 ratifications of these treaties have been registered by the member countries. As a result of the activities of the I. L. O. hours of labor have been shortened, social security for workers established, protection afforded women and children, safeguards set up against industrial accidents and diseases, protection provided for mercantile workers and seaman, and minimum wage fixing machinery established. The American Federation of Labor and organized labor throughout the world have contributed to these advances. War again engulfs Europe and threatens the entire civilized world. In all the countries involved, the ones that bear the heaviest burden, that make the greatest contributions in lives and suffering are the workers. The American Federation of Labor further urges that the International Labor Organization as the organization concerned with the protection of labor standards throughout the world should be upheld and strengthened and that its contribution to the solution of social problems should insure it a place at the peace conference at the conclusion of the war. 6 ADDRESS BY HON. JOHN G. WINANT, DIRECTOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR OFFICE, WITH REMARKS BY PRESIDENT WILLIAM GREEN[2] Twenty-three years ago this November, Woodrow Wilson, on the invitation of Samuel Gompers, addressed the American Federation of Labor. He was the first President of the United States to speak before a labor convention. I came here today to talk with you about an organization which was initiated and established by these two men. Both were statesmen in the cause of labor and of peace. Each had vision and foresight and the courage to fight for the realization of an ideal. It was because they recognized the relationship between social justice and peace that they united in creating the International Labor Organization dedicated to protect the worker in the commonwealth of nations. To them, and to you for all you have done since, we are deeply grateful. The forces against which they contended are once more seeking to destroy the rights of labor and the ways of peace. And once more it is required of us to have faith to keep alive those institutions of human progress that have marked out the frontiers of civilization. Parliaments are being destroyed. Trade unions and employers' organizations are being liquidated. All the achievements of a lifetime of the European worker which had been secured at great sacrifice have been wiped out in the course of a few months. Wherever the conqueror has worked his will, all that the free trade union movement has stood for—the right of being heard, the right of consultation, the right to negotiate—has been abolished. Aggression in Western Europe and the Far East has brought millions of workers under the domination of alien rulers. It has deprived workers in long-established democracies of liberties which they had come to take for granted as part of an inalienable social heritage. The outcome of the present war, in my judgment, will decide the future of labor and democracy not only in our time but for generations to come. In these difficult times when the sovereignty of nations has been challenged and national organizations have been overcome, the problem of ——— 2 From Proceedings of the Sixtieth Annual Convention of the American Federation of Labor, pp. 477-480. 7 maintaining international institutions and continuing their usefulness is dependent upon the support of the countries which they represented. In the case of the International Labor Organization this responsibility rests upon workers, employers and governments of member states. The tragedy of war has affected the national membership of the Organization. Individuals who have been associated with it have accepted the common lot of their countrymen and paid the price of their trade union convictions even when this has meant imprisonment and death. Mobilization, reduced income, and transfers have brought hardships on the staff personnel and their families. But for all that, the morale of the Organization was never higher, or in my judgment, has greater opportunity faced us for useful service in meeting the social problems of these troubled times. We continue to have the support of all the democratic countries of the world. The work of the International Labor Office is going on despite the difficulties that have been encountered. You know that we have moved temporarily to a neighboring country in the Western Hemisphere. It may be of interest to you if I tell you some of the reasons for this transfer, something of the background for the change, and some of the things that we hope to accomplish during the coming year. When the International Labor Conference met in June, 1939, the clouds of war were hanging low over many of our member countries. It was impossible to meet without taking into account the probability of war; yet it was not in a spirit of resignation and defeat that the Conference carried out its work. Rather it was with the feeling that all we could do to move ahead in the social fields where advance was still possible would strengthen the fabric of national defense, and where progress was no longer possible, owing to the menace of dictatorship, that we should help fix the responsibility for and make known the cost of reaction in the social field. The Conference worked with determination and the renewed conviction that critical international circumstances made it more, not less, necessary to continue the work of the I. L. O. Delegates reaffirmed pledges of support to the Organization and the report of the Emergency Committee, which had been set up to make plans for continuing the I. L. O. even in the event of war, was accepted unanimously by the Conference. As a result, when war actually broke out in September, 1939, the Organization was not unprepared. It was able to adjust its program, its policies and its technique to the new situation. Its main wish was to be useful to Member Countries. 8 The research program of the Office naturally began to include study of such effects of the war on social standards as—wage and price relationships, the adaptation of social insurance plans to war conditions, rationing and nutritional standards, the organization of labor in belligerent countries, avoidance of a breakdown of labor standards and in union organization. In addition, at the request of many workers' delegates, the Office collected material and followed trends of opinion which would lead to a clarification of the social aims of the war. It was planned to organize social tripartite meetings at which workers, employers and government delegates from belligerent countries could discuss this vital subject, and other meetings at which these delegates could talk with the representatives of countries not actually engaged in hostilities. Services to neutral countries even in Europe were at first carried out more or less as usual. The dislocation brought by the war to neutral and to belligerant countries because of economic disturbances raised new social problems which we were asked to study. Requests for the assistance of experts from the Office on legislation and administration continued to be made by various Governments, and members of the Staff were able to render technical services as in the past. Before the outbreak of war, we had planned to hold another Conference of American Countries to continue the work so successfully begun in 1936 at Santiago, Chile, for regional collaboration on problems growing wholly out of the American scene; despite the war, we went ahead with this plan and the conference met at Havana in late 1939. There, representatives of 19 countries worked together toward the solution of American social problems. In February, 1940, the first full war-time meeting of the Organization's Governing Body was held. Delegates discussed not only immediate war problems, but emphasized the necessity for study and discussion of the social aims following war and the problems to be faced during the reconstruction period. But when the pace of war became far more rapid in May, 1940, carrying forward the work of the Office in Geneva became more and more difficult. Communications and transportation were no longer assured to us, and contacts of all kinds with member countries were irregular or were cut off completely. Geneva became surrounded by warring states and it was no longer possible to meet or to enjoy freedom of speech without endangering the neutrality of Switzerland. Not only were these things true, but in addition, there was a real danger that the Organization would fall into the hands of the persons who would use it against the workers and as a tool for their totalitarian policies. 9 It gradually became clear that it was necessary to transfer a large part of the staff elsewhere in order to be in a position to render effective service. Consequently, Governments, workers' organizations and employers' groups were consulted as to the advisability of such a transfer, insofar as consultations were possible at that time. On the invitation of the Canadian Government, and with the cooperation of the Trade Union movement and employers' organizations of the British Commonwealth of Nations, it was decided to establish an office in Montreal and to transfer necessary staff there. The officers of McGill University were kind enough to place buildings, library and other facilities at our disposal. Your President William Green volunteered his assistance at this critical time and gave effective help in making possible the transfer of staff to this side of the Atlantic. For this and for his continued aid and support I wish personally and officially to express thanks and appreciation. The President of the United States, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Labor also cooperated in this move. All the free democratic countries of the world have since asked us to continue and have approved the establishment of a work center in Canada. I wish some of you might have come into these countries that have been invaded. I wish you could have visited them before they were invaded and after they were invaded. I wish you might see the trek of thousands of refugees, men and women such as you and I, who had lost everything, families separated, no means of security, and later on manpower herded into concentration camps under forced labor conditions. Those are the things that take away all that makes life worth living. Those are the things that we must understand if we are really to organize America so that we can play our part in this great fight for human rights. One of the first indications of war arrived one day in an envelope from Germany, sent by mistake, I presume, to us, showing the date on which the changed Social Security Act which had been adopted for the duraton of the war would be put into effect. We guessed the day of war from reading that document. It is also true that none of the great democracies had made any preparation to change their social security legislation to meet possible war conditions. We still hoped for peace and still loved peace. Over 50 members of the staff are now gathered together in Montreal with as many more serving in the branch and correspondents' offices in their respective countries. This group is hardly sufficient to study and analyze the increasingly complex and rapidly changing economic and social scene of the world today. We know that the I. L. O. is not in an easy position, even though we are now located where we can once more work constructively 10 Publications are restarting, however, and other activities are getting under way. In this difficult situation the services of Robert Watt, your representative on the Governing Body, and of James Wilson, our representative in the International Labor Office, have been of especial help to us. Noting counts more today than the sincere and unselfish support of honest men. We have had our share of that kind of loyalty. Although the staff is small, we hope to follow with greater care the programs laid down by you and your colleagues from other countries of the Americas at your meetings and at the Conferences of American States held in Santiago in 1936 and in Havana in 1939. Much remains to be done in establishing the basic right of freedom of association in American countries and in spreading through the continents a greater measure of economic and social democracy. Social security is assuming increasing importance in many countries and we have been able to assist governments in drafting social security legislation which assures real protection to millions of workers. Early in December, I am going down to Lima, Peru, in order to take part in the dedication of the largest workers' hospital unit in South America. The heads of social security agencies in American countries are being invited there to discuss, at the same time, the problems of social security in the Americas. Questions of housing, wages and hours, the right to work, nutrition, and other conditions relating to life and work are also engaging our attention, and we hope to find ways of assisting you in your efforts to find satisfactory solutions for them. The International Labor Office has for more than twenty years been your international research agency. In spite of war it still continues to function. The International Labor Organization is based, as you know, on the principle of social action through the collaboration of governments, employers and workers on an equal footing. The problem of methods of collaboration is becoming increasingly important in the Americas and in other countries as well. For this reason, a discussion of this question was planned as the agenda for the 1940 International Labor Conference, and a report outlining the ways in which employers and workers can take part in determining national social and economic policies was published in the spring. Although the Conference had to be postponed owing to war conditions, the question has lost none of its importance, and we hope to hold a Conference early in 1941. We have not forgotten and we cannot forget that the world is interdependent, and that the future of the I. L. O. and the future of all of us 11 here is involved in the gallant fight of our friends in Great Britain and in the Dominions against a system which represents the negation of all that you stand for and of all that the I. L. O. has worked for. We hope that the Organization can be of special use in this struggle for freedom. There is no such thing today as a world divided into two hemispheres. We want to do everything possible to bring the world back again into a better whole, without repeating the mistakes of the past and with respect for human values in organizing the future. The I. L. O. is based on the organized labor movement. Great sections of this movement have been smashed as the axis has hammered its way through the peoples of many countries; but great sections of organized labor remain intact, here in the United States and elsewhere. You have only to look toward Great Britain where, with the Battle of Britain in full swing, the trade unions and the Labor Party are playing a major role in the conduct of the country's political and economic life. The I. L. O. is your organization--the organization of all the men and women banded together in the free trade unions of the world. It is your organization because it was the workers who demanded its establishment at the end of the last war; and because, in the I. L. O., governments share their powers with the free representatives of organized labor and also with the free representatives of organized employers. We are keeping the I. L. O. machinery in motion. It is for you to tell us how we can best use it in your interest. We are not trying to revive the past--that is impossible and undesirable. We are continuing from the past into the future. The justification for the International Labor Organization lies in its future productiveness and in its usefulness to you and to member countries. The highest priced goods of mankind are at stake today; human freedom, the dignity of man and good will. The objective of the I. L. O. is, as you know, the realization of social justice. That same objective is a part of what it at issue in the world today. The definition of social justice varies with the passage of time as our conception of it widens. In a not far distant past, social justice was a term used in speaking of the protection of a weaker class from a stronger class less numerous but economically more powerful. It was part of an attempt to prevent human labor from being treated as merchandise. The present conception of social justice is much broader. Every question must be considered from a social angle as elements of social justice have invaded all parts of national life. It is now becoming clearer not only that the basis of society is mankind, but also that the ultimate objective of society is the realization of conditions under which man can live a full life and work in security and peace, with liberty. 12 The task of the I. L. O., and your task as a trade union movement, is concerned with working out a democratic pattern for the world of tomorrow. The I. L. O. provides machinery through which the free labor movement of the world can make known and discuss their programs and policies for reconstruction. The world belongs to the people. A true democracy is built upon this fact. The I. L. O. is built upon this fact. It is your structure organized for human progress. It is your international platform. We want to make known your demands and help you translate them into action. I ask your continued support of the International Labor Organization and that you use it as an agency for the reconstruction of a peaceful world and for the shaping of a human democracy which, we pray, will be the outcome of these days of horror and of hope, of sacrifice and of faith. President Green: We thank Director Winant for his visit with us this morning and for the instructive and inspiring address which he delivered. I know I can assure him for you of the continued support and cooperation of the American Federation of Labor in the execution of the administrative policies of the International Labor Organization. That great Organization represents the democracy of employers and employes and of the free, democratic nations of the earth. We are conscious of the fact that if the leaders of the totalitarian nations win, the International Labor Organization passes out. It is made up of the representatives of free trade unions, free organizations of employers and representatives of free, democratic governments. Its very life and existence depend upon the maintenance of freedom and of democracy, and we know that trade unions can no more survive in a totalitarian country than can tropical vegetation live in a frigid zone, free democratic trade unions, where free men live, where democratic governments function. Free trade unions pass out when the blitzkrieg of totalitarian governments enter. The last one to pass out was the free trade union movement of France, and our hearts are sad because of the developments which took place in old free France. We are moved, therefore, to give to this great International Labor Organization devoted service and help, because in doing so we are promoting the cause of democracy and free trade unions throughout the entire world. I want you to know you are amongst sympathetic friends, Director Winant. We appreciate your address and we ask you again to remain with us as our guest just as long as your work will permit you to stay in this city. 13 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 3 The march of dictatorship which has swept aside one free nation after the other since the invasion of Norway and Low countries by Nazi Germany in May, has also brought low many of those agencies of international cooperation which were set up at the close of the last World War. The Treaty of Versailles, which is so frequently condemned by the Dictators created three agencies of international cooperation--The League of Nations, the World Court and the International Labor Organization. No other Treaty of Peace has made so notable a contribution to the machinery of peace. The International Labor Organization, which was a part of that Treaty, sought to lay the foundation of international peace on the basis of social justice. This agency which owes so much in its inception to the genius and vision of the late Samuel Gompers, has during the past year suffered a serious loss not only in the membership of its constituent nations but in the opportunity which it has had to build the basis of international cooperation through the joint collaborations of representatives of government, employers and labor organizations. Today this organization has been literally compelled to reduce its staff and move to McGill University at Montreal, Canada, in order to carry on its somewhat restricted services. There temporary offices have been set up with the cooperation of the Canadian Government. In his splendid address to this convention Director John G. Winant has given expression to those unchanging purposes of this organization and the faith in which its work is now being sustained. Said he: "The objective of the I. L. O is, as you know, the realization of social justice. That same objective is a part of what is at issue in the world today. The definition of social justice varies with the passage of time as our conception of it widens. In a not far distant past, social justice was a term used in speaking of the protection of a weaker class from a stronger class less numerous but economically more powerful. It was part of an attempt to 3 From Proceedings of the Sixtieth Annual Convention of the American Federation of Labor, pp. 669-670. 14 prevent human labor from being treated as merchandise. the present conception of social justice is much broader. Every question must be considered from a social angle as elements of social justice have invaded all parts of national life. It is now becoming clearer not only that the basis of society is mankind, but also that the ultimate objective of society is the realization of conditions under which man can live a full life and work in security and peace, with liberty." The Executive Council has set forth in its report an informing appraisal of the activities of this organization during this last year while many of its member nations have been in the throes of a World War. The record of the organization is a most constructive one. The leadership of this organization in convening the Second Regional Conference of American states in Havana a year ago, was a notable service to the improvement of international relations. the Declaration of Havana, which was adopted at that conference by unanimous vote is one with which this convention might well associate itself. The several recommendations adopted at this Conference dealing with such questions as indemnities for occupational diseases, the elimination of private insurance companies from the field of workmen's compensation, the substitution of compulsory government unemployment insurance for non-government systems, on home work and the employment of children, and in particular the committee's recommendation in support of the scheme of apprenticeship, training are must useful. They should receive the support of our Government. The programs prepared by the Director at the meeting of the Governing Body in February, 1940, dealing with post-war problems are comprehensive, and demonstrate a statesmanship approach to the problems of reconstruction. The Council sets forth in its report, furthermore, the number of draft conventions adopted by the I. L. O. together with the ratifications which have been secured by the organization since it was established. It is an impressive indication of the effective cooperative work of this organization. At a time when so many international agencies of international cooperation are collapsing under the pressure of dictatorship, it is of the greatest importance that this organization, with which Labor has been so closely associated from its inception, should have the fullest moral and financial support of the United States Government as well as the loyal and active support of American Labor. 15 Your committee would recommend moreover that the valuable services which have been rendered by Mr. James Wilson over the past years as a liaison between the American Federation of Labor and this Organization be continued. We likewise commend the work of Robert J. Watt as a member of the Governing Body. Your committee, therefore, in expressing its appreciation of the distinguished services of this agency over the past year, recommends that this convention record its appreciation to its Director the Honorable John G. Winant for his presence and address to this 60th Convention of the Federation. The report of the committee was unanimously adopted. 16 BUTLER SANCTIMONY MISJUDGES MAINE To the Editor of The Herald: Paul Butler's television "answer" to the resignation statement by Sherman Adams suggested Mr. Pecksniff in his most sanctimonious vein. Did Butler or any other leading Americans for Disruptive Action shed any tears over the dishonest and corrupt actions of the scoundrels in the Truman administration? And when some of the scoundrels were put behind bars, did the "New Deal," "Fair Deal," "ADA"-ers express any dismay, any sense of shock or shame? Mr. Adams was certainly imprudent. But he committed no crime, he broke no law. He did only what many men in public office do as a matter of course. Had he been a "New Deal" Democrat, no notice would have been taken of his indiscretions. Mr. Butler ascribes Adams resignation to "the Democratic landslide in Maine" which, he piously avers, "served notice that the people recognized improprieties of conduct which neither Mr. Eisenhower nor Adams could perceive." In saying this he conveniently ignored the fact that Adams had admitted he had been imprudent and that the President had also expressed this as his opinion. Mr. Butler is in error with respect to the Maine election. Consensus in Maine is that Muskie's popularity, economic conditions, and the votes and money of organized labor were the decisive factors. According to the Portland Press Herald for September 24, the Muskie for Senator Committee received $11,000 from give out-of-state labor bodies: the National AFL-CIO Committee on Political Action (COPE), $5,000; United Steel Workers of America, $2,500; Machinists Non-Partisan Political League, $1,500; International Ladies Garment Workers Union, $1,000, and the Amalgamated Political Education Committee of New York City, $100. These contributions from organized labor were in addition to $14,500 from the National Democratic Campaign Committee. There was also $2000 from individuals in New York City. All of which shows the lively outside participation in State of Maine affairs at election time. Mr. Butler is also in error when he suggests that the Democrats were innocent of any attempt to "get" Mr. Adams. With respect to genuine Democrats, that may be true. But it is not the case with the "ADA" Democrats. Muskie took obvious pains to disclaim any intention or even mentioning the Adams-Goldfine matter during his campaign against Senator Payne. And his followers both inside and outside the state conducted such a noisy "whispering" crusade on the affair that it must have been heard in every corner of the country. Every time a broadcaster or reporter mentioned Adams or Payne, he carefully referred to the Goldfine story. Strange that no sound of the hubbub reached Mr. Butler in his ivory tower! E. M. JOHNSON. Brownfield, Me. The Washington Side To the Editor of The Herald: An Associated Press dispatch with date line "Seattle, June 23," printed in The Herald of June 24 has come to my attention. This contains misstatements regarding the former Washington Branch of the American Association of University Women. Would you kindly permit a correction? In dealing with a dispute between two groups it is desirable that information from both side to the controversy be presented. The Associated Press dispatch would appear to be drawn mainly from data supplied by officials of the National Board of the American Association of University Women. It is colored by the view they seek to have accepted. It does not give a true picture of the situation. The Washington Branch did not "secede" from the National Association. It withdrew. Formerly it had been a separate organization. It returns to its status as the University Women's Club of Washington. Its action in withdrawing was not taken because the Association voted to admit negroes to membership in the Association. Negroes are and have been members of the Association for a number of years. The Washington Branch has never objected to such membership. Some of the members of the branch, which has been maintained in part as a social club, were opposed to mixed membership in the club. That was the occasion, but not the cause of the split with the national body. The real reason for the break was the attempt on the part of certain of the present national officials to destroy the autonomy of the branch. When the College Club, which later became the Washington branch, joined the national body some years ago, it was on the understanding that it could maintain its autonomy, continuing its practices and procedures as in the past. That agreement was honored until the present national officials came into power. The Board of Directors of the Washington Branch, at a meeting prior to the Seattle Convention, instructed its president to withdraw the branch from membership in the National Association if the proposed revision of the national by-laws, which the national officials were advocating, was adopted in the form presented; or in a form which would destroy or seriously impair the autonomy of the branch. There were other branches that objected to the proposed revision of the by-laws. In the form presented by the national officials they would have given the national board autocratic authority over the finance and property, the policies and procedures of the branches, as well as establishing the conditions which could enable the board to perpetuate its own powers. The Washington Branch was not the only one that considered withdrawing from the Association. The Berkeley, Calif., Branch, prior to the Convention, authorized withdrawal if the bylaws were adopted in the form originally submitted. It is not unlikely, if the present policies of the national board are continued, that other branches may withdraw and that eventually a new Association of Federation of University Women may be formed. ETHEL M. JOHNSON Member Univ. Women's Club of Washington Brownfield, Me. Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.