◆ SpookStack

APRIL 14, 1947 The UMW president remarked venge- fully that safety supervision by union committees had been undermined by “intimidation” stemming from federal anti-strike injunctions. He ordered UMW districts not to pass on the re- moval of hazards. The government, as far as “Old” John L. Lewis (see page 22) was concerned, could clean up its own mess. . No Answer ‘ Prices (\N March 26 President Truman made a public plea to US industry to heed “the handwriting on the wall” and cut prices. He implied that current negotiations for wage increases could be completed successfully without raising prices. The text of the handwriting on the wall was spelled out once again by Rob- ert R. Nathan, CIO economist. His re- port last fall demonstrated that industry could afford wage boosts without price _ increases and_is the basis of current CIO _ demands in major industries, Last week Nathan found the wage-price-profit structure “even more unsound than four months ago.”” Said he: “Prices have con- tinued to reach for new high levels, the pay envelope continues to buy less and less, consumer resistance is growing and inventories are starting to back up.” As industry’s 1946 statements and - 1947 indications continued almost unanimous in recording unprecedented profits, there was equal agreement not to pass on any of the increase to labor. - There were a handful of exceptions: International Harvester cut list prices of some items; Plymouth prices were shaved; Ford, -with appropriate to-do, gave the consumer a spoonful of the top cream. Example: the de-luxe business coupe was cut $20 last week to $1,150 (f.0.b. New York), still 85.4 percent higher than 1939 and seven percent higher than 1945. Mote typical of US’ industry was the case of US Steel, where negotiations for a wage increase have been dragging since January. US Steel’s report for 1946 showed a profit after taxes of $88.6 million, the highest since 1941 despite the steel and coal strikes, Nathan re- cently issued a little Nathan Report for Pennsylvania ALLENTOWN is one of the 114 towns in the United States where the only newspaper and the only radio station are owned in com- mon. A year ago, five young vet- erans decided to’ throw some competi- tion into Allentown. From the Fed- eral Communications Commission they got a license to broadcast to the two million people in the Allentown area over radio’s static-free wonder me- dium—FM (the NR, Febrvary 17). Last week, as the vets pushed con- struction of their station, interference was crackling through the Allentown air, the kind of interference which re- cently moved the Commission on Free- dom of the Press to urge the govern- ment to press “in every way short of subsidy the creation of new units in the [communications] industry.” Penn-Allen Broadcasting Company, the vets had been selling the $75,000 of stock necessary to put them on the air. Sales were going well. Then sud- denly they stopped. Through anony- mous phone calls and inside tips, the vets began to learn why: Residents were being told that the veterans’ were broke, that they wouldn’t Jast the year. A whispering campaign warned prospective stock- holders that the company was backed by Jewish money. (“If we were Jew- ish, which none of us are, we'd be as proud of that blood as we are of the \ steel showing that wages could be upped 21 cents per hour without a price in- crease. There were rumors that the CIO and Big Steel would get together on some such figure as this. But last week, as the April 30 contract deadline neared, Benjamin Fairless, president of US Steel, put an abrupt end to the hopes of Presi- dent Truman and others who thought industry might heed the handwriting on the wall. “One of the demands of the union is for a substantial wage increase,” said Fairless. ‘‘Other demands of the union, if granted, would add materially to our already heavy costs. Until these demands are disposed of in the pending negotiations, no real consideration can be given by us to the adequacy or inade- quacy of our present steel prices.” Macy's, New York department store, whose motto is “It’s Smart to Be Static on FM Under their corporate name, the blood we have,” said Raymond F. Kohn, Penn-Allen’s president.) Resi- dents were told that the vets had no channel assigned to them by the FCC. In the country clubs it was whispered that the transmitting power would en- danger surrounding property because it might fall. The five partners had hired the city’s leading law firm to represent them and handle their stock issue. This firm, which also represents the existing newspaper and radio station, said it was “advised” to drop the new FM organization. Reluctantly, the law ‘firm pulled out, withdrew its name from all promotion literature. The— vets’ bricklayer contractor was warned to lay off the job—that he'd never be paid anyway. In regard to these developments, Kohn said: “Well, we're learning what it’s like to start up in a monopoly town. We called a meeting of our stockholders and offered to buy back their stock. Not one accepted; they’re backing us to the finish. We need $30,000 to get on the air. “Senator O. J. Tallman, majority leader of the Pennsylvania state sen- ate, has agreed to represent us as -counsel froin here on in, although he risks losing newspaper publicity in his district by standing with us. The five of us did not spend five years each fighting corruption on a global scale only to find it snuffing us out in our own backyard.” Thrifty,” found so many of its customers being thrifty in the face of current prices that it took a full-page ad to warn that costs must come down. Its thrifty solu- tion: technological advances and higher labor productivity will do the trick. ¢ Preliminaries Spain TT only remaining European ruler to side openly with the late Axis was trying hard to keep his job in an almost friendless world. Last December, Generalissimo Francisco Franco made an offer to Don Juan de Bourbon, wait- ing since 1935 to fill the Spanish throne deserted by his father. The offer: to train Juan’s nine-year-old son for the job under Franco's regency. Franco got an angry reply: “I am not prepared to