EDITORIAL - COMMENT
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UU*»*itU WEEKLY PEOPLE
Releas d by Calvin's News Service
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Reading W. E. B. DuBois’ “Color and Democ
racy” was for me a tantalizing experience. The
volume traces each of the viciously barbed branches
in which mankind is trapper back to a single root.
The monstrous crimes of colonial oppression, in
spired racism, planned ignorance, unnecessary pov
erty and the scourge of war are shown to be conse
quences of a social order in which ruling class ma
terial interests and competitive forces reign su
preme. It exalts democracy and “the unloosing of
the energies and the capabilities of the depressed.”
It raises to first importance the need for industrial
democracy, the need, that is, for a set-up in which
the actual worker has a voice in the organization
and conduct of industry. It carries the reader to
the very bring of the solution-then turns him a
bout, as though in a game of blindman’s buff, and
marches him back into the brambles.
DuBois’ studied effort to disavow a revoluntarv
solution to the great questions confronting man
kind often comes dangerously near intellectual
snobbery. The conclusions he adduces concerning
the capability of capitalism, he says, “are not the
ranting of revolutionists,” but the clear conclusions
of reasonable men.” But are the same conclusions,
when reached by revolutionists—that is, by men
who seek a fundamental social reorganization..
“ranting”? Would they be less reasonable from
the lips of a Marxist than from the lips of Dr. Du
Bois’ “reasonable men”?
• Dr. DuBois is a distinguished scholar. As such
he is ternally engaged in accumulating facts and
evidence and complaining that facts and evidence
thus far accumulated are “incomplete.” But, in
the field' of social science, facts and evidence are
inexhaustible. They can never be complete in the
sense that no more corroborative evidence is left
to unearth. And meanwhile historic forces move
at an increasingly rapid tempo. They refuse to
wait upon the scholar while he annotates his find
ings with new statistics.
1 do not wish to be misunderstood, i believe the
research worker and sehoalr performs a vital role,
and that facts, facts and more facts strengthen the
cause of social and human emancipation. But I
also believe that when you see the head of a rat
peeping out of one hole and the tail of a rat stick
ing out of another some eightinches away, you can
safely conclude that the body of the rat is between, j
And you can act on this conclusion.
There is more evidence of the cukpability of cap
italism to be gathered by scholars. But that which
we now have at hand, indeed, that which Dr. Du
Bois lias adduced in “Color and Democracy”, suf
fices to convince any reasonable person that colon
ialism, racism, war and class oppression are inher
ent in a system where a numerically small class
monopolizes the means of production. It follows
logically, therefore, that, to abolish these evils, the
system of class rule must be uprooted. In effect,
Dr. DuBois rejects this logic by pleading again for
reliance on the very instruments which have betray
ed us in the past—world organization, and increas
ing measure of State control, etc., etc.
Dr. DuBois, has, I think, performed a meritorious
service in stressing the war-breeding nature of col
onial imperialism. But colonial imperialism, as ,
Lenin demonstrated, is a consequence of capitalist
concentration. It is not a question that can be
solved within the capitalist system, and to assert
that it can is to put the cart before the horse. The
oppressed colonial slaves of the world may help to
strike the blow that will ultimately set t!(?m free.
Indeed, I hope so, But that blow will fall, when it
falls, not in the colonies, but in the great capitalist
nations themselves. And the hand that will cut
the Gordian knot will be the hand of an enlightened
and united working class aiming for its own eman
cipation from wage slavery.
_
j IT'S GETTING LATE /
^=======^
Draft Touchy Issue
For Nation's Politicoes I
Fear Strong Reaction Against Military I
Service Evsn as Occupation Needs Point
Up Requirement for Large Army.
By BAUKHAGE
Neuis Analyst and Commentator.
WNU Service, 1616 Eye Street NW,
Washington, D. C.
One of the administration’s hottest
political potatoes is a matter that
nobody likes to talk about—even the
opposition. It is military service. Not
universal military service next
month or next year but any old kind
of military service today and tomor
row, right up to election day, 1948.
The problem has many facets but
it has one, awesome nub — the vet
eran vote. There are several danger
signals which the Democratic ad
ministration is watching with some
trepidation: the criticism over con
tinuation of the draft which the
President has given his complete
and unqualified support; recurring
complaints of discontented soldiers
and their families appearing in ra
dio, congressional, national commit
tee and other Washington fan mail,
which add up to a resounding de
mand for more and quicker dis
charges, and finally, a growing fear
that the feeling which used to be
called isolationism is cropping up in
a new form—“anti-militarism.”
The administration doesn’t dare
make any move to permit a drastic
reduction in the armed forces now.
Military experts think it will be the
middle of October before any such
move can be contemplated. By that
time they think the danger of any
serious outbreak in Japan will be
over, or there will be evidence that
one is coming.
Await Jap Reaction
To Occupation
The full impact of the occupation
of Japan will not be felt until
American soldiers are deep in the
heart of the country. Before that,
the reaction of the Japanese people
and the influence of the military
leaders as opposed to the influence
of the emperor, cannot be gauged.
Suffice it to say that the surrender
terms as well as the surrender it
self came as a shock to the Japa
nese people.
Many Americans fail to realize
that a relatively small American
army landed in Japan in an area
in which there were no Japanese
except those permitted to be there
! by the authorities who arranged the
surrender. There was no contact
with the general population or the
military. Scattered over the rest of
the country is a powerful Japanese
army, as yet fully armed, in defense
positions, strengthened when the
Japs completely reorganized their
home defense against invasion
after the capture of Okinawa. Dis
regarding the thousands of Jap
anese sailors now on shore, the air
force, the supply troops and others,
it is known that on Hokkaido there
were two full divisions. (A Jap divi
sion is between 15,000 and 20,000
men.) On Honshu there were 44
divisions and 7 brigades (a brigade
is roughly half a division). On Kyu
shu 14 divisions and 7 brigades.
It is estimated that we would have
500,000 men in the islands by the
middle of September. That is
against a Japanese army (not count
ing the sailors, airmen and others)
of well over a million. That is why
there can be no sharp reduction in
American troops until we know
what, if anything, is cooking under
the cherry trees.
Ana men wnen tnat question is
answered we have the question of
occupation. It has been estimated
that to police Germany, Japan
and Korea and perhaps parts of
China will take 1,200,000 men.
Where will they come from?
Where will 300,000 come from for
that matter? Already a sharp re
version against military service has
begun and if it follows the curve
after the last war recruitment on a
basis of voluntary enlistment is
hopeless. At its low point the army
after World War I numbered 130,
000 men. I well recall the story of
one of my officer friends whose regi
ment, stationed in the middle west,
dropped so low that men themselves
voted to spend their post exchange
fluids for a recruiting campaign.
With a band and a company he
paraded the countryside for a week.
He got just three recruits and two
of those were rejected as physically
unfit.
As one officer remarked bitterly to
me: “How are you going to get a
man to join the army for $21 a
month (the basic peacetime pay)
when Uncle Sam will pay him $25
a week for not working at all?” (He
referred to the unemployment com
pensation called for in pending legis
lation.)
That’s the position the administra
tion is in when the cry to end the
draft arises.
Vets9 Attitude
Bears Watching
The complaints from the veterans
is another matter. They are not so
much concerned over who gets into
the army as who gets out. A lot of
them are marking time right now,
later a lot will be sent overseas in
the boresome jobs of policemen.
Why shouldn’t I get out now and
get a start in business?
Why shouldn’t my husband come
back and support me in the manner
to which I have been unaccustomed
since he joined up?
Why shouldn’t my boy get back to
school where he belongs?
Why shouldn’t my sweetheart be
allowed to come home and marry
me like he said he would?
And some day sonny and daddy
and lover will come back. And
they’ll join a veteran’s organization
and they will vote at the polls; ah,
there’s the rub!
Now we come to the third point
which is really the most insidious,
the one which has to be'handled the
most delicately. We may have
learned in this country that an
ocean is no longer a barrier against ,
the enemy. But we know there is I
another barrier which separates our
maritime states from the heartland
of the nation bordering the Missis
sippi flood plain. That part of the
country forgot its so-called isola
tionism and threw its whole heart
into the war. But the war is over —
on paper anyhow. It is time to put
the hand back to the plough again.
There is need of stout arms and
strong backs in the fields, and
though Japs and the Germans may
require watching, why not let
George do it?
That is a natural feeling and
clever politicans would have little
trouble in turning it to account, by
raising the cry of militarism, of im
perialism and all the other isms
which men whose barns are their
castles and whose meadows are
their empires, dislike. Such a senti
ment could be turned against one
administration as well as another,
but it so happens that the mid
dle west is naturally somewhat Re
publican in its leanings normally
and the Democrats are now in the
saddle.
. One very keen political observer
who has watched the way of the
voter for many years said to me the
other day: "If there were a Presi
dential election tomorrow Truman
would win it.” And when you con
sider the matter coldly there are
good reasons for the statement. The
Republicans have had one healthy
issue after another knocked out
from under them. Truman has giv
en business its head, he has sat on l
the OPA, he has released one con
trol after another, he has most soli
citously deferred to congress, he is j
on the way to break up the war
agencies and get the business of
government back into the old line
departments.
Such is the picture as of today
all clear except for one little cloud
in the sky. not much bigger than a
serviceman’s hand, but there is
thunder and lightning in that cloud
and if the circumstances were such
that its bolts of wrath were directed
at the administration it would not
even take, say a Stassen, to win
the Presidential race on a walk.
By next February—barring unex
pected developments—all soldiers in
Europe except those in the army of
occupation and the minimum re
quired to dispose of the army’s sur
plus property will have been re-,
turned to the United States, Maj.
Gen. C. P. Gross, chief of transpor
tation, said in an announcement by
the war department.
Return of American forces in the
Pacific will be completed next June,
according to present estimates!
More than 1,750,000 men are sched
uled for return from the Pacific
theaters, while approximately 2,000.
000 remain to be returned from Eu
rope. Some 150.000 other troops
also are to be returned from other
overseas theaters.
BARBS . . . by Baukhage
The Mexican government has
turned its German prisoners free
and invited them to become citizens
if they wish, with a thousand peso
stake in a plot of land if they want
it.
• • •
And now they pick cranberries by
machine. But it still takes a deft
human hand to roast the turkey to
go with them.
Business Week magazine says it is
rumored that Kaiser is going to turn
out prefabricated moving picture
theaters at $8,000 complete. Holly
wooden frames?
• • •
According to YANK, the army
magazine, Jap chow is worse than
that served in American outfits
where the cooks are recruited from
the motor pool.
__ I
American Ship Losses Small in Pacific
A total of 200,058 ship tons of cargo
were lost at sea by the army in
the war against Japan, with 31
vessels sunk and 2 vessels damaged
while en route from the United
States to the Pacific theaters.
Army cargo shipped to these
areas in the 44 months of the war
totalled 43,520.000 ship tons. Those
supplies lost at sea, therefore,
represented only 0.46 per cent of the
total amount shipped.
When losses in the Pacific are
added to the previously announced
537,656 ship tons of cargo lost on
outbound moves from the United
States to the European, Mediterra
nean, Middle East, North and
South Atlantic and Latin American
areas, a total war loss of outbound
army cargo at sea of 737,714 ship
tons is obtained.
JkectHHm
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H&pjvUesi
Ein WASHINGTON
| By Walter Shead
I WNU Correspondent
K
WNU Washington Bureau
1616 Eye St.. N. W
Future of Cotton
□HAT is going to happen tc
King Cotton, mainstay ot more
farmers than any other crop? And
more farmers are affected by what
happens to cotton than by what hap
pens to any other crop. Up to one
third of all farm residents in the
country live on cotton farms and
they’re the lowest income group in
agriculture.
Not only these cotton farmers, but
every farmer, every resident of the
thousands of home towns from the
East to the West coast and from top
to bottom of the country, is interest
ed in cotton . . . for cotton in peace
time accounts for four-fifths of our
total textile yardage.
According to recent statistics re
leased by Secretary Clinton P. An
derson of the department of agri
culture, the gross average farm in
come of cotton farmers in the 10
years ending in 1942 was only $865
a year, as against more than $2,000
in other parts of the nation.
Why, then, with cotton an all-im
portant crop and selling at prices
well above parity should income of
these cotton farmers, a third of all
farmers, be so much lower than the
average of other farmers? The an
swer is found in the agricultural
practices of the South for the past
hundred years, and includes (1) a
one-crop system of farming, (2) lack
of conservation practices which has
driven the center of the cotton king
dom from the southeastern states
across the Mississippi to the South
west and (3) cotton surpluses which
have in the past demoralized the
market.
Tough Competition
While the department of agricul
ture is not pessimistic over the fu
ture of cotton in the immediate post
war year3, it is obvious, they point
out, that great care will be neces
sary for cotton to hold its own in an
increasingly competitive field.
In the first place cotton produc
tion in this country has decreased,
whereas foreign production has in
creased. In 1920 for instance, we
produced 13 million of the 21 mil
lion bales of cotton produced in the
world. In 1940, the last year for
world statistics, we produced only
12 out of 29 million bales, and our
production in 1943 dropped to 11 mil
lion bales. In spite of this drop in
production other competitive com
modities have soared in common
usage replacing cotton. Rayon, ny
lon, spun glass and other newer de
velopments of textiles are boring
into the cotton market. U. S. rayon
production 10 years ago amounted to
only 10 million pounds, whereas last
year rayon had grown to 724 million
pounds or the equivalent of 1,700,000
bales of cotton. Paper products en
tering the market formerly held by
cotton . . . towels, tissues, napkins,
window shades, plastic and twine,
in 1929 was equivalent on a pound
for-pound basis of a million bales
of raw cotton.
The Commodity Credit corpora
tion in the department of agricul
ture is the godfather of the cotton
crop and the haven of cotton crop
farmers. It is the Commodity Credit
corporation which supports the mar
ket price for cotton, by buying up
surpluses, and providing substitutes
for cotton exports. Through August
18, 1945, the CCC had purchased on
its Cotton Purchase Program (sup
port price program) 2,465,087 bales
of cotton of the 1944 crop at an aver
age price of about 22.31 cents a
pound, involving approximately
$250,000,000. In addition it had pro
vided a 4-cent per hundred pound
subsidy for its export program in
volving 592.176 bales of the 1944
crop.
Favorable Outlook
Secretary Anderson in a recent
address before the New York Cot
ton Exchange pointed out, however,
some favorable factors in behalf of
the postwar future of cotton. He
pointed out that during the war thou
sands of cotton farmers had started
soil conservation practices and di
versified farming; there are con
stantly being discovered new uses
for cotton; the department has just
announced discovery of a new cot
ton fabric which will not mildew nor
rot which will be used extensively in
yards, threads, packaging and bag
ging; demand for cotton in other
countries will be at a new peak, al
though world carryover is at an all
time high; in the U. S.. despite a
cancellation of 80 per cent of war
orders for cotton products, slack
will be taken up by the tremendous
backlog of civilian demands.
"American cotton will face not
only large stocks on hand ... it will
face as well the need for better farm
practices if it is to hold its place
in the world market,” Secretary An
derson warned. He said, however,
that he is depending on co-operation
and American “know-how” and an
increased export market to bring
cotton “marching home from war.”
In this connection it will be inter
esting for cotton farmers to note
that the Commodity Credit corpora
tion has been placed under the new
Production and Marketing adminis
tration in the new U. S. D. A. set-up.
DDT:
Urges Careful Use
Housewives who find use for DDT,
the powerful new insecticide known
to chemists as dichlorodiphenyl
trichlorethane, are cautioned against
placing the poisonous powder where
it might be mixed with kitchen sup
plies, by Dr. Morris Fishbein of
the American Medical acceptation.
“In large doses DDT is poisonous
to human beings and to a good
many animals.” Dr. Fishbein said.
“When DDT is properly used, these
poisonous effects are .controlled.”
The Omaha Guide
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—-WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS_
Round UpJapaneseWcr Leaders;
Hog Slaughter Shows Big Dip;
British Seek Financial Aid
■ ■ ■■■ ■ ■■■■ Released by Western Newspaper
(EDITOR’S NOTE: When opinions are expressed in these columns, thev are those ol
Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.)
With Britain seeking extensive American financial assistance, consul
tations get under way at state department with leading conferees including
(from left to right) Leo Crowley, foreign economic administrator; Lord
Halifax, British ambassador; William Clayton, assistant secretary of state;
Lord Keynes, British economist, and Henry A. Wallace, secretary of com
merce.
JAPAN:
Round Up War Lords
With high Japanese war leaders
taking their own lives as the Ameri
can net gradually
began to tighten
around them, the
Nipponese govern
ment of Premier
Higashi - Kuni as
sumed the responsi
bility for rounding
up suspected war
criminals in an ef
fort to head off a
mass suicide wave.
Hideki Tojo Japan’s No. 1
war lord through
out most of the Pacific conflict be
fore enemy reverses forced his re
tirement, ex-Premier Hideki Tojo
led off the suicide wave by attempt
ing to take his life as American
troops arrived at his country resi
dence outside Tokyo to arrest him.
Though Tojo misfired, former war
minister and. army chief Sugiyama
used better aim to kill himself, and
ex-welfare minister Hoizumi also
succeeded in taking his life.
Having first professed full respon
I sibility for the war before trying to
shoot himself, Tojo shut up tighter
than a clam following an improve
ment in his condition under the
watchful eye of American medics.
Refusing to talk on his sick-bed,
the ashen 61-year-old former Japa
nese kingpin declared that he would
not answer questions without docu
mentary reference.
Meanwhile, capital circles re
vealed that Tojo and other sus
pected Japanese war criminals
would have their unhappy day in
court before a four-power military
tribunal similar to the one trying
Nazi overlords in Germany.
Representatives of the U. S., Brit
ain, Russia and China will comprise
the tribunal, which probably will sit
in Tokyo and, as in the case of its
European counterpart, try foreign
government leaders on the unprece
dented charges of conducting wars
of aggression.
In addition to trial on the novel
1 count of carrying on aggressive
warfare, Japanese will be tried for
such crimes as racial persecution,
torture of helpless people, and mur
der of captured military personnel.
Though not questioning the goal
of bringing Nazi and Japanese over
lords to justice, many eminent
American lawyers have opposed the
procedure for trial, declaring that it
establishes a precedent for kangaroo
courts which might be used against
Allied personages in the future.
SLAUGHTER:
Hogs Dotvn
Though slaughter of cattle and
sheep during the first eight months
of 1945 hit new tops for federally
inspected plants, butchering of hogs
dropped off severely, resulting in a
continued tight meat situation. Only
with an improved hog situation in
creasing the overall supply of meat
did marketing experts look forward
to an end of rationing.
With August slaughter at an eight
J year low, the eight month hog pro
I duction totalled 26,821,667, away be
low the 50,352.226 mark for the
same period last year. During the
early part of September, hogs con
tinued to trickle into leading mar
kets, with shipments commanding
ceiling prices.
Partly offsetting decreased hog
slaughter were record butcherings
of cattle and sheep for the first eight
months of the year, with 9,071,406
cattle killed and 13,960,594 sheep. At
4,152,779, the calf total was the sec
ond largest on record.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS:
British Ask Aid
In the U. S. to sell this country on
the feasibility of offering financial
assistance to Britain, Ambassador
Halifax and Economist Keynes de
clared that a prosperous Britain,
getting its great exporting and im
porting machinery going at full
blast, would help assure the stabil
ity so necessary for postwar peace
Should Britain fail to secure suf
ficient aid to rebuild its industry and
obtain raw materials for processing
into finished goods, Messrs. Halifax
and Keynes pointed out, the whole
intricate system of exchange among
nations would be affected, leading
to social disturbances the world
over and another outgrowth of isms.
Thus, in approaching the U. S.
on a basis of mutual concern,
the British came over as prac
tical statesmen and not as beg
gars. Further, they disclaimed
any intention of seeking an easy
way out by negotiating interest
bearing loans, but rather stated
that they were opposed to any
type of debt of a burdensome
nature which, like World War I
obligations, would have to be
eventually repudiated.
In shying from the idea of an in
terest - bearing loan, the British left
the way open for an outright grant,
which would be strongly bucked
here, or a long-range interest-free
advance.
shape Italian Ireaty
While the British talked dollars
in Washington, D. C., the Big Five
council of foreign ministers con
tinued discussions in London con
cerning the future political and ter
ritorial makeup of postwar Europe,
with the diplomatists occupied with
drawing up an Italian peace treaty.
Foremost of the problems associ
ated with an Italian treaty was the
disposition of the country’s North
African colonies, with the British
reportedly frowning on the Ameri
can proposition for permitting the
Italians to retain their territories
under a United Nations trusteeship.
As the eternal jockeying for
protective boundaries and rich
interests cropped up, the Brit
ish were said to favor Italian
retention of only western Libya
while taking for themselves
eastern Libya covering Egypt
and Italian Somaliland fronting
the gateway to the vital Red sea
leading to the Suez canal. At
the same time, the French re
portedly sought a slice of north
western Libya from Italy to
strengthen their own Tunisian
holding.
But if the disposition of Italian colo
nies posed a big problem, so did the
readjustment of Italy’s European
borders, with France out for a re
adjustment of the Alpine boundary
and Yugoslavia hot for annexation
of the strategic Istrian peninsula
with its rich port of Trieste. As the
meeting progressed, the Big Five
were said to have considered a com
promise under which Italy would re
linquish the peninsula jutting into
the Adriatic sea but retain Trieste
itself.
With U. S. and British pressure
for free and open elections in Ro
mania and Bulgaria already having
forced the communists’ hands in
those countries, Yugoslav and
Greek rightists next came to the fore
at the foreign ministers’ conference
to request intervention in the
political affairs of those Balkan
states to assure a fair and peaceful
democratic representation.
RELIGION:
Courses Challenged
Traditional American separation
of church from state was the issue
Mrs. Vashti McCullom of Cham
paign, 111., raised against the Cham
paign school board in her suit to
halt voluntary religious instruction
in the public schools in the com
munity.
With both Mrs. McCullom and the
board prepared to appeal to the Su
preme court in event of their loss
of the decision, the suit promises to
affect similar instruction in 1,856
communities in 46 states. North Da
kota and New Hampshire are the
only states without such religious
courses.
In bringing her suit as the inter
ested party, Mrs. McCullom stated
that as the only pupil in his class
not enrolled in the voluntary 30 min
ute per week instruction in the Prot
estant, Catholic and Jewish faiths,
her 10-year-old son Terry had suf
fered acute embarrassment. As a
result, she said, indirect pressure
had been brought to bear against the
youngster to take the course, regard
less of his inclination, on public
school property maintained by tax
payers' funds.
In countering Mrs. McCullom’s
charge, the school board pointed out
that the courses were outside of the
school curricula and purely volun
tary, with the representatives of all
of the principal religious denomina
tions conducting and financing the
instruction.
Aside from the state constitution
and statutes involved, federal inter
vention hinged on the first amend
ment to the U. S. Constitution, which
provides: “Congress shall make no
law respecting an establishment of
religion or prohibiting the free ex
ercise thereof” . . . and section
1 of the 14th amendment to the Con
stitution declaring . . . “No state
shall make or enforce any law
which shall abridge the privileges
or immunities of the citizens of the
United States; nor shall any state
deprive any person of life, liberty,
or property without due process of
law, nor deny to any person within
its jurisdiction the equal protection
of the laws.”
Mother of three boys and wife of
a University of Illinois professor, 32
year-old Mrs. McCullom said that
while she realized the suit might
harm young Terry, her deep con
viction on separation of church from
state inspired her action.
Plan Jobless Benefits
Though the senate finance
committee worked out a broad
postwar unemployment benefit
bill, the solons turned down
Pres. Harry S. Truman’s recom
mendation that jobless com
pensation be raised to a maxi
mum of $25 per week.
Instead, the committee bent to
the task of shaping a measure
which would authorize the fed
eral government to contribute
funds toward extending the time
of state unemployment payments
60 per cent. Benefits now range
from $15 for 14 weeks in Ari
zona to $28 for 30 weeks in Con
necticut.
Both federal and maritime
workers would be made eligible
for unemployment compensa
tions under the proposed bill, at
the rate existent in the state of
their employment.
In addition, workers who mi
grated to war production cen
ters would be allowed up to $200
for transportation expenses
back to their old residences or
new job locations. Money would
not be advanced for the ship
ment of any household effects,
however.
STRIKES:
Hit Radio
Heading up a wave of strikes,
leaving over 100,000 workers idle,
was the walkout of engineers of the
National and American Broadcast
ing companies partly paralyzing ra
dio programs and forcing executive
technicians to take over operation of
the controls.
Though the strike ostensibly was
over wage demands, informed in
dustry sources said the walkout was
a flareup of a dispute between the
independent engineers’ union and
Jimmy Petrillo’s American Feder
ation of Musicians, AFL, over which
of the two should represent the em
ployees who turn the records for
transcribed broadcasts.
While the war labor board or
dered the radio companies to deal
with the engineers over the record
changers, the AFM’s jurisdiction
over the so-called “platter jockeys”
has been recognized in Chicago,
Washington, New York and Detroit.
Because the big chains feared Pe
trillo might call his musicians out
on strike if they dealt with the en
gineers over the record changers, it
was charged, they have been stall
ing on the negotiations.
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