Should We'Stick Our Necks Out?"

Has the time arrived when the shipowners, waterfront employers and retail lumbermen should give the public the actual facts regarding the maritime strike? Kenneth Smith, secretary-manager of the Lumber and Allied Products Institute of Los Angeles, discusses this subject in a recent bulletin to the Association members entitled, "Should We 'Stick Our Necks Out ?' " A copy of the bulletin folIows:

"Our Executive Committee last week seriously considered rvhether the time had not come in the progress of the shipping strike when the shippers (that is, retailers like ourselves) whose business is injured by this stoppage of work, should not become vocal. It was decided to ascertain the view of other businesses similarly situated and also the view of our friends in the shipping business. So far, as you undoubtedly know from your own reading:, most of the talking in the newspapers has been done by the representatives of the unions. A great deal of what they have said has been without foundation or has been highly colored simply to make good propaganda for themselves. It has apparently been the belief of those who are acting for the 'ship owners that it is better to keep quiet and endeavor to find an amicable settlement than to carry the details of the controversy to the public.

"As a retail lumber dealer, you are vitally affected, and if you want to post yourself with a factual account of the events leading to the 1936 strike of Marine and Longshore tJnions, the Waterfront Employers' Association, 258 W.7th St., San Pedro, Calif., will be glad to send you upon request a copy of 'Maritime Strikes on the Pacific Coast.'

"It is my personal opinion that the shipowners, the waterfront employers and all retailers, who, like ourselves, are suffering the usual fate of the innocent bystander, have been and continue to be altogether too inarticulate.

"If all citizens had the actual facts, pressure of public sentiment would operate not only to end the strike but to end it upon a fair and workable basis.

"I feel that not only on this issue but that on all of the issues which vitally affect the cost of doing business; upon measures which decrease the wage fund and which therefore determine the amount that can be paid to any individual except at the expense of his fellows; upon taxes and upon government competition with the private citizen, business men generally have been altogether too fearful of stating their honest convictions. I feel that business men must become articulate, must learn to go out and convince the general public of the soundness of those things in which they believe.

"Because I agree heartily with him, I call attention to the statement made by Mr. O. M. Chester, President of the National Association of Manufacturers and Chairman of the Board of General Foods, in which he says that, 'Silence in the face of the attacks being made upon us implies that we are either guilty of the charges made against us or that we are lacking in moral courage.' He urges that, 'In the spirit of true enlightenment, without rancor, or malice or political bias industry should speak. How can we longer continue to seek the seclusion of silence and expect any judgment except that which has been passed upon us in recent years.'

"What do you think? Should we continue to'take it and like it' or try to remedy conditions by helping to bring about a better understanding of what is involved ?"

Manufacturing Housing Promotion Council

Representatives of 54 manufacturers and associations in the construction and home furnishing field at a meeting in Chicago on November 18 voted to incorporate the Manufacturing Housing Promotion Council. Indianapolis was selected as temporary headquarters.

Russell G. Creviston, director of advertising and sales promotion, Crane Co., is chairman of the Council. H. M. Shackelford of Johns-Manville and H. H. Hobart of the Curtis Companies were elected vice chairmen at the Chicago meeting. I. N. Tate of the Weyerhauser Sales Company, St. Paul, was elected treasurer and J. Frank Cantwell of Indianapolis, managing director.

Visits California

C. H. Ditewig, sales manager, West Oregon Linnton, Ore., was recently in San Francisco geles on a business trip.

Lumber Co., and Los An-