6 Heppner Gazette Times, January 31, 1946
Lexington Items
By MBS. MARY EDWABDS
Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Jones of Ya
kima were week-end visitors at the
home of Mr. and Mrs. Ted Mc
Millan. Mrs. Bertha Hur.t underwent a
serious operation in The Dalles hos
pital last week. At the latest re
port she is reported to be doing
nicely.
Mr. and Mrs. Truman Messenger
entertained at a party Sunday eve
ning honoring the birthday of their
son Franklin. The evening was
spent playing games after which
delicious refreshments were served.
Clarence Buchanan arrived home
Monday. He was recently discharg
ed from the army after spending
over two years overseas in the Pa
cific islands during which time he
saw much action.
Cletus and Paul Nichols of Port
land arrived last week-end in re
sponse to word that their father T.
H. Nichols was seriously ill. Mr.
Nichols has suffered three strokes
during the last few weeks and is
very low.
Word was received here Tuesday
of the marriage of Miss Frieda
Breeding and William F. Matthews.
The ceremony took place Jan. 21 in
Walla Walla. The bride is the eld
est daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar
Breeding of Lexington and the
groom is veteran of World War II
and is a native son of Pendleton.
Cpl Herman Wallace arrived
home Sunday. He has been overseas
for about nine months. At the ter
mination of his leave he will be re
assigned to some base in the States.
CLYDE F. PETTYJOHN AT SEA
ON THE USS HOWARD
On the USS Douglas L. Howard,
at Sea. Clyde F. Pettyjohn, radar
man, second class, USSR, Lexing
ton, Ore., served on this destroyer
escort when she was engaged in
post-war naval activities in the
Marshall Islands.
Earlier in the war the Howard
was active in anti-submarine and
convoy patrols in the Atlantic. In
July, 1945, she was attached to the
Pacuc Fleet and was at Pearl Har
bor getting ready to enter the bat
tle wen the Japs surrendered.
m
GUESTS FROM CANADA
Archdeacon and Mrs. Neville
Blunt drove to Umatilla Tuesday
evening to meet some friends, Mr.
and Mrs. George Patrick, of Strath
more, Alberta, Canada, who will be
their guests for several days. The
Patricks are enroute to Monterey,
Calif., to spend several months.
A Letter to the President
of the United States
January 18, 1946
Hon. Harry S. Truman
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, D. C.
Dear Mr. President:
Your proposal to me in Washington last
evening that the wage demand of the United
Steelworkers of America-CIO be settled on
the basis of a wage increase of 18V2 cents
an hour, retroactive to January 1, 1946, can
not, I regret to say, be accepted by the
United States Steel Corporation for the rea
sons set forth below.
As you must be aware, your proposal is
almost equivalent to granting in full the
Union's revised demand of a wage increase
of 19 Vk cents an hour, which was advanced
by Philip Murray, the President of the Union,
at our collective bargaining conference with
the Union in New York a week ago today
In our opinion, there is no just basis from
any point of view for a wage increase to our
steel workers of the large size you have pro
posed, which, if put into effect, is certain
to result in great financial harm not only t(
this Corporation but also to users of steel in
general.
As I have tried to make clear to you and
other Government officials during our con
ferences in Washington over the past few
days, there is a limit in the extent to which
the Union wage demands ran be met by us.
We reached that limit when we raised our
offer to the Union last Friday from a wage
increase of 12 cents an hour to one of 15
cents an hour. This would constitute the
highest single wage increase ever made by
our steel-making subsidiaries. Our offer of
15 cents was equivalent to meeting 60 of
the Union's original excessive demand of a
$2 a day general wage increase. Our offer
met 75 of the Union's final proposal of a
wage increase of 19 V- cents an hour. A wage
increase of 15 cents an hour, such as we of
fered, would increase the direct labor costs
of our manufacturing subsidiaries by ap
proximately $60,000,000 a year. That is a
most substantial sum, and does not take into
account the higher costs we shall have to pay
for purchased goods and services, when large'
wage increases generally become effective
throughout American industry, as is inevit
able after a substantial increase in steel
wages.
As you know, ry v -?tive bargs'V"-
tiations with the Union broke down at the
White House yesterday afternoon, because
Mr. Murray then refused to budge from his
position that a country-wide steel strike
must take place, unless steel workers are
granted a general wage increase of 19V2
cents an hour. Our offer of a wage increase
of 15 cents an hour was again rejected by
the Union.
The Union threatened to go ahead wjth
its program for a national steel strike at
midnight next Sunday, although such a
strike will be a clear violation of. the no
strike provision contained in our labor con
tracts with the Union, which continue by
their terms until October 15, 1946.
From the outset, we have recognized how
injurious a steel strike will -be to reconver
sion and to the economy of this whole coun
try. Most industries are dependent upon a
supply of steel for their continued opera
tions. We have done everything reasonably
within our power to avert such a strike. If
a strike occurs, the responsibility rests with
the Union.
When the Government at the eleventh
hour informed us about a week ago of its
willingness to sanction an increase in steel
ceiling prices, we at once resumed collective
bargaining negotiations with the Union. Such
price action by the Government was a rec
ognition by it of the right of the steel in
dustry to receive price relief because of past
heavy increases in costs, something which
the steel industry for many months has un
successfully sought to establish with OPA.
1 should like again to point out some per
tinent facts relative to the wages of our
steel workers.
, Since January, 1P41, the average straight
time hourly pay, without overtime, of our
steel workers has increased more than the
33 increase in the cost of living during
that period, recently computed by Govern
ment authorities. Steel workers' wages have
kept pace with increased living costs. Such
average straight-tine pay in our steel-producing
subsidiaries was $1.14 an hour in
each of the months of September, October
and November 1945, excluding any overtime
premium and any amount for correction of
possible wage inequities. An increase of 15
cents, in accordance with our offer, would
raise such average straight-time pay to $1.29
an hour, placing such pay among the highest
today in all of American industry.
Under our offer of a 15 cent increase, the
average weekly take-home pay of our steel
workers for a forty-hour week would amount
to $51.60, assuming that no overtime is in
volved. This figure is only $4.54 less than
the actual average weekly earnings of these
employees, including overtime, in the last
full war year of 1944, when the average
work week was 46.1 hours. The difference
is really less, because we will undoubtedly
continue to have overtime in the future, just,
as we have at the present time. In Novem
ber, 1945, overtime premiums to our steel
wor-kers aggregated more than $1,300,000.
Such reduction of $4.54 in weekly take-home
pay is the natural consequence of a shorter
work week of forty hours, and therefore one
of lower production.
Much as we desire to avoid a steel, strike,
we cannot overlook the effect both on this
Corporation and on our customers and
American business in general, of the I8V2
cent an hour wage increase, which you have
proposed. Such a wage increase must result
in higher prices for steel than have pre
viously been proposed to us by the Govern
ment. Great financial harm would soon fol
low for all users of steel who would be obliged
to pay higher prices for their steel, higher
wages to their employees, and still have the
prices for their own products subject to OPA
control. Such a high and unjustified wage
scale might well spell financial disaster for
many of the smaller steel companies and for
a large number of steel fabricators and
processors. The nation needs the output of
these companies. Increased wages and in
creased prices which force companies out of
business can only result in irreparable danv
.age to the American people.
In our judgment, it is distinctly in the
public interest to take into account the in
jurious effect upon American industry of an
unjustified wage increase in the steel industry.
After a full and careful consideration of
your proposal, we have reached the conclu
sion above stated.
Respectfully yours,
Benjamin P. Fairless,
President, United States Steel Corporation
United States Steel Corporation