Something Like Having No Hair

HELLOF FOLKS! — The manager of a small town telephone exchange told a middle-aged farmer? "With those two teenage daughters you have, we ought to double your telephone rate."

"On the contrary," the farmer replied, "you ought not charge me anything, since I never get to use the phone."

—o—

A DRAFTEE was awakened by his platoon sergeant after the rookie's first night in the barracks.

"It's four-thirty!" bellowed the sergeant.


"Four-thirty!" gasp the rookie. "Man, you had better go to bed. We got a big day tomorrow!"

—o—

THERE IS a lot of discussion these days about the so-called "right to work" law. It is in effect in 14 states and is up for voting in six others.

Labor officials in general are for it because it gives them a tailormaid way of collecting dues and leaves them free of the responsibility of maintaining membership by their own ingenuity.

Some have called it a "right to scab" law. By that they mean that some laborers will refuse to join just to get out of paying dues. This is true, we have in every element of our society people who do as little as possible to help out a good cause. This is only natural and is no more true in labor circles than anywhere else. For instance among famers in Freeborn county there are more than one-half of them that belong to neither of the two farm organizations.

Is this bad, however? I think not. It is the trademark of a free society. If the farmers do not feel that either farm organization is doing the job it should, they should most certainly have the right to do something about it. That is a God given right that should never be taken from them. It is the very thing that keeps the organizations on their toes and makes them either produce or die. It is the thing that keep them clean, for if the officials get corrupt the members soon find out about it and will refuse to support them. It is that very principle that makes our country great and prosperous. The people in public service have to stimulate themselves into action or get out.

The right to work then is as essential to the American way of life as the freedom of speech, press assemblies, worship, right to own property or any of the other great freedoms.

Because an organization does not have a majority of members in it does not mean that it cannot be heard or have it's influence felt to as great a degree. To the contrary; does it seem right that an organization that forces its members could necessarily sway public opinion? No. The very fact that the membership is based on forcing a worker to either pay up or starve has within itself the seeds of its own destruction. In the same way the all the tyrants of history have sown their destruction.

We need strong unions, not brittle ones, and the way for them to remain strong is for them to remain free and get their membership by virtue of their benefit to humanity.

I think that if we analyze the reason for the wholesale corruption in such organizations as the Teamsters Union it all goes back to the fact that rank and file members have to ante-up or lose their jobs, which means they starve.

Unions did not get their strength under compulsory membership. Figures prove that in the states with right to work laws the labor members have actually gotten higher increases in pay than in other states.

Because a man or woman refuses to pay into an organization it does not make them anymore of a scab than is the person who wants to have a soft touch by not having to work for his position. No organization ever gained respect by name calling and if you notice that when we point our fingers at someone else, there are three fingers on the hand points back at us. So let's be careful how we [use] our pointing

Force corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

I think the wise labor leader will recognize what is causing the terrible corruption in their union and welcome laws guaranteeing the right to work. There are many other things that need to be done to help labor get on the right path again; they will have to be discussed at some future time.