McLaughlin Glass Company, Los Angeles, CA

LOS ANGELES, CALIF.

By J. M. Price

TRADE conditions, I am sorry to state, have taken a little further slip down hill. At this writing the Crystalite Glass Company at Glendale, Calif., has been down for about six weeks, but Brother Fred Glassen informed me by the time this letter appears in the magazine, they will be working again. The Technical Glass Company has been down about three weeks and I have been unable to secure any information when they will start. We can only hope it will be soon. At the McLaughlin Glass Company's plant things are about the same. I don't know anything about the A. H. Forgar Company plant. At the Brock Glass Company, at Santa Ana, Calif., the members have been working four days a week, after being off about five weeks, and the men tell me that things are looking pretty good; I am glad to report that our mould makers at the different bottle factories, are all enjoying steady work. Vice-President Gillooly arrived in our city on August 14th and at a special meeting held on August 15th he addressed the members of Local Union No. 141 and gave us some information in regards to the glass industry that was very enlightening. We try to keep up with the industry but we are a long way from the seat of the glass industry, so these messages that are brought to us by our National Officers are very much appreciated by all. We are only sorry that it takes so much time and money, for we could enjoy one of these visits about every six months. Sure was pleased to see so many of our members out at the last regular meeting and also at the special meeting. Glad to se that the missionary work I did at Long Beach bore fruit. You have made a good start, Brother, keep it up. Bring a few more next time.

Rex Aldridge, mould maker at the McLaughlin plant, left on August 14th on his vacation for old Missouri, going back to show the home-folks what the Land of Sunshine and hot air will do for you. Cree Daly arrived back after a trip through the East. To Al. Hockendoner, Pittsburgh, Pa., just a word about Fred Senn. Your loss is our gain, for I think Brother Senn will become a "native son." I understand that T. W. Rowe is still in the city. Come down to the meeting some time, Tom. I feel assured you would receive a hearty greeting. Hope to give you all a good report in my next letter about Local Union No. 141 and that picnic we are holding on Labor Day. The Sports Committee composed of Dan Rock, Nels Conradson and Toger Anderson, have their plans pretty well in hand. Vacation days are over, so it is time to buckle down and get busy for the next fire and the glassworker is the most hopeful fellow in the world, for if he were not, many of us would have put the tools away years ago and given up in disgust. But there is something about the work that holds you, while there are many that have left the trade and made good in other walks of life. Bring any one of them back, put a pipe or a punty in his hand and see how proud he is to show his friends his skill. There is something else around that corner now instead of prosperity, and that is Old Man Winter. I am afraid he is going to meet you before prosperity does. Well let us hope that Nature will consider the conditions and be very easy on us.

What has become of all the bright and intelligent men we have always been led to believe we have in our great country? Here we, have been in the grasp of poverty since the fall of 1929 and not one of them has been able to do anything. A hundred cures have been suggested, but the patient seems to be failing. Governor Long of Louisiana, speaking to the farmers and their wives, of his State said, "if those who have. too much dont take care of those who have too little, those who have too little will go and get it. It is outrageous to have cotton and wheat piled up until you can't see the sun, more clothes than the country could wear out in two years, more grub than it could eat in three years, and yet — have people nearly naked and starving and without shelter." And I have not heard that Governor Long was jerked from the platform and thrown in jail, so I guess they have free speech in Louisiana. My advice is — don't try a speech like that here Brothers. Just a word in closing in regards to the August Flint. I hope all the Brothers enjoyed it as much as I did. The painstaking care with which the Editor gave us the proceeding's of the Convention I am sure was appreciated by all. Faith and Hope, the working-man's motto. Hoping for the best and faith that it will come.