THE U.C.C.QUARTERLY
VOLUME 4, NO. 4 FALL 1946
State College—Valuable Asset to North Carolina Industry
AIR VIEW OF NORTH CAROLINA STATE COLLEGE, RALEIGH, N. C.
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PUBLISHED BY
UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION COMMISSION OF NORTH CAROLINA
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APR 1 1947
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PAGE 70 THE U. C. C QUARTERLY FALL, 1946
The U. C. C. Quarterly
Volume 4 ; Number 4 Fall, 1946
Issued four times a year at Raleigh, N. C, by the
UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION COMM8SSSON OF
NORTH CAROLINA
Commissioners: Mrs. W. T. Bost, Raleigh; Judge C. E. Cowan,
Morganton; C. A. Fink, Spencer; R. Dave Hall, Belmont;
Marion W. Heiss, Greensboro; Dr. Harry D. Wolf, Chapel
Hill.
State Advisory Council: Capus M. Waynick, Raleigh, Chair-man;
Willard Dowell, Raleigh; H. L. Kiser, Charlotte; Dr.
Thurman D. Kitchin, Wake Forest; Robert F. Phillips, Ashe-ville;
Mrs. Dillard Reynolds, Winston-Salem; Mrs. Emil
Rosenthal, Goldsboro; W. Cedric Stallings, Charlotte.
HENRY E. KENDALL Chairman
R. FULLER MARTIN, Director Unemploym't Compensat'n Div.
ERNEST C. McCRACKEN, Director Employment Service Div.
M. R. DUNNAGAN Editor
Informational Service Representative
Cover illustrations represent typical North Carolina
industries under the unemployment compensation
program or related activities.
Cover for Fall, lQlfi—Aerial view of North Carolina State Col-lege
of Agriculture and Engineering of the Greater University
of North Carolina, in West Raleigh, showing a large part of
the main college buildings and campus Seaboard and South-ern
railway tracks are seen at the right. College property
holdings total 2,617 acres, including dairy and livestock
farms. A projected expansion program would double the
present school facilities for the 4,500 students now enrolled.
An article in this issue by Charles W. Daniel, former editor,
N. C. State College News Service, explains the ways in which
the college contributes to industry in North Carolina.
Sent free upon request to responsible individuals, agencies,
organizations and libraries. Address: U. C. C. Informational
Service, Raleigh, N. C.
CONTENTS
Page
Ernest C. McCracken, Director Employment Service
Division 70
College Research Aids States Expanding Industries,
by Charles W. Daniel 71
Employment Service Returned to State UCC November 16,
by M. R. Dunnagan 73
State Planning to Develop and Expand Industries,
by Felix A. Grisette 74
Big Increase in Small Industries in North Carolina,
by Silas F. Campbell 76
Identifying and Locating Unemployed in North Carolina,
by Hugh M. Raper 78
Unemployed must Seek Jobs to Qualify for Benefits 79
Decided Decrease in Benefit Payments in Fall Months 79
Trends in Covered Employment, Weekly Wages, 1942-1945,
by Silas F. Campbell 80
Apprentice Training Being Revived in N. C. Industries,
by M. R. Dunnagan 82
Where are the Workers for North Carolina Industries?
by Benton Bray 84
Coal Mine in North Carolina Expected to Produce Soon,
by Bill Sharpe .. 85
Maritime Workers Covered; Greenhouse Exempt,
by R. B. Billings 86
Veterans Refund Allowances in Concurrent Payments 87
Millions Involved in Veteran Readjustment Allowances,
by M. R. Dunnagan 88
Unemployment Decreases; Average Weekly Wages Show
Increase 90
New Industries 181, Expansions 100, in Six Months,
by Bill Sharpe 91
Increase in Small Firms in North Carolina 91
Armed Services Amendment to Social Security Act.... 92
Less Than Two Percent of Veterans Exhausted Allowances . 93
North Carolina in Region IV Has Less Unemployment 95
Federal Agencies Reorganized by Executive Order, Plan 2.... 96
National City Bank Cites Unemployment Problems 98
Marion W. Heiss is New Employer-Member of UCC 99
ERNEST C. M'CRACKEN, DIRECTOR
EMPLOYMENT SERVICE DIVISION
Ernest C. McCracken, former assistant State di-rector
of the U. S. Employment Service for North
Carolina, now the North Carolina State Employment
Service Division of U.C.C., was appointed State Di-rector
to succeed R. Mayne Albright, resigned, and
Robert M. du Bruyne, chief of Programs and
Methods, succeeded McCracken as assistant State
director, both effec-tive
October 1, 1946.
John Francis Foy,
regional director,
USES, Washington,
announced the ap-pointments.
The appointments
were made in Wash-ington,
but after as-surance
that they
were acceptable to
Henry E. Kendall,
chairman of the Un-employment
Com-pensation
Commis-sion
of North Caro-lina,
and other State
officials, since the
USES, under con-gressional
direction,
was to be (and was)
returned to the State
UCC on November 16.
Mr. McCracken has a splendid background for his
new duties. He joined the Employment Service in
1937 as interviewer in the Waynesville office, later
was interviewer at Marion, assistant Manager at
Asheville and manager at Lenoir. Late in 1940 he
was transferred to Raleigh and served for periods as
training supervisor, field supervisor and as chief of
the Planning Section. Mr. McCracken was called to
Washington in 1942 as assistant regional represen-tative
of Region IV, during which year he served for
a few months as acting State director for the USES
in West Virginia.
Upon return he served for about a year as assist-ant
State director, was commissioned as an Ensign
in the U. S. Naval Reserve in August 1943, and was
promoted to Lieutenant (jg) during his service of
two and one-half years. He was assigned to the
Fourth Naval District, comprising Pennsylvania,
Delaware and southern New Jersey as assistant to
the district civilian personnel director and was sta-tioned
at Bethlehem, Penna., most of the time. He
resumed his post as assistant State director in Feb-ruary
after release from the Navy.
Mr. McCracken is a native of Haywood County, a
graduate of Western Carolina Teachers College at
Cullowhee and spent four years as teacher and prin-cipal
in the Waynesville Schools before joining the
Employment Service.
(Continued on next Page)
Ernest C. McCracken
FALL, 1946 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 71
College Research Aids State's Expanding Industries
By Charles W. Daniel, Former Editor, N. C. State College News Service
North Carolina is the richest "deficit" State in the
Union. Tobacco taxes alone set the State very close
to the top in payment of revenue to the federal gov-ernment.
The objective query of an outsider might well be
why should this State, with fine mountains and sea-coast,
abundant waterways, fine soils and minerals
of virtually every type usable, 48,000 miles of good
roads and every natural resource to make it self-sufficient,
import such high percentages of meat,
milk, shirts, engines and a host of other essentials?
North Carolina grew up naturally from the time
of Virginia Dare's disappearance into a State of pre-dominantly
agricultural interests, small towns and
small industries. Aside from the tobacco folks, no-body
did anything on a scale sufficient to accommo-date
consumer demand.
Like the streets of Durham, one of the State's
larger cities, industries in North Carolina "just
happened," most of them without benefit of basic
research.
Research developed the atomic bomb, the girdle
with the two-way stretch, the electric light and just
about everything else useful today. It can develop
North Carolina resources sufficiently to make the
State essentially independent of imports from other
States.
North Carolina and the South today are "deficit"
States and behind the times in industrial develop-ment
primarily because of the absence of research
and trained research personnel.
ERNEST C. MXRACKEN, DIRECTOR
EMPLOYMENT SERVICE DIVISION
(Continued from Page 70)
Mr. du Bruyne, new assistant State director, also
came up through the ranks of the Employment Ser-vice.
He joined the UCC late in 1937 as a claims
interviewer at Rockingham and served later as field
investigator in Asheville. After transfer to the Em-ployment
Service, he served as manager of the Le-noir,
Fayetteville and High Point local offices, and
was promoted to field supervisor and area director
for the War Manpower Commission. Mr. du Bruyne
was transferred to the State office in August, 1943,
as chief of placement and has served as assistant
State Director, and Acting State Director, following
Dr. J. S. Dorton's resignation as WMC State director
and pending Mr. Albright's return from military
leave.
UCC Chairman Kendall expressed entire satisfac-tion
over appointments of Mr. McCracken and Mr.
du Bruyne to key positions in the Employment Ser-vice
and the assurance of continued close cooperation
after the USES returned to State control on Novem-ber
16.
State College is one of the few seats of industrial
and business experimentation in the State. Projects
are now being conducted by the research arms of the
Engineering and Textile schools of the college which
give promise of opening new avenues to small Tar
Heel industry and of creating the attraction which
could draw new manufacturing concerns to North
Carolina.
The efforts of the college to promote North State
industry are not confined to research. Recently a
high-paid official of Westinghouse Electric, impress-ed
by the performance of five young employes who
had just graduated from State College with engineer-ing
degrees ,determined to send his son to the West
Raleigh institution.
The efforts of Engineering Dean John H. Lampe,
and Textile Dean Malcolm E. Campbell are bent to
turn out such well-trained graduates as to awaken
manufacturers in other states to the fact that North
Carolina is the state with both the facilities for
training highly skilled workers and the facilities for
the production of finished goods. The engineering
school attracted 2,000 students in September. The
textile school, already by far the largest in the world,
attracted 500.
Foremost among research projects at the college
in engineering, textiles and agriculture are those
aimed to benefit small industries already struggling
for a foothold at home. The relatively small staff of
research workers must first establish continuous re-lationships
with the operators of small industry.
They must discover the production problems of the
small operator and then proceed to help him with
his problems.
(Continued on next Page)
„w* \, 4
Diesel Engineering Building. State College
PAGE 71 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY FALL, 1946
Among college projects in this category are lab-oratory
efforts to improve textile machine design;
to develop improved methods of drying brick ; to de-termine
the ignition point and burning rate of plas-tics
; to test the burning characteristics of domestic
fuel oils; to discover a more sanitary means of dis-posing
of both municipal and industrial wastes in
the State's streams ; and, to use the institution's more
than $3,000,000 worth of diesel machines and equip-ment
to plug the State at the most likely spot on the
Eastern Seaboard for the manufacture of diesel
engines.
Heading the laboratory efforts in textile machine
design is Dr. Clarence M. Asbill, Jr., creator of num-erous
cotton processing machines and the holder of
many patents. The college's modernistic laboratory
has recently been enhanced with surplus army equip-ment
bought at Seymour Johnson Field near Golds-boro.
Dr. Asbill is confident that new and far-reach-ing
developments in textile machinery are not far
away.
Dr. W. W. Kreigel and Martin Parcel are working
on a project designed to speed up the drying process
for structural clay products. Brick production is a
fast-growing enterprise in the State. Many opera-tors
now have machines capable of cutting and dress-ing
300,000 brick daily. However, the average kiln
is capable of drying only 70,000 brick daily. The
work, intended to bring the drying capacity up to the
cutting peak, is being conducted with infra-red rad-iation.
The scientists admit that this is a tough one.
In chemical engineering, D. S. Weaver, Jr., is
searching for a simple, rapid and accurate method
of determining the ignition point and the burning
rate of various plastic materials. The world use of
plastics has become so extensive as to lend great
significance to this job. Among the more common
commodities to be affected by any findings are movie
film and table tops. The Navy has conducted incon-clusive
research on this problem. The American
Society for Testing Materials is providing financial
backing for the tests.
The only piece of industrial research financed by a
private business at State College is being pursued
by W. F. Morris, Jr., for the Texas Company. It is
to test the burning characteristics of different types
of domestic fuel oils. Morris' investigation has never
been attempted before although similar research
has been made by other oil companies. Oil company
forecasters say that within a short period, the de-mand
for fuel oil will double that for gasoline.
One big and obvious reason for this conclusion is
the rapid turn by virtually all trunk rail companies
to the use of diesel engines as opposed to the old coal-burners.
First in this connection is the Seaboard
which already has 32 passenger diesel units, 44 EMC
(twin-engine) freight units and one large Baldwin
engine, which is heavier than both sections of an
EMC-powered unit. Officials of the railroad said
that the company intends to become entirely diesel-ized
as fast as tracks
can be conditioned
to accommodate the
weight.
Here, according to
Professor R.B.Rice,
head of the Diesel
Engineering School
at State college, is
where the school,
with its more than
$3,000,000 in diesel
equipment comes in.
There is not a single
diesel manufactur-ing
plant on the
Eastern Seaboard
(aside from the Sun
Shipbuilding Com-pany
at Chester, Pa.,
which builds only
custom engines for
the Sun ships). The
State has the sea
coast, the facilities, Memorial Tower, State College
the manpower, and now, the means of training neces-sary
personnel to build these oil-burning engines
which are coming into greater use everywhere.
Raleigh is a middle point on the north-south rail run
from New York to southern terminals. It could
logically become a diesel maintenance center for all
the big railroads which run through the city: Sea-board,
Atlantic Coast Line and Southern. When the
railroads first began using diesel power, special
maintenance men and mechanics were hired to ride
the trains. That maintenance system still stands.
The American Society of Refrigerating Engineers
has called upon Dr. E. M. Schoenborn, head of the
Department of Chemical Engineering, to investigate
"heat transfer as affected by frost and ice" in an
attempt to develop more efficient refrigerating ma-chines.
Ice and frost formations in refrigerators
reduces efficiency. Work on the job will begin this
fall.
J. A. Rolston, in metalurgical engineering, is con-ducting
research into the relative merits of metal
surfaces in soldering to make joints. He will at-tempt
to discover what surfaces take solder best and
make better joints. Little if any work of a purely
scientific nature has been completed in this country
on soldering, a vital consideration in construction
and repair with metals.
Local and branch office personnel of the North
Carolina State Employment Service Division of UCC
made 153,453 reception contacts with the public dur-ing
December, 1946, which included three holidays,
at the 78 offices and about 80 itinerant points. This
was an increase of 31 percent over December, 1945.
The personnel made 13,584 referrals of job seekers
to jobs and verified 7,202 placements on jobs, an in-crease
of 16 percent over December, 1945. Of total
placements, 2,854 were of veterans and 303 were of
disabled veterans.
FALL, 1 946 THE U. C C. QUARTERLY PAGE 73
Employment Service Returned to State UCC November 16
By M. R. Dunnagan, Informational Service Representative
ployment Service remain under Federal control until
June 30 1947, at least, to take care of the readjust-ment,
placement of returning veterans, and proper
balancing on a national basis of the labor force. Con-gress
was insisting on the return of the Employment
Service to the several states. One amendment, a
rider on another measure, was enacted by Congress,
providing for the return earlier in 1946. President
Truman vetoed the bill. Later Congress provided
for the return of the Employment Service on Novem-ber
16, a compromise date, and President Truman
signed this measure.
Soon after its nationalization the U. S. Employ-ment
Service geared itself for the task of finding and
supplying workers for the numerous war plants that
sprang into existence almost overnight. Among its
earlier tasks, some in advance of its nationalization,
was providing labor for the many war forts, camps
and bases constructed in North Carolina, including
Fort Bragg's enlargement, Camp Davis, Camp But-ner,
marine bases at Camp Lejeune and Cherry
Point, and numerous other smaller projects.
Shipyards, airplane plants, precision machine
shops, rubber plants and others in this State, as well
as similar and other strategic types of operations in
other states, called upon the U. S. Employment Ser-vice
for workers. Many thousands were recruited
and transported to war jobs within and outside North
Carolina, which was looked upon as a labor supply
state—with a surplus of labor to be channelled into
urgent projects.
Soon after the Employment Service was national-ized
the War Manpower Commission was set up and
this Commission soon took over the USES as its main
operating agency. The WMC set up controls which
took labor from less essential and placed it in more
essential operations, set ceilings on the numbers of
workers in all industrial plants and channelled work-ers
into war activities where they could do the most
good in support of the war effort.
Through all of this the USES was the strong right
arm of the WMC. Its tasks were to implement and
seek to enforce the war-time regulations of the WMC,
collect data, on the basis of which labor marked areas
were set up showing shortages or surpluses of labor,
contracts were awarded or withheld and renewed or
terminated. These studies involved determinations
as to amounts and types of labor available, housing,
transportation, food supplies, sanitary conditions,
and many other factors in every community in the
State.
The USES in North Carolina did a magnificent
war job and modestly accepted the praise and plaud-its
of regional and national officials, industrial lead-ers
within and outside the State, labor organizations
and that large segment of the public generally which
had occasion to know of its activities.
Piloting the USES in its early days of war acitvity
was R. Mayne Albright, who had been appointed to
(Continued on Page 95)
The Employment Service is back with the State
UCC as a coordinate division, along with the Unem-ployment
Compensation Division, after almost five
years as a Federal agency, the United States Employ-ment
Service. The return of this division to the
State agency became effective as of November 16, as
the result of congressional action last summer.
Historically, the Employment Service is older than
the UCC. The Wagner-Peyser bill was enacted by
Congress in 1933, setting up a public employment
service on a nation-wide scope but with State par-ticipation.
This Employment Service superceded the
National Reemployment Service, which had been set
up primarily as an agency to place unemployed and
needy workers on public works projects during the
depression years following the 1928 debacle. Capus
M. Waynick, formerly of High Point, now of Raleigh,
was State director of the National Reemployment
Service in North Carolina.
The General Assembly of North Carolina, in 1935,
appropriated $75,000 a year to match Federal funds
provided in the Wagner-Peyser Act for establishing
a State-wide public employment service system
through local employment offices at key points
throughout the State. Mrs. May Thompson Evans,
now an assistant in the Headquarters office of the
USES, as assistant director of the National Reem-ployment
Service, was instrumental in securing the
passage of the bill providing for State participation
under the Wagner-Peyser Act and became the first
State director of the agency, then known as the
North Carolina State Employment Service.
In December, 1936, the North Carolina General
Assembly, in special session, enacted the State Un-employment
Compensation Law, which set up the
Unemployment Compensation Commission of North
Carolina and incorporated the North Carolina State
Employment Service in the agency as the Employ-ment
Service Division, coordinate with the Unem-ployment
Compensation Division. When the Em-ployment
Service was first established, it was under
the direction of the U. S. Department of Labor and
so continued until 1939, when it was placed under
the Social Security Board.
Soon after Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt issued an executive order, effective Jan-uary
1, 1942, combining the Employment Service
agencies in the 48 states and three Federal units into
a national agency, the U. S. Employment Service, on
the ground that this service could function more
efficiently as a national unit than it could as 51 sep-arate
units. In messages to the 48 State Governors,
President Roosevelt asked that the 48 State Employ-ment
Service units be turned over to the Federal
Government for the duration of the war. The Gov-ernors
agreed, placing the transfer on a loan basis,
the Employment Service units to be returned to the
States after the war was over.
President Harry S. Truman asked that the Em-
PAGE 74 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY FALL, 1946
State Planning to Develop and Expand Industries
By Felix A. Grissette, Managing Director North Carolina State Planning Board
The statute creating the North Carolina State
Planning Board defines its functions as follows:
"That it. shall be the function and duty of the State Plan-ning
Board to make studies of any matters relating to the
general development of State or regions within the State
or areas of which the State is a part, with the general pur-pose
of guiding and accomplishing a co-ordinated, adjusted,
and efficient development of the State. Upon the basis of
such studies, and in accordance with the present and fu-ture
needs and resources the board shall present, from
time to time, reports, plans, maps, charts, descriptive mat-ter
and recommendation relating to such conservation, wise
use and planned development of the material and human
resources of North Carolina as will best promote the health,
safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity and welfare
of the people of the State."
The act further specifies that the Board shall con-sist
of nine members, appointed by the Governor, as
follows : Five members to be chosen from State
officers or heads of departments or boards, one of
whom shall be the Director of the Department of
Conservation and Development; at least one repre-sentative
from the University of North Carolina,
and the remaining members to be chosen from among
the other citizens of the State. The members of the
Board shall hold office during the pleasure of the
Governor, and all vacancies shall be filled by the
Governor, when and as they may occur. The Gov-ernor
designates one member to serve as chairman
and the Board elects one of its members to serve as
secretary. Employees of the Board are appointed
by it and responsible to it.
D. Hiden Ramsey of Asheville is Board chairman
and R. Bruce Etheridge is secretary. Felix A. Gri-sette
has served as managing director since the Board
began its full-time activities early in 1944. Other
members are : W. F. Carr, Durham ; Harry B. Cald-well,
Greensboro ; Irving F. Hall, Raleigh ; Robert
M. Hanes, Winston-Salem; George W. Kane, Rox-boro
; Dr. Howard W. Odum, Chapel Hill ; Capus M.
Waynick, Raleigh.
A careful study of the functions of the Board, as
defined in the above quotation from the statute creat-ing
it, indicates that it has almost unlimited author-ity
in matters relating to the general development of
the State. The present Board has felt from the out-set
that this authority implied a great responsibility.
In attempting to fulfill this responsibility, the Board
formulated an eight-point program of policies which
should guide its activities, as follows
:
1. In all matters of policy, it must be borne in mind that
the legislative act which created the Planning Board
specified that it would be "an advisory agency of the
State."
2. In so far as possible, the planning projects which the
Planning Board may advocate should be executed by
the departments, divisions, agencies, and institutions
most directly concerned. The extent to which the
Planning Board can stimulate and encourage and
facilitate this planning within other agencies rather
than to attempt them itself should constitute the final
measure of its value to the State.
3. A logical complement of this policy of encouraging
planning within existing agencies would be that the
Planning Board serves as the coordinator in those pro-jects
which cut across departmental lines. If a pro-ject
involves two or more State agencies, as it fre-quently
will, the Planning Board should serve as the
liaison between the public and the agencies involved.
4. The policy of stimulating other agencies to execute
planned projects should presuppose a willingness and
ability on the part of the Planning Board to render
every possible assistance. Research information not
now available, for instance, would be a service for
which the Planning Board should assume responsibility.
5. The policy of stimulating other agencies to do the
actual planning does not remove entirely the possibility
that the Planning Board should undertake projects
in its own right. The responsibility implicit in its
all-inclusive objectives demands that it undertake such
needed projects as cannot be executed in some exist-ing
agency.
6. In keeping with this policy of collaboration, the
activities incident to the establishment and operation
of local planning boards should be undertaken in co-operation
with local officials and all interested local
lay groups.
7. Because of staff and budgetary limitations, the Planning
Board should limit its activities to a comparatively
few projects. Concentrated effort in a few fields would
seem preferable to scattered attempts in many direc-tions.
8. Subject to the limitations of its main objectives, the
Planning Board should concentrate on these projects
designed to meet the problems that will likely confront
the State in the immediate postwar period.
In attempting to perform the functions for which
it was created, consistent with the above statement of
policies, the work of the Board, since it was set up on
a full-time basis early in 1944, can be divided roughly
into four general classifications
:
I. To serve as a coordinating agency.
II. To aid and encourage organized planning at the
community level.
III. To serve as a research, fact-finding, information
agency in all matters relating to North Carolina.
IV. To make recommendations in behalf of a greater
North Carolina, based on the needs of the people of
the State.
A brief review of the high spots in these four fields
of activity will serve to make clear what the Board is
attempting to do.
I. A COORDINATING AGENCY
Many segments of State life cut across depart-mental
lines. Many important fields of endeavor are
partially the concern of several departments or in-stitutions
without being the exclusive responsibility
of any one such agency. This situation creates a
demand for one detached objective agency to serve
FALL, 1946 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 75
as a coordinator in order that duplication of effort
may be avoided and in order that no important ac-tivity
shall be overlooked. The Board conceives its
responsibility to include this function and it has
proceeded accordingly. Much of this coordinating
function is effectuated by the use of committees rep-resenting
all interests involved. Examples of such
coordinating committees, all of which are actively
at work in their respective fields, are:
The Committee on Resource-Use Education, which Gov-ernor
Cherry has pronounced as possibly the most im-portant
ever appointed in the history of the state.
The Committee on Services for Children and Youth
The Committee to Promote Rural Industries
The Committee on Agriculture
The Committee on Public Works
The Committee on Tourists and Travel
The Committee on Education
The Committee on Health
The Committee on Public Welfare
The Committee on Recreation
The Industry Advisory Committee
The Committee on Taxation
The Committee on Art, Literature and Music
The Committee on Community Planning
Committees on transportation and housing will
probably be appointed in the near future. Approx-imately
300 state officials and other prominent cit-izens
serve on these committees.
//. LOCAL PLANNING
North Carolina communities are urged to create
local planning agencies to perform the same func-tions
at the community level which the State Board
attempts to perform at the State level. Emphasis
on this phase of the program of work is predicated
on the premise that North Carolina will become a
STATE PLANNING BOARD
Photo taken in office of Governor R.
Gregg Cherry, seated left, with As-sociate
Justice E. B. Denny, seated
right, irho administered the oath of
office to the members. Members,
left to right, are R. Bruce Etheridge,
director. Department of Conserva-tion
and Development, secretary;
1>. Hiclen Ramsey, general manager.
Asheville Citizen-Times, chairman ;
William F. Carr, Durham. Hosiery
Mills and Mayor of Durham ; George
W. Kane, building contractor, Ro.r-boro:
Harry B. Caldwell. Greens-boro,
secretary. N. C. Good Health
Association ; Felix Grisette, Raleigh,
managing director; Irving F. Hall,
president State Capital Life Insur-ance
Co.. Raleigh; Capus M. Way-nick,
director. N. C. Social Hygiene
society. Absent member is Robert
M. Hemes, president. Wachovia Bank
x Trust Co.. Winston-Salem.
greater State only to the extent that its communities
become greater, that North Carolina in the final
analysis is nothing more nor less than the sum of the
counties, cities, and towns within its borders, that
if localities can solve their local problem the State's
problems will largely disappear.
There are now 75 local planning agencies of one
type or other throughout the State, and the number
is increasing regularly. Assistance is rendered these
groups by means of staff visitations and consulta-tions,
providing a clearing house of information,
periodic reports on what other communities are
doing, statistical and research assistance, etc. Typ-ical
types of assistance rendered local groups follow
:
"An Over-All Survey of the Needs and Opportunities of
Cleveland County"
A similar survey in Guilford County
(These surveys are intended to serve as guides for
other counties)
The publication of an outline of a suggested model type
of local planning set-up
A published report showing population changes in all
North Carolina counties since 1940
A printed compilation of basic statistical data on each
county
A survey of those resources in each county and com-munity
which best lend themselves to the attraction of
industries and tourists
The need and value of this service to North
Carolina communities recently prompted Governor
Cherry and the Council of State to make available the
necessary funds to enable the Board to establish a
full-fledged community planning department. As a
result of this action, Mr. Edward A. Conover, a com-munity
organization consultant of wide experience,
(Continued on Page 96)
PAGE 76 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY FALL, 1946
Big Increase In Small Industries In North Carolina
By Silas F. Campbell, Director Bureau of Research and Statistics, UCC of N. C.
The enviable position of North Carolina with re-spect
to stability of its industries and employment is
well known. Even during the depression period the
ratio of the number on relief rolls to the labor force
of the State was approximately 20 percent below the
average for the Nation, just as the ratio of employ-ment
has been shown to be over a score of years.
Its employment is centered largely in production of
consumer goods, the demand for which remained
strong throughout the period between World War I
and World War II. This demand was accelerated
during the second war and continues at an even
higher level.
Serving as a reservoir of labor for war industries,
a considerable portion of the State's labor force was
lost to other States during the war. The pre-war
level of available labor has not yet been restored,
though the total non-agricultural labor force for the
first time since 1941 reached 700,000 in March, 1946.
Many of its manufactures are of the low grade
type, since the State fails to take advantage of the
opportunity to embrace the final processes of manu-facture
in many of its important products, it loses
the opportunity to employ workers at higher skill
levels and at relatively higher wage levels. Con-sequently,
the average per capita weekly wage in
North Carolina remains about a third less than the
National average, although this average has in-creased
from $17.44 per week in 1940 to $31.10 in
1945. The result of these low wage levels doubtless
affects the disinclination of North Carolina workers
to return to the State with the present wage differ-ential
that exists between this and other States.
Notwithstanding these handicaps, North Carolina
industry was probably less adversely affected by war
and demobilization than any other State in which
war production was not especially concentrated.
There was a general feeling at the beginning of the
war that the small operator would be seriously handi-capped
and have to go out of business as a result of
the war, the reason being
:
1. That he would not have sufficient capital or
equipment to take large war contracts.
2. That he was not engaged in a type of business
considered essential to the prosecution of the war.
3. That the materials he would require for opera-tion
or sale would be so restricted that he could not
continue to operate.
4. That the skilled labor so employed would be
needed, and would find more attractive wages, in
essential war jobs.
These things all materialized, yet studies which
have been based on sizes of firm data do not support
the theory that the small employer in North Caro-lina
has fared badly on the whole because of war
conditions. An analysis made of the fourth quarter
of 1942, which was the peak year of employment in
North Carolina during the war period, indicated
that the number of covered employers of fewer than
100 workers in 1942, was 9236 or 11.9 percent more
than in 1940.
By the fourth quarter of 1945 the number of em-ployers
of fewer than 100 workers had increased to
10, 514, a gain of 2, 261, or 27.4 percent, from 8253
in 1940, notwithstanding the increase in the total
number of employers from 1940 to the fourth quarter
of 1945 had been only 15.7 percent. In other words,
while the total number of covered employers was in-creasing
from 9,848 in 1940 to 11,391 during the
fourth quarter of 1945, the number of employers
with fewer than 100 workers increased from 8,253
to 10,514. It will be seen, therefore, that of the total
gain in covered employers of 2,543, 2,261, or 88.9
percent represented employers with fewer than 100
workers.
Bringing the figures up to date with respect to all
types of employers, it is found that the total number
of covered employers has increased from 9,848 in
1940 to 12,790 covered employers during the month
of August, 1946, a total increase of 2,942 establish-ments,
or 29.9 percent. It is noteworthy that this in-crease
of 29.9 percent in business establishments in
North Carolina occurred during a period when there
was a National decline. A recent report of the Census
Bureau indicated that during the war years this de-cline
in new establishments reached a total of 15
percent and, while there has been some increases at
the National level during the past twelve months, it
is estimated that the number is still approximately
12 percent below the pre-war level, while North
Carolina is nearly 30 percent above. While the total
covered employment in the State has not reached the
war level, it was only 7.8 percent below during the
second quarter of 1946, the average number being
545,000 as compared to 591,391 for the year 1942,
the peak year of the war, and was 16.7 percent above
1940.
INDUSTRY TURNOVER 19U2-19U6
There was considerable industry turnover through-out
the war period. During the fiscal year 1942-
1943, 943 establishments retired or had their cov-erage
terminated. During the fiscal year 1943-1944
the retirements numbered 926. Turnover increased
as the end of the war approached. The number re-tiring
during the fiscal year 1944-1945 rose to 1,120,
and during the fiscal year 1945-1946 increased to
1,216. This is a total of 4,205 establishments, repre-senting
164,719 employees. The reasons why they
retired are set forth as follows
:
Of the total of 4,205 firms, 1,330 ceased operations
in the State; 128 firms merged with other covered
employers ; 46 firms moved to other areas ; 217 firms
were liquidated; 7 closed down temporarily because
of seasonality and were later reactivated ; 627 had
(Continued on Page 94)
FALL, 1946 THE U. C C QUARTERLY PAGE 77
INDUSTRY TURNOVER IN NORTHCAROLINA—FISCAL YEARS 1944-1946
ACCESSIONS FISCAL YEAR TOTAL BIENNIUM RETIREMENT FISCAL YEAR TOTAL BIENNIUM
INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION 1944-1945 1945-1946 1944-1946 1944-1945 1945-1946 1944-1946
No. Firm , Emp. No. Firm Emp. No. Firm ; Emp. No. Firm i Emp. No. Firm > Emp. No. Firm i Emp.
1,02!) 30,300 2,070 07,830 3,705 98,142 1,120 50,683 1,216 53,090 2,336 103 773
Agriculture, Forestr. * Fishing 2 27 9 101 11 188 5 119 5 119
7
2
132
29
7
4
132
56
5 119 5 119
Forestry 2 27
16 283 31 1,351 47 1,634 47 1,160 23 1,256 70 2,410
1 62 2
1
28
119
29
1,203
3
1
43
181
29
1,424
1 17 1 17
Crude-Petroleum & Natural-Gas Production
15 221 46 1,143 23 1,256 69 2,399
98 2,954 378 9,127 476 12,081 92 14,886 93 12,981 185 27,867
20
18
54
496
1,597
861
169
57
152
4,573
2,426
2,128
195
75
206
5,069
4,023
2,989
25
19
48
1,347
11,928
1,611
23
21
49
3,872
7,537
1,572
48
40
97
5,219
19 465
3 183
Manufacturing - 391 19,533 876 34 , 202 1,267 53,735 361 17,840 444 25,940 805 43,780
1
35
2
54
13
213
29
3
4
5
7
5
270
718
2
11.499
904
3,320
833
13
111
207
1,041
158
121
1
111
5
202
49
626
134
6
15
10
10
36
13
5
1
1
24
2
16
270
3,637
42
28,567
2,303
9,423
5,072
19
126
501
1,085
784
290
150
15
65
.542
17
683
1
38
40
2,031
1
74
1
111
24
439
09
4
7
8
17
3
12
1
40
76
3
148
30
413
105
3
8
6
5
29
8
5
1
1
16
2
11
2,919
40
17,068
1,339
6,097
4,239
78
87
294
44
026
169
150
15
05
329
17
626
36
1
35
7
214
27
2
5
3
3
12
2
1,497 3 528
Tobacco Manufactures
Textile-Mill Products - 5,741
962
5,799
1,526
58
138
378
1,030
231
89
42
76
17
225
42
2
2
2
5
5
1
10
1
7,384
1,196
5,037
2,213
57
34
70
52
226
24
7,189
8
13,125
2 158
10 830
3 739
115
172
448
1 082
457
113
7 231
Nonferrous Metals and their Products 8
Electrical Machinery
Machinery (except Electric) 8 213 5
1
6
116
00
173
12 165 17
1
11
281
00
Miscellaneous Manufacturing Industries. - . _ 5 57 5 214 387
Transportation, Communication and Utilities 03 1,348 106 1,028 169 2,976 79 4,917 45 1,049 124 5,960
3
17
20
1
2
14
143
575
47S
10
13
129
6
42
38
54
742
519
9
59
04
1
16
13
197
1,317
997
10
138
147
170
1
26
16
14
1,500
405
3
26
15
1
42
710
287
10
4
52
31
1
56
2,210
Other Transportation Except Water 692
10
Services Allied to Transportation N. E. C __ 5
2
13
125
18
170
Telegram and Telephone and Related Services 35
1
2,975
23
35
1
2,975
Utilities : Electic and Gas 23
Wholesale and Retail Trade __ 341 4,300 948 14,800 1,289 19,100 370 8,230 423 7,258 793 15,488
Full-Service and Limited-Function Wholesalers
Wholesale Distributors, Other
48
50
4
21
14
19
3(1
48
97
4
659
420
58
288
128
221
497
579
1,437
19
142
170
26
71
31
121
70
135
109
4,220
1,263
321
2,105
302
1,455
1,153
1,494
2,376
45
190
220
30
92
45
1411
100
183
200
11
4,885
1,083
88
380
173
301
003
2,073
3,813
30
38
27
2
21
22
15
34
79
12S
4
2,619
394
487
469
301
336
546
742
2,234
42
57
34
9
20
18
27
44
OS
133
7
1,057
309
171
820
205
558
908
1,007
2,095
68
95
61
11
47
40
42
78
147
261
11
3,676
703
Wholesale and Retail Trade Combined, N. E. C. .
.
658
1,289
Retail Food and Liquor Stores 566
894
Retail Apparel and Accessories 1.514
Retail Trade, N.E. C .__ 1 , 749
4,329
110
Fiance, Insurance and Real Estate 10 127 70 1,330 86 1.457 29 255 75 1,293 104 1.548
4
2
16
18
11
17
1
1
30
5
240
098
100
179
10
2
4
19
24
11
20
1
1
30
29
201
706
160
259
10
2
4
3
24
15
8
4
2
11
2
10
39
13
45
20
138
4
21
60
2
16
1
39
19
49
255
939
268
Insurance Carriers 984
20
Real Estate 3 80 6
1
89
10
227
10
Service Industries 102 1,728 258 5,237 300 6,965 137 3,276 113 3,313 250 6.589
Hotels, Rooming Houses, Camps 15
57
1
1
3
o
10
276
1,129
55
6
6
28
22
136
28
119
16
4
16
14
13
22
8
2
7
9
048
2,303
201
712
204
177
141
387
107
31
308
18
43
176
23
5
17
17
15
32
8
3
10
11
924
2,432
256
718
210
205
163
523
107
61
345
21
28
68
8
3
5
3
617
1,781
268
13
40
25
17
96
837
2,476
45
164
8
3
5
3
1,454
Personal Services 4,257
268
Employment Agencies and Commercial and Trade
13
40
Miscellaneous Repair Service and Hand Trades 25
14
o
1
4
1
180
3
30
318
1
14
2
1
4
1
180
3
1
3
2
30
37
3
30
Other Professional and Social-Service Agencies
318
Nonprofit Membership Org 1
PAGE 78 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY FALL, 1946
Identifying and Locating Unemployed In North Carolina
By Hugh M. Raper, Supervisor, Reports and Analysis, Bureau of Research and Statistics
Who are the unemployed? What industry groups pensated dropped from 5412 in July to 3873 in Sep-are
they separated from? tember, a 28.44 percent decline.
Where are they located? About 27,200, or 32 percent of the weeks com-
. , . ,, TT ., , pensated during the quarter were for unemployed
In this period when employment in the United m^ &nd almogt two.thirds of this number lost
States is at its peak, and at a time when North Caro- WQrked in ^ manufacturing industries, with the
lina covered employment approaches the 1942 high ^ number ated from the Textile Mm
level, it seems appropriate to examine the unem-products
group and the Transportation Equipment
ployment situation to learn something of the con- Manufacturing Group which includes ship-building
ditions which account for the presence of more than
and aircraf
t
tg duction The only other size.
28,500 individuals in our employment offices m an aWe (g 3g3) were a ated from employ_
^28 1 q4fi
nng W^ ^ g P ment not covered by the Unemployment Compensa-be
' tion Act, i.e. agriculture, non-covered employers of
In order to understand this anomaly, a study has less than 8 workers, etc. During the months corn-been
made of the payment activity of the Unem- prising the quarter the number of payments to males
ployment Compensation Commission in the Admin- dropped from 10,917 weeks in July to 7,327 in Sep-istration
of its program and of the readjustment tember, a 32.88 percent decline.
allowance program. During the third quarter of In a consideration of the unemployment situation
1946 unemployed workers under the Unemployment it is well to locate tne areas wnere the unemployed
Compensation Program were compensated for 84,990 are foimd since the answer to unemployment is em-weeks
of unemployment, receiving approximately ployment opportunities. To get this picture in the
$985,000 in benefit payments. Unemployed veterans proper perspective, the following table relates weeks
under the Readjustment Allowance Program re- of unemployment compensated to number of cov-ceived
during the third quarter payments for more ered workers by areas.
than 320,000 weeks amounting to more than $6,400,- n . ,
000.00.
RZk1
Average No. No. of Weeks Compensated
UNEMPLOYED UNDER U. C. PROGRAM Arca Covered Compensated to Covered
workers \ird. (J. workers in
For the sake of clarity, it is best to consider the two in 19^5 1946) 1946
programs separately in terms of the queries stated Coastal 66 500 23 140 34.80
above. Of the 84,990 payments made under the un- PiedmontZZZZZZZZZ!." 364 ,'500 45 ,'580 12.50
employment compensation program, 57,785, or 68 Jf
oun
f
ta
c
in ----- 9^00 9.376 10.08
, i , „ , i T , . „ Out-of State : 9,500 6,886 72.48
percent, were made to female workers. It follows
then that about 7 out of 10 of our unemployed The unemployment situation in the Coastal Area is
workers are women. To get at the type of women largely the result of the seasonal nature of the tobac-workers
unemployed, a study has been made showing co processing and fertilizer industries which con-the
industry from which they were separated. It is stitutes a sizeable portion of covered employment of
found that 86.5 percent of the female workers un- this area. The resumption of tobacco processing
employed and in payment status were engaged in a operations in the latter part of the quarter brought
manufacturing industry or in the wholesale and re- about a 92 percent drop between July and September.
tail trade group. More specifically the analysis re- The 72.48 ratio of weeks compensated to out-of-state
veals that almost 60 percent of the female unem- covered workers is partially explained by the fact
ployed receiving payments were separated from one that most of the workers coming into the state during
of the following three industry groups : (1) Industry the war period were used in positions requiring
21, Tobacco Manufacturing which includes the stem- highly specialized skills for which little employment
mery workers of tobacco companies (5,410 workers) ; opportunity now exists and the fact that during the
Industry 50, Full-Service and Limited Function year more than 15,000 out-of-state workers actually
Wholesalers, including the processing of leaf tobacco were engaged in employment in this State.
by other than the manufacturers (14,302 workers) ; Generally the unemployment situation is on the
and, (3) 14,364 female workers separated from Tex- down-grade, and the fourth quarter picture will
tile Mills of all kinds. likely show a drop from the third quarter in weeks
An examination of the unemployment figures by compensated and amount paid of as much as 20 per-months
leads one to believe that most of the unem- cent-
btThP ^nf w!3'Processing field were at work UNEMpL0YED UNDER READJUSTMENT by the end of September for in July compensation to , TT nw A ATrj7, wnrvA m
these separated workers covered about 14000 weeks ALLOWANCE PROGRAM
while in September less than 1300 weeks were com- During the Third Quarter unemployed veteran
pensated, a decline of 92.4 percent. In the Textile claimants were compensated for 322,468 weeks of
Mill products field the weeks of unemployment com- unemployment and the payments to these veterans
FALL, 1 946 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 79
UNEMPLOYED MUST SEEK JOBS
TO QUALIFY FOR BENEFITS
The G. I. Bill of Rights and the State UCC law pro-vide,
among other requirements, that an unemployed
individual shall be eligible to receive benefits with
respect to any week only if the State Unemployment
Compensation Commission finds that he is able to
work and is available for work. The Commission, as
explained by Chairman Henry E. Kendall, has
adopted the policy that to be available for work an
unemployed individual must actively seek work on his
own initiative, in addition to the requirement that he
must register for work each week with the Employ-ment
Service.
When a claimant, veteran or regular UCC claimant,
first applies to the UCC claims taker for veteran
allowances or benefits under the regular UCC pro-gram,
he is advised by the claims taker that it is his
duty to seek employment on his own behalf, as well
as to report in person to any jobs which he Employ-ment
Service may have to offer him.
If or when a claimant has drawn benefits for an
extended period of continuous unemployment, then
he may be considered as having eliminated himself
from the labor market and the claims taker, under
Chairman Kendall's instructions, is directed to in-quire
into what steps he has taken on his own
initiative to find a job, submitting the dates, names
and address of employers he may have contacted and
the results of his effort to find work. The claims
taker, if not entirely convinced that the claimant has
actively sought work, as reported, will seek to con-tact
the employer to verify statements made by the
claimant and record his findings.
Cases of claimants who do not convince the claims
takers of their efforts to find work are to be referred
to UCC claims deputies who will conduct investiga-tions
and make determinations
Unless good reasons exist for failure of claimants
to seek work actively, then, in accordance with Chair-man
Kendall's statement of policy, claimants will be
considered to have withdrawn themselves from the
labor market and therefore, are not available for
work, in which cases allowances and benefits will be
halted, pending final dispositions of the cases.
amounted to $6,427,995.00, slightly under the pre-vious
quarters' payments. It is seen that veterans
unemployment during the quarter accounts for al-most
four times as much unemployment as that ex-perienced
by other workers.
The quarterly figures, however, do not show a true
picture of the veterans unemployment situation in
that a considerable improvement was made in the
quarter which carries on into October the first month
of the fourth quarter.
A comparison of the payment activity for the
first twenty-one days of each of the last four months
gives a picture of the downward trend in veterans
unemployment, The table including data for Oc-tober,
1946 follows
:
DECIDED DECREASE IN BENEFIT
PAYMENTS IN FALL MONTHS
A definite decrease in unemployment in North Car-olina
in recent weeks, of both veterans and non-vet-erans,
is reflected in the drop in checks issued for
servicemen's readjustment allowances and regular
unemployment benefits.
Veterans' claims for unemployment allowances re-sulted
in the issuance of 24,193 checks for the week
ending June 22. By the week ending August 10 this
number had increased to 25,190, the peak, while for
the week ending October 5, the number of checks
issued to unemployed veterans had decreased to 17,-
647, representing a drop of about 30 percent from the
peak.
Unemployed workers in the regular UCC program
filed claims resulting in the issuance of 11,120 checks
for the week ending June 22, dropping to 5,264 by the
week ending August 10. By the week ending October
5, only 4,062 checks were issued, a drop to slightly
more than one-third of the number issued during the
peak week ending June 22. Incidentally, seasonal
tobacco workers were largely responsible for that
peak, which levelled off when the leaf tobacco season
started.
In case of self-employed veterans who are not avail-able
for referral to jobs, 24,954 claims were filed in
May and the number in July was 26,956, the peak.
In September 17,804 claims were taken, a drop of 34
percent from July.
Self-employed veterans, since more than 90 percent
of them are farmers, showed a further decided drop
in the fall, since many of the farm crops reached the
market and the incomes of these farmers exceeded
the $100 a month, up to which figure the U. S. Govern-ment
supplements the self-employed veteran's in-come.
%Change %Change
Period Weeks From Prior Amount From Prior
Compensated Month Month
July 1-21 79,003 -4.17 1,578,260 -4.07
August 1-21 78,205 - 1.02 1,561,467 - 1.06
September 1-21.. 66,786 -14.60 1,333,038 -14.63
October 1-21 39,314 -41.13 784,653 -41.22
For the most part the unemployed veterans have
not been employed following their discharge from the
service. In fact a recent study shows that less than
20 percent of the unemployed veterans have had em-ployment
following their discharge. For this reason
it follows that the cause of the unemployment of
veterans is one of adjustment or an eventual absorp-tion
into some field of employment that most nearly
fits his requirements.
In viewing the veterans unemployment situation it
is significant to note that unemployment allowances
under the Readjustment Allowance Program may
protect the continuously unemployed veteran up to
52 weeks following his discharge, while the pro-tection
given to workers under the U. C. Program
(Continued on Page 94)
PAGE 80 THE U. C C. QUARTERLY FALL, 1946
Trends In Covered Employment, Weekly Wages, 1942-1945
By Silas F. Campbell, Director, Bureau of Research and Statistics
As in World War I, employment in North Carolina
during World War II reached its peak about a year
earlier than in the country as a whole. This is at-tributable
to the fact that North Carolina produced
largely consumer goods to equip the army and supply
allied nations. The construction of cantonments and
military bases necessary for training troops was also
concentrated in this area.
As early as 1941, covered employment in North
Carolina for the first time exceeded half a million
workers, and in 1942 reached a peak of 591,391, with
more than 600,000 during four months of the year.
From this point there was a downward trend which
was accentuated by the release of approximately
70,000 war workers in August, 1945.
Despite this layoff following V-J day July was the
low month of 1945 with 509,352 covered workers.
The depressing effect of war contract cancellations
was only temporary- By September employment had
increased to 527,527, and the year ended with 539,180
in December. Since July 1945 the trend has been
consistently upward. The average for the second
quarter of 1946 was approximately 540,000.
Although this is 11,000 below the average for
1944, it is 14,000 above the average for 1945, with
many employers unable to hire much needed labor.
By the second quarter of 1946 employment was only
8.7 parcent below the highest war level.
EMPLOYMENT TRENDS BY INDUSTRIES
Although there was a general decline in covered
employment from 1942 to 1945 of 11.0 percent the
level of employment in 34 industry groups was
higher in 1945 than in 1942. Only in Mining and
Construction was there a decline in all sub-divisions
of the industry. Both Agriculture and Forestry
showed improvement, as did eleven of the sub-divisions
of Manufacture, four divisions in the
Transportation, Communication and Public Utilities
group, six in the Wholesale and Retail Trade group,
two in the Financial group and nine out of twelve
in the Service industries.
In two of the major war industries in this State,
Ordnance and Electrical Machinery manufacture,
employment was at a higher level in 1945 than in
1942. Ordnance manufacture was just getting under
way in this State in 1942, the average number em-ployed
that year being only 769. It reached a peak
of 20,487 in March 1944, from which point it de-clined
to 396 in December 1945, but with an average
for the year of 6,258.
Only 61 workers were employed in the manufac-ture
of electrical machinery in 1942. However, the
manufacture of electrical apparatus for aircraft and
ordnance brought employment up to 6,004 in July
1945, with an average for the year of 3,574, only 287
workers being employed in December, 1945.
The increased demand for automobile tires and a
let up jn the restrictions on rubber brought an in-crease
in employment in the manufacture of rubber
products, largely tire recapping, of 494.8 percent in
1945 over 1942, or from 134 workers to 797.
The strain on Street Railway Service was con-siderably
relieved by increased employment of 235.5
percent in 1945 over 1942, while employment in Bus
and Taxi Service increased from 2,705 workers in
1942 to 4,465 in 1945.
Wholesome gains were also made in Wholesale
Trade, with nominal increases in employment in Re-tail
General Merchandise and Automotive Establish-ments,
while employment in Eating and Drinking
Establishments increased by 47.7 percent.
In the Finance group, banks and investment com-panies
experienced increases in employment of 28.5
and 21.4 percent respectively.
INCREASE IN SERVICE INDUSTRIES
There was increased employment in nearly all
Service industries. The greatest relative increase
was in Trade Schools, which were virtually abolished
during the war. Employment in Business Services
increased by 33.0 percent, in Personal Services by
16.1 percent, and in Amusement and Recreation in-dustries
by 19.7 percent. Employment in Educa-tional
Institutions also increased by 11.8 percent.
Among the industries in which employment de-clines
occurred, Construction suffered the greatest
loss in volume, with a decline of 74.9 percent, re-presenting
a layoff during the period 1942-1945 of
42,111 workers.
Employment in Mining also declined by 21.5 per-cent.
Other industries suffering employment de-clines
in excess of 25.0 percent are, Stone, Clay and
Glass, 26.3 percent; Nonferrous Metals, 28.8 per-cent;
Petroleum and Coal Products, 100.0 percent;
Water Transportation, 62.9 percent; Lumber and
Building supplies, 41.1 percent; Credit Agencies, 37.7
percent; Real Estate Agents, 41.8 percent; Profes-sional
Service, 87.9 percent, and Non-Profit Organi-zations,
73.2 percent.
The result of these fluctuations was that employ-ment
in Agricultural Services increased by 66.1 per-cent;
Mining declined by 21.5 percent; Construction,
by 74.9 percent; Manufacture by 8.4 percent; Fi-nance,
Insurance and Real Estate by 6.1 percent;
while Transportation, Communication and Public
Utilities increased by 2.6 percent; Trade by 10.5
percent; and Service Industries by 5.4 percent.
TRENDS IN WAGES BY INDUSTRIES
Only in the Construction sub-group of general
contract work was there a decline in the average per
capita weekly wage between 1942 and 1945. This
was occasioned by the layoff of large numbers of
highly skilled workers employed in 1942 in the con-struction
of army bases, and here the decline in
average weekly wages was only a tenth of one per-cent.
(Continued on Page 97)
FALL, 1946 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 81
TRENDS lft COVERED EMPLOYMENT AND AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES 1942-1945
TOTAL ALL INDUSTRIES.
AVERAGE EMPLOYMENT
1942
591,391
1945
526,357
Percentage
Change
11.0
AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGE
1942
23.75
1945
31.10
Percentage
Change
+ 30.9
Agriculture Forestr. and Fishing.
01 and 07 Agriculture
08 Forestry
09 Fishing. ___ ____ .__.
322 535
470
59
6
+ 6G.1
+ 72.2
+ 78.8
18.42
18.67
16.18
29.64
29.51
31.32
23. S4
+ 60.9
+ 58.1
+ 40.4
Mining. 3,557 2,791 - 21.5 20.83 30.08 + 44.4
10 Metal Mining
12 Bituminous and other soft-coal Mining
14 Noninetallic Mining and Quarrying. _
Contract Construction. _ _
15 Building Construction-General Contractors.
16 General Contractor Other than Building
17 Construction Special Trade Contractor
123
23
3,411
56,214
40,322
7,884
8,008
107
22
2,662
14,103
6,678
2,394
5,031
- 13.0
- 4.3
- 21.9
- 74.9
- 83.4
- 69.6
- 37.2
21.67
25.04
20.78
37.59
32.96
28.79
27.77
37.98
40.28
29.64
36.51
32.94
38.47
40.32
+ 75.3
+ 60.9
+ 42.6
+ 15.6
- .1
+ 33.0
+ 5.2
Manufacturing. ,*7!l 354,191 - 8.4 22.92
19 Ordance and Acessories --
20 Food and Kindred Products
21 Tobacco Manufactures..
22 Textile-Mill Products
23 Apparel and other finished Products made from Fabrics.
24 Lumber and Timber Basic Products
25 Furniture and Finished Products
26 Paper and Allied Products
27 Printing Publishing and Allied Products
28 Chemicals and Allied Products
29 Products of Petroleum and Coal
30 Rubber Products.
31 Leather and Leather Products
32 Stone, Clay and Glass Products
33 Iron and Steel and their Products.
34 Transportation Equipment (Except Autos)
35 Nonferrous Metals
36 Electrical Machinery
37 Machinery (Except Electrical)
38 Autos and Auto Equipment .._
39 Miscellaneous Manufacturing Industries
709
14,485
20,243
236,522
8,767
30,893
28,721
6.84S
3,409
5,456
21
134
1,648
3,889
1,750
15,766
1,429
61
3,379
1,042
647
6,258
15,065
23,965
204,953
7,873
23,524
27,038
6,344
3,428
5,644
797
1,586
2,867
2,211
12,050
1,017
3,574
3,479
1,579
939
+713.8
+ 4.0
+ 18.4
- 13.3
- 10.2
- 23.9
- 5.9
- 7.4
+ .6
+ 3.4
-100.0
+494.8
- 3.8
- 26.3
+ 26.3
- 23.6
- 28.8
+ '
+ 3.0
+ 51.5
+ 45.1
32.01
24.39
26.58
21.71
16.63
14.75
21.58
34.00
33.03
25.00
26.00
27.40
24.10
21.04
31.68
45.12
34.17
22.02
32.81
26.29
16.77
31.13
40.89
32.37
34.34
29.47
23.67
21.75
27.33
45.23
41.88
34.80
31.13
32.64
30.04
39.88
58.39
45.49
35.18
38.88
39.72
23. s»
+ 35.
+ 27.7
+ 32.7
+ 29.2
+ 35.7
+ 42.3
+ 47.5
+ 26.0
+ 33.0
+ 26.
S
+ 39.2
+ 13.6
+ 35.4
+ 42.
+ 25.9
+ 29.4
+ 33.1
+ 59.8
+ 18.5
+ 51.1
+ 42.5
Transportation, Communication and Other Public Utilities. 23,277 23,879 + 2.6 29.27 37.37 + 27.7
4
1
Local Railways and Bus Lines
42 Trucking and Warehousing for hire
43 Other Transportation Except Water
44 Water Transportation
45 Services allied to Transportation N. E. C
46 Telephone and Telegraph
48 Utilitices: Electricity and Gas
49 Local Utilities and Public Services, N. E. C
197
8,488
2,705
143
426
5.412
5,891
15
661
6,776
4,465
53
548
5,942
5,422
12
+235.5
- 20.2
+ 05.1
- 62.9
+ 2S.6
+ 9.8
- 8.0
- 20.0
27.06
24.14
34.19
5.84
20.24
28.56
32.10
20.50
36.31
34.69
42.41
31:00
27.49
34.82
40.58
31.91
+ 34.2
+ 43.7
+ 24.0
+430.8
+ 35.8
+ 21.9
+ 26.2
+ 55.7
Wholesale and Retail Trade. 85,416 94,397 + 10.5 22.17 29.60 + 33.
50 Full-Service and Limited Function Wholesalers
51 Wholesale Distributors other than Full-Service and Limited-Function Wholesalers.
52 Wholesale and Retail Trade N.E.C..
53 Retail General Merchandise
54 Retail Food and Liquor Stores
55 Retail Automotive
56 Retail Apparel and Accessories
57 Retail Trade, N. E. C
58 Eating and Drinking Places
59 Retail Filling Stations
15,369
12,408
3,264
22,873
6,874
5,371
5,079
8,806
4,456
916
20,647
13,816
1,921
24,649
6,541
5,587
4,960
8,962
6,583
731
+ 34.3
+ 11.3
- 41.1
+ 7.8
4.8
4.0
2.3
1.8
47.7
20.2
25.73
36.44
26.08
13.98
18.06
27.52
17.21
25.22
13.53
22.17
Fianance, Insurance and Real Estate. 10.378 9,741 - 6.1 34.62
33.19
41.49
32.09
20.31
26.46
40.93
27.25
32.23
18.99
31.55
43.05
+ 29.0
+ 13.9
+ 23.0
+ 45.3
+ 46.5
+ 4S.7
+ 5S.3
+ 27.
S
+ 40.4
+ 42.3
24.4
60 Banks and Trust Companies
61 Security Dealers and Investment Brokering
62 Finance Agencies, N. E C
63 Insurance Carriers
Ii4 Insurance Agents, Brokers and Services.
65 Real Estate .
66 Real Estate, Insurance LoansLaw Offices: Any Combination.
67 Holding Companies (except Real Estate)
2,848
137
879
1,707
319
1,353
132
3
,457
176
548
,372
286
788
111
3
21.4
28.5
37.7
7.1
10.3
41. S
15.9
34.33
49.87
33.87
39.12
36.53
18.34
30.33
28.24
Service Industries. 25.34S 26,720 + 18.89
70 Hotels, Rooming Houses, Camps
72 Personal Serv ices
73 Business Services, N. E. C
74 Employment Agencies and Commercial and Trade Schools..
75 Automobile Repair Scrvce and Garages
76 Miscellaneous Repair Service and Hand Trades
78 Motion Pictures -—
79 Amusement and Recreation and Related Services, N. E. C
80 Medical and Other Health Services
82 Educational Institutions and Agencies. _ ._
83 Other Profession and Social-Service Agencies and Institutions.
86 Nonprofit Membership Organization.
4,460
11,791
1,050
43
773
S5S
2,792
930
644
34
1,289
672
4,491
13,685
1 405
108
842
920
3,343
941
622
38
156
169
+ .6
+ 16.1
+ 33.0
+ 151.2
8.9
+
19.7
1.2
- 3.4
+ 11.8
— 87.9
- 73.2
12.31
14.69
34.59
18.21
23.40
36.23
19.96
16. OS
18.35
19.81
44.89
28.04
40.69
S5.02
40.84
40.56
39.04
26.92
46.65
46.92
23.30
18.77
20.82
42.26
27.80
34.90
39.46
22.53
20.16
24.54
25.02
45.51
45.20
+ IS.
5
+ 70.5
+ 20.6
+ 19.0
+ 6.9
+ 46.8
+ 53.
+ 66.1
+ 23.3
+ 52.5
+ 41.7
+ 22.2
+ 52.7
+ 49.1
+ S.9
+ 12.9
+ 25.4
+ 33.7
+ 26.3
+ 1.4
+ 61.3
No. covered employment in 1942 No. covered employment in 1945
PAGE 82 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY FALL, 1946
Apprentice Training Being Revived In N. C. Industries
By M. R. Dunnagan, Informational Service Representative
Apprentice training, second only, in point of time,
to house work as a method of developing skilled
artisans, is experiencing a revival in North Carolina
since V-E Day, after almost complete stoppage during
the active war period, due, in large measure, to the
provisions of this type of training in the G. I. Bill of
Rights.
It is a matter of record that King Solomon started
the work on his great Temple with 33,000 apprentices,
men who became fellowcrafters and later master
workmen as their skills increased.
History reveals that many of the best known in-dividuals
of all time served their apprenticeships and
went on to carve their names high in the records of
world accomplishment. Michael Angelo started his
training at the age of 13. Rembrandt was apprenticed
as an architectural painter. William Caxton, Eng-land's
first printer, was an apprentice.
In America, it is revealed that Benjamin Franklin,
at a tender age, was apprenticed to a printer in Bos-ton.
Paul Revere served an apprenticeship to become
a silversmith before he made his famous ride. The
late Walter Chrysler, and William S. Knudsen, mod-ern
figures, were apprentices. Even in North Caro-lina
one shining example of the success of apprentice
training is former Governor and now U. S. Senator
Clyde R. Hoey who served his time as "printer's
devil" in Shelby and Charlotte before becoming a
successful publisher.
Although apprentice training for higher skills has
been in vogue longer than history records, it has been
neglected in recent years, to such an extent that
the skilled artisans have been passing out of the
picture more rapidly than they have been recruited,
leaving many unfilled places. Just as the nation is
now realizing that it must sponsor reforestation and
land reclamation to prevent denuded forests and
lands, it is also realizing that apprentice training
must be supported and encouraged to keep alive the
skills it requires years to master.
Congress, in its wisdom, has seen fit to foster and
assist in apprentice training, specifically for return-ing
war veterans, through the G. I. Bill of Rights.
The Veterans Administration provides for allowances
of $65 a month to a single veteran or $90 a month to
veterans who are married or have dependents, in
addition to contract wages paid by the employer. Al-so,
the veteran receives tools needed in the perfection
and completion of the trade as he and his employer
agree he should have.
This is one of the recent evidences that the people
of the United States are recognizing that much of
the nation's wealth and power is due to the ingenuity
and the skill of its craftsmen, and one of the steps
taken to encourage its younger men, and especially
returning war veterans, to enter training to take the
places of the rapidly depleting ranks of artisans in
many sorely needed skills.
The 1940 Census revealed that at that time the
skilled labor force in the entire nation was only 5,400,-
000 persons. To maintain that force, with no allow-ance
for expansion, it would require that 105,000 ap-prentices
complete their apprenticeship training each
year Since four years may be considered an average
period for such training, it would require that 420,000
apprentices should be in training at any given time,
with no allowance for turnover, in order to keep the
normal ranks filled.
During the war period, it was found that the nation
was woefully lacking in skills of proper types to pro-duce
its machines, guns, tanks, airplanes, ships and
other war demanded equipment. It became neces-sary,
in many instances, to "break down" the skills
and divide up the work so two or three men could
perform the duties of one skilled artisan. That was
another reason for the realization that it would be
necessary to encourage and support the apprentice
training program in order to develop more skilled
craftsmen to supply the requirements of the nation.
North Carolina, for several years, has had a
splendid apprentice training law and program. Under
the law and under direction of the State Apprentice-ship
Council which it created, minimum standards,
conforming to Federal standards, have been set up.
All apprenticeship programs must meet minimum re-quirements
as to pay, hours, working and other con-ditions.
A standard form of indenture, or agreement,
is entered into by the employer and the apprentice,
with approval by the State Apprenticeship Council.
North Carolina's apprentice program is operated
as a division of the State Department of Labor. For-rest
H. Shuford, State Commissioner of Labor, is
chairman; George Coggins, State Director of Trade
and Industrial Education, is vice-chairman, and Clar-ence
L. Beddingfield is State Director. Management
and Labor are equally represented in the Council's
membership. Labor members are E. D. Faires, Char-lotte;
Harry G. Waynick, Greensboro, and E. T.
Dorrity, Winston-Salem, and the management mem-bers
are A. J. Fox and L. P. Kennedy, Raleigh, and R.
M. Kerman, Wilmington.
In addition, the Federal Government has in North
Carolina under the U. S. Department of Labor and
working with Ernest C. McCracken, State Director of
the United States Employment Service in North Caro-lina,
an area supervisor, R. E. Paschal, with head-quarters
in the Caswell Building, Raleigh, and two
field representatives, J. B. Archer, Charlotte, William
M. Chisholm, Winston-Salem. Mr. Paschal with the
two field representatives and Mr. Beddingfield co-operate
in activities throughout the State. They pro-mote
apprentice training, prepare standards for each
type of training and offer a follow-up service in an
advisory capacity with apprentices and employers.
They do not dictate, but consult with employers as to
FALL, 1946 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 83
their relations with apprentices, and are available for
help or suggestions when called upon.
During the past eighteen months, due to the im-petus
given the program by the provisions for help
under the G. I. Bill of Rights, the field representatives
and Mr. Beddingfield have had approved and certified
(by December 31) about 450 North Carolina firms as
suitable for giving apprentice training, with an av-erage
of four apprentices each. In practically all
cases, or as the employer and the apprentice may
agree, school training is offered to apprentices' co sup-plement
their mechanical training.
Chief distinctions between apprentice training and
vocational training is the difference in time required
for the training and the extent of the skills achieved.
In apprentice training, the time required for mastery
of a skill varies from two to as high as seven years.
In vocational training or education the time required
is usually two years, or even less in some cases re-quiring
more modest skills. For example, it requires
seven years to master the skills required of a die
sinker and five or six years to develop an efficient
printer or compositor. Many individuals can be-come
reasonably proficient as clerks or sales persons
within six months or a year.
More than 100 different types of skills are avail-able
for apprentice training in North Carolina and the
numbers will be extended as more of the many firms
which are now qualified to give this class of training
are certified and approved for giving training in
skills required in their plants In fact, it can be said
that in practically any industry in operation in the
State some type of skill is used and can be acquired
through apprenticeship training.
A few readily recognizable industries in which sev-eral
types of skills are needed every day and every
hour include textiles, in which loomfixers, machinists
and general maintenance mechanics are required;
dairying, which requires refrigeration mechanics and
millwrights ; railroads, needing machinists, elec-tricians,
carpenters, steel and iron workers, foundry-men,
plumbers, steam fitters, blacksmiths and boiler
workers. These examples could be multiplied many
times.
In the list of more than 100 types of skills which
are available or can be made available are practically
all of those which are in demand in North Caroina
and which must be developed to meet the demands of
post-war development in the State Alphabetically
this list, subject to change, follows
:
Airplane mechanic, artificial limb maker, asbestos
worker, automotive mechanic, baker, barber, book-binder,
blacksmith, boatbuilder (small wooden), boil-ermaker,
brace maker, general ; brickmason or brick-layer,
business-machine mechanic, butcher, cabinet-maker,
carmen, railroad ; carpenter, carpenter, ship
;
cement finisher, chef or cook, compositor or printer,
coppersmith, coremaker, cosmetician, dental tech-nician,
designer, die ; designer, tool ; diamond sawyer,
diamond lopper, diamond brilliandeerer, die maker,
die sinker, draftsman, dressmaker (custom) ;
Electrician : aircraft, construction, industrial,
WILL DEPRESSION GIVE
SOCIAL SECURITY TEST?
(Editorial, The Raleigh (TST.C.) Times, November 13, 194G)
Assertion by Social Security Commissioner Arthur
J. Altmeyer that this country has seven billion dol-lars
on hand to fight any possible depression is
heartening in most ways, if somewhat discouraging
in its basic premise that a depression in the near
future really is possible, and perhaps probable.
At a time of peak employment like the present,
Social Security payments have come in for substan-tial
criticism on the ground that they have encour-aged
voluntary unemployment, with a consequent
decrease in production. Yet, a substantial number
of the recent Social Security disbursements have
actually been necessary, and those who have drawn
unemployment compensation payments needlessly
will suffer later, if and when a recession or depres-sion
takes shape.
Social Security, like other Federal agencies, is
supported by taxes, and unlike some other agencies
is at present showing that all the money paid in by
the taxpayer is not going to finance current govern-mental
functions.
The operations of Federal agencies are highly
ramified, and not always understandable to the man
in the street, yet the wisdom of building up an ade-quate
Social Security fund should be apparent to
everyone. Personal and national prosperity alike
suffer their ups and downs, and the only way to pre-pare
for the future is to accumulate funds in a time
of comparative prosperity.
Perhaps the future will show that contributions to
Social Security at the present level are too high, yet
the only wise policy is one of deliberate overestima-tion.
If and when a new depression comes, Social
Security will get a practical test, and a guide to
changes in the system can be established on the basis
of actual facts, rather than untested theories.
maintenance, lineman; electroplater, elevator me-maintenance,
lineman ;electroplater, elevator mechan-ic,
engineer, wood treating; engraver, glass blower
(nonmechanical), glazier, glove cutter, table; gold-smith,
instrument maker, instrument mechanic, iron
worker, structural ; iron worker, ornamental ; jeweler,
jog builder, joiner, lather, metal; lather, wood; lead
burner, lens grinder, linoleum, carpet and soft tile
layer ; loom fixer
;
Machinist : aircraft, automotive, marine, railroad,
shipyard; meat cutter, mechanic, maintenance; mill-man,
millwright, model maker (jewelry, aircraft,
etc.), molder, mold maker, jewelry ; motor repairman,
electric ; operating and stationary engineer ; painter,
paperhanger, patternmaker (metal-wood), pipefitter,
plasterer, plumber, pressman, printing; radio repair
and service mechanic, refrigerator, rigger, sewing
machine mechanic (garment industry) ;
Sheet metal worker: aircraft, automotive, con-struction,
industrial, shipfitter, shipwright, ship lofts-
( Continued on Page 93)
PAGE 84 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY FALL, 1946
Where Are The Workers In North Carolina Industries?
By Benton Bray, Former Director, Reports and Analysis Division, Employment Service Division
Where can we find workers to man our new textile
plant? Is there available space in your town for a
shirt factory? Do you have enough trained loopers
to open a new hosiery mill? Can we staff a plant
employing two thousand people by the first of the
year? All these questions represent the post-war
cry of both old and newly established industrial firms
in North Carolina. Never before in this State's
economic history has there been such a degree of ex-pansion.
Not only are North Carolina firms and
capital interested in this State's economic future but
also outside interests are looking toward this State
for future plant sites. This means that Chambers
of Commerce, trade associations, enterprising civic
leaders and, in general, all those who are interested
in the growth and welfare of North Carolina are
desirous of the latest labor information. It is a well
established fact that North Carolina has certain
definite factors, as tobacco, cotton, electric power
and capital, to offer industry. But the questionable
factor today is the quantity and trained quality of
the ever-fluctuating labor force in North Carolina.
Realizing the necessity of giving to industry the
best possible information, the Employment Service
has adopted as one of its cardinal points in the post-war
program that of furnishing labor market infor-mation.
During the war, labor market information
was in general treated "confidential" and rightly so.
Now these valuable data are and must be given to the
employers, civic and local planning groups, schools,
labor unions, and other government agencies. This
means that the Employment Service is placing the
problem of furnishing labor information to the pub-lic
on a plane equal to the placement of job applicants
and the furnishing of special services to veterans.
Likewise, as a part of the cooperation between the
Employment Service, United States Department of
Labor, and the various states in the establishment
and maintenance of the national system of public
employment offices is the development and main-tenance
of labor market information. One of the
standards of operations by the states of the employ-ment
offices is the maintenance through the state
administrative offices and the local offices of effective
labor market information. This information is to be
analyzed and issued publicly for the information of
all people on current labor market developments, on
employment trends, and on the opportunities for em-ployment.
It naturally is good business for this government
agency to furnish to the public, and especially the in-dustries
of this State, valuable and reliable informa-tion
that cannot be collected and disseminated profit-ably
by private interests. By furnishing this in-formation,
this agency is able to build up good will
and prove to North Carolina that it is the primary
objective of the Employment Service to render what-ever
aid is possible for local industry.
How is it possible that the Employment Service
can secure such valuable information? There are, at
this time, 78 employment and claims-taking offices
in North Carolina. These offices touch every county,
every town in North Carolina. The people in these
offices are professionally trained to know economic-ally
and realistically their areas. Into these offices
yearly more than two million people go requesting
job information, filing claims for Unemployment
Compensation, asking for veteran information, and
seeking jobs. In one month more than three hundred
employers will visit these offices to talk labor prob-lems.
It is from these offices that the State admin-istrative
office of the Employment Service secures
labor market data and it is back in these many local
communities that the Employment Service personnel
use the accumulated economic information.
Through the cooperation of approximately four
hundred employing units in North Carolina, repre-senting
a quarter of a million workers, the Employ-ment
Service every two months secures labor trend
reports. These reports show employment data for:
the current month, two months previous and antici-pated
employment in two, four, and six months. Also,
from these reports it is possible to gain such labor
facts as turnover, the uses of female and non-white
workers, as well as the transportation, housing, and
salary problems. From these ES-270 reports the
Agency is able to analyze scientifically and to picture
graphically the status of employment by industry,
by months, and by areas.
News letters, commonly known as Labor Market
Digests, are prepared periodically by the local offices.
These letters reveal on a single page the supply, de-mand,
and related problems of labor in the area. The
basis of these letters are the active files of job appli-cant,
of labor trend data, of job openings, and of the
other significant economic factors in the community.
Besides collecting and analyzing these data and
issuing the reports, there are often special studies
relating to the problems and requirements of the
day. These studies may reflect industrial labor prob-lems
(currently the construction industry) or they
may picture the movement of labor between areas.
This agency hopes that to a degree through its
labor market information it will be possible for all
persons interested in North Carolina's future to re-main
awake, alert, and attuned to the daily chang-ing
pattern of not only the State's but also the na-tion's
labor problems. The successful continuation
of our democratic system of free enterprise depends
in a large manner on a well informed people.
During Senate debate on the Full Employment
Bill, several Senators asked on the floor in effect
"What does liberty mean to a man whose wife and
children are hungry?" Patrick Henry must have
turned over in his grave.—Senator Joseph H. Ball.
4
FALL, 1946 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 85
Coal Mine In North Carolina Expected to Produce Soon
By Bill Sharpe, Director, State Neivs Bureau
Large-scale development of the Deep River coal
field, located eight miles from Sanford, appears im-minent.
Development will be by Walter A. Bledsoe
Coal Company, of Terre Haute, Indiana, and its asso-ciates
in this venture, John Marshall and associates,
successful coal mining organization of Scranton, Pa.,
which operates under the name of Greenwood Mining
Company.
The major portion of the proven Deep River field
has been acquired, either by outright purchase or
lease, by the Bledsoe Company, which is the third
largest coal producing organization in the United
States. Work has started in the field and it is ex-pected
that within a few months 500 tons of coal a
day will be produced from the old Carolina Slope,
which is located in the heart of the field.
Entrance of the Bledsoe Company, with its experi-ence
and record of accomplishment, in the Deep
River field is hailed as marking a real milestone in
the industrial development of North Carolina. In-dustrial
engineers of the State have keenly felt, in
the past, a lack of a closeby source of fuel. Coming
of the Bledsoe interests climaxes more than three
years of intensive effort on the part of the Depart-ment
of Conservation and Development, to bring
about large-scale operations, by an experienced coal
mining company, in the field.
During the past two years, while the Bledsoe Com-pany
was formulating its plans for a North Carolina
project, the State has been visited many times by
W. S. Webster, vice president and general manager
of Walter A. Bledsoe and Company, and several top
engineers of the company.
In 1943 a special survey of the coal field was made
by the H. A. Brassert Company and C. C. Morfit, of
New York, coal consulting engineers, employed by
the Department of Conservation and Development.
They filed a report showing the Deep River field had
an indicated reserve tonnage of 46,000,000 tons of
coal. Since that time, core drilling tests by the Unit-ed
States Bureau of Mines and the Bledsoe Company,
participated in by the N. C. Division of Mineral Re-sources,
confirmed these estimates and indicated
even greater reserves.
The Deep River coal deposits have been mined
intermittently and largely unsuccessfully since be-fore
the American Revolution. In 1925, in the midst
of perhaps what was the most successful financial
venture, 53 miners were killed in a mine explosion
which rocked the communities of Cumnock and near-by
Gulf. Two years later, while convict labor was
being used in the mine, there was a less serious disas-ter,
following which the Carolina Slope and other
operations in the field were abandoned.
In 1942 the Coal Products Company of Sanford,
then a newly organized corporation, started pumping
out the old workings as the initial step toward put-ting
the mine back in production. For various rea-sons
this operation lagged and full production was
never reached. Its interests have been taken over
by the Bledsoe Company.
Tests run by the United States Bureau of Mines
show that Deep River coal has a B. T. U. content of
14,200, and, if the coal is coked, will yield 22 gallons
of tar per ton, and 30 pounds of ammonia sulphate
per ton, a "content comparing favorably with the
well-known Freeport, Pa., coal." The Brassert re-port
says the coal has good coking properties, is
suitable for domestic and other fuel uses, and that
a "relatively large number of by-products" can be
recovered.
The coal occurs in two seams, sandwiching a layer
known locally in the Sanford area as "black band."
This black band is largely composed of iron carbon-ate
and phosphorous. In early operations the "black
band" was mined along with the coal, and the com-posite
was difficult to use, resulting in a definite local
prejudice against it which was not altogether dispell-ed,
locally, by successful tests in the fire boxes of
locomotives on the famous, State-owned "Mullet
Line" Railroad operating between Goldsboro and
Morehead City.
Combustion engineers, however, report that with
proper separation the Deep River coal makes an ex-cellent
fuel, suitable for most usages. The Brassert
report confirms this and further points out that with
utilization of modern mining methods and installa-tion
of modern safety equipment a mine in the Deep
River coal field is no more hazardous than coal mines
in any other fields.
The field lies in three counties—Chatham, Moore,
and Lee.
Present operation plans of the Bledsoe-Marshall
group call for enlargement and modernization of the
old Carolina Slope as presenting the quickest produc-tion
possibilities. A certain amount of supervisory
personnel, experienced in coal mining, is now being
brought in from other coal mining areas. There
should be considerable employment, however, for
local labor. Large scale mining operations in the
field is expected to revitalize the towns of Gulf and
Cumnock, particularly the latter, and will be felt
even in Sanford.
Unemployment compensation is based on the phil-osophy
that employment, not unemployment, is the
goal to be attained.—Ohio Supreme Court in Harvey
Chambers Case.
One of the outstanding needs oi' the present is
nation-wide realization that the time for talk and
subtle maneuvering has passed and we must get down
to work.—L. Ray Buckendale.
PAGE 86 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY FALL, 1946
Maritime Workers Covered; Greenhouse Workers Exempt
By R. B. Billings, Senior Attorney
Two topics which we propose to discuss relating to
the administration of the unemployment compensa-tion
program in this State may be of some interest
to subject employers and covered workers at this
time. These are
:
(1) Coverage of maritime workers under the Un-employment
Compensation Law in consequence of
the recent amendment to the Federal Unemployment
Tax Act passed by the Congress wherein the services
of officers and members of the crew of a vessel
operating on navigable waters of the United States
were brought within the definition of employment
as set forth in the Federal Act.
(2) An interpretation of "agricultural labor" with
respect to services performed by individuals in
greenhouse operations as set forth in a recent opin-ion
rendered by the Commission during August of
this year.
MARITIME COVERAGE
Prior to August 10, 1946, the Federal Unemploy-ment
Tax Act specifically excluded from the defini-tion
of employment in the Act, service performed as
an officer or member of the crew of a vessel on the
navigable waters of the United States. This was
equally true of the Unemployment Compensation
Law of North Carolina, except in the section of the
North Carolina Law excluding from coverage this
type of service, there was a proviso which in effect
included such service in covered employment from
and after the effective date of any amendment to the
Federal law which would include this type of service
under the coverage of the Federal act.
On the date above mentioned, the Congress of the
United States passed an amendment to the Federal
Unemployment Tax Act, effective July 1, 1946,
wherein the several states are permitted to tax ser-vices
of officers or members of the crew of a vessel
operating on the navigable waters of the United
States, if the operations of the vessel are ordinarily
and regularly supervised, managed, directed, and
controlled from an operating office maintained by an
employer in the particular state. This permission
is subject to the conditions (1) that such service, for
the purpose of wage credits to the employees, is
treated in the same manner as other services, and
(2) that the same limitations apply which pertain
to the rights of the states to require contributions
from Federal instrumentalities.
The provision in the North Carolina Act referred
to above, automatically brings within the definition
of employment contained in the law those services
which the amendment to the Federal Unemployment
Tax Act brought within the definition of employment
under the Federal statute. Therefore, a person who
is maintaining an operating office in this State from
which the operations of an American vessel on the
navigable waters within or within and without the
United States are regularly supervised, managed,
directed, and controlled, is liable to pay contributions
under the Unemployment Compensation Law with
respect to wages earned by the officers or members
of the crew of such vessel.
The fact that this particular type of service per-formed
by officers or members of the crew of a ves-sel
operating on the navigable waters of the United
States is brought within the provisions of the defini-tion
of employment as contained in the Unemploy-ment
Compensation Law of North Carolina does not
in any manner change the requirements under the
law with regard to the minimum number of workers
and the number of weeks in which such individuals
must perform services before an employer becomes
liable under the Act for contributions on wages earn-ed
by them. The citizenship or residence of either
the employer or the individual performing the ser-vice
is immaterial insofar as the service being "em-ployment"
is concerned. Service must be performed
either within the United States, or on or in connec-tion
with an American vessel under a contract of
service which is entered into within the United States
or during the performance of which the vessel
touches port in the United States. Service perform-ed
by a member of a crew or other employee, whose
contract of service is not entered into within the
United States, and during the performance of which
the vessel does not touch a port within the United
States, does not constitute employment, notwith-standing
similar services performed by others on or
in connection with the vessel may constitute employ-ment.
Certain services are excepted from employment
under the amendment. Services performed by an
employee which are performed on or in connection
with a vessel, not an American vessel, are exempted
if the employee is employed on or in connection with
such vessel when outside the United States. The
term "American vessel" is defined by the law as be-ing
any vessel documented or numbered under the
laws of the United States, and includes any vessel
which is neither documented or numbered under the
laws of the United States nor documented under the
laws of any foreign country, if its crew is employed
solely by one or more citizens or residents of the
United States or corporations organized under the
laws of the United States, or of any state.
Services performed by an individual in the catch-ing,
taking, harvesting, cultivating, or farming of
any kinds of fish, shellfish, (for example, oysters,
clams, and mussels) Crustacea, (for example, lob-sters,
crabs, and shrimp) sponges, seaweeds, or
other aquatic forms of animal and vegetable life are
excepted. These exemptions extend to services per-formed
as an officer or member of the crew of a
vessel, which vessel is engaged in any such activity,
whether or not the officer or member of the crew is
himself so engaged. These types of service men-tioned
are not excepted from coverage if such ser-
FALL, 1 946 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 87
vices are performed in connection with a vessel of
more than ten net tons, the tonnage to be determined
in the manner for determining the registered ton-nage
of merchant vessels under the laws of the Unit-ed
States. It is further provided that all services
performed on any size vessel, whether less than ten
tons or not, which are performed in connection with
the catching or taking of salmon or halibut for com-mercial
purposes do not come within the exemptions,
such services being covered under the law. This, of
course, will be of no effect in North Carolina since
there is no salmon or halibut fishing carried on in
our waters.
The increase in the number of covered workers
brought within the coverage of the Act as a result of
including maritime workers thereunder will be very
small, the amendment affecting mostly those indi-viduals
engaged in the menhaden fishing industry in
this State.
AGRICULTURAL LABOR
Agricultural labor is exempted from unemploy-ment
payroll contributions under all state unemploy-ment
compensation laws as well as under the Federal
Unemployment Tax Act. This particular type of
service was originally exempted from coverage under
the various state laws and the Federal law because
of the great administrative difficulties and the costs
involved in applying the law to this particular type
of service.
The Unemployment Compensation Law of this
state merely exempts "agricultural labor" and does
not define the term. The duty of applying this ex-emption
falls upon the Unemployment Compensation
Commission, and at times presents a difficult prob-lem.
In determining what constitutes "agricultural
labor" the Commission considers the facts existing
in each particular case, and has generally adopted
what is known as the "farm concept theory" in reach-ing
its decisions, its opinions centering around what
constitutes a farm in the ordinarily accepted sense,
and whether the services performed are incidental
to ordinary farming operations. The Commission
recognizes, however, that in present day business
methods many activities formerly embraced in farm-ing
operations or in intimate connection therewith
have become specialized and removed from the farm,
and when this is accomplished such work may
properly be regarded as thereby becoming industrial
in nature rather than agricultural in the common
conception of that term.
GREENHOUSE WORKERS EXEMPT
Since an amendment to the Social Security Act in
1939, a number of the state laws, as well as the
Federal law, have defined what constitutes "agricul-tural
labor," and have included in such definitions
all services performed on a farm in the employ of any
person in connection with cultivating the soil, or in
connection with raising or harvesting any agricul-tural
or horticultural commodity. Such definitions
usually provide that the term "farm" shall include
nurseries and greenhouses. Although the Unem-
( Continued on Page 94)
VETERANS REFUND ALLOWANCES
IN CONCURRENT PAYMENTS
Refunds of $12,298 by 227 World War II veterans
had been made through October 9 in servicemen's
readjustment allowances to the State Unemployment
Compensation Commission, representing payments
made for periods in which veterans were also draw-ing
subsistence or remuneration while in school or
on-the-job training under the G. I. Bill of Rights.
Demand has been made for refunds of approxi-mately
$54,520 from 976 veterans, $20,000 from 103
self-employed and $33,920 from 873 unemployed
veterans, during recent weeks, as a result of which
the 227 veterans refunded $12,298. Refunds are
received daily by the UCC and demands for refunds
go out to veterans daily.
Only a few of these veteran claims for self-employ-ment
and unemployment allowances were made with
intent to defraud the U. S. Government, Chairman
Henry E. Kendall points out. Occasionally veterans
were filing claims for unemployment or self-employ-ment
while their on-the-job or institutional training
papers were in process. A few of these veterans
entered on-the-job training or went to a school or
college and their remuneration or subsistence was
delayed for a few weeks, during which they con-tinued
to file unemployment claims.
In the routine process, schools and colleges, as well
as firms conducting on-the-job training, submit re-ports
on all veterans to the Veterans Administration
Regional Office in Winston-Salem. Reports of this
information are sent to the UCC. The UCC, in turn,
must check all of the school or on-the-job training
veterans reported against the records of all veterans
drawing unemployment or self-employment allow-ances.
It is in this checkup that those who draw con-current
payments are discovered and demand for
refund of the readjustment allowance payments is
made.
Some of the veterans upon whom demand is made
for refund enter appeals from the demands, as is
their privilege. Through October 9, appeals had
been filed by 116 veterans. These cases are heard
by UCC appeals deputies and decisions rendered in
accordance with findings of fact.
"It is well to remember," said Chairman Kendall,
"that veterans who draw allowances to which they
are not entitled are required to refund the amounts
drawn, whether there is evidence of fraud or not.
We believe that fraud can be established in only a
few of these cases. Our records indicate that when
a veteran in school or in-the-job training gets his
subsistence or remuneration, he stops filing claims
for unemployment or self-employment allowances.
A very small percentage continue filing and making
fraudulent statements. In these, of course, the record
will be turned over to the Veterans Administration
for prosecution or whatever action the U. S. At-torneys
may take."
PAGE 88 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY FALL, 1946
Millions Involved In Veterans' Readjustment Allowances
By M. R. Dunnagan, Informational Service Representative
Administering the Servicemen's Readjustment Al-lowances
program, as provided in the G. I. Bill of
Rights, and delegated by the U. S. Veterans Admin-istration
to the Unemployment Compensation Com-mission
of North Carolina, really takes its place in
classification as "big business".
Operation of this program actually began in Sep-tember,
1944, at a time when the nations of the earth
were still engaged in death grapple, and only a few
veterans of that world conflict had been released from
the service—usually those with physical or other dis-abilities.
Since September 14, 1944, when unemployment al-lowances
actually became available, and since Novem-ber,
1944, when self-employed allowances first became
available (for self-employment during the preceding
month of October) approximately 125,000 World War
II veterans in both classifications had been paid
through September, 1946. 35,887,738 by the State
UCC, for which it received reimbursement daily from
the Veterans Administration.
UNEMPLOYMENT ALLOWANCES
Servicemen's Readjustment Allowances for unem-ployment,
starting low in the last four months of
1944 and remaining moderate during most of the year
1945, but increasing monthly, reached the highest
peak during the week ended June 29, 1946, when 27,-
644 veterans drew $613,120 in unemployment allow-ances.
However, the weekly average payments in
June reached only 23,841 whereas the August average
was 24,581 payments a week. During the entire
month of August 105,697 payments were made, ag-gregating
$2,277,303.00.
During the entire period of unemployment allow-ances,
from September 14, 1944, through September,
1946, slightly more than two years, readjustment
allowance payments aggregated $19,293,130.00, in
payment for 975,000 weeks of unemployment. During
that period the average weekly payment was approx-imately
$19.75, as compared with the maximum of
$20 a week. This indicates that only a few of the
veterans reported earnings for any week for which
a claim was filed, and only small amounts of odd-job
or part-time earnings were reported.
Records show that slightly more than 94,000 new
claims for unemployment had been filed in the two
years, indicating that only 94,000 of the approx-imately
320,000 veterans who had been discharged in
North Carolina were unemployed at some time since
their discharge that is, only 28.1 percent of the dis-charged
veterans have filed claims for unemployment,
and probably slightly less than that percentage and
number actually received unemployment benefits.
New claims filed by unemployed veterans, those
filing the first time, reached their peak in January,
1946, following the period in which the rate of dis-charge
from the armed forces was greatest, when 12,-
461 new claims were filed in one month. The rate of
new claims has continued to drop gradually, but
definitely, until they had declined to 6,023 in August
and 3,012 for September. This is less than one-fourth
of the peak week in January.
Continued claims, those filed after the first claim
has been filed, representing weeks of unemployment
and as a result of which the veteran may reasonably
expect to receive allowance checks, reached their
peak for a normal week during the week ended May
4, 1946, with 29,975 continued claims. Two other
weeks had higher figures for continued claims, but in
both cases the weeks preceding contained holidays
and veterans due to file claims on those days were
allowed to file them on the same week-day during the
following week. In the week ended July 13, (July 4
holiday) 31,022 continued claims were filed, and for
the week ended May 18, (May 10 holiday) 30,272 con-tinued
claims were filed. From the normal week peak
of 29,975 for the week ended May 4, the weekly claims
load dropped to 12,160 for the week ended October
26. This reflects a decrease of 59.4 percent in con-
This group is
engaged in pro-cessing
claims
for veterans in
the Central U.
C. C. office in
Raleigh. Bend-inf,
at extreme,
left, is John R.
Branham* Jr.,
Administrative
j Assistant.
Along the right
toall, left to
right, are: W.
Tom Arthur,
seated in front
of Ben E.
Woodall and
J. Wilbur Pea-cock,
standing,
supervising
claims examin-ers'
in the Vet-erans
program.
FALL, 1 946 THE U. C C QUARTERLY PAGE 89
Checks for vet-erans
are be-ing
prepared
by this group
of workers in
, the Central U.
C. C. building
in Raleigh.
Standing, left,
is E. S. Pearce,
assistant audi-tor,
and, right,
W. H. Pitman,
chief auditor of
the U. C. C.
tinued claims from the peak, and a decline to the ap-proximate
weekly average in January, 1946. Con-tinued
claims have averaged approximately 9,200 a
week for the 106 weeks of the program through Sep-tember,
1946.
SELF-EMPLOYED ALLOWANCES
October, 1944, was the first month for which self-employment
allowances were payable, but, due to the
beginning of this program, several veterans did not
file claims for that month until November and
December. The result of this and the fact that the
first Readjustment Agent for North Carolina, Cale K.
Burgess, Raleigh, did not begin his duties until Jan-uary
1, 1945, first checks in this program reached the
self-employed veterans claimants in that month.
Preparatory work in getting vouchers ready for
the self-employed veterans was done in Mr. Burgess'
office in the Caswell Building, the position having
been taken over by Col. A. L. Fletcher, former chair-man
of the UCC on May 1, 1946, and checks were
actually written in Richmond, Va. and mailed to the
claimants from the U. S. Treasury Disbursing Office
in Richmond, Va. As of October 1, 1946, this work
was taken over and performed by the State UCC and
checks have since been prepared and mailed from this
office directly to the self-employed veterans, as has
been the case from the beginning with the unemploy-ment
claims and checks.
The self-employment program is different from the
unemployment program in that the claimant is self-employed,
conducting his own business or office. The
veteran filing a claim for self-employment is not
available for placement in another job. He has a job
and claims only difference between what he earns or
receives as profit in his business or profession and
$100 a month The Veterans Administration supple-ments
his income while he is attempting to establish
himself in his business, industry or profession.
This program lasts for only 10.2 months, not neces-sarily
consecutive, however, for any self-employed
veteran, since the rules require that when a self-em-ployed
veteran files a claim and receives a monthly
allotment, he is charged with five weeks of the 52-
weeks period in which he may draw these allowances.
Also, if the self-employed veteran earns something,
but not the full $100, in any given month, his allow-ance
is reduced, but he is also charged with five weeks
of allowance even though he may have received only
$25, or $40 or $50.
While self-employed veterans in many classifica-tions,
professional, business, industry, or other, are
eligible to claim allowances under this program, it so
happens that in North Carolina from 90 to 95 percent
of the claimants have been farmers. Also, because
they were receiving aid while producing their crops,
the number has dropped considerably during the fall
months, in which their crops were being marketed
and they were receiving income from their earleir
labors.
ALLOWANCES TO SELF-EMPLOYED
Since he self-employment program started about
two years ago veterans have received $16,594,608,
compensating them for 168,725 months of self-em-ployment,
through September, 1946, or in about two
years. Since the monthly allowance averaged $98.35,
out of a possible $100, it is evident that very few self-employed
veterans reported any income, and those
who did report income reported very little.
Slightly more than 31,000 veterans had filed self-employment
claims in the two years of the program,
through September, 1946. When it is recalled that
about 320,000 North Carolina veterans have been dis-charged
from the armed forces, it is apparent that
just about 9.4 percent of those discharged have filed
claims for self-employment allowances.
Peak of the self-employment payments was reached
in May, 1946, in which month $3,782,089 was dis-tributed
as full or partial allotments for 38,340
months of self-employment. In June $2,460,635 was
paid in allotments for 24,958 months, while in July
another upward spurt was recorded, when $2,954,138
was paid for 30,039 months. The drop since has been
extensive. In August $2,549,817 was paid for 25,962
months ; in September, $1,594,155 was paid for 16,341
months; and, in October a new low was recorded,
$1,132,614 for 11,940 months.
PAGE 90 THE U. C C. QUARTERLY FALL, 1946
INVESTIGATED AND DISALLOWED
Not every veterans is allowed to collect on every
claim he files In the slightly more than two years,
through September, 1946, during which allowances
were available, approximately 42,000 claims have
been investigated by USS claims deputies.
In case of the claims of unemployed veterans,
claims deputies disallowed 23,199 weeks of allow-ances,
and disallowed 3,094 self-employed claims
when they were filed. They also disallowed an ad-ditional
3,054 months of continued claims for self-employment
filed.
In about two years 1,479 cases were appealed from
the decisions of the claims deputies in cases of unem-ployed
veterans and 849 cases were appealed in cases
of self-employed veterans, making a toal of 2,122
cases that have gone up to appeals deputies for fur-ther
investigation and determination.
STEPS OF VETERAN CLAIMANTS
The first step taken by the veteran seeking unem-ployment
allowances is to report to his nearest Em-ployment
Service office, where he registers for work.
He must continue to report to this office each week
for any available work If no work is available im-mediately
he is referred to the UCC claims taker,
who interviews him and makes out his claim for an
allowance. If the claims taker has any question as
to the validity of the claim, he refers it to the UCC
claims deputy for an investigation. If the claims
deputy approves the claim, or if the claims taker is
satisfied in the first place of its validity, the claim is
forwarded to the State UCC office where it is pro-cessed
and a check is issued to the unemployed
veteran.
Claims received in the State UCC offices are broken
down into small batches and assigned to individual
claims examiners. If the examiner finds that the
claimant is qualified and his claim is in order, he
approves the claim and routes it to the accounting
department, where an addressograph plate is made,
bearing the name, address and serial number of the
veteran.
A separate ledger account is set up for each claim-ant
and the weeks of entitlement are computed, rang-ing
from four weeks, for some disabled veterans, with
less than three months service, to 52 weeks. The in-formation
is sent to the check-writing division, where
the check is made out by a semi-automatic process.
All checks thus processed go by messenger to the
State Auditor's office where the amount is imprinted
on the check and the signature of the State Auditor
added to that of Chairman Henry E. Kendall. Checks
are returned to the UCC office and mailed to the
veterans daily.
The UCC is serious in its desire to pay Service-men's
Readjustment Allowances to all veterans to
whom such payments are due, in furthering the policy
and plan for which the program was intended—as an
aid in bringing about the readjustment of the vet-erans
in the communities in which they decide to
live and enabling them to take their places in the
economic and business life of our people.
On the other hand, the UCC is just as intent upon
paying allowances only to those who have qualified
for them and continue to meet the conditions pre-scribed
by law. That is why an effort is made, every
time a veteran files a claim for allowances, to find a
job for him, or to help him find suitable work. If a
veteran has been filing claims for several weeks,
claims takers begin to question him as to what efforts,
if any, he has made toward finding a job for himself.
FIND A FEW FRAUD CASES
In order to qualify for allotments a veteran must
have been discharged under conditions other than
dishonorable. He must be able to work, available
for work and willing to take a suitable job. In fact,
he must show every time he files a claim, by signing
a statement to that effect, that he wants a job and
can and will take a suitable one. Also, he is required
to report any earnings from odd jobs or part-time
employment in the weeks for which he applies for
allowances, in cases of unemployed veterans, or in
the months for which he seeks allowances, if he is a
self-employed veteran.
If a claims taker has reason to believe that a vet-eran
seeking allowances is not available for work or
is not willing to take a job which is considered suit-able
for him, then payments are halted until the
claims deputy makes a check and determines his
rights. The same conditions apply to veterans who
are believed to be employed part-time or at odd jobs
and fail to report any earnings to the claims taker
when he files his claim
In some cases a veteran will file a claim and report
no earnings when he has actually been at work, full
or part-time, and should have reported earnings. In
such cases payments are stopped and a hearing held.
If the claims deputy, or later the appeals deputy,
finds that the veteran has actually practiced fraud in
making his claim, the record in the case is turned
over to Col. A. L. Fletcher, State Veterans Readjust-ment
Allowance Agent. If Colonel Fletcher approves
the findings of the UCC appeals deputy, he submits
the record to the regional attorney for the Veterans
Administration. At this writing, J. Howard Killian,
of Charlotte, is acting regional attorney for the North
Carolina region. The regional attorney turns the
case over to the U. S. District Attorney in the ap-propriate
district of the three districts in North Caro-lina
for prosecution in the Federal Court. Only a few
such cases have actually reached the trial stage, out
of 35 to 40 fraud cases that have been turned over
to the Readjustment Allowance Agent by the UCC
deputies.
The UCC deputies have authority to stop payments
and turn the the records over to the Readjustment
Allowance Agent, in cases of fraud. That is as far as
the UCC can go. It is then up to the Veterans Ad-ministration
and the Federal Court officials. Penal-ties,
in cases of fraud, include depriving the veteran
of any further benefits under the G. I. Bill of Rights,
the requirement that he refund any money obtained
through fraud, and a fine of not more than $1000, or
imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.
The UCC receives and processes claims of veterans,
(Continued on Page 99)
FALL, 1946 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 91
New Industries 181, Expansions 100, In Six Months
By Bill Sharpe, Director, State News Bureau
North Carolina industry experienced what is be-lieved
to be a record breaking growth in the first six
months of 1946, according to the report of Paul
Kelly, Assistant Director, and head of the Division
of Commerce and Industry, N. C. Department of
Conservation and Development.
One hundred eighty-one new industries and an
even 100 expansions within existing industries, pro-viding
jobs for an estimated 28,638 new workers,
requiring an approximate $62,491,500 in new capital
investment, to provide an estimated $47,939,000 in
new annual payrolls are listed in the summary pre-pared
by Philip Schwartz, Industrial Analyst.
As compared to the over-all 1945 figures, which
INCREASE IN SMALL FIRMS
IN NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina had a net gain of 1,460 industrial
and commercial firms and 14,746 workers during the
fiscal year ended June 30, 1946, roughly, the first
reconversion year, as measured by the net increase
of firms covered by the Unemployment Compensation
Law.
During that year 1,216 firms with 53,090 covered
workers retired from UC law coverage, while 2,676
new firms with 67,836 covered workers were brought
under coverage. S. F. Campbell, director of Re-search
and Statistics, reminds that retirement may
mean that firms consolidated, and that new coverage
may be old or consolidated firms, or firms with fewer
than eight workers which may have come under
coverage, voluntarily or involuntarily, due to rela-tionship
with other firms.
These figures, however, bear out the known con-dition
that many small firms have started business
or industry in the State since the war ended and
those covered by the UC law as a rule have eight or
more workers.
The one-year development is in contrast to activi-ties
in the three principal war years, fiscal 1942-45.
During those years the State had a net loss of 114
covered firms, but a net gain of 18,811 protected
workers. The record shows that 2,989 firms with
101,566 workers retired from coverage and that
2,875 firms with 120,377 workers were brought
under UC law coverage.
By combining the figures for the four fiscal years
ended June 30, last, it is found that 4,205 firms with
164,719 workers retired from coverage, while 5,551
firms with 188,213 workers were brought under
coverage. This is a net gain in the four-year period
of 1,346 covered firms and 23,494 workers.
It seems safe to assume that the present fiscal year
will show an even greater increase than the past
year in the numbers of firms coming under the UC
law, particularly small firms with 8 to 50 or more
workers, as well as numerous firms with fewer than
eight workers, which generally do not come under
the UC law.
were thought at the time of their release last Spring
to constitute the most rapid industrial growth in any
similar period in the State, the first six months of
this year showed 181 new plants (in operation or in
such projection as to be definitely reportable) to 225
for all of last year; $29,000,000 to $47,000,000 in
approximate investment; 17,000 to 16,000 new
workers; and $29,000,000 to $21,000,000 in approxi-mate
new annual payrolls.
In 1945, new textile industries (all types) were
predominant with a total of 78 out of 225, or approxi-mately
34 per cent. This trend has continued steady
and even stronger in the first six months of 1946,
with a total of 96 out of 181, or approximately 53
per cent. Textile mill products, with an approximate
39 per cent, and apparel and other finished products,
with an approximate 16 per cent, second and fourth
respectively in the new comparison scale, seemed
certain to establish, with the new textile industries
figures, even more firmly by year's end North Caro-lina's
position as the leading textile manufacturing
state of the nation.
Continuing, too, the state's record as the leader in
furniture and finished lumber products, new indus-tries
in those categories were 16 per cent of the total.
Surprising, and heartening to state leaders, was the
8 per cent shown in food and kindred products in a
state which raises much but has processed little food
commodities. And the 6 per cent attributed to mis-cellaneous
indicates that the recent efforts of the
State Planning Board and other agencies toward the
development of original new industries using North
Carolina commodities is taking effect.
This latter trend is shown even more clearly in
the approximate investment figures which show, for
miscellaneous in new and expanded industries over
$14,000,000, second only to textile mill products with
$39,000,000. Food and kindred products was third
with $3,250,000, with other classified divisions fol-lowing
in order : apparel and other finished products
$940,000; chemicals and allied products $840,000;
furniture and finished lumber products approxi-mately
$800,000 ; electrical $750,000 ; stone, clay and
glass products $400,000; lumber and timber basic
products $265,000; machinery $30,000. Expansion
in tobacco plants, with no new industries reported,
amounted to $2,000,000.
"Relief and Social Security" by Lewis Meriam was
recently published by The Brookings Institution. The
first half of this 900 page book gives a description of
American relief and social security problems. The
British and New Zealand programs are then de-scribed,
and the last third of the book discusses the
major issues of today's social security and relief pro-grams
The study concludes that benefits should be
offered to all who need them, and points out that the
present program does not cover large groups whose
members contribute to its support.
PAGE 92 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY FALL, 1946
Armed Services Amendment To Social Security Act
From The National Legionnaire, October 1, 1946
The Armed Services Amendment to the Social
Security Act, passed by the 79th Congress just prior
to its recent adjournment, provides survivors' bene-fits
for dependents of certain World War II veterans
who have died or who will die within a limited period
of time after discharge.
This amendment was a partial victory for The
American Legion but did not achieve all that had
been sought in a Legion-sponsored bill (S-2204)
which became hopelessly entangled in Congressional
red tape in the 11th hour of the session. Because of
the situation, it became necessary to employ parlia-mentary
strategy to assure passage of "some" law
granting benefits to veterans' dependents.
"When it became evident our bill was stymied,"
stated Legislative Director John Thomas Taylor,
"we immediately sponsored beneficial clauses in a
comprehensive social security bill, H R 7037, which
had progressed further along the Congressional
route. This measure became Public Law No. 719."
WHO ARE ELIGIBLE
To qualify for benefits under the new law, the
survivors of a deceased veteran must show that the
veteran was in active military or naval service on or
after September 16, 1940, and before the official end
of the war. The veteran must have had at least 90
days of service, or, if his service was less than 90
days, it must have been terminated by reason of a
service-connected or service-aggravated disability or
injury.
The law applies to veterans who die or have died
within three years after discharge and who were
discharged within four years and one day after the
termination of the war as determined by Presidential
proclamation or declaration of Congress. The
veteran must have been discharged under conditions
other than dishonorable.
The law does NOT apply to veterans who died
while in service. It does NOT apply to veterans who
were dishonorably discharged. It does NOT apply
to those who die more than three years after dis-charge.
If survivors are receiving compensation or pen-sion—(
this does not mean Government life insur-ance)—
from the Veterans Administration, they are
NOT eligible under the amendment.
The law confers on the eligible veteran a fully
insured status and guarantees his credit of a mini-mum
average monthly wage of $160. An increment
year is also provided for each year of 30 days or
more of service. The benefits are computed from
the average monthly wage, and each increment year
increases the basic benefit by one per cent.
If the qualified veteran leaves a widow with young
children in her care, she will be eligible to receive a
monthly benefit. Each child under 16 will be eligible
to receive a monthly benefit two-thirds the amount
of the widow's benefit. As each child reaches the
age of 18, its benefit will terminate. When all chil-dren
have reached the age of 18, the widow's benefit
will be suspended if she is under 65 years of age.
When the widow reaches 65, however, she will be
eligible to file again for benefits, which will continue
for the rest of her life. The widow, however, will
lose all rights to benefits at any time if she re-marries.
If the veteran leaves neither widow nor children
under 18, his parents may be eligible for benefits if
they are 65 years old or more, and were dependent
upon him for support at the time of his death.
After January 1, 1947, such parents may receive
benefits even though the veteran is survived by a
widow, or child under 18, if the widow or child can
never become eligible for benefits.
MUST FILE CLAIM
If the veteran leaves no survivors immediately
eligible for monthly benefits a lump sum may be
payable to a certain specified relative or any other
relative or person who paid funeral expenses.
In case of veterans who died before enactment of
the legislation, monthly benefits may be payable from
the date of the veteran's death. Claims for such
benefits must be filed at the nearest Social Security
field office within six months after August 10, 1946,
the date the law was enacted. Payment of benefits
is not automatic. Claims must be filed for all bene-fits.
Lump sum death claims must be filed within
two years of death, or if the veteran died before
enactment of the law, within six months of, August
10, 1946, or two years after death, whichever is
later.
PURPOSE OF LAW
If a person dies in service, compensation is gener-ally
payable to his survivors under Veterans Ad-ministration
laws. But if after discharge he should
have died without having a compensable service-connected
disability, his survivors might have been
without protection before the passage of the amend-ment.
Many servicemen lost old-age and survivors'
insurance status, or their potential benefits were
reduced, because military service was not considered
covered under the Social Security Act. The purpose
of the amendment was to close this breach in sur-vivors'
protection, until such time as the veteran
might be expected to have been able to acquire or
re-establish protection under the old age and sur-vivors'
insurance program.
If benefits under the old age and survivors' in-surance
program already were payable and compu-tation
under the veterans' amendment would increase
the amount, the additional amount will be payable
to survivors who filed claims within six months after
August 10, 1946. Claims for increases in lump sum
payments already may be filed within six months of
(Continued on Page 99)
FALL, 1 946 THE U. C. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 93
LESS THAN TWO PERCENT OF
VETERANS EXHAUSTED ALLOWANCES
Only 1.51 percent of the approximately 321,000
North Carolina veterans of World War II who had
been discharged by September 1 had exhausted their
Servicemen's readjustment allowances by that date,
whether they were eligible for only eight weeks or
the fu