1945-09-06; Saline Observer

              The Saline Observer
VOLUME 62
SALINE,   WASHTENAW COUNTY, MICHIGAN,    THURSDAY, SEPT. 6, 1945
NUMBER 48
Has Michigan School System Hoisted Flag of the Jolly Roger?
?
Sfifi^ ImDrOVfiment    ^or^ Aviation Head
In Labor Relations
Hoyt Wil1*"* Describes
New Industry Attitude
In Rotary Dis^
Hoyt Willson, W .gah
Ave., Saline, con£ iader
for the Ford Mot .-iany,
who have establish iuper-
visory training pro, .in 18
area plants which mts- ueen in
operation during the past two
years, was guest speaker at last
Thursday's Rotary dinner "at
the Saline Totel.
Mr. Willson went at some
length to describe his work, the
results of whieh are noteworthy. He told of the instance
of foremen in plants who never
knew the ng.mes of those who
worked, under them, with, the
period of association covering
as many as 20 years.
Much of the trouble that has
developed between management
and labor since the advent of
this highly industrialized age,
he declared, is not all to be attributed to the shortcomings
of labor. Industry itself is greatly to blame and ha5 awakened
to the fact that men ai*e no
longer to be considered as just
"numbers." Unionization' of labor and collective bargaining
and many more inovations are
here to stay. Adopting a program in labor relations which
was originated by the Federal
government a couple of. years
ago, the Ford Motor Company
set up a sort of shop forum
wherein "boss" practices are
studied to the end that great
strides have been made in the
improvement in worker and
management relations with a
corresponding increase in worker efficiency and loyalty to the
company.
With the establishment of
confidence and understanding
and complete familiarity of the
worker with the job he has to
perform, many of the old prejudices and hates are vanishing
and the future of industrial
peace is most promising, he
declared.
Visitors were: Nick Miller, William A. Johnson and Leon Ved-
der of Milan and I. H. Ecker
of Flint.
Has The Pirating Of Teachers Become
Common Practice Among Faculty
Heads In This State?
Assistant State Aid
Dr. Edward F. Warner, who has
been named top man in the new
International Civil Aviation organization. He was assistant secretary
of the navy for aeronautics during
President Coolidge's second administration, and is the author of a
number of books on aeronautical,
subject?
Missionary From
China Visits Saline
Miss Jane Howell
Will Speak at St.
Paul's Sunday
The Observer poses a question
Has the pirating of school teachers become a common
practice   among   Michigan   school  faculty   heads?
Has the state educational system hoisted the flag of the
Jolly Roger to boldly plunder the teaching staffs of each other?
Is this plundering business, general or are there just a
few isolated cases of it.
We bring these questions to public attention because of
certain numerous instances we have observed during the past
few years and of two such occurences in the Saline school
this summer. We believe it is bad business, this pirating of
teachers', and we believe that it is time the practice be called
to   a  halt.
%t^
^
.WS.4i_!
Brazil is larger than  continental United States.
St. Paul's church will bring
to the community next Sunday
Miss Betty Jane Howell, returned misionary from China, as
special speaker for the annual
Mission Festival. Miss Howell,
a native of New Lebanon,
Ohio, began her missionary career in the Evangelical and Reformed Church in 1940. Japanese occupation of missionary
stations made the return of
these workers to their homeland necessary.
On Sunday she will speak at
the regular worship service at
10 a. m. and again at an evening service scheduled for 8
o'clock. Following the morning worship period Miss Howell will speak informally as she
displays articles collected in connection with her missionary ex-
perences. The entire congregation and Church school are invited to participate in this -feature and to raise questions for
discussion.
It is expected that visitors
from surrounding churches will
share in the service on Sunday and avail themselves of
the opportunity to hear the
guest speaker.
Plan for Japanese Occupation
i   10 MILES   i
NAGOf^jJ
Into the first zone of occupation, indicated by shaded area, the American forces began their Japanese landings. The program, announced by
General-MacArthljr as complete, is outlined on the above map. The TJ. S.
naval and marine force landing was designated at Yokosuka with official
surrender taking place on the IT. S: S. Missouri.
For instance: Long before
the beginning of a new school
year, the superintendent of
school starts filling the vacancies that have occurred on his
staff of teachers. He no doubt
has access to the lists of newly
graduated teachers, receive occasional applications. from
teachers of other schools who
desire a change of scene, perhaps, of from others who consider it a step up in their professional ambitions. From whatever source they may materialize, the unfettered teacher is
any school's fair game, and
they usually accept the best
offer made. Hired, they sign
a contract which ties up a
school board tighter than a
drum for as long as the contract was written.
Upon the completion of his
task of hiring teachers, the
school superintendent should be
able to devote his time to other
requirements of his job without being involved in further
uncertainties concerning his
teaching  staff.
But that is not the way it
works!
The teacher's contract ties
the job to the teacher—but
fails to tie the teacher to the
job.
Thus it was when William
Jakad signed a contract here
last April to teach in Saline
this new school year; he did so
not for the mutual protection
of himself and the school, but
solely for Ms own protection.
Signing a contract here did not
prevent him from applying
elsewhere for a better job nor
did it prevent him from accepting that job when it materialized. The school head who
hired him at the tag end of a
summer vacation could not
have been ignorant of the fart
that he was stealing a ceacher
from Salilne. It's a case of
every school for itself and the
devil take the hindmost.
Jakad signed a contract here,
placed applications with other
schools and just last week got
bids from both Detroit and
Grand Rapids. He took the
last-minute Grand Rapids offering as a county visiting teacher.
Here then is the game. Hire
out early and with a contract
in your vest pocket, begin the
quest of a better job. If you
don't land one, you're safe. If
you do, the school you let down
is the sucker. Ethically it's
all rather screwey from a layman's angle, and if ethics are
not a prime factor in Michigan's educational system, God
pity the future of America.
William Jakad is a very
charming individual who taught
here last year and a portion of
the year before. Through the
summer he acted as recreational
director at the city park and
did a swell job. He is a capable teacher .and won many
warm friends in Sahne. Jakad
is not to blame for the situation that obtains in Michigan
today, whereby the Grand Rapids school can make him a
last-minute offer to fill" a vacancy there, and thereby create a vacancy here. It is the
system that is eminently unfair and places a premium on
the piracy of teachers.
We believe an aroused public
opinion can spike the practice
over night.
. We believe the flag of thp
Jolly Roger should be hauled
down.
It should be made impossible
for any school to hire a teacher
already under contract with another school—until that contract   terminates.
The state board of education
should issue a cease hiring order in this practice of teacher
piracy.
Besides the loss of Jakad the
Saline school has lost Mrs. G.
L. Tiller, who also signed a
contract here last spring. She
answered a "bid from the Ann
Arbor city schools.
If you believe as strongly
about this matter as we do, you
Sill get out your cudgels in
. >.e shape of a letter or even a
penny post card and mail your
protest to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction,
Lansing, Mich.
Let's end this un-American,
school teacher bucanneering
business in our state.
Spruille Brad™, former (j. S>.
ambassador to Argentina, who has
been appointed to the post of assistant secretary of state, replacing Nelson A. Rockefeller. Braden
has been strong in his opposition to
the present Argentina government.
27 Rural Schools Fail
To Reopen This Year
The great majority of the
rural schools of Washtenaw
county opened the day after
Labor Day while several of the
graded schools, including the
Fritz and Stone schools, will
open on Sept. 10.
While 120 of the rural schools
will operate as usual, 27 other
schools remain closed this year
due to a small membership of
children of school age. This is
an increase of two schools over
last year. The pupils of these
closed schools are transferred
to the neighboring rural or village schools.
Out of the 143 teachers in
the rural sections, 31 are new
and 14 have changed schools
within the county, giving pupils new teachers in 45 schools.
The Preliminary Institute for
the rural teachers will be held
in the court house at Ann Arbor
from 9 a. m. to 12 o'clock. The
purpose of this meeting is to
discuss plans for the new school
year.
New Officers of legion
Auxiliary Chosen
At the annual meeting of the
Amercan Legion Auxiliary at
the home of Mrs. Lloyd Dell on
Aug. 28th, the following officers were chosen for the ensuing year:
President—Mrs. Walter Mac-
Arthur.
First Vice President — Mrs.
Loren Hunt.
Second Vice Presidents-Mrs.
Arthur O'Neill..
Secretary — Mrs. Norman
Pfitzenmaier.
Treasurer—Mrs. Ralph Hunt.
Historian—Mrs. Archie Lawrence.
Chaplain—Mrs. Orpha Birkle.
' Sergeant-at-Arms—Mrs. Andrew Hartman.
OPA Calls Women
To Do Battle
Enlist Their Aid
In Fight Against
Dangerous Inflation
To enlist consumer aid in
preventing food price increases, W. E. Fitzgerald, OPA district director, today announced
that "Anti-Inflation Shopping
Lists" will be distributed to
thousands of housewives from
local War Price and Rationing
Boards beginning Sept. 4, 1945.
"The OPA is calling upon
housewives to help their government prevent a repetition of
the disastrous inflation that followed the first World War.,"
Fitzgerald said.
*       ;       "Prices rose twice, as fast aft-
_ » • er  ^e   arcftistice  —   the  first
lanon^cn   Amai"IP«*tn World War as they did while
JaUdllCoC'nillCl ILcUl the actual fighting was on. For
example, a five-pound sack of
In Uavnis* A/tfinn potatoes increased By_c during
111   flClUlt   ntUUn        the war and an additional 35
  cents   in  the   year   and   eight
oat       1- xt j months following the armistice.
fegt. Joseph JNoda, «The   same   set   of   factors
Saline, Awarded Badge that   started   the   inflationary
/. ^. ,-       • *    .  nr-r •_"   spiral following that  war  are
of Distinguished Unit   again here.     Consumer  goods,
  including    certain    foods,    are
Sgt. Joseph M. Noda, rifle- scarce. Everyone wants to buy
man, son of Mrs. Sana Noda, the things he couldn't get dur-
Saline, recently was awarded ing the war and people have
the Distinguished Unit Badge money to spend,
for his part in three battles in "We are going to do every-
which he fought as a member thing in our power to prevent
of the 2nd Battalion of the price increases in cost-of-living
442nd Japanese American Com- items by maintaining price
bat Team. controls   as  long   as   they  are
The battalion was given the needed. We can't do the job
Distinguished Unit Citation for alone. That is why we are
outstanding performance of asking housewives to help us
duty in one battle on the Fifth at this time by making a spot
Army front in Italy and two check of food prices. We are
battles in France. Each mem- asking them to report to local
ber is entitled, by virtue of the boards their personal experience
citation, to wear the blue and with overcharges or" price corn-
gold badge on the right breast, pliance in the stores they j>atro-
In the first action cited, the nize.
battalion took a hill dominating "OPA has distributed con-
important supply routes run- sumer meat price lists, which
ning through Alsace into Ger- show the top ceiling prices for
many. Protected by dense every cut and grade of meat
minefields, the hill was defend- sold in retail stores. The house-
ed by three German tanks and wives who have these lists are
many self-propelled guns, mor- being asked to check store
tars, machineguns and other prices for meat against the lo-
automatic weapons and small cal ceilings and to report any
arms. More than six enemy overcharges to their local
machineguns were silenced. An boards.
enemy command post and con- «"Ceiling prices for practically
siderable quantities of German all other foods are posted'in re-
equipment were seized, 125 Ger- tail stores.
mans were killed, and 20 were "We want housewives to
captured. write    on    the    Anti-Inflation
Seizing another strategic Shopping Lists the prices they
height in the other battle in have actually paid for various
France for which they were kinds of food over a period of
cited, the Japanese Americans a week. The housewife will
at the same time eliminated a send her report to her local
serious flanking threat which board. This will give the board
Jeopardized the 3rd "Marne" a pretty good picture of food
Division and the 45th "Thun- price compliance in its area and
derbird" Division.^ The maneuv- point out some of the stores
er, "envelopment of a German that need investigation,
battle group by two of the bat- "I think most shoppers know
talion's rifle companies and that OP A's enforcement staff
driving the group up against is shorthanded. We've got to
other elements of the 442nd, go to the people for the facts
also availed the Seventh Army we need. These lists are one
of a paved supply route and very simple way of getting that
denied   the   enemy   roads   bv help.
which he might have reinforced "While a retailer occasionally
other units in the sector. may make a mistake and charge
At a cost of five men killed an above-ceiling price for an
and nine wounded, the battal- item, the vast majority intend
ion in this battle took 95 pris- to sell at the correct ceiling
oners, including a German bat- price. They realize the dangers
talion commander, and "killed of inflation—many from sad
100 of the enemy. experiences     after    the' first
Lieutenant Colonel James M. World War.
Hanley  of Manda,  North Da-     "Unfortuately,   there   are   a
kota, commanded the battalion few retailers  who would  take
while it "was in France. advantage   of  then-  customers
Giving impetus to the clamac- by 'charging above-ceiling pric-
tic advance across the Po Valley es. Such retailers rob their
in Italy, the 2nd Battalion took competitors of trade and are a
three commanding heights in discredit to the industry. It is
five days of fighting near the this small group of retailers
Ligurian Sea coast and enabled that we are after, and OPA
other Fifth Army troops to will prosecute them. But, we
take Massa and Carrara, vital must have facts to work on.
road junctions, without a fight. "By striking at above-ceil-
Terrain conditions forbade use ing'prices, we axe not only proof mules for bringing forward tecting the pocketbooks of
supplies, which had to be hand- businessmen and consumers,
carried, and the enemy's -heavy but we are helping to avoid a
firepower, from field artillery, disastrous inflationary period
mortars and machineguns and that couldn't help but end in
other automatic weapons, was just such a crash—the era of
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