Jay's Portfolio: W.L.B. Puts Wage Issue Up To Roosevelt
Votes, in Stormy Session, Not to Recommend or Oppose a General Rise
New York Herald Tribune
October 12, 1944
By Jay Reid
After much back and forth, the wage issue was finally coming to a head on October 12, 1944.
The W.L.B. voted out the issue without a recommendation, which infuriated the union members of the board.
Nonetheless, organized labor wanted to get the issue on to Roosevelt’s desk, and Jay’s front page, column one article reports that they finally achieved that goal.
This marks the fourth time in two weeks that Jay’s coverage of the debate on wage increases was published on the front page.
Less than one month from the presidential election, the wage question was the only front-burner issue that affected a constituency large enough to swing significant numbers of votes over to FDR’s Republican challenger, Thomas Dewey.
The war was going well for the U.S. and its allies, with a nary a negative story about that topic on the front page.
In fact, there was another piece on the front page reporting that soldiers had begun voting by mail, a process which was made easier by the help of “experts”. (Sound familiar?)
One article on the front page centered on Dewey, and it concerned a forum the newspaper would host the following week.
In scanning the front page, one could be forgiven for not realizing there was a presidential election ongoing. Perhaps that was because the race was not particularly competitive.
Jay’s article appears to be his longest to date. Most of his articles can be read aloud in about 4.5 minutes. This one took almost 10 minutes.
The wage issue was likely at its peak regarding reader interest. Jay would not make it on to the front-page again until after the election.
