Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 1

METRO FIJN'AL it Partly cloudy with khowers. Low 50-54, high 70-74. Mn and Ikrlail on Pacr 3 HOURLY TEMPERATURES fi? n. m. Sfl 0n.

m. 1 n. m. fi.T n. m.

as I n. m. fi.S "7 n. m. 1 mid S4 n.

m. n. m. 80 1 m. 4 n.

m. 6.1 n. m. 57 2 m. 52 Cnoffical FRIDAY, MAY 27, 1955 Vo.

23 Seven Cents On Guard for Over a Century 46 rages Vol. VZl Eitablithed in 1831 Rffl a 1 I ma oil Arn LM 1 1 1 I en ol IV 31 z) 1o 7T BR7" ID) 11 TKTiTm ol JUL iLJLJL 1L F'ord gave its answer t.0 demands for a guaran-! took advantage of the chance to buy stock up tn 10 per rent of row from the company, interest-free and without security, their earnings, this would mean 65 millions of stock a year, or 'when thev are laid off. 325 millions over a five-year period. Of this." the comranv Base nav. unemnlovment compensation benefits and would contribute half.

Offers Stock UAW Apparently Rejects GM Proposal, Too BY ROBERT TERRIN Free Pres Labor Writer The Ford Motor Co. late Thursdav offered thp. teed annual wage Thursday in a dramatic, far-reaching half -billion-dollar, five-year package. The Ford Motor Co. offered its 140,000 UAW (CIO) employes a sweeping package deal which includes the right to buy Ford stock at half price when it goes on the market.

It was estimated the stock plan could mean ownership of ns much as 325 million dollars of Ford stock by its employes in five years. seniority would determine how much workers could borrow, WAGES: Increases of 5 cents to 10 cents an hour for employes in certain skilled classifications. ANNUAL IMPROVEMENT FACTOR Increases of 5 cents an hour, or 2'2 per cent, whichever is greater. These would be paid each June 1 for the life of the contract. Hourly rated employes with the top hourly base wage of Free Press calculations indicated that total cost of the "package" to Ford would be between 95 millions and 05 -millions a year, with thp annual improvement factor increasing this by about fi millions a year.

Ford officials refused to confirm or deny the estimate. The proposal was laid on the bargaining table at the Detroit Leland Hotel, where negotiators were working against time. HFKF. IS WHAT Ford offered: STOCK: Elmployes could buy shares in the vast Ford operation at half price and without risk. The proposal, which calls for a five-year contract and.

$3 275 would get eight cents under the 2'2 per cent formula. jUAW (CI0) a half-billion-dollar, five-year contract The company calculated this would mean 43 cents an hour -j ii.ii comprehensive" in the history of the auto industry. for them during the five-year period. COST-OF-LIVING: The current formula under which pay; rises and falls with the Government's cost-of-living index! UAW President Walter P. Reuther and his union bar- The.

plan would be voluntary. The. purchase would be would be continued. Workers are receiving six cents under the gainers promptly rejected the offer as "unfair, unjust and limited to 10 per cent of the worker's annual gross pay. current cost -of-living agreement.

unacceptable." which independent sources estimated would cost the company P5 millions to 110 millions a year, also offered: Increased pension and insurance benefits, severance pay plan, an increase in thu annual wage improvement factor, an "income stabilization plan" whereby employes could borrow on advance wages, and continuation of cost-of-living and other provisions of the present contract. Ford officials declined to make any official estimates of he cost of its package or the stock purchase part of it. Based on its 650-million-dollar payroll last, if employes By implication, the union also rejected a contract pro- posal made by General Motors Corp. INSURANCE: A broadened, seven-point insurance plan which would include increased benefits. Sick and accident benefits would be hiked to an aver- Turn In Page 19, Column 1 The stock Js not yet on the market.

The cost to the company would be an estimated $162,500,000 during the five year life of the agreement. LOANS: Employes with one year of seniority could hor- THE RAriD-FIKE developments, with the sharp conflict, of views, set the stage for the most dramatic contract battle since the auto union fought its way to power 20 years ago. WHY JOHNNY CAiVT READ ere's How Tornado Deaths Climb to 103 More Than 700 Injured: Entire Kansas Town Razed Tories Win Election In Britain Common Majority Of oO Seats Seen Workers Comment On Proposal Some Like It, With Reservations UDALL, Kan. (AP) Tornadoes that lashed and swirled across five states have killed at least LONDON (AP) Prime Minister Anthony j103 perS0ns in two days and Thursday night the Eden and the Conserva-1 vagrant twisters still were poised over the Midwest. tive Party scored a More tJian TOO were injured: Smashing victory in and millions of dollars worth1 Thursday's election.

wm o1- 1 A7 Qnvfkfl me local poini 01 iiw lar- i The meeting is scheduled for 2 p. m. Friday, when the UAW resumes its discussions with Ford and GM, tension will charge the air like electricity. Should the company bargainers adopt a "take-H-or-leave-it" attitude or the union remain unbending in its demand for a guaranteed annual nagp, a major auto strike is a virtual certainty. The Ford-UAW contract, covering 140,000 employes, expires at midnight Tuesday.

The GM-union pact, representing 325,000 workers, dies at midnight June 6. IT WAS EVIDENT that the parties rapidly were approaching the point of no return. The union already has paved Ihe way for a walkout at Ford or GM, whichever it may choose in what could be a war for survival, by taking successful strike votes amonz employes of both companies. It also is raising a 2-Vmillion-dollar strike fund. A grim Reuther and an apparent Ford attitude that it will accept very few changes in its proposal were not.

considered hopeful signs. Reuther was staking his career, both- as president of the UAW and also as leader of the five-million-member CIO, on the outcome. FORD'S FAR-REACHING proposal landed like a bombshell in the UAW's lap Thursday afternoon when the negotiators began their meeting in the Detroit-Leland Hotel. Although Reuther and his bargaining team had been promised the Ford counter-proposal Thursday, it was evident that the union had no idea of its scope. It coxpred a broad rangp of benefits beginning with an employe's privilege of buying Ford stock at half-price when the company issues it, presumably later this year.

Included also are increased pension and insurance benefits, a severance pay plan, an increase in the annual improvement factor wage increase, an "income stabilization plan" permitting workers to borrow on advance wages and continuation of the cost-of-living allowance. flung- Rtorm was this little town of 500, devastated by th As Wind They won a ne-w five-year term with an indicated House of Com-j jmons majority of 50 or more seats, against the scant 17-seat I margin they had in the 1 ast fury of an early-morning fnn- Youngsters Try to Read What, why and how do our children learn in school 7 When it comes to learning to read. Rudolf Flesch, an xpert in the field of practical reading and ha some thought-provoking ideas. He says, and pulls no punches, that our schools aren't doing; the job properly, and he denounces the system in use in most of the nation's schools, including the Detroit public schools. The system is used In Detroit's many Catholic whools only as a supplement to the phonic system, which Fleseh supports.

Today's article is the ninth of a series which is a condensation of Flesch'g newest book, "Why Johnny Can't Head." BY RUDOLF FLESCH Let's have a look at what actually happens in the classroom. Come with me and visit a typical American school. Let's walk into a first-grade room. There arc about 25 children in this clcss. Their teacher is a bright young woman, not too long out of teachers' college, who takes her job seriously.

Thf children are divided into three groups when it comes nel that killed 62 persons. BV TED SIIURTLEFF lrr Prv Staff Writer Despite their union's rejection of the Ford contract proposal, some workers favored the plan, with reservations, Thursday night. They all spoke of the company as "he," as though Henry Ford, the creator of the mammoth auto empire, still lived. Of 11 workers questioned near the Rouge Plant, two favored the proposal without reservation, and three said they would favor the plan if it was for two years only. Two wanted to hold out for the guaranteed annual wafre and a two-year deal.

Four union officials refused to dis- i Parliament. Upsets Boat many of whom were sleeping: when the tornado struck without warning. More than 200 others were injured and taken to hospitals and Morgan Phillips, secretary of the opposition Labor Party, conceded the party's defeat earlv Fridav. 60 Pupils Rescued On Mississippi River The voters dealt a severe blow; The twisting winds brought to Clement Attlee's labor forces, death to 67 in Kansas. 20 in who won the popular vote in the Oklahoma.

15 in Texas and one; 1951 election but lost, out in the in Missouri. Tornadoes struck! ST. LOUIS Sixty tabulation of Common scats. Jessieville, and Wathena, chj(jren 47 parents and teachers were rescued Ihursday Irom an excursion cuss the plan ran ahead in popular vote, as one was killed, well. I IN THIS LITTLE town onlv 1 boat on the Mississippi after 1 THE RESULT is vote of 'four buildings were left, stand-jits tug capsized and sank in a confidence for Eden on the eve! inz and rescue workers still were jwindstorm.

Crew members were picked up from the water. of four-power talks, where he Pictures on back page ONE WORKER, who has worked for Ford for 41 years, liked the proposal except for the five-year contract. "If the grocerymen find out that he Is Roing; to give this thine for five vears," the The Coast Guard rushed two: will, represent Britain. The electors plumped for freellooking for casualties. A report motorboats to the barjre and the) enterprise ronservatiem and re-jin Wichita said eight more children and adults were quickly jected the Labor Party call for (bodies had been found here but transferred to the rescue craft, Unofficial estimates pegged the cost to the company worker said, "they'll raise th 95 to 110 million a year over the five-year period.

Cost-per- another whirl at state socialism. I this could not be verified. prices immediately. Then, we'll to reading the upper group, the middle group, and the lower group. Of course, the children are not told they are grouped according to their ability; but children always know these things by instinct anyway.

The reading period consists in the teacher calling each of the three groups to assemble on their little chairs around her in front of the room, while the other two-thirds of the class do something else. The reading group performs for about 10 or 15 minutes. The teacher asks them to open their books were When counting stopped for the night, the Conservatives had scored a net gain of 10 Commons seats, with good prospects of winding up with i an over-all majority of per- haps 50 to 60. Mortuaries in AVinfield and Wichita had received 62 bodies and only 41 had been identified. Some grief-stricken residents still searched mortuaries and hospitals for their loved ones.

One father, Jimmy Costlow, was elated to find his son alive in a Wichita hospital but later found the body of his wife in a Winfield mortuary. Among the buildings destroyed were three homes for the aged. hour for each employe was estimated at 37 cents in the first year. THE PACKAGE undoubtedly was what Ford President Henry Ford II referred to in a recent speech as a "prosperity insurance policy." There was an unrecognized tipoff, too. that Ford had been thinking long and hard about the stock purchase plan.

He said in the New York speech, which debunked a lot of sacred cows of both industry and labor: "Ownership of industry is being rapidly democratizeddiffused throughout the population. More and mor white and blue-collar workers own more and mor Flesyh Pupils of the fifth and sixth grade of suburban Ladue had been on an outing and were re- turning a gust of wind caught the barge, overturning the tugboat. The barge drifted I helplessly until the motorboats reached it. A brief windstorm hit St. Louis in the aftreroon, snapping trees! in some areas and breaking elec-' trie power and telephone lines.

About 15,000 residents were1 without electricity temporarily. Wa Brides Meet CHICAGO (U.R) War brides from 12 countries will meet here' Fudav. The election was for 630 seats in Commons. Returns from P.57 districts gave the Conservatives and allied parties 176 seats, the Labor-ites 173 and the Liberals 2. and they start, one after the other, going around the circle.

First Tom reads a few lines, laboriously following the words with his finger, then Barbara, then Dick, tren Sandra, then Joe, then George, then Louise, then Mary. he stuck." A 26-year Ford veteran next to him said: "We don't want a strike, but if the union has turned it down, what can we do?" SANTOS BUSTO. 53. of 1176 Victoria, Lincoln Park, has worked for Ford for 30 years. "If it only weren't a five-year contract he offered," Santos said, "it would be workable.

The rest of it is pretty fair." The two workers favoring the plan outright were a 35-year-old man with six years in the company and a 39-year-old man with 20 years in. Neither knew- the plan was rejected. Turn to Page 18. Column 7 Ran Tom reads: "Jack each produced with the same monotone and hesvy effort. The Conservatives had victory in sight because most districts, BLACK WELL, SO miles which will report later Friday south of here, counted IX dead are stronghoMs of that party, and more than 500 injured.

The and because of the trend in pop- tornado there demolished a Tfi- through of the business firms for which they work. Turn to Page 18, Column 1 square-block residential and fac-! torv area. ular voting. Eden himself was elected easily, as was his predecessor. Turn to Page 18, Column 4 In this issue! See the full page of MEMORIAL DAY USED CAR VALUES in COLOR FINALLY, WE watch the poorest group.

They work on some "story" about a boy who is terribly excited and happy because he has twj new caps, a blue one and a brown one. The teacher tries her best. In her preliminary telling of the story, to get the children interested. Unfortunately, they are not. The business of the Turn to Page 11.

Column 3 You9 II Find: It'll Be Wet Officers reported lifting the collapsed roof of one house and finding two old ladies, 75 and 80, lying pinned beneath the debris. They hardly were scratched. Most of the damage was done Wednesday night. Early Thursday the twisters began popping again and Missouri counted its first fatality when a farmer was Out To See The Truck It Was Red And It Was Big Very Very Big says the teacher. "It Had Come To Take Jack Far Away To His New Home Far Away To His New Home On A Big Farm This is the pattern, repeated day after day.

They "read" from their little readers, in small groips, one page at a time, several times over. But the thing that Is so characteristic, the unforgettable hallmark of American instruction in reading, is the way they "read." It's a sort of chant, one word at a time, And Warmer i Showers and thunderstorms Inside Ford Stories Text of UAW answer, Page ID. What the UAW has demanded, Page 18. How disabled workers would benefit, Page 19. Pension increases offered, Page 19.

Loans to laid-off workers included, Page 18. Another Ford bombshell, Page 19. Outline of severance-pay plan, Page 19. Proposal includes stock at half price, Page 13. See Editorial on Tage 8.

Now, for the first time In any Detroit newspaper, color advertising appears in the want ads! crushed to death in his barn near i Paris in the northeast section of Amusements 33-34 Astrology 21 Bridge 21 Day in Michigan 44 Do It Yourself 12 Drew Pearson 15 Editorials 8 Financial 35-37 Movies 33 Radio and Television 27 Sports 29-32 Want Ads 37-43 Weather Maj 3 Women's Pages 23-26 the state. Other Missouri areas reporting tornado but I "rrt lo clnsmjird srrtinn iwjgre forecast for the Detroit area Friday. The Weather Bureau said the rain would strike southern Michi-; gan late Friday. Slightly warmer weather was 'anticipated. A high of 70 to 74 degrees was forecast for Friday! after a low of 52.

of Inlay Pope Sees Israeli I VATICAN CITY (A) Pope i Pius XII received in i 9 1 audience Thursday members of jthe Israeli philham onic orchestra, i no casualties were Salisbury, i Tipton and Gilman City. Threat of further twisters! hung over the area. The Kansas i Turn to Page 2, Colnmn 4.