ustxtxb_obs_1981_10_09_50_00022-00000_000.pdf

AILEXECUTIVE OFFICES: P.O. BOX 208, WACO, TEXAS 78703, 817-772.3050 American Income Life Insurance Company A Public Service Message from the American Income Life Insurance Co.Waco, TexasBernard Rapoport, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer tant economic stabilizers. Anyone who reads history or who knows what transpired in the Thirties recognizes that the Depression fed upon itself through a cycle of wage cuts that led to price cuts and massive bankruptcies. The Reagan administration’s conclusion that increasing unemployment is an ingredient in reducing inflation is dismal and leads to the conclusion that there are inconsistencies in our economic system that make it difficult to defend. As one who is supportive of this economic system, I reject this conclusion and reject unemployment as being too expensive economically and debilitating socially. It is likewise true that it has an accelerating effect in worsening the economic system through the loss of tax revenues and, of course, the loss of purchasing power. The history of democracy shows that unions are one of its essential underpinnings. Business leaders need democracy as much as does a free labor movement. Without either, there is the kind of state or government control that none of us want. Nobody benefits for long from a weakened labor movement. Fortunately, organized labor, as a basic element of this nation’s democracy, will almost certainly outlast the Reagan Administration and the philogophy it represents. It certainly would be well for those who profess to be anti-union to remember what the great Martin Niemoeller said: In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up. Whenever prejudice or hatred against any people or institution begins to poison the social fabric for no reason other than just for the exercise of hating, it is well to remember and repeat over and over again what I have just read to you. Take, for example, the mergers that are going on at an accelerating rate. There are fewer and fewer busi nesses, more and more automation, less and less concern about people whose jobs are being phased out and all of this comes under the name of progress. I don’t know how to define the word any more because it seems to me that any factor in the equation that spells out progress should have some specific reference to people and what happens to them in the equation. I have read many articles, for example, about the merger between Conoco and Dupont, and have yet to fmd one economic benefit -not even one either to the nation or even to the stockholders. It reminds me of what’s going on in the farming industry. It is increasingly difficult for the small farmer to make it. Increasingly we have corporate farming. Some call this progress. No one seems to ever ask the question, what happens to the people who get displaced? The dairy farmers have been the most successful, as I understand it, and I am certainly no expert in this area. What quickly comes to mind, however, is that they have a very strong union. You don’t need any suggestion from me that you need to recommit yourself to the faith that you have in unionism. Certainly you need no reminder of the dignity that you should feel within yourself for being a union member. But let me urge you to be more politically aware than you ever have been before because we have seen one union whose existence has been threatened, and this has occurred in the political area. There is no question in your mind or in mine that the unions will remain strong forever, but there will be times when anti-unionism is more rampant than in others, and we are living in this time much to your or my regret; and it will be to the regret of this nation whether it recognizes it or not. Those of us who are concerned with the preservation of our sacred democracy must understand that it believe in this system must stand up and be counted for what you believe, and you must stand tall and remember that Dante told us over 600 years ago that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in time of great moral crises remain neutral. BERNARD RAPOPORT Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer 22 OCTOBER 9, 1981 10,