The Pittsburgh Press (August 28, 1944)
Every member a political orator –
Whoop it up verbally, CIO-PAC tells union men
Organization pamphlet would have every member carry soapbox as well as lunchbox
By Robert Taylor, Press Washington correspondent
Washington –
Every union member can be a public speaker – and a force in this year’s election campaign – with the aid of the CIO Political Action Committee’s latest publication, a handy little “Speakers Manual” complete with directions and illustrations.
So don’t be surprised if the man who works next to you suddenly begins making like an orator, with or without sound effects. The book tells him how to go about whipping his speech into shape and then advises him to “practice it on yourself while at work.”
It says:
Think of yourself as a member of your audience, listening to yourself critically. At your work bench, in the field, or wherever you work, glance at your watch, get started, go through your speech mentally from beginning to end, then look at your time again.
Gives readers facts
The book advises the CIO’s 5,300,000 members, who are now being asked for voluntary contributions of $1 each for the PAC campaign, that “any normal grownup with sufficient self-reliance” can make a speech and the PAC needs speakers and discussion leaders.
It not only tells how to make a speech or lead a discussion, but also gives readers the facts to be spoken, or discussed, under such headings as “jobs for all after the war, the cost of living, registration and voting, taxation and inflation,” and others.
The section entitled “Achievements under the Roosevelt Administration” lists gains in labor, social security farming housing, conservation, financial and national security fields, and leads up to the only declaration in favor of a candidate in the book.
Because of these achievements, and because we have faith that under his leadership, we will be able to obtain the objectives to win the war and to secure the peace, we urge the nations to elect Frankin Delano Roosevelt, for another term in office…
One of a series
The manual is one of a series designed to instruct newly-active political workers recruited from union ranks. One of them tells how to ring doorbells in What Every Canvasser Should Know. Another tells how to arrange and make radio talks and the third angles for the feminine vote with A Woman’s Guide to Political Action.