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34 CURRENT BIOGRAPHY [[image - black & white photograph of Walter W. Cenerazzo]] [[photo credit]] Wide World [[/photo credit]] [[caption]] WALTER W. CENERAZZO [[/caption]] every one of our affiliates practice the fundamentals of union democracy and that they recognize the rights of management in collective bargaining. Let us work out a program dedicated to free enterprise, barring from memberships all those following the Communist party's philosophy" (New York World-Telegram, November 15, 1945). In February 1947, he applied, in behalf of his union, for the AFL charter, but the application was rejected at a tempestuous meeting. An advocate of closer cooperation between management and labor, Cenerazzo, in an article entitled "How to Lick Class Struggle," wrote: "In my opinion any person who is a company man and is opposed to unions is a class-struggler; and any person who is a union man and is opposed to the company is a class-struggler. We in America must be both company-minded and union-minded. Our objectives must be identical. The prosperity of the company must be the paramount issue in our minds. For, when there are no profits, corporate enterprise starts to drown and employment is lost for management and the employees" (Reader's Digest, September 1949). On January 14, 1949 the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce announced its selections of "the nation's ten outstanding young men of 1948." Among the winners, who were chosen by a panel of judges which included General Dwight D. Eisenhower, was Cenerazzo, who was cited "for his 'cooperative capitalism' program and advocacy of what he terms democracy in labor union organization" (New York Times, January 15, 1949). Cenerazzo's third major professional concern, in addition to union democracy and "cooperative capitalism," has been what he considers the threat of the Swiss watch industry to American watchmakers, and indirectly, to national security. Beginning in 1943, "in vehement agitations before Congressional committees, he fought the cause of the American Jeweled-watch manufactures "in their fight for quotas and higher tariffs on Swiss watches." Testifying before the Senate Finance Committee in February 1949, he requested that a special commission be created to study the possibility of Congressional protection for the American watchmaking industry in the interest of national defense. He emphasized the essential defense role that American watchmakers played in the production of precision-timing instruments (New York Times, February 20, 1949). Comment on Cenerazzo's position, Sylvia F. Porter of the New York Post (April 7, 1949) wrote: "At the first sign of normal competition, the old isolationist pressed goes on for 'protecting' the home boys." George E. Sokolsky, on the other hand, remarked in the New York Sun (April 11, 1949): "I find nothing notable to context in Mr. Cenerazzo's contentions...The United States cannot afford to lose a precision industry. Although it would be nice to make the Swiss rich, it would make more sense to protect American production." During a tour of Switzerland in August 1949, Cenerazzo conceded that Swiss watchworkers enjoyed a relatively high standard of living, but added that their wages were considerably lower than those of their American counterparts. The New York Times (August 24, 1949) quoted him as saying: "We have no desire to stop the Swiss watch imports into the United States. At no time have we ever tried to restrict Swiss watch imports to over one-half of the American market. Our problem is that the Swiss watch importer takes your product and brings it into the United States at a cost, with duty and transport paid, of $4.40 less than we can produce them for in the United States." When the 100-year-old Waltham Watch Comp any closed in February 1950, Cenerazzo charged that the "dumping of Swiss watches on the American marker was responsible for the decline of the domestic industry. He pointed out that employment in the American jeweled-watch industry had shrunk by more than 3,100 workers in fourteen months. Within the months that followed, he strongly urged the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to grant additional funds to the Waltham company to enable it "to process and sell its inventory of watches in order to get money for further operations." After being in bankruptcy for the third time in its history, the company reorganized in 1951. In testimony submitted to the U.S. Tariff Commission in February 1954, Cenerazzo advocated the imposition of higher duties on Swiss watches and watch movements, and warned that unless this were done, the resulting loss of domestic skill in the manufacturing of timing devices would imperil the national defense. An insight into his economic views may be gained from an address he delivered at the International Students Center of Harvard University on January 8, 1950. "The United States program for reciprocal trade," he told his audience, "does not and will not help either
