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To All Members         -9-        October 15, 1942

The trouble is, the air carrier conferees refused for weeks to actually mediate. They merely sat around and continued their tactics of being messenger boys for the ATA. We have good reason to believe the Army is not as prominent in the picture as the carriers would like to have us believe. In the opinion of the pilots, the Army, in this case, is Messrs. Smith of A.A., Fritz of T. W. A., and Smith of Braniff who are on active duty, temporarily furloughed and Smith of Braniff who are on active duty, temporarily furloughed to the Air Transport Command. When the war ends, they will most certainly go back to the air line picture, and again, need more be said?

The operators have spread propaganda throughout the country to the effect that unless the pilots concede to their unfair demands and accept what they say is an Army pay mandate, the whole air line picture will collapse and it will be the pilots' fault. This is childish dribble and cannot even be placed in the category of propaganda because that would dignify it. The Army has a war to win on its hands and they are not interested in going in the air line business. The carriers are evidently hell-bent to destroy the pilots' pay and working standards and that's about the extent of their current efforts. If they had any common-sense judgment in the matter they would stop beating their heads against a wall. As soon as something definite comes out of mediation one way or the other your chairman will be immediately notified. 

Your chairman has been constantly informed on this entire subject and if he has not called all of you together periodically and acquainted you with what has been going on, he has been derelict in his duties. These are harsh words but this is one time when local councils are really going to have to function if the Association is to continue to protect the pilots in the manner that it should.

While on this point, it has been noted that a large majority of councils are well organized and right in there pitching, but there are a very few that persist in finding fault with everything and everybody and distrusting their fellow councilmen and Headquarters. In most instances, these few councils are badly organized and almost completely ineffective. The first rule of griping, so far as ALPA is concerned, is to have one's own house in order first before criticizing others. In each council there is now an alternate chairman in addition to the regular chairman. Council No. 34 has made the suggestion that an alternate be appointed for each local executive councilman. Headquarters considers this to be a very good suggestion, especially in view of the rapidly shifting trend of events and the innumerable changes that are continually taking place. Each council, at its next council meeting should appoint an alternate for each executive council member and then when any local executive council