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AFFILIATED WITH THE 
A. F. of L. 

"SCHEDULE WITH SAFETY"

COPY
AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION 
INTERNATIONAL 
3145 WEST SIXTY-THIRD STREET
CHICAGO 29

TELEPHONE GROVEHILL 2200

473

September 16, 1948
TO ALL NATIONAL AIRLINES MEMBERS
Dear Member:
Hell has sure been a-popping since the last time I wrote you, on September 13. 
On September 14, 1948, a stockholders' suit was filed against Baker in New York, that is really something. It was filed in the City Hall at 4:00 P.M., and Baker was served personally by a New York State Sheriff in New York at 5:00 P.M. A copy of the news release describing this suit is attached. This news release received nationwide publicity and made the front pages or other good space in all of the New York papers. The New York Times had a column and a half.
Shortly before this latest legal action was filed against Baker, and on the same day, I received a telephone call from Master Chairman Ruby at Norfolk, Virginia, reporting that copilot Shinn had been brazenly insulted by scab D. L. Dir, and that Mr. Shinn had really worked over Mr. Scab. Imagine a scab calling a war veteran with a war record like Shinn's, and a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy, at that, a yellow draft dodger. That is like lighting a half-dozen sticks of dynamite with a very short fuse. In any event, Mr. Shinn exploded all over Mr. Scab, much in the same fashion as dynamite, and Baker's scab special was delayed 4 1/2 hours, and when the scab left, I understand he had so many bandages on him he looked like a walking mummy. The next day he came through Jacksonville on the way South and Palmer Holmes said he looked like he was wearing a turban. We don't like rough stuff and we must stay away from it, but in this case there was no other alternative and Mr. Shinn's actions were completely justified. Maybe the scabs will henceforth not be so flip with their long tongues. 
Headquarters is still hearing the usual stuff about mergers, but I place no stock in this mass of rumors until something is happening. The stock of the Company is dropping, if that means anything. 
In Miami on September 12, 1948, Chief Scab Baker attempted to eulogize at a homecoming for Scab Johnson, who, through a fluke, won an air race up at Cleveland. The local boys at Miami took over and, needless to say, the homecoming was a flop. Vice President Slim Babbitt of Eastern Air Lines said to the papers: "I don't see why anyone would want to make a hero out of a scab," which received na-