Death & Disgrace

Among the 181 U. S. citizens listed last month by the Senate Munitions Committee as having an annual income of $1,000,000 or more during the War was George Francis Johnson of Endicott, N. Y. A sandy-haired man of 77, George F. Johnson is chairman of Endicott Johnson Corp., second biggest shoe manufacturer in the U. S. Once an $18-a-week worker in the factory he now owns, President Johnson is conspicuous among tycoons for his liberal and friendly labor policy. Every time a baby leaves one of the three company-owned maternity hospitals, it carries tucked away in its blankets a bank book with a $10 deposit and a pair of baby shoes with the compliments of George F. Johnson. With an enlightened paternalism rare in the early day of Big Business, President Johnson spent millions on his workers' welfare, shared earnings with them, paid their hospital bills, gave them swimming pools, merry-go-rounds, tennis courts, called them by their first names. When NRA came to Endicott he was paying his 19,000 workers double the minimum wage. His workmen parade the slogan: THE NEW DEAL IS THE OLD SQUARE DEAL OF GEORGE F.

Last week from Daytona Beach, Fla., whither he goes every winter, President Johnson sent a characteristic New Year's message to his associates in Endicott Johnson Corp.:

"I am ashamed and mortified that my name was on the Munitions Committee's list.

"It will be, I am sure, a source of satisfaction for you to know that each year my principal has dwindled and my expenses, gifts and use of money are increasing. Last year I think we dipped into the principal to pay $200,000 worth of commitments and obligations of every kind. At the rate at which I am going, if I live five years, I shall probably be pretty near where I started--oil.

"Any man who dies rich dies disgraced."

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