Florida Labor Advocate

Tampa Labor Joins Nationwide Crusade For Freedom Drive

Ray White Calls On Unionists To Sign Scrolls

Organized Labor of Tampa this week joined the nationwide Crusade for Freedom campaign designed to mobilize the American people into a realization of the devastating menace of world Communism.

Endorsement of the campaign, which had previously been approved by William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, and Frank Roche, president of the Florida Federation of Labor, was given at a meeting of business agents of Tampa locals Tuesday.

Unanimous endorsement of the movement was given after a talk by C. J. Hardee, Jr., member of the Tampa Junior Chamber of Commerce, which is spearheading the Tampa drive.

Freedom scrolls, where members of Organized Labor may sign their names, are available in many union halls in the city. Thousands of unionists have already signed the scrolls and additional thousands are expected to add their names in the days ahead.

... are expected to sign them before they are collected and taken to Berlin where they will be finally enshrined at the base of the "Freedom Bell" when it is officially dedicated on United Nation's Day.

Ray White, president of the Tampa Central Trades and Labor Assembly, declared that Organized Labor of Tampa and Florida is wholeheartedly behind the Crusade for Freedom campaign and urged all unionists to sign the scroll immediately.

From Jacksonville came a report this week from Harold Colee, Crusade State Chairman, that scrolls containing more than 100,000 names have already been received in his offices.

These scrolls will be forwarded to National Chairman General Lucius D. Clay, where thousands of additional scrolls from every state in the Union are being assembled for transportation to Berlin where they will be permanently enshrined at the base of the Freedom Bell when it is officially dedicated on United Nation's Day.

All district and local chairmen are asked to complete scrolls and as fast as completed send them to the State Headquarters Harold Colee, State Chairman, Crusade for Freedom, c/o Florida State Chamber of Commerce, Hildebrandt Building, Jacksonville Florida.

The scroll states:

"I believe in the sacredness and dignity of the individual. I believe that all men derive the right to freedom equally from God. I pledge to resist aggression and tyranny wherever they appear on earth.

"I am proud to enlist in the Crusade for Freedom. I am proud to help make the Freedom Bell possible, to be a signer of this Declaration of Freedom, to have my name included as a permanent part of the Freedom Shrine in Berlin, and to join with the millions of men and women throughout the world who hold the cause of freedom sacred."