The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 1, 1924, Page 6

— Page Six Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO., 1640 N. Halsted St., Chicago, Ill (Phone: Lincoln 7680.) SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail: $6.00 per year $3.50..6 months $2.00..3 months By mail (in Chicago only): $4.50..6 months $2.50..3 months By carrier: $10.00 per year $1.00 per month Address all mai] and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER 1640 N. Halsted Street J, LOUIS ENGDAHL WILLIAM F, DUNN: MORITZ J, LOEB.. Entered as second-class mail Sept. 21, 1928 at the Post- Office at Chicago, Ill., under the act of March 3, 1879. <a 1% Lenin, Foster, Organization Some remarkable speeches were made at the great Lenin memorial meeting last Tues- Gay night under the inspiration of the occa- sion and the enthusiasm of the vast gathering. There was eloquence aplenty and the audi- ence showed its appreciation, but it likewise gave its approval to something more than beautiful and stirring oratory. The response of, the crowd to what was really an organization speech by William Z. Foster, the response to what was not only an invitation to join the Workers (Communist) Party of America, but a.reprimand for not doing so, must have been a source of pleasant surprise to party members.” The audience was told without any mincing. of words that the. Communist movement is a movement of action and struggle and that in this it differs from every revolutionary. move- ment that has preceded it. “No one is a Com- munist,” said Foster, “who is outside of the Workers Party of America,” and the audience roared its approval. This is a significant incident. It shows that the left wing of the American working class in Chicago, at least, is awakening out of the apathy it has been sunk in for some consider. abie time. It is beginning to orient itself and to the evidently large group that wants to re- sume. activity the Workers Party of America offers the only field for their efforts. Foster, like Lenin, is essentially an organizer and if at the Lenin Memorial meeting he was trying to sound working class sentiment for revolu- tionary education and action he received a re- sponse that should satisfy him that the time for organization work on a broad scale is ripe. The Workers Party is carrying on cam- paigns that use up every ounce of the energy $8.00 _per year Chicago, Illinois Advertising rates on application. fi of the present membership. There is no active comrade that is not overworked and more members are needed. They are coming in but not fast enough to supply the demand for the workers the intensive activities of the party demand. (We believe that a new drive for member- ship would, if the response to Fosier’s speech is an indication, net greater results for the party than the one that ended with the con- vention, successful as it was. Labor’s Admiralty Lord The first labor cabinet in England has four titled members—Viscounts Haldane and Chelmsford, Sir Sidney Olivier and Baron Parmoor. These men are not now and never have been members of the English working class. They have never associated themselves with the big struggles of the working men for lib- eration from capitalist mastery. The appoint- ment of one of these, Viscount Chelmsford, to First Lord of the Admiralty is particularly significant... This cabinet position corresponds to the secretaryship of the navy in the United States. It is a political copy-book axiom that the British navy is the bulwark of English imper- jalism. MacDonald could not have chosen more conclusive proof of his intention to sup- port _the imperialistic empire than by the appointment of Chelmsford to this strategic post in the Cabinet. Viscount Chelmsford is a’ staunch reactionary.. The Tories look upon him as the white hope of the present difficulty with which they are faced. They feel that with Lord Chelmsford at the helm of the navy the government will not move too quickly. Perhaps nothing terrified British capitalists Daugherty and the Klan Lest some may be burdened with the fear that the epidemic of congressional investiga- tions will reach the Ku Klux Klan, we point to an interesting disclosure just made in the February issue of the International Magazine. When Congress opened, a good deal of noise was made about the case of Senator Mayfield of Texas. To the innocent public it appeared as if the Ku Klux Klan would surely be un- masked because the republican administra- tion would welcome a chance to conduct: at least one damaging investigation on its south- ern democratic opponents. Not so. In the last of the International series on the Ku Klux Klan we have the fol- lowing: “Congress started to investigate the Ku Klux Klan, The hearings were suddenly called off. People all over the country won- dered why nothing came of it. The Klan used a pull on a government official. The govern- ment official saw Attorney General Dauzh- erty. The investigation stopped.” The article quotes from a letter purporting to have been written by Harry B. Terrell, the Ku Klux attorney at the congressional hear- ings, to the effect that a certain Colonel Acuff, a personal friend of President Coolidge and Daugherty, had agreed to see the Attorney- General because it is generally conceded that the latter has more influence with the Presi- dent and upon this administration than any other cabinet member. This is an eye-opener. It shows conclu- sively that the employers’ government is tacitly supporting the Ku Klux Klan. It shows very clearly that the Ku Klux Klan is looked upon by the capitalist class as one of its most powerful allies. What is more, it completely establishes the fact that the government will not take any serious steps to punish those who have been defrauding the country’s treasury and stealing our natural resources. is Out in the Open Little effort is needed to convince the aver- age worker that in American politics today ra is king and corruption its prime minis er. . But it is a somewhat difficult task to win over the average American worker and farmer to the belief that the present govern- ment is run by and for the capitalists’ interests. It is true, one can point to the tariff which is an outright bonus of more than three billion dollars annually to the capitalists. Now and then, with increasing frequency to be sure, it can be shown that a Senator or Congressman is in the pay of some big private interests and is simply “doing time” on Capitol Hill in be- half of his corporation masters. Yet, it is not often that Senators and Con- Lressmen dare come into the open as servants of big capitalist interests. The case of ex- Senator McCumber of North Dakota, is an illuminating example of thistype. McCumber is now appearing before the United States Tariff Commission, in behalf of the southern sugar interests to demand that present tariff rates on sugar be not lowered. Mr. McCumber was the father of the tariff act which costs the working masses approxi- mately $90,000,000 a year in increased sugar prices arising from higher sugar import sched- ules. While in the Senate, Mr. McCumber did all he could to enact legislation which would levy this gigantic tribute on the workers and farmers. Now that he is out of the Senate, Mr. McCumber is rewarded by the sugar in- terests with a handsome fee for arguing their case before the Tariff Commission to, perpetu- ate this tribute being paid them by the work- ers. Apparently experience. ig an asset of paramount value in our great national game of selling out those who work to those who own. The Tribune As Oswald Garrison Villard said in his re- cent book on newspapers and newspapermen, the Chicago Tribune, which lays claim to being “The World’s Greatest Newspaper,” would make a good bid for the position of worst. Its blindness to news values and its callous indif- ference to human lives was never more glar- ingly illustrated than in the recent murder of 83 union miners at Johnston City, Il. A tiny and obscure paragraph told of the findings of the coroner’s jury, holding the Crerar-Clinch Coal Co. responsible for the more than the danger of the appointment of,| deaths of the 33 workingmen who were’caught some workingman as Lord Admiral of the navy. With this danger definitely disposed of, the English capitalists and Tories are breath- in more freely. ' Lord Chelmsford is an iron man in politics. He has served the imperialists as Governor ot Queensland, New South Wales, and Viceroy of India. It was he who foisted the tyrannic rule on India in the crucial period of 1916 to 1921. It was during his regime that the in- famous Armitsar massacre occurred. The English workers might well ask of Mac- Donald and his cabinet colleagues why they have had a change of heart since the Armitsar massacre. Why did MacDonald then de- nounce Chelmsford and demand his recall? Why. does he now appoint him a member of the cabinet and particularly why has he given Chelmsford control of the most redoubtable outpost of British imperialism? Whom does ‘MacDonald intend to serve as Premier? in the blast. The company’s guilt was estab- lished by its proven failure to put up danger signs around the workings whence came the deadly fire damp. How the Tribune tore its hair and called for vengeance when a number of scabs and gun- men lost their lives in Williamson county in 1922! Hundreds of columns of ink were spilt in the effort to bring a number of union men to the gallows. But when a mine owner murders 88 union miners, just one meager item—gloss- ing over the more vigorous parts of the coroner’s verdict—is printed. Could the class character of a bosses’ pro-|! paganda be more convincingly’ shown? If a real test of the feasibility of the peace plan submitted by the Bok prize-winner is desired, why not turn him loose on the funda- mentalist-modernist controversy now raging among the Christian soldir ~~ . > THE DAILY WORKEK February 1, 192 100 PER CENT AMERICANISM IN PRACTICE No Wonder the Workers and Farmers Are Protesting. Murky Prosperity in the Building Trades By HARRY GANNES, Bones trades workers are apt to think their industry is unaf- fected by the general, depressive trend of business generally in the United States, and that unemploy- ment is a remote possibility for them. A glance at the facts in the build- ing industry warn the-building trades unions, however, tobe on the guard. Envious and disgruntled at the com- paratively high wages paid building trades workers, the master builders are straining at the léash for an op- portunity to stamp into the dust the organization of the building workers. Prices of - building material is dropping, and the past four to five months shows a decline of from four to ten percent. To the building capi- tajist this is a sure sign that wages must come down; and if strong or- ganization is successful in. maintain- ing wages or even increasing them, the conclusion is drawn by the build- ing bosses that the organizations must come down with the wages. How the master builders were training apprentices in every line of the building industry to frustrate strikes has been pointed out by Max Schachtman in the Young Worker. This is an important factor that can- not be overlooked. ‘Just ‘the other day Earle Shultz, the president of the National Associa- tion of Building Owners and Man- agers (an organization’ representing $5,000,000,000 worth of property in the principal cities of the United States) announced that the putting up of skyscrapers was going to stop. He echoed the’ warning note that soft initiated in a recent building les survey: Too many office build- ‘ings went up in 1919; business is falling, the number of failures is in- creasing and available office space is greater than the demand. Shultz puts it this way: “During the war years nearly ev- ery city was faced with an acute shortage of office building space. After the war there was such a strong demand for space that, re- gardless of construction costs, in- numerable office buildings went up, But now that the demand has been largely filled we shall prubably see building operations tapering off for some time to come. “The new space that has been. put on the: market is necessarily high priced, because the cosi of building material and the unprecedented wages paid to labor.” Babson declares that the present abnormal anount of buiiding cannot continue, and states that “if costs should advance further we would ex- perience a severe reduction in con- struction work.” The New York Building Trades Employers’ Association had issued the announcement that if wages became higher they would decrease building (work, and are already starting a campaign to lower wages.“ Since the Eastern district would be mainly hit by a stoppage of larger construction, the announcement by. the president of the Owners and Managers Asso- ciation that skyscraper construction would stop means a slackening in building .activity in New York and vicinity. Fifty per cent of present construc- tion work is confined to residential properties, for the most. part the smaller types. A gradual increase in unemployment. is bound to affect this activity as the rents charged in the newer structures cannot be met by the workers. ; United States Commerce reports for December 31, 1923, show a de- Negro Leadership By LOVETT FORT-WHITEMAN When the Negro in America be- came a freedman, the Negro preach- er was at once recognized as the log- ical leader of the race. One expla- nation of this fact is that, during the generations of bondage, the Ne- gro so-called preacher was the only source of moral strength and consola- tion for the slave. In secret spots déep in the woods, the slaves would gather in common prayer about the aon of the slave-preacher, who be- ieved himself ordained by God, This slave-preacher, ‘at emancipation, ing the most enlightened among his pe le, was the easily accepted r, They loved their people and sought help among the rich for funds to wepaightion’ vt sie’ Mamey keel emancipation jegro wing been shsnly a transformation from the status of a chattel to that of a wage-slave, the capitalist class found in, the Negro acher a potent in- strument by which they could influ- ence the Negro masses to their selfis! interest. The ranks of Negro leader- ship have widened; today it is longer confined wholly to the cl Ea races, has been maintained. The money that has gone to build up Negro institutions of learning tl it the South has come largely from members of the capitalist class of the North; those, who at the same time, are the most relentless exploit- ers of Negro labor, whether their in- terests be established in the North or South. The popular Negro leader at this time cannot speak out in the full and true interest of his race. And this is because he draws his sub- sistence from the capitalist class who are daily exploiting the Negro in the mills, factories, mines, on the lantations, in the trans} indus- ies, etc. Consider such organiza- tions. as the National Association for, the Advancement of the Colored Peo- ple and the Urban League. Could The | one conceive of the Negro officials of either of these organizations ad- yocating labor unionism among Ne- groes, knowing that their best con- tributors are the very persons who benefit most by the Negro’s economic helplessness, his unorganized condi- tion in the labor field? It is pitiable how the Negro girl is overworked and underpaid in the meat packing industries and th ment factories! Yet, the Youn Woman's Christian Associations a: female philanthropic org: dare not advise the Negro girl necessity of unionizing in the and factories, Were any Ne- [rapa of any one such institu- to so forget his personal inter- ie gar- | in| aniza-| the |erease in the activities of nearly all basic industries. Production of steel by independent steel mills totaled 188,144 tons in November of 1923, as against 225,714 in October. Plant capacity was decreased. Building permits for 27 states showed a decrease from 319,860 in October to 289,263 in November. While it is true that this is some- what due to weather conditions, the fact that the total building contracts in the Northeastern states dropped from $323,558,800 in June of 1923, to $274,205,100 in July of the same year, proves that the building indus- try is also capable of quick retreat. On the whole no rapid unemploy- ment'can be expected in the build- ing industry; tho no one will deny that all facts and statistics prove a gradual shutting down. How far this will go depends on the movement in the basic industries, which are any- thing but encouraging. With the coming depression there will be initi- ated a drive for lower wages. Con- certed effort by the Builders’ asso- ciations to install apprentice schools shows that they can foresee the time when they can materially weaken the strength of the building trade unions, while on the other hand the unions are following the ostrich-in-the-sand policy of excluding and limiting the number of. apprentices, and keeping a good many of the young fellows who are bound to become building tradesmen out of the union. The present breathing spell should be a time girding and strengthening the fighting capacities of the build- ing trades unions in order tp main- tain the existing wage rates, espe- cially, as was ‘pointed out before when unemployment threatens the basic industries. and there is a drop in prices. of building material. est as to advise the Negro girl to go into trade unions, he would at once be acting against the rich class that maintain these institutions. Such ‘a person would forthwith lose his position, ‘ No race of men is more apprecia- tive of wholesome womanhood than the Negro. And yet, if prostitution is daily on the increase among Negro girls, we fa rp tem Halagely to the conditions. of «i mt wages as a cause, It is not the lack of religion that is responsible, but the lack of bread. y * What girl can live on a“ a week and maintain her dece There is an inereasing number of shops since the war which are Lesbo A out white girls and. putting in colored. The sickly imentalism of the Negro leader interprets these ae as an in- dication of a change of ethical con- sejence on the part of the white em- ploying class, He would rather not see that the Negro girl is given pref- -erence in such eases because she is |in no union, and such being the case, ‘ean be paid less and worked longer hours, Present-day Negro leadership has no program or pene which can in any Way approach even an ameliora- tion of the miserable social conditions of the ‘o, Each, from the graft- penioeiny. of the Second average Negro bishop is part and parcel, with class of the nation, which has its heel on the neck of the ie hat to expect any general capil » tl hs i papant fet, them, woos bs go consciou contrary to his: personal interest, * |we have heard of navy life, a pun Youth Views By HARRY GANNES Navy Desertions Are Large. FFICERS in the Kaisers an Czar’s army were known fo: their brutality to the rank and file soldiers. It seems that te sphere of brutality has changed to the fore- most imperialist nation, the United States. How else can be explained the wholesale desertions from that well- advertised “recreational” institution, the United States navy? In the past five months, 4123 young Yellows deserted the 12th naval district. Of these 1978 are still being looked for and a “chance to see the world,” does not seem a sufficiently strong promise to impress their consciences to return. There are officials reasons given for this. vast number of unofficial leaves of absence, but in rine times out of ten, they are wrong or will- fully misinterpreted. One rather frank reason is that declaring that a good many men desert because “misrepresentation of navy life ai insufficient. cruising.” From whl in the jaw from an officer or the su! jection of the men to inhuman treat- ment is not an attribute of only pre-war European military forces. Increased dasertions will mean stricter discipline in the military forces of this country, and with it the unsavoriness of the life of the soldiers and sailors. But the im- perialists of this nation must have an army. They might have to in- vade the Mexican oil fields any mo- ment, or the Philippines or some other of the exploited countries might at some time object to con- tinued enslavement. Further expan- sion in the world market means a necessary growth in the military ma- chine. The last report of the secretary of war shows that the United States armed forces have grown about 35 per cent in the last ten years. Desertions are but a pitiable ex- ample of the militarization of the so- called democracy, the United States. Facts show that a growth in arma- ments (and recruiting of the naval and army forces) carries with it a more brutal army spirit; hence deser- tions, Christmas Cheer By HOMER CROSS Showers of Sats its Now, the fan of light that cuts rho through the black mist to pla: on the low clouds, proclaim the birt! of steel, Below those dark roofs, where the The Bessemer blows. burning sparks, plumes of searing stream of molten light pours forth from the travail of the briefly to sink, in the grip of the rolls, through whiteness and glowing red to cold blue shapes of death, swarthy men, hard and grim from this birth and cruel death, labor dully. The slag, afterbirth of metal, moulders in the pits. A sweating hunky breaks it up with a bar and throws it out to be carried away, At his blow the largest mass vici explodes and he falls screaming, chest torn open, eyes blinded, body burned. His pitmates, their faces twitching, help to lift him on the stretcher and the group watches while he is taken away to suffer the agony of death. The foreman tells the men to go back to their places. For hours the work goes on, some men exposed to hotter than summer heat, some to winter cold, and some to both at once, At 6 they go out of the gates, while other men take up the work which they have left. On the way to their sooty, squalor- ridden homes, up on the hill beside the offices, they pass the “Works'” Christmas tree, _ of beg fogeir| and will. High above its red and white lights is a luminous cross. Beneath this is blazoned thru the smoke and fog the wish of industry— PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR. “They put up a mighty fine tree this year,” said the man le me, “Best I’ve seen and I’ve been here twenty year.” Lenin Is Dead The clearest beacon of our century Is now extinguished—and the toil- sicgscke enegeoe for society, N wder ' ‘The womb of modern history ‘has borne. Amid the turmoil of a crashing world, With social suicide on every hand, By him the future's banner was un- furled; A wave of hope swept over every land. His name became a hopeful symbol in the skies, J Toward which the conscious work- ers turned their eyes. So sure in thought! so skilled ‘te execute Was he! He knew the forces he controlled! He knew each throbbing string upon the lute Of world affairs; so confident, his hold! This maniof steel, who bent to every need, But never broke—at last, is broke en \ The blow of death, With eagerness, we read That those who followed him now will lift high The flag he dropped—and carry on the fight Until the world of workers rises In its might. . 6 6 6 i os. “te q ry } $ —— ae i ‘ he, i 4 i j