The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 15, 1924, Page 4

| | | | +, | ° Page Four THE DAILY WORKER Friday, February 15, 1924 DAWES’ BANK ~~ INVOLVED IN FORBES FRAUD Grand Jury | Wants ot See Books The special federal grand jury in- vestigating the $225,000,000 graft in the Veterans’ Bureau yesterday sub- poenaed books of the Centra] Trust company, The books are wanted to prove what was done with a special fund placed with the bank by the Thompson Black construction com- pany, one of the firms involved in the graft charges. The investigation conducted by the special grand jury is extremely sec- ret. Every precaution is being taken to prevent anything becoming public. At all times during sessions of th and jury there are from two t ‘our secret service men in the cor- ridor of the federal building which leads to the grand jury room. No on is permitted to come near the gran jury room or so much as enter the corridor leading to it. If someone tries to wander in the direction of the grand jurors, a secret service man or two will direct him in another direc: tion in no uncertain terms. Coolidge Wants Silence. All this is carrying out the wishes of President Coolidge, who had the senate investigation into the affairs of the Veterans’ Bureau stopped be- cause it was becoming a scandal and for political reasons he did not care to face it. Last November Coolidge sent for Senator Reed, chairman of the, com- mittee investigating the bureav, and asked him to clean up the mess as soon as possible, At that time, the investigators were hardly under way with their work, but had already un- covered facts: that ‘smelled to. high heaven, Became Efficiency Fiends, On November 8th, the senate com- mittee announced that they would not hold any further public hearings and would confine their efforts to at- tempting to show how efficiency could be introduced into the business of- fices of the bureau. On December ist, Daugherty an- nounced that his office had decided to begin investigation of the charges of graft that were made in connection with the Veterans’ Bureau affairs. In making the statement the At- torney-General was careful to an- nounce that he did not intend to give any publicity to the investigation. He said that in the interests of fair play all fact hunting would be done in secret. Marvel at Daugherty’s Caution. In view of the attorney-general’s crecord of rushing to the newspapers with denunciations of radicals before and eagle his ai pigprnsaet od of a icy of secrecy was surprising. « eed then ‘very effort has been made, to not only keep the facts the department of justice got secret but _also to hush up and minimize the facts t were brought out at the public hearings gf the senate commit- tee. A Feather-tickling Probe. On Jan. 7th the report ef the com- mittee of investigators’ was made public, The Associated Press sent out abstracts of that report and the at- torney for the committee, General O’Ryan said that the final report would be “very extensively changed. He asked the senate to pay no atten- tion to the newspaper extracts. The final report of Gen. O’Ryan is considerably softer in spots than the first report of the committee. _ E. L. Morse a republican politician of Missouri sold the Veterans’ Bureau his homestead for a hospital site. In the original draft of the report it said: f “This project (referring to the Morse homestead purchase) furnished a striking example of the manner in which the interests of the Govern- ment and of the disabled were pros- tituted in order that a high Govern- ment official might generously satisfy the demands of a prominent political leader who Pid no knowledge of the needs of the disabled and whose interests were obviously selfish.” This has been changed to: “This project furnishes a striking example of the manner in which the interests of the Government and of the disabled were subordinated to in- dividual interests.” Amalgamation means strength! T of A Magazine Extra! HE DAILY WORKER Magazine Supplement for this Saturday, Feb. 16, will be an extra good number. Among the features of the coming magazine ment are a story by Donald Stuart on Hiram Johnson. pr rgb Eagan reich paras ig ce standing and has seen Hiram at close quarters serving open-shoppers Beer and the Class War. VANCOUVER, B. C.—The Pro- yincial government of British Co- lumbia has drawn the class lines on beer and beer clubs and has an- nounced that from Feb. 1 no un- couth proletarian imbibing estab- lishment can function as such without running foul of the law and further that only the leading business men’s clubs will be per- mitted to be oases, less than a dozen in Vancouver and four in Victoria. ILLINOIS BOSSES LAY OFF 14,000 SINCE DECEMBER Many Southern Negroes Seek Work “Tllinois mantfacturers began the new year by laying off a substantial number of their workers,” says the report on the employment situation for January just issued by the Illi- nois department of labor. “Indus- ‘rial operations appear to have faTien 1.8 per cent during the month.” Five thousand five hundred work- ers were laid off by 1,192 employers who co-operate with the department in gathering statistics. If this report may be taken as typical 14,000 fac- tory workers have lost their jobs since December. “The decline is quite general applying to the great majority of industries, and affecting the employment of both sexes.” Chicago Hard Hit. “In Chicago 607 manufacturers re- ported that they had 3,000 fewer em- ployes than in December, or about 2 per cent,” “Declines were recorded during Jan in 33 out of 55 manufactur- ing industries included in the survey. Declines are seen to be general in the food and metal industries. Probably the most important change during the thirty days has been the collapse of ear building.” Only about three- fourths of the workers in this indus- try are working. “The drop of 4.5 per cent in the slaughtering and meat packing in- dustry‘ was but little more than the average for all food industries.” Pay rolls for the week of the middle of January show a reduction of 4.1 per cent from the same week in December. Worst In Years. “In the offices of the Illinois Free Employment Service in 18 principal cities in the state the excess labor supply in January was the largest that has been reported since early in 1922. Places could not be found for 10,000 applicants for jobs. There were in the state as a whole 166 ap- plicants for each 100 jobs. This was measurably worse than at any time in 1923, “Coal mines in Illinois and adjoin- ing states have closed down throw- ing hundreds out of work.” The employment offices located in negro districts have been swamped by incoming southern Negroes, California Again Flares Up Against Organized Labor (By The Federated Press) SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14—After a lull in the persecution of the I. W. W., the California branch, General Defense committee, reports a sudden flareup thruout the state. Clarence Greer and Harry Willis have been ar- rested and charged with criminal syn- dicalism at El Centro, where RosSve Thurman is being held for re-trial; and at the other end of the state, in Redding, George Brown and Ed Har- ris are bing held under the Busick anti-I. W. W. injunction. It has been proved by a test case in Los Angeles, however, that this injunction is invalid outside of Ju Busick’s jurisdiction, and the men probably be released unless held for criutinal: syndicalism. At the same time Charles Anderson, Charles Baker and Thomas Campbell were ar- rested in Marysville for vagrancy and their delegates’ supplies confiscated. After a week in jail the judge ordered the cases di Protect the Foreign Born! supple- AMALGAMATION BRINGS NEW HOPE TO SHOE WORKERS Recent Merger Held Aid to Organization By A. L. CARPENTER (Staff Correspondent of The Federated Press) BOSTON.—Negotations have_been under way for some time, which, if successful, will result in making for the shoe workers of the United States an organization equal in. strength to the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Already agreements have been reached whereby the United Shoe Workers of America will be absorbed by the Shoe Workers’ Protective union. The former is @ union having branches thruout the eastern part of the country and the latter is the strongest union in New England. The: final draft whereby this will become an accomplished fact will be decided by the unions within a short time. Ryan Optimistic. William J. Ryan, secretary-treas- urer, Shoe Workers’ Protective union describes the situation clearly. He says, “I can see no reason why this should not be accomplished soon. The situation in the shoe industry is such that the workers seem to have no choice in the matter. The workers who have been organized in the Boot and Shoe Workers’ union have left that union with alarming rapidity and have gone into various other organizations. The Amalgamated Shoe Workers of America have an estimated membership of 20,000; the Brockton District Shoe Workers’ union, an estimated membership of 5000; the United Shoe Workers of America, an estimated membership of 8000. There are various other smaller organizations. Our own union is, an outgrowth of the condi- tions existing, in the past, in the Boot and Shoe Workers’ union and’ while we enjoy, as a whole, the best condi- tions in the industry, still we can see the fallacy of unions in the same in- dustry being formed as they are at the present time. Two large shoe factories, the Endicott-Johnson Co. of Johnstown, N. Y., and the Inter- national Shoe Mfg. Co. of St, Louis make approximately one-fifth of all of the shoes made in this country. They make practically all of the staple shoes and what are known as fancy shoes are left to the smaller shops. These two large factories are not organized. Thus they stand out as a menace to the organized shops. Basis of Monopoly. The two large factories mentioned by Ryan are in a position eventually to form themselves into a monopoty. They have installed the most modern machinery which is so perfect that nearly ali of the skill of the mechanic has gone into the machine. The smaller factories find It almost im- ossible to compete with them, Near- , all.of the smaller factories are now organized into some union. This means they are paying higher wages. In the larger factories is found a social welfare system, whereby the workers are forced into a condition of benevolent feudalism. The com- pany builds houses upon company property, then sells them to the work- ers and takes so much each month or waek out of the pay envelope. The land is never sold, ‘The string to the contract is that it is impossible for the workers to go out on strike, Jt they do, they are immediately dis- charged and the property reverts back thru a system of red tape to the company. The Amalgamated Shoe Workers of America, with offices in Lynn, Mass., is a new organization which was formed by local people. It is second in size in the shoe industry, and com- posed of workers in every branch of the industry. It is a militant body of class conscious workers. They see the necessity for amalgamation, and have been working toward this end. Employers Force Unity. The strongest argument advanced for an organization of all the workers in the industry into one national or- ganization comes from the manufac- turers themselves. Almost daily they are notifying the unions of their in- tention to move to some more favor- able city where wages are lower, A manufacturer in Lynn closed his shop and notified his employes that he was going to Cambridge if they would not accept a 25% wage reduction. He meant to say he was moving out of the jurisdiction of the union. With the present plan of organization this is possible. This beings us to be solved re; back to the problem ding the two large firms mentio: in the early Sp of this article. Ths problem will never be solved by the workers if the in- dustry remains divided, There seems to be a choice between three vs , amalgamation, benevolent feudalism and total destruction, Get unity thru the Labor Party! New York Labor Learns Egyptian Prisoners Released NEW YORK, Fel "i ‘ie tue Sher gece te al nesty prisoners sen- military courts in E; Yeu roreiret with Speed fe ee political THE POWER COLUMN THE DAILY WORKER MACHINE i this machinery age, literally and figuratively, The Machine is a great ogre which the enemies of labor use in the oppres- sion of the-working class. In the life of industrial workers, The Machine is the ruler, the driver and the master. In political life, The Machine, this time a political machine, used by unscru- pulous politicians doing the bidding of the owners of the United States, again is used for the enslavement of the workers. Even in the trade unions, wherever the rank and file attempts to carry ; out progressive measures looking toward the emancipation of labor, again it is The Machine, in the hands of crooked labor politicians, which again blocks the road and drives the toilers back. ne | The Machine, whether it is the result of human organiza-| tion of human invention, instead of fulfilling its purpose in delivering the human race from degrading and exhausting toil, ever has been used further to enslave and degrade the work- ing class. | Against the human greed of the exploiters, with their | political machines, against the treachery of the labor fakers| maintaining their mastery with their “official Machines,” and| against the driving, grinding greed of industrial machinery, | THE DAILY WORKER has been brought into existence in| order to help in the education and organization of the rank and file workers, whose life and death are in the hands of the ruth- less machinery of capitalism. How well THE DAILY WORKER is fulfilling its missions is testified by the thousands of militant workers, to whom THE DAILY WORKER has brought new hope and new strength to/wage the struggle against the em- ploying class) How THE BALIY WORKER is building and strengthening the militant movement is shown by the hundreds 3 of workers who are recruited to the ranks of militant labor every week, by reason of their subscription to THE DAILY WORKER and the inspiration and stimulation which they re- ceive from its columns every day. With the birth of THE DAILY WORKER there has been born a new machine, this time a machine which will take its place as one of the few that fight on the side of the working class. Composed of the militant live wires, who are making THE DAILY WORKER grow, we call it THE DAILY WORKER Machine. Dedicated to the successful functioning of this ma- chine is “The Power Column.” THE DAILY WORKER artist has conceived a drawing of THE DAILY WORKER Machine which expresses better than) words can do, just what the machine is and what its function is. | A newspaper like THE DAILY WORKER does not live from the income it receives from advertising. Neither do multi- millionaire oil robbers contribute a million-or-so-every-once-in- a-while. .THE DAILY ‘WORKER lives and grows out of the income it receives from subscriptions and it is the live DAILY WORKER boosters, the members of the “I-want-to-make-THE DAILY WORKER-grow” club, who are the life-blood of our paper. They are the ones who make THE DAILY WORKER possible and they are the ones who are making THE DAILY ‘WORKER .powerful and influential. There are several hun- dreds of these live wires, working in every pant of the country, but there is work to do and plenty of it for at least a thousand more. ; Those who want to become a part of THE DAILY WORKER machine should write their name and address on a post card; say “I want to help make THE DAILY WORKER grow,” and mail it in. There are material Pst i Fite Met Soa commissions to bpp who can spend time 2 energy labor press, and there t the building of the militant lahor nuweinen pic ropa eae There are dozens of ways to advertise and to increase the circulation of THE DAILY WORKER. We have printed some of them in The Power pong oe a few aes be eicgend WORKER branch and city co} b- Pe se and to employ them where local From Paterson, N. J., Comrade William Glanz of the Workers Part: English Branch writes that he has Aa arrangements with a rice ‘dae to handle 100 of THE DAILY WORKER to distribute to Patterson news stands, ¢ arrangement costs THE DAILY WORKER % cent a copy for the distribution of the pares and the collection of money and other ci Mireetly “ith repeal’ dete. » er thru branch or city agents or . ._ * «@ Comrade Nelson Sorenson, City agent for Kansas City, is one busiest and most successful DAILY WORKER agents. We print a “oe letter from Comrade Sorenson which contains an excellent idea which we recommend to other agents, i “One comrade here cannot read English; he subscribes to “The Frei- heit”. I convinced him that it was his duty to support our English paper just as well as his and he agreed to pay for a three months sub to be sent to one of the labor unions in Kansas City to be kept in their club rooms. I am pla to send the DAILY into all labor unions in Kansas City and I may use my commissions to pay for them.” Justice Fails To Get Justice ST. LOUIS, Feb. 13.—Laurence Justice believes his name does not fit the treatment of American veterans of the late war. STOCKHOLDERS | OUST VAN LEAR Receiver (Special to The Datly Worker) MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., Feb, 14.— The Minnesota Daily Star, organized ests of the workers and farmers, is today in the hands of a receiver after grafting politicians he associated himself with. Van Lear was for- merly socialist mayor of Minnea- polis, Judge Baldwin set the date of the hearing for the petition for perman- ent receiver for Thursday. In the meantime John Thompson, business manager of the Star, a Van Lear henchman, is temporary receiver. Refused to Recognize Majority. By a vote of 3,402 to 102 the paper’s stockholders at a_ special meeting ousted Van Lear and Thomp- son from the management of the Star, but the latter refused to rec- ognize the ouster as legal, altho the number of stockholders present was a representative one, casting 4,300 shares of the issue of 6,600. Two- thirds of those present were farmers. After the motion ousting Van Lear and Thompson was passed, a reso- lution was introduced demanding that the Star support the state Farmer-Labor Party and the forma- tion of a national farmer-labor arty. The resolution was introduced by Robly D. Cramer and ably supported | by William Mahoney, J. F. Emme} and Richard Wiggins. The chairman | declared himself in doubt when a vive voce vote was taken and when a roll call was demanded a sleek parliamentarian arose and moved ad- journment, which the chair declared carried. Cramer challenged the count on the vote but was not rec- ognized. Farmer-Labor Motion Carried. Cramer’s motion was then put against the chair’s decision that the meeting had adjourned and it “was! carried unanimously. Patriotism may be the last refuge of most scoundrels but the law is the refuge of others, among them Van Lear. Too hypocritical even for the Socialist Party he was expelled from it in 1919 and then consorted. with the politicians of the non-par- tisan league, but the rank and file of that organization want a party of their own and recently took the league into their own hands, The Star was Van Lear’s last stand. With it he fought desper- ately to maintain some hold on the workers but he has now lost: his last stronghold. The stockholders have repudiated him as a faithless servant, so he has repaired to the courts in his last extremity. Offer of Labor Defense Council Based on ‘A Week’ The Labor Defense Council seeing the great interest the readers of the DAILY WORKER have shown in the proposal to publish the new Russian novel, “A Week,” serially have de- cided to give a copy of the book to any supporter of the council who will sell a complete $6.00 sheet of Ruth- enberg appeal coupons. The money realized from this sale of Ruthenberg Appeal Coupons will be devoted to financing the appeal of C, E. Ruthenberg, against his con- viction for violations of the Michigan criminal syndicalism laws. Ruthen- berg’s case comes up before the Michigan Supreme court, March 1. The attorneys prosecuting the THE DAILY STAR Paper Now in Hands of | three years ago to serve the inter- | being wrecked by the treachery and | greed of Thomas Van Lear and the | | obliging (if not exactly caret Youth Views By. HARRY GANNES Playing with the Child Labor Problem Coolidge talked about child labor. Several dozen amendments to the constitution have been handed in to Congress and the Senate. About a dozen petty bourgeois organizations are prancing hither and thither rav- ing about the “poor children.” Yet nothing is done. Experience tells us that nothing will be done. i tter is a joke in the apitalist government, laws have been passed. The United States Supreme Court de- clared both unconstitutional for spe- | cific reasons, The first .was thrown out because it was direct, interstate regulation. That, said the venerable, if somewhat foolish judges, inter- feres with the rights and sovereignty of the states. Well, congress is of ing the interest of the American wi children) and they ed another law providing for 1; ion on all products manufactured with the aid vf child labor. Of course, any sen- sible worker knows how ridiculous such action is. It would require a veritable army to put such a law into effect, even if the United States Su- preme Court didn’t settle that matter for them. ‘That law too was thrown onto the scrap heap which is sym- bolic of the monument of mildly pro-labor legislation. In order to get around this move of the Supreme Court, the conglom- eration of apologists for the medieval action of the. American government has offered various amendment to the constitution. Some of them really are funny. One provides that child labor shall be abolished, but that the carrying out of the matter should be left to the state govern- ments. Not one of the amendments is a clear negation of the exploita- tion of children. Gompers supports the mildest of them all, that offered by Senator McCormick, of Illinois. After wading thru the gnarled mess of anti-labor and pro-corpora- tion senators and congressmen, if the weak excuse for the exploitation of 2,500,000 children passes, it must go to the states for ratification. There are enough of them without any child labor laws at the present time to de- feat the constitutional amendment, however mild and however ineffect- ual of. the purpose for which is is in- tended. Just to think of the many years all this is going to take. The children still continue to slave—yes, their numbers grow and their wages decrease, There are real remedies. But these are solely in the hands of the Amer- iean working class. First, the mass farmer-labor party could carry on @ far-reaching campaign against the murder of little children. The fight could be carried into the unions and mitted to work in any industry in which union labor is employed. Equal pay for young and adult. A’ higher standard of living for the parents of the child laborers. A per- sistent campaign by every trade union paper against child labor, not on the basis of the sentimental slop handed out by Gompers, who is co-operating with those responsible for child labor, but on the basis of a clear expose of this horror of American child life. The slogan of every workers’ or- ganization should be: No work for children under 18 years of age; voca- tional training for workers’ children, under the direction of the unions. Then would begin a solution of the child labor problem. Daugherty May Get Chance to Explain His Scabbing Policy (By The Federated Press) WASHINGTON, Feb. 14.—Harry Michigan cases make no secret of the fact that if this appeal can be won by the defense the cases against the 81 other Communists indicted in Michigan and now awaiting trial will go to pieces. Any worker who wants to get be- hind the fight against the Michigan ‘eriminal syndicalism laws can get sheets of Ruthenberg appeal coupons from the Labor Defense Council, 166 W.. Washington St., Chicago, and as soon as he has sold them will get a copy of “A Week.” Takes This Worker Two Days to Read One Copy of Daily William F. Kruse, who has just completed a tour of the east for the Friends of Soviet Russia and Work- ers Germany, reports that the DAILY WORKER is being very well received all over the country. One man in Washington told him that when he first saw the paper he thought that it was rather small, It didn’t com- ‘pare with the large capitalist dailies jn size he thought. There couldn’t be much in it. “But then I got to reading it and I'll be darned if there wasn’t more in that paper that a worker would want to read than in a couple of capitalist dailies. No funnies, no silly serial stories, all straight news that a man wants to read. It takes me two days to finish a copy. There is so much good stuff in it that you have to read everything. I don’t know if I will subscribe or not. The wife says I spend too much time reading it.’ M. Daugherty will have a chance to explain to the country his activities against railroad shop strikers, coal miners and other workers, since he entered the Harding-Coolidge cabi- net, and to explain his failure to act when naval oil reserves were be’ given away and scores of millions of dollars of war graft were being cone cealed. Senator Wheeler of Montana has accepted Daugherty’s offer to come before the Senate judiciary commit- tee and be investigated. Wheeler will substitute an investigation reso- lution, which will pass the Senate, for his resolution demanding that Daugherty resign forthwith. Wheeler will go before the com- mittee as special examiner of the witness, and he will have the support of those who tried a year ago to have Daugherty impeached, Assures Coolidge Vet Bonus Will Not Wreck the Treasury INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., Feb. 14.— Passage of a bonus bill for former service men will not jeopardize the financial welfare of the nation, ac- cording to John R. Quinn, national commander of the American lor. In a telegram to President Le lidge, Quinn took issue with the presi- dent’s stand and declared “the pay- ment of this just obligation wauld be but a minor item in the nation’s budget.” “The man who came to the rescue of his country in time of danger re- sents the insinuation that he would endanger his country in time of peace,” Quinn said. PITTSBURGH, PA. _ DR. RASNICK put-into every Ty en re arta the unions—no children to be per-