The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 4, 1924, Page 6

THE DAILY \WORKER Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO., 1640 N. Halsted St., Chicago, Il}. (Phone: Lincoln 7680.) SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail: $6.00 per year $3.50. .6 months $2.00..3 months By mail (in Chicago only): ih : $4.50..6 months $2.50. .8 months $8.00 per year Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER 1640 N. Halsted Street J. LOUIS ENGDAHL | WILLIAM F. DUNNE } MORITZ J. LOEB ial Entered'as second-class moil Sept, 21, 1923 at the Post- Office at Chicago, Ill., under the act of March 3, 1879. —- Chicago, Ilineis | avalos Editors Business Manager ‘Advertising rates on application. es Whose Victory By votes varying from 408 against 8 to 216 against 199, the Longworth tax proposals were) adopted by the House of Representatives after a series of bitter debates. ; The Mellon scheme to reduce the maximum surtax trom 50 per cent failed. The demo- cratic proposal to set 44 per cent as the maxi- mum figure likewise failed. A compromise proposal placing the maximum surtax at 3714 per cent and taking 2 per cent off incomes under $4,000 carried. It was only asa result of unity between the insurgents and the reguldr republicans that this measure secured enactment. There are some who maintain that Coolidge will veto this Longworth tax bill. But it is hard to be- lieve that so practical a water-front politician as Coolidge will take a chance to appear be- fore the country as responsible for vetoing any reduction im taxes at a time when so frantic a tax reduction cry has been raised by the kept press of the country. As to the Senate, nobody can tell what this scandal school will do to the tax bill. We might expect more jockeying and perhaps when the Senators get thru with this measure, it will be in a worse tat- tered condition than it is even today. In considering the import of this legislation, one naturally asks: whose victory is this? Nowadays, when the casualties are so heavy on all sides in the political struggle, it is a rather difficult question to answer. All we can safely say at this time is that the insur- gents have failed and failed miserably in the tax fight: Their voting for the Longworth measure was. an outright surrender to the Old -Guard and will be interpreted as such thruout the country. The insurgents were the pivotal force in the whole tax discussion. In this strategic position the group led by Congressman Frear, of Wis- consin, could and should have held up all tax legislation to the limit in order to secure the passage of a tax program which would shift the burdens from the poor to the rich. In- stead, Frear and his forces lined up for the Longworth bill and are now responsible for continuing the present burdensome taxation to which the great mass of workers are subject. If. anyone can rightly claim victory in the tax fight in the House of Representatives it is the reactionaries. The whole episode is a monu- ment to the helplessness and the wavering tac- ties of the insurgents in Congress. The International The International plunderbund today sits on top of a more or less active social volcano. The masses are in ferment. Their condition none too good before the world war, has since grown much worse. There is a growing feel- ing among them that it will never grow better under capitalism. The capitalists seek to lull the human vol- cano into passivity by specious promises of golden days of plenty to come. They endeavor to satisfy the workers within their own nations by a policy of plundering their neighbors. The result is larger armies and navies than bur- dened down the workers of Europe even be- fore the late war. The Socialists of the yellow stripe repre- sented by Ramsay MacDonald of England, President Ebert of Germany and others of that ilk are assisting the capitalists in holding back the wave of social discontent which threatens to engulf the capitalist class in a gigantic erup- tion. “Revolutions can’t be made; they must come of themselves,” parrot these betrayers. The Communist International which will celebrate its fifth anniversary tomorrow de- clares that revolutions are made by men when the economic conditions are ripe for the bring- ing forth of a new order out of the womb of history. Therefore the Communist Interna- tional has assumed the leadership of the revo- lutionary workers of the world and is organ- izing the most advanced battalions of the pro- letariat to lead the masses for the final strug- gle to victory. ‘ The rebel workers of the world will cele- brate March 5 as a momentous date in the his- tory of the workers’ striggle against their Two years ago William Randolph Hearst, it was rumored, sent a special writer to Wash- y to get the goods on Daugherty. The stuff %as prepared and ready for the press when Arthur Brisbane appeared in the Capitol and thru William J. Burns secured an inter- view with Daugherty. The expose was buried. What about it, Mr. Hearst? “Now that William Randolph Hearst has half dozen or so who oubts o! general’s guilt can join the ma- Two Bankruptcies Following our criticism of Samuel Gompers and the executive council of the American Federation of Labor, for their notable silence on the Teapot Dome scandal, Gompers states the A. F. of L. position in the March issue of “The -Federationist.”’ Brother Gompers claims to have sounded the warning nearly two years ago, on May 6, 1922, to be exact, but this claim to precedence in denouncing the oil grafters was merely a protest against the legislation that made the thefts possible. It does not in any manner explain the sepulchral silence.on the revela- tions concerning men high in the government maintained by the officials of the American Federation of Labor since the investigation was started. Neither does it explain the weak statement on the oil scandal in the current Federationist, a feeble parody of the democratic press de- manding punishment of the guilty persons and restitution of the loot. No one, reading the official but belated pro- nouncement of the Federationist will get any| inkling of the basic facts underlying the scan- dal; in the article is not one sentence hinting that the scandal itself would never have be- come public property if widespread economic changes, undermining the foundations of American capitalism, were not taking place; neither will one receive from the Federationist any confirmation of the belief that both repub- lican and democratic parties are wings of the same bird or any direct information as to the extent to which both capitalist parties are in- volved. That no changes have taken place in the mental attitude of the official family of the Federation by reason of the irrefutable evi-| dence recently furnished that both old parties are steeped in oil is the unavoidable impression ‘gained from the first statement by the Federa- tion on the subject of the Teapot Dome since the capitol began to rock under the impact of the disclosures. There is not even one lone word connecting the oppressive agencies of the government, such as the department of justice and the bureau of investigation and their strikebreaking policy with the wholesale corruption. Brother Gompers demonstrates once more in this article that he is more worried over sta- bility of the government than he is over that of the labor movement. The oil scandal sug- gests to him no need for revising his hoary doctrines relative to the functions of a labor movement nor his theories as to the all-suffi- ciency for labor of punishing friend and re- warding enemies in the bi-partisan machines; thru which oil and kindred interests maintain their parliamentary supremacy. The bankruptcy of capitalism as shown by! the Teapot Dome scandal makes clearer than ever the bankruptcy of the Gompers policy. La Follette’s Next Step The force with which political events are developing today is best exemplified by the decision of Senator LaFollette to withdraw his name from the presidential primary contest in North Dakota. This step on the part of LaFollette is of pri- mary importance. It is unquestionably a step in advance for LaFollette to recognize and admit his powerlessness before-the republican steam roller. The Senator from Wisconsin has been in politics for fifty years. Yet, this is the first time that LaFollette has acknowledged the uselessness of working within the republican party. The withdrawal is particularly signi- ficant under the circumstances in view of the fact that there has been organized a militant Farmer-Labor party in North Dakota to fight the reactionary clique controlling the Republi- can Party and Non-Partisan League. An equally important phase of LaFollette’s decision is the implied recognition of the Wis- consin Senator of the power of the Farmer- (Labqrites in the State. The farewell that La Follette bid to the Republican Party in North Dakota is an open acknowledgement of the strength of the real mass party in North Da- kota led by “Dad” Walker. Nationally, La Follette’s withdrawal means that the Wiscon- sin Senator is making an-out and out bid for Farmer-Labor support as against any strength he might be able to corral by continuation of his fight within the republican fold. Of course, LaFollette knows that with practically 800 out of 1,109 delegates to the Cleveland con- vention being hand-picked for: Coolidge, it ould be suicide for him to split the remaining delegates with Hiram Johnson and thus tend to give the country an impression of weakness. But this step is of as great danger to LaFol- lette as it is to the Old Guard. Unless “Bat- tling Bob” follows up energetically this with- drawal on his part from North Dakota he will be stranded hopelessly in a political desert all alone. LaFollette has been too long in politics not.to know that negative tactics alone are in- sufficient in a fierce political contest. Unless LaFollette forthwith takes concrete organiza- tional steps to hold together his followers and help them organize themselves for national action against the Coolidge clique he will not only have read himself completely off the polit- ical map, but also have been guilty of demoral- izing a great mass of his followers who are today bent upon waging relentless war on the Old Guard of both big capitalist parties. LaFollette is today at the cross-roads. He can no longer tarry. He must go forward or sign his own death certificate in the political life of the country. The North Dakota de- cision is a milestone in LaFollette’s career. It is of monumental importance as an index of re class divisions Are You Reading “ By IURY LIBEDINSKY Published by THE DAILY WORK- ER thru special arrangement with B. W. Hu th, Inc., of New York City. Coyprighted, 1923, by B, W. Huebsch & Co, + 8 ee (WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE) The Russian Communist Party branch is governing this frontier city and fighting the counter- revolution, Earlier installments tell of the fuel shortage that pre- vents seed grain from being fetched on the railroad. The Party meeting decides to send the Red Army far away for fuel, at the risk of leaving the city gpen for . bandits and counter-revolutionists. It also decides to conscript the local bourgeoisie for wood cutting in @ near-by park. Varied types of party members are flashed on the screen: Klimin, the efficient president of the branch, who still finds. time to have a sweetheart; Robeiko, the consumptive, whose devotion is killing him; Gornyikh, the brilliant youth of 19 on the Cheka; Matusenko, the luxury- loving place-hunter and Stalmak- hov, a practical workingman revo- lutionist. Gornuikh, disguised as a pleasant, overhears talk in the market place about a plot of counter-revolutionists to seize the town while the Red Army is away getting wood. Klimin is skeptical. 6. ES CHAPTER IX. 1) lapabgheton vod spent four hours on duty in the Communist Company, walked up and down with his rifle in the big, empty yard, and kept guard over the ar- senal, There was a slight frost, but it was not cold, somewhere -over the roofs the wind was breathing, diffusing thru the air the fresh sweetness. cf Spring. Martuinov spent the first two hours in thinking, remembering all his past life, punished and for- gave himself for a thousand triv- ial acts, and thought of the Revo- lution, of the Party, of his work. But during the last hour, Mar- tuinov did not think of anything at all ... he simply waited. Waited to be relieved. His toes were freezing, the cold was getting down inside the collar of his coat and up his sleeves, and to keep warm he wen: thru éxercises with his rifle. Twelve strokes rolled out from the belfry, and after that every minutes waiting seemed an hour, and he was wanting to blow a shrill whistle and call the sergeant and ask to be relieved, but the relief was already on its way, and two figures appeared from the direction of the guardroom. They checked the seals on the doors. of the sreenel es Mar- tuinov went off duty and did not walk but actually ran to the warm guard room. It was as if he were drunk with the Spring air, his face was red, and, as. always after be- ing relieved, he felt merry and careless and untroubled by any- thing of the outer world. Everything was so clear and simple, everything had been thought out in the big dark court- yard of the Communist Company. He drank hot tea, nibbled sugar, broke bread in his fineers and lis- tened to the talk of the comrades. “Never in my life, will I believe it,” said the sergeant, an oli non- commissioned officer, with thin, elegantly twisted mustaches. “Is there any sense in it? I ask you, man to be descended from a fish or a frog? Wonderful, From a monkey .. . that I’ve nothing against... . Even .agree. . . But from a fish? story.” “But, Comrade, why from a fish? Not from fish particularly, but from creatures of that sort ... of very simple form. They lived in water and then the struc- ture of all their bodies was the same. But when they multiplied a lot of them started going off into the shallows. .. . And thence on to dry land, And their organ- isms began to adapt themselves to this new way of living. Lungs appeared instead of » _ And that not all at once but gradually, in thousands and thousands of years, The strongest survived and left descendants; in this way there was selection, just as in breeding domestic animals, and that’s the struggle for life. Dar- win discovered it and so...” Martuinov listened to the clumsy words, watched the play of the broad rough face and to re- member; where had he seen that face and heard that slow speech? The man went on ber and stared at Martuinov, as if too remembered him . . . but could bring him to mind. And suddenly he broke off his talk with an ex- . .. Sheer fairy clamation: y “Comrade! Aren’t you the son of Sergei Zakharitch? Mar- tuinov?” “T am,” replied Martuinov, and blushed. “Surely you: know me? I am from your father’s leather factory. .. + Surely you remember An- dreev? At Slobodka they used to call me ‘the chemist.’ .. .” And Martuinov roctmnaess the face, the broad forehead, the isin rough features, the snrall, steady eyes. True, he had eee a good deal, his mustache ite grey, wrinkles had come is forehead, he seemed to. ywn taller, and a scar cut across is face from eye to It was nine years since he last seen him, and only now he pcccinyh a the close workroom, H aif What Do You Think of Our First Story? The DAILY WORKER wants to know what its readers think of the first serial novel it offers to its readers, We have published many installments of this gripping story. Another appears today. What do you think of the story, its setting, its character, as far as we have gone? We want our read- ers to let us know. Write down your views and send them in to the DAILY WORKER, 1640 N. Halsted St. Chicago, Hl. We publish as many of these letters as we can find space for. Don’t de-.. lay. Write today. Some Good Suggestions. To the DAILY WORKER: You ask for views of “A Week.” I can say I, for one, like the story and I think the time is ripe for a story of this kind. As I live two blocks from the book store that sells the DAILY WORKER I get it every day and never destroy it as I pass “it along to. others. But you must realize there are a great many Americans like myself not blessed with edu- cation, also not being familiar with the Russian language and say, when the name, Tansky, is useful, why not also use the name “Jones” or “Wilson” or “Jackson,” for exam- ple Tansky (Jones). I am sure it would help a great many Americans not familiar with Russian names to keep the story bet- ter in mind and, when the story is finished they will really understand the story and appreciate it more. I remain sincerely yours, J. P, Whid- clau, Denver, Colo. P. S. I hope that inside of 12 months there will be a DAILY WORKER published in every town of 5,000, or over in this so-called good old U. S. A. * * * * Presents Bright Picture. To the DAILY WORKER: You ask for opinions of “A Week.” Well, wee is what I ean say so far about It is doubtless the brightest picture of that great revolution that oc- curred in Russia, and that is still go- ing on. At last I want to say: Am waiting anxiously every day for my DAILY for you cut the continuations so short.—N. Kutisker, Boston, Mass. crucibles full of yellow stinking fiuid, which he poured over leather while Martuinov’s father, a fat old man_with a blood-shot face and malicious eyes, in a grey striped suit with a watch chain right across his stomach, sat very quietly on a bench, smiling encour- agingly, stretching an inquisitive neck in the direction of Andreev’s hands, and now and again quickly writing something down in his note book. : The elder Martuinov sometimes took his son with.him to the fac- tory, but did not allow him to talk with the workmen. Both in their presence and behind their backs he called them drunkards, thieves and ragamuffins, and only Andreev, “the chemist” as they laughingly called him at Slobodka, he visited himself, and took his son with him, “Sharp fellow, Andreev,” said old Martuinoy to Volodya, “bitter- ly proud, but clever, clever... .” And Volodya had seen that his father, strict and autocratic even” with his family, even with the people of his house, yet bore with the rude and sometimes almost ar- rogant manner of Andreev, listen- ed carefully to his explanations, - full of the names of chemical re- agents and berg ng terms. He had noticed that this young work- man was allowed to call his fath- er by his father’s name (Sergei Zakharitch, his own and his fath- er’s Christian names, as between equals, instead of using his fam- ily name, like a stranger or in- ferior) which not even the very oldest of the workmen had the right to do. And Volodya had not understood the strange relations between them. And then Andreev had disap- peared; his father had had a great row with him about something, Martuinov had not known about what, but for séveral days by al “with the strongest words,” as the coachman had delicately expressed it. . . . Martuinov had grown up, had bttéme interested in futurism, in theosophy, in the history of cul- ture... then had come love... . Then the Revolution and work in the Party. Andreev had been for- ‘otten altogether. And now here 4 was, alive, real, sitting there filling his pipe with tobacco and talking slowly and with pauses: “Well, Comrade Martuinov, I heard that you were a member of the . When I came here I had dec beforehand, I’d come and turn the son of the bourgeois out of the Party. I thought you had come in to serve your own ends. I came and made enquiries about you, where you worked and how, but every said you were a good worker and an honest one, and so, thought I, let him work then... .” Martuinov blushed deeply at the may broke with at the ning of the Reva Le oo Broke all relations with them. I had differences with my el ot A despot he was... there’s no whatever. © men had a hard time, But ‘with yeu peawnally, he 1 i A Week | ‘speak, ? somehow behaved decently?” asked Martuinov. Andreey smiled. “Of course, decently, he even gave me cigarettes. . .. Since it paid him to do so, Forgive me, Comrade Martuinov, but about. your dad I must say he was a rogue, and a clever one at that. . + + You remember they called me ‘the chemist’ at Slobodka. That was because I'was very fond of chemistry, and found’a way of tanning leather by a more scien- tific and profitable method. But Iwas a fool then and did not take out a patent for my invention, and your father made use of it for nothing. . . . He gave me three roubles, I bought some books for myself. “You remember the workmen of Slobodka, they were a rough lot at that time. The work was ter- ribly hard, the pay small, and the only relaxation was to get drunk. “I did not drink, as a matter of fact to this day I don’t like vodka, I kept away fromthe lads, was busied with my chemistry and read books, I had nobody to talk with, so I talked with your dad. We talked and talked and behold he brought something new into the factory, and cut down the number of workmen by nearly half. It turned out that I was by way of being a construction engineer for him, and getting for that fifteen kopecks a day, with tips extra. Sometimes fifty kopecks, some- times a ruble, sometimes three. At the factory they began to call me ‘the cheap chemist,’ and it was true enough that I was cheap. “Twas a fool but all the same began to understand a little. And so, said I, Mr. Martuinov, I. want to take out.a patent for my in- ventions. You will buy them from me, and I shall be able to study. I dreamed of becoming an engi- neer. At that time I knew nothing of polities and had no sort of class consciousness whatever. All I wanted was to study and read books. “If he had/only come to terms with me, perhaps I should have brought him great profit and been an-engineer by now. But your dad was mean and his meanness ate him up, and in reply he began to swear at me. And I don’t like ft when people swear at me. Word for word we talked pretty straight. And he turned me off. I was very hard up after that. My mother died of hunger, And then I went to Ivanovo-Voznesensk, and met some good fellows, who began giv- ing me Pravda to read, and opened my eyes, and I became a bit wiser. “It’s terrible to remember in what a state of oppression they kept us, and how they lorded it over us. . .. Well, anyhow, it’s done with, now. There’s no going back to the past. Sergei Zakhar- itech is in Japan now, perhaps, or perhaps in America. And in his factory I am all but master.” “But are you working there now?” asked Martuinov. _ “Of course. President of the Factory Committee. Two months iy. “Well, and how is the factory working?” ‘ “Of course—badly. The work- men sabotage, rations are poor and given out irregularly, the system of payment is idiotic, the machines are old and broken. I swore at your dad and dislike him heartily, but there would be no harm for us in taking a lesson from him... . To leatn this. . . .” He was silent, visibly looking for the right word ... “this managing. . .. He was hard and cunning and loved his power, but he loved the factory still better. Days and nights he spent in the factory. You remem- ber him? + He knew every machine in the place, knew how each work- man worked. ‘And, most important of all, he had imagination. . . managing, business imagination. That’s what we lack just now. Addn peat bimiigs ee a StrerhGr, ‘san ineer, sent him-from the All Russian Council of Public Economy, and he’s a Communist. . .. But he never comes out of his office. And can’t hold his own with the non-party specialists. Do you know him?” He named a Party comrade, a member of the Party Committee, who often spoke at the Party meetings. “But I am a bad politician,” he went on. “In a word, I was a chemist and still am. Of course I understand it all, all his mis- takes, but I cannot catch him out. One to one, I can still argue with but at a meeting he’s all over me at once. I don’t know when you can ask leave to speak and when you can’t, and he at oor ‘on the motives of the voting’ n. I feel that he (ied as. as if my were in a knot.’ tongue 3 ij i 3 E28. > = $ gs 3 j Ld tired ‘goon time to go r aa sett! ee riod’... its a book. BE 3 | the Boston Post that affairs of AS WE SEE IT By T. J. O'FLAHERTY. BRIGADIER General Paul B. Ma-~ lone is an eloquent Rotarian ora- He spoke in Houston, Texas re- cently. The General is blunt and truthful. He declared to the assem- bled Rotarians that war originated because of business or trade, that the first reason for war is trade. Now, this is just what we like to hear a general give forth. There is an old truth to the effect that if you call a man a horse thief justice demands that you submit proof to support the truth of your charge but if the ac- cused admits that he is a horse thief, that makes your task ever so much easier, to say the least. oe * ® Communists have been telling the workers that all capitalist wars are gigantic commercial enterprises, struggles between opposing capitalist groups for markets, spheres of in- fluence, and territories to exploit. The workers did not believe us. They thought—most. of them—that wars ere ‘fought for pure womanhood clean religion and moral preachers, tor. decent kings and chaste queens andy, such glorious issues. Now comes @ honest-to-God general and bears out everything we have said. He then proceeds to lecture the rotarians on their duties. “The object of my visit,” he-said, “is to bring to the attention of the business men that national defense is part and parcel of your business. War originated because of business or trade. The first reason for war is trade.” *-_* 2 6 This is illuminating and instruc- tive, Paste this little bit of informa- tion in your hat and pass it around— the information, not the hat—to every worker who still believes that wars are fought for beautiful ideals as specified in Woodrow Wilson’s fourteen points. We like frank and stupid generals. oO oe Col. Charles R. Forbes is such & jovial fellow that we are averse to saying an unkind word about him. He was also such a good friend of the late and dearly beloved Mr. Harding, But duty demands that we politely call attention to the fact that|a suspicion of irregularity -has been created by the conduct of the Vet- erans’ Bureau by the said Col. For- bes. This in itself would_not be so henious a crime in our opinion, but for the fact that rumor has it that the Colonel disappointed his’ bene- factor, Mr. Harding, the American Mr. Honeyweed who expected so much of Mr. Forbes that he was al- most broken-hearted when he heard that his favorite “son”. actually shot craps with the wife of Elias Mor- timer who was trying to share the good fortune of the Veterans’ Bureat with Mr. Forbes. see @ “He that steals my money steals” trash; but he that abuses my - fidence is a confidence man.” Thus Mr. Harding must have reasoned if the good man ever reasoned. low the wounded veterans who are dying of tuberculosis and shell-shock may say that Forbes’ affair with the wife of another man is not near so re- prehensible as the looting of funds appropriated for the relief of suffer- ing heroes, but we fear that our heroes do not properly appreciate the honors that were conferred them by a proud nation, in allowed the privilege of becoming heroes and wearing wounds as deco- rations. We fear the poison materialism: is sinking into their souls and we believe no better evidence can be offered to substantiate this asser- tion than that instead of protesting against the alleged moral lapse of the said Colonel Forbes, they raise the dickens over the disappearance of a few paltry million dol No de- cent capitalistically-minded Henry Dubb would put material gain before a nation’s virtue and a_ nation’s honor, se 8 *# It is hard to say off hand whether ‘the National City bank of New York is a financial institution or a bawdy house. No house of ill fame in any of our many underworlds has come in for so much unenviable licity for the past few years as the great New York bank, Our readers may remember that Mr. James Stillman, he of Indian guide fame, was once rauient of the National City bank. an had a first mortgage on the front pages for almost two years. Iler position to Secretary. Fall and mier ion the Teapot Dome pe tgs Riad b. Harris, now head of that institution, broke into print and the divorce court yeep aap 9 and startled the pub- lic with the charge that into marrying a We are half inclined to agree kind are more fertile breeders of volt ‘than the most effective in the capitalist class, They may even go so far as to withdraw their money from the banks with which the gay Lotharios are connected, It also eats spots out of the capital- ist gag that under communism door sport would homes and those who eo