The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 29, 1924, Page 2

Si tanintoe: Ee is nn a Am Page Two PULLMAN STRIKE EXPOSES THE “COMPANY UNION” AS AN ENEMY (Continued From Page One) vestigate special conditions thruout the company’s activities.” He is “to}| advise all parties interested in regard to decisions on the part of the man- agement.” He has the power to “see that a statement of the facts in any griev- ance is prepared and furnished to the) general committee.” | He “shall arrange the necessary rou- tine, and see that complete records} are kept.” | Employes Not Allowed. This paternalistic scheme pretends to allow an equal number of repre-j sentatives of the employes to act on committees with the Pullman offi but under the union-breaking plan the bureau of industrial relations, which | isnothing but a sugar-coated name for} the officials of the Pullman plant, and/ the Pullman official appointed by the| president as supervisor, have all the real power in their hands. Despised Stoo! Pigeons. It is a well known fact in the Pull- man plant that those employees who are allowed to act on those committe- es are the stool pigeons of the Com- pany, who go among the men, find out what they are up to and report back to the Pullman officials. These traitors to their class are the most depised men in the Pullman shops, because altho employes, they curry favor with the Pullman presi- dent by doing his dirty work for et Cloak for Union-Smashing. The plan of “employee representa- tion” has been in effect since June Ist, 1923. Has it bettered the conditions of the employes? Has it raised their wages, shortened their hours, reduced their living costs? On the contrary since that time, while pretending to deal fairly with employees, the Pull- man Company has tightened the screws even harder on the employees. It has introduced one cut in wages after another. It has reduced the scale of pay, on the piece work system, time and again. It has made the men work faster and faster, making of them no- thing but broken pieces of machinery It has made the men work in the open air, in all kinds of weather, telling them if they don’t like it they can go home. It has crippled and maimed hundreds, and when it came to paying compensation, squirmed out of its ob- ligation wherever possible. What pensions have been paid are entirely inadequate to support one man; let a- lone a family. Not content with reducing wages, the Pullman Company has increased the living costs of its employees by raising rents of its company houses “~“fYom 5 to 15 dollars a month on every shouse. This is what the employe plan of representation has done for the slaves who work for “Mr. Pullman,” Employes “Get Wise.” Fora time the employees might have been encourged with the hope of rub- bing shoulders. with some of the bosses in the committee meetings. They were flattered by being called “committeemen,” and fired with am- bition to please the Pullman offictals by being contented slaves, in the hope of being admitted to the society of the Pullman officials. But after a few wage cuts, after the institution of the merciless speed up system, which is the application of the sweat shop method to the steel industry, the em- Ployees got wise. They have said “Keep your damned title of ‘commit- teemen.” We're tired of being stool Pigeons. You can have those empty honors; but give us the money to raise our families decently. Make our working conditions safe and com- fortable so we wont be half sick all the time.” Nothing in Common. The workers who have just gone out on strike have realized that the Pullman Company will sacrifice the lives of their employees every time as long as it will bring them in a little money. The slogan of the Pullman Company is, “Don't allow the unions to get a foothold. Increase profits and dividends, even if you have to make human wrecks of the employees.” The striking Pullman employees know the workers and the Pullman Company have nothing in common. They have found that any so-called jstandard of living of OF WORKERS’ BEST INTERESTS the Pullman workers. They are tired of interfer- ence with their interests by the Pull- man Company and are thru with all organizations run by the Pullman Company which are formed to increase crease profits by further grinding down of the workers. CAR WORKERS! STAY AWAY FROM PULLMAN! STRIKE 1S NOW ON! All car workers over the country should take notice that there is a strike on in the car shops of the Pullman Company, at Pullman, Ill. Agents of the Pullman Company are trying to recruit strike breakers thruout the middle west in an ef- fort to fill the places of the car workers who have gene out against wage reductions. Hundreds of these workers, ignor- ant of the strike at Pullman, upon arrival, have immediately returned to their homes. In order not to put themselves in the position of strike J breakers, and to avoid needless expense, Car Workers! Stay away from Pullman! PULLMAN SCAB HUNTERS CURRY WOODS FOR HELP (Continued from Page One) here that this man, Jansen, may be run out of town by their friends back home. The following telegram was sent by the infuriated workers of Iowa to friends in Bettendorf: “Jansen, labor agent for Pullman, should be run out of town. There is a strike on at Pullman. Tell boys not to come here.” The DAILY WORKER reoprter went into the employment office ana found 2 men waiting for work, sitting on benches. He stood in front of them and advised them to walk out as there was a strike on. As the reporter left a company fink came in. He was armed to tne teeth. The men walked out and thanked the reoprter for the information. A member of the Boilermakers’ Union will address the strike meeting tomor- row and will bring officials of his union with him. He will try to get financial aid for the strikers. eee PULLMAN, April 28—John Holm- gern, speaking here today to a large gathering of striking workers of the Pullman shops told his audience that} Florence Pullman, also Mrs. Frank O. Lowden keeps what is known as an “ideal farm where cows, pigs, horses and other animals are treated ideally,” in a manner that would cause the slaves of the Pullman car: shops to grasp with astonishment. Lowden got the title of the “gentle-| man farmer” from this farm and ex- pects to rope in the votes of the bank- rupt farmers of the Northwest thru his nodding acquaintance with the an- imals who are so fdeally cared for. The speaker said, that when a Low- den pig is indisposed the best special- ist immediately rushed to the animals bedside, while the workers in the shops—who pile up the Lowden mil- lions—and their wives and children could starve without interfering with the serenity of the Lowden-Pullman conscience. ie Strikers in Cheerful Mood. The strikers are cheerful over yes- terday’s meeting. There will be : monster gathering later in the week and the strikers have arranger to order two thousand copies of the DAILY: WORKER which will contain an ad- evrtisement of the meeting. Two members of the Young Work- ers League, Sam Green and John Har- vey, were on the job early yesterday morning selling the DAILY WORKER, and turning prospective scabs away from the shops. They were intimidat- “union;” promoted by the Pullman ed by the police and threatened with Company which is formed to increase | Violence unless they desisted. Pullman activity is out to make more profit. Honest-to-God Union, Some Police Sypathetic. A detective approached the young workers and informed them that the ‘The Brotherhood of Railway Car-| “Captain” had issued orders to arrest men, just organized by the riveters,| anybody selling papers. Some of the reamers, buckers, fitters and other] police are friendly with the strikers steel workers, is out to raise the]and it is amusing to see the efforts of DETROIT CARPENTERS UNANIMOUS FOR ST. PAUL MEET, JUNE 17TH (Special to the Daily Worker) {dependent movement are returning an DETROIT, Mich. April 28—Members of Carpenters’ Local No. 2140, who have been fighting for independent political action on the part of labor for two years, has endorsed the call for the June 17th convention In St, Paul, ‘ence In Detroit to be held some time in May to effect a local y organization. There was no adverse discussion, and the mous. 4 The action of Local 2140 marks the beginning of an intensive campaign to line up the local unions for the June 17th convention. There has long rank and file in the Detroit labor movement. This sentiment been thwarted up to the present by labor officiaidom in Detroit, who have been thwarted up to the present by labor officialdom in Detroit, who have been more Interested in playing politics and political trading than in the basic of labor for independent political expression. It is hoped that this action will widen the breach between these two diverging tendencies, and make clear to the rank and file the class nature of political ade The local conference will urge all locals financially 1, and will arrange rep! ntation thru the to bear only part of the expense of a delogate, to send dele- THE DAILY WORKER HIRAM JOHNSON NOT WANTED BY LAFOLLETTE MEN Newberry And Mooney Issues Kill Him (Special to The Daily Worker) WASHINGTON, April 28—In Hi- jram Johnson's latest threat to sever jall connection with the Republican |party, some observers see a bid for the third party nomination. But to this suggestion the leaders of the in- emphatie negative. | Johnson's refusal to vote to unseat |Newberry for buying his way into the |Senate from Michigan has killed his |“progressive” following. And the left |wing labor movement, which controls jthe balance of power in the insur- | gency against the old parties hates | Johnson for his refusal to pardon Tom | Mooney and Billings and other Cali- fornia workers imprisoned for life on |Chamber of Commerce frameups. | The political future of the Califor- |nia senator, therefore, bids fair to be comparable to the fate of that mar} who had no country. He has won the enmity of the regular Republicans, and has not gained the trust of the liberals. He seems to be fated to pass finally from the ranks of those who figure materially in national politics. Wanted LaFollette’s Place. LaFollette’s name will be: on the ballot in from seven to a dozen states unless he keeps it off by main force. The political power he represents to- day is uncomputed, because uncertain, but it is very great. But not even La- Follette could transfer it to Johnson, even if he wished to, which he does not. Johnson might stand in better re- pute with the progressives had he not, during the early days of the Harding regime, put himself in the position of trying to appear “regular” by failure to vote on Newberry and his support of the tariff. This phase of his polit- ical development was succeeded by a gradual breaking away from the ad- ministration, that break culminating in the announcement of his candidacy. Lefts’ Victory In French Vote Looks Likely PARIS, France, April 28.—The left wing politicals are massing their forces for the coming election of May 11 and sted a good chance to win, ac- cording to reports. The leaders are men like Edward Herroit and Paul Painleve and are far from the “radi- cals” they are pictured by their con- servative opponents, President Millerand is expected to resign if the lefts make their victory. Judging from the recent by-elections, the lefts will gain at least 150 seats, or the same majority that the na- | tional party has now. |the bosses to induce those sympathe- | tic officers to drive the pickets away from the gates. John Holmgren, General Vice Presi- dent of the Brotherhood of Railroad Carmen and leader of the strike, speaking before the big strike meeting yesterday anounced that the dicks were prevented from entering the homes of the strikers thru the efforts of Alderman Govier and that Captain Pat Wheeler of the 9th ward was ins- structed not to allow his men to enter homes of strikers without warrants. Hits Frank Lowden. - “Frank O. Lowden, candidate for the vice presidency of the United States on the Republican ticket, thru his wife Florence Pullman owns most of the stock in the Pullman Company,” said Holmgren. “Besides that,” hei continued, “he owns hundreds of com- pany houses. ‘The money that is made by Lowden thru Florence by thix wage cut and in the recent raise in cent is enough to buy her husband the vice presidency and leave something over to purchase a couple of cabinets as Doheny and Sinclair did.” “They say the high cost of living 1s reduced, hence a reduction in the cost of living. This is a lie, as the latest Department of Labor report shows an increase in living costs, Rents have gone up from 10 to 100 per cent. The company takes away from the workers, by means of the wage reductions, enough money to buy the presidency. Holmgren showed in his speech that the workers have nothing to gain by supporting the democrats and repub- licans who are jointly the agents ot the Pullman company and other big trusts. If the workers could see this and organize politically in a cluss Farmer-Labor Party, they would not be beaten on the heads during strikes and thrown into jail by the demo- cratic and republican tools of Big Business. The Brotherhood of Railway Car- men is the union to which William Z Foster, the great strike leader, be- longs. Foster is the man who brought almost half a million 1 workers to- gether in the great organizing cam paign of 1919, His name is greeted with expressions of confidence by the steel workers thruout the country, while he is held up as a bogey man to the workers by the steel trust and ali the big corporations. PULLMAN COMPANY HE strike against the Pullman Co. is spreading. *The pluck and courage of the strikers is growing. In this hour of spirited struggle the strikers must beware of the crimes that the Pullman Co. shoulder onto the strikers, if it dice against the worker. « is ready to perpetrate itself, but can, in an effort to create preju-' * * The past uprisings against the Pullman Co. have shown that it requires a rare courage to go out against this huge and wealthy corporation that has powerful connections in the strong- est citadels of finance and industry. Carroll D. Wright, for a time United States Commissioner of Labor, in referring to the Pullman strike starting May 11, 1894, and the greater railroad strike following, said it was “probably the most expensive and far-reaching labor controversy which can properly be classed among the historic controversies of this generation.” NO ERROR WRIT ALLOWED SLAVIC WORKER IN COURT Steel Lords Sentence Buksa For W. P. Work By J. A. HAMILTON, YORKVILLE, Ohio, April 28—John Buksa, member of the Yorkville South Slavic Branch of the Workers Party, has been refused in the Cireuit Court, at Wheeling, W. Va., a plea for writ of error in respect to the sentence of three months in jail and fine he re- ceived May 17, 1923, on a charge of violating the “Unlawful Publications Act.” He was distributing the Pro- gram of the Workers Party on a trol- ley car in Wheeling, in March, 1923, In order to ereate public prejudice against the strikers, in 1894, the railroad corporations ing ov destruction of their own freight cars), and everywhere deliberately instigated the burn- ears (they were cheap, worn-out had thugs and gunmen as its emissaries to preach and provoke violence. In the words used by Gustavus Myers, in his “History of Great American Fortunes,” the to throw the onus upon the stri object was three-fold, as usual: kers of being a lawless body; to give the newspapers an opportunity of inveighing with terrific effect against the strikers; and armed troops to shoot down, ov the strikers. to call upon the government for yerawe, or in other ways thwart ** * The tactics of the Pullman then they were thirty years ago. profiteers are no different today Rifle squads in automobiles today parade the strike zone. City police invade the homes women ‘and children. of strikers and threaten their The strikers have been dispossessed of their first meeting hall, thus being denied the right of free speech and free assemblage. The tactics of the Pullman crowd up,to the present time have shown that they are capable today of the crimes they committed in past years, when their workers were out fighting for their rights. The Pullman crowd is capable of again burning freight cars and blaming it on the strikers. It is capable of instigating its gunmen to make insane speeches and blaming them on the strike organizers and the rank and file spokesmen of the workers. Not only the strikers, but the workers generally, must be- ware of the crimes that the panic stricken Pullman Company will commit in the hour that it believes its profits are being seriously threatened. The issue must be kept clear, as the ranks of the strikers must be kept unbroken. It isa profits. ; battle of low wages against high It is a battle that the workers must win. STEEL WORKERS’ SEDITION TRIAL STARTS APRIL 30 Six Farrell, Pa., Defen- dants Face Jury MERCER, Pa., April 28.—The Mer- cer county grand jury returned true bills against each of the six Farrell defendants charged with having vio- lated the sedition law. The trials will start Wednesday and will continue for about two weeks. The defense has retained three of the best attorneys in Mercer county, and is prepared to wage a battle against the steel barons, Mercer, where the trials are to be held, is a small country village nest- ling on the outskirts of the steel belt, and the inhabitants, mostly rural folks, for weeks have talked nothing but the cases of the six steel workers and their coming trials. “Phe farmers surrounding Mercer are all preparing to leave their spring plowing and journey to the county seat to hear the trials. They will find that they have much in common with the six defendant steel workers, who have been pulled away from the glow- ing furnaces where steel rules and rushed into the quietness of this lit- tle rural town, now all astir over their arrival. Sedition will be defined by the pro: ecutor, and the easy going rural folks, with first and second mortgages on their farms, will realize how near they are to prison when they protest against the system which spends mil- lions of dollars educating them on how to rats robs them of the crops after tney nave raised them. Recalls Chattel Slavery Days. In this locality, when the abolitfon- ists of Civil War days opened their doors to the runaway black slave and arranged for his journey farther north, a new slave from the masters’ steel mills arrives to be placed on the block, and all the arguments used against the black slave will be used against his modern brother, the wage slave. The greatest trials in the history of the Pennsylvania labor movement, of far reaching importance, will be held in this little town of Mercer, and the six sturdy steel workers facing the wrath of the steel barons for daring to voice a protest against wage slav- jery face the future realizing that the imaster’s lash always strikes first those in the front ranks. One can but admire the cool cour- age of the defendants. All the injus- tice heaped upon them in the cen- jturies past has schooled them in how to be cool when under fire, and with a grin rippling over their Slav features and a shrug of their broad shoulders they await their turn before a jury of their alleged peers. Ready to Go to Prison. One of the defendant workers ex- pressed their views, when interviewed by the DAILY WORKER correspond- ent. He exclaimed that when one speaks for the working class he must be prepared to go to prison. The working class have every rea- son to feel proud of their brothers now facing their masters’ court at Mercer. Upon such backs and shoul- ders does the burden fall, and the thousands of rebellious steel slaves will await the outcome of this battle, knowing that their own welfare de- pends upon same. How many of your shop-mates read THE DAILY WORKER. Get one of “bumper crops” ath’ then them to subscribe today. INDIANA’S GOVERNOR PUTS 0. K. ON FORGERIES AND HIGH FINANCE INDIANAPOLIS, April 28—Continuing his frank admission of forgery, when arrested. A further appeal is being made to the State Supreme Court, one of the points at issue be- ing the constitutionality’ of the Act. One of the flock of “criminal syn- dicalism” laws produced by the war hysteria, was this West Virginia Act, passed in 1919, It reads: “It shall be unlawful for any person to speak, print, publish, or communicate, by language, sign, picture, or otherwise, any teachings, doctrines, or counsels, in sympathy or favor of ideals, insti- tutions, or forms of government hos- tile, inimical, or antagonistic to those now or hereafter existing under the constitution and laws of this state or the United States, or in sympathy or favor of the propriety, duty, or neces- sity, of crime, violence, or other un- lawful methods of terrorism as a means of accomplishing economic or political reform, or in sympathy or favor of the overthrow of organized society, the unlawful destruction of property, or the violation of law”. “Steel Hand” Against Buksa. Buksa is afflicted with progressive Paralysis and for six years has been unable to work’at his trade of min- ing. He is a Trustee of the Miners’ Temple at Bellaire, elected by vote of the miners in Eastern Ohio. His present’ trouble really dates back to the strike in the Yorkville Tin Mill, owned by the “Wheeling Steel Corporation, early in 1922, dur- ing which company guards shot to death one of the strikers. The widow succeeded in forcing the Company to Day $33,338.33 damages. One of the principal witnesses was Mike Buksa, one of John’s sons. The informant who secured the arrest of John, hap- pened to be superintendent of one of the mills of the Wheeling Steel. The jury was mostly mill workers, and in spite of having to assimilate the un- Jawful publications’ law, and the Workers Party program in order to be able to render an intelligent ver- dict, it stayed out but a bare five min- utes. Satan Of Salmon “Hell Fleet” In eye) Shipping Scandal (By The Federated Press) SAN FRANCISCO, April 28.—Mor- timer and Herbert Fleishaker are busy denying charges made in the congressional investigation of the shipping board vessels to Brazil, Cuba and other foreign countaries. It is claimed that the Western Marine & Salvage Co., with which the Fleish- ackers are associated, sold the hulls firat to these countries, and then the machinery, which was installed by the nations making the purchase; and that the vessels, which had cost the shipping board $300,000,000, were sold for $750,000. Th Fleishacker bro- thers are among most powerful of San Francisco bankers; Mortimer Fleishacker is “grand duke” of the board of regents of the University of California, and also owns the Alaska salmon packing ships, known as “the hell fleet of the Pacific”, Tuesday, April 29, 1924 eee ete emcee emmy anette erst eee a eer encase Acuna aS BEWARE OF THE CRIMES OF THE EXPLOSION BURIES 115 WORKERS IN WEST VIRGINIA (Continued from Page One) The scab steel corporation, which consumes the total product of the mine and attempts to take the min- ers, too, announced that 104 men had received their “checks” yesterday morning. The explosion occurred within half an hour and cut off all communication and exit. The tele- phone connection’ between Benwood and Moundsville, W. Va., was broken by the terrific mine explosion. Crowds of women and children gath- ered anxiously at the Brown’s run opening of the mine, awaiting the re- turn of rescuers. Clouds of black smoke poured from the mouth of the mine, and the fire apparatus was called out. No fire has been found yet. Rescuers found air circulating in the mine passages and expressed hope that all the men might be taken out alive. The Wheeling Steel Corporation be- gan its career as an exclusive holding company for eight subsidiary coal, iron, coke, bridge construction and transportation companies in May, 1923. It was first incorporated in 1920, The companies it swallowed up and the Wheeling Steel itself have been viciously anti-union and have held their workers in the most com- plete bondage. Improvements in the mine are never made until a disaster such as the pres- ent one forces some sort of action. Even then. the minimum compliance with the law is offered by the com- pany. Human life is cheap for it, so it continues to sacrifice workers year by year. Await Pittsburgh Rescue Cars. Rescue workers, volunteers from among the miners, and members of the Bureau of Mines penetrated into the mine to a depth of 2,000 feet be- for the first two men were found. They found much debris piled in mine corridors as a result of the explosion. Mine rescue cars had to be brought all the way from Pittsburgh before rescuers could enter the mine at all. This delayed the work considerably and may result disastrously for the imprisoned men. The barony of this particular indus- trial concern includes 1,000 acres of “real estate,” plus 30,000 acres of coal lands and proven iron ore properties. Over this territory the Wheeling Steel Corporation rules in feudal manner: owning all the towns, houses, build- ings, everything on the land, and keep- ing the miners in perpetual debt to the company for every . move they make, every scrap they eat. Serfs of the middle ages were no worse off than the non-union miners of today in these West Virginia fields. Milwaukee Schools Stepping Towards Platoon System MILWAUKEE, April 28.—What is believed to be stepping stone to adop- tion in the public schools of the pla- toon system, a plan generally opposed by labor organization, is the “depart- mentalization” of the schools here. Three more schools are to be depart- mentalized, which means that pupils will rotate about the building under several teachers. At a committee of the board, Dr. J. W. Murdock voiced opposition to. the use of textbook on American citizenship by Scott. “I have read it carefully,” Murdock declared, “and I could find nothing constructive in it. All it does is to continually pat the United States on the back and declare that everything we do is right. And it contains a pic- ture of Andrew Carnegie, which is an insult to every foreigner who ever came over here and was robbed in his steel mills.” TRIUMPHAL MAY DAY WILL BE CELEBRATED IN DISTRICT NEW YORK The following is a list of May New Jersey under the auspices of the Unite: Day celebrations in New York and ront Conference. Open Air Meetings Will Be Held Harlem:—The meeting will be held at 2 P. M. at 110th Street and Fifth Avenue. Comrad: tz, Stachel, Ji mah les Poyntz, 1, Jampols! » Polak and others Downtown:—Meeting will be held at 2 P. M. at Rutgers Com- Ses Winitsky, Baum, Siskind, Castrel, Taubenschlag and psi will peak, Williamsburg:—Grand St. Ext. at 2 P. M. Th lowing dress the seins ci le at 2 P. 6 foll will adi tal, Levy, Nesin, Bimba and others. New Yorki—A te: jane Noonan ti All lew York: monster indoor onstration will be held at © tral Age gi oo ei Street and Third Avenue. Poyntz, Winttsky, Epstein, "i Charles Krumbein will preside. Singing Society will be heard in a special The Fretheit Brooklyn:—In Brooklyn Labor peers ous will be another indoor man, Nesin and Bimba agratenk, renin a4 witoughby A Comrades Congrove ly Lore, fore The Lithuanian Mandolin Orchestra, C. Kendel, soprano soloist will supply the musical prog- and misrepresentation of his financial condition, Governor Warren T. McGray on cross examination in Federal Court today, stoutly maintained he was in- nocent of any attempt to defraud and said “he always believed he was right in what he did.” The Governor fended his career of high financing thruout a ceaseless. questioning by District Attorney Elliott in the trial of McCray on charges of fraudulent of the mails. Altho McCray plainly showed the effects of the tremendous strain he left the stand with the same confidence that has characterized him thruout. The Governor defended himself solely on the declaration that he had intended to do no wrong. On direct examination by his attorneys, McCray’! mitted signing the names of other persons to notes and discounting the: genuine paper with banks. McCray said he had not intended for anyone to lose a nickel on the notes he put out. While his vast farming interests in Indi and a dozen other midwestern states were ring, he said he had never doubted his ability to repay $1,000,000 h of notes which, according to the evidence, were forced or worthless, 5 Finnish:—The Finnish Branch Workers Party has for a concert and mass meeting for May 1st, 8 P. M. at Harlem OC 116th” Street and Lenox Avenue. Prominent speakers in Finnish will address the meeting, also a number of Finnish artists will render vocal numbers. NEW JERSEY firing. Mets SobeRER. Meds Meester Renak eae oe Soda get ga, es Renae ol Hearvet Latin, toa Sthete Wil seeek”: Thies Wal te wae ee vert diteanettcitibateth wht Solcorabe ‘May mide ak catcio'd ait Ad So. Park Street, at 8 P. M. ; ; Labor Lyceum, 28 "Palisade Ave., at 8 P. M.