The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 6, 1924, Page 3

Tuesday, May 6, 1924 PARK BABIES WHILE THEY PICKET SCHOOL Women Knit. Furiously As Line Grows NN By BETTY CONNOLLY CARPENTER For the Federated Press. HAVERHILL, Mass,—The mothers of Haverhill are carrying on an ac- tive picketing campaign to close the Currier public school. For the past three years the parents in this school district claimed that the building is antiquated, unsafe and unsanitary, During the past few weeks the ‘women have maintained a picket line. In the morning when the school was opened they were at the entrance with their children whom they were keeping out of school. The picket line first had only a few women. Daily it grew. Some come with their knitting. Others come with baby car- riages and park them while they take their turn in the picket line. Unsafe.” Others read, “Don’t Send Your Children Here, School Unsafe”; “Unsanitary School.” The women picket in the morning, at noon and after school. When. the children come out of the building the pickets send a note home to the parents with each child. The note tells of the condi- tions and asks for support in the fight to close the school. The protest was so well planned and executed that each day hundreds of people gather in the vicinity of the schoa] and see the conditon of the building and the unkempt grounds. Almost daily the police are called upon to keep the people from picket- ing, but in this they are unsuccess- ful. The truant officer called upon the parents and threatened them with arrest if they did not send their chil- dren to school, But the mothers were faithful in spite of threats. Many of them told him, “We would rather be in jail than have our children in this school.” A Firetrap. The Currier school was built 52 years ago at the edge of a large swamp which is now filled and on which are built hundreds of tenement houses. The land as well ‘as the swamp was the property of one of Haverhill’s leading citizens, who do- nated the land for the school and sold or owns the balance as landlord of the tenements that sprang up around the school. Its rickety old stairs, nar- row, with a turn half way up, and placed in dark corners of the build- ing, make it a firetrap. Twenty years ago fire escapes were put on the out- side of the building, but these have pulled away so far from the building that they have been torn down. In the girls’ toilet room in the base- ment is a stove upon which the noon- day lunches are cooked. The venti- lation is in keeping with the building itself. Old and unsanitary appliances in the toilet rooms are a constant menace to the children. Feeling has run so high that the authorities have stationed a police- man to see that no damage is done to the school building. The city solici- tor has promised to confer with the school board to see whether the coun- cil or the board has the right to close the building. Meanwhile a hundred or more mothers picket and knit while their attorney tries to get action. Christians Having Hard Time To Make Nazarene’s Ideas Stand (By The Federated Press) Z NEW YORK, May 5.—Presidential veto of the immigration bill, allowing only 2 per cent on the basis of the 1890 census, is demaffded in a letter to Coolidge by the executive commit- “tee, Fellowship of Reconciliation, New York. The bill “is a violation of the principle of brotherhood, and is both disingenuous and mischieveous,” sa; Bishop Paul Jones, who signs the let- ter. “Even more strongly we deplore the indignity cast on Japan by the special provisions directed agaainst her,” the letter adds. The Fellowship of Recon- ciliation is described as “a group of people who believe that we can and should apply to concrete situations the principles taught by Jesus Christ.” —————— , Do you want to help the ‘DAILY WORKER? Then get a new sub- scriber, iclan Hours: NB pnt 1 01 Sorawford. 2655 0 a. m. ‘and 7 to? p. m. r Main floor and balcony 750, — eee ee ee ee Women Carry Banners. Hach woman has a banner. On some -are the words “Currier School PULLMAN STRIKER DUTY SELLS THE DAILY WORKER ON PICKET This picture was taken In a pouring rain on the picket line of the Pull- man strikers. on International May Day to Pullman The strike pickets sold 1,200 copies of the DAILY WORKER employes in other than the struck de- partments, who also expect to have thelr wages cut. NATIONWIDE MOVEMENT LED BY CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION ON TO GET © SCALP OF “GREAT DEFECTIVE” By LUDWELL DENNY (Federated Press Staff Correspondent) NEW YORK, May 5.—Investigation of “the lawless and pro- paganda activities” of the bureau of investigation, United States department of justice, and material reduction in its pending ap- propriation, is demanded of the Senate appropriations committee in a resolution passed by the Civil Liberties union’s seventh an- nual dinner in New York. “Burns must go” is the slogan of a nation-wide movement being started by the Liberties union to oust the present chief, bureau of investigation. Harry F. Ward, chairman of the union, told the meeting that the following demands would be made upon President Coolidge and Attorney General Stone: That Burns explain his open con- fession before the senate committee that he is out to suppress the civil liberties of American citizens; that Burns’ successor shall be in no way connected with a private detective agency; that the bureau of investiga: tion confine its activities to matters covered by federal statutes; if tle plan goes through of making a radical Who's Who, that it be open to public inspection. Dens of Thieves. “Private detectives agencies in the U. S. are in effect criminal organiza tion but* have had the power and wealth to prevent government action,” Ward said, adding that now Burns, the head of the biggest of these or- ganizations is chief of the govern ment bureau and has imported crim- inal methods into the government. “There is no legal warrant for fed: eral officers to stir up state officials to take action in matters which are not covered by federal statutes,” ho said in reference to the Michigan and California cases. “A country cannot maintain a spy system and remain free; a government which has to pro tect itself by espionage has begun to decline and its end is in sight,” Ward concluded. et tre Gompers, An alleged “interlocking directorate of radical hunters, with Burns in the middle, Easley of the Security League and Civic Federation on the right hand, and Samuel Gompers on tho left hand” was described by Robert W. Dunn, asociate director, He de scribed the National Civic Federation as prominent capitalist, “dollar-a year espionage men,” practicing voluntary spying by supplying names of radicals to the department of Justice. R. M, Whitney, American De fense Society, has access to depart- ment of justice records, a privilege not acorded to government invest!- gators in the.oil probe, Dunn as RUSSIA AND GERMANY _ A TALE OF TWO REPUBLICS Eight reel wonder film shows stirring scenes from the life of Russ! late premier—Lenin. | See Birth and Death of Labor Governments In Saxony and Thuringia. Coming | ORCHESTRA HALL, MAY 14th, 1924 | At 7:00 and 9:00 P. M. One Night Only, Tickets for sale at Room 307, 166 W. Washington St. Gallery 0c, Boxes $6.00. serted. Dunn read Burns’ correspond- ence, recently published by The Fed- erated Press, the DAILY WORKER and Industrial Solidarity, showing that Burns is using his official pos!- tion to coordinate the anti-labor ac- tivities of the department of justice and the Burns Detective agency of which he is still the active head. Rifled Friends’ Satchels. Some of the people who are going to be most active in ousting Burns are Republicans from whom he took money without giving any return, said A. A. Berle, attorney for the Virgin Islands committee. Berle claimed to be a Republican who had worked with Burns, Appropriations of $2,250,000 for the bureau of investigation, department of justice, for 1923 and the same amount requested for 1924 are “over twice as great as during the war and over four times as great as as before it, the great increases being based largely on the need of combatting radicals,” states the resolution sent to the senate committee. Radical ac- tivities “are not such as to demand attention of the government, as proved clearly by the bureau’s failure to find any basis for prosecutions,” the resolution says. The defeated joker in the adminis- tration’s immigration bill, permitting deportation of citizens for alleged radicalism, was inserted in the bill by the National Security League, Director Roger N. Baldwin told the Liberties Union meeting. “That Old Devil Sea” Made Trouble For Harry Thaw’s Sister NEW YORK, May 6,—Countess Margaret Thaw De Perigny, sister of Harry K. Thaw, was named co-re- spondent in an action for divorce filed by Mrs. Madeline Helen Nordica in Brooklyn, it became known today. Mrs. Nordica asks an absolute di- yorce from her husband, Emmanuel Victor Mordica, of Newark, N. J, al- leging indiscretions with the countess while they were aboard the Homeric on a voyage to Paris, Countess De Perigny gave Mordica presents, including an automobile and $4,000 in cash, Mrs, Mordica alleges, Empire State Jails. ALBANY, N. Y., May 6,—Prisoners in New York state are being kept in insanitary jails, many of them fire- traps, it was disclosed in Albany when 11 county jails were named as subject to the Goodrich bill provisions closing such institutions. Among the worst are those in Albany, Oneida and Rome. THE DAILY WORKER |BURSUM PENSION BILL I$ KILLED BY COOLIDGE Expected To Knife The Soldiers’ Bonus WASHINGTON, May 5.— Calvin Coolidge vetoed the Bursum pension bill, basing his disapproval on the ground of expense. The bill repre- sented an expenditure of approximate- ly $55,000,000 and granted increased pensions to veterans, widows, depen- dent children and nurses of the Civil, Mexican, 1812, Spanish, Philippine and Boxer wars. It is rumored here that the Wall street manager in the White House will treat the soldiers’ bonus bill in the same manner. The President in his veto message said substantially it was regrettable that heroes who fight wars should not be satisfied with the glory gained. However, he cannot tolerate any more tampering with the sacred fires of pa- triotism, which’ are liable to be quenched with squirts of oil and bribes to war veterans for doing their plain duty. Coolidge feels that if the craze to compensate soldiers for fighting for the capitalists increases, and if this compensation comes out of the pockets of those who have money, as it must, the prospects for the future look none aE GETTING BEHIND THE DAILY WORKER WORKER supporters are the strikers at Pullman, lil. gan City, Indiana. Page Thi Among the recent recruits to the rapidly growing army of DAILY in the huge plant of the Pullman Co., Watch ’em smile as they sell the DAILY WORKER while doing picket duty. Their slogan is, “Spread the Strike!” ganizations now number about 20,000 workers at Pullman, Ill., and at Michi- A few of the many departments are out. hope to achieve a general walkout in the whole plant. The Pullman or- The strikers, too bright for those who make mil- lions on wars. Think of the cost of a pension bill for the wives and depen- dents of the millions who were mo- bilized in the late war! The veto will lose Coolidge some to pass even at the risk of breaking his political neck. In a burst of moral indignation, Coolidge said in his message: “I am for economy. I am against every un- necessary payment of the money of the taxpayers. * * * The cost of commodities is diminishing. Under such conditions the cost of govern- ment should not be increasing. The desire to do justice to pensioners must be attended by some solicitude to do justice to taxpayers. The ad- vantages of a class cannot be greater than the welfare of the nation.” Thus the Wall street lackey dis- posed of the pension bill. It is ex- pected he will use the same argu- ment in vetoing the bonus bill, which is now before him for consideration. Only a perfunctory effort will be made to override the veto of the Bur- sum bill. President Harding vetoed a similar measure by Senator Bur- sum. Miners Protest Bill To Register Workers Of Foreign Birth § cial to The Daily Worker) MI SVILLE, Pa., May 5.—More than 500 miners and other workers of this vicinity unanimously adopted the following resolution at a recent mass meeting in Union Hall: “Whereas, the Johnson bill recently passed by senate and Congress aims to discriminate against the foreign- born workers because of their political and trade union views, and. “Whereas, that bill would enable the employers to import to this coun- try cheap labor and to break strikes, and “Whereas, the new bills empower the government to cancel the citizen- ship of foreign-born workers and to deport them, because of participation in strikes, and “Whereas, there are bills pending in Congress for the registration and photographing and finger-printing of all foreign-born workers in this coun- try, be it resolved, that we miners of, Minersville, Pa., and vicinity protest against the adoption of these strike- breaking laws and pledge ourgelves to do everything in our power to Make them annulled and be it further “Resolved, to publish this resolution in the press and to send a copy to Congress. (Signed) Carl Herman, Chairman.’ Mellon Charged With Drawing Surtax Plan For Big Corporations WASHINGTON, May 5.—The Mel- lon surtax plan was drawn as a polit- ical favor to big business, Senator Simmons, North Carolina, charged in the Senate Saturday when the rates were formally taken up for a vote. Simmons opened the fight for the 40 per cent maximum surtax instead of the Mellon 26 per cent proposal. Tracing the of Mellon’s tax recommendations, Simmons declared the treasury secretary had always fa- vored an extremely low surtax—much lower than Congress ever saw fit to adopt. % Local Union For June 17th. CLEVELAND, 0O., May 5.—Local No, 36-124 of the International Broth- erhood of Bookbinders went on record at its last meeting for a Farmer-La- bor Party. It endorsed the June 17th convention, The committee, delegated to the conference to decide on political action called for May 14th by the Cleveland Federation, was instructed to vote for the organization of a Cleve- land Labor Party. The committee is composed of Anna Morgan, William Keck, business agent, and Paul Berg- 4 IMPOVERISHED FARMERS ON “GOLDEN GRAIN” PRAIRIES OF CANADIAN WEST ARE IN REVOLT The fertility of the prairie lands of the Northwest is a matter of world renown, The rich black loam makes possible the pro- duction of hard wheat in quantities which stagger the imagina- tion. The immigration officials of the Dominion government; the votes, but Wall street has set a dead |publicity agents of the Canadian Pacific Railroad and other large line beyond which he is not allowed |land-owning corporations never tire of picturing, in the most But it must be understood that altho Nature has endowed these wide-flung plains with a generous hand, the actual tillers of the soil are in desperate plight: Canadian agriculture is staggering around on crutches; the actual tillers of the soil gre face to face with bankruptcy. The Province of Saskatchewan has become famous as the “breadbasket of the British Empire.” Yet the aver- age half-section farm (320 acres) of this province carries a debt of five thousand dollars. In. three typical municipalities 189,000 acres of land were foreclosed in one year because of the inability of the farmers to pay their taxes. . The Burden of Debt. The province of Manitoba is in no better plight. Last fall 174 rural schools were compelled to close their doors because the tillers of the soil ‘were unable to pay taxes. Sunny Alberta likewise tells its tale of woe. It has been estimated that the total indebtedness of this province is well over -715,000,000. The prov- ince has tax sales over 10,767 farms with a total acreage in excess of 1,- 653,000. Foreclosures for arrears of taxes have become so numerous as to cause the provincial government cause for apprehension. Tenant farming is on the increase and very few farmers actually own the land they till. Ninety-four percent of the farms of western Canada are mortgaged and it has been estimated that the indebtedness of the farmers is at least one billion dollars. It must be understood that this is a very con- servative estimate. Farming Does Not Pay. It is becoming more and more ap- parent that farming does not pay from the viewpoint of the farmer. A bush- el of wheat requires the expenditure of at least one dollar. In 1922 the average price received by the farmers of Canada was 87 cents, thus making a deficit of $51,000,000 on the total wheat crop. In 1923 the price dropped to 67 cents. The crop of this year was the largest in the history of the country and the plute press raved jbont the approaching prosperity in the “golden west.” But the farmer discovered that the greatest crop in the history of the country brought him seventy million dollars less than the previous year. Mortgages are increasing by leaps and by bounds; and the destitution of the farmers of this Northwest is ecoming terrible. They are fast caught in the mortgage net of finance cap- ital. They are rapidly being reduced to the level of landless slaves mas- querading as propertied employers of labor. Their plight is getting worse. The prices they pay for the commodities they need is on the increase; whilst the bottom has dropped out of the market so far as farm products are concerned. The gap between the price of city and the price of farm products is widening with alarming rapidity. The Canadian farmer is face to face with bankruptcy. Thousands are leaving the farms and seeking pas- tures new. Despite the frantic efforts to encourage immigration on a large scale the number of vacant farms is steadily increasing. Farmer Restive. ‘The tarmers bre beginning to show signs of revolt. The milk-and-water policy of class- collaboration so long expounded by the leaders of the grain growers (like Crerar Maharg) is being slowly expos- ed. The Progressive Party (which is the political expression of the organiz- ed farmers) swept the west like a pra- rie fire, In the last Federal elections it captured practically every seat west of the Great Lakes; whilst its expon- glowing colors, the oceans of golden grain. ents rode into office in the three prair- ie provinces. Despite this wonderful show of solidarity and the existence of farmers’ governments, the lot and condition of the farmers has steadily retarded. Adhering to the wretched Policy of class collaboration the Pro- gressive party has ceased to be feared by the banking barons of Montreal, and is hardly to be distinguished from the two old-line political parties. The reaction is setting in with a vengeance. The whirlwind defeat of the Drury Farmer government of On- tario revealed the intense disgust of the farmers of that province. In the west the old-line grain growers asso- ciation have lost members in tens of thousands and are only shadows of their former selves. , A decided anti- political reaction is making itself ap- parent, the rapid rise of the Farmers’ Union of Canada being evidence of this turn of the tide. Demanding Action. The farmers are questioning the efficiency of the old-line leadership and show unmistakable signs of rest- lessness. A left tendency is becoming apparent and is manifesting itself in more or less open revolt against the old reactionary leadership. At pres- ent this’left wing is unorganized ex- cept in isolated cases, and it loses its effectiveness because of the individu- alistic nature of its activities. Ef- forts are now being made by the Com- munists to consolidate this left-wing; to give it direction. If this is accom- plished then there will be remarkable changes in the agrarian situation of the Northwest within the next two or three years, Signs are not wanting of a better understanding between the tiller of the soil and the industrial proletar- iat. Last summer the militant Farm- ers’ Union of Canada issued an appeal to all labor organizations in the Do- minion for joint action on the wheat pool, and suggested the calling of a joint convention of all farmer and labor ‘organizations. The recent convention of the Alber- ta section of the Canadian Labor Par- ty ( a mass political party constituted much the same as the British Labor Party) took a step in the same direc- tion. A fraternal delegate was wel- comed from the United Farmers of Al- berta and a resolution was passed favoring closer cooperation between the two organizations. The Nova Sco- tia section of the C. L. P. favored the Same course previously. Workers-Farmers’ Alliance. The Communist Party of Canada understands the imperative necessity of a working alliance between the farmers and the industrial proletar- fat for definite class action. This need is all the more imperative when it is remembered that Canada is pre- dominantly agricultural in its econ- omy. A successful proletariat revo- lution in the Dominion without the ac- tive assistance of the farmers would be wholly impossible. Every effort is being made, there- fore, to bring closer together the la- bor and agrarian movement. The Situation is not such that a Federated Farmer-Labor Party could be launched with any degree of success, but every- thing is tending in that direction. The rapid development of the Cana- dian Labor Party, which promises to become a real, live mass political party within a surprisingly short space of time, is a stepping stone in the right direction, In this as in other countries the Communists unfurl the banner: To- wards a Farmers’ and Workers’ Re- public. How many'of your shop-mates read THE DAILY WORKER. Get one of them to subscribe today. Every new subscriber increases the influence of the DAILY WORKER, iIANOTHER BANK CLOSES DOORS INFROZEN NORT Ruin Of Farmer Blame For Bankruptcy ST. PAUL, Minn., May 6.—Thé cay tal Trust and Savings Bank, one the largest in St. Paul, with 90,00 000 deposits, closed its doors today. The closing e after a practice ly all night session of the directo: and officials with A. J. Veigel, Stat Superintendent of Banks. “The difficulties,” Veigel said, “ar due to ‘frozen assets,’ in the form ¢ North Dakota and Montana pape: which cannot now be liquidated.” The bank has capital stock of $500 000 and is operated in connection wit the Capital National Bank. The Ne tional Institution, it is said, is not al fected by the closing. Reports were that other St. Pau banks, and the clearing house associa tion will come to the aid of the Capi tal Trust and Savings wank. J, L Mitchell is president of the bank. I was organized December 16, 1890. Big Business Believes In Open Grafting Openly Arrived At ROCHESTER, N. Y., May 5.—Big business is trying to stop the con- gressional investigations of the graft of the Harding-Coolidge adminstra- tion, Frank A. Vanderlip told the Western New York Publishers’ As- sociation, in session in Rochester. “The investigation might bring radi- calism if it uncovered too much... Business is inclined to say there has always been graft in government and wants an orderly political campaign,” he said. Vanderlip who has aroused the ire of his former Wall street associates by starting a private investigating bu- reau to help the Wheeler and Walsh committees, declared “The job is on- ly started. Daugherty is out, but his appointees are still scattered thru the department. William J. Burns, chief government detective, is one of those remaining. FIRST SHOWING IN NEW YORK of the NEW SOVIET FILM “Russia and Germany” A Tale of Two Republics This is the latest film of Soviet Russia and Germany and depicts conditions for the years 1923-1924, An exciting, interesting ed- ucational story of the two most talked of countries in the world. FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 9, at 8:30 p. m. At the || Central Opera House, 205 East 67th Street —Also— Uthmann German Singing Chorus of 50 men. ADMISSION 50 CENTS Auspices: International Workers’ 208 E. 12th St. Relief of German Workers. Aid Proceeds: GRIGER & NOVAK GENTS FURNISHING and MERCHANT TAILORS UNION MERCHANDISE 1934 W. CHICAGO AVENUE (Cor. Winchester) Phone Humboldt 2707 PITTSBURGH, PA. DR. RASNICK DENTIST Rendering Expert. for 20 ¥ 645 SMITHFIELD 8T. 1627 CENTER AVE, ital Service Near 7th Ave. Sor. Arthur Improve Your Property Damaged Buildings Restored LOANS TO IMPROVE New Floors, Fronts, Shelving MID-CITY CARPENTER SHOP. 508 S. 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