The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 9, 1924, Page 4

} { Page Four The World of Labor—Industr FEWER JOBS IN N.Y. LAST MONTH, FIGURES SHOW Metal Industries In A Marked Decline NEW YORK, May 8.—April reports from the manufacturers in New York State show a drop in factery employ- ment. This statement was made by Industrial Commissioner Bernard L. Shientag of the State Department of Labor. There has been very little spring rise this year, the Commission- er said, so that the present movement indicates a real decline in the demand for factory labor. The reductions at this time extended to most of the industries and to all of the import- ant manufacturing districts in the state. The important group of metal in- dustries almost without exception, showed a decline in employment in April. Brick yards took on a good Many workers this month and pro- duction in these plants is almost in full swing. An increase is also evi- dent in the production of interior woodwork, but the cement mills, al- tho still active, curtailed production somewhat at this time. Glassware production fell off sharp- ly in April and up-State plants mak- ing silk gloves and other textile prod- ucts dropped a number of operatives. Some of the rug manufacturers also, reported reduced working forces. Dull- ness is the rule in the leather indus- try. Among the paper manufacturers, altho most of the mills are taking ad- vantage of favorable water conditions, a few of the plants reported sharp reductions and a net decline in the in- dex resulted. Reports from New York City in April indicate that nearly 55,000 fac- tory employes have been released there since last year. Strangling Of 48 Hour Law Told By Consumers’ League (By The Federated Press) NEW YORK, May 8.—“The evils of our present legislative system are strikingly illustrated in this defeat,” says the annual report, Consumers’ League of New York, in discussing the defeat by the New York Legisla- ture of the 48-hour week for women ——bitl-~ “a-meacure which would -have received more than enough votes to insure its passage if brought out on the floor of the House, was stifled in committee by the action of a few men, who were, undoubtedly, influenced by Mark Daly and the Associated In- dustries.” The last phrase refers to the chief lobbying organization of the antilabor employers of the state. Four Hours Easush, Bertrand Russell Tells New Yorkers (By The Federated Press) NEW YORK, May 8.—A: four-hour day for workers is sufficient to sup- port the world with the present labor- saving machines and electrification of industry, Bertrand Russell told a Rand School audience in New York. But the machine age has forced peo- ple to do more work rather than less, he pointed out in his address on “Mechanism and Life.” “The whole white civilization will perish from the earth, unless capital- ism can be prevented from plunging the nations into recurrent capitalist wars,” said Russell. Farmers and Congress. WASHINGTON.—Jackson H. Ral- ston, veteran counsel for the Ameri- can Federation of Labor and member of the joint amnesty committee which secured the release of the political prisoners, has been retained by the Farmers’ National Council and the People’s Reconstruction League, to prevent the meat packing combine from repudiating the terms of its com- promise with the anti-trust prosecu- tion begun by the government four years ago. . Scab Music for Workers. MINNEAPOLIS.—Only the rich dis- trict of Minneapolis will have first- class union music at the park concerts this summer. A three-to-one decision of the anti-labor park board has so or- dered. Non-union music is good enough for the working class wards, the board decided. Pleas by labor members, in a minority on the board, were unsuccessful even when Com- missioner Youngdahl presented a bid for union music at a lower rate than the non-union band. NEW YORK.—“The greatest need of the navy is irge number of sail- ers,” says Curtis D. Wilbur, Denby’s Successor as secretary of the navy, confessing that the navy, despite few- er ships and renewed recruiting drives, is unable to lure enough young men to “see the world from a porthole,” “Our battleships are undermanned,” he lamented to the Young Women’s Christian Association convention, New Vem. Mooney And Billings Freedom Demanded By Idaho Workers POCATELLO, Idaho, May 8— Keeping the issue of Tom Mooney and Warren K. Billings alive, the Pocatello workers have sent simi- . lar letters to this one to Senator Borah and to all other Idaho repre- sentatives in Congress: “The Pocatello Building Trades Council of this city protests in the holding of Mooney and Billings, when it is a known fact the press has stated that the evidence that convicted these men was perjury, and also the judge that sentenced Mooney has recommended that he be given a new trial, and the attor- ney general has concurred in his recommendation. “We kindly request you to do all in your power in getting these men granted a new trial or a pardon. “Yours very truly, “HUGO JAMES, “Secretary.” LUMBER COMPANY UNION PUTS 0, K. ON WAGE SLASH “Four Ls” Say Amen To Bosses’ Greed By W. R. CLARK. (Special to The Daily Worker) TACOMA, Wash., May 8.—Logging camps and sawmills are running on short time this year. Forest fires are starting unusually early and closing some camps. Few camps have run during the winter. Loggers can get out enough timber in eight months to run the mills a year, and mills are not running full time. All lumber camps in Snohomish County (the Everett-Monroe region) closed in- definitely. All mills in Everett are running only four days a week and have an overstock of raw material. British Columbia faces the same con- dition. Tacoma mills have cut wages forty cents a day and attho the min- imum wage of $3.40 a day still stands it is hinted that it may soon be drop- ped. The cut is by permission of the “Four L” wage board which says that it is necessary because of the decline in the demand for lumber and the fall in the pric? of lumber. Profits can not be kept up if wages are not cut. Prop- aganda against shingle roofs by fire insurance companies ad by makers of composition roofings have cut heavily into the shingle trade in the northwest. There is no real organization among the workers. The A. F. of L. Timber Workers Union has passed out of existence. The I. W. W. never did or- ganize the mills and with the camps closed down it is helpless. The “Four Ls” (Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen) is a patriotic union or- ganized by the Spruce Production Division during the war with the idea of making the loggers and workers more patriotic, attacking the I. W. W., drawing members from the Timber Workers, and holding the workers in subjection. Its main function is reduc- ing wages and giving dances. Cal Wants Little Brown Brothers : Barred From U. S. WASHINGTON, May 8.—President Coolidge today authorized an explana- tion of his recent statement on Jap- anese exclusion which was interpreted in some quarters to mean that he had come out for exclusion by law of all Japanese immigration to the United States. It should be kept in mind, it was emphasized on behalf of the president, that there has been exclusion of Jap- anese for years under the gentleman’s agreement. So far as the president knows there has been no suggestion that this should be changed, it was added. Sacco And Vanzetti Starring In Film, “The New Calvary” (By The d Pross) NEW YORK, May 8.—Four years of imprisonment and other events in the lives of the frameup victims, Sac- co and Vanizetti, are shown in the film, “The ‘New Calvary,” released by the Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Commit- tee. The film is being shown in New York city, Lead Poisoning Among Miners. SYDNEY, N. 8S. W.—After study of the silver-lead mining industry at Broken Hill, New South Wales, medi- cal men state that every man working in the mines shows traces of lead poisoning. Traces of poisoning are al- leged to be found in the children of the lead mine workers. Of 6,921 ba- bies born at Broken Hill during the last seven years, 736 died before they were 12 months old, which was an in- fant mortality rate of 106.34 per 1,000 born. The rate in Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales, was 68 per 1,000. THE DAILY WORKER IMMIGRATION BILL ASSAILED TONIGHT BY CHICAGO LABOR Mass Meeting Will Flay ‘Selective’ Scab Plan In an effort to bring the true charac- ter of the Johnson Bill to the atten- tion of the workers of Chicago, both native and foreign-born, the Local Council for Protection of Foreign-born Workers has arranged for a mass protest meeting to be held Friday, May 9th, 8 p. m., at the Douglas Park Auditorium, Ogden and Kedzie Ave- nues. Speakers for this meeting have been invited from the Chicago: Feder- ation of Labor, The Socialist Party and the Workers Party. The Conference Committee of the United States Congress has reached an agreement on the Johnson Immi- gration Bill as passed by both branch- es of the Legislative Department. It has thus put its stamp of approval of the efforts of the employers to enslave labor and lower the standard of life of the American workers. In a circular issued by the local council, the following points contain- ed in the Johnson Immigration Bill are particularly emphasized: Registered Like Criminals. The Johnson bill varries the stip- ulation that immigrants coming into this country shall furnish all mili- tary records and prison records if any. It seeks to obtain information as to the public records kept by the government to which the immigrant owes allegiance, and demands a photograph of the immigrant, to be permanently attached to the Immi- gration Certificate. In practice this means to consult the various lists of the European capitalists, before the immigrant is granted admission to this country. It aims to establish a system of selective immigration, threatening the prospective immigrant to accept a status of submission so they may be used by the employers as strike- breakers in their efforts to smash the existing labor organizations and lower the conditions of life of the workers in this country both native and foreign. Many other bills of more vicious character were introduced, but ow- ing to the impending presidential election, they were sidetracked for the while, but any time in the fu- ture they will again be brought for- ward with the danger that they will become laws, unless the workers voice a most determined opposition. Serf Labor Plan. Some of these bills carry the slo- gan “America for the Americans” and “Keep out Cheap Foreign La- bor” but on the contrary they are constructed to better let in cheap foreign labor on a contract basis under compulsion to remain in a certain locality and in certain indus- tries, particularly at a time when the American workers will be on strike. Both the Johnson bill and the other bills proposed show most clearly the class character of the present system of government. The government is constantly being used by the capitalist class as an instru- ment to defeat the aims of labor. The Johns-n bill is a dagger blow at the heart of unfonism in this country. The workers must be alert to this danger. The workers must unite politically and industrially to defeat any such bills in the future. Build Farmer-Labor Party. With the exploited farmers, the workers in the industries must” march forward together to build“aj’” a great Farmer-Labor Party which will be able to settle accounts with . the politicians who serve the em- ployers. 4 The farmers and industrial work- ers must use their instrument: a class Farmer-Labor Party, to put their own representatives into pow- er and take control of their own affairs. Come to the Mass Meeting and hear these bills discussed. Come and add your ‘protest to that of the many hun- dreds of thousands of workers against these blacklist laws! Frisco Garment Workers Fight Prison Products SAN FRANCISCO, May 8— Gar- ment Workers’ Local 131 is leading a drive against prison made goods, especially clothing, made in connec- tion with free workers and sold in the open market. Shirts made by prison contract labor are said to be flooding the market here at prices with which union labor cannot complete. The laws of California forbid con- tract labor in prisons, but the sacks made in the jute mill at San Quentin, largely by criminal syndicalism vic- tims, are sold to farmers throughout the country, These sacks, piled for weeks in bales in the open air, are said to accumulate the germs of hoot and mouth disease, carried in the air, which is unusually dry because of the long drought in California this winter. LEON TROTZKY, SOVIET MINISTER OF WAR, SPEAKS TO GREAT THRONG; SOVIET WILL NOT PAY CZAR’S DEBTS MOSCOW, April 30.—Leon Trotsky, Soviet Minister of War, has returned to his official duties and is in excellent health after his stay in the Caucausus for the benefit of his health. He ad- dressed a monster mass meeting of Communist Party members and officials of the Soviet government and his appearance on the platform was greeted with tumultuous applause. The recent controversy in the party over the question of party policies and form of organization is settled and both sides have settled down to the task of putting into effect the organizational reforms decided on and vigor- ously pushing forward the task of Soviet reconstruction and bringing nearer the day when Communism will spodsegr eis’ supplant the capitalist system. Flays MacDonald. Trotsky was in excellent speaking form. For over two hours he spoke on world affairs. He attacked Premier Ramsay MacDonald and the conser- vative leadership of the British Labor Party for their subserviency to the bankers and capitalists of that coun- try. He attacked Poincare for his plots against Soviet Russia, charging the French premier with setting Po- land, Turkey and Roumania against the Soviet Republic, and while doing this, send an impudent telegram to Moscow appealing for clemency for the assassins on trial at Kiev. “Russia is charged’ with being crafty,” declared Trotsky, “but our craftiness consists in freeing nations, while the policy of our opponents is just the reverse. We want to remake the map of Europe and it will be re- made as a result of the victorious revolution of the European and world proletariat. We shall not go into lesser ventures for the enlargement of our boundaries. Our policy strikes deeper and goes further.” Freeing Small Nations. Russia would never pay the Czarist debts, he declared amidst deafening applause and had no intention of at- tacking Poland. Soviet Russia would help the eastern peoples to throw off the yoke of foreign domination. He said Japan was on the eve of a revo- lution similar to the one Russia went thru in 1905 and it was quite possible that in order to create a diversion the Japanese militarists would rush into a war against Russia, In that event the War Minister said, the Red Army would have something to say. Applying the rod of castigation to the political exterior of Ramsay Mac- Donald, the eloquent Soviet chief figuratively tore the hide of the yel- low socialist who is now running the British Empire for the pirate crew that owns that big piece of stolen real estate. “Prime Minister MacDonald's government is full of fear before its master, the bourgeoisie,” he said. “If the British government were braver it would sign a treaty with us and that treaty might change the course of history. Our country is rich in na- tural resources and that appeals to the technical skill of the British work- ers. Their working classes would have food supplies and raw materials and Great Britain would become wealthier. The union of working Britain with Soviet Russia would create a great world power and we should be able to dictate to Europe. We tell the British working class, ‘You have not a gov- ernment worthy of you.’” Marx and Lenin. Platforms are being erected all over Moscow for Communist orators and photographers of Lenin and Karl Marx can be seen everywhere. Speaking of the May Day celebra- tion, Trotsky said: “The principal pur- pose of May Day should be an unre- mitting struggle against militarism but the question of safeguarding the Soviet republic is the vital one of the hour. We must therefore regard this day as the great holiday for the army and navy.” The Franco-Roumanian agreement is considered here as another link in the blac against Russia which France fs trying to create in Southeastern Europe. While the Soviet government has no intention of going to war over Bessarabia, it nevertheless considers recognition of that territory as part of Roumania by other foreign powers as an unfriendly act. Russia offers as a solution of the Bessarabian question a free plebiscite, giving the popula- tign the right to decide which country, Russia or Roumania, they should af- filiate with. There Is'No Peace. A state of war exists between Po- land and Lithuania over Vilna but hostilities are not likely to break out for an indefinite period. The League of Nations granted Vilna to ‘Poland, but that decision only satisfied Poland. Rumors that there is a secret agree- ment between Lithuania, Russia and Germany, are denied in Lithuania but given considerable credence in War- saw. Radio dispatches from the Orient tell of preparations for monster May Day parades in China and Japan. In the latter country a mammoth parade is planned in Tokyo and Osaka, Ko- reans are to take part m the parades and the police are planning arrests on the slightest excuse. A ban has been placed on radical songs and the dis- play of red flag. ——————_—_ BUFFALO, N. Y.—Support for the equal rights for women amendment to the federal constitution has been turned down by the executive coun- cil, National League of Women Vot- ers, at its first session following the annual convention of the league in Buffalo KANSAS CALLS FARMER-LABOR CONVENTION, TOO Delegates For June 17 To Be Chosen May 17 (Special to The Daily Worker) SALINA, Kans., May 8.—Farmers and labor leaders from all over the state have sent out a call for a state convention of independent political groups. The meeting is scheduled for May 17 in this town, and at it dele- gates to the June 17 St. Paul conven- tion will be elected. Sixty promment men have signed the call, which reads as follows: Text of Call. “In view of the fact that there are thousands of voters who feel they can no longer follow in the steps of either of the old ‘parties nationally, that many of the national leaders of the two dominant parties have been proven unworthy of the support of the forward looking and progressive vot- ers of the state, and that many men who, when asked to serve their con- stituents in an official capacity are re- luctant to do so, knowing that by re- ceiving the support of the party ma- chine they are expected to support its wishes: “Therefore, in order to give the vot- ers of Kansas an opportunity to vote for a candidate for president and vice president whose principles coincide with the great majority of the voters of Kansas, also elect delegates to the St. Paul Farmer-Labor convention, June 17, 1924, and to take such action in regard to naming state officers as the convention sees fit, the under- signed independent citizens and mem- bers of labor and farm organizations hereby resolves to call a ‘state con- vention of all progressive and inde- pendent voters of the state of Kan- sas. This convention to be held in Salina, Kans., on Saturday, May 17, 1924, at 10 a. m.” Bosses Wage War On New Theater Treasurers’ Union NEW YORK, May 8—The newly formed Theater Treasurers’ union, American Federation of Labor, has been challenged by the New York the- ater managers in the second month of its existence. Six box-office em- ployes have been discharged for un- ion membership by the B. F. Keith Company and the Shuberts. No demands had been made by the union, but Hugh Frayne, local A. F. of L. organizer, threatens reprisals against the theater managers. The new local is the only one of its kind in the country, and is not affiliated with any of the other theatrical labor organizations. ’ Famous Chorus:At Service Of German Famine Relief Work NEW YORK, May 8.—The Uthmann Singing Chorus, well-known among the German organizations, and which has whole heartedly placed itself at the service of the International Work- ers’ Aid in its campagn for the relief of the German working class, will Participate in the film showing of “Russia-Germany” which will be held May 9th, Friday evening, at the Cen- tral Opera House, 305 B, 67th street. The Uthmann Singing Chorus was formed in 1922 and is composed of Progressive minded workers who recognize the class struggle and the need of building up a powerful labor movement in this country, Throtigh their songs, they aim to bring greater class consciousness and greater revo- lutionary spirit among the workers. Membership in this organization is open to all workers recognizing thdse aims, They meet every Tuesday at 8:30 p. m. in the Labor Temple, 243 B. 34th street, room 18. Their secre- tary is Paul Riehn, New Tacoma Labor Headquarters, TACOMA, Wash., May 8.—The Cen- tral Labor Council has moved into larger quarters in the City Hall An- nex, the old N. P. Ry. office butlding. The main assembly hall is larger, bet- ter arranged, not bothered by the con- stant clangor of cable car bells, which were a constant nuisance speakers, and equally well located, Short Ite Russia MOSCOW.— The workers all over Russia are arranging “farewell par- ties” for the demobilized soldiers of the Red Army. Books and presents are being distributed to the soldiers by the nearby factories and shops. In many cases agricultural implements, such as ploughs, etc., are being do- nated to the soldiers, who are return- ing to the vinage. ae KIEFF, Ukraina.—The trial of the countersrevolutionary organization, “The Kieff District Center of Action” came to a close. Four of the accused received death sentences, the others jail sentences ranging from one to ten years. All of the accused ad- mitted participation in the organiza- tion. The organization attempted to start a new counter revolution against the Soviet Government. The central committee had its headquar- ters in Kieff, and its spies in the Kieff district. The convicted have been permitted to appeal. see MOSCOW.—Up to March 31, the C. E. C. of the Russian Communist Par- ty received . 245,874 applications for membership in the party. 89,705 have already been accepted by the party. Applications are still coming in. se @ * Soviet Helping Farmers UFA, May—Agricultural machinery for the sum of 91,889 gold rubles is being distributed by the committee for the liquidation of the results of the hunger to the peasants of the district.. Only 10 per cent of the cost is paid by the peasants at the time when they get the mashinery. The rest is paid in a period of from 2 to 5 years. Instead of cash, grain is accepted to cover the easy pay- ments. * . * More Machinery MOSCOW, May.—The main office of the metal industry reports the fol- lowing production program of agricul- tural machinery for the year 1923-24: “It is expected to produce 267,000 agricultural machines of different kinds, against the - 120,000. produced last year. The plain calls for 3,440,- 000 puds of machinery, which is 35 per cent, of the pre-war production and double the amount produced last year. 19,000 workers are now busy in this industry against the 8,872 of last year.” . * . CHARKOFF, May.—Collective farm- ing in Ukraina is growing continually, According to official reports in 1920 the Ukraina had only 700 peasants’ collective farms, communes and ar- tels. In 1921 the amount has grown to 1,200, in 1922 to 3,100 and in 1923 to 5,100. * . . VLADIVOSTOK.— Pavel Shipicyn, the leader of a band of white guard bandits, was turned over by the Chi- nese to the Soviet authorities, togeth- er with twenty of his followers. They have been arrested by the Chinese for robbing villages on Chinese territory. se & ‘ Soviets Pi Vienna MOSCOW, May 8. — The Vienna correspondent of the Rosta News Agency reports that the official inau- guration of the Soviet pavilion at the Vienna Fair was the occasion of a big demonstration friendly to the Union of Soviet Republics. Among those present were representatives of the Austrian Government, leading ‘| businessmen and numerous press cor- respondents. The visitors greatly ad- mired the Soviet pavilion and exhi- bits. The Russo-Austrian mixed company “Ratao” has become a shareholder of the “Kojsyrie,” which is the Soviet trust engaged in the purchases in Russia of raw hide materials. 3 Workers Killed When Shoddy Brick Wall Crashes Down WORCESTER, Mass.—Three young Scandinavian workmen, Nils Johnson, Carl Hjulstrom and Thure Nordberg, were crushed to death here when a 20-foot brick wall of the old Casino Building in Burnside court suddenly crashed to the ground. Johnson and Hjulstrom died immediately, while Nordberg died on the way to the hos- pital in a police ambulance. All three workers were young men —Johnson 20, Nordberg 23 and Hjul- strom about 30 years old. The wall, which crashed to the ground, killing these workers, was about 30 feet long, 20 feet high and 12 inches thick. All the men were em- the wall was not properly erected when the building was {nally built, “rotten.” Friday, May 9, 1924 y and Agriculture ms From ||BRITISH LABOR ANSWERS BIC BANKERS’ THREAT Say Soviet Claims Are Very Moderate (Special Correspondence.) LONDON.—When the Soviet envoys arrived in London to open the Anglo- Russian conference now of, British financiers issued a statement calculat- ed to produce a hostile atmosphere on the opening of negotiations. In reply five labor leaders charged the British capitalist class with responsi- bility for famine and suffering in Rus- sia and stated that the Soviet claims were just. The statement is as fol- lows: “We observe the London bankers’ memorandum on the question of the establishment of peace with Russia, and are of the opinion this is a deli erate attempt to influence the attitude of His Majesty’s Government in the negotiations now taking place. “The London bankers are trying to bring about by economic intervention what has proved to be impossible by military intervention, namely, to dic- tate to the Russian people what form of government and what form of ‘eco- nomic administration thé Russian peo- ple and their leaders should adopt. Bankers’ Demands. “The London bankers’ memorandum states: “*(1) That a recognition of debts, public and private, should be agreed upon, acceptable to both countries; ““(5) That Dankers, industrialists, and traders of this country should be able to deal freely, without inter- ference by Government: authorities, with similar private institutions in Russia controlled by men of whom they have personal knowledge, and in whose character, word, and re- sources they have confidence.’” “It may be well to advise the Asso- ciation of London Bankers, who are responsible for this unwarrantable in- trusion into high diplomatic matters, that the bankers of this country, thru their monopoly of finance and their withholding of credit, are re- sponsible in no small degree for the industrial stagnation which has con- fronted us since 1920, and is with us to such a marked degree today. dust Russian Claim. “We, the undersigned, were present with the first authoritative and official delegation which went to Russia in 1920. and we can testify that Russia’s counter-claims upon the British Gov- ernment are as justifiable as the claims, made by British and other in- vestors against the Soviet Govern- ment. » “We have seen for ourselves how railways, bridges, mines, factories and agricultural areas have been laid waste in consequence of the maraud- ing expeditions of Tcheko-Slovaks, and the counter-revolutionary forces of Koltchak, Wrangel, Denikin and Yudenitch in various parts of Russia. We have seen how the means of trans- port have been destroyed by these counter-revolutionary forces, which his Britannic Majesty’s Government in 1919 and the early part of 1920 main- tained in existence. “In fact, much of the death and devastation which was the outcome of the famine in 1921 may be directly attributed to the action of the British Government in its support of the counter-revolutionaries because of the destruction of the means of transport. Had transport been uninterrupted, food could have been brought from the regions unaffected by the drought to the regions so adversely affected. British Responsible. “Added to this aggravation of the famine, a serious effect of the blockade, of the British Navy was the cutting off of the supplies of medical require- ments, antiseptics, soap, etc., etc., which, had they been available in sufficient quatities, would have pre- vented the epidemics of typhus and other fevers which swept the country at recurring periods. “We are prepared to declare un- hesitatingly that millons of men in 1920 and 1921 were recruited into the Red Armies whose services could have been more fittingly employed in re- storing Russia’s economic integrity than in fighting, on the various fronts, the mercaneries instigated by British financiers, militarists, and reaction- aries who were in charge of our coun- try’s affairs from the Coalition on- words, A. A. Purcell, M. P. Ben Turner, M. P. R. C. Wallhead, M. P. George Lansbury, M. P. Robert Williams (Transport Workers).” Labor's Park Prospers. SEATTLE, Wash, May 8.—Estes blished for six years, the People’s Park, co-operatively owned by Seat- tle unionists, is entering its biggest year with every Sunday booked for picnics by workers’ organizations. The park, outside the city limits, was established during Ole Hanson’s re- actionary reign to protect free speech and assemblage rights for the work. ors, ~~- Se eR eer