The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 26, 1924, Page 5

for whieh we have a market. / ‘e and steel workers are under the e \ CTTTPATRICCS FARMER-LABOR PARTY QUITS June 17 Convention Only Hope Of Workers Tn a signed statement, issued at its offices in the Loop district, the John Fitzpatrick “Farmer-Labor Party of the United States” has officially de- clared it will hold no national conven- tion this year and will take no or- ganized purt in the coming national ampaign. This statement, signed by John Fitzpatrick, member of the national committee; David A, McVey, secre- tary of the Illinofs branch and chair- man of the Cook county branch; Charles F. Wills, vice chairman, Il- lineis branch and Robert M. Buck, editor of the party’s official organ, follows the. Chicago Federation of Labor's decision to return to the non- partisan political policy of the Gom- pers’ officialdom. June 17th the Only Hope. The great June ‘17th convention at St. Paul, where thousands of dele- gates will gather from farmers’ or- ganizations labor political organiza- tions and local unions, now remains the only possible machinery for or- ganizing a political battle front of the expropriated workers and farmers of America. Lack of response from the labor movement is given by the Fitzpat- rick organization as the reason for calling off their own national conven- tion, which had been scheduled for July 4th at Cleveland. Lack of funds foHowed the lack of response. June 17th Attacked. ‘fhe usual attack on the Commun- ists was utilized in order to assail the June 17th convention of workers and The abdicating political farmers. gtoup complains that the Communists want to “kidnap” the St. Paul move- ment, 17th movement is made. P. A. is also attacked. “hope” they say. Their own complete bankruptcy is shown in the apology that they are giving up their convention in order not to further “confuse the situation.” LaFollette, Perhaps. They intend, they say, to “endorse! the independent political policy of LaFollette, should that candidacy de- velop.” The “Farmer-Labor Party of the United States” will not disband, the statement adds, but will bide its time tor the future. f A similar statement is made by the ook county branch of the organiza- tion. Want More Machines And Less Workers Says/Senator Neely WASHINGTON, May 25.—Sen. Nee- ly of West Virginia, Democrat, in a speech on the immigration bill, de- clared that, “At the present moment there are at least 1,500,000 working- men and women in the United States who are idle, for the sole reason that there is no demand for their labor. There have been times in the past 3 years when 5,000,000 of our toilers could find no employment, and when 2,000,000 of them in @esperation were forced to beg or starve. “In our steel industry, for example, with all mills modernized and running at capacity, it would be possible for two-thirds of those now on the payroll to produce all of the iron and steel The A general attack on the June The C. P. It offers no mstant apprehension of unemploy- ent for approximately five months per year. ‘ “The bituminous coal industry af- fords a most impressive example of overmanning and overdevelopment. As now equipped, our mines, work- ing full time, can produce a billion tons of coal a year, while there is a demand for only half a billion tons. Four hundred thousand men, out of the 650,000 now engaged in mining coal, could produce all-that it is pos- . sible for us to consume, “The boot and shoe industry cap- able of producing 758,000,000 pairs of boots and shoes a year,.has a demand for’ only 326,000,000 pair; it is more than 50 per cent overmanned. The brick making. industry has 29,000 workers, when our annual demand _eould be supplied by 5,000 men, us- ing modern machinery, PITTSBURGH, PA. DR. RASNICK DENTIST Rendering Expert. ital Service tas, SUI gens Ae nd TA Patronize the 100 per cent Union Prairie Cab, CALL NORMAL 0028, .|KANSAS FARMERS AND WORKERS FORM INDEPENDENT PARTY; SEND TEN DELEGATES TO ST. PAUL MEET By JOSEPH MANLEY. (Special to The Daily Worker) SALINA, Kansas, May 25.—This state in years gone by oc- cupied a foremost position, in all popular political movements such as the old Peoples Party of the eighties and again the Union Labor Party of the nineties, and still later the Socialist Party of Kansas with the old “Appeal to Reason” published at Girard. All- these movements did their part to put Kansas, and especially its: “grass roots” farmers, in the forefront of every major political revolt. made great headway: in Kansas, but of late, with its nonpartisan program, it has fallen by the wayside as a seriops political factor. eng It was the remains of this latter or- ganization which met at Salina on May 17 and decided to abandon its non-partisan policy, and organize in place of the loosely formed league, a closely knit Farmer-Labor Party, in line with its sister grain growing states of the west and northwest. 160 Delegates. The gathering at Salina convened with 150 delegates, the vast majority of whom were farmers. Some of them were among the worst exploited in the world, typical American peasants, renters from the 50,000-acre tract ,owned by Fred Scully, whose treat- ment of his tenants compares very well with that of former Czarist Rus- sian landowners is. The convention was given a dis- tinet “labor” complexion by the fact that its permanent chairman was W. HE, Freeman, president of the State Federation of ‘Labor. At the outset I was called upon to address the con- vention. I advised the necessity of organizing a class Farmer-Labor Par- ty, upon the basis of a genuine work- ers’ and farmers’ platform, and in sup- Port of the St. Paul convention. Judg- ing from the favorable reception ac- corded my remarks on the banking crisis and the wheat situation, both of which indicate a basic breakdown of the capitalist sytsem of agriculture, this gathering of Kansas farmers are not so apt to be satisfied with the various nostrums being peddled by certain “progressive” ‘scepublicans and Democrats, among the least of -whom is the doughty Senator Capper. Have to Use “Liberal” Name. In the disciission on a’ possible name for the proposed party, it de- veloped that Farmer-Labor would not get on the ballot, becatisé of a state law limiting the use of words in the official name to two. the organization was formed as the Liberal Party of Kansas; this name is more or less tentative pending the name to be adopted by the St. Paul convention. The platform adopted was of a distinctly class character, in contradistinction to a LaFollette plat- form proposed by one of the delegates. The platform adopted contained among other measures a demand for a referendum on war; reduction of armaments; the abolition of the in- dustrial court law; protection for farm tenants.’ A state executive committee was elected, composed of sixteen members, men and women, two from each con- gressional district. Gus Eckwald was selected as chairman; Ulysses Reg- nier, vice-chairman, and M. L. Amos, secretary-treasurer. Fred J. Fraley, editor of the Kansas Leader, (the of- ficial organ of the Nonpartisian League, pubilshed at Salina) was nominated for U. S, Senator, to run against Capper. Ten husky farmers were elected as delegates to the: St. Paul convention on June 17. Brotherhoods Endorse New Party. On the following day at Wichita the trade unionists both of the A, F. of L. and the Brotherhoods who are or- ganized in 4 state non-partisian polit- ical organization, met and after much discussion and debate endorsed by a majority vote the party organized at The railroad Brotherhood made a bitter attack upon the newly organized party taking upon itself the right to endorse a presidential candidate. They upheld the possible selection of Mc- Adoo and protested that it would be making a split and incurring a serious mistake to nominate a presidential candidate before seeing what the Re- publican or Democratic conventions would do. A vote was taken on this proposition and it virtually amounted to a vote for or against McAdoo, it stood 12 for and 16 against; William Mahoney of St. Paul and J. E. Snyder from Oklahoma, were present at this conference and it was largely due to the arguments of Mahoney based upon his experience in Minnesota that a favorable result was brought on, tho the conference in- sisted on retaining its state non- partisan policy for the coming cam~ paign. Old Timers. From this it can be plainly seen that it is the farmers especially who in the light of their former experiences first as “Pops,” then as Socialists and again as “Leaguers,” who, in the West and Northwest are the backbone of the present trend toward a real party of workers and farmers. There are few among the farming masses and especially the renters who exercise the bureaucratic control of Gompers and Stone, and as a con- sequence they are more susceptible to Consequently | The old Townley Nonpartisan League f OEE ART rca eA TERETE line up on basic economic grievances, which in a measure affect them more directly, and more flagrantly, than the aristocratic Brotherhoods. The party born at Salina will have a large delegation at the St. Paul con- vention, it will enter the coming cam- paign in Kansas and attract large masses of both farmers and workers to its standard. Tho its name may belie its persent nature the following two resolutions which were unani- mously adopted will indicate its senti- ment both on matters industrial and international: Resolution on Alexander Howat. “WHEREAS, Kansas has been the scene of an attempt to force upon the farmers and workers, not alone of this state but of the nation, a system of modern economic slavery em- bodied in the so-called Kansas Indus- trial Court Law; and inasmuch as the United States Supreme Court has recently declared this Industrial Court Law to be unconstitutional; therefore, be it “RESOLVED, that we greet with pleasure and recognition the services of Alexander Howat and his brave as- sociates in the United Mine Workers of America, who fought against it— even to the length of submitting to confinement in jail—so that the rights of the workers and farmers of Kansas and the nation would not be restricted by the Industrial Court Law, which is now a dead issue.” Resolution on Soviet Russia. “WHERBDAS, the persent policy on the part of the Federal Government in refusing recognition to Soviet Russia, is ‘mot in accord with the true prin- ciples of human solidarity; and in ad- dition is causing great injury to the interests of the farmers and workers of America; and the cotton growers of Texas could not cdmplete large con- tracts for the exportation of cotton to Russia, because of the existing restrictions and difficulties; and “WHEREAS, immense shipments of Russian wheat and other grains are now on the world market and are be- ing purchased by fifteen European countries, thereby entering into com- petition with the wheat growers of America and the world; and because the présent non-recognition of Soviet Rusia aggravates this planless, unsys- tematic competition; therefore, be it “RESOLVED, that we, Kansas farm- ers and workers in convention as- sembled, call upon the so-called farm bloc in Congress to make renewed ef- forts to the end that the Government of Soviet Russia be recognized at the earliest possible.moment, and that suitable negotiations by the respective governments be entered into that will accrue to the interests of the pro- ducing farmers and workers of both countries.” Union President Bounced When He Bags The Boodle (Special to The Daily Worker) CINCINNATI, Ohio. May” 25—The former president of the ‘Theatrical Stage Employes and Moving Picture Machine Operators’ alliance got the gate from the members of “his union, when he failed to explain satisfactor- ily the absence of $79,000 of the or- ganization’s funds. Charles C. Shay ‘Jis the lucky man, He said that he had spent the mon- ey to prevent attacks on the organiza- tion, but insisted that the nature of the expenditures could not be made known. Only 2 out of 700 votes in the con- vention of the organization were giv- en for Shay, altho he has held his presidency for ten years. Swiss Insure School Children. BERNE, May 25.— Switzerland is the first country to inaugurate govern- ment insurance of school children. In some cantons it is voluntary and in some compulsory. The canton Vaud was first to insure its children, The government of the Canton Basel re- cently insured against sickness and accident all pupils in the public schools, from the kindergartens to the higher grades of the industrial schools. Other cantons and municipalities have taken steps in the same direction. In this, as in the other forms of govern- ment insurance, the premiums are paid jointly by the children and the goverhment. It is reported that a bill for insurance of school children against sickness has been introduced in the Portuguese Senate. Labor Wins Another Seat. LIVERPOOL, May 25.—Joseph Gib- bons, a labor candidate, has just won a seat in Parliament by 2000 votes over his Conservative opponent in the West Toxteth bye-election, FOOD WORKERS SEND MORE MEN TO GREEK FRONT Injunction Spurs Union To Hot Campaign Two, new organizers are at work this morning trying to organize the workers in the Greek restaurants of Chicago. They are James Manus and Nick Athens, both Greeks. They were elected organizers at the mass meet- ing of the members of Amalgamated Food Workers. Wednesday Night. This is the reply of the Food Work- ers ¢o the injunction obtained by 170 Greek restaurant owners. At the meeting, the Greek workers were most insistent on carrying on the or- ganization plans and meeting the in- junction of the bosses with effective work. First Greek Food Drive. Until the organization campaign of the Food Workers was undertaken, it had been thought impossible, to or- ganize Greek workers. The cooks and waiters’ union never attempted the job. So now, when an industrial un- ion comes along and does the work they are met with the charge they are not a bona fide labor union. At the membership mass meeting which elected the two new organizers more than $80 was contributed by the members to carry on the organization campaign. ; Injunctions Can’t Cook. “Injunctions are not making dress- es for the garment bosses,” Manus said yesterday. “The restaurant bosses will learn that they can’t cook meals; altho they might be used to wash’ wishes with.” Oregon F.-L. P. Petition. PORTLAND, Oregon.—Ten thous- and signatures are being collected for a petition to place the Oregon Farm- er-Labor party on the official ballot for the general election in Novem- ber, Party headquarters are at 515 Worcester bidg., Portland. Page Five (Federated Press same fix. creased its capacity to produce without a corresponding in- crease in the demand for pro- duction. These are conclusions drawn from BE. D. King’s analysis of tte present business depression published in The Magazine of Wall Street. He pictures the situation in the major industries briefly as follows: Steel Declines. Steel—output tending to decrease, demand less than a year ago, will continue to decline gradually. (Since this was written the drop in pro- duction from over 90 per cent to less than 65 per cent of capacity is re- garded as the most rapid and specta- cular in the history of the industry). Coal—output about 50 per cent of a year ago, demahd poor but likely-to increase. Other miging-—output un- changed, demand slightly less; con- tinued decline in demand expected. Rubber goods—slight decrease in pro- duction, demand considerably less, will decline further. Shoes—output un. changed, hand to. mouth buying, should increase. Automobile—sharp decrease in output, slow buying, fu- ture demand below 1923. Textiles— sharp decrease in output, demand less, future. unsatisfactory. Construction materials—output same, decrease in demand, likely to decrease further. Electrical equipment—output same, output same, demand slightly less, will decrease. » Furniture — output same, demand same, will decrease. Typewriters—output slightly less, de- mand same, will decrease. High Productivity. Petroleum and sugar are the only increase in demand before autumn. Analyzing the way in which abnormal conditions blinded us to the situation, UNEMPLOYMENT STATISTICS SHOW INDUSTRIAL CRISIS NOT THE RESULT OF TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL PROBES By LELA: (Federated Press Steady increase in the number of workers out of a job is | indicated by news from various April and May are reckoned mon ND OLDS Industrial Editor) sections of the country. Altho ths of business expansion, estab- lishments in the majority of industries are laying off employes or closing down for an indefinite p the U. S. Rubber subsidiary with eriod. Others, as in the case of plants at Woonsocket, R. L., and Millville, Mlass., announce long vacations in the summer. Such items as those below prove that the depression is more serious than would appear from*- financial publicists who attrib- ute slack business either to the, weather or congressional inves- tigations. Railroads Cut Staffs. Railroads with shops in Chicago, have taken steps to cut either their forces or tfe work week of their shop employes. One railroad official es- timates that fully 30,000 men have been effected either by the lay offs or the cutting of hours during the last week. The eastern roads have nearly all cut the work week in preference to laying off workers. The Pennsylvania and the New York Central lines have put the five-day week in force. The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul has cut its shop force 20 per cent. Railroad officials blame the cuts on Washington. PHILADELPHIA.-A drop in em- ployment and wages in shown in the April report of the federal reserve bank of Philadelphia covering nearly 1,000 manufacturing establishments in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Em- ployment and total weekly wages fell about 1 per cent in Pennsylvania while in New Jersey employment fell nearly 2 per cent and total wages nearly 3 per cent. In Pennsylvania industries making heavy cuts were reported as electrical machinery and apparatus, 8.9 per cent; iron and steel blast furnaces, 1.4; carpets and rugs, 1.9; clothing, 4.8; silk goods, 8.5; woolen and wor- sted goods, 8.8; knit goods and hos- jery, 3.9; furniture, 10.4; leather products, 12.6, and rubber tires and goods, 8 per cent. Increases of im- portance were 3.9 per cent in automo- | biles, 3.6 in car construction and repair, 4 in iron and steel forgings, and in- creases of from 1% to 6 per cent in building material industries. In New Jersey the textile group, in- of 3.8 per cent in number employed; metal manufacturers, 1.4; miscellan- eous industries, including musical in- struments, boots and shoes, paper, printing and rubber goods, 4 per cent. Outstanding gains appeared chiefly in the building material group. SAN FRANCISCO.—Unemployment is prevalent in California as a result of the failure of the spring boom to materialize. Surplus labor is reported by practically every industry in the state. The lumber industry is cur- tailing activity and railroad shops are laying off workers. Shoe factories are reported on half time, while printing and paper plants and knitting mills are operating below normal. An ex- cess of stevedores and ld»gshoremen at Los Angeles is reported) BALTIMQRE. — An unemployment crisis in Baltimore is imminent, ac- cording to the director of the munici- pal bureau. His report to the super- visors of city charities urges expan- sion of the bureau and relief work to meet or stave off the unemployment threatened. UNCLE WIGGLY'S TRICKS "Would you mind i hid ap eld doar? TIME FOR U. S. WORKERS TO BEGIN TIGHTENING BELT. AND DRAWING ON PATRIOTISM FOR NOURISHMENT By LELAND OLDS products for which King predicts an} cluding clothing, reported, a reduction | Industrial Editor) Recurrent unemployment will be the lot of workers in this country unless large foreign markets can be captured. ability of the United States to expand its markets sufficiently is doubtful in the face of competition from other nations in the By ‘treating capital too generously and the workers too stingily the country has de-* “ But the he says in part: “The fact is that for several years we have been going along smoothly filling out the post-war demand for sundries such as new housing, rail- road equipment, automobiles and many other essentials and non-essen- tials. Thdt demand has: to an appre- ciable extent been satisfied. “The first point to consider is our manufacturing equipment. In this score there can be no question that in many lines we have too much ca- |pacity of production for the demand at hand. Ever since the war it has been a great problem to keep our plants fully and profitably occupied.” Lacking a large foreign market, he says, our highly gea plant produc- tivity becomes at least temporarily a sort of incubus. Under-Consumption. This article reveals tardy recogni- }tion in the business world of a situa- jtion which The Federated Press has jbeen emphasizing for more than a year. No analysis of industrial future jis worthy of serious attention which |disregards the fact that we have e: |panded our productive capacity with- {out a corresponding increase in the |ablity of consumers to absorb its products. As a result the point has been reached where prosperity in this country has no secure foundation without a larger foreign market than |,we have been able to secure during {a period when the competing indus- trial nations were seriously handi- capped. The industrial system which turns over the entire increment in produc- tion resulting from modern technology to the absentee owners is evidently | approaching a deadlock. There must be a big increase in consumption or a decrease in production either thru periodic shutdowns or reduction in working hours. If recurrent depres- | sions are to be avoided there must be less emphasis on returns to capital }and more on returns to the millions jot producer consumers. { |Newfoundland Union Fishermen. Dropping Politics As Protest | ST. JOHNS, Newfoundland, May 23. —The Fishermen's Union party has | withdrawn from Newfoundland poli- | tics, W. F. Coaker, leader of the par- |ty and president and leader of the whole political and economic move- ment centering around the Fisher- |men’s Protective union, all of which 15 years ago he founded, retired in dis- gust from the legislature and took the 11 Fishermen’s party members with him. Henceforth Coaker will devote him- self to the management of the gigan- tic industrial and commercial wing of the fishermen’s enterpirse. Union May Disappear. No longer in the northern bays and harbors of the island where the Union party in former days swept the d tricts, will the battle-cry rally the the fishermen of the coasts to surge up to the polling booths. Even the union itself may in a short time disap- pear from the field, leaving the com- mercial and industrial wing as the only representative of what was the greatest old fire-eating workers’ move- ment ever known in Newfoundland. This withdrawal of the Union party from politics followed after the prime minister of the party with which the fishermen were in coalition had been found guilty of huge grafting. The man kept his seat in parliament just the same and the fishermen thought it time to clear out of the stinking cor- ruption of Newfoundland polities. But meanwhile the interests of the fishermen and the workers are un- represented in the political arena, now that the Union party has dropped out. Last year the Union Trading company hangled 16,000,000 Ibs. of codfish. Tuis year it will handle 30,000,000 Ibs., an increase of nearly 100 per cent. The entire situation, on account of its great dependence on its founder, is in the hands of that one man. A LAUGH FOR FARRELL STEEL WORKERS’ TRIALS RESUME JUNE 23 Organizers Face Steel Trust’s Hirelings Ma MERCER, Pa rell sedition triats will resume at the June term of court, starting June 23rd. The Commonwealth of Steel and Coal is making ready to satisfy the lust of the coal and steel barons for the scalps of more militant steel workers who have DARED tell the steel slaves to organize. The next steel slave to be placed on the block will be Andy Kovacovich, a countryman of .the convicted steel work, Tony Kovacovich. Will Pinchot Speak? Is the American labor movement prepared to see these steel workers sacrificed for believing that workers could organize in the Commonwealth of the U. S."Steel Corporation? Will Gov. Pinchot stand by with folded arms and let the constitutional rights of these hardworking steel workers be trampled in the dust by the barons who rule his 2. This is a LESSON for those in the American labor movement who be- lieve in the quack remedy of Gom- pers of electing to office the “friends” of labor. The trials of the Farrell steel workers charged with sedition for wanting to organize the steel workers charged with sedition for wanting to organize the steel slaves demonstrates the weakness, political- ly speaking, of the Gompers’ left hand squeeze to the “friends” of labor. Defendants Blacklisted. John Radias, Tony Mirich, Andy Du- gan, John Sarich and Andy Kovaco- vich, the steel workers yet to be tried cannot secure employment in Farrell. Blacklisted, indicted and hounded by the police is the lot of these rebels and it’s only the help coming in from the outside world that gives them the courage to wait their turn in the mas- ters’ court. Serbian stool pigeons who testified against Tony Kovacovich spend their spare- time trying to incite the de- fendant steel workers and their sym- pathizers into committing acts of vio- lence against them. One of the stools boasts that he soon will be wearing > ——— a police uniform. It is alleged that only good bootleggers can apply for a position on the Farrell police force. Chief Leyshock’s unhorsed Cos- sacks invaded a dance held under the auspices of the National Croation So- ciety recently in Farrell looking for fered” Leyshock continues his me- thods of terrorizing the workers. This keeper of the “Red Trunk” where all the alleged “seditious” literature is stored is a half-baked individual who cannot be held entirely responsible for his many childish pranks. The |steel workers view Leyshock with much amusement. Many patronized the jitney he drove before he was elevated to’ the office of the W. J. | Burns of Farrell. Publicity Forces Fine Of Ku Kluxer After Sedition Trial MERCER, Pa., May 25.—The jury | who convicted Tony Kovacovich of | Sedition for daring to talk organiza- | tion of the steel slaves were deadlock- {ed for six hours before arriving at their verdict and had it not been for community prejudice aroused by the Ku Klux Klan and the steel and coal barons Tony Kovacovich would have been acquited. It is alleged by the steelworkers in Farrel that all but one of~the seven Serbian stool pigeons who testified against Kovacovich have been ar- rested in the past for bootlegging and gambling. The Commonwealth cer- tainly picks strange bedfellows when its ‘honor’ is at stake. Due to the publicity given by the defense and thru the DAILY WORK- ER, the Kleagle of the K. K. K, in Mercer county, who decorated the roads leading into Mercer with large KKK letters when the Kovacoyich trial was on, was arrested and fined $15.00 for violating the state highway law. The Kleagle was arrested AFTER the jury, was thru its work. The signs were on the highway all during the trial yet the ‘law and order’ brigade made no effort to arrest this hooded patriot. E CHILDREN OSMAN