The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 16, 1924, Page 3

ee try. your_huck, ‘ around in the plant who will never get Jbecause they don’t earn any more. “aa pap while, then want to TRUST THEIR (Continued from page 1.) Stell, who keeps the ball rolling by reporting to others in New York, At Bottom of Bosses’ Ladder. B, Stock, to whom I reported, is not even included in the telephone direc- tery of the Western Electric, which contains the names of several thou; sand bosses. Prevey could not be found in this book, either. .It was into this layer of bosses that I was supposed to hurl my way, mounting step by step, with “plenty of oppor- tunity, plenty of room at the top, and ‘ancement depending on my own ity,” according to Stock, jn hiring me, G, C. Knudsen, a rather eccentric, nervous, bald-head- e@little fellow, head of two inspection departments, followed out when he hired me the usual process of filling the new employe with bunk such as that emanating from the president of the company, Charles DuBois. Getting a Dose of Ideals. DuBois said: “You who are new to the service will find that your oppor- tunity to get ahead rests in your- selves and will be helped by your realization of the company’s character and your increasing devotion to its ideals. The underlying Teason for our successful growth, as I see it, has been an honest effort to do a good job every day and to deal fairly with everybody. This character must nev- er be weakened or impaired by a sin- \gle action that is mean or tricky.” Tricky Knudsen. DuBois, is he is sincere, evidently has never run across his department head, G. C. Knudsen. He is the trick- iest man to whom I ever tried to sell my labor. Knudsen, in fact, has a reputation thruout the plant for being not only eccentric, but also sharp and tricky. The man in office No, 2, Mr. Noble, in the employment division, used that very word in telling me about Knudsen. “I am going to send you up to ‘Knudsen to try to land an inspection job,” said Noble, the employment hot ir merchant. “You'll have to be on ur guard every minute. Knudsen a tricky customer. He asks a lot of tricky questions. He’ll try to trip you up, but you answer him right back. You may not land a job with him, as he's a tough customer, but » Knudsen Hires Him. is warned, I went upstairs to ee Knudsen, who sat at his desk in khe middle of the inspection depart- ment, No. 6643, on the fourth floor. Besides the quizzing of Knudsen, I ‘was subjected to the scrutiny of Gor- don and Stock, who stood there while the-interview was going on. Knudsen grilled me about my answers to the plication blanks, and in spite of his Shamans, altho the only true state- ment in my application was my name, udsen in the end hired me. I talked frankly to Knudsen about y experience in the shipyards; how ‘used.the system there of working for short time at a job, quitting, and g out in another yard at the same ral sort of work at a higher sal- Making Good—for the Boss. “Well, we don’t want you to do that bere,” Knudsen ‘snorted. “We want you to stick with us if you intend to work for this company. The only work I have open is day work; there is no piece work at present, and you'll have to make your incentive the de- sire for promotion. You've got to be on the job in this company if you want to make good—on your toes every minute.” Knudsen told me the same thing Stock said: “You'll hear a lot around here about how bad the company ts its employes. But don’t listen hat anybody tells you. There are of loafers and floaters drifting anywhere. If they get low wages it’s ere are old timers who have been the company for years who point ‘0 their long service with the com- pany and say they have been treated shabbily because their wages are small and they have not been pro- ” ‘Don't Listen to Kickers. Knudsen leaned over toward me, “Don't believe these Close yous ears to their kicks. They are just like those float- ers who get into one department and HH to another department. We don’t trans iat 9) these fellows, unless they are not doing a good job where they are. “Jobs are just gaping, waiting for a bright young fellow to come along and snap them up. There is oppor- ‘oy all of us. I must be ambi- well as you.” n tried to be enthusiastic he was handing out the futile vation these platitudes to try to hide the fact that they are running the plant not in the interest of giving “bright young ‘fellows advancement,” but to make money out of the labor of the men for the UP ENPLOVES TOLD T0 GREEDY BOSSES which he prates about the character of the Western Electric, when he says: “The Western Electric has a history of marvelous growth, from the first timy shop of 1869 to AN AN- NUAL BUSINESS NOW OF MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS.” “Results are what count,” Knudsen told me. “Of course, till you get over your period of training you won't be worth very much to us. You won't be earning the money we give you, and we can’t start you off very high. The next promotion period comes in six months. When we hire a man, our knowledge of psychology and his ap- plication have something to do with our opinion of him, But if you want promotion you have to demonstrate your loyalty to the company—your ability—and you'll have to produce results,” “Always-a-Chance” Bunk, “I can tell you this,” Knudsen con- tinued, trying to make me as anxious for the job as possible, and trying to salve over the low salary with bunk, “there is always a chance for ad- vancement. Yes, sir, there are jobs just gaping for somebody to come along,” he repeated. “I myself musi be ambitious. I have to work my way up the ladder the same as you do. All our bosses come right from the ranks. We all have an equal chance in this great organization.” I told Knudsen when he again pressed me to promise not to quit, that I didn’t see why any man in his right mind would take a job with Western Dlectric at such a salary and then not expect promotion. “Of course I expect promotion,” I told him. “I wouldn’t want to work very long on ths salary you are giving me.” Knudsen had me down for 50 cents an hour, but it was finally arranged that I should work for $30 a week. I had the feeling that the cost reduc- tion department, which was busy in Knudsen’s department slashing wages and firing men, had me down as an unsuspecting new man for a piece of especially dirty work. A Ride With Joe. In the next issue I will tell how I took a ride in Joe’s elevator, Joe be- ing the man*°who has worked thirty ears for the company, and the entire time been promoted from the freight to the passenger elevator, and given a four-star button as a reward for his years of service. I will also tell later about the medical examination which every Western Electric employe has to pass thru, and will give some more inside dope given me by some of the Western Electric bosses. Detroit Can Judge Whether Dawes is Right Next Thursday (Special to the Daily Worker.) DETROIT, Mich., June 15.—The ac- tual conditions found to prevail in Germany by American investigators, such as General Dawes and Major Al- len, will be shown on the screen at the Carpathia hall, Elmwood and Pres- ton Sts., Thursday, June 19, at 8 p.m. The actual question of reparation will have to be settled between the ex- perts’ commission and the various governments, but the fantastic sums paid by German workers for bread, cabbage, herring and other bare ne- cessities of life are graphically shown in this picture—“Russia and Germany, a Tale of Two Republics.” Recent developments in Sovietland are also shown, notably the Interna- tional Agricultural Exposition, the evolution of Russian agriculture and the care and training of the children, but the emphasis is laid upon German conditions. Wholesale Killing of Koreans After Jap Earthquake (By he Federated Press.) WASHINGTON, June 15.—Japanese atrocities and offictally-inspired mas- sacres of Koreans at the timp of the Japanese earthquake last summer are the subject of a claim ror reparations which the republic of Korea, main- tained, by political exiles is holding over the head of the Tokio govern- ment, The Korean commission here has reports from Japanese official sources showing that 3,655 Koreans were slaughtered at that time, “The incidents are too numerous and horrible for publication,” it says. “Two thousand Koreans, both men and women, were the victims of one massacre. Roped together in grou; of ten, they were shot down and bay- onetted by detachments of infantry, cavalry and gendarmes, in systematic regulated slaughter.” Telegraphers’ Bank Prospers. ST. LOUIS, June 15.—Celebrating its first anniversary June 9th, a state- ment issued by the Telographers Na- tional Bank of this city shows deposits have increased from $1,316,488.41 to nearly $5,000,000, Fifty-one per cent of the stock is ‘504 a heed: See them Smile: THE DAILY WORKER They sell the DAILY WORKER at Western Electric. ELECTRIC BOSSES IN PANIC (Continued from page 1.) clothes champion of the Western Electric, who arrested Reeve in front of the Western Electric gates last week. It was Moutaock who insisted to Judge Henry Sandusky, that Reeve’s bail be raised to $400 real es- tate or $200.00 cash. The DAILY WORKER was much-in evidence in the courtroom. Moutaock mumbled to the judge about “This kind of stuff they are printing against the Western Blectric.” He ignored the charges which were before Reeve and confined litmself to condemning the DAILY WORKER for daring to favor the employes in the Western Electric in their fight against the low wage speed system of their employ- ers. After Judge Sandusky had set the hearing for next Saturday, A. Borg in- sisted that Reeve be locked up while waiting for Bob Sullivan to bring the cash bail out from the DAILY WORK- ER office. Borg took every thrust at the Western Electric as a personal insult to him. The DAILY WORKER begins to wonder why. Cusses at DAILY WORKER. Attaches of the Cicero police court told the DAILY WORKER reporter while he was in the cell that Borg was upstairs swearing at the DAILY WORKER. “Borg is no good. He is a mean old cuss,” ove court room at- tache told Reeve. “He didn’t need to lock you up while you were waiting for the bail. There is a burglar up- stairs now who has already been found guilty and they are letting him wait upstairs. Borg simply is peeved because you showed him up in the DAILY WORKER.” A prominent owner of a group of Cicero news stands stopped in front of Reeve’s cell and said, “Say, can you let me have one of your DAILY WORKERS? That’s some paper. I've seen all kinds of papers, but I never saw one like that.” This man agreed to sell the papers on his Cicero stands and slipped his name and address into the cell. Tom Myerscough asked Judge San- dusky how it happened that there were two separate complaints Satur- day, when only the charge of disor- derly conduct was filed when Reeve was errested. “I filed that charge yesterday,” Borg interrupted. “The desk sergeant couldn't find another ordinance to hold him on, but I found it” “'Twill Do Him Good.” Borg later asked Tom Myerscough for a copy of the DAILY WORKER. “Sure,” said Myerscough, “read it, itl do you good’’ Borg read the paper a while and then paddled over to Moutaock, who seems to be guard- ing the interests of the Western Elec- tric Company as a representative of scab State’s Attorney Crowe. Borg and Moutaock were heard to console each others feelings as they read the Western Electric articles in the DAILY WORKER. “Just think,” said Borg indignantly, “they had the nerve to run down the wonderful Western Electric doctor.” Miners Oust Ku Ku Member Who Wore Nighty Wrong Time (Special to the Daily Worker.) ST. LOUIS, Mo., June 15.—Ivan Mackiny, until yesterday a member of Local No. 2656 of the United Mine Workers of America of Livingston, Tl, had to be escorted from town by deputy sheriffs after he had been found guilty of being a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Mackiny some time ago took part in a booze raid and was suspected of membership in the hood- ed hoodlums. Formal charges were preferred against him in the union. At yesterday’s meeting of Local No. 2656, with over 600 members pres- ent, the trial of Mackiny was held, In compliance with the regulations of the union, a court was appointed which conducted the investigation and hearing. ‘When brought before the bar of the union, Mackiny stubbornly denied membership in the K. K. K. Later, under severe cross-examination, he aa- mitted that he had joined the nighty brigade about six months ago,’ He then admitted that he was at present a member of the “State Constabu- lary,” an organization known to be of} Klan origin and having no legal stand- ing. The verdict of the union was that he was a member of the Klan, which was in violation of the constitution of the U. M. W. of A., and that he be ex- pelled from the union forthwith. It was at this juncture that the deputy sheriffs thought it advisable to extend protection to Mackiny against tho wrath of the members of the union. Key Pounders Get Raise. ST. LOUIS, June 15.—About 115 telegraphers employed by the St. Louis Terminal Railroad Association are affected by a recent decision of the rail board granting a five cents hourly increase of wages. The men had demanded 7.76¢ and*two weeks’ vacation with pay. The board refused to pass upon the vacation question. The company offered the men a two cent increase before the matter went to the board, All of the employes are members of the Order of Railroad Telegraphers. Every new subscriber increases the influence of the DAILY WORKER. A WESTERN ELECTRIC BOSSES CANNOT KEEP TRUTH FROM THEIR EMPLOYES The Western Electric Company has found itself powerless to stop the truth about’ their damnable speed-up piece-work system from reaching the employes thru the DAILY WORKER, which has ex- posed the brazen bunk peddied by the company to keep the employes down, Thousands of copies of the DAILY WORKER are being sold at the Western Electric gates every day. At noon yesterday over 1,600 copi of the DAILY WORKER were sold. In front of the gates in twenty-five minutes. On Thursday the entire edition of the DAILY WORKER was sold out, and orders coming into the office for 275 coples had to remain unfilled. It was difficult to dig up enough DAILY WORKERS Thurs- day for the office files. The campaign of the DAILY WORKER and the Workers Party showing up the false promotion, and good-will propaganda of the West- ern Electric efficiency hot-air ar- tists, has shown the Western Elec- tric workers that in the DAILY WORKER the workers have their own newspaper which protects their interests against the onslaught of large profit-seeking capitalists. Monday the Young~ Workers League will have a statement in the DAILY WORKER which will be of interest to the many thousand young men and young women em- ployed in the Western Electric plant. Yesterday an extra four thousand copies of the DAILY WORKER were run off the press, and every one found ‘its way to the hands of a Western Electric em- ploye. School Runs Scab Shop. LAWRENCE, Kas,, June 15.—Non- ‘union conditions are stubbornly main- tained at the Kansas state university printery at Lawrence. The superin- tendent, who hopes to become state public printer by catering to the old industrial court anti-labor group of politicians, is a former member of the typographical union, Lawrence Local 51 is fighting to unionize ied Ey ea “If this is the kind of stuff they are printing, they better look out,” said Moutaock, pointing to the article ex- posing the trickery of the many thou- sand straw bosses. “This is terrible stuff.” Borg was the joke of the place Sat- urday. “Borg is as sore as a wet hen,” one policeman said as he stopped and gave Reeve a cigarette. “He's up- stairs gnashing his teeth. I told him he was a damn fool. The judge, Henry Sandusky, is a pleasant enough young fellow, who, if left to himself, would probably have dismissed the case. But Borg was running around like a little Western Electric lap-dog Saturday. Taking DAILY WORKER articles to the state’s attorney’s man, calling for the blood of the DAILY WORKER, and locking its reporter up for two hours in a rotten, stinking cell. Unionization Must Come, But the sales of the DAILY WORK- ER around the Western | Electric gates, continue to ‘climb by the thou- sand, and the Western Electric effi- ciency. system of low wages and high speed production’ has drifted peril- ously near to the rocks. For the first time in the history of the company it is seen that in the Workers Party and the DAILY WORKER the Western Electric em- ployes have strong friends and the Western Electric slave-driving profit seekers have bitter enemies. For the first time complete unionization of the Western Electric Company plant is seen to be feasible and desirable. Superior, Wisconsin Sends Four Delegates To St. Paul Meet SUPERIOR, Wis., June 15.—Four delegates from this. city will be at the Farmer-Labor party convention, June 17. The Trades and Labor assembly appointed Karl Milde of the carmen’s union to represent them at the con- vention, In addition to this the office workers’ union is sending Miss Helen Heinonen. The Co-operative Central exchange, which is a co-operative wholesale and bakery, will be repre- sented, by their manager, Eskel Ronn. Matti Tenhunen will represent the Tyomies society, publishers of the Tyomies, Finnish daily. The Northern States Co-operative league, an educational society, whose aim is the furthering of the co-oper- ative movement, will be represented at the convention by Phil DeMore of Duluth, Minn, Lawyers’ Union to Fix Attorneys’ Pay in Big Murder Case Instead of the open shop plan or even collective bargaining the Chicago lawyers’ union will fix the wages of thosdof its members employed on the Leopold-Loeb job. The employers, who are hiring the lawyer trade-un- ionists to defend their sons on @ charge of murder to which the 8 have confessed, announce that “the lawyers representing the accused boys have agreed that the amount of their fees (wages) will be determined by a (scale) committee composed of the officers of the Chicago Bar Associa- tion.” The association is the local lawyers’ union. It claims 100 per cent organization in Chicago. Bandit Attacks Cease. MOSCOW, May 13--(By Mail).— Reports from Vienna state that the session of the Russo-Roumanian com- mission at Kamenetz-Podolsk for the tlement of the frontier river Dnie- ster conflicts is proceeding favorably. Since the commission has been in session bandit attacks on the Dnie- ster have ceased almost completely, In the event an agreement is reached at Kamnetz-Podolsk, the negotiations will be continued at Odessa and will bear on the question of navigation on aa and other matters, + Page Three | HENRY’S GIFT HORSE TO HIS SLAVES HAS ROPES TIED ON TO IT DETROIT, Mich., June 15,—Hen- ty Ford's new plan of working his 23,000 office employes only five days a week instead of giving them a two weeks’ vacation went into effect Saturday. From now on executives, clerks, stenographers and office boys get Saturdays off for at least three months to make up for their lost vacations, Continuance of the five-day week after that time, however, will mean a PEpparslonate reduction in pay. Send in that Subseripsan Today. WORKERS GRAB DAILY WORKERS FOR BIG EXPOSE “Newsies” Mobbed at Western Electric “Who wants a DAILY WORKER?” The workers of Western Blectric almost mobbed the “newsies” at noon and at night yesterday and the side- shows didn't have a chance. Their owners had to buy the DAILY WORK- ER to find out what all the excite- ment was about. The Western Electric workers flocked about the “newsies” on every side, demanding the DAILY WORK- ER, and some of them didn’t even wait for change in their eagerness to see what the latest “inside story” was. The “newsies,” recruited from the DAILY WORKER offices, were dizzy with the clamor of the workers. Workers Wait for Paper. Workers came up with thetr three cents ready. They were expecting the paper. They had read the previous stories and knew that the DAILY WORKER was telling the truth about their bosses at Western Electric, “Good stuff!” “Gee! They sure give the company the razz!” “Look at this, uld you.” These were only a few of the comments. Mangfof the"Western Miectric work- ers to threé: or six copies of the paper to distribute to their fellow workers. Even the bosses bought the DAILY WORKER. Negro Wants to Know. The negro shoe shine man called } from his little hole-in-the-wall shop for a copy of the DAILY WORKER, the paper that fights for the negro as well as for the white workers. The religious gent from the Cicero First Church of something-or-other, shouted his darndest to get up a crowd, but even with the help of his wheezy organ, he couldn’t drown out the cries on every side: “Get your DAILY WORKER here. Read all about Western Electric. DAILY WORKER here. The only workingclass newspaper in the Eng- lish language in the country. Read the DAILY WORKER.” The hairy “Indian” guy from Holly- wood, neatly combed his arms and showed what a wonderful crop his “magic restorer” would raise. But the workers of Western Electric were so interested in teading the DAILY WORKER that they didn’t see or hear any of the fakers. Girls Buy, Too. The “soap-box realtors” who tried to lure the Western Electric workers into paying $10 down for a house, “just like this paper model you see in my hand,” couldn’t get a sucker. The girl workers wanted to know about the DAILY WORKER, too, and came up for their copies. They had been skeptical the first few days, but now they knew that they wanted to read the truth. “Give me a DAILY WORKER, said one of them and added “I'm one of those ‘loyal’ you know.” “You're telling them the right dope,” one of the men said. “Keep up the good work.” Send in that Subscription Today! The Philistine discourseth June 17th and Next. Russian Impression Canadian Labor in Politics. Order 1113 W. Washington Blvd, Get this Next Issue Daily Worker Magazine Section Saturday, June 21 A brilliant article by On Population and Birth Control A Typical Principal Unbosoms. ILLUSTRATIONS: May-day in Germany, a demonstration of agricultural workers In Japan and many others, BOOK REVIEWS AND VERSE. THE DAILY WORKER, ELECTRIC TRUST EMPLOYES URGED TO FORM UNIONS Young Workers League in Youth Appeal The Young Workers League Jissued the following statement jto the many thousand young | workers in the Western Electric plant. The League invites all \ }young workers who are inter- i Jested in securing better eco- i nomic conditions for the young t workers of this country to take note of the address at the end of this statement, and to write or call for further information. The following is the official statement of the Young Work- ers League of America: The Young Workers league is keen- ly interested in the conditions of the young workers in the Western Elec- trie company. As an organization which is composed of young people of both sexes from the ages of 14 to 25, we feel it imperative to enter into the campaign to better the conditions of the viciously exploited youth in the Western Electric plant. One of the most important reasons why the com- pany has been able to exploit its em- Ployes, especially the youthful ones, to such a terrible extent is the fact that the bosses, on the one hand, have been and are highly organized, while the workers have been prevented by every means possible from uniting to better their conditions, by increasing their wages, lowering their hours of toil and abolishing the body-wracking speed-up and piece work system. The young workers, as well as the old workers in the Western Electric plant, have as their very first task the organization into a powerful, united union, which will take in young and old, male and female, on an absolutely equal basis. ' We call upon the young workers to * unite their forces in order that they May carry on a successful struggle against the company for the following demands, which are a part of the pro- gram of the Young Workers league: 1. The organization of a union and = its recognition- by any?” ir 2. The immediate abolition of the ; sweatshop methods which are typified by the speed-up system, which grinds out every bit of energy of the worker, and also of the piece work method of payment, which is only another form of the speed-up system. 3. We demand that equal wages be paid where equal work is done, wheth- jer by young or old. f | 4. A standard minimum wage for all workers and the establishment of a six-hour day and five-day week for the’ young workers, with full pay. 5. A fully paid annual vacation of |four weeks. These are demands on which all the |workers of the Western Electric com- i |pany can unite and must unite. | They represent the immediate needs of the exploited workers in this com- | pany. We call upon all the young workers to join the Young Workers league in order to be better able to carry on this campaign for humane conditions jin the Western Electric company. Unite for the demands of the Young Workers league. YOUNG WORKERS LEAGUE OF AMERICA, 1118 West Washington Blvd., Chi- cago, Ill. Florida Lynches Four Negroes in One Terror Week NEW YORK, June 15.—Four Ne groes were lynched at Fort Myers, Fla., within a week: R. Wilson and Milton Williams on May 26, and Gabe Nathan and Riley Thornton on May 30, reports the American Civil Liber- ties union. In both instances the old charge that the Negroes attacked white women was used. Protestations of innocence by the Negroes were made in vain. Send in that Subseription Today! on the Revolutionary— Leon Trotzky By Charles Brower from Chicago, Ilinele = rll