The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 7, 1924, Page 5

THE DAILY WORKER Page Five 1923 STRIKE RECORD SHOWS CLOTHING WORKEKS LEADING IN WORKING CLASS MILITANCY By LELAND OLDS (Federated Press Industrial Editor) bi Fewer workers were involved in strikes in 1923 than in any year since 1916° when the department of labor began detailed, records of strikes and lockouts. This tends to confirm the impres- sion made by the 1922 figures that labor has lost its wartime momentum and that militant industrial action is at a discount. The department secured full information in 1923 concerning 1,117 strikes involving 743,569 workers. In 1931, a year of great unemployment, there were 1,782%————____________—+— strikes involving 1,098,347 work- ers and in 1922, 862 strikes in which 1,607,894 workers took art, For the 7 years 1916 to 922 the report shows an average of 1,837 strikes a year involving an average of 1,643,456 workers. In 1923 less than half as many workers wer involved in strikes as the average of the preceding years for which records exist. The clothing industry with 357 strikes during 1923 is the only indus- try in which 1923 exceeds the average. This may indicate that the garment workers’ organizations have gone through the open shop war of 1920- 23 with their spirit unimpaired. The situation on the fighting front in other industries is shown in the table which gives the number of strikes in 1923 with the overage from 1916 to 1922: 1922, 20 strikes, 1,846 workers. Workers Win Most Strikes, In 1923 for the first time since 1919 the workers won more. strikes than their employers, Out of 983 strikes for which results are shown, 364 ended in favor of the employes, 356 in favor of employers, 167 were com- promised and 46 were ended pending arbitration. London Trades Council Invites Soviet Trade Delegates to Meeting LONDON, July 6.— The London Trades Council invited the trade union members of the Russian confer- ence to a special meeting of the coun- cil because of a keen desire on the part of the organized workers of London to meet face to face the rep- resentatives of the great Workers Re- public of Russia, according to a state- ment made by Mr. Carmichael, secre- tary of the Council. The Soviet delegates declined the invitation with regret said Mr. Car- michael, saying that “they would have been delighted to be present, but their attendance might be construed by those who are against an agreement between Russia and Great Britain to be of a propaganda nature and be used against the Soviet and British governments. YOUNG CANDY WORKERS WORN OUT BY STRAIN Y. W. L. Offers Program to Bunte Slaves By CLARENCE MILLER. Conditions of children and young workers working in air saturated with cocoa dust that settles on their chest, in rooms that are so hot that the boys are compelled to take off their shirts, while the girls work in blouses that are wet with their sweat and sticking to their bodies, was disclosed by in- vestigations conducted by the Young Workers League at the Bunte Bros, confectionary factory located at 3301 Franklin Blvd. This is one of the largest confectionary plants in the orld. While the workers slave under those conditions, “modern efficiency methods,” as the guide Mr. Moller, who took me around the plant, called the “modern” speed-up system, are installed for the sole purpose of in- creasing production, The production of that company is rather extensive as they supply candy to most of the countries on the American continent, and several countries in Europe and Asia. With the installation of the “mod- ern efficiency methods” the value of the company increased in the last five years from $2,471,182 to $5,575,749, an increase more than double. Not much’ money was spent on “methods” to im- prove in any way the conditions un- der which the young workers slave. Chances of Injury. While going thru the plant, I saw some of the most miserable sights. In the packing department I asked a girl, who worked at a newly installed cough drop packing machine that does the work of about 25 to 30 girls, whether there was any chance of get- ting hurt and she replied “no.” At the same instant it(/ was by mere chance that she escaped having her fingers cut by the machine. In another place I saw a worker packing cocoa. The temperature was STRIKES 1923 7 yr. Av. Building 206 424 Clothing 357 328 Furniture 12 29 Iron and steel 10 48 Leather Ww 24 Lumber 18 17 Meat packing 11 43 Metal trades 106 401 Mining 167° ~~ 236 Paper 15 39 Printing, publishing 19 118 Shipbuilding 6 65 Stone work 16 82 Textile 133 205 Tobacco 16 40 ‘Transportation 9 189 “The Russian trade unionists are of|freezing, and they were dressed in the opinion that under the. circum-|sweaters and shawls, while the air stances the special delegates’ meeting/was full of cocoa dust. The age of Half in 3 States. More than half the 1923 strikes oc- curred in New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. In each of the 8 years covered by the report there have been more strikes in New York than any other state. With the ex- ception of 2 years in which New Jer- sey and Illinois figured prominently, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts have divided second and third honors, Unauthorized or outlaw strikes in 1923 numbered 25 and involved 36,221 workers. The corresponding figures in previous years were: 1919, 125 strikes involving 1,053,256 work- ers; 1920, 253 strikes, 850,837 work- ers; 1921, 52 strikes, 66,804 workers; should not be held. The London Trade Couneil invitation has been appreciated very much by them and it is with regret that they have de- clined.” Danube Exhibition. LENINGRAD, July 6.—The North- Western Chamber of Commerce has received an invitation to take part in the international exhibition of the Danube countries, organized by Czecho-Slovakia, The promoters pro- pose to the Leningrad industrial or- ganizations to get into closest touch with the Czecho-Slovakian industry, which wishes to find an outlet in the Russian market. OUR DAILY PATTERNS A POPULAR HOUSE DRESS FOR SLENDER OR MATURE FIGURES 4593. Striped percale is here com- bined with white pique. This is a good style for ratine, for wool rep, or serge, and also for linen, gingham and voile. The sleeve may be finished in wrist or elbow length, The Patter is cut in 7 Sizes: 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46 and 48 inches bust measure. The width at the foot is 2 yards. A 38 inch size will require 4% yards of 86 inch material. Collar, vest and pocket flaps of contrasting material, require % yard, Pattern mailed to any address on ‘ipt of 12c, in silver or stamps. | Bend 12c in silver or stamps for our {P-TO-DATE SPRING & SUMMER 924 BOOK OF FASHIONS, Fs : A CHARMING FROCK FOR MOTHER'S GIRL 4761. This is pretty for pongee in a natural shade or in colors, It may be finished with floss embroidery or stitchery. It is also nice for voile or dimity as well as other wash fabrics. The Pattern is cut in 4 Sizes: 4, 6, 8 and 10 years. An 8 year size re- quires 2 yards of 32 inch material. Pattern mailed to any address on receipt of 12c, in silver or stamps. Send 12c in silver or stamps for our UP-TO-DATE SPRING & SUMMER 1924 BOOK OF FASHIONS. Address: The Dally Worker, 1113 W. Washington Bivd., Chicago, III. NOTICE TO PA’ tail ee ries Pitre si to the patee S fee _ Send Jn that Subsoription Today. | Send in that Subsoription Today, |. most of the workers was 14. There is no doubt that if they will work there for a few more years they will con- tract consumption. Eyestrain Evident. In another room where the hand- made chocolates are manufactured (the guide told me that this was a better seller) girls were sitting in one place for hours performing certain specific motions over and over again. They were doing it with the regularity of a machine, Their eyes were bulg- ing out from over stress, and most of them wore glasses. With few excep- tions they all looked anemic. The candy that the workers produce under those miserable conditions must taste well, as the net sales have increased in a few years from $1,220,- 305 to $6,284,264. The employes who are not, directly connected wit the finished candies are given a chance to buy them only every Wednesday. At one time they were able to buy it at wholesale prices, but the price is now increased to retail. Low Wages. The average wage at Bunte’s cen- ters around $21 per week. One of the workers told me that he gets $19 per week, I then asked him whether he was satisfied and he answered in a resigned voice, “what can I do?” This well illustrates the minds of the work- ers, It is the very thing that the Young Workers League is trying to point out to the workers, namely that those things exist only because the workers allow them to exist and that they can be done away with if they will organize into one solid body and demand the things which they should get. Y. W. L. Program. The Young Workers League has formulated the following program for the young workers at Buntes: 1. Abolition of the speed-up system, and piece work. ; 2. A six-hour day, and a five-day week for all young workers, 3. A fully paid week’s annual vaca- tion. po 4, No night work or overtime work. This program can and must be ac- ‘vepted if the young workers at Buntes are to grow and develop normally, On with the work to a successful finish! Dispossessed Thieves Anyway. MOSCOW, July 6.—It is reported from Odessa that Russian sailors, re- turned to that port from France, re- late of the confusion reigning among the upper classes of Russian emi- grants in France in view of the pend- ing recognition of the USSR by that country. It is said that’ the French banks refuse to grant loans to Rus- sian emigrants wishing to obtain them on property security. Cee itn aten eee ee seta gammy A TIMELY QUESTION For the humorous the subject of purgatory is a source of unending amusement. Likewise, for the revolu- tionist, the ways of a liberal in the class struggle is an wunquenchable spring of hilarity, They play with futility in such deadly earnestness, They are never quite sure of anything, except their own “fairnsss’—‘impar- tiality’—and “neutrality.” But someone is always, as the say- ing goes, “taking the joy out of life,” and Harl Browder in the July issue jof the LABOR HERALD informs us jthat into this unquenchable spring someone is pouring the poison of class collaboration. Browder does this in speaking of the Brookwood summer jschool’s courses on labor problems |at Katonah, N. Y. | The liberals among the middle class and the intelligentsia who with the best intentions, no doubt, organ- ized and launched Brookwood as a “working class college,” will be pain- fully surprised—or at least just sur- prised—to find their darling school under/ fire of the Communists for teaching what to them is the unknown erime of class collaboration. But “ig- jnorance of the law” excuses no ong, and the liberals will have to bring forth fruits meet for repentance or lose by default before the great group of workers who heed the leadership of the Communists. It seems, according to Browder'’s article in the LABOR HERALD, that under the plausible program of work- ers’ education, such schemes as Wm. H. Johnston’s invidious “B. & O. |Plan” are being propagated by the technical expert who discovered this system of treating labor “as a com- modity” and delivering labor unions and their members over to the rail- roads on a contract subjecting them to the degree illustrated by the happy comparison of Johnston of “super- heaters, arch-brick and lubricating oils.” This and a study of “amalgamation” directed by a worthy gentleman who, because he is a worthy gentleman and knows nothing of the dynamic as- pects of amalgamation, is worse than NEW YORK STATE useless as a teacher of this subject- WORKERS WORSE are raised in this attack on what is called “an American Fabianism.” | This is a timely question because,| Volume of Wages Falls as the declining powers of capitalism) We bring all class relations into sharper | by Millions relief, the stultifying effect of class} erin collaboration upon the infant efforts} By LELAND OLDS of the rising proletariat struggling| (Federated Press Industrial Editor) against a world of enemies and con-| A sharp drop in the wages paid by fusion, becomes more marked. Like-! manufacturing establishments in New wise, the role of the liberal, always) yorx state during May brought down seeking some impossible goal of a thes taiet: val: ahah’ Seeeh ta nee painless birth of the new society, or,|‘B@ total paid each hog ieee more often, quite willing and even|earners to about $34,000,000, accord- anxious to keep the old system of|ing to Industrial Commissioner B. L. brutal and bloody exploitation if it will only wipe off some of the blood and moderate. its brutality — the treacherous role of the liberal also becomes of more importance as his- tory carries all classes toward open confliet. The LABOR HERALD earns the approval of every Communist by raising the question—‘Workers’ Edu- cation or Mis-Education?” POLICE BEGINNING ANNUAL WAR ON HARVEST WORKER Seen as Plot to Halt I. W. W. Organizers (Special to the DAILY WORKER) WICHITA, Kans., July 6—A drive on “Bums” has been started by chief of police T. J. Thompson in connec- tion with the local slave-market op- erators. The “authorities” are co-op- erating with the employment hold-up agencies to get the unemployed men about town to leave for the harvest fields. The division of spoils between the police and job-sharks has not been announced, but the workers know that they'll be the losers. This move by the police chief is seen as an attempt to halt organizing of the harvest workers by the Agri- cultural Workers Industrial Union of the Industrial Workers of the World, which has been a large factor in checking the low wage drives of the Commercial Clubs and counter act- ing the hold-up charges of the em- ployment agencies, Arrest Unemployed. All men seen drifting about town and not known to be respectable crooks or bootleggers will be given the usual harvest jon alternative of jail or the fields. Assistant city attorney George Seifkin, will be spe- cial prosecutor in police court to con- vince the judge that if a man won't work in the harvest fields he won't work at all and he ought to be put in jail for “treatment” until he changes his mind, The men will be forced to choose between work on the municipal farm and bum food and quarters and the same for some farmer who is being |squeezed off the land by bigger rob- bers. The police here and the em- ployment agencies get the first shake- down on the workers, tho, and insure their own profit if no one elses, not even the farmer's. Vagrancy is Charge. Charging all unemployed men found in towns with “vag” (vagrancy) is the common graft at this time of the year when so many of the big boot- leggers follow their clientele to cooler resorts. Norway’s Transport Labor Still Fighting; Metal Workers Back CHRISTIANIA, Norway, July 6.— The gigantic labor struggle in Nor- way, which affected almost all organ- ized workers, has come to a temporary truce, but the employers concede that the confijct is by no means over. The metal workers have agreed to resume work while the negotiations over wages are in progress. This was a cardinal demand of the employers. The transport workers and masons continue their strike, Send In that Subscription Today. Convicts Tell Penal Authorities They Are on the Wrong Track FLORENCE, Ariz. July 6.—The Arizona Beacon, organ of the con- victs in the state penitentiary at Flor- ence, likens many convicts to patients sent to a hospital for treatment but who are made invalids for life by the treatment. “The man sent to prison is, in most cases, just as much in need of civilizing treatment as the man sent |to the hospital. Until people wake up to the importance of getting at the |root of the trouble, we shall be obliged to build more and bigger jails jand penitentiaries,” the editorial as- serts, BRITISH CAPITAL WANTS T0 BUY UP BRAZIL RAILROAD Financial Mission Would Kill Bank (Special to the DAILY WORKER) RIO DE JANIERO, Brazil, July 6.— British capital isn’t satisfied with the privileges given it by the Brazilian government and now wants to buy out the nationally owned Central Brazil railroad and have the Bank of Brazil “removed from political control.” The British capitalists complain that the government here does not allow them to charge enough on the British railroad and whine that the state road does not give service and charges too much. It looks very much as if Britain’s money lords wanted to buy out their rival and run up charges in United States style. The British financial mission to Brazil is making its report now arid all the financial interests, especially foreign capital, are looking on eagerly and approvingly. British capitalists have intimated that they would not further invest in Brazil if the govern- ment ‘did not give them greater con- cessions. Their financial mission is now advocating that policy and sug- gesting that the government sell out its railroad and bank, but the Britains modestly do not mention themselves as possible buyers. Coke Workers Strike HUGHES LISTS IMMIGRATION QUOTAS TOLLS, Germany, England and Ireland Lead (By The Federated Press) WASHINGTON, July 6.—Secretary Hughes has announced the immigra- tion quotas for the various countries and sections of the earth, under the new law and applying to the fiscal year 1924-25. Only aliens who are eligible to citizenship in the United States are admissable. Armenia will have 124, Austria 785, Belgium 612, Bulgaria 100, Czechoslo- vakia 3,073, Danzig 228, Denmark land 471, France 3,954, Germany 51,227, Great Britain and Northern Ireland 34,007, Greece 100, Hungary 473, Iceland 100, Irish Free State 28,567, Latvia 142, Lithuania 344, Luxemburg 100, Netherlands 1,648, Norway 6,453, Palestine 100, Poland 5,982, Portugal 503, Rumania 603, Russia (European and Asiatic) 2,248, Spain 131, Sweden 9,561, Switzerland 2,081, Turkey 100, Yugoslavia 671. For persons not debarred by law there is a quota of 100 each for China, Japan, Siam, Muscat, Yap, Nepal, New Guinea, Afghanistan, Bhutan and India. There are small quotas also for Australia, New Zealand, Union of South Africa ang some other British possessions and small indepen- dent countries. | Persons born in the portions of Persia, Russia or the Arabian penin- sula situated within the barred (Asiatic race) zone and who are ad- missable under th¢ law as immigrants, will be charged to the quotas of these countries. Persons born in colonies or protectorates will be charged to the quotas of the country holding such colony or protectorate. There are no quota restrictions for Canada or Newfoundland. Russian Steamship Service to European yPorts is Increasing (Rosta News) LENINGRAD, July 6.—The State Baltic Fleet has arranged for several regular lines in the coming season. Two steamers are plying bteween Le 2,789, Egypt 100, Esthonia 124, Fin-| UNIONTOWN, P., July 6.—A spon- ningrad and London, and two more are taneous strike of over 1,000 coke|t? be put on this line beginning from workers occurred when the W. J,|July. Three steamers are doing the Rainey company announced a wage| *ervice between Leningrad and Ham- reduction of one-third. All the other|>Urs, while fourteen steamers of big independent companies in the region|®24 middle tonnage have been as- had already cut wages. signed for shipping timber and coal. Then, there is being organized the Leningrad-Marseilles and the Lenin- grad-Alexandria (Egypt) lines, and, also—if there will be a sufficient foreign trade department has. opened quantity of cargoe to be shipped— an export office of hand-made goods and articles, with a view to promoting posed pe py betalngs arsine the the export of same. A series of or- i ders has already been received from England and Germany and also Amer- ica, To Export Hand-Made Goods MOSCOW, July 6.-— The Moscow How many of your shop-mates read THE DAILY WORKER. Get one of them to subscribe today. UNCLE WIGGILY'S TRICKS "Lused to be a cracker-jack ot tong, Ma Tiistyail *Not so hard, | Uncle Wiggily Shientag. Two months earlier manufacturers were putting approximately $37,500,- 000 a week into the pay envelopes, }and about the same amount in May, 1923. The reduction in the amount which wage earnérs can spend this year as compared with last is more than 10% per cent. Average Wage Only $27.54. The average weekly wage during May was $27.54 which compares with $28.16 in March, the peak month and $27.63 last May. Men received an average of $31.04 a week and women $16.56. The total volume of factory wage payments was smaller this May than at any time since October, 1922, says Shientag. But it is still 16 per cent |higher than the average for 1921. At |the low point of the last industrial depression total weekly wage pay- ments in New York state factories fell to about $27,500,000. Cotton, Steel, Way Down | Shientag’s figures show certain in- \dustries far worse off than the aver- age. Cotton mill payrolls in May |were 38.6 per cent below a year ago; steel mills 29.9 per cent. Other in- dustries reporting sharp reductions as |compared with May 1923 were glass, \27.9 per cent; automobile, carriage, ete., 21; car, locomotive and railroad jrepair shops, 21.5; shipbuilding, 32.5; \leather, 21.3; silk, 23; hosiery and knit goods, 20.5; men’s clothing, 26.1; jmen’s shirts and furnishings, 20.6 per cent. Wages In Many Industries. Average wages paid by groups of industries were reported as follows: Stone, clay, and glass products, men |$30.10, women $15.30; metal trades, men $31.42, women $17.06; wood manufactures, men $28.98, women $15.04; furs, leathers, rubber, men |$27.10, women $16.12; chemicals, oils, paints, men $31.32, women $17.11; paper, men $28.07, women $13.74; printing and paper goods, mén $38.95, women $18.22; textiles, men $25.75, women $15.02; clothing, millinery, laundering, etc., men $30.25, women $16.86; food, tobacco, men $80.10, women $16.08; bread and bakery, men $30.59, women $13.48; water, Hght and power, men $33.32 and women too few to be reported separately. With an opportunity to work 90 per cent of a full 52 weeks at the average wages shown, men employed in the factories of New York state would re- ceive about $1,450 and’ women about 776 for a full year’s work. Prussia Puts Ban on Communists in County Offices BERLIN, July 6.—By order of the Prussian minister of the interior, members of the Communist party who have been elected as municipal or county officials are to be recognized only if it seems certain that they will perform their duties in accordance with the exsiting form of government and independent of party instructions. This will mean exclusion of many Communists from office as Commun- ists state that their aim is to destroy the existing state and that they re- gard themselves as responsible to their party. In many localities the rules pre- scribe that aldermen shall pledge themselves to observance of the laws by handshake. In a number of com- manities the Communists have refused to execute this pledge. The minister of the interior has decreed that they shall be excluded from the sessions. In others they have wornyred gloves jand the mayor has refused to shake hands. A LAUGH FOR THE CHILDREN “There's something [Oh,dear! That WaS a ——